Jethro 3: No Place Like Home (21 page)

“They'll jump into an ambush on our terms,” Decius said, waving his antenna. “Our timing, our conditions. Turn a defensive action into an offensive one.”

“Yes. A fire trap. Suck them in, and then hammer them into dust,” Renee replied as Firefly exited the fire sack just as the enemy exited hyper. The ships and fortresses flashed, firing. “Basically a repeat of what the Admiral did in this system at the Agnosta jump point but in larger form.”

“I like it,” the ensign in charge of Logistics said, nodding enthusiastically.

“No,” Matilda said stubbornly, though her resolve seemed to be weakening. Behind Renee the image of Firefly looped back to join the battle.

“A net.”

“If they don't bite off more than they can chew again,” Matilda growled.

“With respect, ma'am. We didn't in Antigua,” Shelby said stubbornly.

“You damn near choked on that fleet.”

“If this Admiral Rico has the same forces arrayed, ma'am...”

“And if he doesn't? This plan is insane.”

“If it's insane and it works...”

Doctor Thornby snorted and then laughed. The others looked at her as her outburst of laughter stopped. “Sorry,” she said. “I was just thinking of Antigua. You did well there. But we need you intact. You can't keep beating the odds you know.”

“I know, ma'am. I have no intention of taking them on single handed.”

“Could have fooled me,” Matilda muttered.

“Sir, for this to work, we'd need all the firepower on the jump point or near it as possible.”

Horatio nodded. He still didn't look at all convinced.

“Including Bismark,” Shelby supplied. Her father blinked.

“Bismark? The battleship? She's not ready. She'd be worthless in a battle. A sop.”

“A turtle. A big target. Is that what you intend? For the enemy to target her? Or turn and run? We can't afford them to get away, Captain, Commander.”

“We have a lot of work tied up in that ship. We can't throw it away...” The ensign said looking at Horatio.

“We can't afford additional damage,” Horatio rumbled.

“No, sir,” Shelby said, shaking her head. She sent a signal to the holo image. Bismark was added, but far enough back from the battle. “They don't know that the ship is only a shell. She's essentially a bluff.”

“I see,” Decius said, bobbing his antenna. “You are essentially over awing them with firepower.”

“Yes,” Shelby replied. “It is a bluff, to awe them or break their resolve. It takes time to recharge and compute a plot for hypernavigators, and to turn a ship around. If they see it, some will scatter, some will fold. We can hunt them down when they break up.”

“The best defense is a good offense,” Thornby said. “I like it.”

“You aren't normally so bloody minded,” Matilda said, eying the doctor.

“I'm always a proponent of forward medicine. Education,” she smiled slightly and nodded to Matilda, “But also aggressive scanning and treatment of a disease before it gets out of hand. Catch something early enough you can nip it in the bud. If we let the enemy keep building forces in the B101a1 system, eventually they'll be able to overwhelm us.”

“True, ma'am,” Shelby replied with a nod. “There is something else to consider. If the reports are valid, Admiral Irons will be passing through that system, if he hasn't already.”

A cold stillness suddenly filled the room.

“We don't have a choice do we?” Thornby asked softly.

“He'd do it for us in a heartbeat,” Matilda said, frowning. She nodded, turning to Horatio.

“Unfortunately, it's not that simple. We have a duty. A duty to our people, to the civilians in this system, and in the sector,” Horatio said quietly.

“But the Admiral...”

“Would be first to understand this,” Horatio replied, face tight. Shelby grimaced but nodded.

“We're not going to make this decision now. I'm going to wait,” Horatio said. The staff turned to him. “I want time to go over the intel we have and run it through the various shops. In the meantime, Firefly will resupply and have a thorough going over by the Yard. We'll expedite it as quickly as we can.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Dismissed then. I'll have my yeoman call you to schedule a meeting when I have an answer,” he said.

The Captain and XO nodded and came to attention. He nodded back and then turned and exited the compartment.

Outside Renee hid a grimace. “And now we wait.”

“Not exactly,” Shelby replied softly as they walked through the annex. “He did say to resupply and get Firefly ship shape. I think he's leaning towards it.”

“Good. We'll get on it then,” Renee replied.

---( | ) --- ( | )---

“Sir, I noticed activity in the yard...” Captain Mayweather said with a knowing smile. Commander Logan looked much better, more alive and less worn. He still had a mantle of age about him, a weight of command on his shoulders he couldn't quite shrug off. Anti-geriatric treatments was holding his age at where it was, it had even rolled back a few issues, but he still had a worn look about it. Command was hell, Renee thought. At least for this man.

“Saw that did you?” Horatio asked, smiling politely. He glanced at his daughter and nodded. “Don't get your hopes up; we did get some care packages but not quite enough to get Prometheus off the beach.”

“Darn,” Shelby said mildly.

“A couple care packages, sir?” Renee asked, looking at her exec and then to the Commander.

Logan nodded. “Yes. You know about the Destiny and Lieandra of course. They each carried some critical supplies and data from the Admiral. I've put what I could to use.”

“Four new ships?”

The old man shook his head. “Try twenty. And not just ships, orbital fortresses as well. We're stretched thin, probably too thin if you look at it from a logistics view point, but so far so good.”

Shelby whistled in appreciation. “That many?”

Horatio looked at her and then smiled. “I've got my own ideas. Four are hyper capable, the rest are sublight. Hell, Kittyhawk is little more than a barge, but at least she's semifunctional.”

“And a mobile platform is better than a drifting rock,” Renee replied with a nod. She'd hate being in an orbital fort, stuck in one place waiting for something to happen. The old axiom that it was better to be bored than busy ran through her mind. She shook her head. She made a small mental bet that at least a quarter of those fortress crews ran through a lot of antacid and had ulcers.

“There were more care packages?” Shelby asked. She looked at her Captain and then to her father.

“Remember number one?” Renee asked. “The Admiral sent along a list of ships. I remember Kiev 221, and we heard about Cassidy and 555 in Antigua.”

“Oh, yeah, that's right, we did,” Shelby said frowning. “Cassidy didn't have any shipment though. That came in the update.” She shrugged.

Horatio nodded. “Apparently the Admiral has been dropping some breadcrumbs for us wherever he goes. The last one came in three months ago. The Mariah's Mischief. She picked up a load the Admiral left behind in Gaston, along with some news and other things. Destiny missed it by a week I heard. The Mischief carried that warning about Antigua, which was why I dispatched forces there to back you up,” Commander Logan said, looking at Captain Mayweather.

“I see. Thank you for that, sir,” the Captain said with a nod.

“Don't mention it. But in addition to the very welcome gear, we're using some of it to get Kittyhawk into space,” Horatio said, smiling slightly. Captain Mayweather blinked and then nodded. “It also contained updates and gave us an update on the Admiral's planned itinerary. He's doing a blind long jump from Epsilon Triangula to Beta 100 omega.”

Renee blinked in consternation. “Sir, did...”

He nodded, amused slightly by her reaction. “You heard correct Captain. He's the Admiral. He has AI support. Apparently it's been a part of his plan all along. He left some assets in a system south of us, near the Crellis system.”

The Captain frowned. She remembered the system; it was infamous as the system leading to the Rho sector wormhole that the Xenos had used to rampage through the sector. No one went there; the battles and Xeno nano weapons had ravaged the systems. “Crellis...sir that entire area is a wasteland!”

Shelby nodded.

“Yes, I know,” Horatio replied, mouth puckering. “I was there for some of the battles. We finally took the damn gate out, but it wiped out a couple systems doing it. That's why Firefly, some of the other ships, and I ended up floating here actually.”

“Oh.”

Horatio looked away in pain. After a long moment he took a deep breath and then turned. “If he sticks to his plan he'll have gotten to Beta 100 omega by now. He may even have transited to B101a1.”

“Sir,...”

Horatio held up a hand. “All right, Captain. I was pointing it out as another factor. We can't afford to lose the Admiral. We as in civilization.”

They waited patiently. They weren't sure which way it was going to go. “But I agree; I don't like sitting on my ass waiting for the enemy to pick and choose when to attack either. I like the idea of pounding them first, attacking the bastards and throwing
them
on the defense for once. Mission approved,” he paused, holding up a finger. “It is a
limited
raid only, jump in, get the intel, and then out. No lone ranger crap like Antigua.”

Mayweather nodded. “Hit and run sir. Got it.” She frowned. She'd thought of making multiple passes like Antigua, going in, tearing them up, then cloaking and coming back around. But with an alert fleet the chances of one of them getting a piece of Firefly and ending their chances of escape was just too high. They had to get back with the intel. The Commander was right about that.

“Spoiler raid. Get in there, cloak, see what they've got, hit anything in range, do as much damage as you can in the time it takes to flip and get your asses back here. We can't afford to lose you either. Got it?”

“Aye, sir.”

“We'll work on getting Firefly turned around. You'll go in a week.”

Mayweather frowned but then nodded reluctantly. She still had some engineering issues to deal with. Antigua and the Yard Dogs were good, but they hadn't had access to milspec replicators. And the ones Firefly carried were too small for a couple pieces.

“Aye, sir.”

“I'll see about crew replacements, munitions and the rest. Get me a list by the end of watch today.”

“Aye, sir.”

Chapter 9

April O'Neill got word from her sources about the plan and contacted Captain Mayweather. She worked her way through the layers of bureaucratic tape to get to Firefly and the Captain. Finally, Renee agreed to meet the woman in person on the dock.

“My, you are a hard lady to get a hold of, you know that?” April said, smiling saucily. “Not that I don't blame you,” she said, dodging a push pull loaded with gear.

“As you can see Miss O'Neill, we're busy,” Renee said, attempting to retreat to the access port where Marines were faithfully guarding the entry to her ship. They were checking each pallet carefully, which was causing a slight back up. She frowned but didn't say anything.

“Resupplying, yes I know. And I know for
what
as well,” April said before Renee could retreat too far. The Captain turned, polite mask slipping into annoyance and aggravation. “I want to come. I know it is important. I won't get into the details here,” she said, making a show of looking around to the public venue. “Or elsewhere if you agree to take me along.”

Renee was annoyed by the leak. She thought of flat out refusing, but it might cause trouble down the road. She didn't know how to best handle the situation, so she decided caution with a bit of brutal honesty were in order. “We're going into combat, ma'am; that's no place for you to be.”

“As a reporter, I think it's the perfect place for me to be. I've had enough political combat,” April said with a grimace.

“True,” Captain Mayweather said, wrinkling her nose. Firefly's sudden return and news of the Pirate attack in Antigua had kicked up a fire storm in the Governor's race. System Governor Paul, the people's man, Walker was in a dead heat with his own lieutenant Governor and mayor of Anvil, Enrique Fernando. Apparently it had started out as a so-called clean campaign, but Walker's people had quickly devolved into a character match when they realized he was getting hammered in the polls on many of the issues. Not that it was his own fault, of course, he being the champion of the people, Renee thought with a sniff of disdain. Just look what he did for the Alien and Neos with his tax bill, and all the tax shelters he had created for his backers.

It was devolving into a mudslinging contest. Fortunately, Walker had enough mud to bury him if used properly. Apparently, since most of it had played out in the media prior his opponents were holding back from bringing it up again as old news. Walker's campaign had deep pockets and was saturating all the media channels with on-air ads professing his piety and family values.