Koban 4: Shattered Worlds (60 page)

“I’ll be on the Mark with that test circuit of Max’s, to coordinate with you before you Jump, and stealthed in Normal Space observing the action after the fighting starts at K1. Most of our own ships will join the fleet in some capacity. Bledso will certainly have some admiral calling the shots, and we’ll just be a cog in a large integrated fighting machine.”

“A cog?” Captain Lebeau, of the Pride of Gaul, sounded indignant. “How are nearly a hundred of our ships a mere cog?”

“Francois, we haven’t even had much of a fleet with which to practice until the last couple of months. Our ships look exactly like the enemy ships, at least when we’re not in stealth mode. If we aren’t properly integrated into their force, we could have some friendly fire accidents. Our one hundred ships are only about ten percent of the fighting ships Henry thinks the navy has available. They’ve reduced ship size for greater numbers. No new dreadnaughts or battle ships were built after the last K1 attack, since they make too juicy a target for a suicidal Krall in a clanship.

“None of our captains, me included, has ever fought in a fleet battle, even if some of us were in the navy at one time. The existing large ships might go along for firepower, but they’ll need heavy screening and have to move often.

“Once the shooting starts, a ship with the new stealth is revealed when they fire, and can be identified by the kind of weapons used. Our clanships will be identified as possible Krall by any of the fleet AIs. Therefore, I plan to let the fleet commander decide how best to use us and keep us safe from their weapons. Whoever that commander proves to be.”

****

Chairfem Bledso smiled. “President Medford, I’d like you to meet our newly appointed Fleet Admiral. You obviously know of her by reputation and you have both been in some of the same meetings, but I understand the two of you have not actually been introduced.”

Bledso did the honors. “Madam President, I’m pleased to present Fleet Admiral, Lady Lela Chatsworth.”

Chatsworth saluted, and President Erthrid Medford awkwardly returned the gesture she seldom used. She had been prepared for a handshake, as she had shared with the Chairfem so many times in the past. Knowing you were the commander in chief, and acting like one were different things. Medford had no military background, and military rituals were foreign to her political instincts. That was something Bledso recognized and avoided with her each time they met, and the president suspected the Chairfem had political aspirations of her own, once her military career ended.

Medford initiated the conversation, but was unsure of the proper military form of address. Was it Admiral or Fleet Admiral? She started by simply repeating the new rank of the former Admiral. Technically, the president had nominated Chatsworth for the promotion, but she had relied on Bledso’s and the Secretary of the Navy’s recommendation.

“A Fleet Admiral. It has been quite some time since we’ve had someone with that rank. Congratulations. I believe the last person to hold that rank was Academy Superintendent Golda Mauss.”

There was an awkward pause, before Bledso rescued her president from her misstep. “Not quite, Madam President, Vice Admiral Mauss
was
once considered for promotion to Fleet Admiral, when we though the war would be mainly fought in space. That didn’t occur once the ground warfare aspect became the primary mode of combat with the Krall. There was no longer as much emphasis on the naval aspects of the war, and the position of Fleet Admiral was never filled.”

In fact, the ground war was forced on humanity by the Krall, who wanted it that way, and Vice Admiral Mauss had led the only two fleet actions of the war against the Krall. Her brilliant second attack against K1 had been quite successful in that theatre. However, when a few of the Krall followed the fleet to its repair base, using a then unknown technology, they suddenly appeared over Rhama, where the docked fleet was unprepared for the nearly unstoppable ultrahigh velocity Eight Ball attacks of collapsed matter. The planet was devastated by a near extinction level impact, and a Krall ultimatum was issued, to not attack K1 from space again. President Stanford, favored to be reelected that year, lost in a landslide. The planetary scale disaster pushed the next president, and other politicians who won their respective elections riding the wave of public sentiment, kept the navy largely out of the fight. Until now.

Vice Admiral Mauss wasn’t fired for her tainted success, the only thing near a victory in the war to that point, but her career stalled when her staunchest civilian supporters lost reelection. She resisted calls for her resignation, serving in a low visibility desk job for several years, and eventually was appointed Superintendent of the Planetary Union Naval Academy, located on Earth’s Moon.

Her strategy, flexibility, and quick thinking shown in her two confrontations with the Krall were appreciated and respected by those that had served under her, and those officers later rose in rank. Both Bledso and Chatsworth had served under Mauss, and they had fought in both Operation Deep Lance, and in Operation New Lance. 

Medford, her memory refreshed by Bledso, felt her face redden. “Excuse my poor memory, Fleet Admiral Chatsworth. I was a new Member of Parliament when the second attack on K1 happened, and I had never even met anyone in the navy or in any military service at that time.

“The Planetary Union was utterly unprepared for war, and few of its citizens, myself included, had any notion of how serious the Krall threat was back then, or how desperately we needed to rebuild our military capability. It was six years later, when I ran for and was elected to a Senate seat that I started to learn what an exemplary job our military was doing. I found myself a junior member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, where I belatedly discovered what it took to maintain our vital military branches. I became an ardent supporter then.

“After my inauguration last year, I had an opportunity to meet Superintendent Mauss when I visited Luna Base and the Academy. I received a hurried briefing from an aide on her career just before we met, and I vaguely recalled a mention that she had been considered for Fleet Admiral. The first person to be considered for that rank since World War II I was told. I hadn’t thought to inquire further, because her position was Superintendent by then. She made a considerable impression on me. I presume you know her personally?”

Chatsworth answered with a smile, glad to put the president at ease over her gaff. “Yes Mam. The Chairfem and I both served under her, and she has always impressed me as well. She’s a brilliant strategist.” Then, in a bit of inspiration, she made an off the cuff remark on a subject she and Bledso had been discussing, shortly before being ushered into the president’s office.

“I could use Superintendent Mauss’ advice and experience when I go up against the Krall. She seemed to know when they were about to do something unexpected, and quickly had a counter move in mind.”

Medford cocked her head in thought a moment. She may never have had a single second of military experience prior to becoming commander in chief, but she hadn’t risen rapidly to the top of the political heap by failing to grasp clues in a conversation. The Fleet Admiral could choose anyone she wanted to serve under her. It was unlikely that Mauss, expected to retire within a year or two, would pass up another chance to fight the Krall. She clearly loathed them. Chatsworth could request any navy personnel she wanted, so why wouldn’t she simply offer Mauss a position on her staff, or command of a ship?

Suddenly, the flash of insight arrived. It was a political matter, not military, and Chatsworth was indirectly seeking approval to talk to Mauss. Not from Bledso, but from Bledso’s boss. There could be objections against her taking along the admiral that had failed to protect Rhama. However, no one was ever blamed for the invasions of Bollovstic, Poldark, New Dublin, or even of K1 itself, the former colony of Greater West Africa. The navy was now trying to prevent the invasion of yet another world. It was time to blame only the Krall for Rhama, not those that fought against them.

“Admiral Chatsworth, I believe anyone going into a gang fight should take the best fighters with them. I suggest you invite a bulldog like Golda Mauss to go along. The navy and I can find another admiral to replace the Superintendent.

“Later, after the attack on K1 becomes publicly known, I can make an announcement that Mauss was with you. I think you should find a roll for the admiral who bloodied the Krall’s nose so bad they said ‘No more!’ I urge you to recruit her. She was unfairly pilloried in the press.”

Medford knew she had it exactly right when she saw the relief and obvious gratitude of both Chatsworth and Bledso. Clearly, the Chairfem wanted her Fleet Admiral to have the best advisors along with her as possible. There would be some blowback in the press and from her political opposition about allowing Mauss to have an active role in another fleet action, but that would come after the fact, because there wasn’t going to be a whisper that this attack was even being planned.

****

A week later, Bledso’s aide reluctantly interrupted the Chairfem’s working lunch at her desk. “Mam, a courier from General Nabarone has contacted Denver SPC, requesting permission to land.”

Bledso took a sip of coffee to wash down a bite, as she used the moment to absorb what she’d heard. “Space Port Control said the courier from Nabarone called to land at Denver, not Washington?” Army headquarters was there, not here, so it made little sense.

She asked, “Is it just from Poldark, or did they say from Nabarone himself?” It made more sense if the courier was from Admiral Foxworthy.

“Mam, they used General Nabarone’s encrypted recognition code, and relayed a recorded request from the general that you personally meet with his messenger.”

“Damn it Gale, I’m shoulder deep in coordinating the units that Chatsworth needs to take with her, coming up with cover stories for their movements. I don't have time to argue about Henry’s reduced naval support at Poldark. Foxworthy is preparing to leave with most of her squadron to join the fleet.” She suddenly realized the current date.

“Wait! She won’t even Jump for another nine days, and she certainly couldn’t have told Henry she was leaving two weeks ago when this courier departed, because my orders hadn’t reached her then. He must have guessed or made an assumption. Doesn’t matter, I don't have time to hold his damn hand while he complains. Foxworthy has the only ships and crews that have faced the Krall regularly, so we need them at K1.”

“Mam, I spoke to the courier captain directly, and he told me the general said it’s urgent that you meet personally with the messenger he sent, a Captain Joseph Longstreet, of Special Operations. You are supposed to have heard of him.”

Bledso’s eyebrows rose. It seemed the dead spec ops captain had returned to life once more. She’d only heard his voice on the recordings made when he was supposedly a member of the capture team that picked up the first Krall she’d ever seen as a live prisoner. She didn’t know what this version of the dead man looked like because he’d never been out of his armor. She had a file on the man reported killed in action, and she spoke to her AI, which had of course been listening to the exchange.

“Conrad, show me the file on this Longstreet.” Before the sentence was finished, the AI had already searched and located the file, waiting only for the request to place it on her display. His official picture appeared on her larger desk monitor. The Tri-Vid image was of an attractive, young looking man in an Army dress uniform, wearing the black beret of Special Operations, and the black and white shoulder patch of the Heavyside based unit partly visible. Young looking was a given in an active duty spec ops troop, and cosmetic genetics centuries ago led to many people inheriting attractive features.

“Conrad, is there a voice print of the man that captured the Krall prisoner over Poldark, or any other way to confirm if the man I’m expected to meet is the same person?”

“Yes Mam, I have a voice print. There is also a biometric estimate of his physical dimensions if he were not wearing the armor seen in the recordings made by the heavy cruiser, the Claw. That estimate matches well with the records for the Captain Longstreet that was reported killed in action. There were no previous voice recordings to use for a comparison. A DNA sample from the man reported as killed was found when you requested that I search for the actual identity of the person on the Claw. The Special Operations branch said they didn’t have one, as part of their policy of anonymity for their recruits, and they were in general uncooperative with my requests. However, the PU Army had a DNA profile in their old records for a Joseph Randolph Longstreet, which was more a result of incompetence than proper file keeping. They were instructed by the Special Operations Branch to delete those previous records.”

“Good. Then when the man meets with me Conrad, I want you to check him out for a reasonable match to these records. We may even be able to get a DNA sample.”

“Yes Mam.”

Looking aside to her aide, “Gale, authorize the courier to land, and arrange for an escort to bring Captain Longstreet to my office. Check my schedule, and keep ten minutes clear for me to talk with him.”

“Yes Mam.”

For the following hour, Bledso was engaged with sending orders to move squadrons or specific ships, and preparing stories for local news consumption of where the ships were moving, or the names of exercises they were supposed to be conducting when they left their normal bases. The navy had grown in strength and complexity.