Retribution (The Federation Reborn Book 3) (65 page)

“Here here,” the Ssilli avatar seconded. “Not to put a damper on this, but are you regretting promoting flag officers without being there, Admiral?” the alien asked, turning an eyestalk his way.

“No,” the admiral replied with a shake of his head. “Harris earned his; he'll find out when he gets to Protodon. I already transmitted him his keys so he's good. We can do something formal later.” He left unsaid that if there was a later for the officer.

“And Trajan will get his promotion when word gets to Second Fleet,” Sprite said with a polite smile.

The admiral nodded. “As for the other …,” he shrugged. “Admiral Subert will handle the promotion in good time.” He said. “But we're here for Captain Sprite. Traditionally, I believe the captain is owed a drink. But that's obviously not going to happen,” he said with a grin her way.

“There were a few times I'd wished I'd had the ability, believe me,” Sprite drawled. That earned a chuckle.

“But, since we can't do that, and we've got the rest of the evening off …”

“How did you manage to arrange that?” Nara demanded. “You taking time off? My word, the galaxy is going to come to a screeching halt!”

Irons snorted. “As I was saying, we've got the evening off, so let us organics go get a drink in the young lady's honor, and then we can exchange some stories about her. I know it's unfair that she can modulate or turn off her emotional emulator, but it'll still be fun,” he teased.

“Just a warning, I can and will retaliate. And I know some doozies about you, sir,” Sprite replied with a grin.

“Ahem, um …,” Irons squirmed, which made the audience chuckle again. “Well, ah …,” he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Come on. You can face it like a man,” Nara said. He snorted.

:::{)(}:::

Admiral Subert kept his face expressionless as the Veraxin marched into the compartment. They exchanged salutes. “Captain X'll'rr, It is my honor and duty to promote you to commodore,” he stated, removing her golden eagle insignia off her harness to replace it with a five-pointed silver star he took from the jeweler's box Saul was holding for him.

He'd known her for a bit on Lemnos. She had been a ship captain, one of the shooters like Amadeus that had been brought on board to bring a down-to-earth perspective on the pie-in-the-sky ideas that the Think Tank usually came up with. He'd managed to score her to take on the First BC squadron after she'd had some time off and then a short refresher at the academy crusher. She'd done an excellent job handling
Venezuela
and then
Peru
.

The Veraxin scuttled back a step and then saluted once more. He returned the salute.

“Commodore, by now you've downloaded your orders. But for the audience,” he said, nodding to the cameras around the room. He'd been talked into it by public affairs and Saul. He regretted the hoopla, but it wasn't about him so he did his best to get over it. “You are now in command of the First and Second Battle Cruiser Squadrons. You're going to be busy, Commodore,” he said.

“Thank you, sir,” the Veraxin buzzed back.

Admiral Subert nodded as she made a sharp right turn and then stepped over to the side. She stopped and turned to stand next to newly promoted Captain JG Ss'rik'thh. The Naga held himself erect as proper etiquette dictated. He would be acting as her junior in Second Squadron.

On the other side of the Veraxin was newly promoted Captain SG Liota Chavez. The Bekian looked pleased but bemused by the ceremony. Her promotion had been overdue, and she would be taking the reins of the battle cruiser
Peru
shortly, taking the place of the newly-minted Veraxin commodore.
Peru
and her division mate were to be detached to form the nucleus of the Fourth Battle Cruiser Squadron in a few months.

On the other side of her was Junior Valdez. The young man had been promoted to senior grade captain despite the admiral's misgivings about his limited amount of time-in-grade. But he was also their best candidate for a carrier admiral. He was certainly doing fine with
Argus
.

Admiral Subert turned and nodded slightly to Saul who used his implants to call the next and final recipient in.

After they exchanged salutes, Saul handed him another black velvet box. “Captain Samese, it is my honor and duty to promote you to the rank of commodore,” he stated.

The Neogorilla nodded. “Thank you, sir,” he said softly.

“You've done an excellent job in the fortresses. Keep up the good work, Commodore,” the admiral stated.

“Thank you, sir,” the Neogorilla stated. He saluted the admiral. The admiral returned the salute.

:::{)(}:::

Admiral Irons was surprised to find a different sort of news article hit the media the following morning. The crew of
Molly
had worked out a deal to set up a civilian yard in Epsilon Triangula. They filed papers the evening before through the ansible and were working to set up a corporation. Apparently they had been in secret talks for several weeks.

According to the article, the new as yet unnamed corporation would get major tax write-offs and protection from Governor Tweed. Governor Weng in Senka expressed disappointment over coming in second. It surprised Irons that they'd been bidding at all. He'd been so focused on other things he'd missed it apparently. He shook his head as he continued to read the article while he ate breakfast.

Cookie saw his distraction but didn't object beyond a sniff. He looked up briefly then went back to reading.

Apparently they had even brought in the crew that had wanted to salvage the yard modules. Faith planned to transport them to Epsilon Triangula in several loads along with the components for the third and fourth ships they'd laid down.

He nodded. That explained where the spare hyperdrive components he'd made had went. With Tweed in their corner, he could appoint an industrial board and license them to make starship components … just as soon as the heavy weight governor found the time to get to him to get his implants that was.

For the moment they were going to have to purchase the drive components from Antigua. He wondered if they'd thought of that? Possibly. It would definitely stimulate trade he thought. Shipping would be needed to flow from Antigua south through the jump line, through Centennial and Gaston. Unless she thought they'd get them from Pyrax? He wondered if they'd thought it through, he thought as he sat back and picked up his coffee. He used his thumb to hit play on the video link.

He couldn't help but crack a smile at seeing Faith right off. Her Celtic burr was noticeably absent … well, mostly.

“Why do you want to give up being a ship captain?” the reporter asked. “I am here with Captain Meikle. Captain, I thought it was your life dream to run a starship. Now you are going to do this? Why?” she asked.

“Ack, don' fast yourself,” Faith drawled. “To be honest, I've always been an engineer at heart,” Faith said with her trademark Celtic bur waving a dismissive hand. “I'm going to turn
Molly's
reins over to Shandra. She's got what it takes to handle the filly. I'm more interested in settling down for a while and building ships.” She shrugged. “Besides, I told Doc Clarissa I'd look after Mindy while her daughter went to medical school groundside.”

The admiral rolled his eyes. Faith was going to have her hands full he thought.

“Why did you choose ET over Senka or elsewhere?” the reporter from Galactic Spotlight News asked.

“Well, to be honest, ET's past history of corruption made us think twice. Senka offered us a sweet deal too. But they are on the front lines, and we took a vote. None of us want that sort of exposure. ET's banks and government offered us loans and insurance to get us up and running, and they've promised hands off. The planet has a lot of population we can draw on for hiring, plus we're already working out manufacturing deals with the industrial concerns on the planet. Plus, like I said, we've got access to the college and medical campus here. I think it's a win-win here.”

“Jobs, income … yes. I suppose it is,” the reporter agreed.

“We might open a satellite yard in Senka later if the war turns around again,” Faith drawled. The admiral nodded. Smart Faith, he said with a mental salute to her. She was keeping that option open. He took a sip of coffee. “I've got faith in Admiral Irons. He'll see it done.” She touched the side of her nose as she smiled slightly. “You hear that, John? Get'er'done!”

The interviewer chuckled politely. So did the admiral. “Back to you in the studio, Barry,” the reporter said as the camera turned on her.

Admiral Irons sat back and smiled slightly. It was one small spot of good news to help brighten his day … and tell people life was still going on.

“A nice way to start the day,” Admiral Irons said, saluting Cookie with his mug as she cleared the dishes. He tucked the tablet under his arm and rose. “See you …”

“Lunch. Eleven thirty sharp,” she retorted.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied with a boyish grin.

“Off with you now. Stay out of trouble,” she ordered.

He shook his head, still smiling. “Easier said than done,” he said as he got out of her clutches. He nodded to Captain Burrows outside the hatch. “A bit early to be seeing you, but okay. Shall we gentlemen?” he asked, noting the others in his escort.

“Aye aye, sir,” the captain said, signaling through his implants that they were moving out.

:::{)(}:::

Captain Megeire of the light carrier
Illustrious
led her reinforcement convoy out of hyperspace into the Kathy's World star system in an explosion of light and energy. “Secure from jump,” Meg said, turning her feline eyes on the helm team.

“Aye, ma'am, secure from jump.”

“CIC, sensor report. All clear. All ships accounted for,” a rating called out.

Meg nodded as the plot stabilized and started to populate as their sensors went active. Things were looking up. She had loved being a bomber pilot, but there hadn't been many in the early build-up days of Pyrax. Eventually she'd been squeezed out and talked into taking on a gunship command. That had led to a corvette, then a frigate. By that time she'd risen through the ranks so high that she couldn't go back to the bombers when they went back into production. So, she'd reluctantly stayed the course but with an eye to handle fighters and bombers. She'd been XO on a fighter fortress before her new assignment, skippering the first Pyrax-built light cruiser.

It wasn't quite love at first sight. She still missed her hands on the actual controls, but she enjoyed being back in the community of her own choice none the less.

“Alert five launched,” the deck officer reported.

“IFF challenge,” a rating replied.

“IFF transmission,” “The Lady” replied instantly as her captain opened her mouth. Meg's ears went back a moment as she closed her mouth and wiggled her whiskers. The Lady was a bit of a mouthful for the ship's A.I., but she'd chosen it on her own. She was dressed in a shimmering white medieval dress, long sleeves, long blond hair and a veil. Her partner, Juggler, was much more flamboyant. He handled fighter OPS with the CAG, Lieutenant Commander Bill Paxton.

“Ma'am, we're getting a priority movement order,” the comm rating reported.

“Send it to my station,” the captain ordered. She saw Reggie, her XO look at her but she waved his concerned look off. She could trust him to handle the ship as she read the movement orders.

Her ears went flat when she read the terse report of the battle of B-97A in the opening paragraphs. When she got to the part where the admiral ordered them to expedite the movement to Protodon at flank speed, she paused her read to look up.

“Nav, plot a least time course to the Protodon jump point—max speed. We need to get there. Also, we're going to need to pull out all the stops in hyper,” she said.

“Ma'am?” Reggie asked, looking at her.

“Just do it,” she growled.

“Ma'am, second message coming in. It's from the president's office. Civilian encryption. It's an open header,” The Lady reported.

“Play it,” the captain said as she continued to read.

“To the
Illustrious
group from President and Lieutenant Colonel Moira White Wolf. Safe sailing, good hunting. Message ends.” The A.I. stated.

“Understood. Obviously we can't stop as we'd planned,” the captain said. She finished a second read of her orders.

“Ma'am, some of the ships can't keep up with our best speed,” the navigator warned.

“Then they will follow at their own best speed. All warships except
Cheeser
and
Clawful
are to form on
Illustrious
and move out
now
.
Cheeser
and
Clawful
are detached to escort the remaining ships to Protodon at their best speed,” she finished.

“Ma'am, we're getting inquiries from the other ship captains,” the A.I. stated.