Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) (32 page)

“I
wanted to ask you about my assignment to shepherd the carriers to Zanzibar. If
Sparta is going to be attacked, it’ll likely happen before I can bring those
carriers back here. I think I can be of more use commanding the missile boats
during the attack than sitting on my thumbs at Zanzibar or in hyper-space,
Admiral.”

Janicot
stepped over to the oval table, sat on the table edge and folded his arms in
front of him. “Since Commodore Palmgren is senior to you, he would be in
overall field command of Sparta’s mobile defenses, including of course the
boats. That means that you’d have to take his orders, which means you’d have
little or no opportunity to exercise your own initiative. I know that YOU know
that, so I can’t help wondering if there’s some other reason for your request
to stay here.”

Drake
hesitated. The Old Man was right, of course. He did have another reason. He was
just reluctant to admit it. “I think the outcome of this next battle for Sparta
will decide who wins the war. I want to be a part of that battle. I think I’ve
earned the right, Admiral.”

Janicot
sighed. When he spoke, he spoke slowly and in a low voice. “The war is already
lost, Drake. The Chancellor realizes that even though Sorenson refuses to admit
it. Even if we defeat their attack fleet here, they’ll just come back in six
months with a bigger one, and if we somehow defeat that, they’ll come back with
an even bigger fleet. The reason why I’m sending you to Zanzibar is that when
Sparta falls, Palmgren will mostly likely be killed in the battle, and that
leaves you as my only experienced flag officer. You’ll have to take charge and
try to make the best of the situation.” He paused and looked around as if to
make sure that no one else could hear him. “Something I didn’t share during the
meeting is P2’s recommended backup strategy. We now have over 10,000
scientists, technicians and their families on Zanzibar. That’s a hell of a
brain trust. If we can get enough transport capacity to Zanzibar, all those
people and their equipment can be evacuated to some place that the FEDs won’t
know about. Given enough time, they may be able to come up with the technology
to allow an experienced flag officer like yourself to liberate SSU planets from
FED control. It’s a long shot I know, but P2 has calculated that it’s our best
backup strategy. If, no when, the FEDs take control of our orbitals away from
us, I’ll send out a final message by couriers for all SSU ships to head for the
emergency rally point and await further instructions from you and only from
you. When you get to Zanzibar, your first task will be to send a courier or
ship to the rally point with orders to send all ships back to Zanzibar. You
take whatever actions you deem necessary to keep our brain trust people out of
the hands of the FEDs. You would have found out all this from secret orders on
the way to Zanzibar, but I’m telling you now. Questions?”

Drake
was stunned. Deep down, he knew there was very little chance that the SSU could
win the war now, but hearing the Chief of Space Operations declare the war lost
was still a shock. He was also shaken by the realization that if he led the
evacuation, he probably would never see Lorelei again. Even after all this
time, he still held out the hope that both of them would survive the war and
still feel the same about each other. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on
him either. His missile boat fired the first shot of this war, and now it
looked as though he would be in command of the last military operation of the
war. Correction…of THIS war and who knew, maybe the first shot of the next one.
But if he was going to be in charge of the backup plan, then he had some
concerns.

“I’m
going to need as much transport capacity as possible. All those people and
their equipment and enough food for at least a year, plus equipment to set up a
new colony from scratch somewhere. If we don’t get enough ships to do the move
all at once, then we’ll have to move them in stages, and that’ll take months.
My initial concern is if the FEDs start sniffing around and asking questions
when they get here. No matter how well we cover our tracks, the weakest link
will still be people who know about Zanzibar and who might give up that secret
under chemically-enhanced interrogation.”

Janicot
nodded. “I’m open to suggestions.”

Drake
thought for a while and then snapped his fingers. “Got it! We’ll temporarily
move everyone to another SSU planet that only I and the ships’ senior officers
will know the location of. Once we get everyone and their equipment moved, we
should have enough time to build up food supplies and equipment for the new
colony. If we can also retrofit them with the new jump technology, that’ll
enable us to search farther out for a good location for the new colony. The
further away we can get, the less probability of the FEDs finding us. So the
sooner ships get to Zanzibar, the better our chances. What if you sent out the
rally call now instead of waiting until after the battle?”

Janicot
frowned. “I’m not sure how the SecDef would react to that. She might interpret
it as being defeatist, which I guess is exactly what it is if you come right
down to it. I think Belloc would understand, but he has the burden of trying to
keep morale up, even though he knows it’s a lost cause.”

“Okay
then, in that case, we do it covertly.” Drake paused to think through the
details. Janicot waited silently. “I think I should get to Zanzibar as fast as
possible to get things organized there, but there should be someone here who’s
in charge of gathering equipment and sending ships on to the rally point. No
offense Admiral, but I don’t think that person should be you. You’re too high
profile. If we’re going to be sneaky about this, it should be someone else.
That person would need authorization from you to do what has to be done. The
less you know about the details, the less you can be forced to give up.”

“That
all makes sense. Do you have anyone in particular in mind?”

Drake
thought for a few seconds. “Cate Foster?”

“Yes,
she already knows about Zanzibar, and now that her husband’s dead, there’s
nothing to hold her here. She can leave on the last freighter and start a new
life on the new colony. Of course she may not want to leave, but if she agrees
to take on that responsibility, you can have her. I’ll make sure she has all
the authority she’ll need. Anything else?”

“Not
right now, sir.”

“Fine.
We both have a lot to do. Let’s get to it.”

After
leaving the conference room, Drake headed straight for the Strategic Planning
section of the building. He found Foster in her office. It was obvious that
she’d been crying. She gestured for him to have a seat. He made sure her office
door was closed first.

“I’m
sorry that we had to bring you bad news, Major.”

She
nodded. “How certain are you that Bret is dead?”

“Not
100% certain. I suppose it’s possible that Commander Murphy wasn’t in either
the tower when it collapsed or the emergency shelter when it imploded, but if
he managed to avoid those two events, he’d still have FED ground troops to
worry about.”

He
was about to say more when Foster interjected. “Even if he was still alive, how
would he get back here? None of our ships are going there again, and if he
attempted to board a freighter, he’d have to go to Earth first and risk being
identified as an SSU defector. I wouldn’t be able to go to Midgard for the same
reasons.” She paused. Her expression was remarkably calm under the
circumstances, Drake thought to himself. Foster continued. “I suspect that you
didn’t come here just to offer your condolences. What’s on your mind?”

Drake
filled her in on the plan to shift the brain trust temporarily to another SSU
planet and eventually to a brand new colony, as well as on what he needed to be
done here while he went to Zanzibar.

“Make
sure you hop on the last freighter outta here. We’ll need people like you to
build the new colony, and besides, we can’t afford to let the FEDs get their
hands on you,” said Drake with a smile.

“I’ll
take on the mission of arranging for equipment and ships to be sent to the
rally point, but I’ll have to think about whether I want to join the new colony
or not.”

“Surely
you see the risk that you’d be taking by staying here. The FEDs would have to
be crazy not to interrogate the Head of the SSU’s Strategic Planning Section,”
said Drake.

Foster
took her time answering. He was right of course. She had lots of bits of
information in her head that the FEDs would love to hear about. The smart thing
would be to take Drake’s suggestion.

“All
right, you’ve convinced me. I’ll make sure I leave before the FEDS get here.
Give me a list of what equipment and supplies you want me to scrounge, plus the
Old Man’s authority, and I’ll get started.”

Chapter Nineteen:

089/2549

Foster
stood at the top of the boarding ramp of the freighter City of New Paris and
watched Drake’s light carrier flagship lift off. He was on his way to Zanzibar
now, and she wondered if the two of them would ever meet again. Turning to the
freighter’s skipper she said, “Let’s go to your cabin, Captain. There’s going
to be a change of plans.” When they reached the Captain’s cabin, Foster shut
the door and took out a data tablet from her pocket.

“This
is authorization from the Chief of Space Operations, as per a directive from
Chancellor Belloc, that gives me the right to change your instructions. This
ship is not going to Hekla. You’ll be going instead to the emergency rally
point, and you’re to stay there until you receive further instructions coming
from Commodore Drake and no one else. Your cargo is also going to change. This
tablet has a list of what parts of your current cargo you can keep and what new
cargo you’ll be taking on board instead of the rest. I’ll make sure that new
cargo gets here; you make sure it’s loaded. Do not discuss this change of plans
with anyone other than your Cargo Master. Your departure time has been moved up
to 24 hours from now. If the ship and the cargo aren’t ready by then, I have
the authority to relieve you of command, and I’ll use it. Is that all
understood?”

When
Foster left the freighter, she was in a good mood. Having the authority to kick
butt felt good. It was a nice change from being a desk jockey for most of the
last ten years. As she rode back to HQ, she checked her schedule. Another
freighter was due to land in the next 24 hours or so, and she was looking
forward to kicking some more butt.

Day
124/2549

On
the main display, Remington watched Vice-Admiral Steven’s shuttle’s flight from
the surface. After months of sitting in orbit and slowly going stir crazy, her
ship finally had a mission. The last minute nature of her orders to convey the
new Commander-in-Chief of First Fleet/Army Force to Hadley suggested to her
that the courier, which arrived 36 hours ago, had carried bad news. The news
media was reporting that the Council had been meeting in secret session all day.
Something was definitely up. She wondered how General Trojan would react to
being told that he was relieved of his post as CINC1FAF.  The man seemed able
to inspire almost fanatical loyalty among his senior officers. Remington found
that to be slightly disturbing, although she wasn’t quite sure why.

By
the time the shuttle had rolled to a stop in Trafalgar’s hangar bay, Remington
was there to greet Stevens. As he stepped off the shuttle, she came to
attention and gave him a textbook perfect salute. His return salute was pretty
sloppy in her opinion, but flag officers were allowed to be sloppy if they
wanted to be.

“Welcome
aboard Trafalgar, Admiral,” said Remington. His expression was not a friendly
one.

“Yes,
yes. Let’s get to my quarters, Commander. While we’re talking, I want this ship
on its way to Hadley.”

“Yes,
sir. I’ve made arrangements for your gear to be transferred to your quarters.
This way, Admiral.” As they started walking to the hatch she said, “Remington
to Bridge.”

“XO
here, Skipper.”

“XO,
get clearance to leave orbit and head for Hadley as soon as possible.”

“Understood.
Anything else, Skipper?”

“Not
right now. Remington out.” She was expecting to exchange polite conversation
with Stevens on their way to his quarters, but he remained silent. She was glad
that Trafalgar was one of the few cruisers designed with flag officer’s
quarters. That meant she wouldn’t have to give up her quarters and cause a
chain reaction of officers bumping lower ranked officers out of their living
spaces. When they entered Stevens’ quarters, he immediately took off his cap,
threw it on the desk, took off his jacket and sat down on the sofa. Remington
remained standing. Protocol demanded that she remain standing unless and until
invited to sit down by Stevens. Normally a flag officer would do that, but
Stevens showed no signs of letting her get comfortable.