Kelly Blake 3: Where the Stars Are Few and Far Between (24 page)

Several around the room asked for a briefing on how the war was proceeding. Kelly promised to do so tomorrow if the minister approved. He did and Kelly said he would bring his own holographic viewer.

The next morning, Kelly set his viewer up in the center of the table. He turned it on and all of GR, K’Rang, and Angaerry space appeared. It filled up most of the large table’s surface. Kelly oriented them to the display, pointing out Gronir, G’Durin, and Earth. He then zoomed into the Eridanus sector to point out the four captured worlds. Murmurs arose around the table as the Angaerry saw a parallel to their situation. He moved the display to show where the two combined fleets were attacking toward G’Durin. More murmurs arose around the table as they realized the size of the two combined fleets. The GR had more ships in each of the the two combined fleets than in the whole Angaerry Fleet, and still had two more carrier battle groups.

An Angaerry captain-equivalent asked about the value of the carriers. Kelly gave a short lesson on the value of carriers in projecting power and providing more options for the fleet commanders. The captain-equivalent said the Angaerry had experimented with carriers, but had determined they did not have the flexibility of thought and penchant for independent action necessary for proper fighter operations. He finished by saying perhaps they could learn that from the Humans.

Kelly continued with his briefing and highlighted the lost Angaerry worlds. He asked for the latest information on the K’Rang occupation and a mid-rank staff officer stood up. He briefed that two of the worlds were being used almost exclusively for raw mineral extraction and refining. Two of the worlds had K’Rang settlements. One world was being used for K’Rang ship construction and the sixth was the K’Rang provincial government hub.

Kelly asked which planet was the shipbuilding center and he was pointed to the one away from all the others. Kelly wondered out loud if he could get permission to investigate this world and attack it. The minister, engaged in a side conversation, perked up at this and said, why not. If he meant to go in with his ship alone, the K’Rang couldn’t tie the attack to them. He explained that they were currently having technical problems with their latest defensive missiles and couldn’t hold off a K‘Rang attack. If Kelly wanted to attack the K’Rang, the Minister just asked that he attack from within K’Rang space, not from Angaerry space. The Minister then asked if he could send an observer along.

Kelly said he thought an observer and translator could be accommodated on the Orion. Kelly concluded his briefing by bringing up images of the various classes of GR ships and explaining their capabilities. Afterward, he had several officers asking about Earth and life there.

* * * * *

Tammy was exhausted. Her squadron had flown three missions today in support of the 15th Battle Fleet, as they attempted to lure the K‘Rang away from the four captured worlds. It hadn’t resulted in luring them away, but reduced the K’Rang numbers by 10 ships. The back-to-back missions took a toll on her, though. The rings provided flexibility and quick turn-arounds, but also put more strain on the crews. Tammy was feeling that strain. She had been in daily combat since the campaign started and noticed she was using alcohol too much to help her sleep. She needed a break.

She asked Commander Tanaka when they might see a break in the action so the squadron could be pulled from the rotation for a couple of days or so. He replied that he had been asking for just that for weeks, and had been told there was another wing coming into Sirius Base. When it arrived, the squadrons could be rotated in and out of the mission schedule. It wasn’t a solution for the immediate problem, but provided hope, at least. She resolved to moderate her drinking and see the flight surgeon for some sleep aids.

* * * * *

Admiral Thomas made a presentation to Admiral Chang and the two combined fleet commanders. “I’d like to borrow your six assault landing groups to conduct an assault on the world the K’Rang are using as a maintenance and supply base. I’ll attack it first and use it as a base for subsequent assaults on the four captured worlds, if needed. We may not need to assault the four worlds once we cut off the K’Rang supplies. The K’Rang would be faced with two options: attack my fleet or retreat back into K’Rang space.”

Admiral Chang said, “Sue, this plan couldn’t have come at a better time. The Marines are bored, and a bored Marine is trouble waiting to happen. Dave, Avi, do you have any objections?”

Both admirals said no and Admiral Chang ordered them to chop their three ALGs to Admiral Thomas’s 15th Battle Fleet, effective immediately. Admiral Thomas returned to her fleet with a big smile on her face.

Admiral Chang asked Admirals Levi and Haddock-Halloway to remain behind, as Sue left, to discuss what to do about the K’Rang line attack. Admiral Levi, who appeared to be their first target, spoke first.

“Admiral, I’ve started zigzagging to throw off their angle of attack. I’m turning off base course to police up K’Rang worlds along my path. I go in, take out their defenders, destroy any communications stations, space docks and ground FTL ship facilities, and move on to the next planet along my course. I’ve also spread my fleet further apart and am varying my speed to make my position less predictable. All this, plus Sue’s recent success in the Eridanus sector, must be putting them off. I was sure I’d be attacked by now.”

Admiral Haddock-Halloway said, “I’ve spread my fleet further apart, too. I haven’t zigzagged as much because most of the K’Rang main worlds are close to my base course. I could start doing so. I’d like to recommend that a force of scout ships be sent in to continue harassing G’Durin. Specifically, we need to destroy their FTL comms hubs. If we can cut off their comms, we gain more security, because the scouts they have watching us won’t be reporting as frequently.”

Admiral Chang agreed and said, “See if you can get your scouts to sniff out and destroy the K’Rang scouts shadowing you. I’ll talk to Paolo about taking out the comms hubs.”

Within six hours of the order being given, the first comms hubs started disappearing from the K’Rang networks. In 18 hours, the K’Rang home world was cut off from FTL comms entirely. In 36 hours, the K’Rang had no FTL comms network. Shadow Force Commander (Baron) G’Rof was deaf, mute, and blind. His attempts to activate reserve hubs resulted in no more than six hours of comms before they, too, were taken out. He had to guard his reserve comms hubs wisely. He only had six more.

* * * * *

Major Chen was ecstatic. They were being sent in to take a world from the K’Rang in the Eridanus sector. The 15th Battle Fleet’s two scouts had done an excellent job of getting data on the planet’s defenses and facilities, even though the K’Rang had surface defense batteries. The new disruptor guns and the scouts’ ability to fly in the atmosphere resulted in heavy losses for the K’Rang batteries. The scouts had pretty much unfettered access to the skies over the planet until a hidden battery, with its guns and sensors on standby waiting for an unlucky scout ship to pass overhead, ambushed the Vengeance. Damage to her shields required her to withdraw and repair.

Frigates from the 15th battle Fleet went in and took out the rest of the defensive batteries. Mary Chen read out the K’Rang forces troop list: 5,000 occupation troops, 1,000 rescued sailors, and 2,000 logistics specialists. There were 5,000 other troops and rescued sailors on the captured worlds that could be brought in to bolster the defense.

Admiral Thomas was certainly telegraphing her move. The planet’s reinforcement would increase the odds in the K’Rang’s favor, but would also make it easier to free the captured worlds. One of the goals of her operation was to bring the remaining K’Rang fleet into open space and defeat them in toto. If not, she could at least get between them and the captured worlds and drive them out of GR space.

Mary tasked the battalion commanders to start pre-combat checks and ensure vehicle loads matched the load plans. They had already passed division’s inspection, but Mary saw some discrepancies the inspectors missed. You didn’t want to be digging around in a vehicle looking for ammo or grenades in a firefight. That’s why all like vehicles were loaded exactly the same: grenades went behind the driver’s seat and spare ammo charges behind the passenger’s.

 
Chapter Thirteen
 

 The day dawned bright and a little chilly as Kelly stood on the quarterdeck, awaiting the arrival of his Angaerry observer and assistant. A ground car pulled up and a rating got out with its baggage (Kelly still could not tell male Angaerry from female). The door on the passenger side opened and Kelly thought he recognized the Angaerry officer that stepped out. He did. It was Flotilla Commander Lenkva. Watching Lenkva gather gear and proceed up the gangplank, Kelly wondered if Lenkva outranked Kelly. Lenkva reached the top of the gangplank and made the hand wave sign. Kelly did not know how to respond.

Jotil Lenkva spoke to her translator and she spoke to Kelly’s. Kelly’s translator said he should signal the superior wave.

Kelly gave the wave designating himself as the superior and Jotil Lenkva smiled. Kelly welcomed her aboard and asked her to follow him, as they would be departing shortly. He introduced Jotil Lenkva around the CIC and then showed her to her quarters, a private cabin in officers’ country, and her translator was put up in Chief’s country, in her own cabin after her sex was determined. Jotil Lenkva had seen that the ambassador and Kelly’s translators were female and thought that was how it was supposed to be.

Kelly gave them 15 minutes to get settled in and had them summoned to the CIC. He showed Jotil Lenkva to a seat next to his command seat in CIC and had their translators sit behind them. The Ops translator requested permission to take off. It was approved and Kelly ordered a standard departure. They lifted off smoothly and climbed quickly to beyond the atmosphere. As they cleared the last orbital plane, Kelly ordered a course for the K’Rang worlds at FTL power 5. The Orion smoothly accelerated and came to the course heading.

Jotil Lenkva commented that when she escorted the Orion to the home world, Kelly was merely loafing, while her ships were straining. Kelly said he was and Jotil Lenkva laughed. Kelly asked if she would like a tour of the ship and she said she would.

Kelly took her to the bridge first. She was amazed at the small number of crew on the bridge. They went down to engineering and Lieutenant Commander Brown gave her a tour of his engines. Jotil Lenkva was very impressed and tried unsuccessfully to get Lieutenant Commander Brown to tell her their top speed, which Brown would only say was faster than they were going now.

They went into weapons and Chief Pennypacker showed Jotil Lenkva how to work the controls, then started the simulator. The translators had trouble keeping up with Chief P, but their guest slowly understood the simulation and Jotil Lenkva took out the first three targets easily. The next four gave her a little bit of trouble, but she got all of them. Next were double targets and their guest missed only one. The last set of four was the multiple turret scenario. Kelly powered up the gunnery position next over and ran the sim protocol. Kelly let Jotil Lenkva handle all the targets she could and he took out any that got past her. Kelly only had to fire on three leakers.

Jotil Lenkva climbed out of the position and asked, “Captain, is the effect on the ships in the simulator how it is in reality?”

“Yes, it is.”

Jotil Lenkva pondered for a bit then said, “I am so glad we allied with the Galactic Republic. No wonder you are so confident as to pit your ship against an entire K’Rang world. Many thought your request was pure braggadocio. I was chosen because no one else believed you.”

Kelly said, “Well, at least you had faith in me.”

Jotil Lenkva paused for a second and said, “It wasn’t that I believed you or didn’t. I wanted to see what your capabilities were. If we are to be allies, we must know what each other’s capabilities and foibles are. If you turned out to be a braggart, I would have reported that you might not be trusted to accomplish all you say you can. As it is, that may not be a part of my report. I will report truthfully what I see and experience.”

Kelly said, “As long as you are fair and truthful, you may report on anything you see or hear here.”

“Captain, rest assured I will be fair and truthful.”

Jotil Lenkva could not help herself. After she got used to his strange appearance and his casual style, she liked this captain. She felt this was going to be a very interesting patrol on which to report – she already had disintegrator cannons to report. She wondered how long they would be allied before that technology was made available to their fleet.

* * * * *

Mary Chen sat down with the 1st Brigade commander to receive his guidance on their plan to assault and capture the K’Rang supply world. Colonel Maxwell relayed the guidance he received from the division commander: their brigade would lead the attack against the K’Rang supply depot. They would face approximately 2,000 support and combat soldiers. Their brigade would attack into and secure the supply depot, 2nd Brigade would attack and capture the spaceport. 3rd Brigade would attack and clear the large cantonment area to the north.

Mary looked at the recon photos taken by a scout ship and saw a large, roughly square-shaped facility. Each area was divided from the others by a two-meter high berm. Ammunition storage occupied the southeast quadrant. Fuel took up the southwest quadrant. General supplies and the depot HQ occupied the center of the facility. The northeast quadrant contained what appeared to be spare parts for ship repairs. A small tent city occupied the northwest quadrant.

Mary took this guidance and formulated a plan. She would have 1st battalion, 22nd Marines (Heavy) secure the facility perimeter and prevent any reinforcements. This would put the strongest unit on the perimeter with their armored vehicles, to seal it from external reinforcement and internal escapees. 2nd battalion, 22nd Marines (Light) would attack and clear the tent city and then secure the HQ area. 2nd battalion, 15th Marines (Light) would attack and secure the fuel and ammo storage areas to the south. The two light battalions would move into the facility to root out any resistance, deal with any defenders, and secure the supplies so they could not be used to defend the facility.