Empire in Crisis (16 page)

The entire trip back to TE33 took 26 hours. Logan was
pleased to see that some of the heavy cruisers of the 55th and the 115th  had
already returned. They were ordered to join the capital ships and the undamaged
battlecruisers that would now guard the wormhole they had just emerged from.
The badly damaged battlecruisers, which were also tasked with carrying the
crews from the scuttled ships, were sent on to the Capital after dropping off
their more seriously wounded crew at the starbase. There was also an unexpected
presence. Five battlecruiser squadrons detached from other fleets to be reassigned
to two brand new strike fleets that had arrived at TE33. The new strike fleets
hadn’t been officially formed yet, and Logan used his Imperial Warrant to
‘temporarily’ attach the five undamaged squadrons to the 107th. With those 40
undamaged ships from the two strike fleets now supporting the 107th from beyond
effective beam weapon range with their warp missile barrages, Logan felt much
more confident that Zulu1 could be stopped dead in its tracks.

The tracking light cruiser warned him of the imminent
approach of Zulu1. The alien fleet emerged as expected into a hailstorm of beam
weapons and warp missile detonations. The battle lasted only 13 seconds from
start to finish. Half the alien ships were simply blown apart. The rest became
drifting wrecks waiting to be boarded. Logan composed a long message to the
Emperor with a complete report of the battle, the current condition of the
107th and his assessment of what should be done next. The message ended with a
request for instructions.

Hood took a deep breath and began her briefing for the
Emperor and Bishop. “The Working Group and I have finished our preliminary
analysis of the political reliability of all fleets except for the 107th and
their commanders. Many of the Fleet Commanders were difficult to categorize due
to a lack of reliable information. Those results were also correlated with
previous analysis on their strategic and tactical skill. That produced some
interesting results. I’ll begin my briefing with a look at Fleet Admiral Iruku
Hiakawa, commanding the 987th Reserve Capital Fleet, and Fleet Admiral Jorge
Santini, commanding the 787th Reserve Capital Fleet. Because of their family
relationships to Admiral Hiakawa, they top the list of fleet admirals
considered to be the most politically unreliable. Of the two, Santini is the
better tactician and is above average in that regard. We have not yet received
any transmissions from the 987th since the attempted coup. As you know, we did
respond to a previously sent message from Santini. Nothing further has been
received from the 787th, and at this point we don’t know if Santini has
released the 566th battlecruiser squadron. The lack of confirmation would tend
to suggest that he hasn’t. My group is still working on trying to identify
reliable and hopefully competent officers within those fleets to whom we could
give command. We haven’t found anyone like that at the squadron leader level.
As we’ve discussed, replacing Hiakawa and Santini with someone from HQ or
another fleet just might trigger the kind of rebellion that we’re hoping to
avoid.

Of the remaining 30 fleets, these 8 fleet commanders are
considered to be politically unreliable due to their history of rapid
promotions that do not seem to be justified by their performance ratings.” A
list appeared in the holographic display. “Of these eight, seven are either
below average or just slightly above average in tactical and strategic skills.
The eighth, Fleet Admiral Tanya Escadril, currently commanding the 377th, has
good strategic and tactical skills, which may explain why she is commanding the
fleet that is closest to the Kravell Empire.” Hood paused before continuing.

“Admiral Escadril is an interesting case. We found rumors
that she and the senior Hiakawa were lovers at one point, as well as rumors
that they had a falling out and that relations are strained now. There’s no way
to know for sure if that’s the case. What IS clear is that her meteoric climb
up the command ladder began after she was the Executive Officer on the ship
that Hiakawa used as his fleet flagship when he was a Fleet Commander. Up to
that point, her service record shows a normal progression up through the ranks.
She also has a reputation for setting high standards for her subordinates. That
would explain why the 377th has consistently had the highest operational
performance ratings of any of the frontline fleets. You may recall, My Emperor,
that Akoni Burke, my Fearsome Four partner, is currently assigned to that
fleet. My group did a quick check and we found that the 377th has an unusually
high percentage of line officers who were rated in the top quartile of their
Academy class in terms of strategic and tactical skills.”

DeChastelaine was about to respond when he noticed that
Bishop looked as though she wanted to speak. “Is there something you’d like to
bring forward, Admiral?” asked DeChastelaine.

“Yes, thank you, My Emperor. I may be able to add some
insight into Admiral Escadril’s personality. She and I were stationed on the
same starbase at the same time for several months, and I played poker with her
on multiple occasions. Her poker skills were not outstanding, but during those
sessions, there was the usual chatter among officers, and I came away with the
distinct impression that she is very ambitious and politically savvy. I think
that if she can be convinced that her ambitions will be better served by
supporting our current Emperor versus supporting a risky claimant to the
Throne, then she will come over to our side. Given her above average skills,
including leadership skills, I could see a case being made for promoting her to
Fleet Group Admiral.”

DeChastelaine nodded and looked back at Hood. “Who is the
Fleet Group Admiral currently commanding the fleets facing the Kravell Empire?”

Hood checked her tablet. “That would be Troy Sobrist, My
Emperor. His fleet command skills are poor and his political reliability is
uncertain. What I can tell you is that he is due to retire in less than a year.
A meaningless promotion to an HQ position would make room for Admiral Escadril
to succeed him.”

Looking at Bishop, who was grinning and nodding,
DeChastelaine said with a smile, “I have a feeling that there’s going to be a
lot of meaningless promotions to an HQ position in the coming weeks and
months.”

“Would I be correct in assuming that they won’t be staying
in those HQ positions for long, My Emperor?” asked Bishop.

“You would indeed, Admiral Bishop,” replied DeChastelaine.
All three of them laughed.

“Let’s get back to the other seven unreliables,” said
DeChastelaine when they were finished laughing. “Have you found reliable
replacements for them yet, Commander?”

Hood’s expression became one of concern. “No, My Emperor.
My group hasn’t been able to address that question yet. I’m sorry that—“

“No apologies needed, Commander,” said DeChastelaine,
“You’ve got a lot on your plate, and I’m quite satisfied with your efforts. The
Working Group is still getting results far faster than it would have under the
old regime. Let’s make that question the new top priority, shall we?”

“Yes, My Emperor.”

DeChastelaine nodded and looked at Bishop who said,
“Capital Fleet?”

“Yes, we do need to address that. I know that the temporary
fleet commander is reliable, but what about his squadron leaders, Commander?”
asked DeChastelaine.

Hood sighed. “Admiral Ackerman seems to be the exception
when it comes to Capital Fleet flag officers. All the other squadron leaders
are related to admirals who were high up in the previous command structure, and
while some of them can be described as barely competent, none of them can be
considered politically reliable.”

Before she could continue, Bishop jumped in. “How did
Ackerman manage to get promoted to command of a dreadnought squadron in Capital
Fleet, Commander?”

Hood laughed. “My group and I asked ourselves that same
question. The only answer that seems to make any sense is that Admiral Hiakawa
realized that it would be prudent to have at least one Capital Fleet squadron
leader who knew what he was doing, just in case Capital Fleet was called into
action. If his son or nephew eventually took over Capital Fleet, then they
would have a deputy fleet commander who could provide useful strategic or
tactical advice.”

DeChastelaine was no longer smiling. “My trust in Admiral
Ackerman can only go so far. All it would take is for one of the capital ship
squadron leaders to take it upon him or herself to turn the Palace into a slag
heap. Every one of Capital Fleet’s squadrons has to be commanded by a reliable
officer. Competent if possible, but reliability comes first.”

Bishop leaned forward. “My Emperor, I recommend that every
squadron leader be ordered to come down to HQ where they will be vetted via
verifier without warning. If they fail the test, they can be sequestered
somewhere where they can’t contact their squadron. We’ll continue working our
way down the command structure until we find reliable officers who will then be
given temporary promotions to squadron leader. Those temporary promotions can
be confirmed or rescinded at a later time. Once you have Capital Fleet firmly
under your control, we can use it if necessary to neutralize the 987th and the
787th.”

Oh?” asked DeChastelaine. “How would you go about using
Capital Fleet to neutralize the other two?”

“I’ll order Hiakawa and Santini to bring their fleets here
to Sol, one at a time of course. When they arrive, they’ll be ordered to
relinquish command of their fleet, and Capital Fleet will be on high alert to
back that up. With their ships being bombarded with Capital Fleet targeting
radars, I’m convinced that most of the COs commanding those ships will elect to
ignore any defiant order from Hiakawa or Santini in order to avoid being fired
upon by Capital Fleet ships. Once those two have been removed from fleet
command, we can start vetting their squadron leaders and weed out the
unreliables. At that point, you’ll have three fleets under your firm control,
and by then we’ll have identified reliable officers who can be sent to replace
the seven who are politically problematic. Escadril will see which way the
winds are blowing, and if she’s promised a Fleet Group Command, I’m sure she’ll
co-operate.”

DeChastelaine paused before responding. “If the Empire was
at peace, I’d accept your recommended plan without hesitation; however, we’re
at war, and I don’t intend to lose the war because I’ve given too much focus to
preventing a rebellion. We have to find that fine line where both objectives
are realized, if that’s even possible.” He was about to say more when his
console beeped. It was the Palace Communications Section calling.

“I’m very sorry to disturb you, My Emperor, but we’ve just
received a transmission from the 107th Fleet. You should see it on your display
now.”

Even as DeChastelaine started to read it, he said, “Make
sure that Admiral Bishop and Commander Hood can see it too.”

[Logan to Emperor DeChastelaine. After reaching Tango Delta
39, the 107th was able to determine that the starbase is still intact although
FTL equipment is non-functional. All starbase personnel are missing and
presumed captured. Evidence from starbase astrogational logs suggests that the
enemy now has a copy of all Empire astrogational data including starbase and
fleet locations. Attempted interception of stolen data was pre-empted by
appearance of alien fleet consisting of 144, repeat 144, ships. 76 enemy ships
were disabled during ambush at the TD38 end of wormhole. An unknown number of
additional enemy ships were crippled and damaged during penetration of enemy
gauntlet guarding the next wormhole. The 107th lost one battlecruiser. At least
eleven battlecruisers severely damaged and all other ships have sustained some
damage. The number of warp capable ships left in the 107th is not yet known
with certainty. My plan is to reach Tango Epsilon 33 before enemy fleet does.
Remaining missile inventories are low. If we can reach TE33 first, we’ll make
our stand there. End of message.]

“My God, they’re back and in strength this time,” said
DeChastelaine. Turning to Bishop, he said, “Can the 107th stop those—” he
paused to do a quick calculation “—68 ships?”

Bishop sighed. “Difficult to say with any certainty, My
Emperor; however, if our squadron movement data is accurate, there should be at
least four, possibly five battlecruiser squadrons at TE33 by the time the 107th
gets there, if they can manage to get there first. Those extra squadrons will
have full missile loads, and that’s got to make a difference.”

“And if they can’t get there first?” asked DeChastelaine.

“Then those battlecruisers may not be able to stop that
enemy fleet, and the TE33 starbase will be vulnerable along with the
engineering support ships and personnel we sent there to examine the captured
cripples, My Emperor,” replied Bishop.

“Is there anything we can do right now that might make a
difference to the defence of TE33?” asked DeChastelaine.

“I don’t see how, My Emperor. I would not recommend sending
Capital Fleet, even after we vet all the squadron leaders, and certainly not
right now. Leaving Earth undefended would be an invitation for Hiakawa or
Santini to walk right in and land their marines in the Palace courtyard.
Capital Fleet couldn’t get there fast enough in any case. There are over 60
battlecruiser and heavy cruiser squadrons on their way to TE33. Of those, 4 or
5 might already be there. We may be able to divert the rest to rally further
back at TE21, which has a colonized world. By the time the enemy fleet pushes
that far forward, if they continue to push forward, there should be enough
squadrons of both types to fight them off. And if Logan can stop them at TE33,
the squadrons at TE21 can be moved forward relatively quickly to reinforce
him.”

“Yes, I see the advantages of that plan. What are your
thoughts, Commander?”

Hood took another quick glance at the message still being
displayed. “If the enemy has our entire astrogational database, then our entire
Rift border is potentially at risk now. I recommend that we alert the other
Rift fleets that they should prepare for possible incursions in their systems,
My Emperor. I would also recommend that Logan be authorized to organize the
battlecruiser and heavy cruiser reinforcement squadrons as he sees fit. Rather
than organize new strike fleets, it just may be easier and more efficient to
incorporate those squadrons into the 107th. Those of his ships that are damaged
can be sent back here for repair, and when those repairs are done, those ships
can be assigned to Capital Fleet to boost its strength.”