Federation Reborn 1: Battle Lines (43 page)

Hecate
and the other frigates could only stay there so long he thought. He was proud that
Hecate
had done so many tours as she had. He needed to keep his destroyers concentrated, not out in penny packets picketing the empty star system. That was what a frigate was for anyway. He shook his head as he rejected the idea. “Yes, sir. And we'd alert them that something was going on in the area, something to beware of. Understood, sir. I was just thinking out loud.”

“No, you were forward thinking. You are right. We're just not there
yet
. We are getting there. I am going to set up a dedicated factory to produce mines and weapon platforms in the next quarter. Sprite and the staff are working on adjusting that now,” he stated.

“I bet Sindri is just overjoyed by that, sir,” Amadeus stated with a tight grin.

“He's still after me to step up the pace and jump to cruisers. I'm not ready to commit to that yet. We've got too many fires and not enough firemen to man them all. But we will. And while they and you are busy acting as the cork in the bottle, we'll be turning out more ships to back you up.”

Amadeus grimaced. He could use a couple cruisers right about now he thought, not the escort carrier he'd been promised. “Yes, sir. It is getting lonely here. I've got the fighter group running working-up exercises, but they could use a proper platform to do the job off of,” he said. He shook his head again. His engineers had requested that they be allowed to tow a rock to the B-95a3 jump point so they could hollow it out and use it as a fortress. He hadn't signed off on the idea since it would have taken a massive amount of fuel and time, not to mention resources to pull off. Resources he didn't have or at least not enough of.

“You keep poaching my best pilots,” Amadeus grumbled, “and replacing them with greenhorns who can barely fly.”

“Which is why you train them until it becomes instinct. The next supply convoy is still on schedule. Make sure you get them unloaded and turned around ASAP,” John texted back.

“We could use some more facilities on this end to do that or more vacuum-proof cargo pods,” Amadeus suggested. He had stores on the jump point as well as in orbit and on the planet. He had even authorized his people to put small stashes of fuel and weapons in the thin asteroid belt. But it wasn't enough, never enough. Now Harris was on his hairy ass about a live fire exercise! He shook his head. “That way they could be kicked out and then tacked together in a bundle for easy storage and handling.”

He didn't like the long shuttle flights to the planet. They hadn't lost a shuttle in months but two had taken ground fire last month while on approach to the spaceport and one was still on the ground waiting for repair parts. That made eight hits since the invasion and three shuttle losses. Fortunately, no casualties recently but the enemy was getting better … or just ready to take on more risk to take a shuttle out or more desperate he thought.

“Hmm,” Irons murmured. “I'll look into it. In the meantime, get with your ship engineers. They have the blueprints on file. See if you can pick up some rocks and build some field facilities on your end.”

“We've done that,” Amadeus said. “It's not enough.”

“Then expand it,” John replied.

“More work for my people?” Amadeus responded. He didn't like that idea. His engineers had enough on their plates keeping their ships functional. “I'm not thrilled about pulling ships off of their deployments to do that, sir.”

“Some work in their spare time. Put a detachment together in a shuttle then or however you see fit to work it. I'll put a memo in to get you a tug and a small Spacebee group to lend you a hand when I can. When Commander V'rn'th finishes up in Senka, I'll send her people your way,” he said soothingly.

Amadeus nodded. Having a dedicated engineering team on hand would be a major relief. They should have thought of it earlier. He grimaced, remembering none were in the pipeline though.

Everyone was working flat out in Antigua. Perhaps there had been a new draft from the latest convoy from Pyrax? Or one coming in? He shook his head. No, they were down on personnel transfers because the transports had come to Protodon of course! And they were still stuck in Kathy's World since John didn't want to risk them in B-452C. He shook his head and then shrugged. “Thank you, sir. That would be much appreciated—in space and on the ground.”

“All right. Anything else?”

“About the transports. I suggest you coordinate them. Put the …,” Amadeus frowned, plucking at his lower lip before he got his thoughts together. “Pull the frigate
Rose
off picket duty there and have her escort them to B-452C. Have the picket in Agnosta time it so they arrive at their jump point in the star system at the same time. Then just send the ships over. They should be safe enough.”

“Good idea. I'll pass it along. Antigua signing off.”

---<>---<>---

“You think this will work?” Doctor Thornby asked, looking at Admiral Irons.

“It'll work. You're here to make it work, Doctor. Figure it out,” the admiral said. “You and Matilda,” the admiral said, nodding to the woman next to the doctor.

“I know we can make it work. We've done it once,” Matilda replied with a shrug. “But getting the training centers on the island will be interesting. I've never been on a planet.”

“It should be a new experience for you. For both of you,” the admiral said with a nod to both women. “And you've gotten your immunization shots, right?” Both women nodded. “Fine then.”

“So, how much support should I expect?”

“Get down there, do the survey, then come up with a wish list. We'll talk then.”

“A wish list.”

“Yes, hospital, administration building, college, classrooms …,” Sprite suggested from the small holographic projector near the admiral's elbow.

“Okay. And the labs and facilities for the resurrection project. I've been keeping up to date with the Seti project. I understand we're getting somewhere. Finally,” she said.

“Yes. I don't know the details though. I've got my fingers crossed,” the admiral admitted.

“We'll need an architect, engineer … an entire team,” Matilda said, cocking her head in thought. The admiral could see the wheels already turning. “Communications to the stations … I suppose we can poach from the college if we want ….”

“Don't let them hear you say that,” Doctor Thornby said dryly. “Staff?”

“Medical staff in system. Start with them then get me a list.”

“Okay, you're being pretty freewheeling about all this, you know that, right?”

“To be honest the medical side isn't my specialty, Doc,” the admiral replied. “That's on you.”

“Ah. Well, I'm glad I took that stop in Agnosta and Triang then,” Doctor Thornby replied with a nod.

“Me too. It allowed me to catch up,” Matilda replied. “Shall we?”

“I don't know, shall we?” Doctor Thornby asked, turning her attention to the admiral. “And are you free for lunch or dinner sometime?”

John blinked at her then snorted when Sprite turned a grin his way. “I suppose,” he said.

“Good,” Nara replied with a satisfied smile. Matilda grinned as well. “That way we can catch up on old times.”

“If you say so,” the admiral replied dubiously. He knew when he was outnumbered. It wasn't fair; he was the senior officer yet the ladies already had him ducking and covering. “Okay, let Sprite know when you're here, and we'll try to arrange the schedules to match. But I warn you, I'm pretty busy.”

“Servicing replicators, dealing with various people, dropping to the planet to play politics, going to the station to visit April, or speak at the college … yeah. He's heavily booked,” Sprite said. “But I think I can pencil you in … now?”

“Now?” Matilda asked, delighted.

“Sure, why not? He needs to eat lunch,” Sprite said mendaciously.

“Um …” All three females turned on the admiral. Nara raised an eyebrow at him. “Okay,” he held up his hands in surrender. “I know when I'm outvoted and outnumbered,” he laughed.

“Wise man,” Matilda murmured with a smile.

Chapter 24

Despite losing
Bismark
things were looking up Admiral Subert thought. He was cautiously optimistic about the future now that his first division of battle cruisers were working up. It had been a long time coming he had to admit.

He didn't want to admit it but perhaps Doctor Taylor had been right. He was still having a few issues with time shock, and adjusting to the new time period was hard on him. He'd gambled a bit before but he hadn't hit the casinos as often as he did in Pyrax, for instance. That was what had twigged him that he had a problem, but he'd initially chalked it up to a gambling addiction.

The doctor had told him it was natural to feel a bit of loss, to be depressed and adrift. He understood the theory, but accepting it had taken time. At least he hadn't gotten into taking unnecessary risks or expressed his depression in other ways. And the doctor could chalk up his adversity with the old staff to that, but he knew better. The place had needed a good shaking out.

Fortunately, he had people like Saul who were also going through the same thing. Saul was buried in his work; that was how he was dealing with the problem. But that was only putting it off; it wasn't solving it. It was also causing stress fractures in the man; the admiral had been so afraid he would crack that he'd forced the other man to take a week of leave on the
Oasis of Space
. When Saul had returned, he'd been different, calmer, more in control of himself once more. He'd also gotten a girlfriend. The admiral snorted. He wished the man all the luck with that. Some women were trouble, pure and simple.

He'd finally taken a hard look at Horatio Logan. To have done what he had done … and he was a sleeper too. He could understand some of the man now he thought. Which was why the two men were together having beers on the one-year anniversary of his arrival in Pyrax.

Alcohol and other recreational drugs were known to loosen people up, loosen tongues. He hoped it would get them over the wall they had built between themselves. Horatio didn't know it, but he wasn't going to remain in his position for much longer. Phil estimated that it would be another year, perhaps less, before he was promoted and sent somewhere else. Most likely to run the Spacebees, he thought.

And that would be a shame because the old man was good at his job. Damn good. And he'd miss that. His work on the
Liberty
,
Victory
, marine transport, and new destroyer designs was excellent. He also hadn't shirked getting the yard up and running once Phil had cracked the whip. Oh, maybe a bit of foot dragging but not as much as he'd expected.

He just wished John would pick a damn destroyer design so they could mass produce them. They were about out of
Nelsons
, so that was a good thing in some ways. But apparently he'd recently signed off on building the new
Fletcher
XXI
design instead of his own vaunted
Shield Maiden
.

Apparently, he was lauding the designer a Lieutenant Gray for his work and for pitching it to Lieutenant Commander Wong, Commander Sindri, and others. The group had built the design using as much off-the-shelf components as possible. Seventy percent of her design came from the
Nelson
flight VI family. She had a diamond cluster of frigate engines in her rear. The smaller engines should have made her slow, but their high number meant she could keep up with other ships in her class.

He could see the uses. The
Fletcher
was to be a fleet destroyer, a balanced platform with her two cruiser grade turrets, six point defense phasers, and four rail guns. Since she had cell-based counter missiles, she had the fire control suite from an
Arboth
. She could handle swarms of missiles. He could see Lieutenant Commander Wong and Captain Lyon's hand in that since they'd also added hard points to allow the ship to take on missile pods, defense or weapon drones, or other modular systems without sacrificing her firing arcs. She'd be one hell of a ship once they got one in space.

John's
Shield Maiden
on the other hand was a defense ship. A take-off of the
Nelson
in many respects, great for defending fleets or convoys but not for much else. She sacrificed a lot of her offensive armament to do the job, which made her have quite a few detractors. It was odd; John wasn't known for building specialists. If he had to pick which ship he'd have, it'd be a
Fletcher
, and he'd made that point to John in their last discussion, which was why the ship's design had been fast tracked and the Antigua yard had already started to lay the first prototype ship down.

He frowned thoughtfully, scratching at his chin. He liked that John had a goatee and wasn't so picky about facial hair. He was tempted to grow a beard or mustache just for the hell of it. He could just imagine Amadeus's reaction, he thought with a small smile.