Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (54 page)

“For good reason.”

“Be that as it may, I know he's going over a list of colleges to provide accreditation too in order to accept their credentials and allow them to administer the board of exam.”

The admiral nodded. “Okay …”

“He's got the list, but politics have reared its ugly head. A few names aren't on it, and he's fighting to keep them off.”

“Perhaps he can explain why. But you have thoughts?”

“Yes, Admiral, I suppose I do. We're going to have to find a point of compromise somewhere since he's only accepting Pyrax and Antigua right at the moment.” The admiral winced. “We're going to need to work with education to get the others up to speed.”

She stopped when he held up a restraining hand. “You mean you're going to get Professor Tyler and his office to work with D'red to accomplish that. The art of delegation,” the admiral said as Sprite blinked. He smiled thinly. Her eyes narrowed in speculation. “They can do the same while they overhaul the police and federal investigator offices as well while they are at it. They can draw on other sources if need be though. Sheriff Derrango has a good setup. So does a few cities on Antigua and I know Jeff has tapped them to form the nucleus of his own planetary police force. I suppose NCIS and JAG, possibly the academy, could be called in … wait, you mentioned only the civilian colleges were accepted?”

“Yes, Admiral. I think he overlooked the military ones.”

“He did indeed. Tell him to fix that.”

“I'll remind him at the meeting.”

“Okay then.

---<>))))

“This is going to change things, isn't it, Commander?” Fletcher asked. Sprite sent an affirmative to him. “We need more information before action can be formulated.”

“Yes, yes we do. But some actions we can take now in order to prepare us for future decisions,” the A.I. replied.

“Like what?” Protector asked.

“I imagine the admiral will let us know in his good time. I bet we're going to accelerate the pace even more but don't quote me on that.”

“Lovely.”

“In the meantime, Fletcher, I'm passing you a file. It's a bot and series of spiders programmed to look for the mention of this
El Dorado
and
Olympus
. Also some filters and embedded Turing processor modules. Some module modifications for questioning people as well. Use them.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Ma'am, is this going to change things with us? The manning issue?” Protector asked.

“How so?”

“Well, we've got ship A.I., base A.I. all different classes. Are we going to expand on that? Or even … even follow some of the practices that were put into place by A.I. during the Xeno war?”

“It hasn't come to that,” Sprite instantly answered. “We are nowhere near the need of a Ghost Fleet or other weapon, and I doubt the admiral would sign off on kamikaze A.I. No, we're just in deeper than we'd like.”

“Each time you think you have the puzzle figured out the image shifts or a piece no longer fits and you are back to square one,” Fletcher stated.

“Something like that. Where did you pick that one up from?”

“Captain Montgomery. He warned me not to jump to conclusions when I first met him.”

“Good. Learn what you can from him.”

“Oh, I am definitely going to do so, ma’am,” Fletcher replied as they conference broke up.

Chapter
30

Whenever he had a free moment in his schedule, Admiral Irons went back over the latest intel briefs and summaries. One leapt at him however, the biggest threat. The elephant in the galaxy, something they were going to have to do something about and soon. They hadn't found her, and despite taking each of the prisoner's apart, they hadn't gained much more useful information. But … he frowned as he considered the
El Dorado
implications. He tapped at the sector plot and then considered a new plan of attack. “Protector said you are thinking deep thoughts,” Sprite observed when he didn't say anything, just stared at the plot.

He didn't look up from his desk. He'd given up wondering about her occasional popping in and out. It was comforting in a way. “Yes. I'm thinking of a complete change in strategy or at least a partial one.”

“Oh?”

“When we discussed it on the ride back from
Lemnos
,” the admiral's eyes cut around to make sure he was in a secure place. Since it was his office, he was, but he had realized he'd spoken the word out loud. Sprite for her part just rolled her eyes and then made a throat clearing sound in order to get him to continue. “What we originally planned was for Amadeus to go in with a proper force. We'd support him; he'd go in with marines, conquer the star system, invade the planet, secure it, then resupply, then move on to the next target.”

“And you are saying that is changed?” Sprite asked carefully, drawing him out.

“Yes. I'm now thinking about going in, taking down any space force, securing the orbitals, then move on. Fast. I don't think we have the
time
to do this the right way.” He shook his head. “Not anymore.”

Sprite nodded as she thought about the idea. “You are thinking better quick and dirty. Get in, hammer them, then move on and so on until you hit something that hits back or you can't break. Get in as deep as you can as fast as you can. A play for real estate. Possibly as strategic breathing room.”

The admiral nodded grimly. “Before whatever this
El Dorado
is gets their fleet up to our level.” He still wasn't sure how much they could do. The keys were a big question mark. Ship fitters and yard workers though …

“They will still have to deal with training, Admiral—skills, implants …”

“I know. They've got their veterans to use as a core force though that they can transplant into the new construction like we're now doing. But that is time. Time we may not have.”

“We don't even know where
El Dorado
is. “

“Sigma sector,” the admiral said, pulling up a star map. “That's where the intel says it is, and I'm inclined to agree. It's got to be there or one of the other sectors nearby. It's not here; if it had been, they would have been all over us. The same if it was in Tau or Pi. If it had been in either one of those sectors, we would have seen convoys moving about.”

“True. We also would have seen a lot more of their traffic. Convoys moving in and out, which we haven't. And the indications from the Horathian fleet ships we ran into said they came from Horath and in this direction.”

“Exactly.”

“So … punch in, then just leave the locals hanging? Admiral, while we're off securing other star systems, they will still be slaughtered. Genocide …”

The admiral grimaced in pain. “Is happening now. We do the best we can with what we've got. Maybe if they see us come in, they will rally … or the Horathians will stop in order to cover their asses for when the marines finally do arrive.”

“The threat of a war crime tribunal? It might make them behave or destroy evidence or take the population hostage or go insane and kill everyone. We can't count on their seeing reason though, Admiral,” Sprite warned him quietly.

“I know,” he said, closing his eyes in pain. “Triage, Sprite, it's the best we can do.”

“I know. I just don't have to
like
it.”

“Then don't. I don't either. This is the least painful in a menu of bad options. We'll get them cleaned up, have the worst who survive put on trial for war crimes—the usual. It's going to be bloody. If Protodon showed us anything ….” He shook his head. Protodon was getting cleaned up but it was a messy ongoing process. The pirates there knew they were trapped and probably knew they were going to face justice when they were caught. That was a powerful incentive to go down fighting. Worse from their perspective, they were determined to take down others with them if they were cornered. “We can't be bogged down on such things. The marines can follow at their own speed. Hit a planet, secure it, consolidate, then do a bounding forward or fall back for refit and resupply as a new unit moves in. Whatever Forth and his staff think they can handle.”

“Yes, sir,” Protector said.

“Once we get in deep enough, we'll be fighting over their territory. Push them back away from our own,” Sprite mused.

“Exactly. Make them pay twice or three times for the real estate if necessary. The usual about fighting in someone
else's
backyard. We can do a fighting retreat. Bleed them dry if we have to,” he said firmly. “Keep them away from Protodon and Antigua for as long as possible forever if we can.”

“The loss of people from Epsilon Triangula points to a quantum jump in their navigational abilities, Admiral,” Sprite warned.

“They've got to get them home first, integrate them, condition, train … and then have the hardware to use with them. They also have a finite supply.”

“True. I know that planet was one of your aces in the hole though. It might be a future target. It is definitely worth protecting, if not just because of that and its strategic location, but also politically.” The admiral grunted and then nodded once.

“Get me Amadeus, Phillip, and Jersey. No,” He held up a restraining hand as Protector silently put their various schedules and time zones up for him on his HUD. “Scratch that. I'll take it up with them in the next conference. That's in two days, correct?”

Protector nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Good,” Admiral Irons replied, nodding. “Then we've got time to work on the ship movements and probe ONI. I want everything they've got on the targets.”

“Yes, sir. I'll forward the order to Captain Montgomery now. I know they've been assembling the data for a while, but it will mean another shift in priorities.”

The admiral's eyes shifted to Sprite's. “I know. They'll handle it. Get with Turner. Start with
Maine
. You mentioned they were getting stale. Fine. We've already cut orders for the First Division to be reassigned to TF22 at the end of the month. It's time we sped that up. I want them off to him by the end of the week if not sooner.”

Sprite nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Turner will need to be brought in of course. But we're going to be doing some shifting of the fleet to Amadeus. It should help him block this Fourth Fleet.”

“Yes, sir, I suppose it will at that,” Sprite said dryly. “If they get the chance. The genies are a big question mark.”

The admiral nodded. “Next, I want Vestri in here. Rearrange my schedule. We're going to need to conference with Horatio and Phil I suppose, but I want Vestri to start the spade work now. We're going to shift manufacturing priorities to the carriers.”

“The carriers, sir?”

“Yes. They are the best way to take down an enemy capital ship with the smallest investment. They can project power and can act as defensive units.”

“Yes, sir, that they can. I know it's not going to sit well with the dwarf though.”

“I'll handle him and Amadeus of course,” the admiral grimaced. The priority shift was going to shake up more than just BuShips he knew. “We're going to need changes to logistics of course.” He grimaced. What he was proposing was a major disruption in the making that would cost them time. Time they may not have he thought darkly. “I want you to get with Qr'll'ck and push recruiting. Here and in the other star systems. If we have to, we'll find a way to get a ship or convoy to move through an area to pick them up.”

---<>))))

Vestri Sindri stormed back into his office and flopped his small but mighty frame into the chair behind the desk. The yeoman outside his office door leaned in to see him. “What are you looking at?” he growled. “Back to work,” he snarled, waving a massive hand. The head instantly disappeared. He closed his eyes and counted to a hundred.

A moment later he heard a knock at the open hatch. “What?” he demanded, half snarling. He opened his eyes to see Kinja and Yao standing in the doorway. “Sorry.”

“Rough day I take it?” the birdman asked, cocking his head.

“And it's just started,” Vestri drawled. “We've got our marching orders. We're shifting focus from building a battle line to carriers.”

“A mixed fleet?” Kinja asked. “I know we were leaning in that direction but …”

“No, a carrier fleet now,” Vestri replied with a shake of his massive head. “Apparently something has the admiral spooked. Spooked enough for us to shift to a carrier approach.”

“We're going to need to coordinate with fighter command,” Kinja said quietly, expression taking on a distant look as she started to work the problem. “Shift priorities from … well, everything? We've already gotten the escort carrier line up and running. Are we going to make escorts using the
Arboth
frame? I thought we ruled that one out?”

“We did,” Yao replied.

“So …”

“Destroyers will remain. Small ships will remain. But we're going to shift focus from the cruisers, battle cruisers, and capital ships to carriers.”

“Carriers—well, I'm glad we've gotten the
America
class in service then,” Kinja said.

“She's supposed to be a prototype. We've got three follow-ons of her class here, and two more in Pyrax, but I was … we … damn it …” he stuttered to a stop and then scrubbed his frustrated face with his hands. “Damn it!” he growled, fists clenched. He banged the desktop a few times.

“Feel better?” Kinja asked.

He eyed her then snorted as he shook his hand out. There was a noticeable dent where he'd hit the metal table top. The banging had knocked some of the items on his desk off and shorted out some of the electronics. “Not a bit.”

“Figures,” she said. “Pyrax has
Argus
under construction, right? The first fleet carrier? Was that a case of one-upmanship between you and Captain Logan or …”

“Something like that. I
thought
Admiral Irons had signed off on the battle cruiser approach. Apparently that went out the window. I swear, if he changes his mind for another …,” he bit the thought off, aware he had an audience.

“Changes his mind like his underwear? It's not like him. I mean, he will if he gets new data, adjust his course. But …,” Yao shrugged.

“You've known him longer than both of us,” Kinja said eying the bird man. The chimera's black feathers went up in a parrot-like flair before he clacked his beak and shrugged the consideration off. “Spill,” she ordered, crossing her arms.

“I think something came in to change his entire view of the war. The future moves. We're only seeing the small picture. It's our job to execute the orders. It's his job to see what is coming several moves ahead and anticipate it. Obviously something's changed in that regard. What …,” Yao shrugged. “We just have to trust and hope he's on the ball this time.”

“It's like the weather. The closer something is to biting you in the ass the better you get a chance to see it I suppose,” Sindri growled. The others snorted. “Okay,” he growled, stroking his goatee. “Okay. I guess we have no choice.”

“Right. So …”

“Get with fighter command, then logistics. We'll need to get both going. I'll need the plans for the
Argus
class,” Sindri said, eying Yao. The chimera commander nodded. “I'll put in a call to Horatio and see what changes they made from the base class and what they've learned so far in her construction. He sends me updates and I send him ours—minus some of our trade secrets of course,” he said with a sour smile. The others snorted. “I guess we'll have to figure something out. In the meantime, we'll have to throw everything at the current crop and try to get them out ASAP.”

“Which will put the other ships behind,” Kinja warned.

“We can't have it both ways. I know we're getting some new recruits and Pyrax is sending us a small contingent of officers and enlisted that just graduated. They'll take time to get up to speed. I think we can get with BUPERS and get them moved around, maybe stick them on the slower lines to let them get up to speed since they aren't a priority,” he mused.

Kinja and Yao nodded. “Sounds good,” Kinja said when Sindri didn't continue.

“Uh? Yeah, um, yeah, I suppose that works. It'll cover that base I suppose. Have some veterans ride herd on them. I wonder, can we shift some of the production of the support ships to the Yard Dogs? Get them to finish them so we can pull the crews to work on other ships?”

“Is he stopping production of the
Victory
and
Liberty
classes? He must be spooked,” Kinja said.

“Um, no, just slowing them down,” Vestri replied absently. “Get with fighter command. No, scratch that, logistics. Start shifting resources and priorities.”