Retribution (The Federation Reborn Book 3) (47 page)

He knew those feelings already.

:::{)(}:::

Over the course of the following week, ships arrived in ones and twos or drib and drab clusters. Each ship met up with the factory ship and tenders for repairs. The ships coming in spotty meant the fleet train wasn't instantly saturated with work, but it meant they had no idea when a new ship would come in. They were stretched thin and exhausted by the long hours that seemed never-ending.

But they were making progress. In that week they also saw some of their first customers move up to the 80 percent category. Others needed drive or structural repair that was outside their ability. As senior engineering officer, Captain Barundi of the factory ship
Ikenga
was a bit of a case of a round peg in a round hole. The midnight black-skinned human loved that his ship was named after the Nigerian smith god. It was his ship's job to triage the damaged ships and remain stern but fair with the ship companies involved.

:::{)(}:::

Second Fleet's final arrival came with the six surviving battle cruisers translating down from hyperspace into B-95a3 space. The fact that they'd gotten there ahead of the Horathian fleet was good news and an instant morale boost to the weary crews. To Amadeus it was intense relief, almost orgasmic that they'd gotten there in time. Seeing that the carriers, other warships, and fleet train were there waiting for them and already hard at work redressing their ills helped a bit as well.

He cracked a smile.

“It all seems worth the risk then,” Jojo said.

“Sometimes the gambles pay off. It's knowing when to gamble and how much,” her admiral replied quietly, eying the plot. He caught her sidelong look out of the corner of his eye but didn't respond. “Make sure we are clear of the jump zone quickly. Now that they've had their time, it's our time to get patched up.”

“Hopefully, they haven't sucked the factory ship and tenders dry,” Garfield growled. “I mean, I know they can't with the capital ship missiles but still.”

“Check on that,” the admiral said, turning to the orange cat. He turned to Kyle. “Send our latest SITREP. Order the other ships to do the same. Then get me an ETA on when the first shipments will arrive,” he ordered.

“Aye aye, sir,” Kyle said with a nod. He glanced at the orange cat who flicked his ears then turned away to touch his ear and signal he was talking through his implants. Kyle seemed to settle himself and then get into the job.

Amadeus nodded. They needed to learn that they might have been beaten but they weren't out of the fight. Far from it. They'd suffered a loss to be sure, now it was the true test to pick themselves up and move on.

He was confident that he'd instilled in them enough … support to do so. At least he hoped he had. Some of it was hopefully there before he'd begun. He'd seen them pick themselves up after a vicious drubbing in tactical sims, but this was real life. No resets and no way their lost friends were ever going to come back.

The carriers flew cover OPS as the BCs moved out of the jump zone and to the fleet train. Shuttles and tugs immediately moved out to the ships. A call was placed out to position the ships with the first packets around the fleet train in a globe. A hasty resupply and repair effort from the fleet train got underway as they made adjustments to the SITREPS the ships had broadcast to them.

While that was underway, Admiral White ran a second assessment. Ruthlessly he culled any ship that was below 50 percent in ability. These he dispatched to Protodon within hours of his arrival. Ten ships in all would be making the journey, further weakening his force. The battle cruisers
Independence, Vigilance,
and
Quenor
would be sorely missed. So would the light cruiser
Unseen Strike
and the six destroyers that would be joining them.

It was particularly vexing to the crew of
Unseen Strike
. They'd just arrived in B-97A with their division mate a few days before the battle. To have come in only to get banged up and sent with their tail tucked back to port for repairs … but then, that was the breaks in the game of death they played he reminded himself.

And at least they'd survived to head home. Some ships and their crews hadn't been so fortunate.

Losing that many of his ships effectively halved his strength. If the enemy appeared, he would have no recourse but to flee again; there would be no way he could stand up against them, not even in an ambush scenario. So be it he thought.

He had his fingers crossed that
Maine
and
Justice
hadn't been recalled all the way back to Antigua for repairs. With any luck they'd stopped in Protodon and would still be available. He made certain to tuck away orders for all the ships to stop and remain in Protodon despite any damage they had.

Before they left the area, shuttles pulled off their ordinance, counter missiles, missiles, ECM, decoys, and volunteer personnel while shuttling loads of stasis pods and walking wounded back to them.

The ships would carry data and fresh orders as well. He intended to strip some of Protodon's defenses, especially
Stinging Swarm
and
T'sunin
. Both CEVs had orders to take on oversized compliments of fighters and bombers and to stuff themselves with ordinance. He passed on orders to Commander T'roi to send him both of her destroyer squadrons and any ship larger other than her flagship.

With any luck they'd arrive before the enemy did, he thought moodily.

:::{)(}:::

“Shizouka
is still not up to par, Captain,” Commander Offenger stated.

“I know that. But we're getting there. Do give us some credit. We're far better off than some other ships,” Renee wheedled. “And you
need
us,” she implored. “Especially with them gone, Commander,” she stated.

“Have you looked out a window? Or your own status boards, Captain? Shizouka is a yard job. She's been pretty savaged. We need healthy ships.”

“While I admit she's not 100 percent, she's getting there. We're pulling out all the stops to see that. If you send us to Protodon, it will be a waste. And it will be critical for us to be here when the enemy arrives. You and I both know this.”

“How combat worthy are you?”

“As of this morning, 75 percent.”

“Seventy-five. Seventy … how? You lost your dorsal turrets; you've got shield nodes out …”

“So do other ships. We didn't lose any of our missile tubes however. We took some hits on the nose, but we're still here. Others can't say the same.”

“True.”

“We're getting it done. We're halfway finished with internal repairs,” Renee reported.

“Shoddy repairs that break in battle are no help at all, Captain,” Kyle said warily.

“They aren't,” Renee said. “We've been doing it right. We've been stripping nonessentials for material, plus recycling the broken parts of course. It's gotten us this far,” she stated with pride. “I've got a hell of a team over here, I'm proud of them.”

Kyle eyed her. “Robbing Peter
and
Paul to get the job done isn't smart, Captain,” Kyle stated flatly. “You are liable to get into a world of hurt if you need something and don't have it.”

“We're keeping good records so logistics won't be all over our ass—anymore than they already will be anyway,” she retorted with a diffident shrug. “They are there to be used, Commander. We're using them. Albeit not for their intended purpose in some cases, but once we've settled down, we can do something about restocking our inventory. But that's for later.”

“If there is a later. Still …”

“But it has gotten us back up to 75 percent,” Renee retorted. “And if you give us additional support, or hell, a lot more raw material, I think I can push that up to 80.”

“Eighty,” the OPS officer mused.

“Eighty percent. It's better than
Independence
. Structurally,
Shizouka
is fine. We've gotten that and the hull buttoned up. It's the fine details that are sticking us.”

“And the crew losses, Captain,” Kyle reminded her. “Just how are you making up so much?” he asked suspiciously.

Renee smiled. “When we were in hyper, I remembered the emergency authorization technique that Captain Firefly and I used to enact
Firefly's
repairs a few times,” she explained. “We did use it in ET, but
Firefly
had been too battered and had lacked the raw material there to get her completely sorted out,” she admitted.

“You do tend to take on the ships that get thrown into the fire the most,” Kyle said.

“Experience,” Renee retorted. “I've got this,” she said soberly, locking eyes with him.

He slowly nodded. “All right, I'll run it past the admiral. No promises though,” he warned with an upraised finger.

“Okay,” she said nodding. “I can take that. If you can get me that raw material I know we can bump it up some more.”

“Okay.”

“But I admit, not much further. We can fix what we can, but I can't replace the turrets and the lost shield nodes,” Renee admitted with a shake of her head. “Those are dock yard jobs.”

Kyle snorted. “You're not helping your case any,” he teased.

“I'm being honest,” Renee retorted. “Hell, if you could get someone to pull the good turrets from
Independence
before they get sent packing, I'd love it.”

“I doubt it,” Kyle replied. “I'll take your request for more materials in mind. I want daily SITREPS on your progress,” he warned. “And a copy of your OPS feed.”

“You'll have them,” she said.

“Fine then.
Lady Liberty
out,” Kyle stated, cutting the channel.

Renee sighed and then straightened. “Okay people, I bought us a reprieve, but I don't know for how long,” she said, surveying her bridge. “Let's not disappoint the man,” she ordered.

:::{)(}:::

Second Fleet quickly began to clear out the stocks of supplies within the fleet train's ships. Some of their ponderous holds echoed empty sooner than they'd like, but not for long. Each time a tender ship was picked clean, it was sent back to Protodon at their best speed for resupply. Admiral White passed on the order to resupply as quickly as possible but for the ship to hold in that star system unless he called for them. He had no intention of losing one or more ships to enemy action if he was forced to abandon the star system.

Captain McGuyver and Mayweather were smart enough to use their own initiative and emergency authorization to get some of the parts made that their ships needed. Since Renee had some experience with mining, Admiral White dispatched
Shizouka
,
Bounty
, and an empty tender to a nearby rocky dwarf moon.

Together the warships battered it with their energy weapons and then used their Bussard ramscoops to siphon off the geysers of molten and fine material that had erupted into space. There was not a lot of metals and useable material, but what they did find was valuable. Every little bit helped, he judged. They ran some of it through their small molecular furnaces and replicators until they were saturated. The rest they brought back to fleet to be properly processed by
Ikenga
.

While they were doing that, the tankers resupplied the fleet until they were drained dry. Once they were, Amadeus sent them back to Protodon since there were no local supplies to be had in the star system.

Two days after his arrival, Kyle hit on the idea to strip one or two of the carriers of their wing, supports, and material, then send them back to Protodon to get more fighters from the fortresses there. It was a risk, but in exchange for the temporary loss of one or more of his carrier platforms, it brought the remaining two others up to full strength, perhaps even a little more so. They would lose some platform redundancy, but Amadeus judged the risk might be worth it if the carriers could get turned around in Protodon in time. It took him a shift to weight the odds and risks involved before he reluctantly signed off on the plan.

He was amused to see Kyle took his authorization to heart. Orders flashed out from the flag to strip
Crystal Cold.
The following morning her engines lit and she made off to the Protodon jump point across the star system.

Chapter 19

To play it safe and prevent any of the cracks that had been plaguing them to be a problem, Admiral De Gaulte ordered them to stay below the Gamma band. Traveling in the sweet spot of beta, the eighth octave for the 8.9 light years drew out their transit time out to eight weeks instead of the originally planned 4.5. The staff and bridge officers of each ship did their best to use that extra time to their advantage. They worked to train and learn from their last engagement as much as possible.