Warlord's Invasion (Starfight Book 1) (31 page)

Human Federation Logo – Circle and Wings of Protection

CHAPTER TWELVE

Seven days later…

February 4th
th
3987 AD

Betelgeuse System

Betelgeuse V, Northern Continent

Sector Military Command Headquarters

Chief Commander’s Office, Suite 1, floor 2408…

T
he last time she’d been in this office was a month ago, thought Vier. How things have changed, and how they haven’t. Was it just her, or did a desperate air peruse the confines, noticeable to anyone who walked in?

Senior Vice Admiral Mittermeyer stood up upon seeing her. “Please, have a seat, Vier.”

“Hello, sir,” Vier greeted him, taking a seat in front of his desk. She gazed at the tall ferroglass window behind him. It was all black. The panoramic skyscraper view was dark this time. That was because the armor plates had been deployed.

Mittermeyer gazed at her for several moments, silently, and then said, “Do you remember our last conversation here? Well, it seems the worst has happened, doesn’t it, Admiral?”

“Yes, sir. I think so, too.”

“I read your battle report and all your conclusions,” he stated. “I agree on almost all of them. You have a gift it seems.”

“Yes, sir.” She paused. “I am told that I have a finely developed danger sense. I can see most traps before they’re unleashed.”

He nodded. “For that, I am grateful. We are all grateful. Your sixth sense saved six million men. We could have lost the whole fleet that day, including our fastest and lightest elements.”

She thought about that, again. If Admiral Mu Pei had listened to her before the deployment, the entire fleet could have been saved. But how could she blame a dead man for finally listening to her at the last possible minute? “Yes, sir. That outcome would have become true had I not convinced Mu Pei to retreat.”

“Then I will be frank,” Mittermeyer announced. “I have decided, and my staff agrees, that you ought to be promoted one star rank for what you have done. Do you accept this promotion to Lower Vice Admiral?”

A sudden jolt of glee spasmed throughout her body. She felt happy, then sad, then emotionally balanced…as the natural logical consequence of the outcome of her actions filled her. “What are my duties?” she asked. She didn’t know what her job would be since 90 percent of the sector fleet had been destroyed. There wasn’t much for a new vice admiral to command — at least not before new units got here.

“I will come to that later, Vice Admiral. But first, I’d like to hear, personally, what your thoughts are about our current situation and our options as a nation.”

Vier nodded. She knew she would be asked this vital question. She’d been thinking of this on her way down to the planet. She especially wanted to know what Mittermeyer thought about the same thing, and what his staff came up with. Since she was asked first, she went first. Vier cleared her throat.

“Water?” Mittermeyer asked.

“No, thank you, sir.” There was a silence…as she quickly recollected everything she knew about the subject. “At present, sir, our choices are very limited. We neither have a remotely close hyperlight nor sublight combat advantage in areas such as long range missiles or close range beam warfare. Nor do we have any comparable weight in warship hull as our numbers have been destroyed. A direct assault against their full force based on the technology factor alone is impossible. Even if it were possible, we no longer have the asset numbers to do so. So, our options rely on what we do with what we currently have and what we do with what we will have in the future when other sector fleets arrive and lastly – what we do with what new weapons we can produce in the far future. So what can we do with what we do have right now — which amounts to around 700 light ships? There’s several options…” She paused.

Mittermeyer nodded for her to lay it all out.

“…First, we can hold back our current ships and wait until more human ships arrive. In this method, the Cats will have free reign to conquer anything they want. But they’ll have free reign in the next method as well. Here’s the second option. Even though the Cats can win an all-out battle with all our ships together and all their ships together, the Cats will have such a large area to conquer, and it will grow with each new conquest they make. Therefore, the Cats will be dispersed over such a large area – therefore, we can use our remaining lighties to reconquer isolated systems in overwhelming force, hopefully winning the combat in sublight despite our massive disadvantage in that arena. It is not impossible to win the sublight battle if we use all our seven hundred ships against a feline defense of twenty ships. Of course, we won’t be able to hold them once enemy reinforcements arrive, but that shouldn’t be our goal. We just need to hold the system enough, so that once we retake a system, we can capture parts of the enemies stationed in that system and hopefully win their technology. Once we have their technology, the game will be entirely different.”

Senior Vice Admiral Mittermeyer stapled his fingers together as though he was processing all of her suggestions.

“On the other hand, if we chose to hold back our remaining light ships, we can also try this strategy in greater numbers once the other sector fleets arrive. But once the other human fleets arrive, we will have even more options. For instance, if the enemy fleet has compacted together, we can retake large swaths of territory back and retreat before the Cats arrive with their compacted fleet. This will delay the war and their expansion into our territory but it won’t win it. If the enemy fleet presence is spread out, we can fight parts of their fleet with overwhelming numbers and leave before their reinforcements arrive. We should never fight their units in equal numbers, but only engage when we have a twenty to one weight advantage. I must add that overall, we’re still in a very bad position because even if we do fight in a twenty to one number or weight advantage, we’ll be swapping twenty ships for five ships, or twenty ships for ten ships. Worse, even if we were able to make an advance into enemy territory, we’d be playing cat and mouse and as soon as the Cat catches us, we’re dead. We’ll simply be swapping ships for time…” Vier took a moment to breathe.

“Mmm,” Mittermeyer muttered as he took in what she was proposing.

“… But…Time is exactly what we need. We need time for production forces to come into play. If we can delay their attack on our production centers well enough, eventually we’ll have enough missiles and fighters and whatever the Strategic Engineering Corps can think of to create newer, better weapons that have a more destructive capability of beating them on a weight by weight basis. It is impossible to predict what type of future that’ll bring us, but…we have to realize that the enemy will be producing ships and weapons, too, and theirs are better — and worst of all, we have to assume that because they are a conquering empire, they have a bigger production force than we do. Even more troubling is that even if we don’t account for
any
of their future weapons produced from their production centers, it is
still
doubtful we can win with all of our future production. There is just too much doubt as to how well our future missiles, fighters, and whatever else we make, can do against what they have in the field right now. Our missiles only carry 1/4
th
the warhead payload, and our fighters’ weak hyperbeams cannot penetrate the larger feline ships. It is a very uphill battle in all respects. That’s all I have to say, sir.”

Mittermeyer’s chest heaved as he inhaled deeply. Finally, he opened his hands and put them flat out on his desk. “Your analysis is sound,” he said. “My staff has analyzed these conclusions and mostly agree on all points – on the validity of all your options, in other words. It is a very uphill battle. But…” He looked into Vier’s eyes. “…There is one immediate option you have failed to imagine.”

Vier opened her eyes wide, “What is that, sir?”

“You have failed to account for the supply chain that the enemy will need to extend behind them as they push further and deeper into our territory.”

Vier blinked. She fell silent. “Can you explain, sir?”

“Missile transport ships. Troop transport ships. Auxiliaries and maintenance ships. Fuel mining and refining vessels. These types of ships will be clearly protected by their warships in convoys, but will there be enough protection against all seven hundred of your lighties?”

“All seven hundred of
my
lighties?”

“Yes,” Mittermeyer nodded, “
Your
light cruisers and destroyers. If you can take out the warships protecting just one of these convoys, you can destroy all the other ships in the convoy – you can wreak havoc to their supply lines from behind their main forward fleets. It is this option that I want to talk to you about.”

Vier blinked, again.
My god, it made sense.
Why hadn’t she thought about it before? Had she been so obsessed with fighting a frontal war against opponents in the frontline that she forgot all about…? “What do you want me to do, exactly? Sir?”

“As I just explained,” Mittermeyer replied with a crease of a smile. “You will command a large and fast force in a risky and dangerous maneuver behind enemy lines. You will be hunted by enemy forces the moment they realize what you’re about to do. I appoint you commander of this fleet so you may inflict maximum damage to their supply and auxiliary ships because I know you know when to be cautious and when to be aggressive – as you said, you can smell a trap like a sixth sense, but you can also be as combative and destructive when the opportunity opens itself. This is the perfect task for you, no?”

Vier thought about it hard. She couldn’t help but feel excited. She felt a rush of energy, and instinctively, she answered, “Yes, I’ll do it. Sir. I’m the admiral you want.”

“Good.” Mittermeyer grinned and shifted back in his chair. “Since they have invaded an incredible amount of space, their forces will be much dispersed. The more dispersed, the easier it will be to attack isolated units. Attack anything you think of, supply ships, maintenance vessels, fuel ships, transports, unprotected systems. It will be a dangerous task because, as you said, you will have to evade any combat in which your forces do not massively overwhelm the enemy, but one perfectly fit for you, because of your aggressiveness. In the larger scheme of things, your role will force them to slow their attack and be more careful in their advances because of the need to protect their rear and supply lines. And the purpose of all this, is, of course, to buy time for the human race to come up with something. And…” He smiled directly at her. “If you can obtain the Holy Grail and win a trophy, you will have done, as you said, an incredible service to our war effort. So, I have added our remaining twenty-eight MABs with your fleet of seven hundred or so warships and fifty fuel refinement ships — use your talents like never before, Admiral.”

Vier nodded emphatically. “I will, sir!”

“Now, onto other matters.” Mittermeyer stroked his chin. “I must thank you for the two feline prisoners you obtained during the Battle of Rigel. Our linguists and psychologists are studying them as hard as possible here on Serenal. Who knows? Maybe we can get one of them to crack and become our most valued ally. Perhaps we can gleam technology directly from them. You did well. Our scientists are also analyzing the scans of the enemy ships from your MAB assaults. Hopefully, it will help us create better counter weapons.”

Vier nodded. “What did you think of their surrender offer?”

“Well…besides learning their naming conventions,” Mittermeyer said. “I think they’re trying everything they can to win the war early. I think they’re pushing every available option. They have nothing to lose for trying, and I commend them, but I don’t think the war is over just yet. If I were in control, I would never surrender this easily, not until at least all our assets and resources have been exhausted. Yet if we cannot win on all combat arenas, surrender may be the only option. But… 90 percent of our combat fleet hasn’t yet been tested. Ultimately, the decision to surrender rests with Trantor and the Federation High Council. I have forwarded them my recommendation along with yours. It will be up to them to decide…”

Vier nodded. It
was
up to Trantor to decide whether to surrender. All she could hope for was that they followed her recommendations about what types of weapons to produce. She hoped they didn’t surrender. “How fares the evacuation?”