Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (17 page)

“We were focusing on the smaller ships and battle cruisers first,” Admiral Cartwright reminded him. His fingers tapped out a command to pull up the list. “We've got two squadrons in Home Fleet now that we detached the Third and Fifth to the
El Dorado
Fleet. But only half of them have been updated or rebuilt to spec. We concentrated on the Third and Fifth first so they could get to
El Dorado
faster.”

“But you focused on drives, power, and navigation, right? Leaving the rest for the techs to finish once they got to the other end?” the countess asked.

The admiral nodded. “Of course.”

“We could overhaul
Shen Long's
hyperdrive and power system. If we did the same with
Executioner
, we could have at least a division to be the flagships and big hammer around a fleet.”

“What are you thinking it'll take to do that?” the minister asked carefully.

Admiral Cartwright spread his hands in supplication. “Six months? Possibly a year." He shrugged and then grimaced at throwing such wild numbers out there without any sort of support. "We still don't have a lot of properly trained hyper techs and the tech base here still sucks.”

“And using slave labor opens us up to potential sabotage,” the countess said. The other officers growled and nodded grimly. The Leonardo incident was suddenly fresh on all of their minds.

“We have so very few hyperdrive techs and mechanics,” Admiral Cartwright grumbled. “Most of them were poached by the yard here and in
El Dorado
.”

“Or sent off in ships like Fourth Fleet,” the countess reminded him.

The admiral grunted. “Don't remind me. I'm still regretting letting so many sleepers and techs go along with them. I know we needed them to interpret what booty was found, to use it or discard it, but I don't have to like it.”

“What's done is done,” the General growled with a titanic shrug. “Move on.”

The admiral grunted and nodded. “Very well. If we skim off a squadron of battle cruisers, say the First? We could send them ahead or with the
Shen Long
Division.”

“I'd rather not send them piecemeal,” Admiral Rico said dryly. “We've made that mistake before, defeat in detail comes to mind. Nor do I want them to try to coordinate with other forces. No, if we need to prepare the weapon properly, then we'll have to wait. Being patient won't be easy, I know his majesty will be impatient. But we will have to temper enthusiasm in order to get the job done properly.”

“Once and for all,” the General intoned with a nod.

“Exactly.”

“But not the First Squadron,” the Countess stated. The other officers turned to stare at her. She smiled thinly. “Think about it gentlemen. First is currently being rebuilt and is working up, but First also has the Crown Prince in it. His Majesty would never allow it.”

Admiral Rico sat back almost explosively. “Damn! I'd forgotten that!”

The countess watched him with hooded eyes as she picked up her drink and took a sip. She could almost believe that, she thought. Getting the enemy to get rid of the Prince would help some who were playing the political game. But it would also put a rather large target on one's back if you did she thought. Best not to go there.

“Princess Catherine is a staff officer on
Executioner
,” Admiral Cartwright said. “That complicates things a bit as well.”

“We can … transfer her. Promote her,” Admiral Rico said after a long moment of thought. “She's a good conscientious staff officer but she's always wanted command …”

“It won't work. The emperor stated he doesn't want her competing with her brother.”

“Damn it.”

“We could transfer her to the
El Dorado
fleet. She's been getting into mischief with politics here,” the countess offered.

“How do you …,” Admiral Rico saw her look and raised eyebrow and grunted. “Right,” he said, cutting off his obvious question and her answer. “I doubt that would work either. The emperor wants to keep both of them where he can see them.”

“Doesn't wish to risk them? There are six …,” the sour look the admiral had made the General stop.

“Let's just say some people aren't above arranging an accident. A ship could be lost that way,” the countess said.

Admiral Rico winced.

“And that's the last damn thing we need to worry about now,” the General snarled, fist clenched. “This political situation is getting out of hand.”

“Tell that to everyone trying to climb the ladder or to those already on it trying to keep themselves alive or keep others from climbing over them. It's human nature I'm afraid,” the countess said, eying him. He glowered in her direction, but she ignored it. She too had stared death in the face and had no trouble doing so again if necessary.

“Enough. We'll transfer her or something if necessary. I need a proper evaluation of both ships by the yard. Get that in the works now,” Admiral Rico said, looking at Admiral Cartwright. The praetor nodded. “While he's working on the navy side, General, I want you to work on occupational troops. We'll need some of your best since they will be going up against the Federation's best. They'll have Federation grade weapons and training. Remind your people of that.”

“The same for the ships, have you considered that? It might have played a decisive factor in some of the battles,” the General said.

“Surprise was a large part as well. In the battle of B101a1 we've had some confirmation of a cyber-attack. We'll have to guard against it in future engagements,” the countess said.

“Lovely,” Admiral Cartwright growled in disgust.

“Nothing is ever as simple as it seems,” the countess replied.

“Anything else? You tend to dole these intel bits out whenever you feel like it,” the General growled, eying her.

She turned her basilisk gaze his way. “I only pass out what we know for certain. You know the old adage about garbage in, garbage out. We have to sift through that to find out the truth. That takes time. And you also know the time lag in getting couriers to us. I do have confirmation,” she turned to the Minister of War, “that the enemy has an ansible network or at least the start of one,” she stated.

“I want to see that and the other reports,” the Minister stated.

“It will be in your inbox if it isn't already. My staff is still arguing over the implications,” the countess said, giving him a wintery smile. He grunted.

“I want a copy too. It means that the enemy will be able to coordinate over long distances. That changes the strategic situation significantly,” Admiral Cartwright intoned.

“Definitely,” the countess said.

“Jealous? They can get intelligence far faster than we can,” Admiral Rico asked.

She shrugged such concerns off. “A bit I admit. But it's been amateur hour over there. When they do put someone in charge who doesn't have their head up their ass, then I'll be worried.”

“You should be now. They have been learning the process from the ground up. Our people have been at it for years, and they've been consistently handing us our heads. That needs to change,” Admiral Rico stated, stabbing his index finger into the table for emphasis. “We cannot afford to underestimate the enemy, not at this critical juncture of time.”

“What about Post? And Fourth Fleet?” Admiral Cartwright asked.

Admiral Rico glanced his way then shook his head. “Post is smart enough to back off if he realizes he's in over his head. We can hopefully count on that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he's secured Protodon but hasn't gotten terminally stupid and overextended himself.”

“And if it's a worst case scenario and his ships were lost? Or worse, captured?” the countess asked.

“Do you know something I don't, Countess?” the admiral asked, eying her. She shook her head. “I know you are working the entire breadth of contingency situations and reminding us of them. Good for you I suppose. I …,” he grimaced in distaste. “I
was
going to say he's hopefully fine, but that is a knee-jerk, overconfident reply. Something we need to stop I believe I said.” She nodded. “For the moment, we find a happy middle ground but keep aware of both ends of the spectrum. Find out,” he said, eying her.

“We will hopefully get further word soon,” the General said.

Admiral Cartwright snorted. “Not likely. Frost only had the one courier left when
Nevada's
division passed by. We're out of the loop until we can get more ships to him to carry the news.”

“We need to work on that as well.”

“I don't want to sacrifice the building pace for hyperdrives for warships by building them for couriers instead,” Admiral Rico stated.

“True,” Admiral Cartwright agreed with a nod and glower to the countess. She just smiled slightly but then let it fade.

“And Fourth Fleet?” the General asked heavily. “You did mention the enemy has the ansible network. Can't they coordinate against them?”

“If they know they are there. Forty-eight ships were dispatched. Half are working Sigma sector, that leaves twenty-four ships plus their support ships they are escorting. A squadron of eight was dispatched to Pi sector, Gumel's group were in Protodon keeping the door open, and the rest were sent southwest to find the most likely source of prized material.”

“You mean slaves,” the countess growled.

“I mean material, granted, men and material, but material as well. We had the usual list to go with the special lists,” Admiral Rico said, eying her. She nodded. “I believe,” he turned to Admiral Cartwright, “that the flag will remain with the largest force in what, Epsilon Triangula?”

Admiral Cartwright nodded. “It's been a few months since I've seen their op plan but that sounds about right,” he replied. “They were to dispatch hunting divisions with their supports to each branch of star systems and then break them down from there. I know Aquarius is a primary target though.”

“And so is Epsilon Triangula, despite or I should say in good fortune of the bungling of the good ship
Prinz Zir
,” Admiral Rico said in a not so subtle poke at the intelligence minister. She grimaced but nodded in reply. Spy ships were technically under her command but … she set the thought train aside to focus on the conversation.

“ET had rumors of our target,” General Cartwright said. “Granted, not Ssilli but actually more efficient and less distasteful if you think about it logically.”

“Ssilli or some of the other hyper navigator species are still the primary targets,” Admiral Rico intoned.

“I'm still not up to speed on this. But aren't they water dwellers if I remember the histories right?” the General asked carefully. “And aren't they extinct?”

“That's why we're sending forces to find out. We've captured several before. Granted, they were in stasis pods, but they are a boon to us.”

“They can maneuver a ship in hyperspace like a concert pianist. I've seen the reports. They are quite gifted … for aliens,” Admiral Cartwright said, finishing the last statement with a grimace that was only partly feigned.

“So, how did you plan to get them out of the water? They could just dive deeper, right? Stay out of reach?”

“That was something we had been working on with biosciences,” Admiral Rico stated. “And it's not relevant to what we should be discussing anyway. Back to Fourth Fleet,” he said hauling them back to the main tangent topic. “I believe they will be on their own, but if Admiral Von Berk is half as good as I've seen him in exercises, he'll be smart enough to extract his forces and get back to us more or less intact.”

“Without engaging the enemy?”

“He should know he doesn't have the time or ability to tangle with the enemy forces …,” Admiral Cartwright paused to look at the expression on the countess's face. “What?”

“I just realized … according to the intel dump on the battle of B101a1, they said the destroyer involved was
Bounty
. And according to the dispatches we got before the fleet was broken, they had caught a
Ssilli
. Instead of shipping it back, the admiral installed her on
Bounty
to use to capture ships while protecting his north flank in B100 Omega.” She shook her head as pieces fell into place. “According to the intelligence report, Admiral Irons was one such ship. He somehow gained control of the destroyer, then used it to pick off the supporting ships, other ships, and then brought them back to B101a1 in a tight jump. The
Ssilli
must have been the one behind that jump!”

The trio of flag officers looked at her in surprise. Slowly, one by one they nodded. “It makes sense,” Admiral Cartwright ground out. I'm still not sure how the hell they got through to
Queen Adrienne
to take her but …”

“I'm not sure about that either, only that they did it. Also, a last minute save by that damn cruiser
Firefly
was involved,” the countess said, grimacing again. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she tried to remember the reports. Unfortunately, they were fragmentary in nature, taken from various sources interrogated by the
Gather
Fleet. She regretted not placing more of her properly trained intelligence interrogators on those ships.