Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (39 page)

They were still doing that, but some things had come to a head. Some ship designs were of his own creations, like the
Shield Maiden
. Other designs had come from the fruit of other minds.

In order to simplify production, he was trying to stick with one to two designs of each class. There were some exceptions however.

Destroyers were one such as were fighters. The tin cans served a multitude of roles so having general purpose designs as well as specialists made sense. Each had their pros and cons. A generalist did everything, but not one thing particularly well. A specialist did one thing extremely well, but everything else poorly.

Arboths
were the center of his DD production lines of course, they were the most powerful destroyer design but were difficult to produce since they shared some of the same components as the cruiser line. Fortunately, they had built enough of a reserve to smooth out the logistic headaches and things were now under control. He and Phil were building multiple squadrons of
Arboths
but there were a lot of holes in the crew's seasoning and command structure. Dangerous holes that needed to be filled.

He had discontinued the
Nelson
Flight IV design in favor of the new
Fletcher
class First Lieutenant Gray and Commander Wong had come up with. The design shared some of the concepts of the
Arboth
but used 80 percent of the
Nelson's
components including the drives. The
Fletcher
did have a pair of cruiser grade graser turrets like the
Arboth
for added punch but relied on missile cells instead of tubes. She had a nice Sunday punch but couldn't hold a sustained engagement for long or she'd shoot herself dry.

He saw the
Fletcher
as another interim general purpose class. Like the
Nelson
flight IV, she was better than the designs the enemy had in service or production but only marginally so. Which was why he was pushing the
Shield Maiden
design to replace the
Nelsons
as the fleet Aegis defense ships.

Destroyers had long served as fleet Aegis ships despite the usage of parasite craft for the role as well. A tin can had more ammunition, more firepower and more
staying
power than a small craft. It could also deploy a small craft of its own, which was why he was maintaining them in the role.

Pyrax was going to continue
Nelson
production until he was certain the
Fletcher
and
Shield Maiden
were viable designs in the field. He understood that Horatio had started his own small test run however. That was fine.

Narrowing the designs down to one or two per class meant a streamlined production schedule. It meant logistics was far easier, and they didn't need to retrain the crews or reprogram them for each class. They could make a production run and switch or one continuous run in the case of the battle cruisers and other capital ships.

Fighters and small craft were a different story however. Simplifying their logistics was important, there was after all, only so much room you could have on a ship to hold spare parts, but if you have only a few fighter designs, the enemy tends to adapt and exploit weaknesses. Which was why he'd signed off on Junior Valdez's insistence on having at least one specialist craft per roll as well as several generalists. He hadn't agreed to the
Hornet
class however; the reliance on antimatter for power and propulsion was just too much of a handicap. They had such a limited stockpile, and he didn't want to get into the same situation the old Federation did during the Xeno war. He'd accept the loss in abilities if it meant the ships were safer and had a reliable fuel source.

He smiled. Junior had come a long way from the simple tug pilot and cocky kid he remembered, which was why he'd been recently promoted to captain JG. The young man had earned it; he was overseeing fighter command with little oversight from anyone else. He'd built it from the ground up and had rammed through the bomber wings on his own.

He like a lot of the junior officers were filling the role of a captain or flag officer while maintaining their present rank. Some were getting passed over for promotion because they were out in the field or needed where they were; some were being pushed up too quickly. More promotion boards were in the future, but they would have to take a hard look at some of the candidates.

He frowned thoughtfully as he went over the numbers more. Dozens of ships—they had entire squadrons of corvettes, frigates, and destroyers in First and Third Fleet. Second Fleet was getting their leftovers. Amadeus wasn't happy, but the protection of the shipyards had to come first. Besides, every squadron they trained and broke in was a potential entire unit they could transfer to him when another unit came online.

He was tempted to do that very thing with the First DD squadron. Enough units were going to come off production soon … but no, what if the new designs ran into a snag? He frowned, playing with his lip before he exhaled a long heavy sigh. No, he'd wait and see. Let the first ship or two get out of the dry dock and into space before he committed himself.

It was still tempting however.

His mind played over the conversation with Sprite and Protector. It had felt good to talk about Defender. To … well, not grieve; he wasn't certain he could. Defender wouldn't have wanted him moping anyway. He was an officer too. He'd gotten used to losing people, though, granted, losing someone so intimately had been hard on him for a brief period. But he'd had months to well … compartmentalize it.

Besides. A small part of his mind acknowledged that in the end Defender had been a computer program—a machine. His very purpose had been to step into the line of fire, to be there, the shield before the admiral's enemies. He hadn't been a friend. He'd even been the admiral's prosecutor and tormentor from time to time.

He frowned thoughtfully and wondered if the discussion had been for his benefit or for hers? Or for Protector's? He wasn't certain.

His eyes roved the lines of the
Fletcher
one more. She was blocky, not smooth and polished. But she'd do. He signed off on her production before he turned his attention to the first
Prowler
nearing completion, then to other matters.

Chapter
23

Rear Admiral Subert noted the plan to send force to B-452c to intercept the enemy forces moving through the area. Of course the lion share of those forces had to come from somewhere, which meant largely him, Agnosta, and the convoys.

But mostly him, he thought sourly. Third Fleet. It wasn't a pleasant thought, but one he had to get over. They needed to stop the bastards cold and let the galaxy know they had done so. They owed them for what had happened in ET let alone everywhere else the pirates had visited.

They'd had a free pass for entirely too long. Well, the ride was over. He wanted that message drilled into them.

But that wasn't the only thing bothering him he thought as he and his chief of staff wrestled with the disruptions to the strategic mission. They had a reserve, one they could commit to missions like this. He'd get the forces back eventually he knew. A bit battered maybe, but they'd come home. No, it was the rest that was giving him a headache.

As he contemplated the plan to send a substantial relief force and how it was disrupting their carefully laid plans to build up he scowled, staring at the screens around the room. The idea was to concentrate, to train their people up, to build the weapon and then wield it on the offense. Scattered forces on the defense did them little good. The
John Paul Jones
carrier group in ET was now pinned down for the moment, more out of political expediency than in any real need to protect the star system. At least he was getting
Firefly
back, even though she was going to spend months in the dry dock.

Prometheus
was stuck in ET helping to save what survivors there were while also helping to rebuild the planet. They were making a dent from all reports, but a rather small one. And every day she was tied up there meant she wasn't moving around the sector helping to set up infrastructure and pulling the people out of their apathy. Getting them ready for the return of true civilization, he thought.

And then there was the factory repair ship's escorts. They were now tied down in Nightingale since there was a known enemy presence in the area. He needed to not only eventually relieve them but also keep them supplied. Another complication to their tattered plans.

The plan had been for Amadeus to be the stopper in the bottle, the man with his finger in the dike keeping the barbarians out of the sector while
Firefly
and other ships prowled the rest of their controlled space and ran the remaining pirates to ground. That part hadn't worked out so well for
Firefly
. Once their backyard was secure, they'd move on. That plan seemed like it had hit … not a hitch, hell, more like a complete roadblock. It was quite possibly time to throw it out the airlock and start over.

No plan survived contact with the enemy. How true that statement was he thought ruefully.

“We're sending relief to ET, has anyone thought of Centennial? The bastards are going to be passing through the star system if they go that way. We just got the people out from under the rocks they had been hiding under. Any pasting isn't going to help our image, and we'll have to help them rebuild.”

Saul grimaced. His admiral was right. He made a note on his tablet. “I'm certain Admiral Irons has thought of it, but in case he hasn't, I'll bring it up at the next check-in, sir.”

“Good,” the admiral said, nodding to his chief of staff in approval.

“The good news is, we're in regular contact with Epsilon Triangula now, sir, now that the ship that went southwest got through,” the commander said.

“But we don't know what happened to the other ship? The one that passed through from Gaston?” Admiral Subert demanded.

Saul grimaced. “No, sir. They have to travel in the low alpha band to keep the ansibles from degrading. That adds weeks and sometimes months to their journey, but they are overdue. I checked with Commander Sprite. She checked one of the ansible sections that is in Antigua. It's dark.”

“Dark …”

“The half of the ansibles they were carrying are all gone,” Saul expanded. “So, either just the cargo was lost or …”

“ …Or the ship was lost,” Admiral Subert said grimly, nodding. “Damn it to hell,” he muttered.

“I thought pirates, but I've gone over the intelligence we've gotten from the courier. There was no sign of the ship nor any sign of wreckage.”

“Unless they did catch her and then sent her somewhere else,” the admiral said.

The chief of staff shrugged. “It is a possibility, sir, but I doubt it. I'm kicking myself for not sending her north to Centennial,” he admitted.

Phil eyed the commander and then snorted. “Don't be. If they had she would have been lost there, or the ansible would have been torn to shreds when the damn pirates passed through.”

“But we would have at least been able to give them some sort of warning, sir,” Saul persisted.

The admiral held up a restraining hand. “Enough. What's done is done. Get over it. We'll move on from here and do the best we can.”

Saul nodded. “Understood.”

“Speaking of Centennial, we have no forces headed in that direction?” the admiral asked.

“Not from us, sir,” Saul said, checking his tablet. “Admiral Irons had planned to send shipping there, a rebuilding team, but it's been repeatedly delayed. He's been reluctant to send it since the area is still considered unsecured.”

“A war zone in other words. Joy.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And there is no way we can catch the bastards there even if we wanted to do so,” the admiral mused.

“No, sir. Sir, I thought we were going to …”

The admiral waved an impatient hand to cut him off. “I know I know. Stage the blockade in B-452C to make it simpler. I know. Admiral Irons has already ordered the convoy escorts to be back stopped in the star system to start the blockade. He's moved Frigate Squadron 4 into the star system from Agnosta.” He grimaced in distaste. Technically Admiral Irons was in the right, but he still saw Agnosta as his bailiwick. Though Colonel Forth tended to disagree with that assessment.

“We're supposed to redirect the
Justice
division headed to TF22 to stop in B-452 and help the blockade force,” the admiral mused, looking at the status board on his tablet.

“But they've had teething issues. More so than many other divisions.”

“There is no such thing as bad ships. Just bad officers. I think we're getting it under control. But we lost time. And the engineering issues that have cropped up hasn't helped.”

“No, sir,” Saul said, shaking his head in regret. “But it has pointed out a few flaws in the building process. Captain Logan has gotten them straightened out.”

“I know. Still sucks though,” the admiral grumbled.

“Do you think they'll get there in time, sir?”

“If the enemy sticks to gamma band sure,” the admiral said, eying Saul then the star plot. “Fortunately, we still have plenty of time. And we can scare up a little more help for them to make certain they get the job done.”

“Yes, sir. I think we can squeeze a few tin cans and a cruiser to go with them. The blockade will do their crews good.”

“Blooding them,” the admiral replied with a nod. “All to the good I suppose.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Very well. Let's see who we can skim off then shall we?”

---<>))))

Horatio frowned as he watched the carrier
Akagi
under construction in the capital ship side of the vast yard complex. Robots big and small, tugs, and work crews swarmed her grand blocks. She was a fleet carrier; he'd expected to be building a dreadnaught or super dreadnaught by now. Instead after the battle of Protodon the trio of Admirals had decided to shift focus slightly.

In a way they were right, large capital ships weren't just costly, they took a long time to build and could only be in one place at a time. But the same could be said of the fleet carrier concept. They were still producing Escort Carriers, but in order to jump start the fleet carrier line he'd had to pull some of his best hands and supervisors from there. Which meant a slowdown in production, one he was certain Admiral Subert wasn't at all happy about.

At least they had
Akagi
and her sister ship
Shōkaku
started he thought. Fleet carriers were ships he hadn't considered building when he'd done his buildup while Admiral Irons had been out of contact. And it was unfair that Vestri kept rubbing it into his face that he had launched
Spirit of America
and her sisters
Lexington
,
Essex
, and the T'clock word for
Stinger
were in various stages of construction. Hell,
Lex
was nearing completion! He shook his head. Must be nice having the admiral handy to get the keys to everything, he thought sourly. Like a kid getting the keys to the family car whenever he wanted he thought.

They could build four escort carriers for the time and material it would take to build one fleet carrier. Hell, they could built two CVEs for every CVL they built! His eyes briefly turned inward to check the status of
Illustrious
,
Courageous
,
Ark Royal
, and
Hiryū.
About half that amount of resources in manning the ships though, since there was a lot of redundancy in the multiple platforms. He understood the desire to cut down on that. And he understood the desire to switch to fighters since they were cheap and able to destroy capital ships outside their engagement range. All good in theory.

He'd actually
liked
the idea of switching from quantity with small ships to the larger ships. They'd planned that all along, but to have enough small ships to picket every star system
then
switch over to the larger ships. Scale up over time. That time had evaporated after the second battle of Protodon however. Everything on the timetable had moved up.

And now this, he thought, eying the carrier with misgivings. She was a nice ship, but she was going to take nearly as long to build as a dreadnaught. She'd carry a full wing of parasite craft, 140 fighters, bombers, drones, and support craft. Far more than an escort carrier to be sure, but not as much as the 200 craft in an Assault Carrier's wing.

It seemed silly, but he knew they were having manpower issues. It seems BUPERS was complaining at every meeting that they weren't hitting quota on every ship, fortress, or facility. He knew the yard was 1 percent undermanned. They also needed a reserve so he could stand his people down more often to give them a necessary break. Sustaining their pace was contingent on nothing going wrong at this time. He knew Murphy was somewhere, waiting and watching for just the right time to strike and screw him over royally.

Such blue thoughts didn't help his mood much. He couldn't help it.

---<>))))

Commander Saul Garretaj looked at the status board.
Caroline
was finally ready to go. They'd had to poach the helmsman class to get the required talent to man her helm however, something the admiral severely frowned upon.

Two rather young and impressionable Selkie midshipmen from Agnosta, and two subdued chimeras from Epsilon Triangula had agreed to go. There would have been five but when they had pressed Cadet Jivante to go he'd resigned his commission. It had been an unfortunate loss of talent for the navy, one Admiral Irons nor Admiral Subert were happy about. The young man had hopped a flight on
Destiny
to see if any of his family were left alive.

The outlook was decidedly bleak however.

He shook himself away from thinking of ET and back to the coming mission. As exciting as it was, he wished they had more time to plan it, more time and resources to get it done. At least another cruiser! But no, the admirals were adamant that it get done ASAP. He intended to see the ship off by the turn of the watch, even if he had to get out there and
push
.

His lips quivered ever so briefly at that thought. Then he returned his attention to the next project, one he'd been dreading.

They were still scrambling to find the shipping to go to ET.
Liberty
and
Victory
ships of course, but every ship they pulled out of convoy duty meant less shipping between the two yards and less shipping going to the front. Not good. Not good at all.

It would be nice to buy back or lease
Oasis of Space
and press her into service he thought. He'd miss her casino deck, but she'd be a Jim dandy hospital ship. She could be outfitted easily, and she'd serve the population well. She could even bring people back to Pyrax, he thought, making a note of the idea.

Currently Antigua was planning five support ships. Admiral Subert had wanted to send three but was now considering anteing up to the full five or even raising. He shook his head at the thought. At least the ships could get in … he scowled when a new thought occurred to him. The star system didn't have a space station did it? He frowned, checked his notes then set his tablet aside with a groan. No, no it didn't. It did have a small gas refinery platform though, so there were some thanks for small favors.