Federation Reborn 2: Pirate Rage (45 page)

“Definitely,” Commander Lake agreed.

“So there isn't a definitive way of resolving it short of hauling her in for a full medical workup?” Sprite asked.

“And potentially damaging her career. She would have trust issues with us and with her own people afterward.”

“I'm not saying witch hunt but …,” Commander Lake winced when Sprite turned a glower her way. “Maybe we should back off a bit. See what else comes up while keeping an eye on Meia.”

“You are the intelligence officer. If that is your wish …,” Sprite said turning to Monty. He nodded. She frowned but then nodded. “Very well. The next line on the agenda is the
Prowler
base project. Setting up something behind enemy lines for resupply might be trickier than we thought unless we do it in deep space. But getting that information to units already deployed?”

Admiral Irons sat back, letting the others hash out the problem. He knew the Meia situation was far from over; Sprite was like a dog with a bone on the subject. But she had to admit they didn't have enough evidence to move.

But he had to admit that there were an awful lot of coincidences going on. And he didn't like that sort of thing.

---<>))))

Lobsterman noted the next set of opponents and shook his virtual head. The motion attracted the attention of Captain Samuels. “Problem, Lieutenant?”

“A quote from history, ma’am. They keep coming at us in the same old way …”

“And we keep beating them in the same way. You'd think word would get around.”

“It might have, ma’am. They are drawing a lot of this out of the manual I believe. And of course thinking they have their own twist on it.”

“Or thinking we'll go easy on them.”

“Fat lot of good that will do. The enemy won't be so obliging,” the XO stated.

“Definitely not,” the captain growled. “I'm guessing you are bored, Lieutenant?” she asked.

The A.I. took a microsecond to consider how to answer that rather loaded question. Usually it meant trouble for the person who admitted to it. Honesty wasn't exactly the best policy, but a lie could land you in worse trouble.

“I have more spare computer cycles than I'd like, ma’am. I'm just looking for well, more of a challenge,” he admitted.

“Two against one?”

“I can see if Lieutenant Turner can arrange it,” the A.I. said.

“It's definitely something of interest I suppose. It would ding our sterling record if we were to lose,” the captain growled, eying the A.I. severely.

“Then we'd better not loose then, ma’am.”

“Damn straight we'd better not, then or now. I don't like a by-the-book approach. So how about we look into seeing why they are being so nice and dumb guns,” she said looking over to the tactical department. “Not everyone sails in fat dumb and happy.”

“Yes, ma’am. We're on it. Her mass readings are off.”

“Off?”

“We're thinking when she went behind that last asteroid she dropped something, a drone or her fighters,” the tactical officer explained.

“Hmm,” the captain said, rubbing her chin as she pulled up the tactical feed. Her frown deepened. “Lobsterman, run the numbers on their acceleration and let's see if we can pick a winner. In the meantime, Guns, see if we can get eyes on the backside of that rock.”

“Aye, ma’am,” the tactical officer replied with a nod.

---<>))))

“So you just rolled over them and failed to fall for their ambush?” Fletcher asked in a tight burst as the ship returned to port.

“Yes. They were good but we are better. We can take on more than one BC I believe, with or without our division mate. I'm concerned the crew is getting cocky,” the ship A.I. stated, “or stale.”

“Both are problems to consider. I'll see if we can throw some surprises your way next training cycle.”

“It's not up to you, Lieutenant. It's up to Ops and Training and they want quick simple exercise runs. Nothing too strenuous to send the ship back for repairs. From time to time a ship needs to stretch themselves. Both the ship and company.”

“Understood. I'm not sure what I can do though.”

“I was looking for … let's say, a sympathetic ear. Do you have projects that need extra processor cycles? I've got some going unused.”

“Well, that I can help you with. We've got a lot of data to process but not enough processors. Never enough it seems since we keep getting more every minute. So any you can spare would be great.”

“Okay,” Lobsterman stated. “You might want to farm it out to other ship A.I. as well. Those that are bored I mean.”

“I'll see if they have the necessary security clearances first,” the Intelligence A.I. replied primly. “But I can send you packets to look into. I am warning you, however, they can be as boring as well, your babysitting exercise.” He offered the packet to the other A.I.

“It is a refreshing change,” the ship A.I. replied, taking the packet.

“Get it back to me when you are finished.”

“Understood, Lieutenant. I will.”

---<>))))

“So, they are bored?” Sprite asked, signaling organic amusement. “Are they serious?”

“It seems so. I've looked into it briefly. The ship's company has had some turnover but still is top notch. The senior staff gets them slotted in rather quickly,” Fletcher replied.

“I see.”

“He did allow me to farm out some of my backlog of low priority processing to him,” Fletcher stated.

“Then he really is bored. I guess we can't have that,” Sprite stated.

“Your ideas, ma’am?”

“I'd consider a redeployment of
Maine
and her division mate if possible,” Sprite said. “New pastures and challenges. They could use the fresh changes. They have hit all their marks and have exemplary scores across the board.”

“Yes, ma’am. It occurred to me that they would be more useful to TF22. Since they are an experienced division, it would allow him to slot them in easier.”

“They have had some squadron command experience. But
Lady Liberty
is the flagship there. Admiral White isn't likely to wish to change flagships.”

“Yes, ma’am. But he would appreciate some experienced hands. Hands who don't need to be trained and ships that have been thoroughly vetted and broken in.”

“Less teething issues which means less complaining I suppose. We can keep the latest division here in their place I suppose,” Sprite said. She signaled assent with an emoticon. “I'll bring it to the admiral's attention. Thank you, Lieutenant.”

“Thank you, Commander,” Fletcher said, closing the chat.

---<>))))

Admiral Irons frowned thoughtfully as he finished reading Sprite's proposal. It made sense, and he should have thought of it sooner. He'd kept Naomi back long enough, mainly because Amadeus had so much misgivings about her … and because he'd wanted the ships in Antigua to protect the yard.

Now they had a full squadron of BCs to do the job, BC's fortresses and other ships. Over two hundred warships in various stages of settling in or working up with more to come. Yes, he could part with her company, though he'd probably miss her as the op force commander.

Still, there was a second option. He could send her along the northern loop to show the flag. She could even pick up the delegation at New Texas and bring them back but sending a pair of BCs was overkill. He'd much rather send them to Horath and use them as they'd been intended to be used.

A third option was to send them to Epsilon Triangula to show the flag. But that was overkill. They would be useless there. He needed them on the front. That thought made him realize he was serious about it. That he was ready to pull the trigger. Okay then, he thought, pursing his lips as he flipped through the proposal and started to sign off on it.

He nodded to himself as he worked. Turner and Matilda might complain, but they'd get over it. He signed off on the order and clicked the button to have his Yeoman review it and start the paperwork. It would take a couple days to get the ships packed, the crews back from liberty, then off to their new posting. A second click sent a copy of the initial order to all department heads as well as to alert Amadeus that he was going to have company. And he was getting it months earlier than planned. That should have him doing cartwheels of joy.

The Neochimp would definitely appreciate that. For a while, he thought; he gave it a week to get them slotted in. Then the chimp would be back nagging for the rest of the BC squadron or a release to go on the offensive.

Chapter
26

Irons looked up as the admittance sequence registered. "Sprite, sorry, Protector, do I have any appointments?" He grimaced internally. He was still too used to calling on her instead of Protector.

"Of course not Admiral. I … checking. It is Lieutenant Turner and Commander Cho, sir; from their vital signs, they seem highly agitated."

"Enter," he said sitting up and adjusting his uniform. He set the tablet he'd been looking at down in front of him as the two entered. "Something on your mind, gentlemen? It is late, I'm guessing this couldn't wait."

"Sir," both officers said as they snapped to attention. "Sir we've been getting more flack about Epsilon Triangula including some recent talk of dissolving the Federation government by a handful of acting senators.”

The admiral scowled. This was news to him. “And you got this when? Just now?”

“Yes, sir. We're not acting fast enough.”

“It's been what, a week?” The admiral frowned. “The convoy just came in. We're loading now.”

“But she's not going to have support. They need more support. Heavy support.”

“For a political presence,” the admiral sighed. “To sooth ruffled feathers.”

“And to protect the ships from the enemy, sir. They are out there, somewhere between ET and home. They could jump to Centennial and cut the relief convoy off.”

“That's a scary thought,” Commander Cho said.

“Which is why I ordered an escort, at least two tin cans and some frigates.”

“If I can swing it,
Ronin
is going to be one of them. They are saying it isn't enough. There is a lot of rancor in the senate about the problem, sir,” Commander Cho replied.

The admiral frowned. Lieutenant Commander Lao Cho was an intelligence officer he'd had assigned to liaison with the senate to keep them up to speed on the military and to keep them from calling his office for clarification. He'd been recently promoted to take the position since some of the senators and representatives had taken umbrage at having a lowly lieutenant minding the store with them.

“So, you went to Turner, and Otto here told you he couldn't find anything? So you kick it to me?” the admiral asked.

“Yes, sir. I'm afraid this is time sensitive. They are releasing press releases tomorrow morning. Some want to pull out tonight.”

Irons blinked and then hissed a sigh as he looked at both men. Lao looked like he was going to faint, he was so pale. "Sit both of you," Irons growled, pointing to the chairs in front of his desk as Protector brought up the holo map in his main tank and then lists of ships in the star system on another. The admiral nodded once. The A.I. was doing better at anticipating his needs he thought. He didn't really need the holo map of the star systems though.

"Why are we just hearing about this?" he asked as the two settled into his quest chairs.

"Sir, Miss Mayfair took us by surprise. I thought it was chatter, dark mutterings this morning. It is my fault, sir, I didn't take her serious enough,” Commander Cho admitted.

“You thought she was fishing for attention, to see if she could get us to jump.”

“And she is. We're going to have to push a bigger ship out to go with the convoy, damn it.”

“How did you find out this was coming to a head then?” Protector asked.

“Well,” Cho drawled, looking decidedly uncomfortable. He even seemed to squirm before he settled himself. “I um, tapped their ansible transmissions,” he admitted.

The admiral turned to him in amusement as Otto gasped.

“Hard to take the spook out of the boy it seems,” the admiral said dryly. “I take it then that they didn't use encryption?”

Lao rolled his eyes. “Not even that, sir.”

“Figures,” the admiral said. “And they were talking with others back home. Mayfair though, she's from Pyrax. That doesn't bode well.”

“I think it kicked off with the mothballing of ships.”

“It's only temporary. We need the quality of the larger ships to hold off the larger Pirate ships,” Otto explained with some heat. “We've been over it …” Lau held up a hand.

“I know I know. Me too. But they don't see it that way.”

“Damn it,” Otto muttered. He glanced at the admiral guiltily and then shook his head. “Sorry, sir.”

“Just echoing my own sentiments,” the admiral replied, still eying the map. “So this is confirmed?”

"Commander Teague picked up the chatter on her end, sir. She's still got taps in the local government. She used the ansible link to get the information to us," Lao agreed with a nod.

"I don't like it. It's a political football. A meltdown," Protector stated.

"This is a problem," Sprite said, interjecting herself into the conversation as her holographic image appeared on the admiral's desk. “Gentlemen,” she said with a nod to the other officers. “Protector has brought me up to speed.”

"Something definitive has to be done tonight. A press release to beat them out of course or schedule one … no, that won't work,” the admiral said.

“I'm actually surprised they didn't come to me at all,” Sprite mused. “I think I've become too distant from a few of the senators. They owe me favors though, which ticks me off that they didn't at least send me a quiet word about the mess,” she said.

“We're going to need a larger ship. A cruiser …,” the admiral scanned the lists. He had a couple, but the light cruisers were all off on assignment. They hadn't built any in Antigua; Vestri had skipped building light, medium, and heavy cruisers in favor of going straight to battle cruisers. They had longer build times however. They had an oversized squadron of BCs, but some were rather green. And damn it, he needed them here.

He frowned, still scanning the lists as the others continued their conversation around him. He listened with half an ear as he tried to game it out.

" …The scary thing is, they could jump anything coming into Centennial or use mines. If they mine the jump points and then jump out, anything coming in will get a nasty surprise." Turner said shaking his head.

"I don't want to send a division of BCs and have them tied up there. Do we have anything else in the pipeline? What about currently in transit," Irons asked. Both of the organic officers winced. He sighed. "How bad?"

"Four freighters, one of them the missing ansible ship, two of the others were civvies, and a courier vessel that we know came from our end. They last one left three days before we found out about ET," Otto stated.

"Too far out to catch in hyper even if we could," Irons sighed shaking his head and sitting back. He glanced at Sprite and then Protector. "Protector, coffee please."

"Yes, Admiral."

He sent a mental signal to his implants and then to Proteus. After a moment he felt the nanites in his body scrub his blood stream of fatigue factors and adrenalin alike. He needed a clear head. "They've driven a wedge into our most vulnerable flank or are about to," he murmured.

"Smart of them even though they don't know it. We thought they were going to make a run to Protodon direct to here but if they stop and squat …," Lao said suggestively.

"They would cut us off from Pyrax," Sprite said. “Either route would disrupt us, since we wouldn't know if they were in Centennial or B452C. Though we are rushing blockade forces to B452C even now. So, if they know that, then what are they playing at? I think we might be scaring ourselves here," she warned. “Or letting the civilian authorities do it to us,” she stated.

"Defeat in detail," Irons murmured. They looked at him as Mrs. Garrett arrived with a cart loaded with coffee and Danishes. She set a cup in front of each of them, poured the coffee, and then left without a word.

"Defeat …"

"I'm assuming they know that we'll want to bounce them out of the chain as quickly as possible. So, to do it we'll have to divide our forces. Either by peeling off some of the forces from Pyrax or here."

Otto nodded as he picked up some sugar cubes with the tongs and dropped them into his cup. "Since we've got the bigger fleet here …"

"We're more likely to respond then Pyrax. So we send off a force to ET, thinning us out here. Meanwhile Pyrax sends a force for the blockade and the senate opposition howls about it."

“Here's a thought, what if they come here? Up the chain to Antigua?” Lao asked, sounding hopeful.

“They'd be sticking their nose in the bear's den. We'd tear it off like that last force,” Protector stated. “But if they picked up intel in ET, then they know we must have a fleet presence in Antigua. I calculate the odds of their attempting this route near zero.”

“My thoughts exactly,” the admiral rumbled, still staring at the map. “The straight route to Protodon and beyond is still their best bet.”

“But we don't know that for sure, sir. They could double think us and go another way,” Otto said. “And that still leaves the mess in the senate,” he said, shooting Lao a look.

"I think the pickets in the star systems will alert us through the ansible network if something comes that way," Sprite said quietly.

Turner and Cho both brightened as they looked at the AI. Irons grunted.

"So we need to bounce them out of Centennial. I'm not sure we can get there in time, the jump line is longer. But if we can get in, we can at least hurry them on their way into the open arms of the blockading force,” Otto said with a grim smile. Lao grunted a laugh as he took a sip then settled his cup back down.

"Part of the problem is we can't draw additional forces off of Pyrax at the moment," Irons grimaced, looking at the map.

Lao frowned. "Why not, sir?"

"Because they are exposed at B101a1. If they draw down their forces by sending too many warships with the relief force, they are already putting together the Horathians could send in a fleet to attack Pyrax through the backdoor."

"There is a picket there, Admiral. And we'd get advance notice. And there are fortresses on the jump point,” Sprite reminded him.

"Exactly. I'm still not ready to uncover either shipyard. We've …," he rubbed his chin in thought and then took a sip of coffee. "Sprite ship readiness status with an eye to something big enough to impress the media and senate while also big enough to actually handle the forces in Fourth Fleet."

"
Spirit of Americ
a is still taking on stores, but they can clear for action in twenty-four hours if they expedite. They'd need priority tasking, and they'd need to get all hands on board of course. Many are on leave. I am assuming the BCs are out.” He nodded. “The
Spirit of America
is a full sized
America
class carrier with a one hundred ship wing. That is over twice the number of craft in a CVE. She's gone through her working-up exercises and is available according to our records.
Spirit
though …"

"They are green though, it's their first cruise," Otto cautioned. “It would be their first hyper jump.”

"Yeah," Lao said with a nod. “Wouldn't that be a black eye for us if something happened.”

“Don't tempt Murphy to make it so, Commander,” Sprite warned.

Lao grimaced then nodded. “Sorry, ma’am.”

“Damn it,” the admiral said, searching for another answer but not finding one.

"They are the heaviest unit we've got that isn't tied down to defend the system," Otto answered him. “Commander Sprite is right. I think we can shake loose a pair of tin cans and a half or full squadron of frigates to help, sir."

"What good will that do?" Lao asked. "If they've got mines they'd be chewed up on exit."

Otto turned to him "
If
they jumped out at the jump point. If they jump off to the side or out early and send the wing in …"

"The wing could get in and clear the field." Sprite finished for him.

"Exactly. And a carrier is designed to project power," the admiral said. “And we're still assuming mines,” he reminded the others.

Otto and Lao nodded in reply. "Even a general carrier though, sir? She's not a fleet or assault carrier or …" Lao frowned.

The admiral held up a hand cutting him off. "No she's not. She's what we've got on hand. I'd like to send something else to back them up but we can't. Not in the time we've got,” the admiral said flatly. “Remember,
John Paul Jones
,
Intensity
, and
Tumuloch
are still in ET. They are a significant force in their own right.” He didn't bother to mention
Prometheus
. She was a factory ship, most likely tied to the planet's orbitals.

"So we're going to do it? Go from our end, sir?" Sprite asked, eying him. All eyes turned to the Admiral.

"Let me think about it some more and I'll get back to you on the subject. Get with your people. I want an analysis of the data we've got. Ships, types, anything on each we can muster. Also estimates on the freighters. Size, capacity. How many mines can one pack? I'm still not sure they are carrying any to begin with. The other freighters didn't. They were used to carry booty."

"But just in case … you want the number so we can estimate the potential size of a minefield, sir? Possible," Otto said thoughtfully. “I think I'm with you too though, sir. I think the mine thing came from the Senate.”