First Command (42 page)

      
Her heart swelled when she saw the F-48s and A-76s fly over the field.
 
Yes, Fleet had come and rescued them, just like she knew they would.
 
She had never lost faith in the Fleet.

      
As the crowd winnowed out, she and Terri worked their way across the field.
 
She knew she was breaking protocol by walking between the Ascetic formations returning to their barracks, but she didn’t care.
 
She was free.
 
Today was her Independence Day.

      
She reached the empty reviewing stand and looked around for an officer.
 
She assumed everyone went in the large tent or up into the ships.

      
She called up into the ship and a petty officer from the quarterdeck came down.

      
“Can I help you, ma’am?”

      
‘I hope so.
 
I am retired Major General Irina Bugarov of Fighter Force.
 
Could I speak with your captain?”

      
“Captain’s not aboard, ma’am.
 
I believe he’s in that big tent, ma’am.”

      
She thanked him and they wandered over to the tent, but the Ascetic guards had orders not to admit former captives.
 
Irina made a note of the scout ship’s name.
 
She would write a thank you note when she was back in better surroundings.

      
The petty officer went back up the gangplank and joined Chief Miller.

      
“What was that all about?” Chief Miller asked?

      
“I don’t know.
 
Some crazy old broad said she was a major general or something.
 
She wanted to see the Captain.
 
I told her he was probably in the big tent.”

      
Chief Miller shook his head and asked, “Why do all the crazies call themselves generals?
 
Log it.”

* * * * *

      
Fleet Commander J’Kalt reviewed the scenarios presented by his battle staff.
 
The spy ships’ report from the Human sector had been transmitted to them and gave them an idea of what they might have to face.
 
In their considered opinion, the best option was to conduct a reconnaissance in force into the star cluster.
 
This gave them the greatest benefit for the least losses.
 
The two shadow destroyers should lead the formation, as they had the best sensors and were best able to pick out the route through the cluster.

      
The Shadow cruiser and three light missile cruisers would follow, to be able to provide long-range support to the Shadow destroyers.
 
The six fighter defense frigates would ring the formation, to provide flank security against Human fighters and fighter-sized craft.
 
The remainder of the ships would form up with the six missile/gun destroyers behind the cruisers, followed by the ten support ships guarded by the four gun frigates.

 
      
The corvette J’New would remain at the opening to the cluster, to provide a communications relay and rear security.
 
It would warn the fleet and Main Worlds if enemy ships got behind the fleet.

      
J’Kalt approved this plan and established rehearsals for the opposite side of the two Main World systems behind them.

* * * * *

      
The long-range sensor probe reported the power up and movement of the K’Rang Fleet.
 
It tracked them as they moved to behind the nearest Main World system.
 
It repositioned itself autonomously and reported its new position when it sent the data on the K’Rang Fleet.
 
It got occasional glimpses of the K’Rang Fleet practicing movement and dutifully sent that info on, also reporting the Missile Corvette continuing to monitor the known entrance to the star cluster.
 
As the corvette moved around the entrance, it forced the sensor to periodically withdraw into the cluster to maintain secrecy.

* * * * *

      
Captain S’Kal of the Missile Corvette J’New was looking over the shoulder of his senior sensor operator, H’Talli.
 
He had been called to observe some sort of anomaly in the sensor scans, but he could not see it.

      
“Play it back one more time, H’Talli, I don’t see what you are trying to show me.”

      
Sensor Lead Technician H’Talli wasn’t sure he could see it either, but he could sense something was there.
 
He ran the file back and ran it forward at slow motion.

      
“There, just there.
 
See it, sir?
 
That flash, just there.”

      
The captain saw a brief flash, but nothing else.
 
He asked how many times he had seen that flash and was told just this one time.

      
“Lead Sensor Technician H’Talli, watch this area.
 
If you see anything more, let me know.”

      
Captain S’Kal returned to the bridge and thought to himself that if his lead sensor technician was operating on such a hair trigger, what was it like among the junior crewmen?
 
He would have to advise the med tech to start looking at crew physical well being more closely.

      
H’Talli assigned two sensor techs to watch that area, to put fresh eyes on the anomaly.

* * * * *

      
Chief Blankenship was first to tumble to what the K’Rang were doing.
 
She correctly assessed that they were practicing movement to contact and quick reaction drills.
 
This gave the analysts on the Golden Eagle an idea.
 
Admiral Minacci called a commander’s conference on his flagship for all involved, including the Baratarian leadership.
 
The conference was to develop a plan of attack for the impending K’Rang incursion.

      
Kelly was not asked to attend the conference.
 
He was charged with conducting a high-resolution gravimetric survey of the star cluster.

      
The Admiral told him, “Find every gravity eddy, dead end, gravity well, hide spots, and other routes through the star cluster.
 
I am going to tie the K’Rang up in the star cluster like they were in a maze.
 
Map the maze for me.”

      
Kelly understood what the Admiral wanted, but asked, “How soon do you want me back with the data?”

      
The Admiral put his hand on Kelly’s shoulder and said, “Get me good enough, but I wouldn’t turn down perfect.
 
Just don’t leave any hidden routes that would give the K’Rang a way around behind us.”

      
Kelly said, “Aye aye, sir,” and returned to the Vigilant.

Chapter Sixteen

      
The Admiral called the meeting to order.
 
Present were Steve Maynard with his senior Undefeated class ship captain, his Torpedo Ship Wing Commander, the Ascetic Bishop-Commander, and the captain of the Leviathan.
 
The Marine Brigade Landing Group Commanders and Group ship captains, with the exception of Kelly, were all present.

      
The 3rd ALG Intel Chief briefed the enemy situation.
 
The ops chief briefed the friendly forces.
 
He told the assembled leaders that a cruiser squadron was enroute to reinforce them, but was a week away.
 
They would have to go this one with whatever they had.

      
The senior Marine Commander gave the Marines status.
 
They had two light brigades and one heavy brigade with armored hover transports, self-propelled medium plasma artillery, armored hover guns, and the long range air/space defense system capable of firing missiles or plasma bursts into planetary high orbits.

      
The logistics officer briefed the supplies status.
 
As the 3rd ALG hadn’t fought yet, supplies were full.
 
All ships were reporting full weapons capability.

      
The Admiral asked for a similar report from Steven Maynard.
 
Maynard’s ops chief stood up and ran down their capabilities.
 
“We have six full torpedo ship squadrons and over six thousand torpedoes.
 
We have twelve Undefeated class cutters, and we have the Leviathan.
 
Captain Chang has proposed a unique way to use it in our defense.”

      
Captain Chang stood.
 
“Ladies and Gentlemen, as you may not know, the Leviathan is a special ship.
 
It’s the size of a fleet battle carrier.
 
It has a clamshell opening system that can swallow a ship the size of this flagship.
 
It has an EMP weapon that can fry the solid-state circuitry of a modern ship and stop it in its tracks, causing it to drift unpowered in space.
 
It also has four tractor beams.
 
It’s this capability, along with the clamshell, that can be of high utility.”
 

      
“Two years ago, we stopped a freighter convoy traversing outside our entrance.
 
We brought the four freighters in and unloaded the cargo for inspection.
 
We found undeclared military items.
 
There were 5000 autonomous mines, 2000 stealth mines, and 1000 autonomous missile pods.
 
If you come out with a mine plan, I can lay mines at a prodigious rate with four tractor beams.”

      
The admiral whispered to his ops chief, then said, “That is wondrous news, Captain.
 
We only have 1000 mines in the entire 3rd ALG.
 
We can give you a detailed mine plan to start to work on and all of our mines.
 
If you give my ops chief the specs on these missile pods, we can work them into the plan, too.
 
Thank you, Captain, you’ve made me feel a lot better.”

      
The meeting went on for hours as ideas were advanced, seized upon, or discarded.
 
At the end of the meeting, the skeleton of a plan had been decided upon.
 
Now it was up to the ops staff and the Vigilant.

* * * * *

      
A similar meeting took place on board the K’Rang Fleet flagship.
 
Fleet Commander J’Kalt was not happy with the results of his rehearsals.
 
The fleet was still just a collection of ships, not a cohesive unit.
 
He complimented the two Shadow Force Destroyer captains for their aggressiveness and admonished the other captains to emulate them.
 
He chastised them for being slow and cautious, when their very survival may require they throw caution to the wind and charge headlong at a Human force of larger size.

      
“We will be going in without the benefit of detailed intelligence on the threat.
 
We have to be ready for any situation.
 
More than likely, we won’t know where the enemy is until we run into them.
 
That is why these drills are so important.
 
We must react faster than the Humans react and overpower them.”

      
He ran through the drills on the holographic projector one more time, then sent the captains back to practice them again and again until he was satisfied.
 
Eventually, they caught onto what he was trying to do and started to act more like a fleet and less like individual ships in a crowd.
 
J’Kalt slept well that night.

* * * * *

      
Kelly looked for empty sectors in his survey results chart.
 
He had built a 35-degree cone of space with the apex (the pointy end) starting at the Human entrance to the star cluster and the base ending centered on the K’Rang entrance to the cluster.
 
He had divided the cone by fourths down the long axis and divided the length by 20ths, making 80 sectors.
 
As he finished a sector, it went from clear to red.
 
When there were only a few sectors remaining, Kelly decided they were peripheral and not important.
 
Kelly set course for the 3rd ALG at max speed.
 
He had what the Admiral needed.

* * * * *

      
Kelly turned his survey results over to the Admiral’s Intel staff and they added magnifying data to the chart.
 
They turned the chart over to the Ops Chief and he gave it to his Mine Warfare Staff Officer.
 
The MWSO drew out avenues of approach and looked for ways to canalize the K’Rang where the Fleet wanted them to go, not where they wanted to go.
 
He planned mine fields at key chokepoints, where adjacent hide locations for torpedo ships or fighters were available, and for autonomous mines to close off pathways behind K’Rang ships.
 
The MWSO then turned his plan over to the Carrier Fighter Wing Commander, who coordinated with the Baratarian leadership and assigned defensive sectors to Fleet and Baratarian units.