In Her Name: The Last War (115 page)

“It will not hurt the morale of the fleet and Marines, either,” Voroshilov added.

“So this is like the so-called ‘Doolittle Raid,’ is it not?” Navarre asked.

Tiernan nodded, impressed at the vice president’s historical knowledge, but there were blank looks from everyone else around the table. 

“Forgive my dredging up ancient history,” Navarre apologized. “It was during Earth’s Second World War, when the United States was reeling from a succession of defeats by the Empire of Japan. Then-President Roosevelt needed a victory to give the American people hope, and the United States Navy and Army Air Corps came up with a plan to bomb Japan using land-based bombers flown from a naval aircraft carrier. The raid caused little real damage, but was a blow to Japanese morale as much as it was a boon to that of the Americans.” He gestured toward the map. “This strikes me as similar, at least in terms of our morale. The effect on the Kreelans, we may never know.” 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” McKenna told them, “what the vice president said cuts to the heart of what we’re trying to accomplish here. The success of this operation is vital from a political perspective, regardless of any military gains. Many of the planetary governments, not to mention their citizens, are near panic. After the last wave of attacks, there has even been talk of secession, with some people believing that the formation of the Confederation has somehow encouraged the Kreelans to attack more of our worlds.”

“Rubbish!” Voroshilov spat.

“I agree, admiral, but people everywhere are terrified, with every one of them wondering if their world will be the next to sound the invasion sirens. And that’s without the knowledge of how thinly spread the fleet really is. With the current campaigns underway, there aren’t enough ships to mount a credible defense against more than half a dozen worlds, including Earth.”

Tiernan and Voroshilov exchanged a look, then Tiernan nodded unhappily.

 “We’re not just fighting the Kreelans now,” McKenna went on. “We’re fighting the worst enemy mankind has ever known: unreasoning fear. And I have very little with which to fight it. The Confederation has no deep-rooted traditions or other social fabric to hold it together, no historical flag around which I can rally our people. Right now the Confederation is still a relatively loose alliance of worlds brought together by the need for common defense, and it’s held together by little more than treaty and this government’s commitment to help member worlds build up their defenses. 

“We’re doing that, but the chronic fear our citizens are suffering, especially after the most recent attacks, is leading to irrational beliefs that can’t be defeated by reason. Secession may sound like a crazy idea from where we sit, but if people don’t believe the Confederation can protect them, cutting their ties and trying to lay low starts to look like an attractive option.” Her expression hardened. “Make no mistake. If the Confederation splinters and breaks apart, our species is doomed. That’s why this operation
must
succeed, because a victory, even on a small, backwater colony world, will show our people that all is not lost and give them hope. And hope is a weapon I can use to combat their fears.”

“We will succeed, Madam President,” Tiernan assured her. “I can’t say at what price, and I hope I don’t sound arrogant when I say this, but we’re going to win this one.” He turned and gestured toward Sato. “And I’d now like to introduce Commodore Ichiro Sato, who’s going to go over the details of how we’re going to do it.”

McKenna watched as the young commodore moved to the podium and stood at attention. Sato had become a household name throughout the Confederation. The sole survivor of the ill-fated ship that had made first contact with the Kreelans, he had gone on to have two more ships shot out from under him, one at Keran and the other, his first command, at Saint Petersburg. Unlike most of his peers, who wore several rows of ribbons, Sato only had two. The lower one held his campaign decorations for Keran and Saint Petersburg, while the top one held the ribbon for the Medal of Honor, which McKenna had presented to him. 

Sato was fifteen years younger than the next youngest flag officer in the room, and had gone from a midshipman aboard the ill-fated
Aurora
to commodore in a mere three years. Many senior officers had complained about Sato’s rapid promotion to commander, but none had complained about him receiving his first star as commodore. Most of his detractors had died in combat. 

Looking at the younger man as he stepped up to the podium, Tiernan knew that Sato didn’t have everything a peacetime flag officer needed to be successful. But this wasn’t peacetime, and Tiernan needed warriors. More importantly, he needed leaders of warriors. And that’s exactly what Sato was.

“Madam President,” the young commodore began, bowing his head slightly, “Admiral Tiernan, ladies and gentlemen. As the admiral already noted, our target is Alger’s World, which the Kreelans invaded nine days ago. Most of the human population is settled in small towns distributed through open country that is well-suited for agricultural production, which was another important consideration for the ground phase of the battle plan, which we’ll cover shortly.

“Navy reconnaissance missions into the target system have indicated that the Territorial Army probably no longer exists as a cohesive force, but radio transmissions clearly show that there is continued organized human resistance. We have no idea how many survivors there may be, but based on projections derived from the assimilation of Keran, we believe that the majority of the population is still alive.”

“How old is this information?” McKenna asked.

“Six days, Madam President. The emergency courier departed for Earth as soon as the naval detachment there sounded the invasion alert, and we dispatched a reconnaissance vessel as soon as we received the alert at Naval HQ.” 

Courier ships were used to route communications between star systems, storing up batches of data in one system before jumping to another to download it to a relay and upload another batch for the next jump. It was a huge hindrance for military planning, because some of the star systems under siege were weeks away by hyperlight travel.

Fortunately, Alger’s World was much closer.

“Please continue.”

Sato turned to the map on the wall, which now showed a glowing green icon that moved in a graceful arc toward Alger’s World. “The first part of the operation involves the covert insertion of several ground reconnaissance teams. The Kreelans are able, through means we do not yet understand, to selectively defeat or disrupt our high technology weapons and sensors, apparently at will. We’re hoping that these teams will be able to provide the reconnaissance we need for the ground phase of the operation without involving high-technology assets that may not work. 

“The ships transporting the teams are modified courier vessels that are already on their way to the system. We sent them in as quickly as possible so they’ll be able to get the teams on the ground with as much lead time as possible.”

“You sent them in before the operation was approved?” McKenna asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” Sato made no attempt to dodge what some might have considered a freight-train sized bullet. “You see, we have another courier standing by that will deliver your ‘go’ order to the reconnaissance teams. If for any reason the teams don’t receive that order, they’ll automatically abort the mission and return home.” 

“Very well, commodore. I applaud the initiative, and as Admiral Tiernan can confirm,” she smiled, “I try very hard not to micromanage the fleet’s operations.”

That earned a number of grins and a few chuckles from those around the table.

“Then what happens?”

“Concurrent with the deployment of the scout teams,” Sato continued, “we’ll be sending couriers with orders for Fleet elements from fourteen systems. Those ships will deploy from their current duties to participate in the assault.” A list of ships appeared on the display, with lines connecting them to the fourteen different systems. “As you can see, we are taking only a handful of vessels from each system to minimize the impact on operations, as eleven of these systems are currently under siege. 

“The main drawback is that the assault fleet will not have had the opportunity to train as an integrated unit, but this will allow us to bring a very potent force to bear at Alger’s World quickly. Based on reconnaissance data, we should initially have a ratio of at least four to one in warships, and nearly ten to one in total tonnage.” 

He paused as the map display showed a depiction of the courier ships heading out from Earth with orders for the other systems, then the warship flotillas jumping in sequence to Alger’s World. 

“I must point out that the most critical aspect of the operation is the sequencing of the jumps for the assault fleet. We intend to have all of our warships arrive over Alger’s World within a window of only sixty seconds. The main risk factor is that they’ll be jumping deep into the planet’s gravity well using techniques pioneered by Admiral Voroshilov at Saint Petersburg.” He nodded toward the Russian admiral, whose attention was fixed on the screen. “This should give us complete tactical surprise and allow us to deploy the Marine assault force under a solid shield of warships.” He paused. “But I must advise you that this is the first time, during war or peace, that any navy has attempted such a complex navigational maneuver.”

“Admiral Voroshilov,” McKenna asked quietly, “you don’t look very happy.”

“I am not,” Voroshilov replied, turning to look her in the eye. “Do not misunderstand, please. The plan is a good one, and Commodore Sato and his planning staff have done an amazing job of bringing it together. 

“The danger is that we are pushing right to the limits of our computational capabilities for navigation. After a long and lively debate, we decided not to stage the fleet closer and then jump in. That would take precious additional time to reach Alger’s World, and would also prolong the time the ships are away from their other vital duties, as well as lead to further civilian casualties on Alger’s World. 

“But there is great risk, Madam President. If the fleet arrives out of sequence, we run the risk of being defeated in detail by Kreelan forces and newly arriving warships interpenetrating with existing ones when they come out of their jumps.

“I also worry about the accuracy of our navigational data for jumping so deep into the gravity well. We were able to test and verify our mapping many times in Saint Petersburg before the Confederation fleet arrived. This time we will have only the remote sensor data from surveillance vessels. It will be difficult. And that is not all.” He frowned. 

“Admiral?” McKenna prompted.

“We will also be taking nearly two-thirds of the ships from Home Fleet. Earth’s defenses will temporarily be greatly weakened.”

McKenna looked to Tiernan. “Are we taking too much of a risk here, admiral? I want to hit back at the enemy, but I don’t want to wipe out the fleet in the process or leave Earth open to invasion.”

“Ma’am,” Tiernan said, “as Admiral Voroshilov noted, there was a great deal of debate over how we should do this. But what it boiled down to in the end was that we’re past the time for half-measures. We haven’t thrown caution or prudence to the wind. Thousands of hours have been spent in very meticulous planning for this operation. We started this as a contingency plan months ago, using it as a framework. That’s why Sato was able to bring it together so quickly.

“But we’re not going to win this war by being careful. We’re going to win it by taking daring, calculated risks.” He gestured to the map. “As you know, I named Admiral Voroshilov as the fleet commander for this operation because he has unique expertise in the navigation aspect, and a significant number of the fleet units involved were formerly of the Saint Petersburg Navy, all of which have seen combat. And I told Lavrenti straight up that if he didn’t think this mission would succeed to say so. He’s frowned a lot, but hasn’t said he wouldn’t lead it.”

Voroshilov only grunted, but the others in the room visibly relaxed. 

“As for the invasion threat to Earth,” Sato interjected darkly, “if the Kreelans wanted to invade, they would have. They know exactly where we are.” 

A round of quiet murmurs swept through the room. Sato, as the sole survivor of the ship that had made first contact, had unique first hand experience with the Kreelans. When the aliens had finished massacring his crew, they had sent him alone in his ship back to Earth in a feat of navigation that humans had thought to be impossible.

“That may be, commodore,” McKenna said, “but there is a political dimension beyond any military realities. There would be a panic if Earth’s population felt their defenses had been stripped. We have to at least keep up the appearance that Home Fleet can stop the enemy.”

“That appearance, and the reality,” Tiernan told her firmly, “will remain, Madam President. Aside from some of the Francophone Alliance worlds, Earth is the most heavily defended planet in human space, even without the Home Fleet units we plan to detach for this operation. We’ve taken this into account by putting ships that would normally be in dry dock on extended defense patrols until we can bring the deployed ships home. If the Kreelans come calling, they’ll be in for the fight of their lives.”

Still concerned, but satisfied with Tiernan’s reasoning, McKenna nodded. “Very well, admiral.”

“Go on, Commodore Sato.” Tiernan gestured for the younger man to proceed.

“Yes, sir.” Sato again turned his attention to the president. “Once the fleet has jumped in, its first mission will be to gain orbital supremacy to protect the assault carriers and, if possible, to destroy any Kreelan ships in-system. Once that is accomplished, the battleships and cruisers may also be tasked to provide fire support for the ground operation.

“And with that, I would like to hand the briefing over to Lieutenant General James Sparks, the ground force commander.”

“Thank you, commodore.” McKenna smiled at Sato as he took his seat. 

She caught Tiernan’s sigh as a wiry officer stood up from a chair along the wall. The man wore a Marine dress blue uniform with the three stars of a lieutenant general, but something was...odd about it.