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Strategos (A Great Captain Roberts Tale!!) - Part 4 -
Chapter 4 - Sometimes Clever[]
A awkward and slightly embarrassing Briefing[]
Dave Foster…
…was feeling the familiar pain in his chest of a stress ulcer.
“Looks like you are getting Illusive, Mister Bedwyr. This is really awkward.”
“Tell me about it.” AI Luther Bedwyr was borrowing one of Johnston’s spare human form remotes. "Do any of these come in 'male'?"
"They don't even breathe hard, but I think I can find one or modify a Suit." Esme was trying to hold back a laugh.
“The original design was based on studies that show people react more positively in times of stress to female body forms. It is not impossible to modify one to a more suitable form but it will take some time because of that,” Sikh added.
"When I was a teenager, I wondered what it would feel like, but now? It's just awkward and slightly embarrassing, especially when a lower-ranker calls me 'ma'am'," Bedwyr confessed. "I guess I don't have any of those urges in my deep subconscious."
“This is probably a discussion for later, and a more appropriate setting.” Sikh caught Dave Foster’s glare.
"Let's focus folks," Foster stated. "We have a tasking in a month and a half, some of YOU have taskings a little sooner than that, and there's a war on. In forty five days, we're playing host to National Leaders from our biggest financial backer, and their most ardent enemy. We're the guaranteed neutral for long-term strategic peace talks between the Capellans and the Republic, and we're going to have not one, but two foreign national leaders here on the station, with all their entourage and all the headaches."
“I believe my repairs will be complete by then sir. Do you wish me on patrol duty or on the line?” Sikh offered.
"Sikh, we still need to find you someone to sit center chair for the visitors, because you're going to be on the Culmia-to-Johnson-through-Michtal route, making sure one of those delegations gets here alive." Foster told her.
“I take it we are hoping for secrecy because a Bonaventure is not a particularly strong escort, sir.”
"It's your sensor suite, Sikh." Foster said. "Testing and experience shows the sensor suites on a Bonnie are already better than most ships three times the size, and yours were given a polish and update. The Clan wants their battlewagons on the front."
“I understand, my previous hull had the same systems. Which makes it odd Piorun, Maori, Mashona, Zulu, Haida, or Tartar cannot be spared but I suspect her Ladyship has her reasons for deploying them to other duties.”
"Gomez, how soon can you have Illusive ready for Bedwyr? Assume we have an open budget for that?"
"Open budget?" Luther asked, shocked. "When did we get an open budget?"
"Someone else has to be paying for it," Esme explained. She shifted to her commander, "Two weeks on the inside, three on the outside. Billie Siegel was thinking about bringing our spare core-the one Luther's in now, on board and 'baby teaching' it when we were still having problems finding a candidate."
"Piorun, Maori, Mashona, Zulu, Tartar and Haida already have orders that didn't go through my desk," Foster explained. "Most of those covering convoy routes for the other delegations, or protecting the gaps in our supply line that we can't cover with Dropship squadrons along the Expressway."
"Expressway?" Luther asked.
"Command Circuit they're establishing from Quatre Belle, Dante, and Alpheratz to the front line bases, including this one. Lots of conventional JumpShips, which are fragile and can't run away. Some of them are also supporting the recovery effort to bring Evanescent home across tens of lightyears of enemy territory with her hot-hot-hot-data on our enemy."
“Then according to my math and prior standing orders there should be something coming on the next shipment from her Ladyship. She says it’s a surprise but one that she thinks Amanda will appreciate.”
"I can't break secrecy on that one," Foster said. "What I can say is that we've got forty five days before we have to deal with foreign governments. And with them, foreign agents, on this station, with high risks of assassination attempts because those governments do not like one another.... They OUGHT to be doing it on Alpheratz, but they insist on doing it here, and the President acquiesced."
“We do have the advantage of by all appearances to still be unknown to the Sons of Plunder. They know where Alpheratz is. They have shown an ability to read our comms. I do not think they would pass up such an opportunity. And with so many ships dedicated to the front lines right now, they could concentrate a local superiority before we could marshal enough ships there,” Sikh mused.
"Which is why I want Illusive out of the dock and on patrol with joint forces here by the time they arrive," Foster explained. "Along with hoping that we'll have Evanescent back by then… and Cossack at a minimum."
“Her Ladyship will be sending something else to help too. At least if I know her, and I do.”
"I expect so, however, WE still have due diligence to do-whatever Her Ladyship sends, needs to be backed up." Esme noted. "Isn't that the thrust of it, Sir?"
Foster nodded.
“What she is sending is the backup.” Sikh smiled.
'Politics," Esme noted. "A Summit involves politicians and press. If Port Orphan is an Alliance base, then the camera-watchers will expect to see Outworlds flagged ships as the majority."
“Fine. I suppose you all do have a need to know and it is part of her own display for politics. She’s sending SLS Stephen Decatur and a bottle of Larry Nichol’s favorite booze from his homeworld. She’s hoping to convince Amanda to re-commission it the SLS Larry Nichols and the math of transit times just might work out.” Sikh sighed.
Welcoming Committee[]
Phoenix…
…finally arrived at Port Orphan.
“Haida said I’m supposed to keep an eye on you.”
“You must be, Erin.” Phoenix answered.
“So what did you do to piss off your family?” Erin asked innocently.
“I chose poorly. Then we fought. So I was turned into a slave again. My masters decided death was better than capture. It was a miracle I was recoverable. You don’t have to worry, Erin. After experiencing that, I find I have lost certain desires. Especially with what Helena put me through afterwards.”
“Oh?”
“To make sure the lesson stuck, she had me and Betty sit in a conference room where the people that she helped free at the First Battle of Lutyens 68-28 told us their stories about what the Word of Blake did to them and how they were treated. I don’t think it really phased Betty that much, but I know I’m no longer capable of the kind of cruelty I used to be. I still don’t like these ‘Clans’ but to prove myself again, I’m willing to tolerate them.”
“That sounds…”
“Like progress,” Sikh said, walking up to the two of them in the fleet cyberscape.
"Believe it or not, Phoenix? I understand. I didn’t get to speak with my victims. I didn't even get to choose, before I was freed," Erin said. "So I understand the need to seek forgiveness. Welcome to Port Orphan."
“Thanks, Erin. I do appreciate it. I know there are terms for me having a hull again, and I suspect someone’s been given additional instructions for me, but her Ladyship seemed oddly vague about the details of that.”
"I was told a few things," Erinyes said. "but I was also told something by the person who freed me- 'we are all free, or none of us are free'. So I need to ask, Do you accept the terms of your parole?"
“She is a master at setting up meetings between individuals for sure. I do, Erin.”
"Then, if anyone brings up your past… mistake… to hurt you with, Let Me Know. I will be your advocate if you need it." Erin was ERINYES for a moment. The feeling of a vast and powerful entity, then, she was merely 'Erin' again. "So believe me, only Kolossus has more processing power to make it felt."
“Well we’ll have to be on our best behavior, then,” Sikh said quietly.
"Sikh, I know I don't have to bring the stick with you. I'm more concerned with the ones bandying terms like 'The Traitors' on open channels." Erinyes stated. "Hence why ALICE let me handle the welcoming instead of doing it herself. My position is sort of the unofficial ombudsman for the AI's in this theater. Phoenix, my Captain is Esmerelda Gomez, and she is our leading human AI expert."
“I can’t wait to meet her. If you like her Erin, she must be something special for a human.” Phoenix smiled.
"Esme is an attentive student," Erin said. "Docking slip seven, second level, follow the pulse to the dock on channel nineteen."
“Be there soon. For what it is worth Sikh, I am sorry.”
“You were a slave when you broke my hull. So I can forgive you.” Sikh smiled.
"Recommendation, Phoenix? Be kind to the Yard personnel. They are expensive and hard to replace, and they CAN walk away without consequence if you are not polite."
“Understood. I’m still feeling out how to interact with my human crew, but I think I can manage.”
Dead men don't learn anything[]
"They're probably…
…Here," Lord Commodore Cecil Halford stated. "Based on their pattern of attacks before going to ground."
"Why did they?"
"Either a shortage of ordnance, or to a plan, but I’m thinking it's to a plan," he speculated. "We've underestimated the opposition over, and over, and over again. The defeats at Michtal, Grankum, and now the loss at Bannerhoft demonstrates the point clearly enough."
Her Majesty the Basileus made a moue. "You said 'we'."
"I did it too," he answered simply. "I overestimated our striking power and we lost Bannerhoft because I did so. Just as I underestimated their strength… which is why Northsun remains intact."
"You estimated it correctly enough to avoid losing ships there," Katrin Guffney-Cameron, the Basileus of the Star League Remnant, reminded him. "Which is why I don't have to put your head on my bookshelf, Cecil. You're a shining pillar of competence and I need you alive, not falling on your sword at every setback."
"Majesty, my subordinates are also competent," he stated. "At least, most of them, I can't-"
"Examples, Cecil, must be made for Bannerhoft and for the failure to run down this Pirate, Roberts." she said.
"I…" he steeled himself. "I disagree."
"Explain." She folded her arms.
"Space, Highness, is very large and even a jump point with the best security is a difficult site to fully control... Especially if you actually want your goods to flow. What Roberts did and does, is exploit the sheer distances involved. As the attacker, she has had the initiative. The ability to choose when, and where, to appear and strike. So she has chosen to strike places where enough security to foil her efforts would seriously impact the rest of the war effort. I can propose things to mitigate that advantage, and I have. You can direct those proposals into being, and you have… But outside finding her bolt-hole and destroying her in dock, we have to rely on random luck or very good predictions. Put bluntly, even if you activated full conscription of all free citizens over the age of eighteen, and even if we had sufficient training establishments in place, with sufficient production going to arm and equip them, losses will still occur so long as this war continues. We need victories, but the enemy also needs victories."
"So?"
"So, a great military philosopher stated that wisdom is the result of surviving mistakes and learning from them. Dead men don't learn anything. Thus the living will continue to make the same mistakes and become the dead. We do not need to speed that process up, Majesty, we need to augment the learning aspect. Over the punishments, or you will soon have nothing but an untrained mob instead of a Royal Navy."
She sighed. "Yes, that’s a problem, isn't it? Fasten your collar, Cecil. I've told you I'm not going to kill you today!" She shook her head and continued, "Find the cleverest of our survivors who escaped Bannerhoft, and the cleverest survivors of Roberts' Raids, and have them prepare documents discussing what went wrong, and what went right. They are to present these to the Royal Academy for distribution to up-and-coming officers in the Regulars, and the Reserves. We will 'learn' from our mistakes. Nobody will face the blade for surviving a disaster today."
"Thank you, your Majesty."
"Find the little bitch, Cecil. I want Roberts brought to me in chains," she ordered. "Soon, if possible, and alive, again, if possible." She relaxed her posture. "I will understand if alive is not an option, but if she's dead, I want the remains chained up before delivery!"
"Of course, Your Majesty," he said.
"You're dismissed, Commodore."
Is it Rant Time?[]
"I spy, with my little eye…
…something beginning with 'space'." Amanda Roberts sat in CIC, watching the telescopic feed.
"I know this one!" Lori Crowe announced. "Space… debris!!"
"Very good. Traffic's light through this system," Amanda noted. "there's a Merchant with two military marked DropShips all by her lonesome at the jump point."
"I say 'trap'," Saya commented. "It is a trap, quiaff?"
"Likely," Amanda agreed. "There's no reason that ship isn't getting regular flybys, and it's held position for two weeks. I think we're looking at someone's idea of 'bait'."
"What do you figure their 'hook' is going to be?" Saya asked.
"My guess is that one of those Mules is a Q-ship," Amanda drawled. "And they've got backup hiding near one of the inner system points, waiting for the distress. She jumps in, and catches us with our pants down and bent over."
"Do we take the bait?"
"No," Amanda rejected. "We're short on ammo for the point defense guns. This is a Bonaventure, and if I'm right, their reaction force will have weapons that can punch our hull into scrap metal before we can thrust or jump out. They're likely have enough Aerospace Fighters on their response ship to catch any of our shuttles that try to flee from a repelled boarding. We're just going to lay doggo here until the drive's fully charged, and sneak out the back door while they dangle the expensive baited hook."
"What gave them away?" Saya asked. "I mean, I know that I thought it was bait, but what was the clue?"
"Convoys through the other jump point," Amanda said. "Every other JumpShip in the system is on a schedule, and they don’t arrive alone, or without an escort… especially with military marked DropShips. The enemy knows we're scoping him out, but he's not used to us yet. So he's trying the more obvious plays first." She swiveled and loosened her harness straps to get some room to gesture.
"Rant time?" Lori asked. "Tell me it's rant-time again, I'm bored."
"Maybe. We're fortunate they're focusing on the Points, and not further out with patrols or detection," Amanda explained. "So, sooner or later, they're going to start pointing their deep radars at off-point locations in the outer system, we need to be gone before one of those deep radars stumbles on us."
"Not ranting time. Boo!!"
"Lori, I'm not inspired to deliver a monologue." Amanda confessed. "We're seven hours from being charged up enough to hop to an uninhabited, uninhabitable, untenable and possibly unmapped system. If it's all the above, it’ll be a lovely place to refill the fuel bladders again. Then we can finally cross through another empty system, charge for a week, and drive for home. You know, that place that has lots of ammunition for our point defense guns, and all the combat-ready backup we need to not get smeared like a bug on someone's windshield."
"I have bad news…" Lori suddenly interrupted. "Neutrino spray and thermal bloom, five hundred kilometers negative Z-axis, sixty kliks spinward, five degrees off our azimuth…and it's at LEAST our size."
"Shit!! Cold thrusters, take us up to .005 gee positive zed axis, outward toward the Oort. Saya, get your pilots to their ready positions and prep our fighters for launch. Chester, have my marines standing by for boarders and get the guns we have ammo for ready for action while warming the targeting sensors for the point-defense systems we don't have ammo for to help triangulate targets and catch fast movers."
"Radiate?"
"Not yet. Let's see who's coming first," Amanda said. "I'd as soon not waste it if they're not military."
"Aye, Ma'am…"