Act 3 - Depression[]
With A Bared Sword[]
Chapter 56[]
<<Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter>>
Castle Davion, New Avalon
Crucis March, Federated Commonwealth
4 April 3058
Kate’s office had changed.
She couldn’t put her finger on it at first. No one had used it while she was away on Northwind and Terra Firma. Marie hadn’t added or removed anything while she was using it as the regent. There hadn’t been any redecoration, although it would have been a good opportunity if the room had needed it.
(Now that she thought about it, the fist-and-sunburst woven into the curtains might need to be changed. Or maybe not. It was a subtle, but present, statement of her commitment to the alliance. Something to consider.)
“Being behind the Free Worlds League in warship strength,” she said, “I can understand. But behind the Capellans? And by this much?”
“We believe the Word of Blake has helped them considerably more than ComStar was willing to aid us,” Alex Mallory told her. He was a Capellan specialist and had led MIIO under the auspices of Justin Xiang Allard’s leadership of the Intelligence Secretariat as a whole. Though often overshadowed by the other man, his infiltration of the Maskirovka thirty years before had been arguably even more successful - at least in terms of actual mission goals. No one had expected Allard to successfully convince Duchess Candace Liao to defect with an entire Commonality. “And that aid we have will likely be constrained in the future.”
Kate nodded.[[ Terra]] had fallen, but ComStar did control the Titan shipyards for now. There was no real chance of that lasting for long though. That would make it much harder for the ComGuards to maintain their own warships, much less export the drives to the Federated Commonwealth states.
“We have built five corvettes,” she said. “One more by the end of this year. The Avalon and two more corvettes next year? Compared to which?”
“The Capellans didn’t construct their destroyers,” protested Admiral Buchwald. “They were constructed in League yards. Their first home-built warship won’t launch until the end of this year.”
Mallory cleared his throat. “The end of summer,” he corrected. “The yards are pushing harder than previously expected.”
.jpg){kind=link}
Feng Huang Class Cruiser
And the CCS Feng Huang would be a battlecruiser, almost four times the size of any of the corvettes. Not to mention that two of the corvettes built at Galax were on their way to Alarion, to form the seed of what would now be a separate Lyran warship fleet. If Victor had been on Tharkad and in position to argue then it might have been three of them. Morgan Hasek-Davion was at least conscious of the threat posed by House Liao and willing to wait for a third corvette.
Kate indicated the map on the display. “I don’t know who came up with the strategy, but the Capellans have found an excellent way to put pressure on the Sarna Supremacy. The blockade of Sarna means they can’t reinforce Kaifeng against the current invasion and they’re also suffering economic depression. It might be enough to bring down the government.” She gestured to the various undecided worlds ‘behind’ Sarna, and stretching to the Capellan March. “It’s stopped the spread of Sarna influence on neighboring worlds.”
“Good for us,” Buchwald pointed out. “They were competing with us for control of that region.”
“Not when the Capellans are taking up the slack,” Mallory admitted. “Our focus has still been on the more coreward worlds - particularly when it comes to Styk and Small World’s pocket realms.”
Kate nodded. “At this point, a strong Sarna Supremacy is a counterbalance to the Capellans and we benefit that. I want that blockade broken, Admiral.”
“Your highness,” Buchwald said cautiously. “Our corvettes are half the size of those destroyers. If we lose them, our warship fleet is non-existent for a year. All the money, resources and favors invested -”
.PNG){kind=link}
Fox Class Corvette
The First Prince pushed her seat back and stood. Crossing the room she opened the cabinet to one side and lifted out the model of a Fox-class corvette from it. “Admiral, you have told my brother and I that you would deliver a fighting navy, something I confess the Federated Suns have rarely managed in our history. If these ships,” she brandished the model, “Will not fight, then what use are they?”
“Your highness, there will be losses.”
“I’m aware - painfully aware - of that fact,” Kate told him quietly. “The Capellans raided Lee in 3055 and they cost us a valuable Assault DropShip, showing naval supremacy. We cannot afford to let them keep doing that. Do not tell me we cannot fight for Sarna. Tell me what you need to make this work!”
The older man stared at her for a moment and then he began to think, really think, about it. “The corvettes can carry more dropships,” he said at last. “Ship on ship, we can’t match those destroyers yet. Certainly not that battlecruiser. It means… if you want this, then it means going now and before the Feng Huang can be deployed.”
Kate went back to her seat and gestured for him to go on.
“I’ll need to commit our newest assault dropships and every aerospace fighters we can take,” Buchwald continued. “Ideally, that means taking our Vengeances.”
Those were the largest combat DropShips available, dedicated aerospace carriers. Each could carry twice as many fighters as one of the destroyers, and they weren’t built in the Federated Suns, which made them impossible to replace right now. “Take three of them,” she said without hesitation. “And assign the best fighters we have. I know we can’t make this another Lee Turkey Shoot, but I’m not pulling my punches here.”
The Third Succession War victory over Lee had been a crushing victory for the Suns, one that destroyed Capellan dreams of matching aerospace forces with the Suns. There was a reason that Chancellor Liao had picked Lee to raid three years ago to rebuild the pride of his navy.
Buchwald met her gaze. “We can try, your highness.”
“That’s all any of us can do, Admiral. Get them moving, you are right about the timing.”
Mallory waited for Buchwald to leave and then looked over at Kate. “Do you intend to make an alliance with the Sarnese? They are rebels against the Commonwealth.”
“We failed to defend them,” she replied. “I am not going to condemn them for looking for ways to protect themselves. If we prop them up, we can work out some compromise over the worlds between our current borders,”
“You want to turn them into another St Ives Compact?”
Kate nodded. “If we support them, they can constrain Capellan presence in the region. Right now, that’s the biggest threat to our borders. The Combine are still focused on the Clans and Thomas Marik stretched his political capital for his offensive.”
“Deferring repayments of our loans from League lenders was a shrewd move by your brother, but the worlds he regained do give him a lot of credibility,” Mallory warned. “For now, the Capellan alliance is unpopular enough to keep the balance of power in his parliament against further action but that could change.”
“Nothing lasts forever in politics,” she agrees. “Right now it’s Sun-Tzu we have to worry about most, but in a year or two that could change. A stronger Sarna Supremacy aligned with us gives us options to respond.” She shook her head. “I hate what happened on Sirius and Procyon, but the fact we put Gryn down buys us time when it comes to the League.”
The charismatic Alisander Gryn had taken advantage of the Marik offensive to take control of Sirius and Procyon, with his following taking the HPGs and military equipment belonging to the mercenaries providing the garrisons on both worlds. A former ComStar acolyte, Gryn had a vision of worlds redeemed from what he saw as the evils of technology and had begun to ‘purify’ his new domain by rounding up intellectuals and technicians, as well as other dissenters, to eliminate them.
Dome City
Given the Sirian worlds weren’t habitable outside of domed cities, the policies were obvious madness… but Gryn held control over communications and military forces until the Denebola SMM were sent to investigate. Already furious at the loss of their homeworld, the Skye March Militia command had taken out their frustrations on Gryn’s forces and taken both worlds back.
The ComStar associations had rebounded against Thomas Marik, another former member of the order. It seemed possible that he might have even lost control over the Sirian Lancers who had been denied the chance to retake the two worlds during the offensive.
“Every little helps, I suppose.” Mallory bowed his head. “I believe our time is up.”
“One last thing - Hammond Davion?”
“On Argyle and fending off a lawsuit from the Inquirer over liability for certain leaks. I take it you would like us to see that the antipathy between them continues?”
“Yes.” Kate checked her schedule. “And now I have to make my way to a meeting on setting standards for the uniform of the new AFFS. I’m not entirely sure why they need me to be there. I already told them I just want more body armor worked into the dress uniforms.” That might have cut down the casualties suffered from the terrorist attacks in the Sarna March.
“Well, you are the First Prince now.”
Oh right. That was what had changed.