Once more Admiral Heph Garrin was back in the Naval HQ building. It seemed a lifetime ago, he mused, even though it was late the next morning after Kornax's imprisonment and interrogation. He sat down at the head of the table in the War Room and took a mental roll call as his senior officers and colleagues entered. Some of them simply came in and took their respective seats. Others paused and exchanged a few words with their friends or colleagues.
Colonel Madeen (Intelligence) strode in, ramrod straight and tightlipped. He sat down wordlessly at his usual spot, a pair of datapads in one hand. One hand tapped the table with his stylus. The other ran through what was left of his sandy hair.
Old Admiral Horst was already sitting next to him, in charge of the Valkossan system's Fleet One. Ordinarily it would have been a quiet, relaxing command for a distinguished officer a year from retirement. Now the Colonial situation made Fleet One a vital part of Garrin's defense plans. Horst's wrinkled face made no sign that he was in any way concerned or worried - a trait that had served him well in his younger days.
General Borda, shiptrooper commandant, was by nature of his command, a rather subsidiary figure. As a rule, shiptroopers were dependent on Navy ships to get them to where they were going, bombard what they were hitting, and guard what they'd taken. In fact, some in the Navy commented that if Navy ships could take and hold ground, shiptroopers would be entirely redundant.
But the Navy ships, for all their hundreds of meters of gleaming gun barrels, couldn't do that, and so shiptroopers were there to stay. And despite the naysayers, there was still a large faction in the Navy that owed their lives, ships, and homes to the shiptroopers - so the shiptroopers had a General, and Borda had a position in the War Room.
Captain Jon Bjorn was there, of course, as Admiral Garrin's aide-de-camp. Next to him was Admiral Ria Redwell, the woman in charge of all the Valkossan Navy's logistics. If you shot it, burned it, or ate it, then Admiral Redwell was the woman who organized it. It was widely known that she chafed at her job, often preferring or pressing for a job in a more combat-oriented part of the Navy.
A pity she was too damn good at her job, Admiral Garrin decided. She'd have made a good fighting admiral. It was also a pity that she and Defense Minister Ariane Hudson (sitting across from her) didn't get along.
As General Borda sat down, Garrin pressed a button on the conference table. A soft chime sounded, and the small talk ceased.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for coming," he said. "We've a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in, so I'll turn the word over to Colonel Madeen."
Colonel Madeen cleared his throat and launched into his dissertation. Predictably, it began back in the mists of time, with the launch of the original Thirty-Seven Colonies. Garrin followed the speech on his datapad, through the Expansion, the Tax Rebellions, the Forgeen Catastrophe (that launched the original Colonial Wars), all the way through the unfortunate Abroxeen the Twenty-third, last of the Valkossan Emperors.
Despite the hundred year peace, border conflicts still plagued the Valkossans and the Colonials. Garrin himself had won a citation for merit a long time before, as a fresh Lieutenant posted to the border world of Subitor.
"The present tensions in the Colonial Republic are the direct result of new political winds blowing," Colonel Madeen continued, finally getting to the point. "The Peace of Ghett was concluded by two opponents, one too tired to fight, and one too tired to press the advantage. Now, both sides have recovered a great deal, and the Colonials have a strong faction who would press any advantage they can find. Now, with Lord Gatreaux dead or missing, and Station Six out of action, they may feel that they have an advantage."
"Have they been rearming?" Admiral Horst asked, leaning forward slightly.
Colonel Madeen shook his head. "We've had indications that their main shipyards are turning out an increased number of vessels, but no confirmation that they are strictly military vessels. However, we haven't heard of any Colonial companies taking deliveries of freighters or passenger liners."
"So they've probably got a few new fleets out there," Admiral Horst sighed.
Admiral Garrin turned to Admiral Rorseen, the procurements officer. "How about us?" he asked.
"They may not have tactical surprise, but they have strategic surprise, that's for sure," Rorseen replied ruefully. "It takes months to spin up shipyards, and any order you give tomorrow would take years to deliver, say, fifty heavy cruisers."
"Well, what have we got now?" Garrin demanded.
"Madeen's analysts and my people worked up an MLS," Rorseen said, referring to the Most Likely Scenario, a Navy's backbone in any planniny situation. "They've probably got five ships for every three of ours. Newer? Yes. Better? I don't know."
"Madeen, what do we pay you for again?" Garrin asked.
"For doing the best I can with what I have, sir," Madeen replied stiffly. "I've been saying for years that we need more money and more infrastructure to gather data on the Colonials. Thanks to Kornax having Lord Gatreaux's ear, we never got it. And we're behind on manpower and ships."
"So we're finished?" Garrin asked.
"Well, we only need to find out how to hold back an enemy with more ships, more men, more money, and more supplies, eh?" General Borda smiled. "What a lovely mess we're in."
"Any ideas, General?" Garrin asked.
"Hold them off until we can achieve parity," the General said, leaning forward. "We have to make taking Valkossan worlds ruinously expensive. What we can't save, we destroy. Raid their worlds and bombard their cities. Send the shiptroopers down to terrorize their outer worlds. We'll force them to keep ships back in their central regions. Every ship they hold back is one more that they can't send against us!"
Admiral Horst shook his head. "Congratulations, General, your plan will finish the Valkossan Empire once and for all. You'll succeed in crystallizing Colonial opinion against us. They'll keep building more and more ships. More and more people will join their armed forces, and we'll be wiped out. Well done."
"Do you have any better ideas?" General Borda shot back, reddening.
"Well, sir," Captain Bjorn said. "There's always the Q-Boats."
(This message has been edited by ElGuapo7 (edited 07-20-2004).)
