Shelby 9 Snippet 5

 Sitrep: I received an update from Goodlifeguide, they are on vacation so I do not expect the manuscript back for another week. Bummer.

Oh well, on to the snippet!

Chapter 5

 

Renee Mayweather Naval Station

 

Admiral Janice Yu looked at the latest plan and frowned. She had to hope that she wasn’t the only one concerned about the IFF with the Confeds if they did end up working together. Tempers were going to naturally run high with the tension of the moment. She trusted the navy side; the Taurens though … she wasn’t so certain about.

Herd instinct might kick in and they might flip sides. It has been known to happen on occasion. Fire discipline was therefore crucial. Hopefully, Rick was on top of things.

The other point of concern were the civilians, especially the highly important VIPs in Confed space in Purple Nights and elsewhere. Not to mention the naval personnel escorting them. If things did go to shit … her frowned deepened before it smoothed as she realized something important.

If it did go south in a big way, the Federation would know before the Taurens. She slowly began to nod to herself. Yes, and they’d transmit an encrypted report to Fed space, and Shelby would act by sending a signal to the ships in Confed space to pull out. By the time the Taurens knew what was going on, hopefully the secretary would make her excuses and get out of the line of fire.

Hopefully.

If it did go to shit, well, she had five times the firepower as before. And Kara Danvers was in 63 to back her up if she was forced to fall back. Not that she expected to have to do so again. One fighting retreat was enough for her career, thank you very much.

Her lips puckered ever so slightly at that thought.

In a small way she was hoping it would cross a line and the fighting would begin. She didn’t like having a tarnished reputation and would love to rectify that.

But, then again, if ONI was right about the threats incoming from Omicron, avoiding a conflict with the Taurens was imperative.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that. Hopefully, it would end quickly and quietly and then they could shift focus back to general peacekeeping once again.

Hopefully.

>>>~<<<

Tau-Bin63A4

 

Admiral Kara Danvers smiled as the current training exercise unfolded. She was monitoring it and was playing referee but was otherwise out of it. Normally she liked to play the op force but not at the moment. She was a bit distracted.

Rick was trucking along to Confed space. Her smile slipped. She didn’t envy the snake pit he was stepping into. A hostage situation and questionable IFF, plus the potential to kicking the war off again? No, she didn’t envy him, not one bit.

Well, okay, she did envy his command. Ninth Fleet was nothing to sneeze at. Her task force had been reinforced but it was just that, a task force. He had an entire damn fleet to play with.

Speaking of playing … her eyes shifted to the main plot. Marsal’s attack force was lurking in stealth in an asteroid field. It wasn’t a dense one; she’d set that up with the other referees so his forces were … dispersed.

That might come back to bite him in the ass soon, she thought as the op force crept in.

Instead of a Tauren force, she had opted for something particularly nasty, a Xeno force. The AI in the task force had worked out the best way to replicate the Xeno ships. Setting aside the cyber war aspect of a space battle with the Xenos, they were still fierce and deadly enemies.

Marsal didn’t know what he was up against. She’d left that part out of the briefing, just that he was up against an “unknown enemy force.”

Her Spirit’s eye view of the 3D virtual battlefield allowed her to see his ships and tasking. If she wanted she could pull up a video feed. She noted he had placed recon drones in the probable approach paths to the planet, but he hadn’t … ah, there, one had just tripped.

She flipped to the video cameras watching Commodore Marsal’s flag bridge. The time delay was compressed, but when the data came in, his reaction was at first puzzled and then beautifully disgusted.

“Shit,” the commodore muttered. “She wouldn’t …”

“She did,” the tac officer said.

“Son of a …”

Kara couldn’t help but grin as that curse was cut off.

“Okay, pass the word, we’re up against Xenos. Full cyber security protocols in place. We’re going to have to watch our approach; if I remember my briefings right, they like to spit nanites into the path of ships.”

Kara nodded. He was taking the surprise very well and adapting. Excellent. It was nice to see.

She wondered what his reaction would be when he found out that the attack on the planet was just a ruse to get a Xeno ship into position to deliver the coup de grace, a nova bomb against the local star.

She made certain the computers were recording for that moment.

>>>~<<<

Governor Magistrate Scrooge kept his trademark slight scowl in place as he toured the space station. It was impressive, and it was one of three under construction.

 Two other space stations had been completed. They were a transport and freight hub. There were orbital warehouses as well. The navy still leased or owned half of those. His people only received a small token from the leases but it was still profitable.

The newest station was a central transport hub; it would take the place of some of Station 1. It was larger and set up to handle five times the throughput.

In other words, plenty of people like those coming from a liner.

Word was that liner companies were starting to line up stops in the sector. He had been surprised by the news that the sector capital was their first stop. Once he saw the news about the planet being constructed there, it suddenly made sense.

It was a wonder, he thought, glad he was still alive to see it all unfold. He was grateful to the crew of the Oliver Twist to give him a new lease on life. What would come next? He wasn’t certain, but it would be interesting to find out.

The metal tip of his cane made a tapping sound as he followed the guide and nodded politely to her enthusiastic explanations of the spaces she was showing them.

>>>~<<<

Shelby 9 Snippet 4

 

Chapter 4

 

Tortuga

 

“What a rush,” Pops gushed, bobbing up and down in a characteristic otter show of excitement. “Like a slip and slide,” he said.

Captain  Jira “Crusty” Kireski glanced at his chief helmsman and then away. The otters were overdue for time off so he was cutting them a lot of slack.

The courier had handled the transit through the wormhole smoothly. His professional eyes scanned the readouts as the ship’s tiny crew and AI switched over to sublight.

“We’ve been welcomed to the star system, sir,” the ship’s AI stated. “Are we going to stay?”

“No. Let’s get this show on the road. The sooner we get to where we’re going, the sooner Pops and the other otters get to get some time off in an ocean or water park.”

“Definitely,” Pops said. He bobbed and weaved. “Course plotted.”

The captain glanced at it. It wasn’t quite the least-time course to the jump point zone he was expecting. As usual Pops was taking a few liberties to buzz around the traffic ahead of them.

“Pops, you do remember flight regulations?” the captain reminded him gently.

“I’ve got it,” the ship’s AI stated, cleaning up the projected flight path.

“Spoil sport,” the otter stated.

The captain snorted softly.

“Ready to implement.”

“So ordered. Send the command our regrets. Perhaps next time.”

“Aye aye, sir. Message away. We are underway.”

The captain nodded once and sat back and relaxed.

>>>~<<<

Admiral Th’m’ll noted the courier’s departure and relaxed. He had offered to host the army general out of formality. He was pleased that the invitation had been declined. As much as his staff wanted him to make contacts with higher-ups he’d rather not get involved. The sooner they were out of his AO, the better.

>>>~<<<

It took a day to get through the gates and to the Tortuga-Tau Gate Star System next.

Pops made a joke about the navy chauffeur service which was not well received by the captain. The otter shrugged and then set course for the jump point to the sector capital. Two days later they were back in hyperspace once more.

>>>~<<<

New Tau Metropolis

 

Shelby alerted to the arrival of an inspection tour group in Tortuga. “Great, just what we don’t need.”

“Ma’am?” her AI asked.

“A colonoscopy by DPs.” Shelby said in through disgust.

Her AI snorted in a mannerism she had copied from her principle. “I understand it is mostly made up of army personnel?”

“With some sprinkling of IG people and others. They will look for something. There is no such thing as a zero defect system anywhere. If there is, someone is hiding something.”

“Ah.” The AI paused and rapidly checked the schedule. “Well, they won’t be here for eight weeks, ma’am.”

“Lovely. Something to look forward to,” Shelby muttered.

>>>~<<<

Wayne checked on status. Rick Hunter’s Ninth Fleet was en route from 63 to the Confederation. At the moment, the ships were in hyperspace. They checked in regularly at each stop. So far, no problems.

Admiral Snake Charmer’s Tenth Fleet had gone back to Rho and had moved on to Sigma. He hoped that they wouldn’t be missed too badly.

Admiral Kara Danvers was safely tucked away in 63. All other commands … his practiced eye scanned them almost unconsciously registering details. “Yep, all’s …,” he caught himself just in time before he said the curse words.

He glanced around and noted a gremlin watching him. “Yeah, I almost said it but I didn’t so, mmm,” he said as he stuck his tongue out at the apparition. Now that they knew that the gremlins were real and watching them it was best not to tempt them by saying things like “all is quiet.” That was just asking for trouble.

The gremlin’s reptilian eyes blinked and then it cackled and danced around and then disappeared.

He snorted and shook his head before picking up his coffee cup and taking a sip.

>>>~<<<

Shelby 9 Snippet 3

 

Chapter 3

 

TauR14G6-15 Blue Waters and Gentle Mist

 

Admiral Lobo tried to gently rub his brow. He was tired; his body was a bit crabby from sitting for prolonged periods of time. He had a headache from reading, most likely eye strain and low blood sugar. And he needed food. Better food than take out, which seemed to consume his world for the moment. His steward was probably getting tired of forcing sandwiches and soup on him.

He was starting to regret getting into a rebellion with the Confederation and into what was turning into a nasty situation with the Federation. He felt like he was in a vice, and outside forces were turning the screws ever so slightly and carefully … but relentlessly.

Eventually something was bound to pop.

He wanted to blame General Sedu and others, but he was a bit too self-honest with himself. Sure, the deaths of the civilians in their stasis pods he could lay at stupidity and an accident. But … he made a puttering sound.

No, it was still on his watch. He should have had people paying more attention to such things.

He glanced at the empty glass nearby and pushed it away with a flick of his fingertip. The glass had weight on the bottom so it didn’t tip easily. He turned away to look out the view screen to the star system.

Normally he loved the view; it helped to calm him. It reminded him of a night sky and staring up at it in wonder as a calf. At the moment, it barely registered.

General Sedu had engineered the rebellion, insurrection, whatever you wanted to call it. He had to admit, he’d gone along with it when he had resented the Confederation surrendering to the Federation.

If they’d only tried harder, gotten their timing right …

He cut those errant thoughts off harshly. Coulda, woulda, shoulda wouldn’t change a damn thing. What happened was what happened. They needed to move forward.

For the moment, things were progressing. The New Tauren Confederation made up of six inhabited and one empty star system was progressing. A fresh constitutional convention was in the works. They had their own Ansible network, which was growing. Its bandwidth was limited, but it worked and best of all, it wasn’t controlled by the Confederation.

He turned slightly to look at the status board. The locked-down Confederation Ansible blinked a lurid red at him mockingly.

He hated that. It meant that the Confederation knew that they were in revolt and were doing something. He had no way of knowing what. Nothing good obviously.

He glanced at the sector map. Their newly-minted capital was a binary star system with two agro worlds and a mixed population. They had orbital fortresses and a small task force under his command. General Sedu controlled the ground forces with an iron glove.

They had the single shipyard in the star system. There were small repair yards here and there, and some on their borders he was hoping to grab. At the moment, he wasn’t certain they were worth the risk.

He had too many fronts. The capital was wide open on their flanks and that bothered him and kept him up at nights, especially with the Feds.

He winced slightly. Oh, how he regretted taking out that ship! If they’d only surrendered as planned …

He flicked his head in a negative gesture. Again, it was over and done with. He was going to have to find a way to deal with an angry Federation at some point.

That was a bleak thought he thought and then got up to visit the head. He needed to get some rest or he wasn’t going to be good for anything anymore.

>>>~<<<

Commander Black Tip flicked his black-tipped ears as he checked on the status of the prisoners and ships. So far so good, though he worried about any more accidents.

He was also concerned about the rebellion. Obviously talks with Admiral White Face and Admiral Yen, not to mention the insurrection hadn’t gone over well. Admiral Lobo hadn’t said much but the lack of positive reports was enough to infer that they hadn’t gone well. And it was becoming something of an open secret that the Ansible was locked down and that the Confederation knew something was going on.

He shook his head and then grunted. He noted that the admiral was going to bed and nodded in relief and agreement. Good. Now, he planned an unscheduled check on the prisoners for later in the week and then he too would hand off his duties to the next in line and get some shut eye as well.

>>>~<<<

Planetary Governor Dash of Gentle Mist nodded to his counterpart, Max, the planetary governor of Blue Waters. They waited outside the office of Governor Hard Toss or “interim president” as some were calling him these days.

Dash felt an urge to check his watch but sat on it firmly. He didn’t need or want to look impatient. He knew the game; hell, he’d used it often enough. Hard Toss was playing a dominance game by having them wait in order to assert himself as the dominant bull. They were the supplicants; he was the alpha.

Of course they knew that already. They were also all busy and had full schedules. Besides, he had summoned them to the station, they could have held a conversation … well, no the damn distances between planets in the binary star system would have prevented a proper conversation. Still, this shit was getting old.

“Come on already,” Max muttered.

Dash felt a bit of amusement and thrill of triumph at not being the one to break and show annoyance first. He glanced at his partner and flicked his ears. Max rolled his brown eyes in return and rubbed his hands on his knees.

“Stupid games we play,” Max finally said impatient. “I have a schedule to keep.” He got up and looked at his chief of staff and then over to the aide near the door. “When Governor Hard Toss is ready to reschedule, let me know,” he said flatly.

Dash blinked and then got up as well. He glanced uncertainly to the staff and guards and then headed behind Max to the door.

The aide immediately touched his ear and then cleared his throat.

Max’s chief of staff paused in front of him and turned. The bulls turned one by one back to the aide.

“The governor’s call has ended, and he is ready to speak with you now.” The aide made a show of turning a sweeping hand to the door and triggering the opening.

“About time,” Max muttered as he changed course. The other bulls followed.

>>>~<<<

Shelby 9 Snippet 2

Sitrep:  I received the book back from Rea yesterday, did the final edits and then sent it off to Goodlifeguide for formatting. :)

Chapter 2

 

Minox IV, Confederation Capital

 

President Scar Chin checked the latest poll numbers and sighed internally. The government, his government, was holding. But it wasn’t easy. His involvement with the debacle in 92 recently wasn’t helping much.

He didn’t see how he would change things, though the ending did haunt him a bit. He had tried everything, even involving the Admiralty to talk Captain Bren down. He had failed and instead watched a sanitized feed as the Federation forces that had stealthfully crept into position tore the rogue ships apart.

In a way, it was confirmation that his government had been right to sue for peace. It still wouldn’t bring back the Tauren sailors who had died following the orders of their foolish officers, however. Nor would it bring back the people that had died on their march to Federation space.

At least the Feds were not holding Bren’s actions against him and his people. Nor did they seem to be holding Admiral Lobo and General Sedu’s actions against him either. That was a relief.

He hadn’t anticipated how fast things would come apart. It was insane. In hindsight he should have known something would happen; after all, the military was a strategic think tank whose predominant concern was applying that knowledge to violence. They had to have been gaming out what would happen to their people once the Federation won and the Confederation turned over a new leaf.

Which had put their personnel squarely in the crosshairs of trials for “crimes against sentient life” and war crimes during the recent war.

He shook his head. They should have known better than to allow their personnel to commit such crimes but they hadn’t. His staff had heard the dark whispers of scapegoats but he hadn’t paid attention to it.

Well, now he was paying attention. Especially after the recent coup attempt and the unrest throughout the Confederation.

He tucked his hands behind his back as he looked out the window to the stars. The command station was beautiful; it had an incredible view of the planet and the space around them. The stars sometimes gleamed like jewels.

He had heard a story that Admiral Irons was on a similar station in Federation space. He was curious about that. He had put in a request to his staff to try to get a Federation media tour of the station. He’d love to spend an evening with his mate watching it and comparing notes. No doubt she would love to critique the decor.

He rolled his eyes at that thought and then returned to his desk. He sat down and inhaled and exhaled slowly before he picked up the tablet with the latest bill he was reviewing. His staff had written up a summary and position places with it. He would review them later. For the moment, he wanted to see the bill in raw form and see if he could pick out any potential tripping points.

One very good thing that had recently come out of the legislature was the law he'd signed that gave alien citizens full amnesty for all perceived crimes. It also gave them a five-year grace period before they had to pay taxes. They also had the right to incorporate their towns, cities, and villages and any planet, county, or district had to share their resources including tax income with the alien settlements. They couldn't begin taxing until the fifth year. If they did not share their credits, the federal government would freeze all fund distribution.

The last part hadn't been initially popular; conservatives had latched onto it as a potential key to break the bill's passage. But the idea of adding so many credits and voters from the aliens to their coffers was too much to overcome, and the inertia had seen the bill passed and sent to his desk. He'd made a show of signing it.

Now they just needed to encourage the aliens to stay. The bill to provide medical care and to repair their sterilizations was still hung up in the committees unfortunately. The conservatives were latching onto it as giving away too much.

He grunted as he tried to focus on the bill in front of him. One problem at a time, he thought.

After the read and notes, he had a working lunch and then another budget committee and then a scheduled talk with the Admiralty about the insurrection and dealing with Lobo.

“Joy,” he murmured to himself as his eyes began to scroll through the document carefully.

>>>~<<<

Admiral Byx listened to the reports. So far he had a detailed knowledge of what Sedu and Lobo had but no means to immediately stop them.

He had gotten confirmation from ONI that Lobo and Sedu had reached out with feelers for some time to seduce others to their cause.

He was a bit irritated with the personnel who had not reported it. But they didn’t seem to be backing the insurrectionists and professed that they hadn’t known it would go that far, so he had to give them the benefit of the doubt. Besides, if he relieved them, he’d have to have someone to fill in their positions while they were investigated, and the very act of that could trigger further insurrection with possible disastrous implications that they could ill afford.

No, he had to keep them close. He had, however, taken a few precautions to dispatch a few extra spies to keep an eye on them. He hated that, but he had no choice.

“Admiral Yen is a good old bull, loyal to the core. He has admitted that Lobo had been feeling him out to get him to join up or as he put it, let him pass.” The commander stated.

“Which would imply he was either looking to invade space north or escape to the east?” the admiral asked.

“Exactly our thoughts, sir. Which would imply Lobo is thinking of contingency plans and aware that his hold is tenacious at best.”

“The last thing we need is his fleet getting into Upsilon and going rogue there,” a voice rumbled.

“I highly doubt they’d join the pirates,” the commander stated stiffly.

“No, but they could turn pirate or try to turn south and pull another Bren. We don’t need that either,” Admiral Byx stated.

The room grew quiet over that statement.

None of them had seen actual combat. The Federation had released a sanitized view of the battle in 92. Admiral Byx felt his nostrils flare ever so briefly. Battle hell, it had been almost a one-sided massacre.

ONI was going over the feed to try to glean out what they could. Tactical was along for the ride, though they knew it would be a futile exercise. What it did show was their inferiority against the Federation. At least, it did to him and a few other bulls.

“Where are we with ground forces?”

“Most are tied down with police action to keep the peace. We also have trust issues,” an army major admitted.

The admiral nodded grimly. Not so long ago that army major had been a lieutenant. It went to show how badly the army had been shaken up by the insurrection.

“Admiral White Face is ready to move on the insurrectionist's southwest flank,” Commander Cy reported. “Based on what we know T-13 has gone over to the insurrection,” he warned.

The admiral grunted.

“A bit thin if you ask me. Intel is basing that on the assumption that since the governor is a cousin of Governor Hard Toss, he’d throw in with him,” Commodore Ree stated.

“Dell is like a brother to Hard Toss. He’d follow him anywhere,” Commander Cy warned.

Admiral Byx nodded. “We have to assume he has gone over to the other side. The same for the star systems that are not responding to us.”

“Do we send in a show of force? Get them to see the stupidity of their ways and force them to stand down?” Commander Cy asked.

“That is the ultimate objective, to keep loss of life to a minimum,” the admiral stated.

“None at all would be preferable,” Commodore Ree stated.

“Unfortunately, that time has passed,” Admiral Byx stated. The commodore blinked. “The insurrectionists have drawn first blood. Both with us here and with the Federation. When we send our ships and troops in, they have to be prepared to take any and all ships into custody. We’ll sort them out after the fact.”

“If they refuse to heave to and surrender?” the commodore asked.

“Then they are insurrectionists and will be dealt with accordingly,” Admiral Byx stated firmly. “Hopefully, a warning shot or a disabling strike will get them to see the futility of resistance. But if not …”

He shook his head.

The room grew quiet.

“On their own horns so be it I suppose,” the admiral said with a nod to the commander to continue the briefing.

>>>~<<<