Liberty or Death Snippet 1

Sitrep:
I'm ankle deep in Horatio Logan 3, Full Circle. So far progress is being made in my usual round about way. AKA: Pick a comfortable area, plop down and write. :)
(It drives Wayne nuts lol)

Anyway, I forgot to post the snippet so here it is:

Act I

 

Chapter 1

Dead Drop

 

Vice Admiral Amadeus White was proud of his people. They had successfully taken the star system and had taken out three enemy capital ships and driven off the Retribution Fleet in the process.

But, it wasn't quite as perfect as some thought. His fleet was still dealing with the aftermath of the battle some six-weeks later. They had just set up the ansible and reported in. But, he had one mess left to deal with. Well, two, he thought, turning a sour brown eyed look to the wreckage distributed through the inner and outer star system.

His own people had shattered the enemy space platforms in the outer star system. At the time they had been following his orders, so he couldn't fault them for that. Nor could he fault them for what had happened in the inner star system. The Horathians had scuttled every station, every platform, and every wounded ship they'd had left in the inner star system in a brief but spectacularly violent act of self-immolation designed to deny him the rewards of his victory.

In other words, it was a mess. It was also something he would have done in their place, so even though he wasn't thrilled about the results, he held a sort of grudging respect for the officer who had ordered it. That person had put their career on the line to do what they thought was right. For the first time he actually thought good of the enemy in some small way.

Which also made him feel a bit odd.

Not that it made his job any easier. It just made it clear that he had to secure the planet. Which was the biggest snag in his plan; the bastard had retreated to it and was holding out there. Another point he grudgingly had to respect.

Not that it was going to do the little shit much good in the end. Not if he and his people had anything to say about that.

It seemed that his command team was shaping up nicely. So much so that he'd allowed Commodore Dwight Harris to command the force guarding the Garth jump point on his own. Commodore Trajan Vargess's carriers were off the jump point, poised to act as the second tier in the defenses while his own capital ships resided in the inner star system, overseeing the fleet train as they tried to scrape up the wreckage.

He wanted to grind his teeth together in annoyance but instead turned and listened with half an ear as Kelly tried to talk sense into the Horathians again.

He gave her chances of success about even with their own chance of holding out indefinitely.

===<>===

Lieutenant Sri Savenan wasn't happy about being left in charge, but he had to make due. A part of that was dealing with the enemy. It wasn't a duty he liked, but it was one he had no intention of leaving to a subordinate.

Even if he thought Ensign Smith might be able to handle it, there was no way he was going to let her get into trouble or potentially give something away to the enemy.

They had learned to communicate with the Federation forces in orbit only through an air gapped computer. He had ordered every communication system to be air gapped. That had been the easiest and yet hardest order to implement successfully. They were still finding and plugging gaps in the network. Hopefully before the enemy A.I. found them and found a way to get in and exploit the oversight.

“You have to know it's over. You've lost. Admiral De Gaulte fled. It's over,” the Neogorilla said.

“Maybe. Then again, maybe not. My orders are clear.”

“The same orders that you followed in destroying everything in space you mean?” Lieutenant Kelly Gaudino stated in annoyance.

Sri allowed himself to smile ever so briefly at the enemy's annoyance. That little bit was something to warm his aching soul. He knew there would be hell to pay over scuttling everything in orbit but at the moment he didn't care. “We all have our duty.”

“And yours is to surrender and prevent more needless loss of life. It's over.”

“Not while I and the soldiers here live and breathe it isn't. I formally refuse to surrender my command or control of the planet. We will contest any landing; we will obliterate them on the ground. If you try to land a shuttle we will shoot it out of the sky.”

“That sounds ominous in theory, but you and I both know there are other alternatives to force your surrender. Or the next person in line. I wonder how many KEW strikes it will take to get someone to see reason?” the Neogorilla growled.

Sri thought about it. There was a reason he was using a distributed array to communicate with the enemy. And another reason for being inside a mountain. “I don't believe you'll bomb us into oblivion. We have our orders to contest this ground. I'm so informing you again. This is Imperial territory. You will pay in blood if you land here.”

“Huh. And here I'd thought you'd quote history with a simple statement like 'Nuts' or something equally heroic and ultimately stupid,” Kelly replied.

Sri's lips couldn't quite help but curve upward in a smile. He could actually like the woman on the other end. “It's not stupid if it works.”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that,” Kelly replied before she cut the channel.

===<>===

Amadeus heard about the report and then shook his head. “I know it's futile, but I've got some grudging respect for someone who says nuts in the face of what is in orbit over him. It's stupid yet brave.”

“Yes sir,” his chief of staff stated.

“But, ultimately futile and thus a pointless gesture. Okay, time to send in the Marines.” His lips puckered at an old naval rule of gunfighting. Adopt an aggressive posture, drink coffee, and send in the marines.

“Only one problem sir, we don't have enough on hand,” Commander Ch'v'tt, his Veraxin chief of staff stated.

“Then we'll have to get them. Get on that,” the admiral stated.

“Aye aye sir.”

“In the meantime, have your people draw up a list of targets. We can strike them from orbit. Maybe getting a few rocks dropped on them will make someone change their mind,” he said turning to Kelly. She nodded. She was already plotting every potential target but she was very much aware that they wouldn't get them all. The priority targets were command and control, clusters of enemy soldiers and equipment, as well as their long range sensors and SAMs.

“Sir, we can do that, but every factory we bomb into oblivion is one less we can use later. Also, the enemy may be using slave labor. We might be killing civilians,” the Commander warned, signaling first degree uncertainty mixed with reluctance.

The Neochimp admiral grimaced at that reminder. “Have ONI look into it. If we have to, go with military only targets until we can deal with them. Find out how much resistance we're talking about.”

“Aye aye sir.”

“What about the spaceport and capital? If we poll the ship's companies can we make a scratch unit up to secure the capital?”

“We could probably do it, but it would be tight. They would also need resupply and wouldn't be used to coordinating with each other. It would be Protodon all over again. To be honest sir, other than taking a stand politically I don't see the point.”

“I do. It is the principle of the thing.”

“Yes sir. But it would be putting our people into harm's way for little return,” the Veraxin warned.

The admiral scowled and then nodded once. “Get them moving now. We'll sort it out before they drop, if they drop.”

“Aye aye sir.”

===<>===