Liberty or Death Snippet 5

Okay sitrep: I just sent Rea Liberty or Death. I held out until today to give everyone who had it a chance to chime in. (I've had complaints I'm rushing the books through proofreading)

Also, I sent Wayne the first 2 acts of Full Circle last night.

And, I watched Pacific Rim Uprising last night. Not much character development, I hate how they have the usual soft dialog and then blasting sound FX. It had me scrambling through the entire movie. I have no idea what happened to some of the cast of the first movie. It was more of a kids movie, the mecha were cool but the plot had such large holes in it! You could drive a... well, jaeger through a couple of them!
-Like how a 15 year old could build a Jaeger on her own. Forty feet tall??? Not just a genius kid but holy crap! Super strong too!
-or how they have that 1 bit in the plot about how during the last war all of the Kaiju were headed to Japan. They all came from the same portal in the first movie. I guess some got lost and went to California, Alaska, Hong Kong???

Anyway, on to the snippet:

Chapter 4

 

Antigua

 

Admiral Irons nodded as he listened to the latest briefing. “Finally something is going right.”

“Yes sir. We've got De Gaulte on the defensive. Garth has been decimated. According to our psych profile of him he'll try to fight forward for as long as possible. Rattling him with scouts and then a coordinated assault will bounce him out.”

“I'd rather catch him and finish him. But I know what sort of battle that will mean,” Yorgi stated as he set his coffee cup down. “A fight to the death is bad but he's been ground down pretty hard. Our forces have been reinforced and can recover quicker and better than his. I think if Admiral White switches from a battle of attrition to one of annihilation he'll win.”

“It's not just winning I'm concerned about. It's what comes next,” Admiral Irons said. “He'll get hurt, and yes I know that is the price of doing business,” he held up a restraining hand to curb the intelligence officer. “But, I'm more concerned strategically. If they battle to the death yes it leads the road open to Horath. We can see that, but so can the enemy. They might panic and send a massive fleet out and catch Second Fleet off guard.”

“If they do sir?” Captain Sprite asked.

“Then he'll have to fight another battle of attrition at each jump point and give ground as he does in order to preserve the bulk of his forces. But we'll have to fight again to take back that ground later. We also can't reinforce him.”

“I believe you still wish to send him the SDs correct sir?” Yorgi asked. Admiral Irons nodded. “But that's it.”

“That is it until Admiral Creator of Things can get some breathing room and my people can play catch up,” Sandra'kall, the Centaurian Secretary of Industry stated from her holographic pedestal.

Admiral Irons grunted in agreement as he looked at the latest report on the fleet on his HUD. Phil, Odette, Yorgi, and Georgi were right; he'd gotten a bit carried away in his deployments. That had to change, the navy didn't have a bottomless well as far as ships and personnel were concerned.

He still intended to send the quartet of super dreadnoughts to Amadeus, and a draft of personnel to Pi though, they would be needed to man any captured ships and facilities there. But, a follow up draft to Tau was now off. He couldn't afford it at the moment. Shelby was on her own until they got sorted out. He was certain she would understand.

“Shh, the press conference is starting,” Emily Berkheart, the Secretary of Labor stated, pointing to the big screen. All eyes turned to it expectantly as the Neocat press secretary took the podium.

===<>===

“Good morning, and I hope everyone had a good weekend. I certainly did,” Liobat said as she took the podium from her assistant. She smiled her thanks briefly as the other woman left silently.

“First off, I'd like to wish Bundy a happy birthday,” she said with a nod to the reporter near the rear of the room. He blinked as the group broke into a smattering of applause and well wishes. “So, the first question will go to him when we get to that point.”

Bundy blinked and then nodded, looking a bit nonplussed at being singled out but eager to get the first salvo in.

“To open things up, the markets are ticking away smoothly. The economy continues to pick up and improve as each star system adds people to the job market as well as materials. Goods are exchanging hands on an increasing basis, so much so that Captain Broken Antenna finally has something to do other than to count paperclips,” she said.

There was a soft chuckle over that.

“Seriously, we all know that. There is no new news from the war front. The holdouts on Dead Drop are still refusing to surrender. To date Admiral White hasn't taken any action against them. We are still in the gathering intelligence phase I believe. Any further questions in that regard I will refer you to the navy's press secretary.”

“There are no high level scheduled meetings with other governments to negotiate their return to the Federation at this time. I'll refer you to progress on that front with the State Department.”

“No news is good news?” a reporter in the front row quipped.

Liobat flicked her ears. “Sometimes we get the softballs and get to enjoy a good day,” she said.

“Lucky,” the reporter replied with a smirk.

“No, just good looking and really good at talking other people to death,” Liobat said. “I believe they refer to that as chatty,” she said, pretending to preen. There was a chuckle from the group. “Now, the military will be launching another ship later this week. You can pick up the details on the brief ceremony from my office or from the navy. The navy will give you stock footage if you require it. Due to heightened security they will not allow any live craft near their precious ships,” she said.

There was another soft chuckle. “I believe the term, you break it you buy it comes into mind for some bean counter in the bowels of naval accounting,” she said to a smatter of additional chuckles.

“The president is in good health and is most likely watching this press conference with the cabinet in their weekly meeting. So, without further ado, let's get to the question session so I can cut this short and get in there. I want to make sure certain parties don't eat up all the canapés before I get at least one,” she said to more chuckles.

“Bundy that's your queue,” she said, pointing a stylus to the reporter.

The Neochimp rose slightly and looked at his tablet. “We still haven't heard anything about the massive arrests several months ago. No one has heard from any of the accused. They've simply disappeared. There is some concern, especially since one of the people who went missing is one of my colleagues. Can you tell us any progress on that case? When will we hear their side of the story?”

Liobat kept her face impassive. He would start things off with a question about that and even hint about April O'Neill she thought in mild annoyance.

“I again will refer you to speak to the DOJ spokesman on questions relating to this matter. I will tell you that any investigation will be followed until its natural conclusion. Only then will charges, if any will be presented. There is no clock on the process unless two circumstances are met; one, if a statute of limitations is involved, or two, a person of interest is leaving the jurisdiction. Otherwise, a good investigator, be it a reporter,” she paused to indicate her audience and even smiled and flicked her ears slightly. “...Or law enforcement individual will keep generating and following leads until the picture is complete. As to why they are in custody, some are a threat to themselves or others. Some are potential witnesses who have had threats against them.” There was a smatter of clicks as old fashioned still cameras as well as modern ones went off. “I believe there is a gag order on talking to anyone during an active investigation. That is standard procedure in any case. Any further questions you need to talk to the DOJ,” she said firmly. “Now, who's next?” she asked, waving her stylus like a conductor's wand.

===<>===