Blockade Snippet 2

Sitrep:
Up to chapter 39 in We the People.

   For those of you asking what that is, We the People is Founding of the Federation 6. It is the beginning of the Federation and the lead in to the Hyperspace War. (the follow up book)
I'm freewheeling it for the most part. Lots of threads running around, nothing has come together yet. Lots of tie-ins to short stories. I'm trying to strike a balance with them which isn't easy.

I'll do a better write up later. :)

On to the Snippet!

Chapter 2

 

Garth

 

In the 2 months since the last battle, Vice Admiral Amadeus White had done his best to consolidate his forces and resupply them as well as the forces of Fifth Fleet. The fleet train had yet to arrive, it would be another 2 months before they got to him.

They were making the best out of it though. The ship crews were even making headway on some of the easier repairs. Every warship had internal replicators, spare parts, and engineers willing to use both to set their ships right. But they were stymied by large projects. And that didn't even cover the mess of captured ships or the 4 ships from TF 2.4 that had been crippled. Their surviving crews were still being sorted out. Those that had returned to duty had been transferred to other ships in the fleet.

TF 2.4 was a shadow of it's former self. He should by rights dissolve the unit and fold them into the others but he'd backed the surviving captains insistence on staying the course. On the books 6 ships remained in the task force so it was still viable... even if only 2 ships, an Arboth and a Resolution were manned at the moment.

Fifty-six ships in the Stennis convoy had made a mess of things for him. The courier and 8 freighters had escaped. Seven of the 47 warships had survived the battle with TF 2.4. The Nimitz class carrier Stennis was currently being used as a prison barge. Several people had put in a request for the ship once proper prison facilities were erected on the ground or elsewhere.

So, 16 ships that were empty and lifeless. Six of them were still coming in to the inner star system. The rest had been placed in parking orbits together with Admiral V'r'z'll's Fifth Fleet. Four of the ships from the late Admiral Einezberg's command were what the engineers termed, 'iffy'.

TF 2.2 and TF 2.3 were sitting near the spreading wreckage from the battle at the H002 jump point, covering it while TF 2.1 continued to remain 1 AU back as a ready reserve. Eventually that spreading wreckage would be used to create defenses in the star system.

One group that wasn't with them were the Marines. He'd stripped out every Marine in Second Fleet and sent them to Fifth Fleet and the planet. They'd switched off control duties on Stennis with a selection of MPs from both fleets as well. MPs were handling some of the guard duties on some of the colonies as well.

He rubbed his chin. It still wasn't enough. Commander Briggs and his people had given them tons of information but they hadn't broken the back of the enemy's forces on the planet. It was going to take more time, more pressure, and more importantly, more manpower and weapons to do the job.

He had recommended Renee for a Medal of Valor for her sacrifice. It was the least he could do for her and Trajin.

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Rear Admiral V'r'z'll still didn't understand why Commander Briggs refused to take the military governorship of the planet. He certainly acted as the planet's leader but seemed reluctant to take on the mantle.

Her fleet was busy making good on their repairs while also performing ground bombing and reconnaince missions. She'd wondered why Admiral White had set things up that way, once the Marines had engaged she'd finally understood and agreed with the division of labor.

Her negotiations with the enemy's Captain Ozman had ended abruptly. She had no idea if the human female had been killed or not.

She turned two of her 4 eyestalks to Stennis. She longed to put the ship back in service, this time fighting for the right side. The engineers weren't sure about how much it would take to put the carrier back into service. Most of her forces had been decimated too, not that she'd want her pilots to fly such deathtraps.

The next largest ship to survive was a Derfflinger class battle cruiser. The late Commodore Mayweather's people had done a bang up job beating the rest of Stennis's battle line into wreckage but they'd had a few that had gotten off more lightly than others. That and a Derfflinger was a tough customer to kill completely without getting a nuke into her guts. She was battered though, and her sister ships had been turned into wreckage.

She had no idea what the Admiralty would plan to do with the ships. Most likely they would be patched up enough to be able to jump and then sent back to Antigua to be rebuilt. She hoped the carrier would stay but it wasn't her decision.

Pity about that.

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Agent N'gumo grimaced as the patrol passed. He had to be casual, you couldn't give yourself away by reacting to the Marines too much. Yes they expected some fear and dirty looks, but dropping down was dangerous.

So was acting too nonchalantly though. Which was why he was trying to find the right balance. Fortunately, the enemy was trying to bribe the population with giveaways of food as well as free medical clinics.

He had passed on them as potential targets but so far General K had refused them. He wasn't sure what the General was waiting for. He knew the importance of getting information... was he going to set up a patsy to make a strike to gauge the enemy's responses? He hoped so, though he hoped he wasn't the fool the General dangled out on a limb to get the information.

He wasn't sure he was alive. He had no clue. He'd been wounded three times but had so far survived. He'd narrowly missed getting killed by 3 KEW and 2 drone strikes. Some Horathians saw him as lucky.

He just wanted to find a way to hit back and really hurt the enemy. Somehow, someway he would hopefully get his chance before his ticket came up.

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Okay, the whole blog refusing to change the font color is getting OLD.  >:P