The Hyperspace War snippet 2

Oops!
Looks like I forgot Blogger doesn't like copy and paste text. Guess I need to go back and fix that.

Anyway, sitrep: I just got the manuscript back from Rea and sent it to Goodlifeguide.com

I'm struggling with the cover art for Loose Ends. Turns out a wicked cool model I bought is in the MAX format and I can't convert it. (it is too big) I'm trying to work with the seller now.

Oh, I got Avengers Endgame and watched it... and then the Youtube stuff, then watched the ending again last night. Still love it!

And on to the snippet!

Chapter 2

 

Sol Star System

 

Interim President Jorge Washington tucked his hands behind his back as he looked out the window. For the moment, he was in the Confederation Executive branch office while the new Federation government was being set up. A lot was in flux but things were starting to settle down.

The Neochimp's fur flared briefly and then settled down. He wasn't sure how to handle some of it. The war, the amalgamation—it was all happening at once. He could multi-task with the best of them, but this was going to be tricky.

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Koshy Ahura, deputy undersecretary of the State Department tugged on an ear as he considered the email. His old boss was out; a new Veraxin boss was on his way in. His old boss was going to stay in the Confederation government; he had a feeling she was going for some sort of position to take over the presidency with the hopes that the Federation fell apart.

He wasn't so sure about that. Then again, she could be jockeying to place herself in a position for a future Federation run. She had, after all, gotten a lot of credit for the Federation initiative, even getting the Nobel Peace Prize for it. It was her baby so it coming apart would reflect badly on her too.

One thing he did note was that she wasn't trying to pull anyone with her. Which made sense given that the Confederation government was splintering. Most of State was going over to the Federation. He wasn't sure about some of the other branches.

The navy would more or less have to become the core of the Federation military if they were going to have any hope of surviving the coming war.

He glanced at the screen replaying the latest news report. The image of the giant ship made him shiver a little.

May they live in interesting times indeed he thought with another shiver of dread.

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Admiral Ian Kepler, chief of Naval Operations of first the Confederation Navy and now the nascent Federation Navy, was surprised when he received the first reports of the first warships in movement.

Given the delicate political nature of such things, he decided it would be wise to consult the president and pass the buck. President Washington listened politely and then nodded. “You are asking for permission?”

“Yes, sir. I want to know how fast are we pushing this amalgamation?”

“As fast as we theoretically can,” the Neochimp president stated. “I'll send credentials if needed. I'm surprised you didn't run this past the rest of the chain of command though.”

Ian grimaced. “To be honest, I considered it, sir, but we don't have a secretary of defense or secretary of the navy. Both positions are up in the air.”

The president nodded gravely. That was certainly true. Both positions were being hotly debated as were the other seats in his Cabinet and elsewhere in the administration. He wasn't even sure how long he would be able to hold onto his current seat given that it was an interim posting. Usually people were voted out after a while from such things unless they made a big positive splash.

He didn't even want to consider the implications of a campaign trail at the moment. As a Confederation presidential candidate, he'd made the rounds to some of the largest colonies but mainly focused on building a solid core in Sol where the largest population of Terrans still resided.

Now that was all up in the air. He was going to have to appeal to the masses.

He cleared his throat when he realized the admiral was staring at him expectantly. “Sorry, on another train of thought I guess. You were saying?”

“We can transmit a pass to the borders. But what do we let through and how fast? Are we to share our navigational databases? All of it?”

The president frowned. This was really a test of the Federation he realized. “All of it. Put our people on board if you have to. Send the credentials. Yes, send the navigational updates if they need it. Some don't.”

The admiral frowned but made a note. “So, for the record we're all one big happy family?”

“I know; I don't like the idea of alien ships moving through our star systems, especially alien warships. But it needs to be done. We need to set up a system. And we need those ships. We need to get our collective acts together. We've got a common enemy.”

The admiral nodded again. “Yes, sir. We've got the first customers now, a quartet of Tauren ships. One is a battleship.”

“Then start there since the Taurens are our allies and a satrap. We'll see how things go from there,” the president stated.

“Understood, sir.”

“But tag each of those ships. We need to fingerprint them and know where they are going at all times.”

“Understood,” Ian said with a nod of relief at such cautious wisdom. He'd already planned to pass those orders on but official recognition of them was even better. It meant he would be covered if it got out and someone got their noses out of joint over the lack of trust.

“Trust has to be earned,” the Neochimp president stated. “Trust but verify. But we have to start somewhere.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How are you on integrating the Federation Navy?” the president asked.

Ian snorted. “Barely started, sir. I have to admit, the jarheads have it easier than we do.”

“For good reason, they take anyone who can handle the job. Equality of opportunity not outcome. If you can handle the basics, you are in.”

“Yes, sir. We're working on that here. But not all minds think alike.”

“Then they need to learn and adapt just like you do. And there are places for all. If you have to keep them separate on separate ships, so be it.”

“We're exploring that option too, sir. Some are pretty damn alien. The bugs for instance. Some are big like the Taurens.” He'd heard some off-color jokes about Taurens and the size of their hands in comparison to other parts of their anatomy.

He personally never wanted to meet those same giant hands balled into fists in a bar or elsewhere. It'd be nice to pawn the Taurens and others off on the jarheads but the bulls had capital ships and were willing to help.

“Keep me posted,” the president said with a nod before he signed off.

“Will do,” the admiral said under his breath as the screen cleared and then reset to his usual status wallpaper. “Will do,” he echoed, sitting back and thinking about the problem.

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