Inferno Snippet 5

 Sitrep: So, Rea sent me back the manuscript. I just sent it to Goodlifeguide, so the clock is officially ticking.

The cats have been sick so I'm running on 2 hours sleep. Fun.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 4

 

Ramses Star System

 

Captain Phil Subert looked at the notice and then sighed. He'd hoped that he'd get a transfer out but no such luck. For the time being, he was stuck in his posting for at least another quarter, more likely another half year. So be it.

The good news was that he was making some headway with parts produced in the star system. He was quite proud of that, of squeezing just a little bit out and assembling it in freighters to send to the nearest major naval base. It all fit under the heading of “every little bit helped.”

At least, that was how he sold it to the governor and the planetary industrial council. People were actually volunteering to work in the industrial centers assembling equipment. That was something. Work credits were being issued. Many hoped to get paid back later or a permanent job, but that was someone else's problem.

If he didn't get his desired transfer, he at least got a commendation for initiative, plus a bump in the budget to continue his efforts. That was good. He was promised a transfer within the next quarter, but there were no guarantees on what he'd end up with.

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In Hyperspace

 

Captain Amadeus White watched Admiral Bites Big put the tactical staff of her bridge and his through their paces. So far so good, Bavaria was responding smoothly to all of the tactical problems the T'clock dreamed up. Many had already been tried by the various staffs. He noted that the latest was a tactical exercise based on the latest intelligence about the enemy. He also noted that the bug had added a few twists to it and even ramped up the difficulty level.

He nodded to himself. It was always better to train harder than reality. You learned more from getting beat then winning and getting complacent. He made a note of that trick as he tweaked the level slightly higher. It wasn't nasty per se, but it wasn't nice either.

Well, as the admiral liked to say, war wasn't about playing nice.

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Nexus 3

 

Admiral John Henry Irons watched the ship unloading and shook his head mentally. Why anyone would want to request more army units … honestly? He didn't understand it. He couldn't complain that it was the 82^nd though; he knew some of the people in there. They were a tight group. He just had to wonder at the wisdom of sending his friends onto a world that might be lost.

Not that he expected that to happen.

Nexus 3 had a pretty solid layer of defenses. They hadn't invested in planetary shields but were making up for that now. The governor had also requested he dedicate more fixed defenses. He had done what he could, but he knew it wasn't enough. The governor's emails said so.

He snorted. He was an officer; he knew that no officer was ever fully content with what they had when facing an attack. They always wanted more—more people, more material, better material and ships, what have you. Armchair theorists said that you needed to have the best to win. That was bullshit. The best was the enemy of good enough. Translated it meant to get what you needed but don't kill yourself trying for perfection. Perfection was unattainable anyway.

That didn't mean you abandoned striving for it though. You just didn't tell your junior officers that you would settle. What was the other saying? Aim for the moon and see what the other side settles for?

He snorted again.

He couldn't blame the governor for wanting more. He wanted more. More … and less. Less people to have to worry about defending and potentially loosing.

Well, he was getting some of that soon enough. The yard had hit its stride in converting freighters into liners and building new liners. The ships were evacuating families, but he had prioritized some ships for military dependents as well.

He'd even gone so far as to slip Gretchen onto the list. She'd suffered enough.

He winced in remembered pain. She still tried to talk to him about … Hazel. He was no longer identifying the girl as his daughter, most likely out of some form of defensive reaction. But he had done the minimum to talk to his ex-wife, if only to make her feel better. She had finally accepted counseling. She'd said she was making progress.

The idea that she might run into another copy of her daughter out there in the galaxy … he shuddered and shook his head. He hoped and prayed that the law enforcement departments were finally on top of that hunt.

He didn't have much faith though. After all, they'd not noticed until someone in ONI had put their career on the line to get their attention. On the other hand, he knew it wasn't entirely their fault. Even with A.I. and the best facial recognition software, they had literally trillions of people out there running around. Seeing ghosts of people who shouldn't be there hadn't been on their radar.

They were at least taking it seriously. Seriously enough that Nexus 3 had been cleansed of any known changelings. If there were any surviving ones, they were doing their level best to keep a very low profile in the boonies somewhere. Somewhere away from prying electronic eyes.

Again, not his problem. He had enough to worry about. The next refugee shipment, plus news that the Xenos were marching in his direction.

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Psi sector

 

Lieutenant Jeffrey Irons groaned as word came in. It was official; the ship was assigned escort duty again. They were to cover the refugee convoys passing through the sector. He shook his head in disgust. Just about everyone wanted to get off convoy duty. They all knew that everyone had a role to play, but it seemed stupid. Even the pirates were taking on a low profile during the war … at least as far as the news reports said. He hadn't seen a copy of the Navy Times recently, so he couldn't be sure.

It still sucked though, not that he expected a destroyer to make much difference on the war front.

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Hammer & Crockett star system

 

Lieutenant Vince Perry Junior watched the line of ships and shook his head. They had a massive habitat to unload the people in but only one functional spaceport. Somehow that was laughably typical of the times.

"They've had another shuttle accident," a communication tech reported.

"Damn it, why can't they open another port up? Even a freight hub to unload the people and turn the ships around faster?" he said out loud.

"Good question," a familiar voice said, making him cringe slightly. He turned to see the skipper. "I don't know. Why don't we find out?"

"Ah, Skipper, I was just venting …"

"But you raised a good point. Call them and find out," the captain said.

Vince frowned but then turned and began to access the directory. He didn't know who to call but he would find out. There were tens of thousands of people out there in the ships. The ships needed to have a fast turnaround. Unload and then get out there to get more … or whatever.

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