Embers Snippet 4

 So, still a little under the weather but getting better.

Projects are slowly getting ticked off, slower than I'd hoped but Dad's stepped in to help. :)

Anyway, FYI: Goodlifeguide.com said they will be done with Embers by this weekend, so expect it Sunday or Monday.

On to the snippet:

Chapter 4

 

Phi Capital

 

Since his ship's crew were stuck on board, Vince put the XO and chief engineer to work having the crew work on repairs and training. Anyone who passed their certifications was given a brief liberty pass. Anyone who got a system repaired got a pass too, plus something to trade for some credits on the black market.

There was a lot of muttering about the lack of pay and lack of downtime. He couldn't do anything about it. Every time he tried to talk to someone in the Admiralty, he was politely told it was above his pay grade and to just do his job.

There was no movement on their next set of orders. He ended up surfing the network, such as it was, and then getting into discussions with other skippers on a special channel reserved for them. He wasn't surprised that morale was in the crapper.

He listened and built a picture of the strategic situation. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as he thought it was locally.

He brought the tactical department on board to run a series of simulations. What it boiled down to was the sector and the big picture. He had a couple outlandish thoughts about that.

Everyone was stuck on how screwed they were because they lacked keys and leadership. He set those problems aside and focused on what they could do. He suggested they reassess the situation with fresh eyes.

Nine Xeno fleets had come through the gate from Canis at the Crellis star system. Two had remained in Rho sector; one had gone to Omicron, another to Beta sector, another to Tau, another to Alpha, Sigma, one to Phi, and one in Epsilon sector.

“Now, according to all reports, the ones in Rho, Omicron, Beta, Alpha, and Sigma have been beaten and destroyed. That leaves Tau, Epsilon, and the one here, right?”

“So?” Captain Schafer demanded.

“So, we have to stop them. Here.”

“And how do we do that?” A Veraxin captain buzzed in amusement. “Please, lend us your insight.” The sarcasm was scathing.

Vince ignored it. He knew what he was about to suggest was going to put the “cat among the pigeons” figuratively. He didn't care.

"The enemy has sent out kill fleets across the galaxy. They are there to destroy our logistics and to divert us and keep us on the defensive. It has divided us, and we need a counter." He paused and then took the plunge “What I'm suggesting is that we destroy the hyper bridges as a strategic move. Cut off shipping to Epsilon for instance.”

The entire network went silent for a solid two minutes.

“Why would we do something insane as that?” A bear captain demanded.

“We build a firebreak. We can't fight on two fronts, let alone three or four. So, we cut the Xeno's ability to spread like lightning. We cut them off from coming here and we cut them off from jumping around our sector.”

“News flash, it will hurt us too. We won't be able to get reinforcements in a timely manner.”

“Like we're getting much if any now?” someone asked caustically. "We don’t have ansibles so we can't whistle up help like before. By the time we get someone to an area, the battle is over and done with."

"So, killing the bridges will hurt both sides," another captain said.

“Ah, but we keep the hyper bridges we want to use open and spread the news that they were destroyed,” Vince stated with a smirk. "We are faster than they are in hyperspace and subspace. We play that off as the reason we can move so fast."

The others took on looks ranging from disbelief to thoughtful curiosity.

“What about our own people? They won't be happy about our destroying the bridges.”

“No, but they'll be less happy about the Xenos showing up on their doorstep. We can't be everywhere. We can't win this war on the defensive. We have a limited number of keys and shipyards left. A limited number of people. We have the draft, but the people we get now are going to be hit or miss on training. Every ship and station are going to become a classroom at some point.”

A few faces grimaced. They were already dealing with that, also people wanting to leave and run. Vince had been shocked to hear that over a dozen ships had gone missing and were now reported as deserters. That hurt.

“We don't have to tell them we destroyed the bridges,” the captain stated. Captain Schafer gave him a sharp look.

Captain Watney snorted. The captain was one of the senior-most captains in the fleet. He was the flag captain of Admiral Idble's Bear Claw, their lone Olympus class Battle Planet. They all turned to him. “I like it. We cut off the fire. Set a backfire to stop them from spreading behind us while we deal with the threat to our front. We can concentrate our forces on one threat at a time. Once we are done, we can go back and deal with them. They on the other hand will have to spread slowly without the bridges.”

Vince's errant mind said something about Yogi and Smokey the Bear but he ignored the humor to remain focused.

“Right. And by telling people the Xenos destroyed the bridges we don't catch the flack. By telling them all of the bridges were taken down by the Xenos, they won't go to them and word will eventually get to the Xenos. Those left we can use in secret,” Captain Waterfall said. “Good thinking, Perry.”

“Thank you, ma'am.”

“I think we need to look into this strategy further,” Captain Watney said, looking to the other virtual senior officers in the compartment. “Vince, we need to write this up. I suppose you have been thinking about it for a while?”

“Yes.”

“Did you by any chance run some sims?” Captain Watney asked. What had started as the usual bull session to blow off steam had turned into something else. There was suddenly interest in the group.

“As it happens, yes I did.”

“Good. Forward them to us. I am classifying this idea under my own authority. But we can work on it and refine it ourselves before pitching it to the brass.”

That got the other officers interested in putting in their two cents.

<<<*>>>