Shelby 6 Snippet 4

   So, I had the blue screen of death while trying to render the last few scenes of the first comic. I'm leery about shooting them now. I'm trying to find work arounds that still have the visual impact I wanted to express. It is not easy.

Anyway, while my PC renders I am doing bits on my R2 and thinking of other things...and worrying.

I have 3 shots left for the rough out, lets hope I don't run into anymore problems.

On to the snippet!

Chapter 3

 

New Tau Metropolis

 

Vice Admiral Shelby Logan tried to relax in her chair as she checked the status board. She grimaced when she caught herself doing it. Nope, nothing new, just like the last check she'd made 2 hours ago.

You'd think the recent win in 63 by Janice and carrier crews would have her doing cartwheels, but no. That euphoria hadn't lasted more than a moment; she'd known something Janice hadn't. There was a new threat bearing down on the star system and eventually the capital.

Operations and Intelligence had tried to squeeze as much information as possible about this fleet. They had little to go on other than the intelligence picked up in Tau-O79XP. Fortunately, the captain in command of the raiding squadron had been smart enough to abort the mission and return to the neighboring star system with the news. That news had been transmitted by the hidden ansible in the destroyed star system.

They didn't have a timeline on the movement yet. Nor a path, there were 2 to follow. They did have a starting point, T-12 according to the latest report from Commodore Piercing Gaze. The high elf had combined information from that report with the deep background they had built about the Confederation naval forces. Some of the information had been culled from the ansible attack, other bits and snippets from the captured diplomatic team.

Of course, all of that intelligence was old and suspect without proper confirmation. But it was all they had to go on at the moment.

There were a lot of unanswered questions, like the route they were taking, timing, and composition of the force. Did they have carriers? It bothered her not knowing.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Boni, lieutenant Bonibi her A.I. asked.

“Willing to play sounding board?” Shelby asked with an arched eyebrow.

“If it helps, sure. What is on your mind ma'am?”

“The western force. Hell, the northern one too, though that one seems to be taking its time putting in an appearance.”

“But it is moving down. Just slower than anticipated. Commodore Falling Leaf and TF 4.4 really blooded his nose. Enough that he's learned caution.”

“True,” Shelby said. She had dispatched the high elf commodore to run down the fleeing pirates. They had done so, but had been ambushed by the Taurens on their way home. They had managed to fight their way out of the ambush, but not without heavy losses.

They had inflicted a lot of pain in response though, and that might be why the opposition admiral was playing it cautious.

The Xenophobic Tauren Confederation had initially had an arrogant attitude towards naval warfare. Initially it had seemed they had disdained the threat of carriers, which was why she'd formulated a response centered around them. Carrier forces could punch well above their weight if handled properly.

Unfortunately, she was limited on the number she could put into play. They could and did take horrific losses when fighting a prepared enemy.

They'd thought they'd had the advantage until the Taurens had surprised them by deploying their own carriers with Admiral Broken Tooth in the south after their initial engagements. From what Piercing Gaze speculated the carriers might be a new thing. The survivors picked up in 63 were being rather remarkably tight lipped about the subject.

The Tauren carriers had thrown her plans into doubt. “Could Ela be delaying to wait on his own carrier force to catch up to him?”

“There is a nasty thought,” Boni said as she wrote it down in Shelby's HUD.

Shelby grimaced ever so slightly.

“What does Rill have in the way of carriers? And how much intel does he have on our abilities?”

“Ouch,” Boni said as she put that up too. “Are you considering sending some of the cruisers to get a peak?”

“It's a thought. But the only place we know he might pass through is 79. I don't like the idea of missing them and sending our people behind the lines.”

“They know the risks ma'am. They have superior speed and can find ways to get around a moving fleet.”

“True.” Shelby nodded slightly. They might pass a Tauren fleet in hyperspace without even seeing them, or vise versa. It was the mix up in real space that was every captain and flag officer's private nightmare.

“Is it worth it though?”

“I don't know,” Shelby sighed. “We need the intel. The problem is, we have fingerprints on some of the Tauren carrier designs, but not all of them. How close do we have to be to get a solid look at them?”

“If they are smart they won't allow that look. Or they'd draw the spy ships in to get a look but use their carrier's long range punch to wound or destroy them.”

“I know,” Shelby said as she scrubbed her face slightly. “Damn.”

“That's why they pay you the big bucks ma'am,” Boni said gently.

“I know. Pass those questions on to Brad and his staff. Get their thoughts on them.”

“Yes ma'am.”

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