FCP Snippet 3

 And here we go still in chapter 2:

TauG6B6-12

 

Commodore Brown Nose felt the excitement in the air around him. It was like a fine wine, something to be savored. It needed to breathe though, and his people would hopefully settle down into their usual professionalism soon.

He hadn't been in the field as a fleet commander before. It was a new heady experience for him. He was nervous but also excited. He saw this as an opportunity for early advancement if he pulled his part off properly. He was determined to do so.

His time in fleet had been as a junior officer, one time as a captain during a training exercise. Nothing on this vast a scale. And coordinating everything was a pain. Logistics too, he had his concerns there.

He didn't like having to keep his fleet as one cohesive unit. He wanted to board a battlecruiser and race ahead with his faster units. But he had no choice. The orders were to move out as a unit. That meant traveling at the speed of his slowest unit. The monitors were of course the slowest. Some hadn't been in hyperspace for decades. Getting them moving had been a royal pain. A few heads had rolled when he'd found issues with their engineering.

They were squared away though, and his ships were underway to the jump point. Most of the ships he reminded himself. Admiral Rill had taken the bulk of the fleet ahead of him. That was an issue; how was he to connect with the admiral when he had such a wide lead?

He didn't have proper resupply planned out either. That bothered him. The Admiralty assured him the logistics were handled, but he had his doubts. Something was supposed to be done in 79, but he continued to worry. Commodore Lobo would be moving through there too.

He silently urged his ships to move faster. According to the last report, Lobo was less than a day from jumping out. He had a shorter run to 84 so it was a race to see who got to 79 and any supplies stockpiled there. Whoever lagged behind might get just dregs.

He knew he wasn't going to be a happy bull if that ended up being him. He vowed to have a chat with his people to find ways to move quicker in the unofficial race ahead.

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TauR14G6-15 Blue Waters and Gentle Mist

 

Commodore Lobo stared blankly out the window as his ships continued their final countdown to jump. He was aghast at his order to move out, to join the fight.

He had no choice though. He had managed to get the Admiralty to sign off on his taking the captured enemy ships with him. That was a bit of a relief. The Admiralty had also ordered him to shoot a courier off to 77 to order Commodore Black Claw to move on Triple Threat in support of Admiral Ela too.

They had not authorized him to send a courier ahead to scout and to pass on news of his impending arrival. Apparently, they had a presence in 79 and elsewhere. Supposedly there would even be a courier and ansible in 72 in a few months.

He hoped so. The communication issue was a big question mark for him, coordinating all of their moving forces was willy-nilly at best. Logistics was also a big concern as was their lack of intelligence.

He shook his head ever so slightly. He glanced at the countdown and noted they had two minutes left. So be it. He turned and settled himself in his command chair. He noted his staff seemingly relaxing into professionalism around him.

He snorted mentally.

He was not interested in winning the race to see who was in overall command. He knew that as a commodore he was out of the running. At the moment, the only person who had a clear lead was Admiral Rill and he was in the lead anyway.

Of course, if he got killed, then the chain of command could be up for grabs. There was also the issue of getting organized on the fly.

“What a cluster frack,” he muttered.

His chief of staff gave him a sidelong look but said nothing.

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