FSP Snippet 5

 Sitrep: So, I'm through act II of BSC 3, into the first couple of chapters of act III and it is coming together. But, (There is always a but!) I'm doing a number on my hands. I've done a couple of days of 3-4 chapters (average chapter 10 pages) so yeah. My right hand and wrist do not like me right now, especially my right index finger. I'm letting my zeal get the better of me. lol

We may have a name for BSC3: Rejuvenation. (The runner up was Reboot)

Anyway, on to the snippet!

Chapter 4

 

Tau-Bin63A4

 

Rear Admiral Glaze Eru set his tablet down with a soft tap. He was concerned about the emails from his fellow officers in Rho. They were armchair quarterbacking him and it bugged him. They were also sending hints that he should play nice with Fourth Fleet since the general tenor from the Admiralty was that he would be joining them shortly.

He grimaced. He didn't want an assignment in Fourth. He wanted to go back to Third and eventually Bek where his family was. But as usual the Navy didn't care about his thoughts and needs. Their needs were paramount. He had known that signing up and had accepted it when Bek had been its own little universe. Now it was a bit wearing.

Chelsea, a former squadron mate and now a CAG in First Fleet, had asked him pointedly if he'd mingled the flight crews from Fourth Fleet to cross-pollinate. He was annoyed that she had pointed it out to him. It was something he should have done.

He rubbed his jaw and made a mental note to have some sort of training swap soon. The distance would be an issue though, so they'd have to ship over a crew from Fourth to him and have them in the sims to pass on what they knew. He scratched his chin thoughtfully and then began to write the email.

When he was finished, he shot it off into the net to his chief of staff. He then turned to the most recent email from Dapper.

Lieutenant Commander “Dapper Dan” Furgeson, his old wingman, had sent him an email about the big blow up in BuPers and Admiral Irons. Apparently, the admiral had played favorites with his own people again and was coming down hard on the rest of the navy for not promoting his select people.

He scratched his jaw again. That logic seemed right on the surface, but he knew there was more to the story. He'd heard about Janice being put up for a promotion. He'd also heard that others in Fourth Fleet had as well. Some had been denied too.

Given how fast Fourth Fleet was growing and how much of a pain it was to get personnel out to them, he didn't understand the reasoning behind denying them the promotions. Some damn well deserved it. Sure they'd taken some lumps but he'd gone over what Janice had done in her scrapes. She had followed the letter of her ROE. Her Rules of Engagement had specified not risking her command and falling back after bleeding the enemy. It had been an organized retreat not a defeat and route. The boards had sat on each engagement already and cleared her.

And yet he'd heard from Dan that the admiral was pissed that she'd been denied because of her retreats. He didn't think that was fair. He had to admit he was looking forward to earning his spurs finally, but he was a bit nervous about the lives it would cost to do so. Janice already had several times. It was natural for her to play it cautious.

Perhaps he'd been wrong to blow her off and exile her and her force to the other side of the star system. Given Rill's proximity to them, he couldn't mend the fences overnight, but he could at least try to start the process. They were after all one big navy and supposedly on the same side.

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Janice had been surprised by Shelby's confidence in putting her up for promotion. She'd started to feel good about the situation until she had received the email denying her. It was apologetic, and it gave a number of points for room for improvement, so she knew it wasn't personal.

It was something of a letdown though.

She did have to wonder about things though when she heard about the flap in BuPers and Admiral Irons. There was something there about a threat to resign and Admiral Irons putting in a moratorium on promotions again. She wondered if she was at the bottom of it. There were accusations of favoritism going on, something she'd thought the navy had put in its rearview mirror.

Apparently, not though.

For the time being, that sort of political trash was far away and she was grateful for that distance. They had more important things to worry about, like Rill's task force bearing down on them and his reinforcements coming up his wake. He apparently didn't know about them because he hadn't stopped to allow them to catch-up to him along his line of march.

She felt like something should be read into that. She wasn't certain what though.

His motives bothered her. She frowned thoughtfully. It wasn't like the enemy to be that stupid. They had to know they were inviting defeat in detail if they came at them in 63 like that. By now Broken Tooth had to have gotten back to some point where he could get in contact with his chain of command.

Did their ships have problems staying in contact while in motion though? She scratched behind an ear. That was certainly a possibility, especially given that they no longer had ansibles along the front or beyond it into Federation territory. It could be a case of a late-minute addition that Rill didn't know about … but something told her no.

Her instincts said there was something else motivating Rill to push on. He was starting to become a boogeyman, a juggernaut steaming his way towards them. His force was fresh, and he'd picked up additional ships in 79 … she shook her head.

It would be okay. TF 3.5 had more ships than she'd had when she had tangled with Broken Tooth's task force. She'd found a way to break him. Eru should be able to do more of the same.

It would be nice though if Eru would consult with her pilots a bit more though. It was like he was keeping them apart because he didn't want Fourth Fleet to contaminate his units or something.

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