FOW Snippet 4

 

Chapter 4

 

Antigua

 

"Admiral, it's time," Protector reported quietly.

"And by time you mean …?" Admiral Irons asked as he set his tablet down. He was only human so he occasionally needed a reminder, especially when juggling so many balls like he did as president.

"Mayweather Station, sir. The Taurens have found the ansible and are closing in on it."

The admiral nodded as the holographic avatar of Sprite came online on his desk. One by one other avatars appeared as well.

"A full house," Admiral Irons said as he turned to Commander Enki. "Status report?"

"They are a few minutes out from the ansible platform. Robots are inbound to the platform."

"Ah."

"Once we lose the platform, we lose the real-time intelligence gathering in the star system," Sprite stated.

"It can't be helped. We knew this day might come eventually," Admiral Irons stated. "The picket commander is aware?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, let's do this then. See what you can do to delay the inevitable," he said with a nod to Commander Enki.

The AI nodded back.

Admiral Irons sat back to watch the fireworks. That was the best he could describe it. They were losing a priceless intelligence and communication asset but they were at least going to inflict some pain and loss on the enemy during the process as well.

"Spread the love," he murmured quietly. Sprite glanced at him and then back to the feed Enki was providing to them.

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Mayweather Station

 

Admiral Brewster watched the ship in the slip. They finally had a decent slip going. The repair ships were doing a good job of making repairs. They were a bit short on supplies though. He could see the wisdom of the Federation Navy sending out industrial replicators on their ships and in their fleet train.

The replicators that had been in the base had all been deadlined. No tech had managed to figure out how to get them working again despite a one-month-liberty pass bounty on it.

He shrugged the matter aside with a flap of his ears. No matter.

If the ansible transport coming in his direction was on schedule, it should be one jump away shortly. He was waiting for the ax to fall; he knew that once the ansible got to him he'd get ass chewing and micromanaging from the administration and the Admiralty. Not to mention any sort of hearing thrown together by Congress.

In other words, his days were numbered.

Once the ansible got to him, he'd probably get reamed a bit before being relieved of command and shipped back in disgrace. He had been working with his JAG office on a defense. They had estimated the charges and built around each. Of course, he had access to all of the direct evidence; he'd avoided the desire to tamper with anything. It wasn't like it mattered in the end. If the powerful bulls in command wanted his head, he knew it was theirs for the taking.

“Herd Leader, the drone has been launched.”

He grunted, flapping his ears and tail in confusion before he turned to his chief of staff.

“The drone? To capture the enemy ansible?” his chief of staff prompted.

“Ah. Well, fine, keep me posted,” he ordered, and then went back to ruminating as he stared out the window.

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