Alpha strike, p.15
Alpha Strike, page 15
“What’s the benefit of doing something like that?” India asked. “We’re just putting off the ass-kicking, not avoiding it.”
“We’ll have a window of opportunity to land our Marine forces and secure the area where they have the nuclear weapons,” Mac said. “If we can get enough of them back to the ship and into our missiles, the Locusts will have an unpleasant surprise when they try to take us.”
Derek nodded. “It’s going to be a race against time, and we’ll have everything on the line because we won’t be able to run away from them. If those nuclear warheads aren’t there—or are unusable—we’ll take a severe beating getting out of the system. If we can get out at all.”
“I’m not a fan of all or nothing plans,” Jack said. “Nevertheless, this is the only way we can get to the planet and get down to the surface to see what’s going on. What’s the weapon situation, Amanda?”
“We’re going to have about twenty percent of our lasers online,” the young tactical officer said. “We’ll have ten percent of the missile batteries functional if we’re lucky.”
“And how many missiles will we have?” India asked.
“The people working for the arms dealer have trained us up, and we’re refurbishing them as fast as possible. It’s not a fast process, but we’ve gotten almost two thousand ready in the last five days, and we’re aiming for twenty-five hundred. That’s five salvos with the operational launchers. We’ll need those nuclear warheads, or we’re in deep trouble.”
“Let me ask the obvious question,” Sara said. “Why don’t we wait another few weeks before launching the attack? It feels like we’re rushing things.”
“We are rushing things a little,” Jack admitted. “We don’t know what the situation is like on the ground, and we can’t leave our people to whatever the Locusts are dealing out. If it turns out they have more ships than we can handle, we’ll have to break off the attack. We’ll have plenty of time to do so if the situation dictates. Until then, we keep going forward.”
He turned his attention to Mac. “How are your people doing?”
The Marine officer nodded. “We’ve got our surviving Marines kitted out, and we’ll have enough pinnaces with pilots. I’ve been recruiting and testing people from Port Royale who have the skills to get down to the ground and back off again in the old-style ships. I had to promise them a good amount of money, but we have enough people to man every pinnace we’ll need, as well as the cargo shuttles necessary to get the nuclear warheads to orbit.”
He sighed. “What I don’t know is the situation on the ground. There may be enemy forces in the atmosphere. We’ve never encountered Locusts like this, so they may have aircraft we know nothing about. They may have ground forces, too. Much like in orbit, it’s going to be something of a crapshoot, and we’re just going to have to improvise.”
“We can only do the best we can,” Jack agreed. “We’re taking some risks in jumping early, but I think they’re manageable. We have no idea what the Locusts are doing to the local population. We’ve detected no radio signals, so they’ve done something. We don’t know whether they’re dropping rocks on every transmitter they’ve found or sending aircraft down to strafe every location generating a signal.”
He captured Mac’s gaze in his. “If we can stand off the enemy and take the orbitals, you and your people will have to link up with forces on the ground. Whatever they’re up to, we need to know about it.”
“We’re planning for as many surprises as possible, but nothing is guaranteed,” Mac said. “Once we get on the ground, that’s when the fun starts. We’re going to bring along as many weapons as we can to arm the local populace to resist using guerrilla-style warfare if need be. I’m hoping that’s not necessary, but I’m taking no chances.”
Mac turned his gaze to the young pilot. “Have you ever read Sun Tzu, Derek?”
“No, sir. I’m not even sure who that is.”
“He was a war leader from old Earth. He fought long before spaceflight, but he’s got some excellent advice for those who want to be warriors. One of those bits of information is relevant to your plan. ‘Be where your enemy is not.’”
Derek smiled. “That’s excellent advice, sir. Particularly when the enemy is stronger than you are.”
“The Art of War isn’t a very long book, so give it a read over the next few days. I made it mandatory reading for my officers when I was in active service the first time, and I’ll do it again now once this settles out.”
Jack put his hands on the table. “We’ve got forty-eight hours until we jump for New Copenhagen. We’ll have one chance to liberate them using surprise, so let’s get it right the first time.”
18
Connor swaggered into the chamber used by Port Royale’s governing council with a calculated air of nonchalance. One had to present a certain image to stand up to this group, and he’d had a lot of practice at doing it, but he never missed an opportunity to look as if he were in control, even if that wasn’t quite the case.
The chamber itself had been a small briefing room used by middle-ranked officers in the distant past, but they’d torn out the furnishings and had an oval-shaped table built to fill the space. A gap in the table allowed people to do their presentations from the center of the open space in the middle, so the council members surrounded them. He’d found having people asking questions from all around was a bit unsettling and usually resulted in more honesty. Now it was his turn in the box.
Well, fair was fair.
The governing council was made up of five people. Each of them was a mover and shaker in their own right, though not powerful enough to rule the system on their own. Arguably, Connor wasn’t powerful enough to do so himself. If he didn’t have the council’s support, he wouldn’t be running the show.
That was one of the reasons he’d been careful during his initial selection of who he’d allowed to learn the location of this system. Doing so made people beholden to him, to a point. Only three of the current council members were part of the original set, but he’d supported them when they needed it, and they’d supported him in most things since.
Not in all things, of course, because there was an independent streak baked into people that struck out on their own. Connor could push things, but not too far. What he did had to make sense to the council, or they’d cut him off at the knees.
More than five people were at the table because each council member had two alternates who sat in on the meetings. If a council member couldn’t be there, their first alternate stepped into their shoes for any votes. As the council was not allowed to abstain or vote present on any issue, that assured there were five votes either yea or nay on any subject.
That had been intentional. He’d seen far too many instances where the Confederation Council—or its subordinate groupings—had been unable to accomplish anything. He wanted to make sure there were always votes when they needed to be taken.
Of course, they weren’t stupid. If something wasn’t ready to vote on, the council would vote to table the issue for up to thirty days and then vote on it again. There were still some things in progress from years ago that they kept looking at to see if it was time to pull the trigger on.
When he’d created Port Royale and the council, he’d wanted something between him and ironfisted rule. He wasn’t cut out for that and wanted to ensure no one came along to murder him and take over the entire colony. The council was that mechanism.
If he wasn’t living up to their needs, they could replace him with someone they felt could do better, and he was okay with that. Port Royale had grown into a fine place, and he’d be happy to set aside some of his responsibilities and focus on things that were a bit more personal.
They hadn’t chosen to do so, but it was always possible he was pushing them too hard now and would pay the price. If they called for a vote to toss him out on his ear, there was nothing he could do about it other than dust himself off and move on.
The council members and their assistants watched him walk into the center space and turned slowly to take them all in. Their expressions ranged from worried to frustrated. At least no one seemed angry, so that was a plus.
“The council has summoned me to explain my choices, so I’m here,” he said. “How can I clarify what I’m doing and gain your approval?”
Romani Nadia, the de facto leader of the council and his sometimes lover, leaned forward and fixed him with a hard stare. “Everyone knows I’m your most ardent supporter, but I think you’ve lost your mind. You’ve let the Navy take over a quarter of the station, and you’re just giving away those valuable parts. We haven’t even agreed on the treaty you proposed. What are we getting out of this arrangement?”
“Would you rather we hand the cluster over to the Locusts?” he demanded. “I don’t know why you haven’t approved the treaty—or rejected it for that matter—but the war hasn’t stopped while you dither. They’ll need to be at their best to take the Locusts at New Copenhagen, and I made the call to accommodate them. Was I wrong?”
His on and off again lover scowled, but she shook her head. “No, but you’ve eroded our leverage. I’ll tell you right now that two of us voted to kick your handsome ass out of your leadership role. That vote was tabled, but you’ll get the boot if I’m not satisfied with what you say today. This is the time to convince us, or we reject the treaty and fire you.”
Well, it was serious then. He’d best put his charm on the line and make his best argument.
“As I see it, we have a few potential outcomes,” he started in a serious tone, making sure to take them all in. “We reject the treaty and force the Navy to make some hard choices. They’d rather not attack us, but they have the cluster to save. Do you doubt for one second they’d come for those parts? They would hate to do so, but would we do any differently in their places?”
That set off some murmured conversation but didn’t spark the anger he’d half expected. They’d already come to the same conclusion. That meant they knew and accepted that the Navy would get their parts one way or another. This resistance was about something else.
“We’re not stupid,” Romani said with a sigh. “We’ll have to make a deal, but we’re not satisfied you’ve bargained for the best deal we can get.” Then her expression soured. “I’m also not a fan of having them kick people off the battleships. None of the ships will be able to fight anytime soon, if ever. It’s our people being killed and taken from their homes, and I don’t like it. None of us do.”
“Those would be the same people that planned to overthrow this council and take control of Port Royale, would it not? Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking everyone is happy under the system we live in. The sect leadership certainly wasn’t. And, to be fair, that sect was a festering boil in our society and needed to be lanced. Tell me you wouldn’t have done the same thing I did.”
She sighed again, looking irritated and tired. “I would have, but I’m not happy to have all these Navy people rummaging around the station, taking whatever they feel like. And before you lecture me, I know these people are not our enemies compared to the Locusts, but that doesn’t mean I want them underfoot.”
“I’ve got a plan for that,” Connor said with a grin. “They don’t have to live aboard this station. Since the Navy owns the battleships—and needs them to fight the war if they can make use of them—there’s no reason we couldn’t move everything they need onto the battleships. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we can get them out of our hair over time.”
“And then they’ll sit there in orbit with the same weapons we didn’t want the sect to have and threaten us at their leisure,” Melissa Resch said in a sour tone. “Are we at least going to arm Port Royale better? If we’re going to be an independent colony, we deserve the right to defend ourselves.”
He turned to face the woman that was the closest thing to an opponent he had on the council. “We are. They’ve got far more missiles, missile launchers, and lasers than they know what to do with. In fact, they’ve asked us to start putting together everything needed to build laser and missile installations on asteroids that we can use to defend New Copenhagen. There’s no reason we couldn’t do the same here. If the Locusts—or the Navy for that matter—come calling, we intend to give them a very hot welcome indeed.”
Dan O’Brien leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “And the Navy doesn’t have a problem with this?”
“I haven’t asked. We’ll be partners in this affair, so we’ll do what’s necessary to protect our interests. I don’t think we’ll get any trouble from Romanoff about doing so. Have you made any decisions about the sect leadership?”
“We took a vote before you got here,” Juan Pacheco said, his expression glum. “I’m not a fan of capital punishment, but we can’t allow vipers like that to live among us after what they did. We sentenced them to death, and it’s already been carried out by now. How is the Navy going to respond to that?”
Connor laughed. “If you haven’t had a chance to watch the recorded tribunal that judged a mutinous Navy Captain and the expeditious trial of a bunch of pirates, I think you need to do so. Romanoff and his people understand that some lines shouldn’t be crossed and that harsh penalties must be assessed. I don’t believe you’ll hear a peep out of them.”
Camilla Pugini rapped her knuckles on the table. “What about the money this is costing us? It’s only starting, and you’ve pledged an incredible amount, even without a treaty. It’s causing our economy to heat up in ways we’ve never planned for. Yet you’re proposing we spend a lot of money building things for the Navy. It’s not like they’re paying for this. We’re giving them the money they’re paying back to us, so our economy will suffer.”
She waved a hand to stop his response before he could speak. “I understand that we’re fighting for our lives, but everything could still go up in flames if we’re not careful. The Navy needs to bring something of value that we can put back into our economy, yet all I see are refugees, which will make the situation worse.”
“Would you turn them away?” Connor asked, raising an eyebrow.
“No, but I’m responsible for the people that are already here. We need to have something brought back to even the scales. Maybe if we could get into trade with a liberated New Copenhagen, that would help, but we’re very short on ships, too.”
He nodded. She was just telling the flat-out truth.
“Well, as it turns out, I happen to know where we can get some ships, and the Navy people found crates of quantum gates. Not like the ones that were in use before, but ones that require encrypted signals to work. If the Navy drops off one in New Copenhagen to link up with us here, only ships with the appropriate equipment could come through. Does that interest you?”
Romani frowned. “If they had that kind of equipment, why didn’t they use it before? That could’ve kept this system safe from the Locusts, the pirates, and us, for that matter.”
“It’s a mystery,” he confessed. “And the bigger mystery would be how they expected to get those gates anywhere useful. The battleships are the only ships that can jump into a system without a gate already there. I’ve been giving it some thought, and I don’t think we’ve seen the complete picture. They can’t have stashed the gates here without a plan for deploying them.”
Connor turned in a circle smiling at everyone. “We’ve explored this system in a very haphazard way. Admittedly, we don’t have a lot of ships left now that the Locusts have destroyed the captured pirate vessels, but we’ve got enough small craft to start searching the outer reaches of the system. I think there’s something else in this system that we haven’t been aware of, and it’s time to start looking for it.”
“Even if we get the gates up, that doesn’t give us freighters to move cargo,” Romani said. “How do we overcome something like that?”
“The Navy abandoned more than two hundred ships in an isolated system near the gateway to the cluster. Once New Copenhagen is secured, they could return there and bring them back. A fair chunk are large freighters that would provide the very trade we need and that I’m certain New Copenhagen will be desperate for.”
He raised his hands a little. “Will that be enough? I don’t know, but it’s the only thing we have. As the Navy begins recapturing systems taken over by the Locusts, we’ll be able to once again build a node of trade to help save the people both here and there. Our assistance isn’t going to be forgotten. When the time comes, whoever their representatives are, they’ll stand up for our right to exist as an independent entity. Every bit that we help the Navy and the people in this cluster adds to our legitimacy.”
And here was the part of the pitch he knew they wouldn’t like. Well, best to get it out of the way fast then.
“And the best way that we can demonstrate our commitment to the cluster is to make sure they know we’re involved in freeing them from the very beginning. That we’re not just some standoff group supporting them from afar. When the Navy goes to New Copenhagen, I’m going with them. Whoever is in charge there will see our leadership’s face from the very first moment, which will have an impact.”
His pronouncement, of course, caused pandemonium. Everyone had an argument about why having him go was a bad idea, and they weren’t shy about sharing them with him. Rather than fight, he let their complaints wash over him.
He knew they’d come around eventually. His people were being emotional right now, and he was inclined to let them keep doing so until it was time to put it to a vote.
To his surprise, they wound down much more quickly than he expected and began bickering amongst themselves about the logic of his plan. Romani pointed out how it would benefit them and championed his cause, though it was apparent she wasn’t happy about being surprised like this.
Eventually, they put it to a vote and agreed four to one that he should go. They also unanimously voted to put forward to the Navy that they needed to bring all the civilian vessels they’d abandoned to Port Royale once the fight for New Copenhagen was done. That would require some very specific negotiation from him to make happen, but he didn’t think it was impossible.
