Chris Hechtl's Blog, page 17

Shelby 5 Snippet 5

 

 

Mayweather Station

 

Admiral Brewster took the opportunity to tour Mayweather station. He had been surprised by the name change when he'd heard it, but he quite frankly approved of it. It was far better than the pirate's Harlot's Dream.

The base was massive; it was a hodgepodge of hollowed out asteroids, ships, and station components. He needed a map and guide to make sense of it all. A lieutenant had been assigned to him as a guide. "We're still getting into every nook and cranny, Herd Leader. We're learning a little bit each day," the lieutenant said.

The admiral noted a party examining some equipment and nodded.

"When they pulled out, they destroyed just about everything they could except life support and the hull. Fixtures too I suppose," the lieutenant stated, indicating a seat in an open-air galley. "All of their replicators are flatlined or ripped out."

"Ah. Pity about that," the admiral murmured.

As he inspected the station, he could see how the Federation had been remaking it. The original creation had been a bastard pirate hodgepodge of asteroids, truss segments, and captured material like space station and ship components.

As they made their way through the station, he noted where the enemy had destroyed this or that. It looked like new equipment too. The expense probably sucked.

"How long did they have control of this place?" he asked as they made the rounds in a fusion reactor room. One reactor had been brought online at minimum power. There was fuel in the tanks. Apparently, the enemy had topped off before departing but had left the fuel.

"Over a standard year," the lieutenant replied as he ducked under a set of cables dangling from the bulkhead above. The admiral did so as well.

"That long." He looked at a command station for the reactor. It was new, not jury-rigged. It had scorch marks of course, but it didn't look old. In order to do that, they had to have rewired it. But it wasn't a simple job; they might have even had to run all new wiring. In a base this size, it would be a titanic undertaking.

"Yes, Herd Leader."

"And they did all this? To what amounts to a secondary base?" It wasn't just the complexity; it was the fact that they'd been methodical about it. They could have settled for the basics and made do, but they hadn't.

"Well, they might have prioritized it higher before the war when the dialog began to breakdown," the lieutenant with him suggested.

"True. Do we even know what happened to that diplomatic ship?"

The lieutenant shook his head. "No. The assumption is it was stopped and held."

"Ah." The admiral grimaced. "It'd be nice to find out if it got caught or destroyed."

"Really? Why, Herd Leader? Why would that matter?"

Admiral Brewster cocked his head and then shrugged. "I suppose it might not in the grand scheme of things, but then again, knowing if they caught them might mean they learned something of our tech base early on. Knowing that might tell us what and give us a meterstick for them."

The lieutenant nodded slowly.

>>><><<< 

Admiral Broken Tooth had been reading another report about a ghost ship. He put it down and then checked the search of the star system.

He hadn't put many ships to that mission since he'd needed his good ships to guard the others as they underwent field repairs. As a few of those ships came back online, he'd authorized a couple of small ships to try to find the enemy's hidden ansible array.

They had to have one; ONI was certain of that. He was too, though he wasn't certain if they'd kept it online or not. Obviously, the Feds had taken great pains to hide the blasted thing. His people had been looking for months without finding it.

"Sir, arrival at the 80 jump point!" an ensign reported. He blinked and then checked the schedule. That had to be the arrival of the fleet train and carrier force. He felt instant relief. "About time!"

Admiral Broken Tooth knew that he was in trouble politically. He had won the battle, but due to his losses, he was in danger of being recalled and thus losing the war from a personal perspective.

Thus, he wanted to seize on carrier force. His staff was already working on rebuilding his squadrons with undamaged ships or ships that had made good on repairs. He needed to use that and seize the initiative to throw the enemy further back. He had to go into the next system to force the enemy out quickly before they dug in. But after the drubbing he had received, he had to do so cautiously. He needed to conserve his units and fight smart until replacement units reached him.

>>><><<< 

Shelby 5 snippet 4

 Sitrep: So, Rea shot me the manuscript back. I added the final edits and then shot it off to Goodlifeguide. We should be seeing it in the next 10 days. :)

I'm up to my knees in Shelby 6. Slowly pieces are falling into place as I get back into my groove. :)

On to the snippet!

 

Minox IV

 

The Confederation government received leaks of the losses at 77 and elsewhere. The military had to inform families of the dead and that kicked off more interest which started a series of committee hearings.

Committee hearings were a public or private forum to air out grievances and for one party or the other to score political points. They were, therefore, usually contentious and with a war on more so. There had been some talk of locking them down out of patriotism, but the senate was divided enough for that attempt to fail.

The senate was the primary place for such hearings, though they could be held in the lower house as well. With the war on and rumors swirling, everyone wanted to know the truth, and the hearings were a potential source, though everyone knew that every participant would be putting their own particular spin on things.

Admiral White Skin was called in first. He was frank; he admitted that the navy had been foolish to stop use of carriers and fighters. "We the navy failed to properly assess and appreciate the threat level of such small craft going back centuries."

Some of the War Party knew about the losses to date and were not happy. They were careful not to bite the hand that fed them though. He was careful to hide the losses. Since some of the ships had crew from many different worlds in the Confederation, the losses were spread out. He could also delay reporting them for some time. There might of course be unreported survivors, and no one wanted to expose the family of a sailor to the traumatic experience of telling them that they lost a loved one and then find that the bull was alive much later.

"So, what are you doing to correct it?"

"We already have carriers on the way. And we are working to produce more. Our people are working on new designs for both small craft and carriers and relearning how to support them. I admit, it is a poor time to do so, but we are Taurens, we will get it done."

Since the losses of ships were still highly classified and not much information had come in about the battles as of yet, the hearing ended up being a soft one for the navy.

However, the liberals had managed to make more inroads in the army losses and that was coming up next.

>>><><<< 

General Dun had been in the hot seat and grilled often enough to know how the process worked. He listened to the briefing as the other department heads talked about what to expect. "They are out for blood," Admiral White Skin stated.

"And they didn't get it from you so I'm next."

"Correct."

"Great."

"Just keep your cool."

"Right."

>>><><<< 

It was General Dun's turn to be called out by committee on the losses suffered to date the following morning. Initially he waffled and did the dance, swearing in, pleasantries, and such. He handled the soft questions from the War Party. They tried to set the tone as a harmonious and patriotic one, but it fell flat.

The general could tell that the War Party wanted answers too and were not above letting the liberals go on the attack to answer their own curiosity. He just hoped he didn't suffer too much from the experience.

Deployment numbers were asked about, the answers were classified, and he said so. Also, where those units were deployed to were classified. But the liberals knew about one place since the government had announced it and used that as an example.

"According to our records, General Sedu had one division going in to 77. That is one of the first Federation star systems to be invaded. Excuse me," he made an elaborate motion to the chairman. "Correction, liberated from their own government and people." The chairman grimaced at the sarcasm. The liberal senator turned to the general. "Is this correct, General?" Senator Mel an up-and-coming bull of the Liberal Party asked when his five minutes to ask questions came up.

"That is not quite accurate. General Sedu placed some troops as occupation forces in the star systems leading up to that system," the general explained, hoping that it would be seen as one reason for the losses.

"So, you'd say he was shy a brigade?" the senator asked.

"Yes. Roughly that."

"All right, so he went in against an unprepared force though. A mostly civilian population."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Ah? Then what would you say?"

"He went up against more resistance than anticipated."

"Is that because the enemy has veteran units that fought pirates while our units are only trained to round up, torture, and kill unarmed civilians?"

There was a bit of chaos when that charge was leveled. The chairman had to pound the room to order and threaten to eject some of the members who vehemently objected.

"I second the objection! That charge is scurrilous and puts a slur on our military!" another senator, this one a War Party member, stated heatedly.

"Ah. Should I bring up video and witness testimony?" the liberal senator asked mildly.

The senator gaped and tried to recover.

"Objection overruled. We will not have this committee turned into a witch hunt. Focus on the matter at hand," the chairman said tiredly.

"Very well," the liberal senator said gravely with a nod. He turned to the general. "General?"

"I wouldn't characterize it like that."

"Are the people you target by our valiant defenders of our liberty and freedom rounded up?"

"Yes."

"Are they women and children of species other than Taurens?"

"To some degree."

"Are they unarmed?"

"Not completely."

That earned a snort from a few people. The liberal senator cocked his head. "Ah. So, they have equivalent weapons and training."

"No."

"No. I see. What do they have?"

"Civilian hunting rifles."

"And sticks and things? Knives?"

"Yes, more or less."

"Against modern weapons and technology," the senator said scathingly.

"Yes."

"Drone strikes?"

"Sometimes. Our people need the training."

"Against civilians."

"If they offer resistance, they are classed as combatants."

"A human woman with a chef knife is a combatant?"

"Yes."

"Against armor?"

"Yes."

"I see. We'll set that matter aside for the moment since my time is running short. Now, the Federation combatants. How many are there? A brigade?"

"We believe less than that." The question clearly made the general uncomfortable, something the senator noted and pounced on.

"I have the numbers from intelligence general. Do I need to drag it out of you?"

General Dun hid a grimace. His ears flicked once. He knew he was going to be in for it, but he might as well get out ahead of the storm. "A MASH unit and recruiters. Some spacebees and an army engineering platoon."

There was a rumble of murmuring over that admission. To admit that their forces were being shredded by what amounted to support units was appalling.

"These are support units? Not frontline units?" the senator asked.

"Yes."

"I see. So, let's say less than two hundred all told?"

"Yes."

"Without fixed defenses and on an unknown planet?"

"They have local help."

"But they haven't been there long?"

"Correct."

"Against a short division? Which controls the high ground as you like to say?"

"Yes." The general didn't look happy.

"And General Sedu suffered how many casualties?" the senator demanded.

General Dun ground his teeth. He wished the admission would come in a closed-door hearing but it was not to be.

"Half of his force to date have been killed or injured."

The room went into chaos again as people from all of the parties demanded answers.

When the room was gaveled to silence the senator shook his head. "Half. Against a lightly-armed, mostly secondary forces group. Support units with less than a full military kit. With some partisan support. That against numbers, equipment, surprise, the control of the skies, and orbit on our side. I have to wonder what is going to happen when our valiant protectors of the herd go up against a real threat?"

The room grew deathly quiet as that question sank in.

General Dun said nothing.

"That's okay, General; I think we know there are going to be a lot more letters to families soon," the senator said as his time mercifully ran out.

"I believe after that charged testimony we need a recess," the chairman said as he gaveled them into a one-hour recess before anyone could protest.

>>><><<< 

Shelby 5 Snippet 3

  So, still poking at Shelby 6. Covid is hitting the extended family (mom tested positive this morning), I'm hoping I don't get it. According to last night's news report 90% of the world will eventually get it. That's a sobering thought. Yes I'm vaccinated. :)

Anyway, on to the snippet!

Still in Chapter 2...

Mayweather Station

 

Admiral Broken Tooth scanned the reports and then set them down with a thump. The screen on the tablet fritzed but then recovered. He glanced at it and then away.

His fleet had more or less recovered from the battle 3 months prior. He should by rights go after Commodore Yu's retreating force but after seeing what the carrier wings could do, he didn't want to push his luck. He needed his own carriers to support and defend his battleline.

For the moment he was waiting on Admiral Brewster's force to come in. They should be arriving any day now. Once they did he planned to consolidate them with his own ships and then make decisions on moving forward.

He looked at the bulkhead clock and then to the star map. Inevitably his eyes fell on Minox IV. He knew his reports should be getting to Purple Nights and transmitted on shortly. He wasn't looking forward to the reaction there. His saving grace was that he was months out of contact with them. It was going to take a year or more before they could send an ansible transport in his direction, and then many months before it inevitably caught up to him.

He wasn't looking forward to that. He knew he was in for a royal bollocking over the ansible. The good thing was that they couldn't do much at the moment; Brewster hadn't covered himself in glory either in his first disastrous encounter with this naval station.

He snorted softly to himself. His saving grace was that he had taken the star system and the base. The base though was a big question mark though.

>>><><<< 

Lieutenant Commander Purple Nails sighed as he examined the latest report. It was covered with a lot of ass covering language. He scanned it and then sat back in disgust. It didn't say much more than they already knew.

He had a dozen people assigned to him as the chief office of naval intelligence officer in the star system. He was supposed to be evaluating the differences in enemy technology in comparison to their own, as well as try to glean their movements and plans.

A part of that last mission directive meant uncovering the enemy commander, building a bio about them, and building bios about each of her ships. Her, he thought in amusement. They did know that much.

Commodore Janice Yu had left a few calling cards. Confederation Intelligence had confirmed her in command of the naval base before the war had started. He had that much, and some of the information about her including how she had been a civilian who had accepted a commission into the Federation navy, fought in several battles and had risen through the ranks. All while starting out as a mere helm officer.

That was surprising. She'd had no formal training but was now a flag officer. Shocking. She had also done a fair job of defending the jump point, though his people were at odds over that. They were at odds about a lot of things.

According to their reports the commodore had not been at the jump point, she'd been in the base. Which meant she had either exercised command from afar, or had a good canned response ready, or she'd turned over command to a field commander while she retained overall control. The jury was still out on which had happened and why.

They had some names of ships, classes, and some data to work from based on the prior knowledge. They were still trying to match fingerprinted ships with what they had on file though.

That left her intentions, obviously to fight a retreating action, and the tech imbalance.

He sighed softly to himself. The last was the big issue.

He knew that Admiral Broken Tooth was going to do something soon as far as chasing the enemy down. He had briefing material on the next star system in line in his files ready for easy access. It was updated every 2 days just in case. He had time charts on how long ships could get from the capital to there and was trying to keep it up to date... he shook his head. He was just ignoring the elephant in the room.

The tech imbalance. More importantly, the different approaches to naval warfare.

His people had gone into the battle with their own preconceptions and they had been in error. He admitted that, accepted it. They'd undervalued carriers and it had cost them grievously.

It was just one problem among many though.

Based on what had been observed, the enemy's fighters and bombers were beyond their known baseline. He had passed on the raw data and his initial hot-wash to the admiralty, but he didn't know what to make of it. Admiral Broken Tooth and the ship captain's wanted answers, and he didn't have any to give at the moment.

They had recovered some enemy wreckage but it was useless. The electronics and some of the hardware had self-destructed. That had left them to examine what they could of the physical hardware. Most of that was chewed up in some form, so the engineers had been tentative at best with their conclusions.

They also didn't have existing hardware to compare to from the previous baseline. He had wrapped up samples and had them packaged and ready to go on the next tender back to the Confederation for better examination.

Until then he had to figure out something.

He had initiated an overhaul of their software. That was an ongoing process. He'd also gotten the true abilities of the ships from their observations and insisted they be plugged into future strategic sims. Admiral Broken Tooth had agreed.

He scratched at the base of his left horn cluster. He needed something more though.

It would be nice to get a look at more hardware. The enemy had destroyed everything of value in the base but there had to be something around somewhere. It would be nice to pick up one of their satellites or a chip with their codes or something.

>>><><<< 

Shelby 5 Snippet 2

   So, why is Hollywood emulating Michael Bay's style of movies? I mean, I get the popcorn fest in theory, but just throwing engineering and physics out the door is just wrong. And blasting music with bits of soft dialog is getting beyond annoying.

  If you are wondering what I'm talking about, it's Godzilla versus Kong. I just watched it on Blu-ray the other night. I've been grappling with the idea of building a dome over an island as large as the main island of Hawai'i. NOT POSSIBLE with present tech. It takes years to build a stadium over a football field...build a dome over a freaking island? The mix of tech, choppers... anti-gravity HEAV??? I swear the director ripped off Hunger Games, Pacific Rim...Land of the Lost... Jurassic World... Then there were all those tunnels... you know what, never mind. Silly Hollywood, why should anything make sense right?

Ugh. It did have some cool fighting though.

   Anyway, I'm poking at Hold the Line, starting to make more forward progress. I am hoping to buckle down and get act 1 done by the end of the weekend, but we'll see.

Here is the latest Juggernaut snippet:

Chapter 2

 

TauR54-93

 

Admiral Ela tucked his hands behind his back and kept squeezing and releasing them. He stared out to the void without really seeing it. He was lost within his own thoughts at the moment.

He had made good on his repairs and resupply. They had recovered the injured and even the dead that could be recovered. All of the dead had been stored for return in one of the empty holds of his supply ships.

He had sent a tanker to TAUG3G7-25 months ago to report in. He was afraid that they might have been forced to go all the way to T-21. That bothered him.

He was tempted to send some of his empty fleet train and his cripples back there. He wasn't certain when he'd get replacements though, which was why he was hesitating.

His orders were to run the enemy down, but they hadn't counted on the ansible network being down. He was supposed to report in first. He grimaced, seeing the grimace in the reflection he turned away.

He was second guessing himself. He knew that, but he couldn't help it. He had lost more ships than anticipated in that brief ambush. He'd held every advantage yet the enemy had torn him up and had managed to escape anyway.

He looked at the butcher's bill and scowled as he flexed his jaw. He had lost 5 heavy cruisers, 1 crippled. He'd lost 3 battle cruisers, with 3 more crippled or damaged. And he'd lost 1 battleship and 1 crippled. Other ships in his fleet had taken a variety of damage along with the usual maintenance gripes, but the losses of the capital ships had shaken him more than he was willing to admit publicly.

He still had 2 monitors, 4 super dreadnoughts, 2 dreadnoughts, 3 battleships, 3 damaged battle cruisers, and 1 heavy cruiser left. Along with 4 tenders and 1 tanker. Supposedly a carrier force of unknown size was coming to support him.

Without the ansible he didn't know where they were. That was so frustrating!

He shook himself as he sat down.

His fleet had drawn down their supplies a lot. He'd gone to the point of allowing his chief of staff to 'requisition' what the fleet needed from the natives in the star system. They could supply food, fuel, and some material for his machine shops, but little else. The pirates had been brutal to their industry. Besides, their parts wouldn't plug into his equipment anyway. Nor would he trust them if they did.

There were also reports that the natives were restless over his fleet taking what they wanted. There were dark comparisons between them and the pirates. Apparently the Feds had traded for what they wanted and had even helped rebuild them after the pirates had passed through. That was annoying.

He sniffed to himself and looked at the plot again. He knew he didn't have a chance in hell of catching the enemy force. They held the speed advantage, though reportedly it was slim. He wasn't so certain. He wasn't certain about a lot of things as of late.

He knew he was second guessing himself a lot lately. He was stuck waiting, that was all he could do. He kept replaying the sims of the battle, wishing for some insight into what had gone wrong. Clearly their own numbers had been off, as had their expectations on what the enemy would do and how they could perform.

His staff was trying to work out what else had gone wrong and plugging that in to patch over holes. But he was pretty certain he had the wrong ships for this sort of war. Funny that, he's spent his entire career wanting to command such a fleet in action, now he didn't want it.

He knew some of his staff wondered if they should have gone after the Feds right away and run them down. He kept reading a passage about a route and running an enemy into the ground. To not give them the time to regroup.

It was true, he knew it. But at the time he'd had to contend with his losses and had known they had the speed advantage. That hadn't changed. Besides, it was too late now.

Well, too late to catch them. He frowned and then pulled a tablet over to him and scanned it again.

He had one cruiser left. It had taken damage but was back to 80 percent. Good enough to scout, not enough to get into combat though. He read the mission that his staff had come up with to scout ahead and then signed off on it with a scribble of the stylus.

He flicked it into the net for processing and then looked at the next proposal. They wanted to send his cripples back to T-21. He'd read that proposal several times over the months and had at the time rejected it each time it had come up.

Honestly, they weren't going to make good on any further repairs. They had hit a plateau. He sighed heavily, waffled, and then indicated the battleship and one of the battle cruisers only. He'd hang onto the 2 remaining battle cruisers for a bit longer.

He indicated the tender carrying the dead and jotted out orders to have them cross transfer any remaining stores to the remaining ships and then sent that ship as well.

>>><><<< 

Captain Din received the orders for Red Death to move out and blinked.

His ship was the flagship of the late Crueron. The only ship of the 6 ships to survive the ambush. He snorted bitterly. Only his ship's position at the center of their squadron had allowed her to survive at all. That and apparently the enemy had decided to cripple ships over killing them outright later in the battle.

His engineers had valiantly gotten his ship back up to 80 percent. They were still missing 2 nodes in the starboard flank and one of the bow ones were iffy. He had jury-rigged sensors and patched armor. His weapons on the starboard flank were down by a third, though they might get a point defense laser up if they could figure out a hinky control line that went from the computers and sensors to the weapon station.

He scratched at the scraggly beard under his jaw and vowed to scrub it clean with his shaver later. He needed to look like the professional he was. Besides it itched.

He scanned the mission orders and grunted. He was to move forward into the next system and get a read on the timing of the enemy's movements. If they had left more than two months before his arrival he was authorized to go one system beyond to scout there, but then return with his findings.

He nodded to himself and summoned his XO. They had a mission to plan and last minute fuel and material to requisition before they got underway.

It felt good to be doing something finally.

>>><><<< 

Shelby 6 Snippet 2

   So, why is Hollywood emulating Michael Bay's style of movies? I mean, I get the popcorn fest in theory, but just throwing engineering and physics out the door is just wrong. And blasting music with bits of soft dialog is getting beyond annoying.

  If you are wondering what I'm talking about, it's Godzilla versus Kong. I just watched it on Blu-ray the other night. I've been grappling with the idea of building a dome over an island as large as the main island of Hawai'i. NOT POSSIBLE with present tech. It takes years to build a stadium over a football field...build a dome over a freaking island? The mix of tech, choppers... anti-gravity HEAV??? I swear the director ripped off Hunger Games, Pacific Rim...Land of the Lost... Jurassic World... Then there were all those tunnels... you know what, never mind. Silly Hollywood, why should anything make sense right?

Ugh. It did have some cool fighting though.

   Anyway, I'm poking at Hold the Line, starting to make more forward progress. I am hoping to buckle down and get act 1 done by the end of the weekend, but we'll see.

Here is the latest Juggernaut snippet:

Chapter 2

 

TauR54-93

 

Admiral Ela tucked his hands behind his back and kept squeezing and releasing them. He stared out to the void without really seeing it. He was lost within his own thoughts at the moment.

He had made good on his repairs and resupply. They had recovered the injured and even the dead that could be recovered. All of the dead had been stored for return in one of the empty holds of his supply ships.

He had sent a tanker to TAUG3G7-25 months ago to report in. He was afraid that they might have been forced to go all the way to T-21. That bothered him.

He was tempted to send some of his empty fleet train and his cripples back there. He wasn't certain when he'd get replacements though, which was why he was hesitating.

His orders were to run the enemy down, but they hadn't counted on the ansible network being down. He was supposed to report in first. He grimaced, seeing the grimace in the reflection he turned away.

He was second guessing himself. He knew that, but he couldn't help it. He had lost more ships than anticipated in that brief ambush. He'd held every advantage yet the enemy had torn him up and had managed to escape anyway.

He looked at the butcher's bill and scowled as he flexed his jaw. He had lost 5 heavy cruisers, 1 crippled. He'd lost 3 battle cruisers, with 3 more crippled or damaged. And he'd lost 1 battleship and 1 crippled. Other ships in his fleet had taken a variety of damage along with the usual maintenance gripes, but the losses of the capital ships had shaken him more than he was willing to admit publicly.

He still had 2 monitors, 4 super dreadnoughts, 2 dreadnoughts, 3 battleships, 3 damaged battle cruisers, and 1 heavy cruiser left. Along with 4 tenders and 1 tanker. Supposedly a carrier force of unknown size was coming to support him.

Without the ansible he didn't know where they were. That was so frustrating!

He shook himself as he sat down.

His fleet had drawn down their supplies a lot. He'd gone to the point of allowing his chief of staff to 'requisition' what the fleet needed from the natives in the star system. They could supply food, fuel, and some material for his machine shops, but little else. The pirates had been brutal to their industry. Besides, their parts wouldn't plug into his equipment anyway. Nor would he trust them if they did.

There were also reports that the natives were restless over his fleet taking what they wanted. There were dark comparisons between them and the pirates. Apparently the Feds had traded for what they wanted and had even helped rebuild them after the pirates had passed through. That was annoying.

He sniffed to himself and looked at the plot again. He knew he didn't have a chance in hell of catching the enemy force. They held the speed advantage, though reportedly it was slim. He wasn't so certain. He wasn't certain about a lot of things as of late.

He knew he was second guessing himself a lot lately. He was stuck waiting, that was all he could do. He kept replaying the sims of the battle, wishing for some insight into what had gone wrong. Clearly their own numbers had been off, as had their expectations on what the enemy would do and how they could perform.

His staff was trying to work out what else had gone wrong and plugging that in to patch over holes. But he was pretty certain he had the wrong ships for this sort of war. Funny that, he's spent his entire career wanting to command such a fleet in action, now he didn't want it.

He knew some of his staff wondered if they should have gone after the Feds right away and run them down. He kept reading a passage about a route and running an enemy into the ground. To not give them the time to regroup.

It was true, he knew it. But at the time he'd had to contend with his losses and had known they had the speed advantage. That hadn't changed. Besides, it was too late now.

Well, too late to catch them. He frowned and then pulled a tablet over to him and scanned it again.

He had one cruiser left. It had taken damage but was back to 80 percent. Good enough to scout, not enough to get into combat though. He read the mission that his staff had come up with to scout ahead and then signed off on it with a scribble of the stylus.

He flicked it into the net for processing and then looked at the next proposal. They wanted to send his cripples back to T-21. He'd read that proposal several times over the months and had at the time rejected it each time it had come up.

Honestly, they weren't going to make good on any further repairs. They had hit a plateau. He sighed heavily, waffled, and then indicated the battleship and one of the battle cruisers only. He'd hang onto the 2 remaining battle cruisers for a bit longer.

He indicated the tender carrying the dead and jotted out orders to have them cross transfer any remaining stores to the remaining ships and then sent that ship as well.

>>><><<< 

Captain Din received the orders for Red Death to move out and blinked.

His ship was the flagship of the late Crueron. The only ship of the 6 ships to survive the ambush. He snorted bitterly. Only his ship's position at the center of their squadron had allowed her to survive at all. That and apparently the enemy had decided to cripple ships over killing them outright later in the battle.

His engineers had valiantly gotten his ship back up to 80 percent. They were still missing 2 nodes in the starboard flank and one of the bow ones were iffy. He had jury-rigged sensors and patched armor. His weapons on the starboard flank were down by a third, though they might get a point defense laser up if they could figure out a hinky control line that went from the computers and sensors to the weapon station.

He scratched at the scraggly beard under his jaw and vowed to scrub it clean with his shaver later. He needed to look like the professional he was. Besides it itched.

He scanned the mission orders and grunted. He was to move forward into the next system and get a read on the timing of the enemy's movements. If they had left more than two months before his arrival he was authorized to go one system beyond to scout there, but then return with his findings.

He nodded to himself and summoned his XO. They had a mission to plan and last minute fuel and material to requisition before they got underway.

It felt good to be doing something finally.

>>><><<< 

Shelby 5 Juggernaut Snippet 1

 Sitrep:

   So, the holidays are over, the decorations are down, and I started working on Shelby 6 Hold the Line. I was a bit lax though, I sent Rea Juggernaut Thursday last week and then forgot to post snippets as I'd planned. (as usual)

So, to remedy that, here we go. 

Chapter 1

 

Tau-65G7 Sparkling Seas

 

Commodore Janice Yu watched the bridge crew perform like the professionals they were as the ship ticked down to enter real space. She was an experienced helmsman; she felt every twitch in the ship. She waited in the guest chair though, silent to not jog anyone's concentration.

“Four... three... two... one... and breakout!” the helmsman reported.

She saw the wash of light as it blotted out the simulation of hyperspace and then it was replaced with the main plot. The plot began to be populated with what they knew should be in the system and where, primarily planetary bodies and such. As the hyper wake spread out and the sensors came online they began to report back more and more information about the situation around them.

She didn't realize she was holding her breath in anticipation until the CIC reported positive IFF received. She gushed out a slow sighing exhale of breath, relieved beyond belief. Not that there had been any doubt.

She had hated that she'd been forced out of her command station. The enemy had come in too much strength and had avoided the traps that they'd sent to avoid any other outcome. Sure, it would have been nice to have bloodied their noses and forced a retreat like they had the battle cruisers that had come before them, but it was not to be.

They had bloodied their noses though, that was something. And they had gotten a good look at the enemy's battleline. It was as awesome and terrifying as she'd worried about. It haunted her dreams.

“IFF exchanges complete. We are in the net. Star system secure and in Federation possession,” the captain said with a look to her.

She gave a sharp nod as military theater took over. “Commanding officer?”

“Captain Dunlow ma'am.”

“Signal the captain that I am assuming command when I get to Command One.”

“Aye aye ma'am,” the captain replied.

“I'll need a status report. Make sure we get the updated logs. And the admiralty knows we're here. Send our logs too.”

“Aye aye ma'am.”

“We're getting message traffic already,” the ship's A.I. reported. “A lot of material for you and your staff to go through ma'am.”

The commodore nodded. “Very well. I'll...” she paused. She didn't have an office or ready room.

“The officer's wardroom is available. If you don't want to kick anyone out you can borrow my office ma'am,” the captain offered.

She smiled. “Thank you Micel, I'll take you up on that and try to keep it brief.”

“Not a problem ma'am.”

>>><><<< 

Governor Orange Eye nodded as the staff let her know that the commodore had arrived. The arrival had been anticipated for some time. They had been warned by Fred Muggs and the State Department of the pending arrival when the commodore's force had departed Mayweather Station.

“Please reach out to the commodore to pay our respects and offer any aid she requires,” the Tauren governor stated.

“Yes ma'am.”

Ships had been backstopped in the star system since the warning of impending attack on the base had come through. Civilian ships that were independent or not involved in the buildup had headed north up the chain with goods and refugees to what safety they could find.

Other ships were moving south along the chain and back. They feared the enemy moving on the chain though. She couldn't blame them for being nervous. The Federal government continuously assured them they would have plenty of warning but refused to explain how, which undermined their confidence somewhat.

She could understand why on both sides. The Federation needed to play some cards close to the vest at this crucial moment in time.

>>><><<< 

Lieutenant Commander Alan Zoid watched the transfer of craft. He grimaced when he noted problems. His eyes narrowed when he saw work crews descend on a fighter and paint it in garish graffiti art razzing the pilot and the carrier it belonged to.

He opened his mouth to object but then closed it. The pilot had been diverted to their ship due to a fuel leak. Technically it wasn't her fault, but she had landed on the wrong carrier so of course she was going to get a good razzing. The tradition went that they marked her ship up as a good natured send off.

He shook his head once she got the clearance to go. He saw the fox stare at her bird, scratch her head and ears, then shake her head and put her helmet on. He had to snort in amusement.

The plan or at least their part of it was to get the carriers back up to 100 percent in ships and logistics. That was a headache. The empty or near empty carriers were headed in system to pick up replacement ships and pilots or wait for them to be shipped in.

Once the initial transfer was complete each carrier wing would have its hands full doing working up exercises to get everyone into sync. He was actually looking forward to that after such a long time sitting on the sideline writing letters to family and doing endless reams of paperwork.

He knew that no one in the fleet could help but feel a bit defeated since they had been forced to run. He resented that. They'd done a bang up job on the enemy. They'd just had more weight of metal and had wanted the star system more. They'd certainly paid for it in material and blood.

He planned to make them pay more here if they ever showed their snouts.

He grimaced. Not if but when, he corrected himself as he noted the Air Boss getting heated with someone new. He decided to take a stroll over to sort things out.

>>><><<< 

Happy Holidays!

 A bit late, but better late than never right?

  I have been very busy the past few days, Covid put in an unwanted appearance with the extended family, crimping the plans and throwing me in the spotlight. But all is well. We survived my cooking for another year! Yay!

Happy Holidays everyone!

Princess Rescue Inc 3 Invasion is publishing now!

 

    Eugene Ryans and crew have been settling in with their families and adopted home. The Imperium has been growing and modernizing under their guidance. But some of the neighboring countries are jealous and are conspiring to deal with the threat they see the Imperium becoming...

   Meanwhile, forces on Earth are conspiring to get in on the action and away from the doom the planet is facing...

 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NF477B5

B&N:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940160908991

PRI 3 Snippet 7

 

 

Imperium

 

Eugene was all smiles when the plane's hatch opened and the breeze and light came gushing in. It had been a long flight, shorter than the last but still nearly a week of sitting in that seat. He wasn't quite over his issue with flying, but he was coping.

He chuckled when he saw a pair of ladies waiting for him. The look of love and excitement made all the ass-ache from the long trip worth it. “How are my girls?” he asked as he went and hugged his wife. She had probably scandalized the old guard by wearing gaijin clothing. From the look of it, she'd taken one of his button down shirts and rolled the sleeves up while wearing a faux leopard print power bra top under it.

She had a short black skirt on and long black boots with heels. She was dressed to the nines and the only thing that looked slightly out of place was the growing belly bump. She hadn't started to show before he'd left.

He smiled tenderly, stroking her belly with his fingertips as he kissed her long and thoroughly. When the kiss broke, the smile she had was all he needed to see that she was delighted to see him.

Of course she couldn't help but poke him when the fingertips started to tickle a bit.

“Later,” she promised as a hand grabbed his pant leg. He turned and pulled the little blond minx into his arms.

“Miss me?” he asked as he kissed her cheek and ear. She looked to the people getting out of the plane and waved. “Apparently not enough,” he drawled. He pretended to flip her but caught her when she squealed. He whirled her around like an airplane for a few times as she giggled and then brought her up. “How about now?”

She grinned at him. It was a characteristic three-year-old infectious smile that made the entire world go away in that moment. She nodded and wriggled as he tickled her. Her mother tickled her from behind and she arched her back and protested.

Both adults laughed softly. He let her down and then tucked his wife under his arm. “Hey, did someone forget something?” the copilot asked.

They turned back to see him holding up a package. “Oh, yeah!” Eugene said. He pointed to it and then to the little girl. “That's for you from your aunty.”

The girl skipped over and took it. She opened it and then gasped eyes wide as she hugged the stuffed animal. The adults snorted.

“Another one? As if she needs another,” Deidra said with a chuckle. “She has an entire zoo.”

“Maybe we should open a zoo of stuffed animals?” her husband teased. She gave him a mock disapproving look but collected their daughter so they could be on their way.

^^^^^^

Eugene spent the evening talking with the group, eating dinner, and catching up. He filled them in about Zara and showed them pictures he'd taken.

He read to little Hermione until she fell asleep and then his mate took him by the hand to draw him to their suite to show just how much she had missed him.

^^^^^^

Max kicked off the second week of touring industry by visiting a vehicle assembly plant. They were working on trucks, the mainstay of any country. The trucks were work trucks of course. The assembly line could build them or be retooled to produce other vehicles as needed.

Everything was electric, though he knew that was still an issue. Power generation was a major concern, which was why there was a factory for producing components to build giant wind turbines down the road and another assembly plant to produce construction equipment.

There were complaints that the capital was hogging all of the industry. Recently some subassembly plants had opened in some of the neighboring villages and some as far away as the Duchy of Emory.

More were being constructed as the local dominus realized their importance and invested not just in the buildings, but in the infrastructure necessary to run them successfully.

They were using power tools more and more, a good thing. Currently power was an issue though; they could only run the plant for six to eight hours a day, which limited production. But production was up to one vehicle an hour, an impressive feat for medieval level people.

He was impressed but knew they had a lot to go still. Which meant he had his work cut out for him.

^^^^^^

PRI 3 Snippet 6

 

 

Duluth

 

Eugene smiled to Zara as she looked a bit forlorn. “You can come back for a visit sometime,” he teased.

She shook her head instantly.

He cocked his head and then snorted. “Should I smuggle up some more of your imp buddies then?”

She looked up and then shrugged.

He snorted and reached out and pulled her into his arms for an embrace. “I know it's tough up here,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” she said quietly as she squeezed him back. “I love some stuff about it but it's hard to be away from the family.”

“I know. We miss you too,” he said. Deidra had wanted to come but with the kids she just couldn't travel long distances. The risk was too great in too many ways.

“Well, the good news is we're improving tech every day. Who knows? Maybe in a year or so we'll have a jet!”

She blinked and looked up at him.

“It would get us here or you home in hours,” he explained.

“Oh.”

He smiled and squeezed her again. “I think you'd be amazed at how much the capital and even other areas have changed. You might not recognize it if you stay away too long.”

“I want to come. It's just … every time I think I can carve out the time something else crops up that demands my instant attention. It's maddening.”

He nodded. He had come up to give her a little support as she rammed through a handful of articles and laws through parliament. Now that it was done, he was set to return. He was supposed to get back just in time for the tour of industry that was to kick off for several weeks.

“So, I'll tell your sister that you haven't found anyone yet. She'll fend off the old biddies who are trying to pawn you off on some old dominus or another …”

Zara scowled and poked him.

“ …Oof!” He chuckled. “I said she'd do it!”

“Yeah, I know. She better not be taking candidates,” Zara growled.

He chuckled. “I doubt your sister would do that.”

Zara gave him a long look. “Okay, so, she's not that far removed from your people and traditions,” he said with a shrug. “Sue and Wanda wouldn't stand for it. She'd also take your tastes into account.”

Zara sniffed.

“Of course, if you've got a hunk in mind that's reluctant, I'm sure your sister can …,” he oofed again with a chuckle as she poked him again.

He snorted but noted the audience and waved to them. Some waved back.

“See you in a couple of months?”

“Yes. And bring more pictures of my niece and nephew,” Zara grumbled. “Video too,” she added.

“Will do. In time, they might make this trip too, who knows what the future will bring?” he asked with a smile.

She blinked and then shrugged again.

He waved to the group and then motioned for the three teenagers to get into the plane. They eagerly leapt forward and nearly knocked each other over trying to get in. “Easy,” he laughed as they finally sorted themselves out. Each had a light luggage bag with them.

Each of the boys were recent graduates of the abbreviated classes Zara had set up with her educational minister. She had started a small college, but there wasn't much call for it due to the lack of properly educated students. That was slowly beginning to change though.

The trio were exchange students in the medicus program. They each had scholarships to learn their craft. They had to spend several annus, local years in the medical service to their country to work off the scholarships and loans though, but each were eager to do so since private practice was still a growing thing.

“If the weather holds, I'll be back before winter. If not, I'll see you next spring. Okay?”

“Okay,” Zara said. She felt him embrace her again and then let go. “I'll behave.”

“That'll be the day,” he said as she pretended to smack him into the aircraft.

She stepped back and then walked away to get clear of the aircraft. Her outfit fluttered in the wind as the props started up and the aircraft's door closed. The craft taxied away and then lined up for the runway. It revved its engines and took off as the audience waved and cheered.

Once the aircraft had pulled up and away, Zara turned and nodded to her staff and security detail. “Time to get back to work,” she said with a small smile. Her people nodded.

^^^^^^

Eugene watched out the small porthole window as the aircraft climbed and turned away. When he couldn't see the small figures anymore, he turned to look at his companions.

His two bodyguards were seated nearby. Both looked comfortable. Bret looked ready to take a nap, no surprise there.

Two of the three passengers were agog at the sights through the window, chattering eagerly. The third had a death grip on the armrests of his chair, and there was a slight tinge smell of urine. Eugene grimaced but just nodded.

“Obviously, this is your first time flying,” he said, pitching his voice to the group. The duo turned to him. “Bathroom in the back.” he indicated the back of the plane. “Make sure you remain in your seat and have your seatbelt on even if you are asleep. We might hit some turbulence, and it's not fun to be bounced around the cabin.”

The duo nodded and looked to their companion. One bit his lip, clearly amused.

“Fear of heights and flying is natural,” Eugene said. “I survived a plane crash when I wasn't much younger than you three are. Just don't move around too much and follow orders and hopefully we'll be fine.”

The trio nodded. The terrified lad was a bit choppy.

“Blankets are in the overhead. I suggest you enjoy the sights or take a nap,” he nodded to Bret who was lying back in his seat and looked ready to start snoring at any minute. He even had a small pillow and blanket out. The lads snorted.

Eugene smiled and then looked out the window again.

^^^^^^