Shelby 9 Snippet 5

 Sitrep: I received an update from Goodlifeguide, they are on vacation so I do not expect the manuscript back for another week. Bummer.

Oh well, on to the snippet!

 

Renee Mayweather Naval Station

 

AdmiralJanice Yu looked at the latest plan and frowned. She had to hope that shewasn’t the only one concerned about the IFF with the Confeds if they did end upworking together. Tempers were going to naturally run high with the tension ofthe moment. She trusted the navy side; the Taurens though … she wasn’t socertain about.

Herdinstinct might kick in and they might flip sides. It has been known to happenon occasion. Fire discipline was therefore crucial. Hopefully, Rick was on topof things.

Theother point of concern were the civilians, especially the highly important VIPsin Confed space in Purple Nights and elsewhere. Not to mention the navalpersonnel escorting them. If things did go to shit … her frowned deepenedbefore it smoothed as she realized something important.

Ifit did go south in a big way, the Federation would know before the Taurens. Sheslowly began to nod to herself. Yes, and they’d transmit an encrypted report toFed space, and Shelby would act by sending a signal to the ships in Confedspace to pull out. By the time the Taurens knew what was going on, hopefullythe secretary would make her excuses and get out of the line of fire.

Hopefully.

Ifit did go to shit, well, she had five times the firepower as before. And KaraDanvers was in 63 to back her up if she was forced to fall back. Not that sheexpected to have to do so again. One fighting retreat was enough for her career,thank you very much.

Herlips puckered ever so slightly at that thought.

Ina small way she was hoping it would cross a line and the fighting would begin.She didn’t like having a tarnished reputation and would love to rectify that.

But,then again, if ONI was right about the threats incoming from Omicron, avoidinga conflict with the Taurens was imperative.

Hopefully,it wouldn’t come to that. Hopefully, it would end quickly and quietly and thenthey could shift focus back to general peacekeeping once again.

Hopefully.

>>>~<<<

Tau-Bin63A4

 

AdmiralKara Danvers smiled as the current training exercise unfolded. She wasmonitoring it and was playing referee but was otherwise out of it. Normally sheliked to play the op force but not at the moment. She was a bit distracted.

Rickwas trucking along to Confed space. Her smile slipped. She didn’t envy thesnake pit he was stepping into. A hostage situation and questionable IFF, plusthe potential to kicking the war off again? No, she didn’t envy him, not onebit.

Well,okay, she did envy his command. Ninth Fleet was nothing to sneeze at. Her taskforce had been reinforced but it was just that, a task force. He had an entiredamn fleet to play with.

Speakingof playing … her eyes shifted to the main plot. Marsal’s attack force waslurking in stealth in an asteroid field. It wasn’t a dense one; she’d set thatup with the other referees so his forces were … dispersed.

Thatmight come back to bite him in the ass soon, she thought as the op force creptin.

Insteadof a Tauren force, she had opted for something particularly nasty, a Xenoforce. The AI in the task force had worked out the best way to replicate theXeno ships. Setting aside the cyber war aspect of a space battle with theXenos, they were still fierce and deadly enemies.

Marsaldidn’t know what he was up against. She’d left that part out of the briefing,just that he was up against an “unknown enemy force.”

HerSpirit’s eye view of the 3D virtual battlefield allowed her to see his shipsand tasking. If she wanted she could pull up a video feed. She noted he hadplaced recon drones in the probable approach paths to the planet, but he hadn’t… ah, there, one had just tripped.

Sheflipped to the video cameras watching Commodore Marsal’s flag bridge. The timedelay was compressed, but when the data came in, his reaction was at firstpuzzled and then beautifully disgusted.

“Shit,”the commodore muttered. “She wouldn’t …”

“Shedid,” the tac officer said.

“Sonof a …”

Karacouldn’t help but grin as that curse was cut off.

“Okay,pass the word, we’re up against Xenos. Full cyber security protocols in place.We’re going to have to watch our approach; if I remember my briefings right,they like to spit nanites into the path of ships.”

Karanodded. He was taking the surprise very well and adapting. Excellent. It wasnice to see.

Shewondered what his reaction would be when he found out that the attack on theplanet was just a ruse to get a Xeno ship into position to deliver the coup degrace, a nova bomb against the local star.

Shemade certain the computers were recording for that moment.

>>>~<<<

GovernorMagistrate Scrooge kept his trademark slight scowl in place as he toured thespace station. It was impressive, and it was one of three under construction.

 Twoother space stations had been completed. They were a transport and freight hub.There were orbital warehouses as well. The navy still leased or owned half ofthose. His people only received a small token from the leases but it was stillprofitable.

Thenewest station was a central transport hub; it would take the place of some ofStation 1. It was larger and set up to handle five times the throughput.

Inother words, plenty of people like those coming from a liner.

Wordwas that liner companies were starting to line up stops in the sector. He hadbeen surprised by the news that the sector capital was their first stop. Oncehe saw the news about the planet being constructed there, it suddenly madesense.

Itwas a wonder, hethought, glad he was still alive to see it all unfold. He was grateful to thecrew of the Oliver Twist to give him a new lease on life. What wouldcome next? He wasn’t certain, but it would be interesting to find out.

Themetal tip of his cane made a tapping sound as he followed the guide and noddedpolitely to her enthusiastic explanations of the spaces she was showing them.

>>>~<<<