Newbie Galactic Combat II - Story Thread

[CaptRR]

Chapter 24

Josha watched as Fifth fleet accelerated away from Acamar VII. It was a strange feeling, watching a fleet as large as this one leave without so much as a mention. Usually when large fleets left their home station families and friends would gather in the orbital stations to see them off. This time though, operational security had made that impossible. As far as the families of the Dravens manning the fleet knew they were just leaving on a standard training cruise within the system.

Josha took a breath, he had taken a shuttle up to one of the orbital shipyards to clear his mind. He figured that watching the ships speed off might give him some perspective. Instead it filled him with guilt. Guilt at sending the Prince on an almost impossible mission, against his own people, and guilt at the lives that would be lost in the months to come.

Still Josha smiled, he had no idea what would happen when that fleet showed up in the home system, but he was sure their was no one more competent to lead it than Prince Dravel. He was young, yes, but he had his father's flare, add to that his keen tactical sense, Josha was sure if victory could be found Dravel would find it.

Josha turned from the large windows overlooking the planet, and headed towards the hatch that would take him to his shuttle. He had a full schedule ahead of him. The Weyrlings were making some strange ship movements, nothing major. A shipyard gearing down here and there, and the occasional warp point closure. Those things in themselves were not alarming the Dravens themselves had begun to close unnecessary warp points themselves. The gearing down of shipyards however was strange, after all technically they were at war with the CCCP, and the Argon's weren't exactly being the most friendly to the Weyrlings right now either. Nothing overt had happen, but they had been harassing Weyrling freighters, and if Intelligence reports were correct the Argon Confederacy wasn't exactly acting as a single entity.

For years the CCCP and Argon intelligence corps had been running major operations against each other, but the CCCP with its vast resources had been much better at it than the Argons. The results were major uprisings all over the Argon Confederacy, ships missing, and leader's being assassinated. The Draven Intelligence Agency predicted that unless something major happened the Argons would begin to splinter very soon. Josha didn't exactly look forward to having an unstable empire right next to Draven Territory, but at this point he couldn't do anything about it.

Josha almost laughed, the Dravens weren't exactly the symbol of unity right now on the verge of a civil war. Somehow though Prince Dravel had to pull it off and win back the Repubic. Then and only then could they start to repair all the damage done by Yalare. It would be hard to win back the trust of the Weyrlings, if Josha were in their shoes he would have left the alliance a long time ago. The Weyrlings at least seemed to be leaving the alliance in place, even if they had began to regard it as a burocratic mess, and even stopped asking for assistance from the other members.

As Josha entered the landing bay, he saw his aid standing beside his personal shuttle. As the aid spotted Josha, he began to walk towards him. Once he was within a few meters he produced a pad and began to skim its contents while giving Josha a summarized Version.

"Sir, I got a message from SysComm."

Josha nodded, SysComm was short for System Communication Center. They handled all faster than light, and slower than light communications going in and out of the Acamar system. The center actually contained representatives from all member of the alliance, since Alliance HQ was in the system, but the Dravens primarily ran it.

"Are they going to be able to meet our requirements?" asked Josha.

His aide looked at the padd again, "more or less, they said they can block all Draven communications going out of the Acamar system, but since we don't control the Weyrling or Thermolian communication nets someone could route though their communication networks and bypass ours completely. It seems more likely that someone would use the Termolians though."

"Why's that?" Asked Josha.

"Well sir, for some reason the Weyrlings communication nets have been almost unused. About the only thing that goes over the lines is Messages from other races going to their homeworld, if someone tried to use their net it would stick out like a sore thumb. The Thermolians on the other hand have an almost saturated net, it would be much easier for someone to use their net without them knowing about it, it would simply get lost in the static."

"I see. Well it will have to do. All we have to do is stop Yalare's official orders from going to the Alliance HQ, as long as we can do that we can stop him from asking for help from the Alliance."

The aide looked at Josha thoughtfully, "You really think the Allinace would give him help after how many time he's repeatedly thrown them to the wolves?"

"I doubt the Weyrlings would, but the Thermolians haven't had to deal with Yalare too many times, they would just be abiding by the Allinace Charter."

"I see" said his aide as they walked to the shuttle, "But isn't the Alliance going to get a little suspicious when they lose all contact with most of the Draven Republic?"

Josha nodded, "they most certainly will, but thats the purpose of our meeting with the Speaker this afternoon."

"What are you going to tell him?"

Josha srugged, "The truth, that Yalare is a madman, and that the military has been forced to uphold its constitutional duty and stop him. Considering the speakers past dealings with Yalare I don't think he will complain too much. Mostly though I just want them to stay out of this, we don't need Yalare using the Weyrlings as a propaganda tool. If the Draven people thought that they were being invaded it would make the princes job harder."

Josha and his aid entered the shuttle and took their seats, as they did Josha looked out the window. Just outside the launch bay he could see the Last glimmer of Fifth fleet disappeared.

"Good luck Prince. Let the creator watch over you."

Chapter 25

Comrade General Speratii was not a happy man. Another of his ships was having trouble with its stealth generators. If Speratii could have shot the tech responsible for the generators he would have. As it was though all he could do was send the ship back for repairs. He couldn't take the chance of his force being spotted, not this deep in hostile territory.

Slowly he took a deep breath and let it out through his mouth, he used the moment to calm himself. It wouldn't do him a lot of good to scream at his subordinates no matter how much he wanted to.

"Comrade Colonel Lackcheck, that makes the third vessel we have had to send back this month. What is the problem?"

The young Comrade Colonel squirmed slightly, the man had danced around an explanation for the Last hour, attempting to bury his commander in so many details that he wouldn't see the overall trend. It was common trick for someone who didn't want to answer the question.

"Well uh..." squirm "Comrade General... uh... the Generators were never meant to run this long. When Stalin himself laid out the uh... requirements for the generators it was never mentioned that they be designed to run for so long without a break."

Speratii leaned back; satisfied that he had finally beaten the explanation out of the younger man. "So" he said slowly, "you are blaming Comrade Stalin for your failure."

The Colonel's face got white as a ghost, and he stuggled for words, "No Comrade General... I was just noting that it wasn't a requirement that is all."

"Any decent Fleet Maintenance officer would have planned for our long stay," observed Speratii, "If you failed to plan the only conclusion I can make is that you are incompetent, and should be sent back to home world in disgrace. With might I add a full copy of you actions in this room. I'm sure Comrade Stalin would be very interested in how it is his fault that you are unable to do your job."

Now the maintenance officer was on the verge of panic, "No Comrade General I didn't mean it that way, I was just..." He stammered for a moment trying to find any way he could do get himself out of the situation. "I just meant that..."

"Colonial," said the General cutting off the Lackcheck sharply, "I will make you a deal. I will not punish you for your incompetence this time, but so help me if another ship falls out of the fleet I will have you thrown out an air lock, and I'm sure your family would get a call from Internal Security. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Comrade General," Said the Officer, still scared to death.

"Good, in that case get out of my office" Lackcheck obeyed instantly, and Speratii was left back to his maps. Speratii actually had no intention of throwing the man out the airlock, or turning in his family to Internal Security, but it made a great motivation tool, and right now he needed every member of his fleet operating at 100%. If he was spotted, the entire plan would go up in flames, and Speratii was sure that Stalin would not make the same idol threats that Speratii just did. He would simply carry them out, and hang his head up for all to see.

Comrade General Speratii went back to looking over the star charts. It showed the current traffic patterns, which were quite heavy, as usual in this system. In the center of the maps was the major population centers, and quite major they were. The entire system was among the most populated in the known universe, and the Industrial capacity of system was greater than any single in the CCCP. Slowly Speratii made some calculations, and estimated that he would have more than enough firepower to accomplish his goals. That is assuming the Intelligence people were doing their jobs. The Last thing that Speratii wanted to do was face the defensive fire from those planets, he doubted a strait battle with them would Last 10 minutes.

Yes if everything went as planned Speratii would accomplish the greatest strike in history of the CCCP. He looked down at the target area of his map, the fire patterns were perfect, his ships would have clear fire paths at the planet and her shipyards. Speratii smiled as he read the name of the planet "Kornephoros X".

The Dravens were in for quite a surprise.

[mlmbd]

CaptRR, you did yourself proud. I imagine the twist came from the beginning of the unseen, from Ruatha isolationism. Whether or did or not. The chapters 22 and 23 were great! Now 24 is awesome!

The Dravens were in for quite a surprise.

So are the rest of us, I imagine!

Ruatha, very nice, Sir! I think there is something going on here! Not sure just what. But I do get the feeling there is, something yet undone. Might be wrong!

mlmbd

[Ruatha]

Phew!!
Reading that I was afraid that the CCCP had infiltrated my home system!!!
What a relief that they where somewhere else

[CaptRR]

Originally posted by Ruatha:
Phew!!
Reading that I was afraid that the CCCP had infiltrated my home system!!!
What a relief that they where somewhere else

Ya but they are in the Draven home system! As if the Draven Republic doesn't have enouph problems.

[Ruatha]

CaptRR, please go ahead and write, you don't have to wait for me. I'm lacking direction here now.
Will have to wait for my musa to wake up!

[CaptRR]

Originally posted by Ruatha:
CaptRR, please go ahead and write, you don't have to wait for me. I'm lacking direction here now.
Will have to wait for my musa to wake up!

No its not that. I've been in dial up hell with only about 25 minutes a day to surf the web and do stuff. Most of that is spent in PBW. I just got my cable in today at the apartments. I will write some more chapters soon, just trying to get back into a schedule. Going to back to school, is a learning experience.

[CaptRR]

I know it been a long time, but I am back. I'll try to keep the story going between studying and school, that means I will only be able to write about once a week. So here goes.
________________________________________

Chapter 26

"..and that about covers it, Questions?" Dravel looked over his assembled officers as they exchanged glances. For the Last hour he had filled them in on his plan, they had raised an occasional question here and their, but overall they had sat and listened, most no doubt were still trying to their mind around an invasion of their home system. Dravel had to admit he knew had they felt, no one had ever mounted an invasion of the Draven Home system, the place was like a fortress. The defenses started with mines, lots of mines, just under a hundred on every warp point going into the system. Backing up the mines are 3 Large Bases, 2 of which were heavily armed with the latest Telekenetic Projectors. Then assuming you were able to get through that hailstorm you still had to face the wrath of home fleet, an armada of almost a hundred ships, 25% were the latest Dreadnaughts.

All that didn't even take into consideration of the Weapon Platforms located on the planet. Usually when a fleet attacked a planet, it would engage the weapon platforms on the surface. Once those platforms were out of the way, the assault on the planet itself could begin. The problem here was that more than half the weapon platforms were located inside the floating cities themselves, taking them out would kill a great many Dravens, and that was something Admiral Dravel was not willing to do."

Captain Hanack was the first to ask as question, "Why not hit the shipyards at Kornephoras VII first?"

Dravel thought about it for a second, "If this were an operation to destroy the home system then yes, Kornephoras VII would be the best target, its shipyards account for most of the systems production. However, Kornephoras X is the home of the Republic, if we can hit there, with minimum civilian casualties, I'm sure the rest of the Republic would fall in line." Dravel had to admit that leaving the shipyards intact could come back in bite them later, after all having an intact industrial area that close would leave most of the systems war fighting elements intact. Most of all though, Dravel didn't want this to turn into a long and drawn out civil war. For the most part almost all the republic was taking a wait and see attitude, no one wanted to upset whoever was going to be left after the cards fell, as of now this little war was between Kornephoros and Acamar systems. If Dravel could win this war quickly, it would mean keeping the conflict from spreading across the rest of the republic.

The next person to ask was Captain Tenal, Dravel's fleet XO, that short Draven was almost a legion amongst the Republics Navy. The captain had managed to beat almost every "unbeatable" scenario in the Academy, and he was almost single handedly responsible for putting an end to the piracy in the outer colonies, so when the man spoke he got respect. "Admiral, I was wondering sir why are we charging in so fast to the planet? Why not just go in slow, and try to get some extra support from the rest of the system?"

"Tenal, I don't think we can count on getting much support from the rest of the system. Yalare hasn't got them locked down as tight as the Capital, but he still isn't very well liked there. I imagine, with the exception of the shipyards, that the rest of home system will want to stay as far away from this as possible. Besides, we will want to draw as much of home fleet away from the planet as we can before we hit them with our little surpise. The more that are left to guard, will make it that much harder for us down the road."

Tenal simply nodded, Dravel noticed that no one had any more immediate questions, although he was sure to get a flurry of fresh ones as the days went on. "If there are no more questions, then we'll adjourn for today, and meet back up here tomorrow at 0800." With that, most of the captains stood, and began to confer with their various aids. For the next servral minutes, Dravel walked around and answered various questions and signed other documents for approval. After a few minutes the room was almost empty, only the aids were left to sort out the details of his plan, that was when Dravel noticed Sosha in the corner.

Her smile immediately lit up the room. Sosha had come with Dravel on his trip to Acamar to help out with any communications with him and the small fleet in Agamar. Since the terrens had surrendered though she had found herself with little to do. The only thing that the King Dravel was doing now was overseeing the reconditioning of a couple of Terren Battleships for use of the Alliance, the work was important, but slow.

So Sosha had busied herself as the Captains secretary, that meant the two had spent a lot of time together, which Dravel didn't mind at all. Even if he couldn't have a relationship with her, that didn't meant he couldn't spend time the beautiful officer. As Dravel approached her now, she noticed his smile as well, and the two locked eyes for a moment. It was strange in a way, and heartbreaking in another. If Dravel hadn't joined the Navy he would never have met Sosha, yet that same Navy also had rules about Relationships within the ranks. Yet somehow that didn't matter right now, all he wanted was her, and after all this was over, rules be dammed, he would throw away his commission if he had to, some things were worth it. Besides after this fight was over, Dravel was sure that he will seen enough of war to Last him a lifetime.

Up to a few weeks ago, Dravel had no idea if Sosha felt the same way towards him as he for her, but as they had worked together the Last couple of weeks she had let on subtle signs that indeed their was an attraction their, even though she did her best to hide it.

"Sir," she said now, her voice strong yet fragile, "I just got back your requisition request from Troiken I. The administrator over the bone yard at first was hesitant to grant you the ships, but I simply informed him that it wouldn't be a good idea to upset a war fleet parked right off his back door."

"So we are getting the ships?"

"Yep, plus a few extra that he failed to report as space worthy to command." Her smile was as wide as now. The Administrator of the "bone yard", a place were ships were sent in storage when they had run their life cylces, was known a fierce negotiator, often times wrangling headquarters for months over the smallest budget expenditures. The fact that Sosha was able to get almost his entire inventory was amazing. "He wanted to warn you though, that almost none of the ships are armed, and the few that are armed have weapons that have been obsolete for years."

Dravel waived a hand, "For our use it doesn't matter. Dispatch as many techs as you can space, I also want the Engineers their ASAP. It is imperative that they get that armor in place, or all this will have been for nothing."

Sosha nodded as she quickly took notes on her pad. "I'll have them leave immediately, also we are going to be running short on armor, which ships should get it first."

He had to think about that for a moment, "make it the first group, they are going to be taking the brunt of the damage." Once again sosha nodded as she wrote it down.

Once she finished and looked up, their eyes met again. "God," Dravel though, "she certainly a beauty."

"Also" he said, "How would you like have dinner with me, we could use the time to finish."

A small twinkle showed in her eyes, "Why, Admiral, are you asking me out?"

The sentence was obviously a joke, but it still made Dravel's temperature rise, and he stumbled over his own words trying to speak, "Uhhh... well, that is of course, if you are available."

"Thank you Prince," she said, the smile never leaving her face, "I would be honored."

Dravel watched for a moment, and for a second his future didn't seem that bad.

Chapter 27

"What do you mean, we have lost contact with Acamr!" Yalare was screaming at the top of his lungs. The victim of his rage, Golemen just looked up. "How do you lose contact with an entire star system, what happen did you misplace it?"

"No sir," Golemen said as humbly as possible. The Last thing he wanted to do is upset the Prime Minister any more, people had turned up missing that had done far less. "It appears to be a complete communications breakdown, every time we try to send orders into the system, or even try to communicate with the Central powers, we run into a road block. Whatever it is, its being done on purpose from Acamar"

Yalare slammed his hand on the desk, it hit so hard, a couple of object fell off, and hit the floor only added to the drama of the act, "its Josha, I'm sure of it. He's trying to orginize some kind of rebellion I bet, fine, if he wants to be mortar the so be, dispatch home fleet, I want Josha taken into custody."

Goleman shifted in his chair uneasily, "That may not be a good idea Mr Prime Minister."

"Why not." Goleman could see that he prime ministers rage was about to boil over, this Last bit of news might send him over the edge.

"We have been getting some reports that a large formation of Draven ships is headed through Troikens. Unfortunately astro control for the system says there are no unusual movements within the system. My sources are pretty reliable, so I am inclined to believe that astro control is lying."

Yalare stared in silence this was bad news indeed, Probably worse than the communication problem in Acamar. For weeks now, responses from most of the planets in the republic had been strange. Not anything concrete but, their responses seemed too robotic, as though they were sending in enouph information just to get the job done, but trying not be overly friendly. Now with Astro control not reporting the movement of a large group of ships, it was obvious that what they were doing. A war was coming, and they didn't want to take sides. If they had sided with Josha in his band, the communications would have stopped completely, with that Yalare was thankful, at least he wouldn't be fighting the entire republic just a portion of it.

"In that case, pull back the home fleet to Kornephoras X, if they come through the Warp point, we'll engage them at that time. Also put the Base crews on alert, if anything comes through that warp point, I want it dead, understood?"

"Yes Prime Minister."

"If Josha thinks I'm going to let him destroy me he is mistaken."

Out in space, the home fleet of the Draven Republic began their movement towards the Capital, and silently the stealthed fleet of the CCCP took note, and followed.

[Ruatha]

The tension is rising....

[Raging Deadstar]

Ooooh, interesting...

The question is who will the CCCP Be siding with? *suspense*

[Cyrien]

Side with someone? I wouldn't. I would let them battle it out and then take down the leftovers.

Intersting to see how he manipulates the story.

[ May 04, 2003, 14:26: Message edited by: Cyrien ]