Fleet Action (wc-3) William Forstchen (fox in socks read aloud .txt) 📖

furthest you can get from Confederation territory. Most of the worlds haven't even reached G status for colonial outpost ranking."

He hit a couple of buttons on his controller and a number of flashing red and yellow dots appeared.

"Each red dot represents a reported violation of the demilitarized zone by Kilrathi vessels, each yellow dot by Terran or others. Incidents are happening at better than two a day. Back here on Terra they might be claiming peace, and the same on Kilrah, but the frontier regions are just about as hot as ever. There's a lot of freebooting going on, organized raiding cartels are forming and even some free corp units of ex-military on both sides, who have no place else to go, are setting themselves up as petty governments or as raiding groups.

"Now according to the peace agreement, the central government is supposed to patrol these areas," and the group chuckled, "but hell, we could barely do that when we had a full fleet and the war was on. Thirty years of fighting has caused a lot of breaking down out on the edges."

He paused for a moment to throw another log in the fire.

"They might call it rebellious down here on Earth, but from the viewpoint of the frontier governments it's being independent. They know what it's like to live on the edge of total annihilation if the Empire ever broke through, and they are none too pleased with the armistice, since if anything it means that there's no Confederation fleet at all to back them up."

A thin smile creased his features.

"So they're quietly building their own for what they're calling 'reasons of internal security,' and that, my friends, is why you're here."

Jason felt a cool shiver run down his back.

"It might not be much but it's something. I'll not call it an ace in the hole. When you look at the figures I just showed you it's more like a deuce; but at least it's a start, a backup if things turn ugly.

"Shall we say, for convenience sake, that in my current disgraced position I have been forced into a commercial venture in order to make ends meet. I have been approached by a private contractor who wishes to purchase a number of decommissioned ships that could be reconfigured for," and he grinned, "civilian transport. It just so happens that I've located five of these ships in a mothball yard orbiting the moon."

He paused for a moment

They're CVEs, light escort carriers, and I need some crews to run them."

Jason broke into a grin.

Prince Thrakhath stood up, extending his arms and groaning.

"So what you are telling me is that you cannot speed up the completion of the fleet."

"No, my lord," and the admiral before him lowered his head to the ground.

"Stand up and stop this groveling, I'm not going to tear your throat out. I need leaders, not dead bodies just because you bring bad news."

The admiral came to his feet.

"It's the problem with the transports," the admiral said. "We simply don't have enough to keep moving the material out to the Hari at the rate you wish for."

"But what about those older ships we decommissioned?" and he almost laughed at the thought of that. The vessels had been ready to fall apart and yet they were checked off by the Confederation observers as first line battle worthy. And even as he thought of it he realized that was precisely why they were useless. The three eights number of jumps required to get to the Hari base exceeded their need for overhauls after every two eights jumps which older ships still required.

"Couldn't we establish an overhaul base at the half way point?"

"It might draw notice. It could be within detection range if they ever slipped deep enough into our territory.

"Do it anyhow, and find a way to heighten security.

"There is another problem as well."

"And that is?"

"Fleet procedures have always been able to provide complete situation updates by burst signal from fleet commanders on a daily basis. Some concern has been expressed that the Confederation, with the rumor that they suspect something in the Hari sector, might turn their attention there and detect these signals. If they can decode enough of the signal it might reveal the existence of the new fleet."

"The range of their detection equipment isn't that good," Thrakhath replied, and then paused, "or is it?"

"We've received a couple of reports over the last year of a new project of theirs to improve their equipment. But nothing is confirmed."

Thrakhath nodded.

"Use courier ships, then."

"It is too far away to be efficient and too dangerous. The tactical, strategic, and operational updates comprise tens of trillions of bits of information right down to the need for a replacement screw. The signals back from Kilrah also send out the key information obtained by our intelligence operatives regarding all new information regarding Earth defenses. If we had to suddenly launch a preemptive strike without warning, the fleet must know on a daily basis the latest information regarding events across the Empire, the demilitarized zones, and inside Confederation space. The fleet in hiding needs this information instantly, and we need to know instantly what its needs are, a time delay of eight and four or more days is dangerous."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Keep the communications open."

The Prince hesitated for a moment.

"How secure is the encoding?"

"Our intelligence indicates that the Confederation was breaking our latest fleet code just as the armistice was reached. However, every five eights of standard days, we changed the code anyhow. We could place our latest one in, and reduce signal traffic to essentials only, keeping the burst signals to under a second each way."

Thrakhath nodded. He could see the admiral's point. If the Confederation picked up signal traffic going in and out of Hari territory, it might draw notice, but then in order to do so, even if they could upgrade their equipment, it would require a penetration into the Empire.

"Do so and inform our counter intelligence to keep careful