William R. Forstchen Wing Commander 03 Fleet Action

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"How long before that fleet could get here?"
"If they were fully ready to move, flank speed could put them across the
Empire in twelve, fourteen days. From the frontier to Earth, another ten days.
Even if we had full resistance up, I think those carriers could cut through
inside of two and a half weeks from the time they cross the demilitarized
zone. Remember, just before the armistice we wargamed that one out, the
assumption of a surprise attack with our own defenses down. With these new
carriers, it doesn't look good at all, sir."
Grecko exhaled noisily.
"According to what Banbridge briefed me on just this morning, it'd be at least
four months to bring the fleet back up to full pre-armistice strength.
"Damn all to hell," he snapped.
The door to the small conference room opened and President Rodham stepped in,
followed by Foreign Secretary Jamison.
Grecko stood up as did Tolwyn. Geoff still found the nickname "Big
Duke" amusing since Grecko barely stood over five two. His pugnaciousness,
however, more than made up for his shortness and more than one Marine or
fleeter had found himself on his back after making a comment.
"How are you doing, Duke?" Rodham asked, looking at the Marine general's torn
and empty sleeve in surprise.
"Nothing like getting shot in a plastic arm. Didn't hurt a bit-Rodham nodded
and then shifted his gaze to Tolwyn.
"What in hell are you doing here?" and his features went cold.
"He was here today as a personal guest of Admiral Ban-bridge when the
explosion happened," Duke replied.
"You have no security clearance," Jamison shouted. "Grecko, get this man the
hell out of here right now! I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that he
had something to do with this bombing."
"No, sir, he isn't moving."
Jamison turned on Grecko in surprise.
"Rear Admiral Tolwyn," and Geoff was surprised to hear Grecko use his official
and former title, "was acting under the direct orders of the Chief of
Staff when he violated the cease fire order, with the intent of thus having a
cover to subsequently engage in a covert operation."
"If that bastard were alive right now, I'd see that he was stripped of his
rank," Jamison snarled.
Grecko stiffened.
"That bastard, as you call him, ma'am, was my closest friend. I'd like to
suggest, ma'am, that you go down to the morgue and tell what's left of him
that he's a bastard."
"General, would you explain Tolwyn's presence here?" Rodham asked,
stepping between the two as Jamison leaned forward, ready to explode.
"The Chief of Staff suspected the armistice from the beginning, sir and asked
Geoff to volunteer for a covert mission. If the mission were undertaken by
someone already dishonorably discharged it would give us,"
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and he looked coldly at the President, "plausible deniability if something
went wrong. Geoff organized the transfer of some of our demobilized assets to
the Landreich where the equipment could be kept on line and then went out on a
deep reconnaissance mission inside the Kilrathi
Empire. He returned from that mission and arrived here only minutes before the
bomb went off."
"We've just received an official protest over that escapade," Jamison snapped.
"The Kilrathi are screaming their heads off claiming that five of their
cruisers were hit in an unprovoked attack and destroyed."
"What about
Tarawa and
Normandy
?" Tolwyn asked anxiously.
"They claim they got one."
"Not a bad exchange," Grecko said dryly. "The Kilrathi must be damned
embarrassed, but
Tarawa only reported three confirmed kills for the loss of Normandy and I'll
take their word over the 'furballs'."
"They're claiming the right, as provided in the armistice, to hunt the other
one down and have requested information regarding the ship's location."
Jamison looked over at Rodham who nodded sadly.
"The Kilrathi have demanded information regarding the ship's location and
destination. If we refuse to provide that immediately, a condition of war
might be declared."
"
Tell them to go burn in hell," Grecko said.
"And besides," Tolwyn said quietly, a smile creasing his features, "those
ships are not of Confederation registry."
"Look, General, the armistice is hanging by a thread," Rodham replied,
ignoring Tolwyn. "First the violation of their territory and then this
terrorist bomb plot to kill the ambassador and make it look like the Cats
did it by killing some of our people as well."
"Are you trying to tell us that some of our own people did this bombing?"
Tolwyn asked, incredulous that such a suggestion could even be made.
"Well, it's one serious possibility," Rodham replied, "and we have to look at
all angles."
Tolwyn was about to come back with a rather angry and very obscene retort, but
Greeko held his hand up for him to be silent.
"Sir, I would appreciate it if you took a look at this holo display and the
data printouts. We just received it as a burst signal relayed in from
Tarawa less than a half hour ago. Their mission was to follow up our
suspicions regarding Kilrathi construction inside the Hari sector," and
Grecko pointed to the three dimensional projection, in the middle of which
floated the images of the Kilrathi super carriers.
Rodham went over and looked intently at the carriers, requesting that the
computer rotate the images and then provide data on mass, length, armaments,
and projected fighter carrying capacity. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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