"What about this thing that Turner referred to but wouldn't send?"
"Sir, Turner has a damn good head on his shoulders. Whatever it is he has, it must be so damn important he can't trust it even to encoded burst. It must be a document, a report, an intercepted transmit, something from the other side that we can't let the Cats know we have. That alone tells me this information is solid."
The president finally nodded reluctantly.
"Authorize Defense Level Two."
"Sir, can I go to One? I want forward recon all along the frontier and shoot-to-kill orders on all fronts."
"It's Two, Admiral," and the screen went dark.
Admiral Banbridge switched stations on his screen and activated the emergency burst signal transmit and quickly dictated the order. Dayan's last report indicated she was approaching final jump into McAuliffe. At least she could be alerted that she was most likely jumping into a hot situation, but would McAuliffe's station be able to receive? He routed the signal through to the orbital transmit station, and prayed that there was still time.
JUMP POINT X-RAY
"Prepare for jump transit!"
Jukaga cinched in his harness and waited for the shift. He felt a flutter of apprehension. They were hitting the point faster than any battleship had ever attempted to do so before.
He looked over at Nargth, who sat unperturbed, as if this was simply another exercise.
"For the glory of the Emperor!" someone shouted, and the cry was picked up on the deck and then throughout the ship.
"For the glory of the Emperor!"… and the battleship hit transit into Confederation space.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Mcauliffe-Confederation day 2634.235
"All right, Turner, you have most certainly kicked up one hell of a storm," Admiral Long snapped as he stormed into his office, Admiral Nagomo in tow. "I don't recall authorizing that this whole damn base gets turned upside down."
Geoff spared a quick glance out the window behind Long. The view out the window as one of utter chaos-the tarmac in front of headquarters swarmed with hundreds of service personnel, many of them drunk and wandering around. Ground crews were cursing and yelling as they started to move some of the planes off of the apron towards hardened underground revetments, dozens of ship-to-shore landing craft were surrounded by shouting crowds, angry because the pilots could not be found. Sergeant Major Ulandi had apparently gone beyond his authorization, and Geoff was amazed at just how powerful an admirals topkick could be. Though he might have to salute first and call new shavetails sir, there was many a captain, and perhaps even an rear admiral or two, who might think twice before disagreeing with him. Geoff was amazed, as well, that a marine corporal had shown up, only minutes before the arrival of the admirals, with fresh uniforms for all three of them, along with razors and shaving soap. Though he still wished passionately for a shower, he knew he was somewhat respectable looking, as long as no one got too close.
"Sir, would you be willing to go to a full alert and scramble the fleet?" Turner asked.
"Look, Winston, there isn't a ship up there with much more than thirty percent of their crews. We scramble now, we'll have to turn right back around and pick up our personnel hours later. That's a lot of engine time loitering around, only to come back and dock again."
"Don't worry, we've got plenty of time, even if your report is true, and besides, I've only had your word so far. I've heard nothing from the CIC. So, let's just take it easy here."
"At least start powering up the engines, sir."
"Mr. Turner, I will not be told by you what to do and what not to do. Even if the Kilrathi popped through the jump point right now, it'd be hours before they reached here, and then what? Our shields are the strongest in the universe."
Sergeant Ulandi appeared in the doorway, the lieutenant who had first encountered Turner beside him. The lieutenant appeared to hesitate, but a look from the sergeant seemed to propel him into the room.
"Ah sir, this dispatch arrived after you left."
The lieutenant approached the desk and handed a silver pouch to the admiral. At the same instant the admiral's pager chimed. Long punched his coded access into the lock on the pouch, which popped open. The pager chimed again and, as he pulled the envelope out of the pouch, he switched his screen on.
Ulandi, who had stepped up to Turner's side nodded towards the lieutenant.
"Damn priority dispatch arrived more than eight hours ago," he whispered. "The lieutenant forget to get it to Nagomo. I just saw it sticking out of a desk drawer."
"Long here," the Admiral said while unfolding the letter.
"Sir, this is Sergeant Williams, over at Signals. Sir, you better see this!"
Before Long could even reply the sergeant switched the screen. A very young and obviously frightened lieutenant appeared.
"This is picket ship Java. Repeat, picket ship Java. A Kilrathi battleship has just come through jump point Alpha. Christ! It's opening up on us. It's…"
The image died, to be replaced by Sergeant Williams, who was obviously scared.
"We got that just under five minutes ago, sir. I just had a high-density burst scan shot out, and getting it back now. Image is rough due to solar activity, but there is definitely a Kilrathi Zulu class battleship at jump point Alpha. Wait a minute, sir, a second ship is coming through now, looks like a carrier, sir."
"Keep me posted!" Long cried.
The admiral stood up and Geoff felt a cold ripple of fear. There was a look of near panic in Long's eyes. He gazed back down at the dispatch from Banbridge, then back over at the lieutenant.
"Damn you, Carter. You've killed us all, you son of a bitch. This was an order to cancel all leaves and prepare to move the fleet. Why the hell didn't you get it to me?"
Carter gaped at him like a fish gasping for water as it flopped around on dry land.
Long started into a bitter stream of invective against the terrified lieutenant.
"Admiral!"
Long, his features flushed, looked over at Turner who had stepped in front of him. Turner was holding Banbridge's orders.
"Sir! Order a full scramble now! Get the fleet out of here, now!"
"It's only a single battleship so far," Nagomo interjected. "It'll be a minimum of four hours before it gets in range. Plenty of time to get a fair part of our crews up. Besides, Orange Five says the fleet stays within the shielding around the base upstairs."
"Its orders, sir," Turner shouted.
"Sir, we've a burst signal coming in from the CIC," the sergeant at the communications center announced, coming back on-line.
"Play it, damn it!" Long shouted.
"To all units, this is a Level Two alert issued by CIC. McAuliffe base, expect a full-scale attack, repeat full-scale attack…"
Geoff stood, horrified, as chaos engulfed the office. He had always imagined that in a moment of crisis a true officer would radiate calm control. Instead, with the voice of Banbridge in the background, Nagomo and Long were shouting at each other. He could see Turner edging forward to jump into the fray in an attempt to bring some order to it. The only one who seemed removed from it all was the sergeant major, who stood calmly by the door, his cigar glowing, arms folded across his chest. The sergeant major saw him looking, nodded slightly, then nodded towards Turner.
Geoff took a deep breath, held it for several seconds, then exhaled. Somebody has to stay calm in all of this. If the sergeant major can, Geoff reasoned, so can I, damn it!
He walked up to Turner and touched him on the shoulder. Turner whirled about, as if ready to attack.