“Our flyers versus theirs perhaps?” Theodor asked.
Richard gave a nod of approval. “I think we have the speed on them. The machine I flew had the range-it was made for that-but it was slow. It was built to span the long distances between their islands.”
“How you flew it for a day and a half is beyond me,” Webster said, and again Richard wondered if there was a question about the truthfulness of his report.
“I was desperate, sir,” Richard replied evenly. “That can drive a man to do most anything.”
“Basing decisions related to flyers and tactical application on a vague report regarding just one of their machines is more than a bit reckless,” Petronius interjected. “I would think that if this whole thing is even true to start with, they’d have given this young lieutenant here a worthless machine.”
Andrew let the flicker of a smile light his features and held out his hand before Richard could respond.
“Two things we must do,” Andrew said, fixing everyone with his gaze. “Long-term first. If we can buy a year, two years, what can you do?” he asked. “I need to know that now, today. You can give me the details later. I know you people have been cooking up a lot of wild ideas. That’s what you are paid to do.”
He looked over at Ferguson, who smiled conspiratorially. “I want a concise proposal on long-term development plans by this afternoon. I think I can get the support you’ve been screaming about, and which I have honestly wanted to get for you all along.
“This afternoon I will meet with several senators to let them in on this. We have to put together, at once, a proposal for a naval buildup unlike anything we’ve ever done before, then ram it through Congress before they have time to think about it, while they are still afraid. Give them time to think, and then the arguing will start and months will drag out, which we obviously can’t afford.”
“And suppose the whole thing is for naught,” Webster asked. “Six months from now, when we’ve spent millions, then what?”
“Bill, do you honestly believe that?”
Webster hesitated. “It’s a lot to gamble based on the report of one man.”
“I’d rather bet on it now than wake up one morning to hear that the Kazan fleet is steaming into Constantine, or worse, coming up the Mississippi to blow us apart. Until proven otherwise I have to assume it is correct.”
Richard stood silent, stomach knotted, wishing he was, at this moment, anywhere else.
Webster finally grumbled in agreement and fell silent. Richard looked over at Petronius, who stood with arms folded, saying nothing.
“To match their ships of the line?” Varinnia announced. “Three years at least. There isn’t a slip here big enough to support such a project. We’d need to increase the size of this facility four fold at least. We could shift frigate production over to the smaller yards at Roum and Cartha.”
“That will help get votes,” Webster replied, and Andrew nodded in agreement.
“The number of ships?” Andrew asked.
“We should do it the same way we make guns, artillery,” Varinnia replied. “I’ve always said the way we put ships together is all wrong. It is not an assembly-line process like we have for other things. Make standard design for several classes of ships, then get the factories rolling.”
She pointed at the half-completed cruisers lining the piers.
“We put these together like craftsmen, turning out only enough pieces to fit each ship. It all goes too slowly. We must have total standardization, train more workers, then start churning them out one after another.”
“But it won’t be that easy,” Petronius replied. “Consider the question of scale. Armor plating is difficult to cast, and for what you are thinking about, by the gods, we don’t know much of anything. How thick is the armor, how deep do their armor-piercing shells penetrate, how do they delay the fuses so they burst inside the target rather than on top of it? We’ve talked about steam turbines, even built small-scale models, but one big enough to move a frigate?” He threw up his hands in frustration.
“You have a few months to work that out,” Andrew announced. “Just to gear up will take time. The sheer labor needed to expand this shipyard will take months before the first keel is even laid down. Put everyone you have on the problems and come up with the designs.”
“They’re amphibious,” Richard said as the conversation paused for a moment. “I doubt if they are simply going to hit Constantine and be done. They’ll land an army. They could put thirty thousand or more ashore anywhere along the two thousand miles of our coast and in six months make it half a million. I was told, during that battle they had already placed tens of thousands of troops ashore and built landing strips for aerosteamers, all within a couple of days.” All fell silent as they digested the enormous implications of what he’d said.
“The first question is, when and where will they strike, if they are indeed coming,” Petronius interjected, breaking the silence. “Deal with that first.”
“Constantine,” several of the group said at the same time, followed by nods of agreement.
“How do they even know where Constantine is?” Webster asked.
“As I said in my report,” Richard replied, “they sent spies here years ago. They must have charts drawn up, showing our bases.”
“They know where Constantine is, and that is the first place they will head for,” Andrew stated.
“Do we order Bullfinch to pull out?” Webster asked. “No,” came the sharp reply from Andrew. “Do that and the Greeks might very well leave the Republic, and then we have a civil war on our hands. We have to fight to hold it.”
Andrew looked over at Richard. “Go on, I want to hear what you are thinking. Should we try to hold Constantine? Or should I say, can we hold Constantine?”
Richard took a deep breath. “We fight there with what we have right now, and we lose, sir. Their main ships could shell the fortifications and the naval depot to rubble. They land, encircle the town, and it is over.”
“We can’t concede to them, in the opening move, a base on our coast,” Petronius replied sharply.
“I fear, sir, that they will take it regardless.”
Richard could sense Andrew’s tension, and he wondered if he was sounding too defeatist.
“The other place they will land is on the Bantag coast,” Varinnia announced. “It’s obvious.”
Andrew nodded sadly in agreement.
“So we have two battles, on two fronts.”
“Consider the prospect that they might strike on three fronts,” Webster interjected. “They could very well venture up the Mississippi, knowing that it will blockade us, in a way, actually cut us off from our states along the coast. There’s only one rail line down there, so far, to Constantine. They know we are reliant on the river as well.”
“There is one other factor,” Richard said slowly. “For the moment, we are the desperate ones. For them this, as much as anything, is a political maneuver.”
Andrew looked over at him. “What do you mean?”
“Just that, sir. There is a game within a game and we are but pawns. It is the struggle between Hazin and the emperor for power. If we could drive a wedge there, it might buy time. Second, there is contempt for us. The Hordes quickly learned desperation. You threatened their ride, their source of food, of survival. Whether we live or die at this moment matters to the Kazan not at all.”
He fell silent, wondering if he had said too much, but the group around him were gazing at him intently.
“Go on,” Andrew said.
“The farsighted might perceive that twenty, fifty years from now there could be a conflict to the death over which race will survive on this world.”
“I always held some hope that it would be different,” Andrew replied, an infinite sadness in his voice.
“Those bastards?” Webster snapped. “The world is too small for both of us. You can dream about it, Mr. President, but those here who lived under the yoke of the Hordes know different.”