Thorson stood beside her and said, “Ms. Halscomb, I know this is sudden, but would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
She smiled and said, “Mr. Thorson, wait, is Thorson your last name or first name?”
Thorson smiled back and said, “It’s my last name. I am Francis Jesse Thorson.”
“Well, Francis, I would love to be Mrs. Francis Jesse Thorson.”
Thorson picked her up and twirled her around to applause from the assembled dignitaries.
When he let her down, he said, “Rondage has sufficient evidence of Debran’s corruption of the Rigel legal system that he can argue in GR court that Debran made it impossible for you to get a fair divorce trial in the Rigelian courts. He thinks he can get you a 50 % settlement anyway. That’s enough about that. Where do you want to get married and honeymoon?”
She smiled and asked, “We can worry about that later. Do you think you can get my ship back before it is stripped?”
Thorson smiled. Yes, he thought he could do that.
Irina Bugarov was in the crowd that day. She was on the opposite side of the field and hoped to reach the scout ship and AS-500 across the massive parade field, but there were too many people and too many Ascetics providing crowd control to get over there. She and Terri found a shady spot on the hillside and sat down to watch the show. She and Terri had dropped the tired old women disguises and cleaned up. They got more than a few admiring glances, especially Terri.
Her heart swelled when she saw the F-48s and A-76s fly over the field. Yes, Fleet had come and rescued them, just like she knew they would. She had never lost faith in the Fleet.
As the crowd winnowed out, she and Terri worked their way across the field. She knew she was breaking protocol by walking between the Ascetic formations returning to their barracks, but she didn’t care. She was free. Today was her Independence Day.
She reached the empty reviewing stand and looked around for an officer. She assumed everyone went in the large tent or up into the ships.
She called up into the ship and a petty officer from the quarterdeck came down.
“Can I help you, ma’am?”
‘I hope so. I am retired Major General Irina Bugarov of Fighter Force. Could I speak with your captain?”
“Captain’s not aboard, ma’am. I believe he’s in that big tent, ma’am.”
She thanked him and they wandered over to the tent, but the Ascetic guards had orders not to admit former captives. Irina made a note of the scout ship’s name. She would write a thank you note when she was back in better surroundings.
The petty officer went back up the gangplank and joined Chief Miller.
“What was that all about?” Chief Miller asked?
“I don’t know. Some crazy old broad said she was a major general or something. She wanted to see the Captain. I told her he was probably in the big tent.”
Chief Miller shook his head and asked, “Why do all the crazies call themselves generals? Log it.”
Fleet Commander J’Kalt reviewed the scenarios presented by his battle staff. The spy ships’ report from the Human sector had been transmitted to them and gave them an idea of what they might have to face. In their considered opinion, the best option was to conduct a reconnaissance in force into the star cluster. This gave them the greatest benefit for the least losses. The two shadow destroyers should lead the formation, as they had the best sensors and were best able to pick out the route through the cluster.
The Shadow cruiser and three light missile cruisers would follow, to be able to provide long-range support to the Shadow destroyers. The six fighter defense frigates would ring the formation, to provide flank security against Human fighters and fighter-sized craft. The remainder of the ships would form up with the six missile/gun destroyers behind the cruisers, followed by the ten support ships guarded by the four gun frigates.
The corvette J’New would remain at the opening to the cluster, to provide a communications relay and rear security. It would warn the fleet and Main Worlds if enemy ships got behind the fleet.
J’Kalt approved this plan and established rehearsals for the opposite side of the two Main World systems behind them.
The long-range sensor probe reported the power up and movement of the K’Rang Fleet. It tracked them as they moved to behind the nearest Main World system. It repositioned itself autonomously and reported its new position when it sent the data on the K’Rang Fleet. It got occasional glimpses of the K’Rang Fleet practicing movement and dutifully sent that info on, also reporting the Missile Corvette continuing to monitor the known entrance to the star cluster. As the corvette moved around the entrance, it forced the sensor to periodically withdraw into the cluster to maintain secrecy.
Captain S’Kal of the Missile Corvette J’New was looking over the shoulder of his senior sensor operator, H’Talli. He had been called to observe some sort of anomaly in the sensor scans, but he could not see it.
“Play it back one more time, H’Talli, I don’t see what you are trying to show me.”
Sensor Lead Technician H’Talli wasn’t sure he could see it either, but he could sense something was there. He ran the file back and ran it forward at slow motion.
“There, just there. See it, sir? That flash, just there.”
The captain saw a brief flash, but nothing else. He asked how many times he had seen that flash and was told just this one time.
“Lead Sensor Technician H’Talli, watch this area. If you see anything more, let me know.”
Captain S’Kal returned to the bridge and thought to himself that if his lead sensor technician was operating on such a hair trigger, what was it like among the junior crewmen? He would have to advise the med tech to start looking at crew physical well being more closely.
H’Talli assigned two sensor techs to watch that area, to put fresh eyes on the anomaly.
Chief Blankenship was first to tumble to what the K’Rang were doing. She correctly assessed that they were practicing movement to contact and quick reaction drills. This gave the analysts on the Golden Eagle an idea. Admiral Minacci called a commander’s conference on his flagship for all involved, including the Baratarian leadership. The conference was to develop a plan of attack for the impending K’Rang incursion.
Kelly was not asked to attend the conference. He was charged with conducting a high-resolution gravimetric survey of the star cluster.
The Admiral told him, “Find every gravity eddy, dead end, gravity well, hide spots, and other routes through the star cluster. I am going to tie the K’Rang up in the star cluster like they were in a maze. Map the maze for me.”
Kelly understood what the Admiral wanted, but asked, “How soon do you want me back with the data?”
The Admiral put his hand on Kelly’s shoulder and said, “Get me good enough, but I wouldn’t turn down perfect. Just don’t leave any hidden routes that would give the K’Rang a way around behind us.”
Kelly said, “Aye aye, sir,” and returned to the Vigilant.
Chapter Sixteen
The Admiral called the meeting to order. Present were Steve Maynard with his senior Undefeated class ship captain, his Torpedo Ship Wing Commander, the Ascetic Bishop-Commander, and the captain of the Leviathan. The Marine Brigade Landing Group Commanders and Group ship captains, with the exception of Kelly, were all present.
The 3rd ALG Intel Chief briefed the enemy situation. The ops chief briefed the friendly forces. He told the assembled leaders that a cruiser squadron was enroute to reinforce them, but was a week away. They would have to go this one with whatever they had.
The senior Marine Commander gave the Marines status. They had two light brigades and one heavy brigade with armored hover transports, self-propelled medium plasma artillery, armored hover guns, and the long range air/space defense system capable of firing missiles or plasma bursts into planetary high orbits.