“There are a lot of ships here. Must I wait?”
“These ships have a special purpose. They will fight the Chessori.” His eyebrows rose. “Did you know your First Knight is from an emerging world?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Did you know that he’s immune to the scree?”
“What’s the scree?”
“The mind weapon of the Chessori. And he’s not the only one. We believe everyone from his world is immune. We’ve brought a number of warriors from his planet, and they’re learning to fly our ships as we speak.”
Buskin leaned back in his chair, thinking deeply this time. When he looked up at her, she waited expectantly. “So that’s what’s going on. We noticed their strange behavior as we were inbound. Training, huh? Can they learn? It’s asking a lot from an emerging world.”
“Your First Knight had about two months of training before bringing me some 800 light years without an AI. We took out a number of Chessori in the process. Not only can they learn, they learn quickly.”
Buskin slapped a fist into an open hand. “They’re immune, they can fight, and they can fly. Can they lead?”
“I didn’t name him First Knight for nothing, Admiral They came with no experience of space travel, but most of them were officers or senior enlisted in their military. They’re all leaders.”
“Did he bring admirals?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Because I’ve been training Great Cats to fly my ships. Until now, they’ve been the only ones who could function against the Chessori. They’re good, but they’re not leaders. I need leaders who won’t be disabled by the Chessori. I only need one or two if they’re good.”
“All the more reason to speak with Chandrajuski. Would you like to meet the leader of these men from Earth?”
“Earth?” he said, scratching his chin. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it.”
“You haven’t. It’s the name they call their world. We only have a numerical designation for it. Why don’t we go find him.”
His eyebrows dropped in a question. “Just call for him, Your Majesty.”
“No. He’s extremely busy. We’ll go to him.”
Just before boarding the shuttle, Ralph, her Protector, brought her a message. “Sir Mike and Otis have dropped from hyper, Your Majesty.”
Surprise turned to excitement for Ellie, and a smile lit her face. “Thank you, Ralph. I’ll clear my schedule.”
She and Buskin found Trexler aboard a cruiser orbiting Parsons’ World. He and two other admirals from Earth were in the midst of a simulated battle of fleet proportions and were not to be disturbed. Ellie could have insisted, but she did not. Training took first priority.
Buskin looked thoughtful and turned to the ship’s captain. “I’d like to observe. Can I go in without disturbing them?”
“Yes, sir. You can.” He turned to Ellie. “Your Majesty?” he asked her with a questioning look.
“I have other plans. We’ll set something up for the day after tomorrow,” she said to Buskin.
“Very well, Your Majesty.”
She left, and Buskin went to the operations center, entering quietly. There he found a Schect and three men in strange uniforms, all of them lounging with helmets on, all within the net. He donned a helmet himself and went into the net, remaining in the background.
He observed the three admirals in the midst of an engagement. They had eight squadrons of fast ships against twelve squadrons of Rebels. The Rebels didn’t have fast ships, of course. Four friendly squadrons were heavily engaged against one enemy squadron each. The remaining four friendly squadrons were doing their best to occupy the other eight Rebel squadrons, jumping in and out with hard punches to prevent their joining the main battle. It didn’t look like the battle had been going on for very long.
M’Coda sensed Buskin’s presence and went to him. Both having worked for Chandrajuski, they knew each other fairly well. M’Coda greeted him warmly while keeping his attention on the battle. “I heard you were here,” he said. “How goes your mission?”
“Well enough. I’d like to observe for a while if you don’t mind. What are the parameters they’re fighting under?”
“The Rebel ships are being flown by Chessori. We’ve had to make some assumptions with their performance. Our ships are fast ships, and we have the new, improved shields and weapons, but we’re seriously understaffed. One gunner to each battery is all I’ve given them. It’s all we can muster at present.”
“One gunner for each battery! I wouldn’t have guessed. They’re pretty effective.”
“These guys fight hard, and their flying is improving daily.” As they watched, two enemy squadrons broke away and headed toward one of Trexler’s squadrons that was fully engaged. Trexler broke up two of his harrying squadrons, sending a frigate and six fighters from each to engage the two Chessori squadrons. Buskin sucked in his breath.
“I know,” M’Coda said. “I hate it when he does this.”
“I’ve been working on some tactics of my own,” Buskin said. “I think I’d have pulled the first squadron back.”
“My feelings, exactly. We train to fight as full squadrons, and we always keep them intact.” He spoke to Trexler. “What are you doing, Ray?”
“Let me try this. If I can hold these guys off for just a little while, we’ll improve the numbers.”
“We’ve trained to fight as full squadrons.”
“You have, but my guys are new to this and won’t care. Let’s see what happens.”
The battle rapidly became more complicated. In the space of half an hour, Trexler was forced to divide his two remaining harrying squadrons, leaving eight half-squadrons to hold off eight full Chessori squadrons. His better weapons and shields made a difference, though, and within the next hour the Chessori lost four squadrons. It was now down to squadron against squadron. Trexler had lost six fighters but no capital ships, and it was just a matter of fighting it out now on an equal basis.
M’Coda called a halt to the action. The purpose here today was not to learn to fight squadron against squadron – they already knew how to do that. Today’s purpose had been to focus on fleet tactics.
M’Coda clicked his mandibles when everyone was out of the net, and he began a refreshing preening of his whiskers. “I call that a win, Ray, but I still don’t like it. I’d have sent your eight squadrons up against the twelve Chessori squadrons all at once.”
“I know, but if these had been real ships, and if you surveyed my captains after the battle, I think you’d find they were better focused. Each squadron commander, or half-squadron, had a specific responsibility. They didn’t have to concern themselves with the rest of the battle, only their own assignments, and it let them focus on real tactics rather than just a free for all.”
“Your harrying ships were badly outnumbered.”
“They were already badly outnumbered, but they didn’t have to remain engaged. They hit hard, then danced away, repeatedly. It was only a risk until the first four squadrons were neutralized. Once they were, it was squadron against squadron.”
“We’ll have to repeat this with real squadrons tied into the net. I’m not sure your squadron commanders would have made the necessary adjustments as well as the computer let them. The new program for tying real ships together should be ready soon.”
Trexler nodded. “We can never forget that computers are doing the fighting in these simulators. We won’t really know what we’re up against until it’s the real thing.” He turned to the stranger and stuck his hand out. “I’m Ray Trexler.”
“Oriska Buskin. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”
“You’re the Admiral Buskin?”
“I am, sir.”
“Well, it’s a pleasure, indeed. I didn’t know you were in the area.”
“Just a quick visit. I have a few ships hiding out elsewhere, and I need to get back to them. I’m waiting to see Chandrajuski.”
“I’ll bet you are. How many ships?”
“Three hundred at last count. I’ve been away for four months. I’m certain we’ve had additions.”