“Correct.”
“It’s also fair to say that any Chessori we identify will not be paired with regular squadrons. They can’t function together.”
“Until proven otherwise, that is the basis of our planning.”
“We have 84 Terran-manned squadrons of which 21 are fast. We have 80 purely Empire squadrons, of which 27 are fast. That gives us a total of 48 fast squadrons.”
“Those are the numbers Ray. We’ve been living with them for hours.”
“Okay. Stick with the numbers. We’re just after the big picture here. How are the Rebels organized?”
“Groups of four squadrons. In a few cases, larger groups. I believe the large groups will attempt to push through our defenses.”
“You’ve been out of touch for three hours.” He looked to Seeton. “Harry, would you please check with Steve to see if the wings are still forming?”
“I just came from there. They are.”
Trexler focused back on Chandrajuski. “We call the groupings of four squadrons a ‘unit.’ The larger groups are called ‘wings.’ It appears that all the Rebels are forming into wings. Our battle will be fought against 40 wings. For us in command, we’re not fighting 500 Rebel squadrons, we’re fighting 40 wings.”
M’Coda’s upper hands went still, then started a frantic preening. Chandrajuski just stared at him, but Trexler could see his thoughts were deep and elsewhere.
A smile found its way to Sam Taylor’s face as he considered the implications. “I think our jobs just got a lot easier,” he stated softly.
“How certain are you of these wing configurations?” Chandrajuski demanded.
Trexler looked to Seeton, who answered for him. “Pretty certain, Admiral. Steve Brinson has a very nice display of trajectories if you’d like to go see them. It’s pretty complex, and it’s not easy to decipher yet, but it soon will be.”
M’Coda’s upper hands were still in motion. “Two quick probes by Terran fast squadrons to expose all the Chessori wings, then we can assign targets. It will become an issue of attrition.”
“For the Terrans, yes. For the Empire ships, no,” Trexler said. He nodded to Seeton who stood up to face Chandrajuski’s looming figure.
“I’ve known for a long time that a great battle would be fought here, sir. Some will criticize the path I chose, but none here in this room will today. I’ve gambled everything I have on this battle, as it was foretold I must.”
Chandrajuski’s triangular head lowered on his long neck to within inches of Seeton. “Everything?”
“Everything, my friend. They’re waiting a short jump away. Actually, we’ve already called for some of them.”
“How many, Harry?”
“673.”
Chandrajuski stayed in Seeton’s face for a time, then with all his elegance, he backed away, lowered his back legs, and then lowered his head. It was his method of bowing. “You chose well, Harry. We are in your debt.”
“I told you some time ago that I would stand by my oath to the Queen. That has been my guide.”
“Your example will guide all of us, today and for a long time to come.” He went to Trexler’s bedside and looked down on him. “You promised me that if I came, I would leave here looking down on the battle from a perspective of superiority. You have delivered on that promise, Ray. Thank you.”
His head swung around to take all of them in. “Should we go fight a great battle now?”
Trexler spoke up. “We might want to consider a few of the nuts and bolts first. Our goal is not yet clearly stated, and we have a number of options to choose from to achieve that goal.”
“The goal is quite clear, Ray.”
“It was, but it can be more now. We set out to take Aldebaran Sector from the Rebels. I would restate that goal. We want to defeat them. They’ll have reserves, sir. We want them, too.”
Chandrajuski backed away, deep in thought. “A challenge, but I accept. We will have to position ourselves in such a way that we draw them in. You’ve considered this, I take it?”
“I have, but I don’t have a good solution. Harry already called for 200 of his ships, leaving the rest waiting. If we brought all of them now, we might scare the Rebels into a full retreat, and we don’t want to do that. With the 200 ships, I think the Rebels will believe we’ve called in our reserves, and the numbers are still in their favor. You’ll have to position yourself in such a way that they’ll reinforce where you want them to.”
Chandrajuski looked to M’Coda. “Do you have a suggestion?”
“That will take sitting in front of a display, sir. In concept, I like the suggestion. Perhaps we can hit one area hard, leaving their forces strong elsewhere. The weak area is a likely area for them to reinforce. We’ll work it out.”
Trexler looked to Sam Taylor. “Have you started transferring crews?”
“Not yet. We were just finishing up assignments when I left to come here.”
Trexler turned back to Chandrajuski. “We can do as you suggest, use our 21 fast squadrons to bump them, see if the Chessori are there, or we can just make every one of our squadrons a Terran squadron. From a management standpoint, it would greatly simplify things if every ship was equal. Any squadron could be sent to any target.”
“Are you suggesting we use the 63 slow squadrons? That will take too long.”
“No, sir. Another option exists, but it has calculated risks. Waverly has hundreds of men who can function as gunners. If we abandon the Terran fast fighters, we’d pick up another 250 Terran pilots and a bunch of gunners. We could staff every cruiser we have with Terrans, and there would be enough left over to staff almost 200 of Seeton’s cruisers. Then it wouldn’t matter if they encounter Chessori or not. The whole crew could be in the net. If the Chessori are encountered, the Empire crews drop out. If the Chessori are not encountered, the Terrans drop out. You might even want to beef up the Terran gunners on our cruisers rather than sending them to Harry’s ships. I don’t think any of Harry’s ships are going to encounter Chessori. I think the reinforcements will all be Rebels.”
Chandrajuski looked to M’Coda, who said, “We need to take the time to model it. I like the idea of beefing up the Terran gunners. Right now, each gunner controls an entire battery, far too many guns for one person. What do you think, Admiral Taylor?”
“I’d like to beef up the gunners, and my fighter pilots are up to flying cruisers. In fact, they’d rather be flying cruisers. They don’t like risking their lives for nothing, and with this new strategy of just going after Rebel cruisers, they’re essentially useless. And transportation is not a problem. Each fighter pilot has a ship. He can take his fighter to the planet, load up the Raiders who will stay with him, and go to the cruiser he’s going to fly. The fighter can just stay in the landing bay there. We’re talking, what, maybe a day or two for all of them to complete the transfer? Waverly’s guys are going to be tired, but with a few hours of rest they’ll be ready to go.”
Trexler called over the partition. “Jim, does that work for you?”
“You can have them, but go through Major Wilkes. When he’s done with the city, he’ll have some clean-up to do in other areas. I don’t want any Chessori left alive on the planet.”
Chandrajuski slid the partition aside and looked down on the person in the bed. “Who are you?” he asked.
“Colonel Waverly, sir. You must be Admiral Chandrajuski. A pleasure to meet you.”
Chandrajuski’s mouth opened wide to display his many, many sharp teeth. “The pleasure is mine, Colonel. You’ve done us all a great service. We’ll talk later.”
The discussion became technical, with general assignments, timing and dispositions, and capabilities of certain groups of ships. Trexler stayed silent. Chandrajuski and M’Coda were truly in their element now, and they had become aggressive rather than defensive. They left the room in a group, still in heated discussion, headed for the operations center. It was time now for the displays.
Waverly’s eyes were still closed when he said, “I knew you flyboys had it soft, but running a battle from your bed?”