Part of Jahn felt guilty about fleeing this way, but if the Caliphate or the CAC had found a new route into Alliance space he had to report it as soon as possible. This could be war, he thought. It was possible that the Fourth Frontier War had just begun. And those weapons, he thought. If any of the other Powers had seen such a leap in weapons technology, it was going to be trouble…big trouble. They had to make it out of here. They had to.
“Lieutenant Walsh.” It was hard to even force the words out under the crushing g forces. “Instruct the computer to go to 120% on the reactor.” That was dangerous, approaching a 10% chance of catastrophic failure. But if they didn’t get back through that warp gate before they were attacked, they’d never leave the HP 56548 system. He anticipated Walsh’s argument, and before she could object he repeated himself. “No debate, lieutenant. Just go to 120% now.” I just hope it’s enough, he thought.
Chapter 4
“We can move this data around all day, but there’s just no way to cover everything.” Augustus Garret sat in one of the sleek metal chairs in Admiral Compton’s conference room. It was in this very compartment that Compton had met with Roderick Vance, General Holm, and Erik Cain to plan the daring – and highly risky - actions that ultimately salvaged the rebellions…and saved Garret himself from Gavin Stark’s prison. Every time he sat here it reminded him that he hadn’t been present. He hadn’t been there because he’d let himself fall into Stark’s trap. That wouldn’t happen again; he swore that much to himself. Augustus Garret would never let his guard down again. Not ever.
“No. No way.” Terrance Compton sat opposite Garret, staring at a large ‘pad displaying lists of ships and personnel. “The supply situation is good at least. Jack Winton’s done a hell of a job on logistics. Good call on your part luring him back in.”
Garret nodded. “Yes.” He allowed himself a little smile. “I’ve never seen anyone with a better head for moving stuff around. I’d blow my brains out if I had to do it every day, but he’s a virtuoso.” Garret was a combat officer through and through, and he had to constantly struggle to make himself pay attention to details like logistics. But his navy would cease to function without the services Winton’s division provided, and he was grateful to have someone he could trust to run it.
Compton grinned for a few seconds, but it quickly faded. “But we just don’t have the combat assets.” He exhaled loudly. “And we won’t for at least three years…and maybe five.” The Directorate had managed to secretly take control of the mothballed ships of the Strategic Reserve, crewing them with their own personnel. Garret and his loyal ships had been compelled to hunt them down and destroy them, and they took their own losses doing it. They were lucky if they could put a third of the strength into space they’d had at the end of the war.
Garret sighed. “Look, I’m just going to say it.” He had a sour look on his face, like he tasted something bad. “We’re not going to be able to garrison the population centers.” There were just too many Alliance colonies and not enough fleet units available. “If we put undersized squadrons in every system, we’re just throwing them away if it comes to war.” He took a deep breath. “We have two absolutely vital locations, and we need to defend them at all costs.”
“Here and Armstrong.” Compton interjected, completing Garret’s thought.
“Yes.” Garret nodded solemnly. “Here and Armstrong.”
Wolf 359 was vital. The shipyards orbiting the fifth planet were by far the biggest available outside the Sol system and, after the events of the past few years, no one in the naval command wanted to put too many eggs in its Earthly basket. The facilities were a beehive of activity, with four new Yorktown class capital ships under construction. They wouldn’t be ready for another three years at least, but when they were it would go a long way to bringing the fleet up to strength. The yards themselves were also under construction, with a massive expansion of the production facility taking place even as the ships themselves were being built there.
Armstrong was even more important. The planet was home to the Marine and naval headquarters and training facilities, as well as the giant Marine medical center, now being expanded into a joint services facility. Garret flip-flopped on whether he thought that level of concentration was good or bad, but that was how they’d decided to proceed, and now they had to be damned sure to defend it.
“At least Armstrong’s civilian population will be protected as well.” Compton was trying to sound positive. “And of course, Arcadia will be covered by the fleet positioned here.” One of the leading worlds in the recent rebellions and now the new Colonial Confederation, Arcadia was the third planet in the Wolf 359 system, just an astronomical stone’s throw from the massive shipyards orbiting world number five.
“We do have one thing that’s helpful, though.” Garret was glancing down at the ‘pad as he spoke. “Our gains in the war really rationalized our outer systems. Most of our worlds on the Rim are deep in our own territory relative to the other Powers.” The map on the large ‘pad was a stylized 2D representation of human-occupied space. The interconnecting lines representing warp gate connections between the systems looked like a large glowing spiderweb. Garret stared at the CAC and Caliphate systems in particular. The red and orange dots representing those Powers’ holdings were fairly close to the Alliance’s primary colonies, but they were on the other side of those inner worlds from the frontier. “I’ve pulled everything back from the outer sectors to beef up our core forces.” He pointed toward the frontier area on the display, where all of the dots were a uniform blue. “Even so, we’ll still be reacting in any new conflict. If the CAC or the Caliphate hit us, they’re going to take whatever systems they target, and we’re going to be left responding, trying to take them back.”
Compton sighed. “The Marines are even in worse shape. Most of these planets have nothing defending them but militia.” He was tapping his fingers on the table nervously as he spoke. “Fortunately, neither the CAC nor the Caliphate is ready for a new war.” He looked at Garret. Friends and comrades for 40 years, they could read each other’s unspoken thought…we hope they’re not ready. Any aggression would have been suicide a few years earlier, when the Alliance was in a preeminent position after the war. But the rebellions and the internal fighting and scheming had shattered the Alliance military and squandered its dominance. War was still unlikely in the short term, but it was no longer unthinkable.
They both paused for a while, perhaps half a minute, each of them staring at the map and the columns of figures scrolling along the edges of the ‘pad. “I think we could pull more from the base on Farpoint.” Compton was reading the deployment notes on the ‘pad, though he already knew them by heart. “Honestly, we could just about close the base entirely. Forty years ago it looked like that was going to be a hotly contested sector, but now there’s no enemy within 6 transits.”
Farpoint was a continuing lesson in the need to employ long-term thinking when naming worlds. At the time it was founded it was the deepest into space man had yet ventured, but now the name was somewhat of a joke. The planet served as an ersatz capital and administrative center for the Alliance’s rimworlds, but it was at least four transits from the frontier along any warp path.
“I think you’re right.” Garret glanced down at the map, sliding his finger to move Farpoint to the center of the display. “We need to keep the base functioning to support the transport and colony ships heading to the Rim, but we can go to a skeleton crew.” He paused for an instant, thinking about the forces currently stationed there. “Let’s leave Stingray, Raptor, and Hornet….” The three vessels were fast attack ships, and they would serve well for general patrol and policing. “…and reassign the rest of the 5 th Fleet to the Armstrong forces.” He looked up at Compton. “What do you think?”