The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (51 page)

“
We
’
ll have to keep a close eye on any watering holes,
”
Kanter replied cheerfully.
“
By the way what about your pilot? That was a very slick piece of flying, dropping that skimmer into the gravity well.
”

“
She landed with barely a thimble full of reaction mass,
”
Crowe grunted.
“
I
’
d have shouted at her more if I wasn
’
t putting her forward for decoration.
”

“
Top up?
”
Laura asked, offering the bottle.
“
Well if nothing else, this has been a good week.
”

Chapter Fourteen

The Last Hurrah

Admiral Shibanova died quietly two weeks after his stroke without ever waking up. Kinnear reported his accident and death back to Earth by via FTL. They received brief acknowledgements to both messages and nothing more. That left Willis in a situation that could at best be described as an aberration.

The orders Shibanova left, very clearly stated she was to be Senior Officer should he be incapacitated, but commanding a cruiser squadron, even one like the Geriatrics, was a slot for at least a full fleet captain. Being the commanding officer for the mobile elements charged with the defence of an entire star system was at the very minimum a posting for a commodore and more appropriately a rear admiral. As a mere commander she was well and truly out of her pay grade.

The most logical solution would have been to appoint Admiral Kinnear. He
’
d clearly done the same calculation and Willis, in an uncharacteristic flash of insight, realised that the prospect filled him with horror. The first meeting with the system
’
s industrial heads was clearly a very uncomfortable one for Kinnear. The civilians very obviously expected him to order Willis to do what they wanted. Whether it was because he realised she would refuse - and had the authority to do so - or because he
’
d always known Shibanova was right but preferred to be the
‘
good cop
’
, Kinnear didn
’
t give them the answers they were looking for. If the grapevine was to be believed, his standing in certain circles in Dryad had taken a hit. So for the first two weeks of Willis
’
s time in command things carried on much as usual. There for no sign of the Rizr. This was probably just as well because for the first week Willis was in a state of mild shell shock at the change in her command responsibility.

There was also the Vincent situation. The look of surprise on his face when he found out had been comical - he’d been out of the system, meeting a couple of inbound transports when the Admiral collapsed. But it was the first time in their respective careers that one of them had enjoyed significant seniority over the other. Vincent’s response was to formally address her as Ma’am, although in private always with a smile on his face. It was bloody inconvenient: the friendship between them had been starting to deepen again but now she was his superior, that was on hold
.

Twelve days after she assumed command the Aèllr Frontier Force arrived for its monthly resupply and Willis took the opportunity to speak with its commander.

“
Thank you sir,
”
she said as Admiral Melchiori handed her a drink.

“
To Admiral Shibanova,
”
Melchiori said raising his own glass,
“
a fine man and a sad loss. How are you getting along, Commander?
”

“
Well enough sir. But I am starting to wonder about this situation.
”

“
Oh.
”

“
We sent a transmission to Earth the day the Admiral collapsed. Even allowing two days for the transmission to reach Earth, another two for a reply to reach us and two more to consider the question, we still should have got a reply almost of a week ago.
”
Willis sipped from her glass.
“
I
’
m wondering what they
’
re doing.
”

“
They have a lot on their plates,
”
Melchiori replied, sitting back in his chair.
“
The simple fact is the real war is against the Nameless. There are a lot of dispatches flowing back and forth that you don
’
t have authorisation to see, but there is a debate going on regarding deployment - too many obligations and too few ships. Headquarters is trying to persuade the Council to downgrade my command and fold it into Shibanova
’
s. So far they haven
’
t been persuaded and to be honest if my ships aren
’
t spending most of the time on the Aèllr frontier, then there is a lot of pressure to move them to the Junction Line rather than having them potter around Dryad.
”

“
Well it
’
s not that I
’
m complaining
…
alright that
’
s a lie, I
am
complaining. I just wish I knew where I stood. Even if it was just being told that someone is on route.
”
Willis frowned into her drink

“
Well based on my rich years of experience after two weeks with no reply it is acceptable to send another message, just to remind them,
”
Melchiori replied.
“
All I can suggest Faith, is to keep the seat warm and everything on an even keel. In the meantime we continue the same arrangement I had with Shibanova.
”

On schedule the Frontier Force left for its next patrol. Two days later one of Melchiori
’
s cruisers, the
America
, returned with one of the usual fictional equipment malfunctions. The Geriatrics patrolled the system while
Deceiver
flaunted herself between its planets. No communications from Earth arrived and Willis sent off a reminder. A Rizr cruiser briefly appeared at the edge of the system before leaving again but that was the closest they came to excitement. The danger appeared to have passed and Dryad Station seemed to be returning to the happy state of sleepy backwater. 

15
th
May 2067

Midway through the second watch the intercom panel above Willis
’
s bunk buzzed.

“
Hmm?
”
she muttered sleepily.

“
Officer of the watch Ma
’
am. Recce courier
L23
has just arrived back. They jumped in close to Hawkings Base, than came looking for us. Its skipper wants to speak to you urgently.
”

“
Did he say why?
”

“
No. Just that it
’
s urgent.
”

Willis rubbed at her eyes as she tried to wake up.

“
At this hour it should be. Alright,
”
Willis replied as she reached for her dressing gown,
“
I
’
m on my way up.
”

She was still yawning and trying to comb her hair with her fingers when she reached the bridge.

“
Sorry for waking you Skipper,
”
the officer of the watch said apologetically as she came in.

“
It
’
s alright Lieutenant,
”
she yawned at him as she sat down.
“
Just give me the link up with the courier.
”

“
Yes Ma
’
am.
”

Willis looked around her bridge, vaguely curious to see if there would be any sign of amusement at her appearance on the faces of the duty shift, but everyone seem to be focusing on their jobs, no doubt waiting until she was gone. Then her chair
’
s screen lit up and the face of the recce courier
’
s skipper appeared.

“
Lieutenant,
”
she greeted him, trying to suppress another yawn,
“
what is it that can
’
t wait?
”

“
Morning ma
’
am,
”
the lieutenant replied.
“
We
’
ve completed our latest run to Rizr bases at Sickle One and Sickle Two.
”

“
And again, what is it that couldn
’
t wait until morning?
”

“
Ma
’
am, the Rizr fleet has moved. We don
’
t know where it is.
”

Suddenly Willis wasn
’
t sleepy anymore.

“
This image was taken by our recce courier
L09
at its point of closest approach to Sickle Two on the twenty-fourth of April.
”
Hood’s
tactical officer said before changing the picture.
“
This one from the latest sweep by
L23
was taken on the eighth of May. As you can see there have been some changes, mostly removals. On the twenty-fourth we had two battleships, two armoured cruisers, four protected cruisers, four super destroyers and eight small destroyers all berthed. By the eighth however, only the battleships and the small destroyers remain and all the cruisers and the super destroyers are gone.
”
The lieutenant paused for a moment to allow the audience to study the images. As well as the commanders of the rest of the Geriatrics, Willis had also summoned Kinnear and Captain Waugh of the Heavy Cruiser
America
, nominally back for repairs to one of its radiator panels.

“
This set of pictures was taken at Sickle One two days after those at Sickle Two,
”
the lieutenant continued.
“
Previously another two battleships, three armoured and three protected cruisers, along with six super destroyers and seven small ones were stationed here. As with Sickle Two, between the sweeps performed by
L09
and
L23
, the cruisers and large destroyers have gone. Ladies and Gentlemen, these ships represent about sixty percent of the Rizr tonnage in warships and nearly ninety percent of their most strategically mobile units.
”

“
Thank you Lieutenant,
”
Willis said as she took his place.
“
What you all also need to be aware of is that warships aren
’
t the only things that are missing. Here at Sickle Two there were six first class personnel transports, of a type that fleet intelligence reports have been used as troop transports in the past.
”

“
You think the Rizr are making their move?
”
Commander Daler asked.

“
I think we have to consider that the missing ships are the very units that the Rizr would use in any movement against Dryad. The only vessels that were still visible to
L23
were battleships and small destroyers, ships that don
’
t really have the legs to get here.
”

“
You know this could be a lot of fuss over nothing,
”
Kinnear finally said.
“
The Rizr do redeploy ships sometimes. This could just be an entirely routine move.
”

“
You
’
re talking a gap of fourteen or fifteen days between sweeps,
”
said Commander Farrell of
Cyclone
.
“
If they left straight after
L09
’
s last sweep they could have been on the move for up to twenty days.
”

Lieutenant Commander Romanek, skipper of the
Typhoon
twisted around in her chair to look at
Hood’s
tactical officer.
“
Do you know how long they
’
d need to get here?
”
she asked.