PLAN OF ATTACK
Of the fifteen men sitting around the table, Kadh noted that he was senior to only one of them. That was only because the Screaming Dizbuster was a D7 and the Gnasher merely a D6. The Captain of the Gnasher had commanded a cruiser longer and had expected to receive the new D7 when it arrived from homeworld. Kadh could sense the influence of Kor in his new command. He was grateful. The Federation was a much better opponent to test his mettle against than were the Hydrans. The meeting could be about nothing else. Too much of the fleet was on the border for it to be about anything less than an invasion. He was not disappointed.
Admiral Negroth signaled to his aide, one of the men standing. These barely outnumbered their seated comrades. None were above the rank of lieutenant. In other places his eyes would have followed the lieutenant as he went behind Kadh, but here there would be no assassin’s knife. The lieutenant laid a sealed envelope in front of Kadh. He smiled at the reminder of earlier times. Even in this modern era, important documents that said ‘Eyes Only’ came on paper. When the admiral gave the order, he reached out and broke the seal on his orders.
As a cruiser captain, and not one in command of a battlegroup, Kadh’s orders only dealt with his own portion of the mission. In case the Commodore was killed, it contained enough information to take command of the battlegroup, but he could tell it wasn’t expected. The first few pages were about what he expected. They were to invade the Federation and hit their primary target, a border world guarded by a base station that had been recently upgraded by receiving a squadron of fighters. It was, in his mind, a rather large fleet for such a target.
Then he saw the expected Federation response. It too, was larger than he would have guessed. The humans were not like Hydrans; they could not be willing to commit that much to the defense of a border station in a major war. “Are there any questions about initial operations?” asked the admiral.
Fleet Captain Kymath voiced Kadh’s concern. “The Federation response to our operation is too large.”
The admiral smiled. “Two reasons. They will not be sure of the scale of our invasion. Yours will be the first target hit so they will respond more aggressively. Also, the son of Admiral Grey, in command of the third fleet, is a colonist on your objective.” Kymath nodded, satisfied. There were other questions, but none concerned Kadh. “Proceed to section two,” the admiral commanded.
Kadh whistled. Others made similar remarks of surprise and approval. The main target of the entire operation was the destruction of Starbase 15, the key to Federation defenses in their sector. With it destroyed, the Federation would be forced to retreat their forces to their home systems. Victory would be all but assured.
The plan for attacking the base made sense of the timing for their different objectives. It was to be a time on target attack, with all the disparate forces moving from their initial targets so as to arrive at the starbase at the same time and in overwhelming numbers. Still, it would be a close thing. A starbase was never an easy target. He scanned the document looking for something that gave them an extra edge. There was nothing.
“We will be too low on drones after the initial battle to assault a starbase,” growled Kommodore Reurkin.
This time the admiral referred them to a wall display that showed the entire sector. He highlighted one section of the grid. “This fleet contains freighters that will be carrying your supplies. It also,” he said with a vicious grin, “contains two freighters full of shock troopers and three suicide freighters. We will capture or destroy the starbase.”
“What escorts such a valuable convoy?” asked the Kommodore. “All of our ships are committed to the battle.”
“Imperial Police Ships will escort the convoy. A G4, three G2s, and an E4I. Even such details have been considered.”
Kadh stared at the chart, putting himself in the mind of the Federation defenders. A slow convoy, escorted by few ships, aimed at their base could only be one thing. It would be an important target and only lightly defended. “If the Federation has a spare ship or two, the convoy is vulnerable,” he said. “We should dispatch a cruiser to guard it.”
The admiral looked at him blankly for an instant before realizing who he was. “You are Kadh. You have been under Kor commanding frigates against the Hydrans these past two years.” Kadh nodded. “I suppose you want your shiny new ship to provide escort. You still think like a frigate captain.”
“I was not suggesting my ship,” Kadh replied softly. “Rather a D6 would not be missed from the battle and would make the Federation think twice about attacking the convoy.”
“No,” said the admiral. “The humans are not like the ash cans. They will not fight every battle they can. They would rather defend a strong place. Even if they do send a ship or two, we will have a few moments notice before they arrive. Long enough to send ships to defend the convoy without weakening our attack forces. Still,” he said after a slight pause, “we can provide them a more obvious target. We will establish a listening post by the asteroids here.” The map shifted to another section of the grid. “We have a spare scout available for this mission. They will need to chase it away or it can provide coordinating support for our assault fleets.”
Kadh bowed his head in deference and kept silent. He looked again at his orders and again placed himself in the mind of his enemy as Kor had taught him. He did not like what he saw there.
Topic: Berserker (Read 3313 times)