Kira was much more relaxed as she linked into the senior officers’ conference six hours later. A slew of Commodores from two navies and their attached mercenaries filled a virtual table, all looking at Admiral Remington at the head as they waited for their orders.
“All ships have reported in that we’ve completed what repairs we can,” the head of both the RRF and Seventh Fleet told them all. “Commodore Demirci, the fighters?”
“We’ve received replacement fighters and pilots from the fortresses in Redward,” Kira reported. “I’d worry about cohesion in the squadrons…but I was already worried about cohesion in the squadrons.
“Everyone is too green for this, Admiral. We’ll do what we can.”
“That’s all I can ask,” Remington told her. The old Admiral looked around the room, holding each virtual hologram’s eyes intently for several seconds.
“We have successfully evened the odds, people,” she finally announced. “Bengalissimo went from seven cruisers to four overnight. We now have the edge in numbers there, though the evidence from yesterday also drives home that their new cruisers are superior to everything in our line of battle except Deception.
“We do not believe Bengalissimo has deployed any significant numbers of nova fighters of their own, but all evidence continues to suggest that the Cobra Squadron mercenaries are securing the Ypres blockade.”
She let that sink in.
“Cobra Squadron is legendary, people, and for good reason,” she said quietly. “Captain Estanza? You served with them once. Your interpretation of what they will do next?”
“Cobra Squadron traditionally relies on a major individual superiority on both a skill and technology level,” Conviction’s Captain said. “The Manticore-Sevens are modern Fringe fighters. We have modern Rim fighters, and the differential is as stark as you could possibly fear.
“Cobra Squadron’s fighters will be more maneuverable than ours, carrying heavier guns than ours, and be equipped with torpedoes with a longer range than ours,” he laid out. “Their pilots will be experienced veterans who served with distinction in their home forces before they were ever recruited by Cobra Squadron.
“Almost as importantly, every last one of them is a fanatic believer in the ideology and mission of the Equilibrium Institute,” Estanza said quietly. “Like I was, once. They will leverage every advantage they have.
“With the warning they will have received, the real question is who is in command at Ypres.”
“Captain?” Remington asked. “Could you clarify?”
“Officially, Cobra Squadron is under contract to the Bengalissimo Fleet. It is…unlikely that Lars Ivarsson is in overall command of the Yprian Blockade, but it is possible. Without intelligence on who is in charge, I can’t make a guess as to what their plan will be.”
“Bengalissimo is unfamiliar with nova-fighter tactics,” Kira pointed out. “Given that so much of their firepower is under Ivarsson’s command, they may have put him in charge.”
“And they may not have,” Remington agreed. “As Captain Estanza noted, our intelligence gives us a good idea of what forces are present at Ypres…but not who is in command.”
She gestured and images of ships took place amid them.
“The current estimated strength of the blockade fleet is all remaining Tabby-class cruisers, all three Cobra Squadron carriers, eight destroyers and thirty lighter vessels.”
New vessels appeared alongside those icons as she spoke.
“It is a reasonable assumption that the remaining forces of the Redward blockade will fall back on Ypres, providing the BF with another six destroyers and twelve light vessels,” Remington told them. “Fourteen destroyers and forty-two corvettes and gunships are more than enough to even the odds between the two cruiser fleets.
“Even more critically, however, is that the combination of the lighter warships and the nova-fighter strength means that our core mission can very easily be thwarted without defeating Seventh Fleet. The convoy is highly vulnerable, even if accompanied by the fleet. If we fail to deliver the convoy, this breakthrough loses much of both its propaganda and actual value.”
The conference was silent.
“We can’t move the convoy forward with the fleet,” Commodore Shinoda said quietly. “Ypres is going to need the supplies we’re protecting.”
“I agree, Commodore, which is why I’ve come up with a slight modification to our plans,” Remington said. “Your destroyers will attach themselves to Captain Estanza’s Conviction, and all three ships will remain with the convoy.”
Kira blinked.
“Sir, that pulls a lot of our fighter strength out of the fight,” she noted quietly. “It seems risky.”
“It is risky,” Remington said bluntly. “It also provides us with a reserve that Cobra Squadron might miss. We can, if necessary, spare a single nova fighter to bring Captain Estanza’s force forward.
“We will move forward in a leapfrog fashion,” she continued. “The convoy will follow Seventh Fleet six hours after we nova—unless they are told not to by one of our fighters. We will wait until the convoy’s drives have cooled down before advancing to the next trade route. That will allow Captain Estanza and Commodore Shinoda to nova to our assistance if needed—or for the entire convoy to nova to us to escape an attack.”
Remington gestured, clearing the images of the various enemy ships.
“There are only two officers we believe Rossella Gaspari would trust with this mission,” she noted. “I know them both. Neither would be willing to concede authority to a mercenary without direct orders from the Queen herself. They will factor Cobra Squadron into their own operational plans, most likely by using Ivarsson’s fighters to attack the convoy simultaneously with an attack on Seventh Fleet with their battle line.
“I expect them to retain some fighters for their own defense but, in the main, to see the fighter part of this conflict as secondary. We have an answer for that,” Remington said grimly. “Commodore Demirci, does that make sense?”
Remington probably shouldn’t have been quite as accommodating of Kira’s concerns—but on the other hand, Kira was the Fleet CNG. The plan would put sixty of her fighters—over a fifth of her strength—away from the main point of contact.
She didn’t know any of the officers in play. Remington did—and Kira figured she was right. Redward had given her command of the nova group, but she and Conviction’s crew had spent a long damn time earning that level of trust, and she was still subordinate to Remington.
No one was going to put Ivarsson, an unknown mercenary, in command of an entire blockade.
“It makes sense, sir,” she admitted. “But…Captain Estanza, you knew Ivarsson. How cooperative is he likely to be with the Bengal commanders?”
“I knew Ivarsson thirty years ago as one of the most junior pilots in Cobra Squadron,” Estanza admitted. “He was aggressive to a fault but had the skill to make it stick. Even within that, he followed orders better than most nova pilots. I’d guess unless he really thinks they’ve screwed it up, he’ll follow the orders.
“He might be Institute to his core, but he’s also a mercenary and under contract to Bengalissimo. Rossella is signing the checks and he’ll do what she says, so long as it doesn’t put his people in active danger.”
“It’s settled, then,” Remington declared. “Seventh Fleet novas in one hour. Estanza—I’m designating your group Task Force Seven Point Two and putting you in command. Is that acceptable, Commodore Shinoda?”
“I have two destroyers and he has a carrier,” Shinoda pointed out with a chuckle. “It’s fine.”
“Good. TF Seven Point Two will nova in seven hours, which will give you time to get the convoy in order and following instructions.”
“You underestimate how annoying merchants can be,” Estanza said. “But we’ll make it work.”
“Good.” The Admiral looked around again. “People, this is for it all,” she told them. “I have to believe that the Institute is running out of resources they can throw at our distant end of the galaxy. If we can drive the Bengalissimo Fleet back to their home system, we will be able to reestablish our King’s Free Trade Zone and move forward with our lives.
“I, for one, am very done with a bunch of coreward intellectuals fucking with my home cluster. So, let’s go burn off the Institute’s fingers, shall we?”