Book 4: Chapter 191: Trust Issues

Book 4: Chapter 191: Trust Issues

USD: Eighteen Hours since hostile fleet incursion.

Location: Meltisar, MNS Aegis Flag Bridge

The bridge was awash in the quiet drone of officers and specialists quietly going about their work. Admiral Parks had retired for a break. That was odd, considering the situation, but then again, he likely had a point. If everyone was exhausted by the time anything happened, theyd be worse off than if they had taken the time to rest before.

Either way, her clock was much longer than a humans and she was well aware of her own limitations regarding sleep. If needed, she could easily push it back a few days before it even began to affect her seriously.

The map plot showed the three hostile fleets that had entered Meltisar and was oriented in a square, placing each one on a square with Meltisar and its gas giant in the center. The fourth corner had remained empty, the Corpo fleet that had been expected completely missing.

That seemed to have thrown whatever plans had been made into disarray. The first fleet had formed around the MNS Aegis and placed itself in front of the Imperial Fleet. The second and third had placed themselves in front of the Ertan Republics, while the fourth and fifth had formed in front of the Solarians. That left the sixth fleet around Meltisar itself, ready to reinforce wherever it was decided it was necessary.

The Ertans and Imperials were closest to each other. Alex also knew they didnt get along, presumably worse than the Corpos and Solarians and the latter were in an actual shooting war with each other. If the plan had been for the fleets to cross around to the tentative allies before closing in on the defenses in one large mass, that was thoroughly shot, with the Corpos missing.

Alex let out a tense breath. The question was, would whatever treaty or agreement trump however much they hated each other, and if they felt bringing Meltisar to heel todayand not delaying until a better timewas critical to them.

A green dot appeared transiting through the FN Virginis jump point. She could feel her breath catch as the immediate transition message flashed on the console.

| Standard Report |

| No Transit Activity |

Nothing exiting Corpo space out of the usual had been detected. Her eyes flickered to the transit map detailing the distances in jump points for that system. It was a dark one, with relatively large lanes between its triangular route between the three jump points there.

Even at best speed, which would have been ruinous on a fleets propellant tanks, they were at least a day out. The approximately 84 picket ships were only cycling once every twelve hours, which ate away at that buffer time, but it was looking more like the Corpos were not going to show up to the party.

Which was odd, because she would have expected them to be the first to jump at a chance to claim Meltisar for themselves.

Alexs eyes widened slightly and slipped over to the Solarian fleet position on the tactical map, then down to the western frontier systems. Maybe they were driving their fleet somewhere else, taking advantage of the knowledge that the Solarians would be out of position by a dozen systems to respond to anything they did in the war zone?

She wondered if the Solarians had considered that as well. Velianas deal with Tia had already tentatively given them the Solarian Fleet retreats card. They had been planning to fight the three remaining fleets off on their own. Everyone else other than the highest echelons in the Admiralty werent even privy to that information, so morale about being able to win and defend Meltisar hadnt been very high.

Everyone had mobilized and taken their stations and prepared to face down their nations enemies, anyway.

There were no further orders from high command other than to hold their positions. Light-lag had placed them several hours out of touch, leaving the bulk of the system processing to Tia for the first time since they had taken control of the system. Nameless was busy in the background, burning away computation time on the permanent computronic modules that had been installed on the flagship.

It was almost like he was going through optimization withdrawal, because every twenty minutes he had a new better optimized formation for the fleet to adhere to.

Alex wondered if the lack of orders meant Tia and the High Admirals had come to some interminable deadlock on what to do. That wouldnt surprise her. There were millions of lives at stakeno, literally trillions. It wouldnt have surprised her if the decision to glass Meltisar to simplify things had already been made by their opponents. The history between the collapse and now certainly hinted at such.

A plan began to form in her head on its own. If they sent the Solarians away, it would be at least 14 days before they could return; that was just the hard math on the 7-day jump point round trip time. Any ships that fled through the jump points would be faced with the same thing.

If they forced them out, then regrouped all of Meltisars fleets and then attacked the Ertans and Imperials, theyd easily outmass and outnumber them. But they would almost certainly flee and decline to give battle. Theyd be right back to square one.

Alex bit her lip and took a deep breath before answering. Im trying to come up with a plan that will destroy the Ertan and Imperial fleets, without anyonewithout major losses on our side.

He stared at her for almost a minute before replying, So youre trying to come up with miracles. With the Corpo fleet missing, I think we almost certainly can force the Imps and Erties to retreat.

Alex shook her head. Thats not good enough. We cant let them flee. They will just come back. They would come back even if destroyed, but at least it would give them more than a few weeks breathing room.

Captain Young frowned. I dont see how thats possible.

She ran her tentative plan on the plot map for him.

This plan seems to express a very high level of confidence in the First, Second, and Thirds ability to win while outnumbered. They have NAIs in both their fleets as well, you know. Besides, in this type of engagement, I dont believe that advantage is as decisive as you think.

Explaining about the shell crates shed secretly distributed across the fleets battleships briefly crossed her mind, but shed told no one so far and a secret shared wasnt a secret any longer. Im confident in my force analysis here. I cant tell you why. The biggest issue I have is forcing them to commit to battle and then stopping them here.

Captain Young grunted and looked back at the map for himself. If only we had a way to plop something in the way of their path out of the system after luring them further in. But I think you already have a solution you just dont want to consider.

Alex blinked. What is that, sir?

Youre trying to save too many people in the fleet.

Her entire body tensed up, and a fear gripped her throat. Sir?

Your plan is calling for retreats before there are many losses on either side. They will realize you are trying to draw them in and will fall back.

Alex frowned. I know. Thats the problem.

If you wait until the fleet is torn up and then retreat, they wont be as suspicious. Your plan calls for the Ertan and Imperial fleets to be together? Im still not clear on why you believe we can destroy them with our numbers, but I am guessing that will still be possible, even if half the fleets are gone?

Sir Thats That would be half a million people.

He reached down to the tactical plot and dragged the Meltisar fleet icons onto the Imperial and Ertan ones, then flicked them off the screen. Thats six or twelve months before they can try again. I assume the High Admiralty isnt insane and has some type of plan for things, otherwise they would have already surrendered and found a way to off Celestia and yourselfor at least got themselves killed trying.

Alex swallowed before admitting he wasnt completely wrong. Theresseveral plans of varying importance in place. At least Im hopeful. At least if we have more time.

Did you know that the life of the average person today would be unrecognizable to a person a thousand years ago? Young asked.

Confusion filled her about the relevancy of the question, Umm. I guess?

Even those on UBI have a quality of life that Old Earthers wouldnt even recognize. Unlimited food, healthcare, shelter, and a social support net with countless people willing to help anyone that needs it doing a part-time job because they want to, rather than they need to. Random small crimes are nearly abolished, and its rare that any murder goes unsolved. People dont have to fear about others taking away the things they need to live.

He raised his gaze from the table and stared at her. We have NAIs to thank for most of that. Not that things werent supposed to be good in the Old Federation, but now things are optimized. If you look at the statistics, there are twice as many people alive today than died during the collapse. Why arent you optimizing?

Alex swallowed memories played in her head from what felt like long, long ago. Ive made mistakes before. Got people I cared about hurtand killed.

Young nodded, his serious expression and gaze not faltering. Almost like youre human.