March, 2094
The 1st Grav Survey Group probes the innermost unexplored jump point in the Eta Cassiopeiae system. The group follows standard Survey Corps procedure, with a single ship entering the new system at a low speed, so as to minimize its thermal signature, a second ship waiting on the jump point, and the third standing back from the jump point at a distance of 5 mkm’s. The Marco Polo returned shortly after jumping out. The new system was identified as AD Leonis, an M4-V star system with several rocky and gas giant planets. Most interestingly, AD Leonis III possessed an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. The planet was too hot, and there was too little oxygen, but it was very close to earth-normal aside from that. Following standard procedure, the captain of the Marco Polo dispatched a report to the squadron of warships in the inner system and, once that task was complete, the squadron moved on to the next jump point.
May, 2064
The Federation’s Geo Survey Group, assigned to survey the Luyten 674-15 system, beyond New Ogema, discovers an automated warship of a new type hovering in the system’s asteroid belt. Two of the survey ships, which are all still fairly close to the jump point, reassemble on the jump point while the third maintains a watch on the alien ship. One of the two immediately jumps out to send a contact report to New Ogema. Shortly thereafter it becomes clear that the alien ship is closing on the remaining survey ship. The Mikhail Gvozdev turns to run and its fellow ship jumps into the Giclas 99-49 system to update the contact report with the information that the alien ship is pursuing the Gvozdev at nearly twice its own speed. This report has more than a little urgency, as the jump point pair in between the Luyten 674-15 system and the Giclas system has a jump gate pair linking them. This jump gate pair is of unknown origin, and will allow the automated warship to follow the survey ships into the Giclas system, although this behavior would be unprecedented.
Four and a half hours later the Gvozdev is on the jump point to the Giclas system, ready to jump out. The automated warship is 200 mkm’s away, crossing the inner edge of the system’s asteroid belt, headed for the jump point. The Gvozdev jumps out. In the Giclas system the Gvozdev immediately sets its course for the jump point to 40 Eridani. Its two sister ships are ahead of it, running at full speed. Commander Vermilya, aboard the survey ship Ivan Fyodorov, has ordered the squadron to run towards the jump point to 40 Eridani in an attempt to lead the automated warship away from New Ogema if it enters the system.
In the inner system business continues as if everything was normal on New Ogema. Two freighters, one civilian and one of the massive new Big Boy class Federation monster freighters, are unloading at the colony, and a civilian colony ship is unloading colonists from Ogema as well. Federation Governor Lemelle has refused to order the ships away, not wanting to disrupt trade.
The contact report arrives at Ogema at about the same time that the Gvozdev jumps into the Giclas system. Admiral Mei Milnes, CO of the 2nd Fleet, reacts quickly, and dispatches her fastest ships to the Giclas system. Two fleet scouts, a battle cruiser, a patrol cruiser, and an escort cruiser depart within the hour, headed for New Ogema. It will take the task group five days to enter the Giclas system, and another five days to reach the jump point to the Luyten 674-15 system. Admiral Milnes decides against sending a second force to secure New Ogema. It won’t reach New Ogema in time if the automated warship decides to jump into the system, and the first force should be more than enough to deal with one automated warship.
Sixteen hours later everyone breathes a sigh of relief. The automated warship has had more than enough time to make it to the jump and enter the system, but there has been no sign of it. It appears that at least for now New Ogema is safe.
May 2, 2094, 0634 hours
Tactical Action Group #2.1, 2nd Fleet
Oliver H. Perry Mod 2B BC Jack Williams, CO Captain Isaac Hollender (TAG Senior Officer)
Arleigh Burke Mod 2 Fleet Scout John S. McCain, CO Commander Ryan Kreger
Arleigh Burke Mod 2 Fleet Scout Stout, CO Captain Gregory McGowan
Portland Mod 2C Patrol Cruiser Portland, CO Lt. Commander Arina Galerkin
City Mod 2 Escort Cruiser Seattle, CO Commander Arkadiy Milnikov
Captain Hollender sat down and activated his desk. A plot of the 40 Eridani system appeared over his desk, showing his Tactical Action Group just two hours out from Ogema. “Put the Admiral through, Melody.”
The holographic display over his desk flickered and the system plot disappeared and Admiral Milnes replaced it. “Captain. We have received new information. The automated warship has not, repeat not jumped into Giclas 99-49. Your orders are unchanged. Once in the Giclas system you will detach your fleet scouts for the defense of New Ogema. The remainder of your squadron will continue on to the Luyten 674-15 system and engage and destroy the automated warship operating there. Milnes out.”
Hollender settled back into his chair and smiled. This assignment was getting better and better. When he was first assigned to the 2nd Fleet he had rejoiced. Admiral Milnes was a fellow European, and he had felt sure that because of that the Admiral would recognize his value, unlike his previous commanders. Inexplicably, Admiral Milnes had rebuffed all of his attempts to establish a rapport based on their common heritage and the similar social standing of their respective families within the oligarchy that ruled Greater Europe. Given the importance of his family within the social structure of Greater Europe, Hollender could not comprehend why he had not been recognized as was his due. Try as he might he had been unable to establish a position within the Admiral’s trust, and he blamed her staff for blocking his attempts to establish a relationship with the Admiral. This emergency, though, was his opportunity to put things right. He was sure that the Admiral had finally given him this chance to shine, and he was going to make the most of it. A good battle with the robotic warship would finally give her the excuse she apparently needed to give him the recognition he was due, and now she had given him the chance to clear the way so that his ship could take the lead in the coming engagement.
Hollender activated his comm system. “Melody, get Captain McGowan and Commander Kreger online for me.” He settled back into his chair as the communications officer contacted the commanders of the two fleet scouts accelerating away from Ogema in company with his battle cruiser. A few seconds later the display activated and the two officers appeared floating over his desk. “Gentlemen, I have just spoken with the Admiral. The alien warship has not jumped into the Giclas system, but she has confirmed our orders. As soon as we enter Giclas, you will launch your gunboats. They are to proceed at their top speed to New Ogema, and once there they are to defend the colony until your arrival. The rest of the Group will proceed to the jump point to Luyten 674-15 and once there, engage the warship. Your orders are to defend the colony at all costs, should the alien warship evade the Group and enter the Giclas system. Is this clear?”
Captain McGowan, the senior of the two officers, nodded and said “Very clear, Captain Hollender.” The display flickered out at a wave of his hand and he settled back to think. The two fleet scouts were the biggest threat to his goal of gaining enough glory during this operation to allow Admiral Milnes to give him the recognition he so clearly deserved. If they had remained with his Tactical Action Group then he would have no choice but to allow their gunboats to destroy the automated warship lurking in the Luyten 674-15 system. While some of the credit for the destruction of the warship would accrue to him as the commander of the mission, it would be a pale shadow of the glory that would be his if he could maneuver his battle cruiser into a direct engagement with the alien warship. Fortunately, the threat to the colony, and the high speed of the gunboats, gave him the perfect opportunity to unload the gunboats and their tenders, leaving his battle cruiser as the only major combat unit in the TAG. Things were working out perfectly.
May 7, 2094, 1636 hours
Captain Hollender grinned as the two gunboat groups sped away from the rest of Tactical Action Group 2.1, followed more slowly by their tenders. Hollender could see the icon for his ship, the Jack Williams, escorted by the two smaller ships of TAG 2.1, moving away from the jump point on a divergent course that would take them to the Luyten 674-15 system. His thoughts were interrupted by his communications officer.
“Sir, I’ve stripped the buoy. I have a message from Governor Lemelle coded for you. There are also two messages from the survey ships in-system. One is coded for you.” The Federation maintained small communications buoys at the jump points to facilitate communications between inhabited systems. The buoys couldn’t transit jump points, of course, but they could receive and hold messages for the communications ship that was assigned to each of the jump points in between inhabited systems. Currently the communications ship assigned to this jump point was in the 40 Eridani system, and was scheduled to jump back in two hours.
“Thank you Melody. Please transfer the messages to my station.” A few seconds later icons for the two messages appeared on his console display. He touched the icon for the message from Governor Lemelle and a miniature holo representation of the Governor appeared over his console. The audio portion of the message was beamed to Captain Hollender’s implants, ensuring privacy.
“Issac, you must do something!” Hollender frowned. Governor Ahmed Lemelle was an old family friend, and the Lemelle family owned and ran an industrial conglomerate that accounted for a significant portion of Greater Europe’s industrial might. “We are hanging out here, undefended, and the alien warship could attack at any time! I requested…” Lemelle was pacing in front of the holo pickup, and now he stopped and leaned over his desk, “no, I ordered those fools and their survey ships to come here and render needed assistance and they refused! Those Russians had the temerity to laugh at me and ignore our plain need. You must do something, and do it soon!”
Hollender leaned back in his chair and frowned, considering what he had heard. Ahmed seemed somewhat panicked, and clearly knew little about space warfare. That was understandable, though, given his focus on business related education. In Hollender’s mind much could be forgiven once the status of Ahmed’s family was brought into consideration. As for the commanders of the survey ships, well, everyone in Greater Europe knew that all Russians were cowards and traitors. He touched the icon for the message from the survey group.
A figure wearing survey greys appeared over his console. Captain Hollender frowned as he looked the officer over. As far as he could discern the officer appeared to be a typical Russian. Short and ugly, generally unkempt, with typical heavy and pugnacious Slavic features. Hollender flicked a finger and a side bar appeared next to the officer with his service information. Commander Vermilya, 23 years old, recently promoted and placed in command of the Magellan Mod 4(Geo) class survey ship Ivan Fyodorov. Hollender frowned when Vermilya’s service history appeared. It seemed Commander Vermilya had very little actual experience in survey operations, and it wasn’t clear how he had come to be assigned to command the Fyodorov. Hollender dredged his brain for what little he knew about the Survey Service. Unlike the Fleet, the Survey Service was less closely monitored by the Council, and empire building was common. And, if he remembered correctly, the Vermilya family was an old military family in the Russian dominated area of Earth, which would explain how such a young officer with so little survey experience had come to command a front line survey ship. Hollender waggled his hand and the recorded message started.
“I am Commander Vermilya, senior officer of the 1st Geographical Survey Group. Upon entering this system I received a…request for assistance from the Governor.” Here the Russian officer sneered, making his opinion of the Governor clear. “The Governor wanted my ships to proceed directly to New Ogema to, quote, render assistance, unquote, to his administration and to defend the planet. I refused, and as senior officer of the 1st Survey Group I ordered my ships to head directly for the jump point to 40 Eridani. Our ships are not equipped to defend anything, and, more importantly, if the automated warship followed us here I thought that leading them away from the colony was the proper course of action. I communicated this to the Governor. His second message to us directly ordered me to proceed to the planet and evacuate his administration.” Here the commander leaned forward. “He actually wanted us to help him abandon his post and run away.” Commander Vermilya stiffened to attention as he faced the holo camera. “I refused, as Is proper and my right. I thought then, and I think now, that heading away from the colony was the proper course of action. I will be reporting the Governor’s actions to my superiors as soon as possible. Vermilya out.” The display flickered out.
Hollender leaned forward, his features dark with rage. Those damned Russians. His first instinct was to raise the Fyodorov, which was a day’s travel away. After thinking about it he decided not to. Given the Russian’s adamant attitude he would just ignore anything Hollender told him to do, and given the fact that they served different chains of command he could probably get away with thumbing his nose at a Fleet officer.
Hollender pondered the situation for a few minutes. Given the Russian’s cowardice and their stated plans to expose Governor Lemelle’s plans to evacuate, it was even more important for him to score a smashing victory. And he had a plan that would do just that.
“Lieutenant Forsythe, raise the Portland and the Seattle. I want to speak to Lt. Commander Galerkin and Commander Melnikov. I will take the call in my office.” With that he rose and left the bridge without waiting for a reply.
Thirty seconds later he entered his office to see that the attention light was blinking on his desk mounted console. He waived his hand over it to activate the holo imager. Miniature representations of the commanders of his two escorting cruisers appeared over his desk. “Gentlemen,” he said as he settled into his chair, “I wanted to brief you on my strategy for the upcoming engagement”.
The two officers looked at each other (it was a three-way link), and Commander Melnikov, the senior of the two, said, “Sir, we assumed that you would follow Fleet SOP and engage the hostile warship at long range.”
Captain Hollender grimaced. Typical Russian, he thought. “It’s been done, time and time again, and we’ve learned nothing. I intend to take the Group in close, for a point blank engagement, to learn as much about the enemy ship as we can.” That would ensure his promotion and future placement, which was the point of the exercise, as far as he was concerned.
After a second, Commander Melnikov grimaced as well. “Sir, with all due respect, our ships are not equipped for a close-range engagement. If you are determined to take this course of action I recommend you detach our ships so that we can hang back and observe the battle, and cover your ship from any surprise long-range missile attack while you are engaging the enemy.”
Captain Hollender sneered as the two Russian officers lived down to his estimation of their character. “I don’t think that will be necessary. Your ships will be right there with mine, engaging the enemy.” Seeing the look on their faces he grinned. “Don’t worry, I’m sure the enemy will target my ship rather than your precious cruisers. Hollender out.” He waived the communication link off and stood and began pacing across his office. He would never say this to the Russians, but he wanted their ships right there with him when he engaged the enemy. The more distractions the enemy had, the better, as far as he was concerned.
May 12, 2094, Luyten 674-15 system
Captain Hollender shook his head groggily as he tried to focus on the central plot. He had always hated the way jumps made him feel, and jumping into a potentially hostile system seemed to make the effect much worse.
“Jump completed.” The helmsman’s voice was only slightly slurred. “Engines nominal. Systems stabilizing within norms.”
“Sensors are down.”
“Weapons are powered, but tracking is out.”
“Damage control shows green across the board Captain.”
By this point Hollender had recovered sufficiently to be fairly sure he wasn’t going to vomit on the deck. “Get those sensors up! I want to know where the enemy is!”
Ten seconds after the big battle cruiser entered the system its sensors activated and a blood red icon appeared on the plot, approximately 54 mkm’s in-system from the ship and the jump point. “Data is being analyzed now. Signature analysis confirmed, this is the warship the survey ships discovered. Contact is closing on our position at 6,656 kps.”
Captain Hollender watched as the icon changed to reflect its course and speed, and then change again as information began arriving from the huge sensor array on the Portland. The icon now indicated that the contact was 8,450 tons, slightly smaller than the two cruisers escorting the Williams, and roughly a third the size of the Williams herself. “Transmit to the Seattle and Portland – Assume escort position Alpha. The Group will be moving at full speed to engage the enemy closely. Hollender out.”
The three Federation warships moved away from the jump point at 4,545 kps, headed directly for the enemy ship. One hour later the enemy ship was 120,000 kilometers away. Although the William’s spinal and main battery lasers could theoretically engage the enemy out to 192,000 kilometers, the automated warships encountered so far had very effective ECM and Hollender wanted to make sure his first salvo was devastating, so he had ordered his weapon’s officer to open fire at 100,000 kilometers. Unfortunately, the enemy had other plans. Suddenly, the icon representing the Seattle began blinking. Simultaneously, information transmitted across the group datalink network was displayed next to the icon.
“Sir, the Seattle is reporting three strength six hits. Their armor is holding for now.”
Captain Hollender began sweating. This wasn’t part of his plan. “All units open fire!” Too late he remembered that the cruiser’s lasers weren’t in range yet. “All units engage at will when able!”
The two groups continued to close on each other. Five seconds later the spinal laser and three main battery lasers mounted on the Williams opened fire on the alien shop at 97,000 kilometers. One of the 20cm UV main battery lasers hit the target, scoring a strength four hit on the enemy’s armor.
Fifteen seconds later the William’s main battery lasers struck out at the alien again. Captain Hollender leaned forward anxiously, watching the plot. “Sir, targeting reports clean misses. Their having problems countering the enemy’s movements and ECM.”
Hollender opened his mouth to reply, but before he could the tactical officer interrupted him. “Sir, the Seattle is reporting multiple strength six hits.” She leaned in close to her console, sifting through the data. “Four hits, three armor breaches. The Seattle is reporting minor damage to her engines, but so far all engines are functional. Magazine #1 has been destroyed, one crewer missing.”
Captain Hollender realized that his mouth was hanging open and he closed it. The Seattle had suffered internal damage after only two enemy salvoes, and he had only managed to hit the damned thing once. The sweat was running down his face now. He could see the abyss in front of him. If the Seattle suffered significant damage, or god forbid was destroyed, even his contacts within Greater Europe wouldn’t be able to save him. He had to prevent that at all costs. Gone were his hopes of glory. Now he just wanted to salvage something out of this disaster. “TAC…” He realized too late that he was nearly shouting. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Tactical. Immediate missile launch on the enemy ship. Fifty missiles. Take them out before they do any more damage to the Seattle.” The tactical officer stared at him for a few seconds, then turned to his console and began setting up the strike.
“Sir. The Seattle is requesting permission to withdraw.”
Captain Hollender turned to his communications officer, his face drawn. “Granted”, was all he said.
Seconds later fifty Phoenix Mod 2 ASM’s raced away from the Williams, only to slam into their target seconds later. Gratifyingly, only two missed. Hollender paled when the alien ship emerged from the fireballs apparently unscathed.
The tactical officer leaned over his console. “Strike inconclusive. Range now 60,000 kilometers and dropping. Multiple hits scored by main battery lasers, no visible effect. The Portland is now engaging with her lasers as well. The Seattle is withdrawing, and is 100,000 kilometers behind us.”
Hollender was paralyzed with indecision. He thought that maybe, just maybe, there was still a chance to salvage the situation now that the Seattle was withdrawing, but the way the alien ship sailed through the missile strike unscathed had shaken him. He couldn’t decide. Then it was too late.
“Sir, the Portland reports three strength six hits. No internal damage, but her armor is breached in three places.”
The blood drained from Hollender’s face. If the Portland or the Seattle suffered serious internal damage after their commanding officers protested his close approach, his career wouldn’t be worth the paper his commission was printed on. “Launch a second strike! Launch everything we have! Immediately!”
The tactical officer turned away from Hollender, his face carefully under control. Seconds later another fifty missile strike raced away from the battle cruiser.
Hollender completely lost it. “I said launch everything! Are you an idiot! We must..”
The tactical officer was ignoring Hollender’s rant. “Strike is running true…all fifty missiles hit! One secondary explosion detected! The enemy ship has come to a halt and is drifting.”
Captain Hollender sat down behind his console and contemplated the tatters of his career as the Williams’ lasers lashed out one last time, finishing off the alien ship.
The Federation warships regrouped in the aftermath of the battle, and the crew of the Seattle began repairing the ship’s battle damage. Captain Hollender withdrew to his office, ostensibly to begin writing his after action report, but in reality as soon as the door closed he began drinking, and he didn’t stop until his hands stopped shaking. Of course, by that time he had passed out, but that was probably for the best. Six hours later his second in command found him and roused him enough to get semi-comprehensible orders out of him. Tactical Action Group 2.1 returned to the jump point and jumped through, headed for New Ogema.
May 13, 2094, 2207 hours, Giclas 99-49 system
Captain Hollender’s stomach rebelled as the big battle cruiser materialized in the Giclas system. Now, more than ever, he regretted the alcohol he had drunk after the battle. It was hard enough to keep himself under control during a jump, and having a hangover made things much, much worse. He had dim memories of his first officer waking him up and asking for orders, and by the time he had sobered up enough to comprehend what was going on he realized he needed all of his wits to frame what had happened just right if he was to salvage anything out of this debacle. His eyes drifted to Lt. Commander Buchanon, the William’s tactical officer. Buchanon was studiously attending to his console, but Hollender was sure that whenever he wasn’t watching him, Buchanon was sneering at him. Hollender had been on the lookout for the slightest sign of disrespect from his bridge crew after he returned, just looking for an opportunity to drop on them, but so far everyone on the bridge had been scrupulous in their attention to the respect required by fleet regulations. So far.
Once the post jump checks were completed and the group got underway for New Ogema Hollender retired to his office. He much preferred it to his station on the bridge, as he was sure that they were all staring at him every time he wasn’t actually looking at them. Once safely ensconced in his office he composed a message to Governor Lemelle. They would have to stand together against the Russians, or they would surely fall. Once that was done, he composed a brief preliminary report to be sent back to 2nd Fleet command in 40 Eridani. Once those were done he collapsed in his bed, exhausted.
Five hours later the ships of Tactical Action Group 2.1 made orbit over New Ogema. By then the crew of the Seattle had repaired her battle damage, aside from the damage to her armor, and everything appeared normal, at least on the surface. Almost immediately after arriving Captain Hollender shuttled down to the surface to meet with Governor Lemelle. Before leaving he posted orders for the ships in the group locking down all communications. No transmissions were to be dispatched without his personal approval. Hollender was sure that Lt. Commander Galerkin of the Seattle and Commander Milnikov of the Portland were conspiring against him, and that they would do their best to undermine him by taking his actions out of context and blaming him for the damage to their ships. While he couldn’t prevent them from filing their reports, which were required from all ship commanders after a battle, he could prevent them from filing theirs before he filed his. Also, delaying all of their reports until he and Ahmed could alert their supporters in Greater Europe’s government meant that he could start gathering support for his position before he even official had a position to defend. Messages from the two went out to their families immediately.
For the next three days Captain Hollender and Governor Lemelle worked on their respective reports. Once they were finished the two dispatched their reports through the colony’s official communications station. Once that was done, Captain Hollender approved leave for all ships in the group. The group would remain over New Ogema for one week.
May 14, 2094
While TAG 2.1 orbited serenely over New Ogema, things were beginning to happen elsewhere. The official reports and complaints from the 1st Geo Survey Group were beginning to percolate through the command structure of the Survey Service. Admiral Milnes’ staff took note of the preliminary report from the TAG and reported to the Admiral that the action was complete and the automated warship had been destroyed. Levers were pulled within the European government by several prominent families. So far the maneuvering was beneath the notice of the average citizen and the Federation government as a whole. That wouldn’t last.
May 16, 2094
Captain Hollender files his reports, as does Governor Lemelle. Captain Hollender’s report emphasizes the destruction of the automated warship and the strength of the automated warship’s weaponry, while minimizing the damage done to the ships of his squadron. In addition, Captain Hollender praised Governor Lemelle’s assistance both during the action and afterward. Taken in isolation, the report effectively maximizes the benefit of the close-range engagement, while nearly eliminating the negatives. Governor Lemelle’s report is a masterwork of bureaucratize, neatly accusing the survey group commanders of ignoring a request for assistance from the colonial government while effectively denying the claim made by the survey group commanders that Governor Lemelle had attempted to abandon his post, claiming that this was an exaggeration by the Russians for their own purposes.
The reports cause no great stir at this point. Admiral Milnes grants TAG 2.1 authorization to remain at New Ogema for another five days before returning to base.
May 17, 2094
The Greater European government, capitalizing on the preliminary report released by the 2nd Fleet, issues press releases hailing Captain Hollender and Governor Lemelle as heroes of the Federation. The campaign starts slow but builds, and before too long the central government on Luna has taken notice and begins sending enquiries to 2nd Fleet. Over the next several days the publicity campaign by the European government will begin gaining steam.
The Survey Service is caught by surprise. The reports made by the 1st Geo Survey Group have been making their way through channels, and the civilian leaders of the Service had recently made a decision to handle the potential dispute with the Bureau of the Interior, Governor Lemelle’s employers, with a low key warning as to Lemelle’s obvious instability. Not wishing an open breach with another government department, the Vice Admiral Buford Boles, the CO of the Survey Service, orders his subordinates to forward a summary of the reports from the 1st Survey Group to the Bureau of the Interior through back-channel routes.
June 2, 2094
Tactical Action Group 2.1 arrives over Ogema. Initially the Group is a flurry of activity, refueling and taking on missiles to replace those used. It doesn’t take very long before 2nd Fleet’s command structure begins to understand that something has happened. Both the Portland and the Seattle have great, gapingly obvious rents in their armor, something that had been glossed over in Captain Hollender’s reports. Admiral Milnes’s staff hurried sifted through Captain Hollender’s reports, and reports began filtering to Milnes about the true events in Luyten 674-15. Once the ships of TAG 2.1 docked with the yards over Ogema Captain Hollender’s lockout of their communications was lifted and the CO’s of the Portland and the Seattle were finally able to file their after action reports.
Admiral Milnes was livid. She had moved beyond pacing and was now staring at the display she had set to show the Ogema orbital yards. She had had a bad feeling about Hollender from the day he arrived, but when the Luyten 674-15 situation had arisen she had little choice. Hollender commanded her fastest battle cruiser, and a force was needed in Giclas ASAP, so Hollender and the Williams were on the spot. Her ruminations were interrupted by a comm. chime announcing the arrival of Captain Hollender in her outer office. She quickly moved to her desk and sat down as her staff showed Hollender into her office.
Captain Hollender, tall and spare, looking every bit the European grandee, came to a halt in front of her desk and braced to attention and saluted. Admiral Milnes left him there for a brief period of time that began to stretch uncomfortably before waiving in an approximation of a salute. Captain Hollender relaxed and began looking for a chair to sit in. Milnes frowned. “I did not give you permission to sit, Captain.”
Captain Hollender realized that this meeting was not going to be as cordial as he had hoped and assumed a position of parade rest in front of the Admiral’s desk. Admiral Milnes frowned at the man standing in front of her, and then began in a deceptively mild tone of voice. “I read your report shortly after it arrived, Captain. Certain details were conspicuously absent.” She waived at the display behind her. The wall mounted display showed a close-up of two slipways of the Ogeman orbital yards where the Portland and the Seattle were currently being surveyed by yard crews. The long rents in their armor were glaringly obvious.
Captain Hollender opened his mouth, but before he could speak Admiral Milnes continued. “While I waited for you to arrive, I’ve been reading over the reports filed by Lt. Commander Galerkin of the Seattle and Commander Milnikov of the Portland. They differ from yours in several very important aspects.”
Captain Hollender was beginning to sweat. He had hoped that Admiral Milnes, a fellow European, would understand his situation. It was obvious to him now that the Admiral was nothing more than a Federation lackey and had abandoned her heritage. He had feared as much, given her family’s lack of position.
Admiral Milnes watched the Captain perspire. Finally, she said “Would you care to elaborate on this, Captain?”
Captain Hollender’s mouth twisted in distaste. “Of course their reports differ from mine. They are Russian.” He said this as if it was self-explanatory.
“So they are…exaggerating because of their national origin?” Admiral Milnes’ expression was neutral.
“They are lying because they are Russian! As are those idiots from Survey Command! I want…” Hollender’s tirade stopped suddenly when Admiral Milnes slammed her fist into her desk. The loud crack echoed around the room.
“And your bridge recorders, are they lying? What about your bridge officers? What will they say when I talk to them?” Hollender was pale, his mouth hanging open. Admiral Milnes had always been so mild mannered. For all that he towered over her suddenly she seemed eight feet tall as she leaned over her desk, rage dancing in her eyes. “You exceeded your orders in ordering a close engagement of the enemy, and you deceived your officers as to the content of your orders. Your actions caused damage to two Federation naval ships and directly led to the death of a crewer on the Seattle.” Admiral Milnes’s voice was deadly calm. She straightened up behind her desk and crooked a finger, sending a signal from her implants to the office computer. The door slid open behind Captain Hollender. “You are relieved from duty pending charges. I will be sending you back to the Solar System for trial on a fast courier in two days. Until then you are confined to quarters.”
Captain Hollender gaped at her for a few seconds more then straightened and gathered what remained of his dignity. He turned and walked away without further comment.
Author’s Note: The Battle of Luyten 674-15 happened more or less the way I wrote it up, with one critical difference that I edited out of the battle report because it violates “reality” in a way. After jumping into Luyten 674-15, TAG 2.1 began approach to missile range of the automate warship encountered there by the survey ships. I expected that this would be yet another encounter with an automated warship and that the Federation battle cruiser would be able to easily blow it away at range with its missiles. I then made a mistake that changed everything. I intended to press the “3 hour” time advance button on the system map screen, but instead I pressed the five day advance button. This resulted in the automated warship being suddenly at point blank range and the Seattle being hit by some sort of non-missile weapon. For a few seconds I considered restoring the database to a backup I made just before the TAG entered the contested system, but after thinking about it I realized that this was an opportunity to flesh out the internal structure and conflicts of the Federation a little more. Thus Captain Hollender was born and the battle went forward as is, except that I edited out the jump forward in the write-up.
