Even Legends Die: Crimson Worlds VIII by Jay Allan

Author:Jay Allan [Allan, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: System 7 Publishing
Published: 2014-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

“I want the entire approach screened.” Admiral Young was leaning forward in his command chair barking out orders. “If that means we’ve got some damaged ships on the line, so be it.” He was angry and tired of getting excuses from his ship commanders. “And if the captains don’t like it, tell them I’ll see how the first officers feel about it.” The convoy from Australia was his main concern right now. The Alliance army outside Manila needed those reinforcements and supplies, and if the CAC was able to intercept them, the ground battle in the Philippines was as good as lost.

“Yes sir.” Barrington was exhausted. Young was determined to do his duty, but most of the ship commanders were members of the petty political classes. They’d joined the service for reasons similar to Young’s, but they lacked the commitment of their admiral. Most of them were more concerned with getting back to their comfortable lives in one piece…and the savagery of the battle had shaken them up terribly. They’d been arguing with every command, driving Barrington crazy.

Young’s ships had engaged the CAC fleet and driven it back, but not without cost. The ferocity of the battle and the losses incurred by both sides had come as a shock to all the combatants. Young’s victorious fleet was almost shattered, and the fact that the CAC forces were in even worse shape was cold comfort. War had come, and the horror of it had exceeded his worst fears.

Despite the victory, he knew he had a tougher situation in the long term. The combat zone was close to the CAC’s main bases, while the Alliance fleet had to rely on the resources of the Oceania Sector for most of its support. Australia and the rest of the Alliance possessions in the southern Pacific had been virtually destroyed during the Unification Wars, and a century of moderate growth had still not restored its prior population levels. There were bases in the area, especially in Australia proper, but nothing sufficient to sustain major combat forces indefinitely. Not against a CAC that had all its mainland resources within supporting range.

Young knew his enemy was going to be reinforced before he was, and that was going to be a big problem. His orders were to hold at all costs and support the ground forces around Manila. That job was likely to get damned difficult long before his own reinforcements could make the journey across the Pacific from the New Frisco Naval Base.

He didn’t know when – or if – those reserves would get to him. The war was global, and Alliance Command would have calls on its resources coming in from multiple combat zones. The Alliance’s terrestrial military was a massive organization with considerable reserves, but ships and planes and troops were still finite. If there were enough hotspots around the globe, there simply wouldn’t be adequate support to go around.

He had a better chance of getting help from the Alliance’s PRC allies. The Japanese-dominated Superpower was geographically closer, and it was a bitter enemy of the CAC.

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