Tin Can Combat (I, Starship: A Space Opera Book 2) by Scott Bartlett

Author:Scott Bartlett [Bartlett, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mirth Publishing
Published: 2024-08-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Nefel, 2199

Within an hour of Admiral Adamanta’s order to purse the enemy fleet, the Savvas began fielding transmissions from his division commanders.

Transmissions filled with doubt.

“Sir, Admiral Pasch wishes to submit his reservations about Fourth Fleet departing Nico’s sphere of influence. He fears we may be leaving the planet exposed to attack.”

Captain Nefel glared at the Ops officer as though he was actually Admiral Pasch sitting before him. “Exposed to attack?” he repeated. “Attack from where? Send that back to him. ‘Attack from where?’”

The officer tapped the message into his console, and Nefel rolled his eyes. He’d spent most of his career angling to earn a command under Adamanta, because of his fierce reputation. Never would he have dared to hope to one day command the man’s flagship. And yet, here he was.

It was a secret dream become reality, to work so closely with the battle-hardened admiral. But if he could point to one thing he despised about the position, it was how frequently the great admiral’s subordinates needled and questioned him. It was as though Adamanta’s admirals were allergic to decisiveness. The bolder he acted, the more feckless and cowardly his division commanders seemed to get.

A little over an hour later, his Ops officer spoke again. “Sir?”

“Yes, what?” he snapped. Though he was sure he already knew what.

“I have another message, this time from Admiral Yorgo. He says that a new arrival to the Seat has been detected—a ship that’s come from the direction of the Archive.”

Nefel’s eyes flicked to the threat board, where a new blip had indeed appeared on that end of the system.

“Tell him we know that.”

“Er—did we know that, sir?”

“I said I know it. I’m looking at it right now. Say just exactly that—‘We know.’ Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

The next message was a second transmission from Admiral Pasch, just twenty-three minutes after Yorgo’s. He wanted to submit his belief that in fact, the enemy force that Fourth Fleet was now pursuing did not in fact actually intend to attack Thessal. Instead, its true goal, according to the suddenly brilliant and mind-reading Admiral Pasch, was to act as bait to draw Fourth Fleet away from Nico in order to open the planet to an attack out of the Archive.

“What should I say in return, sir?” Nefel’s Ops officer asked from his seat, where he’d begun to fidget in that annoying way he had.

“Just say, ‘Acknowledged.’”

“Nothing else, sir?”

“Just that. ‘Acknowledged.’”

The Ops officer got to tapping in the message, and for his part, Nefel covered his face with both paws and sighed. There was no chance the admirals were finished trying to undermine Adamanta. Not a chance.

I suppose I’d better send someone to his quarters, to notify him of the ship out of the Archive. I wouldn’t want to be the one to stonewall the intel, in case it actually amounts to something.

And so, as much as he hated to wake Adamanta, he sent one of the admiral’s staff to deliver the report to him. Nothing came back in reply, and Nefel felt at peace again, confident he’d done his duty.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.