The office of the Admiral of the Fleet, Dasos, Prasinos system
The admiral rolled his eyes and sighed as his adjutant, Commander Zaphir Mye, knocked and entered his private office for what must be the fourth time in the last hour. He looked up from his screen and tilting his head to one side, gave Mye his best “this better be important” glare.
‘Sorry, boss,’ she said. ‘Communication drone just jumped in from Captain Whipper and Captain Virr. I believe you’ll need to see this straight away.’
Mye waved the file from her tablet onto the admiral’s wall screen, turned and departed, closing the door behind her.
‘Please tell me it’s some good news for a change,’ Bache whispered to himself as he keyed in his security code to access the feed.
Over the next twenty-seven minutes, Grogun and Ed explained everything that had occurred in that region of halo space. His eyes widened and his heart sank as the true scale of the problem unfolded in front of him.
‘Skata, skata, skata,’ he mumbled. ‘Another potential disaster I’ll be blamed for. For Ancients’ sake give me a day off occasionally.
He summoned Zaphir and, standing, he moved across to stare out the double aspect windows. It was snowing hard again, his usual view across the buildings and rooftops of Kentro was almost completely obscured by the whiteout. The experts had promised the weather would be beginning to improve across Dasos by now, but Bache remained sceptical of that claim. The climate change scientists were as much in the dark as anyone. The modified terraforming technology they were using to reverse the winterising effects of Xavier Lake’s recent attack was completely unique and untested.
He turned as a knock at the door brought him back to his current quandary. Zaphir bustled in, her face a picture of disquiet.
‘Sorry, Admiral,’ she sighed. ‘I’ve got the director of planetary defence haranguing me again for the delivery date on that next pair of defence platforms.’
‘Does that man never stop whinging?’
‘You installed him.’
‘Don’t remind me. I’ll have him building toilets on some distant mining colony next time.’
Zaphir sniggered.
‘I take it you’ve seen Whipper and Virr’s report?’ she asked.
‘Indeed.’
‘What did you think?’
‘If what they say is accurate, it has the potential to be the largest threat the GDA has ever faced.’
‘D’you think these insects know how undefended we are?’
‘Well, if they don’t they’ve picked the perfect time to invade,’ said Bache, sitting back at his desk. ‘What vessels do we have available?’
‘Available?’ Zaphir coughed, her eyes wide. ‘A mobile workshop and a couple of catering barges maybe. You know the situation as well as me. As of yesterday our operational standing was at forty-one percent and every ship allocated.’
Bache groaned and woke his screen up.
‘We’re just going to have to reallocate some then. Who’s nearest?’
Half an hour later, they’d managed to cobble together a seven-vessel fleet. Two Katadromikos, three older D-class cruisers and two destroyers.
‘That will leave us critically thin on capital planet defences,’ said Zaphir.
‘Needs must,’ said Bache, shrugging.
‘Who are you making operational commander?’ she asked.
‘That’ll be me.’
‘You?…But you’re the admiral, you’re needed here. You’re the only one keeping everything together.’
‘You’re just as capable of holding this shit show together as I am, Commander. I have every faith in you. Your first job will be to inform the council and then make educated command decisions on my behalf. You’ve known me long enough now to work out what solutions I would find to any problem that arises. I’m the Admiral of the Fleet and I, in this case, need to be with the fleet. The time delay between here and the halo region where they are is just too great.’
‘Okay, but what do you want me to tell the council?’
‘The truth. Show this message to President Onqir personally. He’ll understand the urgency.’
Bache glanced down, code locked his personal computer and stood.
‘Signal the seven ships with their new orders and inform Captain Twynner on the 12 that I will be coming aboard and commanding the fleet from there.’
Zaphir nodded and left, before Bache made his way up from the seventy-fourth floor to the top-floor hangar and took a shuttle home to pack.