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All six Star-Guardians had drawn in close together in order to receive Admiral Halsey’s address to all ships while using the weakest possible communication broadcast.
She sat at her station on the Admiral’s bridge. Captain Talbot and the other members of the admiral’s staff were crowded around the bridge, watching and listening live.
No one knew what Halsey was going to say.
“Attention all hands. I am now authorized to reveal our orders and the destination of our task force, and its mission. Coordinates are being sent to each ship’s captain. It is expected that, if our task force is discovered and some of our ships disabled or destroyed, that the surviving ship or ships will go on alone.”
She paused, glanced at her staff. They were all just watching her with very wide-eyes.
“Our destination is Point Luck. There we will re-energize our gravity drives and proceed on to a very distant star system. We are not pursuing the ships which attacked our convoy and our sister ships. Although if we encounter them they will be dealt with.”
“We are heading to a major base of the enemy. We will launch an attack and utterly destroy them. Our cargo of faster-than-light missiles will be the first wave. Then we will close in and finish the job.”
She paused again and looked up from her orders, at her staff. They were smiling and nodding at her. She couldn’t hear, but could imagine, the cheering going on from the crews of this and the other ships in the task force.
“May God continue to be on our side. All ships and crews are expected to do their best!”
She switched off.
Now her staff and members of the crew of the Ganymede began to cheer and clap. She nodded to them, smiled slightly. Then her smile was gone, and her normally grave, all-business face returned.
She stood and held up both hands to quiet them. “Now let’s get to work. It’s a long journey, but we will waste not one hour! We will be practicing, strategizing, and running our simulations. We all know nothing goes as planned in war, in battle, but the more we plan the more we will be prepared for the unexpected.”
She motioned to Tallie, who came and stood beside her.
“Captain Talbot has been engaged with the enemy twice. We will learn from her unique experience.” Halsey glared at some of the other officers. She’d heard the rumblings about Talbot being added to the staff, and of the crude remarks about all she knew how to do was lose her ship!
“None of you, and I mean not one, has engaged with the enemy. I am quite sure, should we encounter those same enemy ships, the outcome will be much different this time. The Mars was the oldest Star-Guardian, due for refitting if not for replacement. These aliens will learn the hard way what it’s like to deal with our best and newest ships. Am I right?”
“Yes Admiral!” they all said.
“Very well. Now get to work!”
“Thank you, Admiral,” Tallie said.
“You can thank me by helping us understand how to defeat these alien devils. Come, take a walk with me.”
She led Tallie out of the bridge, but they headed not toward admiral country but away, into the bowels of the ship.
“I like to eavesdrop on the enlisted personnel sometimes,” she told Tallie in a low voice. “Just to get a feel for what they are thinking and their morale.”
Tallie nodded. She’d heard that about Halsey, and it was why she was a popular leader.
They hadn’t gone far before they heard two enlisted men talking from around the corner of the passageway.
“What do you think, Smitty?” one was saying.
“I’m not worried. I’d ride this ship into hell itself for that old bitch!”
Tallie’s mouth fell open. What insubordination! She started around the corner to chew them out, but Halsey grabbed her arm and stopped her. To Tallie’s surprise, she was smiling!
“Let me handle this,” she whispered.
Halsey put her business face back on, cleared her throat loudly and stepped into view of the enlisted men.
They snapped to attention, sheer horror and fear on their faces.
“Men! Let me tell you one thing! I’m not that old!”
At that she turned on her heel and walked back the way they’d come.
Tallie fought back the urge to laugh, instead shooting the mortified crewmen a stern look before following the admiral.