May 24th, 2265. 07:00 St. Mary’s Station – Residential Wing
Rays of light shone into the dark bedroom. The light was coming into the room through gaps in the fancy-looking, but ultimately useless shades. This was one of many reasons for the newly promoted First Lieutenant to sleep more lightly than normal. Though to place all the blame on his wife’s choice of shades isn’t entirely fair, his excitement was the prime reason for this restless sleep.
John Lief suddenly, though groggily, awoke to a very annoying alarm. His eyes were closed as he was trying to slap the digital alarm. After three attempts he was able to shut the accursed thing off, but the damage was done. John was now mostly awake, and that meant it was time to begin the day.
He looked over at the other half of the bed and noticed Alice was already up. By the sounds of it, she was already out of their condo. John rubbed his eyes as he was still processing things, as he did, he remembered that Alice had several important meetings and was taking her final certification test to become a psychiatrist.
“Dr. Alice Lief,” John said with a smile, “That sounds pretty good.”
John quickly slid his legs out of bed and stood up. A quick stretch was needed before he walked into his closet to get his uniform. John was excited, far more than he should. But today was the day that he finally got his command. The CNS Waukesha, a Phoenix-class interdictor cruiser was his to command.
Due to a combination of factors, John wasn’t allowed to create his own command crew. He inherited the one that was already assigned to the vessel. Her former captain resigned in disgrace, which meant John was just being slotted into that role. That was a minor quibble in the grand scheme of things.
The excitement he felt caused him to rush through his morning routine. Ten minutes later he was walking out the door with a strawberry pop-tart hanging out of his mouth. In his excitement, John forgot to message Alice a good morning. He quickly typed a message on his tablet as he walked through the residential wing.
His pace was brisk, and he took the long way to his destination. The CNS Waukesha was docked at the station and John was eager to sneak a peek at the big girl once again. His bit of voyeurism was possible because he was running a full thirty minutes ahead of time.
John looked down at his watch and sped up his pace. He dodged and weaved with Olympic grace through the crowded commercial district. The guards at the military checkpoint validated his ID and let him pass without issue.
He quickly walked down the corridor and up two flights of stairs. Halfway down that corridor he finally spied her. The Waukesha was staring back at him in the face. The front of the ship looked like a giant trapezoidal wedge, connected at the center to the body of the vessel. The body itself was flat at the top and bottom but angled out and quadrupled in size as it connected to the rear engineering section of the ship.
That was where this cruiser differed from other cruiser designs. In most Confederate cruiser designs the engine nacelles were connected to the main engineering via a pair of thing space wings. But the Phoenix class filled in that entire space with a pair of hangars on either side. While not visible from where he was standing, the third hangar was directly under where the body connected to the wedge-like front of the ship.
Another difference is that, unlike all other cruisers in the Confederate fleet, she didn’t have a massive railgun built into the spine of the ship. Instead, nine triple-barreled turrets dotted the hull. What she lacked in the size of her armaments, she made up for in quantity.
John smiled as he noticed those and spoke to himself, “Quantity is a quality upon itself.”
“That it is,” a familiar voice said from down the corridor, “She docked last night. The rest of the replacement crew ought to be here by the end of the week. You are in luck, you weren’t the only officer being slotted in here.”
John turned around and quickly saluted. Admiral Dufresne continued to close the gap between the two men and saluted. He smiled as he stood next to the muscular Lieutenant.
“They call them mini carriers,” Admiral Dufresne said as he walked up to John, “I figured you’d be here cheating on your wife.”
John grinned as he turned to salute, “Sir, my wife is already tired of me talking about her.”
“Enough gawking. The sooner we have this conversation the sooner you can get your hands on the new ship. Plus, I’m sure you’re going to be interested in the operation you are participating in,” Admiral Dufresne said as he gestured to John to follow him.
“Yes sir,” John said.
07:25 St. Mary’s Station – Admiral Dufresne’s Office
Admiral Dufresne walked into his room and quickly stepped around his desk. John followed behind and waited next to a chair. The admiral quickly logged into his terminal and extended his arm. John quickly sat down.
“Ok, first things first,” Admiral Dufresne said as he looked at John, “That operation, which was otherwise fine until Fleet Command turned into a clusterfuck, did damage to your reputation personally despite the successes.”
“I am aware of that, sir,” John said politely.
John’s eyes darted around the Admiral’s office. His desk was bare of any personal items. The holographic terminal controls could be easily seen along with several tablets, data slates, and general paperwork resting at the right edge of his table.
“Lieutenant, I don’t think you are. Third and Seventh Fleets want nothing to do with you. Nothing at all. The Marines, excluding General Mizrahi’s faction, while they respect your defending them, are also not happy with how flippant you were with orders. Fleet Command is also most vocal about their disagreement with the lack of any real punishment doled out for your actions and antics.”
John wanted to say something but a single finger from the Admiral caused him to hold his tongue.
“Now, for the record, I agree with most of the things you did. The order to capture the Doctor was asinine. But you didn’t do a good job playing the political game. To be frank, you played a piss poor game. You must be better. You need to show the higher-ups that you not only know how to play but show a willingness to play the game.”
Admiral Dufresne sighed but then his demeanor changed, “That Article 32 pre-hearing of yours was farcical, aside from the one charge. Though thanks are in order. Your dispatching of Nelson for me has improved my position overall. He had been growing a bit big in his britches.”
“If I’m being honest sir, I didn’t bring down Admiral Nelson to help anyone.”
Admiral Dufresne nodded, “I disagree, you did it to survive. Your statement just now is a fairly green one. You should have kept that yourself. One more thing you need to learn about playing the game.”
“Understood sir. I’ll try and do a better job in the future.”
“Please do. Now then, I’m sure you are wondering what I will have you be doing.”
John nodded, “Not to be a smartass sir, but that thought had crossed my mind.”
Admiral Dufresne pressed a few buttons. Numerous dots appeared; text gave additional context to the dots shortly afterward. John leaned in and drank in the information. He was shocked at what he saw, none of this was public knowledge.
“I can understand why we’re keeping this under wraps, but this is too much to keep quiet about,” John said, “This is a fucking nightmare…”
“Our movements and patrols have been in disarray since the military operation and frankly they are still a year away from being back in position. As a result, the nefarious scum that we kicked out of the core worlds has come back with a vengeance.”
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“So, the attacks on the pirates during the operations did nothing,” John said disappointedly.
“Not necessarily, pirate attacks in those systems have been all but eliminated. The problem is these attacks are entirely too close to the Sol and Alpha Centauri systems. The civilian government does not want this problem creeping back into these systems.”
“I think you mean the wealthy and affluent don’t want that in their backyards, sir,” John said sarcastically.
“You aren’t wrong,” Admiral Dufresne smiled, “But I agree with them. We need to punch back and eliminate the threat.”
“Sir, if I may be so bold, nothing you’ve displayed here justifies a top-secret security rating. What is really happening?”
“This,” Admiral Dufresne pressed some more buttons, and several attacks were highlighted, “This is causing consternation with Fleet Command.”
John chuckled to himself, “The Folly of Icarus, looks like she’s attacking pirates though. A couple of corporations too, damn,” John scanned the attack records, “But if I’m correct, those attacks are on corporations that are facing senate hearings about their dubious dealings.”
“These two,” Admiral Dufresne highlighted, “Were likely because the corporation in question reneged on payment for whatever services were rendered.”
“That’s kinda dumb,” John quipped.
“Very. We want you to take her out.”
“I hope that isn’t the primary mission sir, because if it is we’ve been failing to do that for about a hundred years already.”
“It’s a tertiary objective, not the primary one. All of our intel has been transferred to the Waukesha.”
John nodded, “When do we push off?”
“Seven to ten days. The rest of your crew is in transit. Two freighters with all the munitions you could hope to use are en route as well,” Admiral Dufresne noticed the look on John’s face, “Don’t ask. Manchesterian politics flared up causing rearmament issues.”
“Glad I’m not in their crosshairs anymore,” John muttered, “Is my command staff already here?”
“That’s a negative. Essentially everything you were told previously about the crew makeup was incorrect. Your chief engineer, science officer, and chief of security are arriving tomorrow,” Admiral Dufresne read John like a book, “The ship was in drydock so the crew that was assigned to it was a skeleton crew to shake it down and fly it out here. You didn’t get to choose your command crew because time was of the essence.”
“I don’t have a wide reach to pull officers from so I suppose it is what it is,” John said as he picked up a data slate and scrolled through it, “What other ships will be with us on this op?”
“Two fast attack and heavy frigates, eight destroyers, and four corvettes. New ships with mostly veteran crews. I’m working on getting some additional ships assigned to this operation but presume this is what you’ll have access to.”
John nodded, “Ivey and Cohen classes, those are very nice ships. Operation Strikeback? Not a terribly catchy name but it’ll do.”
“You are Strikeback-02. We have ten similar squadrons that are going to deploy at the same time throughout our territory. First Fleet reserve assets are being repositioned now but should be readily available to assist within the next month or two.”
John looked past the Admiral’s shoulder and through the porthole in the wall. He could see the space outside of the station was busier than it had ever been. A smile began to form before he looked back at the admiral.
“What’s the catch to all of this? There’s always a catch.”
“The catch is that we’d prefer the Folly be taken out. Not doing so won’t look badly upon you.”
“Until it does though. Right?”
Admiral Dufresne shook his head, “If the Folly got away once again, I doubt very much anyone could legitimately hold it against you unless you did something shockingly inept.”
“That didn’t exactly answer my question, sir,” John said politely, “What’s really happening?”
Admiral Dufresne sighed as he looked at John, “The skirmish with the Alliance was not as well received with the public as Fleet Command had thought.”
John leaned forward in his chair, “That’s the first I’ve heard of that.”
“The civilian government is censoring all talk of it, but roughly four percent of the populace are now classified, privately mind you, as dissidents.”
“Christ almighty, that’s a billion plus people.”
“Now, not all are actively being pirates, but the pool to replenish or grow their fleets is significantly larger now,” Admiral Dufresne said.
“Understood, sir,” John said confidently, “We’ll reign things in.”
“Good. You are not allowed to attack any bases or strongholds. We need to eliminate the pirates, but us massacring their women and children isn’t going to accomplish that. If anything, it’ll do the exact opposite.”
“What about assaulting their bases? Capturing the adults and children could be a coup of sorts.”
“Explain,” Admiral Dufresne leaned back in his chair.
“The children can be sent to reeducation camps. The adults get sent to jail and then off to an observation colony until we deem them rehabilitated. Sure, it’d piss the pirates off something fierce,” John paused for dramatic effect, “But it would absolutely kill morale.”
“Work on a plan and get it to me. Delicate hands will be necessary. Again, I must stress this Lieutenant. Dead children and women are not going to help our cause at all.”
“You’ll have it in the morning.”
18:15 St. Mary’s Station – Hilton Conference Hall 1A
Alice Lief-Robertson was now an official doctor of psychiatry. She, along with the peers that passed the final round of tests this morning, was smiling as they received their degrees. The speaker, presumably some bigshot in the medical division, was wrapping up his speech.
John wasn’t paying great attention to it. He was in deep thought about his upcoming mission. He had so many questions about why there was so much pirate activity. It didn’t seem possible that the skirmish with the Alliance could have had the kind of effect on the populace that the Admiral said. Those questions, and any answers for them if they are available, will be dealt with in due time.
The speaker just finished talking. Everyone in the room immediately got to their feet and cheered. John was a day late and a dollar short. Alice was looking right at John and noticed his delayed reaction. When John did get to his feet, he noticed her grin. It was at that point that he knew he had messed up.
Moments later the graduates had stepped down from the stage and walked between the two rows of chairs. John winked at Alice as she walked by him. She grinned and shook her head at her man-child of a husband.
John was excited because he could sample appetizers. While he was there to support his wife, he couldn’t lie and say he was looking forward to the conversation. He smiled and thought that was ok. Everything didn’t need to be fun and cater to his crazy whims.
He stood up and sidestepped by a couple of chairs and walked down the aisle when it was his turn to do so. It was surprising how few of the guests weren’t in the military. There were only about forty people sitting in the chairs and maybe another twenty standing up in the rear of the room. Only five others were in military uniforms.
Alice excused herself from her conversation and walked over to John, “You do look handsome in dress whites.”
John nodded, “I do look the part, don’t I?”
“Too bad you can’t hear for shit,” Alice grinned as she hugged John.
“Nah, you got that wrong. I heard everything.”
“Ugh,” Alice sighed as she released him, “That one is on me.”
“In any case, I apologize. Congratulations!” John exclaimed before he surprised Alice with a kiss.
“Thank you!”
“Dr. Lief. Sounds so damn cool,” John smiled, “By the way, your mom is most annoyed that the party was literally the same day your final test was.”
“Yeah, isn’t that strange?”
John nodded, “Very. I figured it’d be in the next few weeks. Glad it was today though since I actually got to be here for you for a change.”
Alice giggled, “Even if you didn’t pay attention to any of it.”
“Now come on,” John said as he herded Alice towards the appetizers, “I paid attention to the important bits.”
“Admit it, if it was about the Waukesha, you wouldn’t have drifted off to La-La land,” Alice grinned as she picked up a scone.
John looked at his wife before dropping a few chicken tenders on his plate, “In all due fairness to me, that would be interesting. You know, command and such.”
Alice giggled, “You, my loveable husband, have a one-track mind.”
“Agreed,” John said as he drizzled some hot-wing sauce on the tenders.
John continued to pile food onto his plate. It didn’t take long for him to create a pyramid of food. Meatballs, with a minimal amount of sauce, bite-sized chicken cordon bleu bits, crackers, cheese, salami wedges, and prosciutto. Alice groaned internally when she saw how he had loaded his plate up. If there was ever a time for her to hide him, now was it.
But just as soon as she made eye contact and looked away briefly, she had lost John. He made his way to the nearest table and set his heaping plate down carefully and began eating immediately. After he wiped his mouth and took a drink of water, he looked at the rest of the table.
“Evening, congratulations are in order to you two,” John said.
“Thank you,” one of the graduates said eyeing John’s plate of food, “That is an impressive plate.”
“I am a bit on the famished side,” John grinned.
“Who are you here to support?” another graduate asked.
John could practically sense Alice walking behind him and gestured to her, “My wife, Alice. Though unlike the two of you, she’s obviously in the Navy.”
“Why hello there. This guy is my husband,” Alice smiled at her fellow graduates as she sat down.
Allen smiled, “I’ve heard several stories about you. I have a hard time believing that they are true.”
John took a bite of food and smiled, “Hit me with one story.”
“You graduated high school when you were twelve and had six years of investigative experience before joining the military.”
John nodded, “That is true.”
He continued to happily eat his makeshift meal. The conversation that ensued that evening would surprise John. Instead of talking about their degrees, Alice’s classmates were fascinated with John. They were shocked to find out that all of the stories were true. And if anything, they weren’t embellished at all. If anything, most of them were made to sound more believable but tamer than how they actually played out.
Alice was giggling the whole night as all of her classmates were enthralled with John. Eventually, they’d leave the conference room and find their way to an upscale wine bar on the station. The stories continued to be told to John and he in turn clarified them. When the party died down the graduates all went their separate ways. Everyone, John included, would embark on a new path starting the following morning. None of them knew where that path would lead them, but they all would jump at the opportunities laid before them.