Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

doesn’t
take an Oracle computer to see that unless we do something and soon, the FEDs
will eventually just overwhelm us with the sheer number of ships.”
     
    Belloc
sighed. “Yes, I understand that, Mykhel. How we deal with that over the long
term is something we’ll have to come to grips with, but what concerns me in the
short term is what’s also in your report. You say that the need to attack
Makassar is so compelling and so obvious that the FEDs are bound to expect it
and will do their best to prepare for it. I can’t help wondering if we’re
damned if we do and damned if we don’t.”
     
    “Which
is why we have to strike as soon as possible with a half-decent strike force,
Nathan. I’ve got one of the new 400-meter cruisers already on commerce raiding
duty, and I can have three more operational in ten months. As you know, this
new class has neutron armor which will shrug off HE and KE missile attacks no
matter how many missiles hit. Those four ships can drop down to a low altitude
and pummel the industrial facilities at their leisure, and the FEDs won’t be
able to do anything about it. While the new cruisers are smashing Makassar, our
upgraded patrol cruisers will be attacking command and control facilities on
Hadley. We know that the really important facilities will be buried deep
underground and will therefore be safe from our HE and KE missiles, but
there’ll be plenty of unprotected assets above ground to make the attack
worthwhile. At the very least, the fact that we’ve attacked Hadley once will
make the FEDs wonder if we’ll do it again, and that should divert some of their
resources from offense to defense.” Janicot paused. “You know, Nathan…if we
developed fission warheads, we could even knock out the underground
installations too.”
     
    “No,
Mykhel! I’ve discussed that option with the Cabinet and there was unanimous
opinion that the Systems States Union will not be the first to use weapons of
mass destruction on planetary targets, not even military ones.”
     
    “Okay,
Nathan. Let’s hope we don’t end up regretting that decision,” said Janicot.
     
     
    * 
*  *  *
     
    Day
129/2543
    Senior
Lieutenant Remington checked the ship’s chronometer again. Twenty-five minutes
left in her duty shift. Twenty-five more minutes of soul-destroying boredom as
Trafalgar escorted the freighter City of Montevideo through the hyper-zone.
This was the last escort mission before being redeployed to Makassar. She
checked the radar scan, which was sending a micro-wave pulse out ahead of the
ship every 10 seconds. There was nothing ahead of them for 1,500,000 klicks.
The freighter was traveling behind Trafalgar. Any threat would be from up
ahead. Both ships were within 100,000 kilometers of the edge of the hyper-zone,
with a velocity of 702 kps. Another 2 minutes and 22 seconds and the freighter
would be able to enter hyper-space. She looked over to the Command Station and
noticed that the Skipper had his eyes closed. He was sleeping on duty, again.
While there weren’t any specific regulations prohibiting the CO sleeping on the
Bridge, it was generally understood by senior officers that it could undermine
the respect the crew had for their CO.
     
    She
was about to try to get the Helm Officer to notice the Skipper’s condition when
her Weapons Station console pinged. A ship had just emerged from hyper-space
155,000 klicks away and almost directly in their path.
     
    “Unidentified
contact!” she said in a voice that came out louder than she had intended.
Before anyone had a chance to respond, her console pinged again. “That bogey
has commenced active scanning, Skipper.”
     
     If
the CO had been asleep before, he wasn’t now. “Let’s go to Battle Stations and
continuous scanning, people! Lor, program your missiles to target that ship,
which will be designated Tango1, but hold your fire until I give the order,
understood?”
     
    “Understood,
Skipper,” said