"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all sentient beings are created equal, that they are endowed with certain ttnalienable rights, that among,, these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The survivors of the coming battles might see that recording many times in the course of their lives, yet never again would they see and hear it as it was made. They were joined with Ladislaus Skjorning, floating in the heart of a crystal moment, temporarily outside the bounds of space and time. Never before had so many men and women so intimately charged with the defense of a cause been joined in the moment of its annunciation; perhaps it would never happen again. Yet for all that they shared it as it happened, few could ever recall hearing the exact words Ladislaus spoke. What they remembered was the strength of his deep voice, the emotional communion as he forged words to hold their anger and frustration and their inarticulate love for the government they could no longer bey. The heard the list of abuses not with their ears, but vath their souls--and they knew, knew now in their very bones, that the breach was forever. They could not return to what they had been, and in that instant of unbearable loss and political birth, the Terran Republic's Navy was forged on the anvil of history as few military oreaong, anizations have ever been.
@u.. We must, therefore," Ladislaus went on, drawing to the close of his message, "acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold you, as we hold the whole vf the sentient races of the Galaxy, enemies in war, in peace friends.
"Now, therefore, the representatives of the Republic of Free Terrans, in general congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the Universe for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and authority of the good people of these worlds, solemnly publish and declare that these united worlds are, and of right ought to be, a free and independent nation; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the Legislative Assembly of the Terran Federation, and that all political connection between them and the Terran Federation is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a free and independent state, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do."
He stared into the pickup, his face carved from stone, and behind his eyes he saw the crumpled body of Fionna MacTaggart--the final, unforgivable indignity to which the Fringe Worlds had been subjected -comandthe closing words rumbled and crashed from his thick throat like denouncing thunder.
"And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." "A nian can die but once; we owe God a death. his William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II in what she was The new eranso O Fringer, the furious personnel to Figures Admiral officer to joined her, been so plained why she commodore, at such a Lt ngbo Fortu as well, know her as had been time the self at the OFFENSIVE nv was five hours out of Novaya Rodina orbit e Li Han stood beside Captain Tsing Chang dp car, her face tranquil, and worried over abo. ut to discover about her crew. publican Navy was desperately short of vet-sixty percent of the Fleet which had been hly ninety percent had favored mutiny, but ting had produced casualties so severe the avy found itself with less than half the trained aan its captured ships. bere even worse among the senior officers. gara was, so far at least, the most senior e over to the Republic. Others might have ut the carnage on most of the flag decks had beme none of them had survived. Which ex-s indecently rapid promotion... and also d herself wearing two hats. She might be a but experienced Battle Fleet skippers were mium that she had to double as CO of the t that she minded that!
,, they'd picked up a few unexpected bonuses, as Commodore Magda Petrovna.
Hah didn't well as she would have liked, for Petrovna ecently busy on Novaya Rodina, splitting her the Convention and her new command, but ely graying woman had certainly proved herttle of Novaya Rodina. Her choice of Jason
Windrider as her chief of staff only strengthened Han's respect for her. She felt no qualms about going into action with Commodore Petrovna on her flank.
The car stopped on the command bridge, and the officer of the deck stood as they stepped out. The other watch-keepers stayed seated as per her standing orders.
Some captains preferred for their bridge crews to indulge in all the ceremonial rituals whenever they came on the bridge; Han preferred for them to get on with their jobs.
"Good afternoon, Exec," she said to Commander Sung.
"Good afternoon, sir. Commodore Tsing." Han shook her head mentally at the titles.
She was commodore of BG 12, but also Longbow's captain. For squadron purposes, she was properly addressed as "Commodore,"" but when acting as Longbow's CO, she was properly addressed as "Captain." Just to complicate matter further, Tsing was now a captain--but there could be only one "Captain" aboard a warship, so Tsing was properly addressed as "Commodore," since courtesy promotions were, by definition, upward.
Thus there were occasions on which they would both properly be addressed as "Commodore,"" but only Hah would ever be addressed as "Cap-rain," which meant that from time to time a "captain" outranked a hiscommodore" aboard Longbow..ationot surprisingly, Sung, like most of her crew, took the easy out and addressed her only as "Sir" unless there was absolutely no alternative or it was completely clear which hat she was wearing.
"I have the con, Exec," she told Sung, sliding into the command chair.
"Aye, aye, sir." The short, slender commander stepped quickly back behind the chair, waiting.
"Mister Chu, how long to warp?" "Approximately forty-three standard hours, sir." "Very, good." She swung her chair toward the exec. "Commander Sung." "Yes, sir?" He looked nervous. That was a good sign. "It's been a while since our last comprehensive drills," she said calmly.
"Don't you think we might spend a few hours brushing the rust off?." Sung Chung-hui had dreaded this moment.
Longbow's casualties had been the lowest of any ship in TF 17, but the n6w Republican Admiralty had raided her ruthlessly for experienced cadre. He'd managed to hang onto barely half of her original bridge crew, and losses below decks had been worse. He'd done his best to fit the many replacements into his team, but all too many were on "makee-learnee," and he shuddered to think of the next few days.
He glanced at Tsing, but the former exec seemed thoroughly fascinated by the display on the main plot.
No help there. He drew a deep breath.
"Whenever you wish, sir." "Then sound general quarters, Exec," Han said, and Sung breathed a silent prayer as he pressed the button.
The word, Han thought as she worked up lather, was "horrible." She raised her face to the shower spray and the wat4r dragged at her long hair. It really wasn't all that bad, considering, but war left no room for "considering." With nukes flying around your ears, there were only adeo quate erews--comr dead ones. She remembered the fine-tuned instrument she and Tsing had made of Longbow before the mutiny and shook her head, but the present arthritic uncertainty wasn't Sung's fault. He hadn't had time to work up the new drafts, and he'd actually done quite well in the time he'd been given.
She finished rinsing and reached for a towel.
She and Sung were going to be unpopular over the next few days. At least she'd managed to hang on to most of her point defense crewsthat was about the only department which had performed with a flourish--but damage control was terrible and engineering was no better. She couldn't fault Sung's initial concentration on gunnery and maneuvering, but gunners and coxswains alone couldn't make Longbow an effective fighting machine.
She wrapped the towel around herself sarong fashion and sat before her terminal. It was Sung's job to bring the crew up to her standards. Under the iron-bound traditions of the service, her abili, even her right, to interfere with handling of the problem was limited. But she was also captain. The ultimate responsibility was hers, and she and Sung both knew how new to his duties he was. She could stretch the point a
bit, she decided, without convincing him he'd lost her trust.
She punched up the intraship memo system slowly, considering how to begin. Her fingers poised over the keys, then moved.
To: COULDR Sung C.
From: CMDR Li H., CO TRNS LONGBOW RE: Exercises conducted this date Drills conducted by all departments indicate only point defense and maneuvering personnel fully competent in assigned duties.
Engineering performance was far below acceptable standards, and general crew performance leaves much to be desired.
I therefore suggest: (a) series of intensive exercises of all hands in...
The words appeared with machine-like speed as Longbow's drive pushed the ship ever closer to battle, and Commodore Li Han, wet hair plastered to her bare shoulders, felt her mind reaching out to meet the test to come.
Han sniffed at Tsing's pipe smoke. Few spacers smoked, and she hated cigarette smoke, but though disshe would never admit it, she rather liked the smell of Tsing's pipe blend. Not that liking it kept her from scolding him over the filthy habit in private.
She glanced across the small table at Lieutenant Reznick and Commander Sung, noting the wariness in Sung's eyes. The past weeks had been a foretaste of hell for him, but he'd done well. Longbow's newcomers had slotted smoothly into place and even the abandon-ship drill had gone quite well, though she hadn't seen fit to tell Sung so. It wasn't nice, but it had inspired him to maximum effort.
"Well, Chang," she said finally, "could this crew zip its own shoes without supervision?" "Just about, sir." Tsing blew a beautiful smoke ring and glanced at Sung, "Just about." Sung's face fell, and Han shook her head reproachfully at Tsing.
"Actually, Exec," she said, "I think you've done very INSUBRECTION well. There" are still a few rough spots, but all in all, we've got one of the most efficient ship's companies I've seen." "Fhank you, sir!" Sung's face lit with pleasure.
"And just in time, too," she went on. She touched a button and a hologram of the local warp lines appeared above the table.
"We'll make transit to Lassa in about an hour, gentlemen," she said calmly. "Eighty-one hours after that, we'll be ready to fire probes through into Aklumar for a last minute report." "Yes, sir." Tsing passed the stem of his pipe through the warp line between Lassa and Aklumar.
"That ought to be an interesting trip." "Not as "interesting" as the one to Cimmaron," Han reminded him. "It had better not be, anyway!" She tapped the table gently, then turned a calm face to Sung. "Chung-hui, I asld you to join us because I'm going to depend heavily on you and Chang. I'll have to coordinate the battlegroup and fight Longbow, as well, and I can't do it unless you both understand exactly what I plan. You'll both have to exercise a lot of discretion in what you report to me and what you act upon yourvs, so I want us to have a very clear mutual understanding of the operation.
Fair enough?" "Yes, sir." "Good. Then here's the first point; we're going into Cimmaron before Commodore Petrovna because the Rump data base won't list us as a command ship." Sung nodded; Longbow hadn't been a command ship the last time the Rump saw her. "On the other hand, our datalink has cost us two capital missile launchers, so we'll hold back our external ordnance when the others launch. We'll use the racks to hide our lack of internal launchers, because if they realize we're the command ship they'll go for us with everything they've got." "Yes, sir. I understand." "Good. Second, I want everything on line when we warp into Aklumar, no matter what the probes show. I hope we won't find anything to worry about -comwe don't need a Second Battle of Aklumar." This time both Sung and Tsing nodded.
Aklumar had witnessed the climactic engagement of the First Interstellar War, but the last thing they wanted was a clash to alert Cimmaron.
"But," she went on, "if I were commanding Cimmaron there'd be at least a picket at Aklumar to watch for exactly what we hope to do.
And if there is--was she brought up a schematic of the Aklumar warp junction his--comhe'll be right here." She touched the image. "Placed to dash down the warp line as soon as we enter scanner range. So we have to make sure we don't enter scanner range until we've dealt with him." "Sir?" Sung sounded uncertain.
"If the admiral agrees, we'll go in cloaked," Han explained. "We'll close with him and--hopefully--pick him off before he knows we're there." "But, sir, the battlegroup doesn't have cloaking ECM." "No, but we do, and so do scout cruisers.
We'll form a three-ship data group with two of them and clear the way for the rest of the task force." "Unless," Tsing observed with the mild air of a man who'd made the same point before, "they've posted a light carrier, sir. A couple of long-range recon fighters on patrol, and we'll never get close enough." "We've been over that, Chang, and I stfil don't expect it, not with so much of Frontier Fleet coming 9ver. They'd never risk a fleet or assault carrier on picket duty, and all the lights were in Frontier Fleet. They can't have many of them left." "You're probably right, sir, but it's my job to point out problems. And here's another: they might use a scout cruiser of their own." "If they go by The Book, that's exactly what they'll do," Han agreed, "but they can't have many of them, either. If they do, the whole ops plan goes out the lock anyway. If they're cloaking, the probes won't spot them and they'll have just as good a chance to hide from us as we have to hide from them. Which gives them the advantage, of course, since their whole job is to run away while we try to locate and destroy them. But there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" "You might ask Admiral Ashigara to send in a squadron of fighters to check it, sir," Sung suggested hesitantly.
INSV-AAECTO con"I inight," Han agreed dryly, "ff fighters carried any ECM." "Sorry, sir. I should have thought of that." Sung sounded abashed.
"Don't worry about it." Han smiled. "But we're going to have to deal with this ourselves, so be certain plotting and gunnery are ready. We"]] have to be quick to stop them from launching a courier drone." "Yes, sir." "All right. Now--was she witched to a schematic of Cimmaron his-comth is where we're supposed to run into trouble. Commodore Tsing, Commander Tomanaga, and I have silent quite a while discussing how to handle this, Exec, and I want you to understand what we're up to. SOP would bring us in last to protect the command ship from the opening salvos, but the Rump knows The Book, too. conCommander Tomanaga sueeests we come in.
@u ,..
, first, since that s the last place thev'll expect the flagship but I've decided to come in third. Lieutenant Reznick here tells me our datalink won't stand much pounding, so I don't want us out too early, just as I don't want us in the standard flag slot. We'll rely on the shell game approach-- they'll know we have a command ship, but not which one it is... I hope. If we can force them to disperse their fire looking for us, we may survive until BG II comes through and offers so many targets they have to divide their fire.
Understand?" "Yes, sir." "Good. And instead of a tight, traditional globe, we'rt coming in in line abreast for the same reasons-- everything will be directed towards keeping them guessing@u" "Yes, sir." "And there's another point, one which relates to our datalink." Han turned to Reznick, who flushed slightly under her calm regard; it was amazing how readilv he colored up. "Because we may lose our command dat net so quickly, I want alternate standard datalinks set up be- tween our units as a priority, If we lose the command net, I don't want any delays in dropping into smaller groups, Lieutenant." "Yes, sir." "All right. Now, here's the final point for you, Exec-- you won't be on the command deck when we enter Cimmaron." "Sir?" Sung blinked. "But that's my duty station! I "It is normally," Han cut him off calmly, "but this isn't normal. We don't have a flag bridge, and I have to be able to see battle plot.
That means the flag will be on the command deck. If a single hit takes out me, Commodore Tsing, and you--was she shrugged.
"I see." Sung still sounded unhappy, and Hah found it hard to blame him. "But where will I be, sir? Auxiliary fire control?" "No, Commander Tomanaga will be there. I want you with Mister Reznick in command datalink." She caught him with a level stare. "Understand this, Commander.
If the command deck buys it, you're suddenly going to ino herit an entire battlegroup, because yours will be the only ship with command datalink capability.
Hopefully Commander Tomanaga will still be around to advise you, but I can't even promise you that." "I see, sir." Sung licked his lips, then nodded firmly. "I see." "I'm glad you do, Chung-hui." She glanced at her watch. "All right--let's get back to the bridge." She killed the holograph and tucked her cap under her arm, facing them as they rose. "But remember, gentlemen, up to now, it's been a matter of seizing choke points where we happened to have mutinying units and cleaning up undefended sys-terns. That's over now. We're going to fight for everything we get from here on out, and I want the Republican Navy to be just as dedicated and just as professional as the Federation Navy. This is a civil war, and passions are running high on both sides, but there had better not be any Jason Wagg'decks under my command. These aren't Arachnids we're fighting--they're Terrans. I expect you to act accordingly." Then she turned, and they followed her silently from the briefing room.