First Strike - An Earth@War Novel

Chapter 8

Headquarters Destroyer Squadron Ten
Naval Base Oscar, Kylar II
May 28, 2487, 1410 Local, 2030 UT

Admiral Morris sat in the temporary office reviewing the intelligence reports. Batron continued to occupy systems between Omar and Batron. Antron seemed to be holding her own, but just barely. And with Earth going to be unable to send aid for a while, Morris couldn't help but wonder how long Antron could hold out on her own. As he studied, the comm unit chimed.

"Yes, Wilson?" the Admiral asked pressing a button on the comm.

"Sir, Argentina reports that she is on station," Andrew said. Admiral Morris had noticed how rough his Administrative Assistant looked this morning, correctly diagnosing it as a hangover. That was very unlike Wilson and Morris vowed to continue to watch the Yeoman.

"Very well. Rear Admiral Kilgallon is on his way. Send him straight in," the Admiral said.

"Aye, sir," Andrew replied. Andrew leaned back in his chair. God, his head hurt. But, at least he got some sleep. Without the whiskey, he had no doubt, he wouldn't have gotten any. When we woke up, his roommates got on his case about drinking in the quarters. Sure, it was technically against regulations to drink in quarters, but who was going to bust him with a war going on and that he just lost his fiancé.

"Hey, Wilson," Rear Admiral Kilgallon said as he entered the office. "You up and about already?"

"Yes, sir," Andrew replied. "The Admiral said you can go right in, sir."

"Thank you," Kilgallon said. He walked over, tapped on the door and entered the Admiral's office.

"Have a seat, Frank," Admiral Morris said. He pressed a button on the comm unit. "Wilson, get us some coffee."

"Aye, sir," Wilson said.

"Have you heard what the Batronians are up to?" Morris asked.

"Yes, sir. Seems that they are taking advantage of the situation and grabbing some systems."

"Seems to me that it could be the entire reason for the attack. We can't do anything. They grab a bunch of systems, then offer some sort of peace treaty before we can counter attack," the Admiral said.

"And when they gain control of huge part of the sector they will isolate Antron even further," Kilgallon said as Andrew entered the room with the coffee. Boy, he looks rough, Kilgallon thought as Andrew set the coffee down and left the room.

"I have Intelligence activating a Hawkeye network. I need to be able to track their ships and get an idea of which systems they have," Admiral Morris said. A Hawkeye Network would be a set of agents chosen from the indigenous population from various planets in the sector. Each Hawkeye agent would be provided a concealable sensor array and track Batronian from otherwise neutral, or even occupied planets, and provide that information to Fourth Fleet Intelligence via a secure comm system. This would extend Earth's ability to track Batronian movements and give it a clearer picture of what they were up to. The agents would be well compensated for their service.

"That's great, but how do we take advantage of that information?" Frank asked, sipping his coffee as the Admiral considered his response.

"Why don't we move the eight stealth ships out?" Admiral Morris asked. He brought up a map display of the Young-Wise sector. "Maybe have them operate in pairs. Place four on our side of Omar and the other four here on the Batron side of Omar. We would allow them to operate on their own unless we get something from the Hawkeye Network that we want them to look at."

Frank studied the display. "Actually, just to be safe, I would move two of the stealth ships on the Kylar side of Omar and keep two closer to us just in case. Otherwise, I agree, keeping all eight of the stealth ships here serves no purpose."