"Return to Urtraghus"
"The Exalted, The Sinister"
High Command was well known to all of them for not doing very much, and for their monthly public presentations where they said that they didn't do much. They were also fond of honoring combatants who had achieved something noteworthy in service to the state or to the cause of their people. It really was no surprise that High Command was so inclined to address commander Valdar today, seeing as he just saved the entire planet.
"…and though the accursed Federation army invaded with their fullest power and that infamous Hunter of theirs integrated into their charge, we have shown them yesterday that our land cannot be taken! They must now find invading our home world to be a matter of the highest gravity, and our capacity to defend ourselves to be greater than their own in the most desperate times.
"Now, when the time comes that they attack us again, that next effort will be far more calculated, more widespread. Once our systems are repaired and our plans drafted, there will be no relevance to the location or extent of their assault. In the meantime, we must ensure that each of us is individually prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to defend the home world. On this, we need only look to the example of commander Valdar, who led the defense yesterday.
"Against overwhelming odds, with near every advantage on the side of the Federation, the commander and his primary platoon mobilized on no warning and defended the most crucial site here. For the admirable organization of his forces, and for his quick thinking under pressure, we recognize commander Valdar as Hero of Urtraghus."
And there was much rejoicing.
High Command's message went on, mainly addressing chronic issues exacerbated by the damaged communication and transit systems. Keeping a steady food supply in an industrial area showered in acid rain was made feasible, even easy, by the mass transit. Due to the historically slow responses of the Logistics Department, several major factories and most Phazon mining operations had to be abandoned. In essence, High Command was admitting that the Federation attack was far more crippling than they had only just announced.
Such hypocrisy had invited criticism before, and by now the mysterious leaders had grown accustomed to dismissing it or ignoring it. This technique of dodging questions has brought the elites some infamy among the slightly less high ranked military officials. One of these officials was stationed in Transit 02 until a few weeks ago, when he was transferred to a secondary branch of the Phazon mines as both security and enforcement.
This commander, Zerrul, had mixed feelings about his reassignment. On one hand, patrolling the transit system was easy, albeit extremely boring. Keeping watch on the Phazon miners was no problem, but for some reason his reports regarding constant insubordination never received much attention from anyone he sent them to.
But now, with all the ruinous logistics problems that, according to Zerrul, only exist because High Command doesn't have direct authority over the Logistics Department, even his job in the mines is being taken away, with no promise or plan of bringing him back to work in the near future. For the time being, his authority as commander was suspended until a suitable position could be found, estimated to be a wait of three months. Given High Command's accuracy in most other estimations, this could actually mean his career was over.
He was still expected to attend regular conferences with the other commanders. Perhaps because of the discussion his comments incite.
"So how long do you all think it's going to take for Command to get Logistics over here?" he asked. "Everything's been shut down in the meantime."
Another commander said, "No clue. Logistics isn't used to being needed, so they're probably going to assume this is just some other odd requisition and get it here in a few weeks, as always. Anyway, Zerrul, why does this kind of stuff always bother you?"
"It bothers me," Zerrul answered, "because it's always High Command's problem! They can't get anyone but us to listen to them, and even then only because of our proximity. They're not making sure supplies are stored just in case of some attack like this one. They can't even tell when the Federation, or any other enemy, is about to attack because they're just as surprised as we are."
Some other commanders joined in. "It's not Command's fault that the Federation keeps its secrets well. There are times when the Feds just outsmart Command."
"Yeah, I heard the Federation had some covert ops here running a long time, landing off who-knows-where, sneaking in and cutting a line or two and then leaving. Maybe one of those lines connected Command to Logistics."
"How would you go about storing rations here anyway? There's lots of acid rain and radioactive substances here. What could possibly be safe to keep it in?"
Zerrul debated his points often. He had lost a fair amount of them, but he always had something valid to say about High Command. "Why worry about the Phazon here? The stuff is IN the rations, and against the acid rain, just suspend it high off the ground and put a roof over it. If you want to think really weird, you can even put it in some kind of box that's sealed. These same problems have to be overcome when we bring them in."
"Oh, right. Shouldn't you do something to solve this rather than complaining to us about it though? You seem to always know what you're talking about, but you don't do anything."
"You're reaching the core issue here," Zerrul replied, now visibly frustrated. "I've sent a bunch of notices about my troops not listening to a thing I say. I've suggested that the main command building be moved farther from the Phazon mines. I've brought up my thoughts about having central transit terminals that are in the middle of every route. I've mentioned how dumb it is that Logistics is a private business that trades with the state. I've been saying these kinds of things to everyone and to High Command, and nobody thinks much beyond 'that Zerrul guy's complaining again. What is it this time?'"
"So what, do you think high Command hates you for some reason?"
"Absolutely. You know I got moved from Transit to the mines right before nearly all mining was shut down? Of course, the mines I guarded for a week were the source of my biggest subversion fiascos, and it just feels so well timed that I got dumped there to suffer and be miserable for a month before I just got sacked."
"Do you think that has any more significance than my being moved to Transit just before this attack?" This time it was Valdar, the Urtraghian hero, who cut off the flustered officer. "For all we know, High Command could be stationing people with a dartboard map. Besides, if you couldn't control your battalion, this attack may well have been a blessing, because you sure would have been fired without it."
There was a humming sound. The force field doors powered down. At the door was a messenger. The commanders glanced at him, then towards the comm. computers.
"Line to here's been cut I'm afraid," the messenger said. "High Command has some work for you while you're all free doing not much else."
/
[HC]_MANDATE
TO: COMMANDERS
DETECTED MANY FEDERATION MIDDLE AND CAPITAL SHIPS IN ORBIT
SUSPECT FEDERATION BLOCKADE WEAK ON NORTHERN BRANCH
MANDATE: BREAK FEDERATION BLOCKADE
CLEARING USE OF STRONGEST SIEGE DESTROYERS
FLAGSHIP [Colossus] SPOTTED ON VECTOR TO STARPORT 2F
[Colossus] ETA TO PLANETARY ORBIT IN LESS THAN 2 HOURS
/
The commanders picked at this order all the way to starport 1C, trying to figure out whether High Command knew the GF ship composition or mobility, just how an entire planet could be put under blockade and generally trying to interpret which destroyers were cleared. "STRONGEST SIEGE DESTROYERS" was an ambiguous set.
As they entered the starport, the maintenance officer explained that only five destroyers were prepared to launch from 1C, but an adjacent port also had some destroyers ready for launch. As an alternative, 1C could simply launch all destroyers and one frigate, to speed things up. The maintenance officer left the commanders to choose which plan was better.
"I say we just take the frigate. There's really no use in waiting for an extra destroyer if it can't get into orbit in time to meet with the Colossus."
"I'm actually going to go to 1E to get another destroyer," Zerrul said. "It's not far enough away from here that transit will be a problem. The destroyer will provide a better chance to break through the Federation's formation."
"Well, if you want to go somewhere else, fine with us. Just don't be late or we're all screwed," the others warned him.
Zerrul took the direct transit to starport 1E, while the other five commanders on shift one started launching the destroyers in port 1C.
The Space Pirate military system was set up to allow the same commanders to lead in both army and navy operations. There were a bunch of ground battalions and astronaut crews founded just for certain positions and ships. The small group of commanders was used to lead a few sensitive patrols or important space missions, but these crews were trained to be able to run basic functions independently. This led to an idea of having ships on demand rather than having dedicated captains.
Starport 1C gathered the personnel for five destroyers and proceeded to launch within a few minutes. The ships were bound for orbital sector 4-4, where the vector of the Colossus passed into high orbit altitude of Urtraghus. Colossus had standing orders to engage any Federation vessel it encountered, and the destroyers were supposed to reach the blockade in time to provide support.
The maintenance officer of starport 1E asked, "What brings you here, Commander?"
"High Command put out an order to launch six destroyers to help the Colossus bypass a Federation blockade. Port 1C only had five."
"So you just came here thinking you'd take one of mine? I haven't received any notification that there was a blockade, for all I know you could be making that up."
"The blockade is very real, Officer. If the line from here to the Command Quarters have been fixed, you can go ahead and give them a call yourself. Ask them about the Federation blockade and their special orders regarding it."
"Warning, everyone, we've got ourselves a live badass over here. Alright, Commander, I'll call High Command." The maintenance officer opened the comm. line. There was chatter on the other side.
"The repair crews are much more responsive than that elusive Logistics Department. We'll have to see about making some staffing changes- Oh, the line to sp.1E is back! Officer of 1E, what is the issue?"
"I've got a commander here who's talking about a Federation blockade and says he needs to take one of my destroyers up to deal with it."
"What? Weren't there enough destroyers in 1C for this? How many commanders do we even have?"
"Sirs, I hate to be disrespectful, but I'm going to need a confirmation on this commander's need for a destroyer soon."
"So yeah, that order, how many commanders got that-? I think six were gathered in the meeting room when we gave it out, that's what the messenger said- Ah, right, why weren't there six destroyers in port 1C-? I think that's the port fitted for a battleship, and had to cut other stations. It has very few other ships- No, you're thinking of port 2A, 1C recently had some ships decommissioned for renovations. Among them was a destroyer. It just hasn't been reinstated yet- Oh really? Darn, we messed that one up. So one of the commanders took a train to 1E rather than just take a frigate up? Might as well clear it."
"So is he cleared to take a destroyer from here or not?"
"Yeah, the commander at your port is cleared to take a destroyer to support Colossus."
"Thank you." The officer closed the line. "Okay, Commander. Do what you must. I'll send a note to the crew about this. They should be ready in fifteen minutes."
"What was going on in High Command?"
"Lots of arguing. You didn't miss much. It seems that they can't keep track of their own orders, let alone external circumstances. I don't think they know what they're doing."
"So I'm not the only one who thinks that?"
"Oh, are you Zerrul? I read some of your opinions on them. It's amazing you haven't been announced as a traitor for those remarks."
"High Command is really good at being ignorant. It's very likely they haven't seen my papers, otherwise they would have noticed I'm a lot smarter than they are at solving problems."
"Commander, you might want to keep those kinds of claims to a minimum. Intelligence agents take bold statements very seriously."
"What makes you think High Command has any intelligence to have agents of? There's so little High Command can actually handle, anything I say is safe. I'm not entirely convinced they can stop me from doing anything either."
"Whatever you say, Commander."
Their conversation trailed off into silence, and soon the crew of the destroyer arrived. They immediately set to work, running diagnostics on every piece of the ship and testing every part they could safely.
In short time, everyone boarded and the destroyer was ready for launch.
I hope chapter length doesn't grow at this rate. I'm going to try to refrain from explaining anything with notes.