Here is the next chapter. This is my third posting for three different stories. It may be a bit for the next chapter as I have a lot going on at the moment.
Rick looked out the right side of his canopy. His squadron was flying CAP around the SDF-1 as it rises into space.
Thinking back to the meeting they had with Admiral Hayes. He was honest with Roy when he told him that the better qualified CAGs would be Rick. Rick was about to speak but Roy did first. When he told the Admiral he was right. If it was not for Rick that their readiness would not be where it is now. He even saw it during the last training mission. It was Rick that got them the win.
Admiral Hayes just smiled and thanked Roy for his honesty. He told him that Roy had earned himself the position and did not want to promote Rick over Roy and replacing Roy as CAG. What the Admiral wanted to do was promote Roy to fleet Air Boss over all five airwings. Beside the SDF-1 the 4 Heavey cruisers would have 3 squadrons a piece for the moment. The plan would be to bring the SDF-1's airwing up to 8 squadrons and the cruiser's up to 4 a peace before the SDF-1 left for deep space.
He told both Rick and Roy that he was going to transfer three squadrons from the Enterprise and three from RDF headquarters. The problem was a couple senators on the council were not for it. While the decision was ultimately his he wanted to make sure the council had a right to voice their opinion. He needed the council to support what he asked for to keep a good relation between the RDF and the civilian body that over saw the RDF.
Both understood where he was coming from. Roy had accepted to promotion to Captain. Even though Rick had not been promoted to Lt. Commander not that long ago, Admiral Hayes waved the time limit for Rick to get another promotion so he could take the CAG position and be an even rank as the other CAG's in the fleet.
Rick was brought out of his thoughts as the sky turned to black as the left Earth's atmosphere and entered space. The SDF-1 kept gaining altitude till it was merged with its escort fleet that left enough room for the SDF-1 space to fall into formation with the other ships. The cruisers formed a inter circle and the destroyers on outer circle around the SDF-1.
While Rick's squadron stayed close to the SDF-1, the squadron from one of the cruisers flew just outside the destroyers. That would be the standing patrol. Though Roy was planning on reducing the number of fighters on CAP at a time unless they got the additional squadron. If they did, he plans on keeping two squadrons on CAP at a time. They would rotate the cats-eyes between the airwings to fly just outside the destroyers to give the fleet a greater range.
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Lisa was checking her scope once they joined the fleet to verify both squadrons were on station. "Admiral, all fighters on station."
"Thanks Lisa, Claudia set course for Lunar orbit. Transmit course and speed to the rest of the fleet. Dr. Lang once we are on station I want a full diagnosis of the ships systems to make sure nothing happened during take-off."
Both Claudia and Dr. Lang acknowledged the orders.
"Keep me RDF headquarters." a few minutes later Admiral Hayes appeared on the main monitor on the bridge.
"Henery, I see you reached orbit any issues?" asked the Admiral.
"None as of now. Dr. Lang is having systems checked to make sure everything is working. We expect to be on station in a few minutes then we will start fleet wide drills before moving to test the ships fold drives and weapon systems."
"Very well. I was able to get you those 6 additional squadrons. They will join up with you in three days. I'm also transferring 4 light cruisers that just finished workups to your fleet. The workups were completed earlier than expected." Hayes informed Gloval.
"Thank you, sir. I will have Commander Hayes inform both Captain Fokker and Commander Hunter of the new squadrons and change fleet formation to allow the new cruisers to join up. When will they be joining up?"
"Not for another week. The crews are getting a few days off to reward them for their hard work. The ships will join up before you test your fold drives and weapon systems. Good luck Henery." with that the transition ended.
"OK, everyone let's get working." Gloval told everyone.
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After two days of checking all the systems onboard the SDF-1 and giving the Airwing a chance to get a routine going Admiral Gloval had his first fleet commanders meeting. It would consist of all the ships Captains which included newly promoted Captain O'Conner who was the ships new captain. A Commander Martinez would take the XO position. He was transferred from the Enterprise. He was the carrier's operations officer till his promotion.
Along with the Ship's captain were the five CAGs in the fleet and Roy as the Fleet Air Boss. Lisa as the most senior flight control officer in the fleet. Dr. Lang and all the ships senior engineers were also present.
Admiral Gloval entered the briefing room and everyone stood before Gloval waved them to sit back down. "Good afternoon ladies and Gentlemen. This is our first meeting so I would like everyone to introduce yourselves." He had all the ships captains go first then he had Lisa introduce herself.
"I'M Commander Lisa Hayes, Senior Flight operations officer in the fleet." Lisa sat down before Roy stood.
"I'm Captain Roy Fokker Fleet Air Boss. All airwings report to me." When Roy sat down the cruiser CAGs introduced themselves before Rick did.
When Rick finished Admiral Gloval address the room. "I have also asked Commander Hunter to oversee the training of the fleets fighter squadron. While it will be up to each CAG to see that it it is done Rick will dictate what training that needs to be done. For those who might question his qualifications, let me assure you he is qualified. He wrote the book that the RDF Air Training Center uses for Advance Combat Training. Now let's move on."
The meeting lasted a few hours. Gloval said he did not plan on them meeting but once in a month if needed or if something major happens. He did add that when the four knew light cruisers joined the fleet they would meet again.
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As promised the new squadrons joined up and Rick and the other CAGs started integrating them into the rotation for CAP. Rick did get Roy to change the SDF-1's CAP rotation to just half a squadron flying at a time. Rick pointed out that the four cruisers fielded 16 squadrons to his eight. The SDF-1's squadrons only needed three flights since they were flying next to the SDF-1 and had a smaller area to cover.
The four light cruisers joined up a week after the SDF-1 launched. With the new ships the SDF-1's fleet matched up to the Enterprises fleet. A second carrier battle group was under construction and was supposed to be done in the next year. With a four-month work-up before it was supposed to be combat ready.
Of course, everyone that knew about the Zentredi showed up that things would change. As soon as they showed Admiral Hayes would request additional funds so that the third fleet could be completed early. Increasing the earths fleets from 2 to 3 as earliest as 4 months earlier.
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It had been two weeks since the SDF-1 launched. The SDF-1 and her fleet completed their fold drive test by folding to the edge of their galaxy and then tested their weapons. Once all the tests were completed, they did some fleet maneuvers to get all the ships use to coordinating ship movements. The airwings did joint training missions to get all the pilots use to working together. It was a tiring week but well worth it. The fleet had returned two days previously and had been taking on supplies from Earth before starting their patrol around the galaxy.
Once they the fleet returned to Earth Admiral Gloval had another fleet commander meeting to discuss the upcoming patrol and to hear from each captain on their ships performance and what they felt still needed to be improved. He also had Dr. Lang and the other senior engineers report on any issues with the ships. Once the meeting was done Gloval lead them to his private dining room so they could all relax and get to know one another in a less formal manner. Gloval knew they would all have to trust each other if they were to survive what was coming.
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Admiral Hayes was in the RDF's Command Center when a radar operator yelled out a space fold. "Admiral space fold detected in sector 33.5 well outside the lunar orbit."
Hayes called out for the area to be brought up on the main screen and he wanted both fleet Admirals on the secondary screens.
Five minutes later both Gloval and Avery were on screen. "Gentlemen as you can see, we have a large fleet that has just folded outside the lunar orbit. Henery, are you finished taking on supplies?"
Gloval looked towards Lisa asking her then turned back towards the screen. "Yes, Admiral we took on the last of the supplies about 20 minutes ago."
"Good Admiral Avery, I want you to bring your fleet around the planet and position it between the moon and the alien fleet. Admiral Gloval take your fleet to high Earth orbit. Position your fleet between the alien fleet and Earth. I want both fleets in position in 30 minutes and make sure you are close enough to support the other."
Both Admirals acknowledge their orders before ending the transmissions.
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Commander Breetai was in his command blister when the fleet came out of fold. They were outside the 3rd planets moon orbit a far bit as to not fold to close to the any objects that may be near the planet or its moon. "Report."
Exedore his most trusted adviser reported "Commander we are detecting 2 fleets around the third planet. Both are maneuvering towards us. Both fleets have 19 ships a piece. We also detect several fighters around the fleets with more launching."
"Hold position." commanded Breetai. "Recommendations."
"The finder beam says this is where Zor's battle fortress fled too. We are also detecting other indications of multiple folds around the planet just past the moon's orbit. We have no way of knowing if Zor's ship is still here. We could send in a few scout ships to see if they can get a better scan of the planet. We detect at least two large ships. One with each fleet. One bigger than the other. That one could be Zor's ship. The profile is different, but the inhabitants of the planet could have repaired the ship and changed it to fit their needs."
"Very well send 2 scout ships to get a better visual on the two larger ships and see if they can get a clear scan of the planet.
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Rick was in his fighter just above the bridge. He looked around at the fleet as it maneuvered to it assigned are. He was not sure what would happen Dr. Lang said there was still a good chance the trojan horse program that Zor implanted to still cause the main gun on the SDF-1 to fire. Even if they did reconfigure the whole system. He just hopes things turned out better this time. If the SDF-1 didn't fire he was not sure what Breetia would do. He knew the Zentraedi commander was forbidden from contacting micronians. Would he still attack and if he did how many ships would he send. Breetia was never one to waste the lives of his men.
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Dr. Lang watched the readings on the system. He was hoping the Main gun would not fire. He told Admiral Hayes and Rick, he believed it would, but he was hoping for the best. He had spent the last couple months after his and Admiral Hayes meeting with Rick before Rick headed to the SDF-1 working on the problem. He thinks he found the issue but didn't say anything to anyone yet because he was not sure.
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Admiral Gloval went to CIC after he talked with Admiral Hayes. Captain O'Conner took over the bridge as his right as the master of the ship.
He was watching the tactical display that showed both Earth fleets plus the Alien fleet.
"Admiral two smaller ships heading this way." called out the radar operator in CIC. Not that Gloval could not see himself. Now they just waited.
OK, the next chapter we will see if the SDF-1 fires its main gun or not and what Breetai does. The SDF-1 will also be starting its journy of playing cat and mouse with the Zintraedi fleet.