Federation Reborn 1: Battle Lines (29 page)

“Apparently not.” Amadeus replied with a sour expression. Up until the convoy had arrived, the marines on the ground had been holding their three fire bases. But General Busche was good; she knew she had numbers on her side. She had used guerrilla tactics to attrition the marines, hitting them with snipers or IEDs until they stopped performing patrols outside the support zone around the firebases. They were down to five short squads of marines and seven squads of volunteer militia. Nearly half of the units were walking wounded. The militia was equipped with borrowed weapons or hunting rifles.

That was expected to change with the arrival of the most recent convoy. Unfortunately Captain White Wolf had her own ideas on what forces were needed in Protodon. She had transmitted her intentions of sending in a mixed force. A mixed force of trained marines and volunteer militia from Kathy's World to thicken up their force. The bulk of her forces would remain in her star system to be trained and transported to Agnosta. They didn't have any mecha or support equipment however and had minimum weapons and training.

“What were they thinking?” Amadeus demanded. Jojo looked at him blankly. He waved a hand. “I mean this. They are expecting that force to … to take the planet? If a platoon of marines with mech support and orbital support couldn't …,” he shook his head in disgust.

“I understand Gunnery Sergeant McClintock is in the force, sir. He's a force to be reckoned with in his own right,” the lieutenant replied, checking her tablet again. She'd recognized his name as the senior noncom in the convoy. He was also the senior noncom in the star system. “Or he will be when he gets here,” she said with a grimace.

“McClintock? One man?”

“A Neo actually, sir. Neocat. Panther, black jaguar. He's Marine Recon, sir. A good one. He was in the initial expeditionary force to Agnosta a while back. He's from F Platoon, sir.” When the admiral stared at her, she shrugged.

“F platoon is already a legend, sir. They are total bad asses. They were trained by some hard-ass DI Neodoberman named Schultz and kept training. They aced their graduation exercises. Hell week," she said eying him. He nodded. "Many of them are in Recon or Raiders. Most are noncoms or officers now. Captain Valenko was their platoon leader in boot. Valenko's squad, where McClintock came from, was known as the devil incarnate to the marines. They couldn't be beat, even when his squad was up against a
battalion
." The Admiral looked at her dubiously. She nodded, cold sober. "You can check the records, sir. They are
that
good. They don't have an ounce of quit in them, sir.”

“Ah,” the admiral murmured thoughtfully. Why didn't he have some then he wondered. Did he and not know it?

“I saw the gunny briefly. He's a black cat, a damn scary one, sir. A black jaguar. He's got some wicked armor he used in the battle of Antigua and then in the mop up of B101a1.” Jojo shrugged. “That was after his stint as a drill instructor at the Agnosta boot camp.”

“I was going to ask why he was out here,” the admiral said, nodding. “That explains it. He's on what, some sort of recruiting mission?”

“I guess so, sir. You can check with higher,” she suggested.

“Thanks, I'll do that,” Amadeus replied. He called up the gunny's record and noted his decorations and history. There were classified portions to the Neopanther's bio as well, some that made him even more curious.

---<>---<>---

“Jethro? Are you asking about Jethro or Bast?” Admiral Irons asked when Amadeus called him the following morning.

“Bast, sir?” Amadeus asked, now lost.

“Bast is Jethro's AI.”

Amadeus frowned. He had someone with a personal AI in his AO? They were being underutilized then! Why did the marines have him? He pulled up the gunny's record and looked at it once more. “Sir? That's not in his record," he said slowly. He noted someone had recently uploaded a change in dependents. Apparently the Gunnery Sergeant had recently married in Kathy's World without clearing it with navy administration. The file said he had cleared it with his superior officer however.

“Sir? That's not in his record,” he repeated when John didn't reply.

“That's because it's classified,” Sprite stated in a separate text line. “Hint, hint,” she sent to Admiral Irons.

“Point. But he needs to know. I'm clearing him,” the admiral stated for her benefit. “Amadeus, this is classified for your eyes and ears only. Jethro McClintock is a descendant of Tobias McClintock. Tobias was a cadre member and a member of the Black Cats.”

Amadeus read that statement, read it again, and then made an O face. It finally all fit. He didn't know a lot about Cadre, but he knew enough to be impressed. He'd heard of the Black Cats too. They were legends even before the Xeno war.

“Bast is his AI and the AI of his suit, which is also from Tobias. Both are classified. I'm not going to go into details; you wouldn't understand it all anyway. And we don't have the bandwidth. But suffice to say, he's a one-cat army.”

“I see, sir.” Amadeus nodded thoughtfully. That explained why Valenko's squad had been so feared.

“Good. Use him wisely. He has a security issue as well. Recently we found out that certain criminal elements still exist. They have put a hit out on him. Make sure he gets the proper security he needs while he is in your AO. He will not be there for long.”

“So I better get as much use out of him as I can. Understood, sir.”

“Give him his head and he'll blow the opposition away. Literally. He's damn good.”

“Yes, sir. The marines and civilians on the ground could use the support.

“They'll get it.”

“Yes, sir. Protodon clear.”

“Antigua clear.”

---<>---<>---

Eight weeks after the courier went to Kathy's World to whistle up help, the small marine convoy arrived in the star system. The frigate
Farragut
transmitted their IFF as well as an update on his ship's status. The Veraxin First Lieutenant C'lax was her skipper. He seemed grateful to see TF 22. “We still have some damage, sir. And we had to leave
Rose
behind,” he stated in a whisker laser to the flagship. “I thought Lieutenant JG Truex had abandoned us when he took off. But his attack on the enemy's shipping with
Tweedle Dee
made the destroyers back off. It was one of two factors that saved us, sir. I wish to commend the lieutenant and withdraw my demand for his court-martial.”

“Okay,” the admiral stated when he heard that report. “I look forward to hearing your full report.” He shook his head. “I think,” he said to himself.

When he did get the full report, he whistled softly. They were lucky to be alive. Two
Nelson
class destroyers had been escorting a pair of large freighters through the star system and had arrived just as the convoy had entered the system from the opposing jump point. The
Clydesdale
class freighter turned militia ship
CF-1701
in the star system had managed to avoid the pirates, but she had burned through a lot of her fuel to do it.

The
Apollo
class corvette
Tweedle Dee
had also been forced to avoid action. The two warships had outgunned the two frigates and two corvettes that had been sent in as convoy escorts to the transports and collier.

Despite enemy jamming
Tweedle Dee
had gotten off a warning to the convoy, but it had been too late for the ships to turn around and escape.
Rose
and her division mate
Farragut
as well as one of the corvettes
Lisbon
had put up a valiant defense of their principles as they tried to run. Unfortunately, the drive damage
Lisbon
had sustained had doomed the corvette and her crew.

Lisbon
had gone down swinging, crippling one of the
Nelson's
port weapons before they'd torn her apart. Amadeus signed off on Lieutenant C'lax's medal requests for the corvette's crew.

Rose
had taken some damage that had killed her captain. Captain C'lax on
Farragut
had assumed command of the convoy, but all seemed lost when
Captain's Lady
, and what a name that was, made a run on the enemy's shipping. Apparently Captain Truex had deduced that the enemy shipping was important.
Tweedle Dee
had joined her from another flank for the run despite being low on fuel. Those colliers were important enough to draw the
Nelsons
off from pinning the frigates and destroying them like they had the corvette
Lisbon
.

Captain Truex's run had been risky, but it had forced the
Nelsons
to divide their efforts. A lucky shot from
Farragut
had taken out a couple of the port weapon mounts of the second
Nelson
forcing her to roll ship and go on the defense. After that the enemy ships had rendezvoused and departed the star system.

According to the bug's report, he'd expected the enemy ships to escort the freighters to the jump point then come back in. Instead they had jumped for B-452C. He shook his head in wonder.

“They were lucky.”

“Yes, sir. Did you notice the contribution from Gunny McClintock?” Jojo asked.

“That name again …,” the admiral frowned, tapping his lips with his index finger.

“I mentioned him before, sir.” Jojo leaned over his shoulder and scrolled to the appropriate paragraph and highlighted it. The admiral frowned as he read it.

Apparently during the battle, the gunny had taken his armor and a flight pack over to the wounded
Nelson
in a desperate bid to distract her. He had gotten through the ship's shields and tore her hull up before getting inside. He'd uploaded viruses and had been busy tearing the ship and crew apart from the inside when the
Idiot's Array's
surviving crew had set off her self-destruct package. It had been a bluff to get the cat off their ship, but it had worked.

Amadeus nodded slowly. The gunny was the
real
reason the ship had withdrawn though it was apparent that the Veraxin captain wasn't willing to admit it.

“He scared the piss out of them I bet. That's why they set off the self-destruct. But he didn't stay to try to shut it down. I can't blame him for not risking it, sir,” Jojo said.

The admiral shook his head. To have done that stunt …. “He's insane.”

Jojo looked at him. “It worked, sir,” she said with a shrug. He glanced at her and away.

“So it did.”

“I think he earned a commendation. As did Captain ... oh hell, Lieutenant D'lif'ther? That bug had been in charge of
Rose
?” Jojo sniffled. She scrubbed at her suddenly sad face.

“A problem, Lieutenant?”

“A classmate, sir,” Jojo replied, dashing tears. “It said he died on
Rose
, sir.”

“Ah,” the admiral said. “My sympathies,” he said awkwardly. He decided to give her a moment to regain her composure.

---<>---<>---

News of the battle had already hit the ansible network when the courier had returned to Protodon with the advanced warning. The full report was transmitted to Antigua at the end of the day.

“One ship lost. It could have been worse I suppose,” Sprite said, gauging his reaction. She no longer had access to his internals, so she couldn't read him like before. That was another point of frustration for her.

“True.”

“Losing D'lif'ther sucks,” Captain Vargess stated. “Truex …,” he frowned and then shrugged. He shook his head.

“A medal or a mast? Definitely a medal for Captain D'lif'ther and the others who died. I'll give notice to the fleet times to update them for the obits.”

“And the battle?”

“Yes. Are we going to do hot washes on all the battles? Or are you going to give JAG their head to do their paperwork? The full investigation?”

“If we have time, we can ship more JAG personnel in to do a captain's review of each battle. But I don't want witch hunts. We can't afford it. Get me a list of who deserves a medal and who needs work. Also, a list on who Amadeus recommends for promotion.”

“You know he's still sore about losing Meia.”

“He'll get over it.”

“He's not losing her for long, I take it?” Captain Vargess asked.

“No.” The admiral shook his head.

“And you're serious about having that EC do her working-up exercises on her way to Protodon? That's a hell of a risk,” the captain stated.