The Landfall Campaign (The Nameless War) (62 page)

The large screen behind the council table went blank and after a moment the light came back on. There were grim faces all around the chamber.

“
That went out on the major news networks thirty minutes ago,
”
President Clifton said, her voice tight with anger.
“
It
’
s already filtering across the internet, so we have to get ahead of this. There are one point one million people in Anshan. What is the fleet going to do?
”
she demanded.

“
I know this is not the answer anyone wants to hear,
”
Wingate said.
“
It
’
s not the answer I want to give but the fleet is in no position to do anything. We cannot lift the siege and as the general has made clear that is the only thing that would save Anshan.
”

“
Admiral, that
’
s not good enough!
”
Clifton shouted.
“
The Council has so far given Battle Fleet free rein in the operational control of this war. But this is not acceptable! We are not writing off hundreds of thousands of people as unavoidable casualties of war!
”

“
Madam President. General Xiaochuan gave a detailed list of his plans for his breakout, including timing. By now he has already made his attempt and has either succeeded or failed. Either way, it
’
s now too late to do anything. I am sorry if I sound callous…
”

“
The other two shelters are still intact, but by their own accounts coming under heavy pressure,
”
butted in the Russian President.
“
Do we intend to wait until it is
‘
too late
’
there as well?
”

“
Respectfully sir, right now we are only just holding the Junction Line. A convoy into Landfall would mean a major withdrawal of forces from those positions for an extended period.

“
Maybe so Admiral, but we have agreed to merging and a reduction of the forces on Aèllr frontier and Dryad station. Given that, we believe that an effort must be made.

To the left and right the rest of the Council sounded their agreement. Wingate tried to point out the military realities but instead lost ground. Finally Clifton called for a show of hands and with a sinking feeling Wingate watched as the motion to reinforce Landfall was unanimously passed.

Admiral Lewis looked up from the meeting minutes, his expression predictably grim.
“
So much for classified, sir,
”
Lewis said dryly.
“
Do we have any idea who leaked it to the media?
”

“
No and I doubt we
’
ll ever find out,
”
Wingate replied grimly.
“
It was either someone who got a big payday via a journalist or someone overwhelmed by their own sense of moral purity. I was coming under enough pressure from the Council as it was, but I was starting to make progress in persuading them to continue the blockade-runner policy as the only means of bringing in supplies to Landfall. But this, combined with the requests for a major resupply that we
’
ve received from both the remaining shelters, mean that politically an effort has become a necessity. I had hoped the fact that Dryad was held would be enough to satisfy them.
”

“
Given that the public at large didn
’
t really know how seriously the system was under threat in the first place, there wasn
’
t much hope of that.
”
Lewis paused as he continued to read the minutes.

“
You
’
re taking this more calmly than I expected,
”
Wingate observed as he sat down heavily.

“
I always thought that if we lost one or more of the shelters our political masters would be overwhelmed by that vice of their trade - the desperate need to be seen to be
‘
doing something
’
,
”
Lewis
’
s voice dripped sarcasm.
“
A couple of months ago my staff and I investigated the possibility of a convoy. It
’
s in the fleet mainframe under name the Project L Seven, Three, Nine.
”

“
We
’
ve been granted use of all the national military troop transports. Well actually I
’
ve been told to get them to Landfall.
”

Lewis closed his eyes for a few moments.
“
We couldn
’
t be sure of the exact ship composition of the convoy, transports or ours,
”
he said finally,
“
but all the troop transports are highly capable vessels. The rest are going to have to be equally capable. The key to success will be evasive plotting. If we can get the convoy to the Landfall System with little or no notice, then that will probably oblige the Nameless to pull mobile units off the Junction Line and station them closer to Landfall to prevent us from doing it again.
”

“
So L Seven, Three, Nine is an exercise that is more about taking pressure off Junction and Earth,
”
Wingate inquired,
“
than it is about landing supplies.
”

“
As I
’
ve said more than once, to attempt to defend everything means defending nothing.
”
Lewis
’
s face was expressionless.
“
We
’
re trying to save the human race, not every member of it.
”

“
You
’
re becoming more political in your old age, Paul.
”

“
It comes with the wrinkles and is about as welcome.
”

___________________

2
nd
July 2067

“
Confirmed orbital control, this is
Deimos
over and out,
”
Crowe replied before adding:
“
Helm, take us to our assigned position.
”

“
Yes sir,
”
the helmsman replied as
Deimos
moved into her assigned orbital position, slotted between two of Earth
’
s star forts.

“
It
’
s good to be back,
”
Command Hockley remarked as they started the changeover from the main to the orbital watch.
“
It
’
s been a long time since we were home.
”
Crowe gave him a slightly odd look before he remembered that for Battle Fleet anything over six months away from Earth was a long deployment. In Science Fleet anything less than nine months out was barely worth mentioning.

“
Do you think we
’
ll be able to get leave, sir?
”
Hockley continued.

“
Maybe for some of the younger crew and officers but I wouldn
’
t count on any general leave. I got the impression that we
’
re coming home for a definite purpose,
”
Crowe replied before pointing into the main holo.
“
There are a lot of ships here. There
’
s the Fifth Cruiser Squadron and the
Fortitude
. They were both at Hydra station the last I heard.
”

“
A lot of transports as well.
”
Hockley was looking again at the holo.
“
I wonder if we
’
re here for the legendary big push.
”

The mail from Earth that had reached them at Junction over the past few months had been full of speculation about a supposed great offensive that was to win the war. No one on the Junction Line gave it much credence.

“
I
’
d say the big something anyway,
”
Crowe said thoughtfully, before something caught his eye. It was a transponder code he
’
d know until his dying days - that of the
Mississippi
, still where they had parked her after that first clash with the Nameless, when the fleet decided she was beyond economic repair.

“
Mississippi
eh?
”
Hockley remarked looking at the holo.
“
I guess there hasn
’
t been a dockyard free yet to start pulling her apart.
”

“
No. I guess not,
”
Crowe replied after moment.
“
I
’
m sure they will eventually, or cannibalise her for parts.
”
Until then
Mississippi
would wait, like a corpse left unburied.

___________________

5
th
July 2067, Main Fleet Headquarters, Dublin, Earth

The main meeting chamber was awash with uniforms, mostly Battle Fleet as might have been expected but also a respectable number of personnel from the various national space forces and commercial shipping lines. There was a certain amount of mingling going on but people were mainly sticking to their own cliques. The briefing was supposed to have started ten minutes earlier but staff officers were still circulating, handing out the notes on storage cards.

“
Clearly not trusting any wireless network for this,
”
Crowe remarked as he plugged the card into his pad. The word
‘
LOCKED
’
appeared on his screen.

“
And we
’
re only going to look at this when they
’
re good and ready.
”

Crowe turned and found he was talking to no one. Lieutenant Shermer was speaking to someone on her intercom. As a Commodore he wasn
’
t entitled to a full time staff officer but he could bring one of his own officers as a temporary one. He
’
d decided to bring Shermer so she could take the chance to visit home. Even after all these months on
Deimos
she hadn
’
t thawed and privately, Crowe remained certain that anyone who seemed that much in control must be close to cracking. Finally she broke the connection and turned back to him.

“
I
’
m sorry sir,
”
she said,
“
a call from
Deimos
. Our new pilot has turned up.
”

“
Anyone you know?
”

Alanna shook her head.
“
No sir. Commander Hockley said he
’
s straight out of training, so a couple of years behind me.
”

“
Green as grass?
”

“
Yes sir,
”
Alanna shrugged,
“
to be expected. Experienced pilots are in short supply.
”

“
Yes,
”
Crowe replied. A week before
Deimos
headed for Earth they
’
d lost Pilot Officer Sinochem. A fragment of God knows what had smashed through his fighter
’
s cockpit and taken his left arm off just above the elbow. His survival suit saved his life and his weapons controller managed to limp the fighter back to
Deimos
. When he came round the normally depressive Sinochem had been delighted he
’
d beaten the odds. In a war where fighter pilots had one of the highest mortality rates of any Battle Fleet personnel, he had a wound that would take him back to Earth and all it had cost him was an arm. As a Commodore, it wasn
’
t an attitude that Crowe could exactly condone, but as he looked round the room, he could understand it. Here and there, there were officers wearing shiny new captain
’
s stripes he
’
d last seen as commanders and lieutenant commanders.