The holographic emitters lit up during McIntire's speech, at first displaying nothing. It took a few seconds for McKinley to step into the view, the man greeting the attendees with a few silent nods. His attire likely gave the former fleet admiral some peace of mind, as McKinley stole the honour of the most unkempt attendant of the meeting. An open jacket and some stubble, coupled with a plain mug of coffee and slightly messy hair, made for a little wild appearance for an admiral. He was by far the youngest member of the board, but at this pace, he soon wouldn't look like it.
He remained silent even when McIntire stopped talking, sipping from the cup while his eyes carefully scanned the tactical displays.
Michelle stepped into the room, nodding at the AI to begin downloading the proceedings thus far directly to her data pad. With the way the war had been going, it was rare they all got a chance to assemble for a meeting, so the AI has made a habit of bullet pointing the proceedings to catch those late members up.
As she moved round to her seat, she was already uploading her details to the table. They would find a similar breakdown of her data downloading to their own data pads. She waited for them to finish before standing herself.
Apologies for my lateness. I was in the area, but tied up with other matters you’ll all soon become aware of.
Back to the matters at hand, I have taken time to deal with my part in this. You’ll all have noticed the Valiant floating above New Westminster, and i’ve had the Coldstream and Grenadier guards readied to full strength, along with another full regiment called in in preparation for a ground assault. I’ve also had two regiments mobilised on Planet Cambridge to protect Her Majesty and the MP’s we extracted there.
Harlow is still stuck on the border, but i’ve had assets moved to Cambridge should we need to complete extraction, and can divert fighter wings to assist in New London. It’s certainly a higher priority than the border worlds right now.
I agree with what’s been said so far, our stand should be made in London’s orbit. We stand together, and show that what it truly means to be Bretonian.
She looked around at them before sitting back down
The door of Admiral Dagon's office slammed open without knocking. A currier, wheezing, having obviously run a certain distance at his top speed. He delivered an envelope on Dagon's desk, exposing himself to her inquisitive look, and leaned onto the desk to catch some air before explaining.
"Utterly urgent and top secret. Not for the neural net yet..."
Dagon knew what was inside. It would have lifted her a small smile because it was finally there, but Dagon was not a person to let every smile slip. No sound and no expression, she unsealed it. Inside was a report by Captain John Khatri.
Quote:To whom it may concern,
Please notify the New London stock market that food prices may rise this year due to the lack of sunlight caused by the Gallo-Corsair fleet of seven battlegroups that took position in New London orbit at 1415 Sirius Time. It includes the RNS Guillestre. The current Gallic positions are the following, from their left to right, facing towards New London from the direction of Southampton:
Two carrier battlegroups on their left: Le Cendre (Charlemagne) and Ambazac (Charlemagne).
Three dreadnought battlegroups in their centre: Guillestre (Richellieu), Dax (Conquerant; seems to be the spearhead), Nogent-le-Rotrou (Normandie).
One carrier battlegroup on their right: Castres (Charlemagne).
One pocket battleship battlegroup on the opposite side, behind and a bit above our forces: Athos (Murmillo).
Our defense fleet has reacted ad hoc and on time, and formed a perimeter. The positions are the following:
Right flank: McDuff and Ottawa.
Right flank reinforcements: Concord and Alma.
Centre: Suffolk, Gettysburg (currently the spearhead), Warwick.
Left flank: Essex.
The trade lane to Kensington has been cut in the middle. The improvised drydock has been destroyed, together with the Interdictor that was inside it. However, Isle of Sky has mounted a small drydock instead.
It is reported that the GRN has a new command centre near Southampton, but we do not know what it is yet. It could potentially be yet another Valor, ready to reinforce whichever flank it needs. We also still have no information whether Leeds is now undefended, after the Guillestre has joined the GRN fleet in New London.
I hope this situation will be resolved promptly, and I am willing to help. Sincerely speaking, I think the populace below would be made rather depressed if the Gallic fleet kept blocking the sunlight, having the already too frequent rainfalls in mind.
Signed: John Khatri
Captain
Bretonian Armed Forces
That was all that the messenger received as reply before leaving. Alone, she opened a wide channel to the Allied forces.
"The enemy is at the edge. All hands, execute Red-2. For Bretonia."
Her voice did not faltered, nor waived. Some would reminisce and say that was the voice of destiny in any given Saturday, talking about ordinary platitudes. Opening a closed comm to the Admiralty, Kaze continued.
"This is it. Nevermore we will bow. Nevermore we will await. It is our time, and nevermore it will be said we are weak. The meek however will be jealous of our spirit here displayed. I'll be with the 25th Luton, ZK. Zeeke if you so wish. The Essex will be under command of Cpt. Richard Alby. Godspeed and fair winds."
With those words, she closed the comm and pressed a button that executed a multitude of comms and commands. As the all green was displayed she felt unshackled. Minutes later as she signaled the all-ok at the bay chief and turned on the Marlin engines, she felt free.
"Unleash. "
She spoke to the squadron comm, a battle cry awaiting. And the reply came from the 40 snub wing. And the answer was an unisonous'Hell!' . The squadron motto was fitting as they departed to meet the biggest attack fleet ever assembled in Sirius.
"Two Five."
Kaze replied to the callback. Gripping the HOTAS, she looked at the enemy and grinned. She was the monster once again.
The table pinged, signaling an incoming transmission. A few moments later, the holographic projection of a young woman's head appeared. Her face was covered in scars, many of them seemed too old for their wearer. She began to speak in a heavy accent, that was usually spoken in the Border Worlds.
"This is Captain Y'berg. Task force Orion just arrived in the system, our ETA is 36 minutes. We've managed to gather a few ships, we've got six gunboats, a cruiser, battlecruisers Magnetar and Bombard, the Orion, and dreadnought Phalanx. We've also temporalily confiscated a Bustard class carrier, and filled it to the brim with bombers, and converted our tanker to a battering ram... if the need arises. We require deployment orders as soon as we arrived. Y'berg, out."
The transmission broke off, and new tactical information appeared on every ship that just arrived. Y'berg's flagship was old, but other than that it was fairly effective. By the looks of it, the support fleet consisted a few repair ships, and a pair of troop transports. As for where did she managed to gather her fleet, there were few answers.