A Small Colonial War (Ark Royal Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page B

“We believe, given the tramlines, that they will have placed the main body of their fleet in Vesy,” he continued.  “That would allow them to determine our approach vector and concentrate their fleet against us.  They would have pickets emplaced to watch for us, as well as human intelligence sources.  They’d have time to redeploy before we arrived in the war zone.  It is unlikely we could avoid a duel with their fleet.
     
    “We have several possible choices.  Variant One - Bulldog One - is to occupy their worlds and trade them for ours, although this would force us to deploy ground units to keep the local population under control.  This might allow us to avoid a major fleet clash, but I regard that as unlikely.  We believe the Indians will attempt to harass our forces on the ground while picking the time and place of a naval engagement.  Besides, in the long term, we would have to make some hard choices concerning the local populations.”
     
    He saw the Prime Minister frown and nodded in agreement.  Terra Nova had been settled by hundreds of ethnic and religious groups, back when no one had known just how many worlds there were for the taking, and it had been a complete disaster.  If Britain kept the Indian worlds, they would either have to remove the settlers or accept a permanent ethnic mishmash, which would probably lead to war.  And one round of the Troubles had been quite bad enough.
     
    “Bulldog Two calls for us to proceed up the tramlines to Vesy,” he said.  “That would probably allow us to dictate the time and place of the battle, as we would be neatly positioned to block any enemy passage between Pegasus, Cromwell and Gandhi.  However, the Indians would have plenty of time to prepare to meet us.  We would also face the problem of fighting for a system we don’t particularly want.”
     
    He tapped a switch, altering the starchart.  “The third and final choice - Bulldog Three - is to proceed directly to Pegasus and force a battle there.  That has a number of advantages; we’d be fighting for territory that is unquestionably ours, we’d be able to insert Special Forces onto the ground and our supply lines would be short.  Well, shorter.  Our logistics aren't going to be very good at the best of times.  The Indians would also have the option of choosing to withdraw, if they didn't want to force a battle themselves.  If they did, we would allow them to leave.”
     
    Murchison frowned.  “Do you think they’ll withdraw?”
     
    “There’s no way to know,” James said.  Diplomacy was outside his sphere of interest.  “They may be running a giant bluff, in which case they’ll back down when it’s called, or they may be serious about keeping what they’ve taken.  In that case, they will certainly have to fight at Pegasus.  They won’t have a choice.”
     
    “I see,” the Prime Minister said.  “Which option do you believe we should take?”
     
    “I would prefer to choose either Bulldog Two or Bulldog Three,” James said.  “In an ideal world, we would proceed up the tramlines to Hannibal” - he tapped a star on the chart - “while deploying fast frigates or cruisers to spy out the terrain.  At that point, the task force would either head to Vesy or Pegasus, depending on the Indian deployments.  Bulldog One offers the least risk , but also the least potential gains.  The Indian industries are effectively off-limits.
     
    “Task Force Bulldog would be built around the Theodore Smith ” - he couldn't help a twinge of pain at the ship’s name - “and a hard core of escort carriers, destroyers and frigates.  It would proceed to Hannibal, then advance onwards; ideally, we would attempt to tackle the Indian carriers separately.  Both of their carriers are modern ships, after all; I’d prefer not to risk one of the pre-war carriers against them.  The objective would be to secure Pegasus, land troops, recover the colony and then proceed to either