Federation Reborn 1: Battle Lines Read Online Free PDF Page A
Author: Chris Hechtl
at least forty-eight hours, to unload once they were in orbit. The convoy ships would then be refueled and reloaded with returning freight and passengers and then sent on out once more.
Admiral Subert, six precious ansible cores, along with all the material destined for the Pyrax shipyard and ships were destined for Pyrax. Ships like Tris and 779 made regular runs between Pyrax and Agonsta, but they could only carry so much per load. The loads had to be prioritized for shipment. Some things like drives and reactors had priority over others. It was a given that the admiral and the ansibles would be on the first flight.
Admiral Subert had two members on his staff. He was lucky; both were sleepers. Amadeus didn't have any or so he'd heard. Saul was shaping up well. Ensign, no, Lieutenant Junior Grade Roman Taylor—the young man was one of two doctors in the sleepers. He was good, though the admiral was fairly confident the gangly man would come into his own once they were in Pyrax. For the time being, he left the lad alone to his “research.”
He'd tried to get his hands on newly promoted Lieutenant Commander Yan Li Wong. The raven was a genius with ships; he'd be a great asset running the yard. But John had been adamant; the raven had been immured in Antigua digging into the problems with the downloads from Lemnos while also helping Commander Sindri with the yard expansion projects. He shook his head. He knew he couldn't have his way all the time but that sucked.
Phil wasn't certain of Lieutenant Colonel Forth. He was a character, of that he was certain. A quiet man, but apparently the jarheads worshiped him. They'd had a bit of friction over ansible discussions. Nothing major, but enough to let the visiting flag officer know that the colonel was both stubborn and used to seeing things his way.
He wasn't too keen about how presumptive some of the officers were. Some like Forth hadn't been trained; hell, they hadn't gone to an academy, college ... he shook his head. But John was right; it was a chicken and the egg sort of thing. He'd needed officers and noncoms to train the following generation. They had caught up or so he said. Phil wasn't so sure. He had noted a lot of point failures in some of the people John had so much faith in. It was time someone did something about it, which was what he intended once he got to Pyrax and took over.
It bothered him that a jumped-up yeoman and engineering tech was a captain in charge of the yard and the entire star system. What had John been thinking? He shook his head.
One of the first things he did once they were off the jump point and in transit across the system was to order one corvette to go to B-452C, strip the satellites there and remain on station in the empty crossroads system until the next convoy passed through. They would return after two months and be replaced by another ship. The picket commander was not happy about the orders, but she took on fuel and stores and then moved out within an hour of receiving them.
Admiral Subert made certain the lieutenant, nor others, called Admiral Irons behind his back to complain or try to jump his command. Once the corvette was gone, he returned to the anticipated tour of the facilities.
The naval base in orbit was simple, a complex of warehouses and housing facilities to handle the load of people and material passing through the star system. Warehouse stations were under construction at the B-452C jump point, but they had only just been started. Once they were up and running along with a tank farm convoy, ships would be able to make the turnaround right on the jump point, unload and reload in a day, and then return to B-452C.
Shipping the material that way was a bit of a pain; after all, they had to load and unload in Agnosta. They also had a bit of a bottleneck with the ships coming and going from Pyrax to Agnosta. Apparently Captain Logan had gotten a leg up on the process by stockpiling material in Agnosta's orbital
Admiral Subert, six precious ansible cores, along with all the material destined for the Pyrax shipyard and ships were destined for Pyrax. Ships like Tris and 779 made regular runs between Pyrax and Agonsta, but they could only carry so much per load. The loads had to be prioritized for shipment. Some things like drives and reactors had priority over others. It was a given that the admiral and the ansibles would be on the first flight.
Admiral Subert had two members on his staff. He was lucky; both were sleepers. Amadeus didn't have any or so he'd heard. Saul was shaping up well. Ensign, no, Lieutenant Junior Grade Roman Taylor—the young man was one of two doctors in the sleepers. He was good, though the admiral was fairly confident the gangly man would come into his own once they were in Pyrax. For the time being, he left the lad alone to his “research.”
He'd tried to get his hands on newly promoted Lieutenant Commander Yan Li Wong. The raven was a genius with ships; he'd be a great asset running the yard. But John had been adamant; the raven had been immured in Antigua digging into the problems with the downloads from Lemnos while also helping Commander Sindri with the yard expansion projects. He shook his head. He knew he couldn't have his way all the time but that sucked.
Phil wasn't certain of Lieutenant Colonel Forth. He was a character, of that he was certain. A quiet man, but apparently the jarheads worshiped him. They'd had a bit of friction over ansible discussions. Nothing major, but enough to let the visiting flag officer know that the colonel was both stubborn and used to seeing things his way.
He wasn't too keen about how presumptive some of the officers were. Some like Forth hadn't been trained; hell, they hadn't gone to an academy, college ... he shook his head. But John was right; it was a chicken and the egg sort of thing. He'd needed officers and noncoms to train the following generation. They had caught up or so he said. Phil wasn't so sure. He had noted a lot of point failures in some of the people John had so much faith in. It was time someone did something about it, which was what he intended once he got to Pyrax and took over.
It bothered him that a jumped-up yeoman and engineering tech was a captain in charge of the yard and the entire star system. What had John been thinking? He shook his head.
One of the first things he did once they were off the jump point and in transit across the system was to order one corvette to go to B-452C, strip the satellites there and remain on station in the empty crossroads system until the next convoy passed through. They would return after two months and be replaced by another ship. The picket commander was not happy about the orders, but she took on fuel and stores and then moved out within an hour of receiving them.
Admiral Subert made certain the lieutenant, nor others, called Admiral Irons behind his back to complain or try to jump his command. Once the corvette was gone, he returned to the anticipated tour of the facilities.
The naval base in orbit was simple, a complex of warehouses and housing facilities to handle the load of people and material passing through the star system. Warehouse stations were under construction at the B-452C jump point, but they had only just been started. Once they were up and running along with a tank farm convoy, ships would be able to make the turnaround right on the jump point, unload and reload in a day, and then return to B-452C.
Shipping the material that way was a bit of a pain; after all, they had to load and unload in Agnosta. They also had a bit of a bottleneck with the ships coming and going from Pyrax to Agnosta. Apparently Captain Logan had gotten a leg up on the process by stockpiling material in Agnosta's orbital