[El_Phil]

I'd like to thank everyone who's posted and I'm really happy your all enjoying it. Since I started this I've gotten a much better idea about how important praise is to a writer. I delayed replying until I could thank you all in the best way, with the next chapter!


"Do you wish to see the world? Go to the airport - or the optician." - LAT
2402.0
Jamie Bell wasn't a happy man. In fact Jamie was seriously considering a complete change of life after six months on Gobi. The mining complex was complete, from the vast polymetallic block caving operations on the northern continent to the deep level precious metal mines where he worked and Gobi should have become a bustling exciting place to live. Which it had, up to a point. Sure Gobi was exciting, but it was a repetitive excitement. Saturday nights here were some of the wildest in the Republic, but nothing new ever happened. Same people, same pubs, same cycle: work your shift pattern, get really drunk any chance you got and chase after the waitresses at the bar. No changes, nothing new, no challenges. 'Time to face facts Jamie boy, you need a change of scene and a change of career' he thought to himself.

The scientists on Hope lived a life opposite to the miners on Gobi, here it was all new and all mental not physical. The latest fruits of their labour was the 3rd Generation of Depleted Uranium Cannon, the first weapon system to developed on a colony. This latest incarnation had the design bureau really interested, sure the range was still short compared to missiles, but the damage was comparable to the original Hellstorms and the rate of fire was impressive. There was definite potential there.

If Jamie had been tempted by the life of a researcher he could have done worse than head out to the Styris system and head for the Haven or Camden colonies. Those worlds, the two newest, were both founded as research colonies, with Haven attracting those of a biological bent with its abundant local life forms. Jamie's bosses however would have liked him to go to Camden, as a miner not a researcher though. Camden was almost as rich as Gobi in mineral resources, but El Presidente had decreed that with the large mineral surplus research to catch the Jraenar's lead was more important than mining. However Jamie had choosen neither of these.

Captain Vickers looked over her ship. 'Looks pretty similar, still looks are decieving.' Lively had finished her refit and now sported the latest Hellstorm Mod 1 missiles. Vickers reflected on the status of the war, it had kind of stalled with no enemy ships to attack, not that Vickers was complaining. The last thing she wanted was to be ordered to attack the Jraenar colonies from orbit when she returned to the front, although she feared it might come to that unless something changed.

Whilst Vickers was worrying over the future, Sword was taking a step into the future. Not that her Captain was entirely happy with that. Captain Collins had so far always been operating under orders, either from the Admiralty or from Captain Delap, commander of Task Force One. Now he was being sent to 'Explore the next warp point and assess any enemy force concentrations or colonies. Engage any targets of opportunity without endangering your ship.' Collins wasn't happy with his orders on many levels. For starters being on his own when transiting the warp point wasn't exactly comforting, as there were still three Jraenar frigates unaccounted for in that system. Then there was the mystery of how to engage a target without endangering his ship, as even Jraenar colony ships tried to ram ships then surely attacking them was endangering his ship as they might succeed. Collins forced the thoughts from his mind, they were about to transit the warp point and he had to stay focused.

The Ministry of Defence decided to take a risk and authorise the construction of the second Leander class, even though the first had not been completed. It was felt that the risk was minimal, given that the design was an evolution not a revolution. Thus the Hope yards started work on that project while Ocelot worked on a new transport to replace Gold Rover which was being transferred to troop transport, even if her commander didn’t know it yet.

"Sensors coming back online, nothing within four sectors, five, six.. Enemy contact at seven sectors, matches the pattern of a Bolivar class." Lieutenant Harding reported from the sensor suite
"Any additional contacts out there?"
"Yes captain, I'm reading two inhabited planets and a Jraenar colony ship in orbit of the eighth planet. It appears to be on final approach for a landing, I’d say she's colonising that planet."
"Has the Bolivar reacted yet?" Captain Collins asked
"A slight peak in energy readings but she hasn’t moved yet."
"Can we intercept the colony ship before she colonises the planet?"
"No sir, we're several days away even at constant full power." His first officer replied promptly after checking the numbers
"So she's off limits then." Collins wondered at the fine distinction the Admiralty had drawn, colonies weren't to be attacked but colony ships were fair game. 'If this war starts going badly that'll be the first rule of engagement to get changed.' He thought.

2402.1
Commander Mark Eaden was a lucky guy and he knew it. By rights Leander should have been given to the most senior operational officer in the fleet, but there was a war on so there was no time to wait for Captain Delap to get back from the front. So Javelin remained as the formal fleet flagship and technically Leander was just on a transfer mission with Eaden as temporary commander. But as Eaden knew temporary commands had a way of becoming permanent if something came up.

Commander Linton was also feeling lucky as she approached the warp point, she'd find something she could feel it in her bones. This time she was right, Loki had entered the Cretirk system which was found to contain an oxygen atmosphere planet which could serve as a jumping off point for further exploration. However with her supplies running low Linton ordered Loki back for refuel after the scans were complete

Just to balance out all the good news spreading throughout the fleet Red Rover was launched in the middle of the month, with a very pissed off captain. Once again the Admiralty hadn’t actually told him that his new command was a transport vessel that was going to be seconded to the Ministry for Colonial Affairs. This translated to hauling colonists, sensitive materials and anything that couldn’t be trusted to civilian freighters.

El Presidente’s weekly military briefing had been growing in importance for the last few months; in fact it was the Vice Presidente Sheldon’s opinion that they were more important in deciding Ocelot's future than the council meeting. With that thought she sat back to listen to Admiral Watson’s summary.
“The switchover in Logistics command has gone smoothly, Gold Rover has been rerouted to collect the 3rd Wessex from their manoeuvres and Red Rover is taking over her old duties. The big issue is command and control down in Balosnee, it’s not flexible enough and can’t respond quickly to changes.”
“I take it you have a proposed solution in mind Admiral.” Marks replied
“Naturally, the Admiralty would like to promote Captain Delap to Commodore and give him command of all ships past Cignus, except for those on specific missions.”
“So why don’t you? Promotions in the forces aren’t political decisions.” Sheldon interjected
“Promotions have to be run past the Ministry of Defence, normally they just rubber stamp these decisions. In this case they refused.” Watson replied
“Did they give any reason?” Marks asked
“There is concern in the Ministry that he’s a too keen on chasing down Jraenar colony ships. It was also his ship that destroyed the Jraenar transport around their home world.”
Marks remember that, it had been a near run thing politically. Destroying a colony ship that was trying to ram your ship was one thing, a transport ship with 300 million people on it was quite another. Now Delap had tried to get their surrender, but still it hadn’t been fun. Especially when one of the networks had pointed out that the total colonial population was barely 200 million.
“I take it your not concerned then Admiral?”
“Javelin did suffer casualties when it engaged the Jraenar sir. That crew had been training together for months so he knew them all personally.” Watson replied
‘So he’s going to want some vengeance.’ Sheldon interpreted the un-spoken subtext to herself.
“It’s an operational decision Admiral; if you’re sure about Delap I’ll have a word with the Minister for Defence about getting approval.”
‘Your decision, but if Delap goes crazy then I’ll hold you responsible.’ Sheldon had no trouble picking up Marks implicit message. From Admiral Watson's face reaction neither had he.

The newly promoted Commodore Delap looked at the system map and briefing from naval intelligence deep in thought. The system looked secure, that single Bolivar Sword had found was the only enemy ship within any range and all industrial activity on the Jraenar, as the enemy home world was being called for short hand, appeared to have stopped. He reached his decision.
“Signal Pioneer she’s being sent through to Gorn to recon for enemy presence, I want Lively to back up Sword in case that Bolivar tries anything.” He ordered Lieutenant Popov.
“What are you going to do about Falcon being pulled off the blockade?” Commander Jennings asked him.
“I’m going to send Task Force One to tighten the blockade around Jraenar; they’ll still be close enough to intercept any ship that tries to head towards the home system.” Delap replied

Collins, who hadn’t yet received the news of Delap’s promotion had decided that the Bolivar qualified as a target of opportunity, especially now it had left orbit. The battle was a cat and mouse game with both sides cautiously testing the other. It soon became clear that the only way to launch a missile inside a no-escape envelope was to enter the enemy missile’s no-escape envelope. With neither captain willing to risk that and ballistic missiles not having a chance at the long range both sides withdrew. ‘Not what I expected.’ Collins thought. On balance he was pleased, he may not have destroyed the enemy, but he’d survived. ‘And I drove him back from the warp point.’

The Admiralty agreed and deemed the battle a tactical draw but a strategic victory. They also reassured Captain Collins that there was nothing more he could have done without taking dangerous risks. With higher damage missiles and more tonnage the Jraenar ship could have taken more hits and deal out more damage. That made a stand up missile duel almost suicidal. The only pleased people in the building were all on Rear Admiral Flynn’s staff, for reasons the Admiral was explaining to Captain Locke.
“As you know Falcon is being pulled back for a refit.”
Locke nodded, with the disappointing performance of Goalkeeper Falcon was going to be fitted with twin tubes like the other corvettes in the fleet.
“Well Trials Command has changed the plan slightly; Falcon is to be fitted out with two of the new 3rd generation Depleted Uranium Cannons instead of missile tubes.”
Locke was shocked. Half the number of tubes had been bad, but no tubes! Flynn acknowledged her shock and carried on
“Falcon is still a test bed ship, so standard rules apply. If you, or any of your crew of course, wants out then they can leave. We’ll be expecting a determined operational evaluation on this one.”
‘Determined operational evaluation’ was a euphemism for launching aggressive patrols to seek out the enemy instead of a more cautious approach. It was a lot more risky, but would get quicker results.
“I’ll need some time to think about this and I will want to see at least some specifications of these DUCs before I commit.” Locke replied.
“That’s reasonable, when Falcon enters shipyard I’ll be there to meet you and your crew and tell them what I can.”

2402.2
Fenris was the second Leander class vessel to be launched and like her sister ship she was sent straight to the front, unlike her sister she was allowed a decent shakedown cruise first. With the low level of enemy activity there was no need to rush things; the crew could take their time.

The same could not be said of Gold Rover’s crew. After picking up the off-world detachments of the 3rd Wessex she was rushing back to Ocelot to pick up the modified assault shuttles and the remainder of the regiment along with the command staff for the landings. Still ever since Commander Bell found the ship was being re-task to assault transport the mood of the entire crew had lifted as he cheered up.

In Balosnee Commander Eaden found out that temporary commands also had a way of being temporary as he was ordered to rendezvous with Javelin so Commodore Delap and a few other officers could transfer to Leander. When all the transfers and promotions were complete Leander carried the flag of Commodore Delap and was under the command of Captain Jennings. Commander Eaden and his second in command Lieutenant Commander Miller had Javelin which was to head back to Oberon for refit. Everyone who transferred did so with a bit of regret, Delap and Jennings would miss Javelin, while Eaden was going from the new fleet flagship to the old one. ‘Still at least this command is permanent.’ he thought.

‘This is more like it.’ Delap thought to himself as he looked around his new ship. ‘A big strategic map, conferencing facilities and a lot more space.’ Somehow it was only now that his promotion felt real. It was difficult to be a Commodore in the oldest and most out of date ship in the fleet. ‘But she was a good ship.’ Delap reproved himself. ‘Time to start on those status reports.’
The reports told him that Pegasus had taken up the blockade Javelin had been carrying out before she left and that all the other ships in the system had good supply levels and no major problem. They also told him to do nothing about the colonies until Gold Rover arrived but that he had full operational freedom to engage enemy shipping and scout out enemy positions.

The latest R&D colony, Kessel, was also founded during the month and the Research Ministry was promising big breakthrough soon thanks to all the new labs. El Presidente commented that he’d believe that when he saw it. By coincidence on the same day Kessel was founded Pioneer entered the Gorn system. The system proved to only contain two Jraenar colonies and no enemy shipping so Pioneer returned home after reporting to Commodore Delap.

“It’s pretty quiet out there Phil. I think the Jraenar are on the rope, unless something happens soon I may be forced to believe those naval intelligence estimates.”
It was just El Presidente and the Vice-Presidente alone in his office.
“Your right, it’s been a very quiet month on the Jraenar front. But is it a nothing happening quiet or just the quiet before a storm. If those estimates are wrong and they haven’t been forced to scrap their fleet. If their colonies are more productive than we think and those frigates are just out beyond the next warp point…”
“You’re saying we should slow down the colonisation programme and strengthen the fleet?”
“When we’ve got a few more Leander’s out of the shipyard I’ll be happier certainly. Because it’s not just the Jraenar is it?”
Sheldon nodded, she’d read the report too. The foreign, defence and research ministries had tried to work out if there would be any more alien races out in the universe. Their conclusion, based upon the number of potentially habitable planets the navy was encountering and the very advanced life being discovered Haven, was that it was almost inevitable that intelligent life had evolved elsewhere in the universe than just on Jraenar and Ocelot. The estimates of the biologists had some of the species on Haven barely a few thousand years from sentience, not even the blink of an eye in universal terms. The Jraenar Imperium may or may not be on its last legs but there were other species out there, hopefully friendly, but judging by their first encounter neither of them was betting on it.