Chapter 5 Part 3

He boarded a mass transit shuttle and rode until the conductor announced their arrival at Ft. Leonov. Nathan disembarked and proceeded as the admiral had instructed him. It was not long before a private tram arrived at the checkpoint and escorted him to a high security area. His palm print and retinal patters were read and verified before he was admitted into a large briefing room where he found Admiral Fisk and a handful of other high ranking officials gathered around a strategy board.

"Nathan," the admiral called to him. "Please come in." Fisk met him halfway across the room. "I would like some people to meet you." He presented a tall thin man whose face Nathan remembered as being named Stanton. "This is General Stanton of the Colonial Army's Rapid Deployment Advanced Regiment. We hope that we won't be needing his people in this operation, but you never know. If we can't destroy that blasted gizmo in the Trojans, we may have to land the army there to take it by force." Stanton acknowledged Nathan, but took little pleasure in it. It was apparent that he was still sore about being threatened with an audit.

Admiral Fisk moved on to another man. This man was characteristically short and stocky, a telltale trait of fighter pilots--tough and compact. "General Briten, here is in command of the Aerospace Forces. He is an old fighter jock, and was on the development team that laid the groundwork for the new VRADs."

"It is a pleasure," Nathan said as he shook the outstretched hand.

"The pleasure's mine," Briten replied. "It isn't often that you meet a real live MIRA operative," and he added with a wink: "especially one who can order a personal audit." It was obvious that Briten had overheard Nathan's challenge to Stanton.

With an equally amused smile, Nathan joked. "Not many people want to meet a MIRA operative with that kind of authority."

"No doubt," Briten laughed.

The Admiral ushered Nathan to another pair of men. "This is Captain Gerand, my aide, and Commodore Beasly of the Colonial Fleet's Aries Metro station." Both men exchanged cordial greetings. Nathan felt that everyone there with the exception of Stanton were people of good character and thoroughly professional.

"Gentlemen," Fisk began, "we are here to devise a plan of operation. Forty five minutes ago, we received a priority communique to deal with the problem that Mr. Thomas and MIRA revealed."

The Admiral touched a control on the large plotting table, and the surface illuminated with a holographic projection of that section of the solar system. "We have correlated our intelligence data and have produced the scenario like this."

He touched another control and an area of the display expanded to show a representation of the Trojan asteroids. "The Syndicate has taken up residence here in this part of the Trojans. They have an rather large solar collector in operation, a proton cannon of unprecedented power defending it and a heavy mass driver operating from the power it collects. They have an advanced station there that they managed to build in secret as well as a brand new ship which appears to be their third carrier. Its configuration is similar to that of the other two carrier ships. They have at least three battle cruisers and a dozen gunboats in the area as well. We can't get close enough to get any better recon data than that. They know we are looking and are taking steps to keep us from finding out too much." The admiral leaned back. "The mass driver has already wiped out a research station on Luna and the deep space tracking station here on Mars. It has to be taken out ASAP. Suggestions?"

"What is the Whirlpool's status?" The commodore asked.

"She is too far ahead in the Martian orbit to be effective. We would have to burn her reactors at full strength to accelerate her in the counter orbital direction. And if we did, it would be almost a week before she could be within her fighters' striking range and she would risk reactor damage."

"How about her battle group?" General Stanton asked. "They are smaller and quicker."

"They wouldn't stand a chance alone against one of the Syndicate's carriers and three battle cruisers," Captian Gerand objected. "Besides those ships are standing in for the destroyed tracking station and are intercepting any attacks that are detected."

"Any other battle groups in the area?" General Briten asked.

"Battle group? No," the captian answered. "But there is the Andromeda. Her battle group is standing down at Terra for leave and refit. The carrier itself is doing training maneuvers at the Jovian Training Facility. They are on the trailing side of Jupiter right now."
Anticipating the next question, the admiral interrupted. "At flank speed, she could be within striking distance of the leading Trojans within three days."

"That is a long time to wait," Nathan muttered.

"It is, Mr. Thomas," the commodore agreed. "However the Andromeda is outfitted with five VRADs as well as fifty fighters, unlike the Whirlpool which has a full contingent of seventy five fighters."

"The VRAD can extend a carrier's strike potential greatly if there is a refueling source available," General Briten offered.

"We do not have any tankers in the area," the captain explained.

"You won't need one," Briten answered. "Jupiter is practically all hydrogen. One of the original options we designed into the VRAD was the hydrogen ram scoops. From the looks of this map, we could launch a VRAD, and refuel it in the outer atmosphere of Jupiter about one third the way to the Trojans. Put the carrier in full thrust, let the VRADs go in do their work and on the way back, the carrier can meet them before they run out of fuel."

The admiral and the others studied silently for several long moments. "Does anyone have any objections to that?"

"The idea is sound," General Stanton interjected. "I don't think, however, that the Syndicate is going to let us fly in there with guns blazing. They have early warning too. As soon as they pick our ships coming in, they will put up a screen of fighters and gunboats. Can your four VRADs get through all that?"

"We have every reason to think that at least one will, and that is all that it takes," Briten responded."

The admiral drummed his fingers for a moment and then accepted the idea. "Okay," he decided, "we will go in with the Andromeda. I am going to take a chance and send the Whirlpool's battle group that way in support. They won't get there before the VRADs do, but they will be there in time to go in with the carrier if necessary." He began writing on a sheet of paper. "I am also putting Terra of notice that they will be unscreened for about a week while the Whirlpool's battle group is in action. That should not be too much trouble as the Sombrero battle group is patrolling in the Terran system."