The Admiral  motioned to  Henry to get a coffee/Tea and danish if he  wished and   nodded to the  seat near the Map.

  Right then.... in a bit ove r one Earth day we  will be entering the   Uden system... Uden has   had   small incursions , but have handled them relatively  easy.... mostly Pirates... scot/spys..and interception Cargo ships that  went through thier  space.

 ..Things  change da bit after  we left  Fuji... The verians  started  to make  escorted   passages  through Uden space, and  more then a few  firefights    erupted.....Then.. we  got the message that Vera  has   joined the Empire..

  I will not  say,,exactly what is going to happen.... we have  reasons  to believe there are  still  ears  in the Udenese Fleet, Bura  and  Everest...Etna has become  dependable..Everest need   work...

St Gaul looked   embarrassed  and angry.

 The Bottom line here, is this... if  the  Verians and whatever  allies they have, react other then what they should... we know something happened, and it happened  from this  room...right now...

 ..when we   reach Uden.. the support  ships  are going to  drop out of  formation  and  settled  on the  far  side of  the  Uden.. the rest of the attack will be outlined in the files  Beth will send...

 As a Fail safe , we  will have Everest, Etna, Fuji and Bura   Commit have of thier standing Fleets...at least 1/2  the  way from thier stations   to  Uden... if this   battle  Goes Bad... we need a somethign  to slow  down  any attacks  from the Verians and thier Empire Allies.

 Admiral Himato of  Fuji said,do we know, what Empire forces  might come into play?


 ..we  expect Vampics to join in....as well as what Empire  regulars  might be in the area... there are  rumors of  other   movements out side the  Triangle, but  we'll have to wait until scouts get back with that  Info.. are there any other  questions.

Sarah nodded, "All ready done Admiral, we'll meet to decide our fleet structure and we'll be under way in under 12hrs. I'll ensure that we coordinate stepping up our efforts to shut down any ear here to start at the same time as the kickoff on your end so it feels like a much larger coordinated effort."

She taps out a quick message calling for Sam to call a General Staff Meeting to start promptly 30min after this meeting and to set up a call to the Burian leadership to occur immediately after.

 Sam is monitoring everything, Sam responds to Sarah, " Already Done Ma'am." Sam then while monitoring the meeting, she will send out messages to all the General Staff for a meeting stand by for exact time, then she would get everything ready for the call tot eh Burian leadership as well.

  some other  questions  were brought up  about ..'if the back up  units   were to engage '

 The Admiral said   it would be in the  data files being sent

 " would there be  any ground  troops needed"

 the Admirals  answer  was ' a few transports  should be available , incase you have boarding opportunities "

 shoudl  we  put  fighters in the air.

" that is  at the discretion of the  commander,"

 The Admiral waited a bit  for any other  questions.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:03, Wed 08 Jan 2020.

Henry got himself a coffee and tossed a danish to Mila.

"Is there any way you'd like us to help, Admiral?"

  Admiral Hack smiled at  Henry,..in a second   here Doctor Christie.

   turning  his head from one screen to the other, Hack says...Right now.... work out Your Deployments...  your   files  will come  one hour  before   jump off . Its important , that your ships   are  deployed, not only for  any  'surprise' the enemy might have. But.. you  might be able to spot  any  unknowns  slipping around..I will tell you this. Once you get your   files.. you will relay them  to your Captains.. after that, you as   groups  will have to carry out the orders  as you see fit...not Just for the Fleets...but  for your own Home Bases. Thank you for Your  Time..

 he checks his  COM,on my mark.. expect the files to arrive in.... 29 hours..50 minutes......and....MARK!  He nods  as the screens  were cut off.

.............

 Roy enters  as  Admiral HAck is  saying  good-bye to the station stations

 Turning to Doc Christie, Now  , Henry?  We have   to figure out what you want to do...  if you go with the assault  teams, you could , just as easy, end  up on an Enemy Cap ship, as  being planet side. Mila  could  come in handy , either place, but the  flora and fauna  is not   well know  to us....  Lilit  is sending over  some  information of Calimite.. as well as Information on Vera .. or?.. You can wait  on the Hnager dec  to see where  you think you'd  want to go?

 He nods to Roy,I was about to send  for you...

Roy grinned.  "I figured I would need to be in on the conversation at some point.  I suppose the big question is where to get the most bang for the buck out of us...and the easiest way to decide that is to answer whether the Verians have a ground-based Command Center or if they're running their operations from a ship."

He shrugged.  "If this is a trap, I figure the fastest way to set it off is to go for the jugular and do what we can to neutralize the Verians, operationally, right off the bat.  Plus, I'd kinda like to see the look on Adem's face when we kick in the door on him...assuming he's got the ball bearings to be commanding from the field and isn't hiding out on Vera somewhere."

   Hack Motions to  a chair   as well as the   food and drink.

  Beth has been getting  bits  and pieces ... we  still aren't sure  of Much... butb this  we  do know... he waves his hand  to   Hennings.

  Hennings  nods    going to the table to  punch in buttons that highlight  Calimite...The Verians have Landed  , what would amount to  4 of  our Transportbases  , worth of troops  on the North Pole of the  Calimite.. we can only assume  , they did this,  soe they wouldn't have to  surround the planet, to have over  watch on their  troops.. no matter   how the planet   rotates ..north..is still north for them..

 Punching in Buttons, the   Area  towards  the Hillite   system  lights up.....there  are   COM SIGs  comign from there.., we don't have Beth's Buoys  up there.. but the ones on teh fringe  are   catching Demoic  transmissons  and  an Unkown soure.. we think it might be the Roussians?

 ..to the  Verian side of the  quad.. we have  Vampic  Sigs comign in..so?  we know they will be there.....what we have...no clue  about... is   what is beyond  Vera into deepr space.... we know there are systems there.. we do not know  what..if  any..have to do with the war or the Empire...

  he looks to  HAck.

   If I was Adem... i would assume, and rightfully so. That we  are  coming to the aid of the Udenese  System....  He wants to  turn Calimite into a war zone...I would assume, he things  there  will be a truce of some kind and CAlimite  can be turned into neutral territory, so they can come and go as they wish... sacrificing  a few thousand lives   won't even make  him flinch

 ..Id this is  , indeed what Adam is hoping  for..there are some precedents  set on battlegrounds  that became 'common' ground, patrolled  by  both sides..needless to say, it becomes..almost..a frontier  with people  gettign killed on both sides and slaver   runnign rampant along side  pirates and slavers... BAle said.

 ..That's not goign to happen.... I will lose the planet before  we  sell it out as a 'boundary'...if  we lose it altogether, we  will be able to  strike and   any  non-APF  vessels in the area and   attack  at our own will....rather then let the Empire   leech off it for free.

  Hack  moves the  pointer  right through  what stands  as the Verian  Fleet. then  highlights Vera.

 ..the Captains and the  Stations  will be getting thier    orders  1 hour before  Jump off... when those  orders  are  sent.. the fleet  will be increasing  speed over the course of that hour....The Verians should not  recognize   the speed of  out approach   as there  will be  no blips on their scans, because of  our transpounders  what scans they might have.. Radar..sonar.. whatever..  will be confused  as the support ships  drop out of the formation to settle  around   Uden...4  Transport bases  are staying  behind  as both reserves  and to aid Unden is   they are attacked.. mostly, by using the Creshian tactic of boarding the attacking cap ships.

 ..there  will be a time , as   we  cut through the Verians fleet, were all we can do is  faire  at ships    as  we  pass.... The Verians  will have to decide  what they want to do.. stay and    attack Calimite, or even Uden.... or, chase us... by the time they get thier fleet  turned about.. we'll have a damn big  lead... and  Vera  will be, of all intent and purpose...unguarded.... they will have to  decide  with the Vampic and ..what we think, is  Roussians and  Empire ships..what to do?  aid Vera..Attack Unden?...and  in that  time  we will start pounding the  9 hells out of vera....

 ..This  is the ahrd part  for  the drop ship troopers  and  the Fleets  assault teams.... do we     send you out   to  capture  or destroy ships... or  down  we  rain  down troops on Vera

 Hennings  says,my thoughts?  the Verians  stuck on Vera  can't hurt us. but  we  can pound them to metal shavings  from Orbit.... if  we    board  Verian vessels.. those vessels  can't fight ,  those  we capture  intact get added to  the Fleet..or  Undan home defesne... or even  scattered  about  out other holdings  to build up thier Home defense...  Vessels  we     control,  that are too  damaged. we can sue  as  Fire  ships..either into   enemy  ships.. or , flat out  crash land   into Vera.

 Hack leaned on the table lookign nat the   holomap...   What Admiral hennings  says  is true... we  drop troops  on Vera.. we have to  expect the whole planet to be  enemies... if  we    board ships  we can eliminate them  and use   some against them.....

 Bale  adds,..the fleet formation, Admiral?

Delta  #1  and Delta  #2  are goign stright   through the Middle of the  Verian fleet.. i assume the Flagship is there , somewhere.  he highlights the    arrows.Delta   #3  is   swing  out to  port side  to   both  contain the verians   and  look for  Roussians  or whatever is out there...The Delta #4 is swinging out  to the starboard, putting themselves  between The Verians    and   The Vampic    forces.

 Hennings   smiled  thinly,we'll have our backups ready..and we are hoping  for some surprises. we  won't know if  we can count on them until Jump off... they were  sent   orders and asked if they will comply... if they are able, they should be staging now.. if they cannot, they will hold  as   reinforcements  for  those stations we  are staging  as back ups.

  Now, Roy?... here is the hard part of this... speed or no speed..Verians  actions be damned... there are  also 4  transportbases    that are going with Undense  ships and transportbases   to the orth  pole mof Calimite... I aske dCummings  to select  4 transport bases  and  a section leader....that...well.. we could afford  to  lose..Cummings  wsted no time, in  setting up   Higgins as the section leader  and  his 'flag' transportbase, as well as  3  others that have worked with him... Higgins  is goign to be on the ground, there will be full COM traffic between  him, us  and Cummings, so the   enemy knows  were  are dropping folks down there.... being  ESN/APF troops, Higgins has  to set up his CP on Calimite near   the beachhead.. it won't be pretty, unless  the   Undenese...the calimites and our troopers and   do enough damage to the Verians

  HAck shook his head...the moment   the Verians realize  ESN /APF trooper s are   dropping, they  should  send more of thier own..until they realize  we aren't  engaging the fleet, but   blasting through it.... even if  we   are successful,   those troops  might  get over  run before  we  can  deploy  more troops  to aid them... the whole thing is  meant to gain us  anywhere from  30 minutes , to an hour, ebfore the Verian Command  figures out what';s going on , and what they are going to do. The Butchers Bill..is going to be high in this one...

 Roy?  we had a  tiny taste  of man to man Verian ground troops in the hall . do you think its worth the people , to drop onto to vera?....

 ..its my thoughts, that we hit thier ships, and  pound vera  from Orbit...we'll lose less people in boarding action and   we have  some surprises  if that's the route  we go... smield Hennings

 BAle added ,..if  we land people on Vera... we have to support them.. i think it would better to strip Vera of her Fleet...

 CAptain Si who watched    finally spoke up..... We have seen  how the Verians 'fight'.... if not   for a HAlf  Human   Undenese ,   the battle of the Line   might have cist us more then we csare to think.. and  Everest might still be trying to rebuild... I say.. take thier ships.. and lower the cost to our ground people.

 well Roy... this is the last bit  before I  get Beth  to  code  the files and send them out.... what  do you think?  would you rather   board ships..or land  on Vera...

Roy listened attentively to the inputs from the board members, although he'd already set a pretty clear expectation in his mind.  When they finished, and Admiral Hack asked for his input, he paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully, even though he knew he was free to speak his mind in current company.

"Frankly, Admiral, unless Adem is personally commanding the entire operation from the surface of Vera, I can't think of a single tactical or strategic benefit to trying to put troops on the ground at this point.  And that doesn't even factor in the challenges that Verian infantry might present.  We're here to defend Uden and Calimite...conquering Vera can wait.  Our first priority should be removing the Verian navy as a factor in this battle, ideally by capturing them, but even if all we do is disable them and leave them adrift or just plain old blow them up, it's going to be to our advantage.  And, frankly, I think Vera will surrender a lot faster if Lillit flies in, commanding the Verians' own flagship, and announces that she's in charge than they'll surrender to any ESN vessel, no matter what kind of bombardment we're doing."

He flashed a feral grin and added, "And, if we're really lucky, Adem will be on that ship and we can give him to Lillit, as well as the ship, if we're feeling generous.  But we all saw how the Verians fared when we helped them against the Hyrians...they don't have any individual initiative in their command structure to speak of.  Take out their command vessel and their effectiveness as a fighting force is going to be halved, at the very least, and it might end up being more like fighting a bunch of individual ships, as opposed to fighting a fleet."  He shook his head slightly.

"No, Sir...forget sending troops to Vera, unless it's intended as a feint.  Send us after Adem's flagship, to either capture it, cripple it, or kill it altogether.  We'll get a lot more mileage out of that effort."

 The Admiral  smiled  slightly. Hennings   was a bit  happier.That has been the   main thought.. We have to  figure that  Verians would  fight us  as invaders , the other planets  , we had  some Help, fro  natives...

  we will still push though the Fleet then, and   circule  back and  trap them between Calimite  and   Us..  we  should   cut our  losses  by  half , by not dropping  troops ..

 Hennings   smiles  as he says,when the word is given, have your people  rig for boarding.


  Hack looked at the clock.well Roy?  that about does it then.. I send the final  bits the Bet  so she can send the files... Go..get rest.. relax... its  going to be nasty here  soon..

Roy gave a grin that was half savage humor and half tired.  "It always is, on my end.  Thank you, sirs.  We'll be ready for them."

Henry nodded.

"I am probably most useful planet-side, but the main factor is where Mila will be of most help. I'll go with her... I can be a naturalist later if needs be."

    Well , Henry? I won't lie, it  would be good to get some Verian samples to go with those you took from the hall fight... I will let  you and Roy make the Call. I imagine, we may have to  clean up some spots on Calimite  as well..And?  we'll make a stop in Uden , I am sure, for Lilit to celebrate the Victory..so?  You will have many chances to  catalogue  species, I should think

Roy shrugged.  "It's up to you, Doc.  If you want to come with us on the boarding operations, we'll gladly leave a slot for you.  If you want to wait for a more peaceful occasion to get face-to-face with the Verians, I don't blame you.  We've got the personnel to carry the mission without you...but you and Mila are always welcome."

Mila trotted over to Roy and reared up with her front paws, wagging her tail. If she was going to be useful she wanted to be there. She looked back at Her Human, hoping that he would agree.

Roy looked down at the dog, and grinned.  "Well, I think we can see Mila's vote on the matter...but she was trained for this kind of stuff.  Still your call, Dr. Christie."

Henry came over and rubbed the dog's ears affectionately.

"I'll come along if you'll have me, Roy. As you say, this is what she trained for and what she'd like to do: and I'm her partner."

He could feel Mila's excitement. Their link was growing stronger all the time, by now he could feel what she was thinking quite easily. Her excitement was infectious, although he didn't regard combat as something to be enjoyed... just necessary upon occasion.

Roy nodded.  "You're more than welcome...you've proven yourself quite capable on these operations, even before Mila came along."  He turned to Admiral Hack.

"I'll get you a list of who I think should be in which shuttles, Sir...we've got some fresh forces that ought to be paired with more experienced units, I think, but we should have plenty to load out all three shuttles and still leave a ready force here on the ship in the event of attempted boarding actions."

 The Admiral  offered his   and to Both Men, and  Petted   Mila, as the others   all nooded with   smiles.

  CArry on....  we;ll see you in the hanger before Jump off...get rest..spend  some time relaxing.. you know this will be a furball...

Mila wagged her tail and licked Hack's hand, but growled softly at mention of a 'furball' - she was a bit of a furball herself and that ought to be a good thing!

Roy grimaced.  "Well, I suppose I better go get the earful that is coming my way when the mission assignments get announced...if everyone got their way, nobody would be staying on the Hermes to repel boarders..."  He gave a rueful grin, and saluted the Board members and Captain Si before leaving.

To SEC---->

"Come on, Mila.."

Henry led the dog out and headed back to his lab.

<<<<<<<<<<<  after  Uden shore leave, 1st battle of Uden

......................

  Admiral  Hack  and Admiral Hennings stood    there looking at the  Holomap of Vera.. there  were  red  trinangles  where   the  main targets of shelling would be.. 4  red   triangles were above the  North Pole... 3 Verian Vessels  and one Vampic  that  escaped  and  was either Ordered to stay.. or stayed on its own.

  Commander Miller     and CAptain  Si  were checking COMs and such ...call them...

  Commander  Miller nodded,Already Done....

 ATTENTION....LC SHADOW, CAPTAIN MORRIS , CAPTAIN O'REILLY, CAPTAIN NILISSON, SM SPENCER, LT FRANS, LT MORROW MASTERCHIEF MULLINS, PLEASE  REPORT TO THE WAR  ROOM ... AGAIN, PLEASE REPORT TO THE WAR ROOM
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:58, Thu 26 Mar 2020.

<- Henry's office

Henry turned up.

"Admiral, you sent for us?"

Mila trotted in behind Her Human. She didn't want to listen to other humans talk, she wanted to curl up and go to sleep. The largs had the right idea... and she had been running around just as much as Freddie and Tess had been.

She flopped on the floor once Her Human stopped moving and dozed.