Blood Impulse

Part 28.4 - MAKING A PLAN

Polaris Sector, Battleship Singularity

With an inward cringe, Zarrey followed the Admiral over to the large table that dominated the other half of the room. Like its kin on the bridge, it was backlit with a soft white light, ready to illuminate the navigational charts' clear sheets. Zarrey headed over to the case that held all the pre-printed sheets, sealed in protective hexagonal tubes. "Where the hell do we even start? We can't plan an op if we don't even know where we're going." Location was the one thing that Command had always provided for their missions.

"We start with the basics." Admiral Gives took the marker offered to him by Ensign Feather and moved over to one of the boards on the wall. "We may not know where we need to go, but it is our advantage to choose our target. However, we do know what we need: food and general supplies." He began to write across the board in clear, concise lettering. "There are two identifiers of the target we need to determine: location and type."

Admiral Gives paused there for a moment, ensuring he hadn't lost anyone's attention so far. Hunched exhaustedly over his coffee, Zarrey looked more amused than expected, but it seemed no one had any complaints. "Regarding location, there are two subcategories: stationary and moving. For our purposes, a stationary target would be preferred, allowing us to plan an op knowing its location. However, a moving target with regular timing and course would also be acceptable." The Singularity was fast enough to catch anything in motion.

"As to the type," he continued, "we have government, civilian and corporate targets that possess the resources we need-"

"Civilian targets?" came the cry. "You would have us raid civilians for supplies?"

The outburst, predictably, had come from Lieutenant Galhino. He didn't need to turn around recognize her criticism. "I was not finished." Striking through the word on the board, he addressed that concern. "Generally, not only are civilian targets going to be in motion, but there is no way to guarantee their cargo. They are also not likely to possess the required volume of supplies, and having to raid more than one target inherently increases the risk. The moment Command identifies a pattern in our movements, they will redeploy to engage."

Galhino scoffed disgustedly, "That's your problem with it?" Not the fact that he referring to civilian freighters that were innocent and effectively defenseless?

"Lieutenant, I understand your concerns. I do not think lightly of engaging this ship in that capacity, but the situation is such that I must consider every possible route." He would never seek to engage the Singularity against the people she'd been created to protect, but if the worlds forced his hand, then he was not above it.

"Well, Command is going to expect us at their facilities." Zarrey said, moving down the list. "They've probably posted guard squadrons at every supply facility on this side of the known worlds."

The Admiral nodded, "And, given the volume of supplies that we need to move, using our support craft is not an option. The Singularity will have to dock while we transfer the supplies, and we cannot engage the fleet while docked." The ship would be a sitting target.

Zarrey watched him strike out that category, leaving only one. "So, we need to identify a corporate target?" That was going to be hell. "Any corporation big enough to deal in that mass of supplies is going to have security of its own. And those damn private armies aren't a joke." Most of them were made of fleet veterans equipped with military surplus. The corporations' sheer wealth supported whatever means they felt necessary to protect their assets. "Besides, they're pretty hush-hush about what they keep in their facilities. We're going to have to get access to their networks to guarantee we hit the right place at the right time, and when we do that, we'll either tip them or the Erans off. If that AI is as powerful as you say it is, then I'm willing to bet its got feelers in the corporate networks too."