Later that week, Colonel Becker holds a funeral and honors ceremony, during which she recognizes the boarding party with Silver Stars and issues several promotions – including elevating Janks to Command Sergeant Major and Mitch to Major with a commission to command Normandy. Mitch offers the XO and chief helmsman position to Stella, but she refuses, so he recruits the staff from the Coyote – Faro, Spunkmeyer and Chief Wilson. Though not mentioned in the ceremonies, Jeremy Blake receives a spot on Agamemnon’s memorial wall.
A few more weeks and a few more jumps brings the small fleet finally to New Samarkand – where the meticulously-laid plans of Jameson and Sims come to fruition with hundreds of new recruits fleshing out the ranks and millions of tons of supplies and materiel brought onboard. The Cynae-2 and Marathon-2 also arrive and berth in Agamemnon’s freshly-repaired docking rings.
A sizable fleet has gathered at New Samarkand, including the Texas-class battleships Dire Wolf (Natasha Kerensky’s flagship) and Kojiwa (Admiral Ling’s ship). Kerensky and Ling come aboard for a tour and war council. Becker returns Lev Arris’s sword to Ling, who obviously had a deeply personal relationship with the man.
The tactical discussions bring some facts to the table:
- The Ghost Bear fleet is definitely heading for New Samarkand – the destruction or capture of the planet has always been critical to the invasion plans. If New Samarkand is destroyed, its four billion inhabitants would of course be casualties, but also nearly four trillion people – a measurable percentage of the human race – are dependent on New Samarkand sprawling and highly-efficient farms for food.
- Kerensky has a little information about the green men, who she refers to simply as “Warriors”. She doesn’t have any advice for the dozen incubators the team found on Prinis Prime, as the process of awakening these soldiers upon maturity is a highly-guarded secret.
- Kerensky knew nothing of the Consu or any non-human influence – but she qualifies that by stating that the information flow to the Dragoons from the Clans ended over ten years previously.
- Kerensky confirms that there is only one mass driver, and since it took nearly thirty years to build, it’s highly unlikely that another was constructed since her defection. It’s an extremely simple machine, which will make it difficult to destroy through surgical means.
3011-02-06:
I really dislike funerals. So many dead in the past nine months. And though I try to treat the newcomers and the old crew in the same way, it is harder when we are burying those who woke up with me. There were so few of us left, and now, we are even fewer.
And we have barely begun the fight.
I am not sure if adding Jeremy Blake’s name to the memorial was right; he never existed, after all. But everyone on the team remembers him, and I suppose it is, if nothing else, a way to acknowledge that he was, at least for a while, real to them, and what happened was outside their control.
3011-02-08:
The jump to Tabayama went well, and the Alabama was waiting for us, as planned. Two more weeks, and then we will be at New Samarkand. A lot of things will be decided there, I think. In one way or another.
3011-02-15:
Another successful jump. Chirala is the last jump before New Samarkand. There are at least two people waiting for me there, not to mention a refit of the Agamemnon. And new recruits.
3011-02-22:
New Samarkand. There is quite a fleet here. Natasha Kerensky is here with her ship Dire Wolf, and admiral Ling is here with her Kojiwa. Seems they are both excited about being invited on board the Agamemnon for the meeting; I suspect I am being paranoid, but after Cerberus, and knowing that technically, the Clan ships could arrive any day now, I suppose caution is warranted.
3011-02-23:
The meeting was … interesting.
It started out bad, I suppose, though I doubt anyone else noticed. I handed over Lev Arris’ sword to admiral Ling, as he had wanted. I thought perhaps he had served with her once, or something like that. Seems it was far more than that.
My guess is lover, or perhaps more. They did not look much alike, so most likely they were not related in any way, unless they were married. And by handing over that sword, I broke her heart. There is a story there, and a deeply tragic one, I suspect. For some reason, he left the Draconis Combine, and her. She called him a traitor, but did not say whether it was because he left, or if he left because he was named traitor. It was still obvious that she loved him.
I am not going to insult her by reminding her that the Clans were most likely responsible for his death.
Chances are, the clan Ghost Bear is headed for New Samarkand. If it falls, four billions might die in the attack; that is the pupulation of New Samarkand. But that is only the beginning. The food productions here feed trillions out across the systems. We _cannot_ allow it to fall.
At least there seems to be only one mass driver. If we can take that one out, we might have a chance to save this system. One can always hope.
I doubt there is time for anyone to send much help, even should they wish to. At best, we have six weeks. But in theory, they could attack any day, depending on what route they take. And I doubt my words will touch the Clans, but least I have tried.
3011-03-01:
The Agamemnon is getting back on her feet. We’re half-way there. Repairs, new crews, supplies, even ships. The crew is getting some well deserved leave; no point not allowing that, as long as the Agamemnon is sitting in the repair dock anyway. Which she will be doing for another week. The job Jameson and Sims did is superb.
3011-03-08:
The Agamemnon is ready. We are not. We have a few things in place, but since we cannot guess where they will enter the system, it is impossible to prepare any sort of traps.
I have the feeling most of the time is spent drilling the recruits. I am afraid too many of them will not even survive the upcoming battle. But then, will any of us?
Tactically, we still have several major challenges. One of the biggest problems is communications. It seems the Clans have not jammed any of the other ships they have clashed with. It might be our admittedly outdated algorithms and encryptions. The systems are updated now. I can only hope it will be sufficient.