Eyes of Tomorrow (Duchy of Terra Book 9) by Glynn Stewart (best e book reader TXT) 📕

has accepted the mission and will command the special task group for us,” Tan!Shallegh told the other two flag officers. “As previously discussed, the Imperium will deploy four modified stealth battleships under her command to provide the STG’s heavy firepower.

“Have you come to a conclusion on what level of force each of your fleets will be able to contribute to the special task group?” he asked.

“We have four stealthed starkillers and will additionally commit four star intruders and ten escorts,” Ronoxosh said immediately. “Thirty million tons of warships and the starkillers.”

The ships Morgan had been told she was getting from Tan!Shallegh would total forty-six million tons, but the Imperium didn’t have starkillers that fit the mission profile. It probably evened out, she reflected.

“The First Defense Fleet also has four stealth starkillers,” Tidirok said after a moment. “We will also provide two squadrons of our stealthed attack cruisers.”

The Laian seemed extremely pleased with himself for a moment.

“That is twenty cruisers and eighty million tons of warships,” he noted.

Morgan managed not to chuckle aloud as Tidirok “outbid” his Wendira counterpart.

“And all the officers involved are aware that they will be under the command of an Imperial officer?” Tan!Shallegh asked. “The last thing the special task group will be able to afford is confusion over the flow of command. The Astoroko Nebula is unquestionably enemy territory.”

“I have personally selected the Swords in command of the squadrons committed,” Tidirok promised. “They have worked well with human Imperial officers in the past, and I have no doubts about their ability to continue doing so.”

Ronoxosh’s wings flickered slightly in aggravation—probably a recognition that he didn’t have the ability to pick officers who’d served with Imperial officers at all, let alone ones who’d served with Morgan’s species.

“The Sub-Commandants in question have been selected with extreme diligence,” he finally said. “They will obey Division Lord Casimir’s orders as if they came from the Queens themselves.”

Morgan was already mentally assessing her force. It was escort-heavy—inevitable in a stealth force. Her four Bellerophons would be the key weapon, HSM-equipped snipers she could hopefully use to eliminate potential sentinels before there was any risk of the STG being seen.

The Wendira star intruders weren’t much larger than the Laian cruisers, but with four of them, she’d have a thousand fighters. Replacing fighters would be a problem, though, so she could only count on one full-power strike from the stealth carriers.

The twenty Laian attack cruisers would be more-reliable backup hitters, with the ten Wendira escorts serving as much to disguise the starkillers if they lost stealth as anything else. The standard form of the strategic weapons was much the same size as a Wendira escort or an Imperial destroyer.

“The mission is very simple,” Tan!Shallegh reminded them all. “Which means that execution will be complicated. The special task group will endeavor to penetrate the Astoroko Nebula without being detected and reach the stars around the Eye of the Nebula.

“If possible, Casimir’s force will preposition all eight starkillers for detonation via hyperfold transmission,” he continued. “The simultaneous nova of eight stars should render a hyperspace escape by the Infinite impossible, trapping the Queen and the majority of her forces inside the Eye, to be destroyed by the nova blast waves.

“It is a brute-force and arguably immoral solution,” Tan!Shallegh concluded. “But it should bring a swift end to this situation.”

Morgan couldn’t disagree with any part of Tan!Shallegh’s assessment.

“I will want to meet with my new officers as soon as possible,” she told all three fleet commanders. “Within the cycle, preferably, though I will need time to transfer aboard my flagship.”

“It will be made to happen,” Ronoxosh assured her.

“Your Swords of the Republic will be briefed of their mission within the next quarter-cycle and deploy to support your flagship shortly thereafter,” Tidirok said.

“Good luck, Division Lord.”

The two fleet commanders faded away and Morgan’s attention returned to Tan!Shallegh.

“So, which ship will be my flagship?” she asked.

“I suggest Odysseus, but the choice is yours,” Tan!Shallegh told her. “You will command Odysseus, Agamemnon, Sirites and Tan!Loka. Odysseus has a multiracial crew where Agamemnon is human-crewed.”

Sirites and Tan!Loka were, Morgan guessed, Anbrai- and A!Tol-crewed respectively, given that they were named for mythical heroes of those races.

“Odysseus makes sense to me,” she replied. “Captain Cathrine Koumans, correct?”

Morgan was at least passingly familiar with the name of every human Captain in the fleet, though she hadn’t met Koumans.

“Yes,” he confirmed. “All four Captains are aware of their assignment to the special task group but not of its mission. Briefing your officers and crew will fall on you.

“I took the liberty of having !Pana assemble a small staff to support you, as you won’t have the time yourself,” he continued. “I trust her judgment and believe you will be pleased.”

“May I make a request?” Morgan asked.

“Of course.”

“I want Bethany Rogers,” Morgan told her boss. If she was going to take command of a new fleet with a new staff, she needed at least one person she knew she could rely on.

“Staff Captain Rogers is already designated as your chief of staff,” Tan!Shallegh told her, with the red flush of an A!Tol chuckle. “She should be aboard Odysseus by the time you arrive.”

“Thank you, sir,” Morgan said. “In that case, I think I should be about it, shouldn’t I?”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

It turned out that Princess Oxtashah did have access to an office on the Imperial superbattleship. Rin had never met her in it before this appointment, but the space had clearly been set up for the Wendira to use on an ongoing basis.

The temperature, humidity…even the air mix was noticeably different from the rest of the ship when he walked in. The lights had been adjusted, and multiple pieces of Wendira-style furniture—modified to allow for wings and the sheer scale of a Wendira Royal—had been installed.

The Princess was alone when he entered, and waved him to a single human-styled seat. There was a bottle of water next to it that he guessed was probably lukewarm already, but he took the seat and studied Oxtashah.

She was