Defense Council Secretariat, city of McNair, Commitment
Fleet Admiral Jorge got to his feet to make his way to the lectern. He nodded at the grim-faced man seated at the head of the Council table. “Thank you, Chief Councillor. In the interests of time, I’ll give a quick overview of q-ship operations to date and then take any questions.”
“Fine,” Polk muttered, waving at Jorge to continue. He had heard it all before, but to keep the Council up-to-date, he would have to hear it again.
Jorge nodded to his flag lieutenant, who flicked on the holovid projector. A three-dimensional model of humanspace bloomed on the holovid that filled an entire wall of the room.
“You can see here, gentlemen”-Jorge flicked a laser pointer across the display-“following the success of the Xiang operation in which the Feds lost twenty-seven merchant ships and the heavy cruiser Ishaq, the ships of Commodore Monroe’s task unit have dispersed and are now acting independently. So far, Monroe’s ships have destroyed a further eleven Fed merships without incident, in some cases right under the noses of Fed patrols. The flashing red icons on the plot show these-here, here, and here.”
Jorge paused, pleased to see the smiles of approval on the faces of everyone present-even the usually sour-faced Polk-before continuing.
“Our intelligence sources confirm that Operation Cavalcade is on track; the Federated Worlds are being forced to redeploy forces away from planetary defense to protect their trade routes.”
“And the follow-on operation?” Polk asked.
“Damascus, sir. As I said, the Feds are being forced to do what we want them to do, so it’s looking good. At this stage, I am confident that the preconditions for Operation Damascus will be met. Its objective is to convince the Feds that an attack in overwhelming force on their home planets is imminent, an attack they cannot counter thanks to our development of antimatter warheads for our missiles. If it can do that-and I am convinced that it will-then the Feds will be forced to the negotiating table. At which point”-Jorge looked pointedly across the table at the councillor for foreign relations-“the Hammer Fleet will have done everything it has been asked to do.”
“Any change to the timing?”
Jorge shook his head. “No, sir. Unless things change, I will be seeking formal approval from the Council in March to initiate Operation Damascus effective April 1.”
Polk looked pleased. “Good. Now, turning to other matters. .”