April 796 UC Iserlohn
Tanya
I sat quietly in my office as we were taking a brief break. Well Admiral Greenhill said it was a break. But really it was just an excuse to get Holland out of the office while we talked in private.
It was always those conversations that were not on record that tended to be the most important. When it was just me and Greenhill I decided to try my luck and get some information from him on what exactly happened back in Headquarters that landed me the position of being in charge of Iserlohn Fortress and the Corridor it sat in.
"Is there anything you can share with me, Admiral? I know that most of the meetings within High Command are considered classified. But can you tell me how exactly it came to be that I was made the Theater Commander of the Iserlohn Corridor and Commander of the Iserlohn Fortress?"
He reclined in the large couch and thought about things for a moment. His face clearly showing that he was deep in thought before he spoke.
"It all started when Fleet Admiral Sidney called an emergency meeting of High Command…"
…..
Week Prior; Heinessen
Free Planets Alliance Navy Integrated Tactical Operations Center
Dwight Greenhill
Dwight sat in the meeting room with many other familiar faces. It had only been three months since he had last been in a meeting with the other Admirals of the Alliance Navy High Command.
Fleet Admiral Sideny (First Star Lord of the Admiralty), Fleet Admiral Lobos (First Star Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff), and Fleet Admiral Kubersly (Second Star Lord and Chief of Naval Personnel), (Third Star Lord and Controller of the Navy) Fleet Admiral Ampelio, (Fourth Star Lord and Chief of Naval Supplies) Fleet Admiral Khonsu, (Fifth Star Lord and Chief of Naval Air Services) Fleet Admiral Govinda were in attendance. They were the permanent positions of High Command and held the highest regard amongst the rest of the members of Alliance Navy High Command. (6)
There were also several others included amongst the ranks of High Command. (Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty) Admiral Munro, (Permanent Secretary to the Admiralty) Admiral Shirakawa, (Civil Lord of the Admiralty) Admiral Riese, (Additional Civil Lord of the Admiralty) Admiral Sancho, (Controller) Admiral Marcus, (Controller of Merchant Shipbuilding and Repair) Admiral Fen, (Accountant-General of the Navy) himself Admiral Greenhill, (Controller of Victualling) Admiral Lefebvre, (Director-General of the Medical Department) Admiral Appleton, (Storekeeper-General of the Navy) Admiral Borodin, (Surveyor of the Navy) Admiral Ivan (11), there were twenty-six other Admirals in attendance all representing the various Starzones/ Theater Commanders which made up all of the Free Planets Alliance space. There was also an additional twenty seventh Theater Command of which was empty, the (Iserlohn Corridor Theater Command) formerly held by Admiral Pastolle. They likely would not be filling Pastolle's role until the end of the year at the earliest.
In total there were six Fleet Admirals and thirty-seven Admirals in attendance. Though there should have been thirty-eight Admirals. For a total of forty-three (normally forty-four) Admirals who made up all the Free Planets Alliance High Command. Many of the Admirals present were quite old and would be retiring within the next several years (if the Alliance was around long enough) once suitable replacements were found.
It was a large grouping of similarly ranked personnel who were all equals and peers. Of course, as the old saying went 'some are more equal than others' and while he would like to say every one of the Admirals present held similar amounts of power. The fact of the matter was, those who were in assigned positions and not a Theater Command held more sway over the day-to-day matters of the Alliance Navy. Which was why the Navy was currently experiencing a degree of factionalism that prevented it from doing things that made sense militarily while also preventing to a degree a great deal of nonsense that did not make sense militarily.
There were two large factions within the High Command, one of which were those members of High Command which could generously be called Secretary of Defense Job Trunitch's military advisors. But were more Job's own personal influence on the FPA Military. With five members of High Commands board members as a part of his little power block he held a third of the controlling power within High Command. The next largest was Secretary of Transportation Cornelia Windsor's Faction, again they could generously be considered military advisors for the Secretary of Transportation. But this group was filled with many of the younger Admirals and officers who sought upwards mobility and saw the old guard as being in the way. With six members of High Commands board members, they also held a third of the power within High Command.
Lastly there was the neutral or unaligned faction which he, Sidney and several other Fleet Admirals belonged to. With the Admirals given theater command forming loose coalitions and groups. As a group they outnumbered the board members of the High Command. Yet they frequently did not work together as a group and instead voted for either Trunitch or Windsor's factions or occasionally with the neutral faction. Which may as well have been the Officers within the Military who did not have any ties to the civilian government.
A Civilian Government that was more and more frequently becoming corrupt, untrustworthy, and not worth the loyalty of the brave men and women of its military, in Greenhills eyes. Greenhill was among the few Admirals who had been promoted to his position without political backing. Who now held a spot on the Alliance Navy High Command without those ties and he was glad for it. As from his position he could see a great many things that did not sit right with him. Chief among them was how many of the other officers of High Commands board members were controlled by members of the civilian government. As well as how the members of High Command bickered and argued for the same resources, they all shared, and all went to serve the safety and security of the Free Planets Alliance. Resources that they would squander because they were politically tied to the Civilian Government.
Yet for as much as he did not trust the Civilian Government. He also knew that it was best that there was a degree of separation between the Government and the Military, lest they become despots and dictators like the Goldenbaums of the Galactic Empire. No, he just wished that the current cabinet of elected officials were of better stock and that the members of High Command did not tie themselves to members of the Civilian Government. So that the brave men and women of the military would not waste their lives in pursuit of goals that were clearly politically motivated or politically convenient. Likewise, that the Civilian Government would not use them as buffer between the people and their own failures as elected officials.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, as they were deviating and distracting him from the meeting in which he and everyone here had been called in for as Fleet Admiral Sidney stood and addressed the gathered members of Alliance Navy High Command.
"My friends and fellow Admirals. It is my pleasure to announce that the 13th Fleet has successfully take Iserlohn Fortress." Sidney started to a deathly quiet room that was stunned into silence by his announcement.
They had approved the creation of the 13th Fleet back in January following the aftermath of Astarte. It had been proposed to be a new fleet built with the intention of taking Iserlohn with its commanding officer to be Rear Admiral Yang Wen-li when he would be given a promotion to Vice Admiral later that year to coordinate with the rest of the Starfleets in the next assault on Iserlohn Fortress.
To hear that the 13th Fleet had done so on its own without support from any other fleet. Took a full minute for everyone, even for Greenhill himself to fully process. Time which Sidney took to continue and explain.
"Back in January we all agreed to the creation of a new fleet that was to be made of the survivors of the 4th and 6th Fleets. While the survivors of the 5th Fleet be folded into the 11th Fleet to see it fully rebuilt and ready for deployment this year. This newly created fleet would be the 13th Fleet, with its primary purpose meant to capture the Iserlohn Fortress."
"We all agreed that Rear Admiral Yang Wen-li would be promoted to Vice Admiral later this year to command the 13th Fleet." He said and so far, the Admirals had mostly recovered from the initial shock of his first sentence and were nodding along.
"In order to better prepare the Rear Admiral to become a Vice Admiral I tapped one of our youngest up and coming Vice Admirals who has a history of training new Vice Admirals, who has also shown a great deal of success and promise. I of course speak of Vice Admiral Tanya Vielfraß, I had her temporarily reassigned to the 13th Fleet to be its commanding officer with Yang Wen-li to be her vice commander. The two worked well together at Astarte and furthering that bond between the two will only improve the future of the Alliance Navy."
At the mention of Tanya, many of the other Admirals soured immediately. Ever since the events of the Third Battle of Tiamat, Trunitch and Windsor's factions had been working together to destroy or get rid of her. While he could see why Windsor's faction would be against her as Fleet Admiral Lobos was firmly within her camp as she had slighted him. Thus, the Fleet Admiral and those aligned with him did what they could to her in the hopes of destroying her or forcing her out. But where his confusion stemmed from was that Trunitch's faction was also aligned against her.
Which he had found odd and so he did his due diligence and what he learned made him resent the man further.
He was a father to a lovely daughter himself who was a few years younger than Tanya was and it was for her and his loving wife that he fought to protect and hopefully, one day bring an end to this disastrous war so that his daughter would not have to fight and die in this war because of corrupt and incompetent politicians and officers. But when he learned of Trunitch's views of his daughter, he could not help but feel revolted.
The Free Planets Alliance needed new leadership if it was going to survive. Leadership that was not corrupt and pushing for a war with no end.
"Last month as you all recall, we received reports from our spies in the Galactic Empire and our contacts in Fezzan that the Empire was forced to put down a rebellion by one of their High Nobles Maximilian von Castrop. Our analysts here and our allies within Fezzan as well as our spies within the Empire all came to a similar conclusion that following the Rebellion that the Empire was likely to begin building up for another invasion of the Free Planets Alliance through the Iserlohn Corridor in a display of strength. An invasion likely to be led by their newest and youngest Fleet Admiral Count Reinhard von Lohengramm, who has managed to give the Alliance several bruising's over the last few years and a severe blow earlier this year at Astarte."
"Since Vice Admiral Tanya is eligible to receive some of the reports, we receive from the Empire due to her command of the 3rd Fleet. As she was in command of the 13th at the time, we received the report of the Rebellion within the Empire as well as our agents and analysts that the Empire would commence building up for another invasion of the Alliance. She gathered the 13th Fleet and deployed to Iserlohn and operated within the bounds of the mission parameters created for the 13th Fleet and executed them alongside Rear Admiral Yang Wen-li. Together they were able to work together and capture Iserlohn Fortress, while also destroying half the Iserlohn Defense Fleet and forcing the other half of the Defense Fleet to surrender."
"Vice Admiral Tanya Vielfraß and Rear Admiral Yang Wen-li along with the 13th Fleet are currently holding the Iserlohn Fortress along with 1,000,000 Imperial soldiers and 3,000,000 liberated Imperial citizens. The single largest liberation of Imperial Citizens since the Battle of Dagon when the Empire was soundly defeated and billions of its people fled to the Free Planets Alliance for safety." As he finished, Sidney sat down with a single motion and Greenhill watched as all the rest of the Admirals finally exploded and began shouting. Instead of cheers there was jeering, and accusations being flung back and forth as both Trunitch and Windsor's factions blamed the other.
Neither of them had green lit the operation, neither of them even knew the operation was to happen. They had all been hoodwinked as Sidney masterfully played both factions within High Command into approving the mission by approving the construction of the 13th Fleet with the sole purpose of taking Iserlohn. A goal which everyone was on the same page. But at the same time all of them had been expecting him to put his protégé in charge of it and fail and give them all a means to oust Sidney to appoint someone new to his place. Likely someone from Trunitch's Faction as Commander in Chief.
Unlike either faction within the Navy who bowed to the corrupt and inept civilian government. They came to an agreement some years ago to work together to oust the Vice Admiral after the Third Battle of Tiamat. Greenhill saw a bit of himself in the Vice Admiral, he had been a Vice Admiral in much the same way Tanya had been. Raising hell and causing all the old codgers back in Alliance Navy High Command to have conniption fits. But he had learned to reign in his hell, raising early enough to prevent himself from catching their ire. Which she unfortunately did not manage to do before she got stuck carrying the baggage of someone else's blunder after Astarte.
Pastolle, Moore and Paette were good men whatever their political leanings and the Navy was less for the deaths of the first two and the dismissal of the last. He hated that politics had infested the Navy and now threatened its future.
As both sides blamed the other for letting this happened Sidney, Kubersly and Lobos remained silent. After several minutes of letting both sides argue with the other, Sidney raised a hand to end the arguing.
"I understand that a great many of you are rightfully upset that this mission was conducted without your notice. However, we did approve of the mission to retake Iserlohn that same month the 13th Fleet was created." Sidney reminded them all.
Greenhill remembered that proposal. It was a very daring and dangerous plan that required a great deal of subterfuge and luck. But he could see the brilliance in it. Drawing the Defense Fleet out, sneaking in an infiltration force to capture the station while the Defense Fleet was engaged outside of the station and unable to prevent its capture. He had expected that they would need two or three fleets to engage the Defense Fleet and destroy it.
He also remembered who the original creator for this particularly daring plan was and was impressed by her tactical planning. Yet he did not think it could be carried out without the support of multiple fleets.
However, here Tanya showed that she could force a fleet twice the size of her own to surrender to hers. While also trusting in her allies to fully capture the station and turn its primary weapon on the enemy.
With the reminder that they had all already approved of the mission. The two groups appeared horrified that they had agreed to this mission beforehand. A mission that saw Tanya and Yang succeed where no one had before, though only Sidney had come close.
"Rumors have already leaked to the High Council that Iserlohn was taken by both Tanya and Yang and already members of the press are starting to get the info and form their own stories. Come tomorrow morning, everyone within the Free Planets Alliance will know that Iserlohn Fortress has been taken and who secured the Iserlohn Corridor." As Sidney told them Greenhill watched as several Admirals began to display panic and worry as to what their patrons might say.
"I called this emergency meeting to bring everyone up to date on the situation with Iserlohn Fortress. As well as to come to a decision as to what to do with those who brought about the monumental feat. As such, I put forward that we should promote Vice Admiral Tanya Vielfraß to full Admiral and Rear Admiral Yang Wen-li to Vice Admiral." Sidney said and once more the room broke out into argument and discussion.
…..
Current Day
Tanya
"Ultimately, High Command agreed that you and Yang Wen-li were to be promoted one rank." Greenhill resumed after a moment's pause.
"After that Lobos put forward that a vote be held on filling the vacant position of the Iserlohn Corridor Theater Command. In a massive landslide of thirty to thirteen, it was decided that you would be made Theater Commander of the Iserlohn Corridor. So, in addition to being in command of the 3rd Fleet you would be appointed Iserlohn Corridor Theater Command. Making you also a member of High Command as well." He added in at the end.
At this point I keep the politest smile I can manage. While internally I am screaming. I did not want this! I was getting yet more work on top of all the other work I was receiving due to being the designated Station Commander for Iserlohn! Now I would be required to work with some of the very same people who only months ago wanted me to go through a kangaroo court. This was not conducive to a functional workplace at all! If I were in my HR management position, I would be obligated to point out just how bad an idea this was. As it was, it was already done.
Drinking some of my coffee to hide the panic I am feeling and to control my own thoughts and take a deep careful breath. I finally settled down enough to speak.
"So this means I now have four separate hats to wear as the commander of the 3rd Fleet, commander of the Iserlohn Fortress, Theater Commander of the Iserlohn Corridor and additionally a member of the Free Planets Alliance Navy High Command." I say as calmly as I can manage. "Is that all?" I ask him still retaining the politest smile I can manage even though I know I can feel myself straining not to frown.
Greenhill nods his head, yes.
"Could you please explain then how I wound up in command of the Fortress as well as my Fleet? Surely there are better choices for commanding a station such as Iserlohn." I reasoned after all every one of the eager war happy Admirals should have been chomping at the bit to get this position. A station with a large gun able to vaporize whole sections of an entire fleet that gets in range of it? I could not imagine any of them not volunteering to command it immediately. Which would have made appointing any one of them as Theater Commander more appropriate than choosing me.
"It was decided years prior that in the event that should the Iserlohn Fortress be captured. That it would act as the natural headquarters for the Iserlohn Corridor Theater Command. It would have been a dual command between a Station Commanding Officer and a Fleet Commanding Officer. However, it was decided during the last session of Naval High Command in which you were appointed Theater Commander of the Iserlohn Corridor. Instead of having two Admirals cover the same position and run into the same issues that the Imperials had. It would be best to have a single Admiral in charge of both the station and Defense Fleet." He explained.
"Speaking of the stations Defense Fleet. I understand the need to study the captured war material and having multiple working designs helps expedite the process in studying with working materials. But why did High Command order for the captured Defense Fleet be brought back to Heinessen with Yang's 13th Fleet? I could make use of those ships. Dedicating half the yards here to maintaining them while the other half I could dedicate to maintaining our own ship designs."
To that Greenhill sighed and shook his head. "Fleet Admiral Ampelio put forth that the Iserlohn Defense Fleet ought to be brought back and studied in full. Though both Kubersly and Lobos both added their opinions that I can only summarize as that 'the Defense Fleet should not be held back in reserve for too long'. As for how long is too long, I could not say. But the Defense Fleet should be returned to you before the next mobilization."
So, Lobos actually wants me to have the Iserlohn Defense Fleet? Well, that is useful, but he still stuck me with Holland.
"Speaking of the Defense Fleet. You said you had captured data to provide me from the Shipyards here?" He asked leaning forwards.
As he inquired about the shipyard data, I nodded my head. I was glad that Holland was not present for this part.
"We managed to collect construction data on their Walküre fighters, their standard destroyers, cruisers, and battleships as well as their carriers. These are all just the base designs. None for any of their actual flagships that are personalized for individual Admirals." I start off.
The Free Planets Alliance already had lots of data on all the standard ship designs already. But without having the blueprints on how to build them. Attempting to replicate the ships was all but impossible. Of course, we did not have the resources at our disposal to devote to really building any Imperial Ship Designs. There were not too many major differences between our ships. We each used Neutron Beam Cannons as our primary weapons. With Electron Beam Cannons as secondaries along with missiles railguns and fighter craft. We each used the same type of FTL method that relied on stable corridors created by the gravity wells of certain stars. Stars that were mostly missing in the gap between the Sagitarius and Orion arms of the galaxy. Of which there were only a handful of. There were numerous minor corridors that connected the many stars but only a handful of major corridors that could let a ship travel even greater distances in a single jump.
Such as the corridor between Heinessen and El Facil.
El Facil may be a small colony on the front lines of the war with the Galactic Empire. But because it held a major corridor that led straight to Heinessen. It was therefore an important system that needed to be held just as vigorously as any system within the Iserlohn Corridor.
However, I am wandering off in my thoughts and the mysteries of figuring the methods of faster than light travel is no closer to me now than when I was in my first or second lives.
Where our designs varied were the subsystems. There were only so many ways you could design a railgun or a Neutron Cannon or even a missile. But there were many ways you could improve the systems that those systems relied upon. Similarly, you could also improve all the minor systems within the ship to better improve the performance of a ship. That was where and how the Alliance was able to stand up to the Empire when it wasn't being led into guaranteed death traps to lose millions of lives and thousands of ships.
The Alliance did not have the resources to dedicate to independent research anymore. But it could steal the notes from the Empire and implement the changes the Empire made into its own designs. It just cut out the excess that the Empire was so fond of, honestly whose bright idea was it to give every officer the equivalent of a five star hotel room inside a standard battleship? Or putting large lavish hallways where there were statues of Kaiser Rudolf von Goldenbaum and his descendents, since I am pretty sure it is mandatory to have their statues somewhere in a ship or station. As you used to have to pass by the series of golden eye sores on your way to the main control center. Before I had them removed. I understood that the Galactic Empire was based on a feudalistic style of governance. But there was a point where you reach too much of something and just wasted space. If the Empire removed all the bloat and excess their ships would likely be even smaller than ours. But be just as effective and just as powerful.
That's right. The Empire purposefully built their ships big and wasteful when they could build them smaller. The inner logistician inside me screamed when I first saw the blueprints and had one of the yard masters tell me what was and was not necessary to the function of an Empire Battleship. We have been building our ships to be nearly as large as the Empire's because we had thought the Empire knew something special about their ships' systems, we had not figured out in almost one-hundred and fifty years. Yes, our ships were slightly smaller and less glamorous and cheaper to produce and faster to construct than the Empires ships. But at the same time, we fell into the same trap as the Empire. Building ships under the impression that bigger was better.
I did not want to be in the same room as any of our engineers and yard workers when word got out that the Empire and the Alliance could have both been building smaller ships.
"I didn't think you might have gotten your hands on anything approaching the Brünhild and what it has in it. But still having that much data on their warships is going to be invaluable to us. Anything else you managed to get from their databases?" As Greenhill asked, I could see him thinking deeply over the possibilities of what could be learned and done with all the captured data.
"We also captured designs for troop transports. Several different types of engineering vessels such as a mobile repair yard which should be of great interest to Navy High Command I am sure. As well as various cargo and supply ships." I tell him and he nods his head listening along. "We also found something else in the database as well. A new ship we have not yet seen in full deployment yet. But looks to be ready for construction and deployment by the looks of things if the data we have is correct." I tell him as I stand up and walk over to my desk. This time I really gained his attention.
"A new ship?" He says his voice almost filled with a tired groan.
"Yes," I say and walk over to my desk and grab a data pad and enter in my access code and transfer over a datafile from my computer to the data pad itself and walk over to Admiral Greenhill and hand it to him. Giving him a moment to read over the ship and its specifications.
He spent several minutes reading over it before he looked up to me while setting the data pad down on the table. "We have been seeing these ships in our battles with the Empire since 794UC." Greenhill comments and I nod my head in agreement.
"Correct, before now we only had wreckage and combat data to work from and nothing concrete on what exactly the ship was. Its wreckage made it look to be a slightly larger battleship with extra neutron cannons on a double hull." I say confirming what he said.
"Now however, we know it to be their newest battleship, a Fast Battleship. Larger, faster, more powerful and with its own fighter complement. I would not be surprised to see the Empire start phasing out its old standard battleships for these new fast battleships within the next few decades if not years. It is likely that the ones we have seen and fought are just the initial prototype and test batch of these Fast Battleships. Sending them out into battle to see how they perform and figure out their issues before entering them into mass production." I informed him.
I had to give it to the Imperial Engineers for these functional prototypes as they lacked much of the waste seen in their more standard cousins. An enlarged engine block and double the number of primary weapons on the prow. This ship would most likely prove to be a threat if it were deployed in the same numbers as their standard cousins.
"I will need to pass the information on to Fleet Admiral Ampelio since he primarily oversees the construction, material, and ship design of all ships. Perhaps giving him this data will convince him to return the Defense Fleet sooner." Greenhill stated as he looked over everything before setting the data pad down.
"Certainly Admiral, I will make sure that you receive a secured and encoded data package to bring back to Heinessen with you." I offered.
"So then, just how many ships can this station build?" Greenhill asked and from there we entered another round of discussion.