Adventures of Eira

Chapter 10

I enter the war room to find several of the ship captains, who have transferred to the Beowulf, gathered around the table, while the others are displayed on the screen.

Quickly, I adjust my blond hair and brush off a speck of dust from my uniform.

"Thank you for attending," I say, maintaining a formal tone as all their eyes fixate on me. "I assume you've reviewed the documentation I sent?"

The first to respond is an older man with Schultze written on his nameplate.

"I have," Schultze says, his gaze unwavering. "You are proposing that we discard our doctrine and go solely for anti access/area denial. Could you elaborate on that?"

I let out a long breath and briefly glance at the ground as I consider my response.

"While I would prefer a modification of our old doctrine of power projection as a denature, we simply lack the ships to execute it effectively, and we are uncertain of the nature of the threats we'll face."

"Even so, we possess the most advanced technology of all the nations," another captain, Reiter, interjects. "We should be able to overpower any adversaries we encounter."

"It would be imprudent to adopt such an outlook," I reply, recalling Reiter's swift promotion during the war, likely due to connections rather than merit. "We should operate under the assumption that the area beyond the dead zone is inhabited by other species or remnants of humanity that survived the collapse of the old world. They may have more advanced technology from that era."

One of the individuals on the screen interjects, "So, you're suggesting that we might be perceived as technologically inferior by any other entities out there, not to mention potential numerical disadvantages?"

"Yes," I responded, turning my attention to the screen, unable to discern the speaker. "It is wiser to anticipate that we may appear weaker and then turn out to be stronger, rather than the reverse."

"How long do you intend for this proposal to remain active? Are we planning to revert to our previous strategies once we've stabilized?" Admiral Eisenritter continues.

I realize I hadn't recognized her voice initially, perhaps because she's now a living person, not just an NPC. Admiral Eisenritter, bearing the noble title of baron and holding seniority over me in the navy, odds are she won't see me as an equal.

"Beyond the adjustments required to address this new threat, that remains our goal," I respond, offering a nod of deference to the screen. "For now, we should better organize our fleet. I've invoked Article 253, so we'll be receiving loads of civilian corvettes to bluster our fleet."

The mention of it elicits visible discomfort from everyone present.

"You invoked Article 253?" Eisenritter says, her teeth clenched. "Why would you resort to a system defense article? What message are you trying to convey to our people? That we are on the verge of collapse and cannot be trusted?"

"We are on the verge of collapse, our fleet is deteriorating," I assert, striving to maintain composure. "We lack a screen and are depleting our sensors as a result."

Eisenritter's expression softens slightly, though skepticism still lingers in her eyes. "And what about the morale of our people? Will they not see this as a sign of weakness?"

"Some will but I don't think it's going to cause that big of a problem," I say, unsure of my own words. "It's better to admit your weakness than to rot on the inside."

"Give the girl some slack," says another person on the screen who I quickly identify as rear admiral Beckenbauer.

"I will not," she snaps. "If everyone here has forgotten she's a mercenary that was allowed to join the navy and just given the rank of admiral and a noble title. I don't see why she should be allowed to do things that affect our perception."

Beckenbauer lets out a long sigh before stating, "We shouldn't care about our image right now. My ship Admiral Scheer and her sister should have been in dry dock six months ago. We can't keep holding it off."

"It has already been announced to the people three days ago, so what damage might have been done is done," I say moving the conversation back to the matter at hand. "My basic plan for integrating the mercenary corvettes is to place the ships with better sensor arrayes in groups of four to form scouting teams positioned five light minutes ahead and two the flanks of the fleet. Behind them will be teams of six, consisting of a mix of the other types to act as a wall against incoming threats. Then our military corvettes will form interceptor teams that go between them as needed."

Eisenritter makes a noise as if she wants to speak but says nothing. Seemingly trying to slip me up.

"The Beowulf will be placed between them so that the Hilbert generator can reach the scouts and the stations. I will have two destroyers and the Admiral Eduard to form my response fleet." I pause for a moment to let everyone catch up to my proposal. "Eisenritter as the only other Admiral I want you aboard the Ritterburg, forming the main fleet with the remaining destroyer and frigates not going in for repairs. You will be responsible for intercepting anything that gets threw."

"What about the Prolix class? What do you want us to do?"

"I will leave that up to Admiral Eisenritter," I say looking off to the side realizing that I just forgot they existed because of everything that's happened over the past couple of days. "Ships capable of doing so will be providing data link so.."

"Are you giving me control over the carrier?" Eisenritter says with a slight smile, like I had more than one option.

"It's just a scout carrier but yes," I responded, finally stepping away from the door and approaching the screen. "Does anyone have any objections over this arrangement?"

"May I ask why you want Admiral Eduard?" someone asks even though I don't know who.

"I just want to keep it in my sight." I say trying to keep the images out of my head. "And it will complement the Beowulf's ECM capabilities."

I wait through an awkward moment of silence but no one speaks up.

"With no objections we should return to our stations and position our fleet in the discussed manner."

After saying that everyone quickly leaves the room, heading down to the hanger to get on their boarding craft.