章 8: War Preparations
"This is insanity." I whispered to Tachibana. "We won't gain anything, in fact; we will lose everything... I can only hope that the government has a secret special plan or something."
"I know, I know... I suspect the president is simply trying to remain in power." Tachibana softly replied. "This will bring the apocalypse, but there is nothing we can do. I will report to the headquarters myself, that we have received the message. While I'm busy with that, it will be your duty to announce the war declaration to the crew."
"Got it." I said. "Ensign Aziz, ship-wide announcement!"
"Aye, sir." he said. "We are on, sir."
I tried to think of the shortest and clearest announcement I could make.
"Attention, all hands! This is the XO. On MJD 217302, at 0915 HQ local; the People's Republic of Mars will declare war on Atlantic-Pacific Federation. I repeat, on MJD 217302, at 0915 HQ local; the People's Republic of Mars will declare war on Atlantic-Pacific Federation. As of that moment, the entire Federation Navy will be considered hostile.
You've been training for these very moments during your academy years, and the moment has finally come. Now, it is time to stand to your duties on the side of your fellow comrades, and we shall be victorius!"
As soon as I put back the handset, the bridge crew, including the admiral, applauded my short speech.
"I didn't know you were THAT into this." Tachibana quietly said.
"I-I-I... I don't know what has gotten into me." I said.
"I've received the orders." Tachibana raised his voice a little bit, and continued. "We are to remain in Mars orbit and in the case of an encounter, we are to report to the Homeland Defense fleet."
"Oh, come on!" said Sungho. "I wanted to blow ships up!"
"Be careful, mister; if you get your wish, this means we are in big trouble." I said.
"Also, I would rather stay behind the front lines, to be honest." Tachibana supported me. "If this ship has a chance to shoot at the enemy, there is little doubt that the enemy has the chance to shoot us back."
"With respect, sir; this is why Ensign Katyusha is with us." Sungho said. "Right, ensign?"
"I am not here to please your wartime fantasies." replied Katyusha. "You are not going to be the one who gets to see the casuality reports flooding the screen from countless decks."
This sentence shut Sungho up.
"Sir..." I said. "Maybe, as a part of the defense fleet, we can set up a few external sensor posts. They can serve as early warning stations in case of a surprise attack attempt."
"Good idea, but I will have to talk with Admiral Rose of the Homeland Defense fleet. Our operations shouldn't interfere with each other's." he said.
"I see." I said.
"Ensign, please get Admiral Rose on the line." Tachibana said.
"Admiral Rose is currently in contact with the headquarters. Shall I send a request to join?" Aziz asked.
"Please do." said Tachibana. The request was accepted, and we could now hear the conversation of Admiral Rose and Grand Admiral Rashid.
"Sorry for the interference." Rear Admiral Tachibana interrupted. He briefly informed the admirals of the plan. Suddenly, Tachibana turned around.
"Lieutenant Commander, Admiral Rose wishes to talk to you." he said. I got to the comms station.
"This is Lieutenant Commander Kagan of the LC/M Lodos, sir!" I reported.
"Lieutenant Commander, we agree with your suggestion of setting up early warning stations. Where and how do you wish to set them up?" she asked.
"I was planning of sending a specialised shuttlecraft to Deimos, and another one halfway around Deimos' position on the same orbit." I said.
"A sound plan, commander; but I want to take one step further." she said. "I will talk to the Grand Admiral and ask him for the construction of an actual station on Deimos."
"This would be much better, if accomplished." I said.
"Very well, commander. Keep your eyes open. Admiral Rose, out." The connection was closed.
"That went nicely." Tachibana commented.
"Yeah." I said.
...
The bridge suddenly went silent. The only thing I could hear was the ominous humming of the nearby computers and machinery. Occasionally, I could hear the elevators running and people walking around the deck. But that was it.
I started walking around the bridge, taking a look at every console on my way. Commander Mei was watching the orbital parameters and stationkeeping, Ensign Dave was watching Commander Mei's console, Lieutenant Junior Grade Sungho was trying to calibrate the railguns, Ensign Katyusha was trying to memorise the numbering of the decks and their locations, Lieutenant Karl was watching the sensors without even blinking, and finally, Ensign Aziz was listening to the chit-chat between Homeland Defense fleet ships. There was nothing for me to do right now.
"Now what?" I quietly asked the Rear Admiral.
"Go make yourself some coffee." he said. "The war isn't officially declared yet, and even then, I doubt we will see any action here."
I silently turned my head. I got in front of a general purpose computer on the bridge, and opened the Naval Forces library. I found LC/M Lodos' file and started reading about the ship's technical information and capabilities. This was not the first time I was doing this, but it was always nice to know the ship inside and out. And now that I was a commanding officer, this was even more important.
After some time, Lieutenant Karl broke the silence.
"Sir, we have lost telemetry contact with Shuttle Tahan." he said.
"What was their last known location and trajectory?" Tachibana asked.
"They were in upper Mars atmosphere above Amazonis Planitia, flying towards the capital." he said.
"Shall we send an SAR shuttle, sir?" I asked.
"Wait." said Tachibana. "Just wait a minute. Let me think..." He continued after a few seconds. "This position is awfully close to the capital. The traffic control must've seen the shuttle."
"Maybe they could send a SAR team instead." I said.
"Ensign, get Cydonia traffic control." Tachibana said to Aziz.
"Sir, Port Cydonia is not responding." Aziz said.
"Sir?" I said. This was not a good sign. Port Cydonia was the largest and busiest spaceport of Mars, and one of the busiest in the entire Sol system. It was unusual, and futhermore, dangerous for them to go silent without any warning.
"Prepare a shuttle for me." Rear Admiral Tachibana said.
"Sir, wouldn't it be better if I went-" Tachibana interrupted me.
"No." he said. "There is something really bad going on down there, and I have to see it myself. Besides, this is my failure; and if we cannot retreive the prisoners, I need to take all the responsability."
"Sir, it might be dangerous. You should at least get some fighter escorts." I said. He ignored my suggestion.
"You have the command until I return to the ship." he said. "Stay in orbit and wait for me. And if I don't report back before the official declaration of war, just follow the orders."
I could do nothing but reply "Yes, sir."
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