Empire in Crisis Read Online Free

apparently
didn’t make any difference. He looked to his right where Senior Grand Fleet
Admiral Hiakawa was seated and saw that the seven-star admiral was busy
checking his data tablet.
     
    “When the Emperor arrives, the meeting starts,
or have you forgotten that, Admiral Hiakawa?” asked DeChastelaine.
     
    Hiakawa didn’t even try to hide his annoyance
as he looked up at DeChastelaine. “I have not forgotten that, Emperor
DeChastelaine. All right everyone, the meeting will start.”
     
    The chatter did die down but not as quickly as
DeChastelaine thought it should have. The initial part of the meeting agenda
was a briefing to bring the Emperor up to speed on what had happened militarily
since the last meeting. As a lowly three-star admiral droned on about
deployments, operational statistics, etcetera, DeChastelaine took a careful
look at the slowly rotating 3-D image of the stars and all the known wormhole
connections that made up the Empire and its surrounding space. Alien space was
delineated with colors, and major fleet elements both friendly and potentially
hostile were shown as green or red icons. When the briefing touched on the
Empire fleet buildup near the border of the Kravell Empire, DeChastelaine
listened more closely.
     
    “Why is this buildup occurring when I haven’t
approved the proposed invasion of Kravell territory, Admiral Hiakawa?”
interrupted DeChastelaine.
     
    “Well, my Emperor, the recommendations of the Strategy
Board were so overwhelmingly supported by the analysis from the Strategic
Working Group that I assumed you would approve the plan, and I therefore
authorized the movement of fleet assets in anticipation of that approval.”
     
    DeChastelaine could already feel the tension in
his neck muscles increase. “I specifically ordered that no mobilization should
take place until I decided whether to approve that plan or not. Your disregard
of my expressed orders has tipped the scales on my deliberations, and I’ve now
decided that we will NOT be attacking Kravell space any time soon. You will
therefore arrange for those fleet assets to return to their pre-mobilization
positions.”
     
    Hiakawa’s response was quick. “May I point out
to my Emperor that the Kravell are also reinforcing their border fleets? If we
were to weaken our border fleets now, the relative imbalance of forces might
very well tempt the Kravell to launch a full scale attack.”
     
    “I clearly remember last week’s briefing,
Admiral Hiakawa, and I do NOT remember hearing that the Kravell were shifting
assets to their border fleets. That means if they’re doing it now, it almost
certainly was in response to our movements. Therefore, the risk of a Kravell
attack is due solely to your unauthorized deployment.” DeChastelaine paused,
and to his surprise, Hiakawa said nothing. DeChastelaine was convinced that
Hiakawa was exaggerating the risk of a Kravell attack, but he couldn’t be 100%
certain, and that meant that Hiakawa had boxed him into a corner. If he ordered
a withdrawal and the Kravell did attack, either on their own initiative or
perhaps in response to possible provocations by Empire ships, DeChastelaine
would lose some of what little morale authority he had left. If on the other
hand he acquiesced and let the build-up continue, the likelihood of an eventual
Empire attack increased dramatically.
     
    “If we can see their build-up, then they can
see ours, so this is what we are going to do.” DeChastelaine paused for effort
before continuing. “Squadrons that have reached our forward fleets along the
border can stay there. Any squadron that’s still on its way to a forward fleet
is to move laterally to the nearest system that can support it logistically and
then hold that position. And just to be crystal clear, so that there’s no
misunderstanding, by lateral movement I mean that those squadrons are not to
move ANY closer to the border than they are now. If there’s a star system
capable of