Empire in Crisis Read Online Free Page A

supporting a squadron that’s only slightly closer to the border,
that squadron is to ignore that system and head for one that is not closer,
regardless of how much further that second system is. Any questions, Admiral?”
     
    “No questions, my Emperor.”
     
    “Good. Admiral Remington may continue with his
briefing.”
     
    DeChastelaine was a little relieved when
nothing else of importance came up from the rest of that briefing. It was the
next item on the agenda that he suspected would be contentious. The Strategy
Board and the Capital Asset Purchase Board had issued a joint report on two new
classes of capital ships with a recommendation that the Empire should start
constructing the Conqueror class of Super-dreadnought instead of the
Valkyrie-class of fast Battlecruisers. DeChastelaine was not surprised by that
recommendation. Super-dreadnoughts formed the nucleus of a task force, and task
forces were commanded by two-star Senior Admirals. The more task forces there
were, the more senior admirals would be needed, and that would make room for
more promotions of family members and protégés. DeChastelaine looked around the
holographic table. Of the 101 admirals sitting at it, over two thirds were
members of just 33 families. They now had a stranglehold on promotions and the
plum assignments. He could almost tolerate that if most of them were above
average in ability, but his impression was the exact opposite. In every case he
was aware of, the abilities didn’t live up to the individual’s ego. They were
all legends in their own minds.
     
    “Would my Emperor like to hear a summary of the
joint report?” asked Hiakawa in a slightly patronizing tone of voice.
     
    “Not necessary, Admiral. I have read the full
report.”
     
    DeChastelaine was amused to see the look of
surprise on Hiakawa’s face. With dozens of reports forwarded to the Emperor
every week by Hiakawa’s office, it was clear that the admiral assumed he would
not read them all or at least not all the way through. The attempt to overwhelm
him with information was so obvious that DeChastelaine took a lot of pleasure
in reading every line from most of the reports and skimming the rest.
     
    “My staff discovered there was a minority
report from the Strategic Working Group that somehow did not get forwarded to
me. I’m sure that was just an oversight on your staff’s part, Admiral. I know
that you wouldn’t deliberately hold back information of that kind.”
DeChastelaine hoped his tone conveyed the subtle threat ‘you better not
deliberately hold back information’. “In any case, my staff was able to obtain
a copy of the minority report which I found to be quite interesting. It shows
that if the Empire devoted the projected total expenditure for the Conqueror
class to the Valkyrie class instead, Space Force would get a net increase in
total firepower and increased flexibility from the Valkyries’ faster speed.
Given that it will take twice as long to build each super-dreadnought versus a
battlecruiser, I would have thought that the Space Force would be eager to add
fast and powerful Valkyries to its fleets instead of the lumbering Conquerors
that are also more expensive and difficult to maintain.”
     
    Hiakawa’s look of surprise quickly turned to
visible anger. “It has traditionally been the prerogative of the Space Force to
allocate its capital budget as it sees fit within the overall budget
constraints set by the Emperor. To overturn the joint recommendations of the
Strategy Board and the CAP Board would amount to an unprecedented exercise in
micro-management. I hope my Emperor understands the serious implications of
taking that course of action.”
     
    DeChastelaine leaned back in his chair while he
continued to stare into the holographic eyes of Hiakawa. DeChastelaine did
understand the serious implications of taking that course of action. Those
implications consisted of ten battalions of marines with their combat armor
sitting on