Dark Fate, Chapter 243

Chapter 243 – Debrief

Once again, we were in the conference hall used for military affairs. The same one we’d done the initial after-action report following the pirate fleet’s attack. Then, it had been all pilots and ship crews, practically the entire Navy, in attendance. The ground crews for the fighters were probably the only ones left out.

This time, however, was different. The navy was too large, and we had other branches as well, with the Army and Marines to consider. So, instead, every ship captain, squadron leader, and their executive officers who were in the system had gathered on Ceres for this meeting. Plus gunners for the Renegade crews. And also representatives from the other branches, as well as some of our design team. Like I’d told Goddess and Heretic, this after-action report was as much for them as it was for the whole military. Our first big campaign outside the Sol system. The more eyes we had on it, the better we’d be able to identify any weaknesses or missed opportunities, and work to resolve them in the future.

Of course, that didn’t mean that all of our military leaders were here. The captain and XO of the Tripoli were still in Ouran space, on their exchange program, along with the Marine and Special Forces commanders who went with them. Naturally, popping back to Ceres for a meeting was not really possible. Fortunately, the meeting would be recorded, and sent with the first freighter taking trade goods to the Iscand Clan’s territory.

The muttering voices quieted down as I walked onto the stage, with Slave-Commissar-General Monique Stratton and Fleet Admiral Andrei Jordan flanking me. Even if I was wearing my ‘human’ guise, instead of going full demon, simply existing with a CHA of almost 3000 was enough to draw all eyes to me. Especially since I had never bothered to learn any skills to suppress my presence or the like.

It was actually fairly interesting to observe. I didn’t have any kind of [Stealth] skill, but I could still use raw stats to try and hide. People wouldn’t automatically spot me, unless they had some kind of enhanced perception skill, or really high WIS, but even when they couldn’t see or hear me, and I didn’t have any of my aura skills up, people still felt my presence, like a sixth sense. Didn’t give away my position, but people definitely knew they were being watched. And the moment I spoke, or came out into the open, all eyes turned to me.

Actually, Slave-Commissioner-General Sun Zhihao had noted that the sheer overwhelming obviousness of my presence could be used to help with intelligence operations. Oh, not by having me sneak around. That wasn’t going to happen. Sure, I’d overwhelmed the guards with speed and raw stats when I captured the Russian president for his trial by combat, but that was less the ‘sneaking’ kind of stealth, and more the ‘no one can notice you if there’s no one left to notice you’ kind of stealth. However, what I could do was provide a nice, shiny distraction. Just standing there talking to someone would be enough to divert most eyes, allowing operatives to slip through the cracks, so long as they didn’t do anything that would call attention to themselves.

Of course, there was no need for me to try and hide or distract anyone at the moment. Indeed, having everyone’s attention focused forward was the whole point of coming to this conference hall so we could talk about the mission. However, there was one thing to do, first. I nodded to Admiral Jordan. Time to start.

Admiral Jordan stepped forward, and called out, “Captain Griboyedov, front and center!”

The captain was expecting something like this, obviously. I’d told Admiral Jordan that it was fine to let him know about the promotion ahead of time. There was a time to surprise people, and a time to let them prepare themselves first. Coming in off the back of a mission like they had been on? Not the time for surprises.

The stocky Russian dwarf stepped onto the stage and came to attention in front of Stratton, turned exactly ninety degrees to the right as he faced Admiral Jordan, hand in a perfect salute. As it should be. Jordan, for his part, returned the salute, and then pulled a sealed envelope from his pocket, as well as a folded piece of paper, and a set of insignia.

“Attention to orders! All hands to attention!” At Jordan’s command, everyone in the audience rose and snapped to attention. Formal ceremonies were formal ceremonies, after all.

“Captain Griboyedov Ivan Tikhonovich, for your steadfast duty in accomplishing your mission as head of a detached squadron behind enemy lines, the Admiralty Board of the Ceres Royal Navy, with the consent and approval of the Emperor of Ceres, Zayn Greene I, hereby promotes you to the rank of Rear Admiral, and confers upon you the command of Third Fleet, Ceres Royal Navy, with the CRN Mercurial as your flagship. Effective today, November 4th, 2021. Congratulations, Admiral Griboyedov.”

There was a round of applause from everyone in the room as Admiral Jordan pinned the new insignia on Griboyedov’s uniform. The first Rear Admiral in the Ceres Royal Navy, and the first official commander of Third Fleet. Even if he never did anything else, he’d be in history books in the future. Well, most of the people in this room would likely end up in the history books, before all was said and done.

Once the applause was done, the four of us on stage took seats behind the table that had been set up. It was easier to take notes on things when you had a surface to write on, even if you were using a tablet. Since I was the one in charge of this whole thing, I was the one to start it off. I cleared my throat, more to signal everyone that I was about to talk than anything else.

“All right, some of you have been here before, and some of you this is the first big after-action you’ve been in with the Ceres Royal Armed Forces. These sessions are not about blame, responsibility, or anything like that. Rank is not a factor in this discussion. The only wrong answers are ones that ignore reality. The entire point of these sessions is so that we can go over everything that happened, find what worked and what did not. More importantly, we want to know why things did or did not work, and what we can do to improve.

“As you can all see, this conference has more than just those who were out in the field. That’s because I want as many eyes as possible on things. For those of you who weren’t out there, feel free to ask questions, but we won’t be having any accusations. You’re here so that you can learn from other people’s actions, rather than having to take the lumps yourselves. You’re also here so that you can contribute any bright ideas or alternative plans that pop into your heads. This is how we grow as an organization.

“This was the first extended campaign the Ceres Royal Navy has ever undertaken, and, to be perfectly honest, we rushed things out the door. We wanted to move quickly to provide a tangible benefit to the Commonwealth in their war against the Incux, but that also meant we were going in almost blind, with only the bare location data the Commonwealth Naval Intelligence was able to gather. Which means that mistakes were inevitable.

“The final responsibility for those mistakes, and the people who died because of them, falls on me, not any of the officers in the fleet. I was the one who gave the order to rush the mission, so I own the fact that we spent more lives than we might want in completing the objective. This meeting is as much for me, as for any of you, so that we can figure out how we can all improve. I don’t expect perfection from anyone, least of all myself. We have all made mistakes in the past, and will continue to make mistakes in the future. Our job, both as individuals and an organization, is to never make the same mistake twice. I don’t care if you find new and interesting ways to fuck up every time you are on mission, so long as you are ensuring that you don’t repeat the same fuck-ups, because that means you’re learning, growing, and trying new things, rather than just sitting back and doing the same stupid shit over and over again and wondering why you keep fucking things up. Are we clear?”

Since no one objected, I turned to Admiral Griboyedov. “Very well, Admiral, how about we start with the test run at Sirius. You used the Incux military outpost there to test the theoretical stealth approach tactics we’d developed, with the help of our comrades on the Hellspawn, who were former Commonwealth Navy, yes?”

“As you say, your Majesty. While theory is good, and tactics borrowed from others are better, there’s nothing quite the same as testing things for yourselves.” Griboyedov reached for his tablet, and brought up the tactical plots of the Sirius engagement. “As you can see, we were successful in the initial insertion without raising alarms in the Incux forces on the dwarf planets Sirius 1 and 2. Mining and ship construction hives, primarily.” He paused for a moment, and then said, “Not much to say about the attack itself. Because of our stealth actions allowing fighters to enter inside weapons range before Cinder and Beast Squadrons were detected, the major facilities on both dwarf planets were destroyed before Incux defenses could be activated. In retrospect, this efficiency, while proof of our stealth capabilities, was a tactical error on our part.”

“How so, Admiral?”

“We destroyed the major facilities, and, with them, the Incux command and control nodes too quickly. As seen at Ulora, when the key point in the local forces of an Incux hive mind is destroyed, the Incux are temporarily sent into confusion, until such time as the hive mind can reestablish itself. Because of that, we were in and out before we could properly identify what Incux anti-air and anti-ship defensive structures looked like on scanners. This proved costly when we moved to our first true target in the Thesatra system, Thesatra 4, designated Incux Food Resource World 1.”

He changed the display to show the battle at Thesatra 4. “While Sirius 1 and 2 were dwarf planets roughly midway between the size of Ceres and Pluto, IFRW 1 was Earth-sized, giving ships and fighters far more ground to cover, even when using weapons of mass destruction on the major settlements. This led to an increased duration of our stay over the target world, giving the Incux time to recover from the initial disruption of the Hive Mind, and return fire. The Invader suffered significant damage, as well as serious casualties and seven dead. The ship was still mission capable, especially after visiting the Commonwealth resupply base in interstellar space, but if we had either had better intelligence beforehand, or teased out the Incux defenses while we were over Sirius, that might have been avoided.”

I nodded slowly. “While there is some truth to your words, Admiral, I believe you made the right call at the time. The Ceres Royal Navy is not strong enough to simply give enemies a free shot, just to see what they can do. That kind of thinking without a significant technological divide to back it up, is either a cavalier disregard for your people’s lives, or the kind of overconfidence that causes the universe itself to rise up and humble you. Are there any suggestions for how to deal with situations like this in the future?”

I looked out to the audience as I said it, hoping for some bright ideas, and I wasn’t disappointed. A hand went up, and I pointed to the woman. “Name and rank, and then your suggestion.”

The Latina woman stood, and said, “Bella ‘Collar’ Aparicio, Squadron Leader, 301st Panamanian Heavy Bomber Squadron, Callsign Hellfire Leader. By my understanding, the Sirius site was chosen for its lack of military ships in system, meaning that more time could have been devoted to the scouting phase of the operation prior to the elimination phase. My suggestion would be that, rather than risking the more valuable warships, we do more in depth reconnaissance first, with either stealth ships or the rumored stealth fighters that scuttlebutt says are ready for trials. Followed up by using more Renegades and Warthog bombers to pound positions, since the risk-to-reward of a single pilot versus a warship is significant. Alternatively, if no bombers are available, Hunters or Interceptors could be used, though they would likely lack the firepower to properly knock out any targets they uncover, meaning that a second strike by either bombers or warships would be needed.”

“An excellent point,” Admiral Jordan nodded. “And while the exact timeline for the Ghost reconnaissance craft is still classified, I can say that such missions are being included in its eventual mission profiles when it does make its entry to the Fleet. The use of fighters as a more active reconnaissance in force to draw out enemy defenses is sound, but the risks to pilots would have to be balanced by the potential rewards. While it is true that a fighter and its pilot are easier to replace than even a single corvette and its crew, simply by the numbers, none of us are eager to start looking at our people as numbers on a spreadsheet, unless the situation is dire enough to warrant it. That said, contingencies will be developed along those lines, just in case.”

I nodded, “We will spend your lives, when we have to, but we don’t waste them. Now, Admiral Griboyedov, anything more about IFRW 1?”