Writing Practice 2

Sophia woke, as always, with a start. Her bed obligingly began to raise towards a standing position and she stepped shakily from it, pulling the waking circuit from her arm and rubbing her eyes. "Good morning Excellency." Lily stepped forward and offered a spotless silver tray, on which stood a tall glass of fruit juice, and a glass bowl containing her medication.

Sophia took the medication with a gulp of fruit juice then sat down at her desk, holding her body still while her eyes roving over the screen, shifting between one page and another with a mental command. Lily stepped forward and began to click her support systems into their ports across her body. Another morning in the life of a super being. Sophia allowed herself the one instant of loathing for these daily rituals, for her father for making her this way, and for her own body, then clamped down.

"Lily, after breakfast have the my staff assembled in meeting room too." She drained the remains of the juice and looked down at her hands. Today she would find out if she was as good as she thought she was.

Planning

The meeting room was cramped, barely large enough for the wooden table and seven officers who sat around it. Morale, Sophia gauged from the slumped postures and quieted dialogue was not high. All rose as she came in, and she returned their salutes "Good Morning, please sit." She walked to the head of the table and looked around, "The mood seems pretty sombre here. Did I die in the night without realizing it?"

That got a few chuckles. Admiral Marlson raised his head. "Well Excellency, you've got to admit, there's not much to smile about."

"True, the situation is bad, but we're not done yet." Sophia sat, folding her arms in her lap. "Even if the Independents, no, I should say, the Mnemosyne have won a stunning victory, they are one planet. The Union counts a thousand worlds among its territories. They will need far more than one victory to gain hope in this war." She looked around, watching as her words returned animation to the rest of the room. "That doesn't really help our position however, this position is still untenable. We'll have to fall back to Zeus." She loaded a file from her implants into the tables projector and the room's lights dimmed. "On the way though, we won't be idle." The projector showed a system. A bright blue star surrounded not by planets but by vast whirls of gas and rock. The legend Cyclops was emblazoned above it. "We will move to the Cyclops system, and there ambush and destroy the Mnemosyne First Fleet as it attempts to transit to Zeus."

There were murmurs at that. "Admiral Hantsburg," Representative Douglas spoke up "I admire your bravery in wishing to engage the enemy fleet so soon after their victories, but how do you know they'll transit through Cyclops? Why not Hades or Persephone?"

"That's simple: time. Cyclops is the fasted route from the last reported position of the first fleet to Zeus, and they must get there fast. Every moment until they do is one more when we can figure out a way to destroy the shipyards there without devastating the planet, and another when reinforcements may arrive. If they lose those shipyards then what little hope they may have will evaporate. Thus they will move by the shortest route, and attempt to pre-empt our defences."

On the plan a gleaming path Douglas nodded, his handsome face set in a frown of concentration. "The same logic applies to this choice of route yes? Extensive reconnaissance would spoil the ambush as our scouts would certainly be detected."

Sophia felt a flash of annoyance at him stealing some of her thunder, and but quickly continued "Indeed. Unfortunately even with the Mnemosyne I don't believe they'll oblige us by making their exact transit time subject to maths. To determine their precise position we will however cheat." She raised a hand to point to a glowing blue dot "This is scientific probe AX-281. It was launched around fifty years ago, but it's still transmitting. We will position our elements so the Mnemosyne's projected route is between them and the probe. Their particle jamming field will allow us to determine their exact position."

The graph changed at her mental command, zooming in on one point. "The fleet will split into two elements. The first element will consist of twenty sub-capital vessels. Vice Admiral Marlson will be in command. They will be ahead of the enemy here. I will command the second element, here, containing the majority of the fleet and our capital units. As the Mnemosyne fleet transits across us group will launch a volley of missiles against its rear half, forcing those ships to drop acceleration and evade. One division from group two under Commodore Littenwood will push in between two halves of the enemy fleet." Sophia could see Littenwood smiling at this notion. He always loved this kind of thing. "Meanwhile group one will attack the head of the enemy and prevent it from turning back to attack us. Do not engage them heavily, as you'll be outnumbered. Instead attack them only enough to prevent them from turning." Marlson nodded. "Once we have crushed the back half of the enemy fleet we'll turn our full force on the front, and finish them off. By massing almost our full strength against half of theirs, and making use of the superiority of our vessels against their cruisers we should gain a fairly easy victory." I hope hung in the air unsaid.

Marlson nodded "I cannot see any initial problem with your plan Admiral, but we should war game it to see if any problems happen in execution."

"Alright." Sophia nodded "Assemble your staffs ladies and gentlemen.