Kelly Blake 3: Where the Stars Are Few and Far Between by Rodney Smith Page A

me Amy now, but you better not call Tom by his first name. I’m so happy for you. When do you want the wedding? I’ll ask Tom about your deployment schedule. Don’t worry, Candy and I will take care of everything. You made a good decision tonight, Kelly. We’re happy to have you a part of our family. Put Candy back on.”
    Kelly handed the communicator back to Candy without getting a word in. She spoke to her mom for a few more minutes and ended the call.
    He then called his parents. A drowsy sounding Moira Blake picked up the call and said, “This better be important, Kelly.”
    Kelly said, “I don’t know if you consider this important or not, but Candy and I are engaged.” He pulled the communicator away from his ear as his Mom screamed into the headset.
    Moira put Andrew on the phone, who asked, “Why did you wait so long, son? It’s about time! Now let us talk to our new daughter-to-be.”
    Kelly passed the communicator to Candy. There was more screaming and lots of congratulations ensued. She handed the handset back to him and he wished his folks a good night and ended the call.
    Candy, with a look of pure mischief in her eyes, pointed out, “Your mom was louder than mine.”
    She climbed into her air car and Kelly leaned down to kiss her goodnight. He hated to have her go back to her house alone, but he had assumption of command practice early in the morning. She drove away and Kelly waited until her lights faded from view, then caught a transport and returned to the Orion. He tossed and turned alone in his new bed for hours, wishing he were 35 miles away.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Admiral Chang received a briefing on the draft campaign plan. He liked most of what he saw and made some input that required revision. He wanted it back before week’s end and excused all but his operations chief, Admiral Thomas Kyle.
    “Tom, how are we going to control those two fleets over hundreds of light years?”
    “Admiral, it’s easier than you think. We recommissioned the command ship Montpelier, and will station her behind the 15th Battle Fleet opposite the K’Rang occupation fleet in Eridanus. That’s almost equidistant between both fleets’ axis of advance. All three flagships and the command ship have mini-rings. Coordination can be as easy as walking to a conference room on the Montpelier.”
    “Tom, I don’t want HQ staffers running through the rings and trying to micromanage the battle. Let’s make the rings one way in this direction for all except a very select few. Make it no more than 10, preferably key stars. If I hear the commanders complain, I’ll pull the plug.”
    “Understood, sir, I’ll put it in the plan. I have a deployment warning order to start getting key ships into place and I need your signature, sir.”
    Admiral Chang signed it, ordering the carriers to start assembling into task forces and battle groups. It ordered fighter and attack squadrons to start forming into Carrier Fighter Wings and assigned them to the carrier task forces. It reactivated the 12th, 35th, and 21st Scout Force Squadrons under the new 1st Scout Force Division, and reactivated the carriers Lincoln, Washington, Garibaldi, Juarez, and Gorbachev and assigned them forces to form task forces.
    It ordered the formation of the 1st Combined Fleet and the 2nd Combined Fleet and assigned two battle fleets of five carriers each to each combined fleet, along with two battle cruiser groups and three assault landing groups. It ordered the formation of the 15th Battle Fleet consisting of five carrier task forces. Only the 18th Battle Fleet would be in reserve.
    Admiral Chang thumbed his approval onto the pocket terminal and asked Admiral Kyle when he thought the Fleet would be ready to execute.
    “Three months minimum, sir.”
    Admiral Chang nodded his head. “Get me that operations order as soon as you can. Let’s give our commanders as much time to prepare as possible. Get Haddock-Halloway and Levi in here early next week so you