Warpath (Rise of the Empire Book 4) by Ivan Kal Page A

lay waste to their industry, before the fleets attacking Nelus realize what is happening. And once they do find out, their most likely response will be to race back to defend their territory. Rest assured, if we are able, we will give aid to Nelus.”
    Relieved Oswald nodded. Then Maret, former Retnor of Nuva now Fleet’s Head Quartermaster spoke, “I assume that I am free to start constructing support ships and stations? We also need to choose a staging system, someplace out of the way but still close to Sowir territory, preferably a hub system with many outgoing and incoming trans-lanes.”
    “Yes, I am approving the fabricator time for your department. As for the staging system, we will be meeting separately later to discuss that.” Laura answered.
    “What about our warship construction lines?” Daria Veisi Head builder for the Fleet asked.
    “We’ll have other meetings, but for now you should prepare for a full scale ramping up of all our projects. I am also approving your designs for the Furious class battleships.”
    “What about the Kraken class dreadnoughts?” Daria asked.
    Laura grimaced. “I am not so sure about that one. The thirty five percent less firepower than the Mark Two dreadnought class worries me.”
    “But it would be at least three times as maneuverable.” Daria pressed.
    “We’ll talk about it later.” Laura said. Then she looked around the room and clapped her hands. “Okay, go meet with your people, write up plans and send them to my office for approval. We have no time to waste.”
    ***
    A couple hours later, Laura sat in a room surrounded by holograms and displays, listening to Daria and her team trying to convince her that the Kraken class dreadnoughts were viable. They started with listing all of the specifications of the proposed ship, then moved to the simulations they ran, and finally to what the role of these ships would be in a fleet.
    “Everything that you have just told me, a Mark Two can do better.” Laura said.
    “The Mark Two’s are slow, the Kraken class could move to engage much faster-” Daria started.
    “We have battleships for when we need to engage faster. You are not doing a great job of convincing me that we need these ships…” Laura interrupted.
    Daria looked helpless, Laura could see that both she and her team were very enthusiastic about it, but they just didn’t provide a sufficiently valid reason to make these ships. Laura sighed, she was about to call an end to the discussion when one of the Daria’s team leaders stepped forward.
    “Ma’am, if I may.” He said. Laura looked at him, reading the name provided by her implant above the man’s head.
    “Go on Ritsarni.” Laura said, and the young Nel took a deep breath. He was very young, Laura accessed his files and saw that he was 24 years old, and that he was also one of the first Nel to be born in the progeny centers on Nuva.
    “You are correct Fleets Master, together our battleships and dreadnoughts can do the same thing that the Kraken class would be capable of. But it isn’t really about that. Currently our fleets are much more firepower oriented, I believe that what happened with the Ra’a’zani scared us in a way. We downsized our drone program before it even had the chance to shine, because we knew that those drones wouldn’t be a match for the Ra’a’zani.” He turned to look at the screen.
    “We chose to focus on quality over quantity, and we turned our fleets into juggernauts. We stopped building cruisers, and instead focused on battleships and dreadnoughts. Because we are not limited by budgets and costs, we made them bigger, more powerful yes, but we lost a lot on utility. Our battleships are fast and sturdy, but they have limited amount of ammo. Our dreadnoughts are fleets in of themselves. Each one of our Mark Two dreadnoughts alone could lay waste to a fleet the size and capabilities of the one that attacked Nuva thirty years ago. But only if it managed to force that