Chapter 72
Roche Asteroid Belt, Roche System
Roche Sector
Admiral Trench, Commanding Officer of the Confederate 2nd Fleet Group, had been under no illusions of the monumental undertaking put before him. Whilst they had not been able to deal the knockout blow to the Confederate heartworlds that would end the war early, the Grand Army of the Republic had nonetheless been able to push the Separatist State to the edge of the cliff with their lightning Operation Trident. Once it had become apparent they wouldn’t be able to reach the Tion Hegemony as initially planned–in no small part thanks to the brave struggle of the Perlemian Coalition–the GAR had cut their losses on the border on the Outer Rim and settled in to entrench the front.
It was that entrenched front that Admiral Trench and his fleets had to shatter, if Operation Storm-Door was to succeed. The stakes were high; there was no front as crucial as the Perlemian Front, the home front. Admiral Kirst could fight a protracted retreat in the north, and General Ambigene could dole out his brutal campaign in the south, but at the doorstep of the Confederate homeworlds, the 2nd Fleet Group was metaphorically and practically under the ever-scrutinising eye of the Separatist Senate.
Trench’s counteroffensive will have to be lightning swift, and yet also clean and precise in order to maintain the optics of a victorious liberation campaign. Quick, and clean. Two words that, put together, become the worst nightmare of any military officer. There was quick and dirty, as General Ambigene and Admiral Kirst tended towards. There was clean and thorough, as General Tann and General Farstar would like it. Traditional military convention stresses that there was no such thing as quick and clean. And yet, that was what was demanded of Admiral Trench, and the old Harch was always up for a challenge.
For this reason, he suspected, that the Supreme Commander of the Confederate Armed Forces put Admiral Trench to command of the most important yet delicate theatre of the war. It was a political appointment as much as it was a militarily-motivated one, and considering the timing of it, he could smell the hands of Calli Trilm all over it. Not that he disagreed, of course. As the most proven fleet admiral of the Confederacy, second only to the Pantoran herself; and as the most veteran officer of the Confederacy, second only to the Tombmaker himself, there was no more natural choice than the old Harch.
And yet, Admiral Trench was also General Sev’rance Tann’s only rival in the CAF, politically and militarily. By putting him to the home front–she earns the confidence of the bureaucrats and support of the rival military factions–and the Supreme Commander can only strengthen her position no matter what happens. If he is victorious, she enjoys his laurels, and if he is not, she shrugs off the blame.
Admiral Trench naturally had no intention of shouldering any blame.
From their base of operations at Columex, the Confederate 2nd Fleet Group made their plans for the upcoming offensive. First, a half-thousand ship strong fleet would embark west on the Salin Corridor, with the intent of reaching the Republic fortress world straddling the spacelane, Phindar.