VOTGW-6

=Chapter 6=
==Vignettes of the General War==
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~RRAS Efrimal Long, somewhere in Apollo's outer system, Rim Worlds Republic, March 2580~
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Secrets were only as secure as their weakest link. 
"A month, huh?" Captain Elias Goodrich said as he looked over the message one more time in the light of his table lamp. The Efrimal Long had been hiding in the outer system for months now, running at the bare minimum of power necessary to ensure the crew wouldn't suffocate or freeze to death to avoid detection from Admiral Wbika's patrols deeper in system. But they were listening. Always listening, and their allies back on Apollo knew they were out there. Coded traffic was regularly beamed into space to give them updates, encouragement, and "suggestions" from the Rim Provisional Government, or at least the faction of it trapped on Apollo by Wbika's blockade.
Word that the Terries were sending some sort of military expedition into the Republic had come through a while ago, from sources within Wbika's own ranks. Goodrich couldn't say he was surprised. The Terries always had something of a hold on the Republic. They weren't just going to give it up.
Today's message though, that was a new twist. Colonel Dormax and her cronies in the RPG had been kind enough to let them know that she'd struck a deal with the Elsies of all people. Lyran troops were on their way to secure Apollo and the surrounding worlds as... heh... peacekeepers. They needed this, she said. With the Lyrans openly backing the RPG, they had legitimacy, secure supply lines, a real chance to throw off the last of the Amaris family. Lyran troops and ships could break the blockade of Apollo, and they'd give the Terries something to worry about and discourage them from sending more troops. 
The message ended with a "request" that the Efrimal Long be ready to support the Lyrans when they arrived, along with a timetable that seemed to indicate they'd be arriving at about the same time as the Terrie convoy showed up. Between the Long and the Lyrans, Wbika would have to back off his blockade, and the Terries would have to sit back and watch or risk going to war with the Elsies. 
A win for the good guys, right? 
Except Dormax didn't get it. What was the point of throwing out the tyrants and foreigners if we were just gonna replace them with Foreign Tyrants?
He flipped on the intercom built into his desk. "Armory, this is the Captain."
"Armory, Specialist Horton reporting," came the response. "What can I do for you, Captain?"
"I want the special warheads pulled out of storage," Goodrich ordered. "Give them a full check, make sure every one of them is intact and operable. Then start handling drills. I want the warhead swap to be second nature by the end of the week."
When they'd defected to the rebellion, the Efrimal Long (at the time named the Predator) had ten thirty kiloton nuclear anti-shipping warheads in its lockers, designed to be mated to a Barracuda missile. So far, he'd held off on using them. Ten nukes wasn't enough to break Wbika's blockade of Apollo.
But they might just be enough to start a war.
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