Blind Shadows
Velhar Kraszyek communicated to his officers to begun the maneuvers for reuniting the battle group and offer a unite front to the impeding menace.
"Everything is clear then'"
He said looking at Jonar Eryxhian on the communicator monitor.
The face of the Lieutenant was hard and cold while observing his ex pupil.
Despite all his efforts the tempest of emotions agitating the old veteran was manifested by the continuous slight alterations of his expression.
The 'raven' instead maintained his arrogant attitude.
Many unspoken things passed between the two men in those brief instants.
But all what was said were the formal words of a soldier to his commander.
"We are on our way to the designed coordinates."
And with this the communication ended.
Velhar switched to his other second in command, that was also his brother, Druszieck.
He didn't have the rapacious facial features of the 'raven' but whomever would have seen them together would have recognized them as brothers from the cruel line of the mouth and the receding jaw.
"We are en route for the assigned destination as by your orders Velhar."
Noticing the expression on the face of his brother he added:
"You seem in an awful good mood due to the situation."
"Shouldn't I?"
Was the gleeful response.
"The old Chas instated the Gamma Protocol, you surely understand what this entails."
"I assume that you received some kind of information that I didn't for saying so."
Inquired Druszieck.
The 'raven' answered with a soft laughter.
"There are still people loyal to us."
"Yes, I have received a 'special' report, alongside with the official communication."
Said Velhar returning serious all of a sudden.
"Seems that our 'friends' made their move.They wanted to declare the state of emergence, but Chas denied his support, now they are arranging for a special session of the Directorate to obtain a formal declaration."
A preoccupied expression appeared on Druszieck's face.
"This is clearly a maneuver for gaining the control of the Directorate, at our expenses, how these are good news?How they think to get the support of the Representativity?"
Asked anxiously to his brother.
The 'raven' waved his hand, as to dismiss something trivial.
"The Representativity are all but glorified bureaucrats, leading them by the nose will not take much, Arbhert has already offered his support, it's obvious that he is into this together with the faction inside the Directorate that want to deprive us of our authority, now they will all come out of the woodwork, not only the ones of which we already knew."
"So, we can only hope to retard the proceedings at this point."
Was Druszieck's consideration.
"More than enough, they are being awfully hasty for such a carefully planned takeover."
Mused Velhar.
"Probably something happened with their Jehnizars allies or some other unknown occurrence.What is certain is that they want to use the situation for their own advantage."
"So, you think that they are using a the same plan as yours?"
At these words the expression of the 'raven' became hard and cold, his eyes opaque as a thin veil had been posed on them.
"Even if this connection is secure there is no need to say such ill thought words."
Druszieck became pale at this response.
As many others even him was afraid of his brother's ferocity.
Nonetheless he couldn't help into thinking that the situation was very similar to the plan they devised to regain hold of their waning power as Directorate inside the Commonwealth.
A plan that never came to fruition as the contacts with the Jehnizars abruptly ceased and the reunion of the Directorate that should have issued the Declaration of Preeminence instead greatly reduced the power of their family and allies leaving them with a diminished role inside the Council.
Velhar's reaction pretty much confirmed this, here they were, the three battlecruisers that should have helped them to quell every resistance with their dissuasive power, the weapon that should have gave them the upper hand before similar vessels would have been commissioned by the Representativity.
A weapon that was now pointed against them.
A weapon which the sole apparition of it had already further marginalized them inside the Commonwealth, the issue of a formal declaration was just a mere confirmation of what was in the work for a long time and that now was reaching a quick conclusion.
Druszieck carefully weighted his words.
"Is your opinion then that they are taking advantage of this for swaying all the power in their hands?"
"It's a given:"
Answered the 'raven' without hesitation.
With caution the brother continued.
"This means that we will be reduced to mere figureheads, if not scapegoats."
And after a light pause.
"In more senses than one."
Velhar's eyes narrowed at the implication, he was well aware that if their political opponent cut their contacts with the Jehnizars and effectively substituted them they could also have proof as well of Velhar's treason.
"Don't worry, there is no way they could imply us in this, no matter how many lies they could invent."
His voice was sharp as a blade as he continued.
"Besides, the only thing that counts at the moment is the military might that one possess, from there comes all the legitimation we need."
In saying this slowly raised his hand in front of him, closing it in a tight fist.
The 'raven' put together his militia when the rest of the Commonwealth was weary of the Directorate's power, a way to create ties and give guarantees to the sectors, in this way he created a web of alliances outside of the Directorate itself, a transversal alliance comprised of almost all the central sectors.
"Druszieck, you worry yourself too much, that old ram of Karl Chas by deciding of locking horns with Consul Ferrygan and instating the Gamma Protocol has gave us a decisive advantage.Now we are the force that can change the power balance in an eventual conflict or the essential element to maintain the status quo."
"How about Zhenar Xhan?"
Replied his brother.
"Hmpf, he will follow what Chas says."
Said Velhar with a dismissive tone.
"What will really decide this is the incoming battle, our battle group against their battlecruisers."
"What do you think their objective is?"
Asked Druszieck.
The 'raven' barely considered the question.
"Wrecking havoc to be sure that martial law is declared, destroy strategic objectives that could be hostile to them, it's hard to tell, but we will find out soon enough."
With this words he closed the communication.
Kraszyek was seated at his command desk, supervising the operations for the reunification of the three groups when the special sensors he made secretly install signaled the arrival of the enemy, at full speed, Houser's battlecruiser probably was not far from them too.
So, their objective was Velhar or something made them change their original plans?
Not that this had any importance at the moment, with a grin he prepared himself, there was a hint of madness in the light of his eyes.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
A)Your forces are not fully reunited, use this for offering a vast front to the enemy, in this way your astrocrafts will be less easily targeted.
However, this could possibly expose your command ships to a concentrated attack.
B)Complete the maneuvers to reunite the battle group, at the beginning you would sustain heavy losses, but afterwards you could oppose a massive artillery response, effectively saturating the battle zone with your firepower.
C)Take advantage of the nature of militias, let the troops to act in little subgroups that will lunch coordinated attacks against the enemy.