Prologue: Orders
Date: 2654.042
From: Personel and Assignments, Confedaration High Command
To: Lieutenant Joseph Henry Barrington
Subject: Assignment
Lieutenant Barrington, you are hereby assigned to Battle Group Agamemnon (A) as a pilot of 267 Squadron, You will report on board the transport Aviso carrying supplies and personel bound for the bound for the McAuliffe dockyard. Further orders will be delivered en route.
End.
He sat by the small square table, grateful for a moment's privacy. The Transport seemed to have stopped briefly every other system in order to deliver or pick up other people proceeding to their respective assignments. The transport had left Earth roughly two weeks ago, and so far he had shared his two man cabin with a marine seargeant, a pale faced youth joining joining his first ship, a corvette, a doctor proceeding to a military hospital and a loud mouthed technician heading for the McAuliffe dockyard itself.
Henry Barrington glanced at orders again, as with the majority of official documents he had received in the week following his graduation they were both brusque and supremely uninformative. He supposed the reason for this was to minimise any discolosure of sensitive information to the enemy, although one of his lecturers at Academy had once wryly remarked that written orders were an initiative test devised enhance an officer's skills of deduction.
From what he could deduce he had received the carrier posting coveted by all pilots. The majority of his classmates had been assigned to planetary airfields or space stations, which constituted the vast majority of postings for pilots. He was also fairly certain the Whippets were a Hornet squadron, since that was the only fighter for which he had thus far acheived a proficiency ribbon.
He was unfamiliar with the Agamemmnon Battlegroup, it was not a name celebrated by the press and public, such as the aplty named Illustrious or the semi legendary Tiger's Claw. He had however, surmised that it was an element of a larger fleet, comprising of one or perhaps two carriers plus escorting vessels, with detachments operating in the vicinity of each other, but rarely concentrated in the same system.
McAuliffe was fairly close to the front line, but was also the site of the largest construction and engineering facilities outside of Sol Sector, which meant that, once his ship had completed her refit, she could have been assigned to any sector in the vicinity.
"Lieutenant Barrington" A voice interrupted his thoughts as one of the transport's comm technitions approached his table.
"This is for you sir, came with the shuttle docked with us this morning."
He picked up the letter and read it, finally more clues as to what he was supposed to be doing.
Date: 2654.067
From: Adjutant, C-in-C Battlegroup Agamemnon
To: 2nd Lt. J.H. Barrington
Lt Barrington, this letter contains confidential details regarding the composition of your unit, to be kept secure at all times.
Upon arrival at McAuliffe you will report on board the TCS Audacious (CVL-36), Flagship of Commodore Rupert Fenton, and assume your duties in the Hornet squadron.
The Agamemon Battlegroup is composed of the folowing elements.
Agamemnon Taskforce
TCS Indomitable (Flagship, Rear-Admiral Houghton)
2 Cruisers and 4 destroyers.
Detachment A.
TCS Audacious (Ranger Class Light Carrier)
TCS Naseby (Gettysburg Class Cruiser)
TCS Winchester & Rochester (Exeter Class destroyers).
TCS William Hoste (Venture Class Corvette)
Fighter Compliment 60
Squadrons 3
267 "Whippet" Squadron (Hornets), Maj Charles Leroy
765 "Bulldog" Squadron (Scimitar), Maj Jonathan Worsley
583 "Boarhound" Squadron (Rapiers) Maj Peter Kaufmann
Plus 28 additional Scimitars assigned to escorting vessels.
Once onboard the Audacious you will report to the Wind Commander, Lt.Col. Arthur Pryce.
Date: 2654.042
From: Personel and Assignments, Confedaration High Command
To: Lieutenant Joseph Henry Barrington
Subject: Assignment
Lieutenant Barrington, you are hereby assigned to Battle Group Agamemnon (A) as a pilot of 267 Squadron, You will report on board the transport Aviso carrying supplies and personel bound for the bound for the McAuliffe dockyard. Further orders will be delivered en route.
End.
He sat by the small square table, grateful for a moment's privacy. The Transport seemed to have stopped briefly every other system in order to deliver or pick up other people proceeding to their respective assignments. The transport had left Earth roughly two weeks ago, and so far he had shared his two man cabin with a marine seargeant, a pale faced youth joining joining his first ship, a corvette, a doctor proceeding to a military hospital and a loud mouthed technician heading for the McAuliffe dockyard itself.
Henry Barrington glanced at orders again, as with the majority of official documents he had received in the week following his graduation they were both brusque and supremely uninformative. He supposed the reason for this was to minimise any discolosure of sensitive information to the enemy, although one of his lecturers at Academy had once wryly remarked that written orders were an initiative test devised enhance an officer's skills of deduction.
From what he could deduce he had received the carrier posting coveted by all pilots. The majority of his classmates had been assigned to planetary airfields or space stations, which constituted the vast majority of postings for pilots. He was also fairly certain the Whippets were a Hornet squadron, since that was the only fighter for which he had thus far acheived a proficiency ribbon.
He was unfamiliar with the Agamemmnon Battlegroup, it was not a name celebrated by the press and public, such as the aplty named Illustrious or the semi legendary Tiger's Claw. He had however, surmised that it was an element of a larger fleet, comprising of one or perhaps two carriers plus escorting vessels, with detachments operating in the vicinity of each other, but rarely concentrated in the same system.
McAuliffe was fairly close to the front line, but was also the site of the largest construction and engineering facilities outside of Sol Sector, which meant that, once his ship had completed her refit, she could have been assigned to any sector in the vicinity.
"Lieutenant Barrington" A voice interrupted his thoughts as one of the transport's comm technitions approached his table.
"This is for you sir, came with the shuttle docked with us this morning."
He picked up the letter and read it, finally more clues as to what he was supposed to be doing.
Date: 2654.067
From: Adjutant, C-in-C Battlegroup Agamemnon
To: 2nd Lt. J.H. Barrington
Lt Barrington, this letter contains confidential details regarding the composition of your unit, to be kept secure at all times.
Upon arrival at McAuliffe you will report on board the TCS Audacious (CVL-36), Flagship of Commodore Rupert Fenton, and assume your duties in the Hornet squadron.
The Agamemon Battlegroup is composed of the folowing elements.
Agamemnon Taskforce
TCS Indomitable (Flagship, Rear-Admiral Houghton)
2 Cruisers and 4 destroyers.
Detachment A.
TCS Audacious (Ranger Class Light Carrier)
TCS Naseby (Gettysburg Class Cruiser)
TCS Winchester & Rochester (Exeter Class destroyers).
TCS William Hoste (Venture Class Corvette)
Fighter Compliment 60
Squadrons 3
267 "Whippet" Squadron (Hornets), Maj Charles Leroy
765 "Bulldog" Squadron (Scimitar), Maj Jonathan Worsley
583 "Boarhound" Squadron (Rapiers) Maj Peter Kaufmann
Plus 28 additional Scimitars assigned to escorting vessels.
Once onboard the Audacious you will report to the Wind Commander, Lt.Col. Arthur Pryce.