Battle Group Epsilon

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

April 28 2184, 14:16 Hours (Standard Solar Time)
Aboard USNI Destroyer "Thermopylae" In Earth HPO

Sheffield looked around at the twelve men and women that were seated in his conference room. They were the Captains and Commanders of his fleet. "This is it everyone," he said. "The fleet became listed as being at maximum strength as of twelve hundred Standard Solar Time. We are the result of the accumulative resources of nearly every country on Earth. And tomorrow morning, we go to war." Sheffield paced slowly across the room. "We are Battle Group Epsilon, and we will be the vanguard of the Martian Campaign. Our primary objective is the liberation of Mars and the complete destruction of Fist of Jupiter forces in the system."
He nodded to Baldwin and his datapad's projector snapped to life. "However this is only the first step to a much larger scheme; locating and obliterating the Fist of Jupiter's base of operations." Sheffield paused while the leaders of Battle Group Epsilon took in everything he'd said so far. At last he motioned to the hologram of two asteroids orbiting Mars. "All evidence to this point indicates the location must be somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. These are the moons of Mars; Deimos and Phobos. They are possible candidates for their home base though unlikely ones. Deimos is too small for the parameters that we are looking for, and Phobos' orbit too erratic."
The hologram change to that of the asteroid belt. "The first attacks by the Fist of Jupiter were conducted within the asteroid belt. Any one of several hundred asteroids here could potentially be their base but they pose the same problems as Mars' satellites."
Baldwin tapped the datapad's screen and the picture changed to that of the Jupiter System. "Right now," Sheffield continued, "this is our best guess scenario. The Jupiter System is relatively inactive. There are no major civilian centers or military bases that would have spotted their movement. Any one of the gas giant's seventy two natural satellites could be host to their base. Even their name would suggest this."
"Either way, we'll know soon enough. Our ETA for Mars is officially five days. Unofficially though, I expect us to be there in three. Does anyone have any questions?" He looked around and was met with solemn expressions. There were no questions. They knew what was expected of them.
"Good," Sheffield said. "Now, moving on I-"
The phone rang. He and Baldwin exchanged looks of confusion. Sheffield had specifically asked that no one try to reach him through the conference room's direct line while he was with the Captains. He walked over and picked up the phone.
"Yes," he said. "No. Alright, put him through." There was a pause. Then he said, "Yes sir." Another pause, but this one was longer. A look of shock washed over his face. It was bad. Very bad. "I understand sir, Immediately." He hung up the phone.
The others looked at him expectantly. There was no time to lose. "The Fist of Jupiter is attacking again."
"Where, sir?" asked a young Commander.
"Here. Get back to your ships immediately and wait for further instructions. Get everyone to their battlestations and prepare to defend the Earth from imminent attack."