Logistics
© 2025 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  rabbi-tom


Varan frowned at the display on her padd. Her current assignment was to ensure that an entire fleet under her command had sufficient supplies for a sixty-day deployment into contested space without ready access to resupply. Support Command had the resources necessary; it was her task to ensure that each ship in the fleet had enough.

Fuel, food, water, henal, medical supplies, spare parts . . . the trickiest bit was to apportion everything, with the understanding that it was proportional; a destroyer needed less than a dreadnought. It wasn’t as if she was still a cadet; she had experience in making certain that a warship had everything it and its crew needed. The problem was one of scale.

After several cycles she was satisfied that she had the allocations correct, with an advanced scouting force of destroyers and cruisers equipped with slightly more spares and henal than the rest of the fleet. She forwarded the assignment to Admiral l’Fel and went to get a shower.

A day later she was called to the Admiral’s office, and l’Fel accompanied by a subadmiral in Support uniform. “Please sit, Captain,” l’Fel said. “I have asked Subadmiral Amrov to assist me in evaluating your assignment.”

Varan said, “Thank you, Ma’am,” as she took a seat facing the two senior officers.

Subadmiral Amrov glanced at his notes. “Why did you allot more henal to the scouting force, Captain?”

“For the same reason I also allotted more repair and medical supplies to those ships, Sir,” Varan replied. “As an advance contingent, they would have a higher exposure to enemy contact, battle, and concomitant battle stressors.”

“And, in your assessment, that would include an alcoholic beverage?”

“Yes, Sir. Henal is only slightly alcoholic.”

The kam asked, “Did you ever overstock your ship’s beverage storage?”

“Yes, Subadmiral. My ship was at the forward edge of the Empire’s advance, and we could not get henal at times.” Varan resisted shifting in her seat. “Support had contracted with a Terran Colonial supplier, and we carried Markellan whisky at times.”

While Amrov checked Varan’s service record, Admiral l’Fel asked, “What was your intention for the advance force, Captain?”

“The advance force was not to engage in prolonged combat, but to make contact with the opposing force, ascertain its size, and maintain contact until the rest of the fleet could rendezvous with it.” Varan felt the tip of her tail twitching nervously.

L’Fel glanced at Amrov, who said, “It is a good justification for the allocation, Admiral.”

“Very well.” She turned toward Varan. “Very good, Captain. You are dismissed until the next session.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.” Varan stood and walked out of the office. She didn’t relax until she was behind the closed door of her quarters, and she used the garderobe while the next evaluation session was uploaded to her padd.

This one was going to cover interspecies diplomacy.