“All exercises are hereby terminated,” the CO continued, once he had finished outlining the bare bones of the situation.  “We will be deploying within the week, ideally, either to places on Earth or Britannia.  Marine units will probably be deployed to Royal Navy starships; so far, we have only the bare bones of a deployment plan. I don’t think I have to tell you that all leave is cancelled.”

There were some chuckles.  “Sir,” a wag in the back row said, “would this be a good time to take my sick leave?”

“Probably,” the CO said, to general amusement.  He smiled, then sobered.  “We have been prepping for minor deployments, not a full-scale war.  It is possible, I suppose, that the whole issue will be settled before too long, once the diplomats get to work.  But we have to assume the worst.  You and your men will go to war against an immensely powerful enemy with unknown motivations.  We don't know who they are and we don't know what they want.”

“Us, it would seem,” Charles muttered.

The CO ignored him.  “Prepare your men; I want everyone ready for departure within twenty-four hours.  Deployment orders will be issued as soon as possible.  Once the orders are issued, we will arrange transport on a priority basis.  I imagine that the Marines will go first, as the Royal Navy is preparing its carriers for departure.”

He paused.  “Are there any questions?”

A Colonel stuck up his hand.  “Are we going to be engaged in joint operations?”

“I don’t know, but I assume so,” the CO said.  “Scuttlebutt suggests that the Prime Minister is attempting to hammer out the details of a unified command with the other interstellar powers, but it could take months before we have a clear idea of who’s in ultimate command.  For the moment, we will operate on the assumption that we will fight under separate national authority.”

Charles scowled.  Collectively, the human race had a formidable number of carriers, starfighters and smaller warships.  But that strength would be diluted if they fought separately, rather than as one unified force.  Unity of command would be vitally important ... but, at the same time, he suspected the Royal Navy would balk at placing its ships under Chinese or Russian command.  Or French, for that matter.  The old rivalry between Britain and France kept popping up from time to time.

Not a problem for us, at least, he told himself.  Unless British settlements were attacked, it was unlikely the ground forces would see any action.  But then, they were prepped for starship deployments ...

“See to your men,” the CO ordered.  “Dismissed!

Four hours later, orders finally arrived.  Charles read them, wondering just what the head shed were thinking.  Instead of being attached to a modern carrier, his unity would be deployed to Ark Royal.  It looked as though someone expected the carrier to see action.

Or, he thought silently, that they don’t want us to see action.