//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: CTF Haymaker 
// by totallynotabrony 
//------------------------------//

At headquarters, Colonel Candless reviewed reports.  It was mostly snippets from various sources around Tauros put together by the intel Marines.

The Navy Commander who had come ashore to oversee medical facilities had advised him to be on the lookout for disease in the wake of the natural disaster.  That had involved a round of research regarding what ailments were common in this part of the world, not to mention the ones to which minotaurs were susceptible.  More importantly to Candless, researching the diseases that could be transmitted to humans.

It was good that he had people he could delegate tasks like that to.  Otherwise he would never get anything done.  There was just so much that needed doing, and everyone naturally looked to him.

His aide found him, passing a reminder of the daily sync.  Candless headed for the meeting table.

The other commanders arrived and the group held the meeting.  Iron Will was not present.  Candless had made sure the Marines on duty tightened security.

Lombard briefed the naval side of things.  The destroyer O'Kane was now on station in the waters southeast of Tauros.  Candless was sure that news would get a rise out of the minotaurs, which was why he would strive not to mention it.  Lombard also passed along the location of the Chinese ships, though Candless left those tasks to her.

The other commanders had news.  Supplies runs were going well, though the Australian planes would soon need more maintenance than could be had at the dirt airstrip and would have to go home.  That could put a dent in supplies, but Lombard chimed in to indicate more supplies were on the way via sealift, having finally started to arrive since being dispatched at the outset of the CTF formation.  USNS John Glenn had arrived on station to support unloading.  Despite being an auxiliary, Candless asked to have it added to the tactical picture, though knowing it would become more crowded with everything else going on.  The dot appeared just offshore, to transfer from cargo ships to LCACs.





The Japanese went next.  The young Captain who briefed spoke carefully, reading from a piece of paper.  Candless wondered why he seemed reluctant, having already briefed the group on previous days.

"We have received intelligence that the minotaur leader, King Coal, has begun to sell tickets to a big event.  It is being called 'The Big Destroy.'  We believe it is related to destroyer ships near the coast.  The minotaur populace has become highly enthusiastic, some of them establishing shrines to destroyers."

Well, that explained the soldier's reluctance to speak, delivering head-shaking news like that.

"We started a bloody cult," said Hogan, exasperated.

"I'm more concerned about them squandering money they can't afford during this crisis on entertainment that likely won't happen," said Spitfire.  "Where did the king think something was going to be destroyed?"

"He did not know," the Japanese Captain said.  "They were advance tickets."

Candless sighed, but he couldn't be angry.  Bad news was better than no news at all.  Intel was doing its job, telling him about things before they happened.  Hopefully Coal wouldn't ask him for something to be destroyed.

The talk turned to reports of dragon activity on Tauros' northern border.  There was a good chance that they had made incursions to the minotaur airspace, though no one had sighted them on the ground yet.  Minotaurs might be territorial, but had little regard for the sky.  Dragons had little infrastructure and even less in the way of defined borders.  Neither side probably saw border crossing as a huge problem, but Candless felt a little annoyance that the rules didn't seem to work the same here.  He wanted security, but strictly enforcing the borders might been seen as heavy-handed, even by the minotaurs they were trying to help.  At any rate, they didn't have enough manpower.

Speaking of, the talk turned to how the humanitarian operation was going.  The news was good there, at least.  Sustained effort by the Marines, Soldiers, Airmen and -ponies, and Sailors had reached all population centers of Minos.  The tide had turned, and while it might take years to rebuild Tauros, the immediate needs had been met and the citizens were getting the help they had been promised.

Candless didn't know when his mission here would end, but he could envision that it might be within a week or two.  Of course, that would depend on more assistance forces coming in - the CTF was just the first responder.  But they were over the hump, provided nothing else happened.