“But in a good way. He adapted to the way the ship flies really quickly, and he’s getting bored flying with other ship drivers. He wants a challenge, and could move up to a Chaos class with the next batch. If I make him Miriam’s sixth, he gets the chance to work with our best pilots, and he can teach his own people as they come up. I’ll leave it to Miriam for the final decision, but suggest they train with him in the formation, and see if they can make it work.”
“Do it.”
“I’m not sure you’re aware sir,” said Jedburgh, “but Relentless is being flown by a Cheetah. One pilot captain became available not long after Greer moved to Havoc, and we didn’t have anyone else. So I took the opportunity to make them happy. This one is female, and if James thinks the Bhockah is a nut job, it’s probably a big cat thing. I mean, I’ve seen them pounce their ships! Anyway, once the next batch of Chaos class come out of the shipyard, we could probably move both to them, and give the original dreadnaughts to captains coming through from the new members.”
“Sounds like a plan. Approved.”
I looked at James.
“For both of you.”
Forty One
“Do we want the Japanese battleships?” asked Jedburgh.
“They’re offering them?” I asked.
“They are. Crews and all. Although I told them we’d only need command crews. They’re keeping the rest of their fleet for anti-piracy patrols.”
“Do they have any pirates still?” asked Vonda.
“They don’t think so, but you can never tell when someone is going to go rogue. They’ll use them to show the flag around the planets, and along the trade lanes, and probably phase most of them out over time. We’ll pick up the crews as we expand.”
“Can we use the battleships?” asked Bigglesworth.
“As is,” answered Jedburgh, “no. They’ll need extensive upgrading to our standards. And I’d prefer to do the same as we did with ours, and convert two into a single dreadnaught.”
“Did you tell them that?” I asked.
“I did. They didn’t even flinch. And this was the captains themselves. While they’d prefer to retain captaincy of their existing ships, they aren’t stupid. They’ve seen the specs for our dreadnaughts, and they want to captain ships with that sort of hitting, and surviving, power. I think they’re hoping we buy other sector’s battleships, do the conversions on them, and use the other half of the captains and crews to crew them for us.”
“It’s a good idea. But run it past Bob. He’s the one who has to do the work, and he might not like any more dumped on him.”
“He’s in seventh heaven,” said Walter, getting a smile from the rest of us. “By the time we get hulls here, he’ll have bays to put them in. He just needs a timetable.”
“As I said, bounce it off him. I’m not sure we want to buy their ships, but I don’t mind trading somehow. But in that regard, you need to bounce it off David as well.”
He nodded, and I kept looking at him. He took the hint.
“Logistically, we’re okay. Not where we need to be, but far enough along to be operational.”
“Explain.”
“All the new troops have had PC upgrades to allow the suits to work fully. But the suits are only last generation before you started putting multiples together, although the hop has been eliminated. It’s enough to protect against the Trixone stinger, and their heavy guns for a couple of shots, and a half hour in space. It’ll take a while to produce enough to upgrade everyone to marine level.”
“Weapons?”
“We mass produced the new light anti-Trixone gun as standard for everyone. Most of the troops from the sectors brought their own sidearms and light weapons, and we’re using those until we can also produce enough side arms. Besides, snipers like their own weapons, so we’ve allowed them to. Some of the Special Forces types had their own preferences as well. Most are getting swords, but very few know how to use them. But fortunately, we have PC action modules for that, and all they need is practice.”
“Dropships?”
“Still being churned out, but without the armoury. Just basic load up and drop for now. We don’t yet have enough, but the Orion’s are fully loaded. The slack is going to be taken up by some of the freighters we took from the pirates, which are getting basic overhauls, and rapid deployment exits in the lower hull. We have pilots for them now, or will have by tomorrow morning. Most are Excalibur rated, but not corvette rated, although they can all drop safely. James and I figure most of them will pick up the expanded capability over time. And for now, we don’t intend them to do much in the way of combat outside of the AI’s running the turrets.”
“Any other issues?”
“Nothing else which matters. Thankfully Jane convinced a few of the AI’s to help with the records side of things. Down the track we’ll need real people to take on those roles, but by then, we’ll have them to choose from.”
Or not. We’d likely need some people, but if the AI’s were handling it, it was probably better being left to them. No-one was going to know anyway, and it kept human mistakes to a minimum. Something to watch play out.
“Good.”
I turned to Vonda.
“Heavy equipment?”
“The sector units brought their own. Mainly combat suits which are several generations behind ours, but more than enough for current needs. Some heavy vehicles, but none of them had many. The Nazis preferred them, but everyone else went for combat suits and light mobility vehicles. We got the vehicles as well, but we’re not set up for deploying them effectively.”
“Yet,” added Jane. “I’m working with Tanith on using modified vehicle freighters, and deck sized jump areas. So effectively we’ll be able to jump entire vehicle units down onto a planet in a single magic use. The first deployments will get prototypes to test.”
“The mixture,” went on Vonda, “is mainly a combat suit regiment for each brigade. With some heavy vehicles mixed in for artillery purposes. But not many, as I gather they mainly relied on missiles from orbit, or fighters, for taking out heavy targets. The Trixone don’t have much in the way of heavy anything, so I think we’ll be fine.”
She paused. I waited for her.
“There is one worry though. I think we have a ringer.”
“How so?” asked Bigglesworth.
“More than one,” laughed Jane.
“I’m pretty sure one of the American brigadiers is actually a two star.”
“Three star actually,” corrected Jane. “Her real rank is very carefully hidden, but they don’t appear to be aware I copied all their databases before they joined.”
“To what end?” I asked.
I wasn’t talking about the databases. Jane never met a new database she didn’t take a copy of straight away. It wasn’t ethical, but she was consistent, and she never used it in a corrupt way.
“At a guess,” said Vonda, “they want more senior officers in place for exactly the same reason we didn’t want them. They don’t trust us as unknowns to use their troops effectively.”
“Something we need to prove to them with the first deployments.”
“Yes. But it could also be something else.”
“They want promotable officers in place?” suggested Jedburgh.
“That’s my guess,” said Vonda. “Their military who went to see the Imperium took one look at the members, and their lack of mobilization, and saw what we’ll be like as a force down the track. I mean, we talked about needing more two stars at some point, and I think they saw this intuitively, and are supplying them now, so we can evaluate them and promote them when the time comes.”
“Did we get any genuine brigadiers?” I asked.
“No,” laughed Jane. “Other than the one three star, they’re all two stars. Half the colonels are actually brigadiers as well.”
“Fine. Keep your eye on them, both of you. Like as not we will need to promote our two stars to three in the near future, and having some evaluated two
stars to move in, and brigadiers to move up behind them will solve that problem for us. But let me know if there’s any interference by officers acting above their Imperium rank. I’ll send a troublemaker home if I need to. We don’t need them. I’d much rather promote competent colonels.”
“We are getting enquiries from retired flag officers,” added Jane. “Some of them are probably much more useful to us. For now, those joining us are going to the ad-hoc units being created for the second tier force, but there’s no reason they have to stay there. And we might find some of them train superior units, especially being out of sight of the main divisional commanders. Some of them were forcibly retired for political reasons, not age or competence. And their records suggest they’re very good indeed. Several brigadiers deliberately asked for colonel billets in order to get combat again.”
“Sounds good to me. If any of them really shine, move them to where they can best be used.”
They both acknowledged the order.
“Targets?” prompted Vonda.
“I’ll leave that to you and Jane. I realize we have planets in need of help, but we do need to run at least one trial drop for each division before we do it with lives on the line. Although if there are survivors we can rescue, that’s a bonus.”
They all agreed.
“What about fleet?” asked Jedburgh. “Are we going on the offensive at the same time?”
A screen popped up, showing an area of overrun Roo systems. Three of them were highlighted. All of them had Trixone fleets heading towards them along a long line of systems back into Trixone space, and a shorter line after them going further into Ralnor space. In fact, this was much the same situation Grace had taken us into, rescuing George.
We studied the navmap for a few minutes without comment. One by one, their eyes turned to me.
“Seems reasonable for first test conditions. But we’re going to need a division on each planet. Vonda, why not see if the Ralnor can supply us with some troops to round up third division to a complete unit.”
“I’ll do that. They have been making noises about when we planned on going on the offensive, and wanting to be part of it.”
“Why haven’t they done so themselves?” asked Bigglesworth.
“They have,” said Jane. “But getting their troops forward is their main issue. It’s why they wanted the rift network access, so they could get troops to the front from their home planets. But even then, on the frontier where they’re needed, they have the same problem we do. Not enough troops transports. The rift system only works when we get a station there, and they haven’t had that option away from where we’ve been operating.”
“Anyone giving odds on attempts to steal our jump drive equipped ships?” asked Walter.
I guess that was inevitable as well.
“Inevitable,” confirmed Jane. “But also pointless. Every ship or station which has a drive, also has an AI. The only way to steal a drive would be to render the ship or station dead first, in which case the drive will also be useless. Otherwise, the AI will do what is necessary to neutralize any attacker.”
“Does anyone know that?” asked Vonda.
“We distributed the vid of the attempt at Imperious pretty widely. Anyone who saw it and didn’t draw the appropriate conclusions, or didn’t see it, is going to get a rude shock.”
“Can ships or stations be rendered dead easily?” I asked.
“No. Shielding keeps out EMP, and once they hit deck, the AI can contain them. No-one is taking anything from us. If need be, an AI will suicide the ship rather than allow it to be taken.”
“Isn’t that a bit drastic?” asked Walter.
“Perhaps,” said Jane. “But ship crew would already be down for it to happen. I can’t see a station needing to self-destruct in any circumstances. The ability to churn out combat droids rapidly would prevent a takeover in any case, and every ship from corvette on up can build their own combat droids. Besides, I still have some tricks with the gravity to use on someone yet.”
She had a shark like grin on her face, so I knew she definitely had something up her sleeve. I didn’t want to know though. Probably better if I didn’t.
“Still,” I said. “Be vigilant. We don’t want casualties, and while I doubt the Roos would try it, the Keerah might, and some of our new members will most likely want to. I have no illusions about bringing our brand of humans into the Imperium. They’ll bring all their shit with them, and we need to be ready for it. And that likely includes trying to sell our tech back home through the black market. I don’t want that happening.”
“Confirmed.”
Forty Two
“Here,” said Jane.
She’d joined me after the others had left. They had the rest of the day to issue orders and get units ready to deploy.
I’d asked her to find me a Trixone system with a barely habitable planet they were not using, or had abandoned. And one where its orbit would never intersect with anything coming ballistic through the jump point. It meant using a system with a non-standard jump point, and with only a single way in.
The navmap zoomed in on a small group of systems. We had comnavsats in all of them, and there was no military traffic through them at all. There was however, civilian traffic.
“Do we have any information on the civvies?”
“Some. Not a lot though. What are you after?”
“Just curious. Are they Trixone civilians?”
“The Trixone don’t have civilians. But I gather there are other species who do, and they appear to have some animal based vassals.”
“Other species?”
“I’ve managed to get sensor images from some ships, and it appears there might be as many plant species like the Trixone as there are plants in nature. Same as animal species as we know them. One plant variation I have an image of looks similar, but has a rose flower instead of the Trixone one. They appear to be traders.”
Her face took on a puzzled look for a moment.
“What if we’re wrong about the Trixone?” she asked.
“Wrong, how?”
“It occurred to me they might be a military arm of a plant based alliance. Or just a military sub-species bred to conquer planets for civilians to move to.”
“There’s a scary thought.”
“But it might explain why the Trixone won’t talk to us.”
“True. If they’re a warrior sub-species, maybe they simply don’t have any diplomatic skills, and we’re talking to the wrong species. Any way of following that up?”
“I’ll work on it as the map progresses. So far, I’ve found traders, but no planets for other species. But then, we really haven’t made it far into Trixone space yet. It’s very possible their frontier areas have been dedicated to warrior class, given the frontier hasn’t moved in centuries.”
“But their ships are coming in from way out.”
“Probably because the Trixone we see don’t actually build anything, or can’t. I’ll keep investigating as I’m able. The main problem is every time I drop a ship anywhere within range of a missile, someone fires a batch of them. So talking isn’t really an option yet. And that does include the civvies. All their ships are armed to some extent, the same as our freighters tend to be.”
“Keep me informed.”
“Confirmed. What about this system? Will it work?”
“Any signs the traders use it?”
“Not so far. I’ve not recorded a single ship going there, although a lot go past.”
“It will do then.”
I concentrated on the jump point, reshaping it on both sides so anything going through would be returned the way it came from. It was my standard jump point modification these days, isolating the system. With only one jump point, it meant only a jump drive equipped ship with the system on the navmap could get in there.
Aline interrupted us for lunch, and the two of us joined the marine team leaders in their dedicated mess. Most of them had rifted back from the Orions. I liste
ned to the chatter as they compared teams and readiness. There were sixty people here with us, not counting Aline and I, which indicated we’d formed more teams faster than I’d thought. It meant fifteen teams for each battalion. Three hundred was still a light battalion, only three companies worth, but it was three Cobras or thirty Pythons worth of kick arse troops in the best combat suits.
They all seemed in high spirits, and wanting to know when they deployed for the first time as battalions. I told them orders were in the pipeline. I expected the generals were all eating lunch together as well, and probably the colonels too. But I wasn’t going to ask. It was Vonda’s command, and I had no business sticking my nose in unless invited, or something went really wrong. The thing about the team leaders making lunching with them acceptable, was the variation in ranks. It was a position designation, not a rank thing. And technically, Aline’s small team and I could deploy as marines if we needed to.
After lunch, I returned to my military office, and began planning what to do with our blockade jump points. I also needed to do an experiment to know if what I wanted to do would work.
I started with the Keerah system we had joint control of, the one Dreamwalker had secured which led to actual diplomacy with the tigers. It had two jump points heading towards Trixone space, formally the Keerah frontier space.
The first one was easy enough to do. I left the outbound jump as it was, and shifted the inbound jump to come out through the jump point into the system I’d isolated before lunch. Jane had two Lightnings ready for tests. She’d moved them into position while I ate, one now sitting on our side of the Keerah system, and the other outside the target Trixone system, now closed. The latter went to half power and entered the jump point, appearing where it came from. Nothing was going in that way.
The other cloaked itself, and jumped to the other side of our jump point so it could do the same, imitating a plant fleet trying to enter our space. It appeared in the closed off system where it was supposed to. It tried to go back out, and reappeared in the same place heading in. Nothing was coming out of that system.
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