The Wages of War

by Saxon Andrew

  Chapter Four

  The eight thousand scouts came to attention when Justin and Cami entered the room and sat down at the console in front of it. Robert, Frank, and Janie were sitting on the front row and the Wing Commanders around them were questioning them on who made the kill. Frank finally shut them up, “If Admiral Brown wanted you to know, he would have announced it.”

  Justin looked out at the two task forces with Charlotte’s on the left and Gerald’s on the right. He thought to them, “This meeting will be done telepathically except for any recordings used. Make yourselves comfortable and I’m going to play the recording that was made on board the scout that ended the maneuver.”

  • • •

  Graylin and Jack appeared on the huge wall monitor and the room was silent as they watched how Graylin was able to detect a scout. The recording took more than two hours to complete and at the end, Justin ordered a thirty-minute break. When the crews returned he looked at Charlotte and Gerald, “Commodores, please join me.” Charlotte and Gerald left the front row, walked up to the front console, and took a seat on each side of Justin and Cami. Justin looked out at the crews and ordered, “Captain Graylin Hobbs and Lieutenant Jack Jordan, please join us.” Graylin and Jack exited the row they were sitting on and walked to the front of the room and stood beside the Senior Officers. Justin looked out at the room, “You may ask any questions of the winning crew you have about what happened. Raise your arms and Cami will notify which one of you is to speak.”

  Cami chose one of the sailors in the rear of the giant room and he stood up, “Just how did you know the telepathic communicator beam could be detected?”

  Graylin shrugged, “How many hours have we spent in formation doing nothing during our training? To pass the time, I would activate the passive telepath scanner and look around. I noticed that the communication beams could not be detected among the ships in my wing that were communicating with each other. But I took a look at another wing holding position below my wing and the computer was able to detect the communication beams from above that unit.”

  The room was filled with murmuring thoughts and Cami ordered, “You will be silent unless called on!”

  Graylin smiled, “I know, our communication beams are supposed to be invisible to detection. I started scanning ships further away and discovered there was a limit to the distance they could be detected before they became undetectable. For the most part, a ship will have to be close to be able to detect them…very close.”

  Hands went up again and Cami chose a Wing Commander, “Just how did you determine where to move your ship to be able to detect that scout?”

  “I assumed that the two lines were dropped off facing toward each other. I assumed that the two lines were moving directly toward each other and I accelerated ahead of my line and had my computer put a course centered directly in front of my scout’s starting position. I moved just far enough above that line such that any ship moving toward me would pass directly below my position inside detection range of their communication beams.”

  Another sailor asked, “Just how did you know the ship would be communicating?”

  “I didn’t. But there weren’t any other options and I thought it was worth a try.”

  Cami chose another sailor, “But how could you have possibly predicted where that ship would be in thirty minutes? That’s impossible.”

  “My computer verified when it detected the scout that it was maintaining a constant speed and course for the twenty seconds we detected it. The computer extrapolated where it would be and gave us an intercept location.”

  Gerald announced, “That was my fault. I ordered my ships to keep their positions in my line and not get ahead or fall behind each other. My unit did exactly what was ordered, and our failure is due to my orders.”

  Finally, the questions ended, and Justin turned to Graylin, “I notice nowhere during your answers that you suggested you were lucky.”

  Graylin smiled and replied, “Sir, good planning and execution don’t require luck.”

  Cami burst out laughing and most of the attendees joined her. Justin chuckled and replied, “You do have a point.” Justin stood up and the crews came to attention, “You will have the rest of the day off.” He turned to Gerald and Charlotte, “You will remain here with me.” Graylin and Jack turned, and Justin said, “Captain Hobbs, you and Lt. Jordan will also remain behind; pull up a chair.”

  The room finally emptied, and Justin turned to Charlotte and Gerald, “Admiral Tyers had contacted our Senior Fleet Officers and is concerned about our current structure. She’s of the opinion that the Griffin does not have adequate protection and they have agreed with her. Currently, one thousand of our scouts are devoted to ship defense and eight thousand are designated as scouts; that is changing immediately.”

  “How Sir?” Charlotte asked.

  “We are reducing the number of scouts in each task force to three thousand. A thousand ships from each task force will be joining the defense unit to defend the Griffin. Gerald, you will be commanding the defensive unit.”

  “But Sir…”

  “The decision was made before the maneuver, Gerald. Which ever task force won, the other commander would assume command of the defensive forces. And before you start getting wound up about how unfair this is, you need to consider that you are the perfect one to do this.”

  Gerald glared at Justin, “Oh? Why is that?”

  “Because you are almost anal in your attention to details. Keeping your ships locked up in a single line and making sure they remained in place is a good example. The Commander of the Defense Force isn’t out searching for aliens; they’ll be making sure the Griffin is adequately defended from all approaches to it. The carrier is a fixed position Gerald. You are great at developing formations and that talent will be needed once the Griffin enters hostile space. Admit it; you like the idea of setting up our defenses to defend the Griffin.”

  Gerald sighed and nodded, “It does have an attraction Sir.”

  Justin turned to Graylin and Jack, “I also committed before the maneuver began that what ever sailor managed to take out a scout would be promoted to Commodore and command the three thousand scouts remaining in Gerald’s Command. Congratulations Commodore.”

  Graylin shook his head, “Sir, there will be more than fifty Wing Commanders ticked off that they were passed over to promote me.”

  “They haven’t been in their positions long enough to be angry about anything. I suspect most of them are currently nervous that you’re going to replace one of them. I want them to learn a lesson from this that with success comes advancement.” Justin looked at Jack, “You’re promoted to Senior Captain and will command his flight crew.” Justin turned to Graylin, “You’ll be picking up a Resource Officer shortly but in the meantime both of you will be going to the Advanced Learning Center to be trained. Don’t waste time there, we’re not going out on a mission until you’re back and ready to assume command of your Task Force. Get with Cami and she’ll go over the details.” Justin looked around, “Any questions?”

  Graylin shook his head and Cami led him and Jack out of the conference room.

  Charlotte replied, “Sir, did you really make this decision before the maneuver began.”

  “Check your message machine in your quarters, Commodore. You and every sailor were sent a message when they left the Griffin to begin the exercise telling them if anyone won the maneuver, they would be promoted to command a task force.”

  “Would you have insisted I lead the defense unit if I won Sir?”

  Justin turned to Gerald, “No. I don’t play favorites. You would have had to come to me and recommend you take command of the Griffin’s defenses.” Justin looked around, “Any other questions?” No one spoke. Justin tuned and left the conference room.

  Gerald looked at Charlotte, “I think he’d really have done it like he says.”

  Charlotte shrugged, “I have no doubt he would. At least we have a commander that we can trus
t to do what’s necessary.” Gerald nodded with a tilt of his head.

  • • •

  Graylin and Jack finally completed their training and Justin gave them two weeks to whip their task force into order. At that time he had Cami connect him with his three commodores, “Please immediately report to the conference room on the Griffin along with your crews.”

  Charlotte exited one of the carts and saw Gerald and emerge from another beside her, “What do you think this is about?” Gerald asked.

  “I suspect it’s finally show time and we’re shoving off for Andromeda. I could be wrong, but it’s been months since the fleet was formed up. I suspect Fleet isn’t happy with this long delay.”

  “I spoke with Admiral Adams recently and you’re right, Fleet isn’t happy. But Admiral Tyers told them to shove it and she’d leave when her Garrions were adequately trained.”

  Charlotte chuckled, “She’s a crusty old bird.”

  “Not really, I’ve met her and she’s really easy to talk with. She has more experience than anyone in Fleet other than Admirals Henricks and Dunham and Fleet doesn’t want her to take her case to them; they know they’d lose.”

  Gerald and Charlotte’s crews arrived, and they left for the conference room. Commodore Hobbs was there waiting on them. “How did you beat us here?”

  Graylin smiled, “I had my crew here meeting with Admiral Brown’s crew picking their brains for information.”

  Justin walked in and they came to attention, “Please, take a seat.” Everyone sat down with their crews and Justin turned to Gerald, “Have you come up with a strategy to defend the Griffin?”

  “Yes Sir. I will leave five hundred heavily armed Garrions just outside the Griffin’s blaster range at all times. The remainder of my Garrions will form up at the edge of the Griffin’s scanner range and will move around the Griffin in overlapping courses.”

  “How many ships will you have for your Ready Force?”

  “Five hundred Garrions will be on board the Griffin at all times. They will rest for eight hours and then go out and relieve five hundred of the Garrions in defensive formations. That will allow half of my ships to decompress on the Griffin every two days. The pilots and Weapon Operators can sleep when needed on their ships.”

  Justin nodded, “That’s a good plan. Where are you going to be?”

  “Half the time I’ll be out with my extended scouts and the other half, I’ll be on the Griffin.”

  “Why there?”

  “It’s the central point of my formations and I can get to any location faster than out at the edge of my coverage. That will also make the five hundred Garrions on board the Griffin able to arrive at any location extremely fast. My Command Ship will always be on standby launch.”

  “Has Admiral Tyers approved this plan?”

  “Yes Sir, she has.”

  “Good.” Justin turned to Graylin and Charlotte, “Have you decided how to use your Garrions in Andromeda?”

  Graylin was silent and Charlotte turned to Justin, “Sir, we can’t do that until you tell us where we’re going to be scouting Andromeda.”

  Justin smiled, “Let’s clear that up now, shall we.” Justin looked at Cami and nodded. An overhead view of the Andromeda Galaxy appeared on the giant front monitor. Justin picked up an electronic marker and made a circle on the display on his console. The red circle appeared on the monitor and Justin looked up, “That is the area where the war between the Stealth Civilization and Triangulum Forces is taking place. Notice that edge of Andromeda is the closest to the Milky Way.” Justin used the marker to draw a line directly through the center of the huge galaxy. He then drew two lines equidistant from each other crossing the center line he drew. “I’ve divided Andromeda into six equal areas. Charlotte, your task force will take the side of Andromeda to the left of the center line. Graylin, you will take the right side. We will start in the two areas where the current war is being fought but none of your scouts will enter the war zone.” Justin paused and looked at his commanders, “I mean it! We will stay out of that red circle and give it a wide berth.”

  “Why Sir? Shouldn’t we take a look at what’s going on there?” Graylin asked.

  “We’re going to Andromeda to scout for any civilizations that are more advanced than we are, Commodore. If there was a highly advanced civilization close to the warzone, they would already be there observing what’s going on. Before we destroyed them, our probes didn’t report any activity outside of the Stealth and Triangulum forces. But we’re not risking that one might be present. Our mission is to go to Andromeda and determine if there is anything there that represents a threat to humanity.” Justin used a control to highlight the first two areas, “We’ll start our mission scouting those two areas closest to the Milky Way. If we don’t find anything, we’ll move into the next two sections.”

  “Sir, there are hundreds of millions of stars in all of those sectors.”

  “I know that Charlotte. But our telepathic scanner’s range has been greatly increased. Spread your Garrions out and assign them a specific area to scout. We don’t need to have them overlapping their coverage. Have your scouts report to you what they find and pass that information on to me.”

  “Where will you be Sir?” Graylin asked.

  “I’ll be moving slightly above Andromeda on the center line as we move forward.”

  “Where will the Griffin be Sir?”

  Justin turned to Charlotte, “It will be holding position high above the areas we’re scouting, and I do mean high above us! Your scouts will go to the Griffin to replenish their stores and make sure they don’t take a direct route back to the Carrier.” Justin turned to Cami, “Send a copy of the map on the monitor to them. Justin turned to Charlotte and Graylin, “You have five days to make the assignments for your scouts. On the sixth day, we’re shoving off. Any questions?”

  “We’re having such a large area to scout, should we join our scouts in the search Sir?”

  Justin turned to Graylin, “No, you will not! Stay above the sector you’re scouting and collect the data your scouts are sending.” No one else spoke and Justin stood up. Everyone went to attention and Justin left the conference room.

  Charlotte looked at Cami, “We could be here for years; Andromeda is a lot larger than the Milky Way.”

  Cami shrugged, “I’d ignore the stars that are too large and focus on the G-Class and Red Giant Dwarfs. If we miss something, I suspect any civilization that’s located close to those giant stars would have no interest in the planets humanity inhabits.”

  Charlotte nodded and looked at her crew, “Alright, you know the drill; take the first area we’ve been assigned and start breaking it down into areas for my scouts.”

  Cami smiled, “If you want, you can stay here and use the computer system in this room. It’s far more powerful than the computers on your ships. There’s another console against the back wall so you won’t have to share.”

  Graylin stood up, “My crew will take the back wall; you have seniority.”

  Charlotte laughed, “Then I chose to take the computer on the back wall; it’s a long walk from the front to get out of here.”

  Graylin laughed, “Ya caught me!”

  Charlotte gave an imaginary tip of a hat and started walking toward the back of the giant conference room with her crew.

  • • •

  The Griffin was the newest and most advanced Super Carrier built by the Colonies. It was truly a stealth ship and though it was more than fifteen miles long, it was invisible to any electronic scanner. Now that the inner hull had been coated by the material that prevented thoughts from being detected, finding it was next to impossible. And the carrier was a true warship in its own right. Its hull had more than six hundred heavy-blasters on it capable of surrounding the giant vessel in a barrage of blaster beams. It carried more than a hundred thousand of the new Hawk Antimissiles and an equal number of the new Heavy Missiles. Attacking it was a recipe for disaster. But…would it be able to sta
nd up to a more advanced civilization? That was a question that had to be answered.

  • • •

  Sylvia saw Britannia disappearing behind her carrier and she turned to Terry, “Are all the Garrions on board?”

  “Yes Sir. The close-in defense ships are in their tubes ready to launch when we move closer to Andromeda.”

  “When you launch the close-in warships, I want another five hundred launched with them. Have them accelerate ahead of our course and make sure there’s nothing on it.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Sylvia sat back and missed the old days when she was Maranda Connor’s pilot. She missed the Connors…but they had paid their dues and deserved to retire and enjoy their family.

  • • •

  One day out from Andromeda, the defense warships launched and after eight hours, Terry turned around to Sylvia, “Sir, the advance scouts have detected three Stealth Warships leaving Andromeda on a course for the Milky Way.”

  “Do we know what they’re doing?”

  “One of the telepaths has reported that they are being sent to the two civilizations on the other side of the Milky Way’s black hole to ask for them to come and assist them against the Triangulum forces.”

  Sylvia smiled slightly, “Destroy those ships.”

  “Sir?”

  “They destroyed New Melbourne and New Britannia. Anything I can do to make life miserable for them I will. Destroy those ships!”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Sylvia watched the tactical monitor to the right of the main monitor and saw three blips rushing in toward the three Stealth Warships. They opened fire with their heavy blasters and vaporized all three ships. Sylvia smiled, “The Stealth Leaders would have to wait a while to receive a response that would never come. Good! Serves them right.”

  Sylvia lifted her communicator and then put it down, “Terry, patch me in telepathically to Admiral Brown.”

  “Yes Sir?”

  Sylvia was amazed at how telepathy worked. “I’ll be arriving above the first two sectors you’re planning to scout in sixteen-hours. I suggest you start launching your forces four hours prior to my arrival. I don’t want the major launch bay doors open when we arrive.”