Conflict!

by Dale Moorhouse

  “Through this investigation, we have uncovered a group who have been exploiting their positions of trust and each individual has also been removed to the Ark where they will be kept away from each other and their ability to conspire has been removed. Their implants have been set to limited communications, which means any calls they place are logged and only allowed to go through to vetted recipients. The same holds with incoming calls. If the caller isn’t on a vetted list the call won’t complete. It is as close to shunning as we can get and still expect to get useful work out of them. Their new tasks are in the area of public maintenance, so they don’t need a lot of implant capability.

  “The new space allocation manager commed a little while ago to let me know he has moved a few Swift Fangs around and consolidated them in hangars farther out on the wings and you now have all of the hangars from port ten to starboard ten inclusive. That is room for twenty flights of your fighters and bombers including the flights you already have. He has also gotten you the adjacent compartments, the ones just forward of the hangars, where you may install your training simulators and set up pilot ready rooms for your flyers.

  “On a final note, The plebiscite chose to remove Elders Four, Six and Thirteen. The plebiscite also agreed that the sixth-place finalist in the last election would replace Elder Four. As I recall, I mentioned I’d served with him in the Fleet for many years, and while we were never close friends, we respected each other and worked well together. Hopefully, that will see an end to the slow pace of decisions coming from Mother of Glory’s council.”

  “That is really welcome news on both fronts, Elder,” I acknowledge. “I think the allocated space will be more than adequate since I hope to have some carriers soon and will be moving most of the flights to them and will be using some of the hangars for training and some for maintenance or assembling new craft from subassemblies brought up from Terra. I’ll know more once we are in full production, and I have a schedule of completion for each type of craft being built. The first carriers should be ready in less than thirty cycles.”

  That turned out to be in error, fifteen cycles after my meeting with Elder Three I was called down to Hangar One and found the bay door open. Tethered to the MoG’s central spine was a Leopard-Class carrier!

  I turned to find Livid approaching me and colours are swirling around on its skin, which translates to absolute joy and excitement. In the lesser gravity we keep in the hangar spaces it is positively bouncing up and down on its tentacles. “Young Jase, I know it isn’t your holiday of gift-giving but Merry Christmas! Once our shipbuilders got started on construction, they were able to dredge up their memories of building the Talons, and from there everything just fell in place. There was a small delay while they retooled the propulsion segment’s jig to accommodate the hangar module, but once they got the first one figured out, the others went quickly. We have eight jigs set up for the Leopards and two for the Talons. We are constructing two more of those with more powerful cannons and missiles and intend them to be used as escorts for the carriers.

  “Your other Leopard is tethered on the other side of the spine. Which one would you like to visit first?”

  I quickly commed Ginger and Chocolate and asked them to meet me in Hangar One immediately. I turned to Livid and answered, “Neither at the moment. I’ve asked the commanders of these two beauties to meet me here, and I want them to be the first crew aboard. I will ask that the commissioning plaques be engraved with the names Leopard and Tiger. Leopard goes to the first ship of the class to leave the ways and Tiger to the other, Ginger gets Tiger.”

  “Wonderful, young Jase. I’m having them made now, they should be here in a half deca. Why does Ginger get Tiger, if I may ask?”

  “It has to do with the night of our first meeting,” I reply. “She has a thing about tigers, and it is fitting that she get the ship so named.”

  As we stood regarding the new ship, Ishmael strode across the deck and smiled as he approached. He eyed the bow and said, “Ah, the first of the Leopard-Class I see. An imposing looking ship, is she armed with the new cannons you got from us?” This directed to Livid.

  Livid responded, “Yes, she is. We felt it a good idea to arm the two ships going on the forward mission with the best we could get, and you and your clients make the best. I want Young Jase’s people to have only the best tools available.”

  Turning to me Ishmael said, “We will be delivering the new flights of fighters and bombers starting later this cycle, but first we will be delivering the training simulators. I was just doing a site survey and found everything to be in perfect order so by this time tomorrow you will have your simulators up and operational, and two flights of fighters and one of bombers delivered.”

  “That completes my Christmas,” I answered with a grin, “my first graduates from the WTC should be arriving in two cycles, and this gives them toys to play with while we perform our shakedown on the two Leopards.”

  “Mo is in Hangar Two-Port getting ready to have the training ships moved to Hangar One-Starboard. We will move the training simulators over there too,” Ishmael told me. “He is a very able coordinator, you are lucky to have him. Ah, I see Sol is joining us. Hello Sol, I was just telling Jase about your new ship deliveries.”

  “Hello, Ishmael. This is excellent news, as is the delivery of the first two Leopards. I commed Ginger and Chocolate to let them know their new ships were here, they said they were on their way and should be here any tick.”

  “Yes, I let them know, I wanted them to be the first crew members aboard their respective ships which is the only reason I’m standing here instead of prowling the new ships,” I said with a grin. “You didn’t tell them their new ships were here, did you?”

  “No,” he said with a chuckle. “Ginger said she was ordered to the hangar before I could say anything so I figured you must be doing a surprise thing. I wanted to see the expression on her face when she sees the ship. Which one is hers, by the way?”

  “Hers is number two, the Tiger,” I answered.

  “That is the one you are looking at,” Livid interjected, “number one is on the other side of the spine, it is named Leopard.”

  Before we could talk more Ginger arrived with Chocolate in tow. They took one look out the hangar door and squealed then hugged each other. They turned to me and asked simultaneously, “Which one is mine?”

  I point at the one they can see and say, “Ginger gets Tiger here and you, Chocolate, get Leopard. She is tethered to the other side of the spine. Let’s head over to them and let you be the first of the duty crew to go aboard.”

  Sol said, “I’ll walk over to Leopard with Chocolate, Jase.”

  I smiled and said, “Thanks, Sol. I was wondering how to handle this.”

  He laughed and said, “I’ve been here before, introducing a commander to her new ship—in my case, it was F-35 Raptors back in the day, but the feeling is still the same. This is probably going to take a while so I’ll meet you at Benji’s Place when we are done, there is some serious congratulating to be done not to mention the new ale Benji just got in. I’ve made reservations.”

  With that, he walked with Chocolate towards the passageway that led to the slide-way and across the segment to her new ship while I escorted Ginger towards the Tiger.

  “I’ve just commed Tuxedo, and he will be joining us in a few centas,” Ginger informed me.

  I chuckled and replied, “Good, I think he will enjoy watching you take your new command.”

  I commed Elaine and let her know what was going on and told her about the get together at Benji’s Place later. I asked her to stop by and drag Rusty with her. She used her purring voice and said, “I will use my charm and appeal to get him to accompany me. I know he is hurting and the best thing for him now is to be amongst friends who care for him and won’t let him wallow in anguish—or self-pity.” She said the last with a chuckle and signed off.

  Tuxedo joined us a couple of centas later, and together Ginger and Tux explored
their new ship while we waited for the commissioning plaque to arrive.

  Livid and a small entourage of Squids arrived followed by the Elders who looked about the bridge marvelling at what they saw. Livid introduced one of the Squids to Ginger and said, “Rainbow and its crew are the volunteers who will serve as your technicians for as long as you need them. Most systems on this craft are designed to be serviced by Mmrrreeowwn and Terrans with moderate skill levels. Most warriors should be capable of performing the maintenance routines.

  “Rainbow’s group will take care of the propulsion systems and will provide assistance to your crew as needed. They will also be operating a sensor suite separate from yours gathering data on ship performance as well as surveying the space you travel through. We know so little about the dimension we believe you traverse while in FTL and are equipping each of the ships we build for you for research as well as war duties.

  Ginger replied, “Thank you for explaining their presence. I hope they are successful in unravelling the secrets of FTL, it had occurred to me that we don’t even know what we don’t know and it puts me in mind of our ancient explorers when they sailed our oceans for the first time.”

  Elder Three cleared his throat, and we all turned to face him as he held the plaque up for us to see. “It is our wish that the Tiger sail safely through the oceans of space, both the one we are familiar with and the one only you will know when you are in FTL. We wish success for the Tiger and her crew whatever her endeavour and a speedy return home safe and sound.”

  He stepped to Ginger and placed the plaque in her hands then returned to stand briefly with his head bowed then turned and exited the Tiger. One of the Squids gently took the commissioning plaque and said, “I will fasten this in its proper place in your office, Commander.” As the Squid moved towards the hatch leading to her office, Ginger acknowledged him with a quiet “thank you”.

  11

  Ginger

  WE DROPPED OUT OF FTL one light centa below the galactic plane and coasted ballistically while we used our passive sensors to determine our position and learn if any of the Plague was nearby. We were hoping to find the back edge of a swarm as they trudged relentlessly towards Terra following their prime directive to destroy all biological life. We found nothing near us and having our true position, I ordered a course set to take us to the vicinity of Alpha Centauri where there had been a large swarm the last time I was here.

  Most of my current crew was with me back then except for the few promoted and moved to other ships. Their replacements came aboard when we began our trials, and more joined us when we went on our shakedown cruise. We have one Century of warriors, nine squadrons of fighters and three of bombers for a full flight of one hundred and forty-four ships.

  Commander Air Group, Sol Rosenblum, and his escort squadron are also aboard. CAG wanted to observe the Plague swarm first hand to see how they fight so he can modify his tactical doctrine that is to be used for advanced pilot training. In a way, this was a shakedown for his people and their new ships since none have been used in combat yet.

  Tiger coasted towards Alpha Centauri A with her engines off and only passive scanners active. All systems not required to keep the ship alive were turned down or off as we stalked our quarry. One of my bridge crew saw a flurry of activity on her screen and beckoned me over. As I peered over her shoulder, I saw a small fleet of breaker ships running a course that will take them across our bow in twenty centas. So far, these thirty-three ships were the only ones we had spotted, and their course was towards a small planet that seemed to be passing through the system but not part of it.

  I signalled CAG to ready his ships for action and commed the hangar deck to have them open the doors and prepare for launch. I reminded the deck officer to kill all the lights and make no unnecessary emissions while the flight crews readied their ships of launch. Only a few ticks went by before I heard CAG say his ships were ready and he was waiting for the launch order.

  Tuxedo was aboard with the Century and was standing by in one of the Elsies we had in our forward hangar. He had a platoon of warriors aboard his Elsie and Centurion McFarrel was aboard another Elsie with a platoon as well. Their purpose was to board any surviving Plague ships and gather intelligence. They were also to capture or destroy any drone that showed signs of having the hidden AI cores Rusty discovered. I smiled at the vision of Tux I hold in my mind when he helped our daughter demonstrate the recoil compensator she and her two Terran friends invented. He was so proud of her.

  It was almost time to launch our fighters, and I set the mission timer. We reached the launch point, I started the timer while I gave the order to launch. In our drills, it took a little over a centa to launch the entire flight using twelve tractor/pressor beam catapults. We launched the ships in the hangars facing away from the enemy first to see if they detected the launch and got no reaction. Now came the real test of our stealth systems, we launched the fighters from the facing bay and still had no response from the enemy. They continued on seemingly unaware of our presence.

  The squadrons formed up and accelerated towards the Plague ships, it wasn’t until they were well within range the Plague awakened to their existence. The Plague formation immediately scattered as we had hoped they would and fought their ships as individuals rather than staying together and covering each other. It made me wonder how long this kind of silly reaction would last before they made the discovery of teamwork.

  I soon saw why they pulled apart as they did, they started firing their massive, planet breaker energy weapons at the fighters and simultaneously I saw flickers of blue/green shields form around each ship.

  As soon as the firing started, our fighter squadrons broke up into four-ship elements, and each element engaged a Plague ship diving between two of the enemy while firing at only one. The hope was the enemy ships wouldn’t fire on ours, afraid to hit their own ships but this turned out to be wishful thinking. The Plague ships opened up on the element I was watching, and they annihilated each other, killing one of our fighters in the process. The struck fighter came apart, but it appeared the life support capsule was intact. If the crew were alive, they would set off a beacon when the fight was over. They didn’t want to attract attention to themselves while the fight was on and armed their self-destruct in the event the Plague won

  CAG gave the order to switch to another “play” and the squadrons reformed only to split into six-ship elements before attacking the Plague ships once again. Two elements engaged another Plague vessel pair this time coming in from behind where the ship didn’t seem to have any weaponry. Other element pairs emulated their moves. This worked much better, and the Plague ship pair was destroyed almost immediately. The other element pairs each bagged an enemy pair bringing the score up to fourteen Plague killed and one of our fighters lost.

  The Plague ships tried to neutralize this tactic by going ballistic and flying side-by-side and nose to tail. CAG called another play, and this time each element picked a ship and closed obliquely from the stern of their target which cut the exposure to the enemy ship facing them to mere ticks while they were able to fire another pair of missiles at their target ship. This time only six of the plague were destroyed, but they have lost over half their ships.

  Once again the plague ships moved together and tried another grouping tactic bundling three of their ships together. This left one of the plague ships alone, and it was immediately picked off by one of CAG’s escorts while the rest of the fighters pulled back, and the bombers moved forward. The bombers have more plasma cannons and heavier missiles of the cracker type. Each bomber picked a Plague ship and began their run while the fighters broke into three-ship elements, some escorting the bombers and adding to their cannon fire while the remainder started harassing the remaining eight Plague ships.

  Less than a centa later the contest was over, thirty-three ships destroyed and only one loss. Our sensor operators had been monitoring the battle trying to detect if the Plague ships got any signals off to their fr
iends, but nothing was picked up. The Elsies left their hangar and one headed for the life-support capsule while the others searched the wreckage for anything salvageable.

  The rescue Elsie towed the life support capsule to Tiger, and it was pulled inside with a tractor beam while the Elsie went back to the battle scene to sanitize it of our presence. When they got back, they had the remains of the fighter including the short-jump module in their tractor beam and reported they were unable to find any small fragments. All of our remaining craft were retrieved without incident and the crew of the destroyed fighter survived with only minor injuries, mostly to their pride.

  None of the other Elsies found anything of value in the destroyed enemy ships, and when they were back aboard, CAG called a debrief session for all pilots and flight crew. They reviewed what worked and what didn’t, and the first play tried went to the back of the book for further review.

  I was in my office when Sol came in and handed me a thumb drive containing the log of each fighter and bomber as well as the cockpit recorder data and the recording of the debrief. I asked him how his crew from the destroyed fighter were doing and he said, “Their egos are a bit bruised, and they aren’t so cocky now but they learnt a lesson and lived to try again so all and all they are fine.

  “From what I saw today, training them to break quickly into different sized elements really paid off. It also seems to fit the Mmrrreeowwn mindset of teamwork well too. The next time we go on a mission like this, I want to include Weasels and see how the three species work together. They perform well in practice, but that is only a suggestion of how they will perform when they find themselves in the crucible. Targets shooting back at you can change your whole perspective and not necessarily for the better.”