Obsidian Ressurection

by T J Bryan

  "And if Bizon is a bust?"

  "Then on to New Carthago or Hsi. Hsi is a bit closer to Wu time wise, but a bit longer on the way back. So either one will do. We probably should not plan too much in detail at this point. I suspect we will discover a lot about these systems en-route. If any bit of civilization survives out there they may indicate which systems to target and which to avoid. If you will excuse the term 'target'.

  Chapter Thirty Nine

  Jamon System - Old Mining Dock - Year 3246. January 25 ET: 07:15

  One hundred and six crew, including the moms and siblings of the Banshees, smartly lined the dock in their ship suits and colors. Abel, Miley Daugherty, and the Chairman stood by to review the crews before they departed on their desperate mission. Over Miley's loud objections Abel had retained her as pilot for service in system. Miley was now their only fully qualified pilot in system. The 1044 was now fully crewed and had been christened 'Sigrún' after one of the Valkuries. Sigrún and Ragnarök lay at the dock with Iceland and Greenland buoyed further out. It was time for departure. Captains Helen, and Emmitt were joined by 'Old Man Marx' who was now captain of the SAR Sigrún Abel had appointed Silvi acting Commodore in charge of both the fleet and expedition. The captains stood before their crews. All stood at attention.

  The Chairman chose to give a rather lengthy speech. Able could discern that Bjorn was becoming a politician and leaving his medical skills of brevity behind. A unkempt teen from the middle school stood by recording the departure for broadcast on Stephen Klein's mid day news vid. When Bjorn concluded Abel stepped forward.

  "Women and men of the OCN, The Obsidian Commonwealth Navy expects each and every woman and man to do their duty." Abel saluted. The crews saluted in return including the Moms. Then without fuss they turned and entered their ships. Less than twenty minutes later they departed for Wu and beyond.

  Miley excused herself to board the SAR 1054 in order to prepare the SAR for flight training. She would escort the fleet to the departure portal and return.

  Bjorn turned to Abel. "Now we are completely without protection here in the system. While I worry about our fleet, we must also consider protection of our system and the Habitat. Abel you have been the architect of the OCN since day one and now I am at a bit of a loss as to what we do next while waiting for the fleet to return. But we must do something for our exposure to The Dark is so great. As a child my mother used to scare us kids telling us if we did not behave The Dark would come get us. Now I believe that might be true."

  "Mr. Chairman I share your concerns and the OCN has not been entirely idle while preparing for the fleet to ship out. We brought two additional SAR's into the upper mining dock for training and we have increased our call for new volunteer crew members. With the pending departure of the OCN fleet we have seen a dramatic increase in those expressing interest in joining our navy. Or biggest challenge now will be managing the recruits."

  "How many have volunteered for training. I know. I should know this number but frankly Abel with the Assembly demanding answers to questions for which we have no answers my time is fully consumed. Worse that than I am fully consumed." The Chairman laughed. It was the first laughter Abel had heard from the Bjorn in weeks. As Abel looked into Bjorn's face he could see that the Chairman was visibly aging.

  "In our original recruiting effort we established a set of requirements, conditions, and prerequisites for recruits. We focused on the Collegium and whittled the count down from 200 "qualified" to around 100 we put into training. We now know that our requirements were completely wrong. We were looking for the wrong qualifications. Just look at Nomi, or Old Man Marx, or Wain Peters. We would not have looked once at their applications when we spotted age or disability or any of a dozen 'aberrant' conditions. No, we were just wrong and it probably cost us precious time."

  "And now?" asked the Chairman.

  "Now we only ask those who want to qualify to join us in the gymnasium at the simulators. We added another CTS and now we have 6 active stations. Everyone who wants to try is welcome, and right now all six stations for 36 trainees are completely booked 24/7. Those that qualify we move forward. Those that almost qualify we coach and provide support. Those who fail usually just fade away and don't really require us to ask them to leave. There is one exception however. On the other hand our lack of astrogators is troubling. The Collegium has established a program and we have the brightest recruits into the program that the faculty can identify, including two faculty members. But training will take time, in some cases perhaps years."

  "And when crew start to qualify?"

  "When they reach level four, that is the point where we take a serious look at them. Their attitudes, personality, social skills and other factors. But even then we don't have hard and fast rules. Sam Olderhausr is a good example of why some rules need to be bent to meet the needs of the OCN."

  "Sam Olderhausr, now that man is a gem. And you say there is no alcohol on your ships. No hidden stills. No secret stash?"

  "Our near-beer is so weak Sam's bladder would burst before he even reached a buzz. As for illegal alcohol or drugs production the ship, she has a high degree of automation and the atmosphere recirculation system, or for that matter the closed cycle food regeneration system, will tell us if there is an unusual problem."

  Bjorn thought a moment, "You mentioned someone who was an exception to those who fail and go away on their own?"

  "Yes. Do you know John-Paul Holgata?"

  "Sigsmund Holgata's son? Yes. He is what? About 30. Never amounted to anything. Pretty much failed at everything he has tried; mining, fabrication, EmVac."

  "Yes and he failed again at the simulator, and again, and again, and again. Before Silvi left she took him aside for a long talk. She was trying to let him down without the shame of failure. But he refused to quit. The Silvi started to coach him. Just a bit at first and then whenever Silvi had some free time, which was not often. Seems no one every really tried to help or support John-Paul."

  "I know his father and that makes some sense. The old man was about as friendly and loving as a stone. How is John-Paul now?"

  "Just made pilot level four and is about to warm up a pilots seat on one of our new trainers. His progress was kind of odd. Failure after failure and then all of a sudden he went from level zero to four in almost record time. Close to Lennie's record. I'm not sure what happened but it was like a switch was suddenly turned on. We are hopefully only a few weeks away from several fully qualified crews, although I admit that except for one pilot, every qualified crew we had is now on its' way to Wu."

  Bjorn took a long look at Abel. "Abel I don't want to tell you how to do your business, I mean how to build the OCN, but several council members keep asking so I will ask. Why can't you get one of those really big ships running. I mean they are so big and I understand so powerful that we might need them. There is a lot of sentiment for getting those giants up and running again."

  "The dreadnaughts?" asked Abel.

  "Yes, if that's what you call them. I looked into the EG at the description of those behemoths. Surely one or two of those is worth more that all those little ships you are recommissioning."

  Abel had heard this argument before and was to some extent tired of explaining. "Bjorn, none of the Greayson Dreadnoughts will ever fly again. Those few that remain in the forbidden zone after Unity pushed the functioning ones into Obsidian are total wrecks. Their engine compartments are blown, they often have gaping hull incisions hundreds of meters long, and two are so radioactively hot we dare not even approach them. As for those little ships, what we can tell of Greayson history they started out mostly with dreadnaughts against Unity, but quickly discovered that smaller ships were more effective. Helen, who is somewhat of an expert on Greayson naval history says that toward the end, as the stalemate lingered, Greayson was producing only SAR's, Destructors, and a few Crushers. Yet their yards could have continued to produce dreadnoughts and all manner of other ships. Greayson had our problem Bjorn.
Enormous shipbuilding capacity, but not enough crews. However it seems dreadnaughts were too slow and too large a target to withstand the swarms of Unity ships. But the smaller ships presented far more difficult targets and they could cut and run, then reform in a swarm of their own and cut Unity's huge ships to ribbons."

  "Yes, that's what Emmitt told me as well. But I had to ask. Still those Assembly members keep pestering me with the question."

  "However Bjorn you do have something of a point here. I have been thinking that we need to station some fire power at the entry portal here in Jamon. When ships transit through the portal from Dello then enter our system they come to a dead stop. Any ship of reasonable mass takes energy and more importantly time to get moving again. If we had a monitor out there, at the portal, with enough fire power we could undoubtedly block a hostile entrance to our system. If not stop them, then slow them down and perhaps do considerable damage."

  Bjorn looked surprised.

  Abel continued, "We have two options, both of which will take time and I am uncertain as to which is best or for that matter the quickest to implement. One is to take one or two of the two functioning Destructors and recommission them. Unfortunately they require a flight crew of 14 each. A crew complement we don't have and which will take months to train. On the positive side if the Destructors stay in our system they do not need astrogators. The other option is to drag one of those dreadnoughts out there. There is one, 762, which has had its' engines blown away but its' forward hull is intact and that is where the sting of a dreadnaught resides. It might be possible for our folks here to seal up the forward half of the ship, install some fusion engines for internal power only, re-establish environmental controls, and load its' launch tubes to the maximum. The 762 has 64 launch tubes each with four autoloaders. I would hate to face that fire power at a dead stop coming out of the portal. The advantage of building a monitor out of a dead dreadnaught is we only need crew trained in weapons, defence, and environmental maintenance. With a SAR as shuttle we can cycle through a crew rotation ever three or four days."

  "And the destructor idea?"

  "Patching up the rear end of a dead dreadnought may be two difficult or structurally impossible. Even if possible it might take too much time and resources. The destructor option is to take one or two of the Greayson Destructors and recommission them and use them as portal defence. They may have less fire power than a dreadnaught, but they can manoeuvre as they fire. The Destructors have five times the fire power of a SAR and there are three that appear serviceable. Although we never really surveyed 762, nor the destructors, so the whole idea may be worthless. Once again in either case we will need crews for home defence."

  "I like the idea Abel. It will keep the harpies in the Assembly satisfied for at least a month, but more importantly it will put much of our idle work force back to work. The proposal to build our own New Quark out of Greayson spares and a home built hull just started construction and we now have almost 300 working on the project. It could easily take that and more to patch up that dreadnaught."

  Abel laughed, "Bjorn if we do go for the patched dreadnought it is not a make work project."

  "Yes, yes. I know, but putting people back to work is a priority. Keeps their minds off their empty stomachs."

  Bjorn was about to leave when he turned back to Abel. "That aquaculture equipment you ordered has been completed. I made sure it was expedited. Nutrition and Food Science at the Collegium made a few modifications after quickly researching aquaculture. Especially aquaculture regarding tiny crustaceans. If Miley makes it a priority we can get it to Dios as soon as you want."

  Bjorn continued, "That feedstock you gave us from Ragnarök already has those tiny critters feasting on sludge and multiplying in the Food Science Lab. Looks like you might be on to something. But I never really liked seafood. Without a sea one fails to develop the taste."

  Abel laughed, "I am sure that when the time comes you will learn to love shrimp paste on a dried algae roll."

  Chapter Forty

  Giwiso System - Entry Portal to Girots - Year 3246. January 31 ET: 18:14

  Commodore Karrlson had called for the fleet to stop just prior to entering the exit portal from the Giviso System that would later drop them into Girots. Silvi had called a captain's conference on vid. Helen, Emmitt and Oliver Mann Marx captain of the SAR Sigrún, who was now referred to as Old Man Marx, attended. Training of the new SAR crews proceeded at a hectic pace within the docking deck of the Greenland. Since the fleet was short on crews, Silvi decided that the five SAR's, when ready would not yet have captains, but if trouble occurred they would fly and fight with their pilots and crews as a unit under Silvi's or OM Marx' command. However the availability of the new SAR's was at best weeks if not months away.

  Silvi spoke first, "We are about to enter Girots and we have no idea how we will be received upon entry. Therefore caution and pre-planning is needed if we are to conclude our mission to Wu."

  Silvi paused a moment, "I am proposing the following plan. Of course any plan this side of the Girots entrance is only a wild guess, but a wild guess at this point is better than a dead fleet."

  Helen, who was seated drinking tea nodded her head. OM Marx, who had turned out to be a skilful captain, if a bit cautious in Silvi's mind, sat looking intently at Silvi's directions. Emmitt had, as he so often did in times of tense discussion, closed his eyes to listen.

  "I propose that the Ragnarök enter the Girots system two hours ahead of the remainder of the fleet. Upon entry the Ragnarök will scan the system and if no immediate danger presents itself we shall proceed in system to further assess system status. Let me be clear. I expect the Spikey to be within the system. We cannot predict where the alien might be, but the alien was here to sterilize Girots and we all believe to colonize that system after remaking it in its' own image. The issue is not if the Spikeys are here, but where. Potentially they could greet us as we enter the system, or they might block our way to Nelots on our way to Wu. I think the most likely position for the Spikeys is in orbit around Girots itself."

  OM Marx responded, "I hope your right Captain. Since they seem to have invested themselves in 'terraforming' Girots let us hope that after their brief encounter with us several weeks ago they have returned to their objective and left the portals alone."

  Silvi continued describing her plan. "Two hours after entry the fleet is to follow. I suggest the following order, Sigrún enters first in case we are engaged in a fight. If Ragnarök is under attack Sigrún is to immediately escort Iceland and Greenland by the fastest route to the Nelots portal. Captain Marx, you are to avoid engaging in combat, even in support of Ragnarök. Your priority is this mission and that mission requires that the fleet make it to Wu. A fight here against the Spikeys, as justified as we may think it is, is counter to our mission. Keep in mind that within months the Commonwealth, our families and friends, will cease to exist if we cannot return with supplies."

  OM Marx nodded his head. "Yes, I understand."

  "Following the Sigrún on ten minute intervals will be Iceland and Greenland. My admonition of engaging in a fight here in Girots applies to both you Helen and Emmitt. Stay focused on the mission at all costs."

  Emmitt opened his eyes an nodded. Helen responded, "Of course Silvi."

  "Upon entry by Ragnarök, Nomi will immediately begin calculating the fastest route to the Nelots entry portal. She will do so taking into consideration both the position of the Spikey if present, and its' possible extension throughout the system once we are detected. Our best assessment of the Spikey is that it is so massive that it cannot move with any significant speed. This is certainly true in the first few hours as they respond to our presence by initiating movement of that enormous mass. Inertia will undoubtedly retard their response. Two hours should be sufficient for Nomi to calculate your route. Upon entry Nomi will provide route instructions which you are to immediately initiate. Do not wait. Do not linger. Go." Silvi paused and looked each captain in the eyes
, "Am I clear."

  All three responded with "Yes Commodore."

  Helen spoke "I have a question Silvi."

  "Yes Captain Rebbah"

  "If there is an opportunity, and I know it is slight, but if there is, and it in no way delays our mission, can we unload on that Spikey thing. Pump a few 'K's' at it as a kind of parting gift."

  "May I respond Commodore?" asked OM Marx.

  Silvi nodded yes.

  "I think not Helen. I have reviewed the Ragnarök previous engagement in great detail. Nothing we have short of a dozen anti-matter torpedoes can hurt that thing. We can only raise its' ire, or whatever the alien has for anger. Further we need to preserve our ammunition. Remember the Admiral's admonition. 'When in doubt run away.' And lastly if we are successful, no, when we are successful, we will need to come this way again and I would hate to have that thing take up a defensive position just inside the entry to Girots. As they say, 'let sleeping dogs lay'."

  "Makes sense," responded Helen. "A lot of sense."

  Silvi continued. "Upon entry to Nelots the fleet is to proceed to the entry to Wu and hold there for six hours. If Ragnarök does not appear within that time frame, Helen, you are to assume the position of Acting Commodore and proceed with the mission." Silvi paused a moment, "Am I understood?"

  All three nodded in agreement.