The Deserter

by David Nash

  “Jones, the way you keep interrupting, you are reinforcing the idea that you are just to energetic to remain a petty officer”

  “I am sorry Sir, it won’t happen again.” He said as he struggled to look me in the eye.

  “It better happen again ensign, ideas like that are what we are paying you for. After you get one of these contraptions built, I want to be the second to ride one. I assume you want the title of the first human being to ride a space capable skateboard.”

  “YES SIR! Thank you Sir!”

  “Guys, I want some capabilities and a plan for implementing your flying combat suit.”

  The Navy men stepped up and presented a great plan as well.

  On their tablet I saw a design that looked like a misshapen dumbbell. It reminded me of the old CH-54 Tarhe cargo helicopter. It had a large front section, a rectangular spine, and a tail section.

  As the lowest rank of the three Navy men, Commander Hickerson began. “General, I know this looks a bit unconventional, but that’s what you asked for. This is a design for a mother ship. The spine contains engineering, troop areas as well as cargo bays. The head and tail contain weapons and sensors. Fighters and ramming ships will attach to the central spine. As you requested, this will allow us to jump multiple ships using one Kernel.”

  As much as I wanted to hear about ‘ramming ships’ I did not interrupt.

  "We discussed the concept with Ensign Marvin, and added a rail gun down the entire spine. We were able to configure loading capability at either end so it can fire to the bow or the stern. Using nanites as couplers and docking ports allows several types of ships to dock the mothership.

  Precision orbital bombardment is also a capability, as well as releasing troop drop ships. However, we agree that those two activities are best served with a different ship class.”

  Kapitan Volk spoke up. “In terms of Earth Navies, the mother ship will be the largest ship, but we need the functional equivalent of amphibious assault ships, and destroyers. We have some enhancements to the typical saucer and plan on using them as fighters. Additionally, we came up with a new type of ship that for the moment we are calling the ram.”

  I nod and motion to go on.

  “We envision a small ship similar in shape to a sub. It would have an extremely dense bow, protected by gravity plates and enhanced shields. A rail gun would run the length of the ship slightly above the centerline. At the centerline an explosive hatch and nanite grapples to allow boarding operations. The entire package would be less than 100 meters long.

  This ship would carry a payload of shock troops in Legion Power armor. The planned function is to ram Punishment ships at speed, blast a hole though the hull with the rail gun, grapple and dock. This would allow conquest operations. The desired effect would be to capture the ship using a maximum amount of shock to a localized area. In theory this would allow the capture and repatriation of the ship with minimum damage.”

  Similar in size to a mother ship, also we want a planetary assault ship. It needs the ability to drop precise kinetic bombardment weapons of various sizes. We should be able to take out hardened military sites without undue collateral damage up to slugs large enough to cause an extinction level event by lifting debris into the atmosphere to block out the sun and freeze the planet surface. Integral to the plan are multiple Conex sized drop ships that can deliver Legionnaires to the surface. These drop boxes are lightly armored and heavily shielded. They are pretty bare on the inside, yet do retain some functionality. We put some ship borne defensive weapons on board to act primarily as defense against missile and torpedo attacks, we included a robust power generator and a normal ship borne replicator, as well enough basic communications and processing suite so that a drop ship could act as a command post once its primary mission of getting troops to the surface in one piece was accomplis ed. The planetary assault ship will hold a little more than a company of Legionnaires per ship, which would mean a strike force would contain a battalion of infantry troops. Such numbers are typical of the Marine Expeditionary Units I have deployed with in the past.

  Lastly, we want a heavily armored, highly weaponized sip that can function as a destroyer/cruiser. It would be able to perform as carrier escort as well as protect smaller convoys. We have plans for a ship with a small crew that is smaller than the 150-meter window of our large replicator. This ship will have a very small crew, as most of its bulk will be in weapons and power generation for gravity plates and shields. When I think of what I want in our destroyers I cannot help but be reminded of a honey badger. A honey badger is little, fierce, and totally brazen. Our destroyers should be able to go head to head with a Punisher ship and win. Yet, because they are small and compact, we should be able to out produce our enemies and build a lot of the Destroyers in a short period of time.

  “We don’t need as many types of ships as traditional earth fleets.” Commodore Johns volunteered. “Our infrastructure needs are different from Earth military. Mother ships can be self-sustaining and have the ability to create supplies for the entire carrier group. All we need is the ability to gather mass and we are set. Currently we are still creating a table of organization, but tentatively, a strike group would contain a mother ship with 60 saucer fighters docked, 4 ram ships, 3 Assault ships with 10-drop ships each, and 10 Destroyers. Currently, we propose to create 8 carrier groups. One just outside of Earth Orbit, two to patrol the Lagrange points in the Earths solar system. One to protect a proposed shipyard in the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Two for New Aubagne, One to explore and seed new bases, and one to sneak in and wreak havoc behind enemy lines.”

  There are two General Patton quotes I live by, the first “When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty.” The second is “Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.” They both apply to my response.

  “Looks like Earth picked the right kind of lizard fuckers, I think we have the makings of a plan to steal the Green Beret nickname. We are going to be the largest pack of snake eaters in the whole damn galaxy!”

  I slammed my hands on the table for effect. “Ensign Marvin? With what you heard how long until we have working schematics for everything mentioned.”

  “General, I do not have all the required specifications, however, based upon what was discussed, I infer that schematics would be available within 16 Earth months.”

  Revise the estimate to only include the Ram, armored suits, and flying skateboards, and factor in time to assist as needed in helping Oni and Farholm in creating blueprints for suits, shields, and grave plates to be built using Earth level technology; can you revise your estimate?

  “Sir, I estimate an 84% probability those schematics be completed in 4 months.”

  “How long would it take to build 11 suits and a ram?”

  “Using all the replicators on this base, with appropriate mass input, your request could be created within two weeks.”

  “Ensign, begin the design process for jus those things I mentioned, and notify me when you are 90% complete with the design. Team; let us meet in the conference room in two hours. We have a lot to discuss.”

  After breakfast, I took some time to talk privately with Sabol. We talked history and the concepts of Justice. After sitting with him, I started to realize he was not as crooked as he seemed. Somewhere after law school, he became jaded. My shyster lawyer actually had a kind of man crush on George Mason; one of America’s leading anti-federalists and the main reason the American Bill of Rights was created.

  I introduced him to the idea of the “fair tax” I have always disliked the idea of an income tax. When you increase tax, the more someone produces, at some point it people stop producing. That concept actually has a scientific basis in economics and is called the Laffer curve. I want a straight use tax on the first creation of an item, one and done.

  Personally, I think paying tax on my income, then paying tax o
n what I buy with that income, and then paying property tax and use tax on things like cars and homes is outrageous. I insisted on a flat tax on matter replicated. I wanted it set at 10% permanently in our Constitution. With the new technology of replicators, time and raw mass were the real things of value outside of culture and knowledge. If a government could not run on replicators and a 10% tax, then they were living outside their means.

  I shared one of my favorite Sci-Fi books with Sabol. I gave him a copy of Freehold and invited him to explore how crime and punishment was handled. I was not quite convinced that we should operate our political leadership the way it was handled in that book, but I did like how the author addressed corruption and competence.

  I absolutely required that whatever method we devised for determining our representatives that they must have to live by the same laws they created for everyone else, and that any attempt to suborn the Constitution would result in immediate expulsion from our society.

  Lastly, and most importantly, I wanted to ensure individual rights. A citizen was guaranteed the right to be treated fairly, to worship and think as they please, to carry and own weapons without any restriction.

  We discussed that items were inanimate, therefore blameless. Own a ship based ion cannon. Fine, shoot down your neighbors ship because you did not like his music and face the immediate and severe repercussions of your act.

  I was a little hesitant, as I will not create a fascist state, but I gave him a series of fiction books called “Out of the Ashes” in that series a global nuclear war occurred and out of the ashes a new society was formed. I did not agree with everything the author said about the form of government he created, but I liked how people were judged on their actions and were free to do whatever they pleased as long as they knew their neighbor could knock the shit out of them if their actions tread on his rights. Similarly, I like how amendments were possible, but after the original populace agreed it was extremely difficult for the structure to be changed. People adapt, and need to, but I had no intent to allowed weak kneed whiners to come back centuries after Legionnaires died to defend Earth and make it illegal for our decendents to do it again if necessary.

  15

  “Thank you for coming. Let’s get down to business. Your plans and devotion to protecting Earth has been beyond reproach. History will reward each of you for our accomplishments. I have never been as proud as I am now to work with such a dedicated group.”

  I see some nods, some thoughtful, some saying, spit it out already.

  “We are building something new. We take the best of what we know and add new. Our strength is our creativity and ability to adapt. As such the people in this room are more than just my war council, each of you were selected to lead some part of the larger whole.”

  More nods.

  “If you are going to lead entire teams over multiple planets you need appropriate rank. Just as important your rank needs to be Legion rank and not from the branch you formerly served.”

  That got their attention.

  “Here are your new ranks and assignments:

  Admiral Silmon Johns you are the Legion’s Chief of Naval Operations. Build us a fleet.

  “Yes Sir, I’ll do my best Sir!”

  Rear Admiral Volk, You will command Strike Force 1. Right now it is on paper, but I hope that soon you will show our enemies what punishment truly is.”

  “Da, Commandant, I will to show them the pointy end of the stick.”

  Captain Hickerson, I expect you to be the CAG on Strike Force 1, but for that to happen you will have to train us some pilots that are crazy enough to charge the enemy.

  “If you can find anyone else good enough I will sure train them sir.”

  “Commander Dr. Farholm, You are the lead in research and development. Make our guns more powerful, our shields stronger, the cloak better. If my leaders ask for it, I expect you to get your people to make it.”

  The Doctor nods assent.

  Commander Hall, You now command LIDA the Legion Intelligence Defense Agency. We need intelligence on what’s out there as well as who we are recruiting. However as soon as we get back to earth I want you to seek out every last lizard lipped alien and pass the information to my heart breakers and life takers. We need their ships.”

  “You can count on me Sir.”

  “Commander Askew, You now lead our dirty tricks division. Build me a Special Operations Command that can think outside the box and always win. I want you to war-game how we can board ships we have never been on and anything else your nasty army mind can come up with. I love crazy, just make sure you can back it up. Tracking?”

  “Absolutely. Sir may I suggest that while The Army has a dirty mind, at least we never developed a taste for crayons.”

  “Only in this room Commander” I said with a smile.

  “While he is currently unavailable on assignment, Colonel Aegeus Alejandra Udom’s rank has been administratively changed to fit the Naval Tradition, he is now listed as a Commander, and is assigned as a liaison to my office.”

  I look toward Oni.

  “Lieutenant Commander Isoken Oni, you have performed remarkable well in adjusting from civilian life. Your ability to think logically and understand machine code will be vital in the coming years. You will assist Commander Farholm in R&D and help as needed with the sociological aspects of communicating with the Kernels.

  Ensign Marvin, You will continue as my Aide de Camp to assist me as required. However, as we Conquer new Ships, and invite them to join the Legion as citizens you will require a promotion to lead them.

  Ensign Jones, I just promoted you, so you are staying in your role for a while. I am assigning you as the Admiral’s Aide de Camp. Assist him however he desires and maybe learn how to be an officer. I hope to see you commanding your own ship someday. Learn how.”

  “Yes Sir!”

  “Sabol.”

  “Yes”

  “I don’t need another officer on this council.”

  My attorney looks both pissed and relieved.

  “You don’t Sir?”

  “No, I need something else. I need someone that can keep Earth from fucking it up while I am out here. I need you to manage legal issues on Earth. We will talk more in the coming days. Plus, your special project shouldn’t be done by the military, it needs to come from a citizen don’t you think?”

  “Yes sir, I do.” We each get curious glances that we both ignore.

  “Well, if you are going to be my right hand on Earth you will need some credentials to make people listen. Mr. Sabol you are hereby hired as a Legion Executive Service Level V this has a rank equivalency of Brigadier General, or a Vice Admiral in the Naval Service.”

  “If I am a civilian do I still have to call you sir?”

  “Sabol, do you still want to be my personal attorney and control my gold?”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “There’s your answer.”

  We dismissed and spent the next months preparing another trip to Earth. We drilled constantly to for the trip back.

  The Admiral worked Ensign Jones nearly to death. I added to the poor butter bar’s workload as I spent a lot of time making him dig mass and use the replicator. I am sure he thought I was abusing his low rank, but I had a plan and his ability to use that backhoe was an essential piece of it.

  We looked stunning in our new black super suits. We spent some time using the ion cannon mounted on the right forearm and transitioning from flying the skateboards to using them as shields. As far as a prototype went, they were awesome, but we were only touching the near edge of the potential. I asked Ensign Marvin why no other race has come up with similar tech. He said some races do, but not the Sangren or the Barkun.

  I pressed him further and he admitted neither is very warlike. The Barkun prefer to sterilize a planet from orbit using kinetic energy transfer or single combat using knives. They do not stomach much large-scale infantry warfare. He also suggested they feel its cowardly to use armor. The Sangren ar
e mostly scientists and explorers. They do have an exploratory arm that is formed on military lines, but it is more for scientific purposes than offensive. I chose not to be bogged down with the idea of other races, as right now that was not a primary concern. If the primary players in the coming Earth defense choose no to wear armor, then that’s all I really needed to know.

  The Ram looked nice also. I admit the idea of deliberately crashing into a huge spaceship was scary, but I do see the potential. Because I believe that a leader should not ask his subordinates to do anything he is not willing to do, I was not in a hurry to ask people to ram a ship. At least, not until we had a platoon or so of Special Forces to fight at my side.

  I had hands to help me work this time around; everything went much smother as we built better decoys and mines for the ship. We filled the ram with small modular reactors and other tech that could be reverse engineered. Besides the blueprints and construction manuals for military tech, we also spent some time on consumer electronics like new drones, cameras, and ‘hover-boards’.

  Of course, better tools for emerging countries on Earth was also included. Not only is out mission to protect Earth, we dearly wanted to increase the quantity of life on our home planet as well. It was a valuable side benefit of focusing on increasing the standard of living for emerging nations would be to help disguise the origin of our technology.

  The last thing we brought aboard before we loaded ourselves into the ship was several replicators and a disassembled gravity hoe. When it was loaded, I could not help but look at Jones and smile. When Jones saw my grin he looked a little nervous. My ensign is a pretty smart guy.

  16

  “Ensign Marvin?” I said as I sat against the bulkhead of the Ram. “When you stated that Proxima Centauri b was uninhabitable it was due to solar winds, Correct?”

  “Yes Sir, the stellar winds on that planet are approximately 2,000 times that on Earth. Any atmosphere created would be blown away.”