“You want the Third Fleet and me to be that queen, no? Don’t worry my friend, I will be that piece on this chessboard, and I will force an exchange. I will make sure that it is equal exchange. Even though the forces are not equal. Who knows I might even return back alive to bother you again! You came back from the dead on Titan, and I might do it also.” Fabi said jovially in his typical gallows humor.
Daniel had only looked at his friend sadly. There wasn’t much he could have said. They had drowned the rest of the night in Vodka.
The Third Fleet wasn’t a sacrificial lamb. It was the pinnacle of human space technology. There were only four ships in the fleet, so it was a bit of a joke to call it a fleet. Yet these were the four biggest, most advanced and deadly ships humans had ever built till now. These were the Nautilus class ships.
These were the first four human warships what used the new variable geometry fusion reactors. It not just provided unlimited power to the ship, but the fusion reactor, directly powered the ion plasma drive giving these ships almost unlimited endurance and mind boggling range.
These ships could stay in space as long as their crews could endure it, and the food lasted on board. In theory a ship like this could go on a journey for a decade or two if the crew could bear the recycled food, and nothing major broke down on the ship. The mass these ships could carry was only limited by how big you could build the ship, there was almost no engine limitation on the mass.
Each of these ships weighed about 10 thousand metric tons. They were the size of a frigate on the seas with similar space inside. Each of these ships carried 200 nuclear missiles compared to the 20 odd that were carried by Friendship class that fought the Shaitans over Titan, and the 40 missiles carried by the Resolute class. This did not even take into account the new weapons and defenses the Nautilus carried, that were just not available to any ship before, all possible due to the fusion reactor on board the ship.
Yes, the Third Fleet was the queen, the most powerful piece that the humans possessed on the chessboard. Yet like all pieces on the board, it was still an implement, a means to an end. It needed to be used as such. The only objective that could not be compromised or lost was Earth. Everything had to be used and served for that end – the protection of Earth.
When the Third Fleet had started racing out to cut off the two parts of the Shaitan fleet from meeting up with each other, its objective had been simple. Engage one half of the enemy fleet and inflict as much damage as possible to that half. That way the fleet of 4 Nautilus class ships had some chance against 4 Shaitan ships, which were certain to be far superior to the human ships.
If the Third Fleet let the two parts of the Shaitan ship meet up with each other, then they would be facing 8 Shaitan ships against four human ships, which could not be good for the longevity of the human ships. The Shaitans had made the job of the Third Fleet a bit easier when the Shaitan troop carriers on either side were peeled out of formation and headed to a different direction.
That was sure to give Admiral Cloutier tactical headaches with the deployment of his first and Second Fleet, but Fabi could use any break that he and his fleet could get. Now as he reached the projected meeting point of the two parts of the Shaitan fleet, before they reached there, and effectively cutting them off from each other, he would be able to fight 4 to 3 in his favor. It still did not give him a good feeling. He knew why, but he tried to ignore it for the moment.
Admiral Kalinin had chosen USS Nautilus as his flagship. It was not because it was any bigger than any of the other ships. All the four ships were identical in construction. This was the first administrative and political triumph USC in general and Admiral Cloutier in particular had managed in the brief history of USC.
First and Second Fleet comprised of ships contributed by the three main ship building consortium. The North American consortium, which was mainly the US contributed about 40% of the ships, while the ESA-ISRO-JAXA consortium contributed 30% and the remaining 30% was contributed by the Chinese consortium which also included Russia and Brazil as significant members.
The problem that USC faced was that all the three consortiums constructed their ships according to their own specifications, which was a nightmare for the military operationally. USC had tried to manage the non-uniformity of ship capabilities by segregating all the US and a few ESA-ISRO-JAXA ships to form the Second Fleet, while all the Chinese and the rest of the ESA-ISRO-JAXA ships formed the First Fleet. It was difficult to say the least for a flag admiral to manage a fleet with varying capabilities amongst the same class of ships.
When the new Nautilus class of ships were beginning to be planned, Daniel had just taken over as the chief, he had invested a huge amount of his time and political capital traveling continuously between Beijing, Brussels, New Delhi, Tokyo and Washington to convince that this class of ship, which was the first to be designed after the formation of the USC should be done with its concurrence and a uniform specification should be laid out.
It wasn’t as if the politicians did not understand the logic of Daniel’s request, but egos are hard to assuage. Ironically for Daniel, he got the hardest of time from his own country and his own compatriots. Washington gave Daniel a hard time primarily due to intellectual property concerns. How that was overcome is another story altogether.
So Admiral Kalinin was commanding a set of 4 identical ships. The reason he had chosen USS Nautilus was not even for sentimental reason, it was after all the first of the class. The reason he had chosen this ship was political. This was a US ship and crewed almost exclusively by US and Canadian citizens.
So why is that important in a so called nationality less organization like the USC? Because the reality is that national politics does not get left back on Earth however much the USC brass would want it to be so. USS Nautilus and USS Endurance were built under sponsorship from the US consortium and in US orbital space yard. The Shiva was built under the sponsorship of the ESA-ISRO-JAXA consortium, while the Qūzhújiàn was built in the Russian space yard New Vladivostok under Chinese sponsorship.
The US ships were crewed by US and Canadian citizens. The Qūzhújiàn was crewed primarily by the Chinese with some token Russian and Brazilian. Only the Shiva was a truly multinational crew. It had an eclectic mix of Europeans, Japanese and Indians. It was always tricky for a flag Admiral to choose a flagship that catered to petty national sensibilities that humans still carried to space.
The nationality issue is usually not a problem with the ESA-ISRO-JAXA combine, who are so used to working with various nationalities, that they have gotten over such mental barriers mostly. There are occasional nationality related issue that do crop up, but they are few and far between and usually minor in nature.
Not so with the US and Chinese crew and marines. They are still insulated in homogenous groups of their own nationality, and carry their petty suspicions into space. This had been one of major projects that Takamori had started, which now Alex in pursuing in USC-GCF. To make USC-GCF heterogeneous. It is tougher than it sounds. Battalion, company and platoon compositions are touchy subjects with any army, and space marines are no different. Add to this various military of the parent nations that get involved and reorganization is a nightmare.
Admiral Cloutier faced similar problems with the Navy. His task of achieving heterogeneity was complicated further by the difference in the ships of each of these countries, which required specialized people from those countries. Daniel was hoping that with the new uniform Nautilus class, that task would become easier. It hadn’t happened yet though.
So a Russian flag admiral was acceptable to the American captains and crew, primarily because he was not Chinese. The Chinese thought of Russians as close allies so they did not have any problems either. If however the admiral chose a Chinese ship as his flagship, then it would look like favoritism to the Americans. So Nautilus it was for Fabi.
The price Capt. Gerald Shannon had to pay for his ship USS Nautilus being chosen as the flagship was his ready room. H
e didn’t have one any longer. It had been hastily converted into the Flag Admiral’s bridge. Gerald had drooled at the captain’s ready room, when he had first come on board the Nautilus.
It was 10 by 15 feet in size which was massive compared to the one he had on his previous command in the Resolute class ship. Now it was gone. The only consolation was that the Nautilus was big enough to have a conference room of a similar size, which was to be his ready room whenever he needed to use one.
The bridge was in the center of the ship, so it could not have centrifugal gravity like the central habitat section of the ship. Thus the captain’s ready room and now the flag bridge had no chairs or tables in this zero g environment. The conference room and now Gerald’s makeshift ready room was in the habitat section and thus had chairs, which made conversations more civilized and comfortable.
Gerald looked wistfully at his lost ready room once more, and saw the admiral floating out and heading towards him. He nodded at the admiral and got a nod of acknowledgement back. “Sir we will be reaching the interception point and coming to a complete stop in just over an hour. We would need your decision on which direction to head by then sir.” Gerald said curtly.
Fabi smiled a playful mischievous smile and said. “I have made my decision captain, but since I have some time as you said, and I can see that you are not terribly busy either, why don’t we play a little bit of a mind game captain? If you don’t mind that is.”
Gerald quite enjoyed his verbal sparring with the witty admiral, so he was game and nodded so. Fabi asked him. “If you were the Admiral, which direction would you have chosen to go captain?”
Gerald thought for a moment. Not because he had not thought about this issue before. It was all he was thinking about for the last few hours. He was trying to figure out the trick in the admiral’s trick question. He was sure there was a trick or a catch in the question. This Russian was a sly fox.
Not being able to figure out the trick in the question, Gerald answered. “There are equal number of ships on either direction. They are exactly the same configuration as far as we can tell. They are exactly the same distance from us in either direction. Frankly sir, it is a tossup. Statistically it 50-50 as far as I am concerned. I cannot find any differentiating factor on which to favor one direction over the other.”
“Yes. Right you are. But you only see what your eyes can see. What about things your eyes cannot see?” Fabi asked. His mischievous smile had never faded.
Gerald had to work hard not to roll his eyes. There goes the admiral with his gobble-de-gook philosophies which only he understands. He wondered, why then was he waiting with bated breath to hear what the admiral had to say. Gerald gave an enquiring look to the admiral.
“One comes from the direction of Alpha Shaitan the first planet we knew of. The other comes from a new planet – what are they calling it? Aahh… Beta Shaitan. Such a… what is the word… uncreative name, no? I hope they find a better name for this newly discovered home planet of the enemy.
Anyway, what is important is one comes from a planet that has fought us before, while the other comes from a planet that has not seen us or fought us before. Which one would you prefer captain?” Fabi asked still holding his smile.
“I thought of that before admiral, but is clear from their co-ordination that they are in touch with each other, probably for all these years starting from the time when they discovered us. I am sure that both of them have the exact records of whatever transpired in our previous encounters. So why should one set of Shaitans know us better than the other?” Gerald protested.
“You are considered the most diligent and studious captain in USC. That is why you got command of the first Nautilus class vessel captain. I know that you have studied every line of every report of the Battle of Titan written by anyone who is anyone. You have been doing this for many years, probably from the day you joined the academy.
Yet could you confidently say that you ‘know’ the Shaitans the way Admiral Cloutier or Gen. Takamori or Lt. Gen. Parkinson knows? Would you for example be able to judge a bluff from a Shaitan or be confident about their reaction to your own bluff?” Fabi asked and Gerald nodded to the negative.
“I know that none of the Shaitans coming from the originally discovered world were there for the last battle either. I am thinking though, if they are intelligent and social like us, what they were doing when they were growing up? What were you doing when you were growing up captain? You were hearing the stories about the clever tactics of the humans on Titan, no? You were hearing the treachery of the Shaitans on the mountains of Titan, no?” Fabi was asking but he knew the answer, Gerald nodded.
“So that makes you think that you know the Shaitans a bit, no? Even though you have never fought them. So it is with the Shaitans from the original Shaitan world. The other Shaitans though – from Beta Shaitan, they don’t hear much stories when they grow up. It is not their people you see, so their captain only read reports. They do not feel us in their bones like the Shaitans from the other side. Sorry… forgot that the bastards don’t have bones.” Fabi laughed at his own joke, Gerald just gave a smile.
“So that admiral is your logic to go towards the direction of Beta Shaitan?” Gerald asked with a hint of sarcasm, indicating that he was not fully convinced.
“Yes captain, unless you have a better reason to go the other way.” Fabi replied, not caring whether he had convinced Gerald or not. “You see captain, when you have nothing better to go on, it is better to fight from here…” Fabi pointed towards his gut “than from here.” Fabi pointed to his head, and then broke out in his trademark smile again.
Then the admiral spoke again but this time almost to himself. “Yes captain that is the reason. That and the fact that we will indulge in a little bit of Maskirovka!”
“Excuse me admiral, my Russian is a bit rusty, but could you please explain this “Moscow-rovka”? Daniel asked a bit irritated and sarcastic.
Nothing could wipe out the smile from the admiral’s face though. He replied patiently. “Of course your Russian is rusty captain. You know no Russian in the first place, no? It is a pity. If you had been born a hundred years ago, you would have known the meaning of Maskirovka.” Fabi said the word slowly and emphasized the pronunciation, so that Gerald got it right.
“You Americans paid a lot of attention to us Russians then. Especially to our Maskirovka. It is a Russian word for the art of deception specially when put to use in war. Good thing we are fighting on the same side now, you Americans and us Russians. Now together we show the Shaitans some good old Russian Maskirovka, eh? What do you say?” Fabi said in his usual jovial manner.
“Do you have a specific plan in mind sir?” Gerald asked, trying had to be polite and hide his testiness.
“Yes and no, captain. I have a plan, but it is not specific. Daniel told me that you are the most technically sound captain in USC. Let me put that to the test, eh? I give you the bones and the structure of our Maskirovka, you put the flesh with your technical knowledge. How does that sound, good?” Fabi asked. Gerald blushed a bit at the compliment but didn’t say anything and just nodded.
“We better go to your ready room, the one I grabbed from you before we continue. I see you looking at it longingly. Don’t worry captain, this battle will soon be over and you will have your ready room back.” Fabi said as they as they walked over to the former ready room and now the admiral’s bridge. Fabi excused his two staff members who were monitoring something, and then closed the door.
“The Shaitans speak to us for the first time, and what do they say, eh? They threaten us, take hostage. They turn out to be no better than the street golovorezy… what do you say in English… ‘Street thugs’. We think of them as advanced aliens, and they turn out to be street thugs! Bet they keep the police busy on the Shaitan streets just like the streets of Moscow.” Fabi found his own joke funny, but he continued.
“By the way, you realize the direction from which the threatening message came don�
�t you?” Fabi asked.
“Yes from the fleet approaching from the original Shaitan planet side.” Replied Gerald.
“You know what I am thinking? I am thinking if these Shaitans have a unified command between these two converging fleet, then where is that likely to be? I am thinking maybe it will be on the side which is doing all the talking and threatening, no? If we want to communicate with the Shaitans, the message will come from the flagship, no? So I am thinking, maybe it is the same for the Shaitans. That is also one of the reasons I decided to go in the opposite direction.” Fabi said.
“I am not sure I understand that admiral.” Gerald asked.
“It is better to go in the direction not led by an experienced admiral, no? We may have a better chance with our Maskirovka. What do you say?” Fabi asked, and Gerald nodded in agreement.
“Anyway, we know why they threaten. They want the two parts of the fleet to meet up before they engage. It makes sense no? So they take our people on Mars hostage and think we will not attack to save our people. We know that the Shaitans themselves would have sacrificed their own kind if they were in our situation, but somehow the Shaitans know that we will not sacrifice our own people.”
Then the eternally jovial admiral’s mood suddenly turned dark. Gerald didn’t have a good feeling about this, especially when the admiral had asked for them to move into a closed room. Admiral Fabi Kalinin was not known to keep secrets.
“Looks like we two species are getting to know each other’s mind well, no? War has this effect. You get to know the heart and mind of your enemy better than your lover. Only this time we are going to surprise the Shaitans by behaving like them…” Fabi left his words hanging.
“What do you mean sir?” Gerald asked circumspect.
“We are going to abandon them Gerald… We are going to fucking sacrifice our own people on Mars!” Fabi stopped himself from kicking the bulkhead just in the nick of time, once he remembered that he was in a zero-g environment and would have gone flying back. He had dropped his mask of the jovial Russian and had now become the grim Russian. Gerald also noticed that this was the first time the admiral had addressed him by his first name.
Shaitan Wars 2: Wrath of the Shaitans Page 15