Stone and the Ravens (Guardian Stone Book 3)

by Don Koch

  Captain Foster grinned, "You know, I think I am really going to enjoy your company, and you Ravens do have a wicked sense of humor. My XO will no doubt be wanting to apply for an enhancement package himself."

  "Actually, he passed the final test just now and will be offered just that after this exercise is over as will you. As to a sense of humor, apparently ours is no less than your own, in view of what you did to the Captain of the Briarpatch with his new toy. Speaking of that, we would like our crews to get busy with the installation as soon as possible if that is ok. We would also like some more detail on how you spotted us. Are our brothers about? We would like to bring them up to speed on what Janet's capture of the Rotagillan dreadnaught has revealed and you should definitely join us."

  "They are waiting for us in Wardroom 6, but first I see an old friend I want to greet and put to work. Why don't you go ahead and I will join you quickly."

  "Well as I live and breathe, if it isn’t the best damn Chief of Boats in the fleet. Welcome back Ed, I am delighted that you are joining back up with us for this venture. I hope you do not mind but I am going to put you right to work overseeing the installation of this cloaking device. With you, I know they will get it right. Then I want you to join the Ravens and me for dinner and we can regale each other with tall tales and lies. But first let me make an announcement to all hands to smooth the way."

  "Attention all hands, attention all hands, this is the Captain speaking. Effective immediately, the Chief of the Boat is Master Chief Edward O'Rourke. Welcome back Chief. Chief Hastings will be remaining on board but with his appropriate name, rank and service and that is Ranger Colonel William Hastings Raven. That is all."

  "Thanks Cap, that should avoid delays and confusion. Glad to be back. Chat with you later."

  The Captain entered Wardroom 6 and all the Ravens were there. The XO and Janet were sitting next to each other each with a huge grin. The XO commented after the Captain was seated, "Captain, I want you to know that I recognize the importance of this mission and that I will perform as you expect of me. I admit that today was a bit of a shock and I had not a clue that this was coming."

  Janet added, "I can second that Captain. When we enter mission mode, we must be able to place emotions on hold. That does not diminish the fact that I am happy to see Zack but we know what must come first. I am more than pleased with his reaction to this surprise. I was worried about how and when to break the news to him. I only received approval to do so last week and here it has been done for me, or rather to me." The other Ravens all grinned.

  Henry then proceeded to update all on the capabilities of the Rotagillan dreadnaught. One important note was that the enemy dreadnaught did not have equipment that could detect those items that might disclose the presence of a cloaked vessel. The dreadnaught had impressive frame, armament, drive and life support, but most everything else was not up to the same level of technology. One analyst had opined that the vessel had originally been built for another purpose. It had all the earmarks of a heavy freighter. It appears to have been built by someone other than the Rotans. That was an issue for another day. The location of the base where the weapons were being prepared was likewise identified and all intelligence gathered on the base was reviewed. It was clear that more intelligence would be helpful but probably not necessary. One added feature for the Rangers on the mission was a small compact personal drive pack that had about a million mile range.

  Later that day, the Ravens, the Captain, the XO and Chief O'Rourke were relaxing in a wardroom having finished their meal. James Raven noted that it was time to get down to some more planning. "Progress on installation of the cloaking device is ahead of schedule. So lets look at what we are up to. Our primary target is the base where the weapons are being built. If we can trigger one of those devices while it is still at the base, we can put a significant crimp in their ability to continue this conflict. Back home we are producing cloaking devices for the rest of our ships at the rate of about 5 per day. These will be installed as quickly as they are built. About 25 had been installed when we left Malone. We are trying to hide the fact that we have this technology by not engaging the cloaks until we are certain that we are not observed. After engaging we also do a slight course change to further enhance our stealth. The part of the fleet that have these devices installed will become hunter-killer pack units consisting of three cruisers per unit. Their job will be to seek out and destroy every Rotagillan warship they can find starting with those in our own system. This is a no-quarter-given exercise. We also have new ship destroyer missiles that move 100 miles away from the firing ship before they deploy. The enemy will not know where the ship that is firing on it is located. These missiles are very stealthy and difficult to detect. After the base is destroyed, we will move to their home planet and demand their surrender or suggest they will suffer the fate of their base on the satellite of the fourth planet. We will have to destroy their communications, board and destroy their drives and set the triggers for the planet busters. Those will be triggered from the Destiny after we are all back on board. Don't you just love it when the plan is simple."

  Chapter 8: Fabricators

  Shipbuilding Facility at Tau Ceti –

  March 3 – C Day 551

  Fador asked Barana to give him a power boost for a mind-to-mind communication with his daughter Lasa-Dor, manager of the shipbuilding yards at Tau Ceti.

  "Well father, I think I can guess what you are calling about."

  "You mean aside from wishing you a happy birthday?"

  "Definitely, has he figured out yet that he is going to want a lot more Stations pretty soon."

  "No, Hank, is being pretty conservative in that regard. Remember he has had military budget and equipment shortages as a way of life, most of his adult life. This is not a bad lesson but it could cause him some grief before long, which is why you and I have started these preparations. It is not something that one can shift to overnight. I think it is fortunate that we had our little conversation when we did. How is the project going?"

  "It is going very well. We started manufacturing additional fabricators about four months ago when you initially expressed concern that we were going to need a lot more Stations. The Yannar and Saba regions are certainly having a surprisingly high rate of persons wanting to join the fleet. The huge population boom you expected because of the new systems we protect is right on track to occur. You have been pretty much right with all of your projections so far. Have you given any more thought to the notion of sitting him down and pointing out the need to consider these things?"

  "No, I think we will just go ahead and prepare for the eventuality and explain it when it hits. A conversation we had a week ago suggests that he may already have figured out the need to do some restructuring. He recognizes that the huge exposure to catastrophe that a Station represents is affecting his command of a given situation. In fact Barana wagered with me that he would figure it out around now and she was right. We are expecting to have another discussion, probably this week to see where his and our ideas take us. We will be ready when this solidifies. The fact that we have had four divisions out there exploring was bound to bring something like this about. He does however, manage crises extraordinarily well."

  "You had suggested that there was a great likelihood that we would need some more Type 1B Stations pretty soon. When the order comes, we will be able to produce them at a surprising rate. The new fabricator unit is a quantum leap over the one you used hundreds of years ago. These things are amazing. The old one took a year and a half to two years to complete a new Station. Barana's idea to dedicate an AI to each fabricator was genius. The fact that they can then elect to dwell on a Station gives them options that encourage them to do their absolute best. Not that they wouldn't anyway. That has worked really well. The fact that the builder can manage the millions of factors that go into a construction this complex and can teleport material into place has been the major element to increased speed of construction. We have alrea
dy built five and will in the future keep a reserve of five. As we activate one, construction of a new one will start so we can maintain the same reserve level."

  "The new Type 2 station fabricators are the same except the construction takes 21 days. We currently have 18 Type 2A Stations in reserve and two more will be ready next week to bring our reserve to 20. So in a week we can deliver five new divisions from our reserve. We now have enough fabricators for the Type 2 to produce a new Station every second day. I am having more fabricators built so that by the beginning of May, we can produce a new Type 2A or 2B every day as needed. "

  "We have constructed scanning equipment that is AI operated to run system checks on everything on a Station in a 24 hour period. Just so you know, I am already building five additional Type 1B stations without the AI installed and we will have them ready to go when needed. That is in addition to the five we now have in reserve. We will have an interim non-sentient computer on each to assure farms and atmosphere can function. As one is placed in service another will start construction. This will give us a reserve that I think will be handy on occasion. I intend to do the same for Type 2A and 2B Stations. I figure about 20 of the 2A and 25 of the 2B. Essentially that means that we can within a week produce 5 new Divisions."

  "Daughter mine, you do not think small, I am proud of you."

  "The biggest challenge has been raw materials, but it looks like we are ahead of the game there as well. We have our mining ships working around the clock and in about three weeks, the reserve of materials will be greater than needed to support full production of all fabricators. We have been placing the refined materials needed to build a ship in special pods and placing them in orbit around our sixth planet. We did not want them in so close to Antor II that we might have adverse gravitational impacts. Nevertheless, we are constantly monitoring for just such an occurrence."

  Fador had a far away look, and Lasa-Dor said, "Your look tells me that you are thinking something that is going to mean more work for me. Lets hear it."

  "Actually two things. The first is old. You remember that ship we built about 150 years ago that was the largest special warship we had built, short of a Station. It was about five miles long and was designed to fit in one of a Stations flight deck bays."

  "Funny you should mention that, we just put the latest speed and scanning upgrades in that ship. Why do ask?"

  "I have been watching the developments out at the Malone region and Malone forces have a special operations platform that is extraordinary. It is currently engaged in an operation that is impressive in its scope and so far, execution. The crew on that operation is truly an efficient team and I just do not see Hank wanting to dismantle that crew or any like it. It is the kind of thing that he needs to resolve the catastrophe exposure that is giving him qualms. I think he is ready to accept that this is a class of ship that we need in some quantity. In fact I expect that he will likely place such an order this week to build them and install them as standard operating equipment for a Station. I think that Hank will see the logic for having a bunch of them. Can you program the fabricator for that type of vessel for AI assisted building and gear up for making a bunch of them."

  "Actually, you are right, that is a ship that is logical for what the fleet is becoming. I can go one better for you. The fabricator for that ship can be replicated in a fairly short time and we can build it to make ten ships at a time with one AI. At that size we should be able to provide a production cycle every 2 days. That is 150 new ships per month. A few years before Hank came on board, one of our engineers came up with a projector/cannon for that beastie that is on the order of the orbital cannons at Saba, only more powerful. These also have variable power settings and at full power recycle at less than a second. They are more potent than the Stations projectors. They are currently equipped with non-Sentient computers but if you can figure out how to squeeze an AI in there it would be a truly awesome warship."

  "When the time comes I will try to convince Hank to be generous with this addition. Also go ahead and build the additional fabricators. I would suggest 25 units capable of 10 ships per unit. When we get the go ahead, we will be able to produce 3,750 cruiser per month. I will let you know when to start distribution."

  "I can have those fabricators ready for operation in a month."

 

  "Twelve, six each fore and aft. There are conventional projectors around the outer hull spaced pretty much the same as a station. It is a formidable ship. I can see this kind of vessel being used as a first response ship."

 

  "I believe so, but we have not tested for that. Sounds like something we should do and soon."

  "I will take care of that father."

 

  Fador noted, "I guess the real question becomes how many? If I know Hank, he will be inclined to start small. The trouble with that is that we are already big and each Station has to be able to hold its own with whatever it encounters. How big a crew does this thing take?"

  "I looked at the specs when we upgraded the speed capability and fully manned, the number is about 2,000. There are spaces and quarters for another 500."

  "So looking at this from the perspective of Station crew size, 50 of them on a station means 100,000 crew. That's a drop in the bucket for a Station, even a small Station. We could easily go to 160 of them and our crew numbers would still be more than manageable."

 

  "This just gets better and better."

  Lasa-Dor said, "I think I had better get started building those fabricators then, I don't think it will be hard to sell it to Hank. But you said there were two things and we just took care of the 'old" one. What is the other?"

  "The other one is new. Our current warships are kind of the destroyer class of ship for our fleet. The Stations are our super carriers. The ship we just discussed would be our light cruiser class. I think we will need a battleship class of vessel. Barana is sending you the specifications we have been playing with for the past few weeks. Interestingly Hank has suggested something very much like this, so this one will be an easy sell. The vessel would be housed in the core area of the station. Each station would carry 16 of these monsters. They would be 2 miles in diameter, ten miles long with crew size at 10,000 and an AI. It would hold 200 of our conventional warships. These things will be somewhat overpowered and be loaded with the super cannons we d
iscussed for our cruiser class. In a sense they would be akin to a mini-station since each would be self-sufficient and produce their own food. The habitat area would resemble a mini-version of a Station habitat. I need to know how long it would take to produce the necessary fabricators to build this class, expected production rate and whatever else you can tell me."

  "A side note is that we do not have to increase the supply of warships to provide a complement for the new ships. We will merely reassign them to the new classes of ships. That will still leave about 9,000 to 10,000 warships per Station"

  "One thing to explore with both types of ship is another thought on shielding. We noticed an unusual phenomenon when we tested a drone warship against the Saba. The warship was drawing power from hits on its shields by the Saban energy weapons. Each time the warship was hit the power needed to maintain shields was reduced. If we can incorporate that ability in all of our vessel shields, it could prove to be a nice addition for us."

  "We have done some research on that subject and that can be deliberately incorporated into our shields and measured. So that is already in the works. We can in fact add that as a standard feature."

  "In that case, I have done enough damage for one visit. I will chat soon. Love you."

  "Bye father."

  "Bye."

  Chapter 9: One Down

  On Station One, In Orbit at Vast –

  March 4 – C Day 552

  Hank called the session to order and asked if anyone had anything to report. Vassim raised his hand and said, "The first step in the mind-to-mind project is underway. Barana tells me that all active telepaths took the training during their latest sleep cycle. Most are testing what they learned last night and will need a day or two of actively using what they learned. They are reinforcing their personal links with their spouses. When that is done, the reinforcement of their shields will take place. In about a week you should start to see some limited use of the revised shields for mind-to-mind communication. I do not expect this to boom overnight but we should see a steady increase. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the population generally. It has started."