Hawk Flight (Flight of the Hawk Book 3)

by Robert Little

  He remained on the bridge for the final eight-hour deceleration. The two civilian tugs had been released within a few hours of departure, and they now had two Navy tugs standing by - not having engines in Jupiter orbit was not something he wanted to contemplate.

  The ship settled into a geo-synchronous orbit a very close ten kilometers behind the Spruance, which was still handling all communications as well as all approach and departures.

  The continuing shutdown of the largest base in human space was beginning to produce the expected complaints from assorted politicians, civilian contractors and a small handful of fleet personnel. Admiral Lee simply put out a general notice that the base’s systems had been compromised and that the Navy was working ‘diligently’ to bring them back online. In fact, that is exactly what the people he’d put on trial had attempted and failed to do. Until he knew for certain that the various systems were secure, he was keeping them down.

  Every day, a handful of technicians, officers and enlisted arrived on base. Some replaced people the admiral didn’t trust, but most were or would be involved in an already intense effort to bring the base and Navy ships back to life.

  Alexi had discussed the state of those ships, and while it was bad, the problems were largely susceptible to a lot of money. Unfortunately, personnel were a far more difficult problem. The Federal Navy hadn’t been in a shooting war in a long time, and a depressing number of high-ranking officers were more concerned with appearance than function. It had taken a long time to bring the Navy down, and it would take a long time to train a new core of dedicated and competent personnel.

  Alexi urged his old friend to approach both problems as if they were at war. Admiral Lee had laughed and said, “We are at war. Unfortunately, our enemy wears the same damn uniform.”

  As soon as the engines powered down, a shuttle docked inside the one working flight bay. Admiral Tretiakov waited patiently for the deck to air up and when the lights turned green he led a small group of his officers and enlisted into the echoing space. They waited while the hatch whined open and stood rigidly to attention as Admiral Lee stepped down onto the ancient ship.

  He returned Alexi’s salute and spent a few minutes shaking hands and getting to know Alexi’s crew, even the enlisted.

  He eagerly accepted an offer to take a tour and with two large Marines and his ever-present assistant following behind, Alexi led Shin Ho through the habitable portions of the ship.

  The Krakow had been built nearly a century earlier, and had been old and outdated when both men graduated from Edwards. It had two saving virtues: it had been built like a tank, and it had managed to transfer under its own power into Jupiter orbit.

  Over the centuries, electronic warfare had grown to the point that ships were almost more susceptible to getting hacked into than be struck by missiles. The result, or one of them, had been to effectively go backwards in time. Their external communications were heavily encrypted and kept to an absolute minimum, with that system kept entirely separate from the main computers.

  Internally, save for the bridge, very little was wireless. The ships had multiple, redundant systems that blanked and blocked all comms, both in and out. In this one regard, the Krakow, as old as ‘he’ was, was little different from new build ships.

  As they walked, Alexi kept up a detailed running commentary on the status of the equipment, hardware and personnel, most of who were working rather than standing around in their class A uniforms.

  Alexi valued function even more than Shin Ho.

  They finished the two-hour inspection back on the bridge. Shin Ho looked around and sighed, “We have four carriers in First Fleet, we have the two in Seventh, and we have the Cow.” ‘The Cow’ was the not terribly flattering nickname for the Krakow, and Alexi asked, “Sir, how about light combatants?”

  Shin Ho turned to his aide, “Close your ears.” She’d obviously heard that order before. He swore, briefly but eloquently, adding, “Here on Jupiter we have seven nominees for resurrection, and other than a handful that I am trying to leverage out of First Fleet’s grasp, that is about it for the near term. We have roughly fifty destroyers in fleet service, but they are distributed throughout the various systems. We have another twenty-nine loaned out to seven different system governments. The minimum number necessary to comply with standing orders is one hundred thirty-five, not counting another twenty-two required to take care of yearly upgrades and repairs. Of the fifty we have available, I doubt that more than ten would pass a standard inspection, and four of those are in Elyse, and that only because Admiral Christenson wouldn’t be bribed and couldn’t be removed. As soon as we can get her operational, the Krakow will replace both Seventh Fleet carriers. She has roughly the same fighter capacity as those two, minus the cargo space, and I’ve already arranged for civilian hulls to take over replenishment until we can get some more FFC’s. We’ve got nine Dash 6’s on the base, with another forty due to arrive within the month. They will all transfer to the Krakow. Did you know that fucking idiot was actually sending brand-new fighters from the factory straight into the bone yard? There are roughly ninety fighters sitting on Luna with almost zero hours on the clock, and before we can get our hands on them we’ll have to go through them. I’ve already determined that some of those fighters were never even completed, although of course they were paid for and signed off. Shit!”

  Shin Ho asked, “What’s first on your list?” Alexi told him, “We’re concentrating now on airing up four more flight bays. Most of my parts are way out of spec and I couldn’t find anything remotely usable on Luna.”

  Shin Ho smiled, “Good news – Jupiter has two million square meters of warehousing, and my predecessors apparently didn’t think it worthwhile to sell it off as scrap. Within the hour you’ll have two shuttles with replacement seals. I want you to replace all of them, not just the ones that have failed. I want you to work first on your flight bays, allowing us to begin removing all that crap filling up your holds, replacing it with equally old crap that at least works. I’ve already started an investigation into the status of your ship. It was supposed to be flight-worthy, with a full complement of spares and parts. As you discovered, thirty percent of what you were supposed to have had been disappeared out the back air lock, and much of what remained was clearly defective, meaning that several hundred thousand parts were stolen.”

  Alexi asked, “What’s the status of Jupiter?” Shin Ho smiled like a wolf, “They managed to destroy some records, but I caught them with their pants down, and the courts martial are proving to be relatively straightforward. The civilian counterparts to our bribed bastards started out trying to force me to forget treason, then they attempted to get me to lower the charges; at present, they are trying to force me out. Not happening.”

  He looked around the huge flight deck, “Wish I had this. Listen, I know you’re doing everything possible, but you need to understand something.”

  He looked around to ensure they were not being monitored, “I’ve been told that I’ve got no more than two years. We have to accomplish perhaps ten years of work in two. I hope to bring another ten carriers back from the bone yard, and we’re still looking for usable destroyers. Unfortunately, they get used to death, and what I’ve found is going to require extensive work just to get them into space. I think that within four to six months we can send you off with a decent complement of destroyers and two FFC’s. I want you to concentrate on your engines – consider eight G’s your goal, nothing less. Those Fast Freighters can pull that much, meaning the Krakow will be the limiting factor. I’m working on upgrading your sensors and radar, so as a suggestion, begin pulling the shit as soon as you can get to it. I’ve got forty people for you, plus ten Marines. These are all good people, and I’ve already spoken to your jarheads – they understand they are going to get dirty. Frankly, they look forward to working in the real Navy.”

  Ten minutes later, Shin Ho returned Alexi’s salute and boarded his shuttle. Two more shuttles waited to enter the
ship.

  Alexi was already tired.

  Chapter 38

  Fleet Auxiliary Carrier Essex

  Chief Elliot Kana

  Elliot looked up as two JG’s entered his space4. He recognized the pilot and navigator – they were already famous for having destroyed three enemy fighters. On their last sortie, they’d simultaneously engaged three fighters, killed one and in turn, were hit by a fourth. Elliot had seen them on the flight deck, had heard the usual unflattering remarks that were usually the lot of newly-minted pilots and navigators, and he badly wanted to see for himself what they were made of. As it was, they were alive while many of the more senior fighter crews were not.

  Lt. Turner held out his pad and said, “Chief, please look over this list and tell me if we’re missing anything.”

  Elliot looked down at the pad and then back up. Without accepting it he asked, “And just what are you two up to, sir?” The ‘sir’ was added almost as an afterthought: they were Lt. JG’s, a rank that may not have been the bottom rung of the ladder, but from their position you could easily smell the bottom.

  The navigator explained, “We’ve found four old Hawk 7’s in a cargo hold, all in excellent condition and flight worthy. We want to modify one by adding three fusion bottles - there’s space in the crew compartment for them - and upgrade the laser barrels and grav shields. We figure it wouldn’t take more than two days at most to do the work and we’d have a ship that could successfully go up against those fighters of theirs.”

  Elliot looked skeptically at them but accepted the download. He quickly scanned the information on his beat up reader and began to smile. He looked back up and said, “I worked on those ships when I was a newly minted PowTech. They’ve got to be sixty years old if they’re a day, but they sure were beautiful. Are you sure about this? You’ve actually seen the Hawks?” They both nodded and Elliot returned his attention to his reader.

  He finished, looked back up and caustically asked, “And, sirs, just how did you plan on getting all that extra power to the lasers and shields? You haven’t specified enough Zerohm cabling for the job, and you also don’t have all the right chips listed to update its flight, nav and weapons systems. Give me five minutes with this and I’ll see if I can fix it?” They both nodded and Elliot stood and entered the depths of the huge space.

  He could have performed his search right at his workstation, but he wanted to get off alone while he considered what to do. To say that their request was surprising was an understatement.

  They were still patiently waiting when he returned. He said, “I’ve located all the parts you’ve specified, as well as a couple you didn’t but should have, and I’ve signed off on my end. I’d suggest, sirs, that you see Commander Midori. He’s up on flight deck Four right now, so you should hurry. Oh, by the way, I’d like to work on this project, if you don’t mind?”

  Elliot could easily see their relief and surprise. They agreed and hustled away.

  As soon as they exited the compartment Elliot accessed the ships personnel records and pulled up their restricted files. He wasn’t supposed to be able to do that, but his mama hadn’t raised a fool. He studied it for several minutes before smiling to himself. He’d been a little hard on the two officers, but he had been secretly astonished that two JG’s, not far removed from the Academy, could have even thought up the idea, much less produce a proposal that was so audacious and yet technically possible. Most surprising of all, they had listed nearly all the parts and components the modifications required. He knew a handful of veteran enlisted who could have compiled that list, but literally, only a handful. In fact, the only reason that he knew that their requisition request was short a few parts was that he’d actually worked on the craft and knew it.

  Interesting.

  He commed his people and parceled out the parts list, told them where to transport them, and personally began the task of gaining access to the Hawk and getting it moved up to the appropriate flight deck.

  Inside the ship, he inhaled deeply, taking in the fortunately faint evidence of decades of sweat and body odor, as well as the scent of electronic equipment. The ship was surprisingly current, and a quick check of the records of the other three indicated they were in nearly equally good condition.

  The more he thought about the ship, the more enthused he became.

  The Hawk series of assault craft were created during the depths of the civil war. The Federation had managed to turn the tide, but faced with retaking the nine rebel planets, found it had no method of getting armed troops down onto the planetary surface.

  Shuttles were neither armored nor stealthy, meaning they wouldn’t even provide much in the way of target practice for ground defenses, thus the Hawk, an armed and heavily armored craft designed to land ten armed and armored combat troops on the surface of a planet. It had proven to be extremely difficult to design and produce, largely due to the hull coating that both deflected energy weapons and made the craft extremely difficult for those weapons to target. Any craft that utilized a gravity drive for propulsion was going to be nearly impossible to hide, and the Hawk was no exception, but knowing roughly where it was located and being able to hit it with an energy weapon were two different things. With energy weapons, missing by one centimeter was no more damaging than missing by a kilometer.

  Since the craft’s certifications were current, it was a relatively simple matter for Kana to move the ship up to the flight deck, where it crouched over the remaining diminutive Dash 6’s like some sort of primordial animal.

  Within a short while his people had the requested fusion bottles, capacitors, cabling and various replacement components up on the deck, and while they began removing the harnesses that held those ten Marines or Army troops in place, he sketched out an array of brackets and supports to hold the extremely heavy bottles inside the crew compartment. Former crew compartment.

  The ship originally came with one fusion bottle, one capacitor. Lt’s Padilla and Turner wanted to add three additional energy systems and upgrade the two laser rods that focused the immense amounts of coherent light. According to their seat-of-the-pants measurements, the craft would be able to accelerate roughly as fast as the Dash 6 and would have far more laser power, times two separately targetable weapons. It would be far more difficult to track and would require nearly point-blank energy transfers to get damaged. Additionally, there would be just enough space to add a jump module, allowing the craft to do something no other armed craft this small could do – move instantaneously.

  Kana measured the space and determined that the craft had enough room for four power sets, not merely three, and he’d planned accordingly.

  He was standing near the nose of the lifting body when the two lieutenants reappeared. While he’d been transferring the craft and hardware up to the flight deck, they had been hard at work getting permission.

  They were at war, meaning something that might have required twelve to eighteen months and the intervention of extremely high-ranking Navy officials, required one five-minute visit by a Lt. JG.

  One of the primary reasons to even consider the craft had to do with the two stubby winglets. This version of the craft – the last – had the ability to carry external missiles in addition to an internal rotary launcher on the belly and behind the bottom energy weapon mount.

  As designed, it could carry four light missiles, but Elliot had already verified that the ship stores held Dash 4 mounts that fit the Hawk, and would allow the ship to carry two immense anti ship missiles, the kind that could take out a carrier.

  Near the end of the civil war, the rebels had introduced, or rather, re-introduced, nuclear weapons, first on a planetary surface, and then in space-going heavy missiles. The Navy had had no choice but to follow suit. Today, all heavy missiles were able to utilize nuclear weapons, and operational Navy carriers had the warheads, buried in the most heavily armored compartment of the ship.

  Elliot pointed to a large pile of equipment, most of which consisted of four
squat fusion bottles, and their attendant capacitors, similar to the ones that fighters used to power their gravity drives and weapons system, “We’ve got room for four bottles instead of the three you specified, so I’ve taken the liberty of modifying your proposal. I figure too much power is just about the right amount. You’ll get enough additional juice to be able to make jumps, and you’ll have about 700% more defensive shield power, with the ability to generate multiple simultaneous shields. If this thing works, you’ll have a very interesting ship. I’d like to ask, sir: do you have anyone in mind for the extra two crewmen you’ll need?”

  Lt. Padilla grinned and asked, “Are you volunteering, Master Chief?” Kana said, “Sir, if we get this thing operational, you’ll need someone who can watch your six, and wipe that trace of dampness I see behind your ears, if you’ll pardon my saying so.” That was yet another test, and the lieutenant grinned again and said, “And that would be you, I take it. You’re on. Do you have anyone in mind for the fourth crewman?”

  Kana nodded, and with a trace of a grin said, “Yes sir. That Etech4 working in the nose bay is just about crazy enough to volunteer for this. In fact, I’ve taken the liberty of telling her so.”