by PP Corcoran
Rebecca looked over at Senator Crothers. “Well, Thomas. How to pay for things is your area. So what do you think?”
Thomas Crothers looked around the table uncomfortably. He did not like being in the spotlight, despite being a politician. “Madam President, our current standard of living is higher now than it’s ever been in our recorded history. Our population is rising at an exponential rate and, to be honest with you, if we want to avoid overcrowding and keep the standard of living at its current level we would soon have no choice but to look for planets to colonize anyway. The threat from ‘The Others’ is only making our decision to colonize come faster. Our excess industrial capacity could very quickly be converted to military use and with some time we would be quite capable of building dedicated production facilities for the military with minimal effect on civilian output.” Thomas paused and regarded those around the table, and shrugged his shoulders. “The only thing I can’t help you with is the manpower.”
“Thank you, Thomas. Well, gentlemen, it would seem that Thomas has a point.” Rebecca looked from Joyce to the other two Admirals. “Do you have an answer to the personnel issue?”
Joyce met his president’s eyes steadily. “Madam President, ever since the human race nearly caused its own demise, we have all had ingrained into us that nothing is more important than the continued existence of the race as a whole. Maybe it’s time to tell the people what we face and see if we really are ready to put the greater good before the good of the individual.”
#
Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Geneva - Earth
Gen. Keyton Joyce let out a non-committal sound as he placed his coffee down on the table in his private office and turned off the sound on the Holo Cube that he had been using to watch President Coston make her address to the Senate. He and Admirals Vadis and Jing had remained in silence as President Coston outlined the survey ships’ findings and then went on to explain the government’s response. The Senate had sat in polite silence up until the point where the President had announced the immediate expansion of the Terran Defence Force, and then the Speaker of the House had no choice but to intervene and restore order. It had taken nearly ten minutes before the Speaker reinstated calm, which allowed the President to continue. Now with her speech over, it seemed that every Senator in the House was clamouring to speak.
Keyton turned to his two guests. “Well, gentlemen it looks like the proverbial cat is out of the bag. I think it’s safe to say that we are about to live out the ancient Chinese curse.”
Aleksandr chuckled. “I hope you live in interesting times,” he quoted.
“Exactly,” answered Keyton with a short laugh of his own before becoming serious again. “The plans for the future structure of the Defence Force with emphasis on the Navy and Marines that Ai has come up with will be implemented forthwith. We will deal with the manpower shortfalls as and when they arise. I intend to create a post of Special Inspector with the rank of Rear Admiral working directly from this office. Their job will be to handle any problems arising from officers who become, how should I say? An obstacle to progress. We do not have the time to pussyfoot around, gentleman, not with the fate of the human race at stake. You either get with the program or you will find yourself unemployed.” Aleksandr and Ai both understood what was about to happen to the Defence Force was a necessary evil, and found themselves agreeing that it needed to happen as quickly as possible. The threat ‘The Others’ presented was too great. Keyton could see the agreement in the faces of the two Admirals. “Unfortunately, Aleksandr, the first casualty comes from your command. With immediate effect Lieutenant Commander Wilson is promoted to Rear Admiral and transferred to this office.” Joyce grinned. “She’s my hatchet man now, Aleksandr.”
Aleksandr grinned in return. “Only if I get to tell her that she’s just skipped three ranks and got her flag.”
“Deal,” said Keyton. “Now, back to business. Ai, what about fleet construction?”
Ai touched a control and the scene from the Senate floor changed to that of a warship. “This is the design from the Deimos Yards that I prefer. They named it the Talos class cruiser, 452 meters long, fifty-seven meters at the beam, weighing in at 24,400 tonnes. It carries three Tanto shuttles and has a crew compliment of 710.”
Above the table, the image of the warship rotated giving Keyton and Aleksandr a good look at the first true warship Earth had built to fight in the stars. “As you can see, sir,” continued Ai, “the designers at Deimos have incorporated as much Saiph technology that Research and Development can backward engineer at this point, along with the latest version of the Gravity Drive from Dr Moore’s research, into the Talos class. Using the capabilities of ships ‘The Others’ are known to use, from the Saiph database starting point, the designers were given the task to design a hull that could defeat one of their ships in one to one combat as well as operate as part of a combat group. They knew that they had to factor in speed, manoeuvrability, survivability and lethality. The Talos class mounts the same twin turret particle cannon as the Vanguard class but it has twenty-four such turrets spaced around the hull in five rings giving the Talos a 360-degree arc of fire with a minimum of ten turrets being able to engage at any one time.”
Aleksandr let out a low whistle. “That’s a lot of fire power in a small package, Ai.”
Ai nodded. “True. But that’s not all. We noticed that ‘The Others’ appear to use bombardment to reduce any ground-based target, so the Talos class will also be fitted with a limited number of experimental High Velocity Missiles, or HVMs, which use a miniature Gravity Drive similar to our courier drones to deliver a small fusion device to a target. As it stands, the mathematics involved in using the Gravity Drive in such a tactical role is causing a few headaches, but Dr Moore assures me that his team are nearly there. And to be honest, I would rather have the HVMs as they are than wait for a perfected version.”
“Okay, that makes sense.” Keyton gave Ai a knowing look. “But you still have something up your sleeve. So what is it?”
“I never could keep secrets,” said Ai. “If I could draw your attention to the bow of the Talos, you will see two large projections side by side.” Both Joyce and Vadis had already seen the projections. It was these projections that had prompted Keyton’s query. “You are looking at the largest grazers ever mounted on a human warship.”
Aleksandr let out an excited “Surely not! The power requirements alone when coupled with the rest of the weaponry must be staggering!”
Ai now smiled openly. “True, but those smart designers at Deimos have used Saiph technology to build in four separate and independent power sources. One for the Gravity Drive, one for general ships systems, one for all the other weapons systems and one for the sole use of the grazers – giving them a rate of fire of three shots per minute. The test firing resulted in a million watts per square centimetre. Or to put that into perspective, one shot from the grazer would pass straight through the best armour on any ship that we can produce, without even slowing down. And the ship would be left as an expanding ball of plasma from the energy transfer.”
“That’s very impressive, Ai,” commented Keyton. “How quickly can we get a Talos from the drawing board through construction and into operation?”
Ai consulted his PAD for a moment. “For the first Talos, simply because it’s a prototype, Deimos are currently estimating about ten months on construction. The Admiralty estimate three months for trials. So for the first ship to come on line, thirteen months in total. But……” as Ai’s smile widened, “due to the modular construction employed in the Talos, Deimos are estimating that their build time, when they start to benefit from the President’s decision to expand our construction facilities, will eventually lead to a launch-completed Talos every ninety days.”
“My God!” exclaimed Aleksandr “That’s phenomenal.”
“The beauty of automated standardized construction,” replied Ai, “The designers at Deimos have bigger and be
tter things planned, and this particular design is only the first one to come off the production lines. The only problem I can envisage is one we have already identified – manpower.”
Keyton changed the image on the Holo Cube back to a view of the Senate floor and pointed a finger in its direction. “That, gentlemen is a problem for the politicians. Our problem is that this expansion must be handled well,” gesturing at the Holo Cube and the still clamouring politicians. “We’ll need to head off anyone who thinks that he can become a politician in uniform. There’s going to be a lot of rapid promotions, and we need reliable people in command slots who can handle the pressure that outside forces can exert.” Both the admirals understood that he was talking about – political interference in military decisions.
“If I may make a suggestion, sir?” interrupted Ai. Keyton nodded his assent and Ai continued. “We have a small pool of experienced flag officers, and using Admiral Vadis as an example, some have been reactivated due to the exigencies of service. What I suggest is a board made up of a selection of these officers, none of whom have any current political affiliations, as they are retired, and headed by an officer who we all know personally. And if I may be so bold, scares the crap out of the Senate.”
Keyton and Aleksandr both looked at Ai before turning to look at each other and laughing out loud.
The three men all had the image of the faces of the Senate when they were informed that Admiral Helset was to be reactivated.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Enemy
TDF Henry Hudson - 70 Ophiuchi
Adm. Jing’s brief to John Radford and Ruth Witsell had initially excited John. Excited by the prospect of taking TDF Henry Hudson and TDF Vasco De Gama back to Planet II of 70 Ophiuchi and inserting the Force Recon Marines onto the surface for a closer look at ‘The Others’. However, as he had gotten to the initial planning stages with Ruth and the two Marine Majors, Alec Murray from the Henry Hudson and Vladimir Egnorov from the Vasco De Gama, it didn’t take long for John’s excitement to wear off, replaced by an impending sense of dread.
Six months ago, on his last visit to the system, TDF Henry Hudson had detected the first ship belonging to ‘The Others’. From an undetectable position, the Henry Hudson observed ‘‘The Others’ approach Planet II, begin shuttling equipment to the planet surface and start construction of some kind of base. However, a second ship had arrived only 275,000 kilometres to starboard. It changed course towards TDF Henry Hudson and powered up its weapons. If it had not been for the alertness of his Tactical Officer, Lt. Falconer, and the quick thinking of the Navigator, Lt. Danino, the Henry Hudson and her crew might not be here today.
John shook off his melancholic mood and returned his concentration to the present. On his tactical display, he could see the Henry Hudson approaching Planet II from the opposite side of the planet from where ‘The Others’ had been establishing their base. TDF Vasco De Gama was in step, slightly behind and off to port. As John was senior to Ruth, the ultimate command of the mission had fallen on him. Communication between the two ships was strictly by whisker laser. Both ships were rigged for silent running with all electromagnetic emissions kept to a minimum. Both ships were employing the chameleon system to hide the ships from any prying eyes, both optical and electrical. John could only hope that it worked as well as last time.
Lt. Cai at Communications interrupted his thinking. “Captain, Captain Witsell on whisker, sir.”
“Go ahead, Ruth,” said John as Ruth’s face appeared alongside the tactical display in his Holo Cube.
Ruth look as apprehensive as John. “Major Egnorov informs me that he and his marines are aboard the Tanto and ready to go.”
John glanced across at Tactical and got an affirmative nod from Lt. Falconer before addressing Ruth. “Major Murray also indicates ready. Best we get on with it then.” John gave the order. “Tactical, inform the marines to launch. I want a full passive lock kept on both Tantos until they cross the radio horizon.”
“Aye aye, sir,” replied Falconer.
John’s concentration returned to Ruth. “And so the waiting begins.”
Ruth gave him a small smile. “Don’t sweat it, John. They know what they’re doing.” She cut the connection.
“I hope so,” John said to himself. Stay safe, Alec.
#
Maj. Alec Murray, Marine Force Recon, Terran Defence Force, was forced to admit, as he surveyed ‘The Others’ base, that he loved his job.
What other job in the world would send you off to a distant star system, occupied by potential hostile forces, with God only knew what capabilities while six, (that’s right, count them six) 1,700 meter long alien ships held geosynchronous orbit above your head? All while you lay dug into a hillside, covered in sheets of chameleon material with only one other marine for company. Murray laughed quietly to himself so as not to wake the sleeping form of Corporal Semple beside him.
Alec and Vladimir’s plan for what was termed a Close Target Reconnaissance of ‘The Others’ base was straightforward. The two Tanto shuttles had approached the base from opposite directions, until they detected emissions from the base, at which point the Tantos immediately grounded.
Group One, the marines of TDF Henry Hudson, split into a rear party of six marines under Gunny Young, to protect the Tanto and to act as an extraction force if Alec got into trouble. Alec took the remaining twelve marines of Group One forward, five kilometres from the base, at the Final Rendezvous Point (FRV). He split them into six by two-man teams to form a loose semi-circle around the base and find suitable hide locations from which to observe.
Vladimir did the same with his marines, Group Two. Both groups were to stay in position for three planetary days before extracting to their respective FRVs, then head for the Tantos to return to the waiting Vanguards.
The only drawback to the plan was that, apart from the marine beside him, Alec had no idea what was happening to any of the other teams. All the Wraith suits the marines wore were in strict emissions control mode, to avoid any chance of detection. The marines were under orders to break radio silence only if they came into contact and needed to fight their way out. In which case, all bets were off. Each team of two marines was to return to their FRV ASAP, wait for thirty minutes and, no matter how many marines made it, the senior man was to take command to get the marines back to the Tantos at best speed. It might seem callous, but on receipt of the initial contact report the Tantos would only remain on the planet for twelve hours; if you were late, your ride home would leave you.
Over the past two days, Alec and Corporal Semple obtained valuable intelligence on the composition of ‘The Others’ base. Observing construction techniques, identifying personnel accommodation, power plants, communication centres and what looked like weapon positions. Murray instinctively ducked as a shuttle passed virtually directly overhead at an altitude of about three hundred meters. ‘The Others’ appeared to be clock watchers: every four hours another shuttle would approach the base from exactly the same direction and land at a large shuttle facility at the western edge of the base, then offload its cargo before leaving along the exact same route it had approached on two hours later. Semple had suggested that either ‘The Others’ were anal about traffic management or the route that the shuttles were using was a cleared lane through an air defence zone. Murray was inclined to agree with the latter. Murray settled back down for his remaining hour on watch before waking Semple.
#
Alec woke to an insistent nudging in his ribs. As he opened his eyes, a brightly lit landscape was revealed. Something must be wrong; his next shift should have started on the approach of nightfall. Alec turned his head to look at Semple who used a straight arm to indicate a small bluff maybe 250 meters from their dug-in hide. Semple then made a fist, inverted it and stuck his thumb out, the hand signal for enemy. Crap, thought Alec. Had ‘The Others’ detected them somehow?
Alec looked back in the direction of the bluff, as he watched two, what Alec could
only describe as, hovering sleds appear from around the bluff. Alec had observed the sleds moving around the perimeter of the base for the last couple of days but they had never ventured more than a kilometre from the perimeter. The sleds were rectangular, about three meters long and maybe a meter across with a bubble shape just short of a metre high towards the rear of each machine. Protruding from each side of the sled was the unmistakable shape of weapons pods. The sleds were flying maybe three meters apart and they were headed away at an angle from Alec’s position. Neither appeared to have noticed the marines. There was no doubt in Alec’s mind that the two sleds were some sort of ‘The Others’ clearance patrol sent out to sweep the area within line of sight of the base. Granted, this was the first patrol of this type that they had seen since they had arrived, but it would probably not be the last. Alec came to a decision. As soon as the sleds were out of sight they would pack up their gear, make for the FRV and await the rest of the Marines before heading back to the Tanto.
Ten minutes later, with all their gear stowed, Alec and Semple were on the move. That was when Alec’s worst nightmare played out. The shrill tone in his helmet informed him that one of his teams was in contact. Semple immediately went to ground scanning the area for threats, knowing that Murray would be pre-occupied trying to sort out what was happening. Murray’s head up display flashed the names of two Marines in contact: Baker and Rodriguez. The display listed the distance and bearing to their location. Unbidden, Alec’s head turned to the bearing, as if he could see the two marines.