Scout Force

by Rodney Smith

  “Now for our plan. Fleet is reconstituting the 15th Battle Fleet. It will consist of seven Carrier Battle Groups. The 19th Battle Fleet will be brought forward, with an equal consist. They will become the 1st Combined Fleet under Admiral Chang. It will be the first major test of the transporter ring that’s orbiting over our heads. The technicians are working feverishly at this time to increase the diameter of the ring so that it can transport a carrier. We should know in a day or two if this will work. If so, we will have a nasty surprise for the K’Rang. In addition to the two Battle Fleets, we will also have three Battle Cruiser Groups and three Assault Landing Groups in sector. That will give us over 170 ships and almost 1000 fighters, attack ships, landing ships, and support ships. The 21st Battle Fleet will be brought here to the Antares system and held in reserve.”

  Kelly was impressed. If the Fleet could bring all those ships into the sector, the K’Rang would be immensely outmatched and outnumbered. He waited to hear what their mission in this endeavor would be.

  “Scout Force will deploy ten ships deep into K’Rang space. We’ll have a slightly unusual mission from what we are used to. We’ll have a direct combat mission, instead of just sneaking and peeking. We are to provide early warning to the Fleet of any K’Rang reinforcements. We are also to take out as much K’Rang commerce to the three main staging worlds as practical. Create as much havoc as you can. Our goal will be to interdict commerce to and from these three worlds in order to accomplish two goals. The first goal will be to reduce K’Rang ability to support the assault into the Scutum sector. The second goal will be to tie down as many K’Rang ships as we can, to keep them from reinforcing the invasion fleet. The K’Rang are going to advance directly into a buzz saw. They are going to send out a general alarm and call for reinforcements. Our mission is to make that a difficult proposition for them.”

  “If we’re to accomplish these goals, it will be imperative to maintain our force as long as possible. This means you are going to have to be kind enough not to get yourself destroyed, at least not for a while. You will need to be bold and cautious at the same time. I ask you not to take undue risks unless the benefits are so great as to make it desirable. Stay safe, gentlemen. This is not the last battle we will fight with the K’Rang. We’re going to need you back. Look for easy targets or ones you can get away from quickly, if things don’t go your way. Remember that we want to put a large hole in the K’Rang Fleet roster, not ours.”

  “Are there any questions? If not, I’ll turn you over to Captain Hasselrode to give you your individual patrol zones. Good luck and good hunting.”

  The entire room came to attention as Admiral Craddock left the room. Captain Hasselrode activated a holographic display of the space in which the battle would take place. He highlighted the patrol zones of the ten scout ships that would be taking part in the operation. The Vigilant wound up with a patrol zone astride a major space route between two of the home worlds. Kelly brought this area up on his pocket terminal and started looking for places to ambush the K’Rang. He found a planetary nebula with an extended streamer of charged gases that would work for their purposes. This charged gas cloud from a long-dead star would hide them nicely. The only drawback was that the tendril was intermittent and extended deep into K’Rang space. It would be a long way back to GR space if they had to run for it. Escape might be difficult, if they should come to the attention of a large K’Rang force.

  The three local planetary systems offered some hiding places from which to spring an ambush, but it would be tough to get in past any defenses. If they could, they would do some real damage. Getting out again would be the problem.

  Captain Hasselrode informed them that the missile launcher would be mounted in their cargo hold and each ship would carry 20 anti-ship missiles, in addition to their turrets and guns. This would give them a significant standoff range, and make their task a little more survivable. Now all they had to do was figure out how to sneak through the K’Rang frontier defenses.

  After the briefing, Kelly and LCDR Timmons walked back to the Vigilant in silence. This mission was not the thing to talk about in the open. Their success or failure would be decided by how much secrecy they could maintain.

  When they got back to the ship, they went directly to the captain’s cabin. Chief Watson was waved in. The holographic projector on the conference table was activated. The captain quickly briefed Chief Watson on their mission. Kelly brought the patrol zone up on the star chart. He highlighted all the possible ambush locations and known defenses. The largest defensive obstacle was the frontier itself. There was an extensive web of sensors and space mines stretching for hundreds of parsecs. It couldn’t reasonably be gone around. It had to be gone through. How to do it?

  The captain turned to the hologram and said, “The frontier will be the key to this mission. The device we got from the K’Rang couriers no longer works. The K’Rang probably changed the codes. We are going to have to find a way through the frontier that won’t get us killed or tell the K’Rang where we are going. Are there any suggestions?”

  Chief Watson walked up to the display. “You know sir, there is a way we could blank out large sections of the K’Rang frontier. It would require some coordination and our timing would have to be precise, but it could be done.”

  “What do you have in mind, Chief?”

  “Well, I don’t know if there are any around because we have much more effective weapons now, but an old thermonuclear device could do it. When they go off they radiate an electromagnetic pulse that fries electronic circuitry. Most of our stuff, and I imagine the K’Rangs too, has circuit protection that shields the circuitry, but it shuts the system down and has to restart. This gives about 30 seconds to a minute to do what we need to do. If we could fire a nuclear warhead at the frontier and set it off in the midst of their sensors and mines, it would blind them for about a minute. We could be through and gone by the time they came back on line.”

  The captain rubbed his chin and said, “Good thinking, Chief, but we need to get through in a less spectacular way. We need to use finesse, not brute force for this one. We want to be as unobtrusive as we can.”

  Kelly looked at the display. He thought he saw a way to get through.

  “Captain, remember our hiding spots when we were patrolling in the Scutum sector? These asteroids here. They were mostly nickel and iron and about the size of a scout ship. Why don’t we go in there and throw a few of them at the frontier until the K’Rang stop reacting? The best way around an alarm is to convince the guy watching it that it’s malfunctioning. It probably wouldn’t take but about three of them before they get tired of flying out and investigating. In addition, if we concentrate in one area we could probably take out enough mines to pass through them.”

  “How do you propose we ‘throw’ these huge rocks at the fence?’

  “We latch onto one of these big rocks some distance from the frontier with our tractor beam. We don’t have to get them going all that fast. We accelerate them slowly toward the frontier. Once we get them up to speed, we cut them loose and turn away. We then find a hiding spot to watch the reaction. If we do this in four or five places along the frontier, we could pick our spot after the K’Rang get tired and go home. Besides, they can’t have an unlimited supply of mines and sensors to replenish the frontier with.”

  “I like it. Now as long as we don’t wind up with some overconscientious K’Rang sector commander, it should work. Let’s do it.”

  The Vigilant went back into dry dock to have the missile launcher and guidance electronics installed. The upcoming mission energized the yard crew. Their past sleepy performance was replaced by a crisp efficiency. The Vigilant was in and out in two days.

  Kelly went to his quarters and reviewed ship’s status. All sections were reporting ready for combat status but weapons. The missiles would not be loaded until the last minute and that would happen in space dock–the further from prying eyes, the better. The galley was fully stocked with provisio
ns. All the freezers had been replaced with the new stasis lockers while last in dry dock. They gave the ship a full two months of fresh provisions on top of the dry storage. Kelly and Cookie had searched the ship for additional space to store dry rations. Every nook and cranny was crammed with cans and food packs. Kelly estimated they could stay out for three months with all they had aboard, plus the replicator. He hoped they wouldn’t need them, but it never hurt to be prepared.

  The sensor section had fine-tuned their scanners and receivers. In addition, they had received their wartime viruses, trojan horses, and other malicious code to use against K’Rang computers. Fleet was going all out. As Chief Blankenship liked to say, “No more Ms. Nice Guy.”

  Kelly made a note to check the cargo bay to inspect the mountings, electrical, and data connections for where the missile pod would be installed. He then got his dress uniform ready for tomorrow and turned in.

  Tammy’s ceremony wasn’t until 1400. He got up, had a quick breakfast, and inspected the hold with Chiefs Miller and Blankenship. It took several hours and Kelly noticed toward the end that he had but a short time to change and get to Tammy’s promotion ceremony.

  Kelly arrived in time to sit down next to Tammy before the Shuttle Detachment Commander entered and the room was called to attention. Commander Ellington told them to take their seats. He seemed to take great pleasure in introducing Tammy. He talked on at great length about her piloting ability, her stellar performance at transition training, and how she brightened up the detachment with her smile. Finally, he called her up and instructed the yeoman to post the order. Kelly joined her on the stage. While her promotion order was read, Kelly and CDR Ellington removed her ensign rank insignia from her collar and replaced them with LTJG insignia. CDR Ellington shook her hand. She turned toward Kelly. Kelly made to shake her hand. She pulled him close and gave him a big kiss. The room broke out in applause.

  Tammy kept Kelly by her side throughout the reception and asked him to escort her to her quarters when it was over. Kelly found a waiting shuttle and the two went to the Q.

  Tammy pulled Kelly along. “You’ve got to see my new quarters. They are so spacious compared to my old one.”

  Kelly was impressed. Tammy had done well. She had upgraded from a room and bath to a full suite, consisting of a kitchenette near the entry, a large sitting room, a full bath, and a bedroom. Tammy invited him into her bedroom, but he had to disappoint her. He had duty tonight and could not stay.

  Kelly rode back to the Vigilant. Once there, he changed back into his coveralls and supervised the quarterdeck watch. As it was a quiet night, he spent it studying the firing circuits for the missile system. The system was tied directly into the ship’s sensors. The 20 missiles were constantly updated on targets around the ship and all that was required was to designate which target and launch. The missiles would fire clear of the launcher, move toward the last known target location, acquire the target, close within 3000 km and then, terminally active, home into the target. If it lost track, it would search for the target until it found it or timed out and self-destructed. It was a very effective system. The missiles were resistant to decoys and jamming. They could reach speeds up to power 7 FTL during the terminal homing phase. They had a range of up to 100,000 km. The warhead was an antimatter/matter explosive that could take out any ship up to and including a fleet carrier.

  Kelly looked at the schematics and saw where the data circuits ran alongside other ship circuits and, more importantly, where they ran singly. He also looked for where redundant circuits existed, making sure that none passed through the same cable raceway. Kelly made notes to trace the circuit paths throughout the ship. He wanted to make sure that not any single bit of damage to the ship could disable the system.

  The engineers had done their job. Kelly eventually assured himself that the system had been intelligently integrated into the ship. He went off duty with a good feeling about the missile system.

  The Vigilant would be a very formidable warship in the enemy’s rear areas. She would be hard to detect and would carry very lethal armament.

  Kelly turned in for a few hours sleep.

  * * * * *

  Kelly allowed himself to sleep in the next morning. When he awoke, the captain had been summoned to a commanders’ call. Kelly spent the rest of the morning physically tracing the missile system wiring throughout the ship. By noon, he had put his hand on every critical missile firing node in the ship.

  Timmons came back just after noon and called Kelly and Chiefs Watson and Miller into his cabin. He had Cookie make a sandwich run to the base dining facility, so they could get right to work on what the captain had picked up at the commander’s call.

  “Guys, there’s been a slight change of plans. Kelly, the admiral liked your idea of using asteroids to lull the K’Rang into a sense of complacency so much that he is integrating it into the operation. He is changing how we will infiltrate into K’Rang space. We were going to infiltrate singly, but now the admiral wants to divide the ten ships into two groups of five and penetrate en masse along two avenues of approach. I will command one flotilla, Task Force 121, and Ron Davis of the Vehement will command the other, Task Force 122. You may now refer to me as Commodore.”

  “Admiral Craddock has improved slightly upon your idea, Kelly. The old cruiser Agamemnon will be moved into an area near the Scutum sector asteroid field. It will be allowed to go into reactor overload and explode. The explosion will provide cover for all the asteroids crashing through the frontier. The K’Rang will pick up on the explosion and the news reporting. Each flotilla will send several asteroids through the frontier. We will each concentrate enough of the asteroids to force two holes big enough for five scout ships in tight formation to run through. We go through in two bunches, through two large rips in the frontier and peel off to our individual patrol sectors once we get inside.”

  Kelly sat up, “I like it, sir. It’s simple and explains where the asteroids came from. I hadn’t thought about that part of it.”

  “That’s why the admiral gets paid the big credits.”

  “We will be positioned here close to Scutum and Vehement’s flotilla will be over here, closer to Sagittarius. All we have to do is chunk some rocks through the frontier in several places before we push the big bunch through and follow them in. We should be in and through before the K’Rang realize what is happening.”

  “TF 121 will consist of us, the Valiant, Voracious, Victorious, and Virulent. Ron will have the Vicious, Vindicator, Vanguard, and Vengeful with his Vehement. The flotillas disband once we breach the frontier and move to our assigned sectors.”

  “Chief M, I want you to check out the tractor gear. I want it to be in top shape when we leave. Kelly, coordinate with the other four TF 121 COs to set up practice for the helmsmen in formation flying. It’s not something we teach in piloting school. You have more experience than any of us in this. We’ll be leaving in three days. So get moving.”

  “How tight do you want the formation, Cap..errr...Commodore?”

  “I want less than a ship's width between ships.”

  “That’s doable. It will be easier if you let me adjust the ships’ navigation computers. I can program them to maintain a set distance from each other. The captains may need some convincing, though.”

  “You’re my expert at this. If the COs give you any trouble, tell them to see me.”

  “Aye aye, Commodore.”

  Two days later the helmsmen were practiced and competent in close formation flying in the simulator. Kelly had programmed the ships’ computers to maintain the set distance, but the helmsmen were good enough that it probably wouldn’t be needed.

  On midnight of the second day, the two flotillas lifted off, well in advance of their scheduled 0600 liftoff. Admiral Craddock felt it gave them a security advantage to leave earlier than officially scheduled. Once in dark space, Commodore Timmons gave the order for the five ships to close up for close formation flying. Practice in the simulator
was good. Practice in real flight was better. They flew an hour with the computers helping and an hour with just the helmsman in control. Then they switched helmsmen and did it again and again, until all three helmsmen on each ship had a turn.

  The commodore chose an “X” formation with the Vigilant in the center. It would be the tightest formation. They would be crossing through the frontier without their navigation shields on, so the K’Rang wouldn’t be alerted to their presence. They would need to stay in a tight formation to be able to squeeze through the hole they were going to punch in the frontier.

  On the third day, the two flotillas split up and moved to their assembly areas to await the Agamemnon's demise. Each ship had picked several large asteroids and moved them into position in preparation. As a safeguard, the commodore had each ship move into position on the back side of their asteroids from the direction of the impending explosion.

  Two of the five ships were positioned at a distance from the other three, with their sensors at full sensitivity. They scanned deep into K’Rang space for the presence of any K’Rang patrol ships. Nothing was found. As intel had suspected, the K’Rang were leaving their attack route into the Scutum sector empty so as not to telegraph their invasion plans. This would make infiltration that much easier.

  The time for the Agamemnon's reactor overload had arrived. There was no blinding flash, only a brief electromagnetic pulse that passed over the flotilla to signal the end of a proud old ship. The flagship of Admiral Okasan at the Battle of Taurus in the first K’Rang War was now a diversionary tactic and the first action in the latest K’Rang War.