by D. J. Holmes
As he turned to leave Gupta got up from the command chair and followed him to the exit of the bridge. “Commander, surely there must be a mistake. I know we have to follow orders but look at what we have done already. Can’t the Admiral see that we, that you, will be useful in the battle to come?”
James took a moment to reply, he was a little taken aback at Gupta’s concern. “I can’t speak for the Admiral’s views but I will tell you this, he received a letter from the King. We have the only assignment we going to get.”
A look of disgust came over Gupta’s face. James didn’t know if it was directed at him for getting them into this situation or at the King for his abuse of power. Either way he wanted to defuse the situation. Gupta was meant to be the officer on watch. Reaching out he rested a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“I apologize for this. My actions have cost you a promotion and now they have gotten us assigned to a backwater system. I promise you, I’ll do my best to see that when Drake next returns to Earth you will be ear marked for a promotion to Commander yourself.”
James realized his words had done the trick when Gupta’s anger seemed to turn to embarrassment. With reddened cheeks she replied, “I’m not angry with you, sir. You have proven yourself over the last few months; I am beginning to enjoy serving under you. My family was held down and walked all over on New India for generations because of their social status. Those in power did everything they could to keep them down. I may not know first had what it is like to be bullied by someone in power but I have heard all about it. My anger isn’t for my own promotion opportunities. The RSN needs officers like you, our King shouldn’t be jeopardizing that.”
Stunned, James had to take a step back. He had noticed that their working relationship had been slowly improving since their showdown. Yet he hadn’t realized she had warmed to him so much. Replacing his hand on her shoulder, he smiled at her and said, “Well I’m encouraged you feel that way. I’m glad we can understand each other better. I have to admit, I misjudged you. My anger when I took over command of Drake soured our relationship. I hope we will be able to get over that.”
Before Gupta could reply James went on, “You will be getting that promotion but for now we have a ship to see too.”
Blushing again, Gupta hurriedly turned around and headed back to the command chair without a word. After a moment James also turned and went back to his quarters for a much needed shower. His time on Churchill hadn’t left him feeling particularly clean and relaxed.
*
Three days later James and Gupta were both on the bridge again. Drake had spent the last eight hours making her way out to the edge of Excalibur’s mass shadow. The whole crew by now knew that they were being sent away from where all the action was to be. Reactions had ranged from anger to disappointment and even to relief. James had been keeping an eye on the crew. He was worried about morale. His crew had put their lives on the line time and time again over the last few months. They were taking the snub hard. It hadn’t helped that Drake had been put to the back of the refueling queue. They had been made to wait for two days while every other ship in the fleet had gone ahead of them to refill their stores of He3 from the supply freighters that had come in with Cunningham’s fleet.
As Drake had been nearing the end of her fuel supply, they had had to power down some of the non-essential equipment just to make sure they had enough left to maneuver to the tankers. James had protested and demanded Drake be moved up the list, yet with no avail. Drake had been deemed a low priority.
Trying to put that behind him, James stared out at the stars. They were about to make the jump to V34. He consoled himself with the thought that at least he would be able to enjoy the freedom of independent command again.
Chapter 16 - Best Laid Plans
It has been the same story time and time again down through human history. We do not know when to give up. When we invest in something we cling to it even when it begins to fail and let us down. War is no exception.
-Excerpt from Empire’s Rising, 3002 AD
27th March 2465 AD, Beijing, Earth
This time Minister Quin hadn’t been able to keep his anger in check. With a loud thud he smashed his fist against the conference table. “This is unacceptable, I promise you High Admiral Zheng will be severely punished. He outnumbered the British, there is no excuse, it was his own incompetence that has caused this defeat. He must be punished.”
Na was barely listening; a British courier had just brought news of the battle of Excalibur. The British were keeping most of the details of the battle to themselves but what had leaked to the media had been telling. A small British force had managed to drive a larger Chinese fleet away from the system they were calling Excalibur. The defeat was all the more telling because everyone around the table knew the force makeup of the Chinese fleet that was operating in the Void. No one had expected their two battleships to be defeated. It had seemed impossible that the British would have been able to stand against them. Yet they had found a way. Even worse, there was no information on Chinese losses. For all they knew both battleships had been destroyed. Na realized that the battle would reflect badly on the Chinese construction policy. Quin, the Minister for Defense, was simply trying to cover his posterior. His anger was probably being fueled by fear as much as actual animosity. High Admiral Zheng had been Quin’s personal choice to command the fleet sent into the Void. Quin was in trouble.
It seemed that no one else was paying much attention to Quin’s rant either for as soon as there was a lull in his shouting Minister Xiang broke in, “We can find a scapegoat later. Now we need to address the situation at hand. Chang, surely your intelligence networks have managed to get more information from the RSN than the media outlets?”
Na sighed inwardly. The Politburo had always been more about power plays than actually cooperating to accomplish a goal. Xiang, the Minister for Development and Chang, the Minister for Intelligence, were the two most powerful men at the table and they were direct competitors. Currently Chang held sway over the politburo and the president was his puppet. Yet things could change. Xiang was clearly angling to lay much of the blame for this catastrophe on Chang and his associates.
Glaring at his opponent, Chang reluctantly stood and brought up a number of files on the holo display. “As it happens we have managed to get some further information. You are looking at a personnel file listing the deceased RSN officers from ships operating in the Void. After cross checking this with personal assignment information, we already have an estimate the British losses. Our best guess is that they lost a heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, a destroyer and some smaller ships.
“Apart from some new super weapon there is simply no way the British could have heavily defeated our forces and not taken greater losses. My analysts have concluded that whatever victory the British have had, they can’t have caused us too much damage.”
Chang made a conciliatory glance at Quin before continuing, “Granted, High Admiral Zheng will still have to give an account of his actions. However, we don’t think that he has managed to lose all the forces under his command yet.”
As Na looked over to Quin, he saw him visibly relax. Chang’s glance had been enough to reassure him that the blame for the defeat would rest squarely on the High Admiral’s shoulders and not his immediate superiors. As Minister for Defense, Quin wielded oversight of the Chinese naval and ground forces. That included the building program that had decided to push ahead with the new battleships at great expense. If it turned out those ships had been easily defeated, it would be hard for him to avoid the ramifications.
Seemingly without noticing the effect his glance had, Chang continued, “The reason I called you here was not to cry over the defeat at Excalibur. Rather, we need to press on. As I said, my analysts indicate that High Admiral Zheng should still have most of his force intact, if somewhat damaged. By now he has already received another set of reinforcements and there is a further squadron on the way to the Void. It is m
y understanding that this last set of reinforcements are just a week away from reaching the Void.”
Again Chang looked over to Quin, this time waiting long enough to get an affirmative nod before continuing. “Minister Quin has already informed me that we cannot spare any more ships to send to the Void. Not without leaving our systems uncovered and tempting the British to attack us elsewhere. As that is the case we have to discuss other options. It just so happens that there are already a few plans ready to implement.”
Sitting down, Chang waved to one of the fleet officers sitting behind his chair. Na wanted to get up and shout that this was all insanity. Blood had already been shed over the Void. Clearly the British weren’t going to roll over and accept Chinese demands. That fact alone should have changed the Politburo’s approach. Never mind the bloodshed. Instead they were pushing on full steam with a plan that would only lead to more senseless loss.
The only thing that kept him in his seat was the fact that he was already working to bring the war to a close, that and the knowledge that speaking up would do no good. He had already lost the respect of his peers. He had been voicing his concerns about the war but they had been falling on increasingly deaf ears. Chang and Xiang had both made it clear that peace was not an option. Na did not want to betray his country but this war was going to do more harm than any peace. Yet, because the two most powerful men in the room were set on continuing the conflict, there was no hope of stopping it from this room. All his continued protests would accomplish would be to lose him further support. There were other means he could explore though.
Oblivious to Na’s hidden thoughts the meeting continued uninterrupted. The naval officer took control of the holo display and brought up a 3D image of a small space ship. “Ministers, I have been asked to brief you on the X32. This is a top secret project we have been working on at naval intelligence. As you can see the X32 is a small craft, much smaller than even the corvettes the British use for point defense purposes.
“Previously, military planners in our navy and others have dismissed the use of small, fast attack craft. The amount of valstronium needed to protect them from cosmic radiation is prohibitive. Plus, the fact that they could only carry a small payload and were not significantly faster than other larger ships limited their development among the other powers. However, given the recent advances in inertial compensators and stealth tech, we believe we have found a use for such a craft.
“The X32 is what we are calling a missileboat. They are outfitted with two anti-ship missiles. Their planned role is for surprise attacks. A squadron of X32’s will be inserted into an enemy system by a mothership, essentially a carrier in space. The X32’s will then accelerate to their top speed of 0.32c and coast further into the system. Their anti-ship missiles pack quite a punch but at the cost of only having a limited range, thus they will have to get close. Yet once in range of their targets, preferably stationary ones, or targets that have a predictable orbit, they can launch their missiles with devastating effect. Their stealth tech should make it almost impossible to detect them prior to launch and after launch their maneuverability and high speed should ensure that they exit the combat zone unharmed.
“The X32’s are therefore a first strike craft. Designed to be used to attack enemy hard points, industrial nodes or ships in orbit, they will soften up a target before the fleet moves in.”
Hanshon, the Minister for Energy raised his and asked a question, “and how are the ships recovered. Surly a ship that small won’t be able to carry the fuel to reverse course and return to its mothership?”
“Correct,” the fleet officer said. “The ships were designed to be expendable if it comes to it. They will have enough fuel to decelerate and come to rest at the other side of the target system. If they can be recovered after a battle they will be. Obviously their recovery will not be a high priority in the middle of a battle but once hostilities are finished they can be picked up. If, for some reason, they cannot be recovered the damage they should be able to inflict will still be worth their loss. With that in mind the X32’s have been highly automated and only require a crew of three. For the most part the X32’s will be manned by volunteers.”
Standing Chang nodded to the officer, “Thank you Commander, that will be all.” Briefly he scanned the faces of his colleagues around the table before continuing. “As you can see we still have a few tricks up our sleeves. Given recent developments I believe it is time to bring the X32’s to the table.”
Na couldn’t help himself. “But Minister Chang, these weapons are first strike weapons. Fighting is already well underway in the Void. Do you mean to expand the fighting to other systems? If we launch a surprise attack against another British world it could spell disaster for us, they will respond in kind!”
“Sit down!” Chang shouted. “If I want the opinion of a junior minister around this table I will ask. And let me make this clear Minister Na, I do not want to hear one from you!”
Chang stared Na down until he relented and returned to his seat. A new wave of frustration and helplessness washed over Na. His seniors had almost brought the People’s Republic of China to its financial knees with their mismanagement and military spending. Now they were going to threaten their own nation’s priceless infrastructure by giving the British a thirst for revenge. There would only be one response from the British if one of their home systems were attacked.
Satisfied that he had intimidated Na into silence Chang continued, “As I was saying, we need to show the British that we do not intend to back down. Both we and the British have committed a significant percentage of our fleet to the Void. What we have left is needed for defending our systems. I can only assume the British are in a similar situation. The X32’s will allow us to strike a decisive blow against their infrastructure and force them to pull ships out of the Void. That should give High Admiral Zheng and the rest of our reinforcements enough time to hit back with their own counter attack as well.
“It is my wish that we take a vote on this issue immediately. I therefore propose that we vote to approve a series of strikes by X32’s on the Cook and Britannia systems.”
As Xiang stood, Na desperately held onto a flicker of hope that he was going to try and stop the attack.
“There are inherent risks with this approach. If we open up another front in the war the British will follow suit. What guarantees do you have that they won’t hit us back just as hard?” he asked instead.
“It’s simple,” Chang replied, “we will hit them hard and fast. The X32’s will cause devastating damage. Once we have demonstrated their power and our willingness to use them, we will offer the British terms. They will have to vacate the Void but apart from that we will offer to go back to the status quo. We won’t try to take any other systems or reparations from them.”
Nodding, Xiang was clearly thinking about Chang’s answer. “And what if something changes in the meantime. It could take weeks or months to mount such an attack. If the British can drive High Admiral Zheng out of the Void they will think victory is in their grasp. Even if we hit them hard they may not want to surrender.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Chang countered. “Two squadrons of X32’s are already in place outside the Cook system. On our orders they will immediately begin their attack and then move onto Britannia.”
“Wait a minute,” Minister Hanshon interjected. “What if the British already know of these ships? They could be preparing to mount an attack of their own. We all know how good their intelligence service is.”
“Not this time,” Chang assured the assembly. “Each squadron has been berthed within a Mustang class transport freighter. They are of American design and almost exclusively owned by independent American traders. Already both freighters have passed through the shift passages to the Alpha and Cook systems without being stopped by British checks. As we speak, they are sitting on the edge of the Cook system awaiting orders. All we have to do is approve their orders and the attack will commence. We have another
freighter, this time of Japanese construction, ready to be sent to rendezvous with them and give the go order. All we have to do now is vote. Are there any other questions?”
When no one stood or raised a hand Chang sat and pressed a button on the conference table. A group of aides entered and began to distribute the ballot papers. A hold over from generations ago the paper voting was meant to keep it anonymous. The reality was that each member voted with his faction, there was never any suspense.
Na watched the vote in despair. As a junior member he didn’t have a vote on tactical decisions. Instead he had to watch his ‘betters’ unanimously agree to plunge his beloved country further towards the brink of destruction. Na had earned his position thanks to his grandfather’s and great grandfather’s foresight. Both men had invested heavily in the first Chinese colonies. Na and his father had followed their lead and, as a result, Na was one of the wealthiest men in Chinese space. For the last twenty years he had been using that wealth to promote further colonial expansion and exploration. Eventually it had landed him his role on the politburo as Minister for Exploration. Yet, because of his wealth and his off world investments, he knew just how precarious the situation was in the colonies. All of the political power in the communist party still resided on Earth. His fellow politburo members only looked to the colonies as a source of wealth and raw materials to be used to build up China. As a result, the economies of the colonies were delicately balanced, constantly trying to stave off disaster as the men in power funneled much of their wealth and profits back to Earth.