by Ben Winston
Chloe nodded and made a note to herself on the tablet she carried with her. “So you’re adding a bridge station for operations, as well as a secondary bridge. Are you going to be making a secondary CIC then, too?”
“I don’t know,” Ian answered honestly. “I suppose it’ll depend on the need, and available space for it. This area is not going to be your permanent home. It’ll get moved when we rebuild the bridge section.”
Again, she nodded. “When you do that, you should see if you can move the bridge into a less vulnerable position. Of course, with all the computers and electronics being up here in the bow, that might not be feasible.”
“No, not in this ship, but it’s something to keep in mind for the next one we build,” Ian grinned at her shocked look and winked at her. “Look, one of the things that I wanted you to look into is the fact that the assholes out there are not acting like normal Caldarians, at least, the ones we have records on. I want you and the intel people to study this, and try to tell me what their game is, so we can stop them.”
“Yeah, Jenny briefed us before we moved up here. She also sent us all the information you folks have. Once the big tank gets set up, we’ll have all the information you have as soon as you have it, with luck, we’ll actually have a little bit more.”
“Sir, why not simply combine the CIC and the bridge? Yes, it’ll be larger, and busier, but everything will be right there for you,” Chloe asked.
“Because it’ll be larger and busier. Too much noise and confusion in one place. It would be too easy to confuse orders, and miss them entirely. Those are mistakes we can’t afford,” Ian replied.
Chloe nodded. “I understand that Sir, and that’s the primary reason they aren’t set-up that way in a wet navy, but we have sound dampening, and certain technologies that can make this work. After we get through this, I’ll draw up a plan for you to look over before everything gets set in stone if that’s alright?”
“I’ll take all the suggestions I can get Chloe, you should know that by now. Look, I’m gonna go grab a bite to eat before those bastards get into attack range. Holler if you need anything,” Ian said. When she nodded, he left the very busy room for his ready room and Jenny.
When he entered the room, Jenny smiled at him, and pointed to a plate she had for him at one end of the small conference table. As he sat down, she swallowed the bite she had been chewing. “The Caldarian carriers have deployed fighters for short run patrols. So far, there’s been no surprises. The fighters match the designs we have on file. However, one set of carriers got close enough for one of our sensor drones to get a good look at them.
“The carriers are not identical. One of them is the standard model used by the Caldarians, and the fighters it has launched have been the only ones we’ve seen. The other carrier, looks more like a torpedo boat of some kind. At first, we thought it might be a small missile cruiser, but have since discarded that because of its size.” As she spoke, she brought up the strange carrier on his large monitor.
Openings along the side, in a line starting a short distance from the bow, and running all the way back to an area that could be called the engine room. In the display, these small openings were circled.
“This is the reason we at first thought it might be a missile boat. These openings, are too small for the standard Caldarian fighters, however, they are angled back into the ship like missile tubes would be. The sensor drone detected a high amount of magnetic flux from them. Maybe it’s new weapon type?” Jenny finished and took another bite of her food.
Ian studies the image as he started eating. After a couple of bites, he shrugged. “A new carrier for a new type of fighter craft. We have no idea how long the war continued after the Talosians were killed. There has been plenty of time for new weapons development.”
“A new fighter?” Jenny asked. “It would have to be awfully small in order to be launched through one of those tubes. The tubes themselves are only eight to nine feet tall. Yes, a Caldarian could fit in there, but once you wrap a ship around them, especially a fighter... I just can’t see it.”
“Something that small would be a bitch to hit wouldn’t it?” Ian asked.
“Yeah, it would, but Caldarians usually don’t do ‘small’. They are always about more; more power, more weapons, more planets; more, more, more,” Jenny replied.
“Yes, they usually are, but then again, these are not acting like normal Caldarians,” Ian pointed out. “Take a normal Caldarian missile, they’re about that big,” he nodded toward the screen. “Remove the warhead, put in a cockpit, and strap some weapons in it. Give it a slightly more efficient engine as well as a better way to maneuver, and what would you have?”
Jenny nodded. “A relatively small fighter that would be a bitch to hit. But it couldn’t carry anything very heavy, or it would be too bulky to maneuver in space. You wouldn’t be able to use it in the atmosphere at all.”
“But with something that low in mass, you could really push the boundaries of phase-lock. Maybe all the way up to .9 C. It wouldn’t need very big guns, all it has to do is disable its enemies. Then the bigger fighters come in and clean up,” Ian said waving his fork in the air in front of him. “These would truly be interceptors, not meant for dogfighting. They couldn’t even carry missiles, since they would out run them. It would be like a supersonic fighter jet firing his guns; he’d shoot himself down.”
Jenny chuckled. “We could hope, it would save us from doing it for them. Besides, doesn’t the shadow fighter have a top speed close to that?”
“It’s fast, but not quite that fast. After Tinker’s test flight, Kyle and company programmed in a hard ceiling of point eight-five. She starts breaking lock at point eight-nine. However, her weapons systems should surprise any enemy that thinks she is lightly armed,” Ian replied.
“What did they finally settle on, I haven’t had the time to look it over,” Jenny asked.
“Two dual mount mass driver turrets. One under the nose, and one just behind the cockpit. Two medium power fixed lasers on the tips of the main wings, and two small powers lasers on the stabilizers, all four have a thirty degree firing arc. And finally, two six-shot missile pods, mounted internally and fired through ports under the main wings,” Ian smiled. “Kyle added two hard points for mounting two ship killers under the main wings, but those can’t be carried into atmosphere; too much stress on the wings.”
“Whoa! That’s a hell of an arsenal. What did they do to the Hornets?” Jenny asked.
“The Wasp variant of the Hornet fighter, did get some upgrades. Two medium power fixed lasers replaced the small power lasers on the wing tips, and a quad launcher for missiles under each wing. Two small power laser turrets mounted for aft arc defense on each side of the plasma port nacelle. The Wasp variant is also slightly faster than the Hornet at point seven-nine instead of the Hornet’s point seven-one top speed.” Ian replied. “In addition to the enigma armor on the Wasp, Kyle adapted one of the Shadow engines to replace the Hornet’s old hot plasma system.”
“Have we devised a better way to track them?” Jenny asked.
“The new fighters?” he asked, when she nodded affirmative, he continued. “Not really, IFF is all we have for now. Kyle and a few of the other bright boys down on the moon are working on a distortion sensor that will pinpoint cloaked and hidden ships, but as far as I know, they haven’t gotten it to work at any distance.” Ian replied. “They only work reliably at about twenty or thirty kilometers.”
“Well, let’s just hope the Caldarians haven’t figured that out,” Jenny said leaning back from her finished meal.
“It’s a Caldarian sensor system we got the idea from. We’re using the sensor system they had to detect cloaked vessels. The problem is, the ship has to be moving. But if it’s within twenty kilometers, chances are it’s already done its damage and is on its way out,” Ian said, eating the last of his bacon.
“You should take a nap, Ian,” Jenny said. “I know you didn’t sleep very well last
night.”
“There is an enemy super ship in our solar system that would like nothing better than to blow us into our component molecules, and you want me to take a nap?” Ian asked, grinning. “Are you daft woman?”
“Seriously, Ian,” Jenny said. “I understand why you might have trouble sleeping, but tired people make mistakes.”
“Yeah, maybe I should see if Beth can do something. I just don’t want to be groggy from drugs either,” Ian replied.
Star materialized beside his chair. “Pardon the interruption, Sir. The XO is correct, you need to sleep. I took the liberty of consulting the medical officer, and she made a recommendation.” The replicator beeped announcing the delivery of an item. Since Jenny was closer, she retrieved it.
“The Commander is to lie down on his couch, the device is then set on his brow and activated. It is bio-magnetic, so it won’t fall off if you roll over. It stabilizes the thought processes and assists in the induction of sleep. You will stay asleep until the device is deactivated. Or the safety limit is reached,” Star explained.
“Wow, I could have used one of these last night,” Ian said.
“The safety limit is five hours,” Star explained. “After that, it can be difficult to awaken the sleeper in normal circumstances. This is a medical device used for short term, emergency surgery and for field medics to set bones or other repairs that would be hampered by an awake patient. This is not recommended for repeated or prolonged use.”
“Oh,” Ian said as he lay back on his couch. “Well, I guess if something happens, one of you can come and reanimate me, right?”
Jenny had placed the device on his forehead while he spoke.
“Smart-ass!” She said and turned it on before he could reply. He was instantly asleep. Jenny turned to Star. “Thank you for getting this for him. He really did need the sleep.”
“Commander Zeus was the same way when waiting for combat, Major Hybolia often prescribed this treatment for him as a last resort. From now on, we’ll need to make sure he gets the device on him the night before. Once the device times out, he would sleep normally the rest of the night,” Star said, looking down at Ian fondly.
“Star, do you have feelings for him?” Jenny asked in a soft manner, not wanting to startle the AI.
Star smiled at her friend. “I’m an AI, Colonel. I can only simulate feelings. But to answer your question, Commander Zeus was a good Commander. Ian is an exceptional one. He is always looking for ways to improve something, or even himself in an effort to save lives, or to better fulfill our mission. None of my former Commanders ever did that.” She replied. “A race of human-like beings called the Benesians that don’t live that far away from here, relatively speaking, have a saying; ‘Improvement is not just a choice, it is a necessity. For in improving one’s self, you improve others, as well as your world. Stagnation is the death of the soul.’ My databases don’t have much information on them, since Talos was so far away, and we had little contact with them.”
“In my book, you are far more than just an AI, Star. You’re my friend,” Jenny said. “Please keep an eye on him for me? I’m returning to the bridge.”
“Of course I will, Colonel. I am the ship after all,” Star said and faded out, smiling.
Jenny leaned over and kissed Ian softly on the lips before getting up and leaving the room as well. She would pull duty on the bridge while Ian got some sleep.
As predicted, the Caldarian ships began performing a system patrol. Luckily they completely missed the ships, drones and other devices Ian and his people had planted all over the system. Five and a half hours later, Jenny had Star wake Ian.
As he walked on the bridge he yawned. “What’s been happening, Colonel?”
“The Caldarians are doing the system sweep, so far, they have ignored all of our stuff. Of course, none of it is emitting anything that could be detected. If one of their ships gets close enough to detect even a trace power signature, we power it off for a set duration. I had Major Dancer wake you because the Super Nova is getting to the point where it will be closest to us on its way to Venus,” Jenny reported.
Ian nodded and took the chair she vacated for him. She went to the bridge replicator and got a cup of cappuccino for him.
“Oh, thanks! I need that!” he said, gratefully and took a long drink of the hot liquid. “Ahh!” He looked up at the big hologram and spotted the approaching ship. He quickly looked over the rest of the system to evaluate the situation. So far, everything was quiet. On one of the main screens, there was a real-time image of the big ship that was making its way toward its parking spot near the planet Venus.
“So, either nothing is going to change, and everything will stay quiet, or things are about to get really interesting. Department status?” Ian asked.
“Everyone is back online and ready for action. You have several ‘thank you notes’ from some of the crew, they needed the rest!” Jenny said trying to make him feel better.
Ian grinned and was about to answer her when Chekov spoke up. “Primary Target aspect change. Main bay doors opening!”
Ian first looked at the hologram which showed a bunch of rapidly changing numbers that were too small to read, next to the ship. Then he looked at the image on the monitor and saw the big belly doors opening.
“She’s launching the last two carriers. I guess that means it’s going to get interesting. Flight decks to hot stand-by. Reduce reactor output to minimum power, but keep her warm. All weapons systems, full safeties!” Ian ordered. “Passive targeting only!”
“Sir, Major Harris has integrated the moon base facility into his control. It will be referred to as Charlie deck for the duration,” Jenny said, reading something from her monitor.
Ian nodded as the assets moved on the battle board, which listed what he had available to fight with.
“You called it, Sir. The last two carriers are emerging from the main bay. But... there’s three of them Sir! Two of the new type, and one of the more familiar type. I’ll get the courses for you in a minute,” Chekov replied.
“Hmm, three of them huh? I wonder what else that big bitch might be hiding in there.” Ian asked rhetorically. “Ops, do we have anyone in position to get a look up her skirt before she closes those bay doors?”
“It’ll be extreme range, but I’ll see what I can do with it!” Chloe replied over the comm.
“Star, do you have a listing of this ship in the database?” Ian asked.
“No Sir, but Major Eischens analysis says she is an old ship. There are a lot of repaired hull sections, and evidence that one of the engines is relatively new. However, except for that engine, all the repaired damage is old as well. This ship hasn’t seen combat in a long time. He says this is either a repaired reserve ship, or the war has been over for at least eight hundred years,” Star reported.
Ian looked back at the hologram thoughtfully. “So, if we fight them, we risk starting a war with an Empire that can focus its entire military on us, But if we don’t fight, we lose the planet to them, and our people will become slaves or worse,” Ian said mostly to himself. “Damn, I love easy decisions! Chekov, I need to know where they’re going. Ops, stand by for mission assignments, we might need to get our fighters out of here quickly.”
“Standing-by, Sir,” Chloe replied over the comm.
“Colonel, you have the Con, I’ll be in CIC,” Ian said to a surprised looking Jenny. “Don’t worry, I’ll leave the door open, if you need me!”
“Ass-hat!” she said and stuck her tongue out at him. “I have the Con, Sir.”
Ian winked at her as he left his chair and headed for the door to the room now called the CIC. When he arrived, Chloe moved to one side, giving him room at the edge of the holo-tank.
“We did get a look inside the bay, she has not yet begun closing those doors, we did make out at least one more carrier in there. It looks like they were working on it. There were also several ground assault carriers in the side racks. Activity around them does seem to indica
te launch preparation. It looks like they are getting ready to launch an assault force. Since they don’t know about us, we have to assume that the target is on-planet Sir,” Eischens said. “I would guess that Talos is the target. From the number of assault craft getting ready, it looks like an undersized combat team of just under battalion strength.”
“As soon as we know where they’re going, we need to take them out before they get there. Once we know Talos is the target, they need to be told so they can get everyone underground, and prepare for the attack.” Ian turned to Chloe. “Prepare a sortie to stop those landing craft. I’m sure they’ll have fighter support, so give it to the Charlie Wasps, and put the Talos Wasp unit on stand-by.” Ian paused in thought. “We need to get their mind off the planet. Chloe, activate ‘Shell Game’, but leave the Centurions as only control nodes for the time being.”
Shell Game was a plan they had worked out before where one section of the solar system would have its weapons systems activated and a full attack on all enemy craft in that area would commence, then suddenly stop. Meanwhile, across the system, a different sector would do the same thing. Then there would either be a break, or another sector would activate. It was completely random and was designed to maximize enemy confusion, and minimize friendly casualties. The original plan was for the Centurions to use their ship killer missiles on the carriers themselves, but since the missile pods that got designed also carried two ship killers, it was decided to hold the Centurions back unless they were needed.
“Attention all units, we are activating operation Shell Game. All Centurions hold fire. Switch section control to computer relay at this time,” Chloe said over her comm and waited for the replies. Once she had everyone online, she nodded to one of her aides.
As the aide turned back to her console Ian heard her say, “Okay boys and girls, don’t try this at home!” Ian chuckled and nodded to himself.