The first weapon system that the AWDT base would work on was the modified version of the AFP or Autonomous Fighting Platform. Base Commander Korolev had been right. The concept had changed. The original concept was a small AI controlled drone that could be used for long duration patrols and long-range combat operations, supplemented by larger, human piloted gunboats. Then someone had suggested the obvious, which was to build one common platform that was highly modular and could be configured either as an unmanned drone or, with the proper modules attached, as a manned vehicle. While the advantages of using a common basic vehicle were obvious, there were some disadvantages as well. In order to be able to carry a human crew, the vehicle had to be larger than the original drone concept, which meant that the new ships wouldn’t be able to carry as many of them as planned. To offset that, it was pointed out that the larger vehicle could not only carry a powerful enough laser to actually be a threat to enemy ships, but could also carry an impressive load of smaller recon, message or attack drones.
It took until almost a month after his arrival for the first prototype to be ready and delivered for testing. The testing program was a compromise between being thorough and fast. A thorough program would have taken up to a year or more, and Space Force Brass decided that was just too long. So the risk of technical glitches was considered acceptable in order to get the thing into the field as fast as possible. That was fine when they were testing the prototype in its autonomous configuration because any technical glitch would not put humans at risk, but eventually they had to test it with humans on board and in control. The test pilots assigned to that duty weren’t happy with the simplified testing program, which they considered reckless, and rightly so, in Shiloh’s opinion.
When a test of the vehicle’s crew module almost resulted in the death of its test pilot due to a failure in the life support system, the test pilots refused to participate in any more tests until the crew module had undergone hundreds of hours of additional simulated field tests. Shiloh had a gut feeling that they couldn’t afford that much additional time. It wasn’t a vision, just a nagging suspicion that wouldn’t go away, and so he volunteered to pilot the prototype during human-controlled tests as originally planned. Those tests and their preparations kept him so busy that time flew by. When the testing program was completed, Shiloh was surprised to learn that he’d been there almost four months. By then the project to mass-produce the upgraded production version was well under way. Normal practice was for the first few production models to be tested, as well to make certain they were being built to the required standard, but just as the first production model Configurable Fighting Platform, as they were now known, came off the production line, Shiloh and the rest of the base personnel heard the bad news.
Chapter 12 One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
The Space Force Command Staff, after regrouping, had decided to try to engineer another ambush using the same tactic that Shiloh had used in Tango Delta 6. The ambush had backfired badly. In fact, it looked as though the aliens had set their own ambush. How they had managed that, no one knew, but the result was that the Space Force had lost two full squadrons of frigates, including the new Sentinel. The message carrying the news didn’t identify which other frigates were lost, and Shiloh wondered if the 344 was among them. There was another surprise message in the same data transmission. Admiral Howard wanted to reassign Shiloh. It appeared that his exile was over. He arrived on Earth five days later and found himself back in Howard’s office the following morning.
Upon entering, Shiloh saluted, and Howard reciprocated, then gestured to the chair facing his desk. When Shiloh sat down, Howard leaned back and started speaking in a slow voice.
“When you successfully pulled off the makeshift ambush, I was sure that you had the skill and instincts we needed to win this war. Then when you refused command of the Sentinel, I thought you’d lost your nerve. That made me angry. So angry in fact that I made up my mind that I was going to prevent you from ever having a command again. I was going to make sure that you were given one useless assignment after another until you either resigned or retired. I realize now that I was being unfair. By stepping up to pilot the untested manned version of the CFP, your performance at Alpha Base showed me that you hadn’t lost your nerve. I still don’t understand the real reason why you turned down the Sentinel, but I’m prepared to admit that my negative assessment and treatment of you was unfair and unprofessional of me. For that, I apologize.”
Shiloh didn’t really know what to say to that, so he just said, “Thank you, Sir.”
Howard nodded. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk about giving you a useful assignment. With the time you’ve spent piloting the CFP prototypes, you’ve racked up more flight hours than anyone else. That makes you the closest thing to an expert on operational use of CFPs that we have. We’ll soon have enough production models available to consider using them in the field. I’d like to hear your thoughts on how you think we should do that.”
Shiloh wasn’t surprised by the question, and he’d had lots of time to consider the answer on his way back to Earth. “Well, Sir, I have some ideas, but it would help me if I knew where we stand now strategically.”
Howard nodded. “Fair enough. You know about the debacle at Tango Delta 5?”
“I heard the results, but no details of the battle itself, Sir.”
“Okay. We sent a task force composed of a Command ship, three support ships, six tankers, and four frigate squadrons to TD5. The plan was to send two frigates to the vicinity of a gas giant that previous reconnaissance had determined contained alien surveillance gear. We figured that sooner or later the aliens would show up to check the activity recorded by their robotic station, and they would detect our two frigates while, at the same time, we would detect their presence and order the frigates to microjump back to the vicinity of the Task Force.
“What we didn’t count on was that the aliens were already in that star system in force, and they had put their own bait in place. That bait amounted to eight of their ships orbiting the gas giant. Task Force Commander Mbutu took the bait and ordered three frigate squadrons, which included the Sentinel, to microjump to the gas giant. He was aboard her when the Task Force split up. As soon as the microjump was complete, 32 more alien ships also microjumped into the battle area. The odds against him were five enemy ships for every three of his. With that many ships on each side providing radar data, laser fire accuracy was as close to 100% as is realistically possible, but as you know, the enemy has more powerful lasers. Our ships started dying faster than theirs. Sentinel was destroyed within seconds, taking Mbutu with her. His deputy leader had enough presence of mind to order the rest of the force to microjump away, while also ordering the rest of the Task Force to rendezvous back at TD3.
“The microjump by the frigates was only partially successful. Because of the alien’s ability to detect ships leaving Jumpspace, they were able to pinpoint where the survivors jumped to, and they followed them. In hindsight, they should have jumped farther away. When the survivors were caught again, the Acting Task Force Leader realized his mistake and ordered another, much longer microjump. That prevented further pursuit. But by then only 6 of the original 24 frigates were still able to microjump away. We have to assume that the rest were destroyed either by the aliens themselves, or by our own crews to avoid capture.
“That defeat has rocked us back on our heels. We’ve lost so many frigates that our forward bases, particularly Bradley, are now considered at risk. On the plus side, two more Sentinel-class frigates are very close to completion, which means they’ll be operational in roughly a month. Six more are also within a couple of months of completion. The first long-range scout ship will also be ready in a month’s time. Construction has started on the first two Heavy Cruisers and the first CFP Carrier. And as you probably know already, CFP production will be ramping up gradually to a projected rate of one a day by three months from now. That’s where we are now, Commander.
”
“Thank you, Sir. May I ask what we’ve learned about the alien debris so far and also about the status of the jump detection project?”
“Unfortunately, the debris analysis hasn’t revealed anything really useful. Their technology seems to be more or less on par with ours. None of the debris came from their weapons so we can’t analyze those. The jump detection project has made some useful progress. They’re testing some equipment they think will give approximate location data on ships that have just emerged from Jumpspace. The effective range is estimated to be three light minutes, but accuracy drops off dramatically the further away the emerging ship is. Arrangements are being made to include the first field versions in the Sentinel class of frigates and long-range scout ships as they’re completed. Do you have any other questions, Commander?”
“Just one more, Sir. Have our recon tankers found any more star systems with an alien presence?”
Howard frowned. “No, and the tanker that we sent out after Gnat’s successful mission never returned. We have no idea what happened to her. With the loss of most of our tanker fleet at Zebra 9, we couldn’t afford to risk any of the remaining tankers. We’ll resume long-range scouting as soon as the new long-range scouts come out of the shipyards. Anything else?”
“No Sir. Thank you for that update, Sir.”
Shiloh paused to organize his thoughts. The aliens were moving inexorably closer to the Bradley Base and to Earth, and the Space Force knew no more about which star systems the aliens occupied than they did after the ambush at DT6. They seemed to be very aggressive in their efforts to learn as much about Human Space as possible. Keeping them from learning more had to be a high priority, but the new weapons systems, and especially the CFPs, needed to be tested under realistic conditions to see if they performed as expected. So while stopping the aliens’ advance pointed to a defensive strategy, gaining operational experience with the new systems required a more aggressive approach.
“Well, Sir, I want to say first that the time I spent observing and testing the CFP prototypes was a useful experience. We learned some things that hadn’t been considered yet. For example, if more than one CFP is operating autonomously in an otherwise uninhabited star system, on some kind of sentry patrol let’s say, and alien ships shows up, what criteria do the AI’s controlling those vehicles use to determine what their reaction should be? Does one AI made a decision on behalf of the group? Or do they react individually depending on their relative positions to each other and to the aliens? One approach will be best under some circumstances, while the other approach would be better under others.
“There are other considerations as well. There wasn’t time to do long term field tests. So we don’t know how mechanically reliable the production CFPs will be after they’ve been operating autonomously for months at a time. It’s considerations like that, that have me in a quandary. I recognize and understand the need for preventing the aliens from advancing further into our space. We need to deny them as much information about us as possible, while at the same time learn as much about them as possible. Having said that, field testing our new ships, weapons and other systems, might be crucial to victory in the long run. With the CFP carrier at least a year from being operational, our ability to concentrate a large CFP force will be limited, and I can’t help thinking that CFPs won’t realize their full potential until they are used in large numbers. What I would hate to see is them being used in small groups as a way of stretching our limited number of frigates. I think that would be a grave mistake. With that in mind, I think the best use we could make now of the limited number of CFPs that we’re going to have available in the near term, would be to assign them the base defense role at the Bradley Base. I’d recommend using them to accomplish the following objectives.
“First, if the jump detection gear can be made so that it can be loaded as a module, then we can use a small number of CFPS as jump detection pickets to extend coverage, but also to increase accuracy by combining data from multiple platforms.
“Second, they would carry a mixed load of recon and weapon drones so that we’d have the option of tracking the alien ships without giving away the location of our own ships or platforms.
“Third, we’d have to arrange for communications between the Base and the CFPs, so that their AIs can be instructed on the best way to coordinate any response to the alien incursion, without also tipping off the aliens to the presence of the CFPs.
“As far as the CFPs directly attacking the alien ships with modular lasers, I would recommend doing that only as a last resort. The longer we can keep the aliens in the dark about our CFPs, the better. Essentially what I’m suggesting is that the system containing Bradley Base becomes our line in the sand that we keep them from crossing. While we’re keeping their attention focused on that line in the sand, our long-range scout ships will be trying to find their bases and inhabited planets. To avoid jump detection, they’ll be jumping into unexplored star systems far away from any planets, and then, if necessary, maneuvering deeper into the systems to get better data or to refuel. When we find one of their bases or planets, then we can switch from a defensive strategy to an offensive one and take back the initiative.”
Howard didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “I’m not sure I like the idea of allowing them to push forward until they find Bradley. My instincts tell me that we should try to stop them where they are now.”
“Well, Sir, in order to do that, we’d have to commit large numbers of frigates to multiple star systems to prevent them from flanking the systems where we’ve already had encounters. Given our recent loses, do we have enough frigates to accomplish that on a sustained basis? Wouldn’t we be risking further loses that we really can’t afford?”
“I see your point, Commander. But what’s to prevent them from bypassing Bradley altogether?”
Shiloh had to think about that one for a bit. “In order to bypass it, they have to know about it. If they just explore every star system in the direction they think we come from, sooner or later they’ll arrive at Bradley. Considering that they’ve inflicted disproportionate losses on us in every battle except one, I’d expect them to have enough confidence in their tactical superiority to make at least one attempt at attacking Bradley base, if only to further assess our defensive capabilities. Isn’t that what we’d do if the positions were reversed, Sir?”
“Hmm. Perhaps we would and perhaps we wouldn’t, but I take your point. Fortifying Bradley would have some advantages that we wouldn’t have if we were trying to hold the line in an otherwise empty system. Refueling would be a lot easier for one thing. So would communications.”
Howard paused and Shiloh took the opportunity to comment. “Operating CFPs out of the base would give the CFP commander a lot more flexibility too, Sir. CFPs deployed from combat frigates are going to be stuck with whatever modules and weapons load they were given when the frigates left the nearest base, but if they’re operating from Bradley, they can be configured for the most effective payload before being launched from the base and also reloaded quickly if they’ve fired their drones and the battle is still continuing.”
Howard raised his eyebrows at the mention of a CFP Commander.“Do I understand you to mean that any CFPs deployed out of Bradley should have their own commander?”
“Yes, Sir. If Bradley has a mixed force structure that includes frigates and CFPs, then I think each weapon system needs to have someone in charge of it who is familiar with the best way to employ that weapon system. Neither the Base Commander nor the frigate Task Force Commander will be familiar with the potential that CFPs have, Sir.”
Howard didn’t respond right away. He continued to look at Shiloh with a thoughtful expression. “If we go with your recommendation to make Bradley the line in the sand, then I’ll keep your suggestion for a CFP commander in mind. What I’d like you to do now is spend the next 24 hours writing a detailed proposal on how we can make the best use of our limited quantity of CFPs in defending Bradley. Wh
en you’re finished that, you’re free to go on two weeks leave. Just make sure that we know where to reach you. Any questions?”
“No, Sir. I’ll have that report submitted by this time tomorrow.”
“Very good, Commander. You’re dismissed.”
Shiloh left and made his way to the Officer’s Mess for a late breakfast followed by a leisurely coffee during which he made notes on the back of some napkins. When he returned to his quarters, he settled down in front of a computer terminal and started working on the report. When he had the first draft finished, he looked up and realized that it was now dark outside, and he was hungry. By the time the final draft was finished it was daylight again. He sent the report electronically, and then stumbled over to the bed where he fell face down and slept for ten hours.
When he woke up, it was evening in Geneva, but it felt like morning to him. He decided to start his leave by shifting to a time zone that matched his biological clock. After sending several personal messages to Johansen, Chenko, and a couple of others, as well as letting Howard’s staff know where he was going, Shiloh packed his gear and hitched a ride on a Space Force sub-orbital transport to the opposite side of the world. Six hours later he was once again sunbathing on a white beach, with a cold tropical drink in his hand.
To his surprise, Shiloh wasn’t called back early from his leave. When he checked into the Temporary Officers quarters again, he found a message from Admiral Howard.
The Synchronicity War Part 1 Page 16