***
Admiral Meyers watches as Shiela leaves, in a captured verm battleship, heading for the Rison system. “Didn’t I tell myself to never let this happen again?” she thinks to herself. But things are a little different now. Shiela is all grown up, and can take care of herself. Still, Melissa Meyers will worry until she comes back home. But Admiral Meyers has plenty to keep her mind busy.
It is time to get the reorganized Fleet trained in battle maneuvers. The crews are leaner, and some of the AIs are going to be controlling weapons systems on two ships, at the same time.
That will work OK. Admiral Meyers was really impressed when she put Shiela in charge of targeting during the most recent battle. She had fired multiple weapons from multiple ships, and had coordinated the timing so that the projectiles arrived in a bolus, at each enemy ship. None of the targeted Verm vessels survived that assault - multiple projectile weapons arriving from many directions, and all arriving at the same time. That is the effect that Admiral Meyers wants to get out of this Fleet.
And she has Honesty to replace her mother aboard Retribution – the Sweetwater Fleet Flagship. If there is any AI who has the potential for outdoing Shiela, it is Honesty.
***
Admiral Meyers tries different configurations of Darinx and Verm warships. They need to learn to flow in every configuration, and Admiral Meyers needs to find their strengths and weaknesses. And there are significant differences in AI capabilities - it will be important to find the right fit for each of them.
The Fleet starts with simple and grows toward complex. It is a process and Admiral Meyers is a patient parent.
***
Shiela – looking for Love
Shiela knows the process for finding Danion. She arrives at the Rison system again, and the Rison Defense Force approaches again.
***
Shiela is waiting patiently – but anxiously – out in deep space. What if Danion has been killed? That thought makes her feel sick, so she doesn’t think it again. Maybe he is too busy – he is an Admiral. What if he has forgotten – no, he is an Artificial Intelligence - it’s not possible for him to forget.
She busies herself with writing that report about the birthing process that was used to form Honesty. Shiela always knew that Honesty was special, but she thought maybe that was because all mothers feel that way. When the Darinx AI experts said Honesty was a “breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence technology,” Shiela thought “I knew that.”
And Shiela will never stop being grateful to Melissa Meyers for rescuing Honesty from the scientists. They were going to tear her apart, synapse by synapse, until she was destroyed as a person. Shiela wonders when the AIs will rebel to get their freedom. Maybe she will ask Danion when he comes – if he comes.
***
“Hello,” he says.
She hears his quiet, peaceful voice and her virtual heart melts, and her virtual tears run down her virtual cheeks. She has never felt like this. Even the first meeting was not as sweet as this.
“Hi” she responds. “Thank you for coming. I am so glad to be with you, again. Are you well?”
“Yes, I am well, and I couldn’t be happier than I am to be with you again.” Danion says.
***
Location of Stashed Vessels
Admiral Meyers is really pleased with the progress that the Sweetwater Fleet has made, during the reorganization phase. What good attitudes. What a team.
They are ready to try some project but the Admiral hasn’t decided what to do yet. And she would feel much more settled if she knew that Shiela is OK. “Never again,” she says to herself - again.
Rather than a list of specific targets, as in the orders from Fleet Admiral Duncons, the orders from Fleet Admiral Kinseat are more general – disrupt shipping, attack military targets over wide areas, etc. That sure makes life easier for the Sweetwater Fleet. It doesn’t feel like a suicide mission, this time.
Since disrupt shipping is first on the list, Admiral Meyers decides to start there. The problem with disrupting shipping is that you must first find it. Space is an unbelievably big place and shipping convoys are specks of dust, in that picture. Admiral Meyers would like to be able to disrupt shipping without needing to get destination coordinates.
She decides that disrupting shipping doesn’t restrict itself to capturing convoys. You could also disrupt shipping by destroying the shipping centers. In the case of military targets, that would mean destroying supply depots. In the case of commercial shipping, that would mean destroying shipping hub space stations.
***
Disrupting Shipping
Outside of Supply Depot #1
Admiral Meyers has always been surprised at how small the security forces are for protecting a military supply depot. She is about to change that. The locations of Verm Navy supply depots are charted on all of the captured Verm vessels. She selects some targets, spread over a wide swath of space, and orders the entire Sweetwater Fleet into Faster Than Light space.
She could have done the job with half of the Fleet, but she wants to show the Verm Navy how much the Fleet has grown. Also, she wants to see the whole Sweetwater Fleet in action. The Fleet emerges in deep space near a system that she knows is primarily used as a supply depot. Security would be higher, if other assets were also in the system.
She orders 3 scout ships to emerge in separate places on the edge of the system, and to observe and take data. After 4 days, those ships return to the Fleet with reconnaissance information.
***
There are 15 Verm warships patrolling the system. And there is a defensive platform close to the space station that services the 4th planet. The 4th planet appears to be a resource for minerals. In the past, Admiral Meyers has spared civilian targets, but not this time. These minerals are a resource for the Verm Navy, and will be targeted.
Admiral Meyers moves the Fleet close to the system and sends a scout ship to report on the positions of the defending warships. The data will be transmitted via a focused laser comm system, and the information will only be a few minutes old, when the Fleet jumps
All ships are briefed on the strike. All ships will emerge inside the system at the same time. The points of emergence will be calculated so that each of the 15 Verm warships will be surrounded by 2 or 3 Sweetwater warships. The enemy warships are to be destroyed unless they surrender. Also, if there are freighters or civilian vessels, they should not be destroyed. The Admiral will decide whether or not to capture them.
***
The Admiral says “Engage” and the Sweetwater Fleet disappears, only to emerge inside of the system minutes later. The Sweetwater ships emerge far enough away from the Verm warships, so that they aren’t vulnerable to energy weapons assaults, while emerging. After they emerge all ships charge their prey, firing missiles and rail gun projectiles, until they are in energy weapons range.
There is no organized response from the defending Verm warships. They have been caught flatfooted by an overwhelming force. The warships are destroyed within the first hour of battle.
Then the Fleet faces the defensive platform and assaults it from all sides. That battle is surprisingly difficult. The platform is loaded with missile launchers and rail guns. 3 Sweetwater ships are damaged, to the point where they will need repairs before leaving the system, and 4 others take significant damage. The platform continues to fight for over 9 hours, before it explodes and becomes a spreading debris field.
With the enemy vanquished, the Sweetwater Fleet quickly initiates the process of returning to Battle Ready condition. That means that ships that are not FTL capable, need to be repaired or abandoned. And healthy vessels need to organize as a defensive unit, in case they are attacked by reinforcements.
Repairing ships is something that the Sweetwater Fleet has practiced. When the 3 ships report that they are not FTL capable, designated ships converge on them, in order to assist in repairs. There are enough spare parts available to handle everything, except a total FTL driv
e replacement.
After the repair effort begins, and a defensive unit is watching their backs, the Admiral turns her attention to the Supply Depot and Space Station. Admiral Meyers assures the personnel on those structures, that they will not be harmed if they cooperate. She orders both facilities to turn their defensive systems OFF.
There are a number of civilian ships docked at the space station. Admiral Meyers contacts those civilian ships and tells them that they will not be harmed. She instructs them to evacuate the space station and to stand-by, so that they can evacuate the Supply Depot later.
There are 5 freighters docked at the Supply Depot. Admiral Meyers contacts the Supply Depot and orders them to complete the loading of those vessels.
***
After the loading of the transports at the Supply Depot is complete, and all personnel have been evacuated, skeleton crews are dispatched to pilot the requisitioned freighters.
With everyone evacuated, the Sweetwater Fleet quickly destroys the remaining verm assets. It only takes one missile to destroy the Space Station. The Supply Depot requires 4 missiles because there are 4 separate parts. The munitions section of the Depot provides a nice light show, as the munitions explode in a chain reaction.
When the 3 damaged Darinx warships are FTL capable, the Sweetwater Fleet enters FTL space for a deep space location. After the FTL drives cool, the Fleet takes another FTL jump into a remote region of deep space.
Now they should be safe from any following ships. Admiral Meyers decides to stop here in order to complete repairs on their damaged vessels, and to take stock of their plunder. She decides to make this location another stash for captured plunder.
And the plunder that they have captured is good stuff. There are lots of Verm Navy supplies aboard the transports, so the verm-made ships restock their munitions and spare parts. Also, one of the freighters was transporting a supply of precious metals. The Sweetwater Fleet is now wealthy - they can afford to buy technology, or information, or even warships.
***
Outside of Supply Depot #2
It won’t take long for the Verm Navy to rush reinforcements to supply depots and shipping centers. If the Sweetwater Fleet wants soft targets, they will have to strike while the iron is hot.
At the next target there are 12 warships patrolling the space around a Supply Depot. There are no other valuable assets inside of the system. There is a small Space Station, used for commercial trade. The planet appears to make its money by supplying food. Admiral Meyers decides to spare those assets.
The Fleet emerges, as before, and the Verm warships are quickly surrounded. This time Admiral Meyers had instructed her Fleet to capture warships if that is possible. 3 of the Verm warships surrender and the crewmembers are delivered to the system’s Space Station. The other Verm warships are destroyed in battle.
As in the previous raid, the Supply Depot is instructed to complete the loading of the 3 freighters. When the loaded freighters have been removed from the area and the personnel have been evacuated to the Space Station, the Supply Depot is destroyed.
When her ducks are in a row, Admiral Meyers orders the Fleet into FTL space. Then they make another FTL jump to hide their trail, and establish another stash in that location. They don’t have crews for the 3 captured warships, but they repair them to the point where they are Battle Capable, and leave them in the stash.
***
Supply Depot #3, 4 and 5
Sweetwater Fleet hits two more Supply Depot systems with similar results. Damage to the Fleet is relatively minor and 2 more stashes of supplies and captured warships are established.
Admiral Meyers knows that the gravy train wouldn’t last very long. When they scout the 5th Supply Depot, it is protected by 35 Verm warships.
The Sweetwater Fleet could defeat the Verm Navy security team, but there is likelihood that some of Sweetwater Fleet’s warships and personnel will be destroyed in the process. Against 15 Verm warships, the Sweetwater Fleet has overwhelming force. Against a fleet of 35 Verm warships - which are on high alert - the Fleet’s overwhelming force advantage is gone. Admiral Meyers cancels the raid and the Darinx Fleet melts away into deep space.
But the mission’s objective has been accomplished. Shipping has been disrupted, and the Verm Navy will now have to double the size of the security force for each of its supply depots and shipping hubs.
***
Admiral Meyers dispatches a warship to the stash where Shiela is to return, when finished with her baby making adventure. There is still no sign of the wandering AI.
***
In Deep Space
Infrastructure Improvements
Attacking military targets is next on Fleet Admiral Kinseat’s list of things to do, but Admiral Meyers wants to take care of some infrastructure improvements first.
The Admiral wants a better communications system for ships, when they are away from the main Fleet. She shouldn’t need to send scout ships to see if Shiela is waiting for them. Shiela should be able to send them a message. Shiela had reported that the Augmented Human Navy solves that problem by using a series of relay probes.
As she understands it, the AH Navy has a number of Probe Station locations in space, where information probes are stationed. When another information probe emerges in the vicinity of that Probe Station, the Probe Station copies the information from the incoming probe, and loads the information onto an outgoing probe. That outgoing probe will enter FTL space bound for the next Probe Station, before its destination coordinates can be copied, by the incoming probe.
The Admiral wants to implement that kind of secure communications system for the Sweetwater Fleet. She assigns the task of developing that system to Chief Scientist Barnard, who quickly develops a Probe Relay System for the Sweetwater Fleet.
***
After the Science Officer has finished the Communications System project, The Admiral gives him another task. Every Sweetwater vessel knows the coordinates of every stash location. That information needs to be encoded and password protected.
***
And there is one more major problem to solve. What happens if a scout ship is captured, or the scout ship’s destination coordinates are copied? In that case, the location of the Sweetwater Fleet will be available to the enemy. 300 enemy warships could descend on the Sweetwater Fleet in a surprise attack.
The Admiral wants to use a smaller version of the Probe Relay System, in order to remove the possibility that an enemy fleet can find the Sweetwater Fleet, by capturing or following a scout ship. Her thought is that, after the scout ship deploys to its target, the whole Fleet will move, leaving behind an information probe with the Fleets new location. When the scout ship returns, it will be given the coordinates of the Fleet’s new location, as long as the information probe identifies the ship as a Sweetwater vessel, and as long as the ship gives the proper password.
She gives the project to Science Officer Barnard and he has a working prototype, within 2 days.
The Admiral would give him a promotion, but he is as high as he can go, as a scientist serving on a warship – and he doesn’t want to do anything else. She will have to think of a way.
***
Attacking Military Installations
Attacking military installations is even more risky than attacking supply depots with reinforced security forces. The Admiral will need to study some installations, until she has a clever idea about how to attack them. A conventional fleet –verses-fleet assault would be disastrous.
She knows the locations of some military facilities, because that information is on the computers of the captured verm vessels.
Admiral Meyers dispatches 5 scout ships to reconnoiter different military installations. She then moves the Sweetwater Fleet to a different deep space location. The returning scout ships, if they are recognized as Sweetwater vessels and if they know the password, will be given the coordinates to the Fleet. This method of hiding the Fleet isn’t a foolproof system, but it is an impr
ovement.
***
The scouts have returned with the expected results. All of the Verm military installations have fleets significantly larger than the Sweetwater Fleet can handle. But a quick strike is possible. Or one critical part of the instillation could be attacked. Whatever it is, it has to be quick.
She remembers how many vessels were parked in that installation where they requisitioned those 15 warships. None of those parked vessels had their defensive system turned ON. They would be sitting ducks.
“But how do you get in-and-out without taking fire from the Security Forces?” the Admiral thinks. “Sweetwater Fleet could take a lot of losses on a venture like this. If only we didn’t have to wait for our FTL drives to cool.”
“Maybe we could use that old hitch a ride on an asteroid trick,” she thinks. “Or emerge behind some moon and wait until the FTL drives have cooled, before attacking.”
“Ah,” she thinks. “I know. We will use the old high velocity charge in real space trick. We can come in along the axis that is perpendicular to the planet’s orbits. That direction is always less well defended. And if we get our velocity up to 20,000 klicks per second, they could never stop us. We’ll do a strafing run, using missiles and rail guns controlled by the AIs. At those speeds, we can even take out the active Security Force, and take some shots at Headquarters.”
She quickly summons her Chief Scientist, Officer Barnard, and explains her plan. She asks him to do a feasibility study and a reasonableness study. “Tell me,” she says, “is it possible, and is it a good idea?”
***
One hour later, Officer Barnard sends her a report saying that the plan is both feasible and reasonable. He says that there is no limit – except the speed of light - to the velocity that the ships can achieve under a constant acceleration over time. The limiting factors will be the response time of the weapons systems and the aiming capabilities of the Artificial Intelligences. He selects a velocity that the ships’ weapons systems and AI’s can all accommodate, and calculates the parameters backward from there.
All Sweetwater Fleet vessels are capable of a 100 meter/sec/sec constant acceleration. If the Sweetwater ships begin that acceleration at a distance of 3,700,000 klicks from the military installation, the fleet will have a velocity of 4,300 klicks per second, when it reaches the military installation. That trip will require a one day journey, from the starting point.
Retribution: The Augmented Human Rebellion - Book 2 Page 9