by Krystyn Dean
I had apparently been chosen to join The Project because of my work in Quantum physics. My specialty in gravitons and gravimetric fields was a good fit for the development of shields and laser type weapons. I was offered a position as soon as I received my doctorate.
When I was recruited, I assumed that I would be doing research for future projects. Now I understand that I am actually going to be developing new ways for the Human race to exist and defend themselves in outer space. The more I thought about it the more enthusiastic I became. The prospect of working on cutting edge projects was exciting. But, exciting or not, my primary concern was Terri. “I don’t understand Aaron, Terri’s injuries had to be severe and yet when I looked in on her she was sleeping comfortably and looked great.” Dr. Campbell replied, “Andy when we took over her care, she was clinging to life by a thread. Current medical treatments would have left her, at best, with permanent brain damage, barely able to care for herself. The Egolari use medical nanobots to help heal their patients.” “We have developed similar nanobots for use in our Marines to give them extra strength, superior reactions and endurance.” “They are also engineered to help the body heal itself from severe wounds and illnesses.” “We decided to use them with her. It is totally experimental in civilian use, but we have been using them on our Navy personnel and Marines and they are doing just fine.”
“Terri will be monitored closely over the days ahead to make sure they are working as they are supposed to.” “She will be a bit stronger than she was and she will never have the flu or a cold again.” He jokingly added, “and it might be in your best interests not to tick her off.”
Dr. Campbell went on to say, “now how about you, how do you feel?” I said, “Dr. Campbell, Physically I feel great, emotionally a little confused, but I am beginning to hope that Terri’s injuries will not lead to long term disabilities.” “If she is doing as well as you say then, as soon as she gives me the OK I would like to get to work. In fact, I think I need to get to work.” “That’s great Andy”, said Dr. Garrett. ”Here is what we have in mind. First, we need you at our R&D site in Nevada. Talk to Terri. We would like you to go out there right away, and as soon as she can travel we will bring her out as well.” “All your belongings from the apartment have been moved already, I hope that is OK, we felt it would be safer if you didn’t go back there. There are people who are trying to upset what we are doing. You have already experienced the extent they are willing to go to for the realization of their goals. Captain Anderson works for Admiral Miller. He is tasked with getting the SOL/FED Navy up and running. He is planning to leave for Nevada tomorrow. If you are comfortable leaving that soon, let me know and we will get you on your way.”
Bill was waiting where I had left him. When I got in the cart I asked him to take me back to the medical facility. When we arrived, I went in and asked if I could see Terri and the nurse said, “absolutely, she has been asking for you.” I thought to myself, Asking for me? She had major injuries. I assumed I wouldn’t be able to talk to her for weeks. To say I am shocked and gratified would be a huge understatement. “It seems awfully soon for her to be asking for me” I said.
“Well, we work pretty fast around here Dr. Garrett, we will have her up and walking in no time at all.”
When I walked in to Terri’s room, I couldn’t believe it, she was sitting up in bed eating jello. She put down the jello and said. “Oh, my God, you’re finally here. No one will tell me anything, where are we, what happened, how did I wind up in this hospital bed?”
I replied, “Terri honey, I am glad you are sitting down, I believe I will do the same, because what I am going to tell you is going to take some time. And it will knock your socks off.”
I sat there for a couple of hours explaining the entire thing. Finally, I said “That’s the story, tell me what you think.” She said “It’s just incredible and so exciting that we will be in at the very beginning.” She went on, “Andy, I feel wonderful. I am certain I am going to be OK. The Doctors say I am making great progress. I really believe you should go ahead and go to Nevada. You can’t do anything here and my Doctors are amazing. I will follow you as soon as I can travel. Go on out and get our ‘homestead’ set up. We can talk every day. The important thing is that you get to work. It sounds like there is no time to waste.” I replied, “Captain Anderson is going to Nevada tomorrow morning. This will be an excellent opportunity for me to get to know most of the key people working on The Project, so, I think I will leave tomorrow if it is OK with you.” Terri said, “I’ll miss you, but it shouldn’t be for too long. Go ahead, but we WILL get married when I get there. OK?” I said, “absolutely, I’ll make sure there is a chaplain waiting.”
CHAPTER THREE
GETTING UP TO SPEED
Gunnery Sergeant Adam Scott had made the necessary arrangements for me. He said, “Captain Anderson, we were scheduled to leave Andrews at ten thirty AM. I have coordinated with the other members of the team that were going to be going along. In addition to You, Colonel Mark Rodgers and his two Lieutenants, Jamie Finnerty and Shaun Daly, Dr. Andy Garrett, and two of his people working on special projects, Dr. Anne Hiller and Dr. Mike Addison. Also included is an Egolari named Sudeer. Sudeer reports to Elvort he is our technical liaison and is our “go to guy” when dealing with the Egolari technology.”
Of course, Gunny went as well. After introductions, all around, we got aboard a new Grumman G-650. As soon as the air-stair door closed we began to taxi. It turned out to be a four-hour trip to Nevada and we utilized every minute of it to begin getting our priorities in line. We need to figure out what we needed, how we could get what we needed and who was going to do what.
Dr. Garrett started the conversation by asking me, “Captain Anderson, what do you feel will be needed in the way of weapons and defense systems.” I replied, “The Egolari have provided us with four classes of hulls. All of the hulls were commercial ships used in commerce and trading thru out the Federation. The smallest, at 150 meters, is what we are calling a Corvette the next class up is the Destroyer at 200 meters, then the Cruisers at 280 meters and the big boys the carriers at 400 meters. The Corvettes carried one 1000 mw fusion reactor, the Destroyers two, the cruisers had four and the Carrier carried 5 10,000 mw fusion reactors. The existing reactors were more than adequate for engine power, the shielding required for travel through space, FTL systems, life support, and running the ships. The Egolari, recognized we would need more power for weapons and shielding, so they basically tripled the reactors on board each ship, two thirds of the available power is segregated for offensive and defensive weapons and shields.”
“We expect that we will be facing a race called the Eldirelians. They seem to be one of the worst offenders.” Dr. Garrett turned to Sudeer and asked, “Sudeer, what can we expect from the Eldirelian ships?” Sudeer explained, “they employ high speed missiles with atomic warheads that yield from 10 to 50 megatons, they can be programmed for contact or local area activation, the area activation birds can send out an EMP pulse that will disable computer systems that are not well shielded. The ships computers and AI are well enough shielded to withstand them, but we need to be careful with the missiles we deploy. Our missiles must be hardened for EMP pulses as well. The Eldirelians also use lasers. A lot of lasers. Our shields will need to be able to defeat 10 mw lasers on their smaller vessels and 100 mw lasers on their big ships. The good news is that it takes the Eldirelian weapons from 150 to 210 seconds between shots due to the heat buildup in the accumulators.”
“Any rail guns” Dr. Garrett asked. “No,” said Sudeer, “they don’t use them, even for close in weapon protection, they rely on their small lasers instead.” “We will need several types of laser cannons, missiles and torpedoes, and we need shields capable of defeating the same weapons we deploy. As I mentioned, some of the missiles will be nuclear so we must be prepared for that.”
“I think we need to deploy rail guns.” Dr. Garrett said. “Rail guns are magn
etically fired weapons that fire a solid projectile. Although they are ‘dumb’ projectiles, they can do a tremendous amount of damage when used correctly. The Projectiles can be easily manufactured on supply ships that accompany our fleets. They can be manufactured out of the debris that exists in every system.”
“What is your opinion Captain Anderson?” Asked Dr. Garrett. My reply was simple. “The more offensive and defensive weapons the better. If you can devise them and make them work, I want them.”
As the conversations went on, I noticed Colonel Rodgers had been quiet. I could tell he had some question.
I said “Mark, what about the Marines, how can we help you?” Colonel Rodgers said, “Admiral, we have Marines, some of the best on Earth, but Marines can only do so much without weapons and armor. We need to be able to maneuver in the vacuum of space. The suits and armor need to be light weight and capable of supporting our fighting men for several hours on internal power. They also need to give us the maneuverability to attack and defend without limiting us in our movement. Further we need weapons and personal shields. Our current gas powered projectile weapons will be of little use against lasers. We will also need some sort of sleds or scooters to move larger numbers of our people without expending their personal suits power supply.”
Sudeer spoke up, “Colonel Rodgers, have you seen the power suits our workers use to EVA at Titan base?” “They are self-contained and add a great deal of strength to our workers, they are also quite maneuverable. If we can add extra power and shielding, they could perhaps provide the protection you need.” I said, “Sudeer, can you get a couple of those suits here for us to work with?”
“I’ll have them on the next shuttle,” he replied. Sudeer went on, “The workers also use small individual “scooters” to move greater distances in the ship yard and there are powered “sleds” as well to transport larger bulkier materials and equipment, I will have several of each sent here for evaluation.”
“Anne,” asked Dr. Garrett, “would you mind taking on the marine armor project, it sounds like it is right up your alley”. Anne said, “absolutely, I already have a couple of ideas.” She continued, “Colonel Rodgers, can you lend me a couple of your Marines, I need the people who will be using them to help evaluate them.” Colonel Rodgers said, “Shaun, Jamie, get with Dr. Hiller and stay with the armor project until you have something for us to evaluate.” “Aye Sir,” replied both marines.
I said, “that sounds like a plan. Mark, let me know if there is anything you need.” I went on. “I have a couple of question for Sudeer. How small can you make your FTL systems?”
“How small? Why do you ask?” he replied. “I am thinking that if we can make them small enough we could build some missiles that were FTL, they might just be too fast for the enemy to defend against.” Sudeer nodded, “we use FTL for our message drones and they are about the size of a missile, I believe they might work and I am not certain about the short range; however we should evaluate the precision and ease of programming. What was the other question?”
I said, “how precise is the FTL jump system?” Sudeer said, “it is precise, the FTL message drones can automatically sense their destination ships and drop out of FTL within 2000 meters of the ship, and the larger FTL systems we use for the ships use the same computer system, so they should be able to perform in almost the same way. However, if you are thinking of doing FTL jumps in combat we will need to refine their capabilities. Short range jumps in a combat situation would be beyond the safe operating parameters. If you believe that short jumps will give you an added dimension in a combat scenario we can do some research and see if we can make that a possibility.”
“Is there a recharge time?” I asked. He replied, “There is, but we could use a condenser system that stores sufficient charge for multiple jumps. That would be much easier on the reactors. Rather than having a heavy demand and then a steep drop off, the condenser system would allow for a smoother recharge sequence. I don’t believe it would work for more than five or six short jumps, but it would work.” He went on to say, “I will have our engineers do the research and give us some guidelines for use of the FTL system in a combat scenario.”
I asked, “Is it possible for our engineers and scientists to work with your Egolari engineers to familiarize themselves with the FTL system?”
Sudeer explained that it would not be possible at this time. “The Egolari FTL system is in high demand because of its reliability and precision.” “We only sell them to select clients and they are sealed systems that are always accompanied by an Egolari technician who stays with the system if it is out of our direct control. The technicians are there to watch over the systems, they cannot open them or service them in any way. The systems themselves self-destruct if tampered with.”
I asked, “Could you and Elvort make a request on our behalf to allow our engineers to be involved in the development of the combat FTL project?” I said. “A fleet the size we are talking about will need to be able to repair and service the FTL systems in the field. Even if Egolari engineers agree to go in harm’s way we will need SOL/FED Navy capable of handling those duties.”
“I shall try” agreed Sudeer.
“I have one more question Sudeer, it seems strange to me that we have some huge hulls with plenty of room in them called carriers, but where are the fighters?”
“Fighters? I don’t understand Captain Anderson, what are fighters? Aren’t all SOL/FED Navy personnel “fighters”? Asked Sudeer. I explained, “ Sudeer, Fighters are small, very fast, highly maneuverable craft that can attack enemy vessels in packs. They are carried by a larger ship so they are not required to have FTL capability. Earth navies have found them to be invaluable in the defense of fleets and in attack mode as well.” “How large would they be?” Asked Sudeer. “Earth fighters are usually 20 to 30 meters long with a 15 to 20 meters’ wing spread I replied.” Sudeer said “The Federation has no hulls that small, but there are commercial sporting hulls available that our people use for sport racing they are about that size. They function in space and are quite maneuverable in atmosphere as well. Would that work?” I replied, “they sound like something that would make the space fighter concept work. Would it be possible for you to get some of the hulls to experiment with?” Sudeer agreed to have them on the next shipment as well.
We had covered a lot of territory. As soon as the Gulfstream had landed everyone hit the ground running.
The command positions were identical on all the hulls. We had a mock up in Nevada and I was busy reviewing the bridge layout. I wasn’t happy with the location of the weapons consoles, they were too far from the command position. We adjusted by moving weapons, navigation, sensor systems and the maneuvering station in to a semi-circle, facing forward just below and a little ahead of the Command and Executive officer’s positions. With that immediate problem solved, I moved on to others. There was no shortage of problems to be solved.
Our medical director introduced me to the doctors who would be heading up the medical department on my flagship. Naidoo, an Egolari, was familiar with the highly sophisticated Egolari medical equipment we were installing on all our ships, and Dr. Peggie Barton, an expert on human physiology, would be his co-Director. We were going in harm’s way, with a crew exceeding five thousand sailors and Marines, excellent medical facilities and personnel were an absolute necessity. Dr. Barton and Naidoo were putting together a team that would be a model for the ships that followed. This was another department I felt was in good hands, one I would not need to worry about. And one, unknown to me, I would be very grateful for in the near future.
A few weeks later Dr. Garrett had finished a preliminary proposal for the shields we would be using for our ships. They were innovative, double layer fields that had independent random frequency modulators. It would be impossible for the enemy to nail down a frequency that they could defeat, and with the power available I am certain they will be robust enough for almost anything that got thrown a
t them. At least I thought I was certain. The shield emitters and capacitors were manufactured on Earth and transported to Nevada for testing. We tested the shields by using an (HEL-MD), a Boeing designed fiber laser system that uses half the electricity that a solid-state laser uses. This is the Laser cannon that will be mounted on all our ships except for the Corvettes. Depending on the configuration the lasers were capable of anything required between 10 mw, and 150 mw. We also tested some of our new missiles and even a monster rail gun that was being developed for an orbital defense platform. The shields passed with flying colors and even better, their recharge rate was much quicker than expected. Of course, the proof of the pudding will be our first battle.
Ten days’ later plans were transmitted to the Egolari engineers at Titan base for the new shield system and the mega lasers. Four days after that the Medium laser turret plans were transmitted. A few days later the rail gun plans were sent. Now all we could do was wait until they were built and tested.
The Egolari FTL drone systems arrived and they were a natural for the existing missiles, easily installed, with the ability to be aimed and adjusted by an operator remotely. We will also deploy regular missiles. The regularly powered missiles are much easier and cheaper to build. We will save the FTL missiles if the regular powered missiles are effective.
We finally have our “fighters”. The racing hulls from the Egolari came in the next shipment. I put Colonel Paul Irons in charge of the development of the fighter program. Paul came to us via the U S Marine Corps. where he had flown F-22 Raptors. After retirement Irons, had missed the action. He was a natural for the SOL/FED Navy. His wife, Captain Mary Carpenter Irons also took retirement. She was coming aboard as well. Mary Irons will be Captain of the Cruiser Alan B. Sheppard. We felt that the accommodation was a win/win for the Irons and the fleet. Both of these officers are superstars.