Into the Battle
Page 6
As Admiral Bailey moved his hand across a blank spot on the wall, a small keypad suddenly illuminated. He typed in a code, then placed his thumb on a biometric scanner and looked at a small camera. There was a slight hiss as the safe unsealed itself and opened up, revealing a well-hidden spot in the middle section of the wall.
Bailey pulled an old-fashioned paper folder out of the safe and walked back to his chair. Sitting down, he handed it hesitantly to the President.
“I propose we move forward with this,” he said as she took the folder with yellow and red stripes on it marked “Presidential Eyes Only.” Only a couple of people in the entire world had clearance to see what was in that folder or work on any of its contents. It was so secretive that no electronic copies had been made, so there would be no way for the information to be copied or stolen.
She smiled as she accepted the file. “I was told by President Roberts that the Director of Space Command kept a secret paper folder known only to a handful of people. I thought it was kind of a joke, but now I see he was serious. What’s in this thing that’s so secret it can’t be on our servers?”
“You’ll see, Madam President,” Bailey replied enigmatically.
As President Luca read, a slight smile crept across her face. She nodded a couple of times as she flipped through a couple more pages. Eventually, when she had read through the bulk of the document, she suddenly closed it, placing it down on the table next to them.
“I see your point, Chester,” she began. “While I agree with the contents of this report, and it’s clearly been thought through extremely well, I’m not sure how we convince the TPA to go along. As you know, their economy is nearly twice ours. Their population is also four times as large as ours. How do you propose we get them to agree to this?”
“Madam President, as large as the TPA is, their military ability to defend Earth or Sol is sorely lacking,” Bailey said, crossing his arms. “Half of their space fleet is now deployed to the Centaurus system. They’ve left the bulk of the defense of Sol and handling this new threat to us.
“I think we can make the case that their forces and economy should be folded into ours. The key to all of this is making sure an equitable governing board or senate is established. That way, they won’t feel like they’re being cut out of the political process. Then I think we can make this work.”
President Luca steepled her fingers. “You believe they’ll go for this…form a new republic with us?”
Bailey nodded. “If we choreograph it right, yes. In a few weeks, we’ll get our first com probes back from New Eden. If we’ve achieved a great victory, then it’ll add fuel to our movement. If we suffer a defeat or loss, it’ll add to the fear we can use to drive home the need for this to happen. In either case, Madam President, it’ll be a win-win situation for us and Sol.”
She lifted her chin as she thought about the proposal. There was a significant pause as she worked through the risks. Admiral Bailey realized she was probably considering what would happen to her own position of power—there was certainly no guarantee that she would be chosen to head up this new government.
They’d probably make me the head of the entire military force, he thought as he considered his own fate.
Slowly, a smile spread across Luca’s face. I wonder if she’s planning to become the de facto Minister of Defense, he thought. If the two of them teamed up, they would run the most critical facets of the government; she could always secure the prime minister position down the road.
“OK, Chester, let’s see if we can put some of this into motion and test the waters,” she directed.
*******
Ten Days Later
Admiral, we’ve just received the first com drone from New Eden, announced Bailey’s staff officer over his neurolink.
Admiral Bailey perked up at the news. Transfer the file to my terminal and schedule a meeting for later in the day to discuss the information, he ordered.
Once the administrative tasks had been taken care of, Bailey clicked on the packet of information the drone had brought back. He then entered his pass code to unlock the encrypted data package. For security purposes, only a select few people had the pass code needed to open the com drone’s files—this was a deliberate effort by Space Command to ensure they controlled the flow of information. If, God forbid, the Earth fleet got wiped out, they didn’t want everyone knowing about it before they figured out how to respond.
After opening the first set of files, Bailey read a collection of summary reports to get a quick idea of what had happened. The BLUF or bottom line up front statements said the fleet had arrived safely in the system. It also contained a packet of information on what appeared to be two completely different types of Zodark ships from what they’d previously encountered.
Before Bailey read the additional information, he clicked on some closeup images of the two ships.
Interesting, he thought. No…huge and terrifying is more like it. These were warships, straight-up frontline combat ships.
Admiral Bailey then looked below the images at the next BLUF section, which encapsulated the synopsis of the battle. Since the com drone had a BLUF statement of the battle, Bailey knew Admiral Halsey’s fleet had won, or at least survived. Now he just needed the details.
The more Chester read about the battle, the more his stomach churned. Admiral Halsey’s fleet had succeeded in destroying what they had classified as a Zodark battleship, but they had lost three of the four destroyer escorts in the process. They had also engaged a Zodark carrier. His heart skipped a beat when he read that they had boarded and captured the crippled ship. The last part of the message said they were going to try to get the captured ship repaired so it could be brought back to Sol, or taken apart so key components, as identified by their Sumerian allies, could be brought to Earth for further study.
The file on the first day of the battle also had more than two thousand hours of videos attached for further analysis. Admiral Halsey had included over a thousand hours alone of just the Deltas boarding the Zodark carrier.
Bailey took a couple of minutes to watch a few of the clips. Seeing how these beasts fought scared him to death. They’re savage animals, he thought. He figured he’d seen the worst of it when he’d watched one of them break out of the brig on the Voyager on the last mission, but the close-quarter combat that took place on the Zodark ship was surreal.
The Deltas were the Republic’s most ferocious fighters. They were physically enhanced, augmented combat soldiers. Aside from the exoskeleton combat suits they fought in, their bodies had been considerably improved to make them even stronger, smarter, and tougher soldiers. If these super-soldiers were having a tough time fighting the Zodarks, how would the regular nonenhanced soldier fare?
We’re going to need to train more of these enhanced soldiers or move entirely to combat Synths, he realized.
Next, Bailey read the damage report from the Rook. The ship had been badly mauled during the battle. More than thirty percent of the crew had been either killed or wounded in action. The vessel was combat ineffective at this point, at least until it could get to a shipyard for a complex overhaul.
An hour went by as Bailey finished skimming through the remainder of the report. He’d seen enough to know what needed to happen. They had fought a courageous battle against the Zodarks and achieved a great victory, but it had been costly. Now his staff would need to work on crafting a plan to disseminate this information to the rest of the public in coordination with the TPA.
*******
“Admiral Bailey, this is incredible news. Did Admiral Halsey or Admiral Zheng say when the ground assault would begin?” asked Admiral Hong through his holographic display.
Admiral Hong Jinping was Bailey’s Tri-Parte Alliance counterpart. Now that the TPA military was fully involved in the capture of this new world, the two militaries were working closer than ever before.
Bailey shook his head. “No, they didn’t,” he replied. “Knowing Admiral Halsey, I be
lieve she will probably want to conduct a thorough sweep of the planet’s two moons and make sure there are no other threats before she begins operations to secure the planet. Since we received the first com drone today, we should receive a new one each day for the next fourteen days. I’m sure we’ll receive a lot more information in tomorrow’s drone.”
Admiral Hong nodded. “Then I suggest we wait until we receive tomorrow’s com drone before we make any public announcement, Admiral,” he replied, speaking in a tone that implied this was not a suggestion at all but more of an order. “We should make sure nothing unfortunate has happened to our fleet. We have to assume the Zodarks sent a distress message of their own once our fleet arrived in the system.”
Bailey opened his mouth to say something but stopped. He had to admit, Admiral Hong was right. They couldn’t assume the Zodarks hadn’t sent a message out once the Earth fleet had arrived in the system. They should wait for at least one, maybe two more days before they announced to the world what had happened in the Rhea system.
Bailey suddenly remembered the video images of that Delta sergeant fighting the Zodarks, which was attached to a recommendation to award the man the Medal of Honor. That inspired an idea of how they’d roll out the release of this information in a couple of days.
Looking at the holographic image of Admiral Hong, Bailey replied, “You are right, Hong. I agree with you. Let’s wait and collect a few more days’ worth of com drones as we build a bigger picture of the situation in the system.”
Admiral Hong’s ego seemed to puff up at the words “I agree with you,” and the rest of the conversation was rather cheerful.
Once the meeting had ended, Admiral Bailey, his executive officer, and a handful of advisors followed him back to his office. When the door was closed, the group took their seats.
Bailey cleared his throat. “In the packet of information Admiral Halsey sent us was a series of videos,” he began. “Two, in particular, were from the breaching team that had stormed the Zodark carrier. I believe the sergeant that led that assault was named Master Sergeant Brian Royce. Captain Hunt, his company commander, had a note attached to the video, recommending the soldier be awarded the Medal of Honor. After watching the video, which I highly encourage all of you to do as well, I agree. I’m going to ask the President’s approval.”
There was some slight murmuring from the group, as if they all wanted to stop what they were doing and watch the video so they could see what all the fuss was about.
“I’d like us to use that video and the images of Master Sergeant Royce—let’s turn him into the poster child of human victory in the face of this terrible evil. We can craft these videos into media campaigns to sow fear in the hearts of every person in Sol about the Zodarks, and end with a message of hope that they can be defeated just as this sergeant demonstrated. Let’s get our best people on this.”
*******
John Glenn Orbital Station
Musk Industries Headquarters
Andrew Barry, the CEO of Musk Industries, had his swivel chair facing out to the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, overlooking the massive shipyard his company ran. In the last six months, his shipyard had grown from twelve construction bays to twenty. Space Command had another fifty bays under construction on a massive new shipyard just beyond the moon. Even the shipyard facility in orbit above Mars had grown from six construction bays to twelve, with another eight in the works.
His company and his lead competitor, BlueOrigin, were experiencing an enormous economic explosion. The two Republic shipbuilders couldn’t hire enough workers or buy enough synthetic humanoids to keep up with the demand for ships being ordered by Space Command. Barry knew it was a race against time to get these powerful new fleets completed.
Right now, he was in the midst of a perfect storm. While he had more construction orders than he could possibly fill, he was also short critical resource elements to fill these orders. The mining fleets in the Belt had nearly tripled in size over the last six months—so had mining operations on Mars and elsewhere around Sol. But none of it could keep up with the sheer demand from the shipyards of Earth.
Staring outside the window, Barry watched as the two Ark-class transport ships finally pushed away from the station with the help of a couple of tugs. The two ships would be transporting some sixty-two thousand people to the Alpha Centauri colony. It would take the Arks eight days to travel there, and another week to offload its human passengers and their cargo. Then the Arks would return to Earth and start the process all over again.
Between the Republic’s two Ark-class transports, the myriad of smaller ships the TPA had, and vessels owned by other private shipping companies, Earth was transplanting half a million people a month to Alpha Centauri. The exodus would probably speed up if the shipyards were allowed to produce more civilian ships. However, right now, the only nonmilitary ships they could build were mining barges for the Belt. All other construction efforts had been directed at building up a new fleet to defend Sol and establish a military outpost in the Rhea system.
A knock at the door returned Barry’s attention to the here and now. He swiveled his chair around and saw Admiral Chester Bailey standing at the door, two of his aides in tow.
This must be important if the fleet admiral is visiting me in person without an appointment, he realized.
Standing up, Barry waved them in. “Admiral, it’s good to see you. I trust everything is OK?”
The admiral grimaced, which meant he probably wasn’t here to share good news.
“I’ve had better days, but thank you for asking. We need to talk, Andrew.” Bailey said as the four of them took a seat at the conference room table on the far side of his office.
“Sure thing, Admiral. What can I do for you?” inquired Barry. His curiosity was piqued now.
“What I’m about to show you is classified, so I’ll need you to sign this nondisclosure affidavit before we proceed.”
Andrew Barry already had the highest security clearance one could obtain in the military. Being the CEO of the largest shipbuilder in space meant he was privy to a lot of classified ship programs and weapon systems. It felt odd having to sign another NDA.
Keeping those thoughts to himself, Barry nodded and placed his finger on the biometric signature block of the NDA. The admiral pulled a small holographic display out of a secured briefcase one of his aides had handed him and turned the device on. An image of a battle appeared.
“This is a time-compressed video of the conflict that took place in the Rhea system. As you can see, our forces encountered two new types of Zodark ships,” Admiral Bailey explained as they watched the battle unfold. “The first one appears to be a battleship or large warship. Our real concern is this other one that kind of hung back from the main battle. As you can see, it’s huge. It’s roughly three kilometers long.”
Three kilometers…that’s enormous, Barry thought.
He watched the fight between the warships unfold, impressed with the high volume of fire the Rook was able to throw at the Zodark vessel. The gunners on those ships really knew how to maximize their weapons. What Barry found really interesting was how rapidly the enemy commander reacted to the Rook’s weapons once the battle started.
The enemy ship took some hits from the Rook’s magrails, which appeared to catch them off guard at first. But then the Zodark vessel took evasive maneuvers. The commander probably realized their armor wasn’t going to hold up to the onslaught being thrown at them. Despite the size of the enemy warship, its ability to maneuver seemed unhindered.
Dang, thought Barry, impressed by the alien tech.
Admiral Bailey sped the video up a bit to get to the battle between the Rook and the carrier. To Barry’s surprise, the Rook tore through the enemy battleship far faster than he would have thought possible. Clearly, their upgrade to the larger magrail turrets and the integration of the new Havoc missiles had paid off.
Then the Zodark carrier engaged. Wave after wave of fighters spi
lled out of hangars built into the side of the Zodark carrier ship. The enemy fighters raced toward the Rook at incredible rates of speed. The Rook engaged them with their magrails and then later their CIWS point defense weapons. The red tracers whipped through space at an incredible rate—it was nothing short of amazing to see.
Something suddenly caught Barry’s eye. “What the hell is that?” he grilled the admiral, pointing at the objects being fired by those tiny little fighters.
With a look of concern on his face, Admiral Bailey explained, “That is why you signed a new NDA. The after-action report from the battle by Admiral Halsey says they’re plasma torpedoes. They’re unlike anything we’ve seen before—”
“Plasma torpedoes? How exactly do they work?” Barry interrupted. The thought of a plasma torpedo had never even occurred to him; plasma would melt any guidance system, engine or fuel source that he knew of.
Admiral Bailey sighed. “I’m honestly not sure about all the technical specifics. I believe the folks at DARPA are trying to decipher it. What I want you to see is this.”
Moments later, the image zoomed in so they could see the torpedo with much more clarity. On the surface, it looked like a standard missile, something they were used to seeing and understood—a rocket motor on the back, a guidance system in the nose, and high explosives packed near the head of the body—but this was different.
Barry creased his eyebrows as he watched the guidable missile transform itself into a plasma weapon. The Rook did its best to evade the enemy torpedoes. Many of them missed, which Barry noted was mainly due to the enhanced maneuvering thrusters they’d added during the Rook’s refit. He made a mental note that this was not only a feature they should include in all future warship designs but one that should be improved to allow the ship even greater maneuverability in situations like this.
When the plasma torpedo hit the Rook, it tore right through the ship’s armor. It didn’t appear that there was any high-explosive warhead, at least not after the torpedo converted from a steerable offensive weapon into an unguided plasma weapon. But when it hit, it did an enormous amount of damage.