The Thunder of War (Thunder in the Heavens)

by Dietmar Wehr

  Torq could tell by the officer’s flushed expression and heavy breathing that her sense of duty to obey orders was in conflict with the hormonally-induced battle lust that was still raging inside her. When she did respond, her voice was ragged with stress.

  “Understood, Fleet of Fleets Master.”

  Torq nodded and sat back down. Being addressed by that title was technically correct since he was the only one of the three Fleet Masters to survive, but the reality of having scattered what was left of the Fleet of Fleets and retreating from battle left a sour taste in his mouth that was not the result of the usual stomach heaves. He doubted very much that he would be allowed to retain command of a fleet, and perhaps not even of a single ship, because his actions, which he now was convinced represented the correct strategy, would likely be derided as being cowardly. The Odina were teaching his people how to fight a new kind of war, and he had to somehow convince his superiors that an orgy of mindless combat driven by battle lust was not the way to win that new war. He waited for the usual vomiting as his body’s blood returned to its normal chemical balance, but the stomach heaves did not come. How strange, he thought.

  Pathfinder

  Ripley looked around the oval table in the Officers’ Lounge that was being used for this conference. Forty-eight hours had now passed since the return of the first super-ship from the second attack on the Odina system. Seven ships in all had returned, one at a time. Their slower than normal speed suggested that some of them were damaged. He shivered remembering the shock as one super-ship emerged from hyper-space so close to Pathfinder that the ship’s optical systems could see how badly damaged the alien vessel was by the sections missing from the huge hull. Pathfinder had been forced to jump away immediately and had taken its time moving back into detection range of the third planet. The aftermath of the return of the damaged ships was a surge in the volume of incoming L-wave transmissions but not immediately. It was Ashiana who pointed out that Pathfinder could use the timing of the incoming signals to estimate how far away the transmitting star systems were if the assumption were made that those incoming messages were replies to outgoing reports of the attack results. The longer it took for a reply to come back, the farther away that system should in theory be. Combining this with the directions the incoming signals were coming from, his Astrogation Section was able to create a pretty good plot of those star systems the Tyrell were currently occupying that were close enough to be contacted directly from this system.

  “Okay, Astro, let’s see what your section has come up with,” said Ripley quietly.

  The 2D display on the wall left something to be desired in terms of relative positions, but there were too many people attending this briefing to hold it on the Bridge. The A.O. had compensated for the 2D image by making it rotate. There was an audible gasp as the group began to realize the scale of the visual information they were now seeing.

  “The red dots are star systems that lie on the path of the incoming L-wave signals AND are also at the right distances to conform to the timing of the return signals. In all, there are thirteen of them, but my fellow astrogators and I are agreed that we may be seeing only the tip of the iceberg. For one thing, we’ve tracked signals that are coming from systems other than these thirteen.” Yellow lines appeared radiating outward from the green dot that represented the star system Pathfinder was in right now. “Each of those yellow lines intersects at least two but in some cases more star systems that could be the point of origin of those signals. And we haven’t yet received what looks like a reply to the battle results or, in some cases, the incoming traffic is so frequent that we can’t tell which signal is responding to the battle results and which ones aren’t. There are eight of those yellow lines. That suggests a minimum of twenty-one other star systems under Tyrell control.” He paused then said, “We think there are more, a lot more. Watch as the image rotates. You’ll notice that those red dots seem to be curving away from us. If we assume that the Tyrell have expanded outward in all directions at the same pace, then the systems they occupy are likely to form a more or less round sphere. The curve formed by the red dots, if projected to form a sphere, would look like this.”

  The image zoomed out, and the outline of a sphere formed with the red dots occupying only a fraction of the interior of the sphere. Ripley heard more than one person invoke the name of a Diety. He felt like invoking a Diety too. He looked over at Ashiana. Her poker face expression was gone, replaced by shock, and was there perhaps some fear too?

  “Did you try to estimate how many occupied star systems might be in this sphere?” asked Ripley.

  “Yessir. We came up with estimates ranging from eighty-nine to a hundred forty-four, sir.”

  “My God!” whispered Harrow just loud enough for Ripley to hear her.

  “Do you still think your people can defeat the Tyrell by themselves, Second Officer Ashiana?” asked Ripley.

  Ashiana closed her eyes and shook her head. Ripley was about to say something else when he noticed that Eagleton was trying to get his attention.

  “Yes, Gort?”

  “I was just wondering, sir, if one of those yellow signal lines goes through the center of this sphere. If so, that might be the Tyrell home system.”

  “What about that, Astro?” asked Ripley.

  “We were wondering the same thing. The problem is that at this scale, there are several star systems that are more or less in the center of the sphere and also intersect one of the yellow lines. Right now we have no way of knowing which system is the home system.”

  “Do you think you’d be able to figure out which system it is if we stay here longer?” asked Ripley.

  “We might be able to come up with a more likely candidate star system, but I don’t see any way to know for sure. Whatever we come up with will just be an educated guess, sir.”

  Ripley nodded and took a deep breath. “We’ve gathered a lot of intel on the Tyrell so far, and it seems to me that staying longer will not add anything significant to what we already have. Therefore I’m leaning towards calling this mission complete and heading home, but I’m willing to listen to arguments in favor of staying.”

  Before he could say more, Ashiana stood up. “It’s imperative that Pathfinder stay in this system to monitor any buildup of a third attack force,” she said forcefully. “If my people are able to get an early enough warning of when the third attack leaves here, they’ll be able to optimize their defensive deployments at the right time. In return for your people’s assistance, I’m certain the Odina High Command will look more favorably on military alliance and technology sharing agreements.”

  When she sat down, Ripley looked over at Harrow and Eagleton sitting next to her. He saw Cate nod slightly. The two of them had discussed the possibility that Ashiana might say something like this. When he spoke, it was slowly and in a lower than normal tone.

  “If there already were an agreement on military co-operation between our two peoples, I’d look more favorably on your request, but there isn’t. My first and only priority is to my planet, and if my actions can also benefit yours then so much the better; however, in this case, the longer we stay in this system, the more probable it becomes that a Tyrell ship will drop out of hyper near us and begin firing. Quite frankly, we’ve been lucky so far, and I don’t intend to push our luck without a damn good reason.” Ashiana started to say something but stopped when she saw Ripley hold his hand up. “You’ve dangled in front of us the prospect of a military alliance and technology sharing if we stay longer. I believe that you believe your superiors would be more amenable to those actions, but you don’t know for sure if they will. And we can’t ask them by L-wave because the Tyrell will pick up their reply and wonder who the Odina are sending L-wave messages to in this star system. If the Tyrell suspect that there’s a spy ship in their star system, then the chances of us being attacked go way up in my opinion. There is, however, a way that we can get clarity on what your High Command is or is not willing to agree to wi
thout risking discovery by the Tyrell. Unfortunately, if we do what I’m about to suggest, it will mean leaving the third planet unmonitored for a period of time. There’s a slight risk that the Tyrell will bring in massive reinforcements more quickly than we expect, and we may miss the launching of their next attack. You need to consider that risk when you hear my compromise, which is this: Pathfinder heads to a star system that does not line up with any known or suspected Tyrell-occupied star systems with regards to the path of any replies we get from Odina AND from Earth. We then send messages to both planets. You ask your High Command for a commitment to a military alliance plus technology sharing in return for Pathfinder continuing the recon mission and sharing what we’ve already discovered. I will tell Earth what we have so far and ask permission to continue recon IF the Odina make it worth the risk. If both planets agree, then Pathfinder will come back here and monitor the third attack buildup. Is that acceptable to you, Second Officer Ashiana?”

  “May I ask a question before I answer yours, Commander Ripley?”

  Ripley waved his hand. “Ask your question.”

  “Did I misunderstand your statement about the contents of my message to my High Command? It sounded as though you will not let me share this data—” she pointed to the star map, “—with my superiors. Until they see with their own eyes how big the Tyrell empire really is, they may not realize how necessary an alliance and technology sharing is at this point.”

  “No, you didn’t misunderstand. You can tell them what you’ve seen here in this room, but the actual data itself remains under human control until such time as we have an alliance. We humans may be primitive compared to your people, but we’re not stupid. This data has value, and I intend to get something in return for that value if at all possible.”

  Ashiana’s poker face re-appeared. “If I have said anything or acted in a way to suggest that we consider your people to be primitive, I apologize for that. I did not mean to give that impression.’

  “Your apology is accepted; although I have to say, it would have carried more weight if you had made it BEFORE you realized how much you need our help,” said Ripley. “You still haven’t answered my question.”

  After a slight hesitation, Ashiana said, “Your compromise suggestion is acceptable, Commander.”

  “Fine.” Turning to the A.O., Ripley said, “Okay, Astro, find me a system where any reply from Odina or Earth won’t be picked up by the Tyrell behind us.”

  “We’ll try, sir, but you do understand that I can’t absolutely guarantee that level of secure communications?”

  “I understand. If we need to pick a system farther away to reduce the odds of being overheard, then so be it. When can you come up with an answer?”

  “I think we can give you some options in less than an hour, sir.”

  “Fine. In that case, this meeting is adjourned.”

  When the Astrogation officers showed Ripley their results, he was shocked. “Am I reading this right? It would actually be faster to go all the way back to Odina than it would be to reach a star system where we’d have secure two-way communication with both Odina and Earth?”

  The A.O. nodded. “The Tyrell empire sphere is so large compared to our distance from it that we would need to go that far in order to keep the return L-wave beams from passing through any part of their empire, yes sir.” He hesitated before continuing. “Ah, we did do a second search with different parameters, sir. The Tyrell already know about the Odina and where their home system is, but they don’t yet know about Earth as far as we know. If we forget about the Tyrell possibly intercepting the Odina reply and only worry about keeping the location of Earth a secret, then we get a better set of options that looks like this.” The image on the main display changed.

  Ripley shook his head in dismay. “Well, it is better, but I’m not thrilled with these options either. We’d still have to travel a distance that’s almost half the distance to Odina. This mission has already gone on longer than I expected. I’m beginning to see signs of crew fatigue, not to mention the fact that our guest may not have brought enough supplies if we end up having to come back here for even more weeks of snooping.”

  The A.O. remained silent. After some further pondering, Ripley said, “Let’s get Ashiana up here to see this. Her food supply situation may settle this issue for us.”

  When Ashiana arrived on the Bridge and had listened to the explanation by the Senior Astrogator, she turned to look at Ripley and said, “I will not allow my food supply to determine whether we do this or not. If I have to, I’ll eat human food.”

  “Are you aware that human food might be toxic to Odina physiology?” asked Ripley.

  Ashiana nodded. “I’m willing to take that risk, Commander.”

  “Okay. Astro, which option gives us the shortest travel time while still preventing Earth’s reply from passing through the projected sphere?”

  The A.O. manipulated the display image, and a single flashing green dot appeared with a yellow line originating at Earth that barely missed the Tyrell sphere.

  “How long to get there?” asked Ripley.

  “Eight point five days, to which we then have to add the message transit time to Earth/Odina and back; so, we’re looking at a minimum of thirteen point six days before we know if we’re returning here or heading back to Odina on the way home,” said the A.O.

  “Okay. Get the ship moving there. I’ll make a crew announcement shortly.” As the A.O. and Ashiana went their separate ways, Ripley wondered if he was making the right decision by leaving the Tyrell system unmonitored for over three weeks at a minimum.

  Tyrell Base/Cyberline star system

  Torq marched into the Base Master’s office, stopped in front of the officer’s desk, came to attention and gave the requisite salute. The Base Master took his time returning the salute. Torq waited to be told to stand at ease, but that command never came. He steeled himself for the shit storm that he knew was about to fall on his head.

  “I have never read an Action Report like yours in all my time in the military,” growled the Base Master. “If you had stopped half way after describing the chaotic battle conditions, your report might just have been acceptable, but you didn’t. You then compounded your disgrace by daring to lecture your superiors on how this is now a new kind of war, a war that has to be fought with new thinking, war where Fleet Masters retreat from combat if the battle gets too hot and heavy!” The Base Master slammed his right fist on the desk hard enough to make the whole thing bounce. “Your claim that the Fleet of Fleets would have been totally destroyed if you hadn’t retreated is an unverifiable assertion that reeks of cowardice. Did you bother to check the battle logs of any of the ships that came back to see how many enemy ships had been destroyed?”

  “No, Base Master,” said Torq quietly.

  “Well then, I’ll enlighten you! Forty-two percent of all detected enemy ships had been destroyed by the time you ordered the fleet to leave the field of battle, thereby leaving six of our ships behind because their hyper-drives had been damaged! They had to keep on fighting no matter what, but up to that point, the Fleet of Fleets had lost less than one third of the eighteen ships it started with! So the enemy had lost a greater percentage that you did, and yet you fled the field of battle!”

  “May I speak, Base Master?”

  “Speak then, dammit!”

  “Each enemy ship was small enough that a single direct hit from one of our KE shells would have destroyed it. The fact that they lost forty-two percent of their ships means that they had fifty-eight percent of their ships completely undamaged, while every single ship in the Fleet of fleets was damaged when I gave the withdrawal order. If those six ships couldn’t hyper out, then they were so badly damaged that they wouldn’t have lasted much longer, and their fighting ability at that point was probably minimal. I brought back seven ships, damaged to be sure, but more importantly I brought back seven ship crews that can fight again and learn from that battle so that the next attack does
n’t make the same tactical mistakes.”

  “The only mistake that I can see is that you didn’t press the attack all the way to its conclusion. If you had done that, there was a good chance that the entire enemy fleet would have been destroyed, and the war would have been won even if the cost of that victory was the loss of most of our ships. That outcome would have been preferable to this situation where we now have to postpone other attacks and send those ships here to clean up the mess you made! This enemy has only one developed star system, but your incompetence has caused disruption to the momentum of our entire expansion that would ordinarily have resulted from attacking a much larger star empire! It will take us years to regain that momentum!” The Base Master paused before continuing.

  “Your appointment as Fleet Master is rescinded. Your appointment as Ship Master is also rescinded. Your recent promotion to Leader of Ten Hundred is ALSO rescinded! You will remain here in this system until the next attack is ready. You will then board the flagship in order to observe how a successful battle is won. When that race has been defeated and subdued, you will then be sent back to the Capital where you will have the honor to command a desk in some forgotten department of the Fleet Service! The only reason you’re being allowed to continue to wear that uniform is that dismissing you from the Service would also dishonor your father’s Service legacy and memory. Now get out of my sight!”