by Dietmar Wehr
Drake looked up and said, “XO to Weapons.”
“Weapons Officer here.”
“Marcus, how many HE missiles are we carrying?” The answer came back almost immediately.
“As you know, we don’t have a full loadout yet, but right now we’re carrying 20 HEs and 10 KEs.”
“Okay, I want you to program all 20 HE missiles to launch in sequence, one second apart and to go active at the same time when the first missile is 30 seconds from interception. We’ll launch the KE missiles right after that, again in sequence. They go active at the same time as the HEs. We have to make sure we stop this bogey. Got all that?”
“I copy that, XO. Stand by.”
Drake didn’t know if his strategy would work, but if the first few missiles missed, the last few should in theory be able to home in on the target. The kinetic energy missiles were the last resort. If only one or two high explosive missiles hit, they might not cripple the hyperdrive, and therefore the KE missiles, with their ability to penetrate deep into the target, had the best chance to knock out the courier’s ability to jump away. A few seconds later he heard the Weapons Officer’s voice again.
“All missiles have been programmed as instructed. I’ve transferred missile launch control to the Command Station, XO.”
“Very good, Marcus. This is our only shot at this. Let’s hope it works.”
“Roger that!”
The trip through the planet’s atmosphere seemed to take forever. Drake kept his eyes on the tactical display that was being updated continuously by data from the orbiting radar satellites, but due to the distance to the bogey, there was a 13 second delay before the information reached the missile boat, and that was the problem. If the courier pilot was on the ball, he would initiate a radical course change seconds before the missile boat started firing her missile barrage, and the targeting computer on board the boat wouldn’t see the course change until after some missiles were already on their way to the wrong interception point. But by staggering the missile launch, at least some of the later missiles should be heading to the right place.
After what seemed an eternity, the 101 cleared the atmosphere and acceleration went back up to the max. The tactical screen showed a countdown readout for the optimum point to commence missile launch. It read 35 seconds and was dropping fast.
Just as the readout approached zero, Drake touched the highlighted ‘Enable Missile Launch’ part of the screen and said, “Firing now!”
On the Tactical screen, he could see the steady stream of missiles leaving the 101 and accelerating fast towards the calculated interception point. At this distance, it would take the missiles almost 20 minutes to cover the 2.4 million kilometers to the interception point, and by the time they got there, their speed would be up to almost 4100 kilometers per second.
Those 20 minutes went surprisingly fast. During that time he heard from Ops that the Yorktown had been secured and that the Navy Base was under SSU control. He also learned that the courier in fact did not make any course changes, much to his relief. Ops surmised that the courier pilot didn’t know about the missile boat and was basing his confidence on the fact that no warship was anywhere in space and near the planet when he got the order to bug out.
If the interception was successful, the Alliance would have a chance to mobilize and build defenses. SSU Navy volunteers would take captured courier ships back to Federation territory, where they still would pretend to be Federation Navy personnel, in order not to arouse any suspicions, and then jump back home when they were ordered to their next destination. When commercial freighters arrived on Sparta and other SSU planets, they would see what they expected to see, which was Navy and Army personnel wearing Federation uniforms and acting as if nothing had changed. Once the freighters were gone, everyone would change back into their SSU uniforms. Drake knew that eventually the true situation would be discovered and word would get back to the Federation, but a lot could be accomplished in the meantime.
When the interception actually occurred, it was almost anticlimactic. As soon as the first missile started actively searching with its onboard radar, the bogey started to maneuver evasively, and in fact the first few missiles missed but the others didn’t. By the time the bogey was hit with HE warheads for the fifth time, it was no longer accelerating, and by the time the kinetic energy warheads hit, there wasn’t really much left of the target. Long range radar scans from the 101 showed an expanding debris field. Drake knew that courier ships didn’t have any life pods, which meant that the crew was dead and he felt sorry for that. Base was already congratulating him for the first military victory in System States Union history, but it didn’t feel like a victory. It felt like he had started something that he would ultimately regret, and that feeling stayed with him all the way back to Base.
Chapter Two
Day 55/2539
Senior Lieutenant Gus Connor emerged from Flight Ops and looked around nervously. The pre-flight briefing with Hekla Flight Ops personnel had been completely routine. Everyone was behaving normally. He, on the other hand, with that data chip in his breast pocket, was jittery as hell. Giving himself away with his own nervousness was his worst fear, but so far, so good. He looked at the sky not only to gage the condition of the atmosphere his courier ship would be penetrating, but also to enjoy the view for the last time for the next two months. Piloting couriers wasn’t for everyone, or even for most Navy officers. The long stretches of isolation were hard for most people to deal with. That was why the job was one of the few volunteer postings in the Navy. But if you could put up with being inside a relatively small space by yourself for months at a time, it was a fast way to gain valuable experience and promotion. The cool breeze felt good on his face. With his ship about half a kilometer away, he decided to walk. The less contact he had with navy personnel before liftoff the better. He had to get that data chip back to the navy base at Xanadu as fast as possible in order to warn Earth about the Rebellion. Thank God there was at least one loyal FED officer who hadn’t been caught by the verifier test yet. Eventually she would be, but if he could get his ship away, then her arrest would be too late.
He noticed his pace was picking up and consciously slowed down. If anyone was watching him, and he was sure someone was, they would think it unusual for a courier pilot to appear to be eager to be cooped up again, and that might trigger suspicion. He resisted the urge to look behind him. Don’t do anything you normally wouldn’t do. Was it possible that he was only half way to the ship? The urge to walk faster or even run was very powerful, but he knew that running would be a dead giveaway.
After what seemed several lifetimes, he reached the small ship and climbed aboard with his gear. Once the access ladder was retracted, he felt better. They could still stop him if they wanted to, but at least they wouldn’t be crawling through the access hatch with guns. When he was strapped into his acceleration couch, he initiated the ship’s power up procedures and waited for the status indicators to show green across the board. Only then did he open a com channel to Hekla Flight Ops.
“NC199 to Flight Ops. Request clearance for immediate departure.”
“Flight Ops to NC199. Your projected flight path has some traffic in it. It should become clear momentarily. Standby.”
Connor wanted to curse but kept his mouth shut. Anything he said now would be transmitted. He wondered if the local aerospace traffic was real or just an excuse to keep his ship on the ground while they brought up tanks. Even one 150mm high explosive shell would cause enough damage to prevent the ship from reaching space. A quick scan of the immediate area around the ship with externally mounted cameras showed no sign of approaching vehicles, but that didn’t reassure him. The navy base here had a battery of anti-ship missiles available to it. They might be getting those ready.
“Flight Ops to NC199. Your flight path is now clean and you have clearance for immediate departure. Have a good trip, Lieutenant.”
Connor realized he was holding his breath and let it ou
t. “Thank you, Flight Ops. NC199 is lifting off now.” He hit the execute button to initiate the standard lift off program. The lift off was gentle at first, as per standard operating procedure, and acceleration gradually increased with altitude. He only relaxed when his ship crossed the hyper-zone boundary. If necessary, he could initiate a short jump to escape any attempt at interception now. He had done it. Xanadu would get the warning in seven weeks time, and they would pass it on to Earth.
* * *
Day 105/2539
Sparta Planetary President and SSU Chancellor Nathan Belloc threw down the report in disgust. Hekla had blown it! They had failed to seize that courier and now word about the rebellion was on its way to Earth and there was nothing the SSU could do about it. After breathing deeply to calm his heart rate, he picked up the report and scanned for dates while he tried to figure out the timing of this disaster. The courier pilot with the incriminating data had taken off from Hekla seven weeks ago. The officer who passed that data on to the pilot was discovered five weeks ago, and it had taken five weeks for that information to reach Sparta. That meant the courier was only a few days out from the orbiting navy base at Xanadu. Assuming another courier would leave immediately for Earth, the FEDs would know about the rebellion in another nine weeks. Two months and a bit, compared to the eight months that the Plan had assumed it would take for the FEDs to find out what was going on. Damn it to hell, the SSU needed those extra six months to build up the core of the new Army and Navy. They weren’t ready yet for any kind of military confrontation with the FED Navy. He needed to get input from his military and industry people. Belloc told his desk computer to arrange a meeting as soon as possible with the three people who were most affected by this news. Half an hour later, the meeting took place in the conference room down the hall from the Chancellor’s office.
“All right, you all know why I called this meeting. How are we going to respond to this development?” asked Belloc. “Admiral? I want to hear from you first.”
“Yes, sir. Based on the data that we know was included in that data chip, it’ll be obvious to the FED Navy that Sparta is the Capital of the SSU. Assuming that the FEDs take the data seriously, which I think we have to, they’ll do one of two things. They’ll either send a political representative to verify that the SSU does indeed exist, and if it does, that operative will have orders to begin some kind of political negotiations. Or they’ll send a military expedition to determine if the allegations are true, and if they are, the CO of the mission will have orders to arrest the rebel leaders and decapitate the SSU politically and militarily. Sending a political rep can be arranged relatively quickly. If they go that route, we should expect them to arrive in…” Admiral Mykhel Janicot looked at the ceiling and did some quick math in his head. “about 22 weeks time. We already have contingency plans to string the FEDs along with protracted negotiations if that situation arises, so we can handle that eventuality.
“The military response will obviously be more problematic, but I should point out that gathering a military force, one that’s sufficiently large enough to take on that kind of mission, will take time to organize. They’ll have to call in troop transports and cruisers from nearby bases. It’ll take months to send the call out and more months for the ships to get back to Earth. I don’t see how they could launch a significant force and get here in less than ten months. We’ll have a dozen missile boats operational by then, plus at least three captured patrol cruisers. That’s not the scenario that worries me, Chancellor. The scenario that worries me is the Federation Council ordering the Navy to launch a quick military response with whatever forces it has on hand. They just might have two or three cruisers available within a week or two of getting that order. If they send off a quick reaction force fast enough, they might get here before we acquire the bulk of our defense assets, and if that happens, we may have difficulty fighting them off.”
Belloc nodded and turned to his Industry and Trade Secretary. “Frank, where do things stand with hypership construction?”
Frank Shaw shook his head sadly. “Not nearly good enough to be able to make a difference in the time frame we’ve been discussing so far. Work has begun on the couriers and our first cruiser, but except for the couriers, none of the larger ships will be completed before we see the FEDs response. As you know, Nathan, we’ll be desperately short of freighters if the FEDs decide to hit us economically by ordering the Earth-based shipping companies to pull in their ships. The economies of all SSU planets will take a big hit if shipping volume dries up sooner than planned. Ship construction will suffer too. Not all the equipment we need is made here on Sparta. We have to import some key components from Hekla, Casimir, Gryphon and other planets.”
“That all makes sense. What do we do to counter it?”
Before Shaw could respond, Janicot interjected. “We start capturing freighters as they come in, and we tell other planets to do the same. We haven’t done that so far because the missing ships would eventually tip off the Federation Council that something was going on, but that’s now an academic point. They’ll get that couriered data chip before the shipping companies start wondering why their freighters haven’t returned on time. In fact, I believe that there’s a freighter sitting at the spaceport right now. If we move fast, we might be able to get our hands on it before it leaves. We can then spread the word to capture all incoming space traffic throughout the rest of the SSU. If we had half a dozen couriers right now, that would make a huge difference.”
“Well we don’t, Admiral, but I take your point. You’re authorized to order our military to seize that freighter immediately. Now, if they do send someone to investigate, is there any chance of convincing them we’re still loyal FED colonists?” Belloc looked at his Secretary of Defense, Mandy Sorensen, as he asked that question.
She shrugged. “It all depends on how diligent their response team is at asking questions when they get here. If they snoop around hard enough and long enough, they’ll find somebody who doesn’t like the SSU and who confirms the rebellion. What I would recommend instead is tactical deception. Pretend everything is normal as they approach and get themselves deep into our hyper-zone. Then we’ll bring in our missile boats that will be hidden behind our moon, and when their ship or ships are within range of our missiles, we demand they surrender. With a little bit of luck, we might be able to pick up a couple more cruisers that way.”
“What’s your opinion on that, Admiral?” asked Belloc.
“It certainly can’t hurt to try to achieve tactical surprise, but at the end of the day our defensive forces have to be more powerful than what they throw at us. If we don’t have that, then having the element of surprise won’t matter, sir.”
Belloc nodded. “Understood. Frank, let’s do whatever we can to get our missile boats operational faster. Aside from that, does anyone have any other suggestion?” No one did. “Okay then. Keep me posted on whether or not we capture that freighter. Mandy, you and Mykhel come up with a plan to achieve tactical surprise and brief me on that as soon as it’s ready. That’s all for now. Thank you.”
As the meeting broke up, Janicot walked beside his boss down the corridor to their respective offices. He hoped his face wasn’t betraying his doubts. It was easy to say lure the enemy deep into the hyper-zone so they couldn’t jump away and then pounce on them with missile boats, but the practical reality wasn’t that simple. The FED cruisers would see the incoming missile boats long before they were in missile range, and any FED Navy CO worth his stripes would take some kind of action to prepare for combat. Thank God he wasn’t going to be commanding those missile boats.
* * *
Day 171/2539
General Jonn Trojan got an annoyed look from the Army Chief of Staff when he entered the conference room. Trojan wasn’t late. The Chief of Staff gave everyone an annoyed look at one time or another. Trojan took his seat at the far end of the conference table.
“The Chairman of the Council dropped this bombshell on me this
morning and asked me what kind of military response we could make,” said the Chief of Staff. “He wasn’t pleased when I told him that we only have two cruisers available on short notice. I called this meeting because if this so called Union is real, then two cruisers by themselves aren’t going to be enough. The Army will have to send in troops and my guess is a lot of them. My first question is whether we have ANY contingency plans for this kind of thing?”