Moahu flexed his large ears against the side of his head. It was like a human furrowing his brow in concerned concentration. There was silence as he considered the facts, in deep thought.
"Admiral, I am honored by your offer and your confidence, but I'm not sure I can handle the job. I would like it, but it seems massive." The Captain said softly.
"The first time anyone takes on a Chief assignment they have never done the job before. But, consider this. You have run a ship which has most of the very same departments in it. It is a smaller version of a Group or Fleet Command. And, you have dealt with Group and Fleet Staff for years so you actually already know most of the systems and protocols. You are intelligent and a good leader. You have commanded a ship with over a thousand on board. All you need is a little time. I would not have made the offer if I didn't think you could acclimate to the position." Bryant explained.
Again there was silence with the large ears drawn back.
"Yes sir, I will take the position, and thank you. I will try not to let you down." Moe responded.
"Start by calling me, George. Don't worry, I'll help you through. After a while, you'll be showing me how things have to be done.' The Admiral said with a smile.
'I have warrants on my pad. Promotions will take place this afternoon, on the Hangar Deck of the Columbia. I will do the honors for Tom and Moe, first. Tom will promote Olivia after that. Tom, you either need to elevate your current Chief or find a new one. The rank will be Captain. I will point out that you need a good manager and leader. This person should have led a similar size group before but does not need to have superior tactical skills. In fact, you'd be wise to choose a Chief who you believe would not go on to Flag Level tactical positions. I say this because there are lots of great people who can fit the Chief position, but only a handful have the tactical skills to handle the Flag-level tactical field commands. As far as the proposal goes, let me fill you in.
The OESA has sixty-four Fleets divided into eight Theatre Commands. That's eleven hundred fifty-two warships, one hundred twenty-eight subs, and two hundred fifty-six supply vessels to cover nearly four and a quarter million cubic light years of space. That's sixty-five and a half thousand cubic light-years of space for each Fleet to cover. Right now, each Fleet is comprised of two Groups each containing a Carrier, two Cruisers, four Frigates and two Supply Ships. Each Group is also supposed to have a sub, though less than half have received them. We tend to extend our reach by breaking our Groups into Squads. As we are configured now, these Squads are unbalanced. One will have a Carrier the other won't. In most cases, one will have a sub and the other will not. This means that each Fleet is really only two fighting forces and two reconnaissance arms. The weak squad can fight but are limited. They cannot be used as a Squad for offensive or counter-offensive operations except in very limited confrontations such as piracy. A squad with no Carrier is really a defensive force.
As a Fleet Commander, I deploy my patrol force in two Groups twenty light years apart. Once on site, the Group Commanders distribute their squads another ten light years apart. Then, each Squad breaks into two ship detachments that are sent out like the spokes of a wheel to systems surrounding the Group Center. The whole formation forms a kind of starburst pattern in the area. This way we get maximum coverage over a zone twenty light years in diameter. No ships are farther than ten light years from a Carrier and no more than a few light years from another set of two vessels. However, if there is immediate action, the heavy squad can pull together with the support of a Carrier and its one hundred fighters. The weak one has to wait longer and may even be defeated or destroyed before help arrives. Because of this imbalance, we tend to do the patrols in Group formation, splitting off vessels to systems nearby the one Carrier.
So far, all the proposals involve increasing the number of Fleets. They vary in number but are all variations of the same idea. Each Fleet is twenty vessels and has a fair size Command Staff and Group staffs. Theatre Commands would have to increase staff sizes to support the growing number of Fleets. A fifty percent increase in strength requires the construction of over five hundred warships and one hundred supply vessels.
I have two ideas for increasing our reach that would be much more cost effective. The first is to reduce the size of a Group slightly while increasing the number of Groups in a Fleet to Four. This would require two more Group Staffs and a slight increase in the size of the Fleet Staff. In return, you'd have four carrier Groups each with two squads still unequally balanced. Because of this, we would still tend to avoid Squadron actions, but we would be able to handle four areas at the same time. In fact, it would probably be best to just turn each squad into a Carrier Group.
The second idea is to expand each Group by a Carrier and another sub. This allows us to have four equal squadrons to handle four regions at the same time with only the addition of two subs, two Carriers, and two additional supply vessels. Over the entire field force, this represents purchase and construction of two hundred fifty-six warships and one hundred twenty-eight supply ships.
Staffing one Fleet takes around thirty thousand people. Staffing two new smaller Groups in a Fleet would add about twenty-five thousand additional people. Staffing two Carriers, two subs and two supply vessels in a Fleet would take about fifteen thousand.
The first idea doubles your strength. The second appears to double it but really only gives you an increase of eighty percent effective protection. However, it seems to be much more cost efficient than any other plan. But, we need solid research on this. That's your special assignment Moe. I need an honest assessment of current capabilities and future capabilities using each of the two proposed methods. Then, I need an accurate projected cost for each plan. Not a small task, and it's got to be done while everything else is running.
This is where the Task Force Commands come in. In plan two, I believe each Carrier Squad will work most efficiently with a Commodore at the helm. There is a Flag Command level in each Carrier that way. So, it is more efficient to have each Task Force Commanded by a Rear Admiral over the two Commodores in the Groups.
The same holds true for plan one. Increasing to four Groups would require a Command level for each pair. So, whichever plan we end up promoting, I will need a Task Force Command level. The way the OESA usually operates is that the Fleet with the winning proposal becomes the prototype so everything would start here, nearly immediately." Admiral Bryant finished with outstretched hands as if begging for responses.
"This will affect the Marine Command structure, too. It means you'll have an additional thirty-two hundred of them in a Fleet counting Staff. That would require a change in their Command structure throughout the Fleet." Moe offered.
"That's true. I hadn't thought of that, Moe. If you change the structure within a Fleet, you'll have to adjust the levels above. For example, a Brigadier has always commanded Marines at the Fleet Level. Now, you're close to where a Major General would be needed. That means that, at Theatre, you'd want a Lieutenant General as Corps Commander and a full General at Quadrant as Army Commander. You'd have to do an analysis to determine what the needs will be, Moe. I think you should look at increasing in-group Marine levels from sixteen hundred plus Staff to two thousand plus Administration. At over eight thousand per Fleet, a two star is definitely warranted. I've never liked the idea that the Commander of the Marines at the Fleet level is a Brigadier, but the numbers didn't justify a higher standard. This way each Group under plan two would be Brigade level and the Fleet would be Division level. Under plan one, each Carrier would be a Regiment, two Groups under one Task Force would be a Brigade, and the Fleet would still be a Division. Anyway, you'll need to try and tie down all possible contingents to these expansion plans. That way your projections will be accurate, Moe.
The reason I have asked for Nichols to be here is because he is a definite choice for a Group Command when we go to the Task Force system, and we would need an Officer to manage new acquisitions while we come up to strength. I want t
o clue him in on the whole thing. When the time comes, we'll promote him, quickly and ship him right off to the construction yards. Are you okay with that?" George asked.
"Yes, I am, George. I'll get him, right now." Tom answered as he waved the man into the room. Nichols had been waiting outside the office the entire time.
"Captain Steven Nichols reporting as ordered, Admiral." Stephen stood at attention and snapped off the announcement.
"Relax Steven. And, call me George, in here.' Bryant said, then added to the others in the room. 'Steven and I know each other from the Borealis Fleet."
Then, he went on to outline the plan leaving out some of the fine detail. He described the change in Tom's level and assignment and the new position Grace held. He included their plans for Nichols and then advised Stephen that he wanted him on standby to go to the Earth and Rigil shipyards at any time.
"I need you to have a team picked out. You can't discuss it with them, yet. But, the instant you are promoted, you have to issue them orders to accompany you to Earth. You need to look at all the systems involved and ensure you have experts for each one at hand. Some people will be able to handle more than one system of course. Take that into account. You may not choose any ship's Departmental Commanders. Everyone else is fair game. And, you need to have a plan. How are you going to prove out quality in each system of every ship for Boots?" George said.
"I'll get right on it, sir. And, thanks for the confidence." Nichols responded.
"I will post announcements of the promotion orders. Grace and Tom, you need to have the digital communications ready to establish command codes. Your Group assignments are official the moment the notices are posted so you should get them out immediately after. We do not want to remain defenseless much longer. Moe, you will have to organize things. We need the hangar deck on the Columbia for the promotions. We'll want to have a dinner/dance celebration on both Carriers this evening in honor of the promoted personnel. If we handle the event in two sessions on both Carriers, most of the Fleet personnel will be able to enjoy the dinner. If we start at seventeen hundred, serve at eighteen hundred and start again at twenty-three, fifty-nine, we'll make it accessible for all. We will stay here until the day after tomorrow. It's very short notice, so do the best you can. Tom, you'll have to discuss this with Olivia Hurst. And, you and Grace will have to move your Commands and your staffs. Moe, there's one more thing I want. Post this notice looking for people who would like to represent their Group on a baseball team. We will start some intra-fleet action. We might soon be able to compete with Borealis at a Theatre Five function. It's a lot, so, let's all get going. " George finished.
Then he prepared a communiqué for Blackman.
"I am firmly ensconced in my new position. Starting up two baseball teams. Keep yours sharp. We will challenge, soon. - Bryant"
Chapter 8 Drums of War
Thursday August 5, 2255
"Life isn't worth living, unless it is lived for someone else." Albert Einstein
As soon as we exit our jump at HD 156668 in the constellation Hercules, I order deployment of a full long range sensor pack to half a light-year. It's standard procedure. Unlike the two and three-century-old science fiction shows we all like to watch, we cannot scan several light years of space instantly. We still have not found any way to circumvent Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Since the sensors are limited to receiving signals at the speeds they come in, an object half a light year away would take half a year to update, on our screens. So, we concentrate our short-range sensors in a radius of three million kilometers, an effective weapons range. This gives us a timeframe of ten seconds delay for the farthest objects our local sensors can detect. This is the closest we can get to real-time monitoring of the space immediately surrounding us. Long range sensor packs are comprised of two hundred and sixty-eight drones that are evenly scattered over a globe with a radius out to one light year. Each drone employs a Casimir and Laser Communication Module to send sensor data back to the Shenzhen. They are programmed to "jump" to their destination and return data continuously until recalled. So, in effect, it takes about half an hour for us to actually begin to put a clear picture together of the surrounding space within the half light-year radius of the vessel.
Admiral Bryant had ordered Theatre Nine to support the Theatre Five patrols. So, I jumped the Shenzhen to HD 156668, which would not be patrolled by either the Theatre Three Hercules Fleet or the closest Theatre Nine Fleet, Phoenix. The jump from Rho Corona Borealis to our current location is just over twenty-nine light years, as the crow flies, so we were in a vortex for five days, seven hours. After exiting the event horizon, we are all a little buggy, and won't accurately interpret our sensor data until a shift rested after the jump comes on duty. In the meantime, everything is double or triple checked for accuracy.
In my case, I rose from a long sleep only one hour before we exited the jump; so, I can at least make sure there is no immediate threat to the Shenzhen, or its crew, for the time being; though, I too am experiencing some perception difficulties. It's not as bad for me, though. I have made several jumps that were over the recommended five-day limit.
"Lieutenant, make sure that I get all long and short range raw sensor data as it comes in," I order my Watch First Officer.
"Aye, sir." She responds.
Besides regular minute-by-minute operations, all we can do is wait - for now. Short range information will let us know we are safe; but, we just have to be patient as far as the star system goes. In the meantime, most of us spend the time between sporadic operational requirements to look into the surrounding space. But, it's like looking into space anywhere else. Other than a nearby planet or the system’s star, space is a black velvet backdrop with glittering rhinestones pasted all over it. You don't really expect to see anything else; unless, you position the ship for a particular sighting; which, all ships in the service regularly do, including Shenzhen.
The next hour is spent with my attention divided between short range sensors, long range sensor reports, ship's system readouts and the window off the port side of the bridge. Suddenly, I see something.
"Did anyone else see a bright flash? It only lasted a second or two." I call out to the bridge staff.
There are a bunch of verbal and head wag negative responses.
"Keep your eyes on sensors and windows ten degrees off the bow on the port side," I call out as I manipulate my system to the long range reports of that area. No matter how hard I look, there's nothing there.
Since the drones are staggered throughout their half light-year orb data comes in at various lags; and, has to be synchronized by computer; so, we get an accurate picture; but, we can examine the raw, untimed, data. They have data originating from a little farther out than the last set. I pour over the data once, twice; then, a third time. There is an anomalous reading about two hundred seventy million kilometers out and eleven and a half degrees to port. I switch to video mode; studying and scanning the view until my eyeballs feel dry from not blinking. Finally, I see it. There are four ships out there. They are faint in this view; but, will be better in the perspective offered by the probe that's actually closer to that location; so, I switch to that data set. Three relatively large vessels seem to have cornered a smaller one. The next set of probe reports will tell me a lot more. I watch the time index on the video. These images are from a period nearly half an hour ago and end fifteen minutes, later.
"Keep your eyes on the windows and screens. I have confirmation of something happening almost three hundred million kilometers at eleven and a half degrees to port and plus ten degrees "Z" axis. That's about fifteen light minutes out; so, anything you see will have happened a quarter hour before..." I am interrupted before I can go on.
"Sir, look out the window." A bridge officer calls out.
As I turn, I see an intensely bright ball like a growing sun in the spot I was monitoring. It grows for about another ten seconds to a radius of about five hundred kilometers; then, quickly redu
ces in size and fades out completely.
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