Turning to Dave he continued “Captain you will go to Zuon. If the opportunity presents, without undue risk to your ship and crew, destroy any enemy ships and nuke the facilities you find there and then return to Klaster by the 13th of July. Is that understood?”
“Yes Sir” acknowledged Dave “understood.” Dave looked at Art who was fuming. He shook his head at Art who just folded his arms and clammed up while Pious clarified some administrative arrangements prior to his transfer over to the Washington.
Part 2
Downfall
When a friend beckons do you turn your back?
Do you risk it all when he makes the call?
So much at stake so much on the line
You may pull it off but take the fall
Are you prepared to pay the fine?
Are you prepared to do the time?
Some will say it’s a crime
Do you think you’ll ever get back?
Chapter 1. Hermes over Doban 1500, 25 June
Pious had left on the Washington’s shuttle. Dave was coming out of the dock after seeing him off when Art met him in the corridor. “We need to talk” said Art.
Dave nodded. “But not here. Let’s go to my cabin.”
Upon arrival, Dave ushered Art inside and closed the door. He knew what was coming. So he let Art have his say.
“This is bullshit Dave” Art began forcefully. “You can’t just go in guns blazing and nuke everything knowing that Sue could be alive there.”
“But they are my orders Art. Do you realise what you are asking me to do?”
“Yes I’m asking my best friend to hold off for a few days before executing his orders” said Art. “Just give me an opportunity to recce the area at least to see if there is any sign of Sue.”
“And what then, if you do find evidence that she is alive?”
“I will try and free her.”
“What, by yourself?” challenged Dave. “Come on Art. You will then want me to risk the lives of my crew to help free her. You won’t be able to do it on your own. You know that.”
“Alright. I will want some help and yes I am asking you to risk the lives of your crew” acknowledged Art. “But I reckon I’m owed that. I have risked more than most over the last year and don’t forget that Sue saved your life back on Alpha Phi. You owe her big time.”
Art could see that this last arrow hit deep. Dave was pondering how to respond.
“Come on Dave. Just give me three days.”
“I won’t have three days. It will take us nearly two days to warp there and another two weeks back to Klaster. That’s 16 days and we have only 18.”
“Two days will be fine” pounced Art. “I, I mean we, can do it in two days.”
“Alright” relented Dave, “two days, not an hour more and if it looks too risky I will call the attempt off. Is that understood?”
Art leaned over and took Dave’s hand in his palms and pressed firmly. “Thank you.”
Dave was pleased to see a twinkle of optimism in his friend’s eyes. However, he was emotionally drained. He wanted to withdraw into himself. He so desperately wanted to grieve for his lost child and his traumatised Rihan. Yet he knew that he had to get underway if they were to have chance of fulfilling their mission on time. He knew he had to put aside all this emotion and focus on the immediate task. The trauma was severe. So the call on his mental discipline was great.
He took a deep breath in, extricated his hands from Art’s and patted him on the shoulder. “Come on” he said “before I change my mind, we need to see Chase and revise the plan.”
“Ella, Chase can you please meet me in the briefing room” he hailed on his communicator.
When they arrived, Chase and Ella were already there. Chase had the holo display up showing Zuon and his plan laid out. “So you want to go through the plan now Sir?” he asked as Dave and Art entered.
“Yes, but there is going to be a change” advised Dave. Chase looked taken aback. Ella had obviously guessed what was coming and so was less surprised.
“We’re not going to launch our attack straight away after warping in close to Zuon” continued Dave. “We need to find another spot, some way off where we won’t be noticed and from where we can launch a warthog with a recce team for a ground insertion.”
Chase was about to say something, but Dave raised his open hand and so he refrained. Dave continued. “The recce team will be led by Commander Simons and will try and determine if Sue Chalker is alive and if so attempt to liberate her. They will have less than two days, at the end of which we will launch our attack and then warp back to Klaster.”
Ella looked up at Dave raising an eyebrow and said “this is not part of our orders Sir. In fact the Commodore expressly ruled out such a rescue bid.”
“No he didn’t” said Dave. “He said we should nuke Zuon even if that puts Chalker at risk. This way we use a little time to hopefully eliminate that risk.”
“But we have precious little time to get there, conduct the attack and get back” countered Ella.
“Yes time will be tight but I think you will find that we have two days over target” said Dave.
“Even so” argued Ella “you are putting everyone else’s lives at risk, a risk the Commodore did not want you to take.”
“Yes” agreed Dave “we’ll all be at risk. But let’s face it Art and Sue have both shouldered more of the risks than just about any other member of this fleet since the war began. I think we owe it to them.”
“That’s all fine Sir” said Ella “but what about the greater good here. For the life of one you are going to risk 70 and what about the impact that losing this ship would have on the fleet and its ability to safeguard humankind.”
“That’s a very good point Ella” said Dave “and normally I would opt for the greater good. But there is more to it than that. They put their trust in us to watch their back while they were up front on the firing line. How can we expect others on this ship and throughout the Fleet to do the same if we fail in this instance to honour that trust. If we opt for safety and turn our back on our own then morale and effectiveness will plummet. Surely that is not for the greater good.”
Ella was still trying to digest that last argument so Dave went on. “Besides they are family, our family, and we should protect our own.”
That sealed it. There were no more counter arguments proffered.
“I will of course” said Dave “accept full responsibility and if you wish you can lodge a formal protest and I will have it registered in the log.”
Chase turned to Ella. She was thinking and took a moment before responding. “Alright Sir. I will go along with it.”
“Me too” piped up Chase.
“Thank you for your support” said Dave. “Now Chase, find us a good spot in the Zuon system to come out of warp.”
“Right” said Chase. He swivelled square on to the console in front of him and selected the planet Zuon. He went to the holo display filter controls and enabled the electromagnetic spectrum dead space. A shadow appeared behind several planets and larger asteroids within the Zuon system. He created a range ring centred on Zuon and set it to the effective range of the Warthog shuttle plus the radius of the planet.
He also selected the three enemy ship icons above the planet that he had created earlier to represent the enemy pickets or CAP. He applied similar range rings to these.
He cast an eye over the holo display. He highlighted each of the two Zuon moons – the only two dead space zones still within range. Then he entered simulation mode and ran it for two days from the time of arrival. As the moons rotated around the planet, the outer one’s elliptical orbit meant that its dead space shrank to almost nothing on Day 2.
“Not much choice I’m afraid” said Chase as he placed the warp in marker over the inner moon. “It’s closer anyway” he added.
Dave nodded. “OK it’ll do. So the usual drill. Send out a cloaked probe to conduct a scan. Identify likely enemy facilities. D
ecide on an insertion point and the best approach route. Thereafter it will depend on what intel we get.”
Dave used his marker to highlight the large asteroid in the outer belt. “If we get sprung by an enemy patrol we will pull back to here.”
Chase placed a fall back marker there and created a contingency plan for it.
“If the enemy pursue us” said Dave “then we’ll need to jump back further. What’s within a day’s jump Chase?”
Chase conducted a search. “Nothing Sir. Looks like Doban is the next best thing.”
“OK create another contingency for Doban” said Dave. He turned to Art. “If we have to go back to Doban, then there will be no hope of finishing this mission on time. You will be on your own till another mission can be mounted to come back for you. Is that understood?”
“Yeah understood” acknowledged Art. “What about the Warthog? Will it stay on deck or return to base and come back for us later?”
“Good question…mmm…” pondered Dave. “What are the pros and cons?”
“If we leave it on the deck” said Chase “it will give us the best chance of an early extraction.”
“Use up less fuel” chimed in Ella.
“Avoid the risk of detection on the return and subsequent insertion runs” added Chase.
“Provide some handy firepower” added Art.
“But it can’t hide as easily as a bunch of marines” contributed Dave.
“And it will mean we have a reduced capacity to insert more troops if they are needed” said Chase.
“Or for any other tasking for that matter” added Ella.
“On balance, though” said Dave “I think it best if it stays on deck, provided we can find a safe spot for it to hide up. What about marines?” Dave turned to Art “I’m assuming you will take a full team.”
“Yes that would be good” said Art. “Bravo team would be good. I’ve worked with them before.”
“You’ll need a good sniper” asserted Dave. “Sue would have been ideal, hey?” Art just nodded. “Trouble is I don’t know half the marines we have on board. They’ve been press ganged from everywhere. Ella, ask Chief Shavez who his best sniper is and assign them.”
“Will do” acknowledged Ella. “They should also take Alex and Bella.”
“I doubt if they’ll have enough room for them” said Chase.
“Who are Alex and Bella?” asked Art.
Ella smiled “They’re the tin men.”
“And tin woman” said Chase playing along.
“Do you mean bots?” queried Art.
“More or less” answered Ella. “Some would say synthetics. But basically a fully automated killing machine you can send in to do the dirty jobs. Courtesy of the Alliance.”
“Bots are not really going to be good for this kind of work” said Art. “Stealth is the name of the game and bots are not stealthy.”
“These one’s are” said Ella. “I’ve worked with them before. They can be as quiet as you or me. Trust me.”
“And how do I control them?” said Art. “I don’t have time to learn all that.”
Ella looked to Dave. “I could go along to control them Sir. If that’s OK with you.”
Dave thought about it for a moment and then agreed. “Alright I will leave you and Art to work out with the Chief the final composition of the team.”
“So we have inserted our team” continued Dave. “If they can locate Sue and free her we arrange to extricate them straight away and launch the attack on the facility. If not we extricate at the end of Day 2 and launch the attack. Regardless the attack must go in by the end of Day 2 for us to have a chance of concluding on time. Is that understood?”
They all acknowledged with their body language.
“Next we have the attack phase” said Dave. “What have you got for us Chase?”
“Well our options are either to use the slower but longer ranged “Penetrator” missiles or use the shorter ranged Plectras. Forget about the Movons. They are just too short for comfort. Even with the Penetrator’s 60,000km range we still have to come out from behind the moon and make a run on the planet.”
“But as you know Sir,” continued Chase “the Penetrators are mighty slow. The data we have from the Wasps’ Group’s first battle with the sleth over Klaster indicates that 80% of the Penetrators were intercepted.”
“How many nuke warheads do we have Ella?” asked Dave.
“Just the four Sir” she replied.
“So there’s a good chance that only one or maybe none get through” calculated Dave. “Not good enough. Is it?”
“No Sir” said Chase. “That’s why we are going to have to close within 50,000 kms of the target.”
“And how pray tell are we going to be able to do that against a superior enemy fleet?” queried Dave. “We need a diversion!” he said answering his own question.
“Something that is going to drag them away far enough” said Ella “so we can close, release and withdraw before they come back within range.”
“Yep. Any ideas?” asked Dave.
“What about the outer moon” said Chase. “On day 2, its elliptical orbit takes it to here.” He highlighted the spot on the holo display. We know that at that stage it’s so called dead space is no longer dead space.”
“Yes” said Dave drawing his young ops officer out.
“So what if there was an emission from that spot around mid-day on Day 2?” said Chase with obvious satisfaction creeping across his face.
“Oh very good” said Ella. “They go charging off to intercept it leaving the back door open for us to make our run. Nice.”
“So we need to set up a beacon there on a timer” said Dave. “How are we going to do that without being detected?”
They all started peering at the display intently.
“Chase” asked Dave “Go back to the beginning of Day 1 on the display.”
Chase did so and Dave used his pointer to highlight both moons. “What’s the range at this point? Is it close enough for a Warthog?”
“Yes Sir, just” replied Dave.
“But what if the warthog is detected” challenged Ella.
“It’s possible but it’s such a small craft and at such a long range from the planet” said Chase. “It’s unlikely.”
“You do realise” informed Art “that if we commit one warthog on the deck and use the other for this diversion that we have no means of inserting more troops should they be required.”
“With no means of mounting a rescue either” said Ella. “That’s a big risk.”
They all sunk into silence, pondering that last thought.
“What if we could modify one of our probes to perform like a beacon” said Chase. “We could fire this off and it would be even harder to detect.”
“We need Chief Rapperberg up here now” said Ella. “He can advise if it’s doable or not.”
“Yeah, call him up” said Dave.
“Time for a break while he’s coming up, Sir?” asked Chase.
“Sure” agreed Dave. “Good idea.”
Chase hurried off to the heads while Dave went over to get a drink. Art stretched his legs and Ella hailed Gunter Rapperberg, chief of engineering.
Dave realised that Gunter must have ran to get up here as fast as he had. It was not every day that he was summoned to the briefing room prior to a mission. Chase was still out of the room but there was little time to waist.
“Thanks for coming Chief” said Dave. “We need to pick your brains.”
“Sure Sir” said Gunter “though I wouldn’t mind having them back at the end.”
Dave smiled. He liked Gunter’s sense of humour. He was an intellectual with a practical bent. “We need a diversion that will lure the enemy from here” said Dave as he pointed to the enemy ship icon above the planet “to here, behind the outer moon.”
“And you don’t want to use a beacon” chimed in Gunter.
“That’s right chief” said Dave. “We can’t affo
rd to commit a warthog to set it up. Could you rig a probe to function like a beacon and to do so on a timer?”
Chase came back in and quickly sat back down.
“Probes are very small Sir” informed Gunter. He paused and thought. “We could strip out the broad spectrum scanner but even that doesn’t give us much room unless…” he trailed off again into silent thought. He had their attention but not that that was what he wanted.
Finally Dave prompted him “unless what?”
“Probes don’t loiter Sir” said Gunter. “They make passes or orbit. So even if we do manage to fit a beacon inside the probe and I reckon we may just be able to do that, there is still the problem of having the beacon firing while on the inner side of the moon.”
“Of course” said Chase “it will be quickly detected for what it is.”
“Right you are Sir” said Gunter. “So we’ll need to have the probe orbit the moon and turn on the emitter each time it enters the dead space. Now that I think of it,” said Gunter feeling pretty pleased with himself “it will be easy. Yeah, we can do it.”
“Excellent” said a pleased Dave, realising that he was sounding like Pious again. His mannerism was becoming established. He had to watch that.
“Chase, I’ll leave you to work out the details with the Chief” instructed Dave “and then set the plan accordingly. Before you do that, though, lock in the warp destination for our jump and I’ll get us on our way.”
“No worries Sir” said Chase. “Will do!”
“Thanks Gunter” said Dave.
“My pleasure Sir” said Gunter. “I’ll get my team onto it and make sure it’s ready well before we get there.”
“Ella I will leave you to flesh out the admin and comms details” said Dave. “Are there any other questions or matters we need to address right now?”
Ella scanned the others and then replied “I don’t think so Sir.”
Dave was about to say ‘Excellent!’ like Pious does but pulled himself up. “Very good then. Thank you all.”
Chapter 2. Hermes in Warp to Zuon 2130, 25 June
Redemption: Book 2 of Warner's World Page 4