by Dietmar Wehr
“Right, Commander.” Everyone chuckled.
“Good. So then, let’s get down to the specifics of this deployment. The mission is the same as the last deployment, which was to visit former Federation planets to ascertain a) what state the inhabitants are at now, b) whether they’ve been attacked by raiders and if so when was that and c) do they have any knowledge about the raiders that could potentially lead us to the raider home world. If you find planets that have regained spaceflight capability, then your orders, which will be in writing by the way, are to explore the possibility of those planetary governments agreeing to join the crusade the way that the New Caledonian government has done.” He paused before continuing.
“In the unlikely event that Savannah crosses paths with a raider ship, perhaps even catching it in the act of conducting a raid, then your orders are to engage the raider force in battle,” he paused again, “unless there are two or more raider ships. No one expects you, Captain Strider—although I should really be calling you by your Haven Navy rank: Commander Strider—to risk yourself, your crew and your ship against superior odds. If you find yourself facing superior odds, you are expected to avoid battle. I hope that’s clearly understood, Commander Strider?”
Corso’s question was said in a decidedly more serious tone. Strider got the message loud and clear. His personal quest for vengeance had to take a backseat to broader strategic goals.
“I understand completely.”
Corso’s expression became a bit more friendly again. “I was certain that you would understand. If you’re facing one-on-one odds, then we would very much like you to try to capture the raider ship, if possible, without taking undue risks for your ship. Not asking for much, are we?” That generated another round of chuckles.
“Having said all that, we recognize that when ships are armed with atomic-warhead missiles, a hit is almost certainly going to vaporize all or most of the targeted ship, and whatever’s left won’t be of much use. I’m only bringing up the goal of capturing a raider ship to underscore how helpful it would be to gain access to the raider ship’s data records. If we could do that, we’d learn just about everything we would want to know: where they come from, how many other raider ships there are, where they have attacked and what planets are closest to being able to defend themselves.”
“I’ll certainly keep that objective in mind. I take it that I’ll have a list of planets that we’ll be visiting?” asked Strider.
“You will. I could give you their names now except that the names by themselves won’t mean much, and your Astrogators will receive the jump co-ordinates before you leave. There’ll be six planets. If you spend an average of twenty-four hours at each one, you’ll be back here within the forty-five day period of time that’s been allocated for this deployment. You can go over the forty-five days if necessary. Just be aware that Savannah carries enough food and other consumables to last for approximately sixty-days.
“If you find out something important on any of those six planets, you can cut short the mission and return here immediately. Any planets that don’t get visited on this trip will be visited by another ship. Any questions so far, Commander?”
“Rules of engagement if a planet attacks Savannah or its people, such as what happened on New Avalon.”
“I’ll answer your question now verbally. Your written orders will also address this question. The safety of your ship and crew comes first. If you can avoid damage or casualties by withdrawing, then do so. If that’s not possible, then you are authorized to eliminate the threat by whatever means are necessary. I tried to minimize casualties on the other side when I ordered the assault shuttle to fire warning shots at the riflemen, but warning shots wouldn’t have worked with that tank. Lethal force should be the last resort. Any other questions?”
“Yes,” Strider hesitated before continuing. “I hope this won’t happen, but if I should learn of an impending threat to New Caledon that Savannah might be able to stop or prevent, will I have the discretion to put Savannah at risk to defend my planet?”
Corso’s expression took on his poker face that Strider had seen enough times to recognize. The room was now dead quiet. Corso took his time answering, and when he did, he spoke slowly and in a lower than normal voice.
“That is a question that your orders will not address because no one here has given it any thought. I don’t have the authority to give you the approval that you’re seeking.” He paused again.
“However, if I was commanding an AF ship and I learned that Haven was threatened and that my ship could make a difference, I’d do whatever I felt I had to do to protect my planet, and I’d be prepared to accept the consequences of my actions afterwards whatever they might be.”
Strider nodded. He had already made up his mind to do exactly that if formal approval was not given. He looked around at the Haven officers to try to gauge their reaction. A few of them were nodding as well. Others just seemed to relax, as though a potential confrontation had been averted. None of them looked as though they disapproved of Corso’s comments.
“I have no further questions,” said Strider.
“That’s fine. In that case, I’d like to go through the unofficial routine that I’ve found to be helpful before boarding the ship. Commander Jaeger will have kept up to date on Savannah’s resupply and re-certification procedures. He’ll give a report to you on that now, to be followed by more detailed but probably brief reports from each of the department heads. Go ahead, Karl.”
“Yes, sir.” Jaeger turned from Corso to look at Strider. “The ship has been resupplied. All critical systems and their backup systems have been tested and re-certified as operationally ready. There are two outstanding maintenance issues, neither of which will affect space or combat worthiness. The number two clothes dryer still hasn’t been repaired, and the leak in the life support system on engineering deck two has also not yet been fixed. The dryer needs a part that cannot be delivered until next week, believe it or not, and the engineering people tried to find the leak but were unable to do so in the time available to them. They promised me that they would find it before the ship goes out on another deployment. Given that those two issues are non-critical, the engineering team has signed off on the re-certification, and I have not disputed that decision.” Jaeger shifted his gaze to Corso and so did Strider, not sure how to react.
Corso smiled. “Amazing. We can travel to other star systems, but we can’t fix a clothes dryer in less than two months. The dryer is just a nuisance, but the life support leak could potentially be more serious. That leak was detected just before you first came on board at New Caledon, so I didn’t have any say on whether to accept it or not. You do. You have the authority to dispute the re-certification on the grounds that the unknown nature of the leak could pose a threat to the crew. Since it hasn’t gotten any worse”—Corso looked at Jaeger for confirmation and received a nod—“my advice to you is to not make an issue of the leak on your first deployment as ship commander. Karl, here, knows Savannah almost as well as the engineering staff, and if he’s comfortable taking the ship out with that leak, then I’d be inclined to trust his judgement.”
“I won’t dispute the re-certification…this time.” That got a few chuckles. Each of the department heads then gave a brief report that amounted to saying that all systems appeared to be functioning normally. Strider would not have expected anything different given that if something wasn’t functioning normally, then Jaeger would have brought it up.
When the department heads were finished, Corso folded his arms and said, “Well, that’s it then. You’ll find your written orders in the ship’s data records. There’s transportation waiting to take all of you to Savannah, and she can lift off whenever you’re ready, Commander Strider. Good luck to you.”
Strider thanked him and led his combined team back outside where there were two Navy buses. One would take the New Caledonians back to their hotel to collect their luggage and then take them to the ship. The other would take
the Haven officers and their luggage directly to the ship. Jaeger came over to Strider for any last-minute orders.
“The six of us will get our stuff and be at the ship as soon as we can. Once we get our gear aboard, we’ll lift off. I’d like you to meet us at the boarding ramp to let everyone know what their duty shift schedule will be.”
“Yes, Commander. Savannah will be ready to go when you give the word.”
“Very good, XO. Ah…how would you prefer that I address you?”
Jaeger smiled. “Commander Corso always called me by my first name, and you can too, Commander.”
“Okay, Karl. We’ll see you shortly then.”
It was mid-day by the time that Strider and the five New Caledonian officers were dropped off by the bus at the base of Savannah’s boarding ramp. Jaeger informed the officers of their first duty shifts and then had six of the technical staff he’d drafted for the purpose carry their luggage and show them where their quarters were.
Strider accompanied Jaeger to the Bridge and got himself settled into the Command Station chair. He had seen Corso operate its controls often enough to know how to do it himself. When Jaeger informed him that everyone who needed to be at their post for liftoff was ready, Strider spoke in a voice loud enough that everyone on the Bridge could hear him.
“Executive Officer Jaeger will take charge of the liftoff. At your discretion, Karl.”
Jaeger seemed pleased by the delegation of that authority. Corso had always handled liftoffs and landings himself, and that was a commanding officer’s prerogative, but Strider was aware that Jaeger hoped to have his own command soon. Why not let him get some practice while I watch? he thought.
The liftoff went smoothly, as did the acceleration to a point beyond the no-jump zone boundary. As soon as Savannah was in hyper-space, Strider told Jaeger that non-essential personnel could stand down and that the Bridge was now Jaeger’s. Strider went to his considerably larger quarters and unpacked. It felt strange to be making himself comfortable in the quarters that had been Corso’s. Corso had taken all of the personal items that had created a reflection of his own personality. Strider hadn’t brought those kinds of decorative items, and even after he finished unpacking, the room still looked sterile and uninviting. He decided that next time he would bring things that would express his own personality.
The first three planets turned out to be quite uninteresting. All three had technology levels around late 19th century equivalent, and— surprisingly—none of them had suffered a raider attack. The fourth planet, New Tripoli, was different. Not only had they been attacked by raiders, but the attack had occurred just three months earlier. Because New Tripoli had radio technology, Strider was able to convince them that Savannah was not another raider ship and get permission for the ship to hover over the capital city. Damage done by the raiders could still be seen on the Bridge main display. Strider sent Jaeger down with a lightly-armed escort. He listened in to Jaeger’s open mic during the entire visit, which ended up lasting almost two hours.
As soon as Jaeger was back aboard and stepping down from the assault shuttle, he said to Strider, “I think we need to get back to Haven.”
Strider was already nodding. “I agree. You did a damn fine job down there, Karl. Your team too. Get us back into hyper-space and then join me in my quarters. We have a lot to talk about.”
As Strider waited in his quarters for Jaeger, he mentally reviewed the tantalizing tidbits of information that Jaeger had elicited from various individuals on the planet. The raider ship that attacked them was called Vindicator. Some of her ground troops had been overheard referring to the ship by that name. No one saw any shoulder patches with any kind of animal head on them. What they did see was a skull impaled on an upright sword, the same shoulder patch as was seen on Tarawa. Other ground troops were overheard talking about a rendezvous with another ship, called Wolfhound, with the rendezvous possibly taking place on a planet called Tubal. The person who overheard the reference to Tubal wasn’t sure if that was connected to the rendezvous or not. Strider had called up the ship’s data on the planet Tubal. Unsurprisingly, not much was known about it, except for its location. It was far enough away that heading directly there and then back to Haven would have pushed the duration of the deployment beyond the 60-day supply situation. But that just reinforced the decision to return to Haven first; even if they’d had enough supplies to get to Tubal and back, getting the information to Haven quickly was worthwhile. If Tubal turned out to be the source of the raiders, then going there with only one ship was probably not a good idea. When Jaeger arrived, he and Strider talked for hours. When Jaeger left, Strider felt that they had accomplished something useful and was eager to get back to Haven.
Chapter Fifteen
When Savannah arrived at Haven, it was still early in the day at the Capital. Strider and Jaeger were told to come to naval headquarters and to bring the recordings of Jaeger’s conversations with the New Tripoli people. They ended up sitting around a large oval table with a dozen senior officers, including Corso. Jaeger played the relevant sections containing the new data. Strider later learned that the man who was in charge of the meeting was the senior naval officer, Fleet Admiral of the Red, Lord Trevor Morningside. It was he who responded first.
“Very interesting information, Commander Strider. You made the right decision bringing this back right away, and I also want to compliment you, Commander Jaeger, on your interviewing skills. Am I correct in assuming that you think an expedition should be sent to Tubal, Commander Strider?”
“Yes, Admiral, and that expedition should consist of at least two or, if possible, three ships just in case it turns out to be the base of the whole Star Wolf/raider operation.”
The Admiral looked skeptical. “Hm. Two ships we could do, with minimal disruption to our deployment schedule. Three ships would require some time to arrange.” He turned to look at Corso. “What would you recommend, Commander Corso?”
Corso took his time answering. “I think that we should be careful about tipping the raiders off to our intentions too early. Tubal might be the raiders’ point of origin, or it could be a way station or a rally point. If it’s the later, and we go charging in only to find no raider ships currently there, the locals will be able to tell the raiders the next time they see them that armed ships from Haven are hunting for them. What if we sent our freighter, pretending to be a merchant ship looking for trading opportunities, while a two-cruiser squadron waits within say…one light minute of the planet? If there are raider ships there, the freighter sends a coded message, and the squadron moves in. If there are no raider ships there, the freighter crew carries on with their merchant roles and ask a few discrete questions while they’re at it. Then they rejoin the squadron, and the squadron leader would take whatever actions he deems appropriate.”
The Admiral pondered that for a bit and then asked everyone else around the table what they thought of the idea and if they had any other ideas to offer. The majority thought that Corso’s idea was the best way to proceed.
“And you, Commander Strider? What’s your opinion of Commander Corso’s recommendation?”
“I’m in favor of it, Admiral. However, I’d like to add something more to it. What if Tubal is indeed a raider base, but there aren’t any raider ships there when the freighter arrives? If all we have are two cruisers to respond with, then our choice is either do nothing or destroy the base with atomic missiles. But if the freighter is loaded with our own ground troops, we would then have a third option of attempting to capture the base more or less intact, along with any data that the base computers might have. I would also like to add one more suggestion, a request actually. If this mission goes ahead, I’d like to come along on the freighter.”
The Admiral was clearly surprised by the suggestion. “I like the idea of capturing the base very much, Commander. Your participation in the operation, while commendable, would present a bit of a problem. We now have a carefully planned schedule of crew avail
ability for keeping our ships in the field almost all the time. The schedule indicates that you and your fellow New Caledonian officers are due to be sent home for a forty-five day leave starting in approximately ten days. If you go on this mission, then you’ll be returning here just in time for your next scheduled deployment, and you won’t be able to get home for perhaps as much as six months. When you add to that the risk that you’d be taking from possible ground and/or ship combat, I’m inclined to refuse your request to join the mission. I think you’ll be of more help to us as a cruiser commander than as a ground assault operative.” Turning to the rest of the table, he said, “Does anyone have any comments on the base capture suggestion?” While several officers offered suggestions about the makeup of the ground assault force, no one had any criticisms of the idea.
“Very well then. Commander Strider, since there’s not enough time left for Savannah to visit any other planet before it’s scheduled return to Haven, you and your officers are free to return to New Caledon for a good, long rest, and hopefully we’ll have the results of the Tubal mission by the time you return for your next scheduled deployment. This meeting is adjourned.”