by James Edward
The domestic scene was run almost exclusively by Bev Kindrick now. Ray had update meetings, but it was far too much to look after everything now. This was the most progressive system in the empire, and it was very busy. Bev had a raft of people all working on domestic problems and departments. Bev, by the way, had started living with George Lincoln. She had become a wizard at dealing with the growing demands of the domestic side of the system. There were times when the military and the domestic clashed, but for the most part, there was harmony. Everyone was too busy trying to live and contribute to the overall well-being of Conrad.
On Cappa Tauri, at the inner sanctum of the parliamentary committee, President Avis Garthman, looking grayer and a lot more tired than he should, sat at the head of the table. He looked around at his closest friends and advisors. These were the people that started the long trek forty years ago to get here as rulers of the empire. Oh yes there were still hot spots, but for the most part he was slowly choking the resistance to his dictatorial rule off. They had taken more systems and were consolidating the occupation of the planets. But there was a worry. Not all systems were defeated, and not all the defeated systems were completely subdued. Now as he glanced at the reports, he saw that he was weaker than his enemies knew. He had no doubt that this group supported him completely, but some of them didn’t seem to have the empire’s interests at heart but were chasing the power and the prestige. He would have to trim some of his friends unless there were positive results.
Seated at the table were Supreme Admiral Fuggoret, Senior Senator Brickland, John Nerthmore of the political wing (Political Police), Dag Thrubber, head of domestic affairs, Ernest Rayson, head of the police and planetary enforcement, Julio Ruiz, war chief, and Zigmund Putin, second only to the president as deputy of the Parliamentary Party and head of presidential affairs.
“For those of you that don’t know, we have been attacked in three systems, resulting in major—and I mean major—losses to our shipbuilding and repairing efforts. As well, they broadcasted the same message in all three systems for the general population to hear before we were able to silence it. This will be difficult to put a spin on. The damage to the systems is irreversible.” Avis growled looking directly at Julio Ruiz. “Facilitator Ruiz, could you explain just how this could happen when we are in a state of war against rebels of the legitimate government?”
“Excellency, those systems are supposed to be secure. Perhaps we should ask Admiral Fuggoret why his picket ships never saw a thing or why a dreadnought allowed itself to be hit by at least two Kews.” Ruiz deflected the president’s wrath.
“You are the war chief, Ruiz. Don’t try and throw the blame my way. The Fleet has had victories everywhere and has crushed the rebels whenever they find them,” Fuggoret snarled. “Home system protection is not my bailiwick, and those ships were on loan. The loss of the Impenetrable is a devastating blow and will cause us in the Fleet to reset the timeline on suppressing the holdout systems.”
“Yes, the protection of the home systems is the responsibilities of the Planetary Enforcement. But the training and alertness level of the ships is the responsibility of the Fleet. Perhaps we should have some ships that are permanently transferred to the home systems.” Ernest looked levelly at Putin. “We would be totally responsible for the protection of the systems and not have to depend on old, useless, or battle-worn Fleet personnel that use home protection as an R&R posting.”
“Are you calling one of the best Fleet captains on the Impenetrable old, useless, or worn out?” Fuggoret roared. “Fleet lost over twenty ships with some of the most seasoned crews and captains we had. You can consider this a disaster; without the shipyards, we will be sorely stretched to continue the pressure that we are applying now. The destruction of spare ships in the Carver bone yards is now coming home to roost as well. If the protectorate wants to have his own fleet, let him build a shipyard and build the ships he needs. The weaponed spaceships are the sole jurisdiction of the Fleet, and we will not cede any ships over to the Planetary Protectorate. Where was the Intel? Where was the forewarning that would have allowed my fleet to muster properly?”
“Bah, Fuggoret. You and your precious fleet with their arrogance. It was the fleet that was supposed to be on guard. Guards don’t sleep on the bridge or go off visiting when they are supposed to be alert and patrolling the system. Your fleet didn’t even see these ships enter or fire; they just saw the missile and missile tracks. Even if these raiding ships are cloaked, they still create eddies and hyper waves, but your useless sensor operators were too busy playing games on their consoles to be looking for such things,” Ernest roared back at Fuggoret as he rose from his seat.
“Gentlemen, this is not the time for fighting; it is the time for answers,” President Avis said, tapping the table. “First is to identify who CSWS is and how they gained superior technology without us knowing and how do we take them out. Second how we can combat this new technology or steal it for ourselves, and third—what do we do with the war without those shipyards.”
“I have many people looking for this CSWS,” stated Zigmund Putin. “They seem to be very elusive. As to system protection, I recommend that we mine our gates and have picket ships there to identify all anomalies that occur. All ship traffic will be given an IFF so that the mines will be able to identify them as friendly. If a cloaked ship comes through, it will be seen as a hyper wave and will not have an IFF for the mines. That should effectively protect the systems and free up some of the picket ships. As for the shipyards, I suggest that we start building another yard in a more secure system and again ensure that the gates are mined and watched. Perhaps a guard platform at the gates to monitor all traffic.”
“All good recommendations. I believe that we will start another yard in the Indigo system. It has the last bone yard there, so we can get a head start on construction. The use of platforms is also a plausible idea, and if we put weapons on it, we will be in the same position as those upstarts in Zn2091. Solid protection and heavy firepower. Now how many dreadnoughts do we have that are useable? I would like to plan a finishing strike at the Centari system. Put the dreadnoughts in that system and remove all rebel ships and own the spaceways. I want troops on the ground. I want Rayner and Dosolar pacified within a month. It is time to use overwhelming force to eradicate these resistors,” Avis said. “After Centari, we move to Polimolia and take that system. With those systems free of warships, we can finally take the fight to the Core World Alliance, as those eight systems call themselves now. Maybe CWA has something to do with CSWS. They both start with C, and there is nothing else out there that is big enough to build a three-fleet strike force.
“Fuggoret, I want you to personally take charge of the development of the new yards at Reno. Assign only the best to that system and have that yard up and running as soon as possible. No excuses for delays, which is why I want the best builders and the best material. Design a defensive system to protect that yard and make it big enough to build multiple ships.”
“It will be done, Excellency,” Fuggoret said as he glowered around the room, “as long as I get open cooperation from the various departments and protectorates.”
“You will all cooperate. This is vital; without fresh ships, we will have to pull from the rim, and that will show weakness. We can’t afford a second war with those pirates and freebooters. If we lost a system to those scum, then that system could very well choose to align with the CWA and need to be reeducated.” Avis glared at his cabinet.
“Now has there be any new activity from that consortium at Zn2091? I am led to believe that they are still trading with the nonaligned worlds but have avoided the empire.” Avis looked up at the nodding heads. “It has been over six months since we lost a fleet there, and they haven’t done anything … strange. Nor have they done anything about the tank farms that we took over. Maybe they are not as powerful as we thought. Maybe they took far more damage than they put on. Let’s try
and get someone in there to see what’s going on.
“Now was there anything else?”
“The upstarts at Zn2091 were manufacturing contaminated fuel. The way that they extracted and refined the gas from the giants in that system has left a contaminant that we haven’t been able to figure out. It eventually attacks the engines, power systems, and fuel lines of the ships that have loaded at the seized tank farms. The ships have suffered major malfunctions throughout Fleet, and now with the loss of the yards, we will be hard-pressed to keep the ships running,” Fuggoret reported. “We have tried to do replacements, but the contamination returns. The only way is to strip the ship’s fuel tanks, line, engines, and power systems completely out and replace them. This is time-consuming and costly, as well as having various ships out of service. This includes freighters, tugs, our Fleet ships, and anything that has fueled up in the Omicron-Sempter tank farms. Great Ursa has disavowed responsibility and has tried to charge us for flushing the tanks.”
“Interesting that Zn2091 has contaminated fuel. Perhaps that is why we haven’t heard from them; their ships are all inoperable due to this contaminant. We will have Great Ursa flush and clean the tanks and refill with clean fuel. We need those tank farms. They are at the best possible location for our fleets to refuel when transitioning,” Avis said. “Dag, you will talk to Great Ursa and inform them of our requirements.”
Ray met with Sergie a couple of months after the raids. He was at the proving grounds between the planetoid and the white dwarf star. They were on the observation bridge of the research ship Tesla.
“So, Sergie, what do you have for us?” Ray asked.
“See the ship on the screen? It is a thousand kilometers from us, so you will see close up. We have a missile ship up near the forge, which is close to 100 million kilometers away, yes?” At Ray’s nod, he spoke into the mike. “A split screen will show the launch of the Tiger missile from the missile ship and the target ship. When launched, it should take a conventional Tiger at maximum burn over thirty minutes to reach the target ship. Watch.”
Ray saw the ship launch the missile, and seconds later the missile went to maximum burn and disappeared. Ten seconds later, it slammed into the target ship. Ray looked at Sergie, who had a cat-ate-the-canary look on his face.
“How is that possible?” Ray asked in a rather hushed voice. “That by all rights shouldn’t even be here now.”
“Ah, surprised you.” Sergie laughed. “We have managed, thanks to nano technology, to modify a drive unit on these missiles to make a mini hyper jump. You can actually enter a gate and launch and kill a ship on the other side of the solar system in minutes instead of hours. The targeting system is so sophisticated that if your sensors pick up a ship and tactical downloads the coordinates to the missile computer, it will jump to within a hundred kilometers of the targeted ship. The missile will go active, seek the target, and detonate, killing the shields with the EMP or move at top speed into the hull, detonating. Tactical and point defense have only milliseconds to react. Computer-operated point defense would only get one burst before impact. There is no defense against this missile, and we have already mass-produced them from Tigers to Eagle and Falcons. Ray, this is a dreadnought killer. You can fire thirty Tigers at a dread, and you will be guaranteed thirty impacts. If the dread fires, you will have thirty minutes for evasive action or put in the other surprise for you into action.
“We have finally, after months of tinkering, managed to resolve the issues on the open hyper drives. You can now fire your missiles and then hyper out before the PRC missiles ever get to you. The days of gates are over, and the days of open hyperspace have begun. Just don’t try to jump out near a star, as the gravity well will tear your ship apart. We recommend that you jump away from any planets and out on the rim of the system. Of course if this information gets out, then our four guard platforms will be useless. We expect to start putting these units into your ships as soon as we can get them made up. That Viper heavy battleship is first, as it is already fit for a new engine.”
“Excellent, Sergie.” Ray laughed at his friend’s knowing wink. They both knew that he was going to grab the Mamba class heavy battleship. He knew who was going to have Cul Dar too—George Lincoln if he wanted it. “This is great news. We can now take the fight to the PRC, and I would like to be able to get into the resisting systems to talk with them.”
“Well, Raymond, that is your worry. Me? I can now go home and sleep for a week. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since we started that project,” Sergie said. “I do have another project on the books, but maybe I will keep that one secret until it is ready. I jumped the gun on this one, and it has chewed on me for what—fourteen months now? Now we will return to Pandora. You and Sinclair must come and visit soon. We have made many improvements in our living area. We even have a waterfall now; it’s very scenic.”
“We’ll do that, Sergie. I would like a day off, and I am sure that Sin would like one as well,” Ray said.
They traveled back to Pandora, and Ray took a shuttle up to the Nerve Center. He sat for a while mulling over his whole plan. The PRC had consolidated just about everywhere. They had used the dreadnought to devastating effect on two holdout systems, Centari and Polimolia. The two dreadnoughts had entered the gate and swept every ship that came up against them. The rest of the PRC fleet task force had pour into the gate and chased and destroyed every ship in space, be it warship, freighter, tug, or shuttle. They then destroyed all the satellites and dropped Kews on the planets’ defensive structures. After the resistance to any flying machines was eliminated, they dropped the ground troops and started the planets’ pacification at gunpoint.
Ray knew that the dreads would soon be used to kill the core worlds and then Conrad. He marveled that even now they didn’t realize that CSWS stood for Conrad System War Ship. The scuttlebutt was they thought that it was something to do with Core World Alliance ships. The PRC had spent many days and involved many ships to try to track down the ships that had killed their shipbuilding sites.
It was time to start evening the odds for the core worlds. It was after all what the now-defunct AGW had mandated the Conrad system for. Ray had felt obligated to support the AGW, but now that it was gone and even the core worlds had dropped all pretense to the AGW, he didn’t feel as obligated to adhere to that mandate. Oh, he realized that the refugees that had poured through the gate a couple of years ago were from most of the planets that were forcibly pacified, and they cried out for revenge, but he firmly believe that revenge was a dish that was served cold. He wanted to devise a plan that would destroy the dreadnoughts and set the PRC on the defensive.
He decided to talk it over with his advisory council and put some really good people in charge of a plan. He called his war council, including the leaders of the domestic systems and the R&D people. He had to hold it in Pandora, as the size of the group was too large now for a boardroom. He laid out his need and left it to the think tank to figure out how to turn a need into an idea and then into a rudimentary plan that would or could be fleshed out.
It took the think tank a few weeks to put together a plan for attacking the dreads. They first had to identify where all six remaining dreadnoughts were and track them. They then needed to have every system put under observation so that they knew where the fleets were and what they consisted of. They needed to destroy their fuel sources and eradicate the supply lines for the fleet. Ground forces needed to be starved of ammunitions and have their orbital protection removed. In other words, they needed at least a three-prong attack. This had serious drawbacks as they were a small force, and replacement of crews or ships was in critical short supply. Their supply lines were just a hyper jump away now, so they could refit or resupply faster, but losses were almost irreplaceable.
Ray approved of the plan but sent it back with some comments. He had decided to make the battleground the Centari system. He wanted to kill an active fleet and
active ground forces. It was proving time for Hammer and his people as well as the loads of corvettes and frigates they had. He had also asked that only heavier warships be used in fleet exchanges now. He made a call to George Lincoln. When George arrived, they retired to Ray’s inner office and went over various ideas for battle plans.
“George, are you interested in getting on a starship bridge again?” Ray asked. “I know that you and Bev have become close, and maybe you want spend more time close to the system.”
“Oh don’t let that hamper your consideration, Ray. Bev and I both know the deal, being ex-Fleet and all. What ship do you have in mind?”
“I would like to turn the Cul Dar over to you, and I want you to take over task force Green. I am taking command of the Mamba. She is ready for fleet trials, and I want full time to her until I get a feel of for her. The Cul Dar has gone into refit, as will all the ships presently here. As you know by now, Sergie has managed to break though the hyper drive impasse. We also have the new missile drive system that will make the missile almost impossible to defend against. The tide will begin to turn against the PRC within a year or so. I am hoping to be able to get into the core systems for talks soon. I would like you and Byron to be heading up that trip, as I am not well known in those systems, and I believe that you are.”
“Which system will we be going to?” George asked.
“I think Golderon to Dorian. It is the center of the core and probably where the biggest collection of Fleet ships is being used. There should be some officials there. I understand through our communication satellite relays that the core world has formed an alliance called Core World Alliance and called on all systems to rise up and throw the PRC out,” Ray stated.