by Dietmar Wehr
“Task Force 79 will be commanded by Sen. Cmdr. Yakamura, whose familiarity with Zebra 9 will stand him in good stead. The six frigate squadrons will be the 51st, the 77th, the 98th, the 102nd , the 144th and the 153rd. He paused again, then said.
“That concludes the overview of Operation Dropkick. I will NOT be taking any questions however, if any of you have any comments or suggestions that you feel would help make this operation a success, you’re welcome to submit them in writing to my Office. Now before I end this briefing I have a few other items to communicate to all of you.”
“Since meetings like this won’t happen very often, now would be a good time to bring all of you up to date on what will be happening here on the Home Front over the next weeks and months. First, two new types of attack drones have been successfully tested and will be put into volume production very soon. One type has a depleted uranium kinetic energy penetrator warhead while the other has a sub-kiloton tactical fission warhead. Unfortunately neither one will be available for Dropkick but we expect to be able to equip some squadrons with a few of these beauties before too long. Second, an in-house ship design bureau has now been setup. It’s already started working on detailed designs of a long-range reconnaissance ship as well as a combat frigate that will have 150% more tonnage than an exploration frigate, with hull armor, more powerful lasers and enhanced ECM/Stealth capabilities. When we are far enough along the design process where we feel we can begin actual fabrication of parts, we will NOT be going with the old process of building one prototype ship first, to be extensively evaluated before any more are built. We can’t afford the time for that anymore. Multiple combat frigates and to a lesser extent, long-range recon frigates, will be built at the same time. While that is going on, a SEPARATE design team will be working on an Autonomous Fighting Platform which can be thought of as a very large drone, with high endurance and capable of carrying its own standoff weapon systems. Once we have that design perfected, actual construction will be relatively quick. So you can expect to see big changes in our force structure before the end of this year. That brings this briefing to an end. Let’s all wish the men and women of TF 79 good luck and good hunting.” With that Howard turned and left the stage. The lights came back up and everyone started to leave while they chatted with each other. Shiloh stayed seated. He didn’t mind being one of the last to leave while he pondered the raid profile. He was both excited and apprehensive about his squadron being part of the raiding force.
When Shiloh stepped back onto his repaired ship, it felt like coming home. Even though all Exploration Frigates are nearly identical in basic design, somehow this particular ship gave him a sense of familiarity that would have been missing from any other ship. As he stepped through the airlock connecting the asteroid repair facility to the ship, he saw his new XO standing there to greet him. With Johansen back from her recon mission and now waiting for a command of her own, Admiral Dietrich had paid Shiloh a singular honor by letting him pick his new Executive Officer. After going through the dossiers of several dozen potential candidates, Shiloh had picked Lt. Cmdr. Svetlana Chenko. The main reason why he picked her was the persistent reports by her superiors to the effect that Chenko brought an unusually serious attitude to her duties and Shiloh thought that would be exactly what the Space Force in general and his ship in particular, now needed.
“Glad to see you were able to report to the ship so quickly, Commander.” Chenko saluted and said.
“Thank you, Commander. I understand that you specifically requested me as Executive Officer.” Shiloh returned the salute and responded with.
“Yes I did. I’m certain that we’ll work well together.” With the saluting out of the way, Shiloh started walking towards the Bridge and said. “Has the ship’s new 2nd Officer arrived yet?” Chenko, who had fallen in step with her CO, said.
“Lt. Cmdr. Farnsworth arrived on the previous transport. I’ve asked him to get up to speed on the current status of the ship’s repairs. I understand that it’s taken longer to finish them then was originally estimated.” Shiloh grimaced.
“Yes, the estimate of three weeks was overly optimistic but I understand that most of the delay is the result of last minute modifications that have been ordered by our Chief of Operations. I’ve been told that at least one of her lasers is being upgraded to a more powerful model and that some of the ship’s hull will have armor added to it.” He paused and then asked. “What percentage of the crew is aboard right now?” Chenko didn’t hesitate.
“We currently have 34 out of 77 onboard at the moment. Do you have some idea of when the ship will be expected to be ready for duty, Commander?” Shiloh realized that Chenko was not likely to call him Skipper the way that Johansen did.
“Admiral Howard is anxious to get Task Force 79 up and running. Senior Commander Delvecio will be taking command of the Marathon soon and she should be ready to leave dock in less than a week. That means that I’ll be stepping in as SFE144’s Squadron Leader and a squadron leader should be with his squadron, not sitting in a repair dock. So I’m anxious to get the Old Girl fixed up and ready to dance as soon as possible.” Chenko did not smile at the reference to the 344 as the ‘old girl’.
“I see your point, Sir.” By this time, they were entering the Bridge. It looked pretty much as before and was unoccupied since the ship was still berthed in the repair dock. Shiloh walked over to his command station and manipulated several controls. The large Tactical display on the wall came to life and showed the overall deployment of Space Force vessels in the Solar System. There was a dense cluster of green dots in orbit around Earth with a scattering of green dots elsewhere in the system including the asteroid shipyards where the 344 was located as well as in transit between Earth and other locations. Shiloh made the display zoom in to the cluster around Earth. The screen filled with green triangles with ship identification. He had never seen so many exploration frigates in Earth orbit at one time before. Admiral Howard had called back in virtually every frigate the Space Force had. Exploration had ground to a halt. Shiloh wondered how many years it would be before exploration efforts started up again.
With Chenko helping him, Shiloh was able to convince the shipyard to finish their repairs on the 344 before the new command ship, Marathon was ready. So when Sen. Cmdr. Delvecio officially gave up the post of Squadron Leader of SFE144, Shiloh’s ship was already back in Earth orbit and in formation with the rest of the squadron. It was 24 hours later that Task Force 79, under Sen. Cmdr. Yakamura, left Earth orbit.
Chapter 7 - The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men
It took 16 days to get to SFB Bradley and then another two weeks of careful jumping along the Zebra route. The previously deployed recon drones around each star system’s gas giants were checked for any signs of alien activity. They didn’t find any. When the task force arrived at Zebra 7 and confirmed that no enemy activity had been detected, Yakamura called an electronic conference with his squadron leaders.
“Well we’ve verified that no enemy activity has been detected near this system’s gas giant in the five weeks since the recon drone was deployed. Quite frankly, I’m surprised by this lack of enemy activity so close to their mining system. Nevertheless, I’ll take whatever luck I can get. However, that’s not the reason why I called this conference. Whoever calculated our projected fuel consumption was overly optimistic. I’ve just checked the task force’s total remaining fuel supply and compared it to the estimated consumption that we expect to have to realize in order to jump to Zebra 9, make our planned attacks and then jump back here and I’m concerned about the numbers. The plan calls for us to arrive back here with a minimum reserve of not less than 10%. If we continue with the Plan as it stands now, our reserve will only be 6 ½ % and that’s for the entire task force. Individual ships’ reserves could be much lower. I’m not prepared to risk that. So here is what we’re going to do. Shiloh and Dejanus…you two will take your squadrons and escort all twelve tankers to this system’s gas giant, where they will s
kim heavy hydrogen until our estimated reserves are back up to 15%. You’ll then escort them back here and when the task force is back together again, we’ll proceed with the rest of the mission. Are there any questions or concerns?” Cmdr. Dejanus spoke up.
“Yes there is. Am I correct in thinking that as the senior Squadron Leader, I’ll have tactical command authority during this refueling mission?” Yakamura nodded and replied.
“You are correct, Cmdr. Cmdr. Rolen, you’ll still have operational authority for the actual refueling of your tanker squadron but in the event of contact with the enemy, you’ll follow Dejanus’s orders. Clear?”
“Clear, Sir.”
“Cmdr. Shiloh, that goes for you too.”
“Understood, Sir.”
“Good. Now if there are no other questions…?” There were none. “Then let’s proceed.”
When the communication channel with the command ship terminated, Shiloh switched over to the open com channel with the rest of his squadron and give them the news. By the time he had finished that, all of the ships involved in the refueling operation had received a data burst from Yakamura with detailed instructions. Once underway, Dejanus issued his own orders regarding formation. SFE144 would lead the way in, with the tanker squadron in the middle and SFE077 in the rear. Apparently Cmdr. Dejanus did not see the need to lead from the front. Shiloh didn’t think too much of that and he was certain that most of the other ship commanders wouldn’t either. With the transit to the gas giant expected to take almost 10 hours, Shiloh as glad that his command shift was almost over. He wanted to be well rested and on the Bridge when they neared the gas giant.
As it turned out, the entire operation was completely uneventful and quite boring. When all three squadrons joined the rest of the task force just over 32 hours later, Yakamura congratulated everyone on a smooth operation and ordered the task force to head on course for the jump to Zebra 9. Jumping past Zebra 8 directly to Zebra 9, took almost 50 hours. The tension aboard the 344 was palpable and Shiloh was certain that it was the same aboard the other ships. The only person who seemed to be immune to the tension was Lt. Cmdr. Chenko. She remained as totally calm and serious as before. Shiloh did find out though that Chenko was an enthusiastic chess player. Shiloh wanted to get to know his new XO better so he borrowed a chess set from one of the crew and offered Chenko a game in the officer’s wardroom during their overlapping off duty shift. It wasn’t long before he realized that he was out of his depth. When Chenko moved her Queen all the way down to Shiloh’s end of the board, in order to pressure his King, Shiloh experienced another vision. In it, he saw Task Force Leader Yakamura on a view screen saying..” I’m approving Cmdr. Shiloh’s request that all frigate squadrons be refueled before they split up to start the attack.” The vision must have made his expression change because Chenko asked.
“Are you alright, Sir?” Shiloh quickly regained his composure and replied in the affirmative. Four moves later Chenko declared checkmate and Shiloh tipped over his King. As he was putting the pieces and board away, he said.
“Before we emerge into Zebra 9, I’d like to see a calculation of the squadron’s fuel reserves and estimated consumption for carrying out the mission and jumping back to Zebra 7, XO.” Chenko acknowledged the order and Shiloh left the wardroom.
When TF79 finally arrived at Zebra 9, their sensors revealed a big surprise. The entire system was EM dark. No artificial emissions were detected at all. Yakamura immediately called another conference session with his squadron leaders. As Shiloh listened to him explain how the recon mission had definitely detected six strong point sources of EM emissions along with other signs of industrial activity, he reviewed once again Chenko report on SFE144’s fuel situation. Due to the detour of escorting the tanker squadron to and from the gas giant, SFE144’s remaining fuel was now below the minimum required for conducting the raid itself and the return jump. Once he had that conclusion clearly in his mind, he returned his full attention back to the conference discussion. SFE153’s Cmdr. LaRoche was speaking.
“…appears that they knew we were coming and shut down all energy sources to make it harder for us to pinpoint them. That suggests that we should reconsider this mission if the element of surprise is gone.” SFE051’s Cmdr. Cabrera started to respond but Yakamura cut him off.
“This mission will proceed regardless of whether we still have the element of surprise or not. I will not abandon this mission merely because they might be expecting us. What kind of signal would that send them? Any other comments?” Shiloh spoke up.
“Yes, Sir. I have a concern regarding my squadron’s fuel situation. Our tanker escort mission depleted our reserves to the point where we won’t have enough fuel to jump back to Zebra 7 if we’re unable to refuel after the attack. I’d like to request that all of the frigate squadrons be refueled now, prior to the start of the attack. That way there’ll be no risk that any ship will end up being stuck in this system and unable to jump back to Zebra 7. I realize that this request will delay the start of the attack however, it seems to me that we’re more likely to have time to refuel when the enemy doesn’t know we’re here rather than after the attack when whatever enemy ships are in this system, are alerted to our presence. ” Yakamura turned to the other screen and said.
“What do the rest of you think of this suggestion?” Only one squadron leader wanted to attack first and refuel later and his argument was only half-hearted. All the others agreed with Shiloh. Yakamura nodded.
“Very well, in light of the support for this request, and because I feel the risk imposed by the delay is minimal, I’m approving Cmdr. Shiloh’s request that all frigate squadrons be refueled before they split up to start the attack. My XO will coordinate the refueling. That’s all for now.” After the conference ended, Shiloh passed the refueling order to his squadron and ordered his Helm Officer to follow the instructions of the tanker assigned to the 344. While that was going on, he called Chenko to the Bridge. When she arrived next to his Command Station, he said.
“You heard the news about the emissions blackout?” Chenko nodded. “Comments?” She thought carefully and then replied.
“I agree that they are probably expecting us and that begs the question of how did they know we were coming.” Shiloh nodded.
“Yes and the only answer that I can think of, which makes any kind of sense, is that they detected our recon ship and figured out that we would follow up with a massed attack. But how did they detect the Gnat? She never approached the inner system nor did she detect any enemy vessel. She was far enough out from this system’s star that any reflected light would have been extremely difficult to detect unless an enemy ship happened to be relatively close and the odds of that happening are literally…astronomical. I can’t help feeling that we’ve overlooked something. By the way, I’ve convinced Yakamura to let all frigate squadrons refuel now. I’ve passed the word to the squadron and Lt. Verlander is looking after our refueling.” He paused, still wondering what implications the latest vision had in store for them, then continued. “When the 144th is ready to start its attack run, I’m going to stay on the Bridge but only in my capacity as Squadron Leader. You will take the Con for this ship. I’ll use this Command Station and you will con the ship from the Helm Station. Any questions?” Chenko thought for a moment, then said.
“No, Sir. That’s clear enough and I can see why you want to do it that way. Having responsibility for both the ship and the squadron in a combat situation might get to be overwhelming for one person to handle.”
“Excellent. You can wait until I send the Squadron to Battle Stations before you take over Verlander’s station.” Chenko acknowledged that and left the Bridge.
When Shiloh returned his attention to the refueling, he saw that two of the 12 tankers were refueling each frigate squadron. As the fuel shuttle approached the 344, Shiloh felt himself getting impatient. His ship had refueled this way dozens of times before but this time the process seemed to be going slower than usual, altho
ugh a glance at the chronometer told him it wasn’t. It was his own sense of time that was off and he wondered if he was experiencing a rush of adrenaline. It would account for his distorted sense of time but as to why he would be feeling a rush of adrenaline now, when their scheduled attack was still a couple of hours away, he couldn’t figure out.