Cobb looked back and forth between the two officers who were industriously working on either side of him before sighing. “It would seem I'm outnumbered, commodore. Very well, I am content to act merely as a safety net for the return journey, ensuring the ship is brought back and placed in the right hands.”
It was as close to an admission of defeat as he was likely to get from the agent. Stokes called out on the comm, “Okay, people, let's start working the systems. Cobb, designate me as second in command and Simmons over there as science officer.”
Cobb complied without any sign of distress. Stokes turned to Aves. “Mister Aves, get back to the pinnace and get bridge rotation bravo aboard the pinnace to take over vital functions and to give Captain Cobb here a command staff to get the ship back. Also, shuttle over a division of maintenance technicians and watch qualified personnel to provide relief watches.
“Aye, sir,” Aves said before charging off the bridge.
Stokes walked to the front of the bridge and said, “Aeternum, provide historical overview of placement in this system. Also provide reasons a colony was placed on Lashmere, original intent behind this placement and expectations of colony once Aeternum was recovered.”
“Compiling data.” There was a long pause while everyone waited in silence. Everyone could hear breathing on the comm circuit while they waited for the answers to all of the questions that had baffled historians and anthropologists for centuries.
“Data compilation complete. Aeternum originally placed in system designated A134 by remote. Command crew and all personnel were evacuated prior to launch. Aeternum was directed to enter system, construct a shield preventing long range scanning location and a system making direction finding of FTL signal difficult. FTL signal provided in great specificity and made to pinpoint a single star system only: Lashmere. Genetic profile of all Lashmere colonists provided and stored.”
Stokes said, “Pause recitation. Are you saying you had the genetic profile of everyone originally sent to Lashmere?”
“Correct.”
“What if humans from another colony had arrived before we did and tried to come aboard?”
“They would have been designated as intruders, provided a chance to withdraw before being eradicated,” the computer replied in a chillingly dispassionate voice.
“I understand. Continue recitation,” Stokes said.
“Aeternum arrived in system five thousand six point three one standard years ago. Construction of shield shell took seven point eight hours. Placement of signal reflectors took an additional zero point two hours. Systems were placed in dormancy mode for remaining time interval.
“Colony placed on Lashmere system to try to preserve the human race. Interplanetary conflict ongoing for thirty-three standard years before colonization had come to a culmination likely to end with humanity completely annihilated. Several attempts were made to place clandestine groups of humans with highly advanced technology in locations unlikely to come into contact with hostile alliance.”
“Alliance? “
“Correct. At the time of launch, human empire was in their thirty-third standard year of continuous conflict with a hostile alliance of aliens. Encroachment of borders and contest over rare resources initiated conflict. Continue recitation?”
“Yes, continue,” Stokes said. He looked at Patho and Simmons, both of whom were tapping away furiously at their consoles, trying to pull additional data from the system.
“Updated expectations based on observed technological level of humans from Lashmere are as follows. Recolonize galaxy. Return to Earth, planet of origin, ascertain status and recolonize Earth if practicable. Discover, maintain and understand encroaching civilizations. Enter into and maintain peaceful alliance with other species if possible. Detailed parameters are available in text format. Vocal recitation is summary only.”
“Sir...” Simmons' voice had a sickly note to it. “Sir, I have to put this on all the displays. Ship, put my screen on all bridge displays.” The screens winked on, displaying an image of an alien. The alien looked exactly like Thun.
“This hostile alien alliance... was it made up of five races? The Xalcek, Hontoata, Gol, Unam and Yaderiedea?”
“Species names match designate hostile alliance species.” The dispassion rang like a bell this time. Stunned silence filled the bridge.
“We have to warn them,” Cobb said.
“I couldn't agree more, Cobb. Let’s get this ship underway. As soon as you have your bridge crew, we have to get back to Lashmere and prepare for war.”
Chapter 6
It was inevitable. The alliance command council resisted, pled political fallout, but in the end, they just couldn't withstand the power of Drogue and Hanlon's arguments. Ktenu kept saying how high the price would be once it was all over, but he continued to be vague as to what the price would be. Ktenu provided a single cruiser class ship and five destroyer class ships to support the raid plan Hanlon and Drogue had proposed.
The entire expeditionary force was mustered the next morning at the area of the alliance space dock where their newly assigned ships were moored. Drogue and Hanlon addressed the assembled personnel. More than two hundred veteran military spacers stood at attention as Hanlon and Drogue stepped up to the podium.
Drogue approached the alliance version of a microphone and said, “At ease.” The entire assembly sat in their chairs and waited in stark silence for Drogue to continue. Drogue placed his weathered hands on either side of the podium. Though Drogue's face was heavily lined with age, his voice came out sure and steady. “The alliance command has elected to take the opportunity to use our tactical know-how to put themselves in a better strategic situation. We have been assigned a cruiser and five destroyers. The alliance doesn't currently field smaller support ships like corvettes so we'll have to make do with what they have. We have been assured these are the very best examples of their current military tech. We'll engage in a short series of exercises over the next four days before moving on to the first of our targets.
“Crew assignments to each ship have been forwarded to all official communication nodes. We will expect assigned command teams to organize, inspect and report any deficiencies within their individual commands to Captain Hanlon. The four day training schedule we have devised is a crash course designed to gain maximum efficiency with the alliance systems in the time available. The first day will be mostly tutorial in systems operation, weapons capabilities and performance characteristics of the alliance ships. Day two will be a combat simulation against an alliance formation. Day three will be an orbit to surface simulation and blockade. Day four will be a system assault. These four missions are intended to loosely simulate the raids we have planned to complete for the benefit of the alliance.
“On each raid, an alliance salvage and manufacturing ship will follow us in, and once combat ends, it will recover any salvageable materials from the area. These raids are not intended to seize any territory. The raids are meant to put the crabs off balance and to recover rare materials vital in the manufacture of new ships. It is the first step in a larger, long-range plan to preserve the alliance. Anyone with any questions can address them to their superior officer or Captain Hanlon as appropriate after the briefing. Break into your teams and prepare to complete your assignments, people. All personnel are to organize themselves into individual commands.”
The personnel of the expeditionary force uniformly turned their attention to their wrist comps and checked crew assignments. Within minutes, the assigned commanding officers had organized their commands into divisions and departments. Officers arrayed themselves in front of their crews and took musters of their assigned members.
The room once again fell silent as each crew stood waiting for new orders. Hanlon said into the microphone, “Okay, people. Crew of the destroyer Poniard to berth one.” Hanlon motioned to a door with a single dot over it. Crew of the destroyer Rapier to berth two. Crew of the destroyer Saber to berth three. Crew of the destroyer Dirk t
o berth four and crew of the cruiser Broadsword to berth five. All ships had been provided new names as most of the alliance ship names were unpronounceable by humans.”
The next morning with all ships properly crewed and all personnel familiarized with their new assignments, the squadron made ready to begin their training. Drogue, Hanlon, and their bridge officers sat at their posts aboard the Broadsword.
“Miss Hanlon are departure stations manned?”
“Yes, Admiral. We are ready for departure.”
“Status of the rest of the squadron?”
“All ships report ready for departure, sir.”
“Very well. Signal to all ships: depart in predesignated order and make best speed to rendezvous point alpha.”
The varied ships of the loosely termed 'the offensive squadron' moved out to a predetermined point in space. The remainder of the previous day after crew assignments had been passed out had been spent in familiarization with their new ships and preparation for combat training.
Hanlon said, “Sir all ships report underway. ETA to form-up at the rendezvous point one hour thirty-three minutes.”
The intervening time passed quietly. Everyone was still getting to know their new ships. Once the ships all arrived, weapons system testing began.
“We are arriving at the inner boundary of the asteroid belt, admiral,” Hanlon said.
“Very well, captain. Have tactical highlight asteroids with non-vital composition. Once targets have been selected, direct all ships to begin weapons testing and tactical system evaluation.”
“Aye, sir. Sending instructions now.” Hanlon worked over her console for a few minutes before saying, “All ships report ready to begin weapons testing.”
“Very well. All ships proceed with testing.”
“Aye, sir.” Hanlon turned to the tactical officer assigned to the Broadsword. “Miss Kelper, commence weapons testing on target asteroid designated alpha-one.”
“Alpha-one, aye,” Kelper said. Her lithe frame perched in a chair obviously intended for one of the more massive species of the alliance. “Weapons hot, all forward batteries now firing.”
“Mister Watkins, give me a sensor report,” Hanlon said.
Watkins, the assigned science officer aboard the Broadsword, said, “Looks like weapons performance is in line with alliance specifications. Forward weapons banks are a mix of pulsed beams designed to demolecularize any object they are focused on and remaining batteries are focused particle pulse type energy weapons.”
The weapons array was intended to first weaken any armor or hull by loosening the molecular bonds between its constituent elements, followed by moderately powerful energy shots from another array of guns.
“What are your findings, Mister Watkins?”
“It's a poorly designed system, ma'am. The demolecularizing beams take a lot of energy and must be focused within a few degrees of optimal in order to maintain a useful effect. The follow-up shots from the energy cannons are weak, and without the first step, they would splash against even relatively weak armor with no real result other than some scorching.”
“Pretty much exactly what our simulations predicted,” Hanlon said. “Against a moving target, what is your estimate of the beam's ability compensate for a moving firing platform and a moving target?”
“Well, ma'am, I can see why these guys are getting their butts kicked The beams lose focus too easily. The energy would be far better spent on an electromagnetically stabilized hull armor and much larger and higher powered energy cannons. In theory, I'm sure this seems like a good system, and under ideal circumstances, it has the advantage of being a lot more controlled than simply battering a target apart with what amounts to highly charged balls of energetic plasma. I think in practice the power conduits and hard points could be used for much more useful purposes. The demolecularizing beams are also mass intensive. Pretty big problems for ships we're supposed to take into battle in the next week, ma'am.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Hanlon turned to her console. “Admiral, all ships are reporting similar results. The weapons perform as designed, and under ideal circumstances, they have a much better chance of inflicting controlled damage to hostile ships. In practice, the design is deeply flawed.”
“It's exactly as we feared, then. The question becomes: what will we do about it?”
“It's a good question, sir. Do you think the alliance would be willing to upgrade the ships?”
“Even if they were, do you think they have the materials to build another forty or so high powered energy cannons and electromagnetic hull armor plates?”
“Probably not,” Hanlon said. Her eyes unfocused as she pondered the situation. “Perhaps we can modify the demolecularizing beams. Can we just call them demo beams, sir?”
“That's fine, captain.” The admiral held her gaze intently. “You sounded like you had an idea.”
“Just the beginnings of one, sir. The beams are meant to loosen electromagnetic bonds, right? Can the process be inverted and focused back on the ships themselves? Can we effectively create a pulsed beam that enhances the strength of our hull armor? It doesn't do much to affect our firepower, but it may give us a huge boost in survivability.”
Drogue pondered the proposal for a moment and then said, “Forward your idea to all five science sections. I want independent analyses of your idea by tomorrow morning. If we need to take time to modify our systems, I want it done while we are back in space dock supplying for our raids.”
“Aye, sir,” Hanlon started typing away at her console, entering the broad strokes of her idea. “Sir, have you ever seen the design specifications for the main gun on the Rampart?”
“I haven't had the opportunity, captain. What do you have in mind?
“The last flagship, the Bastion, used six linked particle cannons all designed to fire at a single point ahead of the ship. The range of focus could be adjusted for maximum impact. It worked pretty well, but there were a lot of moving parts, and sometimes the focus would be off. The drop off in energy transfer from the Bastion's main gun was decent even when it didn't hit just right. When the focus was perfect, which the Bastion crew got really good at doing by the end of the war, the sympathetic energy between the six shots resulted in an exponential amplification of energy transfer to the target.”
“I'm already aware of how the Bastion's cannon operates, Captain. You were going to tell me about the main gun on Rampart.” Drogue's voice had a testy edge.
“Sorry, sir. The main gun on the Rampart is essentially a series of ten larger particle canons with the focus issue removed. The shots are all focused through an electromagnetic conduit that super-compresses the shot and forces it to leave the ship with a much higher potential energy. The process is significantly more energy intensive than the system used on the Bastion, but the results are pretty breathtaking. The electromagnetic rail each shot is fired through forces each one to build upon its neighbors, so the energy also sustains the shot resulting in much improved effective range as well. Once we got it tuned and properly focused, it's a dead reliable system that uses proven technology.”
“You are proposing we do something similar without current armament?”
“We have the basic building blocks already. Plenty of extra power generation, effective and available EM generators, it might take some creative engineering to get it done in time, but I think we could project an appropriate EM envelope to compress our current particle cannons down. The only big issue is we have no structure to stabilize the envelope so our range might be poor compared to a purpose built system like Rampart has. We would probably end up with about the range we have now, rather than two to three times that if we could actually modify the ships to support such a system.”
“Sounds like a good idea, Captain. Pass orders to begin the modification on all ships and have the commanding officers report their time frames within the hour.”
“Aye, sir. Shall we continue our weapons exercises?
“The
torpedoes are essentially the same kind of system we use. A large bomb on a guided delivery vehicle. The explosive used is comparable to what we use. A systems check for all ships to ensure the launch, guidance and explosive potential for all ships is all I would recommend, sir.”
“Agreed, Captain. Proceed with torpedo testing.”
“Aye, sir. Miss Kelper, prepare a torpedo for launch against target alpha one. Mister Watkins, comm all ships in the squadron and instruct them to launch a single torpedo against alpha one.”
The two officers bent to their tasks, followed by a series of five torpedoes exploded against the side of the slowly tumbling asteroid. “All launches and impacts as expected, admiral. Weapons systems are all fully operational. The first watch is nearly over, sir. Shall we proceed?”
“Yes, Captain. Relieve first watch as scheduled. Drills during second watch and maintenance for the third watch. Tomorrow during the first watch, we'll begin our first exercise. All crew assigned to weapons and armor modification are exempt from drills. I want those systems ready for testing by second watch tomorrow if at all possible.”
“Aye, sir. I'll forward modification time tables to your stateroom.”
“Excellent. You have the bridge, captain.” Drogue stood and walked from the room.
Hanlon considered the situation for a moment. Drogue certainly lived up to his reputation as an aggressive and decisive leader. Large modifications like the ones Drogue had ordered were usually only attempted in a space dock. If there was a serious malfunction, it could cost them dearly, and the alliance had made it clear they would not be furnishing the expeditionary force with any other ships to use as an offensive force. The trip from Lashmere had been particularly trying for Hanlon. In the first hour, Drogue had made it abundantly clear he had no interest in her sense of humor and was unwilling to tolerate it on any ship under his command, much less from an officer in a position of authority like hers.
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