A Faded Star

by Michael Freeport

  Brand said, “Glad you could join us, Miss Simmons. Please take your seat.” He motioned to the empty chair just to his right. Simmons winced. She'd been supposed to brief Brand on the newest ship designs before the meeting. She'd forgotten to program the reminder into her comm. Brand spoke again, “Miss Simmons, if you would be so kind as to brief us on the final design candidates?”

  “Of course, sir.” Simmons stood and fiddled with her tablet for a moment till she got the presentation screen up. Tapping it again, she brought the seven ship designs up on the conference room screens. She was about to begin when Admiral Misato came into the room. Formerly the captain of the Bastion, he'd been recently promoted to admiral to take Vesper's place.

  Misato looked around the room with his dark eyes. He displaced a lieutenant commander sitting at the table, and once settled said, “Sorry for the interruption. Please continue the briefing.”

  Brand said, “Of course, Admiral. Please allow me to congratulate you on your recent promotion.”

  Misato said, “Thank you, Admiral.”

  Brand nodded and then said, “Proceed, lieutenant.”

  Simmons said, “Yes, sir. There are seven ship designs we're currently considering. The first design is an all out stealth ship. It comes in two variants. Both variants use the same basic hull design and can be transferred from one role to another as needs of the fleet dictate. The first role is that of stealth corvette. This design is primarily for covert operations and intelligence gathering. It features the ability to carry four platoons of Marines and has the ability to operate without support indefinitely. The stealth ship design is intended to be as self-sufficient as possible. The stealth corvette also carries a compliment of two hundred of the new drone designs. They can be operated autonomously by the computer or with human oversight. The second stealth ship design is a science and research design. It features greatly enhanced long range sensor capability, a highly capable computer system and larger storage capacity in place of three of the Marine platoons. The research ship has the same drone compliment and self-sufficiency capability. A large compartment in the center of the ship is designed to be detachable and can be replaced with a module for the alternate role. These ships are highly maneuverable. They are just under one hundred fifty meters long and have a fifty meter manufacturing ring as part of their design. Intended crew compliment is twenty-four officers and crew plus Marines.” Simmons tapped her tablet, and the ship appeared on the screens, replacing a long list of statistical data. The ship was a long scarab shaped hull that wrapped around the top third of the manufacturing ring, which hung below. The bottom half of the ring housed a drone launch bay.

  Brand said, “I like those. What's next, Miss Simmons?”

  “The second design is a basic destroyer design. We found some platforms that had been previously used in the Aeternum's database, but we've modified them pretty heavily. Old designs used by humans didn't have any drones and rarely included Marine detachments on any but the largest ships. Even then, they didn't call them Marines, which is odd.”

  Brand gave her a sharp look, and she veered back on topic. “So, as I was saying, we used the basic destroyer and then modified it heavily.” She tapped her screen again, and another list of specifications came up on the screens. “The destroyer design is three hundred meters long and has a one hundred twenty-five meter manufacturing ring. The specified crew compliment is sixty plus a marine detachment of up to three hundred. Destroyers are also the largest ship we've designed that can be flown in the atmosphere. Destroyer class ships have a modified version of the stealth technology used in the corvettes. They can use power to absorb and deflect sensor systems, but they can't operate at anything like full power while in stealth mode. Destroyers have a drone compliment of one hundred. Up to five operators can simultaneously operate drones, but the system is designed to operate with two tactical officers. The drones can also be run in autonomous mode. The destroyer has a robust defensive weapons array roughly equivalent to what is currently on the Rampart class.”

  Misato raised his hand, and Simmons nodded to him. “Lieutenant, your ships seem to be under crewed. A one hundred fifty meter ship should have a crew of over one hundred. Twenty-four crew could not possibly operate a ship the size of the proposed corvette class.”

  “We've added a series of highly redundant automation matrices as part of the integral ship design. The ships also carry automated damage control systems that allow the ships to self-repair. Without human input, a damaged ship can be as much as seventy percent destroyed and repair itself to full operating conditions under ideal circumstances. The bridge is the only location with actual watch stations. There is one roving watch stander on the corvettes, but the bridge is the only location where crew members must be at all times while the ship is in flight. Under emergency circumstances, a corvette class ship could be piloted by a single officer, if they had sufficient knowledge of ships operations.”

  Admiral Misato leaned back in his chair. After a moment of thought he said, “Lieutenant, what kind of scenarios have you run for crew degradation?”

  “You mean like for battle casualties?”

  “Yes.”

  “The ships are traditionally crewed with twice the minimum number of crew needed to maintain optimal battle readiness. Each of the recommended compliments represents a crew that can suffer half its number in casualties before battlefield operations become degraded. All ship designs have automated medical facilities that require only minimal human input for more complicated operations. A human doctor is assigned along with two field medics as part of the corvette crew for example. A single medic has the knowledge and ability to complete all but the most complicated surgeries. The human doctor is a backup to the automated system in this case. The automatic system literally knows more and has better technique than human hands can ever hope to have.”

  “I see,” Misato said. “How about tactical operations?”

  “The battle computers on all ship designs are triple redundant and have heuristic learning programs. As the ship engages in battle, the computer calculates all observed variables and continuously provides recommended tactical responses. The more a ship fights, the better it gets at beating a given enemy. Defensive systems are equally adaptable. The defensive canons, for example, have been given a variable yield and refire rate that allows the computer to adjust for observed effectiveness against various types of incoming fire. The defensive systems should be able to learn to intercept anything from ballistic projectiles to pulsed beam systems. The offensive systems represent a quantum leap forward much more than the difference between the old Bastion style ships and the new Rampart style ships. The new designs use a pulsed plasma beam main gun. The shots come much more rapidly, and to the naked eye seem to be an almost constant stream of fire. Destructively, they are incredibly dangerous. The new drone designs use a similar energy pattern for their on-board laser systems. The thing we are proudest of for weapons systems, however, is the new torpedo designs. These are essentially stealth drones that launch under their own power and proceed, virtually undetectably, to deliver a massive fission charge against enemy hulls. The nuclear reaction is clean and efficient, most of the radioactive byproducts are consumed and channeled into destructive force.”

  What kind of destructive yield are you talking about, here, Lieutenant?” Misato asked.

  “The standard yield is in the range of four quadrillion kilojoules for a single weapon. To give you an example, a similar weapon deployed against Rampart would vaporize roughly fifteen percent of the ship if it struck where the armor is thickest, around the center of the ship. A hit in either the top or bottom of the ship would result in complete destruction, most likely,” Simmons said.

  Misato let out a low whistle. “Impressive. Please continue your presentation, Lieutenant.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Simmons tapped at her tablet for a moment before continuing. “Ah, here we are. The third ship design we're considering is the drone carrier. The
ship is two hundred, seventy-five meters long and has several unique design features. It has one large and four small manufacturing rings. The ship can literally scoop up battlefield debris and create new drones on the fly. The smaller rings are sized to produce up to ten drones at a time. The internal compliment of drones is six hundred. The ship does have a single pulsed main gun, but it's nowhere near as powerful as the one carried on larger ship designs we're exploring. The ship relies on its drones for both offensive and defensive punch. On board defensive systems are similar to what is carried on the destroyer class ship. The drone carrier also has a much smaller marine detachment, meant only for repelling boarders, for the most part. Four platoons, like the stealth corvette carries. It actually uses the same module to support the Marine platoon, so the drone carrier can be refitted for scientific and research missions if needed. The drone carrier has a crew compliment of one hundred plus marines.

  “The fourth ship design we've proposed is an assault cruiser type. We considered separate cruiser and battlecruiser designs, but in the end, the design overlap was too great. The assault cruiser was the best compromise of all design needs. With a crew of one hundred, seventy, this is the smallest ship we are considering that has a broadside armament. Rather than a single or small cluster of pulsed energy cannons at the bow, the assault cruiser has an array of six cannons on each side. The canons can be articulate up to thirty-five degrees in any direction. These cannons are similar in size and destructive power as the ones carried fore and aft on the destroyer class. The assault cruiser also has another unique design. The large manufacturing ring is absent, but the ship does employ a pair of smaller rings, recessed into the hull that allows for sections of the ship that have been damaged to be produced and then put in place using small craft. The assault cruiser is four hundred meters long and has two fifty meter manufacturing rings tucked under the widest section of the hull. The assault cruiser has an armored flank that completely covers the manufacturing rings. The broadside armament is the armored section. This allows hits to the weapons bays to not effect critical functions of the ship. The drone compliment is two hundred. This ship is extremely tough and is intended to be the main line ship in any fight. It's fast enough to run away from anything capable of destroying it and tough enough to blast anything that can catch it out of the sky.”

  Simmons paused for a moment to take a drink of water. She'd been talking continuously for half an hour with only the short break for questions from Admiral Misato. The remaining officers all seemed content to let her complete the presentation before asking questions. She continued, “The fourth ship design we're looking at is a battleship design. Seven hundred meters long with a crew of three hundred. Drone compliment of five hundred and a single one hundred meter manufacturing ring. It shares the same basic design elements as the assault cruiser but nearly twice the size. On the battleship, the lower third of the manufacturing ring is exposed. We couldn't find a way to extend the armor low enough to cover the entire ring without making the ship's maneuverability too poor to consider. Far too much mass. A smaller ring made replacement of some of the ship components, if needed, difficult. This has been remedied by adding a pair of smaller manufacturing facilities inside the hull that can replace the entire ring in six identical sections if needed. The battleship also has space for a full battalion of marines and drop ships for rapid atmospheric insertion.

  “The drop ships, themselves could be considered a separate design, but they are an integral part of the battleship's design. There are six drop ships, each capable of carrying up to one hundred marines. This gives each battleship a spare, should it be needed. The drop ships have internal manufacturing facilities that can fabricate armor and weapons. Drop ship battlefield computers use the same principles as the ship board battle computers. New equipment can be made on-site to adapt to ongoing conditions, ensuring the highest level of troop survivability. Each drop ship also contains ten automated medical bays capable of treating virtually any injury. Should we find ourselves in need of landing troops in large numbers, the battleships are what we'll need to call in. In space combat, battleships are a force to be reckoned with, as well. Thirty broadside guns and ten chasers fore and aft. These pulsed canons are three times the power of the ones found in the assault cruisers. Very heavy armor and a hull that is literally bristling with defensive cannons makes the battleship a fortress against which most other ships will find themselves unable to make the slightest dent.

  “The fifth ship design is a support vessel. A one kilometer manufacturing ring, fitted with extended cargo carrying capacity. These ships can be used at the end of a battle to sweep up wrecks and debris, returning needed resources to us. A crew of fifteen can handle everything needed. This ship carries only minimal defensive emplacements. Against something like Rampart, it will probably survive long enough to escape. Against any of the new designs, except, perhaps, a stealth corvette, it would not survive. The support ship is also intended to give us the ability to recover a heavily damaged ship under battlefield conditions and repair it quickly. Our most valuable resource in this environment is the experienced crews that operate the ships.

  “The sixth design proposed is a transport ship. This is the only design that does not include a manufacturing ring. The transport ship can be configured for cargo or passenger duty. A crew of thirty-five with a single platoon of Marines when on passenger duty for crowd control. The transport ship can make jumps of up to thirty light years. This allows large quantities of raw and refined materials to be moved from one place to another. The ship is five hundred meters with a hull diameter of one hundred meters. Internal cargo area is just over three point seven million cubic meters. When assigned to passenger carrying, it has an unlimited duration capacity of fifty thousand people at maximum capacity. This will be quite cramped. The cargo area is modular and can be changed to fit either role, but it requires either a space dock or support ship to refit for such a change. On board manufacturing facilities are limited to making spare parts, food, clothing and similarly sized items.

  “The seventh and last ship design we have is a bit of a wild card. If we can pull it off, it has the potential to make the Lashmere system invulnerable.” Simmons watched as the collected admirals, captains and commanders sat forward in their chairs. “We're tentatively calling it the behemoth class.” Simmons tapped at her tablet, bringing up a series of concept designs. “The ship is roughly cylindrical. Nine hundred meters in diameter and seven kilometers long. The top area is flattened to allow for a command superstructure to be placed. The ship is intended to be refit at any one kilometer ring available, either at space dock or by a support ship. The ship has a crew of four hundred with a troop carrying capacity of an entire brigade, along with an entire armor division. The interior of the ship is open and can be reconfigured on the fly to adapt to virtually any mission profile needed. The ship can, if configured for maximum carrying capacity, house up to ten million civilians. I must stress that a behemoth set up in this way will lose a lot of its offensive capabilities. The idea behind these ships is to provide a last ditch way of evacuating the population of Lashmere. We are proposing we build five of these ships. There are some caveats to this design, however. The ship's FTL system would be a completely unknown quantity. This ship is massive in the extreme, and our method of FTL energy generation relies on us taking a 'loan' of energy from an alternate dimension, allowing us to skip through a hole in space-time. The energy requirement is exponential, and a ship this large pushes the variables to the point we may not be able to make a controlled jump ring. There is another variable to consider. The behemoth design would require many times the amount of materials stored on Aeternum. We would have to return to Buckman's star and use virtually the entire system's asteroid field to obtain enough raw materials.”

  Simmons looked around the room and saw varying degrees of disbelief and shock on the faces looking at her. Only Admiral Brand, who had seen these designs before the presentation was calm.

&nbs
p; Misato spoke into the long silence. “Lieutenant, can we really build ships large enough to house ten million civilians?”

  “Absolutely, sir. It's just mathematics. If you build a big enough ship, you could house the entire population in a single vessel. The size of the behemoth class is limited by two overall factors. First, we wanted a ship that can still refit in the one kilometer rings. We don't want to depend on the five kilometer ring, which we have only one of. Second is the issue of materials engineering. With current technology, EM stabilized carbon nanotube structural elements, the strength of the ship's structure limits the length of the ship to something like ten kilometers long at most. Rather than push this design limitation, we chose to build a ship that would remain structurally sound in some pretty extreme situations. The behemoth ships are tough, admiral. Very, very tough. They have ten meter thick armor covering the entire outside of the ship. The interior lattice is sound enough that even if the ship loses all power, it will survive uncontrolled reentry into a planetary atmosphere. With power, it would survive entry into a gas giant. The engines probably can't pull it back out of a gravity well as deep as that created by a gas giant, and the ship isn't intended to land on a planetary surface, but structurally, it could survive such a maneuver.”

  “What kind of configuration would you employ with them in a fleet action, Lieutenant?” Misato asked.

  “The interior area can be filled with power generation. The enhanced power generation can allow up to five hundred massive pulsed plasma canons. These can be arrayed around the hull in a number of configurations, but suffice it to say that anything entering weapons range with a behemoth will have a lifespan measured in seconds. Much of the remaining internal area is devoted to drone bays and expendable munitions like the new torpedoes. The ship also carries a type of weapon not included on the other ships. A kilometer long mass driver runs down the centerline of the ship. This weapon, which is fixed and cannot be removed, regardless of role configuration, is intended for planetary bombardment. It fires fifty ton iron projectiles at point two C. The resulting impact on a planetary body like Lashmere would represent an extinction level event. No life would survive the resulting atmospheric and tectonic results of the impact. Even bacteria would be extinct by the time enough sunlight made it through the atmosphere to sustain it. Only deep sea life would have a chance to survive.”