by Dietmar Wehr
The Captain chuckled. “I’m hoping that it’ll make them angry enough to make a mistake. We may as well shut down our transponder. No sense in making us an easy target. Mitch, prepare to shut down the engines and retract them on my command.”
“I’m ready, Skipper,” said one of the Bridge crew.
“Good. Standby,” said the Captain.
They waited. The only sound that Foster heard was the gentle beeping of some of the equipment. She jumped in surprise as one of the crew began speaking.
“Multiple targeting radars! They’ve fired on us! Estimated time to impact is just over two minutes!”
“Okay. No sense in taking any chances. Mitch, shut down the engines, retract them and deploy the armor.”
Foster was amazed at how calm the Captain was.
“Engines retracted and armor deployed, Skipper.”
“Very good.” The Captain turned his chair so that he could see Foster. “You’re wondering what I’m doing.” Foster nodded. “Those craft are firing on us from behind which means that when their missiles hit, they’ll hit that part of the hull where our engines are. Since the engines are exposed, any hit would damage them to the point where they’d be completely useless. One way to avoid that would be to rotate the ship so that some other part of the hull gets hit, but that isn’t really a good idea either because hull penetrations could damage other vital pieces of equipment or injure crew or passengers. Union engineers came up with what I think is an ingenious solution to this problem. The engines are designed so that they can be pulled up into the ship and slabs of thick steel can be moved to cover the open sections in the hull. That armor, along with the whole bottom quarter of the hull, is thick enough that high explosive warheads and kinetic energy penetrators will have difficulty getting through. When the missile barrage is over, we’ll uncover the engine spaces, lower the engines and turn them back on. In the meantime, we’ll just coast closer to the jump-limit. As long as they’re chasing us from behind, we should be okay.”
“How thick is that armor? Is it neutron armor?” asked Foster.
“It’s ten centimeters of the hardest alloy we know how to make, with the thinnest possible layer of collapsed matter on the inner side. When the missile warhead hits the outside of the armor, it’ll explode against the alloy, which will absorb most of the energy. The idea is that the explosion or slug of super-hot plasma from the KE penetrator won’t have enough energy left to force its way past the neutron layer.” The Captain looked at the chronometer and said, “Any second now.”
Foster heard and felt something hit the ship. Before she could say anything, one of the crew spoke.
“No damage!”
“Are we still being bombarded by targeting radar?” asked the Captain.
“No, Sir.”
“Okay, Mitch, retract the armor and get us underway again.”
Trojan frowned as he watched the tactical display. “They’re accelerating again. Did those missiles miss?”
The Duty Officer took his time answering. “As far as we can tell, they didn’t miss, General. I don’t understand why there doesn’t seem to be any damage to their engines.”
Trojan slapped his hand down on the console he happened to be standing beside, causing the console operator to jump in surprise. “Can those two shuttles fire again?” he asked.
“No, General. They’ve fired all the missiles they were carrying, but we have two more birds that are just about to clear the atmosphere. They’ll be able to fire in less than a minute.”
“Let’s hope they have better luck. Keep arming more shuttles, Captain. I have a feeling we’re going to need them,” said Trojan
When the fourth wave of anti-ship missiles failed to penetrate the deployed armor, Foster heard the Captain sigh with obvious relief.
“I think that’s the last missile attack we have to worry about because we’re getting pretty close to the jump-limit. Once past that, we’ll be able to micro-jump so far away that they won’t be able to catch us. Then we alter course to line up for the long-jump back to Union territory.”
Foster sighed. “That was quite impressive, Captain Paladin. I’ll be sure to sing your praises to the Union leadership when I report to them.”
Paladin laughed. “Well if you’re going to do that, you better get my name right. Girard Paladin is my cover identity for use when I’m in FED territory. My real name is Roland Drake.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that, Captain Drake,” said Foster with a grin.
Chapter Two
Day 364/2542
Trojan made sure he was early for the emergency meeting with both Chiefs of Staff. General Masterson and Admiral Chenko both looked annoyed as they entered and sat down. Masterson glanced at Chenko before turning his gaze back to Trojan.
“We’ve both read your report, General. Needless to say, the discovery that a Union spy has been operating on your staff for the last three years is causing a lot of ulcers right up to the Council and the Assembly. There are Assembly representatives screaming for your head. Fortunately you had the foresight to request verifier tests of all your staff back when the vetting program was getting started. It’s not your fault that the officer in charge of that program didn’t follow through. Admiral Chenko and I are agreed that if someone has to fall on their sword in order to satisfy the politicians’ bloodlust, it won’t be you.”
Trojan realized that his hands were clenched tightly and allowed them to relax.
“Naturally the entire Planning Group will be vetted again including you, General. I hope that’s not going to be a problem?”
“No, Sir. I would have insisted on exactly that myself. We can’t afford to have any cloud of suspicion hanging over the Group when we’re about to shift operations to Hadley in a few months.”
“Very good. Did you query Oracle about the strategic implications of this development, as I requested?”
“Yes, Sir. Oracle’s assessment is quite detailed, but I can summarize it. It’s clear that the Union know about the Majestic Project. However, all the evidence points to the conclusion that they weren’t able to get any technical data on Majestic. Oracle has concluded that they will try to develop their own version of Majestic as fast as possible. In the meantime, their best counter-move would be to delay our implementation of Majestic. If they can accomplish that, then both sides will be evenly matched as far as having an Oracle computer is concerned. Our plans were to build the components for the Majestic device on Makassar because that’s where all the other industrial infrastructure is being built, and it seemed to be the logical choice. Any attempt by the Union to delay the manufacturing of Majestic’s components would have to involve a massed space attack to have any chance of success. If they can also smash most of the industry we’ve already built there, that would be a huge bonus for them, which is why Oracle is calculating a 99.6% probability of a massed attack sometime within the next year.
“Moving all that industry to another planet is not an option. Makassar is unique in terms of the concentration of a whole variety of strategic metals. The industry for building ships has to stay there, but the manufacturing facility for building Majestic components could be relocated on another planet as a security precaution with minimal delay in the planned start-up date for Majestic. Oracle is recommending that it be built on the planet Danube, which orbits the Franklin B star. Danube is airless and has no strategic value, which makes it ideal for hiding the Majestic manufacturing facility since no one will have any legitimate reason to go there. It’s also Oracle’s conclusion that the anticipated attack on Makassar will give us an opportunity to inflict a major military defeat if Makassar’s defenses are built up enough to completely wipe out the attacking force. In fact, Oracle has assigned a higher priority to eliminating the attacking force than it has to defending the planet’s industrial capacity.” Trojan stopped when he saw the reaction on Chenko’s face.
“I’m not sure I like that kind of thinking, General. We’re counting on exponen
tial growth in industrial capacity in order to have a fleet capable of offensive operations within another two years. If the Union manages to smash a significant part of what we’ve built so far, that has to push back the start of offensive operations by months, maybe even years.”
“That was my initial reaction too, Admiral, so I queried Oracle, and I now understand the logic it’s using. What we have to keep in mind is that Oracle had already anticipated a major attack would be made on Makassar back when the industrial buildup was just getting started. That’s why Oracle recommended from the very beginning that industrial capacity on Makassar be decentralized as much as possible, instead of concentrating it all in one place. That decentralization means that any single missile strike would only damage or destroy a limited amount of capacity, and any attempt to destroy all the capacity would take a long time. By destroying the attacking force as quickly and thoroughly as possible, we’ll actually minimize the damage done to structures on the planet’s surface.”
Chenko shook his head. “I still don’t see why we just don’t concentrate our resources to defend the planet’s surface directly. Surely Oracle isn’t recommending that the infrastructure AND the people working there be left wide open like so many sitting ducks?”
“No, Admiral. Oracle is also recommending that we adapt the anti-missile rapid-fire cannon system that we’re installing on ships to be used as a low-level anti-missile system on Makassar. That’s something we should be able to develop and deploy relatively quickly if we give it a high priority.”
“How is Oracle reconciling the need to protect our freighter traffic with this new priority to defend Makassar against a massive attack?” asked Chenko.
“It’s very simple, Admiral. We put anti-missile cannon on our freighters. They’re small enough that they can be added without major reconstruction work. The freighters don’t have to fire back at Union commerce raiders. They just have to avoid being crippled by missile fire long enough to get out of the hyper-zone and jump away. The cruisers that are escorting our freighters now can be re-assigned to protect Makassar along with the new construction that is starting to come into service.”
Chenko nodded. “It’s about time we got some of those 20 new ships in service. I wish now that we had gone with a bigger design, but at least this new class is optimized for ship-to-ship combat.”
Before Chenko could add anything, Masterson jumped in. “How much longer will you have Oracle available before it’s disassembled for shipment to Hadley, General?”
“Another three weeks, Sir. Taking it apart so that it can be re-assembled quickly on Hadley has to be done carefully. We’ll be without any mega-computer capability for almost four months by the time Oracle is back in operation in the Franklin Tri-system.”
“And how long after that before Majestic is scheduled to be on line?” asked Masterson.
“Five and a half months, General.”
“I don’t suppose it makes sense to leave Oracle here and intact, and build a second Oracle device on Hadley?” asked Chenko.
Trojan shook his head. “No, Admiral. Oracle was a one-off system. If we wanted to build another one, we’d have to retool the manufacturing facility all over again, and by the time that’s done and a new Oracle is manufactured, transported to Hadley and assembled, the operational date would be even later than moving the one we already have.”
“Okay. I’m glad to see that you’ve already looked at that option. What else did Oracle come up with?”
Trojan hesitated. He was about to throw a hot potato into their laps. “Oracle is predicting that the Union will start deploying ships with neutron armor. That will render our existing high explosive and kinetic energy warheads obsolete. The recommendation is that we develop fission and eventually fusion warheads for both anti-ship and potentially planetary bombardment missions.”
“Oh Christ! I can just see the Council’s reaction when we ask them for approval for THAT!” exclaimed Masterson.
Chenko nodded his agreement. “Yes, the use of nuclear weapons is specifically prohibited by the FPS Constitution. It would take a majority of the Assembly to change it. With over a hundred planets withdrawing from the Assembly already, I’m not even sure if it’s still possible to get the absolute majority we’d need.”
“I understand that, Admiral, but Oracle’s logic is unassailable. If they’re going to build armored ships, we either build fission warheads or we lose the war.”
Masterson shook his head. “Using nukes against armored ships is one thing. The Assembly might just go along with that. But fusion weapons used against planetary targets? For God’s sakes, Jonn, we’re trying to bring the rebels back into the fold, not exterminate them! Where’s the honor in wiping out whole populations? I don’t see the Assembly authorizing that kind of escalation.”
Chenko nodded. “I’m in complete agreement with you, Frank. If we get clear evidence that the Union is building armored ships, then I’ll support a request for anti-ship nukes but not fusion weapons, and in any case, no planetary bombardment by nukes. Hell, if we start lobbing nukes at their cities, what’s to prevent them from bombing Geneva or London or Tokyo? We can’t defend every city on every Federation planet? Is that clear, General?”
“Yes, Admiral, that’s crystal clear,” said Trojan.
“Do you have anything else to bring to our attention?” asked Masterson.
“No, Sir.”
“Fine, then you’re dismissed, General.”
As Trojan walked out of the room, he made a mental note to record in his personal war diary that both Chiefs of Staff still hadn’t grasped the scope of where this war was going. Oracle predicted that when the SSU started to lose, they’d become desperate and the fighting would get very messy. If the politicians insisted that the Army and Navy fight with one hand tied behind their backs, then a lot of good men and women wearing the Federation uniform would die unnecessarily. Trojan made up his mind that he was not going to let that happen, and if that meant compromising his honor, then so be it.
Chapter Three
Day 99/2543
Drake stepped onto the ship’s boarding ramp just in time to see a navy groundcar carry away Cate Foster and Bret Murphy. They were headed to a debriefing session with someone high up in the hierarchy, probably Janicot himself. He stopped to take in a lung full of unrecycled air. It had the smell of an impending rainstorm, and that was confirmed by the dark clouds on the horizon coming towards the city fast. The freighter’s crew was already gathered at the base of the ramp waiting for transportation to the Admin building. The spaceport maintenance personnel were getting last minute instructions before taking possession of Titan’s Gift. He was the last member of his crew to leave the ship. As he slowly walked down the ramp, he wondered if Foster would keep her word about praising his performance. He saw a lightning strike in the distance. It was followed by a rolling clap of thunder, and he wondered if that was a bad omen.
Day 107/2543
Belloc told his desk computer to close the report that was being projected against the far wall of his office. It was almost midnight, again, and he very much wanted to go home, but there were things that had to be addressed before he did that. This latest report from his Secretary of Defense was one of those things. There was good news and bad news. The good news was the revelation that Cate Foster had brought back enough technical data to allow for the accelerated manufacture and assembly of their own version of the Oracle computer. Janicot predicted they could begin to use it in six months. Belloc suspected that was overly optimistic, but anything less than a year was acceptable. He made up his mind to approve Janicot’s recommendation that Foster be put in charge of the project to build their own Oracle plus the R&D for their own super-Oracle device. How long it would take to get the next generation capability was still unknown at this point.
It was the bad news that threatened to aggravate what he suspected was a developing ulcer. Janicot’s planning staff had come to the conclusion that the Union had to ma
ke a major attack on the industrial infrastructure on Makassar and on the HQ facilities on Hadley in order to disrupt the FED buildup in the Franklin Tri-system. That would mean pulling cruisers away from commerce raiding. Secretary for Industry & Trade Frank Shaw wasn’t going to like that. The man was fanatical about the need to conduct economic warfare on the Federation by going after their freighters. Unfortunately, Belloc could see the logic of both strategies. What he didn’t know, and what no one could tell him right now, was which strategy gave the Union the best long term payoff. What made it all worse was the knowledge that if they had their own Oracle computer operational right now, it could give them that answer. But they didn’t, and he needed to make a decision right now. Or did he? He told his computer to call Janicot’s office.
“What can I do for you, Nathan?” asked Janicot.
“I thought you might still be there, Mykhel. I’ve just finished reading your report, and I wanted to talk with you about the proposed raid on the Franklin Tri-system. How long would it take to get all the required ships together?”