Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2)

by Dietmar Wehr

  “Excaliber’s fired!” shouted the Ops Duty Officer.

  Janicot looked at him in annoyance for not only stating the obvious but raising his voice as well. “No need to shout, Lieutenant. I can hear just fine,” said Janicot.

  “Yessir. Sorry, sir.”

  Task Force Flagship Undaunted:

  Romanov cursed as the display showed 20 missiles bearing down on his ships, as well as a rebel ship 255,000 kilometers away. The missiles were already up to 1,127 kps with 61 seconds left before they hit his ships.

  “Get that firing plan setup, distributed and executed asap!” ordered Romanov. Without waiting for acknowledgement of his orders, he sprinted over to the Astrogation Station. “I want our ships ready for a short micro-jump in 20 seconds.” This time he did wait for confirmation of his orders. As he made his way back to his Command Station chair, he kept his gaze on his Weapons Officer.

  “Firing plan is being executed! Missiles are loading! Firing in…five…four…three…two…one…first volley has fired! Reloading!” yelled the WO. Romanov checked the time to enemy missile intercept. Damn, it was going to be close.

  Spartan Space Force HQ:

  Janicot watched as Excaliber’s missile volley crept closer and closer to the enemy ships. He knew that everything he was seeing on the display had happened 21 seconds earlier. He heard someone groan as the incoming missiles were hit by a wave of radar energy, and he shook his head. What could possibly have happened to make the enemy commander decide to look behind him? He expected the three enemy ships to jump away any second now, but they didn’t. He held his breath. With less than five seconds until Excaliber’s missiles reached their targets, the three FED ships finally did jump away. While others in the Ops Center were voicing their frustrations in colorful language, Janicot was silent as he continued to stare at the display. Why in God’s Name would the enemy commander wait until almost the last possible moment to jump away? He couldn’t help feeling that something important had just happened, but he didn’t know what.

  “Get me a com channel to Commodore Palmgren,” demanded Janicot.

  “Palmgren here, Admiral.”

  “I take it you saw what just happened?” asked Janicot.

  “Yes, sir. They certainly took their time jumping, didn’t they?”

  “Yes, they did. I wonder if they took so long because they fired missiles. I’m considering ordering planetary radars to go active. What’s your opinion on that?”

  Palmgren hesitated. If the enemy ships were still in the vicinity, that kind of scan would reveal the locations of all boats and ships to them.

  “Given where those ships were before they jumped, I suspect they detected us optically, so a radar scan wouldn’t tell them something they didn’t already know about us, but they could also potentially see all our cruisers too.”

  “I agree. That’s the risk, but if they’ve fired at your boats…” he didn’t need to finish that thought. As long as the missile boats were hovering over the Capital, it was safe from orbital bombardment and invasion. The FEDs had to eliminate that protective umbrella if they were to have any hope of pacifying Sparta.

  “We could scan with our own radars instead. If their ships are still beyond the zone boundary, they won’t detect our scans, Admiral,” said Palmgren.

  “But your scans aren’t powerful enough to detect them until they get a lot closer. On the other hand, Excaliber is still close enough to detect them if their ships go to active scanning. If we know for certain that there are missiles on their way down, then your boats will know when to expect them.”

  “Yessir, I agree. Excaliber should scan now.”

  “Okay, Commodore. Thank you for your input. CSO out.” Turning to the Duty Officer, Janicot said, “Order Excaliber to actively scan towards Sparta.”

  It took almost a full minute before the results of Excaliber’s radar scanning reached Ops. The main display pinged, and Janicot saw a flickering yellow icon with a number inside that changed every time the icon disappeared and then reappeared.

  “What the hell?” he muttered. He saw that the Duty Officer was already checking with one of his staff. When he was done talking, he looked at Janicot.

  “The return radar signals are so weak that Excaliber’s equipment is having trouble deciding if there’s anything really there or not. Whatever those things are, they must be very small.”

  Janicot shook his head. “Or they’re missiles that are using the same stealth technology that makes their ships invisible to radar. We have to assume that’s the case. Send a text message to Commodore Palmgren as follows. Begin active radar scanning now. As soon as you have contact, even if intermittent, attempt to intercept with AMMs. Maintain position unless ordered otherwise. CSO.” By the time he was finished dictating the message, he saw that the flickering icon was now gone altogether. If those really were missiles, with standard acceleration, it would be approximately another ten minutes before the missile boat radars would have any chance of detecting them. Given what he had just witnessed, he would expect that the boats wouldn’t see anything until the missiles got a lot closer than that. Hopefully, the closer they got, the stronger the return radar signal would be, with a better chance for the anti-missile missiles to hit them. Janicot took some comfort from the fact that some of the boats were carrying third generation AMMs. Unfortunately, none of them were equipped with anti-missile lasers. Retro-fitting the armored hulls with lasers would have created spots in the hull where there was no armor, and that had been deemed to be too risky.

  With ten minutes left before standard missiles would be expected to hit the missile boats, there was still no radar contact at all, and that worried Janicot. All 101 boats were using their radars now. In fact, Palmgren had ordered his boats to co-ordinate their radar scans so that they were all scanning at exactly the same time, thereby effectively creating one very wide radar beam, and still there was nothing.

  When time to impact was down to five minutes, the Duty Officer came over to Janicot and said, “Maybe the boats should shift position so that the missiles miss, Admiral.”

  Janicot smiled sadly and shook his head. “If those missiles miss the boats, they’ll keep right on accelerating on the same vector, and they’ll hit the Capital instead. No…those boats have to stay right where they are, Lieutenant.” The now horrified Duty Officer turned and walked back to his previous position.

  With less than a minute left before estimated time of impact, Palmgren called Janicot. “Admiral, I request permission to maneuver my boats to new locations. If we can get a better angle on the radar emissions—“

  Janicot cut him off with a resigned tone to his voice. “Negative, Commodore. Your boats must remain exactly where they are. You can’t let those missiles get past you and hit the Capital. If you can’t stop them with AMMs, then your boats have to take the hits. Do you understand, Commodore?”

  There was a pause. “Underst—“

  Janicot had been watching the display during the conversation. He saw the green icon with the number 101 inside it be consumed by the bright flash that the tactical computers generated as a way of portraying a massive amount of radiation and electro-magnetic pulse energy from multiple fission explosions. When the flash faded, the icon was gone. Janicot felt a physical pain in his body as his mind registered the magnitude of what had just happened. Over two thousand men and women had just been vaporized. Even in his stunned state, a part of his awareness took note of the fact that none of the FED missiles had missed. If any had, the city would have been hit by now, and they would have felt the concussion wave even down here in Ops.

  Janicot looked around the Ops Center. Except for the occasional hum or click from the equipment, the room was dead quiet as the staff, who were manning their consoles, attempted to come to terms with what had just happened. Everyone knew what this disaster meant. If they couldn’t see the FED ships or their missiles, what hope did they have that the eleven cruisers beyond the zone boundary could stop those FED ships no
w?

  Janicot knew that he had to respond. He quickly walked over to the Communications Station. The woman manning the station had begun to sob quietly. Janicot put his hand on her shoulder and when she looked up at him, he said in a gentle voice, “I need to speak with the Chancellor right now. Can you set that up for me, Lieutenant?” She nodded, unable to speak. Janicot heard the connections being made over his headset.

  “Chancellor Belloc here.”

  “Nathan, it’s Mykhel,” said Janicot. Normally he wouldn’t call the Chancellor by his first name in front of others, but protocol wasn’t important now.

  “How bad is it?” asked Belloc.

  “We just lost all our missile boats. The FEDs have developed stealth missiles. Radar won’t detect them, which means anti-missile defenses are useless. Our cruisers are sitting ducks and have no way of targeting the enemy ships. I think I should order them to head for the rally point now, Nathan.”

  “That’s why you kept them out beyond the zone boundary, for just this kind of situation. Do what you think is best, Admiral. Should we expect troops to land soon?”

  “Stand by, Nathan.” Janicot turned to the woman at the Com Station. “Lieutenant, send the Omega signal to all cruisers.”

  “Y-Yes, sir,” came the anguished reply. Satisfied that the cruisers would soon be out of harm’s way, Janicot turned his attention back to the Chancellor.

  “I honestly don’t know the answer to that question, Nathan. We’ve only seen signs of three enemy ships, and they’re clearly warships. If they brought troop transports with them, they’re keeping their distance. I recommend that your office issue a public announcement that a major battle has taken place and that we’ve suffered serious losses, plus the fact that there may be further actions by FED forces. I’ll put all military ground units on alert and send the fast courier to Zanzibar. I don’t see that we can do anything else right now.”

  “I don’t either, Mykhel. We gave it our best shot. It’s all up to Drake and the Brain Trust now. I’ll arrange for the announcement, and you go ahead with the alert and the courier. Belloc out.”

  With the Chancellor no longer on the line, Janicot asked the Com Officer to connect him with the pilot of the fast courier.

  “Lieutenant Morgan here, Admiral. I’m aware of what’s happened. I can lift off in five minutes.”

  “Very good, Morgan. Your orders are very simple. Get to Zanzibar as fast as you can, and tell Commodore Drake what’s happened here. I want you to micro-jump as soon as you can to get away from Sparta and then proceed to Zanzibar from there. Any questions?”

  “No questions, Admiral.”

  “In that case, carry on, Morgan. CSO out.”

  Janicot watched the courier lift off five minutes later. By then all the cruisers had jumped away, and still there was no sign of the FED ships.

  Chapter Twenty:

  Day 151/2549

  A courier arrived in Zanzibar orbit from Sparta and immediately began transmitting a text message. It was so shocking that Drake had to read it twice.

  Janicot to Drake. All, repeat all, missile boats have been destroyed by radar invisible FED warships using stealthy missiles. It’s only a matter of time before they land troops. All our cruisers are on their way to the Rally Point. You are now the Acting Chief of Space Operations for the System States Union. Operation Blowback is now our only hope. Proceed as you think best. Good luck. Janicot.

  He didn’t want to believe that over a hundred missile boats could be wiped out that easily, but if the FEDs were using stealthy missiles, then that would explain it. The news still hurt. He knew many of the officers and crew on those boats personally. Now he was the ACSO in charge of Blowback. He shook his head. What a stupid name for a military operation, especially a desperate one like this. If it had been up to him, he would have called it Operation Payback! God damn the Federation for imposing their will on his planet! In spite of his anger, he managed to become aware of a rational thought. If he didn’t like the name of the Operation, then he could just change it. He was the new ACSO after all. So Payback it was. That decision made him feel a bit better. He checked the ship status display on the wall of his small office. One carrier had been converted to the new hyper-drive and was already ferrying the first batch of engineers and technicians to the colony on Vril, where they would set up temporary accommodations for the rest of the Brain Trust. Two more carriers were next in line for conversion, and the other two were on their way here. Two freighters were also waiting for their turn to be upgraded, and Drake knew there were more coming, along with 11 cruisers. That was a lot of ships that had to be upgraded before the FEDs got here, not to mention the conversion of courier ships. But he wasn’t so concerned about them. Upgrading their hyper-drives took a lot less time than modifying the bigger ships.

  He checked the projected timetable again. As more and more cargo-carrying ships were converted, the pace of the operation would pick up speed. In three more months, all the scientists, technicians and their families would be on Vril, or on their way there. His Space Force people would stay on Zanzibar until the last possible moment to arrange for the transfer of all the equipment and supplies that they’d need to set up a brand new colony somewhere from scratch. That brought his thinking back to where they would go. P2 had made a recommendation that was stunning in its audacity. It was a surveyed planet that was mostly too cold, with only a small amount of land where the climate was adequate for farming. That lack of expansion potential was the reason why it had never been colonized. What was audacious about this particular planet was that it was in a star system deep inside Federation territory. That meant that P2 was essentially proposing a variation of the Midgard strategy. That made Drake uneasy. Checking all surveyed but supposedly uninhabited planets within Federation territory might not be Majestic’s first priority, but Drake had to believe that the giant brain would get around to it sooner or later, and the new colony needed lots and lots of time to develop the technology and then build the infrastructure needed to take on the Federation militarily again. Some of the time estimates were so long that Drake himself wouldn’t live to see that war. In any event, gambling on the hide-in-plain-sight strategy again was just too risky in his opinion. As soon as more couriers were converted, the plan was to send them out beyond the limits of Human Explored Space to do some scouting. His Astrogation people had identified a cluster of stars part way into the void between this spiral arm and the neighboring Sagittarius Arm that contained a higher than normal percentage of yellow or white stars where an Earth-like planet would be the most comfortable. That cluster was a long way away, even with the new technology, but it was also highly unlikely that the Federation would explore that far out with their older technology for perhaps a century or more. If and when a courier found a planet that seemed to be colonisable, it would bring word back to Vril, and a detailed survey mission would be sent. If that checked out, then one huge fleet of ships would transport the entire Brain Trust and all their equipment and supplies to the new planet. It was going to be an all or nothing endeavour. Either everyone in the Brain Trust would get away or no one would, but that wouldn’t be the end of the evacuation.

  Early in the planning for Operation Blowback, it had become very clear that if everyone in the new colony was a scientist or technician or family member, then the colony would soon be in trouble. There was a limit to how much storable food the ships could carry. The colony had to start farming in order to have a locally grown food supply ready by the time they ran out of low-bulk, long shelf-life food. That was one reason why he picked Vril for the temporary stop. Most of the farmland was owned by Earth-chartered companies, and a lot of the people doing the actual farming didn’t own any farmland of their own. Once the new colony was established, he would send ships to Vril to bring back volunteers, and not just farmers either. The new colony would need a lot of skills that the Brain Trust didn’t have. He would risk one more massive evacuation with the whole fleet. If there happened to be a FED
cruiser at Vril, his cruisers should be able to take it out.

  He reminded himself that the crews of the ferry ships would be sworn to secrecy regarding the trips to Vril. Security had to be absolute. There was no point in temporarily shifting the Brain Trust to Vril if the FEDs found out about it as soon as they arrived here at Zanzibar. He had come to terms with the knowledge that if the FEDs couldn’t follow them to Vril, then Lorelei wouldn’t be able to either, even assuming that she would try to find him. And he wasn’t sure if she would. The odds of her making it to Vril in time for the second and last evacuation was so small that he didn’t even want to think about it, but he was determined to wait until the chance was zero before allowing himself to be open to another relationship. He chided himself for letting his focus drift to something that would not be resolved for quite some time. He had to get his mind back to more immediate concerns.

  Day 151/2549

  To her surprise, Stevens insisted that Remington accompany him down to Hadley and witness the transfer of command from Trojan to himself. She was a savvy enough Navy officer to understand that lower ranked officers like herself should try to not get involved in what could turn out to be a nasty political confrontation between two flag officers, but she had no choice in the matter. Their shuttle was ordered to land right in front of the hidden entrance to the Majestic Complex. As she followed Stevens down the boarding steps, she was surprised to see a substantial welcoming party that included a platoon of armed infantry and two officers, one of whom she recognized as General Trojan. Part of the surprise was the fact that Trojan, the other officer and the platoon were all wearing jet black uniforms rather than the standard navy and army uniforms.