by Jay Allan
“I wish I had a solution for you, Sir, but I don’t see any way that we can protect the survivors as long as there’s a substantial enemy presence in the system.”
“So how do we get them out of this system?”
Just as Shiloh was about to say that he didn’t know, Korolev’s face disappeared, and was replaced by a vision of Shiloh standing next to a medical bay bed where a heavily bandaged Johansen lay.
She looked up at him and said, “God, that was tricky of them to microjump to the opposite side so that the sun was directly behind them! If we had launched attack drones from in front, the reflected laser light would have been lost in the sun’s glare. Having your fighters attack them from the rear not only eliminated the glare problem, but you caught them by surprise too!”
The vision faded and Korolev’s concerned face was back.
“Are you okay, Commander? You seemed to blank out there for a few seconds.”
Shiloh was too overcome by relief that Johansen wasn’t dead to respond right away, but he nodded so that Korolev could tell he was listening again.
“I’m okay, Sir. I was just lost in thought. I think I may have a solution. I’m convinced now that they intend to microjump to our side and attack the Base as soon as they think it’s no longer well defended. And while they could microjump just about anywhere along the gas giant’s gravity zone perimeter, I’ll bet a year’s pay that they’ll jump to the exact opposite side so that the sun’s directly behind them. That will make optical detection impossible, and our attack drones will not be able to distinguish the reflections from their targeting lasers from the sun’s background glare. That is, unless we shift our CFPs around so that they’ll be able to attack the enemy fleet from THEIR rear. Then the sun’s glare will benefit our side instead. With a little luck, my fighters might be able to catch them completely by surprise.”
Korolev frowned. “What if they stay where they are long enough to figure out that we’ve used decoys?”
Shiloh took a deep breath and said, “That’s definitely a risk, Sir. But if we forget about the decoy idea, and our reinforcement frigates really do go after the relief force survivors, then they’re more likely to fall for OUR trap. And if the enemy microjumps as expected, the reinforcement frigates can then continue to go to Johansen’s survivors’ aid.”
“So now you’re recommending we abandon the decoy idea that you suggested a few minutes ago?”
“That’s right, Sir. I hadn’t fully thought through all the ramifications when I suggested it.”
Korolev looked away while she drummed her fingers on the armrest. After a brief pause, she said, “If we go with your CFP ambush idea, can they get into position before the enemy jumps?”
“If we need more time, we can slow down the reinforcement force and make it look like they’re advancing cautiously. If I were the enemy fleet Commander, I’d wait until the approaching ships were at least half way between the gas giant and my fleet before ordering the microjump. With the CFPs acceleration, they should be able to get into position long before we reach that point, Sir.”
Korolev took a deep breath and said, “Okay. We’ll go with your ambush plan, but those five CFPs escorting the frigates stay with that force. If the enemy intends to fight them first, those frigates will need all the help they can get. The other 15 CFPs are at your discretion, Commander. As soon as you know how much time they’ll need to get into ambush position, let me know, and I’ll order the frigates to adjust their accelerations accordingly. Any questions, Shiloh?”
“No questions, Sir. This will work.”
Korolev nodded, and Shiloh headed back to his station. It only took a second to open the com channel to Iceman.
“CAG to Iceman.” There was a seven second lag due to the distance.
“Iceman here. Go ahead, CAG.”
“We think the enemy will wait until our frigates are out of range, then microjump to the base side of the GG and attack the base. All gravity zone perimeter fighters including Cyrano and Bulldog will proceed at maximum acceleration to a rendezvous point that will enable you to attack the enemy fleet from their rear after they microjump. Once they microjump, let them get within the gravity zone before you fire on them. The location of the rendezvous point and attack vectors is at your discretion. Once you figure that out, transmit the information to Base asap. Hunter’s wing will stay with the reinforcement force. Repeat my orders to confirm, Iceman.”
The A.I. repeated the orders and then added. “Very clever idea, CAG. Who knew you were that sneaky?”
Shiloh didn’t laugh or even smile. He wasn’t finished giving orders.
“Iceman, when you fighters are ready to fire, I want all of you to fire all of your attack drones. All 15 of you are then ordered to accelerate at maximum with the objective of ramming any enemy ships that have not been destroyed or crippled by the drone attack. We have to get them all, Iceman, otherwise the survivors will attack the Base before our frigates can get back. I need to know that I can count on all of you to carry out that order if the circumstances require it.”
Even with the light speed lag, Shiloh thought there was the barest hint of a pause before Iceman responded.
“All of us understand the situation, CAG. We’ll do whatever’s necessary to stop them. Is there anything else?”
Shiloh felt a lump in his throat. Over the weeks of waiting for the attack, he had come to like all twenty of his fighter A.I.s. Each one was a unique individual with its own quirks and eccentricities. Losing any of them would be like losing someone from his own former crew.
“Yes, there is. Once you’re in the ambush position, cut off communication with the Base the instant that the enemy jumps. Maintain communication silence until the battle’s over. Any questions?”
“No questions, CAG.”
“Very good, Iceman. I’ll be available if you need me until you break communications. Good luck and good hunting to all of you.”
“Ah, roger that, CAG. Iceman clear for now.”
It took less than a minute for Shiloh to receive the data concerning the rendezvous point and the estimated time to get there. He passed that on to Korolev. Within a couple more minutes, all the frigates and fighters were responding to the new plan. Cyrano and Bulldog had the furthest to go, and even at 400Gs acceleration, it would take them almost 30 minutes to go from the edge of the gas giant’s gravity zone on one side all the way over to the opposite side. The tricky part was arriving at the rendezvous point facing the right direction and at the right speed, which in this case meant facing towards the Base’s moon and traveling slow enough not to overrun the enemy’s emergence point. Korolev’s frigates, with Hunter’s wing as escort, were accelerating at only 66Gs,and the frigates were doing their best to be obvious about it.
Shiloh wondered if they should send a message drone back to the nearest contact point, but then realized that the drone would get dangerously close to the enemy formation before it could enter Jumpspace. As he watched the display, he noticed that the tankers, which had been orbiting the moon, were now heading for orbit around the gas giant. From there, they could avoid detection by keeping the gas giant between them and the enemy fleet.
The next 45 minutes were the longest of Shiloh’s life. He couldn’t help thinking about Johansen. She was still alive. Of that he was certain, but she was also apparently severely injured, and it would be many hours yet before the reinforcement ships could catch up with the damaged frigates. The reinforcement force was almost half way between the gas giant and the enemy fleet that had been tracked for several hours by long range radar from the frigates. The enemy fleet had moved away from the gas giant in order to get outside the gravity zone, but now it disappeared into Jumpspace. Within seconds, the com channels to the fighters in Iceman’s squadron shut down. That was the tipoff that the enemy had jumped to the opposite side. Shiloh and Korolev didn’t know precisely where the enemy was, but it was clear that Iceman did. With the communications blackout, Iceman was in charge of
the ambush. Shiloh called Korolev.
“The CFPs have broken off communications, which means the enemy has jumped into their vicinity, Sir.”
Korolev’s reply was immediate. “Understood, Commander. I’m ordering the tankers to swing around to the far side of the GG, and the reinforcement force Commander will launch message drones back up the supply chain to let HQ know what’s happening now that the enemy fleet’s no longer in the way.”
Shiloh said nothing. There wasn’t anything else to say. Iceman and his team would be accelerating at maximum to get to the optimum firing range, which only they knew. So there was nothing to do now but wait some more.
It was half an hour later that the passive detection gear on the Base picked up the action. Thirty-three radar sources suddenly started to scan in all directions. They were approximately five million kilometers inside the gravity zone. At that distance, any radar energy reflected off any of Iceman’s fighters would be too weak for the Base’s detection gear to pick up. The Tactical display only showed the enemy fleet which was moving towards the Base and now maneuvering in what appeared to be an attempt to evade. Shiloh held his breath. Suddenly there were multiple and simultaneous detonations of what had to be the attack drones’ nuclear warheads. At this distance, the Base’s optics couldn’t tell how many individual explosions. The combined EM pulse of those explosions drowned out the radar emissions so there was no way to tell how many enemy ships were still scanning.
The tsunami of EM and other radiation quickly died down. Shiloh refrained from attempting to communicate with his fighters because of his previous order to Iceman to maintain communications silence until the battle was over. So until he heard from Iceman or one of the other fighters, the battle was still going on. Finally, about 20 minutes later, optical sensors picked up two momentary flashes followed seconds later by the re-establishment of the com channel with Iceman.
“CAG, this is Iceman.”
“CAG here. Go ahead, Iceman.”
“Thirty-three enemy ships were destroyed. Thirty-one by attack drone warheads. Two were rammed by Bulldog and Firefox. Five fighters confirmed destroyed by enemy laser fire. Three fighters are adrift and do not respond to communications. They appear to have suffered damage. Extent of damage unknown. Request that SAR shuttles be dispatched. What should we do now, CAG?” Shiloh had a lot to think about but he needed more information first.
“How’s the fuel situation, Iceman?”
“The five of us that are left have sufficient fuel to stay on patrol for another 36 hours, CAG.”
“Okay. Well done, Iceman. Pass that on to the rest of your team, too. I need to confer with the Base Commander. Maintain your present vector for the time being.”
Shiloh was about to end the conversation so that he could discuss strategy and options with Korolev when he had a thought. “Iceman, what’s your evaluation of the situation now?”
“While the destruction of 33 enemy ships is a tactical victory, this battle has to be considered a strategic defeat, CAG. Relayed radar data from the opposite side of the GG showed 34 enemy ships. Only 33 microjumped to this side. That means one ship went somewhere else, beyond our detection range. My calculations reveal an 89% probability that the missing ship returned to its nearest base. Therefore reinforcements may be on their way here. In addition to that, the fact that the enemy knew where to ambush the supply convoy, as well as that they knew enough about this star system to wait for a favorable configuration of sun, gas giant and the ambush star system, indicates that they have detailed astrogational information on star systems they haven’t surveyed themselves. The only way they could have that information is if they’ve captured at least one of our ships intact and extracted its navigation data. That being the case, we have to assume that they know where all our bases are and where Earth is. We therefore can’t expect to stop their advance here. They’ve already demonstrated their ability to go around Bradley Base.”
My God, he’s right, thought Shiloh. Why didn’t I see that myself? If they know where Earth is and all the explored systems between Earth and their territory, they could launch a massive attack on Earth by using uninhabited star systems that contain gas giants to refuel. There are dozens … hundreds of those kinds of systems that we couldn’t possibly fortify or even monitor effectively! This information has to get back to HQ ASAP!
“I think you’re analysis is correct, Iceman. Standby while I confer with the Task Force Leader.”
After the normal delay, he heard Iceman say, “Ah, roger that, CAG. We’ll be here.”
Shiloh switched his com channel to Korolev.
“Sir, this is Shiloh. I’ve just spoken with my CFPs. Here’s the situation. Of the 34 bogeys detected by Johansen’s force, 33 microjumped, as expected, to the opposite side. The 34th has apparently jumped back to its nearest base because there’s no sign of it in this system. Drone warheads destroyed thirty-one bogeys. Two had to be rammed by CFPs. Additional CFP losses include five destroyed and three disabled by enemy laser fire. Our SAR teams should recover those last three because their AIs are worth saving due to their experience. As important as that summary is, Sir, what I really need to share with you is my assessment that this whole battle, including the convoy ambush, couldn’t have been set up the way it was unless the enemy had precise astrogational and operational data. And they could only have gotten that by capturing one of our ships. That means they almost certainly know where Earth is and how to get there. We have to warn HQ that Earth or any other colony star system could be subject to enemy attack. The one that got away may trigger another wave of ships.”
Shiloh heard Korolev groan, then curse in a low voice. “Wait a minute, Shiloh! I need to understand the reasoning behind your conclusions better. Why would they need captured data in order to set up this ambush?”
Shiloh forced himself to remain calm as he spoke. “They had to know about the precise positions of this gas giant and our moon in order to be able to hide in the gas giant’s shadow and still be in firing range of Johansen’s relief force on its way to investigate the convoy ambush. That meant that the course her ships would take to eventually jump to the ambush system had to be exactly parallel to the shadow cast by the GG. Since we have no indications at all that any enemy ship has surveyed this system, the only way they would know about that precise alignment AND the fact that our supply convoys refuel in that particular star system, is if they got the data from one of our ships. The mere fact that they knew where to ambush the convoy is pretty damning evidence of captured data all by itself, wouldn’t you say?”
Korolev took her time answering. “Well, when you put it that way, I’m forced to agree. There’s no way that they would send 34 ships to one star system unless they had a pretty good idea of what they’d find there. Damn! We have to get this back to HQ fast! I’ll send several message drones to Omaha Base just to make sure that at least one of them gets through. Is it your assessment that there is no longer any enemy presence in this system right now?”
“Yes, Sir. It is.”
“Then I’m inclined to split the reinforcement force into their separate squadrons and send one to render assistance to Johansen’s survivors, another to investigate the convoy ambush situation, and keep the third squadron back here. I’d be interested in your thoughts on that plan, Shiloh.”
Shiloh paused to think that over. The bogey that got away left before the fighters destroyed the other 33 ships, and therefore wouldn’t know the results of the battle. They wouldn’t suspect a negative outcome of the battle until their 33 ships were overdue in reporting back. That meant the Space Force had some time.
“The enemy Command Structure won’t know about the outcome of the battle for some time, so I agree that we can safely split up our remaining forces. Johansen’s survivors and their rescue squadron will probably be back here within 24 hours. I’d expect that the squadron investigating the convoy ambush will find nothing, and it’ll be back here within 36-48 hours, too. I’d like to get my CF
Ps back to the Hangar Bay to reload, and I’d also like to recall the five units escorting the reinforcement squadrons for jump detection patrol, Sir.”
Korolev nodded. “Yes, go ahead and do that. Okay, I’ll redeploy the three frigate squadrons, bring the tankers back and send out the warning drones. Now what was it you said about SAR teams recovering the disabled CFP A.I.s? Is that really necessary, Shiloh? Even if the A.I.s are still intact, we won’t have any CFPs for them to pilot. Why not just write them off?”
Because they’re intelligent beings you stupid ass! thought Shiloh. He took a second to get his voice under control.
“Well, first of all, CFP A.I.s are especially good at learning, and they can transfer their ‘wisdom’, for lack of a better word, to other A.I.s. So recovering them will only make our future CFP force more capable by adding to its experience pool. Secondly, even though the tech weenies swear up and down that the A.I.s aren’t sentient, they certainly ACT that way and that includes behavior that seems to be motivated by pride in being part of the Space Force Brotherhood. If we expect them to continue to be willing to sacrifice themselves as necessary to protect us, then we need to demonstrate to them that their survival matters, too.”
He heard Korolev take a deep breath. “I’m not sure I accept your second point, but the first one makes sense. I’ll arrange for Search and Rescue teams to recover those A.I.s if they’re still intact. Anything else, Shiloh?”
Shiloh was about to say no when a new thought popped into his head.
“Well, Sir, something’s just occurred to me. Sending message drones back down the chain will mean that HQ won’t get our warning for … six days at the earliest. I’d have to check if this is feasible, but I wonder if one of my CFPs can accelerate to a high enough speed to launch a message drone that could jump directly to Sol without any intermediate stops. If the drone doesn’t have to use any of its own fuel to accelerate to jump speed, it might be able to make it all the way.”
“Now that is worth looking into. If you think it’ll work, go ahead and do it. I’ll still send other drones back the normal way just to be sure and also to let our other bases know to be on alert. Anything else?”