by Jay Allan
With the planned launch date just days away, Shiloh found himself more and more busy, and he was very glad when Lt. Cmdr. Sumi Tanaka, his new XO, reported aboard. The fact that his XO was once again a woman made him wonder if the Bureau of Personnel was doing it deliberately for some reason. Women in the Space Force officer ranks made up about 46% of the total, and the odds of getting three female XOs in a row was almost eight to one against. But he had nothing against women officers, and both Johansen and Chenko had proven to be quite capable. Tanaka wasted no time diving into her new duties, and Shiloh saw an immediate decrease in his own workload. With no fighters aboard yet, his duties as CAG consisted of supervising the fighter support teams and their officers in the process of getting organized and familiar with their new duties. He was pleased to see that one of his lesser recommendations had been implemented. To avoid duplication of personnel, the officer in charge of each fighter’s support/maintenance team was also qualified to pilot that fighter if a human pilot was deemed necessary, although Shiloh had no intention of taking fighters away from their A.I.s’ control. When Brad Falkenberg, the new DCAG, reported aboard, Shiloh had a long and friendly chat with him about fighter A.I.s and their apparent sentience. Falkenberg agreed with Shiloh about the need to treat them as if they were fellow Space Force comrades, and he told Shiloh that he would encourage the support team leaders to form close friendships with their fighter A.I.s.
CHAPTER 18: It Sure Beats My Idea All To Hell
All of sudden, it was launch day. The ship was fully manned and all systems had checked out. It was time to put her through her paces. The next 48 hours were spent going through a series of performance trials, including microjumps and gas giant refueling both by fuel shuttles and by direct skimming. Shiloh’s supersonic, intermittent scoop procedure was now the officially recommended way of skimming. With all trials completed and her fuel tanks full, Defiant set her vector for the Epsilon Eridani star system and the CFP manufacturing facility there in order to pick up her complement of fighters and A.I.s. With fuel to burn and the certainty of being able to refuel there, Shiloh ordered the ship to accelerate to a higher than usual velocity in order to minimize Jumpspace duration. His Astrogator told him they set a new record for the fastest jump from Sol to Epsilon Eridani. Shiloh suspected that his Astrogator was exaggerating but didn’t bother to check if it was true or not.
When Defiant arrived at Epsilon Eridani, they found 25 eager fighter A.I.s chomping at the bit to land on the carrier and see some action. After all were safely aboard, and Defiant was on its way to their first destination, Shiloh called a briefing of all senior officers, fighter support team leaders and by electronic means, all A.I. pilots.
As he stepped up to the podium, Shiloh said, “Remember this briefing, people. This is the first operational briefing for this ship, and you’ll be able to tell your grandchildren about it some day.”
There was general laughter at that, and Shiloh could have sworn that some of the laughter came from the A.I.s.
“As you may or may not know, we’re on our way to Bradley Base, but that will be a quick stop to refuel and check the status of enemy activity, if any. Our mission is not what I was hoping for, namely that we’d be sent to launch a counter-strike on enemy star systems. Unfortunately, there’s a more urgent task that only we can perform for the time being. HQ is convinced that the aliens have downloaded astrogational data from one of our captured ships, data that pretty much lays out all of human-explored space and the locations of all our colonies, and Earth.”
There was a groundswell of murmuring which quickly died down again.
“That means they could penetrate deep into our space using systems containing gas giants to refuel, and then strike at military or civilian targets. Right now we have no early warning system in place. Well, our job is to set one up. We’ll be deploying fighters in star systems with gas giants, in a buffer zone between our colonies and where we think the aliens are. This buffer zone will consist of five layers that are each about 10-12 light years wide. The Bradley Base star system is in the second layer. Layers one and two will have fighters deployed in them by tankers. We’ll take care of layers three to five. This means multiple jumps, and it will take us an estimated 65 days.”
That brought groans from the human personnel. Shiloh held up his hand.
“Yes, I know that doesn’t sound very exciting, but we need this early warning system. Each gas giant will have two fighters deployed to monitor any enemy activity near it and to report such activity by message drone. Monitoring fighters will avoid detection and especially combat, whenever possible.”
More groans, and this time Shiloh was sure that those were coming from the fighter pilots themselves.
“The intention here is to keep the enemy in the dark about our early warning system. If they find out about it, they’re likely to try to punch a hole in it by destroying the sentry fighters, and we want to avoid that. One out of each pair of fighters will be equipped with a refueling module so that it can refuel itself and the other fighter indefinitely, but I can assure you fighter pilots that you won’t be expected to stay on station out there forever. When you detect enemy vessels, you’ll observe their activity and, if possible, determine which star system they appear to be headed for next. Then you’ll send a message drone with that information to the nearest base, using the high speed boost maneuver that Iceman and Maverick perfected if necessary. Thereafter, you’ll continue to monitor your gas giant. Systems that have more than one gas giant will have more than one pair of fighters. If you’re detected, your orders are to disengage and leave the vicinity of the gas giant, and then send a message drone with that information. Fighters will each carry one and only one attack drone to be used when combat is unavoidable. The rest of the two payloads will be evenly split between message and recon drones. Detailed contingency plans will be downloaded to our fighters at the end of this briefing. That in a nutshell is the mission. Are there any questions?”
Naturally there were, and Shiloh did his best to answer all of them. When there were no more questions, he said, “Alright, then. This briefing is concluded. Let’s do this right. Our ship has a reputation that needs building. You’re dismissed.”
The trip to Bradley Base took just over 241 hours. Shiloh made sure that Defiant had enough fuel to skip past the star system where the convoy had been ambushed. When the ship dropped out of Jumpspace in the Bradley Base star system, which was designated as Omega 4, Shiloh was on the Bridge at his Command Station. The ship emerged at the extreme edge of the system at a distance from its sun that would have been beyond the orbit of Neptune if they had been in the Solar System. The gas giant, where the Base was located, was almost on the opposite side of the sun, which blocked a direct line-of-sight path between the base and Defiant. Even with their exit velocity of 500 kilometers per second, it would take days to reach the base traveling through normal space. That was why the Astrogator was already calculating a series of microjumps that would bring Defiant on an approach vector to the Base at a distance that should be just inside the detection range of the Base’s patrolling fighters. The three microjumps with vector changes in between took almost another hour. After the third microjump, Defiant sent a tight beam low-powered laser signal to the Base with a message announcing their arrival. The reply came eight minutes later. Defiant was cleared to enter orbit around the Base’s moon. No further enemy activity had been detected since the battle. There was no personal message from Base Commander Korolev, but there was from Iceman.
“Welcome back, CAG! Now that you’re back, we’ll see some action!”
Shiloh chuckled and made a mental note to respond to Iceman when they got closer. The trip into orbit was anticlimactically uneventful, which suited Shiloh just fine. After sending a greeting to Iceman and the other fighters that were on jump detection patrol, Shiloh discovered that Korolev was asleep, but Sejanus was awake. With Tanaka in charge on the Bridge, Shiloh went back to his quarters and had a confidentia
l chat with Sejanus by video.
After the usual salutations, Shiloh said, “Listen, Marcus. I wanted to talk with you about Iceman and the others. You’ve got what … 25 fighters here now?”
“That’s right, Sir. They made good our losses from the battle.”
“How evolved are the newcomers at this point? Have they displayed the same level of individuality as the veterans?”
Sejanus pondered that for a bit and then said, “I’m not sure they’re at the same level of eccentricities, but they definitely act as if they’re sentient.”
“The reason I’m asking is that I’ve got a ship full of rookies, for lack of a better word. They’re only just starting to evolve their own identities. I’m thinking of swapping half of your veterans for half of my rookies and pairing up one of each for the deployment we’ve been ordered to make.” He then went on to explain the buffer zone early warning network that Defiant was tasked with setting up.
“Yes, I can see how that would benefit things if the sentry fighters detected enemy activity. I’m not sure Korolev would agree to it, though,” said Sejanus.
“I’m not sure she would have any authority to veto it. You’re the Base CAG. Those fighters are your responsibility, not hers.”
Sejanus didn’t look happy. “Yes, but she’s not only the Base Commander, she’s also the Task Force Commander, too, don’t forget, and my squadron of fighters is part of that Task Force.”
Damn, thought Shiloh. I did forget that.
“Okay, I guess she really does have a veto. I’ll talk with her when she’s awake and see if I can convince her to sign off on this. Now, on to other things. Has there been any sign at all of enemy activity? Anything?”
Sejanus shook his head. “Not a peep. I almost wish they’d send a few ships to recon the system or something. At least that would break up the boredom a little bit. I can’t help wondering if they’re planning something big.”
Shiloh snorted. “Oh, I’m pretty sure they are. The question is are they going to attack Bradley again or go after a new target. That’s why we’ve got to set this early warning network up pronto. When will Korolev be on duty again?”
“Well as you know, she doesn’t take regular shifts at Ops, but according to her normal schedule, I’d expect her to be up in about four to five hours.”
Shiloh smiled. “Good! That’ll give us time to practice fuel skimming the giant. By the time we’re done, we’ll be fully refueled, and Korolev will be awake. If she’s okay with the fighter swap, we can do that while Defiant is heading out for the jump to our first deployment target. I’ll leave her a message to call me when she’s available. It was good to see you again, Marcus. Shiloh clear.”
With the video call over, Shiloh decided to let Tanaka handle the refueling operation. It would be only her second time in charge of that operation, but she had handled the first one just fine, and he was confident she could handle this one too. He would observe the operation from the back of the Bridge, but let her keep command of the ship.
Switching the intercom channel to the Bridge, Shiloh said, “Bridge, this is Shiloh.”
Tanaka answered almost immediately. “Go ahead, Skipper.”
“Sumi? Take the ship out of orbit and into GG orbit to conduct a refueling operation.”
After a slight pause, she said, “Conduct refueling operations from the gas giant, yes Sir! Any other orders, Sir?”
“Not right now. Let me know when we’re about two minutes from contact with the giant’s atmosphere, would you?”
“Certainly, Sir.”
“Very good, Sumi. Carry on. Shiloh clear.”
The refueling operation went off without a hitch, while Shiloh watched. As Defiant, now back in orbit again, came out from the back side of the gas giant, Base Commander Korolev called. Shiloh was in command again since Tanaka’s duty shift was over.
When Korolev’s face appeared on the main display, Shiloh said, “Hello again, Commander. Thank you for responding to my message. Are you aware of Defiant’s mission?”
“Yes, Shiloh. I got the notification with the last resupply convoy. I was told to cooperate as much as possible.”
Hoho, thought Shiloh. That makes a difference. Howard didn’t tell me that part.
“Excellent. Here’s what I want to do.”
He explained the idea of taking half of the Base’s experienced fighters and replacing them with ‘rookies’ and why. Korolev, to her credit, didn’t show any negative emotion.
“I have no objections to that at all. In fact, you’d be doing me a favor if you take Iceman, Maverick and Hunter. Their cheekiness is starting to get annoying.”
Shiloh laughed. “I can understand that, and yes, I’ll be glad to take those cheeky bastards off your hands. I’d like to start the transfer right now while Defiant swings around to our jump vector. Okay with you?”
“Fine, fine,” said Korolev waving her hand. “I’ll have Sejanus coordinate that with your people. Anything else you need from me, Commander?”
“No. That’ll do nicely for now. We’ll see you on our return leg. Shiloh clear.”
Shiloh let Falkenberg make the arrangements with Sejanus’s deputy CAG and listened in to the exchange between the Base and those veteran fighters selected to transfer to Defiant. Iceman, Hunter and Maverick were borderline ecstatic. The others were pleased, too. Shiloh couldn’t help wondering if those three were starting to consider Korolev as annoying, too. It took almost three hours of acceleration before the incoming fighters all landed, transferred their jump detection gear to the rookies, who then launched to take their place in the patrol. Those fighters that stayed behind adjusted their trajectories to cover any temporary holes in the detection grid, until such time as the newcomers could take their stations.
As Defiant settled down on the vector that would allow it to jump to its first destination, Shiloh reviewed the deployment plan. The five layers of star systems were color coded, with red being the closest to the sphere of space inhabited by humans, the next being orange, then yellow, green and finally blue. Defiant would deploy this initial batch of fighters in the blue layer, with the first target system designated as Blue1. The path to Blue2 and the rest looked like random changes of direction, but Shiloh knew it actually represented a carefully calculated path that minimized the total amount of time required to jump between systems.
The deployment of the first pair of fighters in Blue1 went smoothly. Defiant didn’t even slow down very much while in the system. The deployed fighters accelerated towards the gas giant, and as soon as it was deemed clear of enemy ships, Defiant pointed her bow to Blue2 and re-entered Jumpspace.
As the ship emerged in the outer reaches of Blue2, Shiloh felt a chill run down his spine. He shrugged it off. Several hours later, Defiant was close enough for her two fighters to streak ahead and verify that this system’s gas giant was devoid of alien ships. Maverick and Hammer launched and began their high speed run to the gas giant. While they were on their way, Shiloh’s duty shift ended, and he returned to his quarters and went to sleep. It seemed to him that he had just shut his eyes when the Bridge called. Checking his chronometer, he realized that he’d been asleep for almost an hour.
“Shiloh here. What is it, Sumi?”
The XO’s voice was tense. “One of Maverick’s recon drones has detected what appears to be reflected sunlight off a metal hull. Maverick’s requesting permission to order the drone to determine distance with its rangefinder laser.”
Shiloh was instantly wide awake. “Only one contact?” he asked.
“Only one so far, yes Sir.” replied Tanaka.
Shiloh thought fast. The reflected sunlight, if that’s what it was, had been detected by passive optical sensors, but it only gave the drone a direction to the object, not a distance. The low-powered rangefinder laser that the latest version of recon drones had would fire a timed pulse of laser light and measure how long it took for the reflected laser light to return. That would tell them how far away the ob
ject was. The risk was that the enemy ship might detect the laser pulse, which would tip them off to the drone’s presence and eliminate any advantage Shiloh had for covert surveillance. But if they didn’t get a range determination, they’d have no way of knowing where the alien ship was headed or how fast it was going, and THAT information was critically important.
“Tell Maverick he has permission to determine the range. Send the ship to Battle Stations. I’ll be on the Bridge shortly. Shiloh clear.”
No sooner had he finished speaking then the Battle Stations klaxon sounded. Tanaka must have had her finger hovering over the activation button while they were talking. He put on a fresh uniform and sprinted for the Bridge, which was just down the hall. Tanaka saw him enter and unbuckled herself from the Command Station chair.
As Shiloh walked over to her, he said. “I have the Con, XO.”
“Yes, Sir. Maverick has the word. We should get a report back in about … 90 seconds or so.”
Shiloh nodded as he sat down in the chair. He buckled himself in while the chair adjusted itself to his body.
“Good,” he said.
Tanaka started to turn towards the entrance to head for Engineering where the Executive Officer usually went during Battle Stations, but Shiloh had other ideas.
“Not so fast, XO. I’m wearing two hats on this mission, and if we find ourselves in a shooting match, I don’t want to have to con the ship and fight the battle at the same time. So I want you to relieve Rodriguez at the Helm Station, and you’ll take back the Con while I concentrate on the bigger picture. Rodriguez can take your place in Engineering.”
Tanaka was clearly taken aback. “Well, if you’re sure you want to do that, Sir, I’ll comply with your orders.”
Shiloh smiled and said, “I know what I’m doing, Sumi. I’ve used this technique before when I was Squadron Leader, only this time I have a squadron of fighters instead of frigates.”