Ep.#15 - That Which Other Men Cannot Do (The Frontiers Saga)

by Ryk Brown

  “I do not disagree with that assessment,” the president said. “However, the further from Sol the nearest Jung ship is located, the more time we have to prepare our defense. Surely you can see the logic?”

  “Of course, but the Alliance is attacking ships that have not taken a threatening posture. The fact that they are parked less than a year’s travel from Sol does not justify your actions, at least not in the minds of a military leader. Such leaders can only see your actions as an act of war.”

  “Which is what it should be,” President Scott argued. “The Jung came here. They attacked our world, without provocation, with the intent to conquer and enslave our people. We are only responding to that act of aggression, as any world would do.”

  “No, not any world,” Galiardi corrected. “Only us. None of the other systems in this sector traveled beyond their boundaries to attack Jung forces elsewhere.”

  “Only because the Jung had already defeated them during their first strikes.” President Scott leaned back in his chair, frustrated. “I don’t get it, Michael. I would have expected you, of all people, to be waving the banner and charging into battle, gun in hand.”

  “No, you are mistaken,” Galiardi insisted. “I may be a military man, but I’m not stupid. You don’t call out the schoolyard bully unless you’re damned sure you can kick his ass, and that’s exactly what your Alliance is doing. And it’s our ass that’s going to get kicked…again.”

  “I don’t know, I think we’ve been doing pretty well so far, all things considered.”

  “Don’t kid yourself, Dayton,” Galiardi warned. “You’ve had time on your side. That was the whole reason that I pushed the STS program so hard. But time is running out. Eventually, word will reach the Jung homeworld, wherever it is, and when it does, the Jung will respond.”

  “And with the time that our forces are buying us by removing all Jung forces from the core, we’ll be ready. Our people have done the math as well, Michael.”

  “Now it’s from the entire core? What happened to twenty light years?”

  “The core and secondary worlds of Earth, for the most part, have the largest populations, and the greatest industrial and economic capacities.”

  “Which is exactly why the Jung conquered them to begin with, Dayton,” Galiardi countered. “You’re not poking them with a stick. You’re gutting them with a knife.”

  “We’re sending them a message,” President Scott insisted.

  “And what exactly is that message?” Admiral Galiardi wondered.

  “That we will not bow down to subjugation. That we will not tolerate brutality and injustice. Not against us, nor those we call friends.”

  “No! The message you are sending is a dare!” Galiardi declared, shaking a pointed finger at the president. “A dare for the Jung to return, in force, to try and finish the job they started. Had you simply liberated Earth, and then taken up a defensive posture followed by a stern warning that we will not tolerate any more incursions into our system, we might have had a chance. At the very least, it would have taken several years for the Jung homeworld to learn of the events and take action. Perhaps longer to rally enough ships to cleanly overwhelm us. You could have used the Karuzara facilities to upgrade the Aurora and the Celestia, and maybe even a few more, smaller, ships. But you had to go on a crusade for the good of the entire core!”

  “That isn’t what this is about, and you know it,” President Scott said in a poorly veiled, accusatory tone.

  Admiral Galiardi suddenly stopped.

  “You didn’t need the jump drive program to defend Earth,” the president continued. “Over short ranges, you can do the same thing with linear FTL systems. We’ve already seen the Jung using such tactics, just not as well. You could have fixed the problems with the FTL systems in the second version of the Defender-class ships. Hell, you could have built four more of them for the same time and money that you spent on the STS drive and building the Explorer-class ships. That would have given us eight FTL warships. No other core world had that size of fleet, not even Alpha Centauri. The Jung, who by your own assessment prefer to use overwhelming force, would have needed to amass twice as many ships, which would have taken years, possibly decades longer.”

  “There was no way to know that at the time, Dayton…” the admiral defended.

  “I’m not so sure about that,” the president argued. “You’re a smart guy, Michael. I’m sure you considered all the angles, yet you still chose not to oppose the construction of Explorer-class ships.”

  “If you remember, Mister President, it was the leaders of Earth who wanted the Explorer-class ships, not I. In fact, I believe I made it clear that abandoning the Defender-class design would make us weaker in the long run.”

  “Yet your assessments of the time available before the Jung could be in position to attack Earth in force did not support a long-term approach to Earth’s defense. In fact, you recruited me, to participate in your little stalling tactic, in the hopes of making the Jung operatives on Earth believe that postponing an invasion would be in their best interests.”

  “Which, if successful, would have given us two completed, Explorer-class ships, fully armed, with working jump drives, along with our existing Defender-class ships. We might even have had enough time to convert them to jump-capable ships, as well! Can you imagine? It would have taken decades for the Jung to gather the forces needed to successfully defeat us!”

  “Yes, it was a wonderful plan,” President Scott agreed. “Which is why you were given command after Jarlmasson was forced to resign.” The president leaned forward. “But it didn’t work.” He paused and took a breath. “And now, we find ourselves finally getting off the ropes, after millions upon millions of people have died, and our world was nearly annihilated. Given all that has happened, and all that the Jung have done to us and the rest of the worlds of the core, I’m surprised their leaders are not calling on the Alliance to launch a spread of KKVs at the Jung homeworld, assuming we can ever find it.”

  Admiral Galiardi took a moment to compose himself. “Trust me, Dayton, you do not want to incur the full wrath of the Jung. We have seen what they are capable of. We have seen them glass entire worlds and simply move on without batting an eye. If you continue to try to expand and grow this Alliance, you will leave the Jung no choice. They will have to attack. Not only us, but every other world that you have unwillingly put into harm’s way. You used the word millions. I’m talking trillions of lives. Do you understand?”

  Dayton Scott stared back at Michael Galiardi, unwavering in his determination. “It’s the right thing to do, Michael. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Nothing is ever that simple, Dayton. Are you really willing to risk your entire world, just to satisfy your own sense of morality?”

  “Some things are black and white,” the president insisted. “Not many, but some. This is not about my sense of right and wrong. This is about the will of the collective. This is about what all of humanity considers just. If you can’t see that, then you’re not as smart as I have given you credit for all these years.”

  Admiral Galiardi leaned back in his chair. “You know we will fight you every step of the way.”

  “I do,” President Scott replied confidently.

  Admiral Galiardi waited, staring into Dayton Scott’s eyes, hoping to find some break in his resolve. Finally, he stood. “I truly hope that I am wrong about this, Dayton…I truly do. But I’ve never been one to grasp at straws.”

  Dayton Scott watched without speaking as Admiral Galiardi turned and headed for the door. When the admiral reached the door, he spoke. “Michael, there was something I always wanted to ask you.”

  Michael Galiardi turned back toward the president, his coat in his hand.

  “Why is it that Nathan was transferred to the Aurora, when Eli clearly asked for him to be reassigned to a surface assignment?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” the admiral replied. “I was the commanding officer of the entire Earth Defens
e Force, Dayton. I had no direct knowledge of duty assignments.”

  “And how is it that the Jung knew exactly where the Aurora would come out of her first test jump? Even I didn’t know that.”

  “Maybe you should have asked Eli?” the admiral suggested.

  “I’m asking you, Michael.”

  Galiardi smiled. “Thank you for seeing me, Mister President.” He turned back toward the door and reached for the knob. “See you in the trenches.”

  * * *

  “Today’s exercises were good,” Captain Nash told the gunship crews gathered in the mission briefing room on the asteroid spaceport orbiting Tanna. “Maneuvers were tight, executions were by the numbers, and your transitions between attack patterns were tight.” He paused and looked out into the crowd. “Well, most of you, anyway. Hopefully, Captain Annatah will be more awake next time.”

  “I will make sure of it,” Captain Annatah’s copilot, Lieutenant Commander Jahansir, promised.

  “If that new baby of yours is too much for you, Captain, just say the word, and I’ll be happy to restrict you to base for the rest of your training cycle,” Captain Nash teased.

  “That won’t be necessary, sir,” Captain Annatah replied.

  “See that it isn’t.”

  Lieutenant Commander Rano entered the room and walked up to Captain Nash, whispering in his ear. The captain nodded. “Lieutenant Commander Rano will be taking over the remainder of the briefing. I’ll see you all tomorrow morning, at zero six hundred, Tannan Mean Time.”

  Captain Nash stepped down from the podium and left the briefing room. He moved quickly down the corridor and entered his office, finding Admiral Dumar sitting there waiting for him. “Apologies, Admiral,” he said, offering a salute.

  “As you were, Captain,” Admiral Dumar replied, returning the salute without standing. “No apologies necessary. You had no warning of my visit.” The admiral gestured toward the door. “Close the door, Robert. We need to talk.”

  Captain Nash squinted suspiciously as he closed the door. “Is something wrong?” he asked as he moved behind his desk to sit.

  “How is the training going?” the admiral wondered. “Your first eight crews getting the hang of things?”

  “As well as can be expected, considering it’s only been a few weeks.”

  “You mean, a few months, don’t you?”

  “I was speaking of actual flight time…in real ships,” the captain explained. “The first four crews have only had their ships for about six weeks. The second four about half that.”

  “But they have all had extensive simulator time, have they not?”

  “Yes, sir, they have, but…”

  “Are the simulators not realistic enough?”

  “No, they’re plenty realistic, but no matter how realistic a simulator is, it’s still just a simulator. The knowledge that you cannot die in it is what makes the difference.”

  “True enough, I suppose.”

  “Why are you asking?”

  “I was wondering if you think they are ready for combat.”

  Captain Nash leaned back in his seat and sighed. “I was afraid you were going to ask that.”

  “Then you believe they are not ready?”

  “I suppose it depends on the mission, sir,” Captain Nash responded. “If you want them to do some patrols, or maybe even go up against some Jung fast-attack shuttles, or even some of their gunships, I might be inclined to say yes, they are ready.”

  “Frigates,” the admiral said, getting straight to the point.

  Captain Nash sighed again. “You want them to take on a Jung frigate?”

  “No, frigates,” the admiral corrected, emphasizing the plural.

  “How many?”

  “Four.”

  “By themselves, or as part of a battle group?”

  “The frigates are part of a standard Jung battle group in the Delta Pavonis system,” Admiral Dumar explained. “However, the larger ships in the battle group would already be dealt with by the Aurora and the Celestia.”

  “Then why not just have the Aurora and the Celestia take out the frigates as well,” Captain Nash suggested. “I’m sure they can take out frigates in a single pass, maybe even a single shot with those big mark fives they’re carrying now.”

  “Chiya is the only inhabited world in the Pavonis system,” the admiral began. “A little smaller than Earth, not nearly as much water, only her upper and lower middle latitudes are habitable. Problem is, there are more than one hundred thousand Jung troops on that world, spread out over six different bases. They’ve also got a few dozen surface-to-orbit missile bases, and four airbases. We don’t have the air power yet to deal with so many surface bases. Luckily, most of the facilities are well removed from the population. Seems the Chiyans have been less than cooperative, so they kept the bases away from the cities for security reasons. We plan to have the Aurora and the Celestia strike them from orbit. However, to do so, they must jump in and strike quickly, before the airbases can get fighters and fast-attack shuttles in the air. If they do, we won’t be able to get boots on the ground, and the chaos that will ensue when the troop bases are destroyed could get quite ugly.”

  “And if the Aurora and the Celestia have to take time to deal with the frigates…”

  “They won’t be able to catch those fighters on the ground, and their defense missiles will already be in orbit, waiting to strike. In short, we won’t be able to touch the surface assets.”

  “Might it be better to wait, then?” Captain Nash wondered. “Maybe until we have more assets? How long until the Jar-Benakh goes into service?”

  “Less than a week, actually,” the admiral replied. “The problem is the Delta Pavonis system is one of four systems, all within twenty light years of Earth, that we’ve identified as primary staging for forces bound for Earth. We’ve already dealt with Tau Ceti and 82 Eridani. Delta Pavonis and Beta Hydri are next.”

  “I still don’t see why you can’t wait.”

  “Will waiting a week really make that big of a difference?” the admiral asked. “Will two weeks?”

  “It might,” Captain Nash replied.

  Admiral Dumar leaned back in his seat. “When I was a cadet, so very long ago, there was a ritual called norey movah. Loosely translated, I believe its meaning is the same as your expression, ‘trial by fire’. This was done early on in a combat pilot’s training, in order to determine beyond all doubt, which of us was truly worthy of continuing to the next level of training.”

  “A test.”

  “Precisely.”

  “And what happened if you failed the test?” Captain Nash wondered.

  “It was combat,” the admiral replied without emotion. “You died.”

  “They threw you into actual combat, before you were properly trained?”

  “We were trained. We could fly. We could fight. We knew our ships and weapons. It was our way. Those who survived went on to advanced training. We were given the newest ships, the best weapons, and the highest training.”

  “Seems rather barbaric.”

  “I suppose it was, in a sense,” Admiral Dumar admitted, “but it was effective. Surviving actual combat, when others did not, gave us an edge…a level of confidence that we could not get from mock-combat training. You yourself argued that a simulator is not the same as actual flight in space. Norey movah was just an extension of that idea.”

  Captain Nash sighed again. “So, you want to put my crews to the test…see which ones survive?”

  “No, I do not want to put anyone into harm’s way. However, if they are going to protect their world, and they are going to teach their fellow Tannans to do the same, they need to taste actual combat. Better in this fashion, against only four frigates, without threat of reinforcement, than against a sudden surprise attack. Or would you prefer their first taste of combat to be in the defense of their world?”

  “It’s not that I don’t see your point, Admiral.”

  “You’ve just n
ever had to send crews into combat,” the admiral surmised.

  “Yeah, I guess that’s a part of it.”

  “You’ve never had children, have you, Captain?”

  “No, sir. I haven’t.”

  “I have a family, back on Corinair. Originally, it was part of my cover, but over time, I grew to love my wife, as well as my children. A son, and two daughters. When my son was still very young, maybe two, my wife and I took him to the playground. He was fascinated by the swings. Such a simple thing really, a seat on two cables. He was waiting patiently for his turn, standing to one side, when a child got off the swing on the far end. My son set off directly for the vacant swing. It never occurred to him that the kids who were swinging might hit him. My wife jumped from the bench where we were sitting, yelling to warn our son of the danger, but she was too late. I grabbed her hand, and pulled her back down. The first swing missed him, but the second did not. It knocked him several meters, and he started wailing. Again, his mother wanted to run to him, to hold him, but I would not allow it. He needed to learn. He saw that we were not running to his aid, and eventually he realized that he was not truly injured, and he stopped crying and got on the empty swing. From that moment on, he always took a wide path around those swings when there were children using them.”

  “No offense, Admiral, it was a charming story,” Captain Nash said, “but we’re not talking about getting knocked over by a kid on a swing. We’re talking about death in combat.”

  “I’m afraid you missed the point of the story, Captain, which was that sometimes, experience is the best teacher.”

  “So, you’re saying I have to let them go?”

  “If you want these men to be able to defend their world, they need to know that they can do so. They need to know that they will not turn away in the face of mortal danger. They need to know that they are capable of putting their lives on the line for what they believe. You were correct when you pointed out that lack of actual risk is what makes a simulator not as good as the real thing. The same can be said for mock combat versus actual.”