Koban: The Mark of Koban

by Stephen W Bennett

  “The Navy now has their new faster fleet. All of the ships were purpose built, or modified to use the new Tachyon Squared Jump, and better Normal Space drives, copied from Krall technology.”

  She almost knew it by heart, but she checked the list anyway. “We’ve built them two carriers, each with fifty single piloted fighters and twenty-five two-man fighters. Two huge dreadnaughts, six battleships, eight battlecruisers, a dozen heavy cruisers, fifty destroyers, twenty patrol ships, two mine layers, and various support ships that are too many to count.” She laid the summary on her desk.

  “Add to that total the old ships we already had, which now have retrofitted T-squared drives. That’s one more battleship, thirty cruisers that are actually light cruisers now, and sixty destroyers that are more like glorified large patrol boats in the new Navy.

  “By the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs own reckoning, we have thirty-one capitol ships to none that we know of for sure for the Krall. Even our old retrofitted cruisers would seem to be a match for a Krall Clanship. I read the intelligence estimates that we have observed roughly four thousand Clanships, but most stay parked on our former colony, now designated as Krall base one or K1.

  “We are heavily outnumbered in total ships as of yet, by about four thousand to 171 fighting ships. However, it looks to me that the quality of our larger ships can give us the advantage if we pick our battles wisely. I’m hardly a military mind, but this seems self-evident to me, and to the public that has been paying for these ‘toys’ for the Navy.

  “The Krall have yet to deploy in force against us, seldom using more than one to sixteen Clanships on a raid, as they called them in those more recent broadcasts to us in Standard. Nevertheless, there’s nearly always a raid underway on some Rim world or New Colony, often two or three raids in the same week on different worlds.

  “These raids are always initiated by Clanships, which I’m told are roughly equivalent to a light cruiser in mass, but are used mainly as troop transports or pocket fighter carriers for their single ships. We have seen a few Krall ships the size of our battleships, but we have never seen what they do. They arrive at K1, land for a few days, then lift and Jump for parts unknown.

  “The summary reports say the enemy has attacked us in only two ways. Dash in with one or more Clanships, release eight to thirty-two single ships from each, then leave for a couple of days before returning to pick up the warrior survivors. Then three months ago, they started landing and offloading five hundred or so fighters per Clanship at large cities or towns. They used eight to sixteen Clanships on three occasions, almost a duplicate of the action initiated on Gribbles’ Nook. Then they pull out in three days, before we even learn of the attack here in the Hub. Not even the new T squared fast couriers can tell us soon enough to send help. The local ground commanders have to fight them with their own forces. Luckily, the citizenry isn’t as completely helpless as they once were. Nevertheless, they are no match for the Krall, who swarm to the sounds of a firefight.

  “The Navy has yet to prevent a single one of these attacks, or to drive them off before they damn well decide to leave. The Krall make what looks exactly like preplanned orderly withdrawals nearly every time. Only worlds following Poldark’s mobile force example have ever gotten an attack to terminate early, by killing twenty-five to forty percent of the Krall attackers. That is entirely a ground force success. Provided we consider triple the combat casualties on our side a success. Obviously, the uncounted thousands of civilians that they saved think it’s more successful than their own slaughter.

  “The new armor, weapons improvements, and recruitment that the ground commanders asked for was delayed for eighteen months, to allow us to pay the Navy’s immense budget. The Army’s total request was just about the cost of a single new battleship.

  “Explain to me why I shouldn’t ask Parliament to shift war production over to what has at least shown some positive results, and which has every colony Governor calling for my head if I don’t expand and improve their Army forces.”

  Anderfem knew this might be an uphill struggle, but her contacts in the Navy, and the Department of Defense told her the Navy was about to hit the Krall, to make them pull back to defend their base on K1. The Navy intended to take out thousands of Clanships where they sat.

  “Madam President, the Joint Chiefs wish to meet with you to brief you on Operation Deep Lance, our first offensive action.

  “The fleet’s recent shakedown testing was partly a dress rehearsal for an attack on K1. As you know, most of the fleet has been performing shakedown and coordination missions out in the anti-spinward Rim region, on the opposite side from the Krall incursion. The Captains and navigators needed to learn how to Jump deep into gravity wells with the same precision displayed by the Krall. This way our ships won’t waste hours, or even days, vectoring into the targeted planet, after getting to the solar system three times faster than before. This practicing has been successful.

  “I was informed that our new ships can Jump from any point in Human Space, and White Out within four or five hundred miles of a planet’s surface. We only need recent detailed orbital data of the target system to fine tune the computations while in the second level of Tachyon Space, or T squared as the scientists have it named.”

  Stanford liked the sound of this. “So they believe that popping out on the Krall’s doorstep will give us the element of surprise for a change? I’ll be interested in what they intend to do when they get there. The Krall are damned fast to react to threats.”

  “That’s where our use of Artificial Intelligence and computers should reduce the gap between human reactions and the Krall preference to ‘fly by the seat of their pants,’ so to speak. Our AI’s are a technological edge that the Krall don’t appear to share, instead they rely on their physical reaction times. They are obviously faster than a human, but then that’s why we use AI’s, because they are so much faster and precise than a human.”

  “OK, Jean. When can we hold this Deep Lance briefing, and how close do the Joint Chiefs say we are to being ready to launch?”

  “Madam President, the briefing can be conducted as soon as you can clear your calendar. The launch date could be set for a week or two from your granting approval. Our fleet can be widely dispersed, and coordinate their launch times to reach the rendezvous points at the target without revealing the impending attack by gathering our forces first.”

  “Fine. I’ll clear my schedule this afternoon. How long do you think it will take to complete?”

  “Mam, the preliminary presentation I saw was only about an hour long, but you will have a question and answer session afterwards, and of course you can bring along any analysts you select for more expert questions.”

  “Jean, you’ll be there to advise me, and the Joint Chiefs and their staffs are my analysts. Please set it up.”

  “Yes Mam.”

  ****

  Admiral Hawthorne, Chairfem of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stepped to the lectern as the slickly produced Tri-Vid presentation ended. “Madam President that is the nucleus of the plan we are recommending. I believe you and your aid must have some questions, since both of you made notes at various points. I’m sure if I don’t have an answer to your questions, we have the technical minds that worked on this operation standing by.”

  “Thank you Admiral. You’ll forgive me if some of my questions sound simplistic and nonmilitary. This is the first offensive action on such a large scale in over three hundred years, so I have no precedents to guide me. However, as Commander in Chief, I am not only accepting responsibility for Operation Deep Lance, but also the consequences that may follow.

  “There were icons used to represent the various divisions within our forces, the actions each section is responsible for, and which targets on K1 they are assigned to strike. What I couldn’t discern was the number of ships in our fleet that are involved. I saw only one carrier group icon, and two battleship groups, with icons for the heavy cruisers and screens of light cruisers a
nd destroyers.

  “We have one hundred seventy one fighting ships, against their four thousand plus Clanships and uncounted numbers of single ships. Our element of surprise and heavier firepower aside, how many of our ships are we placing at risk? The Icons didn’t tell me that.”

  “Madam President, I apologize. There was a legend on one of the early screens that indicated the strength of the differing groups, but that legend wasn’t carried forward to appear on the following graphics. However, here is the Order of Battle.

  “We will commit one carrier group, the Intrepid with its seventy five fighters and bombers. They will be held in reserve, well off planet, for after the bombardment to engage surface and near atmosphere targets.

  “The dreadnaught Invincible is our flagship.

  “Battleship division one and two, with three battleships in each.

  “Two cruiser divisions, each comprised of two battlecruisers, four heavy cruisers, and five of our older retrofitted light cruisers.

  “Then we have four destroyer squadrons, with twenty ships each.

  “Oh, and we will also take ten patrol ships.” She added, in an afterthought.

  “Thank you Admiral. Please bear with me a moment.” Stanford was typing at her personal computer pad.

  Completing her calculations, Stanford had an observation to make, and more questions.

  “Admiral, we will have one hundred ten of our fighting ships participating in this operation, most of our newest and best. Please note that I’m not discounting the patrol ships, but they don’t have the firepower of any of the others.

  “My questions are more of asking for explanations. Why not send all of our fleet, or conversely, why so many? Is what you plan to commit enough firepower to meet the goal of forcing the Krall to draw back to K1? If this operation fails, are the other sixty one ships enough to leave us an effective fleet on which to fall back?”

  Hawthorne was taken aback by her questions. She’d expected the President, with virtually no military background, to simply rubber stamp their proposal. Not that she thought the President’s questions were foolish, however. The Joint Chiefs had wrestled with this same issue.

  “Madam President the firepower of this many ships, capable of launching thousands of networked smart missiles immediately after White Out, should provide us with total surprise, and take out most of the Clanships on the planet. We are providing for two missiles per Clanship, capable of switching targets if the primary target has moved. The missiles form a dynamic shared intelligence network, which will cloak the entire surface of the planet and its atmosphere. They each can automatically seek new targets, either Clanships or single ships, hit a habitation dome, or new targets as we specify. They have forty-minutes of flying time in atmosphere, and all of them will launch with five minutes or less flight time to reach the surface.

  “In addition, from three hundred to five hundred miles out, our heavy lasers can burn their way through the atmosphere to also hit Clanships, single ships, domes, and targets of opportunity.

  “The assumption that we might lose all of the ships we send on Deep Lance is well outside the most severe worst case scenario we could project. Our point defense lasers, plasma beams, and short-range missiles are the best we’ve ever had. We have computer tested them against our own new faster T squared powered fighters. The point defenses are more than a match for our pilots, though our crews can’t tolerate the same level of uncompensated g’s the Krall can. We programmed the defensive fire control AIs to target any Krall single ship with three laser beams of different frequencies, and to add a plasma beam’s energy as well, if we can’t burn through the reflective hulls fast enough. All of our new laser pods have the triple frequency beams built in to them.

  “We consider a fifteen percent loss of our ships to be serious, and we would withdraw the fleet if that appeared imminent. All our ships will go in with minimal Jump capability retained in their secondary Traps. In case things start to go wrong, they can bug out, using a typical tenth light year Jump to a preselected rally point. Our T squared drives can snare a high-level tachyon for a longer Jump in a few minutes to get home from there. We are not at risk of losing the entire battle group.” Admiral Hawthorne had wound down.

  Nodding appreciatively, Stanford really was impressed with the explanations and answers. Turning to Jean Anderfem, the only staff aid she had brought with her, knowing she was knowledgeable enough to ask the right questions and grasp the answers. She prompted her for follow-up questions. “Admiral Anderfem, you’ve sat in on preliminary planning sessions, and now have seen the final proposal. Are there any questions you think I need to hear asked and answered? Even if you already know the answer, I will not.”

  “Yes Mam. Admiral Hawthorne, have you selected the overall Commander of the Operation?”

  “Yes. It was very competitive, as you might imagine, Jean. Vice Admiral Golda Mauss will command Operation Deep Lance, and she is conducting a large training exercise as we speak. The Joint Chiefs are discussing the possibility of reviving the Fleet Admiral rank as the fleet grows. This is a proposal we might present to you in the future Madam President, which if you approve the final candidates, the list could be sent to the House for consideration.”

  Anderfem nodded her personal approval of the Operation commander. “Admiral Mauss is a good choice. I knew her as a midlevel officer. She’s level headed and tough. Now I have just one other question, which you might find the answer interesting, Madam President.”

  She addressed the Chairfem again. “Admiral Hawthorne, the fleet’s simultaneous White Outs at K1 is going to envelope the planet within a spherical formation of our ships. Yet the fleet is widely dispersed now, to avoid giving away our intentions. How is that going to be accomplished?”

  Hawthorn’s eyes lit up at the chance to explain a bit of gee-whizz trivia, made possible by the precise navigation offered by the new T squared Jump drives.

  “Madam President, Admiral, the navigational precision possible in the much higher energy realm of the second dimensional level of Tachyon Space, or T squared, is related to the high energy accelerator conundrum in the early twenty first century. They built the legendary Large Hadron Collider to probe ever-smaller regions of space around fundamental particles. Scientists needed to build larger high-powered accelerators to smash into the particles with more energy, to get closer to them to see what happened with the strong short-range forces as they broke apart.

  “Higher energy was needed to reach more precisely into the tiny regions where new and interesting physics happen. The huge energies we get from use of T squared tachyon particles likewise translate into vastly better short scale precision for targeting the location of a White Out in Normal Space.

  “Not only that, but because we are not traveling in Normal Space, a massive object, such as a planet at the center of our destination point in Normal Space is no obstacle to our arrival. We pick the point, in this case the gravitational center of K1, select coordinates that surround that point at, say four thousand five hundred miles. Then we feed in the known orbital characteristics and our time of arrival to predict where K1 will be. Next, just before the Jump, we boost in Normal Space to match the known orbital velocity and direction of the planet, face our ship towards where the gravitational center will be, then use the predetermined time of the arrival to stagger all of our Jumps to get there simultaneously.

  “The longer the time needed for each Jump, the earlier you enter the Hole, of course. We have tested this extensively. In fact, we believe we do it better than the Krall, because of our use of AI’s. The Krall missed the mark a bit at Gribbles’ Nook, and the sixteen Clanships didn’t all arrive simultaneously. They started their final Jump to the planet from much closer, only out in the Oort cloud rather than from many light years away, and still missed simultaneous arrivals by over a minute.

  “To keep Krall scouts off guard, our largest capital ships will be on the far side of Human Space when they Jump. Only lighter elements will be
stationed closer to K1, orbiting various Old Colony worlds. This dispersion should disguise our attack.

  “That is how we believe we will have the edge for the surprise start of our attack. We can launch all our missiles within seconds of White Out. If this is as successful as we hope, we may send destroyers, fighters, and patrol ships into atmosphere, to hit at their infrastructure, and take down more of their domes.”

  “Thank you Admiral. I’ve ran out of questions, yet I sense you have more answers. I yield, and I approve of Operation Deep Lance. Please coordinate with Admiral Anderfem on the exact launch date, so I can provide advance notice of the attack to ranking members of Parliament. I’ll also want some of your fast couriers ready to send word to the colony worlds as soon as Vice Admiral Mauss reports back.”

  Finally, Stanford thought, we’re doing something besides waiting for the Krall to strike.

  ****

  Sixty seconds after her dreadnaught, Invincible, made its White Out five hundred miles above K1’s northern pole, Vice Admiral Mauss had one thought.

  The Krall were waiting for us!

  There were at least a hundred Clanships already in orbit. Oddly, they clustered near the widely scattered six battleships, with hundreds of single ships swarming in the space between them. Two battleships, Gauntlet and Mace, had each lost one of their three fusion bottles within thirty seconds of White Out. They were also venting small jets of air in multiple places, apparently from minor breaches. The fusion bottle losses each eliminated one third of their plasma beams, but the laser pods on the effected hull sections could draw power from the operational bottles. It only required manual power switching by the Drive Room crew. The fusion bottles were located deep in the bowels of the ships, where design placed them for maximum protection. How did they lose them without major external damage?

  ****

  On the battleship Gauntlet, Captain Caruthers was satisfied with the quick launch of their first complement of three hundred missiles, all of them away in three volleys, from one hundred launch tubes, twenty seconds apart. They were loading another hundred for a cleanup volley if different targets presented themselves.