Dr. Constance Terrell MD PhD, Federation Space Force (Retired) better known as “Tyrannosaurus Doc” pulled up a chair to join the festivities. “I was cruising for boy toys at a spacer bar in New St. Louis,” she said in answer to one of the questions that had been tossed at her in the chaos. “This real pretty young thing settles down to the bar beside me. Kind of looked like what my son would have looked like if he had lived. About the right age, too. We get to talking, and we go back to his quarters for a little play time. When we get inside the room he turns on me and says, ‘Dr. Terrell. I did not come here to play.’ I didn’t tell him my name so I don’t know how he knows it. He knows a lot about me it turns out. He asks me if I would like to go out on a ship like Elizabeth. He doesn’t use her name, but I know he’s talking about our ship. I told him I would. He asked if would mind being the medical consultant on the construction of a new ship. I told him it sounded like fun. He opens the door and these two big guys come in. They pack up my stuff and bring me to this monster cargo ship. I asked where we were going and they said they couldn’t tell me, but I was in no danger. Come on! Two big guys are hauling me off, and I’m in no danger? Anyway, they put me on a freighter, and the captain of the ship apologizes for the rough treatment, but she assures me the rest of the trip will be more comfortable. She assigns me to a nice cabin, and we depart right away. You know they feed the freighter crews real well! So we make a half dozen stops before the captain comes to me and says that the next stop is where I get off. She wishes me luck and hopes that I enjoy my new job.”
She pointed at the model in Saul’s hands. “That is the new Elizabeth. Better than ever. We meet with engineering in the morning, but I wanted you to have a chance to look the model over.”
As she said that, Saul popped open one of the hatches near the aft of the ship, and a model of a P I ship fell out. Saul had thought he understood the scale of this model, but when the P I ship fell out, he realized he had underestimated it by a factor of ten. This was huge! His head spun with questions that would have to wait until the engineers could interpret the plans for him.
Saul stood grinning from ear to ear. He raised the model over his head and shouted, “Give a cheer for the best armed hospital ship in the galaxy!”
When the cheers died down, Saul sat back down to continue his examination of the model. Saul refused to relinquish the big model from which he had now extracted a second P I ship model and a med-evac ship model. He carried it back to his quarters where he and Moses studied it well into the night. In the morning when they met with the engineers Saul steadfastly retained possession of the model refusing to relinquish it long enough for it to be put on the table.
The chief engineer stood at the head of the board room table and introduced himself and his team. “I wish your medical team were here already, but Dr. Terrell has been most helpful. We are very excited for the potential for this ship. We have prepared this presentation for you. It explains the features far better than I can.”
The plan involved retaining the passenger liner, hospital and battleship portions of Elizabeth’s structure. The rest would be disposed of. The old fission reactors were to be replaced with three fusion reactors each of which was mounted on a passenger and freight transport module. These modules were in fact complete freighters which normally operated on the smaller runs. They were slaved together in a triangle around a monstrous space frame. Each module was capable of carrying two thousand people and enough supplies for a year in transit. There was enough room in the cargo holds to contain either a small warship or enough supplies and building materials for a colony to survive on a new planet for a year on its own. The ships chosen for this duty were among the most reliable in the fleet. These three differed only from the regular production version by the removal of the flight deck and the extension of the space frame beyond where the flight deck would have been to the frame that supported and linked the rest of the ship together. Nestled between the three reactors attached to the freighter modules was a fourth fusion reactor attached to the center trusses that ran the length of the ship. Nestled between the trusses, the passenger ship portion would be gutted to provide common galleys, schools and the kinds of support that would be more efficient centralized rather than distributed among three freighter modules which were lacking in amenities. Docking ports for passengers entering and exiting the ship ringed the passenger liner. These docks were not intended for the transport of smaller ships in transit, but only for the transfer of passengers and luggage.
One of the most significant differences between Stellar’s construction methods and the other space craft manufacturers was that Stellar shipyards were on airless moons while the others were weightless in orbit. Stellar ships were built with structure that allowed them to sit on their tails during construction. Since the cargo ships did not “float” in space, but were constantly accelerating or decelerating, by building them in the presence of gravity, “down” was always “down” and toward the aft of the ship. Smaller ships, the size of the modules that would form the passenger, and freight portions of Elizabeth were manufactured completely on the moon’s surface. Larger ships like the biggest freighters were built in sections on the surface of the moon, and those sections were assembled at the orbiting station. Gantries and partially completed freighters covered a huge expanse of the moon. The residential and support areas ringed the huge shipyard.
The engineers had worked hard to solve one of the most difficult problems the original engineering team had faced with the design of the hospital portion of the ship. It is impossible to perform surgery in weightlessness. Blood and bodily fluids turn into little globules that float around to become airborne hazards. When the ship is in transit, the continuous acceleration provides a force similar enough to gravity that surgery is feasible. This force is applied in the direction of the ship’s travel so that “down” is toward the ship’s stern. However, in orbit, there is no “down” so another solution had to be found. In the original design, the whole ship spun on its axis and the operating suites rotated out so that “down” was toward the exterior walls. The problem they discovered was that while that solved the operating room problem, the rest of the ship was designed with “down” being toward the stern when the ship was not orbiting in weightlessness. Fortunately, the swinging operating suites were built in standard sized cargo modules, and their most common mode of operation was on the surface of the planet where gravity was a foregone conclusion. So, the need to use the operating suites in weightlessness was not as common an occurrence as would have been expected.
The engineers of the new ship had taken a different approach. There were three complete sets of operating suites. One set deployed to the surface. In the original design if all the suites were deployed to the surface there were none left behind. The second set in the new design were built into a ring around the central space frame. These spun when the ship was in weightless conditions and would be the only suites used under those conditions. When the ship was in transit and “down” was toward the stern, the existing operating suites in the existing hospital ship would be used. The suites in the ring would be allowed to stop spinning and would be left unused. The operating suites deployed to the surface could either be left behind or returned to the ship without impacting its ability to function in space.
This issue of how to perform surgery in space had been the single most time consuming problem Rachel had faced when she had originally taken over the project that had eventually become Elizabeth. She was thrilled to see the way the engineers had solved the problem since she never felt that she and her original team had solved it properly.
The Federation had stopped building battleships in favor of carriers. The new capital ships were stuffed with smaller ships that did the bulk of the fighting. They were supported by entire fleets of small and medium class ships as well as convoys of freighters. No one had challenged such a fleet in two decades. The carriers were lightly armored and depended on their fleets and their lasers to ke
ep harm well away from them. The Swordsmen had a few medium sized carriers, but nothing like the monsters the Federation ran. Neither had faced the other in combat since the secession, although there were those in the Federation who wanted to reclaim the seceded territories by force and those in the Swordsmen military who wanted to vanquish the infidel Federation.
The issue this shift in ship construction presented for the engineering team had to do with finding spare parts for the battleship portion of this massive assembly. Variants of the hospital ship were still in production so finding parts for it was not as challenging as finding parts for the battleship. Saturn Industries had graciously provided the full set of plans from which that class of battleship had originally been built. Stellar Interstellar bought all its convoy escorts, cargo shuttles and high value yachts from Saturn so the request for the plans was quickly granted. Local engineers awaited an assessment of the damage before diving in to the challenge.
The frame to which the three freighters and the reactors would be attached was almost finished in the yard. It was a truly impressive structure. The three freighters had arrived, and their modifications were almost complete. Construction had begun on the operating suite ring. The engineering team was obviously proud of their progress.
Rachel complimented the team on their work. They discussed all the planets she had visited with the armed hospital ship on her first tour of duty. They examined how the improved design would have made each that much easier to handle. They broke for lunch. Saul refused to release the model. He asked that lunch be brought to him, and he sat with the model making a long list of notes.
After lunch the team regrouped. Once everyone was settled, Saul stood for attention. “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a huge improvement over the previous design, however, there is one gaping hole. In the event a Marine assault force has to be rapidly deployed to the surface, there is no way to do it. The time it takes to open the hatches and deploy the ships from the holds is too long to be able to maintain the element of surprise.” He pointed to the space between the aft freighter modules. “Can docking ports be placed between these modules? Can we attach P I ships and med-evac ships to those ports? The evac ships can deliver Marines to the surface as easily as they can return evacuees. By placing the assault ships exterior to the hull, they can be deployed much more quickly.”
The chief engineer grinned. “That has been the subject of heated debate. We weren’t sure whether the element of surprise because the ships were not visible was more important than the speed of deployment.”
Rachel smiled at Saul and said, “Speed of deployment is paramount. Will the frame support the additional stress?”
“Yes, in fact we were debating whether to also add a set of docks for messenger or service craft so that work could be done exterior to the hull from the small worker craft.”
“So that would give us a total of six additional docking ports, three larger and three smaller,” Rachel said.
“Yes, exactly.”
“Please, if that is feasible from an engineering standpoint, I would like to see that happen,” Rachel said.
“I will tend to it immediately.”
The meeting shifted to the weapons choices and placement issues. Rachel asked for a set of rearward firing missile tubes and more lasers which were added to the plans. When the meeting ended about dinner time they split up. Rachel pulled Saul aside. “Good call on the docking ports. I missed that one.”
Saul smiled. “Thanks. I think we will be glad we did that.”
“Me, too.”
Dinner turned into a planning session with responsibilities divided and tasks assigned. The family plunged into the project with the energy level they were known for, and the pace on the project quickened noticeably.
When Peter arrived with the rest of the family, Elizabeth’s main structure was complete, and the three large transport modules had been attached. The passenger liner portion had been attached. Power had been applied, but modifications were still being done to the interior. The ring of operating suites had been attached, but had not been powered yet and lacked interior equipment. The original hospital portion was in dry dock a couple of slips over. The battleship portion was a few slips beyond that. Peter docked in a special cradle next to the main construction site, and a personnel tube was stretched between the two ships. As soon as the first of the new transport modules was declared complete, the family moved into it. Buddy and Daisy docked to the new ship as soon as the docking ports were ready.
Greg and Avi arrived in time to see the original hospital section, now completely refurbished, attached to the main body of the ship. While the galleys and kitchens were not as luxurious as the ones in the old ship, they were much larger. Ellie Mae and Elvira quickly took over the logistics of feeding the people who were now living and working on the ship around the clock.
Warren returned in time to see the battleship section lifted into place. Warren asked for the senior project managers, all the family adults, Saul and Fiona to meet with him and brief him on the progress. When the reports were finished, he turned to Saul, who had been quiet throughout the meeting. “Saul, there are many people who work for me who will tell me what they think I want to hear. I trust that you will tell me what you think.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Will the ship do what we need it to do?”
Saul smiled, “Yes, sir!”
“When will it be ready?”
“I’m not an engineer, sir, but I guess a month or two.” He handed Saul a data module. “I want you to have this. Don’t read it until after you depart. You’ll know the right time.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Warren faced the rest of the group. “I am leaving shortly. When a client we have been working with since before I was born who represents as much revenue as this one does demands that I sign a multi-year contract in person, I am happy to go. Do not wait on my return. My staff will bring you up to date on new information we have about your mission, and you will have an opportunity to study everything we know about where you are going. As soon as you are ready to ship out, go. May the winds of good fortune always fill your sails.”
Initial space worthiness tests went without incident. In short order the ship was certified for departure.
In spite of everyone’s best efforts, the secret shipyard was not as secret as would have been hoped. Major Emerson Winthrop III received regular reports on the progress of the construction and knew when the ship would be ready to depart.
THIRD GENERATION - CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE FIRST OF SEVERAL mission briefings started at 0800 in the station’s intelligence enclave. Faye Anne Sherman had prepared many such briefings for Rachel when they had traveled together on their first tour of duty and knew the order that Rachel liked her information presented. In keeping with Rachel’s format, Faye Anne introduced each of the specialists in turn and guided their presentations. Faye Anne had never truly gotten over the fact that she had failed Rachel so badly on their first mission and had been seduced into betraying her. Now, with every briefing, she did her absolute best to be sure that all her data was correct and as complete as was humanly possible.
In keeping with Rachel’s format, the presentations started with the extreme outermost defenses and worked toward the center ending with the condition of the military defending central control. Saul and Greg sat next to each other for the entire three days that the briefings took. At the end of the three days, they had a pile of notes that had passed between them.
The last presenter was finishing up in the afternoon of the third day. “If you are captured, we know what to expect from the Swordsmen. The women will be raped, tortured and killed. There will be no survivors. The men will be tortured, interrogated and tortured again. One or two may be released as part of a prisoner trade. Occasionally one is released to provide a warning for anyone who thinks they might wish to cross a Swordsman. This is consistent with their philosophy on women. Women are property and are treated
better than farm animals only because without them there would be no male Swordsmen to send into battle.
“They are brutal in the battle field, but they are not particularly skilled. For example, their marksmanship is significantly worse than the average Federation Infantryman. This might have something to do with the fact that they spend as much time in training reading their holy books as they do learning to fight. In hand-to-hand combat, one Federation soldier could simultaneously defeat three Swordsmen of similar time in service. The difference is that significant.”
The presenter sat down. Faye Anne called for questions. Saul stood to be recognized. “Please help me make sure I understand some of what you have told me.” He walked over to the map projected on the wall. “As I understand it, the entire colony is clustered around a single river delta near the equator. They have not spread out across the continent to the north or west of their only spaceport. The ocean blocks them to the south and east and is undefended.”
“That is correct. They have no enemies on the surface and therefore see no need to expend resources on defense against an enemy that cannot exist for such an enemy would first have to penetrate the space borne defenses which they believe are impenetrable.”
“Zoom in on the spaceport, please” Saul requested. The projection changed to show the spaceport and its immediate neighborhood. “This is flight ops. This is the military barracks. This is logistical and admin support This huge building on the hill is their church.”
“That is correct.”
“Pan over this way. Is this a power plant?”
“Yes.”
“Is it a nuke?”
“No, it sits on top of a huge natural gas pocket. The entire area underneath the colony is one vast oil field. It was easier to move the people to the energy than to move the energy to the people. The oil field was discovered a few years after the colony was established. They picked everything up and moved it. See these pipes? They carry fuel directly from the refinery to the people’s homes.”
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