Echo of Tomorrow: Book One (Drake chronicles)

by Rob Buckman

  "Alright, you lot, pack it up, we’re leaving.” Scott called, and they headed to their transport. His last act before boarding the shuttle was to turn and bow deeply to Hira. She returned it with equal solemnity, adding a wave as she straightened. The shuttles lifted and headed out over the Pacific to New Zealand. As they neared the horizon, the dark figure of a man in a hooded cloak came out and stood beside Hera.

  “So, he is off to save the world.” She said, looking up at the tall white man standing beside her.

  “Yes, in a way he is.” She looked at him, seeing the pain in his face and eyes. “Yet I wonder if it is worth the price he will pay again.” The old woman nodded in understanding.

  “We shall see.”

  * * * * * *

  Scott was deep in thought on the flight back so there was no banter or joking this time. Kat saw the expression on his face and kept silent, ordering Lady Jane to do the same. Arriving back, he found a line of people waiting outside his office, and notes on his desk saying that while he was gone he'd had three urgent calls from the President. Brock was the first, so Scott took him.

  "What's up gunny."

  "What's up! You call up and say you're sending five hundred new people! Where the hell am I suppose to put them?” He demanded.

  "That's your problem, you are in charge of construction." Scott shot back. “And they are only the first contingent. There are four thousand five hundred more waiting for a place to put them.”

  "Shit! Have you tried working with those dumb construction bots?..." He spluttered into silence as Scott held up his hand.

  "Don't tell me the problem gunny, find the solution, then tell me.” Brock growled at him and stalked out of the office.

  "Next?” He called, suppressing a smile. Brock just liked to grouch about things, but he got the job done.

  "General, we have to call a meeting to discuss ship design again, we are going nowhere with it,” his next visitor started off as he walked through the door, "and don't tell me...’find the solution then tell me the answer’... It won't work." So much for that approach Scott thought.

  "Where you at?"

  "You could say between the rock and the hard place. Depending on who you talk to, it should be similar to an aircraft carrier, a battleship, or a submarine, so we are going nowhere.” He rubbed his hand through his hair in frustration.

  "Take a couple of days off and let me think about it, go fishing or something, and take the others with you."

  "Right skipper, will do, even if I have to tie up half the team and drag them along.” He said turning to leave.

  "And no talking about ship design while you do it.” Scott called after him.” The man waved his hand in response.

  "Next?” He yelled. And so it went one after the other.

  * * * * * *

  The Presidents urgent call turned out to be nothing earth shattering so he took care of it and went on to the next item. Pete Mitchell’s intelligence team, was already neck deep in the old data; cataloguing and cross-referencing each wafer, and even the amount and diversity they found impressed them. Hera’s father and grandfather had not discriminated when they got into a data bank; they just downloaded everything in it. This meant that the material ranged from Bugs Bunny Cartoons, movies, top-secret files on secret deals and dirty politics, news broadcasts and everything in between.

  On finding out about the Cartoons he asked Pete to pull some together and had an evening of the antic of the smart mouth bunny and his aquatic feathered friend with a lisp.

  Standing off to one side, he watched the men and women sitting on the benches. Even the children were in stitches of laughter, yet this was the first time in their lives they’d been exposed to anything like this, some even rolled on the floor, tears streaming down their bright red faces. The laughter got so bad that more than one adult had to leave and take a breather. What he hadn't expected was the tears, but that came later, and he wasn't the only one to wander off into the darkness with tears rolling down his or her face. The Cartoons had unleashed emotions long buried, many not even knowing they were there. The crazy antics of the bunny reminded him of Saturday morning cartoons with his wife and children, and once that door was open, there was no stopping them. Doctor Chase also watched the cartoons and its aftermath. His conclusion was that it was the best thing to happen to everybody as he told Brock when he asked.

  "How many cried the night they found out what had happened?” He asked.

  "A few, most went into shock of one degree or another, all they wanted to do was go kill themselves, and was one of the reason that the Cuban's managed to walk in and take the base. We just didn't care any longer."

  "I see.” He said, remembering the reports of the surrender.

  "All that emotion was bottled up inside, the cartoons were just a release mechanism."

  "I hope you are right Doc."

  * * * * * *

  The design question was reaching a critical stage, and Scott still couldn’t find an answer until he walked into the Intel section one afternoon and saw the projector running some old newsreel footage of the Korean War. He stood watching, seeing the images skip between scenes of ground combat, to high level bombing raids. The commentator was droning on about the tonnage of bombs, and this and that when he started on about the air-to-air combat losses suffered by the US Air force in the early days of the War. Then he had it, and grabbing Pete Mitchell, he arranged for another movie show. Two days later he gathered the design teams together. Amidst puzzled looks and comments, he settled them down.

  "Ladies, Gentlemen, I have called you here to help solve a dilemma as to the size, purpose and operational capacity of the Earth first space Navy.” He began.

  The meeting was restricted to those who had been in combat, or were familiar with the concept and application of force in a military sense.

  "The design team has run into an impasse, so I would like you to review and comment on the video we are about to show you. Much of it is old footage of the First, Second, Korean, Viet Nam and Mid East War, including some of ours.” That received a few nervous laughs around the hanger.

  "I want you to be blunt in your comments, as all of the people involved in the decisions made during those wars are long dead, so you aren't going to hurt any ones feeling if you say someone screwed up.” That brought another round of laughter.

  “You all have notebooks or electronic pads, so watch, take notes and we'll discuss what we’ve seen afterwards." With that, the lights went down and the show started.

  The video ran for an hour and covered newsreel footage, commentaries, documentaries, and analysis of the major battles of World War I and II, up to Pearl Harbor. Scott called for a break, giving the people time to get drinks and think about what they seen. The commentaries were good, detailing screw ups, victories, and defeats. He was especially interested in the design philosophy and analysis of British, American, German and Japanese warships, watching again the devastating effect of Billy Mitchell's attack on the old German Battleship, the German submarine attack on Scarpa Flow. The destruction of the French, Italian, American, British, and Japanese fleets at their respective anchorages by air and naval gunfire. After the break, they watched footage of the German U-boat campaign in the Atlantic, the Japanese Pacific campaign, and the battle of the Coral Sea and Midway.

  He was particularly interested in the change in philosophy and design after Pearl Harbor, and the shift from Battleships to Aircraft carriers. After another hour he called for another break, seeing animated conversation going on around the hanger, some of them heated. The next hour touched on the aerial campaigns from the First, Second, Korean, Viet Nam, and the Mid East Wars, showing bomber and fighter tactics from each side. He eliminated most of the ground campaigns, as this didn't really affect the design of a warship, unless it was a special purpose troop ship.

  "All right people, let’s not turn this into a free for all.” Gunny Brock shouted as they all started talking at once.

  "Gunny is ri
ght.” Scott interjected. "The first thing is to condense your comments, so get some more coffee, or whatever, and start circulating and narrowing down your comments." They did, and he let them run with it for an hour.

  By that time, the people in the hanger had divided into small groups and were busily scribbling out condensed lists of comments and questions. The main theme running through all the talk was the old ‘battleships verses carriers’ argument. Both had their place, but whether they should be the main force or just protective elements, none of the groups could agree.

  "Anyone like to start?” He asked, looking around. "How about you Pete, you've looked at this stuff longer than any of us."

  "Well, sir. I do have one general observation."

  "Go for it."

  "It seems to me that we don't need one ship to do everything. That would be impossible. I see no reason why, with the resources at hand, and the technology available that we can't build a fleet of ships, as they did, and had done for hundreds of years."

  "Good suggestion, but justify your conclusions.” Scott challenged, seeing people nodding in agreement.

  "Well, sir, carrier born aircraft proved decisive in all the later battles we saw, and there was a move afoot to have ever the smaller ships, down to destroyers, minesweepers and corvettes with their own combat aircraft of one sort or another." It was a good point.

  "At this time, we have no idea of the capacity, if any, of the aliens, nor their defensive capability. What if fighter/Bomber spacecraft can't penetrate the shields of the alien Starships if they have one? Or they have an effective point defense system that could take out all the fighters or bombers before they could get close enough to do any damage?"

  "Good question. That is one of the first items on the agenda, at least from an intelligence point of view. It is imperative that we find out all we can about any and all defensive and offensive weapons these people have. Without it, we are risking defeat before we even get started.”

  "That was my point General.” A Corporal from the Armor team said, standing up. "We can come up with all sorts of armor, but without knowing what the enemy has, it could all be a waste of time.”

  “I agree. They may have a weapon that can cut through anything we have.” He sat down again, amid 'I agree' from around the room. Kat stood up then and they quieted down.

  "I must apologize at the outset that I personally do not have any combat experience to fall back on. I am a graduate of the Top Gun, and Red Flag, so I can only speak from that perspective."

  "Go ahead Kat, no one here is going to hold your comments in any less respect because of that." Scott had taken the liberty of inviting Kat for more than one reason. As one of the Mars team, she had intimate knowledge that could be useful, but it was the other reason he invited her that made him uncomfortable.

  "Thank you General.” She nodded in his direction, a slight smile on her lips

  "One item I did notice, which I think I have corrected in the new SR72 series trans-atmospheric aircraft. It has multi-targeting, and self defense capabilities, but I agree with the last two speakers, without knowing what the enemy has in the way of offensive or defensive weaponry we could be barking up the wrong tree." Many around the room nodded.

  “The only way we can find out how, and with what these people will fight with, is to go out and taken them on.” In a way, that was a frightening thought.

  "So the first priority is to get as much information on what these people have, is that right?” Scott asked the room at large. The agreement was unanimous.

  "Along those lines I gave the ground base shield generators to the President, and if their manufacturing abilities are as good as they say they are, every major City on the planet should have them installed and working in the near future.” That brought a round of applause as thoughts of saving as many children as possible won out over the joint disapproval of these people's life choice.

  “The President also assured me that automatic detecting and recording equipment will be working to observe the results."

  "Do we know if those boxy things we saw picking up the kids are starships, or just shuttle craft?"

  "We can deduce that they are shuttle craft, so we need to get a look at the mother ship as soon as possible.” Pete Mitchell stood up and interjected.

  "The next action we need to take is to hit this ship with as many types of missiles as we can think up. The missile team tells me that they have an interesting assortment right now, but any ideas would be welcome. So, if you get a break from your other duties, wander over there and have a look at what they have. Maybe one of you can think of something they haven't thought of."

  "Do we know anything about the star-drive they use?” A Staff Sergeant asked from the back of the hanger.

  "You have us there, Rodriguez. At the moment we haven't a clue." Scott answered with a shrug.

  "What about a star-drive of our own, I haven't heard anything yet that we have one?"

  "Again, we are working on it. The locals have a star-drive, but at this time I have no idea how good it is in comparison to the aliens. It was used on the first interstellar probe, which started all this trouble in the first place." He sat down again, but Scott could see the question made a few uneasy. It did him.

  "It seems to me General, that we need at least one big spacecraft that can function as a battleship, aircraft carrier, supply ship and mobile repair depot all in one.” That brought a wave of general agreement from all. There were too many unknowns, and once in space away from Earth, the main ship would have to act in a combined roll as Kat suggested.

  "That would be a very big ship indeed Skipper.” The leader of the design team commented.

  "Is there any limit on the size we can build?"

  "Only the engines to move it, and these gravity plates could work as that, so the engine team tells me."

  "Engines, what's your projection on this idea?” He asked.

  "So far it looks good. We found that the damn things work both ways, you can push against any gravitational field, or pull yourself towards it. It's a question of fine control and balance."

  "Any estimation on when a full working model will be available?"

  "Not right now, sir, but soon."

  "So, any other comments?"

  "Yes, sir. I noticed that the Japanese carriers were vulnerable to high-level fast attacks and had relatively poor defensive systems, and damage control. I think this should be built right into the basic frame and philosophy of the design. If one or two good hits on say, the flight deck, or bridge, it could put the ship out of action as it did the Japanese Carriers.”

  “Some of ours didn’t do so well in that respect, either.” They all had seen the results of hits on both the American and Japanese Aircraft carriers in the battle of the Corral Sea and Midway. One bomb or torpedo in the right place could take a 60,000-ton warship out of action, and so lose the battle, and even the war.

  "Good point. I'll work with the design team on that and make sure we build it right in from scratch.”

  It was a good point, and after seeing what happened to the Japanese aircraft carriers when they were hit, it was a point to remember. Scott realized that they face a tremendous problem in another way. No one on this planet had any real idea of the problems they might encounter in a space battle, and it didn't take much thought to see there were a thousand problems that needed looking at. The atmosphere on the ship, space suits, environmental, fire suppression system were only a few, they cascaded down from there to re-cycling systems for the air and water to laundry and waste disposal. There simply wasn't any database they could look at that would help, other than submarine and carrier based warfare operation. But no submarine had ever been asked to do what this ship must do. The meeting lasted for another hour, and by the time it broke up, he had a splitting headache. He stopped in at the medical center on his way to his office, knowing he had three more hours of work to do.

  "Got anything in your bag of trick for a man with a headache?” He
asked as he walked in. A young Japanese man shot to his feet and bowed; a look of awe on his face.

  "At easy trooper...?"

  "Hirakata General Sama.” He answered, staying rigid.

  "You can relax Hirakata Sama." The soldier nodded, and turning to Doctor Sandburg, who had just emerged from the dispensary, bowed again.

  "Many thank honorable Doctor San.” And grabbing the medicine dashed out of the room.

  "What the hell was that all about?” Scott asked, pinching himself on the bridge of his nose.

  "To them you are something of a God.” He answered.

  "Right, a God with a splitting headache. Got anything for it?"

  "Be right with you.” He came back and handed Scott two small white pills, about the size of a grain of rice. Scott looked at them, then at the Doctor.

  "Bit small aren’t they?"