by Dietmar Wehr
“The obvious trend, which I’m certain will not be a surprise to anyone, is that commercial wormhole traffic as a whole is increasing but that doesn’t tell the whole story and especially not the really interesting story. What we see more and more are freighters that use the three clusters as if they were the hubs of a, for lack of a better expression, super-nexus of wormholes. I’ll illustrate this concept with a visual example.” The lights in the amphitheater dimmed, and a holographic image appeared over the audience.
“Let’s say that a freighter had a regular run between Kilimanjaro on one side of Alliance space and Oceanus approximately one-third of the way around the center of Alliance space. That’s a straight-line distance of fifteen hundred ninety-seven light-years. If that freighter wants to use wormholes, the most obvious choice is this connection denoted as wormhole A and B. The freighter would have to travel eighty-eight lightyears using normal FTL to get from Kilimanjaro to wormhole A, then journey another sixty-two lightyears to get from wormhole B to Oceanus. That shortcut reduces one-way travel time by sixty-two percent, and that’s what we started seeing in the beginning. Now, it’s more likely that that freighter would follow this path.” Three new wormhole connections appeared.
“The freighter still goes to the same super-giant where wormhole A is but instead takes wormhole C up into one of the three wormhole system clusters to D. It then travels via FTL to wormhole E but along the way, stops at Gavutu to drop off and pick up cargo. Wormhole E leads to F, and the freighter now uses FTL to get from F to G with another stop along the way at New Capetown. As you can see, wormhole G connects to the same star system where wormhole B is located, and from there the freighter carries on to Oceanus. Total transit time from Kilimanjaro to Oceanus is thirty-one days. That’s more than twice as long as the direct route, but the freighter is now visiting four planets versus just two. That’s the advantage that wormhole system clusters can give, and the volume numbers reflect this. Shipping volume within Alliance space that does not involve any wormhole system cluster has grown one hundred twelve percent over the last year. But volume involving at least one super-giant within a cluster has grown by two hundred ten percent over the same period, and we expect that trend not only to continue but to accelerate as shipping companies become aware of profitable routes using the clusters.” A surge in background murmur told the Secretary that the members were paying attention now.
“There is a serious long-term implication to this trend that is defined by this statistic concerning who should control super-giant star systems and their wormholes. The current unofficial consensus that super-giants belong to the nearest inhabited planet would mean that only one Alliance planet in five will have a super-giant to call their own.” He paused long enough for a few members to chuckle. “Because super-giants are closer together in the clusters and because the further out from Earth you go, the more sparsely the distribution of inhabited planets are, the result of this is that four out of five inhabited planets within the three clusters would have jurisdiction over at least one super-giant. Several colonized planets are closest to two super-giants at the same time.” He paused again as another surge in background noise took place. The members were starting to realize where this was going.
“I’m now going to show the members this projection.” The star map disappeared to be replaced by a chart showing two lines. “This chart shows estimated transit fees per capita over the next twenty years. The lower line is per Stellar Alliance citizen. As you can see it grows almost tenfold over the twenty years. The upper line is per inhabitant of planets within the three clusters. Their share of transit fees is expected to grow by a factor of fifty! These numbers are the result of lower populations per inhabited planet within the clusters combined with faster growth in cluster shipping volumes and therefore transit fees collected. My staff used very conservative assumptions in this projection. In terms of margin for error, the actual difference between the two lines is more likely to be higher than lower.” The background murmuring was getting even louder.
“Keeping in mind the one in five distribution I brought up earlier, a case can be made that economic wealth will shift from have-not planets, by which I mean planets that can’t exploit a super-giant, to planets that can. And, within that latter group, a further shift from Stellar Alliance planets to external, cluster planets. The per capita numbers imply that transit fees will be distributed among the population as a whole, which is possible but unlikely. What is more likely is that the governments of the cluster planets will spend those increasing streams of transit fee revenues according to their political agendas which may include military expenditures and specifically armed ships capable of interstellar travel. It is the opinion of my department’s analysts, which I share that this probable outcome poses an existential threat to the stability of the Stellar Alliance as a coherent political entity. Allow me to be blunt. If cluster planets are allowed to exploit their windfall to achieve military power, there are likely to be wars fought between those planets on one side and the Stellar Alliance on the other side.” The amphitheater erupted with the outraged voices of the members. Columbus looked over to the Secretary for Military Affairs who looked back with a tiny smile. The two departments had consulted with each other, and the military affairs analysts had been the ones to raise the alarm when they were apprised of the economic trends. Columbus resumed speaking after the Chairman of the Grand Council had finished gavelling the assembly back into some semblance of order.
“The staff of the Department of Economic Affairs consulted extensively with their counterparts in Military Affairs and have formed a consensus around the following plan, which has two phases. Phase One calls for the Stellar Alliance Navy to take on the mission of monitoring, patrolling and collecting transit fees for all wormholes within Stellar Alliance space. These transit fees would then be allocated to all Alliance member planets on the basis that the Grand Council would debate and approve. This allocation could also conceivably include spending some portion of collected fees on services that benefit all members equally, such as expanding the Navy. A larger, more powerful Navy would be a pre-requisite for Phase Two.” He paused. This was the bombshell that could send shockwaves all the way out to the rim of human explored space.
“Phase Two calls for the Stellar Alliance Navy to expand their area of operations regarding wormholes to include all wormholes within human explored space including wormholes outside of Stellar Alliance space. This would hopefully be done peacefully via negotiations with external star nations, but if future wars are to be prevented, then force should be considered as a last resort so that all of humanity benefits equally from the economic benefits that wormholes can and will provide.” He stepped away from the podium and returned to his seat as the hall erupted again. Most of the shouts were clearly against the idea of using force just as most had been in favor of Phase One. But Columbus was convinced that greed and fear of external threats would eventually undermine the conscientious objections that were now being voiced. Phase One, if implemented, would very quickly generate billions in annual revenues and members would also very quickly come to understand that their planets could benefit even more if the rest of the wormholes were controlled as well. That would require Phase Two and Phase Two would require gaining control of external super-giants by any means necessary if those incremental transit fees were not to be entirely diverted to non-Alliance planets. Neither phase would happen overnight, and that was fine with Columbus. The seeds had been planted, and the publicity campaign to push for approval was already prepared and ready to go.
Chapter Three
King Pierre walked around the holographic star map that floated over the center of the briefing room. When he had made a complete circuit and was once again standing in front of and with his back to his Minister for War, he shook his head in dismay.
“Of all the rotten luck to find ourselves sharing this close-knit group of super-giants with the Hereditary Republic of Caledonia. None of the other five in
habited systems within the group have a space navy worth the name. If it wasn’t for the HRCN, I could conquer and claim all this space with its three, no, four super-giants and their wormholes. How soon can my navy move on this one?” he asked, pointing to one of the two red super-giants that the Kingdom of Socorro was closest to.
His Minister for War glanced down at the data tablet in his hand. “The destroyer squadron is ready, Your Highness. They’re just waiting for the refit of the survey ship to be finished. The shipyard has assured me that the work will be done in ninety-six hours, and the task force can be on their way to Alpha Green Thirty-eight twenty-four hours after that, Your Highness.”
Pierre turned to look at his Minister. “Alpha Green Thirty-eight? Is that what this red super-giant is called now?”
“Yes, Your Highness. It’s the designation according to the new naming convention that the Astronomic Congress on Earth adopted. Alpha is the name of this quadrant. Blue identifies the super-giant as being in the upper half of the sphere that includes human-explored space with red for the lower half, and thirty-seven is the number assigned to this particular super-giant.”
“Well, at least it’s easier to remember than that string of letters and numbers, which nobody can remember, assigned to it two centuries ago. As for the task force, a hundred twenty hours, you say? I think I’d like that task force to be on its way in half that time. Make sure the shipyard management and Commodore Sogard know that they have a new deadline, and they better not miss it.”
“I’ll inform them myself personally, Your Highness.”
“Good! Now, how soon can we put together a task force that blue one over there?”
Minister Bochette frowned. He and the King had already discussed this issue several days ago. Bochette had left that meeting under the impression that the King understood that trying to control three super-giants at the same time with the number of ships the Fleet currently had would put a strain on both ships and personnel that could not be maintained for very long.
“Ah, Your Highness, ah, as you may recall from our meeting three days ago, deploying another task—”
Pierre cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Yes, yes. I remember that conversation and I remember that you told me deploying all of my destroyers at the same time could not be continued for more than a few weeks without reduced efficiency from crew fatigue and ship malfunctions. But my Navy has other ships in addition to the destroyers. Surely, we can deploy half a dozen of my cruisers without putting the planet at risk? Isn’t that right, Minister?”
“Well, Your Highness, with regards to the question of how small a home system defense force is too small, I do not feel qualified to make that assessment. That, of course, is for Your Highness to decide; however, I would prefer to err on the side of caution by recommending that the Home Fleet cruiser force not be cut in half.”
Pierre did not try to hide his annoyance. “What good are cruisers if you can’t use them! Didn’t you also tell me some time back that keeping those twelve cruisers tied down in Home Fleet indefinitely would make their crews go stale and become bored?”
Bochette sighed. His King’s memory was better than his own. He hated being reminded of things he said months or even years ago when circumstances were different.
“I did say that, yes, Your Highness, and I stand by that. It’s just that cruiser crews aren’t trained for the kind of sentry duties that guarding a wormhole entail whereas destroyer crews are. Construction of the newest squadron of destroyers will be finished in eight months, and when they start working up to minimum operational standards, they can be used to relieve destroyers that have already been on duty. If Your Highness is willing to wait six months before deploying the remaining destroyer squadron—”
“No,” said Pierre emphatically. “Not six months. Not three months and not three weeks. I want the remaining destroyer squadron deployed to that blue super-giant in fifteen days at the latest and my cruisers can be used to provide relief for destroyers needing rest and refit until the new destroyers can pick up the load. End of discussion, Minister Bochette.”
“As you command, Your Highness. Was there anything else, Your Highness?”
Pierre glared at him for a few seconds before waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. “No, you may go.”
No sooner had Bochette returned to his office than he had his Avatar establish an audio-only comlink with Grand Admiral Beauchamp.
“Yes, Minister. How did it go with the King?” asked Beauchamp.
“Not well. Commodore Sogard now has a very aggressive deadline for deployment to the Alpha Green thirty-eight SG, and he wants Tully’s squadron deployed to Alpha Green thirty-seven within fifteen days with destroyer relief to be provided by Home Fleet’s cruisers as needed.”
Beauchamp wanted to curse but refrained from doing so due to the persistent rumors that all communications within government offices were monitored and recorded. It was one thing to express an opinion that was contrary to the King’s and quite another thing to call the King an idiot!
“I should have pressed harder to get more cruisers instead of those new destroyers,” said Beauchamp after a pause.
“The new batch of destroyers are what will allow those cruisers to return to Home Fleet eventually. I know those cruiser captains aren’t going to be happy about guarding wormholes and collecting transit fees, but it’ll only be for six months or so. By then, the new destroyers can take over the relief duty as they become operational.”
“As long as we don’t go to war with the HRCN again or with Hollerman’s fleet in the meantime and don’t tell me it couldn’t happen,” said Beauchamp.
“No, I won’t tell you that, but I will tell you that if it does happen it had better not be because one of your ship commanders gets too cocky. I’m well aware that the officer Corps did not want to accept Caledonia’s terms to end the last war. Some of your cruiser captains are just bull-headed enough to provoke a war they think we should still be fighting.”
Beauchamp didn’t respond right away, and Bochette understood why. The Grand Admiral hadn’t wanted the King to sign the armistice agreement either. His insistence that the Royal Navy could still win the war on its terms had fallen on deaf ears as far as the King was concerned. Too many promises that had not been delivered had sapped the Grand Admiral’s credibility. It had taken all of Bochette’s skill to prevent Beauchamp from being sacked, and it wasn’t just because the Grand Admiral was married to Bochette’s niece. Whatever his other faults, the Grand Admiral was at least loyal enough to obey his King’s orders even if he disagreed with them. In Bochette’s opinion, the same could not be said for Beauchamp’s subordinates, one of whom would have been promoted to fill his boots if he had been fired.
“I think you’re exaggerating, Minister, but I’ll make sure all the captains understand that they had better not exceed their orders or else.”
“Good! I told the King that I would inform Commodore Sogard personally about the need to expedite deployment of his squadron. I’ll do that as soon as you and I are finished speaking. What I need from you as soon as possible is a cruiser deployment plan to relieve destroyers on a regular and sustainable basis. That includes specific ships and dates along with whatever needs to be done to make sure those dates are met. Questions?”
“Not right now, Minister. I may have some later, though.”
“That’s fine. That’s all for now, Grand Admiral.”
Beauchamp waited until he was sure that the com channel was closed before venting his anger in a voice so low that no one in the outer office would hear him. The cruiser captains were not going to like the relief plan, and some of them wouldn’t hesitate to express their unhappiness to him with minimal restraint. At least the battlecruisers were not going to be sent to do a destroyer’s job. The fact that the Royal Nay only had five operational battlecruisers with three more still being repaired from war damage probably had something to do with that silver lining. When he was confident that Commodore
Sogard had been contacted by the Minister, he would then have a private, confidential chat with the Commodore himself. Sogard’s destroyer captains would not exceed their orders, but those orders would be ambiguous enough that under the right circumstances, a daring destroyer captain or squadron commodore could provoke a hostile response from any HRCN warships that might stick their noses into that system. If the HRCN fired first, Sogard and his captains would be justified in firing back. The cruiser captains on relief duty would be similarly briefed. The Grand Admiral smiled at the thought that his Navy might soon be at war again with the now smaller Caledonian Navy. If that happened, he’d make sure the Kingdom would be the clear winner this time.
Commodore Sogard paced impatiently as he waited for the Grand Admiral’s shuttle to arrive. The King’s 60-hour deadline was less than an hour away, and Sogard did not want to miss it. If it wasn’t for the last-minute personal briefing by the Grand Admiral himself, the task force could have been on its way already.