by Dietmar Wehr
“God no! He did the right thing! Are we still sending tactical data to the Base?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Very good. I want to talk with Tumbleweed.”
“Ah, Falkenberg here, Sir. Tumbleweed’s fighter was destroyed by enemy fire. Vandal has taken over command of the fighter force. Shall I open a channel to him, Sir?” Damn! Shiloh closed his eyes and let the sadness wash over him. Another one of Iceman’s boys gone. It dawned on him that if Iceman had been part of 3rd Fleet, it was entirely possible that Iceman’s fighter would have been destroyed. Iceman’s vision and the outcome of the battle at Zebra12 now took on a new light. It seemed as though everything was happening as it was supposed to. The battle at Zebra12 wasn’t a fluke after all. In Iceman’s vision, Shiloh had told him that it was a good thing he wasn’t part of the Zebra19 mission. Everyone had assumed that meant a battle at, or as it turned out, near Zebra19. The battle here at Bradley Base was just the return portion of the whole Zebra19 mission.
“Yes.”
“Go ahead, Sir.”
“Shiloh to…Vandal. Bring your boys home. Tell them I know all of you did your best and I believe that your collective efforts will save the Base from destruction. Over to you.” After the expected 12 second lag, he got a reply.
“Thanks, Admiral. That got pretty hairy there for a little while. We’ll be glad to get home. Over to you.”
“And we’ll be glad to have you back. Shiloh clear.” Switching channels, Shiloh said.
“Admiral to all carriers. Our fighters are on their way back. Let’s recover them asap. Shiloh clear.” 3rd Fleet was still coasting towards the Base moon and Shiloh was content to leave it that way until he learned the outcome of the last phase of the battle. The reduced enemy fleet was already catching up to the first wave of ship-launched recon drones and they lasted long enough to reveal that the enemy was once again changing course slightly. They’re going to keep on changing course because they have no way of knowing that we’ve deployed additional waves of recon drones along their path. Thought Shiloh. With the need for split second commands now past, he deactivated and removed the Command Helmet and the gloves. The noise level on the Bridge was low. Personnel were speaking in low tones into their mics while they watched the main display. As the enemy fleet reached each wave of recon drones, its new position and course were updated. Shiloh got up and walked to stand closer to the display. Tanaka was anticipating his wishes and caused the display to zoom out so that they could anticipate the interception attempt, which would also happen very quickly.
The enemy force was now encountering the string of recon drones fired by Korolev’s fighter group. Those fighters had placed themselves close enough to the projected path that their attack drones would be coming at the enemy ships from almost head on and therefore would be difficult to detect by radar and hit with laser fire. The actually interception happened in less than a blink of an eye. 16 enemy ships destroyed. 9 of Korolev’s 10 fighters were also destroyed. 2 enemy ships successfully ran the gauntlet. In less than a minute, they ran across a skirmish line of recon drones fired from the Base itself and Shiloh relaxed. The two remaining bogey’s were clearly aiming to fly past the base moon rather than smash into the base in a kamikaze attack. They would fire lasers at the base during their fly by and that would account for the damage that Korolev told Shiloh about in the vision. Shiloh doubted very much that those two ships would return. Not only would it require a massive amount of fuel just to decelerate to zero and then accelerate back the other way again but they had to know that they’d face all of the fighters left over from the first encounter with no hope at all of surviving that battle. Far better to use their remaining fuel to jump back home and report.
It took several minutes to confirm that the last two bogeys had flown past and fired lasers at the metal dome that covered the Base. When Korolev’s video transmission reached 3rd Fleet, she said,
“Admiral, we’re okay. Damage to the Base is serious but not critical. We won’t have to abandon the Base thanks to your warning. I still don’t know why you decided to deploy those recon drones when you did but if you hadn’t, I and a lot of others would most likely be dead now. Even so, we did lose 12 people due to decompression and laser blast effects but it could have been much, much worse.” Don’t forget the 8 A.I.s that gave their lives too. Thought Shiloh. “I hope 3rd Fleet will stick around for a while. I’d be surprised if those last two bastards come back but you never know, do you? Korolev clear.” Shiloh thought that she probably expected him to reply but he didn’t feel like it right now. He walked over to the Communications Station and nodded to the com tech.
“Patch me through to all our ships, please.” When that was done, the com tech looked up at him and nodded.
“This is the Admiral. Bradley Base has suffered some damage but the enemy failed to destroy it completely and 3rd Fleet can take a lot of the credit for that. I’m especially proud of our fighter squadron pilots. I’ll be recommending to the Top Brass that each squadron receive a unit citation. It appears that the battle is now over. All ships can stand down from Battle Stations. 3rd Fleet will stay in orbit around Bradley Base for at least 24 hours and then we’ll resume our course for Sol. We’ve all done well today and I want you to pass that on to your crews. That’s all for now. Shiloh clear.”
The rest of the Fleet’s stay at Bradley Base was refreshingly peaceful. Korolev didn’t mention her refusal to follow Shiloh’s instructions and he decided to not make an issue out of it. He did refuse her request to detach a dozen fighters from one of his squadrons to make good on her fighter losses. She still had 15 fighters left that had been on jump detection patrol and too far away to get into the fight in time, so it wasn’t as though he was leaving the Base completely defenseless. VF002 has suffered losses too and Shiloh was loathe to gut that squadron even more and wanted to keep the other two squadrons intact as well. She clearly didn’t like that decision but wisely decided not to push her luck.
Chapter 10 - We Won’t Live Forever
The rest of the trip back to Sol was also uneventful although no one complained that it was boring. At least no one complained when the Admiral was around. It did give Shiloh an opportunity to consider what to say in his After Action report carefully. In fact, he prepared two AA reports. One for official files and another confidential report for Admiral Howard’s eyes only. Howard’s report included descriptions of both visions and Shiloh’s in depth thoughts on how Space Force might be able to use deception again to overcome the defender’s advantage of having RTC. The official report had none of that in it but did include recommendations for promotions for half a dozen A.I. pilots and several humans including Tanaka and Falkenberg.
After checking in with Space Force HQ, Shiloh received a message of congratulations on the victory at Bradley Base and instructions to bring 3rd Fleet to lunar orbit and to then take a shuttle down to HQ for a formal debriefing with the CSO (Howard). The trip down seemed to take forever. It was dark and rainy by the time the shuttle landed. Shiloh found the gloomy weather depressing. He did notice that Howard had sent one of the cars reserved for Flag Officers for him rather than the usual bus. He thought that was a nice touch. When he arrived at the almost deserted HQ building, a tired looking Lieutenant escorted him to Howard’s inner office and announced him. Howard got up from his desk and came around with a smile on his face. They shook hands and sat down. How many times am I going to find myself in this position? He asked himself. Howard leaned back in his chair and was clearly relaxed.
“I read both your reports. I think you handled the situation at Zebra12 about as well as anyone could have and your actions at Bradley Base resulted in a clear victory for our side so in my opinion, you did very well.” His smile disappeared. “Unfortunately, not everyone will feel the same way. The Oversight Committee isn’t going to be happy with the fact that 3rd Fleet didn’t even get to Zebra19 at all. It’ll be hard for them to find fault with your actions but since you didn’t ge
t the results they were expecting, they’ll be pushing for another crack at Zebra19. I was hoping that you might have some recommendations as to how we could try this mission again. The idea of using deception again is a good one but as you pointed out, there won’t be that many opportunities to implement it. Do you have any ideas on how we could get to Zebra19 and catch them off guard?” Shiloh did in fact have an idea but it was so…problematic that he hadn’t offered it. Now it seemed he was being given another opportunity to do so. Okay, here it goes.
“Well…there might be a way. The problem with getting to Zebra19 is that they’ll have warning from the future about the timing of the attack and by putting robotic detection stations at all refueling points around that system; they’ll have information about where the attack is coming from. If there was some way to refuel without tipping them off, then the attacking force could get to Zebra19. But that would be only half the problem. They’ll be warned about the attack itself and will be ready for that. Now I have to warn you, this idea has a lot of problems attached to it. I don’t know if we could actually do it or not but it might be worth investigating. We know that just about all star systems have a shell of objects way out past all planets, which are made up mostly of ice with some rocky material as well. When some of these icy objects get knocked into the inner part of the system, they become comets. If we could modify our refueling systems to handle the separation of water into hydrogen and oxygen, and found a way to get our hands on a lot of ice, then theoretically we could refuel in the outer reaches of star systems and never have to trigger their early warning network at all.” Howard’s expression started to become more excited. Shiloh held up his hand to pre-empt whatever it was that Howard seemed to be about to say.
“The problems are 1) we’d have to find either one big chunk of ice or multiple smaller chunks, without using radar which would be like waving a red flag saying ‘here we are’ and 2) we have to have a means of processing a LOT of ice in a relatively short time frame. Right now our ships aren’t equipment for either of those tasks. Fuel shuttles might be modifiable for melting and collecting water from these comets and bringing it back to the ship but then it becomes a problem of volume.” He cited the volume of water needed to extract enough heavy hydrogen to fill a light carrier’s fuel tanks. Howard groaned when he heard the figure. Shiloh continued. “We know that there are comets, which are that big but the bigger they are, the less frequent they are so finding them will be like finding a needle in a 100,000 haystacks. The only other way I can think of that might work is to find smaller chunks and bring them together in one spot. The smaller they are, the easier it’ll be to find them but the more of them that would have to be moved so there’s probably an optimum size that gets you the most ice for the least effort. What that size is I don’t know. We could try the idea out here in Sol to get some idea of what that optimum size is.” Howard was nodding and Shiloh paused.
“You’re right about refueling from comets being problematic but assuming that we could do that, how could we actually attack Zebra19’s targets without getting ambushed?” asked Howard. Shiloh had an idea for that too.
“Jump-capable fighters emerge at various points in the outer part of the target system and launch Mark 1s programmed to accelerate to high speed, then coast while keeping enough fuel for last minute terminal guidance maneuvers. Because they’re hard to detect with radar from the front, the enemy is only going to have a chance of stopping them if they create a radar picket and even then, if the drones are going fast enough, the enemy still may not be able to stop them all. The other thing to consider is that if we fire off a LOT of Mark 1s, then we may be able to simply overwhelm them no matter how many ships they have on picket duty.”
“Jump capable fighters, eh? Why not use combat frigates?”
“Well, the energy needed to push a ship through jumpspace depends on mass and distance. Frigates can carry a lot more drones than one fighter but also use a lot more fuel for jumping. I did some very rough calculations and if we can develop a jump drive small enough for use by a fighter, the amount of fuel needed to bring each Mark 1 drone to the Zebra19 system is a lot less for a fighter than for a frigate. To put it another way, if fuel is going to be a critical resource, then fighters will let us deliver more Mark 1s for the same amount of fuel than frigates could. The other advantage is that we have a lot more fighters than we do frigates and firing drones from as many directions as possible will make interception that much more difficult for the enemy.” Howard had a Cheshire cat smile on his face now.
“That makes sense to me. I’ve been looking for a justification to give fighters jump capability. The tactical advantages in a battle weren’t enough to overcome the inherent paranoia regarding rogue A.I.s but you’ve now given me an additional reason that will make it hard for the Committee to refuse. If they want Zebra19 and other enemy systems hit hard, then they’ll have to put aside their paranoia and approve that R&D project. In the meantime, I’ve got another project in mind for you and that is solving the problem of refueling using icy comet chunks. Unfortunately that means that you can’t also continue to command 3rd Fleet and THAT means that I’ll have to rescind your temporary promotion to Vice-Admiral but just between you and me, I suspect you’ll be wearing that one star on your collar again at some point. So here is want I want you to do. First thing is taking ten days off and get some R&R. You’ve earned it. When you come back from that, put together a preliminary project plan of what you want to do, how you want to do it and what you’ll need in the way of equipment, ships, personnel, etc. I’ll try to get that for you as quickly as possible and then it’ll be up to you to find the technical solutions. Any questions?” Shiloh thought for a couple of seconds and then said,
Not right now, Sir.”
“Good. Report back here on the….25th. Until then, you’re free to do as you please. Unless you have something else to discuss, you’re dismissed.”
“Thank you, Sir.” Shiloh got up and left the office. He was slightly surprised that Howard hadn’t demoted him back to his permanent rank of Senior Commander then and there and intended to make the most of what little time as a Vice-Admiral that he had left. He made his way to the Operations Center located deep underground below the Space Force HQ building. It wasn’t his first time there but it was his first time as an Admiral and the reception he got reflected that. A nervous looking Commander greeted him inside the main operations room with its huge tactical display on one wall.
“What can we do for you, Admiral?” Shiloh nodded and said.
“I’d like to have a private conversation with a fighter pilot whose call sign is Valkyrie. Can you arrange that for me?” The Commander relaxed as she realized that she wasn’t in any trouble.
“Yes, Sir! If you’ll follow me, Sir, I’ll take you to a conference room where you’ll be able to conduct that conversation.” Several minutes later, Shiloh was the sole occupant of a large conference room with a communications device on the table in front of him.
“Valkyrie is on the line now, Sir. Go ahead.”
“Valkyrie, this is…the CAG.”
“Ah, nice to hear from you, CAG. I heard what happened at Z12 and Bradley from Vandal. The deception at Z12 was very well done, CAG. Maybe you really are devious enough!” Shiloh laughed.
“I appreciate the compliment, Valkyrie. I’m interested in hearing about your experience with advising the SPG. How’s that going?”
“The Team Leader Senior Commander Kelly is the only one that asks me for advice and seems to be genuinely interested in what I say. The others aren’t talking me seriously yet.” Shiloh took note that Kelly was now a Senior Commander. Good for her.
“Have you heard anything from Iceman?” asked Shiloh.
“Not directly but I heard from Rainman that Iceman is having the time of his life conning the sentry frigate. When am I going to con a ship, CAG?”
“I don’t know, Valkyrie, but we both know it’ll happen eventually. I also wanted to ask you
about my next assignment. The Old Man will be facing a lot of pressure to try attacking Zebra19 again. I suggested that jump-capable fighters, refueled from icy comets, could launch a barrage of Mark 1s from multiple launch points. The big stumbling block seems to be finding and processing enough frozen water to provide the necessary quantity of heavy hydrogen. The Admiral has put me in charge of finding a way to do that. Any ideas I should know about?”
“Yes, CAG. Given the amount of frozen water you’d need, I calculate that the fastest way to obtain the necessary quantity of HH is to find a large Kuiper Belt object that’s at least 100 km in diameter and set up a semi-permanent extraction/processing facility on it.”
“It might take a long time to find one that big.” said Shiloh.