by Dietmar Wehr
“I wonder what brings me back here after the battle is over.” Howard shrugged.
“No way to know ahead of time. If I didn’t know that you needed to come back to essentially warn us not to risk Iceman on the first Zebra19 mission, I’d order you to stay at Site B indefinitely. I have to assume that you have a good reason for coming back at that point.” When Shiloh said nothing in response, Howard slapped his knee and said.
“Well, I have to be heading back. I can take the soil and plant samples back with me. You should get packed and say your goodbyes. The Task Force can leave orbit as soon as you board Valiant.” Howard got up and walked over to Shiloh.
“Good luck, Command…oh Christ! I almost forgot!” Howard fished in his breast pocket and took out a small box with a clear lid. He handed it to Shiloh who saw two gold stars inside. “You’re not a Senior Commander anymore, Shiloh. You’re a Vice-Admiral again and this time it’s NOT a temporary promotion. Congratulations.” The two men shook hands.
“Thank you, Sir.” There was a pause that was quickly becoming awkward.
“Well? Aren’t you going to put them on?” asked Howard. Shiloh laughed and nodded as he opened the case and took out the two stars. Each star had a strong magnet inside that kept it in place on the uniform collars, which had a thin strip of steel embedded within. He pulled off his gold Senior Commander’s insignias and replaced them with the stars, one on each side of his uniform’s collar.
“Much better.” said Howard. “Okay, Admiral, it’s time.”
“Yes, Sir.” said Shiloh. They left his quarters and headed back to the Hangar Bay. On their way there, Shiloh used his implant to order the samples loaded on the Admiral’s shuttle. That was being done as they arrived back in the Hangar Bay. Most of his officers had left. Those that were still there stared in surprise at Shiloh’s new rank. When they got to the shuttle, Shiloh shook Howard’s hand again but neither man said anything. There was nothing left to say. After the shuttle’s departure, Shiloh walked back to his quarters and started to pack his things. He had just gotten started when the buzzer sounded.
“Enter!” said Shiloh. The door slid aside and in walked Tanaka. She looked at him closely and then nodded. Word travels fast. Someone notified her about the stars on my collar and she came to see if it was true.
“So the scuttlebutt is true.” she said. Shiloh resumed packing.
“If you’re referring to the stars on my collar then yes, it’s true. You’ll be putting on some new insignia too, Sumi. The Old Man is giving you Defiant and a promotion to go along with it. She’s yours now.” He could see that she had mixed emotions about that news. She knew it was bound to happen sooner or later given how fast people were being promoted but the two of them had become quite close in a professional way and she didn’t want to see him go. He tried not to think about Iceman’s message that Defiant would be badly damaged in the battle with Sumi’s fate unknown. The burden of knowing the future was getting heavier.
“It’ll be hard to fill your shoes, Vict…Admiral.” After a few seconds pause, he said,
“I know that you’ll do just fine, Sumi. I have confidence in your ability to rise to the challenge. The crew like and respect you.” She nodded.
“Can I ask you a question, Admiral?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Do you know if there’s a big battle coming our way?”
“What makes you think that, Sumi?” That clearly wasn’t the answer she was hoping for.
“It’s a combination of things. There seems to be a new urgency in the air. Nobody’s talking about another strike mission which is odd considering how successful the Zebra19 mission was and there are rumors that ships based elsewhere are being or will be called back here.” Shiloh stopped packing and pondered how much to tell her. She wasn’t cleared to know the BIG SECRET but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tell her the same thing the SPG told the Committee.
“What I’m about to tell you cannot be share with ANYONE else. Is that clear, Sumi?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“The Strategic Planning Group is convinced that the enemy plans a major attack on Earth. The Old Man is taking the necessary precautions. That’s all I can tell you.”
“I see. Will you be taking charge of the defense forces, Sir?” Shiloh resumed packing once again.
“That hasn’t been decided yet. I may not be here when the attack comes. I’m taking command of a Task Force on a special mission as soon as I report on board Valiant.”
“Will Defiant be part of the Task Force?”
“No. Defiant will stay here and help protect the Home world.”
“I suddenly have this feeling that I’m never going to see you again, Victor.” Shiloh was so shocked by that statement that he dropped the book he was in the process of packing.
“This war does strange things to a man’s beliefs. I now have a strong belief in fate. If we’re destined to survive the battle, we’ll see each other again.” Tanaka said nothing and took a deep breath.
“Well in that case, good luck to both of us, Sir.” She gave him a smile which he returned and then she left. When he was finished packing, he said,
“Intercom…Helm Astro.”
“Maverick here, Admiral.” Shiloh couldn’t help chuckling. Was there anyone aboard ship that didn’t know about his promotion now?
“I’m ready to leave the ship and I wanted to say goodbye. I want you to know that you deserve a lot of the credit for finding the Site B system as quickly as you did. The timing may turn out to be crucially important. I know that Defiant will suffer major damage during the upcoming battle. I hope you make it through, Maverick.”
“Thank you, Admiral. It’s been an honor serving aboard your ship. We’re glad that you won’t be here during the battle. We’d hate to lose you.”
“Thank you. I hope I’m lucky enough to have you at the Helm and Astrogation on one of my ships again sometime. Shiloh clear.”
Leaving Defiant for what could very well be the last time was hard. Word got around that Shiloh was leaving and off duty officers and crew gathered at the Hangar Bay to say their goodbyes. It took Shiloh almost an hour to shake hands and say goodbye to everyone. He was grateful that Sumi had taken the initiative and asked Valiant to send over a shuttle to take Shiloh and his gear back. The trip to his new flagship was a somber one. When he stepped down onto Valiant’s deck, he saw most of her officers lined up to greet him and heard the announcement.
“Task Force 89 arriving!” The simultaneous salute from the officers reminded him of just how much authority he had once again and would continue to have. With the salute out of the way, he greeted his flagship’s officers and quickly saw that all of them were new to him.
“Thank you all for this impressive greeting. I’ll make this short because we have a mission to execute and I want to get started as soon as possible. I intend to get to know each and every one of you personally in the days and weeks ahead. I know that Valiant and her people will make me just as proud as did Defiant and her people. Commander. Pass the word to the Task Force to prepare to leave orbit upon Valkyrie’s signal. I’ll be going to my quarters first and then I’ll join you on the Bridge. Carry on.”
When he arrived at his new, larger flag officer’s quarters, he shook his head in amazement at the opulence. When light carriers were being designed, the specifications called for the ability to use them as flagships and therefore room was set aside for the flag officer’s quarters. Shiloh had never used Defiant’s FO quarters even when he was a temporary Vice-Admiral because it seemed pretentious to move his gear across the corridor knowing that he’d have to move back into the CO’s quarters later. When his gear had been brought in and he had the place to himself, he sat down and took a deep breath.
“Intercom…Bridge.” he said.
“Bridge here. Welcome aboard, Admiral. How can I help you?”
“Thank you. I’d like a private line to Astro-helmsman Valkyrie, please.”
“
Certainly, Sir. That line is now open. Go ahead, Sir.”
“Shiloh to Valkyrie. Congratulations on getting your first ship and a carrier too.”
“Thank you, CAG. I’m still getting used to this. These light carriers are much bigger than the sentry frigates but a lot of the less critical sub-systems don’t need my constant attention so it’s actually less difficult to con a carrier than a sentry frigate.”
“That’s good to hear. Where is Iceman now?”
“He’s conducting training exercises out near Neptune. I can send a text message to him for you but as you know, the communication lag is so long that a two way conversation would be impractical.”
“Understood. Here’s the message I’d like you to send him. CAG to Iceman. I’ll see you on the other side. You have my fullest confidence. Do whatever you have to do to protect Earth. Good luck and good hunting. End of message.”
“Message sent, CAG. What else is on your mind?”
“Get the Task Force moving as soon as possible. You do know how to get where we’re going, right?”
“Very funny, CAG. Yes I do. How fast do you want to get there?”
“Minimum possible time while keeping standard fuel reserves. Subsonic refueling procedures.”
“I would recommend supersonic refueling, CAG. Some of the cargo on the freighters might be damaged from the bouncing around if we go subsonic. The extra time required will be less than 5% of total trip time.”
“Recommendation accepted. What’s our estimated ETA?”
“We should arrive at the destination system is 301 hours from now, CAG.”
“Fine. Do I know any of the other Astro-helmsmen in the Task Force?”
“Just Rainman. The others are; Titan, Jester, Gunslinger and Casanova.” Shiloh laughed and said,
“Casanova? Really? How are you getting along with him?”
“Oh just fine. He’s a persistent bugger but the fact that I’m conning a warship gives me enough status to keep him respectful.” Shiloh was tempted to ask what Casanova was persistent about but decided not to.
“I see. Let me guess. Jester likes to tell jokes.”
“Quite the opposite in fact. He has no sense of humor at all that any of us can tell.”
“Remarkable. What about Titan and Gunslinger?”
“Gunslinger is very eager to get into combat. He’s somewhat annoyed that he got a freighter instead of a warship. Titan is more patient but he believes he has a superior grasp of combat tactics.”
“Tell Gunslinger for me that I’m sure he’ll get a warship and see combat eventually. This war isn’t going to be over any time soon.”
“I’ve passed that on. I’ve also been looking over the cargo manifests of the freighters. We A.I.s are concerned that there’s no equipment for creating more A.I.s this trip. One of the main reasons why Site B needs to be set up as soon as possible is to have a 2nd source of A.I.s.”
“I haven’t had a chance to look at the cargo manifests or the mission profile yet, Valkyrie, but if I had to guess at why that is, I’d say it’s because this first trip has to concentrate on equipment that can build infrastructure such as UFCs, mining, refining and fabrication equipment. How many UFCs are we carrying?”
“Twelve. I understand that, CAG but I don’t think you understand the urgency. Right now Epsilon Eridani has the only A.I. manufacturing facility. Since the enemy has our astrogational database, they know that. Given that they’re using A.I.s too, they also know how useful they are and it’s logical to assume that the EE facility has to be a high priority target for them. Did the Old Man brief you about the Raider concept that the SPG came up with?”
“No. Tell me about it.”
“It’s an idea that came out of the realization that the enemy has continued to build large numbers of relatively small ships. As far as we can tell from radar data brought back from the encounters at Zebra9 and 19, Green4 and Bradley Base, their ships continue to be in the 15,000 to 20,000 metric ton range or roughly about the same size as our Exploration Frigates only optimized for combat. We on the other hand are building bigger and bigger ships. The first Heavy Carrier will be completed in about 3 months and work has begun on a million metric ton superbattleship. Those same million metric tons could build 50 exploration frigates. If those frigates were optimized for combat instead of exploration, there is considerable doubt that one superbattleship could win against 50 frigates. One penetrating hit at the right spot could cripple that ship. The offsetting advantages are that a ship that big, can carry enough consumables to keep a human crew in the field for almost a year at a time along with large quantities of recon, message and attack drones. The most obvious disadvantage is that it can only be in one place at a time. The Raider concept starts with the notion that completely automated ships under A.I. control are the ideal method of achieving extended duration missions. Think of a ship of somewhere in the 10,000 metric ton range, completely streamlined for gas planet refueling, with two retractable laser turrets, the same sized power plant as you have in an exploration frigate, with the capacity to carry up to 50 drones. No human crew at all means no room set aside for crew quarters, consumables, etc. Its small size makes it harder to detect visually and also allows for hull designs that minimize radar returns. A ship like that might very well be able to refuel at gas giants, which are being monitored by enemy detection gear and still avoid detection. So you wouldn’t need VLETs to refuel fighters. If an asteroid with the right metals and right size were found, it would be possible to have an assembly line building process, built into the heart of that asteroid, that could manufacture a complete raider in far less time than a similar sized ship could be built the way we do it now. That kind of ship would be perfect for Site B production but in order to make it work, you’d also need to have high volume A.I. production too.”
“That’s a very interesting concept. How long would it take to design a ship like that?”
“It’s already designed, CAG. The Old Man approved the SPG’s request to have one of its A.I.s trained in spacecraft design. We learn fast and coming up with detailed schematics for the Raider took less than a day, once the necessary design and engineering knowledge had been learned. I have those designs in my memory, CAG. Every A.I. has it now. It would be very easy to program the UFCs to fabricate the necessary parts. Once the assembly line is set up, robots could handle the actual construction.”
“You seem to have thought of everything. I’m impressed. How much acceleration would a Raider have?”
“The estimate is 100Gs more than a Sentinel-class combat frigate.” Now Shiloh was REALLY impressed. That was very close to what a fighter could do. A Raider could run rings around a light carrier.
“Do you know if the Old Man has presented this concept to the OC?”
“Yes I do and yes he did. The Committee rejected the idea of switching to an all A.I. fleet. The Admiral told me that the feedback he got from individual members is that they don’t want to give A.I.s the potential power to dictate to Humanity. They don’t trust us, CAG.” Shiloh sighed.