Childers

by Richard F. Weyand

  Such drones could also be used for routine courier service, allowing interstellar messaging with transit times under an hour.

  Finally, such drones could be used as interstellar missiles. Topped with a nuclear warhead, such a missile could take out a fixed military installation within a couple of hours of launch anywhere in human space.

  Given that it was unmanned, speeds could go even faster. Without people on board, sustained accelerations could go much higher than the three g's the group had discussed as a practical maximum. If you could accelerate such a drone at ten g's, the flight times and velocities could get very ugly, very fast, for any defender.

  Jan didn't know how fast a battleship or cruiser drive could go without a battleship or cruiser attached, but she suspected that 10g was easily in reach.

  They settled into their old routines on Sigurdsen. Jan was on planet leave between assignments, while Bill reported in to Intelligence Division when they returned. He was going in to the office every day.

  About three weeks after their return to Sigurdsen, Bill started being distracted. His attention would wander off from their conversation.

  "Bill?"

  "Sorry, Hon. Wool gathering."

  "Is something going on at work?"

  "I couldn't tell you if there was."

  "I know that. I meant anything about you, particularly."

  "No. Not at all."

  "Anything I need to know?"

  "No," he said. And, after a pause, "Not yet."

  The next day, Jan heard about what was being called the Waldheim Massacre. Four Commonwealth light ships in Waldheim had been suckered in to chasing a destroyer making an incursion, and two heavy cruisers popped out of hyper and blew them out of space.

  When Bill got home, Jan asked him about it.

  "Did you hear about the Waldheim Massacre?"

  "I heard about it through the rumor mill."

  "Anything you can tell me beyond the rumors?"

  "No."

  Three days later, Jan received an urgent request to meet with Admiral Stepic in Tactics Division.

  "That business in Bahay was well done, Captain," Stepic said.

  "Thank you, Sir."

  "You managed to avoid action this time, though. What happened?" Stepic asked through a smile.

  "Right place, wrong time, Sir. Or wrong place, right time. A little bit of both, I think."

  "Well, it was well done, Captain. And you got a chance to work with multiple squadrons in setting up a defensive patrol plan. You and Admiral Xi shut down the incursions into Bahay entirely. And she was not shy in her reports about the role you played there.

  "Now, though, something has come up. Have you heard about what happened in Waldheim?"

  "Yes, Sir. We lost two light cruisers and two destroyers. The Gujarat, the Kansai, the Brenau, and the Maryville."

  "And the 2400 spacers aboard them. That's correct, Captain. They suckered our people into chasing a destroyer, then popped two heavies out of hyper and punched them out. We haven't worked up the Waldheim squadrons on the Fleet Book yet. There's just so much to do, and it can only get done so fast. We've been rotating people who're up to speed into the more vulnerable or threatened systems, and we just didn't see this coming."

  "Do we know who it was, Sir?"

  "Yes. They got good telemetry on the destroyer when she spaced right past one of the new sensor drones. It was Feirm."

  "Feirm? They've been a lot of trouble to their neighbors, Sir, but am I wrong that they haven't been a problem for us before?"

  "No, that's right, and that's why we didn't see it coming. And we can't let them get away with it. It gives other people the wrong idea. People have been tossing around what to do, and they've decided we need to send a force to Feirm and teach them a lesson."

  Stepic noted Jan's startled expression and went on.

  "Yes, I know. Mostly we teach people a lesson by beating them up in our own space when they test us. We don't go outside the Commonwealth very often. Higher has determined, though, that we cannot let this pass. The Chief of Naval Operations, the Defense Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Chairman of the Commonwealth Council have all signed off on a punitive expedition. On one condition, Captain."

  "Sir?"

  "That you command it."

  "What?"

  "You heard me, Captain. Your reputation has gotten around. They want you to lead a task force into Feirm, see how many of their ships you can sucker into range, and punch out everything you can hit. If you took out half their navy, that would be fine with them. As long as it's you."

  "That's pretty overwhelming, Sir, that they specifically requested me."

  "Do you think you can do it?"

  "Oh, I can do it, Sir. It's just overwhelming that other people – those other people – think I can do it."

  "Well, they do. And they don't have the same level of confidence in anybody else. We're thinking something like a heavy cruiser squadron, maybe three divisions, with a division of light cruisers or destroyers, or some combination, to use as bait. Depends on your operations plan. You can pretty much have whatever you want."

  "I'll have to think about it, Sir."

  "Absolutely, Captain. You have the availability of the planning staff here. Some of the people who worked on ATS with you, for example. Actually, you can keelhaul just about anybody you want for this. Same with the ships, for that matter. You can hand pick your ships, and ship classes.

  "Office space is being set up for you and whatever staff you need at the Naval Operations Center right now."

  "Timeline, Sir?"

  "They want the message received loud and clear within six months of the Waldheim attack. You have up to four months until you need to space."

  "I can make that timeline no problem, Sir."

  "So you accept the assignment?"

  "Sir, I had friends on those ships."

  "So did I, Captain. Oh, speaking of which, there's one more thing you'll need to make this work."

  "Sir?"

  "A second star. Congratulations, Rear Admiral Childers."

  Leaving Stepic's office, Jan stopped by the commissary, then headed over to Intelligence Division. One nice thing about being located at Sigurdsen: you could always pick up new shoulder patches and collar pins right away when you got promoted.

  Once in the Intelligence Division, she signed in and asked them to call Bill down for a visitor. It was a few minutes before he appeared from the elevator bank. He came up to her and saluted, which she returned.

  "Congratulations, Admiral Childers."

  "Thank you, Captain."

  "Come with me if you would, Ma'am."

  They went over to the elevators and down to one of the basements, where Bill led her into one of the secure conference rooms and closed the door.

  "All right. Go ahead."

  "You knew."

  "Of course. I knew all about the Waldheim incident. I made the presentation to the CNO. It was recorded for the Chairman, the Foreign Minister, and the Defense Minister."

  "No. That's not what I'm talking about. You knew that they decided I was to be the expedition commander."

  "Guilty as charged. I couldn't say anything."

  She looked at him for a long minute. He shrugged.

  "OK, I get that," Jan said.

  Jan collected her thoughts.

  "How good is the ID on those ships being from Feirm, Captain?"

  "The destroyer? One hundred percent, Ma'am. I reviewed the sensor data myself. The other ships? Only by inference from the destroyer, but their sensor information was consistent with the specific outer-colony design Feirm uses."

  "How good is our intelligence on Feirm?"

  "Pretty good, actually, Ma'am. We get regular commercial sensor data from the system. We're busy collecting everything you'll need right now. It's pretty complete, I think. We'll have more recent data coming in within a week or so."

  "Make sure I have their planet leave and restocking rotation sc
hedules, and how consistent they've been over, say, the past two years."

  "I think we have that, Ma'am, but I'll double check."

  "Another thing I want is the sensor data checked going back five years, looking for any surprises. Changes in readiness posture, ship rotations, modifications to tactical exercises. Anything that indicates they've recently changed how they would react to an incursion, and what those changes might be."

  "Yes, Ma'am."

  "Same thing with local news sources, Captain. Changes in commanders are particularly important, because it would mean changes in their tactical responses. But anything over the past year that mentions their navy should be checked for anything pertinent."

  "That we're doing now, Ma'am."

  "I also need complete dossiers, whatever we have, on their flag officers. Background, education, battle experience, outcomes of those battles, their reputations, public statements – everything we have."

  "Yes, Ma'am."

  "That should do it for now, Captain. I'm heading over to the NOC to meet my staff."

  "Very good, Ma'am. I'll escort you back to the lobby."

  Some effort had been made to make flag townhouses more secure than an unsecure space, but they were still only certified a Class 4 secure facility. Still, Bill and Jan could talk about some things at home. They were always scrupulous about being professional "at the office," but were more relaxed at home even when discussing work.

  "I only knew about your new assignment a day or so before you did, Honey. But I couldn't say anything. It had to go through channels," Bill said.

  "I know, Dear. I was just being testy. So you were assigned to this right off?"

  "Yeah, as soon as word came in."

  "Good. So at least I can trust the intelligence work has been gone over properly."

  "I think so. I wouldn't want to send you into harm's way without the best intel we can possibly give you. Especially for an expedition outside the Commonwealth."

  "I'm still surprised that higher asked for me specifically."

  "They didn't ask, Hon. They required. Or no expedition."

  "Amazing."

  "Not to me. Not after seeing you in command on Boadicea. Whatever 'it' is, you've got it. That magical thing in a commander who pulls all the pieces together. All the disparate skills. And they know it. And that's what they want."

  "But it's all just common sense."

  "Sense? Yes. Common? Not so much. Face it, Jan, you're special. Your people know you're special, both topside and below decks. Your superiors know you're special. I have more of an outside view than you do. You have one hell of a reputation."

  "I suppose. I just hope I can deliver on this one. It's a big lift."

  "You'll do fine. Just do what you do. Don't second-guess yourself."

  Staffing had to come first. Not everybody Jan would want was on Sigurdsen, and there would be spacing time to get there, plus the time in a fast courier just to send the recall notice. Of course, staffing without an operations plan was not easy, either. She did know she would want at least two heavy cruiser squadrons that were already up on the Fleet Book. She set an NOC staffer to research possibles and propose candidates.

  And a division each of destroyers and light cruisers. She set another staffer to research those.

  And maybe a battleship division? Perhaps. She set a staffer to research those.

  She also set a couple of staffers to research what CSF knew about Feirm's navy. Ships, doctrine, personnel.

  With that under way, she sat down and viewed with a critical eye the sensor logs from the encounter in Waldheim. It was hard to watch, knowing what was going to happen, but necessary. She watched it three times. They got suckered, all right.

  Of course, the most satisfying lesson to teach Feirm would be to sucker them as well. Which they would be watching for.

  She started to play out scenarios in the simulator.

  The staff proposals on possible squadrons and divisions came in. Jan reviewed them, and made her choices based on her knowledge of and relationship with the commanding officer of each.

  Local commanders could be expected to fight losing their best division to some wild hair project of somebody at Sigurdsen. Each recall message went out with an "eyes only" message to the planetary commander that the squadron or division was being recalled to serve under Rear Admiral Jan Childers, and it had something to do with what was being called in the CSF the Waldheim Massacre. They could read between the lines, and, rather than fight the recalls, broke all records getting the requested units under way. Most of the requested units accelerated at 1.2 g's for the critical first twenty-four hours in hyperspace, and then kept it at 1.1 g's the rest of the way. Even the battleships pulled their full 1.1 g's the entire trip.

  On to Feirm. The CSF for a long time had paid commercial ships spacing under Commonwealth flag to mount an extra box in their electronics bays. It recorded all their sensor inputs, continuously, when not in hyperspace. No change was made to the sensors themselves, which would be detectable. It was simply a parasite recorder. Whenever the ship was within range of a CSF fleet base, the recorder downloaded information to the local base. That information was carried with dispatches on CSF fast courier ships back to Sigurdsen and catalogued.

  The result was Jan and her staff had over thirty years of sensor data on Feirm, albeit from commercial sensors. Still, the Commonwealth had a large and profitable commercial shipping sector, and their sensors tended to be pretty good for commercial units. Poignantly, the most recent information catalogued at Sigurdsen showed the Feirm ships departing to and returning from Waldheim.

  The Feirm navy was organized into six-ship squadrons, and three-ship divisions. They had six squadrons, two each of destroyers, light cruisers, and heavy cruisers, for a total of thirty-six ships. Half the ships were in ready status at all times, on a two-in-four rotation. The patrolling units remained close to the planet to be able to respond in any direction to an incoming threat. They were expanding, and had one new light cruiser and two new heavy cruisers working up in addition to their official table of organization.

  Jan had requested a meeting with the CNO and his chief of staff.

  "Sir, we can limit the damage to no more than half their navy if we attack them when half their ships are on rotation, restocking in orbit and with significant portions of their crews on planet leave. They would only be in a position to respond with the patrolling half.

  "If we hit them during the period when one half of their force is relieving the other, all their ships would be available for response, and we could potentially goad them into committing more than half their navy. We could potentially wipe their navy out completely.

  "For planning purposes, it makes a difference how we design the operation if we are trying to get them to commit up to half their navy, or more than half their navy.

  "What I need to know from you, Sir, is do you want us to go for the biggest hit we can, or is taking out a significant portion of half their navy enough?"

  "But you might not, correct? I mean, you can't be sure how many of their forces you can get them to commit. They may commit only half their available in any case."

  "That's true, Sir."

  "The point is to teach a lesson to all the outer colonies. It's got to be big enough to do that."

  "Yes, Sir."

  "Hit them as hard as you can. See what you get."

  "Yes, Sir."

  As it unfolded, Intelligence Division suggested that Captain Campbell go along on the expedition, serving as intelligence chief. Jan and Bill talked about it at home.

  "Jan, my big question is, Will I be in your way? Will it change the way you make decisions, to know I'm in the trenches with you?"

  "I don't think so. It would be a big comfort in one way. The way the operations plan is coming together, the initial incursion will confirm their operational profile is still what we expect it to be. I don't want everyone to go ahead on a blown op if the enemy figured we were coming and chan
ged things around to be difficult. Given your involvement in pulling the intel together, if I had your assessment that their profile hadn't changed, I could trust going ahead with the op. Otherwise we bug out. That's not as good as being able to go ahead successfully, but it's a hell of a lot better than getting a bunch of our people killed. And I'm going to need that assessment pretty quickly. In minutes, not hours."

  "OK. If I can be of help, I'm all in, you know that. I just don't want to be a distraction."

  Once that decision was made, Intelligence Division went to work on the CSS Midwest, the light cruiser Jan would be flying her flag on. They installed an intelligence section one deck down from the bridge deck, which on a light cruiser was also the captain's deck. The Midwest ended up with an intelligence suite that would do credit to a battleship.

  The unusual step of using a light cruiser to carry her flag was a necessary part of the plan in Jan's view. The operations plan called for the Midwest to be part of the bait, to lure the Feirmians to come out after the Commonwealth ships. But Jan also wanted to personally confirm the inner and outer system envelopes, and to verify the system defensive posture was what they had planned on, before she committed larger forces. With her and Bill on the Midwest, they could perform those two roles on one of the ships in the initial incursion.

  Without a flag deck, that also meant Jan would be commanding the entire task force of thirty-two ships from the combat information center on the Midwest. She had picked the Midwest because her captain was Captain Bev Bhatia, who had been the Senior Tactical Officer on board Hu Mingli when Jan was its XO, and before that Assistant Tactical Officer aboard Nils Isacsson when Jan was its Senior Tactical Officer. They understood each other, and worked well together.

  Tactical Division couldn't be outdone by Intelligence Division, though, so they upgraded the combat information center on the Midwest with new equipment as well. Hopefully all the new equipment worked as advertised, or she would have to scrub the mission. The installers knew that, though, and everybody wanted a piece of the Feirmians, so they checked and double-checked everything.