by Adam Gaffen
Even the Empress had to admit the Federation had a nasty habit of foiling their plans.
“Now, Empress, imagine the second scenario. Everything happening, all at once: a destroyed starship, a full-on fighter attack, and a surprise fleet assault. Even if these attacks only partially succeed, we know the weakness of the Federation.”
“What’s that?”
“Cassidy. Specifically, Admiral Cassidy. She is inexperienced in war, yet she holds all the power, makes all the important decisions. What will she choose? Will she try to save any survivors from the starship? Likely; she’s soft. What about the fighters? Will she underestimate their capabilities? Possibly; probably. Could she disregard the capacity of the Martians? Certainly. Crucially, though, she will have to decide, and she will make mistakes. We can take advantage of that, overwhelm her ability to think, and force poor decisions.”
Now Newling had the idea and decided to elaborate.
“Why use a frigate?”
“They are the most expendable of our ships, Empress.”
“No, I mean, why a military ship? Wouldn’t Tycho be less likely to oppose a landing by a freighter?”
“Oh, I see. Yes, I believe they would. And since smuggling is a way of life for those degenerates, a suitable bribe and no inspection will be made. How to find a loyal crew, though,” mused Phalkon.
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“Do what you did to get the BZ. Buy a bomb on Earth from someone, have it placed aboard a freighter along with a cargo, then deliver it all to Tycho. Schedule it to coordinate with the other attacks, and then have the bomb detonate from a timer.”
“Excellent, Empress! You have a gift for tactics!”
Phalkon’s blatant flattery was sufficient to put to rest the remainder of Newling’s ire.
“When should the al-Battani return?”
“Roughly a lunar. I’ll have to check for the exact date.”
“Coordinate it all. I don’t care what you have to do, whose ego you bruise, I want you in charge of this operation from this point forward.”
“I serve, Empress.”
“Where are you going to get the bomb?”
“I have a source on Earth, Empress. Someone who wishes to be free of the Federation almost as much as we desire it.”
“Fine. I leave the details to you.” Newling returned her attention to her work, then a thought pulled her back.
“Phalkon.”
She stopped backing out of the room. “Empress?”
“Have you heard from our agent?”
“Yes, Empress; only one message, but he has earned their trust and been granted broad access to much of their most sensitive information.”
“Will he be in position to help us?”
“I believe so; I have only received the one message. As he gains more freedom from scrutiny, we will plan more.”
“Very good.”
Phalkon waited a few seconds before leaving this time. When she returned to her office, she immediately sent a signal.
Must discuss plans.
Moments later, she got her reply:
Tomorrow. Fourteen. CD
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Habitat Njord; Cislunar Space
Stardate 12008.18
“Nice office.” Daniela tipped her coffee mug in a mock salute.
“You have one just next door, you know.”
“Yes, well, I’m mostly here as your backup plan, aren’t I? Not much good as a squadron commander if I’m spending all my time in the DCAG’s office.”
Flashdance sighed. “I’m not even going to argue with you. What do you think of our favorite Admiral’s latest bombshell?”
“I love the idea of the Coyotes, but I don’t think I want to give up my Direwolf.”
“Well, I might be tempted to give up Alexander,” Shannon admitted. “Though I’m not about to go back to being an IP.”
“Oh, Gods, no,” agreed Daniela.
“But we still have to figure out who might be best suited to crew these things.”
“What do we need?”
“Kendra said the optimum crew is four, minimum is one, maximum is eight.”
Daniela shot a command to the system and a view of the new ship appeared. It was a pretty little ship, about fifty meters long and fifteen wide at its widest point. The stern mounted two massive sublight engines, but the rest of the ship was lithe and graceful, tapering as you went forward to a neck about seven meters wide before flaring out again into a tadpole-shaped cockpit. Above the aft compartment was another observation window, but it all felt natural and flowing.
“Let’s build based on the optimum,” Shannon said. “Pilot, Engineer. What else?”
“Did we get any hints from the Admiral?”
“Nope.”
“What about the design? Diana, give us the interior view.”
The hull of the ship melted away.
“Looks like there are five chairs in the cockpit, but two of them are for number-crunchers and one’s a commander’s chair,” Shannon said, pointing.
“Two pilots?”
“Maybe. Diana? Stay involved in this.”
“Certainly, Shannon. Hello Daniela.” Her avatar appeared wearing a flight suit.
“Diana, you look good in our gear,” Daniela commented. “Don’t tell me you’re taking up piloting.”
“I have no plans to do so, Commander, but should the need arise I feel fully capable of doing so.”
“I’m not going to debate piloting with the smartest AI in the system as long as you stop calling me Commander,” Daniela said firmly.
“What can you tell us about the crew requirements for the Coyote, Diana? There are five seats in the cockpit. What are they for?”
“The forward two seats are for a pilot and an engineer. They share the navigation duties. The seat behind them is for a commander or supernumerary crew. The aft-facing stations are flexible. They can be configured as science stations, defense, auxiliary engineering; it’s all in the software.”
“You said defense.”
“Yes; the Coyote has a turret mounted below the forward compartment with two lasers. It can be controlled locally or from any station on the main deck.”
“How many decks does it have?”
“Three, Daniela. The upper compartment is for observation but can be used as a secondary control deck. The main deck, which houses the engines, antimatter plant, galley, sleeping quarters, and the primary controls. And the lower deck, accessed from the cockpit or from the engine room, which is primarily for storage and consumables.”
Daniela leaned into the hologram. “Are those OAS thrusters?”
“Yes, twelve pairs scattered around the body.”
“What are the projections at the back?”
“Q-Net antennae. Essentially, each Coyote will be a warp buoy and will be in constant communication with the rest of the Federation. It’s a new design.”
“Oh, wonderful. Another test bed.”
“That’s why we get the fun jobs, Danni. We’re the best.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s what I tell the kids. Okay, so we need pilots and good engineers. We’ll have to steal people who can help with interstellar navigation from the Academy, or the starships, or both.”
“And the Eng will have to be warp-certified.”
“Oh, boy. I think there’s going to be lots and lots of cross-training.”
“Definitely. What a pain in the ass. Wait. Diana.”
“Yes, Shannon?”
“Don’t these have AI’s?”
“Betas.”
“Like the Direwolves?”
“A similar role, yes. The human engineers will be there for supervision and gross physical labor, while the AI will handle the routine monitoring and tuning of the warp drives.”
Daniela breathed a sigh of relief. “Good! Then the Eng will have to be familiar with warp drives, not an expert.”
“That is correct, Daniela, although the c
loser to expert they can be trained the better, as the Coyotes will be operating far from support.”
“Which is an excellent point. Danni, I think you’re going to have to be the first Test Pilot, since you are the only person I know who’s still dual qualified.”
“Yeah, I thought so too. I’m thinking Double S, too, for a test pilot. How many of these new birds will we get to play with?”
Shannon turned to Diana, who said, “There are four prototypes, of which three will be available for flight test.”
“Can’t let you strip any more of your Division leaders away,” said Shannon. “Not with you and Ashlyn test piloting. As it is you’re leaving Zero and Locksmith running the squadrons.”
“They can handle it. I think a good possibility is for the third pilot would be Vortex.”
“Vortex? Why?”
“Well, she’s a good stick, talented and capable. She’s not in leadership, mostly because of seniority instead of ability. But she’s respected by the other pilots, and I think she’s probably going to be the lead IP for the Coyotes.”
Shannon leaned back and gave her friend a long look. “You’re thinking ahead, aren’t you?”
“I’m not giving up my squadron, and I don’t think Double S wants to give up hers, which means we’re not going to be the IP’s. Vortex isn’t in line for a squadron, so if she’s the IP, well, she’ll have the inside track on commanding the Coyotes.”
“You think they’ll be organized as a squadron?”
Daniela shrugged. “It’s your call, Shannon. You’re CAG, and Colonel, no, Admiral Whitmore gave them to you. When you told me about the Coyotes, my first thought was they’d be individual units, then I changed my mind.”
Shannon leaned back. “Go on.”
“What if you organize it as a bunch of squadrons, five, six, seven boats, all centered around one ‘hub’ colony. Then you have a ‘home’ squadron, based here, and used as couriers. If you stay in your job long enough, I can see you as CAG, me as DCAG, running the Wolves and Direwolves, and Vortex as DCAG and running the Coyotes.”
“If she can hack being a test pilot, let alone an IP. Okay.”
Now Daniela leaned back, relaxing. Shannon put an end to that.
“What do you think about Eng? They’re going to have to come out of the Wolves.”
To her surprise, Daniela had an immediate answer. “No Quit for sure. Sandman, probably. I’d like to steal Blaster, but she’s in 40 Eridani for another three weeks.”
“What about Kingpin?” suggested Shannon.
“Out of the Patton? He’s a good Eng, but he’s a bit older.”
“But he has an engineering background,” Shannon countered. “And if we pair him with Vortex his age will lend her some immediate credibility. He’s in the same boat, if you’ll pardon the pun. He’s not on anyone’s list for leadership, not because of ability but because, after thirty years under his belt already, nobody knows how long he’ll stick. With a new challenge, he might just hang around a while.”
“When do we get the boats, Diana?”
“You can have them on 48 hours’ notice, Daniela.”
“Shannon? Happy with the choices?”
“I’m going to pull a couple more teams to run through after you finish the flight tests, give Vortex an opportunity to IP on a small scale before we throw her off the deep end. But yeah, I’m happy with them. And what’s the timetable for fitting-out more?”
“After flight test there will be a period of adjustment, reflecting their recommendations. Any redesigns will be completed, and another round of tests, then the production model can start being built. Each Coyote will take about a week to build using the fabricator, and we can build four at one time.”
“Sixteen to twenty a month?” asked Shannon.
“Correct.”
“Okay. Well, Danni, looks like you have a new bird to break in.”
“Looks like.” She winced, then laughed.
“That looked interesting.”
“Well, first I thought of Boomer’s reaction. He won’t be happy about being grounded while I flight test. Then I thought of the Admiral, and how long it will be before she asks for another flight lesson!”
They both laughed, then Shannon sobered.
“Knowing her? Twenty credits says as soon as you have them certified.”
“No way,” Daniela countered. “Fifty credits she comms me before the first flight!”
“AND THAT’S THE EXERCISE!” broadcast Ashlyn from the cockpit of her Direwolf. Drills and exercises had been cut back since the embargo was placed on Artemis, but there was no way she and Double Dip were going to let their crews slide entirely. Today was her turn to get her pilots out into the black and have fun, for values of fun.
“Nice work on that Immelmann, Jimmy,” Locksmith commed. She’d been in charge of the Aggressors, with Digger being appointed commander of the outnumbered Defender force. Fortunately for Digger her three pilots – Jimmy, Digger, and Chewbacca – had more than held their own. But the deciding maneuver had been Jimmy’s, after all his squadmates had been ‘killed’. He’d executed a complex series of moves, culminating in the aforementioned Immelmann, which caught the last three Aggressors by surprise and sealed the win for the Defenders.
“Thanks,” he commed back, pleased with the recognition.
“Back home,” ordered Ashlyn, and the flight back was filled with many barbs and good-natured ribbing between the pilots and she felt a warm glow of satisfaction. Her crew was as solid as she could hope.
When the last of the Direwolves had landed, though, she was surprised to see her friend and commander standing in the bay. She’d apparently been there a while as she was in a skinsuit with the helmet up and sealed.
“Frak me,” she muttered as she hurried through the shutdown procedures.
“What’s up? Oh. Never a good sign,” Starbuck said, having caught sight of Daniela.
“No. She doesn’t look pissed, though. Almost eager?”
“Yeah, and that’s worse. I remember this one time, Apollo was looking like a daggit who just caught a –”
“Later, Starbuck. Can you finish the shutdown?”
“Yeah. Ten cubits says she’s got something up her sleeve.”
“No bet.” She popped the cockpit’s canopy and climbed down, the first one to dismount.
“Lieutenant,” Daniela commed with a nod.
“Commander,” Ashlyn returned, equally formally. “Can I help you?”
She resisted the urge to ask what they’d done wrong.
“In a moment. Turn your squadron over to your XO and let her finish the AAR, please.”
Now she was certain the fecal matter had impacted the rotary impeller, but she held onto her professionalism.
“Aye, Ma’am.” She flipped channels. “Locksmith.”
“Skipper.”
“Run the hot wash on the AAR.” She didn’t trust her voice to say more.
“You got it, Skipper.”
“Ready, Ma’am,” she said to Daniela.
“Come with me, please.”
Oh crap.
They made their way out of the bay, but not to Daniela’s office as Ashlyn half-expected and feared. Instead they ended up in one of the compartments set aside for squadron meetings, with places set for maybe a dozen people. They were the first ones there, and Ashlyn couldn’t take it any longer.
“Okay, Danni, what’s going on?” she said, maybe a bit sharper than she should have spoken to her commander.
“What do you mean? We have a bit to wait, but I wanted to ask you before anyone else got here.” Daniela’s face showed complete incomprehension.
“Ask me what? For frak’s sake, Danni, just tell me! What did I do? Whose pooch did I screw?”
“Huh?” Then the fog lifted and she, what? She laughed?
“Dammit, Danni, this isn’t funny!”
“No, no, I see why you wouldn’t think so. Oh, shit, Ash, I’m sorry. I can imagine what you were
thinking.” She looked around at the seats. “Yeah, just about enough for an investigation for a court martial. No, Ash, nothing bad, nothing like that. Come on, sit down, I’ll get you a drink. You need it.”
“It’s not even fourteen, Danni,” she objected.
“I’m your CO, and it’s seventeen somewhere.” She busied herself at a replicator and brought over a pair of shot glasses with clear liquid in them.
“Tequila. On three. Then we talk.”
After the shots were down, and Ash’s coughing jag passed, she had to admit she was feeling a little less stressed.
“How’s the squadron doing?” Daniela started, but Ash was having none of it.
“No way. No small talk. Something’s up, so spill.”
“I guess I can’t make you wait. I was talking to Flashdance earlier about the new Coyotes, and we were trying to figure out who to do flight test on them.”
“You, obviously. How many birds?”
“Three.”
“Rule of thumb, two crews per bird, so Messy, Steamboat, Vortex, maybe Chewbacca. That’s five. Who else?”
“Not bad, Ash. You got it mostly right. Steamboat, Vortex, and Chewbacca. We’re not going with the 2:1 ratio for reasons I haven’t gotten to yet.”
Ash frowned. “That’s only four. I might be an L-T, but I can count good up to five.”
“Dumbass. You!”
“Me?”
“Who else?”
“What about Digger? Or Zero? Bun-bun, even though he can’t shoot, is a good stick.”
“No, Ash. You’re as good a pilot as me, maybe even a little bit better under the right circumstances, and you’re cool under pressure. I’ve seen it. And since we’re going to be testing the Coyotes right to the edge of their tolerances, and then a bit further, I need someone else who can think in a crunch.”
“But Danni, I don’t want to give up my squadron!”
“Who said anything about giving them up?”
“I just assumed –”
“Bad mistake. And what makes you think I’m giving up my squadron, huh?”
“Um, well, I just figured since you’re the DCAG now, and Shannon gave up her command, you’d be giving yours up, too, and this seemed to be a natural transition point.”