A Line in the Sand

by Ryk Brown

  Nathan looked at Cameron. “If you were a subordinate standing next to Galiardi when Miri exercised her right of heir-to-office, and the admiral refused to honor her claim, would you arrest him?”

  “Of course,” Cameron replied. “But I’m a stickler for procedure. However, the result of that action would depend on whether or not the officers around me supported my decision.”

  “It may become necessary for your sister to order the use of force against her own military,” the general warned. “Is she capable of issuing that order?”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Nathan replied.

  “There is also the problem with insertion,” General Telles continued. “Two recent intrusions are going to put the EDF’s sensor net on full alert. They are likely to have increased patrols in the planet’s atmosphere as well. If we jump in multiple insertion ships at once, they will notice, and they will put all their forces on alert. Even if we are able to get boots inside the net-hub’s defense perimeter, holding them long enough to get the message out may prove more difficult and will increase the risk to Miri. If we are to insert the Ghatazhak covertly and maintain the element of surprise, we will have to conduct space jumps from well outside the system.”

  “You want to space-jump from outside the Sol system?” Nathan asked in disbelief.

  “I believe I said well outside the system.”

  “Is that even possible?” Nathan wondered. “Weren’t the mark two suits designed for micro-jumps?”

  Mister Ayseron leaned forward, holding up a single finger. “If I may, Captain?”

  Nathan nodded.

  “The AIs in the mark two CAP systems are perfectly capable of calculating jumps of any distance,” the SilTek engineer began. “In this case, as long as the jumpers are put on the proper trajectory at the proper speed by the deployment vessel, accuracy is not the issue, since the insertion jumps would terminate in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The problem is power. The mass of enough energy cells to power such a jump would exceed the safe carrying capacity of the jumpers’ parachutes, even with the shock protection of the CAP system.”

  “Couldn’t they drop them during freefall, before they open their chutes?” Cameron suggested.

  “Some of them might survive the impact” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda pointed out. “That would put advanced jump tech into the hands of Galiardi’s people.”

  Talisha Sane had been silent the entire time. She had never attended a command briefing and felt a little intimidated. “Could the power packs be detonated during freefall?” she managed to get out. “After separation of course.”

  “The detonations might be detected,” Cameron replied.

  “But we’re only talking about seconds, right?” Talisha continued. “They arrive, jettison their energy packs, pop their chutes, and then jump down to the hubs. The detonations could take place after the attack has already started.”

  “That could work,” Jessica agreed.

  Talisha suddenly felt a little more confident.

  “Or you could just leave the energy packs behind to begin with,” Deliza interjected.

  Mister Ayseron was shocked. “That makes no sense whatsoever,” he sputtered. “We need the additional energy banks to make the jump.”

  “The energy in the packs, yes, but not the packs themselves,” Deliza defended.

  Mister Ayseron was still confused by her idea. “What?”

  Deliza rolled her eyes. The solution seemed so obvious to her. “Detach the packs from the jumpers but leave them connected with a tether. The tether gets cut by the jump event, leaving the packs drifting in space. The energy transfer is near-instantaneous, so most of the energy will reach the mark two’s emitters before the power umbilical is severed.”

  “That’s insane!” the engineer exclaimed.

  “Is it?” Deliza challenged.

  “You could even umbilical them to the delivery ship,” Abby suggested. “Then you wouldn’t even need the energy packs.”

  “Each XK has to deploy three teams,” Nathan explained, “each of them at a different position in space. So it would have to be energy packs, since the teams have to coast for some time before jumping.” He looked at Ayseron. “Can this actually work?”

  Mister Ayseron thought for a moment. It was obvious he didn’t like the idea. “We’d have to calculate the percentage of energy transfer loss due to the severing of the umbilical a split second before the jump…”

  “And adjust the jump calculations accordingly,” Deliza added, finishing his thought.

  “Assuming testing proves the loss-rate to be consistent, yes. It might actually work. It’s still insane, though.”

  “Sometimes insane ideas work. I assume you three can figure it out?”

  “We’ll get started immediately,” Abby promised.

  “There is still the matter of a diversion,” General Telles reminded Nathan.

  “The diversion will come one minute after your forces touch down,” Nathan explained. “That will give Galiardi time to go into domestic terrorism mode. Then we jump into the system with everything we can muster. The sudden shifting of gears will cause confusion and conflict among division and unit commanders. With any luck, he’ll believe the attacks against the hubs are the diversion, and that the diversion is the real attack.”

  “The forces used to defend the hubs are different than those used to defend the system,” General Telles pointed out.

  “Only partially,” Nathan replied.

  “He’s right,” Cameron interjected. “If we send a few hundred Gunyoki and Nighthawks at them, backed up by the Aurora, the Glendanon, and the Orochi, he’ll likely divert the Super Eagles being used to fly cover for the QRTs to help with the intercept, especially if the majority of our fighters jump close-in.”

  “As soon as the initial broadcast is out, we demand that Galiardi step down as acting president and immediately hand power to Miri, or we will take him out with force,” Nathan stated.

  “You don’t really plan on using force against our own people, do you?” Cameron inquired.

  “Not if I can avoid it,” Nathan assured her. “That’s where we need to get creative. We need to figure out how to take EDF forces out of the game without killing anyone, and preferably without inflicting too much damage. The last thing I want is to disable their fleet and leave them defenseless.”

  “That’s not going to be easy,” Cameron warned.

  “We should consider using Subvert’s swarm-bot technology,” Deliza suggested.

  “Aren’t those designed to take out shield emitters?” Jessica wondered.

  “Yes, but you can program them to attack any system, as long as you know where it is located. Shield emitters, jump field emitters, sensor arrays, even guns. Their only downside is that they must receive their target programming before release.”

  “Our current shield-penetrating missiles carry standard explosive warheads,” Cameron stated. “They’re not so much designed to take out a shield as they are to just inflict general damage to the target, which usually leads to the collapse of the shield segment. If we could modify them to carry swarm-bots instead, we could take out just their shield emitters without damaging the rest of the target.”

  “Take out enough of their shields, and they’ll think twice about standing their ground,” Jessica stated. “What if we take out their jump drives as well?”

  “I’d prefer to only take down their shields,” Nathan insisted. “Once they realize their shields won’t protect them, there’s a chance they may withdraw. Each of those captains still has a duty to protect Earth, and they can’t do so if they’re out of commission.”

  “It all sounds great, but the Cape Town has two complete shield arrays,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda warned. “That’s over two hundred shield emitters. Her jump array has a redundant backup as well.”

/>   “Swarm-bots are cheap and quick to replicate,” Deliza told them. “If we task all our replicators, we can crank out tens of thousands of them in a matter of days.”

  “Could the swarm-bots be programmed to take out the Cape Town’s main guns?” Cameron wondered.

  “I don’t see why not,” Deliza replied. “We’d need the specs on her guns so we could figure out the most efficient way to disable them. I assume you want them disabled with as little total damage as possible.”

  “That’s the idea,” Nathan replied.

  “We have the basic specs on the Cape Town. Just not the classified stuff,” the lieutenant commander stated.

  “The Cape Town’s big guns are still projectile-based rail guns,” Cameron explained. “They have incredible range and accuracy, and can fire a wide array of projectile types, but nothing about them is classified.”

  “What about their point-defenses?” Jessica wondered.

  “Standard point-defense, pulse-plasma, just like ours,” Cameron replied. “But they also have the new Scorpion missile defense cannons. Extremely high fire rate and very good tracking systems. We’re going to have to jump our shield busters in extremely close to get past them.”

  “We don’t know what the Cape Town’s shield expansion range is, either,” the lieutenant commander added. “That’s still classified.”

  “I have a friend who was on the development team for those shields,” Abby said. “He never spoke about the project, but I had several meetings with him to discuss the effects of sustained, high-energy fields running in close proximity. They may have been working on multi-layered shielding.”

  “For all we know, that second shield array I spoke of may be part of that,” Cameron suggested.

  “Perhaps we should broadcast the message to the Cape Town as well?” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda suggested. “Maybe her captain or her senior officers will be swayed, and she’ll stand down.”

  “It certainly won’t hurt, but I wouldn’t count on it,” Cameron warned.

  “You’re probably right,” Nathan agreed. “But we should consider broadcasting the message to all EDF forces. The more doubt we can create, the better.” Nathan noticed that Commander Verbeek looked concerned. “Something on your mind, Verbee?”

  “I’m worried about our Super Eagles mixing it up with theirs. Even with some sort of customized IFF transponders, the risk of misidentifying someone will be high. That extra hesitation can get people killed.”

  “Actually, I was thinking of having your pilots fly the P-Seventy-Twos down low to provide air support for the Ghatazhak.”

  “That would help, but you’re still asking us to go up against people we once flew with. The Eagle-driver community is pretty close-knit.”

  “Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Nathan replied. “Besides, if my plan works, most of the EDF’s Eagles will be busy chasing the Gunyoki.”

  That caught Vol Kaguchi’s attention. “How many Gunyoki will you require?”

  “How many do you have?”

  “Three hundred and twelve are in service. Two hundred of them have been fitted with grav-lift systems. Fifty of those are currently stationed on Orswella.”

  “We’ll take them all,” Nathan replied.

  “That will leave the Orochi without escorts,” Vol warned.

  “The Orochi are coming with us.”

  Aiden looked at Nathan. “We are?” He turned to Commander Verbeek, who was sitting next to him. “I was wondering why I was here.”

  “The Orochi will be the key to avoiding a full-blown gunfight,” Nathan explained. “We’ll load up your ships with shield busters loaded with swarm-bots. But your ships will be launching from the engagement area. The more ships they see, the better chance we have of getting them to stand down without a shooting war.”

  “My ships?” Aiden wondered.

  “Captain Nash says you’re ready for a little more responsibility,” Nathan replied. “With Nash, Roselle, and Kainan flying XKs, you’re the most experienced Orochi captain we have.”

  “Well that’s frightening,” Aiden muttered to himself. He looked at Captain Nash. “Thanks a lot.”

  Robert smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  “You’ll do fine,” Nathan assured him.

  “So the Rogen and Orswellan systems will be completely undefended,” Vol surmised.

  “Both systems have surface-based jump missile launchers and complex detection grids,” Nathan reminded him. “The Dusahn’s newly acquired ships are all in the Takar system at the moment, most of them undergoing upgrades. After our recent retaliatory attack, they don’t dare move them out of the Takar system. Even if they did, it would take them days to reach the Rogen system, by which time we’ll be back.”

  “Their octos can reach us in just under a day,” Vol pointed out.

  “They’ve only got about thirty of them left,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda told him. “That’s not enough firepower to attack a planet, especially one that’s got jump missiles and anti-aircraft batteries. They’re not going to risk them just to harass someone.”

  “We will make sure the Glendanon and the Aurora are both fully charged before the mission begins. That way, we’ll have enough energy to jump back to defend any member world should the need arise,” Nathan assured the Gunyoki commander.

  “I assure you, Captain, the Dusahn aren’t going to go on the offensive any time soon,” the lieutenant commander insisted. “Based on our recon flights, it will take them a few weeks to finish the upgrades on just their first two ships.”

  “Could they not send drones, like they did to SilTek?” Vol wondered.

  “They don’t have any left, and it will take time to build them,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda insisted. “Now is the safest time for our forces to be away.”

  “I pray that you are correct, Lieutenant Commander.”

  “If we’re going to take down the Dusahn, we all have to take risks,” Nathan insisted.

  “Of course,” Vol agreed, bowing his head respectfully.

  “Based on all available intel, the only world at risk of attack during our brief absence is Corinair,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda stated confidently. “The Dusahn could easily jump over, launch a bunch of missiles, and jump back, and there’s a good chance that some of them could make it to their targets. Corinair is still a long way from having a complete defense grid.”

  “Lord Dusahn is an egomaniac and a narcissist, but he isn’t stupid,” Nathan insisted. “He knows that if he keeps lashing out at our allies, sooner or later we’re going to put a missile right down his chimney and take our chances with those antimatter doomsday warheads he’s got the planet wired with.”

  “How are we going to get all these forces to the Sol sector?” Robert wondered.

  “Gunyoki, Nighthawks, and Lightnings will be ferried using the Glendanon, Quawli, Manamu, Inman, and Gervais,” Nathan explained. “The Forenta will be coming along as well. You can never have too much propellant available. The flatbeds Magruder, Kenna, Golity, and Scroggin have all finished their refits and will be serving as gunboats. Each has been fitted with four plasma turrets and a single quad jump missile launcher. All of these ships and the Orochi will be departing four days ahead of us and should be in position at the rally point by the time the Aurora and the Glendanon jump out to meet them. That will keep a significant amount of our Gunyoki here until hours before mission zero.”

  “I would suggest that we load the Nighthawks and Gunyoki stationed on Corinair onto the Glendanon, and do so at the last possible moment,” Commander Verbeek suggested. “That way, Corinair will be without fighter cover for as brief a time as possible.”

  “Good thinking,” Nathan agreed.

  “We intercept about ninety percent of the Dusahn’s recon flights,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda reported. “They fly fairly direct routes and
rarely recon the far side of Corinair. If the Gunyoki and the Nighthawks jump in close to the Glendanon while she is on the far side of Corinair, the chances of the Dusahn recon flights detecting their departure will be low.”

  “What about when they don’t see them on the ground?” Jessica wondered.

  “The Corinari erected blast shelters over all the fighter parking spots on the airfield,” Commander Verbeek reported. “The Dusahn haven’t been able to detect which ones are or are not occupied for more than a week now.”

  “Work up an op for that,” Nathan instructed. “Gunyoki and Nighthawks will go to the Glendanon. We’ll pickup all the Lightnings from SilTek.”

  “We have a few more Corinari pilots than we have ships,” the commander added. “I can check them out in our Eagles before we go. It won’t be much, but they’ll be better than nothing.”

  “See to it,” Nathan agreed. “We brought a Lightning training simulator with us from SilTek. Get your pilots plugged into it as soon as possible.”

  “Yes sir,” the commander replied.

  “What role will the XKs play?” Robert asked Nathan.

  “The XKs will be responsible for deploying the Ghatazhak strike teams as well as extracting them should it become necessary,” Nathan told him. “They are perfect for hot LZ extraction. They can take a pounding, and their aft shields can be dropped independently of the other shield segments, keeping the ship protected during the extraction.”

  “So we’re not going to be committed to the shooting war?” Robert surmised. “Assuming it comes to that, of course.”

  “After deploying the Ghatazhak, the XKs will return to the rally point and jump in with the rest of the fleet. Again, the greater the show of strength, the better,” Nathan explained. “But if any of our strike teams on the ground call for extraction, that will be the XK’s priority.” Nathan looked around the room, noticing the worried looks on everyone’s faces. “I’m not going to pretend this doesn’t have the potential to turn ugly really fast. In fact, we’re bringing the Mystic Empress along as well, in case we do take heavy casualties. But the fact is, we can’t defeat the Dusahn without the help of the Jung, and that means we have to stop Galiardi’s assault. If we don’t, the Jung will execute the Tonba-Hon-Venar, and the Earth and Nor-Patri will be destroyed. We cannot let that happen.”