Campbell- The Problem With Bliss

by Richard F. Weyand

  Tsukuda sighed.

  “These sorts of things are always very difficult. Political murders are always a mess. We have over a hundred foreign consulates in Joy, one from Earth, of course, plus most of the Outer Colonies. And they’re always playing cat and mouse with each other.”

  “Wow. All in all, I think I’d rather have my job than yours, Chief.”

  “Yes. Well, thank you for your time, Ma’am. I didn’t hold much hope for an answer here, but one does need to cover the bases.”

  “Understood, Chief. And if there’s anything else I can do to help, don’t hesitate to get in touch.”

  Tsukuda left and Rao thought back over the conversation. She hadn’t lied to Tsukuda. Not exactly. Senior Captain William Campbell reported directly to Sigurdsen, and was not under her command authority. And their records did show him aboard CSS Patryk Mazur for those eighteen days.

  On Saturday morning, after ten days at the resort, Campbell and Childers were waiting on the shuttle pad after another one of those terrific breakfasts, watching the admiral’s launch from the Patryk Mazur maneuver for a landing.

  They had solved their unpacking problem by the simple expedient of sending all their clothes, including their uniforms, out for laundering, and spent the ten days not wearing anything at all. As a result, being back in uniform seemed strange to the point of alien, though they both looked splendid in their professionally laundered and pressed uniforms. In this, as in everything else, the resort exceeded every expectation.

  As the shuttle lifted into the air, they watched the resort fall away below them. First the central buildings, then the widely scattered beach houses along the miles of beach.

  “Well, now we know why they call it Bliss,” Childers said.

  The admiral’s launch took them directly to the Patryk Mazur in orbit. They had said their goodbyes to Admiral Rao last Tuesday.

  The shuttle docked in its own bay on the bow, outboard of the main shuttle bays. Other shuttle operations were held while the admiral’s launch docked and the bow wall rotated up to speed to match the ship before the ship’s docking tube was extended to the launch. The more outboard location gave a slightly higher apparent gravity than docking closer to the rotational center of the ship.

  Admiral Childers’ aide was standing by with a baggage crew to take their things to their cabin, so Campbell and Childers debarked the shuttle and headed directly to their quarters.

  The flat, slightly stale smell of recycled shipboard air was both a shock and a welcome home after so long at the tropical resort.

  Childers was on the flag bridge Monday morning when the squadron was ready to break orbit.

  “All ships report ready for departure, Ma’am.”

  “Squadron orders. Prepare to make way.”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Squadron orders, prepare to make way, transmitted.”

  The maneuvering warning sounded, and the Patryk Mazur started slowing its spin until it finally hung stopped in its orbit. There was zero gravity aboard the ship. There was a slight lurch and feeling of movement as the crew cylinders folded back against the ship. A distant metallic clatter and clanking marked the cylinders being latched in place.

  “All ships report ready to make way, Ma’am.”

  “Squadron orders. Space for zero mark zero-nine-zero on the planet, one gravity acceleration.”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Zero mark zero-nine-zero on the planet, one gravity. Spacing orders transmitted.”

  Apparent gravity gradually built until there was a full one-g on the flag bridge. Under rotation, so high in the cylinder, it had been only 0.4 g in orbit.

  “All ships report under way, Ma’am.”

  Childers watched Bliss fall away behind them in the display. She wondered how they would fare against the Duval incursion if it came.

  Second Incursion

  Rear Admiral Frank Stenberg of the Duval Space Navy was still flying his flag on the light cruiser DNS Solar Wind. The light cruisers would be the first to make hyperspace transition into the Bliss system, and he wanted to be in a position to evaluate what was going on and make command decisions in normal-space, not sitting in hyperspace.

  He hoped he had a tactical plan that would work against the likely CSF reaction to his incursion attempt. Unlike some other DSN officers, he had a healthy respect for the CSF, and he knew they would have made accommodations to counter him after his last incursion attempt. He also worried about Admiral Childers and her squadron having just been here for training and exercises. He had planned and gamed his moves to several likely scenarios.

  He just hoped they were good enough.

  Aboard DNS Solar Wind

  The division of Duval light cruisers, with two destroyers riding shotgun, transitioned out of hyperspace right on the system periphery of Bliss at zero mark ninety on Bliss-6.

  “Hyperspace transition complete,” Duval Space Navy Lieutenant Henry Ambrogi said.

  “We’re collecting data now, Sir,” Lieutenant Commander Debra Hansen said. “We have multiple warships – at least two squadrons, probably three – active around Bliss. Hard to make it all out at this distance.”

  “And Bliss-6?” asked Stenberg.

  “We have eight ships at standby power levels in orbit around Bliss-6, Sir. No class determination possible yet.”

  “Keep an eye on them, Commander. Let me know as soon as they power up.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Let’s get under way, Mr. Ambrogi. Division orders. Set course for Bliss-6c at 1.7 gravities.”

  The four light cruisers got under way, while the destroyers remained at the system periphery.

  Aboard CSS Whittier

  “Sir, we have a hyperspace transition at zero mark zero-nine-zero on Bliss-6,” Lieutenant Theresa Sato said. “Right on the system periphery. Six warships, Outer Colony design. I make them as four light cruisers, two destroyers. The cruisers are beginning acceleration toward Bliss-6 at 1.7 gravities.”

  “Squadron orders,” Jessen said. “Power up and set course zero mark zero-nine-zero on Bliss-6 at two gravities.”

  “Set course zero mark zero-nine-zero on Bliss-6 at two gravities. Orders transmitted, Sir.”

  Aboard CSS Hannibal

  “Ma’am, we have a hyperspace transition at zero mark zero-nine-zero on Bliss-6. From this distance it’s hard to tell much, but it looks like four light cruisers and two destroyers. Outer Colony design. The cruisers are beginning acceleration toward Bliss-6,” Lieutenant Anish Krueger said.

  “The destroyers are staying put?” Admiral Vina Novotny asked.

  “Yes, Ma’am. They are stationary at the system periphery.”

  “Right on profile, George. And they brought destroyers this time,” Novotny said to her chief of staff.

  “Do you think Captain Jessen is right, Ma’am? That means they have another force sitting in hyperspace?” Senior Captain George Kang asked.

  “No other reason for it. They’re standing picket. Let’s go ahead and get Admiral Kohut on his way.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Aboard CSS Siberia

  “Sir, message from Admiral Novotny. Spacing Plan Orange-2.”

  “All right. Squadron orders. Orange-2. Maximum acceleration,” Rear Admiral Andro Kohut said.

  The Orange group of maneuvers were specials. Not in the Fleet Book of Maneuvers, they were drawn up special for this potential incursion. Orange-2 was ‘head to the nearest system periphery as fast as you can.’

  The idea was to convince the Duval incursion to keep coming in, deeper into the system, and trap them there.

  Aboard DNS Solar Wind

  “They’ve powered up, Sir,” Hansen said. “I make it eight destroyers. Coming out to meet us at two gravities.”

  “Two gravities?” Stenberg asked.

  “Yes, Sir. Two gravities.”

  Stenberg’s chief of staff, Captain Maryanne Caro, came up alongside him. “Well, Sir, they must have replaced the two destroyers they lost, because this time the
y’re definitely all destroyers.”

  “And they’re not afraid to let us know it, which does not give me a good feeling. Let’s keep our eyes open for the other shoe to drop.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Sir,” Hansen said. “I just picked up a squadron of light cruisers making for the system periphery from that gaggle of ships around Bliss. They’re pulling 1.75 gravities, Sir.”

  “They’re pushing their margins awfully hard to do that, Sir,” Caro said.

  “Yeah, that sure looks like a knee-jerk emergency response to me. So maybe we really did catch them by surprise.”

  Aboard CSS Hannibal

  Travel in from the published system periphery was measured in days, even at 1.7 or 2 gravities. The tension on all the ships involved grew as the hours passed.

  Finally, eight hours after the incursion began, Admiral Novotny gave the order.

  “Fleet orders. Orange-4. Division orders. Red-5 at ten light-seconds from the system periphery.”

  Hiding on the other side of the sun from Stenberg’s ships, Admiral Novotny’s CSS Hannibal, and her division mates, the CSS Akbar, the CSS Ulysses S. Grant, and the CSS Scipio Africanus, slipped into hyperspace unnoticed.

  Aboard CSS Anderson Lail

  “Fleet orders, Sir. Orange-4.”

  “All right. Division orders. Red-5 on the system periphery at zero mark zero-nine-zero on Bliss-6. Maintain hyperspace generators on standby,” Rear Admiral Salvatore Heyerdahl said, aboard his flagship, the heavy cruiser CSS Anderson Lail.

  In naming their heavy cruisers, the CSF had run out of signers of the Charter of the Commonwealth, so they had moved on to other heroes of the War of Independence.

  The CSS Anderson Lail and her division mates, the CSS Marc Heller, the CSS Jennifer Lowenthal, and the CSS Brian Holcomb, disappeared into hyperspace.

  Aboard DNS Solar Wind

  “Sir, I just had a division of CSF heavy cruisers disappear into hyperspace,” Hansen said.

  “How did they get to the system periphery?” Stenberg asked.

  “They didn’t, Sir. They transitioned from where they were. About twenty-five percent of the way in from the periphery.”

  “There’s the other shoe dropping, Maryanne,” Stenberg said to his chief of staff.

  “If they can transition inside the system periphery, we’ve got troubles,” Caro said.

  “Maybe, maybe not. The approaches to Bliss have to be the most well-mapped in the whole system. I doubt they can pull that off just anywhere. Still, I think we should flip ship and get headed out of here, at least for the moment.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Division orders. Flip ship and resume acceleration.”

  “Division orders transmitted, Sir.”

  Stenberg’s division continued on toward Bliss-6, even as its acceleration toward the system periphery began reducing their velocity. It would be eight hours before they came to a halt, and another eleven hours before they passed the system periphery on the way out.

  Meanwhile, the division of CSF destroyers continued to close the distance. At this rate, they would catch Stenberg’s light cruisers before they would pass beyond the system periphery.

  Hours passed without any sign of the CSF heavy cruisers. Stenberg’s division finally slowed to a halt and started building velocity out of the system.

  After eight more hours accelerating toward the system periphery, with the CSF destroyers now only twelve light-seconds behind them, they were halfway out from where they had come to a stop. Since they weren’t going to decelerate, but keep right on accelerating, they had only three more hours until they could escape the system.

  Aboard CSS Whittier

  “Distance to enemy cruisers?” Jessen asked.

  “Twelve light-seconds, Sir.”

  “Have we passed into the outer system envelope?”

  “Yes, Sir. We just passed the boundary.”

  “Squadron orders. Hyperspace transition on the mark. Communications, stand by to transmit tactical plot. Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Mark.”

  The CSS Whittier and her seven squadron mates executed a synchronized transition into hyperspace. With transition complete, Whittier transmitted the tactical plot to Admiral Heyerdahl aboard the Anderson Lail.

  Aboard DNS Solar Wind

  “Sir, those destroyers just hypered out,” Hansen said.

  “OK, here’s where it gets interesting. Keep an eye on the system periphery. Tell Captain Donati aboard Swift Spear to stand by.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Aboard CSS Anderson Lail

  “Sir, we have the tactical plot from the Whittier.”

  Heyerdahl looked at the plot with a critical eye. All was proceeding as Orange-4 had anticipated. No reason to diverge from the plan now.

  “Division orders. Hyperspace transition on the mark, maintain hyperspace generators on standby, and prepare for immediate transition back into hyperspace.”

  “Division orders transmitted, Sir. Counting down.”

  Aboard DNS Solar Wind

  “Sir, hyperspace transition dead ahead. Four heavy cruisers at the system periphery.”

  “Order Captain Donati to execute Paul Revere,” Stenberg said.

  “Aye, Sir.”

  The two destroyers had been accelerating away from the system periphery, and the four CSF heavy cruisers had transitioned into normal-space right on top of where they had been. The destroyers transitioned into hyperspace.

  Aboard CSS Anderson Lail

  “Sir, those two destroyers just transitioned into hyperspace.”

  “Division orders,” Heyerdahl said. “Red-4 on the enemy cruisers at six light-seconds. Firing Plan Alpha. Guns free. Transmit tactical plot to Hannibal on transition.”

  The Anderson Lail and her cohorts disappeared into hyperspace.

  “Hyperspace transition complete. Transmitting tactical plot to Hannibal.”

  Aboard DNS Galactic Rim

  “Sir, the Swift Spear has transitioned. Captain Donati has transmitted the tactical plot.”

  Aboard the heavy cruiser DNS Galactic Rim, Rear Admiral Robert Siegel had been waiting in hyperspace for hours for this moment.

  “Division orders. Hyperspace transition. Guns free. Fire at will.”

  “Orders transmitted, Sir.”

  Aboard CSS Hannibal

  The CSS Hannibal and her division mates had spent the intervening sixteen hours in hyperspace, circumnavigating the inner boundary of the inner envelope – the hard system limit – from hiding behind the sun on the other side of the system to ten-light seconds outside the point on the published system periphery where the hostile incursion had first appeared. Admiral Novotny had been in position for only a little over an hour when the tactical plot came in from the Anderson Lail.

  “Division orders. Hyperspace transition on the mark. Firing Plan Alpha. Guns free,” Novotny said.

  “Orders transmitted, Ma’am. Counting down.”

  After Captain Jessen’s destroyers disappeared into hyperspace, everything happened very quickly.

  The heavy cruisers CSS Anderson Lail, CSS Marc Heller, CSS Jennifer Lowenthal, and CSS Brian Holcomb appeared at the system periphery.

  The destroyers DNS Swift Spear and DNS Swift Arrow disappeared into hyperspace.

  The heavy cruisers CSS Anderson Lail, CSS Marc Heller, CSS Jennifer Lowenthal, and CSS Brian Holcomb disappeared back into hyperspace.

  The heavy cruisers DNS Galactic Rim, DNS Galactic Center, DNS Galactic Arm, and DNS Galactic Drift, together with the destroyers DNS Swift Spear, DNS Swift Arrow, DNS Swift Spur, and DNS Swift Foot, appeared three light-seconds outside of the system periphery, ready to fire on Admiral Heyerdahl’s heavy cruisers, only to find they were no longer there.

  The heavy cruisers CSS Anderson Lail, CSS Marc Heller, CSS Jennifer Lowenthal, and CSS Brian Holcomb appeared directly in front of Admiral Stenberg’s division of light cruisers at six light-seconds, outside of his range of them, but within the
ir range of him.

  The battleships CSS Hannibal, CSS Akbar, CSS Ulysses S. Grant, and CSS Scipio Africanus appeared ten light-seconds outside the published system periphery and seven light-seconds behind Admiral Siegel’s heavy cruisers and destroyers, which had all their guns pointed in the other direction.

  The outcome of heavy cruisers firing on light cruisers or battleships firing on heavy cruisers is seldom in doubt. The heavier ship’s beams can strike the lighter ship from outside its range, cutting through its shields like they weren’t there.

  The Commonwealth Space Force ships opened fire immediately on returning to normal space, and all the Duval Space Navy ships in the Bliss system disappeared into fireballs and clouds of debris under their withering fire.

  Hutan

  “Squadron orders. Prepare for hyperspace transition,” Rear Admiral Jan Childers said on the flag bridge of the Patryk Mazur.

  “Yes, Ma’am. Prepare for hyperspace transition. Orders transmitted.”

  They were approaching Hutan after a three-week crossing. Stop number six on the Grand Tour of eight planets in two years.

  “All ships report ready for transition, Ma’am.”

  “Squadron orders. Hyperspace transition on the mark.”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Squadron orders, transition on the mark. Five... four... three... two... one. Mark.”

  Childers felt her stomach wiggle for a split-second, and then the display came alive with the normal-space view.

  “All ships report transition complete, Ma’am.”

  “Mr. Krueger, anything special going on?” Childers asked.

  “No, Ma’am. System scans are normal status. No foreign military vessels present. CSF and commercial traffic patterns normal,” Lieutenant Krueger said.