by Saxon Andrew
“And what happens if I’m promoted to replace one of the fleet Commodores?” Lori asked.
Tee smiled, “Then I won’t be as effective, Lori. I think between the two of us, we’re going to make a good team.”
Lori nodded and saw the other fleet commanders arriving. She moved to the console beside Tee and turned to him, “Perhaps you can help me get through this training?”
“I’m not cutting your learning experience, Lori. There are lessons that you’ll learn from struggling with the simulations that are important for your development. We’ll discuss them afterwards, but I know you can do this without my assistance.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because Admiral Talent believes in you and I happen to believe in him. From what I’ve just seen, I agree with his analysis.”
Lori turned to her training console and knew she owed Jee an apology. She would have the opportunity to learn how to command multiple ships without endangering the sailors under her command while she learned. The Admiral must have considered that she had not commanded a ship and decided this was the best way to prepare her. And this man was proving to be easy to work with; her anger was gone, and she looked forward to her training.
• • •
Ka sat with Tal in his office as he got his notes together to start the initial command training class. She said casually, “I thought Rachel was going to send us four assassins to replace the officers we lost to the Colony Fleet.”
Tal stared at his computer screen and replied, “There were a hundred and five that survived the fight in Andromeda. She took seven ships with her giving her thirty-five experienced officers. Her fleet is just as large as ours and I told her to only send me one officer to replace losing Jan.”
“I notice that you’ve made him a fleet commander,” Ka said in a diffident tone as she looked at her nails.
Tal looked up at her, “Yes, I did.”
“Shouldn’t we have discussed that first?” Ka asked as she kept her eyes on her fingers.
Tal’s expression hardened slightly, “Do you not trust my judgement?”
“This has nothing to do…”
“YES, IT DOES, KA!” Tal interrupted.
Ka flinched slightly, and her eyes narrowed, “Just tell me why, Tal.”
Tal’s expression relaxed, “I wish I could.” Ka’s head cocked to the right and Tal added, “I don’t know what it is, but something told me I had to do it. I can’t explain it, but I know it was the right thing to do.”
The corner of Ka’s mouth went up as she asked, “So, your decision wasn’t based on logic?”
“Do you and I being destined to be together come from logic?” Ka’s eyes widened slightly, and Tal turned back to his computer, “I just know I did the right thing and have no doubts about it. Even if you disagree with my decision, I would still make it the same way.”
Ka kept her attention on Tal and said, “Do you know that Jee asked me to try and get you to change your decision?”
Tal looked at her from his computer, “I know Jee was not in favor of it. He tried to talk me out of it.”
“Jee told me that Lori was heartbroken that she wasn’t given a command.”
Tal sighed, “I can understand why, ka. But I…”
“She likes it now, Tal.” Ka interrupted. “Lori contacted Jee after she met this new commodore and apologized for her behavior. Jee asked me to tell you that the issue is no longer an issue.”
“So why are you questioning my decision, Ka?”
Ka smiled, “I like to see destiny in operation. I just wanted to confirm that you had no idea why you did it.” Tal rolled his eyes. “Do you see it differently?” Ka asked.
Tal sighed, “There’s something happening here I don’t understand. I guess destiny is as good a way to describe it as anything else. We need to go and start the class.” Ka stood with him and then hugged him as they left his office.
• • •
Tal entered the room and immediately announced, “Keep your seats! Protocols will not be followed inside this training facility.” The attendees had jumped to their feet and they went back to their chairs. There were sixteen fleet commodores from the Colonies and Earth’s fleets present, along with the four Fleet Admirals. Rachael, Ka, and Lori brought the total to twenty-three and Tal looked around at them, “You are here to learn how to make your units something deadly. The simulations developed for you will be some of the most difficult you’ve ever faced; and you will learn how to master them! I will not be teaching how to operate your new ships, but I encourage you to start learning how to do that as soon as you report to your flagships. You’ll need that knowledge to fully understand the capabilities and limitations of your new Ste Class warships. Unfortunately, you are playing catch up. Most of your crews have been training on their new ships for more than six-months and are close to completing their training. The officers that fought in Andromeda are also behind and their work load is doubled due to their having to master the small unit command training as well as learn how to fly their ships. They will be working double shifts to catch up and unfortunately, there’s no avoiding it.”
Tee raised his hand. Tal turned to him, “Yes, Commodore Brisbane.”
“Would it be possible to go to the ship operations training building and start learning how to operate our ships after hours?”
“I’ll allow it but if I see a drop off in your class performance here I will stop it!” Tal answered.
“Thank you, Sir.”
The other attendees stared at Tee and he was oblivious to it. Lori was surprised by his question but decided that she would join him, as long as she could hold up. This class was going to be a real doozey.
• • •
Frank sat at his console and finished the first command simulation. He heard Harmony say under her breath next to him, “DAMN!”
Frank leaned over and whispered, “Divide your wing into three units instead of two.” Harmony turned to him and saw him nod.
She followed his advice and thirty-minutes later completed the simulation. “Thanks, Frank.”
“What did you learn, Harmony?”
“Don’t get fixed on two equal sized units; three offers more flexibility,” she replied.
Frank smiled and started the second simulation. He didn’t want to show off and deliberately took his time completing them. The instructor busted him the next day and read him the riot act at not giving his best effort. Frank shook his head, oh for the days of being a simple scanning officer.
• • •
Duncan looked at Col. Sato and smiled, It appears the Cyrens have decided to stay at home.”
Sato stared at the report from the scouts and agreed, “That’s a good thing, Sir.”
“The problem is that most of the civilizations attacking the Brotherhood have decided to do the same thing, Colonel,” Duncan remarked. “I can’t say I blame them; the Brotherhood’s small ships are ravishing their fleets whenever they launch an attack.”
Sato read further down the report and turned to Duncan, “I guess that means we’ll be the only ones attacking them.” Sato paused and asked, “Why don’t we just hold off attacking them while we build up our number of warships, Sir?”
Duncan pulled up a map of the Andromeda Galaxy showing the area the Brotherhood conquered. “Colonel, the Brotherhood has 252 planets they’ve conquered with more than forty-thousand warships defending them; we currently have nine hundred new Ste class warships to use against them. Keep in mind that every city on those conquered planets has a ship building facility on them. They, on average, complete two warships a week on each of those planets. The aliens are no longer attacking them and if we leave them alone, they will add 504 warships to their ranks every week. In two weeks they’ll add more warships than we currently have in our fleets.”
Duncan stared at the map and then turned to Sato, “When they reach a tipping point in numbers, they are going to start going out to scout for other civilizations they�
��ve not encountered to date and will probably start conquering new planets. If they do that, the new colonies might be found.” Sato looked back at the map of Andromeda and Duncan added the caveat, “Each of those warships carry two-hundred berserkers on board. Without adding any new ships, they have over ten million berserkers to use against us.”
Sato turned back to Duncan, “I thought we were making progress against them. If what you say is true…” Sato shrugged.
“Nine hundred warships will be a huge improvement over the fifteen Sha’s we’ve been using but the numbers are still very much in their favor. The best we can do is hope to kill enough of them to keep their current numbers where they are.” Duncan stated.
“Is Admiral Talent and Meadows aware of this situation?”
Duncan chuckled, “Tal is the one that pointed it out to me. I was getting excited about how our larger fleets will make a difference and he brought me back down to earth. We’re basically back to where we started. Without the Aliens reducing their numbers, we’re just taking up their load and trying to maintain the status quo.”
“Did he say anything else, Sir.”
Duncan exhaled a long slow breath, “Yes. He says he anticipates the Brotherhood fleets will go ahead and start launching their small ship to surround their fleets at a distance, which will prevent our ships from moving in and taking a shot at their warships. The war in Andromeda is only going to grow worse as the brotherhood changes their tactics to counter our new warships.”
Sato smiled, “We must build them faster, Sir.”
Duncan shook his head, “We have the fifty colonies and Earth building our warships, Sato. They have 252 planets building them; there’s no possible way we can match their building capacity.” Sato glanced at the map again and shrugged.
• • •
“THIS IS REDICULOUS!!”
Tal looked down to his console and glanced at Tee’s results. “What are you crying about, Brisbane!? You completed the simulation!”
Tee glared at Tal, “If you call successfully escaping the berserkers chasing my ships a victory, then I’m very successful! But I didn’t get a shot off at their warships and all that’s going to happen is the berserkers I destroyed will be replaced in a day or so. This is absurd!”
The other attendees in the class stopped what they were doing and listened in to the back-and-forth. Lori hoped Tal would go easy on Tee, but this was bordering on insubordination. Tal leaned forward and smiled at Tee with a menacing expression, “And just what would you do differently, Commodore?!”
Lori heard Tal use Tee’s rank and knew he was not happy. Tee’s lips pursed and held up a finger, “First, the missiles we’re using cost more to manufacture than one of those berserkers. It’s a abhorrent waste of money and it’s the missiles that allow us to escape them. Tee held up another finger, “Secondly, the Brotherhood uses the berserkers to keep us away from their warships, right Admiral?” Tal’s eyes were narrow, but he nodded agreement. “Sir, we need a new weapon,” Tee said firmly.
Tal’s eyebrows joined his narrow eyes and he sat back in his chair. “And what are you suggesting, Commodore Brisbane?”
“It seems to me that the Brotherhood warships launch two-hundred berserkers each to keep us off their major ships. We need a weapon to keep the berserkers off our ships long enough to attack them,” Tee answered.
Tal glanced at Ka and then said to Tee, “It’s a little late for that. Our ships can’t be modified for a new weapon platform.”
“Then use the one we have, Sir,” Tee replied. “Sir, it makes no economic sense to launch our major missiles at those small ships. I mean, they aren’t armored; I could probably spit on one and it’d explode. We need a new small missile that can be launched in high numbers ahead of our ships to take out the berserkers. They’ll clear a path for the Ste’s to get in and cause some major damage to their warships.”
“Tee, it’s too late to modify the missile tubes to handle this smaller missile you’re talking about,” Tal repeated.
“Sir, you can just have them locked into a holding ring the diameter of the tube. Once the ring is fired, the missiles will separate and head toward their targets. You could have up to twenty rings with fifty small missiles in each ring in each tube. They can all be launched simultaneously putting a thousand of them ahead of us targeted on the berserkers close enough to attack us.” Tal leaned back in his chair and Tee continued, “You can have one front and rear missile launcher loaded with the rings and leave the others to take on Brotherhood warships.” Tal lowered his eyes and Tee smiled and shrugged, “You can call them Bees, wasps, hornets, or any other stinging insect that doesn’t give up chasing anyone that endangers their nest. These missiles will not give up chasing their targets either.”
Tal looked over at Ka and she stood up, “I’m on it!” She left the training room for Duncan’s office.
Tal turned back to the class, “Alright, break is over; get back to your simulations!” Lori glanced at Tal and saw him deep in thought. She wondered what was going to come from Tee’s suggestion.
Chapter Six
Ka sat in Duncan’s office and listened to the engineers and scientists arguing about Tee’s suggestion. Dr. Meier insisted that it wasn’t possible and most of those in attendance agreed with him. Having missiles up against each other in a missile tube was just too dangerous. Duncan didn’t want to accept their answer but found that greater minds than his insisted it wasn’t. He exhaled sharply and was ready to adjourn the meeting when a young scientist, recently arrived from the colonies raised his hands, “Why is this so difficult?” Everyone in the room turned to him with frowns on their faces. They had already explained clearly why it was.
Duncan turned to him, “Do you know how it could be done?”
The scientist looked like he was fifteen-years-old, and he said carefully, “Everything that’s been suggested won’t work.”
Duncan nodded to him, “Go on.”
“However, every suggestion has the missiles locked into rings up against each other. Why not lock the rings in a sled under them and the thrust from the tube’s pressure will hit the rear of the sled launching it out of the missile tube with the rings locked on it? The rings can be locked to the sled and once the sled exits the tube, just have the rings compressed such that they expand and fly away releasing the missiles at different distances from each other.”
Everyone in the conference room was staring at the young scientist. Duncan turned to Dr. Meier, “Does what he’s suggesting have merit, Doctor.”
A senior engineer spoke up, “It does, Admiral. I can build it in less than two weeks. Of course, it would be good to have this new missile available to check it out.”
Duncan turned back to Chris, “Dr. Meier; your take on this.”
Dr. Meier was clearly agitated but he nodded, “Yes, what he’s just described would remove the danger of loose missiles in the tubes.”
Duncan smiled, “I need a software program capable of programming that many missiles on thousands of targets at an incredible speed. I also need the engineers here to develop a small missile that can fly faster than a berserker and is more maneuverable. Get moving on this!!”
The room emptied and Duncan looked at Ka, “Please let him know we’re working on this.”
Ka nodded and said quietly to Duncan, “Dr. Meier has to go, Duncan.”
“Why do you say that? You know all he’s done for us.”
“Yes, but he sees that new scientist as an adversary. He issued his opinion that caused the other attendees to only see this new weapon through his eyes. He’s angry that this new scientist proved him wrong. Trust me, he will do everything in his power to remove him because he embarrassed him.”
“How do you know that, Ka?”
“Why was he so reluctant to voice his suggestion, Duncan? Chris has already shot him down for disagreeing with him before. Watch and see if I’m not right,” Ka suggested as she stood up.
“If that happens, I’ll
take the necessary steps, Ka.”
“Be gentle with him, Duncan. He does deserve our honor and respect.”
Duncan nodded and a week later asked for Chris Meier’s resignation; he didn’t have to ask twice. Chris knew his time had passed and was relieved to step aside for the new and upcoming intellects filling the roles needed by Earth and the Colonies. It was the young scientist that wrote the software in less than a week to control the new missiles.
• • •
Tal looked at Ka over dinner and saw her sadness, “What’s wrong, Ka?”
Ka sighed, “I said something to Duncan that led to Chris being fired.” Tal put his hand on hers and she sighed before saying, “He played such a pivotable role in our coming to Earth.”
“If you mean we came here to kill him, you’re right.”
Ka jerked her head up to him, “TAL!”
“Ka, you quickly recognized he wasn’t all that soon after we arrived. He was the best we had at the time, but he’s fallen behind and hasn’t been effective for the last year; the best thing happened.”
“I know…but I hate that I had to do it.”
“You played a role, but he could have saved himself at any point by working to get better. Instead he looked at anyone smarter than him as an adversary. He acted like Katy did at the academy.”
Ka looked at him, “Did you know this before I told Duncan?”
“I told Duncan weeks ago and he ignored me. Coming from you, it had more punch. You worked with him and Duncan believes you know more than I do about the inner workings of the lab.”
“Duncan should have seen it himself,” Ka muttered.
“Ka, I believe he did. He was just reluctant to remove him because of all that he’s done in the past.” Ka nodded absently. Tal paused and continued, “I told Duncan that if the time comes where you and I need to be replaced, he shouldn’t hesitate to do it.”
“What?”
