Obsidian Ressurection

by T J Bryan

  Abel asked Farn if she had seen any of these new weapons at New Horizons and she replied that the Megra she had met were unmodified.

  Abel thought a moment. "I suspect that the attack at Wu was to verify the efficiency of these new Megra weapons. If we were to adopt a new weapon here in the OCN and given the widespread dispersal of our ships, it might well take a year or two to outfit all our ships with new weapons once we knew they were effective. We should of course prepare for these new weapons and perhaps others not yet detected, but let us not assume that the entire Megra fleet has yet been equipped."

  Emmitt nodded in agreement. "But now we know that the Megra can adapt and innovate. Helen's scans at Dong Son are most illustrative of this adaptation. They seem to have strengthened the connector between the two spheres of their ships. I suspect that targeting the connectors will not have the same effect as it did in the past. But with the addition of the mass needed to protect those connectors I think the ships may well have sacrificed some speed. Helen's scans indicated no increase in engine power and with the significant increase in mass the ships must have become slower.

  Abel spoke next. "Our war has to this point been based on defence. And as we all know this is not a way to win a war. Further the number of ships seen entering Dong Son indicates that the Megra are producing dumbbells, ever modified and improved dumbbells, at a rate that we simply cannot match. Even if our new repair ships could restore the entire lost fleet we would with time be defeated. We must find a way to carry this war to the Megra home worlds. Failure to hit the Megra hard where it hurts, and to force them to draw resources to the protection of their bases, will simply spell our doom."

  Abel continued, "If our repair ships can give us additional SARs I intend to set up a blockade at Cranmore. The only question is how fast our damaged SARs can be equipped for use. If we can get perhaps ten or so online, and given our availability of crews I think we need to blockade Cranmore. Cranmore represents a major entry point to human space and we need to ensure its' defence. Further at Wu we need to more aggressively block the Severan Portal from which the Megra seem to prefer in their attacks."

  Emmitt looked closely at Abel and realized he was withholding the new found knowledge of the Epigoni Neutron Guns which might well prove pivotal to the blockade at Cranmore.

  Abel continued, "As for Polis, Himmer, and New Horizons, I fear that at this moment there is little we can do to defend them. We simply lack the ships."

  Farn stood about to object and Abel responded by staring at her. Farn realized that Abel was right, but to her it seemed wrong, very wrong, to abandon those whom she had told the OCN would support. However they were simply too far away and the OCN too small to protect them. God how Farn had begun to hate war.

  "Farn," said Abel. "I know you don't want to give up on New Horizons. I certainly don't want to do so. But remember the Megra spent 13 ships on a failed attempt to take New Horizons, and you killed off the last survivor with mines. Megra will have no idea how their fleet was defeated. If I were in their shoes, I would either leave New Horizons alone for a while as I figured out why a system without ships was able to wipe out my fleet, or I would assemble an overwhelming flotilla and assault the place with everything I had. In this last case we would be foolish to spend our ships and personnel in a doomed defence. In the former case we are best to leave the system alone until we can return in strength."

  Abel continued, "Now. We need intelligence about Megra. Where are they? How many production yards do they have? Are there other systems they are invading? Do they have other enemies with whom we might seek alliance? We need answers and we need them now. To this end I suggest we choose an expedition to go to Dong Son and enter old Hitti space and determine the whereabouts and strength of our enemy."

  Emma Gunnulf Captain of the Sváva and the Banshees immediately replied, "We are ready to go. In fact the girls and I are anxious to go. We need to put an end to this madness."

  Abel nodded fully expecting Emma's response. "Thank you Emma, but we need a more subtle approach to entering old Hitti space. Don't worry, you and the Banshees will be in forefront of our interdiction to their space, but first we need some changes to our approach."

  Emma wondered what Abel might mean, but was satisfied at his assurance that the Banshees would be in the forefront of any action in old Hitti space.

  The meeting continued on for another two hours with many ideas and alternatives discussed. However at the end everyone was agreed that unless the OCN carried the war into Megra space the war was lost.

  As the meeting broke up Abel approached Helen. "Is that swift ship still in Greenland's hold?"

  "Yes," she replied. "Would you like to look at it."

  "Yes. If you can spare the time I'd like to see it now."

  After a short walk through the Habitat and onto the Navy Dock Helen and Abel entered the Greenland. They greeted the dead watch crew on the bridge, climbed down the ladder to the supercargo quarters and then on to the cargo control bridge. Abel looked around at the room similar to the one in which he had almost died many months ago. Today the room was crowded with technicians moving about cargo containers with the remote cargo handling systems. Abel watched for a few moments and then Helen indicated they should continue on. Eventually they reached 'K' deck which was one of the larger decks on Greenland and in the dim light Abel saw what Helen described as the swift runner. She looked new build and on her side he saw the number 014.

  014 was a fourth the size of a SAR but the distinction was primarily in size. Her delta shape was clearly derived from the SAR design. The main hatch, in fact the only hatch, Abel could see was open and a bright light was streaming into the hold from inside the ship. Two technicians were leaving their hands full of instruments and notebooks.

  Helen climbed the short ladder that led to the hatch and Abel followed. The hatch immediately entered a tiny bridge with seats for only two; a pilot and astrogator. At the rear of the bridge not more than a meter from the flight stations were two bunks. Abel realized that the pilot and astrogator were meant to live on the tiny bridge. A single tight hatch led to a shower toilet combination and a food station. There was no real mess, just a food station on one wall of a short passage to what Abel saw was a standard doc box set up. That was all there was.

  "32 engines?" asked Abel. "Our SARs have only four and 32 is a huge number for so small a ship."

  Helen nodded. "Yes and 014 weighs less than a fifth of a SAR and most of that weight is in the engines and reaction mass. She is built for speed and that is about it. How fast we will need to determine. But I suspect she is a good 15% faster than a SAR and with full GWP she may well be within 80% SOL. In addition her GWP to mass ratio is so low that she might be able to use GWP in many systems where our larger ships cannot."

  Abel shook his head, but not at the speed, but at the tiny claustrophobic bridge. To fly this thing for any length of time would be extremely difficult, and even the closest of friends might find themselves hated enemies at the end of a long voyage. The bridge was just tiny and the living space non-existent.

  Abel looked about and then turned to Helen. "Let's get this thing unloaded and tested as soon as possible."

  Helen responded, "I have her scheduled for unloading late this evening and we have an experienced crew to run diagnostics for a day or two. Then we can test her in system for basic flight characteristics. If we work fast we can have you a full report within a week."

  "Good," replied Abel.

  Helen looked again at the tiny bridge. "Abel your going to have to be extremely careful in choosing who will fly this ship. The psychological risks of this tiny space for long voyages are very real."

  Abel returned to his office. In addition to his usual penchant for mixing up crews with experienced and green sailors to spread the wealth and experience throughout the fleet, he needed to find a crew for the swift runner which he had decided to name Gungnir after the spear of the Norse god Wotan. A fitting name to thrust into the h
eart of the Megra he thought. A fitting name. Now he only needed a crew.

  Chapter One Hundred Five

  Jamon System - Collegium, Naval Wing - Year 3248 September 1 ET 13:20

  "How were the interviews Dr. Manfold?" asked Abel. Dr. Amos Manfold was head of the Psychology Department of the Collegium and a man well respected for both his candor and his deep knowledge of human nature.

  "A challenge Abel," replied Dr. Manfold. "Given the importance of this mission I gave those two you sent to me a very exhausting psychological assessment. I spoke to both for almost an entire day and then followed up yesterday with an additional appraisal. But, Abel I am just not sure if I can fully recommend them."

  "And why not?" asked Abel.

  "Well, let me begin with the obvious problem. Norba Norbanus has excellent skills as both a pilot and astrogator. She seems to fit well into our OCN system and the crews that have served with her respect her. Their respect is real, however none would call her a friend. After the woman's capture and ill treatment by the pirates at Wu something profoundly changed in her."

  Abel responded, "Doctor, if the pirates had murdered my family in front of me, I certainly would have been changed."

  "Agreed. The trauma of that loss was devastating to her, but it is not the loss or the trauma which concern me. It is her desire to seek revenge on those who did her and her family wrong. Norba is a driven woman. If it were not for her obsession with revenge I would give you an unqualified approval of her for this assignment. But I am afraid that as focused as she is, she might just break on this mission."

  "And Quadi Dio? You found her unacceptable?"

  "No, but I do have concerns. She seems to have become an excellent pilot and the crews she has served with both respect her and like her. She has many friends, and even though she shares some of Norba's background while captured by the pirates, she does not seem to be obsessed with their destruction. She seems to have rebounded quite well, but her friends describe her as a 'party girl.' And in my assessment she is compensating for the horrors of her capture by the pirates at Wu with forced gaiety, carousing, and the need for constant action. It is as if she cannot suffer being alone. "

  Abel laughed. "So Norba is a loner and Quadi an extrovert."

  The doctor nodded.

  "And if I were to combine the two into a tiny space for perhaps six months what would happen?"

  Dr. Manfold thought a moment. "Any two healthy humans confined to a small cell, in isolation, without other human contact, and with the prospect of death all around them would probably break. As for Norba and Quadi I have no opinion as to whether they are psychologically stronger or weaker than a well adjusted OCN crewman. Abel I just don't know."

  "Thank you Dr. Manfold. Your assessment is most valuable."

  Moments later Dr. Manfold returned to his Collegium office and Abel sat staring at the ceiling of his office.

  Dr. Manfold had not rejected the pair for the mission on the swift runner Gungnir and he had admitted to Abel that any OCN crewmen might just as well break as those two. Abel made up his mind. Norba Norbanus and Quadi Dio would man the Gungnir on its' mission through Megra space. The Gungnir needed a pilot and astrogator, and in Norba he got both. In Quadi he got another pilot as well. On Abel's roster of pilots and astrogators there were no stronger candidates. He would proceed with what he had.

  Gungnir had been thoroughly surveyed and in her test runs she was astonishingly fast, so fast in fact if given a slight head start she could outrun a sand caster. Abel found himself wondering why Greaysons built such a ship and only one at that. But built so late in the war, and at the hidden Eleos station, they must have seen some urgent need. Unfortunately for Greayson the war ended before 014, now renamed Gungnir, joined the fleet.

  Bennett Nolo entered Abel's office followed by Emmitt Wong. Abel looked up fully prepared to sit and listen to Emmitt complain about Nomi's project. But he was surprised as Emmitt sat with a slight smile upon his face.

  "Something go right for a change Emmitt?" Abel asked.

  "Well not exactly right but certainly better. We found a way to shut down those sub assemblies for the apparatus when they started acting up on their own."

  "How did you do that?"

  "Aelia convinced Nomi to visit the fab as one of them simply started up. Nomi was annoyed and walked over to the unit and adjusted several controls and the system shut down. I had the whole thing on vid so we could duplicate what she did. Then she turned and left the building without saying a word."

  "Good," replied Abel.

  Emmitt went on, "That Aelia is a god send. Without her to intervene on occasion I fear we might fail. Nomi has no interest in the project any longer. Her entire focus now is on those Greayson GWP fragments she has in her lab. She has no time for 'past' accomplishments Aelia tells me."

  "How are our four anti-matter bottles?"

  "Now those are completely intact and ready for fitting into torpedoes. I suspect Toni out at Holgata has already fitted two of them to her torpedoes. We probably have more than one thousand empty torpedoes but we have never had the opportunity to use a loaded one in combat. It should be interesting. I suspect that the Megra are assuming we don't have them."

  Abel thought a moment, "And that assumption might get a number of them killed." Abel paused a moment and then continued, "And the caster assemblies?"

  "Ah, another god send as well. We have 1,100 casters fully assembled and ready go, except for the sand. Or should I say depleted uranium pellets. Those we don't have. Well we probably have enough for three or four casters, but not for the entire lot. I am suggesting we use the diamond dust as caster filler. Our tests two years ago indicated they had almost 80% of the throw weight as the uranium pellets at the maximum closing speed of the caster, and they had the added benefit of dispersing plasma and potential laser fire."

  "When will they be ready?"

  "We have more than enough diamond dust. In fact it is a plague around here. Each caster will take about two metric tons. We should have the first hundred or so ready in a week."

  "And the 'K's Greenland found at Eleos?"

  "Helen found 800 fully assembled and kits for another 200. We went through the 800 assembled units and found that about 8% were defective, or so the tags attached to the missiles indicated. Looks like Greayson put them aside for repair, but they didn't really get around to it until it was too late."

  "Can they be repaired and put into service?"

  Emmitt thought a moment, "Abel I don't know. Perhaps some those 200 kits might help if we need to swap parts, but I really have no idea."

  "So," said Abel we have about 730 good ones?"

  "736, and kits for 200 more including nuclear warheads."

  "And those fabricators Helen brought home. Do we have a status on those?"

  "Abel the fabricators for everything from mess stations to droid manufacture are really complex. We have POOs for most of them but it is going to take months before we know how to operate them. Additionally there are a good dozen she brought back that we simply don't know what they do. Seems some of the POOs were lost in the transfer."

  Emmitt, who had been sitting, rose and walked to the coffee urn. "The repair ship seems good. The crew got the ship to make replacement command comps for the other ship. And both now seem operational." Emmitt paused took a sip of coffee and continued. "Did you know Abel that the name Eir is really the name for the Valkyrie of healing? I thought that a healers name might be applied to those repair ships, but Eir is already taken."

  Abel laughed. It was good to see Emmitt less stressed from the frustrating work on Nomi's project.

  "Emmitt continued, but there are variants of Eir we might try. I found two in the EG; Eria, and Eil. I thought we might try those."

  Abel stood to refill his coffee cup. "How did we start to name our ships after Valkyries? It just seemed to happen."

  "Yes, but in hindsight the crews seem to love the names and the nose art they are now painting on their
ships is rather astonishing."

  "Nose art?"

  "Oh Abel, your spending entirely too much time behind your desk. You need to get out more often."

  Abel wanted to agree, but the effort needed to keep the OCN afloat, as it were, was becoming overwhelming.

  "Emmitt, I am glad you dropped in. I need a recommendation for a couple of folks to help design a monitor to house our Neutron Gun at Cranmore. One of those kids from your munitions committee might fit the bill? Any suggestions?"

  "Two names come to mind. Jason Lambert and Martin Kárason."

  "I remember Lambert. He did a fine job on the mine developments. And Kárason helped Toni Hamilton on building Holgata Station out at Wu."

  "Yes, and Martin Kárason's sister Lydia serves on Ragnarök. He has skin in the game as they say."

  "Well let's get them over here with Professor Hamza Lynn and design this thing. We need to have it ready within a month. I am thinking we might use one of the moons of the two planets in the Cranmore system. Our experience with New Horizons and its' fortress moons might work well at Cranmore. A solid moon is better than an iron box for placing those neutron guns."

  Abel and Emmitt continued talking for another half hour before Bennett interrupted and reminded Abel that he had papers to sign, and four people to talk to who were waiting in the hallway.

  ...

  Wu System - Holgata Station - Year 3248 September 1 ET 19:54