by T J Bryan
Abel had concerns about the assignment and this strange ship. Norba Norbanus and Quadi Dio were her crew and he was never fully convinced that the introvert and the extrovert were really compatible on what would be a long, long voyage in a tiny cramped space on a ship with only speed for defence. At the last moment the space had been made even smaller by Nomi's insistence that the Gungnir carry her new experimental package. Aelia had approached Abel late in the evening before departure and informed him that Nomi had reduced the size of the experimental package by 22% and that Nomi insisted that the package be part of the expedition to old Hitti space. Abel had objected, but Aelia insisted. Aelia informed Abel that the new instruments provided by Nomi would identify masked portals and perhaps provide information on portals whose destination was unknown or unknowable. Finally a compartment had been found which would hold Nomi's package but the last moment addition only raised Abel's concern for the mission. The price paid for adding the package was the removal of two hard vac suits and the sacrifice of these suits for Nomi's experiments deeply bothered Abel. But he also knew that if the swift runner Gungnir ever got into enough trouble for her crew to need hard vac suits that the ship was lost as well as the mission. In the balance of risks and rewards he sided with the experiments and their instrument package, but the decision did not add to his comfort.
Norba and Quadi stood just outside the hatch of Gungnir and both seemed rather nervous. Most OCN crews on departure from the Habitat were full of expectations and excitement at their coming voyage. However, everyone on the dock knew the risks that Gungnir faced and no amount of happy talk could deny the gravity of the mission.
Abel stepped forward and took the hand of Norba in a firm grip. Then he turned and did the same with Quadi. "I know you will do your duty, and god speed to you." The irony of this departure finally hit Abel. Norba and Quadi were not from Jamon, but had been liberated at Wu. In some sense this would be an all Wu assignment.
Quadi immediately turned and entered the hatch, while Norba lingered a moment looking wistfully about the dock before turning to the hatch. Before entering Norba looked at Abel, "Don't worry so much Admiral. This is a good ship and at worst we don't return, however come hell or high water we both shall be back." Moments later the hatch closed and the telltale went from green to yellow to red. Abel stepped forward to the plasticine window as he watched the small ship pull away from the station on manoeuvring jectors.
Mia Li followed, "Abel do they have a chance?"
While still watching the ship fade into the distance Abel replied, "Yes. They will make it into old Hitti space. Of that I have no real doubt."
"And will they return?" she asked.
Abel did not answer.
Mia Li, Helen, and the Chairman soon left the cold dock and returned to the Habitat. Emmitt stayed at Abel's side.
Emmitt spoke his breath forming a white cloud. "Would you like to examine the anti-matter torpedoes? We have them stored just a few hundred meters away in the ammunition locker."
Abel, who was looking to break his rather grim train of thought replied, "Yes. I have never really seen them and this might be interesting."
Silently Emmitt and Abel crossed the dock to the far end and passed through one of the thickest hatches Abel had ever seen. Built 400 years ago the munitions locker had been intended to store demolition materials needed for mining. These explosive devices were often nuclear and although any explosion of one of those devices inside the locker would completely destroy the Habitat, solid walls and hatches had been constructed to separate the explosives from the dock. Everyone knew the thick walls were for making citizens feel safe, when almost everyone knew the contents were not safe at all. However as the Commonwealth grew the explosives were moved to Dio, an asteroid far away, which was now famous for Abel's make shift shrimp farm as well as its' hot house tomatoes and carrots.
As they entered the munitions locker Emmitt began describing the torpedoes. "As you know Abel we have over a thousand of these torpedo shells, but they have been useless to us since Unity removed their anti-matter containment bottles when they sequestered the Greayson fleet. We have a supply of empty bottles as well and a number of devices used to transfer the dangerous liquid from storage tanks to the bottles. But we have never been able to obtain anti-matter, and our one successful prior acquisition still lies on one of Wu's moons as we are unable to open the container in safety."
Abel had heard all this before but was happy to let Emmitt speak. Emmitt's descriptions kept his mind off of the Gungnir and her probably suicidal mission.
Over two hundred anti-matter torpedoes were lined up in three neat rows in the munitions locker. The ceiling was rather low, but the space was very wide. Much wider than the Navy Dock itself. The torpedoes each sat in cradles which put them a good half meter above the deck. The torpedoes were about 18 meters in length and powered by a small fusion engine. Abel knew that they were slow compared to 'K's and sluggards compared to casters. But something in the nature of anti-matter required a relatively slow speed and the presence of the anti-matter itself led to a rather primitive guidance system of gyros and timers. No real comp driven guidance could be fitted anywhere near anti-matter as it interfered with computer systems. Abel had studied some history of these devices and knew that any old salt in the old Earth wet navy might well recognize the torpedo's guidance system. The torpedoes lined up near the entrance to the locker were open and their anti-matter containment bottles were installed but Abel could tell from the systems status monitors that they were empty.
"Over here Abel we have 60 active torpedoes that Toni sent to us as a result of the visit of the Xitang Emperor. She seems to have kept 20 for herself, and I supplied four to Ana Arast's flotilla. I am about to send most of them out to our ships. Then there is the six Helen found at Eleos. So all in all we have 96 and the Megra are still probably assuming we have none."
Abel looked down at the nearest active torpedo. It looked no different from the others, but its' systems status panel which was fitted against one side of the torpedo housing flashed the brief message - 'armed.'
They continued walking and soon found themselves among the 'K's and casters recovered from Eleos. There were only a few hundred of each as the supply had immediately been diminished by the demands of the fleet for replenishment of their spent supplies. While the long lines of 'K's and casters looked impressive, Abel knew that at their current rate of expenditure they would not last more than six to nine months, and if the Megra launched a major attack then they might all be gone in a month or two.
Abel noticed two technicians working on one of the 'K's and he approached them. As soon as they saw Abel they turned and one saluted. They were civilians and from the Fabricators Guild at that, but Abel returned the salute.
"You folks working on these 'K's?" asked Abel with a forced smile on his face. Abel took a look at the name tags sewn into the jump suits of the technicians. One tag read Robert Renner and the other Thomaso Santos. Both names he recognized. "Robert its your sister Jerry on Greenland?"
Robert stood a little taller. "Yup. My kid sister. Makes us proud she does."
Abel continued "And you Thomaso, is your sister Isabella Santos of the Banshees?"
"No, Isabella is my first cousin. And she is the best thing to happen to the Santos clan in a hundred years." Abel could see the pride in both the middle aged men of their family members in service to the defence of the Commonwealth.
Emmitt spoke, "Thomaso and Robbie are making repairs to this 'K'. It was one with a tag that said it needed repairs. Didn't apparently pass final inspection."
"And what was wrong?" asked Abel.
Thomaso replied. "Seems this junction box here," and he pointed into the open case of the 'K'. "It had a fault. Probably would have kept the 'K' in the tube as a jam."
"How can it be repaired?" asked Abel.
"Well," replied Thomaso, "We got them kits over there. You know for making new 'K's, we just take the parts from them. The fa
ults in these bad 'K's seem to be from hasty assembly and some can be fixed just by resetting the subs, other require swapping out parts. Give us another two weeks an all of the defective 'K's will pass diagnostics. And then Isabella and her Banshees can put it to those bastards."
Abel laughed. "And I am sure Isabella will put it right up the Megra rear and make it really hurt."
Thomaso smiled as did Robert Renner.
It was at that moment that the idea occurred to Abel of a way to relieve some of the stress and burn out among the fabricators. What he began to plan would be only a temporary reprieve, but even temporary was welcome as the burden of the war fell heavily upon the Fabricators Guild.
By noon Emmitt and Abel were back in the Admiral's office at the Collegium. Bennett Nolo was obviously irritated at their late arrival and several important personages had important meetings with the important Admiral. Abel turned to Bennett as he entered the office with Emmitt. "Bennett see if you can get me a few moments before I need to speak with the next important person." Bennett nodded but Abel knew he was unhappy.
"Sit down Emmitt. I have an idea I want to float on you."
Emmitt sat and Abel continued. "Our Fabricators Guild is exhausted and the accident rate is rising and the productivity level is falling. We must do something, but both of us know that we will be demanding even more work in the coming weeks. Our fortress build for Cranmore may well break our workers. We need to do something."
Emmitt replied, "Your right Abel. We can't keep this up much longer."
Abel sat and stared up at the high ceiling of his office. "I am going to propose that we have a celebration. A day off from hard work and labour to celebrate the Fabricators Guild and their families."
Emmitt shook his head. "Abel, we can't afford that. A day of lost production is too much. We hold Cranmore by a thread and if the Megra launch an attack, as that last seen in Xitang, we are going to loose the system and probably the critical link at Girots as well. No this is a bad idea."
"Listen to me Emmitt. We hold a big party in the park near the fabrication complex. We invite the entire population and we hold a ceremony. We honor all the fabricators for their hard work. We honor Dixon Kelly for his sacrifice. Then we call each fabricator with a family member or relative in the OCN forward to receive recognition for their effort. We give them a medal of some sort. Perhaps a silver lapel pin. Nothing ostentatious, perhaps subtle, but recognizable to everyone."
Emmitt shook his head, "I thought you opposed medals and citations. You said everyone serves with distinction and separating them into categories with medals only diminishes their efforts."
"True, Emmitt. And I still feel that way about the OCN. Special recognition need only go to those who die in service and to their families. But the civilians are different and they need something tangible which recognizes their efforts and sacrifice."
Emmitt thought a moment. "Well a day off will hurt production, but I know that this continued pace will hurt it even worse. So this might work. We can get the Chairman and some of the politicians to give speeches and award the medals or pins. The Collegium Orchestra might play some music, and we might take a weeks production of shrimp for a barbeque. We might place a monument in the park as well. Some kind of memorial. Yes, that might work."
Emmitt continued, "But Abel I have no time to plan or coordinate your festival, if I can call it that."
Abel thought a moment. "How about letting the Fabricators Benevolent Society plan the festival? With our input of course."
"You mean those old women and men long retired from the guild? Mostly widows and widowers you know."
"Exactly Emmitt. They have plenty of time on their hands and the few I know still have enough energy to plan this thing. Let's call it the 'Give E'm Hell Festival' or whatever the Benevolent Society thinks appropriate."
"Ok," replied Emmitt. "I'll call old Beatrice Stallings to see if she wants to get this rolling."
"Good choice Emmitt. Beatrice was Eon Stalling's grandmother. Eon was one of our best and the destruction of Skuld at Wu haunts me to this day."
Emmitt rose to leave and Bennet entered relief showing on his face. "Sandy Phipps from Emergency Medical Services is here to report on preparations of EMS for an attack on the Habitat, then you need to see Roberta Peters our Navy Tailor about the proposed changes to the Dress Whites. Seems they want a wider lapel. After that you will meet with the Chairman of the Temple Committee about the enlargement of the Navy Chapel. When you are finished with those meetings, I will have six others before dinner."
Chapter One Hundred Ten
Cranmore System - Greenland at Prince - Year 3248 September 29 ET 18:31
The carving out of a canyon on the surface of Borneo's moon Prince had taken longer than desired. The fusion engine power distribution box was not sturdy enough to hold the energy load for more than ten hours and then needed another six hours to cool before the neutron gun could again begin its' work of carving out a cavern in which to place the fortress. The good news however was that the neutron gun exceeded expectations and its' power was much greater than had been anticipated. What time was lost to overheating was gained in the efficiency of the Epigoni gun. However the result was a much hotter hole than anticipated and cooling would take longer than anticipated. The entire project might well run two weeks behind schedule.
The Destructor Ragnarök maintained its' obscured orbit around Borneo and Ana Arast's crew spent its' days in endless drills and combat simulations. Of particular concern to Ana and the crew was this new Megra ship described by Xitang as the Great Maw of the Eating Dragon. Everyone assumed it was some type of command ship very much like a dreadnought of old, but the description of the ship had been rather vague. Xitang had described it as having the mass of nine dumbbells and was of similar construction only much larger. It's most unusual feature was that the foreword sphere, which the OCN had always assumed was the crew quarters, had a large cavity giving the shape of a mouth or maw. Its' purpose was unknown and the Great Maw was never engaged at close enough distance by the Xitang fleet for it to display its' weapons systems. However in the last battle at Xitang, after much of its' supporting ships had been destroyed the Great Maw chose to run rather than face the few remaining Xitang ships. Ana considered this relevant. Either the ship found itself exposed to destruction, or its' crew was fearful and had decided to leave the battle space. Would that happen at Cranmore? Ana did not know, but the intelligence was greatly appreciated.
However at Xitang the new weapons seen at the Fourth Battle of Wu were not present and Ana spent much time with her captains considering options and tactics to confront the slow missiles and the deadly swarming mines. Further Ana expected new surprises to come from the Megra as they adapted to OCN tactics. Ana herself had a new surprise for any Megra who had the temerity to enter the Cranmore system. In her autoloaders she had two anti-matter torpedoes and the SARs Brynhildr and Hilda each had one. These were the torpedoes brought back by Helen from Eleos. Abel had been most insistent that the torpedoes be used only as a last defence. The Megra thought that the OCN lacked such powerful weapons and to use them too early might waste a huge advantage in an overall assault. Ana knew of Abel's concerns and shared them, but she was not about to loose a ship because of the need to conserve their most effective weapon.
When Greenland had arrived weeks earlier additional mines had been placed at the two entry portals. Each portal was surrounded by almost 500 mines which were a mix of the old stationary mines and the new seeker mines. Whoever tried to enter would be forced to blast their way through the minefield or simply manoeuvre at dead slow and try to dodge the destruction. While dodging might work on the passive mines, it would not work on the seeker mines. If Ana were faced with such a minefield she would choose to blast her way in. However, even blasting every space ahead of a ship had real risks. Mines might be missed, ships following on would need to proceed at a slow pace to await the clearing of the field. If the exit spacing of the ships was
too tight they might collide, or bunch up, and present a solid target to the SAR's standing just behind the entry portal. With enough ships, courage, or stupidity, Ana knew that the Megra could get through, but the cost would be high and only a fleet of considerable size had any hope of retaining enough battle worthy ships to engage in combat following the forced entry.
The days crawled by and the tension on her flotilla did not diminish, in fact it seemed to increase each day. Ana thought all this anxiety and tension would only diminish when the fortress was completed, armed, and ready. That assumed that the Epigoni gun was as powerful as expected, and the recent excavations on Prince had convinced her it was. Standing before such a weapon would be pure suicide realized Ana.
Somehow Ana knew that this peaceful period was about to end. She could not place her finger on her concern, but she knew that the Megra fleet at Maya must be large by now, perhaps very large, and that there was no reason for the Megra not to move on Cranmore and cut human space in two.
Then 22 days later, as Greenland began its' return to Jamon for the pre-fab parts needed to complete the fortress moon, a probe entered Cranmore from the Pope Leo entry point. About an hour later another probe appeared from Osaka. Ana realized the Megra were coming through both entry points. Greenland, moments from entering the exit portal to Girots and on to home, saw the entry and asked Ana for instructions. Ana thought momentarily that keeping Greenland and its' neutron gun might give them an advantage in any fight with the Megra. However the prospect of loosing Greenland and the gun far outweighed any local advantage. If Cranmore were lost then the old Epigoni gun would be desperately needed to protect Jamon. Greenland must proceed home. Ana ordered the Greenland home via Wu and asked Greenland to have Abel send reinforcements as soon as possible. Wu was 11 days distant. When Abel sent reinforcements they would not arrive for another 14 days. A wait of 24 or 25 days assuming Abel had the ships to send.
