“Unfortunately this view was not shared by all. The majority of those who regretted the loss of an opportunity for glory won did not have rebellious intentions. However, Bureel succeeded in swaying their support through a series of elaborate lies and half-truths which culminated in his prediction that the Armada Commander would make peace with the Terran Empire rather than engage them. It was an intelligent scheme, and certainly more than I gave him credit for. Bureel’s carefully timed rebellion succeeded in catching us off guard. Even with that he failed in his attempt to assassinate Alexander, to all of our fortunes, and he failed to destroy his primary threat, Nazeera, the Armada Commander. Nazeera’s loyalist armada prevailed, but it was a small victory. The Guardian Armada, a fleet of fifty and two hundred warships which always guards the Chem home system, went largely to Bureel. This gave him instant control of the Chem system. The loyal members of the Assemblage, the majority of that governing body, fled the system. Those that remained have been branded traitors, and sentenced accordingly. Their sentences to Pantrixnia have already been carried out. I had many friends among them. Unfortunately none of them were as skilled as Alexander in surviving that world.
“The greatest blow to our cause is the death of the Elder. After the loyalist forces were defeated at Chem Bureel challenged the Elder in open council and slew him. It was hardly a legal challenge, but it carried the weight of ancient precedence and that was apparently enough. Bureel has overwhelming support from the reformed Assemblage and is effectively dictator as we speak. He cannot claim the seat of the Elder, however, until the next period of Ascension. That will be the seventeenth of this standard Galactic sidereal period. As you are not yet on the Galactic calendar that equates to sixteen Chem decurns from now. A Chem decurn is roughly equivalent to your day. Once Bureel’s Ascension occurs it will be extremely difficult to remove him. He will have traditional power, as well as military power. If he succeeds his first act will be to rebuild the Chem Armada and attack the Terran Empire. This will accomplish several things for Bureel. It will erase the blot of dishonor he asserts we endured by making peace, and it will unite the Chem. No Chem will refuse the call to war on another empire because of differences in politics. Bureel’s power will be absolute. It is therefore quite necessary to prevent the Ascension from occurring.”
“How do you propose to do that?” Augesburcke asked.
“That is difficult, at best,” Nazar admitted. “We cannot simply kill Bureel. That would only succeed in securing his place and policy. His followers and all other Chem would regard the assassination as a heinous act. They would consider the accomplishment of Bureel’s policies as their sacred trust. Bureel must be challenged legally, or we must overcome them militarily. The latter will not be possible by the time of the Ascension.”
“Are you asking for the help of the Terran Fleet?” Augesburcke asked doubtfully.
“That would not be acceptable for the Chem,” Nazar replied. “Even should our forces overcome Bureel’s by the date of Ascension the Chem would never accept our rule. The Chem would account any who won power using the strength of another culture as weak and undeserving. That is not an option. We are therefore left with the former. The legal right to challenge is a particularly sensitive issue where the Elder, or the Elder’s successor, is concerned. Bureel cannot be challenged on account of cowardice, as he challenged the Elder. Only one person has a legal claim against him: Alexander. Bureel and Alexander have an unresolved challenge. This fact alone may not be enough, even though the entire Assemblage witnessed the challenges for Bureel’s rank has elevated considerably. However, Bureel’s attempted to assassinate Alexander through surrogates, was an extremely questionable act in its own right. This attempt allows the challenge to carry through to Bureel’s new rank. Alexander should have the legal recourse to challenge Bureel even after the Ascension.”
“Can’t this challenge wait then?” One of the Admiralty asked. “I empathize with your difficulties Nazar, but I’m certain Alexander has informed you that we have problems of our own. I hate to ask you to wait, but we need Alexander now!”
“Admiral, if I don’t address this problem our position may well be untenable,” Alexander said. “If Bureel gains the seat of the Elder every fiber of Chem energy will be focused on the destruction of Terra. That is bad enough, but if I were commanding the Alliance I would be prepared to attack the Terran Empire, as they’ve hinted at already, on or about the date of the Ascension. The Alliance will wait to see which way the Chem flag blows. They are not over bold, and they have no desire to step on any Chem toes. We then face invasion on three fronts. The Chem in my opinion will be as dangerous as all the others put together. I don’t like the odds of that scenario.”
“The Chem threat, at least, will take some time to materialize,” Augesburcke mentioned. “From what we understand, Nazar, the majority of the Chem Armada has been destroyed in the civil war. What remains is not likely to pose an immediate threat to Terra.”
“You would be correct, Admiral, were it not for the reluctance of certain elements of the Alliance to go to war with Terra,” Nazar replied. “There have been significant diplomatic developments over the past few decurns. Unfortunately, they expose the weak moral character of our neighbors, and I’m afraid, ourselves.”
“I don’t follow you I’m afraid,” Augesburcke said.
“Lend-lease, Admiral,” Alexander told him. “Bureel has made his expansionist policies quite plain towards his neighbors, the Syraptose and the Quotterim particular. Now these races are at once reluctant to face the Terran Fleet, and at the same time are concerned with Chem intentions after the civil war is settled. They’ve thrown in with Bureel already by offering him as many warships as he may require for the conquest of Terra. In exchange Bureel has given his word that the Syraptose and Quotterim Empires will remain inviolate. That’s the same thousand ships we now face, but now sailed by Chem crews.”
The Admirals sighed, resigned. “I suppose we have to wait for the Ascension then,” Augesburcke said. “I counted on your return to Terra by that time, Alexander. I don’t think we can wait until after the Chem sort themselves out to begin preparations. Even if we do face the Alliance alone it will be an uphill climb. We are outnumbered and face a war on three fronts. Its damn sobering.”
“Agreed Admiral, we cannot wait,” Alexander told him. “I have thoughts on the subject,”
“Excuse me,” interrupted Admiral Sampson, “I do not mean to offend Nazar but perhaps it would be proper if we continue these discussions without his company. There is the worrisome possibility that the Chem may not remain our friendly neighbors that much longer.”
“A wise precaution, Admiral, but one that you need not be concerned over,” Alexander explained. “Nazar will accompany me to my challenge. If I fail he shall undoubtedly be sentenced to Pantrixnia, or killed immediately. Aside from that he is of my family. I’ve trusted my life to him, and I shall continue to do so.”
“I appreciate your support, Alexander,” Nazar said, but he rose from his seat. “Your Admiral, however, is quite correct. If there is no more debate concerning Chem I am no longer needed. I will therefore take my leave. I thank you for your time, sirs, and I wish you good fortune.”
An officer escorted Nazar back to his quarters. When he left Admiral Sampson apologized, but Alexander waived him off. “Admiral you were quite correct, as Nazar pointed out,” he admitted. “I expect we all need each other to avoid any unnecessary pratfalls in the future. I carry no grudge over being reminded when I am an ass or a fool. Back to business then, Admiral Augesburcke, you complained of neglect by the Senate, and the President. Let me ask you, what do you need to get the fleet construction going again?”
“Senate approval to provide money to pay the work force, commandeer the ships, dock space, etc., and Scythian technical aide,” the Admiral told him.
“How much could you get away with without the Senate’s knowledge?”
“Nothing on so massive a scale
as before,” Augesburcke replied. “We could probably seal up the yards in Vladivostok, Sicily, Guam and Keflavik. There may be a few others. At our former pace that would produce a ship every three days, maybe another sixteen ships. That’s not much difference, and it’s based on Scythian aide and a full work force. It is unfortunately a very visible operation. One good thing: we’ve got all our heavies modified. They were, of course, first priority. We’ve completed construction on all available battleships and cruisers. What hulls remain are primarily support ships, not our heavy guns.”
“Very well, Can we start up operations at the more remote ports anyway? How long could you put off the Senate? Set up a smoke screen, plead ignorance, unfilled orders from our previous buildup, any excuse whatsoever. Do you think you could delay the Senate for two weeks?”
Augesburcke nodded. “If we avoided using the most visible dockyards we could probably stand the heat for two weeks with some disinformation and bureaucratic snafus thrown in. We can certainly cook the financial books for pay, but it will be much more difficult without Scythian help. I can’t do anything there.”
“Leave that to me,” Alexander told him. “The Scythian’s say they’ll only deal with me. Well, they shall get their wish. Call their council, or whatever body they consider authoritative and have them meet us here. I don’t think they’re over a day off. I’ll get them working again. Start setting up your shipyards again as soon as we conclude here, but I want a few changes made. I want priority given to converting oil tankers and freighters to light speed capable ships.”
“We still have a hundred or so warships which are excellent candidates for conversion, why concentrate on cargo vessels? Are you concerned with the emigration problem?”
“Not at the moment,” Alexander told them. “It has to do with defense, as you shall see. Gentlemen, I have an in depth battle plan for dealing with the Alliance, and it is based on many of the things I’ve learned watching the Chem fight. Fighting out in space is quite different than any of us could imagine, yet it is not alien. Gentlemen we’ve fought this war before. As I have witnessed it modern day space battles can be seen as a three dimensional representation of our own wooden ship era. Maneuver is very leisurely. Ships do not dogfight as in the movies. Battle above light speed, in fact, battle above point two five "c," twenty-five percent the speed of light is virtually impossible. The computation of firing solutions at such speeds with relativistic effects exceeds current computer capabilities. Firing a weapon at superluminal speeds will disrupt the superluminal field of a vessel and most likely destroy it. Moreover, the amount of power required to maneuver the large mass of a ship at battle speeds is enormous, and that draws energy away from the weapons. Modern space battles are therefore conducted with as much pre-battle maneuver as possible. Once the fleets are engaged the formations then hammer away at each other. Formations with massed firepower are stressed; sounds like the warfare of several hundred years ago doesn’t it? Maneuver after engagement is strictly avoided. My first suggestion to the Admiralty is for a requirement to be dictated to every officer: that naval warfare of the sailing era and land warfare, especially up to the nineteenth century, be studied extensively. You’ve a captive audience on your ships, Admirals, use it. Every officer should be thoroughly familiar with formerly archaic naval tactics and land tactics of formation assault and defense. They are in style again.”
“An excellent idea,” Admiral Augesburcke said.
Alexander’s expression added emphasis to he said, and he told them, “Let me stress, Admirals, we’ve done this before. I want you to hammer two points into your commander’s skulls, and I want you to hammer them in hard! First, this is nothing new. The ocean’s bigger and you can’t swim in it, but otherwise it is nothing new. Do not allow your commanders to be intimidated by space, or their adversaries. Second, and to my mind most important, be innovative, and be aggressive. By all means allow your commanders to follow their instincts. When faced with the opportunity they should attack, and they should stress maneuver and above all innovation. Gentlemen, from what I’ve seen battle tactics have not changed out here in a hundred thousand years, but Human’s, by definition, change constantly. That is our greatest advantage. Seize it! To do that I think you need to consider very carefully our ship’s Captains. Career ass kissers, excuse the expression, will cost us ships and men. We are at war. Choose your commanders appropriately.”
“Point taken,” Admiral Augesburcke nodded, and then he asked, “forgive me but I’m still hazy on the need for cargo ships, will they give us some tactical value I don’t see? Wouldn’t it make more sense to pursue additional warships over cargo ships?”
“The cargo vessels serve two purposes, Admiral,” Alexander said. “I am thinking that it might be easier to get the Senate to allow you to continue construction on cargo vessels for the purpose of emigration. That would keep the dockyards busy and enable you to have a fleet of vessels at the Senate’s disposal whenever they settle the issue. You could use that as a cover for the continuation of your warship conversion program. As to the vessels themselves I plan on using them for an entirely different purpose than you shall inform the Senate. Think of our own warships, gentlemen. They are massive with a great deal of inertia. It takes several minutes to get one to light speed. It takes longer to pull one out of formation. At close quarters when something comes at them they are hard put to it to get out of the way.”
“Rams? You want to use them as rams?” Chennebruk asked.
“Not rams,” Alexander said, but his further observations were interrupted by the intercom.
“Admiral Augesburcke this is Captain Thomas, we have a Chem squadron coming into sensor range. They are refusing any and all hails. They are on an intercept course.”
CHAPTER 17
“Estimate to intercept and strength?” Augesburcke asked.
“Thirty-seven ships, sir, and they shall be in firing range in thirty-two minutes,” the Captain replied.
“Tell Nazar’s shuttle to prepare to return to his ship, I want to see Nazar on the bridge first though,” Alexander directed. “Admiral get the squadron moving, we don’t want to sit and wait for them. Move us closer to Nazar’s squadron then break off.”
“Did you hear that Captain? Carry out those orders!” Augesburcke said. He led the way to the bridge. “Thirty-seven ships, and we don’t know if their loyalist or rebel. If they’re rebel I’m not sure if they’re after us or Nazar. Nazar has only twelve ships in his squadron, but we’ve got a full squadron of fifteen. If they only want the loyalists do we fight or watch?”
“What better chance to find out what we’re capable of Admiral?” Alexander told him. “We fight. I want some meat on the bones of our reputation!”
“Aye, aye sir!” Augesburcke smiled.
They entered the bridge. Nazar was there with the Captain. The Captain stepped up to Alexander, and saluted him. The Captain was well aware of what the Admiralty wanted with Alexander and he read the results of the meeting quite clearly. Augesburcke accepted Alexander’s status without hesitation and stood to the side.
“Thirty-seven rebel ships in a cubicle attack formation, sir. There are four battleships and nine cruisers. The rebel Admiral has warned us not to interfere, he asks us to withdraw.”
“He asks us withdraw does he,” Alexander growled. He went to Nazar and pointed to the approaching rebels on the visiplate, “We’ll see about that. Nazar, you need to get back to your squadron. I’ll drop you off as close as I can. Then I shall split off. I’ll position my squadron to attack their starboard side, you take the port. We’ll get them in a crossfire. That should even things out. No argument. They insult me with their offer to withdraw. That’s a good enough reason to fight. I’ll meet you in the middle. Good luck!”
Nazar left the bridge. Alexander strode to the tactical hologram, a lesser version of the Chem displays, beckoning the Admirals and the Captain to follow. He studied the projection and relayed his thoughts out loud, “It’s a standa
rd cube formation, much like a three dimensional Wellington square, my how you can predict these people! Good firepower to every side, but it cannot concentrate more than a sixth of its firepower against maneuvering targets. I assume we’re standard squadron strength, Admiral?”
“That’s affirmative, Alexander. The Iron Duke is our paired battleship. The Renown, Pittsburgh, Astoria and the Salem are our heavy cruisers.”
“Excellent. We’ll take their starboard side,” he said, pointing for emphasis. “Split the squadron into two formations, each around a battleship. The Iowa will lead with the Iron Duke in trail. We’ll make a pass at that side at good speed. Hit the engines one minute and forty-five seconds out of target, out of range, and then cut them to charge the capacitors. They’ll be going quite slow, expecting us to close and volley. We’ll pass them at speed, however, coasting by so that all of our energy is available for the weapons. Hit them with a full broadside as we pass and then coast out of range to recharge our capacitors. One minute and forty-five seconds out we reverse course and hit them from the other direction. Each turn costs us one minute of charge in our capacitors, but our formation will give us time to recharge for a full broadside for each pass. The Iron Duke will follow us with one minute forty-five second spacing. Gentlemen, it takes a standard Galactic battleship two minutes and thirty seconds to charge her capacitors for a full level thirty-seven broadside. We hit them every minute forty-five with a full load of thunder without them being able to reply in kind. Hit and wheel, hit and wheel, got it?”
Alexander Galaxus: The Complete Alexander Galaxus Trilogy Page 47
