by Ivan Kal
Both Isani and Sumia looked at the human. They were shocked, but a moment later Isani managed to regain his composure enough to speak. “We appreciate your willingness to help. But there is no way for us to hold out for more than five months it would most likely take your ships to get here. By then, the Sowir would have most likely killed everyone on the planet.”
Kisaragi nodded. “You are right, it would take our ships around nine months to arrive using hyperspace.” She said.
“We will be long dead by then.” Sumia said dispirited. For a moment there she felt as if there was a chance for them.
“We are aware of that. That is why our ships won’t be coming through hyperspace.” Human said.
Isani looked at her strangely. “What do you mean?”
“Our ships can reach Nuva in nineteen days.” Kisaragi said.
“What?” Sumia said. “So they are already here.”
“No. I don’t know the details. But I know that there are no human ships other than the Traveler in this system. And our leadership instructed me to tell you that they can arrive in nineteen days.” Kisaragi said.
“How?” Isani asked.
“I don’t know, and I wasn’t told anything other than it is something new they discovered. They can make the trip from our world to this system in two days, and it will then take sixteen days to reach Nuva.” Kisaragi said.
“Amazing.” Sumia said. Isani remained silent, Sumia could see that he wasn’t really believing.
“Why would you do this? It is one thing to help our people survive, and quite another to involve yourselves in a war that isn’t yours. You had no contact with the Sowir, the only thing you know is what we told you.” Isani said.
Kisaragi looked from him to Lanai, and then back. “The truth is, that we did have an encounter with the Sowir. Around the same time the Traveler entered your system.” Kisaragi said. Isani and Sumia looked at each other and then back at the human. Under their gazes she finally started talking again. “One of our explorer ships, Voyager, the same class as the Traveler, was exploring a system some ten light years from here. Voyager entered the system and found it empty. Then proceeded to the planet to take scans. Then the Voyager was attacked by three unidentified ships. After the initial attack the Voyager tried to contact the ships while it was running away, but they refused to acknowledge the communications. The three ships ultimately destroyed our ship. Later, when we made contact with you we realized that the ships that attacked us were Sowir.” She said glumly. “So you see, we do realize the threat of the Sowir Dominion. We know that what you said is true because we already met them.”
Again, both Lanai and Isani were shocked. And again it was Isani who was first to recover.
“How many ships?” Isani asked.
“They will send one fleet of ten ships. They think it will be enough to defeat the Sowir. I have been instructed to install an FTL comm on your ship Retsar Isani. So that you can coordinate with our people.” Kisaragi said.
“Of course.” Isani said.
“I need to go and report back to my people.” With that the human bowed her head and then left the office. A second later Sumia turned to Isani. “What just happened?” Sumia asked.
“Hope Sumia, hope.”
***
Leviathan
Adrian walked in his ready room, after yet another game. This one was one of the hardest yet, and he just barely managed to win. In the last few days the two fleets had eleven encounters. And the score was now 7 to 4 in First Fleet’s favor. After that first battle, Fleet Commander Johanna Stern was much harder to beat. But then, she was chosen to be a Fleet Commander for a reason. This last battle was a close one, but Adrian managed to win in the end, bringing his win total to 7. Both he and Fleet Commander Stern, were learning a lot from the games, they were able to devise better tactics for battles, and to learn much more about the capabilities of the dreadnought class. And quickly it became obvious that these ships would be the core of their fleets. As he sat down, he brought the data from the last game on the holo-table. “What do you think?” Adrian asked.
“The command board is operating adequately. It will be even faster and more efficient in real battle, when I won’t need to manage the simulation.” Iris said. Adrian nodded, agreeing with her.
“I don’t think they imagined this system being so powerful. With the FTL comms it gives the commander of a fleet ability to control almost every aspect of the fleet movements and battle.”
“I agree, they believed it would be just a slightly more efficient way to present data, and send out orders.” Iris said.
“But, it is dangerous as well. With the ability to constantly send out orders some commanders might fall into the trap and try to micromanage their fleets. We will need to have people trained to recognize when to just let things play out.” Adrian said. Both Fleet Commander Stern and he, came to the same conclusion, future commanders need to be trained to avoid trying to control every aspect of their command. Adrian and Johanna both fall into the trap several times, and those instances were usually the ones where they lost. Scrolling down the various lists and reports he came to the report his High Prime sent, or rather now Ship Master Paul Isaacs. Adrian had promoted him, since he was the one in command of the ship during fleet actions, it was appropriate for him to have the title. Adrian knew that the Fleet as a whole was still very young and that they just now started to learn what were the most efficient ways of doing things. They tried to create their own way, rather than to emulate organizations from Earth based militaries. That was reflected in the report that Paul sent him. The ships that were commanded by those that were not affiliated with a navy or air force back on Earth tended to do better than those that were. Most stations that were manned by younger people, those born right before or shortly after Olympus started expanding into space, tended to execute their orders at least 12% faster and more efficiently. That was a huge number when you kept in mind that it was on the fleet level. The numbers in Adrian’s First Fleet have been steadily improving since the beginning of the war games.
“There is an incoming call form the Fleet for you Adrian, it is marked level 1.” Iris said, she usually monitored his comms when he was busy working and when he didn’t want to be disturbed.
Adrian frowned for a second. Level 1 comms were reserved for times of war. At least that was the intention, there was no need for that. Adrian cleared his holo, and then accepted the call. The call was not sent through the FTL comms, but rather ordinary lightspeed ones. They were not so far away from Sanctuary to make conversation impossible. As soon as he accepted the call an image appeared in front of him. As soon as he recognized who it was Adrian executed a sharp salute, fist to chest. He was very much surprised, he excepted Laura or someone else from the Fleet, not Tomas Klein.
“Sir.” Adrian said. He noticed in the corner of the vid a small number, 2.4 sec, which meant that was the lag between the Leviathan and Sanctuary. Two seconds later, Tomas Klein responded with a salute of his own.
“Fleet Commander. I am calling to tell you that the war games are canceled. I know that there was a lot more planned for the future, but we have run out of time.” He sighed then, to Adrian he looked as if he was carrying the weight of a world on his shoulders. “Twenty two Sowir Dominion ships have been detected in Nuva system. And we, I, have decided that we will provide aid. Your fleet is to go to Nuva and engage Sowir. Defending the Nel.” Tomas Klein said.
Adrian looked at the image on his holo, he kept his calm face on, but underneath he was shocked. Looking into the eyes of Tomas Klein, he realized something.
“If they have been detected in system, there is no way for us to get there in time to be of any use.” Adrian said, and immediately continued. “But you already know that, which means you plan on us getting there after… No, you wouldn’t do that, there is no point. You plan on us getting there in enough time to be of use. But I don’t see how…” Adrian said. And a second later he saw a side of Tomas’s li
ps twitch upwards.
“Yes, you will get there on time. Seo-yun and the research department have found a way to travel much faster than with hyperspace.” He said.
Adrian nodded, he had no idea what it could be. “What about the Second Fleet?” Adrian asked.
Tomas looked saddened for a split second, and then spoke, “The Second Fleet will stay here. I can’t leave Sanctuary unprotected, no matter how small of a chance there is for someone to find us.”
Again Adrian nodded, he understood the reasoning. “But why the First Fleet, and not the Second? Not that I’m trying to find a way out of this. I would just like to know.” Adrian asked.
Tomas Klein studied him for a moment before answering, his gaze looked at Adrian knowingly, “Because you are the best we got. I know that you are very young, but Olympus never put much stock into age. We have always valued skill above all else. And you are our most skilled commander.” Tomas Klein said. “I know that I can entrust this to you, and that you will do everything in your power to succeed. This will take some outside thinking, something new.”
Startled, Adrian responded, “Thank you sir. I will not let you down.”
“I know. That is why we chose you.” He said with a small smile.
“I won’t take much more of your time. The Fleet will be sending you any data that you might need, as well as the coordinates of the trans-station, the army will be joining you as well. We will be sending ten companies. Around fifteen hundred soldiers, to defend the planet in case that Sowir manage to get some troops on the ground. As well as additional loads of ammunition, missiles, and some raw materials for the fabricators. Laura will contact you soon with the details of the mission, wait to brief your commanders until after you speak with her.”
“Yes, sir.” Adrian said.
“Good luck, Fleet Commander.” Tomas Klein said, and closed the link.
Adrian leaned back into his chair. His mind was firing into overdrive, thinking about hundreds of possibilities, and things he had to do. Fear slowly crept in, it seemed to him that things were happening insanely fast ever since he left the orphanage. Then a voice broke through in his head.
“Oh My God! Adrian! I am finally going to get to play for real!” Iris said. Her comment as idiotic as it was sent him into a bout of laughter. He felt fear slip away, and he relaxed.
“Iris, you do know that we could die?” He asked out loud.
“So?” She asked. Again Adrian couldn’t help but laugh. His Ai best friend had a very different view on life.
“Nothing Iris, you are right.”
“Of course I am right. I am always right, you should know that by now.” Iris said cheerfully. Adrian shook his head and called Paul. Tomas Klein said to wait for Laura’s call before telling the other commanders in his fleet, he said nothing about his second in command.
Chapter Twenty Three
February 2170 – Sanctuary
Platoon Leader Sahib Adin was kneeling behind a rock cover on a small hill, overlooking the terrain. His Platoon, Platoon Wolf, was waiting for his instructions. Looking over the forest spreading before him, he came to a decision and sent the instructions to his Squad Leaders over his imp. A moment later the three of the four squads started moving, their movements showed on Sahib’s faceplate HUD. His helmet was entirely see-through from the inside. The outside of his helmet was armored, and had millions of nano cameras that captured the images from all around the helmet and transferred them to the inside. The rest of his suit was armored as well. It was a completely closed battle suit. The nanites carbon mesh gave the wearer a great deal of movement while also giving him protection. It was an upgraded version of the suit developed on Earth, before Olympus left Sol. The suit was dark gray in color, there were no emblems or rank insignia anywhere. There was no need for them, the HUD of each suit would show the rank and name of anyone the wearer looked at. Each suit had its own small range beacon. Though it could be turned off. Finally, as the three squads moved sufficiently away Sahib ordered his squad forward. They were involved in a live exercise against another Platoon. There were four squads in Sahib’s Platoon, with each squad having 7 people, that put each Platoon at 28. All their weapons were loaded with stun discharges, a hit from these charges would freeze the area hit on the suit, while the soldiers imp simulated pain in the affected area. Fifteen minutes later, he got a contact signal from Claw squad, one of their scouts had spotted an enemy scout, without the enemy spotting him. Immediately Sahib formulated a plan, he instructed the scout to reveal his position to the enemy scout, without revealing that he is aware of the enemy scout’s position. He quickly sent instructions to the Claw squad to fall back to a small clearing some 200 meters behind their current position. Then he instructed the other two squads, Fang and Paw to get into positions around Claw squad. He then brought his own squad, Alpha, into position behind Claw squad, they hid in the undergrowth around trees, and Sahib instructed two of his platoon’s snipers to move up into the trees. The trees on Sanctuary were taller on average than those on Earth, the lowest branch was at least 7 meters from the ground. Both snipers moved towards their chosen trees, some 10 meters apart from where they can easily look over the clearing and started climbing, short “claws” extended from their armors fingertips which they used to grab onto the bark and climb. Once they were in position Sahib opened a comm link to the other squads.
“Fang, Paw are you in positions?” Sahib asked.
“Fang is in position Alpha.” Squad Leader Tucker ‘Cheat’ Meyers responded, using Sahibs call sign, which was the same as the designation of his squad.
“Paw is in position Alpha.” Squad Leader Lola ‘NGD’ Petrov said.
Sahib could see where they were on the small map on his HUD, but he needed to verify that they were in fact in position.
He then commed Claw squad. “Alright cub, did the enemy spot you?” Sahib asked the Claw’s scout, every new member of the Platoon got the nickname Cub, until they proved themselves, or did something stupid, and earned a call sign.
“Think so, if whoever it is isn’t blind. I stood up from my cover two times already.” ST2 Marko ‘Cub’ Tijic answered.
“Good, lead them back to Claw squad position. Try not to make it too obvious. You are new, not incompetent.” Sahib said. The opposing Platoon, the Orphans was led by Platoon Leader Eric ‘Jacks’ Regis, and Sahib knew him well. They went through training together, and while he was a good commander, he had his faults. One being a tendency to jump at any opportunity to get an upper hand or capitalize on the mistakes of others. Sometimes that was a good thing, but when faced with someone who knew him well, it could be used against him.
“Noose are you up for a bit of role-play?” Sahib asked Claw’s Squad Leader over the comm channel.
“What do you have in mind?” Noose asked.
“Perhaps we should have a bit of a misunderstanding, a conflict of interests.” Sahib said cheerfully. “Perhaps Rock and you could have a bit of a confrontation.”
“Ah… that could be arranged.” Noose answered understanding Sahib’s words, then he closed the channel. A minute later, Cub entered the clearing, and rejoined the rest of his squad. And a few minutes later both Fang and Paw squads reported movement, closing in on the Claw’s position. Noose and Rock had gotten into a bit of a spat, gesturing widely with Rock pointing in one direction and Noose in the other. Sahib hoped that his opponents would think they are fighting and try to take advantage of the situation. It was known that Noose and Rock don’t really get along much, actually they didn’t stand each other. But Sahib knew that they were soldiers at heart, and would never jeopardize the lives of their squad mates by fighting over command. Rock understood that Noose was in charge, and Noose knew that Rock would follow his commands without any hesitation. Then Fang, and Paw started feeding the locations of the enemy troops to the Claw and Alpha squads. Counting the dots on the minimap Sahib saw that Regis decided to send three squads. He gave the instructions to let them close the dista
nce a bit more. His snipers designated their targets, with the rest placing themselves in the position to cover Claw squad, Sahib’s own team was ready to offer covering fire when Claw started their dash towards cover. Then just as he was about to order his teams to engage his comm went off. He got an urgent message alert on his HUD, saying that he had an incoming call from the Army Headquarters. He noticed his teammates all getting out of cover, and his opponents stepping into the clearing.
“What the fuck Wolf!” One of the men that just entered the clearing yelled over his speakers. They must have gotten some kind of message as well.
“Don’t know!” Sahib responded over his speakers, and then he accepted the call.
“Go for Adin.” Sahib said.
“Adin, Commander Gin here, gather your men the exercise is over, we need you back at the base as soon as possible. The Orphans are being recalled as well.” Commander Jack Gin said.
“May I know why sir?” Sahib asked.
“There has been a development, that is all I can say for now.” Commander Gin said.
“Yes, sir. We will be there in an hour.”
“Good.” With that Commander closed the link.
Sahib looked around at his men, most a have gathered in the clearing, including some of the Orphans. Sahib joined them.
“What’s going on Wolf, Jacks is saying the exercise is canceled.” The man leading one squad of Orphans said over the open link, now when the exercise was over the beacons were again turned on. His HUD showed the name above the man’s head, but even without it Sahib recognized the voice, it was Pyro. He got his nickname when he almost set fire to the changing room, he accidentally fired his rifle filled with incendiary rounds. But he was just a noob then, he got off lightly. Three months of cleaning duties, and double shifts.
“Yeah, just got the call from the old man. He expects us back in an hour.” Sahib said.
