by Ryk Brown
“Can you elaborate?” General Telles asked, as if trying to force Nathan to think deeper.
Nathan crossed his arms, taking in a deep breath as he looked at the gym floor, thinking. “Well, it’s like I’m seeing everything in slow motion. The more intense, the more complex, the more dangerous the situation is, the slower it seems to go. Or, should I say, the faster my brain is at processing and making decisions. For example, when defending Rakuen the other day, the moment we received the distress call, I started analyzing all the possible attack strategies. I analyzed the situation from the Dusahn’s point of view. I decided they would do one of two things. If their egos drove their decision-making, then they would want to punish the people of Rakuen. That would mean shock and awe, and targeting infrastructure. But if they were being smart, and trying to minimize the Gunyoki threat, then they would target the Ranni plant first and the race platform second.”
“Why not the race platform first?” Vladimir wondered. “That’s where the majority of the fighters are located, and that’s where the initial defensive response would come from.”
“Only a handful of Gunyoki fighters can jump, and those pilots barely have any training in jump fighter combat tactics,” Nathan explained. “They are not yet a threat to any Dusahn forces attacking the Rogen system. The threat is when many of them are equipped with jump drives. That means you hit the Ranni plant first and take out their ability to create mini jump drives. Neutralize the threat before it is created.”
“So, when you jumped to Rakuen, you already knew what you were going to do,” Vladimir surmised.
“Not quite,” Nathan admitted.
“He knew what he was going to do in either situation,” General Telles corrected.
“I did,” Nathan agreed. “However, I expected the attack to be on the Ranni plant. And here’s the scary part. It was all in the math.”
“In the math?” Vladimir wondered.
“You calculated the probabilities, didn’t you,” the general realized, smiling.
“Not exactly,” Nathan corrected. “First, I analyzed the probable gains and losses of each. Second, I calculated the odds, based on the Dusahn’s past behavior to date. Specifically, whether their leader would make an ego-driven decision versus a logic-driven one. I determined that, given a limited number of ships, resources, and the area that he needed to hold on to in order to grow his forces, he could not afford to make ego-driven decisions, at least not in this instance.”
“You did all this, in mere seconds?” Vladimir asked in disbelief.
“To be honest, it felt like a lot longer than a few seconds,” Nathan admitted. “But yeah, I suppose so.” He looked at General Telles. “Is that the type of thinking you’re talking about?”
“Yes,” the general agreed, “but you’re taking it a step further. You’re looking at the big picture, the long-term effects of each potential move by your enemy, weighing the risks against the rewards, and then predicting which course of action your enemy would take, based on past history.”
“But I had a plan in my head for both possibilities,” Nathan pointed out.
“Which means you were prepared for either outcome,” the general replied. “That is the essence of predictive combat strategies and tactics. Knowing what your enemy will do, and how they will react to what you do. That is what wins battles, and that is what wins wars. Not jump drives, plasma torpedoes, or jump KKVs.”
Vladimir looked at Nathan. “Did you do this before you surrendered to the Jung? Did you analyze all possible actions and outcomes, and decide that surrendering was the best course of action?”
“I’m not sure,” Nathan admitted. “I do remember that, at the time, I felt it was the course of action that offered the Earth the best chance of surviving over the long run. But I don’t remember analyzing any other options.”
“I did,” General Telles told him. “After your surrender, I ran every possible scenario. Your surrender was the only option that gave the Earth a chance of survival.”
“And jumping into a Jung ocean, scanning his brain, and cloning him?” Vladimir asked. “Did you analyze that plan, as well?”
“I did,” General Telles admitted. “I concluded that it was too risky, and the potential of it leading to future conflicts was too high to risk.”
“Then why did you do it?” Nathan wondered.
“It was my job to protect you, Captain. I failed at that job. In case you have not noticed, my inability to accept failure is my one true fault.”
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Nathan insisted.
“Sometimes actions, no matter the risk, are necessary in order to achieve greater things,” General Telles stated.
“Kto ne riskooyet…” Vladimir began, waxing philosophic.
“…Drinks not champagne,” Nathan finished.
Vladimir looked surprised. “You’re speaking Russian now?”
“I’ve picked a little up lately,” Nathan admitted.
“I have not,” General Telles reminded them.
“Who takes no risk, drinks not champagne,” Vladimir stated. “An old Russian proverb.”
“Actually, most cultures have similar proverbs,” Nathan pointed out.
“What is the English version? No pain no gain?” Vladimir joked, rolling his eyes.
Nathan ignored his friend’s jest, turning to the general. “Speaking of risk, I have been thinking about the plan to steal the Teyentah. I’ve also been thinking about how we’re going to rescue the Corinari.”
“The two are not related,” the general reminded him.
“Actually, I think they are,” Nathan argued. “What both plans are lacking are diversions. They are both frontal attacks against established defenses, and in both cases, we’re outnumbered by at least four to one, and that number goes up exponentially with each minute of battle that passes. Those are risks; very serious risks. However, we need that battleship, and we need those men. More importantly, we owe those men, and Captain Navarro, our support. Our willingness to take that risk, especially to rescue our own, is what makes people willing to fight for us. Because they know that we will fight for them. So, this is a case where, although the risks far outweigh the rewards, the risk must still be taken.”
“We are in complete agreement, Captain,” General Telles assured him. “You spoke of the need for diversions, for both plans.”
“If we create a diversion for the attack on the Teyentah, then that same tactic might not work as well when we try to use it to rescue the Corinari. The same is true in reverse.”
“Unless we allow time to pass between the two events,” the general suggested.
“The problem with that is neither mission can wait. We need to steal the Teyentah before she goes into service, and we have to rescue the Corinari while they are all still being held in the same place. So, why not do them at the same time?”
“We don’t have the resources,” Vladimir reminded him. “We only have one real warship, remember?”
“When we fight, we strike, jump out of range, come about, and jump back in to attack again, right?” Nathan explained. “Instead of jumping out a few light seconds or a few light minutes, why not jump out a few light years? More precisely, four point four one light years.”
“You want to fight two battles, in two entirely different systems, at the same time?” Vladimir asked. He looked at Telles. “Is that even possible?”
“Actually, it is,” General Telles admitted. “It is also an interesting idea.”
“Each battle would act as a diversion for the other. If we time it right, we’ll be pulling Dusahn ships back and forth between systems, a few times, before they realize we’re playing them. Each time we do, we’ll have nearly a full minute during which the defenses we’ll have to deal with will be minimal.”
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br /> “It is a bold plan,” the general agreed. “If the Dusahn take three or four cycles to figure it out, that could give us the time we need to accomplish both goals. However, if they do not fall for it, you will be fighting two battles in which you will be severely outnumbered.”
“I figure it’s all in how we sell it,” Nathan insisted. “Every time we jump, we have to convince the Dusahn that that is where the battle is really taking place.”
Vladimir looked at them both. “You two do realize how crazy this sounds, don’t you?”
“Kto nyet riskooyet…” Nathan said, a wry smile on his face.
“Please,” Vladimir protested. “You don’t even say it right.”
* * *
Kaylah and Krispin entered the run-down front office of the Arenson warehouse, both of them wearing caps and sunglasses she had picked up at a nearby convenience store.
“Where is everyone?” Krispin wondered.
“It’s Sunday,” she replied, keeping her voice low. “I’m pretty sure they’re normally closed.”
After a minute, a burly, middle-aged man came into the office. He paused a moment, taking in the pair in caps and sunglasses, smiling. “Nice hats,” the man finally commented as he continued into the office. “Hunt send you?”
“Yes,” Kaylah replied, taking off her sunglasses. “Are you Bertel?”
“The one and only,” the man grumbled. “I was told to meet with a woman. Hunt said nothing about a man.”
“You think a lady’s going to walk into a place like this unescorted?” Krispin said.
“Your eyes sensitive to light, or something?” Bertel asked, challenging Krispin.
Krispin smiled. “How’d you guess?”
Bertel rolled his eyes and then headed back into the warehouse. “Follow me.”
Kaylah and Krispin went around the counter and followed Bertel through the door into the warehouse. They walked through rows of unevenly stacked cargo containers, making their way to the back of the building. Near the roll-up loading doors were a row of thirty containers, each of them about two meters in length and a meter in both width and height. “These are yours,” Bertel instructed. “Put whatever you want in them.”
“The seals have been removed,” Krispin noted.
“Yeah, smart guy. How the hell else would you put your people in them?”
“Then you already know what we’re smuggling?” Kaylah realized, sounding uneasy.
“Yeah, and I don’t much care, either,” Bertel replied. “All I know is I get to keep thirty of the sixty fusion reactors that were in those containers. That’s gonna bring me a tidy profit on the black market. Why your people wanna stowaway aboard a cargo ship going nowhere is none of my business, lady. So, how about you get your people into these containers, so I can seal them up, ship them out, and go home and enjoy what’s left of my only day off.”
“You can replace the seals so they will pass inspection?” Kaylah asked.
“Why do you think your friend hired me?” Bertel replied, sounding annoyed.
“What about the inspection scanners?” Krispin asked.
“Fusion reactors are always on,” Bertel explained. “Even in an idle state, they’ll screw up the sensors. Dial the remaining up a few percent, and the port inspectors will assume there are two mini reactors at idle, just like the manifest says. Trust me, those guys ain’t gonna blink twice at these things. Now, can we get this over with, or what?”
“What about the other cargo?” Kaylah asked. “The one that was just added.”
“Over there,” Bertel replied, pointing to the container at the end of the row. “I’ll be in the office. Call me when you’re ready to seal everything up and ship them out.”
Kaylah and Krispin headed for the far end of the row, while Bertel headed back to the front office. The container was larger than the others; similar in length but taller and wider by a full meter.
“What the hell is in here?” Krispin wondered as he examined the manifest on the side of the container. “It says fusion reactors, just like the others, but six instead of two.”
“I don’t know,” Kaylah replied as she began unlocking the container.
“Are you sure we should open it?” Krispin wondered.
“I was told to inspect the contents, to make sure it isn’t something that would endanger the ship,” Kaylah explained. She unlocked the doors and swung them open. The container was large enough to walk inside, although, they both had to bend over slightly.
“This is double-walled,” Kaylah realized. “Probably to help scatter the inspection scanners.”
“Won’t that raise suspicion?” Krispin wondered.
“Not if Bertel can replace the seals, like he said. Lots of things get shipped in scanner-proof containers, so the contents don’t get damaged by the scanners themselves. The seals will indicate that the contents were visually inspected, if he does them correctly.”
Krispin followed Kaylah inside the container, stooping over to fit inside the low ceiling.
“There are two containers in here,” Kaylah realized. “This one is a fusion reactor,” she said, scanning it with her data pad. “It’s running at nearly twenty-five percent.”
“Is that to make it look like six reactors?” Krispin wondered.
“But why? This container is scanner shielded.”
Krispin moved around the opposite side of the first container, wiggling into the tight confines. “There’s a power cable coming from this container to the next,” he realized.
“It must be powering whatever is inside this one,” Kaylah decided. “Help me remove this access panel.”
Krispin wiggled back out and came around to Kaylah’s side, moving deeper into the main container as she unlatched the access plate. The two of them carefully removed the access plate, and Krispin slid it toward the entrance, just enough for her to see inside.
“Oh, my God,” she exclaimed, looking into the second container.
Krispin moved deeper into the container to stand next to her, inspecting the contents for himself. “Shit.”
* * *
“This mission has two targets,” General Telles told the group of command officers and unit leaders assembled in the large briefing room on board the Aurora. “The rescue of the Corinari and the capture of the Takaran battleship, Teyentah.”
“Holy shit,” Josh said under his breath.
“You aren’t kidding,” Loki replied in a similar tone.
General Telles paused for a moment, waiting for the initial information to sink in and for the images to appear on the wall behind him. “The Darvano and Takar systems are four point four one light years apart,” he began. “There are two battleships in the Takar system, one in an orbit over Takara, paralleling that of the orbital shipyard where the Teyentah is being assembled, the other maintaining position further out among the outer, re-engineered worlds of Takar. In addition, they have two heavy cruisers and two missile frigates stationed in the system. There are also an ever-changing number of gunships, octo-fighters, and various assault shuttles and utility ships in the system, along with dozens of cargo and passenger ships coming and going on a regular basis. In short, your tactical displays will be full of contacts, many of which are not warships, but should still be suspect at all times. In the Darvano system, the Dusahn maintain a single battleship, one heavy cruiser, two frigates, and a handful of gunships and octo-fighters. Also, their two remaining troop ships are stationed in orbit over Corinair, since the majority of their troops, including most of the Zen-Anor, are stationed there, using the abandoned Corinari bases as their own. The Darvano system also has significant non-military traffic. That leaves one battleship, three heavy cruisers, and two frigates unaccounted for. Our recon drones have had intermittent contact with a few of these ships, at vario
us points, all over the Pentaurus cluster. So, it is reasonable to assume that some, or all, of these ships are patrolling the cluster in order to enforce the Dusahn’s control over the region. It is these ships that cause us the most concern. We must assume that the Dusahn maintain contact with these patrol ships and can order them to any point within the cluster, at a moment’s notice. We must also assume these ships are able to jump the breadth of the cluster at will, and multiple times, before requiring time to recharge.”
General Telles paused, taking a breath. “Our primary strategy is to attack Dusahn assets in multiple locations, in order to force them to guess as to our true objectives.”
“Pardon me, sir,” Commander Verbeek, the commander of the Aurora’s air group, said. “Given the known values of every possible target, wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that the Dusahn would simply prioritize their assets, and assign ships to protect them, according to that value?”
“Logically, yes,” General Telles agreed. “We are hoping that they will first attempt to defend all assets and not begin prioritizing them until well into the attack.”
“Why would they do that?” the commander asked.
“Because the Dusahn are still Jung at heart,” Nathan said, adding his voice to the discussion. “They need to show those they have conquered that they are in complete control. They need to demonstrate that they cannot be challenged successfully.”
“More importantly,” General Telles added, “the Dusahn are stretched thin, and they cannot afford to lose any of the assets that we will be attacking. The loss of any one of them negatively effects the one thing they hope to achieve above all else. To grow their fleet.”
“Then why don’t we just throw a bunch of jump missiles at their shipyards?” Commander Verbeek suggested.
“The shipyards are protected by a multi-layered defense system. First, they have jump scrambling fields which prevent jump weapons from arriving any closer than fifty kilometers. This affords their second layer, their point-defense turrets, ample time to deal with the incoming missiles. Lastly, they use electronic countermeasure fields that interfere with our missiles’ ability to lock onto targets and make last-minute course corrections. This also means that our missiles cannot take evasive action to avoid point-defense fire, and then steer onto the target after breaching the point-defense perimeter. In essence, it reduces them to simple projectiles with warheads. As you know, we have a limited supply of jump missiles, which is why we have adopted a policy of recovering those used in battle that fail to find their targets. We need those jump missiles to engage Dusahn warships. We cannot afford to waste them on such a well-protected target, regardless of that target’s value. Even after its destruction, there will still be many more targets to deal with in the future.”
