ROMA

by R. A. Ender

  Something new on the scanner, though, was the appearance of many smaller twinkles of light around the edge of the sphere of the planet. Holding the scanner steady and allowing time for the little device to complete its analysis, the result was worrying. The little twinkles were ships. Though unknown, it was safe to assume they were IAE ships.

  Putting down the scanner, Richard checked the sensor cloak test. It still had several minutes left. Richard resisted the urge to end the test early so that he could use the ship's sensors to see if the ships showed up on passive scans yet, but his experience won out over his emotional desire.

  Probably still too far, he thought to himself. I doubt even with the sun lighting the ships will improve the chance of getting a silhouette back.

  The passive scanner returning a silhouette was the signal they were waiting for to activate the sensor cloak. With the dark of space behind them, there was no chance a passive sensor sweep would detect their little ship until they were much closer. There was always a risk that one of the ships would throw an active scanner their way, but the odds were pretty low. Besides, they would detect it immediately and could be cloaked before the ship had a chance to confirm their first scan with a second. One scan ghost was not worth investigating, you’d waste your whole life away chasing sensor ghosts.

  With the cloak engaged, even with an active sensor scan, they would remain invisible. At least from a forward perspective. The sensor cloak technology was cutting edge and nearly perfect, but only one way. It was impossible to both detect and project a sensor image without rendering neither accurate. To work, a detection grid needed a clear image and scan of space generic enough to not attract attention. Scanning a planet and then projecting it forward would be rather counterproductive.

  Once you had a constant image, the opposite side of the ship could project that image scan forward. It created a virtual display screen with an image of space which sensors detect and understand. In the case of the Nemesis bomber, the detection grid is on the rear of the ship, and the projector at the front. That only made good sense from a military perspective as you usually move toward your enemy, not run away from it.

  Defense Force did test an alternative setup on a reconnaissance ship, though with limited success. The Warwickshire class was a smaller reconnaissance ship that had massive engines on the back, massive sensors on the front, and not much of anything else. It was hoped that it could drop into an area, quickly gather information through a combination of powerful sensors and fast travel, and exit the system. The sensor cloak was supposed to provide protection when leaving the system, but it was quickly determined to be unnecessary. The powerful engines were enough to permit a safe escape.

  To date, the Nemesis bomber remains the only Defense Force vessel to employ cloak technology. Its limitations were just too great to make it a technology applicable to many other uses. A limitation they would have to face soon enough.

  The cloak may allow their ship to sneak up on the IAE fleet. However, the instant they draw close enough for a sensor to catch their ship from the side, the cloak was useless. It’s like a large tree trunk. As you walk toward it, a person on the other side of the tree will not be able to see you, as the perspective makes the tree trunk block your entire body. The closer you get, the more you become visible on either side of the tree trunk.

  The cloak will only obscure the ship from view for so long, and then it will be a mad dash to the planet. The hope is that the IAE fleet will not have fighter craft deployed liberally. The big guns on the fleet ships are not likely to destroy the small bomber, especially at full speed and maneuvering wildly. If a small flight group is close at hand, it could be disastrous. Nemesis bombers are delicate ships, not bruising hulks. It is also ill-equipped for dogfighting, always best to run away from a fight.

  Richard and Robin had been running simulations for the past few weeks, and they had yet to be destroyed. That said, they had more than a few hard landings. That did not dispel the fear of failure. A simulation was one thing, real life with the future of the Confederacy on the line was another.

  It will be a very tense twelve minutes, Richard thought to himself, using their best guess for how long they would be visible. It could, of course, be longer.

  As he began to contemplate their worst case scenarios, the sensor cloak test began beeping, showing it was complete. With a touch of the display, Richard accepted the perfect test and flipped to the passive sensors.

  Training them toward the planet, he watched calmly and with intensity for at least ten minutes. Every sparkle, twinkle or wrinkle led to a focused observation and scan for even a hint of a silhouette. After ten minutes, not even a ship prow became visible.

  Still, too far out, he thought and with that, Richard filled in another part of the checklist before moving on. He had the computer record the health statistics of himself and Robin, who was in the rear compartment asleep. Other than the cockpit, which accommodated two people, the ship only had a rear compartment which housed a small food preparation station, personal facilities, and access to the engineering station. It was not supposed to be a sleeping area, but they had converted the space, as best they could to permit that use.

  Their routine had been established even before they left the Caesar Augustus. One of them slept for a full eight hours, as Defense Force required before any crew member could perform their duty. It was a regulation often broken but the research had decidedly proven that humans performed at their best after eight hours of rest. For four hours, they commanded the ship together. They also took that time to eat, clean up and generally sit together in silence. Despite being the best of friends, they had spent more time together than most married couples and had little left to talk about, other than the mission which was a subject long since exhausted. After four hours together, the other person went for their eight-hour rest before repeating the whole process again.

  In fact, Robin’s eight hour rest period was nearly finished and he began to wonder whether she would oversleep. For the first few days, they both had trouble sleeping. For about a week after that, they were both sleeping in late and having to be woken up. It had been at least five days since either of them had slept in or woken up early. The routine was so regimented that they had been waking up on time without any aid. The human mind-body connection was a wonderfully powerful thing.

  The vital statistics showed that Robin was still sleeping, but otherwise, they were both in perfect health, and so Richard closed the hourly checklist and marked another hour as complete and perfect.

  Turning again to the outside universe, Richard began to lose himself in its vast twinkling sky. Touching a few buttons, he brought the entire cockpit to complete darkness, and the twinkling lights filled the cockpit with a sparkling light. The small lights reflected off of now dark screens and readouts. It danced across the metallic trims. It dispersed along some of the glass cockpit windows, painting small rainbows on a variety of surfaces. And, along a narrow edge, a faint orange line of colorful sunshine cut a swath across the inside of the cockpit, like the first rays of the sun as it rises on a planet.

  Within this environment, Richard closed his eyes to simply relax. He breathed deeply and purposefully. He let his mind, filled with tension, unwind and let go. He let his mind slip into a meditative state, a practiced technique from years of military service.

  Even when he felt Robin’s hand gently touch his shoulder from behind and trace a path over to his chest, he did not stir. Once she spoke, his calm meditation was broken.

  “Doing your best to make me stub my toe again?” Robin asked playfully, referring to the darkened cockpit. At the same moment, she touched the console and brought up the lights.

  “Just trying to relax as best I can,” Richard answered, before elaborating further. “I saw the IAE ships twinkling in the sunlight on the last checklist. Still, can’t see a silhouette, but we will soon. It is about to begin.”

  Richard’s grim face had no effect on Robin. As usual, her att
itude and mood ran completely to her own tune, and she showed no signs of being affected by Richard’s grim mood.

  “In that case, I’m going back to make a big breakfast and a big pot of fresh Calda. What would you like to have?” And without waiting for a reply, she turned to head to the rear of the cockpit again.

  Without turning, Richard said aloud, “I’m fine, thank you.”

  For a few minutes, there was no talking, just the noise of Robin preparing food in the small kitchen. He almost didn’t hear her returning to the front and sitting down as she was in sock feet and made little noise on the deck plating. The chairs made noise whenever you sat down or turned them, so he knew the moment she was finished getting settled. Even so, Richard remained silent as he had nothing to say.

  Robin apparently had a few things on her mind.

  “I’ve been waiting to ask you this and I never found the right time. But, since we will know what we are facing in the next few hours, I have two questions.”

  Robin took a sip of her calda and swung one leg over the other to settle in for what was evidently going to be an uncomfortable conversation.

  “First, what do you really think our odds are of getting into the planetary atmosphere? I know you sounded almost certain during all the planning, but I’ve known you a long time. All those little silent moments when I can watch you react with small twitches and controlled breathing made me think you had doubts. I assume we are going forward because you are reasonably confident.”

  Richard nodded. Less because he was agreeing in his head that Robin was an astute observer of his inner thoughts and more because he had known she had that concern from watching her. They had served together too long, he was beginning to realize, to keep any secrets.

  “I’m counting on two things to give us great odds of penetrating the siege. Surprise, as they won’t know or expect us. We will be arriving cloaked which should add to the surprise as well. Also, I’m hoping their fleet commander has organized the fleet against a large-scale assault, not a small fighter. That should give us added advantage.”

  Smiling as he turned in his chair, Richard half-jokingly added. “I was also counting on your unique piloting abilities to save me from a roasting spit!”

  Robin smiled, but it was forced.

  Again, there was silence for a few moments, during which time she took a few bites of her meal and a sip of Calda before speaking again.

  “Alright, then how much of this confidence is blind desire to swoop in and save your wife? You’ve been saving her your whole life, even though I’ve never met anyone more independent and capable of taking care of herself.”

  Richard didn’t reply as he was expecting Robin to continue speaking. But, after a moment of silence and a clear facial expression that said “Well?” without saying a word, Richard shook his head.

  “She’s not my wife. Plus, I can separate my desire to save her from a good strategy. And this is the latter. That I can potentially ensure she is safe is just a personal added bonus. It also helps motivate me not to screw this mission up. Otherwise, I would have abandoned those annoying checklists long ago!” Richard finished with humor that again gained only a forced smile from Robin.

  Robin continued her questioning, clearly not yet satisfied. “Look, don’t get me wrong, I see the strategic advantage. If I didn’t, I would not be here, simple as that. I’m not putting my body on the line to save your ‘not my wife’. I just want your head in the mission all the way, and not focused on saving her. You can’t have two priorities when you are striving for a single goal. Focus on success, not emotions. Ok?”

  “You have my word. The mission will be my only priority.”

  Now Robin gave a genuine large smile. Her eyes danced. “Great! That makes me very happy. Now my follow up question is how confident are you that your ‘not my wife’ won’t blast us out of the atmosphere before we open a communication line?”

  “Hmm,” Richard started with a growing smile. “That is the big gamble. My underlying assumption is that Heather has not significantly changed the strategic planning of N.E.D.A. She has drastically reorganized the structure to ensure a cohesive planetary force, but she never mentioned a strategic plan review.”

  “With that in mind, the strategic plan, even in a planetary siege condition, is to intercept small craft with fighter wings. The plan does not include any effort to use large weapons to target small craft. Aside from the practical difficulty of using the surface to orbit guns against small craft, the strategic plan has always assumed that the risk of a small craft does not merit using heavy weapons.”

  Clearing his throat with a quick growl, Richard continued. “I’m counting on being intercepted and forced to land. That means we will have a chance to communicate. I’m just hoping that we can land at LaGuardius Seccus because the sooner we can signal the fleet to jump in the system, the more likely the IAE fleet will be disorganized and not gain reinforcements.”

  Robin had been nodding throughout. “Ok, that sounds good. Of course, if you are wrong, we won’t really be able to argue. I can safely assume that a surface to orbit gun will vaporize this ship in a split second.”

  “You would be correct,” Richard answered with a smile. “So, I guess I should get something to eat. Did you leave anything going?”

  Robin turned to indicate with her hand toward the kitchen. “I left olive oil on the counter if you want to make something. There’s still a lot of food back there. I thought we would go through more getting bored staring into the black of space.”

  Richard answered as he rose and walked to the back of the cockpit. “I don’t get bored looking out those windows. A little lonely sometimes, but it is majestic outside. If you turned the lights off you would see what all those little points of light do to the cabin. It is a sight to behold.”

  “Oh, I know. I’ve seen it often when I come out and stub my toes. I’m afraid I’ll fall asleep, and won’t that just be the time we get active scanned.”

  Richard didn’t bother shouting back an answer. Instead, he began to prepare a meal to eat before the next scheduled checklist came due and his next sleep cycle began.

  CHAPTER 25

  Today was a perfectly awful day. But, today was also the day I met my knight in shining armor! I’ve known him all my life but I’ve never seen him like this. I love him so much already, I don’t know how I’m going to be able to stop blushing next time I see him. I love Richard Hilbornus. Mrs. Heather Hilbornus. Well, maybe I’ll have to keep my family’s name, but I’ll marry him just the same.

  Heather stopped reading at that moment. She suddenly realized what day she had finally got to. This is the day Richard stole my heart, she thought to herself with a smile.

  The day had come out of nowhere. The previous page of her diary had gone on at some length about a boy named Julius that apparently had had a beautiful head full of curls and a smile to die for. At least that’s what she thought when she was eleven years old.

  Richard had been in a few entries before this, but he was barely mentioned. They had been friends since they were both very young, but she had never looked at him as anything other than a friend.

  This day, that changed. Without returning to reading the diary entry, Heather leaned back in her couch and closed her eyes. She thought back to that warm spring day. It was after classes returned following the new year celebrations for the first week of Martius. Though not always warm that time of year, she remembered that it was especially warm that first day back to school. So warm, in fact, that her mother had allowed her to wear a summer dress as long as she wore a sweater wrap. That sweater wrap had lasted until she rounded the corner while walking to school than it was put away in her bag.

  She had been happy all the way until she met her friend Sabina. As she approached, she could still remember her face. It looked horrible, a mix of near tears and fear. As she got closer, Sabina actually put her head down and started walking alongside her, without even a greeting.

  Heather
, never one to be shy, had asked her what was wrong but got only a standard “nothing” as a reply. Not wanting to push, they walked on in silence.

  However, before they got to the academy, Sabina stopped and looked up.

  “Heather, aren’t you worried?” She asked, implying that Heather ought to be.

  For a moment, Heather didn’t know what to say other than “no,” and given Sabina’s behavior she knew that maybe she should be.

  “Why? What’s going on?”

  Sabina shuffled her shoes a bit on the sidewalk and appeared as though she was just going to say “nothing” again, but then a sudden surge of confidence spilled forth along with quickly spoken sentences.

  “Remember when Claudia told you that you were ugly and she hoped the new year spirits would grow you an ugly husband, and you said that you didn’t know Claudia celebrated the new year, you thought her family only celebrated Bacchanalia. Well, she got so mad that she told all her friends, and they told everyone else, and apparently her twin brothers found out. They were so mad that they put out a message to everyone that they were going to beat you up at the midday break. I wanted to tell you all new year but my brother told me he would kill me, so I haven’t. But I need you to know. Don’t go outside at midday, just stay with the teachers. Please! You’re my best friend, I don’t want you to die.”