by John Lumpkin
She nodded. “I’m glad I could help. It was good seeing you, Neil. Stay safe.” She touched his hand and stood.
Neil mumbled, “You too,” as she launched herself toward the exit. She deftly grabbed a green apple from some wall netting without stopping her forward motion, passed through the hatch, and was gone.
The main afternoon session was heavily attended; it was a general operations and intelligence briefing, with a significant retelling of what was now known as the First and Second Battles of Kuan Yin. Captains and intelligence officers were here in numbers, and the presentations were transmitted to the rest of the fleet.
The briefers keyed on two pairs of numbers: thirty to eighteen, and eight to four. The first was the numbers of fighting starships, allied to Chinese, that would face off in the system. The Chinese count included one destroyer that had fled Diaz’s ambush at the keyhole and was returning to Kuan Yin, but it didn’t include the second, which had apparently burned too much remass escaping. She had been forced to shape a slow elliptical orbit to return to Kuan Yin, and she would arrive well after any battle there was finished.
The second pair of numbers was the count of brigades each side would have during the fight on Sequoia continent – presuming the transports in the fleet made it through the Chinese space defenses unscathed. Two-to-one on the ground, Neil thought. In ground warfare, the rule of thumb was that an attacking force needed a three-to-one advantage in combat power for a fifty-fifty shot at victory. I guess we’re counting on orbital bombardment to make up the difference. Hope the Chinese haven’t dug too many deep holes to hide in.
During a change in briefers, Neil eavesdropped on a conversation between two XO’s seated in front of him.
”Why are we bringing the herd of transports with us?” said one, wearing the patch of the destroyer 73 Easting. “Why not leave them at the keyhole, so we don’t have to worry about protecting them?”
“The official line is that the Hans could send that big fleet somebody saw at Commonwealth through the Alley systems and past the Aussies, and bag the transports while we’re at Kuan Yin,” said the other, from the Texas. “Doesn’t seem likely, does it? Instead, think big picture, really big. We’re scheduled to arrive around Kuan Yin on October 11, and we’re burning extra remass to make it there by that time. Remember what happened on October 11, couple years back?”
“That’s the date the war started.”
“More correctly, my friend, we joined a war already underway. And what better way for National Command Authority to mark the start of the third year of the war with a bonafide victory, and an announcement of troops landing to liberate Sequoia and all the civilians there? If we leave the herd here, we can’t make that proclamation for another month.”
“Fucking politics,” the first man groused. “Putting the troops at risk.”
“No other way to make war in a democracy. National Command Authority wants to stay National Command Authority, he’s got to make the voters feel good. And a timely victory will do just that, and keep the quagmire stories out of the news for a few more months, at least.”
Later, as the briefing broke up, Neil saw a paunchy, gray-haired figure rise from one of the front-row seats.
That’s Jim Donovan! What’s he doing here? The old spy was speaking to a Russian officer, Neil saw. Neil raised his hand to wave to him, and then pulled back. Why is Donovan wearing glasses? Squared-rimmed spectacles were the latest fad among Americans back on Earth. But Donovan had an ocular, Neil knew, and wouldn’t stoop to wearing a stylish accoutrement just because it was all the rage. He must be undercover! Better leave him alone. He sat back in his seat and messaged Donovan with his handheld.
Across the room, he saw Donovan look up and around. His gaze briefly stopped on Neil, and he nodded, once, slowly.
Not now, Neil translated.
The briefing was Neil’s last of the day, and he went to the jumper bay to catch a ride back to Apache. He felt a hollow sadness at not being able to speak with his old mentor.
He got a seat near the front of the jumper from which he could look out the forward windows. So many ships, he thought, recalling the XOs’ cynical exchange on the Carpenter. En route to 11 Leonis Minoris, the combat fleet had picked up six ships from the Spruance task force, plus Valley Forge and Apache. But the transport herd was even larger: Eight brigades of combat troops, while a significant force on Earth, was a huge contingent away from the cradle. Scores of bulky transports and long space trains raced alongside the battle fleet, carrying vehicles, food, fab units and everything else thought necessary to support several months of operations on Kuan Yin. The fleet included most of America’s and Russia’s spacelift capacity, and the attempted invasion would be both countries’ primary extrasolar operation for the year.
Green text blinked in his eye. MESSAGE RECEIVED.
NEIL, DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE IN THE FLEET, BUT GOOD SEEING YOU JUST NOW. SORRY WE COULDN’T CATCH UP AND THANKS FOR NOT BLOWING MY COVER. I’LL BE IN TOUCH – GOT SOMETHING YOU MAY BE ABLE TO HELP ME WITH. JIM
What, Neil wondered, could that be?
Donovan’s request arrived a few hours later. It was mundane, asking Neil to query the military’s primary intelligence database. When he did, an automated reply came back that fulfilling the request would require some staff time to review it, and he would have to wait for the information.
Sycamore, Sequoia Continent, Kuan Yin
Lieutenant Colonel Shen was the second lowest-ranking soldier present at the meeting; only the major from the Flying Dragons ranked lower, but his role as special operations commander gave him outsize cachet among the other officers.
General Xie had told Shen it would be a strategy session, but Shen found the communication far too one-way for the term to apply. The chief Chinese officer on Kuan Yin, Lieutenant General He, transmitting from the planetary command center across the ocean on Fengsheng continent, essentially repeated everything PLA doctrine called for, the most important of which was adhering to doctrine.
He’s intelligence staff fully expected the Americans to attack their former colony first, and then use it as a base of operations to capture Fengsheng and knock the Chinese off Kuan Yin entirely. Rather than give an inch of ground, Chinese forces were to fight the Americans every step of the way.
That meant the defenses on this continent would remain in place: a brigade at the town the Americans had called Cottonwood, another at Cypress, and two defending Sycamore. No, reinforcements would not be sent from Fengsheng, although submarines would be stationed off the coast to provide fire support to the defenders.
The only surprise came when General He announced that he would not be calling out the people’s militia, the last line of defense against invaders, on either continent. The rifles would stay in their depots. Humanitarian concern that the citizenry would be annihilated from orbit? That didn’t sound like the General He that Lieutenant Colonel Shen knew.
USS Apache, near 11 Leonis Minoris A
Reports on the loss of the British-Australian-Canadian fleet at Beta Comae Berenices were met with grim acceptance through much of the fleet, a you-win-some, you-lose-some shaking of the head, coupled with an unspoken sense of relief that it was someone else who bore the brunt of the Chinese assault. Now, here, we can hit them back, make them pay for what they did to the Brits.
Neil worried for his friends on Tecolote – Tippy and his family, Lindsay Trujillo, Commander Raleigh and the others at the consulate. He sent messages but received no responses.
How much was this planned? he wondered again. Did we hang the Brits and Tecolote out to dry by feigning interest in the Chinese territory on Huashan, or did we legitimately plan to defend the Brits there, but went after Kuan Yin as a target of opportunity? How much of this did I cause? Do I really want to know?
The fleet soldiered on, passing as close to the system’s primary star as was safe. It underwent turnover and began the long deceleration toward Kuan Yin. Still the Chinese fleet made no mo
ve to intercept the invaders.
USS Javier Benavidez y Diaz
“Why do you think that is, Sergei Pavelovich?” Donovan asked.
The counteradmiral grunted. “We have them outnumbered. Their best hope lies in staying within range of their ground-based defenses, and somehow forcing us to engage them there, unless they try – ”
His handheld chirped, emitting a sort of warble that only a device from Eastern Europe would use, and Komarov got that faraway look of someone reading text on his ocular.
“At last some of our fast drones are making flybys near Kuan Yin, and we’re getting better sensor data on the situation there,” he said. He transmitted several images to Donovan. On one, Kuan Yin loomed large and blue, and several tiny lights were circled and marked with Cyrillic lettering.
Jim Donovan could read them, but Ted Calvin of Colonial Affairs could not, so he made the inquiry Komarov so clearly expected.
“Mister Calvin, those are some of your lost sheep. We have identified the hulls.”
“How many?”
“Six. We see two British destroyers, one S-class and one T-class, plus one of your Chieftain-class corvettes, two Ivan Pavel Dzhons-class frigates, and a quarter-kilometer beast that could only be the Eagle.”
The prizes from the prior Chinese victories. The battleship Eagle had been the fleet flagship in the Second Battle of Kuan Yin. The corvette, he suspected, was the Dextrous, taken in Groombridge 1618 by a Chinese raiding force. Donovan had been on that ship, traveling home, when it was captured and brought to Kuan Yin as a prize. Donovan had spent months as a Chinese prisoner on Kuan Yin, and he deeply feared that happening again.
Yet here I am. “Ivan Pavel Dzhones, Sergei?”
“We are greatly honored you would name a class of warships after an officer of the Imperial Navy, however brief his service,” Komarov said in his usual deadpan.
“I think Space Force prefers his American name, but I can check on that for you,” Donovan replied. “Can the Chinese operate those ships?”
“Our analysts and yours agree that it is unlikely. So far the Chinese have only been able to retrofit prizes at their shipyards at Guoxing. They do not seem to have that capability here.”
Komarov blinked, refocused on his ocular. “Now, this is interesting.”
“What’s that?”
USS Valley Forge
“Six candles lit at Kuan Yin!” the CIC talker called. “Both of their beam cruisers and four other warships.”
“Headed for the keyhole?” Captain Grace Mallett asked hopefully. If the Hans decided to preserve their fleet and withdraw from the system, she wouldn’t complain.
“No, ma’am. Escape trajectory,” said Valley Forge’s intelligence officer.
“Then they’re headed our way.”
The beam cruisers were the Deng Shichang and Zhou Man, the same ships that had contributed mightily to the defeat of Eagle’s task force. No other military had weapons that could match the vast range of their deep ultraviolet lasers.
But it would be a week or more until they were in range, so the fleet had time to work out some defenses. Erin’s coilguns were the least useful of the ship’s weapons against them, so she retired to the wardroom for dinner to avoid feeling like she was contributing nothing to the tactics bull session that started up in CIC.
She was peeling an orange when Grogan entered. They were alone.
“I’m transferring to the Carpenter shortly,” the general said quietly.
“Sir?” Erin said.
“I know who you are, you know,” he said.
The anger that fountained in Erin was dammed only by her ingrained sense of chain of command.
“Sir,” she said.
“Your parents were Miguel Quintana and Fiona Westlake, part of the security company guarding Albemarle Army Depot outside of Freehold on Alpha Mensae III on March 7, 2124. Levitican revolutionaries approached the depot and demanded the security company stand down and surrender the weapons and materiel inside. Major Juanita Delgado refused, and the revolutionaries attacked. Major Delgado and your parents were among the seven American soldiers killed before a ceasefire was called. Rest assured, they died heroes.”
“You left some things out of that story, sir,” Erin said. “Namely that you ordered Major Delgado to defend the depot to the last soldier, and that despite the local rebel commander’s demands, you knew that the new government in Leviticus had already agreed to return all American military materiel confiscated during the revolt. All they had to do was walk away, and you told them, from your comfortable chair in orbit, that they had to fight. Sir.”
Grogan’s expression did not change. “Soldiers never abandon their post, Lieutenant. That was your parents’ duty, and you should be proud they gave their lives in the service of their country.”
“No, they gave their lives in service to your ego, and nothing more, sir.” The words were out of her mouth before her internal guards could stop them. Somehow, she felt she had been waiting a lifetime to say them.
Brigadier General Rev Grogan stiffened. He could hurt her career for that kind of insubordination.
But instead, he only said, “It seems you aren’t quite the officer Captain Mallett believes you are, Lieutenant,” and left the wardroom.
USS Apache
The message didn’t carry any priority markers, so Neil only found it during an idle hour of cleaning up his inbox.
The green text in Neil’s eye read:
HANS SAY MY SON’S KILLER WENT ROGUE AND LEFT LONGSHAN SEVERAL MONTHS AGO. YOU’LL HAVE TO KILL HIM – THEY HAVE ME. IS
Li Xiao, Rafe Sato’s killer, went rogue. Could he still be hunting us?
He messaged Donovan. The response was immediate:
NEIL, I DID NOT KNOW YOU AND IRENE WERE ASSOCIATES. I RECEIVED HER MESSAGE ALSO AND LET MY SUPERIORS KNOW WE HAVE CONFIRMED SHE HAS BEEN CAPTURED. AS FOR LI XIAO, IT IS A CONCERN. IT IS POSSIBLE HE HAS ABANDONED ANY SEMBLANCE OF PROFESSIONALISM TO CARRY OUT A VENDETTA AGAINST US. IT IS ALSO POSSIBLE HE HAS SIMPLY QUIT. IT HAPPENS IN THIS BUSINESS. NOT MUCH WE CAN DO ABOUT IT NOW, AND I SUSPECT THERE ARE GREATER THREATS TO US IN THE NEAR TERM THAN ONE ROGUE EX-SPY. WE’LL JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH NOT KNOWING FOR A WHILE – SOMETHING YOU AND I SHOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH IN OUR LINE OF WORK.
THANKS AGAIN FOR GETTING IN TOUCH. LOOKING FORWARD TO CATCHING UP WITH YOU AFTER THE INVASION.
At least he didn’t scold me for not killing Li when I had the chance, Neil thought. But Donovan’s message didn’t assuage his concerns, much, and he failed to sleep.
How did Irene learn this?
What did she provide the Chinese?
Was Das’ life their price?
Chapter 18
WASHINGTON – In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that a cloned child was not entitled to the inheritance his parents’ will designated for their deceased child of the same name and genetic origin. The case, Meyer v. Meyer, involved a multibillion-dollar fortune left in limbo after the deaths of Matthew and Patricia Meyer in a skycar accident in 2134. Their first and only natural child, Joshua Andrew, had died of Wykham’s Disease in 2132, and they had cloned him shortly after his death, but they left their will unchanged. Lawyers for the estate and the cloned boy maintained the parents still intended for their cloned child to inherit, but members of the Meyers’ extended family, who were listed as secondary heirs in the will, successfully persuaded the court that laws specifying a cloned person did not automatically assume the legal status of their templator applied here. The living Joshua Meyer, now eight years old, will be turned over to state care, as none of his relatives want to adopt him or provide for his upbringing, citing a deep opposition to legal cloning. One of his attorneys had said she will look into raising him herself.
USS Apache, 11 Leonis Minoris
“Run, you bastards, run!” Lieutenant Ortega, the weapons officer, said to general laughter in the CIC.
About twelve thousand kilometers ahead of Apache and the rest of the fle
et’s outer screen were the two Chinese beam cruisers and their escorts, fleeing toward the safety of Kuan Yin. The new defenses had worked: Diaz and Gettysburg had been the cruisers’ first targets, and their forward laser cannon had responded quickly, functioning as counterlasers and burning out the optics on the two enemy cannon at extreme range. Gettysburg had suffered a burn-through in her nose armor, but no one had been hurt; she would patch a hole and be ready to fight by the time they reached Kuan Yin.
Trap sprung, Neil thought, allowing himself a measure of satisfaction at seeing his project come to fruition. We’ve defanged their primary advantage. Of course, now they know we can do that, and they’ll use those lasers only when they can get a flank shot. I wonder what other countermeasures they’ll come up with. As Kuan Yin grew brighter in their telescopes, he came up with some guesses.
A week later, the great herd of transports settled into an orbit around Shan Tsai, Kuan Yin’s outer moon, a barren and cratered satellite that orbited more than half a million kilometers from the planet. Admiral Cooper left the heavy frigates Sprague and Ramage as escorts and ordered the rest of her warships to descend toward the planet. Within a day, they passed through the orbit of the inner moon, Long Nu. The frigates Kiowa and Comanche broke off to scout the Chinese keyhole orbiting the moon, but they found no ambush waiting beyond.
As the frigates rejoined the main fleet, the Chinese fleet thrust, rising from a highly-inclined bombardment orbit of three hundred kilometers above Kuan Yin to a prograde equatorial orbit at roughly four thousand klicks, at the extreme edge of the powerful ground-based lasers dotting Kuan Yin’s surface. Only the five prize ships remained in low orbit, along with the host of European and Islamic Federation transports.
The allied fleet, meanwhile, parked in a retrograde orbit at twenty thousand kilometers, out of range of any Chinese weapons. They have to know our strategy, but I guess they are going to insist we execute it, Neil thought. Maybe they think they can beat it, although I don’t know how.
