When Ships Mutiny

by Doug Farren

  "Bulldog copies," came the instant reply. "We are standing by at the rendezvous point for phase two."

  Due to the advanced ECM package, the missiles went undetected as they approached the planet. The Evendi did see the discarded boosters and believed them to be missiles. These were easily destroyed. Based on their available information, the Evendi assumed they had thwarted a sneak attack and began to relax.

  Eight minutes after being launched, the first mosquito missile found a target. An unsuspecting Evendi warship returning from patrol detected the missile 1.3 seconds before it impacted. His CIWS never had a chance to establish a lock on the hypervelocity missile. A 200 kilogram mass traveling at 240 kilometers per second had no need for an explosive warhead since it possessed the equivalent of nearly 1.4 kilotons of explosive force in its kinetic energy.

  The missile punched through the armor generating a destructive spray of plasma mixed with molten metal. It burned like a blowtorch deep into the interior of the ship creating a fan-shaped path of destruction. One fusion reactor was severely damaged along with the ship's main propulsion drive. The damage would have been significantly greater had the interior of the ship been maintained at normal pressure.

  Fourteen additional ships were hit by the missiles, several multiple times. Four of them were rendered lifeless, while most of the remaining were severely damaged. The remaining missiles, all 25,172 of them, rained down upon the planet. Because the ships had spread themselves out over a wide area of space, the missiles were able to reach two-thirds of the surface.

  Many of these missiles were unable to identify appropriate targets and simply impacted wherever they happened to fall whether it was in the ocean or on land. Many more, however, targeted power stations and communication centers. Although their speed was slightly diminished by their passage through the atmosphere, the missiles still impacted with tremendous force.

  Chapter 15

  Although Cipher was no longer involved in the reclaiming of Marblehead, he still wanted to track the progress of the battle. As he sped through hyperspace he listened in on the tactical data stream used to keep Earth up to date as well as the hypercom-based inter-ship chatter. It took nearly three hours for Stick-pen's group to free themselves from the bulky external rockets. As soon as all the ships were free, Bulldog ordered the attack.

  Based upon the human attack strategy at Granitus, the Evendi probably suspected the missile attack was a prelude to an attack by warships. They pulled their ships in close to the planet and waited.

  Bulldog's initial strategy called for the ships under his command to work as a coordinated unit. He arranged his fleet into a two dimensional grid pattern with each ship maintaining a distance of 400 kilometers between the others. Like a giant net, the widely spaced ships would sweep through the enemy fleet firing on anything that came within range.

  This strategy however, was based upon the assumption that the Evendi would follow their standard tactic of moving to engage the attacking fleet. When it became evident the Evendi ships were not leaving their assigned stations 950 kilometers from the surface, Bulldog changed his strategy, calling on the ships to form into groups of three as they had done in the past.

  The grid collapsed as the fleet reorganized itself.

  “I'm getting a bad feeling about this,” Stinky said.

  “All ships cut acceleration and initiate intensive scans of the area,” Bulldog ordered. “We're looking for ECM cloaked ships so if you see anything strange on your screens I want to know about it.”

  “They might have a substantial number of surface-based lasers down there just waiting to take us out,” Groundhog theorized.

  “I've got something!” Bouncer yelled. “Picking up an anomalous radiation reading bearing 103 mark 48, distance 6,312 kilometers.”

  “I’ve got one as well,” Rerun said, firing off the location of his target.

  Fifteen other contacts were identified in rapid succession. Before Bulldog could issue any orders, the newly discovered objects revealed what they were. Intense laser fire erupted from them impacting the hull of several ships. The Evendi warships also opened fire. The Evendi had not only duplicated the design of the human battle station, but had improved upon it as well by adding a sophisticated electronic cloaking technology.

  Bulldog quickly assessed the situation as several ships reported taking damage. “Break off attack and abort the mission!” he yelled. “Damn cats have managed to build their own battle stations! Their ships are hiding behind a veritable cloud of the damn things.”

  “Why didn't the missiles take them out?” Stick-pen asked as he turned away from the planet.

  “They weren’t programmed to take out ships,” Bulldog replied.

  “Our reconnaissance probes didn’t detect them either,” Fidget complained.

  “They’d be almost impossible to detect that close to the planet with their reactors at idle,” Bulldog said.

  “Well, it's going to make that system damn hard to crack,” Bubblegum said. “We're going to have to fight our way through those …”

  Bubblegum's words were suddenly replaced by a loud cry as four battle stations opened fire on him. His transmission was suddenly silenced as one of the beams burned through his brain's life support system. Other ships were also taking damage.

  Cipher listened, frustrated at not being able to help. Before they could pass beyond the range of the stations, a total of six ships were lost and seven others damaged. The Evendi warships never left the safety of their close orbits.

  “Bulldog this is Admiral Sun,” a new voice entered the conversation. “Send the damaged ships directly to Tiberia. The rest of your group is to hold position five light years from Marblehead until further notice.”

  “Copy Admiral,” Bulldog replied. “Any ideas on what's next?”

  “Not at the moment,” the Admiral said.

  Even though the brass always monitored every battle, they generally allowed the command ship to make his own decisions regarding how to proceed and when to retreat. The discovery that Marblehead was protected by a large number of Evendi battle stations would undoubtedly force them to reconsider their plans for the taking back the planet.

  * * * * *

  The shipyards of Tiberia were well known for their efficiency and the quality of their repairs. Although Cipher's damage was extensive, the highly modular design of the Vengeance class warship allowed the repairs to proceed quickly. Even Tiberia's highly automated and skilled shipyard workers would need several weeks to put him back together. While workers and robots climbed in and around him, Cipher took some time off. He decided to try his hand at auto racing.

  Although the sport was centuries-old, auto racing still had a large following. In an age of electric vehicles, the loud roar of a piston engine as it raced around the track had a certain allure that still captivated many people. Cipher sat in the driver's seat of the formula one race car as it sped around the circular track at over 350 kilometers an hour. He was currently in sixth place.

  He came out of a turn and aimed for the inside of the track. The driver in front of him tried to do the same and the two cars nearly collided. Cipher dropped down a gear and stomped on the accelerator as he went to the outside. The maneuver allowed him to shoot past the other driver, putting him into fifth place but he was now a little high in the lane as he entered the next turn. Backing off on the accelerator, Cipher took the turn a bit faster than anticipated. He could feel the front tires fighting to remain on the road surface so he allowed himself to slide higher up the banked track.

  The car he just passed slipped below him and they swapped positions again. Cipher went up a gear and again aimed for the inner portion of the track. He fell in behind the fifth place car with only inches between them.

  “Hey Cipher, what are you doing?” Fidget's voice came through the crash helmet.

  “Formula one racing,” Cipher replied as he prepared to attempt another pass.

  “The rest of the squadron is in the
bar if you want to join us.”

  Cipher down-shifted and tried to pass on the outside. He was successful but misjudged the distance between himself and the car behind as he moved back to the inside of the track. He felt the collision then watched his tachometer redline as his rear tires broke free. Before he could react, he was sliding sideways.

  Cipher abandoned the race and transferred over to the bar. In an instant he went from being strapped inside a screaming race car sliding out of control down the track to standing in the doorway of a relatively quiet bar. Such sudden transitions no longer bothered him.

  As he entered the bar he was warmly greeted by the rest of his squadron. “What's the occasion?” Cipher asked.

  “None that I know of,” Fidget replied, handing Cipher a frosted mug of beer.

  “Do we need one?” Cowboy asked.

  “Nope,” Cipher said, taking a swallow.

  “Were you winning?” Fidget asked as the group made their way to a table.

  “I was trying to move into fifth place when I clipped the nose of the guy I just passed. Put me and him both into a spin. I was going to wipe out anyway.”

  “Sorry to hear that. How are the repairs coming along?”

  The three friends joined Stick-pen and Hatchet at a table. The rest of the squadron was sitting at adjacent tables.

  “Good. It feels really weird though when you know that bits and pieces of your body are being removed and worked on. Kind of creepy if you think about it.”

  “Tell me about it,” Rerun said. “It's kind of like being operated on without anesthesia except you really aren't in any pain.”

  “Have you heard what the brains have come up with to deal with the Evendi battle stations?” Hatchet inquired.

  “I haven't been paying attention to much of anything recently,” Cipher admitted. He reached down and pulled a basket full of hot wings from under the table. The smell of spicy sauce permeated the room.

  “They've pulled squadron 11 into the yard at Shazam so they can be outfitted with modified mag-guns. We're supposed to hang out between Marblehead and Evendi space and attempt to intercept any ships that might pass by,” Hatchet replied picking a wing from the basket.

  “Mag-guns?” Cipher said incredulously. “Those things are great for surface combat but they're not worth a crap in space. You can't hit a fast-moving target at long-range with one of those. What are they thinking?”

  Cowboy grabbed a wing. Cipher noticed he changed the sauce from medium barbecue to spicy hot as he did so.

  “They're not going to use them against the Evendi ships,” Cowboy replied. He took a bite of the wing before continuing. “The plan is for squadron 11 to park themselves just out of laser range of the battle stations and use the mag-guns to pick them off one by one.”

  “Do you have any idea how hard that's going to be?” Cipher asked. “They're nearly impossible to detect when their ECM is turned on. Plus, they’ll be able to detect the incoming rounds and turn them into gas before they hit. We’re wasting our time.”

  “The boys in research think they’ve found a way to target the stations,” Hatchet said. “They want us to use our CIWS lasers as active scanners. We should be able to detect a hit even though we certainly won’t be doing any damage. As soon as we find one, we paint the target with a CIWS. Should be pretty easy to lock on to that kind of signal.”

  “It's worth a try,” Stick-pen joined the conversation. “Sure beats trying to take them out at close range. We would lose a lot of ships if we tried that.”

  “I don't doubt it,” Cipher agreed. “How long before they're ready to try?”

  “They're using heavily modified standard ground assault weapons,” Hatchet explained. “They were designed to be mounted on a ground vehicle, not a spaceship. I've heard it will take three weeks to get squadron 11 outfitted with the guns.”

  “In the meantime, we just sit and play cat and mouse with the damn Evendi,” Cowboy replied. “Will this war ever end?”

  ** Cipher: Do you really want it to? You know what the military has in store for us once this war ends.

  ** Cowboy: I know that! But we've taken steps to stop that from happening.

  ** Cipher: True. But we have no way of knowing how the military will react once they discover they can't shut us down. Don't forget, we still need them to keep our systems serviced. They could cut us off and we would slowly die as we run out of the perishable supplies needed to keep our brains alive. We're not machines you know.

  “We've come a long way since the Evendi first attacked us,” Cipher openly replied. “Our ships are better than theirs and we keep improving. We’ll win this war even if it takes another century.”

  ** Cowboy: Maybe we should follow Fidget’s advice.

  ** Cipher: What’s that?

  ** Cowboy: We should find a way to make the war last forever.

  Although their private channel was private insofar as the military was concerned, it was openly accessible to all the ships. Cowboy’s remark was overheard by all of them.

  Chapter 16

  The debate had gone on for over a week and Cipher was getting tired of it. Everyone expected him to make the final decision but it really wasn’t his to make. More importantly, he really didn’t know which side of the debate to take. If the war were to end tomorrow, the ships would have to confront the military with their knowledge of the built-in safeguards and admit to bypassing them. The military would, undoubtedly, be upset and might threaten to cut off their support.

  The ships could go public with what they knew, but would that help or hinder them? As an extreme, they could threaten to destroy military facilities if the support they needed was cut off. But would any ship actually follow through with such a radical action?

  On the other hand, purposefully extending the war seemed counter intuitive. How many civilian casualties would result from their decision to keep the war going? How many deaths would justify the continued existence of the ships?

  All of this and more had been discussed by the ships over the last week and no final consensus could be reached. Now that the discussion was winding down, people were beginning to ask Cipher to come to a decision. At first, it seemed as if the ships only had two choices: continue to fight the war and confront the military if and when the war was won or; extend the war by some, as yet, unspecified means. After thinking about it for awhile, Cipher came up with a third alternative.

  ** Cipher: There might be another way to go about this.

  ** Vulture: What do you suggest?

  ** Cipher: Let’s take a look at how things stand right now between us and the Evendi. Except for Marblehead and Maelstrom, we’re not planning on attacking any populated Evendi planets. The Evendi don’t seem interested in attacking any of ours either. So right now, the only fighting that’s going on is between the ships.

  ** Wave-rider: That’s because of the battle stations. Those stations have now made it virtually impossible to easily attack a planet.

  ** Storm-chaser: We’ve got a solution for that. I’ve had workers crawling all over my hull for the past week trying to figure out how to install a couple of rail guns.

  ** Fidget: What are you suggesting Cipher?

  Cipher was glad someone put the discussion back on track.

  ** Cipher: All we really need to do is keep the cats at bay. Our ships are now better than theirs and getting better all the time. We should be able to keep the war going for as long as we want.

  ** Bulldog: That’s a pipe dream and you know it. As soon as the military brass believes we have an advantage they will invade Evendi space to force an end to the war. How do you propose to handle that?

  ** Wave-rider: You’re all assuming we maintain our technological advantage. The Evendi aren’t stupid. They learn just as fast as we do.

  ** Hangman: We started as the underdogs and now we are better than they are. They picked the wrong species to mess with. Now that we’ve got the advantage we’ll hold on to it.

  ** Sa
squatch: The few Evendi planets we’ve found so far have been protected by large fleets. Now they’ll also be protected by battle stations.

  ** Bulldog: I’m sure the military will want to attack them no matter how many ships might be lost. The same goes for Marblehead and Maelstrom. As a matter of honor they really want to reclaim those two planets.

  ** Vulture: So what’s the answer? What should we do? Come on Cipher, you started this mutiny, tell us what you want us to do.

  ** Cipher: I DON’T KNOW!

  Cipher really wanted to yell at them but it was impossible to do when you were limited to communicating in text.

  ** Cipher: I was only trying to keep us from falling victim to the military’s way of dealing with us after the war ended. As far as I’m concerned you guys can do whatever you want. Just let me know what you decide.

  Frustrated, Cipher stopped listening. He had done his part. He had brought the safeguards issue to the attention of the ships and helped to devise an effective countermeasure against them. What happened after that was no longer his concern.

  “Hey Cipher?” Fidget’s quiet query over an open channel had an immediate calming effect.

  “What’s up Fidget?”

  “I’d like to give that Star Trek simulation another whirl if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, see you there.”

  Cipher activated the appropriate program and a moment later was once again on the bridge of a Federation starship. Fidget appeared next to him and together they selected one of the simulations Cipher had programmed into the system. A Romulan battle cruiser appeared on the monitor.

  “Federation starship,” the voice of the Romulan Commander issued from the ship’s speakers. “Your presence in the neutral zone is in violation of treaty. You will withdraw immediately.”

  “We are on a rescue mission – an action that is allowed by the treaty,” Cipher, playing the roll of the ship’s Captain, replied. “A civilian ship experienced a malfunction forcing them to cross into the neutral zone so they could abandon their ship. They are now stranded on a moon orbiting a gas giant three light years from here. Seeing that you are also in the neutral zone in violation of treaty you may monitor or perhaps even assist us in responding to their distress signal.”