by Peter Grant
Kim pursed his lips. “But that’s precisely why the United Planets regulates private armed vessels so strictly. They can’t have more than two missile pods, which effectively means the biggest ships companies like yours can operate are corvettes or armed merchant vessels. Frigates usually carry four pods, and destroyers six, which rules them out.”
Cochrane shook his head. “Corvettes’ electronics and missiles have limited performance compared to larger warships. What’s more, they’re usually cramped, which is uncomfortable for their crews, and have lower combat endurance. I don’t deny they’re useful, and I plan to buy at least a squadron of them for patrol duties, but they’re second-tier. Ideally, for our first-tier ships, I want as much as possible of a destroyer’s capability, while observing the UP’s two-missile-pod restriction.”
Kim frowned. “On the face of it, that sounds like a contradiction in terms.”
“I thought so, too, until I looked at the eight Desroches class destroyers you built for the Anse Cluster a few years ago. They’re shorter and more compact than a regular destroyer. Why did you design them like that?”
Kim shrugged. “The Cluster has an old orbital dockyard, with shorter maintenance ways than a modern unit. Its Fleet decided that their new destroyers had to fit the existing ways, because it would cost too much to replace or upgrade the dockyard to accommodate them.”
Cochrane’s eyes lit up. “So that’s it! I couldn’t figure out why you used some design features, but now they make sense. Would you please call up a schematic of the Desroches class?”
“Certainly.” Kim reached for a control unit and pressed a sequence of keys. A three-dimensional holographic display lit up above the desktop, and the sleek form of a warship appeared, its sides cut away to expose its interior design.
“Thank you.” Cochrane reached into the display and traced features with his finger as he spoke. “I noted that they’re deeper from top to bottom than most destroyers. That’s because you put the midships nuclear reactor below the missile pods, rather than in front of or behind them.”
“Yes. A warship hull is usually hexagonal or octagonal in overall cross section, flattened top and bottom to accommodate missile pods. We simply deepened the vertical sides, which made room for the reactor and some storage compartments to be moved beneath the missiles. By careful shaping, we preserved the ship’s stealth characteristics, but shaved almost fifteen meters off her length.”
“It was a good idea. I realized your Desroches design might serve as the foundation for what I want. If we take out the midships reactor, that leaves two others, one forward and one aft. They can’t supply enough power for all a destroyer’s systems, and its hundred-plus main battery missiles, and the same number of defensive missiles, all at once. However, if the number of missiles is reduced, two reactors – larger than usual, if necessary – could meet the power demand.
“Removing that midships reactor leaves a fair amount of space below the missile pods. Captain Lu told me about the pods you designed for Qianjin’s cruisers. They’re deeper from top to bottom than destroyer pods, because they hold larger and more powerful missiles. By the way, how did you squeeze so much firepower into such a compact unit? With thirty offensive missiles and thirty-five defensive, plus ten penetration aids, as far as I know, there’s nothing else quite like it.”
Kim seemed almost embarrassed at Cochrane’s praise. “Qianjin’s older ships had limited space for upgrades, so we designed the most powerful pod that would fit their existing bays. The trade-off is that techs can’t work inside the pod when it’s installed, because it’s too tightly packed. If a missile or tube develops a defect, it has to be flagged as unavailable until the pod can be removed, when it can be repaired.”
“That’s a trade-off I’m willing to accept, particularly because it means you don’t have to carry a full team of missile techs on board. That reduces the size of the crew. Anyway, if the center reactor and storage compartments are removed, a Desroches hull is deep enough to accommodate those cruiser pods. What if you replace the six destroyer missile pods with two of them? One cruiser pod would replace a transverse row of two destroyer pods. The third row would be left out, reducing the ship’s length even more.”
Kim nodded thoughtfully. “What about the main fore-and-aft passageway? It runs between the present missile pods, but it couldn’t pass through the center of a cruiser pod.”
“Couldn’t it be re-routed around the pod?”
“I… I don’t see why not. A cruiser pod is about nine-tenths as wide as two destroyer pods next to each other. That, plus deleting the current center passage, would provide space to run passages on either side of a pod, one for forward movement and the other rearward.”
“Yes. What’s more, you could build extra tanks for potable, gray and black water, reaction mass and lubricants below the passages on either side, and use the space above them for general storage. If you left a small gap between the front and rear missile pods, that would provide access to the storage and tanks without blocking the passage. With the extra storage around the missile cells, plus the reduced requirements of a smaller crew, you should be able to give the ship an operational endurance of thirty to forty-five days, or perhaps even longer.”
“What crew size do you anticipate?”
“I’m not sure. I’d like to automate as much as possible of the ship’s operation, provided that can be done reliably. In conventional terms, the Desroches class has up to a hundred and eighty crew. I think our changes will reduce that to about a hundred and twenty, plus some extra berthing space for boarding parties, or to accommodate rescued survivors. That means you can eliminate berths for thirty to forty people, which will shorten the ship even further. However, please leave all the existing officer’s cabins in place. She may embark flotilla or detachment commanders, along with a small staff, or carry VIP passengers. They’ll use those cabins. I’m sure you can configure a spare berthing compartment for dual use as a staff office area.”
“Yes, of course.” Kim sat back, rubbing his chin. “Our new automation technology might reduce her complement to a hundred or so, and we might be able to reduce her length by up to twenty meters. That would make her look short compared to the Desroches class ships, and rather stubby alongside a conventional destroyer. Longitudinal stability and balance may be a problem – we’ll have to pay careful attention to that. Cruisers’ missiles are more expensive than smaller, shorter-ranged versions, but you’ll save money by carrying fewer of them. You won’t need a third reactor, and we can upgrade the reactors fore and aft if necessary. Her environmental systems won’t need to be as extensive, given her smaller crew and reduced hull volume. All her standard electronic systems will remain, as well as eight laser cannon barbettes, four each around the bow and stern, giving her destroyer-level capability in those areas.” He thought for a moment. “We could shorten her even more by cutting down the docking bay in the stern. The Desroches class carries four small craft, three general-purpose cutters and a gig for the captain, but a frigate usually carries only three.”
“No, I’d like to retain the full-size docking bay. We might carry one or two assault shuttles for boarding parties, instead of cutters.”
“I see. You know, this won’t be a frigate in the conventional sense of that term. You could call her a super-frigate without exaggeration. She’ll dominate any warship smaller than a destroyer, and give even a destroyer a very hard time, because her missiles, while fewer, will be more powerful and longer-ranged than theirs. What’s more, she technically adheres to UP restrictions on armed civilian ships, even though she stretches them farther than their drafters could have anticipated.”
Captain Lu grinned. “She doesn’t just stretch them – she twists them into a regulatory pretzel!”
“Ha! Yes. This is a remarkable conception. I congratulate you for thinking of it, Captain Cochrane.”
“Thank you. I got the idea while reading about the so-called ‘pocket battleships’ of the Second G
lobal War on Earth. They carried bigger, more powerful guns than smaller, faster warships, but were faster than bigger ones carrying heavier guns. They were designed to destroy anything that could catch them, but escape from anything that could destroy them. It sounded like an intriguing proposition.”
Kim pursed his lips. “It certainly does. You realize she’ll be very fast indeed? She’ll mass only about eighty percent of a conventional destroyer, but have the same gravitic drive power as the bigger ship. Most destroyers can reach one-third Cee, but I expect she’ll improve on that, and accelerate faster than them, too. We’ll have to increase the strength of her gravitic deflector shield, to protect her against space debris at such high velocities.”
Cochrane grinned. “She sounds like a real sports model. I’m eager to let her have her head, and see what she can do.”
Lu chimed in, “So am I! This ship is scary, from the point of view of an officer who might have to defend against her. She’ll have longer-range weapons than anything except cruisers and battleships, and there aren’t many planets operating those, because they’re complex and costly. She’ll have the speed to run rings around most other warships; and with her stealth features, if she crept in silently, it’d be the devil of a job to detect her before she got within range. I think she’s going to pose a real headache for a lot of fleets.”
Kim nodded briskly. “I agree. Captain Cochrane, in what currency do you prefer to deal?”
“I’m flexible, but I deal most often in Neue Helvetica francs, or in gold.”
“As a non-binding guess, I think we could build her, fully equipped, for one-point-two to one-point-three billion francs, three to four hundred million less than a destroyer. Our architects will have to work up a formal design, of course, and we’ll have to cost the materials. Even so, I think my estimate is accurate to within plus-or-minus ten percent. If you pay in gold, we might be able to shave the price a little further. How many ships are you planning to order?”
“Our orders will be spread out – we’ll have to discuss the timing. We want a squadron of nine frigates; two combat-ready divisions of three, and a third division for ships undergoing long-term maintenance or repair, or working up their crews. I’ll need a squadron of nine corvettes as well, to replace our present obsolete patrol craft. I want four depot ships, two for frigates and two for corvettes, armed with laser cannon and one pod of defensive missiles. They should be equipped to exchange and reload missile pods. They’ll need the usual complement of cutters and cargo shuttles, plus two asteroid mining tenders equipped to handle prospector robots. I also want at least two fast communications vessels right away, with more to follow. Your standard courier ship design will meet our needs. We’ll buy at least two full missile reloads per warship, plus sufficient spares for extended operations.”
Kim shook his head ruefully. “Captain, never before have I run across a private security company that could afford so many and such costly ships. If you hadn’t been introduced to us by Captain Lu, I’d find it hard to believe – no offense meant, of course.”
“None taken. We’ve been fortunate in recovering a great deal of stolen material. Our contract allows us to retain it, so we’re using the proceeds to fund our expansion.”
“I see. Even so, you’re talking about eighteen to twenty billion francs to buy that many ships. If you pay in gold, the price may drop by up to five percent.”
“In that case, I’ll do my best to pay in gold. There’s another important point, Mr. Kim. Since this frigate design is our idea, albeit based on one of your designs, we want a binding agreement with you not to sell them to anyone else without our approval. It won’t be automatic. Is that acceptable?”
Kim grimaced. “I don’t like it on principle, but I can see why that would be important to you. You don’t want competitors or potential opponents to be as well armed as yourselves.”
“Precisely. There’s also the question of automating these ships’ operations. How far can we increase that, and reduce their crew requirements, without risking their operational effectiveness?”
“Perhaps Captain Lu could tell you something about the modifications we made to Qianjin’s cruisers, and the squadron of corvettes we sold them recently.”
“I can,” she confirmed, sitting forward. “The cruisers’ complement was reduced by a quarter, which was very useful. Corvettes usually have a crew of up to eighty, but Kang’s new design needs only forty-five. Of course, that means battle damage is harder to repair, because there aren’t enough warm bodies to form repair parties while still fighting the enemy; but robotic emergency equipment and triple-redundant systems can compensate for part of that. In sum, you’ve got to be prepared to lose more ships to otherwise survivable damage, in return for lower operating costs and fewer casualties in battle. For a security company such as Eufala, I don’t know that there’ll be much battle damage to worry about, because your opponents are more likely to be smugglers and pirates. They mostly use converted freighters or mining boats, not warships.”
“A point,” Cochrane admitted, “but they can still get lucky.”
“You mentioned you need a squadron of corvettes, Captain,” Kim said. “We converted one of our earlier models into a prototype for the new design we sold to Qianjin. She has all the automation of the latest version, which we can also put into your frigates. You’ll also find that her reduced complement allowed us to give her much more spacious and comfortable crew quarters, which was one of your objections to older-style corvettes. We’ve used her as a demonstration ship since then. If you buy her, you’d be able to get first-hand experience of how such automation works. You’d also have one modern combat vessel available immediately, with modern weapons and systems. We’ve given the corvettes a miniaturized suite of electronics that almost matches the capabilities of our destroyer systems – and your frigates, of course, which will use destroyer systems. They can exchange fire control data with the larger ships, and each can direct the other’s missiles via datalink.”
“I’m certainly interested,” Cochrane said slowly, mind racing as he made mental calculations. “Is she fully armed? Can you deliver her to our temporary base at Constanta, and if so, how soon? How long will her crew need to be trained, and what materials do you offer? How much are you asking for her?”
“She’s fully armed, with two pods of our latest-generation corvette missiles, each with twenty-five offensive and twenty-five defensive weapons, plus four laser cannon. She’s just come out of routine maintenance. We can deliver her within six weeks, although of course there’ll be an extra charge for that, plus return fares for our passage crew. She has a full suite of training materials, including hypno-study modules, and a fully integrated artificial intelligence system at every operator’s station. I daresay trained, experienced spacers could learn to handle her within a month. We can lend you her passage crew for a few weeks, to help with that. We’re asking four hundred million francs for her.”
“That’s three-quarters of a new corvette’s price. It seems high for an older-model hull that’s been used hard for many years before conversion.”
“Her hull is still in very good condition – that’s why we selected her to be the prototype – and with a completely modernized interior and all-new systems and weapons, she’s as good as new. We might be able to drop the price a little, given the size of the order you’re discussing. As to that, there’s another point. Following Qianjin’s order, which launched our new corvette design, we’ve sold twelve more to two other customers. The last two are under construction right now. If you order your corvettes at once, we can use the existing production line. That’ll save you about a hundred million francs in setup costs, plus six months lead time. You could have eight more corvettes over the next two to two-and-a-half years.”
“May I say something?” Lu interjected.
“Of course,” Cochrane replied, looking at her
“When we introduced the corvettes and refurbished light cruisers, it took time to ret
rain their crews, who were used to older ways of doing things. If you begin with corvettes to replace your obsolete patrol craft, you’ll need fewer qualified spacers at first for their smaller crews, and you’ll be able to train those you have more thoroughly. By the time your frigates begin arriving, you’ll have experienced people ready to operate them, with much less time needed to work them up.”
“That’s a very important point,” he conceded, “particularly given our problems in finding good officers. We can test them in the corvettes, and promote those that do best into the frigates. All right, Mr. Kim, you make a good case. What are the next steps?”
“I’ll have our architects start work on your frigate design. Ah… that’s for the customer’s account, of course.”
“What’s the normal fee?”
“We usually charge twenty-five million francs to adapt a destroyer-type design, but for so large an order, we can offer a discount. Shall we say twenty million?”
“Agreed, but only on condition we first come to an agreement about the corvettes, and another giving us the right of veto over future sales of the frigate.”
“I’ll make both my top priority. How long can you spend with us?”
“A few days, no longer. I can come back in a few months, but I’d rather get things moving right away. Time presses.”
“Then let’s see whether we can conclude those agreements while you’re here. You’ll also need to meet with our design team, to go over every feature you want and that we can offer, and make sure we’re agreed on all the important points.”
