For Honor We Stand (Man of War Book 2)

by H. Paul Honsinger

  EMCON Emissions Control. A security and deception measure in which a warship not only operates under what twenty-first century readers would call “radio silence” but also without navigation beacons, active sensor beams, or any other emissions that could be used to track the ship.

  Emeka Moro Emeka Moro, USS Union Space Navy Frigate, Edward Jenner class, registry number FLE 2372, commissioned 8 December 2295. Currently (as of 20 February 2315) undergoing extensive repairs and refit at James Lovell Station to repair damage sustained in battle against a Krag Barsoom class battlecruiser on 11 November 2314. For the person, see Moro, Emeka.

  Enlisted Ratings The ranks of enlisted men in the Union Navy are listed below, in order of increasing rank. Within each rank, not separately listed here, are three classes—first, second, and third. So, within the ranks of able spacer, one can rise through the ranks of able spacer third class, able spacer second class, to able spacer first class.

  recruit

  ordinary

  able

  petty officer

  chief petty officer

  Epsilon Indi As viewed from Earth, the fifth brightest star in the Constellation Indus (the Indian). A main sequence star, class K, orbited by two brown dwarf stars and seven planets, located approximately twelve light years from Earth. The name is also used to refer to the third planet of this system, Epsilon Indi III (sometimes referred to as “Bravo” for the letter “B,” as it was the second Earth colony outside the Sol system, coming after “Alpha,” or Alpha Centauri).

  FEBA Forward edge of battle area. The “front line,” or, in three-dimensional space, a plane or other two-dimensional surface, marking the boundary between space controlled by friendly forces and space controlled by enemy forces. Alternately, the surface marking the forward-most friendly forces. Sometimes referred to as FLOF, or forward line of own forces (from forward line of own troops in pre-starflight Earth ground combat).

  fils de putain (Cajun French) Son, or sons, of a whore. Used as an insult when an English speaker would say “son of a bitch” or “bastard.” It is not, however, appropriate to use this expression in those places where an English speaker uses “son of a bitch” as an impersonal expletive as in, “Son of a bitch, I left my wallet at home.”

  flagship The ship from which a commodore or admiral exercises command of a task force, fleet, or other group of vessels. The flagship of a major task force is typically a command carrier or a fleet carrier. The flagship of a smaller task force may be a battleship, a battlecruiser, or even a cruiser.

  frame A vertical cross section of a warship, numbered from bow to stern for the purpose of describing the location of damage the ship’s structure or to large areas. A destroyer might have as few as eight frames, whereas a carrier has hundreds.

  frigate A type of warship with a slightly higher displacement range than destroyers (frigates typically mass between 18,000 and 26,000 metric tons; note, the largest classes of destroyer are heavier than the smallest classes of frigate), but usually somewhat slower and less maneuverable, more heavily armed (particularly in the matter of the number of missile tubes—most destroyers have only two forward-firing missile tubes, whereas most frigates have at least four, and many have six or eight) and armored, and carrying a larger supply of consumables and weapons reloads to give them significantly higher endurance on station without resupply. Frigates are most commonly used in detached service. Frigates are typically skippered by a full commander.

  FTL Faster than light. Superluminal.

  gash duty The assignment or duty of performing menial chores, especially those involving cleaning up accidental spills, leaks, overflows, and human bodily fluids. Although the term is of saltwater navy vintage, its origin is otherwise obscure.

  Gates The traditional naval nickname for a respected and highly able computer and information systems officer. The name is taken from that of William “Bill” Gates (born 28 October 1955; died 23 August 2044) the founder of the Microsoft Corporation and one of the architects of “the personal computer revolution.” The term was first applied to computer officers upon the formation of the UESF (see) in 2034.

  genau (German) Exactly, precisely. Often used to express agreement.

  Gott im Himmel (German) God in heaven! An exclamation of shock and dismay.

  Gynophage An extremely virulent genetically engineered viral disease launched by the Krag against the Union in 2295. The disease organism is highly infectious to all humans, but a gene sequence unique to the human “Y” chromosome prevents disease symptoms from manifesting in all but a tiny fraction of males, thereby keeping infected males contagious but asymptomatic. It is 99+ percent fatal to human females. It is believed that, left to itself, the disease would have killed all but a few of the human females in the galaxy and resulted in the virtual extinction of the human race. It was disseminated by thousands of stealthed compression drive drones launched by the Krag in the early days of the war, each of which launched thousands of submunitions that exploded in the atmosphere of human-inhabited planets. The disease functions in a manner similar to Ebola, by breaking down the tissues of the internal organs, but kills much more rapidly. Once the disease begins to manifest, the subject is dead within minutes. The disease is currently treated and prevented by the Moro Treatment, a combination vaccine and antibody devised by a team led by the brilliant Dr. Emeka Moro (see).

  Goat Informal name for the Chief of the Boat (see).

  greenie Colloquial term for a recruit spacer. So called because the Working Uniform for that grade is light-green in color.

  Hamilton, Ian (Sir) [full name: General Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton GCB GCMG DSO TD.] Born 16 January 1853; died 12 October 1947. General in the British Army and Commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at the disastrous Battle of Gallipoli. Among the multitude of acts for which he has received severe (and well-deserved) criticism is his disparate treatment of troops under his command of different nationalities, favoring British troops at the expense of troops from the British colonies, particularly those from Australia and New Zealand.

  Hotel Union Forces Voicecom Alphabet designator for the letter “H.” Sensors and Tactical designation for a hostile contact or target.

  “hottie Scotty” A particularly industrious or capable member of the Engineering crew, sometimes used disparagingly regarding a person who, for the moment, is the favorite of the chief engineer for reasons unconnected with merit (see “Scotty”).

  hypergolic Two substances that, when combined, will ignite and combust without need of an ignition source, a term used in the Navy primarily to describe fuels for missiles and thrusters. Rocket motors employing hypergolic fuels are mechanically simpler and inherently more reliable than those that do not, because no ignition source need be provided in the design. On the other hand, hypergolic fuels provide a lower specific impulse (essentially the amount of thrust developed per unit of fuel and oxidizer) than cryogenic fuel/oxidizer combinations such as hydrogen/oxygen.

  IDSSC Interstellar Data Systems Standardization Convention (pronounced “id-sick”). An informal agreement among the major computer and data systems manufacturers of the Union, most human worlds, and several alien races, providing for standardization of data formats, transfer protocols, design of cables and connectors, and other matters to allow interchangeability and transferability of data and computer equipment from one star system to another. Because of IDSSC, a Pfelung printer can be attached to a computer made on Alphacen and used to print documents written and saved to a data chip on Ghifta Prime.

  IFF Identification, friend or foe. A general descriptive term for any system that allows vessels to identify each other as being friendly or hostile, usually involving an exchange of coded electronic transmissions.

  inertial compensator The system on a space vessel that negates the inertial effect of acceleration on the crew and vessel contents (known as “G forces”), enabling the
ship to accelerate, turn, and decelerate rapidly without killing the crew and ripping the fixtures from the deck.

  Jellicoe, Sir John [full name: Admiral of the Fleet John Rushworth Jellicoe, First Earl Jellicoe GCB OM GCVO SGM] Born, 5 December 1859; died, 20 November 1935. Commander of the British Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland fought on 31 May through 1 June 1916, during Earth’s First World War. During the war, it was said of him that he was the one man in the Empire who could lose the war in an afternoon.

  jump drive One of the two systems that allows a space vessel to cross interstellar distances in less time than it would take to travel at sublight speed (the other being compression drive, see). The jump drive transfers the vessel in a single Planck interval from one point in space, known as a jump point, to another jump point in a nearby star system, and never less than 3.4 nor more than 12.7 light years away. Jump points are generally located between 20 and 30 AU from a star and almost always lie at least 45 degrees away from the star’s equator. For some unknown reason, systems either have no jump points, three, or a multiple of three—but most commonly three—usually located several dozen AU from each other. Jumping is always more energy efficient and much faster than traversing the same distance with compression drive. However, it is almost impossible to jump into an enemy-held system, because the enemy will almost always have weapons trained and ranged on the jump points and the process of jumping requires that the jumping ship power down all sublight drives, weapons, shielding, and point defense systems, making it virtually helpless when emerging from a jump. Accordingly, in order to take a system, it is usually necessary to send in ships from a system within ten light years or so under compression drive and take the jump points, thereby allowing heavier ships, troop carriers, and supply vessels to jump in.

  Jurassic Space The period, technology, or practices associated with human space exploration, particularly manned or crewed space exploration, before humanity acquired the technology to explore interstellar space by defeating the Ning-Braha at the Battle of Luna (circa 1960 to July 2034).

  Khyber class A class of destroyer, the first of which, the USS Khyber, was commissioned on 24 April 2311, making these vessels a “new” class in 2315. The Khybers are exceptionally fast and maneuverable, even for destroyers. The thrust-to-mass ratio of these ships is in the same range as those of many fighter designs; accordingly, it is said that they handle more like large fighters than escort vessels. They are equipped with pulse cannon as powerful as those on many capital ships (although they have only three of these and a smaller rear-firing unit, whereas a capital ship might have a dozen or more). Ships in this class are extremely stealthy, possess a sophisticated ability to mimic the electronic and drive emissions of other ships, and have a highly effective sensor suite. They are also equipped with SWACS (see). The trade-offs made to optimize these characteristics include highly Spartan crew accommodations (Spartan even for a destroyer), a radically reduced number of reloads for her missile tubes (twenty Talons and five Ravens versus a typical destroyer loadout of sixty and twelve); a small crew, making for a heavy workload for all personnel; modest fuel capacity; and a reduced cargo hold. Unsupported endurance is rated at 75 days (as compared to 180 days for most destroyers) but in practice is somewhat shorter. It is believed that the class was designed to make quick stealthy raids into enemy space and destroy his supply lines and means of communication, thereby disrupting his logistics and command/control/communications. Mass: 16,200 metric tons. Top sublight speed: .963 c. Compression drive: 1575 c cruise, 2120 c emergency. Weapons: three forward-firing Krupp-BAE Mark XXXIV pulse cannon, 150-gigawatt rating, one rear-firing Krupp-BAE Mark XXII pulse cannon (colloquially known at the “Stinger”), 75-gigawatt rating. Two forward- and one rear-firing missile tubes. Standard missile loadout of twenty “Talon” (see) and five “Raven” (see) antiship missiles. Ships in this class are named after historically significant mountain passes and ocean straits. Length: 97 meters; beam: 9.5 meters. Commissioned ships in this class as of 21 January 2315 are Khyber, Gibraltar, Messina, Cumberland, Hormuz, and Khardung La. The projected size of the class is eighty-five ships.

  Known Space That portion of the Milky Way Galaxy explored by humans or of which humans have reasonably reliable information from alien races, mostly consisting of a portion of the Orion-Cygnus galactic arm centered on the Sol System.

  Kuiper belt (rhymes with “piper”) A belt of bodies, made mainly of frozen volatiles such as water ice, methane, and ammonia, found in the outer regions of many star systems. In the Sol system, it begins about 30 AU from the sun (the orbit of Neptune) and extends out to approximately 50 AU. Kuiper belts typically contain several planet-sized objects, known as Plutinos, a name taken from Pluto, a Kuiper belt object discovered in 1930 and classified as a planet for more than 70 years. Kuiper belts are tactically important mainly because the large number of massive icy objects provide a good place to hide a warship’s mass and heat signatures.

  lubber A person unfamiliar with space and not possessing the skills and knowledge associated with service on a space vessel. From the old saltwater navy term, “landlubber,” which is itself of obscure origin.

  lubber line A space vessel course consisting of a straight line through space, from the point of origin to the destination.

  Mark One Eyeball Naval slang for the human eye without any artificial aid of any kind. Called “Mark One” because it is the original unimproved model (often, naval systems are numbered Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, and so on, as new versions are introduced).

  M-62 Model 2062 Pistol. One of the two sidearms approved for use by Union Space Navy personnel (the other being the M-1911), the M-62 is a 10-millimeter, semiautomatic, magazine-fed handgun. It was introduced to naval use in 2062, during the First Interstellar War, when the Glock polymer-framed weapons then issued were found to become brittle, to warp, and even sometimes to melt in the temperature extremes of space combat, requiring that the Navy issue an all-metal handgun to supplement the M-1911. The resulting weapon, designed by the Beretta-Browning Arms Corporation, was based largely on the venerable Browning Hi-Power design, modified to fire the larger cartridge (the older weapon was originally designed for the 9 mm cartridge but was also manufactured for the .40 S&W round). It has a 14-round magazine.

  M-72 Model 2072 Close Order Battle Shotgun. The Winchester-Mossberg Arms Company Model 2072 is a semiautomatic 12-gauge shotgun designed for close order battle against boarding parties or for use by boarders. It has a “sawed-off” 13-inch barrel and is fed from a 10-round box magazine rather than the traditional tube magazine so that it can have a short barrel for use in close quarters while retaining high magazine capacity. The most common load fired in this weapon is a high-velocity 00 buckshot shell that propels ten .33-caliber (8.322 mm) hard-cast lead balls at a muzzle velocity of approximately 350 meters per second. The weapon is also capable of firing various slug, slug-sabot, dart-penetrator, and exploding rounds. It is of steel and composite construction (no polymer parts) and is equipped with fixed military aperture sights.

  M-88 Model 2288 Pulse Rifle. The Colt-Ruger Naval Arms Corporation Model 2288 is a 7.62 × 51 millimeter, select-fire, magazine-fed battle rifle issued to Navy personnel for boarding actions, ship defense, and ground combat. It is similar in form and function to the M-14 battle rifle issued by the United States of America in the mid-twentieth century but made significantly lighter through the use of aluminum and composite materials (5.56 mm rounds were found to lack sufficient penetrating power to reliably kill Krag wearing combat gear). It is also the standard-issue personal weapon of the Union Space Marine Corps. The rifle is fed from a 35-round box magazine and is of all metal/composite construction (no polymer parts). The naval version has standard military aperture sights adjustable for range only (not windage), whereas the Marine version is equipped with a detachable optical aiming device that operates either as a red-dot reflex sight or a low-light-capable zoom telescopic sight. Muzzle climb
and recoil in full-auto mode are nearly eliminated by a miniature, power cell–driven, inertial compensator unit in the stock. The weapon has four firing modes: semiauto, three-shot burst, six-shot burst, and full auto. It is called a “pulse rifle” because, coaxially mounted below the rifle barrel, is a launcher from which can be fired the MMD (“Make My Day”) pulse grenade, a 35-millimeter, self-propelled, short-range projectile containing a shaped charge–equipped pulse slug capable of penetrating the armor on a Krag fighting suit at a range of 50 meters and then exploding, killing the occupant. The MMD is also effective against lightly armored ground vehicles.

  M-1911 Model 1911 pistol. One of the two sidearms approved for use by Union Space Navy personnel (the other being the M-62), the M-1911 is an 11.48-millimeter (sometimes referred to by the archaic designation “.45-caliber”) semiautomatic, magazine-fed handgun invented by perhaps the most brilliant firearms designer in Known Space, John Moses Browning, who was active in the United States of America on Earth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The M-1911 was the official sidearm of the armed forces of the United States during World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam Conflict. It has remained in use by certain units in the United States armed forces, later by at least some units and personnel in the armed forces of United Nations of North America, United Earth, the Terran and Colonial Treaty Organization, the Earth and Colonial Confederation, and the Terran Union. The current version is only slightly different from the Model 1911 A1 used by American Forces in World War II. The changes include an ambidextrous thumb safety, lightweight alloy frame (the original frame was made of ordinance steel), extended beaver tail, three-dot luminous/fiber optic sights and a laser sight, bushingless barrel, and 12-round magazine. This weapon continues to be used more than four hundred years after its introduction because it is powerful, accurate, well balanced, and easy to shoot. It is effective against humans and most aliens against whom humans have fought (it is especially effective against Krag) and offers an excellent combination of high stopping power with low muzzle flash and reasonable recoil.