by Kocho
He planned to fill it whole if he had the time. The plans were there all he needed was time. And he planned to have his contribution to the fight that will give humanity that time. Two cargo ships and several from the civilian ships from the fleet that was found orbiting Sedna were constantly transporting the needed metals from Ceres and the other asteroids to Earth. The company both his and the other ones that were now mining in the asteroid field were making huge profits. Both he and his partners were now among the riches people in the world but he didn’t care. And neither did the others. They were all almost giving the materials for free. All they asked for now was to cover their expenses and the fuel. Helium three was the fuel that the ships used for the impulse drives. It was an element that was long speculated that could be used as fuel to power the space drives, and same as many other theories it was now confirmed. The fleet had one ship that was used for collecting helium three from the gas giants. The ship was in bad shape, but with repairs that were quickly made it was used to collect helium three from Uranus. The lower gravity of this world was the main reason that the helium three was extracted from it instead of Jupiter were the presence of Helium three was in much higher quantities. The high gravity of Jupiter made extracting much harder. Mining on the moon was planned to start in two or three years. The main investors in that project were the Chinese Government and several companies from Indonesia.
The element was the main driving fuel for the fusion reactors that were now being massively used both on Earth and in the space ships.
That meant that huge quantities were needed. So far the mining barely fulfilled the needs.
As he looked at the base he was awed.
“So much achieved and with so little time. And so much more waits, if only we have time.”
Those thoughts made him look up. The ships he was watching will have the task to give humanity that time…to give it that chance.
His radio chimed. He smiled.
Work was waiting.
He stayed on the ridge for several more moments and then turned towards the Armadillo, the space vehicle that was used for traversing the asteroids surface. A similar model was used for drilling. It got the name from vehicles that were used for the film Armageddon. It looked a lot like an earth mobile driller, a combination between it and a tank. It was armored with thick steel and titanium plates. It ran on tracks that allowed for a more secure moving on all kinds of terrain. Models that used specially designed tiers were being constructed.
Several were already in use.
He entered the vehicle and slowly headed towards the road that descended in to the crater.
As he did that the two Seahawk class ships accelerated away from Ceres and headed towards the gathering point with the rest of their squadron. Many of the working crews waved as they departed wishing them luck, and knowing that they might never see the crews that became their friends during the past several weeks.
And then they returned to their work.
1 October 2019 10:25 hours
Proxima Centaury
Jennings looked at the screen that showed the disposition of the fleet.
The twenty six ships were spread out and divided in four squadrons. They were exercising the correct maneuvering in to order for the battle. He planned to divide his forces and strike at the enemy fleet from several directions. After conferring with the AI’s he knew that the fleet will have to exit at a distance of 43 AU. That was the safe distance well outside from the solar system. The reason for this according to the AI’s was the danger of colliding with a planetary body, that and the need for exiting well away from the planetary shadow and influence. He didn’t quite understand the reason but he knew that the AI”s were right and that it gave him a good chance. He also planned to use one smaller ship a shuttle as reconnaissance for relaying information to the fleets in Sol. The shuttle was supposed to be placed right outside the warp point and use its passive sensors for scanning the fleet as it exits hyperspace Of course there was a second option, the option of another warp point. Several searches were conducted for trying to find one in this system but so far nothing was found, neither here or in the Alpha Centauri system. He planned to place one part of the fleet in the asteroid belt of the system. The belt was small compared to the belt in the Sol system but it was large enough to hide half a dozen ships. The other part was going to hide in the shadow of the first planet close to the star. The radiation and heat of the star were powerful enough to hide the signatures of the ship even when they light their drives. He got the confirmation of his plan from Aria, the AI of the Demetrion that transitioned together with his fleet and stayed with them the first few weeks. The sensors on the ship, sensors which were to the surprise of everyone more powerful than the sensors on the dacarian cruiser that was placed in Norfolk, couldn’t detect the ships. One of the reasons for that according to Aria was the fact that the ships armor and materials from which they were built were primitive compared to the more powerful ships like the cruiser and built from materials like steel and titanium which were rare in the other ships but really common among asteroids, and even planets and moons.
The plan was bold. He planned to hide two thirds of his fleet in the asteroid field. All the Orion class ships would be in the fleet that will hide in the shadow of the first planet. Four of the Los Angeles class and the Essex class, his flagship would be there also. He planned to use them to lure the units that would stay as rear guard at the warp point and use the other sixteen ships led by the two corvettes to attack them from behind. It was a risky plan, but a plan that could work. But for it to work the timing had to be perfect. And they were still away from that.
“Contact the Vigilant and the Jefferson. Inform them that they are staying behind. They need to do better.”
His com officer immediately carried out his command. He was pleased of how his crew worked. Most of the crew from the Deadalus was now on board with him on board the Prometheus. The ones missing were the scientists. Most of them were back on Earth working and several were on Eden.
The cruiser had a crew of three hundred forty of them marines. It carried five shuttles, two of them of them being Pelican drop ships a design that was a pure design form the Earth military. The pelican had one meter thick armor consisted of twenty centimeters of steel plates, fifty centimeters of titanium and twenty centimeters of composite armor. It could carry a compliment of twenty five marines, and had an armament that consisted of a rail gun mounted on its ventral hull, two missile launcher pods placed on the side under the wings and two M61A2 20mm cannons placed on them it also had four specially designed Dillon M204 Gatling Guns that fired 30mm rounds at rate ranging from 500 to 3000 rounds a minute. It was awesome firing power that made it perfect for attacking ships as well as targets on the ground. It was a large drop ship twenty two meters long, from eight to twenty eight wide and eight meters high. In order to house them forty meters high and seventy meters long hangar was placed in the middle of the Essex class. The armor around it had one more meter of titanium and a meter of composite armor in order to increase protection.
With its armament and shielding the Essex class was the strongest class of ship besides the cruisers and the battleship. But it took a long time to build one. Only five were built and they were ships that were started almost immediately with the Orion and Los Angeles class. With the new shipyard on Ceres and on Earth and with the large amounts or metals that were being mined in the belt it was expected for the production to increase but there was no time to create new ones in the time that was left.
The five ships were all there is for now.
Prometheus was part of the third fleet, Valiant and De Goal were with the first and Arizona and the Iowa were part of second. Those fleets were far stronger than third fleet. Besides the Essex class, they also had almost a hundred Los Angeles class ships, and by the time of the conflict they would also have thirty Orion class battle cruisers and thousands of space fighters, and not to mention the huge payload of nuclear warheads around the wa
rp point. Also ten Seahawk class corvettes were planned to be produced by then.
“Inform the squadrons that we will start all over. Tell Evans that his squadron did well but to watch for Vigilant and Jefferson.”
“Yes sir.”
Linda looked at him. He admired her beauty. They were married for more than six months now. There were objections but in the end they won and he managed to place her under his command. There was gentleness in her eyes but she was also determined not to let personal feeling interfere with their duty.
“We have several more hours until we do the exercise all over. Perhaps you should take some rest.”
He flashed a smile at her offer.
“You are right as usual.”
“I will retire to my room in the next few hours and take some rest. You have the bridge.”
“Thank you Admiral.”
He rose and headed towards his cabin.
The Essex didn’t offer a luxury quarters for no one not even the captain. His room was sixteen square meters and it was by far the largest one on the ship. He remembered the cabins on all the other ships he had a chance to command. If he excluded the Deadalus all the others were far better and bigger, but he didn’t complain. The walls inside the ship were painted white. There were no windows, nowhere on the ship, except the dual kinetic platforms that were manned. He poured some scotch from the bottle he kept in the drawer of his desk and he sat down on the chair.
He turned the video that Anaya made about the Dacarians and started listening.
They apparently came from a high gravity world and were several times stronger than humans. The first contact was made late in the war with the Farsians, a race that enslaved them and used them as cannon fodder. After the destruction of the Farsian Empire they were not heard until the first Icarian and later Alteran- Dacarian war when they nearly wiped out the Icarians.
As he read and looked at the images of the two long vanished races he wondered about them as well. And about all the other races that were mentioned in the report. He knew that some of them still existed thanks to the Sicarian that was fund in one of the ships that were destroyed.
As he read he was fascinated by the scale of the conflict and by the skill of the Alterans. The report about the last battles in the war, the battles that all three remaining ships were part of was astonishing. Even though the dacarians had huge advantage in numbers they suffered such big losses that it must have impeded their plans. After an hour of listening and reading he went to bed. He needed the rest.
But as he laid there the dream just wouldn’t come. Instead in his head plans were constantly forming. He resisted for the first ten minutes and tried to sleep, but at the end he gave in and just closed his eyes and started reviewing them one by one. He already had a planned plan for action so he started looking for additional options that he could use that would make the plan better. And as he thought he thought about the mine field around the warp point. The mine field, he smiled at that thought. It was a nuclear field, and one that with the power it had could break a planet in two. He stood up and opened a representation of the system. He planned to hide the more powerful part of his fleet close to the star. But as he watched the warp point he remembered that the Demetrion as soon as it exited the warp point detected the life signs on all planets and the signs of intelligent life on Proxima lit up its sensors like fireworks. That meant that the Dacarian sensors would be the same. They were almost as advanced as the ones on the cruiser. At least the ones on the cruiser they had on Earth. A ship that thanks to the constant research and the help from the AI was giving large amounts of information.
“I’ll be damned if they don’t come to investigate. And if I give them a sign, a tale of my fleet, they will come.”
The plan was forming in his mind even as he thought of that. He suddenly realized that he will need a resupply of nuclear warheads. He smiled a shark’s smile as he stood up and exited the cabin. He covered the distance to the bridge fast.
As he entered everyone stood up, and his wife gave him a loving smile, accompanied with a questioning look.
He returned the smile and went to his seat.
“What happened? I thought you will take the next couple of hours and use them to rest.”
“I thought so too, but my mind didn’t agree. You can say I had an epiphany.”
As he said that she looked at him with look that said that he has to speak. And so did the others on the bridge.
He smiled, cleared his gave them his plan. As he spoke he saw that their faces lit up. It wasn’t much but it was something new, a challenge, and one that will have to be timed perfectly to the last detail.
When he finished a silence engulfed the bridge. It lasted for just a moment but it seemed like a lifetime.
“That is a great plan admiral. It will be a challenge but it is doable. And when it works…”
The comment drew a smile on everyone’s face.
“Thank you Markus. Let’s just hope that it will work.”
The young lieutenant smiled.
“O it will work sir. They might be more advanced but the bastards are over confident and arrogant. I was there when we fought that cruiser and I saw that. We can take them…and we will.”
Jennings looked at the young man, Lieutenant Markus Davidson. He was a recent addition, coming on a transfer from the Demetrion. His record showed that he served on the Kinkaid, one of the rail gun equipped battle cruisers. He was injured during the battle, when one of the enemy rounds got a hit on the Kinkaid but he stayed on his post and continued firing until the battle was concluded. He nearly lost his life for that and got a medal of honor for the act. He wore it proudly and he was close with the marines that served on the ship. They knew how he got the medal, and what he did to get it. That went a long way. And considering that he saw them in battle his comment had merit.
“From your lips to God’s ears Lieutenant…”
“Yes Sir.”
“But in order for this plan to work we will need mines…the nuclear ones of course.”
He turned to his coms officer.
“Contact the Farragut and give captain Kirkpatrick the layout for the new plan. And inform him that he has command of the fleet. Tell him we are leaving the system.”
The officer quickly relayed the order.
Several minutes later the Prometheus left the formation and headed towards the warp point.
At the speed it was going, it would take several hours to reach it. This time Jennings decided to really take a rest. He retreated to his cabin and in a short time he fell asleep. It seemed that the epiphany was over.
Simonson was drinking his coffee on board the Demetrion when the alarm sounded. He jumped and spilled some of it on the floor.
“Damn.”
“Sorry commander.”
“It is ok Aria. What do we have?”
“It is the Prometheus. They just transited in the system.”
Simonson scratched his head. He knew that Jennings was in command and that the Prometheus was the flag ship of Third Fleet. And that at the moment Third Fleet was conducting exercises in the Proxima Centaury system. It had to be important for the admiral to return at this moment.
“Contact the Prometheus and tell the admiral that I await his arrival.”
“Yes sir.”
The AI shimmered out of sight, and Simonson smiled. The way she appeared and disappeared looked like magic.
She returned a moment later.
“Commander Jennings will be on board in twenty minutes. He said he has a plan he needs to discuss, and a request.”
“O…well I guess it is something really important then. Return to your duties Aria. I have some reports to look at, and as it seems only twenty minutes to finish them.”
The AI smiled.
“Yes Admiral.”
Before he could respond she disappeared. He smiled and returned his attention to the reports on his desk.
Most of them were evaluations of the ex
ercises of the fleet, the latest results. From what he could see he could say that the results were surprisingly good. They were still far from perfection but they were close. The new ships were integrating with the old ones and the greatest problem was coming from there. He knew from experience how much the integration is important, the knowledge that you can trust the others that they will do their job and be there when you need them. As for the fire power the results were excellent, better than even the greatest expectations.
The mine field was finally finished. The last warheads were placed the previous day. Two thousand four hundred and eighty warheads were placed around the warp point. They were deactivated now but it only took a second to activate them. They ranged in power from twenty to five hundred megatons, and there were ten with a power of one gigaton each.
It was an awesome power, one that frightened him when he thought of it.
As he looked at the reports he didn’t notice the time.
When the door opened he looked at the clock and noticed that the twenty minutes were almost done.
“Sir the shuttle from the Prometheus will be docking in two minutes.”
“Thank you. Tell captain Telford that he should wait for the admiral and then escort him to my office.”
“Yes sir.”
The young officer retreated and Simonson stood and took care of his uniform. He always did that but especially when he was meeting Samuel Jennings. They were old friends and if he had even a scratch on it he knew he would get a beating from the newly appointed admiral.
Jennings smiled as the pilot landed the shuttle with ease. It was a relief. He knew that he could have complete confidence in the pilot but he always felt a little awkward when he was in a shuttle. He suspected that the memory of the old shuttles that they flew couple of years ago was the main reason for that. He missed those old birds.
As the door opened he noticed a lot of movement in the bay. The vipers were having an exercise and everyone was running somewhere, both pilots and the crews that worked on the birds. He noticed a group of marines and an officer waiting for him.
