Triumph & Defeat (Shaitan Wars Book 4)

by Sudipto Majumdar

  Without the harvester technology, human ships would not have been able to harvest Deuterium and Tritium fuel from the molecules in space and continue to build up speed without almost any limit given enough time. Without the harvester, human ships would have been limited by the same fuel considerations as a Shaitan ship, and consequently be limited to speeds comparable to a Shaitan warship.

  That great speed that these two human ships had been able to build up, had been an ally and a boon for them till now. The same speed to could turn from a boon to a bane for them if the current situation was not handled deftly, or if the new weapons specifically designed for this mission did not work as planned. Guy could not do much about the later, but he would ensure that the part within his control was executed spotlessly.

  The planning for this mission had begun four and a half years ago, the day after the first human interstellar spy drone, the ‘Beagle’ had returned the devastating news about the approaching Hadean fleet. The Alpha Shaitan campaign was in its closing stages. The war nearly won, USC had been concentrating all its efforts not dedicated to building up defense of the Solar system, into giving that final push to bring the Shaitan world under control and finish the war.

  Humanity in general and USC in particular had not put too much of its mindshare on what might be happening on Beta Shaitan. The world had not forgotten about Beta Shaitan, but there was only that much resources, effort and mindshare available and all of it was being occupied by the campaign at Alpha Shaitan and building up the defenses.

  The military and the civilians alike were definitely intrigued by the deafening silence from Beta Shaitan even as their brethren world of Alpha Shaitan was being invaded by humans. There were a lot of apprehension and fear about what the Shaitans on Beta Shaitan might be preparing. However as is often the case with myopic human governments and bureaucracy, without any proof of clear and present danger, research dollars for the development of a stealth spy drone, required for such a mission to Beta Shaitan were not forthcoming. It took some creative thinking on part of the then chief of USC, and an alliance with science establishment of some of the western nations to get the first spy drone, the ‘Beagle’ to Beta Shaitan.

  It became clear to USC and the world governments that if the 128 ships of the Hadean fleet along with the 30-40 odd warships estimated to be already parked in the orbit of Beta Shaitan were to reach the Solar system, then it would be game over for humanity. There was nothing that the USC had or would have by the time the Hadean fleet reached Earth, which could stop 160-170 Shaitan warships.

  Humans had made great strides with their own warships, but in a head to head battle with a Shaitan warship it did not have any distinct advantage, and still suffered from many disadvantages. The only area where human warships had a distinct advantage over the Shaitans was in the area of top speed. While the Shaitan warships were limited to a top speed of just over 2% of light, human warships in theory had no upper speed limits but the speed of light itself. However top speed, which takes years to build up did not usually play any part in a head to head battle.

  The armor of human ships was next to nothing compared to the Shaitan ones. The Shaitan vessels in general were a lot more robust, thus being able to take a lot more damage and yet survive. The weaponry of both the human and Shaitan vessels were comparable in terms of efficacy, although both species used a slightly different philosophy when it came to missiles. Human ships did have a very slight edge in terms of maneuverability, but it was nothing decisive that could turn the course of a battle.

  All in all if the warships of the two species were to go head to head, then at best they were evenly matched. More likely a Shaitan warship had a slight advantage. The outcome of a battle of two large fleets comprised of such warships was hard to predict or put into such simple equations. A lot depended on the formation, the location of the battle and the individual tactics of the admirals.

  Humans had won more of the battles on the basis of their tactics compared to the Shaitans. The Shaitans had however demonstrated that they were not fools either. They had won their share of battles too. There was no guarantee that an equally large human fleet could take on and win a battle with the Hadean fleet. Given that the humans would be defending something too precious to even contemplate losing, the odds would be against the defending human fleet.

  It would take just a few Shaitan ships to be able to slip past the human fleet formation to defeat the entire purpose of the defensive fleet. Against a fleet of 170 Shaitan warships, it would be impossible in the vastness of space to block each and every Shaitan ship such that not a single one could slip through, even if humans had five times the number of ships. It just isn’t possible to guard every possible point in such a vast space as the solar system. Some of the ships were bound to get through.

  The only strategy that guaranteed the safety of Earth was to not let the Hadean fleet enter the Solar system in the first place. Let the home of the enemy be the battlefield. That was the best possible safety guarantee for Earth. If the humans had to fight the Hadean fleet, then let the battle be fought over the skies of Beta Shaitan rather than those over Earth.

  That strategy may have looked great on paper, but there was a massive practical problem in actually implementing it. Humans didn’t have the fleet to attack the Hadean fleet while it was still in the Beta Shaitan system! Even if the humans had the fleet, they didn’t have the time to catch the Hadean fleet before it departed and was well on its way to Earth.

  ---XXX---

  Commodore Justin Brogan was pacing up and down the floor of the ante chamber of the Admiral’s office. Justin was getting disapproving looks from the stern lieutenant who was also the Admiral’s personal secretary. He had asked Justin to take a seat, but Justin was too agitated, excited and anxious to sit down. Justin wondered in amusement – who else in that day and age needed or could afford a personal secretary? Probably only the President.

  The Chief of staff of the USC could certainly afford the perquisite. USC had in the last few decades morphed into one of the most powerful worldwide organizations. Perhaps the most powerful international body ever in history. The Chief of the USC was considered no less in protocol to a visiting head of state. The Chief probably needed the services of a secretary, to maintain his schedule and act as a barrier; with so many people who for sure wanted an audience with him.

  There were probably umpteen people seeking a meeting with the Chief to inveigle some favor, while others probably came with an assortment of harebrained ideas that the Chief had to fend off. Ideas like the one Justin himself was going to present perhaps, Justin realized with a little bit of self-skepticism. No, his idea was not harebrained, Justin convinced himself.

  Justin was a bit surprised when he got a call directly in his head from Admiral Hugo Choi, the Chief. “Welcome, please do come in Justin… Barnes, I will be leaving after this meeting, let the transport be ready. Thanks.” Admiral Choi addressed both the men in the antechamber simultaneously through their tech-head interface.

  Justin shouldn’t have been surprised by the direct call and that too using in-head communication. This Chief was different. In many ways he was the first of a new generation that was taking over the command of the USC. The predecessor of the Chief had broken new ground by being the first woman chief of USC, but Admiral Trisha Strong legendary as she may have been for the ‘Sucker Punch’ battle over Mars, was still from the older generation.

  Admiral Hugo Choi was the first Chief who was a full tech-head, and he had been so for all his time in the USC. He was from a generation who had no apprehension about technology, even if it meant invasive surgery to embed it inside your brain. Admiral Choi was also the first chief who had known battle with the Shaitans all his life. He didn’t know of a time when the humans had not been fighting the Shaitans. He was the first Chief who had started his military career with the USC, and not in the armed forces of an individual nation.

  It is rumored that the Admiral had opted to be a test
subject in the first human trials of the synthetic muscles that were then being tested only on veterans who had war injuries or disabilities. He is supposed to be one of the rare few healthy humans who had been grafted with synthetic muscles as an experiment. As a result he is supposed to outrun active Marines despite being in his sixties and could do more pushups than a young soldier.

  Well, Justin was about to find out what kind of a man Admiral Hugo Choi was. This was only the second time he would be meeting the new Chief of USC and the first time he would be having a one on one conversation. As Justin headed towards the door leading to the office of the Admiral, his secretary said sternly “Ten minutes, that’s all. The admiral has a briefing with house representatives.” Justin nodded in acknowledgment.

  The Admiral surprised Justin by disregarding rank protocol, coming out from behind his desk and reached out to give a firm hand shake. After exchange of greetings, Admiral Choi invited Justin to have a seat on the sofa, while he sat opposite him. Hugo Choi took a moment to size up the young commodore. Young being a relative term, young compared to the age Hugo had started feeling despite all the enhancements he gone through. And Hugo had barely been in this position of the Chief of Staff for a week!

  Hugo had pulled up the service record of Commodore Justin Brogan in his head while he settled into the sofa. Admiral Dar had given the highest commendation regarding Justin after their return from the Alpha Shaitan campaign, and Justin’s service record reflected an intelligent, and committed officer. No one could doubt the commitment of a soldier who had been on a tour of Alpha Shaitan and given a good part of his adult life to the cause of humanity.

  Hugo should have refused this meeting with a junior officer at this time of crisis, and he had almost refused. However he remembered the wise words of his predecessor and his one-time commanding officer, Admiral Strong. On her last day as she was handing over, she had given a lot of advice. One of those was that a wise military leader should always have time for his subordinates, even if it meant ignoring the politicians. Hugo had learnt to heed Admiral Strong’s advice during a lifetime under her tutelage.

  It was a pity that Admiral Strong didn’t have too much time as the Chief after she took over from Admiral Gerald Shannon. Both of them were from the same generation that fought the Shaitans on their second incursion into the solar system, hence they were of similar age. Thus when Admiral Strong took over, she was close to her retirement age.

  One of the last projects Admiral Shannon had commissioned just before demitting office had been the ‘Beagle’ spy probe to Beta Shaitan. Even now he took active interest in that project and could be seen hanging around in the Beagle control center. Admiral Strong had been in office while the Beagle made its journey to Beta Shaitan. It had barely been a week since Hugo had taken over, and the first event of his tenure was the Beagle reaching Beta Shaitan.

  For Hugo the event was turning into baptism by fire. He had been handed over the biggest existential threat for humanity! Hugo had started appreciating the pressures of this office, and had developed a new respect for his predecessors due to the aplomb with which they had handled the job. He intended to follow in their footsteps and not let this office down. That is why, despite the crisis of the discovery of the Hadean fleet approaching Earth, he was meeting Justin to ensure none of his duties were neglected. That and the fact that Justin had mentioned that the meeting was about the Hadean fleet. Right now he was willing to listen to any harebrained idea, for he had none.

  “Sorry to get directly to business commodore, but as you can imagine, I am a bit hard pressed for time due to this crisis. I believe you have some ideas about this Shaitan fleet – they are calling it the Hadean fleet. A bit gloomy but probably an apt name.” Hugo opened the conversation with a fatalistic tone.

  “Yes sir, I am aware. I am cleared for closed user group of the ‘Beagle’ project, and I am subscribed to the project home page. I have access to all the conversation threads as well as all the data available… In fact, it is on this Hadean fleet I have an idea… I know you are busy, and you would be perfectly justified to dismiss my thought process…” Justin hesitated, but Hugo urged him to continue with a nod.

  “The reason I requested an urgent meeting is that the idea I have has an extremely short window, and I think it is my duty to try to bring it to your notice…” Justin hesitated again.

  “Out with it officer. There is nothing called a stupid idea. The only thing that is stupid is not to air your ideas.” Hugo encouraged Justin.

  “I have done the calculations sir. If one of our new model of the Avenger class ships were to start from Earth in the next 90 days, and accelerate at full thrust towards Beta Shaitan, then our ship can reach Beta Shaitan before the Hadean fleet reaches Beta Shaitan.

  The Hadean fleet has just started their deceleration burn and the estimated time for it to come to a complete halt at Beta Shaitan is just over five years. The one advantage our Avenger class ships have over the Shaitan warships is long term speed. In theory, our ships do not have any limit on our maximum speed since we do not have fuel constraints. So our ship can keep accelerating all the way to Beta Shaitan.

  If our ship keeps accelerating and does not slow down all the way to Beta Shaitan, then it can reach there at least a few days, possibly a few months before the Hadean fleet reaches there.” Justin stopped uncertainly because the Admiral had a glazed look in his eyes. Then Justin realized that the admiral was accessing information in his head.

  “Continue commodore, I just started a routine to validate that calculation of yours. Let us continue, assuming for the moment that your calculations are correct.” Hugo said.

  “So here is my reasoning… please correct me if you find any of it wrong. First I believe that this is the last opportunity we have when we can reliably predict the path of the Hadean fleet. The fleet is clearly heading towards Beta Shaitan and aiming to stop out there to refuel. It believes it is behind the frontline of the war and has no reason to suspect an ambush as it decelerates towards Beta Shaitan. Hence it has no reason to suddenly change its path or its rate of deceleration.” Justin looked at the Admiral who nodded in agreement.

  “Once the Hadean fleet moves out of Beta Shaitan after refueling, the predictability of their rate of acceleration or their path will decrease drastically. Sure they have to head towards the general direction of the Earth, but they will be under no compulsion to head directly towards it. Neither would they be under any compulsion to maintain a certain speed.

  As a result, if we want to intercept the Hadean fleet afterwards, especially while they are still far from Earth and hence at a high speed, we may not be able to do it given how accurately we would have to predict their position at any certain time to be able to intercept them. Does that logic make sense, Admiral?” Justin asked anxiously.

  “Go on. I will reserve judgment till I hear your whole idea.” Hugo replied.

  “Fair enough sir.” Justin said and continued. “So we now have the Hadean fleet intercepted when they have slowed down to a very low speed, and are in a predictable point in space. That makes our job easier, but our ships which have rushed from here on Earth itself will be at a very high speed. In fact, according to my calculations it would be well over 14% of the speed of light – the fastest humans would have ever travelled. That would make our next part of the task I am going to describe both easy and hard.”

  Justin could see that he had piqued the interest of the Admiral. He was listening intently and raised his eyebrows to inquire what Justin had in mind. Justin described what he had in his mind, he explained his plan in detail, with the two tech-heads exchanging data both verbally as well as through direct uploads in each other’s head.

  Admiral Choi had kept his facial expression completely neutral throughout the exchange, giving Justin no clue as to what he thought of the idea. Justin got his answer when the secretary knocked on the door and came in. “Sorry to disturb you sir, but your com channel is blocked with a ‘Do not disturb’
flag. I just wanted to remind you that you are overdue to leave for the congressional briefing, sir.”

  “Ah… that… Barnes could you please apologize for me and let them know that I would be delayed by an hour?” The Admiral said, evoking a circumspect facial expression from his secretary, but Barnes didn’t say anything. He slowly and reluctantly started exiting the room. As he was leaving, the Admiral said. “… and lieutenant, please get me Admirals Shannon and Strong in a conference along with Admiral Dar. It is probably midnight back in India, apologize to Admiral Dar if he has been woken up and let him know that his interrupted sleep is all the fault of his intrepid protégé, a certain commodore who seems to have inherited his penchant for outrageous ideas.” Admiral Choi smiled at Justin and gave a wink.

  The conference between the Admirals and Justin went on for over three hours. The congressional briefing had to be cancelled, and Hugo knew he would have to make up or pay the political price some time down the line. He didn’t care. His career was the least of his priorities at that moment. He was about to take the biggest gamble of his life, and at stake was the future of humanity.

  By the end of the conference, they had a plan and a rough timeline to get it implemented. It would need the seal of approval of the governing council of USC, the international civilian body which had complete oversight responsibility and powers over USC, but Hugo did not anticipate any issues on that front. The timelines were so tight that Hugo decided to call for an emergency session of the USC council at midnight Eastern Standard Time. The advantage of having an international council where most members usually attend virtually especially for emergency sessions, was that for most members it would not be midnight and for some it would be perfectly acceptable business hours.