by Chris Burton
Yoshi moved the main body of the fleet forward and upward sufficient to maintain a viable distance between the two fleets. In doing so he removed the threat from the sub-space void, which was in ‘no man’s land’ between the main Alpha Fleet and their sub fleet. Ironically this would act as a defensive buffer and would prevent the mini-fleet commander from attacking from the rear. He then gradually bolstered the defenses around the right and left flanks of each of the newly created sections of his fleet, and gradually built up a new front line. Once again, his fleet was whole and he could engage Alpha, albeit with currently-limited operational shield capability.
Throughout this process he continued to deploy a mass defensive strategy against Alpha’s probing attack. He was losing ships fast, and he needed to create greater cohesion to prevent losses from accumulating too quickly. He still had Dark ships and atomic weapons and they represented the best chance of stemming the tide and creating equilibrium long enough for the shield imbalances to be resolved.
He gave the order for a further deployment of Dark ships and their deadly cargo, almost exactly twenty-four hours after the original atomic attack. Ten more Dark ships deployed and made their way toward the Alpha Fleet. This time they were sighted before they could get close enough for accurate penetration, but they were still able to deploy their atomic yield before they were outgunned by the Alpha vessels that surrounded them. The dark ships and the pursuing Alpha vessels were caught in the mass of the nuclear explosion and were destroyed instantly. A gas cloud began to permeate the battle scene and, once again, an enforced ceasefire existed.
Commander Schneider was handed, in his opinion, by far the most difficult task of the three fleet command subordinates. His brief was to deal with the media and the crew in the aftermath of the sub-space detonations. He had just sent out a fleet-wide crew briefing which explained, in summary, that sub-space weapons were deployed and that they were effective. In this communication he had made no attempt to explain why these weapons were deployed. He merely reported the facts. Now he must face a more difficult task.
He previously spoke to the Fleet’s Media Co-coordinator and requested the scheduled daily briefing for the media who accompanied the fleet be brought forward. The meeting was now to be held aboard the flagship in one of the observation lounges in the lower decks. From here, the press could witness the battle, what little they could now see of it, as the newly formed atomic gas cloud began to take shape.
Schneider arrived five minutes before the scheduled start of the briefing, and was pleased to see that the media representatives were asked to wait outside while presentational aids were set up. This was standard protocol aboard Alpha fleet vessels, but unless controlled was frequently ignored by the media.
He was now ready and he gave the order for the media team to be allowed in.
Lieutenant Commander Mike Penance was the Media Co-coordinator for the Fleet, and was responsible for the welfare and overall management of the fifty-strong Media team. It was his responsibility to provide daily update briefings on the state of the battle as it unfolded. Today, just twenty-four hours into the conflict was due to have been his first briefing. He was not surprised when Schneider had contacted him and requested a special briefing. To coordinate the movement of the various Media personnel to the flagship was a logistical nightmare, but Penance took it all in his stride, and ultimately all the journalists were delivered to the flagship without fuss or danger.
Penance opened the briefing with a short explanation of the reasons for the ‘special briefing’ and went on to confirm that normal daily briefings would commence the next day. He then introduced Commander Schneider.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I have called this special briefing today to outline the progress made in the first twenty-four hours of this offensive. I shall now provide details of the number of sorties, the number of casualties and the weapons used, and I will summarize progress made as a conclusion. I shall take ten minutes of questions following my briefing. I am taking onboard the normal daily briefing issues within my communication. This will revert to Lieutenant Commander Penance tomorrow and thereafter.”
Schneider shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He knew that this was going to be a rough half hour. He began by detailing a summary of the day’s events, but expertly and deliberately stayed clear of any reference to the sub-space weapons. That was to come.
“As you know the Sentinels launched a successful atomic attack on the Alpha Fleet less than twelve hours into the conflict and I have already detailed losses from this attack. In the enforced ceasefire period following the Sentinel nuclear attack, the fleet commanders met and decided on an appropriate response. Alpha needed to regain the initiative in order to quickly put into place the fleet’s primary battle plans. This meant we needed to consider all of our potential weaponry capabilities.”
He paused briefly again and then began his explanation of the existence and usage of sub-space weapons.
“Alpha made a collective decision, twenty-five years ago, that the development of the sub-space warhead should continue, following the loss of the S.S. Mauritius. This was done legitimately and within Alpha’s constitutional memorandum, but was achieved outside of specific ECG funding.” Schneider omitted the fact that funding for the development was sourced elsewhere as this would open up a whole new discussion. No doubt someone would bring that subject up today…
“Ten years ago, Alpha released a limited number of sub-space charges into the command of high ranking officers serving on A Class ships of the line. The brief was that the missiles should only ever be used in an absolute emergency. Restrictive controls were put in place to ensure that their usage must be verified by both executive officers aboard a specific ship, or in the case of fleet command by all members of the executive fleet command team. These weapons have not been used until now..”
The pause allowed several members of the press gang to shout out their questions, but Schneider ignored them. He was a long way from being finished.
“Taking into consideration the vast potential power and the environmental questions that arose from the Kuiper Belt testing twenty-five years ago, Alpha’s stance on the use of these weapons is that they should never be used in an environment which would impact on the local biosphere.”
Again he paused and again the quiet of the room was disturbed by a flurry of angry questions. The atmosphere was becoming heated, but Schneider was here before and he calmly asserted himself on the gathering.
“The Fleet Command, under Admiral Rose’s request, began to discuss an appropriate response to the Sentinel Atomic attack. We ruled out our own battlefield nuclear weapons because we would not have been able to accurately deliver them to the target without them being destroyed. Remember that we do not have the remarkable dark ship technology that the Sentinels have, and our jump ships would not have been able to get close enough to make this form of attack count. We looked at the local environment and elected to use six low-yield sub-space charges, encased within short range ballistic Tiger missiles. The missiles were delivered at the first opportunity, on the clearing of the gas cloud, via three Sabre jump ships from Admiral Shenke’s fleet, followed by three missiles from the main fleet via the same delivery method. The effect was instantaneous, and over five hundred Sentinel vessels were destroyed on immediate impact. The resulting spatial voids have all expanded to a maximum of three thousand meters in diameter, and have now stopped expanding. The void sizes fall within our anticipated parameters. The explosions brought about the anticipated effect, splitting the Sentinel fleet into four, allowing us to commence our primary battle strategy. The Sentinels have no equivalent weapon and, despite their second unsuccessful atomic attack, we believe that we have destroyed the majority of their dark ship capability. Thus it is likely that little or no further atomic retaliation is possible.”
Schneider paused again and then delivered his summary. He concluded that the legitimate use of sub-space weapons had achieved the desired effect, and
that Alpha had the initiative to progress the battle to a satisfactory conclusion. He paused again and then opened the meeting to questions.
Then all hell broke loose, with one journalist shouting out a plethora of questions all at once. Commander Penance intervened and stated categorically that one question should be asked at a time, with only one question per journalist, with hands raised to prompt the speaker to select a questioner. “Everybody should get a chance to ask a question. Please keep your questions brief and to the point.”
Penance then selected a journalist from the front row.
“Commander Schneider. Billy Thompson. Earth Today. What makes you think that the development and use of sub-space weapons is legal?”
Schneider smiled and paused before answering. “Alpha’s legal team looked at our articles of association and our memorandum documents and determined that the factor behind what and how we conduct our R & D is based on who funds it. Since ECG had banned the development of the weapon, we sought funding elsewhere. It is not appropriate at this time to divulge who, but Alpha’s incorporation documents are there for all to see.”
Each journalist was then selected from a show of hands. In common with all media briefings they announced their name and who they represented, prior to asking their question.
“What about the use of these weapons?”
“The same thing applies. Alpha has taken our environmental responsibilities seriously and has stringent controls for the use of these weapons. Hence the reason why they have only been used once in ten years.”
“Are there other yields available? How much stronger are the maximum yield weapons?
“Yes there are other yields. It is not appropriate for Alpha to release information about weapons which have not yet been used because of the security implications.”
“Why did Alpha not advise ECH or the media that the weapons were developed and made ready for deployment?”
This was by far the most contentious issue. Schneider knew that what he was about to say would cause political uproar on Earth.
“Alpha has kept ECG updated on both the development and deployment of these weapons over the last twenty-five years. The information was deemed to be defensively sensitive and, because of the potential security threat, was not released to the public.”
Sure enough, the room erupted and Penance took over and spent a good few minutes calming the room down. He then selected one questioner and stated that this would be the last question.
“So ECG knew about these weapons right from the start. Could you not say they were funded by stealth?
Again Schneider smiled. “Yes, they were aware, and no, they had no part in the funding.”
He sat down and gathered his papers together while Penance closed the meeting. The meeting had gone as anticipated, and the media representatives would draft their articles and communicate them back to Earth via secure comm links. President Roslyn will be delighted, he thought.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Aftermath
“Commander Schneider did well.”
“Yes he did. He has cleverly deflected the pressure from Alpha onto President Roslyn, which means that we can concentrate on our priority, winning this battle. There is still the issue of the prospective funding from ECG and, to be honest, I don’t know which way Roslyn will go on this. Before the sub-space attack, opinion was divided. Now I think that they would want Roslyn to act and try to obtain control over what we are doing again. That says nothing for the government’s overall opinion rating, which will plummet even further.”
“We will have to watch this space.”
“So we will. For now, let’s wait and see what the fallout is like with ECG, and then we can pick up the dialogue again with Ambassador White. Thank you Gentlemen…”
Admiral Koenig was speaking to his fellow Alpha Cabinet members, Admirals Kohn and Clarke. They both knew him well enough to know that their unofficial meeting was over and they hastily departed Admiral Koenig’s substantial office suite.
Personally, Koenig was not happy with Admiral Rose’s decision to use the sub-space weapons, or with the ridiculous debacle surrounding Admiral Shenke’s efforts to pass through the Partacian system. The whole battle strategy was looking weak, and even the Sentinels’ capability was underestimated. Koenig had spoken to Rose earlier this morning and Rose seemed happy with the situation, arguing that the strategy was on target. Koenig expressed concern about the number of fatalities. It was difficult to brush over the loss of nearly thirteen thousand lives in just four days. The media were having a field day. The battle was not going well, too many lives were lost for too limited a return, and the ‘gutless’ Admiral Rose had resorted to deploying a mass destruction weapon, which was not only banned by ECG but by the APF and other regional power assemblies. Koenig had left Rose with a simple message. “You are replaceable. Make sure the campaign gets back on track.”
Koenig had little time to mull over the issues, and was just about to review a draft of the latest press release when a direct comm link opened. President Roslyn’s distinctive features appeared on the holoscreen in front of him.
“Ah President Roslyn, what can I do for you?”
“Your Commander Schneider has made a mockery of the government. I want to know what you are going to do about it.”
Nothing like going in with both feet, thought Koenig. “I believe that Commander Schneider handled the situation well, rather than crucify you like he could have done. He was asked a specific question: to deny would have meant lying and I won’t ask my commanders to do that for anyone.” Koenig was equally forceful.
“So what are you going to do to help to pacify the media?”
“I am looking at the latest draft briefing. Basically we will be stating that ECG was under the same obligation of non-disclosure as we are. Governments sometimes have to keep secrets too.”
“When will this be released?”
“This afternoon, before 4 p.m. I would think.”
Roslyn changed tack. “The media are gunning for ECG to have greater involvement again with Alpha. Ambassador White is looking to make a statement advising that progress is being made with regard to our increased collaboration. Given the events of the last week, I think he should go further. Do you agree?”
“Not really. It will merely serve to further tarnish further Alphas reputation, and ECG’s for that matter. I don’t think that White should even be speaking to the press. I think we should put the consultation process on hold for while.”
“Why? You need funds more than ever.”
“Because allowing ECG greater involvement in our actions at this time will be like admitting defeat; that we cannot cope without you. The reality is different. We have and continue to apply funds obtained from external sources…”
Koenig was getting angry. Roslyn tried to force his way back in by default. He continued, “We will make no apology for the actions we have taken. They were the correct ones. They are legitimate and they will see us through to victory.”
Roslyn could sense Koenig’s anger, a weak point in the Admiral’s normally steadfast resolve. He would not seek to exploit the weakness, not today.
“Very well, Admiral, but I see no reason to ask Ambassador White to hold off. I shall ask him to be discreet.”
Koenig was exasperated, but knew that to force this issue would be futile. “Fine. I will ask Admiral Clarke to brief White on our stance. Before we close this discussion, Mr. President, I wanted to talk to you about the Odysseus Project. Are you familiar with it?”
“Yes, I think so. That’s the Tri-Star wormhole project, which is I believe being partially funded by government. I don’t know much detail I am afraid.”
“The project is being sourced by Nexus Thru Space, Inc. They have submitted a proposal to send a ship with Alpha support into each wormhole, which was approved with the caveat that Alpha would attempt to open both wormholes together to either prove or disprove the blue wormhole theory. Are you fami
liar with the theory?”
“I am. The main reason for the war, we are led to believe.”
“The problem being that, while Nexus has agreed to provide us with an additional line of funding, which we welcome, it transpires that the original proposal was a public/private funding initiative, with the project being partially funded by ECG. This means ECG was provided funding to Alpha through a third party, that is, by stealth.”
Roslyn frowned. “Is that really the main problem here, Admiral? Should we not be more concerned with their being able to get to the Tri-Star region and whether the Sentinels and the Betanica sect’s beliefs are correct?”
“Yes, We need to formulate an agreement between Alpha and ECG so that the funding line is not jeopardized and that the media see the funding as not being made via the back door.”
“Okay, I agree. I will ask our representative to draft an appropriate addendum. Do you not have an opinion on the wormholes, Admiral?”
“Yes, I do. Currently accessing the Tri-Star system is not a problem. The Sentinels have poured all their resources into the Ionian system, leaving the area relatively clear. I believe the mission element of the project is due to commence early in the New Year. As for the blue wormhole theory…it is more than possible that if a further corridor opens up. then we could be granting access to species from other galaxies. If any of the wormholes are two way then we are inviting both the good and the bad to enter our region of space. It’s not really a new thing. The interest for Alpha is in whether the blue wormhole will form and how.”
“The Betanica Sect have, they say. evidence proving that a tyrannical race will come through. Perhaps we should be seen to be sensitive to their beliefs, maybe just as a precaution?”
