“What’s your plan?”
“I’ll keep ’em there for a week. It’ll take that long to bring what’s left of my lasers back online. Then I’ll re-open the skies, but we’ll inspect all ships before they so much as stick their noses into my orbits.”
“You’re going to need help with that.”
“The Chinese said they’ll arrive at Titan in five days and are eager to help.”
“How very fortunate that their nearest task element just happens to have two assault carriers filled with Space Marines. On exercises. Or so they say.”
“They have three guard ships as escorts as well.”
“Such a task element would be perfect for invading Titan. But it would be the height of paranoia to suggest that, yes?”
“’Course not. After all, they just wanna ‘assist local forces to secure Titan in the wake of this tragedy’.” O’Neil shook his head. “The Chinese Space Forces are conducting their largest-ever fleetwide ‘exercise’ across the Solar system, and suddenly everyone else just happens to be ‘exercising’ right alongside them. Mars, Mercury, Venus, practically everywhere in the Solar system. The smallest provocation’s gonna lead to an interplanetary war, and that would be a disaster for everyone.”
“You don’t sound convinced that the Chinese have our best interests at heart.”
“We’ve recovered bodies from Cloud Nine, the one ship that didn’t blow up. They were all Chinese in their twenties. Fit, strong, even for spacers. Two or three were older, in their thirties or forties. It was a skeleton crew barely large enough to man a vessel of that size. Looked to me like they were military spacers flyin’ incognito.”
“Any survivors?”
“None. Not that it would have mattered. They were all sterile.”
Hoshi wasn’t familiar with the Americanism. “Sterile?”
“They had nothing that could ID them. No personal effects, nothing that could be traced. All they had were passports, but we’re drawing a blank on ’em.”
“They sound like special forces. Or intelligence.”
“Either way, it doesn’t matter. Point is somebody didn’t want anyone to find out who they were. Pirates are never sterile; they usually carry multiple IDs. You noticed the other ships self-destructed?”
“Yes. And they blew up too quickly for humans to have manually engaged the self-destruct. Perhaps their computers would automatically trigger the self-destruct if, say, the ship suffered irreparable engine damage.”
“And that, my friend, is something only a space military is paranoid enough to implement.”
“Do you think the CSF has something to do with this?”
“Damned if I know. Won’t be surprised if they were. All the same, the US Space Force has eight ships trailing the Chinese formation by a week. The Chinese have five days to try something.”
“You sound confident that the Chinese want to take Titan.”
“Among the major space powers, China is ranked near the bottom. In the past decade they’ve been embarking on modernization programs, but they’ve been consistently over-budget. Their premier isn’t pleased, but the hawks in the CSF insist that the programs are vital, even if they are taking money that could go into, say, education or healthcare.”
“And so, to secure their place in the hierarchy, the hawks must present a triumph. Like Titan.”
“Yup. You could say they’ve had their sights set on Titan for a long time.”
“He who controls Titan controls the gas giants. He who controls the gas giants controls the Solar system.” Hoshi smiled gently. “I imagine the hawks would also prefer not to see you Americans control Titan.”
“Hey, buddy, we’re all about spreading the wealth. That’s why Prometheus is an international colony, ya?”
The Americans might have founded the colony along with several other anchor nations, but only they had a permanent garrison on Titan. It would also be impolite to point that out. Instead, Hoshi simply nodded and sipped at his tea.
“How do you think the Chinese will invade Titan?” Hoshi asked.
“They’ll launch a coordinated space and ground offensive. They’ll land troops beyond the horizon, where the lasers can’t reach ’em, and execute a ground assault against the laser array. The guard ships will provide fire support and secure the orbits. With the lasers out of the way, and ships dominating the sky, nothing can touch them.”
“How many forces do you have?”
“Groundside, just a company of Espatiers. Only way they can fight the Chinese with those numbers is to force a battle inside Prometheus proper. And so long as the Chinese can put ships in orbit, they can simply blow the hell out of the colony. I mean, they don’t even need Prometheus, you know? If things get too troublesome they’ll just drop rocks on us from orbit, then build their own colony later.”
“That’s a war crime.”
“When did the Chinese care about war crimes? And, more importantly, who’s going to punish them?”
Hoshi couldn’t reply. Throughout human history, war criminals only had to fear a victor’s justice. Even today, it was simply too expensive to enforce international law against nation-states across interplanetary distances.
“Aside from the lasers, what do you have for orbital defense?” Hoshi asked.
O’Neil exhaled sharply. “I’ve got a wing of orbital patrol ships left, but…look, they are meant to fight pirates, smugglers and the odd bit of space junk. Warships outrange and outgun them any day of the week. There’s no point sending them up there. It’ll be a slaughter.”
“Takao can defend Titan.”
“Against five ships? That’s suicide.”
Hoshi thought of the secret payload sleeping in Takao’s hull. No, it probably wasn’t suicide, but the American didn’t need to know. Yet.
“There is no one else.”
“There is. Buddy, we’ve got an eight-ship task element behind the Chinese, remember? They won’t be stupid enough to attack Titan now. Not unless they want boots up their asses. The hawks might have plans to capture Titan someday, but it won’t be anytime soon.”
“Sou ka?” Then a thought struck Hoshi. “They might invade us anyway.”
“They can’t be stupid enough to—”
“Yes they can. Think about it. They cannot capture Titan by subterfuge now. But if they do so by force, they can present it as a…a…fate…”
“Fait accompli?”
“Yes. Either the nations of Earth accept that the Chinese own Titan, or they will be forced to fight over every inhabited world. No matter who wins, a war will cause Kessler Syndrome across the Solar system, and shut off humanity from space forever.”
“C’mon, man, the Space Force element I told you about can blow ’em to kingdom come.”
“Yes, but they will need days to catch up. In that time, Beijing could order their fleet to keep destroying interplanetary infrastructure everywhere else until your ships turn around. It may start a war the Chinese can’t win, but they can make sure nobody else does.”
O’Neil paled. “My God. Who would be crazy enough to do that?”
“Are the hawks madmen?”
“No. But…I think they’re gambling that nobody would risk Kessler Syndrome on that scale. The threat alone would make anyone blink.”
“The interplanetary economy is dependent on helium-three. The gas must flow.” Hoshi shook his head. “My government would rather give in than risk the helium-three shipping. And yours?”
O’Neil looked away, his face contorted in frustration. “Same. If they can reach a settlement without spending months and billions of dollars to mount a military expedition, they will. And everybody else…I don’t think they care who sells ’em helium-three, so long as it keeps flowing.” He sighed. “Goddammit.”
“What can we do?”
“We can send our suspicions back home, but we both know nobody’s gonna act without proof. The stakes are just too high.”
“We must probe the Chinese into re
vealing their intentions without starting a space war ourselves.”
“How?”
Hoshi finished his tea and straightened his back.
“If they attack Takao, even the most hardheaded bureaucrat back on Earth must listen to you.”
“My God… Are you crazy?”
“Do we have any other choice?”
“No. I don’t see that we do.”
***
Hoshi proposed taking Takao to patrol the orbits of Saturn, claiming that the Americans had asked him to watch over the civilian spacecraft there. Wonder of wonders, Tokyo approved.
The spaceport patched up Takao’s wounds and topped off her fuel, propellant, ice and other consumables. Without charge.
The orbital patrol was equally generous. The Japanese munitions were license-produced versions of American designs. The Americans replaced the damaged missile cells and reloaded her magazines, the Japanese changed the language settings and ran compatibility tests, and Takao was pronounced fit for service.
Thus rearmed and resupplied, on the sixth day after the attack on Titan, Takao burned for Saturn.
And the Chinese followed.
“Captain, the Chinese have altered their vector,” Kamishiro reported. “They are making an emergency burn towards Saturn at six hundred milligees. They have not stated the reason for doing so.”
The Chinese were going all out, augmenting their main engines with chemical maneuvering rockets. A six hundred-milligee burn was not sustainable. It was used only to make a sudden vector change in the direst of circumstances: racing to a resupply depot before life support failed, scrambling to aid a stranded spacer, clearing out of a no-fly zone before the orbital patrol arrived.
Or intercepting a target.
“Interesting,” Hoshi said. “Nakamura, do you think they will make it to Saturn?”
“They could, if they expend their chemical propellant reserves. They are committed to the vector and there is no turning back.”
Spaceships do not simply alter course mid-mission. Every vector change imposed a delta-vee cost above and beyond existing propellant expenditure, and there was only so much propellant a ship could store before losing performance. It was especially important for military spaceships: the more propellant a ship carried, the fewer weapons, ammo and supplies she could carry.
Military spaceships usually budgeted just enough delta-vee for their missions, with a reserve for engagements. The Chinese in particular exercised strict control of their fleet from Earth. A Chinese spaceship commander who wanted to make a course correction during a mission had to seek permission from Beijing. This far away, it would take at least three hours to receive a response. The only thing that could have prompted the Chinese to alter course so suddenly was Takao’s own flight.
Which meant the Chinese were after Takao.
Hoshi composed a report for his superiors, then summoned his officers to an unused compartment in the crew deck. As the men tethered themselves to safety moorings, Hoshi discussed the situation and dispensed intelligence files. If the Chinese were truly friendly, it would make good practice for combat. If the Chinese had designs on Takao, they would be ready. Probably.
“Nakamura, what do we know about the Chinese ships?” he asked.
Nakamura cleared his throat. “Captain, the task element is composed of two assault carriers and three guard ships. The assault carriers are named Zhejiang and Guangdong. The escorts are Shanghai, Nanjing and Chongqing. The escorts are in the lead, forming a triangle with a separation of eight hundred kilometers. The assault carriers are trailing them by five hundred kilometers, and are arranged side-by-side with a separation of four hundred kilometers.
“The assault carriers have a displacement of forty thousand tons. They have helium-three-deuterium drives, combat acceleration of twenty milligees. Cargo capacity of ten thousand tons each. That’s enough for a battalion of Space Marines, landing craft, and twenty drones. Eight point defense lasers, effective range of one thousand kilometers.
“The guard ships have a displacement of ten thousand tons. They also have helium-three-deuterium engines, combat acceleration of fifty milligees. Weapons payload of five thousand tons each. Main weapon is a three-hundred-millimeter spinal railgun. Secondary armament are multiple missile banks, two hundred and eighty missiles total. Six point defense lasers, effective range of one thousand kilometers.”
“Thank you,” Hoshi said. “We are presently eleven hours from Saturn orbit, and the Chinese will arrive a day later. Our mission is to draw out the Chinese intentions without starting a war. Suggestions?”
“Captain, if the Chinese have any more Q-ships, they’ll deploy them against us,” Kamishiro said. “If the Q-ships defeat us the Chinese have an excuse to take over the Saturnian system. If the Q-ships lose, the Chinese will have an excuse to approach us to assist with ‘law enforcement’ and put us within their railguns’ engagement envelope.”
“Excellent thought,” Hoshi said. “Now, how do we solve this?”
“Let’s take an orbit that would put us in standoff range of civilian traffic,” Sato said.
“Lieutenant Sato, Saturn’s orbits are cluttered,” Mori said. “We’ve got civilian traffic intermixed with robot miners. There’s no one entity performing global traffic control at Saturn. We should take up station in high orbit and direct the civilians to the lower orbits.”
“And that is when a Q-ship would strike to cause maximum havoc,” Subaru said. “I suggest we put mirrors parallel to our vectors to let us control the orbits.”
Kamishiro nodded. “Let’s take up orbit at an altitude of twenty thousand kilometers, and have the civilians form a convoy at an altitude of fifteen thousand klicks and fifteen hundred klicks forward relative to our position. If anyone starts trouble, we can shoot down at their engines, radiators and reactors.”
“I foresee the civilians complaining about it,” Sato remarked.
“If they are willing to eat our exhaust, they are very welcome,” Tanaka said.
The men shared a chuckle.
“I’m more concerned about the Chinese complaining,” Hoshi said. “They will accuse us of ‘unlawfully seizing control of Saturn orbit’.”
“Or they may praise us for our initiative and volunteer to help out,” Kamishiro said.
“If they do the latter, I will tell them that we have the situation under control, and they should move on to Titan,” Hoshi said. “If their intentions are benign, they will be needed there to inspect the ships already in Titan orbit.”
“What if they are not benign? Captain, what do you think they will do?”
“They will make excuses to maintain their current vector. I am confident they will not make a burn for Titan. They won’t want to risk being shot in the back.”
“And if they want to give battle around Saturn?”
“We give them all the fight they want.”
“Captain, may I express the general sentiment of the crew?” Kamishiro said formally.
“Carry on,” Hoshi said.
“Captain, the Chinese have twenty-two times our mass. If we have to fight…” Kamishiro sucked in air between his teeth. “I must strongly recommend against a prolonged engagement.”
Hoshi nodded. The crew were neither cowards nor mutineers. But they were as cognizant as he was of the odds against Takao.
He thought of his family. Hana understood a spacer’s life, recognized that the iron laws of duty dictated that he had to be absent from home for months at a time, and return home for visits that sometimes lasted mere weeks. But Kikyo was only three years old, and she was not old enough to understand. He desperately wanted to make it home to them.
But not at the price of an Earth dominated by a Chinese space empire.
“What if we have no choice, Kamishiro?”
“We will do our duty, Captain.”
“Yes, we shall.”
***
The Chinese exhausted their chemical rocket propellant the moment they had
locked in a vector for Saturn. When Hoshi arrived, the Chinese were 2.4 light seconds from the planet.
Takao restocked fuel and propellant from an orbital depot. Then, Subaru boosted four sunrays into Saturn orbit, while Kamishiro had the unenviable task of herding the civilians into a single large convoy. The civilians complained, whined and argued, but Takao had the biggest guns—actually, the only guns—around the planet.
Over the space of hours, the civilians formed a long ragged line orbiting the planet. No Q-ships emerged to wreak havoc, for which Hoshi was grateful. When the Chinese closed to one light-second, Hoshi hailed them on the radio in English.
“Attention CSF formation, this is JS Takao. Welcome to Saturn. May I speak to your commander, please?”
“Takao, this is Guangdong. Thank you for your greeting. Please identify yourself and state the nature of your business.”
“Guangdong, as mentioned, this is JS Takao. We are conducting civilian escort mission until Titan lifts no-fly zone.”
Hoshi was deliberately being obtuse. He was also tempted to confuse his ‘l’s and ‘r’s, but that would be going overboard.
“Takao, Guangdong. I meant to say, please state your rank and name. We are on a patrol to the Saturnian system. We saw your engagement with the pirates at Titan and are willing to assist.”
“Takao copies. Pirates beaten. Local authorities say no need of assistance. Thanks for offer. Also, what you need rank and name for, over?”
“I’d like to know who I’m talking to.”
“You first, please.”
It took a full minute before he replied. “This is Captain Huang Wei. Now your rank and name, please.”
“Nakamura, look up a Captain Huang Wei,” Hoshi ordered. Returning to the radio, he said, “Thank you, Captain Huang. I’m Commander Kano Makoto. Please to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine, Commander. We are glad to learn that the pirates have been beaten, but we still need to resupply at Saturn.”
There Will Be War Volume X Page 18
