Chase shook his head “Nah…never did understand what all the fuss was with that Lasseter Treaty. War is war and you use whatever means you have to win. These droids will save our lives by killing theirs. I’m fine with that.”
“Lasseter made the argument that you could not expect a machine even with the best of AIs to be able to make the life and death decisions on the battlefield that a human would do. Innocent civilians would face an increased risk using bots.”
“But Lasseter failed in the end didn’t he?”
“Yeah he did.”
“Think about it Ivan. Sherri may still be alive if we had those droids retaking Klaster.”
That stopped Ivan in his tracks. He gave Chase a disapproving look.
“I’m sorry Ivan. That was out of line. Forgive me.”
“You know Chase you need to engage that brilliant brain of yours before you mouth of.” Ivan quickened his pace and walked away from Chase.
“Shit” said Chase.
What’s wrong?” asked Dave as he closed with him.
“Ivan’s right. I just didn’t think and I put my foot in it.”
“How?”
“I mentioned that Sherri may have been alive if we had droids back on Klaster.”
Dave gave Chase a gentle clip over the back of his head. “Twat!”
“I said I was sorry. What do I do?”
“Make sure you don’t say anything like that again for a start.”
Chase just nodded his head. After a step or two he added “I’m on watch tonight, I’ll have to make it up to him tomorrow morning.”
Dave nodded.
Chapter 9. Resolute at Butros Alia 2230, 12 May
“You know Sue” said Art as they lay in bed with the lights out “I saw Dave today in a new light.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve always had this view of Dave as a man of action, someone direct and task oriented. But today I saw a different side of him as he interacted with all these different people.”
“Like what?”
“Look at the way he handled that Sgt who was giving him a hard time at the mission briefing. In the past I have seen Dave argue someone like that down in front of the group. But today he didn’t. He’s changed.”
“Yeah?...maybe.”
“But I also saw him tonight coming out of the droid briefing. He could see Ivan was upset. He went up to him and put his arm around him just like a …a dad would.”
“Well he used to be a dad, remember” said Sue,
“Yeah I suppose but I never got to see that before. It’s like we each have these different aspects to ourselves and we only show a subset of these to certain people.”
“Yeah he probably has got used to relating to you in a certain way.”
“Have you noticed a difference in the way he relates to you, now that you’re an officer?”
“Not much really. More so since I became your partner.”
“How?” asked Art
“Well before I was a subordinate now I’m more accepted as one of his friends. I’ve sort of piggy backed on you if you know what I mean.”
“Well you have that habit of jumping up on me. Remember when I proposed?”
She laughed. “Yeah but that was in a broom closet remember. There were limited options.”
“Oh I do remember” and he rolled over and kissed her.
Chapter 10. Butros Alia 0830, 13 May
“So the way this will work” said Brennon “is we shunt each droid pod out to your ship on those flatbed trucks over there.”
Val, Aubrey and Dave all nodded.
“You then have to open the pod bay doors and extend the loading rail out. We load each pod one at a time by activating the mag grip on the rail and then retracting the rail to the appropriate pod bay, releasing it and rinse and repeat.”
“Too easy” said Val. “This ship has all the mod cons. I love it.”
“How many pods are there again” asked Dave.
“Sixteen,” said Aubrey “four per company and four for the Bn HQ and Support.”
Dave smiled at her. “Right. OK let’s get going.”
“I want to see how they get these pods onto the flat trucks” said Aubrey and she smiled at Brennon.
Dave noticed the interaction. “Sure.”
So Aubrey accompanied Brennon back into the complex talking with him all the way. Dave smiled.
“What are you smiling at?” asked Val.
Dave just pointed.
“Oh them. Don’t you know, they were up most of the night talking in the officers mess. Well at least until I hit the sack. Who knows what they got up to after that.”
“Really? There’s hope for him yet” and Dave began to grin. “Damm I forgot to ask him about that droid technician. He better be here soon.”
“Don’t worry Sir I think I saw him come aboard half an hour ago.”
“OK. Good. So how did you go with your famil yesterday?”
“Really good. Actually I was dreading the step up from a frigate to a capital ship but with the log system on this baby it’s a dream. Everything’s automated - the cataloguing, stock holding assessment and reorder. It’s brilliant. So much is repair by replacement. There’s still some manual processing and maintenance, but really it’s state of the art. I mean one technician to maintain an entire battalion, admittedly their droids, but hey how good is that?”
“So you may be able to tear yourself away for some operational tasks then?”
“Sure count me in. Oh look here they come.”
Twenty minutes later Dave entered the Command Centre looking for Rihan. He found Ivan on watch. “Where’s the XO, Ivan?”
“In her office.”
“Her office?”
“Yes right next to yours.”
“I have an office?”
Ivan smiled “come on I’ll show you.” He led his boss out of the command centre and around the elevators and a corridor lay ahead down the spine of the rest of A deck.
“I didn’t even know this existed. Bloody hell” said Dave.
“Oh yes. Chase showed me this morning when I took over from him. We just ran out of time yesterday during the famil. Your office is first on the right. The XO’s is first on the left. There’s more further down too. But I better get back. I’ll leave you to explore.”
“Thanks Ivan. You’re on speaking terms with Chase then?”
“Yeah we’re good.”
He headed to the office on the left and found Rihan sitting at a work station. She looked up and gave him a smile.
“Nice” said Dave.
“Yours is better!”
“Is it? I haven’t even looked.”
“Go have a look. I’ve got to finish these assignment lists.”
‘She was right’ he said to himself when he walked into his office. His had a lounge with a coffee table but otherwise was the same. ‘So much space.’
“Sir” hailed Ivan.
“Yes.”
“The shuttle’s coming in with our missiles. Should be on the deck in five.”
“Roger that. I better get down.”
But instead of turning left to the elevators he glanced right and decided he had enough time to check out what was down the rest of the deck. On the left next to the XO’s office was another office with six workstations in it, enough for those officers not on watch in the command centre to work at. ‘Nice!’ he thought. On the right next to his office was a briefing room replete with holo display. Good enough for mission briefs. It could hold about 30 people.
The corridor then split and curved around what Dave at first thought must be another elevator column. When he approached though, he saw the sign which advised that this was the access for one of the dorsal pulse cannons.
But the piece de resistance as far as Dave was concerned lay at the end of the deck. He opened the door to find a duplicate command centre. ‘Brilliant. We can use this for sim training.’ He thought some more ‘and it’s a back-up.
Very good.’
Val was already on her way to the parked Shuttle, riding in one of the flatbed trucks. “Aubrey” he hailed “where are you?”
“I’m in the facility Sir getting the low down on these droids.”
“Can you please put my brother on?”
There was a noticeable pause. “Yes Dave” said Brennon.
“I need my Ops Officer. Maybe not as much as you but we’re on a mission remember.”
“Yeah sure.”
“Your taste in women has improved” added Dave.
“Yeah I agree. Look after her Dave.”
“I’ll do my best bro now that I know you have an interest.”
“Thanks Dave. Good luck.”
A few minutes later Val came back with the first flatbed truck fully loaded with long containers. “There’s a specialist aboard who’s coming over to brief us on the new missiles. She’ll be here with the next truck” said Val.
“OK good.” Dave was content to wait and watch how these missiles were going to be loaded.
“Tracy, are you and Frank in bank 1?”
“Yes we’re ready to go” hailed Tracy.
Val was fiddling with her console. “Damm” she exclaimed. “Wrong bank.” She activated a different control. “Ah, there you go.” “Tracy the bank door is open, release the control on the rail like they showed you.”
“Done and standing clear.”
“Initiating loading sequence” advised Val.
The loading rail descended from a vertical column located at its centre. The whole formed an inverted T.
“Driver back up a little” ordered Val. When the rail was about a metre above the container Val used her controls to rotate the rail into alignment with the missile container. She then hit a control that activated the mag grip and the container leaped up and was fastened to the rail. It was the first time she had done this so Val checked the sensors to ensure the container was held fast. It was. “Brilliant” she said. She hit another control and the whole rail automatically rotated to the correct alignment and ascended into the missile bank. The doors closed and Val received a green light confirming everything was as it should.
Val turned to Dave who was looking over her shoulder. “How’s that?”
“Not bad. Do you need two others to load it?”
“Not after this one. Tracy and Frank just had to release the control on the rail that was set on manufacture. From now on it will be a one person job” and she tilted her head and winked at him.
“So how long do you reckon before you are done?”
“Assuming no hiccups, probably an hour Sir.”
“OK let me know. Once we have these on board and we’re finished with this specialist I want to get going.”
“Understood.”
Five minutes later they were up in the briefing room on A deck, Dave, the specialist and his officers, bar Ivan and Val. Even Mary attended out of interest. Dave was surprised to see her file in.
“There’s no one sick or injured yet” she said to him by way of explanation. He just chuckled.
The specialist ran through the specs for the new missiles and concluded by saying “these will go faster, further, be harder to detect, have better smarts to avoid counter measures and pack a more deadly punch than existing models. Trials so far have given a 99.9% reliability factor. We don’t see any issues but it would be wise to initiate a test prior to combat. To that end we have made available a test range 100km west of here.” She motioned over a control. “The coordinates are now with your command system. Any questions?”
“You say that these missiles have multiple attack profiles” said Crystal.
“That’s right. On standard profile they will behave as you are used to - ie they are going to lock on to their target and pursue the most direct path to it, updating of course as it moves and changes direction.”
Crystal nodded.
“On Boost profile, they will do the same except that in the final stage the missile accelerates rapidly to close with the target. This is only possible with a reduction in overall range but it does make it harder for the enemy to intercept.”
“Nice” said Crystal.
“On Avoidance profile, the missile will track a path that avoids all known enemy craft and launcher sites capable of intercepting it. It’s an avoidance path not an exclusion path so it will favour a path that keeps it as far away from these potential intercept threats while still heading to the target. Eventually it must traverse the enemy threats but it will avoid doing so where it can. This increases survivability but at the expense of a longer flight time and a decrease in range.”
“They are great options” said Crystal. “When is it recommended to use the different profiles?”
“The AI on your battle systems has already been programmed to make an assessment and advise the best profile. It will consider a range of factors. You can check these out for yourself by querying the AI.”
“Can we override the AI’s profile selection?”
“Of course.”
“So we no longer have short and long range missiles?” asked Dave.
“That’s right extensive analysis of engagements over the last three years have indicated that the trade off in flexibility using just the one standard missile outweighs the savings by using the two types. The fuel in these new missiles is the same as in this ship. The payload for the fuel component in these new missiles is less than those in the old short range missile.”
“Very impressive” said Dave. He glanced around and saw that there were no more questions. “I think we’re done then. Thank you for this briefing, most informative.”
“Aubrey can you please escort our specialist off the ship?”
“Of course.”
“Val” hailed Dave “how much longer?”
“Done Sir. We’re back on board. You have QM clearance to depart.”
“Excellent.”
‘He is still sounding like Pious’ Val said to herself with a smile.
“Listen up everyone” hailed Dave across the ship wide channel. “Prepare for launch in ten minutes.”
Chapter 11. Resolute in warp to Klaster 1100, 13 May
Dave watched Ivan through what turned out to be a flawless transition into warp. “Thank you Ivan, everyone. Well Done” said Dave. Then he added with a smile “I will be in my office.”
“Have you worked up that schedule Rihan” he asked as he poked his head into her office.
“All done. Li Nahn will be here in a minute.”
“Thanks. You’re going to sit in on these interviews aren’t you?”
“Of course partner.”
He was still smiling as he sat down at his desk. He was opening draws when he heard a knock. “Come in and have a seat Li” he said to his new fighter squadron commander. Raising his voice he called out “Rihan!”
“I thought we would have this session to get to know each other. How about you start by giving us a short rundown of your career posting?”
“Certainly. I graduated from the Academy ten years ago. Went straight into fighters. Assigned to the 23rd Intercept Sqn and posted to Chester.”
“Chester hey” said Dave “That was our last home base. Ever visit El Dorado’s?”
“Once Sir but it was a bit quiet for my liking back then?” said Li.
Rihan smiled.
“Anyway after two years at Chester I was assigned to the 44th on board Ark Royal for three years. During that stint I made 1st Lt and won a spot at the Top Gun Academy on Earth.”
“Did you?” asked Rihan. “Wow! You must be good.”
“Was. Now I’m not too bad Maam. I can hold my own. But some of these young guns we have, they’re much better. Optimum age for a fighter pilot is 23 to 29. I have to confess to being a bit older” he said with a smile.
“Well no one here is going to be casting any stones on that score” said Dave.
“Mmm excuse me!” said Rihan.
“Now be honest” said Dave teasin
gly. But all he got for his effort was a frown. “Alright just me then” added Dave and he gave Rihan a warm smile. He turned to Li. “After that?”
“I was posted to the Roulettes flying out of Sydney. Got to tour the inner systems for two years. That was a great gig. Alas I was brought back to ground with an instructors posting back at the Academy here in Polaris. Staff course after that and then to the 11th Ftr Sqn six months ago.”
“So how much time have you and your fellow pilots had on Lightnings. They’ve only been in service what 12 months?”
“Correct Sir. I only got onto them when I was assigned to the 11th. But four of the team were involved with the initial trials and intro to service. The rest have had from 2 to 6 months.”
“Apart from intercept what other roles are you trained in?” asked Rihan.
“Escort of course, CAP, ship strike and ground strike. Though if the truth be known we have not had much practice in ground strike but I will put them through the simulators here. We have a full set of sim domes on board Sir. The best I’ve seen.” He had a big grin on his face.
“Whose seen combat?” asked Dave.
“I saw some action with Ark Royal during the Chebel confrontation but that was seven years ago. Joslen was on the Enterprise during the Piko crisis. The rest haven’t seen any.” Li looked very self-conscious.
Dave tried to pick his words carefully and so there was a slight pause. “You’re going to have to work real hard on those simulators then.”
“Yes Sir we will. I worked up a schedule. It’s on the training board now.”
Dave did a search on his work station, found the schedule and perused it. “I’ll be down to observe this one and that one. Let them know I’ll be there. Now how’s their mood?”
“Most are pretty keen Sir.”
“Cocky?”
“Probably. It’s the disease of youth.” Rihan laughed. Li smiled and so did Dave. It helped lighten the mood.
“Alright Li, it’s going to be a tough crucible of fire for you and your squadron. Make no bones about it. I don’t want to lose them all in the first encounter. That can happen if they are too rash. You know that don’t you.”
Insurrection: Book 3 of Warner's World Page 8
