"King David, would you like to chair our debriefing?" As the host, it is my place to ask."
"No, we're in your court. Either you should host or have someone who was directly involved do the job."
"Well, I'm kind of used to Grace and Bill doing that job. Could you two preside, please?" Both nodded.
Bill spoke first. "First, I'd like to summarize. We lost ten thousand six hundred and twenty-four people. Ninety percent were enlisted or NCO. But we lost seven hundred fifty-four junior officers and another two hundred twenty-one intermediate level ones. There were seventy-one Senior Officers and sixteen Flag Officers killed. That number includes two Vice Admirals. Of exceptional note - we lost David Simmons. He was in one of the Subs destroyed in the Zeta operations. Of consequence here is the fact that two hundred twelve deaths are Spiel and one hundred seventeen are Polemista. We offer you both our condolences, and we thank you for your friendship and support. Your people fought most bravely.' He nodded to the officers.
'There are an additional nine thousand eight hundred and twelve injuries. Most of those are relatively minor like lacerations or broken bones. But, ninety-five are acute, and eleven of those are in critical conditions. Our fatality level could rise." He nodded to Grace.
"Zeta Command lost two subs, a supply ship, and twelve Raptors. They have another twelve warships that are damaged but repairable.
Gamma Command lost a Carrier, a supply ship, a frigate, and eleven fighter craft. Eleven of their vessels require work.
Epsilon Command is now without two frigates, two subs, and sixteen fighter craft. They have six warships and four covert units that need repair.
The two Spiel Theatres lost a total of six ships and seven Raiders. They have damage to eight Cruisers.
The Polemista will need to replace five ships and eight Machskaf-class fighters. They have nine warships that are damaged." She nodded to Bill.
"Though this sounds and feels appalling, it is acceptable in military terms. As you all know, the conventional wisdom says if your losses are less than twenty percent you are within traditional guidelines. The total losses here are just over point three in every hundred personnel and point twenty-five percent for assets. If you included all casualties and damaged vessels, we are still under one percent. So, militarily, this was a great victory. It would have been sweeter with no losses, of course." Bill finished.
"Now we come to the part of the debriefing where you all give your accounts. Please be precise and use all the sources and people at your disposal. We will start with Epsilon, move to Gamma and Finish with Zeta Commands." Grace said as she nodded to George.
We all used every subordinate we each had in the room, and our logs and communications, for support, as we each related the account of our individual battles. It took three hours to conclude this portion of the meeting.
"The assumption has to be that this was a sound tactical operation. More such raids should be scheduled soon. Does everyone agree?" Bill queried the group. There were nods and murmured assents all around.
"What about a little farther down the road? Are we still looking at the corridor along Boötis, Borealis, and Viriginis that takes us all the way to Earth, and on to Rigil?" King David inquired.
"I think we have to. But, it's too soon. We need another six months of successes. I believe we should plan for one major raid every month, until then." George responded.
"Why wait? Do you have some information we don't know about?" Bill injected.
"I am not certain, yet. I believe we are missing something. I'll show you what I mean.' He stopped and raised his pad to me. 'May I use your projector system, Kurt?"
"Of course, help yourself."
George tapped and swiped on the device for a few moments. Then he hit the control button on the boardroom table and patted his pad one final time. A picture was projected on the wall to the aft end of the room. It was surveillance Zeta had shared with everyone. It bore SOCC markings at the bottom with the date stamp and time.
"This is from 16 Cygni B. The enemy evidently considers it strategically important. As you can see, there are at least a thousand ships in this view. But, look carefully into the top right quadrant." He paused to give us time. There was a ghostly image of something that appeared fairly sizeable and spherical.
"A base...? Is it a big asteroid. Or is it a little moon?" Grace inquired.
"I don't think so. It's too round for an object this small. It's about a kilometer in diameter. A spatial object of that size would not be so orbicular. I believe it's a constructed structure. If I am right, it is immense. It would have a two cubic kilometer interior volume. My people have found one, too.' He changed the selection. Now it read Epsilon - SF at the bottom, but it was very similar. 'This one's at Lambda Boötis. We need to know what these are, and how many we face. If they are weaponized stations, they could be very powerful. And, it would explain why this enemy seems to have little or no supply lines. We know where they came from. But, we never see traffic to or from that region. A dozen monsters that size could provision a Fleet of six thousand ships for a year. I believe we should do more concentrated reconnaissance with these devices as our objective. We need to know what they are, where they are, and how many there are." George finished.
"Okay, I think your right.' I piped in. 'We need more data. But, we should continue the raids while we build up information. And, we should still tentatively plan our big strike for six months - subject to changing circumstances." I injected.
"I agree with that tack. It makes more sense to go forward cautiously, then to just stumble into an unwinnable situation." George responded with a nod to me.
"Is the entire Committee in agreement? Will you raise your hands, if you are?" Grace inquired looking at all her fellow C&C as she raised her hand. It was unanimous.
"King David, are you in favor?" She asked. He nodded.
"There's one more thing we should discuss," George stated.
"What's that?" Bill asked.
"The size and timing of the raids - I think we should limit targets to formations no bigger than two hundred vessels. And, I believe we should conduct our assaults on separate dates. We made a big splash with the last one. But, I suspect we could fall into a trap here. And, if we keep targeting such big detachments we are likely to run into one of those behemoths before we're ready."
That opened a conversation that lasted another hour. In the end, we yielded to George's wishes. He made sense, and those arguing against the idea were probably trying to feed our collective egos.
For a month from the meeting day, we greatly intensified our covert activities. Both SOCC and Epsilon - SF ran missions deeper into Federation territory. Our orders were designed to concentrate their scans of yellow dwarfs with habitable planets. We were not just looking for the giant Orbs. Our secondary goal was to map all enemy positions within our current focus. That would allow us to determine how quickly they could deliver reinforcements to an area being attacked. If we were miners, I'd have to say we struck several rich veins. Several major Federation colonies within the region we examined had these Baseships. And, that is what they are.
Surveillance showed greater than usual numbers of warships entering and exiting. And, though they were not typically visible, several images displayed the formidable weapons system of a sphere during testing. George was right. On September 30, we received the final piece of the puzzle. Someone sent us all the engineering schematics on the orbs.
The communications originated from an unexpected location. It was encrypted and had an authentication code indicating it came from someone within the FSS Coalsack a Crux Fleet Carrier. But, the message was sent from a ground controlled station on a planet circling the F-type B-component star of a binary known as Delta Velorum, nearly twenty-five parsecs from Sol. It was brief and erratic with all the indications of one being transmitted surreptitiously. I had to go to the Registry to confirm the sender. She is Captain Marguerita Hernandez, the master of the Coalsack. Though the message w
as a bit jumbled, it's attachments were entirely clear. Besides the schematics, there were images of enemy formations throughout the region. This was all intelligence we did not have, yet. We had not gone that deep into Orion Federation space.
Though I hold a Ph.D. and have considerable experience in the world of Aerospace Engineering, I am not able to decipher all of this on my own, within a reasonable period. So, I contact Vice Admiral Svjosloki. I will have him assemble a team so we can analyze this in some detail before the next Council meeting.
...........................................................................................................................
I've been in and out of the Aerospace Engineering Department a dozen times a day for the past week. We have discovered some interesting facts about the object of our curiosity.
It is not a globe. It is officially a Polyhedron with eighteen identical square faces and eight matching triangular ones that form a shape like an orb. Each face opens on the one next to it. No two adjacent ones can retract at the same time. Some contain weapons systems, others are giant portals for hangar decks. Still, others launch fighter craft. Each function is duplicated every ninety degrees.
It spans sixteen hundred meters on all axis. The interior volume is nearly two cubic kilometers, as George speculated. And, it is probably a regional Headquarters. The interior apparently contains accommodations for nine thousand personnel. Unlike their warships, this vessel's motive power is the same as ours. But, that's where the similarity ends. Its shell is made of a highly compressed Osmium Steel Aluminum Alloy. We are unfamiliar with the process involved; but, the material is so dense it is almost impervious. Even the pillars supporting the panels are somehow extruded from this metal. The shielding surrounding these behemoths is much like ours was before modifications, but only fifty percent the potency. The hull makes more protection unnecessary. The polyhedron has the usual particle cannons, missile launchers, and torpedo catapults scattered under many of the faces. But four triangles open to nothing but individual massive weapons, each. The design of these armaments seems to fall somewhere between a cannon and a rail gun. And, according to the engineering notations on the blueprints, its capacity is off the scale. We believe it is designed to destroy large opposing formations or even moons or small planetoids.
But these monsters do have Achille's heels. Like every other inhabited and powered device in our universe, it needs thermal exchangers, garbage disposal, and exterior exhaust venting. Though small, these hull breaches are a fly in the ointment for our enemy. I do believe they can be destroyed. But, the best way is to get a potent explosive force into the interior.
Anyway, I will recommend we avoid placing forces in the line of fire of these terrors; until we are unconditionally ready to attack one. The Polemista who have had some contact with the Isesinis had referred to a giant craft the enemy called a Kiraka Comminator but had never seen it. I suppose we know what it looks like, now.
For my part, I've dubbed it the Gigantic Polyhedron Headquarters Complex (GPHC), for now. We can rename it when someone comes up with a less cumbersome name that accurately describes it.
Despite my dislike of this species, for obvious reasons, I am fascinated by the engineering concepts employed in these orbs. There appear to be two bridges. They don't launch many fighters from these; so I presume those Command Centers represent the ship's Operation Bridge and the Administrator's Flag Bridge. These two facilities are on opposite sides of the vessel, and I believe these are the top and bottom of the craft. I say this because the gravity generator is located midway between them. This means upright is one hundred eighty degrees opposite for those on either side of it. As with our ships, most Engineering functions are either duplicated or split into multiple installations. These are located on either side of this center; some facing up and some down, depending on your point of view. Engine power is placed on two decks on either side of the two engineering decks. Hangars are positioned above those levels and offer massive space for repairing, modifying, or restocking the clients. Quarters are split similarly, as are the mess halls and medical. There is essentially and up and down of every department in the massive structure. These are just some of the things that are common in each half of the orbs. Huge warehousing decks take up an entire floor in either half. There is room for millions of tons of storage. Garbage and sewage are drawn to the Engineering Deck. If necessary, both can be expelled from portals on four sides of the craft. But, like the OFSA, most is recycled in massive production facilities. Also, like us, it appears they break waste materials down to their constituent atoms and recreate various needs in reactors and replicators of some type. Extensive sensor systems seem capable of detecting most electromagnetic frequencies out to a quarter light-year from the Polyhedron but are subject to the standard delays. There does not appear to be a facility for long-range detection. We have used a large number of services and spent a considerable amount of time analyzing thrust systems, FTL methods, defensive shielding, and weapons. But, it will take years to examine all the smaller constituents of these Bases to see if other systems are more advanced than ours, and can be adapted to our ships, if they are.
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In the last portion of the month, our sensor specialists found several OFSA fleets in the data received from the Orion perimeter sensors. At least another two dozen Fleets had survived from Alpha and the part of Beta we thought utterly destroyed. They are all in hiding on the far side of the Federation from us. It is great news.
I try to arrange contact. Some are relatively stationary, but others seem to be in continuous motion. It will be difficult to transmit a message that actually gets to them. I have a little brainstorm.
I contact Commander Homer Petifor. He's the Zeta HQ Communication's Chief. I ask him to meet me in my office immediately. It takes ten minutes for him to make his way here.
"Commander Petifor reporting, as requested, sir!" He is standing at attention in the doorway, his right arm raised in salute. I return the gesture.
"Come in Commander. I needed to ask you a dumb question."
"I'm sure it isn't so foolish, sir. What can I do for you?'
"Take a look at these videos." I handed him my data pad after setting it to play.
"What am I seeing, sir?"
"These are OFSA Fleets trapped at various positions in occupied space. Your people have been excellent at beaming messages to others we've found; but, we have a problem, this time."
"What's that, sir?"
"You can see that some of the Fleets are at station keeping. They're hiding in protected areas. But, others are moving. We have spent considerable time watching, and they are shifting all the time without an apparent pattern. So, I know you can beam a message to the parked ones; but, the mobile ones present a problem; don't they?"
"Yes, sir. Is that the question?"
"No. But, it brings me to it. Do you know if we have any of the old communications drones we used a dozen years ago? Maybe we saved a few?"
"I don't know for sure, Admiral. We often keep old technology, so we are backward compatible with less advanced species. I haven't seen one of those old devices in years. But, we may have some."
"Can you take a look?" If you find any, let's program one for each of these moving Fleets with the same message we beam to the others. Make sure the communications units are one hundred percent and launch them at their maximum velocity. We can get a message to the farthest people in just over fourteen days. Make sure you advise them to beam back a response. And, make sure you keep me in the loop."
"Yes, sir. We'll know if we even have the units in a couple of hours. I'll advise you as soon as I do."
"You're dismissed, Commander."
"Thank you, sir. I'll be in touch." He finished as he stood, saluted, turned and left my office.
Just over an hour later, Petifor advised we had twenty-five of the
old drones in his warehouse area.
Thank goodness we win a few every once in a while.
Chapter 17 A Big Risk
Friday, October 2, 2268
"The only safe thing is to take a chance." Mike Nichols
Margo was silently chastising herself for her bad tendencies. There's always a plan of one type or another building in her head, but sometimes these feelings become overwhelming. That's what happened in mid-September after monitoring signals sent out by Zeta Command. Fleet Admiral Brubacher was saying the OFSA was still alive and relatively strong. He wanted survivor ships to contact him for orders. She dreamed up a crazy ploy then. And, it's happening again.
That time, it started like some crazy wild-eyed idea and finally developed into a scheme that actually had a chance of working. That's what it gets like when you're just biding your time, and you get desperate for action. Constantly hiding had made her and her entire Fleet itchy. It had gotten so bad that she actually called her two Task Force Commanders to the Coalsack for a meet. Both Captains Kengoseri and Muldry Chapec were horrified, at first.
The Crux Fleet had been in hiding for nearly two months just one and a half light-years from Delta Velorum. A large enemy detachment was there with this gargantuan space station. They did continuous patrols but never actually examined open space and never checked closer than a parsec from their location. So, Marguerita had decided to hide Crux Fleet in plain sight and close to them. All the Crux Fleet Flag Officers had been killed in action during the invasion; so, as Senior Captain, she took command of the remaining vessels. Kengoseri and Chapec were the Masters of the other two operational Crux Carriers. She was now the Fleet Commander, and they were her Task Force Commanders.
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