by Tori Harris
“Attention, launch event initiated. Lift operation in five … four … three … two … one …” the ship’s AI announced. “Stand by for launch cycle two, commencing in three zero seconds.”
All six of the Jutland’s operational flight elevators rose simultaneously until each platform’s surface was flush with the carrier’s flight deck. Less than two seconds later, after a final confirmation of each of the RPSV’s mission profiles, the carrier’s AI granted autonomous control to each individual spacecraft. The Hunters then took an additional second to synchronize with the second spacecraft in their individual formations before running their own final set of pre-launch systems checks. In the silence of space, the departure had the look of a highly choreographed ballet routine as all twelve spacecraft slowly rose from the flight deck as one before each pair headed off in different directions, gradually increasing their speed to gain separation from the Jutland. A mere fifteen seconds after reaching the carrier’s flight deck, the space around all twelve RPSV’s distorted slightly as each spacecraft disappeared in a small flash of grayish-white light.
TFC Yucca Mountain Shipyard Facility
Having spent the past hour in the shipyard’s command center with Captain Oshiro, Prescott made the long trek back to Berth Nine, where an ant-like line of technicians was already busily transferring equipment and supplies from Ingenuity to Theseus. He had not yet had the opportunity to complete a walk-around inspection of either ship, and was about to do so when he noticed Commander Reynolds standing alone at the end of one of the gangways connecting Ingenuity to the wharf. She was so engrossed in the information displayed on her tablet that she did not even notice her captain’s approach.
“Where do you want all this stuff, lady?” he asked in his best, albeit poor, imitation of a gruff longshoreman.
Reynolds scowled without looking up at first, then glared at him over the top of her tablet. Expecting her captain to be well on his way to TFC Headquarters by now, it took a moment for his presence to fully register in her mind. Somewhat startled and embarrassed, she came to attention, tablet now at her side. “Oh, I’m sorry, sir,” she replied, obviously flustered at this point. “I didn’t expect you to be here and my mind is in about seven different places at the moment.”
“That’s quite alright, Commander,” he laughed. “I’m impressed with how fast this transfer effort has gotten underway. There must be five hundred people working between these two ships.”
“Over fifteen hundred total,” she said proudly, “and that’s just shipyard personnel. Captain Oshiro also let me have my pick from the six Theseus-class crews he has on standby. I probably didn’t win us any friends there, but I didn’t have a lot of time to waste.”
“What did you do, Sally, strip every ship of their best people?”
“I wasn’t quite that greedy, but I did end up grabbing five or six people from each ship with the highest overall eval scores for the specific roles we needed. I kept all of Ingenuity’s original ninety-seven crewmembers, so we needed a total of one hundred and eighty-one more. All but twenty-seven of those came from the crew previously slated for the Theseus. The rest I shamelessly pilfered from the other five ships.”
“Well, it’s very rare that you get that kind of opportunity, so I guess it’s fine. I might need to smooth out some ruffled tail feathers, though, so please send me the list of personnel you looted, as well as who you looted them from, so that I can start buying back some goodwill with favors of some sort. Any word on the Marine spec-ops unit?”
“They’re coming straight from a big training exercise at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tomorrow. Get this, they are specialists in boarding actions and tactics. I obviously knew that all TFC Marines were well-trained in EVA ops, but I had no idea that they still considered boarding and ‘cutting out’ actions to be likely scenarios for space-based units.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen some footage from one of their demonstrations. It could end up being a pretty handy skill set under the right circumstances. I believe they still refer to those missions as VBSS, for visit, board, search, and seizure. A few months ago, I would have argued that we’d never run into a situation where that would come into play, but I guess I’ve already been proven wrong there. Master Sergeant Rios and his troops have had that training as well. On that subject, I asked Admiral Patterson that Rios and his assault section be integrated with our new platoon of Marines, but he couldn’t make any promises. Did you see anything about him being reassigned?”
“No sir, he’ll be staying on as the platoon sergeant. That’s usually only a staff sergeant billet, by the way, which is probably one of the reasons they are sending us a first lieutenant as a platoon commander. I believe we will have a total of forty-three Marines, including the lieutenant and Rios.”
“Outstanding. I’m really glad to hear that.”
“I was too, sir, but you haven’t even heard the best part yet. They’re also bringing along four of their brand new Gurkha assault shuttles.”
Prescott rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That is good news. Those should provide our smallish Marine platoon something like the punch of a larger heavy weapons unit. I don’t think we’d be getting this particular unit equipped with those new Gurkhas unless Admiral Patterson had something specific in mind, though. Please make sure their first lieutenant finds me as soon as he arrives. Hopefully, he’ll be able to provide some additional insight.”
“Aye, sir.”
“You’re just full of all kinds of good news. I keep waiting for you to get to the part where you start telling me everything that has gone wrong already.”
“I’ll get to that, just let me finish the positive stuff first,” she smiled. “The Gurkhas, as well as all twenty-four of our Hunters, are C-Drive equipped. I can promise you that Captain Oshiro must have stripped those from other vessels. Those other destroyers down there, for example,” she said, nodding towards the five additional Theseus-class destroyers in Berths Twelve through Sixteen, “are all scheduled to launch within the next week or so. They are getting no Marines, no Gurkhas, and only four C-Drive-equipped RPSVs each.”
“Jeez, Sally, I’m afraid we’re going to have a lot of senior captains with their noses out of joint.”
“They’ll get over it, sir. Besides, we’re ‘first and best,’ remember?” Reynolds had come up with the “first and best” motto during Ingenuity’s shakedown cruise. Although it seemed to have a different meaning at the time, the phrase now seemed destined to follow Captain Prescott and his crew, regardless of which ship they served aboard.
“Uh huh. I doubt they’ll see things in quite the same way we do.”
“By the way, why are you still here?” she asked with a suspicious, sideways look.
“Oh, right, I guess I didn’t mentioned that yet, did I? The main reason is that I asked to be excused. The families of the crewmen we lost will be here later today, and I’m planning to spend some time with them.” Prescott paused, looking down at the ground momentarily before staring directly into Reynolds’ eyes. “I’ve reviewed the logs, Sally. We probably could have made another C-Jump and avoided the missile that killed those people.”
“No, I really don’t think …”
“Yeah, it’s the truth,” he interrupted. “What’s really strange is that I’m okay with letting myself off the hook for that. It was in the heat of battle, we were low on power, we hadn’t really trained for the scenario … whatever. What’s bothering me is that I didn’t know a single one of them,” he said, tears now clearly visible in his eyes. “They were aboard my ship for almost two months — they died as a direct result of decisions I made — and I can’t remember ever having a conversation with any of them.”
Reynolds simply nodded, trying her best to offer a look not of sympathy, but of understanding. “Look, I’m not going to stand here and insult you by telling you that’s okay. You and I both know it’s not. What I can do is help you make sure it doesn’t happen again. There are a number of things we can do
along those lines. It’s just going to take some time, particularly since we just tripled the size of our crew.” She paused, watching to see what kind of impact her words were having. Once she was satisfied that Prescott was recovering a bit, she continued. “So I’ll take responsibility for helping us to avoid this problem going forward. You good with that?” she asked, smiling and desperately hoping to change the subject.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks … you’re probably the only person I’d ever tell something like that.” Prescott smiled, took in a deep breath, and made what seemed like a smooth transition back to their previous conversation. “Anyway … based on my request and what Admirals Sexton and White learned when they started debriefing Admiral Naftur, they flagged me off for the trip to HQ. They also reiterated in the strongest possible terms that our first priority is getting Theseus ready to depart as quickly as humanly possible … preferably quicker,” he said. “So, at the risk of getting pushed over the side of this wharf, I am obligated to ask you …”
“How soon we can leave?” she interrupted, with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “I need at least a week, but since I know that’s not going to happen, I’d say a minimum of seventy-two hours, based on what I’ve seen so far.”
“Commander, that sounds completely reasonable to me, but what I’m asking you to do right now is proceed as if you are expecting something completely unreasonable. Structure your thinking and then prioritize your tasks as if we’re going to be forced to take her into battle on a moment’s notice.”
Reynolds took in a quick breath and opened her mouth to object.
“Relax,” he interrupted in a firm, but soothing tone. “I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen, but it just might. We’re on a war footing right now, and we just happen to be the only crew available with combat experience. We may also be Fleet’s best and only chance to avoid a shooting war with the Sajeth Collective. Admiral Naftur thinks that if we are unable to prevent the Resistance task force from attacking, and then we end up destroying their forces in detail, it may push the more moderate members of the Collective towards all-out war against Earth.”
“Well it’s not like we can just allow them to attack.”
“Exactly. And if they do attack, I have no doubt in my mind that the old man will make damn sure we wipe them out completely. So our mission will be to do everything we can to prevent the attack from ever happening, if at all possible. The Jutland has Hunter recon flights out looking for the Resistance staging area right now. I suspect they will send us out with Naftur to meet them as soon as their forces are located.”
Reynolds paused and stared in the direction of their new ship for a moment. “It’s actually a little difficult to wrap your mind around the gravity of what we’re doing. But all that aside, doesn’t it bother you that we’ve never flown that ship before?” she asked, jutting her chin in the direction of the massive destroyer looming large on the far side of Ingenuity.
“How hard could it be?” Prescott laughed. “Captain Oshiro did give you the keys, right?”
“Oh, that’s hilarious, sir. We’re doing old pilot training humor again now, are we?” she smirked, referring to a practical joke that had been a favorite of military flight instructors since the mid-twentieth century. Before the student pilot’s first flight, and usually after a long trip out to the waiting aircraft, the instructor would pretend to become irritated with the student for forgetting the keys. Typically, the hapless student was then given a tongue-lashing, along with explicit instructions to go and ask the unit’s commanding officer for the non-existent keys which, of course, usually led to an even more comprehensive tongue-lashing.
“If you don’t think that’s funny, then you’ve obviously never seen it play out in real life,” Prescott smiled nostalgically. “Okay, in all seriousness, that ship intimidates me a little as well. I mean, just look at her,” he nodded. “Under the circumstances, though, we’re going to have to take the Fleet Science and Engineering guys at their word that if you can fly the frigate, you can fly the destroyer. I do want you to schedule some time for our bridge crews to all be in the sim together, however, and that includes the two of us, if at all possible.”
“Will do, sir,” she sighed. “We’ll just have to do the best we can in the time we have available.”
“That’s all we can do.”
“One more thing I forgot to mention, I managed to cobble together some of my notes as well as the tactical assessments from our engagement at Gliese 667. The big things I thought our crews should know about regarding Sajeth Collective vessels were the limited field of fire on the big cruisers, their vulnerability to kinetic energy rounds, and the weaknesses their shields seem to have near the sublight engine nozzles. I also included all of our weapons’ effectiveness data and some specific commentary on our use of the C-Drive-equipped missiles.”
“Excellent. I’m sure that’s exactly what Admiral Patterson was looking for. Go ahead and send it.”
“Already done, sir. Believe it or not, he insisted on it being distributed via courier and designated ‘For Captain’s Eyes Only.’”
“That doesn’t surprise me, given the sensitivity of the information. Thank you, Commander. I know I’m asking a lot of you, but I’m confident you’re up to the challenge,” he said. “Oh, one last thing. I need you to make sure our people are getting some rest too. Your hotshot, stolen crew won’t do us much good if they’re all asleep at their posts when we launch.”
“Sounds great, Captain. In fact, I think I’ll go grab a nap right now.”
“Not you, XO. You can sleep when you’re dead,” he replied, already heading up the gangway towards one of Ingenuity’s port-side entrances. “I’ll check back with you later. I’ve got a couple of things to wrap up here, then I’m heading next door to find Logan and make sure he’s not sleeping either.”
Chapter 6
Hunter Formation “Nail 42,” Interstellar Space
(2.3 light years from Earth)
The two-ship RPSV formation transitioned into normal space within just a few centimeters of their expected coordinates, their AIs’ navigational accuracy having already benefited from data gathered during Ingenuity’s trip to the Gliese 667 system. Within milliseconds of their arrival, both ships commenced an exhaustive search of the surrounding space, utilizing every active and passive sensor at their disposal. Rather than each ship searching the same, spherical volume of space, each was responsible for a hemispherical, dome-shaped region expanding outward from their current position at the speed of light. Although there was nothing that could be done to increase the speed of their search, coordinating their sensor coverage in this manner did at least offer the benefit of doubling the effective power transmitted as each ship scanned its own area of responsibility.
Unfortunately, not only were there three hundred and thirty-six potential rally points to search for the Resistance task force, but each individual location also came with its own degree of uncertainty. Having tasked the Gresav’s AI with narrowing the search, based on the somewhat predictable navigation pathways favored by older Wek vessels, Admiral Naftur had also directed the system to determine the smallest effective search radius that could be used at all reconnaissance locations. Accomplishing this required the AI to account for a truly staggering number of variables including both the exotic: space-time distortions caused by Sol’s bow shock wave as the star plowed through the interstellar medium, to the more mundane: the most likely deceptive tactics a Resistance commander might use to defeat exactly this type of search. With all known variables taken into account, the AI determined that the radius of each “recon bubble” should extend 11.33 billion kilometers. The AI further specified that passive scans should allow time for “new light” to be received from the entire search volume in order to provide the highest probability that any ships within the recon bubble would be detected. Once found, observing the enemy ships’ movements over a period of time might also provide clues as to how their forces would eventu
ally be deployed during an attack. In spite of these advantages, gathering “new light” was a slow process. Had a passive sensor snapshot been considered sufficient, the scan could have been executed almost instantaneously — much like a three-dimensional photograph of the area — which would have also allowed the Hunters to limit their potential exposure to enemy forces.
The use of active sensors presented an entirely different set of challenges for TFC mission planners. Although new techniques were under development that promised the capability of detecting distant targets in real-time using technology similar to Near Earth Real-Time Data Network (NRD) comm beacons, the active sensor suite aboard all current Fleet vessels relied on a much more traditional approach. A variety of signal types were transmitted across the search area and any return signals were then analyzed in an effort to detect the presence of ships or other anomalies. Since active sensor scans forced a vessel to wait for a return signal, the search radius was limited to only half that of a passive scan during a given period of time.
There had, in fact, been a spirited debate among the engineers at TFC Headquarters as to whether active sensors should be employed on this particular mission. Those opposed argued that the Hunters’ passive sensors were more than adequate for the job, based on the size and number of warships expected to make up the Resistance task force. Active sensor emissions would only serve to alert the Resistance vessels that they had most likely been detected. As fighter pilots had been fond of saying for centuries, “Whoever lights up first, gets smoked.” In the end, it was decided that using the Hunters’ active sensor suites was worth the risk. There was a high probability that the enemy ships would be located near the center of one of the three hundred thirty-six recon bubbles. If that was indeed the case, an active scan would not only make their detection a virtual certainty, but would also provide a wealth of data that could then be used to plan for Earth’s defense. Active scans were also capable of detecting the minute disturbances associated with vessels “parked” at a fixed location in hyperspace, although Admiral Naftur had indicated that this tactic was not one typically utilized by Sajeth Collective forces.
