Foster smiled as he thought about the members of the Upper Council celebrating their metamorphosis— at least temporarily. Once they began to experience health issues, they would learn that they had just months to live. Perhaps they would take out their anger on Strauss. Foster grinned. That would teach him a lesson. Too bad Foster wasn't in a position to observe the severe chastisement he expected Strauss to receive and fully enjoy the experience. The thought had occurred to Foster before he set this plan in motion that Strauss might be removed from his position as Lower Council Chairman or even made to vanish without a trace. Foster hoped not, as that would impact his future plans for rejoining the Raider Corporation.
So far, his plan had worked perfectly. Now that Foster was close to reemerging from his self-imposed isolation, he had to ensure that the rest of his plan went just as well.
* * *
"Here are the results of the first tests, Admiral," Captain DeWitt said as she held out a data ring to Jenetta.
"You don't appear very happy or excited," Jenetta said as she accepted the ring and dropped it over the small spindle on her keyboard.
"That would be very hard, given the results. I never really expected to have the first bomb land within a billion kilometers of the shipping container, but I wasn't prepared for the actual results."
"That sounds pretty ominous," Jenetta said as she tapped the keyboard to download the report. A second later it appeared on her monitor. "Eight billion kilometers?" Jenetta exclaimed.
"I'm afraid so, Admiral. But that was the first attempt. And it had the worst result. After the test, we modified the calculation algorithm and made another run."
Looking at the monitor, Jenetta said, "But you improved with each run. Your closest drop was four billion kilometers from the target."
"Yes, ma'am that was the best on our first day."
"But you can continue tweaking the targeting algorithm, can't you?"
"We'll continue working on the problem, but I haven't scheduled any more tests at this time. You see, the problem is that by the time our system can even see the target, we're almost on top of it. We're traveling at roughly two-point-nine-three-six billion kilometers per second, and the DeTect station can only see four billion kilometers ahead of the ship. This means that we have one-point-three-six seconds from the time the DeTect system identifies the target until we pass it by. Now, that lends itself fine to monitoring the presence of an enemy ship because it's okay if the information isn't accessible until after we've passed the target, but we need the targeting information before we reach the target. If we can get the precise information we need three-point-four seconds before we reach the target, I think we can put the bomb inside the shipping container every time."
"But you were able to cut the drop distance down to four billion kilometers?"
"Only after we stopped trying to place the bomb using currently available data. We started using the data from previous runs, but that's 'by guess and by golly' targeting."
"I'll accept that, if you can hit the target in one of ten attempts."
"That's just it. We can't guarantee that we'll ever get closer than four billion kilometers. Everything in space is moving, even when it seems to be standing still. Moons are circling planets, planets— other than rogue planets— are circling stars, stars are moving within galaxies, and galaxies are constantly moving with respect to other galaxies. You're an astrophysicist, so I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know very well. Normally, I can discount all those things. We can hit a ship with a torpedo because once the ship is targeted, the torpedo can handle the targeting task on its own and continue to make corrections even if we're not riding herd on it. And when both the target and the source are moving at sub-light speeds, the weapons control systems provide advance correction data. Laser beams travel at the speed of light, so once you fire, the beam is usually going to hit whatever you aimed at. But with our current bombing problem at FTL speeds, we can't see the quarry in time to fire by other than an intuitive sense, and that's just not accurate enough. We must have a little over three seconds for targeting and deployment of the bomb, and all we have is one second."
Jenetta nodded. "I understand the problem, and I admit I've been concerned about it since the idea first entered my head, but I was hoping someone would suggest a way we might make it work. Well, we now have bombs and a delivery system that almost guarantees our ships and people will be safe. All we need is a foolproof targeting system that allows enough time to deploy the bombs."
"With all due respect, Admiral, that's like Galileo saying, 'I can see the moon, and I know how it moves, so now all I need is a way to get there."
Jenetta smiled. "And now, six centuries later, traveling to the moon takes minutes. I just hope it doesn't take six centuries to solve this problem."
"If it does, I won't be around to see it," DeWitt said with a smile.
But I might, Jenetta thought, although she'd never say it aloud. She had still never told anyone outside the family of her, Christa, and Eliza's projected longevity. "We don't have that long, anyway, Barbara. If we can't defeat this enemy, it may be the end of Space Command and the GA. It's a challenge, but we must find a way."
"It's useless, Admiral. Current technology doesn't allow us to see further than four billion kilometers with the DeTect system. That's less than one-point-three seconds when traveling at Light-9793.48, and it takes three seconds to locate the target and deploy the bomb. It's not a challenge; it's impossible."
"Impossible or not, we must do it. Barbara, assemble your brightest people and start brainstorming the problem. Don't dismiss any idea until it's proved unworkable. There has to be a way, so let's find it. And if it requires that we develop a new DeTect system, so be it."
"The present DeTect system took decades to develop, Admiral."
"And that was almost a century ago, so surely someone's proposed a new system by now. Let's find that person or persons and investigate his/her/their ideas. Four billion kilometers has been satisfactory until now, so there's been no urgency to reinvent the wheel. Well, now we have that urgency. We need to reinvent the wheel. We need twelve billion kilometers for our new weapon. That will give us four seconds. We've accomplished the Manhattan Project phase. We have the bomb. Now we need to enter the Norden Bombsight development phase."
"The original goal of the Norden Bombsight was to place a bomb within a seventy-five foot circle. In reality, they never succeeded beyond a one-thousand, two-hundred-foot radius most of the time."
"I'll take twelve hundred feet."
"And so would I, but it's unlikely in the extreme." DeWitt took a deep breath, looked at Jenetta intently, and then released the breath slowly. "Very well, Admiral. We'll see if we can improve on the DeTect system. If the current technology isn't adequate, I suppose it's time to develop new technology."
"Thank you, Barbara. I know the team that developed the Phalanx targeting system will find a way."
* * *
"Good morning, Jen," Admiral Holt said as the doors opened to admit him and he strode into the office.
"Good morning, Brian."
"Am I disturbing you?"
"No, not at all," she said with a sad smile. "I was disturbed long before you arrived. I'm sitting here pulling my hair out over our problems with the Denubbewa."
"New problems?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm also sorry I haven't spent more time working with you on that issue. I've been so wrapped up with development of the new GA Senate complex and SHQ base that I've paid little attention to the problems with the Denubbewa. I believed you had a handle on it with Project Gazebo and were progressing towards a final solution."
"Brian, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your taking on that development project. By turning it over to you completely, I've been able to concentrate on the other major issues facing us here, not to mention the minor issues at home. If development of the new complexes was waiting on me for attention,
they'd still just be at the drawing-board stage."
"What's the problem at home? I thought everything was great with your mom. Aren't your sisters, brothers, and father all on deployment?" Holt lowered his frame in a chair in front of Jenetta's desk and said with a smile, "Now tell Uncle Brian all about it."
Jenetta smiled widely for the first time in weeks. "Okay, Uncle Brian. I've told you that my mom is at the estate on Obotymot and that my sister-in-law Marisa was with her. Well, recently, my other sister-in-law Regina joined them. Billy's ship is still assigned to Stewart and he hasn't been home for a while, so Mom invited Regina to come to the estate. It's become sort of like an SC deployment widows convention for the Carver family. Anyway, my chamberlain is having fits. He's had the run of the place since the peninsula was turned over to the Family Carver, and he feels that mom and the girls are interfering with his running of the estate."
"Are they?"
"A little— but not in bad way. I almost fainted a few months ago when mom began traveling down a road that would have had her criticizing the monarchy on Nordakia. I managed to stop her in time by explaining how the residents of Obotymot are actually taxed far less than the citizens of most planets, including Earth."
"Are they?"
"Of course. They turn over fifty percent of their crop or, if a merchant, income to their landlord and pay no other taxes or fees except fines if they violate the law. Paying one tax means that government agencies at all levels aren't involved in tax collection efforts or dreaming up new ways to tax its people. Compare that with some countries on Earth where people pay up to ninety percent when all taxes are factored in, and half of all civilian government worker time is consumed with tax collection or fee collection efforts. A tax by any other name is still a tax."
"So what are your mother and in-laws doing that your chamberlain finds so invasive or disruptive?"
"According to Chamberlain Yaghutol, mom has been traveling around the estate trying to help farmers improve their crops by putting them in touch with the proper experts."
"How is that bad?"
"I never said it was bad. It's Chamberlain Yaghutol who resents her involvement. I've tried to make him understand that she just wants to be helpful and that he should look upon it as being useful if the crops are improved."
"But he doesn’t buy that?"
"He might, but he's just so caught up with not having any control over her or the girls."
"Ah, I see. It's a matter of pride. He wants to get all the credit for any improvements in the crop production."
"Perhaps. Or it might be that he sees it as an intrusion into his empire. Either way, he'll have to get used to it. I'm glad mom, Marisa, and Regina are there and getting involved. I just have to keep an eye on things to make sure we don't have any more issues where they're intruding into governmental affairs. Anything else can be handled."
Admiral Holt chuckled. "I imagine it's frustrating to be so far away."
"Yes, the distance makes timely communications impossible. That's something I'll just have to get used to."
"So, tell me what I can do to help with the Denubbewa issue."
"I wish I knew. Let me bring you up to date." After Jenetta had filled him in on the problem with the bombing tests and the fact that the Denubbewa mother ship was missing, she said, "If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them."
"I don't have anything off the top of my head. You say the mother ship has evaded our scout-destroyers?"
"That might be an exaggeration. My last communication was that the two ships had begun a search of the surrounding space but so far turned up no trace of it."
"Not good."
"Tell me about it. We had believed they were limited to single-envelope FTL, but perhaps they've found a way that doesn't require Dakinium-sheathing. We've always known it takes a very specific hull to establish the proper resonance and Dakinium is the only material we've found that can do that, but that doesn't mean it's the only material."
"There's another possibility."
"I'm listening," Jenetta said.
"They might have found a way of shielding themselves."
"You mean like an invisibility cloak?"
"Nothing so grandiose. I'm referring to a way to shield themselves from the DeTect detection like the skin cover we once used on our tritanium-sheathed warships to make their DeTect signature so tiny that it confused our enemies. But perhaps they can achieve one hundred percent DeTect invisibility."
"If that's the case, we have a real problem. Right now, our search pattern depends on being able to consider each six-billion-kilometer-wide pass as being accurate if the DeTect monitor remains clear. If we need visual proof for confirmation of their presence, it will take us a thousand times longer to find them."
"And if we have to narrow each pass by that much, they might have time to escape completely."
"I thought you were here to make me feel better, Uncle Brian."
Admiral Holt chuckled. "You've never needed to be shielded from either the facts or speculation."
Jenetta grinned. "And I'm not now. I was joking. I always want people to openly tell me what they know, what they think might be possible, or what they think might be impossible."
"I think that's why we get along so well. I'm the same way. So— what do we do about the Denubbewa?"
"First we have to find them. But in the meantime we're not going to stop working on a way to combat them. I asked Captain DeWitt to develop a new DeTect system that can see twelve billion kilometers."
Holt chuckled again. "You don't ask for much from your people, do you?"
"If you establish a bar height that's high but not totally absurd, the best and brightest will sometimes surprise even themselves."
"What are the chances that we can achieve twelve billion kilometers with a new DeTect system?"
"That's for the engineers to answer. I do recall reading, long ago, that the people working on the DeTect system were able to greatly extend the range, but the results were unreliable. As the distance increased, a proportionally greater percentage of false positives were recorded. In the end, they decided to sacrifice distance for accuracy. At four billion kilometers, accuracy was ninety-nine percent. I don't know how far they tried to extend the range or what the percentage of false positives was at greater distances, but it's worth investigating. We must make an effort to see if improved technology can improve the reliability of data at a greater distance. Even if we only manage to improve it by ten percent, it will be well worth the effort, although it won't solve our present problem."
"A ten percent improvement would have significant advantages for base security also. As ship speeds have increased, warning time has decreased, making our bases more susceptible to attack without a proper defense net in place. Even with our Distant DeTect Grid at Higgins, I was always concerned about possible attack after the Raiders tried to destroy us. If we hadn't had advanced intel about that attack, they would have rolled over us with the first wave."
"I had a great advantage at Dixon and Stewart. Being inside an asteroid severely reduces concerns about a surprise attack, but it's become a great concern here. And with the GA Senate and SHQ taking up residence here, I'll have to commit a greater portion of our fleet to Quesann's defense. When you factor in the forces I'll have to commit to safeguarding the new shipyard and foundry, it's going to further weaken our ability to patrol the regions and respond to problems. Given the new threat from the Denubbewa, I wish the Senate and SHQ would reevaluate their decision to move here. I tried to tell the AB how dangerous it still is out here, but they said the GA Senate has decided to move and that's that."
"They trust that Admiral Carver will protect them from any harm."
"I wish Admiral Carver was as confident as they are. And I admit to having felt a lot more confident before the Denubbewa showed up."
Speaking of the Denubbewa, I haven't heard anything about that missile the Tagus found."
"We believe the missile was
one used during the attack on the Yenisei, which as you know occurred at the furthest sectors of Region Two. It's taken months for the Tagus, traveling at Light-9790 to bring it here for laboratory analysis. The engineers aboard the Tagus had orders to only dismantle it sufficiently to ensure it didn't pose an imminent threat to the ship, so we only know a little bit about it at this point. What we do know has confirmed our hypotheses developed from examinations of the Yenisei and Salado. We now know for certain that there are three sections consisting of a small warhead at the fore end, a small nuclear payload behind that, and then the delivery section. The fuel in the delivery section was completely exhausted. That's about all we know for sure right now, but we hope to have more information very soon."
* * *
Chapter Eighteen
~ July 12th, 2287 ~
"Lieutenant," the com chief said, "we've just received a message on the SC General Broadcast frequency."
"From R2HQ, Chief?" Lt. Kyle Gleason, the third watch commander aboard the Mekong, asked from the bridge command chair.
"No, sir. It's from a Region Two Territorial Guard ship."
"In the clear?"
"No, sir. The message is encrypted, and it's one of the new encryption codes put into use following the Yenisei and Salado incidents."
"Put it on the front monitor, Chief."
"Aye, sir."
A second later, the head-and-shoulders image of a Milora wearing a Territorial Guard officer uniform appeared on the large screen. After a two-second pause, the Milora began to speak.
"This is Captain Bdillaaq of the SC Territorial Guard destroyer Mnesppretul on routine patrol in the sectors around Ruwaler Space Command Base. Minutes ago, we were startled to encounter a mother ship like the one described in reports about the Denubbewa. We established its size as being roughly one hundred twenty-six kilometers, and it was covered in those bubbles that the alert named as missile platforms. In compliance with Standing Orders to avoid all contact with the Denubbewa, we immediately altered course. The mother ship was under power and we were able to determine its course using DeTect information as we put distance between us. My navigator and tac officers will append their data to this report.
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