by Dietmar Wehr
At last the entire Task Force was refueled and the tankers were topped up as well. Mbutu ordered the Task Force to retrace its inward path in order to confuse the enemy just in case there was another detection device watching them. When the Task Force was almost a light hour from the gas giant, TF79 turned back towards their real destination which was Zebra 3, bypassing 4, 5 and 6 altogether. The recon drones left to monitor Zebra 3’s two gas giants didn’t reveal any sign of enemy activity and the ships of the squadron took a very close look at the moons of both of them without finding any alien devices. With that refueling going off without a hitch and the task force back in hyperspace on its way to one more refueling stop before arriving back at SFB Bradley, Shiloh and the rest of his crew began to relax. The arrival back at Bradley was anticlimactic. Since all Space Force bases were close enough to each other to be reached with one full load of fuel, TF79’s frigate squadrons were no longer dependent on their tankers which were detached as per orders that were waiting for them. TF79 arrived back in Earth orbit almost two months after heading out on the attack mission. No sooner had the task force settled down into its parking orbit than orders arrived from the Chief of Operations for all COs and XOs to report to HQ asap. Shiloh had a feeling Admiral Howard would not be happy.
Chapter 9 - Payback’s a Bitch
It was night and raining when the shuttle, carrying Shiloh, Chenko and the other COs and XOs from his squadron, landed at the spaceport outside Geneva. Space Force vans were waiting to take them to Headquarters. Some, but not all, of the other squadrons had already landed their officers. When they arrived at HQ, they were shown into the same large auditorium where Howard had first briefed everyone on the first encounter. Since not everyone was there yet, those officers who had arrived were allowed to walk around and chat with others. Mbutu’s squadron, what was left of it, had already landed its officers but Mbutu himself was not in sight. Shiloh overheard one of his officers say that Mbutu was in a private debriefing with Admiral Howard himself. After a while, more officers showed up and soon after that, one of Adm. Howard’s staff came and asked everyone to take a seat. Shiloh and Chenko sat at the end of the 2nd row of seats. Just as everyone was getting settled down, the staff officer shouted out.
“Attention on deck!” Everyone jumped to attention and stopped talking. Admiral Howard entered the auditorium followed by Cmdr. Mbutu, who took the nearest vacant seat. Howard strolled leisurely to the center of the stage and folded his arms across his chest. He spoke slowly and just loud enough for the front two rows to hear him.
“Well…here we are. Space Force has lost…one command ship, 8 tankers, 13 frigates….and 987 officers and crew. I’ve just spent the last hour with Acting Task Force Leader Mbutu, going over his summary of what happened and I’ve skimmed the after action reports of the various squadron leaders who transmitted their reports while en route to Near Earth Orbit so I have a pretty good idea of how Operation Dropkick went down.” He paused to look around at his audience. The room was dead silent. Howard started to pace slowly across the front of the stage from side to side and back, speaking as he went.
“In the days and weeks to come, those who weren’t there, will look at the results, including the fact that none of the alien infrastructure facilities in Zebra 9 were damaged or destroyed and conclude that Operation Dropkick was a disaster and a major defeat for the Space Force. That is not my view of the operation and it shouldn’t be yours. Granted, you did not inflict any damage on the alien mining operations but their destruction was never expected to be more than an inconvenience to the aliens in any case and the raid was primarily intended to give the participating squadrons some combat experience, along with experience in working with a larger formation as well as obtaining additional insight and intel on alien capabilities, tactics and operating procedures. From THAT perspective, the mission was at least partially successful. Let’s also not forget that the enemy took some losses too! Only five enemy ships were confirmed as destroyed outright but another 7 suffered obvious damage and we can reasonably expect them to be out of action for a while. Given that they clearly have the ability to detect ships emerging from hyperspace and were therefore able to catch TF79 by surprise, I’m actually impressed that our losses weren’t even higher. Now that we know about their detection capabilities AND the fact that they’ve planted automated detection stations beyond their actual sphere of operation, we can adjust our plans accordingly. I consider getting that intel back to us here to be a major accomplishment. So while it’s perfectly acceptable to mourn our lost comrades-in-arms, you should also feel that their sacrifice was NOT in vain!”
“So what do we do now? Well…frankly not very much because the loss of those tankers is going to effectively curtail any possibility of conducting offensive operations in strength much beyond the support range of our forward bases. In the near term that means that Space Force will have to remain on the defensive, while we rebuild our tanker capability. So no more raids for at least six months. That does not mean however, that we’ll be sitting on our hands. Once my staff works out the details, we will deploy our frigates in a way that will allow us to hopefully detect any enemy incursion into star systems that would put them within striking distance of those forward bases that are closest to them. While that is going on, our shipyard capacity will continue to expand and we’ll start to see new ship designs becoming operational. Here’s what you can look forward to.” He motioned to his aid who manipulated a device and the large view screen behind Howard came to life. It showed two ships. Howard continued.
”I’m sure all of you recognize the design at the bottom as the exploration frigate that all of you have come to know and love.” Howard’s playful sarcasm generated a ripple of chuckles from the audience. “The FE class of frigates are 245 meters long, 44 meters wide, mass approximately 22,000 metric tonnes, carry up to six drones externally and are armed with two laser turrets, one on top and the other below. The other ship will be the new FA class of armored combat frigates. Don’t be misled by its shorter length. It’s actually a much larger ship massing almost 50,000 tonnes. It doesn’t seem larger because you’re looking at it from the side. Here is a better view from above.” The image changed and Shiloh heard whistles of appreciation.
“As you can see, the combat frigate is much wider and looks like an arrowhead that has had its point chopped off. However, unlike the FE class, the combat frigate will be highly streamlined and will have the capability to skim gas giants to refuel itself without the need to refuel from tankers. It will be armed with three double laser turrets! That’s six laser cannon! All three turrets can be retracted during gas giant skimming. It will also be able to carry up to 20 drones internally.” The picture changed again to show a much smaller vehicle beside the two frigates. “This is the new AFP. The first AFP prototype is nearing completion and is scheduled to begin its test phase within the next two weeks. It will be a modular design that can be configured several ways including a standoff strike version that will carry four VERY fast attack drones…like this.” The picture changed again to show the wedge-shaped vehicle with a detachable middle section which contained four cone-shaped objects. “Now when I say that these attack drones are fast, I mean REALLY fast. The FE class frigate can accelerate at a maximum of 1.3 kilometers per second squared which is equivalent to about 133 gravities. Our standard drones can just about double that rate of acceleration as will the new combat frigate. The AFPs will be able to triple that rate to about 400 gravities. These new attack drones will be designed to accelerate at almost 800 gravities and the techies are sure they can eventually double that again! But the problem is that these attack drones won’t be able to maintain that acceleration for very long so that’s why the AFPs will be carrying them instead of the frigates themselves. The AFPs will have to carry them in close enough so that the velocity of the AFP combined with the acceleration of the attack drone can reach the target before the attack drone runs out of power and can’t conduct terminal maneuvers to g
uarantee a hit. The effective range of these attack drones will depend on how fast the AFPs are when the drones are launched. I should point out here that for standoff strike AFPs carried by combat frigates, they will only be able to attack once because externally mounted AFPs can’t be reloaded until the frigate reaches a base where the AFPs can transfer too. The long range answer to that problem will be the AFP Carrier and as soon as we get the bugs worked out of the AFP prototypes and accumulate some operational experience with them, we’ll start designing the carriers for them too. We estimate it will take at least a year just to build a carrier so don’t hold your breaths while you wait for them.” That brought forth more laughter. Howard nodded to his aide and the view screen went dark.
“That’s just a peak at what’s coming down the pike. I’m showing you this so that you’re aware that we ARE making progress. Unfortunately, it also means that the lowly exploration frigate will have to carry the burden of our defense for a while longer. So…here’s what’s going to happen now. The 102nd and 98th will each contribute two frigates towards filling the gaps in the 51st, 144th and 153rd. Those three squadrons along with the 77th, will be redeployed after their crews stand down for a one week rest period. What will ultimately become of the 102nd and 98th, hasn’t been decided yet. We may disband those squadrons altogether or rebuild them with new ships coming off the shipyards but that’s yet to be determined. Now before I dismiss all of you so that you can get your crews on the ground, it’s important that we have all after action reports before you go on R&R. If you haven’t already filed your AA report, you had better do so within the next 24 hours.” Shiloh heard a few groans and wondered if Adm. Howard heard them too. If he did, he gave no sign of it. “Okay, that’s it! You’re dismissed!” Shiloh turned to Chenko and said.
“XO, I’ll leave the details of arranging for our crew to be brought down to you. When you decide where you’re going to spend your R&R, make sure I know how to reach you if I need to. I have a feeling that Admiral Howard isn’t finished with me just yet.” Chenko nodded and said.
“Yes, Sir.” Shiloh looked back at the admiral and saw that he was whispering something to his aide who nodded and looked around the room at the departing officers, saw Shiloh and quickly walked over to him.
“Cmdr. Shiloh, the Admiral would like a word with you in his office.”
“Certainly, Lieutenant.” Before following the aide, Shiloh looked at Chenko and said.
“See what I mean?” By this time Howard had already left the auditorium so Shiloh let the aide lead him to the Admiral’s office even though he already knew the way. Howard waved him in and said.
“Have a seat, Commander.” Shiloh sat down in the indicated chair with Howard facing him from the other side of the desk.
“I wanted to speak with you in private because Cmdr. Mbutu’s after action report has raised some questions about your conduct and I wanted to hear your side.” Shiloh’s surprise was clearly evident to Howard.
“I see that you didn’t know about Mbutu’s criticisms. Well let me enlighten you. In your report, you say that you advised Cmdr Rolen to jump his tankers away without waiting to get orders from Mbutu as Acting TF Leader to do so. Mbutu claims that you acted as the defacto Task Force Leader knowing full well that Mbutu was senior to you and that he was actually in command of the Task Force and that you encouraged Rolen to ignore the proper chain of command. I assume that you’d like to respond to that?”
“Absolutely, Sir. Rolen’s tankers were clearly being targeted by the alien force and with that concentration of fire, his tankers wouldn’t have lasted very long. He himself told me that his instinct was to order his squadron to jump away immediately but he was hesitating to do so because of lack of orders from Cmdr. Mbutu. My advice to Rolen was from the point of view of one Squadron Leader to another, to protect not only his command, but also the whole Task Force as best he could under the circumstances. At no time did I say or imply that Rolen should ignore orders from Mbutu, Sir.”
“I see.” Howard said nothing while he trimmed and lit a cigar. After taking a puff, he said.
“I presume that the audio recordings made at the time will verify your explanation?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Well…that being the case, I’d be inclined to accept that you weren’t trying to usurp Mbutu’s authority although I have to say, Cmdr. Shiloh, that you came pretty close to crossing that line. Now that I’ve heard your side of the story, I’ll have another chat with Mbutu. I think I’ll be able to convince him to let this issue go but if he insists on pursuing it, that’s his right and there will then have to be a formal Board of Inquiry, at which point your audio recordings will be presented as evidence. It’s unfortunate that this issue has raised its ugly head because that has tarnished the credit you earned by convincing Yakamura to refuel the Task Force before commencing the attack. It’s clear to me that if you hadn’t done that, the command ship and tanker squadron would have been caught without any support from the frigate squadrons, which would have been too far away by then and it’s highly likely that all the tankers would have been destroyed thereby stranding the rest of the Task Force without the ability to return to friendly territory.” He took another puff of the cigar and continued.
“By the way, congratulate Cmdr. Chenko for me for having that flash of insight into the aliens’ ability to detect ships leaving Jumpspace. The two of you make a good team. You both seem to have some kind of sixth sense when it comes to critical combat situations and that’s something that should be recognized and encouraged.” Shiloh was very tempted to admit to his own visions but decided not to. Having an inspired thought was one thing but having a full-blown vision was quite another. “Very well, Commander. Unless there’s something you wish to ask or discuss with me, you’re free to go.”
“No, Sir. I have nothing more to add.” Shiloh got up, came to attention, saluted, which Howard returned, and left the office. After assuring himself that arrangements for his crew’s R&R leave were under way and having received a short message from Chenko letting him know where to reach her during her leave, Shiloh accepted an invitation to join several other officers from his squadron at a resort on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. The leave went far too quickly and 170 hours later, Shiloh and his squadron were on their way back to Bradley Base for system patrol and quick reaction duties in case enemy forces showed up in or within striking distance of the star system containing SFB Bradley.
Chapter 10 - Give As Good As We Get
The next four months were boringly uneventful. With single frigates on picket duty, in the star systems forming a buffer zone in front of the system containing the Bradley Base, each in contact with a dozen or more recon drones strategically deployed throughout those systems, Shiloh and the other squadron leaders and frigate COs were confident that the enemy could not sneak up on Bradley Base without being detected. And so it was that with only three more days to go before SFE144 was due to be rotated back to Sol for a longer stand down, the period of boredom was over.
Shiloh was asleep in his cabin when the call from the Bridge came.
“Shiloh here.”
“Chenko here, Sir. A message drone has just arrived and is signaling that picket ship 257 in Tango Delta 11 has detected a minimum of three unknown ships moving towards one of that system’s gas giants.” Shiloh sat up quickly and said.
“Any word from Base Command yet?”
“No, Sir, but I expect we’ll hear something any minute now.”
“I agree, XO. Put the ship and the squadron on alert. I’ll be on the Bridge shortly. Shiloh out.” He quickly put on a clean uniform and ran out of the cabin and down the short corridor to the Bridge. When he got there, he heard the voice of the Base Commander over the loudspeakers.
“…signs of enemy activity in Tango Delta 11. Therefore I’m activating Plan Alpha III. The 55th will immediately jump to Tango Delta 9, the 77th to Tango Delta 8 and the 144th to Tango Delta 6. Truman out.” As Chenko got up fro
m the Command Station, Shiloh waved her back down and said.
“I’m not taking the Con just yet, XO. Let’s acknowledge our orders to the Base Commander and get the Squadron on to the right heading for TD 6.”
‘Yes, Sir. Specialist Fletcher, acknowledge the144th orders. Lt. Millar, plot a course change for us for Tango Delta 6.” Shiloh walked over to the Communications Station, waited until the Comm. Technician had sent the acknowledgement and then said.
