The Jovian Sweep (Asteroid Scrabble Book 1)

by Martin Bourne

  The chief strode back, rather too quickly. “Alright, you can stay,” he said, rather gruffly.

  “Sorry?”

  “You can stay. The Lieutenant-Commander says you can.” And with that he was gone.

  She stared at him. Lieutenant-Commander? She turned and peered back at where the chief had come from. Was that…

  A hand fell on her shoulder. She turned. It was Dinjer, an easy smile on his face. “Hello Josie.”

  “Oh hello Dinjer. Umm…who was that?”

  “Chief Lasting. He’s a steaming pile of…”

  “No I meant the officer who reamed him out.”

  Dinjer peered. “Oh him? He's the flight ops commander for CM-1045. Comes down here quite often. He’s alright.” He smiled. “Were you looking at the sensor interface on that 'Herald'?”

  Chapter 16.

  Shuttle 6602, in transit to Depot Ship Valiant, Ganymede orbit.

  The chair in the shuttle’s lounge was decadently comfortable. Admiral Jack Courage stretched out in its gentle embrace and yawned widely and extravagantly. He was content, in spite of being utterly spent. He had completed his analysis and formulated the plan for the coming campaign. It wasn’t a particularly great plan. It wasn’t even a very good plan. It was far too risky. It was all too possible that it wouldn’t work, with all the attendant misery of disgrace and demotion. But at least he could take comfort that he now had a plan. He always felt better when he knew what he was going to do.

  In truth, the only foe he truly feared was chaos.

  His aides were obviously not as composed. Commander Prince was trying very hard to appear calm and in control, but there was a haunted look around his eyes that hinted that he couldn’t see any way around their dilemma. He was gazing oddly at the holotank tactical display as if it was about to give birth. Every so often he would punch keys on his perscomp, his mouth working silently.

  Even Cromarty looked downright worried. Not about the appalling situation they were in. She had served with him before and she would know he had found a way. She was very astute. However, she probably also thought it would be something wildly reckless, and she wasn’t far wrong at that. It was worrying she had such an insight into his psyche.

  Well, it was time to take pity on them. He stood up and motioned them over.

  “Commander Cromarty? Commander Prince? I have come to a decision.” He handed them each a large vidscroll. “This is an outline of the general dispositions we will be making over the next month, with my reasoning and justification. It’s not a very long document, so I can summarise it for you quickly. Apart from a standing patrol of two Depot ships, cycled every six days, the entire fleet is to dock at either Ganymede or Persephone and commence an intensive transfer of equipment and personnel.”

  There was a tense pause lasting way beyond any social norm. The two aides exchanged glances. Inevitably it was Prince who spoke up.

  “Sir, I was under the impression that on this particular point the briefing from VSB was exceptionally precise,” he said, picking his words carefully. “They clearly believed we should make our dispositions on the understanding that an attack on the Jovian system would take place on or about the twentieth of next month.”

  “So they did, but we are not going to do that.” Courage struggled to suppress his satisfaction. He knew it was very childish, but shocking people was so very enjoyable.

  “In the first place, I think they are wrong,” he continued, handing over another vidscroll to each of them. “I’ve checked through the information you gathered on current Triangle League deployments, staging times, states of repair and so on, and I am convinced that it is unlikely they will be able to launch an attack of any size for at least a month - maybe longer if we are lucky.”

  “What, you’ve read ALL of it?” blurted out Prince, his eyes wide as he skimmed through the reams and reams of notes and conclusions in the vidscrolls Courage had handed him. “Err, I mean, I beg pardon sir, it’s just that, well, there is an awful lot of information here.”

  “Um. Yes,” said Courage, “well, it didn’t take as long as you might think. I like to keep up to date with the general military situation anyway.” Slag it - he was babbling and justifying himself again! He gathered himself with an effort. “As you can see on page seventeen, the supply situation in itself would impose a delay of at least six days from any base where this attack would come from. Then there is that report on an accident in the titanium mines on Proctor seven, which would in turn mean maintenance on half of the Trig Rim fleet being delayed, and we know where most of the rest of it is, from two reports, what were they? 127b and 149c I think.”

  Neither of his aides said anything. They appeared engrossed in the vidscrolls, so Courage went on.

  “Then there is Triangle fleet strategy. They favour surprise attacks, even if it imposes delays. They are particularly fond of launching attacks on holidays or national celebrations, when they think their enemies will be less prepared. Well, Ganymede’s founding day is six weeks from now. I understand it’s a particularly vibrant occasion, as these things go.”

  “That may all be logical sir,” Prince managed at last, “but it’s a bit of a supposition too. The Trigs might decide to attack with less force than you assume, especially if they just intend to launch a raid, and that would mean they could get here quicker.”

  “Or it could work the other way,” argued Cromarty. “Knowing that we know how they work; they might double bluff us by NOT attacking on a national holiday.”

  Courage unexpectedly yawned widely. The lack of sleep was definitely catching up on him. “It might also be that they plan to attack sooner but are delayed by some unforeseen difficulties.”

  Cromarty cocked her head to one side. “Well, that’s true. Plans are always more likely to be delayed than be completed ahead of schedule. It’s the way all of creation works.”

  Courage yawned yet again. He really did need to rest. “All of those options are possible of course, but it hardly matters. There is a third and more practical reason for assuming the strike will come in when I think it will. Quite simply we would be hard pressed to carry out the course of action recommended by VSB. We don’t have enough supply ships to maintain the fleet in an optimal intercept position for very long. If it turns out that the League arrives ten to twelve days later than VSB estimates, and from my reading of the situation I am sure that they will, then we would be refuelling back at one of the Jovian satellites. Would either of you fancy having half the fleet hooked up to supply ships in geo-stationary orbit when that happens?”

  Cromarty blanched. Prince had never been in a battle, so he just looked quizzical.

  Courage picked up a vidscroll. “I know it’s taking a chance, but it’s a chance against a certainty. We are not in any kind of condition to fight them now, and we won’t be in any kind of condition two weeks from now. In six weeks we might have a chance.” He turned the vidscroll over in his hands and then tapped it in emphasis. “If we reorganise and redeploy now.”

  His aides absorbed this.

  “VSB could make you a lot of trouble when they find out their orders are not being obeyed sir,” said Cromarty eventually.

  “VSB are only giving us suggestions, not orders,” pointed out Courage.

  “Suggestions from VSB are just orders without immediate comeback,” Cromarty shot back. “If we don’t follow their ‘suggestions’ and this fleet gets thrashed by the Trigs; then we’ll get all the blame for the defeat. But if we do follow them and it still all comes off badly, then VSB can wriggle out of the difficulty by saying they never gave us absolute directives and that the conduct of operations is the responsibility of local commanders.”

  There was silence. Courage frankly hadn’t considered that. Why was politics so much more difficult to understand than Fleet deployments? Fortunately, neither of his aides had anything more to add. Eventually Courage couldn’t take any more. He gave a gentle cough.

  “Well, my decision is that we assume t
he attack will come in on or around six weeks from now. I intend to make the most of the extra time to prepare. The fleet is very poorly organised. I want a thorough overhaul of its deployment, equipment and especially its personnel.” He handed over two more vidscrolls to them. “These are the details. Read through them carefully. See if it all makes sense or if I have missed anything. Please question me about the alterations if you do not understand them or think they are incorrect, or even sub-optimal.”

  “But what about VSB sir?” asked Commander Prince as he took his vidscroll.

  “You two will just have to keep VSB off our backs. I don’t care how you do it. Tell them anything you like. Tell them we are having trouble assembling supplies. Tell them we are making repairs and modifications.”

  Cromarty pursed her lips. “Well, those arguments do have the benefit of being true anyway.”

  Prince had activated his vidscroll and was staring open mouthed at its contents.

  “Something the matter Commander?” asked Courage.

  “Sir, these modifications – well, they are…, “Prince visibly struggled to find the words before settling on “…very extensive.”

  Courage gave a tight smile. “There’s not much point in doing things by halves Commander.”

  “I know sir, but carrying out a restructuring of this magnitude in such a short period of time…well it’s an awful risk sir. If anything goes off schedule we might have several Depot Ships out of commission when the Trigs arrived. At the very least it’s going to cause a huge amount of disruption.”

  Courage shrugged. “I know it seems a lot, but there’s not going to be as much disruption as you might think. Most of our ships and squadrons have never operated together before, so their performance is hardly going to be as smooth as it should be anyway. And, if you look closely, you will notice that those are the ones that are by far the least affected by personnel and equipment changes.” He could not resist noting that to them. He had been quite proud of organising the changes like that. “And I have tried to build in some time for collective training.”

  “That’s assuming you are right about the timescales of this sir.”

  “Yes Commander. That’s assuming I am right.”

  Prince gulped, and saluted.

  “Carry on Commanders.”

  Cromarty saluted, but didn’t turn away with Prince.

  “Might I have a word about Personnel sir?”

  Courage felt his heart sink. “Oh…well yes I suppose so. Walk with me.”

  He led her out of the lounge and towards his quarters. The corridors were almost empty. The few sailors they met were quick to stand aside.

  “You asked me to find you someone to take over command of the Ganymede Ultima base sir,” Cromarty began.

  “Ah yes. Do you have someone in mind?”

  She quickly handed over a vidscroll. “Captain Delgado sir. Here’s his file.”

  “Hmm. His face is familiar.”

  “He was at the first officer’s conference sir.”

  “I remember him now. Most of the time he had the look of someone who was being introduced to advanced astrophysics.”

  “I do recall that he was one of those struggling to follow your outline of the situation sir.”

  He looked at her sharply. “This is the man you want me to promote to a station command?”

  “His record is impressive sir. Gold wings and a silver gunsight…drone crew in CM-1029 squadron…two service commendations and a promotion for meritorious service at the battle of Bucancenture. Then he went to Field school, got fair marks in tactics and leadership, transferred to the Rigby sector, fought at 2nd and 3rd Casova and got another two service commendations, but was passed over for future promotion.”

  Courage perused the vidscroll. “So basically he’s a fighter, not a thinker?”

  Cromarty cocked her head. “We’ll need fighters as well as thinkers before this is all over sir.”

  Courage smiled. “That’s true. Hmm…and on Ganymede he won’t have to make deep strategic decisions.”

  “There’s one problem sir. His appointment could be politically difficult.”

  “Oh.”

  Cromarty wrinkled her face. “The self-defence forces might be weak and poorly equipped, but they are fiercely and proudly independent. Ideally we would want a Ganymeder to take command, but Delgado has no connection to the colony at all. He isn’t even from Industry Asteroid, which is where most Ganymeders ultimately hail from.”

  “He’s from Fortitude I see.”

  “Yes. A total off-comer taking over might rub them up the wrong way, particularly as fighters tend to have a bull-headed approach.”

  Courage pursed his lips. “We don’t have time for subtlety. The local defence forces are badly organised and we need someone who can lick them into shape quickly.”

  Cromarty grinned. “Delgado can certainly do that sir, as long as you don’t mind getting complaints until he proves himself.”

  “I won’t be getting complaints Commander. You will.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Courage closed the vidscroll with a snap as they reached the door to his quarters. “Alright Sally, if you think he’s up to it, offer him the job and if he accepts make out a transfer.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  He thumbed the entry code, the door opened and he thankfully went in. He could just make out his bunk. It looked very inviting. He sensed Cromarty still behind him.

  “Was there something else Commander?”

  “Yessir. Umm…I was thinking it might be a good idea to have a personal chat to Rear-Admiral Vanderkolk sir.”

  “Why?”

  “Well sir…Rear-Admiral Vanderkolk is the next most senior line commander. That effectively makes him your second in command.”

  “I know. I’ve worked with Ricardo before. He’s a good man. We can be sure he’ll do what needs to be done.”

  “I’m sure that he will, sir. I didn’t want to imply otherwise. It’s just that it might be best to fully appraise him of your intentions sir, just in case – you know – you are incapacitated in any way.”

  “Incapacitated?”

  “This ship might be damaged sir. Or you might perhaps be taken ill.”

  He looked at her very sharply. Her face was professionally blank. Treacherously, another yawn came.

  “Yes, very well. I’ll have a vid conference with him tomorrow. Will you organise that please Commander?”

  “I shall sir.”

  “Then I shall wish you a good night.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Courage ignored her salute and headed to his bunk. Inevitably the door alarm pinged.

  Cromarty looked at him. He nodded wearily and she activated the release. Prince squeezed into the cabin, looking flushed. He was so flustered he even forgot to salute, or more specifically, forgot to remember not to.

  “Sorry to disturb you, sir, but I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Prince flourished a vidscrolls. “We’ve just received a signal from Fleet HQ. Apparently Tourmaline got involved in an accident just after she undocked. We don’t have the full story yet but apparently she collided with an ore carrier.”

  “Oh slag,” said Cromarty.

  “By some miracle there were no fatalities,” continued Prince, “but she’s had to be towed back into the Diplan dockyards for repairs.”

  “How long will she be delayed?” asked Courage.

  Prince shook his head. “I’m sorry sir. Her hull was breached and most of the forward sensor arrays mangled. The wrench from the collision knocked her engines out of alignment too. She won’t be operational for at least three weeks.”

  Cromarty and Courage both nodded in understanding. The position of the engines had to be absolutely right, or the ship would rip apart at high accelerations.

  “So we are a Depot Ship down,” said Cromarty. “And it had to be just about the best one on our roster too.”

  “VSB are aware of that,” said Prince. “Another signa
l came while the first one was decoding. They’re offering us a replacement.”

  Courage frowned. “I thought they said they had no other vessels available?”

  “They confirm that sir. They had to take one off other duties.”

  “Wow,” said Cromarty. “So we are not at the absolute bottom of the pecking order?”

  There were limits to even Jack Courage’s disregard for military protocol. He gave her a stern look. “Alright, Commander, that will do.”

  Cromarty subsided.

  “Now,” said Courage. “What are they offering us?”

  “A light Depot Ship sir. The Belofte.” Prince tapped at the vidscroll and handed it to Courage. “She was about to return to Courage asteroid after training duties at the Outreach proving grounds, so she’s some way towards Jupiter already. VSB have ordered her to standby pending your instructions sir. She’s old and she’s slow, and she can’t operate many drones, but she’s close enough to Jupiter that she can get there quicker and more easily than anything else that could be reassigned. Certainly she has by far the best chance of reaching us before the Triangle League attack arrives.”

  “Is that by our estimate or VSB’s?” asked Cromarty sardonically.

  “Both.”

  Courage took the vidscroll detailing Belofte and scanned it quickly. “Not exactly an equivalent replacement is she?” he said at last.

  “No sir.”

  “What’s with all the cadets on board?”

  “They were the ones completing training at the proving grounds sir. The majority of them are theoretically qualified now, although only a few have formally graduated.”

  “Well, we need all the link warriors and drones we can get, no matter how inexperienced or unsuitable they are. It’s not as if there will be adequate replacements at Outreach. There’s no time to unload them anyway. They’ll just have to come with Belofte to Jupiter.”