“Good thing it was only practice,” said Calvin with a sigh.
Spacehawk Ready Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Solar System, June 15, 2020
“As you can see from the hologram,” Samurai said in debrief, “everything started out well.” He pressed the button and a six-feet tall, three dimensional digital hologram appeared next to him at the front of the ready room. The briefing space was filled to capacity as Calvin had required all of the squadron’s pilots and WSOs to attend. Everyone leaned in, trying to see it more clearly.
The digital hologram showed Ganymede and the two groups of fighters inbound to it. The facilities of their enemy, the nation of ‘Red,’ were shown in red on the moon. With Calvin’s call to assume combat spread, the 12 spacecraft made two long lines of six ships with the six Vipers in a line abreast ‘above’ the line of the six Asps. Samurai stopped the replay. “Here we are just before the targeting radars began illuminating us. Everyone is in perfect formation. As it turned out, our electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems were functioning perfectly, and they weren’t aware we were coming.” Solomon, the Vella Gulf’s artificial intelligence was simulating the enemy forces and had determined that, with the parameters given for their equipment, the enemy wouldn’t have seen the attacking force.
“And then someone talked on the radio and alerted them to our presence,” Samurai chided. He didn’t say who it was, but everyone already knew. “Since radio travels faster than light, they were instantly aware of our attack.”
“Nice job, Chatty Cathy,” said someone from the back of the room, naming the 20th century talking doll.
“Once the transmission reached the defenders, they focused their high power tracking radars on us and were able to burn through our ECM.” The crews could see the simulated missiles begin launching from the moon, and the space fighters began maneuvering to avoid the incoming weapons. The initial volley claimed three of the Vipers and one of the Asps. Their icons flashed and then went out. Samurai paused the playback.
“Viper 02, Viper 05 and Asp 06 were not jinking enough and were hit in the initial volley,” commented Samurai. “They’re all dead, and their missiles won’t count.”
“What about me, mate?” asked Lieutenant Nicolas Wilson. “Viper 06 got killed even though we were maneuvering like we were supposed to.”
“To use an American phrase, shit happens,” Samurai told the Australian. “You did everything right, but the red forces got lucky and shot you down. It was just your day to die; I hope you did it well.”
“Aw, hell,” mumbled Lieutenant Wilson, shaking his head. No one ever wanted to be singled out as the unlucky one. As aviators were superstitious by nature, now all of the WSOs would think twice when they were crewed with him.
Samurai restarted the hologram. “Here we are at the launch point,” he said. The crews could see the fighters level off, and missiles begin tracking from the Terran fighters back toward Jupiter’s moon. One of the remaining Vipers winked out. He stopped the replay. “It looks like Viper 03 became mesmerized by the missile launch and forgot to start maneuvering again. Two missiles locked onto him while he flew straight toward the target and detonated close by. There were no survivors.”
“Unfortunately, that is true,” agreed Lieutenant Gurnoor Bhola. “I have never launched missiles that large before, and they were quite striking as they left the fighter. I admit to being distracted by it. It will not happen again.”
“Well, that’s why we do these things,” noted Calvin, “so that you can learn and not make those mistakes in combat. No one was hurt today, but had this been real, you would be dead now. Hopefully you learned from it.”
“I did,” said the Indian, looking embarrassed.
Samurai restarted the hologram. “You can see our missiles start hitting the defensive sites,” Samurai pointed out. “Most of the batteries were destroyed, except for the ones that would have been targeted by the fighters we had already lost. As you can see, one of these gets off another missile in close, hitting Asp 03.”
“I disagree,” said Lieutenant Steven Jackson. “I’m going to have to complain to Solomon. There’s no way they got me.”
“Complain all you want,” interjected Solomon, who had been listening with half an electronic ear. “Mathematical analysis showed that there was an 87% chance of your destruction. You were dead.”
Most of the crews laughed as the pilot sputtered something about computers that were too big for their britches.
“The rest of the strike fighters successfully made their firing runs,” said Samurai, regaining control, “and the target was destroyed. Unfortunately, Viper 01 and Viper 04 forgot to maneuver on the way back out and got missiles straight up their butts. They were destroyed as well.”
Calvin walked up to stand next to Samurai. “The bottom line is that we’ve got to do better. Most of these fatalities were because people didn’t follow procedures. They could have been avoided but now you’re dead! You have to do better than that. We have to do better than that! There are only 12 fighters in the entire Terran Space Navy! Those 12 fighters and our one cruiser are all that stand between a host of aliens and the families you love. If you can’t follow procedures, let me know now so that we can send you home and get aircrews that can!”
With that, Calvin turned and walked out of the ready room, leaving a squadron of stunned aviators in his wake. If nothing else, Samurai thought, he definitely made his point.
* * * * *
Chapter Twelve
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Dark Side of the Moon, Solar System, June 23, 2020
Calvin and the Vella Gulf’s new commanding officer, Captain Lorena Griffin, watched from the bridge of the Vella Gulf as the Class 1 replicator was lowered onto the Vella Gulf. Griffin could tell by the way that Calvin’s hands moved that he wished he was piloting the shuttle.
“One of the hardest things about being a commanding officer is letting other people do things you know you can do better,” she commented.
“I know,” said Calvin. “I have more time flying the shuttles than anyone else, even with all of the time I’ve had to spend in government meetings. If I don’t give them a chance to do it, though, they’ll never get any better at it, nor will they ever gain any confidence that they ‘can’ do it, which is probably even worse. There’s nothing worse than a pilot that doesn’t think he can do something; being timid is the wrong way to fly a space fighter...or even a shuttle. All of our pilots are the best that their nations had to offer or they wouldn’t be here. Still, it is hard to let go.”
“Well, that’s the last thing that we’ve been waiting for,” replied Captain Griffin. “Once we get that loaded, we’ll be underway shortly and away from all of those meetings you’re so fond of.”
“I can’t wait,” said Calvin. “Although there’s a good chance of getting killed, it’s still better to be out there trying to help the Earth than it is sitting around in meetings all day just wishing I was dead.”
“I understand,” said Griffin. “I can’t tell you how many times I had various presidents and prime ministers tell me that their soldiers or airmen were the best, and that I needed to make sure they had every opportunity to excel.” She shrugged. “If our last mission was any indication, you never know who is going to be in the right place at the right time...or the wrong place at the wrong time.” She indicated the screen where the shuttle pilot had just set the replicator onto the Gulf so gently that they hadn’t heard a ‘clang,’ even though they were right under it. “All of the personnel need to be able to function confidently in whatever roles they’re filling.”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Approaching Black Hole #2, Solar System, June 25, 2020
“Five minutes to wormhole entrance!” called the helmsman from his seat on the left side of the console in front of the captain’s chair.
“Sound General Quarters!” ordered Captain Griffin. Onboard United States’ ships, the General Quarters announcement was made to signal that battle or the threat of damage w
as imminent. Also known as “battle stations,” whenever the call was made, the crew would quickly prepare the ship for battle. All of the crew (including any that had been sleeping when the call was made) would report to their combat positions and would close all of the ship’s watertight and fireproof doors to keep any potential damage from spreading. Her predecessor, Captain James Deutch, had made it standard practice to go through every stargate with General Quarters stations manned, and it seemed prudent to continue that policy. Until you emerged, you never knew what you were going to find on the other side of the stargate. All of the ship’s fighters were similarly manned in case they came out of transit to find an enemy vessel waiting for them.
“Aye aye, sir!” said the duty engineer, seated to the right of the helmsman. Responsible for all of the damage control systems, she pushed the appropriate button, and the alarm began sounding. Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! “General Quarters, General Quarters,” said the duty engineer over the ship’s intercom system, “all hands man your battle stations!”
Captain Griffin looked around and saw that there were a lot of people on the bridge that weren’t strictly supposed to be there. Although their stations were on the bridge, they were currently off duty. Captain Griffin didn’t blame them for wanting to be on the bridge for their first transit; she had made it a point to be on the bridge for her first one too...and as many of the rest of them as she could after that. It was neat to know that you were one of the first humans to see a new star system. She decided not to kick them off the bridge. If they found themselves in a bad situation after they transited to the next system, she might need the additional help and brainpower.
Steropes was the primary science officer for this mission, and he was running the science station with newly minted Ensign Sara Sommers looking over his shoulder at something he was pointing at. All of the other stations, security, operations and communications, had at least one other person pretending to look at the monitors while they tried to keep one eye on the main viewing screens at the front of the bridge. Calvin sat in his normal seat to the left of Captain Griffin with the new executive officer, Captain Peotr Barishov, to her right. Arges was seated in the chair on the other side of Calvin, and the new ambassador was on the other side of her executive officer.
Captain Griffin smiled. The level of excitement reminded her of their first transit on the last mission. She looked over at Arges. “When we transit, we’re still going to wind up in Vulpecula, right? That isn’t going to change?”
“The gates are permanently linked,” replied Arges. “As far as we know, anyway. I assume that there must be some way of moving them, but it is beyond our technology.”
“Is it still going to be salty?” asked Calvin.
“Yes, that stays the same too,” answered Arges.
“I’d forgotten about that,” said Captain Griffin.
“What do you mean?” asked Barishov. “What is salty?”
“Wormhole entrance,” called the helmsman before anyone could answer. “Now!”
The stars in the viewer expanded into infinity, and everything went black...then it went down...then it went purple...then it went salty...
* * * * *
Chapter Thirteen
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, V452 Vulpecula System (HD 189733), June 25, 2020
“I see what you mean by salty,” said Captain Barishov, licking his lips as they emerged from the stargate on the other side.
“Every wormhole leaves a taste in your mouth,” said Calvin. “They aren’t always salty, but for some reason, every wormhole activates one set of receptors on the tongue. The salty ones aren’t too bad.”
“The bitter ones are awful,” the helmsman said, turning around in his seat. “You’ll want a glass of milk when we go through one of those.”
“The equipment is stabilizing,” said Steropes. “Launching probes.” A variety of probes were launched from the ship in all directions, expanding the ship’s sensor net and giving them a better chance of detecting any ships or civilizations in the system. They looked for a number of signs of life, from power usage to anomalous gravity spikes to electromagnetic radiation.
After a couple of minutes, Captain Griffin turned around to look at the science station. “How’s that scan coming?” she asked.
“I don’t see any signs of activity in the system.” replied Steropes. “Nothing appears to have changed from the last time we came through this system.”
“Permission to stand down the alert fighters?” requested Calvin.
“Granted,” replied Captain Griffin.
“Skipper to all Spacehawks,” Calvin commed. “Everything looks the same as the last time we were here. Stand down from alert.”
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Gliese 581 System, July 13, 2020
“System stabilized,” noted Steropes, “Based on spectral analysis, we appear to be in the Gliese 581 system.”
The ship had arrived in the Gliese 581 system, having gone from Vulpecula 452 through the systems of Kapteyn’s Star, Lacaille 8760 and 61 Cygni. As the crew of the Vella Gulf had found in their first mission, all three were devoid of planets. 61 Cygni was a nexus system, though; in addition to the stargates that they had used the last time to pass through the system, there was a third gate that had remained unexplored. Before the Vella Gulf got too much further from Earth, the military command had decided that it would be a good idea to at least enter the unexplored system to find out what was there. They didn’t want the crew to leave potential enemies behind them.
“Gliese 581 is a red dwarf located about 20 light-years away from Earth,” Steropes continued. “Its mass is only about a third of your Sun, and its luminosity is only about 0.2% of the Sun. Most of its radiation is in the near infrared, making its total luminosity about 1.3% of the Sun.”
Steropes looked up and saw Captain Griffin looking at him intently. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
“That’s nice and all,” replied Captain Griffin, “but...are there any signs of enemy activity?”
Steropes jumped. “Oh!” he said. “Sorry. No, there are no signs of habitation or enemy activity.”
“Thank you,” said Captain Griffin. She looked at Bullseye, who was sitting in the Squadron Commander’s chair. “You may stand down the alert.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Bullseye with a smile.
Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, Gliese 581 System, July 18, 2020
“There are six planets in this system,” said Steropes, “of which the 3rd, 4th and 5th lie in the habitable zone in orbits from seven million miles out to 24 million miles. All of these are rocky planets that are many times the mass of Earth. The fifth planet is at the outer limit of the habitable zone, and is probably too cool to live on comfortably. The system has one other stargate in addition to the one that we came in on.”
Steropes looked up. “The best thing about the three habitable planets is that the rare Earth elements are not rare on them; in fact, they are fairly common. If you were to colonize any or all of the planets, you would have a ready source of most of the elements that you are currently lacking. The third planet, in addition to having an exceptionally Earth-like environment, has a large number of those elements as well as large deposits of heavy metals. It might make an excellent system to bring a ship-size replicator.”
“The weird thing,” said Sara, speaking for the first time, “is that none of them currently show any forms of life. Not only aren’t there any life forms, there is a complete absence of life, right down to the microscopic level. This is really strange, because we also found the remains of a civilization on the third planet. Based on how much of the ruins have been covered, whatever happened to the civilization appears to have happened between 3,000-4,000 years ago.”
“What do you think happened?” asked Captain Griffin. “Does it look like they left the planet for some reason?”
“No,” replied Sara. “We didn’t find any evidence that the civilization on the planet had achieved space flight, so they couldn’t
have left on their own. They appear to have been right at the start of the industrial age, as we found the remains of a few low technology factories. The absence of all life is the part that makes no sense. It appears that the planet was sterilized either before or after the population was removed. How or why this happened is a complete mystery. There are no craters or evidence of warfare. There’s no indication that the star flared up and burned them off. There’s no evidence of anything.”
“So what is your guess?” asked Captain Griffin.
“I do not know,” replied Steropes. “The types of agents that could do this used to exist, but they were banned at least 10,000 years ago.”
“That doesn’t mean that a society didn’t develop use anyway,” said Calvin. “Just because things were banned on Earth didn’t keep rogue countries from developing or experimenting with them. Maybe someone had them and used this planet as a test bed for them?”
“That’s awful!” cried Sara. “Why would someone do that? What could they gain from wiping out a civilization? They didn’t have space flight, so they wouldn’t have been a threat to any of the space-faring races.”
“Who knows?” asked Captain Griffin. “Maybe they had something valuable, like a bunch of the elements that they had already mined, and didn’t want to trade with someone who showed up here. It would be easy to just gas the planet and take them.”
“If they did that, wouldn’t they want to come back and take over the mines themselves?” asked Calvin. “In 3,000 years, you’d think that they would have returned. Maybe it wasn’t someone else that did this to them. Maybe they killed themselves off. Perhaps they developed a biological agent themselves, and it got away from its creator and killed everyone. That came close to happening on several occasions on Earth.”
When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony Page 9
