by Ian Miller
"Oddly enough," Slaben replied, "that is one of the very few things I am reasonably confident about this expedition. We shall meet again in two weeks to see what needs doing." With that, he stood up, returned Gaius' salute, and left the room.
Chapter 29
Gaius had informed the women of the offer. They had discussed the opportunity and agreed to go many times, however this time, as Gaius pointed out, the issue was different. Before it had all been abstract, but this time it was for real.
"We have to go," Lucilla said calmly. "We've been over this so many times."
"Yes," Gaius said, "and each time you've thought of it as a great big adventure. It isn't. In war people get killed, they get maimed . . ."
"That hasn't stopped you," Lucilla pointed out.
"Maybe there were no alternatives for a Roman man of my class," Gaius said, "and maybe . . . "
"There were choices, and you know it," Lucilla said. "You know how many of the rich families bought a pardon from military service?"
"And were derided for it," Gaius pointed out. "And it wasn't as if our family was, shall we say, strongly endeared by Tiberius."
"You could have got away with it," Lucilla said. "Quintus did."
"I don't think you quite realize why Tiberius summoned us to Capraea," Gaius shook his head. "Mother and father were terrified. They mightn't have shown it, but they thought that was the end of us."
"Yes," Lucilla continued, "but you didn't tell Tiberius you wanted to join the army just to save the family. You told Tiberius in the hope that Tiberius would help you."
"There's some truth to that," Gaius nodded, "but it was my duty."
"And in a sense, this's our duty," Lucilla concluded. "In any case, we can't stay behind."
"I could still decline," Gaius said simply.
"And we'd all sit in this room for the rest of our lives, moaning and grizzling at each other," Lucilla snorted. "Some option."
"You'd still have your plays, you'd −"
"No, we wouldn't," Lucilla said, "unless someone writes more. We've run through the available texts, and Timothy's better memories. The last one we did is about a third improvised."
"Nobody else knows that," Gaius pointed out.
"Perhaps," Lucilla countered, "but there are no more with even the basic plot and scenes outlined. We'd be bored stiff."
"You could get killed, you know,"
"I know," Lucilla said, "but I'm going to die sooner or later anyway. At least this way I get something more out of life than looking at these walls and wandering aimlessly around this city."
"And what about you?" Gaius asked, looking at Vipsania. "You haven't said much."
"I don't think I want to go to war," she said simply, "but I agree with Lucilla. I certainly don't want to sit around here, quietly going mad. On top of that . . ." She paused.
"Yes?"
"You'd be unbearable."
"No, I wouldn't, and you mustn't −"
"Yes you would," Vipsania said emphatically. "You couldn't help yourself. The Ulsians'd be continually moaning about defeats, and you'd be moaning about their incompetence, and how we stopped you −"
"No, I mean it. I won't hold it against you if we stay."
"Yes, you will," Vipsania said firmly. "I know you better than you do yourself on this. You may not actually say anything, but you'll look it."
"Gaius," Lucilla said, taking his arm. "We're going, like it or not. Don't make it any harder for Vipsania."
Gaius looked at the two of them, then nodded. It was probably true, he reflected later, that if he had stayed, he would have regretted it, because he could never fulfil that prophecy. And the odd thing, he realized, was that if Quintus were here, Lucilla would have stayed, and that would put intolerable pressure on Vipsania. But they were going, so there were things to arrange.
* * *
The next few days were hectic. All their property was catalogued, and their most valued treasures were to be taken to their ships, while the rest was to be secreted away in some great storehouse. When they returned, their apartment would be exactly as they left it, so they were told. "Provided they could find it," Lucilla muttered.
The women were then given a reasonable amount of free time, while Gaius was required to attend a continual sequence of staff meetings. He himself called meetings with the senior officers of the warships under his command. The fleet, as was standard procedure, would be divided into groups of squadrons, and, as was expected, the deployment of groups was under his direct control. His first move, however, was to appoint four of what he called tribunes, to command super groups, and also to establish a sequence of command in case he was killed or disabled. He then discussed the setting of parameters for independent action: it may be necessary at times for a squadron or a group to act against an unanticipated enemy force, but there had to be procedures. When he said that, he was worried whether the soldiers would protest at the way he was going about things, but to his surprise, he had their attention. Procedures were very understandable, and it appeared that Ulsians would feel lost if given too much latitude for action. If it were imperative to act because they would be destroyed if they did not, or if an opportunity would be lost if they failed, then the commander on the spot could act, but it was imperative that suitable messages be sent back up the command chain. If it were not immediately imperative to act, then the information should be sent to the relevant level of command. The response from the Ulsians left him in little doubt that it would be a remarkable situation that led to independent action.
He then told them that he wished where possible to fight with concentrated forces in preset formations. Accordingly, all commanders would now spend time playing preset scenarios, in order to get familiarized with certain tactics. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the Ulsians were extremely pleased to do this, and it was helping him gain their respect. He would keep an eye on progress, but for much of the time he would be elsewhere, since he had a sequence of further meetings to attend. He had wondered what the troops would think of his only being at their exercises occasionally, but to his surprise there were no problems. Attending meetings was what Ulsians did, after all.
The second group of meetings was with the commanders of the transporters. There was a command difficulty here because in principle there were two commands. He was responsible for getting them in the vicinity of the objective, and if attacked by enemy warships, they must obey his orders, but once landing procedures were commenced, they were responsible only to General Slaben. Somewhere in between there was a grey zone. This infuriated Gaius, however he was only too well aware that Slaben would be the overall commander, so he had to accept this. So he spent most of his time at these meetings pointing out that none of his orders would pertain to the actual invasion. On the other hand, if the invasion was proceeding and General Slaben was fully occupied with that, and enemy warships turned up, as long as it did not affect the landings, he would give recommendations and the transporter commanders must immediately let him know what their response would be. Hopefully, this problem would not arise.
Finally, he had to meet with the attack forces. These meetings were not of significant interest, because they involved mainly details of action for which he would largely be a spectator, or would be involved elsewhere. He had complete freedom of command for space battles, Slaben controlled all ground action, and there was a grey area in which they agreed to bow to the other's priorities. Gaius assured Slaben that, having been a ground commander, he understood Slaben's priorities, and would cooperate as well as he could. The space ships would also provide initial artillery, and this would be under Slaben's orders, subject to there being no alternative critical requirements for the warships with regard to enemy warships in space.
It was not, as Gaius noted, totally satisfactory, but then again it seldom was in war.
The Terrans each had to become acquainted with their new ships, and also become acquainted with their own individual new Tin Man, each of which was
an upgraded clone from the original. They had three days to get their ships ready, which mainly meant customizing it to their own requirements. The ships had been customized based on the tests and trials carried out previously, so this was mainly intended for last minute fine tuning of requirements, and, of course, to check that their personal supplies were adequate. They saw nothing of each other during this period.
Then, for their last day on Ulse, they returned to the surface of the planet, met, and formally closed the door of their apartment. They then visited their favourite café, and had a last meal together prior to embarkation.
"Somehow," Vipsania muttered, "I don't feel like eating."
"That's because you're thinking about what lies ahead," Gaius said calmly. "Don't."
"That's easy for you to say," she muttered.
"Yes, it is," Gaius shrugged, "but not for the reason you think."
"Oh?"
"You're thinking of all the things that can go wrong, all the difficulties, all the problems," Gaius said. "Me, I don't."
"You're so confident in your ability −"
"Wrong," Gaius interrupted. "It's more that I'm so aware of my lack of ability."
"What?" came a puzzled response.
"As you know, I've been in these positions many times, and yes, almost invariably something goes wrong, but I've never foreseen any of them in one of these worry sessions. So in the end, whatever you're worried about now, it won't happen."
"But something else will?"
"Yes," Gaius smiled calmly, "and you will deal with it then. What I'm saying is that worrying now is pointless, because you're not solving problems that will happen."
"It's still easy for you to say."
"Then look at it this way," Gaius shrugged. "Suppose you're going to die. Why is being miserable today an improvement?"
Vipsania looked at him, and shrugged, and said, "I suppose that's right."
"Don't worry," he replied. "You'll be as safe as you can be, going to war. I'll see to that."
"You can't protect me," she said. "You've got to concentrate on what you're supposed to be doing."
"Yes," Gaius admitted, "but remember this. You're nothing special, so you'll be in a non-special place."
"You're not going to sacrifice us," Vipsania smiled weakly.
"I never sacrifice troops," Gaius replied. "I can't promise there'll be no losses, because there will be, but I can promise that I never put anyone in a position where losing them is expected."
"I'm sorry," Vipsania said. "It's just that . . ."
"I know," Gaius said. "The main difference in our positions is that I've been here before so many times that you realize what a moment like this is."
"And what's that?" Vipsania gave a weak challenge.
"It's a chance to enjoy the evening, and forget everything else. Give yourself something pleasant to remember on the flight."
Vipsania agreed, and the party tried to be happy. In the end, Lucilla decided to leave early, and Gaius took Vipsania and cradled her head, and they sat together and looked at the simulated stars on the artificial sky while the fountain gushed behind them.
* * *
Embarkation was simple. They flew to their ships, and went to sleep. During this time, the ships flew to the embarkation position in the fleet, so that when they got up and went to their viewing sites, they were in a fleet of a size that Gaius could barely believe. The huge transports contained a total of forty thousand "infantry", although each soldier had command of enough droids and mobile weaponry that they became, essentially, almost cohorts on their own. Further transports contained over two thousand armoured vehicles, each with the power a small warship, and three thousand remote controlled aircraft, each capable of delivering powerful missile attacks. Combined with this was the immense power of his battleships.
It seemed inconceivable that any enemy could withstand such a force, yet Gaius knew that the confidence level on Ulse was low. How could it fail? The simplest route would be for the enemy to destroy the transporters before they ever got there. It was the job of the Ulsian fleet, effectively his fleet, to prevent that, and it was well known that Ulse had yet to prevail in a battle between fleets.
It was his job to reverse that appalling piece of history. All his commanders marvelled at his confidence that this would be achieved, and it appeared they had supreme confidence in him. And, Gaius thought, as he became aware of this, he was proving those two women were wrong when they thought he couldn't act.
Chapter 30
Gaius stirred. Once again, his mouth felt like sandpaper. With the amazing technology available, surely something could be done about this? Maybe it did not happen to Ulsians? He could find out, if he knew any well enough to ask. Perhaps he should go back to sleep.
Unless there was enemy activity, they must have arrived. He rolled over in his bunk and pressed the status button. His screen came alive, but as he scrolled, all he saw were stars. Nothing was particularly bright and the status bar noted that there was no enemy activity. The only activity involved their own ships, which were still in neat formation, and were decelerating. Their line of flight was towards a star that was perhaps a little brighter than most, so they were presumably still a long way from their target. He yawned and stumbled towards his cleaning cabinet, where he gave himself a quick sponge bath. He then dried himself and put on his dressing gown.
"Fruit juice, sir?"
Gaius looked up to see the Tin Man standing there. "Yes, please," he said, then he added, "I'm sorry. I seem to have woken early."
"You woke because I woke you," the Tin Man said. "You have, therefore, woken at precisely the required time."
"There isn't any enemy activity?" Gaius asked. In his mind, it was possible his status screen had been in error.
"Oh no!" The Tin Man assured him. "Everything is according to plan. Why are you so suspicious?"
"We are at war," Gaius muttered. "The enemy have not been totally useless to date!"
"Had there been any indication of enemy action," the Tin Man assured him, "as you indicated, you would have been aroused."
"So we are near the target planet?"
"We are about three days out," the Tin Man said. "Most of the ships remain dormant, but since we have been stepping down from relativistic speed early to avoid detection for as long as possible, we can now travel between ships. General Slaben thought it would be desirable to meet with you."
"Of course," Gaius nodded. The step-down from relativistic speed did not have to involve motors, at least initially, and could make use of a special inertial effect. Enormous amounts of energy were pumped into the ships to approach the speed of light, and that energy remained with the ship as additional mass, which could be shed to provide the energy loss required to slow down. To say it was not detectable was not strictly correct, but it was most unlikely to be detected at this distance. He looked over at his new Admiral's uniform with pride. "Colonel Klendor?" he asked. "Is he . . ?"
"He has been awoken," the Tin Man said. "He is currently eating in his ship's mess. You should eat now too."
"I shall be in the mess in a few minutes," Gaius remarked, "but first, further use of your device."
As Gaius had remarked often, this electric razor was perhaps the most useful device he had acquired on Ulse.
* * *
Gaius nodded towards the other officers, formally saluted General Slaben, then he sat down. He had attended many of these meetings, usually in tents, and most of the time with himself at the head of the table. The Ulsians were a very formal race, and it came as no surprise to him to see that the position of his seat had been pre-allocated, although on reflection, he noted that for anatomical reasons he required a different design in chairs, so pre-allocation was almost required. He had, however, been placed immediately to the left of General Slaben, which was an extremely important position. Down the far end of a rather long table he saw that Klendor had looked towards him so he smiled and gave a friendly wave. Two other Ulsians took
their places, then General Slaben was informed that all invited officers were present.
General Slaben stood, nodded to the officers, then began his speech. "This is Ligra, our target star system," at which point he turned towards a wall screen on which a planetary system was displayed. "Beside the irrelevant gas giants and asteroids, it has three rocky planets. Ligra 1 is, as far as we are aware, uninhabitable. It is a standard basaltic inner planet with a gross feldspar deficiency and an excess of carbon dioxide. It has no water, and is essentially the expected hell-planet. We can safely neglect it.
"Ligra 2.0 has benign conditions, and virtually all the citizens of this system will live on this planet. There used to be about three hundred million Ulsians on this planet, although we can assume that there are far fewer now. The atmosphere has 80% of Ulsian pressure, hence is quite bearable, in fact," he smiled and nodded to Gaius, "it's not too much different from your home world, at least in terms of atmosphere. This planet also has a large and dense moon, which we assume originated as an accreted protoplanet at the Lagrange position. In short, it looks like a standard habitable planet where the co-accreted planetoid grazed rather than struck during the inevitable collision.
"However, there are some surprises. There is something odd about the collision because Ligra 2.1 has a gravitational field of about fifty per cent that of Ligra 2, and it has that because it appears to have an iron core. There is a theory that there was no actual collision with Ligra 2, but perhaps the planetoid had a momentum exchange, or even a collision, with another significant body. Anyway, something ended up as a Moon. Whatever the reason, it is unusual in that it has some water flow and an atmosphere, albeit a thin one, and it is sufficiently close to the planet that the tidal forces between the two of them are quite significant. Because it has a relatively high metal content, this moon has also been colonized, and although a pressure suit is not required, life outside domes needs breathing support. The spacecraft factories are on this moon, which has negligible population outside those employed by these factories.
