Stars & Empire: 10 Galactic Tales

by Jay Allan

  The debriefings were routine except for the fact that several very senior officers, including Admiral Howard himself, were in the room as observers. A large screen on the wall showed the recorded tactical data from the battle, while Shiloh narrated the battle’s progress, followed by a question and answer session involving all of his squadron’s Commanding Officers. Shiloh expected to be called to Howard’s office when it was over, but that didn’t happen. With the debriefing out of the way, Shiloh and the other officers made their way back to their quarters and gathered in the Officers Club for dinner, drinks, and some games of pool and darts. Shiloh was just about to doze off with a beer in his hand while sitting in a comfortable chair by the roaring fireplace, when Chenko sat down in the chair next to him and nudged him on the arm.

  “What’s up, XO?”

  “I just wanted to share with you a rumor I heard from one of our debriefing officers during the afternoon break, Sir.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. It seems that the scuttlebutt has it that all squadron CO’s are to be awarded the Outstanding Combat Medal, and that 339’s crew will be awarded a unit citation.”

  Shiloh paused to consider that and then said, “That’s very interesting, XO. Caru and his people definitely deserve the citation. I’m not sure I see the justification for awarding the OCM. It was an ambush after all. The enemy really didn’t stand a chance, so it’s not like we persevered in spite of overwhelming odds or anything like that.”

  Chenko nodded, hesitated for a second or two, and then said, “I also heard that you’re going to be given the Sentinel, Sir.”

  Shiloh was wide awake now. He was about to reply when the room disappeared, and he was in Admiral Howard’s office. He barely had time to realize that he was having another vision when a clearly older Howard said, ‘When you turned down command of the Sentinel, I thought you had lost your nerve. However with the benefit of hindsight, I now realize that you made the right decision. I shudder to think of where we’d be today if you hadn’t stuck to your guns when I tried to pressure you to accept that command.’

  The vision faded and Shiloh found himself looking at Chenko, who said, “Are you okay, Commander?”

  Shiloh tried to laugh it off.

  “Yes, of course, XO. Why do you ask?”

  “Well, you were staring off into space for a few seconds there.”

  Shiloh thought fast. “Yeah, sorry about that. I guess I’m kind ‘a tired.”

  Chenko nodded. “It’s been a long day, Sir.”

  “Yes it has, XO. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, Sir.”

  Shiloh got up and walked to his quarters pondering the meaning of this latest vision. The next morning he received word that he and his people were free to start their leave. After saying the usual goodbyes, the officers and crew dispersed to their homes and various other destinations. Within 24 hours Shiloh was sunning himself on a white beach, looking forward to some scuba diving later that day.

  Two weeks later, he received a message to report back to Space Force HQ for reassignment. After checking-in his things to his temporary quarters, he arrived at Admiral Howard’s office as ordered. They exchanged salutes, and Howard gestured for Shiloh to sit down in the comfortable chair facing his desk. While they chitchatted about Shiloh’s leave, Shiloh accepted the offered cigar and lit it. When both men had taken a good puff of their respective cigars, Howard got to the point.

  “It’s unfortunate that I had to call you back in when your leave was only half over. If it’s any consolation, you’re not the only one who’s been called back early. In your case, I wanted you back here now because we’ve waited as long as we can to name a CO for the first of the new combat frigates. It’s almost ready for its shakedown cruise. That ship is the Sentinel, and she’s yours if you want her. As CO of the Sentinel, you’ll also be Squadron Leader of a new squadron. It will be fleshed out with upgraded exploration frigates, but only until they can be replaced with the combat frigates that will be sliding out of the shipyards at a rate of about two a month before much longer. That new squadron will be where we will assign all of our most capable and aggressive officers, and I guarantee that promotion will be fast. You’ll be a Senior Commander before you know it. Well, what do you say?”

  Shiloh hesitated. He realized that he was sweating and breathing faster than normal. If he hadn’t had that vision, he would have said an yes without hesitation, but after having three visions pan out perfectly, he felt he should heed this one too. He took a deep breath before speaking.

  “If you’re giving me a choice, then I’m going to respectfully decline the offer, Sir.”

  Howard was clearly surprised, and just as clearly annoyed.

  “You can’t possibly be serious, Shiloh! I know officers who would literally give their right arms for this command. Why don’t you want it?”

  Shiloh sighed. “Personal reasons that I’d prefer not to elaborate on, Sir.”

  Howard said nothing for a few seconds and then replied. “Are you absolutely certain about this? You do realize I trust that this will generate a hell of a dark cloud over your career for years to come!”

  Shiloh nodded. “Yes, Sir. I’m aware of the repercussions, and yes I am certain that I do not want this command, Sir.”

  Howard shook his head as he took another puff from his cigar.

  “I don’t understand this, Commander. You’ve always struck me as someone who’s cool under fire and not afraid of a fight. Did something happen at Tango Delta 6 that’s making you gun-shy?”

  Shiloh replied without hesitating. “No, Sir.”

  “Well then, what is it that has you spooked about this command? I insist that you tell me!”

  Shiloh wondered for the nth time if he should tell the Admiral about his visions. If that was the right thing to do, why didn’t he hear Howard mention it in his vision? Keeping the secret to himself had seemed to work so far, and he decided to stay the course, but he had to tell Howard something.

  After some more thought he said, “Well, Sir, the thing is this. I don’t think I’m as good a combat strategist as you and the other senior officers of the Space Force think I am. My past success has, in my opinion, been due to a combination of luck and gut hunches. This is not something that I would want the fate of Humanity to hinge on if I were eventually to be in command during a key battle that decided the outcome of this war.”

  Howard’s response was immediate and unexpected.

  “Bullshit!” He paused then blurted out, “I think you’ve lost your nerve!”

  Shiloh said nothing. He tried to remain calm, but his stomach was tied up in knots.

  Howard took his cigar and stubbed it out, then leaned back in his chair. “I’m tempted to order you to take that command, but if in fact you really have lost your nerve, then that’s the last place you should be!” He paused again. “Alright! I’ll find someone else to take command of the Sentinel. You’re dismissed. As far as the rest of your leave is concerned, that’s over. Stay close to your quarters so that we’ll know where to reach you when we’ve decided what to do with you. By the way, you were going to be awarded the Combat Medal, but I’ve just decided to rescind that award! Now get out of my sight!”

  Shiloh jumped to attention, saluted and left the office quickly. The ride back to his quarters aboard the Space Force shuttle bus seemed to take forever. Shiloh wondered if he had done the right thing. His head said yes, but it didn’t feel right. When he got back to his quarters, he stayed in his room for the rest of the day. After a night of fitful sleep, he felt a little better after a shower and headed down to the Officers Mess for breakfast. While he was eating, a steward brought an envelope to him that had been delivered by courier. It was from HQ. He opened it and began reading.

  From: Admiral Dietrich, Chief of Personnel

  To: Commander Victor Shiloh.

  As of 0800 hours today you are relieved of the post of Squadron Leader of SFE 144. You are also notified that you are relieved of comma
nd of FE 344. You are ordered to report to the Alpha Weapons Development and Test Base as soon as transportation can be arranged.

  The loss of his ship was like a blow to the gut. He started feeling a slight queasiness in his stomach and wondered if he was going to throw up. After another minute or so he decided he wasn’t and looked at the message again. He had never heard of the Alpha Weapons Development and Test Base, nor did he know where it was or how to get there, but that wasn’t much of a problem. One call to Space Force Transport Command should clear up the mystery. What they wouldn’t be able to tell him was what he’d be doing once he got there. Unable to finish his breakfast, Shiloh returned to his room, called the SFTC, and soon found out that the AWDT base was a newly established station in the Epsilon Eridani star system. The next transport ship scheduled to head that way left orbit in 36 hours. Shiloh made arrangements to be on the last shuttle carrying cargo and passengers to the transport ship.

  With that out of the way, he checked to see if any of his crew were still nearby and was surprised to find that Chenko was at Space Force HQ. He arranged for her to get a message asking her to meet him over lunch.

  When Chenko arrived at his table in the Officers Dining Room, the first thing she said was, “I heard they relieved you of command of the 344! Why did they do that?”

  Shiloh shook his head. “They offered me the Sentinel, just like you heard, and I turned it down. That’s why.”

  Chenko reacted with uncharacteristic shock. “You did what?”

  “Yup. I turned it down. I’m not the right man for that command. Howard and everyone else seem to think I’m some kind of tactical genius, and I’m not.”

  Now Chenko was clearly angry.

  “Well you’re certainly better at it than most of us. Now they’ll assign someone to the Sentinel who isn’t half as good, and he or she will probably screw up royally! For God’s sake, Shiloh, how can you be so selfish?”

  Chenko’s use of his name instead of his rank surprised him. She was clearly upset.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, Svetlana. You’ve learned to trust my judgment during our deployment on the 344. I’m asking you to trust my judgment one more time.”

  Chenko said nothing and looked away, clearly still unhappy. After a few seconds, Shiloh tried to change the subject.

  “Do you know who will take over command of the 344?”

  Chenko sighed. “Yes, I will. Temporary promotion to Commander until further notice. Unofficially I’ve been told that if I don’t screw up during the next deployment, the promotion will become permanent.”

  Shiloh nodded. “Good for you, Svetlana! You’ll make a fine CO.”

  She gave him a small smile in acknowledgement of his compliment. “Thank you, Sir. Do you know where you’ll be assigned?”

  Shiloh told her about the AWDT Base. She nodded.

  “Well, I suppose if you’re not going to be commanding a combat ship, then helping with weapons development is the next best thing. Good luck with that, Sir.”

  “You too, Svetlana.” She nodded once again, then turned and walked away.

  Shiloh spent the next 36 hours doing things to make the time go faster. He had difficulty sleeping that night, wondering if he had made the right choice. He was no closer to figuring out an answer to the mystery of his visions than he had been before. What really began to bother him was that his visions were only showing him confirmation of decisions when they would have been different if he hadn’t had the visions. Which came first, the actions or the visions? It seemed as though the visions were coming first, but that made no sense because the visions were of future events that depended on him taking the right actions. How could an effect precede the cause? It would have made far more sense if he had the visions AFTER deciding to take those actions because then the visions would be confirmation of something that he was going to do anyway. But in each case, his decision to take the correct action happened after his vision. Thinking about it gave him a headache.

  When it was time to board the shuttle that would take him to the transport ship, Shiloh was resigned to his course of action. If he’d made a mistake, then he just had to find a way to make the best of it.

  The trip to the Alpha Base in Epsilon Eridani, took almost three days, and transport ships weren’t known for their comfortable accommodations. As it turned out, the accommodations at the Base were even worse. Since the Base itself was so new, parts of it were still under construction. Naturally those parts included living quarters for the base personnel. Until they were completed, Shiloh and most of the others assigned there had to sleep wherever they could find space, as well as be content with emergency rations until the kitchen and mess hall were completed. It took a bit of pushing, but Shiloh eventually found out what his assignment was. He was the Weapons Development Board Liaison to the Base, which was a totally unnecessary position as far as he could tell. The WDB didn’t need a liaison to the AWDT Base because the Base Commander and the Project Leader both reported directly to the WDB anyway. The Liaison position was clearly intended by Admiral Howard to punish Shiloh for his perceived lack of fighting spirit.

  With literally nothing to do, Shiloh made up his mind to make himself useful in any way he could. When enough of the other technical and engineering staff had arrived to allow actual work to begin, Shiloh made sure he sat in on all meetings. One thing became clear very quickly, something that Shiloh hadn’t expected. The Alpha Base wasn’t going to be doing basic design and prototype construction. That was being done closer to Earth. What the Alpha Base would do was take prototypes already built and test them as much as possible under simulated field conditions to assess equipment reliability. Then they would calculate the most efficient way to mass-produce the resulting production versions. Once that was figured out, other facilities in the Epsilon Eridani system would become the production centers for those weapons.

  The first weapon system that the AWDT base would work on was the modified version of the AFP or Autonomous Fighting Platform. Base Commander Korolev had been right. The concept had changed. The original concept was a small AI controlled drone that could be used for long duration patrols and long-range combat operations, supplemented by larger, human piloted gunboats. Then someone had suggested the obvious, which was to build one common platform that was highly modular and could be configured either as an unmanned drone or, with the proper modules attached, as a manned vehicle. While the advantages of using a common basic vehicle were obvious, there were some disadvantages as well. In order to be able to carry a human crew, the vehicle had to be larger than the original drone concept, which meant that the new ships wouldn’t be able to carry as many of them as planned. To offset that, it was pointed out that the larger vehicle could not only carry a powerful enough laser to actually be a threat to enemy ships, but could also carry an impressive load of smaller recon, message or attack drones.

  -o0o-

  It took until almost a month after his arrival for the first prototype to be ready and delivered for testing. The testing program was a compromise between being thorough and fast. A thorough program would have taken up to a year or more, and Space Force Brass decided that was just too long. So the risk of technical glitches was considered acceptable in order to get the thing into the field as fast as possible. That was fine when they were testing the prototype in its autonomous configuration because any technical glitch would not put humans at risk, but eventually they had to test it with humans on board and in control. The test pilots assigned to that duty weren’t happy with the simplified testing program, which they considered reckless, and rightly so, in Shiloh’s opinion.

  When a test of the vehicle’s crew module almost resulted in the death of its test pilot due to a failure in the life support system, the test pilots refused to participate in any more tests until the crew module had undergone hundreds of hours of additional simulated field tests. Shiloh had a gut feeling that they couldn’t afford that much additional time. It wasn’t a vision, just a nagging su
spicion that wouldn’t go away, and so he volunteered to pilot the prototype during human-controlled tests as originally planned. Those tests and their preparations kept him so busy that time flew by. When the testing program was completed, Shiloh was surprised to learn that he’d been there almost four months. By then the project to mass-produce the upgraded production version was well under way. Normal practice was for the first few production models to be tested, as well to make certain they were being built to the required standard, but just as the first production model Configurable Fighting Platform, as they were now known, came off the production line, Shiloh and the rest of the base personnel heard the bad news.

  CHAPTER 12: One Step Forwards, Two Steps Back

  The Space Force Command Staff, after regrouping, had decided to try to engineer another ambush using the same tactic that Shiloh had used in Tango Delta 6. The ambush had backfired badly. In fact, it looked as though the aliens had set their own ambush. How they had managed that, no one knew, but the result was that the Space Force had lost two full squadrons of frigates, including the new Sentinel. The message carrying the news didn’t identify which other frigates were lost, and Shiloh wondered if the 344 was among them. There was another surprise message in the same data transmission. Admiral Howard wanted to reassign Shiloh. It appeared that his exile was over. He arrived on Earth five days later and found himself back in Howard’s office the following morning.