“First, since you have been preparing the ground forces, you will be glad to know we believe we have the location of Larona’s headquarters. It just happened. We haven’t seen her there yet, but it is being watched by your forces. Once we confirm it is her place, and we get all the intelligence possible, we can plan and schedule the assault.
“Out here, we have a nice force shaping up. It includes eleven fully converted armed cargo ships with plasma cannons. They have all been to the range, and Wizzy has made sure they are as accurate as he can make them. We also converted and revitalized all twelve of your gunboats. They have also been to the range, and their plasma cannons tested and sighted in.”
“What about the three that were in final assembly?”
“They are going through the conversion process now but will not be ready for the training maneuvers. Instead, we spread their crews among the other gunboats so they can get the same training experience as all the other crews.”
“And Dreng, is she ready?”
“Indeed, she is. There wasn’t much we had to do to her. However, as we went through the conversion process of the other ships, we learned a few things, and we went back and retrofitted the early conversions, like Dreng.
“There are some things like signal codes and maneuver names you will have to learn, but you’re lucky to have a good number two. He’s been sitting in your seat this whole time, and he can help you get adjusted. Amini?”
“Thanks, Nick,” Amini said as she passed Tiana a tablet. “In this tablet, you will find everything we have been teaching people up to now. You already know most of it based on your experience with us, but it will show you what the others have been exposed to.”
“There is one thing that was unexpected,” I said to Tiana, trying to keep a friendly, calming face.
“What?” Apparently, my expression of calm didn’t work. She was immediately on alert.
“Zanta wants to ride one of the cargo ships as an observer during the maneuvers,” Amini answered. Not that I couldn’t have said the same thing. It’s just that the way Amini said it, she included a scowl indicating she didn’t like the idea. Or was it Tiana she didn’t like? What do I know? I’ve never been able to read or understand women. I decided to just jump back into the discussion.
“He doesn’t want to command the ship. He just thinks that Resistance leadership should be represented and see how things are going. Firsthand, so to speak,”
“That is a terrible idea!” Tiana said as she stood up from her chair, her stripes turning dark and her fists clenched. In her years with her royal family, she heard numerous complaints from military leaders when faced with having politicians looking over their shoulders and inserting themselves into things that they knew nothing about.
“Calm down, Tiana. I feel the same way, but since the Resistance has so much at stake in addition to the ships and parts they provided, I couldn’t say no.”
Tiana eased herself back into her seat, but her stripes didn’t fade. Neither did her glare of disapproval.
“Alright. But I’m going to speak with Zanta.”
“As well you should,” I said, trying to show my appreciation for her almost acquiescence. I also wanted out of this conversation.
“That’s about all we had to tell you, Tiana. The shuttle will take you to your ship when you’re ready.” I gave her what I thought was my most gracious and friendly smile. I had no idea if it worked. Did I say I could never figure out women?
The funny thing about the Argos’ crew, and me especially, was the idea that we could train a battle force larger than three ships. That’s the most I’ve ever handled. And they were small ships, more like gunboats in size. Amini and Doc didn’t even have that much experience. Our savior was the learning chair. All three of us spent time in the chair trying to learn the basics of fleet maneuvers and tactics. Up to now, I was just flying by the seat of my pants. I figured it was time to change.
The plan for the first few days was to divide into two training groups: friendly and aggressor. Traditionally in the militaries of Earth, aggressors were labeled Red forces and friendlies labeled Blue forces. Tiana chose to be the aggressor and labeled herself Red 1. She took five, armed cargo ships, including Dreng, and six of the gunboats. Her opponent was Blue 1 and had the balance of the ships under his control. Argos was just an observer during operations. Wizzy recorded the fights for later debriefings in living color. Winners would get a bottle of Tye beer for their efforts.
There was no beer handed out at the end of the first day. It was a mess. Aggressors broke formation to fight individually, and friendlies sought to protect themselves rather than help their fellow ships in formation. Communications turned into uncontrolled calls and curse words. The simulated fire hit companion ships as often as enemy ships. Pretty much as bad as it could get. Afterward, the crews were in high spirits and thought they did a great job. That is, until, in the comfort of their own ships, they watched Wizzy’s digital replay of the fight. I didn’t help them very much as I spoke when the replay was done.
“Crews of both forces, I needn’t tell you how things went. You saw for yourself. Had this been real, the Resistance would have lost everything. Not just the ships and crews here would have been lost. Everything on Tye would have been lost, your families included. We cannot afford to let this happen for real. The way we win is as a team, with discipline and cunning. Tomorrow, we will form the same groups and try it again. Think about the mistakes you made and what you learned. Put them to use tomorrow. Commanding officers take charge. Argos, out.”
I had no idea if that was the right approach or not. I knew, however, that there was no way we could go through each part of the fight with comments. It would have taken much too long and would have been too complicated. I planned on the sobering visual replays of the day to force each ship into their own discussions and that Red 1 and Blue 1 would add their views. In retrospect, I guess that’s what admirals do. Not that I was an admiral, but I was the overall force commander. Imagine that. What would my father think if he knew what was happening and after he read me the riot act for going way beyond my orders?
The next day was better. Friendly fire didn’t kill as many people or destroy as many ships. It was still a mess, but a better mess. But no beer was handed out. By the end of four days, the crews of the Red team got beers, and I decided to reverse the colors. The former aggressors became the friendlies, and the friendlies became the aggressors. I worried that revenge would win out over reason and planning, but I shouldn’t have.
It was the best day yet. This time the new Red team won and got the beers, but the margin of victory was slim. At the end of another four days, I decided to call a draw and give everyone a beer. They were making good progress, and debriefings were becoming short. The next step was designed to build on the new teamwork ships and crews were showing. I chose Argos to act as the command ship for the first few sets of maneuvers. Then I turned it over to the armed cargo ship 03. I didn’t pick Dreng and Tiana first because I thought the 03 ship commander showed promise, had been on all our combat flights so far, and could use the work to improve his skills more than Tiana based on what I had seen. He was good, and I was glad I picked him.
He broke the force into three smaller forces, maneuvered them, and brought them back into formation. He used his ship as the high-value unit in the center of the formation and then changed it just to make the overall formation unpredictable. He sent out patrols and reconnaissance missions using the gunboats and experimented with various ways to use them as defensive ships. At the end of the day, he called the formation back together with 03 in the center. This seemed to work fine until the unthinkable occurred.
One of the gunboats was returning to position faster than it should. “Gunboat 10, this is Argos, abort your run and turn one hundred eighty degrees. I repeat, abort your approach and turn one hundred eighty degrees.”
“Argo
s, this is 10, we have lost heading and speed control. Applying full reverse thrusters.”
I looked at the course 10 was on and saw it was headed to armed cargo ship 06.
“Cargo 06, Gunboat 10 is out of control and headed toward you; accelerate and break left! I repeat, accelerate, and break left!”
All of us on the Argos bridge watched in horror as 06 tried to comply, but was too slow. 10 rammed into her underbelly, and, for a moment, all we could see was a huge orange ball of flame, and then debris from both ships.
“All ships, this is Argos. Exercise canceled. All but Dreng return to base.” I repeated the message and then contacted Dreng.
“Dreng. Argos is approaching 06 from below and aft. Take station above 06 and look for survivors.”
“Dreng understands, out.”
Argos slowed with maximum power to shields to fend off the debris from both ships. We all looked steadily at the accident site but could see nothing of the gunboat. What we did see was horrible. 06, or what was left of her, was DIS. Our sensors showed no power, and there were no communications to or from the stricken ship.
“Amini, take over. I’m going to take Shuttle 2 out for an inspection. Have Doc get ready to receive survivors.” I almost added, “… if any.” But I was hoping there would be someone still alive.
I took the shuttle to the underside of 06 first to assess the impact area. The hole was bigger than I expected. It had to be at least twenty yards long, fore and aft, and five or more yards in width. I saw that the damage extended to all but the top two decks and the upper superstructure. I cruised on slowly.
The ship was dark. No lights and no more fires, which suggested all the oxygen had been expended in most of the ship. I reached the nose of the stricken ship, having seen no life aboard and no bodies.
“Dreng, Shuttle 2. What do you see?”
There was a delay in Dreng’s response. When Tiana finally replied, I could tell by her halting words, she was hurting at the sight.
“No… no survivors from the top. I am afraid they are all gone.”
There was another brief pause as Tiana collected herself.
“Do you know who was aboard 06 in addition to the crew?”
I didn’t, but I put two and two together quickly.
“Zanta?”
“Yes. I told him not to go, but he wouldn’t listen.” Her voice ended in a sob.
There was no way I could land the shuttle in 06. Both cargo bays were gone. I turned to the only asset that might be able to help.
“Wizzy. Can you detect any life aboard 06?”
“I’m sad to say, Captain Nick, that I have been searching with all my sensors and can find no life. I am launching fireflies now for confirmation.”
Stupid me. In grief at the loss of crews and ships, I had forgotten about the fireflies. Ten minutes later, Wizzy reported.
“The fireflies have looked through all the remaining parts of the ship. I am sad to say that no one is left alive. There are bodies which I am sure you will want to recover. I recommend that Argos and Dreng return to base and organize a recovery team. I don’t think you or Dreng are prepared for this. Mentally, that is.”
Wizzy was right. Neither Tiana nor I would be good as a recovery team. Someone else would do a better job; I was convinced. It also dawned on me that Wizzy was showing something like compassion and even empathy with his words. A side I hadn’t seen before.
It was a week before Resistance operations got back to normal, if there was any normal these days. 06 was recovered along with her deceased crew. A ceremony was held, and the bodies interred in makeshift graves on the Fort Apache asteroid — to be repatriated to Tye and families when all this was over. Tiana asked to lead a series of maneuvers to pull everyone back into focus, and I agreed to it.
Our makeshift navy was a reality and much better than I had hoped. However, the question of what to do with it and when remained. I was looking for options and felt we needed to coordinate our space fight and Krona assault to follow the attack on Larona. By my way of thinking, a successful attack on Larona would fire up Gurko and motivate him to jump at any opportunity that presented itself. The loss of a few cargo ships, cargos and crews had to be minor compared to the potential loss of Larona. She was a high level, key player in his system of domination over Tye and, I suspect, hard to replace. I sat in the Argos captain’s cabin thinking when I was annoyingly interrupted by guess who?
“Say, Nicky, whatcha doing?”
“I’m thinking. Is that okay with you?”
“Thinking? What could you be thinking? I’m the one with all the brains.”
“Right, and no tact!”
“Oh, touchy, aren’t we? I guess I’ll take my news and go away since I’m not appreciated here.”
If Wizzy had news, it was worth hearing. “Ok, what news do you have?”
“I’m not telling an ungrateful ape.”
There was only one way to get him in the mood to talk. “I’m sorry, your magnificence. I was rude, and I’m sorry.”
“Um, that’s better. You’ll like this. I was able to retrieve most of the weapons and many parts from 06 that can be used for new ships, or whatever. Isn’t that good news?”
“Yes, Wizzy, that is good news, but why was it so important that you had to interrupt me?”
“Well, I thought any good news would…”
I had a thought. “Wizzy, how many plasma cannons and lasers could you make in say, a week?”
“What? What difference does that make? We don’t have ships for them.”
“I’m not thinking ships. How many?”
“Hmm, let me think. I have extra power supplies and lots of raw material. The bots aren’t very busy now. I think I could fabricate at least a dozen plasma cannons and more than twice that for lasers.”
“How about a remote firing system?”
“What? What’s going through your head full of mush?”
“I’m thinking of converting an asteroid into an offensive weapon.”
“Not following you.”
“I’m thinking of arming Asteroid 3 and luring Gurko and his space force there.”
“Oh, I see. How clever. Why didn’t I think of that, and an ape did? I want to die!”
“Never mind. Start work now, and we’ll be installing it all on Asteroid 3 as soon as possible”
“Okey-dokey, mon Capitaine.”
The plan needed the asteroid as a centerpiece for what I wanted to do. With the asteroid armed, we could draw Gurko’s forces into a trap. Assuming we defeated or even seriously damaged his fleet, we could follow up with the assault on Krona the next day. It would be tight and even a little risky, but I couldn’t think of anything else that would get us what we all wanted — an end to all this treachery and bloodshed. However, I had to run it past Tiana and Zanta’s replacement, a woman named Marza.
The crew of the Argos, less Sif, met with the two Resistance women in Tiana’s quarters aboard Dreng. I explained my idea and waited for their response. Marza was older that Zanta and had the appearance and carriage of a confident woman. She stood tall, scanned everyone with piercing green eyes, and maintained the appearance of calm. She spoke first.
“That is a novel and interesting idea, Captain Nick. There are a number of assumptions, however. Chief among them is verifying the location of Larona’s headquarters in your timeline and the willingness for Gurko to come out. He hasn’t done that yet, despite all our urging to the contrary. And, there is one final piece of the puzzle. The Resistance leaders must approve. I cannot do that on my own authority.”
I forgot about the Resistance leaders. I just assumed Marza could authorize the whole thing, and we could do that in this meeting. Crap. Double crap!
“I can see the disappointment in your eyes, Captain. But the approval of the leaders is required by our charter. I�
��m sorry. However, based on my experience with my friends and the goal of your idea, I believe they will say yes quickly. There aren’t many of us now, you know.”
That was a relief. I was having visions of our Congress in the United States taking forever to come to a decision which usually was full of damaging compromises. Nonetheless, it was more time added to the equation.
“Thank you, Marza. Could you be ready to leave soon?” I asked.
“I am ready now, Captain. All I need is a fast ship.”
“We have one of those,” I said with a smile.
Chapter 25
While Marza was away, we confirmed Larona’s headquarters location. It was in a storage bunker not on Toor’s old list. Resistance intelligence located it after convincing one of Larona’s lieutenants that his cooperation would be better than the alternative. Even so, the location was remote. I relayed that information to Sif along with the sketchy plans of the bunker obtained by Resistance intelligence. Things were picking up speed. I told the Arkon warrior he needed to be prepared to move on a moment’s notice even if he lost training time. He wasn’t happy, but like the warrior he was, he accepted the orders.
Meanwhile, I made the assumption that the Resistance leaders would approve the proposed plan, and I sent ships, men, and equipment like power supplies and wiring to Asteroid 3. That would allow the infrastructure to be created to accept the weapons when they were finished. There was no shortage of volunteers to help with this since our training maneuver schedule was at a reduced level and people had extra time on their hands.
As luck would have it, we were ready to ship out the weapons when Marza returned. She was right. The leaders didn’t take long to make a decision to support the plan. There were two caveats, however. First, Tiana had to be in command of the forces in the space battle at Asteroid 3, and a Resistance officer had to lead the assault on Krona. I had no problem with either of those. Tiana was their best space commander, and Argos could be a backup for things that might go wrong.
Crucible: Records of the Argos Page 24
