Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering

by Gibson Michaels

  The people of Waston, fearing the rebels would use the mutineers’ ships to attack the capital, clamored for protection — forcing the president to order the transfer 40 percent of remaining Fleet assets to Discol, most with merely skeleton crews in an act of pure theater, to quell public anxiety. The Alliance Fleet was hollow. A concerted effort by the Confederate Fleet right at that moment might have crippled the Alliance militarily, perhaps succeeding in capturing Waston, and enticing Maylan to join the Confederacy as well. The Fleet knew this and the Confederacy knew this, but the Confederacy did not strike, as might have been militarily advisable. The Confederacy did not want a war. They simply asked to be left alone to govern themselves.

  International stock markets were also in pandemonium, as a direct result of the chaos in the Alliance market. A number of foreign powers threatened outright recognition of the Confederacy in retaliation for the damage the Alliance’s internal political turmoil had wrecked on their economies. The Confederacy realized they would greatly benefit from recognition by the international community as a legitimate, independent member in the family of nations. Such recognition would certainly alter their view of any potential conflict between North and South, from a purely internal matter to an international one.

  If the Confederacy could gain international recognition, any military intervention undertaken by the Union government would brand the Alliance as an aggressor nation, attacking a legitimate, independent one and potentially inviting military intervention against the Alliance. Thus, the Confederacy had no wish to be seen as having starting hostilities.

  The two sides had totally opposite goals in the war for international opinion. The Confederacy did not need to capture Waston. They simply needed to survive in order to prove they were a viable, independent nation to the international community. In contrast, the Alliance federal government desperately needed to demonstrate that it still exerted authority over all of its southern territory, and that the ten seceding planets were still part of the United Stellar Alliance — not a separate, independent nation. Otherwise, the international community might very well follow through on their threats to recognize the Confederacy and provide political, economic, and possibly even military support.

  To end the rebellion, the Alliance needed to ensure the Confederacy did not survive. In mid-3861, it appeared the easiest way to destroy the secessionist government in the southern region was to capture Ginia, along with Rikmon, the new capital of the Confederacy. If the Confederacy could not defend its own capital, then clearly, international nations could not recognize the Confederacy as independent — no matter how much many of them might desire to see the United Stellar Alliance dissolve into less powerful fragments. Therefore, for the Alliance, it was imperative they do something, while the Confederacy simply needed to prevent them from accomplishing it.

  The Consortium-controlled media whipped Northern public opinion strongly against the South, blaming them for all of the economic bedlam plaguing the North. While this wasn’t totally successful in deflecting all criticism directed towards the government, the herd can generally be startled into moving in whatever direction the wranglers wish it to go, so a groundswell of public sentiment emerged, strongly urging military action to return the seceded planets to the Union by force of arms.

  The media wasted no time in using Waston’s civic nightmare of imminent Confederate invasion to disguise the Fleet’s mad scramble to reinvent itself back into a credible fighting force, making it appear as a warranted defense of the Alliance capital. It would take a great deal of time for the new enlistees to be considered fully trained.

  Unfortunately, by July, both the Northern public and J.P. Aneke were deafening in their demands for an immediate attack on Ginia. Whether the new crew assignments had ever worked together or not, and whether the reorganized Alliance Fleet was actually ready for combat operations, political pressures mandated the Alliance Fleet would sortie in seemingly unstoppable strength towards Ginia.

  Chapter-33

  To achieve the impossible, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought. -- Tom Robbins

  The Rak Planet Troxia

  Fraznal proved invaluable to Drix’ negotiation of a formal, written treaty of peace between the Rak Empire and what remained of the free Trakaan planets, containing mutual non-aggression clauses, the likes of which were unprecedented in the annals of recorded Raknii history. One did not make treaties with prey — but the Rak Empire just had.

  The inhabitants of Traka were so distrusting, fearing Raknii duplicity, Drix seriously doubted his peace mission would have been successful, had Fraznal not emphatically and personally endorsed the idea. His peace initiative wouldn’t have stood a herd beast’s chance against a combat-master. Evidently, the opinion of a Trakaan chief planetary administrator carried a lot of weight on Traka. Drix and Raan owed Fraznal a great debt for his unwavering support of their peace initiative.

  The leaders of Traka were astounded when Fraznal voluntarily returned to Troxia with his Rak conquerors. Perhaps that was what finally convinced them of his sincerity enough to embrace the peace accord. The Trakaan were an honorable and peace-loving people. Neither Drix nor Raan had the least doubt they would fully abide by the non-aggression pact they had just sworn to. The Rak were now secure to pursue their confrontation with the humans, without worrying about a Trakaan attack from behind.

  “Are you absolutely certain there is no alternative to your insane plan to attack the humans, Region-Master?” Fraznal asked Raan.

  “Unfortunately, there is no alternative,” answered Raan. “I truly wish there was. The prophecy is clear. It is only by passing through the fire of these human predators, that the Raknii people may be humbled enough to embrace the precepts of civility as you defined it, that our people not disappear into the oblivion of extinction.”

  “If you truly must continue with this madness of attacking the humans,” said Fraznal, “a two subcycle trip each way to the nearest human planet will make conducting combat operations at such distances rather cumbersome, will it not?”

  “Yes it will, but what other choice have we?” answered Raan.

  “Would you be interested in learning the locations of five habitable planets that are currently unknown to your people, that are within half a subcycle travel to several of the known human planets.”

  “Five habitable planets that close to the humans?”

  “That is correct.”

  “Why would you assist us in launching an attack on the humans? You abhor violence and warfare.”

  “You will attack the humans, whether I help you or not. Besides, I desire something from you and I am prepared to offer you what I believe you will find a fair exchange… five planets for only one in return,” said Fraznal.

  “You want us to give Troxia back to you, in exchange for these five planets?”

  “Yes, you could move this station to whichever of those five planets best suits your purposes at any given moment. I assure you that all five have climates and resources as good as, or superior to Troxia. The only thing Troxia has, that those worlds do not, are Trakaans. I would most willingly bind myself to the same treaty of peace that I argued so hard to obtain on your behalf at Traka.”

  Smart… reminding me of exactly how much we owe him as he negotiates a return of freedom from Rak control for his planet. Still, his offer is a good one. It offers us multiple locations and greater flexibility for our campaign against the humans and adds four more habitable planets to my region that aren’t already bursting at the seams with Trakaans. Plenty of room for new Rak colonization.

  “That is a very interesting offer, Fraznal. I will think on it. You trust me enough to make this exchange honorably?”

  “If I bound Troxia as included under the terms of the peace accord recently negotiated successfully at Traka and thereby guarantee your rear remains secure, would you not also be bound by those same guarantees promised on your part of the treaty?” replied Fraznal.

  “Let m
e consult with Drix and I will give you my answer within five turns. Is that acceptable?”

  “Highly acceptable, Region-Master.”

  “I truly wish that Varq had returned to Troxia with you when you returned from Raku,” said Region-Master Raan. “I would really like to know his opinion of this bizarre planet-swapping offer from Fraznal.”

  “He did, Region-Master. Varq is here,” answered Drix. Drix looked over into a corner of Raan’s office and said, “Varq approves.”

  “Here? As in here in this office?” asked Raan, scanning the entire office with his eyes… especially the empty area he’d noticed Drix glance towards just before making that startling pronouncement. Drix merely smiled.

  “Dol, it’s true then.” Raan was terrified. Drix continued smiling… and gave a single nod of affirmation.

  Chapter-34

  Knowledge dominance' does scare us as Marines. General George Armstrong Custer probably thought he had knowledge dominance, too. Any time you think you're smarter than your adversary, you're probably about a half-mile from the Little Big Horn. -- Colonel Art Corbett, USMC

  July, 3861

  Overall command of the Union assault force tasked with taking the Confederate capitol on Ginia was given to Admiral Joseph R. Bishop by direct order of the president, primarily due to his excellent political connections and his well-known, passionate distaste for all things Southern. It was a dream come true for Bishop, and he’d called in virtually every political marker he’d owned to obtain it. If the full truth be known, he’d actually borrowed heavily on his family’s political capital to land this command. He finally had everything he’d ever wanted since he’d joined the Fleet after graduating from Havad — a full, four-star admiral’s rank and personal command of three entire fleets, underway towards a great battle... a battle Joe Bishop had absolutely no doubts about winning.

  Granted, his experienced personnel were spread thinly throughout the fleet and there had been little time to integrate the crews into fully functional teams, but they were all Northerners — infinitely superior to those hayseed peasants they’d be facing. The newer personnel would follow the examples set by the veterans around them.

  Besides, Joe Bishop knew exactly what and whom he’d be up against. He’d received a detailed breakdown of all of the Fleet assets lost when those traitorous mutineers refused to obey lawful orders, stolen Fleet property, and then delivered it into the hands of the enemy. He’d been fully briefed on the enemy’s capabilities and weaknesses. He’d received detailed analysis of each enemy commander’s tendencies during war games they’d engaged in throughout their careers, and he’d distributed them to all of his warship captains. All they had to do was identify exactly which ship they were up against and they’d have invaluable insight into the best tactics to use to defeat them. The fact he’d also have those Southern bastards outnumbered by 3:1 made Bishop feel almost as giddy as a schoolgirl.

  The addition of four more planets to defend left the Confederate Fleet with too few ships to station a full task force in all ten planetary systems. Confederate Intelligence ascertained the Union’s initial thrust would be focused towards Ginia, so the Fleets were hastily realigned with the majority of Confederate strength based in the Ginia system, and a weaker force headquartered at Tensee. The 1st and 2nd Fleets were both dispatched to Ginia, under overall command of Fleet Admiral Kalis.

  The majority of ships that had joined the Confederate Fleet after the Great Mutiny in April were designated as 3rd Fleet, and assigned to Tensee under the command of former 2nd Fleet commander, Admiral Christopher Rawley. Command of 2nd Fleet was turned over to Vice Admiral Eileen Thorn, a longtime confidant of Admiral Kalis who had been brevetted to full admiral, after Rawley’s departure to assume command of 3rd Fleet.

  Fleet Admiral Kalis received extensive intelligence on the approaching Union Fleet — so incredibly extensive it even included exact crew lists. It appeared Confederate Fleet Intelligence knew more about the Union Fleet than the Yankees did. While incredible, most of it was of no tactical use. Kalis had personally scrutinized the information, quickly identifying what was valuable. Those details he passed on to his flag officers.

  The Union commander was fully expecting to run into the Confederate 3rd Fleet… the ships that had defected to the Confederacy during the Great Mutiny. Joe Bishop was a well known anti-Southern bigot, whose personal prejudices would invariably cause him to underestimate anything and everything Southern. Believing that he enjoyed a 3:1 advantage in numbers, there was little doubt Bishop would charge straight in, intending to overwhelm the mutineers by sheer numbers. Unfortunately for Joe Bishop, the ships that had mutinied and joined the Confederacy were at Tensee… not Ginia.

  The Ginia System

  July, 3861

  Vice Admiral Benjamin Stillman sat in his command chair aboard his flagship, CSS Independence, which was lying hidden within the Ginia system asteroid belt. Unessential systems were powered down and emissions were minimized as Independence did her absolute best to imitate a drifting hunk of space rock. The rest of Stillman’s Task Force-21 and all of Admiral Thorn’s Task Force-20 were similarly hidden — “dogged down,” or “lying doggo” as the ratings were wont to say, amongst the swirling asteroids. Some ships were magnetically grappled to high-iron content asteroids, while others fended off imminent collisions with short bursts of gravitic repulsor beams... essentially tractor beams set on reverse polarization.

  It was hoped that the Union Fleet would pass by without detecting the 2nd Fleet ships hidden within the asteroids. The Fleet’s master computers calculated an 89 percent probability of success with the deception, but those computers weren’t out here sweating out the minutes that dragged by like hours. All 100 of the fighters aboard Independence were fully armed and fueled, with pilots on alert in their ready rooms. Stillman knew it was the same aboard Thorn’s other carriers, Ticonderoga, Wasp, Hornet, Ranger and Intrepid.

  Vice Admiral Kent’s TF-22 was detached to augment Fleet-Admiral Kalis’ 1st Fleet with a fourth full task force, awaiting the Yankees 1½ light minutes out from Ginia, on a direct line to Discol. Joe Bishop just wasn’t the type to get fancy with a deceptive “come in from a random direction” tactic when he believed he had a 3:1 advantage. He’d bull straight in. The augmented 1st Fleet contained four attack carriers and eight light carriers, which could field 920 top-of-the-line Raptor and Demon spacefighters, the modern muscle of both Alliance and Confederate space warfleets.

  It was known the Union Fleet contained four attack carriers and eighteen light carriers, which could field 1,570 fighters, but only about 200 of those were Raptors and Demons. The rest were older Lightnings and Mustangs — still very dangerous weapons, as they were the equivalent to the best any other nation currently used as their best front-line fighter, but not quite as formidable as Raptors and Demons.

  Confederate Intelligence reported the Yankees planned to exit tachyon space about 3½ light-minutes from Ginia and immediately go into full active scan to locate the Confederate fleet. Vice Admiral Kent’s TF-22 would lie in Ginia’s planetary shadow, so Bishop would initially see just what he expected to see when his force detected Admiral Kalis’ 1st fleet sitting 1½ light-minutes out from Ginia.

  The Confederate battle plan called for Admiral Kalis’ blocking force to await the enemy’s initial blows, at slightly worse than 3:1 odds. A couple of scout ships were stationed to either side of Ginia, positioned to relay laser communications to Kent. At an advantageous moment, Kalis could tell Kent exactly when and where he wanted Kent’s TF-22 to appear in the ongoing melee and what his targeting priorities should be.

  Kent would be attempting something rarely tried in space warfare… a timed jump of approximately 9 seconds at minimum hyperspace speed of 10c that should place Kent’s units very close to 1st Fleet. Kalis’ exact orders would require a recalculation of the jump time, but once again, the Fleet’s master computer gave the maneuver a better than 79 percent probability that Kent could execut
e it successfully. Kent’s arrival would improve Kalis’ numerical odds to just under 5:2, but the element of surprise, and placement where Kent’s arrival would be most advantageous, was expected to increase the impact of these fresh units.

  The remainder of Thorn’s 2nd Fleet would remain hidden within the asteroid belt. After the Union Fleet passed by, Thorn’s ships would then ease into position directly astern of the Union fleet, where their own fusion plumes would distort their aft sensor scans, effectively hiding 2nd Fleet as it shadowed them deeper into the Ginia system. Admiral Thorn would nominally wait for Admiral Kalis’ signal to attack the Yankees from behind, she also but had the option of attacking at her own discretion, should it appear advantageous from her perspective astern of the Union Fleet.

  Whenever Thorn jumped into the fray, the two attack carriers and four light carriers of 2nd Fleet would add another 460 Raptors and Demons coming in by surprise from astern, bringing the numerical odds up to almost 3:2 in ships and bringing the total number of Confederate fighters up to near 1,400. It was a bold and complex plan. Hopefully, Joe Bishop was in for at least three really nasty shocks today, but battle plans rarely survive first contact with the enemy.

  Admiral Joseph R. Bishop, commanding officer of the Alliance Grand Fleet, lurched in his command chair in the combat information center of his flagship, the attack carrier USS Enterprise. The gut-wrenching effect of hyperspace transition was something no human being would ever come to enjoy, but it seemed to create an especially nasty backlash in Bishop’s tender stomach. God, I’ll never get used to that! The Grand Fleet was the largest single attack force ever assembled in the annals of space warfare, virtually three normal fleets, plus transports carrying tens of thousands of Fleet Marines, combined into a single cohesive force… and it all belonged to Joe Bishop.