Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering

by Gibson Michaels

  Other than the recent pants-filling experience of their Executive Board, who had unwisely thought of a space battle as a spectator sport, and narrowly missed being incinerated by an errant 5-gigwatt plasma bolt, it appeared the disastrous beginning of the war was very good business for the Consortium and others of their ilk. They stood to make a tremendous amount of money, from all these new military spending projects. This was especially true of J.P. Aneke’s Starquest Aerospace, whose stock had all but bottomed out, along with everyone else’s, in the aftershocks from the secessions. Starquest stock had come within a hairsbreadth of reaching a 15-year low, saved only by an unexpected purchase of nearly $40 billion worth of Starquest Aerospace stock by a German company.

  Bolstered by the news of the South’s great victory at the Battle of Ginia, Admiral Christopher Rawley, commander of the Confederate 3rd Fleet based at Tensee, dispatched Vice Admiral Donald Carpenter and his Task Force-31 to attack Federal fleet elements reportedly in the Souri system. Intelligence reports indicated that a small number of Union fleet vessels had been placed into orbit around Souri, to intimidate Southern sympathizers and secessionist elements to prevent them from convening a secessionist convention of their own.

  TF-31 inflicted approximately 27 percent casualties upon the Union ships found there, causing them to hurriedly withdraw. TF-31 itself suffered only light damage, and Admiral Carpenter left a small cruiser/destroyer contingent, both to discourage the Federals' return and provide warning to Admiral Rawley should they return in strength. All in all, it wasn’t really much of a battle compared to what had occurred at Ginia, but it did give the South another morale boost. Unfortunately, it also seemed to start a lot of ignorant talk throughout the South, that Yankees were easy to whip.

  Chapter-36

  Doors of opportunity don't open, they unlock; it is up to you to turn the knob. -- Lily Taylor

  The Planet Ginia, City of Rikmon

  Capital City of the Confederate Stellar Accord

  September, 3861

  “No, Admiral. I will not approve any attack by Confederate forces upon the city of Waston,” said Confederate President Lincoln Collier.

  Fleet Admiral Roger Kalis looked at his Commander-in-Chief, in stark disbelief. Kalis had presented his plan for an offensive strike on Waston, while the Union fleet was in disarray after their disastrous defeat three weeks earlier, where they lost three-quarters of their monstrous fleet. The Confederate fleet at Ginia had lost half its original numbers, but it retained all but one of its carriers and could utilize the captured federal fighters to replace their fighter losses. They were also fortunate to have picked up over 300 of their lost pilots from life-pods, after the battle. About 80 of those were hospitalized, but recent Ginia Military Institute graduates in accelerated pilot training could conceivably replace them.

  Kalis argued strongly that by combining the strength of 3rd Fleet currently at Tensee with the remaining Confederate strength at Ginia, Waston could be taken and the war won quickly — capturing the Alliance government and dictating peace terms to those people, as he was wont to call them.

  “I spent almost thirty years in Waston, Admiral. Its people must be terrified that we will do exactly as you suggest. Now is the time to do the unexpected... to offer the olive branch of peace towards a defeated enemy — an enemy who were our brothers for over seventy years, and so, not really an enemy at all, until they attacked us. Now is the time to make a magnanimous gesture... an offer of peace, from a position of strength.”

  “Mr. President, I wish with all my heart it could be as you say, but they won’t see it as a position of strength,” replied Admiral Kalis. “They will believe that we do not attack because we cannot attack. They’ll believe that we were too weakened after our recent victory to take advantage of their current situation. They cannot know, nor could they possibly believe, we defeated a host of that size, and yet have retained the strength we have. The only way to truly convince them of our strength is by displaying it against them. They lost over 100,000 dead, Mr. President. There has been too much blood spilled for an olive branch to be accepted, unless it is extended in a steel fist.”

  “I’m sorry, Admiral, but my decision is final,” said President Collier. “We will give diplomacy a chance. The British have offered to act as our intermediaries and will be returning Admiral Bishop to them for us, as an act of good faith on our part.”

  “Mr. President, I understand your motives and would ordinarily agree with them, but please remember why they’re called Yankees. The Alliance government will not, and cannot do anything contrary to what their Consortium masters bid them. The Consortium stands to make a fortune from government contracts, rebuilding the Alliance fleet. There is much more profit for them in prolonging this war, than in allowing anyone in the government to even consider peace right now. They are vulnerable, Mr. President. I have excellent intelligence on their exact fleet strength, and they are vulnerable, right now. We cannot allow this opportunity to slip through our fingers, sir.”

  “Nevertheless, Admiral, I must give peace a chance. It’s the only civilized course of action, after so many tragic deaths. You will rebuild our fleet, while they rebuild theirs. Perhaps peace will have a chance to blossom, while their ability to wage war is inhibited.”

  “They can rebuild faster, and in greater quantities, than we can. I certainly wish you luck, Mr. President, but unfortunately those people the British will be negotiating with on our behalf are not civilized.”

  Vice Admiral Benjamin Stillman stepped into the street in Rikmon. He glanced upwards, towards the new Confederate national flag, waving atop the flagpoles outside the front steps of the new Fleet Headquarters building. The cross of St. Andrew, or so he was told — a big red X outlined in gold, containing thirteen white stars on a field of white... white for purity, it was said. As the Confederacy only had 10 planets, he supposed that the other three stars were supposed to represent Maylan, Tucky and Souri, who hadn’t seceded as yet. It certainly didn’t look anything like the striped flag he’d saluted for so many years, but perhaps that was the point. The Stars & Bars, some were calling it.

  Evidently, a bit of Admiral Thorn’s celebrity had rubbed off on him, as his involvement in the destruction of the Yankee fleet resulted in his Vice Admiralty being confirmed, so now he got the pay commensurate with the title. He’d even gotten some new uniforms having buttons in groups of three, denoting his new rank. Unfortunately, the quartermaster’s office didn’t have a standard, cadet-gray, vice admiral’s uniform that would fit him, so he found himself forced to wear a much darker gray, not quite black uniform, which quickly earned the nickname “Rikmon Gray.” It did tend to make him stand out in a crowd — not something he ordinarily sought, but one did have to make allowances during wartime.

  Ships were again swapped around between 1st and 2nd Fleets due to the casualties taken at the Battle of Ginia. There were definite feelings of extreme frustration with President Collier’s hamstringing the Fleet’s opportunity to end the war while the Yankees were vulnerable, but no one seriously suggested Fleet ignore the President’s direct orders and attack Waston on their own. None really wanted to begin their new country’s history with a mutiny against the civilian government. Resigned to the fact they weren’t going to get the chance to win the war quickly with a massive strike on Waston for political reasons, most of the Fleet had already started calling it the 1st Battle of Ginia, knowing there would be others, after the Yankees rebuilt their fleet.

  Admiral Thorn’s flagship, the attack carrier CSS Ticonderoga, would be under repair for about two standard months. The light-carriers Wasp and Princeton were also under repair. Wasp was expected to be back in service within a month, but Princeton was more severely damaged, and therefore going to take another five months to get her repaired. From two full fleets each having 66 ships, now they were both under-strength at 39 and 38 ships respectively. The Norf Fleet Shipyard was working round the clock to repair damages to the other 49 ships they
had backed up. Some of the worst damaged vessels would likely be cannibalized for parts, to get as many ships going again as possible, but that was going to take a long time. Other than Mystic, Norf was the South’s only major military shipyard. A potential logjam at Norf was just another handicap the South was working under, in their struggle for independence from the North. Mystic was just too far away to function as a repair facility for the Ginia area of space. She was better positioned to serve the Lusia/Missip/Arka area.

  Rumor had it that the Confederate Congress had passed a bill authorizing $300 billion Confederate (about $4.5 trillion Alliance), in military spending, which included building the industrial infrastructure needed to produce weapons, and the immediate purchase of fighters, warships, transports and space tugs from the Russians, Germans, French and British. With their recent destruction of the Union fleet and their currency backed by gold, the international community would very likely ignore the protests expected to begin pouring out of Waston about weapons purchases by the Confederates. Another rumor said the Confederate government had also awarded contracts for producing state-of-the-art fighters, Raptors and Demons with companies in Ginia, Bama and Floda and for compatible missiles from a German company operating in Joja.

  While the Confederacy hoped for a short conflict, she began preparing for a long one.

  Troxia Station, in orbit around the Trakaan planet Troxia

  Region-Master Raan had done the unthinkable. He abandoned a conquered planet and given it back to the prey they had conquered it from. The announcement that a peace treaty had been agreed to with the Trakaan, under the full authority and approval of the Supreme-Master himself was almost more than the thousands of Rak warriors of the 36 imperial fleets at Troxia could accept without violence. Only the news of the discovery of new star-faring prey, and the opening of five more Rak planets to hunt on, gained in a swap for Troxia, calmed the disgruntled warriors.

  The news that this new prey were not just more docile herd beasts like the Trakaan, but were actual star-faring predators and therefore worthy opponents that the Raknii could test their prowess against, was received with roaring approval. It was the beginning of an entirely new adventure… combat unlike anything yet experienced, against neither Trakaan nor other Raknii. The Rak fleets were itching to test themselves against this great unknown. The prophecy concerning these aliens' combat prowess was not shared, however. None would have believed what had been prophesied about them anyway, so it was probably best if the Rak were left to discover the truth of these aliens for themselves.

  Planet-Master Glet had not received the news that Raan had given his charge back to the Trakaan at all well. It was tragic that Glet’s mind snapped at receiving the news and that he eventually committed suicide… at least, it looked like suicide.

  Chapter-37

  I can make more generals, but horses cost money. -- Abraham Lincoln

  October - December, 3861

  Both sides took a break from combat operations to engage in an arms race, with the single exception of a Union destroyer squadron that attacked and destroyed an undefended orbital laboratory at Arka in October. While not a tremendous loss unto itself, the Union raid led to the Arka governor submitting a request for standing Confederate fleet assets to defend the system to President Collier, who then issued orders to Admiral Rawley commanding 3rd Fleet to that effect. This presidential order forced Rawley to send Task Force-32 under Vice Admiral Helen Grove to Arka, weakening his forces at Tensee.

  Without the earlier intimidating presence of Federal destroyers, Souri’s secessionist convention was finally held in October, its delegates voting to secede. Souri formally requested admittance to the Confederacy, and was admitted by the Confederate Congress in November. Under orders directly from President Collier, Vice Admiral Grove divided TF-32 and sent half to Souri under Rear Admiral Randall Pike.

  November also saw the return of Admiral Joseph Bishop to Waston, brought there by a British diplomatic mission. Both the British officials and Bishop himself were shocked when Alliance Fleet Police met Bishop, and arrested him right there in the Waston International Spaceport. Both assumed the arrest was due to political ramifications stemming from Bishop’s disastrous defeat at Ginia in July. Neither was aware that the previously mothballed Fleet assets at Conn were no longer there, nor of the incriminating hardcopy of orders found in the commanding officer’s safe at the abandoned facility.

  The price of Starquest Aerospace stock rose sharply upon the announcement of the Alliance Rearmament bill and TBG doubled its money when it sold the now $80 billion worth it had held for just over a month. Reinvesting the profits back into the market, the Germans again got lucky on their choices of depressed stocks, as most skyrocketed after winning bids on Fleet contracts for subassemblies and parts for thousands of components used in warships, fighters and missiles. By the end of December, TBG had again doubled its money in the market as stocks rebounded for those companies landing Alliance Fleet contracts.

  Savvy market watchers began watching for TBG’s next investment move, so they could jump in behind and ride whatever successful magic the Germans seemed to have about predicting market trends. Most were puzzled when they didn’t immediately get back into the market after two consecutive enormous killings, and so pulled their holdings fearing the TBG move foretold an impending downturn. Sure enough, their sell-off, following TBG’s lead, led to an even greater sell-off by nervous speculators and the market sagged once again, enhancing TBG’s reputation as market gurus even further.

  Only the most diligent of TBG watchers might have noticed their quiet buyout of a British company that made space-going laser drills for asteroid mining. None discovered their purchase of mining assets directly from the Confederate government, which had once been owned by the Consortium company, Keystone Mining and Exploration Corporation, before being nationalized upon formation of the Confederacy. Nor did the Alliance market watchers become aware of TBG’s purchase of hundreds of large Stupman-Taylor Overdrives from companies throughout the international community.

  The rebuilding of the Alliance Fleet wasn’t restricted to just replacement of equipment. Almost every four-star admiral in the Fleet was forcibly “retired,” whether they wanted retirement or not, after the Ginia debacle — even though most had had nothing at all to do with the failure of that operation. The shadow president’s near-miss during his sightseeing venture to view the battle put him in mind to totally “clean house” on a bungling Fleet whose incompetence he blamed for his near-death experience. Consortium administrators analyzed the service records of second and third-line flag officers and senior captains, and established a list of recommendations that, unsurprisingly, became commandments in the promotion and reassignment of officers.

  One of the few full admirals to have escaped the purge was the Fleet Headquarters Chief, Admiral Douglas Campbell, who was named Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to replace the traitorous Roger Kalis, whom everyone thought dead until Alliance Intelligence Agency reports revealed that it was Kalis who engineered the Confederate victory at Ginia.

  News of Kalis’ defection swept the Fleet like wildfire, as the hero of the Sextus-Compact War had been expected to lead the Alliance Fleet in its efforts to bring the rebellion to heel. Most understood Kalis’ loyalties to his home planet, like so very many Southern officers, but instead of resigning his commission and going South like thousands of others, Kalis had faked his own death and went over to the enemy before Tensee’s secession and the former hero was now branded a deserter and traitor. At least Bishop’s incredible defeat at Ginia was now understood somewhat better, when it became known he’d been up against the old Gray Fox himself.

  Admiral Campbell’s protégé, Vice Admiral Simon Bradley, was promoted to full admiral and named as the new Chief of Fleet Operations. One small group who repetitively came up favorably in both Fleet records and the Consortium’s analysis was Rear Admiral Enrico Melendez’ Fleet Counter-Intelligence Group. Naturally, any group
that shows it is inordinately effective at what they do will inevitably be broken up by the infinite wisdom of upper management — so it was with Fleet Counter-Intelligence.

  As Captain J.T. Turner was a line officer, he was promoted to rear admiral and reassigned as commanding officer of a newly-formed light cruiser squadron. As Melendez was the acknowledged star protégé of now Admiral Bradley, he was kicked up to vice admiral and assigned as Bradley’s Chief of Staff. LTJG Marilyn Fredricks received a double-kick to lieutenant-commander and stayed on with Melendez as his Aide de Camp.

  Due to the notation of his having spent time with Melendez’ counter-spooks in his records, Captain Al Ligurri was promoted to rear admiral and replaced Melendez as Chief of Fleet Counter-Intelligence. Unfortunately for Ligurri, he found himself still directly beneath the thumb of the infamous political animal, and now Vice Admiral, Geoffrey Coxler, the new Chief of Fleet Intelligence.

  Beyond all comprehension, Commander John “Bat” Masterson was one of the very few missed by the promotion avalanche — a sure sign of official disfavor and impending career stagnation. Some said it was most likely because of his legendary lapses in military decorum. Most simply wrote it off to the system’s propensity to promote the most politically well-connected, while ignoring those who merely excelled in job performance. The rest just didn’t know what to think.

  At any rate, Melendez pulled a few strings and managed to drag his capricious resident genius along as his Chief of Staff, when they moved over to the Fleet Headquarters Building, in the CFO’s wing. In an environment full of sensitive egos such as Fleet, no one else really wanted the infamous Bat Masterson anyway, as his notorious sixth-sense had an annoying habit of embarrassing the people around him.