by Kal Spriggs
Until the refit of the Bowie and Spathae, anyway. Most of that refit had consisted of replacing the depleted antimatter core with a new one, which should power the ship for nearly ten standard years of operation. Some of that, however, had involved replacing the frontal armament with pulse cannons based off of Ghornath technology. Forrest didn't have a feel for the ship's new weapon system.
Lieutenant Manning had... but he'd been pulled away from the Bowie to help oversee similar refits on the Bowie's sister ships. While Forrest didn't begrudge Sanctuary Station the experience that the Lieutenant had with making that refit function, he did begrudge the loss of continuity that gave his ship.
Hard enough to lose their commanding officer in such a way. Now they'd lost the engineering officer that they'd entrusted. To top things off, the ship had been at mostly standby status in the months leading up to the refit. The Bowie, like her sister ships, had been mothballed due to the expense of replacing the antimatter cores and the limited functions that the destroyers, with their short range energy batteries, could perform.
The energy crisis had begun after the Third Battle of Faraday. The huge super-capital ships of the Dreyfus Fleet used far more antimatter in far large quantities than anyone else. The Dreyfus Coup had revealed a conspiracy that had actually stolen much of the Fleet's antimatter reserves...and Forrest had been a part of the counter-conspiracy. He'd been as shocked as anyone else to find that much of that stolen antimatter had simply disappeared... along with a number of "special" projects including a second antimatter production facility. None of the surviving conspirators had known where those resources went.
It was only when the third antimatter production facility went online, this one in the Nova Roma system, that enough antimatter was produced to bring the Bowie and her sister ships back online. Of course, at that point, the Constellation had proven herself in battle, so there'd been a push to refit the Bowie with longer-ranged weapons.
"What about their capabilities?" Forrest asked. The pulse cannons were a lighter weapon system than the existing energy torpedo systems that the Kukri-class mounted and it used Ghornath technology. The pulse cannons didn't hit as hard, but they fired a stream of rapid shots over a longer range with better accuracy.
Lieutenant Medica sat back as he considered the question. "I think they're an overall improvement on our weapons range. I'm not sure about how they've used the crystalline bank system instead of the original turret.” That tech was what they'd used on the Constellation, which was reverse-engineered from the Zar vessels found on Halcyon. The smart crystal structure allowed them to shift the structure of the crystal to fire in different directions. Essentially, it replaced a turret system... with the issue being that the Bowie hadn't been designed for that. The Constellation had been, with the energy bank installed in the surface of the hull to allow for a full field of fire. The Bowie had far more angularity so that the refit had installed a projecting dome to allow for a better field of fire.
"That was my concern as well," Forrest nodded. “The dome projector is the critical weakness for the system, we lose that and we're down our forward battery.”
“Yeah, but we lose the aft turret and we're down our aft battery,” Elvis noted. “And having seen the specifications on both, I think the aft turret is a more critical weakness.”
“Yeah, but it hits a lot harder,” Forrest replied. “I know, I know,” he held up his hands, “it doesn't hit as accurately and it doesn't have the range, but you could damage a cruiser with those torpedoes and outright destroy anything smaller. The pulse cannons... I'm just not sure they have the damage output.”
“I don’t know, we've got a lot of fire projection out the front,” Lieutenant Medica said. “Though I will say that I think they tried to cram too much into the ship's systems... I really don't like how they took out the recycling system. Logistically that makes the Bowie much shorter ranged.”
Forrest nodded, “Yeah, I'd noticed that too.”
"Still," Forrest said, "That's what we'll have to work around." He and the XO had already discussed drills and rehearsals for it all, but he'd wanted to hear his Engineer's opinion of it as well. "We've fifty five days until we reach the 571A08 system, so we'll have plenty of time for practice, at least."
Lieutenant Medica nodded. The entire squadron would be participating in drills, first as individuals and later as a squadron. That was one advantage to the long cruise, it would give them plenty of time to prepare.
“Well,” Forrest said, “back to work. How are we looking as far as maintenance on the new…”
***
Aboard the UCS Constellation
Shadow Space
September 3, 2409
"Well, well, well," a familiar voice spoke, "look what the cat dragged in."
"That would be, look what the cat dragged in, ma'am," Alannis said as she looked up from her bunk to see Lieutenant Lizmadie Doko, United Colonies Marine Corps, in the hatch. Though they had the same title, a naval Lieutenant was one rank higher than a Marine Lieutenant. It was a part and parcel of the weird effects of centuries of history and heritage.
The other noblewoman stuck her tongue out at Alannis, "Right, how could I forget... congrats on your promotion, by the way." She looked around, "I guess we'll be roomies, you don't mind, do you?"
"What?" Alannis asked in surprise. Normally the Marines, both officer and enlisted, had their own quarters and kept to themselves. Even when her friend Ashtar Shan had served as the ship's Marine Platoon Leader, she'd remained in fleet quarters rather than shifting to the Marine Officer quarters.
Lizmadie's face tightened, "Things are a little cramped with how many Marines we have aboard. If it's a problem, I can tell my Company Commander..."
"Not at all!" Alannis shook her head. She'd forgotten how... touchy things had become between Lucius and Lizmadie's half-brother, the former Emperor Romulus IV. Prince Octavian had never planned to be the Emperor, but when the Chxor had executed his father and older brother, he'd become the defacto Emperor. He'd spent years trying to liberate Nova Roma, working with Lucius to do just that... only for the people of Nova Roma to hail Lucius as their savior. He'd stepped down and ceded the Nova Roma Throne to Lucius, unequivocally renouncing any authority over the system or his family's possessions.
Alannis hadn't followed much of what happened to Prince Octavian after that. She'd seen Lizmadie at the Academy, but they'd been a year apart, so she hadn't had much interaction with her there, even though they'd been friends before that. She realized now that part of that had been anxiety on both their parts over how their positions had changed. Now I'm the sister to the Emperor and she's the at-loose-ends noblewoman, Alannis realized, "I'm just surprised the Marines aren't cramming you into a broom-closet down there in Marine Country."
Lizmadie gave a genuine snort, "Oh, trust me. If we had so much room as that, they'd put three or four Marines in there. As it is, all of us Marine LT's were told to go begging, hat in hand... and you and Lieutenant Meyers are the last ones on the list that still have room."
"Well," Alannis said, "Since Lieutenant Meyers isn't here, yet, make yourself at home," Alannis gestured. The officer quarters was hardly spacious, three bunks high with a tiny desk area that all three of them would have to share and a cramped bathroom they shared with the next set of officers
Of course, compared to the lower enlisted bunk rooms where twenty men and women shared a single long chamber, with bunks four high, it was positively spacious.
And the Marines... she thought, well, they're stacked five high, thirty to a room. It was an aspect of military life that she hadn't much considered. She liked her privacy... but she'd found a way to live without it since signing up to the Academy.
"So," Lizmadie set her bags down on the floor and toggled the hatch closed, "how are you feeling about this mission?"
Alannis started at the question, it was a sharp reminder of her counseling session with Captain Beeson. "You mean, how do I feel about hunting down
my murderous ex-husband?"
Lizmadie gave her a level look, "I was there when it all fell apart and it’s not as clean-cut as you make it out."
"He went to work for Admiral Mannetti," Alannis snapped. "Do I need to list off a few dozen of her many crimes?"
"I hate to stand up for him," Lizmadie replied, "but did you leave him much choice? You had him marked as a wanted criminal. He went and found someone who viewed his knowledge and that background as a net asset."
"He might have been involved in framing your husband," Alannis growled.
"No," Lizmadie shook her head, "the timing is off for that. And anyway, Anthony and I investigated and though we never were able to confirm it… it looked like the conspirators, probably Captain Wu, were behind that little misunderstanding." She said it in a light tone, but Alannis remembered how serious that situation had been.
"Still," Alannis said, "he could have confirmed that your husband--"
"Stop trying to turn this around on me," Lizmadie snapped. "I'm asking you if you've taken some time to really examine all this or if you're just reacting."
Alannis looked away. "What do you want me to say? You think I don't realize that some of this is my fault... that I don't wonder if I'd handled the situation better then maybe none of this would have happened?" She thought back to the night she'd found out that she was pregnant... the night that she found out that Reese had hacked her implant to change its settings to fertility mode instead of birth control.
It wasn't just that breach of her privacy, it was the complete betrayal, the lies he had told her about accepting her choice to join the military. He'd told her those lies as a way to fix their relationship... and he'd done that only after descending into alcoholism and rage.
He'd shown his true colors, then, how he cared more about himself than their relationship. Then, when he'd realized his mistake he'd doubled down, by trying to destroy her opportunity to join the Academy and chain her to him at the same time.
"Is that all?" Lizmadie asked.
They hadn't talked about this, not in years. Alannis hadn't talked about it with anyone, not in depth, just her brother and then only once. "I had a gun on him, Lizmadie. When I told him that I'd filed the police report, he started to threaten me and I showed him my pistol." She looked up and met her friend's gaze. "And there's not a day that goes by that I don't wonder if I should have just pulled the trigger."
Lizmadie let out a sigh, "Well, me, I'm glad you didn't."
"What?" Alannis asked in surprise. "He's killed people! In that kidnapping attempt--"
Her friend cut her off, "Yeah, but who is to say that things couldn't have turned out worse? You loved him, Alannis. It was a long fall from grace that he's had, but I think if you'd killed him, it would have broken you. And look at you, you're a tough, capable military officer. You're fast on the way to your next promotion. You're strong and talented and confronting him was what you needed to move on. I'm proud of you… as your friend and as a fellow officer. You're better than him, Alannis... and that's why I'm glad you didn't kill him."
Alannis shrugged uncomfortably, the praise didn't sit well with her. She decided to change the subject, "So, how's your brother doing?"
"Octavian?" Lizmadie snorted, "He's having the time of his life. He's been organizing uprisings on a dozen different Chxor worlds, your brother has given him a small fleet of Nova Roma vessels to do it."
Alannis blinked in surprise, "I hadn't heard about that at all. I thought we were at peace with what's left of the Chxor Empire."
"Well..." Lizmadie gave a shrug, "the United Colonies is at peace with most of the Chxor Empire's remnants, yes. But Prince Octavian of Nova Roma? He can pretty much do what he wants. And there were a lot of younger sons of nobility who survived, lots more than anyone thought. Most of them have both a lot of suddenly restored assets and lots of enmity to the Chxor." She shrugged, "I gather he focuses mostly on human colonies held by splinter warlords. The Chxor Empire itself ceded most of the human colonies they took, as long as they still had colonists."
Alannis couldn't help a shudder at that. There were about a dozen worlds that had once had populations in the millions --in one case, billions-- that the Chxor had completely emptied of humanity. The same, too, went for Ghornath Prime. Her brother had visited Hamden, once a vibrant world, now choked with mass graves and irradiated cities. He hadn't spoken much about his visit there, save to say that he had demanded the Chxor Empire abandon the system and that the United Colonies had erected a memorial for the people of Hamden.
"What about Volaterra and Lavinium?" Alannis asked on impulse. The two systems had been a part of the Nova Roma Empire, but they'd rebelled when Nova Roma had fallen. They'd officially hailed Marius Giovanni as their rightful ruler... who had then turned the systems over to the Centauri Confederation. President Spiridon of the Centauri Confederation had moved enough troops and ships into both systems to both defend against the Chxor and pacify the inhabitants.
Her brother had revealed that Marius Giovanni to be a clone, created by some unknown process so that he was identical in almost every way to their presumed deceased father. The clone had been killed after kidnapping Lucius's daughter. But President Spiridon hadn't relinquished control of the two
systems and the Centauri Confederation press had fixated on both of them, talking about "uniting humanity" and "presenting a unified front against all threats."
For once, Lizmadie looked away, "I wouldn't know anything about that."
I'll take that as a yes, Alannis thought, but the United Colonies officially doesn't know anything. In some ways, she wished her distant cousin the best of luck. The Centauri Confederation had a reputation for brutality and atrocities, a consequence of their ongoing civil war. All the same, there was the chance of whatever Prince Octavian had planned backfiring terribly. If the ships and people were traced back to the United Colonies, there was a chance that it could lead to a shooting war with the Centauri Confederation.
"Family is complicated," Alannis said finally. She looked up, "How's your husband and son taking your first deployment, by the way?"
"Not well," Lizmadie grinned, "Moping around, saying how much he misses me, that sort of thing. Oh, my kid took it pretty well, though." Alannis chuckled in reply, but she felt a bit of a pang of guilt. Lizmadie and Anthony Doko had decided to have a child before Lizmadie went to the Academy. Alannis hadn’t known it, but her friend had been pregnant during the Dreyfus Coup. Lizmadie had been able to put her family ahead of her desire to serve. Alannis wasn’t certain if that meant that her own failed marriage with Reese was because of Alannis’s inability to do the same or if it had been doomed from the start.
“I imagine my husband had the same expression as your son,” Lizmadie said, “you know…” she put out her lip and crossed her arms.
Still Alannis snorted with laughter as she pictured her son in an Admiral's uniform, his pouty expression on his face, lip stuck out and arms crossed in anger at her departure. Just like that, she was glad for Lizmadie's presence, glad she had the woman as a friend again. It would be good to have her around.
***
Chapter III
571A08 System
Unclaimed Space
October 16, 2409
The five ship squadron emerged in the 571A08 system only ten thousand kilometers away from the ansible relay station.
"Contact!" Lieutenant Meyers shouted from sensors, "Multiple contacts! We're being hit by radar!"
"Commence jamming!" Captain Beeson snapped.
Alannis was already bringing up her weapons systems. Yet even as she did so, she heard alarms begin to wail.
"Missiles inbound, five, seven..." Lieutenant Meyers looked up, "Captain, thirty-plus missiles inbound!"
"Evasive action," Captain Beeson snapped. "All ships, execute evasive pattern alpha!"
They'd rehearsed several evasive patterns for a variety of circumstances. The hazard with ships in formation taking evasive maneuvers was
the risk of hitting one another. As the Constelation dove and rolled its defensive screen bands to protect itself, the other ships in the squadron mimicked that maneuver.
Sensor data began to pour in and Lieutenant Commander Miller passed off interceptor missile control to Alannis as ships began to appear. Damn, she thought, they're close. She began to prioritize targets as the ships in the squadron exchanged data and settled into overlapping fields of fire.
The destroyers Spathae and Bowie had the close range, final protective fire while the Constellation with her longer range pulse cannons engaged the missiles first. The two cruisers Lancer and Gallant had considerable interceptor missiles, but there wasn't time to use those at this range.
Alannis opened fire, picking off the inbound missiles. Most of them were pathetically slow and she saw the analysts had marked them down as Giraud-C’s, an older type of munition most commonly found in the Colonial Republic.
As the last surviving missile left her engagement area, she turned her attention to any other threats. "Fighters?" Alannis asked.
"Negative, ma'am," Petty Officer Spurlock reported.
Alannis searched for targets, even as she watched the destroyers engage the remaining missiles. Their fire, combined with the jamming, their thirty millimeter rotary cannons killed the last of the missiles a thousand kilometers short of the convoy.
You took your shot, Alannis thought with a predatory smile, now it's our turn.
***
Ricky One-Eye groaned as the missile salvo died just short of the enemy fleet. Granted, he hadn't really expected the missiles to do much, but he'd hoped for a few hits to sow confusion in the enemy long enough for his ships to retreat. "How long until we can jump?" Ricky demanded.
