The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3)

by Kocho Trajchevski

  Where a year ago there was only barren rock, ice and dust now he was seeing a magnificent base. The largest feature was the factory ship that was anchored in the distance, along with the two additional human build factories next to it. Not too far from them the shipyard rose up in to the blackness.

  “It would have been heavens or maybe sky back on Earth.”

  The shipyard had two finished slips and three more were under way. They would be finished in the next few months but not before the battle. He hoped that they would be finished before that, so the work crews were going constantly in four shifts of six hours.

  Six retractable lanes connected it with the Factory ship and the smaller human build factories next to it. He smiled at the thought next to it. The factories were separated from the ship each one almost two miles distant.

  They were secured and built in to the rocky core of the asteroid, revealed here by the huge impact that created the crater in the distant past. The doomed complex in the middle of the crater housed a small city. It was the home for the mining and engineer crews, and the Terra Nova offices.

  In total it was home to over three and a half thousand people. They named the city Ferdinandea after the real name Piazzi gave the asteroid when he discovered it. Lanes were built in to the ground that connected the city with the mines and the landing pads were the materials were brought. Two huge underground storage facilities were built and connected with the factories for storing the huge amounts of material that were mined both on Ceres and on the other Asteroids. Iron, Nickel, Titanium, Tungsten, Aluminum, Platinum and all other kinds of metals were stored in tons. It was unimaginable wealth. Huge basins of purified water from the station built on the other side of the crater were also underground.

  The long speculated amounts of water on Ceres, frozen of course were now confirmed. And with that plans were formed, plans that would make Ceres one of the most important places in the Solar system in the future, but all that depended on the outcome of the battle that was now just several months away.

  As if thinking of that Le Blanc looked at the two ships that were orbiting above. They were orbiting at a distance of one hundred kilometers preparing for leaving the system together with eight other ships to join with third fleet in the Proxima Centauri system. He tried to imagine the huge ship that was orbiting on the other side of Ceres. The battleship Argus was docked on the much larger Ceres shipyards on the other side of Ceres built in a second smaller crater. They were the naval shipyards. Four repair ships were docked alongside it conducting the repairs. It would take two more months for the repairs to be finally finished. And much bigger were planned for after the battle. Argus had huge damages and it would have to be basically rebuilt the next time it would enter in the shipyards. But that process would take years and that was time they didn’t have.

  The two cruisers were already repaired as much as the current technology that humanity had could repair them. The armor on both ships was far stronger although the added armor, the same one that was placed on the newly build ships was far weaker than the materials used to build them. But those metals were still in the unknown. It was hoped that through the mining of the asteroids new metals would be found. So far nothing like that was uncovered. But the titanium, a metal that was a rarity in the past was now in abundance. And more and more it was used in the ships that were being built.

  In theory the armor on both corvettes was far stronger than the armor that the first ships had, even the Orion’s.

  The corvettes were far smaller. They were just ninety five meters long, twenty four high and from twenty to thirty four meters wide. There were no launching bays.

  They had just two and a half meters of steel but they had five meters of titanium plates. It had one meter of the composite armor of ceramics, carbon nanotubes, and titanium diboride and boron nitrides, and the electrical armor.

  The weaponry consisted of a single MAC canon on its underside that could fire ten ton projectiles at speeds of 100 km/s, power thanks to the four fusion reactors that powered its VASIMR engines.

  It had ten missile launching tubes, ten rail guns that fired small caliber projectiles, two plasma canons on its sides and a point defense that was consisted of sixteen dual kinetic platforms and of course the AEGIS system.

  The corvettes were small but they were powerful. Thanks to the powerful fusion reactors they had a high rate of fire from all the smaller weapon systems and could fire three shots on after another form the main gun. But the biggest surprise on them, were the only conventional weapon that proved itself that it could break the armor on the cruiser. The corvettes had four sixteen inch guns that fired 400mm tungsten armor piercing shells and six five inch guns. They were placed on the front hull and could rotate. Thanks to the improvements that became possible with the information’s the AI’s provided they were shorter but more powerful. They fired shells at speeds of 1600 m/s. That was twice the speed of the weapons on the Missouri. They could be fired as part of the offensive weapons and the defense network. That gave the small ships a lot of firepower and made them a class that was really wanted. The same weapons system was placed on the new Orion and Essex class ships. They had the same amount of guns that the Missouri had.

  And they were ships his company constructed, the creation of people he employed. He felt pride as he watched them. Two more were under construction here and dozen more on the Ceres shipyards and Earth.

  It was a class of ship that he got the chance to name. He chose the name

  Seahawk, in the memory of the submarine by the same name, that became the first casualty in the war that was coming. One of the engineers that first proposed this type of ship had several friends that served on it. He proposed the name and Le Blanc agreed. The first corvette was named after it.

  Even with all the new construction the enormous crater still looked empty. It was a deep one indicating the power of the collision that happened probably millions of years ago. Pieces of Ceres were probably still circling somewhere in the Solar system.

  He planned to fill it whole if he had the time. The plans were there all he needed was time. And he planned to have his contribution to the fight that will give humanity that time. Two cargo ships and several from the civilian ships from the fleet that was found orbiting Sedna were constantly transporting the needed metals from Ceres and the other asteroids to Earth. The company both his and the other ones that were now mining in the asteroid field were making huge profits. Both he and his partners were now among the riches people in the world but he didn’t care. And neither did the others. They were all almost giving the materials for free. All they asked for now was to cover their expenses and the fuel. Helium three was the fuel that the ships used for the impulse drives. It was an element that was long speculated that could be used as fuel to power the space drives, and same as many other theories it was now confirmed. The fleet had one ship that was used for collecting helium three from the gas giants. The ship was in bad shape, but with repairs that were quickly made it was used to collect helium three from Uranus. The lower gravity of this world was the main reason that the helium three was extracted from it instead of Jupiter were the presence of Helium three was in much higher quantities. The high gravity of Jupiter made extracting much harder. Mining on the moon was planned to start in two or three years. The main investors in that project were the Chinese Government and several companies from Indonesia.

  The element was the main driving fuel for the fusion reactors that were now being massively used both on Earth and in the space ships.

  That meant that huge quantities were needed. So far the mining barely fulfilled the needs.

  As he looked at the base he was awed.

  “So much achieved and with so little time. And so much more waits, if only we have time.”

  Those thoughts made him look up. The ships he was watching will have the task to give humanity that time…to give it that chance.

  His radio chimed. He smiled.

  Work was waiting
.

  He stayed on the ridge for several more moments and then turned towards the Armadillo, the space vehicle that was used for traversing the asteroids surface. A similar model was used for drilling. It got the name from vehicles that were used for the film Armageddon. It looked a lot like an earth mobile driller, a combination between it and a tank. It was armored with thick steel and titanium plates. It ran on tracks that allowed for a more secure moving on all kinds of terrain. Models that used specially designed tiers were being constructed.

  Several were already in use.

  He entered the vehicle and slowly headed towards the road that descended in to the crater.

  As he did that the two Seahawk class ships accelerated away from Ceres and headed towards the gathering point with the rest of their squadron. Many of the working crews waved as they departed wishing them luck, and knowing that they might never see the crews that became their friends during the past several weeks.

  And then they returned to their work.

  1 October 2019 10:25 hours

  Proxima Centaury

  Jennings looked at the screen that showed the disposition of the fleet.

  The twenty six ships were spread out and divided in four squadrons. They were exercising the correct maneuvering in to order for the battle. He planned to divide his forces and strike at the enemy fleet from several directions. After conferring with the AI’s he knew that the fleet will have to exit at a distance of 43 AU. That was the safe distance well outside from the solar system. The reason for this according to the AI’s was the danger of colliding with a planetary body, that and the need for exiting well away from the planetary shadow and influence. He didn’t quite understand the reason but he knew that the AI”s were right and that it gave him a good chance. He also planned to use one smaller ship a shuttle as reconnaissance for relaying information to the fleets in Sol. The shuttle was supposed to be placed right outside the warp point and use its passive sensors for scanning the fleet as it exits hyperspace Of course there was a second option, the option of another warp point. Several searches were conducted for trying to find one in this system but so far nothing was found, neither here or in the Alpha Centauri system. He planned to place one part of the fleet in the asteroid belt of the system. The belt was small compared to the belt in the Sol system but it was large enough to hide half a dozen ships. The other part was going to hide in the shadow of the first planet close to the star. The radiation and heat of the star were powerful enough to hide the signatures of the ship even when they light their drives. He got the confirmation of his plan from Aria, the AI of the Demetrion that transitioned together with his fleet and stayed with them the first few weeks. The sensors on the ship, sensors which were to the surprise of everyone more powerful than the sensors on the dacarian cruiser that was placed in Norfolk, couldn’t detect the ships. One of the reasons for that according to Aria was the fact that the ships armor and materials from which they were built were primitive compared to the more powerful ships like the cruiser and built from materials like steel and titanium which were rare in the other ships but really common among asteroids, and even planets and moons.

  The plan was bold. He planned to hide two thirds of his fleet in the asteroid field. All the Orion class ships would be in the fleet that will hide in the shadow of the first planet. Four of the Los Angeles class and the Essex class, his flagship would be there also. He planned to use them to lure the units that would stay as rear guard at the warp point and use the other sixteen ships led by the two corvettes to attack them from behind. It was a risky plan, but a plan that could work. But for it to work the timing had to be perfect. And they were still away from that.

  “Contact the Vigilant and the Jefferson. Inform them that they are staying behind. They need to do better.”

  His com officer immediately carried out his command. He was pleased of how his crew worked. Most of the crew from the Deadalus was now on board with him on board the Prometheus. The ones missing were the scientists. Most of them were back on Earth working and several were on Eden.

  The cruiser had a crew of three hundred forty of them marines. It carried five shuttles, two of them of them being Pelican drop ships a design that was a pure design form the Earth military. The pelican had one meter thick armor consisted of twenty centimeters of steel plates, fifty centimeters of titanium and twenty centimeters of composite armor. It could carry a compliment of twenty five marines, and had an armament that consisted of a rail gun mounted on its ventral hull, two missile launcher pods placed on the side under the wings and two M61A2 20mm cannons placed on them it also had four specially designed Dillon M204 Gatling Guns that fired 30mm rounds at rate ranging from 500 to 3000 rounds a minute. It was awesome firing power that made it perfect for attacking ships as well as targets on the ground. It was a large drop ship twenty two meters long, from eight to twenty eight wide and eight meters high. In order to house them forty meters high and seventy meters long hangar was placed in the middle of the Essex class. The armor around it had one more meter of titanium and a meter of composite armor in order to increase protection.

  With its armament and shielding the Essex class was the strongest class of ship besides the cruisers and the battleship. But it took a long time to build one. Only five were built and they were ships that were started almost immediately with the Orion and Los Angeles class. With the new shipyard on Ceres and on Earth and with the large amounts or metals that were being mined in the belt it was expected for the production to increase but there was no time to create new ones in the time that was left.

  The five ships were all there is for now.

  Prometheus was part of the third fleet, Valiant and De Goal were with the first and Arizona and the Iowa were part of second. Those fleets were far stronger than third fleet. Besides the Essex class, they also had almost a hundred Los Angeles class ships, and by the time of the conflict they would also have thirty Orion class battle cruisers and thousands of space fighters, and not to mention the huge payload of nuclear warheads around the warp point. Also ten Seahawk class corvettes were planned to be produced by then.

  “Inform the squadrons that we will start all over. Tell Evans that his squadron did well but to watch for Vigilant and Jefferson.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Linda looked at him. He admired her beauty. They were married for more than six months now. There were objections but in the end they won and he managed to place her under his command. There was gentleness in her eyes but she was also determined not to let personal feeling interfere with their duty.

  “We have several more hours until we do the exercise all over. Perhaps you should take some rest.”

  He flashed a smile at her offer.

  “You are right as usual.”

  “I will retire to my room in the next few hours and take some rest. You have the bridge.”

  “Thank you Admiral.”

  He rose and headed towards his cabin.

  The Essex didn’t offer a luxury quarters for no one not even the captain. His room was sixteen square meters and it was by far the largest one on the ship. He remembered the cabins on all the other ships he had a chance to command. If he excluded the Deadalus all the others were far better and bigger, but he didn’t complain. The walls inside the ship were painted white. There were no windows, nowhere on the ship, except the dual kinetic platforms that were manned. He poured some scotch from the bottle he kept in the drawer of his desk and he sat down on the chair.

  He turned the video that Anaya made about the Dacarians and started listening.

  They apparently came from a high gravity world and were several times stronger than humans. The first contact was made late in the war with the Farsians, a race that enslaved them and used them as cannon fodder. After the destruction of the Farsian Empire they were not heard until the first Icarian and later Alteran- Dacarian war when they nearly wiped out the Icarians.

  As he read and looked at the images of the two long vanished races he wondered a
bout them as well. And about all the other races that were mentioned in the report. He knew that some of them still existed thanks to the Sicarian that was fund in one of the ships that were destroyed.

  As he read he was fascinated by the scale of the conflict and by the skill of the Alterans. The report about the last battles in the war, the battles that all three remaining ships were part of was astonishing. Even though the dacarians had huge advantage in numbers they suffered such big losses that it must have impeded their plans. After an hour of listening and reading he went to bed. He needed the rest.

  But as he laid there the dream just wouldn’t come. Instead in his head plans were constantly forming. He resisted for the first ten minutes and tried to sleep, but at the end he gave in and just closed his eyes and started reviewing them one by one. He already had a planned plan for action so he started looking for additional options that he could use that would make the plan better. And as he thought he thought about the mine field around the warp point. The mine field, he smiled at that thought. It was a nuclear field, and one that with the power it had could break a planet in two. He stood up and opened a representation of the system. He planned to hide the more powerful part of his fleet close to the star. But as he watched the warp point he remembered that the Demetrion as soon as it exited the warp point detected the life signs on all planets and the signs of intelligent life on Proxima lit up its sensors like fireworks. That meant that the Dacarian sensors would be the same. They were almost as advanced as the ones on the cruiser. At least the ones on the cruiser they had on Earth. A ship that thanks to the constant research and the help from the AI was giving large amounts of information.