by Bob Blanton
“We cannot let that thing get to Earth,” Marc said.
“Agreed, but how do we stop it?” Blake asked.
“We’ll have to find a way. ADI, what else do you have?”
“The asteroid has twelve groupings of buildings on it, each appears to have its own fusion reactor,” ADI said as the display showed the surface of the asteroid.
“What would you put in those buildings?” Samantha asked. “There are no streets, no connections between them; what purpose would they serve?”
“Supplies,” Admiral Michaels said.
“That much?” Blake asked. “Then why all the energy?”
“Stasis pods,” Dr. Metra gasped.
“Stasis pods? Of course, they’re planning to colonize our system,” Marc said.
“Why?” Samantha asked.
“Cer Samantha, I deduce that there must have been a political fracturing in Paraxea. This element has decided to leave and colonize Earth so that they can avoid the restrictions on Paraxea,” ADI said.
“It is probably the technologists and elite trying to get out from under the thumb of the mediocracy,” Dr. Metra said. “That makes sense given Commander Centag’s allegiances.”
“But to conquer another world!” Samantha said.
“I’m sure most of them don’t know what is planned,” Dr. Metra said, “but many of their leaders are ruthless.”
“We’ll have to ask them about their motivations after we kick their asses,” Blake said. “Right now, we need to do some planning.”
“ADI, is there anything else?” Marc asked.
“No, Captain,” ADI said. “No other ships were detected. The Paraxean fleet is not doing active scans or sending out any communications that I could detect. Of course, I would not be able to detect any communication over a quantum relay.”
“So now we need to talk about options,” Marc said. “What do we do?”
“We start pumping out Foxes like crazy,” Blake said. “We need to be able to meet them head-on.”
“We have to stop them before they get inside our gravity well,” Catie said. “Before then, that battleship will be slow, but once it’s inside the gravity well, I don’t see how we stop it.”
“Please explain?” Admiral Michaels asked. He and Catie looked at Marc.
“I think Catie understands this as well or better than the rest of us; go ahead, Catie,” Marc said.
“Those ships are too massive to use space engines for propulsion; it would take too much mass, so they use huge gravity drives. But they are only effective inside an area with gravimetric waves above a certain density. Out in deep space, they cannot multiply the gravimetric energy enough to overcome their own inertia. They use space engines for course corrections and such, but they have to wait until they get within fifty-five AUs to our sun, farther away if it is a really massive sun. Getting close to a gas giant helps, too.”
“And the asteroid is approaching that distance now,” Admiral Michaels said.
“Yes, but fortunately, Neptune is on the other side of the sun from their approach, so they have to get inside the fifty or so AUs before they can use their gravity drives effectively. Then they’ll be able to accelerate toward the sun. At first, it will be slow, but eventually, they’ll be able to start accelerating,” Catie said.
“So how long do we have?”
“Admiral Michaels, I estimate that they will enter Sol’s gravity well in mid-July,” ADI said.
“So before then, the battleship won’t be very fast or very maneuverable?” Admiral Michaels asked.
“Correct, Admiral,” ADI said.
“So how do we stop them?” Samantha asked.
“You have to build a carrier, two preferably,” Admiral Michaels said.
“Why?” Catie asked.
“You have to have a forward base for the Foxes and whatever we come up with to throw at them,” the admiral said.
“But why a carrier?” Catie asked. “Why not use a few Oryxes for the Fox pilots or make a hub shell and use that?”
“Because my dear, war is more than just math and strategy, it’s about fear and emotion. We cannot ask pilots to go out and risk their lives and then ask them to use an Oryx as their base. They’ll do it, but they’ll start out feeling defeated. They need to feel invincible; they need to see us as being able to meet that force head-on.”
“He’s right,” Blake said. “We can’t afford to run a guerilla campaign against them; we have to hit them hard, so we need ships.”
“We need pilots and sailors,” the admiral said. “We have to expect them to be bringing at least fifteen-hundred Foxes; we couldn’t put two-hundred into space, we don’t have the pilots or the crews to keep them going.”
“So we need to recruit two thousand pilots,” Catie said.
“More,” the admiral said. “You have to account for casualties and pilot rotations. You would need at least four thousand to even have a hope of fighting them.”
“Casualties?” Catie whispered.
“Yes, expect thirty percent casualties,” the admiral said. “It might be more. Is it possible they have something more formidable than an FX4?”
“Admiral, there are no indications that the Paraxeans have developed a different fighter,” ADI said. “And given their slow rate of innovation, it is unlikely that they have.”
“Good, hopefully, we know what we’re up against. So we need to do some planning,” the admiral said.
“We need to go to the UN,” Samantha said. “We need to get help from the other world powers; they have the pilots we need.”
“Fred, can we build Foxes fast enough?” Marc asked.
“We just extruded another hub,” Fred said. “We have the space; in fact, we can build out in raw space if we need to, but we need the electronics that we’ve been importing from Britain.”
“We need more printers,” Catie whispered. “We’ll need help getting the material the printheads are made of; we’ve already used all that the Sakira had in stock.”
“Liz, can you get a list of the material we need? Work with Sam and ADI to figure out how to acquire it,” Marc said. “Blake, Admiral Michaels, we’ll need to figure out how to recruit and train pilots.”
“I’ll start working on a presentation for the UN Security Council. I’ll have Margaret flown up here so we can work on it together.”
“Catie . . . ,” Marc stopped talking as he saw the distraught look on Catie’s face. “Catie, we’ll need to think about how to build a carrier. I’ll talk to you about it later.” Marc looked at Liz, trying to decide what to do.
Liz mouthed, “I’ll take her,” to Marc.
Marc nodded his agreement to Liz, then he texted Linda, “Catie needs you!” He then texted ADI, telling her to explain the events to Linda.
Liz took Catie by the arm and led her out of the room. Natalia gave Liz a questioning look as she and Catie came into the hallway. She’d never seen Catie look so quiet and blank.
“Come on Girl, we’ll get some tea,” Liz said as she gave Natalia a shushing motion with her lips. “I hear your mom’s on her way up.” Liz looked pointedly at Natalia, who quickly got the message. Natalia texted Morgan to meet Catie’s mom at the docking ring and bring her to the cabin as quickly as possible.
◆ ◆ ◆
In Delphi City, as soon as Linda received Marc’s text and ADI’s background information, she exited the hospital where she was met by one of Kal’s security men in a golf cart. The hospital was right next to the airport. By the time they reached the end of the runway, a Lynx had taxied from its hangar and was waiting for them. Linda climbed the ramp onto the Lynx, and as soon as its door was closed, it started screaming down the runway, going vertical as soon as it was airborne. The pilot was pouring extra hydrogen into the engines, having been told that time was critical and to spare nothing. Thirty minutes later, the Lynx docked at the space station, and Linda was met by Morgan, who literally carried her to the elevator. It only took five minutes to reac
h Catie’s cabin in the third ring.
“Hi, Mommy,” Catie said when her mother came in.
“Hello, Sweetie,” Linda said. “I hear you’re having a bad day.”
“I think we’re all having a bad day. Did Daddy tell you that the Paraxeans are coming?”
“Yes he did,” Linda said. Liz and Natalia quietly made their way out of the cabin.
“There’s going to be a war.”
“I know.”
“People are going to get killed,” Catie whispered.
“Yes.”
“My friends might get killed.”
“They might.”
“What am I going to do?” Catie asked.
“What do you want to do?”
“I want to cry!”
“Then cry. It’s okay; crying is good sometimes.”
“I never thought about it that way. Even when Uncle Blake got hurt, I never thought they could kill him!” Two rivers of tears were flowing from Catie’s eyes.
“I know.”
“Now, he, or Jason, or Liz, or Fred might get killed.”
“They might.”
“It’s not fair.”
“War is never fair.”
Catie continued to sob, her head on Linda’s lap until she fell asleep. Linda then reached into her purse and pulled out a hypospray she’d prepared and injected Catie with a sedative.
“She’s asleep,” she texted Marc.
Marc entered the cabin immediately, “How is she?”
“She’s upset,” Linda said.
“Let’s put her to bed,” Marc said as he scooped Catie up in his arms and carried her to her bedroom. “How long will she be asleep?”
“At least eight hours.”
Marc used his elbow to push the button that brought the bed down, then he laid Catie down and removed her boots while Linda got a blanket out of the drawer to cover her. Once Catie was settled in to Linda’s satisfaction, she led Marc back out to the sitting room.
“Tell me what’s happening?” Linda asked.
“We don’t know much,” Marc said. “The Paraxeans are coming with what we believe is a colonization fleet. They have two carriers with maybe fifteen hundred Foxes and a battleship that can wipe out any city on Earth.”
“Oh my god, now I want to cry,” Linda said.
“I think we all do. We have to figure out how to stop them.”
“What about Catie? What should we do with her?”
“I don’t know. I think we have to ask her.”
“Marc! Be a parent; we should decide what’s best for her.”
“I am being a parent! You know Catie, she’ll listen, but she’s going to make up her own mind.”
“I don’t want her on the front lines!”
“Neither do I, but where is the front line? I’ve been trying to teach her that she’s more valuable behind the lines.”
“Good!”
“But we’ve never been at war,” Marc said. “This changes everything.”
“But you can keep her safe.”
“If I try to do that, she’ll find a way around it,” Marc said. “We have to be there for her, guide her a little, but she’s going to find her own place in this.”
“No!” Linda pounded Marc on the chest. He grabbed her and held her in a tight hug as she started to cry. “It’s not fair; she’s only fourteen.”
“She’s never been only any age,” Marc whispered. “She’ll be okay; we have to be strong for her.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Daddy,” Catie said. She had awakened to find her father sitting in the chair next to her bed. “Where’s Mommy?”
“She’s taking a shower in Liz’s room.”
“Where are my specs?”
“Why don’t we leave them off for a bit,” Marc said. “We’ll just have a nice breakfast and talk, the three of us.”
“Sure,” Catie said.
“I’ve got your comm and your spare pair,” Marc said. “And ADI has been instructed that this cabin is under radio silence until after breakfast. Now, why don’t you get your shower.”
“Okay,” Catie said with a pout, not happy about being cut off from what was going on.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Mommy.”
“Hi, Sweetie, did you sleep okay?”
“I guess so,” Catie said as she gave her mother a hug. “Daddy, what’s happening now?”
“Nothing has changed since yesterday,” Marc said.
“Do we know how to beat that thing yet?” Catie asked.
“Not yet, but we’ll figure something out,” Marc said.
“I want to help.”
“I’m sure you will, but we should talk about the best way for you to do so,” Marc said.
“You mean you don’t want me to climb in a Fox and race out there and try to blow it apart?”
“No, I don’t think that would be very helpful,” Marc said.
“Shouldn’t we leave the fighting to the soldiers,” Linda said, giving Catie’s leg a squeeze.
“I’m part of our navy,” Catie said. “And even if I wasn’t, I’d join it now!”
“But do you think that’s where you can do the most good?” Marc asked.
“I’m our best pilot!”
“But is one pilot going to win this war?”
“No, but we need so many pilots,” Catie said.
“We also need ship designers, trainers, strategists,” Marc said.
“I’m not turning in my wings!”
“I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you where you can make the biggest impact on us winning this thing,” Marc said.
“I’m not sure.”
“Just like you did with Admiral Morris, sometimes the best thing and the hardest thing is to come up with a plan and let others execute it.”
“But if things change, if I’m right there, I can adapt,” Catie said.
“That’s why the pilots are trained to take orders; so they can apply any adaptation instantly, just as if the strategist were sitting in the cockpit with them,” Marc said. “You know your Uncle Blake is going to be standing on the carrier, giving orders, not flying a jet.”
“He is?”
“He knows that’s the best place for him,” Marc said. “It allows him to amplify his experience by directing the activity of all of the squadrons we’ll be sending, instead of just the one he would lead.”
“You see that, don’t you?” Linda asked.
“Maybe,” Catie said.
“We have six months to get ready. Right now, we have to figure out how to build a carrier that’s four times the size of the Sakira, how to build hundreds of Foxes, and how to beat that battleship,” Marc said. “I’m counting on your help there.”
“I’ll help,” Catie said. “That is if I can get my specs and comm back,” she said, standing in front of her father with her hands on her hips.
“They’re on the kitchen counter,” Marc said. “We’ll be having a strategy meeting at ten o’clock each morning, starting today.”
“I’ll be there!”
Chapter 19
We Need a Plan
“Hi, Liz,” Catie said when she met her in front of the boardroom.
“Hi, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine, sorry about yesterday.”
“Sorry about what,” Liz said. “You had a bit of a shock like the rest of us.”
“You did pretty good,” Natalia said. “I smashed a coffee cup when Liz told me what was going on.”
“But I froze.”
“You didn’t freeze,” Liz said, “you finished the meeting. There was nothing you had to do, so you were processing. Now, let’s go in there and figure out how to kick some Paraxean ass.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Everybody knows the issue, now we need to figure out a solution,” Marc said once all the board members were seated. “First, is there anyone else we should invite? Someone with experience or skills that none of us have?”
�
�I’m sure we’ll come up with some gaps once we start discussing things,” Admiral Michaels said. “For now, we should start laying out what we need.”
“Okay, let’s review what weapons we have,” Marc said. He gave a nod to Blake.
“We have the Foxes, and we can build more,” Blake said. “Each can carry sixteen missiles in space, has four defensive lasers, two plasma cannons, and a railgun. The missiles can carry a Max-X warhead, which is essentially the small fusion bomb, two megatons.”
“Why wouldn’t we be able to take out the battleship by firing a barrage of missiles at it?” Liz asked.
“We could if we had enough of them to get through its defenses,” Blake said, “but every one of those fighters has but one purpose, to defend that battleship. And the battleship has enough lasers and small plasma cannons to take out anything that gets close, and that’s after their own missiles take out as many of ours as they can.”
“Plus, I would rather not totally destroy it, if possible,” Marc said. “That ship has a crew of approximately fifteen hundred Paraxeans . . .”
“More if they’re using it to transport stasis pods,” Dr. Metra interjected.
“If we were to kill everyone on it, we might find ourselves faced with any number of Foxes headed toward Earth to get revenge,” Marc continued.
“So you want to capture it?!” the admiral asked.
“Not necessarily. We need to find a way to disable it. I would like to start there before we escalate. Again, once we escalate, they may send Foxes toward Earth, and we want to contain the engagement out there.”
“What do we have that can disable it?” Liz asked.
“The railguns.”
“How? They have railguns too; won’t they be able to defend against them?” Liz asked.
“ADI, what is the ammunition for the railguns made of?” Marc asked.
“Polysteel,” ADI replied.
“What is the defense against them?”
“The lasers are used; a sustained laser pulse will vaporize the carbon, dissipating the slug’s energy.”
“What would happen if the slug were made of iron?”
“The laser would heat the iron to its melting point if it could maintain a lock long enough,” ADI said. “The slug would dissipate much of its energy when it hit the hull of a ship, but it would still cause a lot of damage. If it hit one of the lasers or plasma cannons, it would probably destroy it.”
