by Bob Blanton
“Who will take care of the twins?” Catie asked, shocked that Dr. Sharmila would even consider leaving them.
“Your mother has agreed to watch them until the conflict is over,” Dr. Metra said. “I have been manufacturing medical patches for the crew; we’ll need to train them on their use as well.”
“Medical patches?” Marc asked.
“Yes, they’re like band-aids with nanites embedded in them. There are ones for specific types of injuries. We also have a general-purpose one, but having millions of nanites burrow through your skin is not pleasant, so those should only be used if it is impossible to diagnose the problem.”
“That is so cool!” Catie said.
“Okay, Blake will set you up,” Marc said. “The Enterprise has had the most time to finish out the sickbay, so I think that’s the best location. Blake, do you agree?”
“Yes, and once Dr. Metra is here, we’ll have her inspect it and tell us what else we can do to prepare.”
“I would also like to take six of the eight medical bots from the Sakira,” Dr. Metra said. “We’ll put two on the Victory and keep the other four on the Enterprise.”
“Agreed,” Blake said.
“Now, here on Earth, we’ve had some developments that I’d like everyone to be aware of. North Korea and South Korea have agreed on a timeline for demilitarization, and China and the U.S. have signed off on it.”
“That’s a relief,” Blake said. “Having one hotspot cooled down should help.”
“Yes it will. China has upgraded thirty of its coal-fired power plants to the new fusion reactor. There has been a noticeable improvement in the air quality around Beijing and Shanghai. We’ve informed them that they need to decommission their ballistic submarines before we’ll allow more. India has also agreed to decommission its fleet, and will be receiving six fusion reactors next week.”
“I’m surprised they agreed,” Blake said. “Aren’t they still worried about the U.S. and Russia?”
“It might have something to do with the private communication we sent to all the nuclear powers that should any one of them launch a nuclear missile, we will drop an asteroid on their capital thirty-six hours later,” Samantha said.
“I’m sure that got their attention,” Blake said.
“We have also removed any spy satellites from orbit regardless of which country it is from,” Marc said.
“Do we have the same coverage?” Blake asked.
“We’re over one thousand satellites now, Uncle Blake.”
“How did you manage that?” Blake asked. “I thought we couldn’t make the reactors fast enough.”
“We couldn’t, but we figured out that we just needed to have one with a reactor close enough to beam energy to the others. So when they don’t absorb enough solar energy, we just target them with a laser until they have enough power. Solar is plenty of power for them unless they have to use their gravity drives or laser,” Catie said.
“Sounds smart.”
“And we’re sending you some of the satellites with the fusion reactors and quantum relays to use as surveillance probes against the Paraxeans.”
“Good,” Blake said. “How are you managing all those satellites?”
“We’re building a separate DI to oversee them,” Marc said. “We’ll allow queries from any government, and make medium resolution streams available to them via the internet.”
“So if you have things under control back home, we can focus on our problem out here,” Blake said.
“That would be nice; where are you now?” Marc asked.
“We’re about a week away from where we plan to wait for the Paraxeans,” Blake said. “We are still targeting forty-five AU, right?”
“Yes, that’s still our best guess,” Marc said.
“Okay, do you guys have any better idea of what’s up with them?” Blake asked.
“No,” Marc said, pausing as he saw Catie raise her finger. “Wait, Catie may have something.”
“I’ve had ADI searching all colonization references from Paraxea,” Catie said.
“And?”
“ADI, what did you find out?” Catie asked.
“I am still researching, but I have an eighty percent probability solution,” ADI said.
“Sounds good, what is it?”
“According to the records, the Paraxeans have colonized two worlds. However, searching for any reference to colonization, there appears to have been a third colonization attempt. It occurred between the first and second reported colonizations, but almost all records related to it have been erased,” ADI said.
“It occurred one hundred seventy years ago; they were supposed to colonize a world that was discovered orbiting the star, Deranta Four. Eighty years after they left Paraxea, all contact with them ceased. A search mission was sent out but reported that they found nothing. The reference I found was in Commander Centag’s file. It was his first mission as an ensign in the Paraxean Space Force.”
“Now there is an unlikely coincidence,” Admiral Michaels said.
“I agree,” Marc said. “Anything else on the mission?”
“It was before Paraxeans had gravity drives. The reports I have found indicate that there were 1.2 million colonists on the ship, along with the necessary equipment to settle the world. About forty years ago, the Paraxeans discovered that the Vacosi had colonized that world. They refused to tell Paraxea when it was that they colonized it.”
“Okay, so fewer colonists than we thought, but more equipment,” Marc said. “ADI, is there nothing indicating that the lost colonists were found?”
“No, Captain.”
“Okay, that might help us, we’ll have to see. We’re going to send the Sakira out next week,” Marc said. “It will hold station at Jupiter, and we’ll have the miners go with it with some tooling so we can make the Hyraxes out there closer to you guys.”
“Okay, why don’t you send more scotch while you’re at it?” Blake asked.
“I’m sure you took enough scotch with you,” Marc said.
“I did, but now I’m hosting the doctors and some nurses.”
“We don’t drink scotch,” Dr. Metra said.
“Yet,” Blake replied. “The shooting hasn’t started.”
“Oh, and one last thing,” Marc said. “I’m sending you a couple of reporters; they should be catching up to the Victory any day now. It was the deal we made to cover up for the president’s little blunder. One of them is our friend, Leslie.”
“Four cases!” Blake said.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Daddy?”
“Yes.”
“Admiral Michaels has asked me to join his staff.”
“He told me,” Marc said.
“I’m going to go out with him on the Sakira.”
Marc grimaced; he had hoped Catie would stay at Delphi Station. “Is that really necessary?”
“I think I need to be close. We all know that whatever we finally learn that will defeat the Paraxeans, it will be built aboard the Sakira at Jupiter.”
“I can’t fault your logic.”
“At least I’ll be on the Sakira,” Catie said. “I’d rather be with Uncle Blake on the Enterprise.”
“I know,” Marc said. “I assume you’re ready to go?”
“Yes,” Catie said. “Nattie wants to come with me.”
“I’m not surprised,” Marc said. “I’m sure we can manage environmental without her for a few weeks.”
“Thanks, Daddy.”
“Now come here and give me a hug,” Marc said.
Marc fought the tears back as he hugged his daughter. “Be sure to say goodbye to your mom.”
“I will, we’re stopping at Delphi City to pick up some more crew,” Catie said.
“Bye, Sweetie, stay safe.”
“Bye, Daddy, I love you.”
Catie marched out of Marc’s office, fighting to keep control of her emotions. She’d never felt so afraid and so excited at the same time. She just knew they we
re going to win, but she was terrified at the potential cost.
Samantha knocked on Marc’s door right after Catie left. “She’s gone?”
“Yes.”
“Are you alright?”
“I’ll survive, but I won’t be alright until she comes back,” Marc said. “Did you talk to her?”
“We talked for hours last night,” Samantha said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, but I promised.”
“That’s okay, she has to have people she can trust, I’m just happy you’re one of them.”
The goodbye between Catie and her mother was a lot more traumatic. Linda and Catie both cried. Linda screamed at Catie and about Marc, but eventually gave in and gave her daughter enough hugs and kisses to console them both.
◆ ◆ ◆
The next days were filled with endless simulations of space battles. The pilots would board the various vessels in the flight bays and use the jet as their simulator. They divided the pilots into two teams, Alfa and Bravo. They would switch which team represented the allies or Paraxeans to encourage the pilots to anticipate the moves of their enemy.
They changed the balance, giving the Paraxeans an advantage in numbers. With the new design, the Hyraxes had a 30% better survivability and slightly better maneuverability; those advantages were very apparent in the simulations. They were able to consistently beat the Paraxean squadrons even when they were outnumbered two to one, but they still took heavy losses. When the numbers were even, the losses were mostly confined to a few Hyraxes. The problem was that the Paraxeans had a significant numerical advantage in LX4s, even if they were losing pilots in painfully high numbers.
Wing Commander Liz Farmer, Wing Commander Eli Frankham, and Catie spent as much free time as they could developing different fighter configurations and tactics. The two wing commanders would take them back to their squadron leaders and refine them, as well as develop others; then they would put them into practice in the simulations.
The wing commanders had their pilots take their jets out and run mock combat to refine the tactic that showed the most promise in the simulations. Catie was especially frustrated by the fact that she could not join in those since she was on the Sakira millions of miles from the Victory or Enterprise. Jason and Kasper were with her, so she did manage to get flight time to hone her skills and get a better feel for the Hyrax.
Ten days after the Paraxean call, Sakira was approaching Jupiter, and it was time for the passengers headed to the Victory to leave. Kasper and Jason would be flying them and the doctors to the Victory in a Lynx. They needed to leave before the Sakira was too deep in Jupiter’s gravity; they didn’t want to lose any speed as they headed toward the Victory.
The Sakira entered Jupiter’s gravity well, cutting across it, so they just missed skimming its atmosphere. It took them a day to reach a stop using Jupiter’s gravity and the Sakira’s drives to maintain a 2-G deceleration. Instead of orbiting Jupiter, they maintained a constant relative position which provided the interior of the Sakira with 1-G of gravity.
It took them four days to catch the Victory and then another five days before the Victory reached the Enterprise. Now that all their pieces were on the board, they just had to wait for the Paraxeans to arrive.
Chapter 26
Standoff
“Admiral Michaels, I assume we have all of our forces in place,” Marc said as he opened the briefing.
“All that we currently have are deployed. And I must say that Captain McCormack has done an outstanding job shaking her out and completing the construction on the Enterprise,” Admiral Michaels said. Blake just gave an acknowledging nod.
“How is Victory doing?” Marc asked.
“She is shaping up well,” Captain Clements said. “We’re fully operational; just some comforts have yet to be completed.”
“Sakira and our miners?”
“We’re doing well,” Captain Clark said. “Catie and Natalia have found the two asteroids we need, and they’re in solar orbit with Jupiter. The miners have gotten us stocked up with material, and we will start building Hyraxes tomorrow.”
“Are you able to detect the Paraxean fleet yet?” Marc asked.
“Not yet. They’re still a ways off, and we are not sure that they have moved away from the asteroid,” Admiral Michaels said. “We’ve deployed our satellite probes to observe their area of space, so I think it is time to poke the bear.”
“If they’re still with the asteroid, how long would it take them to reach our forces after we poke them?” Marc asked.
“ADI?”
“It would take them four days to reach the Enterprise if they maximize their acceleration from the location of the asteroid, less time would be required if they have already started to accelerate away from it,” ADI said.
“Thank you, ADI, would you establish a communication link with Commodore Warlmag?”
“Yes, Captain.”
It took a few moments while ADI negotiated the link. Eventually, Commodore Warlmag’s voice came across. Whenever ADI did translations, she used the voice of the speaker to improve the nuance of the communication.
“Why are you calling me?” Commodore Warlmag demanded. “I told you to stay silent!”
“Please don’t take your frustration out on the DI,” Marc said. “She is acting under my orders.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m President Marc McCormack, the head of the alliance we have formed to stop your attempt to conquer Earth. I am also the captain of the Sakira.”
“What alliance? You have no capabilities to fight in space!”
“I have to apologize for the subterfuge. We hid our capabilities in the report that I had the DI send you. I can assure you we’re more than ready to meet your threat.”
“You don’t even know what threat we pose.”
“ADI, please transmit one of our pictures of the Paraxean forces,” Marc said. “We are aware of your situation. Although we can empathize with your position as the captain of the colonization ship that was destroyed or disabled, we cannot allow you to use Earth to solve your problem. Your battleship and two carriers will be met with force and turned away from our solar system.”
“You speak with a lot of confidence for a world that wasn’t even able to reach your neighboring planet twenty years ago.”
“I assure you we have surpassed that milestone. Our forces are waiting for you at the edge of our sun’s gravity well. We’ve been tracking your asteroid for many months now.”
“I wish to make one thing perfectly clear,” Commodore Warlmag said. “Whatever the reality of this imaginary force you are threatening us with, if you send any weapons against the asteroid and our colonists, I will send every FX4 I have at your planet armed with all of our missiles and with orders to obliterate as many of your cities as they can.”
“Rest assured, we have no intent to indiscriminately waste lives, either Paraxean or human. That is one of the reasons for my call. I would suggest you send your asteroid into a solar orbit where it is. That should keep it out of range of any conflict.”
“We cannot do that until we are within your gravity well,” Commodore Warlmag said.
“I know you can do it. You’re approaching at an oblique angle; you’re far enough into the gravity well to power the drives; only a small change in the asteroid’s approach vector will put it in orbit. If you don’t do so, we’ll have to assume you’re planning to use it for some military advantage.”
“I am looking forward to meeting you and making you regret your words,” Commodore Warlmag said.
“The link has been cut off,” ADI said.
“Well, we poked him,” Marc said.
“He was grouchy; I don’t think hibernation agreed with him,” Catie said, breaking the tension in the group.
◆ ◆ ◆
After three days, it was obvious that the asteroid was being redirected into an orbit around the sun, approximately five AUs out from Uranus’s orbit. The Paraxean fleet was just star
ting to register on the sensors of the satellite probes that Enterprise had deployed. But it, too, had adjusted its approach vector to come into the solar system at a shallower angle. After discussion, Marc and his cabinet agreed that the Paraxeans were making sure they preserved their options once they engaged with the Delphinean fleet. They were forcing the Delphinean fleet to start an orbit parallel to them, which would provide a longer engagement time once the fleets closed with each other.
Chapter 27
First Engagement
The tension in the briefing room was palpable. Everyone knew this was it; they were going out to meet the enemy.
Admiral Michaels prepared to address the pilots gathered in the ready rooms of each of the carriers. The admiral was on the Sakira, which was still sitting outside of Jupiter. He was addressing them via video link from the Sakira’s bridge.
“Alright, settle down,” Admiral Michaels said. “Many of you are already familiar with the plans. I want you to hold your questions until I finish the first part of the briefing. That will let the others catch up.”
There were murmurs of acceptance, and the admiral gave them time to settle down again.
“Now, the plan is to meet them here,” Admiral Michaels said as he pointed to a map of the solar system, “outside the orbit of Neptune. Our goal is to keep them outside of that orbit. We know that they have two supercarriers and a battleship, and there are no other forces that would be able to engage us. Estimates are that their supercarriers will have up to five hundred Foxes each. The battleship will have up to fifty Foxes, but it has thirty-two defensive plasma cannons, eight down each quarter axis. It also carries two railguns that are capable of launching a twenty-meter projectile at Earth. I shouldn’t have to tell you the kinetic energy a twenty-meter ball of iron will carry with it. It also has four massive plasma cannons that are each capable of obliterating a city.
“Part of our job in the first encounter is to learn. You must know your enemy in order to defeat them. We will be confronting them with two squadrons of Hyraxes. As all of you should know, the Hyraxes are double-hulled and carry four plasma cannons. Our tests show that they can pass through the beam from one of the big plasma cannons on that battleship and survive. The secret is to move through its arc of fire without entering the arc of the next cannon.
