Covert Alliance

by Blair Wylie

  “Yes, General Ibrahimović, that is fully understood, sir!” barked the newly promoted Commodore. His facial expression and overall demeanour remained stoic, and revealed nothing about the inner turmoil that was suddenly boiling up deep within his gut.

  Chamberlain had suspected that the chain-of-command arrangement would be something like this, but the magnitude of his responsibility had finally been driven home. He was glad that the general had made the order so clear. And even better, the order had been made in front of the key, Ranger, now officially subservient officers.

  “Good!” yelled General Ibrahimović immediately. Then he moved over to stare Captain Fitzpatrick once more in the face.

  He paused a long moment, and then he barked, “Your commanding officer is Commodore Chamberlain, Ranger Captain Fitzpatrick! You heard that clearly! There already is a chain of command on his battlecruiser. If he should die in action, or otherwise, overall command will move to the next naval officer in the ship’s crew. So, one of the commodore’s primary duties will be to ensure that the people under him are ready at all times to move up the ladder of naval command, should that prove necessary.

  “And the same applies to you, Captain! Make sure all of your people know exactly what the mission is, and what everyone else’s role is! People die in combat. That has always been the case. But we really have no freaking idea what the hell we will be encountering out there!

  “So, everyone in your Company must know what everyone else does, exactly, so they can take their place if necessary! That extends right from the most junior buck private in the Company up to its Commander.

  “Now, thankfully, you will have about two-and-a-half years to get everyone up to speed. That is because the alien spacecraft, now your troop carrier and the commodore’s Indefatigable battlecruiser, cruises at one-fifth light speed.

  “So, now you know how you will keep everyone completely occupied, and everyone physically and mentally fit for action. Because we must win this battle, decisively, so we can proceed to the next attack objective!”

  General Ibrahimović then slowly stepped sideways to stare First Lieutenant Sweetwater in the face. Again, he waited an awkward long moment, and then he barked, “And you, First Lieutenant Sweetwater, are going to help your Captain, and your Commodore, in every way that you can! You will be fully ready to take Captain Fitzpatrick’s place at any time as commander of the Ranger Company. And you will monitor the mental and physical health of everyone on the vessel, treat the sick and injured people, and proactively suggest ways to keep everyone in top mental and physical condition.”

  Then General Ibrahimović took two steps backwards, saluted smartly, and barked, “That is all, Assault Force commanders. Now, do your duty and make us all proud!

  “You are dismissed.”

  21

  The five robot ships were finally all in attack position within the Sol-system Oort Cloud. They were identical in all aspects, and each of them possessed independent, super-human, artificial intelligence. They could indeed function independently, but their human masters had ordered them to obey the coordinating instructions from the designated ‘Alpha’ robot ship.

  Spatially, the Alpha ship had remained radially-aligned with the celestial South Pole of the Sol-system. It had hidden itself behind a rather large planetesimal.

  The ‘Bravo’, ‘Charlie’, ‘Delta’ and ‘Echo’ scout ships had also found suitable planetesimals to shield their whereabouts from the approaching Warrior Armada.

  The human masters on Addy Moon Base had also fixed the hierarchy of command. The Beta ship would coordinate the attack in the event the Alpha ship was disabled or destroyed.

  The Alpha ship decided it was time for the attack to begin. The seven Warrior battlecruisers were still cruising in a hexagonal formation, with the presumed command ship, or Flagship, in the centre of the hexagon.

  The Warrior Armada had just completed an impressive, perfectly coordinated course adjustment as it picked its way carefully through a particularly dense section of the Oort Cloud. A small one-Warrior scout ship was about ninety-one kilometres out in front of the Armada. It was one of the seven scout ships that were directly and permanently assigned to the Flagship.

  So, it would be a battle of five New Earth robot frigates up against seven Warrior battlecruisers. This meant that two Warrior battlecruisers, and the small, leading scout ship from the Flagship, would survive the initial barrage.

  There was no way around that physical reality. Each robot ship could only direct a near light-speed, high-energy, particle beam and gamma ray burst at one target at a time. And it would take roughly three minutes to re-arm and re-aim the weaponry on each robot ship to launch another attack.

  The Alpha ship selected a target, and then it assigned each of the other robot ships a separate target. It chose the Flagship as its target. It also pre-assigned the expected targets for the second barrage.

  In the second barrage, Bravo and Delta robot frigates would both aim at one of the remaining Warrior battlecruisers. Charlie robot frigate would aim at the small, leading scout ship. And Echo robot frigate would aim at the remaining Warrior battlecruiser.

  All the robot ships had been playing a sort of ‘peek-a-boo’ game of hide-and-seek to avoid detection. They now manoeuvred to expose themselves just long enough to fully bring their weapons to bear on their assigned targets.

  At the instant when all was ready, the Alpha ship started a three second countdown.

  All five robot ships fired simultaneously. Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo fired at maximum intensity. The focused blast was the equivalent of an interstellar gamma ray burst. The blast was designed to completely obliterate a target, and that was in fact the spectacular result.

  The Alpha ship fired a far less intense burst at the Armada Flagship. The goal was to destroy the lifeforms within that ship, but not the ship itself.

  It appeared to have worked. The Flagship outwardly appeared to have been undamaged by the attack, and it remained on the same course and at the same speed.

  In contrast, the two remaining, undamaged Warrior battlecruisers, and the small advance scout ship, began a wild series of obviously uncoordinated and rather frantic evasive manoeuvres.

  After half-an-hour or so, the captains of the two remaining Warrior battlecruisers decided their best course of action was to leave the site of the attack at maximum acceleration, even though they were still within the Oort Cloud. The two Warrior captains selected different trajectories for their high-speed retreat manoeuvre.

  The Alpha ship then refined its sensing analyses, and performed a rapid series of iterative, four-dimensional, pseudo-spherical-triangulation calculations. When the fleeing Warrior ship trajectories were established with precision, and the weapon batteries on all of the robot ships were fully re-charged, the Alpha ship began another three second countdown.

  The second barrage was completely successful. The two fleeing Warrior battlecruisers and the small scout ship were all blown into space dust.

  But there was an unexpected twist. Just before the second barrage, two small scout ships had separated and moved away from one of the fleeing Warrior battlecruisers, and another small scout ship had un-docked and escaped from the other Warrior battlecruiser. The three scout ships quickly accelerated away in a darting fashion, and soon became completely lost from view within the Oort Cloud.

  The Alpha ship decided that the three escaping scout ships were probably piloted by living creatures. According to the covert intelligence provided by Addy Moon Base, the scout ships would have vastly superior manoeuvring capability compared with the battlecruiser motherships. But the intelligence also indicated that the scout ships would also have a significantly shorter range of operation, and a finite, albeit significant, life support capability.

  The Alpha ship had been pre-ordered to stay in close proximity to the disabled Armada Flagship at all times. The Flagship was still moving through space, and it might be necessary for the Alpha ship to clear or
deflect a planetesimal out of its way to prevent a catastrophic collision.

  But the Alpha ship quickly devised a comprehensive plan to systematically seek out and destroy the three remaining scout ships. Then it assigned detailed orders to the other four robot ships, and a new battle mission began.

  The Alpha ship also decided to risk sending a narrow, directed-beam message to the manned Indefatigable battlecruiser that it knew was approaching the battle site. The approaching battlecruiser was still over a year away. But the Alpha ship figured the commodore on the approaching battlecruiser would want to know exactly what the robot frigates were all doing.

  22

  Ranger Captain Fitzpatrick and his ‘exec’, First Lieutenant Sweetwater, were sitting together in an isolated corner of the mess hall of the Indefatigable. They were quietly sipping some tea after eating their noon meal.

  They were also sitting in the ‘highest’ part of the hall. The bend in the floor was quite pronounced everywhere in the living area of the battlecruiser. Fitzpatrick and Sweetwater could only see people at the neighbouring tables in the hall for thirty metres or so before the ceiling blocked their view.

  The mess hall was in the toroidal, full-gravity section of the Indefatigable. So, it was a bit like sitting on the inside wall of a very large donut that was spinning around its centroid to induce artificial gravity. No one could ‘feel’ the spinning motion, but they could certainly feel, and they greatly appreciated, the centripetal acceleration that forced them towards the floor.

  By now, everyone was fully acclimatized to the artificial environ of the large spaceship, strange as it had originally seemed to them.

  The space in the galley was limited, and meals had to be taken in shifts. The naval crew members and the non-commissioned Rangers always chose to sit apart from their officers. But Fitzpatrick and Sweetwater could not help overhearing their mostly cheerful banter in the relatively close confines of the mess hall.

  The two officers were hearing the usual crude jokes, which they chose to ignore. But they were also hearing a few interesting, animated stories. These stories were mostly anecdotes about the wild antics of kids and teenagers, and some adult ‘shore leave’ adventures.

  Fitzpatrick took a long moment to carefully study his exec. He had realized long ago that they were two vastly different people, and could never truly be friends. They certainly could never be romantically involved, even if military service allowed that, which it definitely did not. Any Ranger that wanted to pursue such a thing would have to quit the service. And Rangers that got caught in intra-service sexual relationships were immediately dishonourably discharged.

  That fixed reality greatly simplified things. Still, Fitzpatrick had immense respect for Sweetwater’s abilities as an officer, professional soldier, and medical doctor.

  They were now past the midpoint of their journey to intercept the Warrior Flagship. The commodore had just briefed them on the distant battle in the Oort Cloud that had been won by their robot scout ships.

  Fitzpatrick mostly believed his long list of tasks and responsibilities were well in hand, but he had some lingering doubts. He also knew that one of his character flaws was overly-harsh self-criticism.

  Fitzpatrick just could never feel completely satisfied with any situation. His superior officers had always viewed that trait as a strength, not a weakness. But it sometimes ate him up emotionally.

  He thought that what he really needed now was someone to share his inner feelings with outside of the command structure. But any kind of fraternization with subordinates while on this mission was not something he could engage in, no matter how tempting it sometimes felt. He could not risk degrading his hard-earned authority in any manner.

  But he had observed that Sweetwater had the amazing ability to put aside her professional role for a few minutes to listen to anyone, objectively and sympathetically. Her advice was always sought out, even by the commodore. And he had heard it was always kept in the strictest confidence, and forgotten about as soon as normal duties resumed.

  She was also a bit psychic, as well as empathic. While staring fixedly into her mug of tea, she said quietly but bluntly, “What’s bugging you, Skipper? Is there anything I can help you with?”

  Fitzpatrick reacted immediately with a disapproving grunt, and was about to blow her off. But then he thought for another long moment, and realized this was probably a really good time for the chat he been wanting to have with someone he could trust.

  So he said quietly, “Okay, thanks for asking, First Lieutenant.

  “Look, I think we’re doing okay with our morale and our combat readiness. But I just can’t shake this feeling that won’t go away. I’m wondering all of time if I’m missing something really important.

  “And I hate that feeling! So, I guess I would like to hear your thoughts now.

  “Specifically, should we be doing more, or less, of some aspect of the training program? And are we too harsh with the Rangers, or not harsh enough?

  “And, I hear the rumblings in the ranks. You can’t miss them!

  “Do the members of this company really hate me?”

  Sweetwater looked up, and said bluntly, “Don’t worry, they just hate your guts, sir.”

  When she saw Fitzpatrick recoil in shock and then look a bit hurt, she laughed and said, “Sorry, old joke, Skipper! But I just couldn’t resist!

  “Actually, if you truly want my assessment, for what it’s worth, I believe these people are now ready for just about anything you can throw at them.

  “You are definitely not loved, but nor should you be! They will do anything you ask of them, because they greatly respect you, and they feel great pride in being part of this elite company. They do not want to let you down, or to let their buddies down. That is their biggest motivator to be professional, and brave.

  “You know, I think our biggest problem is maintaining our current state of high readiness.

  “With over a year to go on our journey, boredom will now be harder to overcome. Most of the company are heavily into self-improvement courses. The medics are practically doctors now, for instance. They are certainly all very good nurses! And I’m sure we now have a few junior engineers in the Special Weapons and Equipment platoon, no doubt about that.

  “But I think we need to keep encouraging people to stay intellectually sharp, and to get even sharper.”

  Fitzpatrick nodded, and sat quietly for another long moment. Then he looked around and said quietly, “Thanks, that’s what I’ve been thinking, too.

  “And I’ve been thinking pretty hard about what we might have to face in combat. We think the Warriors have all been killed with a radiation blast from the Alpha robot ship, but we don’t know that for sure of course.

  “We only have a few high-velocity kinetic energy weapons with us because we don’t want to damage the captured Warrior battlecruiser, say by shooting holes in the exterior hull, or some other vital piece of equipment! Our ‘special weapons’ are mostly energy blasters, as you know. But they can do some serious damage as well, if they happen to miss a flesh-and-blood target, or ricochet off armour.

  “The Rangers are all Jeet Kune Do martial arts experts. The fighting, if there is any, might be hand-to-hand, because our foes likely won’t want to damage or destroy their battlecruiser either. And the conflict might occur in a weightless or nearly weightless environment.

  “So, I think we need a tactical edge that we probably don’t have right now.”

  “An ‘edge’, as in what exactly?” asked Sweetwater with growing interest. “Everyone has trained extensively with knives, and bayonets.”

  Fitzpatrick nodded, and after a moment he decided to elaborate. He said quietly, “Don’t laugh, but I’m thinking about making and issuing weapons like axes and maces, stabbing swords and Taser-tipped spears, repeating crossbows and maybe even a few longbows,” replied Fitzpatrick.

  He was pleased that Sweetwater did not immediately laugh at his idea. Instead she looked even mor
e interested.

  So, Fitzpatrick added, “If we had some relatively lower-energy but nevertheless lethal weapons like swords, or bows and arrows, and we became experts with the use of such ancient weapons, we might just have our useful edge.”

  “I think you’re on to something really good with that idea, Skipper,” replied Sweetwater slowly. “It would also add another new and interesting aspect to our physical training. And every Ranger loves caring for their assigned weapons, and I don’t think having a few more in our arsenal will upset anyone.

  “And I think the Special Weapons platoon would really enjoy making these other weapons for us. I know we have the materials on hand, and well-equipped workshops. And we have a complete Earth and New Earth historical database with us. We can find out how to properly make the weapons, and how best to use them.

  “So, to summarize, I think this is a very exciting idea, Skipper!”

  Fitzpatrick smiled and nodded. Then he looked around, and noted that some of the Rangers that were sitting nearby had stopped talking. He realized with horror that they might have overheard some of what the two Ranger commanding officers had just been discussing.

  So, Fitzpatrick stood up abruptly, loudly cleared his throat, and barked, “Draft an implementation plan along those lines immediately for my consideration, First Lieutenant!”

  Sweetwater jumped to her feet as well, and stood to attention. Then she saluted smartly, and yelled, “Yes, sir, Captain Fitzpatrick!”

  Fitzpatrick smartly returned the salute, and said in his normal voice, “Then carry on, First Lieutenant. Dismissed.”

  23

  Commodore Chamberlain was pleased that he could have a few moments alone to gather his thoughts before what he believed would be an especially important, shift-handover, command staff meeting.