A Deep Sleep (Valhalla Book 1) (15 page)

“The other impact to mention briefly is industrial. A number of our shipyards have been destroyed or heavily damaged. We estimate that more than half of the total industrial capacity has been damaged or destroyed in Sol.” Gasps and low whispers briefly rippled through the room, Mondragon waited patiently for them to subside. “However, I will note that the Russians and Chinese lost a good deal of this total percentage. So while pyrrhic in nature, this is not a truly hollow victory. Now, I promised to keep this short, so I’m going to cut this briefing off now. I need everyone working their crews as hard as they can to get their ships in as capable a condition as you can. Lists of working facilities, spare parts inventories, and ships available to be scrapped with be updated and pushed onto the data net as they become available. Dismissed.” He turned and strode away from the podium.

Athena rose from her seat, still going over the numbers in her head, wondering just how badly the industrial capacity had been degraded. Admiral Mondragon had seemed to play it off as less of an issue that she had initially anticipated. Perhaps more of the industry was repairable than she had suspected, the bombardment less effective. One could only hope. Just as Athena reached for her comm to signal the shuttle she was heading their way, the unit buzzed. She answer the call.

“Captain Harper.”

“Captain, this is Commander Williams, sir. Admiral Mondragon requests your presence in Wardroom 1 as soon as you are able. He’ll be waiting for you sir.” The aide said.

“Of course, Commander. I’ll be their directly.” Athena replied with some degree of surprise.

“Very good, sir.” The aide closed the link.

Athena reversed direction, heading to the closest bank of lifts to take her up to B-deck. The lift was quick, shooting up through the massive station. As she exited the lift, she stepped directly into a security checkpoint. The marine guards viewed her suspiciously while their lieutenant scanned her ID, palm, and retina. As all three checked out, the lieutenant saluted and returned her ID. The guards snapped their weapons up and saluted as well. She returned the salute and the third marine, located behind high-grade ballistic glass, opened the hatch for entrance into flag country. She quick walked down the long hallway, approaching the Admiral’s dedicated section. Each top admiral had their own section aboard
Sword of Ares,
since the Navy was run from this station. Here again she repeated the identification process, though the checkpoint was less armored and more of a formality than a true barrier. As she entered the anteroom, Commander Williams approached and the two exchanged salutes.

“Good afternoon, Captain Harper. If you’d follow me sir.” He said pleasantly. He led her through the second door from the left, the Admiral’s personal wardroom. He stepped into the room and announced. “Sir, Captain Harper has arrived.”

“Show her in, Commander.”

Athena saluted Admiral Mondragon as she entered, drawing up and snapping out a parade ground salute. Her uniform was not quite spotless, but was passable.

“Athena,” Mondragon began, walking up to her and returning the salute. He extended his hand and they shook, then he gestured to a pair of seats. “glad you were available.” He had a small smile, clearly finding the idea of her not being available at his request amusing.

“Yes sir, I hadn’t even made it to the hanger yet.” She said, returning the grin.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I called you into this little meeting.” He said, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

“Yes, sir, the thought had occurred to me.” That elicited a short laugh.

“Well, obviously you were at the briefing and you have the after-action reports and such.” He gestured to the briefing materials she was still holding. She only nodded.

“What is not included in those reports is the true damage to the industrial sector.” He said. “What I’m about to tell you is need-to-know, and I’ve judged you need to know. It doesn’t go beyond this room, not even to your XO or other senior officers, understood?” He was looking quite serious now.

“Of course sir, I understand.” She responded. Admiral Mondragon nodded absently, then engaged a series of displays and the 3D display in the table’s center.

“Industrial capacity in Sol was destroyed in line with the numbers I indicated at the briefing. What was not given, as you may have noticed, is the breakdown of who lost what and which sectors were most heavily affected.” He gestured to one of the screens. “The Chinese and Russian had a very clever tactic in this attack. They knew they would lose out in this fight, that their industry would also suffer. They didn’t, however, bet on winning completely. If you look at this and the corresponding plots, what do you see?”

Athena studied the data for a minute. She looked at the more detailed distributions and the loss break-downs. As it fell into place, she started to feel much worse about their ‘victory’. Mondragon had led her to the conclusion with his presentation of the data. She could see he had obviously ordered it so that she could quickly surmise what he was about to tell her and begin to digest the massive and ominous implications.

“The Indians lost practically every manufacturing facility in Sol. The Australians also lost all of their shipyards, though that is less important I suppose.” She said.

“Correct. The Australians aren’t the worst off, for sure. But with India losing their manufacturing capabilities, they will no longer be able to continue the war.” Mondragon was sounding ominous. Athena agreed.

“Not only that. They’ll be lucky to hold onto their existing possessions. China has them boxed in from both sides.” Athena considered the full ramifications. Ships could, at least theoretically, be repaired in any shipyard. The real issue was the parts for those ships. The current degree of interoperability between the powers focused on data interface, not logistics and hardware. As such, each country had its own standards for weaponry. The Indian point-defense, for example, utilizes a short-barreled 32mm railgun, while the British use employ a 31mm long barrel version. The American version, employs a 30mm long barrel. As such, the three powers couldn’t simply send the other a new barrel or even ammunition. The surviving industry of the other powers could be retooled, but this would take time and further degrade the ability to keep their own forces supplied. That would not be a popular decision.

“That’s the concern. Also concerning is the other side of the equation. The Russians and Chinese have some substantial manufacturing capabilities out-of-system. They can’t even begin to replace what they have lost, but they are enough to outclass our allies. We have enough industry to keep what we have in space operating, but…” Mondragon trailed off.

“But other than what survived the attack, no more new construction.” Athena finished. Mondragon nodded in confirmation.

“One bright spot, you’ll have your force back to full strength, and then some.” Mondragon smiled. “Aegis Defense, well you know how they operate.”

“Yes sir.” Athena smiled. Aegis Defense’s founding family was quite unusual and seemed to have tactical know-how in their blood. “Did they have a welcome party for the Russians and Chinese?”

“They did indeed. You’re familiar with their facilities out on Ceres, all buried and hardened better than most of our own bases.” Athena nodded. “Well, the Chinese dispatched a couple of cruisers, a dozen or so frigates and a half dozen corvettes. They knew to expect something, but they go more than they bargained for. As they drew within launch range for their short range sprint missiles, Ceres launched 1000 missiles at them, one massive salvo. Now, there weren’t actually any missiles in this barrage, all decoys, but the Chinese didn’t figure this out until shotgun range. At that point, though, they’d used up most of their longer range stuff. That’s when the railguns came into play. Turns out, those big guns are actually 500mm guns. Even
Sword of Ares
only sports 400mm guns. Of course, this still wasn’t straight forward, with several splitting into smaller missiles and going after small targets. They also launched a couple of new jammers, completely obscured subspace sensors, even ours. This let Aegis FTL their own ships into the fight and they just took apart what was left of the task force. Not a single ship got out of there and Ceres never sustained a hit. It was a beautiful piece of work. Of course, the Chinese won’t make that mistake twice, but then again they shouldn’t get the opportunity.”

“Sounds like quite the event sir. I’ll have to watch the recording later on.” Athena said with a smile.

“Indeed. Now, this is relevant because it means that their own production facilities are completely untouched. You and your people have first access to them. In fact, and I hope you don’t mind, I already ordered Commander Sanders to take
Tripoli
into space dock at Ceres north pole. She should be docking within the hour.”

“Of course sir, whatever you think is best. If I may ask sir, why the rush?” Athena inquired.

“Ah yes, I got off on a bit of a tangent there.” He smiled again, he was known for such excursions when discussing a well-executed battle plan. “I have a new mission for you, and a new rank.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small box. Athena opened it and nearly gasped, seeing the silver stars of rear admiral. She looked up at Admiral Mondragon, speechless.

“I couldn’t very well have a Captain in a flag rank position, now could I?” He said.

“Sir, I… I am not in a flag rank position.” Athena said, with a degree of confusion, though she suspected there was more to this than the rank.

“Ah yes, that.” Mondragon changed the displays again, this time detailing a new battlegroup. Athena immediately recognized
Tripoli
, but there were three of her. Surrounding the three
Tripoli
-class ships were their full complements of gunboats, and a cruiser-sized ship whose class Athena did not recognize. The final two ships, however, drew her attention almost immediately. They were slightly smaller than
Tripoli
or the cruiser, but they had a strange look to them. “I can see the questions forming.” Mondragon said with a patient prodding.

“Yes sir. The cruiser, I don’t recognize her class.” Athena began.

“Yes, well, she is unique, one of just three that were ever built. She is the
Thunderer
, an Aegis Defense cruiser. In light of our losses, Aegis Defense CEO Brandon Martin has elected to loan her to us, completely within our command structure, but still crewed by Aegis Defense personnel. We normally wouldn’t do this sort of thing, but with our losses, this seems to be the best way. We can’t afford to simply seize the ships and re-crew them and we don’t want to alienate our number one supplier anyway. Aegis Defense has been very accommodating, Martin even approached us with the idea. Is this acceptable to you?”

“Yes sir. I’ve had a good working relationship with many of the liaison officers at Aegis, they’ve always been very professional. I’d be happy to integrate them.” Athena looked back at the ship. “Who commands her, anyone I’d know?”

“You’ve probably heard of him, Captain Logan Martin.”

“As in Brandon Martin’s son, sir?” Athena was somewhat surprised. She knew that the Martin family tended to be heavily involved in their business and took defense matters seriously, but this was another level on its own.

“The very same. He has commanded
Thunderer
since trials, so he’s had her for over a year now. Mostly light system duties, but he was one of Aegis’s up and coming tactical minds back before the war. He may not be blooded, but I think he’ll serve as a good springboard for you, in addition to your other captains of course.
Thunderer
did lead the mission that swept the Chinese out around Ceres, so he isn’t completely untested.”

“So then, what about these two odd ships, sir?” Athena gestured to the two mid-sized ships. “I don’t recognize the design.”

“I’m not surprised, it’s an odd one, and even I find it a bit off the wall.” Mondragon paused, bringing one of the ships in to fill the 3D display. “Another Aegis Defense design, as well as being crewed by their people. They’re called Armadillos, first in a new class of ships designed to operate with your Assault Carriers. Since the ACGs have to move in close to give the gunboats a chance at survival, you’re going to take a lot of hits, as your latest engagement proves. Also, because of the requirements of carrying and supplying the gunboats, there is little space left onboard for offensive weapons. These Armadillos, designated Assault Missile Cruiser (AMC), carries a full cruiser missile load and a full suite of point defense. Since everything comes at a cost, they carry no offensive railguns. They are also highly automated, their crew is smaller than any cruiser we have. The Navy wasn’t ready for this route yet, so these ships are unique in that regard as well. Battle damage will teach us a lot with this, hopefully the Aegis Defense engineers have all their ducks in a row on that. I hate to saddle you with such experimental ships, between the AMCs and
Thunderer
, but it is vital this mission leave as soon as
Tripoli
is ready to go.”

“What mission sir?” Athena asked.

Sol System

Ceres Space Dock Number Three

Athena stood, looking out of the reinforced window at her ship,
Tripoli
, looking almost small in the massive dock. Workers floated around inside the massive bay, gravity plating disengaged to speed the work. The yard workers had worked amazingly quickly, fixing almost all of
Tripoli
’s battle damage in the last 12 days. Master Chief Brown had quietly raved about them to Athena at the last meeting between the COB, XO, and herself.
Tripoli
would be clearing the dock in 11 hours, joining her sisters waiting out in orbit around Ceres.

The Assault Carriers
Inchon
and
Normandy
waited, along with the AMCs
Ticonderoga
and
Port Royal
.
Thunderer
hadn’t yet joined the group, receiving her own fitting out in a classified location, even for a rear admiral. The full complement of Hornet gunboats also awaited the group. Soon it would be time. Athena turned slightly as she heard footsteps approaching behind her.

“Admiral Harper, sir.” A young women approached, her jet black utilitarian uniform displaying only two patches and her name, Douglas. The patch on her shoulder was a Lieutenant’s rank insignia, while the one above her left breast pocket was the signifying patch of Aegis Defense’s military arm. Aegis Command, usually referred to as Aegis, was controversial before the war began, a private company with its own sizeable military. Now it was accepted as a necessity and a benefit to the Sol defenses and to Allied military procurement and development. Lieutenant Douglas saluted smartly as she reached Athena.

“Yes Lieutenant?” Athena returned the salute.

“Sir, the
Thunderer
will be entering orbit in a few minutes. Command wanted to inform you as soon as they knew.” The aide responded.

“Very well, Lieutenant. I’d like to meet with Captain Martin as soon as he is available.” Athena said diplomatically. It would probably take some getting used to ordering around what were effectively civilians. As much as she wanted to treat them like any other naval personnel, so wasn’t sure she could and that worried her. She had told Admiral Mondragon it wouldn’t be a problem, now she wondered if she had been too quick to jump to that answer.

“Of course sir. Captain Martin will be available immediately after making orbit. Would you like to see him aboard
Tripoli
or utilize a space her at Ceres North?” The aide inquired politely.

“I’ll meet with him in my day cabin aboard
Tripoli
. Please pass along to the Captain that he should see to his ship before reporting to
Tripoli
. I would like everything in top shape before we depart.” Athena had almost said she would use a wardroom in Ceres North, to accommodate Martin, but then realized she would never do that for another captain. This was going to be more difficult than she thought.

“Very well sir.” The aide saluted again and Athena dismissed her. As she strode back towards the lifts, Athena took one last look at her ship. It was nearly time. Admiral Mondragon had told her that this could be the most important mission of the war, that if she pulled this off the Allied forces could hold off the Russian and Chinese forces long enough to rebuild. It would prolong the war another few years at least, but it would also stave off defeat. The cost would, as usual, be paid in the blood of men and women.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Captain Martin is here to see you sir.” Her marine guard reported. Daniels had already commed her that Commander Sanders had welcomed him aboard in the hanger deck. Athena mentally focused herself.

“Show him in.” Athena replied in a calm, level, commanding voice. The hatch slid aside and the guard stepped in, Captain Martin in tow. Athena nodded at the guard and he stepped back out of the hatch, sealing it behind him,.

“Welcome aboard
Tripoli
Captain.” Athena said.

“Thank you sir.” Martin replied after the two had exchanged salutes. “She’s a fine ship sir.”

“Thank you, I’ve come to rely on her unique capabilities. They suit my tactical style well it would seem.” Athena allowed a small smile. She noticed Captain Martin had a knowing smile of his own.

“Yes?” Athena prompted quizzically.

“I may have had a small hand in her design sir. We did have some of your after action reports on hand when we were designing her. We also had several other captains and gunboat squadron reports, but I remember your reports specifically sir. Your tactics commanding first your own gunboat and then the four-oh-first squadron were quite spectacular and, what was the term, ballsy?”

“Glad I could be of some inspiration.” They both laughed. They discussed a few more points of relative small talk, still about the
Tripoli
, but not directly relating to the mission. Athena decided it was time to get to work. “Now then, down to business. How is
Thunderer
shaping up?”

“We are ready to go sir. We are fully armed and outfitted, all systems are 100%. We even have a few systems aboard that should surprise the hell out of the enemy. I can go over those with you now sir, if you have the time.” Martin held up a data chip.

“I’m planning on having a meeting between all the ship’s captains, but not until after we clear space dock. So yes, I believe I have some time now.”

Sol System: Ceres Orbit

1
st
LRRS: USS
Tripoli

Captain Kim stepped into the compartment with her space bag over her shoulder, flopping it onto the small bunk. While the cabin was quite small, it was all hers. There was a small private head, a desk with a workstation and built in cabinets and drawers around the bed cubicle. All the other ships she had been deployed on had seen her in bunk rooms with at least seven other marines.
Privileges of rank I suppose
, she thought to herself. Kim had been mildly surprised to find herself assigned to shipboard duty. Not only her, but her entire RASAT company had been assigned to the ships of 1
st
LRRS. They didn’t all fit aboard
Tripoli
, but they had managed to get them onto the three ACGs. She had been even more surprised, and a little concerned, to find a detachment of Agema on three of the ships in the task force.

Agema were the elite forces of Aegis. Kim had never worked with them herself, but she had heard through others that they were competent warrior, but that wasn’t what concerned her. They existed mostly outside of the command structure. Kim wasn’t comfortable with multiple commands operating in such a small force. Without unified command, in Kim’s experience, mission effectiveness degraded and friendly fire incidents went up. Both meant more of her marines wouldn’t be going home. She had already requested a meeting with Rear Admiral Harper. Harper had been placed in overall command, which wasn’t surprising since Kim and her people were effectively just along for the ride with the Navy. They weren’t heading for a planet and landing on it. Not with as few troops and no transports at any rate. Her comm unit buzzed.

“Captain Kim, this is Lieutenant Daniels, sir. The Admiral has received your request for a meeting. She will be available after the Captains meeting to meet with you in person. In regards to that, your presence is also requested at that meeting, as the ranking commander of marine forces in the newly formed Deep Strike Force One. The Captain’s Meeting is at 1500.” The lieutenant was very professional sounding to Kim.

“Very well Lieutenant. Inform the Admiral that I am at her disposal and will attend the meeting.” Kim checked her watch, 20 minutes. Kim didn’t concern herself with the name change. The Navy seemed to like to rename task forces and groups of ships at the drop of a hat. She shrugged and turned to more important and immediate matters. She figured she’d better figure out how to get to the wardroom. She’d studied the plans for these ships, but it still wouldn’t do to get lost.
Note to self, put some dirlls on the schedule so that everyone gets used to the ships they are on. This level of unfamiliarity won’t be useful in combat.
She thought as she stepped into the small head. She quickly shrugged out of her duty coveralls and stepped into the shower. She was done and dressed ten minutes later. She checked herself briefly in the mirror, adjusting her pistol belt slightly before stepping out into the passageway.

Sol System: Earth

Ron Danford slide his sunglasses into place as he stepped out the door and into the bright sun. It was a hot and humid day in Miami, perfect beach weather. He would have enjoyed it more if his fiancé had been able to join him, but coordinating that was nothing short of impossible. Tactical officers aboard a Navy cruiser didn’t just get leave whenever they wanted, not with a war on. His promotion to Lt. Colonel and the end of combat operations to liberate Arcadiana had come with a return to Earth and a week of R&R for his unit. That had been a hard battle, particularly after the fighting in Xi Beta Delta. Overall, the Marines sustained more than 75% casualties, a great many of them KIA.

Replacements would have to be integrated, a long task of taking greenies and meshing them with his more experienced marines. The Parris Island and San Diego depots were still each turning out a class every month 10,000 strong while the more recent depot on Alpha Centauri VI was turning out an impressive monthly average of 25,000. Even still, with 45,000 fresh marines every month, the Corp was nowhere near replacing losses as quickly as it was sustaining them. To complicate matters, the real backlog was coming from the armor training. The program had already been shortened from 18 months to just 6 and Danford could see the difference it made to the abilities of the men and women he received to replace the veterans he had lost. It was contributing to higher casualties, but nothing could be done about it. The Corp was shrinking and they needed bodies to continue the fight.

Danford sighed, this was his day to ship out to Luna to meet with his newly reconstituted 3
rd
Battalion. He knew he was just about taking command of a new unit, with a little over 200 veterans left in the ranks. The remainder were completely green, minus a dozen or so coming off medical leave for previous injuries.
A lot of work, is what it is.
Danford thought sourly.

He waited impatiently for five minutes until the shuttle to the spaceport arrived to collect him and another couple of marines and sailors, no doubt also heading to orbit by the look of their bags. Danford picked a window seat and watched the beaches recede as the shuttle rose to 5000 m and hopped up the peninsula to Mayport Orbital Transfer Station. An hour later his transfer shuttle blasted off and carried him up into orbit. As he rode the orbital shuttle, he elected to glance through the news stories. He had only arrived back in system a day after the Battle of Sol ended, so the press was still going crazy about the first major battle in Sol for the last 100 years. Danford simply saw it as an inevitability in a five year old war. Besides, reports from the government suggested that at least two-thirds of the industries damaged by the surprise attack would be restored to 90% or better functionality in a matter of weeks.

He scrolled through a dozen stories from so-called experts about how this would affect the war, before stopping on a news story out of India. Danford read the heading again,
Mumbai Riots Become Deadly, Gov’t Imposes Martial Law in Maharashtra
. Danford read on, food riots throughout the country, shortages of basic services and goods, unrest and general public discord. The situation didn’t look like it would be improving anytime soon. Danford quickly accessed the data-net for other stories and quickly saw that a similar story was playing out across most of the systems controlled by India. Something was fishy. Their industry shouldn’t be any worse off.

As Danford dug deeper and deeper, he began to doubt the official reports on the industry that could be repaired. Riots, protests, and complaints were coming in from every corner of Allied space to one degree or another and they were all centered on the same things. Shortages of goods that, while rationed during the war, had still been available but suddenly they couldn’t be found anywhere.

Using his command authority, Danford barged into the shuttle’s electronic records, looking at the Automatic Identification System (AIS) traffic patterns the shuttle had recorded. He looked back two months and compared with the past week, seeing a massive reduction in traffic inbound to Earth. It seemed like a large number of deliveries ceased over the course of a single week. That could only be bad news for the overall economy, which by extension was bad news for the war effort. All of the nations of Earth had already gone into massive debts to pay for the war, with economists saying that this war had already been more expensive than all of the wars mankind fought in the 20
th
and 21
st
Centuries combined. The scale and costs associated with fighting across dozens or hundreds of light years, in dozens of systems, were mind-boggling to say the least. Danford could only begin to imagine the delicate balance that was maintained.

Suddenly, integrating those greenies into his battalion didn’t seem such a herculean task. Not only that, he suspected it was going to be more important than ever to whip them into a cohesive unit. If there were that severe of shortages in the civilian side, there were bound to be reductions on the military side as well for the governments to make such a drastic cut to civilian supply chains. Danford disengaged his interface and looked out the shuttle’s portal, noticing they were going into final docking aboard America’s orbital transfer facility, Armstrong Transfer Station.