Rumors of Salvation (System States Rebellion Book 3) (23 page)

Day
307/2556

Excalibur:

“Midgard.”
Drake looked around the conference table to gage the reaction to his
announcement that M2 had predicted Majestic would re-establish its new base in
the Midgard star system. It was a logical choice. Midgard had roughly a million
colonists, far fewer than Hadley and therefore easier to ‘control’, while still
numerous enough to supply whatever skills or labor the machine might require.
And Midgard’s moon had all those abundant mineral resources too. In fact, the
choice was so obvious that Drake wondered if it was too damned obvious. As he
looked at the faces around the table, he could see that he wasn’t the only one
wondering if Midgard was too obvious a choice.

His
wife’s expression was carefully neutral. The two of them had already discussed
the prediction plus its implications, and she shared his skepticism. Molitor
looked skeptical too. Yeager, on the other hand, quickly got over his initial
surprise and was nodding in agreement. Crusero and Foxman also seemed to accept
the prediction. Yeager was the first to comment.

“Ja,
that makes sense. Just enough people to be useful and plenty of metals. When do
we go back there, Fleet Commander?”

“Not
so fast, Ernst. M2 has also confirmed our suspicion that a spherical ship a
kilometer in diameter will have enough room for lots of other things besides
the computer itself, such as missile launch tubes. We know the Empire developed
jump-capable missiles with Ether homing systems. We have to assume that
Majestic’s ship has that same capability.”

“Ach,
even with their new missiles, we beat four of their cruisers at Hadley.
Therefore we can beat one ship, and if it’s bigger, that just means it’ll be
easier to hit,” said Yeager.

Drake
waited until he was sure that Yeager was finished speaking and then turned to
look at Molitor. “I’ve read your After-Action report. Given what you had to
work with, the tactic you used was the only one that had any chance of success.
I’m impressed that you managed to pull it off, but I have to say I think you
were lucky to get the results you did. Majestic wasn’t at Hadley, or at least
wasn’t controlling the Empire ships there, but if your cruisers encounter it at
Midgard, you won’t be facing a fallible human commander. We know that these
kinds of sophisticated planning computers can out-fight even the best human
tactician. I’m not prepared to authorize a mission to Midgard unless we can
engineer some kind of tactical advantage. I’ve spoken to the technical people
who developed the Ether detection system. They told me that it should be
possible to make the equipment more sensitive so that it’d be able to detect
ships from further away. That would mean that our ships could stay beyond
Majestic’s detection range and still triangulate its position precisely enough
for accurate long range shots using our superluminals.”

Molitor
pondered that idea for a couple of seconds before responding. “The problem I
see with that tactic is this. How will we know if we’ve hit Majestic’s ship,
and how much damage we’ve caused, if we’re that far away? The only way to know
for sure is to micro-jump closer, and if we haven’t knocked out that ship’s
offensive capability, we’ll still be vulnerable to missile fire. Why don’t we
develop our own jump-capable, Ether-homing missiles? Then we’ll use the longer
detection system to pinpoint Majestic’s general location and let our missiles
home in the rest of the way after they micro-jump closer.”

Drake
nodded. “I thought of that too. I checked with the few experts we have with
missile design expertise. There’s a major problem with that idea. Designing a
missile body that is big enough to hold the maneuvering engine, power plant,
guidance system, warhead and jump drive, plus have a hull shape that scatters
radar waves to avoid radar detection, will be too big to fit into the missiles
tubes that our cruisers have now. Ripping those tubes out and replacing them
and the loading mechanisms with something that can handle the larger missiles
bodies will take months. If we forget about making the missiles stealthy, then
we can continue to use the missile tubes we have now, but then we run the risk
that Majestic’s ship’s radars and anti-missile lasers will stop our missiles
before they hit.”

The
following two seconds of silence was broken by the snap of Yeager’s fingers. “I
have the solution. We replace the standard fission warhead with a
fission-powered x-ray device. We already have the schematics on how to build
those from when we evacuated the volcano base on Midgard. It’s the same device
used on defense satellites that Earth deployed. The only thing we’d have to
work on is calibrating the Ether detection system data so that the warhead
lasing rods would know where to aim. As soon as the missile emerges from
jump-space, the detection system will pinpoint the target, the warhead will aim
at it and then detonate. If we fire multiple missiles, some of them are bound
to hit, and the concentrated energy in the x-ray beams will punch right through
even a ship that big. If we aim the missiles so that they bracket the target
and fire at it from all sides, I think the chances are that Majestic’s computer
components will suffer a lot of damage, in addition to the damage to the ship
itself. Having a dozen holes drilled into your brain is bound to have an impact
on your ability to think, right?”

The
group laughed. “Well, when you put it that way, Ernst, your argument makes a
lot of sense,” said Drake. “I’ll check with the weapon techs to see how quickly
they can build and test a prototype. No one is going anywhere for a couple of
weeks anyway while we repair Coral Sea and Vixen, but there’s a bigger issue
involved here. Up until now we knew where to find Majestic, and the fact that
our location here was secret was an advantage that more than offset the fact
that it takes us months to travel to and from Federation Space, even with the
faster hyper-drives. However, now that Majestic is mobile, Lorelei and I think
the overall dynamic has changed drastically. Suppose we send a couple of
cruisers to Midgard and they find that Majestic isn’t there? Then what do we
do? We’re too far away, and we don’t have nearly enough ships to search every
possible hiding place in a reasonable period of time. And the longer we take,
the more time Majestic will have to rebuild a fleet that might be able to take
us on and win. Being this far away is now actually a disadvantage, and I think
we have to change that. If the Brain Trust and the shipyard operation relocate
to Midgard, we’ll be able to respond much more quickly to any news concerning
Majestic, and if it’s already at Midgard and we kill it once and for all, then
there’s no longer a need for a colony this far out. Many of the Brain Trust
people have been hoping that living here was just a temporary situation anyway.
Therefore, as Fleet Commander and Acting Colony Leader, I’ve decided that when
we’ve repaired our ships and are ready to take on Majestic’s ship, all eight
cruisers will be accompanied by as many of our cargo-carrying ships as we can
find crews for.”

“Not
everyone will want to go,” said Crusero. “I know that some of the farmers, and
even a few of the professionals, are quite happy here and will probably want to
stay.”

“Some
of the Brain Trust people too,” said Yeager. “They’ve developed relationships
with some of those same farm people.”

Drake
nodded. “I have no intention of forcing anyone to relocate to Midgard who
doesn’t want to go, but everyone has to understand that once we leave, it may
be years or even decades before a ship comes back here again, if it ever does.
There may be more than one trip to Midgard if we can’t take everyone who wants
to go all at once, but as far as regular contact is concerned, this is it. When
we’re done moving, we’re not coming back. If Majestic is already at Midgard and
we destroy it, then Midgard is the perfect place to start building a new
interstellar civilization. It Majestic’s not there, then we’ll build a powerful
enough ambush to destroy it if, or rather when, it shows up later.”

“You
really think Majestic will wait until later to attack Midgard?” asked Molitor.

“I
do, and more importantly so does M2. I’d be very surprised if Majestic isn’t
there already. That star system is just too valuable in terms of mineral and
human resources to ignore completely. Even if Majestic has decided for its own
inscrutable reasons not to exploit the Midgard star system itself, it’s
unlikely to leave the system intact for us humans to exploit. By staking claim
to arguably the most valuable star system in explored space other than the
abandoned Franklin Tri-system, we’ll make Majestic come to us instead of us
chasing it over millions of cubic light years of space.”

“In
that case, shouldn’t we send armed ships there as quickly as possible?” asked
Yeager.

“No.
It’ll take Majestic months to even begin to build more ships. That’ll let us
take the time we need to develop the weapons that will tip the odds heavily in
our favor. We’ll only get one crack at this battle, and therefore we better get
it right.”

“Have
you determined command assignments yet?” asked Yeager.

“I
have. Commanders Molitor and Crusero will command Europa and Vixen
respectively. I’ll exercise overall command from Europa. Ernst, you’ll take
Coral Sea and supervise the carrier/freighter squadron until we get to the
initial rally point. When the fleet’s back together, Deputy Fleet Commander
Remington-Drake will transfer from Europa to Coral Sea and assume
responsibility for the carrier/freighters. Commander Foxman will still command
Gambier Bay. I’ll be promoting some of your Execs to command of other
freighters as needed. Any questions?”

Molitor
shook her head.

“Ja,
I have a question,” said Yeager. “How come Rachel gets all the interesting
assignments?”

“Because
she doesn’t ask any questions,” replied Drake. Everyone laughed including
Yeager. Drake checked with both Crusero and Foxman, but neither of them had any
questions, which generated another round of laughter

As
Lorelei and Drake watched the others leave, she turned to her husband and said,
“You could’ve exercised Fleet Command from Coral Sea to begin with. I don’t
like the idea of us being separated if there’s a battle.”

“The
exact opposite goes for me. If you’re shepherding the colonists at a safe
distance, I’ll have one less thing to distract me from managing the battle. And
before you ask, no, I can’t delegate this battle to Molitor. What kind of
example would I be setting if the Fleet Commander stayed back where’s it’s safe
and let his subordinates take all the risks?” He paused, and Lorelei waited
knowing that something more was coming. “There’s also one other reason. I
commanded the missile boat that fired the first shots that started this whole
damn war. With everything that’s happened since then, that fact has weighed
heavily on my mind. One way or another, I have to finish this battle and this
war myself.”

Lorelei
felt a chill go down her spine. She didn’t like the sound of that, but
understood there was no way she was going to be able to change his mind. She
sent a silent appeal to the Gods of War to watch over her husband and not
demand too high a price from him.

Day
007/2557

Europa

Outer
Edge of Midgard star system:

Drake
waited patiently while the fleet came back into formation after the long jump
from Excalibur. He kept checking the tactical display, but it wasn’t the
positions of the other ships in the fleet that he was looking for. Rather it
was Majestic’s Leviathan, as they were now calling it. The five weeks of
pre-jump preparation had allowed Europa and Coral Sea to be upgraded with the
improved Ether detection system that boosted detection range by 66%. That meant
that Europa was now close enough to Midgard to be able to detect the Leviathan
if it was there, but it would not be detected by Majestic’s ship. The problem
was that there was no sign of that gigantic ship. After months of getting
himself psyched up for the final battle, Drake was, to put it mildly, pissed
off. He was also worried. So many of the initial refugee convoy personnel from
the original trip to Excalibur had decided to stay on Excalibur permanently
that Drake had been forced to make a difficult decision regarding which ships
would have to be left behind. He didn’t even have enough crews for all eight
cruisers. He could have taken seven cruisers, but that would have meant no
carriers or freighters. After some last minute training, they managed to find
crews for three cruisers, two carriers and three freighters.

If
Leviathan wasn’t here, then the battle would take place at a time of Majestic’s
choosing, with who knew what additional forces available by then. It boiled
down to one simple question. Which side could build new ships faster? Majestic
had his drone slaves. Drake had the robotic mining, refining and fabrication
equipment taken from the volcano base and Midgard’s moon, but recruiting human
workers who had the necessary specialized skills from the local population
would be a challenge. He had nothing to pay them with. With Earth depopulated
and the Federation existing in name only, the old currency that the SSU
refugees had taken with them to Excalibur was no longer worth anything. After
all this time, he was certain that the Midgardians would have set up their own
currency system. Sending ship crews back to Excalibur to pick up the other
cruisers wasn’t a realistic option either. The round trip would take nine
months, and if Majestic attacked during that time, Midgard’s defenses would be
weakened as a result of the missing personnel.

By
the time the fleet was back in close formation, Lorelei and Drake had wished
each other luck, and she had transferred to Coral Sea. The plan was that she
would keep the carriers and freighters here at the outer edge of the star
system. Coral Sea would be able to keep tabs on what was happening near
Midgard. If there was a battle, though that was looking more and more unlikely,
and if it went badly for Drake’s cruisers, Coral Sea’s Ether detection system
would be able to tell if his cruisers stopped maneuvering or blew apart. The
actions of any new ships would also reveal their status. Drake had given
Lorelei strict orders to get her ships out of the Midgard system if his
cruisers were annihilated. Under no circumstances was she to risk her two armed
carriers and their cargo of equipment and colonists to reinforce his cruisers.
If three cruisers couldn’t defeat Majestic’s Leviathan, then an additional two,
less capable ships probably wouldn’t make a difference. The Fleet was now back
in formation and ready to proceed.

“Okay,
Helm, notify Task Force Alpha that we’ll be jumping with a five second
countdown.” As the H.O. notified the two other cruisers that made up the
three-ship Task Force Alpha, Drake turned to the screen where Lorelei’s face
was visible. “See you soon, Lor.” She had just enough time to nod before Europa
and the other two cruisers micro-jumped to a position roughly 50,000 kilometers
from Midgard’s hyper-zone. The jump itself took less than four seconds. When it
became obvious that there were no other unidentified ships anywhere within
detection range, Drake turned to his Com Station.

“Lieutenant,
send the recorded greeting to the Colony.” It would be almost a minute before a
reply could be expected given the light speed lag imposed by the distance.
Drake checked the sidebar to see what the local day/night situation was. It was
early evening at the Colony right now. Whoever was on duty monitoring com
channels should fairly quickly be able to notify someone with enough authority
to reply. The response took longer than expected, and the tone of the
conversation left something to be desired. After speaking with several
different levels of functionaries, the head of the Colony finally came on the
line.

“As
I told your subordinates, my ships belong to the Resistance that’s fighting the
Empire,” said Drake. “We have reason to believe that a very large Empire ship
may have come here during the last six months. Has Midgard been visited by ANY
ship during that period? Over to you.”

“We
haven’t seen any ship during that period of time, Fleet Commander. You say
you’re Resistance? Is Bret Murphy with you? I know him from his time on
Midgard. If he can vouch for you, then my suspicions will be allayed. Over to you.”

“I
regret to say that Commander Bret Murphy was killed in action during a battle
with Empire forces. I can understand your caution, CEO Ogawa, however it’s
important that YOU understand the seriousness of this situation. I’m sure that
Murphy told you about a supercomputer that went rogue and began enslaving
humans with implanted cybernetic devices. That rogue computer is now mobile,
and its agenda is nothing less than the complete extermination of the human
race except for the slaves that it needs to maintain itself. It needs a new
base of operations, and Midgard, with its modest population and mineral rich
moon, is the perfect choice. We’re convinced that it will come here at some
point, and our ships are the only thing that will prevent all of your people
from becoming Majestic’s slaves. Over to you.”

After
a longer than normal period of silence, Ogawa responded. “Yes, Murphy told us
about the implants. How do I know that you’re not already implanted and are
trying to trick us into letting you land? Over to you.”

“The
Empire has at least one, and possibly more, warships. If an Empire-controlled
warship arrived here, why would it need your permission to land? If I was
controlled by an implanted cyber device, we wouldn’t even be having this
conversation, but in the interests of building trust between us, I’ll show you
the back of my neck, and I’ll expect you to do the same.” Drake stepped as
close as he could to the video pickup, turned around and pulled his uniform
collar down as far as he could. After holding that pose for a few seconds, he
returned to his previous location. “Okay, CEO Ogawa, it’s your turn. Over to
you.”

When
the light-speed lag had passed, Drake saw Ogawa’s surprised expression,
followed by a quick glance to one side, probably at a subordinate. He then
stepped forward, turned around and exposed the back of his neck. Drake looked
at it very carefully for any signs that the implant device might have been
placed under the skin, but the neck looked perfectly normal.

“Now
that we’ve established that neither one of us is a cyber-slave, what exactly
are you proposing we do, Fleet Commander? Are you offering to place yourself
and your ships under my authority? Over to you.”

“No,
Sir, at least not right away. I have to retain autonomous control until I’m
sure that Majestic has been neutralized. It’s my intention to re-activate the
shipyard base that Murphy helped set up in the dormant volcano on the opposite
side of the continent. That base will be supported by robotic mining operations
on the moon. We’ve brought all the equipment we’ll need to do that, but we’ll
be looking for some of your skilled colonists to assist us. However, that’s
only part of why we’re here. My fleet is also carrying seven thousand seven
hundred and five individuals, mostly scientists, technicians, engineers, but
also some with more mundane skill sets, who are looking for a new home. What I
need from your people are temporary accommodations and food until these people
can get themselves back on their own feet. I’m not exaggerating when I say that
these people represent the cream of the scientific elite of the System States
Union. That’s quite an asset for a relatively low population colony like
Midgard. Over to you, Sir.”

Ogawa’s
reply shocked Drake. “No, no! That’s not going to happen. You can set up your
shipyard base in the volcano if you wish. I can’t stop you from doing that, but
I’m not prepared to accept responsibility for the welfare of seventy-seven
hundred new colonists. The destruction of Earth has caused all kinds of
disruption to Midgard’s economy, legal system, etc. We’re only now getting back
to a normal level of functioning. We’ve had to set up our own currency. Food
stocks are still in short supply as a result of the economic chaos that
paralyzed our industry and agricultural sectors. Another seventy-seven hundred
mouths to feed just isn’t fair to our own people, some of whom are still going
to bed hungry. Over to you.”

Drake
was stunned. A flat out refusal wasn’t a scenario that he had considered or
prepared for, and this blasted 44 second round trip light speed lag wasn’t
helping either. With no sign of Leviathan, it appeared to be safe to take his
cruisers down into Midgard’s hyper-zone to a low orbit where communication
would be lag-free, and the trip down would give him time to come up with a
carefully-considered response.

“I’d
like to continue this discussion after I bring my ships into a low orbit so
that we can talk without this annoying lag. I’ll contact you again in a few
hours, CEO Ogawa. Drake clear.”

When
Europa and the other two cruisers finally settled into a low, geo-synchronous
orbit over the Midgard Colony, Drake had his response ready. CEO Ogawa’s
communications people took a long time to respond to the renewed request for
communications. When Ogawa finally did come back on the line, he didn’t wait
for Drake to speak.

“Look,
Fleet Commander Drake, there’s really no point in continuing this discussion.
There’s no room in our situation here on Midgard for any flexibility on this
issue. We don’t have enough food for another seventy-seven hundred colonists!
Not right now anyway. A year from now we should be okay if our next harvest is
as good as we hope, but that’s six months away. Nothing you could say will
change my mind. Midgard clear.”

Drake
looked at his Com Technician who shook his head. “They’ve broken the
connection, Sir.”

“They
may not be transmitting, but they might still be listening. Keep our side
transmitting. CEO Ogawa, if you’re still listening, I have a solution that will
not make your food situation worse. In fact, it might actually help your
situation too. I’m asking you to resume two-way communication. Over to you.”
Drake waited for a reply, but after a full minute of silence he decided Ogawa
still wasn’t going to answer.

Drake
quickly stepped over to the Communications Station and leaned over the Com
Technicians shoulder. “Are we still transmitting?” he asked in a voice so low
it was almost a whisper. The Com Tech nodded. “Good. Keep it open. I’m going to
try a little bluff,” whispered Drake.

“Those
people down there don’t realize how determined I am to make Midgard the center
of a new multi-planet political entity. I’m not taking no for an answer, but
since they’re no longer listening, maybe we need to do something to get their
attention. Weapons Officer! I want you to prepare a sub-kiloton warhead missile
for an air-burst detonation five kilometers over the center of the colony.
We’ll see how well they like having to cope with all their electronics fried
from the EMP effects,” said Drake in a louder than normal voice and in a
menacing tone. The W.O. smiled. He knew that they didn’t have a sub-kiloton
warhead, but he played along.

“Sub-kiloton
warhead missile is ready in missile tube number one, Fleet Commander!”

Before
Drake could say anything, they heard Ogawa’s panic-stricken voice. “Sorry for
the unplanned interruption in communications, Fleet Commander. I’d be glad to
hear your proposal.” Drake hoped Ogawa didn’t hear the laughter of the Bridge
personnel.

“During
our descent, I took the time to take a close look at the surface of Midgard. I
can see why your Colony was established in that particular valley, but I also
noticed that it’s not close to the ocean. There is, however, a decent-sized
island off the west coast that is closer to the dormant volcano than the Colony
is. This island has what appears to be lots of arable land, fresh water and
timber, and it has a natural harbor that’s perfect for large scale fishing. What
I’m proposing is that my seventy-seven hundred refugees settle on that island.
We have sufficient surplus rations on board to last long enough to build
fishing vessels if we had some help. So if you can convince some of your
engineers and woodworkers to help us get our settlement going and get some
fishing vessels built, we’ll pay for that labor with fish to help feed the rest
of your people. Over the longer term, our fish exports will allow us to pay for
the services of some engineering people that the volcano base will need. As I
see it, this arrangement will benefit both communities.”