The Desert of Stars (The Human Reach) (3 page)

It was also she who declined to deliver a coup de grace on
the ship. Video from the battle clearly showed three missiles, launched by
Qin’s ship, self-destructing as they approached the disabled
Truman
,
affording survival to two hundred American personnel.

Mercy.
She showed mercy to a defeated enemy
,
Neil thought, feeling a brief, melancholy sense of kinship
.
He found a
paper, published in a public Chinese military journal, in which Qin chided the
authors of another paper, a group of Army colonels, for
caojianrenming
–
“regarding life as worthless as a straw.”

“We lead men and women, not machines,” Qin wrote. “And we
will fight women and men, not machines. We cannot regard doctrine as we would a
computer program, to be debugged until it is perfect.”

She’s quite the contrarian to standard Chinese policy.
Will she fight like we do? Or some other way we don’t expect?

Neil had joined
Apache
’s crew eight weeks prior, following
several months at U.S. Space Command in geosynchronous orbit over Earth. There,
he had undergone formal training to be a shipboard Space Force intelligence
officer – an odd experience, given he, unlike his classmates, had served in
that capacity in his first assignment on the destroyer
San Jacinto
, whose
original intel officer had been badly wounded in a battle. He had also advised
a team of programmers and engineers on ways to counter China’s key
technological advantage in the war: beam cruisers that mounted huge ultraviolet
lasers able to damage a spacecraft at ten thousand kilometers, well beyond the
range at which most vessels could fight back.

Japan and the United States were still working to match that
capability, and other efforts had focused on ways to disable the Chinese lasers
at such long ranges. The most effective weapon against lasers was a smaller,
automated laser turret, called a counterbattery, built to shoot out the fragile
optics of an attacking laser, but typical counterbatteries lacked the range to
hit the long-range Chinese weapons. His contribution consisted of helping
develop doctrine for the team’s best defense: tying a warship’s main offensive
lasers into the fast-acting counterbattery system. Although a few physical modifications
were required in each ship, the counter primarily consisted of a software
package that allowed the counterbattery computer to take over and activate the
main lasers. It was an imperfect fix: Counterbattery lasers fired only in
response to an enemy laser hit, so the shot required the defending warship to
risk serious damage. Moreover, the warship had to have its main lasers –
typically mounted on the nose of the ship – facing the beam cruiser when it
took that hit.

Neil, who had seen the threat from the Chinese beam cruisers
firsthand, had been frustrated at the small size and limited resources provided
to the team trying to combat it, but the project was one attempt to adapt among
many. The war had taught hard lessons, paid for in ships and blood. Both sides
were refitting their ships with extra armor around their antimatter storage
rings; too many warships had died to a lucky laser shot or kinetic fragment that
had forced some antimatter to crash into regular matter, igniting a fatal
explosion.

China, too, had correctly predicted that a widespread space
war would destroy ships far faster than they could be replaced. Most shipyards
had been above Earth, the war’s deadliest battleground, and had been destroyed during
fighting over the high orbits. Only the big neutrals, like Europe, Russia,
India and Brazil, still held theirs; for the belligerents, smaller yards around
colony planets were the only way to replace lost ships. China had also used particle
beams and marines to capture several American and Japanese ships, and the
allies were waiting to see one of their own hulls returned to action against
them.

China’s preparations had dashed hopes that the war would be
quickly concluded after the Space Force smashed a Chinese fleet at the Battle
of Kennedy Station last June. China and her Korean allies had been forced to
abandon Earth orbit, and the main American and Japanese forces were blockading
the Middle Kingdom’s access to space. But the blockade hadn’t ended the war:
China still controlled the mining platforms above Saturn and Uranus and the
antimatter farms near Mercury, forcing the allies to import vital fusion fuel
from other star systems. And Beijing could communicate with its colonies and
extrasolar fleets via its Sol-Sirius wormhole.

Nor had China given up the initiative. Her fleets and
armies had attacked the alliance across every wormhole link that connected its
space to theirs: Earlier in the war, they had captured the American continent
on Kuan Yin. They were threatening the Japanese colony on Hoshigawa and the
British colony on Entente.
All we have to do is grab a single wormhole chain
to potentially habitable worlds, and we can sue for peace. But the Chinese have
attacked us on every front, tying us up, preventing us from going on the
offensive.

Gan Ying
captured her first prize four days later.

NEW YORK CITY – Prices of raw materials cartridges for
industrial fabrication units increased by an average of 4.1 percent in the
fourth quarter, outpacing inflation and raising fears of broad price increases
for manufactured goods. Retail prices for home fab unit cartridges were up 4.8
percent, a spike that could force many families to curtail production of a
variety of goods. Analysts blamed the war for the rapid increases, noting that many
of the raw materials used in the cartridges are imported from extraction operations
in Africa and Asia, and the risk of sea transport to North American ports has
sent transit insurance costs skyrocketing.

HMS Ajax, Wolf 359

“I am quite open to ideas,” Commodore Duncan Metcalf
assured his audience.

A gloomy silence met his entreaty. Everyone had hoped his
summons meant he would unveil his master plan for victory against the oncoming
Gan
Ying
, but he clearly had no more idea what to do than the rest of the escort
officers sharing his cramped briefing room. Even the distant Japanese frigate
Kiyokaze,
patched in via comms laser, had nothing to offer.

Though still only a bright star in their sky,
Gan Ying
was
coming for them. Captain Qin had already put prize crews on three space trains,
costing the allies their cargoes of rations, ammunition and combat skytrucks. But
she passed on the others, preserving her remass to fight her way to the main
convoy.

“Can we go after the tender?”
Ajax
’s first lieutenant
asked. Destroying
Gan Ying
’s support vessel, known only to the convoy as
Whiskey-15, would prevent the cruiser from replenishing its propellant before
the battle.

“No,” Metcalf said. “Already considered and discarded. That
would provide
Gan Ying
the option of attacking the convoy without the full
escort present to defend it.”

The meeting returned to silence. Neil fought with himself. The
unspoken option grated on him. It was so obviously
there
; he had to say
it, so they could at least discuss it.

“Sir, I’m not necessarily endorsing this, but we could give
up one of the troop transports,” he said, the words coming in a rush. “Offload
as many of the troops as possible, then set it up on a vector that the
Gan
Ying
would have to intercept it. The time it would take to secure the
vessel would allow the rest of the convoy to escape. Obviously, it would be a
volunteer …”

“Unthinkable,” Metcalf growled, and Neil knew he had made a
mistake. “What if the enemy simply destroyed the troopship and continued his
pursuit of the rest of us?”

“Sir, Captain Qin has behaved quite honorably and given
quarter in the past. I expect she would do it again.”

“You seem quite ready to risk the lives of hundreds or more
good British soldiers on your expectation, Lieutenant,” the commodore snarled.
“I would expect that from our Japanese allies, but not you. I do wonder if you
would be so cavalier with your own countrymen.”

No one rose to Neil’s defense, and he shrunk in his seat.
It
was just an idea
. But it had been out of bounds to even suggest. Anxiety
spun up within him …
What will the Brits think of me? What if the troops
hear what I suggested? Did I just hurt the war effort by pissing off an ally?

It occurred to him to save face by volunteering to go on the
sacrificial troopship, but Captain Heron of the
Edmonton
, one of the few
Canadian ships that had seen action since her country entered the war late in
the prior year, was already speaking. “It seems we have two sets of decisions.
Do we separate from the convoy or wait for
Gan Ying
to reach us? And
when we fight, do we approach from one, two or three vectors?”

Neil remained silent for the remainder of the discussion,
too worried any attempt to speak would be again shouted down. By the end,
Metcalf’s decision was clear: The escorts would leave the convoy and take the
fight to the
Gan Ying
.

USS Apache

Neil watched as
Edmonton
’s lateral thrusters
fired, and the ship began a slow pivot that would take her away from the other
escorts. The Canadian was the heaviest of the three frigates, and she would
intercept the
Gan Ying
from one direction, while
Ajax
and
Apache
would thrust later, and approach from two other vectors, with the intention of attacking
the Chinese cruiser at the same time. This would, Commodore Metcalf hoped, force
Captain Qin into a difficult choice; like all warships,
Gan Ying
’s
heaviest armor and primary laser optics faced forward, where the roughly
cylindrical ship had its smallest profile. To concentrate her firepower on one
ship, she would have to expose her vulnerable flanks to the others. But the
cruiser carried three coilgun turrets, all on belts that rotated around her
hull, and she could use them to keep the other escorts at bay. Although the gun
shells weren’t difficult to avoid at long ranges, they created a hazardous
obstacle course, requiring you to dodge and pull your own main laser from the target.

Gan Ying
did not visibly respond to
Edmonton’s
maneuver;
the cruiser’s long white fusion flame remained pointed somewhere ahead of the
troopships’ vector as she decelerated to intercept them. Metcalf and his intel
officer believed Qin would follow Chinese doctrine, ignore the escorts and
drive for the troopships, racing to get into missile range while holding off
the escorts’ attacks with her defenses.

Neil disagreed. Qin would want the escorts first, so she
could wipe out the convoy at leisure. And sending the escorts off in three
directions presented a risk … Neil wondered how to parlay his belief into restoring
some of his standing.
Damn it, why do I have to play politics? My work can
help this convoy!

It was several hours before the vessels closed to fighting
range. They would all leave their vulnerable cooling fins out for as long as
safely possible; every second with the fins retracted was a second more that
the heat sinks filled up, a second less each ship could fight.

When the
Gan Ying
was about fifteen thousand
kilometers distant, Neil decided to make a play, to at least earn back some
respect on his own ship.

“Captain, Whiskey-12 is at the point where she could
maximize her engagement time with
Edmonton
before we can assist. I think
she’s going to break shortly,” he said.

Howell interjected, “That’s not what
Ajax
thinks.”

Neil had to restrain himself from saying anything.
The
captain knows what
Ajax
thinks. The XO’s just playing his usual power
games and trying to embarrass me in front of the CIC crew.

Captain Hernandez just nodded, his eyes on his console
screen.

Neil saw the maneuver begin a few seconds before the sensor
tech announced it.

“Whiskey-12 has cut off primary drive. Ship appears to be
re-orienting. Primary drive re-activated,” the tech said. A pause. “Whiskey-12 now
lined up to intercept
Edmonton.
”

The comms chief said, “Signal from
Ajax
. Adjust
heading to intercept Whiskey-12, thrust one hundred fifty milligees.”

Now Qin had put Metcalf in a difficult position: The
commodore had to accelerate to assist
Edmonton
before
Gan Ying
turned
her into a hulk, but burning too much remass would leave them unable to
maneuver once combat was joined. At 150 milligees, they would be in range in
less than two hours, but
Edmonton
would be on her own until then.

Neil could feel the tension rise in the CIC as everyone
became aware of the small measure of weight imparted by the acceleration. The petty
officer seated next to him kept touching an image of his wife and children
taped to his console screen. Howell repeatedly instructed officers and crew
alike how to do jobs they already knew how to do. Hernandez was largely silent,
except for occasional coughs.

Neil flipped on a small, battery-powered fan at his console
station, and thought of the dead officer it once belonged to.

An hour later – still well beyond weapons range of
Apache
and
Ajax
–
Gan Ying
fired a salvo at
Edmonton.
Coilgun
shells filled much of the frigate’s sky, forcing her to turn to avoid what
would be a crippling blow.
Gan Ying
‘s primary laser burned into her
exposed flank, wrecking her only gun turret and jumper bay. Flechettes from several
missiles burrowed into her hull. One sliced through the CIC, killing several of
the ship’s officers in a spray of plasma.
Edmonton
still managed to fire
off a barrage of missiles, but
Gan Ying
shot them down.

Neil watched the beatdown playing out on the volumetric
image at the front of
Apache
’s CIC. He let his mind defocus and watched
the patterns of movement made by the vector markers – ships, missiles, drones,
coilgun salvoes.

That’s odd.
He focused again, watched. Saw it.

He messaged his opposite number on the
Ajax,
a
caustic Yorkshireman named Kerr.

LTJG MERCER (APACHE): THEIR COILGUN ROUNDS ARE FLYING DUMB.

LT KERR (AJAX): CHECKING … CONFIRMED. SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG
WITH THEIR LOADOUT. BAD MANEUVER FUEL OR SOFTWARE PROBLEMS, UNLESS YOU GOT INTO
THEIR ELECTRONICS SOMEHOW?

LTJG MERCER (APACHE): NEGATIVE.

LT KERR (AJAX): WE DIDN’T EITHER, AND I IMAGINE THE ED IS A
LITTLE BUSY TO HAVE DONE SO. I’LL INFORM THE COMMODORE. GOOD FIND.

Neil thought for a moment. Coilgun shells had a minimum of
fuel, enough to allow them to turn toward a dodging target. They weren’t nearly
as maneuverable as missiles, but ships carried hundreds of them. The fuel
couldn’t be removed easily for other uses. While Kerr’s suppositions seemed to
fit, Qin was far too competent a captain for such a shoddy mistake. And she was
pummeling
Edmonton
just fine without the guidance …

LTJG MERCER (APACHE): IS IT POSSIBLE THEY ARE LAUNCHING THEM
DUMB ON PURPOSE?

Kerr didn’t respond.

Shortly: “
Ajax
signals 350 milligees,”
Apache’s
comm
chief said.

Real weight, now, at a massive expenditure of remass.
Ajax
and
Apache
would close rapidly, threatening a high-speed pass on the
Gan Ying.
A tactic of the Japanese, it entailed significant risk: Even tiny
masses such as coilgun rounds would do great damage at such differences in
speed. But rounds that couldn’t maneuver were less of a threat, at least until
they drew closer.

After a time, Kerr messaged back:

LT KERR (AJAX): SORRY, WAS CONSULTING WITH THE COMMODORE. I
CAN’T IMAGINE WHY THE PRICKS WOULD SHUT OFF THE MANEUVERING CAPABILITIES OF
THEIR SHELLS. THEY’RE OUT TO KILL US, YOU KNOW.

Still, Neil worried.
If those shells actually work …

He took another chance: “Captain, we should be ready for
those coilgun shells to suddenly start guiding themselves.”

As
Ajax
and
Apache
raced toward
Gan Ying
’s
flanks, the cruiser’s turrets swiveled away from the hapless
Edmonton
.

“Warning, zombie, zombie, incoming coilgun rounds!” the CIC
caller shouted. Covering kilometers in a second, they closed the distance to
the oncoming frigates rapidly.

“Evasive maneuvers,” Hernandez ordered. “Bring in the
cooling fins. Point defenses online.”

Neil watched the radar tracks closely …
Oh no. Qin’s
played us.
As the frigates altered their courses to dodge, telltale bursts
of gas emerged from the side of each shell, followed by a second from its tail.
They were matching the frigates’ evasive maneuvers, and both
Ajax
and
Apache
would take hits unless their defenses could shoot all the incoming rounds down.
Their dual charge was broken, after a fashion: Most of their velocity was still
directed toward the
Gan Ying
, but now both frigates were turning and fighting
to survive.

“Antimissiles!” Howell shouted.

As the small missiles arced away from
Apache,
lasers
began playing across the field of incoming shells. Small explosions rewarded
the laser operators: Each marked one less shell that could hit their vessel.
But one forty-kilo shell kept coming …

“We’re going to catch one,” said
Apache
’s operations
officer, a stout, choleric woman named Carruth.

In a last-minute attempt to dodge, the frigate’s
anti-collision software ordered a blast from the vector thrusters on the hull,
but the shell hit
Apache
amidships, directly on the primary gun turret. It
was torn loose and tumbled away. The belt that rotated it around the ship
ripped and split, and half of it began trailing alongside the ship, attached only
by a thread of rent metal.

Neil
felt
the impact ring through the ship. The
volumetric display at the front of CIC scrambled for a second, a static of blue
and red, then reset itself, but it was a credit to
Apache
’s builders
that the lights didn’t flicker and the consoles didn’t crash.

“The captain!”

Everyone in CIC looked toward his console. Hernandez was unmoving,
his body limp against the straps of his seat, although there no was no blood or
injury visible. The ops officer began to unstrap herself from her seat to go
help him.

Howell pushed off from his own console and grabbed a
handhold. “Everyone stay where you are,” he barked. “The captain’s incapacitated.
Romero, take him down to sickbay. The rest of you, eyes forward; we’re in a
battle, for god’s sake.” In that long moment, the CIC crew came to terms with
Lieutenant Commander Howell – the one, in private moments, they called “the
asshole”– taking command of the ship. It was a blink in real time, but Neil
sensed it pass.
Can he get us through this?