Assault: The Globur Incursion Book 6, page 17
Papaganis chewed his lower lip as he thought. “If we know the nature of the hull material, and we can guess that all their hulls are similar, then we can fix the emissivity of the material and calculate the absorption wavelength.”
“That’s right,” replied Lilly enthusiastically. “We should be able to shift the wavelength of the Fleet lasers toward the absorption spectrum and make them more effective.”
Papaganis’ eyes lit up. “There’s actually a project working on that. If we can provide the data, then they should be able to target the absorption spectrum so that the laser energy actually penetrates the hull and does damage. Can you get the findings to me on the absorption spectrum?”
Lilly nodded. “I’m running multiple simulations. I already sent some findings over to some project looking for some sort of ablative armor technology, and they seemed very interested. Although, I have no idea what an assault pod is. I should have focused results tomorrow. I was just getting ready to leave. Homer says he has some important news.”
“Huh. Well, there is a lot of military activity around the yard. More than usual,” replied Papaganis. “That data will help in the final design of those pods they asked us to consult on. They are being built to drop marines onto a hostile planet.”
Lily paled.
“Any advantage we can give those planetary assault pods would be appreciated by the marines – even Homer,” Mick finished with a wink.
“I worry about him, Mick,” Lilly said as she stared at the bulkhead of the lab. “He always says he’s safe, and now that he’s a sergeant major that he will be behind the lines or something. Thing is, he’s told me stories of his old sergeant major and how she was always in the thick of things.”
Mick Papaganis felt his face melt into a warm smile as he put his hand on Lilly’s shoulder. She looked up at him. “Homer has come back from a lot of bad situations. He’s a survivor. I don’t think anything could keep him from coming back to you.”
Lilly nodded and stood up. “Thanks, Mick. Homer’s a complicated man, but sometimes he’s just like a young boy. He wants to protect me and always says things were no big deal, and then I hear the citation for his medals. It scares me.”
“Homer isn’t in a gentle business, but it’s clear he can take care of himself. I don’t think the Fleet is going to let a bona fide hero be lost. Maybe you better get going. The time you spend together is precious.”
Lilly smiled and shrugged off her lab coat. “See you tomorrow, Mick. With the absorption spectrum data.”
“Alright, Lilly,” replied Papaganis, waving at her departing back.
Lilly was quickly through security since she had been at the lab for months, and everyone knew her. She got special deference from the Marines once they had heard that she was cohabitating with the legendary Sergeant Major Sanderson. That had bothered her at first, but she got used to it.
She hopped the next lift and tried to relax as she sped toward her destination. She scanned the newsfeeds, but there was nothing about any Fleet activity other than the usual stories about holding the line on the rim.
If Homer has news, I suspect it won’t be good, she thought. With all this activity in the Fleet yards ramping up from what was already a fever pitch? It can only mean a deployment. I wonder how much time we have?
She was jolted out of her thoughts as her neural implant pinged her to say she was arriving near her quarters. Well, hers and Homer’s.
The door recognized her as she approached and let her in.
Homer was sitting in his favorite chair, and he jumped up when she came in. Lilly smiled. “How is my big Blue Meanie today?”
Chapter 18
Vice Admiral Stukov was glad he had augmentation. The past week had been exhausting. The Senate oversight committee resolved that the Fleet should liberate the Mongolia system and the planet Khan. In real terms, the Fleet had little choice but to do the bidding of the committee. The grand admiral just got to choose how they did that. He did not like it, and that was a sentiment shared by the rest of the general staff.
Grand Admiral Medici had considered taking the matter to the Senate proper or to the president, but the political sentiment was one where the politicians wanted some actual good news. Not just a few minor victories.
Most senators only knew there was some sort of skirmish on the rim, and that the enemy was being held. The empire was vast. It was easy to suppress news about the loss of a few systems on the rim. And even when rumor leaked, as the PFP was fond of doing, the leadership of the core planets did not especially care about planets and systems that were so far away, and so underpopulated.
Then there were the senators who had come to believe that the Fleet started the whole thing. Some even whispered that this was all a ploy, a cunning plan to keep the Fleet relevant and get more resources when the Senate talked of cuts. No major or mainstream system had been threatened so far, and that was unlikely in the near future given the current rate of Globur advance. A rate of advance that had been slowed with the cost of countless lives and the loss of virtually all the Fleet’s combat power.
The Fleet putting up resistance to resolutions from the Senate would not end well. For anyone.
How simple it used to be, thought Stukov. Three task forces, doing tours and exercises. Virtually every ship in service before the incursion started had since been lost. Only the modified ships of TF2 that had been involved in that major incident with the People for Peace remained in service from that time.
The PFP continued to spew their poison through intermediaries after they were declared a terrorist organization and outlawed. The peace activists were more influential now than they had ever been. How in hell did we let that happen? Stukov thought angrily. Now we must fight to get the resources just to save lives on imperial worlds, and our own lives in the Fleet.
Worse, the PFP were spreading a conspiracy theory that the augmentation for Fleet personnel was turning them into mindless government storm troopers who could be unleashed on an unsuspecting population. That had led to some incidents between Fleet personnel and civilians on Albion Prime.
Stukov and Medici had discussed restricting all Fleet personnel to the Fleet yards, but they had been reluctant to do it. It would stop the incidents, but Fleet personnel had a right to enjoy the freedoms they had sacrificed for. They needed an opportunity to unwind. And, bluntly, they needed to get the civilian population used to them. There was no going back from the augmentation. It could never be removed.
Stukov stared through his holodisplay as it scrolled readiness reports for the ships in TF16 and TF17. It was night, Fleet time. The office lights were dim, and he had almost forgotten he was not alone.
“This is really premium bullshit. They aren’t ready,” came a gravelly voice from the hulking form at the conference table in Stukov’s office. General Pullman shot Stukov a look of disgust.
Stukov shrugged. “It is, but we have our uh, - expectations. We need to get a departure date—a hard date for the grand admiral so he can tell the oversight committee. They’re pressing him, and we can’t stall anymore.”
“Nothing is impossible, for the people who don’t have to do it themselves,” grunted Pullman. “The Marines haven’t done a planetary assault since the Cyborg Wars. That was over 300 years ago. That was before the combat suits! I looked at some of the recordings from those battles. The Marines were not prepared for fighting human cyborgs, so we had to develop the suits. And then everyone was terrified we were turning Marines into cyborgs back then. It seems history is repeating itself.” Pullman drummed his fingers on the table. “Although,” he continued philosophically, “at least we do not have to rely on assault shuttles to get to the surface like we have done in the past.’ He shook his head. “Back then, the imperial government was in a panic then and yet still did what it had to.”
“Now we fight for the resources to stop the Globur,” Stukov finished the thought.
“My Marines have only had a few months to train,” bitched Pullman. He was just as tired as Stukov. “The damn planetary assault division didn’t even exist three months ago. I need more time. My Marines need more time. The assault transports are brand new, sent here direct from the yards. We’re still doing acceptance inspections. We’re cranking out new model suits as fast as we can, and we still haven’t equipped all the Marine garrisons on the rim. We had to hold suits back to equip the planetary assault division.”
Stukov gave a weary smile. “I had to commission, load, and provision 32 ships that still have yard people on board completing final installations or adjusting equipment. We won’t have any shakedown cruises before they go into the teeth of the enemy. The new quantum torpedoes are in production, but it is very unlikely that we will be able to load out any of the ships before they depart. However, depart they must. We serve the people, and that means serving the government and its whims.”
“Particularly when a certain senator has a cousin, another senator, who just lost his entire system,” replied Pullman sarcastically.
“What we need to figure out is how we mount the attack on the system so that we don’t expose the assault transports to enemy fire and the Fleet formations minimize losses.”
Pullman waved his holodisplay to inactivity. “I’ve given that some thought. Since we are going to commit three task forces to this mission, we have a few options we wouldn’t normally have. The plan has them all arriving from different vectors into a formation where they can mutually support each other with their heavy lasers and quantum cannon. It makes it unlikely that even two Globur battlegroups could successfully intercept all three task forces. Still, at least one of our task forces will suffer some heavy losses. However, it occurs to me that a Marine assault transport carries an entire battalion of Marines and has a mass similar to a cruiser.”
“You want to use the assault force to spoof the Globur into thinking there’s a fourth task force inbound?” asked Stukov. “I like the idea. It gives us a force multiplier—at least in the minds of the Globur.”
“Well, the original plan,” continued Pullman, “called for the assault force to come in behind the task forces, but that could expose them to quantum cannon and missile fire. The transports do have defensive weapons, including the newer point-defense clusters, but they are designed to deliver a bunch of Marines, and some supplies, to a planetary surface. That’s all. No offensive weaponry. Doctrine has always required they have an escort, and that requires the Fleet to control local space. During the Cyborg Wars, that wasn’t much of an issue. Now, we really need Fleet protection to get to the planet.”
Stukov rose from behind his desk. He slid into a seat at the conference table and brought up the system assault plan on the holodisplay. “We are fully committed on this one,” Stukov said as the display zoomed out from the system to show the proposed vectors for the three task forces that would assault the Mongolia system.
The vectors for TF14, 16, and 17 converged on an area light-years short of the Mongolia system. The assault would be directly at Khan, so it wasn’t hidden by the sun. With a gesture, Stukov added the vector for the Marine assault group. “How much of a delay do you think you need after the first three task forces transition just outside the system?”
“Thirty minutes,” Pullman shot back. “We’re going in, no matter what. The velocity carried by the task forces will move the battle away from us. If we come in at a slightly lower velocity, we should have a clear shot at the planet. The task forces can clear the path.”
“You realize you may deposit an entire division onto the planet and then be cut off?” asked Stukov. “Our recent reconnaissance shows that there were two battle groups in the system. Engaging them right after transition out of quantum drive will make things about even as they get their licks in first.”
“Everyone knows the risks,” replied Pullman lightly. “If the Globur regain control of local space, they’ll probably hunt down the Marines and wipe them out with kinetic strikes—if they can find them. The Marine platoon on the contact planet managed to evade detection until they attacked. Besides, kinetic strikes are great unless the enemy is in close proximity. I guess in that case, we’ll learn if the Globur will kill their own just to get to us.”
Stukov cocked his head slightly as he regarded Pullman. “We gave the mobilization order a day ago. Forty-eight hours’ notice to move.”
Pullman nodded. “I gave the order for the Marines at the same time. That means all their gear should be loaded on the transports, and the Marines will be standing by in garrison for the order to board. I expect the entire division will be ready to mobilize within six hours. There was some issue loading the newer weapons on the transports since they weren’t designed to carry them, but we found a way.”
“I’ll tell the grand admiral we will be ready to get underway in 36 hours. We need to brief the task force commanders and the Marine divisional commander in,” Stukov checked the time, “say 24 hours?”
“Agreed,” replied Pullman.
“I still have to find a commander for TF14,” Stukov pointed out.
“I’m sure you know just the person—and a convenient one too,” replied Pullman slyly.
“Indeed, I do,” replied Stukov. “That’s the easy part, and why I haven’t gotten to it sooner.”
Pullman studied the attack plan. “I can’t believe we’re about to undertake a planetary assault with a bunch of green Marines and a bunch of new, untested equipment. And to do that, we have to throw every warship we have into a waiting enemy that will see them coming.”
“Ours not to reason why,” replied Stukov, with an old quote.
“Ours but to do and die,” finished Pullman gravely.
***
“Another task force? This attack seems ill-advised,” Pang said acidly. “We barely escaped the Mongolia system with our lives.”
Rear Admiral Simmons nodded beside her in a conference room located in the Gateway control complex. Vice Admiral Stukov’s holopresence simply shrugged.
“It’s not the best strategy. That’s a given. However, it was the course strongly suggested by the Senate oversight committee,” Stukov pointed out. “TF14 doesn’t have a commander since Rear Admiral Brown has assumed command of TF16,” Stukov continued lightly. “That makes you up to bat, Rear Admiral Pang.”
Pang did not seem at all surprised. “I would rather not leave Dixmude, but she’s so heavily damaged. There isn’t much of TF13 left.”
“We’ve dispatched some new sword-class destroyers to replace yours, as all the older tidal class are being retired. Some of those are still new, I know, but based on the after-action reports, we needed a tougher destroyer class. The new sword class has heavier armor, shields, better laser batteries, and a more powerful gravity drive.”
“I’d be happy to take on the command of TF14,” replied Pang.
“It was our original intention to use TF16 and TF17 in an offensive operation and hold TF14 in reserve for the foreseeable future, but the nature of assaulting a planetary system is a new one to us, and we feel we need every ship. The recent reconnaissance was successful and confirmed that the two battlegroups that jumped you are still in the system. That means a hot reception.”
“Hold on,” interjected Simmons. “You’re stripping Gateway bare of its ships?”
Stukov sighed. “I’m afraid that’s unavoidable, Simmons, based on the Senate’s orders. You still have the remains of TF13.”
“Which are all in the yards being assessed for repair.” Simons pointed out. “Gateway is our strategic advantage in this sector. There’s no other facility that could replace it, especially now.”
“Agreed,” replied Stukov, slightly annoyed. “I fully understand Gateway will be at risk, as does the Grand Admiral. However, so far, we’ve been successful in keeping Gateway a secret from the Globur. Their ability to detect and track ships in quantum drive obviously has a range, much as ours does. We believe the risk of an attack on Gateway is minimal. Besides... Gateway is the first destination for the new quantum torpedoes.”
That brought Pang back into the conversation. “The important question is will they arrive in time to equip TF14?” she asked.
“We don’t know at this point,” replied Stukov, waving his hand dismissively. “The production has started. The first shipments will go out as soon as possible, but it will be small, maybe a few hundred torpedoes. If they arrive in time—and that’s a big if—you and Simmons will have to discuss how they are distributed.”
Simmons shook his head. “Of course, they would go to TF14. The Globur would take a while to get here, if they found out about us. The next shipment would likely make it in time. As Gateway sits now, we could probably repel an assault by a single Globur battlegroup.”
Stukov shrugged. “I had no doubt. Now, Rear Admiral Pang, time is short, and I expect that you will want to bring some of your people over to TF14. You won’t lose any crew when you send your destroyers back to the Albion system. The ferry crews will simply drop off the new ships and bring the old ones back. The new ones actually need a few less crew. Any captains that you may have surplus will be sent back to the Albion system. We’re scraping the barrel for command officers for TF18. We’re a long way from seeing that task force become operational—unless Dixmude can be saved. Carriers take so much longer to build than battleships.”
“Alright, sir. I’ll get going on TF14.” Pang replied with a grim frown clouding her features after being reminded of the damage to Dixmude. “We should be settled out within a few days and standing by for your orders.”
“Good,” Stukov said. “We’re a day away from giving the word. The assault will be synchronized. You’ll need to rendezvous with TF16, 17, and the Marine assault group. This operation involves a lot of ships. The Globur aren’t going to let you in easy,” Stukov said gravely. “Ready your task force, Rear Admiral Pang. I’ll be in touch very soon.”
