Assault: The Globur Incursion Book 6, page 7
Medici nodded his agreement. “I have thought about that, but what about the Chard system? We destroyed their attack force there, and yet they are clearly going after the Mongolia system.”
Pullman drew a deep breath. “Yessir, had thought about that, too. I’m a ground pounder, but it seems to me that the interception of the Globur force in the Markus Nebula may be viewed as a lucky happenstance by the Globur. They may not know we have better quantum-drive detectors, and the second battle was actually inside the Mongolia system. From their perspective, it could have been a deliberate ambush. They may not be aware that we have a task force looping back and forth through both systems.”
“That may be, Pullman,” Medici said thoughtfully. “The logic is sound, but we simply do not understand how they think.”
Pullman leaned back in his chair, putting an arm on the table as he looked directly at Stukov. “That’s true. It may also be that they find Khan a better target than Taht in the Chard system. We can’t know for sure.”
“You are here to discuss what your Marines can do if the system is lost,” Medici observed.
“I am, sir,” Pullman confirmed. “The garrison is sizable and has recently been re-equipped with the latest model combat suits and assault rifles. Lieutenant Colonel Blucher’s losses assisting TF13 have been made good and then some. There is an entire battalion. Six hundred strong. The governor leveraged the attack to get more heavy weapons and supplies than they would normally be entitled to, as well. The garrison is based in Ulaan, Khan’s largest city.”
Pullman's wide shoulders moved slightly in a shrug. “They cannot oppose a landing, but they could gather some valuable intel for us. The battalion can be totally self-sufficient for at least a year. They could conduct a campaign of harassment if the Globurs land. We know so little about what happens when they take a system. I thought we could set up a small probe on the edge of the system that my Marines could beam data to every few days. Narrow beam. A small, fast ship could do a flyby and download the data every month or so.”
“That could prove valuable, General,” replied Medici thoughtfully. “If a ship has no intention of staying or entering the system, it can go by at high velocity, making an intercept difficult. We haven’t had much luck with any sort of reconnaissance. Stukov and I have discussed something like your plan. If the ship kept its distance from the system, it could work. Do you think the entire battalion could evade detection?”
The Marine general grunted. “That’s what we do, sir. My Marines are already preparing to deploy to a pre-selected location so they can evade detection. They are currently assisting the government in maintaining order during the evacuation. The estimate for the Globur to arrive is over 20 hours away. They can be at their hide location and powered down inside an hour.”
“They could take key government officials with them,” pointed out Stukov.
Pullman grinned at the thought. “Governor Jamyangiin has made it clear he is not leaving Khan and that he has his own plans if the planet is invaded.”
“I wonder if we could use one of the probes that TF15 put in place to give them an update in case the system FTL communications network was destroyed?” Medici thought aloud. “There are about a dozen, so at least some should survive. The best part is that they are all outside the quantum limit so that the ship grabbing the data doesn’t have to get too close. It could even transition past the system and grab the data as it sped away. If we make sure the Marine garrison knows where they are, then we can have them link to those probes every few days or so with whatever intelligence they have.”
“I will see to it, sir. My Marines will go to ground and go dark in 19 hours or so, sooner if the Globur arrive before that. I will update their orders right away.” The general stood.
“Thank you, Pullman,” said Medici. “This may be the best opportunity we’ve had yet to get a look at what happens if we lose the system. The information will be invaluable if we ever want to mount an operation to take these systems back.”
Pullman nodded. “The Marines will be ready, sir. The new planetary assault transports have already been delivered. All of our assault shuttles are also ready to go. We have six divisions of Marines allocated for planetary assault. So far, only one is almost operational. Some only exist as a concept at this point.”
“Let’s hope we get them into action soon,” Stukov added. “Right now, we have to see what we can do to save the Mongolia system.”
Pullman stood and saluted. “I have matters to attend to, sirs. Thank you for your time.”
Medici stood and returned the salute. “Carry on, General. And keep me informed. We should all get together in 18 hours or so to make sure we have done all that we can before the Globur assault the Mongolia system.”
Pullman nodded and headed for the hatch. Once it closed behind him, Medici sat back down heavily. He looked at the holodisplay of the Mongolia system. He took control and pulled up the plot of the planet Khan.
Swarms of ships were leaving the orbital station and lifting off directly from the surface of Khan. They were mostly using the designated evacuation lanes, as displayed on the plot in response to Medici’s query. There were absolutely no ships heading into the system.
“Now we wait,” Medici said quietly. “That is the thing I hate the most about command. The waiting.”
***
Lilly Veranze was happy. She hummed a tune while she worked. The lab had been greatly expanded in the last few weeks. The science teams had returned from the Markus Nebula and the Mongolia system with some large pieces of Globur ship hulls. There were even interior bulkheads to be examined and a few more flash-frozen, fully intact bodies.
Lilly was analyzing the structure of the alien hull and its organic components. She was deeply engrossed in her work. The hull was a mixture of carbon, graphene, and some other substances she was having trouble identifying.
The outer hull was slightly different in that it was harder and denser than the interior bulkheads. The very outer surface was the hardest of all, the same as some plants. The outer layer might actually be dead – if the hull was alive. It was more efficient than the metallic armor that human ships used. Lilly could see how the outer hull would be excellent at dealing with weapons such as the beam weapons the Globur used. The materials were clearly working together to be nonconductive to electrons while also dissipating heat very well.
The hulls of Fleet ships were actually highly conductive, and that explained the devastating effects of the Globur beams. They could bore through armor, and the electrical discharge from the beams was also able to wreak havoc in the electrical systems of any vessel.
The Globur hulls were much better at dissipating the energy and heat from a Fleet laser strike. It was perhaps unintentional since the hulls were obviously engineered to be protective against the Globur’s own weapons. Much like human ships had been designed to resist laser fire.
All that certainly explained why, in the early days, the Fleet shields had been completely ineffective against the Globur beams, and multiple hits to a Fleet warship would take down internal systems, leaving the ship helpless.
Lilly’s thoughts drifted to Homer Sanderson. He had come back from Albion Prime a few days ago in a foul mood. It had taken some cajoling, but he had told her about the incident at the bistro and how the people had looked at him like some sort of freak. He felt he had made a sacrifice, and he was being vilified for it, treated as less than human.
He had begun to notice sideways glances when out of the Fleet yards. Inside the yards, it was like they were in a bubble. Unaugmented people like Lilly and some of the science team were uncommon, but outside of Fleet facilities, the blue shade of the Fleet was a rarity. Fewer Fleet personnel ventured to Albion Prime these days as there had been a number of incidents in the newsfeeds about Fleet people getting into altercations with members of the public or being denied service at establishments by staff or owners.
The whole concept disgusted Lilly. Some people were just too quick to judge. Although, she had been guilty of some of that herself. She remembered when the Marines had first arrived on the planet she was surveying. The planet where the first contact with the Globur was made. Doctor Stamp had christened it Occasus since he felt the designation X5426 was not appropriate once that there was a planetary survey going on.
One of their number, Doctor Tsienya, had quickly announced her disgust with the Marines. Lilly had only been mildly curious. She had not gone to the initial meeting for the survey team to explain the marine’s role in protecting the find on the planet. She had seen the major in charge of the Marines, when she had returned from her field experiments. They had spoken briefly, and she was not what Lilly had expected. She had been smart, intense, and an impressive woman.
When Lilly had come back for evacuation and had been met by Marines in combat suits looking like huge silver gorillas, it had really taken her off guard. She had been too late to get on the emergency shuttle and had been stranded with the marines. She had known nothing about the military, and everything was all very intimidating.
Homer Sanderson had been nice to her and tried to make her comfortable. He also tried to lighten the mood around him despite the fact they were hiding on an alien planet, and the Fleet ships that were there to protect them had been destroyed.
She had come to realize that Homer Sanderson was a good human being and a deeply intelligent one. He was a person of deep convictions and passion. He did a great job of hiding it a lot of the time, but she supposed many people were not comfortable revealing too much about themselves. Homer especially.
The whole dusky blue tinge to the skin had been an adjustment for her, but she had already known Homer pretty well by then. She wondered if she would have gotten into a relationship with him if his skin had already been blue then. Most people were not really willing to look past some things. Things like blue skin, or a bombastic Marine who was really an intelligent and caring man.
Lilly checked the edges of the piece she was working on. It had stopped growing. When the pieces had arrived, they had to be placed apart, or they began to grow together. It seemed that they might have run out of nutrients, and so the growth had stopped. But Lilly believed that the pieces were dormant. She still believed the ships were alive, and so she was also researching what the appropriate nutrients would look like. Understanding the alien technology meant studying it while it was active. So far, they had little luck with that.
Mick Papaganis ambled over and nudged her shoulder to get her attention. “Fascinating, isn’t it?” he asked. Mick was an exozoologist. Like her, he was here because he had been part of that survey team and the only other one to be stranded with the marines. They had both experienced the Globur firsthand and so automatically had the clearance necessary to work in the lab. Mick actually had ended up running it – something Lilly had absolutely no interest in.
Lilly nodded. “I’m still trying to find the right nutrient formula to make it active, but it’s a fascinating construct. I can’t figure out how the instructions are passed within the substance. Like how does the ship know when to create outer hull and when to create a shuttle bay hatch that must open?”
Mick nodded. “Well, the good news is that we understand why the lasers were not so effective against these hulls. We are experimenting with different wavelengths, and the research looks promising. It could give our people an edge the next time out. Did you see the Globur armor recovered in the Mongolia system?”
Lilly tossed her head toward the end of the bench she was seated at. Some pieces of Globur armor lay there. “Yes, right there. It appears the armor is adapting to lasers by making a thin reflective layer on top. It is very effective against the older model laser assault rifles, but the new ones still do a lot of damage. I was thinking about new or rotating wavelengths to counter that. It seems to have taken a long time for them to adapt, but I don’t know why.”
“How is Homer?” asked Papaganis, shifting the subject.
Lilly paused and looked at Papaganis. “Well, he’s still a bit mad—no, that’s not it. He is frustrated about these incidents between Fleet personnel and imperial citizens. Homer takes those things personally. Especially when they involve his Marines.”
Papaganis nodded. “It must be tough. I went to a planet once, and just about everyone in the colony I visited was blond and had blue eyes. When I showed up,” Papaganis held out his hands, indicating his black skin, "some people seemed to avoid me. I was only there for a little while, but the whole experience was a bit weird.”
“Yes,” Lilly agreed. “But we have laws against racism or treating people differently because of their beliefs.”
Papaganis chuckled. “The laws speak to ancestry or racial heritage and not augmentation. The laws say augmentation is illegal and so not protected at all.”
“Well, maybe they should change,” Lilly shot back as her cheeks flushed. “Imagine, after all we went through, when we came back, and people treated us differently—pretending the whole mess was our fault. Add to that, now you look different in a way that cannot be hidden. It breaks my heart to see people making nasty expressions when they see Homer. He loves his Marines. He’s still very upset he couldn’t save some of them. We have all lost friends, but people don’t seem to understand that.”
Papaganis sighed. “Well, this whole People For Peace propaganda messaging in the newsfeeds does not help. We were there. Even we still don’t know what happened when the Globur arrived.” Papaganis shook his head. “And God only knows what happened in the Castellan system.” He sighed. “In war, the first casualty is the truth.”
“Extremism is always dangerous.” Lilly joined Papaganis in shaking her head. “I wish the politicians would not turn such a blind eye to the PFP. Now they’re throwing synthetic blood on Fleet people. Where will it end?” asked Lilly wistfully.
Chapter 7
Rear Admiral Jones toured Valkyrie along with her captain. They were currently deep in the ship in main engineering. Captain Nane Jamal was engrossed in a conversation with her chief engineer about one of the many issues that had to be addressed before they were cleared for operations again. Jones looked back at the main access hatch.
Jones was trying to imagine what it had been like for Rear Admiral Pang staging her last-ditch defense of the engineering space as her ship hurtled through the Mongolia system. He had seen firsthand the rampaging Globur swarming up a passageway. The holovids he had seen of the hasty barricade made from the Globur dead made him shudder at the memory of being trapped aboard his old battleship Ozu, in the dark and under repeated Globur attack.
There was a growing group of veterans in the Fleet. They were easy to spot—at least for other veterans. They all had a certain look. It was both fatalistic and realistic. They were perhaps the only group that truly understood the threat the Globur posed and the price that had already been paid to attempt to stop them.
No one disturbed Jones. He had become something of a heroic figure in the Fleet. He turned to see Captain Jamal waiting for him and some of the others nearby simply staring at him. Jones chuckled inwardly. Now I know how Zenke felt after all that Hero of Harlow business.
He motioned for Captain Jamal to lead on, and she gave a curt nod. They left engineering to continue their tour. After a few weeks of shore leave, everyone was back on board helping with repairs. Automated repair bots were everywhere. TF15 was not in the best of shape, and although 7 of her 16 ships had returned, some were simply scrapped.
Phoenix had gone to scrap. Even the mighty battleship Dingyuan was so badly damaged that there were not even any components that could be salvaged. She had followed Phoenix to the breaking yard. The cruiser Haruna also went to the breaking yard to be cut up and recycled.
That only left Valkyrie, and the cruisers Duquesne, and Jinyuan. With the new destroyers coming into service, Fuego, the only surviving destroyer, had been reclassified as a corvette. The last survivors of TF15. Jones nodded to members of the crew mechanically as his mind raced. TF15 had done its job, but the price paid left the force a mere shadow of itself.
Captain Jamal led the way down the passageway to the flag bridge. They had started their tour near the outer hull, and Jones had been impressed with the work done to return the carrier to her former self.
“Fighters are set for delivery tomorrow, sir. Are you listening?” asked Captain Jamal as she crossed her arms across her chest. She had an amused look on her face.
Jones noticed they had stopped outside the flag bridge. “Sorry, Captain, a lot on my mind. I’m meeting with the captains this afternoon.”
“Still not a full roster?” asked Jamal.
Jones shrugged. “Short supply.” He motioned for Jamal to join him in his conference room.
The two officers walked through the hatch, and both grabbed a coffee from the unit on the bulkhead. Jones sat down, and Jamal joined him. Jones sipped his coffee and smiled at Jamal. “The crew has done a fine job working with the yard personnel to put Valkyrie back in service.”
Jamal tested her coffee, and it obviously met with her approval. “It seems the yard and the chief engineer have different views of what operational means. My XO has been working herself to exhaustion, but she has accomplished a lot. Everyone is eager to have Valkyrie declared operational. I think we are on track to have her ready in a few days, even though the future is a bit foggy at this point?” Jamal finished, letting the question hang in the air.
Jones let his annoyance show. “We came back with seven ships and eleven captains. We still have 3 of the original ships, but TF15 is done. The plan to roll TF15 survivors into TF17 is a good one, but that means we will have 18 ships and, so far, only eleven captains. Keeping Duquesne and Jinyuan gives me two extra cruisers, but also means I have to find two extra captains.”
