Under Siege, page 24
David leaned up against the bulkhead. “There was a time of war back on Earth where weapons of mass destruction were used against population centers and killed a lot of mostly innocent people. The rationale was that using nuclear weapons to bomb cities would end the conflict sooner and save lives on both sides when compared to letting the war run its course using conventional weapons. The Allies dropped two nuclear weapons on Japanese cities, causing incredible devastation and death, and then called on the other side to surrender. They used the weapons first because a demonstration was needed as the other side would be disinclined to simply give up unless forced to do so.”
Prescott crossed his arms and frowned. “I do seem to vaguely recall something about that. Was that World War III?”
“Two. World War III was a totally different kettle of fish, and far messier.”
“It’s distasteful, but I suppose I can see why it might be necessary,” the professor agreed. “There are three Novarite military facilities that are valid targets. If all three of them are destroyed using antimatter weapons, a call to surrender might be met with more than dismissal. On the other hand, it might not. What would Jack do then?”
“Perhaps a surgical strike. It’s possible to make an antimatter missile with less antimatter than is usually used. We could drop that into the center of the big city where their leadership and the higher-ups do their business and live. That would cut the head off the snake and leave most of their dependents alive. The two smaller cities likely have mostly Novarite civilians and should probably be left alone. Honestly, it might be better to hit the big city first and then pound the military facilities to rubble to get rid of the worst of the offenders.”
Prescott nodded. “Considering how resistant they are to surrender, you might be onto something there. With the number of deaths they’ve caused, I don’t believe anyone would hold it against Jack to execute a surgical strike to eliminate their leadership, as they’ve proven themselves to be so murderous. How would the kingdom participate if they agreed?”
“Jack thinks it might be worthwhile to use them as decoys,” David said with a smile. “The Novarites will know exactly who they are, and they have to respond. If they come out in force to meet the kingdom warships, that will draw them out of position and give us a chance to arrive at Vesuvius and execute the strikes. Hunter could then make her way to the second world and devastate what was left in orbit. That would still leave the mobile ships to be dealt with, but that’s a better problem to have than what we’re looking at now.”
“And what would the kingdom ships be doing while we’re attacking?”
“Running for the jump limit. They’re not strong enough to engage the full might of the Novarites here. I don’t know whether Field Marshal Strange would agree to something like that, but that’s what Jack intends to do if he can get buy-in from them. Meanwhile, I’ll keep working on deciphering those codes. Unfortunately for us, the ships have stopped signaling back and forth, so we won’t be able to keep working on fresh signals.”
“I suppose they were most likely chattering about us, but it would be useful to know what they’re saying if they continue that course of action later. I’ll head up to the bridge and get us moving back closer to the other ships. I’m not happy that we have to keep relocating to a safe distance when we need to rest. That’s one of the problems with a ship this small. Let me know if you need me to maneuver anywhere specific.”
David followed the professor out into the corridor and headed back toward the computer room. Actually, he should start calling it something like the analysis center. That sounded much more appropriate.
It would be better to have more than one person aboard a spy ship to keep watch. A crew of four would be workable, but six would be better. Having shifts and allowing people to take time away from maneuvering the vessel and analyzing the intelligence gathered would be worthwhile. This ship could handle six people, and with some modifications, they could increase that a bit more. It was a big vessel, and a lot of its space was wasted, in his opinion.
His opinion didn’t matter as far as Specter was concerned, as she was Lisa’s ship. He was, however, making notes about what he’d like to alter in the upcoming vessels the Confederation was due to receive, and when they got back to Argent, he would certainly be putting his thoughts forward and getting the designs changed.
As he expected, the computer hadn’t managed to break the encryption being used by the kingdom warships, but it was still working on it. The probes they’d deployed among the kingdom fleet were still doing their business and gathering information, though he’d pulled them far enough back that he didn’t need to worry about them being detected. They’d already gotten close-in scans, and he was satisfied with what they’d accomplished. No need to take unnecessary chances.
The other thing being watched was the kingdom spy ship. It had had time to get closer and should be arriving in the general area around Hunter and the kingdom ships relatively soon. That would be something he wanted to get another look at.
Now that the kingdom was aware of them, they needed to know exactly what kind of spies might be paying close attention to them because, sooner or later, they would be infiltrating Confederation space, even if they didn’t fight this time. He doubted the kingdom would be happy with another group of humans that they didn’t control, and the chances that future political machinations might involve warfare were too great to be ignored.
The thought made him smile. The smart thing to do would be to send half a dozen or so spy ships of their own to the kingdom to start gathering intelligence. It would take the kingdom forces ten years to get home, and in that time, his spies could gather a ton of intelligence and even build a spy network since they spoke the language. That would be a delicate operation, but it was certainly something he was ready to endorse.
If they opened the operation in a low-key way, it wouldn’t be hard to establish people who could begin learning how to fit in without drawing attention to themselves. Those people wouldn’t be trying to spy on anything but would instead become experts in teaching others how to blend in later.
That would be true even if they didn’t have hostilities break out between the kingdom and the Confederation. Friends spied on friends all the time. That’s how one knew they were staying friends.
According to the information Hunter had sent, the spy ship was a few hours away. It might be best to go meet the other vessel and shadow it on the way in. If it intended to communicate with the kingdom vessels, a stealth probe might pick up the signal, but he wanted to verify that the spy ship didn’t have any hidden weapons that might prove dangerous to them. It would also be useful in capturing any signals that the kingdom fleet sent to the spy ship when they weren’t watching.
In fact, it might be best to plant something on the other ship’s hull that could be activated by a remote signal. It would be detectable if anyone bothered to search the hull of the other ship, but if it was stashed somewhere out of the way, that would make it unlikely to be found.
They didn’t have anything that would fit the bill, so he would have to improvise. If they took one of the probes, it would be impossible to detect unless seen visually. If he put an anti-tampering charge inside that would destroy the critical components, that would mean he could be relatively confident that even if they found it, they wouldn’t gather intelligence from it that could be detrimental.
After all, they already knew about the stealth material, and that was the biggest secret. Passive sensors and the means to send signals without being detected because the recipient was already programmed in wouldn’t be groundbreaking. There would be some Confederation components, so they’d know who’d done this, but he’d also be able to program something to order the probe to separate on its own so that it might not be detected.
In fact, making it do so automatically after a period of weeks or maybe even months might be best. The goal would be to have the probe available to send a signal that allowed them to locate the spy ship at a moment’s notice if needed.
That wasn’t something he intended to use lightly, but the capability would be useful if they really needed it. A ship like that could vanish under the right circumstances, and that made him nervous.
Things seemed to be coming together well, but he wasn’t willing to let things ride and hope for the best. If there was a way to tilt the odds in their favor, he was willing to take risks to do so. If they were discovered, the kingdom would be annoyed, but it wasn’t a directly hostile action. After all, they hadn’t bothered to notify Hunter that they had a spy ship in the system, so this seemed to follow along the same lines. This was a spy versus spy situation. Let the intelligence operatives manipulate and maneuver behind the scenes while the Navy officers stood in plain sight and acted directly.
With that thought firmly in mind, he began working through what needed to be changed inside the probe he would use. While he was thinking, he called the professor and made arrangements for him to circle around so they could come in behind the spy ship. The probe was capable of delicate operations like this, but he wanted to make sure its placement was utterly perfect.
The irony that the spy ship was made of material that couldn’t be scanned and that the probe matched it completely meant that no one other than the people aboard the spy ship could possibly become aware of its unauthorized passenger. They’d only look if they had a need, and he wanted to find the perfect hiding place that would minimize that from happening.
Once again, he found himself smiling. This was the kind of work that excited him. He’d get the intelligence his people required, and when the time came to act—if it ever did—they could find the hidden enemy even if Hunter somehow lost track of it. He didn’t expect that to happen, but one didn’t take chances with important things. Redundancy was key.
The situation at Vesuvius was coming to a head, and it was time to start lining up the pieces for the endgame. One way or another, they would come out on top.
It was only a matter of time before these other humans learned to speak Confederation standard. They could do it slowly by listening to many radio transmissions around Confederation worlds and building up their knowledge that way, or they could be more direct and ask for sleep tapes to be made.
Even though Jack had intended to claim they didn’t have the hardware or knowledge for that, it wouldn’t hold water. They’d have someone that could probably manage it. They might not have the hardware either, but they had access to the technology and would likely be able to figure it out.
It was only a matter of time before the kingdom personnel were able to start gathering real intelligence about the society inside the Confederation, and some of their secrets would come out. When that happened, they needed to be ready.
27
Amanda woke next to her husband and smiled as she buried her face in his shoulder. He lay sprawled beside her, still deeply asleep. While they’d slept together many times, this was the first time they had done so as man and wife. It made things so much more intimate than before. She couldn’t really put it into words, but she was deliriously happy.
She was inclined to wake him and resume the activities that had kept them awake until late into the night, but even though they were newlyweds, today was a duty day, and that kind of naughtiness would have to wait until they could take a real honeymoon.
Moving as delicately as she could, she slid out of the bed, grabbed her comm unit, and walked into the bathroom. As she was taking care of her morning business, she double-checked to see if any messages were waiting for her attention. There was one from the admiral that was marked as non-urgent, which was why it hadn’t woken her up with a chime.
The text message was brief and straight to the point.
My apologies for disturbing your morning, but we’ll be meeting with the kingdom officers for lunch, and I want to convince them to join us in an attack on the Novarites. I’d like you to work up the best battle plan we can present to them where they play the decoys, and we take advantage of the Novarites’ distraction to attack Vesuvius and then their forces around the second planet. Bring what you have in mind at eleven hundred. I promise to make up for the disturbance once we get back to Argent. Romanoff.
Amanda checked the time and saw that she’d slept far later than she usually did. It was already after 0900. She needed to get busy.
She set the comm on the counter and took a quick shower. Once she’d finished and toweled herself dry, she went back into her bedroom and dressed quickly. There was just enough light coming from the nightlight for her to see Derek still sprawled across his side of the bed in a way that made her insides heat up.
Only when she was fully dressed did she reach over and shake his foot. He grumbled a bit, then woke up and raised his head. “What time is it?”
“Time for you to get busy, XO. The admiral says he’ll be hosting the kingdom officers to convince them to join us in an attack on the system in less than two hours. You probably should get dressed and make sure you don’t have a message waiting for you. It’s already oh-nine-thirty.”
He cursed and leaped out of the bed, giving her an eyeful. With the smile that put on her face, she headed to her office to write up the plan the admiral had asked for.
As she was walking, she summoned the chief tactical officer and his people to join her. She could do this on her own, but it wasn’t her job to do everything by herself. She had professionals that were more than capable of contributing, and this was the time for them to do so.
Thankfully, she had a coffee maker in her office and a supply of good food bars in her desk. Some people were fond of eating Marine rations, but while those might keep one alive, they certainly didn’t taste good. The last time she’d been on Argent, she’d taken the precaution of stocking up, so she never had to go through that. Let the people in adventure novels be forced to eat that kind of nonsense.
She did call for some pastries to be brought up because any meeting that had pastries was significantly more productive. It was one of those unwritten laws of the universe. Besides, who didn’t like doughnuts in the morning?
The tactical team began arriving just as the pastries were delivered, and everyone fell upon them with wild abandon. Each of her former department mates was quick to congratulate her on her nuptials, and she accepted the joking that came with it with good grace.
John Stanley, her replacement as the chief tactical officer, put a stop to that after a couple of minutes and finished off the pastry he was eating, wiping his hands and mouth with a napkin. “So, what have we got, XO?”
“The admiral wants to convince the kingdom people to be our decoys while we make an assault on Vesuvius. We’ll have one chance to cut the head off the monster, and I don’t want to waste it. Suggestions?”
“The decoy part is simple enough,” he said with a nod. “If we take them out about twelve light-hours and then let them come in via hyperspace at their own speed, the Novarites won’t know they aren’t coming in cold. In fact, they likely won’t see them coming in time to set up an ambush, but that’s fine. We want them to come out and meet the kingdom ships, and simply massing to receive their charge is acceptable.”
One of the other officers spoke up. “If we have them come in about a quarter of the way around the system from Vesuvius and the second planet, that will draw the Novarites off enough that even if they don’t do anything at all, they won’t be able to stop us from making a dash in. That gets us to the planet.”
“And what do we do next?” Amanda asked.
“The admiral had a conversation with me about that last night,” Stanley said. “He knows for sure that we need to drop antimatter bombs on the three military facilities on Vesuvius. He’s leaning toward dropping an underpowered one into the middle of the big Novarite city to destroy their leadership. He’s not sure that’s the right call to make.”
“It’s absolutely the right call to make,” she said. “How do we deliver them?”
“Marine pinnaces. Knowing what he had in mind, I had the Marines start mounting them for attack runs. We need to be careful not to pack too much heat on each pinnace because if one of them is hit, that will create a fireball of unimaginable proportions. In fact, I think we’ll need to have them come in from the four cardinal directions and drop their payloads before scooting out. We’ll get one attempt at this before their air cover comes after us.”
She shook her head. “That’s too complicated. We’ll have them come in from the same direction with other Marine pinnaces running in front to protect them. That will put them at somewhat greater risk, but we have to be cognizant of the mission. I assume we’ll use our shipboard weapons to clear the orbital space before we even launch them, so as soon as we can recover them, we head for planet number two?”
Stanley nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking. By the time we finish with Vesuvius, the ships that were pulled out of position will begin to realize they’ve been had. The kingdom ships can withdraw past the jump limit and move through hyperspace to a rendezvous with us. The Novarites can’t catch them, so they don’t even need to engage unless they really want to. Do you think that will offend them? Is it saying that we don’t think they’re even worthy enough to be part of the battle?”
“I suppose it’s something that we’ll have to present to them and see what they want to do. If they want to engage, I’m not going to tell them no. The problem will be that Hunter has a secondary target to take care of, and they’ll be on their own. If they felt comfortable making contact already, they would have. That tells me they’re more inclined to wait for an opportunity. Perhaps if the Novarites split their forces, that will be good enough.”
“Write everything up and have it ready for me to present in an hour. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but I want a visual presentation to show them what we have in mind. Can you make that happen?”
