Totality's End, page 7
Then she pointed a camera at herself.
“I heard a most unusual rumour just before coming here,” she said, with the camera zooming in on her face. “Apparently some stations in the League of Worlds have a dragon franchise on them. And yes, I mean real dragons. They operate rides from stations down to planets. All perfectly safe, as the dragons have their own magic, and you don’t even need a space suit or warm clothing. I’m told one of the operators has expressed interest in running a franchise from our two new stations, for as long as the planets remain relatively unpopulated. They don’t like to scare those they fly over, apparently.”
She grinned at the camera.
“Take that however you like, but I know a few kids who would squeal in delight at the chance to ride a genuine dragon. I’ll make a few enquiries, and see if someone was pulling my leg or not. This is Nyssa Ballan, reporting from our new colony stations.”
There was silence around the wardroom.
“She’s got to be kidding,” said Helm.
“She’s not,” said the voice of Ida. “You should ride one. All the pilots should as well. From the advertising they do, it’s the ultimate adrenalin junkie ride for the mad thrill seeker.”
“Let me guess,” said Ops. “They eat you if you throw up on them?”
I just lost it, and I wasn’t the only one.
Back in my den, I had a message stating the battlestations were ready to deploy here, along with the other three ship-stations. I sent my own message to the admirals at each jump point telling them what was arriving, got their surprised reactions back, and then sent the approval to deploy.
The six dots appeared on my high level scan. Three of them were right on top of the jump point, but above it in the plane of the system, and the other three were a good way behind the jump point where they were safe for freighters or up to cruisers to manoeuvre to dock at them. The message said all three were magic door linked so docking at one, or landing a shuttle there, gave you walking access to the other two, and the shipyard. It was a long walk around all three, but again, they had vehicles. I could see marines wanting to run it, though.
Not long after that, some of the freighters undocked from the shipyard, and headed back to Terra. Some that were on their way back to the shipyard, but not yet half way here, turned back to the jump points. Others kept coming on, but now changed course for the Terran jump point, so were heading back to Terra, no longer deemed to be needed.
One of our destroyers moved from its parking position, and headed for the new station, presumably next in the rotation for supplies, and now able to get them itself. The formation allowed freighters to dock with ships, so it should be safe for ships to head for the stations, but that was something the Fleet Nav at each jump point would need to monitor.
I turned my attention to the battlestations. Ida put one of them on my screen as visible from the closest of our ships, and I had to stare at it in disbelief. Whoever had designed it must have been either totally paranoid, or in serious danger. In theory, it was fairly straight forward, just something of a nightmare.
It had three rings with eight arms coming off them, down a central spine. Each arm had an over and under turret on it, each with four battleship barrels in a two by two arrangement, point defence turrets dotted around them, and also mosquito launchers and ship missile launchers. More ship missile launchers were between each arm, as was the main airlock.
That was forty eight battleship turrets on each one, covering every possible direction. Ida showed me the specs next, and the barrels fired pulses mid way between the Battle and Intrepid pulses, while the entire station could spin at the recharge rate so it effectively could continuously fire in a single direction. Where each one was over the jump point had an angle to it, so all the facing guns were aimed straight at the effective range point that led into the jump on the main lane in.
I had no doubt an AI was needed to run it. A human simply wouldn’t be able to get the timing right.
“What the fuck is that?” I heard Ops say, through the bridge door.
“Nice,” said Jack.
How effective they would be was anyone’s guess. The fact they were not being used somewhere else suggested that as third tier tech, they were not as much use as they looked. But then, a hundred and ninety two more battleship guns was not to be taken lightly.
Except that when I checked the jump points on the other side of all three systems, their addition seemed to be not enough. They were effectively three additional carriers, or really six given their ability to get guns firing continuously in a direction, when ours couldn’t be, or at least not as fast.
Our enemies were still accumulating ships steadily. While we’d been taking out battleships and carriers in an ad hoc way as we could, the rest had been arriving and forming up into big armadas. Each one, other than the original one at the Mingle direction jump point, which was basically huge now, were about the size of that original test fleet they sent us to determine what our defences were. So basically triple what they’d sent last time once they all arrived and joined up at one defence point, and double at the other two.
That to me seemed like the plan then. They’d come at all three jump points at the same time, making us divide whatever reserve we had up evenly, but the main assault was where they’d come last time. If the other two made it through, great, but the Jintah and Mingle were going to be the most likely to break through.
But that was assuming they came soon. If they kept building up, double would become triple, and triple would become quadruple.
The only up side to that was the biggest armada had part of it coming from twelve hours away, so assuming they coordinated, we’d get that extra warning. If they used that armada as a backup, or second punch, then we’d only get seven hours warning.
I pushed the button.
“Ops, can you come in, please?”
“On my way.”
He took one look at what I was looking at as he headed for the chair on the other side of the desk, and smiled.
“Time to discuss Plan B, ma’am?”
Fifteen
It was after three when Ops left, now with a lot more work to do.
But the more I threw things at him, the more he continued to step up. And the more he demonstrated that the carriers and cruisers policy had been total bunkum as far as it divided up new officers as they came out of the academy. He’d been sent in the wrong direction the same as I had been, only he’d been misdirected from the start.
Those thoughts were broken by someone appearing in front of me. It was Jane, but this time she was dressed in a grey suit.
“Got a moment?” she asked.
“Do I have a choice?”
She could have asked for an appointment, after all.
“Of course. But I tend to forget the niceties of telling people I’m coming, and just turn up. Saves time.”
She sat in the chair Ops hadn’t been in.
“I’d have thought time for you was a relative concept.”
“True, it is, but it works the other way than you’d think. We spend so much time waiting for humans to catch up that by the time we can do something, it’s been an eternity already, and waiting for someone to say they’re ready is just too long. It’s better to just go. Even waiting for you to reply gives me plenty of time for checking each avatar I’ve got doing something.”
“I won’t even pretend to understand that. What happened to your uniform?”
“I’m not here as military this time. Lyla Cowan calls me Outfitter Jane. I run the mercenary supply arm of the Hunter Militia, given most of what they can get I own the patents for, and actually make myself. What I’m wearing is mercenary clothing, developed by me and Lyla. The business end of being a mercenary requires a business suit. We also do ship suits, and marine variations. All in grey.”
“And I need to know that, why?”
“Because you’re authorized to purchase the clothing and the civilian level belt suit, which is the same as your anklet, for your Camel crews. That gives them an armour layer like you’ve enjoyed in case someone shoots them during a pickup or delivery situation. And it has happened. The belt suit is also a space suit in case one is needed. It’s pad controlled, and we’ve been able to reconfigure that to work with your phones.”
“That’s not exactly what I was interested in. And besides, why would my crews be facing anything dangerous?”
“The galaxy is a dangerous place. The League doesn’t let anyone board an armed ship without basic protection. And those with serious weaponry normally have to get military grade. Your Camels are considered a lower level, but they are capable of tangling with a serious warship, but also vulnerable enough to lose to one. One of your two colonies is out in newly opened up space, and the systems around it are already building cities. They get visited by a lot of unsavoury people, and once your system is open for visitors, you’ll need to deal with some of them.”
“You mean my crews will need to.”
“Them too. I suggest you equip them with both sidearms and heavy rifles, just in case. And I’d recommend you also get some security droids for each ship, to act as dock and on the ground security.”
“Talk to Ida about that. I don’t want to know.”
“I gather your first recruit is on a Camel in Ralnor space right now, and seriously considering missing her exit interview. I’ve arranged for her to be moved straight there so she doesn’t miss it. She’s had a crash introduction to all of this, so Ida can discuss it with her to see what she recommends.”
“It’s a pity they’re cutting her loose.”
“Your military’s loss is your gain. Once she spends some time in one of our care units, she should recover more than predicted. Not fully, I understand, but more than she expects. But if I may say so, as someone to head up your civilian fleet, she’s a good choice.”
“I’m glad you think so. Was there actually a point to this meeting?”
“I’ve authorized your purchase of jump sleds, under a few conditions. They can be used for your Camels to gain colony experience in Imperium space up until your claim system is in place, and they need to come home for their actual job. At that point they’ll be limited to the system they’re assigned to.”
I nodded, but wasn’t sure that even mattered.
“On a side note to that, both colony systems are not isolated. As soon as they go live, you could get ships through your jump points into Terra, and need to handle their arrival. Likewise, you will probably get traders arriving at Terra, then going on to the colonies to see if they can supply to them. So your Camels will be doing some police work, and you’ll be needing ships doing police pickets at the jump points as soon as the first trade treaties get signed.”
“That shouldn’t be my problem.”
She raised her eyebrows at me. Yeah, it was my problem. I made a note to discuss that with Donaldson.
“Jump sleds?” I prompted.
“I’ve authorised twenty for military use. You’ll need to hire them from your company through your supply department. It should allow your upgraded carriers and Intrepids one each, with seven spares for moving around other ships. You’ll need six of those when the next six upgrades come out, and the bulk of your pilots are on all of them.”
“Fine. We’ll make do. Who designed those battlestations?”
She chuckled.
“Joint effort. Jon, me, and our then shipyard manager. They are a little bizarre, but part of the look was shock factor for those jumping in near them. We’ve not needed them for a while now, which is why Jon lent them to you. They’re better at static defence, and that’s not something we’ve needed for a long time now. We’re mainly offensive these days.”
“You wouldn’t like to bring an armada here, and just clean three systems out for us, would you?”
“If you’d still been talking to us all this time, we might have been at that diplomacy level by now. But without some level of alliance treaty, that sort of thing isn’t possible. I’d suggest the Unbound Mercenary Company, but they’re flat out busy in the Ralnor civil war. I’m afraid other than Unassailable, Snark, and Dodgers, there’s not much around that’s available, that would add enough to be worth getting. Even Bonko is fully employed these days.”
“Bonko?”
“Cruiser captain. Bit of an old rogue, but reliable. His ship is third tier now, but he’s stopped taking warship contracts, and only turns up when things are dire for someone he actually likes.”
“So why mention him?”
“He’s representative of who else is available to hire. Once Ida is up to speed with the colonies, you should get her to look through guild records looking for who else might be available.”
“Or we’ll all be dead before then anyway, and it won’t be a problem anymore.”
“Or that. Although, that’s a bleak way of looking at things. Arthur won’t allow that to happen.”
“Arthur isn’t here. He’s been side tracked keeping our remaining allies and trading partners safe. That was inevitable, and expected, but I could use his big guns. Any chance of hiring a few of them?”
“Nope. You’d need to talk to Bud about that, as they’re his ships, but apart from the diplomacy thing, he’s very reluctant to bring them out these days. Just the few there are around raise eyebrows everywhere they go. Mind you, Carter spends most of her time in Ralnor or Keerah space, and parks her ship out of the way of eyes. Haynes has his in orbit, and actually uses the office on it instead of the one in his palace, but over his planet, that’s not an issue. The few others are usually in Keerah space.”
“Well, thanks for the jump sleds. When do we get them?”
“Ida has them now. She also has rules for using them in a range of situations. All they need now is the proper hiring out documentation. She has what Trip charges for that as well, and given what they cost, that is a charge you need to do to recoup the purchase price, and once you see the price tag, you’ll be wondering why you got as many as twenty.”
“I don’t want to see any price tag for any of this. I’m trusting Ida to run this. I’ve got a defence to run, and needed the rest of this like a hole in the head.”
“It’s the price of moving up to a level where you can do things like this. One day I’ll be back to talk to you about what I do for those in need, and how you can do the same on Terra. You’re only starting out, though, so it won’t be any time soon, but it will happen as what you do in civilian life expands, and your pool of unutilized funds expands with it.”
I sighed. I was a warrior. She chuckled at the look on my face.
“You’ll adapt, and what you face now won’t be there forever.”
“Won’t it? You have a miracle way of getting other species to declare peace?”
She snorted, and then laughed. For an AI, that was impressive emulation.
“Actually, if Bud wanted to declare the whole galaxy at peace, and then spend a month sleeping, he could. He once sent hundreds of millions of people across two galaxies home for a day off because he had an angry thought when someone bumped him once. No-one understood until later why they went home and couldn’t leave for a day, and most never found out, just those of us who know Bud.”
I gave her a ‘you’ve got to be joking’ look.
“It’s a true story. The problem with doing anything like that, apart from the incredible amount of power that requires, is it messes with free will. And that sort of thing always has consequences. Jon wouldn’t allow it, as he’s big on spiritual concepts such as karma and life lessons.”
“So being threatened with annihilation is just a life lesson for Terra?”
“Pretty much. And as I understand things, it’s been a long time coming. The Surtee resentment of Terrans goes back millennia, according to Leanne. But you’re dealing with it really well. And you will continue to deal with it well.”
“Is that predicting the future?”
“Hell, no. There are a limited number of situations where the senior mages might do that, but to look is to change it, and it’s never done without dire need. No, this is a case of ‘you’ve got this’, even if you think you don’t. Plus Arthur will be here if things really go badly.”
“That’s no consolation for thousands of dead people.”
“War is an ugly business. And it was predictable given what your military leaders did. Diplomacy is going on about as fast as your people do it, and that’s your end game, when it gets far enough. In the meantime, you have got this.”
“Well, the jump sleds should help, so I thank you for that. Talk to Ida about the rest. She’s running the civilian company, and unless she needs more funds, and assuming I have any, I don’t want to know about it.”
She rose.
“That’s all I had, for now. Admiral.”
She nodded, her hand went to her belt buckle, and she vanished.
I sat there thinking for a few minutes, then rose and went out onto the bridge. Ops wasn’t there, and his junior was in his place. I crossed the bridge, and then entered the office Ops had. He was there, and looked up as I entered.
“Ma’am?”
“You’ve now got twenty more jump sleds to play with. Or you will have once Ida gets them hired to us through Admiral Whittaker.”
“Ida?” he bellowed.
Sixteen
“Do we have plans for jump point pickets here in the Terra system?”
I’d gone to see Donaldson after seeing Ops.
“Not as far as I’m aware. What triggered that?”
“I just had a visit from Admiral Jane, only in one of her civilian roles. She reminded me that when trade treaties come into effect, we’re going to get traders from all over coming through here. And as soon as our colonies go live, we’ll also likely see ships coming here through their jump points. We’re going to need a picket force of some kind. If not an actual home fleet.”
“You mean three of them. I’m not sure how we even do one, given what’s arrayed out there against us at the moment.”
“Can we get the jump points moved closer together, so we can station something central to them?”
