Koban: The Mark of Koban (30 page)

“Explain to me why I shouldn’t ask Parliament
to shift war production over to what has at least shown some positive results,
and which has every colony Governor calling for my head if I don’t expand and
improve their Army forces.”

Anderfem knew this might be an uphill
struggle, but her contacts in the Navy, and the Department of Defense told her
the Navy was about to hit the Krall, to make them pull back to defend their
base on K1. The Navy intended to take out thousands of Clanships where they
sat.

“Madam President, the Joint Chiefs wish to meet
with you to brief you on Operation Deep Lance, our first offensive action.

“The fleet’s recent shakedown testing was partly
a dress rehearsal for an attack on K1. As you know, most of the fleet has been
performing shakedown and coordination missions out in the anti-spinward Rim
region, on the opposite side from the Krall incursion. The Captains and
navigators needed to learn how to Jump deep into gravity wells with the same
precision displayed by the Krall. This way our ships won’t waste hours, or even
days, vectoring into the targeted planet, after getting to the solar system
three times faster than before. This practicing has been successful.

“I was informed that our new ships can Jump
from any point in Human Space, and White Out within four or five hundred miles
of a planet’s surface. We only need recent detailed orbital data of the target
system to fine tune the computations while in the second level of Tachyon
Space, or T squared as the scientists have it named.”

Stanford liked the sound of this. “So they believe
that popping out on the Krall’s doorstep will give us the element of surprise
for a change? I’ll be interested in what they intend to do when they get there.
The Krall are damned fast to react to threats.”

“That’s where our use of Artificial Intelligence
and computers should reduce the gap between human reactions and the Krall
preference to ‘fly by the seat of their pants,’ so to speak. Our AI’s are a
technological edge that the Krall don’t appear to share, instead they rely on
their physical reaction times. They are obviously faster than a human, but then
that’s why we use AI’s, because they
are
so much faster and precise than
a human.”

“OK, Jean. When can we hold this Deep Lance
briefing, and how close do the Joint Chiefs say we are to being ready to
launch?”

“Madam President, the briefing can be
conducted as soon as you can clear your calendar. The launch date could be set
for a week or two from your granting approval. Our fleet can be widely
dispersed, and coordinate their launch times to reach the rendezvous points at
the target without revealing the impending attack by gathering our forces
first.”

“Fine. I’ll clear my schedule this afternoon.
How long do you think it will take to complete?”

“Mam, the preliminary presentation I saw was
only about an hour long, but you will have a question and answer session
afterwards, and of course you can bring along any analysts you select for more
expert questions.”

“Jean, you’ll be there to advise me, and the
Joint Chiefs and their staffs
are
my analysts. Please set it up.”

“Yes Mam.”

****

Admiral Hawthorne, Chairfem of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, stepped to the lectern as the slickly produced Tri-Vid
presentation ended. “Madam President that is the nucleus of the plan we are
recommending. I believe you and your aid must have some questions, since both
of you made notes at various points. I’m sure if I don’t have an answer to your
questions, we have the technical minds that worked on this operation standing
by.”

“Thank you Admiral. You’ll forgive me if some
of my questions sound simplistic and nonmilitary. This is the first offensive
action on such a large scale in over three hundred years, so I have no
precedents to guide me. However, as Commander in Chief, I am not only accepting
responsibility for Operation Deep Lance, but also the consequences that may follow.

“There were icons used to represent the
various divisions within our forces, the actions each section is responsible
for, and which targets on K1 they are assigned to strike. What I couldn’t
discern was the number of ships in our fleet that are involved. I saw only one
carrier group icon, and two battleship groups, with icons for the heavy
cruisers and screens of light cruisers and destroyers.

“We have one hundred seventy one fighting ships,
against their four thousand plus Clanships and uncounted numbers of single
ships. Our element of surprise and heavier firepower aside, how many of our
ships are we placing at risk? The Icons didn’t tell me that.”

“Madam President, I apologize. There was a
legend on one of the early screens that indicated the strength of the differing
groups, but that legend wasn’t carried forward to appear on the following
graphics. However, here is the Order of Battle.

“We will commit one carrier group, the
Intrepid with its seventy five fighters and bombers. They will be held in
reserve, well off planet, for after the bombardment to engage surface and near
atmosphere targets.

“The dreadnaught Invincible is our flagship.

“Battleship division one and two, with three battleships
in each.

“Two cruiser divisions, each comprised of two
battlecruisers, four heavy cruisers, and five of our older retrofitted light
cruisers.

“Then we have four destroyer squadrons, with
twenty ships each.

“Oh, and we will also take ten patrol ships.”
She added, in an afterthought.

“Thank you Admiral. Please bear with me a
moment.” Stanford was typing at her personal computer pad.

Completing her calculations, Stanford had an
observation to make, and more questions.

“Admiral, we will have one hundred ten of our
fighting ships participating in this operation, most of our newest and best.
Please note that I’m not discounting the patrol ships, but they don’t have the
firepower of any of the others.

“My questions are more of asking for
explanations. Why not send all of our fleet, or conversely, why so many? Is
what you plan to commit enough firepower to meet the goal of forcing the Krall
to draw back to K1? If this operation fails, are the other sixty one ships enough
to leave us an effective fleet on which to fall back?”

Hawthorne was taken aback by her questions.
She’d expected the President, with virtually no military background, to simply
rubber stamp their proposal. Not that she thought the President’s questions were
foolish, however. The Joint Chiefs had wrestled with this same issue.

“Madam President the firepower of this many
ships, capable of launching thousands of networked smart missiles immediately
after White Out, should provide us with total surprise, and take out most of
the Clanships on the planet. We are providing for two missiles per Clanship,
capable of switching targets if the primary target has moved. The missiles form
a dynamic shared intelligence network, which will cloak the entire surface of
the planet and its atmosphere. They each can automatically seek new targets,
either Clanships or single ships, hit a habitation dome, or new targets as we
specify. They have forty-minutes of flying time in atmosphere, and all of them
will launch with five minutes or less flight time to reach the surface.

“In addition, from three hundred to five
hundred miles out, our heavy lasers can burn their way through the atmosphere
to also hit Clanships, single ships, domes, and targets of opportunity.

“The assumption that we might lose all of the
ships we send on Deep Lance is well outside the most severe worst case scenario
we could project. Our point defense lasers, plasma beams, and short-range
missiles are the best we’ve ever had. We have computer tested them against our
own new faster T squared powered fighters. The point defenses are more than a
match for our pilots, though our crews can’t tolerate the same level of
uncompensated g’s the Krall can. We programmed the defensive fire control AIs
to target any Krall single ship with three laser beams of different
frequencies, and to add a plasma beam’s energy as well, if we can’t burn
through the reflective hulls fast enough. All of our new laser pods have the
triple frequency beams built in to them.

“We consider a fifteen percent loss of our
ships to be serious, and we would withdraw the fleet if that appeared imminent.
All our ships will go in with minimal Jump capability retained in their
secondary Traps. In case things start to go wrong, they can bug out, using a
typical tenth light year Jump to a preselected rally point. Our T squared
drives can snare a high-level tachyon for a longer Jump in a few minutes to get
home from there. We are
not
at risk of losing the entire battle group.”
Admiral Hawthorne had wound down.

Nodding appreciatively, Stanford really was
impressed with the explanations and answers. Turning to Jean Anderfem, the only
staff aid she had brought with her, knowing she was knowledgeable enough to ask
the right questions and grasp the answers. She prompted her for follow-up
questions. “Admiral Anderfem, you’ve sat in on preliminary planning sessions,
and now have seen the final proposal. Are there any questions you think I need
to hear asked and answered? Even if
you
already know the answer, I will
not.”

“Yes Mam. Admiral Hawthorne, have you selected
the overall Commander of the Operation?”

“Yes. It was very competitive, as you might
imagine, Jean. Vice Admiral Golda Mauss will command Operation Deep Lance, and
she is conducting a large training exercise as we speak. The Joint Chiefs are
discussing the possibility of reviving the Fleet Admiral rank as the fleet
grows. This is a proposal we might present to you in the future Madam President,
which if you approve the final candidates, the list could be sent to the House
for consideration.”

Anderfem nodded her personal approval of the
Operation commander. “Admiral Mauss is a good choice. I knew her as a midlevel
officer. She’s level headed and tough. Now I have just one other question,
which you might find the answer interesting, Madam President.”

She addressed the Chairfem again.  “Admiral
Hawthorne, the fleet’s simultaneous White Outs at K1 is going to envelope the
planet within a spherical formation of our ships. Yet the fleet is widely
dispersed now, to avoid giving away our intentions. How is that going to be
accomplished?”

Hawthorn’s eyes lit up at the chance to
explain a bit of gee-whizz trivia, made possible by the precise navigation
offered by the new T squared Jump drives.

“Madam President, Admiral, the navigational precision
possible in the much higher energy realm of the second dimensional level of
Tachyon Space, or T squared, is related to the high energy accelerator
conundrum in the early twenty first century. They built the legendary Large
Hadron Collider to probe ever-smaller regions of space around fundamental
particles. Scientists needed to build larger high-powered accelerators to smash
into the particles with more energy, to get closer to them to see what happened
with the strong short-range forces as they broke apart.

“Higher energy was needed to reach more
precisely into the tiny regions where new and interesting physics happen. The
huge energies we get from use of T squared tachyon particles likewise translate
into vastly better short scale precision for targeting the location of a White
Out in Normal Space.

“Not only that, but because we are not
traveling in Normal Space, a massive object, such as a planet at the center of
our destination point in Normal Space is no obstacle to our arrival. We pick
the point, in this case the gravitational center of K1, select coordinates that
surround that point at, say four thousand five hundred miles. Then we feed in
the known orbital characteristics and our time of arrival to predict where K1
will be. Next, just before the Jump, we boost in Normal Space to match the known
orbital velocity and direction of the planet, face our ship towards where the gravitational
center will be, then use the predetermined time of the arrival to stagger all
of our Jumps to get there simultaneously.

“The longer the time needed for each Jump, the
earlier you enter the Hole, of course. We have tested this extensively. In
fact, we believe we do it better than the Krall, because of our use of AI’s.
The Krall missed the mark a bit at Gribbles’ Nook, and the sixteen Clanships didn’t
all arrive simultaneously. They started their final Jump to the planet from
much closer, only out in the Oort cloud rather than from many light years away,
and still missed simultaneous arrivals by over a minute.

“To keep Krall scouts off guard, our largest
capital ships will be on the far side of Human Space when they Jump. Only
lighter elements will be stationed closer to K1, orbiting various Old Colony
worlds. This dispersion should disguise our attack.

“That is how we believe we will have the edge
for the surprise start of our attack. We can launch all our missiles within
seconds of White Out. If this is as successful as we hope, we may send
destroyers, fighters, and patrol ships into atmosphere, to hit at their
infrastructure, and take down more of their domes.”

“Thank you Admiral. I’ve ran out of questions,
yet I sense you have more answers. I yield, and I approve of Operation Deep
Lance. Please coordinate with Admiral Anderfem on the exact launch date, so I
can provide advance notice of the attack to ranking members of Parliament. I’ll
also want some of your fast couriers ready to send word to the colony worlds as
soon as Vice Admiral Mauss reports back.”