Mike's War: Sequel to Jesse's Starship (8 page)

Mike nodded, “When the platoon was called together, they all looked at him to see what was going on, not the Sergeant; that told me where the real power resided. He appears to have a natural ability at leading others.”

“What are you going to do with him?”

Mike smiled, “If you could do whatever you wanted, what would you have done in Russia when you uncovered someone like him?”

“That would never happen, Sir. The higher ranking officers protected their positions with a passion. Fear, intimidation, or outright treachery was their tools.”

“Well, now we can do whatever we think is needed to make our forces the best they can be. What do you think I’m going to do with him?”

Alex smiled, “May I assume you are not going to allow me or my trainers to command our active duty forces?”

Mike nodded, “You’re too important getting our warriors prepared. I can’t spare you.”

“Then he and others like him are going to command our armies in the field.”

Mike looked back in the armory at Derek and the big recruit giving the platoon their training schedule. “He may not have the confidence to accept the rank but I know he will be effective at getting the most out of his units.”

Alex smiled, “I suspect you have your leaders in that room, Sir.”

Mike smiled, “I think you’re right, Alex.” Mike looked at the huge Russian and extended his hand, “Keep up the good work.”

“You know I will.” Mike boarded his carrier and disappeared.

• • •

Three days later, Halley walked up in armor and gave Derek a huge kiss. His face turned crimson as she said, “I’ve been asked by the women to thank you for getting rid of that piece of…”

“It’s good to have you back, Halley.”

Halley smiled and went to attention, “It’s good to be back, Sir.”

“Are you ready to go to work?”

“Lead the way.”

The fifty two recruits that were washed out of training followed Derek and Aman into the armory. Derek was wrong; they were doing Daniel’s dance without thought in ten days. The hundred members of Platoon 21 came together after fourteen days and began working together. The Aman Square was learned in six days and perfected in three more.

J
eanette Adams looked at the work being done on her Q ship and shook her head. Mendrel and Howey Jurnigan had their heads stuck in two large tubes that had been cut into Tuffy’s hull. Jeanette looked over their shoulders and after a few moments shook her head, “Are you two sure this idea is going to work?”

The Assembly engineer pulled his head out and said, “It looks good in the computer.”

Jeanette rolled her eyes, “So did my late father’s plans. You know where that led?” Jeanette looked at Howey as he pulled his head out and said, “I thought the chemicals used in the slivers had to be spun to mix them. These cannons used on the Abrams Tanks are smooth bore.” Howey looked at Jeanette and wondered how a woman knew so much about the weapons used by Earth’s military. She saw his expression and said, “My father was one of the highest ranking generals in the United States Military; of course I know about all the weapon systems used by all our services.”

“We’ve cut rifling into them.”

“Why didn’t you just use a cannon barrel that already had the rifled bore?”

“The Abrams’ main gun was portable. Its breech could be automated for a belt feed such that it could fire at a much higher cyclic rate.”

Jeanette’s mouth went into a pout. She stared at Howey and shook her head, “There is no way you can feed 120 mm rounds like a machine gun. The heat alone would melt the barrel.”

“What is the temperature of open space?”

Jeanette was surprised by the question. She tried to remember and Mendrel said, “It’s slightly higher than absolute zero. Cooling the cannons will not be an issue.”

“How are the spent shell casings going to be removed?”

Howey sighed, “That’s what we’re working on now. The belts have an empty space beside each of the cannon shells that is magnetized. The belt will move in line with the barrel and the injector system will push it into the barrel’s breech. Once the round is fired, the belt will move one notch forward and the extractor will drop the spent casing on the magnetic slot.”

Jeanette nodded and said, “So what’s the problem?”

Mendrel still had his head in the hole and his voice sounded hollow, “Carrying the spent shell casings takes away from the number of rounds that can be carried.”

Jeanette looked at one of the new 120 mm shells that was standing next to the work table and said, “Why are you using the old propellant to fire them?”

Howey and Mendrel both turned and looked at Jeanette, “What?”

“I’ve been reading the properties of the explosive used by the slivers and it’s my understanding that it is as hard as steel until you spin it.”

Howey nodded, “Yeah, go on.”

“It just seems to me that you could take the projectile portion of the shell and use a much smaller base made of the new explosive. You put the shell in the barrel and spin it as it enters the breech. Now the base is active and once you ignite it, it will push the projectile out of the barrel and not leave anything behind.” Both engineers stared at Jeanette in silence and she said, “Hey, the normal shell casing detonates a large explosion of gunpowder to fire the projectile. Wouldn’t this accomplish the same thing?”

Mendrel looked at Howey, “Could the barrel withstand the pressures?”

“They do now. The issue would be the heat they would have to endure… but, if the barrels are in open space that would not be a problem.”

Mendrel pulled out his pocket link and began punching numbers into it. After three minutes he looked at the result and showed them to Howey who began shaking his head. Jeanette watched them and said, “What?”

Howey said, “Your idea is a good one. I thought the blast might set off the explosive in the projectile but it won’t become active until it has left the barrel spinning. Our tests have shown that the projectile won’t be activated until it’s twenty feet out of the barrel.”

Mendrel nodded, “So the blast in the cannon’s barrel won’t harm it.”

Jeanette smiled, “But you have to be able to spin the shell to activate the base; won’t that activate the projectile?”

“No, we’ll make the two mixtures different so the base can be activated at a much lower RPM. Developing a device to spin the shell before it enters the breech is a lot easier than extracting the spent shell casings.” Howey smiled, “Thank you.”

Jeanette curtsied, “Don’t mention it.”

Mendrel said, “If you come up with any other ideas…”

“How are you going to target the cannons?”

“Just like the tanks did; you’ll point the cannons on the path you need to fire them to hit your target.”

“No human is going to be able to do that.”

“You’re right. The ship’s computer will feed information into your helmet with a cursor on where you need to line the ship up. Once you move the ship to the correct alignment, a circle will overlap the cursor and the cannon will fire automatically.”

Jeanette nodded, “Like flying a Raptor or other high performance warplane.”

“Yes.”

“What’s the range?” Howey and Mendrel looked at each other and Jeanette didn’t like their expressions, “Don’t tell me I’ll have to get close enough to kiss them.”

Howey tilted his head, “Two miles would be effective. However, at high speed maneuvers, you might need to pucker up.”

Jeanette started shaking her head and Mendrel smiled, “If we can eliminate the shell casings, you’ll be able to carry double the load of ammo. You’ll have six cannons to use so fire a spread of projectiles and let your target run into them.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

Mendrel smiled, “Like Howey said, pucker up.” Jeanette closed her eyes, put her hands on her temples, and rubbed them. “You should know that you will probably only need to hit their warships with just one shell.”

Jeanette opened her eyes, “Oh?”

“You’ve seen the explosion a single sliver causes, haven’t you?” Jeanette nodded. Mendrel pointed to the huge projectile standing next to the work table, “That shell holds the explosive force of about fifty thousand slivers. The armor piercing nose will penetrate the hull and the explosive mix will detonate once the nose stops.”

Jeanette took the handgun out of her holster and ejected a sliver. She went to the 120 mm shell and held the sliver up to it. It was miniscule in comparison. She shook her head as Howey smiled, “Picture your sliver increased to the size of that projectile.”

Jeanette reloaded the sliver and smiled, “It looks like we’re going to have a blast.”

Mendrel nodded, “And then some.”

• • •

Tilly looked at the two community leaders and waited for them to stop yelling. Benjamin Drazek was screaming that his community needed a city of their own to build their places of worship and to retain their culture. Mohammed Al Shezek was screaming that the Jew was right and none of his community should be forced to live with them. Tilly listened to them and remained silent. She sat in a chair out in the open air and slowly rocked back and forth as the two leaders yelled their demands. After forty five minutes they stopped yelling and Ben said, “Have you heard one word I’ve said?”

“Yes, I’ve heard them all. I’d repeat them but I don’t have another forty five minutes to waste.”

Ben’s face turned red and Tilly said, “Do all of your citizens now have a family carrier to get them where they need to go?” Ben stared at Tilly, looked at Mohammed, and then nodded. “So any of your people can go to anywhere on the planet in less than an hour and probably anywhere on this continent in less than fifteen minutes.”

“Yeah, so what?”

“If you built your places of worship out in the middle of the wilderness, everyone in your community could go and worship from anywhere in less time than it once took to walk to your temple.” Ben and Mohammed continued to stare at Tilly. “We are not going to repeat the same mistakes that we made on Earth. All of us are a part of one community now and all of us will respect, defend, and fight to protect everyone on this new planet we’ve made our home. You can build your places of worship wherever you choose; however, all of us will live together and build one community. If you’re unhappy with the way the immigrants have been settled here, tough. Everyone is free to worship anyway they choose and no one will be allowed to interfere in that right. However, we will build a world where all of us live together in peace and work together to make this world something special. If you had issues back on Earth, you need to leave them there and try something new. We are not going to separate our warriors into different races or ethnic groups. We will all fight together. We will also all live together. Now I recommend you stop this noise you’re making and adjust to the new society we’ve created.”

Ben’s face turned angry, “And if we choose to not follow your demands?”

“You can live in the forest without your carriers and all the other facilities we’ve had built for you. Nor will we provide you with any materials to survive.” Tilly paused and said, “Did I mention that the forest is not located on this continent.”

“This is extortion!”

“No it’s not. You will stay there until we can transport you to another uninhabited planet where you can start fresh and live the way you choose. Of course, you’ll have to defend yourselves against the Gracken should they find you.”

Mohammed stared at Tilly and said, “You know our people will never agree to this.”

Tilly stood up, “Then you should go communicate with your people and shut up. I suspect they’re here because they know the old ways won’t work anymore. I suspect you two are reluctant to accept that new paradigm.” Ben stormed off and Mohammed lowered his eyes and stared at Tilly through his eyebrows. “If you think that expression bothers me in the slightest, you’re wrong. Go and tell your followers what I’ve told you. I no longer have the time or the patience to put up with your childish behavior.”

Mohammed followed Ben and they railed at how the planet’s leadership was totally out of touch with reality. They agreed to get their communities together to see if they could get them to come together to get things done. That is exactly what Tilly was hoping they would do. The two communities met in the Chitza-nitza’s square and Ben presented the stubbornness of the new world’s leadership. Mohammed agreed and said that each community should have its own city and not be forced to live scattered among others.

David Drezek looked at the pretty, dark skinned woman standing next to him in the crowd and smiled. “I really hope you don’t move away.”

Jaleh looked at the young man and said, “Why is that?”

“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve seen on this new world. It would be a shame to lose you.”

Jaleh chuckled and smiled. She remembered when she led the charge of women to board the transports to this new place and now saw the leaders were trying to recreate the old world. She looked at David and said, “Excuse me for a moment.” He nodded and she said, “Don’t go anywhere; stay right here.” David’s smile grew much larger.

Jaleh walked through the crowd and many of those present remembered her having the courage to rush the Hunter’s lines and get them on the transports. The crowd parted and she walked through them and walked up the steps to the stage. Mohammed saw her coming and knew trouble was on the way. He nudged Ben who was yelling in the microphone and Ben saw the crowds moving to allow the young woman to move to the stage. He stopped yelling and Jaleh walked up on the stage and stared him in the eyes. She held out her hand and Ben, after a long pause, handed her the microphone. He could hear the crowd and the sound wasn’t supportive.

Jaleh looked out at the massive gathering and silence descended like a thick fog on a calm ocean. “How many of you are afraid for your lives at this very moment?” Everyone in the crowd looked at each other and no one raised their hands. “How many of you were afraid for you lives back on Earth?” The entire gathering raised their hands and most were yelling how they were in fear every day.

Jaleh looked at Ben and Mohammed and then looked back at the crowd. Silence descended again. “These two claim to speak for us. They want us to go back to the way things were on Earth. I tell you now that I feel safer with the people of Israel standing with me here. And I hope they feel the same. I will not live in fear ever again and the new leaders of this world understand that the only way for us to come together into a true community is for all of us to care for each other and make it our goal to fight for all of us.”