Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) (14 page)

“Eighty-nine
percent Skipper. That’s without any interceptions. Their railguns will probably
ignore any missile that looks like it’s going to miss anyway, so effective
penetration accuracy will be lower than the 89%. How low depends on other
variables.”

“Like
concentration of fire?” asked Drake.

“Yes,
sir.”

“Can
you arrange to have all our HE and KE missiles arrive on target at the same
time?” Drake waited while the WO checked his computer for the answer.

“Can
do, Sir.”

“Good!
Set up that fire plan to target the largest complex down there, and let me know
when it’s ready.”

“Roger
that, Sir.”

Less
than a minute later, the WO spoke. “I’ve programmed the missile volleys.
However, we don’t have line-of-sight to the specified target right now. That
target will come over the horizon in about five minutes. For the best results,
I recommend that we wait another six minutes after that, Sir.”

Drake
nodded. “Fine. Go ahead, and fire at the optimum time unless you hear otherwise
from me.”

“Understood,
Sir.”

When
the optimum time arrived, all 16 volleys were fired over a space of five and a
half minutes. Drake watched over the next 28 minutes as those 16 volleys
gradually converged into one massive wave of missiles by the time they were 100
kilometers from the target. Jutland’s radar wasn’t powerful enough to pick up
radar reflections from the steel slugs fired by the railguns, and therefore
there was no way to detect how many of the missiles were intercepted, but
optical instruments were able to detect light from multiple HE warhead
detonations. That confirmed that at least some missiles got through.

Drake
waited until the celebratory shouts died down and then told the Helm Officer to
line the ship up for the jump home.

Day
23/2546

Trojan
read the damage report from Makassar and smiled. The Army people manning the
railgun batteries around the targeted complex had obeyed his instructions and
let all the incoming missiles hit the complex, which had been evacuated in
plenty of time to avoid any human casualties. The complex was a wreck. He would
have been even happier if more than one Union ship had attacked Makassar, but
one was enough. By filming the damaged complex from multiple angles, his staff
could make it look like damage on multiple industrial centers, which is what
his report to Army Chief of Staff Masterson would claim. Earth had to believe
that the start of the shipbuilding phase was once again set back by many
months. The war had to be dragged on until he had enough dedicated Army and
Navy officers and enough suitably indoctrinated ground troops to ensure that he
could seize political control of the Federation and declare the Empire. With
Majestic to guide him, defeating the SSU could be quickly accomplished any time
he decided to do it, but for now the SSU had to be allowed to believe that it
was winning or at least holding its own.

He
put the report down on his desk and walked over to the transparent wall that
overlooked the main Operations Center deep inside First Fleet/Army Force HQ.
One of the Center’s secondary displays showed the landing of the first Division
of ground troops sent from Earth. The freighters that brought it also carried
another nine Divisions for a total of approximately 50,000 men. They were
equipped with personal weapons and gear. Most of the vehicles and tanks that
would carry them into battle would come later from Makassar’s industrial
centers, but for now only a small percentage of the industrial capacity was
being used to build them. Tanks and personnel carriers were so large that it
made far more sense to build them within the same star system that was being
used as a staging area for the troops than it did to carry them all the way
from Earth or from one of the other Core planets.

Trojan
told his office computer to switch the display to the view from the drone
maintaining position over the backup site where Majestic was located. The
duplicate HQ facility built around the giant computer was itself now
camouflaged, but work was still progressing on camouflaging the secondary buildings
and equipment, as well as digging the underground revetments for the few tanks
that were already on Hadley and for the railgun batteries that were assigned to
Majestic’s defense. The machine had given the possibility of a Union assault on
Hadley with tanks and troops within the next 12 months a probability of almost
48%. If they came, they’d find Majestic’s bunker hard to find and VERY hard to
destroy. Nothing else on Hadley mattered, not even the main HQ facility. The
orbiting radar satellites would give him enough warning to get out of the main
HQ and head over to the backup site. As long as Majestic survived the attack,
everything else could be rebuilt. He didn’t even have to be physically present
at the backup site to oversee its defense. Majestic was far more capable of
analyzing the flow of battle and devising counter-strategies than he was. It
could issue orders directly to all the defending forces, not just around the
backup site but on the whole planet, so long as the communication links held out.

Trojan
chuckled at the thought of a Union attack on Hadley. He realized that he was
actually looking forward to it. It might be the only chance for a future
Emperor to see some combat with his own eyes.

Day
61/2546

“I
don’t care if Drake bombed Makassar, he disobeyed my order, and I want him
relieved of command of Jutland!” said Lee in a clearly angry voice.

Janicot
took his time responding. “I suggest you remember who you’re talking to,
Admiral Lee. I don’t like being yelled at by a subordinate, and I don’t have to
put up with it,” he said in a deceptively calm voice.

Lee’s
face very quickly lost a lot of its anger. “My apologies for letting myself get
carried away, Sir. I’m concerned about discipline. If Drake is allowed to get
away with this clear disregard for my authority, it will only encourage him and
others to do the same thing again.”

Janicot
sighed. It seemed that Union Flag Officers were just as prickly about their
authority as their Federation counterparts. He mentally reviewed the recording
of Lee’s command to his ships regarding the proposal to attack or at least
recon Makassar. Janicot hadn’t spoken to Drake in person yet, but he had read
Drake’s After Action report, and Drake was correct that Lee’s orders were
ambiguous enough that they could be interpreted to allow for individual ship CO
discretion. But Lee had a point too. Ambiguous or not, Drake had to have known
what Lee had meant even if his words weren’t precisely explicit. Drake was
obviously counting on that eternal cliché that it was easier to ask for
forgiveness than for permission. If Janicot disciplined Drake, that would send
a message to every other Union officer that it was dangerous to show
initiative, but if he didn’t take any disciplinary action, he’d be sending an entirely
different message. Damn the man for putting him in this difficult position. Lee
was waiting for a response.

“I’ll
take your comments under advisement, Admiral. Commander Drake’s actions
notwithstanding, I can’t help thinking that we missed a golden opportunity to
inflict serious, perhaps even crippling damage on the enemy’s ability to build
up their forces. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, I would urge
you to act aggressively.”

Lee,
now completely calm, realized that this was one argument he couldn’t win. “I
understand, Admiral,” was all he said.

“Good.
I’ll let you know what I decide to do regarding Commander Drake. You’re
dismissed.”

As
soon as Lee had left the room, Janicot made a call to Captain, no… it was now
Major Foster. He needed to know how Drake’s raid on Makassar changed Oracle’s
short and long term outlook. Once he knew that, he would decide Commander
Drake’s fate.

The
answer came 24 hours later. Foster looked up from her tablet as both the CSO
and the Secretary for Defense entered the conference room and quickly sat down.
Janicot spoke first.

“I’ve
asked Secretary Sorensen to sit in on this briefing in order to save time.
Secretary Sorensen is aware of what happened at Makassar, Major. You can begin
your briefing.”

Foster
nodded as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The briefing was going to
be difficult enough with just the CSO, but now there were two VIPs to convince.

“Thank
you, Admiral. I’ll start with what Jutland’s attack most likely accomplished,
and then I’ll discuss what P2’s analysis shows.”

Before
she could continue, Sorensen interjected. “P2? I’m not familiar with that term,
Major Foster.”

Foster
felt herself blush. “A slip of the tongue, Madame Secretary. It’s the nickname
that my staff has started using for our Phase II Oracle device.”

Sorensen
and Janicot looked at each with barely concealed smiles. “Continue, Major,”
said Janicot.

“Yessir.
Based on Jutland’s sensor data, Phase II Oracle…P2…has concluded that the
largest single industrial complex on Makassar was very likely damaged to the
point where it was for all intents and purposes destroyed. By that, P2 means
that repairing it will take just about as long as building it again from
scratch. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, the bad news is that it only
reduces total output of the planet by 9.9%. P2 calculates that the start of
full scale shipbuilding will only be delayed by a further six to eight weeks.
That by itself will not affect the overall probability of success significantly.
However, there are other factors at work now that the attack on Earth has been
attempted and has failed. P2 is now of the opinion that Majestic correctly
anticipated our overall strategy, and that’s why almost all of the FED fleet
was in Earth orbit.” She saw Sorensen close her eyes and lean back, while
Janicot’s expression grew grim as he shook his head.

“How
confident is P2, Major?” asked Janicot.

“Ninety-seven
percent, Sir.”

“Damn
that machine,” said Sorensen. “It’ll probably anticipate our strategy and take
the necessary counter-measures no matter what we do.”

“Let’s
not work ourselves up into a panic, Madam Secretary. We haven’t heard the rest
of the briefing yet. Maybe our Super-Oracle will surprise us,” said Janicot. He
gestured for Foster to continue.

“P2
was then asked to re-compute our best counter-strategy. The results are highly
risky. In essence, P2 is now saying that our best chance of getting Earth to
acknowledge the SSU’s independence is to build up our fleet as quickly as
possible and attempt to overwhelm the enemy defenses around Earth. If we
succeed, the fact that we destroyed the FED fleet AND attacked Earth will open
a window of opportunity for a negotiated settlement. In fact, P2 is saying that
our Fleet Commander should have a proposed peace treaty ready to transmit to
the Federation Assembly immediately after the battle, when our fleet is still
in Earth orbit and the psychological shock of their defeat is at its peak.”

That
seemed to restore some of the lost optimism in the Defense Secretary. Janicot
still looked skeptical.

“And
how likely is it that our fleet will defeat theirs?” he asked in a low voice.

“It’s
roughly one chance in four, Sir.”

Janicot’s
alarmed expression showed that he wasn’t expecting it to be that low. “It’s
gotten worse?”

“I’m
afraid so, Sir.” There was something about her tone of voice that made Janicot
wonder if she was holding back something important. Sorensen jumped in before
he could ask what that something was. She was clearly agitated again.

“Is
it just me or does it seem like we can’t win this war with Majestic calling the
shots on their side?” Her voice hinted that she was on the ragged edge of
tears.

Janicot
didn’t like being distracted by Sorensen’s question, but maybe he could use it
to pry open whatever secrets Foster seemed to be holding back.

“It’s
not just you, Madam Secretary. Major, am I right in thinking that you have
something you want to add to this briefing…something that didn’t originate from
P2?” asked Janicot. The change in Foster’s expression told Janicot that he had
made the right guess.