Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) (27 page)

The
results were about what Drake expected. None of the 16 KE missiles were
destroyed outright. Six out of the eight lasersats targeted were blown apart by
the impact of at least one kinetic energy tungsten rod. The other two
satellites might have received glancing blows. His boats were still too far away
for him to be sure whether or not the missiles had missed those two targets,
but in any case, the defending anti-missile lasers had not been able to stop
the relatively simple kinetic energy warheads. Therefore his boats would fire
waves of KE missiles at the industrials centers. And since the damage inflicted
by kinetic energy penetrator rods increased with the speed with which they hit
the target, it made sense to fire those missiles as quickly as possible so that
their long run in to the targets could build up the maximum possible velocity.

Drake
turned to his Tactical Officer. “Gort, have we got a good fix on the location
of the industrial centers on this side of the planet?”

“Yessir.
They shut down their lights as soon as they detected us with radar, but those
centers are still giving off enough heat energy that we can spot them via
infrared. Approaching Makassar on its night side was a clever idea, sir.”

Drake
nodded. Confirming the exact locations of the industrial centers from this far
out was only possible via infrared. Those massive industrial complexes were 99%
metal, and they absorbed a lot of heat energy from the Franklin-A star during
their daylight phases.

“Good.
I want you to set up a full scale missile attack plan for all boats, using KEs
only. Allocate the number of missiles to each target based on how much heat
energy it’s radiating back into space. Larger complexes should be emitting more
heat energy and deserve to be hit by more KE warheads. You have permission to
assign targets to all our KE missiles. When the plan is ready, disseminate it
to all the appropriate boats, and let me know when they’re ready to fire. Any
questions?” There were none. Nine minutes later, Gort reported that all
KE-equipped boats were ready to fire. Drake looked down at his Command
Station’s number one screen and saw that Gort had set up a multi-boat-linked
fire command. All Drake had to do was touch the screen’s virtual button to
enable missile launch and all 12 missile boats loaded with KE missiles would begin
firing waves of them.

“Black
Bird Leader to all boats. We’re going to start firing all our KEs in a few
seconds. I want those warheads to build up as much velocity as possible before
they hit. When we’ve fired ourselves dry, we’ll continue with the slingshot
maneuver as the quickest way to get back to the carriers, and with any luck,
we’ll have opportunities to fire some HEs at targets when we pass over the far
side of the planet. I know we still have three hours before we start to swing
around, but you anti-missile boats stay on your toes. Zero Nine, you will
co-ordinate anti-missile fire, and you have discretion as to when we fire.
We’ll continue with the evasive maneuvering. Missile launch will begin in
three…two…one…mark.” He touched the button. The Task Force icon on the main
display vomited 12 overlapping icons with 8 missiles in each group. Drake
smiled at the thought that the display was going to get very crowded with new
icons very quickly since the Task Force would fire four more volleys spaced
twenty seconds apart.

He
didn’t have long to wait for the planet’s defenses to respond. With just over
seven minutes left before the first wave hit the planet, the main display
showed multiple missiles rising from the planet’s surface. The number of missiles
puzzled Drake. Sixty missiles was less than the ninety-six KE missiles of the
Task Force’s first volley. If those sixty were anti-missile missiles, then
there weren’t nearly enough of them to stop the industrial centers from getting
hammered. As he watched the rising cloud of enemy missiles disperse, he
suddenly understood why only 60 missiles. That was the number of eight-missile
groups fired by Drake’s boats. There was only one explanation for why the FEDs
would fire one missile at each group of eight SSU missiles. When the first
cluster of enemy missiles reached the 12 groups of the Union’s first volley,
Drake’s hunch proved correct. Each FED missile exploded with an obvious fission
warhead. Each of the 12 groups were clustered together close enough that the
fission explosion vaporized every Union missile. The Task Force’s first volley
was completely destroyed. Drake watched helplessly as each of the following
four volleys suffered similar fates. Of the 480 KE missiles fired by the Task
Force, 14 had somehow made it through the hellish explosions of super-hot
plasma. Drake had no illusions about their ability to hit their targets. Their
guidance systems would have been fried into lumps of melted components, and the
blast waves would have pushed the missiles off course. If any of them did hit
any part of an industrial complex, it would be sheer luck.

Drake
heard someone on his crew curse over the intercom. He wanted to curse too but
decided it was better to continue to let his crew see him remain calm. Calm
leaders tended to inspire confidence. Upset leaders tended to encourage doubts
about the mission’s chances for success.

“Black
Bird Leader to all boats. The FEDs seem to be learning from our past attacks.
We can learn from our failures too. I guarantee you our next attack will turn
out differently. In the meantime, we need to stay vigilant and look for
opportunities to inflict some damage however we can. Anti-missile boats will
keep their tubes loaded with AMMs, and the rest of us will keep our tubes
loaded with HEs. Our primary mission now is to get all our boats back to the
carriers. Keep that as your main focus and stay calm. Leader out.”

The
next two and a half hours seemed to last twice as long. The Task Force was
within effective range of the lasersats now, but they weren’t firing at his
boats. Drake wasn’t sure why not, but the consensus among his boat commanders
was that the remaining lasersats were too valuable to waste on maybe taking out
a few missile boats. It would make sense for the FEDs to save what they had
left to use against larger and maybe less well armored ships in the future.
That didn’t mean the Task Force was home free. Ground-launched missiles with
fission warheads could be fired at missile boats just as easily as at clusters
of missiles.

When
Makassar finally did start to fire missiles at his boats, Drake felt relief
that the waiting was over. Each industrial complex the Task Force was about to
overfly seemed to have its own network of anti-ship missile launchers, and as
the 24 boats got close to each complex, a cloud of missiles rose to intercept
them. It would take only 21.5 minutes for the missile boat formation to whip
around the planet and head back out again. Drake had a feeling he wasn’t going
to be bored during those minutes. The 12 boats loaded with anti-missile
missiles co-ordinated their defensive fire, and the other 12 boats fired HE
missiles at industrial complexes as the Task Force reached their closest
proximities to those targets. So far, his 2nd generation AMMs were getting the
job done. The question was would they have enough of them to get through the
gauntlet. Twenty-two minutes later, as the Task Force began to pull away from
the planet, anti-ship missile fire from the planet’s surface ceased, and the
answer to that question turned out to be ‘yes’ but just barely. His 12 AMM
boats had a total of 13 AMMs left out of their original load of 192.

Drake
didn’t really relax until his boats were well out of effective lasersat range.
Rendezvous with the carriers would take another six and a third hours. He was
already starting to compose his After Action report to CSO Janicot, but it
would be a short report. No boats lost or damaged. No enemy targets hit with
certainty. The Task Force had failed in its mission while Makassar’s defenders
had succeeded in theirs. Bragging rights definitely belonged to the FEDs, no
doubt about that. Drake wondered what this failure would do to his checkered
career, but he could take some comfort from the fact that none of his crews were
killed or injured. At least he hadn’t failed to hurt the enemy AND lost boats
on top of that!

Chapter Sixteen:

Day
282/2547

Foster
fidgeted as she waited for Chancellor Belloc to arrive for the briefing. She
looked over at Janicot and took notice of his calm demeanor.
Nothing much
seems to rattle him lately. Maybe I should try to be more like him.
She
shifted her gaze over to Sorenson, who happened to be looking in her direction,
and the two of them gazed into each other’s eyes for a couple of seconds.
Sorenson smiled ever so slightly and then looked away. Foster wasn’t sure what
that meant, if anything. Did the SecDef still hold a grudge against Foster for
keeping her in the dark or was she forgiven? Maybe she’d have a better idea
after this briefing. Any further thoughts were interrupted when Belloc strode
into the room and sat down at the head of the table in one smooth motion.
I’ll
say one thing about the Chancellor; he sure knows how to make an entrance.

“I’m
glad to see that everyone’s here. Let’s get right down to the business at hand.
Major Foster, you may begin your briefing,” said Belloc.

“Thank
you, Chancellor. As you all know, we received confirmation 42 hours ago that
the dummy shipbuilding complex on the gas giant’s moon was attacked and
destroyed. Luckily, the workers had plenty of warning and were able to evacuate
the site before it was hit, so no one was killed or injured. My staff and I
have spent the intervening time brainstorming ways to turn this event to our
advantage with the help of P2’s analysis. What we’ve come up with takes into
consideration the failure of Commodore Palmgren’s mission to inflict any damage
on Makassar. When the FED High Command on Earth learns of the destruction of
what they think is our ace-in-the-hole shipbuilding complex, they’ll conclude
that their numerical superiority over us will only grow with time and that an
eventual victory is assured. If we propose an armistice and peace negotiations,
P2 has calculated a 61.8% chance that the FED political leadership will agree
to that. What that cessation of hostilities will do for us is remove any chance
that the FED Navy might somehow learn that our real ace-in-the-hole is at
Midgard, thereby allowing us to finish building the battlecruisers that will
turn the tide of battle in our favor.” She paused to gauge her audience’s
reaction. Belloc was looking thoughtful and surprisingly, so was Sorenson.
Janicot was clearly sceptical, and he spoke up.

“Hold
on a second. I’m not sure I understand the logic behind P2’s assessment. If our
positions were reversed and we were the ones who had just destroyed what looked
like a secret shipbuilding project, and then the other side came begging us for
an armistice and peace negotiations, I’d be inclined to recommend to the
Chancellor that we say no. When you’re facing a dangerous opponent and you
happen to knock him down, your best strategy is to go in for the kill, not back
off and let him get back on his feet. I’m sure Admiral Chenko and General
Masterson would feel the same way.”

“I
understand that point of view, Admiral, however P2’s assessment is based on
political logic not military logic. This war has been going on for over six
years now. We’re receiving reports via our operatives on Earth that the public
is starting to show signs of war fatigue. The political logic is that it’ll be
hard for the Federation political leadership to refuse to negotiate if we make
it appear that we’re desperate for a negotiated settlement. Their Navy won’t be
in a position to attempt an outright military resolution to the war for at
least another year anyway, so why not formalize that anticipated period of
inactivity with a ceasefire and see what they can accomplish via a negotiated
settlement? Even if the negotiations fail, the politicians can still claim that
they explored other options and that we forced them to go back to the military
option.”

Before
Janicot could respond, Belloc interjected. “And you think that we can drag out
negotiations for more than a year? Won’t they figure out pretty quickly that
we’re stalling?”

“Given
the distances and transit times involved, it should be easy to drag things out
that long. Before negotiations even begin in earnest, we’d have to negotiate
where the talks will take place. Just sending those messages back and forth
will take a few months. Then every time they make a proposal to us, our
negotiators will have to request instructions from Sparta, and that will take
more time.”

When
it was obvious that Belloc wasn’t going to respond immediately, Janicot jumped
back in. “Does P2 have an opinion as to what Majestic will recommend, Major?”

“Yessir,
P2 is convinced that Majestic will recommend accepting our ceasefire and
negotiation proposal as a way of ensuring an uninterrupted buildup at Makassar
in preparation for a knockout military campaign when they achieve a 3 to1
quantitative superiority. In other words, Majestic will be recommending that
they do the same thing that we’re trying to do, except that our battlecruisers
will be ready first.”