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Part VIII
March 25th, 2001
GENERAL QUARTERS
Lieutenant MacDonald's second day on board the Slayton found him attending a security briefing in a packed mess hall. Amidst considerable audience chatter, a male officer stepped forward and cleared his throat. He waved his hand over the podium, and a holographic display appeared, floating above him.
"Please be seated. We don't have much time. My name is Commander Kearny. I'm going to bring you up to date on our mission."
Eric turned to the young woman sitting next to him and spoke softly. "Commander? Is he Navy?"
The young blonde woman, a Second Lieutenant, leaned over and whispered to Eric. "All Air Force Captains are now Commanders, remember?"
"Oh, that's right. I heard about that at the Academy. Too many Captain's running around. Let's see. A Navy Commander is an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, right?"
"Right," she said. "And now an Air Force Commander is a Navy full Lieutenant."
"Looks like they really cleared up the confusion, didn't they?" Eric said as he smiled.
Commander Kearny continued. "Currently our plan is to leave orbit on November 15th. It will take us approximately eight days to reach the Kuiper belt, and we'll be traveling at about two percent of the speed of light."
Eric was amused. Colonel Kelso had told him they wouldn't leave until his home brew fire control system was ready. Nothing much had changed in the military, he thought. Or else this was their way of suggesting that he be ready by that date. Or else.
"The NSA and Space Command have done a complete analysis of the digital data from the first two encounters. What I'm telling you now is to be regarded as Top Secret Proxima." The Commander waved his hand again, and a reenactment of the first ET encounter came up on the display.
"The first encounter by the Lovell, on November 25th, 2046, was with a single ship that appeared to be anticipating it's arrival. Long range sensors indicated a remarkable acceleration by the ET ship as it closed on the Lovell, which was running at 0.01 c, and fired a series of proton beam bursts. However, these bursts were apparently designed to damage the Lovell but not destroy it. Contrary to earlier reports, the Lovell did not hit the ET ship with its X-ray laser. When the Lovell stood down, the ET ship backed off and did not reengage. There were no radio or other communications from the ET ship.
"In the second engagement, in April 14th, 2047, the Lovell and Haise engaged three ET ships. Their trajectories indicated that they did not get a running start as in the previous engagement and had to close on a steeper trajectory. This may have been due to the extensive security surrounding the second mission, whereas the first Lovell mission was widely announced on TV broadcasts. With more advanced fire control and magnetic shields, the Lovell was apparently able achieve extensive radiation time on one ET ship before it took heavy fire from two other ET ships. The Haise engaged the remaining ships, but was itself heavily damaged. Sensor analysis indicates that the ET ships may not have been as heavily damaged as we initially estimated. Once again, after the Haise stood down, the ET ships declined to reengage. The Lovell was lost along with all hands, but the Haise was able to return home.
"Our assessment of this scenario is that the ETs believe that they can discourage us without total annihilation. We think they want us to see their level of technology and report back on it. Whether they expect us to return and fight them with more modern weapons or simply give up is not known. But what is fairly clear is that their intention is to give us bloody nose, not a knock out punch. This seems confirmed by the fact that they have not invaded near-earth space.
"Our current mission is to engage the ETs with this task force and to destroy all ET ships in the region, if possible. We will retreat if conditions warrant. If we succeed without significant damage or casualties, we will return to Earth for ten days of family leave before departing for Tau Ceti. At a speed of 0.999 c, it will take us approximately six months, ship board time, to travel twelve light years. With one year on site, our expected return date on Earth is 2075. Your briefing documents and the HR reps will fill you in on the social and family consequences of this relativistic effect.
"I've been asked to remind you that each of these four Slayton-class ships cost in excess of fourteen billion U.S. dollars. If we do not break free on this encounter, it may be a very long time before we can launch another assault. Finally, effective immediately, all shore-leave is hereby canceled and no one will be able to leave the ship prior to our departure. That is all."
As they all stood up and began to gripe about the confinement on the ship, the Second Lieutenant who had been sitting next to Eric turned to him. "Aren't you the Eric MacDonald ... who was on the Lovell?"
"That's me."
"I'm lieutenant Alana Rogalle. Computer Systems. Can I ask you what it was like? The battle, I mean."
"I was in the brig when it started and didn't see much. What I saw wasn't good. Holes in the hull. Bad fires. Horrendous g-forces."
Lieutenant Rogalle swallowed slowly. "Do you think we can break free this time?"
"We'll just have to see what a steady diet of Quark Bullets does to them. I'm betting they aren't ready for that. I guess we'll find out, won't we?" Eric looked at the fair young woman with her blonde hair pulled back in a French braid. She had a mature, yet feminine look to her freckled face. And yet her blue eyes were filled with concern as she looked up at him, begging for reassurance. He realized that he'd alarmed her. "Don't worry," Eric said. "Captain Kelso was on the Lovell too. He knows exactly what he's doing. And so do I."
Lieutenant Rogalle smiled, but it was a small, grudging smile.
Eric walked onto the bridge of the Slayton, and suddenly he felt himself breathing quickly with joy and anticipation. He had never seen a starship bridge before. It wasn't at all what he thought it would be like based on the few science fiction movies he'd seen.
The bridge was a circular compartment with a central black cylinder two meters in diameter. Spaced evenly all around the edge of the cylinder were five high-g couches facing outward. All along the outer edge were display panels three meters high, and they encircled the entire bridge. Clearly, each person on these couches would be outwardly engaged with either a view of space or shipboard status. Eric looked up at the cylinder to see holo-projectors and surmised that there would be a lot of information floating in front of the bridge crew. That was all there was. The room was otherwise empty and showed no other instruments or controls. That was very natural, he thought. In a space battle, traveling at a healthy fraction of the speed of light, there is no time to touch controls. Everything must be done with the mind and the eyes.
He walked up to an officer who was adjusting one of the couches. "Excuse, me."
The officer turned and looked up. "Aha, lieutenant MacDonald. Welcome to the Slayton. I don't believe we've met. I'm lieutenant colonel Kou Kim. The XO."
"Good morning, sir. Say, weren't you on the Haise?"
"Indeed I was."
"I'm glad you're with us."
"Glad to be here," colonel Kim said.
"Anyway, I'm curious. Can you tell me about the seating here?" Eric pointed.
"Sure. This is the Captain's chair, here. I sit on his left. On his right is the weapons officer. That's you, I'm told. Around to the right, there is an engineering manager and a ship's analyst. Communication is via neural implants."
"What's the ship's analyst do?" Eric asked.
"Call her a counselor. Aside from the battle, aside from the immediate waging of war, the ship's analyst is responsible for the human side of counsel to the Captain. Has he gone overboard? Is he risking the ship or crew in an unwarranted fashion? Has he lost his sense of balance and humanity? We want to win this engagement, but not at the cost of barbarism."
"Can she overrule him?" Eric asked, curious.
"Nope. Only advise. The Captain is always the ultimate authority."
"It looks like I'm going to be working with lieutenant Rogalle on designing the visual interface to the main weapons. I'll be in here quite a lot."
"Very good, then. Carry on, lieutenant," Colonel Kim said as he left the bridge. Eric spent a few minutes introducing himself to the ship's main computers, then he got to work.
On November 14th, with no public fanfare and in complete secrecy, the Slayton, Schirra, Shepard, and Glenn left Earth orbit and accelerated towards the coordinates of Tau Ceti. Their weapons and fire control systems were intertwined into an elaborate neural net of high speed communication and battle strategy designed to maximize their collective fire power and minimize their vulnerabilities.
Throughout out the early part of the voyage, Eric, Lieutenant Rogalle, and Captain Kelso spent twelve hour days running simulations based on the first encounters and refined their battle strategy.
At six days out, the bridge schedule changed to continuous duty on the bridge, either working or asleep in their couches to make sure everyone was rested and alert.
At eight days out, on November 22nd, 2050, at 0422 ship time, at 31 astronomical units from the sun, Eric picked up the gravitational quake of six ET ships accelerating and closing from behind. Simultaneously, the ship's main computers sounded General Quarters and Eric initiated the first of the engagement scenarios. Their plan called for extreme maneuvering to avoid enemy fire, fire conventional proton beams early, and lure the ET ships to within one million kilometers, the range of the Quark Bullets.
Eric could feel the steady breathing of all the bridge crew around him as he watched the floating display in front him, swirling with coded colors and indicators. He could hear their thoughts as well as the thoughts of the bridge crews on the other ships. In a silent symphony of thought and intent, they responded to the situation and provided guidance to the ship's computers. Meanwhile, the ship's computers were carrying out ten to the eighteenth calculations per second, adjusting and anticipating instantaneously to the movements and firing of the enemy. The incoming proton beams could not be detected before they arrived, but their computers calculated the expected time of arrival based on the attack geometry and conducted evasive maneuvers. The g-forces on the bridge mounted as the ET ships closed, and harsher maneuvering was required.
One of the enemy ships closed to within a million kilometers. Eric had given pre-consent to engage the Quark weapon.
It fired.
Eric watched the brilliant white pinpoint beam shoot out to its target, but he was already working on a maneuver scenario that would predict the enemy's reaction in the other ships. The Schirra was his partner in this, and in an explosion of acceleration, barely contained by the ship's antigravity systems, the Schirra and Slayton maneuvered to attack two other trailing ships. In a split second, Eric saw that the Glenn and Shepard were engaging the remaining enemy ships.
Suddenly, an orange sphere appeared in space in front of Eric indicating that a maneuver solution had failed and they were going to take a hit. Eric heard the engineering manager's thoughts rise up and indicate a hit in the aft engine room. He pushed it back down in his consciousness and brought his attention to a third ship that was trying to defeat his cooperation with the Schirra.
"Eric," he heard the Captain say. "We've lost forty percent power. I'm changing the scenario."
"Give me four seconds."
"No," he heard the ship's analyst say. "Magnetic field is at seven percent."
"I agree," Kelso said crisply.
"Eric blinked into the bail out icon and felt the g forces increase into the five g-range, indicating that the Slayton was actually pulling more than 100 g's as it pulled out of the engagement and maneuvered to cover the Schirra. Eric counted two enemy ships apparently disabled. Then a third was hit by the Glenn.
Another orange ball lit up in front of Eric. He heard Major Forney on the line yell that engine room Bravo was on fire and that there was structural damage aft. The ship's engineering manager called for a defensive abort. Captain Kelso sounded the klaxon for all hands to evacuate the aft engine room.
And then something happened that none of them expected. One of the enemy ships that should have been disengaging moved instead towards the Slayton and fired. The Slayton had pulled out of the battle and was simply covering the Schirra's retreat, but yet another orange ball appeared. He held his breath as he felt the ship shudder and roll. Deck plates erupted and fires burst through his view screen. Eric blinked into the enemy ship, but it was nearly out of range. Quantum Bullets hurled aimlessly into deep space, and his display went blank.
"Engine room Alpha also hit!" It was the engineering manager.
"Eric! Forney needs help. His team is trapped. Casualties. Can you operate a fork lift?"
"Yes sir!"
"Help Forney break out of ER Bravo. Smash bulkhead six. I'm ordering the ship evacuated. The Schirra is coming to."
"Got it!"
With the g forces back to normal, Eric leapt out of his couch and ran down to the central tube to the shuttle car that would carry him aft. Eric emerged to see chaos in Alpha engine room. Several crew were down and appeared dead. The remaining crew, perhaps eight of them, were trying to simultaneously shut down the Tokamak, fight fires and break through the main bulkhead to the aft engine room with laser torches. Eric climbed into a forklift and yelled for everyone to move aside.
"There's low pressure aft!" some yelled.
Eric knew they would have only a few seconds to smash through the bulkhead and pull the crew members out before the whole area vented. He jammed the throttle forwards, raised the fork, and aimed for the main hatch which had been jammed by the buckled plates. The impact threw Eric forward and his chest slammed into the steering wheel, but the five ton forklift had pushed open the main hatch between the two compartments. Air rushed around him, and he felt faint. Someone pulled him off the seat and proped him against the forklift. He stumbled for a second, dazed, and then saw the crew from the aft engine room scrambling through the open hatch. Just as he was ready to keel over, Major Forney grabbed Eric as he went by and helped him towards the escape pods.
"No!" Eric yelled. I have to get back to the bridge!
"Okay. But get out fast."
Eric's head cleared, and he touched his communicator. "Where's the Captain?"
The ship's analyst answered. "We don't know! He was helping us into the escape pods. We lost track of him. Looks from out here like the Slayton is breaking up. Get out now!"
Eric took a deep breath and worked his way back to the shuttle car which was running on battery power. Once again forward, he jumped off and climbed two levels back to the bridge which by now was an inferno. Choking on smoke, he crawled along the floor, looking for Captain Kelso and found him laying on the deck next to the last escape pod hatch. Eric confirmed a pulse. Holding his breath, Eric picked up the Captain and pushed him through the opening, and pulled the hatch shut behind them. As soon as the ready light glowed, Eric gasped for a deep breath and punched the escape plate.
They hurled into space, rolling slightly, as the rocket engine accelerated them away from the Slayton. Then, just as suddenly, they were weightless. Eric tried to start CPR on the Captain, but he was weak, coughing, and nearly losing consciousness from the smoke he'd inhaled. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the black hulk of the Slayton punctuated by glowing fires and the aft section seemed to jut out at a curious new angle. Against the deep black sky, dotted with brilliant stars, he could see nothing else but the outline of his destroyed ship. Space that had been ablaze with directed energy weapons was suddenly still and eerily quiet.
The sight of the Slayton coming apart in large chunks, for some reason, made him think of Laurette. He reached down to grasp his St. Christopher medal, but it was gone. Somehow torn away in his struggles, perhaps wrapped around the steering wheel of a forklift doomed forever to a bitter cold grave in space.
And then he blacked out.
Copyright 2001 by John
Martellaro, All rights reserved. Quantum Threads banner
artwork by Tracy Haynes.
About the Author
John Martellaro lives in Colorado at 2,800 meters above sea level with a Ph.D. wife and two cats, Nikki and Data. He holds a B.S. in Astrophysics and an M.S. in Physics. His hobbies, include amateur astronomy, downhill skiing, bicycling, and listening to piano solos. His personal Macs are a B&W G3/400 with a flat screen Studio Display and a blueberry iBook.
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