CHAPTER 2 – STAYING VIGILANT
14:11 (Universal Time)
Tuesday, June 7, 2332
Bridge of the A.M.S. NOSTROMO
Arriving in orbit of the planet New Polynesia
HD40307 star system, 42 light-years from Earth
Captain Tina Forster, at age 45.
‘’We will be in our planned orbit around New Polynesia in about seven minutes, Tina.’’
‘’Good!’’ replied Tina Forster, reacting to the announcement from Frida Skarsgard, the pilot of the NOSTROMO. ‘’As soon as we are in a solid orbit, we will start sending our shuttles down with our passengers due to debark on the planet. We will wait until most of the shuttling operation is completed before starting to take out and assemble together the sections of orbital space terminal we are carrying in our holds.’’
Dana Durning, her executive officer and navigator, spoke to her after a longing look at the resplendent blue ocean planet.
‘’New Polynesia is such a beautiful planet, Tina. Do you think that we could find some time in the coming days to let our crew and their families go down for at least a couple of days on the beach?’’
Tina made a wide grin in response.
‘’And where do you think that I was planning to hold the party for the second anniversary of my sweet little Janet, if not on a beach of New Polynesia? We will find the time for our people to go down to the surface in separate batches for some good beach time during the coming days.’’
Cheers from around the bridge greeted that announcement, making Tina smile. The facilities on her ship, including six large forest habitats, may be of exceptional quality for a starship but, for Spacers, nothing beat open air, balmy temperatures and a nice beach. She could already imagine her little daughter Janet having fun dipping in the waves with her, her husband Michel and their twelve-year-old son Misha. Of course, a nice beach-side picnic with a birthday cake was going to be part of that day of time off from the ship routine. However, something then came back to her mind, reminding her that all was not rosy in this corner of the galaxy.
‘’Dana, I will let you organize the group splitting of our crewmembers and their families for those days on the beach. Make sure that at least two-thirds of our combat personnel stay aboard and ready for action at any one time. We certainly don’t want to be caught helpless in orbit by some surviving marauding Space Predator ship. We will also want to keep a few heavy fighters out on patrol at all times, watching the outer limits of this system.’’
Dana, a 49-year-old mother of two, nodded her head soberly at those directives: she herself was very aware of the continued threat represented by those carnivorous monsters. Nobody knew how many Space Predator asteroid ships still roamed this quadrant of the galaxy, ready to jump on unsuspecting ships in order to devour their crews and passengers.
Once her ship was firmly established in its orbit around New Polynesia, Tina made a ship-wide announcement, calling for the passengers due to disembark on the planet to vacate their cabins and proceed to the level of the hangar deck, where a fleet of shuttles were ready to bring them down. With some 3,780 passengers soon making their way to the hangar deck, Tina then concentrated on another thing and asked a question to her senior sensors officer, Amin Jamilian.
‘’Amin, how many of our warships are present in this system and defending it?’’
‘’Uh, we have a single frigate, the NELSON, orbiting in a polar orbit.’’
‘’That’s it?’’ asked Tina, not too pleased, making Jamilian shrug his shoulders.
‘’That’s it, Tina. Unfortunately, our fleet is still down to three battlecruisers after having lost twelve battlecruisers to the Space Predators. What is left of our navy has since been forced to disperse in order to cover and protect all 25 of our colonies and the Solar System. I guess that we won’t be able to improve on that until new warships can be built. Unfortunately, that will take months, if not years. As of now, we constitute the best defense for New Polynesia while orbiting it.’’
While frustrated, Tina had to concede that Jamilian was right. The bulk of the Spacers’ League’s battle fleet had been destroyed some five months earlier in an ill-advised and ineptly-handled attempt at attacking the homeworld of the Space Predators. Only the last-minute arrival of the NOSTROMO had prevented the monsters from invading the Alpha Centauri System and then butchering its inhabitants. Now, Janet Robeson, having come out of political retirement in order to take the reins of the battered military forces of the Spacers’ League as its new defense minister, was doing her best to rebuild its navy, helped in this by Spirit’s avatar, which had been named First Lord of the Admiralty in order to replace the incompetent previously occupying that post. While both Janet Robeson and Spirit were working hard and doing their best, Jamilian was right about the months and years needed to build new warships. Another problem delaying things was the increasingly fractious political atmosphere within the Spacers’ League. Despite the strong leadership of Chairman Karl Langemann, the fact was that the League was still a political coalition of nine commercial/ethnic corporations to which the various worlds of the League belonged. While the shock of losing its battlefleet to the Space Predators had shaken the corporation heads into working in concert to defend Humanity’s Space, it had not taken long before the old bickering and economic maneuvering had resurfaced. Also, the fact that an android, Spirit’s avatar, was now in charge of the Navy, had raised much public doubts and some protests, with many arguments that Tina would qualify as ‘racist’ being spouted about that. All in all, the next few months and years promised to be tense, anxious ones.
09:45 (Universal Time)
Spacers’ League’s High Council chambers
City of New Dawn, Providence
Alpha Centauri B System
Spirit was one of the first persons to arrive for this special meeting of the High Council of the Spacers’ League, called in to discuss the plan she had written to rebuild and reorganize the Navy. Two minutes after her arrival in the large, high-ceiling chamber, Janet Robeson joined Spirit near the long conference table and exchanged a hug with her.
‘’You look splendid this morning, Spirit.’’
‘’Thank you, Janet. And how are you today?’’
Janet replied with a short sigh.
‘’I really miss Gerald, Spirit. We do communicate nearly daily by exchanging video messages, but four months without him feels very long to me. I am sorely tempted to resign as minister of defense and return into retirement but, on the other hand, I realize how much I am needed here: our defense ministry needed a serious shake in order to get rid of all the dead weight in it and there is still a lot left to be done. And you? Are the staff at the Admiralty now accepting you?’’
It was then the turn of Spirit to look discouraged.
‘’To be frank: not really. Except for a few younger officers, I still am facing quite a lot of passive resistance at the Admiralty and nearly need to do everything by myself. In particular, I keep hearing remarks about me not following the usual procedures and administrative rules. If it would be only for me, I would fire nearly a third of the Admiralty’s staff for their inflexibility and bad attitude towards me.’’
‘’Hum, maybe I should talk to Karl about this, Spirit.’’
‘’Even if you did, I doubt that he could change things significantly: there is simply too much hostility around our whole society at the idea of an android like me directing a human department, or of androids being anything other than mere working slaves for Humans.’’
‘’I am truly sorry about that, Spirit. Be assured that I have full confidence in you as First Lord of the Admiralty.’’
Just then, it was the turn of Chairman Karl Langemann to arrive in the room, quickly followed by the remaining heads of corporations and the ministers of Langemann’s cabinet. One notable absence was Tina Forster, busy in her NOSTROMO building a new space terminal in orbit of New Polynesia. However, Spirit knew that Tina could count on Governor Sheraz, the leader of the Koorivars, who was a good friend of her and followed the same values and ideals than her, to represent her views. Humanity owed its present ability to travel around the stars to a Koorivar scientist, Doctor Koomak, a genius in Physics who was still active and productive despite his advanced age, so Sheraz more than pulled his weight at High Council meetings. Or should she say ‘it’, reminded Spirit, since the Koorivars were hermaphrodites, with both female and male sexual organs. Allied with their strange-looking ‘Z’ legs, long necks and elongated heads resembling that of a deer, the Koorivars sure made for eye-catching creatures for the Humans who had never seen one before. However, their weird physiology was allied with high intelligence and a pacifist nature. Spirit smiled and nodded her head at Sheraz as she took her seat at the table, opposite the Koorivar leader. Sheraz returned her salute before sitting, using a chair designed for Koorivars.
At exactly ten o’clock, Karl Langemann banged twice his wooden gavel and spoke up, addressing the participants to the meeting.
‘’Welcome all to this special meeting of the High Council, ladies and gentlemen. While we will use your presence here today for other, less urgent businesses, our main goal this morning is to approve a rebuilding and reorganization plan for our Navy, a plan made by Spirit, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Without further ado, I will now let Spirit take over from me.’’
‘’Thank you, Mister Chairman!’’ said Spirit in her microphone. ‘’First, I will recap the reasons for such a rebuilding and reorganization of our Navy, which basically stem from the destruction of twelve out of our fifteen battlecruisers at the hands of the Space Predators four months ago. Apart from a dozen armed merchant vessels, including the NOSTROMO of Captain Forster, we still have only three battlecruisers in service, far from enough to adequately defend our systems against an attack by surviving Space Predator ships. As for the lesser ships of our Navy, mainly our frigates and corvettes, they are basically not up to the task of facing a Space Predator asteroid warship, so we urgently need to replace our lost cruisers. However, simply building new battlecruisers of the COSMONAUT-Class will not do, as our battlecruisers proved deficient in armament and protection when facing the enemy asteroid ships. Another reason why our battle fleet lost four months was that it was poorly handled tactically and got suckered into a trap inside the TOI 1231 System. That cost us the lives of over 6,000 of our brave men and women. I thus came to the conclusion that we needed a new major warship design, one fully able to engage a Space Predator ship and defeat it. I have now finalized a design for a new class of warships, which I will call the BATTLE-Class battleships for the benefit of this discussion.’’
‘’Uh, wait, Miss Spirit!’’ interjected Keiko Miyagi, the minister of economy and industries. ‘’Did you say that you designed yourself this new type of ship? You didn’t use one of our ship design teams at our major shipyards?’’
‘’No! I used super-computers specializing in ship design to give form to what I deemed to be needed by our Navy. If you ask me if our admirals were consulted on this project, my answer is also ‘no’. Before I am accused of arrogance and abuse of authority, you need to hear the following points. First, when our COSMONAUT-Class battlecruiser program was authorized by the High Council some eight years ago, a full year was spent simply in going through the usual Navy call for tenders for its proposed design. To that year was added another three months used to finalize and approve the contracts for their construction. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we don’t have fifteen months to waste on paperwork and administrative procedures. We still don’t know how many Space Predator ships still roam this galaxy and only one of them would be sufficient to lay waste to one of our home worlds, unless we are damn lucky. So we need new and better ships fast! My second point is about deciding on the design of new ships. Civilian ship designers don’t have the practical combat experience needed to precisely know what we need and what works or don’t work in a battle with Space Predator ships. Our Navy brass is supposed to advise these designers about what is needed in our ships. Unfortunately, our admirals failed miserably in that task, mostly because most of them have been desk-bound for years and even decades in some cases and didn’t understand the kind of threat we were facing, while those still commanding warships failed in the tactics department by underestimating the enemy and overestimating their own capacities. In the end, it is our Navy crews which paid the price for these errors by the Navy brass. So, I used a super-computer that had plenty of experience with Space combat and which had faced Space Predator warships before. I am talking here about my fixed counterpart aboard the NOSTROMO, which is also called ‘Spirit’. In fact, Spirit was given free-rein by Captain Forster in handling her NOSTROMO during her three victorious battles against Space Predator ships, so my ship counterpart certainly knows what works and what doesn’t work against our enemy. Also, Spirit has been monitoring and maintaining the systems of first the KOSTROMA and then of the NOSTROMO, for over four decades. Spirit was thus more than qualified to help me refine my initial warship design. And before anybody screams conflict of interest here, know that this new finalized warship design didn’t cost our Navy or this High Council a penny.’’
‘’But, how could our shipyards stay competitive if their design teams are not solicited anymore?’’ objected Paul Stein, the CEO of the Pallas Mining Industries, which operated a number of shipyards. He then got a sober look from Spirit in response.
‘’They won’t stay idle, Mister Stein. The Navy has many other, less urgent projects than that for new major warships. However, on this present project, time is of the essence.’’
‘’Very well, Miss Spirit! What are you proposing then as replacement for our destroyed battlecruisers?’’
‘’Something vastly more powerful in terms of firepower, allied to better protection, all in a lot more compact package that minimizes its size as a target, thus making it difficult to shoot at long range. I thus present you the BATTLE-Class battleship!’’
Spirit then made a three-view drawing of an elongated, ovoid-shaped warship with four huge pods attached in a cruciform fashion to its main body. Vladimir Gasparov, the CEO of the Sverdlovsk Group and a certified engineer, let out a soft exclamation.
‘’Bozemoi! Your design is basically four huge disintegrator cannon pods attached to a centerline ovoid body barely wider than the pods. Are these cannons of the same model as those arming the NOSTROMO?’’
‘’They effectively are, Chief Executive Gasparov. The BATTLE-Class battleships will thus have as great a firepower as the NOSTROMO while being only seven percent of its volume. Each main cannon will have a firing arc of twenty degrees withing the limits of their casemate pods but those pods will in turn be able to rotate a full 360 degrees around their base, in order to fire in all directions. This configuration was selected in order to present as little a frontal surface as possible while maximizing the ship’s firepower. The protection via steel, ceramic and prismatic quartz armor will be particularly thick in the frontal arc, where the enemy fire is expected to be heaviest…unless of course the commander of our battleship acts like a klutz and presents his side profile to the enemy. I hate to say this but, if well-handled, such a BATTLE-Class battleship would probably win in a fight against the NOSTROMO.’’
‘’That by itself is one hell of a statement, Spirit. The NOSTROMO has been cutting through Space Predator ships like a hot knife through butter. Your ship design looks quite impressive to me and should indeed fill our needs quite nicely.’’
‘’Thank you, Chief Executive Gasparov. On top of its four super-heavy disintegrator cannons, this battleship will be armed with eight twelve-gigawatt laser batteries, 32 medium disintegrator cannons and eight twenty-shot missile launchers. Its crew will be kept to a minimum by making ship operations as automated as possible, in order to keep the ship as compact as possible. However, the crew facilities will still be extensive and comfortable and will include a fully equipped medical section.’’
‘’Do you have an estimate for the cost of such a ship, Miss Spirit?’’ asked John Munroe, the minister of finance.
‘’Yes, Minister! According to the present costs for materials and labor, a BATTLE-Class battleship, if built as part of a series production run of ten ships or more, would cost about eleven billion credits. This may sound huge, and I won’t deny that this represents a big expenditure, but it actually is barely more than the ten billion credits our COSMONAUT-Class battlecruisers cost us and which were way inferior in terms of firepower and protection.’’
As Munroe nodded his head, signifying his favorable impression on that price tag, Paul Stein came back at Spirit with another question.
‘’What are our admirals at the Admiralty thinking about your design, Miss Spirit?’’
Seeing on what side this corporation executive seemed to be, Spirit gave him a cold look but kept her tone of voice polite.
‘’You mean the same admirals who already tried once to reject my authority as First Lord of the Admiralty and who are still resisting every decision I make because I’m, as they say, ‘just a machine’? I gave up on them and their concerns about preserving their power and authority while Humanity is facing a mortal threat. If it would only be for me, I would have already fired over half of the flag-ranked staff at the Admiralty for either insubordination or incompetence, or both.’’
Karl Langemann, who had seen and heard a litany of unjustified complaints and recriminations from the said admirals during the last four months, then decided that it was time to put the hammer down on this continuing problem.
‘’Miss Spirit, feel free to relieve of duty any Admiralty staff member who will show insubordination or will oppose your directives. We are working to stave away a mortal threat to the Spacers’ League and this is no time for bruised egos. After this meeting is done, I will promulgate an official directive backing your authority as First Lord of the Admiralty and enjoining the staff of the Admiralty in the need to obey the chain of command. I will personally sack any flag officer who will still dispute your directives. As this battleship design is concerned, I find it to be most desirable to start building a series of at least ten ships according to the specifications of your project. We need new warships and we need them now!’’
Few around the table doubted the competences as an engineer and the experience about war in Space which Karl Langemann possessed, as he had been very active in promoting and supporting the efforts of Spacers to win independence from Earth in the 2315 Jovian Uprising. His firm declaration thus cut off any further objections to Spirit’s project, allowing her to continue her presentation at a good pace. After another half-hour of questions and answers, the High Council voted for accepting her ship construction program, to Spirit’s hidden relief, with the result being a near unanimous ‘yes’. The only ‘no’ vote came from Paul Stein, confirming to Spirit his hostility towards her. Whether that was due to some self-interests involving the old ways of the Navy concerning its ship acquisition practices or to antipathy towards a non-Human in a position of authority was still not clear to her. However, she suspected that the next few weeks and months would probably make the answer to that clear enough to her.