18:58 (Universal Time)
Monday, July 16, 2317
Jovian Governorate offices, Callisto Prime
Callisto (8th moon of Jupiter)
Jovian System
Janet Robeson, a solidly-built woman of English descent in her late fifties, had gained a reputation as a resolute, no-nonsense politician and administrator and had recently been reelected to a second term as governor of the Jovian System, collecting a comfortable majority of the votes in the process. Her decisiveness during the war against the Earth Federation had done a lot to contribute to her popularity and it seemed that this moment was going to be another occasion where her decisiveness would come in handy. Sitting at the big conference table with five other top leaders of the Spacers League and with the local representative of the Northern Alliance of Earth, she saluted with a nod of her head Charles Watts, the governor of Mars, as the 62 year-old widower entered the conference room at a hurried pace.
‘’Welcome to Callisto Prime, Governor Watts. I am sorry that you had to do such a trip on short notice.’’
‘’No need to be sorry, Governor Robeson. This certainly qualifies as an emergency.’’
‘’Indeed! Have you met already Mister Toru Tomonaga, the new CEO of the Ceres Consortium?’’
‘’I haven’t had the pleasure yet.’’ Replied Watts, who then shook hands with the tough-looking Japanese man designated by Robeson. ‘’So, Mister Suzuki has finally retired as CEO of your consortium?’’
Tomonaga, who sported a bald head and a short, carefully trimmed beard, nodded his head while half smiling.
‘’Let’s say that his board of directors didn’t give him much choice. The slavish way he led the consortium during the Terran occupation of Ceres, using his pacifist convictions as an excuse to do nothing while the ISF goons of Zembelo basically looted the place, totally discredited him in the eyes of our citizens. By the way, I would like to present to you my condolences for the death of your wife during the Terran occupation of Mars.’’
‘’Thank you, Mister Tomonaga.’’ Said soberly Watts as he remembered how his wife had been jailed, tortured and then executed by the Terran Internal Security Forces troopers that had taken Ares City at the start of the war between the now defunct Terran Federation and the Spacers League. He then took the seat reserved for him at the table and looked at Nadia Suslov, the young and fiery CEO of the Sverdlovsk Group, which controlled the Hygiea asteroid, along with a goodly number of asteroid mining sites in the Main Asteroid Belt. The 45 year-old blonde, who wore her long hair in old-fashioned braids, seemed quite worked up, something Watts could understand. The ZERO-G NIRVANA space brothel, which belonged to the Sverdlovsk Group, was a major source of revenue for Suslov’s corporation, as well as being one of the main entertainment spots in the Asteroid Belt. There was of course the matter of the 5,000 or so persons who would have died if not for the quick intervention of the A.M.S. KOSTROMA.
‘’What do we know about those terrorists, Miss Suslov?’’
‘’There were five of them, all African citizens. Two of them were captured alive, one of them seriously wounded. Our interrogators were able to get a few useful information from the woman who was captured intact. They were on a suicide mission to ram the ZERO-G NIRVANA asteroid and were sent by the African Union’s secret services. The space brothel was chosen as a target because it had no effective defenses against such a ramming attack and because it symbolized for the African Union the supposed decadence and extravagant waste of us Spacers. The information given by that woman fortunately allowed us to thwart in time a second suicide team that planned to hijack another cargo ship and ram it into Vesta, where our battle station MJOLNIR was built.’’
Watts nodded in understanding at that: the battle station MJOLNIR, in effect a converted asteroid, had been a decisive factor in the past war, destroying the orbital defense stations of the ISF around Earth. It was also responsible for destroying the city of Lagos with a guided asteroid strike that was targeting a secret poison gas factory hidden near Lagos. The resulting multi-megaton impact had killed over thirty million people, but there had been precious few alternatives to that in order to prevent millions of Spacers from being killed by nerve gas attacks against their enclosed space installations. Watts had the good taste of not asking how Suslov’s interrogators had extracted such information from the captured female terrorist. The Sverdlovsk Group was widely known to be rather ruthless when it came to its security.
‘’So, now we are assembled here to decide what to do about these acts of aggression against us by the African Union.’’
‘’Correct!’’ Said Janet Robeson. ‘’We have already implemented new, tighter space traffic control regulations in order to prevent more such ramming attacks. Our armed ships are also on heightened alert and all the citizens of the Southern Federation, to which the African Union belongs, traveling in space will be severely controlled and searched for weapons.’’
‘’Those are only defensive measures, Governor Robeson.’’ Objected at once Nadia Suslov. ‘’What about taking the African Union to account for their acts? I am certainly not ready to let those bastards go scot free after they attacked us. The African Union in particular should be made to understand that any act of aggression against us will have a price attached to it.’’
Karl Langemann, the square-jawed CEO of the Vesta Consortium, nodded in agreement at that and spoke with a firm voice.
‘’I agree with Nadia: staying passive would send the wrong message to those thugs. I thus propose an orbital strike by the battle station MJOLNIR on a selected target in African Union territory, preferably a military or political target.’’
That clearly made uncomfortable Juan Perez, the governor of the Outer System, which included Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.
‘’I hope that we could avoid hitting a major population center this time. I still feel remorse for the Lagos strike.’’
‘’That strike was unfortunately unavoidable.’’ Pronounced Toru Tomonaga, his face impassive. ‘’We however have to send an unmistakable message to President Mobutu of the African Union. If we could select an appropriate target, then I am in favor of an asteroid strike.’’
They were all silent for a moment, thinking about options, until Charles Watts spoke up.
‘’I may have an idea about what to target. I know that President Mobutu, along with other major members and friends of his government, has his private residence on a small island near Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean. That island has in fact been turned into a luxury resort island for the African elite and all those who became rich through corruption and illicit trades. It is said to be heavily guarded and defended, but it would have no effective defenses against an asteroid strike.’’
Nadia Suslov grinned at once, obviously liking the idea.
‘’An excellent idea! If we could catch the bastard when he is home, the better.’’
Heads bobbed in agreement around the table, prompting Janet Robeson in speaking.
‘’This effectively sounds like a nice option. If no one has objections, we will vote on it.’’
That vote was quickly done, resulting in a unanimous decision to proceed with the said strike on the resort island of President Mobutu. As the others shook hands in celebration, Janet Robeson raised another subject before they started dispersing.
‘’Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make an announcement. In agreement with Governor Perez, I have decided to launch the Eris Expedition as originally planned. The KOSTROMA is presently in Callisto orbit and launching this expedition will be an excellent way to show to the Southern Federation that we have not been adversely affected by their terrorist acts. The KOSTROMA will thus depart for Eris on August 2, in less than three weeks.’’
13:15 (Universal Time)
Tuesday, July 17, 2317
Spacers League’ space battle station MJOLNIR
In low Earth orbit
‘’Captain, we are receiving an encrypted message from Callisto Prime, priority IMMEDIATE.’’
Navy Captain Sergei Koslov, who had been looking at the 3D sensors fusion sphere of his bridge, hurried at once to the communications officer’s station to look over his shoulder at his viewing screen. Koslov, a native of Hygiea, was a veteran security officer and ship commander of the Sverdlovsk Group and had been chosen to command the MJOLNIR as much for his strong self-control and mental equilibrium as for his past experience as a Spacer ship captain. In truth, such qualities were a must where the command of a space weapon system capable of eradicating whole cities was concerned. Still, the nature of the message now visible on the screen made him both stiffen and frown.
‘’It’s a strike order! But why delay it until next Saturday?’’
Reading quickly the whole message, along with the communications officer, Koslov then understood the reason for the delay.
‘’The League’s Council wants as much as possible to catch President Mobutu of the African Union when he will be spending his weekend on his resort island near Zanzibar, off the eastern coast of Africa. Well, that certainly makes sense to me. No point in destroying his fancy palace if the corrupt bastard is not home. The delay will actually allow us to modify very progressively our orbit, so that our next move does not become too obvious. Acknowledge the message and send it to the strike command station, Lieutenant, so that I could examine in detail the target area. Commander Holtz, join me at the strike command station.’’
‘’Aye, Captain!’’ Replied his weapons officer, Greta Holtz, before walking quickly to the large holographic display table that served to plan and command the launches of the thermonuclear rocket-powered asteroids that were the primary armament of the MJOLNIR. Each of these asteroids, varying in shape and size but all being at least a hundred meters in diameter and being made of iron-nickel cores, could strike a planetary target with the equivalent of dozens of megatons of kinetic energy. A bit over half of the asteroid missiles of the MJOLNIR had been expended during the war against the Zembelo regime two years ago, but the space battle station still had enough firepower to devastate a whole continent if need be, on top of having ultra high power laser batteries able to slice in two any spaceship. Koslov didn’t relish the need to use such firepower, but the acts of terrorism sponsored by the African Union made a counterstrike necessary. Punching in the coordinates of the target provided by the Spacers League’s headquarters on Callisto, Koslov examined for a second the holographic map now showing on the display table before letting out an incredulous remark.
‘’This must be a joke!’’
Greta Holtz, as surprised as Koslov, smiled at the irony of the name of their target.
‘’Actually, I find this very appropriate, Captain.’’
‘’Mafia Island? A fine name indeed for the resort island of a corrupt dictator like Mobutu.’’
Koslov then examined in detail the representation of the island, lying about 25 kilometers off the coast of Tanzania and situated 115 kilometers south-southeast of Dar Es Salaam. It was shaped like an arrow point and measured about fifty by seventeen kilometers at its largest. The whole island was quite flat and was only a few meters above the level of the sea, with most of the buildings on the island being on the high ground in the southern part.
‘’One asteroid missile should easily destroy everything on this island. Greta, start studying the geology of this island and of the nearby continental coast with your officers. I want simulation runs done to predict the effects of our strike. Use a maximum missile velocity scenario: I want as much as possible of this island to disappear. If we are to pass a message to these thugs of the African Union and of the Southern Federation, then we might as well make it a spectacular one.’’
‘’Understood, Captain.’’
23:29 (Universal Time)
Friday, July 20, 2317
Presidential air limousine of Jonas Mobutu
On approach to Mafia Island
President Jonas Mobutu, leader of the African Union and Vice-President of the Southern Federation, was not in a very good mood as his air limousine was coming in sight of his resort island palace, despite the fact that he had three of his mistresses with him, along with two of his bodyguards. There was still no news about the two strike teams he had sent more than three weeks ago to hit Spacers installations. The lack of news alone would indicate that their missions had ended in failure, but what was strange was the lack of official reaction from the Spacers themselves, who seemed to have heavily censored anything concerning those African strike teams. That had left Mobutu to wonder and worry about possible reprisal measures from the Spacers League but, since all the space surveillance radars of the Southern Federation had been destroyed in the past war, he had no way to know about the movement of Spacers’ spaceships. The rundown state of the Southern Federation, allied with its chronic mismanagement of resources and its bureaucratic incompetence and corruption, had prevented the rebuilding of those space surveillance radars, even though Mobutu understood well their importance and had pushed for the funds and resources for them to be made available. Unfortunately, the Northern Alliance’s ban on the exportation of high technology items to the Southern Federation, along with the barely hidden suspicion and antipathy shown by most of the so-called neutral states on Earth, had made impossible the acquisition of key radar and electronic components that could not be produced these days within the Southern Federation. Mobutu was far from being a stupid man and the full extent of the decrepit state of the economy and industries of his own African Union was becoming more evident to him every day, showing him the near impossibility of his task in making his continent great again. The idea of retiring from power and disappearing with his accumulated fortune and mistresses touched his mind as he saw the lights of his resort palace ahead in the night.
The air limousine landed at the vertical on the landing pad of the palace six minutes later, with no less than ten armed soldiers visible on duty around the pad perimeter. The four supersonic atmospheric interceptors that had escorted it to Mafia Island then turned back to return to their base. While the majority of the poorly educated masses in Africa still supported Mobutu and believed the propaganda spewed by his administration that said that the ills of Africa were mostly due to the economic blockade by the Northern Alliance and the Spacers League, many in the steadily shrinking middle to wealthy class blamed him for the continent’s decline. There had already been a number of assassination attempts against him, something that had prompted him to spend more and more of his time on this heavily guarded island. Many of his closest collaborators had done the same and also spent most of their weekends on Mafia Island, away from the squalor, overcrowding and pollution of most African cities. Four soldiers came to meet the air limousine, saluting at attention as Mobutu stepped out of the luxury vehicle. Surrounded by his soldiers and bodyguards, the dictator then walked into his palace, followed by his mistresses and by servants carrying his luggage.
A reconnaissance satellite tracked and filmed the arrival of the limousine and its escort of four atmospheric interceptors in Mafia Island, relaying its sensors and visual feeds to the MJOLNIR. The presence of the interceptors was enough to designate the limousine as Mobutu’s vehicle to Sergei Koslov, who then called Greta Holtz to join him at the strike command station. When it became evident that Mobutu was in his palace for the night, Koslov looked at Holtz and nodded his head, then took out his command key, suspended to his neck by a long chain. Holts did the same with her own command key and waited for Koslov to punch in the command code sent by the headquarters on Callisto. Koslov then introduced his command key in the command console of the station and punched in his personal command code. Greta Holtz next did the same on her own console, which was widely separated from Koslov’s console. Such a triple command code system made an unauthorized asteroid missile launch nearly impossible, a necessity in view of the terrifying destructive power of the main armament of the MJOLNIR. On a count of three, Koslov and Holtz turned their keys simultaneously, activating the fire control system of their asteroid missiles. Holtz next punched in the exact location and parameters of the target, plus the wanted terminal velocity of their asteroid missile, closely watched and double-checked by Koslov. A large red light on the command panel started blinking, indicating that the designated missile was now ready to be launched. Koslov hesitated for a fraction of a second before pushing the launch button: the small tsunami that the missile strike would cause was going to kill some innocent inhabitants on the nearby continental coast, even though the number should be small. A muffled roar and vibration then told them that the missile was on its way.
01:03 (Universal Time)
Saturday, July 21, 2317
Presidential palace, Mafia Island
Indian Ocean
Unable to find sleep, Jonas Mobutu gently pushed away the arm of one of his mistresses, who was asleep besides him, then slowly stepped out of bed and put his robe and slippers on before walking out on the balcony of his bedroom. There, he contemplated the sea and nearby continental coast, now a dark line on the horizon. After a few minutes of breathing the salty air brought by the wind, he raised his head to look at the stars in the night sky. A small but intense point of violet light quickly attracted his eyes: it was apparently unmoving and was right above him in the sky. Intrigued, Mobutu kept watching it and soon realized that it was steadily growing, now being the size of a lit match. He however could hear nothing but the wind and the muffled voices of two of his guards. His curiosity gradually turned to worry as the violet point of light kept growing in the sky while apparently falling towards the island and its palace. The truth then struck the African dictator and his mouth opened in fear and horror as he watched death coming down at him. He had seen the huge crater and the surrounding devastation caused by the Spacers’ asteroid strike against the Lagos area two years ago and now understood that a similar asteroid missile was heading his way. There was however absolutely nothing he could do now to escape his fate.
Coming down at hypersonic speed while surrounded by a violet halo of high level plasma energy from the friction with the atmosphere and followed by a long tail of fire, the four million ton asteroid missile slammed down on Mafia Island a mere two kilometers away from Mobutu’s palace, its kinetic energy and halo of super hot plasma making it dig deep into the ground before the impact vaporized it, along with the surrounding rock. The titanic explosion caused by the impact dug a crater 3,800 meters in diameter and 600 meters in depth, while projecting in the air tens of millions of tons of molten earth and rock. The fireball and blast wave, allied with the powerful seismic tremor that went through the crust and surrounding waters, completely razed and incinerated everything on Mafia Island. Fortunately for the inhabitants living along the nearby coast of Tanzania, the depth to which the asteroid penetrated before exploding into hot plasma substantially reduced the lethal range of both the blast wave and of the thermal radiations from the explosion. Most of the coastal houses on the continent to the west of Mafia Island were still blown away and their occupants either killed or severely wounded. What was left along the coast was then swept by a tsunami wave coming from the island, most of which had by now crumpled under the waves. In Dar Es Salaam, 115 kilometers away, window panes shattered when the blast wave rolled over the city, wounding thousands of people, while the gigantic flash from the asteroid’s impact lit up the night sky and was seen over a thousand kilometers away. Hundreds of ships and boats of all types were sunk either at sea or in port by the traveling tsunami wave, while heat from the flash of the explosion could be felt on the skin well over 150 kilometers from Mafia Island. The survivors along the coast, as well as the witnesses further inland, then saw a gigantic fireball about eight kilometers in diameter rise in the sky, while a mighty ear-splitting roar could be heard as the sound of the explosion traveled outward at the speed of sound. By the time one hour had passed, over half of Africa was plunged into panic and chaos.