CHAPITRE 13 – WAR
12:05 (Universal Time)
Saturday, March 04, 2322
Space Operations Center of the Spacers League’s Navy
Command orbital station in low orbit around Callisto
Jovian System, Solar System
Rose Holloway was about to go on her lunch break and was waiting for her replacement before leaving her work station in the Space Operations Center when a red light started flashing on her communications panel. She frowned at once on seeing what kind of warning signal it was indicating. First taking the time to refine the location and identity of the emitter from which the signal came, Rose then called out loud to her work station her shift supervisor, Lieutenant Nicky Miura.
‘’LIEUTENANT, I AM RECEIVING A DISTRESS SIGNAL RELAYED BY THE EMERGENCY BUOY OF THE H.S.S. QUAZAR.’’
Miura, a young but highly competent officer of mixed Japanese-Australian ethnicity, came at once to Rose’s station to look at her main display screen.
‘’Was the QUAZAR operating inside our system?’’
‘’Negative, Lieutenant! The buoy just jumped back into our system and came from the LHS 288 system, where the QUAZAR was conducting a space exploration mission.’’
‘’Okay, ask it to transmit its report on what happened to the QUAZAR.’’
With intra-system signals often needing many minutes to get to their recipient, Miura didn’t waste time waiting for the answer and shouted an order to another operator in the center.
‘’Valdez! We are receiving a distress signal from the emergency buoy of the H.S.S. QUAZAR, which was operating in the LHS 288 System. The buoy is presently some two million kilometers from Callisto, in Quadrant Six. Send one of our shuttles to go retrieve that buoy. Make that a top priority task.’’
‘’I’m on it, Lieutenant!’’
Returning her attention to Rose’s display screen, Miura soon saw a long text appear on it, along with a star chart and a few pictures. Reading quickly the condensed report composed by the central computer of the QUAZAR, the young Spacers League officer let out a soft swear, realizing at once the importance of that information.
‘’By the Kamis! Those damn Drazt attacked and destroyed the QUAZAR inside the LHS 288 System. Apart from this being an act of war, this also means that the Drazt have finally managed to design a working interstellar drive. This is huge! I’m calling Admiral Xi about this. Rose, make me a copy of this emergency report on a data chip, so that I can give it to the Admiral.’’
Half a minute later, with the data chip given to her in one hand, Miura composed the call number of Admiral Xi Lao Tzu, the Chief of Staff of the Spacers League Navy. The reason that Miura was not calling the Admiral in Chief of the Navy was because no such position existed: Xi Lao Tzu was actually the highest ranking officer in the Navy. That was due to the fact that the Spacers League Navy was in reality a loose coalition of many space forces of various sizes which belonged to either one or another of the planetary systems governments or asteroid-based corporations which formed the Spacers League. As Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Xi had the authority to coordinate on a daily basis the operations of the various ships belonging to the Spacers League…to an extent. Any major space operation, especially if it demanded some kind of armed military action, needed the explicit prior approval of the High Council, except of course if urgent defensive measures needed to be taken. An historian had once compared that arrangement to that of the antique League of Delos, which had linked together the forces of a number of ancient Greek city states under the leadership of Athens, and this in order to resist invaders like the Persian Empire and Sparta. That this said League of Delos had been plagued with disagreements and conflicting interests had not been lost on many when that comparison had been made.
Admiral Xi Lao Tzu was eating one of his favorite dishes, a Vietnamese recipe of spicy noodles called ‘Bun Cha’, at the officers’ mess of the station when his wrist videophone buzzed. Excusing himself with the two senior officers he was having lunch with, he flipped open the cover cum viewing screen of his videophone, opening the link.
‘’Yes, Lieutenant? What do you have for me?’’
‘’A top priority emergency situation, Admiral: the H.S.S. QUAZAR, which was exploring the LHS 288 System, was destroyed by a Drazt ship in that system. The distress buoy of the QUAZAR jumped into our system some six minutes ago. A shuttle is now on its way to retrieve it and I have the condensed report from the buoy in our databanks.’’
All idea of continuing his meal now gone, Xi jumped to his feet and started walking towards the mess’ exit while speaking in his videophone.
‘’I’m on my way to the operations center right now. Sound the general alarm around our whole system and place all our ships on top alert: this could possibly signal a general attack by the Drazt against us.’’
‘’System’s general alarm and all our ship on top alert: understood, Admiral!’’
Xi then closed the link with his operations center. As he was approaching the nearest bank of elevators, he took a decision and placed another call on a confidential personal line, getting an answer within seconds.
‘’Governor Robeson speaking!’’
‘’Madam Governor, this is Admiral Xi, calling from our Navy’s command orbital station. I have grave news for you: our exploration ship H.S.S. QUAZAR has been destroyed by a Drazt ship while surveying the LHS 288 System.’’
‘’WHAT?’’ was the shocked response from the governor. ‘’How certain of that are we?’’
‘’Very certain, Madam Governor: the distress buoy from the QUAZAR jumped back to our system a few minutes ago and we have the condensed report from the ship’s computer, composed only seconds before the buoy was ejected from the QUAZAR. I am now on my way to go analyze in detail that buoy’s report and will contact you again once I will have seen it. As a precaution, I just ordered a general alarm to be sounded across the Solar System and have put all our ships on top alert: this could possibly mean that the Drazt are planning to attack us. At the minimum, it tells us that the Drazt now have a functioning interstellar drive for their ships. As for the attack on our QUAZAR, an unarmed ship, it is nothing short of an act of war against us.’’
Janet Robeson was silent for a couple of seconds as she was swallowing that news, then spoke up firmly.
‘’I concur with your assessment and agree with your actions, Admiral. Contact me again once you will have analyzed that buoy’s report. On my part, I will order the sending of star shuttles to our various members of the High Council, in order to inform them of this and to call for an emergency meeting of the High Council.’’
‘’Understood, Madam Governor.’’ said Xi before closing that link just as he was entering an elevator cabin.
Two minutes later, Xi was entering the operations center in hurried steps, with Lieutenant Miura going to him at once, a small data chip in her hand.
‘’Here is a copy of the QUAZAR’s buoy report, Admiral. We have already started to analyze it in detail and the data leaves no doubt about what happened in the LHS 288 System: a Drazt ship engaged without provocation the QUAZAR with disintegrator cannon fire as it was mapping the second planet of the system.’’
‘’Damn! What do we have presently in the Solar System in terms of armed, jump capable ships?’’
‘’Not much in truth, Admiral. As you know, the bulk of our planned fleet of interstellar warships is still under construction or running their acceptance trials, while their crews are still being trained. Right now, we have only three armed starships present in the system: the cruiser CENTURION; the brand-new patrol frigate ADMIRAL RODNEY and the KOSTROMA.’’
Xi gave Miura a sharp look when she mentioned the KOSTROMA.
‘’Where exactly is the KOSTROMA right now, Lieutenant?’’
‘’It is presently docked at the America Passenger Terminal, in Earth orbit, loading passengers and cargo destined for New Haven.’’
‘’Call at once the KOSTROMA and have it stop its loading. It will unload all the passengers already aboard, then will leave for the LHS 288 System, where it will investigate on the spot the destruction of the QUAZAR. Once that is done, it will return here to present a detailed report to us. As for the CENTURION and the RODNEY, I want them to take defensive blocking orbits around Earth, to protect it from any Drazt attack.’’
‘’Understood, Admiral!’’
With the precious data chip now in his hands, Xi then walked hurriedly to his command office, situated along a gallery overseeing the central operations room, where he was planning to review in detail the distress buoy’s report. He mentally thanked the fact that all the ships now equipped with a Koomak Drive carried a jump-capable distress buoy. If not for that faithful decision, the destruction of the QUAZAR could well have stayed unknown to him for days or weeks, once an absence of reports from the QUAZAR would have prompted the sending of another ship to the LHS 288 System.
14:19 (Universal Time)
Sunday, March 05, 2322
Hangar Deck, A.M.S. KOSTROMA
Low polar orbit over LHS 288c
Tina was in attendance in Craft Hangar Number Two when a heavy manipulator robot carried into the hangar what was left of a standard ship’s life pod. A shuttle had found it amidst the large debris field orbiting the second planet of the LHS 288 System and had brought it inside the Craft Airlock Number One, which was adjacent to Hangar Number Two. Ahmed Jibril, who had replaced Bill Morrison as Chief of Security aboard the KOSTROMA after Morrison had become the chief of public security for New Haven, was also in attendance, along with two of his guards, plus Tina’s husband, Michel Koniev, and an engineering team. Tina’s expression was grim as she looked at the heavily damaged life pod.
‘’The top third of this life pod was unquestionably vaporized by a direct hit from a disintegrator cannon. In view of the small size of the pod and of the distances involved, this was no random shooting: the Drazt deliberately shot at a life pod containing survivors from the QUAZAR. This is nothing less than a war crime. Ahmed, I want this to be treated like a crime scene. Have plenty of pictures taken of the outside and inside of that life pod and record everything.’’
‘’Understood, Tina!’’ replied the big man before looking at Jennifer Biddles, one of his two guards accompanying him. ‘’Be ready with your camera, Jennifer. We will film the exterior of the life pod first once it has been put down on the deck, covering all the angles, then you will follow me inside.’’
‘’Got it!’’ said tersely the tough blond woman, already expecting to be confronted by some awful scene inside the damaged life pod.
The heavy manipulator robot finally put down the life pod on its fixed landing legs, its ovoid hull standing erect to a height of about four meters. However, the top meter had been disintegrated, leaving a large hole with blackened edges. As Ahmed and Jennifer slowly walked around the life pod to film it from all possible angles, Michel Koniev spoke to his wife in a low voice while pointing at the damaged top portion of the pod.
‘’With a hole that size, decompression must have been complete in a mere fraction of a second. The occupants of that life pod at least died quickly. You were right about this being a deliberate act. Such precise shooting against such a small target had to be deliberate. The fact that all of the other three life pods that had time to eject from the QUAZAR were also hit by disintegrator fire leaves no doubts about that.’’
Tina shook her head in disgust as she still stared at the life pod.
‘’Even in our worst wars in Earth’s history, the shooting up of survivors and life boats from sunken ships was always considered as a crime and contrary to the laws of war. The attack on the QUAZAR is even more inexcusable when you consider that it was an unarmed ship and could not have possibly be a threat to that Drazt ship. The recordings from its distress buoy clearly showed that the QUAZAR identified itself as an exploration ship in its radio request for identification.’’
‘’Those Drazt most probably didn’t want to leave any witnesses behind who could have alerted us to the fact that they now have a working interstellar drive.’’
‘’I believe that you are correct about that, Michel, but it still does not excuse such an atrocity.’’
Their tour around the life pod completed, Ahmed Jibril then went to the access hatch of the pod and, with Jennifer Biddles filming him from closely behind, turned the manual opening lever and pushed open the door, sticking his head inside, a flashlight in one hand. Tina felt dread when she saw Ahmed, a hardened, combat-experienced man suddenly back off and turn his head away, a look of horror distinctly visible on his face. As for Jennifer Biddles, she also turned away and violently threw up on the deck after one look inside. Walking quickly to Jennifer, Tina gently patted her shoulder while giving her a paper tissue.
‘’Here, Jennifer: clean up your mouth with this.’’
‘’Thanks, Captain. Be careful: the sight inside the pod is horrible. There are at the least six bodies inside, all charred beyond recognition. Two of them are small children, judging from their size.’’
‘’Can you continue filming? I can take over from you if you prefer to.’’
‘’I…I will do my job, Captain.’’
‘’Thank you, Jennifer. Take your time to go over this, though. I will go see myself in the meantime.’’
Arming herself with courage, Tina then stuck her head inside the pod, looking around the three-meter diameter chamber with the help of a head lamp fixed over her forehead. Despite being warned, she still felt instant nausea and horror when she saw two small charred bodies, still attached to their seats and flanking the body of an adult who was probably one of their parents. As for knowing if it was the body of their mother or that of their father was impossible to say on first look, so burned up and shriveled it was. After looking around for a few seconds and counting a total of nine bodies, Tina withdrew from inside the life pod, leaving enough space to let Jennifer Biddle resume her camera work. She had to pause and close her eyes for a moment next to the life pod, time for her to recover from the scene of horror she had just embraced. When she opened her eyes again, her husband was gently holding her with one arm around her shoulders, a concerned expression on his face.
‘’Are you alright, Tina?’’
‘’I will be. What a horrible sight! The Drazt will definitely have to pay for this.’’
‘’What do you intend to do, Tina?’’
‘’What we will do will be up to the Spacers League’s High Council. However, if it would be only for me to decide, I would gladly resort to good old gunboat diplomacy against those Drazt bastards.’’
16:41 (Universal Time)
Government palace, Drakan City
Kadosh (Ross 128b)
‘’So, what are your recommendations about what to do next, now that we have a functioning interstellar drive?’’
The four high-level Drazt officials facing Supreme Conductor Bar Kosh across a conference table hesitated a bit and looked at each other before Vice-Admiral Sho Dar, who had taken over command of the Navy after the death in battle of Admiral Tok Tharn, spoke up first.
‘’Supreme Conductor, we have studied various action scenarios, as you had requested. However, the results of our analysis of the battle where our fleet lost against that giant Human ship are not very encouraging as they pertain to our new capability.’’
‘’What do you mean, Admiral?’’ replied Bar Kosh, irritation detectable in his tone of voice. ‘’We can now travel through the stars, like the Humans do. We should thus be able to strike back at them and avenge our thousands of navy crewmembers who died in battle against that KOSTROMA, no?’’
‘’Uh, a number of things are complicating the situation, Supreme Conductor.’’ Answered Sho Dar, feeling in his small shoes. ‘’We will have to correct a number of deficiencies before we can attack the Humans, especially if we want to strike at their home world.’’
The choice of words by Sho Dar angered Bar Kosh, who slammed a pair of fists on the table.
‘’WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘IF WE WANT’? I WANT TO STRIKE AT THE HUMAN HOME WORLD! THAT’S NOT AN OPTION!’’
Defense Minister Muron Kha then tried to come to the help of his admiral.
‘’What Admiral Dar meant was that we presently lack a number of critical capabilities before we could strike the Solar System and cause enough damage to prevent the Humans from attacking us again, Supreme Conductor. Attacking before those deficiencies are corrected would doom our offensive to failure.’’
Somewhat calmed by those words, Bar Kosh looked severely at his defense minister.
‘’And what exactly are those ‘deficiencies’, Kha?’’
‘’First and most evident, the severely depleted ranks of our Navy, Supreme Conductor. Despite the best efforts by our arsenals, we still have only eight patrol cruisers in service, compared to the 48 cruisers we had before the battle with the KOSTROMA. Worse, we are still training replacement crews for our cruisers still under construction. Unfortunately, such training cannot be cut short or neglected, as that would directly affect the combat performance of our Navy.’’
Bar Kosh could only nod his head at that.
‘’I will concede that point, Kha. What else?’’
‘’Next is the limited combat capabilities of our cruisers, Supreme Conductor. If that disastrous battle with the KOSTROMA taught us something, it is that our ships’ armament is wholly insufficient to engage such large and heavily armored enemy ships. Our standard disintegrator cannons were more than sufficient for centuries, while our cruisers engaged in routine patrols around our system, but they apparently barely scratched the massive bow shield of that damn KOSTROMA. We definitely need bigger and more powerful weapons and also more of them on each of our ships. The present standard of four medium cannons per cruiser is simply insufficient to engage successfully Human warships.’’
‘’But, the KOBOL, a simple frigate, just destroyed a Human ship around the Markan Prime System.’’
That remark prompted Vice-Admiral Sho Dar into calling a data file on his personal data pad before passing it to Bar Kosh.
‘’After receiving and analyzing the mission report filled by Shipmaster Gor Mak, we found out from our data bank on Human ships that the ship the KOBOL destroyed was actually a luxury liner that has recently been converted into an exploration and survey ship, an image of which you can now see on my data pad. As such it had zero weapons and no ship armor and stood no chance at all in a combat against any of our warships. If the KOBOL would have met instead, let’s say, the KOSTROMA, then it would have been pulverized in an instant, Supreme Conductor.’’
‘’I see! So, what kind of weaponry do we need for our ships, Admiral?’’
‘’Apart from a lot more batteries and bigger disintegrator cannons than the ones presently standard on our cruisers, we will also need to have new weapons able to inflict massive damage to both ships, orbital installations and planetary targets. In essence, we will need to arm our ships with nuclear-tipped missiles before we could strike in a significant way the Human home system. Against a large orbital station or ground facility, our medium disintegrator cannons will be grossly insufficient. Our most recent intercepted electronic signals from the Solar System did indicate to us that a dozen giant, heavily armored and armed orbital stations defend the orbit of their home planet, Earth. There could be more of those defensive orbital stations around the Solar System. Right now, our battle simulations show that even all of our remaining cruisers would be destroyed if they attacked just one of those Human armed orbital stations.’’
Bar Kosh frowned noticeably on hearing that, but he would have been much less shaken if he had known that those said orbital defense stations around Earth were things of the past, having been destroyed by the Spacers League some six years ago after it went to war against the Terran Federation in 2315. Unfortunately for the Drazt, simple physics was playing a nasty trick on them, as electronic emissions from the Solar System took nearly eleven years to reach Ross 129 while traveling at the speed of light. Thus, everything that the Drazt believed that they knew about the Humans was outdated by over a decade, with such things as the War of 2315 and the dismantlement of the Terran Federation being still unknown to them. However real or not, that information made Bar Kosh realize something very important and relevant to the discussion at hand.
‘’But, haven’t we scrapped all of our nuclear warheads centuries ago, after the first planet-wide government of Kadosh was formed? Do we have any of them left today?’’
Defense Minister Kha shrunk at those two questions, knowing that Bar Kosh was not going to like his answers to them.
‘’Yes, we did scrap all of our nuclear warheads then, Supreme Conductor. Presently, we have none of them left in our arsenal.’’
‘’But the Humans recently demonstrated to us that they possessed something even more destructive: anti-matter warheads. Are we capable of producing anti-matter warheads in quantity and, if not, how long would it take to produce missiles with thermonuclear warheads?’’
‘’Presently, we only have the capability to produce infinitesimal quantities of anti-matter, Supreme Conductor, and this at a tremendous cost in energy. Worse, the little that we can produce is now used in priority to fuel our new interstellar drive. As you may know already, our new interstellar drive uses a tiny anti-matter pill for each jump that one of our ship accomplishes. Without those anti-matter pills, our interstellar drive becomes useless. Right now, and even with us rationing electrical power to the general public, we can produce a grand total of five anti-matter pills per solar rotation. Thus, stockpiling anti-matter warheads is simply impossible for us. As for producing thermonuclear warheads, that is thankfully a lot more feasible, as we still have working designs for such weapons. However, it will take quite a lot of time before we could build sizeable stocks of them: we have to restart production of the right fissile materials for them and will have to build brand new factories for that purpose.’’
‘’We don’t have the time to wait, Admiral.’’ replied Bar Kosh, growing angry at Dar. ‘’Sooner or later, the Humans will find out that we destroyed their exploration ship in the Markan Prime System and will then more than probably attack us. We need to attack first!’’
As much as Vice-Admiral Sho Dar wished that he could do otherwise, he decided that he could no longer avoid giving Bar Kosh his honest professional opinion. The existence of Kadosh itself was now at risk if they made the wrong move. His own command position clearly had to pass after the outright survival of Kadosh and of the Drazt race today.
‘’Supreme Conductor, to be totally frank, I strongly believe that attacking the Humans, either soon or in the medium future, would be a horrible mistake that could cost our race dearly. Their weapons, as well as their expertise in war, are simply too superior to our own combat capabilities. I thus recommend that we pursue for the moment a dip