First Command (27 page)

‘Oh boy’ Jonathan thought. From Juan's tone, it was easy to tell that when he said civilized company he meant the company he’d had before hand was very uncivilized. The looks on the CRS and Army officers’ faces showed they’d picked up on that too.

“Hear, hear,” William Trendale said rising, “and may I, as first officer, be the first to thank the fine officers of the 22nd OD for this fine wine, for as they say -death comes hard and swift, but if death came for me while this fine wine were upon my lips I would die a happy man.”

“Hear, hear.” Jonathan said pounding the table. Several of the other officers echoed him and did the same.

Jonathan then stood, “Of course I wouldn't be a spacer if I did not raise my glass to the fine men and women of the CRS, the last salvation for all of those who face the long good night.”

Everyone was about to drink when Colonel Jixi held up her hand, and rose offering her own glass up. “Shoulder to Shoulder,” she said in her raspy voice. “Into the black” the Navy motto, and for an Army officer to offer it as a toast, well, there were very few greater honors. Everyone drank and sat, allowing conversation to resume. Commander Juan seemed offended by what had just transpired as he was pouring himself another glass.

Jonathan for his part was quite pleased. Everyone in this room had to cooperate with him, but it was far easier to get people to cooperate with you if you showed them respect and a little kindness. Yes, it seemed this deployment would go very well indeed.

Far away from the happiness and camaraderie that echoed throughout
Titan’s
corridors, the final pieces of a plan long laid were falling into place.  Unbeknownst to anyone in the New Helsinki System or anywhere else in the Republic, when it came to fruition it would bring hell and fury with it.

Chapter XIII

New Helsinki System, Solarian Republic

RSNS
Titan
DD-0023
Elliptical patrol of New Helsinki Outer Orbit

March 9th 841 AE (2802 AD) 19:00

Jonathan yawned and stretched in his chair. The last two weeks had gone by in a bit of a blur. After a successful introduction to the OD Brigade and CRS, Jonathan had set about planning how best to defend the system from attack. The Governor and everyone else were skeptical that such steps were necessary, as was Jonathan, nevertheless it was standard operating procedure.  If more than a decade in the navy had drilled anything into his head, it was you didn’t fuck the SOP. Jonathan had Commander Trendale and Lt. Chan meet with both CRS ships XOs  and junior tactical officers as well as the head of the OD brigades planning section to formulate a plan. Jonathan had asked Trendale to head the assignment to show his XO he was over their earlier friction. Trendale had taken to the assignment quite well, and within a few days had a workable contingency plan that Jonathan sent up the chain to the Governor General, and with her approval sent it on to the Task Force at Chaucer’s Gap. Part of that plan which was code named
HORATIO
was to move
Titan
into a higher orbit to increase the ship's maneuverability. Jonathan was glad for any excuse to get
Titan
back into deep space. Navy regulations forbid shore leaves while on deployment, but that didn't stop spacers from gazing longingly out the window at the beautiful planet below and imaging things like real air, fresh water, and the sky. Discipline had suffered. There had been more fights and more floggings, but with New Helsinki now just a blue green ball thousands of miles in the distance things had calmed down. Although boredom remained a serious threat, one that Jonathan alleviated with constant drilling, inspections, and ample rations and entertainment sessions.  Groundside things seemed to have heated up leading to The Feast of Ascension. Treos had more bombings and shootings than he cared for, but it wasn't Jonathan's problem since he’d pulled his Marines back aboard with some audible grumbling from Treos. If things kept on like they had or if something big happened on the religious holiday, the Governor just might get her Marine Division, treaties be damned.
Jonathan’s com began beeping pulling him out of his musings. He mashed the answer button.

“Forgive me for disturbing you sir,” said Sandra Chan who was the officer on watch. “But, well it’s probably nothing but um…,”

“Spit it out Lieutenant.”

“Sir, the
Libertant,
one of the freighters on exit trajectory toward the wormway, has deviated from its course. Um, if my calculations are right, it’ll hit the main com buoy in 15 minutes.”

Jonathan stopped. The com buoy was the primary means of communication outside the system, and each buoy was a link in a daisy chain of buoys across the system. Messages were sent by tight beam laser bursts from buoy to buoy then through wormways in message capsules where they were picked up on the opposite end and then broadcast to the next primary buoy. Most systems had redundant buoy systems, but Helsinki’s message traffic was relatively low, so as such only one buoy system had been constructed. Buoys could be moved to avoid asteroid collision, which were usually tracked months in advance. A heavy freighter barreling into the primary message buoy would take down the entire network and mean that no one in system could send or receive messages until the buoy was put back in place, or a ship carried the message physically through the wormway.

“Lieutenant Chan have you warned the freighter to veer off?”

“Yes sir, but it hasn’t responded to our hails, the
Nimble
is on intercept trajectory, but they won't be in range until after collision.”

Jonathan was rapidly putting on his uniform “Lieutenant sound general quarters, and signal
Nimble.
Order the Captain to bypass the buoy and exit system. Tell them to declare
CASE RED
.”

Lieutenant Chan face was an expression of shock, “Yes sir.”

Jonathan moved to put on his cap, but instead reached for his pressure gear, and buckled his helmet shut. In the event of explosive decompression, the pressure gear would keep him alive until rescue. Then he ran to the bridge.

Libertant
plowed toward space at its full acceleration. The ship was a heavy freighter; its hold was empty but still it grossed over 10,000 metric tons. On its empty bridge the warning signals from
Titan
and
Nimble
sounded over and over. The flight controls were slaved to the main nav computer with its safety guards overridden. The three men in charge of the ship, the owner, the Captain and the XO had accepted half a million Omni-Creds each for the use of their vessel. They’d be found two weeks later murdered in a slum in Fluganhof. Now, though the
Libertant
plowed into the primary com buoy exactly on schedule. The collision smashed the complex buoy to pieces scattering its docked message pods like an angry child scattered his toys. Then
Libertant’s
reactor when hot, consuming both the ship and the buoy in nuclear fire.

On
Titan’s
bridge, Jonathan watched as the signals of the message buoy and the freighter merged.

“Sir, all long range com traffic disrupted,” Lt. Krishna reported.

“Very good Lieutenant, stand by,” Jonathan said.

William Trendale came on to the bridge just as all stations reported ready for action. He bent down to Jonathan touching his helmet to Jonathans so there conversation would be just between the two of them.

“Sir, could we have a word?”

Jonathan nodded, “Lt. Commander Gopal take the com.”

“Aye sir.”

Jonathan and Trendale walked into the conference room. They both took their helmets off and set them on the table.

“You have a concern XO?” Jonathan asked.

“Captain,” Trendale hesitated.  “Jonathan,” he said using his captain's first name.  “I know why you declared a
CASE RED,
but if you're wrong sir this could mean the end of your career. After what happened with
Valiant
sir, the navy won't forgive you.”

Jonathan looked at Trendale with more than a little surprise.

“I didn’t know you cared, Will?”

“I’m not sure I do sir, not personally at least, but you’ve done a fine job as this ship’s captain and as an officer in the Navy. You were willing to give me another chance to rather let me drag you down which I think speaks highly of your character. I know that if you declare a
CASE RED
and it turns out to be nothing what will happen.”
“Will, why did you join the Navy?”
“Sir?” It was Trendale’s turn to look surprised. He knew why. The appeal of discipline, being away from his family -far away, but all he said was,

“I’m not sure what that has to do with this sir?”

“I joined the Navy, XO, because I can't live ground side. I have a phobia of open spaces. But more than that, I joined the Navy because I wanted to serve my adopted nation, and because I wanted to captain the biggest and best ships in space. I hope I’m wrong. I pray that this situation doesn’t call for a
CASE RED,
but if they drum me out of the service then at least I’ll get drummed out for doing my duty.”  

Just then the door flew open and Petty Officer Alenkin holding his helmet under his arm with his face twisted in panic rushed into the wardroom.

“Sirs, you’re both needed on the bridge now!!!”
“What’s the problem spacer?” Jonathan asked calmly. 

“Seven nuclear detonations ground side sir. It’s the ODB. They took out the ODBs.”

Some years later, the investigation would reveal the nuclear war heads had been stored in a secret bunker by the previous regime, as an insurance policy against an attempt by the population to initiate a regime change.  The bunker’s location was confined to only the ruling family's inner circle, not even the New Helsinki High Command knew of its existence. After the Solarian invasion, the bunker had been forgotten until Yaguard Swervijik led the NHLF right to them. Once they had the ten functional warheads, it had just been a matter of loading them onto civilian aircraft rented under a shell company. The autopilots were programmed to fly low under radar toward the islands were the ODB had been built. The ODB battalion usually had an active sensor net around their position, and Surface to Air Missile Systems to prevent hostile air attack. In addition, each skyscraper size gun was manned by a crew of fifty Solarian Army Troopers with an additional fifty present as a security force. However, in the rush to fortify New Helsinki from orbital attack the SAM net was only fully operational at two sites. Each aircraft flew into the base of the skyscraper size guns with the impact being enough to take the gun out of action. The nuclear detonation that followed impact was enough to completely destroy the guns.

New Helsinki, New Helsinki System, Solarian Republic

Aboard
Thungrids Beauty
the Equator

March 9th 841 AE (2802 AD) 14:00 Local Time

Gustav crushed another anti-rad pill against his molars, as the light receded and a mushroom cloud rose over the horizon. The sweat on his brow wasn’t just from the ungodly heat. Gustav had known what Yaguard wanted to do with those nukes, because he’d had his best men scout the islands and load the planes. But still, there was a difference between thinking of a nuclear strike in a tactical sense, and watching an entire small island be consumed by a mushroom cloud. Turning back to the com, he caught a glimpse of the captain's face. It was taut and white.

“General,” asked Yaguard over the radio “Is everything on schedule?”

Gustav switched the transmitter on, “Yes sir, we’re preparing to land now.”

Step two of Operation Rain was to secure the Space elevator, and the remaining mobile OBD batteries.

“Very good Gustav. See to it,” Yaguard replied.
 

On the other end of the line in his hidden headquarters, Yaguard relaxed in his chair. The bunker was another hidey-hole that only those closest to the old regime had been aware. It was buried deep in the jungle, and it had accommodations for 300 people, a full combat information center, and enough supplies to last a year. Yaguard had been using it periodically since his arrival back on planet, right under the Solarian’s noses. Watching the hacked feed from multiple satellites on the main monitor, Yaguard absentmindedly reached out and fondled Andrea’s backside as the woman stood stoically next to him. The dozen fiercely loyal guards and communications technicians present averted their gaze from their leader. “Now comes the fun part,” he said in just a whisper.  He flipped a switch on his console. Andrea saw it and said nothing. Deep down in her most private thoughts, she regretted misleading Gustav. He was a good man in his own way. He certainly didn’t enjoy hurting people the way Yaguard did. The way Yaguard enjoyed hurting her. Gustav hadn't been told this part of the plan. If he had been told, Andrea knew he would have killed Yaguard on the spot, and that would have been a pity because then she would have had to kill Gustav. Orders were orders. Thousands of miles away, the 400 men Gustav had brought with him disembarked the
Thungrids Beauty
onto fast combat skiffs that had with great difficulty been smuggled on world. They remained unaware that their would-be rebellion had just become far costlier.