McCollum - GIBRALTAR STARS
GIBRALTAR STARS
(A Novel)
By
Michael McCollum
SCI FI - ARIZONA
A Virtual Science Fiction Bookstore and Writer’s Workshop on the INTERNET
www.scifi-az.com
ISBN 1-934805-29-7 /
978-1-934805-29-9
390
pages
Copyright 2009 by Michael McCollum
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States of America by Sci Fi - Arizona, a virtual science fiction bookstore, and writer’s workshop located on the INTERNET at www.scifi-az.com.
Michael McCollum
Proprietor
Sci Fi - Arizona
PO Box 14026
Tempe, AZ 85284-0068
01312010
The Rock of Gibraltar
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
“No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.”
—Field Marshall Helmuth Carl Bernard von Moltke, Prussian General Staff
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the ancient wisdom of our profession. Despite this axiom, few military officers are truly prepared when they come face to face with the enemy in battle. We make our plans, array our forces, build vast logistics trains, and worry about the smallest details of the most unlikely scenarios. Yet, when the moment of truth arrives, we find it nothing like we imagined. A prime example of this is our recent campaign against the implacable alien foe.
As others have pointed out, we were incredibly lucky during our first encounter with the Broa. Had things gone just a little differently that day, this planet would now be enslaved, or barren. Having been present at the initiation of the current conflict, I can tell you that we felt many things that day, but “lucky” was not one of them.
I was in my cabin when we felt that first gravity wave pass through
Magellan
. A few minutes later, sensors reported a battle in progress between two alien ships that had appeared out of nowhere. What we didn’t realize was that we would soon become combatants ourselves.
It all happened so quickly that there was no time to plan, no plotting of move and countermove. That first battle was fought with instinct and wild improvisation. It is only by the Grace of God that we survived to bring home the news that humanity was no longer alone in the universe.
Later, when the First Expedition confirmed that there was indeed a race of hostile alien overlords in the next galactic arm, the human race found itself in a quandary. We knew about them, but they were, as yet, ignorant of our existence.
You all remember the Great Debate. Many well-meaning people thought discretion the better part of valor. They counseled a policy of retreat from the stars and a reduction in our electromagnetic emissions at home, all the better to hide from our new enemies. Many were attracted to this point of view. It was only after events proved such ‘safety’ to be an illusion that we decided to face the danger squarely and begin preparations for war.
For six long years, we spied out the enemy’s weaknesses. We invented new weapons and technologies, built vast flotillas and manned them with the best of our young warriors. We established secret bases in the heart of the enemy domain, moved vast mountains of supplies, and did all we could to get ready for the inevitable day when we would finally confront the Broa.
Yet, when that day came, our preparations were incomplete. Some of our plans had not worked out as expected. Many of our most important fleet units were still under construction. Like every other fleet/army in history, we went into battle when circumstances forced the battle, not when we were prepared for it.
Yet, to date we have been successful. This is not primarily due to our planning and staff work, although these are essential precursors to victory. No, we carry the fight to the enemy because of the diligence, competence, and sheer guts of those who ride our ships into battle.
These, ladies and gentlemen, are your predecessors. I know that when the time comes for you to take your place beside them, you will carry on in their tradition and that of the Terrestrial Space Navy!
—From a Commencement Address to the Naval Academy Graduating Class of 2358, by Admiral Daniel Landon.
The Duodecimal System
The duodecimal system is widely used by species that possess six digits on one grasping member and which are laterally bisymmetric. Chief among these are our adversaries, the Broa.
Decimal
1 = One
2 = Two
3 = Three
4 = Four
5 = Five
6 = Six
7 = Seven
8 = Eight
9 = Nine
10 = Ten
11 = Eleven
12 = Twelve = Dozen
10x10 = 100 = Hundred
10x10x10 = 1000 = Thousand
Duodecimal
1 = One
2 = Two
3 = Three
4 = Four
5 = Five
6 = Six
7 = Seven
8 = Eight
9 = Nine
A = Ten
B = Eleven
10 = Twelve = Dozen
10x10 = 100 = Gross (144 decimal)
10x10x10 = 1000 = Great-Gross (1728 decimal)
PART ONE:
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
Chapter One
One piece of space looks like any other
, Lisa Rykand, thought morosely as she gazed at the shrunken star more than a billion kilometers below.
Lisa was a petite blonde with green eyes and a nose that turned up at the end. She wore her hair cropped close in a microgravity style. Her mouth was a bit too wide for her face, and her cheeks had a tendency to dimple when she smiled. She wasn’t smiling at the moment.
For more than a year each successive mission had taken them farther out along the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way and deeper into enemy space. Sol was too small and dim to be seen from her current vantage point. Had it been visible, the photons detected would be brother to those that once illuminated a small village destined one day to become Babylon. The constellations were another reminder of how far they had voyaged. None were remotely the same as those named by the ancient Arab astronomers.