Synchronicity War Part 1, The (11 page)

                                                     ***

Shiloh entered the main auditorium at Space Force HQ and
spent a few seconds taking in the view of hundreds of SF personnel milling
about and chatting prior to Admiral Howard’s briefing. It seemed as though
every officer, and quite a few of the NCOs and enlisted personnel presently on
Earth, were here. Shiloh understood why, perfectly. Howard was about to present
a proposal for the first offensive action against the aliens, and EVERYONE
wanted to hear about it firsthand. With time running out and empty seats
disappearing quickly, Shiloh decided to take a seat in a row that was near the
back of the room. It happened to be quite close to one of the large view
screens strategically placed around the auditorium, so that those in the middle
and back could see any presentation just as well as those in the front. It
wasn’t long before the rest of the empty seats were filled, and the doors at
the back were closed. When the overhead lights dimmed, the background chatter
died away quickly. Shiloh saw Admiral Howard step out onto the stage and walk over
to a podium. Behind, and to one side, a very large view screen dropped down and
came to life. It showed a star chart, with Space Force Base Bradley in the
lower left corner as a green dot, and a pulsing red dot in the upper right
corner, with white dots in between. Just as the background chatter started up
again, Howard started speaking.

“This briefing will now commence. If you’re wondering why
the CSO is giving this briefing, you’re not alone. I’m wondering the same
thing!”

That generated a wave of laughter.

“The answer to that question is that a briefing like this has
never been necessary before. But now that the Space Force is transitioning to
an elite military unit that can and will conduct offensive operations, there
will have to be some changes here at HQ. That’s why this is very likely to be
the one and only time you’ll see the Chief of Space Operations give a briefing
like this. In future, I would expect that my soon to be announced Deputy CSO
will be doing the honors. Be that as it may, this time it’s my turn, so let’s
begin.”

He paused to collect his thoughts.

“As I’m sure all of you have heard by now, our first attempt
on long range reconnaissance was very successful. Cmdr. Yakamura and his crew
of volunteers were able to sneak into a star system, indicated by the flashing
red dot on the screen, which clearly has an alien presence that looks as though
it’s primarily mining-related.”

The display now showed a blue line leading from SFB Bradley
to the alien system.

“Analysis of Gnat’s sensor data has revealed that this
target system, Zebra 9, has half a dozen different locations where industrial
activity of some sort is going on. Now that we have a fixed target, the Space
Force has requested and been granted permission to engage in a raid on Zebra 9.
Therefore this briefing will describe how we intend to conduct that operation,
which will be called Operation Dropkick.

“The raid will consist of three phases. The first phase will
be to make sure that we retain both strategic and tactical surprise. In order
to do this, each of the 13 star systems that lie between our Bradley Base and
Zebra 9 will have all gas giants monitored by orbiting recon drones. They will
report any alien activity to the message drones that will be deployed at
specific locations at the edge of these star systems. As the raiding force
enters each intervening star system, it will make contact with the message
drone in that system and verify that it’s safe to refuel at the gas giant. If
enemy activity has been detected near a refueling point, the raiding force
commander will have several options. He or she can call off the raid altogether,
use their remaining fuel to leapfrog past that system to the next star system
in the line of advance, or they might decide to wait a while to see if the
alien presence is only temporary. I would like to point out here how lucky the
crew of the tanker Gnat was to have been able to refuel undetected in the star
systems closest to Zebra 9. Given what happened to our ships in these other two
systems—” the display showed two new yellow dots, both off to one side of the
blue line “—one would have expected there to be picket ships in the systems
surrounding their mining operations to guard against exactly what we were able
to do.

“Once all of the refueling points along the way are under
our observation, Phase Two will commence and the raiding force will leave SFB
Bradley and proceed to the target. The raiding force will be designated Task
Force 79 and will consist of a Command/Support squadron made up of a command
ship and twelve tankers, plus six frigate squadrons.”

He paused as the audience reacted with surprised chatter. He
let it go on for a few seconds before he resumed speaking.

“Let’s settle down, people.” When it was quiet again, he
continued. “Committing one third of all active squadrons may sound like
overkill, however we do NOT want to underestimate the enemy. We’ve allocated
one frigate squadron for each of the six mining locations in Zebra 9. When TF
79 enters the outer edge of Zebra 9, it will do so at a point that is
equidistant from all six target locations, or as close to that as possible.
Three of the target locations are moons orbiting two gas giants. The commander
of TF79 will observe the level of enemy activity at both gas giants and, based
on that information, will pick one as a refueling point. Phase Three will then
begin with a high-speed pass by each frigate squadron past its designated
target. Depending on the effectiveness of the damage inflicted and the strength
of their defenses, the task force commander will have the flexibility to order
additional attacks. In any case, when the chosen gas giant has been cleared of
enemy defenses, the 12 tankers will move in to refuel, escorted by a frigate
squadron, and then head back to a predetermined rendezvous point, where all
ships will be refueled enough that they can make a long jump to the farthest
refueling system possible. The idea here is that the task force will make the
minimum number of hyperjumps back to Bradley in order to get out of the enemy
zone as quickly as possible. When the task force reaches Bradley, any
casualties will be transferred to the base, and the task force will then return
to Sol. In the meantime, Task Force 80, consisting of four frigate squadrons,
will be assigned the mission of protecting our Bradley base against any enemy
retaliatory strikes that may occur subsequent to our raid. Four frigate
squadrons will remain at Bradley from now on, with each tour of duty lasting
four weeks. While TF79 will do everything it can to avoid revealing the
location or direction of SFB Bradley, we shouldn’t assume that the enemy won’t
be able to figure out where to go for a counter-strike. Since Bradley will be a
forward base for some time to come, we’ll start taking a series of defensive
measures to protect it.

“Task Force 79 will be commanded by Senior Commander
Yakamura, whose familiarity with Zebra 9 will stand him in good stead. The six
frigate squadrons will be the 51st, the 77th, the 98th, the 102nd, the 144th
and the 153rd.”

He paused again, then said, “That concludes the overview of
Operation Dropkick. I will NOT be taking any questions. However, if any of you
have comments or suggestions that you feel would help make this operation a
success, you’re welcome to submit them in writing to my Office. Before I end
this briefing, I have a few other items to communicate to all of you.”

“Since meetings like this won’t happen very often, now would
be a good time to bring you up to date on what will be happening here on the
Home Front over the next weeks and months.

“First, two new types of attack drones have been
successfully tested and will be put into volume production very soon. One type
has a depleted uranium kinetic energy penetrator warhead, while the other has a
sub-kiloton tactical fission warhead. Unfortunately, neither one will be
available for Dropkick, but we expect to be able to equip some squadrons with a
few of these beauties before too long.

“Second, an in-house ship design bureau has now been established.
It has already started working on detailed designs of a long-range
reconnaissance ship, as well as a combat frigate that will have 150% more
tonnage than an exploration frigate, with hull armor, more powerful lasers and
enhanced ECM/Stealth capabilities. When we are far enough along the design
process that we feel we can begin actual fabrication of parts, we will NOT be
going with the old process of building one prototype ship first, to be
extensively evaluated before any more are built. We can’t afford the time for
that anymore. Multiple combat frigates and, to a lesser extent, long-range
recon frigates will be built at the same time. While that is going on, a
SEPARATE design team will be working on an Autonomous Fighting Platform which
can be thought of as a very large drone, with high endurance and capable of
carrying its own standoff weapon systems. Once we have that design perfected,
actual construction will be relatively quick. You can expect to see big changes
in our force structure before the end of this year.

“That brings this briefing to an end. Let’s all wish the men
and women of TF 79 good luck and good hunting.”

With that, Howard turned and left the stage. The lights came
back up, and everyone started to leave while they chatted with one another.
Shiloh stayed seated. He didn’t mind being one of the last to leave while he
pondered the raid profile. He was both excited and apprehensive about his
squadron being part of the raiding force.

                                           ***

When Shiloh stepped back onto his repaired ship, it felt
like coming home. Even though all Exploration Frigates were nearly identical in
basic design, somehow this particular ship gave him a sense of familiarity that
would have been missing from any other ship. As he stepped through the airlock
connecting the asteroid repair facility to the ship, he saw his new XO standing
there to greet him. With Johansen back from her recon mission and now waiting
for a command of her own, Admiral Dietrich had paid Shiloh a singular honor by
letting him pick his new Executive Officer. After going through the dossiers of
several dozen potential candidates, Shiloh had picked Lt. Cmdr. Svetlana
Chenko. The main reason he picked her was the persistent reports by her superiors
to the effect that Chenko brought an unusually serious attitude to her duties,
and Shiloh thought that would be exactly what the Space Force in general, and
his ship in particular, now needed.

“Glad to see you were able to report to the ship so quickly,
Commander.”

Chenko saluted and said, “Thank you, Commander. I understand
that you specifically requested me as Executive Officer.”

Shiloh returned the salute and responded with, “Yes I did.
I’m certain that we’ll work well together.”

With the saluting out of the way, Shiloh started walking
towards the Bridge and said, “Has the ship’s new second Officer arrived yet?”

Chenko, who had fallen in step with her CO, said, “Lieutenant
Commander Farnsworth arrived on the previous transport. I’ve asked him to get
up to speed on the current status of the ship’s repairs. I understand that it’s
taken longer to finish them then was originally estimated.”

Shiloh grimaced. “Yes, the estimate of three weeks was
overly optimistic, but I understand that most of the delay is the result of
last minute modifications that were ordered by our Chief of Operations. I’ve
been told that at least one of her lasers is being upgraded to a more powerful
model and that some of the ship’s hull will have armor added to it.”

He paused and then asked, “What percentage of the crew is
aboard right now?”

Chenko didn’t hesitate in responding. “We currently have 34
out of 77 onboard. Do you have some idea of when the ship will be expected to
be ready for duty, Commander?”

Shiloh realized that Chenko was not likely to call him
Skipper the way that Johansen did.

“Admiral Howard is anxious to get Task Force 79 up and
running. Senior Commander Delvecio will be taking command of the Marathon soon
and she should be ready to leave dock in less than a week. That means that I’ll
be stepping in as SFE144’s Squadron Leader, and a squadron leader should be
with his squadron, not sitting in a repair dock. I’m anxious to get the Old
Girl fixed up and ready to dance as soon as possible.”

Chenko did not smile at the reference to the 344 as the ‘old
girl’.

“I see your point, Sir.”

By this time, they were entering the Bridge. It looked
pretty much the same as before and was unoccupied since the ship was still
berthed in the repair dock. Shiloh walked over to his command station and
manipulated several controls. The large Tactical display on the wall came to
life and showed the overall deployment of Space Force vessels in the Solar
System. There was a dense cluster of green dots in orbit around Earth with a
scattering of green dots elsewhere in the system, including the asteroid
shipyards where the 344 was located, as well as in transit between Earth and
other locations. Shiloh made the display zoom in to the cluster around Earth.
The screen filled with green triangles showing ship identification. Never
before had he seen so many exploration frigates in Earth orbit at one time. Admiral
Howard had called back virtually every frigate the Space Force had. Exploration
had ground to a halt. Shiloh wondered how many years it would be before
exploration efforts started up again.