Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) (27 page)

“The whiskey has been watered down,” Jessica mused.

“Something to that effect,” Dumar said, “if I understand the use of your metaphor correctly.”

“So you believe that the palace guards are not a threat?” Cameron wondered.

“Of course they are a threat, Commander,” Tug insisted. “He is only saying that they are no more a threat than any other imperial combat unit. It is the Ghatazhak that should be feared, but they are usually assigned to ships of the line, not to the palace guard.”

“The other issue is resources. We only have fifteen hundred men at our disposal. Most of your invasion plans call for upwards of ten thousand men, Tug.”

“Those battle plans were originally conceived without consideration of jump-drive technology,” Tug defended.

“Perhaps,” Nathan said, “but still, fifteen hundred men seems a bit light, don’t you think? Besides, we only have six jump shuttles, one of which we have to leave behind as a comm relay with Darvano, as they will be unprotected should an imperial warship suddenly arrive while we’re gone. With only five shuttles, it will take fifteen jumps to deliver the entire ground force to the streets of Answari.”

“Actually, it will take more like thirty jumps,” Lieutenant Waddell corrected. “The auto-nav rigs are bulkier than standard rigs, and if we pack them into the shuttles too tightly, we are asking for problems.”

“How many can we safely carry per jump then?” Cameron asked.

“I would not put more than ten or twelve into a single shuttle,” Lieutenant Waddell told them, “not if you want to ensure a safe jump.”

“What if the shuttles land on the surface, or even hover and have them fast-rope down?” Jessica suggested.

“That would increase the number of troops per jump to twenty,” Lieutenant Waddell agreed, “but it would also increase their exposure to enemy fire. The last thing any pilot wants to do is hover over a hot landing zone.”

“The argument does not matter,” Major Prechitt told them. “We only have about three hundred auto-nav jump rigs, and close to a hundred of those will be used by the first group that is space jumping.”

“What about standard jump rigs?” Lieutenant Waddell asked. “Surely we have more than enough of those.”

“Yes, but Answari is an enormous city, and it is densely populated,” Tug explained. “To land a large force of paratroopers, you need wide-open space. That would mean they would have to land on the outskirts of the city and work their way inward toward the palace. That would be over twenty kilometers, during which they would face considerable resistance from civilian security forces. Even with their greater numbers, it would take too long, and there would be too much loss of life.”

“The first wave of jump shuttles should take them completely by surprise, sir,” Jessica pointed out. “The second wave may also be able to get in and out without taking too much fire, but the third wave? If that LZ isn’t buttoned down by the time the third wave jumps in, they’re going to get pounded.”

“You’re going to have to secure the landing zone as quickly as possible, Lieutenant,” Nathan advised him. “If you don’t, you’re going to have a hard time getting reinforced any time soon.”

“If you want me to secure the area, we will need air support,” Lieutenant Waddell replied. “If we don’t own the skies above our heads, their air support will be all over us.”

“Once those big guns are taken out, we can commit at least thirty to forty atmospheric fighters to the surface campaign,” Major Prechitt added.

“That will not be enough,” Tug warned. “There are at least one hundred fighters stationed at the Answari airbase.”

“We’ll have to draw them off somehow,” Nathan said.

“It wouldn’t hurt to send a few cruise missiles their way,” Jessica suggested. “Maybe have Josh and Loki do their thing again.”

“If successful, that would greatly diminish their strength,” Tug noted, “perhaps even by half.”

“It would only be a temporary solution at best,” Dumar added. “The next closest airbase is at Dahleek, just over two thousand kilometers west of Answari. They would be able to respond in less than an hour.”

“If everything goes according to plan, this will be over in less than an hour,” Tug commented.

“That, is a really big ‘if’,” Nathan pointed out. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Look, this is obviously a really big operation with multiple elements, each working toward separate yet related objectives. Perhaps it would be easier to look at each of them separately. For example, the Aurora’s job is to deliver the jumpers to orbit, keep the rest of the imperial fleet away from Takara, and to make sure that the Avendahl doesn’t surprise us all by powering up and jumping into the fray.” Nathan looked at Tug. “What’s the primary objective of the jumpers?”

“Ten teams will jump from orbit. Eight of them are tasked with destroying or otherwise disabling the air defense batteries around Answari. The other two teams will drop inside the palace grounds wearing the uniforms of the palace guards. The first team will destroy the command center, and the second team will locate and execute Caius.”

“What about the ground assault?” Nathan asked.

“Their job is to convince the palace guards that their objective is to capture the palace through a direct assault,” Tug explained.

“Convince?” Lieutenant Waddell asked.

“Yes. It is extremely important that the palace guards, as well as imperial command, believe that your forces and the fighters that are providing your air support are the only threat they face. This diversion is vital to the success of the teams entering the palace grounds. The empire, although recently decreased in size, is quite powerful. If their command and control structure is left in place, even without Caius, they will rally their forces and go on the offensive. They will squash your forces with ease once they are allowed to coordinate and concentrate their resources. Without this ability, they will be like confused children, seeking only to protect themselves until someone tells them what to do. If we are successful, this confusion may last months, quite possibly even years. During this time, the empire will cease to exist as we currently know it. Darvano and all the other systems within the Pentaurus cluster and beyond will no longer be restricted from interstellar travel or technological growth. More importantly, all the systems will be given an opportunity to develop defenses of their own. That is why we seek to cut off the head of the dragon.”

The briefing room was quiet for a moment as they all considered Tug’s impassioned words. Nathan took a moment to observe the faces of everyone in the room. He could see the doubt in their eyes, but he could also see their resolve, their acceptance of their duty. All except for Cameron.

“Commander?” Nathan asked. “Something on your mind?”

“I’m just wondering how we’re going to coordinate all of this,” she answered. “Space jumpers, missile launches, jump shuttles ferrying in troops at regular intervals. We’re going to have forces on the ground in a dozen different locations, fighters in the air and in orbit, maybe even further out in the system—not to mention what the Aurora is going to be doing. The communications logistics alone are daunting.”

“What’s your point, Commander?” Nathan asked.

“Normally this would be handled in our CIC,” Cameron told them, “but we’re going to be jumping all over the system, which means the transmission times between parties will be constantly changing. Also, if the ground forces need to contact us, they’re not going to have any idea where we are or how long it will take for us to receive their transmission and respond. That’s a hell of a way to fight a battle, sir.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Nathan admitted, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

“To be honest, I do not believe any of us had,” Tug agreed.

“Any ideas, Commander?” Nathan asked.

“We need a stationary command and control point,” she stated. “Preferably one close enough to the action to be effective in coordinating our forces.”

“Well, we can’t very well yank out our CIC and leave it in orbit over Takara,” Nathan stated.

“Of course not,” Cameron agreed, “but maybe we could set one up inside a shuttle and park it at one of Takara’s gravity points.”

“That would only be a few seconds delay for comm signals,” Jessica stated.

“It would be at risk,” Dumar pointed out. “With all the signals it would be sending out, it would be too easy to detect and destroy.”

“We could park it just outside the system and use a jump shuttle to relay comm signals between the CIC and the units on the surface.”

“We need those shuttles to ferry troops to the ground,” Lieutenant Waddell reminded them.

“The jump shuttles could carry comm signals with each jump,” Cameron suggested. “Once all troops are on the ground, they could then concentrate on just carrying comm signals back and forth.”

“What about comms with the Aurora?” Nathan asked.

“We’ll just have to jump back every so often for an update,” Cameron decided. “Once the jump shuttles are done ferrying troops to the surface, one or two of them could also be used to run comm messages between the Aurora and the CIC.”

“Not bad,” Nathan admitted.

“How the hell are we going to build a CIC in a shuttle on such short notice?” Jessica wondered.

“We could use one of our mobile command posts,” Lieutenant Waddell said.

“Will they fit inside a shuttle?” Cameron asked.

“Not inside a jump shuttle,” he admitted, “but I’m pretty sure it would fit inside one of the bigger cargo shuttles. You might even have enough room to fully extend its bays.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard to wire its power and comm gear into the cargo shuttle’s systems, sir,” Master Chief Montrose assured Nathan.

“But it won’t be able to jump,” Jessica pointed out.

“It doesn’t need to,” Cameron reminded her. “The whole point is to have a command post in a fixed position that everyone can jump back to and exchange comm signals. It could also be the point where we would rendezvous with the jump shuttles to refill them with troops.”

“Why not just park a few cargo shuttles out there alongside the CIC shuttle and fill them full of troops?” Master Chief Montrose suggested. “We could fit docking collars on them so the jump shuttles could transfer troops over each time.”

“Might as well join them all together and make a floating logistics station out of it,” Jessica said, half joking.

“That’s not a bad idea either,” Nathan admitted.

“Uh, Captain?” Cameron interrupted. “Who’s going to run this CIC?”

Nathan looked at her. “It was your idea.” He turned back to the others. “I think we have the workings of a decent plan brewing here,” he announced. “However, it will depend on many factors, of which resources are only a small part. If we don’t think we have what we need, we don’t do it. Furthermore, I believe our chances of success increase considerably if we can get some inside assistance from Mister Dumar’s contact. I might even go as far as to say that our plan hinges on inside help. Therefore, I’m going to green-light this plan under four conditions. First, show me an overall plan, complete with timings, order of battle, contingency plans and logistics. Second, prove to me that we have the resources to pull it off. Third, show me we have a weather window over the target that works for us. And finally, make sure we have our inside man lined up.” Nathan looked them over, expecting rebuttal but finding none. “Very well, dismissed.”

As the others began to make their way out of the command briefing room, Cameron just sat there looking dumbfounded.

“Problem?” Nathan asked.

Cameron watched out of the corner of her eye as the last person left the room. “I’m not sure I’m the right person to run the CIC,” she confided.

“Nonsense,” Nathan responded confidently. “Show me someone better.”

“Sir, it’s just…”

“Cam, I know,” Nathan interrupted. “What you went through would’ve shaken up any of us. Hell, we’re all pretty fucked up right now. We’ve just been too busy to deal with it.” Nathan laughed slightly. “Once we get back to Earth, I suspect fleet is going to ground us all and order us to therapy for a few years.”

Cameron’s eyes stared at the table in front of her as she spoke. “How did you know?”

“Anyone who knows you can tell that you haven’t been yourself since you came back on board, Cam—if for no other reason than that you haven’t been chewing anyone’s ass lately.” Nathan got up and moved over toward her, taking the seat next to hers. “You are the only one on board that I can trust with this responsibility; you know that.”

Cameron nodded her head. “Yes, sir.”

“Take whomever you need to fill that floating CIC,” Nathan told her. “Just be sure to leave me a bridge crew,” he added as he rose.

“Sir,” Cameron asked, her eyes coming up from the table to meet his, “are we ever going to get home?”

“One way or another, with or without this Alliance, this ship is getting home,” he promised as he headed for the exit.

“Nathan,” Cameron called after him. Nathan turned to face her from the hatchway. “Thanks,” she told him, a slight smile creeping into her worried expression. Nathan smiled back, waving to her as he stepped through the hatchway.

Chapter Seven

“Thirty seconds to drone intercept,” Mister Willard announced from the back seat of the jump interceptor.

“We’re currently two light days from Takara,” Josh announced from the front seat of the cramped cockpit.

Mister Willard reached up to one of several electronics boxes that had been temporarily secured to the top of the dashboard cowling in front of him and pressed a button. “Transmitting dropout signal.”

“Any idea what’s in the message?” Josh asked.

“I did not ask.”

“How could you not ask?”

“I did not need to know,” Mister Willard stated. “Fifteen seconds to drone intercept.”

“But you’re the one sending the message. Seems like you of all people should know what’s in it.”

“If I had needed to know, they would have told me,” Mister Willard insisted. “Besides, I am not the one sending the message; I am only the one transmitting it to the drone.”