Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) (45 page)

The guards
posted outside the department initially queried Bobby’s clearance.  His
comdev checked out but they had been told to be extra vigilant.  Bobby had
to wait while they phoned through to Maya Foveaux.  Even after a personal
assurance from her they were not satisfied, so they found Kostovich himself.

Five minutes
later Kostovich came down to meet Bobby at the entrance.  He looked at him
suspiciously as he made his way across the forecourt.  “You’re Bobby
Karjalainen?” he said.

“I am,” said
Bobby.  “You must be Dan Kostovich.  Commissioner Foveaux has been
telling me all about you.”

“She has,
huh?  Do you mind telling me why you’re here?”

“Commissioner
Foveaux said it would be a good idea to talk to you about the equipment you’re
providing to the MSS.”

“What’s it to
you?” said Kostovich.

Bobby thought
that Kostovich was being needlessly antagonistic, but with his characteristic
cool detachment he stepped back from the situation and thought about it from
Kostovich’s point of view.  He realised that he hadn’t properly explained
what was going on and that Kostovich, probably overworked for the last few
months and with the additional stress of having his finger on the nuclear
trigger, was possibly right to be suspicious.

“Listen,”
said Bobby, “I didn’t explain properly.  Commissioner Foveaux has just
appointed me as the head of the military division of the MSS.  I’ll be
training up the new Martian Army and we’ll be using the equipment you have
provided.  Commissioner Foveaux thought it would be useful for the two of
us to become acquainted.  I’ll be able to feed back on the equipment and
maybe request modifications and that sort of thing.”  He held a hand out towards
Kostovich.

Kostovich
took his hand and shook it without commitment.  “Well that all sounds
great,” he said, “but we’re kind of busy here at the moment.”

“I don’t want
to interrupt you if you’re busy,” said Bobby.  “Maybe we can arrange to do
this some other time?”

Kostovich
squinted at him.  “Bobby Karjalainen the war hero, right?”

Bobby looked
back at him and smiled.  “I guess I’ve been called that, yes,” he said.

“And you’re
going to be heading up our military division?”

“It looks
like I am.”

Kostovich
looked at Bobby and weighed him up, then spent a few more moments pondering the
general situation.  “Okay,” he said, “you’d better come with me.”  He
turned and led Bobby into the R&D Department.  They walked down a few
corridors past offices and interesting looking labs before arriving at the
provisional missile control centre.  At the door Kostovich turned to
Bobby.  “You have clearance for this, right?” he said.

“Commissioner
Foveaux said she was going to see to that.  Here’s my comdev,” he said, lifting
his comdev up next to the scanner on the entry panel.  The panel flashed
green and the door opened.

“I guess
Foveaux works fast,” said Kostovich.

“I heard that
rumour too,” said Bobby as they entered the control centre.

Kostovich
made cursory introductions between Bobby and Baldwin and Walton.  He gave
Bobby a brief introduction to the control room and explained what they were
monitoring and how the control centre worked.

“So this is
purely a defensive system?” said Bobby.

“Of course,”
replied Kostovich.  “We’re a nation of just a hundred thousand
people.  There’s no one small enough for us to attack.”

Bobby nodded
in agreement.  “Who are you defending us against?”

Kostovich
nodded at one of the terminals.  “Our former brothers and sisters. 
See that ship there?  It’s a state-of-the-art carrier
dropship, and our erstwhile comrades have seen fit to point that thing us.”

“That’s
Ephialtes
,”
said Bobby, “I had some very minor input on her design.  Well, the
dropships really, and the drones.”

“Oh yes, of
course,” said Kostovich.  “Then you know how dangerous that thing can be.”

Bobby looked
across the terminals.  Much of what he saw made no sense to him - numbers
and graphs.  But it was clear they were monitoring the progress of
Ephialtes
and they had missiles trained in her direction.

“Do you think
they would actually attack?  From what I’ve heard they’re just playing the
intimidation game.”

Kostovich
snorted.  “I don’t just think they’re going to attack us, I know it. 
In fact, I have their precise orders.  As soon as that thing’s in range
they’re going to attack one of our major military installations.”

“Where does
that leave your defence system?” said Bobby.

“It leaves it
perfectly intact after claiming its first kill,” said Kostovich.

Bobby knew that
Martian independence had caused a huge kerfuffle back on Earth. 
Destroying a capital ship and all the lives aboard it seemed like massive
overkill and unnecessarily provocative.

“You’re going
to destroy
Ephialtes
?” said Bobby.  He felt uneasy about what he
was getting into.  He had signed up with Foveaux on the understanding he
was going to be training an army for a limited defensive role.  Now it
seemed that the nascent Martian military were being gung-ho about
starting a full-on shooting war with the USAN, a country which, until a
few short months ago, he had fought for himself.

“Not
destroy,” said Kostovich, “neutralize.  We have the capability of making a
pinpoint strike that will render
Ephialtes
useless as a weapon of
war.  It will still exist.  That is to say it will retain its
structural integrity, but its martial application will have been removed.”

Bobby felt
relief at that.  “And the crew?” he said.

“The crew
will be unharmed.  In fact, the biggest danger to the crew will be
themselves.  After we have disarmed their ship we will attempt to rescue
the stranded crew.  How they react to that will determine their
fate.  If they recognise that they’ve been defeated, and that we have come
to rescue them in good faith, all will be good.  However, if they don’t
trust us or they suspect a trap things could go very badly indeed.  I’ve
recommended to Commissioner Foveaux that if our rescue team has even the
slightest suspicion of the intentions of the survivors they should pull out and
leave them to their fate.”

“What fate
would that be?” said Bobby.

“Well,” said
Kostovich, “at the present time
Ephialtes
is on a trajectory that will
take it close enough to Mars to be captured into orbit, but it has yet to fully
apply the brakes as it will need to.  That means it’s going way too fast
for capture to happen.  If it doesn’t slow down between now and when we
disarm it, it will continue at its current speed.  Rather than being
captured by Mars’ gravity it will simply be deflected slightly and then carry
on to the asteroid belt and the further reaches of the solar system
beyond.  And unless it hits anything it will just carry on into deep
space.”

“So they’ll
just be stuck on a one way trip out into the galaxy?”

“They will,
but they’ll be dead.  Once that ship is disabled the life-support
systems will no longer function.  If we can’t pull them off within a few
days, that
will be that.

“A far more
likely scenario is that they slam the brakes on and assume a speed suitable for
capture into Martian orbit well before we have the opportunity to take them
out.  But that still leaves them stranded in orbit in what will rapidly
become a toxic freezer.

Bobby
nodded.  “So who is going to be charged with getting them off?”

Kostovich
shrugged.  “That’s down to Foveaux,” he said.  “I understand she has
a team ready and they’re preparing one of the shuttles for launch.”

Bobby nodded
again.  Foveaux had told him that none of her personnel had any combat
experience or training worth a damn.  A rescue mission on board a
potentially hostile spacecraft sounded pretty tricky to him.  He thought
that his first day at work was likely to be more eventful than he had initially
supposed.

The cabinet
room at the New White House had an enormous single plate window covering most
of the entirety of one wall.  It afforded fantastic views of the White
House lawn and the new Capitol beyond.  The glass-like material it
was made of was super-strong and could withstand sniper bullets and
explosions.  It gave the room impressive lighting and an airy feel that
lifted some of the oppression from long and difficult meetings.

Today Cortes
had the security blinds in place.  There was no natural light in the
room.  The whole cabinet was meeting.  Farrell, Andrews, Brennan and
White took their places amongst the others.

Farrell had
fed back to the room such intelligence as he had about the Martians; that they
would be unwilling to negotiate on any terms as they now saw themselves as
entirely independent.  For them, there was nothing to negotiate with the
USAN government.  The only negotiations would be between Venkdt and the
other Martian companies, and the companies they did business with on
Earth.  Venkdt in particular was keen to negotiate its new relationship
with its former parent company.  Previously they had extracted minerals,
particularly deuterium, on behalf of the parent company.  Now they were
doing it as an independent entity and needed partners to trade with. 
Venkdt Earth desperately needed the supply of minerals but was reluctant to
trade with its former self.  The problem wasn’t restricted to Venkdt
Corporation, since they in turn provided these vital resources to the
government and power companies.  The deuterium, in particular, was essential
to keep the nation in power.

“So you see,”
said Farrell, “we have stocks of deuterium for the next eighteen months but
after that it becomes a very grave issue.  We can source some deuterium
here on Earth, probably enough to supply essential services indefinitely. 
But for households and the wider community we only have a year and a half to
get that deuterium flowing again before we’re in real trouble.”

“The
intelligence tells us there is absolutely no way the Martians are willing to
negotiate?” said White.

“That’s what
we have,” said Farrell.

“And how
reliable are your sources?”

“We are
inside their coms system.  Pretty reliable, I’d say,” said Farrell.

“They’re
denying us our essential fuel supplies and they will not negotiate,” said
Cortes.  “Secretary Andrews, can you please take us through our military
options one more time?”

“Yes, Mr
President. 
Ephialtes
will be in Martian orbit within seven
days.  From orbit
Ephialtes
is able to deliver twenty-four
dropships.  Each dropship carries eleven Mech-Type drones and a
piloted command drone.  Each dropship itself is also an independent
airborne drone with intelligence gathering and strike capability.  We have
rehearsed many scenarios, and I’ve been assured that our military force is more
than capable of taking the necessary Martian facilities for extracting,
refining and transporting deuterium, as well as other important minerals.”

“What about
the Martian defences?” said
White.

“We understand
that the Martians have very quickly built some missile defences.  Our
dropships and command drones easily have the necessary capacity to take them
on.  It’s something they’ve trained for.  We do not anticipate the
Martian defences being high quality.  They’ve been fabricated very quickly
and have limited capability.”

“What about
the orbiting platform?” said
White.

“We have
accounted for that in our plans, too,” said Andrews.

“Can you
elaborate?”

“Certainly. 
The orbiting Martian missile platform poses a potential threat to
Ephialtes
. 
It is therefore a mission priority to eliminate that threat before
Ephialtes
takes her place in Martian orbit.”

“You’re going
to destroy it?” said White.

“Well, what
else do you think we should do?” said Cortes.

“It seems a
bit .
 . .” White shrugged,
“. . . aggressive?”

“It may have
escaped the Vice President’s attention but we are dealing here with an
insurrection.  Revolutionaries who have already destroyed one of our
satellites and almost certainly destroyed one of our capital ships without a
moment’s thought.  I don’t think kid gloves are necessary here.  The
Martians have kicked off a revolutionary war.  Well, if they want a war we
can give them one.  I certainly don’t have any qualms about destroying an
unmanned missile platform in order to protect one of our ships.  Does
anyone here have any objections?” said Cortes.

He looked
around the table and apart from a few people shaking their heads ‘no’, no one
responded to his question.

“And what
about when we have taken the facilities?” said Brennan.  “Do we have a
long-term plan?”

“We do,” said
Cortes.  “Secretary Farrell?”

“Yes,” said
Farrell.  “We’re in the process of contacting Anthony Karjalainen, who we
feel we could install as an interim president.  He is a Martian native
with strong Earth sympathies.  Our plan would be, essentially, to keep the
new Martian constitution - elections suspended, of course - with
Anthony Karjalainen as president and Mars as the newest nation incorporated
into the USAN.  We’ve looked into it and we think that is a solution that
would be acceptable to all sides.  Mars would nominally be independent and
have its own accountable government, but it would be still part of and
answerable to the USAN.  In time, obviously, we would reintroduce elections. 
But until then we would keep a military force on the planet to keep order.”

“Good,” said
Cortes.  “I like the plan.  Quick, decisive and thorough.”

“Expensive,
too,” said White, under his breath.

“Does anyone
have anything else to add?” said Cortes.

“The
secretary’s plan mentions elections at some point down the line for Mars,” said
White.  “Will we be extending the same courtesy to our own citizens within
a similar time-frame?”

Cortes looked
at him.  “Elections have been suspended due to serious global
instability.  That period of instability is coming to an end with the
conclusion of the last war and the settlement of this minor internecine
difficulty.  We hope to reintroduce elections as soon as possible, and to
that end I would ask all of you for your full cooperation in sorting out this
immediate problem.  In answer to your question, Mr Vice President, I
anticipate that elections here in the USAN will take place in the very near
future.”  Cortes held White’s gaze long after he had finished speaking.

“Thank you
for that full and informative answer, Mr President,” said White.

“Secretary
Andrews, you said you expect
Ephialtes
to be in orbit within the next
seven days.  At what point do you anticipate the strike against the
orbiting missile platform?”

Andrews
consulted some papers in front of her.  “We’ll neutralize the missile
platform as soon as we have it in range.  That should be shortly before we
arrive in orbit.”

“Good,” said
Cortes.  “I’d like to be kept closely informed on that part of the operation.”

“Yes, Mr
President.”

“Anything
else?”  Cortes looked around the table.  There were no replies.

“Okay, that’s
it.  Let’s go.”

White met in
his office with a group of his most trusted advisers.  They had the
minutes from the cabinet meeting and the intelligence briefings.  “What
can we do with this stuff?”  White asked.

“You have an
assurance here from the president himself that elections are going to be
reinstated soon, sir,” said one of the advisers.  “That’s great news, and
progress, I would say.”

“It’s a vague
promise.  It doesn’t mean a thing,” said White.

“But it’s
here in the record,” said the adviser.  “You can refer to this later, if
you need to.”

White made
derisive grunt.  “All of this is constitutional.  Well, according to
the current constitution.  We have an unelected president here -”

“But sir,
President Cortes
was
elected,” interrupted another adviser.

“He was
elected for a four-year term
nine
years ago,” said White. 
“As far as I’m concerned, hell, as far as the original constitution of these
United States and Nations is concerned, he was not elected to serve for the
last
five
years.  He is an illegitimate president.”

“Sir?”
another adviser cautiously asked.  “By that argument you haven’t been
legitimately elected to the vice presidency either.”

White looked
at her.  “Yes, I know that.  How do you think that makes me
feel?  I’m trying to do the right thing here, to sort this mess out. 
We are in very dangerous waters, drifting away from constitutional government
as mandated by the people.  You’re right; my position is not legitimate
either.  But as long as I’m here I’m going to try to bring him in, and I
need your help to do it.  So does anyone have any useful suggestions?”

One of the
advisers spoke up.  “Everything the president has done has been with the
approval of congress.  It may be wrong, but if everyone goes along with it
we have no means of challenging it legally.”

“That’s
right,” said White.  “There’s what’s legal, and there’s what’s right, and
every now and then the two diverge.  So what do you do then?”

His question
was met with blank faces.

Kostovich had
two streams of information about his approaching enemy. 
Parry 5
could
look deep into space with tracking systems which were able to monitor
Ephialtes’
deliberate approach.  Through his backdoor into the USAN’s network he also
had very detailed information on the mission, including telemetry from
Ephialtes
which was being sent back to the defence department on Earth.  He had
access to the minutes of important government meetings and all files from the
defence department.  He was absolutely aware that
Ephialtes
was
going to destroy
Parry 5
at the first opportunity it had. 
There was no question about it.  His only option was to disable
Ephialtes
before it had the chance to destroy his own platform.

He had been
aware of this for weeks.  Initially, it had appeared to be an abstract
problem, way down the line in the future.  Rather than face it he had
decided to put it to the back of his mind.  He knew that there was very
little to contemplate.  Although the stakes were high and the scale
enormous it was a very simple issue at heart; kill or be killed.

Kostovich had
happily put that decision off to one side, but he could now see from his data
that the time was coming when he would have to address it head-on. 
Ephialtes
was hours away from being within range of
Parry 5
’s EMP
missiles.  There would be no need to physically destroy
Ephialtes
. 
With the EMPs he would simply be able to render it useless, destroyed in
military terms but retaining its physical integrity.  No lives would be
lost in the initial attack.

One thing
that did bother Kostovich was that once all the electronics had been extirpated
on
Ephialtes
her ability to sustain life would be severely
limited.  Carbon dioxide filters, air pumps, heating and cooling devices
would no longer work.  Once
Ephialtes
had been attacked those
aboard would be living in a drifting metal box which would soon become a
coffin.  He had thought about this and was satisfied that
Ephialtes
would be able to sustain life for a number of days following an EMP
attack.  He had roughed out a plan to rescue the survivors.  He had
talked about it in the broadest terms with Venkdt, who had given his approval,
but he hadn’t really given it his full attention.  As he saw the data
coming in from
Ephialtes
, showing its inexorable approach, he set his
AIs on firming up the plan.  It would involve sending a large ship - probably
a shuttle - to
Ephialtes
and taking the crew off. 
The difficulty was that the crew would be enemy belligerents.  With no
communications it would not be possible to tell them of the shuttle’s intent
before it docked.  Once a team from the shuttle were on board they would
be in a hostile environment, attempting to rescue people who might see them
simply as the enemy.  That was the trickiest part of the mission and
something that even the AIs were not able to cope with.  That would need
great human skills.  Kostovich didn’t like to think about it.

Kostovich
piped all the information he had into one of his AIs, which processed it and
gave him a nice visual display of the problem he had. 
Ephialtes
would be within range of
Parry 5
’s missiles within six hours. 
Ephialtes
would be in range to strike the
Parry 5
missile
platform within a few tens of minutes over six hours.  The window was
small, but there was a point at which the
Parry 5
platform held
superiority over the mighty
Ephialtes
.  That was the point at which
the strike must happen.  If it didn’t happen then,
Ephialtes
herself would strike immediately after.  The moment would be lost, the
missile platform would be lost, and following on from that the entire planet
was potentially lost.  Kostovich had all this displayed on his terminal. 
He could see
Parry 5
with a large circle around it, indicating the
range of its missiles.  There was a similar circle around the approaching
Ephialtes
. 
In the corner of the screen there was a clock ticking down.  It was
currently orange.  Once
Ephialtes
was in range it would turn
green.  Once
Parry 5
was in range of
Ephialtes
, it
would turn red.