Retreat And Adapt (A Galaxy Unknown) (33 page)

"That race is never going to accept the loss of their empire. I'm beginning to wonder if we're going to have to exercise the final solution."

"That's one of the decisions I've been wrestling with. It's not one that any person should ever have to make, but as the Military Governor in a lawless territory, I do have the authority to order it."

"You've given the Uthlaro every opportunity to become a peaceful member of the GA. If they won't stop coming at us, you'll have no choice. That was the reason for practically destroying the Milori home world. We knew Maxxiloth would never stop coming at us every time he was able to rebuild his forces. It was only when you made the decision to destroy the planet's infrastructure that the people finally brought down Maxxiloth in the interest of peace. When the Uthlaro people reach that same point, they'll do what has to be done and stop supporting their leaders."

"I'm not so sure. The Uthlaro military personnel were the most fanatical military we've fought. We learned that they would never give in while a single breath remained in their body, so we finally stopped trying to take prisoners. If the general populace is as fanatical, they won't stop supporting their political leaders while they live. We might have to decimate the population to get them to stop fighting us, but genocide is not an acceptable option. Isolating them on their planet would be a far better alternative if they refuse to cooperate and live in peace. Isolation means they will not be permitted to travel outside their planet's sensible atmosphere, and absolutely no trade with outside civilizations will be permitted. No one leaves and no one enters. This would not be like the arrangement we have with planets that don't wish to become a participating member of the GA. Those planets are barred from trading with GA member planets but are allowed freedom to leave their planet and trade with other non-member worlds as long as they obey the laws of the GA."

"Do you really think it'll come to that?"

"I hope not, but it's not looking good. That they began building this secret base in order to produce military ships so soon after they surrendered unconditionally doesn't bode well. Did they really think we wouldn't find out?"

"Perhaps they didn't think."

"How can business people who were able to build an empire the size of theirs be so obtuse?"

"Perhaps it was simply that fanatical loyalty and total lack of competition that allowed them to build that empire. When a person in power has no opposition to their programs or proposals, they can get reckless. They have never experienced failure before and so haven't learned the lessons that usually accompany that outcome."

"Yes, perhaps. Anyway, I'm not going to worry about it right now. Until the Denubbewa are either gone or defeated, almost all my attention is focused on them."

* * *

"We're ready to begin testing the new bombing procedure with the
Tigris
and the
Ohio
, Admiral," Captain DeWitt said as she and Jenetta walked the hull of the scout-destroyer
Purus
. The ship was one of the six newest vessels to arrive in Region Two and was currently being fitted with one hundred Dakinium bomb cradles. Engineers were working around the clock to cut holes and install the devices in the hull.

Jenetta had decided to go all the way after Captain DeWitt had enthusiastically embraced the new bombing procedure. She had authorized installation work on nine additional scout-destroyers. That would exhaust most of the cradles authorized and supplied by SHQ. Only the devices intended as backups for defective or damaged cradles remained. So far, all installed cradles were found to have been machined perfectly, so none of the backup units had yet been used.

The
Purus
and the eight other newly designated bombing vessels were ensconced inside the transport ship
Winston
where the entire hold could be pressurized while maintaining a zero gravity environment safe from radiation and temperatures beyond that of human tolerances. Exterior work on the
Tigris
had been completed long ago, and it was not necessary to house it inside the large ship.

"Excellent, Barbara."

"My people are really excited about the testing phase. Our simulations have indicated that we have a good shot at accomplishing what most of them secretly believed was impossible after the dismal results with the DeTect work."

"When do you expect your first test to begin?"

"My people are aboard the two vessels already, completing the final calibration tests. We'll perform our first test run tomorrow at the start of the first watch. I want everyone rested and alert, assuming they can sleep tonight. They know how important this effort is. A few are feeling nervous and all are very excited."

"I look forward to hearing your report after the test."

* * *

"Speak to me, Ernesto," Barbara DeWitt said to her second in command aboard the
Ohio
.

Commander Ernesto Villanova stopped what he was doing and turned towards the monitor. "We think we've narrowed down the problem a bit. The tactical console interface tests fine, but we're not getting a signal at the weapons computer, so it isn't sending a signal to the
Tigris
to release the dummy bomb. I've had people crawling through the access tunnels searching for the signal interruption problem, and I think we have the area identified. It's probably a break in a fiber optic wiring couple. It might be a cracked strand or perhaps just a loose fitting, either of which can be responsible for intermittent contact. Everything checked out when testing, so it should be just a matter of fixing this problem. The thing we have to worry about is thinking we've found the problem when the contact is suddenly restored from moving something, only to discover that the problem wasn't fixed. So we have to go slowly and make sure we really have found the real problem."

"How long?"

"I'm sorry, Captain, but I have no idea how long it will take to find the exact problem even though we know approximately where it's occurring. We could find it a minute from now, or it may not be found until tomorrow. It's like trying to find a flea on a collie. But at least it isn't moving around."

Captain DeWitt took a deep breath and exhaled it quickly, showing her exasperation. "Okay, Ernesto, keep at it."

Three hours and sixteen minutes later, Commander Villanova contacted Captain DeWitt. "We found a bad coupling connection in access tunnel 26LRV81P, and connection has been restored. We're hoping this is the only problem."

"Good work, Ernesto. Are you ready for another run at the target?"

"We're go from here, Captain."

"Okay, Ernesto. I'm going to contact the Captain."

"Aye, Captain. Villanova out."

"DeWitt out."

"We're ready to commence the run, Captain," Commander Katherine Jameson said to Captain DeWitt from her command chair.

"We're ready at tactical, Captain. We want to perform this test as if it's the real thing, so proceed whenever you and Captain Wilder decide to go."

Commander Jameson looked down at the monitor by her left hand where an image of Commander Dillon Wilder stared back at her. "We're ready here, Dillon. Our envelope is built."

"Roger, Katherine. Our envelope is built and telemetry is active. Take us for a ride."

Telemetry between the two ships would flow constantly as the helmsman aboard the
Ohio
dually provided all propulsion and course information for both the
Ohio
and the
Tigris
. Although the
Tigris
was functioning as a remotely operated vessel, either Commander Jameson or Commander Wilder could break the connection at any time and the
Tigris
would again regain full control over its movement.

Captain DeWitt sat in one of the tactical officer chairs outside the three-quarters-circular tactical console on the bridge of the
Ohio
. From there, she could see the same images that the lead tactical officer was seeing on his monitors inside the console ring as he prepared to drop the bomb.

The
Ohio
began its run when Captain Jameson looked towards the helmsman and said, "Attack." Since the envelope was already built, the ship was almost instantly at Light-9793.48, as was the
Tigris
. As the
Ohio
reached a point estimated to be fifteen seconds from the target, the tactical officer turned over firing control to the weapons computer. After that all he did was simply sit back and watch.

When the weapons system indicated that the bomb had been dropped by the trailing
Tigris
, Captain Jameson said, "All stop." To Captain DeWitt she said, "Should we maintain or cancel our envelope?"

"Maintain it, Captain, while I learn how the test went." Turning to the monitor in front of her where the image of Commander Villanova appeared, she said, "Speak to me, Ernesto. How did we do?"

"I can confirm that the bomb dropped, Captain. We're waiting now for the triangulation information to see how close we came. Ah, here it is now, Captain. The dummy bomb is sitting approximately fifty-two thousand, eight hundred fifty kilometers from the target."

"Before or after?"

"After. It dropped about eighteen nanoseconds late."

"Well, that won’t get the job done, but it's a lot better than the last test we performed. Rather than run another test, let's get together and review all the telemetry data."

"Wouldn't it just be better to tweak the timing by eighteen nanoseconds and try again today, Captain?"

"No, I don't think so. We've run so many simulations that we should have done better than eighteen nanoseconds. There must be something we missed or miscalculated. I'll have Captain Wilder bring you here so we can work on this aboard the
Ohio
. DeWitt out."

"Villanova out."

"Captain, would you ask Captain Wilder to join us at this location and ferry my officers over to the
Ohio
? And we can cancel the envelope. We'll be working on our calculations for a while. Thank you."

While Commander Jameson relayed the instructions to the
Tigris
, Captain DeWitt headed to the conference room where her equipment was set up.

"We're still missing something," Captain DeWitt said to her senior staff after they had been at it for hours.

"We've covered everything, ma'am," Commander Villanova said. "Our calculations were perfect, and the timing of the drop was perfect. But the dummy bomb dropped almost fifty-three thousand kilometers from the target."

"If we had everything perfect, the bomb would be inside the target container. We're missing something."

"Why not just subtract eighteen nanoseconds and try the drop again."

"If we can't find the real problem we'll have to try that, but it sidesteps the calculations. I hate it when things disagree with the numbers."

"We can sit here for days and never find anything."

"We can't afford the time. The Admiral is depending on us. The entire GA is depending on us."

"It has to be a simple— a simple…"

"A simple what, Ernesto?"

"I just had a thought. I don't think it could be— no, that can't be it."

"Tell us."

"You'll all laugh."

"We could all use a good laugh about now." She smiled and added, "So give us all a good laugh at your expense."

Commander Villanova made a wry face before saying, "Okay, I was just thinking about the Dakinium cradle."

"What about it?"

"Well, we have a lot of measuring equipment inside the hull by the cradle, and that equipment generates a bit of heat. I wondered if maybe the heat affected the Dakinium. You know, like in expansion and contraction. When we timed the release of the bomb, we didn't have any of that equipment by the cradle. Aw, the idea is nuts because everyone knows that nothing affects Dakinium."

Instead of laughing, everyone at the table was looking around at everyone else as they thought.

"The manufacturing tolerances are in microns, and the cradles are intended for use in the cold of space," DeWitt said. "A slight variance could possibly distort the cradle a minute amount and slow the ejection by eighteen nanoseconds. If the bomb hadn't released at all, the cradle would have been one of the first places we looked. But since it only dropped eighteen nanoseconds late, we didn't look at that possibility. What does everyone think?"

"I think we should take a serious look at it," one of the technicians said, "but maybe we should get some sleep first. I've been awake for over forty-two hours, and I'm not sure I could perform a proper test right now, Captain."

Captain DeWitt chuckled. "I'm not sure I could do any better right now. Okay, everyone, let's call it a night, or a morning, or whatever it is. We start again in ten hours."

Twelve hours later, all of the measuring equipment had been removed from the test cradle, and the bulkhead entrance from the interior area of the ship to the hull was sealed to ensure the interior environment wouldn't have an effect on the cradle and thus the release of the bomb.

At 1100 hours, the two ships were positioned for another test. Captain DeWitt gave the go-ahead and the test was performed as before.

When DeWitt asked for the result, Villanova said, "The dummy bomb dropped, Captain, but the signal is garbled so we haven't identified its location yet."

"What do you mean the signal is garbled? Garbled how?"

"The signal is extremely weak and intermittent. Captain Wilder suggests we backtrack to see if we can locate it."

"Permission granted."

"Aye, Captain. We'll report back when we locate it."

About ninety minutes later, Villanova reported, "Uh— we've found it, Captain."

DeWitt and her entire team aboard the
Ohio
were crowded into the conference room they had been using for their work area.

"Where is it?" DeWitt asked. "How close are we to the target?"

"You're never going to believe this, ma'am. It's in the cargo container that we were targeting."

"In it?" DeWitt said excitedly with unrestrained delight. "You mean it landed inside the cargo container?"

"Uh— not exactly. You'll have to see this to believe it. I have an image ready to send. Here it is."