Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) (5 page)

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Day
139/2543

Masterson
nodded to Trojan as he entered the General’s office. He motioned for Trojan to
take a seat.

“I
assume you’ve heard about the Council’s decision regarding your proposal?”
asked Masterson.

Trojan
nodded. “They approved small, tactical fission devices for use as anti-ship
weapons only.”

“Yes.
We’re lucky that Trafalgar’s radar data remained intact after that battle. The
Union really did us a favor by attacking shipping near Earth. Not only did it
frighten the members of the Council, but we also didn’t have to wait months for
the information to get back here. It’s clear now that the Union is building
ships with neutron armor. Tactical nukes are the only thing that can stop them.
What the Council probably isn’t aware of yet is the fact that no one has built
fission devices in hundreds of years because it hasn’t been necessary. We don’t
have stocks of enriched uranium lying around, because we abandoned nuclear
power centuries ago when we figured out how to exploit total mass to energy
conversion. The engineers tell me that mass converters can’t be configured to
explode, so we can’t use that technique for tactical warheads. Did Oracle have
an alternative by any chance?”

“Yes,
Sir. I asked Oracle that very question before we started to disassemble it. It
so happens that Makassar has some rich uranium deposits. Ninety-nine percent of
all uranium is U-238, which is useless for making bombs, but if you hit a U-238
atom with a neutron, it will be transmuted into plutonium 239, which can be
used for a fission warhead. We know how to manipulate neutrons because that’s
how we make armor composed of collapsed neutrons. I’ve been told that it should
be relatively easy to fire neutrons at U-238 to get Pu-239. Now normally a
plutonium fission warhead would be too big and heavy for use on anti-ship
missiles, but Oracle found data, apparently originating all the way back to the
second war of the 20th Century, that involves bombarding a small amount of
fissile material with protons generated from a lithium plasma. I don’t
understand the physics myself, but I’ve been told that we’ll be able to make
warheads small enough for use on our standard AS missile that will still pack
enough punch to blast through neutron armor.”

“Excellent!
Now for the big question. How fast can these warheads be put into service?”

Trojan
sighed. “There’s a lot of ifs involved, General. If I can find the right people
and the right equipment before I head off to Hadley, and if I can get the
uranium deposits on Makassar mined and refined AND if we can make the lithium
plasma trigger work, then maybe we’ll have operational warheads in six to nine
months.”

“We
have to assume that the Union will use their armored ships to attack Makassar.
They’d be idiots not to. Nine months might be too late. Have those warheads
ready in six months, and I don’t care how you do it, understand?”

“Understood,
Sir.”

Masterson’s
stern expression relaxed. “Good. You’re leaving for Hadley in eight days,
correct?”

“Yes,
Sir.”

“I’m
not sure if I envy you or feel sorry for you. Once you’ve set up operations
there, you won’t have me or anyone else looking over your shoulder, but that
also means there won’t be anyone else to pass the buck to. The entire outcome
of the war will rest on your shoulders. That’s a burden that I’m glad I won’t
have to carry. By the way, the Council also approved your second star. I think
I can safely say that you won’t end this war as a two-star general. Hell, by
the time this war is over, I may be saluting you. Congratulations on your
promotion, General. I think we’re done for now.”

As
Trojan left Masterson’s office, he wondered how much sleep he was going to get
in the next eight days. As if he didn’t already have enough on his shoulders,
he now had to organize a new project. Well at least he could sleep all the way
to Hadley.

Chapter Four

Day
13/2544

Drake
was the last ship commander to arrive at the briefing. The other seven were
already there, standing in a cluster. The CSO hadn’t arrived yet. Drake
considered joining the group chat, but he was sure the briefing would start any
second, so he sat down in the back row. Sure enough Admiral Janicot entered
from a side door at the front and began to speak.

“If
you’ll take a seat, we can begin.” The group quickly dispersed and Drake saw
Davidson nod to him as he sat down. Janicot stepped over to a podium, and as he
did so, the lights dimmed and a holographic star chart appeared at the front of
the room.

“I
know that some of you, maybe even all of you, have been wondering why you and
your ships have been sitting on the ground these past weeks and months. You’ll
learn the answer tonight. If you’re thinking that something big is in the wind,
you’re right. Operation Sledgehammer is that something. We know from highly
sensitive data smuggled out from Earth that the FEDs are in the process of
building massive industrial capacity on the planet Makassar in the Franklin
Tri-system.” The star chart dissolved and was replaced with a representation of
the Franklin Tri-system. One of its planets was flashing in red. “For those of
you not familiar with Makassar, it’s an airless planet, roughly the size of
Mars, that has exceptionally high concentrations of a whole variety of metals.
Their strategy is simple. For a relatively small investment of robotic
equipment and personnel, that equipment will mine, refine and manufacture more
robotic equipment. Capacity will grow exponentially until it reaches the point
where they can start to build lots of ships, tanks and missiles. We know that
they expect to have 1,000 warships and 50,000 tanks within six to eight years,
and if we sit back and let them, they’ll do it.” He paused.

“If
you’re wondering if we can match that kind of military buildup, the answer is
no, and here’s why. Even though the SSU currently has 144 member planets, only
a dozen of those have a sufficiently large population and industrial base to
even consider building hyper-jump capable warships. Now if we had an abundant
and essentially free source of raw materials, we might be able to ramp up
production too, but we don’t. On all our developed planets, untapped resources
are all owned by somebody, and that means those resources have to be bought in
order to be used. As it is, we’re stretching our financial resources to the
limit just building a handful of ships per year on each planet. The bottom line
is we can’t allow the FEDs to get their arsenal ramped up if we want to avoid
being swamped with FED ships and tanks. At the very least, we have to knock
their capacity back in order to delay their overall timetable so that we have
more time to figure out a viable counter-strategy. Operation Sledgehammer is
designed to accomplish that goal, but Makassar is just half of the operation.

“The
Franklin Tri-system also includes a habitable planet, Hadley, which the FEDs
intend to use as a staging area for their million-man army. Hadley is perfect
for that mission. It has a lot of land area, most of which is unsuited to
agriculture and is therefore available for military use. Total civilian
population is somewhere on the order of 25 million. Because of its proximity to
SSU planets, Hadley will also be their forward HQ for their entire campaign. We
know that they intend to put their ultra-sophisticated planning computer there.
General Jonn Trojan will use that computer to run their entire war effort. We
have it on very good authority that when it becomes operational, that computer
will give the FEDs a major advantage. Anything we can do now to disrupt the
logistical and administrative buildup on Hadley will help us as we try to level
the playing field with our own planning computer, which unfortunately will not
be ready as soon as theirs. We know that the FEDs have taken the possibility of
a space attack on Hadley seriously. They’ve put their most vital installations
deep underground, so even though we know where those installations are, our
missiles can’t reach them. However, there will still be plenty of less vital
military assets on the surface, the loss of which will throw a monkey wrench
into their carefully crafted timetables.

“So
we’re proceeding on the assumption that all of the FED’s mobile defenses will
be deployed near Makassar. That’s what we would do if we were in their shoes.
Any damage we might cause on Hadley would be a mere nuisance compared to damage
inflicted on Makassar. Therefore, all four heavy cruisers, under the overall
command of Commodore Montoya, will conduct a low level attack on Makassar. Your
neutron armor should enable you to destroy all the ground installations at your
leisure. Those targets are your only priority. If, after destroying all ground
targets, you still have missiles to spare, only then are you authorised to
engage FED ships if the opportunity presents itself, but don’t go hunting for
them. I’ll be quite happy if you accomplish the main mission and return without
engaging in battle with their ships. Do you have any questions, Commodore,
before I continue with the other half of the mission?”

“No
questions at this time, Admiral,” said Montoya.

“Fine.
I’ll now describe the part of the mission involving Hadley. The patrol
cruisers, Waterloo, Jutland, Dogger Bank and Midway, under the command of
Commodore Lee, will conduct a high speed attack on specific targets on Hadley.
As I indicated earlier, we don’t expect Hadley to have any mobile defenses in
orbit. However, it would be prudent to assume that they’ll have ground-based
anti-ship missile batteries. We have some idea of how many they had planned to
have available, but those plans could have been upgraded, so be prepared for
that possibility, Commodore. Your cruisers won’t have the benefit of neutron
armor, but they do have considerable AMM capability. That, combined with a high
speed pass, should allow your task force to get through this with minimal
damage. Data on precise targets will be forthcoming. In terms of timing, our
planning people have agreed that both attacks should commence at the same time.
Because of the location of the targets on Hadley, Commodore Lee’s task force
will have to time its attack run very carefully. Therefore you’ll have to
adjust your timing to match Lee’s, Sandy.”

“Not
a problem, Admiral,” said Montoya as he looked over to Lee and nodded.

“Very
good. I’m giving all of you 24 hours to familiarize yourselves with the details
and to co-ordinate your actions when you arrive at Franklin. All ships will
lift tomorrow at 0800. Does anyone have any questions?” No one did. “In that
case, this briefing is concluded.”

 When
the holographic display faded and the lights came back on, Drake stood up and
left the room, unaware that Commodore Lee was taking note of his departure. Lee
then followed Janicot as he exited the room. When Janicot became aware that Lee
was following him, he stopped.

“Is
there something you wish to discuss with me, Commodore?”

“Actually
there is, Sir. I’m concerned about Commander Drake. Given what happened with
his first cruiser command, I wonder if I’ll be able to rely on him when the
shooting starts.”

Janicot
paused before answering. “I wouldn’t have assigned him to command Jutland if I
didn’t have confidence in his command judgement. His first cruiser mission may
have ended badly, but he did acquit himself well commanding a missile boat in
other combat situations. He’ll follow orders. Anything else?”

“No,
Sir. Thank you, Sir.”

Day
88/2544

Janicot
noticed Foster’s expression as she entered his office. He pointed to the chair
facing his desk, and she sat down without a word.

“From
your expression I’m guessing that you have bad news, Major?” asked Janicot.

“Yes,
Sir. With Oracle now operational, we’ve just asked it to give us its evaluation
of the most likely outcome of Operation Sledgehammer. It’s predicting a complete
failure of the Makassar component, Sir.”

Janicot
was speechless with shock for a few seconds. “How is that possible, Major
Foster? Our ships have neutron armor for God’s sake!”

Foster
nodded. “Oracle is predicting that the FEDs will have developed atomic warheads
that can penetrate the one mm of armor those ships carry.”

“Wait
a minute. Why would the FEDs suddenly feel the need to develop those kinds of
weapons when no one has used or needed anything like that in almost five
centuries?”