Lt. Commander Rankin looked at his instruments and said, “According to the NavCom beacons, we’re right where we’re supposed to be: 30 light days out from the Dahlgren 63 system.”
Lt. Taggert read the status board and reported, “All ships accounted for. Jump successful.”
A cheer erupted in the flag plot. After all the preparation, training and waiting, they were finally on their way.
Keller said, “Congratulations ladies and gentlemen. We just made history. Our two-hundred seventy-five light year jump is a record for the fleet. Note for the log: Successful jump to way point Master 1. Signal the Summers to rejoin the fleet and then set the clock: twenty-five minutes to our next jump.”
“According to the schedule, Taggert’s team takes over at midnight and Dubois takes over at 800. Everybody else get some rest. We’ve got a long way to go.”
* * *
Bishop Kielor of the Universal Church savored the forty year old Scotch. It would never do to have one of his flock seeing him drinking alcohol: regardless of its rarity or expense. He swirled it in his glass and breathed in its smoky fire.
Senator Okana continued his babbling, “Admiral Bassett got a message from the front and accelerated his departure. The fleet jumped away ten hours early.”
The Senator was a member of the Senate Intelligence and Defense Committees and was proud of the secrets that he held. So proud, that his incessant babbling broke the spell of the exquisite Scotch. Kielor sighed and said, “We are sure that all of the abominations are aboard?”
Okana said, “Most of them — all of the ones within the fleet. Our contacts in the Fleet Personnel Bureau made sure to post them to high value targets like carriers. Many of them are even fighter pilots.”
The Bishop smiled at the his pet idiot politician. It was easy enough to get them elected and still easier to lead them but their skills at thinking on their feet left much to be desired. At least this one didn’t have the wits to see where one plan ended and the next began.
Okana, obviously very pleased with himself continued, “I’m afraid that the fleet has faulty intelligence. Enemy strength is five times the estimates they were given. They are jumping into a meat grinder.”
Kielor asked, “What about the enemy. Aren’t they dangerous to the Alliance?”
Okana said, “Yes and no. What our intelligence people have discovered is they are completely robotic and are acting on their programming. They have secured five worlds and, on finding that they are in hostile territory, they have set up a perimeter around those worlds. Analysis of their behavior to date indicates they have assumed a primarily defensive posture and occasionally probe our positions.”
“What are they?”
Okana sipped his drink and said, “Our analysts think that they are an advance robotic force sent to prepare planets for colonization. Given the time and distance that it took them to get here, we’re not expecting any colonists. We can handle them with enough firepower and that is being arranged. Poor Admiral Bassett and his merry band of clones just don’t have enough. We expect that they will seriously hurt the enemy but they are just too badly out gunned.”
Kielor stood and said, “You’ve done well Senator. The agreed upon sum will be transferred to your accounts in 24 hours. I look forward to doing business with you in the future.”
The Bishop extended his hand and the Senator shook it. The Senator hardly noticed a tiny prick from the ring the clergyman was wearing.
Some minutes after the haughty Bishop had left his house, Okana collapsed and died.
Of the many lies that Kielor had told the Senator, the last one was that he was looking forward to doing business with him in the future. Kielor and his Church were through with him.
* * *
Sokolsky left the flag bridge and went down to the officer’s mess. It was after hours and no one was there. He got a fruit drink and a sandwich and sat down at a table.
He flipped through his pad computer to catch up with his lengthy to-do list. His personal effects from the Burke and the hotel on Capella had been delivered to his cabin. Two sets of BDUs had been issued to him and delivered to his cabin. Master Chief Jenko’s orientation session tomorrow at 1300 was an absolute must. He hadn’t been assigned to any of the standing team of navigators yet so he had no idea what his duty rotation looked like. He still had to meet with the enlisted men and women assigned to the science department.
The quiet of the compartment was shattered by the bridge crew as they came off watch. Captain Carter, the XO, Keller and a dozen other officers arrived in the officer’s mess and the space was quickly filled by a very happy crowd of senior officers. Many were slapping Danny on the back and congratulating him.
Captain Carter said, “Congratulations are in order to our man of the hour. For those of you that haven’t met Lt. Commander Sokolsky, he’s the man that just won the Saratoga’s first science star.”
Danny asked, “What does that mean Captain?”
The Captain moved closer to Danny and said, “Whenever a ship in the fleet distinguishes itself, we get a star. There are Battle Stars, Science Stars and Humanitarian Stars — they are red, white and gold respectively. Sarah is so new that it’s the first star of any kind that we have recieved.”
The Captain noticed Danny’s eye wander to the lady on his left and said, “Have you met our ship’s surgeon?”
He turned to the tall auburn haired woman and said, “I’m Lt. Commander Danny Sokolsky, the Sara’s new Science Officer. I’m glad to meet you.”
She said, “I’m the Ship’s Surgeon Elizabeth May. It’s nice to meet you Danny. It’s good to be shipping out with a Science Officer again. Reminds me of the good old days when we were out here to explore and not get our ships shot up.”
The Captain said, “I’d drink to that if we had something besides bug-juice. We’ve got a long way to go and I’m sure both of you are going to find plenty to do.”
Dr. May said, “It’s good to get a science star. It’s been a long time.”
Captain Carter said, “A two hundred seventy-five light year jump. That’s a record for a coordinated jump. Can we expect more Commander?”
Danny said, “We should be able to squeeze out three hundred light years. After that we’re limited by the jump engines.”
Dr. May said, “I thought we had the best jump engines available.”
Danny said, “Our jump engines are fine. The power requirements for going further are too great. We can’t generate that much power and the jump engines couldn’t handle it if we could.”
The Captain said, “I’ve been reading about the next generation jump engines and power plants. That’s some exotic stuff. There seem to be two camps: the supporters of anti-matter and the supporters of a forced singularity.”
Danny said, “If they can pull off taming either of those power technologies, we can double or triple our jump range.”
Carter said, “Can you even imagine a thousand light year jump Elizabeth?”
The Doctor just shook her head. “The farther out we go, the more strange and exotic bugs that we run into. It sure keeps us doctors busy.”
The Captain asked, “We don’t have anybody sick do we?”
She replied, “No and I want to keep it that way. The only place worse for an infectious pathogen than a ship would be a pre-school. If one person catches something then it won’t be long before everybody has it. That is why I insist on following the regs: all new hands get a physical within a week of coming on board.”
Danny blushed and said, “Yes Mam.”
The Doctor smirked and said, “That’s the thing about sailors. You can never be sure where they’ve been.”
* * *
6Gun: If the enemy strength estimates are anywhere close to accurate, we should be able to clean their clock.
TopHat: That is what concerns me. The numbers just don’t stack up. There is the Fleet Intelligence estimate and the Ministry of Defense estimate. They are very much at odds. The Fleets estimate is at least twice the Ministries estimate. Both of them seem to be based on a great deal of wishful thinking.
Gorman: Our behavior models of the enemy show that he is very defensive in his posture. Mny of us think we are only seeing probes while he is holding the lions share of his fleet in reserve to defend his planets.
TopHat: That though had occurred to me. There are some big questions that we need to answer before we barge into enemy territory.
Rattler: I think that I may have an answer to our dilemma gentlemen. I have invited Dr. Sokolsky to join this group. Furthermore, he is a problem solver and a crack researcher. I suggest that we assign him to study the mountain of data that we have on our enemy and see what he comes up with.
TopHat: There is no doubt that the kid is a brilliant mathematician but does that translate in this case?
6Gun: I think so. Our enemy is a machine intelligence and at the bottom of its behavior are algorithms. I can’t think of anyone better qualified to study them.
Rattler: Good. I’ll be in touch with Saratoga in the morning. I’ll give Sokolsky his new assignment.
* * *
Tom was already in his bunk when Danny arrived. He had a video screen on with news and a pad computer on his knee.
Danny entered the room and slumped down on his bunk and muttered, “How is it going?”
Tom grinned and said, “It’s been a busy day. Everybody is talking about the long jumps. I think you’ve got a fan club.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that idea. I’ve got so much to do that I’m not sure where to start.”
Tom said, “Well, we’ve got something else to think about. There’s another copy of us. He’s a pilot.”
“You’ve had a chance to talk to him?”
“Yeah. He’s a little freaked out but he’s agreed to stay quiet about it. He said our ship’s doctor might be an ally.”
Danny sighed and said, “I met her when I got off watch. She seems like she might be helpful. She reminded me of the regs — we’ve both got to have a physical within a week of coming aboard.”
Tom said, “What do you think if all three of us showed up at the same time?”
Danny considered it a moment. “It would certainly force the issue.”
Tom said, “With her reputation for curiosity, I’m guessing that she’ll want to work with us.”
Danny lay down on his bunk. “It’s a plan. Remind me of it tomorrow. I’m already asleep.”
* * *
Admiral Bassett sat through all eight jumps carefully scrutinizing the performance of the fleet. So far everything was running smoothly despite the fact that many of the ships in the task force were so new that the paint was barely dry.
After the watch standers announced that the last jump in the initial sequence was successful, the Admiral stood and approached the status board. The officer’s overseeing this shift were busy coordinating fleet movement.
He approached the officer watching the ship’s status board and asked, “How are we doing?”
The watch stander replied, “The worst engineering problem encountered so far was reported by the destroyer Singleton. The manifold on their number three reactor failed. It will take them about 12 hours to complete repairs. The other things matters reported were very minor or routine.”
Bassett sighed and said, “I’ve been sweating out how these new ships will do. Some of them had rather abbreviated shake downs. Pass the word to all engineering departments. I want reports on fuel consumption and for them to run diagnostics on their jump drives before our next series of jumps.”
“Aye Sir.”
The Admiral took a look around his flag bridge, gave a nod to duty officer and trudged off to his stateroom.
* * *
When the alarm went off at 530 hours, Danny could hardly believe it. He and Tom sort of fell out of their racks semiconscious and let routine take over. After a quick Shower and shave, Danny and Tom dressed in their BDUs and headed for the Officers Mess to grab some breakfast.
Breakfast was full of caffeine and carbs to kick them off into high gear.
Tom asked, “You awake yet?”
Danny nodded. “I’m used to the night watch. It’ll take me a while to get used to the new schedule. Any idea what Crash has planned to keep you busy?”
Tom said, “I think he wants me to qualify as a pilot for the Spectra.”
Danny said, “Isn’t that like a command shuttle?”
Tom replied, “That’s one of its functions but it’s nothing like a shuttle. They are big, fast and take a four man crew: pilot, co-pilot and two traffic controllers. Their main function is to allow the fleet to stay Em-Con Black or emissions silent, while the Specta can use active sensors and comm links. It gives the enemy no useful electronic signals to lock on to.”
Danny said, “Except for the Spectra.”
Tom said, “Well… there is that. The Spectra has a whole lot of defensive tricks up her sleeve. She’s got all sorts of jammers and decoys. It can connect to TacCom but it’s not necessary. A Spectra has the electronic wherewithal to command a fair sized group of fighters independent of the battlegroup. What’s on your agenda for today?”
Danny said, “I’m planning on getting very familiar with the ship’s sensors and science facilities.”
At that moment, both of their pad computers gave a loud ping indicating an incoming message. They both looked at the display and saw: Staff Meeting 700 Bridge Conference Room.
Tom said, “Swell.”
Danny chuckled and said, “Job security.”
* * *
Bishop Kielor’s ship arrived and signaled traffic control that it would be landing at a private facility. A short time later the Bishop’s fast transport landed at a large Church owned island in the planet’s southern sea.
He debarked the ship and was met by his most trusted Lieutenant. Sebastian Beck bowed to Bishop Kielor and kissed his ring. He said, “How did things go on Parliament?”
Kielor said, “It has begun. The pieces are in motion. I will soon have need of our Janissaries. Will they be ready?”
The Bishop’s Janissaries were one hundred and twenty illegals, genetically engineered young men who had been created to be super-soldiers by a defunct Corporation. They were discovered and seized by the Alliance some dozen years ago and were turned over to the care of the church. They needed much care and training but the Church had the resources and facilities to accommodate them. It also had a mission for them.
Beck nodded. “Their progress is almost frightening Excellency. They excel in every test that we give them. We are having difficulty devising more challenges for them.”
“Will they be ours to control?”
“Yes Excellency. They are ours to control, body and soul: especially soul. A few of them would make excellent candidates for the priesthood.”
“That is impossible of course.”
“Of course. They are a fine bunch: devout believers the lot of them. They are ready and willing to do anything necessary for the Crusade.”
Keilor smiled. Soon he would ignite a fire that would bring the God-less Alliance to its knees. He would erode public confidence in the Alliance little by little and when the great fleet met with disaster on the edge of the galaxy, the government would fall and he would be there to pick up the pieces.
* * *
After splitting up to check in with their respective divisions and looking at their duty logs, an hour later, Danny and Tom returned separately to the bridge for the staff meeting.
Danny arrived first. All he had to do was walk through the corridor from the flag bridge. All of the ship’s senior officers were either present or arriving. He was shocked to see Admiral Tanaka sitting between Captain Carter and Crash.
The ship’s officers continued to filter in until Captain Carter stood and the doors closed.
He said, “Gentlemen. We have just received word that there has been a very serious incident on Parliament. I’m going to turn the matter over to the Admiral’s Intelligence Advisor, Colonel Gorman.”
Gorman’s image appeared on a display monitor. His image was captioned with his name, and his ship the Guadalcanal. “Good morning gentlemen. Back on Parliament, this morning six senators were discovered dead in their residences. All six appear to have died of natural causes but the probability of a six senators dropping dead of natural causes within a few hours is simply not reasonable.”
Carter asked, “How does this affect us?
Gorman replied, “Three of the Senators were on the Defense Committee and the other three were on the Alliance Fleet Advisory Committee. Whatever is going on, all of the connections lead back to the Fleet.”
Admiral Tanaka said, “The Ministry of Justice is running the investigation. In all probability, it is political feud of some kind but this has a lot of people nervous. The Executive Committee is meeting in closed session and some people think it might be a prelude to a coup d'etat.”
Gorman said, “That’s unlikely. This is much more focused. For a coup to stand a chance, it would have to take out one of the parties or change the balance in the Senate. Sadly, it’s probably old fashioned greed. Whoever is in control of spending can make a lot of rich corporations a lot richer.”
Admiral Tanaka said, “This isn’t a great concern for us but word will get out. We’re still close enough to the ComStar relay network to get news from home. We need to keep our people focused on the task at hand.”
“I need to see Commander Keller, Dr. Sokolsky, Commander McDonald and his deputy. The rest of you are dismissed.”
The majority of the ship’s officers left to tend to their duties and the Admiral motioned for the stragglers to come closer.
The Admiral said, “Crash: in the past we’ve only had the air groups of four or five carriers at most to coordinate. I want you and your deputy to think long and hard about how we are going to coordinate the operations of twelve carriers and over a thousand attack craft. We also need to think about how we’re going to use the hyperspace projectors.”
Crash asked, “If I’m not mistaken, only the fleet carriers have them, right?”
Tanaka replied, “That’s right. It takes at least three minutes to recharge.”
Crash said, “There’s no way a single command circuit can handle the load. Whatever we do, authority is going to have to be distributed. Our flight leaders are going to have to think for themselves and assume a great deal of responsibility. The Spectra is purpose built to handle the role of coordinating moderate sized strike packages and I think we’re going to have to use them.”
Tanaka said, “They’re brand new and we’ve only got four each aboard the fleet carriers.”
Tom said, “What about the Aurora’s? If we’re going to attach jammers ships to our strike packages, can’t they perform coordination tasks too?”
Tanaka looked surprised and Crash just smiled.
The Admiral said, “That should work. Keep thinking about this. We don’t have to make any final decisions for a while yet.”
He turned to Commander Keller and Danny and said, “It looks like we’re going to be able to cut our flight time to the battle area by about a third. Is that about right?”
Keller replied, “Yes sir.”
The Admiral said, “Good. I’ve got a chore for Dr. Sokolsky. We think he’s just the right guy for it. We don’t trust the intelligence estimates that have been sent to us by either the fleet or the ministry. I want Dr. Sokolsky to go through the data that we have on the enemy and his behavior. I want to see what conclusions you come to.”
Danny said, “That sounds like a function of the Enemy Intelligence Work Group.”
Tanaka said, “Yes it is. We know that the enemy is a machine intelligence and algorithms are driving its behavior. We’re hoping that you can come in with a fresh perspective and give us some new insights.”
The Admiral reached inside his coat and handed Danny a plastic card.
He said, “Take this to the computer core and enter the numbers on the back. It will set up your security profile. You will be able to see all of the data that we’ve gathered. Start at the bottom and work your way up. Start with the planets that they chose to occupy and work your way forward from that.”
Keller said, “Admiral, we are looking at using the hyperspace projectors and Sokolsky’s micro-jump equations to put nukes on target before the enemy can spot us.”
Tanaka looked shocked and said, “Is that possible?”
Danny said, “There is a probe launcher set into each of the launch tubes. It’s set up for probes but our standard missiles are the same size and has the same control links. The hyperspace projectors are controlled through Primary Flight Control. We’ll have some work to do, some software to re-write and some integration to do, but it’s entirely possible.”
Tanaka asked, “How will we be able to find ship sized targets at say… 12 light hours away from the target?”
Danny said, “There are two methods we could use: first, all of the fleet carriers have a 2.5 meter multi-spectral telescope. Because they use adaptive optics, we can slave them together with software and create a much more powerful scope. We will be able to see them before they know we are there. Second, the first thing we send through is a probe that can send back real time data. We can adjust targeting and then deliver our nukes exactly where we need them.”
The Admiral sat silently for a moment and said, “Can you accomplish both tasks?”
Danny said, “For the data analysis, I’d say, no problem. For the hyper-space projector project, give me a few days. Once I see what needs to be done, I’ll ask for help.”
The Admiral laughed and shook his head. “If I had a dozen of you, this would have been over a long time ago. Let me know what you need. You’ll get it. I want all eight of the fleet carriers able to deliver a first strike by the time we arrive in the war zone.”
Tom caught Danny’s eye and winked.
* * *
Sokolsky took the main elevator from the bridge to the E-7 deck. There were very few officers and men on duty. E-7 stood for engineering deck, seventh level. It stood at the top of seven decks that housed the ship’s vital equipment. E-7 was home for many of the Saratoga’s autonomous systems and computer core. It was deep within the ship and some of the best protected spaces in the ship. The seven decks of engineering spaces ran the length of the ship to frame 0 to 125. Aft of frame number 125, everything belonged to engineering: reactors, jump drives and ion drives.
He hiked past two of the ship’s four water processing plants, life support, four different banks of emergency batteries, a damage control substation and finally arrived at the entrance to the computer core.
Access to the computer core of an Alliance warship was tightly controlled. Sokolsky could tell that they were very serious about security. Beside the door was a sign promising very serious consequences for unauthorized entry and a retinal scanner.
He activated the access panel and the security screen came to life. It said: Please state name, rank and position.
Danny said, “Daniel Sokolsky, Lt Commander, Science Officer.”
The display flashed green and displayed: Voice Print Accepted. Please use Retinal Scanner for final clearance.
Danny positioned his face in front of the retinal scanner. There was a brief flash of light and the screen on the security access flashed: access granted.
The big, heavy hatch opened with a hiss and lights turned on inside the compartment. Danny entered and the outer door closed. There was a brief palm scan as Danny’s fingerprints were checked and the inner door opened.
Computer Core was a misleading name for the compartment. The office on E-7 deck was merely the Administrative access to the ship’s computer core. The core itself went down three decks. Access to the actual hardware required that you open a hatch in the floor and climb down a ladder. The ship’s computer was cylindrical in shape and ran down the center of the shaft. Modules were plugged in to every available space on the outside walls. There were catwalks that allowed direct access to the hardware.
Danny was most interested in the ship’s root terminal. It was a standard workstation with five different monitors. He sat down at the root terminal and said, Computer log me in.
The terminal came to life and the ship’s AI said, “How can I help you Dr. Sokolsky?”
Danny said, “I have a new assignment from Admiral Tanaka and need to establish the appropriate security clearances.”
The AI said, “Admiral Tanaka’s orders are acknowledged and logged. Please read the code numbers from the card that the Admiral gave you.”
Danny retrieved the card from his pocket and recited the set of numbers.
The AI said, “Dr. Sokolsky: your codes have been accepted. You now have Black level clearance to the fleet network. The Admiral has assigned a code word to this assignment. The code word is Algorithm. Please code any related work to this file.”
Danny said, “What is my access level to fleet databases?”
The AI replied, “Your access is practically unlimited with the exception of other code-word level projects.”
Danny said, “Thank you. I’ll take it from here.”
He began by looking at the ship’s data dictionary that showed the layout and composition of the ship’s numerous databases. Then he entered the following command:
SELECT
fleet.personnel.name,
fleet.personnel.rank,
fleet.personnel.assignment
WHERE fleet.med.personnel.genome_code EXISTS AND IS NOT UNIQUE
SORT BY fleet.med.personnel.genome_code, fleet.personnel.name
REPORT TO > console, genome.rpt;
Danny entered the search and watched in shock as hundreds of entries scrolled by.
He said, “Computer, encrypt file genome.rpt. Assign to code-word CRYPTIC.”
The ship’s computer replied, “Done. Are you all right Dr. Sokolsky?”
“Just a little surprised. Thank you.”