Cripple squadron the 1st.., p.26
Cripple Squadron (The 1st Solar War), page 26
The two officers decided it was time to return to the ship’s offices located aboard the space dock. They floated through the main causeway that connected the ship to the dock. As they moved into the administrative complex, Yorktown’s two senior officers discovered their day of surprises wasn’t over. Three officers were waiting for them in the captain’s outer office.
“Are you waiting to see me, Commander?” Captain Frasier addressed the senior of the three officers. It was then that she noticed all wore pilot’s wings.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m David Gardner, commander of the Fiftieth Fighter Group,” the commander answered. “Vice Admiral Danforth recalled me and my six squadrons to active duty and told me to report to you.”
“Ma’am,” Captain Frazier’s yeomen interrupted the conversation. “There’s an eyes-only message for you from the vice admiral on your desk. It came in less than an hour ago.”
“Maybe now we’ll get some answers,” Pearce said.
“Commander Gardner, this is Commander Pamela Gray, my executive officer.” Yorktown’s captain introduced the two senior officers.
“This explains the space fighters that started showing up, ma’am,” Frazier said.
“Space fighters? Aboard the Yorktown?” Gardner asked quizzically. “I assumed we’d be flying off the station and they’d put you in charge of the defense since you’re the senior line officer.”
“The two of us”—Frasier gestured at her XO—“are as much in the dark as you are about this whole situation. I suspect Vice Admiral Danforth’s message might shine a light on what’s going on.”
“Is it just you and your senior staff?” Frazier asked.
Gardner chuckled. “With your yeomen’s help, I have nearly one hundred pilots stashed in offices and conference rooms in this part of the station.”
Where the hell am I going to put all these people? More importantly, how do I feed and bed them down? The yard would have finished the crew sections of the ship if orders hadn’t diverted them to on the landing bays, Frasier thought.
Frasier motioned for the two commanders to follow her into her office. The trio floated through the office door, and Frasier swam to her desk and strapped herself into its chair.
“Let’s see what the admiral has to say,” Frasier said as she inserted the data chip into her computer and began reading the message.
Initially, Leslie just skimmed the message to pick out the high points. There’d be time to get into the details later. Suddenly, she came to an abrupt stop and looked up at the other two officers. Admiral Buckner definitely has an enormous set of balls, Yorktown’s captain thought as she went back to the beginning of the message and began reading more intently. I understand why he wants to keep this quiet. I doubt Admiral McNair would sign off on this, but he’s right, it’s the only way to save Saturn and defend Earth.
“Pam, you’re going to have to figure out a way to get berthing, food, etc. for all these pilots,” Captain Frasier said. “Our speculation about the admiral’s intentions was correct. They’ll tow us out of the dock and the space fighters will operate off the Yorktown. Commander Gardner, you’ll need to detail some of your pilots to assist the XO in setting up accommodations. You will also need to supply labor to uncrate all your new space fighters.”
“New space fighters, ma’am?” Gardner asked.
“Brand-new Mustangs, Commander, enough for six squadrons,” Frasier said. “And we’re on a timeline. The fleet commander has given us three days to get the fighters ready. That includes moving ordnance and fuel aboard so that they can fight.”
“Three days!” Gray exclaimed, shaking her head. “I don’t see how we can accomplish that.”
Leslie tapped her computer. “Admiral Buckner and Vice Admiral Danforth have given us carte blanche for anything we need. The dock master received similar instructions. He’s providing us with every spare body he has, other than the ones needed to get Yorktown ready, to support us. We have our marching orders, people,” Leslie continued, “and no time to waste. I’m going to see the dock master now and start grabbing his people to assist. The two of you need to get the pilots aboard so that they can begin prepping their space fighters. We’ll use the station people to take care of berthing.”
“If you can get us a guide, ma’am, I’ll take my pilots over to work on the fighters,” Gardner said.
“My office is across the corridor. I’ll grab my yeomen and have him show you the way,” Gray said. “Then I’ll head over to the ship and figure out where we’re going to stick people.”
“Don’t forget the engineering folks,” Leslie reminded her XO. “There are two crews of them already operating fusion plants. They are currently living aboard the station but will have to move aboard when we get towed out.”
“They’re not finished yet, but the yard has already enclosed and pressurized the pilot and crew areas on each bay’s upper level. I just have to figure out a way to rig up hammocks so people can sleep,” the XO said.
“Put a chief on that,” Frazier said. “It’s what they do, and I’m sure there are some old salts that have had to do that before.”
“One more thing that each of you should know,” Yorktown’s captain continued. “When they tow us out, we’ll be out there alone.”
The other two officer’s eyes went wide with that announcement.
“But Hornet—” Commander Gray began, but was cut off by her captain.
“Won’t be here,” Frazier said. “She’ll be gone before they tow us out. It will be up to us to defend both the dock and ourselves.” Yorktown’s captain chuckled. “You should probably keep that last part to yourselves for the time being. Everyone’s going to have enough to worry about.”
***
“We just received data from the probes the Midway set on the far side of Jupiter,” Admiral Arnold Buckner heard a voice say from behind him. He turned in his command chair on the flag bridge of the carrier Wasp to see his new chief of staff standing near his right shoulder. Arnold gave Captain Norman Stecker a raised eyebrow.
To prevent a conflict of interest between Buckner’s daughter, Commander Victoria Buckner, and Captain Stecker, Arnold had the experienced space fighter pilot assigned to his staff as an advisor. To fight the coming battle, Admiral Buckner had reorganized his fleet into two task forces. He’d personally command TF 1, centered on the space carrier Wasp. His old chief of staff, Commodore Simon Conners, commanded TF 2, formed around the carrier Essex. Buckner planned to operate both carriers together, but wanted the flexibility to operate the carriers separately if the need arose.
Buckner didn’t want to get bogged down dealing with minuscule details during a battle. He needed to focus on the big picture and let other people execute his plan. Since Norm Stecker had been involved in the planning of the upcoming operation, it’d made sense to appoint him as the chief of staff.
“They’re right where we expected them to be, Admiral,” Stecker answered the unspoken question. “On course for Saturn and accelerating at a meager one gravity. They’ve managed to get their speed up to 0.5 milli-c.”
Rather than constantly switch between miles per hour and the speed of light, Space Force had recently transitioned to using only light speed as a reference. A milli-c was 0.001c, the equivalent of 300,000 mph. Though it might sound extraordinarily fast, in the vastness of space, it was actually pretty slow. A ship at that speed could make it from Earth to the moon in under an hour but would take fifty-two days to travel between Jupiter and Saturn. Arnold knew the ships would continue to accelerate and reduce the travel time, and would also have to turn around and decelerate in order to intercept and attack the US facilities in orbit around Saturn.
“Then it seems like it’s time for us to shuffle the deck and start dealing the cards, Norm,” Arnold said. “Pass the contact information on to Space Force Command and the Joint Chiefs. We need to let the politicians play their part, even though they don’t realize they’re part of the battle plan.”
“I already forwarded the information to both parties, and I’ve already received requests for additional information from Admiral McNair and Commodore O’Shaughnessy.”
“Give them everything they want, but if they ask what my plans are, tell them I’m still working on them,” Arnold said.
“Aye, aye, sir,” Stecker said. The chief of staff turned and floated toward the communication section of the flag bridge.
“And Norm,” Admiral Buckner called to his chief of staff, “pass the warning order to all fleet units.”
“Will do, sir.”
Arnold Buckner had been careful in his preparations. Arnold Buckner and his staff ensured that none of their plans were transmitted via radio. Instead, either Buckner himself, or a trusted deputy, had hand-delivered data chips and briefed each of the key players. Arnold didn’t do it only to prevent Chinese spies from discovering his intentions. The commander of all fleet units knew the actions he was about to take would concern senior US leaders. Arnold knew the risks, but he saw it as the only chance the US had and damn if he would let the bureaucrats get in his way.
***
“Comrade Chairman,” the aide announced from the door, “the minister of state wishes to speak with you.”
Cheng Kwan, supreme leader of the People’s Republic of China, looked up from the computer tablet he was reading. “Send him in.”
The chairman watched as the rotund bureaucrat walked from the door to his desk and stared at him impassively. The minister looked at the chair sitting in front of the leader’s desk, and the chairman could see that he wanted to sit. But, without permission, he thought better of it and stood and waited patiently.
Cheng Kwan made the man wait. He enjoyed belittling the bureaucrats that surrounded him. I know they serve a purpose, but they’re all drones. “You obviously have something important for me,” the chairman said brusquely.
“Yes, Comrade Chairman. I just received a rather terse diplomatic message from the American Secretary of State through the American ambassador,” the minister said nervously.
“And what are the imperialists complaining about today?” One would never suspect that the beginning of WW IV was on the horizon from the way Cheng Kwan asked the question.
“They’re complaining about a large military force that seems to be on its way to Saturn,” the minister said.
It surprised the leader of China that the Americans already knew of the attack force, but he didn’t show it. It doesn’t really matter. There’s nothing they can do about it. That force can easily crush their Saturn defense force. And if they send reinforcements there, we will attack their forces in Earth orbit and crush them. Either way, within the next two or three months, we’ll control space and then dictate terms to the entire planet.
Cheng Kwan slid a data chip across his desk to the minister. “I will admit that I am surprised that the Americans have already detected our force. My personal staff has already prepared a response.” The chairman gestured to the chip. “I expect you to transmit that to the Americans, as is. Do you understand that? I don’t want any of your wordsmiths trying to make China’s response more palatable to our enemies.”
“Of course, Comrade Chairman,” the minister stammered. “I will personally ensure that we send it as is.”
Cheng Kwan waved a hand in dismissal and didn’t even note the minister’s exit. He had too many things to do. The chairman pressed his intercom button. “I need to see the defense minister and the commanding general as soon as they can get here,” he ordered imperiously, and then released the button, not even waiting for a response.
***
“The Chinese claim it’s a colonization expedition, Mr. President,” the Secretary of State said with his nasally Yale accent. “They claim we violated their sovereign territory, since they claimed everything in the outer solar system back in 2242 when they established their Europa colony.”
“A claim that no other government on Earth has ever recognized,” the national security advisor said.
“What else did they have to say?” the president of the United States asked.
“That they’ll allow us to keep our Titan base, but only if we withdraw our military forces from the Saturn planetary system.”
“And how long do you think Titan will last?” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said harshly. “I’d bet my stars the Chinese take it inside of six months.”
The president of the United States leaned back in his banker’s chair. He’d always been a practical man, at least as far as politics were concerned, but he could now see it had been the wrong course of action with the Chinese. The president, and the two before him, had become complacent and let the Chinese do whatever they wanted. It had been easy to give in on minor issues rather than confront the world’s bully and possibly start a war. Then I doubled down and reduced military spending and plowed the money into social programs to ensure my reelection.
“What are our options?” the president asked. “What are my options?”
“I have Space Force working on plans now, Mr. President,” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs stated. “I know that Admiral Buckner, who commands the US Space Fleet, is repositioning units in response to the threat.”
“Is there anything we can do about Saturn?” the national security advisor asked.
“As slow as the Chinese forces are moving, we could get units there to reinforce the local defense fleet. But that would leave us dangerously weak here in Earth orbit.”
“So we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t,” the president said.
“Might I suggest, sir, that we set up a conference call with Admiral McNair, the Space Force commander, and Admiral Buckner,” the secretary of defense said. “I’ve met and discussed battle plans with Admiral Buckner in the past. I’ve always been impressed with the man’s tactical and strategic thinking.”
The president noted that the secretary of defense singled out the commander of the fleet, but not the commander of Space Force. “General,” he addressed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, “set up that meeting. We’ll hold it in the situation room. Obviously, this is the most important thing we have going on, so I’ll clear my schedule. Set it up and I’ll be there. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to speak to leadership up on the hill and let them know what’s going on.”
The people in the room recognized the president had dismissed them and began filing out of the Oval Office.
*****
Chapter 23. The Battle Begins
Admiral Buckner, shuffling through the pile of readiness reports on his desk, looked up as Norman Stecker swam into his office. He’d given the new chief of staff carte blanche permission to come and go as needed to perform his duties.
“I long for the days of being a simple ship’s captain,” Arnold said as he secured the tablet he was reading onto his desk.
“Ah, but you still had reports and other paperwork to deal with,” Norman said. “And while I commanded nothing larger than a squadron, I know how much I had to deal with.”
The admiral chuckled. “Then you never learned to delegate it to your executive officer to deal with. I always enjoyed making my XO be the bad cop while I got to be the nice guy for the crew. But you didn’t come in here to talk about that. What’s up?”
Norman Stecker strapped himself into the seat opposite the admiral and handed him another data pad. “We just got the latest reports from the string of reconnaissance probes. The Chinese force hasn’t deviated from its course yet and is still accelerating.”
“I’ll look at this later,” Buckner said as he secured the tablet to the desktop to keep it from floating away. “I’m sure you would have already brought it to my attention if there was something unusual about the report. What’s their ETA to reach Saturn?”
“I had the astrogators run the numbers. If the Chinese maintain course and current acceleration, they’ll turn over in six days to decelerate for orbital insertion. That will put them in orbit near Titan in seventeen days.”
“If we want Vicki’s squadron to intercept the Chinese far enough out to engage and still have time to make it to the Midway force and rearm, when will they need to launch?”
“I figured you’d ask that question,” Stecker said. “If we want Hornet to carry them all the way to the proposed launch point near the asteroid belt, we need to start her out within the next four hours. That will give Victoria enough time to launch, make the initial attack as they pass through the Chinese force, and still link up with Midway.”
Buckner shook his head. “There’s no reason to cut it any closer. It’s time we commit. Signal Captain Rogers to execute his orders. Then signal the rest of the fleet that I’m shifting condition status to war actual.”
“I’ll make sure those messages go right out, Admiral. I probably should’ve led with this, but you also received a message from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.”
Admiral Buckner’s only reaction was a raised eyebrow.
“There’s a videoconference scheduled for 1300. The president wants a briefing on what the fleet can do to combat the Chinese moves. I’m not sure who will be on the call other than the president, the chairman, Admiral McNair, and you.”
“Well, if I’m going to talk to the president, I guess I should clean up a little and put on my dress uniform,” Buckner chuckled.
“What are you going to tell them, sir?”
“As little as I can get away with,” the admiral replied. “I know that anything said on that call will be in a report on the Chinese chairman’s desk within an hour.”
“But—” Stecker began, but Buckner cut him off.
“Get those messages sent, Norm,” Arnold said softly. “Dealing with the president and Admiral McNair is my problem.”
***
Captain Jeff Rogers had the same calculations Norman Stecker’s astrogator had given him. Knowing that he’d soon be receiving orders, Hornet’s captain sat strapped in his command chair on the carrier’s bridge.
“Orders from the flag, sir,” the communications officer announced.
