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Day 262/2540
“Son of a bitch!” said Belloc. “I should never have sent that courier with the prisoner exchange proposal. The idea of sending home the bastards who conducted this attack turns my stomach!”
“I agree completely,” said Sorensen. “I knew some of the people killed. At the very least, we should shoot that asshole Commodore. I get the impression that some of his officers would thank us for it.”
Janicot sighed. “Unfortunately, that would set a bad precedent, regardless of how warranted it might be. If we arbitrarily kill one of our prisoners, what’s to stop the FEDs from killing one or more of theirs? That was part of the proposal. Remember, Mandy? We’ll treat our prisoners decently so long as they do the same. How would it look if we go ahead with the exchange, and their people tell their leaders we killed the Commodore? Besides, we need those people who are loyal to our cause but were unable to get back here in time, and we need them more than ever.”
Before he could continue, Belloc said, “You’re referring to the captured cruisers?”
“Precisely, Chancellor. Once we get those six cruisers repaired, our fleet of patrol cruisers will have tripled.”
Sorensen gave a chuckle. “WHEN we repair them.”
Belloc looked at her and frowned. “Is there some doubt about that, Mandy?”
Sorensen shrugged. “There’s good news and bad news, Chancellor. The good news is that those captured cruisers can be repaired with the right equipment. The bad news is that right now we don’t have the right equipment and getting it will divert resources from other military projects such as completing the ships we’ve started building from scratch.”
Belloc nodded. “I see. Tell me, Admiral, how soon can we strike back at the FEDS.”
Janicot hesitated. “Well, if you mean striking back other than capturing freighters, I’m afraid the answer is at least four months before we could even think of doing something else. All our cruisers are out on commerce raiding missions, and in fact one of them just left two weeks ago. It’ll take her four months to get back, and only then would we have all three available for a combined attack. I wouldn’t even consider ordering a Xanadu-type of attack with less than three cruisers now. These patrol cruisers are totally useless for the kind of operations that we’d like to be able to do. Just look at what one missile boat did to six FED cruisers.”
“Wait a minute,” said Belloc. “That missile boat took those cruisers by surprise, didn’t it?”
Janicot shook his head. “Not really. We know from preliminary interrogation results that the entire FED cruiser force should have gotten away scot-free, but six of them didn’t jump away when they should have because of confusing commands. What I was getting at was that none of those cruisers could defend themselves against even one incoming missile.”
“It seems to me that the FED Navy screwed up in their design,” said Belloc.
“Well in hindsight, yes, but their Navy hasn’t fought a war like this in almost 500 years. They chase smugglers and the odd pirate that’s armed with nothing more lethal than a short-range cannon taken off a tank. There was never any need for anti-missile defenses because their Navy cruisers were the only ones with missiles to begin with.”
“So we can retaliate in four months?” asked Sorensen.
Janicot sighed. They STILL weren’t getting it. “Only if you want to throw away the only three cruisers we have that are operational right now. We’re short-handed as it is. It would be extremely short-sighted to sacrifice the few experienced officers and crew we have for what basically amounts to a poke in the eye. Any damage that those three cruisers could accomplish will not affect the outcome of this war whatsoever in my opinion, Madam Secretary.”
Sorensen was about to reply, but Belloc stopped her with an upraised hand. “If these patrol cruisers are so vulnerable, then why are we trying to build more of them?”
Janicot nodded. They were finally starting to ask the right questions. “Exactly, Chancellor. Now that it’s been made painfully clear what this design’s weaknesses are, we should forget about building carbon copies and instead concentrate on upgrading that design with some basic anti-missile capability. None of the new construction is anywhere close to completion, so we can still modify them with minimal disruption to the building schedule. What I would also suggest is that we start work on designing a more powerful commerce raider. Something that’s bigger, with more missile tubes, more missile storage capability, lots of anti-missile defenses and room for enough extra personnel to bring back at least three captured freighters instead of only one.”
“I agree with your suggestions, Admiral, but I’m concerned about another FED attack on Sparta or one of the other key members of the Union. Our seven missile boats plus our ground defenses weren’t able to protect the city from an orbital missile barrage. What do we do about that?” asked Belloc.
“I’ve already asked my people that question, Chancellor. Here’s what they came up with. We continue the work on improving the interception capability of our ground-based interceptors but, in addition, we develop a modified version of those interceptors for use on our missile boats so that they can try to intercept enemy missiles before they reach our atmosphere. The counter-missiles are smaller than our standard anti-ship missile, so the boats will be able to carry more of them and fire them faster because they’ll be easier to load.”
“Okay. How quickly can we do that?”
Janicot hesitated. “The answer to that question depends on our priorities, Chancellor. This is the kind of tradeoff that I was referring to a couple of meetings ago. Right now, Sparta does not have an extensive technical base with lots of trained people. We only have a few who are capable of dealing with these challenges. Naturally we’re training more as fast as we can, but that takes time. The trained people we have are stretched thin on several projects, the upgrading of the anti-ship missile guidance system being one of them. If we want work to begin on adapting our AMMs for use by our missile boats, then we’d have to pull some or perhaps all of those technicians off the upgrade project.”
“So if I understand you correctly, what you’re saying is that we can either have an upgraded, ground-based AMM, or a less capable version that can be fired from missile boats, but not both. Is that right, Admiral?” asked Belloc.
“In the short run, yes, Chancellor.”
“Which option would you recommend?”
Janicot didn’t hesitate. “We should adapt our current version for use by our boats. If a missile boat can fire AMMs, then so can our cruisers, and if they can defend themselves against missile attacks, then we really will be able to contemplate more aggressive actions with the cruisers we have now or are likely to get in the near term.”
Belloc turned to Sorensen. “What’s your opinion, Mandy?”
Sorensen shrugged. “It’s hard to argue with Admiral Janicot’s logic. We won’t have new construction ready for at least six more months. Getting the most out of the ships we have now, or might have soon if we can repair the six cripples in orbit, could make a big difference.”
Belloc nodded. “Very well, we’ll put the upgrade project on hold for now but I want it resumed as soon as those technicians are no longer needed for the missile boat adaptation project. Now let’s move on to the next item on the agenda...”
* * *
Day 353/2540
Masterson was waiting outside the room used by the Council when Admiral Chenko emerged.
“So? What did they decide?” asked Masterson.
Chenko grinned. “Whatever influence Commodore Stacker might have had with the Council is now working against him. We don’t know exactly what happened to the other six cruisers when the first two jumped away, but we do know they didn’t return, and it looks very much like Stacker fucked up royally just as I suspected he would. His supporters on the Council are now backpedalling furiously to distance themselves from the Commodore, and they’re very anxious to have me back as the NCoS again. I told them I’d accept the position on the condition that they don’t interfere with the long-term plan that they approved months ago AND that they agree to the proposed prisoner exchange. After a lot of hemming and hawing, they agreed. That means that General Trojan will have a free hand, and I’ll be getting some of my people back.”
Masterson’s face must have revealed his surprise. Chenko nodded. “You’re wondering why I didn’t try to have the Navy take over the implementation, right?” Masterson nodded. “Well I didn’t do it out of friendship. You and I will never be friends, but we respect each other, and we both believe that the Federation has to put down this rebellion to survive. Stacker’s fiasco just demonstrated what I already suspected, which is that the Navy is short of flag officers who are both competent and can put aside their egos when necessary. General Trojan strikes me as that kind of officer. I’d rather have a competent Army General as the overall Field Commander than an incompetent Admiral. Most of my officers would disagree, so in order to prevent a mutiny, if you quote me on that I’ll deny it, okay?”
Masterson laughed. “Okay. How soon do you expect the prisoner exchange to take place? There will probably be some army people coming back too.”
Chenko shook his head. “I’d just be guessing at this point, but it’s not going to happen anytime soon, not with messages taking months each way. The Council is leaving it up to me to figure out the details, so I’m thinking that freighters from both sides land on a planet that’s roughly half way. That being the case, we’ll have to send them that suggestion, wait for their response, then if they agree we can send a ship, so we’re looking at a minimum of seven months best-case scenario.”
“Yes, that figures. So what happens in the meantime?” asked Masterson.
“Absolutely nothing on our side in terms of hostile action. We just don’t have the capability. Any new ships added to the fleet over the near term will just help us get back to where we were before the Stacker fiasco, and we need those ships just to hold on to the planets that haven’t jumped ship yet. General Trojan has got to get the Franklin Tri-system up and running as fast as possible. We can’t even begin to get serious about taking back the initiative until he does that.”
“He knows that, Sergei. The first shipment of infrastructure equipment is just about ready to go.”
Chenko sighed. “You know, Frank, as a student of history, I’m gradually coming around to the view that the Federation is just too big to be administered centrally, given the long transit times. We have to deal with about the same kind of communication lag that the old British Empire had in the age of sailing ships, but they were able to hang on to their empire mostly because their ships and officers were better than anyone else’s. We don’t have that advantage, so we’re going to have to preserve the Federation by brute force, because that’s all we have. If we don’t put down this rebellion, more and more planets will secede until we’re a Federation on paper only. So I see the necessity of what we’re doing, but I just wish that every move didn’t have to take months to execute!”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way, but now that you’ve spelled it out, I see your point,” said Masterson.
“Oh well, it is what it is. I’m going back to my old office now. I can’t wait to see the faces on my staff when they find out that The Old Man is back again! See you later, Frank.”
