Interval the Third

Never So Few
Interval 3 Draft (01-04-09)

Andy and Liam McMasters strolled out of the Lone Star after a long working breakfast. Today’s Provisional Council meeting was going to be a long one. Enough so that neither had flown over, they had Charlie waiting outside with a ground car to go back to Webb and the Black Hole.

“Hope you haven’t been waiting long Charlie,” Andy grinned.

“Nope Boss, we monitored your table and I pulled out when you guys turned down the last cup of coffee!”

“Liam, have I ever mentioned your people are getting too good. Rhetorical I assure you. Anyway, what have you been carefully not asking me all morning?”

Liam squirmed a bit in his seat and said, “Charlie, if you want to get another cup of coffee, you have a few minutes!”

“If you think I am leaving here, you are nuts. I have heard you muttering what you are going to ask for weeks. I may day job as a chauffeur but, I am going to Earth as a Team Lead Combat Hacker. I want to hear the answer as much as you!”

“Ok, you turkey, you asked for it. Andy, following you around I have gotten confused. Hank, Walt and M’butu always refer to the Islamic League. You at some times refer to the League and at other times to the Confederation. Walt and Chris do the same thing, what gives?”

“Fair question, you have to understand the Military mind, to us the Map is the Territory and we must take or control Territory. Let me give you an example, I pull up a globe of Earth and point to Nor-Am and ask you where that is, what do you answer?”

“Well, Nor-Am of course!”

“Correctly so but, if I point to South America?”

“So-Am of course!”

“So where do I point to and you will answer Federated Government?”

Liam whooshed out air and leaned back his head as Charlie spit out the answer, “You can’t Boss the FG ain’t a place it’s an Organization.”

“Promote the man Liam; he’s faster on the draw than you. The Confederation is a place on a map; it is territory that the Military has to control if only for a short time. The League is the Governing Organization that has to be destroyed. We of a Military bent, do not plan on how to destroy people, we want to destroy organizations because that brings down organized Cultures.”

“You can have an individual belief system that goes against mine but, until you put together a controlling organization that pulls enough like minded people together to form a culture, you do not pose a threat to me or mine. I don’t plan on going to Earth to kill people, with one exception, but I damn sure am going to bring down organizations. I just have to control their territory in order to get to those cultures and their controlling organizations.”

“Liam, no one hates War more than the Warriors and we damn well intend to do this one the right way. Now, let’s get going, this day is going to be long enough as it is. Remember when I have my Political Hat on it’s the League. When I have my Military Hat on it’s the Confederation. Clear?”

“As Mud Boss.”

Walt Davis had to admit that the conference room in the Webb Black Hole had more amenities than that first temporary facility where the very first meeting had been held. It was of course the obvious place for the Steering Committee for Curriculum of Travis Central University to meet; it was almost the most perfect cover the Provisional Council could have. Watching the people file in in clumps and singles he was hopeful and fearful at the same time, so much was going to depend on what they all heard today. His reverie was broken by the voice of Rob Williams.

“Might as well bang the gavel Walt, it seems to be tradition you starting this crap ya know!”

“Wonderful Rob, I really needed that support!”

“Oh, you’re more than welcome. Now what say you start this shindig?”

Walt stood and spoke to the room, “I know that we have always started with Political considerations and then moved to other points. This session I have to submit that the physical must drive the political, as such I ask Christopher Webb to brief the Council on the state of Research for our physical options!”

“First guinea pig up, right Walt. OK, as such I will stay generic and allow the specific element coordinators or Commanders get in to detail.”

“Power Generation—we have reduced the size for an equal output fusion reactor by a little over 50 %. All elements have decided to retain the original size allocation, thus available power has doubled in most every case.”

“Power Storage has been the scariest advance of all. With the new material compositions and controls on the super-cap rings, we have no idea how much power we can store. On that note we had some theoretical data on a possible shield that would eliminate the tachyon flare on a transit which we had abandoned because there was no way to store the energy it had to absorb. One of our Military Academy washouts came up with the idea of dumping it into a new / discharged super-cap ring, so we tried it. That by the way is the kid I wrote up for the Science Star award! Not only did we eliminate the tachyon flare but, we came up with a hell of a cheap way to fast charge a ring and we still have no idea how much those suckers will hold.”

“Impulse Drive technology was driven by another of our wash-outs, I’ll save the details on that for Sally Ditmars but, I do know that it has a lot to do with drive efficiency. But, let me get to what I call the crown jewel to come out of pure research. Astro navigation and drive control”

“Everyone in this room is at least passing familiar with the routine of stopping in front of a transit point, laboriously aligning and then slipping through at minimum speed. Don’t do that in front of a Provisional Government vessel, you will get you ass run over.”

“Not only is our Reactionless Drive variable from .001 to .5 C, our angular control is fine enough that we blow through a point at .2 C without a stop. With that little bombshell I give the floor back over to Walt.”

Walt calmly waited until the muttering in the room died down, “Robert Mickelson did tell me years ago that Chris was going to change a lot of things. Robert, your dry sense of understatement is alive and well. I guess that Military Status falls under the Physical side as well. With that in mind, General Andrew Webb, the floor is yours.”

“Thank you Walt, what I would like to do is have each component Commander brief, starting from Long Range to Short. Under that format Admiral Warrick Gates is first up with Fleet. Warrick, do your thing!”

“Oh thank you, I’m the turkey who gets to follow wonder boy here. The best way to do that is to show a little video.” With that he turned with a control in his hand and triggered a holograph that covered the entire front wall. The group was treated to the last 60 seconds of Asteroid 25,193 with its total destruction by an unseen vessel. The room seemed to freeze!

Kirstin Winters was the one to gasp, “Is that what a Challenger can do?”

Warrick closed down the holograph and drew out the silence to the breaking point, “No Ma’am, that was one of Becce’s Boyd’s. I have never and will never allow the fire power of a Challenger to be recorded.”

“The entire warship capability of the FG is vested in four vessels, having absolute control of space they see no reason in building more than the two Light Cruisers and two Heavy Cruisers that they have. The entire fire power contained in those vessels can not match a single broadside from a Challenger.”

“Thanks to Chris and Joachim, there is simply nothing in space that can stop the Provisional Fleet. I need nine more months to finish construction and six more after that for training and work up. I would prefer a couple of weeks after that to rest up, but then I will certify Fleet as Ready for Duty! Twenty-four Challengers are more that I ever dreamed possible, and with them I will crush Earth Space. Unfortunately that’s where the problems start!”

“What do we do about the two Earth Stations, the four Belt Stations and Mars High Station? These are essential life support nodes for all of the miners working space many of whom are not FG flunkies. If we blow them away we put a lot of innocent lives at risk. I don’t know for sure but I am willing to bet that neither Becce nor Andy want to do storm and board on all of those sites.”

“Notice that I did not mention Lunar High or Luna Base, those get slagged! Andy, I think Becce is up next.”

Becce stood and stared at Warrick, “And you griped about having to follow Chris, sheesh!”

“At any rate, I got upstaged by Warrick using my recording, so rather than discuss capabilities I will go straight into basing.”

“Excuse me if I may LTG Webb,” spoke up Robert Williams. “As I understand it the Boyd’s are to fall under the Aero-Space Force, so why is the Commander of that force not briefing this phase?”

“Because Mr. Williams, the Commander has decided to take direct command of the next closer-in phase which all of our pilots wanted into. A decision that may well adversely affect his sex life!”

Robert joined the rest of the room in chuckles as they watched Chris Webb’s face turn red. As the room again calmed down Bob quipped, “I await that revelation with bated breath, and will withhold any possible sympathy for GEN Christopher Webb until I hear the full briefing.” Bob turned slowly and gave a big grin in the direction of GEN Andrew Webb; Andy waved the hand that was not covering his face.

“With that out of the way, I shall explain our plans,” Becce continued. “Sally and I have driven ourselves to the bone trying to train more pilots than we needed, silly us did not realize that this is one case where the demand grows as assets are available. There is no way to train more than the economy will demand, so we gave up. No way we stopped, in fact we have trained over thirty more Instructor Pilots and Sally and I only deal with advanced training”

“Plain simple good pilots we send to the commercial fleets, those with any hint of aggression we test for situational awareness. Of that crowd we filter the ones who are just slightly slow, and they go to Warrick, they fit well into the reaction times required for a Challenger and on ships of that size the Commander makes tactical decisions not the Pilot. The next level get sent to me for the Boyd’s, we have more of those than you might believe.”

At the start of operations no colony is going to be covered by less than one full Squadron of Boyd’s, that being twenty-six birds. We even got 26 pilots out of the collection of Amish and pacifists over on Wicca. The cream of what I will command are the six Squadron’s that will go through the point to Earth, we are tasked with the orbital defenses of the planet. Those consist of six geosynchronous stations which double as base camps for the orbital defense fighters and weapons platforms.”

“I will not bore you with my disdain for those designs, I will merely state that our op-plan calls for them to be cleared in ten minutes.”

“Pardon me,” spoke Kirsten Winters, “what do you mean by cleared?”

“I mean removed from the field. I think Warrick mentioned ‘slagged’; we do use different words to mean the same thing. In ten minutes they will be dust clouds in orbit! Have I made myself clear? There are no non-combatants on those stations, their crews are comprised of FG die hard Regulars. They go down!”

“Barring any further questions I will return to my brief on where the rest of the pilots go!”

“The cream of the crop, the one’s who are probably half Wolves got sent to my husb…. I mean superior officer. I will leave that to HIM!” The chill in her voice over that last exclamation got the room laughing again.

Chris stood quietly as the room had its laugh at his expense, and merely keyed up a holograph and waited until the laughter suddenly died. “This Ladies and Gentlemen is the first thing we are going to hit that we are actually worried about.” He paused as the room stared at the picture of the sleek and deadly Fighter upon the wall.

“This is a FG Raptor, built upon the old USA F-22 and improved by none other that William Webb. In fact, the upgrade work on the fields he used to reduce the G-loads on the pilots began the groundwork that resulted in the Reactionless Drive. Had old Gaither Redmond not had him assassinated, he would have next worked on the Orbital Platforms and Space Fighters. As it is the money he made off this project was the seed money for what is Webb Enterprises today. This damn thing is dangerous! So while I was designing everyone else’s needs in the background, Lincoln, Sally and I were designing this.” His thumb flipped and a new picture appeared. The vessel was larger clearly but somehow sleeker and ominously more dangerous looking.

Several started to make comments but stopped as each one figured out that there were no air intakes and no obvious exhaust vents. Chris waited until the motions and muttering calmed down, “This is the Eagle, our Space and Atmosphere rated answer to the Raptor. It has an advantage yes, but not an overwhelming one. Thus I ruthlessly stole Becce’s best and will probably pay for that. Still, some Raptor is going to get one of ours. Not only that but several may get the edge, down here in Atmosphere the edge gets real fine!”

“I am going to lose somebody, the odds just guarantee that, but ten squadrons of twenty-five each, that the Challengers are going to carry for us will win. The only question is the cost; we will open up Earth Airspace. Then and only then can the Ground Assault occur! With that I will hand it back to Andy in his Ground Forces hat.”

Andy stood and waved his hand, then Liam rolled in a small cart with several drawers and sat down. “If anyone wants a fresh drink, now would be a great time as I am gonna be up here a while,” Andy quipped.

“I’ll take you up on that,” said Hank Carling, “it’s your booze after all; never turn down a free good one!” The other members of the group stood and surrounded the cart that was in fact stocked with the best Webb Liquors produced.

“Rob, does Andy rolling out the booze scare you a little?” Walt asked.

“It scares the heck outta’ me. I think the real eye openers are getting ready to come. They seem to have everything planned though.”

“I have found over the years that Andy always has a plan,” Hank interjected. “It can be, and often is, a little scary when he executes on the fly, but he always has a plan. He’s caused me to worry more times than I care to count, till I finally figured out that he always went on a plan. Sometimes you just know he’s shooting from the hip, and then you find out he tasked whatever group he used at the time because they had practiced almost exactly what went down until their fingers bled.”

“For myself I prefer the more indirect methods, as you well know Rob, but when you need something done right now, Andy is the man to see!”

Andy finally spoke, “Ladies and Gentlemen, can we resume now that everyone is sufficiently lubricated!” The crowd returned to their seats many carrying an extra drink.

“OK, I will start with the preparations for the assault phase. Warrick, after he has established Space control, and while Becce and Chris are getting air superiority, will detach nine Challengers for Command, Control and Communications or C3 suppression. Three each will station over Fuzhou China, Isfahan Iran and Cheyenne Mountain NorAm. They will stay on station until all three are smoking holes in the ground.”

“While Chris’s Eagles are playing tag with the Raptor’s, Becce will dispatch two each Combat designated Boyd’s to Dallas-Ft. Worth NorAm, Xieng China and Tehran Iran to destroy the backup Command Centers there. Then and only then will the Ground Forces begin to land.”

“Major elements in Leathernecks will land in Xi’an China, Detroit NorAm and Medina Saudi Arabia the functional Centers of the three major faction of the FG. Line Infantry and Armor will take the major choke points in each complex and SOCOM elements will seize the actual Headquarters buildings. After destruction of all computer and communications equipment and evacuation the buildings and all of the records they contain will be firebombed.”

“The six additional records storage vault areas will each be destroyed by Challenger strikes from orbit. As soon as the Fully Mission Accomplished checkpoints are met for each site, the recall from that site will begin.”

“We are going to have an advantage in the fact that the FG has almost totally committed to energy and non-lethal weapons for almost all of their forces. Our combat uniforms are specifically designed to negate those weapons.”

“Likewise, much of their defense posture is built around interfering energy fields to negate any weapons the rabble may have. Their ‘Defense Forces’ are little more that riot control units. Thus we are going in the old fashioned way.”

Andy pulled out from under his coat an old-fashioned 1911 pattern semi-auto, “It is damn all hard to spoof the mainspring of a tried and true work horse. Our shoulder weapons are upgraded version of the old Stoner weapons systems. We made them gas-piston, bumped them back up to 7.62 millimeter, and restricted them to burst-of-five max. We are going in with weapons half of those wannabe Cops have never seen and do not know how to face.”

“The few Elite Troops they do have with weapons of this type, I predict are going to count the numbers and decide to be elsewhere. The only real problem will be the personal bodyguard detachments and we will have the numbers. I expect that we shall be better trained as well!”

“Our variables at this point are as mentioned the various life support stations that do support non-die-hard elements. How many personnel designated by the Colonial Organization will need to be evacuated and how shall we identify them. Also we will need info of the same nature on Hank’s people who he wants to get out.”

“As soon as all sites have exfiltrated and been confirmed, then all remaining Challengers and Boyd’s will execute strike Masada.” Andy flipped a switch and the holograph screen filled with a new animation, one showing a rolling barrage that started at the Mediterranean Sea and ended at the peaks of the Himalayas.

“Other than that Ladies and Gentlemen, we are up for questions and or suggestions.”

Walt stood slowly and said calmly, “I think we need to shift to our knowledge of what the various factions of the FG are up to. Thus, Hank Carling has the floor.”

Hank looked around before starting, there was much to say and he wanted to be sure that it came out the way he intended. “No one hates War more than the Warriors, we’ve all heard that said. And on our side I believe it’s true. But in the Federation there are those that dream of glory on the field. The Islamic League was founded on just that premise. The global Jihad aimed at the unbeliever stopped overtly when the Federation Government assumed power, and that has been a thorn in the side of the League, and their own true believers, for the last couple of hundred years. We know they are getting ready for a complete political takeover and have no qualms about using force. In fact they relish the chance.”

“I see little to argue with—no make that nothing to argue about—with Andy’s plan for destroying the Federation Government. Our superiority in firepower makes that a foregone conclusion. We will pay a price for those landings on Earth. I want to make sure we are all clear on what is at stake.”

“Doing things the way Andy has it mapped out we will minimize civilian casualties in a few areas. Again, I agree the risk to our own is worth it. But here is where I think we go overboard. I’m not going to withhold support; I leave it with others to judge the military necessity—but the bombardment of all of the countries the Islamic forces control directly will lead to the deaths of billions. Most of them no more responsible for Federation policy than anyone in this room. Their blood is on our hands. I’m not so sure we will ever be able to wash it off. But I accept the necessity if we are to leave Earth to its own devices as soon as the military action is complete.”

He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. “And the bloodshed will continue long after we leave. The Federation government is factionalized for a reason, too many competing ideologies, between and within each member state. The Islamic League itself has always been a religious force as much as a secular one. With all their governmental seats of power removed the fanatics remaining, and they are scattered in enclaves large and small world wide, will try to reassert control. In Africa, for a time we think there will be a measure of unity. Only because it will look to many like the time for them to take over. That unanimity will not last. Billions more are going to die in the aftermath of our attack!”

“So what do we do about this? Is the cure worse than the disease? We can afford to garrison the systems orbital spaces. And by controlling the high ground dictate the political situation on the ground. We certainly lack the manpower for anything else and we wouldn’t want to keep troops on Earth and Mars even if we could.”

“We are going with the current plan, but I think it is time to give some thought to what comes afterwards. And another thing Rob, just how much about all of this are you going to put to our own government and when? I can tell you this, even if you bring it up tomorrow and news gets back to Earth, there is nothing that the Federation can do to stop us. But the death-count will start much sooner. If word does get to Earth before our military forces do, they will have some of our work finished by the time we arrive, but make the rest that much more difficult. We have to make sure there is no warning or all factions are going to try and hide in the woodwork and take their military hardware with them.”

“We will wait until our own jump points are secure before we go public with this in the Colonies Hank, but afterwards we will have to move within days, hours would be better, once the Federation finds out.”

“If I may interject, “Andy broke in, “I have to fully agree with some of Hank’s reservations. The problem facing us is that all the simulations that any of us have been able to run, show that leaving the League as a viable Military power is the absolute worst-case scenario. Strike Masada is based on that assumption and too little intelligence.”

“I know that Hank has lost several people trying to get better intelligence from within the League but, they are ruthless in protecting their sources. It is exactly that attitude that leaves us little choice as it shows the depth of what they are planning. I do not wish to wipe out the entire Confederation, but without better targeting data neither Hank nor my organizations can come up with a better plan. I’ll sit down and shut up now!”

Rob Williams looked over to his old friend Lincoln Ditmars, “You’ve been awfully quiet Link. Anything to add?”

“Just a question for Andy, or maybe Hank. I worry a lot these days. Not much else for me to do anymore. What I worry about most is that eighteen months is a long time to be this close without acting. I am constantly astounded that word of what we are up to hasn’t leaked out. But if it had, there would be unmistakable evidence on Earth. I ask myself if there is anything the Federation can do to stop us at this late date and I keep coming up blank.”

“Whatever else, we have the ships to shut down their transit point and keep them bottled up in one system. And they can’t or couldn’t have started a building program that escapes our notice. Or could they? After all we seem to have managed that somehow. If the Federation has does have something just like we have, a building program off the books and out of sight, waiting seems like the worst thing we can do.”

Hank fielded the question. “Linc, on Earth they could never keep that kind of a secret either politically or industrially. There are too many competing groups looking for advantage and a slice of the pie to divert funds into a program that is unaccounted for. The reason we have gotten away with it is because we are not funding it through the government and all of the strictly military construction is taking place far from New Texas. We owe a great debt to the people working at our shipyards. They have been out of contact with friends and family for too long. For that reason alone it would be good if we could move tomorrow.”

“Redmond on Mars has a few programs going I wish I knew more about, but if he is building a Navy I am sure I would know. Getting people into Redmond’s organization is a different scale problem than dealing with the Federation Government. Even so, and with all the trade over the last decade, we know what he is purchasing from off planet. And we can monitor all the traffic in the system. He has his worries about the Federation and has ships enough to protect his assets if the other members team up for a power grab. As a known danger we are watching him as closely as we can manage.”

“Strangely enough, the best security in the Federation surrounds the Colonization Bureau’s Exploration Division. The group is comparatively small and at least in theory nonpolitical. We’ve known about new colony they’re starting from the beginning. And have tracked everything through its transit point, even have a few people scheduled for the Colony Ship. In twenty or thirty years the place could have the industrial base to duplicate one of our Boltholes, but for now it is just a sideshow.”

“I’m more worried about us leaking than finding out the Federation didn’t. I guess Andy can cover the military reasons for why we are waiting but politically if we go that route, it gives me time to do some planning with Jamil M’butu and minimize the damage to Earth’s civilian population when we do attack. But one more thing, Rob needs to be in firm charge of our own government with a good majority behind him when we go.”

Before Andy finishes this let me say one more thing Rob Williams said, “We need to be sure that when we go into phase one and boot the Federation out of the Colonies, that we have support at home. That in itself, the loss of trade, the loss of life, is going to cause a lot of disruption, economic and personal to many out here. Without our people’s support, after phase two and the assault, we might not have a place we want to come back to. The vast majority of everyone in the Colonies will see that what we are doing is both necessary and proper; I’d like to convince the minority as well. I think we are going to have to do that to put my party back in power anyway.”

Walt almost stated laughing as he stood, “Mrs. Webb would you please stand, your boys also. Jeff drag you behind up also. Rob standing in this room is 90% of the financing for the Progressive and Centrist parties; we have been using them as puppets for years. Hell, ¾ of their precinct workers actually work for us.”

Andy actually did laugh, “Hell Rob, a landslide for you is a hell of lot cheaper for us than another squeaker win for them!”

Rob got a sour look on his face, “Just for once can I see a landslide where someone doesn’t suffocate the same time they get buried?”

Andy almost coughed booze through his nose, “We will try Rob, we will try!”

“Fourteen years ago we gathered and decided to embark upon this course, if we decide to carry through in 18 E-Months we will have the ability to carry it through. Would I rather have more time, of course I would. Every extra day we wait is maybe one more person who does not have to die due to training. No fracking Military Force is ever as trained as possible and no Commander is ever happy with his or her training time. All that being said, we can Go 18 Months from today! But understand this…no matter when we go it will be the same.”

“We are going to dominate Space Chris, Joachim, Becce and Sally have guaranteed that. Numbers, as Chris has pointed out, will prevail in the Atmosphere. But, we are still hitting a Civilized World with Three Brigades of Light Infantry, three Battalions of Rangers and Three Companies of SOCOM. Understand Ladies and Gentlemen; we cannot Conquer Earth. Everything we can throw at them at best can only control Earth for a short period of time.”

“But in that short amount of time we can destroy the Political Structures that currently dominate Earth. We cannot rebuild them, we cannot guide them, we only have the power to destroy! That we can do beyond a doubt, are we ready to take the risk?”

“The Assault on Earth is going to be a type of action well known to Military Historians. It is going to be a Bayonet Charge, we either win or we die! Are you as a Government ready to authorize such an action? Warrick, Chris, Becce and I are ready to lead it and risk our lives in the doing. If you are ready to do this then I ask one more thing of you.”

“Almost everyone in this room does business with Earth in some way and have people who travel there. All of us have people who get into the Confederation you can’t do Military Intelligence and tell me where to hit in there but, you can do Commercial Intelligence and tell me where NOT to hit.”

“Tell me about everyplace where there is clearly no scientific or military infrastructure. Paul, have your smugglers tell me about every village where the local strongman takes his bribes in under the table booze. Every freaking place on that map I can turn green is one place I don’t have to hit. Remember that animation I showed you is the worst case scenario, I would rather not use it!” With that last explanation Andy sat down.

Walt stood slowly and turned in a circle to face the whole room. “There it is, finally come home to roost. We agreed that there would come a point that after that we would no longer require a unanimous vote. This is it! If we vote to go forward from here on only a majority vote will be required.”

“Are there any dissenting votes?” As the room squirmed for a few moments and settled down he continued. “General Webb, with no dissenting votes your Eighteen Month Clock starts,” fumbling with his wrist-comp controls, “NOW!”

To be continued.

Page Author | OldDog January 4th, 2009