Part 23 (2/2)
”Thank you. It helps that I have a rather broad knowledge of the beliefs of many different faiths. It put me right onto the deception. It was clear to me that these people were by no means Mormons.”
”I don't know much about them, save what was in your report. But right now, I wish we had a s.h.i.+p full of them.”
”Why is that?” the doctor asked.
”Not only would it leave more coffee for you and me, but we wouldn't have to deal with this stinking drug problem, at least to this degree. How are we doing on that?”
”Much better. Most of the men who had the worst addictions and the worst reactions are through the most severe of their symptoms. Everyone is now completely detoxified-that is, the drugs are out of their bodies. They will still need medication and observation for some weeks, but very few experienced the really acute symptoms. It helps that these men are in prime physical condition, all well nourished and hydrated, and that none of them are what we medically consider long-term users, that is, those who have been using these drugs for a period of years.
”There are some who have underlying psychological issues that predisposed them to drug addiction, who I am counseling. At the end of this cruise, I may recommend that two or three be put into some more intensive treatment for a period of weeks before they are returned to duty, but then again, I may not. It depends on how they are doing at the time. There is substantial therapeutic benefit to serving on this s.h.i.+p, which is becoming a very supportive environment.”
”Outstanding. A happy s.h.i.+p is the best medicine for everyone. It is the cure to virtually every naval ill.”
”I am beginning to believe it.”
”It's a good thing, because I may need this crew to be at their best very soon. There was something aboard that freighter that was much more interesting than its cargo of bearings.”
”There is something more interesting to you than another small fortune in prize money?”
”Very much so. It seems that our freighter rats' Krag masters had a schedule for them to keep-a very precise schedule. They were to deliver their cargo to their rat-faced customers, take on a standard type two freight container from the Krag cruiser they were meeting-no telling what's inside-and then go to the Pfelung system, coming through the jump within a three-minute window.
”Then, they were ordered to synchronize their arrivals at the main freight transfer facility near the Charlie jump point to all occur as close as possible to 08:23 tomorrow. I plan to be there. We've already altered course. I need to see what happens when they bring all those freighters together.”
”Why? You certainly cannot intend to blow up all those freighters right there in Pfelung s.p.a.ce. It would be a gross violation of their neutrality.”
”I know that. But we are stealthy enough that we can sneak into the system un.o.bserved, see what's going on, and then sneak right back out with no one the wiser. I just want to watch. Every instinct is telling me that this is important.”
”How can anything involving that system be important? The Pfelung are just another alien neutral power in the Free Corridor, and a fairly minor one at that.”
”They're more important than you think. Sure, their Navy isn't nearly the size of ours, or even the Romanovans', but it is nothing to disregard either. The Pfelung a.s.sociation contains eleven systems: there's Pfelung itself, which is more populous than Earth and has a higher industrial capacity, and then they have ten other worlds, all very populous and productive. Imagine ten worlds all like Alphacen or Bravo, with a strong industrial base and most with s.h.i.+pyards capable of producing wars.h.i.+ps.
”And their navy is substantial-enough to make up three or four well-rounded battle groups. They've got four carriers, seven heavy battlecruisers, about two dozen cruisers, and more than fifty frigates and destroyers, plus some truly amazing battle stations to cover their jump points. If you know something of Earth history, think of Switzerland, a small independent neutral power more than strong enough to be safe from invasion.
”And there's one more thing to remember about their navy. They have, by far, the best fighter pilots in the Known Galaxy.”
Sahin laughed. ”Surely not. The idea is almost comical. I have never seen a species that looked less likely to be able to pilot nimble little fighter s.h.i.+ps in my life. The adults must weigh a hundred and seventy kilos if they weigh a gram, lumbering about on those great limbs of theirs; they can scarcely move unless they're in the water, and even then they are slow and ponderous.”
”And yet, they are undoubtedly the best. They make the Blue Angels look like drunk greenies flying Gemini s.p.a.ce capsules. It's the smaller, nimble adolescents who fly the fighters, not the lumbering adults you're used to seeing. In the wild, they had the job of defending both the young and the little hatchlings from predators. A lot like bottle-nosed dolphins on Earth: a meter and a half long, about fifty kilos, accustomed to moving in a three-dimensional environment, fast, agile, incredibly brave on a fundamental and instinctual level. Natural fighter pilots. A squadron of them could mop the deck with the fighter wings from two fleet carriers and maybe a third, easy. I'd love to have them as allies.”
”Sure, that would be a help. No doubt.”
”But that doesn't touch the real issue with the Pfelung. It isn't evident from most maps, but they stand on the best invasion route from Krag s.p.a.ce toward the Core Systems. It's all in the jump points. The way the jump points lie, if the Krag take Pfelung itself, then they can just jump around the current lines of defense and plunge right into the heart of our s.p.a.ce. If they do that, they can cut off the main body of our fleet from its source of fuel and provisions, outflank and destroy it, and then they're free to turn to the Core Systems.
”To make things worse, the forces sent to do it would have a clear, straight line of communications and supply back to Krag s.p.a.ce. Complete disaster. The war would effectively be over. It would still take years for the Krag to work their way through each system and move up their heavy forces jump by jump, but we would have no hope of stopping them.”
”But surely, adequate provision has been made for this eventuality.”
”The Pfelung themselves can read a star projection as well as anyone. They know they're on a natural invasion route, and they have no wish to be invaded. So, the jump point into their system that the Krag would use is covered by the most powerful battle station in Known s.p.a.ce. I can't p.r.o.nounce the name in their language, but it means 'That Which Cannot Be Moved.' It's got twenty pulse cannons, powered by half a dozen huge fusion reactors with a twenty-five hundred gigawatt rating. Each. Nothing could get past it. Even if you could push a dozen Battleax cla.s.s battles.h.i.+ps through the jump without any warning, the Pfelung would have s.p.a.ce wiped clean of the lot in under a minute.
”Plus, they have most of their not-inconsiderable fleet patrolling the outskirts of their system to deal with anything of the limited size and power that could come up on them from the outside, using compression drive.
”There's no way past them. Crossing interstellar s.p.a.ce on compression drive, the Krag have too far to go. Any force with enough firepower to break through the Pfelung fleet and defensive installations would be so large and slow that it would be spotted two months out. The Pfelung would subject it to continual hit-and-run attrition attacks for the whole two months and wear them down to nothing. Any force fast enough to cross the distance before it's spotted and attacked wouldn't have the necessary firepower. If the Krag were to try to get around that problem by jumping into the system, when they fail to send the right IFF, 'That Which Cannot Be Moved' pounds them to dust before they can squeak. There's just no way in.”
”Like Gibraltar.”
”Hmm?” Max's attention, having wandered off to turn over the problem in his mind, snapped back.
”Gibraltar. I'm quite certain you must have heard of it. It was a British fortress guarding a strategically important maritime choke point at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea on Earth, formerly known as the Pillars of Her-”
”Oh my G.o.d!” Max suddenly felt as though his stomach had been filled with cold lead. The deck seemed to move under his feet.
”What's wrong?”
”I've just had the most horrible thought. Sweet Jesus, I can't believe this. Have you ever heard of the 'Gibraltar of the East'?”
”No, I cannot say that I have.”
”Singapore. It was a British base on an island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula: the 'Gibraltar of the East,' supposedly impregnable. Two sh.o.r.e batteries, brilliantly made 380-millimeter guns, expertly served, vast supply of ammunition, protected by reasonably good troops under a competent commander. It was an impossible nut to crack from the sea. Yet, the j.a.panese took it with ease early in Earth's Second World War.”
”But if it was so impregnable, how did the j.a.panese take it?”
”They attacked from the land.”
CHAPTER 23.
06:09Z Hours, 9 February, 2315: The Battle of Pfelung Max was frustrated. Frustrated enough to punch holes through bulkheads, chew through reactor s.h.i.+elding, and insult a fully grown Vaaach forest victor to his face. No, he was more frustrated than that. He could see the whole thing. He knew exactly what the Krag were doing, as well as when, where, and how they were going to do it. He knew that if they did it, it would be an unmitigated catastrophe for the human race and for just about everyone else in this part of the galaxy.
And there didn't seem to be a d.a.m.n thing he could do about it.
Comms had tried all the Pfelung voice and data channels, but the main Pfelung OutSystem Communications Relay and Exchange had automatically rejected the incoming signal because it came from a Union wars.h.i.+p and, under their strict neutrality laws, the Pfelung did not communicate with the wars.h.i.+ps of any of the belligerent powers in the current war. Comms tried spoofing the OSCoRE by changing the source origination code for the signal to make it appear that it did not come from a Union wars.h.i.+p, but the Pfelung computer had already a.s.sociated the s.h.i.+p's location in s.p.a.ce with the original code and saw through the ruse.
Comms tried bypa.s.sing the OSCoRE by signaling some of the larger ent.i.ties on the planet that had their own comm networks and channels, but all had rejected the signal as soon as the recipient figured out who the sender was. A very helpful female with the Pfelung Astronomical, Astrophysical, Astrometric, and Astrocartographic Administration had, however, suggested that the communication should be directed through standard diplomatic channels.
Standard diplomatic channels. Brilliant. Only, as part of their strict neutrality, the Pfelung would not allow the Union to maintain an emba.s.sy or a consulate or even so much as a GT&T branch office in their s.p.a.ce. When the Pfelung said ”strict neutrality,” they weren't kidding.
Accordingly, ”standard diplomatic channels” would consist of a long chain of transmissions across hundreds of light years of s.p.a.ce involving the also-neutral Tri-Nin as intermediaries and requiring at least three and a half days. The Krag would be halfway to Bravo by then.
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