A Faded Star (28 page)

 Simmons paused for a moment to take a drink of water.
She'd been talking continuously for half an hour with only the short break for
questions from Admiral Misato. The remaining officers all seemed content to let
her complete the presentation before asking questions. She continued, “The
fourth ship design we're looking at is a battleship design. Seven hundred
meters long with a crew of three hundred. Drone compliment of five hundred and
a single one hundred meter manufacturing ring. It shares the same basic design
elements as the assault cruiser but nearly twice the size. On the battleship,
the lower third of the manufacturing ring is exposed. We couldn't find a way to
extend the armor low enough to cover the entire ring without making the ship's
maneuverability too poor to consider. Far too much mass. A smaller ring made
replacement of some of the ship components, if needed, difficult. This has been
remedied by adding a pair of smaller manufacturing facilities inside the hull
that can replace the entire ring in six identical sections if needed. The
battleship also has space for a full battalion of marines and drop ships for
rapid atmospheric insertion.

 “The drop ships, themselves could be considered a
separate design, but they are an integral part of the battleship's design.
There are six drop ships, each capable of carrying up to one hundred marines. This
gives each battleship a spare, should it be needed. The drop ships have
internal manufacturing facilities that can fabricate armor and weapons. Drop
ship battlefield computers use the same principles as the ship board battle
computers. New equipment can be made on-site to adapt to ongoing conditions,
ensuring the highest level of troop survivability. Each drop ship also contains
ten automated medical bays capable of treating virtually any injury. Should we
find ourselves in need of landing troops in large numbers, the battleships are
what we'll need to call in. In space combat, battleships are a force to be
reckoned with, as well. Thirty broadside guns and ten chasers fore and aft.
These pulsed canons are three times the power of the ones found in the assault
cruisers. Very heavy armor and a hull that is literally bristling with
defensive cannons makes the battleship a fortress against which most other
ships will find themselves unable to make the slightest dent.

 “The fifth ship design is a support vessel. A one
kilometer manufacturing ring, fitted with extended cargo carrying capacity.
These ships can be used at the end of a battle to sweep up wrecks and debris,
returning needed resources to us. A crew of fifteen can handle everything
needed. This ship carries only minimal defensive emplacements. Against
something like Rampart, it will probably survive long enough to escape. Against
any of the new designs, except, perhaps, a stealth corvette, it would not
survive. The support ship is also intended to give us the ability to recover a
heavily damaged ship under battlefield conditions and repair it quickly. Our
most valuable resource in this environment is the experienced crews that
operate the ships.

 “The sixth design proposed is a transport ship. This
is the only design that does not include a manufacturing ring. The transport
ship can be configured for cargo or passenger duty. A crew of thirty-five with
a single platoon of Marines when on passenger duty for crowd control. The
transport ship can make jumps of up to thirty light years. This allows large
quantities of raw and refined materials to be moved from one place to another.
The ship is five hundred meters with a hull diameter of one hundred meters.
Internal cargo area is just over three point seven million cubic meters. When
assigned to passenger carrying, it has an unlimited duration capacity of fifty
thousand people at maximum capacity. This will be quite cramped. The cargo area
is modular and can be changed to fit either role, but it requires either a
space dock or support ship to refit for such a change. On board manufacturing
facilities are limited to making spare parts, food, clothing and similarly
sized items.

 “The seventh and last ship design we have is a bit of
a wild card. If we can pull it off, it has the potential to make the Lashmere
system invulnerable.” Simmons watched as the collected admirals, captains and
commanders sat forward in their chairs. “We're tentatively calling it the
behemoth class.” Simmons tapped at her tablet, bringing up a series of concept
designs. “The ship is roughly cylindrical. Nine hundred meters in diameter and
seven kilometers long. The top area is flattened to allow for a command
superstructure to be placed. The ship is intended to be refit at any one
kilometer ring available, either at space dock or by a support ship. The ship
has a crew of four hundred with a troop carrying capacity of an entire brigade,
along with an entire armor division. The interior of the ship is open and can
be reconfigured on the fly to adapt to virtually any mission profile needed.
The ship can, if configured for maximum carrying capacity, house up to ten
million civilians. I must stress that a behemoth set up in this way will lose a
lot of its offensive capabilities. The idea behind these ships is to provide a
last ditch way of evacuating the population of Lashmere. We are proposing we
build five of these ships. There are some caveats to this design, however. The
ship's FTL system would be a completely unknown quantity. This ship is massive
in the extreme, and our method of FTL energy generation relies on us taking a
'loan' of energy from an alternate dimension, allowing us to skip through a
hole in space-time. The energy requirement is exponential, and a ship this
large pushes the variables to the point we may not be able to make a controlled
jump ring. There is another variable to consider. The behemoth design would
require many times the amount of materials stored on Aeternum. We would have to
return to Buckman's star and use virtually the entire system's asteroid field
to obtain enough raw materials.”

 Simmons looked around the room and saw varying degrees
of disbelief and shock on the faces looking at her. Only Admiral Brand, who had
seen these designs before the presentation was calm.

 Misato spoke into the long silence. “Lieutenant, can
we really build ships large enough to house ten million civilians?”

 “Absolutely, sir. It's just mathematics. If you build
a big enough ship, you could house the entire population in a single vessel.
The size of the behemoth class is limited by two overall factors. First, we
wanted a ship that can still refit in the one kilometer rings. We don't want to
depend on the five kilometer ring, which we have only one of. Second is the
issue of materials engineering. With current technology, EM stabilized carbon
nanotube structural elements, the strength of the ship's structure limits the
length of the ship to something like ten kilometers long at most. Rather than
push this design limitation, we chose to build a ship that would remain
structurally sound in some pretty extreme situations. The behemoth ships are
tough, admiral. Very, very tough. They have ten meter thick armor covering the
entire outside of the ship. The interior lattice is sound enough that even if
the ship loses all power, it will survive uncontrolled reentry into a planetary
atmosphere. With power, it would survive entry into a gas giant. The engines
probably can't pull it back out of a gravity well as deep as that created by a
gas giant, and the ship isn't intended to land on a planetary surface, but
structurally, it could survive such a maneuver.”

 “What kind of configuration would you employ with them
in a fleet action, Lieutenant?” Misato asked.

 “The interior area can be filled with power
generation. The enhanced power generation can allow up to five hundred massive
pulsed plasma canons. These can be arrayed around the hull in a number of
configurations, but suffice it to say that anything entering weapons range with
a behemoth will have a lifespan measured in seconds. Much of the remaining
internal area is devoted to drone bays and expendable munitions like the new
torpedoes. The ship also carries a type of weapon not included on the other
ships. A kilometer long mass driver runs down the centerline of the ship. This
weapon, which is fixed and cannot be removed, regardless of role configuration,
is intended for planetary bombardment. It fires fifty ton iron projectiles at
point two C. The resulting impact on a planetary body like Lashmere would
represent an extinction level event. No life would survive the resulting
atmospheric and tectonic results of the impact. Even bacteria would be extinct
by the time enough sunlight made it through the atmosphere to sustain it. Only
deep sea life would have a chance to survive.”

 “What if this was employed against another ship,
Lieutenant?” One of the captains present asked.

 “Firing the mass driver takes more than just tapping a
fire button. It uses the same energy capacitors as the FTL system. Charging it
up takes several minutes under ideal circumstances. If you can get the ship to
hold still while you do that, and somehow fail to obliterate it with all the
pulsed plasma canons, it would inevitably be annihilated. The level of kinetic
energy transfer is incredibly high. It would take me about an hour just to show
you the math to calculate the destructive yield against a ship in space.
Suffice it to say it would be like hunting a song bird with a nuclear missile.”

 Brand said, “An impressive presentation, Lieutenant.
Are there any further questions?” A moment of silence passed, and Brand
continued, “If you will excuse us, we will discuss the potential composition
and build priority of the proposed designs. Thank you, Miss Simmons.”

 “Thank you for your time, everyone,” Simmons said
before departing the room.

 Aboard the Rampart, Aden Patho worked on the bridge,
readying the new drones for deployment to the alliance base. The new drones
were spectacular. He had been running simulations all morning with his
division, getting everyone up to speed on the new drone's capabilities. He was
about to begin a new run, letting all of his enlisted men try their hand at
taking him on alone when his comm beeped at him. He tapped the accept key and
said, “Patho.”

 “Sir,” said the voice on the other end, “This is
Corporal Frez. There is a Theo Cobb here to see you, sir. He has clearance, but
I wanted to inform you. He looks pretty serious.”

 “Well done, Corporal. Admit him and have him escorted
to the port observation room. Let him know I'll join him in a few minutes.”

 “Aye, sir,” The comm beeped off.

 Patho gathered his thoughts for a moment and then
tapped his comm again. “Patho to Commodore Stokes.”

 There was a pause of nearly a minute before the
commodore answered. “What can I do for you, Mister Patho?”

 “Sir, Agent Cobb is aboard. He has asked to see me. I
had him escorted to the port observation room.”

 “I'll meet you there, Commander. Do not go in without
me.”

 “Aye, sir.” the comm beeped again. Patho headed to the
observation room and waited for Commodore Stokes to arrive. After a restless
couple of minutes, the commodore walked out of the nearby lift.

 “Commander, whatever Cobb has to say, it isn't good
news for you. As your commanding officer, I strongly advise you to say as
little as possible. If I think he is making an unwarranted accusation or
statement, I'll jump in. Don't let this man back you into a corner.”

 “Aye, sir,” Patho said.

 Stokes nodded and preceded Patho into the room. Seated
inside was Agent Cobb and a Marine private who had been detailed to escort the
visitor.

 “You're dismissed, private,” Stokes said. The marine
saluted sharply and left the room. Patho heard him taking station just outside
the door.

 Cobb said, “Mister Patho, I wanted to speak to you
again regarding the attack on Lashmere Naval Headquarters. The attack has
officially been declared an act of terrorism. Fortunately, this gives me far
broader powers of investigation compared to when it was merely an unexplained
attack.”

 “What evidence do you have that made it a terrorist
attack,” Patho asked.

 “Evidence left from the explosive makes it clear it is
of Karn origin,” Cobb said. He then took out a data pad and tapped at it,
bringing the view screen to life.

 “Your contact with your brother has been sporadic, but
there is a flurry of activity from his personal comm node to an unknown
receiver just before the attack. We've located the person who owned that
unknown comm node.”

 “And who is that?” Aden asked. A ball of ice formed in
his stomach as Cobb turned his maddeningly flat stare towards him.

 “You, of course. Your cabin is being searched as we
speak. Once we locate the comm node, you'll be taken into custody.”

 Stokes said, “If the comm node isn't found in his
cabin, what then, agent?”

 “I want to know why you assisted your brother in
carrying out this attack, commander,” Cobb said, completely ignoring Stokes.
“Was your purpose to decapitate the Lashmere Navy?” Cobb's face took on an ugly
sneer of contempt. “Or was it simply the fact that you couldn't live with
taking orders from your betters?”

 “Agent Cobb!” Stokes stood and shouted. His voice
filling the room like an echo chamber. “You will stand down immediately. I've
tolerated your bigotry up to this point. That time is now over. If your search
turns up any substantive evidence, your investigation can proceed, but I will
not allow you to condemn an honorable officer like Mister Patho without
evidence of complicity in this attack.”

 Cobb finally turned his attention to Stokes. “Your
position doesn't make you immune from suspicion, commodore. Should I find you
either implicitly or explicitly facilitating Patho's actions, I'll have you on
a conspiracy charge so fast, your executive officer won't remember your name a
week later.”