Shaitan Wars 2: Wrath of the Shaitans (49 page)

“I agree with your assessment. Captain Dar, would you please draw out a detailed plan of this quest that you will lead in the next hour? We convene a conference of the captains of the fleet in an hour to hear your detailed plan. Fabi out for now.” Fabi cut the line after the customary salute and looked at Gerald inquiringly.

“Sir this is me learning. You yourself said that Hamid is the best tool for the job, and that I should let go of my ego.” Gerald explained.

Fabi smiled and simply said. “You will make a good admiral soon Gerald.”

Capt. Hamid Dar came back in an hour with his plan. It couldn’t really be called a detailed plan. There wasn’t that much of a detail to the plan. He requested that they decelerate harder to try and come closer to the Shaitan ships. This will force Tango 1 to strain its engines to the max. If they get lucky something in their engine might break. If the Shaitans do nothing then the two fleets would meet at a distance of 6 million Kilometers from Earth.

It was more likely that the Tango 1 and Tango 3 would veer off sideways or off the plane of the solar system in order to avoid the Third Fleet. The most likely direction to veer off would be towards the direction of the other Shaitan ship approaching at an angle – TC-2. The Third fleet will follow and chase, hoping to come within missile range. Beyond that it was very much a seat of the pants plan, very much according to Capt. Dar’s style.

Chapter 32

The Second Fleet

Between Earth and Moon

May 2084

The Second Fleet had played a conservative game all along. They were the reserve fleet, the last defense between the Shaitans and Earth. It was becoming more and more apparent that the Second Fleet would have to get out of its comfort zone in the orbit of Earth and step out to meet the enemy now. The Second Fleet was marking TC-2. It was the responsibility of the Second Fleet to prevent TC-2 from not just reaching Earth but also from being able to join up with Tango 1 and Tango 3.

TC-2 had been keeping up a slow and creeping pace all this while decelerating slowly, heading towards what had appeared to be Earth. It was clear now that it was actually heading towards the point marked by the Third Fleet, which was the presumed stop point of Tango 1 and 3. Second Fleet would have to get in the way to prevent that from happening.

Admiral Maginot got the final OK from the admiralty and passed on the order to the captains of the fleet. Eight Resolute class vessels left Earth orbit on a very slow trek which would take them to a point barely a million Km from Earth. This point was on the line between TC-2 and the presumed stop point of the Tangoes.

It helped to conserve propulsion and fuel as much as possible on the Resolute class of ships. You had that much more for the battle. Each Resolute class ship had a conceptual equivalent of a GPU (Ground Power Unit) used by commercial aircrafts. Just like a GPU is plugged to an aircraft when it is on a tarmac to provide power, so that the more expensive aircraft fuel is not used, each Resolute class ship docked to an orbiting structure called a OPU (Orbital Power Unit).

An umbilical connecting the OPU to the Resolute class ship provided power while the ship was in orbit, thus conserving the fuel tanks of the ship and keeping them full. That way any ship could leave orbit at short notice with its tanks full. Each ship detached its umbilical and gave themselves a gentle nudge with their thruster to take them out of orbit.

Then they turned on their main thrusters for just 30 seconds, which set them off on their slow drift towards their destination. The Second Fleet would arrive at their destination in 4 days’ time. The slow speed would mean that they would also have to use just a 30 seconds thrust to stop at their destination.

Fuel conservation was paramount. The fleet would still arrive a day before TC-2 was to cross that spot. The slow speed also meant that if TC-2 changed its direction to avoid the Second Fleet, which was very likely, the fleet would not have to fight too much momentum to change direction themselves to give chase.

It was a good thing that the Second Fleet was drifting slowly, because as they were about to reach their destination and come to a halt, TC-2 changed its direction. That much was expected, what was unexpected was the direction the Shaitan ship took. It was heading straight towards the moon!

The course of the Second Fleet had been calculated such that at no point could TC-2 be closer to Earth than the Second Fleet was. No one however had bothered to do such an analysis for the Moon. It was the last place they expected the Shaitans to attack! There was nothing of much value on the moon that the Shaitans could hope to gain an advantage by capturing or destroying.

It had no atmosphere. It was poor in metals and organics on the surface, and it had very little water on the surface. Just some frozen ice inside a few craters on the poles. The surface of the moon was a desolate and endless sea of regolith made of silica.

There were a few hundred human beings, mostly scientists and researchers. There was one Chinese run military academy, which primarily trained USC-GCF space marines. The USC charter prevented the academy being run directly by USC, so it was primarily sponsored and run by the Chinese.

TC-2 was actually slightly closer to the Moon than the Second Fleet when it made the course change. The Second Fleet with its chemical rockets had faster acceleration than TC-2 with its ion plasma engines. TC-2 however had momentum on its side. It had been decelerating, so it already had speed. It simply stopped decelerating and used its main thrusters to effect the slight change in course to head towards the Moon. It would be a close race.

Daniel realized what the Shaitan game plan had been all along. Just like TC-1, this Shaitan troop carrier TC-2 had been a sacrificial bait all along. While TC-1’s destination had been Mars, which was easily approachable without much challenge from the humans, TC-2’s destination was Moon, closer to Earth and heavily guarded by humans, which required a much more subtle subterfuge.

TC-2 had calculated its trajectory perfectly to appear as if it was joining up with the rest of the fleet. They had correctly assumed that while the Humans kept a watchful eye on TC-2’s path, they will ensure that the Shaitan ship in no way threatens Earth. The humans were less likely to be so diligent about monitoring TC-2 vis-à-vis the Moon. The Shaitans had been right, and the humans had fallen for the trick.

If their behavior pattern on Mars was any indicator, then TC-2 would land troops on the ground if holding hostage was the objective. If the objective was to destroy the fledgling bases that humans had made on Moon, then Daniel was afraid USC could do nothing to prevent it. The Shaitans don’t even need to use nukes. All bases except the one on the South Pole were flimsy structures made on the surface. A well-aimed Kinetic Kill missile was enough to obliterate any of the base.

Daniel decided to do what he could, just in case the objective was to take hostage. He hit the connect button and called out to be connected to Alex. “I hope my old friend had not gotten too old to be leading a fight.” Daniel opened the conversation with a playful taunt that was par between the two friends as soon as Alex’s image appeared on the screen.

“Marines don’t sit behind a desk and get soft and fat admiral, unlike a few navy pukes I am aware of. We don our boots everyday till the day we die.” Alex gave back as good as he got.

Daniel could not however indulge in playful banter for too long. His expression changed and he became serious. “You know the situation with TC-2 and the moon I guess.”

“Yup. Have been following it from my office. I hope you remember that I am also at the station. There is not much that you can do here but work and follow the war.” Alex said. The station he was referring to was the orbital station, which was the command center of the USC. It was large by current human technology standards, but still cramped to be holding a full-fledged command center prosecuting a major war.

“I need you to go to the Moon Alex with as many marines as you can collect and transport. I have a feeling that we are going to need the marines on the Moon before this thing is over. All the moon shuttles are at your disposal.” Alex said. The moon shuttles were nothing but old Friendship class ships still in service. There were 4 of them still left in service. These old clunker were designed to carry 40 humans on a long journey to the planets, but for the moon trip, which was less than a day’s journey one way, its interiors had been remodeled to accommodate 80 humans.

“Normally we have one platoon in the station as a matter of procedure, but we are just going through a monthly shift change, so we have two platoon available right now. I will start off immediately with these two platoons admiral. I will get my staff to mobilize the rest of the marines within the next few hours. We should have two companies on their way in the next 8 to 10 hours.” Alex said.

“Thanks Alex. We can always count on the Marines. Semper Fi Alex… and Alex… just thought I would let you know… Cuifen is on the Moon.” Daniel said. He noticed Alex’s cheeks redden a bit. Alex, Leanna and Cuifen were part of the strangest and longest running Ménage à trois he had ever seen. That was however his friend’s problem, and this was not the time for discussing it anyway.

TC-2 was desperate, that much was obvious. It had released its shuttle from far away in space, without even waiting to get closer to the Moon, let alone in orbit around the Moon. Releasing shuttles from such a distance put the shuttles in a vulnerable position from the fast approaching Second Fleet, which could take potshots at those shuttles with their missiles. Missiles which the shuttles would be far less capable of fending off compared to the mother ship.

TC-2 was now firing its ion plasma thrusters at full throttle, trying to slow down and enter into an orbit around the Moon. Despite it slow creeping speed and now its full deceleration thrust, TC-2 would not be able slow down enough to get into a Moon orbit immediately. It would swing around the Moon, continuously bleeding speed, take a long elliptical orbit, before being able to slow down enough to come to a stable orbit around the Moon.

The orbit that TC-2 was going to make was also interesting. It was not aiming for a conventional equatorial orbit. It was going to make a polar orbit. Whatever the Shaitans planned couldn’t wait for TC-2 to make orbit. So they had dispatched the shuttles, which could use their own chemical thrusters to slow down quickly and descend on to the surface of the Moon.

TC-2 had beaten the Second Fleet in the race to the Moon. The Shaitan ship would make its first turn around the Moon an hour before the Second Fleet. Rear Admiral Maginot had to take the call and let off on the thrust of the Second Fleets’ rockets. The fleet had to arrive with enough fuel to be able to prosecute a battle without being hamstrung. The limitations of chemical rockets showed in such situations.

The Second Fleet was now close enough for the USC command center orbiting Earth to have a semblance of a real time conversation with just a few seconds’ delay. “Command, be advised two shuttles have been launched from TC-2 bound for the surface of the Moon. Destination of the shuttles indeterminate at this point. The Second Fleet are not in missile range yet. The shuttles will land on the surface of the Moon unchallenged. Argo out.”

“Copy that Argo. Will advise the shuttles approaching the Moon accordingly. They are heading into harm’s way. Command out.” The command controller replied back to the flag ship of the Second Fleet after a few seconds’ delay.

Chapter 33

Cut to the chase

Approaching Earth

May 2084

Tango 1 and 3 reacted as expected. They could not keep up the deceleration of the Third Fleet and chose to veer away in order to avoid engaging. At least now it was known what the limit of the engines of Tango 1 was. It had been pretty much maxing itself out, so it had almost no spare capacity. So the two Shaitan warships veered out of the plane of the solar system, heading above it at an angle to the z-axis.

Third Fleet followed suit. Changing their thrust vector to match the Shaitan warships. Every time the Third Fleet changed its course, it made sure that they were still in between the Shaitan warships and Earth, even if it meant giving up some distance to their quarry. It would have been a momentous blunder for the Third Fleet to have been tricked into leaving a straight line of flight open towards Earth.

The Nautilus class ships had a few percentage point acceleration advantage over the Shaitan warships to begin with. Now that the Shaitan warships were accelerating at only about 65% of their observed capacity, the Third Fleet had one and half times the acceleration of their quarry. Despite the twists and turns that the Shaitan warships made, Third Fleet was closing the gap slowly but surely.

The helmet of Fabi chimed with an incoming request from Capt. Dar. The crew and the bridge of the Third Fleet were in battle stations and hence in Battle suits as required by regulation.

“Sir, I have a recommendation on the next course of action. With your permission I would like to add the other captains to the conference as well. Their inputs would be valuable, and I would not have to explain this twice. I think we don’t have too much time and the window of opportunity is narrow.” Hamid said. The permission was granted and Gerald and Capt. Xhin Zhu of the Qūzhújiàn were added on split windows.

Capt. Hamid had started tentatively and his face showed apprehension. “Sir, I would say at the outset that it is possible that you or the other captains, whose opinion I value immensely might find this proposal risky. It would be perfectly natural to assess the plan so. I myself can see a fair amount of things that can go wrong. If after hearing my plan we decide not to proceed, it will be perfectly understandable.”

“Please proceed captain. I am sure we are all eager to hear any plan that can possibly advance our cause.” Fabi said. Capt. Dar was being too diplomatic and conciliatory, which meant that he must have come up with one more of his risky harebrained ideas, which were famous for actually working most of the times. Fabi had to remind himself that they didn’t work all the time.