The Riss Accession, page 23
part #4 of Riss Series
I had invited Byer, Seng, and Iglis to participate in the discussion.
"And to number one. The scout is in the system to spy, and therefore, is the only one guaranteed to run and to know where to go." Byer said.
"I would think we wouldn't want the Aliens to get information about the Riss and Ghost stealth capability, skip-attacks, Dusters, or Dummies.," Iglis said.
"That would be ideal. What Alien and Allied configurations would that suggest we need? And which features do we need to hide?" I asked.
Zhang spoke with his eyes closed, "Ideally, I would say no Medusas, a small number of Alien cruisers, a task force for each two Alien cruisers, and two Riss cruisers."
Sheva nodded agreement.
"A task force should be able to destroy three Alien cruisers. They did at ZigZag with only five cruisers in the task force, and they had some old cruisers along," Byer said.
"The idea is to get the scout to leave as early as we can; otherwise, we have to fight the Alien cruisers without those features we want kept secret, which will result in unnecessary deaths. Overwhelming force may convince the scout to run for help or to leave before he's discovered," I said.
"Why two Riss cruisers?" Sheva asked. "It doubles the risk."
"It doubles the chances of success." Zhang said.
I wasn't sure either way. It was certainly true dropping into some unknown system which the Aliens had made their base of operations was dangerous even with stealth cruisers. They would most likely have cruisers near the Wave exit, as we do in Freeland. With their advanced technology, we must assume they could detect us leaving the Wave, even if they might have trouble following us. But who knew? Our knowledge of the Aliens was certainly limited since we couldn’t decipher the code used to drive their systems. We only knew what we had observed to date, and we had misinterpreted what we'd observed a couple of times. All I was sure about was that each Riss cruiser carried close to seven percent of the Riss' total population.
* * *
The conference room was buzzing with conversations when I entered the next day. Sheva and Zhang were already there, and only Wattson and Zhu were missing. Sakaata was first to approach me as I poured myself a cup of tea.
"Good morning, Reese. I suppose you already have the solution to Wattson's exercise." She smiled goodnaturedly.
"Given the problem's restrictions, not many solutions will work."
"That may be true. However, talking with some of the task force commanders, I didn’t find a consensus of opinion."
"Then it should be an interesting meeting," I said as Wattson and Zhu strode through the door and everyone not already standing stood.
"At ease," Wattson said and sat while Casey fetched Zhu and him something to drink. "Now that you've had time to consider the problem, would someone like to offer a proposal?"
"The next time a Medusa is located, we proceed as normal, but this time, we leave a cruiser at the Wave entrance in passive mode and let one of the Aliens' cruisers escape. The cruiser at the wave follows it," Admiral Kwok of Yellow-1 said.
This was greeted with a variety of non-verbal responses supporting Sakaata's contention that there wasn't an agreement on one solution.
"How can we guarantee that a cruiser will try to escape? They don't seem to run for the Wave even when they know they have lost. They must know they are copies and won't really die," Captain Unger said. The discussions went on for the rest of the afternoon, slowly coalescing around Zhang's initial analysis.
I offered to bring in Commander Iglis the next day after she'd had a chance to evaluate the best systems to station a watch. We'd be looking for a ZigZag-like system where the Aliens either already had a few cruisers maintaining a quarantine, or one where they would most likely only be sending a few when they came.
* * *
Iglis laughed. "It's funny when I think about it. Back on Freeland, I felt I had eyes and ears on the whole galaxy, with the traders reporting back from their sources in the three empires. Having to rely only on what the Comstats collect, it's like I've lost my reading glasses and I've got cotton in my ears. I'll pull something together by tomorrow. A list of systems too small to warrant a Medusa, combined with a list of systems which appear to have a Comstat which isn't functioning should give us a list of likely candidates. With Admiral Butler's authorization, I have the necessary access to get the information I'll need to compile that list. I don't think I'll have trouble making the list for the meeting tomorrow."
"Meet you at my shuttle at twelve hundred hours," I said as she rose to leave. I made my way to the workout area and found Terril teaching. She immediately split the class in two, with one for me to teach. I was glad I had come. Si'jin was my alternate world where the past and the future didn't exist—just a wonderful feeling of freedom from worry and stress. On the Mnemosyne, the workout area was what I had always wished for, an area the whole ship used where rank and unit didn't matter. After I ended the class, Katlin came walking up and bowed. I noticed she had earned her fourth knot from Terril.
"Master Reese, I've come to the conclusion that Si'jin is more dangerous than flying a mission against an Alien cruiser—and more fun. A year ago, I thought I was in good shape. Since then, I've lost ten pounds and have endless energy. Best of all, I'm so relaxed after a workout."
"Si'jin has always been my refuge when times were difficult. And it's saved my life a couple of times."
"The consensus among the Ghosts is we love being on a Riss cruiser and can't stand the thought of having to go back to another SAS cruiser. Don't get me wrong; we love the SAS but would rather serve on a Riss cruiser." She laughed, bowed, and headed for the showers.
"Anything exciting going to happen tomorrow?" Terril asked, coming up behind me.
"I doubt it. We will identify potential systems and assign task forces and Riss to go visit them. The excitement will start if one of them finds what we're looking for."
* * *
Iglis was standing in the shuttle bay when I entered. "Good day, Captain Reese," she greeted me, and judging by the brief jerk of her right hand, she had to curb her instinct to salute.
"Is our party list long?"
"A mixture, if I interpret your needs correctly. Several systems the Aliens will probably occupy sooner or later, and a couple where they may already have."
"Good." I entered and waved Iglis to sit next to me.
She handed me the list before sitting.
"That looks right."
"How do you know that looks right? I spent most of the night using data from multiple sources to come up with that list."
"Iglis, you came up with the list by analyzing the data based on the criteria I gave you. I'm looking at it from a, does it make sense, based on what we know." I pulled out my SID and brought up a hologram of the three empires, then highlighted the systems were we had detected Alien activity. Then I had a cylinder made that included all of those systems. When I finished, it looked like a hose running through the hologram. "Now if you include the systems you identified,"--I highlighted them with blinking lights-- "you notice they are in my tube. In fact, you will notice there are a couple more in that tube that aren't on your list, but only because they don't meet the criteria I gave you."
"Echo! Wattson should see this immediately!" Iglis tried to jump up, but the seat restraints stopped her.
"After you've shown him your list, you can show him."
"But it's your idea."
"You did all the hard work." I laughed.
* * *
"That's an interesting list, Commander Iglis. Five systems that appear to meet our criteria of not being worth a Medusa are either likely targets—Tiamook, Blue Canyon, and Hong—or already quarantined—Sellis Ledge and Mihr. Since Mihr is in the JPU, we had better ignore it until the political issues have been resolved and Admiral Stenberg has had an opportunity to meet with them," Wattson said while studying the star map Iglis had displayed on the monitor. "Admiral Zhu, if you would arrange a watch on Hong, I'll post one on Tiamook and Blue Canyon. The latter makes me nervous, as it is close to the Tragos Sector and Eden."
"May I suggest that the watch cruisers be instructed to obey the Aliens’ warning and return to the planet rather than engage them or try to leave the system?" I said, knowing the captain may think he could outrun the Alien ships or think it heroic to engage them, forgetting why he was there.
"But they will destroy the cruiser," Modero said, frowning.
"Is a cruiser worth four hundred fifty lives?"
"No, Leader Reese is right. We will send an old ship," Zhu said.
Wattson nodded agreement.
"So that leaves Sellis Ledge as the only candidate for Operation Discovery." Wattson looked to Zhu.
"Admiral Ba Li, you will take Red-1 to Sellis Ledge," Zhu said.
"Admiral Sakaata, your task force will also be part of Operation Discovery."
He turned to me.
"Captain Zhang and I will accompany the task forces to Sellis Ledge."
"Who will go if another site becomes available?" Wattson asked, still looking at me.
"I will leave that to Captain Pavao."
"Why?"
"If we've been discovered, the Aliens will be on alert, and our cruisers won't stand a chance entering unnoticed. If we haven't been discovered and are still there, more cruisers wouldn't add any value and may alert them to our presence."
"Everyone is dismissed except for Operation Discovery," Wattson said, and everyone not involved began leaving.
Zhu came and sat next to me. "I do not know all your captains, but my brother is a superb choice. Like the Riss, he will remain calm and clear headed. But are you not the best and worse choice? We could lose the leader of the Riss."
"The Riss will appoint another to the position."
"But would history read the same?"
"Would history read the same if I don't go?" I asked.
"A valid point. I can't have it both ways, can I?" He gave me a small bow. "If I say you are the best, then I must accept your decision is the correct one." He rose and took his seat at the head of the table with Wattson.
"Can everyone be ready to leave tomorrow?" Wattson asked, and continued when each of us nodded. "Good. As an Alliance task force, no one is in charge of the overall operation; however, you must agree on a strategy and provide mutual support in implementing it."
"I'm very comfortable with Admiral Sakaata. When we enter Sellis Ledge, Admiral Sakaata and I will evaluate the number of Aliens in system and agree on our responsibilities. We will maintain communications to ensure we are both aware of the other's situation," Ba Li said looking a Sakaata. "We agree not to use skip-attacks, Dusters, or Dummies until the Riss have entered the Wave."
Sakaata nodded agreement, then looked to me.
"I or Zhang, whoever is last to enter the Wave, will send Bye."
* * *
"Bendis and I wish we were going along," Sheva said as we sat in my office later that day. "I know we are already risking two ships of Riss, but then, why not just one?"
"I would think it's a tradeoff. If it works, I doubt it will work twice. Therefore, the chance of following the scout is better with two, but more importantly, if we are discovered entering their system or while we're there, the odds are better one will make it out," Zhang said. He had deduced what I had decided, consciously or unconsciously.
"Zhang is right, as much as I hate to admit it. I believe we won't get a second chance, and if we fail, war with the Aliens will go on for centuries, and millions of men and women will die. We Riss would be willing to stop fighting right now since the Aliens don't want a war with us—only to confine us to our planets. The Riss wouldn't mind, but the humans would. So, I'm risking the lives of many Riss to support the humans, not the Riss.
I laughed, sharing the exchange with Sheva and Zhang.
They laughed with me.
"Zhang, we will enter in the middle of the task force and cut back to one engine immediately. Hopefully, the disturbance from the task force will override our entry. We will establish a tight-beam connection and immediately begin our search for the scout. Once located, we'll wait for it to leave. If we can't locate the scout, we'll sit on the entrance to the Wave and wait for it to show itself. The closest cruiser follows, and the last one sends the Bye signal. If we make it to their home base, we again establish a tight-beam and decide what we should do, depending upon what we find.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Operation Discovery
As we exited the wave into Sellis Ledge, I wondered what the Aliens thought when they saw an overwhelming force coming at them. What would I think, given I knew I existed someplace else? Did the copy think of itself as a copy? The scouts never tried to enter the fight. The cruisers never attempted to escape, but the Medusa did look like it was trying to escape in Fools Landing. Was that because they were short on Medusas or because it had valuable information? It appeared each commander had a well-defined mission, so I doubted the cruisers would attempt to leave, and I thought the scout, unless disturbed, would wait until it had recorded the results of the battle.
The VTM sprang to life, and the task force cruisers began appearing with white dots tagged SC1, SH1, SL1... for the SAS and UC1, UH1, UL1... for the UFN, and red dots tagged A1, A2, and A3 for the Aliens' cruisers.
"Attention all personnel, ship status is standby, all systems passive," went out as an override on all SIDs, and all ship lights were set to blue.
And immediately, a blue dot tagged Ma appeared.
I sat back with nothing to do except watch the upcoming engagement. Of course, our team was going to win, but at what price? We had restricted the use of several of our most effective weapons. An hour later, a message from the Maat scrolled across the monitor.
"Location: 12.442, 9h 1m 23s, 3.02 au," and immediately a small red dot appeared not far from the Maat, tagged AS. The task force and the Alien cruisers were still hours away from effective missile range. As I had surmised, the scout was making no attempt to leave, although the outcome was predetermined. In fact, it was slowly moving closer so it could record more details of the action.
Four hours later, the two forces met. The scout must have had excellent sensors, because while the Mnemosyne could track the cruisers and explosions, the missile and fighter activity was invisible at this range.
As I watched, tags SL3, SL2, and A3 disappeared, then A2, UL4, UL5, and finally A3 and UL1. The cost of not using the new weapons had been expensive. I only hoped it would prove worth it.
* * *
For six days, we followed in the Maat's wake, with r-Kharis computing our approximate position based on the known system exit points. It appeared we were following the tube I had sketched on my SID for Iglis as we passed possible exits towards Defiance, Fools Landing, and Baraz. That meant we were now in JPU space, although we were unaware of any inhabitable systems in the area. I kept the status as Standby and tried to maintain a sense of calm by visiting the various sections on a regular basis, teaching Si'jin, working out with Terril, and holding regular staff meetings every day.
"You win," Byer said during the fourth meeting. "It's hard to get nervous or stay tense on a Riss ship, especially when the captain is wandering around like we were going to Eden for a break."
"The Riss and I are interested in what we will find, but they have learned that a calm mind reacts faster and makes better decisions. Si'jin masters like Wei and Terril excel at it. During a fight, they aren't thinking about winning or losing, living or dying, before or after. Many fighter pilots attain that same state during a battle. In a strange way, they are calm while in that state. The Riss are like that every hour of the day."
"I'm not complaining. Days of waiting an unknown fate can make for a nervous ship and problems."
"I'll tell you what I know. Commander Iglis, put up the star map of the three empires, and then highlight the systems we know are either under quarantine or invaded," I said.
Iglis soon had the map on the room monitor.
"Now shade in the area which included all the dots."
"It's like a tunnel stretching from the JPU through the SAS and into the UFN, " Seng said staring at the monitor.
"Yes, and the Maat, which is hopefully following the scout,"--I heard snickers--"is in that tunnel. We passed branches leading to Defiance, Fools Landing, and Baraz. We're heading deep into what JPU would consider their space, although I doubt they have any inhabitable systems where we are going, or those would have been the first to be quarantined."
"The Aliens are robots, so they wouldn't need an inhabitable system," Iglis said.
"That is a reasonable assumption and would explain why they would be hard to stumble across. By now, the area each empire claims is well mapped, and there is no reason to visit a system where no people live."
"So you believe the scout is headed home to report the incident at Sellis Ledge?" Byer asked.
"That's our assumption based on what we've observed so far."
* * *
Four more days passed, and all sorts of lotteries sprang up, wagering on when we would leave the Wave, go to Battle Stations...
