Chapter 017: Briefing
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[Friday, December 17]

[Outskirts of the Epsilon Eridani system]

Admiral Abrams is in a large conference room with the Commanders of the various ships of the fleet, along with the high-ranking officers for the Army and Marines. She clears her throat to gather their attention as she steps up to the podium and activates the monitor behind her. A map of Epsilon Eridani is displayed along with many red triangles throughout the system and thousands of green triangles on the outskirts surrounding it, representing the task groups of battlecruisers, cruisers, frigates, and destroyers stationed there to intercept any ship that may attempt to leave the system. So far, the Alkarin are staying put, though they have attempted to send several of what appeared to be communication drones out of the system. None survived the attempts. Abrams is sure that they were attempts to inform Tau Ceti of the situation and request reinforcements.

“Good morning, everyone.

“I hope everyone has taken the time to get some rest while we gathered intel on the system. As you know, it’s taken a bit more than two weeks of scans and scouting missions by the strike fighters, but our analysts believe they’ve located all of their installations in the system.

“The Alkarin know we’re here, and they seem to be hunkering down while they’re probably working to reinforce their defenses.”

She highlights 30 icons scattered throughout the asteroid belt.

“Here we have several outposts of various sizes that have been built on large asteroids. We’re positive that they are not mining them, but are manned by their warriors and fighters since when the recons approached them, they launched fighters in an attempt to intercept them.“ She grins maliciously, “Unfortunately for them, that didn’t work out too well.

“We will not be engaging them to take those outposts. What we will do is destroy these installations as our opening move using antimatter missiles launched from task groups assigned to remove them from the battlefield. We have highly detailed scans of the system, so jumping in and destroying them should be fairly straightforward. Cassiopeia has sent out the orders for the task groups assigned to each asteroid. I’d like the task groups to coordinate their timing so that all of the installations are struck at once.”

She changes the display to now show several hundred orange icons.

“These are civilian mining operations ongoing in the belt, but we will be leaving them alone as long as they do not try to engage us. After the task groups have accomplished their missions, they will rejoin Goliath.”

She again changes the focus on the display to a moon orbiting a Jovian planet. “This is our next target. They have a couple of military bases here along with several large, domed mining colonies. The moon is not habitable as what atmosphere it does have is mostly made up of CO₂ and various other unbreathable gases.

“They have a large contingent of ships protecting the moon. Scans and recon have located approximately 2,000 ships of various classes in low orbit, although by the time we get there, there could be far more, and they could have moved. They also have massive amounts of fighters and dropships stationed on the moon, so expect them to try to board you. Captain’s Breckenridge, Manalo, and Aikawa will engage them with their supercarrier battlegroups and destroy the bases from orbit prior to landing. Queen Sora has ordered that civilians who offer no resistance are not to be fired upon. Make sure your troops know this because any of them that do will be court-martialed, clear?”

A loud chorus of, “Yes, Ma’am,” echoes in the room.

“Good. Between the three of you, you have almost seven and a half million troops available for the ground assault. If you need more, then link with Goliath, and I’ll send reinforcements. I’d rather overwhelm them than lose a lot of people. Ships and people are our two most precious resources here. I don’t give a damn about ordinance usage; we have more than a year’s worth of it at heavy use, and we have the nano factory capacity and enough antimatter onboard Goliath to make as much as we need.

“Listen up people, because this is important. Recon drones spotted heavy ground-based defenses on the moons and the planet. By heavy, I mean they have kinetic weapons in the 2,000-millimeter range. The shields on our capital ships might be able to withstand one or two hits from something like that. So, we’re not going to face them if we can help it. With that said, no ship is to approach the moon any closer than 25,000 kilometers until they are dealt with. Am I clear?”

Another loud chorus of, “Yes, Ma’am,” echoes in the room.

“Good. These weapons are big enough to take out a ship in one strike, so watch your distance. Okay, next… Archers, Makos, and Ares will engage their fighters as well as escort Marine force recon and Army special forces troops who will be going in ahead of us to take out these defenses. Once they have, ground forces will begin their landing. The Makos and Warlocks will be available for support. 75-millimeter antimatter missiles from the Threshers are authorized for use as long as you are at least 30 kilometers from civilians, which means there are a couple of bases the missiles may not be used on. Within that distance, you are limited to 15-millimeter antimatter rounds. Our goal is to destroy their ability to fight, not slaughter civilians, am I clear?”

Another loud, “Yes, Ma’am,” comes from the assembled officers.

She nods, then changes the focus again to display a planet with a large moon. “Alright. Here is our main target. The Alkarin have an extremely large military presence on the moon, both navy and ground forces. Neutrino scans of the moon indicated several large underground bases, along with many subsurface naval ports with tens of thousands of ships, fighters, and drops. Scans and recon patrols also reported a dozen major fleets around the planet and moon.

“The Goliath and the rest of the fleet will engage those fleets once Breckenridge and Aikawa begin their attack on the outer moon. We are not going to take the planet until they are dealt with. I’m quite sure that none of us are in the habit of allowing enemies to remain behind us.

“Once we’ve destroyed their fleet and bases on and around the moon and planet, we’ll begin landing operations on the planet. Generals Crary and Kimathi will be in command of our ground forces to take the moon and planet. You have the same ROE, no firing upon civilians who offer no resistance. Camps will be set up to contain them, guarded by the MP’s. Folks, we all know their warriors are highly aggressive, but we know nothing about their civilians. If at all possible, the Queen would like to save their species. I’m sure the mere idea of genocide turns all of our stomachs as well. But, if your troopers are endangered, then they may defend themselves, but unless they use weapons that can harm our troops, I want them to use stun rounds.

“The medical ships are to remain outside of the system until we’ve neutralized their fleet. We’ll use dropships or transports to deliver any casualties to them until then. The 9th, 12th, 19th, 31st, and 32nd carrier strike groups will be staying to safeguard them. This is an important mission, so don’t let your guard down because we can’t afford to lose them.

“People, I expect this to be a long, hard fight. Planets are big places, but we’ve learned from our prior engagements with them that their warriors have a propensity to attack head-on rather than use hit and run tactics, so that should make this a bit faster and more straightforward.

“All of this is in the intelligence data that Cassiopeia has been sending to all of you. Please, review it if needed… Any questions?” No one says anything. “Good, we begin operations at 1500 hours, so make sure your people get some rest beforehand. Dismissed.”

After they leave her ready room, Abrams and Melton are walking back when she says, “Cassiopeia?”

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“Send a report back to CMCC and inform them of our plans and that we’ll begin the engagement at 1500 UTC.”

“Aye, aye, Ma’am.”

“Thank you. Then, inform the CIC OOD that Captain Melton and I are going to get some rest.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

She looks at Melton. “Take a nap or at least rest as best you can. We’ll need it because I seriously doubt that either of us will get much sleep once we begin the attack.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Alright. I’ll see you at 1445 hours in CIC,” and heads off to her quarters.

 ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

[Earth]

[CMCC]

Jason Chambers happens to be on duty when the message from Goliath comes in at 0703 UTC. After listening to the report, he calls the Palace, “Good morning, Akari. Is Sora in?”

“Sorry, not yet because her first appointment isn’t until nine. Is it important?”

“It’s not important enough to call her in early, so would you have Sora call me when she arrives?”

“Of course, Jason. Anything else?”

“No, thanks. Have a great morning, Akari.”

“You, too, Jason.”

 ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

Approximately ninety minutes later, Sora returns the video call.

He glances at his screen and sees that it’s a ‘private’ number. He answers with, “Chambers,” as the screen resolves into an image of Sora.

“Good morning, Jason. What’s up?” Sora asks.

“The Goliath’s AI, Cassiopeia, reported back this morning at 0703 hours. The message detailed their plan of engagement and that they will begin operations at 1500 hours.”

“Good. Any new reports from Titus?”

“Just the two major engagements and several small ones so far. After those ships were annihilated, the Alkarin pulled back and are reported to be gathering another major fleet for another attempt.”

“Damage to our fleet?”

He shrugs. “Nothing the nanites can’t handle so far, although we have lost some of our escort ships, but from what Admiral Mbata’s report said, it’s because they were overwhelmed locally before reinforcements were able to get to them. We really need to find a way to detect their ships in hyperspace.”

Sora sighs and nods. “We’re working on it. If it wasn’t for the fact that they help dilute the Alkarin’s fire on our capital ships, I’d order them retired.”

He shrugs. “They can do things that other ships would have a tough time doing, not to mention that for their size, they pack quite a bit of firepower, so we need them. Just like the strike fighters, they are excellent at hit and run and fleet picket duty. Fortunately, they don’t require the manpower to run them that they used to. I hate losing any ships or people, but as you said, this is a war, and it can’t be helped.”

“I know. I just don’t like it either. I need to have a meeting with David Hawks to have a talk with him about an idea I’ve got. Can you imagine how quickly we could increase our population if we used artificial wombs, nanites to promote rapid growth, and gave them CALi’s programmed with everything they’ll ever need to know?”

He grins at Sora and shakes his head. “You continually amaze me. I can’t wait to see what you’ll think of next. How quickly are we talking about?”

“I’d have to talk to David and Dakota, but from fertilization to adulthood… It’s only a rough guess, but it would probably be less than a year. People are a bit different than animals.” She glances to the side and then says, “Sorry, but I need to go. My appointment will be here soon. Keep me apprised of any developments.”

“I will. Have a good day.”

“Thank you. You, too.”

 ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

[HMS Goliath, Epsilon Eridani]

Abrams and Melton arrive in CIC shortly before 1500 hours. Abrams relives the OOD and takes her seat as Melton takes position beside her.

“Fleet status?” she asks.

“All ships report ready for action.”

“Perfect. Signal the task groups that they may begin their attacks.”

Over the next hour, the task groups begin disappearing one by one, until there are none left. Then, at 1833 hours, the first base is destroyed along with the fighters and troopships the installation launched to attack the task group. Over the next several minutes, the 30 task groups report success and that they are jumping back to rejoin the Goliath.

Upon the last task group reporting success, Abrams orders Captains Breckenridge, Manalo, and Aikawa to jump for the outer moon.

Slightly over a half-hour later, the battlegroups arrive 50,000 kilometers from the moon and launch their strike fighters, fighters, and fighter/bombers. The reason being that at that distance, the planetary-based kinetic weapons fire, which travels at 0.1 c, will take approximately a half-hour to reach them, thereby giving them more than enough time to simply move out of their path.

Onboard the supercarrier, HMS Reliant, Captain Manalo mutters under his breath, “And now the fun begins.”

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