Chapter 2: System Alpha

Our first offensive expedition had been ‘fun’ for some unusual...

Okay, lemme veer off on a tangent for a minute here. The AIs were unyielding in their claim that if we understood the CAP test, we would be able to screw it up, so they wouldn’t help or even allow us to analyze how it worked. However, they would tell us generalities, and we saw the trends anyway. We knew that they were looking for self-motivated intelligent problem-solvers who had integrity and courage but got along well with others. Well, duh, right?

That ‘intelligent problem-solver’ part meant that we had a very high proportion of engineers, mathematicians, and scientists out here in the Diaspora. That naturally skewed our language, even that of us crude warriors, to the way those guys would talk in their labs. We had an even higher proportion of smart high-school kids who had wanted to be engineers, mathematicians, etc, before the war screwed everything up, and their way of talking carried through to us, also.

Those guys, the brains, all thought in terms of algebra variables and constants. The dickheads’ ability to analyze the trajectory of an incoming weapon was a constant of known value, right? Our ability to protect a missile we launched at them was a variable. How could we maximize the value of that variable, to push the equation in a direction we liked, to get more hits? That was how they talked.

And, because they were also mostly fun-loving teenagers, they liked to play language games. Words were just labels, right? Words that I thought were constants they considered as variables. And, it changed the way we all talked. So, we had 50-year-old Vice Admirals and System Governors saying things like:

Our first offensive expedition had been ‘fun’, for some unusual and very low values of the variable ‘fun’.

We set our timetable by what we could build. We were supposed to be fighting a war, and that meant eventually carrying the war to the enemy. We assigned ourselves responsibility for policing our own neighborhood, and we defined that as the twenty or so systems nearest us. Not the twenty stars nearest us, as that included several brown dwarfs with no planetary systems, but the closest twenty or so solar systems with planets.

Only four of them appeared to have habitable planets, and by an amazing coincidence all four of them had Sa’arm on them. Actually, we found them by back-tracking where all of our visitors had come from and checking the systems nearest that track. We labeled them Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta in no particular order beyond when we identified them. Alpha was right around the corner from us, of course, and we wanted to take them out before they got another chance to take us out.

That’s how close it was, this race for systems between us Humans and the Sa’arm. We had gotten to Tulakat just barely too late for the natives, when we first joined this fight. We’d found them, but we hadn’t really moved in yet. The Sa’arm had gotten there first, and were still working on exterminating the natives when we showed up to argue with them. We hadn’t been strong enough to beat them, yet, and eventually we got forced back off the planet.

That had happened a couple dozen times. If the Sa’arm were allowed to land and build one of their underground hive systems, it was almost impossible to dig them out before they grew enough dickheads to expand their holdings. Oh, we had fought them off immediately after landing quite a few times, but we had never won after they got dug in.

Once we realized what it took to hold a planet that the dickheads had landed on, we gave up on that. Unless they happened to land on one of our Marine bases, none of our newer colonies had the number of trained and equipped bodies needed to hold them back. If we didn’t have the naval forces to prevent landings, we started evacuating our people as soon as the Sa’arm ships arrived. Leaving our colonists on the planet after the Sa’arm had landed and gotten organized was just shoving them into a meat grinder.

Here in Beerat, though, we had been the ones who had gotten here just barely in time for the locals. Our first ship in the system, just looking around because of a request for info on the Beer, sacrificed itself destroying the Sa’arm scout triad that showed up while they were surveying. Our second ship to come to this system had come here looking for the first, and had only stayed long enough to pick up the survivors.

Our third and fourth ships had come together and had worked as a team to eliminate the next set of Sa’arm scouts with almost no damage to themselves, and for the next three years our buildup had been able to stay ahead of the forces they sent here. The closest the dickheads had ever come to landing on Beer was when one of their larger colony ships was destroyed while slowing down to land. The pieces had slammed into the planet hard enough to cause earthquakes and caused immense damage and casualties among the Beer.

We had been concerned about dickhead survivors, but the impact had been great enough to kill anything. One piece, we figured it was the engines or something equally dense and massive, had actually started a small volcano that stayed hot for a year or two. Surely the Sa’arm couldn’t survive that! No, it wasn’t spewing lava or anything, but it was a hot hole in the ground that smoked for a year or more and the surrounding rock heated up and burnable materials caught fire.

Anyway, we decided that we needed some more of our Snakes for our first expedition to go cause trouble, and used that to set the planned jump-off date: When our new Snakes, as well as anything else we could build in the same time frame, were ready for combat, they would form the core of our ‘Alpha Expedition’.

Realizing that the Snakes were going to take forever to build, when we started putting Barton Yard back together again we started with eight large frames for Snakes. As soon as they had everything they needed to assemble themselves we started on six more frames to build some more Kents, but the Snakes took the longest to build so they came first. As it happened, with other smaller frames building sub-assemblies, the Kents took almost exactly half the time and we got two runs for twelve total with the last ones ready just in time to do workups with our new Snakes.

When we had built all the parts we needed for all the repairs, upgrades, and completions, most of the Womb’s construction frames got taken apart and reassembled out at Barton. I think I mentioned that. However, we kept several frames at the Womb. We used some of them to build a few of the patrol bombers for design and testing, then as soon as we were happy with the design we had some of the smaller frames just start pumping them out as fast as they could. We were planning to organize them into 8-ship squadrons, so we ran that production line until we had enough for a dozen squadrons, then we shut those frames down and moved production out to Barton.

About the same time, we had an extra frame out at Barton build a test barge, then once we had most of the bugs worked out we had that frame pump barges out as fast as it could, too. We figured that the crews for the tactical platforms, the bombers themselves, would need a lot more time to master their equipment than the barge crews would, so having the bombers ready before the barges were was no problem. All we had to do once we had a barge available was assign an available bomber squadron and let them get used to each other, then send them on their way.

Once we had mated a squadron of patrol bombers with their barge, we considered them a set to be treated, for admin purposes, as a single unit. The first two squadrons we created using the first bombers and barges we built, stayed at Beerat as permanent members of our own scout shell while they worked all the bugs out of the design. They got designated as our ‘First (Training) Beerat Patrol Wing’ and the rest of the bombers and barges got run through them for training and workups before being sent on to combat assignments.

The next several squadrons to get commissioned went through their workups and then were sent out to the nearest Sa’arm-controlled systems. Squadrons 3 through 6 all went to different systems we were already picketing, allowing the Castles to come home and retire. We set up a ‘Second Beerat Patrol Wing’ to manage them.

Squadrons 7 and 8 got sent out to other systems as surveyors with pretty much the same instructions we had given the old Castles we had first sent out to do this: Check out the systems on this list. If you find anything interesting, come back and tell us. If you haven’t found anything in a month, well, I guess you should come back and tell us that, too, so we know you are okay. Message torpedos would have been easier but they took too much space to carry enough to be worthwhile.

We figured that sooner or later we would have enough of them to need some kind of bureaucratic ‘Survey Wing’ to manage them but as long as it was only the two squadrons -two marginal starships with eight local-space-only patrol craft each- we made 1st (Training) Wing deal with them.

Squadrons 9-12, and then 13-16 when they were available, went back to the original four Sa’arm systems to set up a rotation to let people come back home to rest and get repairs and supplies.

We also came up with a quick design for an escort cruiser; something that served the same purpose as the original Europa design, but built on a Raptor hull with a lot more armor and a lot of traditional weapons instead of the new big guns. We were trying to hedge our bets. We set the last extra frames to building four of them, then when they were done we shut those frames down too.

This expedition really stretched our manpower. We had ships we wanted to send but couldn’t, as we didn’t have crews for them. We stretched as far as we could, giving the expedition all the trained crews we could while shorting our stay-at-home ships with trainees.

Our final lineup for the Alpha Expedition was Harpy, 9 Snake-class Assault Cruisers (CAs), 7 Kent-class Heavy Cruisers (CHs), all four of the new (and experimental) Atlanta-class Screening Cruisers (CLAAs), all five of our Africa-Plus class Composite Destroyers (DDCs), 12 Improved Shiro Composite Destroyer Escorts (DECs), two PBY squadrons complete with their home-base barges, the three freighters, and Thor. We didn’t know what the Marines could do to help, but we sent them anyway, just to find out.

As Beerat Governor I had to stay home so I promoted Kevin to Vice Admiral and appointed him Expedition Commander, the same way the CNO had done to me back in Sol System three years before. We gave him Harpy as flagship. That was partly a reminder that he was supposed to stay out of any slugfest; he was supposed to send the other ships in and stand back to watch so I wanted him in one of the ships that wasn’t supposed to be in the front line.

We designated the whole mess as our ‘Second Fleet’ (with everyone staying behind in Beerat as our ‘First Fleet’) and divided most of the ships into four Taffies. The only ships going on the expedition that weren’t allotted to the task forces were the PBYs, Harpy as Fleet Flag, the freighters, and Thor. The command group kept the Africa-Pluses and six of the I-Shiros for a personal escort.

The freighters? Oh, yeah, we had built some bulk carriers at the Womb and designated them as ‘Naval Stores Freighters’. That was basically the hull of a Raptor with as much internal space as possible set up as open cargo holds. We gave them some StarSparrows and some PDLs, but they were otherwise unarmed store-ships or freighters. Each one could mount four cargo-pods towards the back, up against the hull the way the Explorers did, but their purpose was to carry things that were too large to put in a pod.

We stuffed them full of partially-disassembled bombers, fully-assembled shipkiller missiles, replacement StarSparrow modules, and spare railgun rail assemblies, plus various other munitions that we might run out of if we didn’t carry spares. We also set up the cargo space farthest aft as berthing, and put about 50 extra crewmen (with one concubine each) in them as living cargo. We sent three of those with the Expedition, too. With lots of message torpedos. I told Kevin to send at least one every day.

One of the freighters held the minimum makings of another shipyard: everything needed to put together a miner, a tug, and a small construction frame. If it looked like they were going to stay, they should pop those out as early as possible to start building their own infrastructure. Of course, if it looked like they weren’t sticking around, they should stay packed up. No sense in letting the dickheads get a good look at them.

After Expedition Alpha winked out into hyperspace, all we got for news until they returned was Kevin’s daily message torpedo. Sometimes we would get more than one, as in when they were about to do something dangerous and Kevin wanted us to know what they were doing, but mostly it was just once a day.

The first one came a day after they left. It just said that they were in the same system with 7 planets that our scouts had been watching and were finalizing plans. It was the equivalent of checking in with your parents when you get to the hotel.

It didn’t tell us anything new. The Sa’arm had some ships on patrol but they were easy to avoid. We had better sensors than they did, and our Patrol Bombers were smaller targets in every way than their ships were. The Sa’arm were all concentrated around the only inhabitable planet anyway. They had a lot of industry in the lower orbitals, and a lot of ships in the upper orbitals. Hopefully they weren’t all completed and ready to use!

Our basic plan was to, first, destroy all the ships in the high orbitals. That meant simply shooting them up until they weren’t viable ships any more. Second, deal with whatever other defenses they found. Third, once it was safe to get closer, use our shorter range weapons to remove any scrap value from all the ships and other stuff we killed. Fourth, we wanted to scour the entire system for Sa’arm ships, mines, or any other equipment that could help them re-build their orbital infrastructure.

That ‘remove any scrap value’ goal meant either nuking every wreck, or closing in to within range of our Particle Disruptor weapons and vaporizing it. Yes, we had finally found a use for those old obsolete weapon systems on the Africas. It had almost been a last-minute realization; that that was why we included them in the expedition. We had to prevent the dickheads from simply using materials and equipment from the shot-up ships to quickly repair them or build new ships again, and those Particle Disruptor were the only thing we had that could quickly and easily vaporize a wreck.

The problem with that solution, however, was again the short range. We couldn’t send the Africas in to their maximum range until we had completely eliminated anything that could shoot back.

There were other things going on in other parts of the system, but not as much as in any human system. Apparently, they didn’t get into space-mining as much as we did. Silly Sa’arm, the rest of the system is where all the good stuff is! We added that confirmation of a previous suspicion to our daily update message torpedo to Brak.

Kevin was good about keeping us updated. Not that it mattered, there wasn’t much more we could send if they got in trouble, but we were parents and this was our only child and we worried! His second message came on his second day and said they were moving in.

Most of his PBYs, one squadron he had brought and the two we already had stationed there, were forming a huge sphere around the area of concern, which was the only inhabited planet. Everyone else was in a fairly dense formation to approach the planet. I didn’t like that, I preferred having several baskets for my eggs, but we had discussed it and gamed it out and Kevin was right. As long as we held Beerat, these expeditionary forces were expendable, and having everyone there together made it more likely that we would have brought enough firepower to do the job. The only ships he didn’t take in were Thor, his freighters, and the three I-Shiros and the PBYs he left to watch over them.

His third message torpedo, sent only a few hours later, included the AAR for his assault on the high orbitals. Yes, they had won, but yes the dickheads had provided some surprises of their own and yes they had taken some losses. SHIT!!!!!

On their first pass, they had been able to fire forty “Junior Hero” guns at almost as many targets, and had been able to fire several shots at each target before there was any response. That part of the plan worked well. Only about a half-dozen of the Sa’arm ships ever got underway, and after that elevated them to high-priority targets they stopped moving -or rather stopped accelerating- again pretty quickly.

Our problems started immediately after that phase. Everything that we hadn’t been shooting at, and much of what we had shot up, launched small craft. Our people ended up with a fucking CLOUD of small craft coming to meet them.

Everyone with long-range weaponry continued to fire at anything large enough and still enough to hit, and everyone else waited until the cloud closed to 3000 Km before releasing our own cloud of StarSparrows. We think that our first salvo of 7-per-mount had more missiles than incoming small craft, but it may not have. Doesn’t matter. We have more, they’re cheap, reload and keep launching.

By the time the cloud was close enough to launch the Sa’arm version of plasma torpedos, it had been whittled down to where humans could keep track of the attrition. The AAR included the helpful tidbit that only 283 of the small craft survived long enough to get in range and launch PTs. I know, but some numbers just get burnt into your brain and you can never forget them. 283 of them.

The campaigns at Beerat had given us some pretty good looks at the way the dickheads worked, and we had tried to learn the correct lessons from all the blood we had paid. Our estimates of the Sa’arm weaponry were pretty close to right on; they all launched one PT immediately after closing within 100 Km and a second one immediately afterwards.

Kevin had 35 ships in his assault force. He lost more than 20 of them in the next few seconds. Again, the AI-created AAR helpfully pointed out that all the PTs were orphans; none of the launching small craft survived long enough to see them land. Thanks. I feel so much better knowing that. Not!

Killing a plasma torpedo’s launch platform did no good, after it launched. A plasma torpedo had no homing abilities; it went where it was aimed and it wasn’t that fast. You could watch it move, and if it was on an intersecting course -closing range and no lateral movement- you could try to dodge out of the way. That was one reason we didn’t sweat the short range on our own PTs; if you fired it from farther out it would probably miss anyway, so why worry about extending the range? Anyway, every ship in the assault force did what it could to not be where the PTs were going. A lot of the PTs missed.