Chapter 30: Task Force Devastation

Bridge

MSS Assfucker, Mars - Earth Transit

Tuesday, January 28, 2155

Task Force Devastation’s orders hadn’t changed since they had left Mars orbit. All that had changed was that now they had five ships going up against Convoy Martian Vengeance. As much as the officers and crews joked about how Hymenator was missing out on the fun, more than a few were nervous. Maybe not nervous, but worried. Not even that, concerned. That was what they said to each other.

The WestHem Navy had been given their marching orders from the WestHem Executive Council, which had gotten their marching orders from their corporate sponsors. The Navy and the Marines were going back to Mars, whether they wanted to or not. Gargantuan amounts of ore had been processed by Ceres Metals, entire asteroids had been smelted down to iron, nickel, chromium, and every other metal needed to build spaceships. Fleets of spaceships! It was too late to design new ships, so Ares Incorporated was ordered to come up with new and improved versions of their original designs.

The Californias were built with twice the number of anti-torpedo lasers, upgraded fire control systems, and were modified to carry an extra wing of F-22 space fighters. New Seattles were also built, with fewer torpedoes but extra lasers and more powerful radars. More Owls were built, as stealthy as possible. Any warships which survived Martian Justice were rebuilt to this new standard. WestHem even upgraded what remained of their mothball fleet, or at least those ships that survived Task Force Fuel Tank and Task Force Gold Mine.

How survivable these ships were was questionable at best. In order to build as many ships as possible, shortcuts were taken. The newer designs didn’t have as many interior bulkheads and hatches as the older models, the theory being that if a ship was hit, it was a total loss anyway. Over the course of a normal ship’s lifetime, it was much more likely that routine mishaps would damage ships and kill crews. The Navy told themselves that after they beat the Martians in this third invasion, they would be able to rebuild these cheap ships properly. How much anybody believed this was not discussed.

Another major change was the layout and structure of Convoy Martian Vengeance. During Martian Justice, the convoy had looked like a giant interplanetary cigar. At the core of the cigar was a line of tankers and freighters. Surrounding that core was a ring of forty Panama transports, in eight ranks each of five Panamas in a pentagonal formation. Then, in a second ring were thirty-two California-class superdreadnoughts and twenty-three Seattle anti-stealth ships. During the convoy battle, the Martian Improved-Owls had punched through the ring of Californias and Seattles, blowing holes in the protective ring, and then rammed their torpedoes inside, to cause havoc among the Panamas and support ships.

Now, the Martian ships had new orders. In Martian Justice they had been ordered to focus on Panama transports, to kill the Marines that would be trying to capture Martian cities. The warships were lower priorities, and it was understood that they were only to kill warships as a means to get into the convoy and kill transports and Marines. Now they were to kill warships and let the Marines through. Practically every I-Owl captain had quizzed Belting about that, but the only response they had been given was that the MPG had something different in mind for them. Nobody had been overly happy, and Belting had to remind them that the MPG and the Navy had a doctrine of no suicide missions and voluntary service only. The naysayers all backed down.

Meanwhile, WestHem had developed a new defensive strategy. They needed to get as many transports to Mars as possible. How do you pack as many Panamas into a volume of space and maximize the protection of the Californias and Seattles? The answer came from basic geometry - the sphere. Put the freighters, tankers, and transports in the heart of the sphere and surround them with warships. Then surround the warships with a cloud of fighters. If they found one of the Martian Owls, send out fighters and set the enhanced anti-torpedo lasers to attack everything possible. If they hit a fighter, so be it. It would still be cheaper than losing a Panama.

Martian Vengeance had a core of fifty Panama IIs, each carrying twenty thousand Marines, and enough tankers and freighters to guarantee fuel and supplies for long enough to seize any city on Mars. Four dozen California IIs and three dozen Seattle IIs surrounded that core in two spherical layers. Nobody was going to just blow a hole through the outer layer and get inside to kill the transports. Meanwhile, WestHem Owls were outside the sphere in a formation much like a long probe pointing towards Mars; the theory was that they would be able to detect the Martian Owls before they could attack the convoy.

“We should be seeing them any time now,” said Ripper.

“This is the worst part of it, Ripper, the waiting,” said his captain. Whitey Sucksall gave a wry smile. “Once we start firing, it will all calm down. By then, we’ll be committed.”

“To the nuthouse.”

The rest of the bridge team laughed at that. Then the Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Joe Cummings, spoke up. “Getting a glimmer. Tentative identification as an Owl, too distant for a specific ship identification.”

“Course?”

The TO gave a course that was close to direct towards Mars. “Hold ... course change... 45 Mark 23 ... change in base course.” Cummings was silent for a few more minutes and then said, “They’re weaving around a base course that is aimed directly towards Mars.” He moved his hands in a corkscrewing motion. “I think they’re trying to see if anybody is out here and open a wide corridor for the rest of the convoy.”

Whitey smiled. “Then it’s a good thing we’re not in front of them.”

“Yee haw!” Joe said, returning a smile of his own.

On learning of the WestHem fleet’s disposition, Task Force Devastation had chosen a simple counter. A globe of ships was bearing down on them with a spike of stealth ships pointed towards Mars. TF Devastation assumed a wide ring around the path of the convoy. The spike would go through the center of the ring, hopefully not seeing the Martian I-Owls getting closer. Finally, at the appropriate moment, the five remaining ships of the task force would launch their torpedoes in a single massive attack, coordinated through laser communications via stealth drones. If all went well, the ships would move away from the convoy at an acceleration below what could be detected, and eventually return to Mars.

Four hours later, a report came in from Pocket Rocket that a second WestHem Owl, tentatively identified as Tigershark, was coming into range, on the same base course as the first Owl. More importantly, a vague cloud of gravitational waves and thermal exhausts was further back along that base course. Pocket Rocket had found the main convoy.

“As soon as Tigershark gets past us, we should dump waste heat. If their Owls stay on a three- or four-hour separation, we should dump heat in between,” said Carson.

Cummings interrupted. “Getting confirmation of the convoy from Bastard and Buttreamer. We’ve found them.”