Chapter 2: The Puppets Are Gathered

After weeks of probing Sa'arm defenses on Tulak, Delta Company was ordered back to Truman for R&R. After two weeks of relaxation on Truman Delta Company was ordered to the training facility at Demeter to not only train replacements for the company's casualties, but to also train elements of other units with their firsthand experience of what works and what doesn't work when confronting Sa'arm units in force.

Delta Company had gotten the training program organized on Demeter and was ready for the first group to enter the program when orders were received from Dothan. The company commander, Commander Patrick Kehoe, had sent for his Second Platoon leader, Ensign Geraldine Timmons.

Timmons reported to Kehoe with a salute and was asked to sit. Kehoe passed the written orders to Timmons, "I have been privileged to read the details of General Allen's plan. Your fame as reached headquarters and the General specifically requested you and your squad 'as-is'. They don't want you burdened with green recruits on this mission. I realize that your platoon took heavy casualties trying to penetrate the Sa'arm defenses on Tulak and is seriously under strength. You have an outstanding team that works well together, and for this mission a small, experienced force will have a greater chance of survival and success."

"I've reviewed your record and that of each member of your platoon," Kehoe continued. "You have a commendable combat record, Ensign. We need the vital intel that this mission can supply, but it's important for you and your platoon to get out alive in order for us to benefit from that intel. Were it not for the extensive combat experience of you, Master Gunnery Sergeant Raymond Budzinski, Staff Sergeant Ronald Carson, Lance Corporal Cynthia Miller, and several others who repeatedly distinguish themselves in combat, I don't think any member of your platoon would have survived. Other platoons were lost to a man."

Kehoe placed a small stack of papers in front of Timmons. "I have here promotions for several members of your platoon that are effective immediately, including one for you. I recommend reorganizing your platoon into three squads. In my discussions with Major Wilson of General Allen's staff, which planned this little outing, it will be your best chance to get the intelligence and get out. Good luck, Lieutenant."

Timmons stood and saluted, "Thank you, sir."

After retiring to her quarters, Timmons reviewed the paperwork. The Second Platoon of Delta Company was ordered on a deep space reconnaissance mission aboard the assault ship Sir Galahad. Because they would be shipping out without replacements, Lieutenant Timmons had reorganized the platoon into three squads as recommended by Commander Kehoe. The mission was expected to take nine months to a year and each member of her platoon was authorized to take one concubine with them.

The newly promoted Corporal Cynthia Miller had joined Second Platoon shortly before Delta Company was sent to Tulak. She had repeatedly proven herself in combat on Tulak and no one had second thoughts about her taking over for one of the fallen squad leaders. Miller was sitting in the platoon's day room talking with the other two squad leaders of Second Platoon: Staff Sergeant Ronald Carson of First Squad and Staff Sergeant Jerry Fohner of Second Squad. Lance Corporals Walter Fitzgerald and Ralph Sewell of First Squad sat nearby.

"We got an ass kicking on Tulak," Miller was in rare form. "Why do they have us sitting here diddling ourselves when we could drop in on the dickheads for a little payback? What makes us so special that we've been picked for some high priority excursion?"

"Because we got off of Tulak alive," Carson replied quietly to the second of Miller's questions. To the first question he postulated, "You know that we'd just get ourselves killed along with a bunch of green replacements if we went back down with revenge on our minds. The brass knows that, too."

"Yours is the only squad at full strength," Miller said to Carson. "Fohner and I can hardly do more than throw spit wads to back you up."

Carson smiled, "I think you guys can do a bit more than that. You and Budzinski got our dicks out of the dirt during that last disaster. If you two maniacs hadn't started blasting away with the pulse cannon that you salvaged from that downed Leopard, none of us would be alive."

Miller diverted that line of discussion with, "What's this shit about deploying on the surface through the transporter of a Galileo? Whose dumb idea was that?"

"A Galileo might be able to slip in for a recon deployment," Budzinski suggested, also wanting to avoid talking about the crazy shit he and Miller had pulled. "It's really not such a bad idea. If it turns into an ambush, it's better to lose a Galileo and four Marines than the whole platoon and a Leopard."

"Look on the bright side," Budzinski added with a rare, twisted smile. "We'll be away from Tulak for nine months to a year, we'll spend most of that time in hyperspace or drifting out in the black, and we get to bring live entertainment with us!"

Miller enthused, "Yeah! We'll be fat, lazy, and fucked silly!"

As the three corvettes arrived at the depot docks, their crews were transported to the training facility on the moon below. Only a small port watch remained onboard as the heavy construction equipment in each maintenance bay modified the ships.

Commander Bronson had been assigned to guide the corvette crews through the orientation and training programs for the weapons that were being installed on the small ships.

"If everyone will kindly take a seat we can begin," Bronson spoke from the podium of the modest briefing room. "My name is Commander Sarah Bronson. I'm a member of Admiral Forney's planning staff and he asked me to develop a training program for you. The changes being made to your ships are the results of simulation studies focusing on the best way for a small fleet to evade and escape from a superior Sa'arm force."

"The plasma torpedo that is being removed from your ships is a head-on offensive weapon. During this mission if the Sa'arm force is in front of you, then the best tactic is to turn. It's doubtful that the Sa'arm can field enough ships in a surprise attack to totally encircle you. You'll want to go where they aren't, making the torpedo room a lot of dead weight." Bronson paused for a moment before adding, "I know that sounds silly, and it's really not as simple as it sounds. You'll not only want to be where they aren't, but also go where they can't get to in time to attack."

"One of the weapons that will give them second thoughts about getting in close is the advanced five-inch plasma cannon. This weapon is not recommended for ships as light as yours. The range is more a factor of the stability of the platform that the performance of the weapon. It is, in effect, a plasma rocket engine that will introduce significant yaw in your ship's attitude that must be countered when the weapon is fired."

Bronson displayed a diagram of the cannon's breech. "The main charge is a thirty kilogram aluminum alloy canister filled with tritium that's totally consumed, canister and all, when the weapon is fired. A significant amount of the tritium is converted into energy in a fusion reaction that's triggered and contained by pulse lasers located at these points." The laser locations flashed on the holographic display. "The tritium fusion reaction releases a large quantity of high-speed neutrons that are a significant component of the plasma beam."

Bronson turned to face her audience, "The fusion reaction from a single discharge is sustained for three seconds and generates a 130mm diameter column of incredibly hot plasma that's one hundred fifty kilometers long. The ship's power is needed primarily for the antigravity and cryogenic components of the weapon. It also provides the initial trigger to the pulse lasers. The power requirements are enough to put a strain on the heaviest power couplings that your ships can support. Your new engines are arranged in a more open pattern for better yaw control, and the engine controls are being interfaced with the fire control of each turret to counter the recoil-like effects of firing these weapons."

"It will take about two minutes for the plasma to reach a target at maximum range," Bronson looked over the group. "If your crews can get the cycle time down to eight to ten seconds then you can bracket a target that's maneuvering. Again, the idea is to force the Sa'arm into maneuvering to make a hole for your ship to go through, not to make a hole in the Sa'arm ship. These pulses are incredibly bright and easy to see from any angle. They should make the staunchest dickhead flinch."

The display changed to the hull just aft of the gun mounts and forward of the engines. "Mixed with the latest technology in energy weapons we have some ancient relics from decades past." Bronson pointed out the hardpoints that were forward of the engine mounts and rotated ninety degrees from the gun mounts. "Tucked out of the way of the gun mounts we have a nasty surprise for curious Sa'arm ships."

"The W53 is at the core of both the B53 and Mark Six delivery vehicles. It uses a lot of lithium-deuteride to fuel the fusion stage of the reaction; so, it doesn't generate an inordinate amount of neutron radiation. But, you still don't want to be within fifty kilometers of the blast if you're planning on having any more children! The test results indicate that with immediate medical treatment you'll be okay to within thirty kilometers. There's no location on a Castle or Sir Lancelot class ship where you could survive if you were closer than twenty-five kilometers. Dickheads can probably withstand the radiation from about eighteen to twenty kilometers depending upon their shielding."

"The more versatile weapon is the Mark Six package," Bronson continued. "It can only cover about eight thousand kilometers in its four minutes of powered flight, but could coast from there if necessary."

"Damn!" Lt. Thomas of Hurst Castle was excited. "And here I thought that the simulation exercises in the curriculum were overly optimistic because even the new plasma cannon aren't effective beyond five thousand kilometers. We can't do all that much damage with them until we close in on the target to less than thirty-five hundred kilometers. Why don't we have more of those?"

"At a bit under thirty thousand kilograms each, two of them are all the weight your ships can manage," Bronson replied evenly.

"Commander Bronson," Colonel Murphy of the Hurst Castle spoke up. "I understand that the nukes were your idea. Why didn't you pick a small, high-speed tactical nuke?"

"Because they would have to get in really close to a Sa'arm ship to do any damage and we don't have room for a lot of untested torpedoes with modest warheads that would probably get shot up before getting close enough to do any real damage. I figured that the biggest bomb ever deployed on a missile would be enough to discourage even a hive ship and its escorts, and it would give us the best chance of making a hole to escape through. And these were just lying around taking up space in a warehouse."

The changes in the weapons systems required a redistribution of personnel. The larger and more complicated plasma cannon required a crew of five. The removal of the arc plasma torpedo freed up enough personnel to staff the new cannon mounts and the expanded CIC for targeting the bombs and missiles attached to the hardpoints.

The two gun turret captains from the Hurst Castle, Staff Sergeants Walter Mathews and Charles Adams, had drilled their new 130mm gun crews in the trainer until they could load, track, and fire in their sleep.

During a lunch break Adams and Mathews were bragging about their new babies to other members of the crew.

Adams was enthusiastic, "I'm in love with the new guns, not only because they can fry through shielding that our old particle beam projectors couldn't breach, but they can reach and touch an enemy at five thousand kilometers! That's a good fifteen hundred kilometers beyond anything we've seen to date from a Sa'arm frigate or cruiser."

"Yeah," Mathews added. "You've got to respect a gun that can contain a small tritium fusion explosion, if there's really such a thing as a small fusion explosion, and harness the E-M-P to power the accelerator rails while it corrals the abundant neutrons with the dynamic containment provided by several pulse lasers and by the antigravity lenses that focus the protracted explosion into the accelerator. Have you seen the part that sticks out from the ship? It looks more like a huge radio tower than a gun barrel. It's no wonder it has to have a zero elevation and one eighty on the azimuth before docking or going FTL."

Adams nodded, "Speaking of tucking things in for FTL, are we still going to take those two fireballs of yours with us by swapping Eileen and Janna for the duration of this mission?"

Mathews laughed, "I guess that pair can be as volatile as nuclear blast and not nearly as easy to contain. Yeah, it still sounds like a good plan to me. We need to arrange housing for the four we leave behind as soon as they get here from Truman. Eileen is due in about ten weeks, isn't she?"

A gloomy expression passed over Adam's face as he replied, "Yeah, just after we ship out. That really sucks, man. She could keep up with your cheerleaders until she got so heavy with the twins. So, are you ever going to have Hanna and Janna drop babies?"

Mathews cocked his head, "I want to give them a chance to grow up a bit first. I know they look like college freshmen, but they're only fifteen. That ass Stokes had them looking like porn stars with massive tits, big asses, and naked pussies. He got my pain-in-the-ass Carlotta and her kids for the pair when his other two concubines brought their babies home from medlab."

Adams was shaking his head, "I always thought you were a softie for picking up four nursing mothers, but you saved a couple of guy's asses with that trade."

"Yep," Mathews smiled. "McMurdock wasn't much smarter and hated giving up one of his two supermodels, but neither of them had a clue what to do with the babies they had just brought back. So, each of them got an experienced mom, and I got a pair of identical twins who fuck me silly now that I've had them turned back into trim, athletic cheerleaders with boobs just big enough to bounce and nice, bushy crotches."

"What is it with you and hairy snatches?" Adams asked as he smiled and shook his head. "I hate to get kinky hair trapped between my teeth."

Mathews just smiled and checked his watch, "We need to get back to the trainer."

The weapons that really complicated CIC fire control were the relics attached to the new external hardpoints. The crews of all three of the modified corvettes had to go through the detailed scenarios created by Commander Bronson during their trainer time at Dothan. The key contributors in the development of theoretical tactics for these archaic weapons systems were the experienced officers and crew of the Lancaster Castle and the Hurst Castle.

The Captain and First Officer of the Hurst Castle, Colonel Frank Murphy and Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Walters, studied the tactical use of these warheads along with their Weapons Officer, Lt. Jasmine Thomas. These three officers were huddled around the 3-D display in the trainer's mockup CIC brainstorming for anything that may have been missed by Bronson.

Cdr. Walters observed, "The bomb is almost useless. Even at only nine gees it will be impossible to predict where the dynamics of battle will lead the enemy to deploy their ships. How can they be maneuvered by us and drawn within its kill zone? We might have a chance of taking them out with the missile, but as slow as it is ... I don't know."

"That's not what we have them for, Sam," Murphy responded. "We're not planning to go into battle with these weapons. We're planning to use them to avoid a battle. Our ships are faster than theirs, which limits where the Sa'arm can position their ships to block our escape. These old warheads will be deployed where we DON'T want the Sa'arm to be. Their purpose is to deny the Sa'arm access to a position that would allow them to intercept our fleet."

Lt. Thomas noted, "The missile version may be slow and hard to put into an intercept trajectory, but it beats throwing rocks! Even as slow as it is it can give us a punch from a far greater distance than we've ever had before."

Col. Murphy leaned back. He had an appointment with Commodore Achord and didn't want to be late. Before leaving he told the other two, "I've got to throw in with Bronson's evaluation of the new plasma cannon. They're just along to make us feel good. If we get close enough to actually use them, then we can expect to get our butts kicked. Our only chance against a Sa'arm fleet is to make a hole and run like Hell! These nasty relics just might give us the hole we need. Keep at it, ladies."

Murphy encountered the Captain of the Lancaster Castle, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Wallace, as he approached Commodore Achord's quarters. They discovered that they both had appointments with the Commodore at the same time.

Achord directed the AI to admit to two officers when they were announced. "Good afternoon, gentlemen. Thank you for being prompt. I hated to pull you away from your busy training schedule, but I really need your opinions about staffing aboard the Sir Galahad. I understand that Commander Bronson is really challenging the crews with her training exercises. Actually, it's Commander Bronson that I want to discuss with you. Please, sit down." Achord indicated two comfortable-looking chairs.

Murphy smelled a rat. He considered Achord to be more of a politician than a commander. He was curious to know what Achord had up his sleeve; so, he smiled and remained silent.

A gloriously naked Nordic goddess stepped into the room carrying a tray with three tall glasses. Achord looked up, "Ah, thank you, my dear. Would you gentlemen join me with a refreshing Long Island Iced Tea?" The blonde bent over with her back and legs straight and extended the tray to Murphy and Wallace. Hand-eye coordination proved to be problematic since their focus was on the dangling melons instead of the icy glasses. Each of them managed to select a glass from the tray without knocking any of them over. Then, as they watched her breasts change shape as she moved her hips and shoulders back in line with her center of gravity, they each pondered the physics that supported the globes on the big woman's chest when she was vertical.

The two men's eyes were drawn to the juncture of the woman's legs when she was again standing straight. She paused for a moment to give them a good look before turning to serve Achord. She had a hairless pudenda protruding from below a thick pelt of spun gold. The orange-skin texture of the soft lips contrasted with the pale, smooth skin on her thighs and abdomen making the pouting pussy lips appear dark and inviting. When she finally did complete the turn the two men were eye level with a perfect pair of soft butt cheeks. The turn also revealed a thick braid of golden yellow hair that hung past her butt crack until she bent to offer Achord the last glass on her tray. This pushed her soft pussy lips through the firm thighs below the shock absorbing protrusions on her butt cheeks.

Achord smiled as the lust slipped through the masks of calm on his guests' faces. "Have you gentlemen not met Frieda? She's an absolute treasure, don't you think?"

Frieda tucked the empty tray under her left arm as she turned to face Murphy and Wallace. She blushed prettily when they began breathing again and mumbled their polite "Pleased to meet you," responses. The pale blue of her eyes sparkled as she acknowledged the complements with a nod and left without speaking.

"To Earth," Achord said as he lifted his glass and was joined by the other two in his toast to their home world and took a sip from their glasses. Each of the ship captains looked expectantly at the commodore.

"To business then," Achord announced. "I asked you here because the two of you are the only captains with real combat experience who will be in my command. I'd like your opinions of Commander Bronson's abilities as a tactician. She has requested to be included in this mission and has the endorsement of Admiral Forney."

People rarely surprised Murphy. That Achord would admit to ignorance of anything was out of Murphy's experience with high-ranking, pompous asses. 'Maybe there's hope for him after all, ' Murphy thought as he revised his opinion of the commodore upwards a notch or two.

As the ranking officer, Murphy spoke first. "I have found her training scenarios to be very thorough. She appears to have a firm grasp of typical Sa'arm tactics and has some rather new and unique ideas for countering them. She did exceedingly well in the role of a Sa'arm commander in the scenarios. She isn't very familiar with the fire and maneuver tactics that we Castle skippers like to employ, but she appears to be a quick study. I'm not sure that an experienced officer would do any better for this mission because they would tend to focus on opportunities to fight instead of openings for flight. My own crew suffers from that disability as well, I'm afraid." Murphy ended with an amused smile.