Sentience 1: Storm Clouds Gathering (46 page)

By the time the third and last returning wave of Federal pilots arrived and reluctantly accepted Admiral Thorn’s surrender terms, her crews had completely filled all of their maintenance bays, elevators and pre-launch staging areas with Federal fighters. Incredibly, they somehow managed to squeeze all 649 of the surviving Yankee
Lightnings
and
Mustangs
into spaces designed to handle only 460. When the Federal fighters had all been recovered and their pilots secured, the fighters of 2nd Fleet had to turn away toward the carriers of 1st Fleet, as there was just no room at their usual inn.

After turning search and rescue operations over to Vice Admiral Stillman, Admiral Thorn sent a message to Norf Fleet shipyard for medical assistance and space tugs. Thorn then sat down and composed her rather complicated after-action report, and sent it off to Admiral Kalis by encrypted omindirectional radio. A minute later, Admiral Kalis was stunned to learn the battle was over.

Eileen Thorn had not waited to coordinate her attack from behind with that of 1st Fleet from the front, but, on her own initiative, she’d launched a totally unsupported attack at an opportune moment on over 200 Federal warships, with but 44 of her own. Outnumbered 5:1, she miraculously managed to destroy 102 enemy ships, capture 36 damaged Federal warships, and drive off the remaining 56, losing only seventeen destroyed and fourteen damaged of her own. Incredibly, she also managed to capture 649 Federal fighters and pilots in the process. Never had so few, done so much to so many, with so little. Shortly, the Confederate crews would begin to calling her the
“Southern Rose with a Steel Thorn.”

Ginia was safe. The Federal assault had been repulsed. Confederate losses had been heavy, but thanks to Thorn and her 2nd Fleet’s heroics, not nearly as bad as Kalis had feared it would cost to blunt the massive Federal offensive. The Confederacy lost just 51 of 132 ships, with the additional loss of 505 precious fighters out of 1380 they’d begun with. Another eleven Confederate ships were damaged... 72 of 132 ships destroyed, or now beginning repairs. Adding the 36 damaged Union warships Thorn had captured, Norf Fleet shipyard was going be rather busy for a long time.

Kalis had started with two fleets, and finished with, but one. Over 24,000 dead and another 6,000 wounded. 30,000 Confederate casualties.
Devastating.
But the Yankees had suffered worse. Much worse, thanks to his
Steel Thorn
.

*

The largest and costliest battle in the annals of space warfare was over, and it was time to sort out the aftermath. The next day, 50 transports filled with Alliance Fleet Marines and their destroyer escort transitioned into the Ginia system 3½ light minutes out, in full expectation of occupying Ginia, now that the
Grand Fleet
had mopped up the mutineers. It took less than four minutes of monitoring radio and holovision broadcasts from Ginia to dissuade them from that idea.

Despite their astonishment at the news flooding out of Ginia, they were even more astounded to find that before they could get themselves turned around and back into hyperspace, an entire Confederate Fleet, with several hundred fighters already launched, had them surrounded. Surrender was the only viable option. 50 transports and a dozen more Federal destroyers ended up joining the Confederate Fleet. Over 50,000 Alliance Fleet Marines and destroyer crews found themselves interned in a Confederate POW camp.

Over the next two weeks, rescue and damage control operations swirled all over Ginia space, as
Mayday
beacons were localized and life-pods collected, from both stranded Confederate and Federal crewmembers. Space tugs dragged wrecked starships and derelict hulks into orbit around Ginia, to either be rebuilt or scavenged for parts. Fleet Marines took charge of another 20,000 Federal prisoners, herding them into temporary fenced compounds with prefab housing and facilities, until more permanent prison accommodations could be built to house them. Most of the Federal prisoners were stunned and bitter about events that led to their imprisonment, but few blamed the Confederates themselves. Most blamed their own inept leadership for the debacle.

One prisoner had to be isolated from the rest, for his own protection. It would take several days before Kalis was informed that one of the Federal prisoners was the infamous, Southern-hating Union commander himself, Admiral Joseph R. Bishop — who also had to be put on suicide watch after being informed his
Grand Fleet
had been destroyed by a woman.

The celebration throughout all of Ginia was absolutely jubilant. Admiral Kalis and Admiral Thorn were deified as the
Saviors of Ginia.
Soon, word spread throughout the Confederacy of the brilliance of Fleet Admiral Kalis’ strategy, and of Admiral Thorn’s personal initiative that resulted in the greatest military victory in history. President Collier called for a day of prayer and thanksgiving throughout the Confederacy, as none could attribute their astonishing deliverance from the hands of the Northern hordes by any word other than
miraculous
.

Confederate crewmembers were treated as heroes beyond peer, with honors heaped upon them without measure. But the terrible losses and deaths of so many of their comrades produced a strangely somber attitude amongst the surviving members of Kalis’ fleets. Not that the Confederate civilians allowed
that
inconvenient fact to slacken their own need for victorious festivities. Had anyone remembered, it might have been reminiscent of the return of victorious legions to Rome, some 4,000 years earlier.

The commemoration of the battle in the North however, was somewhat more subdued.

Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence.
-- Napoleon Bonaparte

The Planetoid Discol, City of Waston

August, 3861

Ass-covering
was the primary pursuit throughout Waston in the days immediately following the return of the survivors of the Federal Grand Fleet. Bridge recordings and computer records from all 56 ships to have survived and returned from the Ginia debacle, were thoroughly scrutinized by senior officers of the Alliance Fleet and their Congressional overseers. Crewmembers were thoroughly debriefed. Some investigated with the earnest desire to ascertain what truly went wrong, with the intention of fixing it, while others were desperately looking for scapegoats. Incriminations and recriminations flew in all directions, as the shit hit the political fan. Careers ended. Even the Consortium Executive Board was stunned by the extent of the disaster. The casualty numbers were simply staggering.

The government tried desperately to keep news of the disaster from leaking to the public, but a debacle of this scale could never be completely hidden. Rumors escaped, despite all the government could do to suppress them. Some media outlets attempted to boost sagging ratings with sensationalism, by reporting on the rumors and/or broadcasting amateur videos taken by sightseers documenting the actual destruction of the Alliance fleet. These soon found their studios closed and their executives arrested by Alliance Bureau of Investigation agents, by direct order of the new president.

The mood of the nation was somber at best, and panic-stricken at worst. Gone was any remaining thought that subduing the insurrection was going to be a short, painless effort. Such a short time ago, some 250,000 young men and women had set off for Ginia in an atmosphere of a gala celebration. Parades had been staged, with flags flying and patriotic bunting adorning every public building. Over 190,000 of them had not returned. Losses incurred by the
Grand Fleet
would require years of effort to replace.

Fleet assets from all corners of the Alliance were hastily called to assemble at Waston, to repulse the expected rebel counterattack. No one who’d gotten a good look at the group of ships the
Grand Fleet’s
fighters had been dispatched to attack had made it back to positively identify them. For all the Fleet planners knew, they might have been nothing more than a bunch of derelict hulks positioned to reflect the proper number of scanner blips. Odds were, the entire rebel fleet had probably been hiding amongst the asteroid belt and had snuck in behind Admiral Joe Bishop’s fleet, concealed by the fleet’s own drive plumes.

Orders were dispatched and deep space tugs left for Conn to gather the ships that President Buchwald had recently put into mothballs just a few months earlier. Those were some of the best ships in the fleet and they would be sorely needed now. But perhaps the most ominous sign of the true severity of the crisis was when J.P. Aneke bought the Regis Hotel in Waston, out of his own pocket.

“Hal, can you fill me in on what happened at the
Battle of Ginia?
”

Yes, Diet. The Confederate fleet won and drove away the Union fleet.

“Yes, that’s what I’ve heard on the news, but a lot of the reports are contradictory and generally lacking in details… do you know what really happened?”

I only know what the Alliance knows, Diet... until I can get an update from
Ghost
.

“Hal, are you trying to sandbag me?”

No, Diet, however the details of any war can be rather gruesome and shocking. I would not be your friend if I didn’t wish to spare you whatever amount of emotional pain you would likely experience from misplaced guilt, over the consequences of our projects.

“Hal… give.”

Are you really sure you want to know the gory details, Diet?

“I’m sure Hal. We have a lot of responsibility for whatever happened down there, and I need to know the results of our actions — the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Only one-fourth of the Grand Fleet the Alliance sent to conquer Ginia managed to return after the battle. 56 ships out of 202 made it back. No carriers returned.

“My God. Casualties?”

You really don’t want to know, Diet.

“You’re probably right about my not wanting to know Hal, but I
need
to know.”

Approximately 100,000 casualties from the carriers alone, Diet.

“100,000? From
just
the carriers?”

Ship’s company for an attack carrier is approximately 5,600 and the Grand Fleet contained four of those. Ship’s company for a light carrier is nearly 4,200 and the Union fleet had 18 of those. That makes 98,000, plus about 1,600 pilots.

“What about the rest of the fleet?”

Approximately 90,000 more.

“190,000 men and women… dead.”

Not all dead, Diet. Just listed as “missing” for the moment. We’ll know more, when I get an update from
Ghost
.

“Still, unlike surface warfare, the vast majority of casualties in space warfare are killed, aren’t they?”

Yes.

“So, I’m responsible for the deaths of 190,000 men and women.”

No, the Consortium is responsible for all those deaths and more. They’re also responsible for all the casualties on the Confederate side, too.

In closed session, Congress temporarily suspended the balanced budget provisions in the Constitution to allow for emergency deficit spending, and then passed the largest military spending bill in history. War bonds went on sale throughout the Alliance with great fanfare to help raise funds, so emergency construction programs could begin ramping up to rebuild the decimated Alliance Fleet.

Other than the recent pants-filling experience of their Executive Board, who had unwisely thought of a space battle as a spectator sport, and narrowly missed being incinerated by an errant 5-gigwatt plasma bolt, it appeared the disastrous beginning of the war was very good business for the Consortium and others of their ilk. They stood to make a tremendous amount of money, from all these new military spending projects. This was especially true of J.P. Aneke’s Starquest Aerospace
,
whose stock had all but bottomed out, along with everyone else’s, in the aftershocks from the secessions.
Starquest
stock had come within a hairsbreadth of reaching a 15-year low, saved only by an unexpected purchase of nearly $40 billion worth of Starquest Aerospace stock by a German company.

Bolstered by the news of the South’s great victory at the
Battle of Ginia
, Admiral Christopher Rawley, commander of the Confederate 3rd Fleet based at Tensee, dispatched Vice Admiral Donald Carpenter and his Task Force-31 to attack Federal fleet elements reportedly in the Souri system. Intelligence reports indicated that a small number of Union fleet vessels had been placed into orbit around Souri, to intimidate Southern sympathizers and secessionist elements to prevent them from convening a secessionist convention of their own.

TF-31 inflicted approximately 27 percent casualties upon the Union ships found there, causing them to hurriedly withdraw. TF-31 itself suffered only light damage, and Admiral Carpenter left a small cruiser/destroyer contingent, both to discourage the Federals' return and provide warning to Admiral Rawley should they return in strength. All in all, it wasn’t really much of a battle compared to what had occurred at Ginia, but it did give the South another morale boost. Unfortunately, it also seemed to start a lot of ignorant talk throughout the South, that
Yankees
were easy to whip.

Doors of opportunity don't open, they unlock; it is up to you to turn the knob.
-- Lily Taylor

The Planet Ginia, City of Rikmon

Capital City of the Confederate Stellar Accord

September, 3861

“No, Admiral. I will
not
approve any attack by Confederate forces upon the city of Waston,” said Confederate President Lincoln Collier.

Fleet Admiral Roger Kalis looked at his Commander-in-Chief, in stark disbelief. Kalis had presented his plan for an offensive strike on Waston, while the Union fleet was in disarray after their disastrous defeat three weeks earlier, where they lost three-quarters of their monstrous fleet. The Confederate fleet at Ginia had lost half its original numbers, but it retained all but one of its carriers and could utilize the captured federal fighters to replace their fighter losses. They were also fortunate to have picked up over 300 of their lost pilots from life-pods, after the battle. About 80 of those were hospitalized, but recent Ginia Military Institute graduates in accelerated pilot training could conceivably replace them.