Compared to the Outer Planets the four Inner Planets hugged the Sun. If one changed the millions of kilometers to mere steps, the relationship became more easily understood. Admiral Rica Sioux recalled her grade school science class and the teacher who had actually made the subject enjoyable. From the Sun to Mercury would be one step. To Venus would be one more step or two steps from the Sun. To the Earth would be another step and Mars one more or four steps away from the Sun. But to go from Mars to Jupiter took nine more steps or a total of thirteen steps from the Sun. Saturn would be 25 steps from the Sun, Uranus 50 steps, Neptune 78 and Pluto 103 steps. The nearest star, Alpha Centarui, would take 200 miles worth of stepping using this model, while the distance between the Earth and the Moon would be the width of a person’s little finger.
The planets, naturally, didn’t all orbit around the Sun in unison, with each one perfectly lined up behind the other. Each circled Sol at different speeds and as a matter of course, some had farther to travel than others. Mercury took 88 days to complete one circuit around the Sun. Venus 225 days, Earth one year or 365.26 days, and Mars took 687 days to travel one complete circuit around the Sun.
Such were the major terrain features of the inner system, with each planet tugging with its gravity, although none pulled upon objects like the monstrous Sun. Each planet and even their moons and of course the Sun created gravity wells, deep holes in terms of escape velocities needed to climb out of, and they also created gravity centers that bent light and thus laser beams that sped past them and they also effected missiles in flight. It was always much easier to shoot objects like missiles or asteroids down gravity wells than up them. Minor terrain features like the magnetic belts, such as the Earth’s Van Allen Belt, and the solar wind also had to be taken into account by firing computers and ship’s AI.
The Bangladesh sped past Mercury as the planet continued it endless journey around Sol. Much farther ahead of Mercury in its own counter-clockwise orbit was the Earth, almost so the Earth was out of the line-of-sight of someone standing on Mercury. If they were out of the line-of-sight, then direct laser-link communications would be impossible, as the Sun would block such a beam. Given time, Mercury would lap the Earth, but by then it wouldn’t matter to the Bangladesh. Venus was farther behind Mercury but not by as much as the Earth was ahead. Mars, in its much slower circuit around the Sun, was presently between Venus and Mercury in terms of line-of-sight arcs.
Admiral Rica Sioux studied the four planets and their relative positions because of General Hawthorne’s complex fleet maneuvering.
The Bangladesh, as it passed Mercury, had changed heading so that given time she would reach Mars. Meanwhile, three SU missileships from two very different locations sped up to match the beamship. They would all join a little beyond Venus’s orbital path. Two battleships, two cruisers and a missileship also built up speed to join them, but they wouldn’t link up until near the Earth’s orbital path.
Once all together they would be the strongest SU Fleet Flotilla. Still, any of the Doom Stars could take them, expect perhaps for the badly damaged Genghis Khan.
The Highborn, damn them, hadn’t been idle while all this took place. The Doom Star in orbit around Venus had left the planetary system and now gave chase, building up speed at sixteen Gs acceleration. The Gustavus Adolphus Doom Star that normally circled Mercury also gave chase. The goal of two such super-ships would usually be to bracket an enemy ship, although with the Bangladesh’s head start and the two Doom Stars’ starting locations that wasn’t going to be possible.
Even so, General Hawthorne had countered the Venus maneuver. He sent two SU battleships and six cruisers at Venus. They came from seven different places in the voids of Inner Planets.
To Admiral Sioux and probably to the Highborn as well, it looked as if the General had finally given up his game. Either that or he was trying to keep the Highborn honest and force them to keep their Doom Stars around each of the planets. Venus only had the one. So if Venus’s Doom Star traveled very far and built up too much speed, it wouldn’t be able to turn around in time to stop the two SU battleships and six SU cruisers that headed to Venus. That force could probably take on the HB laser stations in orbit around Venus and whatever orbital fighters they had. But if the Doom Star returned to Venus, those ships would have to alter course and flee. So it wouldn’t do for them to get to Venus too soon.
Fleet maneuvering in space was an intricate business, one of speed and heading and fuel and armor and missiles and lasers and re-supplies. Each side heavily leaned upon its predictive software and AI’s. Even Highborn minds couldn’t cope with the bewildering amount of data and spatial decisions.
Admiral Sioux twitched off the VR-monocle. In her gut, she wanted to gather all the SU spacecraft and try to hit one lone Doom Star. Look at what the Bangladesh had done to the Sun Works Factory. The Highborn weren’t invincible.
Concerning that, there had been a strange call five days ago from a Director Gannel, asking her opinion about gathering the Fleet. She’d decided to play it safe and had wanted to know what the Supreme Commander thought.
“Never mind that, Admiral. We want your opinion.”
“Who are we?”
“I speak for the Directorate of all Inner Planets.”
Arrogant politician, she hated their political games. She had not been able to avoid such games on her way to the top, but hated them all the same.
“I would of course obey a more aggressive policy,” she’d finally said.
“I’m not asking you about your loyalty, Admiral. I want to know what you think about hitting the Highborn harder.”
“If the correct safeguards are taken, it could be very beneficial to Social Unity.”
There had been a pause, much longer than the transmission time. Then he’d said, “I’d thought better of you, Admiral.”
And that had been the end of that. It meant a power struggle was going on, she was certain of it. But of whom and over what she didn’t know. When General Hawthorne had beamed his message he’d said nothing about new policies, but he had ordered this gathering. What did it mean?
She frowned. Better to concentrate on matters at hand, on things she could actually affect.
“Tracking,” she said.
“Yes, Admiral,” said the officer in her module.
“How soon until the HB missiles reach beam range?”
What she meant was how soon until the enemy jinking and ECM drones wouldn’t adversely affect the proton beam so that it would miss 19 out of 20 times. Usually that began anywhere from 100,000 to 80,000 kilometers, depending of the intricacy of the enemy’s electronics.
The Tracking Officer studied her board, studied the HB mass of missiles that had converged toward them, closing day by day, hour by hour.
“Soon now, Admiral. Say, two hundred and fifty minutes.”
Admiral Sioux rose and walked carefully toward the tracking module. They fled from Mercury, building up speed at one and one-half gravities, which played havoc on her knees if she moved around too much. They had burned at eight Gs for several hours, with everyone in the acceleration couches, but now they slowed and jinked. Zigzag jerks and starts and slow-downs and sudden accelerations were a matter of course during combat flight.
The Gustavus Adolphus had given chase ever since the Doom Star had dumped masses of lead impregnated aerogel and prismatic crystals near the Sun Works Factory. Social Unity had discovered this by an optic observer carefully hidden these several months between Mercury and Venus. The small ship with its powerful telescopes was sheathed in the latest stealth technology. The Gustavus Adolphus had no chance of hitting them at this range, but with those masses of missiles fast approaching, the Bangladesh’s choices had been narrowed. Its cones of probability weren’t as large as before.