“We are going to serve on a warship.” She said smiling brightly.
“Yes.” Adrian said. He turned and led the way to the where the ship was docked, Bethany following excitedly.
Chapter Nineteen
March 2103
“Are you sure this will work?” President Lucas Von Holt of Concordis asked Admiral Jan Weiss. They were in Berlin, inside his office. The rest of the room was filled with the other leaders of Concordis. The representatives of the council of three, Maria Hughes, Emerson Tully and Yuri Petrov , the Minister of the Economy Amelia Turner, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Boris Vitkovic and the Minister of Defense Victor Ross.
“Our plan is solid.” Admiral Weiss said.
President Von Holt sighed. “Are we absolutely sure that there is no other alternative?” He asked the room.
“We have tried everything in our power, but the bastard won’t budge.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Vitkovic said tiredly.
“He is right Mr. President. Tomas Klein won’t change his mind, he will never sell us his technology. And we can’t keep going like this. He keeps us under his control, we are too dependent on them, and we can’t afford to stop doing business with Olympus.” Minister of the Economy Turner said.
“Could we find another solution maybe? Sometime in the future? Olympus had always dealt fairly with us, none of you showed me any proof that they plan on changing that.” President Von Holt said.
“It doesn’t matter, they are dealing fairly with us yes, but they keep all the power. Each year they are gaining more and more of a technological edge on us. If they shared their technology we could have brought an end to most of our problems, overpopulation, hunger, disease.” Minister of Defense Ross said.
“Tomas Klein offered to use their technology for us.” President said.
“Yes, but with Olympus in charge, they want to keep all the control, we wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near their technology, and in the end they would be seen as the saviors by the people.” Minister of Economy Turner said.
“Mr. President it is our belief that he wants to control the entire world, every move he made since even before Olympus was created suggests that, as his final goal.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Vitkovic said.
“Well if that is the case, why are we not under Olympus rule?” President asked.
“We don’t know sir. But the truth is that we are even now in his power, and we can’t afford not to act. If we are to regain our self-sufficiency we must do this now.” Admiral Weiss said.
“Are you 100% sure that your plan will work as you presented?” President asked.
“Yes sir. Olympus has no assets to prevent it, and if everything goes according to plan, we will come out as heroes. Even if they suspect something they won’t be able to act, public opinion will be on our side, we have news stories ready to go live.” Admiral Weiss said confidently.
“It’s the “if everything goes according to plan” part that has me worried.” President said, he looked across the room at the council representatives. “Are you all in agreement? Are we going through with this?” He asked.
The three looked at each other and then each said a clear “Yes.”
President Lucas Von Holt took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
“Very well then.” He opened his eyes and looked at the people around him. “Put your plan into action, and hope to god that it works, because if you fail that will be the end of Concordis.”
Seven days later
Captain Reginald Smith sat in the command chair aboard the bridge of Concordis military vessel Bismarck, the bridge was almost an exact copy of a navy carrier bridge, with a few stations removed and a few added, a bit larger perhaps, and of course without any windows, there was a big screen mounted inside the front wall, it could show the images from the outside of the ship, the ship had some of the more advanced optical cameras and telescopes created. The Bismarck was the first of her kind, a herald of a new age, the age of spaceflight. Captain Smith had been serving or commanded a naval vessel for the most of his life, and when plans for the Bismarck came, he was on the very short list of its potential captains. She and her two sister ships were ugly ships by any criteria, but then, they didn’t need to be pretty. They were there to protect Concordis interests in space. The weaponry of the ship was crude by some standards and yet in a way sophisticated. There were many ideas about weapons in space, but with no experience they had decided on a more proven concepts. Rocket propelled missiles where a simple solution, they were guided and each had 50 kilotons of explosive. They weren’t the biggest they could make but the brass decided that it was enough. Their range was just around 150.000 km at their max effective range. Those who served aboard them had taken to calling the ship a missile boat, which they were in a way. They handled like pigs, and looked like uneven grey boxes. There were many antennae on the hull, sensors, communication relays and such, though those were concentrated on the bottom of the ship towards the end and their drives were improvement on those that were used almost a century ago to get a man on the moon.
Captain Smith looked around the bridge, he was familiar with many of the crew, and was quickly becoming acquainted with the rest. They were all good men and women, loyal to their country, which was the reason why they got this assignment.
The Bismarck’s mission was complicated, and also top secret, they were to dock with Olympus Cloud station, then two squads of marines, dressed in such a way as to not appear to be from Concordis, would board the station, Captain Smith didn’t know their part of the mission, but he was assured that there would be no casualties. The Cloud station only had a handful of security officers, there had never been any need for more, and he was assured that they would surrender rather than risk injury to the civilian population of the station. The Bismarck was to play a part of a vessel hijacked by a dissident group. After docking they would transmit demands to Olympus, and stall until the marines finished their mission. The Bismarck’s two sister ships are even now following behind them, on orders to keep their distance, when Bismarck docks with the station, the Dauntless and the Viking would come into range and offer their help to Olympus, the Bismarck, after the marines accomplished their mission, would surrender into Concordis custody, the treat of two Concordis ships changing their mind. It was devised in such a way to fool the public eye, and they already had the dissidents that they plan to frame in custody. Captain Smith wasn’t 100% comfortable with the mission, but he was a soldier, and he followed orders. He knew that their mission objective was something important to the survival of Concordis.
Lieutenant Kraus turned in his seat at the communications station towards the Captain who watched a display in front of his chair, display showed the Bismarck’s current course, speed and a number of other important stats.
“We are being contacted by the Station Captain.” Lt. Kraus said.
“Follow the plan, ignore them.” Captain said.
The Captain then turned back to his display, trying to imagine what was going through the minds of those on the station. His first officer, Commander Olga Pavlov interrupted him by leaning over from her chair beside him.
“Are we sure that they have no defensive capabilities.” She whispered as to not be heard by the rest of the bridge. Captain Smith scowled at her for such blatant distrust of their superiors, but managed to subdue the impulse to scold her in presence of those serving under them, and this was their first real mission in space, and he understood that she like probably everyone on board were a bit afraid.