“No, no!” Chernikov laughed. “No, this is not quite so grave. Indeed, one might almost call it planning for the future.”
“Well that has a cheerful ring.”
“Russians are not always melancholy, Horus. Generally, but not always. No, my major concern stems from the high probability that our planetary shield will be forced back into atmosphere. Our ODCs will be fairly capable of self-defense, although we anticipate high losses among them if the planetary shield is forced back, but our orbital industrial capacity will, unfortunately, also be exposed. Nor will it be practical to withdraw it to the planetary surface.”
That was true enough, Horus reflected. They’d accepted that from the beginning, but by building purely for a weightless environment they’d been able to produce more than twice the capacity in half the time.
“What do you have in mind?”
“I am about to become gloomy again,” the Russian warned, and Horus chuckled. “Let us assume we have succeeded in driving off the scouts but that Dahak has not returned when the main incursion arrives. I realize that our chances of survival in such an eventuality are slight, yet it is not in me to say there are none. Perhaps it is unrealistic of me, but I admire the American John Paul Jones and respect his advice. Both the more famous quote, and another: It seems a law inflexible unto itself that he who will not risk cannot win. I may not have it quite correct, but I believe the spirit comes through.”
“This is heading somewhere?” Horus asked quizzically.
“It is. If we lose our orbital industry, we lose eighty percent of our total capacity. This will leave us much weaker when we confront the main incursion. Even if we beat off the scouts quickly and with minimal losses—a happy state of affairs on which we certainly cannot depend—we will be hard-pressed to rebuild even to our current capacity out of our present Imperial planetary industry. I therefore propose that we should place greater emphasis on increasing our planetary industrial infrastructure.”
“I agree it’s desirable, but where do you plan to get the capacity?”
“With your permission, I will discontinue the production of mines.”
“Ah?”
“I have studied their capabilities, and while they are impressive, I feel they will be less useful against the scouts than an increase in planetary industrial capacity will be to our defense against the main incursion.”
“Why?”
“Essentially, the mines are simply advanced hunter-killer satellites. Certainly their ability to attack vessels as they emerge from hyper is useful, yet they will be required in tremendous numbers to cover effectively the volume of space we must protect. Their attack radius is no more than ninety thousand kilometers, and mass attacks will be required to overpower the defenses of any alert target. Because of these limitations, I doubt our ability to produce adequate numbers in the time available to us. I would prefer to do without them in order to safeguard our future industrial potential.”
“I see.” Horus pursed his lips, then nodded. “All right, I agree.”
“Thank you.”
“Now, Marshal,” Horus turned to Tsien, “you mentioned something about operational problems?”
“Yes, Governor. General Amesbury’s Scanner Command is well prepared to detect the enemy’s approach, but we do not know whether we would be better advised to send our units out to meet them as they move in-system after leaving hyper or to concentrate closer to Earth for sorties from within the shield after they have closed with the planet. The question also, of course, is complicated by the possibility that the Achuultani might attempt a pincer attack, using one group of scouts to draw our sublight units out of position and then micro-jumping across the system to attack from another direction.”
“And you want to finalize operational doctrine?”
“Not precisely. I realize that this almost certainly will not be possible for some time and that much ultimately will depend upon the differences between Achuultani technology and our own. For the moment, however, I would like to grant Admiral Hawter’s request to deploy our existing units for operational training and war games in the trans-asteroidal area. It will give the crews valuable experience with their weapons, and, more importantly, I believe, give our command personnel greater confidence in themselves.”
“I agree entirely,” Horus said firmly. “And it’ll also let us use some of the larger asteroids for target practice—which means the Achuultani won’t be able to use them for target practice on us! Proceed with it immediately, by all means, Marshal Tsien. Vassily, I’ll take your recommendations to the Council. Unless someone there can give me an overpowering counter-argument, they’ll be approved within forty-eight hours. Is that good enough?”
“Eminently, Governor.”
“Good. In that case, gentlemen, let’s get into our suits. I want to see ODC Two firsthand.”
The Achuultani scouts gathered their strength once more, merging into a single huge formation about their flagship. A brilliant F5 star lay barely five light-years distant, but it held no interest for them. Their instruments probed and peered, listening for the electromagnetic voices they had come so far to find. The universe was vast. Not even such accomplished killers as they could sweep it of all life, and so worlds such as T’Yir were safe unless the scouts literally stumbled across them.
But other worlds were not, and the sensor crews caught the faint signals they had sought. Directional antennae turned and quested, and the scouts reoriented themselves. A small, G2 star called to them, and they went to silence it forever.
Chapter Eleven
“Barbarian!” Tamman shook his head mournfully as he took a fresh glass of lemonade from his wife and buried his sorrows in its depths.
“And why might that be, you effete, over-civilized, not to say decadent, epicure?” Colin demanded.
“That ought to be obvious. Mesquite charcoal? How … how Texan!”
Colin stuck out his tongue, and meat juices hissed as he turned steaks. A fragrant cloud of smoke rose on the heat shimmer of the grill, pushed out over the lake by the park deck’s cool breezes, and the volley ball tournament was in full cry. He glanced up in time to see Colonel Tama Matsuo, Tamman’s grandson, launch a vicious spike. One of the German team’s forwards tried to get under it, but not even an enhanced human could have returned that shot.
“Banzai!” the Sendai Division’s team screamed, and the Germans muttered darkly. Jiltanith applauded, and Matsuo bowed to her, then prepared to serve. His hand struck the ball like a hammer, and Colin winced as it bulleted across the net.
“Now, Tamman, don’t be so harsh,” his critic’s wife chimed in. “After all, Colin’s doing the best he knows how.”
“Oh, thank you, kind lady! Thank you! Just remember—your wonderful husband is the one who courted bad luck by broiling tai in miso last week.”
Recon Captain Amanda Givens laughed, her cafe-au-lait face wreathed in a lovely smile, and Tamman pulled her down beside him to kiss her ear.
“Nonsense,” he said airily. “Just doing my bit to root out superstition. Anyway, I was out of salt.”
Amanda snuggled closer to him, and Colin grinned. Dahak’s sickbay had regenerated the leg she’d lost in the La Paz raid in time for her wedding, and the sheer joy she and Tamman took in one another warmed Colin’s heart, even though their marriage had caused a few unanticipated problems.
Dahak had always seemed a bit pettish over the Terran insistence that one name wasn’t good enough. He’d accepted it—grumpily—but only until he got to attend the first wedding on his decks in fifty thousand years. In some ways, he’d seemed even more delighted than the happy couple, and he’d hardly been able to wait for Colin to log the event officially.