Tad entered, sweating, out of breath. “Where’s Sevin? Can’t relieve him if I can’t find him.”
Galen said, “I let him go about ten minutes ago. Anyway, you’re half a minute late.”
“It’s not like there’s a battle going on right now.” Tad took a seat at the desk and turned on the flat screen. “Besides, the lift was out so I ran up the stairs.”
Galen now realized that when Sevin left he probably sent the lift back up and then turned it off, just to annoy Tad. He also knew that Polar knew how to turn the lift back on. The sound of the lift was barely audible, and by concentrating, Galen could hear it run and then stop at the bottom of the tower. Sevin could be a real pain in the ass when he wanted. And a real asset, when it mattered.
Karen looked out the window as she held the electronic clipboard. “So who loads first?”
Galen stood on her right side and pointed toward the marshalling yard. “The Brigade headquarters company. That’s the Hercules heavy tank company, your Administration and Logistics command post carrier, and the Tactical Operations Center command post carrier.”
“I’m familiar with the ALOC and TOC tracks. What are Hercules tanks like?”
Tad spoke, “They are the badest tanks ever made. Fifty six metric tons of pure combat muscle, fusion-powered battle-winning machines.”
“Well,” said Galen, “the Hercules has reached the limit of crew protection, meaning it can withstand a blow stronger than the crew inside can survive. And its oversized fusion power pack provides an excess amount of electrical power for the vehicle’s engines, weapons systems, communications and crew sustainment. The sealed crew areas can sustain the crew in anything from a complete vacuum to a crushing depth below a thousand meters of water pressure at standard G. The coaxial and cupola Gauss machine guns are twenty millimeter, capable of riddling the armor of lighter vehicles and some medium tanks, as well as all but the most rigid combat suits. And its armor, it’s the best. Right now we have heat-absorbing ceramic tiles bolted on over composite inertia-absorbing alloys, with the basic armored core under that, a lead and steel alloy designed to block radiation, and it can also be polarized to enhance its ability to block other types of energy, such as the plasma of particle cannons. But the main gun, that’s the best part. It carries a heavy laser, fired from a laser module in the breach. But the laser can be easily removed, even in a combat environment, and the 150mm smooth bore cannon can then accept a variety of conventional, chemically propelled rounds. Comparatively slower than other tanks, its cross-country top speed of 120KPH is still impressive.”
Karen smiled. “Wonderful. Only fifty six tons.”
“Combat loaded, yes. There are fourteen of them. My command tank and Spike’s, for the HQ. Then three platoons of four tanks each to round out the company.”
Tad swiveled his chair to face Karen. “Each platoon fits on a single drop boat, and my tank goes on a drop boat with the ALOC and TOC tracks, and Galen’s tank goes on the command drop ship, with Galen.”
Karen looked back out the window. “Tell me about those other tanks.”
Tad stood next to her. “That’s a battalion of Hellcat medium tanks. Seventeen tanks in each of its three companies, with five more tanks in the battalion headquarters. Designed for use on habitable worlds, the Hellcat uses organic fuel, preferably vegetable oil, to power the turbine engine. They use conventional cased ammunition for their 20mm coaxial and cupola machine guns, and their rifled 90mm main gun uses liquid propellant to fire kinetic rounds. And the liquid propellant comes right out of the same fuel cell that feeds fuel to the engine. But the rounds themselves are composites, which mean they are constructed as armor-piercing sabot. Once the round is in the chamber the gunner can choose to compress the round to cause the projectile to fuse into a solid mass, then relax the chamber to allow the projectile to fire as a single high-explosive/antitank slug. Also, the main gun can be used to fire artillery shells over distances up to forty kilometers. The armor can withstand a direct hit from any handheld weapon. But most importantly, the Hellcat has redundant mechanical control systems for everything but commo, so that it’s still functional after being hit by an electro-magnetic pulse. Although manual gunnery ain’t easy, it’s better than nothing.”
“Yeah, cave-man tanks. They’ll need a lot of logistical support,” said Karen.
Galen said, “Our support battalion is bringing enough organic fuel to sustain up to six days of combat operations. Which is enough to sustain training operations for the whole year we’ll be there, if we don’t have to fight anybody. Otherwise we’ll figure something out when we get there; the terraforming sky factories have to be producing some sort of byproduct we can use.”
Karen straightened. “Well I’ve already looked into it. The locals use organic fuel. There’s plenty, and it’s cheap. Not a problem. Now what are all those other vehicles in the yard?”
Galen said, “Oh. Those are the light tanks of the light tank battalion, and more light tanks and infantry fighting vehicles for the cavalry squadron and scout troop. They all use fusion engines, to give them the ability to stay in the field with minimal support for extended periods of time. Also, we have a battery of ground-mobile quad 40mm rail guns for air defense and direct support. They can go a month between logpacs, with a special logpac for Gauss and small arms ammo right after they get in a fight. And prisoner and casualty evacuation…”
Karen said, “I understand all that. And I know my cargo vehicles and Armored Personnel Carriers depend on organic fuel. But like I said, that won’t be a problem.”
“Uh, don’t get too attached to that support battalion. Chief Polar thinks it’s hers, and I do too. You need to focus on Brigade logistics, let her run that unit.”
“I see.” Karen scrolled down the page of the clipboard, went back a few pages. “These drop boats. They seem non-standard, able to take on slightly larger loads than normal.”
Galen smiled. “We captured them from the Mosh when their invasion of Alamo failed. We also own two of their transport ships. But we still depend on fleet contracts for jump ship support.”
“Okay, I’ll study up. You’ve made it clear that this is more my level of responsibility. Now, how are you getting to Juventud?”
“I’ll ride in the command drop ship, the one parked right out there.” Galen pointed out the window, downward, to the base of the tower.
Karen leaned forward to see it. “It looks like a drop boat.”
“It’s a drop ship. The size of the jump engine takes up most of space inside but there is enough room left for the command tank, its crew, the flight crew, me, and maybe you, if you want to ride it.”
Karen looked straight at Galen. Her face was blank.
Galen said, “I’m pretty sure the board of directors wants you to keep an eye on me and give regular reports back to them. I don’t care. You have free and unfettered access to me and anything else that might be your business. As long as your actions don’t interfere with the unit’s mission, we’ll get along just fine.”
“We won’t have a problem; it’s not what you think.” Karen turned to stare out the window.
Galen turned toward the door and said over his shoulder, “See you at shift change.”
“Wait! What are all those vehicles parked in the back?”
Galen faced her, and then looked to where he finger pointed. “Oh, that’s the mechanized infantry battalion. Fusion powered infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled 120mm mortars, towed guns, an engineer platoon, and a battery of infantry support assault guns. Plus a few other things. Six hundred and sixty mercenaries, highly skilled infantry, every last one of them. They load here last because they’ll be the first ones in to secure the landing area for the rest of us.”