Excerpt from Giant Among the Stars, the biography of Admiral Patrick Field, by Sir Julian Stafford Corbett
In any examination of the events coarsely dubbed “The Wallis Incident,” it is important to understand the context. Indeed, such a search for context is the burden and joy of any historian. The British Stellar Empire of 1853 - though it was not yet styled as such - was only recently aware of the existence of jump points and the ability to travel to other stars as easily as stepping through a doorway. The British Aether Navy consisted of a handful of support craft; freighters, colony ships, a pair of couriers, a single troop transport, and four survey vessels.
Still to come were the glorious military victories by the spacers. The Aether Navy had exactly zero warships and zero threats. The British Navy (water-going, mind you) of the past 60 years had been responsible for Copenhagen, Trafalgar, and the Empire War. The Army had conquered the world. The Aether Navy had ferried a few prisoners to a penal colony on Mars . . .
In this environment the chances for glory were few and far between. Du Randt on the
Emerald had discovered Middlesex and made history as the first aether tar orbiting another sun. So it seemed that exploration was the road to glory in the Aether Navy of 1853 and 1854. An interesting paradox, certainly, given that the drive to explore was to understand how many monsters were lurking in the shadows without actually angering any of them. The fleet of four Jump Phoenix class ships was built at a high cost in political capital, in the teeth of opposition from Parliament, the Admiralty, and even the Queen herself.
Therefore, the actions of then-Captain of the List Patrick Field were in an environment where the only available laurels were to be found by exploring the stars, which was the one thing that the Aether Navy was not meant to do. In such an environment, any opportunity to perform within the bounds of one’s orders was to be seized.
Captain Field’s
Phoenix had just returned and reported the overview survey of Surrey. Along with the
Chimera, the two Jump Phoenixes were to wait at Earth for revictualling and rest for their crews. Under Queen Victoria’s mandate Surrey was to be searched for geological artifacts and minerals and - unspoken though the order was - threats. The
Hydra was out-system in Sol surveying for further jump points and passages into the system, and the
Griffin was doing the same in Middlesex.
The next events have been told through various dramatizations; books, stage productions, even an opera. Captain Field, after speaking to his first officer, bo’sun, and Marine lieutenant, volunteered the
Phoenix to return Surrey and begin conducting the survey, citing his crew’s eagerness as well as
Hydra’s distance out-system. Do bear in mind, dear reader, that this was before the days of prize money offered for habitable planets. The fact that the crew was willing to forego six weeks’ leave for another twelve months in the aether is a testament either to the pull of the stars or of Admiral Field, or both.
With orders in hand, Field and the
Phoenix restocked and floated from Plymouth. Additionally, Field was “directed to inform the master of HMSS
Griffin to proceed to a geological survey of Surrey with all expediency.” Note the ambiguity of the expediency - is it the
Phoenix or the
Griffin which is required to be expedient? A later board of inquiry made its judgment, but it is far more interesting if you make your own.
The
Hydra, with Captain Nathan Wallis commanding, was still to head into Surrey, as ordered. But no longer would she be the first ship there, or the first to survey the possibly-inhabited worlds around the star.
It is likely that Field would have done as he did regardless of the other captains involved. But the perceived snub to Captain Wallis aboard the
Hydra was, no doubt, an extra blessing. Much has been made of the rivalry between the two. They were at Eton together, certainly. It is likely apocryphal that the gap in Wallis’ teeth was caused by Field during the wall game, and that the play ended in a kicked goal which won Field’s team the game. The sparring over Sally Dunworth is likely also overblown, though it might have been perceived competition that spurred Fields into a notoriously loveless marriage. And their time at the Admiralty was well-known to have been fraught with posturing and contests. Regardless of any petty jealousies, however, Captain Field’s actions were certainly motivated by a love of glory.
In his captain’s logbook and letters of the time, we also see very clearly that Field regarded all of Surrey as “his” discovery. While his letters are careful to keep such megalomania hidden, he is overt in his regard of the worlds that would come to be called Boreas and Zephyr as his discoveries as well. The idea that the Martian race was just around the next star was still rampant at the time, rekindled by each new discovery. Field clearly thought that he was sailing to Britain’s first meeting with an alien species, and he would stop at nothing to be the one to make contact.
In this light, Field’s actions are no less underhanded, but are - if one may editorialize for a moment - underhanded in the manner of gentlemanly underhandedness since the time of Charlemagne. While not right, they were not quite wrong, either. The
Phoenix slipped through the jump gate into Middlesex and sent standard codes and greetings to the outpost on Ares and to the
Griffin, conducting its survey out-system in Middlesex. It wasn’t until the
Phoenix was a half day away from the jump into Surrey that Field sent the updated orders to
Griffin, ensuring that he would reach Surrey first.
Of course, it is clear now that all was in vain. No Martains, no ruins, and no sign of civilization, though certainly to be the first man to walk among the glasstree forests on Boreas or to see the rise of Anemoi from the Darkling Plain on Zephyr would have been an amazing experience. Alas, it is one of life’s fond ironies that the men who have such experiences are seldom fulfilled by them . . .
~~~
Excerpted from the notes of Vice-Commissioner Dylan Wall of the British Colonial Administration5th of February, 1853 - Captain Field has left to begin the survey of the new system, dubbed Surrey. Two more survey ships are accompanying, and the fourth and last of the survey fleet is looking for further gravitational tunnels in Middlesex. While there are some aether elements that are scarce in Sol in relative terms, none seems to be in such dire straits as to go dragging mines across the skies. I should know, I have to sign off on the bloody reports every week.
30th of March - The Admiralty, bowing to some pressure from the Queen, I’m told, has decided that the
Chimera will continue its survey of jump points in the aether around our sun, cutting the number of ships surveying Surrey down to two. That means at least two years to complete the survey there, estimated, and more than that to finish surveys in Middlesex and Sol regarding gravitational wave confluences. While I don’t like the idea of giving the exploration factions more ships, I have thrown my support behind the construction of two more Jump Phoenix vessels. The sooner the surveys are complete, the sooner I can put this whole business to rest.
I was also privy to the first proposals put forth by our industrial and scientific establishment in response to requested armament designs. While there were some attempts by aether armament designers to create space-based weapons similar to gauss artillery or optical cannons, none seemed to address the issues of reacting to both range and speed. A design for massive, self-propelled warheads the size of main battle cannons seems to be the front-runner, along with accompanying tubes for launching from a ship and from the ground. I, for one, don’t see how such a system could function from the ground, but that is up to the boffins and not I. The aether engines driving these monsters are the size of a small carriage themselves and use the latest technology, so perhaps there is a chance for them.
10th of April - I have received a report, publicized very sparsely, that the xenolinguistic faculties on Ares have finally completed the deciphering of the ruins. My early impressions are correct - I should’ve taken Curtis on that fifty pound wager. The inhabitants of Ares not only weren’t Martians, they were barely even spacefaring. Their level of technology seems on par with the Empire’s, if one forgets the advances made through picking over the ruins on Mars. Coupled with a permanent temperature of nearly 100 degrees below freezing, Ares has not shaped up to be the hoped-for world.
1st of May - Mixed news from Mars today. The 34th (Berlin) Pioneers have disturbed another group of clockwork men somewhere in the ruins of Mars York and a defense will need to be mounted. At nearly the same time in Victoria, the 1st Archaeo-Martian Pioneers have discovered nearly four dozen ship engines of an advanced make, of a size that leads them to believe they are for freighters. They’ll be shipped back to Earth for study.
3rd of June - I’ve been getting pestered for a week, now. I saw fit to assign overseeing viceroys for Ares and Ganymede, since both have seen an upwelling of immigrants. Now that those appointments are made, those damnable brothers from Hampshire have been sending me letters and messages to appoint some new American they’ve taken to. Mr. Ross Dean. Very well, I have need of his mining expertise overseeing the clockwork mines on Macholz. He can do the work from Earth, surely, but I think a trip there personally will do him some good.
Ah, but news! And far more important than my petty slights. The engines returned from Mars have been picked over by the boffins, and they tell me we have made great strides. They describe them as two full iterations of advancement above our current drive technology. It seems that these drives make use of individual ions thrown from the sorium for propulsion rather than . . . oh, whatever was used before. And these drives are then sheathed in a . . . well, something involving magnetized plasma. Essentially an advanced engine design, wrapped in an even more advanced design. They assure me they’re twice as fast as current designs. Glorious news, I’m sure, but I do have to take their word for it all.
17th of June - Word has reached us by survey vessel and then courier about Surrey. The first planet surveyed has no signs of intelligent life, though it does have life of a sort, and the atmosphere itself is breathable. Most of the planet is below freezing and has intermittent wind storms of great intensity, and so has been dubbed “Boreas” after the cold north wind of the Greeks.
There are aether elements present as well, though in no great quantity. The Mechanical and Logistics Ministry head has already forwarded a proposal for adapted domes that utilize the planet’s own atmosphere to reduce the need for recycling breathable air. It should require only 1 part in 2 of the infrastructure necessary for settling Mars, though my earlier reservations persist that we have no need of bothering with anywhere but Earth when the cost is so high.
As there are elements of the government which would like to open up Surrey for settlement now that it has already been surveyed, I will have to look into a method for ferrying large-scale ships through jump points. A massive spool drive, it would seem. It would be best if we could build a jump gate, of course, but this seems to be beyond our capacity for the time being. There have been proposals to dismantle the current jump gates into Middlesex to give us the technology to recreate it, but no right-thinking person could possibly agree to that when there are Queen’s subjects on Ares.
27th of July - The Jarvis Colony Company has been founded. The company will be built around a newly-designed commercial drive built on the magnetized plasma drive technology. They are hoping to out-perform the existing three shipping lines by producing massive, fast colony ships. Their first filed set of patents points to a ship that travels twice as fast as a survey vessel, nearly 2,500 kilometers per second, and can carry 100,000 colonists in storage.
The other concern this raises for my Administration is one of policing. There will need to be regulatory efforts on the shipping, and they will need to be enforced, particularly if new jump points are found which Her Majesty deems off-limits. I have begun the political process of forcing another naval shipyard into production, which should be easy enough to accomplish with a minimum of badgering and cajoling.
10th of September - The number of systems required for military armament is staggering. Self-propelled aether torpedoes have been selected as the primary armament of our first ships, which was a good decision, I feel. But now we must have a torpedo engine, and a launch tube to allow the torpedo into the aether, and a magazine to store the torpedos, and apparently a sensor to keep them on target, and another to spot the targets. I see now why the Admiralty has been so slow in building military craft. A failure in any one of these systems renders the rest moot.
17th of March, 1854 - The geological survey of Ares has not discovered any new aether elements and is being called off. With ruins of poor technology, a difficult climate, and no real elements, its only benefit is that it is on the way to Surrey.
With regard to Surrey, the Admiralty and Colonial Administration have agreed on the design for the Harbor class civilian jump tender. The actual systems required for the ship to do its job took up only eleven thousand tons, apparently, but experimentation has shown that a ship with a spool drive must be physically larger than the ships it wishes to shepherd through a point. There was a long explanation involving conics, the collapse of netherspace, and aether funneling properties. Either way, the proposed design looks like a spider in the middle of its web when all the necessary gee-gaws are deployed for a jump through netherspace.
I have given order to the Plymouth Civilian Shipyards (of which I have complete control, thankfully) to begin retooling to build the new ship. In anticipation of Surrey’s opening, East India Spaceworks has begun adding a third slipway to expand their production of freighters and colony ships. The Hampshire brother in the Burghers is practically chomping at the bit to have Surrey settled.
2nd of April - Captain Wallis in the
Hydra has recently returned from Surrey for revictualling. He brings news that Boreas is still a good candidate for colonization, and that the three possible candidates around the gas giant farther in-system have been surveyed as well. The theme of the Greek gods of the wind has been continued by Captain Field. Zephyr has a nearly-breathable atmosphere and a balmy climate. Notus has no atmosphere to speak of and is too hot, and Eurus is a decent temperature but also no atmosphere. The gas giant itself is Anemoi.
Wallis has apparently volunteered to forgo extended shore leave and will return to Surrey for the gravitational survey for jump points. Hopefully there are few.
8th of May - The
Phoenix is back for shore leave, revictualling, and an overhaul after an extended tour in Surrey. Captain Field is to be awarded the Drake’s Star for exploration.
27th of July - The
Satyr and the
Pegasus Jump Phoenix-class ships have been floated. Because they are our only current spool-equipped vessels, I have authorized one more, the
Goblin, to act as a courier and reserve for the other six. That’s the end of the production run, however, and I’ll have the yard retooled for offensive ships as soon as the design is completed. For now, the two ships will head to complete the gravitational survey in Sol, then Middlesex, and finish Surrey.
17th of August - Lily Steele of Steeleworks Aether Foundry has completed a new engine design, utilizing the latest magnetized plasma designs for a military ship. The propellor and reactor itself is approximately 1,000 tons, and the Admiralty has begun accepting designs for a torpedo-bearing cruiser between 3,000 and 4,000 tons to be built around it.
17th of September - Another three dozen large engines found on Mars. The boffins tell me that there is little more to be learned from them aside from curiosities about the design culture of the Martians, so I am quite happily selling them for a profit to the private sector’s commercial interests.
13th of October - News on military fronts of all sort. More clockwork men have been disturbed on Mars. I’m told that, thanks to our extensive study of previous battles, a quarter of them were destroyed in the first day of fighting. Preparation above all.
The survey of Sol has completed, somewhat dishearteningly. Besides the gate jump point into Middlesex, there are four more jump points. One is to solar south-west, just outside the orbit of Saturn. Others are in the western half of the system, all out in the region beyond Neptune. Distant, dangerous, and likely useless. I do not know if I am cut out for the Aether Age.
Luckily, though, the Admiralty has finally assembled the designs of a ship. Tentatively called the Pikeman class, it should fit the bill. 8 tubes for launching 8 ton torpedos, enough storage for 11 rounds from each tube, and the sensors to control the weapons out to a distance of 100 million kilometers. I will feel much better when the Aether Navy is off the drawing board and in the skies.
23rd of October - Another heavy assault by clockwork guardians on Mars, another victory. They lost nearly two thirds of their remaining forces. Some may long for the glory days of the Charge of the Grenadiers, but for my part I am happy with predictable and safe victories.
1st of November - A team of researchers at Glasgow has come up with a system for constructing jump gates, they believe. Small-scale tests have proven the concept, and the engineering difficulties of hanging the object in the Aether have been overcome. The entire apparatus is over 25,000 tons, however. Any design for a ship would be at least that size, and since East India Spaceworks and Plymouth Civilian Shipyards are the only two with anything approaching that capacity, any construction ship will have to wait. East India Spaceworks is firmly in the hands of the House of Burghers, and Plymouth is retooling for the Harbor, also to please them. They’ll probably demand a new civilian shipyard built at government expense, but I’ll hold that off for as long as possible.
11th of November, 1854 - I have received an urgent request to appear at the Admiralty. I see in my daily reports that the
Satyr jumped into Middlesex earlier today, so likely some message was relayed through the gate-mounted meson repeaters to the Admiralty. I have no idea what it could be, but it is likely more their problem than mine. I think that by penning this entry and taking an early lunch at the Reform Club, I should delay just long enough to make it clear that the Vice-Commissioner of Her Majesty’s Colonial Administration is not one to be whipped about the post by anyone, Lords of the Admiralty included.