Turn 95
The three Coalition colony fleets pass through the warp point in the Solar System to Sigma Draconis without incident. The warp point is heavily garrisoned, with the massive Soviet asteroid fortress brooding over the entire area on one side, and the assembled Reformation Coalition 1st Fleet, all thirty ships, on the other side. In the center, on the warp point, sit the Coalition’s bases and a small scattering of ships, including the DSB control ships and the 300 laser buoys the two nations had stationed to cover the warp point. The days of close cooperation between the two nations are gone, but here, with the two militaries in such close proximity, there is no room for a mistake. Therefore, when one side’s ships are scheduled to make transit, they inform the other side with plenty of time to prepare, so that no surprises unsettle the defenders or cause a mistake that could begin the Last War all over again. The colony fleet’s arrival had been anticipated for days, and it was no surprise when they made transit.
Once in Sigma Draconis the colony fleets crossed the system in good order, carrying almost eight million people in suspended animation. They were escorted across the system by the Endeavor II, an Outreach Mk 3 class scout frigate. Once they reached the warp point to the Shaka system they jumped out, and the Endeavor returned to the Coalition colony on Plateau.
The Shaka system was a crossroads system. It was claimed by both the USSR and the Coalition, and until now neither had stationed military forces here, although the Coalition had established a picket group of unarmed EXS class scouts, and the USSR had stationed DSB-Xr’s here. The system itself was uninteresting, as it contained no habitable worlds, but it was a gateway to the Coalition’s two main colony areas beyond Epsilon Eridani and Epsilon Indi, as well as the Soviet Union’s main colony area beyond the Hector/Smolensk system. Late last month the Soviet Red Banner Fleet, under General Lebedev, had arrived in the Shaka system from the Soviet territories beyond Hector. It had been under observation by Coalition picket ships since it arrived, and the Coalition had confidently predicted that it would either return to the Solar System or proceed to the Soviet controlled systems beyond Centaurus. However, it had done neither. Early in the month, as the Coalition colony fleets were leaving Earth, the Soviet fleet had taken up a position a close to the warp point from the Shaka system to the Sigma Draconis system, and sent two detachments to the warp points to Epsilon Eridani and Epsilon Indi. And then it waited.
On Day 10 of month 95, the leading colony transports jumped into the Shaka system from the Solar System. Captain Delila Tomlinson, commander of the lead freighter, shook her head to clear it as her crew recovered around her. She was one of the lucky ones that seemed to be affect by warp disorientation the least, but it still left her feeling as if briefly there had been two of her, and it took a bit of time for even her to recover. Still, they had a job to do, and a fleet of transports on a tight schedule behind them, so she cleared her head as best she could. “Helm, clear the warp point and get us on a heading for the jump point to Epsilon Indi, standard speed.”
“Yes, ma’am. Helm responding, computers resetting.”
“Ma’am!”
Delila turned in her chair to see her second officer frantically waving his hands. “Yes, mister Rollins?” This wasn’t the military, and she didn’t stand on formality and her crew wouldn’t stand for it if she did, but there were limits to decorum that she was willing to accept and excited yelling on the bridge was generally beyond the limit for her. She forgot her annoyance as she understood what the officer was trying to convey to her.
“Ma’am, multiple ships in close proximity. They have identified themselves as Soviet warships and demand that we stand to for boarding and inspection!”
“What! They can’t…How dare they?” A dozen thoughts went through her mind at once, mostly relating the insanity of the military mindset, but then her blood ran cold as the small plot screen in front of her cleared and the situation became clear. Fifteen Soviet warships clustered close around the warp point, including six monsters every bit as big as her freighter, but unlike her ship they were packed with screen generators, armor, and weapons. The Coalition fleet has ships as big, or bigger if the news reports were true, but they were all in the Solar system and she was here, with the Soviets demanding that she stand to for boarding. She was trying to think through the situation when the second officer turned from his console, his face white.
“Ma’am, the Soviets have given me coordinates and ordered that we assemble there and await inspection. They also say that if we launch a courier drone, the drone will be destroyed and we will be fired upon. If we do not change course in the next minute, they will open fire!”
Captain Tomlinson’s mouth hung open for a second as the blatant nature of the threat made its way through her mind. Then she pulled herself together and turned to the helm station. “Very well, there is nothing for it. Helm, change course, set a heading to the Soviet coordinates and assume station-keeping once we arrive.” She hit a key on her station. “Freight master, prepare for boarding an inspection.” She ignored that officer’s sputtered protests and closed the channel. “Steve, I’m going to record a protest to be sent to the Soviets. Once it is on the chip, send it to the Soviets and make sure it goes into our record.”
Steve Grayson, her second officer, shook his head. “Do you think that will make a difference, Cap?”
Captain Tomlinson shook her head. “To the Soviet’s, no. To our government and the owners and insurers, maybe. Now get to it.” She turned away and began composing her protest. She wished she had thought to launch a courier drone back towards the Solar System as soon the Soviet ships appeared on their sensors, but they weren’t the military and they hadn’t been expecting this whole thing. As Captain Tomlinson’s freighter turned towards the assembly point, Coalition freighters continued to stream through the warp point behind them.
Commander Thomas Wainwright, CO of the Coalition Shaka picket group and the RCSN EX(S)-007, currently assigned to the warp point from Shaka to Sigma Draconis, was shocked and appalled as the Soviets began herding the transiting freighters into a holding area. He had already reported the Soviet Fleet’s assembly at the warp point, but this was an escalation into a whole new area. “What are they doing?” He remembered where he was, and realized that his tiny command’s bridge crew, all two of them, were looking at him questioningly. The scout was a tiny ship, with only three officers and eighteen crew. The bridge crew consisted of the captain, the sensor officer, and the helmsman. “Sorry. Sensors, get all sensor takes on the record. Helm, prepare a course through the warp point. I…”
He broke off as a light on his console started blinking and the bridge computer said “Incoming priority message.”
Wainwright nodded to himself. It had to be the Soviets. He keyed in the command to play the message. “By order of General Lebedev, all Coalition transports will be inspected for contraband suspected to be aboard. Once the inspection is complete, all Coalition vessels, once cleared, will be free to continue on towards their destination. No Coalition ships will be allowed to transit back to Sigma Draconis until the inspection process is completed. A schedule of inspections will be posted shortly.”
Commander Wainwright gaped at his console in shock. How did the Soviets think they could get away with this? Then he realized that with transits back to Sigma Draconis banned, no one back there would know that anything was wrong for quite some time. And then another thought occurred to him. “Contraband?” He looked at the other two on the bridge in incomprehension. “What could they mean by contraband?” The other two shook their heads.
Wainwright thought furiously for a second. “Very well. I’m going to speak to General Lebedev and find out what this is about. In the meantime, Helm, prepare a course back to Sigma Draconis. Don’t engage until I tell you, but be ready.”
The helmsman nodded. “Yes sir, but, ah, what about what the Reds said? I mean, they’ve got heavy cruisers and we’re just a scout ship.”
Commander Wainwright nodded. “That’s right, but we are a ship in the Coalition Navy, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a Soviet tell me where we can go. Understood?”
The helmsman stared at him for a second, then nodded. “Understood.” She turned to her console and began to set up the course.
Commander Wainwright pressed a sequence of keys on his console, opening a channel to the Soviet flagship. A few seconds later the screen in front of him showed a Soviet Starshiy Liytenant aboard the Soviet flagship Marshal Zhukov. “Put General Lebedev on the line. Your behavior is outrageous, and he must explain himself.”
The Soviet officer glowered at the impudent Coalition Commander for a few seconds, then shook his head. “The General is too busy with our ongoing legal inspection operation to speak with you at this time. I am to inform you that no Coalition ship or crew will be harmed during the inspection process, as long as they do as ordered and offer no resistance. Any ship found to contain contraband will be seized and its crew arrested pending investigation. Once all ships have been inspected, they will be free to continue on to their destinations or return to the Solar System.”
“Contraband? What contraband? These ships are all bound for colony planets!”
“So you say. We have information that leads us to believe that you may have established trade with the very D’Bringi that threatened humanity and willfully killed Soviet citizens through a warp point unknown to us. Therefore, we will inspect all cargo ships bound for your frontier territories to ensure that you are not traitors, assisting the enemies of humanity.” From the Soviet officer’s tone, it was clear that he considered the Coalition navy officer on his screen a traitor, proof or no.
Commander Wainwright mustered a scowl of his own. “This is an outrageous violation of Coalition sovereignty, and I am formally notifying you that the RCSN finds these actions to be in violation of the standards of conduct established since we first moved into space. I will be reporting these actions to my superiors, who will certainly be raising the issue at the highest levels.”
The Soviet officer’s face took on a superior cast that Wainwright disliked intensely. “You are free to do as you will, however, all transit out of this system has been suspended. You and your ship are ordered to maintain their position until the inspection process is complete. If you fail to comply, you will be fired upon.” The channel closed.
Commander Wainwright looked at the plot. The colony fleet had been transiting for almost three minutes now. Given that it would take almost sixteen minutes for the entire fleet to transit, that meant that the bulk of the fleet, including all of the personnel transports with their eight million colonists were back in the Sigma Draconis system, waiting their turn to transit. He had no choice. “Helm, full speed to the warp point, make transit immediately.” The helmsman nodded and turned to his station, getting the small scout underway, while Commander Wainwright began composing a short message summarizing the events at the warp point, to be transmitted as soon as they materialized on the far side. Five seconds after they started moving, the sensor officer looked up from his board.
“Sir, the Reds are on the line.” She had taken over monitoring comms while the helmsman got them underway and the Commander worked on his message. “They sound pissed.”
“Ignore them.”
“Yes sir.” She hesitated, then said “Sir, they did say they’d fire on us.”
“I know, but I’m willing to bet that that’d exceed their orders. They’ve gone over the line here, but firing on an RCSN ship, even a small one, would be a declaration of war.”
“I hope you are right.”
Commander Wainwright looked over at her. “I do too.”
Tension aboard the small ship mounted as it ran towards the warp point, past the Soviet cruisers. Wainwright stared at the icon for the nearest cruiser as they approached the massive warship, wondering if he would have enough time to recognize what was happening if they opened fire. Then they were past and, in a blink of an eye, through the warp point. Even as the crew struggled to regain situational awareness in the aftermath of the transit, Commander Wainwright punched the button that initiated the comms messages he had set up. Four more freighters transited after the small Coalition scout appeared in the Sigma Draconis system, but then the long line of freighters and transports began turning away from the warp point in response to the scout’s message. A second message was winging its way to the warp point to the Solar System even as the freighters and transports turned away, and Commander Wainwright felt a brief sense of satisfaction, only to have it be squashed when Soviet cruisers began transiting behind him. Orders for the civilian ships to stand to for inspection flashed from the cruisers, and the flight of the civilian ships collapsed before it even began.
Day 11, 0202 hours
Six hours and forty-six minutes later after the Soviets stopped the colony fleets, the message from Commander Wainwright arrived at the warp point to the Solar System and was received by a Coalition scout assigned to picket the warp point. The scout immediately transited back to the Solar System and sent the message to both the 1st Fleet and Fleet HQ back on Earth. It would take over four hours to arrive on Earth, but Admiral Ruston aboard the cruiser Rodney received the message immediately. Within seconds of receiving the message, another message, this one from Soviet Marshal Smirnoff aboard the asteroid fort sitting three light seconds from the warp point, arrived at the Coalition flagship. Admiral Ruston set the recorded message to play at his station.
“Admiral Ruston, you have no doubt been informed that the Soviet Fleet has taken action under the Maritime Treaty of 1989 to initiate inspections of Coalition ships bound for your frontier. This legal action has been initiated due to reports that the Coalition has initiated trade with the D’Bringi and is shipping them war material. The rights of Coalition citizens and shipping companies will be observed, as long as said individuals and companies comply with the inspection regime as set out by the USSR and enforced by the Soviet fleet.”
Admiral Ruston settled back into his chair and his eyes narrowed. He had never even heard of the Maritime Treaty of 1989. He keyed the comm pad on his console. “Marianne, figure out what this maritime treaty is. In the meantime, bring the fleet to alert status, and warn the bases at the warp point.”
Captain Marianne Wilson, his chief of staff, nodded. “Do you think the Soviets are going to start something?”
Admiral Ruston started to answer, then paused for a second. “I don’t think so, but they are pushing this pretty hard. I’m tempted to take the fleet out to Shaka right now, on my own authority, but if I do it will almost certainly lead to war, one way or another. So instead we’ll pass it back to the politicians on Earth. But in the meantime, we won’t let them catch us by surprise here. Understood?”
Captain Wilson nodded and closed the channel. Admiral Ruston began composing his message to Earth.
Day 11, 0700 hours, Earth
CEO Campbell looked around the room. “Well?”
Helena Chapman, Minister for Health and Recovery Services, looked around the table. “Isn’t it obvious? We send in the fleet!” She saw that her colleagues weren’t very enthusiastic about this response, and stood up and leaned over the conference table towards them. “Damn it! We’ve got to get those ships moving! We can’t let the Russians do this to us!”
The attendees looked to the CEO to see if she was going to respond, but she merely looked back, inviting comment. After a few seconds, the Minister for Defense shook his head. “Helena, if we send the fleet to Shaka to confront the Soviets, one of three things will happen. Either the Soviets will back down, we will back down, or the two fleets will start shooting at each other, with our colony ships in between.”
Minister Chapman gritted her teeth. “They’ll back down! They have to!”
The Minister for Defense shook his head. “Why?”
The Minister for Health and Recovery Services stared at him in incomprehension. “Because they are wrong! That’s why they’ll back down. They’ll have to.” She looked around the room again and realized that she didn’t have them with her, so she tried again. “Look, I don’t care why the Soviet’s are doing this, or whether or not they really believe that we are trading with the damned D’Bringi. We have to get those ships moving again. We have to!” She turned towards the CEO. “You of all people should know this. With the election coming up, its critical that we keep the lifeline to the colonies open.”
The CEO frowned. “I’m not worried about that lunatic Abramson.” Lukas Abramson was her primary opponent in the upcoming election. Governor Abramson had been elected two years ago to represent the newly re-organized New York Territory, which was still recovering from the Last War, and was considered by the rest of the Coalition to be a hotbed of anti-Soviet reactionary politics. No one knew if Lukas Abramson believed what he touted on the campaign trail or whether he was just using it to rabble-rouse, but either way he was generally considered a pain in the rear by most of the centralist Coalition politicians currently in control of the government.
The Minister for Health and Recovery Services shook her head. “You should be. He’s taken the stance that you are soft on the Russians. If we are seen to be weak on this issue, we’ll be handing him a bat to hit us over the head with from now till the election.” She could see some of the other Ministers wavering. “Plus, the people need this. Look, things are better now than they’ve been in a long time. The economy’s booming, we’ve settled a bunch of other planets, everyone that wants to has work. That’s all good. But in spite of all of that, the average life span is down because of the lingering effects of the Last War, and the persistent fallout and radiation that lingers to this day. And the people know it! The flow of people to the colonies is the average citizen’s lifeline. Their way out to a better life. And who do you think they’ll blame if that lifeline is cut off, or even slowed down?”
A thoughtful frown had appeared on the CEO’s face, and the others knew the truth when they heard it. Silence fell as they digested this tidbit and Minister Chapman sat down to let them think. After a few seconds, the Minister for Industrial Development nodded. “She’s right. We can’t let those ships sit around out there. The shipping companies are going to miss deadlines, loose bonuses, even have to pay penalties. Insurers will have to get involved, and its going to be a big mess, and it’ll cost us billions in the end if we allow this continue. Plus, I’m convinced the Soviets are just doing this to slow us down a little bit. They have to have noticed that we are ahead of them in terms of colonization. This is their way of closing the gap.”
The CEO was watching Fleet Admiral Reese, who had been sitting quietly throughout the conversation. “Admiral?”
Admiral Reese nodded. “Admiral Ruston and his fleet are awaiting orders at the warp point. But sending him to confront General Lebedev is a very dangerous escalation. We should be very careful at this point.”
“Escalation!” Minister Chapman was on her feet again. “Escalation! The Soviets are the ones who escalated! We need to respond and get this stopped now!”
Admiral Reese looked at the Minister for Health and Recovery Services interestedly. “Ma’am, what orders would you give Admiral Ruston?”
Minister Chapman looked taken aback for a few seconds, then rallied. “Why, to put a stop to the Russian interference!”
“Okay, say we order Admiral Ruston to confront General Lebedev and order him to release our ships. What are our orders to Admiral Ruston if the General declines our orders? Should he open fire on the Russians?”
Minister Chapman started to answer and then stopped, considering. “They won’t disobey. Once confronted they’ll back down.” She didn’t sound certain, though, and her answer came out more as a question than anything else.
Admiral Reese leaned forward. “They might, but to be honest, the Russians aren’t noted for backing down when confronted. After all, that’s the way the Last War started.” Admiral Reese nodded at the Minister for Defense and continued. “Minister Durant is right. If the Russians don’t back down, then either we have to, or the two fleets will be shooting at each other, with our eight million colonists in between them. There is no guarantee that we will win that battle, or that the fighting won’t spread to here as well.”
Minister Durant nodded. “He’s right. It’s a huge risk that we might not have to take. This is a political problem, lets turn to diplomacy to solve it. Jane, can you set up a meeting between the Premier and CEO Campbell?”
The Minister for State found all eyes upon her, including the CEO, who nodded for her to continue. “Well, I’ve spoken to my counterpart in the Kremlin. He is being obstructive, as usual, but has indicated that they are willing to talk, if the talks take place at a high enough level.” She paused and looked around the table, trying to judge the mood, then continued. “I don’t know whether they believe their claims or not, its impossible to tell with the Soviets. But in either case, they have to know they’ve backed us against a wall, and that if we are pushed further, we may be forced to do something that will have bad results for all of us. We’ve all learned the lesson of the Last War – don’t back the other side into a no-win situation. They should be willing to talk.”
Everyone looked at the CEO, who appeared lost in thought. After a few seconds she nodded to herself. “Very well. Jane, set up a meeting with the Premier on some neutral territory, and schedule it for as soon as possible. In the meantime, Admiral Reese, order Admiral Ruston to move his fleet to the Sigma Draconis system. He is ordered to take up a position no closer than one light minute from the warp point in that system to the Shaka system. He is not to interfere with Soviet operations without further orders, he is merely to observe. Having his fleet on the move will allow me to apply some pressure to the Soviets during our negotiations.” She paused, then looked at her Defense Minister and the Fleet Admiral. “Gentlemen, if it should come to a shooting war, what are our odds?”
The Minister for Defense looked at the Fleet Admiral and nodded for him to field the question.
“Well, CEO, that’s a very complex question, but I believe I can break it down and give you a fair approximation. Our ships are better than the Soviet’s on a ship-to-ship basis, but their fleet is larger. If our 1st Fleet becomes engaged with the Soviet Red Banner Fleet in the Shaka system, the Soviets will likely win the battle, although almost certainly at a grievous cost. If the fighting spreads, the Soviet’s have the advantage at the Solar warp point, because of their asteroid fortress, and would almost certainly be able to secure control of the warp point, although again, that would come at a cost. And finally, if the fighting spreads here, the outcome is impossible to guess, although it would almost certainly involve the destruction of the biosphere and the death of the home world population of both sides.”
Everyone around the table looked appalled, as they should. The Admiral’s summary was sobering. Finally, the CEO nodded, a grim look on her face. “Very well. I will meet with the Soviet Premier. Admiral Ruston will advance on the Shaka system, but will avoid contact, at least for now.”
The meeting adjourned, and the Ministers hurried off to begin their tasks. Orders were dispatched within the hour to Admiral Ruston and the 1st Fleet. The fleet would depart early on the 12th, and their ETA to the warp point to the Shaka system was fourteen days.
The Minister for State began the process to set up a meeting with the Soviet leader. The process was facilitated considerably when the Soviets received word of the departure of the Coalition 1st Fleet from the warp point in the Solar System. Fortunately, a framework already existed for such meetings, which was largely a result of the Last War, and a recognition that both sides needed to have a method for their leaders to speak with each other, if only to clear the air and ensure a better understanding between the two powers.
The meeting was set for the 20th, with the Coalition 1st Fleet just over half way to the warp point to the Shaka system. The Soviet inspection of the Coalition colony fleets was still underway, grinding forward slowly. General Lebedev was insisting on a thorough search of every ship, and each search was time consuming. The entire process was being monitored by the Coalition scout that had sent the word of the Soviet actions in the Shaka system, and so far, at least, it appeared that the Soviets were sticking to their declared intent. Messages had been sent from the Coalition government to the colony ship’s crews, telling them to cooperate, at least for now, and there had been no incidents, much to the apparent relief of both sides.
On the 20th the leaders of the two nations met in Reykjavik, Iceland, long a neutral country perched between the two superpowers. The first day the CEO and the Premier met for a marathon eight hours, and upon breaking for the day the two men looked grim and withdrawn.
The meetings continued through the week. The Soviets were open to negotiation, but were insisting upon their right to inspect the ships. The Coalition’s CEO was adamant that the Soviets did not have that right, and early on had threatened to initiate inspections of Soviet colony transports if the Soviet’s did not back off their own inspection regime. Finally, on the 25th, with the 1st Fleet approaching the warp point to the Shaka system, the Soviet’s appeared to crack. They insisted they had a legitimate concern about trade with the D’Bringi, who they insisted on calling enemies of the entire human race, casting their continuing war as a heroic defense of humanity. But, acknowledging the confrontational nature of the inspection regime initiated this month, the Soviets suggested a less intrusive, less time consuming, inspection regime. Under their proposed agreement, the two nations would station inspectors at each other’s primary civilian spaceports, to ensure that cargoes loaded on each other’s freighters and colony ships were exactly what they said they were, rather than military aide for another race. Such inspections would be minimally intrusive, and would hardly slow the colonization process of either side.
The Coalition CEO was concerned about how his Senate would respond to such a proposal, but she was very aware of the timetable of Admiral Ruston’s approach to the Shaka warp point. War seemed to be looming over their heads, and finally the CEO was forced to admit that this appeared to be the only way out. And after all, allowing the Soviets to station a few inspectors at the civilian cargo ports in the Coalition was a cheap price to pay. They would be unable to gather military intelligence that way, and any civilian or economic intel was just as easily obtained from nearly any Coalition civilian database.
The meeting broke on the 25th with a tentative agreement between the two leaders, subject to agreement by their respective governments. As a measure of good faith, the Soviet’s sent orders to General Lebedev to let the Coalition colony transports continue on their way, and the Coalition sent orders to Admiral Ruston to return to the Solar warp point.
The Coalition Senate held hearings on the proposed treaty before the end of the month. Although there was some opposition by the anti-Soviet hardliners, the treaty was passed, largely as written, by a large majority of senators who were shocked at how quickly the two superpowers had come to the brink of war. Everyone who was ‘in the know’ about the confrontation between the two powers was relieved that they had found a way to back away from the brink. However, these events would have far-reaching consequences.
