that he had been caught talking bad about Dixie. His surprise at the partial history lesson eliminated any additional argument he might have had.
“And, young sir, we also saved your planet. If we hadn’t, our planet would be safe now, with our fleet there. Remember, it’s a Dixie fleet protecting your planet now as well. Hopefully, someday our two peoples will be one if we learn more about each other and put aside ignorance and apathy. Good day, young sir.”
As Woods practically marched away, he heard the worker’s companion say, “See, dumb shit, I told you so. Now get back to work before you start another war.”
Arizona Space Ship Beater, near Gas Giant Rewards, Libra Alliance space
29 October 2128
Captain Johnson was weary of sitting in the asteroid belt near the Gas Giant Rewards. There were a dozen ships in orbit around the gas giant that looked like they were either military or heavily armed. They seemed to Johnson to be waiting for six huge ships that could only be tankers to finish loading up with fuel.
“Okay, it looks like we have a change of plans. If their fleet needs fuel, then we need to destroy those six tankers. Recommendations, gentlemen, as to how we should do this?” Johnson looked at the other two men at the table, his marine detachment commander and his fighter squadron commander.
“I’d like to take our shuttle and visit each of those tankers and leave a limpet mine on each one. With the tankers having a dozen warships, their guard should be down. We might even be able to get close to some warships if they’re allowing liberty for their crews.” Young suggested off the top of his head.
“If we take the Darts in, there’s more than a good chance they’ll assume one of the ships launched a combat space patrol or is having an exercise. I’ll divide the Dart Flight into two sides and put on a show of one side attacking and chasing the other. When we get close enough, we can use the beamers to fire on where the loading bays are for the ships. If we can ignite the fuel stored there, that should make a nice mess of things,” Andrews proposed after a moment of thought.
“Captain Johnson, have the shuttle drop me off at the space dock, and I can arrange for a shuttle from the space dock to take me to each of the tankers. I can then drop off a secured identification friend-or-foe update. Beater can include a virus to cause the engine to open the fuel mixture device to the point that it will ignite the fuel and destroy the ship. Inside the League of Planets, cyber warfare has never been developed since networking of key systems has never been trusted. That’s why key updates and critical systems modifications are done by courier. I can tell the captain and crew that the war has gone so badly that the updates for their transponders is the only way to verify them and keep the fleet from shooting them up by accident. Civilians don’t trust the fleet to begin with, and this would be accepted. There are contractors from my planet, Jacka, that perform these services, since we are not in alliance with any of the factions in the Libra Alliance.” the little Jacka chief petty officer nervously suggested to the roomful of officers.
“Short Blade, that is probably the least dangerous approach with regard to the ship. What would you do if you were challenged and had to produce orders or prove you were what you said you were?” Johnson challenged.
“Sir, civilians are sloppy when it comes to security. I still have my uniforms and identification from when I was a member of the Libra space fleet. Civilians can’t access military computer networks to verify the authenticity of identity cards. If they were suspicious of me, they could contact one of the warships that would then confirm I was in the fleet.”
“That would be too dangerous for you, Short Blade. Beater, what would the possibility be of you creating a virus that could disable the tankers?” Johnson asked, figuring it would shelve
“And, young sir, we also saved your planet. If we hadn’t, our planet would be safe now, with our fleet there. Remember, it’s a Dixie fleet protecting your planet now as well. Hopefully, someday our two peoples will be one if we learn more about each other and put aside ignorance and apathy. Good day, young sir.”
As Woods practically marched away, he heard the worker’s companion say, “See, dumb shit, I told you so. Now get back to work before you start another war.”
Arizona Space Ship Beater, near Gas Giant Rewards, Libra Alliance space
29 October 2128
Captain Johnson was weary of sitting in the asteroid belt near the Gas Giant Rewards. There were a dozen ships in orbit around the gas giant that looked like they were either military or heavily armed. They seemed to Johnson to be waiting for six huge ships that could only be tankers to finish loading up with fuel.
“Okay, it looks like we have a change of plans. If their fleet needs fuel, then we need to destroy those six tankers. Recommendations, gentlemen, as to how we should do this?” Johnson looked at the other two men at the table, his marine detachment commander and his fighter squadron commander.
“I’d like to take our shuttle and visit each of those tankers and leave a limpet mine on each one. With the tankers having a dozen warships, their guard should be down. We might even be able to get close to some warships if they’re allowing liberty for their crews.” Young suggested off the top of his head.
“If we take the Darts in, there’s more than a good chance they’ll assume one of the ships launched a combat space patrol or is having an exercise. I’ll divide the Dart Flight into two sides and put on a show of one side attacking and chasing the other. When we get close enough, we can use the beamers to fire on where the loading bays are for the ships. If we can ignite the fuel stored there, that should make a nice mess of things,” Andrews proposed after a moment of thought.
“Captain Johnson, have the shuttle drop me off at the space dock, and I can arrange for a shuttle from the space dock to take me to each of the tankers. I can then drop off a secured identification friend-or-foe update. Beater can include a virus to cause the engine to open the fuel mixture device to the point that it will ignite the fuel and destroy the ship. Inside the League of Planets, cyber warfare has never been developed since networking of key systems has never been trusted. That’s why key updates and critical systems modifications are done by courier. I can tell the captain and crew that the war has gone so badly that the updates for their transponders is the only way to verify them and keep the fleet from shooting them up by accident. Civilians don’t trust the fleet to begin with, and this would be accepted. There are contractors from my planet, Jacka, that perform these services, since we are not in alliance with any of the factions in the Libra Alliance.” the little Jacka chief petty officer nervously suggested to the roomful of officers.
“Short Blade, that is probably the least dangerous approach with regard to the ship. What would you do if you were challenged and had to produce orders or prove you were what you said you were?” Johnson challenged.
“Sir, civilians are sloppy when it comes to security. I still have my uniforms and identification from when I was a member of the Libra space fleet. Civilians can’t access military computer networks to verify the authenticity of identity cards. If they were suspicious of me, they could contact one of the warships that would then confirm I was in the fleet.”
“That would be too dangerous for you, Short Blade. Beater, what would the possibility be of you creating a virus that could disable the tankers?” Johnson asked, figuring it would shelve
Similar Books
