There are occasions when new management does exactly the right thing on taking over an organization. In particular, they don't make any changes to an organization that is functioning perfectly well. James decided early on that he didn't know enough to make any changes. His strategy for getting through this job was to sit back and say nothing. To cover his ignorance, he had Ken and Kim transferred under his command for the sole purpose of explaining what was going on around him. So far, he was pretty impressed with what everyone was doing.
Captain Alberts pointed to a three dimensional holographic model of the solar system. He said, "According to the computer information that we have, the Chitiniodians will be coming from this region of the galaxy. We'll have a few fleets probing our region of space initially, but the number of ships and the frequency of attacks will increase the longer the war lasts. We can expect the attacks to reach a level where we'll be facing as many as a hundred thousand ships at a time. The war will last as long as two hundred years."
So far the captain hadn't say anything that James didn't already know. He had watched all of the data captured in the computer. He had seen how the Chitiniodian and Boggum war had unfolded. Rather than say anything, James frowned and nodded his head thinking it made him look like a decisive decision maker.
Apparently James had done the right thing since Captain Alberts continued, "We have some time to build up our forces to a level where we can respond. For the moment, we are going to get a couple hundred ships from the Quatyl and outfit them so that we can protect our region of space. We'll put up a great wall of ships about twenty light years from Earth."
James was tempted to interrupt but he managed to control the desire. Considering that his frown and nod had worked the first time, he repeated it. Captain Alberts said, "We'll use the umbrella idea that worked during the first engagement. As far as we can tell, the original fleet didn't send out word that they had engaged our forces. The next fleet will have the same response as the first."
James was really tempted to speak out, but he didn't. Captain Anders took his silence as permission to speak. He said, "We've gotten some examples of their missiles and are in the process of reverse engineering them. We'll use their weapons against them while we are developing the next generation."
Reaching over to the pitcher of water, James concentrated on not saying a word. The whole wall of ships thing was just what the Boggums had done and they had lost their war. He poured a glass of water and took a sip thinking that the result would be the same with Chitiniodians growing their attacks until they overwhelmed the Earth forces.
From the far end of the table, Ken watched James thinking that he wasn't acting right. He frowned and looked at the model of the solar system. He didn't see anything wrong with the plans. It made perfect sense to him. On second thought, he realized the complete reasonableness of the plans would probably bother James a lot.
James fixed a frown on his face and nodded periodically while he daydreamed about how he would go about defending Earth. He could just see the whole first twenty years of the war play out in his mind. The Chitiniodians would arrive and find what appeared to be a very weak defense. They'd attack and lose because they weren't expecting the kind of response they would get. They'd send a few fleets finding that each time they were facing something different. They'd build up their attacks, but the Earth forces would have changed the nature of the war on them so that their superior numbers would actually hinder them. Each time the Chitiniodians came to engage the Earth forces expecting one thing, they'd get something completely different.
Captain Alberts asked, "So do we go ahead with our plans?"
Lost in his daydream, it took a few seconds for the question to reach his brain. James sat up and said, "No."
"What?" Captain Alberts asked rather surprised by answer. He'd had the feeling throughout the briefing that Admiral James Kamp had not been paying attention. He assumed that meant that the admiral would rubber stamp his plans.
"You're proposing the same thing that the Boggums did," James said.
"It was good military strategy. We have some advantages that they didn't have. We have eight space faring races to help us," Captain Alberts replied crossing his arms.
"We don't want to do the same thing the Boggums did. They lost," James said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"So what do you think we should do?" Ken asked recognizing the look on James' face. He had an idea that this was going to be good.
James pointed to the holographic model wishing that he had some controls that would allow him to change the display. He said, "At twenty light years from Earth, we will station six ships. We'll put one where you, you, you, and you are sitting with one above and one below the table. Well build a second perimeter at ten light years from Earth with six ships slightly offset from the initial perimeter."
"That won't give us much coverage," Captain Alberts said with a frown. Half of the ships were on the wrong side of the solar system to provide any protection. The quicker he could shoot down Admiral Kamp's idea, the sooner they could get to work protecting the solar system.
"We don't need coverage. They're going to be looking for our ships. We just have to make sure they find the ships that we want found. That means that the forward ships have to be visible from a long way away. The Chitiniodians will attack the first ship they see. Your job is to make sure that it is the last ship they see," James said.
"But that's not a defense," Captain Alberts said. He hated dealing with amateurs and, considering the conditions under which James had been promoted to Admiral, James was definitely an amateur. He said, "A defense requires fortifications, several lines of engagement, and more than enough force to repel the enemy."
"Sure it is. We've got all of that if we do it my way. We have a forward line of six ships and a second line of six ships. The whole time their fleets are occupied with our forward positions, we're building up a fleet to achieve an overwhelming force that is capable of destroying them," James said. He didn't want to point out that there was no repelling the enemy. They would fight to the last ship and then send some more.
"What ships will we use?" Captain Anders asked.
"Our star ships that my uncle is building with the shields from the Andicors. Your job is to figure out how to kill their missiles while they are trying to burrow through the shields," James answered.
He might not know how the Chitiniodian missiles worked, but he knew how to destroy them. Captain Anders replied, "That's easy. We cut them apart with lasers. The shields stop physical objects, not electromagnetic radiation."
"Clever," James said.
"We'll still use the same arrangement of umbrellas, won't we?" Captain Anders asked.
Captain Alberts was staring at the display feeling a little depressed that all of his work had been dismissed so easily. The sad thing is that James' plan was brilliant in a way. He could see how it would work.
"I guess we could. I'd like to replace the cannons that formed the handle of the umbrella with missile launchers. We'll still have the nukes, but I'd like to use them as a weapon of last resort. I want to keep them in reserve," James answered. He realized that if the Chitiniodian ships weren't shielded against nukes, then when the huge forces came out the nukes could be released as a surprise weapon. The nukes would be a huge surprise in the midst of a major battle. The 50mm weapons would be great when there were a whole lot of ships all firing at once with their shields down.
"That sounds doable to me," Captain Anders said.
James smiled and said, "Are we in agreement?"
"Yes," Captain Anders answered.
"Yes," Captain Alberts said. He wondered how long James had been thinking up that strategy. He'd have been upset if he had known that James had dreamed it up while he had been presenting his strategy.
Hunter Fleet Captain one click-one thrum-one click (1c1t1c) approached the alien ship fully confident that he'd get a kill. It would be his sixth as a Captain of the fleet. He parked his fleet a tenth of a light second from the alien craft and executed the standard sensor sweep. There was the one space ship and a bunch of debris around it. He commented to one of the Lieutenants, "They are a filthy species. Look at all of the junk here."
"There does seem to be a lot of junk here," the Lieutenant replied. It had to be space junk because the debris was randomly distributed across the entire volume of space.
"We'll just add a little more to it," Captain 1c1t1c said. He ordered, "Fire three missiles at the ship."
There was the reassuring hum as the three missiles were launched. The missiles hit the shield of the alien ship and then died. Confused, he leaned forward and clicked, "Nothing happened."
Worried, the Lieutenant said, "The space junk appears to be moving."
Captain 1c1t1c sat back and stared at the screen. The debris was too small to be space ships. He was about to order another volley of missiles to be fired when the screen showed the sudden presence of a hundred huge electromagnetic signatures surrounding his fleet. Concerned, he ordered, "All ships open fire."
James sat in the command center watching the battle unfold. He would be lying if he were to say that his asshole hadn't tried to suck the seat up his butt when the Chitiniodians had fired upon the ship he was in. Despite his concerns, he did try to show complete confidence in the defenses of the ship. They had tested the defenses several times and everything had worked like advertised. Still, it was a lot different to be sitting inside the ship when it was fired upon.
He turned to Captain Madison, an Andicor, and, in barely passable Dromat, said, "Open the umbrellas."
"Yes, sir," Captain Madison answered using the clicks that were normal to his species.
Having heard Andicor make that specific sequence of clicks on numerous occasions, James understood the reply. He stroked Starman's back. Seated on James' lap, Starman looked up at him surprised at how well James had managed the command. If his heart hadn't been beating so fast, he would have used the Slathern to say something. It was taking everything he had to remain conscious. Quatyl weren't meant to be in the middle of battle, but his presence as translator was necessary.
James looked over at Captain Anders and noticed that the man looked ashen gray. Concerned, he asked, "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yes, sir," Captain Anders said as calmly as he could. They might have faith in his ability to deliver technology that worked, but he didn't. He knew everything that could go wrong. It dawned on him that that might be the reason he was there.
The Chitiniodians fired a wave of missiles. It was directed at the umbrellas. Before the missiles reached the umbrellas, James said in Dromat, "Return fire."
"Yes, sir," Captain Madison replied using the clicks. He waved one of his appendages to the weapons specialist.
Just as the missiles tore through the thin metal foil without exploding, a hundred re-engineered alien missiles flew towards the Chitiniodian fleet. From the perspective of the Chitiniodian fleet it actually looked like their missiles had turned around and flew back at them. It was purely unintentional on defender's part, but even James had to admit that it was a pretty interesting effect.
A few seconds later, the battle was over when the Chitiniodian fleet exploded. James looked over at Captain Anders and said, "That was rather anti-climatic, wasn't it?"
"Yes, sir," the man answered. He wondered what would be required to get a transfer. Others might be happy getting shot at on a battle field, but he was perfectly content riding a desk.
"No surprises?" James asked.
"None," Captain Anders answered wondering how everyone else on board felt. He looked over at Ken surprised to find that the man was reading a book. It looked like one of the manuals for the missiles. Wondering how anyone could find an operator's manual for a missile more fascinating than the battle that had just been fought, he asked, "What did you think of it?"
Ken looked up from his book and asked, "Think of what?"
"The battle," Captain Anders answered.
"They're here?" Ken asked.
"We already beat them," James said with a grin.
"Oh. Okay," Ken said shrugging his shoulders. He looked back down at the book trying to hide his smile.
Captain Anders said, "If you'll excuse me, I'll return to my quarters."
"You're excused, Captain," James replied. He waited until the Captain had left the bridge before laughing. For three months every concern raised about the defenses of the ship had been brushed off with an over confident wave of the hand by Captain Anders. He suspected that the overconfident dismissal of concerns was going to end now.
Ken chuckled and asked, "Aren't you going to go back to your quarters?"
"I will as soon as I figure out how to remove the chair from my ass," James said. Ken laughed. The Andicor, who made up the majority of the crew, were puzzled by the exchange. This was how they typically fought.
"Same here," Ken said. He had nearly ripped the manual in half when the missiles had hit the shields of their ship. Trying to sit there and pretend to read the manual had been the hardest thing he had ever done.
James looked around the bridge. In Dromat, he said, "Good job, Andicor and Humans."
The Andicor made the clicks that represented sounds of approval. Ken, the only other human on the bridge, nodded his head. Starman asked, "When did you learn so much Dromat?"
Winking at Ken, James asked, "What's the matter? Are you afraid that I'll trade you in for a pet Dromat?"
"Don't even joke about it," Starman said.
"Don't worry. You're cuter than a Dromat," James said.
Looking up at James, Starman answered, "You aren't."
Admiral 2c1b2t was concerned when another hunter fleet failed to report on schedule. The loss of two hunter fleets in the same region of space was significant. He rubbed his claws together hoping that they had encountered another race like the Boggums. That had been a great war. The Boggums had stood and fought until the very end. Promotions had come fast and furious. Most of the other races they encountered ran and hid. It took a long time to hunt them down and it was often just a minor skirmish here and there.
Going over to the map of the galaxy, he studied the area where the missing fleet had last reported. A lot of hunter fleets were heading towards the area. He knew that was a sign that they all smelled something big happening there. He was experienced enough to trust the instincts of the Captains under him. All of them were hungry for glory and promotion.
He hoped that the aliens had a major defensive wall like the Boggums had employed early in the war. A little saliva ran out of his mouth at the memory of that battle. That was when he had earned his rank as Admiral.
Admiral 2c1b2t turned to his aide and said, "Send more hunter fleets to where the lost hunter fleet last reported."
The aide said, "Several fleets are already on their way."
"Divert more in that direction. I want them to report as soon as they encounter any aliens," Admiral 2c1b2t said.
"Yes, sir," the aide said.
Turning from the display, Admiral 2c1b2t asked, "What do you think is going on out there?"
"Aliens," the aide answered knowing what answer the admiral wanted. There were occasions when hunter fleets disappeared because of natural dangers. Solar flares were the most common reason fleets were lost. Of course, the admiral didn't want to hear that.
"I think so too," Admiral 2c1b2t said. He sharpened his claws by rubbing them against his exterior and said, "Get to it."
The aide knew that he had been dismissed and it was time for him to issue the appropriate order. He'd send another three hunter fleets in the area. Ten times that many would head that way, but space was big and it would take many cycles for them to arrive in the area.
James looked around the table at what had come to be called his brain trust. All seven alien species were represented. Three Quatyl were there acting as translators. He asked, "What do you think they'll do next?"
"We're going to get a couple more individual fleets of seven ships over the next few years. Then we'll start to see three and four fleets showing up together," Captain Alberts answered. He turned to Cousin Itt and asked, "What do you think?"
"What you say is a logical consequence of the data we have," Cousin Itt answered.
James shook his head in disagreement and said, "I agree that we'll get a couple more individual fleets, but the next wave is going to be a lot bigger than three or four fleets working together."
Cousin Itt looked at James and asked, "Why do you say that?"
Captain Alberts smiled knowing that James was about to go down. No one argued with a Dromat and won. James answered, "They are looking for another Boggum's defensive wall. When a report finally arrives that they've been defeated by a single vessel, it is going to undermine the confidence of the Chitiniodians significantly. They are going to send a much larger group."
Captain Alberts turned to Cousin Itt waiting for the reply. After ten seconds, he realized that Cousin Itt wasn't going to say a single word. He licked his lips and turned to James. He said, "How large of a group do you think they'll send?"
James smiled and said, "Here's how I think it will work out. We'll get one fleet and then a second fleet. The first fleet will report when they encounter us. The second fleet will transmit their entire encounter with us. Then we'll get seven fleets showing up at once. After that, we'll see fifteen or twenty fleets. It will get really ugly after that."
Captain Alberts frowned and looked over at Cousin Itt. He asked, "What do you think?"
"It is logical," Cousin Itt answered. His opinion of James had increased tremendously. He wondered what the other Dromat would say when they learned that James had argued logically against him and won. It was going to be interesting.
James turned to the Omagron and asked, "Chunky, considering what we know of the Chitiniodians how long will it be between arrivals?"
This was exactly the kind of reasoning problems that Omagrons enjoyed the most. They loved to use their ability to visualize six at a time. Chunky closed his eyes imagining a reasonable distribution of Chitiniodian fleets. He considered how fast they would travel. He tried to figure out where the fleets would meet to form a larger contingent. After three minutes, he answered, "The first fleet will arrive in a month. The second fleet will arrive three weeks later. The first wave of seven fleets will take an additional two months. If the next wave is of fifteen fleets, then it will be six months from now. If the next wave is of twenty fleets, then it will be six and a half months from now."
"That's about what I estimated," James said.
Not quite believing James, Chunky asked, "When do you think the third wave will show up?"
"I figure they will show up in about nine years and be close to a hundred of their hunter fleets," James answered.
Surprised, Chunky said, "That agrees with my estimate."
"It is logical," Cousin Itt said.
Looking over at Captain Alberts, James said, "Work up a plan that allows us to acquire data about how the second fleet will attack us from how the next fleet engages us. We'll use that data to plan our response to the second fleet such that it misleads the third fleet."
"Huh?" Captain Alberts asked getting confused by the over use of the word fleet.
Ken said, "He's saying that in the next fight that we let them attack a couple of times before we clobber them. He wants to know how they respond to us sitting out there like an Anticor. We use the data from that engagement to design a response that is completely different and won't show our real strengths for the bad guys to learn. That way, we'll be able to surprise the next wave of attacks."
"Oh," Captain Alberts said scratching his head.
James said, "See you in two days."
Everyone stood up to leave the room except for Chunky. He stayed in his seat looking at James. Understanding that the Omagron wanted to talk to him, James sat back down. He put Starman on his lap and started petting him. Starman purred.
When everyone except Chunky had left the room, James said, "I take it that you wanted to talk to me."
Chunky didn't know how to make his request. In the Omagron manner of showing nervousness, he grinned. Unable to relax, he said, "Yes. We have a request to make of you."
"Me?" James asked.
"Not you, specifically. Humans," Chunky said. He knew his grin was getting larger. Much larger and it would actually look threatening. Dealing with Humans was always very difficult. They smiled when they were happy. They also bared their teeth when very angry. It was confusing.
"Calm down. I'm sure that it is not that bad," James said seeing that Chunky was getting a little agitated.
"We want two humans to visit us," Chunky said.
"Do you want me and Ken to visit you?" James asked thinking it was easy enough to handle that request.
Chunky said, "We need two humans to mate in our area of the ship."
"Well, that definitely eliminates a visit by Ken and me," James said nearly bursting out laughter. It was obvious that Chunky was feeling significant emotions over the matter. He asked, "Why?"
Starman answered, "The Omagron species is nearly extinct. They discovered that they are a lot more productive when they are around mating humans. It appears that the Human Mating Effect works on Omagrons, too."
"Human Mating Effect," James repeated. He knew exactly what Starman meant by it. It was kind of strange to think about making love to his wife being an aphrodisiac to the universe.
Chunky's nervous grin lessened a bit. He said, "Yes. We think the Human Mating Effect makes us more productive."
"Oh," James said wondering what he could do about it. He could just imagine Ann's reaction. She wouldn't be too wild about putting on a live sex show for a bunch of lizards. He definitely couldn't order anyone to do it. He said, "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you very much," Chunky said.
"You're hoping to have a kid?" James asked.
"I'm hoping to have twenty kids," Chunky answered with tight lips. Thirty would be better, but he'd be overjoyed with twenty.
Recognizing the Omagron equivalent of a smile, James said, "I wish you luck."
"Thank you," Chunky said.
After Chunky left the room, James petted Starman. Thinking about the impossible task of finding a couple willing to help the Omagrons, he asked, "What do you think Ann would say to a little romance over in the Omagron area of the ship?"
"She will kill you as soon as you ask her," Starman said.
"I tend to agree with you on that," James said. He was silent for a moment and then said, "Maybe I can trick her into it."
"She will torture you and then kill you when she finds out what you did," Starman said dryly.
"You're probably right about that too," James said scratching his cheek. This was a pretty tricky problem, but he was pretty sure that he could come up with a solution that wouldn't lead to his death at Ann's hands.
Starman looked up at James before he said, "It would be a shame to lose my pet now that I've almost gotten it housebroken."
Smiling down at the Quatyl curled up on his lap, James asked, "What pet are you trying to housebreak?"