Chapter 07

Interstellar Communications

While there are good communications between planets and facilities within a solar system the communications from one system to another has always been dependent on ships to deliver the messages. This means many days of delays for even the most urgent of messages. Naturally, the researchers at HAK Systems have not liked that, so for many years a lot of different people have looked at ways to make communications between the systems possible. While many have shown promise they’ve not been able to get anything to work well enough to be useful. The main issues have been the power for the systems and having them maintain their place in space relative to the systems concerned. This is due to the fact all of the planets and systems are in constant motion.

Despite all of the problems many people continue to work on the idea of interstellar communications. Thus there are many projects working on the different aspects, even today.

A month after Morgan’s return from General Port he’s asked to look at the work of one research team to see if he can resolve a technical problem they have. Morgan looks at it, then he asks his father to also have a look.

The issue is to do with the conversion of an energy source found in interstellar space for use on ships. The project can harvest the power, but the existing ways of converting it for shipboard use means the amount of power is too low to make using the system useful.

Len and Morgan are discussing the system when Len says, “This may be useful in the future, if we can reduce the size of the system and how much power we need on board. I can see this as being useful on a lifeboat as a way to extend the life of the boat’s power sources.”

Morgan looks up and asks, “I’ve been focussing on the hardware of the conversion system, so I’ve not looked at the output figures. What is the per square metre power output of this system, Dad?” On being told the figures he thinks and then asks, “So a thirty square metre unit would be enough to power a standard communications satellite?”

Len frowns as he says, “That would power the control computer, the location stabiliser, and about one minute of traffic every hour. So it’s not good enough for any comm sat use.”

Morgan smiles as he says, “And if we have enough batteries to enable it to store a few days of power collection and the only regular traffic was a simple system check?”

Len thinks, then says, “Yes. That would work, but you’d still not have enough power for anything useful for the comm traffic.”

“What if the comm traffic is restricted solely to emergency messages?”

“That could work. What have you got in mind?”

“The other day Frank Martin was talking about having improved the transmitters to use a different frequency to get a longer range with a clear message. He said he thinks he can punch a message about as far as a liner can travel in a day and a quarter. I think we should check that, see if we can get it to work off this, then put the lot into a satellite. Then we can string them about a day’s travel apart a little to the side of the common travel lanes between our systems to establish emergency communications between our systems and our friends. What do you think?”

Len grins as he says, “Won’t do for daily traffic, but as an attack alert system it’d be very useful. Let’s get the teams together and look into it.”

Seven weeks later they have a system that performs as they want in the test they make a few days out from Forge. So they return to Forge and set about constructing a ship load of them, along with a few relays to drop the signal frequency back to the system comm network range.

A week later Peregrine and Falcon are escorting a small cargo ship as it travels from Forge to the other planets in the Forge Federation. Their path is about a quarter day’s travel to the side of the usual travel lanes between the planets while they drop a satellite every normal ship travel speed day from the last one. On the edge of each system they also drop a relay satellite as they approach the system, and another on the far edge as they leave each system after installing the software to use the system in the communications computer of the security centre as well as telling the senior staff what it does.

As each satellite is set for use a check is made to ensure it’s contacting the others and they talk back to Len at Forge. All of them test correctly.

When they reach Hearth and set them up to use the system they leave the system on a direct course to Purple while still setting up satellites. On reaching Purple they explain the system to Brigadier Green while they install the software in his communications computer. Then they go home while setting out another string of satellites. On arriving back at Forge they now have two lines of emergency communications to all of the planets in the Forge Federation and to Purple.

After reloading the cargo ship they go to Acadia while setting up a string of satellites. Then they connect each of the Acadian systems with satellites before stringing another line to Oven, then from Oven to Purple and set up satellites between all of the Rainbow Kingdom systems.

Within six months Acadia and Purple have a line to each of the Forge planets as well as their own planets, and each of the realms has a circuit of satellites connecting all of their systems.

The last line is from Forge to the system Congress is in to be able to make contact with their partners’ embassies in an emergency.

Hellenic Hassles

The Forge Federation’s other neighbour is the Hellenic Hegemony. This is a realm of one hundred solar systems housing two hundred and three planets split into the five Prefectures of Attica, Macedonia, Ionia, Thessaly, and Thrace with the capital planet of Athena being in the Attica Prefecture which is the middle prefecture of the realm. The prefecture closest to the Forge Federation is Ionia which is near to the system of Hearth. Ionia’s capital is Corfu near the centre of the prefecture.

Normally the Hellenic Hegemony is not a problem for its neighbours as it spends a lot of its political energy on internal fights for control of the economy of the Hegemony. This is mostly due to the way the realm is set up as a very loose confederacy. Each planet is ruled by the Planetary Senate which elects three of its members to represent it at the Prefecture Senate which then elects three of its members to represent it at the Great Senate in the city of Athena on the planet of Athena. In theory the head of each planet is the Senior Senator elected from the Planetary Senate while the head of each Prefecture is the Senior Senator elected by the Prefecture Senate with the Grand Senator being elected by the Great Senate; thus each level is under the authority of the one above it. That’s the theory, but the reality is each Senior Senator sees himself as the final authority for their prefecture and each goes his own way. Thus trade negotiations with the Hegemony is a major problem, as are all other realm wide issues and politics. The real worry for all is each prefecture has its own fleet of combat vessels and manages its own defence systems.

Almost a year after the attack on the Goodwill information reaches the Forge government, from many sources, concerning their other neighbour: the Hellenic Hegemony. The Senior Senator and the Prefecture Senate of the Ionian Prefecture have their eyes on the wealth now available in the Hearth system due to the orbital industries now being in full operation and processing the many rare earth metals in the system.

The Ionian Fleet is in the process of major upgrades and expansion with the aim of taking the system by force. The few members of the Ionian Senate who mention the might of the Forge forces are told the reports are exaggerated and are nothing of concern. Thus they ready the Ionian fleet for a war of expansion.

After much discussion by the Forge Leadership it’s decided there’s no point in talking to the Ionian Senate, so they’ll send a delegation direct to the Great Senate of the Hellenic Hegemony. A few days later Goodwill, Peregrine, Falcon, and the specially designed light cargo ship Loudmouth are on their way to the planet Athena with Loudmouth dropping a line of communication satellites along the way.

On reaching the heliosphere of Athena the four ships continue into the system without stopping on the edge of the system, but they do contact the System Defence Centre to inform them of who they are and of them being there on a diplomatic mission. The small force is met by some of the local in-system fighters as they draw close to the planet. The approval to continue to approach is received just before they reach orbit. Instead of docking at the main space station they set up in a close orbit a good distance from it then they use their own shuttle from Goodwill to pick up Morgan and drop to the main spaceport.

The only two people to leave the shuttle are Ambassador Ben Wilson and the Military Attaché Colonel Morgan Kesselring. The shuttle’s crew stays on board with the shuttle on a high security status and ready to depart at short notice. Lorna is in charge of security of the ships in orbit and she has all of the crews on high alert as well. They’re on a diplomatic mission, but recognise they’re behind enemy lines while trying to stop a war from starting.

The Bureaucracy

Ben and Morgan approach the front desk at the Great Forum, the building where the Great Senate meets and their bureaucracy has their offices, to see about speaking to the Grand Senator or the Great Senate or anyone important enough to have something put before the Great Senate. It’s at that point they find out the Great Senate may run the Hegemony, but it’s the bureaucracy that decides what the Great Senate discusses. They’re given a large document to fill in to detail what they want to put before the Great Senate and are told they’ll be informed of when it can be dealt with, probably in a year or so.

Ben responds with, “I don’t think I’ll bother with your forms as if the Great Senate can’t stop the attack on the Forge Federation by the Ionian Fleet in the next several days we’ll be at war a few days after that.” All he gets in response is a shrug and a hand signal to go away.

Morgan and Ben turn and leave the building. As they walk out the clerk they spoke to is using their communicator to pass along the details of the encounter, and he laughs while he does so.

The Media

Ben leads the way from the Great Forum to the headquarters of one of the Hegemony’s major media services. There they ask for a well known presenter they were given the name of, and are soon in her office.

Morgan hands the woman a copy of the reports of the activities by the Ionian Fleet and the recording they made of their meeting at the Great Forum. After she views them all Morgan says, “Sometime in the next week the Ionian Fleet will be invading the Forge System of Hearth. When they do we’ll be at war with the Prefecture of Ionia. What we’re here to do is to try to get the Great Senate to stop them before they start a war. If the Great Senate won’t do that we need to know if they’ll support Ionia when we mount a counter-attack, or if the Great Senate will stand aside while we take control of Ionia as captured territory.”

Sarah Kontos says, “You seem sure of your military capabilities?”

Ben replies, “When the Ionian Fleet attacks Hearth it will be destroyed by the system defences and defence force. Then we’ll counter attack against all of their fleet forces within the Prefecture and capture it to ensure those responsible pay for the attack. No one has an idea of how capable the Forge Fleet is.”

Sarah smiles as she says, “I do love how confident you are. I’ll put this in today’s evening broadcast and see what happens.”

Morgan hands over some other records as he says, “This is a copy of what happened to the General Ships battleships that attacked our envoys on the way back from Congress, and also our attack on their facilities at General Port. The combat footage should wake up a few people.”

Sarah thanks them and they leave.

That evening the Early Evening Events Roundup by Sarah opens with the heading of: Great Senate Bureaucrats Want a War. Her report is a well set out account of what Ben and Morgan gave her with sections of the combat footage included to emphasis the quality of who the war will be with. Because Sarah had warned her colleagues in her industry and sent them copies of what she had the later reports on the other channels are all opening on the same theme.

The Great Senate

The next morning Ben receives a request to talk to the Great Senate at their next sitting starting a few hours later. The request comes straight from the Grand Senator and not the bureaucracy. Both Ben and Morgan attend the Great Senate, along with copies of the records they have.

Ben is the first person called to speak after the Great Senate finishes the usual routines of commencing for the day. The Grand Senator asks him, “Ambassador Wilson, how accurate is the information you gave to Sarah Kontos and she broadcast last night?”

“As accurate as any intelligence reports can be. I believe they’re true as we have them from the intelligence services of four realms,” Ben replies.

“I’m sure you know there’s nothing we can do to stop the Ionian Fleet short of going to war with them ourselves, which I’m sure this Senate will not vote to approve. So what do you want from this Senate?”

Ben slowly nods while he listens, then he says, “We expected as much, due to how late the information was in getting to us. However, we have concerns about how much the rest of the Hellenic Hegemony will react once the war commences. When the Ionian Fleet invades Hearth we’ll destroy or capture it then set out to destroy the military capability of the Prefecture of Ionia as well as capturing territory in the Prefecture until such time as we have it all or they surrender. Our surrender terms will be the death of the Senior Senator of the Ionian Prefecture Senate, a billion credits, and the Ithaca system as compensation for starting the war. If any of the other prefectures provides military support to the Ionian Senate we’ll extend the damage to that prefecture and increase the compensation accordingly. Should the whole of the Hegemony support the Ionia then we’ll take control of the whole Hegemony and it will cease to be a realm of its own.”

One of the Senators says, “You seem very confident of your ability to win a war. How come?”

“The planet Forge was first established as an independent colony by the Research and Development Division of HAK Systems for us to legally develop and test certain new military hardware that can only be owned by a government. That research work was successful and we now have a system defence weapon capable of damaging a super dreadnought of the Federation Titan Class along with the defensive shields to protect us from any weapon a combat ship currently has. That type of main beam is a key part of the system defences of each of our systems. Our fighters are able to damage battleships, as was shown in the combat footage we provided Sarah and she broadcast last night. We have the best military hardware we know of, and it’s much more effective than anything anyone else has. We also have a number of trade and joint military defence treaties with the realms of Acadia and the Rainbow Kingdom. While we don’t think we will need help from our treaty partners to win the war we do think we’ll need their help if we have to garrison any planets. In such a case they will also require some compensation for their efforts.”

During Ben’s reply there’s a lot or talk between the Senators about what he’s telling them. After he finishes the Grand Senator initiates a full discussion on the issues raised by Ben. There’s a lot of talk by all there and it’s soon clear the majority of the Senators aren’t interested in helping the Ionians should they be biting off more than they can deal with. It soon becomes clear the Great Senate will vote to not support Ionia.

After about thirty minutes of talk a Senator about ten metres from Ben stands and throws a knife at Ben. Morgan sees the Senator start to stand without being called on to talk, so he turns in that direction and moves a little closer to Ben. On recognising the Senator’s actions Morgan moves into full combat mode and is at full alert as he reacts before the Senator can finish the action to throw the knife. The entire Senate is shocked by the actions of the Chief Senator for the Prefecture of Ionia, and then all of them are stunned when Morgan snatches the knife out of the air half a metre in front of Ben then Morgan’s arm swings in a circle to send the knife back at the chest of the thrower. However, after throwing the knife the man starts to sit back down. Thus, instead of taking the returning knife in his chest it lodges in his throat and pins him to the back of his chair after cutting through his spine.

Ben is as surprised at Morgan’s speed as everyone else is. However, he’s faster at recovering from the surprise. He says, “We’ve told you of the problem and our position. We’ll return to our ships and wait to hear what your decision is. We’ll stay in orbit until such time as we hear from the Great Senate or we hear the attack has started. Once the war starts we will be moving to a war footing and our combat forces will attack any and all enemy military forces and establishments they can reach.”

Before Ben turns to leave Morgan says, “Just so you know who and what you face I’ll leave you with the same message an ancestor of mine gave when he stood on the floor of the Great Senate nearly a thousand years ago. He stood here and addressed the Great Tyrant Arion Koufos when he said, ’Those I represent have made their decisions and positions known. We’ll stand by them regardless of what you decide here, today. So I tell you this: You either stand with us, or you stand aside, or you stand in our way and die.’ The same applies today.”

A Senator says, “I’ve seen no record of that. When was it said? Who said it? Who are you?”

Ben replies to the Senator, “Like the majority of the people who work for HAK Systems we’re both Acadian citizens as well as Forge citizens. The statement Morgan just quoted was said by Hans Kesselring when he stood here as the leader of the group who refused to bow to certain edicts of Grand Senator Arion Koufos and they declared they were leaving the Hellenic Hegemony to establish their own realm. That they did and the realm they established is Acadia. I doubt Senator Koufos allowed for the departing message from some successful rebels to be put into the official archives and histories. The man beside me is my Military Attaché and the senior combat officer in the Forge Fleet. He is young for his rank, but he started his military career as a junior lieutenant and has been promoted early each time he defended the people from attacks by forces superior in numbers and ships. This is Colonel Morgan Kesselring who wears the White Star from when he defeated a mercenary assault on Purple while a Junior Lieutenant in the Purple Militia. He’s also a Rainbow Kingdom citizen as he’s Space Born on a Kingdom liner. He’s a highly trained and skilled combat officer with a lot of experience as well as being a scientist and developer. His grandfather on his father’s side is Admiral Len Henry of the Federation Fleet, and he says Morgan is the best commander of his generation. So you can see why we feel confident in winning this war.”

While Ben talks many of the Senators are checking their databases, and are confirming what Ben is saying while also getting a lot more data on Morgan’s accomplishments. Some are not happy with what they see.

Morgan and Ben then leave the Great Senate Forum and return to their ships while the Great Senate debates what to do.

The next day Ben is sent an official message from the Great Senate that the Ionian Prefecture stands alone if they start a war. So the Forge force leaves the system, collecting their satellites as they go. However, they do stop and wait when they reach their closest approach point to Corfu. Then they wait for events to unfold.

Flue Fighters

The Forge Federation system furthest from Forge is Hearth, with the planet Mantle and the moon Flue as the main colony points. While there is an extensive orbital industry in operation and Mantle is now ready for full colonisation it is still very lightly settled and is only used for food production with very few people living on the planet.

However, there is an extensive installation on Flue where all of the space workers live and the finished products from the orbital facilities are stored. This way the extensive defensive systems are set up on the moon and they provide the best protection to the workers and the goods for sale. Thus the majority of the system’s Raptors are in hangars on Flue too.

While the space station still acts as the focal point for ships dropping off and picking up people and goods most of the station facilities are only manned when visiting ships are in the system. Only the crews of the five Raptors posted to the station, the crews of the two Customs Cutters, the crew of a System Security Centre, and a dozen support staff are on the station the rest of the time. Also, the main System Security Centre is on Flue with the station centre only providing live backup services.

When the Forge Federation leadership heard of the Ionian plans they sent a number of probes out beyond the Hearth heliosphere along the most likely lines of approach the Ionian Fleet would take. The probes and communications satellites will give them two days notice of an attack.

In anticipation of the Ionian attack the orbital facilities all move to be closer to Flue so they can have better protection when the attack starts. They continue with their normal operations, despite the longer flights for the raw materials to reach them.

Thus, when the probes alert the System Security Centre they detect the Ionian Fleet the orbital facilities do not have as far to go as they would normally need to move when they all move into orbits very close to Flue to be as far within the defence net as they can be. The facilities also perform an orderly closure of their operations to send all but a three person maintenance crew home to Flue for their safety and to be at home with their families.

The two days advance notice means that when the Ionian Fleet arrives all of the orbital facilities are in stable orbits very close to Flue, the staff are at home on the moon, and the facilities are almost impossible to find due to having gone into as full a shutdown and stealth mode as they can.

As the Ionian fleet reaches the edge of the Hearth heliosphere they receive a broadcast frequency message from the Hearth System Security Centre, “This is Chief Supervisor Mallory of the Hearth Defence Services to all the Ionian ships approaching Hearth. We’re aware of your intention to invade our system and we give you this one opportunity to go home. If you continue on your course for another fifteen minutes we will regard ourselves to be at war with the Ionian Prefecture and we will capture or destroy all Ionian combat ships here and within the Ionian Prefecture. Admiral Killios, I strongly urge you to take your fleet home before you bring about the downfall of the Ionian Prefecture and its economy.”