Battle Group Epsilon

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

March 21 2184, 10:47 Hours (Standard Solar Time)
Aboard UNSF Shuttle T928 En Route to Lunar LPO Base "Germania"

Admiral Sheffield moved uncomfortably in his seat. He was strapped in tightly however and didn't have much room to adjust. No matter how he sat, his legs kept cramping up. He had been traveling for the last twelve hours and was eager to reach his destination. He had just left the station at the top of the San Francisco Space Elevator and was now on a UNSF shuttle on its way to the Germania, a military base and ship yard in Low Planetary Orbit around the moon. There he would get his first look at Battle Group Epsilon, the fleet that was his to command.
In the seat next to him was Lieutenant Baldwin, his Communications Officer from the Perseus. Fleet Admiral McDermott had given him permission to hand pick the crew for his new ship. He choose a large number of men and women from the Perseus. Among his bridge officers however, Baldwin would be the only familiar face. He was a tall young man with dark hair and darker eyes. He had graduated Officer Training School four years ago and had served under Sheffield for all of them. Baldwin was his Communications Officer, which meant he still needed to fill spots for Weapons, Systems, and Navigation.
For Weapons, he had chosen Lieutenant Junior Grade Hill. The man had been one of the first to test out the weapons systems used on the new ships. He had even helped to design several of the components. Sheffield was looking forward to asking him his opinions on the new weapons.
To cover the Systems console he had requested Lieutenant Rivera. She had been the Systems Officer on the Waterloo, a carrier of the UNSF. The problem with the UNSF was that they lacked power and the ability to mobilize effectively. Carriers were the exception. They were the only long range vessels they possessed. Even so, they were big and unwieldy at best, and nearly indefensible. Lieutenant Rivera had served as the Systems Officer on the ship for seven years. Sheffield was glad to have a Bridge officer with some actual experience aboard his ship.
The last spot he needed to fill was Navigation. He had chosen Ensign Walker. She had received top honors from the OTS which she had graduated from less than a month ago. It was unheard of for someone so inexperienced to be on the bridge, but NAV officers especially were in high demand.
Admiral Sheffield looked over at Lieutenant Baldwin beside him. The Lieutenant leaned over as far as his restraints would allow and peered out one of the small shuttles starboard windows. The man was as eager as Sheffield to see what kind of mess he had gotten himself into.
Over the past four days, Admiral Sheffield had read through the volumes of information on the nanocrystal that Fleet Admiral McDermott had given him. It contained overwhelming data on the ships he would command. The USNI had been created more than two years ago though it had never gone public. The ships that had been created at Lunar LPO Base Germania were the first of their kind and over half of them were to be apart of Battle Group Epsilon. He had read through the specifications of the supercarrier, three destroyers, seven frigates, and many smaller ships that would be his. Sheffield loved to read but some things had to be seen with your own two eyes.
The pilot's voice chimed in over the PA system. "Prepare for deceleration. Docking with Military Base Germania in seven minutes."
Inertia pulled Admiral Sheffield forward against his harness, the straps digging into his arms and legs. He closed his eyes as the small ship began to tremble violently, her engines reverse thrusting. After only a few minutes, the ships velocity stabilized. Admiral Sheffield eased back in his seat and noticed Baldwin looking at him. "What's wrong Lieutenant?" He asked.
"Nothing sir, it's just... I've never been in space before."
"The first 48 hours are the hardest," Sheffield said to his Communications Officer. "You get used to it though. Most of the ships in the battle group have artificial gravity anyway."
"Yes, sir." Baldwin said. "I never thought I'd be doing this, sir. An officer on a warship in outer space."
Sheffield nodded his head in agreement. "You and me both Lieutenant."
The Admiral peered out of the small window as the moon became visible. The white and gray cratered surface soon became all he could see. They passed the far side of the moon as the shuttle entered its orbit, helping to slow down the craft. The land passed into shadow and a shiver went down Sheffield's back.
Before long the massive base Germania came into view as well. The dark gray base was part ship yard and part fortress. It was the largest ship yard and military industrial complex anywhere. Three massive sections of the base rotated to create artificial gravity. The entire base bristled with huge railguns. A squadron of Marauders practiced formation flying while another landed in one of the Germania's gaping docking bays.
The shuttle circled around the base and the base's shipyard appeared in his small window, along with twenty of the largest vessels the Admiral had ever seen. The entire scene was full of activity. Small ships towed bundles of armor plating more than a meter thick. Sparks showered in every direction as teams of engineers in microgravity thrusterpacks welded components onto the ships. Some of the larger ships were nearly a Kilometer long. Sheffield had memorized their specs and yet the magnitude of their size hadn't hit him until he saw them up close. The largest of all of them were by far the supercarrier the Descartes and her sister ship the Agamemnon. The behemoths were eleven hundred meters long, a full five hundred meters longer than the next largest ship. One of them would belong to him.
"My god," Lieutenant Baldwin said softly to himself, mirroring Sheffield's own thoughts.
The shuttles pilot flew them carefully into a small docking bay in one of the rotating sections of the Germania. The small ship groaned as the forces of gravity pushed down on it. The passengers harnesses automatically disengaged and Admiral Sheffield stood and stretched. The pilot left the cockpit and saluted to him and his Junior Officer. "Sir, I've been instructed to escort you to Fleet Admiral McDermott."
"Very well Ensign," Sheffield replied and returned the salute. He grabbed his leather suitcase that contained all of his personal possessions and followed the man out of the space craft but not out of the docking bay. Baldwin tailed close behind him, hefting his heavy duffel bag. There were two other vessels: a half assembled Marauder single fighter and a standard MAKO Troop Transport used by Colonial Marines. The pilot led them to the transport. Before they reached it, the ship's hydraulic door opened revealing three officers. There was a thin man with close cropped blond hair, a short Hispanic woman with red hair and green eyes, and a pale, freckled face woman with brown hair. They were all in white dress uniform. Sheffield instantly recognized his bridge crew, though this was the first time he had ever met any of them in person. All three of them snapped to a crisp salute. Lieutenant Hill shouted, "Admiral on deck!"
Sheffield had still not become accustomed to his new title. He certainly didn't feel like an Admiral. He was however, acutely aware that first impressions were the most lasting. He returned a sharp salute to them and looked each one over carefully with as stern of a face as he could manage. Finally, he said, "At ease." His three bridge officers loosened up into a slightly less rigid attention. Sheffield climbed the boarding ramp of the transport, ducking his head at the top.
The vessel was fresh off of the assembly line. It had the capacity to transport a squad of fully armed Marines and plenty of equipment. It had been given the name MAKO because of its appearance. It was slim and sleek like a shark to avoid any radar signature. With a little imagination, the missile pods on the sides could even start to look like fins.
Sheffield stepped to the side as Baldwin followed him up. He looked between his officers and felt some introductions were in order. After they were all acquainted, the cockpit door slid open and Fleet Admiral McDermott stepped out. This time Sheffield led the salute.
McDermott saluted back and said, "Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. How was your trip Admiral?"
"It was fine, sir," Sheffield lied, feeling his leg begin to cramp again.
"I would like to first congratulate you all. You are the commanding officers of the flagship of the most powerful military force man has ever known." The Fleet Admiral looked among them all before continuing. "I don't need to remind you of how important of a task you are being given. These are hard times. Pirates lurk in the corners of this solar system, we're a hairbreadth away from interplanetary civil war, and now this damned Fist of Jupiter. The fate of everything has been placed on your shoulders." The Admiral cracked a rare smile and said, "But I've never seen a finer group of men and women to take this responsibility." This time McDermott saluted them. "I'm sure you saw the fleet on the way in. What do you say we take a closer look?"
Sheffield smiled. "Yes, sir."
The Fleet Admiral picked up the COM mic beside the opened ramp and said, "Ensign, contact the control room and tell them to open the doors so we can get some fresh air. We're going for a tour of the shipyard."
"Aye, sir," The pilot said, his words thick with static. Men scrambled from the docking bay and the transport's hydraulic lift closed. Sheffield heard a whoosh of air as the bay depressurized and the large doors parted. The pilot maneuvered the small craft out of the bay and microgravity once again unsettled Admiral Sheffield's stomach. Lieutenant Baldwin didn't take too well to the change either. He pulled a small paper bag out of his pocket and vomited several times. Lieutenant Rivera, the seven year UNSF veteran, watched and gave him a look that could only be interpreted as disdain. The others just stared out of the small windows eagerly without noticing.
Fleet Admiral McDermott consulted his datapad briefly and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce you to the USNI's Titan Class Frigate." Sheffield pressed his head against the thick rectangular window behind him. Docked with the Germania was one of the smaller ships he had seen on the way in. Describing it as such however, was misleading. Though it was the smallest self-sustained ship in the fleet, it was markedly larger than any ship he had toured on back on Earth, nearly a half kilometer in length. "This is the Minotaur," The Fleet Admiral told them. He began telling them the specifications of the ship with the fondness of a mother talking about her children.
The warship reminded Sheffield a bit of a bowling pin. It was long and bulbous, with the head expanding slightly before rounding off again. The entire ship was wrapped around a central railgun system that ran most of the length of the ship. The dark grey metal of the frigate was pockmarked with viewing windows and missile tubes. Point defense was handled by 120MM cannons placed along the hull. Sensory arrays and communications suites bristled from the ships nose. Off colored bay doors marked the underbelly. When it became operational, it would have a squadron of single fighters, transports, and an entire company of Marines. Every ship was in itself, its own fleet.
Several parts of the ship had artificial gravity though you couldn't tell just by looking at it. Underneath a half meter of Titanium Nanotide Composite armor plating were different rotating sections. Only the thickest parts of the frigate had rotating sections. There were enough ball bearings in the design to make Admiral Sheffield's head spin.
The ship was powered by twin fusion reactors. There was one on either side of the ship, protruding laterally from the main body. They hadn't been incorporated into the vessel's frame to avoid collateral damage in the case of a meltdown. It also provided superior maneuverability.
Baldwin wiped his mouth with a tissue that Ensign Walker had offered to him, and joined the others by the starboard windows. "She's magnificent Admiral," He said softly.
"She is," Sheffield agreed.
Fleet Admiral Michael McDermott watched them and smiled, genuinely amused. "You haven't seen anything yet." He picked up the COM mic and said, "Ensign, bring us about to course two zero zero. Give us a starboard look at pier six."
"Aye, sir," The pilot replied.
Allen Sheffield held on as the ship gently changed course. The monstrosity Descartes came into view of his window. He and his bridge officers looked at it with open mouths. The spaceship was larger than life. Even Lieutenant Rivera seemed impressed. "Dios mio," She whispered and Sheffield had to agree. The ship was over a kilometer long. It was vaguely similar in shape to the frigates they had just seen. Where those had been sleek however, the supercarrier before them now was thick and swollen.
"This one will be yours," The Admiral said. "The Agamemnon will stay here to defend this ship yard." McDermott continued, telling them about the supercarrier. Sheffield had read the specs from the nanocrystal. The Descartes had forty eight squadrons of Marauder single ships, twenty squadrons of MAKO transports, three battalions of marines, and even a group of repair ships. It also housed fifty Short Range Assault Ships, more commonly known as Scarabs. They were escort ships, supplying the firepower that the supercarrier otherwise lacked. They reminded Sheffield of PT Boats used in World War II. They were small, underpowered, underarmored, but could pack one hell of a punch. He was interested to see them in action and had already developed a few theoretical tactics with them.
The Descartes had a small compliment of Trident HE missiles and point defense cannons but otherwise had no offensive firepower. It did however have over seven meters of armor plating in some spots. The ship could take an incredible amount of punishment.
Once the Fleet Admiral had finished, Sheffield looked at Lieutenant Rivera and said, "You've served on a carrier before, what do you think of her Lieutenant?"
Rivera stared out through the window, her green eyes lost in wonder. "She's... Incredible sir," she said with a thick Mexican accent.
"Ensign, take us to pier sixteen," McDermott ordered.
"Aye, sir."
The Fleet Admiral smirked at them. "Let me introduce you to your new home."
Sheffield tapped his finger against the handle bar restlessly. He had reviewed the designs of every spaceship in the nanocrystal McDermott had given him and additional research of his own. However, he still didn't know which ship would be his flagship. Pier sixteen came into view and then the ship that was docked there. The vessel looked very close in design to the frigate. It was larger however, nearly a hundred meters longer. Each engine was powered by two reactors instead of just one. The railgun it was built around was larger and more efficient as well. In blocky military style fashion, the name of the ship was painted onto the side: USNI Thermopylae.
"This is the Legacy Class Destroyer. The Thermopylae." The Fleet Admiral looked out of the window himself to take in the sight. "It's only temporary mind you. We will find you something more suitable in time."
"It's perfect, sir." Admiral Sheffield said. He noticed that of all the ships they had seen, this ship was the only one that appeared complete. The others were in various stages of construction, skeletal metal frames showing in many places, but the Thermopylae appeared ready for use. "When do we move in?
"Immediately," McDermott Replied. He picked up the mic and said, "Ensign, land us on the Thermopylae. This is our stop."