Part II of Shadows of Ghosts

[Dunne]

Part II
Politics is the second oldest profession known to us, though it does have a close semblance to the first

Chapter 8. On other worlds

2315, June 3, U.E.A Space sector Qualm, Planet Babylon,
Continent Sertin, Province Crolls
Sphere of Influence: Mixed, U.E.A. Enforcers, Military Commerce, subdivision; Shields and Naval Space weaponry, shipyards
Local Evening

Babylon is one of those planets you do not think frequently of, though it does have a significant effect in the Weapons commerce division being that it is most certainly the best in the business. Babylon has been having trouble trying to find its place, mostly in whether or not it should secede from the UEA to become an independent planet. Since it is at the edge of the UEA Periphery, it has found out that it does have reason to secede from the Alliance since they are so far away and seem really to be self sufficient on their own, anything they would need seemed to be on the planet surface an below and from the orbital moon satellite they used for resources, and so they have been building up their defenses in case the UEA will not let them go peacefully. Planetary Governor Denum Snow is the one overseeing the major refitting of the planet?s own small formidable Naval Space Armada, along with its planetary shields and armament systems.
He walked with an air of confident defiance, his soft soled black leather shoes making little sound as he walked the spacious hallway of the nerve center commanding the whole oversight of the planets refitting of its military and naval forces. He had a business like suit on, trim and cut to his size, the collar high and came together with wire clips that connected it, the sleeves had no buttons and the cuffs had no buttons, just cuffs that where brought together at the edges and folded back showing the white inside the suit, the same as well as his pants, which matched his black leathers, a belt secured his pants over his slim waist, it was black like the rest, made of plastic, securing it together. His suit partly had a uniform aura of authority, but he did not flaunt it so, he was all business and shrewd analytical thinking, typical of his kind when one dealt in business commerce. His black eyes had no pupils which revealed no emotion to anyone. His hair style, efficient and simple, combed over black hair, fine and slightly wispy, yet staying in place, not gelled.
He was doing his own inspection round; of course the thing was they where never official, Babylonian efficiency and durability was known throughout the UEA, and so there was never in need of surprise or official inspections. Snow walked up to the planetary shield center, one of the large subdivisions of the planet?s commerce. He looked at the retinal scanner, had his thumbprint read and his DNA taken. Even though the security situation was minimal, it always paid well to have the best installed.
Snow walked in and walked up to a floating Hologram the projector no wear in sight, the picture clear and crisp, a photograph in such a way it was almost as if you where watching thru the view of a camera, except in three dimensional liveliness. One of the Officers that flaunted back and forth in the stations came up to him and saluted smartly, giving him a palm outward salute and holding it. Snow looked over at the young man. Since the Activant was created, humans where capable of living for up to 180 years average, and the age steadily increased by the decade. The man was young according to today?s standards, a mere 20 years of age; he was in his very early prime, a promising officer in a grandiose post of overseeing the Planetary Shield refurbishment.
Snow returned the salute, palm outward, then flicking down to the old US style and bringing it sharply down in an angle toward the Officer. The young man did the same in return and stood at rest. Snow chuckled, smiled, admiring the Lads dedication to his post, and said to him
?I do not deserve such formality you know, I am no commanding superior officer of yours after all? He said warmly
?Yes, Sir, but in stating the facts, Sir, everyone answers to you and reports to you, Sir? the Officer said
?True, true, but I am merely a business man and planetary head, in your teachings it should demote me as the possessor of red tape in all things of conquest? he said
?I know Sir, but you are our leader in this, our supposedly, Sir, guide in the darkness?
?They sure fill you with stuff in Military School kid, they aught to teach you some other things instead of being a tin soldier and a good loyal fighter?
?Well, Sir, they teach me basics and then they let me go on from there?
?That is a good method but then they do not show you where you can go, that is the problem most of the time, but I think it has been solved after the voluntary service problems back in the 21st, correct??
Snow meant the century in which militia service was voluntary and usually fell in having short numbers of recruits, though now a days, anyone whom wanted to start somewhere in the military would go thru the same training then would select what kind of post he would want, and not just get posted, in assumption that the soldier could do anything asked of him.
Snow looked at the floating Hologram in front of him and looked over to the officer, blinking once his eyes gave him a visual readout as in space before him. ?Plek Greis, 1st class Gold Captain, fourth year of service, induction in to service at the age of sixteen on entering Rallodawn Naval Space Academy Training Cor. class 166 graduated 2311 age 20, Male, eyes Purple, hair Red. Birth home world, Ledin. Further information on request? it said. The display was part of a special contact lens that worked in tandem with an embedded micro light ware chip or a MLWC for short, in Snow?s neck, on the soft spot right below and behind his ear. He blinked again and the displayed images in front of him cleared away.
?So, Plek,? He said ?What is the status on the Planetary Shields? Have they met completion deadlines?? he asked
?Yes, sir, Mr. Snow. All shields are up to point seven fiver percent and are increasing. Both particle and ray shielding systems will be up by the end of this week.? Plek said proudly
?Have the simulator algorithms given the results we needed in case some stray debris where to head in the planet direction?? Snow asked
?Well in concerning with, say, a Destructor Cannon slug, the plasma from the slug would be absorbed mostly by the ray shielding but will still pass thru to make substantial damage to the civilian population? he said, looking slightly grim from the results
?And of the solid slug itself from the Destructor Cannon? Does the slug get broken up enough by the particle shielding to burn any remaining parts of it in the atmosphere??
?In truth, no, after reentry heat, any remaining debris not burnt up would provide a significant threat as well as the remaining plasma to the civilian population? Plek said
?I see? Snow pondered ?is there any way to make sure the plasma is shunted enough that any remains can be dissipated and parts of the slug burnt away upon reentry after passing the shields??
?Increasing shield Power would put on the generators already made for our system in compromise due to the load from shunting, but overlapping the shield doubly could produce the desired effect to the results you just described?
?Good, is there anyway to have that up the same time along with the first set of shields are done??
?Yes there is. I can have a second set array completed as the week ends as well as having it complete along with the first set, but then just for reassurance I am going to need to have at least a set of four new shield generators and reactors for the new set of shields?
?Granted, run all possible scenarios as well, and include the possibility of having a ship being drawn back down as well?
?Yes Sir, as you say. I should be able to have the results available to you as soon as the simulation scenarios are concluded?
?I would expect nothing less, 1st Class GC Greis, Continue?
?Yes, Grand Admiral Commander?
?What is it?? Snow asked
?Well sir, it is what my superior has told me to address you by, a Grand Admiral Commander?
?Do not bother, Commander is what I was aiming at in the first place, besides, I only know of one such other person whom is pretty close to that title?
?Who would that have been, sir??
?Not have been, Greis, will be is the appropriate term. Quiet young for the command the individual has, and she worked from the bottom to the top, quiet an example, too?
?Who is she, sir??
?Fleet Commander Arien Trydianth. She is one of the youngest so far to have earned that rank I believe. At the young age of barely 32. She has made quiet a reputation for herself, and she even has a fleet command under her. But the poor young girl, she is only sent out on errands and such, pure routine business, like escort duty and patrols. She has yet to receive anything that would be up to her skill; it seems that home command has yet to have anything ready for her. The good thing is that she does not see the lack of glamour of the assignments; she does them to her best. But I know her opportunity will come soon; they will be having her test out a new sort of multiple purpose fighter, Codenamed a ?Special Defense Fighter? or an ?SDF? for short. So far all I have heard from the MISST reports that we intercepted is that the ?SDF? is the only one of its kind to have been built?
?Would the MISST reports be accurate?? the 1st Class GC asked
MISST was an acronym for Military Intelligence Special Spy Tactics. MISST was known for its intelligence, being the utmost reliable on the information it finds, the organization itself confirming it itself many times over before it gives any sort of formal report or hint of the information it finds to Home Command.
?Of course, even our own Home Intelligence has checked upon it them selves. Some how by looking at some of the rough schematics, I would say it looks like an old cargo cruiser, one of those very old tile shield government ones. But those features are one of the most deceiving ones I have seen; it is one the most well armored single man ships I have seen.?
?Single-man, sir?? Plek asked
?Yes, but it is meant for five at the very most, but it is so well automated it can run on only one pilot and a droid assistant. Yet I would say the pilot would have to need as much skill as a MU pilot or an air ace?
?So it is made for the enemy to underestimate it??
?You catch well Greis?
?Thank you, Sir?
?Well then, I expect for the first layer to be up and the second one as well?
?They will be sir?
?Good. Dismissed? he said giving the customary salute and walking off leaving the shield generator command centre and going off to the fighter and capitol ship command and control centre off in his own inspection.

The next room is what one would consider more spacious than an average secondary education gymnasium. Snow performed the same security measures, the door panel sliding to the right in to the wall. The interior of the room was empty save for the central illuminated floor panel in the middle denoting capitol ships and support ships as well as fighter and carriers, not exactly the place you would think a CSCC would look like. Though to every one of the personnel they where seeing something from a larger picture on a smaller scale. Each personnel of the CSCC had their own personal holo floater or PHF for short. A PHF is basically as what it is; a floating hologram that follows the user, like the old fashioned wearable eyepieces of the 20th and 21st century though not as cumbersome. The Hologram can be handled like glass or paper, or just plain light, based on commands from the imbedded LWC in the user?s neck. Snow activated his and mentally commanded a status report from the system?s memory banks. A small hologram appeared before him, etching its own perimeter out with two little lines, and then mapping out sentence lengths and format structures. Snow took the hologram and handled it before him, reading the statutes on fighter scramble launch times and such other necessities such as fleet deployment and readiness and combat system response times. Snow typed in some small words by use of his LWC, asking for time to be decreased from a 2:00 minute deployment of fighters to at the most a 1:45 deployment rate for all fighters. A 1000 fighter fleet was massive but then six carriers are above the norm for any sort of task group. A total of 1 Command Control Centre Ship 2 command ships, 6 carriers; 2 MU carriers and 4 flood gun ships, 4 heavy cannon ships, 8 battleships and 4 capitol ships, a group designed to split in to even numbers of 1 command ship, 3 carriers, 1 MU carrier each, 2 heavy cannon ships, 2 flood gun ships, 4 battle ships, and 2 capitol ships for the two groups with the CCCS overseeing the battle. Duality and efficiency was something that was requested from Snow, something out of the norm in standard battle procedures within UEA fleet deployment, but accepted as the way Babylon would do it, since they would be the ones that would sever all of their ties to the UEA. Snow walked out of the CSCC and made his way to the Launch Centre, his next appointment to the hidden asset that his colonial rebellion would count on if the UEA would not accept their terms of independence.
The shuttle to the Moon was a small one, capable of short range Hyper Warp Fold jumps, but limited in its reactor power, often hitching rides to larger carrier ship systems to be shuttled itself closer to its jump point inbound to further systems. Snow buckled in, and the Acceleration compensator activated, sinking him in to the plush couch cushioning for passengers and at the same time reducing his overall feeling of gravity subjected to him. The slow soft rumble behind and beneath him began to rise in a crescendo, eventually muffled out completely by the sealed sound proofed cabin, reducing noise to that of the equivalent of the absence of it in isolation chambers. The pilots up front had Fly by thought helmets on, a sort of byproduct of MU technology used to pilot high performance craft.
The distance to the moon allowed it to qualify for a micro fold jump. The shuttle rang an alert tone 3 times, a signal received by the Control Tower.
?This is Babylon Tower; we confirm three tones and have visual and signature conformation on our scopes. Babylon shuttle to moon you have permission to leave atmosphere, standby for Hyper Warp Fold Jump Coordinates once in designated HWF Jump area, Over out?
The Tower signed off, the pilots remained silent, sending back thanks over the Helmets.
The Shuttle taxied over to the linear launch runway, often used for machines that had dependency on non-atmosphere reactors for external space maneuvers. The shuttle was not weak, it was just that it was mainly used for space, and was not powerful enough to leave on its own from a stop to outer atmosphere, and so required a linear accelerator to reach the necessary speeds for escape velocity.

[Dunne]

Its just a preview but I bet some of you expected something, kinda sneak peek. To put in the personailty here on Denum Snow, think of Gendo Ikari with a soul, and Plek Greis as the helm opperator for MAGI as Mya. Arein Trydianth is Like Murue Ramius (not sure if I spelled it correct) from Gundam SEED. but you will see more of her later and her sad history *pitiful in a way* later on in my book two shall I ever complete it ^_^ toodles and whatnot and I hope to hear squeals of delight dread and exasperated sighs from you all