CH1 (82)
It was now 1 year later:
Emily was now almost 3 years old and was doing everything Alexis was doing. Where Alexis went, Emily went. And Alexis was taking her to the greenhouses and teaching her everything Alexis knew.
Mama had become MOM now and had firmly established that Madison and Shawn were a part of her family. While Mr. and Mrs. Queller had become Grams and Gramps, because that was what Alexis called them.
Everyone was pretty sure she knew there actual names but they could never get her to say them, so some wondered.
The dry docks were almost done now, just about one more year to go. They did however have the three smaller dry docks completed along with having launched 3 ships, one from each of them.
None of these ships traveled very far from land, they just were not made to travel that far. They were however bringing in seafood that they were catching daily.
So far everything they caught was being consumed locally. However the next three ships presently under construction would allow them to start shipping to Tellus soon.
Kate and Rick had just gotten an update about their home on Ariel. They were officially 6 months behind schedule. It wasn't the construction crew. It was the delivery of supplies. One of the three cargo ships had been held up for a complete maintenance overhaul. The other two would also go thru this procedure soon.
The Sun Rises and Moon Shines had already undergone maintenance and the Sun Rises was presently in orbit of Athos.
Captain Montgomery had used Lucy to find Rick and Kate and had Lucy tell them to meet him at his shuttle.
"Captain Montgomery, it's always good to see you." Rick arrived first. "It sounds secretive, what's up?" This was not like Roy to summon them.
"We need to wait for detective Castle." Roy tells him.
Once Kate arrives. "I need some of your time. Can I borrow you two for about an hour?" Roy asks them.
"Alexis and Emily are in one of the greenhouse's last I knew. Kali was with Mags in the medical facility. Kali has taken a real shine to Mags. Sometimes I wonder who her mother really is." Kate chuckles not the least bit concerned. It was like when she was young with Mags, Kali and her long ago.
"Good, come with me." Roy steps inside. Roy sits in the pilot seat and offers the other chair to Kate. Leaving Rick to stand which really wasn't a problem.
Roy had them in the air and was out over the ocean soon but wasn't gaining any more altitude.
"I have something to go over with you two. Mostly you Rick." Roy used Castle's first name which got his attention.
"The Oracle building on Tellus opened recently, just about two months ago to be more precise." Roy had their attention now.
"As I'm sure you are aware these events are not anticipated. There is no announcement, it just happens." Roy reminds them.
"We've been told the wall just sort of melts and the interior is empty except for the Oracle lady herself." Rick responds.
"Correct. Each of these encounters is recorded however when we view these recordings the Oracle herself fails to show up. You can hear her recorded voice, but visually she doesn't exist. Just to the people that are in the building at the time." Roy clarifies.
"Interesting." Rick is a little shocked. Kate however is just listening what any of this has to do with them. "Have you tried getting them to describe her to a sketch artist?"
"We have, each one produces a sketch of a completely different person. There are six people that go in and each sees a different person." Roy responds back.
Rick doesn't know how to take that so he ends up leaving his mouth hanging open.
"This time she gave us three different things. The council has decided to hold the information she provided from the general public, pending the results of a separate item." Roy tells them.
"The council is keeping secrets?" Kate is shocked and speaks for the first time.
"Only the council and ship captains like myself presently know what she told us, or more accurately gave us." Roy clarifies. And Kate can see that he looks nervous. Rick however from where he is standing can't see this.
"I have been authorized by the council to fill you in on what she told us, or gave us." Roy tells them.
"Why us?" Rick didn't see where they were special. Sure they were setting up colonies for them, but they had proven to be good at it. Plus they had Alexis.
"Mostly because of you Rick." Roy tells him, twisting his head to look at him. Now Kate looked shocked.
"Me?" Rick was interested now.
"You because you're from Earth. … Before I explain it will help if you answer a few questions. It will make it more clearly as to how serious it is." Roy tells him still looking nervous.
"Your military back on Earth. Can you explain what you know about its technology? I know you have no space ships like we do, but what weapons do you use?" Roy and the council already knew most of it, but Rick needed to be thinking about it to understand.
"Fighters use missiles that are either radar guided or use infra-red to guide them to their target. Each is also armed with a modern Gatling gun. Essentially it is 5 or 6 barrels that rotate quickly to fire a single round. Only used for close-in combat." Rick starts off trusting Roy. Besides what he knew wasn't any secret.
"There are also bombers that drop big metal bombs on land or sea targets. Most use GPS now, though some may still be guided in using laser lights. While there are probably still some dumb bombs that go where ever the wind takes them.
These same bombers vary in capability. The newest would be the ones with Stealth. Essentially radar is either redirected to somewhere else other than the sending source or it is absorbed. And the heat the engines create is either hidden or absorbed to help prevent detection." Rick pauses thinking what else there is.
"The army uses weapons that fire slugs using powder as a propellant. Hand held weapons or even bigger weapons like the Abrams main battle tank. Plus there are rockets or artillery shells. …. Pretty much every weapon is based off of the ability to throw a slug using different means. Some big, some small." Rick uses to try and speed things up.
"The navy fires missiles to intercept targets like fighters or other ships all based off of radar. It is speculated that they have a prototype destroyer where they have replaced the main 5-inch gun on the bow with a rail gun. However it has never made it into the press so it may only be on the drawing board." Rick finishes what he thinks is the more important items.
They already know about the ICBM's with nukes after all.
"And can you hit ships in orbit?" Roy remembers what Rick had said when they first met.
"There is a missile system that can reach orbit, usually fired from an F-15E fighter. There is talk about a laser system housed in a 747 that is meant to shoot down ICBM's. I suppose it could take a shot at a ship in orbit.
There is also a theory that if we dig a very deep tubular hole in the ground and place a nuclear device at the bottom. Then fill it with water and place a very heavy cop on top. When you detonate the nuke, the water would be turned to steam, that would shoot the cap weighing tons out into space.
It's theorized that this cap would travel at 5 to 6 times the speed of sound and be capable of doing serious damage to a ship in orbit. However this weapon can't be directed. If the ship isn't directly overhead, you would miss." Rick concludes what he knows.
Roy nods his head understanding.
"It sounds like we are on par with what your planet can do, however those weapons, except for the nukes, are on ships and not restricted to being on a planet." Roy tells him.
"So what did your Oracle give you?" Rick is curious, not liking they are talking about weapons.
"Improved weapons. Most scare the crap out of us." Roy tells him.
"Weapons?" Kate's mouth hangs open.
Roy nods his head. "Very powerful ones."
"Did this Oracle say why?" Kate wanted answers. Weapons were meant to kill with.
Roy shakes his head. "The council is worried that it is Earth. Earth is full of people that like to kill thanks to all the wars it has."
"You're worried that Earth is headed this way." Rick thinks he understands.
"The council is yes. That's why the Moon Shines will be leaving for Earth to recon how things are going and report back." Roy tells them. "It should be leaving in about 2 weeks."
"And if it is?" Kate asks now.
"If it is or even if it's not, that's when the information will be shared with the general public. To be honest, we're not sure if we want it to be Earth or not." Roy tells them.
"If it is Earth, you may soon be fighting your ancestors. And if it's not, then there is an alien coming that may be as bad as Earth or worse." Rick thinks he understands.
"Precisely." Roy didn't know what was worse.
"So what did this Oracle share with you?" How powerful were these weapons? Phasers like in Star Trek? Weapons like the movie in Battleship? Worse?
"One is a new missile. It has a new guidance system that can allow it to maneuver to avoid being shot down. When it reaches its target it explodes sending out high intensity X-rays in a 360 degree radius." Roy explains one of them.
Rick thinks about it for a minute. "X-rays wouldn't destroy a ship, at least not outright. Though it might play havoc with internal items, like computers or things that control the amount of fuel sent to an engine." Causing an overload Rick is thinking. Getting it to blow itself to pieces.
"That is one possibility that was theorized. Another was that the ship would be relatively unaffected, however everyone inside the ship would be fried using X-rays." Roy offers an alternative that was theorized.
Kate slaps her hands over her mouth. It would literally bake people inside their own ships.
"Wow!" Rick is equally shocked. "Their speed?" Rick wondered just how scary these things were.
"Best estimate at the moment, roughly 1/10th to 1/15th the speed of light." Roy tells them.
245 meters per second roughly, Rick tries to do the math in his head.
"You said three, what are the other two?" Rick is almost afraid to ask.
The Magnetic Accelerator Cannon (MAC). These weapons are massive coil guns that are used to accelerate projectiles ranging in mass from 600 tons in the case of smaller warships, and 3,000 tons in the case of Super MAC platforms, to extremely high velocities. These projectiles are composed of Titanium-A, depleted Uranium, and/or Tungsten with a ferrous (iron) core. Super MAC platforms accelerate MAC rounds to over point four-tenths of the speed of light or about 120,000 kilometers per second with twenty-three linear accelerator coils, while ship-based MACs have a lower velocity. Super MAC platforms can also reload a round in 5 seconds, where as the smaller capital ships will need several minutes.
"The single barrel alone is several hundreds of feet long." Roy tells them.
"600 to 3,000 TONS?" Rick had trouble envisioning the size of such a projectile. Something that big would go in the front of a naval carrier and out the back ripping it to shreds and not even slow down. The damage caused would then blow what's left of it to pieces.
The average car was only about 2 tons, what would 600 tons look like?
"Why would you need a 600 ton bullet? What does she think you are going to shoot it at?" Rick was scared now. Even Kate was trying to figure out what they needed such weapons for?
"Ok, I'm sure I don't want to know now, but what was the third weapon?" Rick knew this was a bad idea, but decided to ask anyway.
"A charged 50mm Auto Cannon that fires in a similar manner to your Gatling gun. It seems to work on the same principle of the MAC weapon only a lot smaller. The speed of the round appears to be similar." Roy explains not really understanding how each system works totally.
"Think of it as your naval rail gun only in Gatling form." Roy tries to explain.
It was quiet in the shuttle for some time while Roy essentially flew around in circles.
"So what does the council plan to do with these weapons?" Kate is now curious. What was this going to do to her people?
"We might be able to retrofit to install the missile system, but the others are going to need a whole new ship. Especially the MAC weapon. The barrel alone will take a ship a size larger than we have now, let alone storage of the rounds." Roy explains.
"So what's first?" Rick asks. "And why are you telling us?" Rick didn't see why they should know early. Not like they could do anything about it.
"First, is we wait for Moon Shines to return from Earth. If it isn't Earth we need to be worry about, that leads us to what comes second." Roy explains.
"And what's second?" Rick wonders if this was where they came in.
"If it isn't Earth, that means there is an outside force headed our way, the council is guessing. With weapons of this power they must be dangerous. … If the Earth isn't involved, then the council is worried about having the people available for an interstellar war that may be headed our way." Roy explains.
"You're lifting the population control rules." Kate guesses.
"That is the first measure that will be taken, yes." Roy confirms. "Which makes Ariel and Athos even more critical. We need the people and the food those two planets can provide."
"I hear a bomb coming our way." Rick tells him.
"Bomb" Roy asks not getting it.
"The other shoe is about to drop? …. You're going to now explain why you are telling us." Rick explains.
Roy grins. It was part of what he liked about Rick. "Yes, …. If it isn't Earth, the council thinks we are going to need people. So they are thinking of two things.
First is to send me and my ship to search for another colony planet." Roy tells them.
"And when you find one that's where we come in." Rick gets it and so did Kate as she was nodding her head. It made sense to her. More planets meant more people and more resources.
"And the second?" Rick asks who can't possibly think what that could be.
"If what is coming is bigger than we are thinking, the council is thinking about contacting Earth. Earth is used to combat where we are not." Roy explains.
"Get Earth to do your fighting for you?" Rick says it with distaste. His planet was filled with people who were only too willing to kill, but what he was talking about was low, really low.
"Not really no. …. If we lose Earth is likely to be next in line. And without an Oracle to give them weapon improvements, how long will they last?" Roy asks.
"It will take a lot of convincing. They probably think of you as nothing but thieves right now. Asking them to help fight in space is likely to take a lot of convincing. A whole lot." Rick suggests. His people could be as stubborn as Kate was early on.
"The council is already debating what to give them as weapon upgrades. The problem they are having in their eyes, is who will Earth fight with those weapons?" Roy tells them.
"The aliens or you." Rick got it, as sad as it sounded, it was a viable possibility. "Or both." Rick adds.
"Hoping they come out on top after they win against both." Roy confirms. It was a concern of the council too.
"As sad as it sounds, and believe me I would like better for my people, it is a viable concern based on what I know. Maybe that will change in a few generations or less. Buy yes, they should be careful." Rick is forced to tell him. "Anything on why she gave you these weapons?"
"Nothing I know of. There was no warning of what is coming or even when." Roy shakes his head.
"How long before the first ship design is ready?" Kate asks.
"It'll take at least a year to build just one MAC cannon. Probably a year or more to design the first ship to hold it. Somewhere around 7 years to build it." Roy was shaking his head. "And that's just one ship. I have no idea what it will take to build a ship that can hold a MAC cannon for the 3,000 ton round." Roy's imagination didn't even include a MAC cannon of any size, let alone one that big.
"I presume the design came with an automatic loader. I don't see how you are going to load it any other way." Rick comments. You would need a lot of Hulk's to pick up something that heavy.
"It did yes. The same for the other weapons actually." Roy confirms.
"So we take this one step at a time. …. First is Moon Shines, then the Sun Rises goes looking, and then the council asks us to set up still another colony planet. …. Is Tellus ready for this?" Kate asks.
"The council has already stepped up production of another dome colony and they are looking into building another cargo ship.
When the Moon Shines gets back and the information is made available to the general public, plans will get started for a new class of ship." Roy explains.
"Using the new weapons just provided." Rick tells himself, not really asking.
"Correct, probably using all three starting with the smaller version of the MAC cannon." Roy confirms.
"Needless to say you can't share this with anyone." Roy points out knowing it wasn't necessary but it was now formally mentioned. "At least not just yet."