A Simple Explanation

Chin Li splashed water on his face. That Sidemoran commander had been sneaky! With only four LACs remaining, he had run both Zachary and Krueger ragged, though they had finally pinned him between the inner system picket and blown him away. Now he had to change for the Kendo Competiton. He walked into his quarters, and suddenly grinned. "Joshua!" He walked over, clapping the boy on the shoulder. "You've been sent back to us?"

"Yeah." Stanhope tapped the cane. "Light duty for the next month, though. My balance isn't completely back yet. What have I missed?"

"Stacey is in the LAC competition as a Ferret commander. And I've taken our Mr. Dollaryde under my wing, Andermani style."

"An officer taking a rating as a special project?" Josh asked, curious. "I know if I were on a Grayson ship someone who knows my family would do that for me. But how does the Andermani navy do it?"

"I decided that our Mr. Dollaryde needs to improve his station. So I watch him like a hawk, catch him when he does something wrong, tell him what he's doing right, and insult him when I feel he needs another prodding."

Josh watched him curious. "Insult him? How?" Krueger explained, then at the other boy's request, told him what Schwulie meant. "You know what I think?" Krueger made a go ahead motion. "You're setting youself up for a charge of Conduct Unbecoming."

"What!" Chin Li was shocked. "Because I am pushing a rating?"

"No. For calling him that." Josh wiped his face. "We're on a Mantie ship, and they extend courtesy all the way down as well as up." He sighed at Krueger's confused expression. "Ok, you see a rating doing something wrong, you can insult his intelligence, or his skills, but you are not allowed to insult his racial make up, sexual orientation, or his planet of origin.

"In fact the term you used also insults his wives, because you have implied not only that he is gay, but that the only way he can satisfy them is by making love to them as if he were a woman, and that they prefer that kind of lover and return the favor to him, if you get my drift." With Krueger still confused he told him bluntly what that implied.

"Gott in Himmel! I didn't realize... So what do you suggest?"

"First, tell him you are no longer calling him that, and apologize. The rest... I can see what you're trying to do and as long as you avoid direct personal insults it should be all right." He considered. "Though I would talk to Commander Hayes, just in case."

"Thank you, Joshua. I'll talk to the commander and Herr Dollaryde the next time I am assigned to Engineering." He stood, changing into his Kendo gear. "Are you coming down to watch?"

"I can barely stand without listing, Chin Li."

The midshipman finished except for his helmet,, and extended his arm. "As you supported me, I will support you."

LAC - Competiton three

Stacey felt as if she had been wrung out like a bar rag as the second competiton ended. She had watched the inner system picket break up, the destroyers headed out with their own drone shell searching for her as the cruisers moved in from aft. But the battlecruisers had stubbornly stuck on station, moving just enough to place the base in the center of their triangle.

She had succesfully decoyed everything else; the cruisers and destroyers weren't within four light-minutes of her, but the battlecruisers still sat there. Then every enemy ship went to active radar. The lighter units would catch her drone before too long, but she was on a ballistic course with everything down toward battlecruiser two as their radar came up. "Fire a third of our missiles upon acquisition by the enemy. One each Dazzler and Dragon's teeth."

"A third of our loadout upon acquisition, one each Dazzler and Dragon's teeth aye."

"Impeller room, full wedge when we fire. Helm steer 010 by 120 eight hundred gravities on command."

"Full wedge on firing, aye." Reed repeated.

"Ready to go to course 010 by 120, eight hundred gravities on command."

They drifted silently closer. Two million kilometers, 1.8, 1.7, 1.6. "Detected!" Marla Sean shouted.

"All units, fire! All units, full wedge. Helm, execute!" She had chosen to come in with her LACs in a tight wall of battle, and as the impellers came up, 156 missiles speared at her massive foe at almost a thousand kilometers a second. Before the ship even knew they were there the first dazzler went off, followed by a pair of dragon's teeth. The run time at high speed was under a minute, and the ECM lashed their sensors, blasting their radars back, counter missiles flailing as they used their thrusters to turn so their broadside could bear. A salvo of missiles came back at them, and even a tight formation couldn't protect them all. Stacey flinched as her screen blanked, then came up with LAC #3, meaning she had just been 'killed' twice. Four of the LACs, two of the leaders and one each from the upper and lower lines further back were just gone.

"Coming up on target two." Weapons reported as their broadside hit battlecruiser #1. only four of the missiles had died, and 150 attack missiles pounded the ship, most hitting down her throat, though others hit from all around her. They were 'only' missiles that a prewar destroyer would carry, but there were a lot of them. The wedge came up for a moment, then the forward impeller room shut down catastrophically. Her second salvo chased after the survivors, decoys lancing back to decoy them.

"Same drill at target two, flush them all." This time 288 missiles shot out. Number #2 had her wedge up, and her counter missiles leaped out. These were running on reduced speed because she was over 3 million kilometers away; 90 seconds at 490KPS. The first return salvo took 129 seconds to catch them, and ripped into the newly reformed wall. Stacey was down to only three LACs. The third salvo caught them at just under 4 million kilometers, and her screen went blank, and stayed blank.

"I'm sorry, guys. I blew it." Stacey said.

"Can't win them all, skip." Cartier commented.

Stacey hit the annunciator. "Huggins."

"We died, ma'am."

"So? You killed a battlecruiser, and seriously damaged another."

"Killed one?"

"The second battlecruiser. You got a golden BB on her. Fusion plant hit just aft of her forward hammerhead. Your LACs died, but the enemy now has one operational battlecruiser, one mission killed, and the attack you were setting up would have had a free run. As we told you when we gave all of you this second scenario, surviving is incidental if you decoy the inner squadron. I'd say you completed your mission. I'm sending in drinks and sandwiches for your crew. The last competition is about to begin. Give me a moment while you eat."

The entry hatch opened, and her crew, tired after almost 12 hours straight cheered. Stacey took two cattleope sandwiches slathered with mustard and french fries with tea as her portion, munching happily. She finished, handing the tray to the maintenance crew personnel as they went back out. She was wondering why they seemed so cheerful. Thirty minutes after the meal, Huggins appeared on screen. "This is a full squadron evolution except for myself. Everyone except for you, Stacey, and you, Edward, are in prifly for the briefing. Let's begin."

The screen lit up with a tactical display; six LACs in line abreast, their direction and rate of advance clearly marked. Forward of them were four Manticoran light cruisers led by a 1.5 megaton frieghter at the moment all in line ahead. Beyond them about another twenty million kilometers was a swarm of missiles marked 'MK23s launched from HMS Witch Maiden launched 90 sec ago; 500'. Aft of the LACs at 10 million kilometers closing at a mere 40gs were four SDs marked 'SD(P)' escorted by four battlecruisers, four heavy cruisers, and six destroyers by type in a diamond formation separated by a million kilometers so that they would envelope the fleeing squadron in about 20 minutes.

"This will be a full squadron exercise in support of our two contestants. Shrew will be supported by three Shrikes commanded by Panther as in the real battle, and two Katana consisting of Gabriel and Succubus. Weasel will be supported by three Shrikes consisting of Legate Fubuki and Sabretooth, with two Katanas commanded by Michael. Your mission is twofold; first, protect the inner squadron from attack. Second, send midcourse corrections to the salvoes fired by Witch Maiden which will be coming at 30 second intervals.

"We're assuming the same ships and situation we faced in Capwell. That means 1104 missiles in the first salvo, 370 in each following salvo. The maximum reload speed of the Sollie tubes is 13 seconds for the battle cruisers, but 25 for the SDs, so one new salvo every 25 seconds unless they go to rapid fire. They will spot your LACs before their third salvo is fired, so they may target your LACs as targets of opportunity from that point on. Anything that misses you can still be redirected against the cruisers, so you must keep protecting the cruisers.

"Senior officers for this evolution are Lieutenants Quintain and Watson. Your mission is to protect the insystem squadron at all costs. Before you ask people, Abe commanding Gabriel and Edward with Weasel were the only ships that survived this mission, and they are facing the same situation again. They will not answer questions, and the records of the action have been sealed by me, so if you haven't read the reports, you're coming at this fresh.

"Last note. You will notice that there is only one Ferret in each unit. If the Ferret is destroyed during the mission, the sim ends. We're down to the last LAC competition, and all of the five who are going into it face the same situation.

"Questions?"

"Once they target us, we're screwed." Quintain commented.

"Survival of the cruisers and their collier was our primary mission then, and the same is true here, Lieutenant. Remember that. Our point defense and missile loadout was optimized for that mission; half decoys and EW birds, the rest Vipers and Mk31 counter missiles except for the Katanas that are full up Vipers. Three of the birds on this mission survived the battle. Sometimes you have to put your life on the line for the mission, or didn't you learn that at Saganami Island?"

"We can't control-"

"Mister Quintain, in the real battle, using frequency rotation, we did. Any more cogent questions?" She looked around. "Then man your birds. Ed, Stace, a word in private, please." Huggins waited, then sighed. "Ed, I've loaded it against you, I'm sorry. But I can't put Windom in charge with Quintain in the mix. Hopefully, between the Hamish and Mordechai, they can rein him in."

"I understand, skipper." Mikishima said. "You expect him to act up?"

"Little pitchers." She replied, eyes cutting to Stacey.

"I understand I got the more experienced team, ma'am." Stacey replied. "But is it fair to Lieutenant Mikishima?"

"Don't worry, Stace." Mikishima replied. "She balanced it as well as our squadron could be. She gave you people who studied the battle afterward who know what really happened for you, and gave me the newbies who might flinch. Since I fought it, I'm not bothered as much by my team because except for one," He didn't mention the name, "Who might think he's smarter than I am. I'll deal with it."

"With all due respect, that doesn't make it fair." Stacey replied.

The squadron commander looked at her for a long moment. "Stace, you've done well so far. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. We need to train our own squadron, and this; teams of six, is the best one for us. All I have done is give you a crew that knows what they're doing. In a comparison between your level of training and Ed's this really balances you both out. It also pits those with the most to learn against you.

"He doesn't think it is unfair. Neither do I. So accept it." Stacey merely nodded. Huggins nodded. " We start in five minutes." The screen went back to the frozen sim.

All right, Mikka," she looked at the com station, "Since we won't be doing a lot of talking, I want you to find the frequency agile system they used during that battle. Direct the missiles as they come by."

"Got it, skip." Chief Atkins said, leaning over the console.

She remembered the reports, as part of her 'throw her into the pool' training. All of the Shrikes on this mission died, then they had to stop two ships that left Capwell Station. She was willing to bet that would be part of it too. The Squadron Comander's ship had been mission killed doing looked at the Shrikes. Her Shrikes were labeled Reaper, Vampire and Lillian. She remembered when those names fought, and her blood ran cold. All of those Shrikes had-

Suddenly there was a tone bleeping, then the ship came to life with the thrum of her wedge.

"Multiple missile launch at the cruisers. Extimated one thousand plus, rate of advance 465 KPS." Status change! Enemy formation has increased speed. Now at 385gs, just under 4 kilometer per second."

Stacey's mind closed on the problem. It was the geometry of the attack that determined their response. It was a stern chase, and the enemy missiles were near the edge of their perfomance envelope. They would have only a few seconds of time left on their drives, though their ships speed had increased from an overtake of 40gs to almost a hundred, the difference between the maximum 80% of the SDs and the limited drive of the collier. That meant by the fourth salvo, they would have almost half a minute remaining on their clocks. Her own attack envelope for the Mk31s was just under 3.5 million to start. Against the LACs of course, they could shift to full powered second stages, though any misses would be wasted since they could not attack the cruiser line.

"Helm, stand us on our toes! Sandie, engage as you bear. Amy, decoys and EW, now! Replace as needed!"

The LACs arched upward Two missiles came from each, sweeping through the area of the off bore sighting up and around to charge back. On the enemy screens, there were six cruisers coming down their throats now as the EW birds sang to try to draw missiles off. The raid count dropped below a thousand, then below 900 as they did their work, others plunging to attack the 'cruisers' that had suddenly appeared. Then the counter missiles began to go out, ripping into the wave of death. Almost a minute later the point defense clusters began picking them off. Almost 300 burst past them.

"All ships, Vipers now!" The ships rolled back to follow their charges, and each went to rapid fire as the cruisers also began to fire. The level of missiles in the magazine dropped like sand in an hourglass, but a mere thirty missiles reached the range of the now ravening point defense lasers of the cruisers.

The Mk23s from Witch Maiden shot past the cruisers, and Atkins began her own dance, blowing the dust shrouds, and giving the missiles their target paint. At the same time, salvo two was bearing down, still aimed at the cruisers. New decoys deployed, this time appearing as unnamed contacts half a million kilometers closer than her own fragile line was. The newly set EW drones began trolling, using all of the data flowing to her boats from the cruisers. With enemy ECM being monitored through out the engagement, on top of what was already known about Halo and Aegis, the second salvo- only 370 missiles - lost some as their target locks homed on the decoys or merely lost interest. Less than 200 were engaged by the LACs, and barely a hundred were engaged from behind as they passed. Stacey was counting seconds. Over fifty seconds had passed with no additional-

"Targeting change! One five zero missiles aimed at us!"

"We're tapped." Panther reported. "No more offensive rounds; eight decoys. Down to twenty counter-missiles."

Her own ship and the Katanas were slightly better off; Instead of an initial 20 full missiles and a hundred counter-missiles, her own ship had started with over fifty and one hundred fifty CM. Shrew still had nine decoys and fifty counter-missiles remaining. The Katanas had started with over fifty Vipers and had almost 100 counter-missiles remaining.

"The rest?"

"Still aimed at the cruisers."

"We can't let them past!"

"Max Shrikes, use them, or lose them!" HMSLAC Panther pretending to be Reaper ordered. Suddenly the EW screen exploded from twelve to over thirty as each of the Shrikes punched out their remaining EW and decoy drones. As the comber of hell approached, the decoys and EW drone sucked in most of the missiles aimed at the cruisers, but those other missiles aimed at her squadron were not drawn away. Suddenly the Shrikes stood on their toes, gleaming like newly caught salmon strengthening their blips.

The enemy seemed to be irresistably drawn to them, and Stacey screamed as Reaper drew a dozen missiles and was suddenly gone. Vampire was attacked by five missiles, and couldn't protect everywhere as she died, and Stacey wanted to sceam again as Lillianalso blew up.

And yet another salvo was inbound. Only about 120 targeted at the LACs, because now a SD had suddenly disappeared. She looked at the plot, only two SDs remained. She had not even see the first one die!

Her magazine ran dry, then the Katanas, and they watched as the remainder of the salvo closed. A third SD died, then suddenly the incoming missiles exploded as one barely half a million kilometers away. Stacey felt like a used dishrag. They'd survived! "Message from Witch Maiden via FTL." Mikka reported.

"All insystem LACs, head toward Capwell station. There are two ships there we need to stop; a Mesan dispatch boat, and a Jessyk freighter. I want prisoners, people." Captain Duvalier's voice came loud and clear.

"Helm, set course and speed."

"Succubus, take the freighter. Shrew, the dispatch boat."

"Acknowledged." The trio went to their full stealthed capability of 500gs. A blip was centered on the edge of the station, her target. Helm?"

"We'll accelerate thirty minutes, and begin decelerating at full capability in thirty-one. Zero-zero in four eight minutes." Carstairs reported.

The tension rose. Gabriel had changed places with Shrew, putting her on the flank of the formation. The diminished squadron flipped going to almost 900gs as they began to decelerate.

"Status change! Target detaching from station on thrusters!"

"When will she be clear enough to bring up her wedge?" Stacey asked.

"Five minutes."

"Time to intercept?"

"Eight."

"We're close enough to use our point defense to chop her up." her weapons officer reported.

Stacey considered. The skipper had the same situation, and had the same thoughts. Using their point defense against something the size of the freighter was one thing, against the dispatch boat another. The freighter was over a megaton, large enough to take multiple hits compared to the unarmored boat. But the dispatch boat was a lot smaller, barely twice her own tonnage, and her interior unlike a freighter was crammed with impellers, fusion plant, and hyper generator. While lighter than the main guns of the Katanas which were equal to a prewar destroyer, the point defense lasers of a Ferret were heavier than a pinnace carried, and even a pinnace would be leery of firing into such a ship unless they wanted to kill it. Was that what Lieutenant Huggins had considered? That using her wedge was the more efficient option, even if it meant she died as she almost had?

"Reverse course, full emergency acceleration!" Helm, bring us past her stern, use the edge of our wedge to slice her."

"Reverse course, full acceleration." Carstairs repeated. "Time to intercept four minutes." She paused. "Skipper, if she has already brought up her impellers, it'll blow us to hell along with blowing her impeller room."

"Understood. Got any better ideas?"

"You're only asking now?" There was a ripple of laughter.

The kamikaze bored in. The dispatch boat fired her thrusters, trying to evade, but Carstairs changed course minutely. "Impact in three, two, one-" There was a flash, and the screens went blank.

"Well, Azrael was blown up too." Stacey sighed. "I wonder how badly we did?"

"Message from the Skipper, skip." Mikka giggled a bit at having the 'skipper' talk to the skipper. It broke the tension and suddenly everyone was laughing.

"Put it through, Mikka." Stacey finally said. The main screen came up.

"What are you all waiting for?" Huggins asked severely."

"To find out how we did, ma'am."

"You didn't die, if that's what you mean." Huggins slowly smiled. "When I did that I flipped at the last minute to decelerate. That means you came across her stern about five seconds sooner than I did. The impellers were still warming up instead of hot, so your wedge didn't destabilize. Enemy casualties were only four instead of the eight I inflicted. What else did you need to know?"

"The competition. How did we do?"

"Crack your hatch and come out if you want to know." The screen went blank again.

"That does not bode well." Stacey commented.

"Maybe not, skip. But I think you're coming along well." Carstairs commented, shutting down her board. "Besides, we can't hide in here forever."

Results

The crew of Shrew came down the ramp into a shouting match. They ran from the bay into the passageway beyond where some of the crew from Weasel were restraining their commander. Facing him left alone by his own crew was Quintain. "I completed the mission as instructed!"

"You took the easy way, that's all, you sanctimonious-"

"You're speaking to a superior officer!"

"You just have more time in grade!" Mikishima roared. "The kids who washed out at Harmon were better officers than you are! At least they admitted they couldn't do it!"

"What happened?" Stacey asked someone, Reese from Panther.

"When they went in to stop the ships from departing, only Weasel and Legate were still alive. Quintain ordered Weasel to stop the freighter, which he did just like last time. But Legate came in too slow, and when the dispatch boat-"

"I will not have a rating and a snotty decide they can critique my actions!" Quintain rounded on the pair.

"The skipper pulled it off because she had guts, Quintain!"

"The stupid bitch got half of her crew killed in the process!"

"What did you call the skipper?" Mikishima was really fighting to throw himself forward now.

"Yes." Everyone fell silent as Huggins walked in. "I would really like to hear that again." She walked through the crowd to stand between the two men.

"I think I could do with a repeat as well." Every eyes turned as Captain Duvalier walked through to join her LAC squadron commander.

The tense tableau froze. Huggins looked at Mikishima. "Chill out, lieutenant." Then she turned to Quintain. "Lieutenant, you went into the battle with six LACs. You got HMS Hel and the collier killed because you refused to launch EW drones and decoys when the first salvo came in, and screamed at those who did as they were supposed to do.

"You used your Shrikes as human shields to protect your ship, then got both Katana killed doing the same with the one salvo that did target the LACs. Finally instead of closing and using your point defense to disable the dispatch boat, you put a main battery graser through her." She stared coldy at the man. "If, if mind you, you had gone for them, I could have judged that the destruction of that vessel was accidental. However all you did was get over 60% of your crews slaughtered to fail, because while accidental destruction would have been acceptable, you used a 20 kilo hammer and lost the match for your team."

She looked the others over. "Everyone else, well done. Of the five teams competing, two lost when their Ferrets were killed by that one salvo. One other killed the dispatch boat also, and lost. Instead of a tie, however, our hammer fanatic gave the victory to Shrew."

"I'm sorry, sir. I wanted to win. But this just makes me sick." Stacey started crying.

"Hey, stop that. It's not you who lost it." Mikishima glared at Quintain.

"And since Stacey is now officially our newest commander-"

"I'm what?" Stacey looked up in shock.

"Of course you are. You should have realized that when you saw your Ferret's nose art." Duvalier commented.

Stacey stared at her, then turned, running back into the bay. She stopped, looking up at the nose of F4. The simple logo was gone. In it's place was an Eagle pouncing on a Shrew dressed in a Confederate Uniform. The shrew was proudly displaying the Sidemore flag, which consisted of what would have been a Confederate battle standard based on the Union Jack with the stars replaced by miniatures of the flags of every nation and conflict the SCA reenacted. Behind it's back was a sword almost as tall as it was. The motto read; THAT'S RIGHT, COME DOWN HERE WHERE I CAN KILL YOU!

She turned, and except for Quintain, every eye was on her. The captain walked forward, and Stacey shook the outstretched hand, still in shock. Huggins looked at Quintain, lips thinning. "As for you, lieutenant, remember that a Squadron is a team. Your success, your life is in the hands of the stupid people and bitches around you." She walked over until she was nose to nose. "Especially in the hands of this one. Now get out of my sight and from now on work with the team, or I'll replace you."

"With who?" Quintain blustered.

"Midshipman Krueger would probably do a better job. At least he'd work with his team, not against them. Dismissed." She turned on her heel, and strode out followed by everyone but the one pariah.