Chapter 60

Confed Dry dock Alpha, Orbiting Vega-4: Several senior officers of the EA Joint Chiefs and Senators from the EA Senate were here to watch the trials of the EAS James Carter. They were all waiting in one of the observation rooms on board the TCS Mastiff. General Lefcourt saw Mr Douglas and his wife enter, and made his way over to them "Hello Mr Douglas, Mrs Douglas." and he extended his hand

Luke shook his hand, and Terry nodded to the general. "So General, do you want to cancel your bet yet?"

He smiled at them and they turned to look at the James Carter, "No sir. Even though I've seen the plans, and the improvements are impressive, I still think that the defenders are going to win."

Luke just smiled at him, "We'll see general, we'll see."

Terry snickered a little at them, and the two men looked at her. "I'm sorry dear, general. But you two sound like my dad and Captain Santiago. They used to bet on just about everything."

Luke put his arm around her, "Sorry Terry, it's an old military tradition,"

They all laughed a little. Then the general looked at Luke. "Speaking of Captain Santiago, has anyone seen him lately?"

Terry smiled, "He's said something about hitching a ride with Commander Davidson."

Luke looked at the Terry, "Why am I not surprised."

Now Luke looked at General, "So General, can you tell me if there is any new information about why Babylon 3 blew up?"

The General looked at him, "Actually sir, Bill an I will need to talk to you about that tomorrow."

Luke could see by the look in the General's eye that this conversation was going to be important, so he just nodded. "I'll clear my calender General."

Bridge of EAS James Carter: Commander Davidson was going over the final engineers report, and he looked at Ricardo and smiled. "Well sir, what do you think of her?"

"She's a great ship Mickey, but then, she always was."

"Yes sir, but now she's the fastest in the fleet, and probably the toughest."

"I like what you've done to her Mickey."

"Well sir, what can I say. I had a little help."

Both of them laughed a little, and Ricardo looked at Mickey, "Thanks for letting me tag along Mickey."

"Our pleasure Ricardo. Have you heard what our orders are going to be?"

Ricardo looked at him seriously now, "Oh yeah, and I gotta warn you Mickey. This ones going to be tough, even with the improvements."

Don't worry sir, we're ready for anything the chiefs can throw at us."

"I hope so Mickey."

Five minutes later, the James Carter pulled out of the dry dock, and General Lefcourt opened a channel to them. "This is General Lefcourt. I first want to say that the James Carter is a fine looking ship, and you should all be proud of the work you've done on her. Secondly, I want to wish her and her crew good fortunes on this upcoming trial. Now for your orders. On the outer edge of this system, a base has been set up. It is automated and unmanned, that is your target, For the purpose of this trial, the base is the location of a terrorist group that has tried to overthrow Earth gov. Your mission is to destroy the base and take out any defenders. Intel is sketchy, but you will be facing at least one destroyer and several gunboats. With some fighter protection. There may be other defenses as well. Again, good fortunes to you, and good hunting."

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On the bridge of the James Carter, Ricardo looked at Mickey, "Well, I did warn you."

Mickey looked at him, and then at his crew. He saw that they were ready, nervous, but ready. "Helm, set course for the outer edge of the system. EWAC's, I don't want to be surprised out there, so maximum stealth. Tactical, I know that the enemy is going to do whatever they can to fool you, so be careful, set shields to setting one. Alright people, lets do this."

The ship moved quickly away from the dry dock, followed by the Mastiff and her escorts. In less than three hours they were nearing the outer edge of the system.

"So Mickey, what settings are they using on the guns for this exercise?'

"Well sir, because of the upgrades, we've got the weapons set at 0.01 percent. We wouldn't want to hole a friendly over an exercise"

Ricardo just shook his head, "Yep, that would be bad Mickey, besides they'd probably make you pay for the damages."

Soon they were approaching the target area, and they still hadn't seen the defenders. Commander Davidson slowed the ship to half speed, and looked at the tactical display. There were a lot of rocks the enemy could hide behind, and there also seemed to be some low level interference to the scanners that looked like a jamming signal. He smiled as he looked at the EWAC station, "Can you compensate for the jamming?"

The tech smirked a little, "In my sleep sir. Compensating now, and locating source."

Now he and the crew saw the source of the jamming, It was a station on an asteroid. "EWAC''s, can you get any feedback from that station?"

The techs eyes lit up at the idea and he nodded to the captain, "Yes sir, just give me a few seconds"

Twenty seconds later the station's passive scan signal was showing them the area, and they now saw the defenders. Two Destroyers, four gunboats, one squadron of fighters, and several weapons platforms. The ships were set up in a pattern to catch them in a crossfire. He had the computer ID the ships. Mickey assessed everything, and turned to Ricardo, "We've got the gunboats London, Paris, Beijing and Tokyo. The destroyers are the Brighton and the Maxwell."

He looked at the smile spreading across Ricardo's face and realized it mirrored his own. , "I think this is going to be fun sir."

"Helm bring us to 165 mark 50, Z minus 2000. Full speed. Tactical, when we come around, fire on the first destroyer as she comes to bear, weapons and engines first. Activate defense grid and full shields after EWAC. EWAC's, flood the area in 10 seconds."

The crew only nodded, they knew the captain wasn't expecting a response. The ship moved quickly into position, and the defenders still didn't know they were there.

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Bridge of the EAS Destroyer Maxwell: Captain Ellen Tidwell sat and watched the tactical display. She knew that the James Carter was out there, and would soon be in the area. The Group leader had set up a pretty good trap, and now they just had to wait for the target to arrive. "Tactical, anything yet?"

"No Ma'am."

"EWAC's, anything on passives?"

"No Captain."

Captain Tidwell just looked at the forward screen, "Where are you Davidson?"

The EWAC's tech called out, "We're getting massive jamming."

The next thing she knew, alarms started going off around the bridge, and the damage assessment computer started showing massive damage to the ship. Then the lights all over the ship cut off, and she checked the damage display monitor. She just shook her head in disbelief, and then opened a signal to the Mastiff as per operation orders, "CnC, this is the Maxwell."

She hesitated for a moment, then continued, "As per our damage assessment computer, our engineering section has been holed, and our ship has blown up. Please send our congratulations to the crew of the James Carter. Maxwell out."

Now she turned to her XO, "You know Davidson's never going to let me live this down."

Her XO just looked at her, "Sorry Captain, he came out of a blind spot."

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Bridge of EAS James Carter: "Captain, the Maxwell has been destroyed, and the London and Tokyo are badly damaged."

Commander Davidson just nodded as he heard the tactical report, "Fire aft weapons as we pass, take out the gunboats."

"Aye sir."

"Helm come to 82 mark 25. I want to get that asteroid between us and the Brighton."

"The Tokyo and London are destroyed sir. Incoming fighters."

"Clear em from my sky."

"Aye aye Captain."

Star Fury Squadron Flying circus: Lt Commander Holtzmeyer saw the jamming on his monitor, and then the monitor showed the Maxwell destroyed, and then the Tokyo and London icons blinked out. He saw the James Carter now, and he opened a channel to his group. "There she is boys and girls. It looks like they got us with our pants down. Lets take her out."

The entire squadron spun around 90 degrees and hit their thrusters. They were closing into missile range, but they couldn't get a clear lock on tone. Then the Commander saw a hailstorm of energy bolts coming toward them. His first thought was, "What the hell?" as they were still outside of effective weapons range. Then his ships auto systems kicked in and brought his ship to a stop and it started to power down. He looked at his monitor, and he then looked out and saw that his entire squadron was also powering down. He opened a channel to the Mastiff, "CnC, this is the flying circus. We are Kaput."

He now opened a channel to his squadron, "Sorry mine friends, but we are all dead."

His wingman quipped back, "Well sir. At least with all of us dead, you don't have to write letters to home."

"Funny Karl, real funny."

Bridge of the EAS Destroyer Brighton: Captain Amir Hassan looked at the screen and through the jamming he saw the icons for the Maxwell, London and Tokyo blink off. He next saw the fighters blink off as well. He now watched the icon of the Carter. "Helm, bring us about. Tactical, fire any weapon that comes to bear. Comm. get me the Beijing and Paris."

Amir saw his comm. tech nod, "Gerry, Ito, I want you to move around behind him at flank speed. The Brighton will slow him up, and you can finish him."

"Yes sir."

"Aye sir."

Both gunboats moved out at flank speed, and the Brighton began to close with the Carter. Captain Hassan watched as the distance between them closed rapidly. But then the lights on the bridge flickered and went out. Captain Hassan looked at the damage assessment computer, and saw that according to the flashing schematic, the entire bridge had been holed to space. He felt the ship still moving, and felt the weapons fire, so he knew that auxiliary control was still fighting. He looked at his bridge crew, "Sorry folks, we're dead."

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Bridge of the James Carter: Commander Davidson saw the gunboats moving out, and the Brighton changing course. "Helm, stay on the gunboats. Tactical fire all aft weapons as the Brighton come to bear."

The gunboat captains saw the ship turn toward them and ignore the Brighton. They also saw the mock damage the Brighton took from the Carter's aft guns. Then both gunboats powered down, as their computers showed them as destroyed.. Mickey saw the tactical officer shake his head, "Sir, the Brighton is coming at us again."

"You only got the bridge Lt, they have an auxiliary control. Helm set course for the base. Tactical, take out any defense platforms that you get a firing arc on."

The shield power monitor beeped, and Mickey saw the computer estimate a 25 percent drop in the shields. He looked at his monitor, then at the Tactical officer. "Uh Lt, don't you have something to finish?"

He saw the man smile a little, and then felt a small shudder. "Not a problem sir, Sneakers deployed."

Ricardo looked at Mickey, "Sneakers?"

Mickey smiled at the Ricardo. "Those are the mines we're carrying. They are actually something just recently developed and are called Tactical Stealth Mines. But the crew likes to call them Sneakers. The mines have an outer casing of scanner absorbing material, and it along with their size makes them almost impossible to detect. Plus they have minimal thrusters to charge at an approaching target, so Sneakers."

Now he saw the base coming into range, and he had the base targeted "Tactical, status of the Brighton?"

"Badly damaged sir."

"Fire on the base, and then take out the Brighton."

In the auxiliary control room, Lt Franklin saw the extent of damage the ship had taken, and the projections on the damage assessment computer. He looked at the comm. tech now, "Open a signal to the James Carter."

"Yes sir."

As the James Carter fired, the icon for the base vanished, and they turned toward the Brighton. His comm. tech spoke up, "Captain, we're being hailed, audio only."

"Let me hear it sergeant"

"EAS James Carter, this is Lt Franklin, acting Captain of the Brighton. Most of our crew is dead, and our life support is failing. I wish to surrender immediately."

Davidson nodded to the comm. tech. "EAS Brighton, power down all none essential systems, and head to your life pods. We will pick you up."

"Yes sir, Brighton out."

Observation room TCS Mastiff: General Lefcourt and the others had watched the battle, and he had to admit that the Carter was truly impressive. With it's extended range and maneuverability, it hadn't hardly been touched. And according to the computers, the only hit it did take was deflected by the new energy shields. He picked up the comm. mike. "Attention all ships, this is General Lefcourt. The exercise is now finished. James Carter, congratulations on a excellent run. You and your crew are to be commended. All ships will proceed to Vega-3 for final mission overview and critique." and he put the mike down.

He now looked at Mr Douglas, "It looks like I owe you a fifty year old scotch Mr Douglas."

"Well I told you they would pull it off general."

Now the general looked at him seriously, "Mr Douglas, when I get back to earth, I'm going to suggest a full upgrade of all of the Roosevelt class Light cruisers. I'm also going to strongly suggest a full upgrade of all of our ships. And if it's alright with you, I would like our designers to meet with your engineers to see about designing a new class of ship. Perhaps a dedicated carrier class."

"Well general, I'll let my department heads know, and they can arrange to meet with your people."

Luke grabbed some glasses of a sparking beverage and gave one to Terry and the General. "A toast General. To a long and profitable future."

"I hope that doesn't mean cost overruns sir?"

Luke looked at the general, a mock expression of hurt on his face. "General, if anything, we'll probably come in under cost."

Lefcourt smiled now, "In that case sir, I agree with your toast." and clinked his glass against Luke's

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Briefing room EAS James Carter: General Lefcourt, General Hague, Captain Santiago and the ship captains from the exercise were seated around the table. They had been joined by Lt Franklin of the Brighton as well. General Lefcourt stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen. I have to say that todays exercise was very eye opening. The improvements done to the James Carter are everything the Confed corporation promised. General Hague and I are going to recommend to the president that we begin to upgrade all of the ships in Earthforce. But we would like to hear from you what you think about todays exercise first."

Captain Hassan looked at the generals, "Well sirs, to put it bluntly, this exercise was unfair. We were completely outclassed. I mean it was like fighting the Minbari all over again. We couldn't get a solid target lock, they had a longer firing range, and they are nearly twice as fast as us."

General Hague looked at him, and then Lt Franklin. "And yet your ship managed to hit them Amir."

Lt Franklin looked at general Hague, "Actually sir, that was a lucky hit at best. Even then, we didn't even scratch her paint."

"So you're saying that the James Carter was the best ship out there today."

Captain Tidwell looked at general Lefcourt, "Yes sir, maybe in the entire Earthforce fleet sir."

"Thank you for your candor people. I have to say that I agree with Captain Tidwell and Captain Hassan's assessments. Commander Davidson, you've got a really great ship. Don't let anyone tell you any different. But Commander, during the exercise, you deployed mines."

"Yes sir."

"I've never seen anything like them before. Where did you get them?"

"Actually sir, they are something that some of my crew and some of the Confed engineers came up with. They are based on the type of mines that the Confed people have on their ships, but some of my engineers suggested using a scanner absorbent material for the outer casing. They officially are classified as Tactical Stealth Mines. But the crew have dubbed them Sneakers. This was the first time we have deployed them outside of the practice range, and the ones we used today had had the charges removed."

General Lefcourt looked at him, "Are you telling me that you used an untried piece of equipment in todays exercise Commander?"

"Oh no sir. We've done all necessary computer and situational testing for the mines as required by Earthforce. A full report was forwarded to EA R+D almost a month ago."

General Hague looked at General Lefcourt. "Robert, don't reprimand Commander Davidson. I authorized their use in the exercise today. And you have to admit, they worked rather spectacularly."

Commander Davidson smiled at the General, "One other thing sir, the mines are something that the EA can produce by ourselves. The Confed people are giving us the credit for developing them."

"Alright Commander. But I want a full report on these mines forwarded to my office immediately."

Commander Davidson took out a Data crystal from his pocket. "Here you are sir."

For the rest of the meeting the group went over the tactics used by both the defenders and the aggressor. When they were finished, General Lefcourt knew that the president was going to like his report of the exercise.

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After the Captains had left, General Lefcourt looked at General Hague. "All in all Bill, todays exercise was a roaring success. But did you really authorize the use of the mines?"

"Yes I did Bob. Mickey came to me this morning, and he told me about the mines, and he showed me all the data he had on them. He also told me that he was still waiting for the approval of R+D before he could use them."

"Why R+D Bill? Weren't they a part of the refit?"

"Technically, no they weren't. So he had forwarded all the data to R+D to get their approval. But for some reason the approval was being held up somewhere."

General Lefcourt just rubbed his neck a little, "Let me guess, held up in committee by a certain Senator."

"Got it in one Bob."

"I'm not surprised Bill, he was dead set against us having any kind of military contracts with Confed. He said that he didn't trust them, or their commanding officer."

"I know, so I used my authority as the sector commanding officer to authorize their use."

"You do know that when he hears that you bypassed him on this, he's going to be pissed"

"I know Bob, but did you hear what the little weasel tried to do to Luke Douglas, and the Minbari prisoners?"

"I've heard a few rumors, but nothing substantial."

Bill smirked as he pictured in his mind the meeting between Luke and the Senator. "He tried to bully Luke Douglas on his own ship."

Bob thought about it for a few seconds, then started to laugh out loud. "The man's such a putz. What did he think he would accomplish?"

"He figured that the Admiral was just like any other military man that he could quietly threaten politically. He quickly found out he was wrong. He then complained to the Veep, but the Veep could see the big picture, and he ignored the Senator."

"I'm glad he did Bill. Now do you want your staff to write up the report, or do you want mine to?"

"Please Bob, allow me, after all it is my sector."

Both of them chuckled and got down to going over the details one more time.