Chapter One Hundred and Seven - Stress

"Hmm," Aurora said. Then, a minute later, with just a bit more frustration, she "Hmm'd" again. Then to everyone's surprise, Aurora reached out and smacked the side of her console. She glanced at the others, then without so much as a hint of a blush, sat up straighter and returned to looking at the screen.

"Is... everything okay?" Twenty-Six asked.

"It's fine," Aurora said. She paused for a moment before shaking her head. "No, that's misleading. I'm having difficulty with this software. It's not doing as I want it to and I can't figure it out."

Twenty-Six stood up from where she was sitting. She'd somehow found her way to the base of the captain's seat and had found herself a spot to nestle next to Ivil on the floor. Ivil had been rather enjoying that.

Obviously, this was just the captain's seat on a mid-rate frigate, but she liked to imagine that Twenty-Six would also enjoy a spot sitting at the base of Ivil's throne.

She made a mental note to acquire a massive throne, and then a second, attached mental note to acquire a heap of very comfortable and luxurious pillows.

Or maybe plushies? She was aware that there was a black market of Empress of Mars merchandise, of course. Twenty-Six had been sleeping next to the bootleg plushie she'd won for her at that arcade.

"What are you trying to do?" Twenty-Six asked.

"Well, I'm trying to input the relative velocities and headings of the three fleets we have here, but--" Aurora started, but she stopped when Twenty-Six shook her head.

"I mean with the smacking. You know, most machines can only take so much damage before they break."

"Oh," Aurora said. She looked contrite for a moment, her expression pinching up. "Forgive me. And you're the one who'd have to fix my error as well, which is unkind of me. I let my frustration get ahead of my good sense."

"It's okay," Twenty-Six said. "Next time, hit it here, that's where the drive is, and on these, there's sometimes some wires that get loose. But I don't think percussive maintenance will help with software issues much. Not every problem can be solved with a good smacking."

"I can think of a few that can," Pixie muttered too low for anyone else to hear.

Twenty-Six and Aurora leaned close together, initially to work on the software, but Ivil didn't fail to notice how much attention Aurora was paying to Twenty-Six's rather meager assets as they bumped into her shoulder through the thin camisole the mechanic was wearing.

Silly Aurora, she would never learn how to wrangle the software if she wasn't paying attention.

"Urgh," Twenty-Six said as she stood up. "Pixie, maybe you'd have better luck with this? It's kind of your thing."

Pixie looked up from where she was seated, then shrugged and stood. A moment later she was pressed in on Aurora's other side and pointing at various toggles and options on the screen.

Aurora tried to follow Pixie's instructions while ignoring the fact that she was being pressed in from both sides. Then Ivil had a wonderful idea. Standing, she walked over and leaned in from behind. "Looks like this is giving you a bit of trouble, Aurora," Ivil said.

She heard Aurora swallow, then try to sit straighter only for the top of her head to bump into something soft. She slouched back down. "I'm just trying to have a clear picture of the fleet movements here."

"I can see that," Ivil said. "And how's the fleet moving along?"

Aurora pointed to the screen. "We've figured out how to input some of it. The software is made for calculating single ships' movements, but it accepts multiple vessels as an entry. The problem is, it glitches out once you have too many."

"So we're working around it by only entering some ships," Pixie said. "Usually the largest ones that'll be in the centre of a formation anyway."

"Right," Aurora said. "What we have here is functional enough."

"Oh? And what is it telling you?" Ivil asked.

The politician gestured vaguely at the screen. "The Earth Alliance is moving in. At this point, we'll be in their... What do you call it, Pixie? The range where they can start actually hitting?"

"The extreme-range to the out-range," Pixie said. "All the set of ranges where the only thing you'll be hitting with are railguns, lasers, and torpedoes. The railgun shots will mostly go wide, the lasers will be so scattered that they'll barely be strong enough to warm toast, and the torpedoes will be seen coming an hour before they arrive. It's not the kind of range that actual combat happens in, but it's where combat starts."

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"What's that mean?" Twenty-Six asked curiously.

Pixie and Twenty-Six both stood, and Aurora let out the tiniest little sigh of relief.

"It means that in... how many hours?" Pixie asked.

"Sixteen," Aurora said.

"In sixteen hours, the Earth Alliance is going to be close enough to tickle the Uranian fleet, which they currently out-ton but don't outnumber. The Jovian fleet, owing to being slow and poorly prepared, will be entering their own extreme range around the moon's orbital in..." Pixie paused and Aurora sighed, louder this time.

"In thirty hours. Leaving a massive window for the Earth Alliance to wipe the Uranian fleet out," she said. "If Ivil wasn't here, I'd call this a lost cause for the Uranian fleet, even without the Emperor's possible presence."

"You're surprisingly knowledgeable about military matters for a politician," Ivil said.

"War is an extension of politics," Aurora said. "Or so I was told. My education touched on it a little."

Ivil nodded. "Not enough, however. There are several factors that you're missing."

Aurora frowned. "There are? We have the ship tonnage, an idea of their weapon loadouts, and an idea of when they'll be in range, that's for both the Earth Alliance fleet and the mixed Uranian one. I suppose I'm not taking into account command potential and... core usage?"

Ivil shook her head. "No, I meant a few other factors. Though yes, both of those are important. I'm afraid that the Earth Alliance command will likely be better. I'll reluctantly admit that their military command schools aren't entirely worthless. I'd wager a considerable amount of wealth that the person in command--not the Emperor of Earth, he's a moron--is smart, well-educated, and probably experienced, and will therefore be a better leader and commander."

"So... that leaves," Aurora started. She pursed her lips and clearly put some actual thought into it. "Morale?"

"Good work," Ivil said. "Yes. The Uranian fleet is going to scatter like pigeons hearing a shotgun blast."

"They're defending their home," Aurora said.

Ivil shook her head. "They're defending a cache of cores that most of them will never see."

Aurora grumbled. "I suppose. But the long term economic benefits... would make them all a little richer in twenty years, which I suppose won't matter to someone about to die now."

"I'm sure some of them will want to defend their home," Twenty-Six reassured. "The Earth Alliance are kind of looking like the bad guys right now, and that one guy who was broadcasting earlier sounded pretty convincing to me."

"Yes, but Ivil is correct," Aurora said.

Ivil nodded. She usually was.

"I've seen ships scatter," Pixie said. "Usually commercial freighters scared shitless by some pirates, not getting that they're stronger together, or just knowing that the first to run usually lives to see another day. It's always a mess. The Uranian fleet is civilian, with a few exceptions. It doesn't matter if they outnumber their foe, they will break first because they're not mentally prepared for a last stand. And when they break and scatter..."

"Is there anything we can do?" Twenty-Six asked. "That'll mean a lot of broken ships... and dead people too."

"Yes. If only there was someone exceptionally powerful who could sweep in out of nowhere and protect the poor, innocent Uranian fleet from any actual assault until the Jovian fleet swoops in and saves the day." Ivil sighed faux-dramatically. "If only."

"You are not as good an actress as you think," Aurora said. "I suppose there's no all-powerful cores for that?"

"There might be a few," Ivil replied. "In any case, if we want to make the Emperor of Earth sweat, I can probably divert railgun rounds and make laser strikes give off less heat without being noticed too much."

"And that'll last until the Jovian fleet arrives?" Aurora asked.

"I feel like you might not have a good idea of how long actual fleet engagements last," Ivil said. "On paper, a two-day long battle seems long. In reality, it feels like those two days last weeks."

"Sounds stressful," Twenty-Six said.

Ivil shrugged. "It'll be stressful for someone, trust me." She smiled in a way that she hoped was genuinely reassuring. "But not for any of us."

***

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