War Three against One
Stephen Brandon
War, Three against One
By Stephen Brandon
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Copyright 2016 Stephen Brandon
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Author's Notes
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, incidents, and dialogue are from the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or other persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Real and fictional locations are used for background only.
It is designed to be read in sequence starting with My Mine and then Aderes.
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Acknowledgments
My loving wife has put up with me for over forty six years. Without her support and love I don't know who, what, or where I would be, so I thank her from the bottom of my heart, and I dedicate all my books to her!
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Table of Contents ~(ToC)~
Authors Note & Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter 1 Bad news
Chapter 2 Captain Cecil Adams
Chapter 3 Who can we trust?
Chapter 4 Rendezvous
Chapter 5 Railroaded again
Chapter 6 The Plan
Epilogue
About Stephen Brandon
Other books by Stephen Brandon
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Prologue
Aderes is repaired. The crew is safe. However, they've heard nothing from the third platoon of Section J at Safehaven. Their battle is over, but they're not headed toward Safehaven, or even the asteroid belt. They are headed into interstellar space, without enough fuel to return safely.
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Chapter 1 Bad news
“Susan, after the maneuvers around Mars, I need to know our location and direction.”
“Yes Sir, Captain.”
“Don't call me Captain or boss, just Bill.”
“Can't do that Captain. After the computer shot me, I don't dare be disrespectful.”
“What do you mean, the computer shot you?”
“I made a comment to Melissa in the cafeteria, and the computer was the only one that didn't think it was a joke. I have two laser burns in a very embarrassing location.”
“Oh, so you're the one no one will name.
“Aderes!”
Yes Uncle Bill.
“Why did you shoot Susan?”
She threatened to take you away from Melissa, so I punished her for threatening Melissa.”
“Aderes, humans sometime make inappropriate remarks when dangerous situations are over. It is a coping method we use to make others laugh and relieve tension.”
I will study jokes and humor Uncle Bill, however your and Melissa's security come first.
“Thank-you Aderes, now assist Susan in computing our course and a safe return to the asteroid belt.”
Uncle Bill, I have already computed our trajectory and speed, no safe orbit will return us to the asteroid belt in less than four hundred and seven years with the fuel we have on-board.
“Aderes, just give Susan the information she request and assist her with any calculations she needs, and announce a meeting in the cafeteria in one hour.”
Yes Uncle Bill.
An hour later everyone but Cecil was sitting in the cafeteria when Bill entered. “OK, here's the situation. The maneuvering around Mars during the second attack did the reverse of what we needed. It turned into an Oberth maneuver that accelerated us to the solar south into an elliptical orbit around the sun. We have enough fuel on-board to bring us back to the asteroid belt in about four hundred years.
“Let's eat, and then brainstorm a solution for a faster return.”
LORD, thank you that everyone is alive, we have food, and air. Amen
Dinner was without much conversation. Later over coffee everyone just looked despondent. Then Bill announced, “Think about it tonight and we'll discuss all possible ideas in the morning after breakfast. Jot down your ideas, no matter how wild. We have food for a few years and reactor power for over a century, so time is on our side. See you'll in the morning.”
Breakfast wasn't much better, but there was little of paper on the tables.
OK, we've all heard what Susan outlined. She has no better solution yet, and neither does the ships computer. That leaves us with all the wild, crazy, and improbable plans we can come up with to kill our outward velocity. Once that's accomplished, we'll start drifting back toward the sun.
Boss, the only rocket propulsion systems we have that don't use our fuel, is the defensive missiles. I have no idea how to use them without launching or having the warheads blow up.
What about launching our trash to slow us down. There's got to be some heavy junk aboard we don't need.
Maybe Susan can pray us to slow down.
“James, that's not very polite, just because you don't believe doesn't mean that you can rag on those that do.” replied Shannon. “After all you sure seem to pray to those guns of yours.”
“OK people, we have three ideas, lets start with them and prove that each one works, or not. Split up into teams and start.” replied Bill. “Oh, by the way, I expected more ideas than these. I don't want you to be embarrassed, so Doc is going to put a roll of tape on the wall. If anyone has a wild ass idea, write it up and tape it to the wall. I'll check every morning, and we'll work on them too.”
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