1920: Tau Past, #1

By Richard R Lockwood

After I finished with the four volumes of the Broken Fleet series, Admiral Robert Kosciusko demanded his own series. He wanted to go prevent WWII and be the Big Daddy of a new Tau Fleet. I felt it was an opportunity to write the perfect book for me, a pure space opera with a big cast, big ideas, and big battles, mixing in some humor and human feelings to suit my taste. His story will take eight volumes to play out and begins in Tau Past - 1920. He raises a new family and as his empire grows he will come up against other powers in the galaxy. 

I did not plan to sell it or even publish it, I wrote it for the pure pleasure of the creative process, but it now seems selfish to let it die, and wasteful as well since I put so much good stuff into the series. Hope you give it a chance and enjoy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard R Lockwood
• Release date: Oct 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215361863

Richard R Lockwood

Was born in Miami FL. Worked for the University of Florida until I retired. Been married to the lovely Cecelia for 40 years now, proof that I'm a lucky guy. Now living on the Nature Coast in Citrus County. Enjoy all kind of wildlife, especially reptiles and insects, so I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place. When I'm not writing I enjoy wood carving. Both of the heads beside me in the picture are cedar from the Chassahowitzka Forrest. I also love to walk my dog Bark Anthony. Probably need to go do that now. A Chronology of the Twins Alternate Universe novels and some thoughts and rationales - https://www.ricklockwood.net/Chronology.html My Books on Books 2 Read - https://books2read.com/ap/RaZ9Br/Richard-R-Lockwood  

Book preview

Dedicated to my wife Cecelia

Transcendent in her beauty

And golden in her character

She makes a miracle of every day

I am blessed to spend with her

All persons mentioned in this book

exist in an alternate universe,

as do we.

Tau Past - Part 1 - 2070

1

On the occasion of the celebration of Bob Kosciusko's 100th birthday, he announced his decision to leave the Fleet, to retire from his post as Governor of Sulia Sector, and to travel back into the past to stop the greatest catastrophe of the 20th Century, World War II. He told his long time friend, Fleet Admiral Bill McKenzie, that his plan was to humble the Germans and smash the Soviets, and if any of the McKenzie clan wished to travel with him they would have an opportunity to stop the long excruciation of China by Japan at the same time. Chen Shanshan, McKenzie's wife, had been born in Shanghai and the subject of the Japanese occupation during that era had been well covered in her education. It was a Fall Gathering of the Clans in Hawaii and she and several of her grown children listened intently as Bob explained his plan further.

I'm going to recruit fifty volunteers, we'll take gunships and factory seeds with us, we'll set up in some God forsaken place, perhaps Antarctica again, we'll grow a new fleet, and we'll kick anybody's ass that messes with the new Poland. My target date will be 1920 so I'll have plenty of opportunities to take out Herr Hitler before he can cause his mischief. We'll also be paying attention to Comrade Stalin and see if we can put some sand in his gears as well. So what do you think, Bill?

I think it's been about 50 years since I heard such a crazy plan, McKenzie replied. You have no idea what will be happening on some random Earth 150 years ago.

Maybe so, Bill, but this Earth and the one we came from both share a similar history of that war. I think it's likely, and I think it's worth taking a shot at it. Don't you?

Let's say it works, Bob. Let's say you stop the war in Europe and save 50 million lives. There's another billion universes where they all died, so it seems pointless to me.

Maybe it is Bill. But maybe I'll be creating a billion universes where they live?

I guess it's possible. When are you planning on going?

I've spoken with some of our scientists, they think we can be ready in a year with a good probability of success. Some of them want to go, so I think they'll make sure it works properly.

What about China? asked Shanshan.

In 1920 China was a mess, Shan. The revolutionaries of those days were committed to violence. The people were being pulled in all kinds of directions and that made it easy for outside powers like Japan to take advantage. I don't think it'll be as easy as when we took over Terra. There's going to be some head knocking required, both to smash the Japanese war machine, and to get all the Chinese moving forward.

I know some head knockers, replied Shanshan. And I have at least one son who is bored, she said looking at Axel. What do you think?

There would be no way back, replied Axel, and you would never know if we lived or died, succeeded or failed.

True, said Bob, but I'm a little bored, too. The Tau control almost three hundred star systems, and more every day, but I know none of them really need me. When we first traveled through time, it was just a crazy scheme. But I've always thought it might be a great opportunity. Everyone used to say, 'If you could travel back in time, why not kill Hitler?' That would be a helluva home improvement project for the past. Today, I think we could do a lot more than that, so why shouldn't we?

You'd be breaking up the most productive group, and friendship, in human history, Bob, said McKenzie. Romulus and Remus were nothing compared to us.

Yes, and that would be my biggest regret, Bill. But our work here is done, I feel like I'm coasting now. I'm only a hundred, it's time for a new career.

McKenzie looked at his friend and thought, then said, You think fifty people will be enough? I think you could get thousands of volunteers if you announced it. I've got the urge to go give the Soviets another kick myself. But, he looked at his wife with a smile, I'm happy here.

I wouldn't mind more, said Bob, but it's not going to be a picnic. They'll have to be committed to the mission, and capable of contributing to it. I don't want to be worried about my own people.

Sounds like you've given it some thought, said Bill. You said some of the scientists want to go, too?

I'd like to take some good programmers for the factories, there's no telling what we might need. And some people who are good at explaining stuff. There were plenty of smart people back then, they just didn't have the resources we'll have. So I don't think I'll need many.

What will you do if you arrive and things are completely different? said Shanshan. What if the world's at peace?

Anything is possible, Shan, but I don't think that's too likely. Aliens would have to have taken over the planet for it to be at peace back then.

Well, said Axel, here they come.

2

Bob Kosciusko had been born in Chicago Illinois in 1970. The son of a US Army officer, and grandson of Polish immigrants, his roots had never meant much to him except when he had to explain how to spell his last name. As he grew older and studied his chosen profession the history of his ancient homeland barely interested him, although there had been a squadron of American fliers who tried to help Poland in the first World War and flew under the name of one of his ancestors. But Bob always considered himself an American, or at least he had, until he reached his 55th birthday and found himself approaching an Earth different from the one he was born on.

Traveling through time had taken him five years into the past and some might say he was actually 105, but Bob felt that was pointless to worry about. Now he considered himself a human first; he had been master of his own planet and star system for almost 50 years, but he didn't consider himself a Sulian, except when Sulians were competing against humans from other star systems. Perhaps it was this lack of identification, a feeling that something might be missing and should be searched for, that had led him to question what he might be able to accomplish through strengthening Poland between the World Wars. His grandparents had emigrated to America during the time of the Bolshevik Revolution that brought down the Russian Empire and established the Soviet State. It had been an era of great suffering for Poland as the armies of all of her neighbors contended across Polish lands, and at the end came the brutal humiliation of being absorbed into the Soviet empire and complete subjugation for three generations. Bob did not know if it was his roots that led him to see a strong Poland as the antidote to the wholesale slaughter of WWII, and did not care. He saw it as the solution to a vast problem, and once he came to that conclusion, the personality that had led him to become first a General, and then an Admiral, demanded that if he could solve a problem, he would. Over the years he had come to accept that he would eventually try to do something, and now the time had come. He had some reservations, but once he had announced his decision to the McKenzies he realized that he was comfortable with it and began planning in earnest.

He had a large family, numerous wives, and a tribe of children in addition to assets all over human space. All of the property had been held in the name of a family trust for decades. His oldest son Alex had been the Chief Administrator of Sulia for many years, he would now be the head of the trust.

With family business taken care of that left the military and scientific concerns. Bob expected to retain his rank of Admiral and be the leader of the expedition; anyone going with him would have to accept that. He had some ideas about the equipment he would take with him and formed a group in the Science Division of Tau Stellar to design some special ships for him. The larger science project of actually traveling through time would be accomplished by a consortium of Universities and a special engineering division of Bechtel Stellar, a company that had done many projects for the Tau over the years, from Martian and Lunar bases and cities, to gas giant colonies, orbitals, and battle stations.

Many professors and academics had done work on the math and engineering of time travel over the years. Tel Aviv University had a message machine gathering dust that was brought out and examined. It was still getting messages, still full of greetings and congratulations on birthdays and anniversaries for notable persons, most of them familiar to the Tau. McKenzie and Kosciusko had always gotten messages, some of them addressed to them by royal rank, and they had always been amused by such conceits. Now Bob decided to go through them and see if there might be anything that could help his mission. A number of graduate students were assigned to sift and collate them.

Lev Bronstein was still on the faculty at Tel Aviv and Princeton, although he explained to Bob that he was long past his creative age. He was genuinely excited about the trip, and not just for the science.

You may get a chance to meet my Great Great Uncle, Bob. Can you take a message for me?

If I run into Trotsky, I doubt we'll be doing much chatting, but who knows? replied Bob.

Lev gave that smile he always gave when he was amused by the Universe, then said, But we do have something interesting for you, Bob. I started some of my students on a small scale time travel machine; it can send objects as large as a coin into the past. I wanted to see if there was any difference between sending them back a few seconds, or for longer periods of time. We sent a hundred coins back five seconds in time, and eighty showed up here in our own time. We sent them back an hour in time, and fifty showed up here. I thought we were getting an idea of how close we might be to other time lines and maybe get some idea of how many there are.

Ha, said Bob, I've been around long enough to know about the Universe and curve balls. So what happened?

Yesterday we got three coins back with my initials scratched into them.

And you spent how much money to achieve that? Bob was smiling. Sorry Lev, but it is funny. So what do you think is happening?

I think I am doing the same research in another time line close to us, but in that one, I am a little ahead of this one. At least, I hadn't thought about identifying the coins in this one yet.

So, can you help yourself? said Bob with another smile. You know, time travel always makes us say strange things. That may be why so many people don't trust it.

But just then they were interrupted by one of Bronstein's students, bursting into his office and saying, Professor! The message machine! We're getting messages addressed to you!

3

Kosciusko was having dinner with the McKenzies that night. Axel was still undecided but several of the next generation were interested. Huan and Jiao, two of his sisters, were excited and ready to commit to the project.

It seems worthy of a life, said Huan, and you are right, Uncle Bob. Everything in Tau space is well behaved, or my father will make it so.

Yes, said Jiao, Do you have a place for us?

Remind me a little of your careers so far? asked Bob.

I served fifteen years with the fleet, said Huan, and retired a Captain. Jiao is still a Captain with the 88 Company.

Yes, said Bob, I do seem to recall you two passing through Sulia once or twice.

Uncle Bob, said Jiao, if we had a dollar for every time you had seen us...

We'd be almost as rich as you, finished Huan. You will command the expedition, I will command the Asian wing.

Well, said Bob, I see you have your mother's talent for negotiating. I'm glad that's settled, because I could use some help. What do you think about this messaging? When I left, Bronstein was pulling out the plans for the sender they never built.

If we can take such a device, said Huan, and send messages back home, it might increase our chance of success, or rescue if we need it.

Hmm, said Bob, the word 'rescue' doesn't really imply confidence in the leadership, but it's good to have a back-up plan. Anyway, it's only a possibility at this point. I'd rather rely on good planning and firepower for success.

Good planning means being ready for anything, said Axel. What if you run into another expedition with different ideas for who wins?

Ten minutes ago, said Bob, I would have said I'll blast them. Now I can send Huan to negotiate their surrender.

Very funny, said Axel, I may have a lot of sisters, but none of them are extras, so...

I'm not sure who is funnier, interrupted Jiao. Thank you for your concern, Axel, but we can take care of ourselves. However, we will need Marines, so if you would care to enlist...

I'm glad all my children have a sense of humor, broke in Bill. Huan, Jiao, I know you are both capable ladies, and can make your own decisions. I just want to give you one word of advice. Sexism in the present time is a shriveled ghost of what it was in the past. You will be underestimated. Don't fight it or resent it, use it. If you let it get to you, you will be losing a tactical advantage. Then to Bob, are any of your own children going, Bob?

So far our granddaughter Eugenie is the only one who says yes. I'm not sure what her job will be if I decide to let her, but it's still early. Most of them have families and good careers and don't care about the past, so I understand. I think Jorge is leaning towards maybe, and perhaps Carl. We have about four months before the device will be ready so we'll see. I'm getting a good response from the Fleet, plenty of Officers and Marines are interested so we can be choosy there.

I think you'll have to do a lot of face to face work, said Bill. You can destroy your opponents from orbit but you can't lead a country that way. You'll need personal weapons, body armor, small unit tactics for towns and crowds. Just like the bad old days.

I seem to recall you were the best in that business at one time, Bill. Care to help us get ready?

Bill looked at his daughters. Each had their own mix of Shanshan's boldness and his own determination to succeed. All of his children had trained in martial arts from an early age and were adept in armed and unarmed combat. What do you think, Axel, he said to his son, I think they'll need lots of kendo to prepare.

He saw his son smile just as both girls said, Dad!

4

Bob had the Tau programmers come up with a new design for a ship. It was similar in size to their standard gunship, but it was long and round to maximize the amount it could carry and still be able to fit through the expected time field size. Each one would have the standard ion gun and two lasers, crew quarters for two, and a hold big enough to fit a factory seed. Armor and a medical pod completed the design and Bob planned on having small transports the same size to carry anything else they might need. Of course, each factory would have all the ship and material designs they had ever used in its database, but Bob didn't want to wait until they had set up factory complexes for everything. Contingency planning put a low probability on their being shot at as soon as they emerged from the field, but it wasn't zero probability so they tried to be prepared for anything.

The engineers prepared the time transition site out at Rhea, their high energy physics research lab in the Saturn rings. Most of their preparations consisted of hooking up the terawatt generators that would supply the power to interrupt and enter into the time stream. As Lev explained it to Bob, It will be like a massive thunder cloud that creates a tornado, and you will ride that tornado down until it lands in Oz.

If that's where we wind up, said Bob, I'll be a little pissed.

Perhaps, replied Lev, but should I care at that point?

You'll get a bad grade on your report card and Jerzy won't be able to deliver your message to your ancestor. So how's the messaging coming?

Not well, I'm afraid. Lev 2 seems to be afraid that someone may be listening to the messages who is not friendly. I don't know what to do about that.

I'd look at the coins again, Lev, said Bob, If the messaging is insecure, maybe he hid something on them besides his initials.

That is an excellent idea Bob. No wonder you're as rich as Bob.

Well, I'm as lucky as Bob, too.

I can't dispute that. The time field generator will be ready to take to Rhea in two weeks.

Make sure we have the plans for it when we go. If everything is peaceful in 1920, we may decide to go further into the past. Keep me posted.

His other preparations included brushing up on Polish history and language. Bob was already fluent in Russian and expected that to be useful. The biographies of all the major players of the time were available and Bob realized he was hoping he would get a chance to meet Trotsky. The man had been the Minister of War for the Soviets in 1920 and was probably the best of the Bolsheviks in terms of capability and character. Probably why Stalin had to get rid of him, thought Bob.

Huan and Jiao studied the situation of the time in China and Japan in between kendo bouts with their brother and father. They realized that it was all part of their father's philosophy of training hard so when you're in the field it seems easy. Huan wanted to put their factories in Changde in Hunnan province, and she and her father went over much of the ground in central China in preparation. It was far away from the reach of any Japanese units of the time, and the hills to the north of the city had plenty of mineral content for efficient manufacturing.

You know, Huan, said McKenzie one day as they flew home to Hawaii for dinner, every day I bless your mother for her crazy scheme to create a tribe of McKenzies. I have so many wonderful daughters and sons now, but I'm still going to miss you and Jiao.

I think you will find a way to see us again, said Huan. I'll just tell Mom to make you a deal.

I guess everyone knows who the real ruler of Tau space is, said her father with a smile, but that won't be necessary.

Admiral, said their ship through the bridge speakers, you have a message from Rafe Ortega.

Accept, Rafe how're you doing?

Fine, Bill. I just heard about this expedition. Is it true? Are two of your daughters going?

It's true, Rafe, said Bill, Huan and Jiao are going.

They'll need someone to watch their backs. Is there room for me?

Rafe, said Bill, you've been retired for thirty years now. You're the Governor of Luzon. You're a politician.

Father, said Huan, don't talk that way to my Chief of Security.

Did you hear that Rafe? said Bill. You've been demoted.

It's about time, boss.

5

Admiral Kosciusko, said Lev Bronstein, I have some interesting news.

Did you find a secret message?

You were right about that. It turns out that Lev 2 is an outlaw. He has been working on illegal time travel for 50 years and is somewhat further ahead than we are. He wants to come here.

All that was on a penny?

He gave us an encryption key for the message sender, Admiral. We're actually communicating.

So you're saying he can target our time line?

He thinks so. We have to send him something from here. We have to use the shot gun effect for that. But when he has something from here, he can use a resonance enhancer to make it more likely he'll arrive here than else-when.

Now you're just making stuff up.

No, Admiral, that was his term. He says it works best with something alive so I'm thinking a lab rat. What do you think?

Lev, if time travel is illegal where he is, you might get a nuke in your instant messaging.

Good point, Admiral. So, you're rich, lucky, and paranoid.

And alive. Can he do his little trick someplace we can secure? That's the only way I'll approve it.

I'll ask.

Shoot for the moon, Lev. We've got some places there that aren't doing anything. If he can't make it there I guess out in the middle of some desert would do.

Tel Aviv University has a testing facility out in the Negev. I think it's been padlocked for decades.

You'll have to clear that with the IDF. Be sure to let them know why.

The Israeli government is completely on board with your project, Admiral. I don't think they'll object.

Good. So how will he do it? It won't really be time travel, will it?

"To switch from one time line and choose another, he calculates about ten hours into the past is optimum. He will go