Reviviscence

By Ian J Miller

Rebels had captured several commercial space ships, and had even attempted to use an asteroid as a weapon. Accordingly, Acting Commodore Jonas Stryker had orders to take all nine Space Corps warships, find the rebel base and then destroy it and all rebel ships.
Easier ordered than done. Just before setting out, the rebels launched a sneak “hit and run” attack on the Space Corps vessels. The orders were to be carried out, and the attack indicated a direction. But after a significant chase, now Stryker watched in horror as his left flank appeared to be making an attacking run on his central ships. As missiles flew he soon found he had one undamaged ship left, and even if all remaining loyal ships could be repaired, the rebels would outnumber the remaining ships two to one. Now what?
The rebels had to be supplied from Earth. If such sources could be identified and arrested, the rebels would have no supply, and their base might be identified. A tale of investigation, greed, corruption and honour, set in the inner solar system and on Earth, with murder, space battles, and the science of asteroids.
A sequel to Spoliation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ian J Miller
• Release date: Dec 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215638132

Ian J Miller

Ian J Miller was born 7th August 1942 to the son of a policeman sent to Hokitika (New Zealand) to fill vacancies due to the mass murderer Stanley Graham. Secondary education was at Ashburton High School, thence to University of Canterbury (BSc Hons1, PhD), followed by post-docs at Calgary, Southampton and Armidale. I returned to New Zealand to Chemistry Division, DSIR, to work first on lignin chemistry, then recycling, seaweed research, then hydrothermal wood liquefaction. In 1986 I left DSIR to set up Carina Chemical Laboratories Ltd, to carry out research to support the private half of a joint venture to make pyromellitates, the basis of high temperature resistant plastics. (When called to a TV program to discuss the danger of foam plastics in fires, I aimed a gas torch at the palm of my hand, protected only by a piece of foam plastic I had made shortly before. Fortunately, it worked, it glowed yellow hot, but held the heat for about half a minute.) This venture, and an associated seaweed processing venture collapsed during the late 1980s financial crisis, mostly for financial reasons. Current projects include the development of Nemidon gels (www.nemidon.co.nz/) and fuels and chemicals through the hydrothermal treatment of microalgae (www.aquaflowgroup.com/). I have written about 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers, about 35 other articles, and I was on the Editorial Board of Botanica Marina between about 1998-2008.In my first year University, following an argument with some Arts students, I was challenged to write a fictional book. I did in spare time: Gemina. I subsequently self-published a revised version, only to find publicity was forbidden as a condition of getting my finance for the pyromellitates project. Since then, I have written a few more science in fiction thriller-type novels that don't fit nicely in any category. These form a "future history", and Puppeteer is the first of one entry point.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Jonas Stryker’s eyes glanced over the unfriendly faces before him. They were in the largest room on the Defiant and the artificial gravity provided by the rotating ring should have had a good effect. However, it seemed the gravity merely accentuated the grievance. He had a ship with facilities they did not have. Many of them gave the impression they wished they were elsewhere. He wished some of them were elsewhere. He had to lead a military fleet with the intention of engaging in battle, if need be, and the officers before him were either unsatisfactory or of unknown quality.

One of the problems with a peace-time military was that officer promotion tended to come from looking good at the right time and place, and getting on well with superiors. The problem was exacerbated with the Space Corps because once you took command of a ship, superiors were people who had never been to space. Also, some of the older Captains had been recruited from the private sector and had no real military investment. The Space Corps had previously been a collection of ships that were there to inhibit piracy and to generally stop Wild West activity. The problem was, once some actual piracy had turned up, nobody knew what to do. So, they denied it existed. Problem solved.

Promotion tended to go to officers who got on well with seniors in different forces at formal events. They handled their ships reasonably well, but it would be the NCOs that did the heavy lifting. How many of these would be any good when push came to shove? One problem was none had ever fired a shot in anger, and some may not have fired live ammunition even in exercises.

He was an Acting Commodore, the first in the Space Corps to reach that rank, and the word acting appeared unnecessarily significant. Many of the officers before him were significantly older than him, while one, Nancy McKenzie, was a little under his age and only a Commander. That was a problem; she would feel there was gender bias against her. She might have previously accepted that being younger, her turn would come, but his position would be an irritant.

There were three who were significantly younger than him, and they had very recently made the rank of Commander. All three were very short of experience. Nancy Pickford was the youngest and this would be her first mission in command. She was enthusiastic, which could be bad when coupled with lack of experience. Since two ships had to stay behind to act as a deterrent and to protect Mars, his first thought had been to leave her behind, but then he learned that immediately after taking command she had embarked on a large number of exercises. How useful they would be in regard to conflict remained to be seen, but she had certainly got her crew up to speed as far as running the ship, and she had established that she was in command. She had to be rewarded for effort, but her lack of experience suggested that at least this time she should have one of the least risky positions. The problem was, which one was that?

Stryker felt that the other two were too passive or too lacking in confidence to be sent into a battle on their own, so Stryker allocated one each to the two oldest Captains. He had no sooner despatched the written orders to those concerned when he had second thoughts. Key and Coughlan may be the oldest, but they also seemed to be the laziest. The bad thing about this mission, he felt, was he had to deal with what he had, and right then about half of his force was unsatisfactorily led.

Commander Connell was almost the exact opposite of Pickford. While Pickford was exuding confidence, Connell, once he had received his written orders, had somehow let the older Captain Coughlan replace his senior crew with some from Coughlan's ship. Connell apparently thought this was a gift, and he clearly admired Coughlan. To Stryker, this was evidence Connell was not fit to command. The commander should lead, and it looked as if Connell would be led by Coughlan's crew.

As for the other older Captains, no doubt they would each be thinking they should have been promoted. Their faces showed envy was running strongly. They would have heard of his relatively turbulent past but would have no access to the details. They would think he had got the promotion as a piece of favouritism. He wondered what they would think if they knew he had got it because he was probably the only one General Hanson could trust. And it gave the Space Corps the use of The Defiant.

It was not surprising there had never been a Commodore before. The Space Corps had only a few ships, and this mission would involve almost all of them. While the Space Corps was a military organization, there was no obvious enemy, and the ships had never previously had been used in a concerted exercise. Ships were dispatched to carry out various missions, such as training, supporting scientific missions, or rescue, and nominally to stop piracy. Because that only involved one ship, Captain had been the highest-ranking officer. They were commanded by a General who came from the army. He had never even commanded a small space vessel.

The one possible combat situation was to deal with pirates, and as the official statements seemed to admit, the Space Corps had not been exceptionally successful at that. As everyone knew, for a very long time they would not even admit there was piracy occurring, let alone suggest they had done anything that could be considered as acting against the pirates. The situation was not helped by the fact that the piracy was not simply theft but rather an attempt to destabilize the Federation Government. Two years previously the lack of success from the Space Corps had led to their being threatened with disbandment. As far as he knew, he was the only officer who had commanded a space ship that had fired a shot in anger. The coming mission might well change that, but would this collection of diplomatically-correct officers do what was required? He stepped up to the makeshift podium.

Attention please! They stopped chatting and looked towards him, but how attentively was yet to be determined.

As you will know, over the previous few years there has been an outbreak of space piracy. He paused and noted that the levels of interest had raised a little. It is generally considered that this ceased when a certain pirate ship was disabled and it crashed into the Moon. He paused again, then added, What you may not know is that is not true.

If he had expected to see shocked faces, he was disappointed. McKenzie and Abbott showed signs of disbelief, presumably because there had been no news of any piracy, while no ships had gone missing over the past year. Pickford showed a sign of excitement, as if action was in the air. The other faces were unreadable.

As you know, Stryker continued, "about two years ago the Elysium went missing on a flight to Mars. It has been reported by the Space Corps that what happened to it is unknown and it was assumed that it had suffered a systems collapse and was floating around space as a hulk. That is also untrue."

This time he had signs of slightly more interest.

"What is generally not known was that prior to this the Hermes was attacked by pirates as well. The pirates sent out an SOS, and when the Hermes responded, they attacked it and murdered what they thought were all the crew. However, two had successfully hidden and when the pirate ship departed, leaving only a skeleton crew of pirates to control the ship, these two rigged a bomb that killed the remaining pirates."

He noticed that Captains Key and Coughlan were frowning. Why that response? Disbelief would be a fair response except that it should be obvious that he knew. Connell was staring at Coughlan. Why? Was Coughlan a potential leader in waiting, and a future problem?

"Those two then found the Hermes was effectively uncontrollable, thanks to damage by the pirates and their bomb, so they provisioned a shuttle and headed to Mars. On the way there, they heard exchanges between some further ship and the Elysium, more or less identical to what had happened to them. We have to assume the Elysium was captured by pirates, and we have to assume there is at least one further pirate ship out there, and two if the ship that hit the Hermes had taken its booty off to a base."

He now had their attention, but the expressions were all somewhat different. McKenzie, and two of the others had presumably anticipated they would be on a mission to do something important and were presumably thinking about what should be done. Pickford seemed excited; a chance to shine. Coughlan and Key had expressions that almost appeared as if they wished they were somewhere else. Those two were not the sort of material for higher command, Stryker thought, and maybe they shouldn’t be where they were.

"Unfortunately, the Elysium was a freighter, and hence would be carrying large amounts of valuable cargo to Mars. That meant big money, which led to a couple of private individuals setting off to locate the Elysium. Obviously, the thought of big salvage money was driving them. The Space Corps did what it could to discourage them without divulging the truth about the piracy, and when they failed to discourage them, they assumed that since space is so big they would fail. Stryker paused, and added in a quieter voice, This was not the Space Corps’ brightest moment."

He had the interest of three; Coughlan and Key seemed to look uninterested. The remaining five were frowning.

We can't be sure of the outcome, but Mars did receive a short message, of about three seconds duration, from which we conclude they had been boarded by armed men. That means there are at least three ships in these pirate hands. There are at least three other ships that were lost over the last few years that are unaccounted for, and we may have to assume the pirates have them, which makes the threat potentially large. He paused to let this sink in.

Pickford raised a hand. Stryker nodded towards her, but his enthusiasm was low. There should not be questions before the mission was outlined.

Sir, if I follow correctly, all of these ships that have gone missing are civilian ships. Why are they potentially a large threat?

Stryker rebuked himself. Fair question, he nodded towards her. "They are not warships, but the opposition are known to have serious engineering capacity, and we know they have access to military weapons, so we have to assume that while they are not warships, they have the ability to be extremely dangerous. If any of you come into contact, do not assume they are harmless. Assume they will launch missiles at you. I did not mention this but they have already destroyed one ship from the Space Corps.

Now, he continued, "we know roughly where this latest incident took place, and our job is simple: our mission is to locate them. If we can find their base, that would be the best result possible, and if they haven't detected you, all the better.

"However, if they do detect you, they shouldn't go to their base. Their best option would be to somehow fool you and take over your ship. Remember, if you see a ship, that does not mean it's a pirate. There are civilian ships out there, so you can't just go in and blow ships up.

If they are pirates and know they have been found and you resist being fooled, their only good option is to lure you into an ambush, or less desirably, slug it out and hope. Now we need information, but we most certainly do not need to lose a ship, so be careful. You will be well-dispersed, so we can cover more space, but it means that if you find more than one ship, you could be outnumbered. Stand off, and if you have to retreat, come back towards the centre of our group. We win through numbers, so make sure we have them.

One of the Captains, Coughlan, mumbled something to Captain Key, who was sitting beside him.

You have something to offer? Stryker said as he stared coldly at the man.

That ship could be anywhere by now, Coughlan said with a totally unenthusiastic shrug.

Not at all, Stryker replied in a cold but firm voice. If it wants to use its fusion motors, sooner or later it will have to acquire more deuterium oxide, and if the fuel runs low, it must act before its electrical reserves run down because we all are aware of the power requirements to start such motors. We also know that deuterium oxide is cheaper at Mars, and ships usually try to purchase there, to help the Martian economy. I would expect pirates would also keep clear of Earth, because that is where our military is strongest. Except now it wasn't, he thought to himself. All the Earth ships were here.

"Our estimate is that when the Elysium was captured, it would have used up something like two thirds of its heavy water, so it will almost certainly be running low now, he continued. In any case, we have been ordered to try to find it. Two ships will remain here to capture any pirate ship that tries to come and refuel, while the rest of you will be in the search party taking up positions as outlined in your orders. If any of you do not intend to give this your full effort, I want your resignations on this table now."

That, he noticed, had an effect. The more he thought about this, the more he would like to replace at least two of the Captains, and possibly their crews. However, General Hanson's orders were explicit: he had to tread carefully. That must mean there were political undercurrents.

When nobody moved to offer a resignation, Stryker nodded. "Good. Now you have each received a folder. These outline your search areas, in the order you should make them. The reason for the order is to ensure there is not a gaping hole in the pattern that a pirate could slip through.

Which gets us to what happens if you find one of the designated ships. You will report its presence and stand-off. If you are far enough away that they may not notice you, try to coast on a trajectory that gives you a chance to locate their base. Our primary mission is to locate such ships and if possible, follow them to locate their base. If one of the ships is found and it attacks you, you will defend yourselves, and in combat you had better win, but you had better not have started it. I want to try to get them to surrender when faced with overwhelming odds so we can learn where their base is. Any questions? He paused just long enough for any question that would arise from failure to understand, then said, Good. We have provided some refreshments next door, then in half an hour return to your ships. In one hour we set off.

He smiled as he noticed the sudden alacrity to get what they were sure was better food. He was stepping away from the podium when he lurched forward as the ship swung to starboard and downward. He flung out an arm and grasped the side of a desk, which, as with all furniture, was bolted to the floor. A folder that had been left on a table had sprayed papers around, and an electronic reader struck the starboard wall. The others had lurched forward and had piled together against a wall. Expletives flew.

Stryker was reaching for his communicator when he felt a slight shuddering, the clear sign that the Defiant's weapons were firing. He took his communicator from his pocket to contact the bridge. As the other Captains were looking at him, he knew he had to explain. To buy a little time, he gathered some papers and put them on the desk when there was a shudder that sent him, and the others, against a wall. There was also a shrieking sound of tearing metal. A siren sounded. Stryker again contacted the bridge. It was then that everyone gradually felt lighter, and they were almost reduced to weightlessness.

Finally, he addressed the Captains. "What happened was that long-range radar picked up an object on an unpowered trajectory, which was also consistent with a prograde orbit, so it was interpreted as an unknown asteroid. It was not; it was a ship that dropped off missiles aimed at us. We have destroyed the missiles, but there will be fragments. One of those struck the ring of the Defiant and two rooms have been evacuated and sealed off. Before you think about eating, order your crews to check for damage. They would presumably feel impacts, so it should not take long. Report back as soon as you know. The Defiant is still able to patrol, but as you might gather, the ring is damaged and is no longer balanced. I still wish to set off at 1100 hours, Defiant time, and as far as I know, the damage so far will not prevent the Defiant from going. We all leave in another fifty-seven minutes unless someone cannot."

Stryker was amused to watch some go for food before bothering to use their communicators. That was not easy, as their belongings had been flung around the room, but soon they were off to their ships. Stryker contacted the central AI and asked for an estimate of potential damage, and which ships, if any, were struck by debris. This took a few minutes, which surprised Stryker, then the report came in. Pickford's ship had a slight glancing blow; none of the others were struck, except the Defiant. Satisfied, Stryker returned to the bridge, where a slightly anxious Lieutenant Richard Philips was waiting to report. Philips was a new co-pilot, not that long from the Academy, and he seemed somewhat nervous.

So, what happened? Stryker asked.

Radar picked up a weak but fast-moving signal, and to start with I assumed it was a small asteroid, he said in an apologetic tone. It was following an inert trajectory that would come nowhere near us and was no clear threat to anyone else. The trajectory was consistent with an orbit with very low inclination, and, well . . .

Continue, Stryker said encouragingly.

Well, I watched, and then I saw small reflections coming towards us. I swung the ship around and fired at them. I destroyed them, they were definitely explosive because they made quite impressive optical flashes, but . . . well . . . a fragment struck us and fragments may have struck some of the other ships. He paused, and then added, I'm sorry, but I never saw any sign of these leaving the main object, and, well . . .

Don't be sorry, Stryker replied. They would be too small to give strong reflections. You did well.

Honest, it never occurred to me we were at war. What happened?

In answer to your second question, whoever that was did very well. He approached in a non-threatening fashion, let fly some missiles, and I assume he skedaddled.

I'm afraid he did. By the time I got rid of those missiles he was too far away for a shot. He frowned at Stryker then added, We're not at war, are we?

I suspect we are now, but as to with whom, I have no idea. Over dinner tonight I'll fill you in with some of my past which may or may not be relevant. Now, damage to the ship?

An android stepped forward. Two rooms on the outer part of the ring received a strike and they were evacuated and were immediately sealed off. Something punched a hole through the mid-part of the ring and another section has been sealed off. Waste recycling is now only 85 percent efficient, oxygen production is 75 percent efficient, we have lost about 35 per cent of the water reserves. The ring is unbalanced and for the moment we are stopping the rotation to protect the bearings. Two androids are investigating the damage with the intention of making whatever repairs we can. However, in the meantime we can go on the mission. I do not recommend leaving the ring behind because too many of its services can only be maintained with continual attention because the electrical supply has been damaged. We can maintain power, but only from that coming from the motors.

Is the ship capable of going on the mission?

It's ready to go when you give the order, sir. You will have to put up with weightlessness, but so will all the other ships.

The damage does nothing to our combat efficiency?

Apart from inconvenience, no, except we have to take the ring, which is a bigger target, and gives a larger radar reflection.

Then we go when the other ships report. He turned to Philips. Get the motors warmed up and ready to go.

Aye, sir. Philips paused, then asked, Permission to speak freely, sir?

A surprised Stryker nodded, and said, Go on.

A slightly red-faced Lieutenant pointed out, The obvious reason for that attack was to cripple our ships and prevent us from setting out.

Well, go on, Stryker said with a smile. Signs of competence had to be encouraged.

That implies they knew we were going, and were going to assemble the ships.

So? Again, Stryker encouraged Philips to continue.

Well, sir. Space is a big place. We only assembled a few hours ago, and the orders were probably only a couple of days old. It still takes months to get to Mars, say, so whoever they were had to be lurking just in case, and to come in at that velocity, they had to be a good distance away to accelerate sufficiently, so . . .

So?

So, someone must have alerted whoever that was more or less as soon as the order was given. Sir, there must be a spy in the headquarters. Philips looked even more embarrassed, as he was questioning the whole command.

Stryker nodded. I agree, except with the headquarters. Your spy may be there, but there are other places. However, we cannot do much about it right now. I want you to get the damage assessments and let me know how many ships are fully operational. I have something else that needs to be done now.

Aye, sir.

Oh, and one more thing. When you come to similar conclusions about the missions we are undertaking, I want you to speak up. That, by the way, is an order.

Aye, sir. A smile of pleasure crossed Philip's face, then there was another look of apprehension.

If you're wondering whether to ask me something, Stryker said with a smile, go ahead.

Well, sir, did you suspect something like this might happen? This was asked in a very subdued voice.

No, why do you ask?

Well, all the debris is going to fall on the Martian hemisphere without settlements, and I wondered . . .

Interesting thought. Can you think of any other reason we might have assembled here?

Philips looked puzzled, and said, I suppose you don't want anyone to see us, but that wouldn't work because the Martian TV news is full of this assembly of ships.

The idea, Stryker said ruefully, was to conceal what we were doing for as long as possible. Sometimes plans don't work, but nevertheless the Mars News hasn't got the numbers right and they only broadcast this last night.

Oh. I didn't think –

You did think. Keep at it. You might be surprised what you see.

Aye, sir. Philips was happy as he headed to the communications equipment.

As Stryker was about to turn to his office, an android stepped out.

We also did not consider that object a threat any sooner than your Lieutenant did, the android said. He did well. We did correct his firing pattern, though. You should let him know that what he should simply do is order us to fire on something, rather than his doing it himself. We are, of course, much more accurate, but besides that, he did everything exactly correctly.

'Yes, of course you are,' Stryker thought to himself, but said, I shall pass on your comments, and yes, I shall instruct him to nominate targets and get the ship to execute them.

For what it is worth, his aim was probably as good as any human, and he was quick.

I'll pass that on too, Stryker said. Praise from the metal men was very rare, and Philips deserved to know. I have one more request. Please communicate with General Hanson and let him know what happened, and what I think that implies in terms of a spy. Put in a formal request from me to order all communication records not to be erased.

Done, the android replied.

This was the good thing about androids, Stryker felt. He could have spent hours trying to be diplomatic. The android would identify himself as the writer, he would put everything formally correctly, and if there were to be questions, nobody expected an android to be diplomatic.

There was a pause, then, One more thing.

Yes?

We also monitored the responses of the other ships. McKenzie's ship also got off some shots at the incoming, while Short's and Pickford's got off long-range shots at whoever it was. The probability of their hitting anything was negligible, but they alone responded.

That only three execs did something is not encouraging, Stryker remarked, but I suppose at least some of the others would argue that there was nothing to shoot at with any probability of success.

As expected, there was no response. Androids did not encourage speculation unless it was necessary to reach a decision that would result in action. It was then the unexpected occurred.

If I may speculate?

Stryker tried to control his surprise. He felt he was not entirely successful, but he said, Go on.

Our ships are fairly widely spaced, so if that attacker wanted to cause the most damage, he would have launched a wide spread of seeker missiles.

If he had such missiles, he thought, but he gave a nod of encouragement to continue.

They were seeker missiles –

Must continue keeping my mouth shut, Stryker thought.

" – and their paths were concentrated on the Defiant."

A shock ran down Stryker's body. That sounds somewhat ominous.

"My speculation is they wanted to take you out although maybe the Defiant was a sufficient target."

All the senior officers of the fleet were on board, Stryker pointed out.

Yes, which raises a further speculative point. But first, it could not have been the intention to take the lot out. That other ship was on a ballistic trajectory similar to what a small asteroid might be on. It would have had to prepared this attack at least a day earlier, and you only gave the Captains an hour warning of the exact time of the meeting. No spy could have known early enough.

And your speculation?

I must admit it is not mine. Your Lieutenant Philips initiated it.

And it was?

He watched the Captains heading for their shuttles, and he noticed that over half of them were agitated –

With good reason.

Yes, and they are not the concern. He noticed that at least three seemed to be angry.

Angry? Why? At what?

That is the cause for speculation. The attack was over, so they were safe. They were not angry when they came aboard. I would speculate that those Captains are not suitable for command.

And they were? Stryker was interested in this.

The angriest were Key and Coughlan. The third was with those two and I am giving him the benefit of the doubt that he got caught up with them.

Stryker thought for a moment. Somehow, this was not a total surprise. He nodded towards that android, said, Thank you, and returned to his stateroom.

He found himself strangely apprehensive. In principle he should be preparing for the mission and planning search patterns, but that attack had shaken him. It seemed that he did not have the initiative at all, and the opposition knew more about what he was going to do than he did. That was disturbing. He had to follow orders, but if the opposition knew the orders as well as he did, he had to guess what they would do. That would depend on how much they knew. His problem was exacerbated by the fact his orders did not have much in the way of wriggle room.

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