The Demonstration

IMPERIAL PALACE - ALLIANCE OF PLANETS - 20 Years later
  “Ramon, you may begin your briefing,” said the Emperor. 
  The Emperor was a slender man in his early sixties. His hair was still a dark brown, which matched well his olive complexion and finely boned face. He had a matching VanDyke beard and mustache. He sat in a chair reserved for just himself and wore a simple black tunic over a black shirt and slacks. The tunic’s only adornment was a gold family crest embroidered over the right breast. 
  He did like fancy rooms though. Functionally, the room was a command center, but instead of functional displays and console stations, it was all mahogany wood panels, chandeliers, glass topped desks and luxurious  overstuffed chairs. Displays, when needed, were projected by hidden holo-projectors and appeared to hang in mid air. The emperor sat at the head of a long table. At his right hand sat his chief of staff, whom he simply addressed as “Ramon”. To everyone else, he was simply, “chief”. Everyone else in the room sat at chairs that were a little lower in height than either the emperor’s chair or the chief’s chair. At the far end of the table, opposite the emperor, was a lectern. 
  Ramon faced the Emperor and said softly, “Of course your Excellency.” 
  He stood and walked to the lectern. All eyes in the room watched him intently. Only the Emperor watched him without fear. It was the consequence of a reputation he took great delight in maintaining. He relished the power it gave him over those around him. It allowed him to speak softly when he gave orders. 
  “This briefing is classified,” he began. “Imperium-only. Any discussion of these items outside this room will result in a summary execution.” 
  Ten sets of eyes blinked. The emperor only smiled to himself. Ramon knew they all believed him. He suspected, correctly, that they feared he would enforce it personally too. They were all sitting around a large conference table and as Ramon began speaking, a holographic projection of a few stars appeared over the center.
  “As you are aware, our war with the Terran Republic has fared well to date, but our ship yards and training bases are still struggling to replace attrition losses caused by the operations we are currently running. We are now ready to deploy an upgrade to an existing weapon which should significantly reduce these losses. I am speaking of a new version of Remora.”
  Several members in the group exchanged glances with each other at the comment. Several hushed conversations rippled around the conference table. Ramon waited for them to subside before continuing.
  “As you know, the current version of Remora resides in the operating systems of virtually all Republic starships. Remora, in conjunction with our ability to listen to the Republic Fleet’s interstellar communication system messages, lets us know the location of every ship in the Republic Fleet.” Ramon paused as Admiral Bedring raised his hand. “Yes, Admiral.”
  Bedring spoke, “I would point out that Remora even allows us to know in limited but crucial instances, not only where the Republic ships are but also where they will be at the beginning of a battle. Knowing when and where the ships will be has allowed us to fire the first shot in virtually all of our engagements with the Republic. It’s the key to our many victories over them.”
  More conversations rippled around the room, many ending with smiles and nodding heads. 
  “I yield the floor, Sir. Thank you,” said Bedring.
  Ramon continued, “Thank you for your insights Admiral. This new version has all the capabilities of the existing version. This new version, when activated, shuts off the ship’s flight control, weapon’s control and power management systems, effectively disabling the ship. It is triggered by projecting a symbol which the target ships’ sensors detect as it scans our ships. This symbol is then processed along with all the rest of the data from the sensor. When Remora sees the symbol it shuts down the systems I outlined to you.”
Admiral Bedring spoke, “That’s all fine, but Republic control systems are very sophisticated. Aren’t they resistant to this sort of event?”
  Ramon nodded, “This is true. There are actually three redundant control modules called kernels on all Republic ships. Any two can vote out the third controller if they detect something wrong. A human operator can vote either of the remaining controllers out. Yet they all communicate along a common bus and control channel. This is where the new version of Remora lives. It sends a message to all the controllers that each has been shunted out and no longer in the command loop by the others. They all think they are the third system being removed from the system and this is what causes a total shutdown of all ship systems.”
  “And you’ve already tested this where?” Bedring asked.
  “We have a captured asset which we’ve tested this against. It works there. Now we are going into the next phase of the testing. This will be a field test of the weapon. The targeted ship just recently came out of refit. During that time, the modified flight software, including the new version of Remora, was loaded. Its name is Adventurer, it’s an Ardent class convoy escort vessel.”
  “How did we accomplish this?” Bedring asked again.
  The Emperor answered, “Admiral, we have a resource in the Republic that has facilitated this. Beyond that, no one   in this room is cleared to know.”
  Bedring nodded in deference and sat back.
  “Ramon, please continue now.”
  “Yes, your highness.”  Pointing to the holograph in the center of the table he continued, “This is sector zeta-four-four. It encompasses THE Solar System, the Tau-Ceti and the Alpha-Centauri planetary systems of the Terran Republic. It is the location of this test of Remora.” 
  He paused as the display zoomed into the 85 Pegasi star system. A blinking red light with a small red tail appeared. The tail indicated its direction as it travelled through space. 
  “The ship is currently escorting a convoy of at least a dozen freighters. It is transiting the 85 Pegasi system now as it is preparing to jump to the Sol System. It will likely jump within a few hours. When it does, our test of Remora will begin.”
  The display pulled back to enclose the entire sector. 
  “We are masking the test by combining it with the movement of Task Force Twenty towards the Tau-Ceti system. It is currently standing by in the Epsilon Indi star system. Admiral Bedring…” 
  Ramon glanced at the Admiral who took the cue and began his portion of the briefing. “Your Excellency, members of the select committee for special projects…” 
  As he started, the display zoomed in on the Epsilon Indi star system. As it did, a cluster of blue sparks appeared in the center of the display. When the display stopped zooming in, the sparks were arrayed in a cylindrical formation. Along the central axis of the cylinder were four larger sparks. Surrounding them in a constantly moving cloud of motion, like mosquitoes, were more than two dozen smaller vessels. 
  “…Task Force 20. Its composition is two Aatarr class battleships, two Aatrixx class heavy cruisers, an assault carrier, Gambolin class with two wings of Raptors embarked, is attached. Providing escort is one destroyer squadron and two frigate squadrons. There are also four LongBow reconnaissance class escorts. Two of them have been modified with the receivers and transmitters needed to interact with this new version of Remora. After the Adventurer and its convoy enters the system, these two will enter the Sol system using standard fleet movement protocols. They will draw the Adventurer and its one escort, a small Dragon class attached scout, towards them and induce them to engage them. At that point, the test of Remora will be made.”
  The image changed again to show the schematics of two LongBow scouts. The fleet personnel quickly identified the differences of these two vessels from regular LongBows. 
  “One gunboat will jam communications between the Adventurer and fleet headquarters. It will also send the signal that will disable the Adventurer. Once this happens, the other LongBow will destroy the Adventurer and engage the Dragon to destroy it. As needed, the fleet will then transition to the system and destroy the research station at Mars and destroy the convoy. After that, the task force will traverse to the Tau-Ceti system to engage the defense station in orbit around Murphy’s World, the human-inhabited planet within the system.”
  Minister Tor Jellis of the Technical Ministry spoke up, “I must take pains to point out that these two LongBows have special modifications in them. If this test works well, these modifications will be implemented throughout the fleet. It is imperative that these two ships not be lost. The receivers and transmitters on them are prototypes and will be essential in building the hardware that will actually be deployed to the fleet. Additionally, their crews are non-military technicians and ministry scientists.”
  “Minister Jellis,” Ramon countered, “if Remora works as it should, they will be in no danger. If it doesn’t work, it’s of no value to the fleet. The ships will be expendable at that point.”
  “My Lord,” Jellis countered. Every set of eyes in the room glanced at him in discreet shock. Jellis caught himself and smiled disarmingly. “Excuse me my Lord. I am out of line.” 
The emperor glanced at him askance and raised a single eyebrow. 
  Ramon barely responded with the slightest hint of a smile. “Of course,” was all he said. “Admiral Bedring, please explain the rest of the plan to Minister Jellis.”
  “Remora has worked flawlessly. However, the Republic fleet is beginning to adapt their tactics in ways that have mitigated the effectiveness of the tool.”
  “Do they still not suspect the presence of these systems in their ships?” inquired Minister Jellis.
  The Empire’s Chief of Military Intelligence answered, “Our analysis of their changing tactics indicate they are not aware of the true reason they are losing so many engagements with our forces. I must stress, this is our greatest weapon against the Republic. This must not be discussed outside this room. We must do all we can to protect this information from being obtained by the Republic.”
  “I would add, sir,” said Bedring, “it is our only effective weapon against the Republic. In every way but this, their ships are superior to ours. This technological gift we call ‘Remora’, from friends of the Alliance within the Republic, and the heroic efforts of our crews, are why we enjoy the successes we have. For this reason, if the test fails, all necessary actions are to be taken to destroy the Repubic ship, the convoy and the Mars station. There must be no witnesses to this test. The fleet will remain in system thereafter just long enough to sweep it clear of any Republic ferrets which may exist. Any further questions?”

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