Is that what she said?

[Ethan Neufeld 0]

"Whoever suggested touching down on the ocean and approaching land from there gets Bourbon Points. We may just have managed to overcome obstacle #1."

 

Ethan briefly glanced at Pher with a faint, ambiguous smirk. Is that what she'd meant on Xorax by suggesting they make their approach 'over water'? He dismissively tipped his head in a private shrug and turned his full attention back to his flying. He hadn't been on the bridge during the first probe of the planetary defenses and had obviously missed the discussion – maybe she'd altered her idea or someone else had suggested the underwater approach. But over, under; didn't really matter if it worked and it looked like the Orion might earn her way toward a bottle in the process.

 

Ethan, meanwhile, was remotely flying one of the dummy probes several dozen kilometers above and to the north of Site Five. It was the same probe that he'd launched for the second test, but flying one at a time was the extent of his capability as a remote pilot. Others had taken up flying the second dummy and the submersible. Shuttles had become like the old wheeled vehicles and were a 'dime a dozen'. But Ethan, like most, had only earned the most basic certification to fly. More training had been unnecessary. He hadn't enlisted in Starfleet to become a pilot nor was he interested, and better pilots had always taken care of the technical flying that needed to be done.

 

It was the start of a solidifying plan – better than the blank skeleton Ethan had turned out while lacking any decent tactical data. Not that the concept of inserting into an AO from the sea was unfamiliar to Ethan or had gone unconsidered. He'd recommended several possibilities as Dr. Phantos's Security Advisor; insertion by sea had been just one. But complications had persuaded him to consider insertion by sea an 'advance-scout' option only and second to insertion by low or vertical flying aircraft. For a non-maritime force, there were two methods on the sea: boat or submerged. A boat was generally straight-forward; inserting submerged more involved. They would've needed good diving equipment to carry it out as he'd intended – standard environmental suits weren't meant for swimming - and probably extra training to use it. Also, shuttles that were specially modified beyond basic seaworthiness or incorporated fully-functional and self-contained airlocks to keep sea water out of the cabin during their exit. But more critical given the presence of sentry drones: any team that inserted by sea would be completely cut-off from support and extraction, except by sea or until the surface-to-air batteries had been disabled or destroyed. If they'd been able to insert by air, support and extraction could have also come from the air and that was a better option in Ethan's opinion.

 

A test of the planetary defenses proved so far that air wasn't viable. They hadn't yet considered dropping and testing a boat on the ocean's surface – there was evidence it was monitored. Short of using orbital bombardment to destroy the defenses, only submersion in the sea was left or had been successful. But their underwater idea seemed like it might add an unexpected twist that Ethan hadn't imagined. It was still a possibility that they'd attempt to exit the shuttle while submerged; he hadn't heard one way or the other yet. But Ethan couldn't help picturing that they really intended to ride the shuttle all the way to the beach. To submerge a shuttle and then 'drive' it up the beach like James Bond's submersible car – that would be unique. In Ethan's mind, insertion by sea would either happen by boat or diving, but not a simultaneous mix of the two. If that was their plan, he obviously hadn't thought far enough outside the box.

 

But even as he gave uncertain credit to the idea, he had to wonder: what made them confident that the batteries wouldn't open fire once they reached the beach? They were conducting tests of the planetary defense system; they evidently knew nothing about it in spite of previous expeditions. They had traveled to Zoalus without any guarantee that they'd be able to touch it, much less breathe the air. Was it safe to assume if the defensive systems hadn't caught the probe before splashdown that batteries would still ignore it once it reached land? Some of the best anti-tank weapons in Earth's WWII had begun life as 88mm anti-aircraft flak guns, he privately reflected. And what of adaptive capabilities; could the defenses be fooled twice?

 

Maybe their greatest advantage would be in the batteries' effective range, but Ethan doubted he'd heard the engineer correctly. A one-kilometer range for artillery was significantly short if one considered that an average M-class planet hosted roughly 100 kilometers of atmosphere before the Kármán line and 'outer space'. Not to mention the astronomical number of batteries that would be required to interlock their fields of fire and effectively defend an average, large landmass from all possible vectors - one every one to two kilometers at most. And these were lasers; they weren't dependent on the same physical principles as projectile-based weapons. It didn't make sense.

 

But Troy Parson had repeatedly expressed reservations about attracting attention to the Qob while in orbit. If Troy believed the batteries could reach the Qob in orbit, Ethan must have heard wrong. Or maybe he had missed something altogether. There were a lot of things in the way they operated that had Ethan questioning the outcome; a lot of details remained. But he wouldn't offer his thoughts or advice until asked or until it was stupid not to say anything. He'd given all of his security and tactical recommendations to Pher; he wasn't to blame if she didn't use them. Who was he to assume they were wrong; to assume they didn't have the skills? Trust in the team.

 

Shouldn't he be concerned that he kept coming to that reassurance? 'Don't worry'; he reminded himself that's what she'd said.

Edited June 10, 2011 by Ethan Neufeld