Chapter 18: Beacon 4
Don found the characteristics of guided missiles to be rather hard to handle. Despite there being five classifications for missiles - Fire and Forget, Substitute, Interceptor, Impact, and Torpedo - he would only ever be given control of the final three.
Fire and Forget missiles were fired after acquiring some form of sensor lock and tracked the target. They could be guided manually, but given how cheap they are and how countermeasures would mess with a ship's sensors as much as a missile's it was really more of a neat feature. Their prohibitive fuel levels also contributed to this.
Substitute missiles technically classify as a countermeasure. Their purpose is to distract sensor equipment by emitting a cacophony of sensor noise in order to distract other munitions or give the impression of another ship in the area. Because of this need to be 'driven' they are treated as guided munitions. Seeing as the ship is focused around stealth, having attention drawn to his sector would defeat the purpose.
Interceptor missiles are like the Multipurpose Craft of the missile family. They have elements of every other type. Unlike Multipurpose Fighters, they are extremely useful. Their main purpose is to intercept other large missiles and deployable craft, but in a pinch can be used to throw off sensors and deal significant damage to escort ships. While they don't have the punching power or armor of their larger brothers, they have the range.
Impact missiles, often called Piercers, are specialized towards punching holes in thicker armor. They use everything at a missile's disposal to increase the armor penetration of the warhead. They are usually launched beyond their fuel range to give them the maximum time to accelerate. They have thick armor to protect the warhead from point defense systems and add mass. The warhead itself is usually some form of shaped charge, though it is not uncommon to see nuclear warheads used to increase the shock value.
Torpedoes are the extra-terrestrial version of the terrestrial Cruise Missile. Far too large to be placed on anything smaller than a destroyer. They are also the sole exception to the range rule of missiles. While their max speed is only a fraction of that of the railgun rod, it is more than enough to bypass the point defense screens when coupled with the armor it is plated with. A direct impact at that speed coupled with the force generated by a nuclear blast is a threat even to large ships.
The only problem is that they are an absolute bitch to steer, something Don found out the hard way.
When the Ranger launched one of its limited stock of torpedoes, he got a mocking call from the fire control team after they watched it collide into an asteroid.
ARC only had authorization to guide the missiles from waypoint to waypoint. Taking initiative to avoid spaceborne objects would violate protocol.
With the corvette a few hundred missiles lighter and the Ranger down a mega-nuke, the Doctor ordered a halt to prepare for the Strike Craft test.
The test had to do with how strike craft actually carried out their attacks. It would be prudent to explain the tool they made use of - the short range jump-drive.
'Jumps' are basically just instant teleportation. The upside being that you can move great distances in an instant with the drawback of requiring an absolutely insane amount of energy to perform. The majority of jump-drives are called 'short', 'medium', and 'long'. Each of these use a different formula to maximize energy efficiency for their range of jump.
Short is most efficient out to 500 km, medium from 500 to 4300 km, and long picking up the efficiency curve from there.
The conditions for a 'safe' jump are confirmation of the jump zone being safe and that there is enough energy remaining to actually make such a jump.
Strike craft are often designed with enough spare energy for two jumps, one in and one out. In theory this means that it is possible to jump in, release a payload, and then jump out of the point defense range. What limits this in practice is that it takes time for the onboard computers of these ships to find and calculate a safe jump location, leaving them stranded inside of point defense range for far longer than what is comfortable.
But what if there was a ship hiding close enough to the jump-in points with a computer powerful enough to find the jump-out points before they even jumped in?
Attrition rates would drop through the basement floor!
At least that was the theory.
As demonstrated many times throughout history theory and practice have a tendency to disagree, and high command would prefer it if this system was tested out before combat.
So naturally Thompson and the rest of his Blue Squadron came bitching and moaning at the Admiral's behest.
"I can't believe she would send me out on a sortie like this. Here I was thinking I had finally gotten on her soft side."
A gruff voice that Dom was unfamiliar with responded to his complaint. "Yeah? Well maybe if you hadn't gotten shit-faced on duty she would have sent Yellow."
"Boss got drunk on duty? Damn. Here I was thinking he had done something new."
"Get used to it kid, all boss does is drink."
"Hey that's not fair!" Thompson interjected. "I eat, sleep, and shit too."
"Can't forget he smells either!"
This last addition by one of the younger voices was met by the boisterous laughs of twenty or so others. Don was shocked by this use of radio, though given the crew of the Calibration's disdain for the rulebook it was hardly surprising.
The Doctor interrupted the banter of Blue Squadron, cranky from exhaustion. "Are we done venting yet? If you wouldn't mind I want to finish this so I can go to sleep." The link went to private for a moment. "It is up to ARC and the crew aboard the Ranger, Dom. There is nothing for you to do here, you aren't a supercomputer. I suggest you get some rest."
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