Beacon 1

The furthest range that gave a hit rate consistent with the navy's doctrinal standards was 50 thousand kilometers, twice the current maximum engagement range. The gun crew on board the Ranger estimated that in a perfect vacuum it could be taken to match the dispersion limits of the guns, a distance nearing 150 thousand kilometers, but the existence of gas clouds, tiny rocks, and minor magnetic and gravitational disturbances limited this. It was feasible to hit targets at a range of close to 70 thousand, but there was a general consensus that any enemy ships would be hard pressed to land a hit even at 30 thousand, doubling that was overkill.

The main battery ranging tests concluded with the gun crew of the ranger promising Don a bucket of ice cream, a crate of more expensive non-replicable wine, and the vow to give priority to whatever targets he might designate for deletion.

Next on the agenda, a stealth test.

Doctor Helmsguard called in the destroyer on duty and had them focus every piece of detection equipment on Don's position to see if they spotted anything. Even at a range of 50 kilometers, they found nothing. The experiment was considered done with that and the destroyer was sent back to the main fleet, it's crew obviously confused about what they were just doing.

In it's place, a missile corvette arrived.

"KC-2743 reporting for duty. We have a full load of dummy warheads, what are we shooting at."

Doctor Helmsguard took the reins of introduction from Don. "Currently we are testing a remote guidance system for ship launched missiles. We will give you a direction to release them unguided in. From there, we will have a ship that is hidden and much closer to the target take over guidance and targeting."

"Are you sure that will be combat effective?"

"According to design theory, the new system should be able to bypass attempts at jamming. The objective is to verify the feasibility of missile launch while undetected. If you could please align yourself in the shadow of the Ranger, we will have a launch direction to you shortly."

"Wilco. What munitions are to be fired first?"

"Start small. Interceptor missiles to start with."

"Roger that. Ready in five."

Coms were cut with the corvette while Don asked a few questions.

"Aren't interceptor missiles guided by an independent radar lock?"

"Correct, but you need practice with something a little smaller first. Interceptor missiles are cheap, small, and they won't deal as much damage should they hit the Ranger."

"It can't be that hard can it? I remember Fire and Forgets at the academy being fairly simple to use."

"Guided munitions are nothing like Fire and Forgets. You need to make decisions about whether or not a munition that missed its target needs to target something else, has the fuel to turn around and hit its target, or needs to detonate in order to prevent other munitions from seeing it as a target. You also need to get an idea how many missiles are required to overwhelm point defense systems, though the captains you will be borrowing ammo from will have a good idea."

"Fair enough."

"Assertion: I can provide sufficient ballistic guidance. I am restricted from guiding munitions to target, but if you make proper designations and pathing I am permitted to act as a ballistic computer and transmit acceleration directives."

"Thanks ARC."

"You two seem to be getting along well." Don could almost hear the smirk on the Doctor's face.

"You spend three quarters of a week in the same room as someone and you tend to get along. Especially when success or failure depends on it. As a matter of fact, I feel I've been in a similar situation somewhere before. How curious." The sarcasm was palpable.

"Alright smartass, that's enough chat. ARC, give him a basic rundown on how missile guidance works. You didn't learn about this in the academy because there ARC's guidance computer was a known quantity. It shouldn't be hard but pay attention. Looks like you have three minutes."

The communication link was cut unceremoniously. The doctor was going be giving instructions to the point defense team aboard the Ranger and Don was going to be figuring out how to give them targets.

"As I assume you are aware, ships carrying guided missiles are set-up to fired missiles as close to perpendicular to the axis their guidance systems as space will allow. This keeps the sensor cones clear of launch debris and the munitions exhaust from interfering with data for as long as possible. At longer ranges they tend to interfere with guidance anyways, so many missiles often come with a degree of autonomous tracking, bu-"

Don interjected, "But that leaves them vulnerable to jamming and missing targets. I am aware."

"Correct. The objective we have been given is to determine whether or not we can effectively guide munitions to target while maintaining stealth in a simulated combat environment. We will start with indirect fire of small payload missiles. The Ranger will serve as a sensor blocker to the corvette, ensuring that no usable information such as relative location and direction can be relayed to the missiles."

"So we will be a beacon?"

"Half-correct. Beacons provide positional data to use as a reference for active guidance. Our role is to directly guide active ordinance to their destination. We will be closer to the target and have better sensors, but central wants to know whether or not it will be effective enough to justify the processor load in combat."

"Why don't we do the same thing as we do for the capital ships and give them target coordinates to work with?"

"I have not been provided with specifics. My guess is that the Combat Operations Department wants to determine the feasibility of using guided munitions at ranges similar to the distances that capital ships operate at."