Alicia Jones 4: Enigma (8 page)

The beginning of the plan went flawlessly.  We dropped
out of FTL at the heliopause for the system, and split into three fleets, each
one with a specific target.  The bugs didn’t react at all, which I thought
was interesting and I’d have liked to test that a bit more.  But Dral gave the
order to fire missiles and that definitely got a response.

The three hives seemed to explode with a million ships
launching in unison.  Half stayed behind and flew around the hive in a
seemingly completely random way, yet without running into any of the other bug
ships.  No doubt some protective screen of ships, their defense.

The other half of the ships, five hundred thousand or so,
moved out toward each fleet.  It only took them a few seconds to reach
point six C.  Fast, but it would still take at least a half an hour for
them to catch up to us, assuming we had stayed where we were that is.

Dral gave the order to move away from the system, and launch
missiles.  We were launching four hundred thousand missiles every thirty
seconds for all three fleets, but there were one million, five hundred thousand
Bug ships, each with two plasma cannons to shoot them out of space. 
Needless to say, none of the missiles were getting through at all.

It was a shocking waste of missiles, less than one in three
enemy ships needed to take out just one missile to avoid casualties on their
end.

“Al, any indication of activity in the other hives.”

Al replied, “No, no change.”

Dral spoke, “They are catching up to us, keep it up until
they are within plasma range, and then go to FTL and head straight for the
core, see if they chase us before returning to our arm.”

A few minutes later was when the plan fell apart, when they
reached the edge of the solar system, the ships stopped pursuing us altogether.

Dral grunted, “Hold fire, and go to FTL, and then rendezvous
at these coordinates for wormhole travel.  I think we have what we needed
to know.”

The three fleets went to FTL, and we started a conference
call.

Dral said, “It seems clear that the hives are independent,
none of the others reacted to our threat, even if they do communicate.  They
also seem weighed toward defense at their own planet, they did not pursue us
past their Heliopause.”

Sergei broke in, “Maybe.  Or maybe the head bug at that
planet decided we weren’t truly a threat, and that they didn’t need
assistance.”

Dral nodded reluctantly, “I guess we’ll find out.  We
learned what it will take to assault a bug world.  We need enough throw
weight in each group to take out five hundred thousand of their ships, and then
move in on the defenders by the hives.  We also know they have no other
defenses, beyond whatever the hive itself is capable of.

“It’s doable, but we’d have to come with at least half our
ships.  Granted, we wouldn’t have that many if it hadn’t been for your
help in defending our world.  Should we try now?  I can have the
ships move toward the rendezvous point if you all agree.”

Sergei immediately said, “We’ll do our part as well.  I
can call for another five hundred ships.”

Other of the races spoke up then, and although the Seltan
would have the most ships, almost five hundred thousand, the rest of the races
almost tripled their current numbers as well.  It looked like we were
going right back, and this time we were going to destroy everything in
space.  I hoped we were right about the other Bug worlds not reacting.

A couple of days later, and once again we approached the
enemy world.  This time with overwhelming force.  Granted, the Bugs
still outnumbered us by six to one, but that wouldn’t be an issue if they
couldn’t close with us, and we had all those missiles which meant they’d be on
the defensive.

It was inevitable, this time after launching, there were
almost ten missiles for every Bug ship, and only one needed to get
through.  It took nine volleys to completely destroy the half million
ships that went after us, they were very good at swatting missiles with their
plasma weapons.  Unlike when we’d been attacked, we fought a retreating
action and the Bug ships never closed. 

For their part, not having missiles was a serious gap in
their defenses.

After that, we started to move in, as we launched more
missile volleys at the large hive ships the small ships circled around.

The hives had thousands of plasma weapons on it, and it took
twenty volleys, almost countless missiles, to finish off the other half of
their fleet, and their bases.  But we did.  I’d had my platforms
covering the three fleets, but none of the bug ships ever got in my plasma
range, much less theirs.

I didn’t know exactly what I’d expected.  To leave
really, and watch them, see what they did next perhaps?  That wasn’t to be
though.  I gaped at the screen as a full volley of millions of missiles
were sent at the unarmed planet.  The enemy on the ground had no defense,
and billions of the Bug race died in moments, as Dral glassed the whole planet
in nuclear fire.

I wasn’t sure what I’d thought, or expected, but it
certainly wasn’t that.

Dral came on the communicator, “This is a great day, and you
have my thanks.  I believe we have enough missiles for another Bug world
if you wish to join us?”

I knew the truth, which was that they really didn’t need any
of us.  What’d made this possible was the ease at which we had defended
the Seltan fleet from attack during the last waves.  I was absolutely
horrified however, that the Seltan had just killed them all.

Outside of the moral implications which were shocking, we’d
lost an opportunity to learn more about how they reacted to such losses.  There
was no one left to react.

I said carefully, keeping the horror from my voice, “I
thought we were going to quarantine them, not kill every last one.”

Dral frowned, “They are monsters that would annihilate us
all.”

I sighed, “Agreed Dral, they are that.  And the price
of blood that your race has paid on all our behalves over the millennia saddens
me.  It was too high, and gives you much honor in my eyes.  But we
are not monsters as they are.  Self-defense stops being self-defense once
our enemies are at our mercy.  I’m all for quarantining them from space,
and hopefully one day they will grow beyond the instincts that drive them to
constantly expand and eradicate the competition.  But I will not
participate in genocide.”

I felt Kristi’s approval as she put her hand on my shoulder.

Sergei said in an annoyed voice, “Fine, you can leave if you
don’t have the stomach to do what’s required.  Transfer the platforms to
my command before you do.”

I raised an eyebrow, I wasn’t sure what was more shocking,
his support of genocide, or his belief that I was under his command and that he
had a right to the platforms.

“I don’t believe they’re your platforms yet Admiral.  I
also wouldn’t brag about having the stomach to commit genocide.  Is our
government aware of this plan?  Our other allies?”

The commander of the Leiran forcers interjected, and he
looked about as comfortable as I felt, which was to say not at all.

“No.  This was supposed to be a probing attack to see
how they would react.  I don’t think I should proceed either, at least,
not until Alnot and the rest of the treaty races give their blessing to
eradicate this menace fully.”

Dral nodded, “Perhaps it would be wiser to wait, and discuss
our endgame.  We still have time, and many more hives to find before
planning a full campaign.  I withdraw my suggestion for attacking another
hive system.”

Sergei looked livid, and I wondered what his report would
say about me, as all the Earth ships opened up wormholes to take the fleet back
to our arm of the galaxy.

There was a lot going on.  So far, the Reilan were
ignoring the probe in their system, and all attempts to communicate. 
Maybe they were too different like the Drenil?  At the very least, they seemed
to be peaceful so far.

The worlds in the treaty were discussing what to do about
the Gelnott, again, some of them wanted to quarantine them for being too
aggressive, others were afraid of setting a precedent of quarantining any race
that didn’t agree with them.  They wondered if what the Gelnott did was
truly that bad?  They hadn’t invaded the Nairan after all, just been
willing to interfere with a pre-FTL civilization.

They were also deciding what to do about that pre-FTL
civilization.  Now that the existence of other races and FTL were known to
the Nairan, should we at least talk to them, and explain what we did, and
why?  Some worried the race would get paranoid and belligerent when
eventual contact did take place, if they were left to stew over it until they
reached FTL, and others thought they should be completely left alone to remove
the chance of further damage to their society.

Then of course, the big one, the worlds were split on if the
Bugs deserved the same consideration as humanoid lifeforms.  They were
warlike and spread out due to instinct, and never stopped.  At least that
was the most prevalent theory although still unproven.  They wouldn’t
communicate, or share space with other species, so they couldn’t be reasoned
with at all.  At least, that was the excuses some of the governments gave
to support the idea of eradication.  Genocide was an ugly concept, and I
refused to buy any of the rhetoric.

I did however continue to build platforms.  They would
make great guards to keep the Bugs on their planets, and out of space. 
But I’d keep out of it if the treaty worlds decided on genocide.  Not that
they would need me, they had enough ships to do it without me.

All of that was why it took a few days before I found out
what was in Sergei’s report.  The council had just been too busy to talk
to me before then I guess.

The summons came when I was actually designing that test
ship.  The creation of the field in a shield configuration was
complicated, but not as hard as I’d been expecting.  I’d been trying to
figure out how to build a single field to surround the ship, but I realized I
didn’t need to do it that way, and was being foolish.  I could build
several small field emitters that would mesh and slightly overlap, forming one
field that conformed to the shape of the ship.  Much like I did with the
anti-mass and EM fields using the rod or ball techniques.

I’d started out with the taxi shuttle size design, and then
removed all the anti-mass and EM field rod coils from the hull.  I also
removed the small Ion drive, since it was too weak to push something with that
much mass very fast, and put in a gravity drive instead.  I was a little
worried about radiation shielding, but out in the void above the galaxy it
wouldn’t be a serious problem, especially without passengers.

Then I added in the field emitters, much smaller than the
wormhole drive’s single emitter array, but spaced out evenly all around the
ship itself.  Lastly, I set up the modified wormhole drive to feed all the
emitters in parallel.

I smirked, Kristi would hate that.  Central power, and
now a central unit for shield emissions.  Next, I’d be putting the bridge
at the top of the ship, with a big round dome to tell my enemies where to fire,
instead of being safe and sound in the middle of the ship.

Well, it wasn’t a real ship design, it was a cobbled
together experiment.  I’d do better once I had an understanding of exactly
how it all worked.

I’d started fabrication, and that’s when Nadia called me
into the U.N. complex…

I could tell there was a problem as soon as I walked inside
the room.  Half of them were angry at me, and the other half concerned.

Gorou Kimura of Japan started the conversation.

“Miss Jones, we’re quite concerned with a report we received
from fleet Admiral Abramov.  He informed us that you threatened to leave
the fleet if you didn’t get your way, and then refused to allow him control
over the platforms if you did?”

“Mr. Kimura, you may not borrow my car either,” I said in a
slightly annoyed voice.

Nadia gave me a look and I reeled myself in.

“What I mean to say, is the second complaint has no bearing
at all.  The platforms are mine until such a time as Earth or one of her
colonies buys them.  If I go, the platforms go.  That easy. 
Have you seen the raw footage of our conversation, or was that not appended to
his report?”

William Tanner said, “Yes, we’ve seen it.  I don’t
understand your point.”

I shrugged, “I don’t understand yours, or even why I’m
here.  I don’t report to you anymore much less Admiral Abramov, I’m a
private citizen and military contractor now.  Beyond that, I didn’t
threaten to leave mid battle, or when there was any danger around.  It was
I believe, right after the Seltan annihilated defenseless Bugs on the planet,
what we here on Earth would call civilian casualties, or perhaps a better description
would be a massacre of genocidal proportion never before seen. 

“I simply refused to take part in genocide by following that
up with another attack on a bug world, and if this council has a problem with
that well… I admit surprise.”

Tanner shook his head, “I’ve never believed that you
retaining access to military technology was a good idea.  The fact you
would not take guidance from the current fleet admiral just backs up my
feelings in this matter.”

I frowned, “Are you saying, that me showing restraint with
the power at my command was a bad thing, and that disagreeing with a man that
showed contempt at not having the stomach to commit genocide means that I’m
unstable or too unreliable with the technology?  Are you insane?”

Nadia cleared her throat, but I wasn’t sure I cared
anymore.  I was almost sure she was being silent because she’d been
railroaded.  This wasn’t about the admiral’s report, there was something else
going on here.

“What exactly is this about?  I’d though if anything,
that you would be pleased I didn’t make that decision on my own, and chose to
argue to let you and the other treaty holders decide our policy in the war
against the Bugs.  Since I know for certain you wouldn’t commit genocide
if they were a power hungry humanoid race, I can only conclude you believe the
admiral correct because you believe the Bugs are less than human.  I would
remind you that they are an intelligent species, not a herd of cows, or an ant
farm.”

I added a little sharply, “Or are you really just that
comfortable with allowing Sergei Abramov to commit humanity to genocide all on
his own?”

Tanner asked icily, “Are you done?”

I nodded, “If you can get to the explanation about pulling a
private citizen in front of this council, I’m still not sure why I’m here.”

Gerald said, “Sergei, and many on this council believe a
private citizen, even one who contracts for the military, should not have
access to military technology.  We were on the fence about it, and felt in
the past, that for then we’d see how it goes.  The world does owe you, no
one denies that.  However, it wasn’t so much refusing to commit genocide,
as it is the political harm you caused from your disrespectful attitude towards
Sergei in front of our allies.”

I realized at this point that it had nothing to do with my
conversation with Sergei.  Something had changed and they wanted me
defanged for some reason.  Maybe they were getting some pressure from
their countries’ leaders?  Still, I couldn’t let that ridiculous accusation go
unaddressed.

I cleared my throat, “With all due respect.  It was his
bloodthirsty attitude and him basically calling me a coward that caused the
problem.  He disrespected me first in front of our allies, and those
allies have respect for me.  All I did was remind him the platforms didn’t
belong to him, hardly a great insult.  He was the one that said I didn’t
have the stomach to do what was necessary.  No council, it was his obvious
contempt of me that started this and prompted the Leiran commander to take a
stand with me on it.  I find it hard to believe anyone viewing the
transcripts or audio/visual record directly would see it differently.”

Unless of course, they were just using it as an excuse to
finally take my ship away.  That was the obvious conclusion, but accusing
the council of it would just make things worse.  The Vice President’s next
word verified my suspicions.

Tanner asked quietly, “Are you refusing to give up your
military tech?”

I shook my head, “No, you haven’t even asked yet, just
hinted.  I was in my own subtle way, saying you are full of shit. 
This is just an excuse to take away what you’ve wanted to all along, with
something to spin to the media to justify it.  Although, be warned, I have
a full transcript of the battle, along with the massacre that followed, and the
conversation.”

Tanner demanded, “Is that a threat?”

I sighed and shook my head sadly, “Is the truth now a
threat?  Don’t lie to the press, and I have no need to do or say
anything.  As for the military tech, of course I will hand it over if
asked.  I won’t be happy, but I’m an American, and I’m a citizen of Earth,
what did you all think that I’d do?”

I really hated politics, all this crap of holding bogus
threats over my head, all they had to do was tell me to give it back.

Gerald said, “It’s the law, you have one week to return any
weapons tech.”

I nodded, “To be clear, that doesn’t include experimental
weapons correct?  I mean, you still want me to develop new things right?”

Tanner looked disgusted, but he nodded.  I wondered
what he had against me.

“Al, remove all plasma weapons from my command ship as well
as the lab ship.  Disarm the two attack shuttles as well.  Lock all
platforms down until they are purchased, and then turn over control to the USFS
at that time.  Oh, and stop platform production immediately.”

“Will that suffice, or is holding stock a problem?  I
can destroy them, or you can buy them now if it isn’t sufficient.” I asked the
council.

Nadia was red faced, “Yes, that works.”

I asked in an even voice, “How about the missiles on my
ships, both normal and shield I mean, you want to buy them, or should I scuttle
them?”

Nadia said faintly, “Just send me the manifest, and deliver
them to the admiral.”

I asked no in particular, “Did I miss anything?”

Al replied, “The gravity pulse weapon has finished
development.”

I smiled, “Right, disable those too.  Anything else
ladies and gentleman, or are we done here?”

Tanner said sharply, “You can go.”

I stood up and walked toward the door, but turned around,
unable to resist some parting words, “And maybe next time you want to ask me to
do something distasteful, you should merely ask.  This game playing is
beneath all of us.  Well, most of us.  Good day.”

Seriously, did they think I’d fight them or try to take over
the Earth, or something?

Al said privately, “I’m not happy about this, it will be
harder to keep you safe without weapons.  Then there is all the
experimental tech out in the void, how will you protect it?”

I subvocalized, “Well, we have shields, and can run to the
fleet if anyone tries anything.  And of course, we can always blow it up
if someone manages to board the ship.  Do you think the council would do
that?”

Al replied, “No, but it’s possible.  Beyond that, a lot
of races want Earth tech, and the council just pulled your teeth.  It
won’t take long for them to figure that out.  On the good side, not many
people know where the lab ship is located, and the void outside the galaxy is a
very big place.”

I nodded, “Remember our experiments though, what happened to
the shielded probe when it got close to the opening to subspace?  Not as
widespread as the ripple wave the Drenil sent, but for a single ship…”

Al was silent for a moment, “Not really a weapon, but in
reality a weapon that makes a plasma cannon look like a pop gun. 
Understood.  I will calibrate for targeting and determine the furthest effective
range… so we know how far away we can open a doorway I mean.”

I shook my head and suppressed a laugh, Al’s comments
weren’t that subtle, but for an A.I. they certainly were… unexpected.

“Oh, and Al.  Contact Dral, let him know I have ninety
full scale fabricators for sale.  We’ll keep ten of them.”

Al asked, “Won’t the board object?”

I shrugged and felt a surge of annoyance, “Those fabricators
are Tressian made, and fabricators are freely traded between treaty worlds, it
isn’t a restricted technology.  Just make sure you purge all military
designs and data from them before we hand them over.”