The Synchronicity War Part 3 (10 page)

TF93 returned first, and Shiloh was very pleased with their
results. The engineering teams had managed to get the heavy carrier Midway
operational, at least enough to jump her back to Site B, plus another freighter
was virtually complete and now only needed to have her new ZPG power units
installed on a more permanent basis. Midway would require more work, but the
only major deficiency she had was the complete lack of any laser weaponry. All
eight of her double laser turrets were still missing. As soon as more power
units were installed, she could be used for her primary function as a fighter
carrier, and that was even better news because Midway and her two smaller
sisters had brought back 125 fighters. Some of those were already converted to
ZPG power, and the rest would be converted relatively quickly.

The teams had surveyed all the asteroid shipyard complexes,
and that was also interesting news. The million-ton Dreadnought battleship
could be moved and jumped as soon as power units could be brought aboard and
hooked up. She would also need some work done to allow an A.I. to pilot the
ship. Midway already had those control systems installed because she was
designed and started after Dreadnought. But while Dreadnought could be moved
and jumped, she couldn't fight. None of her 16 double laser turrets were
installed, and that was going to be a big challenge. Midway's missing laser
turrets were of the same type as those on Valiant and Resolute, which was to
say that the turrets themselves had moderate armor protection, just like the
rest of the ship. On the other hand, Dreadnought was not only huge in size but
also had very thick armor, and her laser turrets were supposed to have equally
thick armor. That type of armor was not easy to make, and Terra Nova didn't
have the necessary equipment. They could eventually manufacture it, but if
Shiloh made that a high priority, something else would have to be pushed back.
Two more freighters were close enough to completion that they might be worth
salvaging. The dozens of other ships under construction were too incomplete to
be worth the effort, at least in the short run. It was more trouble making the
necessary components at Site B, carrying them to Sol, transferring them to the
partially completed ships and having human engineers install them by hand, than
it was to program the robots to build a new ship from scratch on Terra Nova's
moon. Besides, how many freighters did they really need now?

A quick meeting with Wolfman, Iceman, Valkyrie and his human
staff determined that before the VLO showed up, they would have enough time to
get Midway ready for combat operations with a full load of converted fighters,
return to Sol and get Dreadnought ready, too. Valiant and Resolute would come
along as well in order to pick up another 50 fighters still sitting on the
lunar surface. If TF94 got back from their strike mission before TF95 left for
Sol, then Shiloh would take some raiders along. If not, then the raiders that
had escorted the survey mission to Sol would stay behind to watch over Site B,
with orders left behind for Titan's group to head to Sol as soon as they
returned and rearmed. After the meeting was over, Shiloh ordered Iceman to
report to the RTC device to have his vision recorded and transmitted. When that
was done, Shiloh breathed a little easier. All of the visions received by
humans or A.I.s were now accounted for.

With two days left to go before TF95 was ready to leave,
Shiloh realized that Kelly had had a serious expression on her face all day.
When the two of them settled down on the sofa to listen to some recorded music
that had been brought to Haven by one of the colonists, he heard her take a big
sigh and said to her, "Something's bothering you. What is it?"

"I wish you didn't have to go back to Sol personally to
supervise the battle against the VLO. Why can't Iceman or Valkyrie take
command?"

Shiloh pulled her to him so that her head rested on his
chest. "Well … for one thing, Valkyrie has volunteered to pilot
Dreadnought on the attack run from her fighter in the ship's hanger bay. She
can't be in command of the battle because she'll be too busy flying that beast.
Iceman will be piloting Midway. The A.I. that flew her back here told Iceman
that he would have his hands full keeping track of her systems. It wouldn't be
fair to put command of the fighters and raiders on his shoulders, too."

Before he could say more, she interjected, "So let
another A.I. pilot Midway, and let Iceman assume command of the Task Force from
a fighter or raider."

"Sorry, Babe. The Friendlies said that I would be there
when the VLO showed up."

"They also said that you would get another vision
telling you that, and you haven't had one yet, have you?"

"No. Not yet."

"Well then maybe you DON'T have to be there for that
battle."

Shiloh didn't have a good counter-argument, but he had a
strong hunch that the outcome of that battle would depend on whether he was
there or not. "Let's see how these next two days go, okay?" She
didn't respond verbally but he heard her sigh, again. Clearly that wasn't the
answer she wanted to hear, but it was the only one he was prepared to give
right now.

The issue was decided early the next morning. He was awake
and saw through the window that the sky was starting to get brighter. A glance
at the chronometer told him that it was a couple hours earlier than he would
normally get up, but he didn't feel tired enough to go back to sleep. Just as
he was closing his eyes to try, he heard his implant click.

"Iceman to CAG. Are you awake, CAG?"

Shiloh sighed and whispered, "Yes. Wait one." He
carefully rolled over and got out of bed. Kelly looked as though she was still
sleeping. As he looked for his bathrobe he said, "Okay, what is it,
Iceman?"

"A message drone has just arrived from the Avalon
system. The recon drone we left there detected a moving object that is either
very bright or very large, and as per its programming, it activated the message
drone to let us know."

Shiloh swore under his breath and then said, "Were we
expecting the VLO to come that close this quickly?"

"Negative, CAG. The VLO, if that's what this is, is
moving forward much faster than anticipated. TF95 has to leave now if we want
to be sure of getting Dreadnought ready in time. I can have all the engineering
people on board in 30 minutes. Let me lead this mission, CAG. I know what has
to be done."

Shiloh thought fast. No vision so far. The Friendlies were wrong
about that. What could he do at Sol that Iceman couldn't do? Nothing, as far as
he knew. He was just about to give Iceman the go ahead when his vision faded to
black, and he saw a fully dressed Kelly greet him at the spaceport landing
area.

"I heard what happened. I understand why you had to
go." She was about to put her arms around his neck when the vision
dissolved and he was back in his bedroom.

"Victor?" Kelly's voice startled him and he turned
to look at her. She was now sitting up and looking at him with an anxious
expression. "Did you just have a vision?" she asked.

"Yes. I have to go … and I have to go now," he
said.

By the time he was finished getting dressed, she had a
thermos of hot coffee ready for him at the door along with the things he would
need to take along. As she kissed and hugged him, he said, "Don't worry
about me. In my vision I saw you greet me at the spaceport when I got
back."

As he pulled back he heard her say in a tiny voice.
"Thank God."

It was dawn by the time he got to the spaceport and pulled
up beside the shuttle waiting to take him to Midway. He knew that Iceman was
monitoring his implant transmitter. As he grabbed his gear and grinned at the
irony of the Chief of Space Operations carrying his own luggage, he said,
"Iceman, I'm about to board the shuttle. Is everyone else aboard?"

"Affirmative, CAG. You're the only one holding us up,
you know. Just saying."

Shiloh suppressed his impulse to laugh. "Admiral, don't
you know by now that rank hath its privileges? What's the point of being CSO if
I can't make people wait?"

"I'll keep that in mind, CAG." 

Had there been just the slightest hint of a pause before
Iceman replied, or did he imagine it?

After entering the shuttle, Shiloh dumped his gear at the back
and sprinted for the nearest empty seat. As he strapped himself in he said,
"Let's go, Admiral. We've got a battle to win."

"Roger that, CAG."

                                                       * * *

Shiloh looked around Midway's Flag Bridge one more time. He
still wasn't used to its size. The tactical display was huge and could project
images in 3D if needed. His Fleet Command chair was similarly impressive with
its multiple smaller screens and controls. With Iceman conning the ship from
the main Bridge, Shiloh had all of the human Bridge crew with him. If anyone
needed a Communications Technician or an Engineer, it would be Shiloh not
Iceman.

On his display, he could see the asteroid shipyard where
Dreadnought was. It looked close enough that with just a little imagination, he
felt he might be able to reach out and touch it. In fact it was over a
kilometer away. The illusion of closeness was due to Dreadnought's size. Almost
a kilometer long itself, the jet black arrow-shaped machine would have been
hard to see without the display's enhanced imaging. Right now he watched
several shuttles leave Dreadnought's open hangar bay hatch on their way back to
Midway. A quick glance at the display's sidebar confirmed that there was still
no sign of the VLO or any other unidentified moving object in the Solar system.
Valiant and Resolute were once again in lunar orbit and were bringing up
another 50 fighters by remotely controlled auto-pilot. The supply ship Reforger
was standing off the asteroid at about the same distance as Midway.

Shiloh reviewed the plan to get Dreadnought operational.
Once inside the ship, the engineers had hooked up Valkyrie's fighter to the
ship's power distribution system as a temporary auxiliary power source. That
way the computer systems could be operated, electric hatches could be opened
and closed, and environmental systems could maintain an environment which
allowed the engineers to work in their shirtsleeves instead of bulky space
suits. When that was done, they installed enough ZPG units to give the ship a
minimal 2G acceleration capability as well as enough power for microjumps. As a
final step, Valkyrie's fighter was connected to helm, communications, jump
drive and other key systems. Now Valkyrie would pilot the ship out of the
shipyard and microjump her to Jupiter. There, Dreadnought would skim the gas
giant using the supersonic refueling model that Shiloh has pioneered. With her
fuel tanks full of heavy hydrogen, she would then have enough power to
accelerate at just under 100Gs to reach the required ramming speed that the SPG
had calculated would inflict crippling damage to the much larger target.

Valiant and Resolute would rendezvous with Midway and
Dreadnought in Jupiter orbit, leaving behind recon drones to help triangulate
the VLO's exact position, course and speed when it showed up. Then they would
wait. Just as the shuttles arrived back on board Midway, he heard Valkyrie's
voice.

"Valkyrie to CAG."

"Go ahead, Valkyrie."

"Dreadnought has sufficient power to maneuver and
microjump. Request permission to undock and proceed to Jupiter."

Shiloh grinned. "Savor this moment, Valkyrie. You are
the first Space Force Officer to command and pilot a million ton vessel.
Dreadnought, you have permission to proceed."

"Roger that, CAG. Undocking is underway."

The display sidebar told him that Valkyrie had ordered the
shipyard's computer to release the mammoth ship. Her brusque answer didn't
bother him. Even with many of Dreadnought's systems shut down as non-essential
since there was no human crew aboard, there was still plenty to keep her
occupied. He also noticed that Midway and Reforger were now backing away from
the asteroid in order to give Dreadnought plenty of room to maneuver. A quick
touch of a virtual control, and the main display split into two segments. On
the left was the overall tactical situation with icons representing asteroid
and ships, while on the right was a computer-enhanced image of Dreadnought from
what looked like close range. It allowed him to get an appreciation for how big
this ship really was.

Dreadnought moved slowly until she had a clear path to
Jupiter, then all three ships accelerated at Dreadnought's maximum rate in a
carefully choreographed manner. Compared to interstellar distances, microjumping
to Jupiter was a trivial distance and therefore didn't require a lot of
pre-jump speed, but Jupiter had a considerable gravity zone that Dreadnought
would have to traverse before it could skim the planet's atmosphere. Even so,
the ship could have accelerated after emerging from the microjump. In terms of
timing, though, it made no difference if Dreadnought accelerated before jumping
or after. What accelerating now did do was give Valkyrie more time to make sure
that everything was working properly and get used to the sheer volume of data
that she had to monitor.

"How does she feel, Commander?" asked Shiloh.