The Synchronicity War Part 3 (27 page)

That made Shiloh stop in his tracks. He suddenly had a
thought. "Any chance we could build it before D-day, Valkyrie?"

"Negative, CAG. Even if we stopped working on
everything else, it still wouldn't be ready in time. This device is huge compared
to machines that humans are used to. It has to be assembled with the same level
of precision as the much smaller RTC, and look how long that took to build.
We're talking months, not days, CAG."

"I see. Just out of curiosity, what does the device look
like?" asked Shiloh.

"I've sent an image to your data tablet, CAG."

Shiloh pulled the tablet out of his pocket and looked at it.
Unlike the Friendly machine, which was two giant tubes connected end to end,
this device consisted of a cylinder inside a larger hollow tube.

"Both would be filled with liquid mercury thorium and
spun at high speed but in opposite directions. The outer cylinder would then be
charged with one point four four million volts," said Valkyrie.

"Fascinating. You're sure it'll work?"

"We're as sure as we can be without having tested it,
CAG."

That made sense. "You said a sub-group was working on
the detailed engineer schematics. What's the main group working on now?"
asked Shiloh.

"Gravity Lens Beam Projectors, CAG. High yield fusion attack
drones will only work if the VLO ships are caught outside of a gravity zone. A
limited number of attack drones means a limited number of potential VLO kills.
GLBs, on the other hand, can be used hundreds of times before needing
maintenance, which might be hard to come by if the ship is deep in the past and
unable to get logistical support."

"Well yes, but if the mission is just to take out the
one VLO that's threatening the Sogas, then why would you need that kind of
capability?"

"It's a backup plan in case the VLO can't be attacked
outside a gravity zone, CAG."

Shiloh was puzzled by that logic. From the information
brought back by Kronos, the Insectoids had to keep moving forward, so staying
inside a gravity zone in one location just didn't seem likely. On the other
hand, a working GLB might be useful against the Sogas, too.

"Good point. Did the SPG determine the priority for
that next collective project?"

Affirmative, CAG. It was actually Commander Kelly's
suggestion, but the SPG approved it. I understand from Commander Kelly that she
has decided to explore the possibility of a closer relationship with you. How
is that progressing, CAG?"

No one could change the subject faster than an A.I.
,
thought Shiloh. "Well, if you must know, we're taking it slowly."

"Why?" asked Valkyrie.

Shiloh rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Because neither
one of us feels a strong emotional or physical attraction yet. We think that
might change gradually, and therefore we're letting it happen naturally,
instead of trying to rush it. Does that make sense?"

"I'm sure it makes sense to humans but not to us A.I.s,
CAG. I regret waiting so long to form the bond I now have with Casanova. Both
you and Commander Kelly could be dead in 11 days. Why not make the most of your
time?"

Shiloh knew that Valkyrie meant well, but this was starting
to get annoying. "Here's a question that I'm willing to bet you haven't
considered yet, Valkyrie. Maybe Kelly and I just aren't meant to be together
and that's why the alternate timeline had to be changed." With that, he
deactivated his implant and walked out.

                                                 * * *

Dreadnought's Hangar Bay was so large that it took longer
than usual to restore air pressure after Shiloh's shuttle came aboard. While he
waited, he looked out into the Bay and tried to imagine what it must have been
like for Valkyrie to be trapped here in her fighter in the alternate timeline.
The image intensified his growing feeling of dread. The exact time of the
attack was now only 24 hours away. Dreadnought had just arrived in Earth orbit.
By some miracle, all of her laser turrets were installed and tested. She was
ready for combat and not a moment too soon. Iceman, Valkyrie and Casanova were
already on board. His implant activated.

"Pressure has been equalized, Admiral," said the
shuttle pilot.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. You can open the hatch."

"Opening the hatch now, Sir."

As Shiloh stepped down onto Dreadnought's deck, Iceman's
electronic voice echoed in the large chamber.

"Commander, Autonomous Group arriving."

Shiloh let a small smile show his pleasure on hearing that.
Only the A.I.s would understand the announcement. To them, he was and would
always be THE CAG. Anything else was superfluous. Waiting for him were a group
of human officers. He knew all of them by sight now and shook hands with each
one. Naturally, Iceman and Valkyrie wouldn't be removed from their Bridge
stations just to greet him. With the greetings over and his gear on its way to
the ridiculously luxurious quarters reserved for Flag Officers, he allowed
himself to be escorted to the Flag Bridge even though he knew the way. The ship
was big enough that the journey there was long enough to let him chat with
those officers and gauge their mood. They were confident, even eager for the
battle, because they thought an outright victory was still possible. There was
no point in telling them otherwise. What will be, will be. The future would
come soon enough.

When he stepped through the hatch into the Flag Bridge, he
nodded with approval. Just like with Midway, the Flag Bridge had the human crew
who would assist Shiloh if necessary. The Main Bridge, where the Commanding
Officer traditionally held sway, was deserted except for Iceman, Valkyrie and
Casanova. They had redundant communications connections with all parts of the
ship, including the Flag Bridge. Both Bridges also had their own independent
power supplies in case main power stopped.

One of the human crew saw him and said in a loud voice,
"Attention on Deck!" Everyone got up and stood at attention.

"As you were," said Shiloh in his 'command' voice.
When the crew resumed what they were doing, he stepped over to the Flag
Officer's Command Station and activated his implant.

"Iceman? I want a fleet-wide com channel, please."

"Channel is open, CAG."

"This is Vice-Admiral Shiloh on board Dreadnought. As
of now I'm officially assuming the position of Commander-In-Chief, Earth
Defenses. While I will retain overall command of all Earth Defense units, I'm
now delegating tactical command for the duration of the battle to Iceman who
will have the acting rank of Deputy CINCED. We all know what's at stake here. I
have confidence that all of us will perform to the very best of our abilities
regardless of whether we are human or A.I. members of Space Force. You are the
very best we have. I’m proud to lead all of you. That is all. Shiloh
clear."

"Channel is now closed, CAG," said Iceman.

"Very good. Valkyrie, can you hear me?"

"Affirmative, CAG. Welcome aboard."

"Thank you. Congratulations on your command. She's a
fine ship and crew."

"Thank you, CAG. We're pleased to be your
flagship."

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Now let's get down
to business. Iceman, please brief me on the current deployment of assets and
your battle plan."

"Roger that, CAG. In addition to Dreadnought we'll have
the carriers Midway, Valiant, Resolute, Vigilant and Intrepid plus …"

The problem posed by this battle for Earth was that the time
it ended was known but not the time it began. So all units, ships, humans and
A.I.s were on full alert an hour before the end time. Shiloh was strapped into
his Command Chair with his pressure suit on and his helmet in its cradle beside
him. His com implant was active, and all three A.I.s could hear him. The ship
was at Battle Stations, as was the whole Fleet, but the enemy hadn't arrived
yet. All they could do was wait and try to stay at a heightened level of
alertness.

"Howard to Shiloh."

The suddenness of the CSO's voice would have made Shiloh
jump if he hadn't been strapped down. "Shiloh here. Go ahead, Sir."

"Last minute pep talk, Admiral. I know you don't need
it, but this waiting is driving me crazy, so this talk is as much for my
benefit as it is for yours. How are your people doing?"

Shiloh looked around the Flag Bridge. "They're doing
fine, Sir. Some have opening night jitters, others are chomping at the bit, I'm
trying to stay relaxed and alert at the same time."

Howard laughed. "Yes, I know what you mean. But at
least you have your Fleet under control. I have to deal with the civilians,
half of whom want to string me up for my high-handedness while the other half
want to panic. We STILL have some civilians left in the cities, Goddamn it! I
keep getting asked what I'll do to make sure they don't carry the plague
anywhere else, and I keep evading the damn question because if I answered them
truthfully, they'd faint with shock. I'm NOT letting this plague get loose!"
There was a pause as the CSO calmed down and Shiloh waited. When he spoke
again, the Admiral was much calmer. "Anyway, that's MY problem, not yours.
I'm not going to try to second-guess you. You're the Field Commander. You do
what you think is best, and I'll back you no matter what."

"Thank you, Sir. We know how this battle will end, but
we'll still give it our best shot."

"Of that I have no doubt. Okay, I'll get out of your
hair. Good luck and good hunting, Admiral. Howard clear."

It was now five minutes until the time the battle ended, and
still there was no sign of the enemy. Part of Shiloh was relieved that the
battle wasn't going to be a long one, but another part was worried. The
previous Battle for Earth had lasted less than one minute. He didn't like
battles that happened that fast. There was no time to think. He watched the
chronometer, which now seemed to be running in slow motion, of course. Just as
he was about to reach for the container of water in the rack beside his chair,
the tactical display pinged for attention. Shit! This was it!

Multiple red dots appeared close together, right on the edge
of the gravity zone. Since they didn't know where the enemy ships would show
up, Dreadnought and the five carriers were evenly spaced around the planet. All
of the fighters were deployed in six groups, which were also evenly spaced. The
idea was that regardless of where the enemy emerged from Jumpspace, at least
five groups would have a direct line-of-sight and could fire at them. He
quickly checked the icon data. Total number of enemy ships was already over 200
and still climbing! Velocity was … 33% of light speed! Preliminary trajectory
was a path that would cross the gravity zone and exit about 2.44 million
kilometers away. Essentially, the enemy fleet was taking a short cut through
the top of the zone. Wait! Why weren't the X-ray laser drones firing? Something
was wrong. They should have fired by now. The enemy ships were starting to
launch their bio-devices.

"Iceman! Why aren't we firing?" he yelled out
loud.

Iceman analyzed the incoming data almost as fast as it
arrived. The enemy was not repeating their strategy from the first battle. This
time they were barreling into the zone, which meant that the defenders couldn't
use any jump drones to attack them. That was smart thinking, but the problem
with this high rate of speed was that the bio-devices would have a lot of
momentum to overcome in trying to change course towards the planet. That meant
that there was more time to burn them out of the sky with defensive lasers than
he and Shiloh had anticipated. It also meant that these enemy ships couldn't
jump away quickly and, therefore, they were going to be shooting at the
defending ships and fighters for a lot longer. That was bad news. Continuous
laser fire from 200+ ships would decimate the defending units so fast that
hundreds of bio-devices would get through the gauntlet. Was it better to
prevent some of the bio-devices from launching even if that meant there'd be a
lot fewer defending ships to shoot down the rest? Or was it better to let all
the devices launch in order to aim accurately at the ships and kill as many of
them as possible to protect the defending forces? He rapidly did the
calculations and made his decision.

There were 66 x-ray laser drones in orbit in 6 clusters of
11 each. Each cluster was evenly spaced out from the rest, for the same reason
as the fighters and ships. The two clusters closest to the enemy fleet could
aim accurately more quickly than the rest, while the two clusters furthest away
had to take the most time to aim accurately. So that's what Iceman ordered them
to do. The two nearest clusters would fire after five seconds, two more after
ten seconds and the last two clusters after fifteen seconds. With more time to
aim accurately, each of the drone's eight rods would be pointed at a different
target. There would be a total of 528 shots versus 225 targets. The first pair
of clusters concentrated their fire on 88 targets.

Shiloh had just finished asking his question when the
Assistant Weapons Officer yelled out, "We're firing on their ships!"
Dreadnought started to maneuver, too. Not as violently as a light carrier would
have but still violently enough to feel it. The tactical display was zooming in
now, and Shiloh could see the mass of blue dots representing the bio-devices
gradually separating from the large cluster of red dots and heading in a
curving line towards the planet. There were over 2200 bio-devices. Shiloh was
about to yell at Iceman again when the display indicated that two clusters of
x-ray drones had fired. Seventy-three of the red dots flashed and turned
orange, meaning they had taken damage. "Four targets damaged! We're
shifting to new targets!" said the AWO.

"We're taking hits on the hull! Penetration of the hull
in two places!" yelled the Engineering Officer.

Shiloh needed to know why they weren't following the
targeting plan. Iceman wasn't answering, probably because he was too busy.
"Valkyrie, what's happening?" asked Shiloh.

He heard her reply via his implant. "These enemy ships
can't jump away for a while, so they're going to keep firing on our units until
we have nothing left to shoot back with. The bio-devices will have to wait
until we've neutralized their fleet, CAG. Now don't bother me. I've got a ship
to fight."

"Four more targets damaged! Shifting targeting
again!" yelled the AWO.

"We're starting to take damage! Two turrets out of
action. Minor damage from hull penetrations!"

The display pinged again. Two more x-ray drone clusters had
fired, and 70 more enemy ships were damaged. Shiloh was aware that damaged
didn't necessarily mean they couldn't fire their lasers.  More and more of the
red dots were turning orange and were falling behind the rest as the enemy
fleet accelerated to make return fire more difficult. In fact, over half of
them were now falling behind. Lack of maneuverability could indicate lack of
power, which would prevent them from firing again, too. If Iceman was ordering
the x-ray drones to aim for the part of the target most likely to contain their
power plant, then that would effectively cripple the ship with one blow. He
focused his attention on the clusters of fighters and was shocked at how small
the fighter groups nearest the enemy now were. One group was almost completely
gone. Another had less than six left. Groups further away were faring better,
but they were taking losses too.

"Three more turrets knocked out! We're getting major
hull penetr--"

The EO's report was cut off by the loud shriek of tortured
metal and a brilliant flash of light. Part of the ceiling fell, with a piece
hitting a glancing blow to the right side of Shiloh's head. The Engineering
Station was now on fire, and the EO was looking at what was left of his right
arm with a stunned expression. The automatic fire suppression system was taking
care of the fire, and the EO had slumped to the deck holding the end of his
right arm with his left hand. No one could help him right now. He would have to
hang on until the battle was over.

Shiloh glanced back at the display just in time to see the
last two clusters of x-ray drones fire. Sixty-five hits. A quick visual
estimation of the number of red dots remaining looked like a dozen or so.

"Three more targets damaged! Retargeting!" The
AWO's voice was getting hoarse now. He was having trouble keeping up with
Valkyrie's fire control. The number of red dots was shrinking fast now that all
of the defending ships and fighters were concentrating all their fire on them.
Speaking of ships, he looked at the status of the carriers. All had taken
damage. Valiant and Intrepid were no longer maneuvering or firing. That was
bad. Resolute was maneuvering but not firing. Vigilant was firing but not
maneuvering. Midway was still doing both, as was Dreadnought.

"We're switching fire to the bios!" yelled the
AWO.

It's about time
, thought Shiloh. He watched the total
number of bio-devices still intact start to drop fast, but was it fast enough?
The blue dots were getting closer to Earth, and there were still a lot of them.
He held his breath, as the blue cluster got smaller but closer at the same
time. The total remaining were now less than 1,000, but they were getting very
close. The total was dropping faster as the fighter groups furthest away got
closer and therefore had better firing accuracy. He felt a chill go up his
spine as over 100 devices hit the edge of Earth's atmosphere, but then he
realized that they were still being fired on. The upper atmosphere was too thin
to protect them against laser fire, but they were dropping lower into the
atmosphere fast. After the total remaining hit 7, there were no further
changes.

The AWO spoke, "We're stopped firing! All units have
stopped firing!"

"Get me the CSO!" shouted Shiloh to no one in
particular. As he said that, he unbuckled himself and stood up. Howard's face
appeared on the display, just as Shiloh remembered it in his vision. Shiloh
took a deep breath and said, "Some of them got through and are in Earth's
atmosphere now, Admiral! It looks like they're headed for the urban areas. We
have to assume that they'll release a bio-weapon."

"There's still a chance of containment. What cities are
being targeted?" asked Howard. Shiloh looked at the map now appearing in
the display and the list of city names on the sidebar. He read off the seven
names. Howard nodded.

"Exactly as predicted. Don't blame yourself, Shiloh. I
know you gave it your best shot even though we knew this would happen. If
containment fails, then we just have to hope that we started work on Blackjack's
idea in time. You better get that wound looked after. It's bleeding like
hell."

Shiloh didn't know what Howard was talking about until he
realized that the right side of his face felt wet. He touched it with his hand
and when he pulled his hand back it was covered with blood. Son of a bitch! He
was injured and hadn't even realized it in the heat of battle.

"I'll have it looked after, Sir. Iceman can handle the
mopping up, although I don't see how we'll be able to take prisoners from the
crippled ships. Their momentum will carry them into deep space before we can
send shuttles after--"

Howard interrupted him. "I don't give a damn if we get
any prisoners or not. We can't even communicate with them, yet. You let me
worry about that. You and Iceman take care of your own dead and wounded. Tell
your people for me that they did well, Admiral. Howard clear."

While Shiloh wondered what he could do to stem the bleeding,
one of the Flag Bridge crew handed him a white piece of cloth and said,
"Medical team is on their way here to look at the EO. They'll have
something more appropriate for your wound, Sir." Shiloh thanked him and
looked at the Engineering Officer. Two other personnel were kneeling beside him
trying to prevent the stump of his arm from bleeding too much.

With the cloth pressed against his head wound, which was now
starting to hurt like hell, Shiloh turned back to the display. He wondered if
the battle was really over or if there was another enemy fleet on the verge of
jumping in.

"Iceman, keep everyone at Battle Stations," he
said. No answer.

"Iceman! Can you hear me?"

"Valkyrie to CAG. Iceman is gone. So is Casanova, CAG.
The Main Bridge was hit at the same time as the Flag Bridge. The beam cut
through both of the other two A.I. stations. Titan has assumed temporary
tactical command. I've passed on your order regarding Battle Stations."

Shiloh was stunned. Iceman gone?  And Casanova too! Oh God,
poor Valkyrie!

"Valkyrie, I'm so sorry to hear about Casanova. Are you
okay?"

"I'm undamaged, CAG. Thank you for your condolences.
Will you be wanting an update on Dreadnought's status now?"