The Synchronicity War Part 3 Page 12

  "You should know that the probability of survivors is extremely low, CAG."

  Shiloh nodded sadly. "I understand that, Iceman, but we have to at least try to find out."

  "Roger that, CAG."

  Shiloh decided to keep himself busy with log entries. He was just finishing the first one when Iceman interrupted.

  "I'm sorry to interrupt, CAG but I have more bad news."

  "Okay, tell me."

  "I reviewed all of the sensor data from Midway and from all of our fighters. When the VLO launched their attack craft in the direction of Dreadnought, they also launched at least one craft that accelerated away from Jupiter. From its trajectory, I calculate a high probability that it's headed for a jump to the Avalon System."

  "Why there?” Shiloh asked. “Surely it can't be a call for help."

  "They may have left behind other craft there to act as relays. I think it's more likely an attempt to sound the alarm, as it were. We now have to assume that the Insectoids as a whole will be aware of the existence of surviving humans, and that they'll very likely search for us."

  "Wonderful! If we still had Valiant or Resolute operational, I'd order them to intercept that bug ship, but we don't. Our fighters have used up their drones and don't have any other weapons. Damn! If more of these things show up, we won't have more Dreadnoughts to throw at them. Can we use raiders instead, Iceman?"

  "We'd have to use 100 raiders to have the same total mass as one Dreadnought, CAG, and that's just for one VLO. If we're facing more than one, we won't have enough raiders to fight them off."

  Shiloh nodded but said nothing. They would have to find another way to kill these things. The advanced weapons that Daniels had alluded to would have to be fast tracked. Shiloh didn't see any other way.

  It was over an hour later that Midway was close enough to both drifting hulks in orbit around Earth's moon to send out a shuttle with engineers and medical staff. Since both carriers used the same design, it was impossible to identify which carrier the shuttle was approaching until they were within half a kilometer. They were sending video back to Midway, and Shiloh and his Flag Bridge crew were watching the main display in silence. They could hear the shuttle pilot talking.

  "Okay … half a klick … velocity now one one mps. I'm activating our floodlights. There she is, Midway. Do you see her?"

  "Affirmative," said Shiloh in a low voice. The scene reminded him of the heavily damaged exploration frigate that had started this whole war. "Iceman, can you identify this ship?"

  "It's Resolute, CAG. She's been badly damaged by laser fire. All her weapon turrets were blasted away. Major hull breaches. Looks like her Bridge took a direct hit. Her engines look inoperative. Her Hangar Bay has been hit, too. I doubt if the shuttle can use it. They'll have to dock directly."

  "Any sign that lifeboats were used?" asked Shiloh. Even as he asked the question, he knew the answer.

  "Negative. It appears that all the lifeboats are still aboard her, CAG."

  "Can you dock with her, Shuttle One?" asked Shiloh.

  "I see one of the emergency docking hatches that appears to be undamaged, Midway. We're heading for that."

  "Okay, Shuttle One. I'll shut up and let you concentrate on your flying."

  "Appreciate that, Midway," said the shuttle pilot in a slightly distracted voice. Shiloh muted his mic and asked Iceman a question.

  "How far away is Valiant, Iceman?"

  "Less than 10,000 kilometers, CAG. I've already ordered some of the fighters to rendezvous with her and look her over."

  "Good thinking." said Shiloh. No one said anything for the next four minutes that it took the shuttle to carefully maneuver so that its side hatch was touching one of the carrier's external hatches.

  "We have contact with Resolute," said the shuttle pilot. "Docking hatch is secure … seal is tight. We're ready to board her, Midway."

  "Before you crack the hatch, switch your video feed to your internal camera, Shuttle One," ordered Shiloh.

  "Roger that, Midway. I'm switching our video now." The image on the screen shifted to a view down the center of the main compartment of the shuttle. There was an open space at the back where the hatch was. Shiloh saw six people standing near the hatch waiting for permission to proceed. The co-pilot appeared and as he walked back to the rear of the shuttle, he waived for them to open the hatch. The shuttle hatch opened inward and with that out of the way, one of the engineers used the access panel in Resolute's hull to unlock the ship's hatch. When it was pushed inward, Shiloh heard one of the engineers speak.

  "No lights inside. Power must be offline. We're going in."

  The two engineers went in, followed by two of the medics. All were carrying portable lights. Just as the third medic was about to step over the threshold he jumped back in surprise as the first two medics pushed their way back into the shuttle. Both of them were yelling something that Shiloh couldn't make out. One of the two engineers fell head first across the threshold. Shiloh could only see his upper body. The man screamed and desperately tried to grab on to something before he was pulled back into the derelict ship.

  "Close the hatch! Shuttle One, close the damn hatch!" yelled Shiloh. Either they heard him or had the same idea. He saw that the remaining medics and the co-pilot were trying to force the shuttle hatch closed but something was apparently pushing back. With a final push, they got the hatch closed. As the voices started to die down, Shiloh said, "Shuttle One, what's your status?" The pilot's mic must have been muted because he suddenly heard panting and the pilot's voice.

  "--a bitch, Midway! That ship is full of those huge fucking ant-things! We need reinforcements to get our people back!"

  "Stand by, Shuttle One," said Shiloh. He took a deep breath. Midway had a few personal weapons, but all of them were pistols, and there was no security contingent on the ship. He would have to order some of the crew who weren't trained for this kind of personal combat, to go in there with pistols, which might or might not be effective against those Bugs. He shook his head. If he had marines with combat armor and heavy firepower he would have ordered them to go in without hesitation, but he didn't. He made up his mind that he wasn't going to order anyone else in there.

  "Shuttle One, this is the CSO. We're not equipped for that kind of assault, and I'm not risking anyone else's life. Undock immediately and return to Midway. Acknowledge your orders, lieutenant."

  "Ah … okay, Midway. Orders understood and acknowledged. Preparing to undock." The pilot's voice was heavy with shock. "Breaking the seal now." A few seconds later he said, "We're clear and moving away. Resolute's hatch is still open, Midway! They're losing atmosphere! Shit! Some of those Bugs are being blown into space towards us! They look like they're trying to grab onto the shuttle's hull!"

  "Shuttle One, if they grab hold, shake them off! Accelerate at high speed if you have to!" said Shiloh in a loud voice.

  "Oh that'll be a pleasure, Midway. I guarantee we won't be bringing any of those fuckers aboard the ship!"

  "Iceman, switch back to tactical," ordered Shiloh.

  "Tactical is on the screen. These Insectoids seem to be able to survive in a vacuum at least for a short while, CAG. When we recover the shuttle, do you still want to board Valiant?"

  "I'm not prepared to write that crew off without a closer look, but we'll do it very carefully."

  "Roger that. The shuttle is no longer accelerating and is coming back around, CAG."

  "I want that shuttle examined visually from all angles before Flight Ops lets it back aboard, Iceman," said Shiloh firmly.

  "Flight Ops has the word," responded Iceman.

  Shiloh said nothing. It took another five minutes before the shuttle was on its final approach to Midway's Hangar Bay.

  "Resolute's crew were probably already dead, CAG," said Iceman suddenly. "Those Insectoids on her would eventually need to eat something to survive."

  "Unless some of the crew were able to barricade themselves from the rest of the ship," said Shiloh.<
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  "Unlikely, CAG. I've been examining Resolute's hull damage. There are very few parts of the ship that haven't already suffered explosive decompression from hull breaches. That's how the Insectoids got inside in the first place. Since they were found in the part of the ship that still had atmosphere, they clearly found a way into the sealed off sections."

  "We'll never know for sure if there are still living crew aboard her or not, and the thought that they might be waiting for rescue is going to haunt me for the rest of my life," said Shiloh slowly. To his credit, Iceman said nothing.

  When the shuttle was back aboard (without any stowaways!), Shiloh ordered Midway to proceed to a rendezvous with Valiant's hull. A brief chat with the shuttle pilot and co-pilot quickly revealed that they were willing to take a shuttle over to Valiant once Shiloh explained the precautions he had in mind. The medics all agreed to go again as well. Shiloh asked for volunteers to replace the engineers. With the shuttle on its way, two fighters attempted to look into hull breaches with their external lights. One of them saw several Insectoids moving around inside the breached hull. How they were able to operate for this length of time in a vacuum was a question that no one could answer. What the fighters also discovered was that none of Valiant's external hatches were undamaged. That meant that the shuttle couldn't dock and gain access at all. With no way to get in, Shiloh ordered the shuttle to return. Valiant had to be written off as a lost cause. As soon as the shuttle was back aboard again, Iceman turned Midway towards the Site B star and accelerated at a low enough rate that all the fighters, including the two assigned to look inside the gutted mothership, could catch up to her before she jumped away.

  Chapter 10 Now What?

  By the time that Midway was approaching Terra Nova's gravity zone, Iceman had heard about the results of TF94's mission and was briefing Shiloh on it.

  "They only destroyed five core ships? Why only five?" asked Shiloh.

  "Because there were only five core ships there when TF94 arrived, CAG. Number six was gone. The remotely piloted raiders worked well. All five hit their targets, which were blown to pieces. The detonations took out many of the landing craft, and Titan's boys managed to destroy or cripple the rest. When TF94 left, there wasn't a single insectoid craft left that was still operational. Reconnaissance from orbit showed that the Bugs on the ground were heavily outnumbered by the Sogas, and without their landing craft to provide air cover, they were being overwhelmed by the sheer number of Sogas fighting them. I've reviewed the recon data, CAG. Even if the Sogas take back control of their home world, all their major cities have been stripped of metal, and while I can't be certain of the magnitude, I can say that they've lost a lot of their population. Whatever space-based industrial assets they had are now gone too. I think it'll be a long time before the Sogas are able to threaten us again, CAG."

  Shiloh shook his head emphatically. "No. They're NEVER going to be able to threaten us again. I'll make damn sure of that! I wouldn't wish the Bugs on anyone, but what the Sogas have gone through doesn't absolve them of what they did to us."

  "Understood, CAG. We'll be in orbit within 43 minutes. Commander Kelly has been told of our arrival and I've been informed that she intends to meet you at the spaceport."

  Just as his vision had shown. While Shiloh was no longer surprised when his visions came true, he still felt a profound sense of relief. "Bring me up to date on the level of Space Force assets we have now, Iceman."

  "Total raider force is now 101, and 21 of them are on recon missions inside Sogas space. We also have 122 fighters, all of which are now converted to ZPG power. At this point in time, 24 of those fighters are being used to train new A.I. pilots. None of them have matured to sentience yet. Production of A.I.s is continuing. The stockpile of drones is as follows: 220 recon, 118 message, 45 Mark 1bs, 167 Mark 2s. Support assets are unchanged at 2 freighters and 16 shuttles of which 12 are jump-capable. Do you want a report on mining, refining and manufacturing output, CAG?"

  "No, that's sufficient. Given our available forces now, what would you recommend we do to find and destroy that missing core ship, Iceman?"

  "CAG, I've been in contact with the SPG and we've swapped data. They've come up with an idea that I think will enhance our effectiveness against all insectoid motherships regardless of size, but the downside is that this idea will require time to implement."

  "I definitely want to hear it, Iceman. Go ahead."

  "We now know that attacking a mothership when it's inside a gravity zone is very difficult because of the magnitude of the mothership's own defenses and its multiple parasite craft. If we can catch a mothership outside of a gravity zone, then we hit it will fusion warheads delivered by drones that have jump capability. Think of a message drone carrying a Mark 1b warhead. The drone is accelerated to a modest speed. It then makes a carefully calculated microjump to emerge back into normal space so close to the target that the target doesn’t have time to fire lasers at it. A smaller core ship, such as the one that is missing, could be crippled with one hit or destroyed with two. The much larger motherships would have to be hit by at least 34 Mark 1b warheads, but if we upgrade the warhead yield to at least 25 megatons from its current 2.5 megatons, then the number of hits required will drop proportionately. Having said that, production of enriched uranium will be the major bottleneck. And having said THAT, I should also point out that a very preliminary evaluation of some of the Friendly science data suggests that uranium enrichment efficiency could be boosted by an order of magnitude if the basic science can be engineered to work on an industrial scale."

  After an almost imperceptible pause, Iceman continued. "If we decide to go with this strategy, then one raider, supported by at least 2 fighters armed with the new jump-capable attack drones, would monitor every star system that an insectoid mothership might visit. The fighters would stay just outside the gravity zone of whatever planet is most likely to be of interest to the Insectoids, and the raider would stay further out. If they can't ambush the mothership on its way in, they'll get another chance to hit it on its way out. So not only would we get advanced warning of insectoid ship incursions, but we'd also have defense-in-depth. Any advancing mothership would have to run a gauntlet of armed raiders and fighters, CAG."

  Shiloh was impressed. It sounded good. In fact it sounded VERY good.

  "I like the concept. Now let's talk about execution. How soon can we have jump-capable attack drones with our current Mark 1b warheads?" asked Shiloh.

  "Actually we could have some testable prototypes within 48-96 hours. It should be relatively easy to take out some of the data storage components of a standard message drone and replace them with the warhead. When we replaced the heavy hydrogen power plant with ZPG units, we freed up a lot of room. We could have made those message drones smaller, but as you'll recall, the decision was made to continue using the existing design in order to maintain uninterrupted production. If we're going to R&D a much more powerful warhead, then it will make sense to redesign the whole thing to accommodate that larger warhead."

  "Good! Let's get to work on the prototypes right away. I want one of your boys to design a jump-capable attack drone that can handle anything up to a 50-megaton warhead, and I want the payload to be modular so that we can use the basic drone as a message drone if needed. Then it easily can be configured not only as an attack drone but as a recon drone, too. That way we'll have one standard chassis that can be used for a multitude of mission types."

  "Very clever idea, CAG. I've already sent the necessary instructions. What about the enhanced uranium enrichment process?"

  Shiloh nodded. "That will definitely have a high priority, but I want to talk with Daniels and the SPG about priorities for all our R&D projects. Schedule a meeting at … 0730 hours tomorrow."

  "Let's hope Commander Kelly will let go of you that early, CAG."

  Shiloh chuckled but made no verbal comment. Iceman had managed to lighten his mood and Shiloh was grateful for that.

  As his shu
ttle came to a stop, the hatch opened and Shiloh stepped down onto Terra Nova's soil once again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, savoring the fragrant smell of the local flora and human occupation. It's a good day to be alive, he thought. Opening his eyes, he saw Kelly walk quickly towards him with a look of relief on her face. He wondered if he saw a tinge of sadness, too.

  As she came up to him, she put her arms around his neck, hugged him and whispered into his ear, "I heard what happened. I understand why you had to go."

  He carefully hugged her back. "I now understand why, too. I didn't when I left." He paused, not certain whether to say what he wanted to next. "I'm sorry I couldn't save Valkyrie. I know how close you were to her. I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye."