Nebula (24 page)

“Done,” Haverford answered. “I’ll tell two of my other weapons people to get onboard. We planned for something like this. Now, what about the danger areas around that EMP cannon when you fire? I want to make sure that we keep all our ships out of it.”

Judith answered, “It looks like the rear axis, plus or minus about 45 to 60 degrees, should be safe. They have a good shield there, about the same as the shield between the gun and the ship, so I think that it’s probably a pretty good null. If your shields were full up, you might be able to get within about 30 or 40 degrees of the main beam, but that’s just a guess. The really safe area is the one that’s to the rear, like I said. I’d definitely avoid anything outside that safe area until we know more about the weapon and how our shields can hold up against it.”

“OK,” Haverford said. “I’ll plan the attack to keep in the safe region whenever you fire. The first shot will be clear of any of our ships, but you may get a second or third shot while we’re engaging them. I need Milo to keep us informed of the orientation of his ship and cue us if you’re having him aim for firing.”

“Roger,” Milo replied. “All of that will be automatically broadcast on our tactical network, so it should show up in the tactical displays like the normal keep-out regions.”

As Milo finished, Doug and Mikio came through the inner door to the airlock and were taking their helmets off, ready for their turn to report. Doug spoke for both of them. “We’re good to go with the cannon. We can control from pretty far off, well beyond that ridge in back of the alien bunker. That should give us enough protection to survive a direct attack on the gun, and if what Judith says about the EMP gun is right, we may be able to get off a few shots before they can recover enough to hit us. The cannon may even be able to survive the whole battle if the aliens decide to run instead of reboot and fight where they are.”

“Good point,” Haverford replied. “If my fighters can attack while they’re still partly disabled from the EMP strike, we might be able to drive them off. Can that plasma cannon of yours take them out at long range?”

“We think so,” Mikio answered, turning to Judith for confirmation. “We think that it’s lethal out to at least a few hundred thousand kilometers, maybe even more, depending on the strength of their shields.”

Judith nodded her agreement. “I looked at the electronics and the power source when we were out there before. It launches a really huge burst of plasma, and the beam is very narrow. If you hit one of our ships at three or four hundred thousand kilometers, it would peel the hull right off.”

“How easy is it to aim and fire?” Brad asked.

“Piece of cake,” Mikio replied. “The hand-held device connects to a pair of glasses that create a retina scan, so you get a good field of view with ability to zoom in and aim by just looking at the target. The glasses also track eye motion, and all you need to do with the hand-held control is a bit of fine correction before pushing the button. Fortunately, the aliens’ eyes and vision processes are almost exactly like ours. It must be some sort of evolutionary optimization for the types of things that both we and they normally do. The glasses work with our eyes well enough for us to be able to use them, but I have to admit that a few hours with them would give anyone a big headache.”

Doug agreed. “We both tried the glasses and hand-held device, and either of us would be able to do the job. But Mikio is right about getting a headache. I wouldn’t want to have those glasses on for more than five or ten minutes.”

Haverford was already factoring this information into the plan. “When you see a good target and are sure that you won’t hit one of us, let us know. You won’t be on the tactical data net, so you’ll have to use the voice radio and tell us which enemy ship you’re aiming at. Give us time to get a good distance away before you fire.”

Doug added that they wouldn’t need to use voice communications. “The alien fire control device already has all the data to compute the danger volume in front of the cannon, out to about one million kilometers. It was in the alien’s data format, but we hooked that computer up to a coordinate translator to convert the information into standard solar navigation coordinates, and we fed that into our portable computer. Now we can link into the AFO ops center to put our fire control data onto the tactical net. Everyone on the net will see the danger zones before we fire, and we’ll also see what ships are in our field of fire. It shouldn’t be too hard to avoid killing our own ships.”

“OK,” Haverford continued. “So this is the execution plan. Brad will give us the ready signal and then count down three-two-one-fire. The plasma and EMP cannons will fire at that command. Milo already informed me that it takes a bit less than a second for him to swing the fighter from its assigned orientation to point at the battleship, so he will start at the count of one.

“Igor’s ship should also move into position at the count of one and commence firing when Brad gives the signal. The four gunners on Milo’s fighter can also begin firing at that time. Harry, you need to make sure that Igor stays out of the danger zone for either of the big guns when they’re preparing to fire. And keep him out of the way of my fighters. After his first shots, he should concentrate on finishing off any of the wounded enemy.”

Harry noted the subtle difference in the way that Haverford now referred to Igor as he instead of it. He reflected on how his own relationship with the robots was developing, almost as if they were intelligent beings rather than machines. But this was a distraction, and he returned his full attention to what Haverford was saying.

“I’ll launch Squadron Alpha, my
twenty ships on Phobos, at the count of one and engage the remaining ships in the battle group. Our first priority is the heavy cruiser if it’s still alive, and the second priority is the two light cruisers. Each of my fighters already has its assignment. We’ll sweep in fast and get out fast. Then Squadron Bravo, the five from Deimos, will sweep in. We’ll continue to rotate in and out like that until the job is done.

“The EMP and plasma cannons and Igor’s robot ship can fire at will, but they need to deconflict with my fighters. Use the tactical net to plan and execute everything, and when in doubt, hold fire until you’re sure that my guys are clear.

“Any questions? I want to make sure that we don’t go shooting at each other. It’s going to get pretty busy and crowded.”

No one responded, so Haverford gave the final orders to get into position for the arrival of the alien battle group. Then he went back to his fighter and assumed duty as pilot, replacing Milo, who now had another job to do. He flew to Phobos where he joined the eleven other fighters that were already in place.

Judith, Milo, Doug, and Mikio put their helmets back on and filed, two at a time, through the airlock and to their duty stations on the alien fighter and at the plasma cannon.

When Judith and Milo entered the fighter, they saw that the four tactical systems operators that Haverford had assigned to the fighter were already there and had taken positions at their stations. Milo made quick introductions. “Folks, this is Judith Glass, our electronics expert. She’ll work that big gun on top of the ship. Judith, these two are Sergeant Lois DeLong and Corporal Harvey Brown. They’ll work the machine guns. You already know Paul and John,” he said, pointing to Paul Olivetti and John Morgan. “This gun crew is the best in the fleet.” DeLong and Brown waved hello but stayed at their stations. Judith went to hers and sat down in front of the controls for the EMP cannon. She noticed that the seats were a bit tight since the aliens were much smaller than humans, but they were roomy enough for the short time that she figured they’d need to be seated.

“Better strap in,” Milo said. “When the shit hits the fan, we can’t be sure that the artificial gravity will hold, so we don’t want anyone flying around.” Fortunately, the harnesses were adjustable and had a lot of extra slack, much more than any alien, even the biggest and fattest of them, would need. Milo explained that the aliens seemed to have very bulky space suits that they wore for combat. It was probably to help them survive in the extremely hostile environment of space if their ship sustained catastrophic damage. Since the Nebula space suits were intended for work on Mars and for only short times outside an atmosphere, the smaller size allowed the six humans to secure themselves in the alien seats without too much problem or discomfort.

While all the others were getting ready at their battle stations, Harry and Yuri went back to the interface station and put their headsets on. They immediately connected with Igor and the worker, both of which were standing near the plasma cannon. Harry focused his attention on integrating thoughts and perceptions only with Igor’s artificial brain. He didn’t want to have any distractions when the fight started. Yuri connected with the worker, but he maintained some attention to Igor as well so that he could be prepared to help Harry if that became necessary.

When Harry was comfortable with the integration of his own brain and senses with Igor’s he began the task of working with Igor as the robot moved into its ship and prepared for the mission. To Harry, it seemed as if he were actually inside the robot and could sense everything that its sensors picked up. He could read its robotic thoughts and its plans for actions as they developed. This would be almost a complete integration of the two of them as long as Igor was still on Mars, but once the ship left, the time delay in the link between the interface box and the robot would eliminate the real time interactions and would give Harry a delayed picture of what Igor was doing and preparing to do. Harry knew that would happen, and he might have been more concerned if he needed to control Igor in a more real time fashion. But Brad and Haverford were right. All that he’d need to do was to make sure that Igor’s planned actions were in line with what was happening with the rest of the Nebula forces. All the real time actions would be controlled by Igor, and the robot did know how to fly a ship and use its sensors and weapons.

Yuri’s job was easier than Harry’s. His main requirement was to use the worker robot as a relay between Igor and the battle group and to do anything that was needed to help Doug and Mikio, who would be outside and exposed to potential danger during the battle.

Doug and Mikio got into position behind the ridge near the alien bunker and then called back to ops to ask that the worker robot be positioned near the plasma cannon so that it could help if anything went wrong while they prepared for the first shot at the battleship. Then, when the shooting started, the worker should get out of the immediate area near the gun and move to another safe place where it could be called upon for further tasks as needed. Yuri replied that he’d take care of that and that he’d be the controller for that robot. They established a radio subnet between the three of them to coordinate things.

Brad, Ludmila, and Nigel were the combat coordinators and positioned themselves at the stations near where Harry and Yuri were. They tested the communications between them and Haverford’s fighters on Phobos and Deimos.

“Let’s take one test shot with the plasma cannon and EMP gun,” Brad ordered. “I want to make sure that they work and we know how to use them.”

“We’re taking off now,” Milo answered. “I’ll take us thirty light seconds away to a point along the axis of approach for the alien battle group, and I’ll point 90 degrees off axis. That should keep Mars and the aliens out of any of the major sidelobes. I don’t want to damage anything at the base or give them any measurable EMP signature.”

“Roger that,” Brad replied. “Let us know before you fire. Brendan, did you copy?”

“Copy,” he replied. “My fighters should be out of any danger.”

Then Doug responded. “We have a small asteroid in our sights. It’s about six hundred thousand kilometers away and far off the axis of arrival of the alien ships. We moved the worker robot back here with us to keep it away when we fire. We’re ready.”

“Plasma gun, fire at will,” Brad replied.

Mikio did the final adjustments and pressed the button to fire the gun. It went off with a bright flash that would have temporarily blinded them if they hadn’t been wearing the alien glasses that were connected to the gun’s control device. The glasses were keyed by the gun’s fire control to attenuate light for the fraction of a second that the flash filled their field of view. But even in the darkened view, they could still see the intense plasma beam that extended from the gun, initially about ten centimeters thick and appearing to taper to a thin line as it traveled out into deep space. The glasses returned vision to normal almost immediately, and about two seconds later, they saw another flash as the beam reached the small asteroid and vaporized it.

“Holy shit,” Doug exclaimed. “That was one hell of a blast. We could even feel a bit of a shockwave when it fired. The beam must put enough heat into the air to make a small explosion. It was a lot more spectacular to see out here than it was when we were in the bunker and used our sensors to watch the aliens fire it. And it just vaporized that target. I wonder what the maximum effective range is.”

“I’m in position,” Milo reported. “Judith says that she’s ready to fire.”

“EMP gun, fire at will,” Brad commanded, and everyone held their breath. This was something that was totally new to them, so they didn’t know what to expect.

Judith set the control to maximum strength and pushed the button. There were no visible signs that anything had happened, but the entire ship shook for a split second, and the power flickered. Gravity control also failed momentarily, and the ship tipped a bit but remained relatively stable as the gravity drive and the internal gravity were restored. Milo had no problem recovering from the momentary disruptions, but he was clearly surprised by what happened.