The Stars Came Back (49 page)

Ramp
Sergeant1: (Points to the hatch) May as well mount ‘em. One here, and (walks over to the other side and looks up) the other over here.

The soldier inserts the flare dispenser with a shove, and the hatch slides back over it.

CUT TO

A couple of soldiers carry a tube (about 3m long, 20cm diameter) up the ramp. Ordnance specs run along the side. They pause on the ramp next to the RampSergeant2 directing the loading to wait for directions. He looks at his tablet, scans the tube with it, looks at it again, then leads them around to the side of the ship. There are a set of three angular, streamlined, slightly raised launcher covers. Slowly, with sand and dust falling out of crevices, it hinges open to reveal the round opening of a launcher. The Sergeant eyeballs it briefly. It looks clean, and a small status screen exposed by the open cover reads “Operational: Ready To Load.” He nods in satisfaction and points to the others along the flank of the ship.

Sergeant2: Load as many as you can. Empty
canisters on the cargo deck aft.

The soldiers unscrew a cap from the back end of the transport
canister, reach in and pull out a remove-before-use safety flag with a pin dangling from it, and hold the canister up to the launcher opening. They wiggle it for a moment to align it, then hear a soft suction sound as the tube shifts to line up perfectly. An audible bump is heard and it drops free into their hands. Visible in the front of the launcher is the front of a missile, with a safety flag hanging on it. One soldier looks at the panel, which now reads “Safety 1 REMOVED. Remove Safety 2 Before Use”. He reaches in and pulls the second pin and flag out, looks at the panel again. It reads “Missile now in LAUNCH READY status. Close?” with YES and NO buttons blinking. He pushes YES, and the tube snaps shut. They toss the safety pins into the canister and close it up. The two soldiers turn to get another one.

CUT TO

Infirmary

Medics patch up several injured soldiers, with people moving fast and efficiently, talking briskly and professionally as they work. On one bed, Allonia assists a medic helping Quinn as he affixes a bandage around his thigh. There is a lot of blood around. He is pale, but isn’t crying.

CUT TO

Tajemnica
bridge

Helton at command, Quiritis at helm, Bipasha at sensors,
Major Farber at com.

View is from an angle low to the console, focused close. Unnoticed by anyone on the bridge, a light on
an otherwise dark fire control panel slowly comes to life, glowing a dim amber below one of the old fashioned 3-position switches (currently in the up position, like the rest in the row). Another lights, then another.

Camera shifts focus from the amber lights to Helton sitting at the command station going over the preflight check list rapidly murmuring to himself. He’s talking fast and nearly inaudibly, and the words are lost in the hubbub of preflight checks and loading.

Major Farber
coordinates troops from the com console, speaking fast into a mic and watching activity on screens.

Lag walks
in slowly, hands behind his back, head down, thoughtful. He walks to a spot near the weapons control panel. He looks down at it, looks up at the screens as the view shifts around. In one of them, he sees the two soldiers with the missile canister drop it from the loading port and start carrying it away. A small smile appears slowly on his face. Lag stands up to a sharp parade rest position, faces a large screen, and begins talking in clipped, terse military tones, unlike his normal easygoing manner.

Lag: AARAS display, 40
km radius, all munitions and munitions flight paths, all enemy launchers, vehicles, personnel, and positions, all friendlies, everything of tactical significance.

[AARAS, pronounced
ARE-ass, After Action Replay Analysis Schematic]

Everyone else in the room
halts their work to look at him in surprise. A pregnant pause as the screen remains blank, and no one moves. Suddenly a complex graphic appears in front of him, a topographical map of the region depicting all incoming and outgoing missile tracks, shell and bullet trajectories, enemy positions, and icons for equipment of all sorts. Small spheres represent explosions overhead where incoming was intercepted by ground-fire, or impacts on the ground. There are a huge number of tracks from three separate enemy locations around the edge of the display, each with dozens of vehicle-group icons and numerous dots representing personnel. More tracks lead from closer locations surrounding them, and four sets of lines come in from orbit above. A pair of straight fuzzy lines connect two of the larger enemy bases directly to the firebase in the center. All the many enemy munitions trajectory arcs in red converge. Numerous short blue lines rise from Raptus Regalitur. The graphic slowly rotates, showing different angles. They are surrounded, and the huge volume of fire should have been fatal.

Lag: Orbital launch locations?

The diagram indicates four slightly separate positions high above and to the west.

Lag: Play forward from first detected attack.

All munitions paths and enemy locations disappear from the topographic map. One of the fuzzy straight lines pops into view, and the time counter on one side of the display rolls by rapidly.
Taj
flies in and lands at the firebase in the middle of the display. A second straight fuzzy line pops into view.

Helton: What’s
that?

Lag: Jamming, hacking, anything electronic.
Huh… No countermeasures.

E
nemy icons begin appearing. The fuzzy lines intensify and the time counter slows. Ballistic arcs start dropping from orbit. A fire hose of ballistic arcs emerge from each major enemy positions, first from farther away and in higher arcs, followed by faster and flatter arcs, then fired from nearer positions. They all look to be converging on them at the same moment. More enemy positions, vehicles, and units pop onto the screen. The time counter slows even more. A hopeless amount of incoming is about to crash on them. From the center there is a huge eruption of blue streaks upward, causing spheres in a descending stream to appear as incoming missiles, bombs, and shells are intercepted. The largest explosions are high, getting smaller as the cascade descends.

Lag: (
Crisply) Freeze. Zoom ten kilometer radius.

The display expands to show more details.
A massive number of things are in the air, with rising streams from the local guns, a spray of missiles and shells destroying falling munitions in flight. There are now small symbols by the larger incoming rounds indicating what type they are. Lag looks closely at it, rotates it around a bit, grunts a bit. The XO quietly whistles his surprise.

Lag: Continue at real time.

The final bit takes only a few seconds to finish. Incoming fire rains down, a lot get intercepted, but enough gets through that the base vehicle symbols go dark. Only
Tajemnica
and one vehicle remain. Some people icons go dark as well.

Lag: Freeze. Zoom to four thousand
.

The display zooms in, and the individual tracks are more clearly seen. But it’s clear that most of larger explosions (indicated by the size of the sphere when it blows) were higher up, and it’s mostly smaller stuff that made it through.

Helton: What’s that?

Helton points to where a bit more than a
3000 meters out, most of the remaining munitions had a slight bend in their arc, changing them from a more dispersed pattern to all head toward the ship.

Lag: (
Thoughtfully, almost to himself) …That… is… interesting. (Crisply) Confidence level of data presented?

“100%”
appears in a corner of the screen next to the time counter.

Lag: Data source?

The screen adds the note “hybrid data sources.”

Lag: Remove inferred
and external source tracks; display only organic observed.

A few lines disappear, but the display doesn’t change significantly.

Lag: (Softly to himself, staring at the screen) Well, well, well.

Farber
: Damn, that’s a better display than I’ve ever see, even on our best equipment.

Lag: Yes. Almost
too
good.

Helton: Those course corrections…?

Lag: (Talking fast, crisply) Zoom out to 40 kilometers. Show current movement only.

The display zooms out, and there are two small red dots near one of the bases.

Lag: Zoom on activity.

The display zooms in on them. The display shows an image labeled “
Surveillance Drones”

Lag: ETA overhead?

Screen reads “16 minutes”

Lag: (
To Helton, sharply) Helton, we need to take off in 10 minutes!

Helton: Like hell! It’ll take another 30 to do even a basic preflight!

Lag: If we’re still here in 30 minutes, we’re here
forever
.

Helton: (
Grabs a mic to announce to the ship, heard also as OC) Now hear this! Load everyone and everything you can and get aboard. Lift in ten minutes, no excuses! Ship crew, man stations and get us spun up for lift! Base personnel, get what you can get on and secure it! Countdown on all screens!

Every screen
now shows a countdown clock: one big one per room, each screen with a small one in the corner, starting at 10:00, then counting down, 9:59, 9:58…

CUT TO

C
argo bay ramp

Everyone
stands around listening to the announcement. They all start moving very quickly, running, grabbing stuff, throwing it wherever and running out for more, and a there is a lot of yelling and noise and chaos as troops scramble to get salvaged equipment on board.

F
ADE TO BLACK

Trust

FADE IN

INT - DAY -
Tajemnica’s
bridge

Lag, Helton, Quiritis, Bipasha,
Farber

Helton: Now we sound retreat and get the hell out’a here!

Lag stares thoughtfully, quietly looking at the AARAS display

Lag:
…No.

Helton: You just said-

Lag: “Take off.”
Not
retreat.

Helton: But how in the name of all that’s warm an’ fuzzy-

Farber: (Putting hand on sidearm, voice dangerous) If he says no retreat, then we don’t.

Helton: (
Hotly) This is MY ship, and I say where we go!

Farber
: (Grimly, gripping gun in holster) It’s only yours as long as we says it is.

Lag says nothing, still standing more
or less at parade rest, looking at Helton.

E
very screen on the bridge goes black. The bridge is dark with stark shadows thrown by the light through the thick windows. On the main screen appears: “WRONG” in bold white letters. Everyone stares at them, then looks back and forth among themselves. The word disappears; in its place the words “Captain Strom is in charge” appear.

Helton: What just happened?

Lag: (In slightly amused wonderment) The ship likes you.

On the main screen appears: Not
like
. TRUST.

They all look at the words, rapidly pondering the implications.

Those words blink away. In their place briefly appears: Creative. Thoughtful. Familial. Resourceful.
No uniform
.

Lag: Ahhh…
you
just got promoted to CinCMOP.

Helton: Say again?

Lag: CinCMOp; Civilian in Charge of Military Operations. (Crisply) AARAS display, please.

The display reappears on the screen.

Lag: (To Farber) Major, this is a decommissioned, experimental mil-surp ship, I can brief you on relevant details later. (To Helton) However unlikely it may be, some of the original military AI programming appears to have survived. I believe it is demanding
civilian
control of primary decision making aboard. You appear to be that lawful,
trustworthy,
civilian authority it recognizes. (Gestures to AARAS) The data displayed here could only be captured and generated by high-end, even military-grade, hardware and software. Looking at the defensive firing, there appears to be some quality gunnery control remaining as well. Look, we don’t have much time, so I’ll keep this short. We are surrounded and have orbital platforms above. There
is
no place to slip out in retreat. They think we are obliterated, but they are professional enough to verify before moving on to attack the next base with the same method. That kink in paths we saw indicates prohibited terminal guidance munitions, making
them
in violation of the combat contract, so we can now do anything we want and use any weapons we have-