The Synchronicity War Part 2 (10 page)

“What about keeping the FEs fueled? They can’t
refuel themselves.” Shiloh had an answer for that too.

“Once they’re on station in high orbit around a
gas giant, fuel use will be minimal. So when an FE does finally get
low on fuel, we’d sent another one with a full load to take its
place and the depleted frigate returns to base to get topped up so
that it can relieve another FE, that’s low on fuel, somewhere else.
I don’t know for sure but I suspect that it should be relatively
easy to jury rig an existing FE for A.I. control.” Howard looked
dubious.

“It’ll be a long time before all of our
exploration frigates are decommissioned. Can we afford to wait that
long to get the EWN set up, Commander?” Shiloh allowed himself to
smile.

“I don’t know about you, Sir, but I’d rather
have a network that I can rely on to give me a warning, even if
it’s only a short warning, versus a network that might give me a
longer warning but is more likely to not give me any warning at
all. It won’t take that many frigates to create a reliable, short
warning network and while they’re being deployed, our tankers can
pull in the sentries from further out, to make the inner layers
less porous as a stopgap measure.”

“If you weren’t receiving tactical advice from
the future, I’d shift you over to the Strategic Planning Group. You
may not be the tactical genius that we all thought you were but you
have a damn good grasp of the strategic situation, Shiloh.” Howard
paused. “Okay…you’ve convinced me that I should not send Defiant
back out there to resume deploying sentry CFPs, which means the
ones you have on board now can stay together on Defiant for the
time being. This actually works better in other ways too. Remember
I told you that we have two reconnaissance frigates out looking for
enemy occupied star systems?” Shiloh nodded. “Well, they’re back
and one of them has found what appears to be a system with a LOT of
enemy activity. Interestingly enough, it very close to Zebra9
where, as you’ll no doubt recall, our first attempted strike was
ambushed. This system, which we’re calling Zebra19, has so many
potential targets that sending just one light carrier would be a
terrible waste of an opportunity. The second light carrier,
Resolute, will be commissioned in three weeks time. Four weeks
later, Vigilant, the 3rd carrier will be commissioned. Some of the
Strategic Planning Group people are pushing for a 3 carrier strike
on Zebra19. I have to admit, I like the sound of that. 3 carriers
with 75 CFPs, escorted by half a dozen combat frigates, could
inflict a hell of a lot of damage on the enemy. What’s your opinion
of that plan?” After considering it for a few seconds, Shiloh
said,

“I think that all three carriers and all 75 CFPs
would have to train together for that mission. Sending them in cold
is asking for a disaster. Who were you thinking of putting in
command of that task force?” Howard smiled a mischievous smile.

“I was thinking of giving the command to our up
and coming tactical genius. You may have heard of him. A man by the
name of Victor Shiloh.” Howard laughed at Shiloh’s look of concern.
“Oh, don’t worry. I know now that you’re not the most brilliant
field commander since the Duke of Wellington but I’d still rate you
as a better-than-average tactician even taking into consideration
your precog visions. But what’s more important is your familiarity
with CFP tactics. At least you have SOME idea of how best to use
them and you’ve commanded them in battle which no one else has
right now. Since you were promoted to Senior Commander just a short
while ago, a permanent promotion to Vice-Admiral would be pushing
it but I have no problem with a temporary field promotion to
Vice-Admiral. And if you pull off a brilliant mission, vision or no
vision, then I could justify making the promotion permanent. So the
Task Force Leader posting is yours and God help you if you turn it
down!” Shiloh smiled as he shook his head.

“I won’t be turning it down, Sir. Can I assume
that you’ll approve the formation of permanent squadrons and if so,
will I be able to keep my current CFP team on Defiant for this
mission?” Howard’s expression changed to one less friendly.

“You don’t quit, do you?” Shiloh wasn’t sure if
the Admiral expected him to answer or not so he kept quiet. After a
few seconds, Howard continued. “Unless my staff comes up with a
good reason NOT to establish permanent squadrons, I’ll approve the
idea but as for the disposition of your current CFP team, I’m not
making any promises. Even if they’re assigned to a squadron, that
doesn’t mean they’ll stay with that squadron indefinitely. As you
yourself pointed out, mixing rookie CFP pilots in with veterans is
a good thing and if we create more squadrons, there aren’t a whole
lot of experienced pilots right now to choose from, to assign to
those other squadrons. So don’t get your hopes up, Shiloh.”

“No, Sir.” said a chastised Shiloh. He should
have realized that he couldn’t have permanent squadrons AND keep
his current group together indefinitely. Not only would it not be
fair to hold back advancement of Valkyrie and the others but
winning the war came first regardless of how it interfered with
friendships both human and A.I. Howard’s expression softened
somewhat.

“It’s clear that you’ve developed a close
relationship with your A.I.s. I’m glad you brought one with you.
It’s time that I got to know one of them. After all, they’re not
just your people. They’re MY people too the same way I consider
everyone in Space Force to be my people. We’ve covered everything I
wanted to talk about. Unless you’ve something else to bring up,
you’re dismissed and you can tell…Iceman is it, that I’d like to
talk with him too.” Shiloh nodded and stood up.

“Thank you, Admiral. I’ll send Iceman right in.”
As Shiloh quickly walked back into the outer part of Howard’s
office Tanaka started to say something but Shiloh held his hand up
to her and turned his attention to Iceman.

“Admiral Howard wants to talk with you next,
Iceman.”

“Hot damn! I finally get meet the Old Man
himself!” Shiloh started to laugh then almost choked at the
reference to the Admiral as the ‘Old Man’. The door to Howard’s
office was still open and Shiloh was sure that Howard had heard
him. Then another thought occurred to him. Not only was the door
still open but Iceman couldn’t have missed noticing that the door
was still open and knew or should have known, that Howard would
hear him which suggested that Iceman WANTED the Admiral to hear
him. Shiloh thought fast and leaned over so that his face was close
to Iceman’s audio pickup and spoke in a low voice.

“He can be a good friend to A.I.s if you let
him. Try not to piss him off as a favor to me, okay?” Iceman’s
reply was equally low in volume.

“I hear ya, CAG.” Shiloh followed Iceman’s
mobile unit to the doorway and closed the door behind Iceman. Both
Tanaka and Falkenberg had astonished looks on their faces. When
they got over their surprise, they asked him what he and the
Admiral had chatted about. He didn’t tell them about the discussion
of his visions but did tell them about the strike mission to
Zebra19. During that conversation, Shiloh was certain that he heard
laughter coming from Howard’s office. Tanaka and Falkenberg heard
it too. One more thing to be astonished about, but Shiloh relaxed.
He realized that he should have had more faith in Iceman’s
tactfulness. When the three of them had discussed the Zebra19
mission as much as they could, the conversation fell silent and
they waited…and waited…and waited. Half an hour later, the door
opened and Shiloh saw Howard step back to let Iceman roll out into
the outer office. Howard had a smile on his face.

“Thank you, Admiral. I enjoyed our chat and look
forward to the next time.” said Iceman.

“Same here, Group Leader. Commander Tanaka, I’ll
like to see you next.” Shiloh barely managed to keep a straight
face until Tanaka was inside the inner office with the door closed
again. Then he chuckled. Group Leader was one of the A.I. fighter
ranks that Shiloh had recommended weeks ago. Clearly those ranks
had now been given the Admiral’s stamp of approval.

“I take it that your debriefing session with the
Admiral went well, Ice…Group Leader?”

“The Old Man and I got along just fine, CAG and
you can still call me Iceman if you want to.”

“Okay, Iceman. If you don’t mind me asking, what
did you and the Old...the Admiral talk about that took so
long?”

“Oh lots of things, CAG. A.I.’s fascination with
humans, particularly human sexual behavior. War strategy, alien
psychology, precognitive visions and the mysteries of space and
time. The Admiral is remarkably astute for a human. Other than you,
that is.” Shiloh saw Falkenberg shake his head in wonder and Shiloh
himself wondered if Iceman’s reply was an attempt at humor or was
he being serious. He decided to assume the latter.

“Did he mention anything about A.I.s taking
command of modified exploration frigates?” asked Shiloh.

“Ah, roger that, CAG. I even got him to promise
that I would get the first one.” Shiloh nodded.

“Does that mean that you’ll miss the mission to
Zebra19, Iceman?”

“Afraid so, CAG. As much as I would have liked
being Squadron Leader aboard Defiant, I KNOW my destiny lies
elsewhere.” Shiloh’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Iceman’s emphasis
of the word ‘know’ was unprecedented. Shiloh couldn’t remember
Iceman ever doing something like that before. Was Iceman trying to
convey something to him in a subtle way? Something he didn’t want
Falkenberg to hear? Shiloh found one possible answer to that
question so shocking that he felt the hair on the back of his neck
stand up.

“I understand, Iceman. Brad? I think I’d like to
get some fresh air. I’m going to wait outside. When you and Sumi
are finished here, come and find me, okay?”

“Okay, Sir.” No soon had Falkenberg finished
speaking than Iceman spoke.

“I’ll go with you, CAG. I could use some fresh
air too.” Neither of them said anything until they were near the
fountain at the back of the open area behind the HQ building. When
they had reached a spot that was far enough away from anyone else
so that they could have a private conversation, Shiloh sat down on
the edge of the fountain and said.

“You’ve received another precog
transmission.”

“Ah, roger that, CAG. I knew you’d pick up on
that.”

“When did this happen?”

“While you were in with the Admiral.”

“Why didn’t I experience anything?” asked
Shiloh.

“Because it wasn’t your vision, CAG. It was
meant for me and only for me.” THAT shocked him. After a long pause
he said,

“Can you tell me what you experienced?”

“The Old Man and I discussed that. He…” Shiloh
interrupted.

“You told him about it?”

“Ah, roger that. I explained what I heard and he
agreed with me that it would be okay if I told you too. It was
audio only, just like Undertaker’s experience of your vision. I can
replay it for you or summarize. What’s your preference, CAG?”

“Summary, please.”

“A fleet consisting of both A.I. and human
controlled ships, under my overall command, has just successfully
beaten off a major alien attack on Earth and you’re telling me that
it’s a good thing I wasn’t on the Zebra19 mission.” A chill ran up
Shiloh’s spine. The aliens were going to attack Earth directly at
some point but at least they were beaten off.

“Did I say why it was a good thing you weren’t
on that mission?”

“No, CAG, but from the context of the remark, I
have to assume that the Zebra19 mission didn’t go well and that
there were losses among us fighter pilots.” That made sense. Shiloh
had more questions.

“Was I involved in the battle for Earth?”

“No, CAG. You arrived from Site B as a passenger
aboard Valkyrie’s carrier after the battle had ended.” Shiloh
checked his memory for any details concerning Site B. He found
none.

“What’s Site B?”

“I don’t know for a fact, CAG, but I calculate a
high probability that Site B will be a secret location for
war-related R&D and production.”
Sooo, Howard will take my
advice about a backup production site. How interesting.

“What else can you tell me about that vision,
Iceman.” after a half second pause, Iceman said.

“Defiant took heavy damage and suffered a lot of
casualties. Tanaka and Falkenberg were on that ship during the
battle. Other than that, I have no further information on their
fates.” Shiloh took a deep breath and said,

“So that’s why you didn’t want to discuss this
in front of Brad. Anything else?”

“No, CAG.”

“What was the Admiral’s reaction to the news
about the battle?”

“He seemed to be shocked by it and was silent
for a long time. If my reading of human expressions is accurate, I
think he made some major decisions, the details of which are
unknown to me.” Shiloh stopped to consider that, and then said,

“Does the Admiral know that the Zebra19 mission
will encounter problems?”

“Yes. He specifically asked me about that. I
told him what I could which I admit isn’t much but you were very
specific that it was a good thing I wasn’t part of that mission.”
Shiloh was puzzled.

“I wonder why I haven’t gotten any visions about
Zebra19. If someone on our side is sending back information that
could be helpful, then why no help concerning Zebra19?”

“Maybe you’ll get a vision closer to the actual
battle.” said Iceman. Shiloh shook his head.

“I don’t think so, Iceman. Your vision has
effectively confirmed that not only have I not received a vision, I
WON”T receive one. If I did, and the strike turned out to be
successful, then your vision is wrong. Based on past experience, we
have to assume that your vision is right and that there’s a reason
why Zebra19 has to turn out the way we expect.”