The Synchronicity War Part 2 (13 page)

“It’s worth a try, CAG, but not because the
mission will be cancelled. We know that it won’t be. However,
warning the Admiral now about the problem may have indirect
benefits that we can’t foresee right now.” Shiloh pondered that for
a while and then asked.

“Do we know for certain that you participate in
the Zebra19 mission?”

“No, we don’t know that, CAG but I would prefer
to fight alongside my brothers if they’re going into battle.”

“I understand how you feel, Valkyrie but that
may not be where you can make the biggest contribution to the war
effort.” he was about to say more when he realized that Valkyrie
had referred to the other A.I.s as ‘my brothers’ instead of ‘my
boys’ the way Iceman did. Did that imply that Valkyrie didn’t see
himself as male?

“You’re correct, CAG. All we know for certain is
that I continue to exist after the battle but that could be because
I’m not there when the shit hits the fan. Why would humans throw
shit at fans, CAG?” The question interrupted Shiloh’s thoughts on
Valkyrie’s gender.

“We wouldn’t do it deliberately but accidents do
happen and they seem to happen when we least expect them. I have a
question for you. How would you describe your personality in terms
of a gender preference, if any?”

“I seem to be more interested in learning about
human females than males. I also seem to be more verbally
forthcoming when conversing with human females. The reason why I
picked my call sign is that Valkyries were mythical female warriors
and the name appealed to me. Have I answered your question
satisfactorily, CAG?”

“Yes you have and thank you for that insight.”
Before Shiloh could say more, Valkyrie said.

“Will this knowledge affect our relationship,
CAG?” Shiloh almost laughed but caught himself in time. No male,
human or A.I., would feel the need to ask that question.

“Not at all.” said Shiloh, emphasizing each
word. He did smile at the irony. Three female Executive Officers
and now a ‘female’ A.I. in command of all his fighters. Valkyrie
indeed! “You continue to enjoy my full confidence, Valkyrie.”

“That’s good to know, CAG. Do you want to
continue to explore tactical options regarding Zebra15 and
Zebra19?”

“No. I’m going to talk with the Admiral. If I
can’t get him to cancel the mission, then you and I will figure out
a way to minimize our side’s loses but by all means go ahead and
discuss the mission with your brothers in the meantime if you feel
that’s a useful thing to do.”

“Roger that, CAG. Anything else on your
mind?”

“Not right now. I’ll contact you again when I
return from talking with the Old Man. Shiloh clear.” As soon as the
connection was broken, Shiloh contacted the Bridge and told them to
forward his request for a meeting with Admiral Howard. Minutes
later, the Bridge called back and told him that the Admiral would
see him as soon as he could get to HQ. A quick call to the Hangar
Bay and a shuttle was ready for him by the time he got there. He
could have just called Howard and the 3 second round trip light
speed induced lag was not that much of a problem but Shiloh wanted
to emphasize the importance of his request by making it in
person.

Chapter 7 - Up The Creek Without A Paddle

Howard seemed to be in a good mood when Shiloh
was shown in to his inner office and sat down in front of Howard’s
desk.

“What’s on your mind, Admiral that we couldn’t
talk about electronically?” Shiloh took note of the fact that his
ego did a mental back flip at being called ‘Admiral’ even if it was
only temporary.

“I’ve just had a very useful discussion of the
Zebra19 mission with Valkyrie. Based on the limited astrogational
data our recon frigate brought back, fuel is going to be a critical
issue regardless of how we plan that mission but that’s actually a
secondary consideration. What Valkyrie has pointed out to me very
clearly, is that we can’t assume that we’ll have the element of
surprise because the enemy has already demonstrated their own
ability to send information back in time and therefore they could
send back a warning to themselves about the timing and location of
our attack in time for the defending forces at Zebra19 to prepare
an ambush. In light of that, along with the clear implication from
Iceman’s vision, that the attack will result in substantial losses
on our side, I’m asking you to seriously consider cancelling the
mission altogether, Sir.” Howard frowned.

“Wait. How can they prepare an ambush when they
don’t know where 3rd Fleet will exit jumpspace in the Zebra19
system? If you follow a dogleg course after exit, while still
beyond their detection range, they won’t be able to backtrack to
the right spot.”

“They won’t have to know where we emerge from
jumpspace in that system because they’ll know where we have to
refuel either on our way in or coming out and that is the single
gas giant at Zebra15. Astrogationally there’s no way to avoid that.
If we don’t refuel there at some point, the mission becomes
dangerously close to suicidal from a fuel perspective.” Howard said
nothing for a while, his expression getting more and more
serious.

“Have you discussed with Valkyrie the
possibility of ambushing their ambush the way you did at Tango
Delta 6?”

“Yes and she pointed out...” Howard raised his
eyebrows at the use of ‘she’, “that if they’re warning themselves
about our surprise attack then they can warm themselves about our
surprise ambush too, Sir.” Not surprisingly, Howard then asked the
obvious next question.

“So why didn’t they do that at Tango Delta 6?”
Shiloh repeated Valkyrie’s answer. When Howard didn’t respond right
away, Shiloh explained that in order to get around the
retro-temporal advantage that defenders would have from now on, the
only way to win the war, was to deliver a single, powerful knockout
blow with overwhelming force. Howard leaned back and closed his
eyes.
He looks like a beaten man,
thought Shiloh. Without
opening his eyes, Howard said,

“I think I know the answer to my next question
but I’m going to ask it anyway. How good is Valkyrie’s strategic
thinking? As good as Iceman’s?” Shiloh nodded.

“At least as good, maybe even better, Sir.”
Howard opened his eyes and stood up. With obvious anger, he raised
his right arm and slammed the data tablet, that Shiloh hadn’t even
noticed him holding, down on his desk.

“That’s just GREAT!” Looking up at Shiloh, he
said, “Do you have any idea of the position this information puts
me in, Shiloh?” Before Shiloh could respond, Howard waived him
off.

“No, of course you don’t. How could you? You
haven’t had to deal with our political masters or all the bullshit
political maneuvers they’re constantly trying to pull!” He paused
to take a deep breath while he tried to calm down. When he did calm
down, he said,

“No one was more surprised than I was, when the
Oversight Committee accepted and then got the whole Assembly to
accept our planned shift to a war footing but there was a catch. In
return for a virtual blank check, they made it clear they had
better see some results within a reasonable period of time. If I
were to go back to the Committee now, and tell them that the
planned raid on Zebra19 is called off, after promising them that
we’d strike back hard as soon as possible, they’ll want to know
why. I haven’t told them yet about this vision technology because I
can’t prove that it can be done. Your visions and the report’s
conclusions are certainly thought provoking and convinced me but I
know these people and they wouldn’t consider that sufficient proof.
If I asked them for funding approval for that project, they’d turn
it down and I’m convinced that would be a disaster. So what I did
was describe the project as an attempt to develop a
faster-than-light communication technology which, if you think
about it from the right point of view, the retro-temporal
technology could be described that way. So without that
justification, that means I can’t cancel the mission. It also means
that I can’t go back to them and say that we’ll be on the defensive
for God only knows how long until we can deliver a surprise
knockout blow, that will end the war in one fell swoop. If I tried
that, they’d relieve me of command for not being aggressive enough.
Do you see where this leaves us, Shiloh?” Shiloh nodded. He did
indeed see. Up the creek without a paddle. Howard was silent for
what seemed like a long time as he paced back and forth from one
side of his office to the other. Shiloh tried to think of a useful
suggestion but couldn’t think of anything. Finally, Howard came
over to his desk and sat on the corner.

“Do I remember correctly, that Iceman’s vision
described you returning from Site B after Iceman won the battle for
Earth?”

“Yes, Sir. That’s my recollection as well.”
Howard paused as if he were struggling with a momentous decision
and then apparently made up his mind.

“Okay. This is what we’re going to do. The
preliminary plan for Site B was to send people there for the
duration of the war in order to keep its location and even its
existence a secret. That will still be the case but I’m changing
Site B’s whole reason for being. Instead of it being just a backup
production and R&D facility, it will instead become the basis
for a completely different way of fighting this war. Site B will
build up, and hold onto, the knockout punch, that Valkyrie’s
talking about, until it’s ready to be used. In the meantime, the
rest of our production capability will go towards pursuing our
current strategy of gradually pushing the enemy back, which I now
know will be futile and that means that a lot of good men, women
and A.I.s will have to be sent to their deaths deliberately because
our political masters are too God damned stupid to agree to
anything else!” His anger having rising to the fore again, he
paused. When he spoke again, his voice was low and sad. “That’ll be
the burden that I will have to carry. Some of those sacrificial
lambs will almost certainly be people you know so you’ll get to
carry a little piece of that burden too because with our hands tied
like this, there’s no way to avoid these sacrifices. Are we in
agreement on that, Shiloh?”

“Yes, Sir.” said Shiloh reluctantly. Howard
nodded sympathetically.

“The worst part of it is that we can’t tell any
of them what’s in store for them. We have to be able to look them
in the eye and lie to them about their chances of success,
otherwise if it becomes common knowledge that future attacks are a
waste of lives and resources, morale will collapse.”

“Yes, Sir. I’m curious to know what my
involvement with Site B will be but if I’m going to Zebra19, with
the risk of being captured, the less I know, the better.” Howard
groaned.

“Good Lord! I’d forgotten about that. You
already know too much but you have to lead the mission. If I
relieve you of that responsibility now, it’ll generate too many
questions that we’d be better off not having to answer. All I’ll
tell you now is that at some point, you’ll be going to Site B, if
you haven’t already figured that out from Iceman’s vision. As far
as Zebra19 or 15 is concerned, your ‘unofficial’ orders, which
can’t be written down for reasons I’m sure you understand, is that
you’re to avoid risking your carriers at all costs. 3rd Fleet will
proceed to Zebra19 as you see fit and at the first sign of enemy
forces, you’ll disengage your carriers and pullout even if that
means leaving your fighters behind. Am I clear on that, Admiral?”
That didn’t sit well with Shiloh. Even if he could stomach the
sacrifice of all his fighters, leaving the field of battle that
quickly could be interpreted as cowardice.

“I’m not sure I can do that, Admiral.” Howard
looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel but then calmed
down again.

“Alright. I’ll amend my verbal orders. Try to
disengage from combat as quickly as possible, given the deployment
of your forces. Can you do that, Admiral?”

“Yes, Sir. That I can do.” With orders that
vague, he could justify just about any action he decided to
take.

“Glad to hear it.” said Howard with just a tinge
of sarcasm. “By the way, you’ll be happy to know that 3rd Fleet
will be getting the first six Mark 3 decoy drones. Maybe that’ll
help. Now…are we done talking, Admiral, or do you have another
bombshell to drop on me?” Shiloh squirmed in his chair.

“Actually, Sir, I have a suggestion, that might
make things a little bit easier. If you haven’t already chosen an
A.I. to ‘advise’ the Strategic Planning Group, then I recommend
Valkyrie for that assignment. Not only will her insights be useful
to the group but it’ll also get her out of Harm’s Way if she’s
reassigned before we head off to Zebra19.”

“You say…HER…strategic insights are as good as
Iceman’s so I’d be foolish to say no. I’ll have her new orders
issued within 24 hours and I won’t even ask why you’re referring to
Valkyrie as a she because I don’t think I want to know. Anything
else, Admiral?”

“No, Sir.”

“I’m relieved to hear it. In that case, we’re
done here.” Shiloh nodded and left. When he returned to Defiant, he
went to the Hangar Bay, where Valkyrie’s fighter was now docked.
After borrowing a headset and plugging into Valkyrie’s external
communications socket, he said.

“I have good news and bad news, Valkyrie.”

“I’m listening, CAG.”

“The mission to Zebra19 is still on. You’ll
receive orders within 24 hours, to report to Space Force HQ where
you’ll be an advisor to the Strategic Planning Group. I know that
you want to go on the raid but in my opinion, your strategic
insights are too valuable to risk losing. Admiral Howard is going
to need all the strategic help he can get. Because of Iceman’s
vision, we know that this assignment will be temporary but I don’t
know how long your posting there will be.”