The Synchronicity War Part 2 (16 page)

The vision had left him with a strong sense of
urgency. He quickly stepped over to the Command Station where
Tanaka was seated and reached across her body to hit the virtual
button, which would send the Fleet to Yellow Alert. Before the
startled woman could ask him what was going on, he said,

“No time to explain now. Arrange to have the
Fleet Communications Net tied into my implant. I need to issue
orders fast.” Tanaka recovered from her surprise quickly and used
her station to arrange for Shiloh’s throat mic and ear implant to
put him in direct voice contact with all ship COs, CAGs and
Squadron Leaders. When she looked up and nodded, he said,

“This is the Admiral. I have reason to believe
that an alien force is using the gas giant’s shadow to sneak into
attack range of the Base. This is what we’re going to do right now!
I want all squadrons brought to flight readiness armed with Mark
1s. Fighters that are already on alert status can keep their
current payload. Tumbleweed, I want you to generate a recon drone
deployment plan that can be launched from 3rd Fleet ships, which
will have the highest probability of detecting an enemy force
regardless of whether they are further out or closer to Bradley
Base than we are now. I want the drones to go to active scanning as
soon as they enter the shadow zone. Our ships will continue to use
passive scanning only. I’ll be ordering a course change shortly so
be ready for it. We’re not going to Battle Stations just yet but be
ready for that too. Tumbleweed will take command of all fighters as
soon as they’re launched but we’ll keep them aboard for now. All
ships will cease communications with the Base until further orders.
That’s all for now. Shiloh clear.”

With that initial set of orders out of the way,
Shiloh returned to the spare chair and put on the special gloves
and the Command Helmet. When he was seated, strapped in and had the
gloves and helmet on, he brought his virtual display online with
Fleet status indicators on his screen. All ships were now at Yellow
Alert. 12 fighters on Alert Status were ready for immediate launch
with a mixed load of recon and attack drones. The rest of the
fighters were still in the process of being loaded. Shiloh
activated the voice channel to Tumbleweed.

“What have you got for me, Tumbleweed?” asked
Shiloh.

“You should have the recon deployment plan now,
Admiral.” A flashing yellow light indicated an incoming data
transmission from Tumbleweed. Shiloh used his hands to let him see
the plan visually. Each of the nine ships would fire a dozen recon
drones. Each dozen drones would accelerate at maximum and aim for a
specific area of the shadow zone ranging all the way from much
farther out, to slightly farther out, to slightly closer in, to
much closer in. The drones aimed at farther out and farther in
would have the longest distances to go and take the longest to get
there. Visually, the shadow zone looked like a tunnel and once
inside, each wave of recon drones would move along the tunnel with
4 waves moving further away from the base moon, 4 waves moving
towards it and one wave taking up a stationary position at roughly
the same distance from the Base as 3rd Fleet was now. Shiloh tapped
two virtual buttons in mid-air to disseminate the plan to all ships
and to execute the plan immediately.

“Very good, Tumbleweed, now listen to me. I’ve
just had another vision. As a result of that vision, I have a
strong suspicion that this alien force came here from Zebra12. They
probably passed us while we were in jumpspace. I therefore don’t
think they detected us and I don’t want them to see any of 3rd
Fleet’s ships because that might make them suspicious of what
really happened at Zebra12 and I want them to continue to think
that they destroyed all of the ships sent there. So your fighters
are going to have to deal with this incursion without any fire
support from the rest of 3rd Fleet. If at all possible, I want you
to maneuver your fighters prior to contact with the enemy in such
as way as to make them think your fighters came from the Base. As
soon as we detect the enemy, I’ll warn the Base. When you and your
boys are launched, you’ll have complete discretion on how you
handle the battle. Just keep me in the loop. Any questions?”

“Yes, Admiral. Do we ram the enemy if we get the
opportunity?” That made Shiloh pause. His gut impulse was to say no
but maybe that wasn’t the smartest choice. What would he say if a
human pilot asked him that?

“Not unless I expressly order it. The Base’s
fighters will get enough warning to make their own interception. If
anyone has to ram, it’ll more likely have to be those boys. I’m
hoping we can stop this attack without having to resort to that
tactic. Any other questions?”

“No questions, Admiral. I understand what you
need from us but I do have a suggestion.”

“I’m listening.” said Shiloh.

“If we launch as soon as possible, it’ll give us
more time to reposition the fighter force into the shadow zone to
reinforce the impression that we came from the Base.” It seemed
like a reasonable idea. He nodded.

“As soon as each squadron is ready, they can
launch but until we know where the enemy is, I want the fighters to
stay on station with Defiant.”

“Roger that. It’ll be nice to be able to shoot
at them for a change, Admiral. Running that gauntlet at Z12D was no
fun.”

“Understood. Good hunting, Tumbleweed. Shiloh
clear.” As he waited for the fighters to finish loading, Shiloh
asked for and received a recommended course change that would bring
the Fleet parallel with the shadow tunnel. Far enough away from it
to avoid being detected by enemy radar but close enough to launch
more drones into it, if necessary.

When the Base responded to the Fleet’s
recognition signal, it was with a slightly bored sounding, standard
voice message welcoming them back to Bradley Base. Shiloh decided
there was no point in waiting any further before advising Korolev
of the situation.

“Admiral Shiloh to Commander Korolev. I have
reason to believe that the Base may be attacked again very soon and
by that I mean in a few hours or less. I want you to prepare any
fighters, that aren’t on jump patrol, for a full combat load of
Mark 1s and launch them directly into the gas giant’s shadow.
That’s the direction that I believe the enemy force will be coming
from. I’m deploying a series of recon drone skirmish lines in the
shadow zone further out. As soon as I get confirmation of enemy
strength, position and speed, I’ll pass that on. My fighters are
preparing to engage the enemy. I think between the two of us, we
can stop them. End of message.” With that message sent, Shiloh
returned his attention to the tactical display. The wave of drones
headed directly for the shadow zone at its closest point was STILL
over a million km away from it. Shiloh resisted the urge to pound
the armrest of his chair in frustration. Even with an acceleration
rate of 260 Gs, the recon drones would still need the better part
of an hour to get into a position where they could even start
scanning with radar. Add to that the fact that they weren’t
carrying enough fuel to continue accelerating at that pace
indefinitely and you had a situation where it could take hours to
sweep a significant portion of the shadow tunnel near the base. As
each wave of drones took up its position inside the tunnel, it
would continue to accelerate along the length of the tunnel until
its fuel reserves reached a predetermined minimum, which would be
enough to power its electronics for a maximum of 12 hours while the
drone coasted. Five minutes later, Korolev sent a voice message
back.

“Shiloh? I’m not going to launch my reserve
fighters and send them off on a wild goose chase along the gas
giant’s shadow just on your hunch. If there is an attack on the
way, it could come from any direction. I’ll get my fighters loaded
for bear but they’re staying in the Hangar Bay and I’ll launch them
when and IF there’s a reliable contact report. End of message.”
Shiloh swore with a surge of rage. His right hand punched the point
in the air that appeared in his helmet to be the record button for
another voice transmission.

“Shiloh to Korolev! My last message was NOT a
request! It was a God damn order and since I outrank you, you WILL
obey it! If your reserve fighters aren’t launched with full combat
loads within five minutes of receipt of this message, I’ll relieve
you of command and order your CAG to take charge! Get your ass
moving, Commander! End of message.” Five minutes later, he got the
reply that he was expecting.

“Korolev to Fleet Commander. My reserve fighters
will launch and proceed as ordered as soon as they’re ready. Should
I pull in my patrol fighters and rearm them as well? End of
message.”

“Shiloh to Korolev. Keep your jump patrol on
station for the time being but advise them of the situation. End of
message.” Korolev’s capitulation was a welcome development. Shiloh
hadn’t been bluffing when he threatened to relieve Korolev of
command but he wasn’t quite certain if he really had the authority
to do that. Now he wouldn’t have to find out.

After a nerve-wracking hour and eleven minutes
since his vision, the outer most wave of drones made contact. The
contact data made Shiloh’s jaw drop. 34 enemy ships were coming
down the shadow tunnel but it wasn’t the number of ships that
shocked him. It was their speed. They were coming at just over
75,000 kilometers per second! That was 25% of the speed of light.
That explained how the enemy fleet could get to this system first
and only now be approaching the base moon. In order to reach that
speed, they needed to accelerate for a long time and that extra
time allowed 3rd Fleet to catch up to this system. At that speed,
those ships would pass 3rd Fleet within 15 minutes and reach the
Base 13 1/3 minutes after that. At least there was enough time for
Tumbleweed’s fighters to get into the shadow tunnel in front of the
enemy. On the other hand, very few of Korolev’s fighters on jump
patrol, would have time to land and rearm with a full combat load
of Mark 1s. Those, that could get within attack range at all, would
have to make do with their standard patrol load of two recon drones
and two attack drones. Shiloh sent Tumbleweed’s squadrons on their
way and then recorded another message for Korolev. With that
message sent and a constant stream of tactical data being
transmitted to the Base, all he could do now was wait. Tumbleweed
would keep in com laser contact with Defiant so Shiloh would know
what was happening although with a 6 second light speed lag due to
the 1.6 million km distance between the Fleet and where the
fighters would be by the time the enemy fleet reached them.

Tumbleweed advised Shiloh of his tactical plan.
It was simple in theory but only an A.I. could react at the
electronic speeds that were fast enough to make it work. Each
squadron took up a position so that the three of them formed a
triangle with each side being 10 km long and with the last known
projected path of the alien fleet passing through the center of the
triangle. Each squadron had four fighters, which had been on alert
status and had one recon drone each. Shiloh watched as those 12
recon drones were launched towards the enemy fleet in intervals of
one drone every 15 seconds. If the enemy fleet maintained its last
known course, it would run into a swarm of Mark 1 attack drones,
fired from almost directly in its path at literally the last
second. With too many drones and not enough time to defend against
them, the enemy fleet should in theory be wiped out completely. The
recon drones would provide last minute updates on the enemy’s
course. Shiloh watched the tactical display intently. It was zoomed
in to the small volume of space that the recon drones and fighters
were in.

The display pinged for attention. Shiloh saw the
status change immediately. The enemy fleet HAD changed course
although not by much. At the speeds they were going, any course
changes would be slight but this new course would put that fleet
outside the triangle when it reached them. Each recon drone was
destroyed almost as soon as it detected the enemy but the data sent
back was enough to allow Tumbleweed to evaluate his options with
the precision that only A.I.s could achieve. The distance between
the enemy fleet and the fighters was now less than a quarter of a
million km which meant that they would pass each other in less than
4 seconds. Before Shiloh could even formulate a question in his
mind, the squadron that would be nearest to the enemy as they
passed by, fired all its Mark 1 attack drones. The other squadrons
were too far away to have any chance at a drone interception. Even
at 800 Gs acceleration, those 100 drones had barely enough time to
move sideways to a point directly in the enemy’s new path where the
enemy ships were expected to be by the time the drones got there.
Shiloh knew that their terminal guidance radars would only have a
fraction of a second to make final course corrections. He groaned
when the display revealed that the enemy fleet was now also
actively scanning. That meant that the fighters would be detected
and worse, the drones would be too due to the fact that by moving
sideways across the enemy’s path, the drones were being hit by
radar energy along their sides instead of from their front. Being
long and narrow meant that they were much easier to detect from the
side.

The interception was over before Shiloh could do
or say anything. 16 enemy icons disappeared as did 19 fighters.
When Shiloh replayed the interception in ultra slow motion later,
he learned that 66 attack drones simply missed and 15 were
destroyed by enemy laser fire as were the 19 fighters.

As far as 3rd Fleet was concerned, their battle
was over. There was no way that the ships could get close enough
now to fire lasers at the 18 remaining enemy ships and any attack
drones fired now by the other two squadrons would never catch up to
the enemy. It was now up to Korolev’s fighters. The reserve force
of 10 fighters plus the 4 patrol fighters that were close enough to
join them were already in the shadow tunnel and could maneuver into
the enemy’s path in order to perform the same kind of point blank
range interception that Tumbleweed had attempted. The only question
now was would the enemy change course again? The Base fighters had
8 recon drones which were also being launched in precise intervals
but as Shiloh looked closely at the tactical display, he noticed
that the four waves of recon drones launched by 3rd Fleet earlier,
which had been heading down the shadow tunnel towards the base
moon, were now coasting and were actively scanning behind them.
That meant that the enemy ships would, with their much greater
speed, overrun those waves and be detected. Any course changes that
fleet tried to make would be detected early enough that Korolev’s
fighters could reposition themselves to the best spot.