The Synchronicity War Part 2 (24 page)

“That’s a very interesting concept. How long
would it take to design a ship like that?”

“It’s already designed, CAG. The Old Man
approved the SPG’s request to have one of its A.I.s trained in
spacecraft design. We learn fast and coming up with detailed
schematics for the Raider took less than a day, once the necessary
design and engineering knowledge had been learned. I have those
designs in my memory, CAG. Every A.I. has it now. It would be very
easy to program the UFCs to fabricate the necessary parts. Once the
assembly line is set up, robots could handle the actual
construction.”

“You seem to have thought of everything. I’m
impressed. How much acceleration would a Raider have?”

“The estimate is 100Gs more than a
Sentinel-class combat frigate.” Now Shiloh was REALLY impressed.
That was very close to what a fighter could do. A Raider could run
rings around a light carrier.

“Do you know if the Old Man has presented this
concept to the OC?”

“Yes I do and yes he did. The Committee rejected
the idea of switching to an all A.I. fleet. The Admiral told me
that the feedback he got from individual members is that they don’t
want to give A.I.s the potential power to dictate to Humanity. They
don’t trust us, CAG.” Shiloh sighed.

“What can I say, Valkyrie? I’m ashamed of their
short-sightedness and paranoia. The Old Man has to follow their
orders or they’ll replace him with someone who will and I have a
duty to obey his orders.”

“Interesting thing about your orders, CAG. The
Admiral revised them right after the Committee rejected the Raider
concept. I know that because we have access to both the old and new
versions, which are dated. Have you read your orders yet, CAG?”

“No. Suppose you put them up on this decadently
large screen in my quarters?” Seconds later, Shiloh was reading
from the official Mission Brief. The Mission Objective had two
parts. Part 1 was to ensure that the location of Site B was kept
secret from all humans except where, in Shiloh’s opinion, sharing
that information was vital to winning the war. Part 2 was to build
a fleet of warships that could inflict a war-winning blow to the
enemy.

“Well, Part 2 is succinct and to the point.”
said Shiloh.

“And vague enough so that you can accomplish it
however you wish, CAG. The old version was a lot more specific. It
seems that the Admiral is giving you a blank check, wouldn’t you
say, CAG?” Hmm, it certainly did seem that way.

“I see your point but deploying a massive fleet
of Raiders takes more than just building the ships. We’d also need
to produce the various types of drones, warheads, support craft,
and hundreds of different kinds of equipment, not to mention the
ability to create more A.I.s. I think the Oversight Committee would
get suspicious if I came back with a very detailed wish list
including the A.I. production equipment, which would be a red flag.
I don’t think they’d approve the request.”

“Then don’t ask them. UFCs can make literally
anything else as long as they have the required programming data
and the refined materials. If you give us the green light, I and
other A.I.s in this system, can access the necessary databases and
copy all of the required manufacturing data over to me and the
other task force A.I.s and it can be done before TF89 is able to
make the first jump.”
My God! They can do it too! This is it…the
moment I’ve been dreading since Day One. If I make the right
decision, it could very well win the war but if I make the wrong
decision, then what? Wait a minute. Just because we have all that
data, doesn’t mean we have to use it. They told us at the Academy
that when we’re faced with a decision and lack the necessary data
to make the correct decision then we should try to keep our options
open if possible. If we don’t get all that data now, we may not
have another opportunity later. Better to get it while we can and
then defer the decision over whether to use it, to a later
point.

“Okay. You have the green light. Download
everything we might need. Delay the jump if necessary to finish
that task. I’ll decide whether we use all that data when we get to
Site B.”

“Understood. We’ve started working on it. This
will require my full attention since I’m coordinating all the
others. Can we continue talking later, CAG?”

“Of course. Let me know when it’s done. Shiloh
clear.”

Chapter 14 - This Battle Is Not Over!

Howard watched the main display in the
Operations Center. TF89 had broken out of lunar orbit and was now
on its way out of Earth’s gravity zone in order to make the first
of a series of jumps. He became aware that the Duty Officer
currently in charge of Operations, who happened to be standing
nearby, was speaking.

“Go ahead, Comm……they what...are you
sure...standby.” Turning to the Admiral, he said. “Admiral, my
Communications Section has just informed me that there’s a sudden
surge in data being transmitted to over a 100 A.I.s. It began all
at once and the volume of data is huge! They’ve never seen anything
like this before. They’re asking permission to block the
transmissions. What should I tell them, Sir?”

I hope to God Valkyrie’s right about this and
it doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass!
Thought Howard. Out
loud he said,

“Tell them that they’re NOT to interfere. Is
that clear, Commander?” After the briefest of hesitation, the
officer said.

“Yes, Sir. Very clear. Comm., do not interfere
with any of those transmissions……yes I know it’s very unusual but I
got the Word from the CSO himself…… he’s standing right next to
me!.....okay, you’re concern is noted. You have your orders.”
Howard waited until TF89 had passed the gravity zone boundary and
jumped away.

He vaguely became aware of the growing sound of
the buzzer. Waking up was like rising from deep within the sea. Now
that he had broken through the last vestige of sleep, he realized
that the buzzer wasn’t his alarm clock but rather the sound of an
incoming call. He also noticed that it was still dark outside.

“Accept call audio only.” The buzzer stopped and
he heard a click.

“Howard here.” he said,

“Commander Nathaniel from Ops, Sir. Sorry to
wake this early but you did leave standing orders to be called
night or day.”

“Yes I did. What have we got, Commander?”

“They’re coming, Sir. Text transmission from an
extended range message drone sent by our sentry frigate in
Yellow10. It reads…Visual contact with multiple ships. Minimum of
six. Likely more but exact number unknown. Ships have refueled at
gas giant. Unable to determine their next destination. End of
message.”

“Its begun.” said Howard.

“Yes, Sir, but six ships don’t sound very
threatening.”

“Commander, I’m going to operate on the
assumption that if the sentry frigate saw reflected sunlight from
six ships then there were more that weren’t reflecting sunlight
back at him. There might very well be 60 ships.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Which path is Yellow10 on?”

“Ah…path A, Sir.” Howard grunted. That meant
that this group of ships could be on its way to the system
containing the Avalon Colony and Nimitz Base but with less than 10
days left to go to the predicted battle for Earth, he doubted that
they would stop there.

“Okay. Log the transmission and make sure all
senior staff find out about it when they arrive in the morning. You
can call me again in the event that more messages arrive. Howard
clear.”

It was almost exactly 24 hours later when the
next message arrived. Howard woke more quickly this time. As he
accepted the call, he said,

“Another one, Cmdr. Nathaniel?”

“I’m afraid so, Sir.”

“Okay. How many ships and where?”

“11 ships at Yellow3, Sir.”

“Yellow3? Are you sure, Commander?”

“Yes, Sir.” Howard was confused. In order to get
from Yellow10 to Yellow3, that enemy fleet had to be moving more or
less sideways as far as Human Space was concerned and while his
recollection of the relative positions of those two systems wasn’t
as clear as he’d like, it seemed to him that it should have taken
longer than 24 hours to go from 10 to 3. Suddenly he knew the
answer even as the commander asked the same question.

“They must have built up a lot of speed to get
from Yellow10 to Yellow3 in 24 hours, Sir.”

“No, Commander. It’s much simpler than that.
This isn’t the same group of ships that were tracked at Yellow10.
It’s ANOTHER fleet. Let me guess. Yellow3 is on Path B,
correct?”

“That’s correct, Sir.”

“My God, they’re coming at us from two
directions. Alright, you know what to do.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good. Howard clear.”

79 hours later Howard was standing once again in
the Operations Center looking at the strategic star map on the
large display. The first group of ships, designated as Alpha1, was
2/3rds of the way down Path A, having apparently bypassed Nimitz
Base and the Avalon Colony. The second group, Alpha2, had made
similar progress down Path B. Howard had to remember that the
message drones carrying this information themselves took almost 40
hours to get to Sol so the actual progress was greater than it
looked. Computer projections estimated that both fleets would
arrive at Sol on the day predicted by the vision and that was some
comfort in that the vision predicted a victory but it was still
unnerving to watch the two red lines get closer every day. He
turned to head for the elevator when the display pinged to announce
a status change. Another message drone had arrived with another
text message. As it scrolled across the bottom of the display,
Howard felt fear for the first time.

[
Contact established visually with 19 ships
in Red24. Rapidly changing reflections indicate that total number
is higher. Unable to determine their next destination. End of
message
]

“Where is Red24?” asked Howard to no one in
particular. As he waited for the display to highlight Red24, he
knew this had to be a 3rd fleet. There was no way it could be
either Alpha1 or 2. When the display updated, Howard saw that Red24
was not on either Path A or B. The void between them also extended
upwards for a bit until it reached another ‘river’ of stars that
Howard now thought of as Path C. That shocked him because the enemy
had either gone to the trouble of making a very large detour OR
their cluster of inhabited systems extended upwards as well as
back. So now there were three fleets, two of which were coming from
the left and the right and the third was coming over the top. The
minimum total # of confirmed ships had now grown to 51 with little
doubt that the actual total was significantly higher. Howard looked
at the sidebar data showing the breakdown of defending forces. 2
cruisers, 19 combat frigates, 5 light carriers and 200 fighters of
which 75 were jump-capable, another 75 were in close orbit as the
last line of defense and the other 50 were further out on jump
detection patrol. No, it wasn’t the 51 ships they knew about that
worried him. It was the ones they didn’t know about. For every ship
that reflected sunlight back in just the right direction to be seen
by the sentry frigates and their recon drones, there could be 6, 8,
hell even 10 more ships where the reflected light didn’t come back
just right.
But the vision said we won! Ya, but at what cost?
What will Space Force have left when the dust settles and will we
be strong enough to fight off the NEXT attack?

On the morning of the day before the day of the
attack, Howard stepped off the elevator and walked into the
Operations Center. The main display still showed the strategic
situation which hadn’t changed from 12 hours earlier when Howard
had left. It was crystal clear now that all three fleets were
headed for Sol and would arrive at the same time if they wanted to.
He acknowledged the greetings of the staff and confirmed that
nothing new had happened during the previous 12 hours. He then
asked for a headset and an open channel to all Space Force units in
near Earth space. When all units had been told to expect an address
by the Chief of Space Operations, he took a deep breath and
said,

“This is Admiral Howard. As you all know, our
sentry frigates have detected three enemy fleets, which are
converging on Sol. We expect them to try to attack the Earth
sometime in the next 24-36 hours. They may try the same kind of
high speed attack that almost worked at the Avalon Colony or they
may try something different. We have to be prepared for any
eventuality. Because a successful defense may depend on split
second reactions with precisely calculated counter-measures, I’ve
decided that tactical command of all mobile defense units within 4
light minutes of Earth, will rest with an experienced A.I. pilot
starting as of now and will continue until I order otherwise. That
pilot has the call sign Iceman and is currently piloting the
cruiser Undaunted. Any order, whether given verbally, by text or
digitally, from Undaunted, will be obeyed immediately and
unconditionally. Refusal to obey those orders during the battle
will result in the harshest possible punishment. I know…” Howard’s
sentence was interrupted by a booming voice.

“WE WILL NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM A MACHINE!”

“Who said that! Identify yourself!” yelled a now
furious Howard.

“Commander Jenkins.”

“Cmdr. Jenkins, you’re now relieved of command!
Your XO will assume command! I will NOT tolerate this kind of
narrow-minded thinking! We know that the enemy has used A.I.s in
the past and will certainly do so again. We need to use our A.I.s
to their fullest capabilities if we’re going to win this war. I
have the highest regard and confidence in our A.I.s, who have
proven their ability, loyalty and dedication to duty in the past. I
will sleep easier tonight knowing that Iceman is keeping a careful
eye on the situation 24 hours a day. And just to make sure that
there’s no ambiguity about Iceman’s authority, I’m now officially
giving him the acting rank of Vice-Admiral to go along with his
position as Commander-in-Chief, Earth Defenses. If anyone in a
command position feels they can’t accept his orders, then turn your
command over to your XO and notify me by private text message. If
you don’t come forward now and you refuse an order during the
battle, I guarantee you that your lack of future career prospects
will be the least of your worries. As for the rest of you, who know
how to obey an order, I know that I can count on all of you to
conduct yourself with the highest level of professionalism. That is
all. Howard clear.”