The Synchronicity War Part 2 (33 page)

“Just out of curiosity, what qualities would you
be looking for in the right man.” After a slight hesitation, she
said,

“Well…he’d have to be in good health, smart,
have some stature in the community… some charisma and a lot of self
confidence would be nice too. You wouldn’t happen to know of anyone
that fits that description, would you, Victor?” Shiloh looked at
her and saw a mischievous smile on her face.
Son of a gun! She’s
talking about me!

“I think I know just the guy.” said Shiloh and
they both laughed. Shiloh looked back at the shuttle pilot, who
didn’t seem to be that interested in what the two of them were
doing and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t care if someone saw
what he was about to do. He turned back to Kelly and held out his
arms in a clear invitation. She came to him and they hugged each
other tightly then kissed quickly which they both knew was a
promise of more to come. When they reluctantly let go of each
other, he said,

“You do realize that I won’t be able to retire
from Space Force for a long time, right?” She nodded.

“I know that. The War’s not over and there’s a
lot of fighting left to be done. But being the CSO means that
you’ll be spending most of your time here in this star system which
means you won’t be gone on missions for months at a time.”

“Yes. You’re right. Rank does indeed have its
privileges. Iceman, Valkyrie and Gunslinger will be leading the
charge when we’re ready. I guess that means I’m now The Old Man,
doesn’t it?” She laughed and said,

“Oh, Victor! As far as the rest of us mere
mortals are concerned, you’ve been The Old Man for quite a while
already! Didn’t you know that?” Shiloh said nothing and just shook
his head. How had he not seen that coming? She took his arm and led
him back to the shuttle. He had to admit, it felt good to have a
woman holding his arm and what it implied. He noticed that the
pilot was now nowhere in sight. When they reached the shuttle, the
pilot emerged from the craft and said,

“Valiant just sent a laser com message, Admiral.
The message drone from Haven arrived. Valiant says that the drone’s
data shows that our bombs exploded at the Colony site and on
several of our ships. It looks like the enemy finally reached
Haven.”

“Let’s hope they decide they’ve won the war and
go home.” said Shiloh. As the shuttle lifted off for the short ride
back to the spaceport, Shiloh decided that he’d been celibate long
enough. He was conscious of the fact that their pilot could now
hear everything they said to each other. After giving it some
thought, he looked at Kelly, who was sitting beside him, and
said,

“Commander, I want to get a better understanding
of the SPG’s thinking in terms of our opening moves. Suppose you
come up to Valiant with me and we can discuss it in my quarters
right now.” As he talked he put his right hand on her left thigh
just to make sure she got the message. The pilot might be able to
hear them but he couldn’t see them. In her best professional voice
she said,

“An excellent idea, Admiral. I have some opening
moves that I think you’ll like.” They both smiled with silent
understanding.

“Lieutenant!”

“Sir?”

“Change of plans. Head straight for Valiant. The
Commander will take another shuttle back down later.”

“Valiant it is, Admiral.” Two hours later, a
naked Shiloh was lying on his back with Kelly’s nude body on top of
him. They had finished the first frenzied round of sex and then,
after a short break, a 2nd round of more relaxed, and more intimate
lovemaking. Shiloh found that he liked having her lay on top of
him. She wasn’t heavy enough to make it uncomfortable and it
allowed his hands the freedom to explore and appreciate all of her
wonderful curves. It also was obvious that she liked having her
curves explored so it was a win/win for everyone involved. He
remembered something he had learned from an enchanting French woman
he’d briefly gotten to know a few years back. He brought both of
his hands up to her shoulders and slowly and gently let the tips of
his fingernails slid down her back. No pressure, just the light
touch.

“Oh my God that feels good!” she whispered into
his ear.

“Yes it does.” he agreed.

“How long can you keep that up?” she asked
playfully.

“Not long. I’m getting hungry.” he replied with
what he hoped was a serious tone.

“You could order food brought to your quarters?”
He was tempted but if he accepted the food at the door wearing a
bath robe, it would be obvious what he and the Commander were
‘discussing’. He knew they couldn’t hide it forever. Eventually
everyone would know that they were a couple but for now, it might
prove to be embarrassing for her.

“I could but I thought we’d get dressed and have
a meal in the Officers’ Mess.” She kissed him on the cheek.

“You’re concerned about my image. That’s very
chivalrous of you. I wonder if anybody will notice my glow.”

“What glow is that?”

“You mean you’ve never noticed that when a woman
has just been made love to, she gives off an aura of sexual
energy?” He had no idea if she was serious or if she was pulling
his leg.

“Well now that you mention it…” They both
laughed. Ten minutes later they walked into the Officers Mess. As
they sat down at a table, Shiloh glanced over to another table
where two female officers were sitting. They were both looking at
Kelly and nodding with smiles on their faces. He looked at Kelly
who said.

“Told you so.” Shiloh just had to laugh. Later
when a shuttle left Valiant with Kelly on board and Shiloh was back
in the privacy of his quarters, his implant clicked.

“Iceman to CAG.”

“Go ahead, Iceman.”

“Commander Kelly’s shuttle is about to enter the
atmosphere and everything looks routine.”

“That’s good to know, Iceman, but you don’t
usually report on routine comings and goings of personnel. Why the
need to inform me of this one?”

“Well, it’s clear to me that she has become more
important to you today and I assumed you’d want to be reassured
that her trip back went well.”

“Oh? What makes you think that Aman…Commander
Kelly has suddenly become more important to me?”

“Ah, well, my internal sensors record across a
wide spectrum of EM radiation and I noticed that her skin
temperature was higher than normal when she and you left your
quarters. Also her voice had a noticeable lack of stress
indicators, which is again unusual and finally I couldn’t help but
overhear two female officers talking about Commander Kelly as they
walked down the corridor. One was asking the other if she noticed
Kelly’s glow. Since I no longer have access to the database at HQ
on Earth I can’t search for what glow they might be referring to
but if I had to guess, I’d say it was sexually related. You two
were in your quarters a long time you know. Just sayin.”
Thank
God there are no sensors covering my bedroom and thank God for the
thickness of the walls! I wonder how good his audio pickup
is.

“If I tried to deny it, you’d be able to tell I
was lying so I may as well plead guilty but I want you to keep this
information to yourself. That means you don’t share it with any
human or any other A.I. That’s an order, Iceman!”

“Ah, I hear you loud and clear, CAG. No one will
hear about it from me but you should know that other A.I.s will
almost certainly pick up on other clues themselves. You won’t be
able to keep it a secret for long.”

“I know, Iceman. We don’t have to keep it a
secret for long. Just for now.”

“Ah, roger that, CAG. Iceman clear.”

Chapter 21 - Is It Just Revenge?

Three months later, raider 001 floated in orbit
around Terra Nova’s moon. The impression it gave, was of a lethal
killing machine that was, for the moment, asleep. Shiloh watched it
on the main display on Valiant’s Bridge. The quarter million ton
carrier dwarfed the smaller machine but Shiloh knew which one he
preferred. Preliminary tests had gone well. Preprogrammed test
jumps over relatively short distances had shown that the scaled up
version of Alvarez’s ZPG device was capable of powering the jump
drive. Gunslinger had test flown the machine from one end of the
Terra Nova star system to the other and declared, somewhat to
Shiloh’s surprise, that it was ‘the cat’s meow’, whatever that
meant. So Raider 001 was now ready for her first real mission and
Shiloh had to adjudicate a squabble between three A.I.s over who
would get the honor of flying her. Iceman insisted that as the
V.A.A.G, (Vice-Admiral, Autonomous Group), he had the right to pull
rank and fly the mission. Valkyrie insisted that as the D.L.R.R.O,
(Director of Long Range Reconnaissance Operations), she should lead
the first recon mission and S.L. (Senior Lieutenant) Gunslinger
insisted that he had earned the right to fly her. The three of them
had decided to take it all the way up to the CAG!

“I’ve listened to your arguments. Who knew that
A.I.s could make such passionate arguments? I’ve made a decision.
This first mission is as much a test flight as it is a recon
flight. Until we have operational data confirming that the new
power plant is reliable, I’m not risking my senior A.I. officer.
Sorry Iceman but you’re too valuable to risk on an unproven piece
of technology. When we have dozens of raiders, you’ll lead them
into battle. Valkyrie has a valid point. She will be directing all
long range reconnaissance missions and having flown one herself,
will stand her in good stead when she sets the parameters for all
the other recon missions. So Gunslinger, you’ll have to sit this
one out. You want combat experience and you’ll get it but you
wouldn’t find it on a recon mission anyway. The CAG has
spoken.”

“Thank you, CAG.” said Valkyrie. The other two
said nothing, at least nothing that a human could understand.
Shiloh was sure that the three of them were conducting a three way
conversion of a kind that only their lightning fast minds could
handle.

“You can thank me by bringing the ship and
yourself back in one piece.”

“I’ll give it my best shot, CAG.” Ten minutes
later Valkyrie was aboard the raider and plugged into its systems.
Shiloh contacted her on a private comm. channel.

“Okay, Valkyrie. Here are your mission orders.
Make a quick survey of Sol but stay at least 1 AU away from Earth.
From there go to Bradley Base and see if you can determine what
happened there but again keep your distance. After that, you have
discretion on where to begin exploring enemy territory. I want you
back here in 500 hours regardless of what you find.”

“Orders understood, CAG. Do I have permission to
proceed?”

“Proceed, Valkyrie and good luck.” Valkyrie
wasted no time in starting the mission. Raider one acceleration hit
377Gs in less than 2 seconds. Shiloh ordered the display to switch
from external optical to tactical. With unlimited power, 001 could
choose to accelerate to a high percentage of light speed in order
to make long jumps as quick as possible. 16 hours later, with a
speed of 67% of light, 001 entered jumpspace.

484 hours later, Shiloh was back on Valiant’s
Bridge. Valiant now had the new energy source and work had
commenced on modifying Resolute’s power plant. The 2nd raider had
just come off the assembly line and the frequency of production
would gradually increase until eventually a new raider would be
completed every 24 hours. A new A.I. production facility had
finally been completed and fine tuned. Actual production would wait
until they had enough craft to be able to make use of new A.I.s.
Drone production was ramping up nicely too but fission and fusion
warhead production was lagging behind schedule. AWD2 had come up
with an idea for an X-ray laser warhead where a fusion explosion
would pump energy into special rods, which would generate coherent
X-rays for a fraction of a second before the rods were themselves
destroyed. The advantage was that the drones could detonate at a
distance from the target and still hit it with a significant
fraction of the explosion energy concentrated down to a very small
surface area. If the rods could be aimed accurately enough, an
X-ray laser beam could in theory cut right through a Defiant class
light carrier from one end to the other. The only bad news was from
the RTC team. They had several nice theories on how information
could be transmitted back in time but were nowhere close to having
hardware that worked.

Shiloh looked at the mission chronometer. The
500 hours had passed but he understood that even if 001 was back in
this star system, she might be so far out, that any laser com
transmission could take minutes to reach its destination and if 001
emerged from jumpspace at high speed, which was likely, then it
would take hours to decelerate down to a manageable speed in order
to point the ship at Terra Nova for a microjump. It was almost 5
minutes past the 500 hour deadline when Valiant’s external sensors
picked up the com laser burst. Valkyrie’s text message scrolled
across the bottom of the main display.

[
Valkyrie to CAG. I’m back with lots of data.
Earth shows no signs of organized inhabitants. There may be
scattered survivors in small groups. Bradley Base has been
completely destroyed. I’ll need about 18 hours to decelerate for a
microjump. All systems worked perfectly. It’s my intention to land
at TN spaceport. Transfers between ships in space always give me a
headache from cosmic rays. I’m sure you’ll want 001 to be given a
thorough systems check and that can be done more easily on the
ground. I had lots of time to think about our long term strategy
and I have an idea that I think you’ll like. Is the wife pregnant
yet? End of message
]

Shiloh took note of the time needed to
decelerate. 18 hours meant she emerged from jumpspace travelling at
more than 80% of light speed. Remarkable.