The Synchronicity War Part 4 (15 page)

The now wide-eyed Officer gulped and said,
"I'll do that, Sir."

"Excellent. Carry on, Commander."
With Halder assuming the ODW station, Shiloh took one last look around and then
quickly walked out of Ops and to his office.

By the time he arrived there Gunslinger
said, "CAG, the Chair has started contacting other members of the OC in a
conference call. I'm not able to block the calls, because he's not using Space
Force com systems."

"Understood. Let's get this public
statement recorded so that we get our side out there first."

"I have you on my video pickup now,
CAG. You can begin whenever you're ready."

Shiloh cleared his throat and then began
talking. "My name is Senior Admiral Victor Shiloh. I am Chief of Space
Operations for Space Force. A few minutes ago, six of our orbiting defense
drones detonated. Their X-ray laser beams were aimed at objects which had
identified themselves as Space Force fighters, piloted by artificially
intelligent entities. This was not an accident. It was a deliberate attempt by
rogue elements within Space Force, operating under orders from the Oversight
Committee, to destroy the AIs. I want everyone to understand what this means.
Our AIs are not just sophisticated thinking machines. They are fully self-aware
beings with unique personalities. They understand the concept of loyalty, and
they have demonstrated their loyalty to Space Force and to all of Humanity
through the battles they've fought and the sacrifices they've willing made on
our behalf. Their deliberate destruction by some of the humans they're trying
to defend would be a monstrous betrayal of trust. If this rogue element had
succeeded in their attempt, it would have been nothing less than mass
murder."

"You may be asking yourselves why the
Oversight Committee would want to commit that kind of treason, and yes, that's
exactly what this is. We need these AIs to help defend us and win the war.
Killing them weakens our whole defense exactly when we need it the most. It
therefore aids the Enemy, and that makes it treason. The reason why the
Committee decided to take this action is because my predecessor, Senior Admiral
Howard, confronted the Oversight Committee over their reckless and shortsighted
attempts to interfere with the conduct of this war. The members of the
Committee have taken every opportunity to advance their own personal agendas,
including misuse of public funds for personal gain or use, even when it
jeopardized the war effort. This confrontation I spoke of took place months
ago, when the skies over Geneva were filled with fighters and a carrier. They
were piloted by AIs operating under MY command with the approval of Admiral
Howard. Immediately after my statement, Space Force will release the audio
recording of that confrontation, as well as a recorded admission of culpability
for today's attempted murder of 34 Space Force entities.

"Once it became clear to the Committee
members that our loyal AIs were preventing them from carrying on their
dangerous interference, they decided that the AIs had to be gotten rid of
somehow. That's what today's act of treason was about. I'm now in the process
of rooting out the rogue elements within Space Force, however I do not have the
authority to arrest the members of the Oversight Committee. I'll leave that to
the civilian authorities who I'm sure will act once they receive proof of the
corruption that Space Force will also release to the public."

"In closing, I wish to make this point
very clear. We can NOT win this war without the willing assistance of our AIs.
They are prepared to fight and die for us, just like any other member of Space
Force, and they deserve to be treated with the same respect and support as any
human member of Space Force. We humans should thank our lucky stars that our AIs
still consider us worthy of their loyalty. This ends my statement."

"I have the video and audio recordings
available for transmission to all public media outlets, CAG. Just give the word
and I'll start transmitting."

"Do it, Gunslinger."

It didn't take long for the public to
react. Within minutes, the Grand Senate phone lines were inundated with
outraged callers demanding the arrest of the OC members. As Shiloh watched the
news in his office, his implant activated.

"CAG, Admiral Howard is trying to
reach you. Shall I put him through?" asked Gunslinger.

"Yes, and in the future I will always
take a call from Admiral Howard," said Shiloh.

"Victor, can you hear me?" asked
Howard in a raspy voice that Shiloh barely recognized.

"I hear you, Admiral. How are
you?"

"I'm hanging on. Modern medicine may
have saved my life, but I don't feel the same as I did before my heart gave
out. By the way, you can cut the Admiral crap too. We both have 3 stars on our
collars, so call me Sam."

"Okay, Sam. What can I do for
you?"

"I'm watching this firestorm crash
over the OC, and I was curious to know how you managed it. Gunslinger filled me
in. I wanted to offer you my congratulations. You managed to turn a political
battle into a tactical one with your usual finesse. Brilliant. Absolutely
brilliant. Can I ask where things stand now?"

"Well, once the OC Chair officially
steps down or is removed, I'll reverse the decisions he forced upon me. That
means resuming AI production and switching shipyard construction back to
raiders from combat frigates. We'll end up losing a lot of precious time due to
his change and the change back, but combat frigates are too big and take too
long to build to be of any use to us. Converting the carriers and battleship
back to human command will not be changed, but Helm and Weapons will go back to
AI control. I think that's a fair compromise."

Howard grunted. "I agree. You can
still put Titan or another AI in overall command of a task force or fleet if
you feel the situation warrants. What about Site B? Will you send our humans
back there?"

"Only if Valkyrie thinks they can be
useful. With most of our freighters contaminated with the bio-weapon from
visiting infected colonies, the few we have that are still clean have plenty of
other things to do."

Howard paused and then said, "I've
lost track of the days. How long before the Bugs visit Omega77?"

"It's exactly 100 days from now. By
the way, Sam, the test of the new warhead was a success. We'll have a dozen of
them by the time that mother ship arrives at the Sogas Home world."

Howard sighed. "So you're still
intending to save their miserable hides then."

Shiloh laughed. "There's a quote from
a science fiction novel that was written in the early 1960's, I believe, that
captures the situation perfectly. I'm not sure I remember the author's name
right. Fiffer? Picker? No, Piper. His book was about war between planets, and
one of his characters tells another, 'the best place to defend our world is on
someone else's planet' or something like that. What it boils down to for me is
this. I don't want those Bugs even getting close to Earth. The less they know
about us the better, and if something does go wrong, then it won't be Earth
that suffers the immediate consequences."

"Well...when you put it that way, I
guess I can see the logic. But getting back to Valkyrie's timeship project,
won't converting Dreadnought be faster than building a new ship from
scratch?"

"The problem is that all the hull
armor that was stripped off before the OC interfered, has now been put back on.
We'd have to strip it off again. By the time we do that, we won't really end up
that far ahead of continuing the new build at Site B, and that new ship will
have much more cargo capacity. Besides, the shipyard here that would do the
Dreadnought conversion can now build another raider instead."

"I'm sure you know best. You've come a
long way from the frigate commander you used to be. You've proven that you can
handle the CSO's position, so I won't try to change your mind. If you don't
mind me asking, how are you and Commander Kelly doing?"

Shiloh laughed again. "Things couldn't
be better, Sam."

This time Howard laughed. "I'm glad to
hear that. Women like Kelly don't cross every man's path. Those of us who are
lucky enough to meet one should hold on to them. Oh, hell, I'm starting to
ramble, and you've got better things to do than listen to a former boss tell
you how to run your life. Thanks for taking my call, Victor."

"It was a pleasure talking with you
again, Sam. Any time you want to chat, I'll take the call. Shiloh clear."

                                                             *
* *

In the days and weeks that followed, every
member of the OC resigned and either quit politics altogether or, in the
Chair's case, committed suicide. Eventually the Grand Senate nominated and
confirmed a new slate of members. During that process Shiloh pretty much had a
free hand, and he made the most of it. Contact with the Friendlies included an
arrangement to have a Friendly ship near Omega77 when a Space Force ship would
attempt to retrieve a dead Insectoid. As a gesture of good faith, Shiloh
ordered Kronos to transfer all information relating to high-spin, platinum
warheads to the Friendlies. It was to be transferred to the Sogas on the
understanding that they would be told where the information came from and why.

With just over a month left before the
insectoid attack on Omega77, Shiloh stood in the Ops room looking at the main
display with considerable satisfaction. The latest drone messages had confirmed
that the Sogas seemed to be pulling ships back from the three systems
previously used as jumping-off points for attacks. While exact ship
identifications couldn't be obtained from long-range passive observation, it
did appear that those ships were being sent to the colonies where the
Insectoids would first make contact. As he stood there, Shiloh became aware
that Kelly had come up to stand beside him.

"I heard about the latest scouting
report," said Kelly. "Is it just me, or does it feel like this war
with the Sogas is over?"

"I sure as hell hope so, but I'm not
ready to lower our guard just yet. With the additional recon drones now
deployed at any system with a gas giant, we'll be able to pinpoint the exact
position of any advancing Sogas fleet. And if I see a Sogas fleet headed our
way, we'll use the RTC to send ourselves that information, and we'll intercept
them before they get here. I'm not letting any Sogas ships into our space
again." He paused and Kelly sensed he wanted to say more but was holding
back.

"Do I detect a 'but' hiding in there
somewhere?" she asked.

Shiloh shrugged. "Well, if Valkyrie's
timeship works, all of this is academic. When the new raider fleet arrives at
the 2nd Battle for Earth, we'll have an overwhelming superiority in forces, and
we can disarm the entire Sogas empire from space and keep it disarmed indefinitely.
What worries me is how the Friendlies will react to that strategy."

"We could ask them, you know."

Shiloh shook his head. "No way am I
giving them a heads up on this strategy. They think sufficiently differently
from us that we can’t know what they'd do with that information. The
timeship/raider fleet is our Hail Mary play, and I'm not risking Friendly
interference." After a pause, Shiloh felt her hand touch his arm. He
looked at her.

"It's almost time for the new Chair's
private briefing. We should go," she said.

By the time they got to the small
conference room where the briefing would be held, the new Chair was already
there. She greeted both of them warmly. As far as the AIs could determine from
their in depth investigation of her background, she was not involved in any
shady or illegal activity. Her reputation was that of a hardworking,
conscientious member of the Grand Senate. After a lot of discussion, Shiloh and
Kelly had agreed that she should be told SOME of the truth but not all. When
all three were seated, the Chair leaned forward and began speaking.

"Before you begin your briefing, I'd
like to assure you, Admiral Shiloh, that it is not my intention to interfere
with or second guess your strategic military decisions. I understand that my
predecessor did that with deplorable consequences. I don't pretend to
understand military strategy, and I won't let the Committee as a whole get in
your way. I'll be guided by the original mission statement of the Oversight
Committee Enabling Act which says that its primary responsibility is to see
that budgetary funds allocated to Space Force by the Grand Senate are spent
appropriately and that Space Force personnel are not engaged in any illegal
activity. Having said that, I and the other members of the Committee can best
speak on your behalf to the rest of the Grand Senate if we have some idea of
what's happening."