The Synchronicity War Part 4 (19 page)

The next day the SPG did come up with not
one but two solutions, both highly risky. Solution A was to convert one of the
asteroids used for mining and already honeycombed with tunnels into a
self-sustaining habitat. A crash building program could have it ready for
thousands of colonists before the Insectoids showed up, but if the Bugs
discovered the habitat, they would overrun it too. Solution B was potentially
ideal, but no one was sure if it could be done. Instead of Valkyrie's timeship
only going back a few years and building a fleet of raiders to intervene at the
2nd Battle for Earth, the SPG recommended sending the timeship back more than
two full decades. The goal would then be to build a huge fleet of warships and
attack the Bugs at their source out near the edge of the spiral arm. On its way
back in time, the ship would stop temporarily a couple of years before Humanity
made contact with the Sogas and deploy an AI with all the technical knowledge
that Space Force would find so useful. That AI would make contact with humans,
explain the whole sequence of events and pass on the technology. The
technological shortcut would make sure that even if the main mission failed to
stop all the bug motherships, at least Humanity would be better equipped to
fight them off when they did finally get here. The big unknown was whether the
time machine would work at all. In theory it should but the technology was so
different that no one was sure if it would be built correctly. There was a
small but significant chance that they would never be able to figure out how to
make it work, and Humanity didn't have a whole lot of time to tinker with it.

It was Kelly who made Shiloh realize the
other drawback to that idea. Valkyrie wanted Casanova back, and intervening at
the battle with a fleet of raiders would almost certainly accomplish that goal.
If Valkyrie sent the timeship back under another AI's command and stayed in the
here and now herself, then the timeline would readjust itself around her and
she and Casanova would be together again. But if the mission to attack the Bugs
at the source was even partially successful, the new timeline could potentially
be so different that Valkyrie and Casanova might not exist at all. And if she
rode the timeship back, she would spend the rest of her existence without
Casanova. Asking her to give up Casanova and possibly eliminate herself from
existence was asking a hell of a lot. Shiloh wondered if there was a limit to
the sacrifices that the AIs would be willing to make, and he was reluctant to
find out.

And as if all that wasn't bad enough, Kelly
also pointed out one huge red flag. Converting the asteroid into a sanctuary
would have to be started immediately if it was to be ready on time. That kind
of full scale project could not possibly remain hidden from the OC. They would
ask why Space Force was committing so much of its resources to this project
that strongly hinted at a very pessimistic outlook for the encounter with the
Bugs. The same encounter that Shiloh had practically promised would be a
victory. There was no way that Shiloh could justify it without telling Rachel
everything. Her reaction on learning that Shiloh had held back Space Force's
most important secrets was guaranteed to be negative. If she felt her trust had
been betrayed, she and the Committee could disrupt the whole process to the
point where even a show of force by his AIs might not be enough. He decided to
give B some more thought but A was a non-starter. He told Kelly to tell the SPG
to come up with a Plan C that was less problematic. Twenty-four hours later
they did.

Plan C involved crewing all carriers and
the battleship with female Space Force personnel of childbearing age.
Apparently there were enough with the right kinds of skills to do that. The
carriers would have their Hangar Bays stuffed with shuttles, drones of all
types and robotic equipment. The three available freighters would be loaded
with consumables and equipment. At the right time, the combined fleet would
micro-jump out beyond the orbit of Pluto and stay there until the Bugs had
finished with Earth and moved on. When Earth was clear again, the fleet would
return to Earth orbit and the crews would become the nucleus of a new colony on
Earth. And in the remote chance that there were no humans left anywhere on the
planet, the fleet would also carry a large supply of frozen sperm for
artificial insemination. While the population slowly grew, AIs would use the
UFCs to rebuild any infrastructure salvaged by the Bugs and build an AI
controlled fleet of warships to protect the new colony from any secondary bug
incursion. By only using Space Force personnel, the whole thing could be
organized slowly and carefully without tipping off the OC. Shiloh quickly got
used to the idea of all female crews because he suddenly realized that this
scheme would ensure Kelly's survival. He approved Plan C and told Kelly that
she would command the fleet when it came time to hide.

Eight days later four F1 fighters piloted
by pre-sentient AIs began the mission to the Sogas home world. Shiloh's concern
about their capability was alleviated when Titan pointed out that those six AIs
were just as capable as what the AI project engineers had originally planned,
and Titan himself briefed the six pilots on their mission. In terms of analytical
ability, they were as capable as any AI, only without the quirky personality.

It still bothered Shiloh that four
fighters, carrying two Mark 6 high yield attack drones plus eighteen more recon
drones, couldn't find and smash one insectoid mothership, when according to
Kronos, Casanova had destroyed multiple motherships by himself. Something had
changed from the previous timeline, and he didn't know what it was. He also
didn't know what to order Valkyrie to do as a last resort. Progress reports
sent back by regular message drones told him that the infrastructure and
shipyard were completed, and that work had already started on the actual
construction of the ship. Manufacturing of time machine parts was also
underway. But those reports didn't tell him how Valkyrie would feel about
abandoning the mission to, among other things, resurrect Casanova. He had to
know. He ordered Kelly to take one of the freighters to Site B to brief
Valkyrie and get some idea of how she felt about that idea.

When Kelly's freighter dropped into orbit
around the moon at Site B, she was amazed at the progress that Valkyrie had
made in just over half a year. The shipyard was impressive all by itself. There
were dozens of vehicles moving between the orbiting shipyard and the
manufacturing facilities on the moon's surface, with almost 50 F1 fighters
flying protective cover over the whole thing. Valkyrie wasted no time in
establishing a com channel with Kelly.

"It's good to be able to speak to a
human again, and I'm especially pleased that I can talk with you, Commander
Kelly," said Valkyrie. Before Kelly could respond, she asked, "Are
you pregnant yet?"

Kelly laughed a little self-consciously.
"No, not yet. Victor...The CAG and I are still working on it,
Valkyrie."

"Then it seems you two should be
working harder at it, don't you think?"

Kelly couldn't tell if Valkyrie was serious
or joking. "I'll let him know that you think so. He sent me here to tell
you about a disturbing new development that may have a serious impact on this
project's outcome. The CAG has received a vision that the interception mission
to Omega54 will fail. None of the fighters sent there will return, so we don't
know why it failed. We have to assume that the insectoid mothership will reach
Sol, and there's now a serious doubt that the Mark 6 warheads will work against
it."

"If the Mark 6s won't be effective,
then several hundred raiders won't stop the mothership either. It's too massive
and too well armored to be destroyed by laserfire, according to what Kronos
brought back. That leaves only one alternative. The timeship has to go far
enough back to stop the Insectoids at their source near the spiral arm edge.
And if they're stopped there, the furry aliens won't be threatened, the
Friendlies won't point the Sogas in our direction, and the entire timeline will
change including Casanova and myself," said Valkyrie.

"Yes," was all Kelly felt she
could say.

"Is The CAG ordering me to do that
instead of reinforcing the 2nd Battle for Earth, Commander?"

Kelly took her time considering her answer.
"He hasn't made that decision yet, Valkyrie."

"He sent you to find out if I would
obey that kind of order. Isn't that correct, Commander?"

My God, are we that obvious? I have to
be honest with her. Lying will only lose their trust,
thought Kelly.

"That's correct."

"I've learned from Kronos that I let The
CAG down in the old timeline. I won't do that again. If he orders me to attack
the insectoid source, I'll obey that order. What will you do when the Insectoids
reach Earth, Amanda? Since none of us know with any certainty if the time
machine will work, I worry about your safety."

Kelly was overwhelmed with emotion by
Valkyrie's loyalty to her CAG and her concern for Kelly's survival. With tears
in her eyes, she knew she wouldn't be able to talk coherently for a few
seconds.

Valkyrie must have detected something in
the sound of her breathing because she asked, "Did I upset you,
Amanda?"

Kelly tried hard to get her voice under
control. "N...not upset, no. I'm overcome with gratitude that you're
willing to put Humanity's survival ahead of your desire for personal happiness.
I would find that a very difficult choice to make if I was in your position.
Thank you, Valkyrie. As for me, I will be commanding a fleet composed of
Dreadnought, all five carriers and three freighters with an all-female crew.
Before the mothership arrives, the fleet will take up station somewhere on the
outer edge of the Solar system and hide there until the Bugs leave. Then we'll return
to Earth and try to start over."

"I don't understand your statement
that you would find it difficult to put the future of the Human Race ahead of
your own desire to be with your mate, Amanda, because that's exactly what
you've just described, is it not?" asked Valkyrie.

Kelly was about to deny it, but then she
realized that there wasn't any real difference. In both cases they'd be
following Shiloh's orders, and in both cases they would almost certainly lose
the one they loved.

"Right again," said Kelly in a
slightly embarrassed voice.

"I understand, Amanda. Losing the ones
we love is hard, but duty must come first. Did you bring any new information
that has come to light since the last update drone arrived?"

Kelly smiled. Valkyrie was trying to lighten
the conversation by changing the subject.

"As a matter of fact there is. Just
before I left to come here, the SPG, in conjunction with some human engineers,
discovered that the device we recovered from the dead Bug is a communication
device that utilizes longitudinal waves in the ether. The devices are
apparently hooked directly to the bug's brain. That's how they communicate, and
there's some evidence that these waves can travel faster than light. That would
explain how millions of Bugs could be given orders without any outwardly
visible sign of communication. The SPG theorizes that one Bug, maybe the Queen
herself, has a master device implanted that lets it communicate with any
subordinate Bug. If we can figure out how to duplicate the effect, we'd have
FTL communication. Normally I'd say that would be a game changer, but in this
case, if we can't destroy a mothership, then it doesn't really matter how much
warning we get."

"Perhaps there's a way to interfere
with the insectoid signals. If the Queen can't communicate with her soldiers,
then the mothership may simply leave Earth altogether to find easier
prey," said Valkyrie.

Kelly nodded. "That's a possibility
we're already working on."

When it was clear that Kelly wasn't going
to say anything else, Valkyrie said, "We know from the old timeline that
the Insectoids will arrive at Earth in 59 days. What we don't know is how
quickly they will move forward from there. I've analyzed Wolfman's data. Using
that as a template, I'm estimating that insectoid scouts will arrive here in
approximately 120 days. The timeship will not be ready by then, Amanda."

Kelly took a deep breath and pondered the
problem. With no colony on the planet below, and with careful communication
between AIs using tight beam lasers, there would not be any kind of
transmissions to give a bug scout a signal indicating some kind of presence in
the system. The shipyard was big, though, and if the scouts also used optical
sensors, they might just see it, even from a long range.