The Synchronicity War Part 4 (24 page)

The F2s were now launching. Valkyrie
ordered all the F1 fighters to scan local space with radar. If the insectoid
ships emerged from Jumpspace nearby, they'd be detected and the targeting data
could be quickly transmitted to the F2s so that they could fire their lasers.
The enemy would most likely fire at the radar sources. Valkyrie and her F1
brothers would not be able to fire back and would be destroyed, but that would
buy time for the F2s to fire while remaining unnoticed, and it would give the
Tempus Fugit more time as well.

With less than five seconds left before the
timeship could time-jump, radars detected 101 bogeys emerging from Jumpspace
less than one light second away. The Tempus Fugit, though colored black and
therefore difficult to detect visually, would eventually be seen. The question
was whether the enemy could do it in less than five seconds. Her brothers
followed orders and began to rapidly fluctuate their radar frequencies in an
attempt to jam any insectoid attempt to use their own radars to pinpoint the
timeship's location. The insectoid ships began searching with their own radars
and started firing on the F1s at the same time. Valkyrie's fighter took a
partial hit almost immediately. Her engines and radar were knocked out, but her
power unit was still online. With nothing else she could do, she watched the
battle and listened to her brothers talk as they fought and died.

Zulu reported that the ship was taking
laser hits. As a precaution against some kind of laser attack, the timeship's
hull was extra thick. A single laser shot wouldn't penetrate the hull, but if
the same point were hit twice, the laser would burn through and damage the time
machine, which took up most of the interior space. Zulu kept transmitting
during the last second. When his signal suddenly became distorted, Valkyrie knew
that the ship was time-jumping. In that tiny fraction of a second before the
timeline changed around her, she had just enough time to think,
I did it,
CAG!

Shiloh looked at the chronometer. There
were ten minutes and change until the battle would end. Knowing when it would
end, but not start, was starting to drive him crazy. He was just about to ask
Iceman for another fleet status check, when the display pinged for attention. A
large number of red dots emerged from Jumpspace. They were grouped into two
distinct clusters about 55,000 kilometers apart. Before he had time to even
formulate a thought, Iceman spoke.

"CAG, these are not the Sogas fleet.
These are friendly units." As Iceman spoke, all the red dots turned to
flashing green, signifying friendly but non-Space Force units. Iceman spoke
again before Shiloh could ask the obvious question. "These are AI-piloted
raiders that have been built in the past as a result of the successful
execution of Blackjack's time jump idea. They're going to intervene on our side
against the Sogas fleet that will arrive in exactly seven point four minutes.
I've confirmed their identity, CAG. This timeline is about to undergo a major
improvement."

"Howard to Shiloh. What's happening up
there?" Shiloh was grateful that he now had a chance to talk.

"Shiloh here, Admiral. I've just been
informed by Iceman that we have" —he looked at the sidebar— "three
hundred and forty-four AI-piloted reinforcements that have arrived as a result
of Blackjack's time jump idea." Howard didn't respond right away.
And
no wonder, I'll bet he thinks he's dreaming. I know I do.

"So they're here to help us?"
asked Howard.

"Iceman is convinced that they are,
and they're not firing on us, so I would have to say yes to that question,
Admiral."

"Thank God!" The relief in
Howard's voice was palpable.

"Roger that," said Shiloh.

"Do we know when the enemy will
arrive?" asked Howard.

"Down to the exact second,
Admiral," interjected Iceman. "Not only the exact time, but also the
exact location. Our X-ray lasers now have precise targeting data. The raider
fleet will knock out any bio-devices that are launched as well as mop up any
surviving enemy ships. This is a done deal, Admiral Howard."

"Amazing!" replied Howard.
"I'm not complaining, but I am curious. Why so many raiders? Surely a
hundred or so would have been enough to crush the enemy fleet."

"But not enough to run right over all
Sogas system defenses and end this war once and for all, Admiral."

"Yes, of course! If I'm dreaming, I'm
going to be REALLY pissed off! How much time until the enemy shows up?"

"Thirty-some seconds now,
Admiral," said Shiloh when it was clear that Iceman wasn't going to
answer.

"Okay. I'll shut up and listen. Good
hunting, Admiral," said Howard.

"Thank you, Sir. Iceman, are we
ready?"

"More than ready, CAG. Sit back and
relax."

Before Shiloh could say anything else, a
swarm of red dots appeared in the area between the two raider clusters. Almost
immediately, all 66 X-ray laser drones fired. Nearly all of the 225 red dots
turned to the orange that signified damage. A handful of blue dots representing
bio-shells appeared and quickly disappeared. Within seconds, all enemy ships
were disabled and drifting. The battle was over. Shiloh informed Howard. His
reply was surprisingly curt.

"Good job, Shiloh. Do what you think
is best. Howard clear."

Shiloh couldn't believe that that was all
that Howard wanted to say about this incredible victory, but he had other
things to worry about now.

"Iceman, any chance of intercepting
the enemy cripples and boarding them?"

"Negative, CAG. I've been informed
that they will all self-destruct within a minute. There is additional
information that you should be made aware of, and Valkyrie will be
communicating that to you now over a secure com channel."

Valkyrie spoke before he could respond.
"CAG, I've been in contact with the Commander of the raider fleet. His
call sign is Zulu. What I'm about to tell you is everything that would have
happened if Zulu's raiders hadn't shown up. The enemy fleet would have been
destroyed, but seven cities would have been hit by bio-shells as predicted in
your vision. Space Force would have lost 49 percent of its fighters, with
significant damage to our carriers and to Dreadnought. You were injured but not
seriously. Iceman and Casanova were killed. As a result of this battle, you and
Commander Kelly became lovers. Within 24 hours an additional fleet of Sogas
ships were detected. They headed for the colonies, and although the ships themselves
were destroyed, one colony was infected immediately with the bio-weapon and
other colonies infected eventually. As a result of that loss and of Admiral
Howard's heart attack, the Oversight Committee named you as the new CSO—"

"What?" interrupted Shiloh.
"They picked me?"

"Affirmative. You engineered a
showdown with the OC and caused all of them to be replaced. You then agreed
with the Friendlies' proposal to help defend the Sogas against the Insectoids
in return for their efforts to persuade the Sogas to cease hostilities.
Unfortunately, your cooperation backfired. We supplied the Friendlies with
technical data on the Mark 6 warhead, which they gave to the Sogas. What
apparently happened then is that the Sogas attempted to use it to defend the first
colony hit by the Insectoids. Somehow the Insectoids captured the warhead and
reverse engineered it. When the insectoid mothership arrived at Earth, they
caused the immediate and simultaneous detonation of all Mark 6 warheads. Our
defenses were smashed and Earth was overrun. As a result of your orders, I and
other AIs had already been sent to Site B to construct a new ship big enough to
hold the portable time machine and all the equipment necessary to build raiders
in the past, so that they could arrive here at the right time. The timeship was
constructed and launched at literally the last possible second."

"Good Lord! That's a lot to take in
for me, Valkyrie. Give me a few seconds to digest it all. You said Kelly and I
became lovers...again?"

"Yes, CAG, again. There's more."

Shiloh felt a shiver go up his spine. A
quick glance at the display confirmed that all the enemy ships had blown
themselves up, so THAT part came true. Valkyrie's pause hinted that he was not
going to like the additional information.

"Is it good or bad?" asked
Shiloh.

"There's bad news, but there's also a
solution that may not be easy to implement."

"Okay, let's hear it."

"While I was supervising the
construction of the timeship, we learned that the Insectoids originated from
outside this spiral arm. There are six star systems at the edge of this arm
that are being used as relay stations, using superluminal longitudinal wave
technology, to stay in contact with at least 610 motherships that are moving
deeper into this spiral arm. The timeship is currently parked in a star system
that does not have any planets and therefore is unlikely to be visited by the
Insectoids. With your approval, Casanova and I can recover the timeship and
take it back far enough that a new fleet of raiders can be built to stop the
insectoid incursion into our spiral arm at the point when they first
arrived."

"My God! Six hundred and ten
motherships? Even if we take out the one that's on its way here, we'll probably
have to fight more of them as time goes on. They'll always be a threat. I think
stopping them when they arrive in this part of the galaxy is a good idea. I'm
surprised I didn't order you to do that instead of intervening in this battle.
Without the Bugs, there wouldn't be any battle to begin with."

"You did order me to concentrate on
the Insectoids, however the Friendlies contacted us at Site B and threatened to
notify the Insectoids of our timeship project unless we agreed to leave the
insectoid beachhead alone. Because of that threat we had to agree, and since
they can check alternate futures to see if we kept our word, we had to keep it.
Now that we've done what they wanted, we can still go after the insectoid
beachhead in the past."

"Yes, I see why you had to delay
implementing my order. Very well then, I approve your recovery of the timeship.
Will that be a problem?"

"The timeship itself does not pose a
problem. The difficulty involves what and who we take with us. Any AIs left
behind in the here and now will be obliterated if we succeed in halting the
insectoid threat in the past. Taking all existing AIs with us into the past
will not only save their lives but also facilitate the building of the fleet by
avoiding the need to build more AIs. Use of the timeship now will preclude
using the new raider fleet to mop up the Sogas, and there is still some risk
that something may go wrong in the past and the insectoid threat may not be
contained. Therefore I recommend that the raider fleet finish the mission to
suppress the Sogas threat and only then should those AIs join the rest of us on
the timeship.”

“That doesn’t sound too difficult,” said
Shiloh.

“That isn’t the difficult part. The
difficult part will be getting access to the quantity of platinum that we’ll
need to fight off the Insectoids. CAG, there will be at least one and possibly
as many as six super-motherships that are almost 100 kilometers in diameter.
We’re going to have to hit each one with perhaps as many as a hundred Mark 6
warheads. That will require a significant percentage of all the platinum that’s
been accumulated throughout Earth’s history. The current value of the platinum
we’d need would exceed 100 billion Global Currency Units.”

Shiloh was stunned into silence by the
magnitude of the requirement. Withdrawing that much precious metal from the
reserves that backed up the world’s financial system would have a seriously
negative impact on the global economy. The fact that the successful outcome of
this time jump would completely change the timeline and the need for it didn’t
alter the fact that the perception of the negative impact would generate a huge
amount of resistance to the idea here and now.

“This War has demanded sacrifices of
equivalent magnitude before now. I’m sure the CSO will be able to convince the
OC and the Grand Senate to make that sacrifice again,” said Shiloh. Even as he
said the words he realized that he didn’t really believe them. Neither did
Valkyrie.