The Synchronicity War Part 4 (27 page)

“So no platinum,” said Howard glumly.

“We still have some that was already
commandeered. That’s enough for how many Mark 6s, Valkyrie?” asked Shiloh.

“Ten, CAG. Not even enough to kill one
super-mothership.”

“No,” agreed Shiloh, “but it would be
enough to kill ten of the smaller model, and ten more weeks means we’ll have
several more ready to ship to Midway by the time reinforcements can be expected
to show up.”

“We’re talking stopgap measures. From
everything you’ve told me, it’s only a matter of time until we can’t stop them
at Beta1, and eventually we won’t be able to stop them here either. So what can
we do about this? Valkyrie?” asked Howard.

“There are only three logical alternatives,
Admiral. Either we steal the platinum we need, or we find and mine a lot more
platinum ore, or we come up with an alternative way of killing insectoid
superships. Are you prepared to order the forced recovery of the needed
quantity, Admiral?”

Howard swore in a low voice. When he was
finished he said, “I’ve carefully considered the plan you submitted, Valkyrie.
I’m not sure that we could actually pull it off, and even if we did somehow, I
think Space Force AND local police forces would both suffer casualties from
shooting at each other. There’s also the risk that some Space Force units would
simply refuse to obey their orders. No…I’m not prepared to take that
alternative at this point. Do we know of platinum rich ore bodies in this or
any other star system?”

“Negative, Admiral. All the confirmed ore
bodies that are producing platinum are small quantities as a byproduct of other
minerals. It would take far too long to produce what we need that way,” replied
Valkyrie.

“Then that just leaves the third option.
What luck have you had with that, Valkyrie?” asked Shiloh.

“I didn’t know luck was involved in our
research, CAG? How does that work?” asked Valkyrie.

Both Shiloh and Howard laughed. “Very
funny, Valkyrie. Now how about a serious answer?”

“I’m always serious, CAG, but to answer
your question, my brothers and I have come up with a possible alternative. The
reason we’re not sure is that it’s something that’s never been tried before and
therefore the concept is totally theoretical. As you know, ZPG units extract a
tiny fraction of the energy available from the vacuum. Just to give you some
idea of the magnitude of what’s involved, the energy within a volume of space
the size of your thumb, is estimated to be enough to boil all the oceans on
Earth. The ZPG units bleed off as much of this energy as they safely can
without being overloaded. Our examination of the wreckage of motherships in the
old timeline has revealed that the Insectoids use the same ZPG technology that
we do, although on a much larger scale. The Friendlies have conducted
experiments that show that a carefully tuned gravity lens beam hitting an
operative ZPG unit will cause the unit to attempt to extract all of the
available vacuum energy. The resulting explosion of a power unit installed in
Dreadnought for example would be measured in the hundreds of megaton
equivalent.

What we are proposing therefore is the
building of a portable gravity lens beam projector that can be installed in the
cargo bay of a raider. The raider will then fire the beam at a mothership. The
beam will penetrate deep into the insectoid vessel, but only in a very narrow
beam. If the beam hits one of the mothership’s ZPG units, the ship should be
destroyed or at the very least crippled. Since we don’t know where a
mothership’s power units are, we’ll be firing blind, and multiple shots will
probably be necessary to kill the target, but if we have multiple raiders
firing at it simultaneously, then the explosion will happen sooner rather than
later.”

After a short pause, Shiloh said, “If the
concept has been experimentally proven, then what are the challenges?”

“Range and accuracy,” replied Valkyrie.
“For any given level of power used, there will be a specific range beyond which
the penetration ability of the beam drops off. With the power available on a
raider, that range is just over 16,000 kilometers, which is virtually point
blank range for the mothership’s laser batteries. If the raiders get that
close, they’ll have to be traveling very fast in order to avoid counter-fire,
and that will complicate the challenge of hitting the target accurately. Firing
at much longer ranges is possible, but then the beam may not penetrate deeply
enough to reach the target’s power units. Aiming accurately will also be a
problem, however no other approach has this kind of potential for inflicting a
deathblow.”

“Will this approach work with the
super-motherships?” asked Howard.

“In principle, yes, however if the Insectoids
are using many small power units instead of relatively few large units, then
the detonation of one power unit might not be enough to cripple the larger
mothership. It may be necessary to detonate multiple power units.”

Howard looked at Shiloh and said, “What do
you think?”

“I like the idea of blowing up a bug ship
from the inside out, but overcoming the range and accuracy limitations will be
tricky. Valkyrie and I should do some simulations to figure out the best
tactics. We should build at least one prototype weapon here and now to make
sure it works. Valkyrie, do you agree with that?”

“Affirmative, CAG. The boys have already
designed the schematics and the UFC programming for the parts. Production can
begin the instant we get the word.”

Shiloh, still looking at Howard, nodded and
Howard said, “You have the word, Valkyrie. How long until the prototype can be
tested?”

“I would expect the prototype to be ready
to be uploaded to a raider within 14 days, Admiral.”

“Fine. I’ll look forward to seeing the
weapon test. Now let’s talk about the other implications of Iceman’s message.
Do we know if three bug ships arrived at Beta1 in the previous timeline?”

“Negative. The data generated by the RTC
was specific to that particular Insectoid and therefore that particular
mothership. There is no evidence that the timeline has been changed from the
insectoid perspective, Admiral.”

“That’s a relief. And speaking of RTCs,
it’s nice that we have two of them now with the one that was on the timeship.
Is that the same RTC that Iceman took with him to Beta1?”

“Negative. When you sent me to Site B in
the old timeline to build raiders, I was also instructed to build another RTC
for my own use. In hindsight, it was a wise precaution.”

“Yes, well … sometimes I do make the right
decisions I guess. Can Iceman use his to ambush the right mothership at its
next stop?”

“Affirmative. He would be using the same
technique that Casanova successfully used in a previous timeline.”

“Very good! As soon as the next Mark 6
warhead is ready, we ship it to Iceman by fighter along with additional Mark 6s
as they become available. Once we know the GLB cannon works, we’ll send the
timeship back and exterminate these bugs once and for all!”

“We’ll have to coordinate Midway’s withdrawal
from the ambush system and the raiders’ withdrawal from all Sogas systems
before the timeship jumps back,” said Shiloh.

“We will? Why?” asked Howard.

Shiloh was puzzled by Howard’s question.
Did
he just forget or does he really not care that much about the AIs?

“Unless Iceman and the other AIs now on
board Midway, plus all the AIs monitoring Sogas systems are on the timeship
when it jumps back, they’ll be erased from existence in the new timeline.”

Howard shook his head in dismay. “How did I
forget that? Yes of course we have to bring them back in time. Since it’ll be
another ten weeks before Midway can be back here, that means the timeship will
have to wait that long too, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, unless we forget about ambushing our
mothership altogether and order Midway back as soon as possible. If we send a
message to that effect right now, we’ll still have plenty of time to build and
test the GLB cannon assuming it works as predicted. If it doesn’t work, and if
we can’t get it to work, then bringing Midway back early will cause us to lose
our best chance to delay the bugs’ advance.”

Howard was silent for what seemed like a
long time. When he spoke, his voice was low. “I wish we had a vision to show us
what we should do now. If we withdraw the AIs, then we’ll have a tough time
slowing down the bug reinforcements. If the timeship jumps back, that doesn’t
matter, but if we can’t send it back with a way to stop the bugs at the Alpha
systems, then we need to buy as much time as we can here and now.”

Before he could continue, Shiloh
interjected. “IF the Grand Senate lets us.”

Howard raised his eyebrows and said, “Ha!
You’re right. The GS thinks the war is over, and Space Force can be reined in
now. I can just see it if I went in front of them and told them that we’re
threatened with extinction by giant ships full of huge ant-things! It would
sound too much like a pathetic attempt to keep the quote empire unquote that I
built during the war with the Sogas. If we tried using human crews to keep the
Bugs busy, the OC would notice and ask awkward questions. I hate to say it, but
I don’t see any way of slowing down the Bug advance without some AIs being
involved, and I’m not prepared to let the Bugs keep advancing on the assumption
that the new cannon will work and the timeship will jump back okay.”

Shiloh thought fast. “Valkyrie, do you
think some of your brothers would be willing to volunteer to stay in the here
and now to fight the Bugs even knowing that a successful time jump will end
their existence?”

“I’ve just asked them and sixteen have
volunteered, CAG.”

Shiloh turned to Howard and said, “There’s
your answer, Admiral. With some careful planning, we could keep the pressure on
the Bugs with sixteen AI volunteers for the length of time needed for all the
other AIs to get back here and board the timeship.”

“Valkyrie, you tell those volunteers I’m
deeply impressed by their sense of duty and devotion to the defense of
Humanity. I’ll let you two plan their deployment and the recall of Midway.
Unless someone has something else to discuss, I think we’re done for now,” said
Howard.

Shiloh and Valkyrie put they heads together
and quickly came up with a plan that Howard approved. Message drones would be
used to recall raiders from Sogas star systems. There was enough time for two
fighters piloted by volunteers to leave immediately, proceed independently to
Beta1 and get there before the ten weeks were up. Once there, they would take
possession of the Mark 6 warhead drones and wait until the end of the tenth
week before using them against the bug motherships. Midway would return as soon
as the volunteers took over the ambush. As additional Mark 6 warheads are
built, more volunteers would carry them to Beta1 to be used at the most
opportune time. Parts for additional GLB cannon would be produced while waiting
for Midway’s return. If the weapon test was successful and the Tempus Fugit
took all the other AIs back in time, then the additional parts would not be
needed, but if the jump back failed for some reason, then the extra cannon
would be mounted on raiders, and Howard would try to clandestinely arrange for
more AIs to be created to pilot them.

                                                           *
* *

Shiloh stood beside the Command Station on
Resolute’s Bridge and watched the main display. Three unpiloted F1 fighters
were being used as targets for the first test of the GLB cannon. Casanova was
piloting the raider carrying the cannon prototype and was flying in formation
with Resolute at a distance of just 10 kilometers. Shiloh could hear Casanova
over his implant.

“Casanova to CAG. Weapon is online and all
systems show green. Ready to commence charge sequence when you give the word,
CAG.”

“You have the word, Casanova,” said Shiloh.

“Weapon is charging. Ready to fire
in…three…two…one...”

On the main display, the star field was
obliterated by a searing blue-white light that quickly expanded and then just
as quickly died away.