The Synchronicity War Part 4 (35 page)

“You’ve raised a good point, Amanda,” said
Shiloh. “I think it’s time we brought our A.I. comrades back into the
discussion. Amanda, please arrange for Iceman to be in contact with all of us.”
Seconds later she nodded to him.

“CAG to Iceman.”

“Here, CAG. Has the team got something new
for us to simulate?”

“We think so, but first we need some
logical thinking and computational analysis.”

“Ask away, CAG,” said Iceman.

“How can we arrange the battle so that the
Bugs think they’ve won, but all nine bug ships remain operational while at
least some of them suffer significant damage?”

“Oh that’s very devious, CAG. Strategic
deception to the ultimate degree. Zebra12 in reverse. We like it, CAG. To
answer your question, the Mark 6 warhead yield of 250 megatons equivalent can
be dialed down. If we drop the yield to 100 megatons equivalent, the insectoid
ships will still know they’ve been hit hard, but they should remain
operational. That would take care of six or perhaps seven VLOs. Concentrated
laser fire from remotely-piloted raiders plus the X-ray drones could inflict a
lot of surface damage on the other two or three motherships. The cannon raiders
should be held in reserve to protect the timeship from premature discovery.
Remote control of the raiders would have to be carried out from Dreadnought
with a dozen A.I. volunteers aboard, in addition to the human crew, CAG.”

Shiloh said nothing. He understood the
implications of what Iceman was saying. Kelly didn’t.

“Why would the A.I. pilots aboard
Dreadnought have to be volunteers, Iceman?” she asked.

“Because in order to make the deception
convincing, the Insectoids have to see that all defending forces have been
destroyed. If any ships or raiders jump away to avoid destruction, the
Insectoids will send out attack craft to find them, and we don’t want them
looking around too soon, Commander.”

Kelly’s face paled when she understood that
Dreadnought had to fight to the death. She looked at Shiloh with sad eyes. As
the overall Field Commander, he would be on Dreadnought’s Flag Bridge. He would
not get the chance to ask her THAT question again. Some of the others understood
the implications too but not all.

“Iceman, please run simulations on this new
scenario,” said Shiloh in a carefully controlled voice.

“Understood, CAG. It won’t take long.”

While they waited, Shiloh got up from the
table and walked over to the side of the room where various types of
non-alcoholic drinks were available. As he went through the motions of
preparing a coffee, he sensed Kelly move up beside him.

Without looking up, he said in a quiet
voice. “Some of them still haven’t figured out the implications.”

“What’s important now is that I have. We
still have almost three weeks before the battle.” She almost stumbled over that
last word. “I suggest we make the most of the time we have left.”

Shiloh looked at her. “What about getting
distracted?” he asked.

“If the simulations pan out, then we’ve
found the solution, and under the circumstances I think a major distraction is
precisely what you and I both need now.”

“Ah, roger that,” said Shiloh in what he
hoped was a good imitation of Iceman’s electronic voice. Kelly laughed and gave
his arm a quick, gentle squeeze that conveyed oh so much!

“That was not a very good imitation of me,
CAG,” said Iceman.

Shiloh closed his eyes, shook his head
slightly and sighed. He had forgotten that their implants were still linked
with Iceman. That meant that Iceman and almost certainly all the other A.I.s
had heard his and Kelly’s sexually-charged banter.

“No, I don’t suppose it was, Iceman. I
won’t try that again.”

“Thank you, CAG, and for what it’s worth, I
think Commander Kelly made an excellent suggestion.”

“I’m so glad you approve,” said Shiloh.

Kelly couldn’t help giggling a little. As
she turned to go back to the main table she winked at him.

The results of the simulations showed a
very high probability that the shipyard would not be discovered before repairs
were complete. The response was muted. By this time everyone on the team knew
the implications. Shiloh told everyone to go home. He would brief the Old Man
the next morning. Kelly waited until everyone else had left, and then the two
of them went to his quarters without saying one word to each other. Shiloh
thought the link with Iceman had been severed, but the silence was just in
case.

                                                              *
* *

Howard’s reaction to the news the next
morning was mainly one of resignation. He clearly didn’t like the scenario but
understood why it had to be done. When they were finished discussing the
details, he pulled out a bottle of very old brandy and poured both of them a
generous amount which they sipped while smoking two very expensive cigars from
Howard’s private stock. Shiloh understood the gesture. It was Howard’s way of
sharing the burden, even if only for a short time, that Shiloh was now
carrying.

The remaining days and weeks before the
battle went far too fast.

                                                              *
* *

Dreadnought’s Flag Bridge was eerily quiet.
With volunteer A.I.s handling Helm, Communications, Weapons and Engineering,
the ship had a minimal human volunteer crew, and the only two people on the
Flag Bridge were Shiloh and Kelly. He felt her comforting hands on his
shoulders as he sat in the Command Chair. The battle would begin in about 85
seconds. The tactical display on the main screen showed that all Space Force
defense assets were in position. Six F2 fighters were in position to launch the
Mark 6 attack drones. Laser-armed raiders remotely controlled by Dreadnought’s
A.I.s were grouped near one side of where the nine VLOs would emerge from
Jumpspace. Dreadnought, Midway, and all four light carriers with their minimal
volunteer crews, plus all decoy drones carefully programmed to give the
impression of being much larger ships, were clustered behind the raiders. The
distance between the two sides would be less than 10,000 km. For a space battle
that was practically point-blank range. Iceman, Titan, Vandal, Gunslinger and
all the veteran A.I.s, except for the volunteers, were now at the shipyard with
the remaining cannon-armed raiders. Enough high-spin platinum for the seventh
Mark 6 warhead had already been transported to the shipyard where its final
assembly would be completed. The warhead would be kept there just in case a
mothership jumped to the vicinity. Earth ground forces were on alert. They were
as ready as they could possibly be.

He felt Kelly give him a gentle squeeze.
“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you how you came up with the strategic
deception idea in the first place. It’s so counter-intuitive,” said Kelly.

“I had a dream about running for my life. I
ended up running off a cliff with a total of 12 zebras keeping pace with me on
either side. When I woke up, I knew my unconscious was trying to tell me
something. When it dawned on me that 12 zebras referred back to the battle with
the Sogas at Zebra12, I jumped to the obvious conclusion that we had to use
decoy drones. But when Iceman told me that decoy drones wouldn’t alter the
battle outcome significantly, I was stumped until we broke for dinner that day.
And then it just suddenly hit me. It wasn’t about decoy drones at all. It was
about deception and letting the enemy think they’d won the battle.”

Forty-four seconds left.

“So why didn’t Iceman include that
information with the tactical data he sent back to himself in the vision?”
asked Kelly.

“Not necessary. We came up with it all on
our own, and he would have known that.”

A quick pause.

“It’s almost time. Kelly…”

With another quick squeeze of her hand on
his shoulder, she leaned down and whispered, “We’ve said everything we needed
to say. Don’t worry about me. Fight your battle, Admiral Shiloh.”

The countdown hit zero.

Nine bug ships appeared as angry red icons
on the tactical display. Almost immediately six of them changed to the orange
that indicated damage. Shiloh remained silent. He didn’t need to give any
orders yet because the A.I.s in charge of all the ships’ weapons and the
remotely-piloted raiders knew exactly what they had to do, and they were doing
it.

“Targets launching attack craft. Cannon
firing,” announced Dreadnought’s Weapons A.I. whose call sign Shiloh couldn’t
remember. That the Bugs were opening up their launch bays and launching attack
craft this quickly was a favorable development. Dreadnought had two of the GLB
cannons installed. Instead of trying to detonate one of the large power units
deep within the mothership, which if successful might trigger the arrival of
undamaged reinforcements, those two cannon batteries would target the much
smaller power units of the attack craft exiting their launch bays. Explosions
from detonating those smaller power units would still cause damage to the
mothership, as well as produce collateral damage to attack craft still inside
the launch bays.

“Multiple detonations. Switching targets.”

How different it was getting battle
results from an A.I. compared to a human who would be shouting with excitement,
fear and adrenaline,
thought Shiloh as he checked
the green icons representing the defending fleet. He was shocked by how many
were already missing or crippled.

“X-rays have fired,” said the A.I.

Two more motherships were now classified as
damaged. That left one undamaged VLO, Bogey#7. Shiloh was actually surprised
that Dreadnought was still operational. None of the defending ships or raiders
were moving fast or even evading. At this range, evasive maneuvers were
pointless. He felt the need to give a command. The A.I.s were probably already
doing what he was about to order, but he decided he needed to say it anyway.

“Switch all fire to Bogey7!” The response
was immediate.

“Fire has been switched. Cannons firing.”
The last red icon shifted to flashing orange.

Shiloh heard Kelly say, “You did it.”

Then blackness.

                                                              *
* *

Howard sighed as the last red icon shifted
to flashing orange on the huge tactical display in the Operations Center.
He
did it! He managed to damage all of them as planned.
Howard switched his
gaze to the icon representing Dreadnought just in time to see it dissolve into
the tiny dots of light that indicated the ship had suffered vast structural
damage. Knowing that the Bugs used massively powerful laser batteries, he was
certain that Dreadnought had been literally cut to pieces. Within a dozen more
seconds, all of the defending units were either destroyed or crippled. The
space battle was over.

“Communications!” said Howard in a loud
voice.

“Com here, Admiral. The global channel is
open. Just give the work, Sir.”

“We’re now in Phase Two,” said Howard.

“Message has been sent, Sir. Anything
else?”

“No. Good luck to you. Howard clear.” He
looked around the Operations Center and saw that the personnel on duty were
already shutting down their equipment and getting ready to leave as part of their
own Phase Two orders.

He walked slowly back to his office. It
would take the Bugs about 15 minutes or so to actually touch down on the
ground, so he knew he had time. When he got to his desk, he pulled out the
bottle of brandy that he and Shiloh had shared. There was just enough left for
one more drink. With the glass full, he took a small box out of his pocket,
removed the capsule in it, and swallowed it using the last of the brandy to
wash it down. The others would fight the Bugs with whatever weapons they could
find, but he knew he couldn’t stand against those monsters face to face. The
prospect of becoming frozen with fear at the worst possible moment horrified
him. No, it was better to do it this way where he wouldn’t disgrace himself in
front of his people. The warm darkness embraced him.