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Shiloh was once again on Midway's Flag Bridge, and he was once again pacing. His crew were giving him a wide berth and for good reason. Lack of sleep and the latest situation were making him irritable. Just as Midway broke out of orbit in preparation for the 2nd warhead test, he received word that Kelly had gone into labor. Shiloh wanted to turn the ship around, but Iceman relayed Kelly's message that he should carry on with the test because the presence of the CSO at the hospital would make the staff nervous. With Midway now on the other side of the star system, any transmissions from Terra Nova would take over ten hours to reach him. He hated not knowing what was happening, but at least the weapon test was about to take place.
"Gunslinger reports he's ready to fire whenever you give the word, CAG," said Iceman.
"Tell him he has the word, Iceman."
Shiloh stopped pacing and watched the main display, which was showing the computer-enhanced outline of a target asteroid. Within two seconds there was a brilliant flash. The display switched to tactical mode, and Shiloh saw that the asteroid was blown apart with various pieces moving off in all directions. He waited for Iceman's report on the prototype's yield.
"Analysis of sensor readings indicates that the yield has actually exceeded our estimate by zero point two megatons, CAG. The prototype performed as expected in all respects."
Shiloh realized he'd been holding his breath and exhaled. "That's good news. Tell everyone involved in this project that they should give themselves a pat on the back. I'm very pleased with this result. Let's get mass production going as fast as we can, and I'd like to get back to Terra Nova asap."
"Roger that, CAG. I'm actually ahead of you there. Midway is already swinging around to her return heading. ETA for TN orbit is 2 hours, 31minutes. Given the average time that females are in labor, there's a good chance that you can get to the hospital before the baby is born."
"Really? I'm not sure that I actually wanted to know that. Take it from me, Iceman, being an expectant father is very stressful. If you're smart, you won't get anyone pregnant."
"Ah, CAG? You ARE joking, right?"
Shiloh laughed. "Affirmative. Now I'm going to resume pacing because it gives me something to do. If you want to talk, we can talk about anything except Kelly giving birth. Got it?"
"Got it, CAG. Since we can talk about anything, I have some questions about eliminating bodily wastes that you've been reluctant to talk about in the past. My first question is ..."
––––––––
When Midway arrived just outside Terra Nova's gravity zone, there was some news.
"I have two messages for you, CAG. The first is from the hospital. Commander Kelly has given birth to a healthy baby girl. Mother and daughter are doing fine. I believe it's customary to congratulate the new father, so on behalf of all the boys and myself, I congratulate you on the birth of your daughter, CAG. Have you and Commander Kelly decided on a name yet?"
Shiloh smiled but didn't answer right away. He was savoring the moment. When he had savored it enough, he said, "Yes. Her first name will be Valkyrie. Valkyrie Kelly-Shiloh."
"Casanova will be pleased. He still grieves for Valkyrie you know."
Shiloh was surprised by that piece of information. "Actually no, I didn't know that he felt that way. How do the other A.I.s feel about Valkyrie's ... death?'
"We miss her uniqueness, but none of us would describe our feelings as grief. Valkyrie's gender bias is just as puzzling to us as is Casanova's infatuation with her. Those two A.I.s are unique in their own way."
Shiloh thought about that for a while and then remarked, "Interesting. We'll have to discuss this further some other time. What's the second message?"
" A message drone had arrived from Omega54. All three bogeys have left orbit, and based on triangulation by recon drones, their apparent destination is Sol. From what we've observed about their previous transit speeds, we should expect them to arrive at Sol 711 hours from now."
Shiloh did a quick calculation in his head. "That's just under 30 days. Given that we need around 10 days just to get to Sol, can we have three of the new warheads ready in 20 days?"
"Not three. We can have two ready by then but only just. The third one will take another eight point five days."
"Dammit!" Shiloh smacked his right fist into his left palm in frustration. "If we knew for certain that they would all stay with the derelict for that long, we could bring the third warhead up later and attack them all at the same time, but we don't. We also don't know if one or two will stay there while the rest move on. I need suggestions, Iceman."
"We could use Midway to take out the third insectoid craft the same way as we did with Dreadnought, CAG."
Shiloh nodded. "I thought of that too, but I'm reluctant to give up our only warship and carrier. It's a valuable tool. It'll take us years before we can build another one. I'll keep that idea as a last resort, but I'm hoping we can come up with something else."
"May I ask you a question? The answer may suggest a new approach to the problem."
"Sure. Ask away," said Shiloh.
"On Earth, there are thousands of different species of ants. How do humans prevent them from overrunning the planet?"
Shiloh hadn't been expecting that question and had to think about it for a few seconds. "Well ... there are a variety of ways to keep ant colonies under control. They do have natural enemies, but in terms of human options, there's the obvious brute force approach of stepping on them ... ah, fire works pretty well ... chemical agents. The hard part is killing the queen. If the queen dies, so does that colony. One way of getting to the queen is to deploy a chemical agent that attracts the worker ants. They carry it back to the colony where the queen comes in contact with it and is poisoned by it, but I don't see how that can help us. We don't know anything about their biology or what might kill them, and we don't have any expertise in chemical warfare, unless you know something I don't."
"Negative, CAG. You're correct. None of the boys have any knowledge of how to create chemical or biological weapons, but that approach has given me an idea. These Insectoids are attracted to metal. They will naturally want to salvage whatever they can from the drifting derelict, and if there's metal drifting in open space in the vicinity, then that would be easy for them to recover as well. Suppose we deploy several shuttles that have been made to look as though they've taken laser damage, and we hide multiple low yield Mark 1b warheads inside them with triggers that will go off when the craft are disassembled. The SPG agrees with me that it's highly likely that the Insectoids will bring the drifting shuttles inside the motherships where it would be easier to salvage. Half a dozen Mark 1b warheads exploding inside a mothership is bound to cause serious damage that the Insectoids will want to repair while they're near a source of metal. Even if the mothership isn't crippled, I calculate a 95% chance that the damaged ship will stay there long enough for us to bring the third warhead into play."
"You don't think they'll be suspicious if they find a bunch of damaged shuttles floating near the derelict?" asked Shiloh.
"If we found one of our ships with alien craft drifting nearby, we'd be suspicious. I believe that if the Sogas found one of their ships with craft nearby they'd be suspicious, but the Insectoids do not have intelligence in any form that we recognize. If they really do operate by instinct, then how would instinct recognize a booby trap? I find it difficult to imagine that this kind of situation has happened to them before. There's also no downside that I can see. Even if they set off the warheads before bringing the shuttles aboard the motherships, we're no worse off than we are now."
"How many shuttles should we use?"
"As many as we can spare, the more the better. The survey mission to Sol reported finding half a dozen shuttles still aboard some of the shipyards. They won't be jump capable but that doesn't matter. If we recover them, plus use ten of our own, we'll still have six left. I recommend we spread our 16 shuttles out over a wide area centered around the derelict. That's what I would expect to see in the aftermath of a battle, and it also makes it more likely that each of the three bogeys will collect at least one shuttle."
Shiloh shook his head. "No. That's too many. These Bugs may not be intelligent, but they may recognize the inconsistency of having a lot of wrecked alien craft around after a battle that their side lost! Wouldn't we collect our crippled craft after a victorious battle?"
"Yes, we would, and I understand your point, CAG. So here's what we do instead. We take three or four shuttles and cut them into halves or thirds using lasers to simulate battle damage. We then plant the warheads in each damaged section. Craft that badly damaged would not be worth recovering by their owners. In a real battle, we'd check the drifting sections for survivors and bodies and abandon the wreckage because we couldn't do anything with them. Does that sound more realistic, CAG?"
"Yes. How soon can we have the shuttles ready to deploy?"
"Twenty-four hours."
Shiloh smiled. "Good. Do it."
"I've sent the necessary instructions. By the way, CAG, we're close enough now that you can board the shuttle whenever you're ready."
"Excellent. Tell the Hangar Bay that I'm on my way," said Shiloh as he practically sprinted for the hatch.
––––––––
The hospital sent Kelly and daughter home the next day, which upset Shiloh but not Kelly.
"It's not that big of a hospital you know, and I'm not the only one having a baby. They don't have enough beds to let new mothers lay around for days. Besides, you've had one good night's sleep. That's enough, right?"
Shiloh knew she was being playful but really! One good night's sleep was not enough.
* * *
Shiloh was talking with Daniels outside his office in the Ops Center when the siren went off. He immediately activated his implant.
"This is Shiloh. What's going on?"
A panicky voice answered. "Three bug motherships have just emerged from Jumpspace half a light second beyond the gravity zone, Sir! They're launching their attack craft now!"
"What? How can that be? How did they find us so fast? Connect me with Iceman right away!"
"I'm here, CAG. Midway is maneuvering, but without laser turrets, the only thing I can do with her is to ram one of them. Titan's boys are preparing to engage the landing craft, but those motherships still have a lot of velocity. I don't think we can stop them all from landing. You better order the evacuation to the sanctuary, CAG. Commander Kelly and Valkyrie are already at the spaceport. If you hurry you can join them on the shuttle, with enough time left to fly to the hideout. Hurry CAG. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to talk with you."
Shiloh ran for the exit, and once outside he looked around. He saw a shuttle several hundred yards away with Kelly and the baby standing in the open hatch waving to him. As he ran towards them he wondered how it came to be that they were already here at the spaceport when the alert sounded.
"Run faster, CAG, I can't ..." Iceman's voice stopped suddenly and a chill ran up Shiloh's spine. If the shuttle was going to make it to the sanctuary unobserved, it had to leave right now.
"CSO to Ops! Connect me to the shuttle pilot!"
"Rainman here, CAG. I'm ready to lift off as soon as you're aboard."
"No! You need to leave NOW, dammit! Right now! Don't wait for me!"
"Negative, CAG. I have specific orders from Iceman to take you with us. He said you might want me to leave without you, and he told me to ignore any such order from you. You either leave with us or none of us leave."
Shiloh wanted to curse out loud, but the running was making him pant too much. When he got to the shuttle, he jumped at the now open hatch and landed inside.
"Okay, I'm in! Gun this thing, Rainman!"
With the shuttle's inertial dampeners on, there was no sensation of movement, but he could tell by looking out the round windows that they were moving.
"Gunning this thing as ordered, CAG. ETA at the sanctuary is 111 seconds."
Shiloh wondered how Rainman could be so cavalier about the situation. He looked up the cabin and saw Kelly holding Valkyrie and looking back at him with a relieved smile. She couldn't come to him because of all the others in the shuttle. As planned, it was packed shoulder to shoulder with people, mostly women and children, but he wasn't the only man. He felt a deep despair over the fact that even if this small group escaped the Bugs' attention, what hope did they have of building a viable civilization with 18 adults, 12 children and no A.I.s to help them?
The 111 seconds seemed to go very fast. He could see from the view out the windows that the shuttle was already descending vertically into an area that was surrounded by steep cliffs. Then the sunlight faded to the point where it was almost pitch black outside.
"We're here, CAG. Everyone should disembark," said Rainman as the hatch swung open.
Shiloh carefully stepped out and looked around. They were in a huge cave, which had an overhang. That's very smart. The overhang will hide the cave entrance from aerial or orbital surveillance. He turned around to look deeper into the cave and saw a surprisingly large stockpile of supplies and equipment. As he marveled at the sheer quantity of supplies, he became aware that Kelly was standing beside him.
"It's a good thing you had this set up ahead of time, Victor."
He looked over at her and baby Valkyrie. Kelly's expression was one of gratitude, but when he looked at Valkyrie, he saw a baby face with no expression of any kind. Valkyrie was staring at him.
"Why didn't you try to get me out of Dreadnought, CAG?" said Valkyrie in an electronic voice.
"What?" said Shiloh. Before he could ask how a human baby could talk with an electronic voice or even talk at all, Kelly screamed. He looked at her and saw that she was looking past him to the cave entrance. He turned his head and saw a sea of hugely oversized, six-legged and two-armed ants scuttling towards them.
"No!"
He woke up breathing hard and realized that he'd been dreaming. Kelly sat up beside him.
"Are you okay? You were having a nightmare."
He nodded but said nothing. He patted her on the arm and said, "I'm okay now. Go back to sleep, babe."
She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and lay back down. As his breathing returned to normal, he pondered what his dream meant, if anything. It wasn't a vision or at least not the usual kind of vision, but Kelly's confirmation that he had done the right thing by having the sanctuary stockpiled with supplies was the kind of message that his visions usually had. Maybe he should look into that. The A.I.s had surveyed the entire planet carefully. If there was a cave like the one in his dream, they would know about it. He made up his mind to ask Iceman in the morning.
