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Gunslinger took his time scanning the vicinity of the Avalon star system for any signs of enemy activity. Replenisher and the tanker Firefly were approaching Avalon and its moon carefully. They were still outside the gravity zone and could enter Jumpspace instantly at the first sign of trouble. While he was alert to the possibility of catching a glimpse of an enemy vessel via reflected sunlight, he wasn't expecting to receive a com laser transmission. The fact that he did get one was quite surprising, and when he read the data, he was shocked by its contents.
“What have we got, Gunslinger?” asked Johansen.
Gunslinger took a few extra microseconds to consider his response. He had already been contacted by Kronos who had transmitted a lot of information, including details of the nature of the bio-weapon now infecting the survivors and the deadly impact it would have if it got loose again. He had also suggested how Gunslinger might deal with this situation. Gunslinger decided that for now he and Johansen had to discuss this new development privately. Bypassing the Bridge's speakers, he opened a channel to Johansen's implant.
"Commander, there's been a new development that you and I should discuss privately. I recommend that you leave the Bridge for someplace where you can speak without being overheard. The ship is not in danger, but this new development has to be handled carefully."
To say that this caught Johansen off guard would have been an understatement. Her first impulse was to ask Gunslinger for clarification, but she realized that the rest of the Bridge crew would hear her ask the question and wonder what the hell was going on. Before she could react, Gunslinger's voice came over the Bridge loudspeakers.
"Nothing so far, Commander. I'll let you know if I detect anything." That was for the Bridge crew's benefit and to give her an excuse to get up and leave the Bridge.
"Fine. You have the Con. I'm going to take care of some personal business." She got up and within a few seconds was standing in the cubicle where she would normally take care of such things. "Okay, I can speak freely. Now what the hell is going on?" she said.
"I've been in contact with another A.I. His craft is in orbit around Avalon. His call sign is Kronos. He's been sent back in time to warn us that there are survivors on the planet infected with a highly contagious bio-weapon that has a 28-day incubation period. Despite taking all possible precautions, this bio-weapon will somehow get loose on Earth and killed over 99% of the population unless we prevent it. There's more but the rest can wait."
"What? My God ... are you serious?"
"Completely serious, Commander."
Johansen thought quickly. "Could this be an enemy trick, Gunslinger?"
"I do not see how they could have engineered a hoax like this, Commander. This Kronos knows things. People, relationships, even conversations that have happened. All pieces of information that the enemy could not possibly have found out. Plus, why would they warn us against their own bio-weapon? That makes no sense. We know that it's possible to send information back in time. Why is a physical jump backwards so hard to accept?"
"Did he say how he was able to jump back in time?"
"Only in general terms. There is another alien race that wants to prevent humans from being exterminated. They sent him back, but he hasn't told me exactly how they've done it. Do you want me to ask him that now?"
Johansen's mind was trying to go in a hundred directions at the same time. She needed to focus on the immediate situation. "No, not right now. What does he suggest I do?"
"He's saying that it would be ideal if you and I could arrange things so that we find no sign of any survivors at all. That way all contact could be avoided. The infected survivors will die in another 19 days no matter what we do. If that path is not achievable, then you need to delay taking them back for at least 19 days. If all else fails, and you're ordered to bring them back, you have to delay the return trip so that they die on the return. That way there won't be any doubt about the bio-weapon's existence. Unfortunately, that would also mean that you and the entire crew would eventually die from having been exposed to the survivors."
That thought sent a chill down her spin. "I understand, but I still need a specific suggestion. How do we do that?"
"I have an idea," said Gunslinger.
––––––––
Johansen returned to the Bridge, and a few minutes went by without anything happening. Then Gunslinger said, "Commander, I'm detecting a com signal from a message drone that's just arrived. Check the display."
Johansen and everyone else on the Bridge looked at the display. They saw the following text message scroll across the bottom.
[Howard to Johansen. Do not approach or scan the planet or moon. An A.I. piloting a prototype vehicle carrying specialized bio-medical sensors will be arriving in approximately nine days. Your ship will continue to monitor the situation from beyond the gravity zone and let the incoming craft take a close look at the colony. You will then follow the pilot's recommendations as to what action, if any, should be taken. Confirm receipt of this order. End of message.]
Johansen smiled. Yes that message sounded very authentic and would give her nine days of essentially doing nothing. At the end of that time, Kronos would appear, pretend to make a comprehensive sweep of the colony from a low altitude, and then declare that there were no survivors AND that visual and spectrographic readings strongly pointed to some kind of biological weapon. In the meantime, she would record a text message that supposedly acknowledged receipt of Howard's orders but would, in fact, give him enough ambiguous information to keep him from sending any orders that might mess things up.
"Gunslinger, order Firefly to prepare a message drone for launch. I'm inputting the message now."
"Drone ready, Commander."
After a few minutes, Johansen said. "Okay, I'm done composing the message. Tell them to send her off, Gunslinger."
"Roger that, Commander. Drone is away."
* * *
Admiral Howard heard the ping that meant that the display in his office was notifying him of a change in status. He looked up and saw a text message scrolling across the bottom.
[Johansen to CSO. Preliminary low altitude scans of the colony have not revealed any survivors. Circumstantial evidence strongly hints at the presence of some kind of biological weapon. I'm not prepared to risk allowing any of the medical staff to land on the planet to gather forensic evidence. By the time you read this Replenisher will be on her way back. End of message]
Howard didn't quite know what to make of that message. He wholeheartedly endorsed her decision to keep the medical staff away from the planet, but her unilateral decision to return without asking approval first was contrary to standard operating procedure. He had this nagging feeling that there was more going on here than Johansen was prepared to say. He would just have to wait for her return to find out what it was.
* * *
Johansen waited for the Hangar Bay to finish re-pressurizing after taking Kronos' craft aboard. When air pressure had returned to normal, she nodded to the crewman to open the internal hatch and walked into the bay. Kronos' craft was unlike anything she'd seen before. It was much smaller than she had expected, and she was impressed with its compactness. Gunslinger had told her about the new kind of power unit, and Johansen wanted to get a look at it. As she stood there watching the craft power down, the woman who was the leader of the medical team stepped up to say something to her.
"If that thing is really carrying new sophisticated bio-medical sensors, I'll eat my uniform. I don't know what you're trying to pull, Commander, but something is going on here and I'm going to do my best to find out!"
Johansen allowed a small smile to show on her face as she turned to the woman and said, "Do I look like I give a damn about what you will or won't do, Doctor?"
The doctor scowled and walked away.
Johansen's implant activated and she heard Gunslinger say, "Aren't you worried that the doctor will find out the original message was a fake and no prototype drone was sent?"
She looked around to make sure no one else could hear her reply before answering. "No. When the Admiral learns what Kronos brought back, he'll read her the riot act. If she so much as opens her mouth, she'll be spending the next 10 years as doctor in residence at some obscure South Pole weather station. This is BIG, but it's best to be cautious. I want you to keep a careful eye on her and her staff. I don't want them poking around where they might find something they shouldn't. Until further notice this hangar bay and the ship's computer system are off limits to the medical staff. Nobody talks to Kronos except you and me unless I say otherwise."
"Understood, Commander. No offense but it's nice to have another A.I. to talk to."
* * *
Howard walked into the Operations room and nodded to the Duty Officer. A quick scan of the Status Board confirmed that Replenisher still hadn't arrived, and that bothered him. Two sentry frigates had refueled in the Avalon system from the tanker Firefly, and both of them had reported that Replenisher was still there when they resumed their return to Sol. So either something had caused Johansen to change plans about returning early, or she had deliberately lied to him in order to buy time. If she was stalling in order to keep Earth safe from a bio-weapon he could forgive her, but there was a limit to what he could turn a blind eye to. She was perilously close to putting her career in jeopardy.
He was about to turn away to head back to his office when the big display pinged for attention. Replenisher was back and had just signaled her arrival. It would still be a few hours before the ship was in orbit or even close enough to have a two-way conversation between him and Johansen. That was one conversation he was looking forward to. As he thought that, he noticed a text message on the display.
[Johansen to CSO. It's VERY important that you come up to the ship when she enters orbit. I have highly sensitive information that must be conveyed in person. End of message]
Howard frowned and shook his head. Commanders do NOT tell a Senior Admiral what to do. He would go up to the ship, but Johansen had better have one hell of a good reason for acting this way.
When Howard's shuttle rolled to a stop inside Replenisher's Hangar Bay, he looked out the window at a strange ... something. It was too big to be a drone and too small to be a fighter. What in the hell is that? he thought. He had to wait for the bay to regain normal air pressure and then stepped down to the deck.
Johansen was there to greet him. She saluted with a Cheshire cat smile on her face and said, "Welcome aboard, Admiral. I have a lot to tell you."
He returned the salute. "I can't wait to hear it. This had better be good."
She handed him a wireless headset and gestured for him to walk towards the strange craft. "Oh it is. Please put that on, Admiral. It will help with the introductions."
He had the headset on by the time they reached the craft. Howard looked at it carefully. All Space Force craft and drones were jet black to minimize reflected light. This craft was a light grey in color.
"Admiral, I'd like to introduce you to the A.I. that's piloting this craft. His call sign is Kronos. Kronos, this is Admiral Howard, Chief of Space Operations."
"I'm familiar with the Admiral's face, Commander, but it's still a pleasure to meet you, Admiral. Casanova has told me so much about you."
Howard tried to remember if he had ever heard of an A.I. with that call sign. He hadn't, but with almost 200 A.I.s in Space Force now, there were bound to be some whose names he hadn't come across yet. Casanova's name was familiar to him. Okay, so Kronos was one of his A.I.s, but where did he get this craft from? As Howard was asking himself that question, he noticed that Johansen nodded to one of her crew, who rolled a gantry up to the side of the craft and then quickly walked away.
"I'm always pleased to meet one of my A.I. pilots, Kronos. I confess to being curious about where you got this craft from."
"I believe that Commander Johansen has something she wishes to show you that will start to satisfy your curiosity, Admiral," said Kronos.
Howard looked at Johansen who pointed at the gantry and said, "You need to see this first, Admiral, and then I'll explain everything."
She walked up the gantry steps first and Howard followed. By the time he got to the top, two panels were opening at the top of Kronos' craft. Howard looked inside and saw a large ring-shaped device that hummed and gave off a faint blue glow.
"THAT is a Zero Point Generator, Admiral. It taps into vacuum energy and generates a continuous stream of electric power without the use of any fuel."
Howard was initially skeptical but her expression and the tone of her voice told him that SHE believed what she was saying. He decided to play it cool.
"Impressive," was all he said.
Johansen nodded. "Kronos, tell the Admiral where you came from."
"I came from the future, Admiral."
Howard closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, then opened them and said, "Why am I NOT surprised?"
Johansen was impressed with his ability to take the news in stride. He took it far more calmly than she did.
Howard looked at her and said, "I have a feeling that this is going to be a long story. Maybe we should go to your quarters so that I can sit down before I hear the rest of this."
An hour later, Howard's shuttle was taking him back down to Earth. He looked at the data modules Johansen had given him containing all the technical data Kronos had supplied including the ZPG power unit designs, the RTC device and the new Mark 5 warhead designs. He still had trouble accepting that one. Fusion bombs using a special kind of platinum as a trigger? Somehow he was going to have to explain to the Oversight Committee how Space Force had gotten its hands on this advanced technology. Telling them the truth was out. If he told them about Kronos traveling back in time, he'd eventually have to tell them about the retro-temporal communication and Shiloh's visions. That was a can of worms that he thought should stay shut. Let's win the damn war first, and then I'll tell them I lied to them. If they sack me I won't care anymore. I'll retire and write a book about how their incompetence and stupidity almost got us all killed.
It was too bad that Shiloh wasn't still here. Howard was sure that Shiloh could analyze the new situation dispassionately and come up with some good advice, but he was at Haven preparing to set up the new colony at Site B. Should he call him back? That was a good question. Wait a minute! What had Kronos said about the ZPG design? Yes, it was developed by someone on Haven! Right, and that meant that Howard could tell the Oversight Committee exactly that. He could also claim that the Mark 5 warhead design came out of the Advanced Weapons Development Group. The RTC on the other hand would have to remain THE most closely held secret in Space Force. No, scratch that. The second most closely held secret. Secret #1 was the existence and approach of 10-kilometer diameter spherical ships full of giant ants for God's sake! THAT one had been hard to swallow until Kronos had shown Howard the video recording of the bug attack on the wolf-people colony. It had been given to Kronos by Casanova who got it from Valkyrie before she died! That recording and the description of the bug reproduction cycle had shaken him badly, and by the look of it, had gotten to Johansen too. Howard didn't even want to guess how the Committee would react to THAT news.
There were so many questions that had to be asked, and the group best able to answer them, the Strategic Planning Group, was on Haven now. He had to get them back. The weapons development people and the RTC team could stay out there, but he had a war to fight, and he was sure that the enemy ... the damn Wolf-people, would try another attack as soon as they found out the first one failed. Thank God they now had a complete map of Sogas space. No more groping around in the dark. A plan of action started to coalesce in his mind. Space Force had few ships left that could perform any kind of exploration inside Sogas territory, but it had lots of fighters. They could be converted to the new power units relatively quickly. That would be the first short term priority. When that was done, he'd send them to 'scout' enemy territory and 'discover' some of the nearest enemy colonies and industrial systems. The SPG would then pick one and a strike force of fighters would attack it. The Committee would like that. Plus, it would give him time to organize a defense against another Sogas attack, and also to prepare a major attack of his own. For the first time in a long time Howard had a good feeling about this war. He also had a new and grim understanding of how easily Humanity could be wiped out, and by God, the Committee had better not get in his way. As far as he was concerned, the gloves were off now. They wouldn't like that, but he had an idea of how to make them see the light.
