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Shiloh rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Let me get this straight, Valkyrie. An A.I. I've never heard of has arrived here with a video message from Howard, and news that the plague has been successfully contained on Avalon, AND that this A.I. has come from the future? Have I got that right?"
"That's correct, CAG. Iceman said you would be skeptical. Considering how you've been getting information from the future multiple times, I'm surprised that you find this so hard to believe."
Shiloh shook his head. It was just too weird. "How did this Kronos get all this information in the first place?"
Valkyrie told him the whole story.
"So Casanova managed all this because he wanted to prevent your death? I had no idea that A.I.s could feel such emotion."
"Neither did I, CAG. I may have badly misjudged Casanova."
Shiloh chuckled. "Yes, I would say so." He then got more serious again. "So my vision that Earth would be devastated by the bio-weapon deployed on Avalon did come true?"
"Affirmative, CAG. The last 11,000 humans held out at Site B for a while but were eventually overrun by a surprise insectoid attack. You, Kelly and your daughter were killed too."
"My daughter? Who was the mother?"
"Commander Kelly became your wife and bore you a daughter."
Kelly? How did that happen? He and the Commander had a very professional relationship, without even a hint of anything more. "Does she know about this?"
"Of course, CAG. I saw no harm in telling her. Did I do the wrong thing, CAG?"
Shiloh groaned but then realized that this information would almost certainly have come out sooner or later. He would just have to deal with it. "No, you didn't. I'd like to see Howard's recording now." The display in his quarters on board Valiant came to life with an image of Howard.
"Hello Shiloh. By now you'll be aware that there's been a MAJOR development with Kronos' arrival from the future. Now we know where ALL of the enemy colonies and infrastructure are, and as soon as we convert the fighters to the new power technology, we're going to go on the offensive. That means I need to have the SPG back here. They can't run the war from way out on the edge of nowhere. You can keep the Advanced Weapons Team and the RTC people there. They'll both have something that they can sink their teeth into, in parallel with similar groups here. When you have them organized, I want you back here. I'm convinced the enemy ... the Sogas for God's sake ... are going to jump at us again, and I want my best tactician here when they do. This is a whole new ballgame now, Victor. We have to take advantage of it immediately, so get back here as fast as you can, understand? Howard clear."
* * *
Howard looked at the master display in the Ops Center and nodded his approval. Deployment of the new ZPG-powered, jump-capable recon drones was continuing on schedule. Production was ramping up, and they would soon be coming off the assembly line at the rate of one an hour. The beauty of these new drones was that they would never run out of fuel. They could stay on station indefinitely. When their mission was over, they could jump back, be recovered and used again. The only thing better than a cheap, throwaway drone, was a cheap, reusable drone, and now they had one. Conversion of fighters and sentry frigates with the new power systems was proceeding as fast as possible, even if that meant delaying the repair of larger ships damaged in the Battle for Earth. That battle had shown how vulnerable large ships were and how useful smaller units like fighters were. Fighters had always been able to carry a portable laser module, but that laser depended on power from fusion power plants, which used up a lot of the limited amount of heavy hydrogen that fighters were able to carry. Now, with the new power technology, the engineers were taking a hard look at finally giving fighters a half-decent laser capability. Fighters armed with that capability could patrol Earth orbit in large numbers and swat any repeat of the attack on Earth. There was one thing, though. Carriers would still be useful for handling massed fighter attacks, and the heavy carrier Midway was far enough along that it made sense to finish her. Two more light carriers damaged in the attack still needed to be repaired, and Howard was determined to see that done too.
But that was still to come. What he was interested in right now were the three green dots on the display. They represented fighters that were on their way to the three Sogas star systems containing colonies and enough infrastructure to be used as fleet bases. The three fleets that had attacked Earth had come from three different directions, and these bases would have been the perfect jumping-off points for those missions. The three converted fighters on their way to those systems were carrying recon and message drones. If those enemy fleets had gone back to those bases and were still there, Howard was determined to give them a taste of their own medicine. Even now, Iceman was forming a Strike Force of converted fighters armed with Mark 1bs.
* * *
The freighter carrying the SPG arrived back at Earth 16 days later. Within 24 hours of that event, three message drones arrived from the Sogas fleet base systems designated as Sierra1, Sierra2 and Sierra3. S1 and S3 had a small number of ships in orbit. Neither one had more than half a dozen. S2, on the other hand, had over 60 ships in orbit, and that was just the ones that the recon drones and fighter could detect via reflected sunlight. Undoubtedly there were more. The SPG had a startling interpretation.
"They're organizing another major attack on Earth," said Kelly.
"How do you know it's Earth that's the target. We still have a lot of other colonies out there."
Kelly nodded politely. "Our reasoning goes like this. They know that we have RTC capability, just like they do. That capability is most helpful in defense. That means that any attack they make, we'll know about in advance UNLESS the attack is so overwhelming that we can't send back a message afterwards. There's only one target that has that kind of fatal blow potential, and that's Earth. Having said that, they might also be thinking that the bio-weapon is spreading like wildfire, just as it actually did in the old timeline. In that case, Earth makes even more sense because they would want to check to see how many of us are left here. The colonies can then be picked off at their leisure if there are any plague survivors left. Our best guess is that they would stop at Avalon on their way here to see how effective the bio-weapon was."
Howard grunted his acknowledgment. The logic was sound. "How soon does the SPG expect the next attack?"
Kelly smiled. "That's the beauty of having a detailed history of the old timeline. Our timeline has changed, but the Soga's timeline has not changed, at least not yet. We know from Kronos' data that there was no new attack on Earth until after the last convoy of ships left for Site B, which would have taken place in another six days from now. How long after that point in time it took for the Sogas to get here we don't know, but if we beef up our Early Warning Network, we should be able to detect their line of advance. I understand that we'll have the RTC device ready in a few days. That means that we can be certain of receiving advanced warning of any attack either here or somewhere else, and we can be ready for them."
"What does the SPG think of the idea of attacking that fleet at their base before they come here?"
"If we had the element of surprise, it'd be worth trying, but their RTC capability will give them a warning too, Sir. I would also point out that targeting moving ships would be much more difficult than aiming at stationary ground targets. We'd suffer losses, Sir, and we might need those assets to defend Earth later on. We'd also run the risk of having our fighters on their way there, while the enemy fleet was on its way here."
Howard nodded his agreement. "Okay, you've convinced me that I should hold Iceman's Strike Force back, in order to intercept the next Sogas attack. If Shiloh returns in time, he can lead the interception with Valiant and Resolute. If not, then Iceman will lead the effort. Let me know if the SPG comes up with anything else."
* * *
Shiloh did not get back in time to lead the interception effort. Three days after talking with Kelly, Howard received the first drone report that the Sogas fleet at S2 was on the move. It was headed for a star system with a gas giant that would still give it the option of moving along Path A or B. Without further information, such as a vision, there was no way to accurately determine which path, and in which refueling system, the interception could be made. Howard was just about to contact Iceman to ask him if he had received any kind of vision, when Iceman called him.
"Iceman to CSO."
"I was just about to call YOU, Iceman. Let me guess. You've had a vision."
"Roger that, Admiral. I had a vision of receiving a video transmission from you. Have you noticed that you're in a lot of these visions? You're also getting better at conveying important information in them. I can replay the vision for you if you'd like to see it. The causality of this loop in time is interesting to contemplate. Will you say the same things in the future if you don't see the recording in the past? In other words, which came first, the recording or the transmission?"
Howard shook his head. Thinking about this kind of time loop always gave him a headache. "Just play the damn thing for me, Iceman," he said. Seconds later, when he saw himself on the display, he thought, Do I really look like that?
"Glad your Task Force made it back from Red11 in one piece, Iceman. Using your recon drones to pinpoint their positions so that you could target them with your jump drones was a brilliant idea, regardless of where it came from. Not only did they take some losses and turn back, but we now know that they've developed and deployed anti-drone missiles. If your fighters had fired their Mark 1s instead, most of them wouldn't have gotten through, and the enemy might have kept on coming. Now turn Resolute over to your XO. Then get yourself down here, so that we can use the RTC to send this and the other visions back, and get that out of the way. Howard clear."
As soon as the recording had finished, Howard spoke. "Red11, eh? That's not far from the Avalon system."
"Roger that, Admiral. In fact, it's close enough that they could refuel there, jump to Avalon, and still have enough fuel left to jump back to Red11 if they had to."
Howard nodded. "And now they have anti-drone missiles, too! The SPG predicted they would acquire that capability sooner or later. You know what this means."
"Affirmative, Admiral. It means the Mark 1b is very close to being obsolete. Our new jump-capable attack drones can work if we have precise targeting information, but that's not always going to be the case. It may be that the targets will be inside a gravity zone. If that's the case, then the jump drones won't be of any use. On the other hand, if we can get the bomb-pumped, x-ray laser targeting system working, we'll be able to blast through their ships' armor from beyond anti-drone missile range. From what Kronos has told me, the science data supplied by the Friendlies will speed up development of that weapon system."
Howard grinned. "Damn right it will! I'll tell the AWD Team to expedite work on that project. Now, about this incursion. How soon will your Strike Force have to leave Sol in order to get to Red11 before the enemy does?"
"If we want a reasonable margin for error, we should leave within 24 hours, Admiral."
"Fine. The vision says that you're on Resolute when you return from this interception mission. Transfer over to her immediately and take 25 fighters on board. The Strike Force will now be Task Force 91. You'll be in command, of course. Your orders are to proceed to Red11 and inflict as much damage on this enemy fleet as you can."
"Roger that, Admiral. It's too bad The CAG won't be back in time to come along, but he'll be able to command the next interception."
"You think they'll try again, Iceman?"
"Of course, Admiral. Even with the losses that we'll inflict, both sides realize this war will only end with one overwhelming blow. They'll try again. Having those x-ray laser warheads by then will help a lot, Admiral."
Howard nodded again. "I hear you. Resolute can leave orbit at your discretion. Good hunting, Iceman. Howard clear."
