| |
The problem posed by this battle for Earth was that the time it ended was known but not the time it began. So all units, ships, humans and AIs were on full alert an hour before the end time. Shiloh was strapped into his Command Chair with his pressure suit on and his helmet in its cradle beside him. His com implant was active, and all three AIs could hear him. The ship was at Battle Stations, as was the whole Fleet, but the enemy hadn't arrived yet. All they could do was wait and try to stay at a heightened level of alertness.
"Howard to Shiloh."
The suddenness of the CSO's voice would have made Shiloh jump if he hadn't been strapped down. "Shiloh here. Go ahead, Sir."
"Last minute pep talk, Admiral. I know you don't need it, but this waiting is driving me crazy, so this talk is as much for my benefit as it is for yours. How are your people doing?"
Shiloh looked around the Flag Bridge. "They're doing fine, Sir. Some have opening night jitters, others are chomping at the bit, I'm trying to stay relaxed and alert at the same time."
Howard laughed. "Yes, I know what you mean. But at least you have your Fleet under control. I have to deal with the civilians, half of whom want to string me up for my high-handedness while the other half want to panic. We STILL have some civilians left in the cities, Goddamn it! I keep getting asked what I'll do to make sure they don't carry the plague anywhere else, and I keep evading the damn question because if I answered them truthfully, they'd faint with shock. I'm NOT letting this plague get loose!" There was a pause as the CSO calmed down and Shiloh waited. When he spoke again, the Admiral was much calmer. "Anyway, that's MY problem, not yours. I'm not going to try to second-guess you. You're the Field Commander. You do what you think is best, and I'll back you no matter what."
"Thank you, Sir. We know how this battle will end, but we'll still give it our best shot."
"Of that I have no doubt. Okay, I'll get out of your hair. Good luck and good hunting, Admiral. Howard clear."
––––––––
It was now five minutes until the time the battle ended, and still there was no sign of the enemy. Part of Shiloh was relieved that the battle wasn't going to be a long one, but another part was worried. The previous Battle for Earth had lasted less than one minute. He didn't like battles that happened that fast. There was no time to think. He watched the chronometer, which now seemed to be running in slow motion, of course. Just as he was about to reach for the container of water in the rack beside his chair, the tactical display pinged for attention. Shit! This was it!
Multiple red dots appeared close together, right on the edge of the gravity zone. Since they didn't know where the enemy ships would show up, Dreadnought and the five carriers were evenly spaced around the planet. All of the fighters were deployed in six groups, which were also evenly spaced. The idea was that regardless of where the enemy emerged from Jumpspace, at least five groups would have a direct line-of-sight and could fire at them. He quickly checked the icon data. Total number of enemy ships was already over 200 and still climbing! Velocity was ... 33% of light speed! Preliminary trajectory was a path that would cross the gravity zone and exit about 2.44 million kilometers away. Essentially, the enemy fleet was taking a short cut through the top of the zone. Wait! Why weren't the X-ray laser drones firing? Something was wrong. They should have fired by now. The enemy ships were starting to launch their bio-devices.
"Iceman! Why aren't we firing?" he yelled out loud.
Iceman analyzed the incoming data almost as fast as it arrived. The enemy was not repeating their strategy from the first battle. This time they were barreling into the zone, which meant that the defenders couldn't use any jump drones to attack them. That was smart thinking, but the problem with this high rate of speed was that the bio-devices would have a lot of momentum to overcome in trying to change course towards the planet. That meant that there was more time to burn them out of the sky with defensive lasers than he and Shiloh had anticipated. It also meant that these enemy ships couldn't jump away quickly and, therefore, they were going to be shooting at the defending ships and fighters for a lot longer. That was bad news. Continuous laser fire from 200+ ships would decimate the defending units so fast that hundreds of bio-devices would get through the gauntlet. Was it better to prevent some of the bio-devices from launching even if that meant there'd be a lot fewer defending ships to shoot down the rest? Or was it better to let all the devices launch in order to aim accurately at the ships and kill as many of them as possible to protect the defending forces? He rapidly did the calculations and made his decision.
There were 66 x-ray laser drones in orbit in 6 clusters of 11 each. Each cluster was evenly spaced out from the rest, for the same reason as the fighters and ships. The two clusters closest to the enemy fleet could aim accurately more quickly than the rest, while the two clusters furthest away had to take the most time to aim accurately. So that's what Iceman ordered them to do. The two nearest clusters would fire after five seconds, two more after ten seconds and the last two clusters after fifteen seconds. With more time to aim accurately, each of the drone's eight rods would be pointed at a different target. There would be a total of 528 shots versus 225 targets. The first pair of clusters concentrated their fire on 88 targets.
Shiloh had just finished asking his question when the Assistant Weapons Officer yelled out, "We're firing on their ships!" Dreadnought started to maneuver, too. Not as violently as a light carrier would have but still violently enough to feel it. The tactical display was zooming in now, and Shiloh could see the mass of blue dots representing the bio-devices gradually separating from the large cluster of red dots and heading in a curving line towards the planet. There were over 2200 bio-devices. Shiloh was about to yell at Iceman again when the display indicated that two clusters of x-ray drones had fired. Seventy-three of the red dots flashed and turned orange, meaning they had taken damage. "Four targets damaged! We're shifting to new targets!" said the AWO.
"We're taking hits on the hull! Penetration of the hull in two places!" yelled the Engineering Officer.
Shiloh needed to know why they weren't following the targeting plan. Iceman wasn't answering, probably because he was too busy. "Valkyrie, what's happening?" asked Shiloh.
He heard her reply via his implant. "These enemy ships can't jump away for a while, so they're going to keep firing on our units until we have nothing left to shoot back with. The bio-devices will have to wait until we've neutralized their fleet, CAG. Now don't bother me. I've got a ship to fight."
"Four more targets damaged! Shifting targeting again!" yelled the AWO.
"We're starting to take damage! Two turrets out of action. Minor damage from hull penetrations!"
The display pinged again. Two more x-ray drone clusters had fired, and 70 more enemy ships were damaged. Shiloh was aware that damaged didn't necessarily mean they couldn't fire their lasers. More and more of the red dots were turning orange and were falling behind the rest as the enemy fleet accelerated to make return fire more difficult. In fact, over half of them were now falling behind. Lack of maneuverability could indicate lack of power, which would prevent them from firing again, too. If Iceman was ordering the x-ray drones to aim for the part of the target most likely to contain their power plant, then that would effectively cripple the ship with one blow. He focused his attention on the clusters of fighters and was shocked at how small the fighter groups nearest the enemy now were. One group was almost completely gone. Another had less than six left. Groups further away were faring better, but they were taking losses too.
"Three more turrets knocked out! We're getting major hull penetr—"
The EO's report was cut off by the loud shriek of tortured metal and a brilliant flash of light. Part of the ceiling fell, with a piece hitting a glancing blow to the right side of Shiloh's head. The Engineering Station was now on fire, and the EO was looking at what was left of his right arm with a stunned expression. The automatic fire suppression system was taking care of the fire, and the EO had slumped to the deck holding the end of his right arm with his left hand. No one could help him right now. He would have to hang on until the battle was over.
Shiloh glanced back at the display just in time to see the last two clusters of x-ray drones fire. Sixty-five hits. A quick visual estimation of the number of red dots remaining looked like a dozen or so.
"Three more targets damaged! Retargeting!" The AWO's voice was getting hoarse now. He was having trouble keeping up with Valkyrie's fire control. The number of red dots was shrinking fast now that all of the defending ships and fighters were concentrating all their fire on them. Speaking of ships, he looked at the status of the carriers. All had taken damage. Valiant and Intrepid were no longer maneuvering or firing. That was bad. Resolute was maneuvering but not firing. Vigilant was firing but not maneuvering. Midway was still doing both, as was Dreadnought.
"We're switching fire to the bios!" yelled the AWO.
It's about time, thought Shiloh. He watched the total number of bio-devices still intact start to drop fast, but was it fast enough? The blue dots were getting closer to Earth, and there were still a lot of them. He held his breath, as the blue cluster got smaller but closer at the same time. The total remaining were now less than 1,000, but they were getting very close. The total was dropping faster as the fighter groups furthest away got closer and therefore had better firing accuracy. He felt a chill go up his spine as over 100 devices hit the edge of Earth's atmosphere, but then he realized that they were still being fired on. The upper atmosphere was too thin to protect them against laser fire, but they were dropping lower into the atmosphere fast. After the total remaining hit 7, there were no further changes.
The AWO spoke, "We've stopped firing! All units have stopped firing!"
"Get me the CSO!" shouted Shiloh to no one in particular. As he said that, he unbuckled himself and stood up. Howard's face appeared on the display, just as Shiloh remembered it in his vision. Shiloh took a deep breath and said, "Some of them got through and are in Earth's atmosphere now, Admiral! It looks like they're headed for the urban areas. We have to assume that they'll release a bio-weapon."
"There's still a chance of containment. What cities are being targeted?" asked Howard. Shiloh looked at the map now appearing in the display and the list of city names on the sidebar. He read off the seven names. Howard nodded.
"Exactly as predicted. Don't blame yourself, Shiloh. I know you gave it your best shot even though we knew this would happen. If containment fails, then we just have to hope that we started work on Blackjack's idea in time. You better get that wound looked after. It's bleeding like hell."
Shiloh didn't know what Howard was talking about until he realized that the right side of his face felt wet. He touched it with his hand and when he pulled his hand back it was covered with blood. Son of a bitch! He was injured and hadn't even realized it in the heat of battle.
"I'll have it looked after, Sir. Iceman can handle the mopping up, although I don't see how we'll be able to take prisoners from the crippled ships. Their momentum will carry them into deep space before we can send shuttles after—"
Howard interrupted him. "I don't give a damn if we get any prisoners or not. We can't even communicate with them, yet. You let me worry about that. You and Iceman take care of your own dead and wounded. Tell your people for me that they did well, Admiral. Howard clear."
While Shiloh wondered what he could do to stem the bleeding, one of the Flag Bridge crew handed him a white piece of cloth and said, "Medical team is on their way here to look at the EO. They'll have something more appropriate for your wound, Sir." Shiloh thanked him and looked at the Engineering Officer. Two other personnel were kneeling beside him trying to prevent the stump of his arm from bleeding too much.
With the cloth pressed against his head wound, which was now starting to hurt like hell, Shiloh turned back to the display. He wondered if the battle was really over or if there was another enemy fleet on the verge of jumping in.
"Iceman, keep everyone at Battle Stations," he said. No answer.
"Iceman! Can you hear me?"
"Valkyrie to CAG. Iceman is gone. So is Casanova, CAG. The Main Bridge was hit at the same time as the Flag Bridge. The beam cut through both of the other two AI stations. Titan has assumed temporary tactical command. I've passed on your order regarding Battle Stations."
Shiloh was stunned. Iceman gone? And Casanova too! Oh God, poor Valkyrie!
"Valkyrie, I'm so sorry to hear about Casanova. Are you okay?"
"I'm undamaged, CAG. Thank you for your condolences. Will you be wanting an update on Dreadnought's status now?"
Shiloh shook his head in wonderment at her ability to focus back to her duties so quickly. "By all means, Commander."
"Dreadnought still has full power and maneuverability. Seven laser turrets out of action. Explosive decompression in five compartments. Two fatalities reported so far. Twelve injured including your EO and yourself. Minor damage to life support systems, but nothing critical. Compared to the carriers, we got off pretty easy, CAG, but they vaporized a lot of her armor. I don't think she could survive another fight like this in the state she's in now."
"Understood. Do you want another AI to relieve you?"
"Not until we're sure the battle is over and my crew are taken care of, CAG, but thanks for the offer. I'll grieve for Casanova later. Right now I'm still needed here."
Shiloh heard one of the crew say, "The medics are here!"
He turned to see three medical personnel come through the hatch. They saw him and started towards him. He pointed to the wounded EO and said, "Him first." As they rushed over to the injured officer, Shiloh heard the tactical display ping for attention. Oh God! Now what? He looked at it and couldn't immediately see any change, but it soon became obvious that the damaged and crippled enemy ships were blowing themselves up. Well that takes care of the prisoner issue.
With the relief that it wasn't another attack, came a wave of lightheadedness. Probably from blood loss and adrenaline fatigue, he thought. He carefully sat down. One of the medics noticed, came over, and started to work on his head wound. Shiloh started to say something and then noticed that the room seemed to get darker. What the hell is wrong with the lights? His consciousness then fell into the abyss of blackness.
* * *
Benjamin Levinson woke to the sound of the sirens. He concluded that they must be pretty loud sirens to be heard all the way down here. He'd been living in this abandoned maintenance shaft for over a year now, and he was pretty happy with it. He had running water, a more or less constant temperature, and even the electricity to run his electronics. His enemies wouldn't find him down here, and he'd be damned if he was going to leave the city. His enemies would find him then for sure. He laughed at the prognosis of the psychiatrists at the clinic. Severe paranoia? Ha! What did they know? Even paranoid people had enemies, and he had lots of them. Besides, with 99.9% of everyone else gone, he might be able to scrounge some pretty good stuff for his hideaway here. He decided to go up and look around.
The streets were completely empty. The sirens were still blaring, and it was obvious now why he had heard them. Every siren in the city must be going off. Something was happening, but what? He looked up between the canyons of tall buildings and saw a fiery streak, followed by the sound of some sort of collision. A few steps brought him to the street corner just in time to see something metallic bounce off the building down the street and hit the ground. He rushed over to it. There was smoke coming from it, and he could hear the pinging sound that hot metal makes when it cools down rapidly. It looked like a broken bottle, only made of metal instead of glass or plastic. There seemed to be a small green light inside. Levinson looked around to make sure none of those weird guys in their yellow hazard suits were around, and then he tried to pick up the object. He dropped it and cursed out loud. He should have realized it would be too hot to handle with bare hands. Looking around, he spotted a section of newspaper being blown by the wind. He snagged it and folded it until it was thick enough to provide some protection. He then used the newspaper to pick up the...whatever it was and examined it closely. The inside looked pretty complicated, but there was a green light for sure. He sniffed. Well, what do'ya know! The damn thing even smelled good. A sweet smell. He inhaled deeply. The only thing wrong with living underground was the smell. If this thing wasn't good for anything else, it might at least make his cubbyhole smell nicer. He carried it back with a smile on his face.
* * *
Kelly stood patiently on the spaceport tarmac while the shuttle carrying crew and, more importantly, Vice-Admiral Shiloh arrived from Dreadnought. It was almost 24 hours since the battle. Space Force was licking its wounds, yet again. Howard had declared the battle over and told the ship crews they could stand down. He had ordered her to escort Shiloh to his quarters and make sure he was rested for the debriefing the next morning. She looked at the setting sun. It would be dark in another half hour, but the day wasn't over yet. She tried not to think of what Valkyrie must be feeling. Earlier today, she had briefly talked with her. Valkyrie was still refusing to be relieved of her duties, even though Dreadnought was now more or less powered down and had almost no crew left on board. Kelly understood why. Casanova, or rather what was left of his brain case, was still on the ship, and Valkyrie wanted to stay close to it for as long as possible.
When the shuttle came to a stop and the door opened, Shiloh was the last one to exit, as per protocol. Senior Officers were always the first to get on and the last to get off. She noticed that he came down the steps carefully, as if he wasn't completely sure of his balance. She also noticed the white bandage wrapped around his head and the stain of dried blood on his uniform collar. She walked towards him as he looked around.
"The Old Man sent me, Admiral," she said as she came up to him. "I'm supposed to make sure that you're looked after and rested for tomorrow's debriefing session." She managed to keep her tone professional, but inside she was on the verge of tears. My God, he looks like he's aged ten years! This battle has really hit him hard! She was surprised by the emotion she now felt. Is this what my alternate self felt for Victor? There was no answer to her question, but that didn't matter anymore. She knew what she wanted to do now. "Don’t worry about a thing. I'll have you back in your quarters in no time." Shiloh didn't say anything, but he did nod. He didn't react when she put her hand around his arm and gently guided him forward. She signaled to a waiting Space Force limo flying the 1 star flag of a Vice-Admiral to come closer. Shiloh got in the back, and she followed him. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes for the duration of the whole trip. She watched him intently. When the limo pulled up in front of the Space Force Officers Guest Quarters, she gently shook him awake. She took note of the fact that he didn't say anything when she steered him away from the wing reserved for Flag Officers. Instead, they went to the section usually assigned to Commanders, the wing where her quarters were. She unlocked the door and turned to look at Shiloh. He stood there and looked back at her with an expression that was one of complete calm except for the eyes. The eyes were smiling in that way that only eyes can. He knows what I'm going to do next, she thought. She smiled back, took his arm again and pulled him inside.
The sex, while not that intense physically due to his exhaustion and loss of blood, was intense on an emotional level. They both knew instinctively that they had come perilously close to losing each other in the battle, and their souls seemed to want to make up for lost time. What Shiloh found most remarkable was that neither one of them said a single word once they were inside her quarters, until hours later. When the soul hunger had been satisfied, she ordered some food, which they ate while sitting up in bed. With Kelly leaning back against his chest, Shiloh told her about the battle and the loss of Iceman. She told him about her talk with Valkyrie. By the end they both had tears in their eyes.
Having finished eating, she asked him if he was up for some more sex. He said yes. She quickly cleared the bed of the leftover food, plates, glasses, etc. By the time she was finished, she found Shiloh asleep ... and that was okay. She lay down beside him and put her arm over him. His shallow regular breathing made her eyelids heavy, and she willingly surrendered to sleep.
Shiloh was on Dreadnought's Flag Bridge when the display pinged, but the sound wasn't really a ping. It sounded like...something else, something familiar, and the sound was getting louder. He woke up and realized two things. He'd been dreaming, and his implant was signaling. He looked around and found a chronometer that said it was still the middle of the night. He then remembered where he was, and with whom. A quick glance showed him that Kelly was still asleep. He activated his implant.
"Shiloh here."
There was a short pause, and then he heard Howard's weary voice.
"Howard here. I’m sorry to wake you, Victor, but this can't wait."
Shiloh was instantly awake now. Howard usually called him by his rank and occasionally by his last name, but The Old Man had NEVER called him by his first name.
"That's okay, Sir. I'm listening."
"A message drone has just arrived. There's another Goddamn enemy fleet heading our way, Victor. Minimum of 103 ships. They were detected refueling at the Avalon System. They can be here in two days if they push it. There's not enough time left to build up our stockpiles of x-ray laser drones. Half our fighter force is destroyed. Midway and Dreadnought are the only two ships left that can fight at all, and you know better than I do what kind of shape they're in. There's no way we can stop them this time, Victor."
