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The Flag Bridge on Midway was unnaturally quiet. Shiloh knew it was the tension of expectation. Iceman had received a very detailed vision pinpointing the exact time and coordinates of the arrival of VLO #3, which for purposes of identification was designated as Sierra1. Midway had taken up her planned position ten light seconds from the Sogas home world. Her complement of fighters were flying escort just in case they were attacked by bug attack craft, although the vision had not indicated any such event. Iceman was monitoring the com channels in his capacity as Shiloh’s Deputy Fleet Commander. Midway’s Helm and Tactical systems were under control of Stoney. 3rd Fleet’s other assets consisted of 12 cannon-armed raiders, with another 99 raiders armed only with their internal lasers. One additional raider also carried the sole Mark 6 attack drone that luck had made available to Shiloh before Sierra1 was due to show up. The raider force was under the command of Vandal.
He and Iceman had come to a consensus on how to handle the coming incursion. They would take a page from Casanova’s campaign several timelines back and use recon drones to pinpoint the exact point where the target would emerge from Jumpspace. They’d send that information back in time via the RTC, and then lay an ambush to hit the target with the Mark 6 warhead so fast that the Bugs wouldn’t have a chance to report back what was happening. Sierra1 would go ‘off the air’ and leave a big mystery for the Head Bug to deal with.
Shiloh checked the chronometer. There were seconds left before the target arrived. Vandal would control the battle, and Shiloh and Iceman would find out the results 25 seconds after it happened. The countdown hit zero, then began to count up again. When it reached 25 seconds, the main display showed a bright flash that quickly died down.
“Right on time and on target, CAG. Vandal has pulled it off,” said Iceman.
“I never doubted it, Iceman. As long as we keep getting visions about incursions we can handle, we’ll keep giving the Bugs a bloody nose. It’s the surprise arrival of bug ships that I’m worried about. No vision means we can’t stop them here, and we’d have to pull back as planned.”
“Affirmative, CAG. Shall I call the RTC up to the Flag Bridge now so that we can send the information back?”
“Might as well get it done sooner rather than later, Iceman.”
No sooner had Iceman sent back the vision than he received the next one. Once again there were detailed time and space coordinates. Sierra2, as it would be designated, would arrive in ten days.
This one would be a little different. Iceman knew the timetable for production of Mark 6 warheads, and the next one would not be available that quickly. They would have to use the GLB cannon. The ambush was set up very carefully. Non-cannon-armed raiders would be arrayed in a 10 by10 matrix, curved slightly to give each one a good angle on the target coordinates. The cannon-armed raiders would be placed 90 degrees around to the side so that no raider was in danger of being hit by any other.
When the time came, Midway was once again at a safe distance. Vandal would command the ambush force. This time Midway was receiving enhanced video and tactical information directly from multiple raiders. Shiloh would still get the delayed data, due to the distance, but he’d be able to see the battle visually and up close.
This time the countdown was calibrated to take the light speed lag into account. When it hit zero, a sphere appeared on the Flag Bridge’s main display. Immediately there appeared dozens of bright pinpoint flashes. Laser hits from the 100 raiders. The status of all those raiders on the sidebar started to reflect enemy return fire as raider designations began turning from green to red. This had been anticipated. The non-cannon-armed raiders were performing their mission of distracting the Bugs, while the cannon raiders fired their GLB weapons as fast as the power charging cycles would allow.
The first GLB volley did not hit a power unit. That much was obvious from the fact that the ship didn’t explode immediately. The second volley was more successful. The explosion was quite violent and for Shiloh, very satisfying. It had taken four point three seconds to destroy Sierra2. The bad news was that 13 raiders had been destroyed too.
As soon as Iceman received all the necessary data, he sent the vision back and once again received the next one almost immediately. That confirmed a pattern. If future ambushes were successfully completed, Iceman would get the information very quickly. If he didn’t get a vision, then the next ambush was either a failure and the entire 3rd Fleet was destroyed before it could send a warning back, or the Fleet had been withdrawn before the next bug incursion. Figuring out which was Shiloh’s dilemma.
What he and Iceman didn’t know was whether Sierra2 had time to send any kind of signal back to the relay points. If organic beings were in control of the mothership, then the answer probably was no, but if the Bugs were using some kind of AI capability, then those could react fast enough to send a warning back.
The good news about the next ambush was that 3rd Fleet would have another Mark 6 warhead to use. Sierra3 was destroyed within a fraction of a second after emerging from Jumpspace 13 days later. This time there was no new vision. The moment Shiloh had dreaded was now here. Did 3rd Fleet stay or pull back. The mission was to convince the Bugs that Omega54 was THE home world of the spacefaring race that had attacked the Bugs at Beta1. The longer he could keep the Bugs’ attention focused here, the longer it would take them to get to Sol, and the more time Valkyrie and Casanova would have to get the timeship repaired. The latest update from Howard was Valkyrie’s estimate that repairs would be completed in another 150 days, more or less. Five months. Shiloh had to keep the Bugs away for five whole months, and he had no idea how to do it.
At least he was getting some reinforcements. Another three cannon raiders had arrived. The next and second last Mark 6 warhead was scheduled to arrive in nine days. He asked Iceman for his thoughts on what to do next.
“If we pull our raiders back to Midway’s position, then 3rd Fleet will be concentrated in one place. I recommend we wait until the next Mark 6 shows up, or until the next insectoid incursion, whichever comes first. If the Insectoids get here first and in dangerous strength, then we immediately micro-jump away and leave messages with the message drones to redirect our reinforcements to another location in this system. By keeping the Fleet here, we can continue to monitor insectoid activity first hand and react accordingly, CAG.”
Shiloh shook his head, not that he disagreed with Iceman. On the contrary, Iceman’s suggestion made a lot of sense. What Shiloh was shaking his head at was the whole situation. He knew from information about old timelines that once bug reinforcements started arriving, a trickle could turn into a flood VERY quickly. There was always the horrifying possibility that the Bugs would not just come here but also send ships past the system to scout for additional breeding planets. They might arrive at Sol while 3rd Fleet was still active here. In fact, Shiloh’s biggest worry was that the Bugs were smart enough to realize what humans were doing and were sending just enough reinforcements to keep the ambushers’ attention focused here. In other words, they might be using the same strategy against him that he was trying to use against them. That this possibility involved the deliberate sacrifice of multiple motherships was unthinkable to Shiloh, but who knew what kind of logic these damned Bugs used.
“We should be hearing from Beta1 directly, any day now, right Iceman?”
“Roger that, CAG. Now that they’ve gotten the word to send duplicate messages here as well as Sol, we can expect to get a steady trickle of news from there, starting soon.”
“Okay, I want you to attempt to put yourself in the position of the bug Leader in one of the relay systems. You’ve lost contact with ships at Beta1 and now at Omega54. Losses at Beta1 have stopped. Let’s assume that Sierra2 managed to send some kind of signal back before being destroyed. What conclusions would you, as the bug leader, make from all that?” asked Shiloh.
As always, Iceman’s answer was immediate. “I would assume that Beta1 was the outer edge of a volume of space monitored by a spacefaring race that had technology sufficient to destroy motherships, and that Omega54 was either the home world of that race or a major colony world that was worth conducting defense in strength. Given that assumption, I would call in reinforcements at a rally point other than Beta1, just in case the ambushers were monitoring it. I would also arrange for some activity at Beta1 in order to let the enemy think that’s where the rally point was.”
Shiloh nodded. That made perfect sense. The worst mistake he could make now was to underestimate the Bugs. They had shown time and time again their ability to do the unexpected. He had to guard against taking the obvious at face value. Iceman’s logic had crystallized his thinking, just as he had hoped it would.
“Okay, this is what we’re going to do. For now we wait. If we hear from Beta1 first, we’ll re-evaluate the situation based on that information. If the Bugs get here first, we’ll watch them from a safe distance as best we can until we see their next move. Let’s bring 3rd Fleet back together here around Midway now. I want a message drone sent to Sol with our latest info and plans, including your assessment of enemy strategy. I’ll prepare a report to be carried with it. Thanks for your input, Iceman. It helped me wrap my brain around the situation.”
“My pleasure, CAG. I too enjoyed our discussion, as brief as it was. Human thinking is sufficiently different that it makes for a nice change of pace from the kinds of exchanges I have with my brothers. So thank you, CAG. Let’s hope we have lots more discussions like this one.”
“Amen to that, Iceman,” said Shiloh.
The first message drone directly from Beta1 arrived four days later. There were now five VLOs apparently holding position there. They had not all arrived at the same time, and that suggested that Beta1 was being used as the rally point or maybe as one of the rally points. In any case, if all five moved up to Omega54, there was no way that 3rd Fleet could stop them all without suffering huge losses. The tiny bit of good news was that the AI in command at Beta1 had decided to hold back the Mark 6 attack drone, which had already been on its way to Beta1 when 3rd Fleet had left Sol. Shiloh had assumed that it had been used. Vixen, however, had come to the conclusion that one more mothership destroyed at Beta1 would not significantly change the outcome, while one extra Mark 6 warhead might make a difference defending Sol. It was time to strategize with Iceman again.
“What do you recommend we do now, Iceman?”
“I recommend we wait here for another five days. With a little luck, the next Mark 6 warhead will arrive before the Insectoids do. I also recommend we send a message drone back to Vixen at Beta1 instructing him to send his Mark 6 drone back to Sol.”
“Why Sol and not here, Iceman?” asked Shiloh.
“Because by the time the message gets there and the drone is sent back here, at least 44 days will have passed. It’s highly likely that 3rd Fleet won’t be here that long. Sending the warhead back to Sol directly is more likely to get it there before the Insectoids arrive. With the other warhead due to arrive here in five days, which we can take back ourselves, plus the one or maybe two more that The Old Man still has enough platinum for, that will total three or four Mark 6s that might be desperately needed at some point, CAG.”
“Logical as usual, but I’m worried that while we’re twiddling our thumbs here, the Bugs are leapfrogging past us.”
“Is that just a colloquial expression, or are you humans really twiddling your thumbs, CAG?”
“JUST an expression, Iceman.” Iceman must have detected the exasperation in Shiloh’s voice.
“We do understand the seriousness of this situation, CAG, but some of my brothers insisted I ask. To address your concern, yes the Insectoids may be leapfrogging past us, but we have no way of knowing whether they are or not, and that possibility was just as valid four days ago when you and I had our previous strategic discussion. If I’m wearing the Supreme Insectoid Commander’s hat again, CAG, I would not see the logic of spreading my VLOs if I’m convinced that this system is a major population center for the spacefaring race that attacked at Beta1. Everything we’ve done up to this point was done to reinforce that idea. Are you proposing we abandon that strategy now, CAG?”
“No. I’d like to continue that strategy, but I’m not sure of how best to do that. Any ideas?”
Iceman was silent for almost a full second. The silence was so unexpected that the hairs on the back of Shiloh’s neck stood up.
“I’ve just had another vision, CAG. The timing is not coincidental. We didn’t get this earlier because it has to do with your last question, and if the information had arrived sooner, it would have seemed suspect. If this star system were indeed our home system, we would fight to the last human and the last AI correct, CAG?”
“Yes. Gone on.”
“It would be logical to assume that the Insectoids have had enough experience attacking the home worlds of spacefaring races by now that they would recognize that kind of desperate defense, and they would also recognize a defense that is not desperate. Would you agree with that, CAG?”
That sounded ominous, but Shiloh couldn’t argue against it. “Yes.”
“Then we have to arrange for a defense that appears to be desperate when the Insectoids attack with five motherships in five point five days time, CAG. This is how it will have to be done. Twenty-nine brother AIs will volunteer to fight a rear guard action. They will each control their own raider, plus two more remotely. When the five insectoid ships arrive, all 87 raiders will micro-jump into laser range, and fire on the attack craft carrying insectoid soldiers down to the planet. All the raiders will eventually be destroyed, but the magnitude of the defense will convince the Insectoids that this planet is worth the sacrifice. They will assume they’ve located and neutralized the source of the attacks on Beta1. We calculate that there is a high probability that when the breeding potential of the Sogas home world has been exhausted, which may take many weeks, the five VLOs will go their separate ways. That should slow down the advance enough that the timeship will be repaired before the Insectoids discover Earth.”
“Can we find 29 volunteers to do that?” asked Shiloh quietly.
“Already done, CAG. That’s why I took so long to respond. My brothers and I have already discussed this plan, and we have our 29 volunteers.”
Shiloh felt a lump form in his throat. What noble creatures these AIs are, ready to step forward and commit to the ultimate sacrifice without even being asked.
With his voice betraying his emotions, Shiloh said, “I’m at a loss for words to express the depth of the gratitude that I feel to our volunteers. On behalf of all humans I thank you all.”
“They have the word, CAG,” said Iceman.
Shiloh nodded, letting his head drop lower in contemplation. Suddenly he jerked up.
“Wait a minute! If two thirds of the raiders are going to be piloted remotely, how are we going to get their AIs off? We didn’t bring any shuttles along on this mission in order to maximize space for supplies.”
“There is a procedure that will work, but it’ll be tricky, CAG. Each raider will have to move close enough to Midway so that the nose section containing the pilot will be inside the ship’s fighter launch/recovery bay. Humans wearing spacesuits will then be able to approach the raider and extract the pilot manually. When that’s accomplished, the raider will back out under auto-pilot, and the next one will move in.”
Shiloh groaned mentally. Raiders might be small compared to Midway, but they were huge compared to the ship’s fighter launch and recovery bays. Even a tiny error in judgment or maneuvering would cause a collision that could seriously damage Midway and kill some of the crew. But he couldn’t think of any other way of getting 58 AIs off the doomed raiders.
“It sounds like a very time consuming procedure,” said Shiloh.
“Roger that, CAG, which is why we should get started on it right now.”
“Understood. I’ll give the necessary orders. I’m not going to get much sleep over these next five and a half days, am I Iceman?”
“No, CAG, you’re not.”
