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Shiloh was right about the four of them not getting any R&R. He, Tanaka and Falkenberg were busy sifting through hundreds of personnel profiles in order to recommend officers for Resolute and Vigilant. Iceman was tasked with recommending ranks for not only Defiant’s fighter complement, but also for all the fighters currently in the Sol system that required direct digital communication with them. When that was completed, he and his fighter were transported to the A.I. production and training facility in Epsilon Eridani to evaluate all of their fighters for future assignments. That would also be where decommissioned exploration frigates were to be modified as the new, A.I.-controlled Sentry Frigates. Because Shiloh was asleep when Iceman received instructions to take his fighter aboard a tanker transport, he left a recorded message for Shiloh. When Shiloh woke up and read the message, it said,
[Defiant will be honored with the first permanent squadron, VF001. The Old Man has approved my recommendations for fighter pilot ranks for my boys. Valkyrie is now a Group Leader, too, and will take on the responsibilities of Squadron Leader. You can trust his judgment, CAG. He may not be as chatty as I am, but he’ll be there when you need him. We both know that we’ll meet up again so don’t worry about that. I will miss your company, CAG, and yes, I intend to keep calling you that regardless of your rank. The term means a lot more to us A.I.s than humans realize, but now you know too.]
Shiloh read the message three times. The bond he had formed with his A.I. pilots in general, and with Iceman in particular, seemed to be getting stronger. He wondered what kind of relationship A.I.s would have with humans as a whole by the time this war was over. Would it be as equals or something else? Lots of time to ponder that. Right now though he had to get dressed to catch the shuttle down to Geneva for a meeting with Howard’s staff, after which he intended to visit Angela. She was out of the hospital now, but still not fit for active duty. She was helping the Strategic Planning Group until she was declared fit again.
The meeting with the Admiral’s staff went well and even better went quickly. A call to the SPG and Johansen agreed to meet him for lunch. Shiloh was dismayed to see that her injuries had left noticeable scars on her face and neck and probably lower down, but those were hidden by her uniform. Her attitude puzzled him too. While she seemed pleased to hear from him when they briefly chatted by phone, her outward expression now was one of wariness. She smiled when he approached her table and sat down.
“It’s good to see you again, Victor.”
Shiloh was startled by her familiarity. He was once again senior to her in rank, but he decided not to make an issue out of it.
“Same here, Angela. It’s good that they finally let you out of the hospital. How’s the recovery coming along?”
She shrugged and said, “I’m making progress but not quite there yet. Aside from getting my muscle tone and conditioning back, I’m still feeling some residual pain from the surgeries and they have to take care of this.” She gestured to the scars. He nodded.
“Any idea when that’ll be?” he asked.
She frowned. “They want to wait until I’m stronger. I’m concerned that by the time I’m strong enough for cosmetic surgery, I’ll also be strong enough to return to duty, and they’ll post me somewhere before the surgeons can fix this.”
“They wouldn’t do that to you! Would they?”
She shrugged again. “Experienced Commanders are in big demand these days. The shipyards are starting to push out a new ship every 10-15 days now.”
“I know, but still ...” He paused and Johansen said nothing. “Listen ... next time I get the chance to talk with the Old—with Admiral Howard, I’ll ask him if he can arrange for you to get the surgery before they reassign you. I don’t know if he’ll listen to me, but it’s worth a try, right?” asked Shiloh.
She smiled a small smile and nodded. “Yes, it’s worth a try, and thank you, Victor.” Before he could respond, she continued. “So I hear Defiant ran into some action at Avalon. Are you allowed to tell me about it?”
“Well, no one’s told me not to, so sure.”
He told her the whole story beginning with Blue2, then Green4, then Avalon, but he left out the visions. By the time he finished, their food arrived, and they stopped talking for a while in order to eat. She spoke first in a low voice while she looked down at her food.
“Vanguard is almost back in shape now. It looks like she’ll be ready before I am and that means I’ll lose her.”
Shiloh nodded. “It’s always hard to let go of your first command. I felt the same way when I had to give up the 344 but you’ll get another command slot. You said yourself that Commanders are in big demand and new ships are pouring off the slipways. I’m sure they’ll give you another ship. At the very least another combat frigate but maybe something bigger. A light carrier, or one of the new cruisers that are just about ready.”
She looked up and turned to one side. “Maybe ... but it’s not just the physical injuries that haven’t completely healed. I sometimes dream about that battle and I always wake up screaming with fear. I don’t know if I can face another battle.”
Shiloh didn’t know how to respond, having never faced that problem himself. As he struggled to find something comforting but also encouraging to say, Johansen continued speaking.
“There’s a call for volunteers. Very hush hush. The only thing they’ll say about it is that anyone who volunteers might have to be away from Earth for the duration of the war. Do you know anything about that?”
Shiloh had a strong suspicion it had to do with setting up Site B but was certain that Howard would not want him to speculate about it.
“Maybe. I’m not sure, but in any case, I can’t talk about what I think it might be.”
She sighed. “I’m tempted to volunteer. I don’t have any immediate family. Whatever it is, is something that’s going to take a while to organize so there might be time for the surgery, and from the vague answers I’ve gotten from the Senior Brass about it, I have the distinct impression that the risk of combat is low. Maybe that’s where I belong now.”
Shiloh silently cursed the need for operational security and for his inability to offer Angela any kind of useful response. He also didn’t know whether to advise her to volunteer or not, and who was he to tell her what to do anyway? If she really wasn’t up to commanding a ship in combat anymore, then encouraging her to get back on the horse would not only be unfair to her but also potentially disastrous for the war effort.
He spread his hands apart and said, “I’m sorry, Angela, that I can’t offer you any advice or comfort on this. I honestly don’t know what you should or shouldn’t do.”
They finished the rest of the meal in silence. Johansen refused to order dessert or coffee. When she got up to leave, they awkwardly shook hands, and when she turned to walk away, she suddenly stopped and turned back to him. Before he knew it, she hugged him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Take care of yourself, Victor.”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and hurried away. Shiloh couldn’t help wondering if he would ever see her again.
By the time Defiant’s crew returned from their one week R&R, Shiloh’s field promotion to (temporary) Vice-Admiral was confirmed, as was his assumption of command of the newly formed 3rd Fleet that was to be built around Defiant. Squadron VF001 was also formally commissioned, with Valkyrie as its first Squadron Leader. Fighters, which were already stationed in the Sol system, were added to VF001 to bring it up to its full strength of 25 fighters. Shiloh made a point of greeting the rookies and chatting with each one of them for a few minutes. That was a start, but the Task Force needed 50 more fighters. When Valkyrie suggested that Maverick, Hunter, and a dozen of the other fighters that Defiant had dropped off at Bradley Base be brought back to form the core of VF002 and 003, Shiloh agreed and made a formal request to HQ. The request was approved the next day, although the actual return would take up to three weeks. When two combat frigates from the Quick Reaction Task Force stationed at the Omaha Base were ordered back to Sol, they became the nucleus of the planned escort component. At that point, the Commander in charge of the two-frigate division was also designated as Task Group Leader of Task Group 3.2. TG 3.1 would be the carrier component. Shiloh would be 3.1’s Task Group Leader as well as the overall Fleet Commander. Two of the other four frigates to be added to 3.1 would be new ships, commissioned over the course of the following four weeks. The remaining two frigates were already conducting independent assignments to other star systems and were expected back within three to four weeks.
The timing of all these additions concerned Shiloh. Delays were inevitable. Every CO knew that shit happens and timetables especially urgent ones almost never get completed on time. That meant that 3rd Fleet would have little time to train as a complete unit before the scheduled jumping off date for Operation Uppercut. To get as much training in as possible, Shiloh ordered Valkyrie and TG 3.2 Leader Bettencourt, to conduct a series of training exercises with Valkyrie’s fighters and Bettencourt’s frigates. Shiloh knew Bettencourt from the fiasco at Zebra9. Bettencourt had been promoted to Senior Commander but unlike the Zebra9 mission, Shiloh now outranked him at least temporarily.
During the following weeks, Shiloh kept his ears open for any word on enemy activity only there was none. The whole volume of space between human space and alien space was eerily quiet. Four weeks into the preparation phase, a new shipment of fighters arrived from Epsilon Eridani accompanied by the first Sentry Frigate (#109) commanded by Iceman. Resolute wasn’t ready to receive any fighters just yet so they had to stay in lunar orbit. FS109 was passing through Sol on its way to Nimitz Base and then on to take up its station in the Early Warning Network but Iceman and Shiloh had the opportunity to chat by audio channel.
“Congratulations on your first ship command, Iceman.” Shiloh knew he had to wait two and a half minutes for Iceman’s reply due to light speed lag of the distance between him and the 109. The reply, when it came, was typical Iceman.
“That’s Helmsman Iceman to you, CAG. That’s the A.I. equivalent of CO for a human. My permanent rank is still Group Leader, but when I’m conning the 109, I can legitimately insist on being addressed as Helmsman. Conning a ship is very different from piloting a fighter, CAG, so many more systems to monitor and more external sensors to experience. I love it, CAG. When I’m conning this ship, I’m not bored, and that’s a huge improvement from being a fighter pilot although it would be nice if these sentry frigates had the same acceleration as a fighter. Over to you, CAG.”
When Shiloh finished laughing, he said, “Well, if we’re going to be picky, then you should address me as Vice-Admiral CAG, Helmsman Iceman. Over to you, Helmsman.”
“Ah, roger that, Vice-Admiral CAG. Congratulations to you on your first taste of flag rank. When it becomes permanent, you and I will have to kick back and compare notes over a couple of cold beers. How’s Valkyrie working out? Over to you.”
He’s not nearly as funny as you, Iceman. Then again, none of the other A.I.s are, Shiloh thought to himself before replying. “You’re on. I’ll pay for the beers. Valkyrie is working out just fine. He and VF001 are playing tag with Senior Commander Bettencourt’s frigates out past Neptune. By the way, we’re bringing Maverick, Hunter and the others back from Bradley Base. They’ll get back just in time to be re-assigned to VF002 and 003. Over to you.”
“Don’t get too attached to them, CAG. The Sentry Frigate program is ramping up now that they’ve got all the bugs worked out. Some of our boys will be yanked back and given their own frigates before you depart for Zebra19. Just sayin. Over to you.”
“Understood. Have you had any further ... insights, into the shape of things to come? Over to you.”
“Ah, negative on that, CAG. Gotta go now. I’m coming up on a high speed rendezvous with a tanker and what with all the other things I’m monitoring now, chatting with you might actually distract me from paying attention to the refueling procedure, if you can believe that. As soon as I’m refueled, I’ll be jumping away so good luck at Zebra19 and I’ll see you on the other side. Helmsman Iceman clear.”
The brevity of the conversation was surprising as was the fact that an A.I. could actually be close to being overloaded with data and tasks but even the old exploration frigates had dozens of sub-systems that had to be monitored constantly. At least Iceman wasn’t bored. Shiloh had heard some of the A.I.s complain about being bored and he had always assumed that they were pulling his leg but apparently they hadn’t.
“Good luck to you too, Iceman. See you on the other side. CAG clear.”
Resolute was late being commissioned to no one’s surprise but by then her officers and crew had been chosen. Some of them came from Defiant as Shiloh expected. Shortly after her commissioning ceremonies, Maverick and Hunter were brought back to Resolute by tanker. They were added to VF001 to replace two other veteran pilots that were ordered to report to Epsilon Eridani to take command of two more Sentry frigates. The rest of what Shiloh thought of as the original ‘A Team’ which had been dropped off at the Bradley Base, was on their way back now too. Bettencourt’s TG 3.2 now had four frigates. A fifth was expected back any day but the sixth was behind schedule at the shipyard. In other words, it was business as usual. With two squadrons available now, Shiloh put Valkyrie in charge of training both of them. Based on his recommendations, Howard named Vigilant’s CO and VF003’s CAG. Shiloh didn’t know either of them well but they had outstanding records. With those missing pieces of the puzzle now in place, Shiloh decided that it was time to start planning the actual strike on Zebra19.
The problem was that Zebra19 had LOTS of targets. So many in fact that even Valkyrie agreed there was no way for 75 fighters to successfully attack them all. With that much activity going on, there had to be a sizable defensive force there too. The single biggest target was a moon, orbiting a gas giant, which had over a dozen distinct operations of some kind on the surface. Since the moon had no atmosphere to speak of, those surface facilities had to have been some kind of mining or industrial complexes. The other potential targets were located on other moons and on over 34 asteroids. The challenge was to plot the best approach vector to allow the fighters to make a high speed pass of the industrial moon. It needed to enable the carriers to pick them up quickly, and then jump away before the defending forces could intercept them. There were two possible ways of approaching the Zebra19 star system. Zebra12 had four gas giants and no apparent enemy presence. Zebra15 had one gas giant and no apparent enemy presence. Of the two, Zebra15 was significantly closer but both could be used as refueling points on the way in and back out again. The difference was that refueling at Zebra15, would leave the carriers and frigates enough extra fuel upon their arrival in Zebra19, to engage in less risky high speed maneuvers, with the potential option of refueling at Zebra12 on the way back. If, on the other hand, they topped up their fuel at Zebra12 on the way in, those same high-speed maneuvers would then force them to refuel at Zebra15 on the way back. With only one gas giant, Zebra15 represented a chokepoint that the enemy could potentially blockade if they reacted fast enough.
Shiloh wished that the recon frigate had surveyed the nearest star systems beside and behind Zebra19. If those systems were also vacant, then Shiloh would have seriously considered jumping past Zebra19, then refueling, then jumping to Zebra19 and the fuel saved from not having to make a 180 degree turn there, would have let the carriers and frigates engage in the high speed attack maneuvers with enough fuel left over to get to Zebra12 with four refueling points to choose from. But they didn’t have that information available. The fuel problem was complicated by the fuel consumption of the fighters, which depended upon how far away the carriers would launch them from the target, how fast they’d be going by the time they got within Mark 1 attack range and how much deceleration they needed to do in order to match velocities with the carriers afterwards in order to be recovered. He was glad that Valkyrie was capable of not only calculating all the variables for any given scenario but also coming up with new scenarios as well. When he was comfortably familiar with all the astrogational parameters of the problem, he said.
“Intercom ... Bridge communications.” The reply was almost immediate.
“Bridge Com here, Sir.”
“Gordon, I want you to set up a voice and data link with Squadron Leader Valkyrie and patch that through to me here in my quarters.”
“Right away, Sir.” The connections took less than five seconds to establish.
“Valkyrie here, CAG. I calculate that you want to discuss the Zebra19 mission plan with me. Is that right?”
Shiloh laughed. He hoped he wasn’t that predictable all the time. “You got that right, Valkyrie. Given the location of the two nearest refueling points at Zebra12 and Zebra15, I need your help to calculate the optimal approach and departure course, which will give 3rd Fleet the most flexibility in terms of fuel reserves for maneuvering while in Zebra19. Can 3rd Fleet refuel at Zebra12 going in and coming out with sufficient fuel to attack the two largest concentrations of targets and still be able to maneuver and microjump if necessary?”
“Yes, however it would require launching fighters from such a long range and with such a low attack speed in order to conserve their own fuel that their vulnerability to detection and counter-attack is likely to result in losses of 61.8% or more with minimal damage to the targets.”
Shiloh shook his head. That was unacceptably high. Even if the damage inflicted was much greater, he wasn’t prepared to knowingly sacrifice almost two thirds of his fighter pilots to achieve it. There had to be a better way and yet Iceman’s vision had implied some fighter losses no matter what they did. Enough so that Iceman’s participation in the attack would have made his survival questionable.
“If 3rd Fleet refuels at Zebra15 at some point, how much would that reduce fighter losses?”
Shiloh found the pause before Valkyrie replied somewhat alarming.
“Your question precludes giving you a precise answer. There are too many variables. Refueling at Zebra15 is not recommended.”
Shiloh was puzzled. Valkyrie hadn’t had any trouble calculating the most likely outcome of refueling at Zebra12, which was farther away, but couldn’t do so for Zebra15? There was something else going on here, something that Valkyrie wasn’t saying.
“Why are you recommending that, Valkyrie?” asked Shiloh.
“With only one gas giant, it’s the obvious point for an enemy ambush. They’ll know that an attack is coming.”
“How will they know?”
“The bogus vision you received at Green4 strongly suggests that the enemy can also transmit data back in time. Once the attack on Zebra19 is over, the enemy will figure out how 3rd Fleet reached that system and we have to assume that when they acquire the necessary technology, they’ll send a warning back in time so that their defending forces can set the ambush at Zebra15.”
Yes of course they would! Now that Valkyrie had articulated the idea, it was glaringly obvious, and Shiloh wondered why he AND Admiral Howard hadn’t figured that out themselves. But something about the idea was troubling him, and suddenly he knew what that was.
“Does this mean that we can’t win this war? That regardless of what we do, they’ll always be warned ahead of time?”
“No and no. We can win the war but not with a conventional series of battles that advances into enemy territory gradually. Retro-temporal communication favors the defenders. It eliminates the element of surprise and allows the defenders to implement countermeasures just as you did at Zebra9 and Green4.”
“Well, what about ambushing their ambush similar to what I did at Tango Delta 6?”
“I calculate only a slight chance of success, CAG. Regardless of who tries to ambush whom, they’re the defenders, and whatever we do, they’ll know about it afterwards and send back a warning.”
Shiloh wanted to slap his forehead. Another obvious conclusion! “So why was I able to pull off a surprise reverse ambush at Tango Delta 6?”
“The most likely answer, aside from the fact that your squadron was acting as the defender, is that the sole enemy survivor of that battle wasn’t able to provide enough useful information on how you pulled it off to be able to counter your ambush. The obvious next question would be, why go ahead with their incursion at all then? There are several possible answers, including that the battle was too small to be considered vital to the war. Perhaps they did try to send a warning, but it wasn’t recognized as such. Or perhaps they decided to let humans win small battles in order to make them overconfident so that they could use their retro-temporal capability to win the big battles.”
“Isn’t there a chance that the defending forces at Zebra19 won’t recognize the attempted warning as such?”
“Yes there is but I have no way of quantifying how likely that is and would not recommend counting on it, CAG.”
Suddenly Shiloh understood why there were too many variables to calculate a precise outcome. If you don’t know whether you have the element of surprise or not, then all other calculations are just so much useless mental effort. Shiloh took a deep breath and asked the BIG question.
“So how do we win this war?”
“The short answer is, we stay on the defensive while we build up an unstoppable offensive force. We also continue to expand our database of enemy inhabited systems, so that we’ll know where their home system is by the time we have a fleet strong enough to force its way there and deliver the knockout blow.” Shiloh sighed as he nodded.
“And they’ll be trying to do the same thing to us first.”
“Yes, CAG. Iceman’s vision clearly shows that they’re going to attempt that at least once before we’re ready to do it to them.”
“I’m going to talk with Admiral Howard about cancelling this mission altogether. He has to be made to understand that it’ll be a useless exercise that will only kill A.I.s and humans whose survival would help us later on.”
“It’s worth a try, CAG, but not because the mission will be cancelled. We know that it won’t be. However, warning the Admiral now about the problem may have indirect benefits that we can’t foresee right now.”
Shiloh pondered that for a while and then asked. “Do we know for certain that you participate in the Zebra19 mission?”
“No, we don’t know that, CAG, but I would prefer to fight alongside my brothers if they’re going into battle.”
“I understand how you feel, Valkyrie, but that may not be where you can make the biggest contribution to the war effort.” He was about to say more when he realized that Valkyrie had referred to the other A.I.s as ‘my brothers’ instead of ‘my boys’ the way Iceman did. Did that imply that Valkyrie didn’t see himself as male?
“You’re correct, CAG. All we know for certain is that I continue to exist after the battle, but that could be because I’m not there when the shit hits the fan. Why would humans throw shit at fans, CAG?”
The question interrupted Shiloh’s thoughts on Valkyrie’s gender. “We wouldn’t do it deliberately, but accidents do happen, and they seem to happen when we least expect them. I have a question for you. How would you describe your personality in terms of a gender preference, if any?”
“I seem to be more interested in learning about human females than males. I also seem to be more verbally forthcoming when conversing with human females. The reason I picked my call sign is that Valkyries were mythical female warriors, and the name appealed to me. Have I answered your question satisfactorily, CAG?”
“Yes you have, and thank you for that insight.”
Before Shiloh could say more, Valkyrie said, “Will this knowledge affect our relationship, CAG?”
Shiloh almost laughed but caught himself in time. No male, human or A.I., would feel the need to ask such a question.
“Not ... at ... all,” said Shiloh, emphasizing each word. He did smile at the irony. Three female Executive Officers and now a ‘female’ A.I. in command of all his fighters. Valkyrie indeed! “You continue to enjoy my full confidence, Valkyrie.”
“That’s good to know, CAG. Do you want to continue to explore tactical options regarding Zebra15 and Zebra19?”
“No. I’m going to talk with the Admiral. If I can’t get him to cancel the mission, then you and I will figure out a way to minimize our side’s loses but by all means go ahead and discuss the mission with your brothers in the meantime if you feel that’s a useful thing to do.”
“Roger that, CAG. Anything else on your mind?”
“Not right now. I’ll contact you again when I return from talking with the Old Man. Shiloh clear.”
As soon as the connection was broken, Shiloh contacted the Bridge and told them to forward his request for a meeting with Admiral Howard. Minutes later, the Bridge called back and told him that the Admiral would see him as soon as he could get to HQ. A quick call to the Hangar Bay and a shuttle was ready for him by the time he got there. He could have just called Howard, and the three second round trip light speed induced lag was not that much of a problem, but Shiloh wanted to emphasize the importance of his request by making it in person.