Battle for Earth
Page 22
Of primary importance, the ship was capable of high acceleration, though it could not match nest ship afterburner capabilities. The mission was simple enough to allow AI ship control with systems hardened against high G-force acceleration. That was necessary since bugs can handle the stress of high G-forces. The reconnaissance part of the operation would be a one-way trip so there would be no need to decelerate.
A number of if/then scenarios were considered. Ideally, the Earth attack fleet should have been larger. Yet, time was of the essence. Only 12 attack ships were available. Even so, the military had high-hopes the directed energy weapons would devastate the enemy ships. The relatively slow Nemesis ships would need the long reach of those powerful lasers.
Ultimately, the planners decided the Earth strike force would make best speed to the Moon, vectoring in a feigning move to the right. There was no intention of braking for orbital insertion or to land on the Moon. Fuel consumption was a major limitation. In order to reach a reasonable velocity, there would not be enough fuel to return. A rescue mission was included as part of the plan. That part of the mission involved the use of one of the captured bug ships.
Several strategists pointed out, pulling the blockade marginally to a rightward alignment would not be particularly helpful. Bug ship acceleration and fuel stores would negate the effect of such a feigning move. Yet, no harm would come of such a move either, so the plan moved forward.
The Nemesis ships could accelerate quickly to over 40,000 miles per hour <64,000 km per hour>. That is very fast for an Earth to Moon mission. The G-forces due to acceleration made it miserable for the crews. They were able to make-due because of their training and newly developed liquid cocoon G-suits. The acceleration time was of short duration, a product of using chemical fuels. The ships would be able to reach the Moon in a record breaking 10 hours. Of course, bug ships could make the same trip in less than an hour, perhaps in under 30 minutes.
The Nemesis DEW systems could track and follow as long as the bug ships maintained a fairly steady course and rate of acceleration. It was helpful the laser beam would be moving at the speed of light.
As the Nemesis ships traveled on a right-oriented vector, in order to pull the blockade, the X-37 BugEye would travel on a left-oriented vector. Prior to acceleration, BugEye would appear to be nothing more than a large satellite circling the Earth. When the best opportunity was presented, BugEye would make a run for Darkside base.
While an exact location for the base was not known, the general area had already been determined. The trip would take a little more than an hour.
***
The clock ticked down and Operation Nemesis was under way to challenge the 10 bug nest ships positioned in blockade formation at an average distance of 25,000 miles <40,234 km> from the Moon.
An hour into the flight of the Nemesis Strike Group one of the bug ships left the blockade on a 45-minute intercept course. The bugs opened their communication channels. They sounded all too human as they made fun of the Nemesis class ships, those remaining in the blockade urging the interceptor to hurry. They mocked, concerned that half the primitive human ships might self-destruct before a shot was even fired.
When the bug ship came into effective range Nemesis 12 linked weapons fire to achieve a focused effect and opened fire with fraction-of-a-second laser pulses. The approaching bug ship exploded in an oxygen-and-hydrogen fueled flash.
Two more bug ships immediately left the blockade accelerating at full power. Those would reach Nemesis in less than 30 minutes, even though they executed continuous tactical maneuvers. The remaining blockade ships shifted position closer to the Nemesis 12 vector approach.
The enemy began jamming across the electromagnetic spectrum. Nemesis communications went down. Targeting systems were rendered ineffective. It took time, but an emergency communication channel was established and a limited targeting resolution developed. By that time the enemy ships were on their attack run. On the initial pass five Nemesis ships were destroyed. The enemy ships circled the Earth, using our planet’s gravity well to help decrease velocity. They intended to slow down for their second attack run.
As the ships passed around Earth dozens of hypervelocity missiles with nuclear warheads were launched. Most missiles were destroyed at a distance by enemy DEW and rail defensive fire. One missile was relatively close to a bug ship when the ground crew decided to detonate before the missile was rendered useless. There was a massive nuclear explosion that rocked one of the enemy ships. That ship was damaged but still operational. BugEye sped out on the reconnaissance run at flank speed.
When the bug ships rounded Earth, the damaged enemy ship did not attempt to slow and instead moved off on a far-right vector. The other bug ship continued on an attack course as the Nemesis ships continued to pivot for effective weapons fire. By that time Nemesis had also moved far enough out of the interference zone to allow normalized communication.
Nemesis Eight had taken lead upon destruction of Nemesis One. The Nemesis ships linked weapon control systems to once again concentrate fire. Eight was seeking an optimal firing solution, anticipating the enemy attack run. Laser cannons from the undamaged enemy ship began pulsing as it rounded the Earth. Two of the Nemesis ships glowed momentarily and exploded. The others simply exploded.
Those in the EDF War Room were watching the crew of Nemesis Eight live on their screens. The crew was close to having an optimal firing solution, hoping the concentrated fire would once again realize a good outcome. The tension was off the charts. On the viewing screen something odd drew the attention of most in the War Room. A large section of the internal bulkhead of Nemesis Eight began to glow, the metal skin bubbled, the screen went blank. The remainder of the Nemesis 12 strike force was destroyed. [See Part II].
BugEye had a good head start and was pushing for the Moon under maximum acceleration. But it would require almost an hour to round the Moon and gather information about the bug base. Any of the seven bug ships near the Moon could have easily intercepted BugEye. They didn’t move. Bug command evidently gave the interdiction role to the ship that had finished off the Earth strike force. The damaged bug ship adjusted course to return to the blockade section.
The enemy interdictor shifted course, moving in what seemed to be a leisurely pursuit course toward BugEye. Perhaps the ship had taken damage after all. As the clock ticked, there was still no blockade movement. Perhaps the High Queen took no concern over little BugEye, deciding to leave its destruction to the Darkside gun emplacements. Perhaps she was in a drug induced haze and her bug attendants were afraid to wake her.
BugEye moved to the far side of the Moon and began gathering data relative to the bug base. That lasted 25 seconds before Darkside defenses destroyed it. The base was well hidden. It was actually the Darkside scanning of BugEye, to get a weapons lock, that allowed for clear identification of the base location.
There was little time to gather additional data. Of interest was detection of a brief burst of gravitational waves. And an odd artifact was filmed hovering close to the surface of the Moon. The minimal information obtained was transferred by radio telemetry to a satellite receiving station near Earth. From there the data was pushed on to the EDF
* WARNING: TIMELINE DROP INTERRUPTION.
***
+ BEGIN TIMELINE DROP. Drop by Viz.
I’ve managed to place a timeline drop in the middle of a timeline drop. Hey, it’s been a long, lousy day. I need a tiny victory, and this concern has been weighing on me.
It occurs to me a reader might wonder why Shockwave didn’t raid the bug blockade ships. That sort of operation could have spared the crews of the Nemesis ships. I feel compelled to answer that potential question. Mr. T and the general gamed several plans that would have utilized Shockwave against the blockade.
Bug ships are crowded when fully loaded. Their fighter ships, the flies, take up the entire holding bay. That was the area to which we always ported. We considered
trying other possible locations. Unfortunately, when fully loaded and off planet, bugs could be crawling anywhere in the ship. There are a lot of bugs crammed into each nest ship when underway.
Mr. T decided porting onto a fully loaded nest ship wasn’t a reasonable option, not with the current state of the quantum teleportation technique. The possibility of untangling in space occupied by a bug was high. Mr. T considered other plans that would utilize Shockwave but there just wasn’t time for much planning or implementation. You can imagine our sorrow at the loss of the Nemesis crewmembers. END TIMELINE DROP. +
***
* ATTENTION: TIMELINE DROP RESUMPTION. BEGIN ORIGINAL SHOCKWAVE JOURNAL ENTRY.
September 14 th We were ALL in the office bright and early Friday morning. Mr. T had promised a surprise, and he delivered. Everyone loves a field trip. Right? We could hardly believe it. Mr. T kept the invite all hush-hush, with last-minute details provided by the general, our general. Shockwave was invited to the War Room at the Earth Defense Force headquarters.
The general said we could observe, in real time, the operation that would lead to the destruction of Darkside. We would need to find our own transportation to the meeting. Not a problem. Mr. T had the general on speaker and I could hear the smile on the general’s face. He suggested we use our preferred method of travel to the coordinates he would supply. The vacant and locked storage room in the warehouse next door to the EDF should fit our travel needs quite well.
Those coordinates would arrive with the documents that would be required in order to enter the EDF
We each had our own EDF identity tags. The instructions said to attach the tag to a convenient part of our bodies. No, Para, that would not fit their definition of convenient. You’re kidding, right? They might need to scan it for goodness sakes.
Anyway, the tags would stay there for exactly one week and then disappear. And that’s what happened. So, just like that, we were all set to visit EDF headquarters. Well, all of us except Muncle, and he said that was fine with him. We all knew military brass and all the saluting and rigidity make him nervous anyway. He said he would catch the rerun, whatever that means. Time to go.
We had our own smallish gallery room off of the main War Room. We could see all of the large screen images in full Real3DP (three-dimensional-polarized). In addition, there were smaller monitors (3D projection grid stations) in our gallery with the same high-tech imaging. On the way in we saw what they call the planning room. Strategists roamed the room, dwarfed by the very large 3D image of the Moon hanging before them. We settled into our gallery room to review the Operation Briefing Report, which was copious.
Twelve Earth ships against a 10-ship bug blockade. And another Earth ship to race around to Darkside on a surveillance run. I wish there had been time to develop a plan to use Shockwave against the bug blockade.
We were watching a rear view of Nemesis 12. It looked like the ships were being tailed by a drone craft of some sort. It was either that or a powerful satellite telescope. No, I’m sure it was a drone. The image was excellent. There was also access to audio feeds from each of the Nemesis ships. Each bug ship was shown within a magnification circle. Those must have been telescopic images.
Nemesis was outbound, about 45 minutes into a 10-hour trip. Their calling codes were simply Nemesis 1 through 12. Nemesis lead was designated One. The screens went blank, then came up again with a transcription box, timestamp, and audio. Something was happening.
* Nemesis Three, 00:45:35: “Control, we have a weapon system warning light. We think we have the solution but we may need to do a quick EVA.”
* Control, 00:45:45: “Acknowledged Three. No blockade movement. Keep us apprised.”
* Nemesis Three, 00:50:42: “Control, we’ll need an EVA. Kowalski is suiting up. We are estimating a 20-minute walk.”
There were some fairly hi-res shots of the bug blockade ships within the mag-circles. In scaled distance shots they seemed too scattered for a blockade. Unless you understood how fast those ships could move.
* Control, 00:55:45: “Nemesis Three, status EVA.”
* Nemesis Three, 00:55:55: “Kowalski is working it Control. Having some troubles. He should be inside within 20 minutes.”
* Control, 00:56:01: “Roger Three. Apprise of any change. No bug ship movement.”
* Nemesis Three, 00:56:04.: “Copy Control.”
* Control, 00:57:02: “New picture. Blockade movement. One ship. Intercept course. Very fast. 45 minutes to your position. Get your boy in Three. You’re cleared hot Nemesis.”
* Control, 00:58:03: “Nemesis Lead, this is Control. We’re picking up background noise. Are you hearing this?”
* Nemesis Lead, 00:58:10: “Copy Control. It sounds like chatter. Nemesis group, whoever is on the radio, knock it off. Keep the comms open for operations.”
* Nemesis Two, 00:58:18: “Control, Two here. I don’t think it’s any of us sir. Listen carefully. It’s the bugs. They’re pushing their signal.”
* Nemesis Eight, 00:58:26: “Control, this is Eight, Technical Sergeant Hadley on the comms board. Nemesis Two has it correct. I just took the communications update course, the whole package, with a full synaptic work-up for the bug language.”
* Control, 00:58:46: “Thank you Sergeant. We’ll get a translator on it. It could be they’re willing to surrender.”
* Nemesis Eight, 00:58:56: “Uhhh, I don’t think so Control. That hacking sound you keep hearing is laughter. They’re having some fun. Someone in the blockade just radioed the ship that’s cruising our way. Said something to the effect that they should increase their velocity. It was suggested that if they didn’t hurry half our ships would probably explode all by themselves, before the bug got a chance to take a shot.”
* Nemesis Two, 00:59:26: “Oh, #&c#
* Nemesis Lead, 00:59:35: “Okay Nemesis group. Cut the chatter. Pay attention. We’re going to take this one down. In maximum effective range, 10 minutes.”
* Control, 01:09:22: “Nemesis Lead, this is Control. We show you in effective range. The Boss suggests at this range you link fire control and focus for effect.”
* Nemesis Lead, 01:09:32: “Roger Control. I have a link. Ready to engage. Firing solution is ... up.”
* Control, 01:09:48: “Splash confirmed Nemesis. Bug ship destroyed.”
* Nemesis Three, 01:10:30: “Control, be advised of new EVA. Kowalski jumped back outside to finish up with the circuit. He should be back inside in 15 minutes.”
* Control, 01:11:35: “New picture. Blockade movement. Two ships. On intercept, less than 30 minutes. You are likely within their weapons range already. Nemesis three, abort EVA.”
* Control, 01:11:50: “Nemesis, we’ve got interference. Do you read?
* Nemesis Lead, 01:12:55: “Nemesis group, this is One. We’ve lost comms with Control. Heavy interference. My systems are degraded. I can’t see what’s going on. Do you read? Nemesis Three you’ve got to get Kowalski inside. Now.”
The enemy was jamming communication systems. Scanning, including radar, was degraded to the point of being useless. Control was working to get additional optical scopes pointed at the blockade. The jamming was well focused, directed from a single nest ship, in a conic interference wave that blanketed Earth. Control couldn’t devise an immediate solution.
They pushed the problem out to numerous agencies, with a request to help determine a viable resolution. In that manner a partial answer to the communication problem was devised.
A communications satellite outside the interference zone, far side Earth, was tasked to send a signal to SOHO
dio jamming. The Nemesis group was supposed to have a comms backup, also based on a laser link, the Laser Communication System. The backup LCS was glitchy. There had been a rush to finish the Nemesis ships even before the start of the actual invasion. It took a while, but Nemesis Lead was able to start the secondary LCS system.
The emergency situation had prompted Nemesis group to establish a swarm tactic. The ships had moved apart and formed into four loose groups of three ships.
* Nemesis Lead, 01:20:50: “Nemesis group, this is One. Acknowledge if you can hear me over the LCS. Good, we’re all on. I’m sure Control will find a way to ping us. Until then we’re blind. Stay sharp. We have no idea what may be coming our way. Continue swarm and push off to maximum cohesion distance.”
* Control, 01:25:22: “Nemesis Lead, this is Control, pushing a beam via SOHO. Do you copy?”
* Nemesis Lead, 01:25:40: “Copy Control. Do you have eyes?”
* Control, 01:25:45: “Lead, we have optical scopes only. There are two nest ships heading your way. They’re close. Hold. Good. We can relay their position to you via the LCS. They’re flanking, bearing left and right. There will be some lag with positioning updates. Sending enemy ship position, along with an AI projection. Now.”
* Nemesis Three, 01:26:32: “Lead, this is Three. Kowalski is heading for the hatch. Inside in two minutes.”
* Nemesis Lead, 01:26:40: “Three, this is Lead. Why is Kowalski still outside? Get him in.”
* Nemesis Three, 01:26:46: “Kowalski hunkered down while we moved off in swarm. He’s almost at the hatch.”
* Nemesis Lead, 01:26:58: “Nemesis group, we have incoming hostiles, you should now have enemy positions via the LCS. Directive. Two through Six, left facing with me. Seven through twelve, bear right. You’re cleared hot for individual fire.”