Land based hyper velocity missiles, some battle drones, and most smart tanks were at risk of compromise. Some of the systems did stand down when Command activated the updated emergency deactivation command. But too many mobile units went into stealth mode and began a lethal war game, capable of incredible destruction. Energetic shielding recently installed at the hype sites activated. Those could now withstand, for a time, any non-nuclear attack.
Darkside Base was having a particularly difficult time. The original bug systems with automated computer programming were of exceptional quality. Most of those, including power and climate control, had been left in place. Sybil was able to coopt those systems completely and proceeded to unleash extensive damage. The fusion plants were sabotaged in the process. Only quick action from dutiful techs working with manual overrides saved the base from catastrophe.
With the base rendered uninhabitable without vac-suits, evacuation orders were given. It was a mad scramble to clear out or die from lack of oxygen, or exposure. Air and space control centers were down, making Luna shuttle flights dangerous in the midst of Sybil’s chaos. All of that was exacerbated due to escalating battles on Earth between commandeered legacy aircraft and Solcom forces.
Port-techs were called from other high priority tasks to help with the evacuation of Darkside. A downsized base operations team remained in the hope they could maintain the minimal environmental standards necessary for equipment. That was a task made all the more difficult since only a very few RedFERNs could be spared for Moon operations, with most of the small fusion plants needed on Earth to counter Sybil’s reign of terror.
Darkside was a mess. Even if all the power in the world were made available, it would still take techs days to get power systems in a condition to allow the juice to flow freely once again.
Almost all the Battlestars, FTL Destoyers, and Orion carriers with Starfighters had transited the Darkside-Oort gate for maneuvers in final preparation for the jump to Kreahaam and beyond. Even the heavy haulers with their SUGAR (Shielded Upgraded Ground Assault Rig) and SPICE (Space Inserted Cruise Enabled) loads had moved on to Oort space. That left only one battlestar and two FTL destroyers in-system (with one heavily damaged by thieving scoundrels). And with the power problems at Darkside, the Darkside/Oort bridge would not be opening any time soon. The timing of Sybil’s attack was not likely a coincidence.
In a race to arms, troops dusted off old military equipment that had been stored away in dry desert locales. There had been peace between the nations of Earth for more than10 years, the focus of the combined military machine now on threats from outer space. Most of the hardware hadn’t seen any use since the bug invasion.
In the U.S., the recommissioning was taking place at breakneck speed as hundreds of lightly damaged M1A2 and M1A3 tanks roared to life. Paladin Integrated Management 155 mm mobile howitzers and Brutus 155 mm howitzers joined their ranks. The few remaining Multiple Ordnance Launch Roller Systems
The venerable F-22s, those holding airworthy status, had been upgraded along with most of the available F-35s. Those had joined their freshly manufactured hybrid air-and-space cousins, part of the SPICE packages that had transited to Oort, ready for deployment to Cygnus Prime.
In record time, the skies above the U.S. screamed with military aircraft, many of designs that first entered production in the 1970s. F-15s, F-16s, and FA-18s joined the few remaining F-22s and F-35s. There were even a few of the 6th-gen BAD-Ones, though most of those, along with the 5th-gen craft, had been destroyed in the bug invasion.
AWACs flew, staying in contact with their fleets on dedicated mission-specific radio channels. With Sybil’s successful interference of most modes of communication, Aegis and AWACs seemed the best bet for any kind of limited command and control. It was a risk, though the best human and SAIQ Net programmers scoured the systems, and deemed them war worthy.
For ground assault there were hundreds of A-10 Warthogs, and dozens of AC-130 Ghostriders. Roll said he saw several AC-130 Spectres on the news-vids as well. He says there are still plenty of the Spectres still roaming the skies, even though they were officially retired to the boneyard more than 20 years ago.
Roll is strolling by and has evidently picked up on my AC-130 Spectre talk. I’m dictating at the moment. He affirms he has seen a Spectre version of the AC-130 flying around on more than one occasion. Yeah, you’re seeing spectres, or specters, for sure.
Anyway, all that military hardware had to get where it was needed. Railways hummed, moving the heavy equipment to likely hotspots. Old C-17 transport aircraft flew the deadly cargo to active crisis areas, with support from the oldie-but-goodie fighter jets.
After weathering two invasions, stockpiles of military assets, including fuel, were maintained at capacity. Power generation was a problem, though reactor trucks sped to their destinations, hauling RedFERNs, Reduced size Fusion Energized Reactor, Nuclear.
Hold. What’s all the excitement, Rock? I better go check this out.
Rock sounds excited. “Guys, you’ve got to come and see this.”
***
We all merged in the small conference room. Rock blew his me-cloud out to a room-cloud. NEDSEC was reporting on activity that, while outside its two-light-minute immediate control zone, posed a potential threat. Thirteen heavy haulers were on route to Earth from the belt and beyond. That, in itself, was not unusual. But these were redlining their fusion drives, and were no longer receiving communications over QuIM. Their positions were shown as conjecture dots, since their QuIM transponders had also gone dark.
The 3-D projection accentuated the extremely separated course lines as the potential threats moved toward Earth. Rock queried the system, receiving the conjecture that Sybil had taken control of the ships, and was adjusting their courses to make interception difficult. Solcom had only the one battlestar and one operational destroyer in-system. To make matters worse, the haulers would have human crews. Hostages.
Tee gestured for an emitter ray and started typing as he spoke. “This AI war is heating up fast. I’m going to access Solcom’s real time Strategic Merger Platform. With that, we can monitor all active threats.
“I’ll move this to the VG so we can have multiple displays going.”
Roll is pacing. “If even one of those heavy haulers made it to Earth, with energetic shielding at least some of it could make it through the atmosphere. Can you imagine the force of impact with that much velocity?”
Now Rock is pacing. “It would be very bad.”
Roll looks like he’s counting fingers. “One battlestar and one FTL destroyer. Between them, with that much target separation, they could intercept three, maybe four of the haulers. That leaves nine or ten.”
I don’t like the sound of that at all. “Let’s see what else Sybil has in the works. This is turning into a multitasking kind of day.”
Fierce is pulling several of the VG images to his me-cloud and fiddling with them. It’s fun to watch how fast he moves things around, searching, refining, then going on to the next image. I don’t know what he’s up to, other than moving and sorting. There’s the updated image of the heavy hauler display.
But that looks out of place. He zoomed in on central Puget Sound, Naval Base Kitsap - Bangor. That’s a primary submarine base. At least it was, once upon a time. Let’s pull up the details. Columbia class subs, hype missile storage, a very large repository of nuclear warheads. And what is this that Fierce has found?
Fierce has his hand up like he’s in an old-school classroom. He does that. “I have an observation. Of the active battles or other threats displayed on the Platform, only two have a chance of success. Sybil faces defeat in the other confrontations. Those are only distractions, by the way. Really, there are only two concerns. One, the fusion drive haulers. Two is Bangor.”
Tee is being drawn to Fierce’s logic. “Throw them up on the big vid and report, Speedracer. Give us your thoughts on the haulers, then Bangor, if you please.�
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Fierce is ready. “The haulers are definitely a problem. I sure hope the crews can abandon ship. Then I see four levels of counter options. The two warships currently in-system. Interceptor flights from Darkside. The problem is, they’re set up for relatively short flights and the haulers will be coming in fast and evasive. That will make intercepts difficult and last minute. Not a great scenario. With Darkside in such a mess, how many interceptors can they even deploy?
“Under normal conditions NEDSEC would be able to loft enough hypes to intercept the threats. I wouldn’t want to underestimate Sybil and what she might have planned for that eventuality. That goes for the shielding safety override command as well. The shielding of an out-of-control or hijacked fusion ship should shut down automatically, so most of the ship should burn up in the atmosphere. Unless Sybil was able to overwrite the shielding safety protocol. I suppose it’s possible.
“That leaves port-techs, probably STOP teams, to teleport onto the ships and take control, or destroy them.”
Rock doesn’t seem to like that idea. “STOP teams? Those haulers are moving fast. Without a ship to match velocity, porting onto the haulers would be crazy dangerous. Suicide. Besides, without communications we can’t be certain if any of the haulers were reconfigured during an expedition. Automated systems would be moving all around, sorting, processing, not to mention the crew getting in the way.”
Fierce understands. “Right. Maybe a better scenario would be to drop-port magwebs to disable the haulers.”
Rock has a look about him, as though he’s wondering why he didn’t think of that. “Maybe. Yes, that could work.”
Tee likes the suggestion enough to push the conversation to Solcom.
I like the suggestion too, but there is plenty of time to handle the haulers. First things first. “Battle Two is the immediate concern. Look, the images are updating and those are B-R1 Flying Missile Trucks, right? With plenty of Stalker drones in tow. It’s already starting! Those will soften Bangor’s defenses.
“And there. A convoy of Tesolas moving down Highway 3. Those will be filled with mil-bots or something. Five trucks, standard trailer loads. Maybe 30 bots per container. 150 mil-bots?! It’s about to get crazy at Bangor.”
Para and I managed one of our in-synchs, as we exclaimed, “Sybil wants the nukes!”
Tee nods to agree. “And here comes the final distraction. Sybil is launching all the land-based hypes. There they go!”
A loud cracking sound brought me half out of my chair. “What was that?” I turned to locate what had startled me.
Inverted Para is standing behind me holding a freshly snapped section from the back of my chair. “Oops. Sorry. Hypes in the air make me edgy.”
A good, sincere eye squint and scowl is all I can manage as I turn back to the VG. “What are those dots moving inland from both coasts?”
Tee waggles a command that zooms in on one of the sources of the dots. “Those are interceptors launching from subs along the coasts. There are more being launched from aircraft. And those look like mobile platform missile defense launches.
“That’s a lot of counter fire. Solcom must be worried Sybil has arming codes for the warheads. That’s unlikely. Still, better to be safe. Even though it’s burning up hypes that may have been needed to hit the incoming fusion ships. This Sybil is trouble.
“Nothing we can do about the hypes. Let’s concentrate on Bangor. Shockwave options?”
Fierce has been on his pid and has something for us. “Uhhh, sir. That was Communal. It sounds like you’ve had them working on the Sybil situation. They would like my assistance, just for a second opinion, if you-all can spare me.”
Tee agrees. “Yes, I left that option on the table with Communal. Rock or Roll can port you over.”
Fierce shrugs. “That’s okay. I can run over there in half a minute. A good leg stretch wouldn’t hurt.”
Tee slaps him on the back. “Good. Go find a way to unplug Sybil.”
Just in case they don’t pull Sybil’s plug, I’ve been thinking. “I know it was my idea. But how do we know for sure the trucks are filled with mil-bots, and not regular base supplies, other than the trucks hurrying along to the base as an epic battle rages-on. Never mind, must be mil-bots.”
Para’s been thinking as well. “Best to stop the trucks before the mil-bot assets get to Bangor.”
Tee wants to be sure. “Rock, take a Logan and do a recon the area. Let’s double check the Tesola loads and make sure there are no driver hostages. Get a picture of the whole area, from the Tesolas to the base.
“Roll, hit the armory. Two Longarms, two tubes, as many satchel charges as you can manage. Grab my .50 as well, while you’re at it. Sorry, that’s a lot. I’ll join you.
“You two pull up a map and use the Platform data to pick a spot along Highway 3 to stop those trucks.
“I’d better make a call to our CO, just to be sure those aren’t friendly mil-bots, and see if I can get a mission nod.”
Rock is back from his recon and is pushing the Logan data out to the big VG. The trucks are using auto-nav control, no humans around, the containers full of mil-bots.
Tee’s commanding officer didn’t answer his pid, so he’s calling way up the line to our general. “General Whitehall, we have a situation at Bangor.”
The general was as deadpan as usual. “No kidding. Tell me what I don’t know.”
“Five Tesolas rolling toward the base with 150 mil-bots.”
The general may not have known. “Is that right? Yes, I see them. And?”
“We’re trying to determine if the bots are friend or foe.”
“If they’re mil-bots, they’re not under our control. Every single bot has been compromised; trackers disabled. Good job Tee. You found half of our missing bots. Next step?”
“We slow them down, find a way to keep them away from Bangor. Maybe kill a few. Here, I’ll push our fresh Logan scan data to your pid.”
“Very good. Buy me some time. I’ll have hoppers in the air within two minutes to lend assistance. They’ll have to skid-in to avoid the mess in the air, so it’s going to take a while. Have your pids pinging so they don’t hammer your position. Oh, be sure to use QuIM, so Sybil doesn’t hammer your position.”
“Roger that.”
“Your ETA on scene?”
Tee looked at Viz, who pointed out the ambush position that seemed best. He nodded. “We’re moving out now. Looks like we’ll be hitting the convoy in less than 60 seconds. Good?”
The general was unresponsive for a moment as he talked to someone in the background. “Tee, your op is confirmed. Highway 3 was blockaded earlier by some insightful state troopers and local enforcement. Your convoy rolled through Gorst less than 5 minutes ago, blasting anything that moves. Put them down, Tee. Whatever it takes.”
We untangled near Chico Bay, where Highway 3 passes over Old Chico Way. There wasn’t much time. The Logan scan showed some odd additions to the Tesola cabs. We decided they had been hardened in some way to survive anything hand-held. That meant we would have to get creative and volatile.
Tee shook his head as he looked up at the massive concrete overpass with extreme earthquake upgrades. “These satchel charges don’t have enough pop. Roll, take Para and run back to the Shockwave armory. Get two of those big-boys we put together.”
Tee grabbed two metal hanging brackets from a pack and is pointing up. “Rock, jump up to the overpass and sink these auto-bits. Have you used these? Just slam this end into the concrete to sink the bit. They’ll hold the bombs in place. Set one there. And the other, let’s see, set it there.”
Roll returned with Para and the upsized satchel charges, though they didn’t look like any sort of bomb I’d ever seen. In a moment, they were strapped in place.
Tee then looked to Viz. “Viz, cloak and run up top to watch for the convoy. Let me know when you see it; stream their progress to my Ivees.”
With the ordnance set, we ported to watch the scene as the conv
oy accelerated around the curve at Erlands Point. The trucks were moving fast in tight formation. Tee hit the D-switch just as the first truck passed over the bomb placement.
A concussive punch of hot air followed almost immediately by stinging debris encouraged me to scrunch down more in my hidey hole. My fault. I should have known Tee’s big-boys would have extra punch.
A large section of the freeway had collapsed, choking clouds of dust pushing out hundreds of meters. The first two trucks took the brunt of the explosion, flying into the air, spilling mil-bots in all directions. The other three trucks sped into the void of the ruined overpass with a sound of wrenching metal and the heavy thumps.
Waves of heat followed soon after, along with explosive concussions. Pain! The smell of burning ants!? I patted at some strands of singed hair that had wandered out of the left side of my helmet and turned to check on Para. She had somersaulted into a hollow of rocky soil, and was rolling on her right side, her tunic still smoldering. The heat and explosions continued.
Tee is shouting over the din. “Port retreat. Now! Now!”
I ran to Rock, and found myself stumbling over to the wall of the Shockwave teleportation room, greeted by an automated bench seat. “I guess we should have cloaked.”
Tee is looking us over as we move into the hallway. “Is everyone okay? Para?”
Everyone is okay. Para can take a lot of abuse when she’s inverted, though the entire right side of her outer tunic was ruined. “That crispy, melty look, it really isn’t a good look for you, Para.”
Para is holding her tunic together in a semblance of propriety. “Thanks? I’ll be right back, then we have to get back out there.”
Fierce and Communal came running up, no doubt monitoring our situation.
Tee glanced toward Fierce. “Already done with your planning?”
Invasion: Journal Three (Shockwave Book 3) Page 13
