by Isaac Hooke
“We have a chance to change the political climate of the immediate interstellar neighborhood,” he said. “A chance to remove the threat of the Link permanently. By forming our own Empire, and destroying theirs. Once we take down one of their homeworlds, other member species will start joining us. They’ll want to be on the winning side. The domino effect.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” she said.
“At the very least, we’ll gain the ships of the conquered homeworld,” he said.
She sat back, materializing a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. “But at that point, aren’t we little better than the Link themselves? Traveling across the galaxy, for the sake of conquering? We Mind Refurbs were supposed to be a race of peaceful explorers, not conquerors.”
“Sometimes the only thing you can do is conquer,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the only way to protect yourself.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” she said. “But then again, I don’t have any other options. Other than running.”
“And if we did run, losing out on our chance to influence the interstellar politics of the region, we could return in a hundred years, and find that this region of space looks very different,” he told her. “Earth, inhabited by bioweapons. The last remnants of humanity scraping by in the coreward systems, struggling against the radiation produced by the galactic center.”
“Why coreward?” she asked.
“That’s the only place humanity could really go,” he explained. “Other organic species wouldn’t want to deal with the debilitating radiation.”
“But the machine races wouldn’t care,” she said.
“True.” He paused. “The radiation was the reason we Void Warriors wanted to travel coreward all these years. Because we wanted to be left alone. But you bring up a good point. Back then, we didn’t realize how many other machine races there are. So we wouldn’t really be left alone.”
Sheila shrugged. “Depends on how close to the galactic core we decide to get, and how much time and effort we’re willing to put into radiation armor. Because even our circuitry is vulnerable to strong enough radiation.”
He nodded. “The first race that can come up with a weapon that can produce radiation as strong as the galactic core, will rule the galaxy.”
“Luckily, the energy requirements are through the roof,” she said.
He nodded. “You’d have to have a black hole the size of the galactic core. Although, we already can create smaller black holes. So I guess we’re on the way.”
“Too bad we don’t fully understand the physics,” she told him.
“Maybe I do, and I just haven’t shared it with anyone,” he said.
She elbowed him in the ribs. “You and your Mimic database.”
He rubbed his side, but then started giggling. She hit him harder, and it hurt, but it only made him laugh all the harder.
She scowled. “I don’t understand why you always laugh when I hit you.”
“It’s just an automatic response,” he said. “I can’t help it. When someone hits me, purposely trying to cause pain, I just find it funny. Because as a SEAL, I had to endure so much real pain just to pass muster, that simple things like an elbow to the ribs are funny.”
“Those days, they really made a mark on you, didn’t they?” she said.
“How could they not,” he said. “I went through one of the toughest trainings known to man during my formative years.”
“I had a few friends that became Rangers,” she said. “And another two that became Marines. Their training is just as brutal, I hear.”
He nodded. “They’ve very close. Did I ever tell you I lost a kid one year, when I was called in to help supervise Hell Week?”
“No, you didn’t,” she said. “What happened?”
Jain stared into the flames for a while. “He was a good guy. Had heart like you wouldn’t believe. But something about him just got under my skin. Maybe it was because every time I punished him for some minor transgression, it seemed to have no effect. I’d tell him to do five hundred push-ups, and he’d do them without flagging. When he finished, I’d tell him to do another five hundred. And then another five hundred. I don’t know where he got the energy, or the strength.
“I thought he must have been taking something illegally, so I had him report to sickbay, but he came back clean. I teased him and called him a robot at one point, and I had him cut open his arm to prove he could bleed. He bled, all right, all over the grinder, as he did his pushups. That was the only time I ever saw him flag, when he was bleeding out there, like that, and I had to call in the doc to give him a transfusion. But the next day he was right back at it, pushing out PT with the best of them.”
She shook her head. “You sound like a cruel instructor. Remind me never to sign up for training under you.”
“The instructor attitudes are infectious,” he said. “We fed off each other’s cruelty, and got a kick out of treating the trainees the same way we were treated. It was our chance at payback against the system, if you know what I mean. But yeah, we could overdo it.”
“So how did he die?” she asked.
Jain didn’t answer for a long time. “Well. It was during an evolution we called surf passage. Basically, it was about rowing these Zodiac inflatable boats past the surf zone—where the waves were breaking. When they reached the marker buoy, they’d exit their boats, flip them over to empty any water, right them, pull themselves back in, and then paddle back to shore.”
“Paddle?” she said. “As in a wooden oar? I didn’t know anyone still used those.”
He shrugged. “It’s part of the training. Anyway, several boats would launch at once, and the team that made it back first was granted a small reward, such as skipping the PT immediately following the race. Those rewards were valuable… you needed every rest you could get, especially during Hell Week.
“During one of those races, the boat he was in capsized while cresting a wave in the surf zone. The team was doing so well, fighting all the way to the top of that wave, but for some reason, most of them stopped rowing at the crest, when two more strokes—two simple strokes—would have put them over. I guess they were just too exhausted. But the kid, he was still rowing. He was the only one.
“The wipeout that followed was spectacular. Men and paddles were thrown into the air. White foam filled the air. Guys were sucked down in the undertow. We instructors were mostly laughing our asses off. Until we noticed one body lying headfirst in the water, unmoving. It was the kid. While some of the others had suffered broken ankles and dislocated knees, he’d taken a paddle in the head. It had hit him just under the nose, sending bone fragments into his brain. This is why we always told them to hang on tightly to those paddles during a wipeout. It was a lesson learned very painfully that day.”
He stared at the flames. “It just goes to show you, that no matter how good you are, how strong, how flawless your execution, if those around you don’t follow through, they could kill you.”
“Is that a subtle jab at the Void Warriors?” Sheila asked.
“Not at all,” he replied. “I trust you all completely. More than anybody in the universe. It’s everyone else I’m talking about. Jason and the Tyrnari have abandoned us. Eric and the Banthar as well. Eric says he’ll return, but it’s debatable whether he actually will or not. We’re right at the top of the wave. We’re still rowing, but the others have stopped. Two more strokes, and they could have taken us over. But they gave up, and now the rest of us might all pay the price. We could be facing the biggest wipeout humanity has ever seen.”
They sat in silence for several moments. Finally:
“You know, maybe next time, no SEAL stories,” Sheila said. “They really spoil the mood.” With that, she logged out.
14
The next morning, standard time, Jain had only just returned to the virtual bridge environment when Xander announced: “Admiral Tanis is on the line.”
“Connect him,” Jain said.
The adm
iral’s avatar appeared. Jain’s time sense accelerated enough to freeze external time—it automatically up-ticked to match the admiral’s transmission.
“Did you notice the arrival of the messenger ship this morning?” the admiral asked.
“Nope,” Jain replied. He glanced at his tactical display and picked out the newcomer. “But I see it now.”
“It was from Central Command,” Tanis continued. “The Link have renewed their attack on the Eastern Galactic Front.”
Jain frowned. “Attacking us along the edges, but refusing to face us head on. I’m not sure I understand their strategy. Why not attack Earth again, or this staging system? Why the sidestepping?”
“They’re trying to whittle us away, destroy our alliances, before attempting a direct attack again,” Tanis said. “Their losses from the last two attacks have made them a little gun shy, at least when it comes to attacking us directly.”
Jain switched to private—he didn’t want to question the admiral in front of the Void Warriors, as it might potentially offend the Mind Refurb. That was behavior Jain didn’t tolerate of subordinates when he was in the navy, and although he didn’t really fall under the admiral’s command hierarchy, it seemed the decent thing to do.
“You really think we’ve weakened them that much?” Jain said. “I know you want to attack them now, hoping to continue our momentum, but the truth is we’re probably a whole lot weaker than they are, even after the damage we caused. Especially with the Banthar and Tyrnari gone. If the Link pulled in every ship they had to strike at us, dipping into those of their number manning the front lines against the Fresnal, I have no doubt we’d lose.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Tanis said. “But you’re right, I did want to maintain our momentum, but that won’t be happening now. We’re not bringing the battle to the enemy, not yet. Central Command tells me that the president has approved a jump to the Eastern Galactic Front, where we are to help protect the border colonies. The fighting is concentrated in the Halvert System, so that’s where we’re headed first.”
“So are we still waiting for the Banthar?” Jain said.
“No,” Tanis said. “We can’t wait. Halvert is under attack at this very moment. We’ll be jumping within the next ten minutes. Wrap up any repairs you have.”
Repairs. Jain had actually finished repairing most critical systems, and he was able to cloak as well as activate stealth countermeasures again. The Mimics had achieved similar operational readiness, and the Void Warriors were mostly done with their own repairs.
“Have you at least told Eric we’re leaving?” Jain asked.
“I’ve sent messengers to Banthar Prime via the rift on Earth, but they haven’t returned yet,” Tanis said. “Even though they were due back several hours ago. I’m guessing the insurrection is worse than we thought. A few of the Paladins are staying behind anyway, as their engines are still under repair and they won’t make the jump window. We’ll send rift ships to get them at a later date. In the meantime, if Eric or Jason jump back here looking for us, they can let them know where we went.”
“Assuming the Link doesn’t shoot them down after we’re gone,” Jain said.
Tanis nodded. “I’ll be connecting again in about nine standard minutes to coordinate the jumps.” He disconnected.
Jain reverted his time sense and glanced at the crew. He realized he was still set to private, so he disabled that flag.
“So, what’s the news?” Medeia asked.
“We’re jumping to the Halvert system in ten minutes,” Jain said.
The Mind Refurb and Mimic fleets arrived to find Halvert II under siege. The two fleets had jumped in via separate rifts, and they set a rendezvous point one million kilometers away from the planet. Half of the Mimics had cloaked before entering the system, to hide their true numbers. The Mind Refurb fleets had lined up in pairs relative to the target planet, to similarly hide their heat signatures, but it was likely the Link had probes dispersed throughout the system, observing from all angles, and they’d be able to deduce the true number of Mind Refurbs.
As Jain headed toward the rendezvous point, he studied the tactical display. “Xander, are we able to discern the ship types from the heat signatures yet?”
“I’m detecting Vaernastian Barbells and Pinwheels, some Barrage Buckyballs, a few Revlon Claws, and one Gralos Battlestar,” the dark-robed Accomp said. “Oh, and there’s also an Armadillo.”
“An Armadillo?” Sheila said. “Haven’t seen one of those in a while.” Those ships were basically big bombs that could destroy everything within a three thousand kilometer radius.
“That explains why all the defenders are keeping well away from it,” Jain said.
“Yes,” Xander said. “The Link appear to be using it to herd the defenders away from the colony. Leaving the Link free to assault the evacuation rockets that periodically leave orbit. Already they’ve shot down two since I’ve watched.”
Most of those rockets were heading toward a small flotilla that floated well away from the battle above the planet. No doubt that flotilla protected a rift ship, which would allow the rockets to jump out. Jain wasn’t sure where they were jumping to—probably another colony system.
The Earth fleet reached the rendezvous point first, since they had arrived closer to the planet, and when the Mimics converged with them, they set a course for the colony. The Mimics promptly disappeared, as per the plan, engaging full cloaks. They also shut down their inertialess drives, and ceased all communications, so that they didn’t show up on the tactical display at all.
The admiral had wanted the enemy to see the arrival of the Mimics, and he’d also wanted the Link to see them cloak. “Let them sweat a little,” were Tanis’ words.
As the Mind Refurbs closed to within weapons range, flashes began to erupt in deep space, as relayed via Jain’s nose camera feed.
“Xander, what’s going on?” Jain asked.
“The enemy vessels appear to be firing rift creation beams,” his Accomp replied.
A minute later, Sheila confirmed it: “They’re all jumping out.”
“That seems unlike them,” Cranston commented. “The Link, fleeing without a fight?”
“I guess our reputation precedes us,” Mark said.
“They’ll probably be back shortly,” Gavin said. “With reinforcements.”
“We’ll deal with whatever cards we’re dealt,” Jain said.
Gavin smiled at the card reference. “No one plays cards these days. Which is too bad.”
“I do,” Jain said. “Maybe we should have a game later.”
“Maybe so,” Gavin agreed. Though from his slightly disinterested tone, Jain knew Gavin had no intention of following up on that offer.
He stared at the tactical display, and when all the Link ships had jumped out, he turned toward Xander. “Connect Tanis.”
The admiral joined, in hologram mode.
“I’m looping in Jacobs and Hephaestus, as well as Davis, Fleet Commander, Halvert II Colony,” Tanis said.
The avatars of Jacobs and Hephaestus appeared a moment later, followed by a young bearded man.
“Davis, meet Jacobs, my second in command, Jain, of the Void Warriors, and Hephaestus, of the Mimics,” Tanis said.
“Mimics,” Davis said. “I’d heard you had joined the war effort. Didn’t really think it was true. But I guess you’re real. You’d have to be, given all those Pyramid ships out there. Though I was expecting an avatar that was a little less… human.”
“Thank you,” Hephaestus said. “I think.”
“It must be because of you Mimics that all those ships just jumped out,” Davis said. “You must have spooked them. I have to admit, when I saw those Pyramids vanishing from the tactical display, I was spooked myself. I wasn’t sure for a moment if you were on our side. Can’t tell you how relieved I am to find you that you are.”
“So, what do you think?” Tanis said to Jacobs. “Have they really fled the system?”
“T
hey’ll be back,” his second in command said. “They’re hoping to lull us into a sense of complacency, maybe, thinking it will demoralize us when they arrive with reinforcements. But they’re wrong. Even if their numbers blanket the system from end to end, we won’t be deterred.”
“Actually, we probably would be,” Jain said.
“At least there’s a realist among you,” Davis said. “All we want to do is jump out our evacuation craft. But the Link have some sort of rift jamming devices… they’ve been blocking us.”
Jain examined the tactical display again, and studied the flotilla that had gathered well away from the planet, near the rift ship. He realized those were all escape rockets. None of them had jumped.
“The jamming device is still in place?” Jain said.
“None of our rockets have jumped out, so I’d say yeah,” Davis said.
“I thought you were just waiting for a few more evacuation rockets to reach the rift ship, so they could jump together,” Jacobs said. “Considering it takes twelve hours to recharge…”
“I gave the order to jump out a while ago,” Davis said. “When the Link started shooting down our escape rockets. That’s ten thousand people dead, per rocket.” He shook his head. “Anyway, the rift ship I have out there is still trying to fire its beams, but they won’t take.”
Jain attempted to activate his own rift beams. “I can confirm. The beams don’t form.” He gazed at the tactical display. “It seems the Link are content to make us stay here, while they muster their forces to attack Earth, or the Banthar and Tyrnari. This was their plan all along. To separate and isolate us. Making it all the easier to pick off our fleets one by one.”
Tanis stared into the distance for a few moments. On the tactical display, blue dots appeared as tiny craft emerged from different ships among the Paladins.
“I’m dispatching probes to the far sides of the different planets and celestial objects in the system,” Tanis said. “We’ll find that jamming ship, or ships, and destroy them.”
