Conflict!

by Dale Moorhouse

  The fifth freighter dropped out of FTL, fired its load and was struck in the propulsion module by some debris just as she was about to jump. I saw the forward module break free and disappear while some nearby harvesters blew the spine to pieces. Many of them died as the propulsion module exploded when the anti-matter containment field went down.

  The other trio of globe ships lost most of their protective shells when the next freighter column went by and emptied their magazines before jumping out and heading for Terra. Their escort stayed behind to prosecute their orders and began attacking anything that moved that wasn’t ours. They went about it with such a vengeance I was glad all of our ships were equipped with FoF modules that would momentarily lock out their weapons if the trigger was pulled on one of ours. The Friend or Foe modules were based on one of Rusty's ideas and developed by a trio of youngsters in Mother of Glory’s central creche a kilocycle ago.

  I saw another of those bright blue flashes that momentarily made the tactical display go dark. When it came back up, I saw that another globe ship had disappeared from the trio that had lost one earlier. I also saw a number of the remaining harvesters move to englobe the intact trio that had suffered the decimation of its protective screen of harvesters just a centa ago. The bombers and fighters in the area had shot themselves dry and had to scoot back to their carriers to rearm. The second wave that was to replace them was slightly out of position and couldn’t stop the reformation of the harvester shells in time.

  The intact trio and its protective screen of ships began to accelerate and veer towards one side of our kill-box, and accelerating hard. Each globe ship had girdled itself with harvesters and building speed more rapidly than we had ever observed. I ordered our attack elements to withdraw and rearm then to form columns along the Terra side of the swarm as well as below them and standby to re-engage. Our enemy was down to about a half million ships, and our forces were down to a little more than half that. We had started out at almost three to one and were now at two to one, but we were running short of ordinance and only had enough for one engagement and only had that if we could pick up our DJ-3s that had been out of position when the swarm split and turned towards our flanks.

  Our support ships moved in behind the swarm and started picking up the DJ-3s to refuel and refurbish so we could deploy them again as we took our positions on the gauntlet we were herding the Plague swarm through. It took most of the members of the fleet trains over two cycles to round up all of the DJ-3s and another two cycles for our remaining armoured freighters to resupply our carriers and their flocks of fighters and bombers. We’d been able to keep all of our carriers out of the fray this time, but half of them had no fighters or bombers left. They didn’t have weapons of the class needed for stand-off fighting, so I sent them back to Terra to keep them out of harm’s way. Five thousand new pilots were waiting at Terra as well as at least that many fighters, but it wasn’t enough to rearm more than a couple of carriers. Hopefully, we could put enough fighters and bombers together in the next hundred cycles or so to resupply at least a few more of them to augment our forces.

  We were now facing a war of attrition that could quickly go against us, especially if another swarm or two showed up to reinforce the swarm we were fighting. I needed to get back to Terra and check status on our war materials and weapons production. I also needed to take the pulse of the Confederation and see if I still had the support I needed. I commed Missy and asked her to plot a least-time course to Saturn then commed Ginger and Chocolate, my two senior commanders, and let them know I was returning to Terra and why. I asked Ginger to accompany me and Chocolate to take charge of our forces while I was gone. I gave her a broad outline of how I wanted our forces deployed and told her to feel free to modify the deployment to meet changing field conditions but to try to avoid a confrontation until I got back. She is an excellent commander, and I knew I could trust her to do what needed to be done.

  Chocolate commed shortly before I left for Terra, “Ser, I wanted to report there are less than a hundred thousand of the enemy in swarm two left and we continue to reduce their numbers. There are two surviving globe ships among them and our AI Swift Fangs are moving to take them out now. We have swept space in and around all of our combat areas and have a tally of our dead and survivors. Of our 120,073 missing flight crews, we have recovered 111,421, and a little more than sixty-thousand survived. Of the survivors, we have a little over forty-thousand who need to rest for a couple of cycles and can redeploy. The remaining survivors will be fit for duty anywhere from ten cycles from now to two-hundred cycles for those who need acute regeneration therapy.

  “Of the fifty-thousand crewed craft lost in this action, we can salvage enough parts to assemble between twenty-five and thirty-five thousand bombers and fighters. I can’t give you better estimates until our maintenance people have time to disassemble and inspect all of the ships.

  “We started this operation with forty-eight thousand AI Swift Fangs, and we still have close to thirty-thousand service ready and a few hundred that need repairs. We have collected as much of our debris as we can find and it is being processed into reaction mass for the carriers and the remaining Swift Fangs.

  “I’ve taken the liberty of speaking with some of the AIs in the Swift Fangs, they seem to be holding up well. None are reporting any problems and are eager to be of service.”

  “Thanks for the report Chocolate. I should only be gone for a few cycles, so carry on and do, please, keep a sharp eye out for other swarms.”

  “Yes, Ser. I’ve set up pickets with AI Swift Fang outriders at the half, two and four light-kilocycle spheres and there are more than ten thousand ships deployed in that capacity. I also have the swarm bracketed on the Terran and bottom sides as well as outriders above and on the anti-Terra side keeping an eye out for those who might try to depart the swarm. All are armed with Cracker-3s and instructed to destroy any Plague ships who stray from the formation.”

  “Well done, Chocolate. I’ll see you in a few cycles. Good hunting.”

  28

  THE TRIP TO SATURN WAS going to take over two decas, and the peace and quiet gave me a chance to review the last few cycles and discuss what had happened with four of the people I trusted most. I wished Elaine was here too—her view of the world was different from mine and she often saw things that I missed. In the meantime, I had Rusty, Johnny, Tuxedo and Ginger with me and was expecting Silent any moment. We were going to make a first stab at figuring out why the Plague’s tactics had suddenly changed and why part of the mega-swarm we had just fought survived.

  To help with this Rusty and Johnny spliced together a timeline and laid in short clips of fights with the swarm as the battle progressed.

  When everyone was ready, Rusty played it at normal speed on the large screens of the back-up command centre. The playback took close to twenty centas, and it was clear that the actions were all pretty cut and dried until we got to the last battle where we employed the cone formation for the first time, and the plague ships had altered their tactics. Johnny was the first to notice that the two trios that had forted up had done so long before they were in the kill-box.

  I had Rusty back the images up when he got to the end of the second battle, the two trios were forted up there as well. He continued backing up until about midway through the fight when we saw the two trios first surround themselves with harvesters. They advanced through the remainder of the swarm together until they were almost at the front where they split up, each trio moving towards opposite edges of the swarm. The main body of the swarm split almost equally with each part congregating around one of the forted up trios.

  By the time the two swarms departed, other trios within each had forted up and girdled themselves with harvesters to augment their acceleration. Somehow this information had either been missed or had been withheld at a time when it would have been very significant in our planning.

  When I asked Silent why this was the first we had seen of these records, he replied,
“These were sent to us by the Squids just before they departed. The first I saw them was when Rusty and I were preparing this presentation. This has the appearance of duplicity of a major sort on the part of the Squids, I think you would be wise to inform the Confederation Council of it.”

  “Oh, I plan to my friend, I definitely plan to. I will also broadcast it to my remaining officers as an example of bad behaviour that can lead to disaster with the caution that they may want to review any intelligence they have received from the Squids.”

  I looked around the room, “Does anyone want to lead off and tell me why the change in tactics after thousands of kilocycles of the same patterns of behaviour?”

  Rusty was the first to speak, “Jase, Silent and I discussed this when we were putting the images together. We think the Plague has help from sentients and as a first guess we are thinking rebel Squids. Our second guess is that their help is in the form of rebel Squids assisted by unknown species that have been captured by the plague as it has passed through earlier systems and held for the time when imagination and creativity might be required. Our third guess is like the second but minus the Squids.”

  Tuxedo chuckled and said, “I really hate it when you read my mind like that you two,” glancing at Rusty and Silent before continuing, “I’m thinking more likely it is option two, but I wouldn’t rule out friendly Squid collaboration.”

  “I agree with Tuxedo,” Johnny said. When I looked at Ginger, she was nodding.

  “Ok,” I said. “At this point, nothing would surprise me. I think in future planning, we need to make the underlying assumption that the plague has acquired help from intelligent biological entities who can anticipate the unusual and plan counter moves that are creative and well thought out. In all of the records, I have reviewed the Plague has never once showed any degree of actual creativity. All of their actions have been reactions to something we have done. For them to have started responding to us with the degree of innovation they are showing they must have outside help. I doubt highly that they have achieved true Artificial Intelligence in this short a time.

  “I also suspect that the help arrived fairly recently or we would have see it before now. Do we have any way to determine if the ships in the two trios we are chasing are recent arrivals and from which direction they came?”

  Silent replied, “No, Ser. Unfortunately for us, the plague doesn’t use any kind of visible differentiator or unique markings on their ships, nor do they vary the design of the globe ships. Every one of them we have encountered is externally identical. They all use the same power-plants so it would be exceedingly difficult to use drive signatures to identify specific ships.

  “What I can do, with Rusty’s help, is review every record containing images of globe ships or trios to determine if at any time in the past we might have captured images of them using these new tactics. If we see either one, it might give us a clue as to where and when their helpers may have come aboard. I wouldn’t hold my breath before planning on how to counter their new moves though. We need to address that now.”

  “Rusty, when we break, will you be able to help Silent perform that review?” I asked.

  “I’ll get on that right away, Jase. It won’t take long to get the queries running, and Silent has plenty of help to review the yield as it appears. I’ll check in periodically and make sure the queries are working properly.”

  “Good. I would like the rest of you to put your thinking caps on and draw in any talent you need to see if we can come up with tactics we can use against a powerful and creative foe.

  “After we brief the Confederation council I want to meet with Ishmael and his Warm and Cold allies and see what they may have to say about our discovery. Let’s adjourn and relax for a while before we get to Mother of Glory, and things get hectic.

  A deca later we docked. Elaine was there with Edgar to greet me. When she untangled herself from my embrace, she said, “I’ve missed you too much to let you go out there again without me and Edgar. I’ve already told Vanilla, and she agreed that I should go, she can pull one of the Med-Tech Is from Thermopylae and deploy me instead—she just gave me Med-Tech I certification!”

  “That’s wonderful news! Congratulations! I’ve got time before I need to meet with the Elders and Confederation Council, so let’s go grab a bite at Benji’s Place and you can tell me all about what’s happened.”

  She grabbed my arm, and we strolled to HQ, where I dropped my kit before we headed for Benji’s.

  My meeting with the elders wasn’t until 0800, so when we got to Benji’s, Elaine and I sat in “our” booth with the privacy screen up. She told me about her latest triumph—getting her certification as a Med-Tech I. She confided, “I would never have tried for it if it wasn’t for Vanilla and Svetlana. Vanilla noticed I have a talent for surgery and gave me many opportunities to develop that skill after a lot of sessions with my implant. She first saw it when we had to remove the probes from Shining Black Sword and Thomas and has been pushing me ever since. Now with all of the casualties, we are getting from the war I’m getting more practice than I ever wanted.

  “Svetlana has an interest in the Bond and when I told her I wanted to research and find a treatment or cure for Bond-Death she put a curriculum of study together that is teaching me how to do good research and it is extremely challenging. She told me she is finding herself studying as hard as me because the Mmrrreeowwn are so advanced, especially in genetics. She has that as a part of my curriculum, and she is right, it is very advanced, and it is the core of their regeneration technology, which I’m using every day. Vanilla must be monitoring my progress because just when I’ve mastered a chapter, she throws a case my way that uses and reinforces what I just learned.”

  She continued on for almost a deca and four drinks before she realized I hadn’t said much. When she asked about it, I told her I would tell her all about it when I had it straight in my own head, but for now, I didn’t want to detract from her successes or her happiness. I asked if we should invite Tuxedo and Ginger to join us and she smiled and said, “I’ve already commed them, they’ll be here momentarily.

  “Not to change the subject, can I come with you when you meet with the Elders later?”

  “Sure,” I said, “it will give you a high-level view of what is going on without being a total downer, and it will give you the background you need to understand when I tell you about our battles later on. I’m really not trying to avoid talking about the war, I just can’t wrap my head around some of what I’ve seen and done well enough to have it make sense when I do.”

  She pulled me close to her and just held me until there was a soft knocking and Ginger poked her head through the privacy screen. Ginger slid in and put her arms around Elaine and gave her a big hug and a nuzzle, then moved around to the other side of the table just as Tuxedo came in and gave Elaine a hug too. He moved over to Ginger’s side and ordered their drinks that the bartender must have already made because he brought them in along with some refills for Elaine and me a few ticks later.

  Our conversation stayed light for the rest of the meal and 0800 came all too soon. My escort was waiting for us when we emerged from the booth, and we trooped to the Elders’ residence, getting there just ticks before the appointed hour. Ginger, Tux and I brought copies of our after-action reports and handed them to Elder Three who asked us to be seated. He and Elder Four reviewed them quickly and then stood and had us follow them to the lounge area where the rest of the Elders waited for us. I was surprised to see Ishmael and his two Cold and Warm colleagues were there. The large screen showed the Confederation Council was in session and would be in on the meeting as well.

  The president of the council introduced himself to us and told us he had just reviewed our reports. He congratulated us on our inroads to destroying the Plague, but something in his tone said he wasn’t pleased about something. I figured it was about the Squids given it was one; I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. It did, he immediately launched into a dia
tribe about improper handling of the incident involving the rebel Squids and the subsequent destruction of a mega-freighter and its load of munitions. I waited for him to wind down. As he continued to berate my leadership and decisions, I felt my temper build, and Elaine and Tuxedo must have felt it through Ginger because Elaine grabbed my hand and Tux put his on my opposite shoulder. Both commed and suggested I bide my time, there was a rebuttal coming from the Mmrrreeowwn council and to be patient.

  The rebuttal, more like a criticism, came within ticks of the council president shutting up. All five Elders stood and one at a time addressed every one of the president’s points and once they were done the council representatives of the Weasels took their turn followed by the representatives of the Warms and Colds. Last but not least, Dimitri and Stan spoke. Both were scathing in their criticism of the Squids. They ended with, “Your people violated the rules that you, yourself put in place concerning diversification of armament loads on freighters. Your people violated operational security doctrines which you also signed off on by allowing the faction we call rebels to gain control of a ship during wartime. In other times and other places you could be executed for those breaches, but we aren’t on Terra, we are in the here, and now, so we must deal with the here and now.

  “As of now Squids are no longer allowed on any of the ships sailing under Terran control without an armed guard. We appreciate all of the technology you have supplied us and the uplifts you have provided, but we cannot trust you not to stab us in the back while we are fighting for our very existence. Whether or not the other members of the Confederation choose to side with us is on their conscience. If we need to go it alone, we are prepared to do so, even if it means our ultimate destruction.”