Burning Eagle

by Navin Weeraratne

  Most of the brain capsules survived, however. Playing percentages with baselines was considered bad form.

  The invaders reached the Kuiper Belt, the planetoid shell beyond the system’s gas giants. Most landed on ice comets. Others struck carbon-rich ones: little, freeze-dried, primordial slimes. If kicked in-system by a passing star, they’d have boiled over with life.

  These produced battleships instead.

  Quantum entangled relays eighty years cold, were switched on. A trillion computers looked, and saw the front line in real time. They uploaded the war, bit by bit. The dusts got to work: the Union Expeditionary Force was 3d-printed.

  Spy satellites and micro listening posts were built. They were disguised as rocks and ices, and that’s mostly what they were. They sent back what they saw to buried command bunkers on Earth, Jupiter, and Shantung. Men drank coffee and stared at screens. Stock market Gods worked pro-bono, modeling battle outcomes. Targets were selected, assessed, ranked. Public Relations started prep to tell people we’d won the war. Some grumbled that satellites didn’t suffice, that eyes on the ground were needed. However, this was decided against. Surprise was judged too valuable to risk, even for better intel.

  Sun Tzu dedicated more than half his capacity to studying the intelligence. He went over it over and over; curing cancers had taken less capacity. When queried he gave no accounting for the excessive review. However, to those who worked with him closely, his disappointment was clear.

  D-5 Months

  The fleets launched from their icesteroid dockyards. Retribution was eighty capital ships strong. Battleships that could slag cities. Stealth carriers moving hundreds of bombers. Rail gun platforms able to snipe tea cups from behind the sun. The armored fists were the Planet Carriers: atmosphere capable, space dominance vessels. Supporting them were a thousand cruisers, destroyers, frigates, tankers, and factory ships.

  Sun Tzu scattered fourteen avatars of himself through the armada. On the home front, he went up to thirty-one. To digital beings he was always available: God Minds had to be everywhere at once.

  D-11 Days

  In the Kuiper Belt, a hundred x-ray lasers lined up at targets that were planets away. They fired for hours: a carefully managed sequence of thousands and thousands of shots. Each one was a gigawatt pulse. Most of the radiation was too slow, but the gamma rays traveled at light speed. They would hit their targets across the solar system in exactly eleven days.

  The fleet’s senior officers gathered on the flagship Victorious to toast their success.

  D-2 Days

  Special Forces elements from Taskforce Recon landed on the planet. They had two days to gather as much intel as possible. While none saw this as nearly enough time, it was deemed an acceptable trade off. If the enemy discovered the operators, they would only have two days to prepare for the invasion. Some operators from other taskforces also joined this early insertion. Koirala and Jahandar were among them.

  D-Day

  Surprise was total.

  Bases on nearby planets and moons were vaporized. Hypervelocity missiles shredded space stations and warships. Waves of bombers struck reeling defenders with conventional, strategic, and nanotech weapons. Recon drones were finally unleashed, identifying new targets and re-categorizing old ones. Special Forces operators went into action. They conducted pararescue for downed pilots; intelligence gathering; and direct action. Then, the Marines and Droptrooper Rangers landed. They seized key points and established beach heads. The rest was powered armor; rockets; and rail guns.

  D+4 Days

  From the Victorious Sun Tzu livecasted to the entire Union. His address began with the words “Mission complete.”

  Cullins III

  One Week Later, U.E.F Dreadnought “Victorious,” Kuiper Belt, Paradiso System

  “They call this a hangar deck?” the only permitted civilian for parsecs gestured with fresh-made arms. Facing them at one berth out of dozens, was a shark. Its diamond armor had boiled, bubbled, and run in streaks. The hull was Swiss-cheese: very determined particle fire had left perfect holes. Spider-silk scaffolding stretched across the ship, knit together by careful nanomachines. Yellow boiler suits walked along it, managing over a kilometer of atom-by-atom repairs.

  “That thing is an auto-cruiser. You could fit a fleet of them in here. You could build a fleet of them in here.”

  Commodore Gerard Cullins nodded at his immense and unlikely XO. “That was the idea, Jack. This is a shipyard and a capital ship in one. And the Victorious is stealthed.”

  Seven feet of black market genetics raised an eyebrow.

  “Why would you stealth something this big? It doesn’t take a target lock to bomb a city.”

  “You’re thinking combat. Think strategy. You have to know where it is before you can get into attack range. How do you plan to invade a system that has hidden, mobile, shipyards? Shipyards that print new warships as quickly as fast food? All this war needed was one of them. It had twelve.”

  “Pity they’re almost a century late.”

  White shuttles taxied along flight lanes, they lifted into space and became fiery blue lights. They weaved between stars and ships, impulses linking together a mind. Quad guns on towers acquired, whirred, and reacquired. Jump patrols flew in V-formation, riding on stingy bursts of compressed air.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Diamond took his giant hands off his hip-mounted, pirated, machine pistols and held his head.

  “Headaches. Body aches.”

  “That’s normal; you’re still printer-fresh,” Cullins gestured, dismissively. “It’ll pass in a couple of days. As long as they reconnected your nerves properly, you’ll be fine.”

  “If they didn’t?”

  He made a face like he’d bit into a lemon. “Headaches. Body aches. And Multiple Personality Disorder.”

  “Great! I’m sure me, me, and me will I’ll be fine.”

  “Any reason you walked out of Physio wearing nothing but a saline drip?”

  “The orientation videos were pretty bad,” Diamond shook his head. “And there’s this other guy they thawed with me, Mendez. The fucker laughs like a whinnying horse. If I didn’t leave, he’d be dog food and glue by now.”

  “You do know you’ve only been alive for six hours?”

  “I like to make an early start,” Diamond did an arm stretch. “I’ve got no time to relearn how to walk. I’m in a shipyard that can work on a fleet at a time –this is orientation.”

  “Well, when your muscles detach, remember I advised against this. Now, what’s this I hear from IT about a spy-virus? People in command chains don’t like that.”

  Diamond shrugged again.

  “I also steal silverware at nice dinners, and my hand is always in the cookie jar. Half this ship is off-limits and my clearance level barely lets me into the bathrooms. What did you expect me to do? Put my hand up and ask questions?”

  “Just try and keep the shenanigans to a minimum.”

  “I can’t promise that, we haven’t discussed performance metrics. Why don’t you give me some answers? You look like you have some time.”

  “I don’t really, but what do you want to know?”

  “First off, I want to clarify something. I understand that our “task force” is outside of the normal military structure? That we’re basically a private army, reporting directly to Sun Tzu?”

  “Basically, yes.”

  “So no one can tell us what to do?”

  “Yes and no. We’re going to play ball, if there’s a conflict I’ll bump it up to Sun Tzu. It’s his job to sort out.”

  “So if I’m ordered to do something that conflicts with my own orders?”

  “Tell me. If I can’t sort it, Sun Tzu will.”

  “With that answered, I want to know whose toes exactly I’ll be treading on. Who makes up the UEF? I just need a basic overview.”

  “The Interstellar Union Navy controls space. There are many coalition ships, but they’re just thirty pe
rcent of the fleet. Compare this with Tennyson, where they were almost eighty percent.”

  “I thought Earth supported this war.”

  “Earth does. But they’re letting the Union sit in the driver’s seat. It helps that Sun Tzu is headquartered there. Our ship, the Washington, is part of the Union Navy. Though, our mission is unique and we answer only to Sun Tzu.”

  “What kind of ship is it?”

  “The Washington is a planet carrier. It’s built for projecting space dominance down to the ground level. It has considerable firepower, its own troops and aircraft. It’s also a mobile base, supplying and supporting them in the field.”

  “Intense. So it’s a flying beach head?”

  “Think of a battleship mixed with a forward operating base.”

  “Nice. Since we’re talking ground level, who’s operating there?”

  “Union Droptroopers and Marine Corps. By the way, the Washington carries three companies of marines.”

  “That sounds like a lot.”

  “It is. Over five hundred men and women.”

  “Are they rowdy? Like in the movies?”

  “No but they break things and graffiti the bathrooms when they’re bored. Right now most are on loan to Planet Command. The Marines were first in, but the Droptroopers will do the heavy lifting.”

  “All very Interstellar Union,” Diamond nodded. “No coalition ground forces?”

  “Not at this tier. UMC and Droop Troopers are Tier Three forces. The regular military, if you will. Then there’s Marine Advanced Ops and the Droptrooper Rangers. They’re Tier Two. They’re the guys who seize airbases and capture command bunkers.”

  “They’re Special Forces?”

  “Not really, that’s Tier One. Advanced Ops and the Rangers often support Special Forces. However, they still deploy in companies and platoons. Ops and the Rangers are also all Interstellar Union.”

  “Yet, the organizing is distinctly American.”

  “That’s because it is. The Union can’t even design a hedron patrol craft unless Earth allows it. Earth acts only if either China or America is put in charge, and the other makes all the decisions. Sun Tzu is a Chinese computer. This is his completely American designed, military.”

  “I so love our independence. So, what about Tier One?”

  “Those are the Special Forces, proper. They’re mostly from Earth, various coalition nations have sent ‘operators’ as they’re called. Many flew over as brain boxes, like you and I did. The rest are faxing in.”

  “Why are they mostly from Earth?”

  “They have a lot more experience. Earth has police SWAT teams that have more experience than some of our own operators. Now is not the time to get hung up on pride. We have a unit of operators tasked to us on the Washington.”

  “From Earth?”

  “No, they’re Union. It’s easier, given the Washington’s place outside the usual chain of command. This group though has some experience, mostly Tennyson veterans. Sun Tzu picked them out himself.”

  “What are you going to do with a team of ninjas?”

  “What can’t I do with a team of ninjas?”

  “Well then, you can give me something.”

  “I’m not giving you a Special Forces operator.”

  “I don’t want a ninja, I want a ship.”

  “We have a ship.”

  “You have a ship. There’s a difference. I need to be able to travel where I please.”

  “You’re my XO. You need to be on the Washington.”

  “To do what, staff evaluations? Do I have an assistant?”

  “Lieutenant Fielding. He’s quite competent.”

  “Good. Then by the power invested in me, Fielding has to do all my staff evaluations. And everything else. And, he is to never, ever, to talk to me. He’s your Fielding now.”

  “That’s fine. I don’t want you doing tasks like that, anyway. But why do you need a ship? This didn’t come up earlier.”

  “It didn’t come up, because I’ve never been surrounded by so many navy uniforms. I feel like I’m about to be jumped; I can’t work like this. I need my own guns and my own ship.” He looked down and patted a holster, “I’ve found the guns.”

  “What kind of ship do you need?”

  “Something small. No essential crew except the pilot, and that’ll be me. An IFF box is fine, but I want the ship completely severed from the fleet networks and dataspaces.”

  “Completely?”

  “Completely.”

  “Don’t you think that’s a bit paranoid?”

  “No. Mistrusting machines would be paranoid. Mistrusting the military, isn’t. Especially a Chinese American military, which everyone believes is really Union.”

  “Alright, I’ll take care of it. I have to go into a meeting now. It’s with our ninjas, actually.”

  “Do I need to attend?”

  “Not really. You’re better off meeting Jovanka, frankly. He’ll talk you about his ‘Transcendent Detection Methodology.’ It basically frames our whole mission.”

  “It sounds nerdy.”

  “Oh it is. He’s prepping to study everything from anomalous magnetic fields, to changes in bird migrations.”

  “Alright. Before you go to your meeting though, I do have one last question.”

  “Make it quick.”

  “Why are you doing all this?” Diamond’s gesture took in the bay. “Why did you agree to be recruited? Why are we here at all, searching after alien space brains?”

  Cullins rolled his eyes. “I said make it quick.”

  “It’s as quick as you want to make it. Seriously. You had a very ugly divorce from these guys, and that was a long time ago. Why are you here now?”

  “It’s a job,” he shrugged. “We’ve taken all kinds of jobs before in Import Export. What’s the difference?”

  “But we don’t do jobs for people who have screwed us in the past,” he folded his arms, shaking his head. “And we get even with them.”

  “You get even with them. I don’t.”

  “You let me, so it’s the same thing.”

  “Alright. The money is great, Jack. I got ten years back pay. But that said, you’re right. Money isn’t why I rejoined the military, I’m here because I want to serve. It’s what I’ve always wanted. It’s nice to given that opportunity again, along with an apology - and damages – from the person who took it from me.”

  “And that’s it?” Diamond raised an eyebrow. “That’s all there is to it?”

  “Well, yeah,” Cullins frowned. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

  “’Cause its bullshit,” the gene meat hurled the word like a spent round. “I know you. You’re noble, but you’re not that noble. You’ll serve, but you won’t bury a hatchet. After all that they did to you, how can you wear that uniform? Should they even trust you?”

  Cullins stared across the hangar.

  “Gerard, you know I’m not going to let go of this.”

  “I know. Don’t you think its eighty years late to be grilling me about this?”

  “Of course it is. But I knew I couldn’t talk you about of coming here. That, and I sure wanted the money. But now that we’re here, I get to ask you these things. You’re going to be very uncomfortable with it, and then you’re going to be intellectually honest with yourself. Why did you come here?”

  “I need to do this, Jack.”

  “Is it ego? You sued these assholes after Paradiso was hit. You sued them, and didn’t retake your commission. That was your closure. If you wanted back in, you would have taken it then. Why are you reopening this?”

  “Ego has nothing to do with it. The first few years, yes. But things changed. And while I do want to serve, this is temporary, Jack. Once this is done, I’m out. For good. And you can hold me to those words.”

  “Well, a minute ago, your words were that you always wanted to serve. Now, you want to bug out after this one job? Which words exactly, would you like me to hold you to?”

  Cullins
tensed.

  “My crew and I were the first people to make contact with an alien race, and we shot at them. I have never regretted starting this war. My regret is that I never got to finish it.”

  “So this is closure?”

  “A different closure. It’s not about me and the Navy, or about Sun Tzu. It’s about me, this war, and the aliens. I want to kill aliens, Jack. I don’t know why I need to justify that.”

  Jack stared. Then, he slow clapped. Once, twice, thrice.

  “So, this is all about your big damn ego. You want to be a hero? I expected better of you.”

  “Jack – “

  “Listen buddy, your man the Admiral, he screwed you.”

  “He did not – “

  “He screwed you. The Service screwed you. Your Union screwed you. Yes, you sued them, yes they apologized, and yes now they need you again. But you can’t trust people like this. They will just screw you again. I don’t believe you’re here to serve, for the money, or even for some bizarre closure with some blips you fought on a radar. I also don’t think you’re going to tell me.” He put his arm on Cullin’s shoulder. “But I want you to think about it. Whatever reason you’re really here for, it’s not a healthy one. Nothing healthy pushed you to come this far, and wear that uniform. Find out what it is, before it makes you do something terrible.”

  Cullins looked away down the bay. System lights flickered along the damaged cruiser, then suddenly went green. The repair crew cheered and high-fived each other.

  “Jack, Sun Tzu didn’t screw me. He made a mistake. A mistake he was big enough to admit to, and now wants to make things right. I can sit around and hate him for what happened, or I can move past that and get something positive out of all this.”

  “And that means being back in the service?”

  “It means being where I need to be to best deal with unfinished business.”

  “You’ve always said you didn’t care about this life anymore. Can you see why I’m concerned? Can you understand now, why I’m here? You’re my only horse in this race, and I don’t want to see you break your leg again.”