The Warlord

by CJ Williams

  “Why?” Annie demanded suspiciously.

  Carrie rolled her eyes. “So Rosa can rest and so you and I can talk. Come and you can see what’s happening to your Luke.” Carrie put her hands on her hips and waited expectantly.

  Annie hesitated for a moment, but finally turned to Mazie. “Take Rosa to the VIP quarters. I’ll be there soon.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  Carrie waved an arm toward the main passageway. “After you,” she said to Annie with exaggerated deference.

  Annie walked cautiously toward the bridge while considering the situation. Carrie had begged Luke to let her take Annie off planet prior to the imminent confrontation with the Greys. An understandable request…Carrie was trying to be helpful…but this was insane!

  On the bridge, Annie looked out of the viewing window and gasped. It was Luke’s car but the ship must have been only a few feet away.

  Carrie explained. “This isn’t a window like you’re used to. It’s a display screen. That’s a telephoto shot of your Luke. Sadie is tracking him with a stealth drone so you can see what’s going on.”

  Two Barbicans were loading a woman who looked exactly like Annie herself, and an infant into the vehicle. Another woman, who looked exactly like Carrie, stood nearby, scolding Luke furiously. The replicas were indistinguishable from the originals. It was like watching a video of herself.

  “How did you do that?” Annie asked.

  “The same way that Luke made a copy of himself. The difference was we put synthetic skin on the exterior.”

  The car raced to the spaceport and pulled up to Freddi. Luke got out followed by the simulacra of Annie and Rosa.

  Carrie explained. “They’re just like Barrett. That’s what I call your android. He’ll figure out soon enough that it’s not you, but we wanted him to think you were safe on his ship, so he would concentrate on the coming battle with the Greys.”

  “I can’t believe you did that,” Annie said. “He’s never going to forgive you.”

  “I know. But honestly, I’m more worried about you forgiving me. There’s a lot I have to tell you. We can discuss it now, or wait until you’re feeling better.”

  Annie shook her head. The entire situation was insane. For one thing, it was so unlike Carrie to go against her brother this way. She practically worshipped the ground he walked on. Was it just because Luke was a robot now? That had to be it. Annie herself still had trouble with the idea from time to time. But she had gotten used to it after a fashion.

  “All right,” Annie said, giving in. “You may as well get all the bad news out right now. I don’t see how it’s going to get any worse.”

  “Okay,” Carrie said. “Come sit down. This won’t be easy.”

  Annie allowed herself to be coaxed into the first officer’s seat. “Go ahead. Spit it out.”

  Carrie took a deep breath. “Sadie is going to show you a video that Freddi recorded on the Grey planet when Luke rescued you. It’s the same Freddi that now refuses to recognize Barrett as the real Luke. With me so far?”

  Annie nodded.

  Carrie continued. “After Luke launched the rescue mission, he made this secret record of what happened aboard Freddi at that time. The recording wound up on Haiyanas Seven where I saw it for the first time. That’s what you’re about to see. It includes a message from Luke after the attack. He wanted to explain some things to you. That part will be difficult for you. Are you up to watching it?”

  “Of course,” Annie said, eager now to listen to the last words from her true husband, before his human body passed away. “I want to hear what he said.” A few tears rolled down her cheeks. It was just like him to send her a message, even when things must have been so overwhelming.

  Carrie gave a deep sigh. “Please remember that I love you and that Luke loves you.

  “All right. Play the video.”

  The viewing window turned into a wall-sized display screen and Annie watched in astonishment. The second she saw her husband in his human form, her eyes filled with tears. Luke was watching his mechanical troops leave the spacecraft and she could see the satisfaction on his face; the anticipation of the coming battle where he would rescue his wife. Then the simulacrum of Luke ran off the ship. The real Luke chuckled and called it back. The two men talked for a moment, one human, one android. It was strange seeing them together.

  The real Luke walked back to the bridge and then Annie’s world changed.

  She listened along with Luke as his mechanical copy explained to the Barbican that on his order, it would go back to the ship and kill the human version.

  “No,” Annie whispered to herself. “That can’t be real. Luke wouldn’t do that.”

  The human Luke discussed his options for dealing with the betrayal. Freddi gave Luke his only option. Run for his life.

  The video continued with Luke’s preparation of the decoy mannequin. A few minutes later, the treacherous metal soldier ran onto the bridge and gunned it down. Her current husband, the metallic one, coldly gave orders to clean up the mess.

  The scene switched. It was her husband, the human Luke. He was seated in a palatial living room staring sadly into the camera.

  He spoke. “My truest love, I am so sorry on so many levels. You’ve seen what happened during and after your rescue. I did not want to leave you behind, but I knew that my mechanical copy would take care of you. He was me after all. I only left the planet after the rescue was successful and I knew you were safe. My heart has ached every single day, but I didn’t have a way to get word to you without letting Barrett know I am still alive. I was, and still am, afraid of what he might do if he discovers I am coming for you. Right now, while you’re watching this I am preparing to engage the Bakkui. I don’t know how the battle will end but I promise that I will survive and return to your side. Please forgive me for everything that has happened. I love you.”

  The video display faded to black.

  Annie stared at the screen trying to absorb all the incredible information. It wouldn’t sink in. Her husband was alive. Her real husband. The android who rescued her, had lied from the very beginning. And she never had any inkling of his treachery. He had seemed to be the reincarnation of the real Luke. That was the only reason she finally accepted him. It was why she had slept with him—with it—she had been sleeping with it!

  “Oh my God,” she cried out in agony. “I can’t believe this!” She bent over and groaned. “I can’t believe this,” she said over and over.

  Carrie tried to comfort her, but Annie pushed her back harshly and turned away, sinking to the floor where she gasped for breath. She hated Carrie for showing her that video. She hated Luke for putting her in that situation. Finally, her moans turned to sobs. She hated the universe for being so unfair.

  For an hour Annie stayed on the floor, sobbing broken heartedly. She ignored Carrie’s occasional expressions of sympathy and just wanted to be left alone.

  Finally, Carrie said, “Sadie, have Mazie bring in Rosa. Maybe that will give her some comfort.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  A moment later Mazie rolled in with the baby. Annie took Rosa and held her close, rocking back and forth while continuing to weep.

  In the back of her mind Annie prayed that her husband would live through the coming battles…but she wasn’t exactly sure what that meant. Did she mean the metallic man whom she had come to love but that had betrayed her, or the human man that she loved once upon a time, but had died and left her abandoned? There was no answer that would satisfy her grief.

  Chapter Fifteen – The Bakkui

  Commander Lucas Blackburn studied the wall display in the small conference room of his flagship, the Lulubelle IV. He had summoned Captain Elaine Cain and her bridge staff to go over his strategy to attack the Bakkui. Once finalized, they would pass it to the rest of the fleet down their chain of command.

  “I think we can chase them down from behind,” Luke said.

  “Our ships are faster,” she agreed
.

  The new Lulubelle was the upgraded version of the Mustang. It was much larger, had better sensors, and could easily accommodate a crew of thirty.

  The bridge held a full complement to coordinate Luke’s force including the three thousand Starfighters that Carrie had built since her arrival on Haiyanas Seven, plus the six thousand unmanned warships that Luke had churned out in record time. The result was that each Starfighter had two Raiders as supporting wingmen.

  Newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Jeri Delaney had a question. “I understand that we’re faster,” she said. “But how do we catch up from this far away? And still, they outnumber us twenty to one.” She was studying a screen showing their current trajectory against the projected route of the Bakkui. The two lines intersected at a point slightly behind the tip of the Bakkui’s path.

  “It’s a gamble,” Luke admitted. “But George assures me it has a high probability of success.”

  Elaine explained further. “Both fleets are traveling at many multiples of lightspeed, but as we get close to Mauga, both forces have to start the process of decelerating. That’s normal. Every voyage in space includes equal periods of both acceleration and deceleration. It’s the only way to arrive at your destination system at a manageable velocity.”

  “Correct,” Luke said. “And thanks to our superior gravity drives, we can afford to delay before decelerating. We do all our catching up at the end of the journey.”

  Elaine said, “As we approach their fleet we’ll launch our guided missiles and then brake hard to match their speed. Our weapons will speed up to gain on their targets and then maintain that velocity until impact.”

  Delaney looked uncertain. “The rate of closure would be phenomenal. Can we calculate for that?”

  Luke sighed mentally. Delaney had recently arrived from Moonbase One with other new recruits. She had no battle experience and little training, but she had finished ROTC in her hometown college and graduated with a degree in history. Always desperate for new personnel, and sympathetic to her choice of major, Luke accepted her aboard the Lulubelle as an assistant communications officer. But it required a little more patience and a lot more instruction.

  “It’s an important consideration,” He conceded. “The catch is to detonate the warheads at exactly the right time. Too far away and the steel rods might expand so much they would miss the target. Too close and the detonation could occur after passing by it.”

  “George?” Elaine said. “Explain it for our rookie.”

  “It will not be a problem, Lieutenant Delaney. The mathematics for calculating the precise fusing are built into each weapon. By comparison, your Earth-based standards of double-precision calculations are approximations. I am confident the math is sound. With one caveat, however.”

  “And what’s that?” Luke asked.

  “All of our planning is based on the consistency of the target’s velocity. If the Bakkui vary their deceleration after we launch our weapons, the solution would be meaningless because the enemy ship would not be where the missile expects.”

  “Our missiles have terminal guidance, though,” Elaine countered.

  “That is true,” George agreed. “But those function for smaller corrections during terminal guidance, not during the acquisition phase.”

  “I can live with that,” Luke replied. “What about targeting?”

  George continued. “I will coordinate target allocation with all other ships in our force. After launch, each missile will steer toward a specific ship within the Bakkui armada. We will first strike those warships at the rear of the enemy formations. That interrupts notification between hostile vessels during the early stage of the engagement.”

  Elaine faced her bridge crew. “After the Bakkui realize they are under attack, the missiles will continue to pursue their targets. The terminal guidance phase, that George just mentioned, includes tracking a maneuvering ship all the way to impact. To date, Bakkui countermeasures are not that effective.”

  Luke nodded. “The Bakkui are slow to implement advanced technology. Typically, they overwhelm their adversaries through sheer numbers. Let’s make this battle an exception.”

  “We will, Commander,” Elaine promised. “We’ll run simulations while we’re catching up.”

  “Concentrate on developing techniques for using our entire force in a coordinated operation. I’m not asking you to become an expert in these new tactics on the fly. Use George. He has seen quite a few more battles than most of us.”

  “Understood, Commander.” Elaine said. She looked around the room for any other questions about the boss’s plan.

  Another officer, also new to the ship, had one. “Can’t the Bakkui see us while we run up their tailpipes?”

  “No,” Elaine said. “Both fleets are going faster than light. That means the Bakkui can’t detect anything that appears behind them. The only thing visible to your rear in FTL is ancient starlight in a deep red phase-shift. When Lulubelle reaches a position in the Bakkui’s trail, none of our wave emissions, including reflected light, will reach their sensors.”

  Luke caveated her theory. “Assuming that we intercept them from behind and don’t roll out right on their nose.”

  “That would not be ideal,” Elaine agreed.

  “We’ve got a few weeks to practice,” Luke concluded. “Let’s not waste time.”

  *.*.*.*

  “Status?” Luke asked.

  It was a stupid question. He’d only been off the bridge for about ten minutes to refill his coffee.

  “No change,” Elaine replied in an even tone.

  Luke sat in the observer’s chair and studied the simulated viewing window. He marveled once again at how accurately it depicted an actual transparent partition. The streaks of starlight looked exactly the same as they did on a Phantom or Starfighter.

  Elaine sat in the captain’s seat, next to Luke. She slugged him very gently on the shoulder. “It’s a good plan, Commander,”

  He gave her a wry glance. “Are you trying to convince me or you?”

  She shrugged. “Both I guess.”

  He walked over to the reconnaissance officer’s console. “How long now?”

  “Any time now, Commander,” Sanford replied. He zoomed the screen in to show Lulubelle’s current position with respect to the point of intersection. “It’s difficult to say exactly because we only have the three sightings of their fleet to make our projections. The good news is that our third reference plot matched the first two. If they haven’t changed their speed or direction, we’re almost there.”

  Luke sighed and returned to his seat. He hated the waiting before an oncoming battle. It gave him too much time to think about all the things that could go wrong and how many hours he had wasted in getting ready.

  An hour later, the display screen altered. Graphs popped up with dozens of curved lines and columns of numbers.

  “Got it!” Sanford announced. “Multiple gravity wakes detected. It has to be the Bakkui.”

  Elaine sat up straight, gripping the armrests of the captain’s chair. “Adjust course, George!”

  “Coming about,” he replied.

  The stars in the viewing window shifted as the fleet began a broad turn to match the Bakkui’s heading.

  Sanford bent over his console, typing like mad. “Calculating distance.” After a moment, he pointed toward the main display at the front of the bridge. “Countdown started.” A digital countdown timer appeared on the display’s bottom right. Sixteen hours and thirty-two minutes.

  Luke clapped Sanford on the shoulder. “Good job, son.” He sighed and returned to his seat. “Once more into the fray,” he murmured quietly.

  “Shakespeare?” Elain inquired.

  Luke shook his head. “Liam Neeson, in the film The Grey. It seemed appropriate somehow.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure. You’re thinking of ‘Once more into the breach’ in the play Henry V.”

  Elaine shrugged and glanced at her First o
fficer. “Review work schedules so we have our A-Team on duty at intercept.” Then she moved to Sanford’s position. “Are you getting individual plots yet?”

  “Not yet. I am detecting larger formations. It’s enough to start breaking down target assignments. We’ll keep updating as our discrimination of their flight path improves.”

  “Very well. Does the data match what we’re getting from the rest of our formation?”

  “So far, yes ma’am. George compares all feeds as they are received.”

  Over the next hour, yellow diamond-shaped icons began popping up on the display screen. Sanford kept a running commentary on what the symbols represented. First it was an unknown number of enemy forces. Then it was a group of more than five thousand Bakkui, then more than one thousand. As time passed, the center of the display became a mass of yellow, the individual icons overlapping completely. He announced that each icon, if it could be seen, indicated twenty or more ships.

  The bridge officers began cycling off the bridge into crew rest, replaced by their secondary counterparts. Luke followed the example and retired to his own cabin. It was hard to sleep with the battle imminent but after thirty minutes of worrying he drifted off.

  When he woke he was astonished to learn he had slept for six hours. He took a hot shower, put on a clean uniform and stopped by the galley for a light breakfast. The mood around the tables was tense but optimistic. He chatted with a few of the crew members, offering encouragement and telling a couple of war stories.

  After four more hours, numeric designations began appearing inside the diamonds. The numbers were distributed throughout the Alliance fleet, assigning specific targets to each ship’s captain.

  There was nothing Luke could do at this point; just study the display and worry. His forces were spread out in a giant wagon-wheel-like formation with George and the Royal Escort Group at the center. Other units were assigned to the spokes or the outer rim to form a huge symmetric wall of warships.