Three hours later, the Hailstorm was landing in the capital city of HOBBbl Moskva on New Earth. Transports laden with the requested raw materials were loaded into her bays. Five identical trips were made over the course of the day that followed. Midelon was now believed to have the supplies needed to build the next hundred Banshees.
Harris joined Tawn in the Banshee assembly building. "Alex says we can bump our production to three per day in another ten days or so. We might even see the first batch of hulls from New Earth by then."
"Ten days is a long time to wait without having a viable defense."
"I agree, but we can only do what we can do."
Tawn looked over the newest hull being prepped for installs. "What do you think happened to Bax?"
"She's probably back in Domicile space, hiding out."
"We should contact the colonel, see if his connection knows anything."
"Not a bad idea. Alex, open a comm to the Retreat for us. Hail the colonel."
"One moment."
An image displayed on an interior wall of the assembly building. "Gruberg, been waiting for you to comm."
"We've been busy trying to salvage a way out of this, Colonel. What's new there?"
The DDI investigators are back to snooping around. I don't think the president trusts us."
Tawn said, "We're fighting machines, Colonel. He doesn't like anything to do with war fighting."
"My thoughts exactly. When you said salvage, what were you referring to?"
Harris replied, "We made a deal with the devil again. New Earth is now producing Banshee hulls for us. As many of them as they can build, we'll outfit and use them in their defense. They've also supplied us with materials that allow us to keep building them here."
"Will it be enough?"
"Depends how much time the Denzee give us. They've been quiet for over a day now since the president sold us out."
"I wouldn't expect that to last."
"We don't. How are you set for defenses now?"
"Good. Rail cannons are all operational, food supplies are sustainable, and we've made sure we have an abundance of spares for almost anything imaginable. We could be cut off for several years without issue. Given this Denzee threat, I can say I'm glad we went through this effort."
"I'm sure it grinds at you that you can protect yourselves but not Domicile."
"It does. The one thing I think we missed on putting in place down here was manufacturing. At the moment we have a couple small fabrication shops, but that's it. When we run out of spares, we'll be hard pressed to make our own replacements of anything. Our shop equipment is lacking.
"That's one thing I've been thankful for here. When we had the money, I had Trish buy everything she could. Given time and raw materials we could build almost anything we would ever need. And now with this Banshee operation, that includes ships."
"I'll have to put a team together to investigate what we can acquire while we still have access to Domicile."
Harris said, "I wanted to ask, do you know of any sightings of Baxter Rumford? According to the emperor, she went missing from Eden a day before we attacked. Now, he might have been lying to us about that, but I don't know why. I thought your DDI contact might be in the know."
"I'll have a chat with him. Do you have a need to know?"
Harris chuckled. "No. Mostly just curiosity. Would have liked to have had her managing the hull production for the emperor if possible. She was one to get the job done, and she'd keep you informed of any problems. Something an Earther manager would never do. I guess I'm missing that connection into his staff is all. She was a royal pain, but often useful."
"I'll see what I can dig up."
Tawn asked. "Is the whole secession idea still off the table?"
"We were actually kicking that one around again. Given the current circumstance, the president might be willing to dump us if only to get the 'war mongers' out of his empire. My DDI contact has been urging me to not follow that route, but I think that's because he wants to keep us Bios as a viable fighting force should Domicile need us.
"Can't say I blame him for wanting to hang onto what little defenses they have. All we need is a supply of Saxons and we could take on any ground force our enemies could field. I wish we still had access to Bannis. He could put out the feelers for you and tell us if it's something the politicos would go for."
"I was going to ask how he was doing."
Harris said, "They locked him up. We've had no contact since the president made his deal and I called him a fool. He didn't really care for that."
"Politicians rarely do."
"I'll try to do regular check-ins when I can, Colonel. Maybe we can keep each other informed enough about what's happening that we can shape our strategies around it."
"I look forward to it. And I'll see what I can find out."
The comm closed.
Tawn shook her head. "I feel like we keep moving from the light back into complete darkness."
Alex said, "Our comm ship has just been compromised. I'll need to send the Hailstorm up to retrieve it for reprogramming again."
"What were you doing this time?"
"Attempting to track the Denzee ships in and around Rumanta. It appears the bulk of their force is there, but not all of it. The Vaaka ship that was previously there has moved and I have no data telling me to where. I'm also attempting to identify each of the ships from their comm signatures. I have about a third of the fleet mapped, which allows me to track ship movements."
Tawn asked, "You have anything of interest at the moment?"
"I have two departing ships I have been unable to get destinations for. I can only guess they are changing direction once they are out of scan range. I've looked for signals going out to the edge of boson space following along their initial headings and nothing was found. If they are purposefully changing directions, it could be we would find something of interest at their journey's end."
Tawn nodded. "Send her up and bring it back. How long will we be without comm for?"
"Worst case is ten minutes. You can pilot the Bangor to free space and open a wormhole comm to any destination. As to getting that ship back online, our last effort took fourteen hours. Should I ask Sharvie to join me?"
"Yes."
"If the two of you were curious, she has been accepted to the next level. We are now waiting on Trish, Gandy, and you, Tawn."
Harris chuckled. "Tawn Freely, always bringing up the rear."
"Hey, somebody has to do it."
"You should take Boomer out on a run with you. Maybe a few conversations will get you over the hump."
"She's a lot less fun to talk to since she was infected with your patterns."
"Infected…"
"Yeah, she has your base. A little of the vicious humor is gone. Not quite as entertaining as she used to be."
"Sounds like a perfect training opportunity. See if you can create a few new patterns in her, or it, or whatever we're supposed to call these things."
"A her, a she, or a bot, or an it. Don't think they much care."
"OK, so maybe a she-bot."
"Yeah, don't think I care for that one. Any of the others will do."
Harris chuckled. "She-bot it is. Wasn't there a song that went something like that? She-bot, she-bot?"
Tawn stared. "You're asking me about songs?"
Harris laughed. "Yeah, I guess not." He turned for the door. "Maybe Trish would know."
Tawn yelled back: "Sounds like a good problem for you to go figure out. I'll be out on a run."
Harris found Trish in the bunker lab. "How are things looking?"
"Fantastic. Have you seen the new floor of processing stations?"
"When it was first opened."
"Well, Alex is opening another floor, as that one is almost full. Another few days and we'll be able to produce a hundred twenty-eight processors in a day. And working with Alex, I've made a few tweaks to our bot line. It's slightly ahead of our processor output."
"We can produce a hundred new bots a day now?"
Trish nodded. "One forty-four. That number is doubling every three days. In two weeks we'll be able to turn out a thousand bots a day. And things only accelerate from there. I hope you can get more of the resources we're in need of or that first thousand will be all we can put out."
"I had no idea things were moving that fast. If you give me a list I'll open a comm to New Earth and make a few runs."
"Can you imagine the productivity we could have going with thousands of these workers running? You could add and outfit a dozen new Banshee lines in just a few days. And again a few days after that. We can still make those fleet numbers we were looking for if the Denzee hold off attacking for just a bit longer."
"Yeah, well, we're blind for the next twelve hours or so. Our comm ship got hacked again."
"We should just send up the shuttle. Not like we're using it. The comm ship can be worked on while that one is in use."
Harris nodded. "Alex, any reason we can't be using the shuttle as our comm ship until this one is back in service?"
"No."
"Well, can you arrange for it to be put up there and used? Let me change that. Please put the shuttle into service as our new comm ship until the current one can replace it."
"The order has been given."
Harris turned to Trish. "I think he just does that to annoy me."
"Maybe, but I find it an issue when commanding a lot of these bots. They're sometimes too literal. You form a statement as a question with an implication that some action should be taken and whew... it goes right over their heads."
Harris patted her on the back. "Which is why us Humans will always be superior."
Two of the close worker bots turned and stared at the Biomarine for several seconds.
Trish frowned. "That was creepy."
Harris headed for the Hailstorm. Twenty-five minutes later, he was landing on the surface of New Earth. For the next two hours, transports brought the raw materials needed to produce another two thousand bot workers. Answers to questions about what the material was for were responded to with a stated purpose of "Required for the timely manufacture of Banshee support equipment."
Back-to-back trips were conducted, bringing the bot manufacturing ability of Midelon to a staggering four thousand artificially intelligent workers.
Harris stood watching as the last of the supplies were being unloaded.
Tawn walked up behind him. "Up for a meal?"
Harris nodded. "Be right in. They're almost done."
Harris turned as the last crate came down the ramp. "Can't believe we'll soon have five thousand of those things walking around here."
Tawn replied as they walked toward the mess. "Just waiting for the next bomb to drop. Everything has been quiet for too long."
"Maybe the president's deal was a good one. He never said the Denzee planned on attacking. Could be they really do just want to grow whatever crop that is on Beckland and then leave us."
Tawn chuckled. "I know you don't believe that. They have to know we're building ships, or at least that the Earthers are building ships. They have the same scan capabilities that Alex has. I bet they've been doing the same monitoring where they can. If there's no threat and they have what they need, they just sit."
"Have what they need?"
"Yeah, food, shelter. The usuals."
Harris walked into the supply hut to join the others, with Tawn behind him. "Alex, can you do an analysis of the colonies the Denzee took. Maybe compare it to what their ships are made of? And have you seen any production going on in our space?"
"The Denzee facilities are all capable of production. To date, there has been no sighting of any newly produced vessels. However, the facilities on both Rumanta and Jellon are both getting quite large. As to your question about the colonies they have captured… checking logs, I see a number of ore haulers have been excavating and hauling materials to both Rumanta and Jellon."
"And?"
"One moment... interesting. It would appear a high probability exists that both facilities are indeed producing ships. The materials being gathered closely match the makeup of those vessels. I believe you have stumbled onto a new problem."
"Great, more ships coming. Any idea of how many or how often?"
"A quick analysis yields the possibility of twenty-four or more Ratoons under construction. The volume of materials being brought in, crossed with the data we retrieved from the prior Denzee hack we perpetrated, yields a probable turnaround of four days. With the additional possibility of that number being double, and being doubled every four days."
Harris scowled. "I think I know where our first raids have to be. We have to shut down that production."
Tawn sighed. "It just never ends, does it. Alex, pass us any images you have of the Denzee complexes at Rumanta and Jellon. Also, give us the number of Ratoons at each, and if there's ever been a time where there may have been fewer."
Data flashed up on the display.
Gandy stood beside Harris. "Are we going after their buildings?"
Harris nodded. "Looks like we have to. If they start pumping out more ships we'll never be rid of them. You have any ideas about how we might attack this?"
Tawn said, "Never less than a hundred fifty Ratoons parked at either one. We don't have enough ships to get close."
Gandy stepped forward, pointing at the image of Rumanta on the display. "What if we cause a diversion? Could we slip a single ship in? All the way to the surface?"
"You suggesting we try to send in one ship to destroy that place?"
"Would it work?"
"If we were able to get it there, a Banshee could run wild while in atmosphere. Problem is, we can't sacrifice the rest of what we have to get one ship in. They aren't sending their entire fleet out to chase a couple dozen ships."
"What if we had more? Say a hundred fifty?"
"We don't have a hundred fifty ships."
"We don't, but the Earthers do. All we need is a distraction, right? They bring their fleet out, and once the Denzee come our way, we send in a Banshee and then leave. The Earthers don't even have to get close enough to get shot at."
Tawn shook her head. "They won't do it. The emperor would never move his fleet from Earth. How about this: we pick the colonies where they're getting critical supplies from and hit them there. Alex, they took Viochan. Are they harvesting from there?"
"Copper and zinc."
"Would you guess those are critical ores they need? And if not, what colony or colonies would be better targets?"
"The Nesua colony is providing lanthanum. I would consider this a critical need. There are ten Ratoons guarding the Nesua operation."
Harris nodded. "I think we have our first target. Alex, how many boson bombs do we have available now?"
"After the small supply of material we acquired from Domicile, three."
"We'll take two, just in case. Miss Freely, care to escort me to Nesua? I hear fun and adventure await us there."
"I'd love to, Mr. Gruberg."
Trish frowned. "You people are weird."
Harris patted her on the back as he chuckled. "We're old. Old people are like that. And if we can make these raids work, one day you'll be old too."
"Old and trapped on this planet with weird people. Great. I'm looking forward to it."
The Bangor, accompanied by two Legion ships and eighteen Banshee fighters, moved into Nesua space. Ten Ratoon warships raced toward them as a boson bomb was deployed and detonated. The two small fleets began their fight.
A single Banshee was the first casualty, vaporized by a random long distance shot. The remaining automated ships converged on their targets without incident, taking all ten Denzee ships out of the fight in only a few minutes. The Bangor had yet to fire a shot.
Tawn scowled. "You have to get us in there if you want me to hit anything."
Harris chuckled. "Sorry, the Banshees beat us to it. If you want, we can still make that near Ratoon.
It can't fight back, but you could still give what's left a thumping if you want."
"No. Just take us down to their operations on the surface. If there's time afterward, we'll come back and see if we can fully destroy those. Their drives are all offline. They aren't going anywhere."
Minutes later, the Bangor dropped through the Nesua atmosphere as a ball of death. The lanthanum mine was targeted and destroyed. All Denzee operations had come to a halt; the last furry invader ceased to show on the bioscans. Back in space, ten crippled Ratoons were pummeled until their ultra-tough hulls began to break apart. As the boson negation field shrank away, the Human fleet jumped back to Midelon.
— Chapter 25 —
* * *
Similar raids were conducted on Blewitz and Viochan. As a result, all Denzee shipbuilding came to a halt. An attempt to reopen the mine at Nesua was met with a swift and sure defeat of the small Denzee force that had been given the task of security.
Back on Midelon, Harris awaited the first delivery of Banshee hulls. "Thirty-two. This will really give us some punch. That's fifty ships we can field at once. I would almost put that force against the hundred fifty Ratoons at Rumanta."
Harris opened a comm to the Retreat. "Colonel, just wanted to let you know we're about to pick up the first hulls from New Earth. We'll have a force of more than fifty ships to take into a fight. I can't wait to get them active and see the results. This may finally be where we can take control of this whole thing."
"I have news of Miss Rumford. And a comm. She's been hiding out on Chicago Port Station."
Tawn smirked. "Pass us the comm address. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear from us."
"My contact says she's been laying low. Hasn't come out of the apartment she's been occupying in a week. They've had a constant eye on her."
"They being the DDI?"
The colonel nodded. "My contact says it actually looks more like protection than surveillance. Which makes me think she either turned herself in to them, or has been working for them all along."
Harris said, "We could never figure that out either. How's everything else going?"
"Quiet. The DDI here at the Retreat are watching us, but not interacting. I'm hoping that's a sign the politicos on Domicile are backing off their prior stance. Maybe it's because we haven't been seen as taking any action. I've advised everyone to hold back on the trash talk about the pacifists. Might be their way of showing approval."
ARMS Beckland's Fall: (Book 5) Page 22
