Nebula

by Howard Marsh

  “How close to Earth would they have to get to be able to use it?” Brad asked.

  “I’m not exactly sure, but they would probably have to get well within the orbit of the moon for it to have any big effect,” Judith replied. “I’m just guessing based on the arrangement of those rods and what we already know of their high power source.”

  “OK,” Brad said. “We’ll go with your best guess. We need to make sure that they don’t use it. Nebula’s going to have to convince them that they wouldn’t be able to get close enough. We have to make them think that the rockets and jet aircraft that they see are only second rate technology used for mundane purposes. We’ll have to show that we do have technology on a par with theirs. Mikio, get that information to Nebula ASAP.”

  *

  Haverford had already begun to prepare for a physical show of strength even before Nebula received the messages about the reconnaissance and probing attack. Once they received the message about the alien arrival, he understood that something would happen soon and that it might involve a close inspection of Earth or even an initial hit and run attack to probe defenses. It was obvious that the aliens would be able to see the jet aircraft, satellites, and other technologies that clearly indicated a lack of gravity control capabilities, and that would lead them toward a direct attack of some sort. So he coordinated with Billingsley on initiating one of the contingency plans.

  Haverford was in secure teleconference with Billingsley and Seduro, explaining what he intended to do. “I’m sending three fighters to the Moon to wait for the aliens’ initial inspection of Earth. Depending on what Brad tells us about their further plans, we can just let them pass without revealing our presence, or we can destroy them to show that we have capabilities that match theirs. I want full authority to make the decision either way when the time comes. There probably won’t be time for any consultation.”

  Seduro answered. “I give you the authority, Brendan. I’ll verify with the Board, but unless you hear otherwise, you can do what you determine is necessary.”

  “One other thing,” Billingsley said. “We’re going to need to inform the governments. Brendan can probably get his three fighters to the Moon without anyone tracking them, but if it comes to a battle in space, especially near Earth, that can’t be hidden. We also have to prepare them for our launch of a larger battle force. I suggest that we inform them now.”

  Seduro replied, “I agree. I’ll coordinate with the rest of the Board immediately. I’ll take your vote as an affirmative so you don’t need to be in that teleconference. You need to have 100% of your attention on the current operation.”

  “OK, so I guess we’re done,” Haverford said. “I’m signing off and getting those ships out to the Moon. I’ll keep you informed.”

  The three fighters were already prepared for the mission, so as soon as Haverford signed off, he gave the order for them to depart. They left Ops the usual way, one at a time through the airlock, then gathering at the sea bottom until the three were ready to fly. They used the standard techniques to avoid detection until they were beyond the range of the radars that could track them, and they flew to the dark side of the Moon and settled down to wait. Their orders were for them to remain hidden for up to two days.

  Nebula had an array of tiny sensors and communications devices gravitationally stabilized well beyond the orbit of the Moon. These devices would be able to detect and track the alien ships and could relay communications to the three fighters to update them on the alien movements and to pass any other information that they needed.

  An update from the AFO on the alien reconnaissance mission came only an hour after the three fighters had settled in for the wait. It reported the launch of the smaller alien ship plus two robot ships and gave details of their tactical plan. They were going to do a close inspection, with one of the robot ships entering Earth’s atmosphere, attempting to avoid detection by flying an erratic course similar to the way that Nebula ships flew when within range of the military and civilian radars. The message traveled from Mars to Earth at the speed of light, a bit faster than the alien ships would travel, and it was sent just as the alien ships were starting to lift off. So Haverford had about a minute to decide what to do.

  He contacted Billingsley to inform him of his decision and to get Billingsley’s comments or suggestions. “B, I’m going to let them do the close in flight, and then I’m going to destroy all three of the ships as the robot exits to rejoin the other two. It’ll be fast. I want to surprise them and hit them before they can react, but I want them to know that we detected them and were able to destroy them. Then I want to send the three fighters out to about the orbit of Saturn so the alien sensors can pick them up and see that we have ships very much like theirs. The fighters will take a course that avoids the kill zone of that big gun that they put on Mars, but Brad’s team is going to have to do something about it at some point. I don’t want to have to be constrained like that for the full duration of this war.”

  Billingsley replied that he concurred with the plan and would inform Seduro. He also informed Haverford that Seduro had his teleconference with the Board, and they approved the plan and were taking measures to contact the heads of state of the major powers. The rest of the world would know of Nebula and the alien invaders by tomorrow, so by the time the alien fleet had replied to their team on Mars, Nebula would be able to respond without worrying about any adverse reactions by the governments or their military forces.

  Within seconds of the end of discussion between Haverford and Billingsley, the three alien ships arrived. Nebula’s fighters were ready for them. They stationed themselves several hundred miles above the Moon, using it as a shield to keep from being seen. They tracked the three alien ships through messages relayed from Nebula’s tiny sensors and coordinated among themselves on which target each one would take.

  One of the robot ships detached from the other two and proceeded into Earth’s atmosphere. Nebula’s sensors had no problem seeing it as it flew erratically around the world, collecting its sensor data and sending it back to the base on Mars. None of the normal radar tracking systems could lock onto the ship, so there were no reactions from the civilian or military authorities. The ship made several circles of the world, covering most of the populated land masses with its sensors, and then it exited the atmosphere and began to return to the other two at sub-relativistic speed.

  The kills were made seconds after the robot ship was beyond geosynchronous altitude. The three Nebula fighters flew side by side from their hidden position, and as they came into line of sight of the three alien ships, one of them veered off at near-relativistic speed to engage the robot ship and the other two charged at the two ships that were waiting for it to rejoin them.

  The aliens had no time to react. Everything happened too fast. One burst from the fighter’s plasma cannon vaporized the robot ship instantly. The other two were dispatched almost as quickly, but the fighters used their x-ray machineguns for those two. That was an important part of Haverford’s plan. He wanted the aliens on that ship to have time to send a message back to the fleet before they were killed. He wanted the fleet to know that the planet’s defenses were much stronger than they initially thought. This was one way to dissuade them from a direct attack and to vector them toward the biological option.

  *

  “Well, that looks like round one for the good guys,” Harry said. He and Yuri detected the drop-out of the robots on the reconnaissance ships eight minutes after their destruction. It took that long for the link to drop out since they were eight light minutes distance from the action. The brief distress message from the alien ship came a couple seconds later and was cut off before completing. Now the aliens knew that they would have a fight on their hands. But they didn’t know how much of a fight.

  The remaining six aliens stood next to their fighter and monitored the action through a small communications device that one of them held. They appeared to be in a state of shock when they received the in
terrupted message that told them that the reconnaissance ships were destroyed. Then the three Nebula fighters appeared on their long range sensors as they flew out toward Saturn at near light speed. The aliens’ shock turned into near panic at that point. This was totally unexpected, and they still didn’t have any orders from the fleet. They apparently didn’t know what to do, and they disappeared into their operations center and closed the airlock doors. It looked like they were going to wait there for instructions.

  The only alien presence left outside on the surface of Mars were the fighter and the two robot ships plus the robots that were either busy at their assigned tasks or just standing and waiting for orders. Three worker robots were still installing the world crippler weapon on the fighter. They seemed to be almost finished with the mechanical work and were doing something that involved work both inside and outside the ship, probably something to do with the control mechanisms that the aliens in the ship would use. Two sentry-soldiers and three workers plus Robby, Igor, and Nebula’s three worker robots just stood silently, but Harry and Yuri could sense that their brains and communications equipment were very active, waiting for the next messages.

  “What next?” Doug asked.

  “We wait and see what they do next,” Brad replied. “I expect that they’ll send a message to their fleet to let them know what the situation is. That would be what I’d do. The message that the reconnaissance ship tried to send was cut off and may not have been received at the fleet. Our friends here will want to make sure that the fleet knows what happened. It’s going to be at least another two days before they get any updates to their orders, so we’ll just have to wait.”

  “We can put the systems on automatic,” Ludmila suggested. “It doesn’t look like there’s any need for real time monitoring or for Yuri and Harry to keep the headsets on at this point.”

  Harry had a different suggestion. “I think that Yuri and I should still take turns linking with the robots. There’s a lot that they’re doing, and they may get updated instructions from the guys waiting in the bunker. We should keep up on things, and we can take turns for a couple of hours each. What do you think, Yuri?”

  “I agree,” he replied. “I’m used to being plugged in, so it’s not too tiring. I’ll take the first shift.”

  “OK,” Brad agreed. “You two can take turns, and if you get tired, let me know. Your backups can take a few turns too. In fact, this might be a good time for them to get used to being linked in with all the robots. Yuri, I’m going to ask Nigel and Gladys to take turns with you and Harry. Gladys, why don’t you start? Harry, let Gladys have the headset, and you take a break.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Harry said as he handed his headset to Gladys and helped her get it adjusted. “Does it seem OK?” he asked as he tweaked one of the dials and read the meters on the interface device. “It should be adjusted.”

  “Yeah,” was the reply. “I can sense the whole network of those buggers. Wow, it’s a lot different than just dealing with one or two.”

  “You’ll get used to it pretty soon,” Yuri said. “Harry and I had the same problem for the first couple of minutes, but you get to where you can tune out most of them and concentrate on the one or two of most interest. If you have any problems, let me know.”

  So, two of them would keep monitoring the robots, a pretty low intensity task at this point, and the others would rest until the next crisis erupted. The computers in the operations center were set on automatic and would sound alarms if they needed attention, so no one except for Yuri and Gladys needed to remain there.

  The seven who now had nothing to do retired to the large common room where they could relax, have a bite to eat, and do whatever interested them on the computers that were provided for both work and pleasure. They felt remarkably at ease, given the situation in which they were essentially marooned on Mars, only a few hundred meters from aliens that were intent on exterminating all humans and claiming Earth as their new home world.

  Harry chose a computer situated in front of a chair that looked very comfortable. Then he browsed through the menu of available entertainment and found a book that he had wanted to read for quite some time but never got around to it. He selected the book, and started to read but soon dozed off. The chair definitely was comfortable, and he was more tired than he realized after the stressful day with the headset.

  The others chose their own ways to relax, a couple deciding on having something to eat and others choosing various movies or books. Brad gave each one an assigned time to stand watch during the night, and those not on duty eventually wandered off to their bunks to try to get some sleep before the next day’s action.

  It’s common wisdom that combat consists of many hours of boredom, punctuated by a few minutes of absolute terror. For the AFO team, the hours of boredom had arrived, but they all knew that the minutes of terror weren’t too far away.

  Chapter 9

  “Message coming in from the alien fleet,” Gladys announced. “We’re getting the update in the robot memories. Someone needs to get onto one of the computers so we have a record that we can send to Nebula.”

  “I’m on it,” Doug replied. He had become the AFO team’s alien communications expert, and he was now very competent working with the translator and moving translated files into the queue for transmission to Nebula Prime.

  The message was brief and responded to the initial message that the aliens on Mars had sent, advising of the plan to send the reconnaissance mission and requesting approval of a subsequent probing attack. It approved the attack, contingent on the results of the reconnaissance, which they had not learned about at the time that they sent this reply. Brad and the others knew that the next reply from the fleet would probably negate this one and order a different course of action now that they were aware of Earth’s ability to defend itself.

  The aliens in their underground ops center were also aware that they would need to wait for the next message before doing anything. They waited just as the AFO team waited to see what that message would say.

  It wasn’t a very long wait. The next message arrived and responded to the report on the destruction of the reconnaissance ships. Doug had it translated and ready for retransmission to Nebula Prime almost in real time.

  “It looks like Haverford’s guys did the job too well,” Doug said. “Here’s the situation now. The aliens have accepted that the biological attack is their best bet, but now they’re concerned that Earth’s defenses are too good for the delivery vehicles to make it into the atmosphere and dispense their pathogens. They want to soften the defenses up before sending any robotic vehicles in.”

  He then projected the translated message onto one of the large screen displays so that everyone could read it. Details of the new plan were spelled out in detail and included orders for the team on Mars.

  The alien plan was to divide their military force into three battle groups organized around three battleships, keeping the fourth one in reserve.

  The first group would lead the initial attack on Earth to soften the defenses and make way for delivery of the pathogens by robotic ships. It consisted of one battleship, one heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, ten fighters, and ten robot ships and would be augmented by the fighter and two robot ships already on Mars.

  The second group would detach from the fleet and move to a point about six light hours from Earth. It consisted of one battleship, three heavy cruisers, ten light cruisers, twenty fighters, and sixty robot ships. Its mission was to prepare to conduct either defensive or offensive operations, depending on the results of the initial group’s strike on the Earth forces. It would also deploy a defensive minefield consisting of thermonuclear devices between itself and the fleet, with destructive ranges sufficient to block almost any attempt by Earth ships to penetrate to the fleet if it wasn’t able to stop them in a direct engagement. The aliens were obviously very concerned that Earth’s forces might be a match or overmatch for their own, and they were preparing for any eventuali
ty.

  The remainder of the aliens’ military force would remain docked to the fleet to provide close-in defense if that was required. It was also the reserve force if offensive operations proceeded and would provide a rear guard to delay any attackers if the entire fleet had to retreat. Preparations for an immediate retreat were already underway. Every ship was ready to decouple and move out at near light speed at a moment’s notice.

  But, as worried as they were, they were not about to give up on Earth just yet. They were willing to risk a good part of their military force if necessary. This planet was too good to pass up without a fight. The alien team on Mars was ordered to take the following actions:

  1. Load the pathogens onto one of the robot ships and send it to the fleet immediately. In addition to the robot pilots, two workers were to accompany the shipment and assist in unloading and moving the cargo to four biological facilities that were being prepared to receive them. The message gave precise instructions on where the robots were to dock with the fleet.

  2. Prepare the fighter to support arrival of battle group number one and to join it for the attack. The fighter was ordered to position itself ten light seconds from Mars, in the direction of the fleet but offset one kilometer to allow room for the battle group to arrive and form up for battle. It would be given further instructions once the battle group commander had a chance to see the situation first hand.

  3. Move the remaining robot ship into position where it could detect and take action against any Earth ships that were approaching Mars.

  4. Leave one of the weapons control officers from the fighter’s crew behind to operate the plasma cannon. Leave one sentry and two workers behind to assist with that. The battle group would arrive and organize for combat within the field of view of the cannon so it could provide long range cover for them if ships from Earth closed for battle.