by Isaac Hooke
The repair swarms found aboard were composed of micro machines that roamed the inner conduits. They could digest any material that came into contact with their external hull, and transport the broken down elements to wherever they were needed aboard. The boarding parties that had created the blueprints of both ships must have had a hell of a time fending off those termites.
There was some other data in the update, but it didn’t interest Jain: it related to interstellar politics between colonies, the strides humanity had made in cleaning up the uninhabited zone on Earth, and some minor new weapon technologies that wouldn’t be available to warships for a few years to come. Unfortunately, it seemed the sensor add-on was the biggest development humanity had made during their ten-year war against the Mimics.
Well, it was a useful development, he had to admit.
Assuming it worked.
“Did you notice that they developed a competing off-site backup system?” Sheila asked. “It’s fairly similar to mine.”
“Yeah, I was going to ask you about that,” Jain replied.
“Mine is better,” Sheila pronounced. “So we’re going to keep using it.”
“How is it better?” Jain said.
“Well, the one these Mind Refurbs use takes four hours, whereas mine is only two,” Sheila said.
“Ah,” Jain said. “Well, I had no intention of switching over our existing backup system in any case.”
Finished perusing the data, Jain called a general meeting, and reviewed Hax’s battle orders with the team. When he was done, there were no questions, nor any real criticisms. The plan seemed solid enough for what was coming.
Actually, that wasn’t entirely true. Medeia had a criticism: “You know, this will only really work if we face an equal number of Mimics. If the enemy numbers are higher than that, the plan is going to break down. Big time.”
“We’ll still follow it as well as we can,” Jain said.
“These Hull Burners, they certainly like their energy weapons, don’t they?” Gavin commented, referring to the fleet armament distribution that Jain had gone over moments before.
Jain nodded. “There are a few teleporters and black hole throwers in the mix, but most of them have barracudas, like me.”
“It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out,” Gavin said. “If we win, this will be a battle studied by military strategists for ages to come.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Cranston said. “Wars evolve with the weapons, and the enemy. The strategy that works here against the Mimics, won’t work ten years from now against different enemies.”
“Our strategy from ten years ago seemed to work pretty well when we faced the Mimics again,” Mark said. “Just ask Medeia.”
“It did work,” Medeia agreed. “But only because the Mimics haven’t changed their weapons yet. Which is a little surprising.”
“Is it?” Sheila said. “According to the database, all of the ships we’ve encountered thus far are the same. We’ve seen how fast they can repair, when given access to the necessary elements. And they all have AIs, according to our latest data update.” She looked from face to face. Most of the team members were given her blank stares. “Isn’t it obvious what they are?”
“Oh,” Mark said, sitting straighter. “I know where she’s going with this. The Mimics could all be von Neumann probes.”
“That’s right,” Sheila said. “That’s why they’re all the same, and always have the same weapons. They’re programmed to build more of themselves, and nothing more.”
“Wait, if these are von Neumann probes, then how come the galaxy isn’t full of them by now?” Medeia asked.
“They obviously have a limiting factor assigned to their build scenario,” Sheila said. “It could be a built-in ceiling, similar to what Cranston’s micro machines have. Or more likely it has to do with the availability of materials. Just like how we need certain materials to construct our AI cores, they have need of particular metals as well, for their cores, and drives. Remember how they seemed to favor a certain moon for mining purposes? A moon with high concentrations of tungsten and fluoride?”
“Well, we are speculating, either way,” Jain said. “We’ll probably never know for sure.”
“Until it’s too late,” Gavin said.
The repair drones finished the new sensor add-on within the four-hour time frame Sheila had quoted, and Jain installed the subroutines necessary to access the device. Then he turned it online.
“The new sensor array seems to be working,” Jain said. He directed it at the Mind Refurb fleet orbiting the planet below. “If this thing is accurate, all of those vessels really are of human make.”
“Should we get closer?” Gavin suggested. “Move into position, as per the battle plan?”
Jain hesitated. “The admiral did say we could remain one hundred thousand klicks away until the battle began. I’m loathe to get any closer until then.”
“We’re going to have to trust that they are who they say they are, at some point...” Gavin said.
“I know,” Jain said. “But I’d rather delay trusting them for as long as possible.” He glanced at Gavin. “The aliens are not going to jump in on top of us. They don’t have that technology, otherwise they would have done so back in our home system. We’ll have more than enough time to move into position when they arrive.”
Gavin nodded. “All right. So, I guess all we can do now is wait.”
“That’s right,” Jain said. “Just like in the old days. The long wait before battle. Those of you who’ve seen combat duty know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Unfortunately, we do,” Sheila agreed.
“I just noticed something,” Xander said.
“What’s that?” Jain asked.
“The colony on the surface below,” Xander replied. “It’s been evacuated.”
“Are you sure?” Jain pressed.
“Positive,” Xander told him. “There are only autonomous machines down there. No humans. No androids with Mind Refurbs inside of them. It’s completely dead.”
Mark glanced at Jain. “They’re expecting to lose the colony.”
Jain crossed his arms, involuntarily hugging himself.
Medeia removed her witch’s hat to wipe her brow, as if she was suddenly hot. “This isn’t good.”
“If they expect to lose this fight, what’s the point of staying here and making a stand?” Sheila asked.
“It buys time for the rest of humanity,” Jain told her. “To prepare for the coming assault. The final assault.”
“But there are other colonies still intact…” Cranston said.
“They’ll probably fall after this one,” Gavin told him. “And the Earth will be next. The final assault, like Jain says. I hate to say it, but we came back a little too late. We’ve joined the losing side. And we’re going to go down with them.”
“We haven’t lost yet,” Jain said. “Though I do think it’s time we prepared our latest comprehensive off-site backup.”
The Void Warriors didn’t have long to wait.
Two hours later, they’d only just finished their off-site backups—which involved clustering around the Wheelbarrow to transmit the required data, and then receiving small pods containing the latest copies of each team member’s neural imprints for storage in their individual cargo bays—when Xander’s eyes defocused and he announced: “I’m detecting neutrinos and gravitational waves.”
“A rift?” Jain asked.
Xander nodded. “It’s definitely a rift. Only a million kilometers away.”
“That’s close,” Jain said.
“Yes,” Xander said.
Jain glanced at Gavin. “I take back my earlier comment about them not jumping in on top of us. This came pretty damn close.”
“But it’s not quite on top...” Gavin said. “We still have time to reposition...”
“We do, thankfully.” Jain glanced at Xander. “Have any ships appeared yet?”
Xander nodded. �
�A fleet of twenty Dominators, according to visuals and thermals.” He paused. “Captain Hax is requesting that you log onto his voice-only conference line.”
“Transfer the request to me,” Jain said. “In the meantime, let’s shine our sensor add-ons at that incoming fleet.”
Jain received the conference log on request, and accepted.
“The Mimics always do this,” Hax said over the line. “It’s a trick. Use your sensor add-ons.”
Jain glanced at Xander. The robed Accomp nodded. “According to the data returned by the add-on, they’re not Dominators. They’re pyramid vessels.”
Jain accessed his external camera feed and overlaid the filter from the add-on. Sure enough, the shapes of the vessels changed from elongated rectangles, to pyramids.
“I wonder why they bother?” Medeia said. “They’re hoping our sensors will fail?”
“Sheila, can you confirm this data is real?” Jain said.
“I’m running the extra subroutines through the debugger now,” Sheila said. “Everything checks out.”
“All right.” Jain glanced at Gavin. “It’s time to trust. Move into position, team. Sheila, dispatch the Daktor to the fallback point.” He took control of his Direct Reports and steered them alongside the Talos.
The Void Warrior fleet assumed their designated places along the starboard edges of the Hull Burners. All vessels fleet-wide were spaced six-thousand kilometers apart to prevent the enemy lightning weapons from arcing between the defender’s hulls.
Meanwhile, the Daktor retreated to the fallback point on the far side of the planet, where all of the other rift ships were located, along with a few defenders. The remaining members of the fleet, seventy-two ships strong including the Void Warriors, would retreat there if the battle went poorly.
“Transmitting planned black hole pattern,” Hax sent.
“Got it,” Jain replied. He forwarded it to Medeia, who needed that pattern the most, and then the others. “All right, Medeia, get cloaked.”
Medeia vanished from the bridge.
Mark took control of her Direct Reports, since she couldn’t control them while cloaked, not unless she wanted to reveal her position.
“More rifts are opening,” Xander said.
“How many?” Jain asked.
“I’m counting six,” Xander said. “No, seven.”
“That can’t be good,” Mark said.
“Where are they?” Jain asked. But as the words left his lips, red dots appeared on the tactical display, marking the locations of the new arrivals.
“They’re distributed in random locations in front of us, ranging from two million to ten million kilometers away,” Xander said. “The emerging vessels all emit human class signatures, but the add-on reveals them to be pyramid vessels.”
When the rifts closed, Jain asked for a final count on the enemy units.
“There are exactly two hundred ships out there,” Xander said.
“They certainly like their whole numbers,” Sheila said. “Though I guess I could expect that from fans of geometric shapes.”
“Why?” Mark asked.
Sheila shrugged. “Dunno. They like math?”
The closest group of aliens remained fixed in place, while the remainder slowly gathered, until all of the aliens were located one million kilometers out. Once they had mustered, they spread out, occupying the space of a large, triangular plane perpendicular to the fleet. And then advanced as a single unit.
“What was the flaw Medeia found in the plan again?” Cranston asked. “Something about, if we faced an equal number of ships, the odds were fairly good, but if there were more than a hundred, our odds of winning quickly dropped to zero?”
“That’s right,” Sheila said. “Exactly.”
“So we’re facing two hundred Mimics,” Cranston said. “A little over double the number of our own ships.”
“I know,” Sheila said.
“Buckle up, Void Warriors,” Jain said. “The ride is about to get bumpy.”
13
Jain stared at the tactical display, watching as that triangular formation of alien vessels approached.
“Big fans of triangles, aren’t they?” Sheila commented. “Whole numbers, triangles…”
“Did you notice the formation uses the golden ratio?” Mark asked. “The height to the width is exactly one point six one eight.”
“No, it’s not perfect,” Sheila said.
“It doesn’t have to be,” Mark said. “It’s the underlying intent.”
“Okay, guys, please,” Jain said. “Leave it to the Void Warriors to debate the golden ratio of the incoming enemy formation right before battle.”
“Sorry,” Mark commented. “Guess I’m just a nerd at heart.”
“Yeah, it’s like a competition or something among you two,” Cranston said. He pitched his voice slightly higher, and added: “‘I’m the best nerd!’”
As the enemy vessels closed to the one hundred kilometer mark, Jain saw a swarm of red dots appear in front of it.
“They’re launching those blob weapons of theirs,” Xander said. “My guess is, they’re trying to use them as shields, against whatever we might lob their way.”
“Open fire with heavy lasers,” Hax said over the line. “Target western quadrant of Disintegrates.” That was the fancy navy label for the blobs. “I’m highlighting those your fleet is responsible for. At this range, you’ll need eight raptors to take down one Disintegrate.”
On the tactical display, the blobs on the lower western side became enveloped in yellow markers.
“All right, those are ours.” Jain glanced at his captains. “You heard the man. Select targets and fire.”
Jain watched the yellow outlines around the targets turn orange as different team members selected the units they would attack. Jain chose six of the remaining free targets, and assigned two each to his two Direct Reports. Then he opened fire with his starboard raptor banks, which were facing the enemy. The Peltast and Warwolf joined in, so that all of his targets dissipated.
The red dots of the blob swarm halved in number, but the incoming pyramidal units simply launched more.
“Updating targets,” Hax said. “Continue firing.”
“Swing port lasers to bear,” Jain told his captains. He began to rotate his nose so that his portside raptors were facing the incoming enemies, and when the targets were within his throw angle, he fired again.
Jain rotated his nose back again so that the starboard turrets would be able to fire when they next recharged. The pyramids launched more blobs to replace those that were lost, and that, coupled with the recharge period between successive laser blasts, ensured that the enemy units had a constant shield of blobs in front of their vessels during the approach.
Jain continued swinging his nose back and forth, releasing his raptors when the charge was sufficient. As the enemy fleet grew closer, Jain was able to reduce the number of lasers he needed per blob so that eventually the requirement dropped to three, instead of eight.
The enemy units had reached twenty thousand kilometers away by then.
“Getting a bit close for comfort…” Mark said.
“We maintain formation,” Jain said. Stick to the battle plan.
Hundreds of more red dots began to join the blobs.
“The smaller boarding party units are emerging,” Xander said.
“Fire missiles,” Hax transmitted. “Target assigned quadrant.”
The new dots became outlined in yellow.
Jain chose his targets and launched his missiles, along with those of the Peltast and Warwolf, as instructed.
The missiles from the Mind Refurb fleet fanned outward; most of them had hellraiser signatures, but there were newer models that Jain wouldn’t have been able to recognize without the military database update.
“Harbinger Nukes…” Mark said.
“Yes,” Sheila said. “They were mostly eliminated from space arsenals a long time ago, save for a few specialize
d vessels, because ordinary missiles could cause just as much damage at the speeds involved with space combat, and the military couldn’t justify the expense. But apparently, they’ve found a new usage for nuclear warheads, given our current enemy.”
“Yup,” Mark said. “Crowd clearing.”
Jain watched as the missiles advanced toward the closing swarm. The proximity triggers on the hellraisers caused localized damage, taking down one or two of the boarding party units at a time. When the harbinger nukes, however, reached their targets, large swaths of the same units were wiped from the map. The damage radius of the nukes was only one kilometer, of course, because in space there was no atmosphere to propagate the fireball and blast wave: eighty percent of the energy was released as X rays, ten percent as gamma rays, and the final ten percent composed the blast wave. Some might consider that a wasted energy profile, but it was working wonders against the relatively closely-spaced boarding party units.
“Those would have been handy in some of our previous battles…” Cranston said.
“I bet those nukes are useless against the actual ships,” Gavin said.
A group of six harbingers squeezed past the swarm and approached different alien vessels. At the seven thousand meter mark, one of the pyramids fired its lightning weapon; the plasma channel struck the nuke, and arced to the neighboring weapons, disabling them all. Their noses rotated at odd angles, thanks to spin imbued from the lightning impacts, but they otherwise drifted forward lifelessly.
“Told you,” Gavin said.
A minute later a pyramid slammed into one of the nukes, but since the warhead was disabled, only a conventional explosion resulted, which showed up as a flash on Jain’s external camera. Even discounting the conventional aspect, the kinetic energy of such an impact alone would have caused major damage to a Mind Refurb vessel, but only a medium sized blast crater appeared in the hull of the enemy ship in question.
“Release next round of missiles,” Hax said.
Jain received the latest targeting information, and fired. The battle plan called for the entire fleet to expend almost all of its missile supply before the main enemy force arrived. Mostly because of how useless their missiles actually were against the hulls of the Mimics.
