Final Contact (Contact Series)

by JD Clarke

  “Yes, their sensors can peek through the openings in our shields just as well as ours can peek out. They will be able to determine the damage, Jason.”

  “Good, then they will be well informed of the lack of damage and our ability to repair it faster than they can inflict it,” I told him. “Noomi, I want that damage repaired ASAP. Give it top priority. Use as many resources as you need. I want the Unity to see the futility of trying to destroy us.”

  “Yes, Commander. I am assigning repairs now.”

  “Mako, can we decrease the rate of penetration by their weapons?”

  “I can reset the shields to pulse slower, offering fewer openings in the shield. It will decrease our ability to detect the Unity Fleet’s movements and actions.”

  “Looks like they intend to just sit out there and pound us for now. Go ahead, Mako. If they begin to move, then reset the shields to their original pulse cycle.” I turned to Sybil. “If you need adjustments in the shields, notify Mako directly. Don’t feel like you have to go through me.”

  “Yes, Commander, I will notify Mako immediately upon any required changes.”

  The thunder was constant. I could begin to feel it in the air. Deep vibrations penetrated into my chest, even through the light armor we were wearing. I wondered if the ground troops could feel it through their heavy-combat armor. They would be more exposed, closer to the outside, waiting. They would be unsure of the battle, unsure if they would see action soon, unsure of anything—just waiting and listening.

  “Legion, inform your troops that the shield is holding. It is proving an excellent defense against the enemy’s warships. They are butting against it like two beasts rutting in the wild,” I told him, using a saying from his own culture.

  “They are confident in you, Jason. I am confident in them. We will be ready for any action on the ground,” Legion replied.

  The days on this planet were short, nineteen hours and twenty-seven minutes; and as the planet rotated on its axis, the Unity warships moved along with it, staying directly overhead and sending an unending barrage of fire down upon our shield. On the second day, we—Mako, Sasha, and I—began taking shifts. Sergeant Klanton and Legion slept in the field with their troops. On the fourth day, I was coming on to relieve Mako just after lunch. I only needed four hours of sleep. Sasha was trying to get some sleep in her temporary quarters.

  “Mako, is there any way we can shoot through the shield? The Unity ships are just hovering in space like sitting ducks.”

  “Yes, Jason, but it would open our shield long enough for their fire to get through to us also. They are probably trying to bait us into doing just that. We left before I had time to finish my simulations of firing outward and possible enemy responses.”

  “The Unity have no doubt calculated which areas of the shield would have to be opened to allow counterfire and have already targeted those areas. It would be possible for them to destroy our weapon installations if we tried to fire upon their ships.” Sybil’s advice was sound, but I had another idea.

  “What if we temporarily stopped making the shield pulse and make it solid for a few minutes, just long enough for our warships to take up position inside the shield? We could fire a concentrated burst of cannon fire from four ships aimed at just one of their ships. It should be enough to knock it out of action. Any fire that got through would be absorbed by our warship’s hardened shields. What do you think, Mako?”

  “Keep the shields solid to hide our movement of the warships, huh? Then surprise them with a burst of fire from an unexpected region. They would have minimal response time. Might work, Jason.”

  “Otherwise, it’s just a stalemate,” I said.

  “The Unity know this planet is devoid of adequate natural food for us. They will also know that our supplies are limited. They will try to starve us out. That is the most logical course of action,” Sybil observed.

  “Exactly, a stalemate is not a victory, and we cannot hold out under an embargo, too many warships to fight or evade. We have to begin wearing down their fleet.”

  “The positioning of our warships will have to be exact, as will the targeting.”

  “I’ll take five warships. Claire, you’re with me. You’re my new gunner on the Tempest. Sybil, stay here and continue to operate the defenses. Noomi, I want you to pilot the Cyclone. We’ll take three of the captured warships with us. Noomi, select pilots and gunners for the other three ships. Mako, I’ll contact you before we take off. We’ll want to stay under the shield, but we only want the shield to go solid for as short a time as possible. I don’t want the Unity to get nervous and move their ships.”

  “Got it, Jason. Good luck.”

  We positioned our warships in a diamond formation with the Tempest in the center of the diamond and coordinated our target on the last readings we had before the shield went dark to our ground sensors. We were midway between the shields and the factory below.

  “All ships maintain a tight formation. Once we fire, we will immediately move three hundred yards due west and select our second target. Gunners, coordinating your fire with Mako’s pulse of the shields is critical—be sharp.” I gave Mako the signal to start a countdown. The coordinated fire was perfect, and the full force of twenty particle cannons blasted through a brief opening in the shield. The unfortunate Unity warship that had been targeted never had a chance. He was too close to the shields to evade the blue bolts of death that blew his shielding away and melted his hull. The energy surged through computer circuits, melting and fusing them into blobs of useless junk. The energy beam continued through the warship’s length, igniting fuel cells, which flared and then showered sparks inside the now-lifeless hull. It fell out of formation and impacted the time shield, where it stopped frozen in time.

  “Mako, give us a countdown to the next opening,” I said as our warships slid into position and held on station. Ten seconds later, we opened fire, but the Unity had already moved their formation back, and our beams cut into empty space. We moved our formation as well, six hundred yards to the south. “Mako, give us a brief opening for targeting and then for firing through. Make it the minimum time needed for the gunners to acquire targets.”

  “That’s risky, Jason. They’ll be able to target you as well.”

  “Just do it, Mako.” Mako began the countdown, a brief flicker in the shields and then another opening for us to fire through. The gunners did a good job of coordinating their fire on another ship, and it too was battered and disabled. It began drifting away its engines, supplying just enough propulsion to prevent it from falling to the planet. But the Unity had been ready this time, and three high-energy beams of concentrated charged particles ripped into the ship on my left. Knocking the shielding off its particle accelerator ring and blasting a hole through the hull, the ship lurched sideways. There were no secondary explosions, and the pilot and gunner were unharmed, but the ship was out of action. I ordered them back to the landing pad and underground repair hangar.

  “Pilots, we’re taking up a position nine hundred yards north. Prepare for another assault,” I ordered but was interrupted by Sybil.

  “Your new position is predictable. I predicted it in my probability program on your known past actions and future tactics. The Unity may have predicted it as well. So too I predicted you would continue firing from new positions until you suffered severe damage or the death of one of your crew.”

  “And you’re suggesting what exactly, Sybil?”

  “That you maintain a certain unpredictability in your behavior, Commander. Cease your assault on the Unity ships for now. You can renew it at a less predictable time.”

  I hesitated, confident in my own reasoning, my own ability to defeat the Unity.

  “You have plenty of time, Jason. Don’t overplay your hand, as the sergeant would say.”

  I wondered if she also predicted I would ignore her advice—maybe. “Return to the base. We’ll kick their ass again for them later.” I ordered the pilots to stay in their ships, excep
t for Noomi. She and Claire would accompany me back to the command center. I would think over my tactics and try to give the Unity more surprises.

  Counterattack

  Back in the command center, I watched as the Unity continued their barrage against our shields, but they also kept their ships in continual motion, moving erratically to prevent us from targeting them so easily. Then a dozen smaller blips appeared on our display screens. They dove toward the planet and began to circle our perimeter.

  “Probes, they will search out weaknesses in our defense,” Sybil informed us.

  “I was wondering when they would get around to that.” I watched for a moment. “Legion, you can expect an attack on your positions soon. The enemy has sent down probes to scan our perimeter. Sergeant, are the pulse cannons mounted and operational in the bunkers?”

  “All ready for action, Jason. We moved pulse cannons from some of the base’s turrets and mounted them in the bunkers. They are all operational. We have several of the warships sitting on the ground also. They’re back far enough to make a difficult target, but close enough they can fire outward under the shield. We’ll be able to handle any Unity warships that try an attack.”

  “And your ammunition supplies for the pulse cannons?”

  “Inexhaustible. I set up a relay of maintenance robots to bring a continual stream of ammunition supplies along trenches to each of the bunkers. The factory can make it faster than we can use it.”

  “Good work, Sarge. I bet the Unity never experienced trench warfare. Now stay alert.”

  The probes completed their scans of our defenses. We waited and waited for the attack. Six days later, we were still waiting. Sasha was bunked out, catching some sleep before her shift. Sybil and Noomi were on watch in the command center. Mako, Claire, and I were in the mess hall.

  “The waiting is the worst. I would rather be doing something.” I was just pushing the dried fruit around on my plate, not really eating.

  “I agree, Jason. But we can do nothing now but wait. They have the next move. Do you think they are trying to use psychology against us? Trying to wear us down by making us wait?” Claire was sitting across from me.

  “Do the Unity understand us well enough to do that, Claire?”

  “The Unity’s understanding of human behavior is limited. Their primary information source up to this point in time is their interaction with you, Jason. They are beginning to understand your behavior patterns. If they have not performed this action in the past against you, then they have no data to build prediction models.”

  “Then they’re waiting for something else.”

  “What do you think that something is, Jason?” Mako was finishing his meal. His appetite was apparently unaffected.

  “I’m not sure, Mako. Maybe something they need to assault our weakest point. The ground forces, that’s the obvious target. They’re waiting on what they need to make a ground assault. They’re keeping us pinned down with their warships while their ground assault team gets here. Claire, where is the nearest base they can assemble ground assault forces from?”

  “The nearest base is three days away. They can transport laser tanks from there. They would be limited in number. Each base is only equipped with enough to defend against whatever planetary threat is present. They would have to transport laser tanks from six different planets to obtain enough to make an assault against us.”

  “How long would that take?”

  “It would require eight days.”

  “Then that’s not what they are waiting for. They would have had time for that.”

  We waited another seven of the planet’s days, and our nerves were just starting to recover from being on edge constantly. We were actually beginning to relax. The Warriors were joking among themselves. Mako stayed busy programming simulations of different shield configurations. Sasha redesigned an android chassis for combat. She proposed a plan to begin building fighting androids, less intelligent and absolutely loyal. Sergeant Klanton reinforced the bunkers and his trench supply lines. He also began construction on more laser defense turrets to strengthen the eastern perimeter. I waited. I was lying in my bunk, trying to contemplate the Unity’s thinking and predict what they would do, when Claire entered my temporary quarters.

  “Hello, Claire, did Mako send you?” I asked, sitting up on my bunk. Claire closed the door behind her and came over to stand in front of me.

  “No, I came to see you.” She began unzipping her jumpsuit as she spoke and let it fall to the floor. She stepped out of it and came within reach of me. “I came to see if you needed anything. I know your mate was left behind on the Defiant. You are without a mate here. I too have no mate.”

  “Claire, Dena is still my mate,” I said, but my body was reacting to the sight of hers.

  “She is not here. I am. I would like to mate with you. You are unique and interesting. Sybil’s experiences with a human male are different from our interactions among androids. Do you find me desirable?”

  “Yes, Claire, you’re a beautiful … woman. But I am in an exclusive relationship with Dena. Just because she is not here doesn’t give me the freedom to mate with anyone else. It is a human thing. We value monogamous relationships and the trust they engender.” I stood so as to look her in the eye as I spoke to her.

  Claire stepped closer and placed her hands on my shoulders. “It would benefit us both to have sex. It does not have to be a lasting relationship, nor does it have to terminate your relationship with your permanent mate. It will not involve her.”

  “Oh, but it will when she finds out. I won’t benefit in the long run, and it will hurt Dena emotionally.” I took Claire’s hands off my shoulders but held on to them gently.

  “Your heart rate is elevated, and your skin temperature is increased. These are signs of sexual desire among humans. Sybil has informed me that humans often do not express their true intentions or desires. It is difficult to predict human actions based solely on their communications.”

  “Yes, it is true that I find you sexually stimulating. Your reading of my body functions is correct, but you can believe me when I tell you that we cannot have a physical relationship, Claire. It would not only be a violation of the trust Dena has placed in me. It would also complicate our working relationship and my functioning as leader of our group. It would undermine the other crew members’ faith in me. They would reason that if I am capable of betraying Dena, then I would be capable of betraying their trust as well. They trust me to look after their safety and well-being. A leader has to consider more than his own self-interests.”

  Claire paused for a moment and then stepped away. She silently dressed and walked to the door. “If the situation changes, I would still be interested in mating with you, Commander.”

  “Thank you. I take that as a compliment, Claire.”

  She turned and left. I was left wondering how well androids handled rejection. It was just one more thing to ponder as I lay back on my bunk. I missed Dena more than ever.

  The next day, Sasha notified me of a change. “Sorry to wake you, Jason, but there are more ships approaching.” She was standing over me, gently shaking my shoulder.

  “That will be their ground assault forces. Let’s see what they brought us.” I had stopped sleeping in my armor. I now had to put it back on before going to the command center. Mako, Sybil, Noomi, Claire, and Sasha were waiting for me when I arrived.

  “Twelve new ships entered from the direction of their nearest planetary base and passed beyond their warships. The new ships have disappeared beyond the horizon and are now hidden from our sensors,” Sybil reported.

  “Making an approach to the planet surface below our detection levels, just as we did.” I was not surprised. They would approach using the terrain to shield them. Then they would attack Legion’s ground troops. “I’m going over to the western perimeter. That’s where they’ll attack. It’s the weakest point with the best approach. The Unity aren’t much for creative thinking. They prefer a numerical
advantage.”

  “That means those ships will contain what they believe is enough firepower to overwhelm us,” Mako responded.

  “Exactly.” I left the control center. I would still be in touch with them and proceeded to the western wall of the factory. There I stepped through a hatch and onto what would soon be the battlefield. There were large tall three-story doors every thousand yards. Behind each door, on the eastern and western sides, was a legged laser tank, now under our control. Half the tanks had been destroyed on our assault of the base, so there were no tanks on the southern side and only a few on the northern side. The factory doors were all sealed up and presented a solid metal wall. Trenches zigzagged from hatchways out to the bunkers positioned halfway to the extent of our shielded perimeter. The time shield extended slightly more than a mile beyond the factory walls and stopped three hundred feet above the ground, here on the western perimeter, forming a ten-mile-wide gap. Like an enormous black umbrella, it blocked out the sky, and the battlefield here was in its shadow. In other places, it extended to within inches of the ground. This gap, combined with a series of hills and canyons beyond, made the western approach the most vulnerable. The landscape beyond the shield was flat open terrain for five miles, a good killing field.