by Chris Hechtl
“First, I need to report that I have just completed translating the orders from the new ship. It is their equivalent of a dispatch ship, a courier.”
“What did they have to say?” General Elliot asked. “Are they getting reinforcements as planned?”
“Eventually, yes, but there is no timetable reported. The ship was sent by their alpha leader, the leader of their fleet. He is the equivalent of an admiral. He has ordered this task force to be broken up. The battleship and one support vessel is to remain behind, but all of the other ships are to report to the hyperbridge jump point to Sol.”
“He's pulling his forces together to hit Sol,” General Elliot murmured. “Wait, why leave the battleship? Why not a cruiser?”
“Unknown.”
“You haven't gotten that far or …?”
“Unknown because the reasoning was not in the orders. The alpha sent the order, and I believe expected it to be obeyed without question,” the A.I. replied.
“Ah,” the general murmured with a nod.
“So, once they are gone, we can get up to more mischief? It means they'll have to resupply more from the surface. If we take enough of their shuttles …,” Sheriff Tupper exchanged a small smile with the general.
“I don't think it will make enough of a difference in the long run though,” Paul said slowly. “There is little we can do now, right?”
“Oh, yes, there is,” Jack said. They turned to look at him. “Jeeves, you've got free reign in the ships computers, right?”
“Yes, Governor.”
“We can take the ship with a cyber attack,” Sheriff Tupper breathed as he caught on. “A full-on Skynet experience. Serves the bastards right,” he said, eyes gleaming.
“Exactly,” Jack said with a nod to the sheriff.
“We'll only get one shot at this. We've got to make it a good shot,” the general growled as he rubbed his chin. His brown eyes gleamed though at the idea of striking back and doing so with one good hard hit. A knockout blow might work.
“Agreed.”
“So, we, we meaning Jeeves,” Debby said with a nod to the A.I.'s holographic avatar. “Send in tailor-made viruses timed to go off to hit them all at once. That is the plan?”
“Essentially, yes. I was tempted to hit them when the other ships leave,” Jack said. “But I'd rather have a clean sweep.”
“Why? Why not minimize our chances of exposure by just going after the one ship?” Paul demanded. “We could time the viruses to go off when the ship is underway for some reason.”
“I do like that idea. Have the computers feed them false information. They'd never notice until it is too late,” Debby agreed.
Jack frowned. “It is an idea, but I want a clean sweep,” he reiterated. “I want to take those other ships out of the war too. We have the opportunity, let's use it.”
“So, once we've shut the ships down, what's to stop them from turning them back on? Bypassing the computers?”
“First, we're going to shut down the life support and vent the ship. Second, we're going to send them on a sun scuttle,” Jack said.
“I think we should capture them,” General Elliot said. When Debby gasped, he turned to her and then back to the others before finally leveling his brown eyes on the one person who truly mattered in the decision-making process. “Hear me out, Jack. We can do this.”
“We can't capture them. We've got one shuttle,” Jack said with a shake of his head.
“We can send up boarding forces,” General Elliot argued. “Lock them down, vent the ships. We can take them one at a time at our leisure.”
“And if they figure out a work-around?” Jack asked.
“What if another enemy ship comes?” Debby asked. “Personally, I like the idea of sending the ships on a sun scuttle. Let them all burn in hell,” she growled.
“What about the crew?”
“They bombed civilian cities and towns. I think they get what is coming to them,” the Neogorilla said firmly.
“Agreed,” Jack said. “The additional benefit of a sun scuttle is that those ships won't be around. The enemy, if and when they come, will not know where they went.”
“So, if they come into orbit, we can potentially do it again?” Sheriff Tupper asked eyes bright. “How often?”
“As many times as we can pull it off,” Jack replied with a shrug.
“Wait, wait, why not board them? We can use those ships, Jack!” General Elliot argued. “I still wish you'd let us board them. Think of the possibilities!”
“It might come to that. Personally, I hope it doesn't,” Jack said.
“Why?” Paul asked curiously.
“I'm not keen about it,” Jack said, sitting back in his chair. “Imagine the situation. They are trapped in their ships, dark, no hope of survival. They have the home turf advantage. They are scared and possibly willing to self-destruct to take your troops with them,” Jack said, turning to the general.
General Elliot nodded slowly. “Yeah, not a good scenario.”
“You think?” Debby drawled. She shivered.
“Okay, now the best case, we capture one or more of the ships. That means we'd have to service them. They'd have to be rebuilt. That means we'd have to figure out how to interface our tech with their tech.”
Paul made a face.
“We'd have to learn to operate them. We'd have to make spare parts for them—alien ships. We don't know their tech enough to do that. All the while an enemy ship could arrive at any time. Now imagine that scenario and trying to fight those ships.”
“Okay, okay,” the general said, putting his hands up in surrender. “You've made your point.”
“You gamed all that out in advance?” Debby asked.
Jack looked at her. “I try to think at least three or four moves ahead. She nodded slowly. “But, as I said, it might come to that, so we'll have to be prepared. General,” he nodded to the Neochimp, “get a volunteer group together just in case.”
“Ah. Crap, I just realized, we don't have suits either,” General Elliot said, hand over his eyes.
“I thought of that too,” Jack drawled.
“Any ideas on how to fix it?” Paul asked. “I mean, we can hold off, right?”
“I don't want those other ships to get away. I want to do as much damage as we can now,” Jack said firmly. “There are,” he turned to the general, “a dozen suits of various sizes in storage. They are generic universal soft suits, not combat space suits though. Plus, there are four EVA packs; the rest are up on the station.”
“I'll poll my people to see who can spacewalk. The gravity will be out. We'd need supplies … Can our weapons even fire in space?”
“No. None of our weapons are suited for space,” Paul replied.
“It figures,” Debby said, throwing her hands up. “I think Jack is right, Elliot, give over.”
“No, he's going to get his team prepped just in case. We'll figure something out if they are needed. At the least, we can send them in after the enemy has run out of oxygen to pick up the mess.”
“Ah,” Debby said and then shivered at the scenario he was painting.
~~*^*~~
The battleship, cruisers, and support vessels were invaded by Jeeves' version of the Skynet virus. The virus struck during the ship's night cycle, when the respective crews were mostly asleep. The ships’ computers locked their users out and then sent them on a one-way trip to the sun. As the engines kicked on, the gravity, lights, and life support shut down. Some systems were intentionally burned out by the virus.
Those crew members on duty in sealed compartments were bewildered as they tried to figure out what had gone wrong and what to do.
~~*^*~~
The ship's Alpha bull and Gamma bull had been in their respective quarters in the core of the ship when the viruses had gone off. Taurens who had been awakened by the breach had managed to waken others and partially seal some of the ship. That had allowed a few personnel to get into suits and set up emergency shelter
s.
The cruisers and other ships were less lucky, their smaller compliments and tighter habitation quarters had made them lose most of their respective crews all at once. Those that had survived were trapped in darkened compartments with vacuum all around them and no hope of rescue.
“What happened?” the Gamma bull demanded.
“A computer failure,” the ship's Alpha bull replied. He had been working to restore power and control of the computers, but the computers remained stubbornly inert. They had scrammed the reactors, so the survivors were scrambling to get any power they could out of the reserve batteries.
“Do we know what is going on? I felt an engine burn,” the Gamma bull demanded.
“I know. I've got a crew member attempting to work on that as we speak.”
“It doesn't look good, ship's Alpha,” the crew member said breathlessly as he came over to them with a handheld navigational device and a telescope. “I have spotted the other ships …”
“Can they help us?” the Gamma bull demanded.
The technician turned to the gamma. “No. They are blacked out as well and on the same course we are.”
“Blacked out? What course?” the ship's Alpha bull demanded as the Gamma bull scowled blackly.
“We are headed to the local star,” the technician said in a worried voice.
That made everyone in the compartment freeze and turn to him in shock.
“All of our electronics are fried,” a frustrated engineer reported as he came over to them. “We've got entire sections of the ship vented to space. There are bodies out there, floating away,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I don't know what happened; it doesn't make sense!”
“You say this is happening to the other ships?” the Gamma bull demanded, turning to the technician with the telescope and gear. The bull nodded.
“One ship failing is chance, but all at once is enemy action,” the Gamma bull said, turning to the ship's Alpha bull.”
“I tend to agree Fleet Herd Leader.”
“Can we change course?” the Gamma bull asked, turning to the engineer. “Find a way to ignite an engine or two manually to move the ship?”
“We … can try,” the engineer said slowly.
“We would do best to abandon ship Fleet Herd Leader. Get to the shuttles and get out,” the ship's Alpha bull said. All eyes turned to him. “Even if we managed to divert the ship, we still cannot repair it!” he said when he saw intransigence in the gamma's eyes.
“Engineer, you work on moving the ship. Alpha,” the Gamma bull said. “Save what you can if you can.” He turned to the technician who had determined their course. “You, get a better course projection. And get someone to try to signal the other ships. Flash them with a handheld light; do anything you can to see if any are alive.”
“As you command, Fleet Herd Leader,” the various Taurens said as they moved out to their assigned tasked.
~~*^*~~
“Anything?” General Elliot asked anxiously.
“All of the ships are on course to the sun. I can't get in them to see what is going on obviously,” Jeeves replied.
“They are probably madder than hell. Serves them right,” Debby growled.
“Wait one. I am accessing the systems in the space station. There is a caretaker crew of Taurens on board.”
“Wait, you didn't wipe them out too?” Debby demanded.
“Let him finish,” Jack ordered. “Jeeves?”
“Thank you, sir. The battleship has changed course. They are no longer headed for the star. They will pass close to it and then fall into an orbit around the star.”
“Damn it!” Paul snarled.
“The battleship is abandoning ship. Shuttles have detached from the ship.”
“Can they make it back here?” Jack asked.
“Unknown.”
“We should reprogram them. Send them right after their friends,” Debby growled.
“Tempting, but if they can make it back here I say we let them,” Jack said. All eyes turned to him. “I want prisoners. And I want those shuttles.”
~~*^*~~
The former ship's Alpha bull watched from the cockpit of the shuttle as his beloved ship diverted course just enough to miss the star. It wasn't enough though, anger burned within him as he was forced to watch helplessly as the other ships dived into the star one by one.
“Make for the station,” he said in a grating voice.
They had loaded up the shuttles with as much oxygen and fuel as they could. It would still be questionable if they could even reach the station.
The ship's Gamma bull had stayed on board the ship in order to try to save her. He felt shame in that last act. It should have been his mission, and it was after all, his ship. But the Gamma bull had insisted since the failure was his, he would be the one to sacrifice himself. The former ship's Alpha bull would have to lead their herd.
~~*^*~~
Five days later the former ship's Alpha bull shook his head. He was surprised to be alive. His thoughts were dull as the shuttle touched down on the planet. He wasn't at all surprised when he stepped out of the shuttle to see Terrans off in the distance watching them.
~~*^*~~
“Hands up,” Tom snarled, ears back.
“They don't understand English,” Sergeant Maltese said patiently.
“Oh, I think they can get the message,” Tom said, waving his small gun to the lead Tauren as more of their unit arrived. Jeeves had been right on the money predicting where the shuttles would land. He flicked the gun's barrel up and then raised his free hand to show them.
One by one the Taurens raised their hands.
“Great. You get to interrogate them,” the sergeant said with a snort.
“Um, I'm not sure my version of getting through to them will get us anywhere there, boss,” the tomcat replied with a Cheshire grin. “But I wouldn't mind trying,” he said hopefully.
“We'll see. Come on you lot, this way,” the Neogorilla growled, pointing with an index finger in the direction he wanted them to go.
~~*^*~~
“Well, that's that, right?” Sheriff Tupper said, making a show of dusting his hands. “They are gone, right?”
“Seems that way. All over but the crying,” General Elliot drawled. His people were working with the Sheriff's to contain the captured Taurens. They still were not certain what to do with them. The internment camp was getting a lot of negative attention from the population as well.
“Now we just have to wonder what the devil happened everywhere else,” Sheriff Tupper said with a shake of his head.
“And wonder when they are going to send someone to look for their missing people,” General Elliot said.
“You are just full of nice thoughts,” the sheriff said sourly. “Can't we enjoy the good while we've got it?”
“Sorry. I'm a pragmatist,” the general replied with a shrug.
“He's right. So, now we have to divide ourselves between rebuilding, building better shelters and defenses, and finding a way to hit back,” Jack replied.
“Now you are talking,” Max growled with a nod. Menolly and the others joined in with grim nods of their own.
Chapter 37
Sol Star System
“My condolences on your loss, losses … ah hell, Walt,” Jan sighed, shaking her head. “I'm so sorry. Damn,” she said.
“I know. Sounds just wrong doesn't it? Like it's not enough?” he said in a gravelly voice. He'd been worn down to bedrock in the battle. He'd lost his eldest son Taylor, his other son Josh, and his brother Ludwig.
“Words pale in comparison to what you must be feeling. You and Tiffany and Renee and Kenneth,” Jan said in sympathy.
“It is war. A lot of families lost loved ones, not just sailors, but in the bombings. We'll cope the best we can.”
Jan studied him for a long moment and then nodded. “Almost ready?” she asked quietly.
“Just about,” he said as he finished wrapping up his speech. He st
ood and adjusted his formal uniform, then picked up his cover and tucked it under one arm. “How do I look?” he asked.
“Like an admiral,” Jan replied with a brief smile. Each of them had a pair of medals, one for participating in the battle of Sol, and another for leading it. They also had a campaign ribbon, a single swatch of fabric on their left lapel.
Something told her there would be more of those soon enough.
“I hate memorials,” Walter said as he joined her. “I'd rather grieve for my family in private, not get it all torn off like a scab and shown to the public,” he said.
“But that's how we are; we share our pain. We grieve together. And besides, we need to show the sailors and their families that we care. That they aren't meat robots. That they won't be forgotten,” Jan murmured as they made their way through the outer offices to the lift car.
“Yeah,” Walter said once their respective staffs joined them at the lift car. “You are right,” he said as they filed into the car.
“Get used to it,” Jan replied with a brief teasing smirk. He looked at her and snorted slightly before he schooled his expression once more.
~~*^*~~
At the memorial, President Camp took center stage with General Taylor slightly behind and on his left and the two admirals slightly behind and on his right.
President Camp gripped the lectern and stared at the cameras and assembly with his brown eyes. “We're hurt. The battle of Sol took over twenty thousand sailor lives and cost nearly twenty million civilian lives. No one in this room can say they weren't touched by the loss of a friend or colleague. The same goes for everyone in this solar system.”
He paused a moment to let that sink in as he looked at the audience. Most of the government was there at the memorial. They were all united in one cause, at least for the moment.
“No matter what they throw at us, we are going to stand together, and we're going to do the one thing they can't do,” President Camp said, looking around the compartment.
“We're going to win.”
