Jack grinned. He liked Júlia’s daring idea. It came close to his own thoughts. “Everyone, I propose we attack the Aliens where it will hurt most. The moon base. And their colony down on the planet. Plus, we can strike them before they know we are even in this system!”
Hideyoshi’s black eyes fixed on Jack. Maureen gave him a speculative look. Júlia looked eager. Gareth, Ignacio and the other ship captains all had puzzled expressions. As did Elaine, Denise and Nikola. Only Max did not look puzzled. Maybe he’d figured it out.
“People, we have eight hours before the lightspeed signals of that spysat and our nuke blast reach the inner world. Less than that before the Alien ships at the gas worlds pick it up,” Jack said. “But we have a way of beating lightspeed. Right?” He looked to Max. “Drive Engineer, is there any reason why this fleet cannot use our Alcubierre drives to FTL-jump right into the space between the moon and that Earth-like world?”
The sounds of knives and forks bringing food to hungry mouths stopped. Everyone looked to the man who had created the control software for their grav-pull drives, then had done the hard bench work to create Alcubierre drive shell modules for every fleet ship. Albeit with some help from Archibald, whose Brit face now flushed red as he caught the implications of Jack’s proposal.
“Yes!” Archibald said, his unruly shock of reddish-brown hair sticking out in all directions. “There is no gravitational prohibition due to the nearby star. Right, Max?”
Max frowned thoughtfully, his thick black eyebrows nearly running together. Blodwen, sitting beside him, whispered something. The man shrugged, then looked at everyone. “True. The space-time manifold squeezing that the Alcubierre drive creates is not in conflict with being close to a star . . . so long as we emerge beyond the local star’s space-time warping influence. Which for this old star is two-tenths AU beyond its corona.”
Jack breathed out his pent up breath. “Perfect!” He looked across to Elaine. “When this fleet emerges between the planet and the moon, we need nearly instant information on several matters. First, I need AV imagery of the local people. Second, I need the planetary location coordinates of the Alien colony. Third, I need a sensor readout on the moon base facility. Is there a colony ship parked there, like in the Nuuthot system? Are there anti-space laser batteries on the moon which could take out our torps or hurt one of our ships? Fourth, I need imagery of any Alien grav-pull ship that our scope can pull in, so we can get an ID on the Aliens running this system. That will require a match against our comet combat records and the later Sedna ship records. Can you do that, sister?”
She nodded, her brown curls looking sweaty from the closed-in warmth of fifteen people gathered in a room not much bigger than the table they sat at. “Can do. I’ll enter those search parameters into the NavTrack panel and my Sensor panel before we FTL jump. You should have your answers within minutes after we arrive.”
“Good.” Jack looked to Denise. “ComChief, I need similar miracles from you. Can you set your SETI linguistic analysis program working on the local language, based on the AV broadcasts that Elaine will be monitoring? I want to know how to talk to the local folks. Maybe we can get a little rebellion going while we’re fighting the Alien carnivores who dominate this system.”
Her freckles showed bright red as Denise nodded eagerly. “Yes! Can do. It will take a bit longer, but Anonymous has the computing power to crunch-compare images with Alien morphemes. And still keep everything running on the Uhuru.”
“Better than good,” Jack said, fixing on Hideyoshi and Maureen. “Combat leaders, my idea is to hit these Aliens where they are most vulnerable. We’ll use Maureen’s thermonuke dusting of the air above the colony on that world, once we have basic meteorology on the wind patterns. At the same time we’ll thermonuke the moon base and any surface installations. Then we broadcast a Surrender Or Die ultimatum over the modulated neutrino comlink!” Jack sat back in his sling-chair, a shot glass of scotch in one hand. “That will bring all the outlying grav-pull ships blipping into the inner system, coming after our hides. When they arrive is when we go to Hideyoshi’s Pinwheel Plasma Torch flame ball, with each ship shooting antimatter and neutral particle beams at any ship in range. Hideyoshi, will you take command of the flame ball?”
The Asian’s intense focus on Jack’s words shifted into his formal combat persona. “Yes. I like this plan. It kills the Alien colony, kills their moon base and forces the Aliens to come to us, rather than us hunting over the system for them. And the flame ball maneuver should protect us from any automated laser platforms or laser forts in orbit about the planet and moon.” The man paused, his black eyes taking in everyone at the table. “Of course our flame ball will be a bit ragged with just seven ships, when compared to our Sedna flame ball. Still, it will give us protection against incoming energy beams and KKV projectiles.”
Max coughed. “Captain Jack, Archibald and I have spent the last three hours conniving on how to upgrade the Higgs Disruptor on Gareth’s ship. We figured if we take over three fusor units from our extra supplies and fit them to the accelerator that powers both the Dragon’s antimatter beam and its Higgs Disruptor, that will increase the Higgs range to 10,000 kilometers.”
Jack blinked. “You mean to say you guys have figured out how to achieve a ten-fold increase in the range of a device that can disrupt the gravity field of an object? Amazing!”
“Blodwen helped,” Max said, smiling shyly. “She asked some good questions. Which got me and Archibald thinking practically, versus theoretically. And Matthias had some helpful suggestions. Can Archibald take the fusor units over when Captain Gareth returns? He can install them, then be back onboard the Uhuru before we go active on our Alcubierre drive.”
“Yes!” Jack eyed Gareth. “Captain, you now have two beams with the same ten thousand klicks range. That makes a difference tactically.” He turned to Max. “Buddy, can that Higgs Disruptor beam produce an expanded footprint? So it could disrupt the atomic structure of an entire enemy ship?”
Archibald looked surprised. Max nodded slowly. “Yes. Just a matter of slightly modifying the software for the device output. How broad do you want the beam to be at maximum range?”
Jack swallowed as his intuitive mind played with dozens of options. “One kilometer width at ten thousand kay range would be just fine. After all, the emitter can be moved laterally. We could sweep that beam over several ships. Right?”
“Right!” yelled Archibald, then blushed at the sudden attention he’d drawn to himself. “With Max’s help I can modify the Control software on the Dragon’s Higgs Disruptor to achieve a disruption footprint of that width.”
“We go Alcubierre within an hour. Can it be done by then?” Jack asked as Hideyoshi, Maureen and Minna paid close attention to his weaponry talk with the two physics brains.
“Yes!” said Archibald eagerly.
“For sure,” Max said, smiling broadly as Blodwen patted the man’s wrist.
“Good.” He lifted his scotch in salute. “To humanity! May we always be a pain in the ass to anyone who wants to rule us!”
“Cheers!” “Nazdravi!” “Kippis!” “Sláinte!” “Kanpai” and other human terms filled Jack’s ears.
He drained his glass, inhaled quickly, then set the shot glass down on the metal table. “In one hour we FTL jump. Everyone puts back on their EVA suit. Nikola will give Elaine and the other ship pilots the exact arrival coordinates. She will put us within 9,000 klicks of the moon so we can strike its base first.” Jack reached to his right and took her warm hand in his. “Hail to our Chief Astronomer!”
Laughter filled the room even as Elaine and Ignacio held hands, and Max gave Blodwen a hug. Maureen joined in on the hugging, giving a hug to Gareth and a peck on the man’s black-bearded cheek.
Jack thought it was fascinating how romance could blossom while traipsing through the stars!
♦ ♦ ♦
The fleet exited the Alcubierre space-time bubble at the target spot lying between the inne
r world and its moon, which showed orange highlights from the light of the star Keid. The nearest planet hemisphere was dark of course, but light clusters on its three continents glowed brightly. Jack focused on the true-light image of the nearby moon, which was a tenth the size of Earth’s moon.
“Nikola! Enlarge the image of that neutrino emission spot that shows on Elaine’s Sensor screen.”
“Done,” she said, her lilting voice a joy to hear over the comlink of his EVA suit.
A rectangular blockhouse showed at a spot near the moon’s north pole. Its shape looked familiar. But at a half kilometer in size it was larger than any moon base he had ever seen. Four aerospatiale laser mounts showed at each corner of the silvery blockhouse. Damn.
“Sensor readout on that blockhouse!” called Elaine from the front of cabin. “Primary neutrino source is a fusion reactor somewhere inside that structure. Infrared heat emissions are scattered but suggest a hundred lifeforms inside it. Lidar and maser signals emitting from those roof nodules! In standard NavTrack scan mode. But they will detect us shortly!” she said hurriedly.
Jack looked up at the top of the front screen. The images of his six other ship captains ran across the screen top. “Gareth! Fire your Higgs Disruptor at that blockhouse! Then join us in forming the Pinwheel Plasma Torch formation.”
“Acting,” said Gareth as he looked to one side and gave the attack order to his weaponry crewwoman.
Maureen’s image took form in a holo above Jack’s panel, her expression intense. “Fire Control is ranging for targets! None yet sighted within weaponry range.”
“Jack!” called Elaine. “Here’s the AV imagery you wanted. Local Aliens on the left side of the screen. Moon image in the middle. True-light imagery of four grav-pull ships in orbit above that world is on the right side! Doing ship comparison now.”
Jack focused a moment on the AV imagery of Aliens he had never before seen.
On screen moved a group of beings that resembled a cross between a centipede and a lobster. With soft skin segments that shone dirt brown under the orange-red light of Keid, each Alien moved on a dozen leg pairs. Two pincer arms projected from the front body segment, while a blocky head sat atop the front segment, its cranial bulge was protected by black plates that resembled hard shell. Two pink eyes adorned the front of the head, while two pairs of antennae flared out from where ears might be on a human. A wide mouth lay below the eye pair, but the mouth closed from side to side, like a crustacean. Straps hung from the body segments. They supported bulging sacks. Jack counted fifteen Aliens, all marching along a black roadway toward a domed building. A sound like chanting accompanied the rhythmic movement of the Aliens. The sky looked rainstorm cloudy. But on a flat hilltop overlooking the marching Aliens stood a silvery orb on parallel tracks. Suddenly a yellow beam shot down and impacted just behind the last Alien in the marching line. Earth fused black and steam rose from the spot targeted. The chant of the Aliens grew shriller and they increased their marching pace.
“Elaine! Any imagery of the social carnivores doing that herding of the local Aliens?”
“Nope.” The satisfied tone of his sister’s voice drew his eyes away from the incredible sight of a new species of thinking people. “But I have matched those four grav-pull ships to our records! They are Hackmot disk-ships!”
Jack focused on the right side of the front screen. Orbiting in a cluster above a green and brown world were four ships that resembled a spinning top, with a tubular ring about the disk edge and two north and south pole spines projecting above and below the disk. The image brought back unpleasant memories. “Fucking lizards! They didn’t even try to surrender at comet 1999 DG8! And that blockhouse on the moon is a match to the one on the comet.” He looked at the image of his Brazilian captain. “Captain Júlia! You and your crew boarded those disk-ships and scavenged its neutrino comlink pedestal. Which gave us FTL communications. Any ideas on ship vulnerabilities?”
“Higgs Disruptor firing,” Gareth said firmly from the front screen.
Jack focused on the central moon image. Suddenly a yellow beam struck the top of the blockhouse and the ground surrounding it. Moon dust and rocks began lifting upward. The blockhouse roof bulged upward. Then everything came apart. Literally.
“Shit!” cried Maureen from her Battle Module as she too saw what Jack and the other captains now saw.
Where once had stood the right angles, metal, nodules and imprint of intelligent construction, that spot on the moon’s north pole now resembled a gray cloud of tiny particles. Particles that moved randomly. Nothing solid remained within the zone of the Higgs Disruptor beam.
“Brownian movement!” he muttered.
“Very true,” Archibald said in a musing tone from the rear of the cabin.
Jack blinked, then noticed how the swirling particle cloud was getting deeper as its beam impacted the moon rock below the blockhouse. He licked dry lips. “Shut it off! Gareth, shut it off!”
The yellow beam vanished. The gray cloud of tiny dust particles spread outward, grew less dense and then slowly began to fall back to the moon’s surface. Local gravity reasserted itself after its negation by the Higgs Disruptor.
“Captain Jack,” called Júlia from the Caiman. “Here’s the imagery that Kasun’s medoc vidrecorded during his examination of the creature we pulled from one of the disk-ships. They are rather ugly beings.”
The middle split-screen image of the moon vanished to be replaced by a vidrecord from the Leopard’s archive.
A Komodo dragon reptile showed there, albeit a bipedal version with a scaly tail. The Hackmot’s four limbs had evolved into two heavily muscled legs with splayed feet, and two red-scaled arms that ended in hands with five finger-claws. Two golden eyes sat atop the bulging head dome, while side indentations suggested ears of some sort. But it was the coloration of the middle and upper body that most stood out. Stripes of yellow, orange, red and black encircled its stocky body. While bipedal in basic form, it most resembled a torpedo ready to launch out and sink its yellow dragon teeth into whomever it attacked. Jack recalled thinking from his first sight of a Hackmot how its mouth secretions might be loaded with deadly bacteria and toxins.
“Looks like a bipedal coral snake,” said Denise, her freckles looking pale against her face.
“Damn that’s still disgusting!” muttered Max from the cabin’s rear.
“Crap!” cussed Elaine as she slapped at her seat armrest. “The four disk-ships are going to grav-pull jump!”
Jack saw the shimmer of gravitational lensing around the edge of the four Hackmot ships that always preceded entry into grav-pull blip jump. “Hideyoshi! They’ll be here in a minute or less! Take us into the pinwheel formation! Then over to the planet.”
The admiral, who’d been as distracted as the rest of them by the image of a bipedal reptile, sucked in his breath. “All ships! Cluster with me. Orient your drive flares outward. Then we blip-jump on laser time-lock!”
Jack felt the shudder of the metal floor beneath his feet as Max released the fusion drive plasma from Pinch Mode into Drive flare. At the same moment the man tapped on the armrest Control panel for the grav-pull drive. “Flaring! In time-lock link with the Bismarck!”
It was a race between the imminent arrival of the Hackmot disk-ships at the eighty percent of lightspeed and the time needed for their seven fleet ships to activate both ship drives. On the front screen Jack saw the AV image of the local Aliens waver, go ragged, then lose coherence as the stars stretched out from the gravitational lensing effect of the grav-pull drive.
“Blipping!” called Max.
Jack looked to Elaine who was peering intently at her Sensor panel display. “Sister! You got the planetary location coordinates of the Hackmot colony?”
“I think so! My Sensor panel picked up two graviton emission sources rising from the smallest continent on the planet. True-light image going up on the front screen with the graviton sources showing. Land forms indicated by infrared heat emission.�
�
Jack took in the night side image of a planet that seemed a cross between Earth and Mars. The world had only four small seas, which separated three continents of varying sizes and shapes. White clouds covered half the world disk while lightning rippled across dark stretches of the world. One continent lay below the equator and near the eastern horizon, a location that would soon experience star-rise as the planet rotated eastward. Two silvery graviton sources were moving upward from a fat peninsula on the northeast coast of the continent. Neutrino emission sources were scattered over the triangular-shaped landmass. They were stationary and likely marked fusion and fission reactors.
The vidrecord image of the smallest continent moved to the right side of the screen as the shimmering of outside light that signaled grav-pull blipping died away. The fleet had arrived at the planet. The Uhuru, Bismarck, Dragon, Wolverine, Orca, Caiman and Leopard shone silvery in the starlight, each ship no more than ten kilometers from another. They formed a ball with seven points that glowed yellow-white from the plasma exhaust of each ship. Below and just rising up from the planet were the two disk-ships detected by Elaine before they had blipped from the moon to the planet. No doubt the other four Hackmot ships would even now be blipping back to this world upon finding his fleet absent from their orbit above the moon.
“Spysats launched,” rumbled Max from the back of the cabin.
“Target locked!” grunted Maureen from the holo above Jack’s Tech panel.
“All ships fire on targets!” ordered Hideyoshi.
Jack tapped on his own Fire Control panel, set the HF laser pods to Auto-Track, then pressed the ‘Fire’ touch spot. On the front screen his two green laser beams joined lasers fired by his neighbor Orca. They were the ships closest to the approaching disk-ships.
Humans Vs. Aliens (Aliens Series Book 2) Page 12
