Earth II - Emergence

by Ray Jay Perreault

  Before Tobias and Dans hooked up, Tobias was traveling through New Jersey with Rod and another guy. The roadblock was typical of a few others they had passed. In some situations, people were looking for help, and he ignored them. If they had stuff that he wanted he took it. Usually, the encounters were one-sided, but there was the incident in New Jersey. The road-block had armed sentries, and they wanted what Tobias had. The resolution took about 10-12 minutes, but they didn’t get what they wanted. It was a close call, and Tobias didn’t want to take the chance again. Rod was still with him, but the guy made a mistake dealing with the situation in New Jersey.

  Since that encounter with locals in NJ, they were traveling on country roads. Too many survivors in the cities and many of them were looking for a fight. Not that Tobias didn’t enjoy a good street battle, but he realized that it would be a battle of attrition. Too many of them, and not enough of his men, regardless of how much firepower he had, it’s better to stay to the country roads were the pickings are easier.’

  “Rod - stop the car. Billy go forward and check it out,” Tobias transmitted.

  The car behind them swerved around and passed them slowly. The two men had weapons pointing out both windows as they approached. When they reached the roadblock, they sat for a minute then got out and walked around.

  “Nobody here, all clear,” they finally transmitted.

  Tobias pointed forward, and Ron drove past the roadblock. Sure enough, there was a market about half-way down main street. “This okay?” Rod asked.

  “I guess so,” Tobias mumbled.

  Rod pulled into the small parking lot, and the other five cars followed, each finding a spot in front of the small store.

  Tobias and Rod got out of their car. Rod pulled his pistol from his holster, and a few of the others readied their rifles. There were no other sounds except the sound of a generator coming from the rear. After a momentary pause, Tobias got bored with waiting. He walked towards the store like he owned it. The other readied their weapons and followed him.

  Tobias entered the market through the automatic door which was propped open. He was greeted with silence and some picked-over shelves. The store was neat, and the lights were still on. Tobias and his team were cautious; they walked slowly to the back of the store glancing up and down the aisles.

  Rod yelled out, “Beer and anything else that looks good.” The others spread out and began to fill their arms while two of them went to the cooler and opened the door.

  “Hey, it’s still cold.”

  Must be the generator in the back, Tobias thought to himself.

  When he reached the back, he saw the blue smoke of a cigarette rising in the air. He walked to it and pointed it out to Rod. With a quick nod of Tobias’s head, Rod sprang to the back of the store. After a short time, he returned and said, “Nothing, he must have run out the back door when we drove up.”

  Tobias shrugged as he glanced around at the others. Their hands were full, so he headed for the door, and they followed.

  Haversack Intercepts A Chinese Submarine

  Captain John Haversack was tired, his crew was tired, and his boat was tired. After Admiral Mears had repulsed the alien invasion at Pearl, he had one mission; make the boat ready, fill out his crew and get back to his patrol area. No one trusted the Chinese, and it was up to him to keep an eye on them.

  The Chinese had already made an attempt on the President’s life. The Alliance attacked the Seventh and the Fifth Fleets and got punished for it. There may not be much of a government left, but he was under orders to keep them contained. 16 hours ago, an unarmed Japanese freighter was torpedoed, and Haversack had been following the attacker’s shadow ever since.

  The two other SSGNs that were in port when the virus struck, never made it out of port. His sister boat, the Sacramento, was in port and trying to find people to do some important repairs. But there were few. The Sacramento was harder hit by the virus. Everyone hoped that it could put a crew together and fix the Photonics. If they couldn’t use the high-powered scopes to see around them, they would be blind. Everyone wanted it back on patrol. All of which meant that he was alone in the western Pacific.

  “Sir, we’ve checked the baffles,” announced the pilot.

  “Pilot resume patrol heading,” directed Haversack.

  “Aye, Aye,” responded the pilot.

  “Heading 197.”

  “Heading 197,” responded the helm.

  Everyone in the Control Room was tense. At 01:30 hours, they had a contact. It wasn’t strong, but it was real. Since then they stayed, low, slow, and quiet.

  Haversack had been on duty for 18 hours, and he was just as alert as when he started.

  Who they were listening for, wasn’t a mystery to anyone. The Chinese had at least four AIP Subs patrolling their coast. One of them had likely attacked the freighter. They had spent a ton of money over the last ten years perfecting the Air Independent Propulsion System. It was cheaper than Nukes and quieter. Everyone on the sail knew that it was one of those. The Boston had the weapons and could remain submerged longer, but the Chinese AIP sub knew the coast and was quiet.

  Which one of them got into the other’s baffles first ‘won.’ That would give them the advantage, and they could fire at any time.

  “Boots, have the smart mines settled yet?” Haversack whispered to the Watch Officer who was standing next to him.

  “Yes sir, the ones we dropped at the start of the baffle sweep are down and armed.

  Haversack saw a quick movement to his right, on the starboard side of the control room. Ears, as the sonar tech was called, waved his hand and held up three fingers. Haversack moved his hand to his waistband audio control and moved the small dial three clicks. He heard the sound immediately. Unlike the typical sea sounds, there was a definite hiss. It was increasing in volume and seemed to be changing frequency. By then, the watch officers on the sale had all turned to channel three and were listening. Was it a biologic, or was it the AIP sub.

  Captain Haversack listened intently, trying to imagine what they were listening too. As he listened the sound began to decrease, and the frequency lowered.

  “Got ‘em,” Haversack whispered to the Pilot seated in the command chair. “He just passed by us, real close. I think he’s trailing some seaweed. That’s what happens when you're cruising at 6 mph and staying too close to the coast; you pick up trash.”

  Haversack wasn’t sure that it was seaweed, but he made an educated guess, and many times that’s the difference between living and dying.

  “Sonar, can you plot a heading?”

  “Sir, 020. He just missed us.”

  “In two minutes, make a slow turn to starboard and head 030. We should cross his baffles then. Halfway through the turn, release two Mark 50s in stealth mode. When we reach heading 020, fire ‘em up.”

  “Aye, Aye sir.”

  Haversack was in a difficult position. The cat-and-mouse game could go on forever — someone had to make a move. The noise was likely seaweed trailing from the AIP, but Haversack wasn’t positive. Dropping the Mark 50s in stealth mode was a silent maneuver. The torpedoes would sit in the water until activated through the wire connection. When activated they would power up and head in the programmed direction, with their sonar active. Everyone in the area would hear them, but they would be about a nautical mile to Haversack’s starboard and wouldn’t lead anyone back to his boat. Once they were active and if they picked up the AIP, they could home in on it and chase it down. The only defense the sub had was to power up and sprint away. The AIP could accelerate faster and achieve a higher speed than Haversack’s boat. During the sprint, it would be making a lot of noise, and if it passed over any of the smart mines the Boston dropped early, they would activate and come up under the sub. It would be its last desperate sprint, either the 50s got it, or Haversack would have a target lite up that he could fire other Mark 48s at. With their 30-mile range, they can run down just about anything.

  “Sir, passing 020,�
�� the Co-Pilot said. “The 50s are away.”

  Then it was a waiting game. The 50s were deployed and could remain inert until the 5,000 meters of cable ran out. Anytime up to that point he could bring them to life, and they would accelerate, pinging everything in their path. The Boston would be outside their acquisition cone, so the pinging would light up the AIP.

  “Sir, one of the Smarts popped up,” announced the sonar man.

  Haversack held onto a handhold and waited. It would take a few seconds for the smart mine’s sonar pulses to reach their target then send a return to the Boston.

  “Sir we have a target, 037 relative.”

  “Plot a heading for the ’50s and lock it in,” the Pilot ordered.

  “Locked in sir.”

  The bridge was quiet for a moment, then Captain Haversack said, “Initiate the 50’s.”

  2.5 seconds later the two Mark 50s powered up, began accelerating and pulsing the ocean in front of them.

  “Sir, both ’50s have a lock.”

  “Sir, another smart mine has popped up and is painting.”

  Captain Haversack quickly went through his options. The chances of the Chinese sub getting away was slim. It had two Mark 50’s accelerating towards it and two smart mines coming up underneath. They had a 45-degree intercept angle, and from the ocean floor, they could cover a lot of ocean above them. Haversack took a gamble, no need to fire our Mark 48 and show our location, he thought. There were still three other subs out there.

  Dans Considers Mayor Hunt

  After Dans saw off Tobias, he had time to think. Things were progressing well, and soon he would have to take the next step. If he got the news back from Tobias that he expected, that would be time to put his plan into action. Even if he didn’t hear back from Tobias the time might be right.

  Hunt didn’t have the vision that he needed to lead a city; Dans did. Hunt was too gentle and too considerate to be a true leader. A leader had to be decisive and demonstrate complete control. Dans wouldn’t lead by committee or worry about a consensus vote; the laws would be by his edict. Then he could make the changes that were needed, and everyone would know who was in charge.

  The information that Dans was waiting for was the status of the United States Government. Were they a threat to his plans, or were they just an irritation? Dans knew that he must move quickly. If they were a threat, then he needed to establish a stronghold, that would cause them to think twice before invading. If he could do enough damage to them, they would leave him alone and go elsewhere. If they were no threat, he could determine his own boundaries and take what he needed. Everyone knew that New York City was the gateway to the Northeast. If he could hold off the government long enough, then he could control the entire Northeast. It would be his realm and NYC would be his Capitol.

  Monson Briefs the President on Space Tactics

  “Admiral, please come in,” President Patterson said to Admiral Monson.

  “Good morning sir, good morning Nial,” he said to the two people waiting for the morning briefing.

  “Has anyone heard from Joan or Darlene?” the president asked.

  “Both ships are scheduled to depart our system per the plan. They should be exiting within a couple of hours,” Monson said.

  “Let’s hope everything goes well. We’re all treading on ground that we never imagined a short time ago.”

  “Yes sir, times have indeed changed,” Admiral Monson added with a small shake of his head.

  “Sir, as we said earlier. We want to brief you on our defensive tactics. They’re unusual, but I think they’re the best we have. If you don’t mind, I’ll have Beta-Zero present the material. He’s been integral in putting it together.

  President Patterson smiled and shook his head a little. “I never thought that I’d be sitting here and having a computer stand in front of my giving me a briefing.”

  “Sir, another example of how things have changed,” added Nial Hagerly.

  “Go ahead, Beta-Zero,” the president suggested.

  “Thank you, Mr. President. My name is Beta-Zero…” President Patterson rolled his eyes a little, but the Beta unit continued. “Admiral Monson has asked me to update you on the space tactics that we have developed.”

  President Patterson looked at Admiral Monson with a “help me out here,” kind of look.

  “Beta-Zero, perhaps I can continue. If I make any mistakes, please correct me,” Admiral Monson said as he took over the presentation.

  Beta-Zero stood tall and said, “Yes sir, if you prefer to speak, I will stand by the door.”

  The large Beta Unit moved quickly to a position by the door.

  “Thank you,” the president said.

  “Sorry sir, but he is very familiar with our plan, and I thought that he could…”

  President Patterson interrupted him and said, “No problem, please continue.”

  Admiral Monson placed a small 3D transmitter on the president’s desk, so he could better demonstrate the complex ship movements.

  “Sir, we have a unique situation. As you’re well aware, we have a space armada, but hardly anyone to crew them. So, we had to be innovative in our tactics. We also don’t know the full capabilities of the ships that we’re using. We’re still figuring them out, and we may change our tactics as we learn more.

  The best analogy that I can use is a swarm of bees. You may not remember the exact count, but we got hundreds of the secondary supply ships. Those were the ones that ferried the Cow-Robots to Earth. We also got 500 primary supply ships. Those were the initial force of ships that ferried the secondary supply ships into our orbit. The primary supply ships are pretty powerful, and when not fully loaded they’re quick and maneuverable. We changed their names, so we can keep track of them. The larger ships that arrived in our orbit we’re calling the supply ship and the smaller ones that brought the Cow-Robots to the surface we’re calling delivery ships. We’ve taken the supply ships and put together 200 Battleship configurations like the one that Tom was flying when they were attacked by the Terest and Julius. They’re heavily armored, and we’ve added all the weapons that we can fit inside.

  “The second class of supply ship that we’ve put together is a frigate. It will have minimum firepower, but it will be maneuverable. There will be 300 of them.

  “The delivery ships are being outfitted with either a laser or smaller railgun. They’re a lower priority and will be outfitted as the manufacturing ability on the capital ships allow.

  “Beyond that, we have our 11 capital ships which will make up the main part of our defenses.”

  “Wow, how on Earth did you modify so many ships so fast?” the president asked.

  “Sir, the capital ships have huge manufacturing capabilities, and now that we can program the Cow-Robots to do the labor, the conversion goes quickly,” responded the admiral.

  “Admiral, now that you’ve decided to modify the capital ship by Mars, into a huge laser platform, will you be able to conduct your plan with the remaining ten?” the president asked.

  “Sir, yes we have the ten capital ships available for this plan, but we feel that we needed to have a surprise. Any attackers will know of our abilities quickly. We’ve got to have something that we can bring up from the rear that uses a different strategy. The capital ships have a huge amount of energy, and we needed to find a way to use it to its fullest. Modifying the ship orbiting Mars will give us that surprise. By removing the Cow-Robots, we have two advantages. One, using the Cow-Robots on Mars will greatly increase their usefulness, and they are an excellent workforce to make the modifications. Once the ship has been converted to a powerful laser platform, we’ll always have the option to bring it in from the rear of a battle and to surprise the enemy. From what we’ve seen of the Terest and Izod ships, they are powerful, but most of the onboard energy is needed for the FTL jumps. A huge laser, which is more powerful than theirs will be a huge surprise to them,” explained Monson.

  “When will it be done?” the president a
sked.

  “So far, the conversion is going well, and it should be done shortly,” assured the Admiral.

  “Okay, I’m still not fully convinced,” responded the president. “Go on.”

  “Now for the delivery ships. To be honest, we aren’t sure where a lot of them are. Based on the number of primary supply ships we estimate that 2,500 landed on Earth. Many of them landed in remote areas, and we haven’t been able to recall all of them. For those that we have got under our control, we’re leaving 100 of the delivery ships under Earth’s control. So that leaves approximately 1,100 delivery ships that we’ll be using in our ‘Bee-Defense.’

  “We have enough personnel to man the frigates, and battleships, but we won’t have enough to man all the other ships. That has forced us to automate our defenses, which I think will be very effective.”

  “Can we do anything more with the Cow-Robots than we have. In total we must have thousands of them,” the president pointed out.

  “Yes sir, we think we have a plan for them. During the invasion, we encountered two types. One was a surface mobile, and the other had an independent flight system that was capable of space travel. The flight units have attachments that were added to the units. To be honest, we’ve been putting a lot of time in trying to figure out the Jakeel means of propulsion for all the ships but particularly for the Cow-Robots. SIMPOC has tried to break the system down but has been unable to. The good news is, the manufacturing process on the capital ships can reproduce the units at a high rate. The details are buried within the computer code, and until we can break it down fully, we can’t reverse engineer the technology. Sir, to make a long story short, we are using a large percentage of the capital ship output to make them flight-capable. We can then make them offensive weapons by mounting rail guns. They aren’t very powerful, but if we can use them against a target, they will cause damage. We’ve including swarm programming to control them if we use them in battle.

  “We assigned the first batch of them to be used by our Space Marines. They’re training with them, and we think they’ll be very effective if we need them.