by Dietmar Wehr
[Dietrich to Gunslinger. Prepare to accept cargo of plague victims which you will transport to Haven as per Admiral Shiloh’s urgent request. You’ll receive further orders from him when you arrive there. Give him my regards and give the enemy hell if you get the chance. Acting CSO Dietrich. End of message]
When Replenisher arrived at Haven, Gunslinger was not surprised to see a large number of ships in orbit. Sentry frigates and the odd tanker, were arriving in a steady stream from the border areas. What did surprise him was that those ships hadn’t continued on to Site B. He soon found out why. Within seconds, he was in contact with Valiant.
“Welcome to Haven, Gunslinger.” said Shiloh.
“Glad to be here, CAG. I brought the cargo you requested.”
“Very good. I want Replenisher to hold on to them for a while yet. There are still some colonists down there, who haven’t been transported to Site B yet and we’re also making some last minutes modifications to the colony itself. If the enemy tries to land there, they’ll set off a fusion device that will destroy the colony and any evidence that it was a deception.”
“Very devious of you, CAG. I like it. What part will the sentry frigates play?”
“We’ll leave the sentry frigates, 2 tankers, 3 freighters including Replenisher, and 2 automated combat frigates behind in geosynchronous orbit over the colony. We’ll make it look as though all the crews died from the bio-weapon, leaving the ships adrift. When the enemy fleet arrives, they’ll see the ships drifting and the bodies in the streets. The ships will be booby trapped too so if they attempt to board any of them, the ship will blow up in their faces. When the last bodies are taken off Replenisher, the bio-suited volunteers doing that will also extract you from the Bridge. Once they place the bodies on the ground, they and you will undergo decontamination and quarantine on board Resolute. The shuttle used for the transfer of the bodies will be set on auto-pilot to fly into the sun and Resolute will bring everyone to Site B. We’ll leave behind a message drone and a recon drone that will keep an eye on the place from a safe distance.”
“Yes, that should convince them that all the colonies have been wiped out. I do have one question, CAG. When do I get some combat?” Shiloh laughed.
“Not for a while I’m afraid. Shifting all the colonists to Terra Nova this quickly has upset the buildup of military assets. We had to shift the UFCs to producing shelter and farming equipment for the colonists, so that they could start farming and not have to sleep out in the open. The military buildup hasn’t stopped but it’s slowed down a lot and will have to stay that way for at least 3 months. The first new spacecraft won’t be finished for another 9 months but by then we’ll have the mass production line ready to go and the Fleet will grow fast. At that point, we’ll start planning offensive operations and you’ll be part of that. I promise.”
“I can’t wait, CAG. While we’ve been talking, I’ve been in communication with Iceman onboard Resolute. He’s told me about the power breakthrough. Fantastic! I’m anxious to strike back hard.”
“Me too, Gunslinger. I have to cut this conversation short now. We’ll talk again soon. CAG clear.”
Chapter 20 - Told You So
Shiloh and Kelly stood on a hill overlooking the valley where the new colony was growing. With plenty of excellent farm land available, the decision was made to break up the colony into smaller clusters of inhabitants, each with its own farms around it. Eventually they would grow together into one large community but that was a long way into the future. Shiloh was pleased with their progress. Everyone had some kind of shelter to sleep under and the crude, temporary shacks were gradually being replaced by much better housing. Everyone had some electric power thanks to the small version of the Zero Point Energy device that Alvarez had invented. Terra Nova had very little axial tilt which meant that the temperate zone, the colony was situated in, would not experience either scorching hot summers or cold winters. In fact, they could grow crops all year round.
“We’re on schedule for shifting most of the UFCs back to military production, Admiral.” said Kelly. Shiloh nodded.
“Good! By the way, when there’s no one else around, you can call me, Victor.” Kelly looked behind her at the shuttle which had brought them here and its pilot, who was sitting on its wing. She decided that he was far enough away that he couldn’t hear what they were saying to each other.
“Okay, Victor.” She paused and then added. “I wanted to talk with you about the SPG. I’ve given this a lot of thought and I think I should step down and let one of the A.I.s take over as Team Leader.” Shiloh looked at her in surprise.
“You’ll miss all the excitement when we resume offensive operations.” She shrugged.
“I know but at this point, I really think an A.I. should lead the team. In fact I think the entire SPG should be A.I.s. They think so much faster that any humans involved in the process would only slow things down. But the other reason is that I don’t have the fire in me for this fight any more. I think I’ve earned the right to put the uniform aside and start making a different kind of life for myself. The Colony needs to grow fast and if I’m going to have children, I’ll have to start soon. That’s starting to look pretty good to me now.” Shiloh took his time responding.
“I’ll give your suggestion regarding an all A.I. SPG some thought. If you did decide to have children, would it be solo or with a partner?”
“A good question. I know some of the single women are taking advantage of the frozen sperm that Howard sent along with TF91 but with over 10,000 colonists here I don’t think we have to worry about a small gene pool. It all depends on whether the right man is available and interested.”
“Just out of curiosity, what qualities would you be looking for in the right man.” After a slight hesitation, she said,
“Well…he’d have to be in good health, smart, have some stature in the community… some charisma and a lot of self confidence would be nice too. You wouldn’t happen to know of anyone that fits that description, would you, Victor?” Shiloh looked at her and saw a mischievous smile on her face. Son of a gun! She’s talking about me!
“I think I know just the guy.” said Shiloh and they both laughed. Shiloh looked back at the shuttle pilot, who didn’t seem to be that interested in what the two of them were doing and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t care if someone saw what he was about to do. He turned back to Kelly and held out his arms in a clear invitation. She came to him and they hugged each other tightly then kissed quickly which they both knew was a promise of more to come. When they reluctantly let go of each other, he said,
“You do realize that I won’t be able to retire from Space Force for a long time, right?” She nodded.
“I know that. The War’s not over and there’s a lot of fighting left to be done. But being the CSO means that you’ll be spending most of your time here in this star system which means you won’t be gone on missions for months at a time.”
“Yes. You’re right. Rank does indeed have its privileges. Iceman, Valkyrie and Gunslinger will be leading the charge when we’re ready. I guess that means I’m now The Old Man, doesn’t it?” She laughed and said,
“Oh, Victor! As far as the rest of us mere mortals are concerned, you’ve been The Old Man for quite a while already! Didn’t you know that?” Shiloh said nothing and just shook his head. How had he not seen that coming? She took his arm and led him back to the shuttle. He had to admit, it felt good to have a woman holding his arm and what it implied. He noticed that the pilot was now nowhere in sight. When they reached the shuttle, the pilot emerged from the craft and said,
“Valiant just sent a laser com message, Admiral. The message drone from Haven arrived. Valiant says that the drone’s data shows that our bombs exploded at the Colony site and on several of our ships. It looks like the enemy finally reached Haven.”
“Let’s hope they decide they’ve won the war and go home.” said Shiloh. As the shuttle lifted off for the short ride back to the spaceport, Sh
iloh decided that he’d been celibate long enough. He was conscious of the fact that their pilot could now hear everything they said to each other. After giving it some thought, he looked at Kelly, who was sitting beside him, and said,
“Commander, I want to get a better understanding of the SPG’s thinking in terms of our opening moves. Suppose you come up to Valiant with me and we can discuss it in my quarters right now.” As he talked he put his right hand on her left thigh just to make sure she got the message. The pilot might be able to hear them but he couldn’t see them. In her best professional voice she said,
“An excellent idea, Admiral. I have some opening moves that I think you’ll like.” They both smiled with silent understanding.
“Lieutenant!”
“Sir?”
“Change of plans. Head straight for Valiant. The Commander will take another shuttle back down later.”
“Valiant it is, Admiral.” Two hours later, a naked Shiloh was lying on his back with Kelly’s nude body on top of him. They had finished the first frenzied round of sex and then, after a short break, a 2nd round of more relaxed, and more intimate lovemaking. Shiloh found that he liked having her lay on top of him. She wasn’t heavy enough to make it uncomfortable and it allowed his hands the freedom to explore and appreciate all of her wonderful curves. It also was obvious that she liked having her curves explored so it was a win/win for everyone involved. He remembered something he had learned from an enchanting French woman he’d briefly gotten to know a few years back. He brought both of his hands up to her shoulders and slowly and gently let the tips of his fingernails slid down her back. No pressure, just the light touch.
“Oh my God that feels good!” she whispered into his ear.
“Yes it does.” he agreed.
“How long can you keep that up?” she asked playfully.
“Not long. I’m getting hungry.” he replied with what he hoped was a serious tone.
“You could order food brought to your quarters?” He was tempted but if he accepted the food at the door wearing a bath robe, it would be obvious what he and the Commander were ‘discussing’. He knew they couldn’t hide it forever. Eventually everyone would know that they were a couple but for now, it might prove to be embarrassing for her.
“I could but I thought we’d get dressed and have a meal in the Officers’ Mess.” She kissed him on the cheek.
“You’re concerned about my image. That’s very chivalrous of you. I wonder if anybody will notice my glow.”
“What glow is that?”
“You mean you’ve never noticed that when a woman has just been made love to, she gives off an aura of sexual energy?” He had no idea if she was serious or if she was pulling his leg.
“Well now that you mention it…” They both laughed. Ten minutes later they walked into the Officers Mess. As they sat down at a table, Shiloh glanced over to another table where two female officers were sitting. They were both looking at Kelly and nodding with smiles on their faces. He looked at Kelly who said.
“Told you so.” Shiloh just had to laugh. Later when a shuttle left Valiant with Kelly on board and Shiloh was back in the privacy of his quarters, his implant clicked.
“Iceman to CAG.”
“Go ahead, Iceman.”
“Commander Kelly’s shuttle is about to enter the atmosphere and everything looks routine.”
“That’s good to know, Iceman, but you don’t usually report on routine comings and goings of personnel. Why the need to inform me of this one?”
“Well, it’s clear to me that she has become more important to you today and I assumed you’d want to be reassured that her trip back went well.”
“Oh? What makes you think that Aman…Commander Kelly has suddenly become more important to me?”
“Ah, well, my internal sensors record across a wide spectrum of EM radiation and I noticed that her skin temperature was higher than normal when she and you left your quarters. Also her voice had a noticeable lack of stress indicators, which is again unusual and finally I couldn’t help but overhear two female officers talking about Commander Kelly as they walked down the corridor. One was asking the other if she noticed Kelly’s glow. Since I no longer have access to the database at HQ on Earth I can’t search for what glow they might be referring to but if I had to guess, I’d say it was sexually related. You two were in your quarters a long time you know. Just sayin.” Thank God there are no sensors covering my bedroom and thank God for the thickness of the walls! I wonder how good his audio pickup is.
“If I tried to deny it, you’d be able to tell I was lying so I may as well plead guilty but I want you to keep this information to yourself. That means you don’t share it with any human or any other A.I. That’s an order, Iceman!”
“Ah, I hear you loud and clear, CAG. No one will hear about it from me but you should know that other A.I.s will almost certainly pick up on other clues themselves. You won’t be able to keep it a secret for long.”
“I know, Iceman. We don’t have to keep it a secret for long. Just for now.”
“Ah, roger that, CAG. Iceman clear.”
Chapter 21 - Is It Just Revenge?
Three months later, raider 001 floated in orbit around Terra Nova’s moon. The impression it gave, was of a lethal killing machine that was, for the moment, asleep. Shiloh watched it on the main display on Valiant’s Bridge. The quarter million ton carrier dwarfed the smaller machine but Shiloh knew which one he preferred. Preliminary tests had gone well. Preprogrammed test jumps over relatively short distances had shown that the scaled up version of Alvarez’s ZPG device was capable of powering the jump drive. Gunslinger had test flown the machine from one end of the Terra Nova star system to the other and declared, somewhat to Shiloh’s surprise, that it was ‘the cat’s meow’, whatever that meant. So Raider 001 was now ready for her first real mission and Shiloh had to adjudicate a squabble between three A.I.s over who would get the honor of flying her. Iceman insisted that as the V.A.A.G, (Vice-Admiral, Autonomous Group), he had the right to pull rank and fly the mission. Valkyrie insisted that as the D.L.R.R.O, (Director of Long Range Reconnaissance Operations), she should lead the first recon mission and S.L. (Senior Lieutenant) Gunslinger insisted that he had earned the right to fly her. The three of them had decided to take it all the way up to the CAG!
“I’ve listened to your arguments. Who knew that A.I.s could make such passionate arguments? I’ve made a decision. This first mission is as much a test flight as it is a recon flight. Until we have operational data confirming that the new power plant is reliable, I’m not risking my senior A.I. officer. Sorry Iceman but you’re too valuable to risk on an unproven piece of technology. When we have dozens of raiders, you’ll lead them into battle. Valkyrie has a valid point. She will be directing all long range reconnaissance missions and having flown one herself, will stand her in good stead when she sets the parameters for all the other recon missions. So Gunslinger, you’ll have to sit this one out. You want combat experience and you’ll get it but you wouldn’t find it on a recon mission anyway. The CAG has spoken.”
“Thank you, CAG.” said Valkyrie. The other two said nothing, at least nothing that a human could understand. Shiloh was sure that the three of them were conducting a three way conversion of a kind that only their lightning fast minds could handle.
