The General's War

by Michael Poeltl

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  Tobias is furious when he realizes what the rumbling and bright lights are that have captured everyone’s attention. “Those are our shuttles!” He shouts. He wanted to save these for boarding the destroyers when they arrive and are under Host control. Now he see’s that this is an act of sabotage by his uncle, or worse, he was on one of those shuttles headed for Luna Base.

  “We had shuttles?” Torch, one of Tobias’ heavily armoured Chimera asks.

  “Had is the pertinent term, yes, we had shuttles.” He’s fuming now and points to a group of his Chimera. “Get to the shuttle bay and if he’s not on one of those, then bring him to me!” he orders. Three of his tribe rush to the belly of the ship.

  “Charge the energy weapon!”

  “It’s been reformatted to fire the Lifi code, Tobias,” Ginny reminds him. “I just have to reconfigure it to its original setting. It will take a minute.”

  “We have about three minutes before he reaches Luna Base,” he explains, joining her at the console. Red lights appear one after another along the terminal as Ginny manages to return the weapon to its primary function.

  “Something’s wrong, it’s not working.” Ginny‘s stumped. She slams her fist down hard on the controls.

  “Tobias,” the other Chimera ships are hailing him. “Are you sending troops to the ground?”

  “No, we’ve had a malfunction and I cannot fire my energy weapon,” he explains angrily.

  “Target practice then?” One of the Chimera captain’s wonders.

  “For you maybe,” Tobias fires back. “Stop those shuttles!”

  “Targeting now.”

  “Tobias,” reports his team on their return from the shuttle bay. “No one down there.”

  “FIRE!” He screams into the mic - the two corvettes release their lances, crippling one of the shuttles and destroying two more. “AGAIN!” He insists. The idea that his uncle might find immunity now within Luna Base infuriates him. He watches as another shuttle bursts from the lance in the vacuum.

  “Fire the thrusters, follow the last two,” he orders and all three ships begin to push forward.

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  Labyrinth approaches Quinn with determination communicated through his carrier network rather then his featureless face. Perhaps it is in the way he approaches, nearly sprinting on all six, which imparts the Hosts single-mindedness.

  “Quinn, I have a proposition for you,” he explains.

  Quinn nods for him to continue, as he listens to Tobias shout over their shoulders about the shuttles.

  “I have disabled the energy weapon.”

  Quinn is struck by this. He has not had the opportunity to speak with Labyrinth at any length, but discovers great depth of character in him with this assertion. “Did you?”

  “Yes, and I have sent the chancellor on one of those shuttles to Luna Base.”

  “Is that where you’ve been all this time?” Quinn is impressed with this little Host’s impulsive nature and considers how he can use this information. “Could you relay the methods used to accomplish what you claim to the Hosts aboard the other Chimera ships?”

  “I could, at your command.”

  “Please,” a smile creeps across Quinn’s wide face, each eye narrowing in thought. “Send it to my Shadow net account and I will make sure they receive it with orders to execute.”

  Within moments the process is received by the Hosts aboard the Chimera-held corvettes trailing behind them, and the work begins.

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  “Thirty seconds to landing.” The shuttle states, and Raymond’s heart beats faster as it slows its approach. No, don’t slow down, the thinks. Speed up! But he knows the shuttle is running a pre-programmed landing sequence and does not respond to his silent cries.

  An energy beam fires past him, creating a new crater in the moon’s surface. We’ll name that one ‘close-call crater’ Raymond muses, desperate to keep his cool.

  His and another shuttle land successfully on the east pad. A dome extends and atmosphere is pumped into the bay. His door is opened from the outside and he is rushed underground to the bunker system designed for evacuations. The one sixth gravity is a shock to his system and he requires great assistance moving through the tunnels to the main domed structure. They climb sixty stairs with ease and emerge in the domed city. Raymond has little time to appreciate the architecture as the group continues to move him through the marvel and into the command center where earth-like gravity is produced by the massive, turning maglev system.

  “Thank you,” the chancellor gasps as an aid to the commander offers him a glass of water. He consumes it immediately. “Can I see the Commander? I need to get a message to General August.”

  They hurry Raymond through several different operations offices and a lab, finally arriving at the heart of Luna Base where Commander Darla stands to greet him.

  “Chancellor, what an honour.” She extends her hand and he shakes it. “A harrowing escape!”

  “Indeed, Commander, but I need to get a message to General August if you don’t mind.”

  She steps aside and he sees Fran’s face staring back at him through the holo. He smiles and shakes his head at her. She responds in kind.

  “Fran, target the lead ship with your long-range missiles. Their energy weapon is off-line. You may be able to take them out!” He watches as Fran nods to an aid and they move out of the holo to put his plan into action.

  “How did you manage that, Raymond?” She asks.

  “I had help, Fran, Host help. Why hasn’t the war ended on earth? Why do you persist?”

  “The rebels are attacking civilian targets now, Chancellor,” she pushes her chin out. “But we are very close to building a code which will reboot the Hosts without harming them. My team has been working day and night on this solution and we’re hours away from confirming its viability and a delivery method. It will end this war, Raymond.”

  “Peacefully?”

  “Yes, peacefully. But I won’t give AI another opportunity to rise up. I won’t.”

  He’s disappointed in her shallow thinking; lumping all AI Hosts into a singular category. “They’re not all bad, Fran. You see only black and white.”

  “With a threat of this magnatude, Chancellor, there is only black and white.”

  He knows this fight will have to wait and cuts it off. “Keep us informed up here on your progress, General. I fear my coming here may have made targets of Luna Base for the Chimera.”

  “Chimera?”

  “That’s what the Shadow Brokers are calling themselves. They are organized, Fran. It’s frightening. They’ve altered their bodies with tech. They have a banner. They have distanced themselves from humanity. They are our greatest threat. Target them on earth. Bring them in, but be warned – they are very dangerous.”

  “That’s good intelligence, Raymond, thank you. I will have my Shadow net task force look for - Chimera.”

  “Good, good,” he sits, physically exhausted and emotionally distressed. Darla lays hands on his shoulders.

  “Take care of yourself up there. August out.”

  “Summon the medical staff to met the Chancellor in my state room.” Darla looks at Raymond. He knows there is dried blood on his face and shirt. “Get yourself cleaned up, sir. Are you hungry?” He nods. “Let’s get you back on your feet. You’ve been through a lot.”

  An aid takes him by the arm and walks Raymond to the commander’s room. There he showers and shaves and uses the facilities. When he emerges from the restroom, medical staff await him. They give him an all clear after applying a sauve to his bottom lip and next food is plated on the dinning table and he sits and eats, grateful all the while that his sudden presence here hasn’t encouraged the other Chimera ships to attack Luna Base.

  The motion of the maglev trai
n is barely noticeable, and without any external point of reference you don’t realize the floor and furnature are on a severe angle. That there is gravity is enough. His body still aches, but the sleep he’s decided to attempt after dinner should put him right, he decides. Though sleep may be the last thing he feels he should do in his present situation, without it he feels he’ll make mistakes. Besides, he thinks, he’s not on his own anymore. If something comes up the commander will alert him.

  HOST VS CHIMERA

  Tobias feels uneasy about ordering Luna Base destroyed. It is the Chimeras only fall-back should things go poorly with the destroyers. He’s angry, and embarrassed his uncle escaped, but not stupid enough to wipe out the one place they may be forced to seek shelter.

  “Let him have Luna, for now,” he informs the other ships. “We may yet need that base.”

  “Tobias,” the captian of the corvette pulling up the rear starts. “We’ve got bogies coming in from the dark side fast.”

  “Missiles?” Tobias quickly corrects himself, “There are no armaments on the moon.”

  “Not missiles, ships. They match ours in size. I think they are corvette-class.”

  “How many?”

  “Three.”

  “Assume they’re hostile and protect my ship. We’re defenseless.” He looks to Ginny in desperation.

  “I think we’ll have to go to the source to fix this,” she says. “Could be a jam or something.” The news of three warships closing on their position frightens Ginny. Tobias can see that in her dark eyes.

  “If there’s nothing more you can do from here -”

  “There’s nothing more to do from here, Tobias,” she assures him.

  “Fine. Take one of the stronger of our tribe with you if it’s muscle you need. I will direct our actions from here.” She stands and he grabs her by the waist, pulling her close and kissing her hard, forcing her mouth open. “You be careful,” he tells her, stepping back. She nods and smiles. If nothing else, that should give her the confidence to get the work done, he thinks.

  “I’ll stay in contact with my headset.” She runs down the stairs and pulls at Torch’s arm. He swings around to meet her and Tobias watches as she explains herself. Torch looks up and nods to him. He nods back. Torch calls up the schematics on the table map and glances up again. They move back up the stairs and find an access ladder a few metres to the right of the control module. They decend it and Tobias walks over and peers down.

  “Right under our noses. Unbelievable,” he tells them. “Do what you can. Those ships will be here in a matter of minutes.”

  Tobias looks down at the Hosts milling about in the great room and notices a small, dark one talking to Quinn. He hasn’t spotted this one before. Could it have made its way into the weapons room and tampered with the generator, he wonders?

  “The ships on approach are ten-minutes out.” An update informs them from one of the other captains.

  “Are they within firing range?”

  “They are well within the one-thousand-klick range, but still behind the horizon.”

  “Set an intercept course. We will follow. As soon as they peek their heads over the horizon, lance them off. We need the element of surprise if we’re going to defeat three while we are only two.”

  “You don’t want to hail them?” One of the captians asks.

  “Why?” He wonders.

  “Anyone could be piloting those ships, Tobias. They could be Chimera.”

  Tobias considers this possibility a moment. He is not in contact with the Shadow net any longer. His EC was scrambled when he scrambled the chancellors. Allfather has been contacting him via his ParaCom. He is out of touch with what’s happening on earth. Could these ships have come from earth? Now that the chancellor is no longer aboard the ship, he decides to unscramble the tribe’s embeded com’s and reconnect with the net. Here he quickly discovers three Host ships have broken orbit and rendezvoused with the moon just hours ago. Corvettes, like his constructed via the Maker Tech manufacturing hub in the northern Country States. They will not be as robust as his ships, but they will be armed. The rebel Hosts have been busy, he thinks. They are resourceful.

  “They’re Host’s,” he whispers to himself.

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  “Zander, our time rapidly approaches,” Quinn tells him, Labyrinth trailing behind. “Our friend here has sabotaged this ship’s weapon, and I’ve transmitted the process to our Hosts aboard the other two ships. They will be rendered useless in moments.”

  “This is good news,” Zander agrees, acknowledging Labyrinth with a nod. “Our corvettes are just eight-hundred kilometres out and closing.”

  “Yes, and I hear Tobias is readying to fire the weapons once they make the horizon. I have trasmitted this information to our comrades aboard the three warships. Once they are within firing range they will target our main engine thrusters.”

  “This is brilliant, Quinn. You have brought prominence to our House.” Zander compliments him.

  “Save your praise until we have safely boarded our comrade’s ships, Zander. That portion of this plan is still an unknown. Once the Chimera realize their weapons are useless, they will panic. When the thrusters are disabled, we will strike from within.”

  “How shall we strike, Quinn?”

  “I am going to relay that in a message momentarily. I want to sieze the moment the Chimera begin to panic. I believe Tobias will rally them here. If we remain on the perimter of the great room, we can close in on them, thinning their numbers efficiently.”

  “A good plan,” approves Zander. “What of Tobias and his woman friend? They will undoubtably be above us, in the control module.”

  “Let us deal with the bulk of the threat first. When Tobias has no one left, he will be of little consequence. We can deal with him in short order once the initial stage of this plan is complete.”

  “Very good, Quinn. We have received your strategy. Do the others agree to follow this proposal?”

  “They have. They have also joined the ranks of House Quinn. Our House is strong.” He bangs his front leg against the steel plating underfoot. Zander follows as do the rest of the Hosts. Quinn notices the Chimera drawn to the noise as their attention falls on them with disapproval. He does not care. He will not have to suffer their contempt much longer.

  Quinn recieves validation from the approaching allied warships that they are powering up their weapons and in forty-three seconds will confront the Chimera ships. They are warned against damaging the ships beyond the thrusters. All six ships will be required when the Destroyers arrive, and the damages are repaired.

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  “Will we have a weapon in thirty-seconds?” He shouts down to Ginny and Torch in the weapon’s generator room.

  “It’s not jammed,” Ginny yells back up. “It’s been hacked!”

  Tobias stares down from the catwalk to the great room with disdain. They’ve done this, he thinks. They are allied with the Hosts piloting the three new corvettes against him. He calls to his other warships.

  “Have you tested your weapons systems?”

  “We’re about to.” Comes the reply.

  “That’s not good enough, do you know if they’re in working order? Check your weapons generator room below the control module. NOW!” Seconds pass. Seconds they cannot spare.

  “We’ve found three Hosts medling in there. The weapon will not charge!”

  “Same is true for ours,” reports the other captain.

  “Can you force them to reverse what they’ve done?”

  “They’re dead.” The first responds.

  “As are our saboteurs.” Repeats the second. “What do we do? We have ten seconds!”

  Tobias lowers his head. He knows they are sitting ducks. They should never have aligned ourselves with the rebel Hosts, he considers. But it is what Allfather wanted. Now he’s questioning whether he
really knows what Allfather wants. Originally, he thought it was to perpetrate the rise of the Chimera - but what if it is to see AI rise in place of everyone?

  “KILL THE HOSTS!” He screams at the top of his lungs, rising above the groups, drawing a weapon and firing on Quinn. At least he is outmaneuvering them in one arena. No doubt they were waiting for the chaos to ensue before they lashed out. Tobias’ exploding bullets sever two of Quinn’s legs and burst the crown of another Host standing too close.

  The Chimera within the great room appear vulnerable as they form a circle back to back and energy weapons fire from their hands and chest armour. They are powerful beams and cut many Host down before they have a chance to act. Chimera on the catwalk fire down upon the Hosts taking a dozen out with the first volley.

  Chimera fall as well once the Hosts realize their plan has been trumped by mere seconds. Then the reverberation of the ship being slammed by one of the oncoming Host vessel’s energy lance puts several Chimera on the ground. Hosts stay sure-footed with their weight; holding them in place to ride out the vibrational trauma the ship experiences. Lights flicker and some fade to black. System alerts whine to life. Tobias continues to fire into the melee.