Conflict!

by Dale Moorhouse

  “After watching how difficult the globes are to kill, I find myself agreeing. I’ll have to work with Ishmael to see what mods need to be made to our bombers to accommodate Cracker-1s.”

  ◆◆◆

  Jase

  We wrapped up our SAR efforts a couple of cycles later and decided to send our carriers back to Terra with their escorts while the two Leopards accompanied by Destiny and Thermopylae were going to do a little scouting and see if there are any more swarms closer to Terra that we hadn’t discovered yet. I also sent a message back to Johnny, asking him to detail more scout missions around Terra out to two light-kilocycles or so. Two element teams of Swift Fangs should work nicely, and they are all equipped with FTL communicators now.

  We sifted through the wreckage of the Plague ships and other than finding a few intact drones there was nothing useful in all that dross. As to doctrine, the battle we just went through is not sustainable. Our casualties to kill ratio is too high, and we would lose the ability to kill swarms long before the Plague ran out of ships.

  We were building thousands of ships of various types every cycle and every twenty-five cycles we graduated thousands of pilots to fly those ships, but sooner or later we were going to run out of bodies. We were experimenting with limited AIs, but so far Rusty was the only one who had been successful in making an AI smart enough to win a dogfight and dumb enough to mindlessly follow orders, so we didn’t wind up with the same ending as the squids. Rusty has gotten his old self-confidence back after his brush with a Plague AI that tried to take over his implant, but he had also learned to temper his fear with reasoned caution.

  ◆◆◆

  We were flying an increasing spiral search pattern north of the galactic plane accompanied by Ginger and her crew in Tiger. Blue and Chocolate were running a similar pattern to the South. We scooted for a lightyear then dropped out of FTL, ran passive probes for a few decas then jumped another lightyear. We had been doing this for three cycles now and when we dropped out of FTL the second time this cycle our shields went to 100 per cent, and warning klaxons sounded throughout Thermopylae. I hit the bridge repeater control on my console and felt the ship swerve to port and dive at the same time. Our inertia compensators work pretty well but could lag slightly behind when compound manoeuvres were performed.

  Dead-centre on my screen was a huge, dark shape surrounded by hundreds of small ships about the size of our Swift Fangs. As my screen cleared and the image processor AI kicked in, I saw the dark shape resolve to the familiar shape of a Plague globe ship. The ships surrounding it were the Swift Fang clones we had become familiar with. I commed the bridge to ask Missy to advise Ginger and let her know what we were up against, but she had already done so. It was a good thing we had Tiger trailing us by a half light-deca. Ginger had already ordered the launch of her flight of bombers, they were loaded with Cracker-2s and should be with us in ticks.

  I looked at our holographic tactical display and saw the bombers materialize around us. As I watched, the globe ship decelerated and came to a relative stop and held position two thousand kilometres away. As we moved forward, it started to back up at the same speed. Two of the clone ships didn’t reverse, and the distance between us slowly narrowed.

  Missy asked the crew member at the communications console if there was any radio chatter and the operator replied no. The two clone ships came to a stop relative to us at two-hundred kilometres. One of them rolled, so its belly is exposed to us, and Bands of light in familiar patterns began to play across the hull. If I was reading this right, I was seeing the squid language. I hit the switch that would summon a Squid damage control party, and we were joined on the bridge by a trio of familiar characters. It seemed Livid, and its two companions, Blue Point and Long Arm had accompanied us on our mission and never even let us know. I didn’t blame them for keeping a low profile, but I was glad they were along.

  “We will go over why you are aboard my ship without letting me know later,” I said, “in the meantime what are they saying? It looks like an archaic form of Squidish, but I don’t have it in my translator, so I only understand a few words here and there.”

  “I’m not up on my archaic forms either Young Jase, but it is Long Arm’s hobby. What are they saying, Long Arm?”

  “They wish to surrender, Livid. If they are to be believed, a small group of Squids have managed to subvert the drones on this vessel, and they have taken control of it and the small ships we see surrounding it. They are asking our assistance in subduing a few holdouts they haven’t been able to neutralize. The holdouts are confined to one of the secondary propulsion control stations. The holdouts can’t get out, but the Squids aboard can’t get in either.

  “As a token of good faith they are willing to allow us to board either at a lock or one of the large hangars and we can land our ships inside. My recommendation is the latter option. With this ship, we could blast our way out much more easily than we could blast our way in if you get my meaning, Sers.”

  I puzzled on this for a few moments, and as I stood there trying to weigh the options, Centurion McFarrel strode onto the bridge and came to attention in front of Missy. “What would be your pleasure, Ma’am?”

  “We are going to board that vessel, and we are going to do it from inside.” She quickly caught Ewan up on the scenario as reported by Long Arm and added, “It would be nice to have the warriors from Tiger in on this too. That is one huge ship, and I don’t think your Century will be enough.”

  “I took the liberty of contacting Tuxedo, and he is on his way with three more Centuries, and he has one warrior in each squad equipped with those giant shotguns of his. I think that should be enough if we are on the inside before they are needed.”

  Missy turned to me and asked, “Any thoughts, Ser?”

  “No, just be careful and keep your guard up at all times. Let’s board this thing and see what happens.”

  I saw Long Arm move to a screen and it was soon looking at another Squid, conversing rapidly. He turned and said, “Commander, It is opening the main hangar now and asks us to enter and proceed to the back of the hangar where you will be closest to the airlocks and lifts that will take you to the bridge. It will have a Squid waiting to escort you and your warriors wherever you need to go in the ship.”

  As I watched the main screen, a large portion of the globe ship dilated open, and our pilot started to bring us inside. As we entered the lock, we were caught in a tractor beam that gently moved us deeper into the hangar then turned us around, so our bow was facing the still open hatch and deposited us in a cradle that conformed to our hull shape and held us in place.

  Long Arm reported, “Sers we are inside, and we are advised to use caution in the hangar and the ship. The hangar will remain in vacuum, and artificial gravity is off, so gravity here is weak. The ship has atmosphere, but it alternates between methane and an oxygen/nitrogen mix with many areas in vacuum. Ship-suits or armour will be the order of the day.”

  I left Missy aboard Thermopylae with orders to blast out of the hangar on her fusion torches if things went pear-shaped. She shuddered at that, and I told her, “I would rather we die in an exploding ship than put any of my people or myself in the position of the two warriors we brought back from the Proxima raid.” She looked at me with saucer eyes and gulped when she said, “I understand Ser. It will be as you order—and Ser? Please don’t let things get that bad, I don’t want to be the one making that call on Elaine.”

  Edgar stayed with Elaine on Mother of Glory, but Serena was with me and had her new armour with her. “After I step into my armour, I will need you to seal me up,” she said over her implant.

  I replied, “Sure thing, sweetheart. Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “This kind of action is the whole reason I had the armour made. I want to be there to watch your back and make sure you get back safely to our family. Besides, I would hate to tell the armourers who so patiently worked it and got it just right that it was all just an exercise.”


  I chuckled and said, “Point.”

  I held the two edges of her armour close together, and the nanite closure took it from there, sealing the edges in an almost undetectable seam. The helmet deployed when she uttered a short, sharp bark and she told me, “The commands to seal and unseal the helmet are sounds unlikely to be uttered by anyone or anything except another lynx or cat. You and Elaine, as well as a few chosen others, have an over-ride command in the event I’m incapacitated. You will find it in your implant directory under my profile. I hope you never have to use it.”

  We exited Thermopylae and headed for the lone Squid we saw standing by the hatch leading into the massive ship. I looked around as we went and saw hundreds of ships ranging from clones of our Swift Fangs to the huge harvester ships that double as cruisers for the Plague. When I looked up towards the hatch, we entered the hangar through it appeared as a small point of light. When I activated my rangefinder, the readout told me it was hundreds of kilometres away. I kept forgetting the globes are only a little smaller than Terra’s moon.

  14

  THE TRIP TO THE BRIDGE took almost twenty-five centas in a lift car that seemed able to travel sideways as well as up and down. The sheer mass of this vessel imparted a small amount of gravity of its own which decreased noticeably as we moved closer to the centre of the ship. I asked Long Arm to ask the squid escort to tell us were in the ship the bridge located and the reply he got supported my theory—the bridge is located dead-centre.

  Our escort went on to explain how vessels this size are constructed. Each time a swarm came upon a planet with an iron core within a specific size range, it was tested for solidity. Most often the core was molten but every now and again an iron cored planet was found with a solid core. The planet was carefully “skinned” of all matter above the core which was sorted, and anything usable in the ship’s construction saved.

  Specially designed and programmed drones would be set to work hollowing out the Iron core, and the tailings were used to make the hull-metal matrix from which the superstructure surrounding the core that contained factories, hangars and storage for raw materials were built. The ships were built up layer by layer until the desired size was reached. When a trio of ships had been constructed, a new swarm was created and the trio with its swarm sent on its mission of destruction.

  When we finally got to the bridge, we were met by several Squids without ship-suits, and a quick scan of my environment sensors confirmed we were in a methane atmosphere and it was extremely cold. Several drones were standing around on the bridge deck but none of them moved and when Long Arm asked he was told that all of the drones had been neutralized except the hold-outs in a secondary propulsion control room located not far from the hatch we entered to get to the lift. The leader of the Squids was a dull red in colour, and I understood that to be an expression of repentance. When I confirmed my observation with Long Arm, he responded, “Yes, young Jase, that is one of the things that hasn’t changed.”

  All of the Squids on the deck lower their bodies so their heads are resting on the floor and all displayed the dull red colour marked with a warm yellow that indicated apology and a desire to put things right. The Squid leader held a brief conversation with Long Arm who turned to me. “It says it is willing to die now to pay for its transgressions but wishes to spare its subordinates who are willing to pledge themselves to our leader.

  “When I explained to it that you are our leader, it expressed a desire to speak with you first before it terminated itself. It was puzzled how a creature such as yourself could ascend to leadership over a master race such as ours, and I explained that there were no master races and that several species had banded together to form the Confederation to fight and eliminate the machines trying to destroy us. It asked if you would converse directly with it.”

  I’d had the sense to turn the language mapping feature of my implant on when the first contact was made and requested all of the warriors accompanying me do the same. I checked my translator and saw it had mapped the archaic Squidish to the current Squid language and had 92 per cent confidence in its translation. I told Long Arm, “I think I can handle it now. If I make any obvious mistakes, please intervene and correct them.”

  I addressed the prostrated squid, “Please stand up, in fact, I want all of you to stand up. I am not the sort of leader who demands bowing and scraping.”

  When the squids were all standing again, I asked them to form up close together where I could see them all and they quickly complied. “My first question to you is how many hold-outs are there? My second is, are you sure? Finally, how did they succeed in evading whatever you did to subdue the rest of the drones?”

  The leader moved forward slightly. “They are all of the leader class and have additional cores preventing them from being controlled in the same manner as the common class. There are hashhashhash of them, and they are all confined in the one location, I am sure of the number.”

  I looked at Long Arm and asked, “Did you get the number, or did you just hear a garbled response as I did?”

  Long Arm asked the leader to repeat the number, and the same sound came from my implant. “Have the leader count from one to one hundred slowly so I can see if the translator can make sense of it.”

  It only took a count to twenty when I tumbled to the problem, the leader was counting in hexadecimal. I had him stop and programmed the translator to recognize hex then played back the leader’s report on the number of hold-out drones. The number translated to nine hundred and twenty.

  “How big is the space they are in,” I asked.

  The leader responded, “It is as large as this space and has two levels. It also has an attached repair facility.”

  I quickly commed Centurion McFarrel, who was waiting in the hangar with his Century. “We have nine hundred and twenty hostiles holed up in a set of compartments not far from your position. I don’t know how well contained they are or what capability they have. One of the rooms they control is a repair facility of unknown capacity. It is possible they can fabricate weapons and may also be able to break out if they choose. I will try to get you a guide to direct you there.

  “Do you have an ETA for Tuxedo and his Centuries?”

  “Yes, sir, he and his force are hovering above us about a half klick up and next to the harvester closest to Thermopylae.”

  I turned to the Squid leader and asked, “Are you sure the hold-outs are still contained? Do you have them under surveillance?”

  “They can be viewed on that screen,” it said, pointing to a large monitor near me. When I looked at the monitor, I could see a room, but there were no drones visible. I looked at the monitor controls and saw a joy-stick which, when I move it, changed the view the camera is sending. I quickly panned around the room and saw a few drones moving around in the background but nowhere near the number I expected.

  “I would like to know if there are more cameras available showing more of the spaces the drones are supposedly in. Come over here and show me.”

  The leader moved to the monitor and punched a few keys and then moved the joystick around. “This is the second floor, and I see only a few drones here.” It hit a few more keys and what appeared a repair shop was displayed and I could see hundreds of drones assembling what appear to be disruptors.

  “Do you have any of your people close to the entry that can guide my warriors to the spaces you are showing me here? If so, please have it guide them to the correct location immediately.”

  I decided to call the leader “Boss” right now and informed it of the label I was applying. “So what is the story here, Boss? Do you have anyone who can guide my people where they need to be?”

  “Yes, the individual who led you here should be there momentarily. It will guide your forces to the active drones.”

  A few ticks later I got a comm from Tuxedo telling me he saw a Squid approaching McFarrel and his Century was moving about a hundred meters towards a protruding structure almost under his hovering warri
ors. “Be careful Tux, there are close to a thousand of them in there, and they’re snapping out disruptors like they’re polaroids. There doesn’t seem to be any activity suggesting a breakout, but I would expect an attempt any moment. No heroics and no prisoners if trying to take them puts you or your people in danger.”

  “I copy, Jase. Thanks for the heads-up. I have Ewan on the line with me, and he is deploying around the structure. From what I can see, it looks like the Plague can go through the walls, ceiling or floor, and if you have eyes on them, it will help to know which they choose.”

  “Copy that Tux. Long Arm and Boss are switching from room to room every few ticks. Boss assures me that the decks are next to impossible to burn, but the walls on the interior side of the structure are fairly thin. It expects the breakout to be there. The Squid sent to guide Ewan will take you there if you would cover it.”

  “Good idea, Jase. I’m leaving one of my Centuries here to back up Ewan and will lead the rest to cover the interior walls.”

  Two centas later I got another comm from Tuxedo. He and his two Centuries were at the interior walls. They were in a storage area with plenty of cover and have set up sensors on the walls to listen for any signs of activity, but so far it was a dry hole.

  “Well, keep watching and listening, and I’ll keep looking in on them and try to give you some warning.”

  Nearly a deca went by, and there was still no activity. I managed a count to verify the numbers, there are indeed nine-hundred and twenty drones in the three spaces we were observing. The drones must know they were being watched, but either they didn’t care, or they wanted us to watch because they have some sort of action in mind that required us to be aware of their movements. Then I saw a little flicker of motion by the wall where we suspect they would try to break through. At first, I thought it was an artefact on the screen, but it soon resolved itself to show it as a bright spot and was getting brighter.