by Scott Baron
“Believe me, none of us wants to do the EMP dance. I like my servos and actuators smoothly functioning, thank you very much,” he said with a grim little laugh as he walked back to relay the instructions to his compatriots.
“That fella’s got some personality, for a domestic cyborg, eh?”
Yeah, a real crack-up, Daisy replied, sitting back down and digging her hands back into the guts of the electronic bomb in front of her.
“Maybe they’re learning from Jonathan and his new soldier buddies,” Sarah suggested.
You never know. Stranger things have happened, I suppose.
“Daisy,” Cal interrupted. “I am receiving a transmission from Lieutenant Burke.”
“Tamara survived?” Daisy exclaimed. “Patch her through!”
Moments later, the gruff woman’s voice crackled over the speakers.
“I say again, are you reading me, Los Angeles?”
“Tamara, it’s Daisy. We read you. It’s great to hear your voice! How did you escape Colorado Springs? We thought we had lost you along with Joshua.”
“You almost did. Listen, this is urgent. You need to drop everything and check for infiltrators. Joshua was infected by one of Alma’s followers.”
“We know. He sent a burst transmission to Sid over the encrypted wireless link just before detonation. We searched for more of Alma’s people hiding among the others. There were none of her people mixed in with ours, but had there been, his warning might well have saved our asses.”
“You’re not alone. If it weren’t for Joshua’s quick thinking, we’d never have evacuated the base in time. As it stands, we still lost a lot of our people, and the EMP from the detonation wiped out all electronics for miles. I’m with the survivors now. We’ve managed to make it to the loop tube in Denver––”
“But that’s almost an eighty-mile hike,” Daisy said, amazed.
“Yes, it is, and not a pleasant one, either, though we did finally reach a powered-up section of the monorail system about fifty miles outside of Denver.”
“Okay, so you did twenty miles on foot. Still, that’s a helluva trek.”
“Yep. And after a seriously fucking creepy hike through Denver, we’re at our wrecked loop tube pods.”
“You saw the bears, then.”
“Yeah. Any idea what the hell could have done that?”
“Not a clue. George and I boogied the hell out of there before we found out.”
“Same as us. We’re safely down in the loop tube at the crash site.”
“Excellent.”
“Yeah. Only one problem. The friggin’ rear pod is gone.”
“We took it on the way back.”
I know.
“Shit. Sorry about that, Tamara. I disconnected it from the wrecked one when we made the trip back to LA.”
“Figures,” the metal-armed woman grumbled. “First the whole mission is scrapped, then we get stuck in freakin’ Denver. It just gets worse and worse,” she griped.
“She doesn’t know, yet.”
Of course. She’s been cut off from all comms for, what? A couple of days, now.
“At least you get to be the bearer of good news for a change,” Sarah said.
“Tamara, the mission is still on,” Daisy informed her.
“What? How? We don’t have missiles, Joshua is dead––”
“We don’t need missiles. Teams have taken up positions in Sydney, New York, and Tokyo. They’re going to breach the buildings and take down the communications networks. When they do, the West Coast team is going to hit the San Francisco facility.”
“That’s suicide, Daisy.”
“Not with the trick we’ve got up our sleeve.”
“Oh?”
“My Chithiid contact. He somehow managed to convince the staff in those facilities to join the cause. They’re going to divert scans and let our teams in. The Ra’az won’t even know what hit ‘em until it’s too late.”
Tamara paused a moment, digesting the good news.
“Well, all right, then! We’re back in the fight, and let me tell you, I’m hungry for some payback. Just one problem. We don’t have a working pod here.”
“Like I said, we took the last one for the return trip.”
“So send it back, dummy. I ain’t walking eleven hundred miles to LA.”
“With the damage it incurred, it’s moving much slower than usual. It’ll be hours before it reaches you, and even longer until it would get back to LA, once it’s fully loaded.”
“Then stop wasting time and send it!”
“I took the liberty of sending it out as soon as she called,” Cal said. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Glad for the assist, Cal,” she replied. “You hear that, Tamara? It’s already on its way. I don’t know if you’ll be back in time to join the main assault, though.”
“I’ll do my best. Try not to start the ass-kicking without me.”
“I’ll try. Just hurry back. But whatever happens, I hope to see you soon.”
Meanwhile, high above in the silence of the moon’s shadow, the entire contingent of humans and AIs were working feverishly to complete the readying of every ship they could salvage and prep for flight, and with all the weaponry––temporarily deactivated––that they could salvage.
Daisy’s plan was an audacious one, but Sid and the others had to agree with its tactical soundness.
“Joshua was right, you know,” Sid commented as Commander Mrazich and Barry hefted another conventional missile into a battered transport ship’s cargo hold.
“Oh?” the metal-jawed man grunted. “How so?”
“When she lets go of the doubts and concerns in her head and just acts on instinct, Daisy is quite a force to be reckoned with. Not quite the caliber of Joshua, of course, but nevertheless an extremely talented strategist.”
“It’s all that ‘thinking outside the box’ stuff, right, Fatima?” Mrazich said with a chuckle. “Looks like your months of torture paid off.”
The silver-haired woman smiled, serene and calm––while arming enough explosives to take out a city block.
“It wasn’t torture,” she replied with a little chuckle. “I like to think of it as training.”
“I’ve seen your idea of training,” he shot back with a smirk. “I think our definitions of torture may not quite be the same.”
Fatima flashed him an amused look, then turned her attentions back to her task.
In the adjacent hangar, Mal was overseeing the retrofit of passenger-worthy craft that could likely maintain pressure and life support if needed.
“Chu, would you please activate the magnetic release a moment? I have a slight glitch in the relay reading,” she said.
“Sure thing, Mal.”
He crawled under the ship and wedged his hand far into a tight access panel and flipped a switch.
“Okay, it’s hot. You reading the link okay?”
“Yes, I see where the fault was. Just a misconfiguration in the remote uplink. Thank you, Chu.”
“You got it,” he said as he slid out from under the craft.
The debris loaded into the ship along with the explosive devices had been another facet to Daisy’s plan. A decoy to be released as needed to mimic damage, while the craft remained fully functional and ready.
It had been an old tactic used by submariners in the depths of Earth’s oceans to make it seem they had been destroyed. Now that trick would be used far above the sea by an entirely different type of craft.
It had been a bit of a change to the original idea of using a few key AI craft as atmospheric transports while remote-controlled ones ran cover to confuse the Ra’az defenses. When things in Colorado Springs had gone to shit, Daisy had come up with a far different idea.
The lesser ships they had salvaged were so badly damaged they’d never fly properly again. But with all of the wrecks floating in the debris field, it was surprisingly feasible to salvage a massive amount of conventional ordinance with which to stuff
them to the gills.
“Flying bombs,” she had said. “But naturally, the handful of ships you were able to install an AI in will just fly cover for them. They’re not the brightest of things, but at least they’ll keep the ship in the air, and hopefully in the fight. As for the rest of them, the networked series of remotes will allow our guys to guide them in, while the actual transports come in under the cover of their kamikaze runs. Any questions?” she asked, then ended the transmission to wait for a reply.
“And the targets are the same?” was Sid’s only query––time-delayed, of course.
“They’ll rain down hell on the buildings and outlying support facilities. The Ra’az will undoubtedly launch their own ships, but the only remote ones that are atmosphere-worthy and engaging them in any manner in the sky will all be packed full of explosives. All we need is enough maneuverability for the aliens to be forced to move in a little closer for a better shot. They’re so used to air superiority, they’ll never expect an enemy who doesn’t try to flee. When they pull close and target-lock, any direct hit will cause a far greater blast than they’d expect. Hopefully the force should knock at least a few of their craft right out of the sky.”
The Dark Side team listened to her transmission and absorbed the plan. It was ballsy, entirely original, and kind of brilliant. Pretty much Daisy in a nutshell.
Captain Harkaway, in particular, seemed quite taken with the idea.
“And while Mal and Gus are flying them by remote after the comms stations are out of the picture, Donovan and I will use the distraction to our advantage. He and Bob will head for New York to grab Shelly, and I’ll take the Váli to Sydney to grab Finn’s team and fly them to join the main fight in San Francisco,” he said with a grin. “Flying hot runs again. I never thought I’d see the day.”
Fatima was glad to see the grizzled veteran smiling. It appeared there was still more than a little of that old combat pilot in his body, yet.
“Well, don’t get too distracted. You’ll have to monitor things in San Francisco real-time. The main attack forces will still need you on the West Coast to pull them out,” she said.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be there,” Harkaway replied, confidently.
“Yeah, and Bob and me, we’ve got New York covered,” Donovan said with a grin, “but Tokyo is going to be a tough one. We don’t have another ship or an AI capable of orchestrating a remote run.”
“The team from Tokyo will need to use the loop network to head to San Francisco after their assault. They’re on the Pacific, though it is still a long trip, even at top speed. By the time they get there, the fight may already be over,” Fatima noted.
“However, if San Francisco is under control, Mal should have no problem making the quick hop to pick them up if need be once the Váli retrieves the Sydney team at their rendezvous point. Any stragglers beyond that will just have to make their way back to the loop if they can.”
“They all know what to do,” Harkaway said. “They’ll give their teams a solid escape and evasion plan, should it come down to it. But let’s just hope they all make it to the rendezvous points. It’ll make all our lives that much easier.”
It was an audacious plan with a lot of moving parts, but as they worked feverishly in preparation, one and all of the Dark Side team felt more hopeful than they’d felt in a long, long time.
In the subterranean network below Los Angeles, Daisy was speaking Chithiid phrases and their key translations as fast as she could.
“With no prior basis to translate, we were in the dark,” Cal said.
“Glad to help you guys,” Daisy replied. “Now, pay attention to this next bit. It’s kind of crucial to nail the tonal variances.”
“Of course. Your Rosetta Stone for the Chithiid language has already provided a huge foundation for our collaborative mapping of their communications systems.”
“And being networked together again isn’t hurting any, either,” Daisy noted.
“Indeed. Though there are still many subtleties to their entirely alien language that we are finding difficult. Perhaps your friend will be able to help.”
“I’ll be sure to ask when I see him next.”
“That should be quite easy,” Cal replied, amusedly.
Moments later, the sound of marching footsteps became audible as they softly bounced off the tunnel walls. Craaxit and two dozen Chithiid rebels rounded a bend and walked into view.
For their size and numbers, the aliens were unsettlingly quiet as they moved. The humans and cyborgs alike were visibly uneasy, but Vincent got to his feet and walked right up to the alien with the crescent scar.
“Craaxit, right?” he said, holding out his hand. “Daisy, will you tell him––it is a him, right?”
“Yes, he’s male,” she said, suppressing a laugh.
“Tell him we appreciate his help and hope for victory for all races oppressed by the Ra’az.”
Daisy did as he asked, translating the message so he and all the Chithiid could hear.
Craaxit smiled and nodded as he clasped Vince’s outstretched hand. He then called over two of his team, who bore a large crate between them.
“What’s that?” Daisy asked as they placed it on the ground at Craaxit’s feet.
“A gift,” he replied, opening the lid, revealing a few dozen pulse rifles and small arms. “I regret we were unable to procure more, but these should help. And as Ra’az tech, they will not show on scans.”
Vince bent down and picked up a smooth composite pulse rifle, feeling the heft in his hands. “Cool,” he said with a silly grin.
“Won’t they notice these missing?” Daisy asked.
“Not until they do an inventory next month, but by then, we’ll either be dead or victorious.”
Daisy and Craaxit shared a morbid little laugh.
“I like the way you think,” she said. “Now, let’s get everyone geared up and up to speed on how these work. We leave for San Francisco in thirty minutes.”
Daisy turned to her people.
“We leave in a half hour. The Chithiid will walk any of you unfamiliar with these weapons through how they operate.”
The amassed force of three diverse races flowed together into one unit as they did their final mission prep, an unusual alliance with a common enemy.
True to her word, Daisy loaded her gear, slung her rifle and sword, then hustled the entire team into the loop pods exactly thirty minutes later.
“Okay, the system will be pressurized and powered up in less than five. Take a seat and hold on. The acceleration may feel uncomfortable for those of you who have never used one of these before.”
The humans shared a few nervous smiles and settled in. The Chithiid and cyborgs had no such issues.
Vince sat next to a grizzled Chithiid with bulging muscles. Obviously one of the labor caste among their people.
“What is he doing?” Sarah marveled as he pounded his fist on his palm three times, then opened it flat.
I don’t know, Daisy replied.
Vince took the Chithiid’s nearest hand and closed it into a fist, urging him to mimic the motion. The puzzled alien complied, and Vince joined him, only this time he kept his fist closed, placing the alien’s open hand over his. Again, they ran through the motions, and this time Vince opened his fingers in a V.
“Is he––?”
He actually is, Daisy said, thoroughly amazed and amused.
Vince pounded his fist three times again, making scissors with his fingers.
The Chithiid did the same, but with all four hands, showing two rocks, a scissors, and paper.
“No, that’s cheating!” Vince blurted with a smile.
The big alien let out a belly laugh and slapped him on the shoulder.
“Look at him, making friends wherever he goes.”
That’s my man, Daisy grinned.
“Your man?”
Yeah. My man, she quietly replied with a warm glow heating her chest.
The pod lurched as i
t began its supersonic trip. In just a few minutes they would quietly arrive under San Francisco. From there, things would get interesting.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Before the team departed for the research and testing facility in San Francisco, Craaxit had arranged for one of his compatriots who was staying in Los Angeles to act as a communications relay to spend a little time with Cal and help tutor the rapidly-learning AI, now that he was beginning to get the basics of Chithiid language.
“I am believe we understanding better,” Cal had said to the young alien helping him with his grammar.
“Almost. But the inflection changes the structure. Here, listen to me.”
“Wait, let me try again,” Cal replied, then repeated himself, this time with perfect pronunciation.
“Yes! You are a very fast learner.”
“I also have the assistance of several dozen additional AIs contributing to the assimilation of this new information. Between us, we should be able to communicate fluently within an hour or two.”
“That soon?”
“Oh, yes. Though we will need you to feed us pure vocabulary. That, unlike grammar and pronunciation, we cannot extrapolate from our current knowledge stores.”
Daisy had watched the alien and computer as they worked together, and marveled that just a few weeks prior, they would have been just as likely to engage in a battle of defensive cannons and dismantling teams as chatting amicably.
“Things certainly have changed since we got here, eh?” Sarah observed.
And for the better, for once, Daisy replied.
“Yeah, I guess mayhem does typically follow you.”
Hang on. What happened to ‘us’?
“Us? Hey, I’m just a ride-along. The real-world carnage? That’s all you, Sis.”
Daisy let out a soft chuckle.
That moment of levity had passed, and now they were all bundled together into a loop tube capsule, speeding toward San Francisco at Mach speeds. The unlikeliest of groups to save a planet, but there they were. Humans and cyborgs and aliens––oh my.
Willie––one of the domestic cyborgs who volunteered to join the mission––had downloaded the rudimentary beginnings of Cal’s Chithiid language translation protocol to better communicate during the mission, and was practicing with a solidly built alien.