by Paul Dayton
Jane quickly got up and started her report as a 3D visual displayed in the center of the room. They watched intensely, noting several interesting features on the alien craft as the vid showed Jane, Mike and John running out. Hollander recognized Finley and commented on it, but Nan’mtek asked them all to forget they saw him.
“What do you make of the room, Jane?” General Hoyt asked.
“The elaborate rack appears to be some sort of delivery or loading system. The black spheres don’t appear particularly dangerous, as they’re all sitting there on the steel rack. A good hit on the ship would disturb the racks enough that I could see one falling, so they’re obviously not too afraid of it. But the equipment is very elaborate and nothing I recognize.
“Oh, forgot to mention. They did call it the Singularity Room.”
Nan’mtek’s eyebrows raised as she considered the ramifications.
“Was the room for experiments?” Stasi said.
“We would be very surprised to see a super capital ship carrying out singularity experiments,” Nan’mtek said. “No, it is a weapon.”
Stasi thought for a moment. “You know, it could be.”
“Explain,” General Hoyt said.
“Sir, the ship is huge and the wrong shape from the shield generation standpoint alone. It’s inefficient at that size and ants are anal about efficiency. If it’s that size and shape, then my only conclusion is that they had to make it that way. The only thing I can guess, if in fact they refer to an actual singularity when they say ‘Singularity Room’, is that the ship is a huge Collider that is somehow generating singularities.”
“But what for?” Commander Hollander said. “We’ve created singularities but they only last less than a second.”
“That’s not true, Commander,” Nan’mtek said. “We’ve been able to sustain a singularity for over a minute, under certain conditions. Work on the assumption that they have found a way to somehow stabilize and store a singularity.”
“Well, then this room would be the receiving end, the place where they would either be sent to or stored.” Stasi looked at the balls once again and said, “Of course! Those balls. If they found a way to stabilize the singularity, then a sphere would be the perfect shape. Throw it at something and shut down the energy source locking it in place, and the singularity would escape and consume anything in its path.”
“Anything, such as shields?” the General asked.
“Yes. Everything. It would pass through like a hot knife through butter, but worse. The singularity’s mass would be enormous, and its gravitic force would suck it towards any near object with a lot of mass too, like a magnet attracted to iron. It would randomly propel itself through the object, never leaving it until the singularity collapsed or the object was consumed.”
“But why all those ports on the ship surface facing different directions?” Ruth asked.
“If I’m correct, they’re the tubes the singularity spheres would be ejected from. I’m guessing they can’t take severe directional shifting once the singularity is inside, and a ball would be loaded and shot out in the near direction of the target, or perhaps a number of them would be fired at the same time. Gravity would do the rest.”
“Or then,” Timothy added, “it would allow them to fire all the balls at the same time.” They looked at the dozens of tunnels apparent on the bottom of the disk and presumed the same amount would be on top. A chill worked its way down all their spines.
“My God,” General Hoyt said.
Nan’mtek was seeing this quickly get out of hand. “Any other observations?”
It took a moment for most to regain their composure. “I have one,” Timothy said. “If they are singularities, they would have huge mass. If they are released at the same time, the spheres must have some way of shielding this, at least for a bit. Otherwise, they would be attracted to each other and to the singularity ship itself. Actually, they probably couldn’t even be launched.”
Stasi nodded his head. “Excellent, Mr. Timothy. There’s always a spot for you and Ruth on my team, if you ever decide to change careers,” he said with a smile. “I consider it likely that the spheres stabilize, carry and shield most of the mass until it has passed a certain point, as Mr. Timothy says. We should plan on this assumption, that the worst is very possible.”
“Thank you, Mr. Stasi,” Nan’mtek said. “Please work closely with Captain Elroy Dickens on a countermeasure, if there is one. Let’s proceed to you, Timothy and Ruth. Report.”
Timothy still jarred by what he had heard, proceeded anyway, describing the dust they had started production on and the mould they had gathered and was now growing, together with Stasi’s report.
Nan’mtek listened carefully and replied, “Continue with the production of the dust as you call it, but it’s not the mold we want, it’s the spores. It will be weaponized, and every ship, from fighter to WF is to have every missile and every bullet coated with the spores.”
“But why? Why are these spores so important?” Commander Hollander said.
Nan’mtek smiled and said, “I can’t tell you.”
Hollander and Hoyt protested, but Ruth raised her hand in protest. “Council, we agreed on no more secrets. You also agreed, if memory serves me. You can’t do this.”
“Ruth, Command team, I would suggest we all concentrate on our assigned duties. Some things simply can’t be shared, and this issue is too important to consider out loud. Too much is at stake.”
General Hoyt was exasperated. Spending time bathing every bullet and missile with these spores was time taken away from other extremely important duties, but he didn’t say anything as he was sure the Council had already considered this. He knew they all had the same objective.
“Commander, General. How is the work going on the installations?” Nan’mtek asked as if reading their thoughts.
Hoyt looked at Hollander and replied, “Slightly behind schedule, but we’ve ramped up operations and will be ready before the target date, ten days from now.” The others were curious as to what these operations were but knew better than to ask.
“Good. In five days time, have the... sacrificial lambs jump in and power down. As enemy scouts come in to look around, continue with our average rate of success on them – eight out of ten are to be destroyed. That is all.”
‘Sacrificial,’ Hollander thought, mirroring Hoyt’s thoughts too. ‘How many humans will be sacrificed before this is all over?’ he wondered as they got up to leave.
“Oh, General, one more thing,” Nan’mtek said. “Commence bombing of all the earth bases five days from now. Tighten the net, allow no scouts in or out during the bombing. Tell the base leaders to expect the bombing and allow no human outside during or after.”
CHAPTER 41
The Sword is Mightier Then the Pen
Hoyt stood on the bridge of the newly christened S.S. Keenan, named so in honor of Keenan and his team’s destruction of the alien homeworld. It was also the twin to the S.S. Cristina Stilleto, now also in orbit around Earth. It was too heavily damaged to repair and would be used for what they had in mind.
It was certainly an odd choice of ship to be in for a General. He was planning to fight, and hadn’t expected to be on this type of craft, as pretty as she was. It was suggested for him by Council which irked Hoyt, although he had remained quiet. His role was to coordinate defense and make sure damage to their fleet was kept to a minimum.
Hollander sat on the bridge of the S.S. Abadon, named in honour of the original craft used to destroy the alien homeworld, but unlike it in every way. This was the latest generation Galaxy class destroyer, its construction kept secret until now. Its displacement was almost the same as the alien super capital ship they had received views of, and was technically named WF401. Its shape was vastly different from the alien ship and its weaponry certainly more impressive to the observer, and its four hangars allowed for an extensive array of fighter craft.
At the moment, he was bored and he knew Hoyt was
bored too, as eager for action as a thoroughbred was before the gates opened.
Two days had passed since the WF ships had orbited and powered down, and nothing happened. Everyone was on edge as hundreds of volunteers in Maxon suits kept up a steady rotation of apparent repairs to the WF ships in orbit, hoping the trap would not be seen by the enemy.
“Sir, blip just outside of Eris orbit,” Lt. Simones on Tactical said.
“Correction, Sir, we have a confirmed inbound jump of five... ten...” there was a pause as Simones waited for the new data, while Hollander quickly contacted Hoyt and said, “The fun begins.”
“Sir, we have confirmed three hundred and thirty four inbound jumps, counting primary Class A vessels. Class B and Class C vessels bring the tally up to six-hundred fifty nine. They are stationary just outside of Eris orbit.”
Hollander’s thoughts turned inward in dismay. He knew Hoyt must be feeling the same way, as they obviously had underestimated the size of the alien fleet.
“Confirmation on the Singularity Craft?”
“None, Sir.” He knew it had been a long shot, the dark, segmented surfaces were obviously designed to make this ship almost as invisible to radar as the cloak was on their own ships. But the tactical computers had been given the appropriate algorithms to clue in to its whereabouts because of the support vessels that surround every capital ship. The movement pattern of the group, together with the significantly less background radiation in the area should indicate its position.
“Sir, another group of 62 ships have just jumped in diametrically opposite.” Hollander’s face went white with the news. “Pluto Deep Space Base has confirmed it is under attack.”
“Alert China Lunar. Tell it to get the weapon ready.”
“Yes, Sir. Pluto says it has destroyed two alien Destroyers and one support ship, but that it has initiated its self-destruct sequence. We’re also getting confirmation with a 65% probability that a twelve convoy group fits the description of the Singularity Craft and its collective.”
“Very well. Target group, full speed.” The Abadon quickly accelerated despite its huge mass as the two clusters of alien ships made their way to Earth.
“Council has rescinded Pluto’s self destruct decision,” Simones added.
Hollander’s eyes raised at that but he remained quiet.
***
The Council members looked at the viewscreen in dread. It was obvious that they had miscalculated, and it was too late to do anything about it. What really irked Nan’mtek was the fact the aliens weren’t trying to hide anything. They were confident, and she knew this confidence didn’t come out of arrogance. Ants didn’t feel arrogance, and by all appearances, their humans didn’t either. This confidence came from a cold, calculated sureness, and the realization of this had Nan’mtek in a cold sweat.
They were going to be in a fight for their lives, and each one knew it as they gambled everything they had on unproven technologies and hopes and dreams. Unusual dissension had arisen among the Council members, and Nan’mtek now felt that she should have considered their arguments in more depth. ‘Well, too late now,’ she muttered to herself, as she watched the increasing number of alien attack craft make their way towards Earth.
***
Sallecker had quickly received his new Command, a Galaxy class WF ship of his own, unimaginatively designated WF192. One of the older ships in the fleet, it had recently lost its Captain to cancer and the First Officer, a Mr. Arnold Decree, wasn’t quite up to the task of taking command yet. Sallecker was happy to see the First Officer accept his new Captain, and although he sensed disappointment, Sallecker felt confident it wouldn’t affect Decree’s performance.
He watched with dread as almost 700 ships came towards Earth. ‘One for every year we’ve been in this damn war,’ he thought to himself.
The red enemy triangles on tactical covered the three dimensional screen, confusing everyone except Targeting, the computer automatically sorting from most important to least important. Their green ‘friendly’ triangles were far less in number, and Sallecker wondered how it was that this had been miscalculated so badly. About the only thing in his favor was the fact that Dickens hadn’t had time to transfer over to his new assignment. Speaking to him earlier about it, Dickens laughed and said, “This bucket of bolts needs far more help than the Abadon anyway,” revealing where his Top Secret assignment was supposed to be.
Now on the bridge with Dickens in engineering working on a project, Sallecker said, “Steady men. We’re dead until the two hundred thousand kilometer mark.” WF192 sat in Low Earth Orbit, waiting to spring what had been a trap but was now rapidly appearing to be a final suicidal fight.
They watched as the alien fleet approached Earth. Sallecker was biting at the bit to make the announcement, knowing 200,000 kilometers left them with barely enough time. He waited until the last second and yelled the order, “POWER UP! ALL HANDS, COMBAT STATUS!”
He knew that every single WF ship in orbit was ordering the exact same thing. Three whole minutes were needed to spool up the generators that would trip the main power supply, and Sallecker watched the coming alien fleet closely. All torpedo tubes had been readied and all fighter craft manned.
“Powered up, Sir!” Tactical replied.
“Good. Wait for confirmation.”
Sallecker confirmed all WF ships were ready, and he yelled, “Jump!”
Inputted jump coordinates had already been worked out beforehand, and each ship jumped into their designated spot, a computer assigned area equidistant from the next WF ship and covering each segment of a near perfect sphere 100,000 kilometers in diameter. Although nobody knew where the enemy would be coming from, they wouldn’t expect this. Council had warned of a possible collision, with a jumped craft trying to occupy the same space an alien fighter happened to be in, but Command decided to take the risk.
“Report!” Sallecker yelled once the jump was completed.
“Numbers coming in,” Tactical said. All ships except one made it through. The Destroyer S.S. Armada jumped into an alien Cap ship, Sir.”
Sallecker looked at the display that showed enemy locations, now between them and Earth.
“Let’s pick us a cap ship, Tactical. Comm to fighters, launch and engage at will. Now’s the time to raise your kill count!”
A cheer came up from the pilots as they launched their ships, immediately engaging enemies.
Jack and Scratch also launched, but from the newly refurbished WF221. Jack was in the Klinger, while Scratch piloted the new Ventury Class fighter bomber, a mid level bomber with a full complement of missiles and a single torpedo. He immediately got to work on the cap ship shields, trying hard to open a spot a torpedo could get through.
Jack’s ship picked the first target, knowing full well that her barrier would allow her penetration through two cap ships at most before she needed refueling. She made her way to the nearest Capital ship, and the Klinger neatly went through the shield as if it didn’t exist and punched its way through the hull, traversing the cap ship from one end to the other, leaving a surprisingly neat hole in its wake.
“One Cap ship down, going on number two!”
Before she could make it though, two enemy fighters got on her tail. She tried to shake them, knowing she needed the full amount of energy to penetrate the second Cap ship but they didn’t let go. Powering up her weapons, she destroyed both before they could fire on her.
“Power levels at forty percent, Jack. You cannot attack another capital ship,” the Klinger told her.
***
Hoyt had been watching the action and quickly noticed a cordon of Capital ships and carriers break through and towards Low Earth Orbit. Each WF was occupied with at least two capital ships, and they were taking on heavy fire. Four WF ships had already been destroyed, and Hoyt could clearly see at least twelve more in serious trouble.
“Sir, reports are coming in of the possible convoy we’re to look out for,” Friedman, on Tactical warned. “Ru
nning logistics… Seems it is the one. Sector 253.”
Hoyt came over and read the data clip on Tactical. “Who do we have there?”
“Hollander, Sir. He says he has the Singularity Craft.”
“Let’s hope this is right. Comm to Hollander. Attack at will and keep me posted.”
***
Hollander looked at his screen. Sure enough, the stars were blacking out for a split second before they reappeared. Support craft appeared to occupy the whole space, but once they analyzed the video feed, it seemed as though they were actually being projected onto the space.
“Enough. If she’s there, we’ll soon know. If not, we can always take advantage of the others. Let’s see what this Galaxy class ship can do. Engage enemy, manually target the area we presume the ship to be. All weapons fire!”
Sure enough, within seconds a shield generated where empty space had appeared to be earlier. The support craft attacked, but Hollander had already given the command to engage and the superior firepower of WF401 kept them at bay. “Mark the location of Singularity Craft and notify Command. We will concentrate our firepower on the support craft, but I want second by second laser confirmation on the location of the primary craft.” Hollander knew it would be very difficult to penetrate the shields of a craft this size.
“Sir, the Singularity Craft has accelerated. It’s heading for the nearest group of WF ships.”
“Target nearest support ship.” At least he would wipe out the others one by one as they followed this alien monstrosity, until another ship was available to help destroy the craft, something that might never happen considering the odds.
They watched as the Tactical comp automatically concentrated the WF’s firepower on the support ships. Within minutes, two had been destroyed despite the best efforts of the alien fighters. The Galaxy class shields were impressive and not easily defeated, and Hollander was using them to the max.
“Sir, WF217 is requesting assistance.”
Hollander knew the ship, an older Russian WF craft now surrounded by alien attack vessels. They had been concentrating fire on its mid-section as per standard attack tactics.