We've Seen the Enemy

by Paul Dayton

  Now he watched two capital ships attacking his own home, WF192, and there was nothing he could do about it. It had been three capital ships, but somehow one had been destroyed by an errant singularity missile that had struck it instead of WF192. It didn’t matter though, his ship and over 700 people in it would be dead soon, judging by the carnage he was staring at. He thought about the missile that destroyed the alien capital ship and wondered at how one of the enemy’s own missiles could strike their own ship.

  “Comp, where’s the nearest singularity missile?”

  One of the red circles on Tactical started flashing. He quickly spun the ship around and applied full power to intercept.

  “This is an intercept course,” his ship comp warned. “This ship will be consumed by the singularity. At present velocity, you will intercept in 20 seconds.”

  Pierce ignored the voice and kept going.

  “Intercept in five.”

  Just before he intercepted, he quickly spun the ship around and applied full throttle towards the Capital ship nearest him, targeting its drive. He knew the singularity would follow and was happy to see his guess was right when the computer informed him, “Contact. Severe damage to sensors. Breach, cooling line pressure loss, aft thruster failure...” and the list went on as the singularity consumed his ship. Pierce noted the ‘General Engine Failure’ alarm, hoping that his fighter would survive in one piece as inertia brought him to his enemy.

  “Contact with Capital ship in 25...” but the computer didn’t complete the sentence. The screen was dead, as was the rest of the ship. He watched the Capital ship’s engines loom large, knowing its semi-transparent shields would do nothing against the little devil he carried in his bosom. “Helen, I love you. God, remember me,” he prayed. “One for all,” he yelled as his ship impacted against the alien shields, and the singularity hit its target.

  ***

  Nan’mtek watched the base tactical display as troop ships broke through the Earth defenses and landed ants and humans two kilometers away. She knew the same was happening at all the other bases. The count was now at 400 troop carriers destroyed by the defense lasers but over 350 other ones touching off and dropping their attack forces. At one hundred humans or two hundred ants per, she quickly calculated 35,000 humans or 70,000 ants. The bases would be overloaded as they attacked, and there was little they could do. Guard Bots had been positioned outside, but they would need recharging within an hour of heavy defense. The situation was hopeless.

  The attacking force had formed three attack lines surrounding Base Arctica with a line of ants in the front, and they steadily advanced as heavy weapon fire and missiles locked in on the Guard Bots.

  Within seconds, a cloud of fine dust raised up, obscuring visual. Nan’mtek quickly changed to infrared and watched as the fuzzy line of heat signatures continued to advance. Guard Bots were taking heavy damage, and the humans hadn’t even gotten close yet. As the line thinned out, new troop carriers landed and replaced those fallen.

  “The human line has advanced to one kilometer and the ants are at 500 meters,” the base computer informed Nan’mtek. The report wasn’t necessary, as she could clearly see they were gaining quickly. “All batteries fire,” she commanded. “Target troop carriers.”

  The very effective base defenses cut down those advancing, and several troop carriers had been damaged and were retreating, but incoming missiles quickly wiped out base defense batteries as Nan’mtek had guessed they would.

  Nun had approached her and said, “We need to evacuate.”

  Nan’mtek stood quietly, looking at their approach. “No. If we fail here, it is all lost.”

  He didn’t bother replying, and walked away quietly.

  “Ants at 200 meters.”

  “Comm to perimeter defense. Fire when you have visual or clear infrared.”

  Sporadic firing had started from bunkers surrounding the base, but even these were being attacked by heavy artillery from the Troop carriers.

  Nan’mtek saw the hoard near, and just as she was about to issue the retreat command, the Perimeter defense commander reported in. “Sir, ants are behaving unusually. Waiting on clear visual… They have stopped the advance. Same for the humans.”

  Nan’mtek got the Comp to close in on visual. All she could see at first was a dense cloud from the odd sugar/corundum mixture and the telltale heat signatures superimposed over visual, but after a moment it became clear that the ants were thrashing about in circles. The humans were doubled over, and some were retreating. She ordered one of the last functioning Guard Bots to go take a closer look, but before it moved, multiple explosions shook the ground, which she could feel eight hundred meters down where she was now.

  “Computer, are we being bombed?” It would make no sense, as the aliens would be bombing their own people, but she couldn’t think of anything else.

  “No. The Troop Carriers are crashing and exploding.”

  Nan’mtek couldn’t believe it. “Confirm – are all troop carriers crashing; have they lost control, or is this a result of our defense?”

  It took a moment for the base comp to acquire all the information needed to give a confirmed reply. “All targets have lost control and have now crashed. Base defense was responsible for destroying 40 % of these targets.”

  Nan’mtek clapped her hands as relief spread through her body. “Finley, you did it,” she said to herself. “You pulled off the impossible, and saved us.”

  She watched the Guard Bot come near one of the ants thrashing about, and she could clearly see it missing some of its legs. The powder had gotten into the joints, and the abrasion had caused millions of microscopic cuts, the legs literally falling off in mid stride. The ant’s abdomen was pumping erratically, but within seconds had stopped moving as a clear liquid started emanating from the spiracles, and the Guard-Bot registered no life signs.

  Nan’mtek activated the comm signal for the Guard-Bot. “Analyze abdomen. Specifically the spiracles.”

  “Analyzing. The spiracles are clogged with fluid.”

  “Those damn dolphins were right,” Nan’mtek said, laughing in glee. Corundum sliced them up, and when they breathed in the dust, the formaldehyde poisoned their breathing system. She next turned her attention to the humans, who had blood dripping from their noses and mouths from the irritation to their lungs. They were retreating to non-existent ships.

  “To all bases: Ground forces, Attack and Destroy! No survivors. Comm to General Hoyt, report!”

  After a few seconds, General Hoyt came on and said, “I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, Council member. Most of the alien capital ships have emergency vented their atmosphere and are DIW. The returning fighters have nowhere to go. Of those still active, we now outnumber them almost two to one. The Singularity Craft is severely damaged and also DIW and we’ll be sending in a team to scavenge the technology once we’ve cleaned up here.”

  “I’m very happy and relieved to hear that,” Nan’mtek said.

  A few seconds passed by before General Hoyt replied, “Council member, I’m sorry we doubted you. It appears that all of our gambles paid off. What of the Capital ships that jump out?”

  “They have the spores in their atmosphere. From our tests here, we’re sure the spores will infect their exoskeletons, and once the mold starts, they’ll be dead in a week.”

  “And the humans with them?”

  “When they return, they will also infect the Hive Queens. The humans will have no queen to wipe the minds of the new recruits. This generation will pass away, and if not, I’m sure Angela has plans for them.”

  Hoyt laughed, but after a few seconds he said, “I never thought we’d see that day we got rid of the ants. Too bad it came at such a price, Nan’mtek.”

  Nan’mtek thought about his words, about Keenan, Mike and John, and all the lives lost in the battle but didn’t reply.

  ‘Such is the price of liberty,’ she thought.

  EPILOGUE

&nbs
p; To the Victor Goes the Spoils

  The surviving Primes were all together on Orion, fifty-nine of them to be exact. Prime 22 looked at the group and wondered why there weren’t more there, but then she remembered. The War hadn’t... gone well. It seemed so long ago. And once they escaped, the ants started dying for some unknown reason, their exoskeletons turning to mush. But this didn’t matter either. They could be replaced. She looked around at the new infrastructure, the new construction, the queen busily laying eggs and hundreds of new humans being wiped clean and prepped for work. The program was going exceptionally well, considering their devastating loss. A captured human ship was in one of the bays, and humans were happily working on the cloak. Soon, new attack craft would fly the skies controlled by human drones’ superior minds, and now with an improved, stable cloak.

  ‘It’s only a matter of time,’ Prime thought. A new death ship was in the plans, but this time the technology would be unbeatable, and their base impenetrable. The ants had made a mistake, trying to capture the human world. ‘We will rebuild. The ants will rebuild. The humans will die. Their planet will die.’

  She looked over the now silent group and spied her new mate, Angelo. It didn’t matter that she was already pregnant with the fetus from the human once known as Finley. Angelo served other purposes and needs. It was interesting that he refused a designation number, but for some reason, that too was no longer important.

  “Angelo, come.”

  Angelo smiled and made his way forward. “Yes, Prime?”

  “Come with me to my chamber.”

  “I thought you would never ask,” Angelo said as they walked away.

  ***

  Angela smiled as she looked at the inert form of Prime 22, sitting on the recliner inside the remains of the Singularity Craft. Life support in this area still functioned, she made sure of that. According to her sensors, the power supporting Life Support would outlive Prime’s body. But it didn’t matter – although there were only two living primes remaining, she had hundreds of humans on the surviving Capital ships and hives to play with, and with her new computing powers, she could do it simultaneously.

  ‘Oh, the joy.’

  GLOSSARY & PRIMARY CHARACTERS

  Abadon (1) Human piloted weapon, the first with an experimental cloaking device, used to destroy the alien home world.

  Abadon (2) Galaxy class WF ship designated #401.

  AU Astronomical Unit equaling a distance of 150,000 kilometers.

  B Fomalhault-2 Alien planet with a second, distinct species of ants and source of the spores.

  Base Freedom USA, Also known as Base America One of the surviving bases left over from the alien attack, designed to defend Earth. All the bases are self sustaining, and each contain an A.I. persona that acts as an interface between humans and the main computer.

  C-Trail Also called ConTrail or Condensation Trail, the tell-tale white vapor clouds left behind as moisture from an atmospheric jet engine or crystals from a maneuvering rocket engine freeze or condense.

  CAH Crimes Against Humanity court.

  Capital Ship An alien craft equal in power and armament to the human WF ships.

  CBAssist Short for Cyber Battle Assist System. This bio-powered system was surgically embedded after a field fighter was deemed qualified for battle. Widely in use, especially among older soldiers, it acts independently to sustain and prolong a soldier’s life, but can be consciously manipulated to provide stimulants or other drugs as needed. In the last ten years, field fighters have the newer and far smaller Bionic Assist, or BAst system installed, a bionic unit that encloses the heart and is linked to numerous body systems, including the visual cortex. Aside from performing the same duties as the older units, the extensive internal memory can hold significant amounts of encrypted logs which can be easily accessed by diagnosticians on board WF ships.

  Charon Pluto’s moon, and home to Pluto Deep Space Base.

  Council Hall The Council Chamber Timothy’s Tribe had set up to take care of tribal issues.

  Crystanium An inert alloy primarily composed of titanium and chromolly, crystallized at the subatomic scale. Extremely light and strong, suitable for a variety of military and medical purposes

  Dark Matter Drive A Drive unit that manipulates Dark Matter.

  DB Disabler mines, an alien mine designed to short out all power on a craft but leave it intact and DIW for scavenging.

  DIA Dead In Action.

  Dietrich, Commander Commander of the Convoy that included the fateful World Federation ship 221. DIA.

  DIW Dead in Water, meaning an inactive and unresponsive spacecraft.

  Drop Team Referring to a group of soldiers involved in any mission that requires Drop, or Maxon Suits.

  ELPS Emergency Light Pressure Suit.

  Eris A planetoid in Earth’s solar system outside the orbit of Pluto.

  Gravplane An atmospheric craft with control surfaces and a gravitic drive.

  Helium-3 A helium isotope useful for nuclear fusion.

  Hollander Captain of WF221, promoted to Fleet Convoy Commander after the death of Commander Dietrich.

  Hoyt General.

  HUD Head’s Up Display.

  ILS Instrument Landing System, used to guide atmospheric craft to their landing sites.

  Jaclyn Reynolds A.K.A. Jackhammer Fighter pilot and Wing Captain. Specializing in hand-to-hand combat.

  Jackson-Briggs Maneuver Based on preliminary work done by Emeret Jackson and Elisabeth Briggs. They theorized that graviton beams generated from a number of precisely placed ships and focused on a convergence point could initiate an unstable flux in space time. Any craft traveling through this space would have its biological systems scrambled. Testing had been completed, but graviton leaks had seriously injured a number of researchers, and the experiments had been abandoned.

  Jason Macdonald A.K.A. Scratch Fighter pilot in Jaclyn Reynolds’ Wing.

  LaserLink Tight beam laser transmission allowing for private, speed-of-light communication.

  LIC Lost In Combat.

  Maxon Medium Application Exoskeleton. Designated Type 1-5. The most common one - designated Type 4 is Ultra Efficient Capacitor powered and capable of withstanding heavy caliber fire and micro missiles. All types augment any movement from the human inside, and its onboard computer allows it to operate independently. It interfaces with most Attack Craft, and the internal sensors switch over from suit operation to flight controls automatically when connected. Type 4 and up are Drop Capable, allowing someone to eject in space and successfully land on a planet or moon. Type 3 and up carry retro rockets. Type 4 carries no offensive weaponry, but has a small cargo hold permitting basic storage. Type 5 is the newest generation, Nuclear Battery powered, with both active and passive Stealth technology but can only withstand medium caliber fire. It has a full complement of micromissiles and a built in rapid fire fletchet gun on the left arm.

  Medi-Ship , Slang for Medical Emergency field Hospital Center. A heavily armored but fast and maneuverable craft capable of serving as a small field hospital when needed.

  Nancy McGibbons Chief repair Officer.

  NPO Near Planetary Orbit.

  NEO Near Earth Orbit.

  Safe-Sat Permanent automated emergency communication space beacons with hyper-link capabilities. They park for one week at each jump point as they follow their master ship’s route. This permits any friendly craft to find and communicate with the Safe-Sat master ship.

  Sallecker Captain.

  Sallecker Junior Captain of the S.S. Cristina, Stilleto Class and son of Captain Sallecker.

  SEPE Super Efficient Positron Emitter, part of an experiment involving ship drives conducted at Canada Base. Also used as a weapon.

  Shields (friendly) Used as defense on larger ships, requires constant power but is largely impregnable. They can however be physically distorted enough to render them useless.

  Shields (enemy) Not impregnable, and their strength varies according to the power applied or con
sumed.

  Singularity Craft The alien Super Capital ship.

  Targeting Display that focuses on specific enemy craft, their speed, trajectory, mass and armaments, and the weaponry of choice to be used against them.

  Tactical Display that shows all Craft and objects in the area, together with mission parameters, grid, craft trajectory and pilot craft status.

  World Alliance Council / The Council / WF

  1)World Federation, the political organization set up to ensure human survival before the Great War.

  2) Also used to designate any spacecraft large enough to require double shielding.

  Zero State Energy Energy that permeates all space in this universe. It is made available as particles of matter and antimatter collide after having ‘leaked’ through the Space-Time barrier. It is especially abundant near gravity wells such as suns and planets.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Paul Dayton is an adventurer, traveler and volunteer. When he's not writing or reading the works of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, you'll find him on a motorcycle, bike or at the top of a mountain.