OMEGA Hostile

by Stephen Arseneault

  OMEGA

  Hostile

  By: Stephen Arseneault

  "You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life."

  Sir Winston Churchill

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  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law, or in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright 2015 Stephen Arseneault. All Rights Reserved

  Table of Contents

  OMEGA 5 Hostile

  Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

  Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

  Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9

  Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12

  Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

  Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18

  Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21

  Chapter 22 Chapter 23 What's Next

  Chapter 1

  * * *

  The Odentas were welcoming to our fleet of Talisan refugees. Against our wishes, they had cloned the smart AI several times and added twenty thousand autobots to their ranks. A quarter of the bots were tasked with building more bots while the remaining machines were put to use rebuilding much of what had been lost in the fight with the Grotus.

  Garrett was the first to speak up. "This is exactly what I didn't want to have happen. A mentality where one is good so two must be twice as good. We need to put a stop to this before it gets completely out of hand, which in my opinion, has already happened."

  Go replied, "I see this as a great opportunity. Just think what a factory with a million of those bots, or five million could do. Hand them a design. Point at the resources that need to be gathered or mined, and then just sit back and watch as a full ship is assembled, possibly in days."

  Garrett shook his head. "Or they build an army, kick our ass, and it's over."

  Go turned to face me. "We could use them to build our own battleships. Or even enough transports to go back and get everyone off of Doomlight."

  I looked at Jack. "We are in need of a fleet. I would be inclined to build fighting ships before transports. Any thoughts?"

  Jack replied, "Fighting ships would have to come first."

  I placed my hand on Garrett's shoulder. "I think they're right. We need to look at these AIs as tools. I also agree we don't want them to get out of control. So we'll put you in charge of monitoring them. We'll give you a kill switch should something happen where they become a threat instead of an asset. Does that sound like a function you would want control over?"

  Garrett replied immediately. "Since it looks like their expanded use has already been decided, I'll gladly take on that role. But let me say this right now: the moment I see anything suspicious, anything at all, I will shut them down with a vengeance."

  Garrett turned to Go. "Would you care to assist me in getting a kill switch set up? I think you are the one to best see that a good implementation is put in place, something with fail-safes."

  Go replied, "I could do that. And thank you for placing your trust in me."

  Garrett let out a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, trust, just know that I'm also planning to have a half dozen of the Talisan engineers looking over your shoulder. And I want the switch set up so that me, you, Knog, or Jack can activate it from our arm pads, or from the consoles in the Garmon and the Jess. If we do this, it needs to work as a complete kill, not just some temporary shutdown."

  Go looked at me for approval. I nodded.

  Go pursed his lips and replied to Garrett. "OK, let's go get it done."

  Jack glanced up at a display showing the current set of autobots at work. "You might want to inform the Odentas about your plans."

  I shook my head, "They don't need to know about the kill switch. But, I will inform them about our plans to construct a fleet. I believe they will be thrilled to be involved in that in every way. They still have to be reeling from all that has happened here in the last year. Going from a peaceful, world-bound society to a conspirator in a war that spans galaxies has to be a shock. Their lives will never be the same."

  I met with the Chancellor of the Odentas, Marun Iklause. He was tall for an Odenta, nearly equaling my height. His gangly face and long stride set him apart from the others.

  As we walked on a high catwalk, stretched between two buildings of their new capital city, Marun talked. "I believe our interaction with both the Grunta and the Talisan to be beneficial. We may have only just begun our ventures into space as a species, but we are realists. If there are others out there who would come here and cause us harm, we must be fully prepared to defend ourselves. This Grotus threat has really opened our eyes to what we must do. If we must sacrifice all our time for fun and frolic, so be it."

  I replied, "I believe you are making a wise choice, Chancellor. I am certain that you will have many difficult choices to make before any semblance of security returns. The fact that your people are willing to make the necessary sacrifices says a lot about your character."

  The Chancellor nodded. "We still have our flaws, Mr. Beutcher. There are those among us that wish your kind gone from our planet. They feel that it was you that brought this threat upon us, and that if you were to leave, the threat would leave with you."

  I sighed. "I can assure you, Chancellor, if the Grotus are left alone, they will come. And when they do, your entire populace will either be killed or enslaved. If you show any strong will at all, they will butcher you en masse. Help us build this fleet and we will do all we can to assist in your defense should it be needed."

  The Chancellor stopped, looking over a railing and out onto the city before us. "What of the Grunta, Mr. Beutcher, your own people?"

  I leaned on the rail. "The ruling Council for my people can be headstrong. They will do what it takes to survive, just not always in the best order for those around them. But they are good solid people. If they give you their word, they will abide by what they said."

  The Chancellor asked. "If we build these ships, what will our arsenal of weapons be?"

  I replied, "Well, that's where we have bit of a problem. Our weapons have primarily been ion blasters. We don't have a way to manufacture the amplifiers that are required to give the power output we need for a weapon. We can build amplifiers, not efficient, but sufficient, to make our generators work, but that's as far as we can go.

  We have the fermium missiles from your stocks, but those are only effective in very restricted confines. Space is a big place. The Grotus are now aware of their destructive power and will just move away from their slow speed. We can construct lasers, but again, they are not as refined or powerful as those possessed by the Grotus. We are in desperate need of something new."

  The Chancellor held up a long index finger. "Perhaps your scientists should speak with our scientists. For years we have studied gravity, and similar to you, we can only grasp its use and not what makes it function. They have studied your implementation of the gravity drive in the last months with great enthusiasm. I have been told, but I do not have a full understa
nding of it, that a weapon of sorts may be possible."

  I replied with interest. "If you have anything at all I'm sure our scientists and engineers would be happy to work together with yours. The Talisans are not the best at coming up with new ideas, but they are excellent at implementing them."

  The Chancellor continued, "It is our understanding that a gravity pulse travels outward in the form of a wave. That wave can either be attractive or repulsive. When a wave emanates from a point source like your gravity drive or shield, it spreads outward from the emitter, dropping drastically in intensity as a function of distance traveled, much like a sound wave.

  "We have what we believe are conclusive experiments in the lab, where a wave can be sped up on the outer edges of a point, while the center remains at standard speed. This would allow the gravity emitted to travel in a beam, keeping its power over a much greater distance, and in a confined space."

  I smiled. "For someone who says they don't have a good grasp on that science, it sure sounds as though you have a good understanding of it."

  The Chancellor replied, "I have just enough understanding that I can repeat what I have been told, Mr. Beutcher. Please don't mistake that for any in depth knowledge."

  "Excuse me for a moment, Chancellor," I said. "I would like to get our people together on this immediately if possible."

  The Chancellor nodded as I opened a comm. "Jack, have the Talisans assemble a team of their most knowledgeable gravity engineers. See to it that they are shuttled over to the Odenta science complex in the capital. We may have stumbled onto something we can use as a weapon. The Chancellor will set up any approvals needed on this end by the time they get there."

  Jack replied, "I'll get right on it."

  The Chancellor took a moment to contact his people before returning to the conversation. "Mr. Beutcher, if we build a fleet, if we rescue the Gruntas, if we defeat the Grotus. What then?"

  I leaned back on the railing. "Then, we figure out how to put together an alliance that will last. There are a great many other species out there, most passive, but many hostile. We will need a fleet that can defend against all comers. And we will need leadership that recognizes our differences and works to best serve all species and not just their own. Those are tall tasks."

  The Chancellor smiled. "It would appear that you have it figured out already, Mr. Beutcher. I understand that what you are saying is idealistic at best. Leadership is only as good as the direction it takes you in. We have had our share of Chancellors who lead us down the wrong path. Even though they were well-intentioned, the results were disastrous for our people. If a board, or council, or congress needs to be put together, we would need fair-minded individuals like yourself to staff it."

  I held up my hand. "I'm not your man, Chancellor. You will find that Gruntas can be stubborn once our minds are made up. There are a few who would be open minded enough to be on such a council, but not many."

  The Chancellor asked, "And what of your Talisan brothers and sisters?"

  I chuckled. "No, I don't think they would be good at that job. They have a lack of moral fiber. Not that they are bad, but they can too easily be both good or bad. The Talisan follow their emperor, wherever it is that he may lead them."

  The Chancellor continued, "Is there no species that you would find honorable enough to serve?"

  I replied, "Species, no, but there are individuals among the species who would have to do. The hope would be that you get enough reasonable ones together that they can make sound decisions for governing everyone. We had that for two thousand years before the current leadership corrupted the system and overthrew it. I have seen what works. It may be difficult for us to achieve, that's all."

  After my talk with the Chancellor had come to an end, I returned to the Garmon. Go and Garrett had implemented a kill switch for the AIs and turned their efforts toward building ships. A design was settled upon which was slightly larger than the Garmon, with an outer hull that was three times as thick.

  The Odentas' laser reflection technology was applied to the hull designs, making them much less vulnerable to the Grotus laser threat. The Odenta and Talisan scientists and engineers quickly had a working model of the gravity weapon, which turned out to not be much of a weapon. An opposing ship or missile could be pulled toward or pushed away from a gravity emitter. The power needed for this task came from emitting the gravitational wave as a beam. Its use as a weapon was theorized to come into play only if the opposing ship was coming directly at you at the time a gravity beam was emitted. If its gravity shield could be overwhelmed, a repulsive beam might actually penetrate the forward decks of a ship, in theory.

  Within a month, the number of AIs had topped four thousand and the autobots just over a million. Garrett watched diligently for the first sign of robotic trouble. None had come.

  As the first of the Garmon class cruisers took flight, an evening was taken for celebrations. I liked the Odenta people: they were warm, thoughtful, and friendly, like many of the Humans I had come across during the days of the AMP.

  The following day we took the Garmon and our newest cruiser, the Odentus, out for flight tests. After a day in the heavens, we returned to the planet's surface. The new ship had performed perfectly in every category of test.

  Jack offered a suggestion. "It will take some time to get a fleet together that we can take back to Doomlight. However, this might be a good opportunity for us to go back to check on the situation. We can stop short with the Odentus and Garmon, allowing Garrett to go in close with the Jess to spy. It would also be the next logical step for testing out the Odentus."

  After a moment of thought, I replied, "Your suggestion has merit. I'll run it by the Chancellor when I see him in about an hour. We can run the same crew that we ran on the tests yesterday. When we get back, they can be assigned to train new crews."

  That afternoon the Garmon and Odentus lifted off. The trip to Doomlight brought several surprises. When the gravity pulsor was configured as an attractor, it could be used as a tractor beam. The Odentus crew repeatedly practiced pulling the Garmon in closer to her location. The Jess was taken out and on several occasions pulled into the docking bay on the cruiser's side.

  As a second surprise, when configured as a repulsor, the device could be used to increase the ship's forward momentum. With the repulsor running free, the Odentus would outpace the Garmon's speed, by as much as 15 percent. In the dead of space, speed offered a critical advantage.

  The weakness of the Odentus was her weapons. A complement of thirty-six full-size and forty-eight quarter-size missiles was all she had. Considering the fights that we could possibly be in, it was not a sufficient offensive capability.

  A second drawback of the Odentus was her generators. The inefficient ion generators required the assistance of nuclear reactors to provide the necessary energy to fully operate the ship with all her features and functions. The nuclear core would also have to be replaced once a year as the fermium that drove it became depleted. It was not a major undertaking, but deficient from ideal, none the less.

  When we arrived in the vicinity of Doomlight, Garrett was dispatched in the Jess. An hour later he had a report.

  Garrett opened a comm. "Salton's fleet is under attack! It's not the Grotus, though. I can't tell, but I suspect it's the Moddle. I count four hundred plus ships against thirty-two remaining Salton battleships. There is debris from ships everywhere around the battle scene. They're fighting in high orbit, just where we nuked the Grotus.

  I jumped on the comm. "Is there any fighting down on the planet?"

  Garrett replied, "I don't see any signs of attacks going on planet-side. It looks to only be a fleet battle. And the opposition is winning. Wait, another two hundred ships just came up on the sensors. Give me a second... it's more of the same. If I was the captain on one of those Salton ships, now would be the time that I turned to run."

  Jack shook his head. "There's only one problem with that, Garrett. They have nowhere to run. Unless
that portal is open, they are stuck fighting it out. I just checked the speed of those incoming ships on your data feed. They easily match that of those battleships."

  The captain of the Odentus, Gar Thexan, an Odenta, hopped on the comm channel. "Sirs, this might be a good opportunity to test out the capabilities of this ship. We can sit just out of the range of the attackers, firing a gravity beam at them. If they should choose to pursue us, we have the faster ship."

  I replied, "Captain, you do realize that if something were to go wrong you would need to self destruct that ship. We can't afford to let that gravity technology fall into enemy hands."

  The captain came back with a solemn response. "Sir, that is a risk we are willing to assume. If we are to train others on the use of our technologies, we should first make use of it ourselves. As to the self destruct, should we face capture, I believe everyone aboard is willing to make that sacrifice if necessary. We are duty-bound to do so."

  I nodded. "I didn't intend to question anyone's determination or honor, Captain. If you feel that your crew is ready to test the gravity device, I will leave that call up to you."

  The Odentus moved forward to just past Garrett's position in the Jess. The gravity device was brought online and the first beam sent out.

  Shortly after, the captain returned status. "The first target has been pushed back from the battle. We are moving to target number two."

  Garrett remarked. "Hey, one thing the sensor is showing is that ship they pushed no longer has a gravity shield out front. If we can knock that out it makes our ion cannons, and the nukes, that much more effective."

  Jack said, "Not only that, it pretty much limits those ships to sub-light speeds. Without that gravity deflector they don't stand a chance again space dust or other debris."

  I joined the conversation. "Captain, test to see what the minimum amount of beam duration is that is required to take out a gravity shield."