The Winter War

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘If it’s the Herosians, they’ve been planning this for generations and even Winter didn’t know about it. It’s being kept very secret, even from most of the Herosians.’ She frowned. ‘In a way, it makes it unlikely. That kind of conspiracy is hard to organise.’

  ‘It’s a lot easier when there’s a lot of empty space around to hide your conspiracy in. Do you think Winter figured out the Herosians may have attacked Negral?’

  ‘If I can connect the dots, I’m pretty sure she can.’

  29.9.527 FSC.

  ‘Yes, that had occurred to me.’ Winter was currently a tall, buxom, brown-eyed brunette. This was Number Two, though Aneka had seen Three and Six walking around the ship, and technically the AI was operating hundreds of featureless androids as well. ‘I consider it highly probable, in fact. The Herosians have gone to a lot of trouble to achieve a secret technological advantage over the other races. My old colleagues on Negral would have negated that. What I’m not sure about is how they discovered the location.’

  ‘I had a thought,’ Ella replied. ‘The ship on Idridia likely had a location for Negral in its databases. Negral would have been the ship’s home base. I’m guessing that they put two and two together when the Garnet Hyde was taken.’

  ‘A good working theory,’ Winter replied, smiling. ‘Avoiding the loss of their technological superiority likely explains why the Harriamon tachyon relay was attacked. Old Earth could also give the Jenlay a much needed edge.’

  ‘They took that out too?’ Aneka asked.

  ‘There was extensive damage. Repairs will take some time.’ Winter’s gaze shifted to the huge, holographic star map they were sitting beside. ‘Communications at normal speed will slow down the talks between the two worlds considerably.’

  ‘This really is going to turn into a war, isn’t it?’ Ella said grimly.

  ‘I believe it already has. These are the initial skirmishes. The Herosians were always an acquisitive race, far too ready to put their own needs above any other consideration. The only thing keeping them in check was the superior strength of the Jenlay and the technology of the Torem. The latter has been proven to have been exhausted in the war, and the former is negated by this new technology and an unwillingness to actually act.’

  ‘Winter?’ Aneka asked, frowning. ‘What happened to your counterpart? The AI responsible for the Herosian uplift.’

  ‘Bright Days of Growth Prepare the Coming Harvest,’ Winter said. ‘We called him Summer.’

  ‘Which is why you’re Winter, I assume.’

  ‘Yes. He was decommissioned. They turned him off because he went insane after the Herosians wiped out the Aromans. He had been programmed to consider them his charges, to like them, and he could not reconcile that with their actions.’

  ‘I didn’t know AIs could go insane,’ Ella said.

  ‘That’s because you’ve never seen Two Thousand and One,’ Aneka replied. ‘Actually, I think that was supposed to be some sort of logical problem. A moral issue the computer couldn’t cope with.’

  ‘It’s not common, but it can happen,’ Winter agreed. ‘The mind of an AI is complex, and things can go wrong. Thankfully, the Jenlay have never done anything which would cause me to flip out.’

  ‘Yet,’ Aneka said, grinning.

  Winter’s lips twitched. ‘If they do I’ll just have to kill the…’ She paused, her head turning as though she was listening to something. ‘We have company.’

  ‘Here?’ Aneka asked, surprised.

  ‘Someone with the inclination, time, and access to generally secret communications logs could work it out. The configuration is that of a Gadetta-class heavy gunship. It’s manoeuvring to high orbit and firing on my communications satellite.’

  ‘That’s not very friendly,’ Ella commented.

  Winter frowned. ‘No. Contact with three one-hundred-kilotonne nuclear warheads. A Hachadim gunship is currently being deployed from its hangar bay. Gadettas carry three.’

  ‘Six, four-man fire teams,’ Aneka mused, ‘maybe two or three of those heavy battlesuits. Can they detect us?’

  ‘Doubtful, but they can detect the ship you came in on. This vessel has weaponry, but we are in a weak tactical position here. If I open fire they will detect us and the Gadettas were built for planetary bombardment.’

  ‘What about hacking their computers?’ Ella asked. ‘Like you did with our ship.’

  ‘They are apparently aware of that possibility and have hardened their communications. I can probably do it, but it will take time. Probably too much time.’

  ‘Are the drop ships heading this way?’ Aneka asked.

  ‘Currently their trajectory suggests that they are planning to execute a search pattern over the planet. They’re splitting up to cover the ground faster.’

  ‘That gives us some time to prepare. How does this sound?’

  ~~~

  One of the gunships had dropped to a position about a hundred metres from the one Aneka, Ella, and Justine had arrived on, positioned so that one of its turrets had the area around the lost vessel well within its field of fire. There were four men guarding the rear ramp now, while four more searched the interior. This time there was no powered battlesuit.

  Aneka watched them from the cover of some rocks about thirty metres away, hidden from view by the camouflage system of her suit. She was waiting for the fun to start, which would happen when the other two gunships arrived.

  Beside her, Ella lay on her side behind the rocks looking nervous, but determined, with a large pack on her back. Having her along had not been part of the initial plan, but Ella had insisted, a lot, and there had not been time to argue her out of it. Aneka needed someone along who could speak Herosian and had wanted to take one of Winter’s avatars. Winter had pointed out that her general avatars were not actually much better at combat than Ella would be in an armoured suit, and Ella had wanted to be with Aneka.

  The roar of fusion drives sounded from the north and Aneka ducked down behind the rocks. She pointed out toward the incoming ships, over the rocks, and Ella nodded. They were not using radios at the moment, just in case anyone picked up the transmissions. As the engine noise died away, Aneka lifted her head again. Troops were disembarking the two gunships, moving out to meet the ones already in position. One entire fire team seemed to be equipped with large, sensor backpacks and they began to deploy their equipment as soon as they were within the safety zone of the rest of their squad. At least they thought it was safe.

  Aneka held up a hand, fingers and thumb spread, as six of Winter’s combat androids burst out of camouflaged pits dug into the rocky surface. They were not exactly full avatars, more like semi-intelligent drones directed by Winter. Each was the size of a man, humanoid, but featureless, and each carried one of the same kind of machine gun that Aneka had used on Odanari. As one they opened fire.

  ‘Winter has activated signal jamming,’ Al said.

  Aneka waited a second to be sure that the attention of the troops was on the drones, and then signalled Ella with a jerk of her thumb that they should move. Ella rolled to her feet in one fluid movement, activated the power assistance systems on her own cybernetic suit, and started running toward the first of the landed ships. Aneka got to her feet and followed, catching up with her after a second and then running past. They were both moving at speeds an Olympic sprinter would have been proud of and none of the combatants noticed, or if they did they were too busy dying.

  As they reached the ramp one of the other ships exploded; one of Winter’s drones had reached it with an implosion warhead. The second one would be going soon enough. That left this one, which was going to be the one that escaped.

  Aneka kept on forward, drawing her pistols. There was another explosion from outside and then the sound of the gunship’s turret opening fire. Behind her motors whined as the ramp started to lift. Aneka checked to be sure that Ella had made it aboard and saw the redhead coming up behind her, slowed a little by the heavy backpack she was carrying. All
according to plan so far; Aneka ran on ahead, straight up toward the flight deck where she was pretty sure the pilot and gunner were going to be shitting themselves.

  ‘Network negotiated,’ Al said into her head. ‘They are using the same internal protocols as the other ship. I’ve bypassed security. The cockpit door will open in three seconds. We have left the ground and will be out of the jamming field in ten.’

  It was important that the crew not get a message away. As the cockpit door opened, Aneka located the two occupants, a Human and a Herosian, sighted on them before they even registered she was there, and fired. Then she dropped her pistols and bolted forward, struggling to yank the pilot out of his seat before the ship went too far out of control.

  Ella entered the room a second or two later to find Aneka shifting the gunship’s flight path. ‘Comms are up,’ she said as Al connected to her implant.

  ‘Uh-huh. Get on the radio, they’ll be wondering what’s going on.’ Aneka spiralled the ship, apparently randomly, directly into the line of fire of the ship in orbit. They were counting on the idea that even the Herosians would not shoot their own ship down to bombard the surface.

  Ella was hitting buttons on the gunner’s console, and trying to ignore the mostly headless body beside her. She said something, her voice obscured by her suit to add static and drop the tone. To Aneka, Herosian sounded like you were clearing your throat into a microphone and hissing at the same time. There was a reply, and no one started shooting at them…

  ‘Did they buy it?’ Aneka asked.

  ‘I told them we’d been ambushed by Jenlay ground troops. They said to dock for debriefing.’

  ‘Right. Get that thing ready, I’ll set the autopilot, and we’ll hope they don’t vaporise us too soon.’

  Taking her pack off with some relief, Ella opened a flap at the top to reveal a control panel. ‘I am so glad to have this thing off my back. How long?’

  Aneka checked the computer. ‘Give it… five minutes.’

  Ella punched buttons on the panel, then a final one. A timer lit up showing five minutes and immediately began counting down. She covered it over, tied the flap shut, and then pushed the bomb under one of the consoles. ‘We better leave,’ she said.

  ‘We will attain sufficient height in thirty seconds,’ Al said to both of them. ‘I suggest getting to the airlock.’

  They moved out of the cockpit and then left and down a deck. The airlock door seemed to take forever to open, and then even longer to cycle to vacuum. Aneka’s finger moved over the outer door release button.

  ‘Ready?’ she asked.

  ‘No,’ Ella replied, giving her a nervous grin. ‘Spaced again.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Aneka replied, hitting the button. ‘This time it’s on purpose.’

  The artificial gravity in the airlock deactivated and they moved out to the edge, then they planted their feet, held hands, and pushed, driving themselves out from the gunship and into what amounted to a mid-level orbit. Pulling Ella in closer, Aneka wrapped her legs around the redhead’s waist and took a gadget that looked like a paint sprayer from her belt. Pointing it toward the distant Gadetta ship, she pulled the trigger and it fired a jet of gas which slowed their momentum. Slowly, but with gathering pace, their bomb ship pulled away as it continued on toward its target.

  ‘Now,’ Aneka said, ‘we wait.’

  ‘Do you think this will work?’ Ella asked.

  ‘Twenty-five-kilotonne nuke going off in their hangar bay? Should do the trick.’

  ‘The gunship will move out of the carrier’s firing solution in twenty-eight seconds,’ Al informed them. ‘I estimate that they will be able to get off at least one shot before the bomb explodes.’

  ‘Let’s hope Winter’s point defence systems are up to scratch,’ Aneka said.

  It was over a minute before the main gun on the Gadetta lit up in Aneka’s vision; a powerful electromagnetic spike as it fired, launching a twenty-eight centimetre projectile toward the surface.

  ‘Ninety-eight seconds to detonation,’ Al said. ‘Estimated seventy-two seconds to projectile impact.’

  ‘Come on, Winter,’ Ella said, watching the cannon shot as best she could as they turned, clutched together, in orbit.

  ‘She’ll wait for the last moment,’ Aneka said. ‘It gives them less opportunity to retarget based on their new sensor data.’

  It was a long sixty seconds and they had totally lost sight of the falling projectile before there was a sudden flare of light in the upper atmosphere and Al said, ‘Thirty-three seconds to detonation.’

  ‘Will they get another shot off?’ Ella asked.

  ‘I’m going to say yes,’ Aneka said. There was another flare of EM from the cannon, then another, and another.

  ‘Gopi!’ Ella said.

  ‘She can handle it. I think.’

  ‘Five seconds to detonation,’ Al informed them.

  ‘Close your eyes, love,’ Aneka said.

  Even through her eyelids, Ella could see the flare of light as the Herosian gunship exploded. ‘Gopi!’

  ‘It’s okay, we’re well out of range.’

  ‘Yeah, but what if Winter gets hit with those projectiles?’

  ‘That ship she’s in is pretty tough, even if it’s not a warship.’

  About a minute later there were three massive explosions on the surface of the planet. Aneka could imagine dinosaurs saw the same sort of thing just before they vanished off the face of the Earth.

  Ella swallowed. ‘Are you, uh, sure she can withstand something like that?’

  Aneka was about to say something when Winter’s voice sounded in their heads. ‘Actually, I might not have, but I got out as soon as I destroyed that first shot.’ The huge, cylindrical form of Winter’s ship materialised in orbit a few hundred metres away. ‘If you’d care to join us…’

  Lifting the thruster pack and aiming it away from the ship, Aneka squeezed the trigger. ‘We’ll be right there,’ she said. ‘If I can get this to work going backward.’

  Ella giggled. It was the sort of sound you made when hysteria was threatening to break through and the problem had been resolved. ‘Bit to the left,’ she said. Aneka pulled the trigger. ‘No, now you’ve gone too far right. And you’re a bit high…’

  ‘Do you want to do this?’

  ‘Not really. Now you’re slightly low and too far left.’

  ‘Ella…’

  Ella giggled.

  Part Seven: The Trial of Aneka Jansen

  FSA Headquarters, New Earth, 1.10.527 FSC.

  Dowler was smiling. His face did not suit it, but he was doing it anyway while no one was looking. His contacts in the Administration had confirmed that the vote to make him permanent head of the FSA had gone through. It had been a very tight majority, but it had gone through.

  Better, Elroy was on his way up to his office to tell him about it. The reception desk had called through to tell him that the Senator had arrived in the building and the only reason for that, given the facts, was to confirm the appointment. Senator Elroy was going to have to stand there and tell him that, despite his opposition, he was going to continue as head of the Agency. Dowler’s handler would be pleased, to say the least, but watching Elroy humbling himself was going to make Dowler’s century.

  The office door opened without any form of announcement. Something was going to have to be done about that. Dowler schooled his face into a glower, looked up, and…

  Senator Elroy was smiling. It was not a political smile. Not a ‘you’ve won this one, you bastard’ smile. This was the smile of a man who had won something, somehow, and Dowler did not like it.

  ‘Senator,’ Dowler said, ‘you could at least knock…’

  ‘You’re not head of this Agency until I state that you are, Dowler,’ Elroy said, ‘despite what you have undoubtedly heard.’

  There was a time to assert authority and a time to be magnanimous in victory, and this was the latter. Elroy was undoubtedly trying to save face. ‘Of course, Senator. To what
do I owe the pleasure?’

  ‘The Council and Senate have voted regarding your appointment,’ Elroy said. ‘The Council was split, their votes tied with one abstention. You got your appointment due to a small majority in the Senate…’ Dowler allowed himself to smile, but Elroy went on. ‘However, the Council placed a condition on that appointment, by majority vote.’

  Dowler’s smile shifted into a confused frown. He had heard nothing of conditions. ‘A condition?’

  ‘Yes…’ Elroy turned slightly, looking over his shoulder. ‘Agent Truelove, would you come in?’ Truelove walked into the room. She did not look especially happy to be there, but there she was, tall, blonde, and looking defiant. ‘Agent Truelove will be taking over as your assistant. Her time as Winter’s assistant makes her an invaluable asset and she is here to ensure that the Federal Security Agency meets its full obligations and targets.’

  ‘I have an assistant…’ Dowler began.

  ‘Yes, you selected a raw recruit who had no idea what he was doing. Agent Truelove has a great deal of experience and knows exactly how this Agency should be run. In addition, Agent Truelove will be reporting directly to the Federal Security Committee on a bi-monthly basis, giving a full account of the Agency’s activities. Winter was able to act in the way she did due to an unforgiveable lack of oversight. We are not going to make the same mistake again.’

  Dowler did not know what to say. No wonder Elroy was smiling. ‘Of course,’ he managed after a second. ‘That is… I mean I’ve argued for…’

  ‘Yes, as I recall you did argue for greater control over the Agency’s functions. You should be pleased we’ve taken up your idea. Well done, Dowler. Clearly you’re a man of forethought. Carry on.’ Elroy turned, nodding to Truelove. ‘Carry on, Agent Truelove.’

  Truelove nodded back, suppressing a grin. She was sure Elroy had winked at her, but perhaps it was just a twitch.

  Winter’s Ship, 2.10.527 FSC.

  Aneka watched the galaxy display in the operations room, and the small, bright, blinking dot that showed the current location of the ship she was on in particular. Ahead of it, at the end of the trajectory indicated by a pale-blue line, was a blue marker with a virtual tag floating beside it: New Earth, their destination. They were about two days out, but they were still not exactly sure what they were going to do when they got there.