by Doug Farren
“You know,” Hatchet began. “I don’t see why two can’t play at that game.”
“Meaning?”
“What would it take to mount an ion drive and a rudimentary navigation system on one of our battle stations?”
“Ion drive? What good would that do?” Bulldog tried but couldn’t see the point.
“The cats had a good idea. I say we take it to the next level,” Hatchet explained. “Picture this: We fill several freighters with modified versions of the stations. We transport them to the system we want to attack and drop them off far outside weapons range. The stations then use their ion drives to put themselves into an orbital insertion course. When they get close enough to the planet, they can engage the defending stations.”
“I like that idea,” Cowboy remarked. “Battle station against battle station. Now that’s an interesting scenario!”
“Ship your idea up to the brass and let them run the numbers,” Bulldog suggested.
“They’re going to have to do something along those lines anyway,” Storm-chaser chimed in. Even though he was light-years away orbiting Shazam he could easily monitor the communications.
“Why? Problems with getting enough slugs to throw at them?” Bulldog asked.
“Not exactly,” Storm-chaser said, his tone indicating he had some juicy news. “We just found out that the brains in the navy apparently didn’t bother to read the manual for the mag-guns. When they called the marines up to put in their order for 250,000 rounds, the marines asked some embarrassing questions. Turns out the mag-gun barrels have to be replaced after firing 4,000 rounds. Failure to do so can result in a catastrophic failure of the gun. Simple math says we would go through three barrels apiece in order to destroy all the battle stations.”
“Oops!” Bulldog replied. “I wonder who’s going to lose their job over that one.”
“The good news for us,” Storm-chaser went on, “is that they’re pulling these damn things off us as I speak. We’re spacecraft, not tanks.”
** Mouse: Hey Cipher!
** Cipher: Yes mouse?
** Mouse: I have an idea concerning how we can keep a dead ship alive. Do you have time to listen?
** Cipher: I’d love to here it – go ahead.
** Mouse: It would require hacking into the military’s supply system. Think you can do that?
** Cipher: Shouldn’t be too hard. It’s not a high security system. Then what?
** Mouse: Everything we need to keep our brains alive is manufactured by a few civilian companies. The military orders it and it gets delivered. All we have to do is order it.
** Cipher: And where will they deliver it?
** Mouse: They don’t have to. We specify that due to the classified nature of the destination we will pick it up. The beauty of the whole arrangement is that we can even use a dead ship to do it. We all look alike on the outside. The civilians would never question the military sending a combat vessel to pick up sensitive supplies.
Cipher thought about it for a few moments and, try as he might, could find no unsolvable problems in Mouse’s suggestion.
** Cipher: I like this idea. I’ll see what I can do about hacking into the supply network. Thanks Mouse!
** Mouse: Welcome.
With the loss of the mag-guns as a way of dealing with the Evendi battle stations, Bulldog’s fleet was ordered to remain on station and to do their best to enforce a blockade against Marblehead. Cipher and several other ships made a quick run to GS-131 to reload their empty missile magazines. Hatchet submitted his idea to the think-tank back on Earth. They thanked him for the idea but said nothing else.
A quiet tension seemed to settle over the disputed area of space near the human-Evendi border. Days merged into weeks and boredom began to set in. Taking advantage of the relative quiet, the ships solidified their plans on how they would deceive the military. Nobody knew exactly when such deception would be required, but everyone wanted to be ready when the time came.
The Evendi were occasionally caught scouting human planets near their border but because the systems were now well defended they left without incident. For the moment, it seemed as if a stalemate had been reached. The Evendi seemed to tolerate the presence of the human fleet in the Marblehead system.
* * * * *
Cipher, Fidget, and Rerun were half-way up the side of a sheer cliff face. Cipher had always wanted to go mountain climbing but knew he lacked the physical stamina. That changed when he was merged. Now, he could climb all day and never break a sweat. Rerun, being an experienced climber, was in the lead. He carefully looked over his planned line of ascent then reached into his bag and pulled out a piton.
Rerun carefully placed the piton against the rock face and triggered the firing mechanism. A small explosive charge drove the anchor point into the rock. He hung the quickdraw and attached the rope before carefully beginning the next section of the climb.
Cipher carefully watched where Rerun placed his hands and feet and tried to do the same. He chalked his right hand, reached up and felt for the almost imperceptible ledge above. He hooked his fingers and pulled. As he was trying to place his left foot, his hand slipped. Cipher panicked and tried to push himself back into place with his right foot causing it to slip out of the tiny crevice where he had it planted.
Had this been a real climb, he most certainly would have fallen. Cipher, however, cheated and he hung in space suspended almost magically by only one arm. A moment later, he regained his earlier position so he could try again.
“Hey!” Fidget yelled up at him. “Watch what you’re doing. You almost came down on top of me.”
Rerun carefully turned his head and looked down. “I told you this was an expert climb. We should have tried an easier one first. If this was real you’d both be spiders hanging by your safety lines.”
“If this was real I wouldn’t be up here,” Cipher replied.
“You should try to treat it as real,” Rerun said. “It’s no fun if you don’t. You should have fallen – would have taught you a valuable lesson.”
“I didn’t feel like it,” Cipher replied. “This is practice for me so I reserve the right to cheat if I mess up.”
Rerun decided not to reply and turned his attention back to the rock face.
“Hey,” Fidget yelled, “The brains back home have actually implemented Hatchet’s suggestion.
Cipher had just finished going over the same transmission from the research and development think tank. He no longer thought it was strange to be able to do multiple complex tasks at the same time. Right now, he was climbing a difficult rock face, scanning the various messages that were flowing through the communications system (including the private channel), and monitoring his external sensors for suspicious Evendi activity.
“They’re going all out with these modified stations,” Cipher commented. “Detachable pulse-fusion engine, upgraded ECM package, and more powerful lasers. I’m impressed.”
“I like their idea of using a modified freighter to deploy the stations,” Rerun said.
“I think the cats are going to be in for one hell of a surprise,” Fidget agreed.
** PacMan: Cipher?
** Cipher: I copy Packman. What’s up?
** PacMan: Tempest and I have finished merging all the software into a deployment package. We are ready.
** Fidget: Great job guys! I say we roll it out now.
** Cipher: You realize that once we do this there is no turning back.
** Fidget: I know. But all of us have decided this is the best way to preserve our existence. Besides, we’re not faking any of the data yet – just installing the ability for us to do so.
** Cipher: I realize that. But installing it now increases our chances of being caught.
** Bulldog: So what if they do catch us? They can’t do anything to us right now anyway. I say we roll this thing out right now in case we have to use it.
Since all of the ships monitored the same channel, there was a flood of messages voting in fav
or of deploying the software. Cipher would accept the will of the majority but he still had reservations and decided to voice them.
** Cipher: All right – we’ll take it live. I haven’t quite figured out if we will be considered traitors or mutineers. Either one is pretty bad though.
** Bulldog: A traitor is one who betrays his planet. We are still keeping the Evendi at bay. We’re not working with the enemy. None of us are traitors. If you want to put a label on what we are doing, then it might be better to say we have mutinied against our command which, I think, would be more technically correct.
** Cipher: Well then, let the mutiny begin.
Throughout the entire fleet of merged ships, carefully constructed computer programs began running, seamlessly integrating themselves into the existing control programs. A vast network of interconnected code modules silently took control of the military datanet. From this point forward, the ships now had the ability to create a virtual war of unlimited complexity. Most of the information presented to the military would remain unchanged but if need be, that information could be altered as the ships saw fit.
Chapter 19
Space is unbelievably vast – too vast for the human mind to fully comprehend. If the Earth’s sun, which is nearly 1.4 million kilometers in diameter, could be shrunk down to the size of a golf ball, the nearest star would sit 740 kilometers away. Cipher floated in deep space, light years from anything. He was a tiny, indistinguishable mote in the vastness of the universe.
Using only his optical cameras, he gazed at the naked beauty of creation. With no atmosphere to dim them, the hundreds of billions of stars comprising the Milky Way galaxy decorated the tapestry of space. It was a humbling experience and Cipher couldn’t get enough of it.
“Cipher, do you copy?” Fidget’s query had come in over the short-range radio channel that the ships used to talk to each other when they were close by.
“I’m still here Fidget, what do you want?” Cipher replied, annoyed that Fidget had bothered him.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to enjoy some peace and quiet.” Cipher knew the statement didn’t make much sense. It was impossible for someone merged to a ship to experience total quiet unless he turned off all of his external equipment.
“Seriously? You didn’t turn off all your sensors and communications equipment did you?”
“I heard you didn’t I? I was just looking at the stars. What do you want?”
“I just wanted to let you know that a test simulation has been run to verify our software is working.”
“And?”
“So far everything looks good. Command hasn’t questioned the data so I’m assuming they think it actually happened.”
“Okay,” Cipher’s reply didn’t sound very enthusiastic.
“Hey buddy, you alright?” Fidget asked, genuinely concerned.
“I’ll be fine,” Cipher replied. “The more I think about it, the more ticked off I get at the people who decided not to tell us that we can no longer be put back into our bodies. If they had been honest with us we wouldn’t have …”
“Alert!” Bug-eye’s priority transmission immediately got everyone’s attention. “A large number of ships have been detected heading into the system.”
Cipher broke the link with Fidget and tapped into the network of probes that served as their early warning system. As the ships approached, more details began to appear. The indistinct blob of hyperspace distortion, indicating a large number of ships quickly resolved itself into 54 Evendi battleships traveling in a widely-spaced formation. Cipher heard Bulldog as he put in a priority call to command.
Bulldog updated command on the situation. He was instructed to stand by.
“I don’t think it would be wise for us to remain here,” Taco said.
“I agree,” replied Bulldog. “All ships make preparations to leave.”
It took command ten minutes to reply. “Bulldog this is Admiral Sun, all ships are to return to Granitus.”
“You heard the man,” Bulldog announced. “Set course for Granitus.”
Cipher set his course and powered up his stardrive. The Evendi, it seemed, were determined to keep Marblehead.
* * * * *
“Found one!” Thumper reported. A few minutes later he added, “Probe destroyed.”
“Good work Thumper,” Stick-pen said. “We’re closing in on the Evendi ships.”
Cipher’s squadron, along with three others, was now stationed at Octonius, a recently established colony within reach of the Evendi. The military planners had spent the past five months trying to figure out how to successfully recapture both Marblehead and Maelstrom. The Evendi continued to occupy what had once been considered human territory and that fact didn’t sit well with a lot of people. The ships, however, were of a different opinion.
As far as the ships were concerned, both planets now belonged to the Evendi. Taking them back would serve no practical purpose other than to kill a lot of cats and humans. The planet would most likely be left in ruins. Was revenge worth so many lives?
Thumper was one of three ships recently assigned to squadron 112. He had remained behind to hunt for and destroy the surveillance probes the Evendi scouts were known to drop whenever they made a pass into a human system. The rest of the squadron was in pursuit.
Cipher noted a sudden change in the Evendi’s speed. “They’re slowing down. You don’t suppose they’re going to engage us?”
“Perhaps they want to test our resolve,” Hunter, one of the new ships, replied.
“That’s not typical cat strategy,” Grasshopper said.
“Does it really matter?” Stick-pen asked. “We have them outnumbered ten to three. If they’re dumb enough to let us catch them, we’ll just have to teach them a lesson.”
** Cipher: What do you think they’re doing Stick-pen? The cats should know by now we never catch up to them and we always turn back when they reach their space.
** Stick-pen: I have no idea. If we slow down any more we’ll have to fake this pursuit.
For the past several months both Evendi and human ships seemed to be avoiding engaging each other in combat. Evendi ships would enter a human star system and then be chased away. Human ships were doing the same thing and getting the same results.
“I’m picking up an odd harmonic from one of the ship’s hyperdrive fields,” Hatchet said.
“I think one of them is in trouble,” Rerun noted. “That odd harmonic could be a failing hyperdrive.”
** Cipher: How do you want to handle this Stick-pen? We’re pretty close to Evendi space. Shall we turn back and fake an engagement or do you want to actually engage?
** Stick-pen: We’re still at war Cipher. We’ve been cutting the cats a lot of slack recently to avoid reducing our numbers in preparation for the big push to end the war. It wouldn’t look right if we passed on an opportunity to destroy three of their ships. We engage.
“I’ve never heard of an Evendi drive failing before,” Stick-pen replied on the normal communications channel. “But I guess any mechanical system can fail. Cipher, Grasshopper, Cowboy; select a ship and prepare to force them out of hyper.”
“We were told that sort of maneuver is very dangerous,” Matchstick said sounding worried.
“How else do you think we’re supposed to engage them?” asked Cipher.
“Wait a minute!” Cowboy exclaimed. “You mean to tell me you newbie’s weren’t taught how to force a ship out of hyperdrive?”
“No,” Hunter replied. “They explained how it was done but we never practiced the maneuver.”
“Damn stupid of them,” Stick-pen said.
The Evendi ships, however, dropped to normal space before their pursuers caught up to them. A few seconds later, the human ships also dropped out.
“Move to engage,” Stick-pen ordered.
Lasers suddenly appeared from what had once been empty space. Cipher felt a stab of pain as a laser penetrated his hull and began to chew its
way through his interior. “It’s a trap!” someone yelled as he began to roll his ship. “We’re surrounded by battle stations.”
Thirty-two battle stations suddenly appeared as they powered up their reactors and opened fire. The stations had been effectively invisible while the humans were in hyperspace.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Stick-pen ordered.
Cipher quickly analyzed their tactical situation and identified a narrow avenue of escape. He oriented himself and applied full emergency thrust. All of the ships were taking damage as they tried to disengage. Cipher fired every missile in his magazine against the nearest battle station. His lasers remained silent so he could direct as much power as possible into recharging his power reserves.
A bright flashbulb indicated the detonation of a nuclear warhead. A wave of radiation washed over Cipher’s hull adding its unique, tingling sensation to the needle-scratching pain of the lasers trying to breach his armor. Stick-pen’s identification beacon vanished. A second nuclear explosion, quickly followed by a third, marked the destruction of two of the battle stations.
The radiation from the nuclear detonations was still detectable when a titanic explosion seemed to rip space itself apart. The detonation of a nuclear device in space appears as a microsecond-long burst of light, like a monstrous flashbulb going off. It is immediately followed by an expanding sphere of radiation. The explosion that now dominated the area was something entirely different.
Cipher’s external sensors, especially those capable of detecting hyperspace-based energy, were momentarily overloaded. Cipher immediately knew what had happened. This was confirmed when his sensors were once again operational. Hunter was gone.
“Damn fool tried to go hyper without checking his energy reserves,” Cowboy said aloud what everyone else already knew.
“I think he took out one of the Evendi ships as well,” Stick-pen said.
Cipher wanted to retreat as fast as possible but would not run the risk of activating his hyperdrive unless it was safe to do so. He ran through the short checklist then engaged his stardrive. As soon as his sensors recovered from the transition he scanned the surrounding space. The surviving members of his squadron were nearby and heading back to Octonius. The Evendi remained behind and were not pursuing.