Onyx Javelin

by Steve Wheeler

  The AI received the data into one of its secure units and quickly looked over the alien proteins that it could see in the buffalo's bloodstream. 'It dispatched another fast picket, with the information, to the nearest Hauler base and sent a confirmation to Ayana, and the hundreds of other ACEs on the continent, that the alien was to be treated with the utmost caution and to be acknowledged as probably hostile. Af ter a moment's consideration of the consequences, it sent a message to all the other ACEs who lived amongst the standard humans on the planet, giving them a warning of what was happening. The voice of the Hauler AI sounded in Ayana's mind. 'You were right to treat this with caution, Ayana. There is a protein that I cannot identif y in the bull's blood. I would suggest that you remove yourself from the area immediately. Warning messages have been propagated. Whatever it is, this alien is new to us. I am receiving information from other ACEs and it would appear that there are six of these creatures spread over a 9000-square-kilometre area. Gather every piece of information that you can on the alien and report your findings immediately. You are authorised to use any individuals and systems at your disposal. That is all.'

  Ayana did not even have time to acknowledge the message before the AI Angelito removed itself from her mind. Looking at the map the AI had given her of where the aliens were, she saw that one was also in the sea to the south of where she was. In her mind, she opened a comms link to Sven.

  'Sven, there are none seen in your area. Please make your way over here as soon as possible. I am also calling Fenyang down here to help.'

  She changed frequencies in her mind and placed a call to the huge baboon.

  He answered with his usual abruptness. 'Yes, Ayana. You have a situation of which I am aware. I have already started preparations to move to you. Expect me within a few standard hours.'

  'My thanks, Fenyang.'

  He abruptly cut off, but she knew that that sort of behaviour was normal for the sentient as he hated anything interfering with his studies of the native insects. She moved south, away from the mob of buffalo, and seeing that the dawn was not far away switched her attention to the beetle that she had left behind, instructing it to climb onto the buffalo bull and conceal itself. She then switched datastreams to see that the silent high-flying dragonflies had found the alien and were watching it from a kilometre up.

  The alien moved amongst a small herd of bluebuck antelope which were resting beside a great marshland.

  Ayana took control of one of the dragonfly's eyes, zooming in on the creature while her own processing power started to map the alien. As soon as she had composited an external body map, she uploaded it to the orbital Al, then, deciding that a tissue sample would be usef ul, launched a pair of artificial wasps from under one of the dragonflies. Following established protocols, she instructed one of the dragonflies to follow the wasps while the second one went totally passive, switched on its camouflage systems and climbed much higher.

  In the time that it took the wasps to close upon the alien, it had slid up to one of the bluebucks and appeared to briefly touch the antelope's neck with its lips. 'It crossed to another animal and did the same. And as it was about to do the same to a third, the first of the wasps alighted on the animal's shoulder and was able to see the alien slightly open its mouth; a pair of fine needles flashed into the bluebuck's neck, which seconds later were withdrawn into the alien's mouth.

  The other wasp flew over the alien's head and down its back, taking samples of the air, as the first wasp slowly walked along the bluebuck's neck. The alien hesitated for a second, then simultaneously snatched the first of the wasps from the bluebuck with its mouth as one of its forearms twisted around, snatching the other wasp from the air and deftly depositing that drone wasp also in its mouth.

  Ayana instantly realised that she could be compromised and cut the datalinks to the dragonfly the wasp information was being relayed through, and sent a message about what she had learned to the orbital AI. A few moments later she saw the descending dragonfly do a slow barrel roll then shut down to fall into the marsh a hundred metres away from the bluebuck herd.

  Swearing to herself, she flashed a brief message to the orbital and, just before the alien got to the crashed drone, it disintegrated into thousands of nanotes which rapidly dispersed into the watery bog as its hostile takeover protocols overcame whatever the alien's commands had told it. The alien sloshed around for a few moments with its mouth parts sucking in the water, obviously searching for the remains of the dragonfly. 'It then returned to firm ground and stood still for a few moments, then slowly disappeared from every spectrum that Ayana was observing.

  The orbital AI spoke. 'Ayana. In my isolated comms and analytical units I have discovered that the wasps were being dismantled within seconds of being taken into the alien. Before they ceased, I learned that it is a construct of the highest order and not of humankind. Nothing the wasps detected is anything remotely resembling known natural or constructed biological material from our worlds. However, there are octopoid proteins present so I can only conclude it may be of that race. We will observe it and attempt to learn of its plans before I will allow any action against it. There is a most interesting group of software packages that I shall investigate further as well. The Administration created the despicable destruction of the octopoids on Cygnus 5, just to allow the Administration to help themselves to their technologies. We must not allow ourselves to do the same here.'

  Ayana wanted to destroy the alien quickly, as all her instincts and intuitive feelings screamed out that the alien was hostile, but mentally acknowledging what she ultimately wanted from the Haulers' Collective she grudgingly agreed.

  Seeing that the first light of the approaching sunrise was now obvious on the horizon, Ayana wondered what the day was going to bring her.

  Gjomvik Carrier Haast

  Human Settlement on Storfisk

  Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy 'Bob' Thompson looked at his screens while sitting in his command pod and groaned, wondering why he had so readily accepted a promotion from the Baron to command one of the latest versions of Leopard Strike's light combat carriers.

  It was not that he did not like the ship, because he did very much and, as a junior flight officer, had cut his teeth flying earlier versions for the Administration. And it was not that he had not always wanted an independent command, it was more that he had underestimated one major thing: the continual admin relating to eighteen operational Mauls, plus four spares; a close protection squadron of Chrysops; a Heron; three battlefield salvage craft; four Hawks; and three Aurora recon aircraft. Until taking command, what was involved in maintaining, arming and fuelling all this hardware, their transportation, plus the feeding, watering and housing of 110 mostly human crew, and a few ACEs, had not really registered. He stood up, stretched, thought about another cup of coffee, but decided that any more and he would have to switch on part of his biosystems and start shunting it directly to his bladder.

  He vigorously ran his fingers through his close-cropped blond hair, then sat back down and started prioritising what was needed as he looked at the latest intelligence reports which the Baron had sent him. Af ter an hour, he nodded to himself and tapped his comms screen, then the icons for the flight leaders, the admin-logistics officer, the workshops commander and the security officer.

  'OK, here it is,' he advised them. 'Movement order. We are heading up to Hauler 19 Rose Foxtrot in about twelve hours time at 2100. The basic engagement orders remain the same. The other Gjomvik Corporation outfit that we are up against is the same. There is, however, a change in the area of the fight. We will have an orders group at 1600. Go to it, people.'

  In the workshops, Captain Paul Black stuck his head around the corner of his office and yelled the movement order at his crew of techs and mechanics.

  They looked up from their workstations and nodded or gave him a thumbs up. Most went back to working on their own private little projects as all the Mauls, Chrysops, Hawks and Auroras had been checked and rechecked while
they had waited the six days for the Games Board to finally decide the best terrain for the set battles to take place. They had also done every piece of preventive maintenance possible on their carrier in the previous weeks. The Maul crews had flown all their training missions in the simulators, only launching and flying the Mauls and other aircraft as a goodwill gesture to entertain the local planetary settlements when the carrier visited them.

  Paul looked at the two individuals who had not acknowledged him and grimaced, wondering if he should yell at them or not, but then shrugged, knowing that it was not worth the effort. Both were effectively freeloaders who, because of family connections, had their jobs and he in turn had to put up with them.

  He heard a sound behind him and knew who it would be, turning with a fixed smile on his face to greet Major Nick Warne.

  Nick Warne looked down the long symmetrically tapering workshop, noticing the two individuals who were not actively engaged in making something, then looked up at the taller Paul Black to comment quietly in his soft, nasal voice: 'You know, we could just leave them behind. I am sure that I could arrange to be looking the other way, but then again, who would brew your beer for you, eh, Paul?'

  Paul looked at the major, who was sporting a small smile that showed an overlong canine tooth jutting out and down to the side of an otherwise perfect denture. Paul had always wondered if it was a natural affliction, or an augment of the perfectly mannered, but generally overbearing little man. But, although he did not like him, he respected his abilities as an engineer, a pilot and a man who would always get the job done, no matter the odds.

  Af ter gazing at the other man for a few seconds, Paul finally answered. 'Yeah, true. Our leader does not mind either, so I suppose we will just live with it. And what brings you to see me?'

  Nick smiled again. 'Force of habit, I suppose, Paul, force of habit. Just spending my time working my way through the ship. Wonder how long it will be before we are yelling at each other again, eh? Me demanding why my aircraft are not flightworthy and you coming up with all sorts of excuses. Let the good times roll.'

  With that Nick turned on his heel and marched towards the closest stairway which would take him up through the rest of the 145-metre-tall carrier. His comms softly chimed and seeing the colonel's icon appear in his vision he answered it immediately. 'Nick. We good?'

  'Yes, just working my way around the ship doing a bit of a check, but I would say that we are OK. You got anything of interest for me?'

  Bob smiled at his old friend and wondered for the hundredth time why Nick had not taken the command of Haast when he had been offered it first.

  'Not really, apart from now knowing what the Aquila are going to throw at us.'

  Nick grunted and said, 'OK, be with you in twenty minutes. Your tea selection had better be up to speed.'

  He carried on walking up one of the spiral staircases at the centre of the Gjomvik Light All Systems Carrier Haast. As he walked between the decks, he could see the lifts were moving, but preferred the exercise. Finally, he made his way onto the command deck and walked through the bridge and into Bob's ready room.

  The colonel called out a greeting and gestured to Nick to make his own brew as he was known to be notoriously fussy and almost on a par with the Baron in his pursuit of the perfect pot of tea.

  Nick looked through the teas available, then fixed the younger man with a sour look. 'Your tea selection is crap, Bob Thompson. I thought I had trained you better than this.'

  Bob laughed at his old commander and mentor. 'Battered looking tin at the back of the cupboard, Nick. Something especially for you.'

  Nick reached in and gingerly lifted out the well-travelled tin. He rolled it around in his hands dubiously, thinking that maybe he should have one of the hazardous materials drones take a look at it first. Judging by its weight, he thought it probably was tea, but gave a little shrug of resignation as he prised off the lid, believing that it would be another of Bob's practical jokes. The aroma of one of the rarest of all teas rose up into his nostrils as he took a long breath. He put the lid back on and looked across at a grinning Bob to say, 'By all that is holy, Bob. This is the Baron's finest Jun Shan Golden Needles! How the hell did you get this? And it's in one of his favourite tins as well. You know he will hang you for that alone!'

  Bob nodded with a serious look on his face. 'Yeah, I flogged it for you, Nick. Know that you love your tea. Go on, be bad for once. He can afford it. He stamped around Lynx for a whole day searching for that tin, getting progressively more and more angry. I thought it bloody funny.'

  Nick looked very uncomfortable, then Bob burst out laughing. Nick smiled with some relief as Bob added, 'Nah, it's all OK, Nick. Our fearless leader gave it to me to give to you. There is another kilo in storage, plus a whole bunch of other teas he sent for you. Said to bring the tin back, though.'

  Nick busied himself for a few minutes making the pot of tea, then finally gathered up two tall glasses with handles and walked over to the low table where Bob was sitting, looking out of the ship through the curved multi-layered graphene windows.

  They both sat in silence as the tea brewed then Nick poured both glasses and handed one across to his commander.

  'So, how are you finding it, Bob?'

  'Yeah, not too bad, Nick. Not too bad really. The admin drives me nuts and I wish we had an AI onboard. Smart computers are great, but an Augmented Intelligence would be so much better. Bit archaic of our Gjomvik Corporations not to have them, but those in control fear them, and they pay the bills plus our wages so there you go. But yeah, it's nice to be the slightly bigger boss. And besides, you are here to help me out.' Nick gave Bob a wry smile. 'Yeah, and when you stuff up I shall say that I told you so and give you a good kicking. And speaking of which, I note that you have not been keeping up your required simulator time. You need to lead from the front, Bob. The whole crew likes you, but they are all cheerful

  enthusiasts so need to see that you can still foot it with them.'

  Bob looked down at the crops of black fennel far below them as the battle carrier hung vertically in the sky, its atmospheric turbofan engines just ticking over. The ship moved sedately over the landscape, the navigation staff actually sailing the great structure downwind through the sky; with tens of thousands of linked graphene-covered one-micron-thick titanium spheres -within each a perfect vacuum -making up the skeletal structure, the whole wing-shaped ship was almost neutrally buoyant in the late morning sunshine. The external surface of the ship was also covered in graphene solar panels, producing an abundance of electricity available to power the thruster units as needed. They could also power the ship's systems, including the catalytic crackers taking the water moisture from the air and breaking it down into oxygen and hydrogen to be used as the fuel for the Mauls, the protective fighters and the drones.

  Bob looked up from his reverie, nodded and took a long drink of tea. 'Damn, but that is good tea! OK, so where are we at? Anything more we need to do this afternoon?'

  Nick poured himself another glass and leaned across to top up Bob's. 'Just pick up a container of the local produce to which this crew has become accustomed while we have been training here, have a final meeting with the Games Board director which is set down for 1500 hours local time, then your orders' group at 1600 and then we are off to leisurely climb up to meet the Hauler Rose 19. So are you going to let me in on what the Aquila have in store for us?'

  Bob looked up slowly. 'Oh, yeah, almost forgot to tell you. We are going up against mid-21st century Saluki. Nice machines. Want to capture one as it is a helicopter that I have not flown for real.'

  Nick put down his glass as a screen unfolded from his battledress sleeve. He tapped the screen a few times and looked over the other Gjomvik outfit's choice of aerial combat machine for a few minutes, then had the screen fold away.

  'OK,' he mused. 'They have gone with old tech contra rotating helicopters. So they are a lot lighter than the Mauls, not as much punch, more manoeuvrable, better ba
ttlefield flight time and they are single-seaters. So, based on the Games Board articles and rules they will be able to field fifty per cent more craf t than us. That's going to be interesting AV, is it not?'

  Bob looked out of the windows and agreed. 'Yeah, going to be a right royal punch-up this one. Wonder where the Games Board are going to take us?'

  'Hmm, well we are not staying here. Looking at what this system has to offer, the choices are too great to give us any idea ... there are three gas giants and over thirty large moons, most with an atmosphere that will oxygenate fuel and give us plenty of lif t. So we will just have to wait and see, Bob.'

  Bob nodded then looked over his tea at his old friend. 'So what do you think of this latest class of carrier, Nick?'

  Nick made a show of slowly looking around the spacious lounge, then back at Bob. He shrugged, then quietly replied. 'Well, we will see if it's any good in combat soon enough. Flash piece of hardware and every convenience that we could wish for, but it's just one enormous wing and I will be really interested to see how it performs in lousy weather. At least we have Mauls and I like them. Tough, brutish, without any redeeming aesthetic features, so yeah, we will wait and see, eh, Bob.'

  Bob drained his cup and nodded. 'Yeah. We'll find out soon enough. The Baron's corporation are knocking these carriers out by the dozen as they tick so many of the Games Board's boxes. I think we will take a few good hits but reckon that we will be able to dish it out as well. I was on the evaluation board of the original and we gave it a good beating, then had the Scimitars knock the crap out of it. Lost half of its capabilities, but got the majority of the crew home still breathing.'