Timestar

by Robert George Mertens

  "Battle mode bridge, Dyna," Suni ordered.

  At once, all of the walls fell away from the bridge, to be replaced with a single large viewscreen, encompassing the entire, now spherical bridge. At the center of the sphere were nine crew stations, equally spaced apart, each station having a clear view of that part of the sphere. Suni sat in the middle of it all, guiding the ship, manuevering and dodging about to gain tactical advantage, all the time making headway for the pinch point of the three-pronged attack.

  "Engage the enemy," Suni ordered, "Fire at will!"

  At that command, the spherical viewscreen erupted in flashes of bright white lasing weapons, missiles and superfast projectiles. Far off, enemy ships began exploding en masse. The battle cruisers were the most vulnerable, being the largest.

  Within moments after the first Butterworth volley, enemy missiles began striking the hull of the Butterworth.

  "Damage report!" Suni called.

  "Minimal damage," Dyna replied, "Less than one percent loss of outer skin where attacks made contact."

  The gigantic Butterworth proved a bit more manueverable than enemy forces had expected. Suni poured power into the engines that moved her around and within moments changed the entire battle scene. They plowed through the forward battle group with such speed that the enemy had no time to switch weapons for close battle and their missiles went wide. Their lasing weapons still made contact, but hull damage remained minor.

  In moments, they were behind the forward attack force, leaving them to peddle their way back into the fray, only after significant amounts of energy were expended to reverse their respective courses. The sudden burst of speed and power caught the rear forces by surprise. While they were still arming and loading weapons, the Butterworth stormed through those forces, leaving a cloudly trail of debris and explosions in her wake.

  In the path in front of her lay three large battlestations, lined up like little balls on a pool table. Suni had set the course, having seen this alignment in order to take advantage of their foolishness.

  "Ramming mode!" Suni yelled out.

  At once, the nose of the Butterworth began reshaping itself into a tip, as an arrowhead. Powerful nuclear wavefields realigned neutrons in the skin of the Butterworth to form the tip of a spear. She aimed carefully and poured a little more power into the engines. Too late, the enemies realized the folly of their parking arrangement and tried to move out of the way. The last ship in the alignment seemed to be the slowest to move.

  By the time it began to move aside, the speartip of the Butterworth began piercing the first of the three battlestations, explosions bursting from around the edges as the tip sunk through to the center of the battlestation. In less than a second, the Butterworth shuddered as it tore through. In a few more seconds, the tip came into contact with the second battle station. Again, in less than a second it was through, leaving behind massive flaming shards.

  The last battle station had only begun to move out of the way, and when the Butterworth finally made contact, it was only slightly off-center. Another fraction of a second and it was through, leaving three gigantic clouds of flame, dust and debris. Of the other forty battle stations, only thirty-four remained, since four of those had been destroyed by the other two battle groups and two had been destroyed by neutron torpedos from the Butterworth.

  Ahead of them lay Relm, along with a few rearguard destroyers. Lasing weapons and missiles made quick work of this group. They were in the pinch. The other two Butterworth battle groups had rejoined them and the planet was dead ahead. Of their three hundred battle cruisers, two hundred and eighty remained.

  "Launch landing craft and begin shelling enemy ground forces," Suni ordered, "Begin Phase 2 of the attack plan."

  At that, fifteen thousand warbots in one hundred and fifty landing craft began falling away from the launch bays of the Butterworth, headed for the surface of Relm. Five thousand warbots were held in reserve in order to shore-up any forces caught in bad ground positions later.

  At the same time, the two battle groups crossed paths and headed up to higher orbit to defend the Butterworth position above the landing forces, while she defended them as they made their way toward the surface of the planet. In short order, the two battle groups split into four battle groups. Two of those took orbital positions about the Butterworth to take on lateral forces, one group defended from above the Butterworth and the last group went to take on the nearest enemy battle group, which included two of the gigantic battle stations and more than three hundred battle cuisers.

  By this time, most of the enemy forces were in disarray. Many were regrouping for an attack on the defended Butterworth position and some were leaving the system, having suffered great losses and deciding not to tangle with the Shadow Ship any further. The Butterworth focused much of its firepower on defended enemy ground positions. Although the landing craft hulls were constructed of neutronium, several were lost to enemy anti-aircraft missiles. Only a few of those warbots were lost, since they were constructed with landing systems that allowed them to drop to the surface without damage.

  "Launch the air attack craft," Suni ordered.

  More than three hundred small aircraft, designed to operate in both air and space began dropping from the launch bay of the Butterworth. Most of these headed for the surface, aligning in attack groups on critical enemy ground positions. The rest of them engaged enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat, defending both the landing craft and the ground attack aircraft.

  "We have ground reconnasaince, Captain," Nikki anounced, "There are over three million enemy ground forces."

  "Jeez," came from Sandy.

  "What about human life signs," Suni asked.

  "None, Captain" Nikki replied, "but there are places where we can’t see him."

  "How’s that?" Suni asked.

  "Heavy metals are blocking our subsurface scans. Some places have a lot of gold, platinum, titanium and other heavy metals in trace amounts."

  "Get me a tactical on those places we can’t read, Nikki."

  "Aye, Captain. I’ll have it in a minute."

  In the meantime, the battle raged outside the ship. Here, in the command center/bridge of the Butterworth, it was almost quiet. Each crewmember had her own station and manned it diligently and flawlessly according to plan. Occasionally, a small rumble made its way from the hull of the ship where a missile had struck.

  Suni still worried about an attack from the Black Hole people, but thus far, they had not shown up. The new, thicker hull would help against them, and was certainly making life easier against these other attackers. So far, the Butterworth’s new hull had proven to be nearly impervious to their weapons. Not so with the battle group escorts, the landing craft or the ground attack aircraft. Those vessels had been made with thinner hulls, since there had not been time to gather enough matter from the black hole to make them all indestructable. She had to rely on cunning and strategy.

  So many machines had to be built for this operation that there was an overall shortage of neutronium for everything, and many things had to be made a little weaker. Even so, she did not skimp on the warbots or the Butterworth hull. The warsuits that the crewmembers wore were also designed and built with care. Short of being caught in a star corona, these warsuits would keep the wearer alive in almost any environment, especially the vacuum of space, in case the Butterworth was damaged to the point of losing its hull integrity.

  "Captain, I have tactical imaging on those heavy metal formations," Nikki anounced. "There appear to be about twenty-two locations of sufficient concentration to block our scans below the surface of the planet. How certain are we that Frank is here… on this planet?"

  "Net says he is definitely here and hasn’t left the planet. Either he’s dead and his body has been destroyed or he’s hiding under one of those metal deposits."

  "I’ve found evidence of a neutronium spill too, Captain," Nikki said.

  "Where?"

  "In the ocean off the western coast of
the continent. But it’s like a trail, like it was burned off a little at a time. I’m seeing multiple elements in the spill. I think he’s not wearing his skinsuit anymore, Captain."

  "Oh my," this came from Tia.

  "Trong," Suni ordered, over the ground-link comset, "I’m sending tactical data on twenty-two locations I want your bots to search for Frank. He’s probably hiding underground at one of those locations."

  "Aye, Captain," came over the comset. The warbots could move quickly over the ground, and Trong had forces moving toward those locations within moments.

  Above the Butterworth and laterally, the battle raged as the four battle groups defended the Butterworth position and staged aggressive attacks on the various enemy battle groups as they regrouped from the various attacks and feints that were mounted. By this time, nearly a third of the enemy forces had either been destroyed or were retreating. At the same time, about a quarter of the Butterworth battle group had been destroyed or damaged. Some of those ships were limping back for repairs.

  "Captain," Nikki said, "it seems the enemy has the same notion we’ve had. Every one of the twenty-two locations I told you about is under heavy occupation by enemy forces. They’re looking for Frank, too."

  Twenty-Eight

  Frank and Gronk had been relaxing over a game a pool when the first sounds came from the front of the cave. Gronk peered over at his battle console and let out a yelp. A moment later, an audio alarm went off.

  "Damn! We should’ve been watching. They’ve found us!" he said.

  "Then why weren’t we?" Frank chided.

  "I didn’t think they would find us this soon. Something must’ve changed on the timeline."

  "The timeline? You mean you knew exactly when this was going to happen?"

  "I thought I did, but something’s altered it… oh… you did. Damn. I should’ve known about that."

  "What do you mean?"

  "No time to explain! Put this on, quick!" Gronk tossed Frank the neutronium-armored suit and its weapons gloves. At that moment, a loud blast and bright flash came from the front of the cave, tossing both Frank and Gronk to the ground. They both grabbed up their suits and went back to putting them on, albeit, remaining on the ground as they did so.

  At once, repelling weapons mounted along the innards of the cave came alive with bright laser flashes and small missiles. At the same time, a heavy stone barrier heaved into place, blocking entry to their section of the cave, allowing a couple of holes through which to fire weapons.

  "We have a minute or two before they get here, but we have to be ready," Gronk said.

  True to his prediction, it was about another minute before enemy troops began showing themselves to Frank and Gronk. It was none too soon that Frank had donned his neutronium-armored suit, since almost in the same moment, he was blasted to the ground by a small projectile that had made its way through one of the small holes. For a moment, he thought he had been injured, but the neutronium battle suit had protected him.

  In another moment, he was up and watching through the eyes of his remotes on the heads-up display, picking out targets and firing small smart missiles at them. Gronk was well into his thirties of victims by the time Frank started after his first. Frank recognized the enemy intruders as those he had seen before. These were Okofani warriors, dressed out in armored suits. The missiles he fired at them were about eighty percent effective.

  In another moment, the mountain shook.

  "That’s an air assault!" Gronk yelled over the din. He used a remote control device to activate anti-aircraft batteries at the surface of the mountain. Frank had lost two of his remotes, but was still able to see that they now planned to storm the cave mouth en masse. Hundreds of Okofani were massed for the attack.

  "I guess now is time for the thunderblinders," Frank yelled.

  "No!" Gronk yelled, "Don’t waste time on that! Use the projectile weapons!"

  "The guns?"

  "Yeah, they’re fully automatic and they’ll spray six-hundred rounds a second."

  "But we’ll be out of ammo in a few seconds."

  "No. They’re low-density neutronium rounds. The gun takes neutronium from your battle suit and converts it. You’ll have hundreds of thousands of rounds before your battle suit is used up."

  "Oh. And what happens then?"

  "We run like hell!"

  Frank and Gronk both lifted their gloves into the sight holes in the barrier and began firing at the fast-moving crowd of Okofani warriors raging into their tunnel. Frank could feel the sting through his glove whenever some projectile struck it, and there were many, since the Okofani were firing at the holes with whatever they could. But the projectile weapons did the job of holding off the onslought. The Okofani were mowed down by the dozens by the rapidly-firing weapon. Frank had not imagined that old-fashioned guns had a place in such advanced warfare.

  The projectile weapons were nearly one hundred percent effective, easily penetrating the Okofani armor. In a few more moments, Frank lost the last of his remotes, only in time to see a huge amored vehicle move into place in front of Gronk’s cave.

  "Do you see that?" he asked Gronk.

  "No, my remotes are gone! What’s happening?"

  "They’re pulling in heavy armor—tanks of some kind!"

  "Well, that’s it! Time to get the hell out of here!" At that, Gronk ran for the escape tunnel. Frank fired a few thousand more projectile rounds before following. They had to crawl on hands and knees through the small, dark tunnel. Frank could barely make out Gronk’s dim form ahead as they quickly made their way along it.

  "I guess they’re not following," Frank said.

  "They have to find the tunnel first," Gronk replied, "It’s disguised."

  For several minutes, they crawled down several hundred meters of tunnel, going deeper and deeper into the mountain. They finally reached the end, where the tunnel curved upward sharply and came up to a hole in the floor of another cave. Emerging from the hole in the floor, the small cave-room lit up, displaying a variety of fire control consoles. Screens in the tiny room showed exterior activity all around them. The mountain was swarming with the enemy all around. Apparently, word had gotten out that this was a hot spot, and the Okofani had been quick to mobilize additional troops.

  Anti-aircraft batteries were running on automatic, firing both missiles and projectiles at enemy aircraft. Support ground batteries defended the anti-aircraft positions, but the enemy was quickly breaking down those defenses.

  "Is there another escape from here?" Frank asked.

  "There is…" Gronk replied, and tapped some buttons on one of the consoles, bringing up another view on one of the screens. "But it’s been discovered." On the screen, they saw several Okofani troops blasting away at a hole in the side of the mountain.

  "What if they send smart missiles down that tunnel?"

  "That one’s a maze. I’m the only one who knows the way through it… if I can remember. I guess I’d better seal up the other tunnel, in case they find the entrance." He tapped another button and the sounds of small explosions echoed from the hole they had just crawled in through.

  "So now what?" Frank asked.

  "I guess we wait for your friends."

  "This room is kinda cramped."

  "Yup. That’s why I waited until the last minute. Want something to drink? Wine? Beer?"

  "What do you have?"

  "I took a liking to this. And we have some of this, too."

  "How could you know this?" Frank said, awed.

  "Know what?"

  "These are both my favorites."

  "Really? Mine too."

  "No shit?"

  "No shit."

  "Cheers," Frank said, as he took a swig..

  "To the Shadow Riders," Gronk replied, taking a swig from his own beer.

  "Say, how come you never brought any of your females with you when you started out?"

  "I didn’t know we were allowed to. Can you believe it? In all these years I never figu
red it out, either. You’re the first one I’ve ever heard of doing that."

  "Well, who decides what we’re allowed to do, anyway? Who decides what we’re supposed to do?’

  "Dunno. I never ran into anybody to tell me."

  "So what did you do for ten million years?"

  "Whatever I wanted. I just did what I thought was right. Don’t get me wrong, it was interesting and exciting. I met millions of people from hundreds of thousands of races. And in a lot of galaxies, I’m very well respected. And well known."

  "But you’re quiting."

  "Yeah. You know Frank, if I’d thought to bring some females along, this might have been a lot more fun than it was. I was really lonely at times. I thought I was going to give you a spiel on how to deal with loneliness when I was going to first meet you. How, after a while, you get used to it and all. And then after a really long time, you don’t even notice it. But you beat me to the punch. You’ve already solved the loneliness problem. You could go on a hundred million years, and never have to worry about it."

  "A hundred million years? I can’t even fathom that much time. I can’t fathom a million years. Or a hundred thousand."

  Frank and Gronk sat for the next hour, watching the screens as the Okofani blasted the mountain with smart bombs and did what they could to open the escape hole. In that time, they put away two six-packs of beer and were starting on the wine.

  It seemed by this time, from the screens they watched, that the Okofani were now fighting two battles. Apparently, there was another enemy they could not see, well into the foliage, closing on the Okofani forces.

  Twenty-Nine

  Tia, Sandy and Michelle had donned warsuits in the planetwide hunt for Frank, having taken charge of several battalions of warbots each, approached from different directions, the mountain where they believed Frank might be. This had been the site of a massive buildup of enemy forces, particularly the Okofani. But other forces had joined them in the fray. Of the ground forces, the Okofani made up more than half.

  Tia had taken charge of three thousand warbots and headed through the passes into the little valley that most of the activity was focused in. Close-air support backed them up as she and her warbots raced upward through the mountains. While the warbots could move more quickly, Tia was human and even with enhanced warsuit abilities, still was only able to move at eighty kilometers per hour. She and her warbots were well into the enemy’s ranks before they realized it, having plowed their way into the skirmish.