Timestar

by Robert George Mertens

She loaded up fifteen K-C Specials in a small spread that would all appear within a few hundred meters of each other. If the Black Hole ship was not too small, she might hit it. She waited for the pattern to repeat, saw it and then fired the spread. All fifteen K-C Specials appeared at once and then disappeared into transpace, only to reappear a few moments later and explode immediately.

  The fifteen nearly simultaneous neutronium core explosions were almost indistinguishable from one-another, but the screens of anyone watching would be able to tell that there were many explosions. One subsequent explosion told her that she had hit paydirt. One more of the Black Hole ships had been destroyed.

  "That’s one, Suni," Maria said.

  "Good work, Maria. Now get me the other two."

  "That may not be so easy."

  It would not be easy. The other two were not using recognizable patterns in their evasive manuevers. While she was attempting to see the pattern, yet another explosion rumbled through the Butterworth.

  "Damage report," Suni said.

  "Exterior hull rupture at the stern. Eighty-one hours to repair," Dyna replied, "Repairs will be underway shortly."

  "We can’t stay sublight for eighty-one more hours. They’ll destroy us," Suni muttered, "We’ve got to get those other two ships. Maria, how are we doing?"

  "Best I can, Suni. I can’t see any patterns of movement in these other two."

  "I have another crazy idea, Suni," Anna said.

  "I’ll take anything right now."

  "It’ll take some time."

  "How much time?"

  "Maybe an hour, maybe a little longer."

  "Do it. Dyna, wake Heidi and get her up here on a weapons console," Suni said.

  "Compliance."

  "Sooner is better, Anna."

  "Got it," Anna said, as she left her station and headed for the laboratory.

  Paddy was on the remaining weapons console, dealing with the more conventional enemy warships. This console, of neccesity, had been modified with more computer control so that she needed only identify the targets and the weapons systems would take over. But there were so many of them, and she was working in three dimensions. She worked in a holographic sphere, but since she was only one person, she had to see in all directions.

  A few moments later, Heidi arrived, looking groggy, but awake.

  "Heidi, take over Nikki’s weapons console, opposite Paddy, please," Suni said.

  "Aye, Suni. Food Service, can I have some coffee here," Heidi called out.

  "Compliance," came from the Food Service computer, "Coffee is on the way."

  "Are we doing evasive manuevers?" Heidi asked.

  "Affirmative," Suni replied.

  Maria, still trying to find some pattern in the Black Hole ships’ evasive manuevers, fired blindly into space, hoping to get a lucky shot, but thus far had managed to waste some forty-odd K-C Specials. The two remaining ships were now on either side of the Butterworth, lining up to take more shots at it.

  Keeping the battle cruisers and smaller ships in defensive positions while moving the Butterworth around was becoming tricky, at best. Suni directed those forces while Nikki conducted evasive manuevers. The two remaining Black Hole ships were certain to be missing many shots with these manuevers, but they were, as was the Butterworth, also having to deal with evasive manuevers.

  Other enemy forces were down to half, through destruction or flight. Many had given up after seeing how ineffective their weaponry had been against the Shadow Ship and its battle cruisers. Nor were they willing to offer themselves up as a distraction so that ships with more powerful weaponry could get in and take their shots. But the more powerful enemies had stayed. And they were wearing down the Shadow Ship defenses.

  Landside, things were not going well. Tia, Sandy and Michelle had certainly found where Frank was hiding, but apparently, his secret was out, and they faced superior forces to get to him. It seemed, Frank had been holding his own and still was, inside the mountain, though Suni could not understand where he had acquired such sophisticated weaponry to hold off an attack force of this magnitude. This reeked of neutronium weapons. But where could Frank have gotten them?

  The evidence was there. The commotion generated at this particular site was apparent even from orbit. Powerful explosive weapons were observed, troops were moving against the mountain and heavily armored vehicles had been moved into place. Suni had sent down the last of the warbot contingent when she saw that Michelle was in trouble. That was it. There was nothing else in reserve.

  Thirty

  "I hate to say it, Frank, but I think you’re people are outnumbered there," Gronk said, watching the viewscreens as he took a sip of wine.

  "There must be something we can do," Frank replied.

  "Sure. We can go out there and add to their numbers."

  "Any one of those warbots has ten times the firepower you or I have. We’d die in the attempt."

  "Well, I didn’t say it was a good solution. It’s just a solution."

  "Hopefully one of many. Isn’t there anything else we can do?"

  "Not sure…"

  Frank and Gronk were still holed-up deep in the mountain, inside a small room barely big enough for the two of them, drinking beer and wine and watching the battle rage outside the mountain. Optical pickups outside the mountain showed them various images of the surrounding terrain. Most importantly, it showed them the overwhelming forces of the enemy. Frank’s warbot forces, though impressive, were far outnumbered by the forces that surrounded the mountain.

  The mountainside was still being pounded with enemy bombs, and many of the optical pickups had been damaged or destroyed. Some had been found by the enemy.

  "There must be something we can do besides sit here and get drunk," Frank said.

  "There is… but I’m a little worried about using it," Gronk replied.

  "What?"

  "The thumb weapon."

  "I thought that was a last resort."

  "I think we’re there."

  "Ugh."

  "Say, that’s a sound my people used to make."

  "What do we have to do?"

  "It’s dangerous. Not just for us, but for your people too."

  "My people?"

  "They could be injured or killed. How good are those suits they’re wearing?"

  "They’ve got to be neutronium. Suni wouldn’t have allowed those girls out there without the best. They’re better than these," Frank said, gesturing at the battlesuits he and Gronk wore.

  "It might kill a lot of your warbots, too."

  "They can be fixed or replaced."

  "What’s happening there?" Gronk said, pointing at the viewscreen.

  "What?"

  "Look. Where have all your warbots gone? Over there?" he pointed at one of the screens.

  "They wouldn’t have done that."

  "Done what?"

  "Left that group over there to fend for themselves," Frank replied. Indeed, Tia and Sandy had disappeared with their respective armies and left Michelle to fend for herself with her lone eight thousand warbots. She would be overwhelmed within the hour.

  "And now, on that ridge, another army approaches. The mech army," Gronk said.

  "Mech army?"

  "Yeah. They’re all robots—Mechanicals—they’re used by some planets that have that kind of technology. They’re usually pretty good fighters, not always as good as biologics, but good. What they lack in instinct they make up for in numbers. This is bad. There’s got to be at least a hundred thousand of them."

  The Mechanical army was moving quickly over the ridge, having been on the heels of Tia’s division, but now niether Tia’s nor Sandy’s divisions were anywhere to be seen.

  "Could they have gone into hiding?" Gronk asked.

  "Where? There’s a tree line, but there’s no way they could’ve hidden that many warbots. There were thousands of them."

  More than one hundred thousand Mechanicals crossed over the ridge and into the valley plain where sever
al other armies were gathered. Each army seemed to be set up in a different camp, but there were enough places where they came into contact that small skirmishes broke out between them, which were quickly stopped by superior officers.

  "Then we use the thumb weapon," Frank said, "We have no choice, now. There are too many of the enemy."

  "But what about your group over there," Gronk asked, pointing at the screen where Michelle and her warbots were standing their ground. "They’ll all be wiped out if we use the thumb weapon, including your lady, there."

  "Do you think any in that group has a chance of surviving?"

  Gronk shook his head with a grim look on his face. With the addition of the Mechanical army, there was no way, even with all of Tia’s and Sandy’s warbots that they could defeat this mass of armies. Michelle’s division was surrounded, with no way to escape. Frank realized for the first time that he might lose one of his people.

  "And what’s going on over here?" Gronk asked.

  "What’s that? Oh. Another small fight, this time between the Mechs and those purple hat creatures."

  "What’s this? Those purple hats are the Ehaadu, and that’s more than a small fight, my friend."

  It was more than a small fight. It seemed to start in one place and then fighting broke out along the line between the Mechanicals and the Ehaadu. In a few more moments, another skirmish broke out between the Mechanicals and several Okofani warriors. On this front, the Mechanicals were less successful, but still seemed to be holding their own.

  "They’re fighting over the spoils," Frank said, "They know we’re outnumbered, so they’ve relaxed and now that they know they have us, they fighting over who gets to take us home with them. They all want my ship."

  "That’s some pretty fierce fighting over spoils, Frank. And look, now the Mohudu have joined in. They’re fighting the Mechs and the Okofani. Damn, boy! We might get out of this alive yet. But where are your other forces?"

  "I don’t know," Frank answered, puzzled. "I can’t believe any of my crew would leave another to die, even if it meant dying with them. I don’t understand this."

  Thirty-One

  From her vantagepoint above Relm, Suni was confused. Obviously Tia’s and Sandy’s forces were still on the battlefield, since she was communicating with them, but tactical images showed them nowhere in sight. Enemy ships had kept the Butterworth away from that part of the planet with aggressive tactical moves, so she could not support them from above, but tactical data kept streaming in from support craft in the area of the heaviest fighting.

  "Tia, Sandy, where are you? I can’t see you on any of my tactical images," Suni hailed them.

  "We’re… hiding. I can’t tell you where right now—I’ll explain later." Tia answered.

  "I need a little help, here," Michelle called in.

  "We’re on our way," Sandy replied.

  "Where? I can’t see you anywhere."

  "Trust me. We’ll be there."

  Suni could not see any warbot troop movement at all. The only warbots on her imaging systems were Michelle’s, and they were about to be overrun by the enemy. Warbots were formidable fighters, but even as powerful as they were, they were up against superior numbers with matching firepower.

  ~

  Michelle’s forces, though surrounded, were dug in well. She had begun this battle with a solid six thousand warbots, but was now down to three thousand. Enemy casualties had been far heavier, having taken them down at a ratio of eight to one, but there were just too many of them. Just a half-hour earlier, she had observed Tia’s forces take the eastern pass and join with Sandy’s forces. And only a few minutes ago, all of their combined forces had simply vanished.

  Surely she was on her own. But Tia had assured her that she was on her way. Even if she arrived at this moment, enemy forces would still overwhelm them. If there was anything good happening, the enemy armies were fighting amongst themselves, apparently in order to see who would get to capture Frank. But now, the fighting was getting pretty fierce, unlike what she had observed from earlier tactical images passed to her from the air support groups. Earlier images had shown light, occasional skirmishes, which were quickly broken up.

  Perhaps now, with the end of the battle in sight, those alliances were falling apart and old rivalries were reemerging.

  In a few more minutes, enemy attacks on her position became more sporadic and less organized. The fighting between the enemy armies had become an all out battle. Now they were fighting each other. Michelle could not comprehend this. If they continued in this manner, eventually one army would emerge victorious, but they would not have enough troops to go against her forces.

  But the battle raged anyway. Bombs dropped on the field by enemy support craft littered the valley with craters and bodies of the fallen enemies. For an hour and a half, Michelle and her warbots held off the attackers while they battled against each other. In the end, it seemed the only two armies remaining were the Mechs and the Okofani. It was surprising to them, however, that the Mechs held so well against the Okofani, since the Okofani were far superior to the Mechs.

  In another half an hour, Michelle’s attackers had nearly died off, having been called off to join in the battle between the Okofani and the Mechanicals. Still, Tia’s and Sandy’s forces were nowhere to be seen. Now the valley-become-battlefield was littered with bodies, vehicles and bomb pits. The strangest thing was that the Mechs were now winning against the Okofani. Both armies were dwindling in size. What began as more than four hundred thousand strong, including the Mechs, was now down to a mere fifty thousand between the two remaining armies.

  It was known that neither Mechs nor Okofani ever surrendered, so this battle would be down to the last man or machine. In another half an hour, the Okofani were down to a thousand, while the Mechs were down to five thousand, but the fighting was still fierce.

  Michelle felt at this point that she had sufficient forces to take them all out.

  "Tia, where are you?" Michelle ventured over her comset. "I’m taking my forces in. I’m going to wipe out the remainder of these two armies."

  "No! Michelle, hold your position!"

  "But I can take them now!"

  "No! You’ll be firing on us!"

  "What?"

  "But how? I don’t see you anywhere."

  "Just hold your position. We’ll be there soon!"

  Michelle could not see signs of Tia’s or Sandy’s warbots anywhere. She looked over her tactical images again, looking for any sign of warbots. Besides her own, there were none to be seen anywhere. She watched as the Mechs wiped away the remainder of the Okofani. Some four thousand Mechs began fighting amongst themselves, yet. Now this was very confusing. Mechs fighting Mechs?

  Within minutes, another thousand Mechs lay in ruins, and the main force of some three thousand Mechs began marching towards Michelle’s position. She had seen how effective they had been against the Okofani and braced for the onslought. Those Mechs had fought at least as well as her own warbots. They were now four thousand Mechs against her three thousand warbots. With those numbers, given a one-to-one loss ratio, her forces would be destroyed.

  "Tia, where are you? The Mechanicals are coming my way and I can’t take them—they outnumber us!"

  "Relax. We’re here."

  "Where?"

  "Right in front of you."

  Just as Tia said it, the first Mechs came marching onto her position, weapons put away. They made no move to attack, but simply marched into the open.

  "What in the name of…"

  "It’s us!" Tia said, as one of the lead Mechs looked up and waved at her.

  "What??? But… how?"

  "You forget. Warbot shapes are programmable."

  "Ooooooooh, right. You reprogrammed them all to look like Mechanicals and then merged with those troops."

  "Yes. And then when we got into position in the valley, we started some fights. The enemy troops we started fights with fought back indiscriminately, often shooting at the re
al Mechanicals, who also fought back. Before we knew it, we were in an all out battle. The Mechanicals didn’t know any better so they helped us. We just blended in with them. They don’t fight very well, but they had the numbers, so everything went our way."

  "My god, you’re insane."

  "Thanks."

  "Where’s Sandy?"

  "She’s back there somewhere," Tia said, thumbing behind her. "Trong, secure this valley and make sure there are no other enemy troops about. Place units on all of those passes until we can gather everything and get clear of here. Send the repairbots to gather up our damaged warbots. And make sure there are no warbot parts lying about anywhere." Trong stood beside her as she said this.

  "Compliance," Trong replied.

  "Now where’s Frank?" Tia asked.

  "We think he’s under that mountain somewhere," Michelle replied, pointing at the southern mountain. "There’s a little village near a cave. That’s were all the commotion started. I hope he’s still alive."

  "Suni," Tia announced over her comset, "the valley is secured. We’re going in to look for Frank now."

  "Good work, Tia. I’ll be sending craft down to collect damaged equipment as soon as I can. The situation here is still a little dicey. There are at least two Black Hole ships attacking us, in addition to the armada that was waiting for us when we got here."

  "Ten-four, Suni. We’ll be waiting for pickup as soon as we find Frank."

  "Well?" Tia said, gazing at the valley below and the mountain above, as though wondering what to do next.

  "Let’s go find him." Michelle said.

  Thirty-Two

  "Your Suni was right to send humans along with your warbots," Gronk said.

  "Wow," was all that Frank could say for several minutes after observing what had just transpired.

  Frank and Gronk had watched, stunned, as the attacking armies, one-by-one, fought and wiped each other out. Gronk had been amazed to see the Mechs fight as well as they did, and commented that he thought these were some of the best mechanical fighters he had ever seen. Then, after finally defeating the last of the Okofani, they watched in shock as the Mechs started fighting amongst themselves, yet. After that was finished, they knew that the Mechs still had sufficient forces to wipe out the remaining warbot force under the southern pass. They watched with baited breath as the remainder of the Mechs approached the warbot division with their weapons holstered.