“Thank you, Jim. If I may add one more thing. I know what it is like to be trapped. Many years ago, I was sentenced with my father to work as a slave on a League of Planets mine. I understand what it is like to feel contained and controlled; it’s the worst feeling in the world. I remember so clearly him telling me that character is forged in the tough times, by persevering and adhering to one’s principles. Only in retrospect, do we realize how these trials made us better and stronger. Let me just end by saying, the universe is about to discover the humanity’s character is unlike anything Frozos has come across before.”
The following day, not one Arbor Ridge employee fails to show up for work. Vacation travel is curtailed, yes, and some financial market jitters remain, but the prevailing calm proves to be more durable than Frozos had hoped and frankly than many of the world’s leaders had feared.
Chapter 22
Jersey City
May 12, 2029
Twelve days have passed since Admiral Tyrone Tiberius deployed his last-ditch effort to get back into Supreme General Anton Frozos’s good graces: the sunsheet. Nearly 10 percent of sunlight is blocked from getting to Earth on a daily basis. Temperatures are a few degrees below the daily average for this time of year, but that’s largely not noticeable to the public given normal deviations, though it could have significant long-term effects if sustained.
The concerted effort by world leaders, with an assist from Robert Wilson, has helped to keep the public calm. Indeed, remaining calm has been hailed as an act of patriotism and bravery, which for the time being has strengthened the public’s resolve. Assisting this, of course, has been the fact that daily life still does continue as normal. This may not last forever; how the public will respond then is a question weighing on the political leadership.
PEACE has been using the past two weeks to continually expand its capacity. Its fleet of combat-ready SF-01s now stands at 26,000, and the pilot count has just passed 26,000, meaning that every one of these planes could be used in battle. Waiting two weeks to attack the sunsheet has been critical in delaying the apparently inevitable conflict and developing enough militarily strength to make it a fairer fight.
Since this began, Jake Thornhill and Robert had circled May 11 to 14 as the optimal window for attack. Delaying until then allowed PEACE’s forces to essentially double in size while not allowing the sunsheet to grow so large that it posed a true danger to Earth. Despite hours upon hours of analysis and conjecture, no one could figure out why Tiberius built the sunsheet so near the Earth’s force field and why he left it unguarded. Admittedly, his military strategy had been lacking during this entire conflict, but this move seemed particularly odd. Nonetheless, this past afternoon, Robert informed Thornhill’s team that he would not suffer analysis paralysis, and that they would strike tonight.
Recognizing there could be a trap of some sort, it has been agreed that maintaining some element of surprise is critical. The best assumption is that Tiberius is monitoring the Arbor Ridge towers as well as military bases that his forces have discovered. Consequently, they have agreed to deploy forces from one of their two existing production sites outside of the Arbor Ridge towers: an Arbor Ridge research facility in the South Indian Ocean that also helps support the force field.
There are 547 SF-01s housed in this facility. To an outsider above sea level, this facility looks like an offshore oil rig, production platform and all. Underneath the ocean though, the facility expands into a large warehouse where Robert has been storing planes since December. The group commander stationed at this facility is Kim Ji-Yoo of South Korea, one of the winners of the Galactic Flyer internship contest. Now twenty-three, she graduated college in mechanical engineering with honors. Her flying style is calculated and methodical, conservative but not timid. She trains harder than most other commanders on simulators to play out scenarios as much as possible. She relies less on “feel” and more based on playing the odds. She should be well-suited to lead what ought to be a straight forward mission without growing overly cocky and letting her guard down.
It is nearly 11:00 PM in Jersey City, making it about 8:30 AM at the PEACE base in the Indian Ocean. Robert is standing in the command center to watch the mission, codenamed Icarus. He has already given his blessing to proceed and should be merely an observer. About one hundred planes can fit on the platform at any one time. They are being brought up in a series of elevators, pilots already in the cockpit. Rather than having to take off, they are able to lift themselves into the sky from a stationary position, thanks to a fully rotational engine.
Getting the first hundred birds in the air was simple, and things are now moving a bit slower. Once airborne, the planes fly to their designated spot over the ocean in a grid like pattern. Importantly, and one reason why today was chosen to initiate Icarus, the sky is filled with low lying clouds. It has even begun to rain over the “drilling platform.” Finally, after about twenty minutes, all the SF-01s are in the air at their assigned spot. It is now 11:07 PM. On the screen in the command center, they see a live stream from satellites in space as well as from Kim’s cockpit. Over the speakers, they hear Kim order her group: “Begin ascent.”
The 547 SF-01s shoot upwards at a speed greater than that of a space shuttle. It will take them exactly twenty-two minutes and twelve seconds to get 38,995 miles above the Earth. That will be about five miles inside of the force field line and 205 miles away from the sunsheet. At exactly 11:30 PM Eastern time, or about twenty seconds after their arrival, the force field projectors from the South Indian Ocean, Tokyo, Hanoi, and Sydney will turn off. This will create a hole in the force field well in excess of the size of the sunshade while keeping the rest of the planet protected from an assault away from the shield. They will be given ninety seconds to fire their laser cannons repeatedly in each pilot’s assigned target area to destroy most if not all of the sunsheet. In his hand, Robert is holding a black remote with a red button on it. He alone can click it and give another sixty seconds to blow up more of the sunsheet if necessary, but after that, the force field will be automatically redeployed and locked from being opened again for thirty minutes.
At 11:29:40 PM in Jersey City (8:29:40 AM local time), Kim’s ship comes to a halt. It automatically locks its position to avoid an inadvertent drift across the force field line. “Be calm and methodical everyone,” she says as she tightens her right hand around the firing trigger.
Above them, there is nothing but darkness with the sunsheet blocking all light. Their systems do not recognize any enemy ships, an encouraging sign. With two seconds to go, she says, “Fire.”
There is an array of light as volleys of laser cannons shoot 200 miles into space before erupting the sunsheet, which disintegrates at the point of attack. With each passing shot, the view from Kim and her fellow pilots’ cockpits brightens as sunlight passes through where it once was blocked. Firing once per second, over 4,500 shots are fired at the sunsheet, each strong enough to level a sixty-story building. There is no resistance from Tiberius’s forces.
In the command center, excitement builds as the assembled crowd cheers the sunlight. Robert puts the remote control in his pocket. At ninety seconds, the force field is once again fired from the four PEACE ground locations, and Kim orders “Cease fire.” Looking 200 miles above them, they see the remnants of the sunsheet aflame. Over 70 percent has been destroyed, and by the time they make the twenty-two-minute journey back to the base, the rest will have been burnt to ashes. Project Icarus has been a complete success, it would seem.
While much of the room is in celebration, an aide walks over to Thornhill. Together, they comb through videos on a computer. After two minutes, he shouts, “Put satellite camera twenty-three on the screen.” This satellite is orbiting above Western Europe. Video from it during the attack on the sun shield shows ships from the League of Planets testing to see if they could pass through the force field.
“Look,” Thornhill says to Robert, “
they were testing to see if we could open the force field in one area or if there would be openings globally.”
“So,” Robert responds, “We thought they were laying the groundwork for a long-term siege campaign when in reality it too was a Trojan Horse, aiming to let them in. That’s why they left it undefended so we would only send ships from one location.”
“I’m not sure entirely of their motivation. They aren’t testing with enough crafts to have been able to successfully conquer the planet if indeed the entire shield was down. It feels as though the entire thing was just a test-run.”
“Tell me Jake, are you a sports fan?”
“Why yes, I love baseball.”
“Well, today it feels like we won a spring training game, a contest that really didn’t matter. Worse, we used our star players, giving away our game plan, while they only fielded minor leaguers.”
“Yes, it is an unsatisfying victory,” Thornhill says. That sentiment has been gradually building throughout the command center as realization deepens that Tiberius never intended to defend the sunsheet. This was merely an opening salvo. But to what end?
“Okay. Well, regardless, let’s send a memo to the military contacts. Quote: ‘Mission a success. Sunsheet destroyed. Attacks on force field failed. Further actions likely.’ End quote. I don’t want too many details. I’ll go out to the press and spin a nice story. We should at least be able to stiffen public confidence thanks to this.”
About thirty minutes later, Robert is standing about a block outside the Arbor Ridge building in Jersey City. It’s lightly misting outside so he is holding an umbrella. There is a gaggle of press in front of him with nearly a dozen cameras. It was clear to the public that something was going on when the black spot over the sky in Asia disappeared, so Robert is really here to put a face behind the good news.
“Good evening. Thank you for assembling at this late hour. I am happy to report that as promised, PEACE took action against the sunsheet. Using about 550 planes from a secure facility in the Indian Ocean, we launched an attack on the sunsheet and found minimal resistance. Our fleet of SF-01s stayed within the force field for the entirety of the strike. The force field over part of the planet was lifted for between one and two minutes; for security reasons, I cannot be more specific than that.
“In this short time, thanks to the efficiency of our pilots and strength of our technology platform, we were able to lay waste to the sunsheet, restoring sunlight back to normal immediately. We promised action, and we have delivered it. There have been no disruptions to daily life, and during these two weeks, we have added thousands of pilots and fighter jets.
“I can say without a doubt our resistance has been among the most effective and least costly of any that Frozos has faced in his years of conquest. I do not expect that to deter him, and we should prepare ourselves for them to adapt the sunsheet strategy. I continue to thank the public for the calm, workmanlike attitude they have maintained frankly since the first ship arrived on April second. Let’s continue to plow forward until this threat is relegated to history’s trash can. Thank you and God bless.”
Meanwhile in the sky above Earth, Tiberius is sitting in his office, reviewing the data from the attack. He had suspected the attack on another part of the shield would prove futile, but it was a low-cost Hail Mary. Right on time, a hologram of a General Frozos appears in front him. Frozos appears neither pleased nor displeased today.
“Tell me, Admiral, did you collect the necessary data?”
“Yes, Supreme General. As we expected, the force field only opened in certain areas, but our sensors should now be able to detect when it turns off and on.”
“Good. And on their jets?”
“Yes, we have a better understanding of their laser’s firepower, average, and speed, above-average. Defense capabilities are of course not fully understood.”
“And how long for the next phase of construction?”
“Given the incremental distance, it will likely not be as productive as the first sunsheet, so I would estimate fifteen days to get where we were today in terms of coverage. But may I suggest, we wait a day or two to begin, that way it seems like we are evaluating options. Their arrogance is their gravest liability. We should be certain to exploit it.”
“Yes, that’s fine. You still have operational control over this military operation I remind you, so I defer to your judgment.”
Tiberius knows Frozos is saying this to distance himself from further failure and leave him as the fall man should there be another issue. This next move had to work, and he was confident that it would.
“Yes I understand, Supreme General.”
Chapter 23
Jersey City
June 2, 2029
Three weeks have passed since the successful attack on the first sunsheet. In that time, there has been much activity on both sides of the force field. 42,000 miles above Earth, the League of Planets’s forces have begun construction in the upper atmosphere once more. This construction began on the afternoon of May 15, New York time. The material for the original sunsheet had been carried to Earth on the first supertanker transporters, but more of the fiber is being used from the other two ships to construct Admiral Tyrone Tiberius’ second project. There are two main differences in this second sunsheet iteration.
First, rather than build one massive sunsheet that follows the sun, the League is building fifteen sunsheets. The center of each one is a force field launcher: the twelve Arbor Ridge towers and the three research facilities in the South Indian, Arctic, and South Atlantic oceans. From each center point, drone ships have been building outwards, so that there will be fifteen sizable and ever-growing circular sunsheets above the planet. Because these sunsheets orbit over the same spot on the planet, they block less sunlight over the course of twenty-four hours, spending eight to fourteen hours in darkness in a given day.
This fact means that even though they now cover 10 percent of the Earth’s surface, like the first sunsheet did when it was attacked, they have less of an impact on global temperatures, energy production, and agriculture. Tiberius has exhausted all of the material in the second supertanker, and he will soon be beginning to use the inventory aboard the final supertanker to continue to grow each of these fifteen miniature sunsheets so that they have the necessary impact on life on Earth.
Second, while the first sunsheet was built just about 200 miles above the force field line, this variation is being constructed about 3,000 miles above the force field line. At this distance, the sunsheet is outside of the range of the SF-01 weapons, which is closer to 1,200 miles, meaning that to destroy the sunsheet, the fleet would have to traverse beyond the force field line.
During this construction period, an additional transport destroyer group has arrived. That means there are now five transport destroyers, each accompanied by about one hundred smaller ships of all shapes and sizes and the several thousand unmanned attack drones they could carry. With the additional destroyer, Tiberius has shifted positioning somewhat. One destroyer group continues to pin down the lunar base, Tiberius’ own ship sits above the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, one is above Moscow, one above Rio de Janeiro, and one above Bangkok. Each of these ships is hovering about 10,000 miles beyond the edge of the force field. Magnus has withdrawn by about 75,000 miles, orbiting on the opposite side of the planet as the moon. Whether Frozos has done this for strategic reasons or to signify he is primarily an observer rather than the lead commander is unclear to combatants aboard the destroyers as well as fighters on Earth.
While there has been much activity high in space, the pace on the ground has been equally busy. First, PEACE Commander Robert Wilson and Jake Thornhill have spent much of their time determining the challenge posed by this new sunsheet structure. From what they’ve discovered, Tiberius’ new construction will take longer to reach critical mass, which has bought PEACE time to continue to expand its military cap
acity. Indeed, they have been doing just that, building an additional 14,000 combat ready SF-01s over the last three weeks, bringing the total plane count to 40,000. This leaves them well on pace to hit the 50,000-plane target inside of the three month timeline. Pilot training has also been progressing quite nicely. There are 51,000 approved pilots, of which 13,424 are either active or retired military officers. There are another 33,000 recruits undergoing training, and 17,000 have failed out. Given the approved pilot count and likelihood that recruits will bring the number near the 75,000 target, additional recruiting has come to a halt, giving group commander and squadron commanders more time to train in simulators rather than worrying about rallying and exciting new recruits.
Robert is pleased with where PEACE is today; in all honesty, it has exceeded his expectations. They have managed to avoid direct conflict with Frozos, and delivered two confidence-inspiring victories, destroying two supertanker transporters, the speedway portal construction site, and the first sunsheet. These victories have given new recruits and pilots a tremendous confidence boost. Importantly, they have given the public confidence, with over 75 percent of people globally confident in PEACE and Robert’s leadership. This mass public support has given him the ability to act largely independently of the demands of elected governments and their military representatives should he so choose—although to this point, he hasn’t. While at first Robert felt he needed the nonbinding support of governments to provide legitimacy for his actions, the public’s trust provides legitimacy in and of itself, or so he feels. This reality has been appreciated by governments globally, some of whom are comfortable deferring to Robert and others wary of the power he has been amassing.
Robert Wilson and the Invasion from Within Page 20