Greener Green III: Let Light Reign

by Peter Sowatskey

  Melin's voice interrupted from out of nowhere. "Do it like you say. They'll think we are trying to cut off their retreat from the front on assault which will be coming out from the Universe proper. Might make them more apt to go out into the Void where they feel safe, until they run into Erlo's atomic mine field. She asked you four nicely, to not resist duplication. She knew I'd done already done that. Be nice. See you back on the beach."

  I shrugged. They shrugged.

  I said, "Let's go to the War Room and mock this up in 3-D." In the great expanse of the War Room's domed roof we lay on couches with helmets on our heads. Greta, at the controls, positioned the Universe ARK. We flew our wedges along the Void toward it. Immediately, it became apparent that we didn't have enough data to achieve a forward view of what we were flying into. I said into the pickup on the helmet.

  "Bravery is one thing, stupidity is another. We need a fleet on unmanned armed observation drones to get exact data. They should be remote controlled with preprogrammed back-up in case positive control goes out. Also they should have a green 'net' weapon carried by all. Comphrende?"

  A bunch of 'Sis' came back. I took off my helmet. "Let's go to the drafting room and write the specs. But first let's get Nikon involved. Comm, get me through to Nikon's personal secure phone."

  "Nikon here."

  "General, this is Lenh, good day to you, and congratulations on your victory."

  "They'll be back."

  "No doubt, but not tomorrow. I need you to get me visuals of the ANNU KI occupied Universe ARK. Here's the drill. You send out an observation drone--which I'll supply. It observes, gets shot up. Take out whoever shot it, send another. Same thing until we get complete visuals of the target. What you need to accomplish this, you get. In spades."

  I could follow his thoughts, "Probably not a bad idea. Keeps the enemy busy, keeps him thinking we are going for a frontal attack. We aren't, are we?"

  "No. For your ears only. We need those visuals in five days."

  "I'll throw it at the wall; you send me the ships."

  "Figuratively speaking, look over your shoulder. Three craft will be landing in five minutes, with liaison personnel. Lenh out."

  "Greta, make my promises come true, please."

  "Working on it."

  We wrote the drone specs. Cmdr. Jones sent them to the First Fed, for delivery back here on Hendes I, tomorrow. That left us free for the evening. My suggestion we go dirt side got ready acceptance.

  We walked a long time before we stopped at Hector's Post. They were glad we finally saw the need for an escape from duty.

  Two days later visuals from Nikon's drones began arriving in the War Room. I studied them; then called my 'fearless four' plus Kris and Kristen.

  When they reported, I said "Helmets on. Tell me about it."

  Using the helmet intercom, Nerre' said, "They're crazy. They'll never move their ARK by pushing on one end. The damn thing is a thousand miles long by five hundred miles, by two hundred. They could mount drives on every inch of their end and not achieve enough thrust."

  "They're not crazy. Find another explanation."

  Heidi saw it first. "They're going to cut a slab off. From the effort calculation I did, they've been preparing for millions of years."

  I applauded. "Give the girl a star. When they get their slab cut away, they will bring it in amidst the galaxies. We'll have nothing that can touch them."

  Greta interrupted. "Sister Gun Boat in-bound, Thelma and crew on board. Direct from Melin, according to their ship's log."

  "Set them down as close as possible. Greta, send a Battle Wagon. Direct them here when they arrive."

  Returning to the visuals, Tina asked, "What are those indentions on the surface? I've tried zooming in but the resolution won't hold."

  "I thought that odd myself. A flat surface would be easier to make. But knowing the builders, it might have been their idea of art. Everyone calculate how much firepower we would need to take out the main cannons and drive placements."

  I kept my own estimations to myself. When they finished, the consensus was that we could bring enough firepower to bear.

  Greta called, "Our new arrivals are on their way down."

  We removed our helmets and took seats around a circular table. I called up a display of the ANNU KI occupied ARK in the table's hollow center. Rather fuzzy, but it served the purpose.

  Thelma, Hank, Jim, Granger, Lil and Mary came into the room. After I introduced myself to those I hadn't met face to face, I asked, "Thelma, you have a message. I've been relieved, promoted, what?"

  Thelma's face had a slight smile, "All those options were discussed. With all the dentists you made rich, the conclusion couldn't be other than; you did what you considered necessary. What no one, including me, had the balls to achieve. But you've complicated the planning process. Let's see if we can make that an asset. Find seats and arm ourselves with laser pointers. Then I'll tell you what Melin wants."

  When all were seated Thelma directed, "Granger, continue, you were there."

  He rotated the object so that the unoccupied end showed skyward. "There, in the middle of the end surface, Melin plans to enter. She says it will recognize her as a crew member, she has codes. When the Elder Ark went through the assembly process 5% pieces were put together to make the whole. At the opposite end of where Melin will enter the ANNU KI control 5%, which they've had since whenever. When she enters the unoccupied end's control room, and puts in the command codes, we're up the creek. And we're not up the creek. We're not in so far as she can control the overall shield and prevent it from denying access to our forces. But when she takes over, 5% section by 5% section, each section will report itself ready for duty. When the sensors come to the end that the ANNU KI inhabit it won't report itself ready. So, the sensors will eject that 5% into the Void. But, the drives the ANNU KI has in place are sufficient to move that section anywhere, the middle of the Universe, for example. I don't have to mention all the bad things that can happen afterwards."

  Erlo continued, "Bottom line? We have to destroy those drives, while the ARK is reporting to Melin. Lenh, you know better than anyone about our assets. Can we do it?"

  "I think so. But I want that controlled sun standing by in case we come up short. Not too close, or the Universe ARK will raise its shield. Maybe behind Frizdier would be right. I don't know. The directors of it do. Ask them."

  Hank put in, "They say they can jump from Frizdier to the Void in no time. They will stand by."

  I remarked, "That's a start. Somebody become a calculator, because we need to know how many ships can get a shot. Since there is no linear time out there one shot, one successful attack, will wipe out the entire ANNU KI efforts once and for all. Can you see it?"

  I saw in their minds they did, so I turned the Ark to the ANNU KI occupied end. Greta came in and took a place behind a console which appeared out of a wall. Laser beams appeared, directed at the end. Then so many, I lost count of them.

  Eventually, a number appeared in mid-air, 390,000.

  I said, "Unless anybody has a better idea, we'll send in that number of pre-targeted drones for the first wave. The second wave will be two-fold: drones backed by manned AI ships visually targeting the second drone wave according to targets left. Then, the manned third wave takes out what they have time for as they go by. The fourth wave will be M-class ships, which will pick targets. Because the main enemy guns don't appear to be anti-personnel, the tanks will touchdown five miles back from the ANNU KI occupied section, on all four surfaces, and approach to the ANNU KI end firing as they go. We have to assume there will be ships attached to the Void facing surface, which we have no intelligence on. Rail Gun Carrier Docks will stand off and shoot them as they come into sight. Also Ranger ships will be ready to catch the enemy ships that get by the Rail Guns. Greta, can you let that scenario play out in slow motion 3D above the couches?"

  "It will take me ten minutes to set up."

  "Fine. And get Cmdr. Dick Jones d
own here, now. Any questions as she does that?"

  Thelma asked, "Do you intend to occupy this ARK?"

  "Immediately. If Melin can open the personnel doors? Waves of First Fed, pre-catastrophic, and present-time, ships will be standing off. They will swoop in and let their troops off as they go by. There's always the danger that the ARKs command centers have back up reject protocol. It's dicey what would happen in that case. If we have 500,000 troops onboard, it might accept the status quo, or blow itself up. Melin share anything along those lines with any of you?"

  Mary answered, "She just says she will do what she can. This whole thing is slightly beyond her, and she's barely hanging on. Though, she won't admit that."

  I said, "The fresher's are the pink doors. The silver door is a break room with food and drinks. Make use of them until Cmdr. Jones gets here."

  People milled around for the twenty minutes it took for him to arrive, nine feet tall stepping off a models runway. Short blond hair and a smiling square face, about summed him up. If you couldn't look at his mechanical insides you wouldn't have known he hadn't been born, but in a way he had been born, to mother Lenh's blueprint, curious emotional mixture that.

  I said, "Dick, we're planning the final attack. Your mission will be to have personnel ready to go into the ARK if doors open. The more the merrier."

  "I have a million six here now in platoon sized ships and their suits by their sides. They have anti ANNU KI side arms and green web launchers. Another 100,000 arrive every hour from both sources."

  I asked, "Does anybody have any reality on what the Universe ARK could consider time to be?"

  Erlo answered, "Time has to be made on such a ship. If you're asking, how much time will be spanned by any open door, that can't be known now.

  I said, "Helmets on people, Hector, you're with me on a wide flat side. For easy orientation, let's regard mine and Hector's side as the top. Thelma, you and Hank and Jim have the other wide flat side, which we refer to as the bottom. Granger, you and Lil have a narrow side facing inward to our Universe. Erlo, you and Mary have the narrow Void side, because you, Erlo, will be tied into Ranger dispatch. You'll be in a 'M' class Gun Ship, like me. Thelma, Granger, you'll be in regular 'M' class ships. Kris and Kristen will do the fly bys and after the preplanned drone waves, and hit any enemy vessels. I'm assuming you have enough drones on hand?"

  Kristen answered, "I will have sufficient delivered to the Void."

  Kris said, "I will see to the preprogramming and the targeting of the second wave."

  "Excellent. Well, let's run through it a few hundred times. Greta, you are the ANNU KI, which are in the end opposite the end where Melin will attempt to enter. Don't allow us to succeed."

  The 89th time through we finally did succeed. It took a lot of creativity on our part, and a fifth wave of Green Ships to do so. The ANNU KI main cannon were very efficient. We compressed the time between waves, which took advantage of their need to recharge the cannons. We also shifted from targeting the cannons themselves, rather concentrating on the nearby square structures which housed the Hydrogen Fusion reactors.

  We quit before midnight to allow Greta and her people time to input the new observations. I asked why they couldn't be inputted as they arrived. They usually were, but she didn't want to make it too hard for us attackers in so far as we needing to adapt on the fly. She said it with a straight face so I didn't send her to the kitchen to peel potatoes.

  We agreed to not coordinate with Nikon and his attack. He would be attacking at the same time, directly out from the Universe on a wide front. We thought it likely that the enemy would take that as the main attack; as no one had attacked by skimming along the Void, up to now.

  Operational Area ANNU KI occupied ARK by the Void

  Chapter Thirty One

  Admiral Lenh

  "I am in."

  I relayed Melin's message to Greta, whose ship would stand off in an observation mode; and also my Comm net.

  "Melin is in. Go!"

  My 'M' Class Gun Ship moved. I knew we moved because the overhead displayed objects shifted. Under Invis, I arrived at my command point, a hundred miles short of the ANNU KI occupied section of the Elder's Universe ARK. Hector lay on a separate couch beside me--for back-up.

  We stopped. I checked the feeds from the other 'M' class Command Ships. They acknowledged, one, two, three, they were in position, also.

  The first wave of drones, also under Invis, went by close above me. Massive explosions erupted on the deck of the ANNU KI end, causing secondary damage. Before the second wave of drones, the ANNU KI threw up a wall of fire. Consequently they (the second wave of drones) were less effective, though they were also under Invis, and arrived three minutes later, per our plan. They struck and all four sides, despite the ANNU KI counter fire, again became a series of white flashes.

  I literally held my breath, in anxiety, that the ARK would evaluate this melee as an attack against itself, not minor surface irritations. If so it would put up shields, making Melin our only relevant player. No shields rose to hinder us.

  At a higher altitude than the previous waves the AI ships attacked a minute later, cannons blazing. They shot over the whiteness of the ANNU KI counter fire.

  The relay from Greta, from a remote viewpoint, showed the whole ANNU KI occupied expanse erupting from all four sides. The fourth wave, Ranger ships, added to the overall chaos. Three minutes after them, the Green Ships went over us. They picked off remaining whole targets, also dropping a blanket of their constricting nets. Any solid object got a net over it.

  I continued to observe four sides and the end expanse, concentrating on the side which showed the most activity. The side facing the Universe (to my left) showed ten Rail Gun Docks going by. At the end of the ARK, they made a right turn and positioned themselves vertically above each other. As one, particle beams leapt outward toward the Void. As the beams passed the ANNU KI end, they burnt everything over ten feet high to separate atoms. Minor deviations in Dock positions resulted in the total destruction of the attached drive assemblies for the entire end.

  Then all ten Docks did a 180 degree turn and removed themselves, to their secondary battle positions, still covering any activity on the end area, while attached Carriers ejected from the Docks, which in turn launched fighters to provide close cover.

  The back side, (out to the Void), seen from Mary and Erlo's Gun Ship, showed the same destruction on the flat surface as mine did, but with a lot of ANNU KI saucer traffic, which the Ranger ships were destroying, and were destroyed by. A quick unscientific survey, by me, showed us slightly ahead on kills.

  The side opposite me, our designated (bottom), showed the same level of destruction, but easily suppressible saucer traffic.

  Suddenly Hector and I were looking down, from five miles, and forward, from a remote view point in Greta's ship, which showed two sides and the occupied end.

  Hell erupted from my Gun Ship. I couldn't see specific targets, but evidently, the gunners could. The Gun Ship rotated bringing fresh turrets to bear.

  I switched to close up view directly in front of my ship. The Tanks were down and almost to the end section. (I checked), on all four sides. Suddenly, doors opened in the surface, just over the separation into the ANNU KI occupied end. A horde of suited figures raced toward the tanks, firing shoulder held rocket launchers. The Tanks veered at a slight angle and the rockets, which found their targets, glanced off the curved sides, while a cloud of nets landed on the enemy Battle Suits.

  I switched to the rear view, to the end that Melin had entered, and saw hatches opening in the surface, section by section. Two minutes after opening, our suited figures hit the surfaces and disappeared into the hatches. Then another series of hatches opened nearer to me and troops went in.

  Evidently Melin still maintained internal control as there were no interruptions of the expected sequences.

  From Mary's and Erlo's view, I watched Saucer Mother Ships in great clouds come toward the Elder AR
K from the Void. I didn't worry; their Gun Ship gunners distracted the Mother Ships, while piercing particle streams from the Rail Gun Docks sliced through the enemy, resulting in small pieces of metal. The Rail Gun Docks I'd placed on the Void side of the ARK destroyed the enemy by the hundreds. We lost seventeen Docks in that set to--but the enemy lost many hundreds of Mother Ships. When the Docks died, my screen flashed and I felt their deaths inside, like bits of me died with them.

  Suddenly, I felt hunger. Internal systems check needed. My altered system translated my almost thousand years of concentrated preparation into a hunger to succeed, to kill every bastard, personally.

  I switched to in-Tank view screens, which stopped three seconds in each Tank. Between my position, and the ANNU KI occupied end, no enemy suits remained standing. The tanks lobbed nets at anything taller than five feet. The nets liked melting metal. They ate it the same as they ate solid material.

  Hatches opened in the third section from the ANNU KI end. Troops sprang out of their carriers, which stopped for three seconds--a company at a time debarked--then disappeared into the hatches on all four sides.

  Tanks lined up a mile from the ANNU KI section, on four sides. They held their positions in case more enemy troops came out to fight.

  Now Melin opened hatches in the second section from the occupied end. Our troop carriers swooped down again, disgorged troops as they had with each previous section, and left, to make room for the next ship. This occurred on all four sides without opposition.

  An almost indecisive moment ensued, a withdrawing. I felt it intensely. Then, with no warning, the ANNU KI end section detached and flew toward the Void. How so much inertia could be overcome, so quickly, shocked me. What could do that? Such force didn't exist in my experience, despite my billions of years.