“Captain,” Bill called quickly. “Are you going to alert them to the collector pods tactic we discussed?”
His wife bit her lip, then turned fully serious. “XO, thank you for the reminder.” She tapped her control pillar. In Bill’s Weapons holo there now appeared 24 green stars lying next to the outline of the Blue Sky. “My Executive Officer pointed out to me, during our transit here, that the collector pods on each Collector ship are able to travel in space at one-tenth lightspeed, thanks to the small Magfield spacedrives they possess. One reason only three people can occupy a pod’s cargohold is because the craft is mostly filled by a fusion reactor and its Magfield engine. Well, the Weapons Chief has suggested we load a three megaton thermonuke warhead into each pod on our ship for use as supplements to our MITV torpedo warheads. Anyone who wishes to use up some or all of their pods as guided torpedoes is welcome to use the 46 hours of our travel time to load nukes onboard them.”
“Very interesting,” spoke Learned’s speaker. The man who resembled a Greek god from the top of the Parthenon raised a finger. “It occurs to me that even pods with no warhead onboard can be deadly. If a pod hits a Collector ship’s engine section at one-tenth lightspeed, the kinetic energy alone will vaporize the rear portion of any Collector ship. Or so my mental calculations suggest.”
Jane looked Bill’s way, raising an eyebrow as invitation.
He liked what Learned had said. “Captain, Learned makes a very good point. We know from prior combat encounters that it takes a Collector ship just 12 seconds to reach one-tenth lightspeed. Or to change to a slower speed and new vector angle. We found that out during the battle at HD 128311. Pods can do the same. Maybe we don’t need to put warheads on the pods?” Bill said, hoping he was being helpful. A memory from before their departure hit him. “And I expect Death Leader to send out collector pods to fleet ships right after we arrive. Remember, he owes each captain one Nokten crystal for the month plus we spent in transit to get to Sol?”
Jane showed approval at his comment. “A very good point, Weapons Chief.” She looked away from him and faced forward, her eyes tracking the images of the other five captains. “After our arrival in Sol system, let us each send out a few collector pods. Set up barter trades with nearby enemy ships. That way, when we begin combat, we will have ship ramming options immediately available.” She paused, looking now very deadly. “I may even send a pod to Death Leader’s ship Fear Arrives. Would be nice to see him be fearful.”
“Six minutes until exit from Alcubierre space-time,” Star Traveler hummed from the ceiling.
Jane slapped her thigh. “Enough. Make sure your MITV torpedoes are each loaded with thermonukes, your antimatter reservoirs are full and your Weapons Chief is awake.” She smiled, letting the other captains know she knew they had already done those routine preparations. As Bill had done over the last few days. “Maintain your ship captain holo disguises until I say otherwise. Each of you will see and hear all of my communications with Earth.” She grew suddenly serious. “Regarding your use of collector pods, hold all of them free of warheads. I prefer Learned’s idea of using them as ramming pods rather than try to sneak pods with nuke warheads onboard. I suspect ship AIs would sense the nukes and block their entry.” She paused, then snapped her fingers. A sober look came over her. “Also, we might need to use some of them to rescue crew folks on any sub that is badly damaged. Signal off.”
Bill focused on his Weapons holo, rechecking the status of every weapons system and nuke onboard the Blue Sky. It was something he’d done a dozen times already during the trip back home. Still, being redundant in the human way kept small errors from becoming big problems.
♦ ♦ ♦
Jane did not blink as the grayness of Alcubierre space-time suddenly changed to black space sprinkled with thousands of stars, most appearing as white dots. In the middle of the true space holo in front of her was centered the shining yellow dot of the Sun. It showed no circle due to their distance from the star that nurtured life on her home world. The Earth. Now at risk of being incinerated by crazy Aliens. Ahead of her were most of the enemy Collector ships. They were invisible to her eyes thanks to the EMF-warping hulls that were the body of each ship. Including her own Blue Sky. She looked to the left at the system graphic holo. Its overhead plan view showed the Sun at the center of the holo, with the system’s nine worlds and Asteroid Belt shown in their actual orbital positions. Orbital tracks were bright circular lines with the AU distances of each world annotated beside the small circle that indicated a world. The graphic showed everything that mattered to the upcoming space battle.
“Ship has arrived safely,” Star Traveler said from above her. “Enemy Collector ships are shown as purple dots. Human-controlled Collector ships are green dots. Human space-going craft are red dots. Orders?”
“Move us toward Fear Arrives, but keep our position to the rear of the ball of ships,” Jane said. “I can see what I need to see.”
Hoping that would shut up the mouthy AI, she focused on the ships in space manned by her fellow humans. Two Collector ships were close to Earth, one was next to Mars and four were close to Jupiter, near its large moon Callisto. In company with the four ships at Jupiter were 20 red dots. Those had to be the 14 Trident missile carrying Ohio-class subs that America currently had in service, supplemented by some Russian Typhoon and Borei-class boomers. Maybe a few Chinese missile launching subs were in the group of twenty. Two red dots were close to the Moon, suggesting they were subs providing supplies to the Moon base. That was the base set up earlier by a joint American, Chinese and Japanese effort. That put humanity on four worlds, when Mars was added. Was President Hartman hedging against an attack on Earth by building an underground base on the Moon? It would not help. Any place occupied by humans now used a nuke reactor, either fission or fusion-based. Every reactor sent off neutrinos that could be picked up by a Collector ship sensor. Humans could only hide on another world if they were using solar and fuel cell power. Whatever.
“Incoming neutrino signal from Fear Arrives,” announced Star Traveler in his trademark voice. At first the AI had sounded like a BBC announcer crossed with a Hindu English speaker. Then its voice had resembled a mix of hers and Bill’s voices. Since they’d added Bill’s saloon buddies, its voice had evolved to a mix of tones heard as other humans spoke. But it still had a touch of haughty BBC announcer tone in its voice.
“Share this conversation with our five allied ships,” she said, thinking over her options. “Display my vulture image and the vulture crew holo images in my response. Accept incoming signal.”
“Understood. Sharing. Displaying.”
Her comlink holo filled with the snake-gorilla body of Death Leader. As before, its four crewpersons occupied stations that circled his elevated command pedestal. All of them had heads, carapaces or whatever looking down at their station control pillars. The white eyes of the enemy fleet leader fixed on her. Its gorilla-like mouth opened. The purple tongue inside moved quickly.
“Captain Sharp Beak, continue bringing your ship Strikes Deep closer to my ship,” the monster growled deeply. “I wish us to be a compact ball of ships before we head for Earth.”
Jane threw out her arms to either side of her seat. The holo image of her vulture form now showed black wings spreading out from her shoulders. Her yellow beak opened. Red eyes fixed on the enemy leader. “Payment first! Send me my Nokten crystal. Or I leave now!”
The snake-gorilla’s blue-scaled head drew back. The cobra hoods on either side flared out, making it look as if extra black eyes were watching her. “Patience! You avians are always too eager to act.” The creature muttered something to a nearby crewperson. The words were emphasized with a kick at its head from the creature’s black-taloned feet. The crewperson ducked, avoiding any contact. Which would not have happened anyway since Death Leader stood atop a platform that was six feet above its Command Bridge floor. “There are only 24 pods on this ship. One is being sent to you with a crystal. You wil
l be paid shortly. As will every captain in service to me!”
Time to start the battle of minds. “My sensors show the Humans possess seven Collector ships! You lied to us! We must avoid the gas world!”
The snake-gorilla’s face moved to different shapes. Was it showing anger? “We do what I order. No more. No less.” The giant creature looked aside at a nearby holo, then fixed on her. White eyes blinked. “You knew the Humans controlled five ships. Those are the ships they used to attack the Market world at HD 128311. It seems they have acquired two more Collector ships.” The snake-gorilla looked aside at its own system graphic holo. “There are also 22 Magfield drive Human spaceships.” The creature looked back to her. “Divide and overwhelm is my combat direction. This fleet will change course once we arrive near this world of Jupiter. We will attack every Human ship above that world! We will face little threat from the three ships near Earth and a place they call Mars.” Death Leader raised a black-furred hand and made a fist. His purple tongue swept over his front canines. “Like my hand, we are 36 ships strong! Nothing can stand against us. You will fight against the Humans at this Jupiter. You will fight them above this Earth. Then you will join me in irradiating that world’s surface!”
Jane felt relief. This creature reacted to any challenge by doing whatever was the opposite someone else wanted. Clearly it would not dive its ship into the Sun. But its internal instinct seemed to be aimed at constant defiance. Which made her wonder about the home world of these Mokden creatures. What produced a species that felt the need to immediately dominate those around them? It was very different from the fight, flight or negotiate reactions of most humans. Time to pretend her submission. She lowered her arms, causing her vulture wings to fold against her back.
“I follow you. My ship will destroy any Human within range of our weapons. What will you pay me after we assist in destroying this world of Earth?” she said loudly.
“Another Nokten crystal awaits every ship that attacks Earth,” snarled Death Leader.
“Profit is welcome,” she answered back, looking aside at her duplicate of the Collector Pods Chamber holo. “Your pod has arrived. My hover bot is retrieving my crystal.” She faced back to the monster who sought to erase humanity from the universe. “My ship will join the fleet in its flight inward.”
White eyes blinked. The snake-gorilla lowered its fist and touched the armrest on the seat in front of which it stood. “Obedience brings profit. Departing.”
The snake-gorilla image vanished. Someone in her comlink holo chuckled.
“Nicely done,” Stefano said from his ship. The man’s tightly muscled frame sat back in his captain’s seat. Like hers it resembled the seat occupied by an aircraft carrier ship’s captain.
“We’re gonna kick butt,” Alicia remarked, sounding as confident as Jane hoped she sounded.
Joe raised a hand. “I assume we will not attack until we get inside the Jupiter system?”
“Very correct,” Jane said. “All of you, study Jupiter, its inner dust rings, its 67 moons and the four big Galilean moons. I’m hoping some of our ships can play hide and seek and shoot, with the moons providing cover from hostile lasers.”
“Captain,” called Learned from the Harken. “A collector pod has arrived with my Nokten crystal payment. Other pods are visiting other fleet ships. May I suggest we all take a food and rest break during the 46 hours it will take to get to Jupiter?”
The color-banded man made sense. Already she felt her neck and shoulder muscles beginning to ache from her tenseness. “All captains, I approve Captain Learned’s suggestion. Though you may wish to remain awake for awhile. I’m expecting to chat with General Poindexter very soon. She and the JCS and everyone on the seven ships left behind now knows 36 Collector ships have suddenly appeared out past Pluto. I suspect she will welcome the news that six of those ships are covertly controlled by us.”
The acknowledgements from her fellow captains came quickly. With a quick scan upfront at the five dedicated people seated before their work stations, she sat back in her chair and ordered her mind. Dealing with senior officers was nearly as chancy as dealing with deadly Aliens!
CHAPTER TWELVE
Bill smiled to himself at the way Jane had handled the enemy fleet commander. One would think any Alien would be aware of reverse psychology. Then again, Death Leader was clearly not used to being subservient to anyone. Maybe all the Mokden were like him. Which made him wonder about the creature’s home world. Surely it was the last place he and Jane should ever visit!
“Incoming encrypted neutrino signals from seven human captains,” Star Traveler’s voice hummed from the ceiling of the Command Bridge. “They call from their Collector ships. The ones resident in this system.”
“Accept their signals,” Jane said, looking pleased.
He understood. One more delay before his wife dealt with the Air Force chief of staff and maybe the president of America was surely welcome. His comlink holo filled with seven new images. They joined the images of Jane and their five allied captains. He recognized the faces of Jake, Mack and Janice. Four other faces, one female and three male, were the new captains of the Seafloat, Pointe Du Hoc, Chapultepec Castle and Manila Bay. He’d seen the faces of these new captains just before they left for Kepler 62. He recalled they came from Ranger, Delta Force, Green Beret and Air Force Special Tactics units. Special operations trained they were. And by now, experienced at handling their starships. They’d all had four months in which to review the space battle holos from HD 128311, Kepler 443 and the Moon. And to practice op force encounters in space with each other.
“Good to see you, Captain Yamaguchi,” called Jake Slowzenski from the Tangi Valley. The man’s ship was one of the four at Jupiter. “Are we facing 35 enemy ships?”
“No!” Jane responded quickly. “The USS Blue Sky is covertly assisted by five Collector ships we took over. Your buddies Stefano, Alicia, Frank and Joe, along with Learned Escape, now control those ships. They are listening in on our chat.” She shrugged within her tube suit. “That leaves 30 enemy ships. The AIs on 20 of them will block weapons use during battle.”
“It’s still a lot of enemy,” Mack said from the Rolling Thunder. “There are four of us here at Jupiter waiting for you. The other three, as you surely see, are at Earth and Mars. Do they join us here at Jupiter?”
“They do,” Jane said calmly, her command manner showing a touch of amiableness. “Once I coordinate with General Poindexter, that is. Janice, Jesse and the rest of you, stand by. I’m putting in a call to the general. It’s what I promised to do when we left.” She looked ahead. “Chester, should we all put on dress uniforms before I call?”
To Bill’s right the former Chief of Naval Operations turned away from his Engines station holos to look back. The lightly tanned, brown-haired career officer fixed on Bill’s wife.
“Captain, no, we do not need to put on our dress outfits. The JCS chiefs and President Hartman surely know we could be in combat at any moment. We show ourselves as we are right now.”
“Thank you, Chester,” Jane murmured, her manner calm as ice. She looked up at the ceiling. “Star Traveler, those 20 space-going subs at Jupiter. Are any of them the USS Louisiana or the USS Minnesota?”
Bill blinked. Then he realized his wife was choosing to include the captains of the boomer subs orbiting above Jupiter. Which made sense. The missile, railgun and laser-armed subs were as much a part of her combat fleet as were the 13 Collector ships now present in the Solar system. Each sub captain should be listening to her chat with the head of the Air Force Space Command, along with the Collector ship captains. That was a lot of neutrino comlink signals. Which he had no doubt Star Traveler could handle very easily. He pushed away his memory of time spent within the AI’s mind and focused on the here and now.
“Both submarines are present above Jupiter, based on the neutrino comlink signals I am receiving from the Magfield drive control plates I built for those craft,” the AI hummed long and low
.
“Send a signal to both captains. Invite them to visit with me,” Jane said.
“Signal sent. Responses incoming.”
Bill’s comlink holo, already busy with 13 people icon images, now gained the faces of Captain Joshua Baraka of the Trident missile sub USS Louisiana and Captain Paul Leonard of the attack sub USS Minnesota. Clearly the Louisiana’s hull damage was now fully repaired. And it had regained its Magfield engine from one of the transports aboard the Collector ships left behind.
“Captain Yamaguchi, a pleasure to hear from you,” called the deep bass voice of Baraka. The black man wore the usual sub officer uniform under the tube suit worn by him and the other people in his sub’s CIC room.
The bald Anglo captain smiled easily. “Same from me, Captain Yamaguchi. Welcome home!” Paul gestured to one side in the red-lit CIC of his sub. “My crew were getting a bit bored after spending a week playing loop the loop with some of Jupiter’s crazy moons!”
Jane saluted the two men, then smiled. “Very happy to see you both. Shortly I will talk to General Poindexter and outline to her our plan for battling the enemy fleet. Which consists of just 30 ships. My ship’s boarding crews took over five enemy ships out at Kepler 62. We are hanging back to the rear of the ship cluster that shows on your control plates.”
“Very good to hear!” responded Paul.
Joshua’s face turned thoughtful. “Captain of the fleet, may I suggest we bring in the senior captains of the Russian and Chinese subs who are out here with us? While 14 subs are Tridents, the other six are from our allies. Four Russian and two Chinese.”
Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens Page 17