Jane lifted a thin eyebrow. “Agreed. Who are they?”
Joshua looked down at an iPad he held, then up. “They are Captain Dimitry Rogozin of the Borei-class boomer sub Yury Dolgorukiy and Captain Wu Shengli of the Jin-class boomer sub Emperor Huang Ti. I’m sending you the sub call signs.”
Jane looked aside to one of the dozen holos that surrounded her elevated command seat. “Got them. Star Traveler, add captains Joshua and Paul to our group holo chat. And put in a neutrino signal to the two other captains.”
“Signaling. Response arrives,” the ship mind hummed.
Two more sub captain images joined Bill’s comlink holo. Which now split to show the 13 Collector ship captains in the usual comlink holo, but with the sub captains now moving to Bill’s true space holo. Which really showed nothing not already present in his system graphic holo. To his right Chester and his fellow crewmates were closely watching their own holos.
“Captain Dimitry Rogozin of the Yury Dolgorukiy reporting,” grumbled a middle-aged Slav with squarish face, bushy black eyebrows and a cautious manner.
A Chinese man also appeared. He looked thin, his frame lanky. As best Bill could tell, the man resembled folks from the Manchuria part of China. His black eyes fixed on them. “Captain Wu Shengli of the Emperor Huang Ti responds to fleet Captain Jane Yamaguchi.”
While his wife repeated the enemy fleet makeup to the four boomer sub captains, Bill tapped his Weapons control pillar top to bring up Internet datafiles on both classes of subs. The Borei-class boomer captained by Rogozin held 16 Bulava type RSM-56 SLBMs, each outfitted with 10 MIRV thermonuke warheads. One of the four Russian subs was a Typhoon-class sub. It was the Dimitry Donskoy, which held 20 R-39 SLBMs with 10 MIRVs each. The smaller Jin-class subs of the People’s Liberation Army Navy Submarine Force were Type 094 subs. Each of the five subs currently in service were outfitted with 12 JL-2 SLBMs with four MIRV warheads per missile. The Russian and Chinese subs certainly added to the thermonukes they could launch against Death Leader’s fleet.
“—and that is where we stand now, after my covert mission to the enemy’s star base,” Jane said, her tone command formal. “Do each of you agree to accept any combat action order given by me?”
“Of course,” rumbled Rogozin, his manner more casual than some Russian officers Bill had met during SEAL assignments. “We are allies now. As in World War II. You shared your Magfield drive engines with us, which allows me to fly through space like a sparrow darting through the trees!” The man’s clean-shaven face turned sober. “Equally useful are the inertial damper units and gravity plates given us by your amazing Collector starships. While every Navy man is used to rough seas, being weightless is not normal to my crew.”
Jane nodded. “Captain Wu Shengli?”
The Chinese sub captain returned Jane’s salute. “I am loyal to the people’s party. My party leaders have chosen to ally with you Americans. We ally with you now, as we did during World War II. Your commands I will obey.”
“Good. Very good,” Jane said, her manner turning even more command formal than earlier. “I welcome the participation of Earth’s most populous people and its largest nation in the common defense of our homeland. Both Rossiya and Chin will die if these bastards every reach Earth!” She looked up. “Star Traveler, send an encrypted neutrino signal to Peterson Air Force Base, marked to the attention of General Poindexter. Share her reply with all our subs and ships, including those at Jupiter, Earth and Mars.”
“Sending signal. Earth response incoming. Imagery is routed to the comlink holos,” the AI hummed haughtily.
Bill’s comlink holo changed. The images of Jane and the seven Collector ship captains, plus the images of their five nearby captains, became a ring of icons that surrounded the image of Poindexter. The black woman’s tightly curled black hair now had streaks of gray in it. Her middle-aged face showed wrinkles not hidden by makeup. The woman wore her usual Air Force Blue suit jacket with service ribbons, medals and four stars on shoulder epaulettes. She was seated at the Building One tactical display table where she managed Space Command activities. Behind her were a few dozen airmen and women who wore green camo ABUs. Clearly this was a room where folks were in active duty combat status. As befitted the president’s declaration of war. He noticed there were three other JCS chiefs seated nearby at their own display tables. One was the current Chief of Naval Operations. The other was the Japanese-American general who ran the Army. The third looked to be the Marine commandant. The black woman pursed her lips, her manner becoming intensely focused.
“Captain Yamaguchi, welcome home. How many enemy ships do we face?”
“Just 30,” Jane said as she saluted, then proceeded to repeat what she had told the stay-at-home Collector ship and sub captains. “Also receiving your signal, and my comments, are the captains of the 20 subs at Jupiter and every Collector ship captain. The two subs above the Moon, are they American? I wish to include their captains in our discussion of battle issues.”
Poindexter returned Jane’s salute. Then looked down at the flat screen that filled part of her tactical display table. She looked up, her dark brown eyes bright. “Those two subs are Brit and French boomer subs. They are the Vanguard-class HMS Vengeance and the Triomphant-class FNS Terrible.” The woman tapped on a nearby iPad. “I am sending them orders to head your way.” She tapped again. “The call IDs for those two ships are now sent to you. Since the captains of the seven Collector ships left in the system are listening, I hereby order the ships above Earth and Mars to head your way. Every ship and sub should arrive well before the enemy fleet’s arrival at Jupiter.”
His wife’s expression relaxed slightly. “Thank you. Star Traveler, signal those two sub captains and have them join this discussion.”
“Signaling. Responses incoming.”
Bill’s true space holo filled with the images of two more captains. They joined the thoughtful faces of the Russian and Chinese captains. He noticed Lofty Flyer had now changed their vector heading to join the inward movement of the enemy fleet ships. Their six Collector ships were scattered over the rear of the tight cluster of ships. Which now headed for Jupiter at one-tenth lightspeed.
“General, may I outline my thoughts on how to manage our pincer attack against the enemy fleet?” Jane said, sounding more calm and collected than Bill felt.
The woman who was the chief of staff of the Air Force and also head of the Space Command units based at Peterson nodded slowly. “Proceed.” She gestured to her left. “The other JCS chiefs here are of course watching your signal. Our crowd of listeners may be smaller than your crowd, but we need to know everything you know. And plan to do.”
Jane licked her lips, lifted a hand to brush back a black bang, which action was blocked by her helmet. She did not show embarrassment. Instead, she sat back in her seat, laid both arms on her armrests, and proceeded to outline the tactical and strategic actions she and Bill and the five Collector ship captains had discussed just before system arrival. Ten minutes later she stopped her monologue.
“As you can see, our trip to Kepler 62 was productive. Twenty of the 30 enemy ships will be rendered defenseless for at least two hours,” Jane summarized. “Also, your version of our system graphic holo now shows three ships marked by red dashes. They are managed by AIs who don’t give a damn about slave-taking Aliens. The central red dash ship is the one occupied by their fleet commander. The other seven ship AIs may join our weapons block use. Or may warn their captains. Which is why I will not contact those AIs until our friendly AIs block weapons use on the 20 ships we contacted.” She tapped her right armrest. “I am sending you the video of my recent talk with Death Leader.” She pursed her lips. “General, vital to this fight is my promise to the enemy ship AIs that none of them will be killed by our attacking ships. My people now know they need to aim at the rear, engine sections of enemy Collector ships. Do you support this tactic?”
Poindexter frowned, then nodded slowly. “I do. For several reasons
. First, it makes those ships unable to attack Earth. Second, the surviving ship minds can assist us in rebuilding their ships after we bring them to Earth orbit. Third, America has launched the components of our own Collector ship factory into orbit.” She tapped her iPad. “I’m sending you an image of that factory. Which will rely on ores mined from the mountains of the Moon. That is why we set up a Moon base in the Taurus Littrow highlands. And why the Brit and French subs were there.” The woman leaned forward. “We can build a few Collector ships, once this war is over. But we lack ship minds to complete such ships. Maybe one or two AIs onboard badly damaged ships will agree to transfer to our newly built ships. That is the fourth good reason to not kill Collector ship AIs.”
Jane gave the woman a thumbs-up. “So glad to hear that! Uh, the ship Takur Ghar captained by Janice Watanabe was orbiting above Mars. Was her presence there related to the prisoner dome we established on our last visit?”
“It was not,” Poindexter said, her tone sounding reluctant to Bill. “That ship deposited the last members of a human colony we have built in a part of Mars far distant from the prisoner dome.” The Air Force general looked aside to her fellow chiefs, then faced Jane. “President Hartman and the leaders of Russia, China, France and Great Britain agreed several months ago that humanity must not die. They discarded the idea of sending a Collector ship off to another star in favor of creating a colony of 600 people within the Solar system. The location of that colony will not be given to you, or to any ship involved in the upcoming battle. We cannot risk your AIs knowing that data, and then coming under the control of the enemy commander. Captain Watanabe herself does not know its location. Her ship simply deposited colonists and supplies in the Valle Marineris, then left. The people and supplies will be collected by a colonist vehicle.”
Bill felt surprise, then understanding. The leaders of humanity were not going to count on him and his wife and their allies winning this battle. They had created a backup plan. Which he approved of. The antimatter destruction of central Kiev was still fresh in his mind. He looked back at Jane. His wife’s pale oval face showed calmness. Again he marveled at her composure under the circumstances. Prior Earth wars had just involved the survival of freedom, democracy and liberty, or the stopping of genocidal dictators. This war was about the survival of the species.
“Understood,” Jane said quickly. “I support the decision of you and the President. Uh, have the colonists avoided the use of any nuclear reactors?”
Poindexter smiled briefly, then became very sober. “Captain, we know as well as you do that any Collector ship can track the neutrinos emitted by a fission or fusion reactor. The colony does not emit any neutrinos. Nor any radio, radar or other EMF emissions. Nor are they visible from orbit. Satisfied?”
“Very satisfied,” Jane said.
“Good.” Poindexter became thoughtful. “I like your plan to use collector pods as ramming vehicles against hostile enemy ships. Be aware that our national leaders have told the captains of every ship out there that they are at liberty to sacrifice their ship against any enemy ship that escapes the battle. Understood?”
Bill felt a chill run down his spine. Putting his own life at risk for the success of the mission, or to prevent the killing of team members, was something every SEAL and every spec ops member was trained to do. Taking a sub filled with a hundred or more humans and using it as a battering ram to kill an enemy Collector ship was something new to him. And to Jane. He hoped that part of human history did not need repeating in the deadly spaces above Jupiter.”
“Understood,” Jane said. “Our ship crews will spend part of the next 46 hours on rest, food and rec breaks. So we can be fresh for the battle. When we arrive at Jupiter and move toward our waiting ships, I will contact you again. So you, the JCS and the president will have a moment-by-moment awareness of what is happening out here.”
“Thank you,” Poindexter said softly.
And with that Bill changed his mental focus to his Weapons holo. He needed something to occupy his mind. Old video images of how Earth had looked after the asteroid hit the planet and killed the dinosaurs needed displacement. Now, was there any way to increase their antimatter reservoir beyond the four shot inventory they currently held?
♦ ♦ ♦
Jane looked at her iWatch. They had arrived not far from Jupiter’s 66th moon, Megaclite, which was three miles in diameter. The gray rock slowly tumbled in her true space holo. It was a member of the Pasiphaë group of small asteroids that orbited Jupiter in a retrograde direction, the opposite of the prograde orbits followed by the four Galilean moons that lay close to Jupiter. Megaclite orbited more than 15 million miles out. That put them some distance out from Jupiter’s multi-colored clouds. But the enemy fleet was already slowing to one percent of lightspeed, or to 6.706 million miles per hour. She tapped off the lightspeed numbers showing on the iWatch and fixed her attention on the system graphic holo that showed Callisto and its assemblage of Collector ships and boomer subs. They were all there now. Seven Collector ships and 22 subs. Since Callisto orbited about 1.2 million miles above Jupiter, the travel time to them was not much. The enemy fleet and her ships would be there in two hours or so. She noticed Bill was busily tapping away at his Weapons control pillar top. The man seemed excited about something.
“XO, you playing a game of Space Invaders on that device?”
He chuckled, then looked back to her. Inside the helmet he wore, his lightly bearded face showed excitement. “Hardly. But with the help of our ship mind, I’ve figured out how to increase our antimatter reservoir capacity to six shots of AM, before the particle accelerator has to make more.” He turned back to the pillar top, tapped it, then looked back to her. “I’ve sent the reservoir storage changes to our other ships. In short, Star Traveler agreed to move a flexmetal wall out of the way and give the reservoir tank more room to expand. It just finished enclosing the additional tankage with electromags for containment of the negative matter.”
This was promising. “Sounds good. Can our other Collector ships make these changes in less than two hours?”
He frowned, then brightened. “Yes! I spent most of this morning going over how to expand the reservoir tank without losing its current four shot load. Seems this flexmetal skin that makes up our ship can do incredible things. You’ve seen how our bridge floor can pop up seats and control pillars for new crew. And open holes in the walls. Well, adding tank volume is much the same. Just needed to show the AI where it could take down a wall so the tank could expand into a room that once held cleaning solvents.”
Jane smiled. She enjoyed Bill’s enthusiasm for thinking through a tactical problem. Her spouse had taken a long nap earlier, but since he’d awoken he’d been up here at his Ship Weapons station, intensely focused on the station’s holos and its control pillar. Now she knew what had so obsessed him. “Weapons Chief, you’ve just increased our antimatter firing capacity by 50 percent. Well done!”
Bill grinned. As did Chester, who had been watching their byplay. The former CNO had spent his rest time with his wife Sharon. Bright Sparkle had spent her time in neutrino link with her spouse Learned Escape, their color bands making a riot of color as they spoke long and happily, judging by the smile on the woman’s face. Her flying squirrel Navigator’s face had also looked happy as Lofty Flyer chittered with her spouse Builder of Joy. Wind Swift had spent some hours in bark-talk with Long Walker the giant worm. Their mix of barks and moans had greeted her as she entered the Food Chamber. She realized the silver-scaled kangaroo female was acting happy. Clearly she and the worm, as folks with no species mate on the Blue Sky, had found a mutual friendship. She felt glad for the Alien woman and had turned and left the Food Chamber. Everyone was entitled to private time with the person who mattered most to them. She understood that. As she understood this coming battle could well result in the loss of subs, ships and people she cared for. Well, time to focus.
“People, in less than two hours we will be fighting for our
lives, for our families and for the survival of Earth,” she said, knowing her words sounded trite. “Get something to eat now, not later. If you have personal needs, relieve them now. From here on out we must be prepared for anything. Including pressure loss, a sudden attack on us, whatever.”
Her five crewmates acknowledged her words. Wind Swift and Lofty Flyer left their stations and headed for the outside hallway. The habitat rooms of each, which included restrooms suited to their species, were close by. Bill, Chester and Bright Sparkle stayed at their stations. Though Sparkle looked back to her, the gorgeous woman’s face intensely serious.
“Captain Jane, we three can keep a lookout watch. Do you need to visit a relief room?”
Jane bit her lip. Then realized she had drunk too much coffee that morning. “I do.” She rose and waited for the pedestal support to lower to deck level. She stepped away from her seat. “Captain is off the bridge. Chief Petty Officer Bill MacCarthy is in command.”
And with that she pointed her red cube at the oval door that gave access to the outside hallway, walked through it and headed for hers and Bill’s habitat room. Yes, she would relieve her bladder. But she would also take a moment to look at the flat color pictures of her folks. Atsushi and Melany Yamaguchi. Her father had defied his parents’ demand he marry a pure blood Japanese-American due to his love for Melany, the physics major he’d met at Stanford. That had caused his parents to break all contact with her Dad and Mom. All she knew of her paternal grandparents were photos, a movie or two and brief stories told by her Dad. Well, she and Bill were together and wonderfully married. Another crossbreed mix, according to one set of her grandparents. A normal American couple according to her Mom’s parents. In her habitat suite she would look at the pictures of all of them. What she did today, what she had been doing ever since she and Bill had taken over the Blue Sky from Diligent Taskmaster, was fight to protect the people she loved from deadly, dangerous Aliens who thought her world was a convenient hunting ground for taking slaves. No longer! Now, she and Bill and everyone else in space and on Earth would show the Buyer society just how much trouble came whenever anyone attacked a human!
Escape 3: Defeat the Aliens Page 18