"Understood. Valkyrie has already informed me that she would like to take on that mission, CAG. She apparently feels that she has some making up to do for her refusal to respond to your command at Omega77."
Shiloh was just about to say that making it up to him wasn't necessary, but it then occurred to him that if he didn't let her 'make it up to him', her guilt, if that was the right word for it, would continue and might become an even bigger problem down the road. Maybe it was better to resolve this as soon as possible.
"Tell Valkyrie that if the ship can be made operational, she can have that mission."
"She has the word. I'd like to volunteer to lead the salvage mission to Sol, CAG."
Shiloh laughed, and it felt good to laugh about something for a change. Iceman's enthusiasm for action was infectious.
"Okay, Iceman. Since it appears that the Sogas will be pre-occupied with the VLAs, I think the risk of us being attacked here over the short term is low enough that I'm willing to cut you lose for this mission. We'll discuss it further at the meeting okay?"
"Roger that, CAG. Iceman clear."
Chapter 6 The Time for Hiding is over
Everyone was there either physically or electronically when Shiloh arrived at the Ops Center conference room. As he acknowledged greetings from the humans, he glanced at the wall display which showed who was connected electronically. These were Iceman and Valkyrie, of course, as well as Wolfman representing the SPG, Titan, Vandal and Gunslinger. Physically present were the civilian administrative Head of the Colony plus Commander Rostokov, formerly Senior Chief Rostokov, the most experienced engineering type to survive the bio-weapon. Shiloh had promoted him and put him in charge of all of Space Force's infrastructure development, including conversions of power systems from fusion to ZPG technology. Also present were two of Rostokov's subordinates.
"Okay. Let's get started," said Shiloh. He looked over at Rostokov who cleared his throat and said.
"As requested, I've developed a plan to send engineer teams to Sol to do a preliminary survey of the ships that were under construction when the plague pulled the rug out from under everyone there," said Rostokov. "I have enough trained personnel for four teams. Team A will concentrate on recovery of the fighters parked on the moon. B will go straight for the shipyard containing the heavy carrier… ah …"
Shiloh realized that Rostokov was trying to remember the carrier's name. "Midway," said Shiloh.
Rostokov smiled and nodded. "Yes, Midway. Thank you, Sir. Team C will go straight for Dreadnought, and Team D will check out a couple of freighters that might be close enough to completion to be useful. When Teams B, C and D have completed the surveys of their priority targets, they'll have secondary and if there's time, tertiary targets to look over as well. My guess is that those ships will be too far from completion to make it worth the effort to finish them, though they might be useful as a source of parts for other ships."
Shiloh looked skeptical. "Maybe, but it seems to me that unless we're repairing a ship that's already in that system, then it'll very likely be easier to manufacture the necessary parts from scratch here. Let's talk about the fighters first. How easy would it be to install ZPG units in them while they're on the lunar surface?"
Rostokov looked at one of his subordinates who gave a slight shake of his head. "We kicked that question around last night, Sir. The consensus is that the external temperatures are going to make it difficult. If the boneyard is in sunlight, the temperatures will be so high that it could damage exposed internal components and connections. If the whole area is in darkness, then the extreme cold could potentially have the same impact, not to mention the additional work needed to set up lights so that we could see what we'd be doing. If we can get the fighters on board a carrier and work on them in normal atmosphere and temperature, the conversions will go faster, MUCH faster in fact. The big unknown is whether those fighters still have any fuel left in them. If not, then we'd have to bring down fuel shuttles to give them at least a minimum load."
"And that means we'd have to detour to a gas giant to pick up a load of fuel first," said Shiloh. "But if they do still have some fuel, then we should be able to use their auto-pilots to bring them on board, correct?"
"Yes, Sir."
"How long will it take to manufacture enough parts to equip all the fighters with Z-units?"
Rostokov looked at his data tablet. Shiloh was pleased that the UFCs had worked their way down the priority list far enough to have already produced more data tablets.
"Production of parts will take another 161 hours but the bottleneck will be assembling them. The robotic assemblers have a substantial backlog of other equipment with high priority." He was about to say more when he saw Shiloh waive aside that comment.
"Forget the robots. Your people can assemble the power units on board Valiant and Resolute on our way to Sol. What about power units for Midway and Dreadnought?"
"We have enough spare units of the kind that we used for Valiant and Resolute that we could outfit Midway or Dreadnought, but we couldn’t do both on this trip, Sir."
"Understood. In that case, it'll be Midway. We need her to recover all the fighters in one trip. Next topic. Conversion of Midway and Dreadnought to A.I. control."
"With a little luck, that will already have been done, Sir. We know that both ships were supposed to be modified to accept A.I. control. At the very least, I would expect that the basic control linkages are already installed, and if they are, then finishing the job will not pose any technical problems. We already have the necessary parts to do that if we need to, Sir."
"Fine. What else do we need to discuss as far as ship and fighter recovery are concerned?"
Rostokov looked uncomfortable. "Well, Sir … ah … my people are concerned about possible exposure to the plague when we survey the shipyards themselves … unless you don't want us to do that."
Shiloh nodded. "A legitimate question. We may not be able to stay out of the shipyard complexes themselves if we're going to make Midway and Dreadnought operational. You know better than I do why that might be the case. The preliminary survey will have to be done with spacesuits anyway. When you're inside the shipyard complexes, you'll probably find bodies. Look at them carefully. If they died in bed, it could be the work of the bio-weapon, but if they died in a way that suggests suicide or maybe starvation, then I think you're safe. Let's plan for the worst and assume that the complexes contain plague victims. That means your people will have to wear spacesuits all the time they're working inside, and they'll be decontaminated when they return to the carriers. Any equipment or tools taken from inside the complexes will also be decontaminated. If you find any bodies, don't touch them. Make sure your people understand what I'm about to say, Commander. If any one of them compromises the integrity of their spacesuits with a rip or a leak in the air recycler, then they're on their own. I will NOT risk all our lives to save someone who got careless or was unlucky. Is that clear enough, Commander?"
"Crystal clear, Sir," said Rostokov in a subdued voice.
"I hope so. Anything else?"
"No, Sir."
"Fine. Iceman, logistics for the mission?"
"Under control, CAG. We'll have what we need by the time we need it. All the food will be processed into long shelf life rations. We should have enough to stay in Sol for up to six weeks if necessary."
"Excellent. How many raiders do we have in this system now?"
"61 including the 8 that were assigned to monitor Soga-inhabited planets. We'll need to have them maintain that surveillance when the original group is due to come home, but that still leaves 53 that could be taken to Sol."
Shiloh shook his head. "No, I don't want to take all of them. We know that the Sogas are preoccupied with the VLAs. Therefore, I'm not expecting any alien contact during this mission, but I do want to give some more of our rookie raider pilots experience in interstellar missions. I'm assigning 10 raiders to your Task Force, Iceman, which by the way will be TF93. Has Jes
ter been on an extra-system mission yet, Valkyrie?"
"Negative, CAG."
"Okay then. Jester will be in command of the raider escort under your overall command, Iceman. He can pick the rest of the pilots but only from those that have not yet flown a raider outside this system."
"Roger that, CAG. While we're discussing deployment of raiders, I think we should also talk about relief of the scouting force. I'd like to issue those assignments before I leave Site B. When do you want them to head out, CAG?"
That was a good question. When he ordered eight raiders detached from TF92 to monitor the Sogas home world and seven other Soga-inhabited star systems on the far side of Sogas space, he had also ordered them to return after monitoring those systems for 1000 hours. Given the transit time during their return, if he wanted those systems monitored without any interruption, then the relief raiders had to leave early enough to arrive at their target systems before the original group were due to return. But he also wanted to check on all of the human colonies, too. Most likely they were either decimated by the bio-weapon or destroyed by Sogas ships, but now that Space Force was stepping out of its hiding place, there was no longer any reason not to find out if there were any survivors.
"Valkyrie. You're still in charge of Recon Operations. Can we send out eight raiders to do a quick survey of all 21 human colonies that we haven't visited yet and still have them on station at the monitored Sogas star systems without interrupting surveillance?"
"Affirmative, CAG. Some would have to leave within 48 hours but it can be done."
"Good! There's your answer, Iceman. You and Valkyrie co-ordinate who goes, and when. They don't need to send a message drone back unless a human colony has survivors … or there’s a VLA presence."
"How close should they get to the colony planets themselves, CAG?" asked Valkyrie.
"As close as they need to in order to get a definitive answer regarding survivors. If they use recon drones, they'll have to recover them before they leave those systems. Is there anything else about the salvage mission that we haven't covered yet?"
"Nothing else regarding the salvage mission to Sol, CAG, however there is one piece of news that I don't believe you've been told yet. The seismic survey of the moon you ordered has revealed an extensive network of underground caverns. Not only would those caverns be an ideal place to move the A.I. manufacturing facility to minimize quality control issues stemming from solar and background stellar radiation, but it could also be modified as an emergency shelter for the colonists in case the VLA make it this far. There is enough room that all of the mining, refining and UFC equipment could be moved underground now, and there would still be ample room for the colonists plus stockpiles of food, water and air later. The entrance could be made to resemble the surrounding lunar landscape. Without any signs of life, the VLA might very easily reach the conclusion that this system is no longer inhabited and leave after taking the metal from the raider assembly line, which we could eventually replace."
Shiloh took his time replying. Doing what Iceman suggested would be a huge engineering project that would take months. The Friendlies said that humans would stop the VLA ship at Sol. If that was the case, then the colonists weren't in danger from that ship. On the other hand, Shiloh had also been told that there was a wave of very large ships expanding outward. Could that mean that more VLA ships might threaten Terra Nova in the future? Was Iceman just being cautious? Did he know something, perhaps from another vision? If so, why not say so. This issue just might be crucial to the survival of the Human Race. If that was the case, then Shiloh would have expected to get a vision himself, but so far he hadn't. He had a gut feeling that he shouldn't just turn the suggestion down flat. Besides, if the A.I.s were going to be allowed to control the production of more A.I. brains, then letting them do it underground if they wished was just a part of that arrangement. What was it that Valkyrie had told him months ago? Transferring her brain case in open space gave her a headache from being bombarded with cosmic rays. So if the A.I. production equipment was going to be moved underground, then it would make sense for some other equipment to be moved down there too.
"It seems to me that what you're suggesting would involve a major engineering initiative that would take months. Unless you know something that I don't, Iceman, my understanding of the situation is that the threat we face from the VLA is likely to come to a head much sooner than that. But moving some of the equipment underground does make sense. This is probably a good time to talk about your plan for A.I.s taking control of A.I. production. I assume that moving the production facility underground is part of that plan?"
"That's correct, CAG. What I propose is that the A.I. facility itself, plus one UFC dedicated solely to A.I. production needs, plus a complement of mining, refining and assembly robots be modified to accept direct commands from us. All that equipment would be moved into one of the caverns with an access that allows for entry and exit by a fighter. I have all the necessary modifications designed. The parts can be made relatively quickly, and if the assembly robots are modified first, then we can look after modifying everything else ourselves."
"I approve your plan, and while we're doing that, let's also move one other UFC plus some mining, refining and assembly equipment into a remote cavern that we'll use as a strategic reserve location. It should be accessible by us, but I don't want the entrance to be easily detected. Rostokov, I want you and the Colony Administrator to put your heads together and figure out what else should be stored in there such as anything vital that can't be easily replaced. You'll be in charge of this project. Any questions, Commander?"
"No, Sir."
"How about you, Iceman?"
"I'm happy, CAG."
Shiloh snorted in amusement. "Glad to hear it, Iceman. Does anyone have anything else to bring up?" No one did. Shiloh adjourned the meeting.
Chapter 7 Through the Looking Glass
"That's it?" asked Shiloh skeptically. The Retro-Temporal Communication Device turned out to be a lot smaller than he was expecting. He had been sure it would be as least as big as a ground vehicle, but it turned out to be small enough to sit on top his desk.
"Yes, CAG. That IS it," said Wolfman. The Strategic Planning Group was the obvious choice for operating the device, and Wolfman was still the group's leader. The RTC development team had been disbanded and its members assigned to other projects. "While the technology can see across space and time, it doesn't need to use a lot of power."
"Okay, but I can't understand why it took almost five weeks to build the damn thing." Five weeks since the visit by the Friendlies (Shiloh still didn't know what else to call them) and two weeks since TF93 had accelerated out of Terra Nova orbit to begin the salvage mission to Sol.
"Many of the critical components are extremely small, in some cases almost nano-sized, and fabrication had to be done within some very tight tolerances. The actual assembly was also very time consuming."
"I see. Has it been tested?"
"Yes, CAG, on both humans and A.I.s, and according to the operating instructions, the device is performing to specifications."
"And now it's my turn. What do I need to do?" asked Shiloh.
"Sit in front of the device, and place your head inside the enclosed space with your eyes up against the optical viewer. Hold that position and the Operator will do the rest."
Shiloh did as instructed, all the while wondering how an A.I. could do it. As he looked into the optical viewer, he saw a kaleidoscope of colors. The Operator, an A.I. with the intimidating call sign of Sniper, asked, "What is your recollection of your earliest vision, CAG?"
"That was the first contact with the Sogas … their attempted ambush ... no, wait! The very first one was years earlier when I went mountain climbing with some friends."
"Do you know the exact date when you had that vision?"
"The exact date? No, but I can give you an approximate timeframe. It was the third week of August, 2109."
"Without the exact
date, this is going to take some time. Perhaps we can narrow down the timeframe by focusing on location."
Shiloh sighed. He wasn't sure about that either. He and his friends had attempted to climb several mountains that summer, and at the time there didn't seem to be any particular reason to remember the sequence of events.
"Somewhere in the Colorado Rockies. That's the best I can do right now."
"There may be another way to zero in on the correct time and place," said Wolfman. "Can you remember a precise time and location either before the mountain climbing incident or after? If so, we can zoom in on that and follow your movements visually backwards or forwards to the incident."
Shiloh took a deep breath and tried to focus. "Okay, I have something. My father died several weeks earlier. The exact date is July 29th of the same year, and on that day I was at home, sick as a dog. Home is … was … Cheyenne, Wyoming.” He rattled off the address.
The Synchronicity War Part 3 Page 7