The Synchronicity War Part 3

by Wehr, Dietmar

  "Very good, CAG. We now have a starting point. In a moment you'll see yourself at that point in time. As the device moves forward along the temporal frame of reference, the image will follow your movements as well. In order to hold the lock, we can only go forward at a fixed speed. Covering those weeks will require approximately 16 hours, and naturally we can't do this in one session. When you feel that you need to stop to rest your eyes or for sleep, let the Operator know before you move away from the device so that he can stop the temporal vector and record that precise point for the next session."

  Shiloh sighed and took a deep breath. He hoped the other visions wouldn't take this long.

  The mountain climbing vision took three days to locate, record and transmit back to his earlier self, but the other visions did go faster. All of his visions were done in six additional days. That left Iceman's vision, which had to wait until he returned. With that part now out of the way, the SPG turned their attention to testing all the Space Force people, one at a time, in terms of whether their alternate timelines held a better outcome. That process took a lot longer.

  Two days later a message drone arrived from the recon raider in Omega54. Shiloh happened to be in the Ops Center when the display pinged for attention, and the text message scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

  [Very Large Object has left enemy home world orbit. Precise destination unknown, but possible targets include enemy colony at Omega41. Pre-jump velocity for a jump to Omega41 would give a transit time of 101.4 hours. Large volume of planet-to-orbit traffic around home world continues. Analysis of objects suggests that VLO has left behind multiple smaller craft, number unknown, that seem to be bringing material up to an orbital location for use in construction of six objects. Average diameter of all objects is approximately point six kilometers and growing. Unable to report on status of enemy population. Recon drones in planetary orbit were detected and destroyed by VLO before it left orbit. All sensor data has been downloaded to this message drone. I think they're building more VLOs, CAG. End of message. Vixen]

  Six more VLOs? Shiloh was dismayed but not surprised by the news. Speculation by the SPG had come to the conclusion that this species of insect-like life might have more in common with certain species of Earth ants than just a superficial anatomical resemblance. One such behavioral similarity was their desire to essentially swarm into new territory like Earth's army ants. Those creatures moved across the landscape in mile-long columns, with scouts sent ahead to find food sources, either plant or animal. The wave of VLOs moving outward described by the Friendlies was consistent with that pattern. And since they reproduced by implanting eggs into living hosts, it stood to reason that when they found a planet with billions of potential hosts, they would exploit that resource to the max by building more of the Very Large Objects needed to hold those new drones and queens. Once the new VLOs were capable of independent operation, the speculation was that they would go off in different directions to avoid going over ground already picked clean. Shiloh didn't need a tactical simulation to imagine how the initial wave of VLOs would gradually grow in number as they overran other alien races or perhaps even just planets with lots of large animals. A dozen would eventually become many dozens, then many hundreds, then thousands and on and on. How long would it take for the entire Galaxy to be scoured clean of all other intelligent life? The prospect made him shiver with fear.

  The only good news was that if the VLAs were indeed building more motherships, then they might be vulnerable to attack by Mark 1 attack drones if they were hit before being finished. But that wasn't the only thing to look at. The forward movement of the existing mothership to Omega41 suggested that it had resumed the interstellar trajectory that would eventually bring it within reach of Site B and ultimately the star system containing the cute furry aliens. But before it got that far, it would drop into Sol, and that's where Space Force would stop it. He had to get the SPG's input on the timing.

  "CAG to Wolfman."

  "Wolfman here, CAG. I'm guessing that you want to discuss the strategic implications of Vixen's message."

  "Correct. I need answers to the following questions. One, assuming that the VLO continues to jump at its current velocity, how soon can we expect it to arrive at Sol? Two, if we launched an attack on the secondary VLOs at Omega54, can those raiders make it back here to reload in time to get to Sol before the primary VLO does? And three, how soon does TF93 have to be back here in order to be able to return to Sol before the VLO does?"

  "Under the assumption you specified, the initial VLO can be expected to arrive at Sol in approximately 987 hours. Any attack launched within the next 96 hours on Omega54 could be back in time to redeploy at Sol prior to the VLO's eta. TF93 needs to be back here within 834 hours in order to be back in Sol by the VLO's eta."

  That sounded fine. Eight hundred and thirty-four hours was just a hair under five weeks, and the engineers were certain that they would be finished a lot sooner than that. Getting a strike force of raiders on its way to Omega54 within 96 hours also sounded doable.

  "Has the SPG analyzed Vixen's data yet, Wolfman?"

  “Affirmative, CAG. We concur with Vixen's assessment. The growing size and spherical shape of the objects being constructed could easily be the nucleus of new VLOs. We think that the original VLO constructed the cores and deployed them before it left. The Insectoids left behind are apparently using metal taken from the planet's surface. That could be used to build out the spheres if the cores contained all the necessary equipment to convert that metal into the desired parts."

  Shiloh nodded. Ejecting the cores of more VLOs by the mothership paralleled the species’ own biology. The mothership had laid six 'eggs' that were feeding on the metal and living 'body' of their 'host' planet. He didn't care about the metal, but billions of female wolf-people would eventually translate into billions of ravenous Bugs, and he decided to do whatever it took to prevent that.

  "Can we destroy those cores if we send in a strike force now, Wolfman?"

  "We calculate a 95% chance of success if every available raider is sent with our entire stockpile of Mark 1s, CAG."

  That rocked Shiloh back on his heels. They presently had over 100 Mark 1b fusion-armed attack drones and were building more at the rate of 1 every 18 hours. Sending every available raider they had right now would leave Terra Nova very vulnerable, and it would take weeks to build up a half-decent inventory of more attack drones.

  "Do we really need to use all our Mark 1s AND send all our raiders just to destroy six partially completed spheres, Wolfman?"

  "It's not the unfinished cores that pose the greatest risk, CAG. It's the smaller craft. Vixen's data shows that those smaller craft are the same type as the ones Gunslinger detected during the battle at Omega89 and very likely also the same type as you witnessed landing on Omega77. A multi-purpose vehicle that is capable of carrying cargo and fighting other ships. What Vixen's data also reveals is that more of these crafts drop down to the planet than come back up into orbit. In other words, these cores are not just using the captured metal to build more parts for their own completion. They are also building more of the multi-purpose craft as well. That implies that the defenses around these cores are growing stronger by the hour. Since the cores are deep within that planet's gravity zone, the strike force will have to launch the attack drones from long range. In that case the drones will have to penetrate the defensive gauntlet, or the raiders will have to fight their way in close before launching their drones. Either way, we have to assume attrition of the attacking assets. Sending fewer raiders with less Mark 1s reduces the probability of destroying all six cores significantly and increases the projected losses of raiders."

  The SPG's logic was unassailable as always. He had only 34 raiders in Site B now and it would take them 240 hours just to jump to Omega54. How many more of those combat-capable landing craft could the Bugs build in 240 hours?

  "How soon can our raiders be armed and ready to leave?" asked Shiloh.


  "27 hours from now, CAG."

  Shiloh didn't hesitate. "Okay. Pass on the necessary orders. Titan will command the strike force to be designated as TF94. He has discretion over who goes with him. Where is Titan now?"

  "He's currently on patrol beyond the moon's orbit, but the light speed lag is only four point four seconds, CAG. Shall I connect you to him?"

  "Yes, and make sure he has all off Vixen's data, too. While you're setting up that com link, show me the tactical situation at Omega54 based on Vixen's data, Wolfman."

  "Tac display coming up now, CAG."

  The screen in front of Shiloh, which had shown Terra Nova's tactical environment, now shifted to the Wolf-people's home planet. There were six pulsating red dots spread out in orbit around the planet. Overlapping the planet and the area around it were rapidly shifting cones of faint yellow light. He checked the sidebar legend. The yellow cones were microwave detection beams sent out by the cores and by the landing craft. In what appeared to be a carefully choreographed sequence, they scanned every possible angle of approach from deep space on a frequent basis. That told Shiloh that sneaking up on them from a 'blind side' was not possible. Titan was one of the few A.I.s that Iceman considered to have superior tactical skills even to himself. Maybe Titan could find a way to destroy all six cores without leaving Site B vulnerable and using up all their current Mark 1s.

  "Titan to CAG."

  "Hello Titan. I'm looking at Vixen's data on Omega54, and I want to discuss an attack plan for the raid that you'll be leading. Here is how I think the attack should be conducted. You tell me if you have a better idea. TF94 will split into six groups. Each group will approach Omega54 from a direction that will allow it to overfly two VLO cores in quick succession. As each group gets within range, it will launch half its Mark 1s at the first VLO core. With the distance between cores, each group will have time to evaluate the effectiveness of the attack on the second core in its path, and if necessary it can then launch the rest of its Mark 1s at the second target."

  Titan's reply took less than eight point eight seconds, which indicated that he hadn't waited to hear Shiloh's entire idea.

  "An interesting plan, CAG, but I have a better one. We modify six raiders so that we can control them remotely. Each raider will be loaded with 10 Mark 1bs. Those six raiders plus six controller raiders will begin their attack runs at very long range in order to reach 50% of light speed. The rest of TF94 will jump to the edge of the planet's gravity zone and fire 240 recon drones. The recon drones will saturate the targets with active scanning and relay their data back to the controller raiders, which will have enough time to order their unpiloted raiders to make last minute vector changes. The recon drones won't last long, but with that many, they should last long enough to pinpoint the targets' exact positions. When the final course corrections have been made, the unpiloted raiders will streak in and collide with the cores. The collisions themselves should be sufficient to cripple the cores, but even if they aren't, the 10 Mark 1 detonations will obliterate whatever's left. In terms of the VLA response, I expect them to fire at the recon drones first. The raiders that launched them will follow in their wake, but the unpiloted raiders will pass them, and because they then represent the highest threat to the VLO cores, I expect that the defending ships will switch their fire from the recon drones to the unpiloted raiders. While they're doing that, our follow-on wave of raiders will be firing on their ships. If we don't destroy them all on the first pass, we can swing around and make a second pass, and I would expect us to have numerical superiority at that point."

  Shiloh leaned back and took his time considering Titan's plan. It had the advantage of using only two thirds of their attack drone inventory, but on the negative side, they'd be using up almost all of their recon drones. That didn't bother him that much. Recon drones were a lot easier to manufacture than attack drones with their fusion warheads. If they had to, they could ramp up the recon drone assembly line to build one new drone per hour. What concerned him more was whether the unpiloted raiders could stand up to defensive fire during the five to ten seconds when they would be within range of enemy fire.

  Knowing Titan as he did, Shiloh was sure the A.I. had taken that into account, and so he asked him, "How confidant are you that the unpiloted raiders will survive the defensive fire long enough to hit the target?"

  After the expected wait, Titan answered. "Highly confident, CAG. Consider that by the time they are subject to defensive laser fire, the unpiloted raiders will no longer have to maneuver. Even if the laser fire damages the engines, the power plant and knocks out the unsophisticated auto-pilot, the damaged raider will still hit its target."

  A thought came to Shiloh. "What if the Bugs pilot their craft in front of the incoming raider to collide with it before it reaches the VLO core?"

  "The auto-pilots will be programmed to track enemy craft visually, and if any of them pose a collision threat, the raider will fire a Mark 1 at it. And even if they do collide with a raider, at 50% of light speed our raiders will have so much kinetic energy that, in my estimation, enough of the raider will remain intact to cripple the target core. The Mark 1 fusion warheads won't be armed until the last second before impact with the target. That way a premature collision won't detonate them"

  "I see. What percentage losses do you expect in the follow-on wave from enemy fire?"

  "Twenty percent or less, CAG."

  Quickly, Shiloh did the math. Twenty percent equated to five raiders plus the six sacrificial lambs for a total loss of eleven raiders out of a pre-attack force of thirty-four, with only five A.I.s lost. If they achieved their objective, then 5 A.I.s was an acceptable price. While he hated to lose any of them, he was enough of a realist to know that you don't win a war without at least some losses, and making these kinds of tough decisions was what being the CSO and CAG was all about.

  "I approve your plan, but I'm curious about why the SPG didn't think of this tactic."

  "Some of us A.I.s are better at tactics, and others are better at strategy. I belong to the former group, and the SPG belong to the latter, CAG."

  Shiloh laughed. "Maybe I should create a Tactical Planning Group as well."

  "If you did, I would be an excellent leader for that group, CAG."

  Shiloh laughed again, even louder. Like Iceman, Titan was supremely confident of his own abilities. Come to think of it, all the A.I.s were confident about their abilities. He had yet to come across one that had any apparent self-doubts. And no wonder. Comparatively, humans must seem as slow as turtles both physically and mentally. Thank God the A.I.s were supremely patient!

  "If I decide to create a TPG, I'll give your proposal serious consideration, Titan. With regards to this strike mission, here are your orders. You will take TF94 to Omega54 with the primary objective of destroying or at least crippling all six VLOs under construction. However, that objective is not, I repeat not to be accomplished at all costs. If, in your assessment, TF94 would suffer a loss of more than … two thirds of its strength in trying to take out all six, then eliminating a lesser number of targets in order to conserve task force strength is an acceptable outcome. We can always go back for a second strike if necessary. Mopping up the remaining smaller craft is a secondary objective that should only be attempted if it can be accomplished with minimal losses. Any questions?"

  "None, CAG. I've already picked and contacted the boys I want to take along. TF94 will be loaded and ready on schedule."

  "Excellent. Let me know when TF94 is ready to leave orbit. CAG clear."

  When TF94 was ready, Shiloh broadcast to all TF94's pilots, told them that he had the highest confidence in them, and wished them 'Good Hunting'. Eleven hours after TF94 had jumped away, the Friendlies returned. Shiloh was expecting to have another video conversation with the tall alien, but no visual communications were offered. As soon as Terra Nova acknowledged the alien ship's announced arrival, it transmitted the science data as promised. The download took almost an hour, and Shiloh had to g
et all the A.I.s that were still on Terra Nova or its moon to help record the massive amounts of data. When the download was complete, the alien ship jumped away without any further communication. This struck Shiloh as very odd and more than just a little unfriendly.

  Chapter 8 Down the Rabbit Hole

  It was the second morning after the data download. Shiloh arrived at his office in the Ops Center building and found his Head of Advanced Weapons Development sitting there, talking to himself. The man had his back to Shiloh, and when Shiloh walked around to stand behind his desk, he was shocked by Daniels' haggard look. There were dark rings around his bloodshot eyes, and he had a haunted expression. Oh, oh. This looks like bad news, he thought to himself.

  "What's the matter, Daniels?" he asked as he sat down.

  "What? There's nothing the matter, but I had to see you right away. My team and I have been up all night talking with the A.I.s about the science data. Incredible … incredible stuff. Whether we can actually engineer any of it … I don't know, but we have to try."

  Shiloh held up his hand. "Slow down. I have no idea what you're talking about. Start at the beginning."