The Raygin War

  The next morning, Mac greeted the students. “Today’s lecture is on recon.” As he lectured, there were hundreds of questions. Mac knew the game. Distract me, and with luck get out of physical training this morning. Not a chance. With enemy ships hiding in uncharted space we need to be ready for anything.

  One ground pounder put her hand up and said, “Tinker’s missing.”

  “Tinker is on special assignment for me.”

  There were several comments about Tinker’s brown nose, ass kissing, and a few other jeers. Mac continued with the lecture. “Now, listen up. You will receive a recon brief from me. Afterwards, in a single column, two abreast, you will jog to the holographic deck. Tinker will be waiting with your backpacks.”

  Mac heard a few, ‘Aw crap’s and a few ‘Fuck’s. The tone changed when he said, “and your rifles”. He looked around and saw a few smiles. To his troops, it meant today would not be another God awful physical endurance test.

  “After everyone receives their equipment, I want you to gather together. As a team, I want you to enter the holographic simulator and wait for me. Now, for the briefing: War has broken out with the Zombies. Fleet Command is sending us on a recon mission to Skulderon.”

  A few experienced troopers groaned.

  “For those of you who aren’t familiar with Skulderon – it’s a desert planet in a binary star system. It is over ninety-nine percent sand. The average daytime temperature is 145 degrees Fahrenheit due to the two suns. During the night it cools down to 120 degrees.” A groan came from the troops. “There are only a few life forms left on the planet. Availability of water is limited.”

  “Long range probes have detected hostile activity to and from the planet’s largest oasis. Our mission is reconnaissance. Get in, take vids, and leave without detection. The brass needs to know what the Zombies are up to. Do not, I say again, do not engage the enemy. I will lead you to the oasis and direct the three platoons to their assignments. We will have six standard hours to rendezvous with the one flight out. Whatever happens, don’t be late. Are their any questions?”

  “If you’re leading us to the point of deployment and directing us, who will lead the platoons?” asked Yak, a veteran who hadn’t seen real action yet.

  “The three top students. Tinker will take First Platoon. Dwain takes second platoon, and Dreng will lead Third platoon.”

  “What if we’re late for the rendezvous?” asked Dwain.

  “You and your platoon will be captured or killed.”

  “What if we’re discovered and start taking fire?” asked Dreng.

  “If it was me, I’d fire back and be ready to take some heat in the debrief… assuming you make it back.”

  After several more questions, Mac felt the troops were ready. It was their first mission. The holographic generator would make the undertaking of the task seem real. For those never in combat before, this would be a shock. You can talk about it, watch vids, listen to those who were in a firefight, but until you’ve been in one, it doesn’t sink home.

  “Okay, let’s go,” said Mac.

  The troops remembered their instructions: Two abreast, one column. They headed to the holographic simulator. Mac brought up the rear. He kept catching glimpses of Dreng and had to force himself to concentrate on the exercise. He was becoming infatuated with her. Those dark eyes, the perfect voice, her body… oh shit, focus Mac focus.

  When the troops arrived, Tinker was there with all the weapons and backpacks. He handed out the equipment and assigned the troops to their platoons per Mac’s instructions.

  Mac walked up to the keypad, entered a security code, and typed Mac.mil/first/5/Skulderon. “All right, put your helmets on, visors down, backpacks on, guns at the ready. Enter the simulator and wait for me.”

  As they stepped in all they could see was white in every direction. The surface temperature read 250 degrees. Their visors darkened almost to black to allow them to see in the dual sunlight. As the troops moved, their body weight forced them to sink several inches into the sand. This trek would be demanding.

  Mac entered last. Without thinking about it his eyes went right to Dreng. “Welcome to Skulderon.” He heard the groans in his helmet’s speaker. “Follow me.” Mac started a slow jog to make sure the weaker troopers could stay with him in the shifting sand.

  After three kilometers of jogging Mac stopped his team near the top of a large sand dune. In front of them stood a large oasis with shrubs and some odd shaped trees. The huge leaves created a thick canopy. No one could see the water, but even from here they could feel the moisture in the air. “Tinker, take First platoon to the north for recon. Dwain, take Second platoon to the south. Dreng, you take Third platoon straight ahead. We’ll meet back here in five standard hours. I’ll be doing some recon on my own, now, go.”

  In the military this type of training was for advanced special ops. Mac could hear the excitement in their voices. Even Tinker and Dwain had never seen anything so real. The cost of a holographic simulator prohibited its use by ordinary troops. But Mac had connections. Both First and Second platoons moved into the oasis and began their assignment.

  Thanks to the nanotechnology in the armor suits the troops were shimmering ghosts as they moved through their environment. Mac watched the three platoons as they began to move into the jungle. He tweaked his helmet visor. He could watch each platoon and see how they performed under their new leadership.

  Within ten minutes each platoon discovered a campsite. It contained several environmental pods and small planetary rocket launchers. There were even a couple fighters. Everything was camouflaged to defeat any probes snooping high overhead. Strange looking pieces of equipment lay hidden in the ground foliage. About 250 zombies worked under camo nets putting various components together. All the boxes and crates had strange markings on them. Thousands of containers littered the site.

  Mac was proud of all three platoons. They worked hard to get the vids yet remain unseen. Each platoon saw something different. The program tried to get the troops to stay and take more pictures. If they got sloppy the program reacted or if Mac chose to he could force an issue. Tinker was the first to start moving back to the rendezvous point. Time to go into hiding. Mac left the area and the simulator kept him invisible to his troops.

  Tinker and First platoon arrived twenty minutes ahead of the departure time. When Tinker didn’t see Mac he said, “Shit, I knew this was too easy.”

  Tinker and First platoon climbed the dune. After they struggled to the top, he made the troops fan out, and train their weapons on the jungle. Mac smiled when he saw Tinker display a count down clock on his visor.

  Dwain and Second platoon showed up next. They too struggled up the dune and took up defensive positions along with First platoon.

  The holographic program tried to get Third platoon to stay longer. The enemy started to move what looked like large rocket tubes out of hidden caves. Mac watched Dreng’s reaction. She didn’t let the new development distract her. She gave the signal for the troops to leave. Third platoon regrouped and began to move through the oasis back to the rendezvous point. Mac used the computer to force discovery by the enemy.

  Two zombies started screaming and pointing at them. Somehow the enemy found them. Laser fire and projectiles began whizzing into the undercover. The troops could smell the trees and bushes burn as lasers hit them. Yak, a trooper who had never seen combat, froze.

  Dreng screamed over the roar of weapons firing, “Return fire. Yak, snap out of it!”

  Yak ducked down and started to return fire.

  “There are too many Zombies to fight and more coming every second. Fishman, you and I will hang back and lay down some suppression fire to slow them down. The rest of you start moving to the rendezvous point. Ham, you take the lead. Now, get going, move it!”

  Dreng used hand signals to tell Fishman to cover the right flank while she coved the left. They retreated, popping up and down to fire. Using this tactic the zombies wouldn’t be able to iden
tify the strength of their enemy.

  First and Second platoon stood their ground. They could hear the battle moving toward them.

  “Hold your positions, stay low and be ready to fire,” said Tinker.

  Third platoon came running up the dune.

  Dwain had his thermal sensors activated. He made a quick head count. “We are minus two troopers, and Mac.”

  Tinker could still hear the weapon fire. “The zombies must be shooting at the two troopers still missing. We’ve got two minutes before we have to leave.”

  “Here they come,” said Dwain. “I can see about fifty Zombies following them.”

  “Open fire,” said Tinker. The Zombies were forced to stop at the edge of the oasis.

  Dreng and Fishman made it to the top in record time. The ground pounders gave the two latecomers plenty of cover fire.

  Mac appeared behind the troops. “Follow me,” he said, “we’ve got to get out of here before they bring out the heavy weapons.”

  Without question, or discussion, everyone followed Mac. After about five minutes of running, the program ended. They were standing at the exit, out of breath.

  “Fuck,” said Dwain. “It felt like I was in a real battle. My heart’s still racing.”

  “How’d we do?” asked Tinker.

  “You did great for your first fire fight. But, we were on Skulderon to gather intelligence, not engage the enemy. Let’s go back to the classroom and see how you did.”

  CHAPTER FOUR: Discovery

  In preparation for war, the People’s Nation built one hundred sixty-three new Dreadnought class battleships, two hundred seventy-four Swift class cruisers, and three thousand Sparrow Hawk fighters. After twenty-five years, they were still gleaning information from the captured alien ship. Mahpee learned reverse engineering is a slow and difficult process.

  Another problem rested with the People of the Stars. It looked like they had not taken any action to prepare for the invasion they were warned about. Still wanting to live in seclusion, the People’s Nation came up with a way to help their distant relatives. The People’s Nation infiltrated the top engineering schools of their human cousins. They simulated new discoveries their own engineers had already discovered. The program to share new information worked. No one realized many people making important discoveries disappeared over time.

  By using DNA the entomologists on Nokomis discovered the big bugs evolved from a predatory species of beetle. The scientists speculated the evolutionary process had taken billions of years. Of all insects beetles evolving did not surprise anyone considering one third of all insects in the known universe are beetles.

  As Chief Mahpee drove his flyer to the university, he thought about the bugs and about his daughter too. It had been four months since their big argument. Not a single word from her. Blacklisting her from serving in the military had been a bad idea. What did I expect would happen? There are all kinds of other jobs available. Why can’t she see I did it for her? Those damn Tellers filled her head with crap. It’s too much responsibility for a young woman. Ancient prophesy my ass. I don’t want her involved in the war when it comes. I’ll deal with the Raygin myself. I already came too close to losing her once. I can’t handle it again. Pushing her to meet men doesn’t seem to be working. I’ll change tactics and find her a good man myself.

  The chief smiled. He felt better after talking to himself. He grounded his flyer at the university and walked to the chancellor’s office still thinking about his daughter.

  “Hello chief, good to see you again. Please go in. Chancellor Mongwau is waiting for you.”

  He knocked on the big door and walked in. He couldn’t wait to get his mind off his daughter. The worrying was going to kill him. He loved his old friend. As a historian, Mongwau always seemed to have a new tale about the lost Nation. He loved to talk about what they went through in the first years of colonization. When Mahpee stepped into the office, a new decoration on the wall caught his eye. The chief walked up to the display, took his finger, and traced the artwork under the transparent cover.

  Mongwau could see it tweaked his friend’s curiosity. “Do you know what it is Mahpee?”

  The chief scratched his head. “No, but it has a calming look.”

  “This is a replica of an artifact listed in the cryo ship’s records. We retrieved it using Raygin technology. It is a dream catcher. The ancients believed all night air contained both good and bad dreams. If you hang a dream catcher over a bed, the web catches all dreams, good and bad. The good dreams know the path to follow in the web to exit through the feathers onto the sleeping dreamer. The bad dreams get stuck in the web and perish at first light.”

  “You know, I could use a dream catchers over my bed. My daughter is worrying me to death.”

  “What? Sweet little Ayashe is worrying you?”

  “My little warrior is no longer little. The older she gets, the more problems I have with her. I stopped her from joining the military and we had a big fight. She moved in with Kele again. I thought some time away from me would help her. It’s been four months since I have talked to her. Last time this happened, Kele worked her magic, and got us talking again. But it’s been so long I’m starting to worry. I yelled at Ayashe while I was angry. I said things I regret. I am afraid Kele won’t be able to fix it.”

  “I am having nightmares of her fighting thousands of alien bugs all by herself. For some reason, I have to watch and can’t help. The attacking bugs overwhelm her. She gets captured. When they begin to eat her alive, I wake up shaking and covered in a sweat.”

  “Sounds like an anxiety dream to me” said Mongwau. “Do not forget, besides being born and wounded in battle, the Raygin also stole her mother’s life. She must right the wrong in her mind or her soul will not sleep. She has been trained by the best our military has to offer. I hear she is a strategist, weapons expert, and natural leader. You know the old stories. So does she.” Mongwau squinted his eyes at Mahpee, “Even if you didn’t tell her, she learned on her own. You should be proud of her. She has prepared herself her whole life. She has no equal among our people. The student has surpassed the masters. I know you don’t want to hear it, but you should let her enter the military. Protect her as best you can, but you must let her become who she wants to be or she will hold it against you forever.”

  “You’re right. I have to do something. Saying no, doesn’t work anymore. I’ll drop by Kele’s place and talk to her tonight. Now, tell me the news.”

  Mongwau rubbed his hands together. “Imagine two species with different evolutionary paths. The Raygin computer era started with a bio-molecular design. Human computers used an electronic design. The bio-molecular computer they designed uses the chemical building block of proteins. This means if the bio-computer is damaged it can repair itself.”

  “Their ships are faster than ours because their computers use many multiple loops to do tasks such as jump calculations. The Raygin control their computers using chemical reactions. Remember how Kele described the attack? At first, the air smelled good when they entered the playroom, because they found the children. They were happy. When they got attacked, they gave off an acidy smell, indicating concern. When the queen started to kill them, they gave off a smell like rotten old socks – it’s how they show fear.”

  “So far,” said Mahpee, “all I have heard is the aliens can stink real bad. Do you have any good news?”

  “The good news,” said Mongwau, “is we have our technology and now we have some of theirs. Using Raygin science, we think we can link our nano-circuitry to bioluminescent organisms.”

  “What do we gain by linking the two technologies?”

  “Think of it my good friend. Circuits not slowed by fiber optics connected to junctions and processors. As it stands now, our processors have to communicate with each piece of hardware. A light signal carrying information must get interpreted at each junction. The speed Mahpee, the speed will be unbelievable!”

  WAOOM. The sound of an explosi
on echoed down the hallway walls all the way into Mongwau’s office. It was followed by a shock wave of air. Mahpee looked at his friend, their eyes locked, and both of them took off running toward the labs. As both men rounded a corner, they came upon several scientists and engineers. They were standing outside a lab looking a little shaken. The door was hanging off its hinge, and smoke hung in the air.

  Mongwau was bent over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath. Airborne debris was still settling.

  “Is everyone okay?” asked Mahpee.

  Nashta stepped forward, looked at his counterparts and said, “We’re okay. Looks like we still have a few more bugs to work out. I’m sure we’ll get it soon.”

  The wide-eyed scientists and engineers shook their heads yes, following Nashta’s lead.

  “I don’t have to tell you to be careful, do I Nashta?” said Mongwau.

  “No sir, if I were you, I wouldn’t even mention it.”

  “All right, I won’t bother.”

  As Mahpee and Mongwau turned around to walk away, Mahpee started laughing.

  “You were a bit hard on Nashta, weren’t you?” asked Mahpee.

  Mongwau smiled. “This is serious work here. Besides, he’s a good engineer, I don’t want him to get hurt.”

  “You have given me great hope, but tell me, is there anything in the here and now to benefit us?” asked Mahpee.

  “It’s a good thing I know you are like a child and need instant gratification. Yes, we have boosted the range of our scanners. We also have new equipment able to track ships through space by evaluating the gravity ripples in their wake. It is much like following the trail of a boat as it moves through the water. We have also placed new plasma guns into the battleships and are fitting the cruisers. The fighters can carry plasma warhead torpedoes as part of their offensive weapons. Engineers have added a few surprises to your mini flagship, the Wasp. Consider it a gift from the university.”