by Don Viecelli
“Space platforms are destroyed, Vice Leader!” Miata announced.
“Very well. Target the nearest Yoyka warships with Orcas,” Di ordered.
“Four enemy missiles approaching the Bakutu. Energy shields at full power. Prepare for impact,” AIC announced firmly.
Di pulled on his safety straps. Miata and the rest of the crew on the Bridge did the same. Impact alarms and warnings were heard throughout the ship. Di checked his viewscreen. The Bakutu shook several times as the shields absorbed the full impacts from four nuclear explosions.
Di wondered how so many nuclear missiles made it through their ship’s laser antimissile defenses. He was quickly informed by AI Control that two Yoyka warships and a dozen Spitka fighters had fired over forty missiles at his ship before anyone could stop them.
Miata said over the noise on the Bridge, “Orca Drones launched! Targeting the two warships that attacked us now!”
The Yoyka may have known about the new KEM weapons, but Di was sure the warships protecting this planet did not know about the Orca cloaked drone weapons until they began to explode against enemy shields and take them down. Within seconds, the enemy warships were vulnerable to Holtu missile attacks. All the Yoyka warships were destroyed before the fires from the space platforms died out from lack of oxygen.
The Zoltu fighters continued to chase and destroy Spitka fighters until the remaining enemy pilots realized they no longer had hangers to return to. They fled the solar system.
Di asked for a report on casualties. Miata checked with Control and said, “Four of our warships were destroyed, two seriously damaged. 400 or 10 percent of our Zoltu fighters were destroyed. The Yoyka lost all twenty warships and over two thousand Spitka fighters. The rest fled the system.”
Di wasted no more time. He turned to Miata and told her to fire the counter nano-agent missiles at Nobyan. Several other warships did the same until the entire planet was engulfed in a green mist that gradually settled to the ground.
“Tell the medical teams they can travel to Nobyan and check on the population. Hopefully, the counter nano-agent will save the Nobyans before Rahta can send the nanomachine kill code.
Di would leave ten warships in the Nobyan solar system to make sure the Nobyan race was safe from any returning Yoyka warships bent on revenge. The rest would move on to the next Yoyka slave planet to be freed.
Word was sent to the Nobyan rebels that it was safe to return to their solar system and begin the rebuilding process. The Galactic Military Alliance just proved what they were capable of and, hopefully, gained another Alliance Partner in the war against the Yoykan Empire.
Chapter 49
Swarm Intelligence
Doctor Janice Martin was still living on board the Solruku with her son Jules and others brought back to life with the Qumru Onutu regeneration and mind transfer technology. It amazed her without end that this was even possible. She knew personally what Onutu could do, but it never really hits home until it happens to you or someone close to you who died.
Jan was holding Jules in her arms sitting in her small stateroom used by passengers who travel on the Solruku starship. Jules had finished eating and Jan took him to his bed to sleep. Jan looked at his growing body and could not find anything different about him. He seemed exactly as she knew him from before their deaths in the shelter on Mars. Even Jan felt and looked completely normal to herself and others who knew her before. However, there was one thing different about her body she noticed upon close examination. She no longer had any scars on her leg and arm where she fell and cut herself exploring a canyon on Earth when she was in graduate school. Her skin had been regenerated scar free during the Onutu process.
Jan looked at her wristcom. It was time to report back to work. A knock on her door meant the babysitter had come to watch Jules while she worked her afternoon shift. She opened the door and gave the Qumru babysitter instructions for caring for Jules and how to contact her while she was gone. This was happening more often on board the starship as more parents with children were brought back to life with Onutu.
Jan left her room and walked to the nearest elevator. She was meeting Tumil in the Medical and Science Research Center on Deck Level 11. They were working on new methods to counteract or control the Yoyka nanobot drone weapon.
Jan passed several other human passengers in the hallway. There was room for 10,000 passengers and crewmembers on board the Solruku. Around 1,000 people from Mars have already been regenerated some two weeks after the attack by the Yoyka. In that time, Tumil and other Qumru scientists had worked tirelessly regenerating human bodies and uploading their memories into new brains. Jan knew thirty thousand people had died on Mars and another two point three million people had been killed on Earth. All their minds had been saved using quantum data particles, transferred over QTL to the Solruku and stored in Onutu quantum computer bays on Deck Level 12. The Qumru were working on bringing back the people who died on Mars first. Then the Onutu technology would be taken to Earth where new facilities were being built to bring back all those lost in the attack.
Tumil was busy looking through a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) when Jan entered the lab ready to go to work. She said hello and asked what he was working on.
“I’m studying our latest source code revisions on the Yoyka nanoweapon to see if we can control it.”
Jan put on her white lab coat, protective mask and gloves. The nanobot drones were extremely dangerous and stored in escape proof metal containers. The lab itself was constructed similar to disease control centers and operated as a quarantine room. The Yoyka nanobots that make up a single drone were no bigger than standard sized bacteria at two microns or micrometers in length. Hundreds of them could fit on the tip of a pin. Thus the need for a STM microscope that could analyze their structure at the atomic level and determine how to manipulate or control them.
Jan looked at the quantum computer screen that displayed the nanobots as they constantly moved to form into tiny robotic drones that could fly, suffocate living organisms and consume their prey in order to replicate and spread unless stopped by some sort of quantum encryption code. They were relentless and so far uncontrollable.
“What have you learned so far, Tumil?” Jan asked.
“We know the nanobot drones operate on basic artificial intelligence, what you humans call Swarm Intelligence or SI. It is a collective, decentralized behavior commonly found in nature. There is no centralized control, but rather random actions determined by interaction with their environment and programming.”
Jan interceded with her own analysis, “It is based on natural swarm intelligence found in bird flocking and ant colonies on Earth. We should be able to influence that behavior by introducing our own artificial algorithms.”
“That is my goal, Doctor Martin. Perhaps together we can modify the programming found in the Yoyka nanobots and turn the drones against their creators.”
Jan thought the same thing. They used their quantum computers to analysis the AI source code found in the Yoyka nanobots. With specific API source code reprogramming, they should be able to give the nanobot swarm drones new directives that would make the Yoyka vulnerable to attack by their own nanoweapon. After what happened to her family and thousands of other humans in the last Yoyka attack, Jan was no longer hesitant to use nanorobotic technology as a killer weapon.
Chapter 50
Rahta
Rahta stepped loudly through the dark hallway of his Royal Palace located inside the Capital City of Vickta on Yoykan leading a contingent of his Royal Guard following close behind. He was in a rush to meet with his Senior Commanders in the Royal Chamber to discuss the latest attacks in his realm.
The two Imperial Guards standing before the chamber pulled open the heavy wooden doors as Rahta strode forward, arms swinging under his purple robe. The glare of the sun rising over the mountains in the distance blinded his sight for a moment as Rahta walked quickly to the head of the table leaving his guards at the door. Eve
ryone stood at attention and greeted their ruler with arms against their chests and a loud “Imperial Leader!”
Rahta barely acknowledged the greeting. Instead he sat down and waited for his commanders to take their seats before speaking. He turned to High Commander Anahta first. “Tell me High Commander, what has happened?”
Anahta calmly brought up a hologram in the center of the table that showed the Yoykan Empire spread out over five thousand light years in all directions. Fifteen solar systems were highlighted in various colors from the most important to lesser importance depending on their usefulness to the empire.
“Our enslaved solar systems are being attacked by the Galactic Military Alliance as shown on this hologram in red. Ten systems have been attacked so far. In each case, we lost most of our warships guarding each system. The enemy always attacks with enough warships to overpower our warships and destroy them before any can escape. The last reports we received confirm that Luzern and Nobyan Solar Systems have been taken from us along with eight other systems.
“We have been successful in destroying two enslaved planets with our nanobot drone swarm weapon; Synor and Qoria, both of which came under constant attack by rebel forces recently. However, we have been unsuccessful in preventing the Holtu Military Alliance from defeating our warships at these other ten planets in their solar systems.” Anahta paused for Rahta’s reaction, which was swift in coming.
“This is totally unacceptable!” Rahta pounded the table with both hands in rage causing terror to be seen in some commanders’ eyes. “How could this happen?”
Anahta thought he had one possible explanation. “We believe the Holtu Allies have somehow deciphered our military communication channels and know where our forces are stationed and how many in each location. They have been listening to our communications for some time now.”
Rahta held his breath. This might indeed explain why the enemy seemed to know where to attack and how many forces to send to defeat his fleet each time they had engaged in battle. He asked, “What are we doing about it?”
“I have already ordered all Fleet Commanders to change their communication encryption procedures and only use quantum transmission links that are unbreakable, Imperial Leader.”
Rahta looked at the hologram counting the ten enslaved planets he used to control. He decided to teach all of them a final lesson. “Send nanomachine kill codes to terminate all the races on these planets immediately!”
“It would not be successful, Imperial Leader. The enemy has already spread their nano-agent solution on each of these planets. It is the same solution they used on the Qumru on Qum. We are too late.”
“Then attack them all with our nanobot drone weapon!”
“Each of the planets is guarded by Holtu warships, Imperial Leader. We must keep our fleets nearby to protect from an imminent Holtu attack in our own solar system. We expect them to attack at any time now.”
Rahta looked about the table at each of his Fleet Commanders. Between them he still had almost four hundred warships in which to defend his empire. The Holtu has less than three hundred warships even with the Humans helping them. He said, “We should attack the Holtu again with everything he have and finish them off once and for all!”
High Commander Anahta knew that would be a fatal mistake. It they attacked the Holtu solar system again, they would not have enough warships to protect Yoykan from a similar surprise attack by the Holtu. Their planet would be destroyed while they were away.
“I do not recommend this, Imperial Leader. It would leave our own planet open to attack by the Holtu fleet.”
“What do you suggest instead, High Commander?” Rahta finally asked.
“We should use this new knowledge against the Holtu Allies. We can set a trap for when they attack our home worlds.”
“A trap? How so, High Commander?”
“We could communicate our plans over current military channels saying our fleet plans to attack the Holtu solar system on a certain date. Instead of leaving, we will bait the enemy and do to them what they did to us at Holtu and then Earth systems. We will attack them from behind and destroy their fleet after they arrive.”
Rahta liked this suggestion. He smiled as he thought of how they could destroy the Holtu warship fleet once and for all; right here in the Yoykan Solar System.
“I agree to this plan. Set it up with our Fleet Commanders and let me know when we are ready. I want to be on board the Yoykan Malee Tre when it happens.”
“Yes, Imperial Leader. It will be done as ordered!” Anahta stood up as Rahta prepared to leave the chamber. He saluted the emperor and waited for him to leave. Then he turned to the other Fleet Commanders still in the room.
“I will send you my plan as soon as I return to my warship. We must act quickly. Our spy probes show that the Holtu warship fleet is gathering in the Qum solar system. We must make them think we are leaving to attack Holtu again with a large fleet. This will be our only chance to finally defeat them.”
The Fleet Commanders saluted Anahta and left the chamber to return to their ships. They were convinced this plan would work and they would defeat all enemies who defied their emperor. Victory and glory would be theirs once again. It was foreordained.
Chapter 51
Altek
High Leader Altek called a final strategy meeting on board his warship, Iconda, as it orbited Qum. Several other Holtu warships were on patrol nearby. The Iconda was serving as the fleet flagship for the coming battle with the Yoyka. It was up to Altek to decide how the Galactic Military Alliance was going to begin the offensive space war and attack the Yoykan solar system.
Altek sat at the large conference room in the Command Center with four of his most trusted warship commanders. Vice Leader Di was in attendance along with Commodore Doug Martin, recently promoted to Commodore by General Bradstone in charge of the UN Space Strike Force (UNSSF). Senior Leader Erlatu who distinguished himself at the Battle For Holtu and Qum was also present with one other senior warship leader, Senior Leader Nelatu, who sat across from him at the table. Out of 280 warships total, each senior leader commanded 70 warships, which were scattered throughout the Qum solar system waiting for final orders.
“We are almost ready to attack the Yoykan solar system,” Altek began. “Our warship fleets have freed ten solar systems with enslaved races previously controlled by the Yoyka. We destroyed the few warships guarding each planet and used our counter nano-agent solution to remove the Yoyka nanomachines from the minds of each race before the Yoyka could send their kill codes. Unfortunately, we were too late to save the races on Synor and Qoria. Billions were killed for no reason. This will only serve to give the rebel forces more willingness to fight with us against the Yoyka when the time comes.
“We also destroyed the primary warship manufacturing facilities in the Luzern and Nobyan solar systems. The Yoyka are no longer capable of building as many weapons and warships as before.
“The Yoyka still possess another three solar systems closer to the center of the galaxy we have not been able to free yet. But we have recent reports that the Yoyka Emperor Rahta is moving the rest of his warship fleet back to protect his two main solar system home worlds at Yoykan and Tekoy.”
“How large is the Yoyka warship fleet we must destroy, High Leader?” Erlatu interrupted.
“It is close to four hundred warships as best we know, Senior Leader.”
“Then they will be difficult to defeat in one major battle,” Erlatu responded.
“That is correct, but we will not fight the Yoyka in one battle. We must split their forces and attack them at different times. We will use the tactics the Humans have taught us in order to defeat our common enemy. We also have the advantage in superior weapons design. We will use all of this to our advantage.”
Altek laid out his plans for the offensive space battles against the Yoykan Empire. It would take at least two battles to defeat the Yoyka fleet if all went according to plans. After much discussion, it was decided
to begin the offense as soon as the latest surveillance probes reported back from the Yoykan solar system. The first space battle would begin soon.
Doug reviewed the attack plans as soon as he returned to his warship, USS Illinois. He set up a video call meeting with the rest of his warship fleet, which now consisted of five Holtu and five newly built UN Space Strike Force Fleet warships commanded by UN military officers from all five permanent members of the UN Security Conference; China, France, Russia, UK and the US. The Admirals and Commodores in charge of ten UN warships were experienced commanders of naval vessels on Earth, but their space warfare experience was limited to training exercises in the Earth solar system before arriving at Qum. Doug was the acting Fleet Commander for the UN Space Force. It was up to Doug to prepare them for the coming space battles with the Yoyka.
“Here are the plans for the offensive with the Yoyka. Review them in detail and let me know if you have any questions. We report to Vice Leader Di, Space Battle Group 2. With our ten UN warships we have seventy warships in our Group. Vice Leader Di will let us know when we must depart Qum.
“I know this will be the first space battle some of you and your crewmembers will participate in. Believe in your fellow commanders and our superior weapon capabilities. I have no doubt of the outcome. We will defeat the Yoyka no matter what the cost. As all of you now know, we can all be killed in battle, but that will not be the end of our existence due to Onutu technology. We will come back to fight another day; something the Yoyka will not be able to match. This is a new day for our race and we will use it to full advantage. Are there any questions?”