by Robert Boren
Nolan nodded. “True, Captain, but we’ve also tipped our hand that we can see them. They might be hard to target, too, if they can cloak.”
“They’re operating freely in our zone,” JJ said.
Nolan shook his head. “Yes, in battleships that look just like Razors, and who’s been watching out? The Central Authority?”
I laughed. “Crap, you’re right about that. We don’t know that they can cloak, and since Simone’s ships can’t cloak, there’s a good chance these Razors can’t cloak either.”
“Two transport ships and a battleship are within jump range of the flight suits at the Rocky Mountain base,” JJ said. “Why don’t we have Estes send a few of his folks in suits to take a look? That’ll tell us if they can cloak in a hurry.”
“Good, I concur,” Vermillion said. “How far are you from the New Jersey?”
“Nine hours. While we’re on the way, Klemperer should be studying the Clan transport ships for weaknesses.”
“That’s your call, Captain,” Vermillion said.
“Butch, get with Klemperer’s AI, please. Fill him in on the situation.”
“Don’t slow down,” Vermillion said. “I’ll relay it.”
“What are we forgetting to think about?” I asked.
“We need intel on the population of the infantry on Oollanders,” Nolan said. “If we’re talking Clan operatives, we could attack their bases with Variant Four Nanos.”
“That is risky as hell,” Vermillion said, “but I don’t think we have a choice. Thoughts, Drake?”
“Wait, we don’t have to use Variant Four Nanos,” JJ said.
“Please explain,” Vermillion said.
“Remember the prisoners in the Zephyrus brig? Variant Three Nanos caused them to shake themselves to death.”
I laughed. “Yeah, she’s right, that would only kill the bad guys, assuming we’re talking about Clan infantry or Central Authority infantry with Clan hardware installed.”
“You’re forgetting something,” Nolan said. “Variant Four Nanos reproduce and move from one target to another. You had to designate your targets manually with the Variant Three Nanos.”
Vermillion smiled. “You know, that capability we discovered by accident might be a bad weakness for the Clan to deal with.”
Estes’s face showed up in the holographic frame. “Hello, all. Disturbing news. I just got the gist from Drake. You want to turn on auto reproduce and target for Variant Three Nanos?”
“How difficult would that be to do?” I asked.
“It’s a setting, and I can do it in batch mode, like we are doing with the Variant Four Nano lifespan adjustments now. It might be a little dangerous.”
“Dangerous how?” Nolan asked.
“We can’t just set them to take out all targets. We’ll need a range, which means we’ll need good intel before we turn them loose. We’d have to make up batches for specific targets to minimize collateral damage.”
“Limiting their lifespan won’t take care of that?” JJ asked.
Estes shook his head. “Think about it. We don’t know how far and how fast they’ll move. If the base is close to a major civilian center or important power infrastructure, we could do bad damage to humans we don’t wish to harm. Think EMP bomb.”
“Could we steer the Nanos via GPS settings?” Nolan asked. “We already have data on all the existing Central Authority ground force bases.”
“That doesn’t matter,” I said. “We want to destroy electronics at space docs and spacecraft factories to make it difficult to re-start production after our attacks. Infantry bases won’t have that kind of infrastructure.”
“I’m not sure, sir. Butch has already sent data on the Clan hardware signals. I’ll get my best people on it right away.”
“How are you coming on the other task?” Vermillion asked.
“Ahead of schedule so far,” Estes said. “You’ll want a bunch of these for the New Jersey as well, I suspect. I’m doing 3200 units for the Zephyrus.”
“Bays two and three are sitting empty on the New Jersey,” I said. “We’ve got a lot of capacity. We could put much larger launchers in those bays as well.”
“There’s no need for launchers from a fighter bay, Captain,” Estes said. “They can go from disk mode into flight mode and simply fly out.”
JJ smiled. “When we take delivery, you can simply fly them to us, and we can pull them in with the tractor beam.”
“That is correct,” Estes said. “How many would you like?”
“I’d like to have about fifty-thousand, but I’ll defer to the Chairman and Drake. I know they’re expensive, and I know it takes a lot of time for you to convert them. We’ve also just given you a new task with the Variant Three Nanos.”
“I’m not concerned about the cost right now,” Vermillion said. “Do you agree, Drake?”
“I’ll make them all the same,” Estes said. “They’ll all have the enhanced Variant Four and Variant Three Nano capability. The Variant Three Nanos will be programable on the fly, and we’ll drive it by both Clan hardware emissions and GPS boundaries. We can start delivery in a few days.”
“How can you do that so quickly?” JJ asked.
Estes smiled. “Everything except for the re-wiring of life support power to the weaponry and the added fuel capacity can be broadcast once we do the development. I’ve got two-thousand people working it, with robotic help. We’ll get this done fast, trust me.”
“Will that leave you with enough stock?” Nolan asked.
“We have two-hundred and forty thousand in stock now. You guys are getting about fifty-three hundred, and we’ve got nearly a million of these in various stages of production, on a robust product line. We’re finishing ten-thousand per day, and we could ramp that up even higher. We need more material after the million, though, and I don’t have a good source anymore.”
JJ snickered. “Gone again, I’ll bet.”
“Any thing else?” Vermillion asked.
“I don’t have anything,” I said.
The others shook their heads.
“Great job, team. See you soon.” Vermillion’s face left the holographic frame.
I leaned back in the communicator chair, letting out a breath. “Well, we’ve got a good but dangerous plan to work.”
“Notice how nobody is mentioning Simone?” Nolan asked.
“Yeah, I did,” JJ said.
I nodded in agreement. “We can’t worry about that right now, although I want to bring it up when we get back to Amberis. Once we start attacking troop transports and bases,
all hell is gonna break loose, and we’re unsure about the capabilities of the Clan battleships. They might be more potent than the version Simone has.”
“I’d say that’s probable,” Nolan said.
“What should we do now?” JJ asked.
“Well, since the two of us only got three hours of sleep and we’re still in the jump, I suggest we hit the sack.”
“Mind if I go check the refinery real quick?”
“I’ll walk down there with you,” I said. “Maybe it’ll get my stress level down to where I can sleep. Did you sleep enough, Nolan?”
“Five hours. That’s about normal for me. I’m going to study the infantry bases where we’ve seen troop transport activity, if that’s okay. Dojo and I will take a stab at GPS boundary data.”
“Good idea,” I said.
Nolan left the stateroom. JJ turned to me.
“Hope this works as well as we think it will.”
I pulled her close. “War is war, and anything can happen, but we are going in with a sound concept at least. More details will be worked out as we finish planning. I think we’ll be all right. I’m very impressed, by the way.”
“You are?”
“Reminding us about the incident in the brig.”
JJ smiled. “Oh. Thanks. I’m surprised I was the first person to remember that. All of us would’ve eventually.”
“But you were the one who did. Let’s go check your refinery.”
We left the stateroom, going to engineering. Deacon was in the hallway.
“Hey, Cappy, what brings you and JJ down here?”
“Just checking on the refinery,” JJ said.
“Anything new going on?”
“Yep, I’ll have Butch send the transcript to Curley so you’re up on it. Feel free to pass it to your crew.”
“Should I be worried?”
I chuckled. “We’re going into a war, so yeah. We’ve got the team and the technology to win, though.”
“Let’s hope so,” he said. “Talk to you later.”
He continued down the hallway. We ducked into the refinery area. Deneuve and Barney were suited up, inside the shielded section. JJ spoke into the microphone.
“How are things going?”
“Oh, hi, JJ,” Deneuve said. Barney looked up and smiled at us.
“Hello, how are you?” he asked.
“We’re good, Barney,” I said.
“The refinery is running great,” Deneuve said.
“We just loaded more ore about five minutes ago,” Barney said. “Caraway went to sleep, after covering the bridge last night.”
“Good, I’m sure he can use that.” I turned to JJ. “You going in?”
She was looking at the flat screen on the desk in front of the windows into the shielded area. “No, everything looks good.”
“We’ve got it handled, JJ,” Barney said.
“As I expected. Keep up the good work.”
Barney smiled, Deneuve nodding as we turned to leave.
“Barney seems to learn things quickly,” I said.
“He does. Anything more on him getting an AI and the Nano training?”
“If I wasn’t in need of sleep, I’d go talk to Dr. Hazelton. Maybe after we get up. She said her study was about done.”
We went back to the stateroom and climbed into bed, sleeping for several hours before our PAs woke us.
“Butch, wake up please.”
“I did. How soon will we be at Amberis?”
“Good,” I said, turning to JJ. “I need to cleanse. Want to join me?”
“Sure.” She stretched, trying to push back the sleep.
We finished the cleanse and went back to the Bridge. Tim, Izzy, and Nolan were there.
“Under four hours, from what Butch just told me.”
“Yes, Captain, we’re making good time. Anything new to tell us?”
“You got the broadcast from Butch earlier, right?” I asked.
“Yep,” Tim said. “We’re in for some hairy times. You aren’t going with us to the Free Zone, are you?”
“Probably not,” I said. “The Chairman wants me on the New Jersey.”
“We’ll miss you,” Izzy said.
I studied our possible targets with Butch for the balance of the jump, JJ back to working the refinery waste disposal problem with Emerald.
“We’re almost there, Captain,” Izzy said.
“Good.”
“I can taste that New Jersey food already,” Tim said.
Izzy rolled her eyes. “It hasn’t been that long, you know.”
Nolan came back up to the bridge. “We should be coming out of the jump any minute now.”
“Yep,” I said. “How’d your study of the bases go?”
“Great, with the help of Dojo.”
“We put together a matrix for each location. When we’re out of the jump I’ll get with Estes and see what format he’ll need for reprogramming the Variant Three Nanos.”
“Assuming he got it to work,” JJ quipped.
“He didn’t sound too worried about that,” I replied.
“We’re coming out,” Izzy said, the static charge hitting all of us as we settled into Amberis orbit. “We’re being hailed.”
I smiled. “Andrea. Put her on screen.”
“Aye, Captain,” Tim said. Andrea’s smiling face appeared.
“Welcome back, Zephyrus. Ready for the tractor beam?”
“Proceed,” I said. We were pulled into the main bay of the New Jersey in a flash, setting down next to the Tristar.
“Usual rules apply, Captain?” Izzy asked. “Secure the entrances?”
I nodded. “Please. Don’t stray too far from the ship. We’ll probably have to fetch some fuel from Amberis. I’m going to see if Vermillion is available. JJ and Nolan, care to come along?”
“I’m ready,” JJ said. Nolan nodded in agreement.
We left the bridge, heading out to the ramp which opened as we approached. Vermillion was there waiting for us with Andrea, Cyrus and Commander Klemperer.
“Glad to see you, Captain,” Vermillion said. “Have time to chat?”
“Yes, we were heading to your office.”
Vermillion chuckled. “No problems during the rest of the jump?”
“Nope. Had plenty of time to study.”
Nolan smiled. “Me too. I’ve got GPS boundaries for all the known Central Authority infantry bases. Anything break while we were in the jump?”
“Yes,” Vermillion said. “We’ll chat. Let’s go to the big conference room.”
{ 13 }
Old Friends
W e followed Vermillion, grabbing a tin can to the bridge sector, taking seats in the big conference room.
“Drake, are you here?” Vermillion asked.
“Good, I’ll bring Estes in as well.” He tapped his PA, the screen lighting up, Estes’s smiling face showing up after a moment.
“Great, Captain Clarke got back to the New Jersey.”
“Good to see you,” I said.
“What’s the status of the flight suit modifications?” Vermillion asked.
“Before I get started, we should let Captain Clarke and his people know about the cloaking issue,” Estes said. “As we expected, the Clan ships are not cloaked. We did fly-bys at all the close locations in flight suits.”
“That’s excellent news,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Sorry, I forgot that the Zephyrus crew hasn’t heard that detail,” Vermillion said. “Flight suit status?”
“We’ve got nearly half of the New Jersey portion completed.”
“Wow,” I said. “How about the Variant Three Nanos? Can they do what we need them to do?”
“Yes,” Estes replied. “It was a little trickier than we expected, but we’ve got it working. Nolan, I saw your message. I’ll fo
rward the communication protocol to your AI.”
“When did you have time to get that off to him?” I asked.
Nolan smiled. “I had the message queued up with Dojo. He sent it as soon as we got out of the jump.”
“Love a team that has it together,” Klemperer said.
“Our team is our strength, that’s for sure,” Vermillion said.
I smiled. “Given any thought to where we should move the New Jersey to pick up the hardware?”
“Based on the information Nolan provided with the message, you could come to the outer portion of Earth’s system. We don’t know how good the Clan’s sensors are, and we’ll be opening the bay.”
“What part of Nolan’s data are you talking about?” I asked.
“Oh, sorry. Oollanders is not that far away, and it’s the best target. There are several troop transports and five battleships in orbit around that planet.”
“We’re going to hit several at the same time, right?” JJ asked.
“Are we going to take out those five battleships with the New Jersey?” Nolan asked.
“Shall we discuss my plan?” Klemperer asked.
JJ shook her head. “We need four New Jersey-class ships to do that, don’t we?”
Klemperer stood up, going to the front of the room. “I propose a coordinated attack, using a combination of Mark V fighters and modified flight suits. Wayne, put the map on the right-hand screen, please.”
That screen lit up, showing a map with Oollanders in the center. The other worlds were Aviaotron, Fggergia, and Spatzer.
JJ’s eyes got wide as she studied the screen. “Two of those are Level 7. How did we find them? Weren’t we looking for worlds already housing large infantry bases?”
“Our deep scans found them via the transport ships,” Estes said. “For Fggergia and Spatzer, I suggest we set the Variant Three Nanos with long lifespans and no GPS boundaries. That should clean up any problems without impacting the indigenous populations.”