“You need to believe we can do this, that we can take out the entire Terran Fleet, or we’ll never win,” he stated sternly.
“I know, but we don’t even have a plan other than getting there before they do. After we’re there, what then? We sit and wait for Terran Destroyers, flying in at high velocity, to charge right down our throats?”
“I’m prone to think that’s a bad plan,” he replied. “However, there are other options. And what better place to discuss them then right here?”
Yen’s fingers flew over the keyboard located in front of his seat. Slowly, the gloom in the room receded as a sun and number of planets took shape in the space above the table. He continued to type, adding a hashed blue line that entered from the far side of the elliptical orbit of the planets. Finishing, a red-hashed line entered from the opposite side of the galaxy, intersecting the blue line near the second planet.
“Based upon our entry data and the projected information from the Terran Fleet, these are our entry points into the galaxy,” he began, his voice deepening as he began the formal brief. “This is our starting point for tactical decision making.”
“All right,” Captain Hodge replied, nodding enthusiastically. “Let’s see how this plays out.”
She pointed at the seven large planets orbiting the small yellow sun. “We assume that the Terrans would enter the system and immediately take up position on the dark sides of the planets furthest away from the sun, springing the ambush once we were fully committed to entering this system. Can we use their tactics against them?”
Yen shook his head. He began typing again as he spoke. “I probably didn’t depict this scenario correctly. You’re correct, ma’am, that the Terran Fleet has historically used very similar tactics to what you’re describing when engaging the Alliance. But you’ve overlooked one key point to this scenario.” As he stopped typing, the yellow sun darkened, casting all the planets into shadow.
“Deplitoxide. There won’t be a dark side to the planet when we get there,” she concluded.
“Exactly. Every planet will be dark, which means that the element of surprise is lost when trying to hide in the shadows. No, if we want to win, we’ll need something a bit more drastic.”
They sat in silence, both watching the planets roll lazily around the now blackened sun. The inner planets burned hot on the display, even in the virtual darkness. Their surfaces were seas of molten lava having been in close orbit around the small but intense sun. Even as the planets cooled in the darkness, the lava flows hardened into a rocky, craggy surface that offered no hospitality for landing ships. Yen’s eyes, instead, tracked to the four gas giants framed by the magma planets close to the sun and the icy rock near the exterior. His eyes narrowing, he started typing again, modifying the display. The gaseous outer layers of the planets peeled away; mile after mile of gas clouds disappeared into the ethos as Yen probed their chemical make up. Next to each of the four planets, chemical equations and ratios began to appear in bright red font.
“Ma’am, could our ships withstand the battering winds underneath the atmosphere of these gas giants?” Yen asked, already feeling his excitement growing.
“I suppose so, but we’d be flying blind once we entered,” she answered, unclear as to what Yen was proposing. “Those planets are virtually massive thunderstorms, unleashing electronic fury between the cloud layers. That sort of electromagnetic field would disrupt every sensor and communications relay we had. Put us in those clouds and we wouldn’t know the Terran Fleet was there unless they skimmed the surface of the clouds.”
“Or unless one of our ships was situated in the atmosphere of the gas giant as a lookout,” Yen explained. A small blip appeared above each of the four gas giants. “Our sensors would only be able to reach to the surface of the gas clouds if we flew inside. But that would be far enough for a single manned fighter to sit and observe the Terran’s approach. They could send the attack signal, yet be small enough that the Terran’s would never even know they were there.”
“And the Terran sensors?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Wouldn’t stand any more chance of penetrating the gas giants than ours would of escaping. There wouldn’t even need to be a reason to let them know we’d arrived ahead of schedule.”
“Squadron Commander Xiao,” she said, regaining the military composure Yen was used to, “I do believe this plan of yours might just work. Head to the bridge and let them know to begin full acceleration toward the first of the slingshot positions. I will continue to look over your work and make sure we haven’t overlooked anything. In the mean time, you have the helm.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Yen said as he stood, bracing in a salute. As Captain Hodge returned his salute, he turned to leave.
“Yen,” the Captain called after his as he reached the door.
“Ma’am?”
“Good work, Yen,” she said with a smile. “I mean it.”
Yen nodded before leaving the room. As the door slid shut behind him, the smile dropped from Captain Hodge’s face and she turned off the holographic display of the planets. Instead, she turned on the small monitor that stood in front of her, typing in her alphanumeric sequence as the computer queried her for the command code. With the code entered, the Captain found herself staring back at her own image.
“Continue personal correspondence to High Council,” she ordered. In the corner of the screen, a red light began to flash, letting her know that it was, once again, recording her message.
“He was just here,” she began, speaking into the concealed camera. “As I stated before we were interrupted, I am concerned about all our safety…”
CHAPTER 25:
Commander Lucience sat silently on his throne within the Black Void. The chair’s high back dwarfed his slouching form as he watched the colored figures scatter across his three-dimensional display. The blue squares that represented his own forces were in full retreat ahead of a sea of red dots, signifying the rebellious natives of Miller’s Glen.
“What is happening on the ground?” he asked the two Terran bodyguards who stood protectively behind him, his voice little more than a growl. “My troops are in full withdraw from a ragtag collection of insurgents. And I still don’t see my fighters in the air.”
Both guards scanned rapidly through massive amounts of data that were displayed on their hand-held screens. Numbers flashed quickly across the display, reflecting in their wide eyes; the screen’s light glowing warmly on their skin in the dark room. After minutes of silence aside from the clicking of commands on their console, one of the guards spoke.
“My Lord,” he began hesitantly, “the fighters are conducting pre-flight checks and will be in the air momentarily. However, it appears that a worm has infected our satellite system. The virus has been devouring lines of data pertaining to visual displays.” He gestured to the map of the city in front of Lucience. “Rebellious elements are simply not being displayed as a result. They are, for our purposes, invisible.”
“How could this have happened?” Lucience asked, anger creeping into his voice.
The second guard interceded. “Sir, this planet was formerly used as a layover destination for pirates and smugglers. It is very possible that they had access to computer systems and radar arrays capable of sending signals to our satellites. Were that the case, their computer could have made contact with our satellite and uploaded the worm.”
“Is it possible to purge the worm from our systems?”
“I’m not sure, sir,” the second guard replied. “From our location, I cannot verify which systems have already been infected.”