Mack’s mouth had fallen open in shock. “Seriously?”
“Yes. Why waste time and effort killing enemies who were willing to kill each other with a little encouragement?” Rogero nodded firmly. “I am certain that they will wait here to see if we are attacking the Syndicate ground forces. If so, they will wait until one side or the other has triumphed, then hit the survivors with enough force to wipe them out.”
“That would be smart,” Mack conceded. “Ugly as all hell, but smart for them. That sounds like we should at least mimic a combat drop aimed at the Syndicate ground forces. But if the Syndicate troops see you coming like that, they’ll open fire on you.”
“The snakes will order them to do so,” Rogero agreed. “I am hoping we can fool both the snakes and the enigmas.”
“Too bad the snakes and the enigmas won’t kill each other off while we watch,” Mack commented.
Rogero started to smile politely at the weak joke, then paused. What if… ? “Leytenant, I advise you to leave orbit and chase after the flotilla once you have dropped off my people. There’s no telling what kind of antiorbital weapons the enigmas might have or how long their range is. I want to start the landing in one hour, when we’re in the best orbital position for the shuttles. In the meantime, I need to send another message.”
There were always at least two levels in any system of communication. The openly used and officially controlled level that was supposed to be the only one that existed, and the backdoor or hidden level that workers quickly improvised for informal communications among themselves. Internal security devoted immense efforts to trying to shut down every backdoor system as quickly as possible, but no matter how many were uncovered and blocked, more popped up. The complexity of comm systems and unit networks created a huge number of places where potential back doors could be cobbled together by the sort of software manipulations that left no fingerprints for frustrated snakes to trace back to a source.
General Drakon had lent Rogero the services of Sergeant Broom, the most devious hacker available to him. “Sergeant, I need a way into whatever back door those Syndicate ground forces are using.”
Broom scratched his head, grimacing slightly. “That back door will still have virtual barricades to any intrusion attempts by us, Colonel. Workers learned the necessity for those the hard way a long time ago.”
“This isn’t for an intrusion. I want to be able to talk to those ground forces without any chance the snakes will intercept it.”
“We’re close enough I might be able to find their net now,” Broom murmured, his hands racing across virtual controls as he gazed at information flows on his specialized display. “It depends how much they’re talking and… aha. The snakes are making this easy.”
“What did they do?” Rogero asked, peering at the cascade of unfamiliar data.
“Constant pingbacks on all command circuits,” Broom explained. “The snakes are maintaining constant checks on the comm nets to spot anything that shouldn’t be there.”
Rogero shook his head. “I don’t understand. I thought our systems did automatic checks for intrusions.”
“They do, Colonel,” Broom advised. “But the checks are randomized and not continuous so they don’t overload the comm net and send out enough noise to make it possible for someone on the outside to spot the net parameters. The snakes have set the net down there to do the checks constantly. I will guarantee you that the tactical data feeds for those ground forces soldiers are being slowed significantly. And…” His frown changed to a grin. “Oh. That is tray dough!”
“Dough?” Rogero asked, raising both eyebrows.
“It’s an old expression where I come from,” Broom explained. “It means really great, or something like that. All that snake activity is lighting up their net perfectly. I know exactly what to look for, so I should be able to find any back doors pretty fast.”
“We’re pressed for time, Sergeant,” Rogero said. “How fast?”
“Ten minutes, Colonel.”
“Make it five.”
“Yes, sir,” Broom answered.
The reply came quickly and confidently enough to make Rogero certain that Broom had deliberately overstated how long the task would take, just as General Drakon had warned he might do. “Let me know when you have it. Have the other code monkeys put together a burst transmission package containing the means to sweep the Syndicate ground systems for enigma quantum worms.”
“Yes, sir. We’re on it.”
Four minutes later, a new symbol appeared on Rogero’s comm display. “That’s your door, Colonel,” Broom advised cheerfully. “And here”—another symbol appeared—“is your link to the burst. Just tap it when you want to send through that door.”
“You are invaluable, Sergeant Broom,” Rogero said. “General Drakon asked me to remind you to not do anything unauthorized that will require him or me to have you shot. It would be a great loss to us.”
“It would be a great loss to me as well,” Broom said. “But it would be useful to have it spelled out clearly as to exactly what actions by me would result in execution and which would merely involve lesser punishments.”
“I think it’s better to leave that a bit vague,” Rogero said.
He paused, ordering his thoughts, then tapped the backdoor symbol. The symbol pulsed several times, then steadied as it established a firm link to the back door being used by the ground forces workers. “I am with the Midway ground forces preparing to land near you,” he said, deliberately avoiding identifying himself as an officer. Syndicate workers had learned the hard way not to trust executives or CEOs without solid evidence that they could be relied upon. “You have already seen that the aliens called enigmas have destroyed the mobile forces that escorted you to this star system. Our mobile forces will stop the enigma warships from destroying you, but there is also an alien base hidden deep beneath the surface of the planet you are on. Your forces are standing over the area where the base is located. We are landing to capture or destroy that base, but once the aliens have both of our forces on the surface they will try to destroy us all. If you want to live, your only chance is to use the software package I will be sending after this message. That package won’t harm your systems. It will sweep them for worms planted by the aliens. You can verify that is what it does, and that is all it does.”
Rogero inhaled deeply, then spoke with the best conviction he could. “We believe that the aliens use the worms they have planted in our systems to allow them to target individual workers and supervisors with pinpoint precision. If you don’t sweep your systems, you will die without any chance of survival as soon as the enigmas open fire using distance weapons. Share the sweep software with anyone who can be trusted, even executives. That will mean the initial enigma attack will take out the snakes and any supervisors whom you cannot trust. We want to save the people with you. This is your only chance to survive. Get the word around. Get the citizens with you under whatever cover exists. We will begin landing soon. It will look like a combat drop, but we will not drop close enough to fire on you and will not fire upon anyone who does not fire on us. For the people.”
He tapped the second symbol, watching as it flickered once to mark the transmission.
Rogero checked the time, then touched another control. “Get the remaining soldiers loaded for the first drop,” he ordered. “I will be boarding my shuttle now. We will drop as scheduled.”