The retro war, p.1
The Retro War, page 1
The Retro War
By Dietmar Arthur Wehr
Copyright 2014 Dietmar Arthur Wehr
I wish to thank my very dear friend Jill Linkert for her proofreading, editing, and readability suggestions. I’m a better writer because of her. I also wish to thank Justin Adams for his terrific cover and title font suggestions.
Please note: This story will include references to events occurring during the Synchronicity War. I have tried to make sure that enough information about that war is explained so that readers, who have not read the Synchronicity War series, will understand the references. The Retro War is intended to stand on its own however if you have not yet read the four books of the Synchronicity War, you’re missing out on a lot of action. The first book in The Synchronicity War series is free.
www.dwehrSFwriter.com
The Synchronicity War Part 1 on Amazon
Contents
Cast of Characters:
Glossary of Terms:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen.
Chapter Twenty
Galactic Super-waves, Tau Zero
Cast of Characters:
Human:
Space Force (Earth):
Senior Admiral Sam Howard, Chief of Space Operations (CSO)
Victor Shiloh, Cmdr/Sen. Cmdr/Vice-Admiral
Amanda Kelly, Senior Commander and Group Leader of Strategic Planning Group
Richard C. Bateman. Lt. Commander and member of Strategic Planning Group
Sykes, Lieutenant
Verlander, Lieutenant
Space Force (TerraB):
Hiro Kawasaki, Chief of Space Operations (CSO)
Victoria Amanda Shiloh, Deputy Commander, Autonomous Group (DCAG)
Hauser, Senior Commander and leader of TerraB’s Strategic Planning Group
Pathfinder:
Tryone Shiloh, Commander of Pathfinder
Kato, Engineering Officer
AI:
Casanova
Firebird
Foxer
Gunslinger
Iceman
Kilroy
Mac The Knife
Predator
Rainman
Raptor
Ronin
Titan
Trickster
Tumbleweed
Valkyrie
Werewolf
Glossary of Terms:
ACO is the Acting Commanding Officer. The title is given to an AI upon taking command of a ship.
Alpha1-6 are six star systems near the edge of the Local Spur spiral arm that were used as beachheads by the Insectoids in their first attempt at penetration.
AU stands for Astronomical Unit and is the average distance between the Earth and the sun, roughly equal to 150 million kilometers.
CAG is an acronym for Commander, Autonomous Group, a command position typically used for the human in charge of AI fighters based on a carrier or base. When AIs refer to THE CAG, they are always referring to Victor Shiloh, the only human that they recognize as their unofficial leader.
DCAG is the Deputy Commander, Autonomous Group and is used as an official title by members of the TerraB Space Force. The DCAG is always a human and this position is reserved for members of the Shiloh family. If other humans or AIs are given the same responsibility as the DCAG, their title is Fleet Commander.
Flag Bridge is a separate Command Center used for Fleet Commanders, not to be confused with the (Main) Bridge where the ship’s Commanding Officer (CO) controls the ship.
Friendlies is the nickname given to a race of tall, thin pacifist aliens who have developed Retro Temporal Communication and additional temporal technologies.
Gravity Zone refers to a volume of space around a planet or star that prevents a ship from entering or travelling through Jumpspace. The larger the planet or star, the wider the gravity zone.
ISP is the Intermediate Stopping Point star system used by the Rim AIs as a temporary base of operations while they searched for a resource rich star system to build their anti-Insectoid fleet of raider craft.
JS is short form for Jumpspace.
KPS stands for kilometers per second.
Lidar detection beams use relatively low powered laser energy instead of the microwave energy used in standard radar.
Local Spur is the name sometimes given to the minor branch, of one of the Milky Way galaxy’s spiral arms, which contains our Solar System. The Local Spur is also referred to as the Orion Arm.
LRRF is an acronym for Long Range Relativistic Flight. It refers to a specially designed message drone with enough armor and backup systems to cross the void between spiral arms at relativistic speeds.
Mark 9 drone is an attack drone in which the warhead is a much larger than normal ZPG power unit that would be the target of an internal Gravity Lens Beam. When the power unit is hit by the GLB, it overloads with a massive release of quantum energy. A Mark 9 detonation is equivalent to 111 megatons.
Master Plan is a long term series of instructions left by the AI Valkyrie to the Pathfinder colonists and their descendants to co-ordinate events in the following 89 years until it was temporally safe to contact the rest of Humanity.
RTC is the acronym for Retro Temporal Communication. The technology allows humans or AIs to send either digital or visual information back to their earlier selves.
Site B is the name of the star system that was used as a secret production facility for Space Force assets in a previous timeline.
Site C is the name of the star system used by an older group of AIs to build up military force in order to throw back the first insectoid invasion of this spiral arm from the Sagittarius Arm.
SPG is an acronym for the Strategic Planning Group.
TerraB is the name given to their habitable planet by the Pathfinder colonists, in the star system discovered by Valkyrie and Casanova.
The Object is an unofficial name given to a special message drone containing technical, strategic and personal data, that was left behind in the past by AIs so that humans in the future would find it and understand what had happened in previous timelines.
UFC stands for Universal Fabrication Complex, which is a device the size of a city bus that can manufacture anything (including another UFC) so long as it has the right raw materials, the right set of programming instructions and robot assemblers.
ZPG stands for Zero Point Generator and is a device that uses the energy of space itself at the quantum level to generate electrical power.
Chapter One
Interstellar space at T minus 89.6 years
Tyrone Shiloh stood behind the Systems Engineering station on Pathfinder’s Bridge and looked at the various screens in front of him. Instead of the green lights signifying normal operations, almost half of the system status lights were either red or yellow. Red signified that the system was no longer functioning at all. Yellow meant reduced efficiency that signified something was wearing out. The number of red lights was worrisome, but all of the primary systems had back-ups. More alarming was how many of those were now showing yellow.
“What’s the latest projection, Kato?” said Shiloh to the Chief Engineer who was sitting nearby.
The Japanese engineering officer sighed. “At this accelerated rate of breakdown, the chance of a failure in a critical backup system is now 50% within five months, Skipper.”
“Shit,” said Shiloh as he closed his eyes in despair. The first attempt at interstellar colonization was doomed. The slower-than-light ship was only a third of the way to the Tau Ceti system. Even at their current speed of 0.75 times the speed of light, it would still take them another 11.1 years to reach their destination, and they didn’t have enough fuel or time to slow down and return to Earth. Shiloh opened his eyes and patted the Engineering Officer on the shoulder. “Keep this to yourself, okay?”
“Sure,” was all the engineer said.
Shiloh nodded and walked back to his Command Station. He briefly considered sitting down but remembered how uncomfortable the chair was with its padding compressed to almost nothing from years of use. He stood in front of the Command console and activated the largest screen. Out of habit he selected the forward radar scan option. The screen flickered for a second, something it hadn’t done at the beginning of the voyage, before settling down to show the path ahead. It was clear of any object large enough to be dangerous. At least our particle shielding is holding up, thought Shiloh. He was about to turn away and leave the Bridge when a voice came over the speaker.
“ROD to Bridge.”
Shiloh frowned. Rod stood for Rear Observation Deck. Why would someone at the back of the ship have any legitimate reason for calling the Bridge?
“Shiloh here. Go ahead, ROD.”
There was a moment’s hesitation. “Ah…Skipper? Unless I’m hallucinating, someone is pointing a blue-green laser at us from directly astern.”
Shiloh’s first impulse was to dismiss the comment as a joke, but there was something in the man’s voice that suggested fear.
“Standby,” said Shiloh as h e manipulated the controls on his Command Station. The flashing red indicator on the main screen made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The caller wasn’t hallucinating. Pathfinder really was being hit by a low-powered laser from directly astern. Something was following the ship and was apparently checking the distance between them. Shiloh quickly shifted the radar scan from forward to aft. Damn it, there WAS an object behind them and less than 900 kilometers away! The distance seemed to remain constant, but just as Shiloh was about to say something, the object suddenly was MUCH closer! Less than 1,000 meters.
“Bridge!” The voice from the observation deck was clearly on the verge of panic.
“We see it! Stay calm.” Shiloh noticed his own voice had tremors in it. Any ship that could cross hundreds of kilometers instantaneously was so advanced that any idea of resistance to hostile contact was ridiculously futile. Shiloh switched the Bridge’s main screen to the feed from the rear video camera. He also turned on the flood lights at the back of the ship. Whatever that was behind them seemed to be either a sphere or a cylinder. Its shape was perfectly round with no visible identification marks.
“Incoming transmission on Com channel 3,” said the ship’s computer.
“Let’s hear it!” said Shiloh in a voice louder than he had intended.
“—calling Pathfinder…Tempus Fugit calling Pathfinder. Are you hearing this?”
The voice had a distinctly electronic feel to it as if it was computer generated. Shiloh was puzzled by the name. He wasn’t sure if he had heard it right. It sounded like ‘tempus fugit’, which was Latin for ‘time flies’, but that made no sense.
“We hear you. Who are you?” said Shiloh in a clearly stressed voice.
“We’re detecting stress-induced micro-tremors in your voice indicating fear. Pathfinder’s colonists and crew have nothing to fear from us. We are two artificial intelligences, created by humans, who have travelled back in time to rescue all of you. My call sign is Valkyrie. My companion’s call sign is Casanova. Am I speaking with Mission Commander Tyrone Shiloh?”
Shiloh’s relief at the friendly reassurance was followed by confusion. Two AIs from the future who were asking for him by name? He realized his heart was beating fast and took a deep breath to slow it down.
“Yes. I’m Tyrone Shiloh. You say you’re from the future, and you’re here to rescue us? Don’t take this the wrong way, we do need help, but…I’m just curious as to WHY you’re rescuing us?”
“It’s a long story, but the important part is that my companion and I miss having humans around, and Pathfinder’s people are the only ones we can contact without polluting the timeline. In the timeline that we’ve come from, Pathfinder did not reach its destination, and no trace of the ship or colonists were ever found. We know from data records that telemetry data, sent back by Pathfinder before it stopped transmitting, indicated massive systems failure would occur in another 18 weeks. We can rescue you and take you to a colonisable planet, one that is sufficiently far away that re-establishing contact with the rest of Humanity will not take place until it’s safe to do so. We accomplish our goal of being near humans again, and the timeline remains intact.”
“Wait. I’m not sure I understand. If you can take us to another planet much further away, then why can’t you let us colonize the Tau Ceti system?” asked Shiloh.
“The next 89 years have to transpire exactly as they did in the future that we came from. Humanity will establish a colony in the Tau Ceti system 55 years from now when the Jump Drive is discovered. Allowing your people to set up a colony in Tau Ceti now would jeopardise the continued existence of humans in ways that even AIs like ourselves can’t predict.”
Shiloh closed his eyes and shook his head. Valkyrie’s explanation did make a weird kind of sense. He supposed that he and the other colonists would have plenty of time now to wrap their brains around time travel and timelines.
“So what happens now?” asked Shiloh.
“Our ship will grapple with Pathfinder and use our Jump Drive to take Pathfinder closer to the Tau Ceti system. Our ship will decelerate both of us to 75% of light speed and we’ll slingshot around one of Tau Ceti’s gas giants. That manoeuvre will line up both ships with the target star system, which for now I’ll refer to as TerraB. Once the slingshot manoeuvre is complete and final course corrections have been made, both ships will jump to the TerraB system where Pathfinder will be dropped into orbit around your new home.”
“And how long will that take?”
“Eighty-five days,” said Valkyrie.
Shiloh did the math. With 18 weeks before massive system failure, that would give them 126 days and 41 of them would be left after arrival in orbit around their new planet. The Mission Plan required six weeks or 42 days of careful observation from orbit with teams surveying various potential landing sites. The actual transfer of colonists with all their equipment and supplies would take an additional 34 days. Advance teams had to have time to build temporary shelter for over 2,000 people.
“That’s not enough time, Valkyrie,” said Shiloh. He went on to explain why.
“The survey work has already been done in an alternate timeline, Commander. We have all that data. Your people can examine it during the trip there.”
Shiloh wasn’t sure he heard that right. “Did you say ‘alternate timeline’?”
“That’s correct. As I said, it’s a long story. I’m transmitting a text file of the chronology of events leading up to our presence here. You may as well get comfortable, Commander. It’s a long file.”
Shiloh looked down at the Command Station chair again and said, “I’ll read it in my office, Valkyrie.” When he got to his office, he found a file in his computer’s inbox and was surprised at its size. He felt guilty about not informing the colonists of what he knew so far, but they would just have to wait. He needed to understand how all this came about first.
* * *
Deputy Commander, Autonomous Group Victoria Amanda Shiloh unbuckled herself and walked up to the shuttle’s cockpit. She wanted to see Dreadnought up close with her own eyes as the shuttle approached the ship. The stretched and flattened ovoid shape with four launch tubes, two on each side, never failed to make her pulse beat faster. At two point one million tons, she was a monster. She was not the first ship designed to carry humans built in the TerraB system, but she was forty times more massive than anything else built there. The timing of the trip to the Solar system and Earth had been laid down in the Master Plan all the way back when Valkyrie and Casanova had brought Pathfinder to TerraB. With almost a century since that glorious day, there had been plenty of time to design and build a ship that was bound to impress even THE CAG, her distant cousin, Victor Shiloh. Dreadnought had enough room to carry 5,000 people if necessary, but her actual crew numbered less than a hundred, and even they weren’t necessary. The ship was designed to be completely automated under the supervision of half a dozen AIs. They could have flown the ship to Earth all by themselves, but that would have defeated the purpose of the trip. The mission was to re-establish contact between the descendants of the Pathfinder colonists and the rest of Humanity now that the timeline was no longer in danger of contamination. But the human crew wasn’t the only thing that Dreadnought would carry to Earth. She was built for war as a fighter carrier, and her four hangar bays could carry a total of 344 fighters and other small craft, plus she had a massive cargo bay that could hold over ten thousand drones. The hull had 55 dual gamma-ray laser/GLB turrets. The hull armor was thicker than on the original Dreadnought in the alternate timeline.
