The Monkey and Squirrel fight for freedom. (30 page)

“The lead one sir, Punisher, sensors estimate the pulse at one Terra-watt second.” answered Mohamed.   

“If it had hit us square on, what damage would it have wrought?” asked John.

“Just getting the computer projection sir, its having to extrapolate from known data, that is causing a bit of a go slow.” replied Mohamed.

Ten minutes later, “Its got it now sir, it would punch down at least five decks, blasting out a crater from the hull three or four times greater in diameter than depth, here is the graphic sir.” said Mohamed.

“Thank you Clarkson, does the computer say how many shots like that before the carrier becomes none viable?”

“Three to five sir, but after two the Chinese would probably jettison the carrier component, and head for home with the main engine, it would have nearly four times the acceleration without us, sir.”

“They can what ?” demanded Group Captain John Hampton vehemently.

“Jettison the carrier component, sir they just built the carrier around the existing mining vessel they were building. That is why we have the inter-space zone, the life support systems of both components are independent, the inter-space houses the cutting charges controlled by the captain, it is their only realistic way of getting home sir.” explained Mohamed.

“This really chucks a spanner in the works, would we still have manoeuvring control?” demanded Group Captain John Hampton.

“Certainly there is an auxiliary system here, we would have the four secondary engines and navigation, so around a fifth of the acceleration, we can't blame them sir, they are civilians.”

“I know that, but you must admit it's a hell of a time to find out, how do you know Clarkson?” enquired Group Captain John Hampton.

“On quite watches, I study mission related files, including the carrier plans, the detail of the ejection system is in appendix forty three, subsection D. Not hidden but far from obvious sir.”

“No one thought to mention it to me?” asked an incredulous Group Captain John Hampton.

“Sorry sir, I just assumed you knew all about it, sir.”

“Anything else, everyone just assumed I knew?”

“The self-destruct was removed, before construction was completed, as it could make things too easy for the enemy, with their hacking ability. Sir,”

“I didn't even know they had initially fitted one, it was a daft idea anyway, thankfully someone had a sudden attack of common sense. The Monkeys already have all our technology, and have developed some pretty good stuff of their own.” said Group Captain John Hampton.

“Yes sir, we have just seen some in action, I have never felt so out gunned until now, how have they achieved so much so quickly, sir?” asked Glover.

“A hard question you have there Glover. It could have something to do with their average IQ being around one hundred and twenty, working sixteen to twenty hours every day and being driven by a desperate need, all of them focused on giving their best to the co-operative effort.” speculated John.

“Looking at it like that, the harder we push them, the faster they develop, sir.” observed Harry.

“Good thinking there Harry, plotting to kill them has made them faster, harder and tougher.” laughed John.

“You don't have to sound so surprised sir, I though I was doing well.” said a stung Harry.

“You are Harry, it's just the speed at which you grasped that we were an evolutionary force acting on them.” explained John.

“We are sir?”

“They just made the point, we are not a serious threat to them any more. Our best hope is they deliver the goods, showing up with a force big enough to impress enough politicians sitting safe at home, that we have no choice but to withdraw.” elaborated Group Captain John Hampton

“I got the impression they intend to really ram the point home, if they can make us wet ourselves so much the better, is what this chat was really about sir?”

“Yes Glover I'm convinced they don't want to kill us, but they won't hesitate if we force them to. It'll be interesting to see those new carriers of theirs, I think they will be just as drone heavy.

It's the small population they have, before our none essential personnel left we had more people on this carrier than their total population. The human race can afford to lose this carrier ten times over more readily than they can afford to lose one person, I suspect that their fighters are robot weapons too, just a more powerful platform.

Those carriers of theirs are probably the only manned war craft they have. Just think of what you could do if this carrier was built to a similar specification, just as fast and dangerous per tonne.” speculated Group Captain John Hampton.

“I would love that too, sir but we have what we have.” commiserated Harry.

“I know Harry, reality can be so irritating at times, I just have to take a trip to how I'd like it to be, up to and including this whole bloody farce is just a bad dream I'll wake up from. And Clarkson this stays here, if I hear rumours about the old man losing it, it's brig time for you followed by the honour of taking the first fighter out to meet the enemy.” stated Group Captain John Hampton.

“No need to get nasty sir, I always treat anything said here as confidential and as a none drinker, I don't get drunk and blab, and I don't use any other drugs sir.” replied Mohamed.

“How in hell do you relax youngster?”

“Meditation and prayer calm my inner turmoil, tending the gardens in the core takes me to another place where peace rules and I become whole again. Also I'm thirty eight sir.” replied Mohamed.

“This has been going on too long, I can't use your methods Clarkson. Take over Glover I need a holiday, three days industrious sampling in the Merlot vineyard followed by a day sobering up should do.”

“Don't you use the fitness centre any more sir?” enquired Mohamed.

“No Clarkson, I might be a bit informal and lax on the old discipline but don't forget yourself that question is permissible in a friendly off duty chat, but not on duty. My intimidate under officers can question me within limitations, and the doctor can put me in a straight jacket.

If you have any concerns you raise them with your senior officer, it then goes up the chain of command, that protects both of us from rash impulses, like me shouting mutiny and having you shot.” Group Captain John Hampton retorted pointedly.    

“Understood sir.”

“Glad to hear it, Clarkson. Harry you know where to find me if you need me.” John said as he left.

Major Johnson was reviewing the latest report from the carrier, thinking nine carriers carrying a near matching force of fighters. He could pass off Hampton not engaging the enemy as prudently, not taking the risk of getting the carrier crippled short of the target, an outcome with high probability. As if our carrier will not be going to be met with a greatly superior force, than the one which dropped by for a chat. That demonstration laser strike removing those missiles in their bunker, the angle of attack meant no other damage had been done to the carrier itself.

This consideration had reinforced the idea that the don't harm humans controls were still functioning, this insane belief just happened to ignore the fact that the monkeys had already killed humans. The New People could well find killing distasteful, repugnant even, but it would not stop them, they had committed themselves to that line, and would honour it either in human blood or human humiliation.

They had already displayed a larger force than necessary to do that, but the command group counted fighters not power, refusing to credit that a drone could take out a fighter, despite the number of times it had happened. As required he prepared his assessment of the damage that force could do to the carrier. It was not going to be well received, he knew technical had wet themselves at that laser, if anything their assessment would have a worse reception than his.

Daisy was doing well at work and was dating a decent young man called Alistair Dale, Carl had the background checks and covert observation, happily nothing untoward had been found, good family, sound finances, no criminal record, no nasty habits his men and women could find, and no medical nasties. So if she settled on this one the grand kids would be OK, Daisy was suspicious that he had raised no objections to this one. He knew it would only be a matter of time before her curiosity drove her to demand to see the report, she knew her dad too well.   

Chapter 29 

The line

“Not long to the show down now, is everything ready Tman?” asked Chatty.

“Everything is ready the three big carriers, 'Don't you wish you'd stayed at home', 'This is your bad day ' and 'Your nightmare made flesh' are coasting into position. We'll be deploying six hundred fighters, no one remembered to shut down the production line when it got to five hundred, it made six hundred and seventy two, before it ran out of materials. Added to the two hundred and sixty eight in service before it started up it gives us nine hundred and forty to play with.

The rest are staying with the small carriers and homes. We have two hundred stealth drones keeping tabs on the human carrier, we are forward deploying two hundred scout drones. Twenty minutes before the human carrier cross the line the advanced fighters will launch their thousand battle drones, if they actually cross the line all the drones will fire together.

That carrier will lose all external fittings, engines and communications, ten minutes later the drones hit it again, it will start coming apart. It'll be finished as a fighting platform all its fighters should be gone, the drones would hit it once more before the fighters come into range. They will use the same relayed power from the fusion plant as the drones, they fire once, then the drones, they go on taking turns until it is completely gone.

Of course if they surrender, we'll accept, turning the remains of their carrier into a proper habitat for them to live in, individuals surrendering is more problematic, probably lock them into a spare farm module on a home. A quick mod to the accommodation, to give them the right size beds and showers, after a year or two ship them back to that resort.” reported Tman.

“You seem to have everything covered.”

“But why do I have this feeling I have forgotten something?”

“I don't know, not something irrelevant to the moment? one of your interstellar probes may be?” asked Chatty.

“Nothing urgent there, Centauri one has left the Oort cloud, all the others are doing well even Luyten is starting to deploy it's scoop, so we'll soon know if that works as predicted.”

“That's great, now back to business is the battle live TV feed set up?”

“It goes live as soon as we detect them, it stays live until either they get sense and run away or there is nothing left.” replied Tman.

“Lets hope they get sense.” signed Chatty.

“I hope for that too, but we cannot be certain they will. But its the whole reason for the show, making them see sense, I just hope they appreciate it.”

“I think they will, Tman, I hope they will.”

“We'll soon see Chatty.”  

A couple of days later in battle command on the human carrier,

“I think we've reached the line, we have just detected one hundred fighters and two hundred drones lined up in front of us and the drones following us have just gone into stealth, sir.” reported warrant officer Mohamed Clarkson.

“Thank you Clarkson, battle power to the detection systems, sound action stations, put the graphic display on the main monitor. Shall we see what we have here Harry?” instructed Group Captain John Hampton.

“Excuse me sir but there is an urgent message from the carrier captain he wants to withdraw now.” interrupted warrant officer Mohamed Clarkson.

“Clarkson tell the captain not to be in such a hurry and if he detonates those separation charges without good cause, we'll shoot him first.” instructed John.

A lot of new icons appeared on the monitor, but it was Warrant Officer Mohamed Clarkson's job to announce it anyway,

“More vessels detected on intercept course, five groups each of approximately one hundred fighters and three larger vessels each massing roughly the thirty percent greater than this carrier. Optical zoom and enhanced images on auxiliary monitors.” 

“I see the big rough boys have turned up, and they don't look fun to play with at all, six of those horrible lasers apiece, arranged like a Gatling gun, those names are a bit different aren’t they Harry.” observed John.

“I'll have a look, I was just evaluating the threat they posed. 'Don't you wish you'd stayed at home', 'This is your bad day' and 'Your nightmare made flesh', yes very different from the others, could it be they don't like the idea of what they can do?

I'm not keen on being on the receiving end myself, if they were my carriers I would just love them, but they are very different, if I was in charge over there, this carrier would be dead my now.” said Harry.

“A monkey and squirrel appeared on the main monitor,

“Hi John, Harry, Mohamed, just a little up date, you're all on a live TV feed, so its only fair to let you know, also you're thirty minutes from the line. That is how long you have to turn back, once the shooting starts your only chance of survival is unconditional surrender, let me assure you, you will be treated far more humanely than we ever were.

Our lead fighters will be launching their battle drones soon, the drones will engage you first, targeting the carrier and any fighters you have launched. These drones will be replaced as necessary, we find if you deploy too many at once they can get in each others way, the rest of the force isn't really needed it's just here to convince you, you're out gunned. Of course if you pull out a big surprise and get passed the lead fighters, the carriers will give you a display of fire power, that should leave a deep impression on you.”

said the mechanical voice.

Then the squirrel started typing, the speech came,

“Let me apologise, it's bad enough being forced to kill you, but there is no excuse for subjecting you to the cruel and unusual punishment of my colleagues sense of humour.”

“No problem, I was just thinking how big that impression would be, are you the same two that spoke to us last time?” asked Group Captain John Hampton.

“That's right! Our calculations say after the first eighteen shots, there would nothing left other than a debris field and little chance of recovering anyone alive.” explained the voice.

“Thanks for sharing that little morale booster, are you both former presidents of you people?” asked John.

“It could be described as that, we both have served in chamber an had to serve time in the executive position. It's not good for ones peace of mind, the responsibility eats at you, have I made the right decisions you keep asking your self all the time. Apparently we did that's why we got landed with this job. If we fail and you force us to destroy you, it will spoil my sleep for quite a while, not so the youngsters they just want to try out the new toys, pointing out you have been given every chance possible to see sense. Smile you're on TV.”

With that the connection ended.

“Sir approximately one thousand objects have been launched by the closest group of fighters, assumed to be battle drones, the computer identifies them as possible missiles.” reported warrant officer Mohamed Clarkson.

“From the description we have they're both, My compliments to the carrier captain tell him to reverse course with all speed. Continuing would be stupid, we'd be dead for no purpose, and no benefit to humanity, this mission has been a complete waste. The New People were never going to allow us even within sight of their habitats, a fact our leaders should have realised, the first time we clocked one of their fighters and it was more advanced and deadly than anything we had.”

“Sir seven of our fighters have launched without permission and are headed for the enemy.” reported warrant officer Mohamed Clarkson.

“Order them to return Clarkson, its suicide for them.”

“They reply screw you, we want revenge. Sir.” reported warrant officer Mohamed Clarkson.

“Just keep ordering them back, ignore their ranting. Hopefully only they'll only get themselves killed and not all of us.” instructed John.

The manoeuvring klaxon sounded, the change in direction was as fast as the captain could make it, the carrier shuddered. One of the changes made during repairs was a major beefing up of the manoeuvring system, and engine up grades. The captain was using everything he had to put distance between his carrier and that awful horde of death and destruction.

John Hampton noticed the carrier was now accelerating away from the confrontation at a twenty percent higher level than it ever had towards it, despite it massing a third more than when it left Earth, over half that extra mass was armour and fuel. On the graphic he watched seven battle drones fire a singe shot each and the rouge fighters disappeared from the display. Well that answers that question, our rouge's weapons were massively out ranged, they never even had a chance to get off a shot, we must of only met the old stuff before.

He turned to Clarkson, “What damage would we have sustained subjected to a barrage from a thousand of those drones?”

“The computers already on it sir, they are extrapolating again, I thought you might want to know. Here are the answers depending on the spread, either we would be blasted down into the core or we would have lost most of the outer deck and parts of the second level in. Either would completely wreak us, only the second case would have any long term survivors, most military personnel would be dead whichever case occurred.

I think it would have been case two sir, as that would have allowed the carrier captain to eject the core from the carrier component, becoming a habitat captain and allowing the core to run away.” reported warrant officer Mohamed Clarkson.

“Very good Clarkson, ever thought of becoming an officer ?” asked John.

“No sir I'm just looking forward to getting home, and living a life while I still can, I'll be fifty something by then, a bit late to start a family but at least it will be possible.”

“My wife divorced me when I accepted this mission stating effective desertion, the expected mission length was a minimum of twelve years, its nearly fifteen now, it'll take at least ten years to get back home and we haven't the fuel to maintain this acceleration. How about you Glover?” asked John.

“I was between relationships sir, I did have a woman friend but she's in the mining habitat, and I have been looking at the course set by the captain it's a least time back to Earth. We can manage with a comfortable fuel reserve, so we're not going back to Jupiter, already it's not feasible to go back there due to the fuel already burnt.” replied Harry.

“Well that has been decided then, Glover collect all the the data and write our report home, when it's done contact me, we'll go though it and then send it. You know where I'll be.” “Merlot again sir?”  asked Harry.                                                                                

“Go take it up with the Doc, I know what I need right now, just be grateful I'm not on the paint-striper, just after a warm glow that puts a little gap between me and reality. It all has been a waste, those men I sent to their deaths for nothing really puts the icing on the cake for me. I've got to send another seven lying letters to families trying to provide a crumb of comfort with the bad news, before I can seek solace myself, the worst thing is there is a live TV feed of what actually happened, limiting the comfort I can give the families of those bloody fools, anyway once that is done, I'm gone. Take over.” John said as he departed.

Not all those bloody fools actually died, Five were rescued, one of whom died from his injures before he could get medical attention. The rest were stabilised and restrained in a carriers medical bay, once they were out of immediate danger. The bodies of the dead were put in a freezer for long term storage.  A spare farm unit in Peach was being modified to house the survivors. They were stretchered to Peach's hospital given a full medical, any treatments required, given food and drink. Then interviewed asked for name, rank and number this was attached to their record, and they were told their carrier would be informed they were alive and well.

Then came the psychiatric interview, the synthesised speech device unsettled them, with them being surprised to be alive and well treated, they were still suspicious and hostile. When they realised they were being assessed for suicide risk, they got upset shouting they had been after revenge not death. When told their own death was all they could possibly have achieved, and the New People now were stuck with them until they decided what to do with them.

They would be housed in a vacant farm, where they would be expected to look after themselves, the kitchen would be stocked, once a week, the rest was up to them. We can't cook they cried, you'll have to learn, instructions are available on your limited net access there is a tablet for each of you. All the entertainment media we found on the stations, and the Earth watch channel for your  information about home, it opens on the directory you can explore at your leisure.

They then were walked to the farm, shown where everything was and how it worked then left to their own devices.

“Tman what are we going to do with them?” asked the current chamber chair Gardner.

“Wait until they have licked their wounds and calmed down, and then ship them back to their carrier or the resort, we could build a small ferry out of what's left of their fighters. Until then we can practice talking to humans, we are going to have to make them accept us as people.” replied Tman.