Bright Horizons (14 page)

The
screen went black.

Kyle
looked back at the men and women sitting around the conference table. No one
spoke as they started skimming the data that Burke had sent.

“Williams,
when he mentioned the gravitational force of the field, you understood what
that meant. Explain what happened,” Kyle said.

“A
singularity. They can create a singularity,” Williams said.

“No
way, not a singularity, the gravitational forces were nowhere close to that,”
countered Sergeant Ranke.

Kyle
looked at Ranke and then back at Williams. “Is he right?”

“Technically,
but it is essentially what they did. The forces aren’t near what we would
expect for a real black hole, but for our purposes, it’s close enough,”
Williams said.

He
stood up and walked over to the coffee machine and took a foam cup from the
dispenser. “What I mean is this. If I were to get an elephant to step on this
cup, it would be flat.” Williams put the cup on the floor and stepped on it. He
held it up. “Now I’m not an elephant, but that doesn’t matter to the cup.  It’s
flat. What they made wasn’t to the scale of a black hole, but it was enough to
rip our ships apart.”

“How
is that possible?” Kyle asked.

“I
don’t have the slightest idea, sir. If you made me come up with an idea right
now…” Williams just shrugged.

Kyle
nodded and stood up.

“We
will find out what happened. Specifically, how this occurred and what steps we
will take to overcome this problem. We have the observational data available. I
want us to be oriented to this new challenge in 48 hours. Is that clear?”

“Yes
sir,” came the chorus of agreement. No strained voices, no weak responses. They
had a job to do and it was going to get done. 

“In
the meantime, all operations are suspended. I want Jackson and the rest of the
crew of the Hemingway brought in and thoroughly debriefed as soon as physically
possible. We can’t miss anything, not a single clue. Dismissed.”

This
turned out to be one of the worst days since they met the Hedali.

Chapter 15

14 May 2044

Kyle was in
a very irritated mood when he walked into Williams’ office.

“Sir,
thanks for meeting in here,” said Williams as he closed the door behind him.

“Just
had a meeting with Mister Smith. Seems the Pelod are at as much a loss to
explain the new toy of the Iltia’cor as anyone else,” Kyle said throwing
himself on the small sofa.

“Think
they are lying?” asked Williams as he poured a cup of coffee and handed it to
Kyle.

“I
don’t think it’s their style to outright lie. I could be wrong, but I don’t
think so.”

“I
have some news, sir, but I don’t think you will like it. I know I sure didn’t,”
Williams said as he sat at his desk.

“About
the weapon?”

“Yes
sir. Seems that I found out who has been looking at gravitational weapons
technology. The Hedali.”

“What?
Are you sure?”

“Yes
sir. Talked to some of their engineers and it’s something they were working on
for a while. They really didn’t understand the concept that it could be used as
a weapon like this. They were developing it to assist in their mining and
engineering development, but yes, they were pretty far along when the Iltia’cor
invaded.”

Kyle
shook his head and stared into his coffee.

“It
gets worse, sir. Seems that a few Hedali were granted access to some of our
computer systems. It was to help with our engine redesigns, but someone in that
facility accessed our logistics system without authorization.”

Kyle
stood up and walked across the room to look out of the window. “If you are
saying that one of the Hedali let the Iltia’cor know where we were going to
strike, you had better be absolutely sure.”

“More
than sure, sir. We know exactly who it was. He sent them the coordinates of our
drop point and the time we would start the operation.”

“Do
we have him in custody?”

“Ramirez
thought it would be better not to let him know that we are aware of his
activities,” Williams said

“Counter-intel?”

“Yes
sir, we have an idea, and if it works, it will take care of their new toy.”

“What
do you have in mind?”

“The
Geneva,” Williams said.

“The
Geneva?  What about it? They just started dismantling it.” Kyle was clearly
confused.

“I
know, and it’s the perfect choice.” Williams smiled a smug little smile and
waited for Kyle.

“I’ll
bite. Why is the Geneva the perfect choice?” Kyle asked. He was not in the mood
to play these games.

“Two
of the central support spars have cracks in them. If we tried to put the craft
in service, there would be no knowing when the central gravity system would
collapse the damaged spars.  And what would that do, sir?” Williams asked.

“It
would cause an internal collapse and the ship would implode,” Kyle responded.
He saw an idea forming at the edge of his mind.

“What
if instead of a central gravity system there was a very strong sudden external
gravitational force?” Williams was on his feet now and starting to speak
quicker.

“It
would fall apart, like a pile of sticks!” said Kyle, joining Williams in
standing.

“So
we load up a lot of debris, like say forty or fifty high energy fusion bombs…”
Williams said, spreading his hands.

“And
their weapon pulls in a bunch of explosives set to detonate at a certain time.”
Kyle was grinning.

“Yes.
Actually we set gravitational triggers on them so they explode in sequence.
Each one sets the next off, we figure the force of the explosion and the pull
of their singularity should send the last several into a semi-stable orbit
around the central gravitation point long enough to detonate on the other
side.” Williams was grinning as well.

“What
are the chances this could work?” Kyle asked.

“Depends
on if they scan the Geneva before they activate their weapon. If they do, we
will be handing them a good look at our cruiser design and several dozen
fusions bombs. If they don’t, I would say we have a fifty-fifty shot at getting
them.”

“We
set the first bomb to have a time delay to detonate five minutes after we drop
it off. If they scan and don’t activate their weapon, they may pull up to the
Geneva and the delayed bombs might get them. If they don’t, we destroy any use
they may get out of our ruse.”

“Excellent.
Do you want me to move forward with the operation?” Williams asked as he sat
back down.

“Yes,
tell them to stop scrapping the Geneva and secure the rest of the materials
needed. Ranke’s idea?” Kyle asked.

Williams
nodded.

Kyle
grunted. “I thought it sounded like something he would come up with.”

“He
knows booby-traps better than anyone. I was going to put him as lead engineer
on this.”

“That
should keep him happy and busy,” Kyle said. “Good job, Carl. Let me know if you
need to cut through any red tape, I want this as top priority.”

Kyle
walked over and poured another cup of coffee. “Now how are we going to pull
them in?”

“We
only have a few systems left, so we pick one and go for it. We can put in that
we are sending eight cruisers and twenty scooters in the first wave, make them
think they can nab twelve of our sleds at one blow. That should get their
attention,” Williams said.

“Sounds
like a plan. Call Kitch, have her look over the proposal.” Kyle’s com unit
began beeping.

“Martin.
Go,” he said.

“Sir,
Commander Salazar has a report about the Otina Strike Force. Can you talk to
him now?” Kyle’s secretary asked.

“Let
me get back to the office, Karen. I’m just down the hall,” Kyle said as he
switched his unit off.  “Keep me in the loop, Carl, but sounds like we have a
great idea.”

Kyle
quickly walked down the hall to his office. Too many windows for his taste, but
he was able to keep the decorations austere.

“General,
Commander Salazar is on line two, full video,” Karen Crane said as Kyle hurried
past her station.

“Thank
you Karen, call Sara and let her know I will be home by six tonight if she
still wants to grill steaks,” Kyle said as he closed the door to his office.
His daughter was living at home again and he was thrilled to have her around
the house.

Kyle
sat in his chair and adjusted his video screen. He hit line two and the image
of Commander Ramon Salazar popped up. “Ramon, good to see you, I guess you have
something?”

“Yes
sir, we took an Otina messenger ship warping in around Jupiter yesterday.
Caught them with their engines cold and boarded after a short chase. They
injured two of ours and we had to put four of them down, but we captured six.
We found navigational co-ordinates for three bases in the asteroid belt once we
got into their systems. Long range scans confirm the presence of high energy at
those sites,” Salazar said with a smile.

“Outstanding
Commander! Excellent,” Kyle said. The Otina were an ongoing problem. While the
war against the Iltia’cor was going well, it felt like a yapping dog was always
nipping at his heels whenever Kyle got a new report of an Otina raid.

“Thank
you, sir. Preliminary reports estimate that there are between two and three
hundred Otina at each site, and they have a few heavy weapons in hardened
positions. I would like to request more men before seriously considering
assaulting their bases,” Salazar said.

“I’ll
pass it by General Kitch and make sure that she approves, but I don’t think it
will be a problem,” Kyle answered.

“General
Kitch?” Salazar looked pleasantly surprised.

Kyle
laughed. “I forgot you were out. Rider put her in for the star the day before he
passed away. Things move fast in wartime, I guess. The Earth Council and the
Pentagon approved it two days ago, and she pinned it on yesterday.”

“Have
they made a decision on who will be the Supreme Commander?”

Kyle
shifted uncomfortably. The U.S., China and Russia all supported him taking
Rider’s position, but France and India were firmly set against it. “Not yet,
Ramon, but they have a few more days to decide.”

Turning
to his tablet, Kyle opened up the folder marked ‘Otina Strike Force’.

“Looks
like you have eighty-six personnel and three scooters. I’m going to assign the
Berlin and two more scooters to you. Those will be modified troop transports.
I’m thinking the Orinoco and the Nile. I would also like you to take an extra
sixty ground pounders. Kiskaliski will be your first when dealing with the
ground assaults.”

Salazar
nodded “That’s what I would have recommended. The Berlin can be used to take
out the hardened heavy weapons from a distance. We will be glad to have her.”

“Any
other equipment or personnel you think you might need?”

“Wouldn’t
hurt to have a med team, we haven’t needed one yet, but with ground assaults in
the planning, wouldn’t mind having a Nightingale,” Salazar requested.

“Let’s
see if I have a Nightingale for you.” Kyle searched his listings for a scooter
that had been equipped as a mobile medical station. “The Danube can probably be
reassigned; I’ll clear that with McKendree.”

“Thank
you sir, I think that would be everything we need.”

“I’ll
send it all up to Kitch and she can break down the details. But if we can get
the Otina off our backs, that will be a great relief,” Kyle said.

“Yes
sir, we will drive them out of the system.” Salazar smiled broadly. “Salazar
out.”

The
screen went black and Kyle slumped in his chair for a minute. He was thinking
of his conversation with Williams and something was bothering him.

He
pressed the intercom button on his desk phone. “Karen, could you get Sergeant
Major Williams on the line?”

“Of
course, sir.”

A
few seconds later, Kyle saw line one light up and hit the button to pick up.
“Carl, do you have a second?”

“Absolutely,
sir. What do you need?” Williams asked.

“When
we take the Geneva in, what will happen to the sled that drops her off?”

There
was a long awkward silence. “I’m not sure, sir. From the data we got from the
Hemingway, it’s lucky she wasn’t torn to pieces. I had thought that maybe we
could automate the drop, but we would lose a sled, and I sure don’t want to do
that.”

Kyle
thought for a few seconds. “How many men are absolutely needed to fly a sled in
and bring it back out?”

“Well,
let’s see. You need a pilot, you need a navigator and you need at least five
technicians to release the clamps. That is… unless you wanted to release them
one at a time. That would surely get the crew killed, though. So, I would say
seven bare minimum,” Williams replied.

“Can
we blow the clamps?” Kyle asked.

“Maybe.
If we set the explosives before we warped in, that would work, but I will have
to check with Ranke to see if charges set that way would be stable enough in a
warp field.”

“Get
with him and see if it is possible. I want as few men as possible at risk on
this assignment. If we have to repair a sled afterwards, that’s a small price
to pay.”

“Yes
sir. Anything else?”

“No,
that’s it for now. I’ll let you get back to it,” Kyle said as he hung up.

If
the Iltia’cor’s new weapon was destroyed, it might be enough of a shock to send
them to the negotiating table. They have already lost six of the eleven planets
they had once controlled outside the Iltia system. Another major defeat might
be painful enough that they wouldn’t want to lose any more.

Kyle
hoped and prayed that would be the result.

Now
which system to pick for the trap? The Do’yar’on system was out of the
question, they might sense a trap and not show up. That left…

Kyle
snapped his fingers. Helku was a binary star system with three asteroid belts
and a lot of radiation. When they examined the system, it was so complicated
that it was put on the back burner. The system itself was poor on resources and
the population of Heltani was under four million. And it was a mere fifteen
light-years from the Iltia system.

If
they could indicate that it would be secured as a staging area for an invasion
of Iltia itself, it might provide extra incentive for the Iltia’cor to send
their weapon.

He
felt like things were finally clicking into place. They had the means of taking
the gravitational weapon out and he now had the location where it would happen.
They could figure out how to plant the information so that the Iltia’cor
received it in the correct way. Now he just had to assign the men who would
undertake this dangerous mission.

He
needed a pilot, an engineer and someone who could navigate the sled. And he
needed to know he could trust them with the highest level of secrecy.