Temple of S.A.R.A.H. 7: Upgrades (2 page)

"Please put him through, AI Helen," Vance said immediately.

The image of the Lord Admiral took form, this time standing and buttoning up his uniform jacket. "Ah, there you are, Vance. The Grand Hive is hitting GMASS. It looks like our time is about up."

Vance nodded his agreement. "Well, we have been lucky that they have waited this long to move. What else is going on? You wouldn't use flash priority just to tell me that."

Healis chuckled. "You got me there. Four full battle fleets will be dropping out of hyperspace five hundred MK outside our system in just under an hour." He snorted. "We're hoping that for once your new sensors will be wrong, but that is a slim hope. We're mobilizing everything we have. The planetary defense net is active, and I've asked Athena to warm up the hyperdrive and prepare to jump out. Guardian station is already moving to the opposite edge of the system."

Vance turned to Helen. "Please alert traffic control to monitor for any unaccounted for hyperspace wakes. It'll be two weeks before they arrive, but please also make sure the arrival point for the station is cleared and remains so." He turned back to Hearlis. "Lord Admiral, what about your mine layers and the hyper-missile batteries?"

"The mine layers will be on station in fifteen minutes to begin seeding the area with AMP mines. The missile launchers are still in acquisition, but should begin launching any… they just started firing. With any luck at all, this will take the bugs by surprise and we'll survive this. I really don't want to leave the system to the Aracs," Hearlis replied. He suddenly turned to one side, "No! Divert all inbound traffic to Sol Sector! This is a narding combat zone for Grolith's sake!"

"Is there anything we can do for you, Lord Admiral?" Vance asked. "The fight will be over before we can get any reinforcements to you."

"Actually, I'm passing my flag to you until this emergency is resolved," Hearlis replied. "I'll keep the fleets here, but I want you to take charge of the rest of the Alliance. Vacation time is over; it’s time to start earning our pay again."

"I understand, Admiral. I'll head over to my combat control center right away. I'll see what we have and try to find you some help," Vance replied.

"I don't know where you'll get them from, but maybe you'll see something I didn't. We'll keep in touch. Guardian Station out," Hearlis replied.

Vance turned back to the shocked looking people around his conference table. "I'm sorry people, but it looks like we'll have to finish this later. I'll be placing the sector on alert status as soon as I get down to the command center, so you might want to head back to your departments. Thank you for coming, and again, I'm sorry to cut this short."

"No need to apologize, Lord Admiral," Halflan replied. "You cannot be held responsible for the rudeness of the Aracs."

"Thank you Master Halflan, have a safe journey back," Vance replied.

I was one of the last to leave the room. "Good luck, Vance." I said to his worried expression.

"That is something we are all going to need, Eric. This tactic is very unlike the Aracs, more than anything else this underscores how very different this war has just become," Vance replied.

"If there is a way to save Novalus, I'm sure you'll find it, Sir," I said and left the office.

When I got back to the shuttle, I found that it had gained a few passengers. Tul-sa and a new platoon of Marines had somehow found their way on board. By way of greeting, she handed me a pulse rifle. "Good to see you again Doctor."

"Are you lost, Tul-sa? We're going back to Apollo," I replied.

"Marines don't get lost Doctor, we simply go places before our orders catch up to us is all. However, this time, we have our orders. We are to accompany you back to Apollo and protect you and your family. The rest of the battalion is also being sent there," she replied. "Did you get your new armor made?"

I nodded. "Complete with unit patches and insignia. Speaking of which, I see you got a promotion; my condolences."

Tul-sa nodded. "I appreciate that, Doctor. It would seem everyone else thinks this was something good."

"Come on, Lieutenant! Someone had to get stuck wearing the bars!" one of the troops replied.

"You can stow that shit, private! Or would you like me to assign you to the Veranorian kitchens for duty?" Tul-sa threatened. The two Veranorians on the shuttle smiled at the threat.

"Either way, it's good to see you again," I said. "Officer or non-com, you're still you."

"Just remember that when we get back to Apollo and stuff you into your armor," she replied.

Alliance Apollo Base

Selene, Earth's Moon

Sol System

With Vance's permission, Sarah tapped into the feed from GMASS and let us watch the Arac invasion. The only word I can think of to describe what I saw was brutal.

The defense turrets left at GMASS had been upgraded from their former installations and they were even more effective. It was also clear that the Aracs had no idea what cybernetic warfare was or how to use it, as they simply kept throwing ships and missiles at the turrets until they were finally destroyed. The destruction had been hideous. It was difficult to tell because the Aracs had brought so many ships to Galtar, but Sarah told us that they had lost over a hundred trying to destroy the missile turrets and gun emplacements.

However, the surprises for the Aracs had only just begun as the Shallans had left weapon installations on the GMASS facility as well. Those had special programming not to fire until a ship got within a certain distance, thus guaranteeing a hit. Most of those weapons were small mass driver type weapons that would lock on and pound on a target until it was destroyed. It was during this phase of the assault that it was shown that the shields on these new ships were rather weak, and almost pathetic. The armor under them however was far stronger than what the Alliance used.

It was armor designed to repel physical or mass weapons, which meant it shattered under the constant barrage of projectiles from the mass drivers, but there were so many layers of armor it was a wonder the ship had enough power to even move. Once the mass drivers were finally destroyed, the remaining Arac ships began an assault of the GMASS facility. They forced docking at certain points and poured thousands of troops into the huge facility.

The large arachnids ran through the entire facility in force, ready to kill anyone they found, but there was no one there. That was when the entire GMASS facility was detonated in a timed forced overload of all the power reactors in the entire facility. The devastation was terrible to watch, and when the plasma cleared, after pushing shredded ship and body parts into deep space, the Arac force had lost fully two-thirds of its fleet.

When the remaining forces entered orbit to attack the planet, it was clear they expected yet another attack and they were not disappointed. Ground based missile batteries opened up on the ships in orbit and more Arac ships died before they could be destroyed. However, several of what could only be called troop transports made it to the surface and that's when the real brutality began.

There were some weapons used, but for the most part, the two Hives fought without them. The Galtar Queens had been freed of all control by AI Susan for just this purpose. Eventually, the Grand Hive ran out of ground forces and the fighting on the surface slowly ground to a halt. However the ships still in orbit began laying waste to the surface of the planet, killing off the Galtar Hive troops by the millions.

The Galtar Queens pulled their remaining fighters back into the hives to sit out the bombardment as the ships in orbit pounded the surface into dust.

"They should have done that before they sent down their troops. They might have stood a chance if they had," Tul-sa replied from her spot on our sofa. "Hiver Queens aren't very bright, I guess."

"Let's just hope they don't learn from their mistakes," Ellie said quietly.

Munitions exhausted, the orbital ships backed off, out of range of the ground based weapons and just sat there as if waiting. The battle, such as it was, had not been all that long. The longest part had been the ground assault. I couldn't even call it a battle; the Grand Hive continued to press forward with complete disregard for the safety of their ships and the beings manning them. It had been nothing more than a wholesale slaughter.

"If this is the way the Grand Hive is going to fight, this is going to be a short war. The Queen pretty much slaughtered her own troops," I said.

"It's the simplest form of warfare. Swarm your objective with an overwhelming number of troops and equipment. Yes, it’s pretty hard on your own troops, but when you can reproduce as fast as the Hives can, it is an effective tactic. You also have to remember the drones that we just saw die did not have personalities of their own. In hiver society, there is no sense of 'self'. The drones exist for the Queens; the Queens are really the only ones with any intelligence or thoughts of their own. The drones are nothing more than that; drones. It would be no different if we fielded robotic devices instead of soldiers," Tul-sa explained. "You have to remember, the Queens can replace those drones lost today in very short order. It’s the reason they took those worlds between Galtrar and Veranor."

"Those planets were for breeding?" Julie asked. "What are they using for food? We do know that hivers can't reach maturity without proper nutrition."

"They have farms. If we could get images of the surface of one of their planets, I'm sure you would see that almost the entire surface is nothing but farms. While the hives themselves are underground," Ellie explained. "They have a mining caste as well. In a lot of cases the old mines are used to expand the hives. Other than building star ships and weapons, the hivers are not an industrial society. Everything is about the needs of the Queens."

"Maybe that's why the Grand Hive pounded the surface of Galtar like they did; the Queens there won't be able to replace their drones without food from the surface," Jamie replied.

Tul-sa shook her head. "No, the bombardment wasn't complete. While they did use nukes in some places, it won't be enough to destroy the ecosystem of the planet. They can still produce food, and I'm sure we'll see that as soon as the Queens think it safe to come out again. I doubt it'll be fast enough to counter the Grand Hive, but I'm certain she'll at least try. It's really too bad she'll never get the chance to save her world. It would be very interesting to see how well she would do."

"What do you mean?" Julie asked.

"The Synod infected the Queens with a lethal disease to prevent them from going rogue like they did on Galtar. The fleet only left them a two month supply of the drug when they left Galtar. They'll die out before the Grand Hive can return," Tul-sa replied. "It's too bad none of the landing craft made it back to the fleet; they might have infected the rest of the Grand Hive."

I nodded agreement. "Sarah, can you tell us how it's going at Novalus?"

Main Force Command Center

Ares Base

Icarus Plateau

Mars, Sol System

The command center Vance referred to was a very special facility built under the base. It was a different and unique application of the programming suite designed by Dr. Eric Cowan. Each tech and operator had their own, small, dedicated holographic 'suite' built around their station. The walls of which could be made transparent, if needed, without the loss of the displayed data. The command chairs in the center were the largest and the most complex as they could function and take data from all the other, smaller, workstations.

Vance thought the design to be much more useful and efficient than the old style command centers where the command staff was surrounded by rows of consoles and work stations. With this set up, there was no shouting for information as each station was constantly connected to each other via comms. Although, if the comms failed, they could still communicate, but they would have to raise their voices. All in all it was a pretty efficient set-up, and Vance liked it. From what he had gotten from the operators and techs, they loved it.

However, today those thoughts were far from his mind as Vance took his place in the facility and activated the comms. "May I have your attention please, as of now, we are assuming command of all Alliance military assets. The Novalus system is under attack by the Grand Hive, and Guardian Station is preparing to evacuate. Lord Admiral Hearlis has passed his flag to us temporarily in order to better deal with the situation at Novalus.

"The Grand Hive is also attacking GMASS and the Galtar system. That situation we will only monitor and record the data for analysis later. For now, we need to see what we can do to help with the Novalus situation. It's time to go to work folks!" he finished and began opening holographic monitors for fleet status and forces distribution. "Operations, bring all fleet units and our system defenses to alert status. Order Orpheus battalion to Apollo as added defense in case we are attacked. They can escort the departing department heads back to the base."

"Yes Sir," the operations officer replied.

Vance quickly sorted out the data he was seeing into sections and had them displayed on a three-dimensional map of Alliance space. He could access any group or fleet simply by reaching out and touching that icon on the map.