Redemption Protocol (Contact) (65 page)

“What is it, Intrepido?”

“The mountain perimeter. He's nuked it.”

“Surface nukes?”

“Yes, three nukes.”

“Our assets?”

“Gone.”

“Move on, Son. Don't worry, you'll get him.”

“Bastard.”

“No victory without cost, Son.”

~    ~    ~

Yamamoto looked up from the holo.

“We have nukes on the surface.”

Whittenhorn looked horrified.

“Nuclear weapons?”

Yamamoto highlighted the holo.

“Three detonations over this mountain range.”

Whittenhorn paled.

“Oh my. What will Abbott say?”

Yamamoto felt her patience waning.

“Never mind Ambassador Abbott, Commander. We have inbound communication from the People's Republic... and the Empire of the Sun... and the United Systems... and the Gathering.”

“The ORC?”

“Not yet. Ah, yes. And the ORC.”

“Get me Stephanie Calthorpe.”

There was a pause as Yamamoto signaled Stephanie.

“There is no response, Commander.”

Yamamoto saw Whittenhorn cringe.

“Try again.”

Yamamoto tried again.

“She's not responding. The ambassadors are waiting, Commander.”

Whittenhorn gazed around frantically.

“Tell them I'm... out.”

Yamamoto’s inscrutable mask cracked.

“
Out
, Commander?”

 162. 

Havoc saw three bright flashes over the mountain range on the horizon. With the spread he was confident that any lurking weapon platforms would be at least temporarily disrupted.

Three mushroom clouds hung suspended on the skyline. Three leering skulls. Three terrible masks. One wife, one son, one daughter.

The
Intrepid's
arbitrary and lethal touch had abruptly halted. Perhaps they'd decided that stopping the ORC had some merit after all. The battle in the electromagnetic spectrum, temporarily interrupted by the overwhelming energy from the
Intrepid's
Hel and his nukes, rapidly climbed back to its prior level.

He veered left to pick up one of the lines of giant hyperboloid towers that crossed the planet’s surface. Each tower resembled an extruded hourglass and comprised a stack of curving discs. Lightning storms erupted around the colossal structures in the darkness. They receded over the horizon like a row of flickering lamps illuminating a curving road.

Two lines of the giant towers converged ten kilometers south east of the shaft. He set his route for the final two towers where he would decelerate explosively.

Platforms on both sides searched for, located and categorized the enemy systems so that they could deploy their offensive assets to best advantage. Sensor control points were prioritized for elimination by soft or hard kill – if you could blind your enemy, no matter how sophisticated their technology, you could take them out at your leisure, avoiding the claws and targeting the soft underbelly. The jamming platforms, as high energy emitters, were vulnerable and the first to go down. Hypersonic missiles streaked across the skies. Focused beams of energy pierced the night. Assets on both sides were destroyed, overwhelmed, subverted and blinded and as they were the ability of the remaining systems to coordinate their stealth and jamming effects was degraded.

Havoc had got his nukes in first. He was confident that his first strike had handed him a clear advantage in the sensor battle. He knew he was going to reach the shaft. And by now, so did Forge.

Three thousand kilometers out.

Five hundred seconds.

 163. 

Jafari brought up the rear as Abbott walked backward, facing toward his diplomatic guests as he beckoned them inside the magnificent amphitheater. Jafari frowned at the strange glow ahead of them as Abbott threw his arms wide.

“I bid you welcome to what will surely become a wonder of the universe, the grand amphitheater where Ualus of the Aulusthran species currently resides.”

Jafari felt increasingly disturbed. He activated the static defense stations outside the entrance. They were disabled.

The United Systems Ambassador pointed past Abbott.

“Look at the light.”

Abbott nodded.

“Indeed, but just wait until the altar itself illuminates together with a facet in the ceiling that will brighten to reveal Ualus.”

“Isn't the altar already lit?” the People's Republic Ambassador said.

“You mean that glowing facet in the ceiling?” the United Systems Ambassador said.

Jafari looked up at the illuminated altar, stunned. He gestured at Abbott to turn round. Abbott started to respond, confused.

“Well...”

Abbott noticed Jafari nodding at him and turned.

“What? What the...”

A Gathering soldier, marked with the elite colors of the Nmr Qátl, was kneeling on the altar with his arms raised. A stunning column of light rose from the altar to the ceiling. Surrounding the brilliant column was a halo that hovered near the ceiling. The halo was moving almost imperceptibly downward.

The People's Republic Ambassador shook his head.

“It's incredible. Truly, it is one of the wonders of the universe.”

The United Systems Ambassador looked at Abbott.

“Is this meant to be happening?”

Abbott turned to Jafari. Jafari spread his hands. He had no idea. Abbott flicked his gaze upward to indicate the Gathering soldier.

> Do you have any idea how to stop this?

Jafari shook his head.

> No, but if we're going to try we need to do it right now, Ambassador. Otherwise...

Abbott stared up at the column of light.

> The genie is out of the bottle.

 164. 

Tyburn monitored the building confrontation with Havoc from the shuttle cockpit.

Sensor fusion blended the myriad of data pouring into their battlespace. Each possible track had a confidence level assigned to it. If there was a single high confidence track, or multiple low confidence tracks that together provided a sufficient joint likelihood, then these tracks were promoted to targets. The battlespace displayed a bright dot showing each target's most likely position and surrounded it with a spheroid denoting its ninety percent confidence level. All well and good.

The problem was that, despite sophisticated probabilistic analysis, the targets oscillated wildly around the battlespace at impossible speeds and surrounded by massive, and therefore useless, balloons of probabilistic confidence. The sheer strength of Havoc's electronic warfare package was overwhelming Intrepido. They were being outfought at the sensor level. And Havoc was moving and they were not – Havoc knew exactly where they were.

Tyburn had seen enough. He turned to Ekker and spun a finger in the air as he open a channel to Intrepido.

“We've got the signal. We're moving out to meet the ORC.”

Intrepido's response was curt, his concentration focused elsewhere.

“Ok.”

Ekker piloted the shuttle away from the shaft, staying low as they headed north west. They exchanged interrogate friend or foe information with the six-legged ORC walkers as they passed overhead. The ORC walkers strode away from the shaft with the alien energy systems swinging underneath them, their speed deceptive. Tyburn relaxed back into his seat.

“Looks like the ORC should be nicely clear.”

Ekker nodded.

“The ORC should be moving into the pyramid as well soon, shouldn't they?”

Tyburn tracked the disposition of their decoy platforms as they spread outward from their flight path on diverging tracks.

“Any minute I think. We're still on for the clean sweep. The energy systems, the alien and the scientists.”

“You don't think Havoc will pursue us?”

“Of course, after he's checked the shaft.”

“At which point he'll be dead.”

“Right.”

Ekker banked the shuttle northward.

“Who took out Darkwood?”

Tyburn shrugged.

“The saboteur. Or enemy action. I can’t see how anyone uncovered him working with us.”

“And the saboteur?”

Tyburn thought about it.

“Difficult. I think either Jafari or Stephanie is Section Nine and the other one is the spy. Maybe one of the boy princes if they really are boys. Havoc will know it too, but he'll put the sabotage down to us.”

“Time to target the platform on the
Intrepid
?”

“Yes.”

“Go live?”

Tyburn shook his head.

“No, not yet. But we might need to destroy the
Intrepid
to get the scientists from the Colosseum.”

“Only Weaver is left.”

“Weaver is enough.”

“Who will it be?”

Tyburn gazed out of the window.

“Hmm. Let's help the ORC gather some data on the new Empire of the Sun superweapon.”

Ekker transmitted targeting data to the Alliance sleeper platform that Tyburn had subverted on deployment.

“The EOS
Brilliance
it is.”

Tyburn smiled as he closed his eyes and savored the moment.

“Alright. Let's save our lead scientist from the madman.”

 165. 

On the bridge of the ORC battlecruiser
Relentless
,
Admiral Szabo gazed out through the large window into space. It was his favorite position on the ship.

The bronze immensity of Plash stretched away beneath him, its roiling atmosphere a swirling palette of bronze, mahogany and gold. The rim of the planet gleamed with an ephemeral white-gold halo created by Jötunn's fierce light.

Behind him, in the pit that was their secondary combat control center, the main holo displayed a live image of the alien pyramid thousands of kilometers below him. On the holo, just north of the pyramid, the position of his assault team was highlighted.

Szabo contemplated the planet.

“You are ready to commence the assault, Captain?”

“We are in position, Comrade Admiral.”

“Resistance?”

“Nothing so far. Opposition forces look manageable. We anticipate no problems. There is a group of the Gathering approaching the western entrance.”

Szabo turned at this revelation. The captain highlighted positions around the pyramid on the holo.

“The Alliance camp and the northern entrance look deserted. The People's Republic and the United Systems are assembling in the south.”

“Excellent.”

“Proceed, Comrade Admiral?”

“Take care not to damage the alien, Captain. We want it alive and in good humor.”

“Understood, Comrade Admiral.”

“Proceed.”

“Surface team, proceed. Take care not to damage the alien.”

 166. 

Intrepido followed Havoc's approach as best he could. The tracks in his battlespace leaped around in defiance of physics. He smiled as he saw a pattern and opened a circuit to Tyburn.

“I think he's coming from the south east, Tyburn, he's turned. Just like you said he would.”

“Great news. Let's use the magnetic field that God gave this planet, Intrepido. You got those Starfish ready?”

Intrepido had been skeptical of Tyburn's manner at first but he couldn't deny it – in the heat of battle, having Tyburn on his side gave him confidence. Tyburn was always one step ahead; he always had another card to play.

“Yes, Sir.”

“When you get the forward reference, let them all go.”

“All of them? But––”

“But nothing, Intrepido. Trust my instincts. Let 'em go.”

“Alright. Incoming...”

“Count me in.”

“On three, Sir.”

Intrepido watched the probabilistic curves converge.

“Three...”

“Two...”

 167.