Death to the Insects

Chapter 13: The Climactic Battle Over August

Chapter 13: The Climactic Battle Over August

"Attention, please," said the calm voice, speaking over the interfleet comm channel.

The man was sitting on his flagship, appropriately namedThe Quick.

"This is Steven Quick of the June Directorate."

There was a total silence over the comm channels. 99.99% of everyone listening had thought that Quick had been dead for more than 20 years.

"This will come as a surprise to most of you, but I am alive." How else to say it?

"I can tell you now that I played a substantial role in engineering our comeback," said Quick dryly, leaving the exact size of his role to their imagination. "As you know, our legendary military leader, War Admiral Norman North, has been taken captive by the bugs while successfully completing a vital mission. We are going to August to retrieve the War Admiral. We expect nearly the entire bug fleet to be there waiting for us. They expect us to walk into a trap."

"Instead they will walk into ours. Those of you who are Directorate officers know of me. Those of you who were League officers have at least heard of me. I don't make idle boasts. If we win this battle, we will win the war," said Quick calmly. "And we will win this battle. I anticipated something very similar to this battle 10 years ago, and proved, mathematically, that we would win it. I will be commanding the fleets today, working in conjunction with your admirals. We are going to win. Always remember this day," said Quick. "Quick out." He closed communications, but left the receive button open. He heard a babble of voices.

"He's alive!" "Was that really Steven Quick?" "If we have Quick on our side, we can't lose!" "It's really him!" they said excitedly, before Quick closed the channel.

"Did you really predict this battle 10 years ago?" said Administrator Sutter, standing by his side.

"Something close to it, as a possibility," said Quick. "I had a lot of time on my hands," he added.

"What are you thinking about right now?" Sutter added.

"Administration, logistical, political, and military problems we'll be facing over the next five to ten years," said Quick. "The present rarely interests me. For me, it's already happened."

"Well, I hope you give it enough attention to win the battle," Sutter said nervously.

Quick nodded, his silvery eyes gazing forward.

************************

"Where is my ship?" Zsst raged.

"It is on its way," said Baraki.

"Will it get here in time for the battle?"

"No," said Baraki.

"How can you be so calm?"

"I have helped you defeat their technological advantage," said Baraki. "You have more ships than they do. You have their chief strategist."

"But our advantage is not overwhelming!"

"No," Baraki frowned. "It will be a more or less even battle, though you will have a small edge in ships. Why does that frighten you?"

"Because we might lose!"

Baraki hissed.

"I backed your cause because you said your people had a strong warrior spirit," said Baraki. "I helped you overcome the humans, giving you every advantage. Instead, you show one weakness after another. Now, at the end, you fear a fair fight."

"Don't tell me it's been a fair fight," said the Queen. "They have received outside help as well!"

"But nothing approaching the help we gave you," said Baraki. "We were the ones who helped you wipe out their fleet, and occupy their worlds. You had twenty years to build up your empire. Instead you have squandered it. I begin to wonder if we have backed the wrong species."

Zsst felt her circulatory fluids flow faster. "What do you mean?"

"The humans have repeatedly shown courage, against overwhelming odds. What do you show, with odds that are even or slightly in your favor? Cowardice and fear!"

"We will win!" said Zsst. "But I want my ship!"

"Although we have allowed your beings to pilot it here, it is not 'your' ship," said Baraki. "And it will come when it comes. I expect that it will only be used to hunt down the remainder of the human fleet which escapes your victory at this battle."

"Of course," said Zsst.

At that moment, a prisoner entered the chamber, flanked by two guards.

"I have waited for this moment a long time," said Zsst, with great satisfaction as her wings fluttered.

"I'm sure you have," said War Admiral Norman North evenly.

"I have beaten you, the great War Admiral!" said Zsst with satisfaction.

"You never beat me," North snorted. "You beat the politicians. You fooled my government into dropping its guard and destroyed most of our fleet. I wasn't even there. All I had was a small sliver of our fleet, and I kept beating you again and again for 20 years."

Baraki, standing in the shadow, eyed North with appraising eyes.

"And yet you are beaten now," said Zsst.

"We'll see about that," said the War Admiral.

"Don't be so confident," said Zsst. "Our intelligence reports that your fleet is gathering to attack us here on August. But our entire fleet is waiting for them. We will destroy them."

"That remains to be seen," said North coolly.

"And you will not be at the helm of your fleets to save them! Who can guide your fleets as well as you?" said Zsst.

"You'll see," said the War Admiral, unmoved.

"I just wanted to reassure you that you and your surviving crew are being treated well," said Zsst. "They are all in confinement on your ship."

"How nice of you."

"In twelve of your hours, or whenever your human fleet arrives, whichever comes first, we will detonate the explosives we have placed aboard your ship. You and your ship, the symbols of resistance, will be destroyed. We will crush the morale of your navy, just as the battle begins."

"You overestimate my importance," said the War Admiral.

"And you underestimate yours," said Zsst coldly. "Only you could have eluded destruction for all these years, defeating fleet after fleet I sent against you. Now matters are at an end." Zsst turned to the War Admiral's guards. "Return him to his ship."

As North was taken out, Baraki shook his head. He couldn't help but admire the War Admiral's fortitude. Zsst, by contrast, was simply obsessed with petty gloating. Had his people made a tremendous mistake and backed the wrong side?

**********

The War Admiral was secured inside a portable force field set up in the center of the bridge, away from the control panels. With him were Stacy Wren and Idaho Took. Zsst, attentive to every detail, had ordered the holoscreen set up so that half of it showed the surviving crew, under confinement on one of the hanger decks, and the other half showed the assembled might of the Insect fleet. At the bottom showed a timer, counting down.

"They have a lot of ships," said Took. "It's hard to count them, but I think they have more than we do."

The War Admiral said nothing.

"It looks like we're the bait in this trap," said Took.

"Quick will never fall for it," said the War Admiral.

"Quick?" said Took. "You don't mean Steven Quick, do you?"

The War Admiral nodded.

Took gave a low whistle. "I thought he was dead. So he's the one running the show?"

"One of them" said the War Admiral. "But he rules by logic, not emotion. It's my hope that he won't come for us. Even if he gets here in time, they'll blow us up the minute he gets here."

"So this is it, then," said Took, looking at the countdown clock. "How ironic."

"What?" said the War Admiral.

"I'm in this spot because I was promoted to general," said Took. "I should have known better. If I had stayed a major I would've been in a Wildcat when this all happened and I'd be safely somewhere else right now. Next time I'll know better than to accept a promotion."

Stacy Wren gave him a small smile. She reached out to hold the War Admiral's hand. He stared into space, saying nothing.

Several hours passed. They saw the crew sitting restless behind a force field in the hanger deck. It was a wideshot view, but it looked like at least 80 or more of them had survived. Not that it mattered.

Took looked at the clock ticking down. There were now only three hours left.

"War Admiral?"

"Yes, Took?"

Well, at least he wasn't calling him General any more. "Since we're all about to die, I was wondering if I could make a final request."

The War Admiral smiled. "The final request is usually made to the executioners, but all right."

"One last interview?"

"An interview?" said the War Admiral. "How can you record it? Who will possibly see it?"

"I can remember it and transcribe it later," said Took. "And as for who will see it, well, I always prefer to think optimistically."

"Very well. Ask your questions."

"I really have only two. Where did we all go wrong? And was it all futile?"

The War Admiral paused. "It's a matter that I've given a lot of thought," he said finally. "My conclusion has always been the same: we, the military, never went wrong, but our society did. They were so sick of war, even though it barely touched their civilian lives, that they elected the most dovish and gullible set of politicians in the history of the League. When Hov Marshall and Lawrence Mitterand negotiated that awful treaty, and set us up for slaughter at Vitalics, I should have acted, either to try and expose the trap at Vitalics, or to overthrow the government."

The War Admiral looked at Wren. "We had some discussions of it at the time. But we weren't sure it was a trap, and the idea of overthrowing our own government if there was any possibility that we were wrong was too difficult for us to face. If we ever get free of the Insects, I hope the population, which has spent a wearying two decades under their rule, will have learned something from all this, so we won't have to go through all of this again at some point in the future."

He paused, considering Took's other question. "As to whether our resistance was futile, most certainly not! I still think we have an excellent chance of victory. Admiral Dulin or Harkness or any several of the others can ably-" he stopped in mid-thought.

"What?" said Took.

"Just a thought," said the War Admiral. "An unlikely one. In any event, it was worth it. At least some of our crewers survived. And the experience of our crewers, scattered throughout the fleet, may help our forces destroy the bugs."

"I just wish we were around to see it."

"So do I," said the War Admiral. He frowned, and his face looked grim.

They were silent for a long moment.

"Well, are you all just going to sit there and wallow in a pool of self-pity?" asked a new voice.

They looked around the bridge. There was no one they could see.

And then, right in front of their eyes, Clifford Croft, wearing a conventional spacesuit, materialized out of nowhere.

"Croft! Is that you?" said the War Admiral. "How did you--where did you come from?"

"That's a long story," said Croft. He started tinkering with the force field controls. In a few seconds it was deactivated.

"We have to free the crew in the hanger deck," said the War Admiral.

"You guys can do that," said Croft. "We have to get down to engineering and get rid of that bomb."

"Why?" said the War Admiral. "TheGloryis immobilized. We'll have to abandon ship anyway."

"We have a use for that bomb," said Croft. "It's all part of your friend Quick's plan. Now get your crew free and suited up in spacesuits."

"Quick's plan?"

"Yes. Now go!" said Croft.

**********

Croft headed down to engineering. He was stopped short by a force field.

"What now, we go around?" said Croft, speaking to empty air.

Suddenly the screen flickered, as an outline of a medium sized animal briefly appeared in the field. A second later, the field was deactivated from the other side.

"You'll have to teach me how to do that sometime," said Croft.

They continued until they found they found the bomb. It wasn't that big--just two feet long and wide. There was a console on top of the bomb.

"That doesn't look so big, could that really have destroyed the ship?" Croft asked.

"Yes," said a nearby voice. Suddenly, the Meddler Capybara materialized out of nowhere. "The bomb had a motion detector and other fail safes; if we try to move it, it will detonate. I'll have to disarm it first."

"Want me to take a crack at it?" said Croft.

"No, this is Screen technology, beyond your abilities," said the Meddler, studying the console.

"Oh. Well, I'll just sit here and play with my marbles, then," said Croft dryly.

The Capybara hummed and hemmed for several minutes, broken only by an occasional tweatle tweatle as he tapped several keys on the control console.

"Well?" said Croft.

"It's a very complex interdisciplinary locking mechanism," said the Capybara.

"The Screen can make something that you can't figure out?" said Croft. "I thought they were fourth wave dummies?"

"Post-third wave, actually," said the Capybara, still tapping the keys. "But they have picked up a few tricks here and there. Perhaps they should be reevaluated to see if they classify as third wave."

"You can hold the symposium later; can you deactivate it?"

"Yes," said the Meddler Capybara, pressing a final key. The console beeped twice, and then went silent. The Meddler grinned at Croft and adjusted his bow tie slightly. "You never had any real doubt, did you?"

**********

Croft looked at the bomb. "How are we going to lug this thing to the airlock?"

The Meddler sighed. "Come along, Clifford."

Croft started walking. As he looked back he saw the explosives, floating in midair, as it obediently followed the Meddler down the corridor.

They ran into the War Admiral on their way to the airlock. His eyebrows raised when he saw the capybara, and the floating explosives behind him.

"No time for introductions," said Croft. "Are your people all suited up?"

"Yes," said the War Admiral.

"Head out through section 84. You won't see anything at first, but there's a rope that seems to be floating in space. Follow it and it will lead to a cloaked sub."

"A cloaked sub!"

"How many are there of you?'

"About eighty or ninety of us, I think," said the War Admiral.

"It will be a very tight fit, but you should all be able to squeeze in," said Croft. "It's a small, ship but we made space for you. There's only a skeleton crew of eight aboard. You'd better get going."

"What about you?" said the War Admiral.

"We've got some other business to attend to, and will join you shortly."

The War Admiral stared at the blue Capybara.

"There isn't time for this," said Croft. "Say hello to the blue Capybara and head back to your crew."

"Hello, blue Capybara," said the War Admiral.

The Meddler flapped his tail slightly by way of greeting. The War Admiral nodded, and joined his crew.

Croft and the Meddler reached the airlock. "Are you sure you don't need a spacesuit?" Croft asked.

The Meddler sighed. "I didn't need one before on our way here; why would I now?"

"We were in space for less than two minutes, I figured you held your breath," said Croft. "We're going to be in space for longer than that, I just thought you might need some air."

"Don't worry about me, Clifford."

"All right," said Croft. He put on his spacesuit helmet, and then pressed the button to depressurize the airlock.

As they emerged from the ship, Croft grabbed onto the explosives, as did the Blue Capybara. Croft saw themselves becoming invisible.

Slowly, he started using his jetpack to propel them to the Insect flagship, several miles away.

It was unlikely that the Insects would detect the small spacesuited figures abandoning theGlory, especially since they were doing so on the far side of the ship that didn't face the Insect flagship. But there was a better chance that the flagship would detect the close approach of Croft, the Meddler, and the explosives, which were directly in the line of sight, so they stayed together to utilize the Meddler's ability to be invisible. Croft only hoped that they were invisible to sensors as well.

But moving by jetpack was slow. It would take an hour to get there, not giving them enough time to get there and back before the attack began. The Meddler Capybara must have realized it too, for suddenly Croft found himself thrusted through space, as if someone had given him a great push. Croft wondered how the Capybara managed that.

The flagship loomed large ahead of them. It was big, larger than any of their battleships. It was bristling with weaponry, and was easily the match for any two of their best battleships. They jetted towards the engine section.

They landed gently on the hull, and the Meddler started securing the explosives and then tapping away at some keys on the bomb's console.

How did he live without oxygen? Come to think about it, how did he prevent himself from exploding in the vacuum?

Croft wouldn't get answers to either of these questions that day. After a moment, the Capybara was done, and, grabbing Croft, they headed back to theGlory, and theNautilus.

**********

They reached theNautiluswith mere seconds to spare. It was so crowded that they could barely make their way to the bridge. Croft lost track of the Meddler as soon as they landed; he seemed to simply disappear.

"You're just in time," said Captain Hollister, when he reached the bridge. "Our fleet is coming into range."

**********

On his superbattleshipThe Quick, Steven Quick made his last minute deployment orders.

"I notice you are spreading out our ships in small groups," said Tel Sutter. "That's not standard procedure."

"I expect the bugs to have a surprise or two in store for us," said Quick. "If you recall, they used some sort of energy dampening field to disable the fleet at Vitalics. All our ships were conveniently massed together for such an attack. They never used such weapons since, meaning they were probably in limited supply, but I'm hypothesizing that if they have any such weapons left, they will use them now. Hence I am keeping the fleet spread out so that no more than a few ships can be taken out at the same time."

"So you decided to attack, even though you knew the bugs may be using this superweapon?" said Sutter. Quick's actions didn't make sense. If he thought the bugs might have such a weapon, that was an even stronger reason not to have taken the bait and attacked now. Did Quick know something he didn't, or did he have another reason for launching this attack?

Quick raised an eyebrow, but didn't respond.

**********

Admiral Harkness sat on the bridge of theBlue Luna, eager for it all to begin. He knew the Directorate people had cheered when they heard that Quick was taking over. Harkness knew that Quick was a certifiable genius, but did his brilliance extend to military matters? He eyed the loose, smaller formations that Quick had aligned them into. He had no idea what strategy Quick was following. If Quick appeared to be clueless, he, Harkness, would attempt to take command in the middle of the battle. It wasn't a prospect he relished, but after everything that had happened, from Vitalics onwards, he was no longer inclined to sit back and just let things happened.

But maybe Quick could pull it off. Harkness certainly hoped so. He eyed the Insect fleet on the screen. He activated the fleet comm. "Attention all hands, get ready. This is it!" he said simply.

**********

The two fleets closed on each other, and the battle was quickly joined. The Insects had 219 warships, lined up in an esoteric attack pattern. Quick's fleet had 177 ships, which meant the Insects had an edge.

Battle groups quickly engaged each other. Quick watched them all on a large screen, rapidly switching frequencies as he quickly gave orders to the different battlegroups. His own crew could barely keep up with what he was saying.