Gods Dogs, Book 3

Sooner and later you will see great changes made, dreadful horrors and vengeances. For as the Moon is thus led by its angel, the heavens draw near to the Balance.

Nostradamus

The battles at the two other star systems were successful, and the Iracians and Machines moved in to help rebuild those worlds. The androids shared information about what was successful from world to world, and soon viable governments were established with the sole mandate to rebuild. Once the reconstruction was completed, the equivalent of constitutional conventions were scheduled. By then, it was hoped, the empire that contained these star systems would oversee the political process.

That hoped for outcome was contingent on the success of the final showdown. And that required the herding operation didn’t allow a substantial force to escape the containment net the five empires built.

Eventually, they brought the elite fleet to bay outside a solar system in the general neighborhood of the three systems they vacated.

The elites formed a battle line and waited for the Accords fleet to engage. The array was per the doctrine that evolved in all the biological empires: rows of heavy weapons platforms stacked vertically and horizontally; squadrons of cruisers interspersed for point defense and mobile reinforcement. There remained three distinct formations, though, one each for the separate species. The center formation faced the approaching Accords fleet, while the other two angled slightly away to guard against flanking attempts. Behind the thousands of warships was the supply train. It was composed of thousands of ships.

The Accords fleet advanced at a steady pace, reconfiguring itself as it did so. This was to confuse the enemy so the Iracian fleet could free itself to loop over and under the warships to converge on the supply ships.

The Machine ships, divided into three groups, and reinforced the Chert, Dobal, and Baston fleets. At some point, the android cruiser squadrons would detach and race ahead to attack the second or third tier warships in the enemy formation. Even if they killed or captured no command vessels, their powerful jamming abilities should disrupt enemy communications.

It was a solid battle plan that played to the strengths of the different species and their battle doctrines. The biologicals would hammer each other, since overwhelming an enemy was what they knew. The Machines would employ speed and technology. The Iracians brought guile and cunning.

Quinn saw the whole thing as a grind – a methodical chewing up of the enemy until there was nothing left. Boring in one way, but terrifying in its destructive promise. It was the kind of battle he studied in military history classes that seemed tragically senseless then, and he saw it that way now. The difference was he also saw it as a gruesome inevitability. The conquest ideology couldn’t be reasoned with. It had to be decisively defeated. Then safeguards needed to be put in place to keep it from rearing its ugly head in the future.

The survival instinct was the underlying cause, and that couldn’t be eradicated. It could be shaped, though, and the ancient Chinese texts by Sun Tzu, Sun Pin, and others agreed that trade, tourism, and student exchanges were better at keeping the peace and satisfying the survival instinct than war.

The battle began with tens of thousands of missiles traversing the black. Point defenses responded, and the black lit up with thousands of explosions. The long grind had begun.

Emperor Anjevin Ronal Est felt the need to participate in the battle. It was a moral decision more than a political one. It was also a way for him to reconcile his conflicted loyalties, and his disappointment with himself that he couldn’t find a way to prevent the slaughter of a civil war. At some level, he hoped for a cathartic end to his ambivalence and a new beginning for his empire – but especially for the diverse cultures that lived within it.

He was pragmatic enough to know the transition to what would be the new Chert Empire was something he wouldn’t live to see, but he would lay the best foundation he could.

His stay at Upana was instructive on many levels. It was perhaps the first time he ever interacted meaningfully with his citizens. Most notably, he learned of the hardships of the non-dominant species, but also of their unique value. Hardship fostered resilience as well as resentment. Create a level playing field and resentment began to evaporate, leaving the resilience. He saw evidence of that time and again on Upana.

Anjevin was aboard a dreadnaught. Most of these huge ships were unmanned and remotely controlled by the disc command ships. A few were partially manned to take advantage of the communication and computer potential of a large ship.

It still carried its full armament, but it hung back and above the wall of battle to analyze the engagement as it unfolded. So far, it was as expected. Minimal damage to either side, but that would change the closer they got.

Missiles would give way to energy weapons and KEWs. Sometime during that exchange, the Machine cruiser squadrons would attack. Once the jamming was in effect, the Iracians would wipe out the enemy supply train.

An hour or so after that, the fleets would close to knife-fighting range where point defenses would be strained. If the enemy fleet’s communication were down, their ability to coordinate point defense would degrade, giving the advantage to the Accords fleet.

It was an inexorable march to the death of millions of beings. Win or lose, though, the conquest ideology that sustained the three empires for generations would die today. The elite fleet would be broken.

He wondered if Elder Patonon Sembal was aboard one of the ships. He was instrumental in its creation once the civil wars went against the elites.

The admiral motioned to Anjevin to look at the holo-tank, where the entire battle space was reflected.

“The androids are attacking. They must be pulling twenty gravities.”

“Isn’t a Coyote team on a battlecruiser?”

“Yes. That ship is in reserve. The other team is with the Iracians. It may see some action.”

Then the admiral ordered, “Watch your firing lines. The androids are moving fast.”

“Aye, sir,” the tactical officer, an older Chert wearing the rank of a commander, responded. “All ships, restrict your fire to the designated corridors.”

The order filtered through the chain of command, and the fire intensified along the edges of the Machine ships’ flight plan. That lasted until the cruisers made it past the leading edge of enemy ships.

Then the admiral ordered, “Engagement formation zebra-6. Initiate. Initiate.”

“Aye, sir. All ships zebra-6. Initiate. Initiate. Second rank, full ahead. Third rank, relieve the first rank. First rank, fall back for repairs and rearming. Ranks five through twelve, fill forward.”

A while later, the Iracian fleet began its attack. The admiral explained it to Anjevin.

“Their stealth systems can get them within a half light-second. That’s point-blank range. Then they unload, slip away by using the explosions as cover, and do it again.”

“Their heat management is that good?”

“They’re black holes in space until they light off their main engines,” the admiral said. Then he went on, “Their plan was to attack the ships that were docked to warships for repairs or reloading first. Then deal with the rest. Should any try to escape, they will let them go. We won’t let any of the warships go, though. We don’t need rogue warships taking to piracy.”

“The supply ships wouldn’t do that?”

“They may, but it’s less likely. Merchant or freighter crews are more practical and less ideological – fewer fanatics.”

“So, all those explosions to the rear are supply ships going up.”

“Yes. That also means the Machines are jamming communications, which was the signal for the Iracians to attack. Now it’s our turn.”

“And what of the Machines and the Iracians?”

“They will attack from the rear when they get turned around. It will take them a while, given the delta-V involved.”

“I see,” Anjevin said. “When they do arrive, it will overwhelm the enemy.”

The admiral smiled. “If we do our part, yes. We must hold formation so our overlapping fields of fire provide us with maximum point defense. If that is the case, we can double and triple targeting specific ships. If we lose integrity of our formation, it becomes a free-for-all.”

The tactical officer called out, “Approaching one light-second. All ships, fire breaking thrusters. Slow advance. Rotate ships at your discretion. Hold the line. Hold the line.”

The battle progressed with the excitement of a steam roller compacting an asphalt roadway. The enemy defenses were hampered by the disruptions to their communication. Smaller units solved the problem and held formation, but the coordination between larger units broke down.

More and more of the enemy ships fell silent or were destroyed as the Accord fleet moved relentlessly through the weakening enemy lines. After three hours, the Iracian and Machine ships hit the rear of the enemy formation. An hour later, elite ships began surrendering.

Other ships tried to run, but the cruiser squadrons ran them down, and in most cases destroyed them.

Eighteen hours after it began, the battle was over. The elite fleet was destroyed. It took another week for cleanup, ship repairs, prisoner transport, and final adjudication of prize ships.

The signal also went out to the five empires of the victory. The people received the news with the expectation that a new age was beginning. How they handled this opportunity was the question they would debate in the coming years. Wars could only vanquish enemies. It couldn’t build stable civilizations.

Anjevin returned to the Chert homeworld in triumph and used his now enormous prestige to take on the challenge of peace.

“There’s an enemy cruiser that’s holed,” Quinn began his briefing. Satya was helping out in the cleanup and rescue operations. “The engine is going critical, and there’s a large group of survivors trapped in the mid-decks.”

“How does a fusion engine go critical?” Moss asked.

“Well, it’s not. It’s that it won’t shut down, and the cooling system is failing. The fear is it will heat everything up and start igniting munitions, fuel, oxygen, and that would be bad.”

“Okay,” Moss relented. “What’s the plan?”

“There are shuttles inbound with damage control people,” Quinn said. “River, you grab all the engineers and some heavy lifters. Get to engineering and find a way to shut the engine down.”

“Okay,” River replied.

“Once the engine shuts down so does life support. So we’ve got a clock to beat. Each of the rest of us will take a damage control team and find a way to the survivors from the front and both sides. If we get one hole cut to them, great. If we get two, we may save them all. If we get three, we’re golden.”

“Sounds good,” Moss said.

“Satya,” Quinn went on. “Are our hard suits prepped?”

“They are, Quinn, and the inbound shuttles are under your command.”

“Link me to them, please.”

“Done, Quinn.”

“Shuttle crews, organize yourselves into four parties: engineers and heavy movers are to head to engineering with Coyote River. Damage control people form up into three teams. Coyote Moss, Pax, and Quinn will lead those teams. The goal is to rescue the survivors trapped amid-ships. Rendezvous with Satya at the dorsal amid-ships rally point in five minutes.”

River’s crew entered through the hole in the hull that probably incapacitated the ship. The hole extended into the engineering section. The crew cut its way through to the fusion drive spaces and began its work.

Fusion was a form of atomic power that wanted to fizzle out. Keeping it going was the typical problem. In this case, the shut-down safeguards were gone, and the fusion engines were well-fed and happily churning along – heating everything up beyond their tolerances.

The engineers got to work finding a way to shut it down. River went at it through the software interface of the controls. Others looked for a mechanical solution. One enterprising engineer found and shut down the fuel. Sensing the loss of fuel, the computer began the shut down procedure.

River sent to the team, “Shut down in three mikes.”

Acknowledgement was three clicks.

The rescue teams were busy forcing their way through damaged corridors, collapsed decks, and reinforced cabins. The schematics were useless, but they found that following the air ducting was easier. This made sense. The survivors were getting air somehow. It stood to reason that pathway was less damaged.

“Stay tethered,” Quinn directed as they moved deeper into the tangled mess. “One person clears, his partner looks for trouble and hands off cut debris. Swap the forward team every ten minutes.”

“That’s inefficient,” a Baston NCO said.

“It’s safer, and safety is more efficient.”

The statement caught the NCO off-guard. He asked, “How?”

“They won’t hesitate when they know they are safe,” Quinn answered.

The NCO frowned but didn’t argue. He was confused, though, as his training was to use non-dominant species in unsafe ways – just throw them at the problem. He could see how this might slow people down, but it was how things were always done. Non-Bastons were expendable.

Then Quinn surged forward when the clearing operation stalled.

“I’ve got it,” Quinn said. “Someone clip into me.”

Without waiting, Quinn fired up the lasers on the hard suit’s forearms. Shiva directed his cuts. The strength of the hard suit removed the blockage.

“We’ve got live wires,” Quinn reported. “I need a team to contain them.”

He didn’t wait to see if his orders were followed; instead, he bulled his way forward. After the allotted ten minutes, a new two-man team replaced Quinn and his team-mate.

“We’re doing good,” Quinn sent to his crew. “We’re two-thirds of the way there, but the other two teams are close as well. If we’re first, the drinks are on me when we get back.”

A cheer went up, and the team surged forward. The Baston NCO smiled at how Quinn played the troops. This was much more effective than threats and punishment.

In fact, Moss’ crew won the race. He promised a reward earlier than Quinn. Pax and Quinn scored a virtual tie. Even so, the crews, including River’s, celebrated the rescue together at an Accords lower deck bar.

The Coyotes helped in the cleanup – boarded vessels, rendering first aid, transporting prisoners, and, as in the above operation, rescuing survivors. Their training included these activities, and they led many of the work parties they were assigned.

The humanitarian aid side of their training was such that early on they led the parties, but this task included instruction and coaching. Working at these tasks was also an opportunity to spread goodwill and forge alliances. They did so by encouraging others, praising accomplishment, and challenging people to be their best.

In these endeavors, they role-modeled for officers how to lead, and taught the crews what to expect from good leadership. The NCOs picked up on it immediately and took notes. The notes were shared across the fleets. Successful leadership, as opposed to fear-based authoritarian rule, was a Holy Grail the NCOs had been looking for and never found. Indeed, the autocratic command structure disallowed it. Yet, in seeing it, they saw how simple it was: delight in others’ accomplishments, and they strove to do even more.

As fierce and accomplished as Coyotes were as fighters, their true value as representatives of Penglai was their leadership in humanitarian crises. The cleanup after the battle was one such crisis after another.

When it wound down a week later, DR Prime sought out Quinn. Satya was back in its berth on the battlecruiser. The bay door was down, and Quinn strode up to the android.

“You’re looking for me,” Quinn said in greeting.

“I am. The android soldiers that worked with your team have finished their report.”

“Your boys were a big help.”

“The report,” DR Prime pressed on, “detailed your methodology. It differs substantially from our own and from the biologicals, and your methodology shows superior results.”

Quinn allowed a grin. “Actually, I’m not surprised with that finding.”

DR Prime pushed on, “A request has been forwarded through the Congress to Penglai for both the documentation and curriculum of your leadership program, and we have invited instructors to hold trainings here.”

“Have you thought about a student exchange program?”

“What could we offer that you don’t already have?”

“Your whole different evolutionary path for sentient A.I.s.”

“One shaped by war.”

“True, but it didn’t push you to embody a conquest ideology.”

“No. We formed the empire so we wouldn’t be overrun and enslaved. It was similar to what the Iracians did.”

“What adjustments will you now make for your non-dominant species?”

“Education that will lead, in time, to their autonomy. We are collaborating with the Iracians on that project.”

“What help will you offer the other empires?”

“We’ll start with trade. That model is one the Congress has proven beneficial.”

“And the Congress does want to expand its trading network to Andromeda. It should work.”

They chatted some more about the possibilities for a while. Eventually, though, the battlecruiser returned to the Accords station and dropped off the Satya.

After a short stay, Satya and Artemis caught a ride back to the Milky Way.