City-Ship Ascension

Conference Room

It was the day of the meeting he scheduled a week ago. Today they will decide which steps to take and how they will utilize the next six months so they would be prepared for the expected demon incursion.

Every seat in the conference room was once again taken, and everyone who had any decision-making responsibilities in the Solarian Union was present.

Michael was glad that he was going to reveal this burdensome secret to the public very soon. Considering how many people were already read into it, it was a small wonder that it hadn’t already leaked.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began when everyone was seated. “As you all know, in little less than six months, we will be faced with hostile alien ships that will come to our Solar System. This meeting is all about what we will do to address that threat and how we will protect the Solarian Union and Earth from the inevitable attack. I also want to thank you all for managing to keep the secret of what we are facing to yourselves, but that will not be an issue after today; I plan to address all of our citizens later tonight and lay it all out. Okay… let’s begin,” Michael said, and people around the table nodded.

Max’s hologram stood up from the chair opposite Michael. “Let me open this meeting with an update on a few developments that happened during the week. For one, we had managed a more thorough examination of the demon’s scout ship and concluded that the greatest advantage they had over our transporters was its energy shield; much more advanced than any similar angel technology we knew of. Without it, a single Hammer would have disintegrated that ship. But their shield was so strong, it shrugged most of them off. We were lucky that several camouflaged Hammers hit at the same time and overloaded it to a degree, so it ultimately bent inward, but even then, it still held and preserved the hull integrity before shutting off.”

He pointed at the holographic representation of the scout ship that appeared above the desk, showing its internal components, including the shield systems.

“I believe that we will be able to duplicate that tech without any problems, so have that in mind for future projects. All my nano-factories in the asteroid belt have been tasked with maximizing their workloads to 100%, and all other projects have been stopped. Those resources will be diverted into creating new ships and weapons, which will help us face the alien threat. Additionally, there were some files in the Knowledge Vault that we may find useful. Weapons designs of the old angels, part of the ancient archives even for them, and placed there long before they chose a path of peace. Combined with our own weapons concepts, the theoretical models of our future armaments are promising. Unfortunately, as our attack on the scout ship has shown, the Hammers have an inadequate effect on their ship designs, and that scout is their smallest class of ships. Any new weapon system we devise needs to be far more powerful—think nuclear as a starting point. There are a few more things, but they are not so important, I will let Dr. Ross begin with his presentation.” Max nodded and took his seat.

Dr. Ross, or ‘call me Ben’ to his friends, stood up from his chair and cleared his throat.

“With Max’s help and a new division we formed with people that had long careers in the aerospace industry, plans for the future Solarian Union battle fleet have been devised. With the deadline so extremely short, the designs are not pretty but they are very efficient. As those rockets and their point defense showed, there is a great need for additional armor and maneuverability. Taking all that into account, we have already come up with some ideas that we believe will work.”

He pressed a few buttons on his tablet and four images appeared on a holographic display above the table.

“As you can see, we decided on four types of crafts that can be made within a relatively short time frame we have available. The first one is a space fighter, loosely based on conventional fighter aircraft. It is a two-man spacecraft armed with dozens of missiles and our version of an aircraft cannon. It will be very quick and maneuverable, equipped with the best inertial dampeners we can make, but unfortunately with limited armor. The new shields could be incorporated into this design to make it far more resilient to enemy fire.”

He paused for a few moments so that his audience could look at the holographic model of a space fighter.

“The second type is equivalent to the old wet Navy gunboats; it is made of armor, engine, and weapons. It will have a minimal crew, and ten people will be enough to operate it.”

The gunboat reminded Michael of a fat transporter, much thicker, and a hell of a lot bigger. The cross-section looked like that of a peach. Most of it was solid, except in the middle where it was hollow.

“The core is a command module and living quarters, and the engines are behind it. Then we have fifty feet of armor and close to the outer hull are weapon systems, we still need to devise. This design will ensure that each vessel can take a considerable pounding, without being destroyed. We calculated that it would have taken more than a dozen of those rockets that the demon scout ship fired, to disable it. Not extremely fast, but heavily shielded and carrying plenty of weapons.”

Ben highlighted the third model with his tablet. The image was that of a pockmarked sphere, having an uncanny resemblance to a golf ball.

“And this is our idea of a fighter carrier, capable of transporting two hundred and fifty space fighters while providing adequate living accommodations during the deployment. The indentations on the hull are launching bays that will enable all the space fighters to be put into action in a matter of minutes. Each of these bays is equipped with substantial facilities for individual space fighter repair and resupply. Think of it as Formula One pit stops; the space fighters that are low on ammunition or rockets can quickly come back to the carrier, top off, and return to action again. The carrier is not the fastest thing out there, but it has decent armor and quite abundant point-defense. And finally, the last model is something we named a battle station.”

The graphical representations of the previous three crafts shrunk in size while the last one expanded to show the size comparison. Judging by that, it was immense and dwarfed the three types of crafts standing beside it. For a moment, Michael thought that it was an image of their space station, but cross-section and numerous armaments on the hull disputed that.

“As the name implies, it is a mobile station with the purpose to hold its ground and mix it up with the enemy. This thing will be able to take some serious pounding while dishing out a healthy serving in return. It will have no space fighters of its own, as it is essentially a fortress. We hope the aliens will concentrate on it, thus allowing our other forces some breathing room. It is two and a half miles in diameter, and most of it is armor. The weapon systems are all close to the surface while command and living quarters are at the center, similar to our gunboats but on a much larger scale. The estimated crew is one thousand, with a good number of them being responsible for the weapons control; it is a command vessel, from which all orders will be given. As I said, most of it is armor, so there will not be as much space inside as the size would imply. It will not be very fast or maneuverable, but it will be able to sustain the rate of fire of all other models combined,” said Ben, with a glint of pride in his eyes.

Michael liked the concept of the battle station, deadly yet secure with enough armor so his people would have a better chance of surviving than they ever would have in a flimsy transporter. The hologram showed the cross-section of the craft, and as Ben said, 90% of it was armor, but the center had a small biosphere. Housing elements and even something he thought was a hydroponics section. It was by no means luxurious, but far better than anything members of earth’s navies enjoyed while on deployment.

“How many battle stations can be built in time?” Michael asked, thinking about demons’ massive ships.

Ben shook his head. “Unfortunately, with all other construction projects and a tight timeframe, we can build only one. Furthermore, it will not be very comfortable to live in; we are going for functionality over comfort, but it will be highly efficient.”

Max added to Ben’s explanation. “That is why we chose this design over others, more sophisticated systems. As you can see, the last two models are spherical, so they will be easier to build by applying layers in the form of a laminate. Aside from the greater structural strength, there is a side benefit of the omnidirectional placing of armaments. Even if some are disabled, the simple rotation will put new weapon systems in the face of the enemy.”

“What numbers are we talking about?” Michael asked, indicating with his hands all of the proposed designs.

“With repurposing materials from the Asteroid Belt, we bought ourselves a few months of waiting for the nanites clouds to extract the needed material from the asteroids. If everything goes according to plan, we should be able to make five hundred space fighters, ten gunboats, two fighter carriers, and one battle station. I ran the numbers and with the nanites construction, all that is achievable within six months. Now, will it be enough to fight off the demons?… I don’t know,” the AI said.

Michael shook his head in wonder. “It’s okay Max; this is beyond my wildest expectations.”

The burden he had carried on his shoulders from the moment he realized that the aliens will come again, lessened somewhat. With this, they at least had a fighting chance to repel all the ships that demons will send, if for nothing else then just to see what happened to their scout. Nobody knew what would be needed to challenge those big ships demons had, but for the immediate defense, it would have to be enough. He wished the databases on the scout ship had more information about their actual strength and what armament their bigger ships carried, but they will have to find out that information the hard way.

Jack was the next and his words reduced that exhilaration. “We have a huge problem,” he said while pointing at the four holographic images. “As things stand right now, we don’t have nearly enough people to man all this, not by a long shot. All my recruitment efforts so far will be enough to form a strong command structure, but we are severely lacking in pilots to fly all those space fighters and other crafts. We need more people, and we need them soon.”

“Pilots are crucial, but so are the people which form lower ranks of the military structure,” Colonel Fletcher added. He was Jack’s right-hand man, responsible for the overall logistics. “We are talking about creating an entire space navy in a very limited time. So, think supporting crew, maintenance techs, cooks—the whole shebang. What's more, the best crews for bigger ships and the battle station are ex-Navy personnel, especially submariners; working in an enclosed environment is something they're used to, be it water or vacuum.”

Jack took over from the Colonel. “All in all, we will need an additional two thousand experienced personnel. Just to man all the vessels will require two and a half thousand and that is a bare minimum. My recruiting network simply cannot headhunt so many qualified people in such a short time. The only thing that comes to mind is to recruit directly from the active forces, and no nation on earth would allow that.

Max continued, “And we need them ASAP. All those new recruits will need extensive training in handling new equipment, and that needs to start within a month. They also need to be rushed through the nanite treatments and the CEI implantation, and then to immediately start training in virtual simulators I am already constructing. That is the best way to give them some experience until they can occupy the vessels we are going to build.”

“Max, can the lack of personal be offset by using MIs?” Michael asked.

Max shook his head. “MIs are good for simpler tasks that are programmed into them, but they are very inadequate in situations where fast thinking is involved. You can install them as guidance systems in missiles and they should do reasonably well to implement a few different scenarios, but where tactical thinking is involved—they are simply not good enough. The human brain is still the fastest decision-making system we have, excluding AI’s of course. Unfortunately, besides Ision, Ares, and me, we don’t have any more lying around.”

“How many could we recruit from our own population?”

Jack was the one to answer. “We have two thousand ex-military citizens we can call upon, and another two to three thousand from the general population that could be used in supporting roles. Most of them have experience with ground combat, which can be useful for boarding actions and surface combat—not for a space battle. We have counted on them when we assessed that we need two thousand additional people for the space navy we are building. Let’s face it, our immigration policies were heavily in favor of scientists, and their families; I had no problem with that, but they don’t make the best material for a warrior mindset.”

Michael nodded. “All right, I may have a solution, even if I don’t personally like it. At the impending meeting with the UN General Assembly, I can ask for additional manpower from the member countries. If I can get them to agree, finding the crew for all these ships should not be a problem. If they do not agree… we will go all out with a recruitment campaign that will encompass the entire world. Both solutions are less than optimal, and I hate having soldiers belonging to other countries serving on our ships; there are bound to be some troubles there. But as the saying goes, needs must when the devil drives.

He could see the expression of relief on Jack’s and Colonel Fletcher’s face. For a long time, the recruitment of new personnel was their main job, but now, with such an exponential increase of need, the techniques they were using so far were exceedingly inadequate. They were looking for the individuals, and that was all suitable while they were planning for slower growth, but now they would need people in bulk.

Michael made a note of the personnel problem and faced the people around the table again. “Alright then, that is settled; what’s next…”

In the next few hours, everyone got the opportunity to speak, and to present his or her ideas. Some exceptional suggestions showed great promise. One of the surprising ideas was from a quiet little man Dr. Joseph, who had several Ph.D.’s in various fields. He suggested that they take asteroids from the belt and equip them with Gravity-drives, making them into enormous Hammers. He said himself that their chances to get even close to the enemy were probably minimal, but every missile expended on them was one less their pilots and crews of the ships would have to face.

A dozen boarding teams would be assembled exclusively from their own people and trained to do the same thing Michael, Tyron, Pete, and Al did when they went inside the scout ship. To get more demon prisoners, and to gather as much intelligence as they could.

Some of the proposed projects had to be put on the back burner, no matter how great the original ideas were. There was simply not enough time to do them all. Only those that had the greatest chance of success in allocated time were even considered, with all the rest going in the file that would be used after this next incursion was beaten.

As a final point, Michael addressed all present. “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the efforts you made so far, and know that things you’re about to do will be what saves the human race from an unimaginable fate. Projects of this magnitude have never been attempted before, but I’m sure that in the end, we will prevail.”

It didn’t take long for the room to clear out, and Michael was left alone with the AI.

“Is everything ready?” Michael asked, massaging his temples.

“Yes, in half an hour you get to address everyone, I will monitor all communications to stop any leaks until you make your speech to the UN.”

“Oh, I can’t wait,” he ironically murmured, wishing at that moment to be somewhere far away, ideally on the bank of some isolated lake with a fishing pole in his hand, and the cooler of cold beers beside him.

***

City-Ship Ascension

Central Park

Michael was standing in front of the large crowd gathered in the Ascension’s Central Park. His head was above everybody’s since he was standing on the raised podium, constructed here for this specific occasion.

He couldn’t help but realize that he was forced by events to act like a politician, damn. A small video drone was hovering a dozen feet in front of him, transmitting live feed to those who weren’t in the crowd, and to the new space station. Behind him was a huge holo-screen, which would show the presentation Max created, so his speech could be supplemented by images and videos taken from the Knowledge Vault.

The speech was postponed until after the earlier meeting, so the people could see that those that lead them had already made plans to confront the threat. In turn, that would give them hope and incentive to work towards the common goal.

Michael took a deep breath and began. “Some of you know bits of things I’m about to tell you, and many of you will be completely surprised. It is time for you all to know a part of our world’s history that has been forgotten, and that only remains in vague myths and legends. To some of you, this history may prove offensive as it has some serious religious connotations, but it is all true.

“It all started almost thirteen thousand years ago, in a solar system that was not our own…”

It took more than an hour for him to tell them the story about angels, demons, and Atlantis. From the expression on their faces, he could see that some were skeptical, a few were amused, and there were plenty of those who showed fear. When he got to the part of the Demon scout ship’s recent attack, there was visible dismay in their expressions.

“… So now you know the stakes. We are in a state of war with an alien species, and they will accept nothing else except utter domination. They would either use us as slaves or for food. They do not acknowledge the rights of other sapient life forms to exist independently, only under their rule.”

All through his speech, Max had shown on the holo-screen the forgotten history and the disturbing images of what could be expected from the demons. When people are afraid, they tend to be irrational, so one man close to the stage shouted that they should try to negotiate a truce, despite all that was said. Michael realized that he was one of those who didn’t believe in violence; the irony was that his beliefs were inconsequential when violence believed in him. Therefore, he asked the man how often he had negotiated with the cow before eating a steak. That produced a nervous laugh from the crowd, but there was still a strong sense of fear.

“I understand that you are all afraid, only an insane person wouldn’t be when facing what we are about to. But we will not be the sheep waiting for the slaughter. From this day on, all our efforts are going to be concentrated on making the Solarian Union, and Earth itself, as safe as we possibly can. New plans were created for building our space fleet, one strong enough to make the demons sorry they ever set foot in our Solar System. You can help that effort with your suggestions that can be given to Max or Ares, and by active participation in the war effort. Very soon, I will meet with the world leaders to inform them of this situation, so please refrain from spreading the news to the planet; we are trying to avoid creating massive panic on Earth. You know how excitable most of them are. That is all, folks—prepare for war.” Michael finished and got off the stage.

Maybe it wasn’t the best speech in history, but he was winging most of it anyway. For the entire week, he wrestled with a thought of how to tell people that the actual demons will be attacking them soon. In the end, he decided to tell them the bare truth, without much embellishment, or empty promises. Their reaction in the days to come will be a testament if he and the others had succeeded in the awakening of the Solarian Union unified spirit.

The next speech he was going to make will be far worse, and a lot more judgmental. President Garner once again managed to arrange for another emergency special session of the UN General Assembly. He trusted Michael that what he had to say was important, and went beyond anything one would expect from a career politician.

In a few days, he will need to stand in front of a group of people, that in every sense that mattered, ruled Earth, and tell them that as things stood right now, they were all—screwed.