Deadly Squad II Read online

  She grabbed an eight-iron and stood over her ball. She made two practiced swings, then settled in. Her club swung and seemed to caress instead of slam the ball. It lifted gently in an arc and plopped gently two feet beyond the sand trap. It bounced toward the cup and rolled slowly about three feet by the hole.

  “Great shot,” I said.

  “Thank you. You gotta have a gentle touch around the green.”

  “How true.”

  I told her she didn’t have to wait for me. She could go ahead and put out. Which she did, scoring a birdie. I was looking at a possible bogey. The ball had rolled ten feet into the fairway. I grabbed my wedge. Usually I’m pretty good with it. The lie was good. The ball was sitting up almost completely on top of the Augustine grass. I didn’t think the grass would prevent a good swing.

  I sighed and took a practice swing. A swoosh. Which sounded good. I looked at the green. I wanted to chip it to about twenty feet of the cup and let the ball roll the rest of the way.

  “In the cup,” I said.

  “Yes, we’ll see,” Astrid said, giving me a disbelieving grin.

  When I took the club back the idea hit me. I was so excited I yelled and made a full swing. The ball zoomed forward and went twenty yards over the green. Astrid grinned.

  “Think you put a little too much mustard on that one, honey,” she said.

  Chapter 9

  Ten minutes later I had Astrid, Rab, the Admiral and Science Officer Anson in my office. First I passed out glasses, then filled them with the favorite liquor of the respective officers. I like to have informal war gatherings and I wanted all of the assembled officers to speak freely. Which you tend to do when you’re drinking.

  “I’m guessing you’re going to bounce an idea off us,” Rab said.

  “Yes, I am. Hopefully, it’s an idea that will help us in our current situation, or at least shift the odds a little more to our side. I will particularly need your input, Captain Anson.”

  He nodded. “You’ll have it. I’ve never been shy about stating my opinions.”

  “No, you haven’t and I like that in an officer,” I said. “Here’s my idea. We need information about the Destroyers. We have very few details about their culture, which I care nothing about, or their weapons, which I care a great deal about. So I’m wondering if it would be possible to send out a few spies that might transmit information back to us. The information would be incredibly valuable to us when we attack.”

  “Obviously, but how would you get such information?” Rab asked. “That seems to be an impossible task.”

  “Maybe not. What if Ralph takes about six of our MITTS, takes a shuttle ship and heads for the home planet of the Destroyers? Wouldn’t they welcome fellow metallic friends or other AIs, especially if those AIs have information about their enemy and would have information about a pending attack from humans?”

  Rab gave me a sour grin. “You want to give me that again. I don’t think I heard you right. Sounded like you wanted to send a few MITTs to the planet we plan on attacking.”

  “Exactly. That thought popped into my mind. The Destroyers, perhaps because they have nothing better to do with their time, plan on wiping out the human race. They dispatched a ship and a small army to kill all the humans on Verdunne. It was a mission that should have gone smoothly, but they lost their army and they lost their ship to a human adversary. Wouldn’t that make you curious about your human adversaries? Obviously the gold guys didn’t think they could lose. They may be re-thinking their strategy. So, out of the blue pops a shuttle ship with metallic guys, not gold, but metallic, or close to it. Well, there’s one gold guy, but the others are AIs from the humans full of information and details about human weapons and about human culture. These are military MITTs. They not only know about our weapons; they have information about every weapon in the human military arsenal. If you were a gold commander, wouldn’t you kill for such knowledge?”

  Rab nodded. “Probably, but humans do not think the way AIs think. And we probably don’t think like the gold commanders think. Even human military people don’t think alike. They can think very different. We have no guarantee what the gold commanders will do when they see a ship coming their way. They could blow it out of the sky.”

  “Not when Ralph is sending them communications he is bringing a huge batch about human weapons with him, along with AIs who have deserted the humans and want to join their metallic friends to fight against the flesh and blood humans. You know, metallic of a feather, flock together. You’re right, we have no idea how they think, but it has to be a possibility that they would listen to the alleged deserters.”

  “And if the ship lands safely...”

  “Our MITTs gather every bit of information about the gold guys and transmit it to us. They’ll also try to find ways to sabotage the gold guys on their own planet. I assume they will have a few weapons around, bombs, explosives, things like that. If our MITTs could trigger some explosives when we attack, it would give an advantage. What do you think?”

  Rab took a large gulp of his drink. “I think the plan is about as rational and logical as our plan to attack the planet.”

  “Not exactly a stirring endorsement,” I said.

  “Of course, it’s not like we have a chance. We have a wild, reckless plan to take on a planet and an army of vicious tin cans. If a wild, reckless second plan will give us an edge, we have nothing to lose by trying it,” he said.

  “My view exactly.” I turned to Anson. “Think Ralph would go along with that? We’ll need his cooperation.”

  “Major, Ralph is a robot, or whatever, who wanted to get away from the rest of the gold soldiers. I don’t think he will welcome the opportunity to head back into their clutches. Besides, why should they trust him? The gold commander of their ship ordered him killed.”

  “Well, maybe that little exchange didn’t get transmitted back to the home planet. It’s possible, with all the fighting going on, that that message got lost in the space static. Besides, Ralph can tell them he was forced to say that, that we had some type of machine that controlled his AI mind. The gold guys must think that is a possibility. Besides, Ralph would be bringing to them a gold mine of information about human technology and weapons. They couldn’t turn that down. Humans, alien or robot commanders should jump at a chance like that.”

  “Excuse me, major, but isn’t that a problem?” The admiral asked. “The MITTs will have such information and our gold opponents can download it when the MITTs step on the planet.”

  It was Astrid who spoke. “Not if we change it. Not if we scramble all the information the MITTs have.”

  I took a sip of my drink. “Exactly. What if the gold guys retrieve all the military information from our MITTs and discover we have technology that is incredibly impressive and almost downright unbelievable? Weapons that can take out a solar system. Armor that can withstand a sun’s explosion. Ships that can travel through portals in every corner of space. A peaceful civilization if left along but, if attacked, they annihilate their opponents. Wouldn’t that give the gold guys pause and perhaps delay the attack and invasion of our galaxy?”

  “You’re thinking big, Logan,” Astrid said.

  “This is no time to think small. They could look at such info and say, ‘Maybe we better think twice about this war plan we have’.”

  Anson shook his head. “They would know the information is fake.”

  “Captain, you always put a damper on everything.”

  “I just don’t think they would believe that technology. Granted, it might give them a few minutes to pause and think about it. Especially since the MITTs should have detailed plans of such weapons and technology, which they clearly won’t, because no such technology exists.”

  “It should take our MITTs long to modify the information they have. The modifications should convince the gold guys they better think again. It should at least keep them thinking for a while. And while they are thinking, our ship zooms in, drops a planet buster bomb and
zooms out.”

  “And how do we get our MITTs back?”

  “We may not,” I said. “It may not be possible to get them back.”

  “A suicide mission,” Rab said.

  “A one-way ticket. I see no other way.”

  “I don’t think Ralph is going to agree to this. As I said, he wanted to get away from his former colleagues, not go back to them.”

  “He doesn’t have a choice. One AI against a galaxy of humans and I’m going with the latter. I regret that, but this may give us a chance against our adversaries and I’m taking it. You could always remind him that the chances of our surviving the attack hover between one and two percent.”

  “Which is better than zero percent,” Anson said.

  “We could do it without him. Just put our MITTs on a shuttle and they can tell the gold guys they’re defecting with vital information. But how would that make Ralph feel? Staying behind when fellow AIs are taking chances on a dangerous mission. Then again, he may not feel anything at all. Or maybe, since he may dislike his former colleagues he might want a chance to strike a blow against them.” I dropped my voice. “I would prefer he volunteer. I don’t want to send any man or even an AI to his death. It’s a terrible feeling. But we have to stop this invasion fleet and we’re using every weapon and tactic to do it. Our attack has a ninety-nine percent chance of failure, and that’s being optimistic. This plan may have a 98.9 percent of failure. But I’m guessing our AIs will volunteer for it. I trust Ralph will volunteer with them.”

  Anson gave me a steel glare. “You’re a hard man, major.”

  “This is not a soft job. They don’t give it to soft men.”

  He paused for a moment. “No, I guess not,” he said.

  “OK gentlemen, now we work out the details. Any more questions? Admiral, you look like you’re about to say something.”

  “Only that there’s a thousand things that can go wrong with this plan. It’s full of holes, and it may be the only chance we have.”

  “Wait, one thing,” Astrid said.

  “Go ahead.”

  She raised her finger. “If, and it’s a big if, our shuttle ship actually lands on the planet and all our false information is accessed by the gold guys, they’re staring at vastly superior technological civilization. Are you planning on exiting back to our home and hope the gold guys will believe it?”

  “No, they’re intelligent adversaries. Give them a little time and I’m sure they will figure out the information is fake and we can’t really blow up a solar system. I just want them to think and puzzle about it for a while... until we can zoom in, drop our bomb and zoom out. But along with that information, the MITTs will reveal to them that the human ship has exited back to human territory. They rushed back to tell their friends and colleagues that a space invasion is headed for Earth. That should relax the gold guys and, if they did have any defenses set up, they won’t be on red alert. They should lower their defenses if they have any, and I still think that’s doubtful. They can’t expect an attack this far into space. But when our MITTs will give them the information they will know they’re safe. Then we can roar in, fire and maybe, just maybe get out before they target our ship.”

  “It’s a desperate gamble but, as noted, when your back is against the wall you’re open to any suggestion or gamble. One just might pay off,” the admiral said.

  I nodded. “Admiral, slow the ship down. I want the shuttle to have time enough to get to its destination. Then we may have a surprise for the gold guys.”

  Chapter 10

  When I buzzed Anson he was working feverishly on computers. Two beads of sweat trickled down his cheek. He grunted and groaned. Then grabbed a water bottle and took a long gulp. When he saw the screen with my smiling face he gave a half-nod.

  “Major, we are carrying out your orders,” he said.

  “Thank you. I assume you are changing the information our MITTs are carrying.”

  “I am. I’m having other scientists and the few military experts we have on board to help me. All the military information banks of our AIs will be totally changed. I hope our adversaries are not in the mood for specifics because we don’t have any. We only make mention in passing to our incredibly powerful weapons without giving any scientific verification or even any hints of how they work. But believe me, they will sound impressive. Along with our hyper-light speed ships which are utterly breathtaking, if the gold guys had any breath to take that is.”

  “Always knew you had a creative streak in you, captain. I’m sure you have a way with words. Maybe you can convince our adversaries to head for the next galaxy over and not come back.”

  “Not sure I’m that persuasive, major. But if they do download this information, it should give them pause. Of course we don’t know what their weapons look like, but I don’t think they would match our fictional ones.”

  I smiled. “Neither do I.”

  “I also have some more good news for you.”

  “Good. I can use some.”

  “Ralph was not exactly enthusiastic, but he did volunteer for the mission. He said he would do his best to convince his former buddies that we forced him to say the things he did. He will also tell them that after the capture he convinced the AIs to join him and the Destroyers to reap vengeance on humans.”

  “Very good.”

  “He said he feels he can be very convincing. He knows something of the military and the structure of his army and said he thinks he can use the information to help get the shuttle. He said his bosses may be suspicious, but to them it would be logical for AIs or any type of humanoid not fully human to join their team. Initially, they might believe the AIs are real defectors coming to join the Destroyers. Once they get in, the information about our alleged weapons should stun them.”

  “Don’t forget to tell them the human ship is heading back to their home base.”

  Anson nodded. “Yes, that’s what Ralph will tell them, that the shuttle headed one way and the human ship headed the other. If they believe that, then their defenses should be down. That might provide us with an opening.”

  “Very good,” I said. “We will get one chance and once only. But we don’t have to be too precise. All we have to do is hit the planet. It’s a big target. We don’t have to be too precise.”

  “And if we hit a planet with a bomb we should retire from the military.”

  “Captain, how long before we’re ready to send off the MITTs?”

  “Give me the rest of the day and into the night. By tomorrow morning we should be ready.”

  I buzzed our engineering chief and told Mr. Christie I wanted some quick modifications done on a shuttle. We needed it to look... more impressive.

  “More impressive, sir?”

  “Yes, a shuttle is a shuttle. A basic transport. Let’s spruce up our transports a bit. Give them a little more technological razzle-dazzle. Get our robotic workmen to start making all the adjustments. If a routine shuttle suddenly pops up near the gold planet, I think the gold guys would question how such a small, slow shuttle could escape from a trap. We should be able to blow a rogue shuttle out of the sky. So give it as many high-tech advances as you can.”

  Christie nodded. “If they capture it and analyze it, I can insert in the memory banks that we were testing an invisibility shield and first used it on the shuttle. The MITTs had it out for a test run. We used the MITTs because it’s unstable. The shield might be so erratic it could blow up a shuttle and we didn’t want to risk humans on the flight. So we used the MITTs instead. They zoomed off, disappeared and we never saw them again.”

  “Brilliant idea, Mr. Christie. I like it.”

  “The downside is after they see that information they will be searching for the invisibility shield and they won’t find one.”

  “By that time, there will hopefully be a big ka-boom which, among other things, will shorten their search.”

  “I will get to work on it immediately, major.” He smiled. “Did you ever see any of th
e old television shows of the science fiction show Star Trek?”

  I nodded. “I liked them but, to be honest, most of the plots were weak. There were perhaps a half-a-dozen fine episodes during the three-year run. But I enjoyed the characters, especially the interplay between Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy.”

  “Exactly. But we are very lucky there are no such aliens as Vulcans and we are particularly fortunate no Vulcan is aboard this ship. He would tell you this plan is totally illogical.”

  “Yes, he would. But winning on a five hundred to one bet is also totally illogical. But sometimes it happens. Just ask the people in Kargar.”

  “If we come out of this alive, we can have a drink together and toast to illogic.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  Chapter 11

  At noon the next day the MITTs and Ralph saluted as they walked into the brand-new, all shined-up and ready shuttle that would take them to the gold planet. I personally thanked the MITTs after I returned their salute. The exchanges with MITTs are always awkward and a bit melancholy. They speak like humans but there’s nothing flesh-and-blood about them. But you still tend to miss them if they don’t come back from a mission.

  The MITT commander told me it had been a pleasure to serve under my command. I thanked him. I said the odds were against it, but I hoped we might serve together in the future. He said he would enjoy that, then walked into the shuttle. The other MITTs and Ralph followed him.

  Astrid and I left the space bay, then watched as the doors opened and the shuttle lifted off. It silently left the ground and glided into space. When the doors closed again, they were gone.

  “Let’s hope our plan works,” I said.

  “Stranger things have happened,” Astrid said.

  We entered the elevator and headed up. Astrid tapped me on the shoulder. “Sometimes you just have to take a desperate gamble. We might get lucky and draw to an inside straight.”

  “Or draw four aces. That would be nice.”