Chapter 91: Defense Command Center, Day 120

Not for the first time that day, or that week, Amy Imahara wondered how she'd gotten in this mess.

As she looked over the command center staff, sitting tense and alert at their consoles, her mind was drawn back to the meeting with her husband's clone, and the rest of the Education Council. It had been Rebecca Lott who had made the offer.

"Of the persons with military experience, you show the most aptitude for this assignment. Will you accept command of the planetary defense forces?" she'd asked, with a formal expression on her face, but laughter in her eyes.

Amy had stood stunned for a moment, before stammering an attempted refusal, only to be overridden by Rebecca's insistence that Amy was not only qualified, but the best available candidate. She'd said, "I know you weren't an officer, or even an NCO, but you were bridge crew, and you've shown leadership potential, and so you're it. We've got a very few other people who could do it, but they're either very rusty, or are assigned to even more important jobs."

Her husband's clone had nodded, and said, "Your husband agrees with us, and he warned us that you wouldn't give in easily, but you really don't have much choice. We're not going to be talked out of this, and your sense of duty won't let you blow us off, no matter how unprepared you think you are."

He'd been right, and she'd eventually agreed. And now, here she was...

Her reminiscing was abruptly shattered as a voice from the communications section. Wilson spoke loudly, but clearly, saying "Incoming warp signature detected by Phobos station, estimated range 8 light minutes, estimated velocity c-times-two. CIC evaluates as a kamikazi run, estimated time to impact is four minutes minus."

Andrews spoke up from the defense control station, "Automatic defense systems are down. Warp Missile Battery Four coming to bear under local control."

Amy's training came into sharp focus as she issued her orders, somehow managing to keep her voice controlled and calm, just like Rebecca's, and unlike the quivering tones Lockley had frequently sounded. "Comm, message to Missile Four: Salvo mode; flush your launchers. Fire as you bear, snap shot, dispersal pattern Victor."

Wilson replied, her voice still calm, "Missile Four sends 'Order acknowledged.'" Her voice may have been calm, but her hand shook slightly on the console before her, while her other hand stroked her abdomen, across the still-small bulge of her pregnancy.

Amy tossed a command over her shoulder, "Tactical plot on screen two. Order all sensor stations to maximum alert; Able section go to active scans. I want to know if there's anything else out there."

The acknowledgment came quickly, and she continued, "CIC, how did they get this close before we picked them up?"

A voice from the Combat Information Center replied, "Still not sure, Ma'am. Looks like some kind of signal-canceling effect, maybe with secondary warp pods ahead of the main ship. Mr. Stevens has a computer model updating now, and if it works like he thinks it does, we may be able to detect some heterodyne effects."

The tactical display showed the missile salvo closing on the incoming warp signature, then blinked out as the traces merged, replaced by a visual image of the intercept locus as seen from the Phobos station. There was a bright flash as something emerged from warp, and an even brighter flash as the uncontrolled exit vaporized whatever it was.

Earth had been damaged by the raw impact of a relativistic mass, but the worst effects had been caused by the collapse of the warp field within the Earth's mass. In this case, the warp field only managed to turn the ship it had been driving into a ball of not merely normal plasma, but a kind of nuclear plasma that hadn't been seen since the Big Bang.

The expanding mass was far enough away from Mars that the remaining warp field wasn't going to be a factor, but the mass of the ship was still there, if vaporized, and the inevitable impact was going to be a point-blank shotgun blast rather than a rifle bullet.

The voices continued to report in as Amy watched the vaporized attacker approach the planet.

"Command from CIC, we've cracked it. Tony's uploading a program change to the Beta-series sensor probes; we're leaving the Alpha series on the standard build. We'll have a report for you in a minute or two."

"Command, Tactical. Time to impact, one minute."

"Command, Comm. Civil Defense reports that personnel in the impact zone are transporting to safe locations as fast as possible. They're running into some bottlenecks; it doesn't look like they're all going to get out."

Amy acknowledged the reports as they came in. Luckily, or not, the command center wasn't under the impact zone; they'd barely feel it at this distance. Automatic defenses were still down, not that they'd do any good at this point.

As the blob of vaporized starship began to impact the planet, CIC reported, "Tally Ho! Command, we have two additional bandits in a parking orbit five A.U. out, just barely above break out speed. No sign they know we can see them."

Amy half-snarled the order, "Target both with warp missiles. One per target, with a backup a minute behind, and keep the rest of the launchers hot. Cycle time remaining on Battery Four?"

Wilson sent the order, then reported, "Battery Three reports targeting solutions loaded and missiles ready. Battery Four reports they'll be loaded and ready in 45 seconds."

Her tone again calm, Amy ordered, "Battery Three, fire as ordered."

"Battery Three reports two missiles away; backup missiles firing in thirty seconds."

The tactical plot showed the trailing edge of the cloud of vaporized starship hitting the planet, and beginning to rebound. A clock under the display showed a countdown to arrival of the surface waves; they'd feel a minor tremor in about five minutes.

"Battery Three reports backup missiles away. Battery Four is back on-line. Time to impact on first salvo two minutes and counting."

"Civil Defense estimates we lost about a thousand people to that transport bottleneck. Minor injuries outside the impact zone, but nothing serious."

"CIC reports impact on Bandit One, target destroyed. Impact on Bandit Two, but he's still moving. Backup missiles adjusting course to intercept. Impact in thirty seconds."

Amy leaned back and waited quietly.

"Bandit Two destroyed. No other targets on any sensor."

Everyone was still tense, waiting for the other shoe to drop, when a bell rang once, and a voice came over the speakers, announcing, "Simulation terminated. Stand down."

Everyone relaxed abruptly. The exercise may have been faked, but the tension had been real. Nobody wanted to be the one that blew it, that made the mistake that would have killed someone in the real world.

Like everyone else, Amy reviewed what she'd done, looking for something she'd failed to do, or had done wrong. She didn't see anything, but she'd be second-guessing herself for days, just as if those people had really died.

She touched a control by the side of her chair, and spoke to the microphone next to it. "Auxiliary Control, this is Command. Anything unusual happen while we were playing?"

"No, all quiet, Ma'am," came the reply.

"Good; hang on another five while we get the simulation crew out, and the next shift on line, and you can go back to your cribbage game."

"Auxiliary Control, acknowledged."

As her crew filed out of the command center, Amy watched them with pride. Three months ago, they'd all been ground huggers, and most of them had been civilians with no concept of the military and its responsibilities. Now, they were warriors, honed and trained, and they were ready.

Once the crew was gone, Rebecca and Steve Tau Miller entered the command center. Rebecca gave Amy a big hug, and Steve shook her hand before doing likewise.