manufacturing capacity. Political, intellectual and monetary power had emanated from the fourth Galilean moon. Now it was gone. That left a gaping hole where the heart of the system used to lie. Worse for the warship- personnel, it had stolen their homes, their wives and children and their base, their reason for being. In a myriad of ways, they had been set adrift. They were like souls without bodies, without a political, spiritual or material anchor.
The two Secessionist warships had matched orbits with them, and a few more patrol boats had straggled in. That gave the new Combined Fleet two dreadnaughts, three meteor-ships and three wings worth of patrol boats.
The Force-Leaders, Arbiters and Governors in the Guardian Fleet-warships realized that no base existed for them. Ganymede had declared itself a sovereign state, as had Europa. The corporate mining-executives on Io were already sending delegates to both moons, seeking protection treaties. The Guardian Fleet had formerly existed to protect the Confederation, but that Confederation had vanished into the splintered sovereign states. Smaller, asteroid-sized moons were already talking about defensive alliances with each other.
Astute politicians on Ganymede and on Europa sensed the opportunities. They’d begun sending open and secret delegates to the various warships, trying to win them over to their particular sovereign state.
Chief Strategist Tan recognized the problem. She had daily briefings with the warship commanders. She also sent orders to various outposts, trying to convince them to hold their positions and monitor the cyborgs. The trouble, however, was that everyone wanted to survive the war. Without the might of Callisto threatening them, and with the crumbling of the Confederation, men and women thinking about their future forget their duty. At least, Tan viewed it that way.
She used half her energy trying to hold the fleet together. The other half she saved for deep thought, trying to pierce the cyborg strategy.
Finally, the warships near Athena Station began a burn that would take them to Io. It had every Jovian in an uproar. Many wanted to intercept the cyborgs and protect the mining properties on Io. Ganymede’s political leaders had other ideas, namely, that the Combined Fleet remain at the third Galilean moon, protecting them from possible bombardment. Soon, the political leaders on Europa clamored for warships. They wanted to know what would happen if the cyborgs headed for their moon.
A meteor-ship with a Europa-born crew planned on heading for home. It was hard to blame their hearts, even if their strategic insight was faulty.
Tan paced down a long corridor on the
Tan slid the sliver ring on her right middle finger back and forth. It had a philosopher-king’s lion symbol on the signet. Sometimes, it felt as if she was the living embodiment of the Dictates. When she felt this way, it was easier. She knew what to do then. First, she must defeat the cyborgs. Then she must return the Jovian System to the pristine state it had so laboriously achieved through the decades. Something as wonderful as reason, logic and meaning—
Tan groaned as she recalled the horrible images from Callisto. Who had ever created such a horror as cyborgs? What had the creators been thinking? What had been the real purpose behind machine-like men? Perhaps the creators had been mad. That seemed like the easiest explanation, or perhaps their dreams had been infested with mad hopes.
Had scientists in the Neptune System observed the massive, military build-up in Inner Planets? Were the cyborgs a response to the Highborn? What had ever prompted the rulers of Social Unity to gene-warp such fierce super-soldiers? Why construct Doom Stars when they’d possessed the SU battlewagons? Well… that was easier to understand. The allied fleets of Mars and Jupiter had defeated a fleet of SU battleships. It had taken Doom Stars to shatter the allied fleet thirteen years ago. Clearly, the rulers of Social Unity had desired Solar-wide conquest. Then again, with such a sprawling political system there must have been and likely still were vast bureaucracies within the structure of Social Unity that fought at cross-purposes against each other. Perhaps one department had created the Highborn and a different department with different insights and goals had built the Doom Stars.
Tan shook her head as she stared out of a viewing port. Mighty, banded Jupiter slowly rotated, and the Red Spot swirled with activity. That Red Spot was a hurricane in the gas giant’s upper atmosphere. It had been blowing and swirling for over five hundred years, changing its deepness of color and speed over the long decades. There was no land inside Jupiter to break apart a hurricane as happened on Earth. There, hurricanes rose from the oceans and they broke apart over the landmasses.
Tan sighed. Social Unity didn’t matter now. Highborn, Doom Stars—the cyborg fleet burned for Io. Should she attempt to intercept the fleet? The problem was that compared to the rest of the Jovian moons, the Galilean moons moved in near proximity to each other. What if she accelerated for the cyborg fleet or for Io, and then the enemy made a dash for Europa or even worse, for Ganymede? They could not afford to lose any more Galilean moons or industrial centers. If the cyborgs bombarded Europa or Ganymede—she must defend those two moons at all costs. Io on the other hand….
Tan stared at the great gas giant with its Red Spot. Three Earths could fit into that single ancient storm. Maybe the cyborgs would bypass Io and attempt to destroy the processing centers that floated in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere. Did the cyborgs need the helium-3 isotopes? No. She doubted the cyborgs would pin themselves so near the massive gravity-well. Going down to Io or to the processing plants was easy. Climbing back up the gravity-well took hard burns.
She let go of her ring, the one she’d been rotating around her finger. She looked back the way she’d come. The corridor curved slowly. She had already walked the outer-corridor circumference of the dreadnaught. Her heart rate quickened then as she considered a critical problem.
Fleet morale had sunk to abysmal levels. The very idea of the Guardian Fleet was nearly dead. Callisto glowed with radiation and everyone else jockeyed for an unknown future. The rulers of Europa and Ganymede played political games when they needed to concentrate on defeating the cyborgs. She needed to cement her fleet role as supreme commander. This move toward Io by the cyborgs—a cunning mind moved that fleet. A cunning mind had sent the missile strike into the heart of the Jovian System.
Tan whirled around and broke into an unseemly trot. She had to use the move against Io to her advantage. She had to wield these new politicians, using them to create a new Confederation. If she was to win the battle against the cyborgs, they had to give her command authority. As it was, they chipped away at her power.
As she trotted, Tan began to breathe hard. She wasn’t used to running and her legs were too short. It was time to speak with the Advisor of Ganymede—the moon’s chief politician—and with the Controller of Europa. She had a good idea about what was going to happen next. Io was doomed to nuclear bombardment. That was the horrible truth. The Advisor and the Controller would never agree to let the Combined Fleet head to Io to avert disaster. Therefore, she had to use her foreknowledge and her gift at strategy, both military and political, to break their confidence in themselves. She had to show them that only she could save the Jupiter System. It was time to have another three-way. It was time to join the political games, using her strategic insights to win the power she needed to annihilate the cyborg menace.
TAN: Gentlemen, I’m glad you agreed to meet with me. The situation has become dire. The cyborgs have gathered an appreciable concentration of warships and presently move on a hard intercept course for Io. We cannot afford to lose the mining colonies there.
ADVISOR: I dearly hope this is not another attempt to move the Combined Fleet out of its excellent, defensive position. I’ve already informed you of Ganymede’s total rejection of such thinking.
CONTROLLER: Before we speak about that, let us be clear on one critical certainty. The cyborgs are cunning. We have learned this to our eternal disadvantage. Callisto—it is too difficult to put into words the horrors that occurred there.
