The Journal has bloated along with all sorts of details to manage. I need to be careful with sequential ordering. Maintain an accurate timeline. Add documentary reports. Communal is adding information, so I’ve got to keep an eye on them. Sometimes I find detailed information that I didn’t include. It’s good stuff. But I’m uneasy. There isn’t always a clear identification of the source.
I’m sure Communal can read some of our thoughts, just like I can write in this Journal using the neural control interface. But Grandad says we shouldn’t worry about them even though they are a very powerful AI. I bet Communal was his project before the DARPA lab was blasted, but he can’t talk about it, silenced by the project contract.
Fine then, Grandad’s the AI expert. I’ll quit trying to delete additions to the Journal. With the system in LOCKED mode, I haven’t been successful removing anything anyway. You’re almost everywhere, aren’t you Communal? Eyes and ears all over the place. Security cameras. Computers. Smart TVs. Passive s-loop speakers. Nanite array spybots. Satellite communication arrays. And reading our minds. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on you. For now, let’s get into Operation Bugblast.
***
Bugblast. That’s what they called the first mission to successfully destroy a mother ship, a nest ship, on the ground. It certainly was an appropriate name for the op. We only had access to audio recordings. And the quality was terrible. There was heavy background interference, noise, throughout the entire recording. I worked through and did my best to capture what was being said. Roll helped.
There was a lot of... just a sec.
Hey Roll, what’s that term for all the Bugblast military talk? Thanks.
There was a lot of military brevity language. The pilots use this shorthand way of talking. It can be confusing if you’re not used to it. Ops command gave the pilots a lot of leeway on the mission. The pilots obviously knew each other from prior missions and used their individual pilot-handles a lot.
Our guys exploited a sensor weakness noticed by fighter pilots on several occasions, increasing the chance of a successful mission. The weakness is at the drive section of the nest ships. To be honest, I doubt they could ever repeat a similar operation. The bugs aren’t dumb enough to commit their flies in the same manner allowed during this operation. Also, shortly after the mission, the bugs set up a device to close the sensor gap. Still, we are losing the war. Our military need some wins; new strategies are needed. Hopefully the bugs will keep making mistakes.
SEE THE JOURNAL AID SECTION for a more thorough treatment of the Bugblast mission. It’s exciting. Pages and pages of military talk, if you like that sort of thing. There was a lot of heavy interference, poor sound quality, but I think we sorted it out well. Or, you might prefer the summary version, here.
***
OPERATION BUGBLAST. Summary by Viz. The military of the United States of America pulled out all stops in a successful mission directed against an enemy mother ship, also called a nest ship, positioned in North Dakota. That ship landed in the middle of nowhere, evidently to do some sort of mining.
Mission aircraft included tried and true Fifth Generation aircraft along with less well-known high-tech craft. The shooter, military brevity language for the aircraft designated to deliver the main ordnance, was a relatively new addition to the air force. That was the extremely stealthy B-21 Raider, only entering service within the last few years. It was tasked with delivery of a specially built and relatively clean nuclear weapon capable of defeating the shielding of an enemy nest ship. The weapon was colorfully named the Goldilocks Bomb, since it was “just right” for its intended purpose, bug nest elimination.
A number of support craft joined the B21. There was the venerable F22 Raptor, tasked to deal with enemy fighter aircraft, generally called flies. True, the F22 is an aging platform. Aging but still amazing, especially with all the new gadgetry under the hood. Tethered to the Raptors were the new and devastating Stalker drones. Each F22 had control of 6 Stalker drones. There were also two B-1R Missile Trucks capable of delivering enormous firepower in the form of long-range missiles.
A special feature was the arrival of several X-37C-plus Space Planes equipped with HELLADS-2, a second-gen directed energy weapon system adjusted for offensive deployment.
Shhhhhh. This will be our little secret. This reporter has on good authority, there was a surprise visit by one of the space planes developed from the XS-1 program. It is a manned space plane now designated N-1, Nemesis One. That wasn’t even mentioned in the actual mission report. The Goldilocks group destroyed the nest and all enemy fliers. There were no serious injuries to our brave military personnel. Really, our guys just creamed them. Summary by Viz.
***
+ BEGIN TIMELINE DROP.
Source: Darkside Bug Base computer storage data related to Operation Bugblast.
There has been a good deal of interest surrounding the relative ease with which the bug nest ship was destroyed in the first Goldilocks bomb test, which took place in North Dakota. Initial reports suggested the ship was in North Dakota mining an unknown element. Darkside database information developed after the mission has provided more details.
The High Queen of the Invasion had censured the nest queen of the North Dakota ship, along with her colony. The nest queen insinuated the “poor prosecution of the invasion” could be seen as dereliction of duty. In punishment for the nest queen’s insolence, the High Queen banished the nest to North Dakota for the duration of the war. Most shipboard food and munitions were seized at gunpoint, leaving only 10% of normal supplies. They confiscated all DEW system power cores. While not totally defenseless, the military capability of the nest ship and flies were severely degraded.
END TIMELINE DROP. +
***
A CALL TO DUTY
The BugBlast operation took only a few minutes and served as an effective morale booster.
