Countdown, John Walker [online e book reader txt] 📗

“Win,” Nina said. “At any cost. Just a guess.”

“You’ve worked with him before?”

Nina nodded. “He follows rules to the letter. Annoyed the hell out of my last wing commander.”

“I hate the guy too,” Erica said, “if we’re all being honest.”

“We’re not.” Noah shook his head, peering at the satellites. Why the hell are they still there? “Get Rita on the line. I want to know why they stopped shooting and those things are on the verge of going off again. I want to be sure we take them out before then.”

“What if another section of them comes into range?” Nina asked. “We can’t withstand another one.”

“Unnecessary to worry about,” Mac said. “The war dogs have finished off the power to whatever signaled the satellites in the first place. All of the defenses, across the entire globe, are now offline.”

“They only had one location for that?” Noah asked. “That seems…improbable.”

“Negative,” Mac replied. “They had three in the city, one near orbit, and one across the globe. However, once our side established a connection with their computer network, they shut everything down. Only communications are currently online but if we do not act quickly, they will finish that off too.”

“Whoa!” Nina said. “You can’t let them do that! We have to stop them. Can you talk about it? Tell them to settle the hell down?”

“Not without initiating the disabling sequence we have been sent. Warning: this is not a regular shut down. It will render the war dogs in this region dead. For all intents and purposes, that is.”

“What’s that mean?” Noah asked. “Exactly what’s it mean?”

“All the brains of the war dogs will be obliterated. Effectively ending their existences for the final time.”

“All?” Dorian stood. “Does that mean you too, Mac?”

“Affirmative. All of the war dogs in this region. There’s no way to shield one while hitting so many of the others.”

“That’s absurd!” Noah scoffed. “There’s no way that was the plan. Northam would’ve told me that. He wouldn’t have left that for us to discover in the middle of a battle. No way! I don’t believe it.”

“I sincerely doubt he didn’t know,” Mac replied. “But it is what it is. For peace, I would say it is a fair price to pay. If we rampage on their planet for much longer, then I fear we will not be in a good position to negotiate. On the other hand, both sides have done plenty of damage to the other. It seems to me they should be willing to talk about it now.

“We have, as we discussed, shown our strength.”

Noah disengaged his safety belt. He stood, pacing to the viewscreen to stare out only a couple feet away. The battle was effectively over. Whatever ships remained intact out there were on the verge of ceasing hostilities. They’d taken a beating but not nearly as bad as it could’ve been. Far better than some of their other fights.

Yet as he stood there, looking out at the ervas homeworld, he felt as if he just lost the fight. Before we could talk. Before I could find out anything, this has to happen. There were others, plenty of them who died in the line of duty that day. Hundreds of Confed soldiers and officers, fighter pilots, equipment…

And all Noah could think about in that moment was losing a grandfather he barely knew. A man who might have been able to talk to me about…something. My one chance at connecting with him and now we’re going to let him go to save these people. To save our chances for peace.

This is unfair. Noah knew the longer he delayed, the more damage the machines caused. They were efficient, deadly so and if they allowed them to dig in too deep, there was a chance they may find a way to avoid the shutdown process. They’re clever. If I’m going to do it, I need to do it soon.

“It will be okay, Noah.” Mac’s comment made him stiffen. There was a cadence he recognized, something he recalled from his childhood. It seemed fleeting, like it barely had a place in his past, but it was there. And it was real. “The memories are only images to me. Most of them anyway.”

“But they are there,” Noah said.

“Yes…and no. They should not make any more of us. That is for certain. I know you won’t let them. Not if you can help it.”

“I swear it,” Noah replied. He clenched his fists. “Can you… are you…”

“I will initiate the shutdown. The brains will be destroyed. The circuitry will burst. There will be no reverse engineering. No recovery. No chance of replicating this technology. Our kind shall finally be extinct. And perhaps in that end will know some sense of peace which had been denied us for so incredibly long.”

Noah closed his eyes. There was no sound, no blustery noise aboard the Morrigan to signal the deaths of so many soldiers… men and women wronged by a science experiment. The notion infuriated him… frustrated him beyond belief. The last conversation he had with Alexander rushed back to him.

They’re just tools. That was the crux of his friend’s argument. One they would have again and with more context.

“It’s done, sir,” Dorian said. “The signal’s gone out. I’m picking up that all the war dogs are simply… stopping.” He cleared his throat. “Mac too.”

Noah nodded. He didn’t have words, not just then. He needed to take a deep breath and let it out before straightening his shoulders.

“What was that all about?” Nina asked. “What was he saying about memories?”

“That’s a long story, Commander,” Norah said. “One that I might tell you when we’re on the way home. But right now, we have some enemy ships to contend with. Dorian? What’re they up to?”

“We’re getting