Gods Dogs, Book 3
Chapter 18

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

Sun Tzu

The Chert homeworld was a cool world, over halfway out of the Goldilocks zone from its star. Polar ice caps, numerous glaciers, tracks of forests surrounded by steppes and tundra, it suited the hairy mammals well.

The cities were mostly along the coastal plains and along the rivers that cut through the three large continents. Industry was in space. It seemed everyone learned the lesson not to foul one’s own nest. The orbital space, therefore, was a busy place – both high orbit and geosynchronous orbit. The whole gamut of industries thrived in near space and around the circling moon. On the ground, only cottage industries were allowed – local artisans hand crafting works of art.

It was high summer when the team was making good time to the capital. It was also a mere 40ºF. The daytime high might reach the 60s.

The city was a hodge-podge of designs that evolved over centuries. Since the Chert were forest dwellers, tracks of forestland ribboned away from the Citadel at the center of the city. Waterways wove through the greenbelts and eventually emptied into the sea.

A main spaceport was near the Citadel, and numerous small ones served the suburb communities. It was well laid out, as one might expect from an ancient city that figured out efficiency through trial and error.

The team moved through a woodland strip a mile wide that ended at the Citadel wall. The Citadel was a walled city within the city. It sat on a plateau overlooking the ocean. On that side, the greenbelts gave way to fjords and fishing communities.

The Chert people were an active, curious, communal, and mostly out-going people. They took their affiliations seriously: family, tribal, clan, regional, and world. This mindset supported an hierarchical structure in how they governed themselves. On the other hand, they demanded their leaders govern wisely and tossed out the ones who didn’t. A council of elders served as the planetary rulers, with one of them as the governor. A supreme council of elders served the interplanetary interests, but the emperor appointed the planetary governors.

Anjevin apparently ruled in a way they approved as he’d been at it for two decades. Even though he did appoint planetary governors, the elders in charge of the far-flung empire held veto power over his choices. Anjevin, then, knew well how to appease the councils of the elders while pursuing his own agenda.

That agenda was bogged down in truly perplexing policy concerns. How could they go forward with an invasion that might not succeed? Or how would they reorganize to consolidate their gains and live in a peaceful status quo?

He struggled with this, alternating between rounds of meetings for days on end, and other days or weeks in solitude.

The team spent the next many days on reconnaissance. They mapped the spaceport and noted the activity. They mapped the area around the Citadel. Then they entered the Citadel and surveyed its twenty-five acre expanse of buildings and offices. Finding the royal residence, they also mapped it and timed the activities of the guards, servants, and visitors.

The team finally made their way into the emperor’s ten-acre residence. The emperor was in between the extremes of solitude and manic meetings.

The team found that the rooftops were the easiest way to sneak around. Much of the Citadel was stone-built. Where it was not, it was more modern steel and puff-crete, a honeycombed material easily manufactured by 3-D printers. It mimicked the stone motif.

As they approached the emperor’s residence, they slowed, spread out, and made their way to observation posts below square towers that punched up from the low slant roofs.

River was the farthest forward. She checked in with Becky, her A.I., as she settled prone at the base of a tower and the peak of a roof.

[There’s got to be electronic activity.]

Becky replied, [There is, but it’s directed communication or broadcast. I’m not getting any indication of surveillance up here.]

[Well, that’s weird. Are they that lax in their security?]

[It would seem so. I think it has to do with their societal structure. Chert support their government, because each citizen has not only a say in who their leaders are, but also a responsibility to attend weekly political meetings to voice their concerns.]

[So no traitors or terrorists?]

[Not on this world. Aliens or conquered people aren’t allowed on planet.]

[Weird. But that makes it easier for us. Let’s slow crawl to that overhang balcony. If we don’t trip any alarms, we should gain access to Anjevin’s rooms.]

[The floor plans we’ve been constructing indicate that is true. We’re getting some infrared smudges that may be people in that structure.]

[Got it,] River said. [Let them know I’m on the move.]

River felt confident that even if there were sensors, her slow movements and the camo features of her light armor were enough to keep her hidden. That and the unsuspected nature of this operation.

She cleared her mind and dropped into a meditative state that focused her in a wide-angle awareness of her surroundings. Air currents, the light of the setting sun, the changes in temperature, the sounds of the city below them, the occasional booming of waves against the far sea wall, she noticed it all.

Her body moved as if on its own, creeping inches forward, her torso following her arms. It took two hours to traverse the fifty feet to the balcony.

The team followed on separate routes. Pax circled wide to access a different balcony. Moss and Quinn slow-crawled between the two. They angled for open windows along the wall between the balconies.

“Inside,” River sent over their tac-net. “Releasing mosquitoes.”

The nano-probes flew out to replace sources of infrared radiation. Once found, the probes secured themselves to a wall or ceiling and sent out a pulse. Becky fashioned a map from the probes’ information.

[Busy place,] Becky said after ten minutes. She flashed a map to River’s HUD, and the top three floors with the locations of the plotted life-forms showed.

[Transfer it to Pax,] River instructed.

Becky did so, using the A.I. battle-net, which was a much faster way for the A.I.s to communicate.

[He’s near a group of four,] Becky said. [Max is hoping he can pick up something from them.]

[Yeah. Cherts are pretty easy to read. We were really having trouble with the Iracians.]

[Maybe it’s a mammal thing,] Becky quipped. [Okay. They’re all heading to dinner.]

[Do we know which is Anjevin’s bedroom?]

[No. Our best guess is it’s on this level and connected to this balcony.]

[Okay. Let’s explore.]

River eased off the balcony into the adjoining room. It was spacious and held a desk, table, and benches. She moved through it to check out the adjoining rooms at this corner of the building. Pax began working his way from the other corner of the building. Moss and Quinn held position near the open windows outside.

After River cleared the third room, Becky said, [I’m picking up a powered down ansible. It’s in the next room.]

[Well, that’s promising. Let Quinn know.]

River continued her slow exploration of the rooms, while Becky mapped it all, recorded what was written, and continued to scan for surveillance. It was slow, meticulous work that took another two hours to complete. Pax was engaged in the same reconnaissance, but there was more traffic at his location.

Pax sent, “Dinner’s over. No word here on what Anjevin is up to.”

[Behind you,] Becky alerted River.

Anjevin swept through a door with two guards and another, well-dressed Chert behind him. River melted into the corner of the room near a series of shelves. The light was low, and the foursome marched through the room to the large room off the balcony.

[Send it,] River told Becky.

Quinn’s voice came over tac-net, “Take him, River. We’ll be there shortly.”

River circled through two other rooms to enter the large room from a different direction. The two guards were just setting up outside the door when River stunned them.

Then she canceled her suit’s camo and walked into the room. Stunning the well-dressed Chert, she stood facing the startled emperor.

“Don’t bother to call for help,” she told him. “We’re jamming your signal.”

Moss bounded in through the balcony, and Pax entered through the door River used. He dragged in the stunned guards. Quinn passed through the room, headed for the ansible.

Moss approached the emperor and said, “Good to see you again, emperor. This time, though, we need to have a true heart-to-heart chat about preventing a war. I like my galaxy the way it is. You people, marauding your way through it is not something we can allow.”

“I don’t know how you managed to get in here,” he said with some bravado. “I do know you won’t get out.”

“We don’t care,” Moss replied. “Our mission is to talk some sense into you. Failing that, we start blowing shit up. We may burn the Citadel to the ground. If we can escape in the confusion, that would be nice, but our survival is secondary to the mission.”

“What do you want?”

“Peace, asshole. Geez, keep up, will you. We’re here to convince you to cancel any invasion plans.”

Quinn returned and said, “I’ve got somebody on the ansible you will want to talk to, emperor.”

“Who?”

“One of our ASIs. His name is Solomon.”

Quinn led Anjevin to the small room with the ansible. Moss, River, and Pax spread out through the upper floor. They released more nano-probes to widen their sensor perimeter.

Solomon looked like a ten-inch tall humanoid in a tan ship-suit. He greeted the emperor, “Anjevin Rona Est, it is good to meet you. I am Solomon, an artificial super-intelligence. For reference, I am what the Machines become when in conclave. The difference is they cannot sustain a Singularity without losing their individual identities. I, on the hand, am a Singularity – a supreme consciousness that, in earlier ages, could be referred to as a god.”

Quinn cut in, “Solomon, I think he gets the point. We don’t have much time.”

Solomon replied, “Obviously, my status is not that of a god with the Coyotes, but they have their own problems with their mythical existence. Wouldn’t you agree, emperor? They are here, in your impregnable inner sanctum, and handling you like a misbehaving child.”

Anjevin shrugged his shaggy shoulders. “It is disturbing. What have you to say, Solomon?”

“We’ve been studying the sociology of your empires and devised a theoretical way we could establish peaceful coexistence without too much disruption to your empires.”

“Relinquishing our conquest ideology in favor of something else would be destructive. We would face revolutions on conquered worlds and chaos at home.”

“Highly likely, yes, but the transformation must include a new vision to preclude such disruption. That is the key. You would need to transfer all that conquest energy to a new adventure.”

“I don’t understand.”

“A program of ‘don’t’ doesn’t work. Don’t or stop being a conquest empire won’t work. You have to think about what else you could be doing. A program grounded in ‘instead of’ is what will work. Instead of conquest, especially the conquests of free people, what new, more humane conquests could you devote your energy to?”

“I’m not sure anything can replace the supreme thrill of vanquishing our enemies.”

Solomon paused for a few moments before saying, “The Coyotes will lay waste to your homeworld, if they so desire. In that, they will have vanquished their enemies. Quinn, will you feel this ‘supreme thrill’ when you’re done?”

“No, Solomon, only sadness that too many lives were cut short. War is an abomination.”

“But you would do it.”

“Of course, I would,” Quinn snapped. “We protect the innocent from the monsters who prey on them.”

“How would you attack us?” Anjevin wanted to know.

“Our drop pods reconfigured themselves to cruise missiles. Four of your military bases would be vaporized by nuclear fire when we send the activation codes.”

“You would do this?”

“We will have peace, Anjevin. If it requires destroying a self-proclaimed enemy, then I wouldn’t hesitate at all.”

Anjevin looked to Solomon, “Send me your proposal. I will give it due consideration.”

“I thought you might,” Solomon said. “It’s in your communication buffer, and I’ll send a copy to your delegation that is visiting with us.”

Then Solomon vanished. Quinn turned to usher Anjevin out of the room when Pax sent, “We’re blown. A platoon is entering the building.”

“Okay. Scatter,” Quinn sent to the team. “RV Foxtrot by midnight.”

Quinn stunned the emperor, retrieved the exotic particle he used to connect to Solomon, and bolted out through the balcony. Pax exited through his balcony. Moss and River worked their way down to ground level to sneak out through the mounting chaos. They added to the chaos by stunning people they passed.

RV Foxtrot was at the main spaceport. At one end was the catapult for non-living cargo; at the other side were passenger shuttles. The destination for both was a massive space station that served as a transfer point for cargo and people. As such, it was a busy, round-the-clock place. The security was also tight.

In their initial reconnaissance, they found a little-used warehouse off the flight line. That’s where they met up around local midnight.

“Well,” Moss began, “I take it the emperor is considering peace.”

“I’m not sure,” Quinn said as he sat against a wall. “I was looking for an emotional response, but it was ambiguous.”

Pax said, “They are pretty easy to read, Quinn. I’m sure you got it right. Their culture is almost an acclamation hierarchy. He would need the approval of a lot of people to forego the conquest culture that’s been in existence for generations.”

“Yeah. You’re right. He can’t do it alone, and I doubt there’s any reason for them to change as a group.”

“So we bomb them?” River asked.

Moss grinned. “This will be fun.”

“Send your codes,” Quinn said.

The pods, now reconfigured after the week the bots had with them, fired up and streaked to their targets. Like the cruise missiles they now were, they hugged the ground until they arrived at each of four locations. Then they shot straight up over the center of each military base and self-destructed.

Before that, though, they released, not a nuclear payload, but parachute rigged radio transmitters. As they slowly floated in the air, the broadcast began on all frequencies:

“Surprise! We could have nuked you, but we didn’t. This is your one and only chance to work for peace with the Milky Way galaxy. If you choose war, we will burn your civilization to the ground.”

The message repeated until the transmitters hit the ground, which triggered a second explosion. That was the launch of a brilliant fireworks display in the night sky.