Read The Synchronicity War Part 3 for Free Online Page B

the carrier at just the right point. As he had done so often, he
imagined the tactical layout in terms of a clock. If the VLO was assumed to be
coming from the planet's three o'clock position, then Resolute was at the five
o'clock position. It was also closer to the planet than the VLO, but that was
just a relative comparison. The actual distance between planet and TF92 was
still almost 200 million kilometers. If the VLO didn't jump closer, it would
take over a day for them to reach the planet. With the right micro-jump, that
huge ship could be in orbit around the planet within forty-five more minutes.
That would still give TF92 enough time to see the post-jump position, send the
contact message and get a response before the VLO reached the planet. The
message drone was far enough away from TF92 that giving away its own position
would not help the newcomers in finding the Task Force's location.
     
    As he got dressed, he gave himself a mental pat on the back
for insisting on getting here so early. Those five days had also enabled his
recon drones to very carefully maneuver close enough to the planet to get a
good look at what the enemy aliens actually looked like. With the drone in a
low orbit, they were able to see the aliens walking around the colony.
Technically they were humanoid, but a better description would be wolf-like
creatures walking upright on their hind legs. Their fur-covered heads were
distinctly canine in appearance with a very noticeable snout. Clothing was
apparently limited to the torso. Arms and legs were bare but also covered with
fur. It was easy to rationalize their aggressive behavior with their
carnivorous appearance. What was more difficult for Shiloh was resisting the
impulse to waver on his resolve to exterminate this race when he saw images of
their young. They didn't look menacing at all. In fact, he was certain that
Kelly would have described those children as cute in a puppy dog kind of way.
His doubts became so strong that Shiloh ordered the images off the screen.
Human children were cute too. That hadn't stopped the wolf race from killing
billions of them. He had had to keep reminding himself that his unborn child
deserved to grow up safe from these predators. With the cute puppy dog images
gone, the doubts dissolved away too.
     
    He entered the Bridge twenty-nine minutes later after a
leisurely breakfast including a single cup of black coffee, no sugar that
represented half of his weekly coffee ration. With milk and sugar both in very
short supply since the move to Terra Nova, he had gotten used to drinking
coffee black. At least the cattle brought to TN seemed to be thriving, although
expanding the herd was going to be a long-term project. He wouldn’t be eating a
steak anytime soon.
     
    Valkyrie spoke before he even reached the Flag Officer's
Station. "They're just about lined up for the micro-jump, CAG. I expect to
see it any second now."
     
    Shiloh nodded. The light now arriving at TF92 reflected the
position of the VLO as of 12.4 minutes ago. It had already jumped, and what
Valkyrie really meant was the light from the new position would reach them any
second now. The tactical display pinged to announce an update. As expected, the
new position was just over 45 million kilometers from the planet, which would allow
the VLO to decelerate at 1Gs and drop into orbit around the planet in 8.5
hours. Valkyrie hadn't detected any noticeable response from the colonists yet,
but that was based on the VLO's pre-microjump position. The half dozen ships in
orbit around the planet had not yet reacted, and Shiloh didn't expect them to.
They, and he, were waiting for the other shoe to drop. It wasn't long in
coming.
     
    "VLO has launched parasite craft, CAG. Minimum of
twenty-one but there's a high probability of a lot more. They're accelerating
at 121Gs and they'll reach the planet in 14.6 minutes if they don't jump
closer."
     
    But they would. Shiloh was certain of that. "Can we
estimate the