Last Snippet from Book 10 - War to the Knife

 “Number two, station 425 alpha is under attack!”

“Do we know by who, Number four?” Number two was the Gen-Mod in charge of crop and food production for both the planet and the expeditionary force.

“Sensors only say they are being repeatedly attacked.” Number two cocked his head in consideration.

“Contact number one. That station is in sector twenty-five. Could this be a probing attack to test our defenses?”

 “I’m not the strategist that he is but it could be. Shall I alert the Alphas?”

“Wait for number one.” Number two bowed his head. The shield around Earth was his responsibility. The lost of even one of the stations was a serious blow. Only laser platforms were available to fill the gap. Inventory had very few of them left according to records.

All the lights in the room began to flash. “The Program calls.” Number two and four made their way to the throne room. Number one, three, five, and six were all ready there.

“Number four what is the status of the forts in sector twenty-five?”

“Sensors show that the main fort has been attacked and it is off-line. The laser platforms are continuing to attack and are reporting they destroyed over twenty individual craft. But the attacks are still ongoing.”

“Do we know what fleet it is?”

“No. Here let me show you.” He touched a few buttons and the large vid screen lit up. The stations could be seen as well as the platforms. The attacking ships only showed as white blobs of color.

“Why does it look like that?”

“It’s some sort of virus. The Gammas are working on it but it has infected the entire system. Normally in a case such as this one solution is to isolate the system and then purge the information to burn it out. We can’t do that here. No parts exist for those stations. The last spare parts were used fifty-standard years ago.”

“Where did the virus come from?”

“It attacked our systems shortly after the first ships returned from Imperial space. We believe that it was infecting the ship…” The rooms lights began to blink. Lines of computer code and a strange language began to run across the screens. All six ‘prophets’ bowed their heads and pulled up the communication screens. They all stared at the screen for a moment.

“Forget about he virus. The Program has spoken. Keep one squadron here to protect the planet, active all defenses, send what reinforcements we have to plug the breach, and lock the base down. No matter what this is, The Program must survive it.”

“Understood Number one.”