by Saxon Andrew
Tee sat back down and thought for a moment. He finally said, “I don’t want to have bad luck by telling you how I feel. You might decide you really don’t want me in your life.”
“Is that what happened before?” Lori asked. Tee nodded. “Well, I guess love is a risk anytime but I’m not one that changes my opinion easily. I suspect the reverse is probably more likely to happen.”
“Why do you say that, Lori?”
“You don’t have faith in yourself and will be constantly looking for something bad to happen. If you look for anything, you’ll probably find it. Just simply accept that I’m the one that wants this and go along for the ride.”
Tee smiled and stood up again, “That sounds like a plan, Lori.”
Lori still kept her seat and asked, “Does this end the foolishness of sending me to another ship?”
Tee rolled his eyes and sat back down, “No!” Tee replied. Lori’s face turned angry and Tee raised his hand, “There may be a future occasion that I’ll need you to command another unit. But for the most part, we will be serving on the same ship.”
Lorie smiled and stood up. Tee kept his seat and asked, “What happens if you’re offered a fleet to command?”
Lori’s eyes widened slightly and she sat back down. “I guess it would depend.”
“On what, Lori?”
“Just how critical the need is, Tee. I’ll tell Tal that I will agree to temporarily take command of a fleet until he can replace me. I’ll make sure he sets a definite time frame before I accept the position when I’d come back to you.”
Tee kept his chair and asked, “Is there anything else before I stand up?” Lori smiled and shook her head. “Good. Let’s go back to work.” They walked to the door and Tee reached and put his arms around Lori. He hugged her before exiting; however, they didn’t leave the office for another fifteen-minutes.
Chapter Fifteen
The sixteen attack fleets from both major fleets were lined up in open space high above the freighters. Tee touched his console and spoke over the fleet’s general frequency, “I’ve set a distance of one-third of a light year from a beacon directly ahead of us and that is our stopping point. On my command, all ships will accelerate to maximum-speed for exactly fifteen seconds. You will then shut down your drives and all your internal systems including environmental systems. We will be wearing spacesuits during this exercise so make sure all members of your crew are in them before we do this.”
Tee paused and Lori quietly asked, “We weren’t in space suits during our last attack.”
Tee muted the frequency, “We also didn’t have a hundred warships moving toward them. I’m taking steps to insure we’re not detected early.” Lori nodded and Tee unmuted the channel, “It is critical that these times are closely adhered to and it would be disastrous if they’re not. All ships prepare to go to full acceleration in thirty seconds.” Tee pushed the chronometer and stared at it. He began counting it down and at five seconds he announced, “Four…three…two…one…GO!”
• • •
The eight hundred warships accelerated at an incredible speed and Tee started counting the time down again, “Shut down all systems in three…two…one…NOW!”
Tee stared at the long line of ships on both sides of the Australia and shook his head. He could clearly see that hundreds of ships were out of line. He waited until the attack fleets coasted up to the beacon and he shook his head. This was a huge mess. Tee ordered, “Fall back in formation and let’s do it again!”
Indie was following the fleets and Katy turned to him, “May I make a suggestion before they try, Sir?”
“Go ahead, if you think it will help, Katy,” Indie approved.
Tee started to count it down again when Katy appeared on his console, “Commodore Brisbane, may I make a suggestion?”
“Certainly. I’m open to anything that will help make this happen.”
“Why don’t you have the ships’ computers to launch their ships at a specified time. It can also be programmed to shutdown at another specified time. You’ll have to make sure that every ship’s chronometer is set to the exact same time but that will take out the human element of differing reflex times.”
Tee looked at Lori, “Can we do that?” Lori nodded. “Thank you, Katy. We’ll set that up now.” It took longer to set the chronometers than to program the computers. Finally, Tee had all eight hundred warships stop their chronometers, set them to twelve hundred hours, and then used his computer to start them together. The ships were lined up and Tee used his computer to send the launch order and the long lines of warships went to maximum-speed. They coasted to a stop at the beacon and, though some of the ships were slightly out of line, the attempt worked.
Tal appeared on Tee’s console, “Tee, that’s about as close as you’re going to get them.” Tee was silent thinking they could improve but Tal added, “It can’t be improved anymore because you’ve removed the human element from the equation. The differences in the ships arrival points is due to their thrusters having slight variations in their power delivery. There’s no possible way they can be equalized, Tee; every warship is slightly different from the others.”
Tee realized Tal was right. “Sir, I’m going to have the ships that are out of line to use their air thrusters to move them into formation the moment they arrive.”
“Will there be enough time to do that, Commodore?”
“They’re only going to have to move less than the length of their ships. I believe it can be done, Sir.”
“Carry on, Commodore Brisbane.”
• • •
Ka looked up at Tal, “You were right.”
“About what?”
“Making Tee one of your Commodores. He’s something special.”
Tal smiled, “I know.”
• • •
The attack fleets practiced for two days and then broke up into eight two-fleet units. They moved out to start the next training and after three more days, Tal ordered his Major Fleet Admirals to set up the mission.
• • •
Tee and Mila were paired to attack a Brotherhood planet and Tee contacted Mila, “Are you ready? We’re fifteen minutes from launch.”
“I’m as ready as I can be, Tee. The timing on this is imposing.”
“Just follow the plan, Mila. It worked in training and there’s no reason to believe it won’t now.”
“What if your formation is detected before I arrive?”
“Mila, we’ll hold out long enough for you to join the party. Relax and leave it up to your crews.”
“See you at the planet, Tee.”
She disappeared from the monitor and Tee knew she should be concerned. This was going to be…difficult to pull off. He stared at the chronometer and waited. Everything was out of his hands until his fleet arrived at the stopping point.
He looked at Lori and saw her talking with a ship commander on her console. She was amazing and he began to doubt he was worthy of her. But, she said the same thing to him. Perhaps he was more than he thought. Either way, he counted himself lucky to have her affection. The chronometer moved inexorably toward zero and he was startled as the Australia went to full acceleration. Show time!
• • •
Tee’s fleet came to a stop just outside the Brotherhood warships defending the planet. The fifty Ste Class Warships arrived in a perfect circular formation one ship wide and the ships’ computers instantly activated all of their systems. Tee ordered, “LAUNCH NOW!!”
The fifty warships began ejecting killer tee missiles at an unbelievable rate. The small missiles left the formation in a long cylinder shape that moved at high-speed toward the Berserkers holding position directly in front of his attack fleet. A moment later, Mila arrived with her fleet in a cylinder formation and moved smoothly around Tee’s ships. Her ships powered up and began launching tees at the Berserkers that had powered up and were moving in on Tee’s ships. Tee’s fleet stopped firing killer tees and thirty of his ships launch
ed a heavy missile that fell in directly behind the cloud of killer tees moving into the Brotherhood formations. A moment later, Tee ordered, “Launch all remaining missiles!”
• • •
The Berserkers initially moved out of the way of the giant cloud of small missiles until they detected the larger missiles being launched. The center of the giant cylinder of killer tees began opening as the small missile’s software activated. The tees moved out and began targeting any Berserkers moving toward the giant cylinder filled with missiles as the heavy nuclear missiles moved inside the cylinder. The cylinder moved at high speed toward the planet below and six Brotherhood warships holding position below the Berserkers and the incoming cloud began opening fire with their blasters. The thirty heavy missiles came out of the cloud of small missiles at high-speed and homed in on the six warships. Seventeen heavy missiles were hit by blasters and destroyed before they could reach the warships. But the surviving thirteen hit the six warships blasting them into rubble. The nuclear missiles software moved them around the exploding warships and flew directly toward the planet.
• • •
Tee saw the last missiles launch and ordered, “ALL SHIPS, GO TO FULL REVERSE AND GET OUT OF HERE! MILA, KEEP US COVERED UNTIL WE’RE CLEAR!”
Mila’s fleet moved out with Tee’s fleet holding formation around his formation. Her ships were firing tees out of the front and rear missile launchers and it appeared a giant flickering cloud of sparks was leaving the formation at high-speed. The two attack fleets arrived outside the attacking Berserkers and Tee ordered, “All ships, go to maximum-speed and evade.”
The hundred warships flipped so that their bows were away from the planet just before they activated their main thrusters on the rear of their ships. They exploded away at a tremendous speed and, even though hundreds of Berserkers had flown past them to attack from the rear, they were easily dispatched by the fleet’s pulse cannons.
Tee saw Mila appear on his console, “I lost four ships, Tee.”
“I’m sorry, Mila. I know how that makes you feel.”
“It could have been worse, Tee, if they had brought the ships in from the other side of the planet. It was your attack that prevented them from doing that.”
“I’ll meet you back at the freighters, Mila. I’m sorry about your lost crews.” Mila nodded and disappeared from the monitor. He looked at the large forward monitor but the explosions of thousands of Berserkers that were hit by tees between his ship and the planet blocked his scanner’s view. He pulled up a frequency and said, “Regena, did the missiles get through?”
“Yes Sir. They are currently hitting their targets on the planet’s surface. I have my scout high above the planet and can only see the northern hemisphere, but the explosions are clearly visible.”
“Send me a recording, please.”
“Will do, Commodore.”
Tee sat back and thought about the attack. It was going to be extremely difficult for the Brotherhood to stop this kind of attack. If they brought the ships from the other side of a planet to fend off the missiles, another fleet could be used to move in on the undefended side. He learned at the freighters that sixty-four warships were lost in the attack, but eight planets had been destroyed. It was a fair trade off, all things considered. He knew that the next time, fewer ships would be lost. The fleets learned how to do it and it would be easier next time. Tee paused and thought, that is if the Brotherhood didn’t bring in more warships.
• • •
The Supreme Fleet Commander was close to rage and was considering having the junior commanders from the destroyed planets executed. His Second-in-Command quickly said, “Commander, they followed the orders that you gave them. If they didn’t follow your orders, they could be executed.”
The Commander knew he was right but he still wanted to take out his anger on the ones that failed to protect the planets. The Second turned to the ship’s chief scientist and asked, “How many warships are needed to stop that missile formation before it arrives at a planet?”
The scientist looked up from his panel, “Those black ships have developed a new small missile that they target on our small ships. They’re extremely effective and the enemy missiles cannot be stopped by the Berserkers ahead of them. The other issue is that of time.”
“What do you mean?” the commander asked.
“From the moment that barrage was launched until it arrived at the planet took four minutes. The only way to stop it is to have enough warships ahead of it firing all their blasters as it approaches the planet.”
“How many warships?” the Second asked.
“At least thirty.”
The Commander lowered his chin, “How many warships would I need defending a planet to get thirty warships to any point around the planet?” The scientist hesitated and the commander’s tone turned menacing, “Don’t tell me you haven’t figured that out! How many!!”
“At least three hundred warships, Commander,” the scientist answered softly.
• • •
The Commander turned to his communications officer, “I want this conversation taken to Fleet Admiral Hassam at the Holy Planet. Have him take it to the High Cleric and tell him that I’m asking for his direction on what to do about this?” The Second went to the communications officer and had him order a high-speed shuttle to report to the flagship.
• • •
Six days later, the Supreme Fleet Commander saw a communication appear on his panel. He pressed the green flashing button and saw Fleet Commander Hassam on it, “What are you doing here?”
“Commander, I spoke with the High Cleric about your request and his answer was that if you can’t handle defending the conquered planets, he’d find someone who can.”
“But there’s no way we can do that without additional warships!!”
“I told him that, Commander. He immediately removed me from commanding the fleets at the Holy Planet and send me out here to join you. He replaced me with one of his junior clerics. I believe he was worried I might use the fleet to turn on him. With his man in command, that isn’t going to happen. He made it clear that with this new type of attacks happening here, there was no way he could send or spare any warships.”
It took all of the Supreme Commanders will power not to call the High Cleric a consummate ass…but this was an open channel. “Did he at least allow you to bring your warship back with you?”
“No, Commander, he did not. I came in a shuttle.”
“Report to my ship when you arrive.”
“Yes, Commander.”
He turned around and asked his second, “How many warships do we currently have defending the conquered planets?”
“The number really hasn’t changed, Commander. Those enemy ships are going after the planets and ignoring our warships.”
“HOW MANY!!” the commander shouted.
“A little over twenty-five thousand warships, Commander.”
“How many planets can we defend if we put three hundred at each planet?”
The second turned to the scientist and he answered, “Currently we’re defending 159 planets. We can only defend Eighty-three if we have three hundred warships at each planet.”
“What are you considering, Commander?” the second asked.
“You know what I’m considering, and before you start saying I shouldn’t do it, give me another suggestion!!”
The second stared at the commander and said, “The crews families are on those planets. You could have a mutiny if you go through with this.”
“Then tell me how to avoid that happening!” the commander replied. The Second stared at him and then began speaking.
• • •
Tal was on board the Zak’s Jill when Drum Gowie appeared on his monitor, “Admiral, one of my scouts have intercepted a Brotherhood communication that sounds rather weird.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll send it to your console, Sir.”
Tal looked at Ka, “Come h
ere a moment.” Ka stood up and walked over to his chair. The recording arrived from Drum and he began playing it. They saw a mature Brotherhood officer start speaking.
“I have uncovered a plot among my officers to disobey the High Clerics orders. I have reason to believe that this plot is pervasive and I am taking steps to prevent it from coming to fruition. I am ordering that all the families and relatives of the warriors serving on my warships to be brought here under arms to be held as hostages on the central planet. I require the ruling clerics to insure these people are gathered up and put on board the freighters I’m sending to your planets. This is a difficult time and I’m forced to do things I would rather avoid. But I will not fail to defend our planets.”
Ka’s eyes narrowed and she asked, “What’s he doing?”
“I’m not sure. Contact Jab and Ryshana and have them report here.” Ka nodded and went to her chair.
• • •
Jab and Ryshana arrived thirty minutes later and Tal played the recording to them. Jab’s eyes narrowed and he shook his head but Ryshana instantly said, “He’s abandoning more planets.”
They turned to her and Ryshana’s expression showed disgust, “Tal, the Brotherhood Military Leader knows that if he abandons planets where the crew’s families are located, there’s a good possibility that they will refuse to follow his orders not to defend them.”
Tal suddenly saw it. He glanced at Ka and saw she saw it as well. “Are you sure about this?” Jab asked Ryshana.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense, Jab. We’ll find out shortly if I’m right.”
“How will we know, Ryshana?” Ka asked.
“If he’s planning to abandon planets, which ones will he be abandoning?”
They stared at Ryshana and Tal suggested, “They’ll start with the planets with smaller populations first.”
Ryshana nodded, “That’s how I see it.”
“Then why is he asking for all the families of his crews?” Jab added.
Ryshana turned to Jab, “If he does this once, he won’t be able to do it again, Jab. He may be forced to repeat this in the future and he wants all of their families in one place if he does.”