by Saxon Andrew
“We lost ten alphas, Admiral. Most of the attackers had enough notice of our approach to start firing at my ships. Eight of the lost alphas were lost to a giant barrage of their missiles. Ka was right, the only thing that prevented more losses was the killer-tees taking them out.”
“Were they able to hit any of the colonies?” Ka asked.
“One of their ships managed to launch a nuclear missile at New China. It hit in an uninhabited area and caused no loss of life. Radiation levels will be higher for a while but it’s not at a dangerous level. We’ve destroyed all their ships.”
Greg looked away and then turned back to Tal, “I’m surprised you allowed them to breakup and attack all the colonies, Tal. I thought you were against that.”
Tal blew out a breath, “I was and still am. However, we had the numbers on our side with only four hundred of their ships. I deemed it more important to allow your ships to hit them when they were spread out than to take them on in a mass formation. We needed to know how to hit them before we are forced to go after them in a tight formation. Next time, we won’t have a choice. When these warships don’t report in, they’ll come loaded for bear and won’t divide their forces.”
Greg took a deep breath and blew it out, “We’ll need to hit them a long way out from the colonies, Tal. These monsters are far more lethal than I thought.”
Tal’s expression showed his agreement as he ordered, “We need to provision all of our ships again. The smart missiles made the difference in this round. Getting them through their defenses next time won’t be as easy.” Greg knew he was right. Tal turned to Ka, “Any word on our fleet losses?”
“Several ships had their hulls scorched but none were lost.” Tal’s eyes narrowed and Ka raised a shoulder, “All we’re doing is staying outside the range of their blasters and firing missiles. It’s the alphas that are in harm’s way.”
Tal sighed, “I wish we could do more.”
“We could help the alphas with coverage against the Cyren missiles, Tal.” If they come in a massed formation next time, we could fire the killer-tees around it.”
“Most of them will be blasted by the alphas blasters,” Tal said absently as he thought about it.
“So will all the Cyren missiles inside the blaster beam, the surviving tees will continue to go after the ones still active. It should help the alphas.”
Tal nodded, “Notify Jee and Rachael to make it happen.” Ka turned to her console to contact them.
• • •
Jee contacted Indie and delivered Tal’s orders. “Jee, what are those hundred large ships above New England,” Indie asked.
“They are the older model of alphas that were sent here before the new model arrived. They aren’t capable of standing up to Cyren warships.”
“What’s going to happen to them?”
“I suspect they’ll be assigned to the new colonies for defense if we manage to win this war,” Jee answered.
“They’re still one big warship!”
Jee chuckled, “Just not big enough. Pass the orders to your Commodores and designate where your attack fleets need to be in position to use the tees to defend the alphas.”
‘Yes, Sir.”
• • •
The Fleet Controller waited ten days before knowing something bad had happened. He sent four ships out to contact the fleet sent to destroy the black ships but they also didn’t return. The High Rulers ordered him to take nine-hundred warships out to find out what happened to the missing fleet. He knew that the only possible explanation was that the ships had been destroyed. He formed up the huge fleet and ordered them to remain in formation unless he ordered otherwise. He had no intention of doing that; his ship was safely in the middle of the giant formation. The ships left the Cyren planet and headed for the other side of the Andromeda Galaxy. Their destiny waited for them closer than they knew.
• • •
“Greg, we’ve got nine-hundred-warships headed our way.”
“How do you want to handle this, Tal?”
“We don’t have much choice. Form your alphas up in front of them and don’t fire until they move into range of your blasters. Open fire before you’re inside the range of their blasters and maybe we’ll get lucky. I have a surprise for them and I hope it works. If it doesn’t, there’s a real possibility we’ll run out of missiles.”
“What happens if we can’t stop them?”
“That is not an option, Greg! Just open fire before they do. Have your alphas target the lead ships in their formation and ignore the others. You may get a free shot at them before they start firing.”
Greg looked at the feed coming in from the scouts and saw the Cyren formation leaving their domain. If filled a huge area of space and the nine hundred gigantic warships were aligned in a hollow square with two hundred ships on each side. Inside the square was a hundred warships surrounding a single warship. Greg knew the commander of the fleet had to be commanding the ship in the center of the formation. He lifted his communicator and began issuing orders to his attack fleets. This was going to have to be timed delicately. The Cyrens would be coming at full phase speed and they would have to be slowed before he opened fire. Perhaps they’d do that without being forced. It depended on just how confident they were in their ships.
• • •
“I hope Admiral Ward is right about them slowing down, Tal.”
Tal shrugged, “It’s what I’d do if I were in their place, Rachael.”
“Why?”
“Because four hundred of their warships have not reported back in. I wouldn’t go rushing into an enemy formation at full speed until I determined what I was up against,” Tal answered. “I’d slow my fleets down and prepare to fire a combined blaster barrage from all of my ships. He knows that something is going on with the first fleet not reporting back in and he’s got to be concerned about that.”
“Are we going to participate in the attack?”
“No, Rachael. It would force us to use the majority of the missiles we have on board. This initial contact will have to be handled by the Alphas.”
“I hope Admiral Ward is right about this, Tal.”
“I assisted him in developing the plan. It’s the best opportunity we have to reduce their numbers.”
The monitor went dark as Rachael ended the contact and Tal turned to Ka, “Make sure Jee understands to stay out of this until I order his ships in.”
“I’ve already told him.”
“Tell him again!” Ka’s lips pursed and she activated her communicator.
• • •
Time passed slowly and Greg saw the Cyrens would be detecting his fleets in about eight hours. The scouts assured him that the Cyrens were well outside of communication range to their planet so whatever happened here would not be known at their home world. His attack fleets had formed a giant square matching the size of the Cyren formation and every ship had their target assignments. Now, it was up to the Cyren commander to slow his fleet to initiate an attack. He lifted his communicator and said, “Be prepared to go to full reverse and open fire if they don’t come out of their phase fields.” Greg sat back and glanced at the chronometer. It seemed each second was a minute long. I really hope Tal is right about this.
• • •
“Controller, I’m detecting a large formation of warships directly ahead of us.”
The controller jerked his attention to his navigator, “How many?”
“Three thousand warships, Controller and they’re the largest ships ever seen.”
“How large are they?”
The Navigator stared at his console and looked up, “They are about one-tenth the size of our ships.”
“Are you able to determine their armaments?”
“Their hulls are basically bare but it appears there are four blasters on each of their bows.”
The Controller stared at the wall monitor and wondered if these ships destroyed the first fleet. If he moved in on them at full speed, those sh
ips could open fire and knock out his phase fields before they could fly by. He could change course and fly around them…but…that would place them at the rear of his ships and there weren’t as many blasters on the stern of his ships to bring to bare on them; the thrusters consumed a huge area on the rear of his ships. The Controller turned to his second, “Order the fleet to come out of their phase fields and prepare to open fire on that formation when we move into firing range.” The Second turned to the row of communication controllers and began issuing orders. The Controller had ordered the first fleet to hold their formation and they probably flew past these ships to attack this species inhabited planets. He wasn’t going to make that mistake. If things turned bad, he could always turn and go back to the Domain for reinforcements.
• • •
Every ship in humanity’s fleets watched the Cyrens approaching at full-phase speed and held their breath. Greg started to order his alphas to retreat when the gigantic Cyren formation dropped their phase fields and moved in on his formation at high-speed. They were three hundred miles out from the Alphas when Greg ordered, “OPEN FIRE!!”
The Cyren fleet was two hundred miles out when the twelve thousand massive blasters hit their front ranks. The alphas had locked their computer operated blasters on the gaps between the rotating energy fields and they swept along the small bands. Fifteen alphas opened fire on each of the two hundred Cyren warships in the front of their ranks. There was only a short moment to hit the Cyren warships before they moved into their firing range but each of the three connecting bands on the Cyren ships were being hit by twenty of the alpha’s massive blaster beams. The two hundred Cyren Warships had their energy fields obliterated as the alphas went to full reverse and continued to fire on their unprotected hulls. An instant later, a giant cloud of missiles flew around the alphas and homed in on the exposed Cyren warships at an impossible speed. The missiles hit the two hundred Cyren warships unabated and they went up in massive explosions.
The Control screamed over his communicator, “ALL SHIPS SCATTER!!”
• • •
Tal looked at Admiral Sager on his monitor, “Admiral, that was incredible timing. Get the freighters out of here now!”
“Sir, we’re faster than their warships; we can launch another missile barrage if you want,” Sager replied.
“I’m not taking that risk, Admiral! Get out of here now!”
The ten freighters that launched the missile barrage activated their phase drives and flew away at maximum speed to the coordinates where they would wait to supply any ships that ran low on munitions.
The alphas broke formation and moved out into the Cyren warships that had scattered out of their formation. The alphas ganged up on Cyren warships with six assigned to work together in their attacks. Massive explosions filled space and the battle was on.
The Controller ordered, “All ships launch missiles and move back into formation around my ship!” He turned to his navigator, “Losses?”
“Four hundred, Controller.”
“Get the ships formed back up around my vessel and have them start firing a blaster barrage around our formation. Do not stop firing!”
• • •
Rachael watched the battle far below her fleets and saw the Cyrens launching missiles, “THAT’S OUR CUE! MOVE IN AND START FIRING THE TEES!”
Rachael’s fleets moved in from above the battle and Jee’s fleets moved in from below. They launched Killer-Tees as fast as they could load them. The massive clouds of Cyren missiles began blowing up and many of them took out other missiles close to them. Space was filled with brilliant white and red explosions too numerous to count.
The Cyrens changed course to move away from their attackers to reform and ran straight into a giant missile barrage. The explosions on the Cyren ships were impossible to count and fifty more Cyren vessels went up in explosions. Tal saw the barrage slam into the Cyren ships and the Order Giver suddenly appeared on his monitor, “We don’t take commands very well. I hope you don’t mind if we join the get together.”
Tal saw more than ten thousand alien warships standing off from the Cyrens continuously launching missile barrages. Tal smiled, “You shouldn’t have taken this risk.”
“The leaders of our alliance decided that we are not willing to have one evil civilization replaced by another. We’re in this fight with you and whatever happens, we’ve made the decision to end this one way or another.”
“Maybe if we can win this, our leaders can get together and come to some lasting agreements,” Tal replied.
“My leaders wish for the same thing.”
Tal nodded and turned back to the battle on his monitor and saw that the Cyrens were able to form back up and begin firing massive numbers of blasters around their formation. A hundred more Cyren ships were destroyed or damaged before they could make the formation but the Cyrens were completely surrounded by a globe of high powered blaster beams.
Greg appeared on his console and shook his head, “Our blasters won’t make it through their blasters, Sir. The smart missiles are also unable to penetrate it. They’re continuing to move toward the colonies.”
“They’ll not be able to use their phase fields, Greg.”
“Sir, that Cyren leader is smart. He’s having his fleet activate their phase fields simultaneously and they’re able to fly for about fifteen seconds before they degrade. It is going to take them a lot of time to arrive, but they will be able to attack the colonies.” Tal stared at the Cyren formation moving through space and suddenly saw it leap several light years ahead before slowing down. Greg shook his head on Tal’s monitor, “There’s no way we can hit them, Sir.”
“What about the energy of their blasters; is it decreasing?” Tal asked.
“Very slightly, Admiral,” Greg answered. “They will still be firing when they arrive at the colonies.”
Tal shook his head and heard Ka say, “You need to get them to change course.” Tal turned to her with a furrowed brow. “What’s more important to them than destroying our colonies, Tal?”
Tal stared at her and then smiled. He looked at Greg on the monitor, “Form up all of the Alphas and follow my ships.”
“Where are you going?”
“We’re going to drop in to their home world to pay a visit.” Tal activated a Cyren frequency and said, “Well, it’s been a lot of fun. But we’re going to talk to your leaders about your bad attitude.”
• • •
The Controller heard the remark over his panel’s communicator and watched the ships attacking his fleet turn and disappear behind his formation. The navigator jerked his head up, “Controller, they’re moving on a direct course toward the Domain!”
The Controller turned almost black in color as he screamed, “GET US TURNED AROUND NOW!!”
• • •
Greg looked at Tal on his console, “Are you sure you don’t want us to continue firing on their formation; it will slow them down chasing us.”
“No, Greg. I want them to move as far away from the colonies as possible. If we slow them down, they’ll know they won’t arrive in time to defend their home world and may decide to just continue on to attack the colonies.”
Greg shook his head, “I’m really glad Admiral Montana put you in command. Will they arrive in time to stop us?”
“Maybe. But I do have a card up my sleeve.” Greg wondered what Tal was talking about.
Tal contacted the Order Giver and told him what was going on,” There’s no way your ships can keep up with my fleet. Go back to your planets and prepare to defend them if we aren’t successful. I’m sending you the location of our colonies where you can send an emissary to start talks if this turns out well.”
“May the Creator be with you.”
• • •
The Controller watched the enemy ships disappear in the distance and knew his ships couldn’t match their speed. He immediately ordered, “Order every ship to go to maximum power on the thrusters.” The second didn�
��t like the order but knew that if they failed to arrive in time, their lives were over. They couldn’t survive without the home world. The formation picked up speed and headed back across Andromeda to stop the impossible. They finally moved into communication range and the Controller warned the Leaders what was coming and the means of holding them off until he arrived.
The High Leaders refused to believe him at first but one of the distant scouts sent a warning of a huge formation of large warships moving toward the Domain. A few moments later, the scout stopped reporting.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jan appeared on Ka’s console and Ka smiled brightly, “Jan! I’ve missed you!”
“I’m sorry, Mom. You know all that’s been going on and we’ve just been…”
Ka interrupted her, “I know, Jan. That’s why I haven’t made a pest of myself calling you constantly.”
“I just wanted to let you know that Dorman and I had Rachael marry us.”
“WHAT?”
“Mom, we didn’t want to wait for later; there might not be a later.” Ka stared at her with a sad expression and Jan smiled softly, “You know that fleet of Cyren ships have warned their home world that we’re coming. We had her marry us just before the first Cyren Fleet left their territory.”
Ka nodded and forced a smile, “I understand. You’ve been forced to wait too long as it is. Tell Dorman congratulations and I know Tal feels the same. Who was your maid of honor?”
“Mamani was the maid of honor and Jee was Dorman’s best man.”
Ka’s expression turned angry, “He didn’t tell us!”
“I made him promise not to, Mom. I wanted to tell you.”
Ka stared at Jan and lowered her eyes slightly, “Is there something else you’re not telling me.”
“I’ll wait for Jee to do that,” Jan replied. “I love you and Tal, Mom. I need to get back to my fleet.” Ka smiled and nodded as the monitor went dark.
Tal saw Ka talking quietly on her communicator and asked, “Who was that?”
“Jan just informed me that she had Rachael marry her and Dorman.”
“WHAT?! Why didn’t they wait?”