Governor Blake looked upset. “The fleet should be defending us. We should never have sent so many ships to the Empire.”
“Then we would be totally alone,” retorted Colonel Edwards. “Earth on its own cannot defeat the Confederation.”
On the viewscreens, the space above Titan was now filled with light from multiple explosions. There was no doubt in Colonel Edwards’ mind, when this was over, it would be necessary to reactivate the terraforming machines to bring the moon back to its currents state—assuming there would be some survivors.
“Should we launch the attack interceptors?” asked Major Patterson. Her gaze went from screen to screen, trying to keep up with the battle in space.
Colonel Edwards nodded. “Yes, tell them their primary mission is to protect the space station and to take out damaged enemy ships. Let’s get them up as quickly as possible.” Edwards knew the interceptors had little chance of surviving this engagement. Even so, the crews had volunteered to go up anyway.
A minute later on one of the viewscreens, interceptors began launching from their underground hanger complex. Interceptor after interceptor roared off toward space and the dreadful fate awaiting them.
-
Fleet Admiral Horrabe watched as his fleet easily decimated most of the defenses around the moon. However, the six large orbiting defense stations were causing problems. They seemed to have the firepower of half a dozen battleships, if not more. Already a number of battlecruisers had been blown apart attacking them. Even as he watched on the main viewscreen, another battlecruiser was ripped open by intense weapons fire from one of the stations.
“We’re losing ships to both those big defensive stations and coordinated missile fire from the defense grid,” reported High Commander Corr. “I’ve directed our ships to make the Humans’ missile platforms a high priority.”
“Have our battleships focus on those six large stations,” ordered Horrabe. “They must be destroyed before we can assault the surface.”
“Fleet Admiral,” interrupted Sensor Officer Tanod. “We have a large number of small spacecraft leaving the surface.”
“Put them up on a viewscreen.”
On a screen, several hundred small ships became visible.
“Their small attack craft,” said High Commander Corr. “From our reports, they are armed with fusion tipped missiles, fusion energy cannons, and a forward-facing energy shield.”
“Where are they headed?”
“The space station,” answered Tanod.
“They seek to add to its defense,” commented Corr in realization. “It will make it more difficult to destroy.”
Fleet Admiral Horrabe knew Corr was correct. “Let us focus on the large battlestations first. When we have annihilated them, we will destroy the space station.” Horrabe had a plan, and he intended to stick with it.
The four thousand ships of Admiral Horrabe’s fleet divided up and launched a full-scale assault against the stations in an attempt to overwhelm their weapons fire. Massive antimatter explosions crawled over the protective energy screens of each station, forcing the screens to radiate brighter and brighter. In massive detonations easily visible from Titan’s surface, two of the stations died.
-
“The ODPs can’t handle that kind of firepower,” said Major Patterson, as he watched the two stations blow apart. Nearly four hundred fleet personnel were on each ODP. She felt great sadness at their loss and yet pride at the bravery they showed in manning the ODPs.
“The other ODPs won’t last much longer,” said Colonel Edwards. On the main viewscreen, he saw the Confederation fleet taking losses as well. Several battlecruisers were now nothing more than drifting hulks, and a battleship had been ripped in two by weapons fire from the ODPs. “How’s the evacuation of the major cities going?”
“Nearly 70 percent complete,” answered Patterson. “Some people are refusing to leave.”
“Those cities are their homes,” explained Governor Blake. His face was extremely pale, knowing that everything he and his people had worked for was about to be destroyed, and he could do nothing to prevent it.
-
In space, a massive explosion marked the end of the last ODP. Flaming debris flew everywhere, most of it drawn down toward the surface of the moon. The rest of the defense grid was quickly annihilated.
Gathering its ships, the enemy fleet approached the shipyard. It had been evacuated and was controlled from the large underground Command Center. The three hundred attack interceptors were gathered around it, waiting for the approaching Confederation warships.
As the fleet approached, the interceptors suddenly darted forward in squadron formations. Their targets were damaged Confederation warships designated by the Command Center. Heavy weapons fire from the amassed Confederation fleet destroyed nearly 140 of the incoming interceptors in just the first few seconds. But the weapons on the Confederation ships were not designed to destroy small vessels, such as the interceptors were. The surviving interceptors darted into the Confederation fleet formation, making it difficult to fire on them. Small fusion-warhead-tipped missiles were launched, and fifteen damaged battlecruisers were turned into miniature novas.
-
From the Command Center, a message was sent to all the surviving attack interceptors. There was no way they could be rearmed. Instead they were ordered to leave the Saturn system of moons and head to Mars. The trip would take about eight hours, which the interceptors could easily do. As the interceptors pulled away from the enemy fleet, more were destroyed. When they were finally out of range, only eighty-three survived.
-
Colonel Edwards leaned back in his command chair, drawing in a deep breath. Only the space station survived in orbit, and the Confederation fleet was already entering weapons range. He watched silently as the viewscreens revealed the station’s energy screen suddenly erupting with light from the massive explosions tearing at it. Return weapons fire took out a few enemy vessels but not nearly enough to make a difference.
In a massive explosion, a full one-quarter of the station was torn apart. The station wobbled badly as more missiles and energy beams struck it. The energy screen finally failed completely, and antimatter missiles turned the rest of the station into an orbiting wreck of twisted metal and small fields of glowing gas. Something that had taken several years to build was now gone.
“What now?’ asked Governor Blake. He felt hopeless. There was no doubt in his mind they all would soon die.
“We let them get closer and then hit them with weapons fire from the PDCs,” replied Colonel Edwards. “The eight PDCs have as much firepower as the defense grid, the ODPs, and the space station combined. If they want to bomb Titan, we’ll make them pay for it.” Edwards was determined to take out as many ships of the invaders as possible.
-
Fleet Admiral Horrabe moved his fleet closer to the moon. It was time to take out the eight planetary defense bases and bombard the surface.
“Incoming weapons fire!” called out Tanod, as his sensors lit up with incoming missiles and beams of energy.
“We’re losing ships,” reported High Commander Corr, his eyes red with anger. “Those eight planetary bases are loaded with weapons.”
“Return fire!” ordered Horrabe, leaning forward in his command chair, causing it to creak beneath his weight. “Hit the bases as well as the Human cities.”
-
The heavy weapons fire from the PDCs tore into the orbiting fleet. Ship after ship was blown apart, causing debris to fall toward the planet. Massive blasts of energy covered various Confederation ships’ energy screens as hundreds of missiles rose from the surface. Fusion energy beam fire probed the screens seeking a weakness.
Missiles from the orbiting fleet struck the surface. Terrifying mushroom clouds rose into the atmosphere of Titan. Around the eight PDCs, the ground was turned into molten magma from the heat released by hundreds of antimatter and fusion missiles. The entire moon shook. Powerful moonquakes
opened up the ground into huge crevasses. Several long-dormant volcanoes erupted.
-
In the underground Command Center, a shaken Governor Blake watched in shock as city after city was annihilated in powerful blasts from antimatter weapons. “They’ll blow apart the moon!”
Colonel Edwards shook his head. “No, I doubt if they can do that. However, they are causing a lot of damage to the ecology we’ve spent years creating. Once this is over, it might be years before we can safely venture out on the surface again.”
“We’re losing so much,” said Blake, sitting down with a bowed head, not wanting to watch any more of the destruction.
“We’ll lose those PDCs,” pointed out Major Patterson. “The ground around them is being turned into molten magma, and the PDCs are sinking into it.”
“Can we evacuate them?” asked Edwards, deeply concerned. Each PDC was manned by several thousand military personnel.
Patterson shook her head. “The weapons fire is so intense that any attempt to leave would be suicidal.”
“How soon before the shields fail?”
“Not long. Several of the PDCs are now sitting on lakes of molten magma, and they’re still being struck by both fusion and antimatter missiles.”
-
Just outside the capital, the largest of the PDCs was putting up the maximum amount of resistance possible. Its missile batteries fired nonstop, its fusion energy cannons blasting away at the orbiting fleet, and the Marines in the periphery defensive stations eyed the molten magma worriedly. The heat inside grew intense, and personnel donned special PPE to protect themselves. Suddenly the entire PDC seemed to tilt, as it slid deeper into the molten magma. It was too much for the energy shield, which suddenly died. Two seconds later the PDC ceased to exist as over twenty antimatter and fusion missiles detonated, leaving a large glowing pit in the ground, which quickly filled with glowing magma.
Over the next ten minutes all the other PDCs on the moon met the same fate. As the last PDC slid beneath the magma, the battle of Titan came to an end. Over 112 antimatter missiles had been dropped on cities, smaller settlements, and mining operations. In addition another 207 fusion missiles had struck points of interest across the moon.
Already the terraformed atmosphere was turning dark as it filled with ash and smoke. The special energy shield that helped hold in the atmosphere and increase the temperature of the moon was gone, as the machinery that created that particular shield and its backups had been destroyed.
-
“What were our losses?” asked Fleet Admiral Horrabe. He knew only the massive superior firepower of his fleet had prevented the losses from being far greater than they were.
“Totals are 147 battlecruisers destroyed and another 218 damaged, plus 14 battleships destroyed and another 11 damaged.”
Horrabe’s large eyes moved to the viewscreens that showed the carnage he had showered on this inhabited moon. His review told him it was no longer capable of harboring life. “Send fleet units to the other moons of this gas giant and destroy any smaller colonies or mining operations. I want every visage of a Human presence destroyed.”
Horrabe planned on staying in the vicinity of this gas giant until his damaged ships had been repaired. He was also waiting on the report from his second force of ships that had gone to the larger gas giant. Horrabe leaned back in his command chair. The losses in destroying this moon had been far greater than he had expected, and, as a result, it might be necessary to modify his future attack plans.
-
In the underground Command Center, Colonel Edwards could feel the ground beneath the center shaking. The entire moon was wracked by moonquakes from the bombardment and the attack on the PDCs.
“How many people survived?” asked Governor Blake in a very low and shaken voice.
“We won’t know for a few days,” replied Major Patterson. “All the underground bunkers have instructions not to reveal themselves until we contact them. We don’t want the Confederation to learn of their presence or of our own.”
“We lost millions,” said Blake, his face as pale as a ghost. “How will we ever recover?”
“The terraformers can correct most of the ecological damage. As for the atmosphere and the heat, that will take longer. The equipment must be rebuilt, and we’ll bring in some water ice to melt in the atmosphere to help replace what we’ve lost. It’ll take several years. In the meantime, we may go back to living in domes until the moon is stable again.”
Governor Blake raised his gaze to look at the viewscreens. All they showed was destruction. Fires burned everywhere, and huge plumes of smoke rose upward. “What about the people who were left outside?”
Major Patterson shook her head. “If they’re not already dead, they will be in a few more hours. I’m sorry. We can do nothing more for them.”
Governor Blake closed his eyes tightly. He wished now he would have followed Admiral Reynolds’s advice to evacuate more people. At least those who could not make it safely to the underground bunkers. His belief they would ride out this attack had cost Titan millions of its citizens. He knew it would be days before they would know the exact total.
-
Admiral Reynolds let out a deep sigh. Titan was gone. He suspected there were survivors, but it would most likely be days before they could search them out.
“They bombed the entire moon,” uttered Head Councilor Drew Tristan in disbelief. “I didn’t think it would be this bad. I figured they would take out the military bases and several of the major cities. I never thought they would attempt to destroy the entire moon.”
“They’ve come here to destroy us and to make us an example of what happens to star systems that openly oppose the Confederation. What they did to Titan, I’m certain they plan on doing to the entire Solar System.”
“Millions of people dead,” said Tristan, shaking his head. “And it’ll only get worse.”
Reynolds nodded. “Ganymede is next, and its more heavily defended than Titan was, plus Rear Admiral Leeson and Second Fleet will aid in its defense.”
Tristan took a deep breath. “Let’s hope that’s enough.”
-
In the Jovian system, Lormallian Admiral Malleck nodded in satisfaction as his fleet smashed the defenses of one of the four largest moons. From the communication intercepts, this moon was called Europa. Long-range scans had indicated a number of strange aquatic life-forms living in the deep oceans of this moon.
Out of curiosity Malleck had decided not to destroy the entire moon but instead to destroy all the defensive installations as well as the main Human colony. He was also careful not to destroy the machinery that gave this moon life. Someday he might return to study the creatures in the deep oceans.
Standing in his Command Center, he gazed at the careful surgical strikes his combined fleets were making. Only the large orbiting defense station had been a problem, as he had lost three battlecruisers and a battleship destroying it. Communication intercepts had also provided the information as to what the Humans called those—ODPs.
“All primary targets have been annihilated,” reported First Officer Lorann. “All Human resistance has ceased.”
Admiral Malleck nodded in satisfaction. “Very well, we shall proceed to the primary target in this gas giant system and destroy it. I believe the inhabitants call it Ganymede.”
-
“It looks as if it’s our turn next,” reported Lieutenant Randall from his sensor console.
They had watched as the Confederation fleet had destroyed the defenses around Europa and then the main colony. They had listened as the scientists in charge of the colony had pleaded with the Confederation fleet not to destroy the colony. The scientists had gone into great detail, explaining they were only doing research and were not a danger to the Confederation. All to no avail.
Colonel Green nodded. He had been expecting that. Looking around the large Command Center, he hoped they were ready. Ganymede Central and all the defenses were at Cond
ition One. He also took solace in the fact that Rear Admiral Leeson and Second Fleet would assist in the defense of Ganymede Central and Ganymede itself. “What’s the latest report on Titan?”
His second in command, Major Gina Nelson, shook her head. “Destroyed. We think the underground Command Center and some of the deep bunkers survived, but the moon’s a mess. It will take years to restore it to what it was.”
Green took in a deep breath. “Well, let’s make certain that doesn’t happen here.”
“Should we launch the attack interceptors?”
“No, we’ll wait until we see large numbers of damaged Confederation warships. Between our defenses and Rear Admiral Leeson’s fleet, there should be a substantial number.”
“Confederation fleet will be in combat range in twelve minutes,” reported Lieutenant Randall at Sensors.
“Contact Governor Stone, and see how the evacuation’s going.” Green knew that Ganymede had long since heeded advice to build sufficient shelters for the entire population.
-
A few minutes passed, and Lieutenant Smith turned away from his communications console. “Governor Stone reports 90 percent of the population is safely in the bunkers. Marines have taken up defensive positions on the outskirts of the cities and in the countryside. All PDCs are operational and ready for combat. Governor Stone has entered the underground Command Center beneath Ganymede City and will remain there until this is over. She also reports that the emergency atmosphere-shield generator has been moved to a safe location and will be activated once the battle is over, if the primary generator is taken out.”
Colonel Green nodded. This was a wise precaution. The shield generator maintained a near-Earth-normal atmosphere for Ganymede, as well as helped to generate sufficient heat to keep the moon warm enough for life.
-
Just outside of the Moon’s orbit, Rear Admiral Leeson waited with Second Fleet. The fleet was at Condition One, and everyone knew combat was imminent.
The Forgotten Empire: The Battle For Earth: Book three Page 20