Invasion

by Jerry Shepard

  "Minor damage on our starboard hull, midship," replied the ensign.

  "Helm, how long until we can make the jump?" yelled Noah.

  "One minute until we reach the jump gate, captain. And another minute to confirm the calculations with the jump gate nav system. The jump engines are spooling now!" responded Ensign Torrance.

  Noah's focus was drawn to a small orange flash appearing some distance away from the ship.

  "Sir, we have destroyed the fighter craft," said the Gunnery Officer.

  "Note it in your report, Reggie, that I gave your people an opportunity to stand down and they chose to attack us instead," Noah said. "That death is not on me. It's on stupidity!"

  "I will note that we gave them every chance to declare their intentions and instead the craft was hostile in intent," replied Rig'nak.

  "Doctor Sarduun," Noah said. "You might be better off babysitting the artifact. I don't want anything happening out there to affect it and cause us to explode."

  "Certainly captain. I'm on my way," Liana said.

  "Good! Communications, can we get a message to Earth?"

  "No sir. The fleet appears to have taken out the communications buoys upon entering the system. We will need to alert Alliance HQ once we arrive in the next Alliance controlled system."

  "Okay. Not ideal but we will make do. Helm! How long?"

  "We have finished confirmation of the calculations with the jump gate. Jumping on your mark, captain."

  "Do it!"

  WARNING: SENT

  Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Serrat System

  "Alliance, Earth, Headquarters. All Alliance ships in Alliance space. This is the UAF Titan currently located in the Serrat system. We have come under fire in the Mengoth system by what looks to be a Xen invasion fleet of at least fifty ships. Be advised that this fleet is currently headed for the Serrat system and it is my belief that it intends to then head for the core of Alliance space. I repeat! We have been fired upon by elements of a Xen invasion fleet in the Mengoth system. The fleet is headed toward the Serrat system and most probably, Earth."

  Noah repeated the message three more times so that the communications buoys had a chance to establish the warning on a loop for all ships in Alliance space. He knew that out in the fringe systems like Serrat, the rudimentary communications equipment did not lend itself to instantaneous communications. So the message he was sending now, would eventually be received by Earth and every ship in the fleet from between four and five hours from now. And the best way for it to be received was to provide enough content for the communication to loop it over and over.

  When he was satisfied that the communications would be transmitting not only his voice and image but also the data related to the Xen fleet, he closed the communications panel on his chair. Noah looked at O'Malley and motioned him over.

  "Lieutenant," Noah said. "I want the entire complement of Xen crew on this ship rounded up and confined to the brig. Place someone in charge to perform this task. You are now my new XO."

  "Reggie," Noah continued as he looked at Rig'nak. "You will confine yourself to quarters until further notice!"

  "Captain, are you placing me under arrest? For what charge?" asked an indignant Rig'nak as two guards approached and flanked him.

  "I do not have the luxury of time to argue regulations with you Reggie. Suffice to say that I have a Xen battle fleet that is bearing down on Earth. I have a ship that is partly crewed by the same race of people, and oh yeah, my XO is also one of them. Until I can be sure of the loyalties of your people on my ship, they and you, are to be confined until further notice."

  Noah turned to Kevin. "O'Malley, have two guards placed outside of Reggie's quarters."

  "Why not just put him in the brig with the rest of them, captain?" O'Malley asked.

  "Because he is the current XO. And his rank does deserve a bit of consideration. He will be afforded the benefit of his rank while undergoing house arrest," answered Noah.

  O'Malley slid close to Noah and in a low voice warned him. "Do you really think this is wise? It's possible that none of these Xen have anything to do that fleet out there."

  "Yes. I've considered that possibility. Now, have you asked yourself if its coincidence that we are sent on this mission, to a remote system, to retrieve a Xen artifact, and had a large contingent of Xen crew forced upon us. Including an XO! And then, on top of all of that, we encounter a Xen battle fleet? Have you asked yourself what the odds of that are?"

  "Fair enough, Noah. As long as you've considered the ramifications of your actions, we're good."

  "I have lieutenant. Carry on," replied Noah. He hated having to treat his best friend as anything else but his equal, and wanted to regard him with more familiarity, but at the present time with the tense atmosphere, he needed to afford O'Malley an excuse of 'just following orders from my captain'. That courtesy would help him with the goodwill of the crew as well as the formal inquiry that was sure to follow when they returned to Earth.

  Noah turned on the general communications system to address the ship. "Battle stations. Prepare for battle! Lieutenants Johnston and O'Malley, as well as Doctor Sarduun, report to my quarters immediately."

  ***

  Noah had just finished greeting Johnston and O'Malley when Liana stormed into his quarters.

  "Are you out of your fucking mind?" she raged. "You had the entire Xen crew and members of my team arrested and put in the brig? On what charges?"

  "I don't have time to explain every intricate detail as to why, Liana. While we are fighting that Xen fleet out there, I need to know that I can trust everyone here on this ship. Right now, I have zero trust in any Xen. So I will detain them, for the time being, until I can figure out if any of them are threats to the ship."

  "So all that stuff about treating them with respect, that was all bullshit apparently?" Liana countered.

  "Not all bullshit, Liana. I just need to know, right now, I can trust the people on my ship if I'm entrusting my life and the lives of others in a fight. And right now, I need answers. Is the stasis field around the Xen artifact still holding?"

  Liana seethed at Noah. He could understand her anger at her concerns being so cavalierly thrown aside. He knew that she didn't want to answer him but he needed to get a complete picture of what he was dealing with and expected her to at least understand the predicament they were in. "Yes, the stasis fields are holding," she said. "We have even commandeered a secondary field generation system that will be the backup for the stasis system currently encasing the artifact."

  "Excellent, doctor. Thank you," Noah said. "And as a favor to you, I will instruct the guards to remain at their post outside the medical bay. Lur'vot does not have to report to the brig. He can stay in there and heal his wounds in the interim."

  "Lieutenant Johnston, I want boarding parties ready to not only defend the Titan but also to take the fight to them and board any ships that dare to try to get too close to us. How soon can they be ready?"

  "Give me three hours and I will have them ready, captain."

  "Good! Dismissed!"

  "O'Malley? I need you to work with Gardozo in Engineering. We won't be able to outrun that fleet here in the Serrat system, so I need more power to the shields and maneuvering engines. There are enough asteroid belts to hide us as we take that fleet on."

  "And are we taking it on, Noah?"

  "We are going to attempt to delay that fleet for as long as possible. The longer it takes them to get out of this system, the more time our fleets have to organize, mass, and then attack."

  ATTACK

  Noah waited for the inevitable shout from his bridge crew that the Xen fleet was detected. He had guessed that the enemy fleet would need roughly five hours to decipher the navigational charts from the jump gate and make their way here.

  He had been working out battle scenarios during the long wait and decided that this enemy would pursue a likely tactic of sending the light, fighter craft in first to try to take
out the Titan. This would not be a particularly good tactic if the enemy chose to use it, as the Titan's hull was made to withstand the light weapons used by fighter craft. But if the enemy chose to engage him with larger ships, that might prove to be more of a challenge depending upon the odds. He decided he would need to make very smart use of the asteroid fields in this system if outnumbered.

  "Contact!" came the call from the LARS team.

  "On screen," replied Noah.

  The holoscreen shimmered to life and the Xen fleet could be seen headed toward their position. Noah could see that the thirty or so ships had changed formation and that some of the frigates were now flanking the large capital ship in the rear. He could see that the lead elements of the enemy fleet contained two fighter craft and two destroyer sized ships. This would prove a challenge for the old targeting systems. He could only hope that the upgrades made in port would prove to be worthy of the time and effort spent.

  Noah, pulled up the communications panel on his chair and pressed a button on it to address the ship.

  "All hands, All hands. Prepare for battle! We have detected the enemy fleet heading toward our position. It is my intention to harass this fleet and delay them long enough to allow the Alliance to bring enough ships to stop this invasion. We will perform a fighting retreat and jump to the next system. We will make them pay for each jump they take closer to Earth."

  Noah turned off the comms panel and turned his attention back to the advancing enemy fleet.

  "Helm, take us toward that asteroid field. I want them to see us go in there," Noah said.

  "Yes, Captain."

  O'Malley raised his objection "Captain, we will not be able to maintain our shields in that asteroid field. If we get hit, we will experience damage to the ship"

  "Noted lieutenant. It's a risk. But less of a risk than going toe-to-toe with four, or more, ships at once. Like a large fish, we're gonna wait until the smaller one passes by and then strike!"

  Noah watched on screen as the lead elements, as expected, peeled away from the fleet to intercept them.

  "Captain, two light fighters and two destroyer class ships on intercept with us."

  "Take us into the asteroid field, ensign."

  "Sir? It might be hard to fight them and dodge asteroids at the same time. We're not exactly a snub-fighter."

  "I have faith in your piloting skills, son."

  The Titan managed to ease into the asteroid field a full two minutes before the lead fighter craft came in range.

  "Captain, two more destroyer class ships are now on an intercept with us," came the shout from the LARS team.

  That information started to worry Noah a bit. Six large ships, of which four destroyer class, were bearing down on them. It was going to take every trick he knew and then they might barely make it out.

  "Noted. How soon can we target that lead fighter?"

  "It's in range...now, sir."

  "Fire at will on the fighter. I want it gone!"

  Noah saw the laser batteries open up at short range on the fighter as it came around an asteroid to start it's attack run. After a few seconds of tracking the shots to get it right, an energy bolt found home and the fighter exploded into an ironically beautiful, yet deadly puff of orange and then nothing but shimmering pieces of technology floating in space.

  "One down!" yelled the Gunnery Officer.

  "Captain, in this asteroid field it will be hard to track the bogeys. We will need to rely more on visual and use the scanners and telemetry as backup," offered Ensign Torrance.

  "Agreed, open the blast shields and let's get a good look at them. In the meantime, I still need you to track them on scanner."

  The blast shields slowly opened as the Titan moved through the asteroids. Noah noticed the helmsmen doing their best to ensure that the larger asteroids did not collide and damage the ship. He could hear the occasional ping as the smaller rocks would bounce off the hull. The biggest worry, he thought, were the ones the size of large buildings. Those could seriously ruin your day.

  As the ship nosed down to avoid a massive rock tumbling overhead the second fighter came into view on a collision course with the Titan. The batteries opened fire and in seconds, it's pilot joined the previous one in the afterlife.

  "Two down!"

  "Excellent shooting!" responded Noah. These new recruits were getting some valuable experience after all, he thought. The ship veered rightward to avoid another large rock tumbling toward it. This brought them closer to the edge of the asteroid field and closer to open space. The helmsmen were veering back left when the Titan shuddered suddenly and the HUD panels in the bridge turned red..

  "Captain, the Xen destroyer off our starboard side, hit us with a tachyon cannon."

  "Damage?"

  "Minimal at this time captain. No fatalities. We do have some hull damage but it is repairable. Two small sections of the hull were exposed to the vacuum of space. But we have closed off that portion of the ship and the ship's atmosphere is no longer venting out.

  "Excellent. Are we drawing her in?"

  "It appears so captain. She is heading to intercept us on our current position."

  "Good. Let her come in. Helm, do you see that massive asteroid up ahead? The one that is twice our size?"

  "Yes, captain. Bearing two, four, oh and a distance of twenty thousand meters."

  "I want you to hide us on the other side of that asteroid so that when she comes into the field to join us, she doesn't see us until it's too late. Can you do it?"

  O'Malley came to stand next to Noah. "What the hell are ya' doing, you crazy bastard?" he asked in a low whisper.

  "Old friend, I'm going to trick them. Just watch. Gunnery, hold fire until I give the order. When you do, keep the railguns in reserve. We have a limited amount of ammunition and I don't want to waste it all here."

  The Titan slowed down as it approached the asteroid. The rock was so massive it could've been declared a very small moon. The braking and maneuvering thrusters engaged and moments later the ship was playing hide and seek with the enemy destroyer.

  Noah noticed that the larger ships were easier to track on the scanners .

  "Use the scanners for threat tracking and assessment."

  Just as he finished his statement, an enemy destroyer came around the massive rock at a distance of fifty thousand meters. It continued to cross the Titan's path from right to left. I apparently had not seen them, yet.

  "Let her have it!" Noah said.

  Laser batteries instantly opened up along with the Ion particle beams and Plasma cannons. Small blossoms of orange and blue fire dotted the hull of the enemy ship where the shots found their mark. The Titan's batteries continued to pour it on the ship as the enemy ship returned fire. The Titan shuddered at the impact of the more powerful weapons slamming into its hull.

  "We are getting reports of damage from decks four, thirteen and nine. Minor casualties. No major structural damage yet, captain but we really need to get somewhere where the shields can take some of this pounding!" yelled O'Malley over the din of the battle.

  Noah entered something into his datapad as he tried to ignore the beating the ship was taking. "Helm, get ready to mini-jump to these coordinates I'm sending you now. We will jump on my mark. In the meantime I want full impulse and head directly for that destroyer"

  "Aye, captain!"

  "Rail guns, on my mark. Three, Two, One...mark!" Noah said.

  The ship's railguns opened fire on the enemy destroyers. The projectiles they electromagnetically "threw" at the ship were half as long as the intended target was. In seconds they found their mark, slamming into the ship and tearing it in half. Noah saw the atmosphere vent from the ship in quick clouds of gas. One instant later, the rear portion of the ship exploded, which caused a chain reaction with the front half that was drifting away.

  "Helm...mini-jump...now!"

  The visual in front of the ship changed in an instant from the burning wreckage of the enemy ship surrounded b
y asteroids, to a hazy green that limited vision.

  "LARS? Sitrep?" Noah said.

  "We have jumped to the opposite side of the Class IV planet at position Oh, Nine, Four, Two on the system map. The three remaining enemy ships are still looking for us in the asteroid field on the other side of the system."

  "Excellent news," Noah said. He sidled up next to O'Malley. "See? I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve. They are going to keep searching for us in that field. And then, since we jumped as their ship exploded, they might think we rammed her and disintegrated."

  "Aye, ya do," O'Malley said as he shook his head and smiled. "That's for sure. You sneaky bastard."

  "Okay my friend. This planet will protect us from scans coming from their fleet. Now let's get on some of those repairs. I want whatever can be repaired now, to be completed as soon as possible. We may have to re-engage them soon. They may not be fooled forever and if they aren't they will most likely start searching every part of this system until they find us."

  WARNING: RECEIVED

  Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Earth

  "What the fuck is this shit, Pon'mot?!" seethed Roskan as he barged into the office and threw down the datapad in front of the seated ambassador. "Your people are attacking our mission that was sent to Ankarii IV! I mean I know you hate Jameson, but those are YOUR people on that ship too!"

  "Please, Admiral Roskan, you are welcome in my office, but..."

  "I don't have time for pleasantries, Pon'mot. Your people are attacking the Titan. There's a whole goddamned Xen battle fleet out there!"

  The ambassador took the data pad and pressed a tab. The message from Captain Jameson and the data readout of the ships in the invasion fleet were displayed on a loop for the next few minutes. The ambassador's eyes grew red and then yellow as he looked at the pictures and technical readouts of the invasion fleet. Once finished, the ambassador stood up and paced the room as he spoke.

  "Admiral Roskan. How can you be so sure that these are the ships of my people? All of our ships are accounted for and have not left the core of Alliance space in years."