by Saxon Andrew
“How many ships?”
“Fifty-thousand, High Leader.”
“Double that number, Fleet Manager!”
“I’ve tripled it. I will not allow them to break through our lines.”
“Send a recording of what’s happening to my console.”
“It will be sent immediately.”
• • •
“Admiral, our scouts are detecting a giant formation of Fagan Warships moving out to meet us.”
Martov turned to his scanning officer, “How many ships?”
“A hundred and fifty thousand, Sir. They’re forming up just outside their territory.”
“How many of their major warships?”
“Two-hundred are mixed into their formations, Admiral.”
Martov nodded and turned back to the tactical monitor. Evidently, his fleets had been detected by enemy scouts. Well, that was to be expected. He was still two days out from Fagan space and he ordered his crews to make sure they were rested. He left the bridge and went to his quarters where he took a sleeping pill; there was no way he could have slept on his own.
• • •
The Fagan finally managed to form up in an attack formation twelve hours before the attackers arrived. The formation was composed of fifty lines of three thousand warships each with four giant Fortresses in each. The lines were staggered to offer overlapping fields of fire and the Fleet Manager ordered, “Hold ranks and move out toward the approaching enemy formation.”
• • •
Admiral Martov watched the Fagan warships moving toward his fleets and he waited until they were twenty minutes away before ordering, “All ships, move into Block Defense Formation.” The six large fleets surrounding the twelve Defense Platforms instantly moved in and formed a giant cube surrounding the platforms. The twelve Defense Platforms moved out from the center of the formation and into position with two on each side of the cube. Martov smiled and knew the Fagan Commander didn’t have time to do much to respond to his formation.
• • •
The Fagan had not faced Earth’s Cube formation like the aliens. The aliens lost thousands of warships when they faced it and the Fagan were about to find out just how difficult it was to take on this formation. The Fagan Fleet Manager was surprised by the sudden change in the enemy’s formation and he ordered, “Twelve fleets move out and attack each side of that formation!” Thirty-seven thousand and five hundred Fagan warships rushed out to attack each of the six sides of the cube.
• • •
The Fagan’s new warships were just as fast as Earth’s warships and were of similar power in their blasters. But the Fagan ships rushed in bow first toward a tightly packed formation of close to ten-thousand warships lined up to deliver a broadside. Martov ordered, “All ships open fire when the enemy vessels enter blaster range. Defense Platforms take out the large ships before they move into range.”
The old model Defense Platforms required five seconds to recharge their blasters between each shot. These new platforms only required a second and they delivered a devastating blow to the approaching Fortresses. The Fagan attack moved in quickly, but their giant fortresses went up in horrific blasts at long range taking out hundreds of Fagan warships holding formation around them. Only one Fortress managed to get a shot off at Earth’s formation destroying three-hundred warships. The other five sides of the cube sent sixty warships to replace them and the cube shrunk to make up for the change.
The Fagan warships rushed into a withering wall of blaster fire that vaporized every Fagan ship that flew into it. Earth’s warships had computer controlled cross fire and, though the Fagan’s blasters were just as powerful, they died before they could target a ship. “ALL SHIPS WITHDRAW! WITHDRAW IMMEDIATELY!!” the Fagan Fleet Manager ordered.
The surviving Fagan warships turned and Martov ordered, “Launch missiles.” The Fagan warships found a giant wave of missiles leaving the giant cube and thousands of Fagan warships were going up in massive blasts. Martov turned to his scanning officer, “Numbers destroyed?”
“Over fifty-thousand warships and all two-hundred of the giant vessels, Sir.”
• • •
The High Leader watched the devastation of his fleets and yelled over his communicator, “GET SOMEONE THERE THAT’S NOT INCOMPETENT!!”
• • •
The Fagan fleets tried to move out of blaster range to reform their ranks, but the Defense Platforms raked them mercilessly and forced them to move far outside the platform’s blaster range. The Supreme Fleet Manager contacted a subordinate and began issuing orders. Martov smiled, launched another missile barrage, and saw the Fagan formations scatter to avoid them; however, they still lost another thousand warships.
“Sir, I have another enemy formation moving this way at high-speed.” Martov turned and the scanning officer looked up from his console, “There are more than nine-hundred of their major warships in that formation.” Martov’s eyes widened and the scanning officer turned back to his console, “They are using an evasive course to approach us, Sir.”
Martov looked up at the tactical monitor and saw the incoming formation was going to be extremely difficult to target. Locking one of the fortresses into the computer’s targeting system couldn’t be done until they were very close to his formation. He thought for a moment and then knew what they were going to do. Every one of those giant warships was going to open fire simultaneously on his formation. Detecting them behind their barrage was not possible. “Sir, another formation of seven-hundred large warships is moving in directly behind the first formation.”
Martov shook his head; this species learned fast. Much faster than the aliens learned to deal with the cube formation. “All ships, turn and withdraw. Continue firing until ordered otherwise.” He watched the Fagan formations moving in at high-speed and he thought about moving all the Defense Platforms to the rear of the formation to fire at the incoming giants; but they would be forced to fly backwards to fire their heavy blasters and that would slow his formation and allow the Fagan Warships to move into range of his fleets. He shook his head and remembered losing three-hundred warships to just one of those giant blasters. He immediately ordered, “Go to maximum speed.”
• • •
The High Leader saw the two huge formations of Fortresses stopped and he screamed at the Senior Fleet manager, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!”
“High Leader, war is a learning experience. The formation used against us is impenetrable by our warships. The combined cross fire and missiles cannot be defeated by our warships. The only answer to that formation is to attack it with our fortresses to break it apart where our warships can move in and attack. We cannot overtake that enemy formation, High Leader, and following them back to their space would put our Fortresses in jeopardy. Do you not think they have many more of those large vessels in their space?”
“Send out scouts and find out. If they don’t, your life is over!”
“My life is not as important as protecting our Empire, High Leader.”
The High Leader was enraged by the loss of so many warships and fortresses, but his rage turned to fear when the scouts reported more than ten thousand of the giant vessels located in enemy space. He had the Fleet Manager that lost the battle executed but the Senior Fleet Manager was spared; his wisdom impressed the High Leader greatly. He immediately ordered the major planets to focus on building more Fortresses.
• • •
Wade recorded the battle and sent it to Fleet Operations. This put a dent in the Fagan forces. He forwarded the High Leader’s conversation with his Senior Admiral along with the recording of the battle. He didn’t know if this battle was a good thing or not. Building more Fortresses could prove to be more dangerous to Melbourne in the long run.
• • •
Admiral Toruga’s fleets were moving at high-speed toward alien territory. He was amazed by his fast promotion to Major Fleet Admiral from commanding a Defense Platform. He suspected Admiral Jennings
didn’t like it but that was too bad. His uncle was the Dictator and he knew that was the main cause of his fast promotion. He really lacked experience at commanding this many vessels, but he would depend on his Second-in-Command to help him make the right decisions. Junior Admiral Kornegay had fought in many battles against the aliens and managed to survive. He turned to Kornegay, “What attack plan do you recommend?”
“The Defense Block is the best one to use against superior numbers, Sir.”
“Set it up, Admiral.”
“I’ve already issued the orders, Sir.” Toruga frowned and Kornegay quickly added, “If you prefer another formation, we can move into it, Sir.”
Toruga shook his head, “No, superior numbers call for the block.” Toruga sat back and turned to his communications officer, “Let me know if the scouts take out the aliens’ ships.”
“Yes Sir.” Toruga had ordered the stealth scouts to remove the ships the aliens had in position to give them an early warning. Unfortunately for Toruga, the aliens had learned their lesson from their scouts being removed before the Fagan attack and there were now six lines of scouts instead of one. Little things make huge differences.
• • •
The War Leader heard his communication leader announce, “War Leader, one of our lines of scouts is being attacked.”
“Which line!?”
“The one keeping track of the space between us and the first enemy. Should I direct ships to attack the ships destroying our scouts?”
“No!” The War Leader smiled, so the first enemy was attacking again. It had been a long time and he began issuing orders.
• • •
A powered down alien scout located far out from alien territory detected the oncoming Earth fleet and launched a high-speed message probe. The tiny probe wasn’t detected, and it arrived far ahead of Earth’s fleets. The fleets from Earth weren’t using their active scanners and the powered down scout went undetected. The War Leader stared at the recording on the message probe and began issuing new orders. This fleet had some of the giant platforms with it; that changed things dramatically.
• • •
Katherine was in command of the Earth Scouts assigned to report on the battle. She heard the Admiral order all alien scouts destroyed and knew that was stupid; you could fool the aliens once but twice was sheer stupidity. She thought about warning the Admiral, but he had the same information she did. This Admiral didn’t take being second guessed well. She ordered her scouts to form a long line at the edge of their communication’s range. The scout closest to the fleet would send a recording of what transpired, and it would be sent down the chain to her scout. Command had its privileges and she didn’t care if she was viewed as a coward. She had run into the aliens once and nearly died; she wasn’t going to risk it again.
• • •
Admiral Toruga received word from his scout commander that the line of alien scouts had been removed. He smiled and ordered, “Move into Block Defensive Formation.” The huge fleet formed up and went to high speed. The alien front lines appeared at the edge of his scanners and his eyes narrowed, “Why aren’t they moving out to meet us?”
Admiral Kornegay shook his head, “I don’t know. They always have in the past.” Suddenly, the entire front line of alien warships launched a massive missile barrage at the Earth formation. The scanning officer shouted, “SIR, I HAVE HUGE WAVES OF MISSILES MOVING IN ON ALL SIDES OF OUR FORMATION!!”
Toruga ordered his fleets to open fire when those missiles moved into firing range! “Where are the missiles to the sides of our formation coming from!?” Toruga demanded.
The scanning officer activated an active scan and his face turned white, “Sir, I’m detecting hundreds of their Planet Killers moving in on all sides of our formation!”
Toruga turned to Kornegay in shock and Kornegay saw he was paralyzed by what was happening, “All ships turn and flee! All ships turn and flee!” But it was too late. The missiles slammed into the formation and were vaporized by the combined blasters being fired around the giant formation. Fleeing into those destructive blasts was suicide and the Earth Fleet remained in formation. Kornegay turned to the scanning officer, “What’s happening?”
“Sir, I can’t see through the missile explosions surrounding us!”
Kornegay saw the explosions stop at the edge of the warships’ blaster range and when they cleared, thousands of alien Planet Killers appeared well inside the range of their blasters. They opened fire simultaneously and the horrific beams blew through the Earth Fleet’s blaster barrage. The Defense Platforms destroyed more than a hundred Planet Killers before they were overwhelmed by the massive alien barrage; however, every warship in the giant cube was blasted into vapor.
Katherine saw the massive destruction as hundreds of warships flew out toward the closest stealth scout. She turned her ship and fled at maximum speed. She was far outside the range of the alien scanners; only three of her scouts managed to escape with her. She shook her head. This young Admiral was as dumb as a brick. Going in without active scans was idiotic. Hell, his fleet was already detected. An active scan would have revealed the trap set out for him. But nooooooo! He went in blind. Kathy decided that it was time to retire to one of the conquered planets. She had enough time in to retire and she was not going to do this sort of thing again.
• • •
Katherine stood in front of Earth’s Ruling Council and knew that her dream of retirement was just not going to happen. She had been arrested when she arrived at Earth and charged with cowardice in front of the enemy. She watched the ten councilors enter the chamber and knew this hearing was a sham; they were going to execute her. She shook her head and felt her anger start to rise. Easy, girl; you know your temper will only get you in trouble, she thought.
One of the councilors sitting at the right end of the table looked up and lowered his eyes, “Captain Rice, it appears you’ve managed to escape twice when all the other scouts have been destroyed. Three scouts under your command have accused you of cowardice during combat. Do you have anything to say in defense?”
Kathy stared at the Councilor and just couldn’t help herself, “The only reason those three treasonous scouts survived was due to my plans to make sure information about the battle with the aliens got back to the Council, Sir.”
The councilor looked down at his display and sneered, “Your scout crews testified that you placed your ship as far away from the attack as possible showing your fear to those under your command.”
Kathy’s face turned red, “Councilor, I was ordered to get a recording back to the Council and I knew from my previous run-ins with the aliens that was not going to be easily done. I knew the fleet was going blindly into trouble and telling the Admiral was not going to do any good. I set up a plan to insure the recording got back to you.”
“What was your plan, Captain?” A woman in the center of the table asked.
“I had my forty scouts move out in single file behind the fleets. The scout closest to the fleets stayed just inside recording range and the scout behind him also stayed in receiving range of what it was recording. Whatever the lead scout recorded would be instantly passed down the chain of forty scouts to my ship.”
“Why did you choose to do it that way?”
Katy glared at the woman, “When the Fagan attacked the aliens, once the battle started, the aliens launched warships to remove any scouts recording it. I was the only survivor of their attack because I shutdown all my systems and coasted away. I was nearly discovered numerous times and I decided that the only way to get any recording back to the Council was to string my scouts out single file such that the scout furthest from the battle would be far enough away to escape. Thirty-seven scouts were still destroyed but four managed to survive with the recording.”
The man at the center of the table asked, “What do you mean by saying the fleets were going blindly into trouble?”
Kathy knew that the Dictator was pure trouble, but she glared a
t him; she was dead anyway. “Because I told the Admiral about how the alien’s scouts were removed by the Fagan and they would probably not fall into that trap again. He told me to keep my mouth shut and if he wanted my advice, he’d ask for it. So, I followed his orders and waited for the aliens to kick our asses.” The Dictator’s expression turned angry and Kathy didn’t care. “The Admiral was a consummate idiot. He went into the battle without using his active scanners that would have revealed the trap he was moving into.” Kathy paused and shrugged, “I guess I really can’t blame him; he never led a fleet into battle and was totally inexperienced to do it. His fleet paid the price for that!”
The Dictator glared at Kathy and said menacingly, “Are you aware the Admiral was my nephew?”
“Everyone knew that. We all assumed it was you that promoted him to the position. I can stand here and tell you he did a wonderful job leading the fleets into that massacre, but it wouldn’t be true. He was an idiot! So, go ahead and order me executed; I’m sure that’s why I’m here. Just one more life lost because of an incompetent officer.” Kathy paused and added, “His job was to make sure his fleet wasn’t lost, and he failed miserably. My mission was to get a recording of the battle back to you and I carried out my mission. So much for being rewarded for success.”
A guard raised a shoulder blaster and pointed it at Kathy, but the Dictator said with menace in his tone, “If you do anything I don’t order, it will be the last thing you do.”
“Ye, Sir. But she’s being very disrespectful.”
The Dictator nodded, “So, she is.” The chamber was silent, and the Dictator finally asked, “If you could have told the Admiral anything and he’d listen to you, what would it be?”
“I would have told him that the aliens were mauled by the Fagan when their line of scouts were taken out and they would never allow that to happen again. Sending out our scouts ahead of the fleet to remove an alien line of scouts would only warn them that our fleets were headed their way. The aliens even allowed the line of scouts being attacked by our scouts to be destroyed, making the Admiral think he had a clear way into the alien lines.”