by Saxon Andrew
Chapter Nine
Admiral Mulvaney entered Abby’s office and quickly said, “Sir, the first of the aliens’ scouts have arrived in Fagan space.”
Abby sighed, “I thought they’d miss the deadline. How many?”
“This first group arrived two days before the deadline expired and there’s twenty-thousand scouts moving to our side of the Sagittarius Spiral Arm. Our scouts report intercepting Fagan communications assigning them to areas in the Perseus Arm to search. It won’t take them as long as we thought to get organized, Sir.”
“How is Operation Zombie going, Admiral?”
“We should be able to get everyone off Melbourne in another six weeks, if all goes according to plan.”
“Well, that’s how long we’re going to have to delay them. Who is in command of the Super Rabbits?”
“Desmond Fry has taken command of the fleets, Sir.”
Abby’s eyes narrowed, “I thought he had renounced his Melbourne citizenship?”
“His wife has but he hasn’t, Sir. At least not yet. He requested to take part in defending Melbourne and I’ve accepted his request. He’s the best one available to do it, Prime Minister.”
“What’s his plan?”
“He knows we need to delay the main attack for six weeks and he’s planning to attack the alien scouts just after they enter our spiral arm.” Mulvaney shrugged, “Melbourne is not near the edge of our spiral arm and it will take some time for the scouts to move deep into the Perseus spiral arm to Melbourne’s location.”
“But if he destroys the scouts closest to Melbourne’s location, that’s where they’ll send their main attack to search for us.”
“Sir, he intends to take all of the scouts out simultaneously.”
“Just how is he going to do that?” Abby asked with a furrowed brow.
“New Britannia has developed new software for our coated mini-missiles that will allow them to follow a ship undetected until they receive a launch order. We have fifty-thousand Super Rabbits and they’ll all be assigned three scouts to take out. This will be done using the mini-missiles and none of the Rabbits should be detected by the scouts before they’re destroyed.”
“Won’t the Rabbits be seen by the scouts?”
“Our scanners have a much longer range than the scouts being sent, Sir. It’s going to take a tremendous coordination effort, but he believes it can be done. The computers on our stealth scouts will be linked to our main computer system in Fleet Operations and they’ll be tracking the scouts and making the proper assignments to the Super Rabbits.”
Abby’s expression showed her sudden concern, “Admiral, if just one of our stealth scouts is detected, our plans will fail!”
“Sir, our scout commanders are aware of that and they’ve learned how to avoid being detected scouting the aliens and Fagan civilizations for the last five years.” Mulvaney paused and continued, “Sir, we must do this to buy us enough time to move the rest of Melbourne’s population.”
Abby sighed, “I guess you can’t make an omelet without cracking some eggs. How long until they launch, Admiral?”
“The rest of the alien scouts have to arrive and then be issued an area to search. I suspect that will happen within another week to ten days.”
“Keep me informed, Admiral.”
“Yes
Sir.”
• • •
The alien war leader was furious that it had taken more than twenty days to convince the High Council to agree to the truce. He was forced to send the first scouts out ahead of the others to arrive before the deadline passed. He was leading the other scouts and they would arrive two days after the deadline. However, the Fagan accepted the terms of the truce when the first scouts arrived before the deadline, and he decided that no harm had been done. He had been promoted to Senior War Leader and was in command of all the forces being used in this mission. He was surprised that the Fagan only had forty-five thousand scouts to use in the search, but he figured they kept an equal number between them and the Empire to make sure they weren’t attacked during this mission; he’d have done the same thing. Trust between enemies wasn’t something one could count on. Twelve days passed while the scouts were assigned the areas of the spiral arm to search and then, finally, the launch order was given. He had violated the terms of the truce by coming back in his Planet Killer, but the Fagan didn’t appear to be bothered by that. Three Fagan Fortresses surrounded his ship on arrival and remained in place as they followed his ship wherever he moved. He watched the massive formations of scouts go into their stardrives and disappear from outside the Fagan’s territory and head toward the distant spiral arm where this unknown enemy was suspected of being. He should know shortly if the Fagan were right about it being there.
• • •
Major Fleet Admiral Desmond Fry watched the alien scouts launch from a feed being sent by a stealth scout. He activated the command frequency on his console and ordered, “They are on the way. Move your fleets inside the spiral arm and have your ships assigned their targets. Remember, only passive scanners are to be used. Fleet Operations will issue the attack order and count it down. Make sure none of your Rabbits attack early! This is critical to the success of our mission!”
Desmond ended the call and Louisa turned to him, “You need to remember that you’ve been ordered not to take part in this attack.” Desmond shook his head and Louisa added, “Grady allowed Admiral Mulvaney to convince him to allow you to lead this mission but only if you weren’t involved in combat.”
“I’ll follow my orders!” Grady snapped back.
Louisa released a small breath before saying, “I know the warrior in you hates this but if you’re going to command a fleet, you must remember that you are too critical to risk.”
“I know, I know!” Desmond paused and added, “I just hate being forced to stand on the sidelines.”
“If you hate it now, wait until the enemies’ warships arrive. This is good practice to insure you follow your orders,” Louisa quickly responded. She paused and asked, “How do you think the Rabbit pilots are going to feel when the main attack takes place?”
“I can feel it right now, Louisa.”
“Keep that in mind, Des!” Desmond nodded and turned to the tactical monitor on the Brer Rabbit.
• • •
The long line of scouts fanned out and moved toward the Perseus Spiral Arm. The fifty-thousand Super Rabbits were high above the edge of the arm and were assigned to their targets as the scouts moved closer. The Rabbits moved as the scouts entered the arm and followed their assigned targets. The search began and after a week, the Rabbits received an order from Fleet Operations, “Launch the mini-missiles now.”
The Super Rabbits moved around the spiral arm from scout to scout launching a mini-missile at the three scouts they were assigned. They remained outside the scanning range of the scouts and twelve hours later, they received the attack order, “Activate your mini-missiles in two minutes.” Every pilot saw the countdown on their consoles and finally they heard, “In ten...nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…Fire!”
• • •
The alien scout was communicating with one of the scouts in his unit complaining about the unending search, “This is getting old fast. I’ve not found anything; what about you?”
“Nothing. I’m beginning to think that this so-called civilization isn’t…”
The scout’s communication abruptly ended, and the first scout asked, “I stopped receiving your transmission. Are you receiving me?” A moment later, the scout’s ship blew up in a large explosion.
• • •
The Rabbits sent the launch order to their missiles and the invisible mini-missiles roared in on the thousands of enemy scouts. Two hundred and twelve of the mini-missiles failed to hit their targets due to software failure but Fleet Operations vectored in a Rabbit on the surviving scouts to launch again. The enemy scouts were so spread out, they didn’t know they were under
attack and all of them were destroyed within three minutes of the launch order.
Desmond contacted Commander Wade Alexander, “Did any of them get a message out?!”
“None was detected, Sir.” Desmond fell back in his chair; the plan had worked. Now he waited to see how long it would take the enemy to discover the loss of their scouts.
• • •
The War Leader sat on his ship and stretched his body out. He flowed into his chair and looked at the communication leader, “Any word?”
“No, War Leader. We’re actually not receiving any communications from our scouts.”
The War Leader sat up straight, “What do you mean by that?”
“With that many scouts out, we should be hearing something from them even if it’s to report they’ve not found anything.”
“I thought they were ordered to only report if they found something of interest.”
The communication leader raised his left side, “That’s true, War Leader. But up until eight days ago, we still received some communications from them.”
The War Leader stood up, “Contact one of our scouts!”
The communication leader began pressing buttons on his panel and after ten minutes he saw the War Leader glaring at him with all six eyes, “War Leader, none of the scouts I’ve attempted to contact has responded.”
The War Leader pressed a button on his console and the Fagan Supreme Fleet Manager appeared, “I’ve been unable to contact my scouts. Are you in contact with those you sent out?”
The Fleet Manager turned to his communications manager and he began attempting to contact some scouts. He looked up and shook his head. The Supreme Fleet Manager stood up, “Start contacting our scouts, immediately!” The War Leader watched the Fagan leader and saw his expression turn angry. He turned to the War Leader and said, “None of our scouts are responding.” The War Leader sat down and stared at the Fagan Leader as he responded, “It appears that our scouts have been removed,” the Fleet Manager said softly. “I am going to contact the High Leader and inform him of this.”
The monitor went dark and the War Leader’s Second spoke up, “Is it possible that more than a hundred-thousand scouts could be destroyed without getting out a warning?”
“Do you have another explanation?” The second shook his body. “Well, at least we now know that the unknown civilization is in that spiral arm,” the War Leader said quietly. “However, I don’t think that information was worth losing a hundred thousand scouts to find out.” The War Leader turned to his communication leader, “Did you not receive any communication from our scouts saying they were under attack?”
“No, War Leader. We did receive random communications up until eight days ago.”
“Then that must be when it happened. Did we receive any information about the location of our scouts when they stopped communicating?”
“No, War Leader.”
“That means we’re going to have to start all over again?”
“Why do you say that, War Leader?” his Second asked. “They had to be well into that spiral arm eight days ago.”
“And how do you know that the scouts that might have found that unknown civilization weren’t destroyed as our line of scouts passed them?” the War Leader asked.
The Second thought for a moment and then replied, “It makes more sense that our scouts were destroyed piecemeal than all at once. Surely one of them would have gotten out a warning if they were all attacked at once.”
The War Leader scowled, “The evidence doesn’t support either view. If they were all taken out at once, then this enemy is more powerful than we thought. I’d prefer to act on that than underestimating them.”
• • •
An hour later, the High Leader and Fleet Manager appeared on the War Leader’s monitor, “Have you been able to contact any of your scouts?!” the High Leader asked.
“No, I have not. It appears all of them have been destroyed.”
“How is that possible?!”
“It appears this unknown civilization is more powerful than we thought.”
“Surely they couldn’t have removed them all at once!” the High Leader responded loudly.
The War Leader shrugged, “I thought that as well initially, but after further reflection, that’s the only way it could have been done.”
“Why is that?” the Fleet Manager asked.
“Our scouts were ordered not to report in unless they found something of interest. That was to prevent our communications from being overwhelmed by useless reporting. I assume you issued the same orders.”
“I did,” the Fleet Manager replied.
“They wouldn’t contact us, but they would communicate with each other on their short-range communicators. It’s a lonely duty to fly a scout and I’m reasonably certain they were talking to each other. If a scout was destroyed and one of the scouts in its unit was unable to contact it, that would have led to us being contacted. We received no contact from our scouts which leads me to believe they were all destroyed simultaneously.”
The High Leader scowled at the War Leader, but the Fleet Manager replied, “You’re right. Our unit commanders were ordered to contact the ships in their units on a regular basis. If any failed to respond, we would have been notified. They must have all been destroyed in a very short time.”
“How were they able to do that?” the High Leader asked.
“Well, the simplest explanation is they have a hundred and fifty thousand warships,” the War Leader replied. “They may have done it another way using missiles or some form of technology we don’t know about, but I always go with the simplest answer.”
“Are you suggesting this enemy has a hundred and fifty thousand warships?”
The War Leader shrugged, “I’d make any future plans assuming they have at least that many.”
The Fleet Manager nodded, “I agree. Even if they did it another way, we’d be foolish not to make plans to take on that many ships.”
The High Leader turned to the Supreme Fleet Manager, “What do you suggest we do?”
The War Leader learned in that moment that this High Leader was a political being and did not possess military experience. That made him dangerous; he could make foolish decisions. “We’ll have to start the search over and send out our warships this time,” the Fleet Manager answered.
“I want our forces included in that search!” the War Leader quickly interjected.
“Why?” the High Leader asked.
“To make sure this enemy is eliminated, High Leader. I’m also rather certain you wouldn’t want to send a high percentage of your forces to do this, would you?”
The High Leader glared at the War Leader and looked at his Fleet Manager, “It is going to take a huge number of warships to conduct this search, High Leader. We can use their assistance.”
“I will not allow huge numbers of their warships in our space, Fleet manager!!”
The Fleet Manager bowed his head slightly and turned to the War Leader, “You will be allowed to bring a hundred-thousand warships like we discussed earlier. However, you may also bring five thousand of the ships like the one you’re in now.”
“FLEET MANAGER…”
The Fleet Manager quickly added, “High Leader, we have enough fortresses to eliminate them if it becomes necessary. We will also require that your war fleet go far around our space and gather in the void between our territory and that spiral arm.”
The High Leader’s expression showed his anger, but he remained silent. The War Leader nodded, “That will require some time to get our fleets organized and arrive at the desired place.”
“How long?” the High Leader demanded.”
“About five weeks.”
“Then get your fleets moving. The truce will remain in effect until this issue is resolved,” the High Leader snarled.
The War Leader nodded and ordered his ship back to the Empire. This might cause an issue with the High Council but this unknown civilization des
troying all his scouts simultaneously might just scare them enough to approve this faster.
• • •
The stealth scout still stationed at the Fagan’s Capital intercepted the conversation and sent it to Fleet Operations. Admiral Mulvaney rushed into Abby’s office and saw her on her communicator. She looked up and he announced, “Five more weeks before they launch their warships.” Abby smiled and continued her conversation with the engineers installing the ground-based lasers. Operation Zombie had hit some snags and the extra time was a god-send. They just might make it in time.
• • •
Five weeks passed quickly, and Desmond sat in the Brer Rabbit in space above Melbourne waiting for the attack to begin. It was discussed attacking the alien fleets on a wide front, but Abby rejected it. “The enemies’ warships are just as powerful as the Super Rabbits and probably just as fast. We’d only be wasting them sending them out to attack their forces. The defense of Melbourne will take place here.”
Desmond knew she was right. The Rabbits stood no chance against the Fortresses and Planet Killers. He expected the Fagan would send at least ten-thousand fortresses and coupled with the alien Planet Killers, the odds were overwhelming. He heard the twenty-five-thousand pilots scream at being ordered to leave for the colonies on the fleet frequency; he couldn’t really blame them. But the Prime Minister insisted they were needed in the future defense of the colonies. They went screaming and kicking…but they did go.
The remaining twenty-five-thousand Super Rabbits were assigned a remote-controlled Super Rabbit to use as a weapon against the alien fleet. The drones, as they were called, had two head-knocker missiles attached to them and they would be targeted on the Planet Killers and Fortresses. Many probably wouldn’t make it through the huge ship’s blasters but all they needed do was to get close enough. The lethal radiation from the head-knockers would kill the crews even if the explosion didn’t.