by D. R. Rosier
Yuri said, “I’d be worried they will call it off, only to call reinforcements and set up to try again with five hundred of their ships, assuming they’ll even leave a hundred back to watch their home system.”
Jillintara said, “We’re watching their home system. If they agree, and we see some more of their ships deploying, we’ll blast them anyway.”
Janson nodded, “That seems reasonable, okay, and if they keep moving forward and don’t adjust their vector away from Earth?”
Vik said, “We should be positioned a full A.U. in front, and a half A.U. behind. That’s six light minutes they’ll have to close to be in range of the anvil, the hammer can stay out of their attack range indefinitely. That’s a lot of shielded missiles we can send their way before they can even fire back. If we’re lucky, we can take them all out before they can return fire.”
James snorted, “Let’s assume they aren’t idiotic, and that when they realize their predicament they’ll immediately cloak until they’re within their own weapon’s range. I understand cloaking is expensive with their inefficient reactors, but they won’t have a choice at that point.”
“He’s not wrong,” I said, “What if we dump a bunch of missiles right past the halfway point, if they don’t give up and go home, we’ll light them off at point blank range. They won’t have time to cloak, at least not until after they fight off that initial wave of missiles.”
Terry asked, “What if they stay cloaked until they get to Earth, and just ignore the anvil.”
Vik shook his head, “They won’t bombard the planet, that would be like you dropping a bomb on a herd of cattle because they strayed outside their fence. You’re a natural resource they wouldn’t be wasteful with. They’ll also have to de-cloak to send down shuttles, which would make them vulnerable. No, they can’t afford to ignore us. They also wouldn’t, you can think of it like…” he trailed off and looked at me.
“Like waving a red cape at a bull, they’re aggressive and will want to destroy the ships. They’ll either cloak until they close, and attack the fleet once in range, or they’ll abort and come back with more ships later. Given their aggressiveness, and the fact they outnumber us in numbers if not firepower, they probably won’t abort. In that case, I’d suggest we cloak the hammer and move it quickly toward the anvil, and hope we’re within weapons range when they show themselves. We’ll be moving at two hundred gravities, but chances are they will be too at that point.”
Janson nodded, “What about their other fleet.”
Vik said, “Once they attack us, and make their intentions clear, the empire will take care of it, and destroy their building capacity. Right now, I don’t think they know we know about their second system where they’re building ships. After that… we’ll leave it up to them what the next move is. Hopefully they’ll get a damned clue and cut it out.”
Terry asked, “And if they don’t?”
Vik shrugged, “We’ll be in a much better position two months from now, and it will take them over a year to rebuild the infrastructure and create another fleet of any significant size.”
Janson raised an eyebrow, but didn’t ask about it. We’d certainly given them enough clues to know our next fleet would be better than the current one. We didn’t mention the Suaterans either, but they didn’t take slaves, and as far as we knew they weren’t angry with Earth at all, just the empire.
James said, “Might it not be better, to keep the hammer fleet almost in range as they follow, and give the warning say… fifteen minutes before they reach weapons range of the anvil fleet. If they don’t agree to abandon their plans, we can open up on them five minutes from weapons range. We’ll get five to ten free volleys of missiles before they get inside their own weapons range, and might not bother to cloak. Two hundred and fifty ships, six missiles each, that’s five volleys of fifteen hundred missiles.”
Telidur said, “That might work out better, and even if they do cloak we can be sure we’ll have them between the fleets when they uncloak five minutes later. It’s cleaner, and a lot less can go wrong.”
I said, “I’d further suggest we narrow the damage. Even against shielded missiles, that’s only five per enemy ship. Even assuming all of them hit, which they wouldn’t, the shield could absorb them and recover quite easily. If we focus the five volleys on sixty ships per volley, that’s twenty-five missiles a ship. Even if half of them are spoofed, twelve or thirteen missiles will be enough to take down the shields, and if not completely destroy the ship at least knock it out of action. With five volleys, we could do that to all three hundred ships before they close into their own weapons range.”
Vik nodded, “Agreed, it’s the better plan. Even if they do cloak after one or two volleys, we’ll have damaged and reduced their fleet. At least, it’s the better plan until we can see through cloaks.”
Janson asked, “Is that possible?”
Vik shook his head, “Not yet. It’s one of my priorities though.”
Vik added, “If they do cloak somewhere in those targeted volleys, we should keep launching missiles on standby. We’ll have an overwhelming first volley once they get in range and de-cloak again.”
Janson looked at the other admirals, and then said, “Agreed, we have a plan. Now all we need is the enemy.”
That hadn’t taken long, and we had plenty of time left before we had to set the trap.
Janson made a face, “I don’t suppose you’ll share the capabilities of those new ships?”
Vik shook his head, “No. Military secret. But I will say there are no new science or mathematical breakthroughs, the same current technology is just leveraged better in our new ship type. Once your scientists are done reverse engineering, I’m sure they’ll find the same if not more advances and possibilities for your first run of Earth built ships.”
Janson nodded, “Alright, let’s get that plan disseminated, and rest up so we’re sharp and fresh when they arrive.”
The meeting broke up at that point, and we returned to our ship…
Chapter Seven
I felt a bit nervous, as well as a sense of excitement, but I knew that both would go away instantly as soon as we engaged the enemy. That was my welcome and particular brand of crazy. The former was more about the others than myself, the latter was all about the contest of outwitting and outfighting our enemies. Yes, the plan was rather simplistic, but that was a good thing.
I was running a few simulations as well, for point defense. The older ships weren’t quite the same, and while they’d be no good against our own shielded missiles, the point defense lasers should work well on the Stolavii missiles. It was possible they made advances, but all the indicators said that wasn’t true.
In this case we’d be starting the battle from far out, so I’d have plenty of time to assign targets to the point defense, and spoof their other missiles. It was more just a refresher sim, since the interface was a little different, and I’d gotten used to scout-destroyers interface over the last month. But… I’d used this one for over a year, so it didn’t take long before it all kicked in and was nothing but a reflexive action. I didn’t even need to look at the controls, as my hands flew and assigned the point defense lasers to the incoming missiles, instinctively ignoring the ones that were spoofed by countermeasures and would already miss.
The Stolavii appeared at the edge of the system, and didn’t waste any time heading in system at one hundred gravities. More proof their power systems were still the old and very inefficient kind. Our hundred cloaked ships followed in their wake. That all changed a few minutes later, they must have finally noticed the Earth fleet of fifty ships. They immediately changed course and speed.
Jillintara reported, “The Stolavii have increased to two hundred gravities, and have slightly altered their trajectory to an intercept course with the Earth fleet. Our hammer fleet has adjusted.”
I suppressed a snort, what had I said earlier? Like waving a red cape at a bull. I reminded myself that didn’t make them stupid, ju
st aggressive.
We and the rest of the hundred ships in-system were cloaked and with the Earth fleet.
Vik said, “Time to initiate plan?”
She said, “They’ll be fifteen minutes from weapons range in four hours, twenty-six minutes from my mark… Mark.”
Well, I wouldn’t complain about their eagerness and willingness to burn more resources with the higher speed. Otherwise it would have been close to nine hours of waiting.
“Hail Janson.”
Janson appeared on the bridge as a hologram. He looked a bit harassed.
“Status of the Earth fleet, admiral?”
Janson cleared his throat, “We’ve got all the scientists and politicians off, and our trained soldiers are at their stations. We’re ready, and it looks like the red apes took the bait. Your fleet?”
I suppressed a snort. It was derogatory, but at the same time it was a pretty good description of the Stolavii.
Vik replied, “Ready. Think they’ll attack when we show our true numbers, or vector off as ordered?”
Janson shrugged, “The enemy always takes the third undefined option, we’ll find out.”
Vik smirked, “I hope not. The Stolavii are pretty predictable, I don’t think they’ll abort. They’ll see they still outnumber us by fifty, and they don’t know about our technical edge.”
Janson grinned, “I hope your right. I’m going to stand down my crews for three hours, I want them sharp when the enemy shows up.”
It was a reasonable idea, the A.I.s could monitor things for us, and space was big. There was literally nothing that could go wrong until the enemy got a lot closer to us, and we’d be informed if they did make a change in vector.
Vik grunted, “Good idea, I’ll do the same.”
Janson nodded, and the hologram winked out.
Vik walked off the bridge with a wave of his hand, and muttered cruiser under his breath.
Telidur snickered, and said, “Battleship.”
I rolled my eyes, they must have been arguing about what kind of command vessel the admiral of the fleet got, again, and I followed them out…
We were in the dining area, drinking and talking. Non-alcoholic drinks of course, we’d be fighting a battle soon. The nanites could make short work of that sort of thing, but it was a bad idea to lose our edge.
Vik asked, “What do you think Lori?”
I shrugged, “I think as far as fire power and shield strength, one of the fifteen cruisers would be fine, but it’s not about that. It’s a political issue, and one of appearances. The fleet will be split into fifteen mini-fleets under rear admirals or commodores in the cruisers, with about thirty scout-destroyers run by captains attached to each. Then each planet will have a battleship run by an upper admiral with ten scout-destroyers attached for system defense. Given all that, or something very much like it, the fleet admiral needs a battleship, so I’m going to agree with Tel. I think the past is past, and we’ll never get it back. You used to be a captain detached from fleet on a prototype cruiser, and on your own. If you’re going to lead now, it will be different. Sorry. Not only a battleship with a flight crew for shuttles and fighters, and another bridge person with their nose up your ass, I’d say you should have at least ten scout-destroyers assigned to you as an honor guard.”
He looked absolutely horrified at having an escort, and I giggled.
I also wondered if we really needed fifteen fleets, and a small home fleet for each world. That’s how it was before, but now we could wormhole just about anywhere in seconds. Still, that was Earth think, the fleet wouldn’t be a bureaucracy supported by taxes, since the fleet supported itself by delivering resources to pay their salaries and upkeep on the ship. So… no harm no foul, and there’d be ten times as many civilian space vessels out there too, and we’d need to keep watch over them. We probably didn’t need near as many as that, but in the end it wouldn’t hurt or be a drain on the Isyth economy, so it was all good.
“Got ya! No escort, but by comparison doesn’t a battleship sound good now? Although, will it make that much of a difference? What will your job be? To hop between the different fleets, and meet with your admirals?”
Telidur was holding in laughter.
Vik sighed, “That’s what the data-net is for, the only time we’d be joining a fleet would be for an actual fleet action I felt the need to take part in. Otherwise, I’d assign things to the fifteen fleets, or take a look myself. Fine, a battleship, but I’m making it Telidur’s responsibility to find me a new Ops officer that won’t salute me or bow coming and going, or worse, look at me in awe like the sun shines from my ass.”
Telidur’s face had looked victorious, until Vik’s last sentence, when it promptly fell, and I giggled.
He groaned, “Do you know how difficult that will be?”
I raised an eyebrow, “Is it really that bad?”
Telidur said, “You’re rather unique Lori. There are people out in the fleet who don’t like formality, but they are rarely, if ever, the same type of person that excels at their job and stands a cut above the rest. We can’t reward an average OPS person with a post on Vik’s ship, it would kill morale in the fleet. Most officers that excel are also very formal and regimented.”
Vik shrugged with exaggerated nonchalance, “It’s a problem, but you have a month and a half to figure it out.”
Telidur replied sourly, “Thanks.”
Vik grandly waved a hand, his eyes dancing with mischief, “It’s good to be admiral, I can delegate tasks.”
Telidur choked, and was probably significantly regretting the fact he won the argument.
I laughed.
Chapter Eight
The three hundred Stolavii ships were in formation, five tiers of sixty ships.
Our hundred and fifty ships of the anvil fleet, were split up into three fleets of fifty that were very close to each other, but clearly separate, each in five lines of ten. Our two flanked the Earth fleet which was in the center. The extra space between them gave our lines the same length as the enemy’s larger fleet. The hundred chasing them, were spread out even further.
Over the hours waiting, we’d already assigned out the targets, and knew the order. When we launched, we’d target sixty ships for each five volleys, twenty-four missiles per ship, starting with the sixty ships in the middle of their fleet. Assuming we didn’t need to adjust, it just made sense to have the targeting information for our plan worked out.
After that, we’d have to see where we stood.
We were giving them a truthful and honest offer to withdraw, but no one actually expected the Stolavii to take it. I felt icy, and had a clarity of vision as the moment drew near, my worry, fear, excitement, and second thoughts, were all were wiped out by my conditioning. Sometimes I hated that, and felt there was something wrong with me, or I was insane or lacking in some way. But… I was also grateful for it, it made me a better warrior, and I didn’t have to worry about freezing.
Still, not worrying about Vik and the others in the heat of battle felt wrong.
Jillintara said, “Fifteen seconds.”
We all waited it out, and then our two hundred ships de-cloaked. We also waited a second, for the fact to sink in to the enemy fleet. The Stolavii were no longer facing six to one odds in their favor, now it was six to five. Still in their favor maybe, but that too was an illusion.
Janson hailed them.
“This is Admiral Janson Hiller of Earth. We are no longer helpless, and will no longer be your slaves. We advise you to change to the following vector, and exit our system, or prepare to face destruction. You have ten minutes to decide, if you have not adjusted your vector, we will take it as an act of war and open fire.”
The new vector was sent, it would send them on a curved course away from Earth and out of the system. We all waited for a response, any response. One minute passed, then another.
Silence.
They weren’t even responding to say no, or fuck off. I figured it was like we
wouldn’t deign to talk to our cattle.
Janson got back on, “This is your last warning, respond and adjust your course within the next five minutes. I will not ask again.”
I frowned, “Think they’re ignoring us, or just arguing about it over there?”
Vik tilted his head, “Hard to say. It’s possible they just won’t lower themselves to talk to cattle, but they could be arguing about it. Our fleet size is nothing to sneeze at, even if we were still on our older old technology.”
That was true enough, and the seconds ticked by as the minutes glacially passed. No response from the Stolavii fleet, and no change in vector.
Jillintara reported, “They’re adjusting their formation, but not their vector. They’re tightening up, to maximize defense fields of fire.”
I shook my head, that was a mistake. They’re point defense fields of fire were worthless against our shielded missiles, and it would degrade their ability to spoof missiles to miss, they’d be more likely to just lock on the ship closest to them when they lost lock on the original target.
One minute remaining.
Janson appeared on the bridge, in an internal fleet communication using secure comms, the enemy wouldn’t be able to see it.
“We ready to start this party?”
Vik replied, “Yes, good luck admiral.”
Janson nodded, and winked out.
Jillintara said, “Ten seconds.”
I double checked the sensor lock on my assigned ship, all six missiles would be going for the same one. Three other ships were assigned to that one as well.
The time ran out, still no response from the Stolavii fleet, besides them readying for battle that is.
“Firing,” I said as I initiated launch.
Six missiles left our ship, a total of fifteen hundred missiles from all our ships. I held my breath, and waited for what the enemy might do. I breathed a sigh of relief as they didn’t cloak, and started to fire point defense.