by Saxon Andrew
“Edward, run a passive scan and tell me if you see anything behind their forward lines.”
Edward nodded and stared into his combat helmet. After a moment, he turned to Mike, “Sir, there’s nothing directly ahead of us but I’ve detected a formation with more than a hundred thousand of their Planet Killers far off our portside. There’s an identical formation far off our starboard side as well and both of them are holding position.”
Mike nodded, “They’re there to support the ships in the front lines in the event an attack takes place.” He thought about moving his ship to one of those two giant formations but dismissed it immediately. He’d be stupid to get close to them behind their front lines. After a moment, he said over his communicator, “Start making your exits now. Be prepared to go to maximum speed if you’re detected.” Mike turned and headed back toward the aliens’ front lines. He stared at the tactical and saw a giant Planet Killer in the distance holding position to the left of his ship. He turned the ship and headed directly toward it. He knew the giant warship was huge, but he was shocked at just how large it was as he moved closer. The size of the blaster emplacements on its hull was staggering and he put the second level gravity drive on standby.
Edward activated a heavy missile and started calling out the distance, “Ten miles.” After a moment he said, “Five miles…two miles…one mile…half-mile…five-hundred yards…we’re at a hundred yards!” Mike turned the ship, moved away from the giant ship, and accelerated smoothly away. “SIR, A PLANET KILLER OFF OUR PORTSIDE IS POWERING UP ITS THRUSTERS!”
“WHAT ABOUT THE SHIP WE JUST PASSED?”
“IT’S POWERING UP NOW!!” Edward replied. Mike pushed the gravity drive thruster handle forward and the Garrion accelerated away at high-speed. Mike kept his attention focused on the tactical monitor as twenty Planet Killers rushed in to their former location. They came to a stop and flew around each other like a swarm of bees. “Sir, how did they detect us?”
Mike quickly activated his communicator, “Were either of you detected leaving the enemy lines.”
“No, Sir.”
Mike ordered, “Return to the wing’s location.” He turned to Edward and raised a shoulder, “We know the aliens have optical scanners. We must have blocked the light from a distant star between our ship and the Planet Killer that initially powered up. I don’t see any other way they could have detected us.”
“Sending the data to Commander Dunhan’s ship, Sir.” Mike nodded and saw on the tactical that his ship wasn’t being followed.
• • •
The three Garrions sent their data to the Troke and RJ looked at Matt. “Sir, one of the Garrions was detected leaving the alien’s front lines. Captain Troastle is of the opinion that his ship was detected by an optical scanner. The ship he was passing did not detect him but one off to the portside did.”
RJ shrugged, “He’s probably right.”
“Is there anything we can do to avoid that, Sir?” Angel asked.
RJ looked at Matt and he immediately said, “If the Garrions flew through their lines at high speed, they would cause a minute flicker from distant stars. It would probably be too short to trigger their optical systems.”
RJ nodded. He believed the same thing. He picked up his communicator, “Captain Troastle.”
“Yes Sir.”
“I want you to turn about and go back to the enemy lines. Fly your ship at high speed through their lines and exit at high speed.”
“Yes Sir. Why are you ordering me to do that, Sir?”
“We’re of the opinion that moving through at high speed would only generate a minute flicker from distant stars that would be too short and small to trigger their optical systems. We need to know before we send the Garrions in against them.”
Mike looked at Edward and said, “Yes Sir. Heading back now.”
Angel looked at RJ, “The aliens are probably going to be on high alert now. Should we wait to do this?”
“No! Once this war starts, the aliens will constantly remain on high alert. Now is exactly the right time to find out.” Angel stared at RJ and then reluctantly nodded. She didn’t know if she had the guts to put a crew in this much danger.
• • •
Mike stared at the tactical monitor and glanced at Edward, “Lay in a course between two of their ships still in formation.”
“I’m activating all our weapons, Sir.”
“We were ordered not to fire, Ed.”
“We could only fire to defend ourselves, Sir. I suspect this situation qualifies for that.”
Mike nodded and saw the course appear on his display. He pushed the thruster handle forward and the ship accelerated on the course Ed had given him.
The Garrion was considered a small ship but it was three times larger than the Rabbits once used to fight the aliens. It was small compared to the Hare Warships and tiny compared to the Carriers. The hundred-yard-long Garrion flashed toward the aliens’ lines and Mike kept his focus on the tactical monitor. He flashed between the two giant alien warships and Edward yelled, “WE’RE HEADED TOWARD A PLANET KILLER FORMATION!!”
Mike saw the giant formation directly ahead of him and he whipped the ship hard right. He moved within ten miles of the closest Planet Killer before he turned back toward the front lines. He maintained his speed and flew out between two warships holding position. He flew between them at an incredible speed and continued to keep his focus on the tactical monitor; no alien warship powered up during his run. Mike glanced at Edward, “Put your weapons on standby.”
Edward blew out a huge breath and shutdown his weapon console. He looked at Mike, “Sir, why did Commander Dunhan decide to send us on this mission and not another one of our ships. You are in command and he put you at risk.”
“He did it because he believes we are the most qualified to do it, Ed. If we didn’t make it out, he would have sent the other Garrions back. He did the right thing.” Ed blew out another breath and nodded. “I think I just aged more than twenty years.”
“If this war kicks off, you’re going to be doing a lot more dangerous things than this, Edward. This run is a good prep to get us ready. Send the recording to Dunhan.”
• • •
RJ watched the recording and saw the crew celebrating Captain Troastle’s escape. Angel was high-fiving Matt, Mallory, and Joe. They turned to RJ and saw he wasn’t smiling. Angel’s brow furrowed, and she stated, “This proved the Garrions can be used against their warships, Sir.” RJ’s expression didn’t change. “Right?” Angel prodded.
Matt stared at RJ and asked, “What are we missing, Sir.”
“What is the distance between the alien warships, Matt?”
“About 160 miles, Sir.”
“And what is the range of the Planet Killer’s blasters?”
Matt blinked and then he fell back in his chair and shook his head. Angel saw him and asked, “What?”
RJ lowered his eyes slightly, “Matt, do you see it?”
“Yes Sir. I do.”
“Please explain the issue with the others.”
Matt shook his head slightly and began, “The effective range of the Planet Killer’s blasters is more than eighty miles. We learned from attacking them more than twenty years ago that if they fall under attack, they start firing all of their blasters forming a barrier around their ships. If one of their ships is attacked, then all the others will probably start firing all of their blasters simultaneously. The space between their ships will be filled with overlapping blaster beams and anything among them will be vaporized.”
“I thought their range was longer than eighty miles, Matt.”
Matt turned to Mallory, “It is. But I suspect they’ve set them such that they overlap at eighty miles so as not to hit any of their ships.”
“They didn’t do that when Captain Troastle’s Garrion was detected,” Angel responded.
“One of their ships wasn’t attacked, Captain Coronado,” RJ interjected. “I’m sure they have false ale
rts occasionally and they won’t open fire if a ship isn’t attacked.”
Angel stared at RJ and then added, “That also means that the Hares would be in jeopardy inside their formations.” RJ nodded. “How are we going to handle this?”
“That will be up to Fleet to decided, Angel. Our mission is to collect information and get it back to them.”
“How are we going to attack their ships?”
RJ shrugged, “Doing it inside their defensive lines is suicide, Angel. But they do send out ships to counter attacks from the three civilizations at war with them. That’s when we’ll take our shots.” RJ turned to Matt, “Send a copy of the recordings we’ve collected to the unit commanders along with the discussion we just had.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Also send a copy to Connie to forward to Fleet Intelligence.” Matt nodded and turned around to his console. Angel returned to her command chair and RJ saw her distress. He said softly, “These are just obstacles, Angel. We’ll find a way around them.”
“I sincerely hope you’re right,” she replied.
• • •
Candy sat in her command chair and fought boredom. She had called in fifty more ships and hoped that would do it. The process was simple and didn’t require her to intervene in what was taking place. She lifted her personal communicator and put on her helmet. She connected with the communicator and looked at the directory with her song lists. She had listened to them many times and she hoped the new list her mother had shared with her before she left would have something new. Her mother said that she had gotten the list from Abby and she opened it. She started the first song playing and sat back in her chair. Now this was new. She watched the continuing process of assigning ships to freighters and began tapping her foot slightly. The song ended, and she ordered, “Computer, download this list from my communicator to my personal files.”
“Download complete.”
Candy saw a huge list of songs on her display. The display also showed how many times each song had been played. She smiled and said, “Scroll down to the song that’s been played the most times.” The computer scrolled down the long list and finally stopped at one. She saw it had been played more than a thousand times. The song’s title was ‘For Candy’. She flashed back to the top of the list and saw that the owner of the list was RJ. She sat back in her chair and realized that her mother didn’t realize that the list given to her by Abby was RJ’s song list. She started her own song list because of a suggestion by RJ when they were in secondary school. She felt like she was invading his privacy by having this list. She turned off the list and stared at the main monitor at the front of the ship. After an hour, she pulled the list back up and began scrolling down the long list. She observed how many times each song had been played and quickly realized that most of them were only double digits. Some were over a hundred, but the vast majority was not. Why would he play a song more than a thousand times and name it ‘For Candy’? She thought about it for a few minutes and scrolled down to the song. She hesitated and then pressed play. The song ended, and she played it again. She looked up at Todd and said, “Captain, the ship is yours.” She stood up and went to her office where she put her face in her hands and wept. Now she finally understood. RJ possessed his father’s good looks and he had gotten more handsome as he aged. She hadn’t noticed because she was too focused on herself. Now all that he had done came into focus and she knew that she was completely blind to what was going on…but now she saw it. She dried her eyes, left her office, and walked over to Bob. She looked at the giant robot and asked, “Is there any way to get a message to Wing Commander Dunhan?”
“Not directly, Admiral.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s located on the other side of the core, Admiral. However, he does have a ship stationed high above the core to send him data and communications.”
“Send the following message to him through that ship.”
“What is your message?” Candy told him, and Bob said after a moment, “Message sent, Admiral.”
Candy nodded, “Thank you, Bob.” Candy turned and returned to her chair. She listened to the song again and many more times over the following days.
• • •
Angel received a communication from Fleet along with a message to RJ from Candy. She read Candy’s message and snorted as she deleted it. She turned to RJ and said, “Fleet has sent orders saying to stay out of the Britannia Aliens’ defensive lines.” RJ nodded and continued to stare at the tactical monitor.
• • •
Two days later, Matt looked up from his console, “Sir, I’m detecting a large number of Planet Killers activating their thrusters and moving out of their lines.”
“How many?!”
“A hundred, Sir.”
“They must have detected warships moving in toward their positions. Plot the course they’re taking.” RJ turned to Angel, “Order the unit to move out ahead of the course being taken by those Planet killers and maintain a position outside the range of their scanners.”
“Yes Sir.”
RJ turned back to Matt, “Are you detecting any ships moving toward the core?”
“No Sir, I am not.”
“Can you extrapolate from the course the Planet Killers are moving on, the possible direction they would be coming from?”
“Possibly. Why do you ask?”
“The stealth warships being used by the aliens do not bend light around them like our ships. They are visible. If we turn our optical scanners in their direction, we might be able to see them.”
“Sir if they’re moving faster than light-speed, they’ll arrive before our optical scanners can see them.”
RJ blew out a breath, “You’re right.” He turned to Angel, “Order all ships to use their air-thrusters to avoid leaving a track in the dark matter to move out ahead of the Planet Killers. Have them activate their heavy missiles and wait for my orders.”
“Yes Sir. Are you planning to attack the Planet Killers, Sir.”
“Only if they launch a pursuit of the stealth ships.” Angel nodded and turned to her panel. RJ saw Matt staring at him, and he said, “Matt, if we can follow the Planet Killers outside their communication range, we can attack them and see if our missiles are capable of destroying them.”
“I thought we were going to attack them one at a time, Sir.”
“The inability to attack them inside their defenses forces me to use every opportunity to trial our missiles. We’ll also use the cutters if necessary.” Matt nodded slightly and turned back to his panel. He stared into his combat helmet and announced, “The Planet Killers are picking up speed.”
“Move the unit in behind them and keep our distance.” Angel nodded and passed his order to the other ships in his unit.
• • •
An hour later, Matt announced, “Sir, the Planet Killers have launched a massive volley of missiles ahead of their formation.” He paused and then added, “The stealth ships have detected the missiles and Planet Killers. They have reversed course and are fleeing.”
“How are you able to see them?”
Matt glanced at RJ, “They’ve turned their thrusters toward us and I’m able to track them.”
RJ and Angel looked up at the tactical monitor and saw hundreds of blasters being fired into the giant missile barrage pursuing them. RJ saw the computer display seventy warships in the stealth warship formation along with one hundred Planet Killers in the top right corner of the tactical display. The formation of Planet Killers suddenly changed with fifty of them stopping and turning back toward their defensive lines. The remaining fifty Planet Killers continued pursuing the stealth ship formation. Hold our course above the Planet Killers and let me know when we’re outside communication range to the aliens’ defensive line.”
It became clear that the stealth warships were not as fast as the Planet Killers pursuing them. Three hours passed, and it was only a matter of minutes before the giant warships moved into firi
ng range of the fleeing stealth warships.
“Sir, we’re outside the aliens’ communication range.”
RJ quickly ordered, “Have our ships target one heavy missile at ten of the Planet Killers and target two on the remaining.” Angel nodded and sent the orders. RJ saw the targeting solution appear on his monitor and he lifted his communicator, “All ships will fire on my command!” He glanced at Joe and ordered,” Have ten heavy missiles targeted on the ships we’ve only assigned one missile to hit. Be prepared to launch on my command!” RJ hesitated and said, “Fire!!”
• • •
The alien Unit Leader stared at his monitor and saw the fleeing black ships were still firing on the missiles pursuing them. The closing speed of the missiles was greatly reduced, and they were doing a good job of destroying the closest missiles. But they were moving inside the range of his main blasters and there would be no escaping them. He moved his unit into a straight line so as not to hit each other and raised an arm to order his ships to fire just as he was knocked off his feet as a giant explosion rocked his ship.
• • •
The Heavy Missiles received their targeting instructions and were locked on their designated ships. The warhead in the missiles was a shaped nuclear charge that rivaled the huge missiles used to destroy a planet. One moment there were fifty giant Planet Killers moving through space at high speed and the next there was a huge explosion that engulfed all fifty Planet Killers. “ALL SHIPS STOP!!” RJ ordered. The fifteen Hares and five Garrions came to a stop and watched the destruction they had wrought on the Planet Killers. The giant explosions spread out and combined into a giant fireball and RJ ordered, “Belay firing the ten missiles, Joe.” The stealth warships disappeared in the distance still firing at the missiles pursuing them. But there was nothing left of the planet killers but a huge expanding cloud of vapor.