Moltor approached Khandar again, highlighting the center of the Terran formation on the tactical hologram. “Sensors have finished categorizing the Terran squadrons, Grand Admiral.”
“And?”
“The numbers are more than our previous tally of the remnants of the Seventh Fleet, the difference being the count of battleships. Alexander must have held the balance of his capital ships in reserve. We now count a total of fifty-four battleships in their squadrons, Grand Admiral.”
“Indeed? So he was not as weakened as he would leave us to believe. That gives the Seventh a significantly greater lethality, but not so much as to tip the scales, Moltor. It is an unpleasant surprise—nothing more.”
“Yes, Grand Admiral. However, scans also indicate a curious feature in Alexander’s center. There are seventeen large but unidentifiable vessels.”
“Still another of Alexander’s surprises, no doubt.” Khandar growled. “He shall need them. Even with his extra battleships the Seventh Fleet cannot stand long with us even under the cover of their planetary projectors. What do the scans indicate concerning these vessels?”
“Visually they appear to be nothing more than skeleton ships,” Moltor frowned. “Scans are indeterminate, Grand Admiral, although they do appear to be carrying a large complement of torpedoes. The nature of the torpedoes is impossible to determine through the Terran shields.”
“Very well, make every effort to identify the Terran weapons before we find out the hard way. Flank ahead!”
The two fleets closed and firing commenced in earnest. The range shrank and Khandar became convinced that Alexander meant for the Terran center to smash straight through the Golkos axis. He stood to issue his orders, but the Tactical Officer interrupted him.
“Grand Admiral! The center formation is launching a salvo of large torpedoes! There are approximately one thousand seven hundred weapons. Initial scans identify the warheads as some form of heavy element weapon, specifics unknown. The Terran center is breaking away from the formation!”
“Shields at maximum, fire at will,” Khandar ordered calmly, stepping to the tactical hologram. The immediate concern of the Terran squadrons was replaced by the mystery of the missiles.
The bridge screen of the Nived Sheur revealed a hail of projector fire converging on the Terran missiles. Plumes of superheated gas signaled the destruction of many of the rockets. Khandar glanced at the tally of incoming weapons, noting with satisfaction that their numbers were halved in the first few moments. The scan of the debris, which Khandar read from the data screen below the hologram, brought an expression of confusion to his stern features.
“Unshielded, chemically propelled missiles?” he asked aloud, turning to Moltor. “What a strange weapon to have in their arsenal! Moltor have the scans identified the warheads?”
“No Grand Admiral. There are traces of heavy radioactive elements, but their purpose is unknown. The Science Officer is conducting an in depth analysis,” Moltor informed his superior.
“Tell the Science Officer to redouble his efforts!” Khandar growled. “I want to know what this weapon is!”
“Yes Grand Admiral!” Moltor bowed, and he hurried off.
Khandar turned to the screen in time to see the next Golkos salvo dispatch the majority of the remaining missiles. With some agitation he shot his glare to the tactical hologram, which automatically tallied the threats, flashing a much smaller but still significant number below the threats.
“Damn!” He cursed, pounding his fist against the armrest of his command seat. “This makes no sense whatsoever! Radioactive elements are far too unstable to be used for a matter-anti-matter weapon!”
Khandar climbed back into his seat. After experiencing the Terran fireships he had no illusions as to the destructive ingenuity of the Terrans. He shot a look of frustration towards Moltor, who was still in conference with the Science Officer. The tactical hologram showed the missiles approaching the axis of the formation, and Khandar decided he could wait no longer. “All warships hold your fire; shielding to emergency maximum!”
The firing ceased, and the lights on the Nived Sheur dimmed as all available power went into the shields. Khandar clutched his armrests until his nails dug into the padding, waiting for the inevitable explosions. He did not have to wait long. The forward screen illuminated the tiny gleaming needle of a missile. The screen blanked in a blinding white flash of light. The Nived Sheur convulsed sickeningly, shaken to its core. Fire sprang from beneath bridge panels. Shouts and screams came from Golkos thrown across the bridge, or seared by exploding panels. The metal skeleton of the Nived Sheur groaned and shrieked; shaking so badly from the now continuous detonations that only her structural integrity field held her together. Khandar roared aloud in rage and doubt, riding out the storm in his command seat, but fearing that his flagship had been mortally wounded. Then, finally, the shaking ceased and the sounds of a dying ship faded away to a distant hum. The emergency extinguishers hissed, and the circulation pumps cleared the acrid air of the bridge. Lights flickered only to return at standard strength. Suddenly the Conn was awash with hails from stricken ships and those ships that survived the catastrophe. Khandar’s desperate eyes sought the tactical display. It took him only a glance to see that his formation was relatively intact, but it took a longer, more nerve wracking moment, before he realized that the damage to his fleet was far less than he feared.
Most of the destruction occurred along the central axis of the formation where there was the highest concentration of ships. In this region there were twenty ships, a full squadron, now drifting and helpless. He’d feared worse after the Nived Sheur took a direct hit, but the news was not all good. Another sixty ships took severe damage. Most were saved only because of Khandar’s last second order to boost their shield strength. The ships were still under power and their weapon and defense systems were still active, but there were reports of massive numbers of casualties in the portions of the ships closest to the blasts. The Nived Sheur was no exception. The lower three decks of the bow were rendered uninhabitable by radiation, and the casualties in those areas were frightful. Moltor lurched across the rocking deck with a comprehensive report.
“The Science Officer has analyzed the weapons, Grand Admiral. He deduces that they are a form of fusion explosion triggered by the use of the radioactive element 97-2. That is the cause of the radiation contamination in our ships, and our casualties. The force of the explosions themselves is somewhat less than matter-anti-matter torpedoes but the high levels of radiation caused massive fluctuations in our shields which led to localized breaches. Fortunately we had enough power, barely, for the structural integrity field to prevent hull buckling. However, our forward projector batteries are currently useless. It will take some time to decontaminate the stations.”
“Nuclear? Who would have thought to build a nuclear type weapon?” Khandar grimaced. Shaking his head he admitted, “Moltor the most difficult task in battling these Terrans is not their technology or their prowess; it is dissecting how these people think. How do you fight beings that imagine the unimaginable and then put it to use?”
“With courage Grand Admiral!” Admiral Moltor replied defiantly.
Khandar nodded and smiled, even deigning to lay his hand upon the officer’s shoulder. His eye turned hard, however, as the tactical display aroused his attention. “Well said, Moltor, but we shall have to put that courage to immediate use. The Terrans will not wait upon us. Here they come.”
Like eagles swooping upon their prey the Terran battleship squadrons rolled in on the exposed periphery of Khandar’s Cross.
#
“Bring them on in Admiral,” Alexander ordered as the ICBM’s unleashed their lethal payloads upon the Golkos. The Iowa led her squadron, now in a linear trail formation, down upon the edge of one of the Golkos planes. In this position the Golkos ships themselves shielded the Terrans from other Golkos vessels in the plane. The Terran squadron also gained a numerical advantage at close quarters.
Alexander paid close attention to his tactical display, watching the progression of their closing maneuver, and ascertaining the damage done by the ICBM’s.
“It’s not as bad as we hoped, but it’s not insignificant either,” Alexander grumbled concerning Golkos damage. “With the power of that arsenal I had hoped to take out more than twenty ships. That doesn’t bode well for our other nuclear based attacks. On with the war, though. Admiral you are cleared to fire when in range.” Alexander felt rather like a spectator during that first portion of the engagement. The stars swept by the screen until the line of Golkos warships on the razor’s edge of the formation came into view. As if it were a signal he could see the entire line of warships fire a simultaneous broadside at his fleet. The Iowa rocked gently from the hits, but her own guns spouted fountains of super-heated plasma in return. In the space of a moment the fleets were engaged on all fronts. The fire was continuous. The Iowa deflected the blaster fire of her immediate adversaries as well as more distant and ineffective fire from scattered elements of the other planes. True to Terran doctrine, however, she locked herself in a gun duel with the largest of the Golkos ships in her immediate vicinity. Much of the Terran advantage in maneuver and targeting was lost in the relative static nature of the battle, but the Terran warships with their rotating turrets could still bring more weapons to bear than their adversaries, and these weapons were far more potent than the Galactic standard. During the first few minutes of the battle the Terran firepower was telling, though not overwhelming. Just as the Terran warships were beginning to see results of their gunnery duels the Golkos reacted.
Alexander instantly recognized Khandar’s intent. Khandar was shifting the lines of his ships out of their planes to the negative and the positive with respect to the Terran linear formation. He could see the Golkos lines beyond the periphery of the plane climbing or descending into position, bringing themselves into the field of fire. What was even more apparent was their convergence around his linear array. If left to themselves the Golkos would accomplish an envelopment of each of his formations with the corresponding plane of “Khandar’s Cross.”
“Excellent Khandar,” Alexander admitted. “You’ve devised a simultaneous four way envelopment. He forces my hand. We don’t have the necessary speed to maneuver, and we cannot stay and take advantage of the damage we’ve inflicted. Very clever, but I’ll not be chased away so quickly, not yet. Admiral continue to fire at our selected targets until I give the order. On my mark, I want all elements to make a echelon turn towards the original center of their cross formation, cutting through the enveloping plane. Khandar will then want to reverse himself, seeking to envelope our entire fleet. He’s already proven his ships can handle difficult maneuvers, but I’ve a hunch he had to do a good deal of brow beating to accomplish it. Our mode of attack was foreseeable. I think our next move will be rather unexpected. Let’s see how they think on their feet. Maximum jamming on our reversal. Let’s give them some operational difficulties.”
“Aye, aye Overlord!” Augesburcke grinned.
The Golkos continued with their four separate envelopments, and Alexander allowed them to progress to the point where the Golkos equaled his firepower. The wait was worth their while as the Iowa used the extra twenty minutes to finally penetrate her adversaries shields. One final broadside erupted into the unshielded stern, and enormous sections of the battleship’s hull sheared off spilling debris into space. Three other Golkos warships suffered similar fates, although Alexander also lost a cruiser and a destroyer in that time. He waited until he could feel Grand Admiral Khandar’s wonderment at his inaction. Then he gave the order. Immediately the Terran squadrons came hard about, cutting through the lines of the Golkos and rejoining in the center of the formation. The Golkos planes now found themselves enveloping empty space. A flurry of communications traffic weighed down the ethernet, but amidst it was a fusillade of Terran static. The Terrans had learned that the superluminal engines created a virtually impenetrable sea of static in the local area when the rate of change of power levels rose above a threshold figure. Normally this occurred during transition to superluminal as a ship’s superluminal field began to form in space. The phenomena was well known in Galactic circles; known as “superluminal interference.” The Terrans found this otherwise insignificant phenomena to have a very useful military application. As soon as his ships broke through the Golkos line Alexander ordered them to “rev” their engines. The ships surged their engines allowing their power to form the beginnings of a superluminal field in space. The result was a bombardment of static throughout the region which blanketed all transmissions. The Terrans were prepared for this, but the Golkos were caught completely off guard. Golkos ships and squadrons broke formation; some trying to follow guessed at directives, some simply staying put until something intelligible came their way. The end result was a fractured formation; and parcels of ships separated from the main body. Alexander did not wait, nor did he need to issue orders. The Terran ships swiftly pounced on the isolated Golkos like sharks on a struggling swimmer.
Alexander watched the spectacle with ill concealed satisfaction. At length he turned to Admiral Augesburcke and nodded, saying, “Admiral, I think now is the time for the “Starship Enterprise” and her entourage to pay her respects to the Grand Admiral!”
#
The emotional swing in Khandar was immense. From satisfaction as his planar rotation almost succeeded in enveloping Alexander’s squadrons; to suspicion as Alexander’s forces put themselves in a seemingly dangerous position within his own formation; and finally to rage as he found himself unable to complete the envelopment due to Terran communications jamming. The realization of what Alexander was doing, and his own inability to stop it drove Khandar into a rage. Helplessly he watched as squadrons became detached from the formation. Of these most were following Khandar’s bidding through intuition and experience, but they counted on their comrades to make the leap of faith and follow them. To most Golkos commanders, however, initiative was a foreign habit and a dangerous one. They let their comrades go while they followed tradition and awaited orders which were impossible to receive. So it was that Khandar lost a good portion of his most able commanders in the deception, and all he could do was to sit back and watch them be destroyed.
The Grand Admiral swore amidst the static of his communications, and just when his well laid plans were on the point of unraveling Admiral Moltor shook him on the shoulder. Khandar followed Moltor’s gesture to the main viewer. There was Terra, finally. The blue and white marble, so tantalizingly close, beckoned like a pyre. Then movement caught Khandar’s eye. Around the bright limb of the planet the bridge cameras centered on a growing knot of ships. There were not many, another two dozen at first glance, but their presence size and shape captivated the Golkos. Even without the aid of scanners there was no mistaking the identity of the ships; they were too huge, too terrifying, too visually destructive.
“Grand Admiral, there are twenty-two battleships in that formation, and they are of immense size.”
“Alexander’s super-battleships revisited, only now in truth,” Khandar sighed, for the moment deflated by the newest surprise. He could find nothing to say, nothing to rant about. It was as if Alexander led him on to his own Homeworld only for the sport of chipping away at the grand visage they’d built of themselves. So it seemed, for though the numerical superiority of the Golkos was still intact there was an agonizing doubt on the brow of every member of the Golkos fleet. The formation of dreadnought solidified that doubt. They barreled straight through the Golkos fleet pounding everything in their path. Several of Khandar’s battleships shuddered and burned, leaking long glowing streams of plasma after failing to repulse the massive broadsides.
Khandar was aghast, but somehow, incomprehensibly, the dreadnoughts missed the Nived Sheur. Apparently, they mistook her sister ship the Geurna Ka for the fleet flagship. The dreadnoughts waded into that squadron and pounded it into dust. It was terrifying, and Khandar very
carefully maintained radio silence during the massacre.
Khandar’s saving grace was, of all things, Terra. Even separated and outnumbered it took time to dispatch a battleship or a cruiser. Thus, though Alexander was presented with an enormous opportunity and he leapt upon it full stride he did not have the time to take full advantage. He was unable to destroy the separated squadrons to completion, or even to their majority before the Golkos entered the Terran system. Still, as it was Alexander’s doctrine to target the capital ships the Golkos lost more proportionally than the numbers dictated.
The arrival at Terra salvaged the situation for Khandar. His Captain’s all had specific orders and objectives, and they no longer depended on his guidance. He placed a single short call for his fleet, assuring them that he survived, and executed the final phase of his plan. “Proceed with the bombardment of the Terran Homeworld. On to victory!”
From the conglomeration of struggling ships both the Terrans and the Golkos proceeded on to their specific missions, and for a moment some order was found. The Golkos bombardment squadrons sped for their preordained orbits, as the covering squadrons regrouped overhead. The Terran squadrons hounded their quarry for as long as they dared, but as the Golkos approached the Terran minefields the squadrons regrouped as well for their continuing attacks. A strange momentary lull came over the battle. For a few moments there was no firing, no jamming; just the hundreds of ships maneuvering for the final phase of the battle.
CHAPTER 18
“The Golkos have divided into two forces, Alexander,” Augesburcke reported. “One is entering orbit around Terra while the other is reforming above them.”
Alexander stepped up to the tactical hologram and with a slender pointer selected one of the Golkos battleships in the latter formation. “We missed him. It will take some time to identify the Nived Sheur, Khandar’s flagship. Until we do the focal point of our attack will be the highest concentration of Golkos capital ships outside the bombardment orbits. The “Big E” will take charge of our attack squadrons and engage and destroy the Golkos bombardment fleet. The “Enterprise” and her dreadnoughts will maintain support our attack on the Golkos covering fleet. We need to keep the Golkos off the back of our B-52’s and fighter-drones, and give them a chance to deliver their payloads. Inform the pilot’s that they are cleared in. All planetary projectors on Terra are cleared to fire at will.”
Alexander Galaxus: The Complete Alexander Galaxus Trilogy Page 87