by Lee Guo
Dozens of human mines were being taken out each second, and that was not all! — there was another mirror copy of that massive spheroid armored superdreadnought right behind it, exiting out of the wormhole right when the first came out!
These massive totally armored capital ships, what the hell should he call them? They were minesweeping dreadnoughts!
Yamato wondered what the hell he would do about them, but immediately it was too late — the mines that surrounded the wormhole near the first enemy dreadnought… each mine suddenly activated upon seeing the big ship’s heat signature and each darted towards the big enemy ship.
Yamato watched in agony as dozens of mines smacked into the two-kilometer-wide maxed-armored dreadnought to no avail. The massive thing simply took the damage and allowed the 500-megatons of explosive energy per mine to detonate on its outer surface. Each mine blew off a layer of nanofiber… and the thing shrugged it off. It had so many layers of armor.
As a third and even a fourth of the enemy’s minesweeping dreadnoughts came out of the exit, Yamato was forced to watch in total pain as his mine saturation quickly fell from 43% to 38% within seconds.
At this rate… he was going to lose all his mines…
For another moment, Yamato gazed at his falling mine saturation levels… and watched in shock as the enemy dreadnoughts hunted for more mines — then he shook his head and came out of that shock, and yelled, “All weapons, fire at those capital ship targets designated A, B, C, and D! All fighter-bomber crews, launch attacks! Aim for their drive rings! Take them out!”
If you can…Yamato grimaced.
Wing Commander’s Cockpit, Fighter 001, above Sol’s wormhole exit
“You heard the fleet commander! Go! Go! Go!” yelled Trevor in the wing net. “All fighters in Alpha Wing, attack enemy capital ship target D! Let’s bomb its drive rings and try to take it down!”
The answers in his helmet speakers came back affirmative, but there was a silent doubt in their voices. It was as if they were asked to perform a miracle.
Nobody wanted to die, but that was precisely what it looked like they’d be doing.
Inside his cockpit, he zoomed in on the thing on his display. Enemy capital ship D was a massive spheroid object, with thousands of point defense laser blisters perfect for taking down human birds. True, many of those laser blisters had been neutralized by mine strikes, but the thing still looked deadly…
But he knew he had to do it — he and every wing strike group that surrounded the wormhole exit. If he didn’t take it down, that thing would accomplish its mission, whatever it was, and that he must not allow.
As he eyed the thing carefully, he saw numerous mines continue striking its armor. The thing kept moving and absorbing the blows from the surrounding mines — like nothing happened!
Suddenly, Trevor was very aware that if he wanted to take that thing down, he needed to strike it in a place where it wasn’t as heavily armored. He looked at its drive rings, which were very heavily armored. Then he looked at other areas on the surface of the dreadnought. There were no other vulnerable opportunities.
He suddenly wondered if his bombs would do anything…
**
Space above the wormhole exit flared with weapon’s fire and endless white-hot blasts of multi-megaton detonations.
The four enemy minesweeper dreadnoughts appeared as vast black orbs, unbeatable, invincible, as they pushed through the human minefield, their point defense clearing a path along with their raw rugged armor.
But the human mines were not alone. Many human warships, including human capital ships, opened fire on the minesweeper orbs, the plasma bolts from these ships smashed into the armor of the four minesweeper dreadnoughts, searing away the enemy’s armor as they could little by little.
Yet, the minesweeper dreadnoughts stood in full operation…
Additionally, human laser turrets fired their grazer beams into the four enemy orbs, doing what little damage these turrets could to the orb’s layers of armor.
And the enemy minesweeper orbs took in the damage…
Then there was the human fortresses. These gigantic platforms of war fired their 100 fortress-sized plasma cannons onto the orbs — as well as each fortress’s two fully maxed-out pulsar guns. The humongous laser beams, each with 500 megatons of TNT, smashed into the enemy orbs… drilling through their armor, peeling away layers, yet even then, the enemy orbs withstood these attacks. They were that strong. They had that many layers of armor.
The human fortresses were not the only ones firing pulsar beams. There were five human pulsar class battlecruisers, each firing their pulsar guns at the minesweeper orbs with 500 megatons of TNT twice per second.
Even then, the minesweeper dreadnoughts took in the damage. They did not explode. They did not cease in their efforts to take out mines. They even absorbed these attacks.
Slowly… their armor layers peeled. The question was… at what rate?
Wing Commander’s Cockpit, Fighter 001, above Sol’s wormhole exit
“Alright, everyone! Do what I’ve taught you! Commence bombing runs on those things! Find any part of their drive ring that you think has low armor protection and fire at it!” shouted Trevor in the wing net. “Do not forget to run an erratic flight path!”
“Yes, sir!” said the voices of his wing.
The problem is… I don’t know what part of that thing is a good target. Even the drive rings on those things looked like they were well armored.
As his fighter entered the point defense envelope of enemy capital ship D, suddenly he saw dreadnought D angle so many of its laser blisters and began firing at… his wing!
There were shouts on the Wing net as their fighters’ weak shields took in the damage. Within seconds, some of his greenies began screaming as their shields collapsed.
Gods damn it! Thought Trevor. “Run erratic maneuvers, boys and girls! Don’t forget—”
A big clang vibrated through his cockpit. He shook himself off the monitor that displayed his Wing’s fighters’ health and instead looked at his own health screen. He had taken a laser hit straight onto his dorsal fin. It wasn’t that bad, but he wished his shields had soaked up the damage instead of it penetrating into his hull.
When he gazed back on the map display showing the rest of his wing, he saw several of his wingmates launch their bombs at the thing’s — enemy capital ship D’s — drive ring. Suddenly, massive detonations occurred throughout the thing’s rear hull and Trevor was glad that his members had done their duty.
Now, it was his turn! Trevor pushed himself in full acceleration at the thing, and prepared to shoot his short range missiles…
There! Missiles away!
He saw all four of his short range missiles veer out of his fighter and strike D’s drive ring.
He saw four separate gigantic fireballs plume out of the thing’s drive ring yet — no, it didn’t even slow down! It was like his missiles hadn’t done a thing!
Gods damn it!
Now for the getaway! He reversed course by turning his fighter around and headed out of the thing’s point defense envelope. When he looked at the map, he saw other members of his Wing doing the same thing. Their missiles had struck the its armored drive ring and had done little damage — as the thing continued to move in its minesweeping path — and they too were trying to get out of D’s point defense envelope.
But the thing was firing at his Wing, and his people were screaming.
By the time his entire wing made it out of D’s point defense envelope, he realized that he had lost 20% of his wing. One of every 5 members didn’t make it back…
Trevor’s only hope was that they had done some damage… as little as it seemed.
Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia, above the wormhole exit, Sol
Yamato stood on deck. My god, these minesweeper dreadnoughts are harder to take down than their Titans!
How could this be? Yamato wondered. How could anything withstand the strikes from all
his capital ships, including his pulsar battlecruisers, as well as his turrets and the pulsar guns from his fortresses — and still move to perform its duty?
Yet, for that eternal minute, it remained true. He saw it happen right in front of him.
“Computer,” yelled Yamato, “I want a full detailed scan of objects A, B, C, and D! I want to know how much armor has been wrecked through and how much is left.”
“Computing,” stated the flagship’s AI, “Enemy capital ships A, B, C, and D have sustained considerable damage to their outer hull.”
“How much?” Yamato demanded.
“Minesweeper object A has lost 64% of its armor mass. Object B has lost 52% of its armor mass. Object C has lost 48% of its armor mass. Object D has lost 72% of its armor mass.”
Yet, they’re still operating in full functionality!
At least, all the fire from his side had done something. It seemed to him that it was only a matter of time before the enemy’s minesweeper dreadnoughts were taken out for good. But by gods! — that was a lot of punishment each of them could take!
What about using his missiles? Was it time? For several seconds, he thought about using his missiles, but then decided to keep them in reserve. If an enemy dreadnought could absorb a 500 megaton blast right in the face and still function, no doubt his antimatter missiles — and their 20 megatons of TNT of destructive energy per — would not do any damage to it, either…
Meanwhile… his mines were still being taken out. He glanced at his mine saturation display and saw the percentage go down to the lower 20s.
“Sir!” said the sensor lieutenant. “Look! More enemy ships are coming out of the exit!”
Yamato shifted his attention back to the holomap. Indeed, there were! New ships came out of the wormhole exit! He saw… six, no, eight destroyer-sized vessels exit out of the giant wormhole opening.
Wait, there’s more! Now there’s 12 destroyers. Now 16!
They were coming in waves. Each wave proceeded to fire at his minefield, doing exactly what the minesweeper dreadnoughts had done… clearing a path through the remains of his minefield!
Yamato watched this happen. A sudden thought in his head demanded that he order all his units to attack the new enemy screening destroyers, but that meant he would no longer be shooting at the enemy’s minesweeper dreadnoughts.
What should he do? What should he do?
“Computer, enhance scans on the enemy destroyers. I want to see how much armor they have.”
An image of each enemy destroyer appeared before him, as well as statistics such as armor, weapons, power generation…
Ah! Now he was certain that the enemy’s minesweeper destroyers didn’t have the armor like the minesweeping dreadnoughts. Yet in total, the minesweeping destroyers were doing far less damage to his mines than the enemy dreadnoughts. That was because the dreadnoughts were so big and had so many point defense laser blisters. Even though by weight, they were taking out less mines per ton, they had so much weight that was devoted to taking out mines.
He had to do something against the enemy’s dreadnoughts! They were his first priority. He gazed at their armor screen, again. Minesweeper dreadnought D had less than 28% of its armor mass remaining. What if… what if he attacked it with all his forces?
Yamato made his judgment. “All units, concentrate fire on enemy capital ship D! If we focus all our weapons on one at a time, we’ll be able to take them out quicker and thus have less damage to our mines. Once the dreadnoughts are gone, we can focus our fire on the destroyers.”
When he heard the affirmatives from his units, Yamato nodded. The main target had to be the enemy’s minesweeper dreadnoughts. They were a force to be reckoned with. They were still firing their point defense blisters — the ones they had remaining — at any mines within range. And they were still absorbing the blows from his mines…
Yamato glanced his mine saturation display with gloom. 19% became 18%, which became 17%.
**
As Yamato’s orders spread throughout the fleet, all human units — every human turret, fortress, and ship — concentrated their firepower on dreadnought D. Volumes of laser beams, much larger pulsar beams, and bolts of plasma smashed into minesweeper dreadnought D at high velocities. Its vast armor bled, ripped and smeared off its chassis.
Holes punched into its armor. As the combined firepower of all human units tore into its body, eventually its armor splattered off.
At one moment, it was a fully functioning weapon-fire-absorbing machine, firing out into the black void to kill off human mines, and the next it stopped functioning as a unit. Within seconds, its armor shattered and it exploded — finally! — in a chain reaction that stopped all its point defense laser batteries from shooting at more human mines.
Human laser beams scorched through its innards, penetrating into areas that had previously been protected by vast layers of armor, and the minesweeper dreadnought broke in two in a cataclysmic white-hot explosion. It was neutralized.
Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia, above the wormhole exit, Sol
Yes! Yamato pumped his fist in the air. We finally killed one of those things!
On the holomap, enemy dreadnought D broke into two, its internals and spine finally penetrated after all that fire. Yamato could see all of its inner pieces flying outward in every direction. He estimated that he had killed about 2000 Argonans by destroying that minesweeper dreadnought, which wasn’t high, since the thing was mostly made of armor. Then, he shrugged. Why did it matter, anyway? What emotion did it mean in him to see lizards die, except elation?
Still staring at the holomap, Yamato was well aware that more enemy destroyers were pouring out of the exit, but he knew he had to get the first things in his priority list done. “All units, target enemy dreadnought A until it breaks in two, as well.”
He listened to the affirmations from his command. Now, all the fire from all his stationary weapons and ships switched to the next dreadnought. He saw as enemy dreadnought A’s splattered with hails of weapon hits. White-hot explosions rocked its outer armor, which began to blow off in pieces.
More! More! That’s it!
After several seconds of that, he watched as the computer display showed dreadnought A’s armor mass dwindle from 30% to 20%, and then finally to 10%, at which point its innermost carbon nanofiber layers were also penetrated by his weapons.
And then… BOOM — it, too, exploded into pieces in a cataclysmic detonation that was compounded by all the incoming weapon’s fire.
Gods yeah! Yamato nodded in satisfaction, and then proceed to direct all the human fire at enemy dreadnought B.
Wing Commander’s Cockpit, Fighter 001, inside Fleet Carrier Enterprise’s hangar bay, above Sol’s wormhole exit
Inside his cockpit, Trevor sat there, mentally tallying up the dead. Newt… dead. Wallrock… dead. Jasper… dead. Damn it! He had trained Wallrock personally for many weeks. The kid was brilliant. He should have survived… he knew how to. So why was he dead?
Trevor didn’t know what to blame. Himself, luck, the star gods, or… the enemy.
He could recall the exact moment he saw each of their fighters blink off the battlemap. He had seen their shields fade to black, and had seen their fighters’ structure map get damaged. And then he had seen them blink… oh, the thought of it!
Trevor couldn’t believe himself. Now that he was Wing Commander, he had to deal with the deaths in his command. He never knew he would turn out this way. The thought that he might have been personally responsible paralyzed him. What happened to the carefree action adventurer who didn’t give a crap who died next to him as long as he could gain kills and respect? That was before he became Wing Commander Sandy Gray... before he had people he was responsible for.
Gods damn it, Trevor. Get a hold of yourself. You knew people were going to die. You had known that for years. Even before you flew your first mission. Even before you had seen an enemy warship. You had known you could die, too.
It’s the danger everyone put themselves in the moment they signed up to become a fighter pilot.
Yet, why did it feel like he was to blame?
Why? Why am I being affected by this so much? Where is the old me? The one who gambles with life and death? The one who created the legend?
Now, I’m some type of risk aversive coward… who can’t even fathom the sight of seeing someone under my command not come back to the hangar bay.
He tried to think that he had done well. That his command had followed orders exactly and had nuked the enemy right where they were meant to be nuked — yet he couldn’t shake the thought off that he had failed as a Wing Commander, because he had lost men, good men who were meant to come back with cheerful faces and the fist pump of success.
Gods damn it! What is wrong with me?
“Sandy!” said a voice.
Gods, why must things happen —
“— Sandy!”
“What?” said Trevor.
“You’re good to go!” said the maintenance leader, a kid as old as his greenies. “Have fun blasting those Argonans into smithereens!”
“Thanks,” replied Trevor, giving the kid a thumbs up.
He maneuvered his fighter towards the big opening into space in front of him. When he was perfectly angled, he jammed his thrusters and his fighter passed through the force screen and gushed out of the hangar bay and into the void.
All the time, he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking.
Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia, above the wormhole exit, Sol
Yamato grunted in satisfaction as he watched the fourth and last minesweeper dreadnought explode on his holomap. He saw in sparkling detail as the dreadnought’s fiery pieces expanded outward from the central detonation. That’s it! They’re all gone!
With a wave of relief, he turned his thoughts back onto his mine saturation counter. It was at 7%, which wasn’t surprising since it took time to destroy the enemy’s minesweeper dreadnought and all this time the enemy’s minesweeper destroyers had been doing work on his mines.