Battle of Sol

by Lee Guo

  Meanwhile, human plasma-equipped capital ships began sliding out of range of the enemy capital ships they previously had skirmished with. Each plasma-equipped capital ship tried their best with their outdated drive rings to get out of the enemy’s weapon’s range.

  While all of this was breathing life back into the human ships, the human fortress Helvon’s Vengeance continued suffering concentrated attack after attack by the enemy fleet as well as the enemy star fortress. Beam after beam of grazers along with enemy tachyon pulses slammed into the human fortress’s shields. The outcome was obvious. It was apparent that the human fortress would lose its shields and suffer catastrophic damage to its armor, much like its sister fortress less than 20 minutes ago.

  To make things worse, the enemy revealed their next surprise…

  Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia, retreating away from the wormhole exit

  Yamato’s eyes widened upon seeing new enemy ships coming out of the wormhole exit. They were bigger… much bigger. Titans!

  Those lumbering giants that he most dreaded were just now entering the human home system!

  So the enemy had Titans after all! I thought they didn’t have any… I was wrong. Why did the enemy commander only choose to send them out now? — at this late point in the wormhole exit battle?

  He gazed at the holographic representation of each new Titan the wormhole exit gave birth to. Each gigantic 4 kilometer long warship was oval shaped and armed with anti-fighter laser blisters as well as the dreaded dual main tachyon pulse cannons.

  Are these tachyon pulse cannons shielded, too?

  He shook his head. He didn’t know. But what he did know was that the presence of the enemy’s Titans had to have changed things strategically.

  But then, as he thought about it, he wondered… how so? Did the overall strategic picture really change because of these Titans?

  He bit his lips. Did they really increase the enemy’s firepower by that much, and if they did, does such an increase in total enemy firepower matter? Wasn’t he already fighting a very lopsided battle with his remaining units? The addition of these Titans… did it really change the situation for him?

  He already needed a miracle to win, and this miracle was only made more miraculous by the existence of these super large warships.

  No… I don’t need a miracle to win. I do have a decent chance. And this chance exists as long as my pulsars can out range the enemy. I wonder —

  Can these Titans prevent Yamato from being able to shoot at the enemy with his Pulsars while being outside of the enemy’s main guns? Were these Titans equipped with the same weapons as the ones he fought against a month earlier in Alpha Centauri? Were their tachyon pulse cannons still 120,000 kilometers in maximum effective range compared to the 200,000 kilometers of his pulsar guns? Could his pulsar class battlecruisers out-range these Titans as well?

  He shrugged. And an even bigger question was how fast were these new Titans? If they moved at the same speed as before, Yamato would need no significant change in his coming battle tactics, except the enemy as a whole was much harder to take down because they had far more armor.

  I suppose it’s not that big of a difference after all. Will the existence of these Titans be enough to create an entirely different outcome to this battle?

  Yamato stroked his chin and wondered… I don’t think so. The outcome doesn’t change that much, except that it will take me far longer to take down all these enemy units, provided I can in the first place.

  … And as for the wormhole exit battle, well I already know the second human fortress is as good as dead, even before these Titans appeared. The wormhole exit battle was already lost before they came out.

  As Yamato perused the holomap, he cringed upon seeing a third Titan exit behind the second. Each Titan fired at the only object within range of their TPCs, the remaining human star fortress Helvon’s Vengeance.

  He saw the Helvon’s Vengeance’s shield splatter from the onslaught of all the enemy units outside the wormhole exit. It lost a full 10% in its shield saturation within seconds.

  Gods damn it, Yamato winced. The Helvon’s Vengeance is dead. All five thousand crewmen on it are going to die. But I already knew that.

  He studied the holomap as a fourth Titan exited behind the third. Gods! How many of these humongous beasts are there?

  And that, besides daunting him with dread, made him more curious than ever. Suddenly, a wondering thought lingered in his head. Why wait until now? Why did the enemy choose to send their Titans out the exit only now? Why didn’t they send their Titans out when the enemy fortress came out, or better yet, when their first capital ships came out?

  They must have thought that we can destroy these Titans, and that’s why they kept their most important warships until last. And if that is true… that we can indeed destroy these Titans with concentrated fire, then that’s a good thing. It means they do have a weakness. But is their weakness as weak as the Titans we fought a month ago in Alpha Centauri?

  Probably not. After all, the TPCs on top of the enemy fortress were heavily shielded… there’s no reason to expect that these won’t be as well.

  But a lingering question remained. Why didn’t the enemy commander send the Titans immediately out with their star fortress? Surely, it’s in the enemy’s best interests to concentrate their greatest offensive assets at one point in time. Isn’t it best to concentrate the units with greatest firepower together so that they can deal the greatest damage?

  With the way the enemy played it, I almost destroyed the enemy’s star fortress before their Titans came out onto the field!

  Were they that concerned that we might take the Titans out that they saved them for last?

  Or is it…?

  Yamato’s eyes widened. They wanted me to empty my firepower on something that isn’t as mobile as the rest of their warships. Because… in the end, the slow moving enemy star fortress is not as great a threat to Sol as much as the enemy’s mobile fleet — which can severely cripple human war production centers once their ships gets within range of Earth. In this light, the enemy’s star fortress is expendable! It’s main purpose is to absorb punishment, which I gave wholeheartedly and clumsily!

  I’ve made a horrendous mistake all this time! Yamato clenched his fist. I was so enamored by the enemy star fortress’s existence that I concentrated all my firepower on it instead of taking out more of the enemy’s warships — and I didn’t realize that firing at the enemy’s star fortress was the worst option available for my side and inversely, this was exactly what the enemy wanted!

  Worse yet, I’ve made this mistake twice already! The first time was with the enemy’s minesweeper dreadnoughts! Now… their star fortress!

  Yamato slammed his fist into his armrest. What should I do now? Should I or should I not focus my fire on the enemy’s Titans? Can I? Or will they be protected?

  Or should I instead fire at the enemy’s smaller units, the ones that I can actually damage, like their smaller capital ships or their destroyers?

  No… I should try to take out as many of their units as I can… irregardless of size… because they’re all a threat and all are mobile and can reach Earth. So, my strategy should be once again to attack the enemy units that have the greatest offense to defense ratio. And if that is not attainable, either because those units are being protected by other enemy units, then I should fire at the next best thing that I can fire at.

  Only with this method will I be certain I’ll have the greatest chance of wilting the enemy fleet to nothing. The old stratagem applies, if you eliminate the enemy units with greatest firepower-to-armor ratio, you’ll maximize eliminating their ability to take down your units, resulting in more of your units surviving to fire on the enemy over time.

  But can I do it with only 58 ships? 6 Artemises, 1 Warhammer, 5 Pulsars, 18 destroyers, 12 frigates, and 16 carriers?

  One thing is for sure, I won’t underestimate the armor of those enemy Titans unlike last t
ime.

  Yamato leaned forward — somehow finding hope in an apparently hopeless situation. Alright! Let’s see what these pulsar classes are truly made of.

  One after another, Titans marched out of the wormhole exit — eventually, five whole Titans accumulated.

  For the first time in a long time, nothing new came out of the exit. It seemed that the enemy had finally exhausted their supply of ships and assets.

  Still, the enemy forces outside the wormhole now numbered 28 battlecruisers, 16 superdreadnoughts, 79 destroyers, 5 Titans, and 1 badly damaged enemy star fortress — and all of these warships, plus the lone enemy battlestation, fired at the remaining human star fortress.

  Even before the Titans appeared, the human fortress’s shields was around 40%. Now, with Titan’s firepower added into the mix, the shields of the human fortress quickly drained.

  40% went down to 30%, then 20% — all within seconds.

  10% became 5%, then 0%.

  And then the Helvon’s Vengeance was shieldless.

  Grazer beams and tachyon pulses enthusiastically slammed into the Helvon’s Vengeance’s armor. Armor exploded when hit by grazer beams, or demolecularized if hit by tachyon pulses. Within seconds, massive cavities formed on the surface of the human fortress’s structure. There was nothing the fortress’s human crew could do — the fortress was never designed to combat this level of punishment.

  Minutes later, the entire human fortress exploded in another massive fireworks display. Another 5000~ humans dead. Another disaster in a war of disasters.

  There had been no time for the evacuation pods to eject. Nor would the enemy give any quarter for human pods attempting to flee from the battle…

  Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia, retreating away from the wormhole exit

  Yamato watched the humongous debris field expand where the Helvon’s Vengeance used to be. What had once been a 320 million ton weapon was now four massive fragments, each glowing with secondary explosions.

  He heard cries of pain on the flag bridge. Crewmen everywhere appeared devastated.

  “All hope is not lost!” shouted Yamato. “We still have our five pulsar-class battlecruisers! We can outrun any of the enemy ships and we can out-range any of the enemy’s weapons!”

  The bridge quieted down. Then, one crewman spoke, “But sir, can we beat all that?”

  Yamato didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know. But what he did know was… “We can sure as hell try,” said Yamato. “It’s a long way towards Earth. There will be plenty of time for us to attempt —” he paused. He didn’t want to say ‘a miracle.’ “There will be plenty of time for us to try various methods. All hope is not lost. The war is not concluded. We can still save Sol and beat the enemy out of the system, provided we work diligently and courageously.”

  “Yes, sir,” said the crewman, who now looked calmer.

  Courageously, like all the people on board all the fortresses and ships that have already died? Do you want everyone who remain to follow that same fate?

  Perhaps it is time to give up…

  No! Yamato shook his head. I will not surrender, yet!

  “Sir!” said one sensor officer. “Look!”

  Yamato’s gaze swiveled to the central holomap.

  All the enemy forces were moving. Every enemy ship — from their small destroyers to Titans to even their mobile fortress — pushed outward, towards his ships and towards Earth. He had to act quickly, before his ships were within range of the enemy’s weapons.

  “All ships,” announced Yamato on the command net, “retreat towards Earth! All Pulsar-class battlecruisers are to slide backwards, but not so much that you lose maximum weapon’s range on the closest enemy vessel. Keep firing on the enemy with your pulsar guns! — but don’t let the enemy get close enough for their shipkiller weapons to fire on you! As for all other ships, maintain formation with our Pulsar-class battlecruisers as they retreat but keep out of range of the enemy ships’ main weapons.”

  Yamato nodded as the affirmatives from all his ship captains came in.

  “Remember,” said Yamato, “keep your shields regenerating. We will need those shields if and when their missile ships come out of the wormhole. All crews are to maintain red alert status, including those that are out of range of the enemy’s firing arc.” Which is, hopefully, everyone. “And most importantly — do not lose hope. We have a base at Mars, which is directly in the way of the enemy’s path towards Earth.”

  Yamato waited to see whether any of his ship captains had anything to say, and when there was nothing, he closed the channel.

  I hope this works, he thought while trying to soothe himself by focusing on the good news.

  Because…

  The enemy is free to move about the system.

  The road to Earth is open.

  Book 3

  Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia, retreating towards Mars Base

  Yamato watched on the holomap as an enemy Shark-class battlecruiser — an entire kilometer of it — exploded into pieces from concentrated pulsar beam hits.

  He grinned. Yet, all this entire time, the enemy had not had the chance to fire even one main cannon shot from any of their capital ships at his Pulsar-class battlecruisers. It was a fact. His pulsar-classes could out range and out maneuver the enemy.

  He nodded. Not bad. If we can keep this up… there is a possibility, however small, that we might destroy the entire enemy fleet before they reach weapon’s range on Earth’s orbital manufactories. And if we can do that… Yamato grinned, again. …then we may have very well have won the battle!

  What was even more satisfying was that now he knew the enemy Titans’ new TPCs could not out range his pulsar guns on board his pulsar-classes. And that was a heaven-send. If that were not true, his entire strategy would have been thrown out of the window! Hmm… if they had TPCs with greater range than 120,000 km, surely they would have used them by now.

  Yamato sighed in relief. While the enemy fleet was making its way towards Mars and Earth, they could not fire a single shot at his fleet, while the pulsars in his fleet could fire at them. Yet, however bad it seemed for the enemy — it certainly looked like the enemy was making a mistake — Yamato knew the enemy was making the perfect move… for them.

  The enemy’s goal was Earth. As long as a single one of their ships could get within range and destroy it, especially Earth’s construction docks, the enemy would win the war — namely because once Earth’s manufacturies were crippled, Yamato and humanity would be not be able to create any new ships, and even if the enemy lost most of their massive fleet here, the Argonans could still create more, and in the future, they could send them to Sol to wipe out whatever else humanity had.

  The criteria for an Argonan victory was easy. As for a human victory, not so much. Yamato knew that even if he somehow managed to swap his entire fleet for the enemy’s entire fleet — an event of utter destruction — he would still lose the war. Mostly because once he lost his fleet, the enemy would once again be able to send more of the future fleets they produced towards Sol and destroy Earth’s production centers. Yamato could not hope to outproduce the enemy if both of their current fleets were mutually annihilated.

  Thus, humanity simply could not afford to lose a large portion of its fleet in the next phase of battle.

  But there was hope. The pulsars…

  If his pulsars could destroy the enemy fleet and lose none of its own, before the enemy got to Earth, the outcome of the war could still be in contest…

  Yamato bit his lips. From the outside, this event looked utterly impossible. From the outside, the numbers looked dire for humanity. The aliens had such a huge remaining fleet. 26 battlecruisers, 16 superdreadnoughts, 79 destroyers, and 5 Titans. Five Titans! Yamato winced.

  Meanwhile, humanity only had 6 normal battlecruisers, 1 superdreadnought, 5 Pulsar battlecruisers, 30 destroyers, and 16 carriers.

  The numbers were utterly against humanity. But… th
e good thing was that they were just numbers. Qualitatively, his ships and fighters had great advantages in terms of speed, weapons’ range, and defenses… well… maybe not defenses.

  After all, he had destroyed 34 enemy Shark-class battlecruisers and 15 enemy Megastar-class superdreadnoughts so far during the exit battle. He had killed 4 minesweeper dreadnoughts and an uncountable number of enemy screening destroyers while only losing 14 human Artemis-class battlecruisers and 6 human Warhammer-class superdreadnoughts and Yamato winced again, two fortresses. The kill to loss ratios were tremendously on Yamato’s side. But he sighed, that was because he had the enemy fleet bottlenecked while they made transit through the wormhole piece by piece. Now the enemy fleet is free.

  However… Besides the fact that his Pulsars could out range the enemy, Yamato had surprises as well. He had a base full of fighters orbiting Mars.

  He had another ‘surprise’ hidden behind the sun in between Earth and Mars — mostly because the President had ordered him to do so, not because he had a choice. If he had a choice, he would have unleashed that surprise during the wormhole exit contest much earlier…

  However, there was more bad news. All the pilots sitting at the Mars Fighter Base were trainees, barely experienced to fly a bird. He was uncertain if they could handle a real battle. Nevertheless, he had already sent his bird-depleted carriers to Mars to restock with new fighters. There was no more time for training. It was all or nothing…

  Yamato sat in the flag bridge’s command chair, stoically. His eyes never left the holomap.

  Well, my nemesis, what new surprises do you have in store for me? Do you have more missile ships? Do you have a new type of capital ship? You’ve been inventive so far, making me fall for trap after trap. Bring it on!

  On the holomap, the enemy continued advancing towards the inner system, where Earth and Mars lay.