Battle of Sol

by Lee Guo

  The shields on T2’s drive rings flared green… then yellow… then crimson yellow… and then finally dark red — and seconds later, it dissipated into greyness, meaning it was about to die, and then, seconds after that, it collapsed completely.

  Then… Trevor watched as fighter bombs from the fighters in front of him ‒ he was in the far back of the fighter swarm ‒ hit the drive ring itself, and shattered the ring’s armor, which must have never been designed or meant to withstand this much concentrated firepower…

  Soon, fireballs engulfed that massive tube-like structure that encircled T2’s center thorax.

  And then… it was Trevor’s turn. “Fox-two! Away!” he said into the net, and hit the fire button that sent all four of his short-ranged missile-bombs at T2’s tube-like rings.

  Seconds later, he watched as his bombs detonated against the Titan’s armor-shattered and shield-depleted thorax AND caused a massive chain reaction that sent crippling waves of energy throughout its primary means of movement.

  Lucky me! Wahooo! Trevor watched as crippling secondary fireballs and detonations cascaded through T2’s rings until T2 suddenly stopped advancing in space and fell away from the rest of the enemy fleet in their tread towards Earth. T2, for all intents and purposes, was immobilized.

  Score! Another score for humanity! Trevor reversed course and headed back to his carrier for another strike, if one was needed.

  Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia

  Distance to Earth: 6 light-minutes — ETA: 30 minutes

  We did it. Our fighters did it. We actually immobilized two Titans. And it looks like we’re on the road to immobilizing the remainder, soon! Very soon!

  Yamato fist pumped the air, and laughed. Small tears fell down from his eyes as exhilaration and waves of relief flooded his mind. We actually did it, we stopped them dead cold away from Earth.

  And then he reminded himself that all was not over. There were three Titans left and they still moved, and it was up to the next fighter strikes to immobilize them as well.

  But by the star gods, it looked like he had finally succeeded!

  “All pulsars, concentrate your firepower on the remaining mobile Titans. Knock away their whole body shields so that our fighters — in their next strike — don’t have to worry about the enemy’s primary shields and only the shields protecting the enemy’s drive rings. Let’s do this, everyone! We’re that close! Godspeed, Yamato out!”

  The two Titans fell away from the rest of the enemy fleet. Each immobilized Titan had secondary explosions bursting through its central thorax, where their drive rings used to be. They were as good as dead.

  Meanwhile, all 1096 human fighters returned to the human carriers in preparation for another strike on the remaining Titans that could still move at .2c.

  And at the same time, Yamato’s 3 pulsar battlecruisers continued firing pulsar beams at the enemy’s 3 mobile Titans in hopes of diminishing their whole-body shields.

  4 minutes later…

  Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia

  Distance to Earth: 5.2 light-minutes — ETA: 26 minutes

  “All fighters — that have finished rearming — launch another strike! Hit the drive rings on the remaining Titans!” yelled Yamato on the command line.

  The end is upon us!

  Dear gods, we’ve won. We’ve really won!

  **

  Once again, the human fighter waves crossed the minimal distance between the two fleets. Once they reached bombing range of the enemy’s 3 mobile Titans, the first of many fighters launched their bombs. Once again, the first of many bombs smashed into each moving Titan’s primary shields, which instantaneously flashed crimson first, then a bit later, dark red, then gray.

  Once the Titan’s primary shields had dissipated, the next wave of fighter bombs slammed into the mobile Titans’ drive rings. The shields on these drive rings also splashed green, then yellow, then crimson yellow, then dark red, and finally gray. Within seconds of the attack, each Titan’s drive ring’s shields had collapsed.

  The next wave of fighters unleashed their bombs… which crashed into each drive ring’s armor. The armor withstood the initial blasts, but not all of them. It wasn’t strong enough to withstand the waves of human fighter bombs that were coming to the drive rings in pinpoint strikes.

  Eventually, the drive ring’s armor, cratered and splintered, gave way, and the next wave of fighter bombs smashed into the drive ring’s structure, causing sprays of energy to be released and secondary explosions to cascade throughout the tube-like ring’s entire body. Each drive ring then exploded, as alien shipboard energy that was meant to be used now splashed freely throughout its crippled body.

  When the fighter waves and their accompanying bombs had finished, two more Titans fell away from the main mobile enemy fleet that was heading towards Earth. Two more Titans were immobilized. All that remained was a single Titan, which continued moving at .2c towards Earth.

  There was still 23 minutes before that single Titan could reach Earth.

  Time was well on the human force’s side.

  Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia

  Distance to Earth: 4.6 light-minutes — ETA: 23 minutes

  Yamato felt accomplishment and exhilaration rushing throughout his body. Only 1 more Titan left, and there was plenty of time remaining for not only 1 more fighter strike, but two at a minimal.

  Then, a thought appeared inside his mind. But… did he really need his fighters to finish the job? There was only one Titan left. How much of a threat could this Titan pose to his 3 pulsars if he closed to such a distance that even his pulsars could pinpoint strike the remaining Titan’s drive rings?

  He thought about it for a second, but then decided to go with it. He was being rash he knew, and unnecessarily risking his Pulsars when his fighters could do the job, but he wanted to take out this remaining Titan as fast as possible, as far away from Earth as seemingly capable by what resources he had.

  Careful, if you lose your remaining pulsars, how will you destroy all those immobilized Titans, as well as that enemy star fortress that is carefully creeping toward Earth at .01 c?

  He shook his head. He wouldn’t lose them. The remaining Titan’s TPCs was no match against his Pulsars’ fully regenerated shields — shields that could actually absorb enemy tachyon pulses.

  “All pulsar battlecruisers,” said Yamato into the command line, “close the distance to 10,000 kilometers with the last mobile enemy Titan and fire away at the Titan’s drive rings. Don’t worry about the Titan firing its two tachyon pulse cannons at us. It does not have enough firepower. We have full shields and can easily absorb its tachyon pulses before that drive ring goes down.”

  Immediately, the three human pulsar-class battlecruisers closed the distance with the lone enemy Titan ‒ from 200,000 kilometers to much shorter. Upon reaching 120,000 kilometers of the Titan, everyone saw the Titan powering up its twin Tachyon Pulse Cannons. Seconds later ‒ like a threatened, desperate animal, the enemy ship fired.

  In an instant, two massive pulses of tachyon energy slammed into the lead human battlecruiser, the Carpathia ‒ the same ship where the human fleet commander kept his flag.

  In front of the human ship, volumes of the blue-orange shield particles splattered in every direction ‒ the Carpathia’s shields bent to the beams of energy, but did not break. Instead, milliseconds later, the flag ship’s shields reformed its cohesion back to normal, again. On board the Carpathia, the fleet commander of all human forces sighed in relief. The Carpathia had only lost 9% in shield saturation — from a full 89% to 80%.

  And then, as the distance between the two forces continued to shrink to 20,000 kilometers… the human fleet commander ordered all three pulsars to fire.

  Three massive beams of laser energy lashed out in the direction of the lone Titan’s drive rings at a rate of twice per second with pinpoint accuracy due to this decreased distance. The Titan’s own primary shiel
ds flared crimson in the aftermath of each successful hit, until it eventually became dark-red and grey and then burned away. As the Titan’s primary shield was penetrated, the next rounds of pulsar beams slammed into the Titan’s drive ring’s shields, which once again splashed in various colors until it too gave away.

  The Titan’s drive ring’s armor was another obstacle, but it shattered as well due to the overwhelming concentrated beam strikes. Seconds later, the entire drive ring malfunctioned. The tube-like structure exploded, and the lone Titan fell away from its trajectory towards Earth. The Titan’s velocity was halted — it was officially immobilized.

  The Battle of Sol was won.

  Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia

  It’s not over, yet, Sector General Yamato surmised amidst the cheering and celebrating in the flag bridge. People shouted in joy. Men and women raised their arms, some cried, and others hugged each other with faces of relief.

  Yamato could see… tears falling down Captain Rogers’s face. The big tall redheaded captain kept leaping up and down.

  Then, Rogers paused and stared back at Yamato, probably wondering why Yamato was remaining as stoic as ever. Rogers shouted over the commotion, “What’s wrong, sir?”

  Yamato smiled back. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong. We just have a little bit more work cut out for us. That’s all.”

  Rogers gave a wide grin, and then turned his attention towards one of the female ensigns. That female ensign ‒ whose name Yamato couldn’t remember ‒ showered Rogers with kisses — and then, well…

  Yamato sat in his fleet commander’s chair, thinking. He replayed the last three hours back in his head, and when he finally reached the present moment, he couldn’t help but wipe away the tears from his eyes. He had done it.

  He had really done it!

  He had wiped out an entire Argonan battle fleet! — as big as battle fleets could be!

  He… he must have killed over 50 enemy battlecruisers, 30 superdreadnoughts and 5 Titans! And hundreds of point defense screening destroyers ‒ not mention those 4 minesweeper dreadnoughts and 4 antimatter kamikaze-ships!

  He grinned. What a miracle! What a perfect combination of decisions using the technological capabilities that was available to him!

  No… it wasn’t perfect. There were certainly areas where Yamato wished he had done better, but he had done it. No, the men and women of the fleet had done it… all the way down to the lone fighter pilot.

  But it was your thinking and your decision making that led everyone and everything to this point.

  Yamato smiled. It really was his battle to win or to lose, wasn’t it?

  He leaned on his backrest. He was glad the president hadn’t ordered him to surrender, the president had given him this last chance, especially during Sol’s darkest hour.

  His last chance… to decimate the enemy invasion of Sol, and the first step to take the war back to the enemy.

  My gods, what had once been a small hint of possibility now has become a reality. He had turned the tables against the Argonans and created the foundation for a counterattack on Alpha Centauri to reclaim lost ground!

  And then…?

  Who knew?

  With the power of these pulsar-class battlecruisers, anything was possible!

  Wait, let’s not get ahead of ourselves… the enemies in Sol are not dead, yet. They are simply incapacitated. The battle is not over. There is still that massive star fortress that is slowly heading towards Earth. And all five of those immobilized Titans are simply that — immobilized. We still have to destroy them.

  Yamato sighed, releasing his desire to celebrate and returned his gaze at the holomap.

  How will I kill those 5 remaining immobilized Titans?

  Well, there’s the obvious method. I could use my pulsars and attack them until they blow up. I could do this indefinitely as long as I position my pulsars out of range of their tachyon pulse cannons. With this method, I don’t even have to risk my remaining fighters. And since it’s unlikely the Titans will be able to repair their drive rings in any reasonable time frame, I really can simply and patiently blast them away with pulsar shots.

  Yamato caressed his chin. But was there something better? A better option than destroying these immobilized enemy warships?

  He searched his mind, thinking of what other things he could do to them.

  Gosh, what a waste to lose all those hulls, those are some precious metals.

  Well, we could use our pulsars and neutralize the Titan’s weapons. Since the Titans are immobilized, it would not be hard to destroy their TPCs. Or would it? But if their TPCs are anything like their star fortress’s TPCs, it would be a real pain…

  But why keep them alive at all?

  Unless… we could turn them into human controlled ships… Yamato blinked and sucked in a breath. My gods! Wouldn’t it be better if we could put human crews on those things? Wouldn’t it be great if we could use their massive hulls, armor, and power plants for our use?

  And how great would it be to capture them, and all their alien technology, like they did to all of our wrecked warships in Alpha Centauri?

  My gods, this is a golden opportunity!

  But could he do it?

  He blinked once — twice. Yes, of course we can! This is our home system, with our home world nearby, and we have millions of ground soldiers on Earth and Mars. We can use our space marines and commandeer those immobilized enemy warships! Totally!

  It seems that even with all this celebrating, the battle is still not over. There’s still more steps to take to secure the ultimate victory!

  He quickly began envisioning a plan to take control of those Titans.

  Wing Commander’s Cockpit, fighter 001, docked inside the Carrier Enterprise

  Trevor Gray took off his helmet, climbed out of his cockpit, and breathed the fresh “cardboard” oxygenated air inside the carrier’s hangar bay. He could smell the aroma of oils and sweat, as well as metal and sulfur. Well… it was better than what was inside his cockpit. He had to endure that for the past eight hours.

  He placed his helmet on the ground of the hangar bay and screamed, “I’m alive! I’m alive!”

  “Very good, Sandy,” said a voice. “The gods favor you.”

  Trevor twisted his head and saw the maintenance chick who had led his fighter’s maintenance crew for the past 8 hours.

  “Claire,” he said. “It was an honor.”

  “The honor was mine,” she said, approaching to within breathing distance so that Trevor could smell her aroma, a mixture of sweat and perfume.

  For a moment, he paused — the images of all of his past wingmates swirling in his head, his girlfriends and lovers, and his teachers and friends. They were all dead. The only satisfaction he had was that they had been sacrificed for humanity, for that noble ideal, the existence of a faith — that humans would produce more of them, that they themselves could be replaced… for as long as humans remained a civilization, his friends and lovers would never die.

  To hell with it! He reached behind her head and pulled her in with his arms. Her breasts ‒ underneath her oily maintenance suit ‒ pushed against his chest, and he tasted her mouth. It was the most satisfying yet grotesque taste. The chick must have been eating metal scrubbers from what he could tell.

  But it was human. Human in all its entirety. Every single bit of it… and as he continued drinking its aroma, he knew he would never let it go. Human sweat. Human endurance. Human impressions mixed with the scent of technology, metal, and fire — the fire that allowed humans to conquer Earth, that eventually led humans out of it and into space. The technology that allowed humans to expand to other star systems — and the metal that allowed humans to wage war with dignity and commitment.

  It tasted like freedom.

  Book 4

  Flag Bridge, Federation Battlecruiser Carpathia

  15 minutes later…

  It had taken 10 minutes for Yamato to plan out the best possible way to b
oard and take over the five immobilized titans. And then five minutes simply to get all of his marine subcommanders ‒ who were on Earth and Mars ‒ into the FTL chatroom with him.

  And now, the holographic faces of all 40 marine regiment commanders stared back at Yamato. They were silent, awaiting his command.

  “Greetings, everyone,” Yamato began. “I’m going to be quick, because this operation needs to be quick. Time is more important than accuracy in following my orders exactly, because the more time we give to the enemy, the more they’ll figure out what we’re intending to do, and the more likely they will self-destruct their vessels to deny us from gaining control — let alone wipe out their computer cores to prevent us from gaining access to their knowledge-bases if we do end up gaining control of their ships.”

  His words were met with silence at first. The forty faces stared back at him. Then, some nodded. Others said, “yes, sir”. It was obvious to everyone that this was a quickly assembled group of commanders, and that errors were bound to happen.

  Yamato barked, “I want everyone to assemble as many marines as possible onto as many atmospheric assault landers as possible, and then send these assault boats to all 5 disabled Titans in a surround just outside each Titan’s main weapon range. At my signal, I want every assault boat to dive towards each respective enemy Titan and latch onto each Titan’s hull so the boarding can commence. The enemy will know the moment they see our assault boats come out of orbit that we’re trying to marine board their disabled Titans, so that’s why we won’t have to simultaneously begin the assault on each Titan together. Still, since the Titans are about 10 minutes travel from each other in space, I expect all marine assaults will begin within 20 minutes of each other.”

  The marine commanders listened in silence

  “Since the disabled Titans are much closer to Earth than Mars, I want all Earth regiments to capture Titans 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Still, I want all Martian units to head towards Titan 1 and 2 even though it will take much longer than my Earth units. I expect we will suffer significant — although not crippling — casualties, because the Titans will be able to freely use their main weapons, their tachyon pulse cannons, to shoot at our marine assault boats during our assault. Ideally, I would have liked to disable their TPCs with my pulsars, but that is not an option, as that will give the enemy too much time to self-destruct and wipe out their computer cores. Any questions?”