As Lionheart flew over the top of the Traing Fleet, Nerla looked down to see the great raggle-taggle mixture of vessels that formed their fleet. To Nerla, it looked like there were no two ships the same. They were of various designs and shapes, although of roughly a similar size, and worryingly for Nerla, they were all remarkably speedy and agile. She scrutinised the Traing vessels with the eye of a professional ship commander, and noticed that the engine cowlings of all of the Traing craft were either white or red hot from the constant thrust flames involved in the breakneck pursuit.
She smiled confidently to herself, hoping that the First Admiral’s calculations were correct.
As she observed the running battle below her, two more Alliance Crusaders “exploded” to join the shadowing Squadron behind the Traing Fleet. She also noted with satisfaction that the pulsar-bolts from the rear turrets of the Crusaders were sufficiently powerful to halt a Traing vessel’s momentum, but not cause undue damage. They would be getting a kick on the backside too, she smiled to herself. It was all going exactly according plan. As Lionheart took up her designated place at the head of the shadowing Squadron, the Comms Officer announced that the Traing were now within scanner and communication range of the Pritern Fleet.
On Aquarius, the Alliance Communications Technicians were scrambling and jamming the Pritern and Traing frequencies. They may have been able to see each other on their scanners, but they could not hear each other. Unbeknownst to the Traing warlords, the Pritern Communications Officers were screaming into their equipment to warn them off from the rendezvous. The messages would never get through. Instead the Traing rushed headlong into the carefully prepared trap set by the Alliance’s First Admiral.
Now that trap was about to spring shut. The leading Traing vessels had just come into visual contact with the larger vessels of the Alliance Fleet when the final Crusaders had been “destroyed” and slipped back to join Nerla’s Squadron. With their heads buzzing from the perceived easy success against the smaller Alliance vessels, the Star-Cruisers, Fleet Carriers and gigantic Star Destroyers were just too tempting a target. Feeling that they could deliver a decisive blow to the Alliance, with no loss to themselves, they launched their small ships forward.
They sped into a headlong, careless attack on the larger Alliance vessels, in what they thought would be a final glorious and victorious charge.
Then, suddenly, everything changed.
Chapter 7
The mad, reason-abandoned headlong rush of the small Traing raider and ambush craft swept towards the massive bulk of the Alliance Star Cruisers, Fleet Carriers and Star Destroyers.
“Traing formation within range, sir,” the WATO aboard the Aquarius announced.
“Commence firing, if you please,” the First Admiral responded calmly.
For the leading Traing vessels, the victorious dash was brought to a sudden, terminal halt by the first volleys of medium- and high-yield pulsar-bolts. Unlike the explosive low-yield pulsar-bolts used by the decoy Alliance Crusaders, the medium- and high-yield pulsar-bolts were designed for penetration. These pulsar-bolts were designed to break through force shielding on large enemy vessels and impact on the superstructure or systems leading to their destruction. Against the unshielded Traing vessels, the medium- and high-yield pulsar-bolts were horribly effective. A direct hit on a Traing vessel would result in immediate vaporisation of that craft, with the slightly depleted bolt continuing on its path to strike further vessels. Thus, one high-yield pulsar bolt could destroy or damage as many as three or four unshielded vessels.
Hundreds of Traing vessels began to explode in bright yellow and orange flashes. For a few brief seconds their stunned commanders could not understand what was happening. The approach to the Alliance Fleet had been so gloriously easy, how could they now be destroying our ships, they puzzled. The stunned and confused Traing commanders tried to find reason for the sudden loss of vessels. The battle madness was upon many of the other hot-headed Traing captains. They wanted the blood, slaughter and plunder that their Pritern allies had promised them on Maltor. The approach to the Alliance fleet had been an easy victory. Many arrogant Traing captains considered that the Alliance ships were still there for the taking. In a battle force where discipline was almost non-existent, the victory-crazed headlong rush had devoid the Traing captains of any common sense that may have been resident in their heads.
In the War Room of Aquarius, the First Admiral noted with satisfaction the sudden halting of some of the Traing attackers on the View Screen. However, only a few hundred of the first ranks of the headlong dash had been halted and the hordes of Traing ships following on still hurtled forwards. As a result, many Traing vessels were running into each other; shunting into the rear of ships that had stopped to take stock of the situation.
“Activate the War Table, please,” the First Admiral said calmly to the Senior WATO aboard Aquarius.
A moment later, the harshly-lit War Room with its hundreds of personnel disappeared into the blackness that allowed the First Admiral and his staff to focus on the battle.
The focus of the room became the large War Table which sprang to life in front of the First Admiral. Passing his hand over the large yellow light that stood to the right of the lectern built into the edge of the Table, the First Admiral activated the three-dimensional holographic projectors. Above the War Table, an image began to form, shakily at first, then becoming clearer in a matter of a few moments. In the centre of the image stood the small images of the blue Alliance fleet sent to defend Maltor. This would be where the main battle of the campaign would be fought.
At the centre of the image was his flagship, the Aquarius, flanked by two of the massive Star Destroyers, Nemesis and Olympus. Around them, in a rectangular formation, were their Star Cruiser escorts. The Universal Alliance Star Cruiser was not a pretty or an elegant vessel. It was a long vessel with a rounded bow that looked rather like a reptile snout. On the top, down the central spine of the vessel, were the five high-yield twin pulsar-cannons in their heavily armoured turrets. Down the side of the vessel, three rectangular hangars on each side, allowed the complement of Eagles, Scouts and Crusaders to venture forth. The external skin of the Star Cruiser was decorated with numerous smaller blisters that housed the remotely operated twin low-yield pulsar self-defence cannons. Beyond the Aquarius’ Star Cruiser escorts, the two slab-sided octagonal Star Destroyer formations were identically arranged whilst beyond the Star Destroyers lay the Fleet Supercarrier formations. The First Admiral had brought nine Fleet Supercarriers to this battle, each vessel with its own Star Cruiser screen. Finally, a further layer of Star Cruiser protection surrounded the entire fleet. The First Admiral had brought a fleet of almost two thousand of these massive Alliance warships to deal with the Maltorian crisis.
To the right of the image were the white Spinning Tops of the Pritern fleet; being stood-off by Jarral Lotharian’s victorious Fourth Fleet. To the left of the War Table image the huge Traing formation was still sweeping forwards. Whilst behind the great raggle-taggle Traing fleet, almost like shepherding dogs, the stealthed Crusaders of Nerla Daelstar kept watch on them.
In the War Room aboard Aquarius, the First Admiral stood, arms braced against the table top, scrutinising with his cold, dispassionate, professional eye the battle that was unfolding around the larger Alliance warships. The flat two-dimensional View Screens gave an indication of relative fleet positions and dispositions. However, the War Table allowed him a more in-depth analysis of the battlefield. In his left hand he held the War Table’s Manipulator. As its name suggested, the Manipulator could rotate in any direction, magnify, enhance and isolate any part of the image that the operator desired. It could take the First Admiral to any part of the battlefield, and view it from whichever perspective he chose. It consisted of a pistol grip mechanism with embedded nipple-like structures that could be operated by the individual fingers of the left hand.
The Traing vessels were still rapidly closing the range towards the l
arger Alliance vessels.
The Alliance pulsar-cannons were taking a steady toll of small ships and raider craft in the target rich environment. The First Admiral watched calmly as the small Traing ships’ images simply darted forwards and then disappeared from the War Table representation. Meanwhile, in the middle of the Alliance formation, the Eagles and Crusaders were gathering into the four swarms that would form the next part of the First Admirals battle plan.
“Are the fighters and gunships ready?” The First Admiral asked.
“No, sir, they’ll be another five to ten minutes getting into formations,” the Chief of Staff, Marrhus Lokkrien responded emerging from the darkness of the War Room.
The First Admiral was glad to hear the familiar voice of his oldest friend. Marrhus Lokkrien was one of the few people the First Admiral actually trusted and confided in. However, even Lokkrien didn’t know the full extent of the First Admiral’s battle plan. The First Admiral liked to keep a few contingencies up his sleeve, just in case of any eventualities or surprises from the enemy.
“Very well, we’ll just have to let the pulsar-cannons chew at them for a few more minutes,” the First Admiral smiled softly, his sharp blue-grey eyes never straying from the image on the War Table.
“Third Admiral Bettayam is reporting that the first contingent of Landing Troopers is moving down onto the surface of Priteria,” Lokkrien reported, “all Pritern surface forces are reported to have signalled their capitulation,”
“Signal Bettayam to be careful of any die-hard rogue elements. We don’t need any unnecessary casualties, especially when the battle there is already over,” the First Admiral ordered.
“Yes, sir, they should have secured and occupied the major government installations within the hour,” Lokkrien responded.
Marrhus Lokkrien, despite being the First Admiral’s closest friend never forgot that the flame-haired human was his superior officer. The informality of their friendship was never spoken of during spells of duty, or in front of subordinates. Lokkrien never used the familiar tone that the First Admiral had so often relied on in front of others. That was the military way. The First Admiral nodded slowly in acknowledgement, his eyes still fixed on the great swarm of Traing images sweeping towards the formation of large Alliance vessels.
“And get me a secure link to Second Admiral Tesdinar of Fifteenth Fleet,” the First Admiral added as Lokkrien turned away.
Lokkrien stood puzzled for a moment. The Fifteenth Fleet was on the far side of the Traing Badlands, systematically grinding their way through their lairs and hiding places, and bringing liberation to the people who lived in fear and terror of the Traing.
“Yes, sir” Lokkrien responded and disappeared into the gloom of the darkened War Room, leaving the First Admiral to ponder his thoughts and the next stage of the battle.
Concentrating again on the Traing fleet on his War Table, the First Admiral watched silently as the small three-dimensional representations of Traing vessels dashed towards the waiting Alliance formation. He saw with satisfaction that hundreds Traing craft simply vanished every second. He knew that in the cold depths of space more enemy vessels were being destroyed and every vessel destroyed here was one less potential threat for the future.
Switching to Real View mode, from a scanner aboard one of the forward Star Cruisers, the First Admiral could see the hundreds of white-hot pulsar-bolts slash downrange towards the great cloud of Traing ships. He saw the dozens of deep red and orange fireballs mushroom in the distance created by the direct hits. He also noted that many Traing captains in the first ranks evaded the bolts, which hit other ships further behind.
“The Carriers report that the first strike is ready, sir,” the Senior WATO intoned from the darkness.
“Very well,” the First Admiral responded and switched back to three-dimensional Graphic mode, “launch the attack, and prepare to launch the fighters for the second wave.”
“Aye, sir” the Senior WATO responded.
Inside the Alliance formation the four blocks of Eagles and Crusaders that comprised the first attack wave were receiving their orders. From the Graphic image on the War Table, the First Admiral could see the four groups set off in their predetermined directions. The Traing ships, despite massive numerical superiority, were vulnerable to a disciplined and well organised attack force. To the First Admiral, they were simply a very loose and fragmented mob, with no real cohesive command structure. Without it, the Traing would be virtually unable to respond to changes in circumstances during the battle; once their initial plan had broken down, they would be completely clueless.
Watching calmly from the War Room, the First Admiral saw that the first strike was moving out to attack the Traing from above their formation. The second would be attacking from beneath. The third and fourth strikes would attack the left and right flanks of the Traing fleet. The whole attack formation looked on the War Table like a great four-fingered claw stretching out to seize the enemy’s throat.
The Traing had no scouts or any type of defensive screen deployed, so the attack would be doubly effective in its impact. The experts of the raid and the ambush would themselves be ambushed.
In the three-dimensional Graphic image on the War Table the pulsar-cannons of the larger Alliance vessels were continuing to take their toll on Traing craft. The Alliance guns were continuously smashing the Traing ships and formations, but there were just so many of the fast agile vessels. It still looked very much like a one-sided contest where the Traing would sweep the larger Alliance ships away. At the same time almost five thousand Eagles and Crusaders of the Alliance fleet were speeding towards the sixty thousand Traing vessels. Rather than in a great block of vessels, the Alliance craft were strung out in their squadron formations in a long line. To the First Admiral’s eye the great double-pincer was starting to take shape.
In their great shallow arc flight-plans, from the twelve, three, six and nine o’clock positions, the four flotillas of Eagles and Crusaders flew at breakneck speed towards the attacking Traing formation. The plan was not to smash into the lead elements of the Traing attack; they were to be left to the pulsar-cannons. Instead, the Eagles and Crusaders were to attack the centre ranks of the Traing horde, who, feeling secure behind other ships, would be least expecting to have to confront an enemy.
On the War Table, the First Admiral watched the Alliance pincers deftly overfly the lead elements of the Traing attack. Meanwhile, inside the formation of the larger Alliance ships, the next wave was starting to gather in their formations. This would be the second stage of the First Admiral’s unfolding strategy. The Traing were still pushing forwards towards the Alliance defensive formation despite the serious and increasing losses they were sustaining. They would shortly be coming into range for the use of their own weapons, and it would be then that the First Admiral would find out for himself if the new battle shielding would work in combat.
The Traing, having been pounded by the Alliance pulsar-cannons, were rapidly approaching the larger Alliance ships. The First Admiral, standing silently at the War Table, couldn’t help but feel a pang of admiration for them. In the face of the Alliance’s overwhelming fire power, the Traing ships just kept coming forwards. The First Admiral knew, however, that the Traing really had no alternative other than to try to keep their rendezvous with the Pritern. A rendezvous that was already doomed never to happen.
“Sir, the enemy have opened fire,” the Senior WATO announced.
The First Admiral could already see the tiny streaks of light from the lead Traing vessels in the image on the War Table.
“Well, now we’ll see if our battle shielding works,” the First Admiral said distractedly as the first of the Traing gunfire came hurtling towards the Alliance formation.
For long seconds that seemed like an eternity, the First Admiral watched the tiny white streaks of light close the range to the yellow line that showed the battle shielding of the Alliance fleet. At the moment of impact, the tiny white slivers simply
disappeared into the yellow line. It held, the First Admiral thought to himself and quietly celebrated.
“No reports of damage or casualties, sir,” the voice of the Senior WATO intoned.
The sense of relief swept through the staff of the War Room like a tidal wave. The doubts over the battle-shielding were all but laid to rest.
“Very good,” the First Admiral responded, his attention firmly fixed on the War Table image, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.
“Ten seconds to the first wave attack,” the Senior WATO announced and began to count down to the moment of attack.
On the War Table the First Admiral could see the four prongs of the first attack enveloping the Traing formation. The Traing were continuing to fire their ineffective weapons in response to the pulsar-bolts of the Alliance. The white streaks hitting the yellow line of Alliance battle shielding would simply melt away. As Alliance bolts struck Traing vessels, they too would vanish from the First Admiral’s War Table.
The First Admiral needed a swift, brutal attack to smash and fragment the Traing formation. When the Eagles attacked, there would be no disciplined Traing response. They would revert to acting as individuals again. As individuals in a free-for-all battle they could be extremely dangerous, but as part of a leaderless mob, their weight of numbers would work against them when faced with disciplined formations.
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