by Saxon Andrew
“What do you see happening?”
Grady shrugged, “The leader of the Earth fleet intends to whittle their numbers down to even the odds and then attack the survivors. Earth is a bigger threat than I thought.”
• • •
The alien fleet came rushing in and the giant cube exploded with six-massive-blaster barrages. The front ranks of the alien fleet exploded as thousands of missiles were launched into their formations. The alien War Leader saw he lost five-thousand ships in moments and he called off the attack, ordering his ships out of range of the enemy’s weapons. His ships were destroyed before they could move into blaster range. “REMAIN OUTSIDE THE RANGE OF THEIR WEAPONS!” he ordered. How was he going to crack this nut?
• • •
Six-hours later, Jennings activated the fleet frequency, “On my countdown, all ships will go to full-speed vertically. Open fire the moment any alien warships come into range!” Jennings waited a minute and announced, “Three…two…one…EXECUTE!”
• • •
The giant cube suddenly went vertical catching the alien warships above it by surprise. Another eleven hundred alien ships were destroyed before the others could flee out of range of the cube’s blasters. Jennings laughed and brought the cube to a stop. That should get their attention.
• • •
Over the next two days, the cube would suddenly rush at the warships surrounding it, but the aliens were prepared and moved away before it could open fire on them. The alien fleet would move back in and surround the giant formation the moment it stopped. Jennings heard his XO remark, “Perhaps we should just break our formation and go after them ship-to-ship.”
Jennings shook his head, “They still have numbers on their side. I want to have better odds before I do that.”
“Our ships are more powerful,” the XO suggested.
“Mark, you’ve seen how things can go south in a hurry in a space battle. Keeping track of everything is impossible and thousands of our ships would have to deal with multiple ships attacking them. I’m not prepared to run that risk…yet.” The Executive Officer nodded, and Jennings heard the scanning officer announce, “Sir, I’m picking up something moving in toward us.”
Jennings looked up at the monitor and squinted, “What are those?”
“I don’t know, Sir. But they’re larger than anything I’ve ever seen capable of moving, Sir,” the lieutenant replied.
Chapter Thirteen
Grady saw the distant images and pushed the thruster handle. The Rex Rabbit leapt forward, and Grady magnified the view of the objects as the Rabbit moved closer. He stared at the image and heard Taffy say softly, “OH MY GOD!”
Grady stopped the Rabbit and asked, “Computer, estimate the size of those ships!”
“Each of the five structures are forty-miles in diameter and have decks above and below the centerline. Thickness is estimated at ten-miles.”
“Estimate the size of the blasters on the hulls of those things?” Grady ordered.
“Each blaster is larger than the warships that you’ve been observing in combat,” the computer answered.
“Grady, what is that?”
Taffy, those are party crashers!”
“What?”
Grady turned to her, “Those ships, structures, whatever they are, will end this stalemate. They’ll be able to fire on the cube and blast if from far outside the range of Earth’s weapons.” Grady looked at the image closer and asked, “Computer, how large are the missile tubes on it?”
“An Earth Warship could fly inside it with room to spare,” the computer answered.
Grady whistled and shook his head, “That must be some special missile.”
“Grady, why would the aliens build a ship that big?”
“Those structures must be designed to attack a heavily armed planet and destroy it from long range. They’re moving too slowly to be effective in combat, but they will be perfect to blow that cube apart.” Grady paused and asked, “Computer, how many warships are moving in with those five large platforms?”
“Approximately eight-thousand. Some of them are behind those structures and I’m unable to see them.”
Grady saw Taffy staring at him and he smiled, “Now it’s time.”
“For what?”
Grady laughed, “For that Earth Commander to get the flock out of the pasture.”
Taffy smiled slightly and said in a low voice, “I can see why the Union had you build the Rabbit. The Union and Coalition forces combined wouldn’t have stood a chance against just one of those things, much less the warships we’ve seen.” Grady nodded and turned back to the monitor.
• • •
Admiral Jennings watched the slow inexorable giants moving toward his fleet and knew what was going to happen if he stayed. He said over the fleet frequency, “All ships! On my command, we will reverse course and fight our way through the forces surrounding us. Once we clear them, all ships will accelerate away on different trajectories. MAKE SURE NONE OF THE COURSES YOU CHOOSE ARE ON A LINE BACK TO EARTH!!” Jennings paused and continued, “You will run until you’re certain you’ve not been followed and then you’ll run some more. When you are positive you’ve not been followed, at that point, return to Earth.” Jennings glanced at the monitor showing the Leviathans moving toward him and said, “Execute your orders!”
• • •
The alien Fleet Commander was holding position next to the War Leaders giant flagship and suddenly saw on her monitor the giant cube turn and accelerate away. The ships in its path instantly moved out of the way and were forced to turn away from it to avoid being run over. The cube cleared the forces surrounding it and it looked like it blew up into thousands of bright lights all moving in different directions. She quickly said over her communicator, “WAR LEADER, WE SHOULD FOLLOW THEM BACK TO THEIR POINT OF ORIGIN!!”
The War Leader chuckled and asked, “Exactly which one of those ships do you recommend we follow?”
“But…”
“Commander, it’s a safe bet none of them took a route toward their point of origin. This enemy is wise in the ways of war and going after them would be a waste of time. We will remain here and set up for their return.”
She paused and asked, “Now that they’ve seen the planet wreckers, do you think they’ll return.”
“Child, the only way to stop them is to administer a defeat they’ll not forget. That fleet wasn’t defeated, to the contrary, they won this confrontation.”
“How can you say that, War Leader? They ran away!”
“After destroying more than seven-thousand of our warships to a few dozen of theirs. They know this position and believe that they will find the Empire if they come back and start searching from here. We will prepare for their return.”
The Fleet Commander lowered her head and the monitor turned dark. “Commander, I’m detecting a scanning beam far out from here.”
She looked at the monitor and knew it was probably that damn small ship. It had to have something to do with that giant fleet showing up. One of them was destroyed and then the small ship destroyed two of her ships. It was telling her that it was still out there and out of reach. She was furious…she owed that ship. She thought about the planet it came from and knew she wasn’t going to finish its destruction now. It was far away from her current location and there was no possibility that she would be allowed to go back. The small ship had won this round; but she vowed to destroy that planet; capturing that ship was no longer a consideration. But first, this new enemy had to be handled.
• • •
Grady and Taffy stayed in position observing the giant alien fleets and saw more of the giant structures moving out toward them. Grady sat back and said, “Computer, put the map of the Milky Way on the monitor. Put the names of the arms on them.”
Taffy looked at him, “Milky Way?”
Grady shrugged, “The map of the galaxy was retrieved from the navigation data on the colony ship that settled Britannia.
It was decided not to change the names on the map.” Taffy nodded understanding. “Computer, put our current location on the map.” A red light started flashing and Grady added, “Now put Earth’s location on the map.”
Another red light started flashing and Taffy asked, “What are you thinking?”
“There’s nothing we can do here but watch what’s going on. I think your idea of trying to find one of the other colonies is a good one. Notice that Earth is located on what’s called the Orion Spur. It breaks off from one of the two major arms in the galaxy. If we run a line out from that spur, it will lead us back to the Perseus Arm.” Grady asked, “Computer, extend a line out from Earth’s location fifteen-thousand light years to the left of Earth.”
A blue line appeared, and Grady pointed at the end of it, “That is where we’re going to start our search. Britannia is located in the Norma Arm close to the galactic core and we’re going to have to cross the Scutum-Centaurus arm, as well as the Sagittarius Arm to get to that location. Are you up to do this?”
Taffy shrugged, “It was my idea to go searching for it. I’m down for it.” Grady smiled and turned the Rex Rabbit away from the alien fleet. The fleet commander saw the scanner being detected in distant space disappear. What was it up to now?
• • •
The trip across the galaxy was an eye-opening experience for Taffy. Grady flew close by numerous stars to heat the expansion fluid and the number of stars flashing by them soon became fewer and fewer. Grady saw her expression and nodded toward the monitor, “We’ve left the Coma Arm and have entered a space between the spiral arms. We’re going to enter the Scutum-Centaurus arm in a couple of days and the numbers of stars we’ll pass will fill the monitor. We’ll have another short void before we cross the Sagittarius Arm and then there will be a much larger void we’ll have to cross to arrive at our destination in the Perseus Arm.”
“How long is it going to take, Grady?”
“Earth was about sixteen-light-years from Britannia. Where we’re headed is more than double that distance. We’ll arrive in about three-weeks.”
“Grady, I don’t understand how our FTL drive operates. Can you explain how it functions?”
“I’m not sure I can describe it without causing you more questions than answers, but I’ll give it a try.” Grady paused and saw Taffy staring at him expectantly. “Physics says that no physical object can travel faster than the speed of light.”
Taffy nodded, “That’s what I learned from my tutors.”
“A physical object can’t travel faster than light, but the universe can.”
Taffy stared at him and blinked, “Excuse me! What’s the difference?”
“This is where it gets complicated,” Grady replied. “When the original explosion happened that this universe came from it erupted out of a space smaller than an atom. It blew out from that spot and expanded. Not long after it began expanding it went into a phase the scientists called inflation. They estimate the universe expanded at a rate of ten to the fiftieth power in ten to the minus thirtieth seconds. That means the universe instantly expanded to its current size. That speed of inflation was millions of times faster than the speed of light. That process accounts for what we see in the universe today. Are you clear so far?”
“Not really,” Taffy replied.
Grady picked up one of the small green balls and held it up, “Imagine this represents the universe shortly after the big bang. Now, imagine this ball expands into the size of the current universe almost instantly.”
“How is that possible?”
“Taffy, I really don’t know. But a thousand years ago, one of our physicists found a way to cause the structure of space to build up behind a ship in what appeared to be a huge wave. That wave built until it slammed into the rear of the ship it was behind and sent it forward at a speed faster than light. Think of it like someone taking a towel and snapping it at you. That wave would snap the ship forward into a depression in front of it. The fabric of space in front of the ship had been pulled behind it into the wave pushing it.”
Taffy nodded slightly, “So, the ship isn’t moving faster than light, it’s the surface of the universe under it that’s moving that fast.”
“Yes, and it’s sweeping the ship along on top of it. As long as the ship remains between the depression in front and the wave behind, it will exceed the speed of light.”
“What slows the ship down?”
“Taffy, it takes a huge amount of energy to produce the wave and depression. Shut down the energy feeding them, and the ship will enter normal space at normal velocities.”
“How come I can’t see the wave or depression?”
“Because the universe around the ship still appears the same…however, it isn’t. The science behind this is more complicated than I can figure out, but I know it works.”
Taffy nodded, “Is it possible to move faster?”
“It takes more energy to make the wave larger and the smaller a ship is, the faster it will fly compared to a larger vessel using the same energy.”
“That’s why the Rabbit accelerates so fast when a blaster hits it?”
“Yes, it increases the power coming from the generators and more energy can be transferred into the wave.”
“I think I understand but the notion the universe expanded into infinity instantly…well…that’s a tough idea to swallow.”
Grady shrugged, “The way I visualize it is I see the blast from the big bang suddenly flex, sending a wave in all directions on the surface of the new universe and it’s being pushed by all the unimaginable energy in the early universe.”
“That makes more sense. But it’s still hard to fathom.”
“The FTL drive works. If universal inflation didn’t happen, neither would the drive,” Grady replied. He handed the ball to Taffy, “Here, eat your supper. How’s your diet going?”
“I’ve lost the six pounds.”
“Great. Let’s start eating from the freezers again.”
Taffy rolled her eyes and then nodded, “Tomorrow, it will be steak.” Grady leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He turned to the monitor and Taffy said in a low voice, “Is that the best you can do?” Grady smiled and demonstrated it wasn’t.
• • •
Fleet Admiral Jennings sat in front of a table with seven men and three women behind it. The woman sitting at the center of the table broke the silence, “The recordings you brought back with you are concerning.” Jennings remained silent. She made a statement and didn’t ask a question. She noticed his discipline and smiled slightly, “Do you have a solution to handle those giant platforms?”
“No, I do not.”
“Explain,” she ordered.
“Earth has nothing in its inventory to take them on and getting in range to fire on them isn’t possible. The only course of action available to us is to avoid them.”
“Can you do that?”
“They’re powerful but they are slow.”
“Are you saying we should walk away from this civilization?”
“No, I’m not,” Jennings replied. “Those giant platforms are not the issue. We should concentrate on removing their warships. We may have to go after them in hit and run raids but if we can remove the alien’s warships, the platforms can be left to die on the vine.”
“That’s a rather large fruit on that particular vine, Admiral.”
“Yes, but without their warships, they can’t be supplied. That’s the only option I see available to us.”
“Do you have any idea how many warships that civilization has, Admiral,” a man sitting two seats to the left of the woman asked.
“No, I do not.”
“And what if they have far more than you suspect?” the man pressed.
“Then we fall back and start building up our fleets again. We must make sure they don’t get a line on Earth’s location while we’re confronting them,” Jennings replied.
The man sitting beside the woman spoke, “I’m n
ot clear on how you intend to attack their warships, Admiral.”
“I’ll divide our fleets into hunter/attacker units to find them. We’ll take some of our stealth scouts out with each unit to find them and vector our fleets in to attack once they’re found.”
The man sat back in his chair and interlaced his fingers over his chest. Jennings knew that this man was the real power in the room. The other nine attendees turned to him and waited. He finally sat up, “I will give you one-third of our active ships to form your units. I’ll order the ships put in storage to be brought back on line and will await what you discover about this new civilization. You may leave.”
Jennings stood up, bowed to them, and left the large chamber. The woman turned to the man, “Are you sure about this?”
“We’ve bloodied them. If we don’t follow this attack up, they’ll start searching for Earth’s location. We need time to crew the stored ships and call in the active fleets holding station at the worlds we’ve conquered. Once that’s done, we’ll make the final decision on how to handle this issue.” The woman lowered her head as the man stood up and walked out of the room. The nine guards standing behind the other nine attendees holstered their blasters and followed him out. Uneasy lays the head of the King.
• • •
Jennings went directly to his office and sat down at his desk. He ordered a cup of coffee and thought about how he was going to structure his new command. The coffee arrived, and it was perfect. He took a sip and pressed a button on his communicator. Admiral Martov appeared and Jennings said, “I’m promoting you to Senior Admiral and you will be given three-fleets of ten-thousand warships.”
Martov fought to keep his expression neutral and somehow managed to pull it off as he replied, “Yes, Sir.”
“Your orders are to train your three fleets to go out and attack the alien’s warships. I am assigning a wing of stealth scouts to find your targets and your orders are to hit and run destroying as many ships as possible without incurring heavy losses. You will avoid those huge ships, understand.”