Checking the time, Kurt figured he could catch a few hours’ sleep before he was needed again in the Command Center. Yawning, Kurt stretched out his arms, only now realizing how tired he was. Perhaps when he woke up, he would have a new perspective on attacking the staging system. He hated not having enough time to take out some of those battleships. He would wait and see what Lieutenant Mays’s simulations showed. Kurt stood and made for the small bedroom in his quarters. He would take a quick shower and then get some much-needed rest.
-
Two days later the fleet dropped from hyperspace twelve light-years from the Vorn staging system. All ships were using their sensor-dampening fields to ensure the Vorn did not detect any of the seventy-four ships in the fleet.
“Long-range sensors?” asked Kurt. His shoulders were tense, and he had slept very little the night before. He focused on the tactical display as it filled with red threat icons.
“Thousands of Vorn ships are in the system,” Lieutenant Brooks reported as she watched the data from her sensor scans come in.
“Detecting forty-eight intergalactic transports and seventy-eight Collector ships,” Aleea informed Kurt as she cross-referenced the sensor readings with various known Vorn ship types. “No motherships are currently in the system.”
“What about battleships?” asked Andrew. The captain was deeply concerned about them as they would be the most dangerous and apt to respond rapidly to any attack on the system.
“Confirming 437,” Aleea answered. “Also over 7,000 of the small spindle-shaped cruisers.”
“We’ll be outnumbered slightly,” said Andrew, looking at Kurt.
“It’s the Vorn. We’re always outnumbered.” Kurt looked at the tactical display and all the red threat icons. “We’ll stay here for the next twenty hours and observe the system. That will give us time to analyze the coming and going of ships as well as to firm up their orbits around the planet.”
“Not much of a planet,” Andrew said. “The Vorn picked one hell of a dead system for their base.”
“They’re Vorn,” Lieutenant Mays pointed out. “To them, this system may be a paradise.”
Kurt had spoken to the lieutenant the day before about the battle simulations she and Aleea had run. The lieutenant felt confident that, once Kurt’s fleet dropped from hyperspace, they would have twenty seconds before the Vorn realized what was happening. Then perhaps another fifteen to twenty-five as the Vorn raised their shields and returned fire.
At the end of one minute, the entire Vorn fleet would be aware they were being attacked, and the warships would fire every weapon they had at Kurt’s fleet.
Immediately after that, the fleet would begin taking damage and possibly losing ships.
So Kurt had one minute or slightly less to inflict as much damage as possible on the Vorn and then to escape. Lieutenant Mays was certain they could allocate some of their dark matter missiles to taking out Vorn battleships. After some discussion Kurt had agreed.
-
For the next several hours, Kurt stayed in the Command Center, his eyes glued to the tactical display. A few intergalactic transports left, and a few arrived. The number seemed to be staying pretty constant. A small Vorn harvesting fleet arrived with two motherships and shortly afterward one of equal size left, taking the motherships with them. Kurt had hoped the two large motherships would stay in the system so he could destroy them.
“I would guess the Vorn harvesting fleets probably return here periodically for ship repairs,” Aleea suggested. “The more badly damaged ships are most likely docked to one of the transports and returned to the Vorn home system for repairs. The motherships probably very seldom return as they are busy with the harvest.”
“Any idea how fast those transports can travel in hyperspace?” asked Andrew as he watched one disappear from the tactical display only to reappear on one that showed ships in hyperspace. It rapidly vanished as it exceeded the effective range of the fleet’s long-range sensors.
“No,” responded Aleea. “We know they are equipped with some type of Zero-Point Energy drive. However, it functions much differently than ours.”
Kurt looked at Aleea, who stood on her platform directly in front of him. “If those transports are armed, is it possible they are using Zero-Point Energy to power their weapons?”
“Highly probable,” answered Aleea.
“Another reason to destroy them first,” Kurt said. He looked around the Command Center. “Everyone, get some rest before tomorrow. We have a big day ahead of us.” Kurt needed some rest as well.
The second shift command crew could handle the rest of the observations. Of course Aleea needed no rest. She would notify Kurt as well as the rest of the primary command crew if there was a problem. She was also capable of engaging the ship in warfare or taking command of the entire fleet if necessary. Before leaving the Command Center, Kurt contacted both Mara and Captain Tolmass, and explained his plans for taking on the Vorn staging system. They both voiced their approval for waiting twenty hours before they launched their attack.
-
Kurt was in his quarters, sitting at his desk. He had tried to go to sleep but had just tossed and turned. Finally he rose and decided to review the mission parameters. This mission was extremely dangerous, and they were about to attack a Vorn stronghold. They were basing their entire strategy on getting in and getting out quickly. Aleea had told him it would take a full minute to fire two full spreads of missiles and fire off two, maybe three, Zero-Point Energy rounds.
Each battleship in the fleet had twenty missile tubes and the battlecruisers sixteen. The Glaymon disk ships were more reliant on their energy weapons, but each of their ships still possessed eight missile tubes. That would allow Kurt to fire off more than 1,700 of the five-hundred-megaton dark matter missiles. Add to that 62 or more Zero-Point Energy rounds, and it should devastate the Vorn fleet. That was assuming his fleet remained undetected, that they managed to take the Vorn by surprise, and that the Vorns’ energy shields were down. A lot of ifs. If even one was wrong, then he would be leading his fleet into a trap, and none of them would return home.
A tentative knock came at the door to his quarters. Kurt frowned, wondering who it could be. His command crew should be sleeping, and everyone else knew he was not to be disturbed unless it was an emergency. Getting up, he walked to the door and opened it. Mara stood there with a slight smile on her face.
“How did you get to the Star Cross?” Kurt asked, concerned. A shuttle might show up on the Vorn long-range sensors. It could endanger the entire mission.
“Don’t worry. I have a shuttle with a sensor-dampening field on it. Aleea contacted me and said you were having difficulty sleeping.” Mara leaned forward, putting her hand suggestively on Kurt’s chest. “I thought I could help. May I come in?”
Kurt didn’t know what to say. He had forgotten that Aleea could monitor his quarters. Kurt stepped aside, and Mara walked past him, looking around, seeing the papers spread out on his desk.
“You’ve been working too hard. You need to relax.”
“Mara, I don’t know what you can do to help me sleep. I was about to summon Dr. Willis and have him bring me something.” The doctor had some pills that would knock Kurt out and allow him to get some much-needed rest.
Mara laughed a little nervously and then turned to face Kurt as she unbuttoned her blouse. “That’s not necessary. I know of something better that will help both of us to sleep.” She took off her blouse letting it drop to the floor. A few moments later she finished undressing and stood naked in front of Kurt. She stepped forward, embracing him, and, finding his lips, kissed him deeply. “Don’t fight it. Keera said it was okay. Let’s just enjoy the moment.”
Kurt started to protest as a wave of guilt rolled over him. He looked into Mara’s deep blue eyes and saw only concern and desire.
Mara stepped back, taking Kurt’s hand.
His resistance faded away as he gazed at her beautiful body. In the recesses of h
is mind, a small voice said no, but he kept hearing Keera say it was okay and how this would be good for him.
Kurt allowed Mara to lead him to his bedroom, and he soon found himself lying next to her. He didn’t even remember getting undressed. His hands explored her body. The soft moans and the cries of pleasure indicated he was touching all the right spots. He felt a little guilty, thinking about Keera, but Mara quickly took his mind off that.
With a deep sigh, he realized this had been inevitable. Mara was just too beautiful to resist. Moments later, they were involved in passionate sex. This wasn’t lovemaking but just plain and simple raw sex.
Afterward Kurt lay there exhausted. He had never imagined some of the things Mara had done were even possible. Mara had already fallen asleep with one arm on his chest. Kurt yawned, and, a few moments later, he too was sound asleep.
-
In the Command Center, Aleea smiled to herself. Kurt would awaken in the morning completely rested and ready for the battle with the Vorn. While she hadn’t watched the entire episode between Kurt and Mara, she had checked in several times to see how things were going.
Pleased with herself, Aleea resumed monitoring the long-range sensors. She didn’t need any rest, and she was still plotting the locations of all the Vorn ships in the staging system. Her first priorities were the intergalactic transports and the Collector ships. She was continuously running battle simulations so she could determine the best use of the firepower the fleet had at its disposal.
In the morning, when Lieutenant Mays returned to the Command Center, Aleea would discuss her results with the lieutenant. If this strike was successful, they just might destroy all the intergalactic transports and the Collector ships in the Vorn system. Aleea also had another scenario she was studying. It would have a devastating effect on the Vorn, but she wasn’t certain it would work. Several Lakiam scientists were on board the Limeira, and Aleea had already contacted them to see what they thought.
They were currently running simulations on the Limeira’s computer to see what the ramifications of this unorthodox plan would be. They told Aleea they would have some hard numbers for her in the morning.
-
Kurt’s eyes opened, and then he recalled what had happened the night before. Feeling guilty, he rolled over and saw Mara had already left. He could still smell her perfume on the pillow.
“She left an hour ago to return to her ship,” Aleea announced over his personal comm unit. “I think she was quite pleased with herself.”
Kurt suddenly felt embarrassed as he remembered Aleea could monitor his quarters. “How much of that did you watch, and how many of the crew knows she was here?”
“Only a few moments here and there. You two were very involved with one another. As for the crew, only a few people in the shuttle bay know that Mara came over. They don’t suspect anything.”
Getting up, Kurt was amazed at how rested he felt. Based on the timepiece on the wall, he had slept nearly seven hours. After taking a quick shower, Kurt put on a fresh uniform, thinking about the day ahead. His stomach growled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten since earlier the day before.
A small replicator was in Kurt’s quarters, and he walked over and ordered his breakfast. He was hungry and soon sat at his desk, eating a huge stack of pancakes and bacon. He activated the viewscreen and reviewed the latest reports on the Vorn staging system. Little had changed, and the number of ships had only varied slightly.
“Aleea, inform the command crew and all ships that we will launch our attack on the staging system in three hours.”
“Yes, Admiral,” Aleea answered.
-
One hour later Kurt was in the Command Center, talking to Lieutenant Mays. They were still talking almost ninety minutes later.
“When we first drop from hyperspace, I recommend we target all the Collector ships with two dark matter missiles each,” she said. “Currently forty-eight intergalactic transports and seventy-eight Collector ships are in the system. The same number as when we did our first scans. We’ll use Zero-Point Energy rounds on the transports. If any are not destroyed, we will follow up with a dark matter missile. At the same time we will use the rest of the dark matter missiles in our tubes to hit all the nearby Vorn battleships.”
Andrew listened, pointing out a problem. “Some of those intergalactic transport ships and Collector ships will be on the far side of the planet. We won’t be able to hit them with our missiles or Zero-Point Energy rounds.”
Lieutenant Mays nodded. “That’s why I’m proposing we jump certain ships of our fleet into the system in four separate sections. The heavy battlecruisers on the far side of the planet, our battleships along with the Aurelia and Limeira on the other side, and the Glaymons in two formations above and below the poles of the planet, which will allow us to fire on any ships near the planet or in orbit.”
“How long will we be in the system?” asked Kurt. “Remember, we’ll only get one shot at this, and I want to cause as much damage as possible. If we can destroy all those transports and the Collector ships, we can substantially delay the Vorn harvest of our galaxy, or at least we hope it does.”
“One minute and twenty seconds,” Lieutenant Mays said. “That allows our battlecruisers and battleships to fire three rounds from their kinetic cannons and launch three waves of missiles. Of course the third wave of missiles may not be as successful since, by then, the Vorn should be raising their energy shields or already have them up.”
“We’ll be under fire part of that time,” Andrew said. “Will we lose some ships?”
Lieutenant May’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Maybe, it depends on how fast the Vorn react. But, if we want to cause the maximum amount of damage, we need those extra seconds.”
“How long will it take for the fleet to recharge our hyperdrives?”
“Twenty-three seconds before we can jump into hyperspace.”
Kurt thought for a moment. That was twenty-three seconds the fleet would be vulnerable to attack, as they couldn’t escape into hyperspace. If they jumped into the system, and a large number of Vorn ships had their energy shields up and their weapons ready to fire, Kurt could easily lose most of the fleet before the drives were charged. With a deep sigh, Kurt knew he had to take the risk.
“Let’s do it. Lieutenant Mays, contact all the ships of the fleet and give them their assignments and targets. Aleea, can our jump be precise enough to get all seventy-three ships to their attack coordinates simultaneously?” In such a precise attack, each second would count particularly since the Vorn were telepathic and their reaction time would be almost instantaneous. Kurt was counting on the surprise of the attack to give him the time they needed to destroy the Vorn intergalactic transports and Collector ships.
“Yes, I can set up the jump so all ships emerge at the proper time.”
“Do it,” ordered Kurt. He checked the time and then looked at the others. “We jump in thirty minutes. Make your preparations. Andrew, take the fleet to Condition Two. We’ll go to Condition One five minutes before we make the jump into hyperspace.”
Kurt studied his command crew. Everyone was working at peak efficiency, preparing for war. This battle with the Vorn could be a game-changer. Looking at one of the viewscreens, he saw the Limeira. He had to admit, Mara had known exactly what to do to get him to fall asleep. He would deal with the ramifications of it later.
-
Prince Ortumad was on board a battleship. Since he was in charge of the staging system, he had given up command of his intergalactic transport and moved over to a battleship, which was permanently stationed in the system.
When is the next transport leaving for the home system? he asked.
Since Prince Brollen had begun the new harvest of Galaxy X241, Ortumad had been sending one ship back every day. Normally the intergalactic transport ship had several collector ships docked full of food pellets for the habitats. Ortumad ensured the Queens had a steady flow of food pellets, both for them and for the othe
r castes. However, rumors still circulated about members of the working class collapsing and dying from malnutrition. Ortumad suspected some of the Queens were hoarding food pellets against a future shortage. To keep up the efficiency of the harvesting fleets, Ortumad had ordered that the working class on those vessels be fed on a regular basis.
The next transport will leave within the hour, Military Commander Madoul replied. Two Collector ships are docked to it as well as some of Prince Brollen’s fleet that will need repairs.
Ortumad was well aware of the battle Prince Brollen had waged in the sector he had been harvesting. Once again food species 236 and 111 had interfered with the harvest. It was worrisome as ships of the ancient race had been involved as well. This time reports confirmed that some of those ships had been destroyed.
Unfortunately forty-nine motherships had been lost in the battle as well. While Galaxy X241 had abundant food species, the cost of harvesting the galaxy was already higher than any other galaxy harvested by the Vorn since they had come to this universe. Ortumad suspected the costs would only rise.
However, the abundance in food species made the harvesting risks worth the potential losses. Prince Ortumad gazed at the viewscreens on the front wall of the Command Center. There were numerous battleships. Many of these were part of Prince Brollen’s fleet and were in the process of conducting repairs. A few hundred others had come from the home system to reinforce the fleet that was always in the staging system. The ships were used to replace vessels lost in the harvesting.
Prince Ortumad was about to leave the Command Center when alarms sounded, and red lights flashed. What is it? he demanded. Surely there could be no threats here in the staging system? Even as he sent the thought, bright flashes of light appeared on the viewscreens. His multifaceted eyes had to look away from the brilliance. Those were explosions, big ones!
The Star Cross: The Forever War Page 30