by Ben Winston
“Put it on the big screen, and let’s look at it,” Hawkins asked.
“What about the message, Sir?” Hastings asked.
“Put that up too, son. Don’t want the spooks thinking I’m an alien!” he joked and both men laughed with him.
Hastings did as he was told and put the feed up on the main monitor in the arena. It caused a bit of a stir in the large room. Then the mouse on the screen moved down and clicked on the message icon.
To: Admiral Joshua Hawkins, Commander, SkyRAD/USSPACECOM.
From: T.D.F. Star Dancer Combat Operations, SOL System.
MSG begins:
Sir, we apologize for intruding into your sovereign defense system to bring this message to you, however, it will soon become obvious as to why we have.
For the second time, an alien force is about to attack your planet. We will, once again, do our best to defend you and your people. We regret the loss of your pilots in the first battle and wish to prevent a recurrence of that incident. To this end, we are giving you access to a live feed from our sensors, formatted for your system. Our ships and assets do not normally show on your system, so we are making sure you can see them this time.
Please try to keep your people from engaging these enemy craft. We do not ask this lightly, and we do not wish to denigrate your defenses or your fighting prowess. The simple fact of the matter is, you’re weapons cannot do telling damage to these hostile craft. Attacking them would be futile, and would most likely result in the loss of more of your valiant pilots.
Yes, we are asking you to sit this out and let us handle it, but we also know you need to do something. We will do what we can to aid you in this, and we will make our battle footage available to you after the fact if you need to use it to calm your populace.
Wish us luck, and perhaps send us a prayer if you are so inclined.
Thank you, Combat Operations.
-MSG Ends
"Well, they’re certainly polite at least.” Hawkins said after a brief pause.
“That they are, Sir,” the Major standing next to him said. “I think I should feel insulted, but don’t.”
“Hastings, how long until those hostiles get here?” Hawkins asked.
“Just over an hour, Sir,” the man replied.
“Okay, I think I need to call the President,” Hawkins said. “In the meantime, put us on alert, but don’t launch anyone yet. After all, if our favorite Martian can be trusted, we have a few minutes.”
“And if they can’t be trusted?” the Major asked.
“Then I’m sure she would like to know that we are about to be attacked by aliens,” Hawkins said as he made his way back to his office.
F.S.S. Star Dancer
Selene (Earth’s moon) Orbit
Sol Sector.
Combat location: Dark Palace
“Ops, deploy Cobalt, Iron, and Basalt flights from the moon, and Copper and Bronze from the ship to Earth orbit. Get our Marines suited up and in their shuttles. Activate all combat drones in the inner system,” Ian ordered. “Tracking, if any of them deviate from their current course, let me know immediately.”
Although his orders were acknowledged, he didn’t actually hear it, he was focused on the holographic display trying to figure out what the enemy was about to do.
“Sir, the United States military has just been placed on high alert. I am monitoring a conference call from the President to several other world leaders, as well as the Secretary General of the United Nations. She is warning them of the impending attack,” Star reported. “She has told them that there is a friendly, non-terrestrial, force in the system that will be fighting the enemy on behalf of Earth.”
“What’s the reaction so far?” Ian asked.
“Mostly disbelief, but several other nations, including China, are also mobilizing their militaries,” Star replied.
“Well, I doubt they’ll all stay out of the way, so we need to tell our fighters to try not to shoot any Terrans,” Ian said.”
“How do you want to handle downed and damaged fighter recovery?” Jenny asked.
“The same as we did for the last battle. We have to make sure none of the governments get technology they can reverse engineer,” Ian replied. “I know how hard that will stretch us, but we have to do it. Remember, the Terran governments will most likely jealously guard any salvage.”
Jenny nodded. “I’ll have Talos load up a couple of shuttles with drones that can be dropped for recovery operations.”
Ian nodded, and thumbed his comm. “Command to Main Medical.”
“CMO here, what’s up Commander?” Beth’s voice replied.
“Prepare for heavy casualties. Also, if you can, get with flight control and get your Medical shuttles ready to go. We might have to send them to Earth,” He looked up at Jenny. “Make sure that each shuttle has at least two Marines with orders to guard, and only guard, the medical operations. They are not to aid in those operations.”
“I understand, Commander, and thanks for the guards,” Beth replied over the comm. Jenny only nodded to acknowledge the orders.
“May I assume that I have your permission to treat the wounded to the best of our abilities?” Beth asked.
“You do, but if the wounded person can be treated on Earth, and survive, they are to be sent there unless they are one of our people. Combat related injuries only. Do you understand, Chief?” Ian said.
“I understand, Commander. I’m not happy about it, but I do understand. CMO out.”
“She sounds pissed,” Jenny commented.
“I’m sure she is. I just told her that if she finds a civilian that is wounded in battle, but also has cancer, she can only treat the wounds, and not the cancer,” Ian explained. “No matter what the age of the injured person is.”
“You’ve set her up to disobey you, you know,” Jenny said. “If she finds a wounded child with cancer or AIDS, she’s going to cure them no matter what you told her.”
Ian nodded. “If she breaks my orders in that way, I can certainly understand and even forgive her for doing it, Hell, I don’t actually care if she does cure them. But I don’t want her to get side tracked into treating the entire planet.”
“What’s wrong with helping them, Sir?” Chekov asked. “We should be safe enough now.”
“Probably, but think on this. There is a battle raging all around, and soldiers are getting hurt and killed. Someone sees Beth cure a child of cancer, and they tell another couple who didn’t get wounded, whose child has cancer, but before they leave to bring the child to Beth, they tell their whole therapy group about the miracle cure? What’s going to happen to the aid stations that should be taking care of people wounded in battle?”
“They’d be over-run in an hour,” Chekov said. “We’d be branded as heartless heathens because we didn’t take care of the sick kids, and if we try, then we’d be heartless heathens that didn’t take care of the soldiers that were fighting to protect the planet.”
Ian nodded. “Yep, so until we can set up facilities that can handle that kind of thing, we need to avoid it.”
“Maybe, since the cat is partially out of the bag, we can think about building a hospital at Talos that can handle that sort of thing. Once the Caldarians are taken care of, that is,” Chekov said, and turned back to his never ending calculations.
“Remind me, and I’ll consider it, Chekov,” Ian replied, but didn’t know if the man had heard him.
“Con, this is Tracking. Target aspect is changing. Enemy formation has altered position. New course tracks indicate multiple targets in the western hemisphere. Stand by for possible target list.”
“Keep an eye on the Super Nova, but please zoom in on Earth, so we can see the inbound tracks,” Ian ordered. The big hologram zoomed in. Now, Ian could see most of the planet, and could make out continents. The hologram kept the planet’s North Pole as the ‘up’ direction in the image. To the upper left of the planet, a pulsing silver speck could be seen, but the view was still so far o
ut, that individual courses could not be seen.
“Overlay new course projections and highlight possible targets,” Ian ordered.
Like the tiny silvery threads of a spider web, thin strands, not as bright as the rest of the lines in the image, stretched away from the pulsing spark, and spread out over the North American continent. As they progressed across the continent, small half intensity circles popped up indicating targets. Names appeared next to them. Anchorage, Vtle, San Francisco, Los Angles, Mexico City. The list grew as the courses stretched out covering a good portion of the continent. Almost a hundred cities, including Talos, were on the list. There was no way Ian’s people could protect them all if the ships were allowed to enter the atmosphere.
“Holy shit,” Jenny said softly.
Ian sat, staring at the display for moment. “Ops, were are the fighters?”
“Mostly launched, they are forming up for the trip to Earth, Sir,” came the reply.
“Mission change. They are to proceed with all haste to intercept and destroy as much as the enemy force as possible. Engineering, prepare to go to one hundred percent on the reactor. Navigation, plot a course to Earth orbit and stand by to go to full power.” Ian said as he stepped down from his command chair. He stepped over to the assistant that Chekov had called.
“You’re familiar with hyper missile navigation?” Ian asked.
“Yes Sir,” the woman replied.
“Good, because I have a tricky plot in mind for you. I want at least two of those missiles to drop out of hyper in that big honkin’ bay they have in the belly of the ship,” Ian suggested. There was a quiet pause for a moment as everyone heard what he wanted to do. Finally, the young navigator shook off her surprise.
“I don’t know if that’s possible, Sir. That’s a lot of mass surrounding the exit point. Let me see if I can make them do that,” the woman said as she turned and began setting up her program. She didn’t wait to be dismissed, and Ian grinned about that.
He nudged Chekov and whispered. “How good is she?”
The Navigator snorted. “She’s my second. She’s actually better at hyperspace programming than I am, but I still beat her on n-space navs. If anyone can pull off what you want, Sir, she can. Although I don’t think it’ll be possible. There really is a lot of mass to deal with.”
“Do you think she can do it if the ship is moving?” Ian asked. “If we’re moving, it shouldn’t matter all that much, but if the Super Nova is moving...” he just shook his head. “That can’t be done.”
The woman apparently overheard them, because she grinned. “Bet me, I dare ya!”
“As soon as they detect us, they are going to start moving to hit us. I need to know that you can pull this off,” Ian asked, seriously.
“Sir, no offence, but whether I can or not, it really has no bearing on what you’re about to order. We need to be in orbit to defend the planet. In order to do that, the Super Nova is going to see us. Now, with respect, please let me work so I can try to keep them from killing us,” the woman said.
Ian nodded. “You’re right, I’ll let you work.”
Ian returned to his command chair, and typed in a command for his communicator. “Phoenix Base, this is Guardian. Drop your camouflage, and raise your shields. Have your medical section ready to receive a lot of wounded. Dark Palace is moving to shield the planet.”
“Understood, Guardian. Do you want our shuttles readied to help with the wounded?” Amal Punjab replied.
“That would be great, Doctor. This is going to get ugly no matter what happens. Stay safe down there,” Ian said.
“That we will, Guardian. Our hopes and prayers go with you.” Amal replied.
Ian smiled at the sentiment that Amal sent to him and changed to a ship-wide channel. “Attention, all hands. We are moving to Earth orbit to prevent the Caldarians from destroying a good portion of the North American continent. This will attract the attention of the enemy, and we will be under attack as soon as we get in their range. So at this time, I am issuing a Red Alert. All hands to battle stations. All civilians to emergency sections, and secure all sections for battle. Let’s do this right and protect our home, people! Let’s do this.” Ian closed the channel.
“Ship is in combat mode,” Star reported. “ECM active.”
“Activate ship decoys in outer system, have them begin moving in system. Bring the reactor to one hundred percent, raise our shields. Launch the navigations drones, Gold and Silver squadrons. Prepare to launch hyper missiles. Mr. Chekov, as soon as the squadrons are away, take us to Earth, best speed. All tracking and targeting systems go to active mode. It’s party time.”
“I have them Sir,” Chekov’s assistant, Lieutenant Gordon said. “I think I can even maintain the lock if they move. But I should mention, that even if the warheads somehow didn’t detonate, the hyperspace sheer alone should do considerable damage to them.”
“Light ‘em up, Lieutenant. If you can keep them out of this fight, there is a damn good chance you will save all our lives,” Ian said.
“Decoys have been detected. Four carriers have changed course, and the Super Nova is powering up her engines!” The person handling tracking reported.
“Flight control, this is navigation. We have a hyper missile launch order. Please clear the deck,” Gordon said over the comm.
“How many are you launching, Nav?” Flight Ops asked replying over the comm.
“There will be four in the first launch, with four more on deck,” Gordon replied.
“Warhead status?” Flight asked, beginning the preflight checklist for the missile. A hyper missile was basically a Hornet fighter, with the cockpit and wings removed, and a warhead and jump engine added.
“Armed standby, impact detonation, safety engaged,” Gordon replied.
“Power systems?”
“Active, the birds are awake,” Gordon replied.
“Tracking systems?”
“Locked, target programming accepted,” Gordon added.
“Sir, we have also been detected. Two carriers have changed course and are accelerating toward us!” tracking said.
“It’s about time,” Ian said sarcastically. “I was beginning to think they were asleep over there!”
“Navigation systems?” flight asked, continuing the checklist.
“On-line, system ready for hand off,” Gordon replied. “That’s it, they’re ready to go. Let me know when you have them in position.”
“Will do, Nav,” John replied. “Fifteen seconds.”
“Gold and Silver Squadrons, be advised, we have carriers inbound. Attention all departments, Master Safety is now off. All weapons should be armed and ready to fire. Missile command, send out a welcome for those carriers!” Ian ordered. “Activate all point defense systems.”
“Target lock is lost! Hold hyper missile countdown!” Gordon said.
“What happened Lieutenant?” Ian asked.
“The target is moving. I thought I had compensated for that, but I was wrong. Give me a minute!” Gordon replied, distractedly.
“Confirmed. Supernova has begun to move. Stand-by for projected course,” tracking said.
“Well, that’s going to make things interesting,” Ian replied. “Where are those carriers?”
“Still on course. They have launched decoys to counter the missiles. Missiles will arrive in two minutes,” Operations reported.
On the hologram, Ian saw new blips – missiles being launched from the inbound carriers.
“Inbound missile ETA ninety seconds,” tracking reported.
“Silver squadron, please go greet our guests,” Ian ordered. “Gold squadron, defense pattern bravo-two.”
Ship to ship fighting in space is not the fire and hit, fire and hit, humans are used to seeing in science fiction movies. For one thing, the distance between the ships is measured in thousands of kilometers. Obviously, energy weapons, like lasers, travelling at the speed of light, can and do travel across that distance in an instant, howeve
r, missiles don’t.
Due to the long ranges involved in this type of combat, missiles are the long-range weapons that any battle begins with. Lasers could be used, but the physics involved usually make that prohibitive. Inverse square rule applies. Distance costs energy, the further away the target is, the more energy it needs to get there.
For the moment, the two big ships were simply too far away from each other for the use of energy weapons. Of course, there is a distance that even firing missiles at each other would be futile as well. If the flight time of a missile too long, the person that it was fired against will have time to counter it, or simply shoot it down. Usually having less mass, missiles are faster than fighters. However, they are not faster than a laser beam.
The Super Nova, near Venus, was too far away to engage even with most missiles, (hyper missiles had no maximum range) but the carriers were well within the engagement arena for missiles, and would soon be in the range of the energy weapon turrets mounted all over the old ship.
“Silver squadron is engaging the carriers, carriers are launching fighters,” Ops reported.
“Can they detect Silver squadron?” Ian asked.
“Too early to tell, Commander, but I doubt it. If they couldn’t detect them before, they shouldn’t be able to now,” Chloe replied. “The weapons on the carriers seem to be firing blindly, trying to target the fighters based on the place where that fighter fired from. So far, it isn’t working very well for them.”
“Understood,” Ian replied.
“Sir, the Super Nova is opening her missile tubes,” Ian heard from someone in the CIC.
“Why? We’re too far away aren’t we?” Ian asked.
“Normally, I would say we are, but these are not the Caldarians we have read about. I would say they’re up to something,” Eischens replied.
“Launch Cobalt squadron from the moon. Have them head towards Earth, but be ready to receive new orders. We might have to jump them out to intercept those missiles,” Ian ordered.