by Angel Bright
The attackers’ squadron had already reduced its speed and was arranging itself in a broad formation on a wide front, again in readiness for total destruction.
Well, we were also prepared for larger battles.
On all three asteroids containing production facilities, we stored MPDs used as construction machines for possible expansions of the production workshops. I ordered them to be brought to the surface, charged, and prepared for the anticipated fighting. The evacuation teams and facilities needed to have the highest operational readiness. All scientists and technicians not participating in combat activities were to occupy their places in the escape pods ready for immediate teleportation to our Titan base—our repairs-protective militarized dock in orbit around Saturn.
On the outermost asteroid in the vicinity of the crystal one, we had mounted a signal-light arrow directed toward the open space, and it periodically changed to an exploded-orb image. That’s how we designated the military zones to limit the invasions of the most enterprising Earth mining companies.
We waited for the right moment for it to switch on.
Then came tons of questions about the evacuation of the unique production facilities, the finished non-transported products, whether to switch on the self-destruction installations, and so on. I stopped this hailstorm of administrative issues with the radio silence signal.
The attacking formation of the invaders was spreading without any hurry. It became clear that the center of attack would be the crystal asteroid, and its location was well known to the command. They expected an armed response or some other sign of our presence and organization there. Hence, something was bothering them. They were not underestimating me after the lessons they had received so far.
We were standing in anticipation—a majestic ring of lifeless, dark rocks and a negligible military formation preparing to leap.
We were stalking each other.
We were making recordings of communications signals to the attackers and of their remote and near detection systems. We were calculating their maximum level of energy weapons and the possible technologies involved regarding protection and their volley fire. We considered every possible assumption and possibility. And we were waiting for the moment when we would cross the border.
Unfortunately, Earth civilization had not yet reached the technological level of extracting energy from the local star. The attackers probably knew it, too. They had discovered it, but what was making them cautious?
The very last destroyer on the right of the formation began a slow acceleration to enter the zone of the asteroid belt.
14 Battle Alert on Earth
Nolen’s worries were increasing. Тhe peaceful days and the interesting business game I had put in motion were over. Earth had passed the border of its childhood and was included in the universal whirlpool of survival. By command, huge masses of people, military assets, and our star warships began to move from the invisible military headquarters. The most valuable productions and human masses, according to preliminary mobilization plans, occupied their places in the underground shelters. By contrast, the platforms of low-orbital gigantic energy emitters and their autonomous power systems rose above Earth’s surface. The scales of what we had built amazed us and aroused admiration. Mankind had advanced a lot regarding new technologies. The weapons we now possessed covered emitters of light and heat rays and metallic and carbide heavy-rocket projectiles, but they also included narrow-beam, newly developed wave spears that damaged the brains of sapient biological species. The systems were still untested, but their expected abilities were fearful.
Collection points were detected and observed in Mars’s orbit, as well as a fleet of huge battle starships whose supposed victims would have been all of human settlement in the solar system. We received reports of invasions and destruction in the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter. In some of the more backward human colonies were outbreaks of panic that were quickly put under control, and the panicmongers were sent to military bases and stations under strict control of their security systems. The extraterrestrial settlements did not have a strong fire defense, but a cluster of enemy starships attacking such places would expose their attack systems to the more important directions against our planetary military bases, and we would immediately take advantage of such a situation.
Nolen was in constant contact with me. There, at the crystal asteroid, the forces expected a preliminary enemy attack any minute now aimed at our distant defense systems. The enemy squadron there would join their battle fleet, concentrating around Earth.
It posed a complicated situation with an inexplicable concentration of space-combat forces. Hasterazis had not mentioned such a large-scale attack on an isolated star system. Had the doctrine of aggression of the Gods evolved in a new direction? Normally, for a particular planet, four to six star destroyers were sufficient. This increase in offensive forces was indicative. Had the Gods lost some of their forces? Perhaps they were afraid of the rapid technical progress of Earth’s military force. Had they overestimated us? How real was their assessment of us?
Earth was becoming deserted and passing into silence mode. Radio and TV broadcasts were silenced. All satellites scattered throughout the solar system went into a military mode of operation. Only brief beeps of one to two microseconds of compressed information were exchanged, and for the most part it was disinformation filled with elaborate commands that were not obeyed.
The days of waiting became weeks. Life had become a constant stalking. The enemy squadrons also carried out their preparations, which began to look like annoyance, reassessment of forces, or waiting for an attack signal.
I received a message from Rhem about a destroyed enemy destroyer. An hour later, I tuned into the Central Military TV channel, where we saw how a huge warship had crashed into a lifeless asteroid, and its front half was smashed like after a car collision into a wall. Probably no one in the ship survived amid the striking stream of cutoff engines, weapons, and reactors sweeping away the inside of the disintegrating stern.
15 Attack on Earth—Counterstrikes by Earthly Cosmic Powers!
The star destroyer attacking us was moving at a moderate speed toward our signal asteroid. Just over one hundred thousand kilometers away, the attacker gently turned to the left on a parallel course. For a short moment, an orange energy impulse flashed close to its bow. In front of my nano-cameras, the signal asteroid broke into small pieces and flew into a globe-like cloud. The triumphant attacker turned again and set off toward the periphery of the ring.
I gave the command. It was sent to the headset of the commanding officer.
“Zeta One, report readiness for an asteroid-based narrow MFD weapon. Under my command strike to the side engine of the leader ship.”
I stretched my senses to a medium-size asteroid and moved it slightly. Contact was stable.
“Fire!”
On the side of the last quarter of the ship, facing us, a yellow light blinked and changed sharply into orange. There were visible light strips to it, and in the next moment, I teleported the chosen asteroid to the bow of the ship. The speeds of the two objects were opposite, and the collision in front of the three remaining ships was devastating. I was looking for precisely such an effect. The two collided bodies spun around in their deathly embrace and became part of the surrounding cosmic chaos.
I waited for the enemies’ reaction. Did they understand the message?
It was clear to me that the attack on this part of the solar system had more than one purpose. The conscious wait was meant to attract some of the Earth Defense forces into far space, but this did not happen. The attack was slow and hesitant because it was usually a strategy of combat intelligence. They lost a ship and did not find the defensive fort posts. It was now time for the decisive attack and the departure of the squadron to join the main forces directed against Earth. But we changed that.
“Get ready. When you decide, fire a narrow beam along the length of the attacking ships or a wi
der beam on the stern compartments. We’ve trained for this kind of shooting. Success! I will not interfere anymore.”
People had trained for a day I had hoped would never come.
The situation around Earth was becoming increasingly disturbing. Why were they gathering such an armada? What purpose was so important to their commanders? They knew they would not eliminate me in that way, right? We had detailed plans for mobilization and defense but not against such a crushing power.
For such a case, I had planned to cause maximum losses to the attackers with all the types of weapons we had created, but I was not deluding myself into believing we had technically overtaken these millennia-old predators. They did not leave us enough time to build a powerful star navy. I would use everything we had. The collision was inevitable.
I had tried to scatter my most valuable scientific and military collaborators around the planets, satellites, and asteroids, but my main production facilities remained on Earth. The veterans with whom I built complete military strategies inside and outside the solar system were there, too. In front of me, I opened an image of the space near Earth. It was gradually filling with colorful lights. Our armed forces were taking their positions.
Beyond them, two swarms of red lights were forming almost in Mars’s orbit.
I began to spin asteroid NT361288. Our newest weapon was mounted there: Tempor One. It was one of a kind.
We had to be painstakingly slow. Any perceived movement would cause an immediate attack. I had only twenty-seven degrees to the direction to the farthest group. I would hit it first. I had set the coordinates as early as the first reports. Only the taking of a firing position and the precise targeting remained. Some of these ships would be split in half, whereas others would be moved twenty minutes back in time. We had achieved only that much.
I was waiting.
Twenty-three degrees more…
Did our closest attackers begin their attack? I spread the nano-cameras to observe the presumed battlefield.
There was a stir.
One of the star destroyers was wrapped in a gray mist, and there was movement in the mist. We had hit it lengthwise. My men had successfully taken an extremely small chance. The mist consisted of leaked liquids and gases from the hit warship. The other two destroyers led a chaotic shooting at the asteroids, with all available calibers.
I was following the events with increasing tension. The charging of the powerful capacitors was slow. Because the local reactors had small capacities, the next volley would be in twenty-five to thirty minutes. I was harassed by the delay. Moving ships were already becoming difficult targets for our poorly maneuverable MPD harpoons. I was hoping for a random hit. The commanders were in no hurry because after every volley was another half hour of charging the giant capacitors. The two destroyers were probably given an order to terminate the attack because they began retreating in reverse with activated protective shields and intensive shelling of the bigger suspicious asteroids. This delayed their maneuvering, and I immediately found the rising red color on their defensive fields. These were the rays of the blasters breaking up their power fields. Smoke appeared immediately, and their huge hulls swung in one direction and another because their control units tried to maintain the assigned direction. I knew that huge breaks were passing through the hulls. Then came an explosive decompression, and giant hulls shook under the effect of the jet propulsion of the gases flying into the cosmic void.
The battle in this area was over.
We had achieved success with a negligible force, but we were hidden among a huge number of possible targets that did not allow our opponent to find us and use its crushing power.
There were only four degrees of change of the direction of the immobile Tempor One to the directory of shooting from a great distance to the gathering of numerous and powerful destructive forces preparing for aggression against Earth. These forces had invaded the solar system with the intent of complete destruction of a civilization for unknown reasons.
I made an announcement. “I congratulate the crews of the MPD Harpoons One, Two, and Three for the successful baptism of fire. I cancel Combat Readiness One, and I order Combat Readiness Two for Harpoon One and retreat for Harpoons Two and Three. I do not allow searches for the hit targets because of the small forces in the area. I hope the aggressor has received a good lesson and that their crews are baffled!”
I received three affirmative responses, one from each surviving and functioning Earth colony. They had no chance to survive in the event of Earth’s destruction.
Tempor One was now targeted by an approximate directory to the selected aggressor group. We had seconds to move the target point so that the peripheral dividing line would lie on more possible targets and that the maximum number of destroyers would fall in the active zone of the temporal displacement. The time-shift shock had an effect on the spatial location of objects in dynamic systems, expressed by moving a relatively small area to a position where it had been twenty minutes ago. The psychological effect on the ships’ crews was devastating because of the game of powerful space forces, for which the crews were defenseless victims. In theory, it worked well. We were going to find out how it would be in practice.
“Fire!”
16 Nolen’s provides assistance
It was time for me to occupy my place in the Earth Administrative Corps, depending on the importance to Earth’s defense system of the corporations I led. Our most important factories already carried out small-scale preparatory actions for normal production activities. Our science-and-research institutes were transferring their programs deep underground. Our aboveground factories from the defense complex continued operating at full capacity.
More than half of Earth’s population continued their normal lives and did not even know about the imminent apocalypse.
Roads continued to have regular traffic jams. Atmospheric and orbital airplanes continued their regular flights, and the number of passengers did not diminish. Beaches, restaurants, and nighttime bars continued their usual business. The lively military moves turned out to be common and unimportant—for the public.
And our military systems froze in anticipation.
We were always finalizing and masking mobilization activities and preparing additional reserve positions.
We were counting down the peaceful days in tense anticipation.
On the military channels, we watched the regrouping of the aggressor’s battle lines, but the two groupings were thinning, as if their forces were withdrawing from the solar system. The discovery of numerous damaged and halved starships was puzzling. The aggressor was waging a merciless war against somebody and suffering severe defeats. We started hoping we had avoided Armageddon once again.
This endless wait was ruining the nervous system of the Supreme Command of Earth’s forces.
Several of our ready-made cruisers received a command to enter a repair dock to reequip multistore barracks for long-distance shipment of workers or troops into an automated hangar for fighters. I saw the redesign projects. They would be stacked in a conveyor at these hangars with a minimum deck space between them. Army strategists and tacticians misunderstood this change in our defense doctrine. But for us, the manufacturers and the Supreme Command, it became clear that the harpoon systems we installed on every deck fighter were now going to have a huge defensive value.
One wonderful day, our observation posts transmitted the news of the withdrawal of the thinned space attackers. Thousands of military, transport, and merchant ships raced to Mars’s orbit, led by the thirst for new and unknown technologies, machines, and equipment that the adversary had silently abandoned. Large cargo ships loaded shuttles with TV teams in anticipation of large profits, such as some hive ships. Stunning reports on all military TV channels told of split, crushed, and halved huge star destroyers that had been left without reactors, no atmosphere, and wide-open hatches. Apparently, our enemies had retreated in panic and left total chaos and destruction.
Earth’s military forces responded quickly to this technology and armaments treasure trove and closed off the busiest areas. But these areas were too stretched on the orbital plane behind Mars, and much of the single broken ships were taken to Mars or the asteroid belt.
An order was announced and repeated many times:
“All alive and dead crew members from the aggressors are to be sent to the designated gathering points on Mars. Death penalty will follow those who do not follow the orders!”
It was also necessary to finish off some ships without self-propulsion that had opened fire against the marauders from Earth.
On the surface of Mars, we created fenceless prisons with rooms containing artificial atmospheres suitable for the aggressors to breathe. Military and mobilized civilian transports were required to deliver the products necessary for the aliens’ survival.
The most preserved of damaged starships were dragged near Mars and gathered relatively immobile in spherical formations. This created a city for adventurers and thrill seekers. Many of the daredevils were eminent scientists with impressive scientific degrees. Mars began rapidly increasing its population, and it was necessary to search for Martian deposits of frozen water. At the same time, commercial and economic activities were growing equally rapidly. The underground construction of entire cities began with residential, administrative, and scientific buildings and even buildings with a production purpose.
There was also talk about crazy projects to create a Martian atmosphere, and the rumors were multiplying with assurances that such an atmosphere had been considered and that there had been such projects before. Allegedly, the only remaining obstacles were the sponsors, and some banks had created an investment alliance.
It was time for our consortium to set up branches in the more promising Martian economic zones, but Rhem just shrugged when I mentioned it and disappeared somewhere in the departments of the Administrative City, leaving everything for me to decide.