by Saxon Andrew
• • •
“SIR, THE SCOUT REPORTS THAT EARTH’S FLEET IS HEADED TOWARD NEW GEORGIA!!”
Rory looked away from Ginger and said, “Lisa, issue attack plan Alpha! Order the Fleet to get moving!”
Ginger turned around and looked at Rory, “Alpha?”
Rory shrugged, “I bet on New Georgia. Asia was plan Beta.”
“I thought you weren’t allowed to bet, Admiral.”
“Only when I can influence the result, Captain. I have no power to decide their destination.”
Ginger smiled and turned back around as the New York went to full acceleration and the klaxons began wailing at full volume.
Rory pressed his panel, “Dan, keep them off you!”
“Yes, Sir. Just don’t wait too long.”
“Keep me informed on what’s happening.”
“Yes, Sir!”
The eleven-hundred Battleships and two-Carriers in Rory’s original fleet accelerated away and Rory hoped the plan would work. Bowen should take the bait…but nothing was certain.
• • •
Kuchen moved out with the Babylon and Troy, along with their three-hundred Battleship escort. They moved directly parallel to the oncoming Earth Fleet and stayed outside their scanning range. The Paben Scanners made that easy and he saw every ship in his formation was exactly where they belonged. “Senior Capitan Roth.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Be prepared to launch on my orders. You have about four-days before we arrive at your launch coordinates, Da?”
“Yes, Admiral. We’re doing our final checks now and every wing knows its assigned target.”
“Good!” Kuchen sat back and stared at the long-range scanning monitor. Nothing was visible…yet.
• • •
Jeffery left the Boston at a moderate speed and flew past a wing of Attack Sleds as he pulled the controller back and the ship went vertical. He flew high over the Carriers and moved toward their rear. He had ordered the Boston to continue complete communication silence before he left and felt the hair on the back of his neck go up when another wing of Attack Sleds flew past him. He blew out a breath and shutdown all power to his ship. He coated far behind the fleet and then activated his systems when the fleet was just out of scanner range. He paced the Fleet and listened for any communications. He’d hear when anything happened of consequence.
• • •
Dan moved Rory’s original Twenty-Squadrons three-days out from New Georgia and formed up in a giant sphere shaped formation surrounding the two-Carriers. He knew this formation would ordinarily be suicide but he had to carry out his part of the plan. He looked at Russel and lowered his eyebrows, “I need to know the moment you detect them and Grensa, I want the polarity on the Magnetic Field at full power before they arrive!”
Dan turned back to the monitor and stared at it. They would be arriving very quickly.
• • •
“Sir, we’re detecting the Earth Fleet.”
Dan awoke from a light-sleep and jerked his head up toward the monitor. He waited patiently until there was a space behind the huge cloud of blips and looked at Russel, “Ship Count?”
Russel looked up from his console, “Sir, they’re still a long way out and some of them may be blocking our scans from hitting all of them. So far, I’ve detected close to three-thousand warships. They also have two-carriers with them.”
Dan shrugged, “That’s close enough for government work. Time until arrival?”
“Eighteen-hours, Sir.”
“Notify all ships to get some rest and be prepared for Battlestations in fifteen-hours.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Dan reclined his chair and closed his eyes. How he could sleep at a time like this was beyond his crew. He didn’t sleep but it at least kept the crew from seeing his nerves.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Sir, I’m detecting a large formation of ships directly ahead of us!”
Bowen sat up straight in his chair, “How large?”
“At least a thousand with two-Carriers. They’re in a sphere-shaped formation with the Carriers in the center.”
“Let me know the moment you’re able to identify any of them against our database.” Bowen looked at the monitor and wondered why they would choose that formation. It was the worst possible formation for a fleet to use; it could easily be surrounded and bombarded from a distance. Maybe they were hoping he’d just fly by it directly to the Colony. Should he do just that? The Colony was the target. But if he left this fleet behind his forces, they could launch their Attack Sleds and attack from the rear.
“Sir, we’ve identified most of the vessels. They were all assigned to Admiral Mankin’s Fleet.”
Bowen smiled, “Order the front-line to attack that formation and have the other Battleships move to surround that formation. We’ll launch our Attack Sleds one-hour out.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Bowen smiled. That should take care of that meddlesome knight.
• • •
Jeffery began hearing the attack orders over his communicator and shut down his main systems. He heard the Boston ordered to a frontal attack and hated that he was right. Then he looked out of his viewport and his eyes went wide open. Two-giant Carriers were turning in behind Earth’s Fleet and they were escorted by hundreds of some kind of new warship. He almost activated his communicator to warn Bowen but knew he would be dead the moment he did. He sat back and waited for his ship to be attacked.
• • •
“Admiral, I have an Attack Sled hanging far behind Earth’s Fleet.”
Kuchen sat up straight, “HAS IT SENT A COMMUNICATION?!”
“Noooo…Sir. It appears to be operating on emergency power.”
“That’s just like Earth. If a ship fails, leave it behind and let the pilot die.”
“Should we send a ship out to destroy it?”
“No, if it could give a warning, it would have already. We’re close to our launch points and I’m not taking a ship out to remove a single vessel.”
• • •
Jeffery watched the huge formation move away and knew Earth’s Fleet was being set up. He thought long and hard about sending out a warning…but…Bowen deserved what was coming…along with that simpleton Emperor. What should he do now? He sat back and looked at his options.
• • •
Donovan watched the approach of the Earth Warships and said, “Launch Attack Sleds.” The Alexandria and Sparta began launching wave after wave of Attack Sleds that then flew out of the sphere-formation to meet the Attack Sleds moving in from the two-Earth Carriers. The Earth Carriers were larger and newer and their Attack Sleds were also a newer model. But they were inexperienced and did not have hulls from the Brax Warships. The initial contact was brutal and exploding ships began appearing between the two-fleets.
• • •
Donovan watched the fifty-older warships move in toward his ships at high-speed and they were met with a vicious barrage of disruptor beams. The new Power Spikes homed in on them outside their dart-clouds and they started going up in giant explosions.
The Commander of the Boston screamed, “WHERE IS THE BARON?”
The pilot said calmly, “He probably got himself killed.”
“Sir, we’ve lost all the disruptors on the portside to a missile blast. We’ve lost atmosphere in the middle of the ship!”
The Commander snarled at the pilot, “FLY THE SHIP INTO THAT FORMATION!!”
The pilot shrugged and went to maximum-speed as he targeted a giant Battleship directly ahead. Six Attack Sleds came roaring in over the top of the Boston and launched six-Power Spikes. These Power Spikes had small nuclear charges in them and the Boston went up in a massive explosion. All that remained of the oldest warship in Earth’s Fleet was a cloud of vapor.
Bowen actually cheered when it went up and forced himself to calm down. It wasn’t good for the crew to see his response. He looked at the tactical monitor and
saw his warships moving to surround the giant sphere. They’d be in formation momentarily.
• • •
Harry pressed his communicator and said, “Time to go!” His four-wings powered up and lept off the asteroid and flew at the two-Carriers at high-speed. The asteroid was a gift. There were often rogue-asteroids out in space and they were pretty much ignored. Ignoring this one was a big mistake. “Take out the cover. Clear the way for Kuchen’s pilots.”
“SIR, WE HAVE MORE THAN TWO-HUNDRED ATTACK SLEDS MOVING IN AT HIGH SPEED ON THE CARRIERS!!”
Bowen looked up at the tactical and yelled, “MOVE US UP INTO THE FLEET’S LINES!!” Bowen’s Battleship moved away from the Carriers and moved into the center of line of Battleships. He knew his ship would be the prime target of those Attack Sleds if he remained in his former position.
The two-hundred Attack Sleds under Harry’s command ripped into the Attack Sleds defending the Carriers. They ignored the Carriers and the Battleships escorting them and focused on the vessels defending the formation. The surviving Earth Attack Sleds broke off from the attack at the Colony Battleships and flew back to support the Carriers’ defenders.
• • •
Harry flew at high-speed and smiled, Jenny was right. Maintaining any sort of formation in this madhouse was impossible. An Earth Attack Sled had managed to slip in behind him and Harry had to admit the pilot wasn’t half-bad. But he didn’t have time to play. He turned the bow slightly right and then broke hard left. The attacker flew past him and he whipped around and moved in behind it. He fired both bow-disruptors and the former attacker exploded. His monitor started beeping and he saw another attacker come roaring in behind him at full-speed. Harry shook his head. Avoiding a much faster vessel was just too easy. He activated the bow-thrusters and went vertical as the Attack Sled passed below him. Harry guessed right about the attacker making a right turn, most pilots were right handed, and turned into the attacker’s trajectory. He fired a guided-power spike and forgot it as four more attack sleds came roaring in on him.
Harry increased his speed and said over the short-range communicator, “Four against one; how is that fair? I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I’ll take you on one at a time and allow one of you to live, what do you say?”
He had to turn the volume down on his helmet when the leader of the four-ships screamed, “KILL HIM!!”
Harry moved the rear-thrusters so they pointed below his Attack Sled and punched the engines and the thrusters simultaneously. The Attack Sled instantly dove below the four attackers chasing him and he punched the bow-thrusters moving the bow up. His attack sled was hit twice but the Brax Hull shrugged them off. He fired both disruptors into the four-attackers as they flashed by overhead hitting two of them. Two down, two to go.
He flew in behind them and the two-attack sleds split going in different directions. He fired a guided-power-spike at the one on the left and moved in behind the one on the right. That was the commander of this unit. “I surrender! I surrender!”
Harry fired a disruptor at the attacker and said just before it blew up, “You had your chance.”
“Mind some company.” Harry looked to his left and saw Jenny come roaring in. “It took a while to break free, Sir.”
“Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. I’ll bait em and you take em out.”
“Lead on, Commander.”
Harry flew back into the melee and as attack sleds moved behind him, Jenny would rush in and take them out. It was getting more difficult to find targets and Harry suddenly whipped his ship around and flew under Jenny taking out an Earth Attack Sled moving in on her rear. “Thank you! I didn’t see it.”
“Looks like the main-party is arriving.” Harry saw the eight-hundred Attack Sleds from Kuchen’s Carriers come roaring in on the Carriers. “Let’s not keep them waiting.”
Jenny laughed, “You have the lead.” Harry smiled and turned toward the two-giant vessels.
• • •
At the same moment, Rory’s new Battleships came roaring in on Bowen’s lines. Now the Earth Fleet was being fired on from the Battleships in Donovan’s Sphere and the thousand Battleships flashing in on their rear. Donovan ordered his fleet, “Move out into the best range of our disruptors.” The huge sphere seemed to expand as the Battleships moved closer to the long line of Earth’s Fleet.
• • •
The small Battleships moved in on the Earth Vessels that were turned broadside to bombard the Sphere. They were each assigned a target and they went in bow first. They ejected dart clouds as they moved into attack range and opened fire with their twenty-forward disruptors. Right behind the disruptor blasts, spike balls flew through the holes in the Earth Ship’s dart clouds. A thousand-giant-warships went up in massive explosions.
• • •
Bowen’s flagship was rocked when the Battleship next to it exploded, “WHAT’S HAPPENING!?!”
“WE’RE NOT ABLE TO PENETRATE THEIR DEFENSES. THE BOWS ARE TOO STRONGLY DEFENDED AND OUR BEAMS DO NOT AFFECT THEIR HULLS.”
“LAUNCH POWER SPIKES.”
“THEY’RE BURNED BEFORE THEY CAN REACH THEIR SHIPS!!”
Bowen looked at the tactical and saw he had lost half of his ships in less than twenty-minutes. The remaining half were going quickly. “RAM THEM!!” Bowen flinched as a brilliant flash lit up space. He looked at the monitor and saw one of the Carriers had gone up in a horrific blast.
• • •
Megan moved in and saw Harry’s wings had done an excellent job of removing the Carrier’s cover. Her ships were armed to take out ships and would not have fared well in ship-to-ship combat. But Harry’s Sleds came in and occupied all the surviving Attack Sleds and her wings moved in for the kill.
• • •
The Carriers and their escorts were surrounded by massive dart clouds but the three-hundred-battleships escorting Kuchen’s Carriers rushed in and began firing massive barrages of disruptor beams into them. They burned the clouds back and then an opening appeared. Megan’s Attack Sleds flew into the opening and launched a huge volley of power spikes and nuclear missiles. They broke away as the giant Carrier went up in a blast that sent many of the Attack Sleds tumbling away. But the Brax hulls held and they recovered to reenter the fight. The few remaining Attack Sleds Earth had to defend the Carriers began trying to ram the Battleships and Attack Sleds but ran into a formidable enemy. Three-Battleships were damaged and two-hundred Attack Sleds were destroyed but at the end, there was nothing left to stop the forces surrounding them. The second-Carrier went up in an even larger blast than the first one and the remaining Earth Battleships were no match for the Attack Sleds and the new Colony Battleships.
• • •
Bowen sat on his command chair and watched his fleet being systematically destroyed. The communication monitor on the wall illuminated and he saw Admiral Mankin appear, “The Emperor should have listened to Admiral Kuchen.”
Bowen slowly shook his head, “You’re not the prisoner you’ve been described, Admiral.”
“No, that was just a fabrication.”
“What happens now?”
“I’m going to remove your fleet, unless you unconditionally surrender.
Bowen saw his bridge crew’s eyes narrow and he sighed, “I don’t see that as a possibility.”
“That comes from the stupidity of the young. You are a victim of your own making.”
“I suppose. I wondered why you had your ships in a sphere. Now I can see why.”
“You have always been an excellent ship commander. But you took on a task beyond your ability.”
“You know how the ego can betray you,” Bowen replied. “I wonder how things could have gone so wrong.”
“It’s not really your fault. There’s an Emperor involved that is, for all intents, insane. He passed that insanity on to your crews. I intend to make him pay for that.” The bridge crew was screaming at the blasphemy coming from the monitor and Bowen nodded just before his ship exploded.
&n
bsp; • • •
Rory sighed. Bowen was a good sailor before he became the Emperor’s tool. All of the thousands of young sailors that died with him were only guilty of being young and wanting to believe in something more than themselves. But they were feral now and there was no saving them. He shook his head and felt immense sorrow at what was happening. There were no winners. Three-hours later, it was over.
“Sir, it appears we’ve had one of their attack sleds asking to surrender.”
“What?”
“We thought it was damaged but it was fully operational. It could have warned Earth’s Fleet of Kuchen’s command but didn’t do it. What do you want done with the pilot?”
“Bring him to my conference room.”
“Sir, he appears to be a Baron in the Emperors Royalty.”
“Then I really do want to question him.”
Ginger turned around. Rory was the saddest she had ever seen. But she was celebrating the victory. Now the Fleet would remove the cause of all this mayhem.
• • •
Donovan looked at Russel, “Losses?”
“Two-hundred and thirty-ships, Sir.”
“What about the Attack Sleds?”
“Four-hundred or more.”
Dan sat back and sighed. He tried to justify the deaths by knowing that if the Fleet had to take on the Brax, they would have all probably died, except for the Blue Civilizations intervention. All of them were living on borrowed time. But he couldn’t pull it off. He heard his crew cheering and he forced himself to join them. But he couldn’t stop thinking this was all such a horrible waste.
• • •
Rory sat at his conference table with his Command Team and stared at the young man standing in front of him. He was a striking figure with black hair and blue eyes. He had to be nervous but was hiding it well. “Why don’t you tell me why you surrendered, Baron?’ Rory asked.
“I didn’t have any other option.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve managed to anger the Emperor and tick off a couple of his high royals in the process. If I went back, I’d be executed for not gladly throwing my life away for the glory of the Emperor.”