by Saxon Andrew
Essay flew his ship back to Japan and left them sleeping. He told Andres to start them on the simulators when they awoke. He went to the base’s cafeteria and felt bad about not stopping them from going back to Traugh Space. He stayed there until they woke and started simulator training.
• • •
Pam looked at Sparky, “This missile just might make our work easier. We just have to come up with a way to use it.”
“It looks like getting the stardrive’s data downloaded in them will take all of my attention. You are going to have to take responsibility for launching them.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
“We need to wrap this up and get moving.”
“We’ll finish the details after we arrive. Let’s call it a day in another hour.”
“You got it.”
• • •
Essay contacted Kam. He appeared on his ship’s monitor and said to Essay, “You cannot allow yourself to feel bad about this.”
“I can’t help it.”
“You have to let it go.”
“Kam, is what they said about sending our ships being a problem accurate?”
“Yes and no.”
“Tell me what you mean?”
“If we use them in Traugh Territory, it could pose a problem.”
“Why?”
“One of their scouts saw our ships and chased us. They have a record of what our ships look like.”
“Why would using them there make a difference?”
“We need to use them in Andromeda before we send them to the Milky Way.”
“I still don’t see why.”
“What will they think if they encounter our ships in Andromeda? They’ll think that the two ships they saw in the Milky Way were two scouts looking for other advanced civilizations. It won’t make them suspicious that they were built in their own galaxy.”
“You’re right. We have to use them there first. How are we going to conduct a campaign in another galaxy? The supply lines will be impossible.”
“That’s what our carriers are designed to do. Support our warships in enemy territory. What we’ll do when the Traugh start sending their ships to Andromeda is harass them at every opportunity?”
“How have you gotten so good at strategy?”
“I’ve spent the last nine months studying your planet’s greatest military leaders. I’ve learned a lot.”
“Were did you come up with that strategy?”
“Ho Chi Minh. His tactics against a superior enemy is what won the war. We’re in a similar situation.”
“Admiral Whitehall has already mentioned using the carriers in Andromeda.”
“He’s probably better than I am.”
“We’ll see. I guess a lot of this depends on how long Pam and Sparky can keep them occupied.”
“Every day they can buy us is important.”
“I’m going home to spend some time with my family.”
“Give them my best wishes.”
“Drop by if you can.”
“I will. I need to check on the Bosrean’s progress first.”
Essay nodded and ended the contact.
Chapter Nineteen
Pam sat at her control panel and checked the systems. Sparky sat in his chair wearing a new gravity suit as he locked the new harness into the clips on the suit. He leaned forward and leaned back. He tried to suddenly move forward and the harness stopped him. “This new harness system is something else.”
Pam looked at him, “I’ve been told that we can come to a stop from three quarters speed and survive it.”
Sparky stared at her, “Are you serious?”
“That’s what I was told.”
“I hope we don’t have to find out.”
“If we attack those ship building stations, I imagine we will. As soon as we show up they’ll be launching their fleets to cover any escape routes. We’re going to have to fly through them to get away.”
“I guess it won’t get easier.”
Pam turned back to her panel and blew out a breath, “Probably not. Are you ready to go?” Sparky shrugged, “We have two days until the new Traugh Leaders meet. We should start the attacks today.”
“Lifting now.” The Traugh Warship’s thrusters activated and the large grey warship rose off its landing legs and turned its bow toward the sky. It picked up speed and soon disappeared. The launch was shown on every channel around the planet and Earth’s population prayed for their survival. Essay watched it with his family from the new cabin that was built close to the cave. He saw Pam and Sparky’s eyes and knew that they were going to punish the Traugh and survival was not their concern. He held his children and remained at the cave for a month before going back to work.
• • •
The ship cleared the atmosphere and Pam said, “Going to full speed.” The blue field surrounded the ship and it disappeared in an instant. Pam flew the ship directly toward Andromeda and fifty thousand light years out, turned the ship and flew toward Traugh Territory in the Milky Way. “Query. Send the location of the largest Traugh ship building station to my panel.”
“Location sent.”
Pam looked at Sparky, “Do you still want to do it this way?”
Sparky nodded, “Query. Do you have the exact location of those stations?”
“If they have not been moved, I do have the location where they are currently located.”
Pam shrugged and turned the ship slightly as the stardrive accepted the new course. Sparky entered the station’s location in his panel and sent it to the first ten missiles. He saw the light on his panel illuminate showing the ten missiles had accepted the data. “The missiles are active. This first attack should fool them but the others will not be as easy.”
“This station is the most important, Sparky. I have the location of the next station ready and I’ll be breaking away as soon as the missiles launch. Load the second salvo. We’ll arrive at the second station ten seconds after we launch the first missiles.”
“You have the launch. I’m sending the third salvo the data for the third station.”
Pam nodded and watched the stardrive. Ten seconds until launch. They would be detected three seconds out. She heard the sonic scanner warning of Traugh stardrives and focused on the distance. She heard Sparky say, “Traugh Warships moving out from the station.” She saw the distance meter and pressed the launch button. She turned the ship sharply and saw the Traugh Warships turn slightly to match her course. Two seconds later, the ten missiles activated their stardrives and accelerated at an incredible speed toward the distant station.
The station Senior Scanner saw the enemy ship veer away from the station and smiled. A moment later, he saw ten tiny stardrives appear and rush toward the station. He screamed for the disintegrator operators to open fire on the incoming objects but they had turned their barrels toward the course the enemy vessel had taken.
They swung them back but the missiles flew in at an incredible velocity as they dropped their stardrive fields and hit the station with massive explosions. The station hung in space for a moment and then went up in a massive blast as the station’s reactors were hit by white hot metal ricocheting around the inside of the giant facility. The ships that had left to chase the enemy vessel never saw the destruction and no warning was made about the new weapon being used by the attacker.
• • •
“Launching second salvo.” Pam whipped the ship to the right and heard the sonic scanners over the loudspeaker grow incredibly loud. She looked at the scanner’s display and the space was covered with Traugh stardrives moving toward them. She shook her head, “One more launch and then its time to run.”
“You have the missiles.” Sparky began firing the disintegrators at Traugh warships as they moved into range. Pam took manual control of the ship and turned violently toward a small gap in the solid oncoming wall of Traugh warships. Sparky hit and blasted the closest ships to the opening as Pam pushed the thrusters fully forward.
The ship leapt forward and was through the gap in an instant. She turned the ship back over to the stardrive and it turned toward the third Traugh station. They moved into range in eight seconds as more Traugh warships joined the chase. Sparky said, “I’ve programed twenty missiles for the launch!”
Pam nodded and saw she was moving inside a globe of Traugh Warships. She shook her head and pressed the launch button as the stardrive beeped. The missiles left the ship and she got behind them and followed them in to the station. The warships moved out of the path of the missiles and Pam flew past them in an instant. She smiled. The Traugh Pilots would never put the ships they owned in danger. She used that to blow past the globe of ships and turn at a sharp angle away from the next wave of attacking ships. She pushed the thrusters fully forward and pulled back on the wheel. The ship increased speed and moved perpendicular to the giant mass of Traugh Warships. She accelerated above the galaxy and left the pursuers far behind. Sparky laughed, “Great flying!”
“We were lucky. Do we know anything about the stations?”
“Query. Any communications about the launches?”
“The first two stations have been destroyed. Nothing on the third.”
“Slow down, Pam. Let’s see if they say anything.”
Pam pulled the thruster handle back and they heard, “What are those things?”
“They must be missiles with stardrives. Eight of them were stopped by disintegrator beams but the others have blown the station apart. What survived is little more than scrap.”
Pam smiled and pushed the thrusters forward. They were out of scanning range in less than twenty seconds.
• • •
The Ultimate Leader was discussing the meeting with the newly chosen Supreme Leaders when his panel illuminated. He said, “I need to take this.” He pressed a button and heard, “GREATEST LEADER, THAT SHIP HAS ATTACKED OUR LARGEST THREE SHIP BUILDING FACILITIES AND DESTROYED ALL THREE!”
The UL’s mouth fell open, “HOW!?”
“It has a new type of missile that uses a stardrive. They fly in at impossible speeds.”
“YOU WILL PREVENT ANY FURTHER ATTACKS OR YOU WILL NOT SEE THE END OF THIS DAY!!”
“Yes, Greatest Leader.”
The UL sat and shook his head. He saw the new leaders on his panel and said, “You will come here now!” He ended the contact and for the first time ever he felt real fear for his life.
• • •
Pam made a run at the station and fired a salvo of missiles. She broke away as thousands of Traugh Warships rushed out to meet them. Sparky kept the scanner on the missiles and saw thousands of disintegrator beams being fired from the Traugh Station. They were all hit and destroyed before they could hit. “DAMN!” Pam shook her head and flew the ship away before they could be surrounded. She left the pursuers far behind and shook her head.
Sparky hit the arm of his chair with a fist, “They’ve surrounded every station with more than twenty thousand warships. Most of them are opening fire on the line between our ship and the station. The missiles don’t have a prayer. We’ve wasted the last three months with nothing to show for it.”
Pam stopped the ship and sat back in her chair. “Sparky, every day we keep them tied down is another day Earth can build warships. They won’t start toward Andromeda as long as we’re here.”
“You’re right. I just wish we could slow them down more.” Pam pursed her lips and pressed several buttons on her panel. “What are you doing?”
“Looking at the missile simulator program.”
“Why?”
“I remember seeing something about remote launching.”
“What?”
“Hold on.” Pam scrolled through the list of data and activated a command. “Here it is.” She began listening to the program and nodded several times. She said, “What’s the maximum range of the missiles?” She listened and looked at Sparky, “We’re going to try this another way.”
“What did you find out?”
“The information was in the data we put off looking at while we were on Earth. The missiles maximum range is just outside the maximum Traugh scanning range. We can drop off a salvo outside their scanners and launch them with a signal while we’re coming from the opposite direction. If they move all their ships to meet our frontal attack, the missiles should have a clear path.”
“We need to choose our target wisely. This will only work once.”
“Then we need to make it count.”
“What do you mean?”
“There are four Traugh stations that are within forty seconds of each other if we fly at full speed. If we attack the first one and turn toward the second as soon as they detect us, we’ll be there in ten seconds. When that station responds to our presence, we head toward the third after sending the launch code to the missiles there. We continue the process until we’re forced to flee.”
“What if we aren’t able to launch them?”
“We send a self-destruct code to them.”
Sparky smiled, “That sounds like a plan.”
Pam nodded, “Let’s get it set up.”
• • •
“Feet Leader, we’ve received short warnings of a stardrive appearing at the edge of our scanner’s range.”
“Where?”
“At eight of our stations.”
“They’re scouting to see if they can attack. They’re backing away.”
“Should we move more ships to those stations?”
The Fleet Leader hesitated and said, “That would weaken the forces at the other stations. No, leave things as they are.” What was that ship doing? He thought about it and called the Fleet Leader charged with defending the home worlds, “Can you send ships to defend eight stations the enemy is scouting?”
“NO! I will not put the home worlds in jeopardy.” The Fleet Leader recorded the conversation and stored it. If something bad happened, that recording might save his life.
• • •
Sparky programmed the four six missile salvos and charged the disintegrators. He pulled up the first code and put it in the communicator. He then entered the other three in order to automatically replace the one sent ahead of them. He looked at Pam, “You have the launches on our panel. I’ll handle the missiles we dropped off at each station. You should fire as soon as the ships around the stations start inserting themselves between us and our target.”
“Got it.” Pam looked at Sparky, “Don’t forget to self-destruct the ones we don’t use if we have to run.”
“My panel is hot and will send them all simultaneously if you decide to escape.”
Pam looked at Sparky, “Do you regret not staying on Earth and living together in peace and happiness?”
Sparky shook his head, “I really wish I could have done that and found happiness. I guess I’m not completely rid of my demons.”
Pam smiled, “I’m really glad to hear you say that. I would have gone crazy away from the action. My particular demons are shaped like the Traugh and they won’t allow me to find peace.” Sparky nodded and smiled. “Are you ready to start the run?”
“I notice that the course to the third station is directly behind the second. Do you plan to fly around it?”
“I’m going over it. I’m following the missiles in and going vertical as the Traugh Warships move out. They’ll be forced to stay between the missiles and the station and we should have room to go over the top at full speed. Just make sure you launch the backside missiles on time.”
“I’ll be doing that the moment you launch the front side missiles.”
“Are you ready?”
Sparky activated the visor on his helmet showing the first station and nodded, “Take us up to speed.” Pam turned the ship and allowed the stardrive to take control of the ship’s course. She eased the thrusters forward and the stars became streaks that began passing faster and faster as Pam continued to ease the thrusters forward.
• • •
“ATTACK MOVING IN AT EIGH
TY DEGREES. MISSILES LAUNCHED AND WILL ARRIVE IN SIX SECONDS. ALL DISINTEGRATORS OPEN FIRE. ALL SHIPS MOVE FORWARD AND OPEN FIRE IMMEDIATELY.”
• • •
“Breaking off.”
“Launching backside!”
Pam entered the second course and pushed the thrusters fully forward. The warship turned and ran parallel across the front of the Traugh Warships setting up to fire a massive barrage at the six incoming missiles. The six incoming missiles were hit and blasted into ashes. Suddenly, the station scanner operators heard a loud wail from the wall speakers.
The Scanner Leader jerked his head to the left and saw the station’s rear scanners showing more than twenty stardrives bearing down on the station. WHERE DID THEY COME FROM? He started to order the station disintegrators swung around to fire on the incoming missiles and knew there was no time. He closed his eyes as the room around him exploded in a massive blast.
• • •
“FIVE SECONDS TO LAUNCH!” Sparky nodded and saw the red light illuminate on his visor. He pressed the button for the second backside salvo as Pam followed the six missiles in and pushed the bow thrusters fully forward as she then pushed the main thrusters fully forward as well. The ship went vertical above the advancing Traugh Fleet. The fleet was forced to fire on the six missiles moving at incredible speed toward the station and failed to fire on the ship. It was over them in an instant as the last of the six missiles detonated. A moment later, the second station went up in a gigantic blast that sent a shockwave rushing out into the fleet scattering the ships like leaves in a hurricane.
• • •
“Six seconds.”
“Pam, I’ve programed thirty missiles for the initial launch. They should be keeping ships back to take on the backside salvo.”
Pam nodded and pressed the launch button. Sparky immediately launched the backside salvo. The ship violently turned and whipped away from the oncoming Traugh Warships that began opening fire on the incoming missiles. Pam glanced at the scanner before they moved out of range and saw that Sparky was right. There were gaps in the Traugh front and eight missiles made it through. All of the backside missiles were destroyed but the eight that made it through from the front demolished the station’s central hub. A large explosion ripped into space and a massive fire erupted. In an hour, the eight arms surrounding the central hub were burning and the ships under construction began going up like giant firecrackers.