“Aye, Captain.”
“Wiscarski out.”
As long as their ship remained cloaked in a double envelope, the Denubbewa shouldn’t be able to spot it, but she had the ship moved to a location half a light-year closer to Region Four before settling down to wait for a reply. At the earliest, it shouldn’t arrive for about fifteen hours.
~ ~ ~
“Jen, I’m sorry to bother you at home, but we have a situation,” Admiral Holt said when Jenetta answered the call to her CT.
“Hold on, Brian. I’m in the nursery. Give me a minute to go out in the hall.”
A minute later Jenetta was in the hallway with the door to the nursery closed. Cayla and Tayna had followed her out.
“Okay, Brian, I can talk freely now. What’s up?”
“I just received a Priority-One message from a CPS-16 out in Region Four. They spotted a Denubbewa warship in our space. It was headed towards the border so they zoomed on ahead at Marc-One to determine where it was headed. Five light- years outside our border, they came upon a Denubbewa armada that was busy sheathing their ships in Dakinium.”
“How large an armada?”
“About two hundred motherships filled with warships. The captain estimates fifty thousand warships total. They filmed as they flew through part of the armada, and we concur with the captain’s estimate.”
“Did they engage?”
“No, the captain decided it was better to alert us without letting them know we’re aware of their fleet.”
“That’s good thinking. So what are your plans?”
“I want to send everything we’ve got at them, but it will take time to assemble our fleet.”
“I don’t think we can wait too long. If they divide their forces and begin their assault, they might prove unbeatable.”
“I agree, but what can we do?”
“How many ships do you have in Region Four?”
“Only the handful we assigned after the Ruwalchu submitted their annexation petition. And Larry is near there with the Ares. He brought the new com satellites in so they could be distributed and deployed, then headed back to Region Three.”
“If the Denubbewa have that many motherships just outside Region Four, they might have gotten that new Armada CJ Gate capable of transporting vessels built and in operation out there.”
“Yes, I thought of that. But if it’s outside Region Four, that would be the only place where it’s a threat.”
“Unless they’ve got another one outside Region Three or Region Two. Or even Region One.”
“I didn’t feel good before, and you just made me feel ten times worse. What do you think we should do?”
“I need time to think, but for now, perhaps you should get everything within a thousand light-years headed toward that armada.”
“It’ll take forty-five days for the ships a thousand light-years away to arrive.”
“Then we’d better hope the Denubbewa aren’t in a hurry to leave their current assembly location. In fact, I suggest you get everything within two thousand light-years headed in that direction in case the Denubbewa somehow get past us. That way we’ll have a second line of defense.”
“And what if this is just a red herring?”
“A fifty-thousand-warship red herring?”
“We’re talking about the Denubbewa, an enemy with sextillion cyborg soldiers.”
“That’s exactly why it’s probably not a red herring.”
“I don’t follow.”
“They’ve tried to conquer us with small attacks— a few ships here and a few ships there. It’s almost like we haven’t really been an important target.”
“That last armada they threw at us wasn’t a small attack.”
“As you just said, they’re reputed to have sextillion cyborg soldiers. That small armada was under five thousand warships. But now? Now we’re talking a serious effort. I doubt this is just a feint. We’ve believed they’d eventually throw a huge force at us. I think this might be it.”
“Okay, Jen, I’ll do as you suggest. I’ll send everything within two thousand light-years at them.”
“Okay, Brian. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Jen. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”
“Carver out,” Jenetta said to end the call to her CT. She sighed and closed her eyes for a minute. They’d been waiting for the Denubbewa to make another move, and now they had. But fifty thousand Denubbewa warships was ten times the size of the entire Space Command forces, including support vessels. And it was doubtful they could confront the Denubbewa armada with even a fraction of those ships within the next thirty days. With sixty days to assemble a taskforce, they might be able to get a hundred and fifty ships out to where the Denubbewa were gathered.
“Bad news, Jenetta?” Cayla asked. “We heard your side of the conversation.”
“It’s the Denubbewa again. They’ve amassed an invasion armada just outside Region Four. It’s massive.”
“Can we stop them?” Tayna asked.
“We’re going to stop them— somehow. Don’t worry. Why don’t you guys go back into the nursery. ? I’m going down to my office. I have a lot of thinking to do.”
“Okay, Jenetta,” Cayla said.
Jenetta opened the nursery door so the two Jumakas could enter the room, then closed the door gently so as not to disturb the sleeping twins. Before she took the first step towards her office, her mind was totally absorbed by the Denubbewa problem.
~ ~ ~
“Good morning, sir,” Eliza said as she entered the Captain’s office for their morning briefing. “I understand we’re heading back into Region Four. Problems with the satellites we delivered?”
“It’s not satellites this time. It’s Denubbewa.”
“They’re back?”
“More than back. Quesann says we’re looking at two hundred motherships and fifty thousand warships.”
“It sounds like they’re through playing games and intend to confront us with force.”
“It appears that way.”
“And they’re all in Region Four?”
“They’re not in G.A. space this time. They’re in an area of unclaimed space five light-years outside Region Four. Quesann is sending us everything within two thousand light-years for this effort.”
“We’ve verified their presence there?”
“One of the CPS-16 ships deploying the new com system satellites spotted a Denubbewa ship headed out of G.A. space so its captain sped on ahead to see where they were headed. They discovered the armada of Denubbewa motherships five light-years outside the border. They reported that the ships are being sheathed with Dakinium. They also filmed the armada while overflying it from different directions and made a pass through a number of motherships to show the warships inside.”
“I wonder if they think the Dakinium will save them from us.”
“More likely it’s to hide their presence from us as they travel through G.A. space to wherever they intend to launch their attacks.”
“Who will command this operation?”
“That task has fallen to the Ares.”
“It’s going to take time to assemble all the ships that will be coming. Has an assembly area been identified yet?”
“Fifteen light-years this side of the border, just across from where the Denubbewa are sitting at present.”
“Do we have time to stop at Ruwalch, sir?”
“Why?”
“I’d like to alert the Prime Minister to the situation so he can have their civilians move back below ground to be safe.”
“Good idea, but send him a vidMail instead. I want to get to the rendezvous point as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir. Do we have any other information regarding the Denubbewa?”
“I have a copy of the vid produced by Angels 62. The Captain wasn’t exaggerating with the estimated counts.”
“Lieutenant Wiscarski is a good officer. She’s cool under pressure and she’s very intelligent. I’d t
rust her to give us accurate information. Where is she now, sir?”
“In the message she sent after discovering the armada, she said she was remaining outside Region Four, but when she sent coordinates for the armada, she neglected to send coordinates for her location.”
“The importance and critical nature of the information she was sending was probably responsible for the small oversight.”
~ ~
After the morning briefing, Eliza prepared the vidMail to be sent to the Prime Minister of the Ruwalchu Gilesset. She sat down at her desk and looked at the camera lens as she said, “Mr. Prime Minister, I have urgent news for you, but it’s for your ears only. If you’re not alone, please pause this message and clear the room or area before proceeding.”
Eliza let the recorder run but said nothing more for fifteen seconds, then began to speak again.
“I hope you’ve cleared the room if you weren’t alone. When you’ve listened to this message, it’ll be up to you how you share the information with others.
“One of our patrol ships has discovered a massive Denubbewa armada in unclaimed space just outside the border of Region Four. We’re attempting to assemble a massive taskforce to confront and destroy them, but should we be unable to destroy all of their ships, we suggest you make use of your special facilities. I’m sure you understand my meaning. Every available Space Command vessel is currently underway to Region Four, but we don’t know if we’ll be able to amass enough to defeat the Denubbewa before they begin their attack.
“Be safe and be well.
“Eliza Kathleen Carver, Commander, aboard the Space Command battleship Ares. End of message.”
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Eight
~ May 26th, 2293 ~
“Almost every warship tasked to this operation has arrived,” Captain Gavin said to his XO. “It’s time to attack the Denubbewa before they finish sheathing the motherships with Dakinium and commence their attack on the G.A.”
“The two dozen CPS-16s patrolling along the border haven’t seen any sign of the Denubbewa. I’d expected to see at least a small amount of activity before now.”
“I’m concerned that we’ve heard nothing from the Angels 62.”
“That is unusual, sir. But we didn’t want to send anyone in to look for them on the off chance that the Denubbewa have learned how to spot us when we’re in a double envelope. We know they’re aware of our capability to go out of phase ever since they witnessed it at the Highcap.”
“They may know we have the ability, but they surely don’t know how we do it.”
“I wouldn’t count on that. That might be the reason they’ve been sheathing their motherships in Dakinium. They may know how we’re doing it.”
“If they know Dakinium is the secret to establishing a second envelope, at some point it might happen accidentally, as it did for Jenetta when she commanded the Colorado.”
“I hope they never duplicate that same accident, sir. The double envelope is the only thing that’s kept us in this game. Without that advantage, we’re behind the eight ball.”
“Eight ball?”
“It refers to an ancient game on earth. A player has to knock seven balls into any one of six pockets attached to the sides of a table without knocking in a ball marked with a large number eight. Having your ball sitting behind the eight ball makes it difficult to achieve your goal without knocking the eight ball into a pocket, causing you to lose the game.”
“I see. Yes, without the double-envelope advantage we would indeed be behind the eight ball.”
“And we have to hope that the Denubbewa weren’t able to somehow capture the Angels 62.”
“That could be disastrous.”
“Have you developed a battle plan, sir?”
“Unless you have any alternate suggestions, I thought we should use the same plan we used with the first armada. We attack in waves, trying to create as much damage as possible as early as possible. We want to hit them so hard they can’t get away.”
“If the Denubbewa have emptied the motherships, it’s going to be impossible to destroy fifty thousand warships in one pass, or even in several passes. There were only a couple of thousand at the last battle.”
“So I suppose we should hope the motherships still have the warships inside their hulls.”
“Yes, sir. We could bomb two hundred ships in one pass if we only have to deal with motherships.”
“So the first action to take is to perform some flyovers and map the routes the attacking ships will take for their bombing runs. Select a few of our best CPS-16 crews and send them in to video everything so we can prepare the attack plan. And ask them to watch for Angels 62 while they’re there. I know it’s a long shot that they’ll spot the ship, but you never know. Then schedule a meeting of all captains and helmsmen of the attack ships so we can brief them before they go.”
“Aye, sir, I’ll take care of it immediately.”
~ ~ ~
“Say, Skipper,” Helmsman Lieutenant (JG) Ving Villobo said to the captain of the CPS-16 Freedom’s Child as they crossed the border into unclaimed space, “how come we’re always picked to spearhead these penetration operations?”
“We’re just one of four selected for this mission,” Lieutenant Jules Harford responded. “They obviously want the best for these kinds of missions, so here we are.”
“At times, being one of the best isn’t something I really aspire to. Is it true we’re going to prepare an attack plan for fighting tens of thousands of Denubbewa motherships?”
“No. The planning will be done by senior officers. We’re going in to record the Denubbewa assembly area. Command needs to know the current situation there and how the ships are arrayed. And there aren’t tens of thousands of motherships. The crew in a previous CPS-16 incursion only counted about two hundred.”
“And we’re supposed to be looking for that CPS-16 because they disappeared out here while doing what we’re doing now? Can the Denubbewa see us while we’re in a double envelope?”
“Command doesn’t think they can. And the ship we’re looking for had already completed their mission, including flyovers and flythroughs, and left the area so they could make their report. We have no idea what happened to the ship after that, but there was no report of contact with the Denubbewa.”
“So they got away clean and then disappeared?”
“It appears that way.”
“That makes me feel a little better about this job.”
“I’m so glad you’re feeling better, Ving. Now shut up and pay attention to your flying.”
~ ~ ~
“I’ve just received a message from Larry Gavin,” Admiral Holt said when Jenetta took his call and his image appeared on the large monitor in her office. “He says they’ve begun the operation now that all but two Scout-Destroyers have arrived. Those last two ships should arrive within an hour. In the meantime, four CPS-16s have left to map the present locations of the Denubbewa ships so Larry can establish bombing assignments.”
“I love this new com system. Not long ago it would have taken two months to get that report. I assume Larry is going to wait until the last two ships arrive before they begin their bombing runs. We’re going to need every ship available to take down that armada.”
“I’m sure that’s his plan.”
“It’s too bad the Ares can’t drop ordnance. It’ll be the only ship not in the fight.” With a smile, she added, “Eliza is probably gritting her teeth every time she has to send others into a fight she can’t join.”
“I’m sure. But her role is vital. She participates in the planning, briefing, and strike-assessment stages.”
“Did Larry mention when the attack would begin? I know I’m not going to be able to concentrate on any other work until we hear back.”
“He didn’t say, but it won’t be long now. And there’s still no sight of the CPS-16 that first spotted the armada.”
“That’s a real mystery. If they maintained their
double envelope— and I have no reason to believe they wouldn’t— the Denubbewa shouldn’t have been able to spot them.”
“Larry ordered the four CPS-16s to look for the Angels 62 during their flyover, but it’s unlikely the missing ship is anywhere near the Denubbewa armada.”
“Let’s hope that’s the case.”
~ ~ ~
“The scouting party is returning, sir,” Eliza said to Captain Gavin as she entered his office off the bridge.
“It’s about time. They should have been back long ago.”
“Yes, sir. The reason for the delay is that the armada wasn’t at the coordinates given by Angels 62, so they performed a grid search of the area out to one light-year. They found no sign of the armada and no sign of Angels 62.”
“No sign of the armada or our missing ship?”
“That’s correct, sir. The armada is no longer there, and we have no idea where the missing CPS-16 might be.”
“We’ve just spent months assembling an attack force that includes every available Scout-Destroyer and CPS in Regions Two and Three— and we’ve come up empty once we’re ready to attack? I must be dreaming.”
“No sir, you’re awake.”
“Damn,” Gavin said with a smirk, then took a deep breath and released it slowly. He took an additional breath before saying, “Any suggestions?”
“Well, I think the key to the mystery rests with Angels 62.”
“I agree, but we don’t know where they are.”
~ ~ ~
The enormous limousine that ferried the Admiral of the Fleet around Quesann set down on the grounds of the Admiral’s home as the invisible energy dome that protected the estate reclosed. Admiral Jenetta Carver appeared at the door of the limo while the ramp was still stretching out and down to the landing pad in front of the mansion.
As Jenetta approached her home with Cayla and Tayna, the two large entrance doors silently slid into their pockets on either side and remained that way until the trio was at least five feet inside the home. There was no evidence of a protective detail, but half a dozen hidden cameras were witness to every area of the entranceway, and a dozen Marines could respond to any difficulty within seconds from hidden observation posts on the main floor. Cameras in the hallways on the upper floors would only be activated if an alarm was sounded, and there were no cameras in any of the rooms. Normally, in the homes of military admirals, protection detail members walked the hallways at night, but they could disappear in seconds if an occupant was about. However, this home had four fully grown Jumakas as full-time residents, so all Marine patrols on the upper floors had been suspended. The acute hearing of a Jumaka allowed it to be aware of any intruders. Its movements were virtually silent when it wished them to be so, and its claws and teeth were as deadly as any laser pistol, although a lot messier.
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