by Saxon Andrew
“That would be good.”
• • •
Shane looked at the five Rovers on his display, “We’re skipping in to hit them in eighteen minutes. You all have the escape route preprogrammed into your boards so fire and get out. If you miss, get out. If you hit it, get out. If you get killed, get out. Your main task is to get away. Hitting them is secondary on this mission and I don’t want to lose any of you.”
“Sir, they’ll be on us like white on rice as soon as we appear.”
“I know. Let’s hope the Juke Box can play them some music that might distract them long enough for us to get away.”
“Does Fleet seriously think that old ship can take them on?”
“If they didn’t, we wouldn’t be doing this. Just stick to the plan Kelli and stay on my tail.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Alright, I’ve started the countdown; set your panels to automatically skip in. Now what’s the word?”
“Fire and get out!”
“Good; I thought you might have forgotten.”
Shane watched the countdown and saw it hit zero and the next moment he was firing on a Monster Main Battleship. The next he was in the barrier with four ships skipping away with him; Kelli didn’t make it. Those creature’s computer controlled beams were really getting deadly. She took too long to run. His wing emerged into normal space and he saw the mile long Juke Box Battleship filling his scanner. He punched his communicator as he hit full thrusters, “We’ve got eighteen on our trail.”
“Thanks, Ajax. Now get out of here and skip away.”
Shane hit full thrusters and ejected a microprobe as he disappeared at one quarter light speed. He had to know what was going to happen. He watched the feed from the probe as eighteen giant ships emerged into normal space less than eight miles from the Juke Box.
“Get ready to run. Cyanna, lock on and fire.”
The eighteen giant ships appeared and Cyanna fired eighteen medium penetrators at them. The penetrators hit maximum velocity in less than a tenth of a second and returned their full mass a hundred yards from the giant ships. Ten of the ships managed to fire on the large white ship but the beams were stopped by the second force field before they could defeat the third. All eighteen enemy ships were hit by a penetrator and sixteen of them had their force fields penetrated and were blasted into rubble. The two that managed to deflect the penetrators fired at them were blown wildly to the side from the giant explosion on the surface of their force fields. Cyanna had two more on the way before the two battleships could stabilize to bring their weapons to bear on the Juke Box. The second penetrators went through their weakened force fields as if they didn’t exist. “We’ve got a large group coming this way.”
“How many?”
“At least a hundred.”
“Get us out of here!”
The Havana skipped out at a ninety degree angle from the site of the battle and emerged ten light years away and skipped in another direction. The hundred Master Battleships emerged and found space littered with the blasted hulks of the ships leading the chase. “Find where they went.” The hundred ships fanned out, searching for the skip track and one finally found it and the chase continued but by the time they arrived at the second skip, it had dissipated. The Commander of the Attack Group knew that the enemy had developed a new means of attacking his ships. He went back to the site of the battle and began sending the details of his scans to the Fifty to determine how to handle this new tactic and weapon being used by the enemy.
Shane watched the recording and shook his head. The Juke Box had killed the enemy ships at an incredible rate. It had also withstood their beams. He knew it used the ancient penetrators and he wished the Rovers were large enough to carry them; but that was a hopeless wish. The penetrator was as big as the Rover. He waited at the last skip point for the others to arrive and then they skipped away.
• • •
Kat looked at her board and shook her head. The Grillen had finally made their move and it was a massive one. Millions of ships and transports were jumping into the Red Sector and dropping troops on hundreds of thousands of planets. The probes saw that the once the troops landed on the planets, they would gather up huge numbers of the populations to use as hostages against retaliation. The civilizations in M87 were still working to get organized after the civil war and were no match for the warships being used by the Grillen in the invasion. “Gabriel, what do you have on their defenses?”
“They have really ramped up the defenses of the Royal Planets. It also appears that their ships have a beam that will give our Rovers a problem.”
Kat shook her head, “Are you serious?”
“I am; we’ve measured it to be on the same order of magnitude as the Masters’ beams.”
“We need to pull in our Rovers for defense. I suspect they will be coming here momentarily.”
“I’ll send the messages, Sir. How many do you want brought back?”
“We don’t have a choice; bring back seventy five percent of them.”
“That will only leave ten million to take on the Masters’ two hundred and fifty million.”
“The Rovers have been taking a pounding from them. We’re going to have to step up production of the Juke Box Battleships and leave that galaxy to them.” Her display went dark and she pressed another button, “Admiral Kay, start disruption around the planets in our galaxy. I anticipate an invasion of our territory soon.”
“The order has been sent. Disruption will commence in ten minutes.”
Kat stared at her display and watched millions of drop troops being released on the peaceful planets in the Red Sector.
• • •
“Jon, we’ve been ordered back.”
“I see that. It looks like Dat is going to have to handle the Masters with his fleet. Are you being sent to the Allies in M87?”
“No, they have enough ships to defend themselves. They’ll contact us if things get out of hand. It appears the Grillen are not attacking any of the civilizations that are in the Galactic Alliance. The implicit message is stay out of what we’re doing or we’ll kick your butts out.”
Jon thought a moment, “There’s nothing we can do to stop them. Their building program has really gone into high gear and they now outnumber us by a large margin. If they take the planets in the Red Sector and start building ships on them…I don’t know if anyone can stand up to them.”
“We have to protect our planet’s first. We’ll look at handling the Grillen later.”
“Jill, I’ve ordered a Juke Box for my Flag ship. Admiral Hull has agreed that perhaps we should command our forces from it. Will you join me?”
“Jon, you outrank me; just order it.”
“I don’t want you to be forced to do it. If you think you need to be elsewhere, I’d understand.”
“Forget it. I haven’t had my dancing quota for months. Let me know when it arrives.”
“What name do you want for her?”
Jill smiled, “Juke Box.”
Jon smiled, “I thought that would be your choice. She’ll arrive in a week and I’ll see you then. I need to get my ships assigned so I’ll contact you later.”
“See you, Jon.”
• • •
“Hey, we want our own ship.”
“Oh shut up, Bucket. Why would you want another ship?”
“You should always have a wingman.”
Jill thought a moment and hit her communicator; Jon appeared and she said, “What about getting another ship. We can spend time on one or the other but I was thinking…”
“It’s always good to have a wingman.”
Jill smiled, “Yeah, something like that.”
“My computers also want their own ship. I’ll get another one send along with the first.”
“Thanks, Jon.”
• • •
Gresha looked at Dat, “What are all these small ports on the hull?”
Dat looked at her, “I’m sure the Fed
eration put them there for a reason.”
“You don’t know what they are?”
Dat shrugged, “No, I don’t.” Gresha looked up, “Cyanna, what are those ports?”
“I don’t know but they have ten reactors connected to them.”
“What!”
“The first Juke Boxes had thirty Dark Matter Reactors; we have forty eight. Ten of them have connections running to those ports. Those reactors are currently shut down.”
Dat looked at Gresha, “I suspect Belwen is planning to use them for something.” Dat looked at his panel, “I have to decide how to use the battleships with the Rovers we have remaining.” Gresha started rocking in her chair and Dat asked, “What’s bothering you?”
“I hate having to skip away every time we hit the initial group of pursuers. The second group is always larger.”
Dat thought a few moments and said, “Stein, how many main battleships do we have?”
“Three million.”
“Loree, have you been able to determine how many ships are used to chase the Rover Wings when they attack?”
“The first group usually has twenty to thirty ships. The follow ups usually have a hundred or more.”
Gresha stopped rocking, “What are you thinking?”
“If we try to kill their ships by these small attacks, we won’t keep up with their building replacements. We have to take them out in large numbers. Stein, how many attacks can fleet orchestrate at any given moment?”
“We could have an individual target for every Rover here; why do you ask?”
“I want to have them all assigned a target and after firing, I want all of them to skip to the same coordinate before they skip away.”
“You know they’ll probably have more than twenty million ships pursue them.”
“Which leads to my next question; Loree, can you place the battleships around that coordinate in such a way as to have a clear field of fire from all sides?”
“Do you mean you don’t want to be unable to hit a ship that arrives inside the ranks of the ships already there?”
“Wow, that’s a good use of double negative; but yes. We need to be able to hit them as quickly as they emerge into normal space.”
“You know how fast those computerized beams can start firing.”
“I do but the penetrators have a much longer effective range. They can reach out and touch them from outside those beams’ effective range.”
“I don’t think what you’re asking for will work.”
“Why not?”
“They’ll emerge into normal space and their beams will be immediately operational.”
“No, there is a slight delay.”
“Yes, but from the range you want to fire, they will be active before the penetrators arrive.”
“I didn’t think about that.”
Cyanna said, “Why wait to fire on them?”
Dat said, “What do you mean?”
“The penetrators were designed to be self-guided. They emit a locator beam and launch at whatever target that beam designates. If a beam has already designated a target, that target will be ignored by other penetrators. It was this feature that made them so deadly in last war.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Just fill the space around the coordinates with the proper number of active penetrators.”
“What happens when ten million Rovers jump in?”
“The penetrators will ignore them due to their transponders; however, you’ll have to clear an area for their arrival. The Rovers can see normal space before they emerge and they should be able to avoid hitting each other. The command system will have them jumping in at just the right spot and time it such that there won’t be any collisions.”
“Get it set up and let me know when the Rovers have their assignments.”
“Will do. It is my opinion that a sphere is the best formation for the Juke Boxes to assume at the site of the attack.”
• • •
“Gibbs, are you glad you transferred to the heavies?”
“I am, Kune. This is going to be the direction the Union is going to be moving in the future.”
“I just thought you’d miss flying alone; you know, just you against the universe.”
“That might have been the case but I now have a great Weapon’s Officer.”
“Is she there?”
“Yes, but she’s in the armory checking on the launch tubes.”
“Be honest, Gibbs; you did this because you wanted to be with Lydia.”
“More than you know. However, this battle we’re about to have confirms what I believe; the Rovers have to hit and run away. The Juke Box Class of battleships will do the real fighting. That’s where I want to be.”
“How many ships do you command?”
“One and a half million; I have three good Rear Admirals that really make things happen. Just take care of our lads and get them out of here before the pursuit arrives.”
“I’ll do the best I can. Just don’t let them overwhelm your fleet, Gibbs.”
“We’ve been ordered by the Old Man to keep our drives hot.”
“I’ll let you know how it goes. Good luck.”
“Same to you, Kune.”
• • •
“Loree, have you had any success on that task I gave you?”
“I have and you don’t need to worry at the moment.”
“Good; let me know if anything changes.”
“I will.”
Gresha looked at Dat, “What are you talking about?”
“I’ll let you know later; we need to drop some penetrators in the kill zone.”
Gresha nodded, “Stein, where do you want our penetrators dropped?”
“I’ll handle it.”
Dat said, “Loree, let me know when everything is in place.”
“We should be ready in about two hours.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Have the Humans responded to our invasions?”
“We have not seen any of their ships in Alliance Territory or in our galaxy, Your Majesty.”
“Have you initiated plans to invade their space?”
“We’re ready but have waited for them to respond first.”
“What if they don’t?”
“Then we’ll continue to invade as many planets as possible before they act.”
“Are you sure we’ll be safe here?”
“We moved you to the safest site in our galaxy. We’ve also disrupted space around your planet. That was a cleaver technique they used and it is effective to delay any attacks.”
“Then continue with the invasions and get those planets organized to start construction of ships.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
• • •
“Admiral Anders, what have you determined the Grillen are doing about attacking us?”
“They have millions of ships that are in formation at the edge of their galaxy but they have not made a move to attack us or participate in the invasion.”
Kat thought a moment and leaned forward, “Do you think they’re waiting for us to respond before they attack?”
“I believe that’s what they’re doing, sir. They know that time is on their side if they can invade and take enough planets in the Red Sector. They’ll convert their production facilities to ship building factories and in just a few years they’ll be able to take us on as well as the civilizations in M87. They really don’t need to take us on now.”
“But the longer we wait to respond, the more planets they’ll take.”
“They outnumber us now. Their new ships also match up with the Rovers in technology. We’ll have to come up with something to counter their edge if we intend to start the fight now.”
Kat stared at her display and said, “What would you do, Jon?”
“We’re over extended, Sir. We can’t just focus on one enemy at the moment and we’re outnumbered by both. We should send most of the Rovers to assist Admiral Arvolo b
ut we can’t run the risk of leaving our planets open to attack. If we pull our forces out of the Master’s galaxy, they’ll rebuild and we’ll lose whatever ground we made against them. If I had to decided, I’d just leave things as they are for the moment and see which enemy forces us to react.”
“That’s what I’ve determined as well. Keep me informed on what’s going on.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
Dat looked at Gibbs on his display. Gibbs said, “How long are we planning to do this, Sir?”
“We’re going to keep hitting them until they manage to get outside of the kill zone. As long as we can keep them pinned inside our formations, we’ll keep fighting.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
Dat pressed his panel, “Kune, it’s time to start this show. All of your ships have their targets so let’s begin your attacks in ten minutes. Make sure your pilots know to get out of here immediately.”
“They know the consequences, Sir.”
Make sure their skips are done so that they arrive at their designated arrival time.”
“Those skips have been programed by Fleet’s main computer. They will all arrive within a tenth of a second of each other.”
Dat smiled, “Good luck and good shooting, Admiral.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
Gresha came over and sat down in Dat’s lap. He looked at her, smiled, and said, “Is there something you need to be doing?”
“With four computers running everything? I don’t think so.” Dat kissed her and after a moment they heard, “Dat, I think Newton has developed a fourth force field.”
Dat and Gresha broke the kiss and looked startled. Gresha said, “What have you done, Newton?”
“I routed the eight reactors that aren’t being used to the force field emitters. If the outside force field fails, I use them to energize a field inside the remaining two and expand them to the original distance. I can continue to do that indefinitely.”
“What if two collapse?”
“Then we’ll have two until I can reenergize the other two. It’s really not that hard to keep three active at all times.”
“Get this information out to the other battleships. I hope they can learn how to do this in time.”
Loree said, “I’ve sent it to the weapon computers on every ship. Some of them are already running trials on it.”