by S. H. Jucha
Julien created a diagram of the nearby system, detailing the planets, significant-sized moons, asteroid rings, and star.
“To ensure that we can take full advantage of our shell-type ships, we’ll use this system as our home base,” Alex said.
“How long do you think we’ll have before the sphere shows up?” Reiko asked.
“Not long,” Alex replied. “I expect the sphere will have left a probe right where we had stationed our ship, and we’ll cruise the fleet past that probe before we enter the system,” he added, with a chuckle.
“What do you expect from our first encounter?” Franz asked.
“This is the reception that we received last time,” Alex replied.
Julien spooled off the imagery captured from Ellie’s Trident into the holo-vid. The imagery was self-explanatory, and Alex let it run without comment.
The initial telemetry captured the arrival of a carrier-type vessel. True to its design, it dumped nearly a hundred fighters out. They were small, sleek ships.
Julien changed the display’s image to that of a Trident. It shrunk in size until it was merely a yellow dot. Then he switched to the alien carrier and shrunk that vessel to a blue dot. Suddenly, a three-quarter sphere of blue dots, representing the alien carriers, surrounded the Trident’s yellow dot.
Finally, Julien showed an enemy fighter, turned it red, reduced it in size, and populated the area inside the sphere with more than a thousand of them. Then the swarm of red dots accelerated toward the Trident.
“As ominous as this scenario might appear, you can see that our intrepid admiral and her pilot managed to escape the trap,” Alex said, with a straight face.
Julien froze the image. Everyone, but the admirals who’d seen this footage, was leaning forward in their seats to study the holo-vid display. Julien had supplied a link to the files, and several individuals were using them to study the situation from varying angles in an attempt to discover how the Trident had escaped being turned into space dust.
“The only way out of the trap is forward,” Senior Captain Descartes surmised. “How is it that the incredible force you faced, which surrounded the comm sphere, didn’t use its superior power to destroy you?”
“Fear,” Alex replied.
“Fear of one ship?” Descartes asked.
“One ship’s fear,” Alex replied, “Our pilot chose to drive our Trident straight at the sphere, which was stationary in the center of the enemy fleet. Rather than risk annihilation, the sphere retreated, taking the entire fleet with it,” Alex explained. “This is only one of the weaknesses that we will exploit.”
Tatia watched the human officers relax and sit back in their seats. Alex was slowly outlining the fleet’s obstacles and advantages in tandem, and she had to give him credit. Her blunt, in-your-face style, would probably have scared most of the audience to death before she got to the end of her presentation.
“Is this what we can expect?” Franz asked, returning to his question.
“It’s the opinion of the SADEs and me that we face an ancient organization of many races. Because of their organization’s age, the races have been doing things the same way for millenniums, if not longer,” Alex said. He’d begun pacing the small stage with his hands behind his back. Strange as it would seem to others, the admirals and many Omnians in the audience found it relaxing. A pacing Alex was their leader at his best.
“The SADES and I believe that these races are creatures of habit,” Alex explained. “Without doubt, they’ll repeat their operation. The protective globe will form. The comm sphere will hide within its comfortable shell. Then the carriers will appear. They’ll launch their fighters in an effort to wipe us out, and we’ll need to defend ourselves against both military and comm attacks.”
“But, if we’re inside the system, their operating methods will be disturbed,” Reiko mused.
“And that’s another weakness that we can exploit,” Alex replied. “We’ll use the natural defenses of a large planet and its moons to protect us. Their fighters are fast, but our preliminary estimates are that they aren’t as fast as ours. However, we know nothing of their firepower.”
“But they’ll have the numbers against our travelers,” Franz noted.
“It’ll be the job of our Tridents to cut down the enemy’s numbers,” Tatia said, with metal in her voice.
“We’ll get into the details of our deployment later,” Alex said, bringing the discussion back to him. “I want to stress that regardless of what the alien forces throw at us, the fight is not our primary objective.”
Julien changed the display to show the protective globe. In this image, the comm sphere was absent.
“What I’m about to propose might not appear like sound military strategy,” Alex stated, pausing his pacing. “Admiral Tachenko and I have discussed this at length. The plan requires our fleet to perform defensive tactics that, perhaps, aren’t our fleet admiral’s preferred methods, but this is the only way to execute my strategy.”
Alex launched into his explanation. He stated again that he expected the comm sphere and its attending force would stay outside the system, and it would be a ship within that force that was their intended target.
“Mickey needs time to execute his plan, which is to tag the target ship so that we can follow it home,” Alex said.
“Which ship?” Alphons asked.
“It will look like one of these,” Alex said, as Julien displayed three ships from the first encounter.
“We’re intent on tagging one of the ugliest ships in the alien fleet?” a New Terran freighter captain asked.
“Precisely,” Alex exclaimed enthusiastically, clapping his hands with a resounding boom. “One of the ugliest ships, one in the most deplorable condition, and, therefore, belonging to one of the most neglected races.”
A murmur went through the audience, as understanding dawned. They’d be seeking to communicate with the sentients who had the most to gain from being freed from the master race.
“How are we supposed to gain the time Mickey needs?” Miko Tanaka asked.
“We’ll set up our base at this moon, which orbits an ice giant,” Alex said, pointing to the system now displayed by Julien. “Admiral Tachenko will deploy the Trident squadrons to protect our position. Not too close; not too far out.”
“You want to entice the carriers into the system, so they cut down the trip for their fighters,” Edouard Manet surmised.
“Which will cost them a day or two of travel,” Miko finished.
“Will that be enough time for Mickey to enact his plan or will an engagement be necessary?” Étienne de Long asked.
“Unfortunately, the idea is to plant a comm device on the target ship without the aliens being aware of what we’ve done. To accomplish that, we’ll need a major distraction. If we’re successful, the transmitters will be surreptiously attached to our target ship. In which case, there’ll be no reason for the enemy to change their strategy,” Alex replied.
“Which is what?” Alain, Étienne’s twin, asked.
“I imagine it’s to annihilate us,” Alex replied. “We’re an upstart in their minds. We’ve developed technology, which is dangerous to them. That means we must be eliminated.”
“Do you think their fighters will be the only things thrown against us?” a Méridien wing commander asked.
“That’s our supposition,” Alex replied.
“Can we assume that they know the capabilities of our travelers?” a New Terran flight commander asked.
“Undoubtedly,” Alex replied. “They have information dating from our first encounter with the Libran sphere and every time after that, when we eliminated a probe or destroyed a sphere. We can’t underestimate the aliens we’ll be facing. The consensus is that the carriers will enter the system partway, dump the fighters, and retreat. They’ll be counting on their numerical superiority to overwhelm us.”
Alex handled questions for another half hour before he dismissed the audience. At the end o
f the meeting, Tatia walked up to Alex and Julien.
“Still determined to play it this way?” Tatia asked.
“I don’t have a better idea,” Alex replied, “but I’m open to suggestions.”
“I’ll let you know if I come up with one,” Tatia replied and walked off. It’ll probably occur to me after the battle, she thought.
* * *
After midday meal, Alex, Tatia, and Julien made their way to one of Mickey’s labs. They found Mickey hard at work with Miriam, Luther, and an engineering team. Mickey and his team surrounded a banisher, with its shell open.
“I don’t mean to tell you your business, Mickey,” Tatia said, without preamble, “but aren’t you supposed to be working on the Daggers and some missile deliveries loaded with comm units?”
“That idea is out,” Mickey replied. “We’ve got a better one,” he added, twirling a finger to include Miriam and Luther.
“Cordelia stored the fleet’s freighter inventory in the Freedom’s data crystals and shared the link with the SADEs,” Miriam explained. “It was noted that one of the Méridien freighters carried two bays full of banishers.”
Alex and Tatia frowned at each other. The expedition wasn’t expected to need more than ten or so banishers.
“It’s suspected the banishers were meant for the Haraken carriers, Alex,” Luther said, “but the freighter arrived after the carriers were launched.”
“They could have been offloaded to the orbital platform to supply the carriers when they returned,” Alex suggested.
“They could have,” Mickey replied, “but that’s when we had our idea.”
“Which is?” Alex queried.
“Well, first, let me say that the Daggers weren’t a viable option for several reasons. We don’t have enough of them, and they can only be piloted by our admirals. In addition, they’re too slow and incapable of carrying the right payload,” Mickey said, enumerating the reasons on his fingers.
“Are you saying the banishers are your solution?” Tatia asked.
“With modifications,” Mickey replied.
“It’s the numbers, Admiral,” Miriam added. “Alex’s plan requires we ring a significant arc of the outer system to target the protective fleet, which surrounds the comm sphere.”
“You can’t ring the entire system,” Tatia challenged.
“Unnecessary,” Luther replied. “We calculate the comm sphere and its associated fleet will appear near the probe that Alex believes has been left behind. We’ll determine the line between the probe and the planet, where the Freedom will take up station. The center of our arc will be where that line intersects the system’s periphery. The banishers will be spread along a few degrees and hidden in the outer belt.”
“You’re modifying the banishers to deliver the tagging device,” Alex surmised. “Do you have the necessary supplies and time to modify them all?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Mickey said, checking a piece of material handed to him by Luther, examining it, nodding his approval, and handing it back. “We’ll be modifying only four of them.”
Mickey grinned at Alex and waited. It was test time, and Mickey lived for these moments with his friend.
Alex stared thoughtfully at Mickey. Then his eyes took on a faraway look. Suddenly, he focused, grinned, and said, “Hide them in the panic.”
Mickey clapped his hands repeatedly, laughing uproariously.
“I’m ready for my explanation when you are, Sers,” Tatia said tersely.
“Mickey programs the banisher controllers to launch when we’re ready,” Alex explained. “The entire group sails at the comm sphere —”
“Which panics and retreats,” Tatia finished.
“And in the moments of chaos, four banishers target our enemy ship and plant their devices,” Alex added, nodding in appreciation at Mickey, Miriam, and Luther.
“And if the target ship receives a few minor strikes during its flight, then the occupants will consider themselves fortunate to have escaped with little to no damage,” Tatia concluded, understanding the strategy.
“Precisely,” Mickey said.
“That was clever of you three,” Tatia acknowledged. “What gave you the idea?”
“A long time ago, I had a conversation with Pussiro about the tactics he used when raiding neighboring nests,” Mickey said. “In most cases, the raids were about acquiring food or weapons, not about killing. In one scenario, a few warriors would sneak close to a tunnel opening. Pussiro, stationed a good distance away with the majority of his warriors, would signal the start of the raid by firing a shot and his warriors would shoot their weapons, howl, and pretend to attack. Meanwhile, the warriors at the tunnel entrance would break in, load up on supplies, and hurry away. Pussiro said that when the technique was properly executed, he rarely lost a warrior. I’m sure those successes made him an extremely popular wasat.”
“Modern warfare conducted by using tried-and-true Dischnya conflict techniques,” Tatia said, chuckling. “You can never tell from where you’ll receive the next good idea.”
Tatia’s expression grew sober, as she thought through the strategy. “We’re counting on a great many suppositions to make this work,” she remarked.
“True,” Alex commented, “but I’ve a feeling the comm sphere won’t disappoint us … creatures of millennial-old habits.” He turned his attention to Mickey and asked, “What are you designing the four banishers to do?”
“Luther, it’s your concept. Tell him how it works,” Mickey offered.
-9-
The Wall
The fleet exited the journey’s third leg and decelerated. Svetlana Valenko’s command was in the lead, and her forward commodore signaled her.
Svetlana checked the coordinates registered by Ellie’s Trident, when her ship waited for the aliens to first appear. The probe sat in the same place. She signaled Cordelia and relayed the information.
Word passed around the fleet quickly. The sighting of the alien probe spurred their confidence. Alex had surmised it would be there. That the aliens weren’t too obscure for their leader to understand buoyed their spirits.
Pursuant to Alex’s request, the fleet made a slow turn past the probe and headed toward the nearby barren system.
Miriam and Luther used the telemetry from the advance forces, as they crossed the orbit of the outer planet, to calculate the line from the probe to the seventh planet. Using the point where the line intersected the outer asteroid belt, they scribed a limited arc where the banishers would be deployed.
Cordelia communicated to the fleet, while she navigated the city-ship to the location Miriam requested. It was deep inside the outer belt. When the vessel became stationary, Cordelia signaled Miriam.
The SADEs waited for Alex to send his thoughts. Julien was standing beside Alex, and he watched the eyes of his friend lose focus. It was longer than a moment or two, as if Alex was staring into the future.
< Miriam and Luther, calculate for a month’s worth of movement by the planet,> Alex sent.
Luther queried.
Miriam and Luther exchanged glances.
“You’ll have to explain to me one day, Miriam, how to feel a calculation,” Luther said. Then the pair applied themselves to recalculating the optimum deployment positions for the banishers, and Cordelia moved the city-ship slightly spinward.
Under the SADEs’ directions, the Freedom and a Méridien freighter activated nearly a hundred banishers and launched them from their bays. Many SADEs joined in the process of spreading the banishers along a line dictated by Miriam and Luther and hiding them among the rocks of the asteroid belt. The four unique banishers, carrying the comm transmitters, were equally spaced along the line.
Cordelia signaled the expedition, and the fleet resumed its course, heading into the system.
Tatia, Reiko, and the Trident admirals had determined the starting positions their squadrons would occupy. As the fleet sailed inward, the commands separated to take up their stations. The majority of the squadrons would stand between the probe and the Freedom, but Tatia ensured that the city-ship would be protected from assault in every direction.
The close-in commands spread out in a wide globe, 500M kilometers from the seventh planet, where the city-ship would rest. With its ring of moons and rocks, the ice planet would be the place where the Freedom would make its defense of itself and the freighters.