by Saxon Andrew
“It would and although our ships are probably the most powerful in the known universe, they’re just one ship. We will do what we can but we will not take chances with our ships against the return of these invaders threatening our loved ones.”
Leonidas looked at the two Guytons sitting in their chairs next to Barney’s console and saw them staring at him. “What do you think?” Leo asked.
“Your friend is wise,” Rek answered.
“But your planet could be destroyed if we hold back?”
The female Guyton sighed and thought to them, “Heaven will protect us as long as you use wisdom.”
Leo’s eyes widened and he wondered what she meant but both of them turned and began communicating with Barney. Leo wanted to ask but Barney began moving the Thermopylae side to side as the Guytons sent him mental commands. He looked at Desiree and she took his hand. “Wisdom is not something you lack, my love. We will do all we can to save Heaven.” Leo nodded and saw Gem smile on the monitor.
Suddenly they heard Sam say over the wall speakers, “We’ll begin our attacks when they move off the filament and enter normal space.”
Gem looked at Leo, “That’s an hour from now. See you after the show.”
Leo buckled in and said over the ship’s intercom, “Perform your final checks. We’ll be launching our attack in an hour.” Desiree began pressing buttons on her panel as Leo focused on the Tronan formation as it moved toward them at high speed.
• • •
The Tronan Warships exited the filament and entered normal space and saw that the warships from the planet were waiting for their arrival. The Scanning Warrior announced, “The small warships are moving to surround us. They are staying outside the range of our blasters. Should we go out to destroy them?”
“That tells me they know our blaster’s range. Hold formation, they’ll have to come to us,” The Director ordered. The Director watched the small ships moving around his Squadron and he ordered, “All blasters, open fire. Make sure our formation is covered!”
The Tronan Warships were in a globular formation with the Director’s ship in the middle. In an instant, forty thousand blasters opened fire together. The formation disappeared behind a wall of flame as it moved toward the distant planet.
• • •
Hefin lifted his communicator, “Commence attack.” The thousands of small warships turned toward the Tronan formation and launched a wave of Trillium Missiles. The ships turned and moved away to reform for another launch. The missiles roared in on the wall of blasters and they exploded just before they were burned out of existence. The ensuing explosion was almost unimaginable and the shockwave rolled into the Tronan formation. Right behind the blast, six-hundred thee-ship units flashed in two seconds later and opened fire.
The Director was rocked in his command chair and thrown forward as the shockwave from the missile’s explosions shook his ship violently as it blew past. “WHAT THE…”
The Scanning Warrior shouted, “Our blasters knocked out most of the blast…no ships damaged but all of them have been knocked around!!”
More than half of the six-hundred units were forced to change course before attacking the Tronan formation, when they were warned by their Guytons. Of the three hundred that attacked, fifty of them were destroyed by massive blaster fire. But twenty-two Tronan Warships had their hulls penetrated and hit by at least one Trillium Warhead Missile. Every Tronan Warship that was hit were burning and unable to steer. The Tronan formation left them behind launching message probes as it moved inexorably toward Heaven.
• • •
Captain Fowler looked up from her panel, “Sir, the Tronan Ships are launching large numbers of message probes after every attack. The damaged ships appear to have launched all of their probes.”
“Estimate on number, Captain.”
Lydia looked at her panel, “More than twenty thousand since the attack began.”
Sam looked at Jek, “We’ll have to worry about that later.”
Jek nodded, “There’s no way Gregor and Kaylee can stop that many.” Sam nodded.
• • •
Daniel moved in and overlapped his force field with the large Insectoid Warship next to him and as they burst through the gas of the missile’s explosion; he saw a giant Tronan Warship directly ahead and he yelled, “OPEN FIRE!!”. All three ships in his unit opened fire together and he saw six missiles launched at the location on the giant ship’s hull where they had fired their blasters. The Guyton on his ship yelled in his mind, “BREAK RIGHT AND GO TO FULL SPEED!”
Daniel saw his pilot pull the booster handle hard right and apply the bow thrusters. The ship made a hard turn as hundreds of blaster beams flashed by him on both sides. In a second, they were outside the Tronan Blaster’s range but the other small Earth Warship in his unit was blasted into gas and left behind as the Tronan formation flew through it.
• • •
Sam, Gem, and Leonidas had their ships evenly spaced around the Tronan Formation and they flew through the blinding missile barrage at high speed and each of them fired their blasters at one of the Tronan Warships. The massive fire continued until they saw the hull rupture on their target ships. Ten missiles were launched at the damaged hull as they flashed away. Three more burning Tronan Warships were left hanging in space. Twenty-five Tronan Warships were knocked out of action or destroyed by the first attack wave.
• • •
The Thermopylae flew at high speed toward the Tronan Formation as the Trillium Missile blasts began to fade. Shelly was sitting next to Embree and she stared at the feed coming from the thousands of passive probes that had been placed around Heaven. She saw something and yelled, “CHANGE COURSE TO THE LEFT. THE PROBES HAVE DETECTED THOUSANDS OF BLASTERS MOVING INTO OUR LINE OF APPROACH!”
Barney whipped the ship to the left and as they blew through the gas of the missile barrage, more than a thousand blaster beams flashed by on their starboard side. Barney lined up a Tronan Ship and felt the blasters open fire at it. Embree looked at Shelly and shook his head. Shelly kept her eyes on her monitor and didn’t breathe until the Thermopylae flashed away from the Tronan Formation.
Desiree shouted from her weapons panel to Shelly, “Keep it up! That was scary!”
Leonidas connected to Sam’s console, “That was close! There were more than a thousand blasters moving toward my ship as we moved in and as we ran. Another second and it could have been all over.”
“We’re going to have to do it another way, Leo.”
“WHAT OTHER WAY IS THERE!?”
Sam looked at Leo on his panel and lowered his eyes, “Instead of firing at the hull until it’s breached, have your fire control boards designate a small area on the hull and fire at a small group of blasters around it on the Tronan Hull. Our blaster fire should knock those beams back as we launch Trillium tipped missiles out of the nose launcher. They should remain inside the blaster beams we’re firing. Keep your blasters locked on that section of the Tronan hull and continue firing at that site as you move away from the ship. Our beams should prevent the Tronan Coverage from taking out the missiles. If you’re moving fast enough, they can’t get a lock on you but our blasters will stay locked on the area of the hull designated by our fire control boards. The missile should hit the hull and I don’t believe any hull in existence can withstand that blast.”
Leo stared at Sam and then nodded, “I’ll change the blaster pattern to a funnel. I’m also sending this conversation to Gem.”
Sam smiled, “Gem is the one I got this idea from. I recorded his last attack and he’s already using this tactic.”
Leo shook his head, “I’ve pretty much always been a ground pounder; thanks for the advice.”
The display went dark and Sam looked at the tactical monitor. “Jek, it’s taking too long for Hefin’s ships to launch their missiles.”
“It’s not their fault, Sir. The three ship units have to get in and out at such a massive speed that it takes them time
to turn around, get organized behind the line of missile launchers, and start another run at the enemy. Firing the missiles before they arrive would be a wasted effort.”
Sam looked up at the monitor and Jek could hear the anger in his thoughts; the Tronan formation was approaching the halfway point between the filament and Heaven.
• • •
The Director’s Second yelled over his communicator, “Expand the formation and burn those missiles before they explode!!”
The Tronan Ships moved apart by ten miles and fired at the next wave of incoming missiles. They were burned into gas before the missile’s detonators activated and blinded the Tronan Ships. The ships following the missile barrage were force to pull up and move away from the formation. The attack was a wasted attempt.
Sam watched the missiles being burned and shook his head as the Tronan formation tightened up. He lifted his communicator, “Commander, Hefin, launch two waves targeted at different distances from the enemy ships.”
The Second saw the next wave launched and he ordered, “Compress the formation and open fire.” The next wave of missiles moved in and exploded too far away to blind the Tronan Ships. The Second smiled and started to order the ships to back out but before he could he saw another wave of missiles blow through the gas of the previous barrage and bear down on his ships. The violent explosions rocked the Tronan formation again and the following three ship units killed another thirty-seven warships as the three Bellingham Ships killed five more. Sixty more-three ship units died in the effort but sixty-seven Tronan Warships were out of action.
Leo went in with the Thermopylae and managed to kill two Tronan Warships that had been rocked and tilted into another ship next to it. He flashed away and saw the hull temperature had gone up three-hundred degrees. He was forced to sit out the next attack until it was back to normal. Over the next four attacks, Leo noticed that the hull was not going up in temperature even though it was being barraged by massive numbers of blaster beams. He contacted Gem and told him what was happening and Gem nodded as he watched his ship attack another Tronan Vessel, “It appears each time the hulls go up in heat, they actually become stronger. I believe the heat is burning out the remaining impurities in the metal.”
“Do you think by the time this is over we can just go in and not worry about how many blasters are hitting us?”
Gem smiled and tilted his head, “Be my guest! I’m not taking that risk.”
Leo stared at the monitor and Gem disappeared. Desiree pressed her panel designating a Tronan Vessel with the targeting beams and said without looking at Leo, “And neither are we! Open fire!!”
• • •
The battle was furious in the extreme but there were long moments where nothing happened as the ships attacking the Tronan had to turn from their fast escape and move back into formation. More than an hour passed and only five attacks had been launched at the slowly moving Tronan Formation. The Surviving Tronan Warships were now less than an hour from Heaven and attacking them had become more dangerous as their numberes decreased. The ninety-six Tronan were closer to each other and their beams were condensed into a much smaller radius.
Sam began issuing orders and another attack began. The battle took on a fever pitch as warships exploded. The next three attacks left only sixty-seven surviving Tronan Warships of the original two-hundred and ninety-nine that entered Heaven’s Filament. Sam began to believe they could be stopped.
• • •
The Director looked at his Scanning Warrior, “Is it possible to make it back to the filament and escape?”
“No, Director. We’re too far away and I’ve determined that their larger warships are much faster than our maximum speed. We are not capable of outrunning them.”
The Director stared at the monitor and said, “What is our current speed?”
“A little over one-third.”
“I’ve noticed that the enemy flies away at high speed after each of their attacks.”
“They do.”
“After the next attack, order all ships to go to full speed and launch on the planet as soon as we’re in range.”
The Tronan Warriors on the bridge looked at the Director and knew he was right. This was the only way to make this enemy pay for their actions. They looked at each other and knew what was coming.
• • •
Sam ordered another attack and gave the surviving three-ship units time to reorganize. Nearly all of them had lost at least one member of their teams and it delayed the attack for twenty minutes. The reorganization payed off when the three-hundred plus units went in and took out another forty-six enemy warships. The Bellingham Ships accounted for seven of them and Sam smiled as Delilah’s Sword flew out of the battle and turned for another run. Suddenly, the surviving Tronan Ships accelerated to more than three times their former speed and flew toward Heaven leaving the defenders far behind before they could respond. Sam heard Jek pass his orders as he thought to Gem and Leo, “Take out the ones at the rear!!” The three-ship units were totally out of formation and the missile launching ships were also left far behind.
• • •
Sam watched Rangel whip the Sword around and move at incredible speed toward the Tronan vessels. The Tronan Formation flew apart as the surviving warships increased the distance between them. The Director knew that only the three large brightly glowing warships were in position to attack his ships. They couldn’t kill ships and then chase the others before they arrived in range of the planet. The Tronan Wrships flew toward Heaven and Sam saw that killing all of them before they arrived at the planet was…not…going…to…happen. Of the twenty-one Tronan Ships accelerating toward Heaven, Gem, Sam, and Leo destroyed five.
Jek looked at Sam and said, “The leading Tronan Ships will be in launch range in ten seconds.”
Sam’s head went to his chest as he lifted his communicator. He looked up and shouted over the general frequency, “ALL SHIPS, ALL SHIP, TURN AND MOVE INTO THE FILAMENT! ALL SHIPS FLEE TO THE FILAMENT NOW AT YOUR MAXIMUM SPEED!!”
Leo looked at Desiree and saw her shake her head. Barney didn’t wait for Leo to issue orders but turned the Thermopylae and went to maximum speed. Gem lifted his communicator but saw Delilah’s Sword turn and accelerate away from Heaven at maximum speed. “Jack! Get us out of here!!”
Sam saw Hefin appear on his monitor. Sam said, “Commander, if you don’t get to the filament, you and all your ships are going to die!!”
Hefin saw Sam’s expression and he disappeared from the monitor. The vast majority of the Missile Launchers had turned as quickly as they received the order but the ships around Hefin’s Flagship stayed with him. The warships saw Hefin’s ship accelerate away from Heaven and they joined him.”
Sam kept his eyes on the long range scanner showing Heaven. Gem and Leo appeared on his panel and he shook his head as they started asking why they didn’t finish the Tronan survivors. They both grew silent as they saw Sam’s expression and then disappeared from his console.
Hefin appeared on Sam’s panel and he said, “I have to know why? Please tell me why?”
Sam looked at Hefin and said, “How much bretel is used in each of your missiles?”
Hefin stared at Sam like he was insane, “Less than an ounce.”
“How much bretel do you think is on Heaven’s surface?” Hefin stared at Sam and then his eyes widened as Sam said, “I wondered what the purpose of those ports were on the bottom of the Tronan Warships.” Sam looked at Hefin and blew out a breath as his eyes grew moist, “Do you have the recording that Pletal gave us in our first meeting showing the Tronan invading a planet.”
“I do.”
Sam sighed, “Pull it up and tell me what you see on the horizon as the population is herded into holding pens.” Hefin pulled up the recording and fast-forwarded it until he saw the holding pens. He looked at the horizon and his mouth flew wide open. Sam saw it and said, “That is the mushroom-shaped cloud of a nuclear explosion. They use nuclear weapons
to remove the resistance from the planets they invade.” Sam paused and lowered his eyes as he stared into Hefin’s eyes on his monitor. “What do you think is going to happen when the Tronan launch a massive nuclear strike on Heaven?”
Hefin was almost in a state of shock. Sam glared at Hefin, “I see that those of your ships that followed my orders are possibly going to make it to the filament. Due to your hesitation and refusal to follow orders immediately, you and all those ships that stayed with you may not be so lucky.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you would have told the Party Leaders and panic would have ensued. We didn’t have anywhere near enough ships to move even a small percent of the populations and crowding them into our warships would have led to their destruction. You know how tight the space in a warship is. You couldn’t move even two percent of Heaven’s population and it would take more than four years to build just one colony ship. We didn’t have the time to even start the process. All it was ever going to take to destroy Heaven was one nuclear missile. If the Huddes had used them, Heaven would have died the moment they arrived. The Tronan are going to launch hundreds of them.”
‘When did you discover this, Sam?”
“I asked Hardy three weeks ago to see if I was right. He managed to conduct the experiment three days before the Colony ship left.”
Hefin nodded, “There was no time.” Sam nodded. Hefin said, “We could have crashed our ships into them.”
“What do you think the Tronan would have done if you started that tactic?”
Hefin blew out a hard breath, “They would have accelerated toward Heaven earlier.”
“Commander, you saw that two drone warships that hit the first Tronan Ship did not penetrate its hull. With the covering blaster fire, the chances of getting through and hitting them was…” Sam stopped talking and Hefin disappeared from his monitor. Sam looked up at the long-range scanner and saw the surviving Tronan Warships were sitting in orbit above Heaven. “What are they doing, Jek?”