Once more, Chulling worked the numbers in his mind and reached the same conclusion; that it was going to be a turkey-shoot. The four Imperial Fleets would bring almost forty Imperial Fighter Carriers each with around one hundred and fifty of the single-seat Harpoon fighters and fifty of the dangerous Flying Devil gunships. Of all the vessels the Bardomil could field, Chulling really wished that the Alliance had something that could match the Flying Devil. But, wishing didn’t win any battles, Chulling knew as he tallied up close to eight thousand Bardomil fighter craft. The protective screen for the vulnerable Imperial Fighter Carriers would bring around one hundred of the gull-winged M-Cruisers to the battle. But, given their primary function, Chulling suspected that they would play a very minor role in the contest. Once again, it would be a defensive battle where the Alliance could hunker down behind the force-shielding and annihilate the waves of Bardomil fighters that would be thrown at them.
With the two Alliance Fleet Carriers each bringing one thousand of the single-seat Eagle fighters plus each Star-Cruiser bringing sixty Eagle fighters, they were going to be outnumbered slightly more than two to one. But, with the Harpoons and Flying Devils eliminated, the Eagles and Star-Cruisers could harry and pursue the M-Cruisers and Imperial Fighter Carriers back to the main invasion force and then start killing an awful lot more of the Bardomil. And, as a Thexxian, Chulling had a lot of scores to settle with the Bardomil.
Setting aside his thoughts on the impending battle, Chulling turned his attention to the War Room of the Memphis. The six Staff Officers of Second Fleet were all present and correct around the War Table. They seemed quietly confident and quite relaxed given the situation. Most of them he had known for many years, sharing the hardships and troubles of the Thexxian Exodus. They too were eager to kill large numbers of Bardomil, and they waited expectantly for his orders to allow them to do just that. In the War Room itself, expectations were high amongst the personnel who populated the consoles that fed the information into this battle centre, with an edge of quiet confidence that lay over the usual pre-battle anxieties.
Turthus Chulling was just nodding his personal satisfaction to himself when a voice called out from the consoles that flanked the War Table.
“The enemy are now within long range video scanner capability, sir!” the Scanner Technician reported.
“Excellent,” Chulling replied, “let’s have a look at our guests, activate War Table please.”
A moment later, the entire War Room was plunged into darkness with only the harsh lighting of the War Table to allow Chulling and his staff to see the tiniest detail on the projected image as the battle progressed. Above the War Table, a large image flickered for a few moments and then cleared to show a three-dimensional representation of the approaching Bardomil force.
Chulling saw exactly what he had expected to see in the approaching Bardomil dispositions. Two large groups of space vessels were approaching the Praxos system. The first group would be the strike force, Chulling considered, whilst the second, much larger, group would be the actual invasion forces with their supplies in tow. Lifting the Manipulator control in his right hand, Chulling focussed his attention on the strike force. A straggling cordon of Flying Devil scout vessels led the fighting armada followed by more Flying Devils in a long ‘V’ formation to protect the main strike force. It was a classic Bardomil tactical advance. Behind the ‘V’ of Flying Devils, the M-Cruisers formed a circular pattern around a rectangular block of Imperial Fighter Carriers, whilst a line of Flying Devils brought up the rear.
So far, so good, Chulling considered and switched the War Table image to scrutinise the larger body. Four, long straggling columns of vessels made up the Bardomil invasion force. Thousands upon thousands of troop transport and supply ships were snaking their way towards the frontier. Each column, tens of thousands of kilometres long, consisted of two lines of troop transports flanked on each side by two lines of supply vessels.
Staggered by the sheer size of the invasion force, Chulling stepped back from the War Table to take in the sheer scale of the invasion.
“Looks like they’re planning to stay a while, sir?” one of his staff Officers quipped, still awed by the scale of what was unfolding before them, as the others laughed politely.
“When we’re through with them, they’ll be staying permanently, as part of the scenery,” another Officer quipped, drawing louder laughter.
“Scanners, do we have numbers for their troop transports?” Chulling asked, still smiling.
“Initial estimate indicates close to two hundred thousand,” a Scanner Officer replied nervously.
For a moment the whole War Room seemed to draw an astonished breath as Chulling did the mental arithmetic.
“That’ll be close to five million troops!” one of the staff Officers beat Chulling to the total.
Suddenly, the mood around the War Table changed as the magnitude of this support force sank into their minds. The quips immediately stopped as each of them marvelled at the enormity of it.
“They’re not just planning to strike the five systems are they, sir?” a more nervous junior staff Officer asked.
“No, they’re not,” Chulling replied anxiously, his previous optimism rapidly receding.
“Do you think they’ll go after New Thexxia?” the Officer asked.
“No, don’t be stupid, the planetary defences are far too powerful,” another Officer replied.
“But, the colonies aren’t,” a third voice chimed up reminding them all of the vulnerability of the four fledgling colonies that the Thexxians had established since the founding of the Alliance.
“They can bottle us up on New Thexxia and just keep chipping away until they find a way through,” another commented gloomily.
“The five systems will be just the start,” another Officer speculated amidst anxious murmuring.
“Right, gentlemen, that’s enough!” Chulling stamped down ruthlessly on the spreading pessimism, “when we’ve all stopped wetting ourselves about the big bad bogey-man eating our heads, let’s get ready to kick their backsides” he snapped and held the Officers to silence for a long moment as they shuffled anxiously.
“What’s their convoy support looking like Scanners?” Chulling asked trying to sound business-like.
“Large numbers of Flying Devils, M-Cruisers, and Imperial Fighter Carriers,” the Scanner Officer replied from the darkness of a now tense War Room.
“How many Fighter Carriers?” Chulling asked.
“About twenty, sir,” the Scanner Officer replied.
“So, another two Imperial Fleets,” Chulling speculated absent-mindedly, “Comms, get a message off to Aquarius with the size and dispositions of the enemy”
“Yes, sir,” a female voice called from the darkness.
“Scanners, how long to contact?” Chulling asked.
“About six minutes, sir,” the Scanner Officer replied
“Well, gentlemen,” Chulling took hold of the situation, “we’re expecting visitors; I suggest we give them a warm welcome.”
“Sir!” the staff Officers snapped to attention.
“Let’s roll out a very special welcome mat for them. Let’s get the Star-Cruisers into position with Fleet Carriers to the rear,” Chulling began and set down the War Table Manipulator.
“Do we launch Eagles, sir?” one of the staff Officers piped up.
“Not yet,” Chulling instructed, “put the pilots on stand-by and have their machines ready for immediate launch; now go!”
“Sir,” the staff Officers responded and scattered like chaff in the wind to carry out their instructions.
Turning back to the War Table image, Chulling once again marvelled at the sheer size of the Bardomil force. And, as he scrutinised the images before him he remembered a well-worn phrase often used by the First Admiral.
The bigger they come, the harder they fall.
Chapter 29
The Terran System
Out in front of the rapidly-advancin
g waves of plasma, Billy Caudwell drew the Black Rose to her designated position. To his right, Billy could view the dull orange orb of Mercury. Behind him, to his left, had he chosen to look in that direction, the deeper red of Venus would have been visible. However, one hundred and fifty kilometres behind him, the five, two-kilometre wide, octagonal Star-Destroyers that formed the base of the protective umbrella, were preparing for the forthcoming action. The crews had been briefed and everyone knew what was expected of them. The atmosphere aboard all of the Alliance vessels was tense, but calm. Arranged at their stations, in their pentagonal formation, the five huge Star-Destroyers, Colossus, Titan, Atlas, Hercules and Zeus, looked like an impenetrable wall. But, Billy and every single crew member aboard the huge slab-sided planet-killers knew that they were facing powerful forces that could sweep them away as easily as a child scattering twigs.
Aboard all five of the Star-Destroyers, the Engineers were powering up the massive Proto-Star reactors. The reactors, the size of a cathedral back on Earth were fuelled by material harvested from young stars just before they went nova. The vast amount of potential energy held within the proto-star matter was locked in heavy sealed chambers and surrounded by layer upon layer of force-shielding and safety protocols. For the upcoming battle with the super-heated plasma, the Engineers knew they would have to draw upon every ounce of energy from the huge reactors. There was no margin for error; any mistake, however small, was likely to be fatal for Billy and every crew member that waited for the plasma to arrive.
“This is Spearhead One, have reached contact position,” Billy announced into the Communications Network indicating his position nearly one hundred million kilometres from the Earth.
“Roger, Spearhead One, this is Control One,” the voice of Marrhus Lokkrien responded to him from the War Room of the Aquarius, “we have four minutes to contact.”
“Acknowledged, Control One,” Billy replied, “Do we have power from the Star-Destroyers yet?”
“Spearhead One,” Lokkrien’s voice sounded calm and professional, “the Star-Destroyers report full power will be available in ninety, that’s niner zero seconds.”
“Acknowledged,” Billy replied, glad of a friendly voice, “that gives us plenty of time to test out this system.”
“Roger, Spearhead One,” Lokkrien replied, “the target should be entering your scanner range in ten seconds.”
“Understood, Control One,” Billy replied turning his attention to the third Display Screen on his right, which registered only the static icon of his own horribly exposed vessel.
Slowly, Billy counted down the seconds and in his mind’s eye he saw the leading edge of the first wave of super-heated plasma snaking and twisting forwards in the blackness.
At times, the leading edge double backed on itself; spiralling like a whip as it drove relentlessly and inexorably forward like an all-consuming avalanche. And, in his mind’s eye, Billy also heard the vicious howling like a wind storm that heralded some dark malevolent force.
“Control One, I have scanner contact,” Billy announced as the first stream of yellow appeared on his Display Screen.
“Acknowledged, Spearhead One,” Lokkrien responded, “Star-Destroyers standing by; force shield control has been set to automatic.”
Calmly, Billy digested the information that the force-shielding controls had been taken off manual. When the umbrella was activated all force-shielding control would be relayed from Billy’s mind aboard the Black Rose through the shielding itself to the computers aboard the Star-Destroyers. Billy, and the Alliance Fleet Engineers, knew that the split-second it took for a voice command to be relayed and reacted to by an operator could well be that split-second too late. The mind control systems aboard the Black Rose linked to the computers would give Billy and the Alliance vessels that additional edge.
“Roger, Control One,” Billy replied and drew a deep breath as he prepared his mind for what was likely to be the longest, and, perhaps, the last, three minutes of his entire life.
“Spearhead One, Star-Destroyers are ready to initiate force shield umbrella,” Lokkrien announced.
“Acknowledged, Control One,” Billy replied turning his attention to the Central Display Screen, “can we initiate in sequence, Control One, I want to check that these sectors pan out.”
Billy wanted to make sure that he knew from which Star-Destroyer he was drawing power in each sector on his Display Screen. In the heat of the action, he did not want to mistakenly try to draw power from a reactor that was already heavily committed.
“Roger, Spearhead One,” Lokkrien confirmed his understanding of the situation, “commencing initiation sequence now…Sector one, Colossus.”
On the Central Display Screen, the first sector on the top left of the image lit up. Glancing to the left Display Screen the first bar chart flickered upwards for a brief second before returning to its nominal state. Sector two, the top right of the Display Screen was lit up with power from Atlas. Sector three was bottom right of the image and lit up with power from Zeus. Sector four, the bottom sector, was powered by Titan with sector five lit up by the Star-Destroyer Hercules. With all five sectors established, Billy became aware that the great swirling mass of super heated plasma was getting very close.
Travelling at nearly seventy-five million kilometres per hour, the mass of plasma was hurtling towards the pathetically small Black Rose and the accompanying Star-Destroyers. The detectors on Earth picked up the solar flare relatively quickly. This left the Earth Governments with a hideous dilemma. The super-heated plasma was moving somewhere in the region of ten times faster than any previous solar flare. The Earth was about to be engulfed with very little warning and with no chance of any realistic defence from the surface. In capital cities throughout the world, the Doomsday Warnings went out and people struggled as best they could to reach their home and families to await the end. Unknown to the people of Earth, a lone teenager in a small space craft was all that stood between their planet and annihilation. That lone teenager was rapidly running through the mechanisms of the force-shielding umbrella. Quickly, Billy adjusted the variables, drawing power from more than one Star-Destroyer to reinforce a number of sectors on his force-shielding.
Having run the permutations, Billy just had time to draw one deep breath before the message came through from Lokkrien.
“Spearhead One, Spearhead One,” Lokkrien said, “we have ten seconds to contact,” he said and began the countdown.
“Acknowledged, Control One,” Billy replied, “Thrust Engines to maximum,” he declared.
Aboard the five Star-Destroyers, the Engineers were also setting the huge Thrust Engines to maximum. Even when at their waiting station, the huge vessels were going to need stability to hold the force-shielding umbrella in place when the plasma waves hit.
“Four…three…” Lokkrien intoned as the tension rose rapidly throughout the Star-Destroyers.
“Good Luck everybody!” Billy added.
“One…con…” Lokkrien counted down but never got to complete the count.
In the Black Rose, at the very tip of the force-shielding umbrella, Billy felt like he had been hit by an enormous sledge hammer. The massive jolt from the leading edge of the plasma wave slammed into the force-shielding around the Black Rose at the same moment that Billy fired the Thrust Engines at full forward velocity. The push from the Thrust Engines and the power to the force-shielding from the Star-Destroyers held the small space vessel in its station.
The Star-Destroyers were hit a fraction of a second later. The umbrella had survived the initial impact, but the constant demand on the Thrust Engines from stabilising their positions would mean that they could not hold the umbrella for long. As with most of the force-shielding umbrella idea, Billy was gambling that the plasma waves would pass before the Thrust Engines burned out.
Aboard the Aquarius, lodged behind the circle of five Star-Destroyers, the impact was no less ferocious. In the War Room, Lokkrien was knocked from his feet forcing h
im to grasp the edge of the War Table to prevent him taking an embarrassing and painful fall. Around him, anxious Officers and Technicians grabbed their consoles or any available structure to steady themselves against the shaking and shuddering of the initial concussion wave.
“Casualties and damage…report!?” Lokkrien shouted amidst the rumbling and violent shaking as he clung precariously to the War Table.
“No serious damage reported from any vessel, sir!” an Engineer responded, “all systems still performing efficiently!”
“Several minor injuries reported on Atlas and Titan, no fatalities!” another voice added.
“Let’s hope it stays that way,” Lokkrien muttered between gritted teeth as he held on grimly.
With the initial impact survived, Billy was now focussed on monitoring the incoming strands of plasma and powering up the force-shield sectors to deflect the danger away. Sitting rigidly in the high backed chair, Billy felt the Black Rose being buffeted and hammered by the incoming waves of super-heated plasma. With teeth gritted, he focussed on the three Display Screens his mind issuing commands to bolster each sector as required. Very quickly, Billy was under pressure as the waves of super-heated plasma hurtled towards his position. The waves were just coming in too fast for Billy to comfortably handle.
Meanwhile, in the War Room of the Aquarius, Lokkrien monitored the three-dimensional image of the situation. On the screen, Lokkrien could see the umbrella was holding its shape. Struggling to stay on his feet against the constant pounding, Lokkrien watched anxiously as the Black Rose image seemed to be engulfed by a great plume of fire. The super-heated plasma bounced away from the nose of the Black Rose giving the vessel the appearance of a fiery halo. But, the reinforced force-shielding was working as the vessel seemed to be cutting through the plasma like an arrowhead casting the fiery material off in every direction except towards Earth.
“Sir, we’ve lost contact with Spearhead One!” an alarmed Communications Officer called out.
First Admiral 02 The Burning Sun Page 17