by Saxon Andrew
The leaders in that room listened to him and knew he meant what he was telling them. They sat straighter and looked at their fellow warriors and each of them vowed to do the same for each other. “We will drop our fort in on the Algeans largest concentration which is located in the center of the northern continent. We will surround it on four sides with two divisions per side. General Dorg’s Division and my Division will take the northern side. Two of the Vgrig will take the south. The remaining Cainth and Vgrig divisions will take the east and the Two Glod Divisions will take the west. We will immediately dig in upon landing and get ready for the assault. We will not have to go to them; they will come to us. We need to handle them quickly because once the word goes out over the Plant message center that a new food source has arrived; reinforcements in the hundreds of thousands will be rushing to join in the conflict. We will need to have completed our fortifications to hold off the coming horde. We think we will have support overhead but we are uncertain of how much. I will let my XO cover you on your individual assignments and I will speak with you again once we are on the ground. There are millions of warriors around the Stars Realm that would actually kill to be in your place right now. Let’s go show them how real Warriors fight and give them something to try and better.”
The entire room stood up and cheered. Death stood among them and cheered with them and the warriors knew death waited for them on Pydres but they didn’t care. This is what they lived for, and this is what they were willing to die for. “This is a strong group,” Richard thought. “Let’s hope this new armor is all they say it is.”
Mikado was sitting on his new Megaship Rising Sun with Colonel McAllister who was charged with weapon development. “Colonel, I’m concerned that our pulse penetrators may not get thru the Algeans screens. The first needle fired at their scout ship did not get thru thought the following two did. The Ultra’s primary beam did make it thru one of their medium cruisers screen but I’m concerned that the way our hornet’s guidance systems are programmed that to only target one ship if it is designated by the sensor may not be enough to stop them. If we don’t impact them quickly after the first strike then their screen may have time to recover. I think from looking at the recording of our last fight that their screens are more powerful than any we have ever encountered but lose efficiency immediately after a hit for a short period. I don’t want to waste weapons but I’m worried about what will happen if we barrage them with single penetrators and none get thru.”
Colonel McAlister watched the display and said, “I see what you’re talking about. What if we set up dual protocols in the hornets software where we can change the system so that they will lock on any ship without a Coronado screen initially but if they don’t get thru we send a signal which will switch them to going after ships that have already been designated.”
“Would you have many then strike a single ship?”
“No, we will program them to lock on a ship if there are no penetrators locked on and then have the closest penetrator to see the single lock designate the same ship. If the penetrators sense that two sensor beams are locked on a ship, then they will ignore that ship. Until you send that signal, they will operate normally. I would suggest your initial salvo be limited so that you can see their effectiveness and then you may want to double your salvos very quickly to make sure you have enough to be effective. Our current magazines can fire a salvo every five seconds. If their screens can recover faster than that the ships that get hit with only one may not be destroyed and you’ll have to depend on your primary beams.”
“Colonel, if we get close enough to use our primary beams, then we are going to lose ships to their anti-matter missiles.”
“How far would you have to be to be able to escape the missiles?”
Mikado thought and said, “At least 100 miles to be able to get up to speed to out run them.”
Cade thought a moment and said, “Admiral, your primary beams are currently as wide as the ship is long. What if you focused all of that energy into a beam that was only 300 feet wide?”
“What would be the benefit of that?”
“The Megaships primary beam would have 95 % of its power 200 miles away. The Ultras would probably be good for about 110.”
“Can we target a ship that far, Colonel?”
“The beam is moving at the speed of light. The ships you’re firing at would be relatively standing still. We could modify the software and have the beams automatically lock on anything your sensors detect. It would be hard to determine what part of the ship you would hit at that range but you could fire each primary on the Megas every five seconds and you have six of them instead of just two.”
“How long will it take to make these changes?”
“All of these changes are basically software changes. If you get all the ships you’re going to use in the upcoming battle in one location, I could download the changes in less than twenty hours after I write the programming. The program can be completed in fourteen days.”
“One more question, Colonel; could this same thing be done to the primaries on the asteroids?”
Cade thought for about a minute and scribbled notes on a pad, “Yes it can.”
“How far would the beam be effective?”
“Well, if you make the ten mile wide beam six hundred feet wide it would have 95 % of its power at 4,000 miles. The seventy foot Asteroids would have a beam 1,500 feet wide at 30,000 miles. Remember that the 70 foot forts primaries are sixty miles wide out to 2,000 miles.”
“Colonel, why haven’t we done this before?”
“Admiral, our development processes were designed to protect a fleet in close fleet actions. We just haven’t focused on long distance engagements. Bigger and more powerful has been the watch word. The needle development has been the closest thing to a standoff weapon.”
“Could a hornet package be contained in those focused primary beams?”
“Not in time for your battle. The protective sheath around the hornets would not handle the high energy of the primaries. We’ll work on it but I doubt we’ll have an answer for that very soon.”
“Has anyone mentioned adding pulse penetrators to the asteroids weapons mix?” Mikado asked.
“As a matter of fact they have. All of the new seventy foot asteroids will have the magazines built right into the surface beside the needle ports and the forts will have more than twenty million penetrators in their stores.”
“Our ships and asteroids will be gathering in the gamma galaxy in twenty days. I’ll give you the coordinates and you can meet us there to download your changes.”
“I’ll need to get to work; I’ll see you there.
Chapter 8
Kosiev contacted Tag and brought him up to date on what was being planned. Tag was at home with Danielle and the baby and he was concerned about the upcoming conflict. “Admiral, your fleet is going to be attacked by numbers that are almost unthinkable. Why do you want to start this conflict early?”
“Mr. Gardner, this is going to be a war of attrition on a monumental scale. Once we take a stand and stake out a position, then you’re right, it is going to be a huge battle. Our thinking is that we would rather start this at a place where a planetary population is not at stake. If we’re pushed out, then we take another position away from the Dremel; the longer they stay hidden from the Plants, the better their chance of survival. It will also give us time to get the transports for their population to move.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to wait until we have more Megaships in our arsenal?”
Kosiev looked at Tag and then said, “What if the Megaships aren’t enough. What if they can’t handle the Plants weapons? We need to know before we continue to throw all our development into them. We have some new tools that we hope will keep them at arm’s length but it may be that smaller ships equipped with these weapons are the way to go. We need to find out.”
Tag thought a minute and wished he had a bag of popcorn, “You’re right. We can always ju
mp out and work on new weapons. Would it be a problem if I came to the party?”
“Absolutely not, Admiral Mikado would appreciate the help.”
“Admiral Mikado?”
“He is the leader of this excursion. It is his plans that we are following. He is also the one that came up with the new long range weapons we’ll be deploying in the coming battle.”
“I’ll take a pass then; I want him to be focused and not worried about my presence.”
Kosiev looked at Tag with a degree of amazement on his face, “You never cease to amaze me at your insight. I have to agree with you. He would defer to you and he needs to be the one making the decisions.”
“That doesn’t mean I won’t be watching,” Tag thought. “Keep me updated, Admiral.”
“I will Mr. Gardner.”
“Does that mean what I think it does?” Tag heard in his mind.
“Atlas, you’ve been snooping.”
“I always snoop so get used to it; am I right?”
“Yes you are. Would you like to go check out the planet before our fleet arrives?”
“I think that would be a good idea. When do you want to go?”
“After the baby is asleep; I’ll go tell Danielle now.”
Atlas and Tag were parked on the third moon of the Pydres Planet watching the ships that were harvesting the planet. “Atlas those are huge ships. They have to be 20 miles long or longer. They also look like they’re fully armed with beam and missile ports.”
“They are and they’re actually 23 miles 856 feet long. There are about 3,000 of them in place around the planet; most of the others are used as transports to bring the spoils from the planet to them.”
“How many plant warriors are there on the planet?”
“More than 3 million.”
“Atlas, do we have a chance against these creatures?”
“I don’t know but if you don’t try then they will someday be knocking on your door. You don’t want to have to face multiple galaxies of them. My masters used a virus but it also killed all the life in the galaxy of the creatures and eventually led to their death. They could have defeated them conventionally with their ships but weren’t willing to put forth the effort and time necessary to do it.”
“You sound somewhat bitter, Atlas. Aren’t you saying the same thing to me now? We have to be willing to make the effort.”
“I guess I am. They would still be here if not for their laziness and I would not have been left alone those sixty five million years.”
“Atlas, I’ve never said anything but your master looked very much in shape and form like Humans. Is that just a coincidence?”
“No, my master knew he was dying and that so were all the other Alfont. He seeded your planet with DNA in some of the higher life forms. You and your people are his descendents and I hope you don’t make the same mistake. I believe that most of the intelligent life in your galaxy is a product of my masters DNA seeding.”
Tag thought a moment and said, “Is that why all of our members are oxygen breathers?”
“Probably, my masters were. If you had not asked me about what caused my master’s death, I would have probably not even thought about the Plants. I was just rusty from inactivity. Your new alliance has the opportunity to face these creatures and try to end their savagery. Those poor Pydres huddled on the southern continent don’t stand a chance.”
“Atlas, what Pydres are you talking about.”
“There are about one and a half million of them hiding since the plants invaded. They fled from the cities and went out into the wild lands. I thought you knew about them and that that was why you were coming here.”
“No Atlas, we didn’t know there were any survivors. Will you connect me with Admiral Kosiev?” The display in front of him came on with Kosiev on it.
“Mr. Gardner, can you please explain how you’re able to bypass my communications officer and go straight to my com. He’s understandably a little puzzled by how you do it.”
“I’ll send him a sympathy card but in the mean time I have some information that we need to act on quickly.”
Kosiev raised his eyebrows and said, “Does it relate to our upcoming plans?”
“Yes it does. There are between one and two million Pydres survivors hiding on the southern continent attempting to avoid being eaten.”
Kosiev looked at Tag with an intent gaze and then pushed a privacy screen around his com. “This has something to do with that ship that brought you to us after the remote fleet destruction doesn’t it?”
Tag looked at his long time friend and was uncertain of what to say. “Yes it is Admiral.” Atlas said. “My name is Atlas and I am what you would call an Alfont ship. Tag is unwilling to reveal my existence to anyone because of the tumultuous effect it would have. I am by your standard intelligent but I am a construct. We are currently on the third moon looking down on the Pydres Planet and there is actually about one point three million Pydres’ hiding on the southern continent. A lot of them are not in great shape but they are surviving until the plants turn their attention to that land mass.”
Kosiev sat there stunned and while he was digesting this revelation, Tag said, “Admiral, Atlas will not take part in the war between the SR and the Algeans. He believes that it would be a mistake to introduce his technology to a people not ready to handle it. I happen to agree with him. He would even allow us to be defeated before he intervened. He does allow me to travel with him occasionally and he has insights that have helped me.”
“That’s how you communicate with your wife too,” Kosiev said. “I’ve wondered about that. Mr. Gardner and Atlas, I will not reveal you existence to anyone. I give you my word as an officer of the Stars Realm. What you have done is remove a tremendous amount of suspicion that has plagued me since I’ve seen the unexplainable things you’ve done. I also guess the force field and weapon you used on Ross are by products of this also. I don’t care for an explanation; I’m just glad you’re on our side Atlas and you too Mr. Gardner.”
“Admiral, now that you know, I insist that you call me Tag. You have been not only my confederate but also my friend throughout this changing time. Take your titles and shove them; Call me Tag.”
“It would seem funny if you called me Mr. Atlas, Admiral.”
“Kosiev grinned and said, “Only on private communications. You can call me Alex.”
Tag said, “I never knew your first name, Alex.”
I actually never hear it. I’m unmarried and have no family except for my crew so I never hear my first name. It actually sounds strange to me.”
“Alex, it’s a pleasure meeting you,” Atlas said.
“Likewise, now what do you two think about your discovery.”
Tag looked frustrated then said, “I really don’t know. In an ideal world we would just kick the groad out of the Plants then transport the remaining Pydres to Ross. However, I don’t think we could get the process started before the intense fighting began again with numbers that would overwhelm any unarmed transports.”
“Could we use the Megas to lift them out?” Kosiev asked.
“We don’t have enough to do it. Each one could only handle 1,000 Pydres if they took nothing with them. That would mean we would need 4,200 trips to move them all and what would prevent the Plants from following that many jump lines back to our galaxy. Unfortunately, we can’t wait. The plants have come close to completing their harvest of the northern continent and will be moving on the south quickly.”
“Tag, ask Danielle how to do it,” Atlas said.
“Danielle,” Tag thought.
“Hi, Love.”
“Pick up your com. It’s got a live call on it but Atlas didn’t want to beep it and wake the baby.”
Danielle joined them on the display. “Danielle, we have a real problem on the Pydres planet.” Tag then explained what they had discovered.
“So you don’t know how to get them out if we’re over whelmed; is that the issue.”
&nbs
p; Kosiev said, “I guess that cuts to the meat of the problem. Before we knew about them we would just withdraw if the Algeans were getting the better of us. Now if we do we leave those survivors to die.”
Danielle thought for a moment then asked, “What would you do with the Asteroid forts if you withdraw?”
Kosiev gave a start and said, “We would jump them out of the system back to our space.”
Danielle then asked, “Well if you can jump those asteroids out of the system; can’t you land transports on their surface that would be under the forts screens for protection as they leave?”
Tag and Kosiev looked at each other and finally Tag said, “Thank you, Darling; you have helped us a great deal.”
“Don’t mention it, good night.”
Kosiev shook his head and said, “She is amazing. Each fort would have to hold 150,000 to get them all off. Let me see; they are about sixty miles in diameter so they should be able to have that many. We will have to create an environmental screen to hold atmosphere but we should be able to do that under the forts screen. The main problem will be getting that many colonists to the forts from the surface.”
“I think I have an answer for that,” Tag said.
Atlas said, “Well let’s hear it.”
“The Cainth have military transports that can carry 20,000 troops and all their hardware. They are huge and we can bring in eight of them when the marines land and park them on the southern continent. Each of them can hold 60,000 if there’s no military hardware. If things get dicey, then each of them will make two trips to one fort and the population is lifted. Matter of fact, the second lift will just remain on the transport so the environmental field won’t be necessary for them.”
Kosiev said, “Why not just bring in sixteen and lift them in one lift. We might not have time if things go bad quickly. Also, once they jump into the gamma galaxy, the transports and the forts will all jump in different directions to throw off any attempt by the Plants to track their destination.”