by Saxon Andrew
Dorg sat and listened then said, “The problem is that their screen can handle anything we can hit it with on the initial hit, right?”
Mikado and Kosiev nodded. They thought about it then Mikado said, “Would the two of you mind if I ask one of my officers to join us?”
“Who,” Kosiev asked?
“I’ve just promoted one of my sensor offices from Commodores Smiths flagship to captain and he will be commanding one of the Megaships we’ll receive shortly. He has quick mind and see’s things about the use of weapons faster than anyone I’ve seen. Commodore Smith says a large part of our success was due to his seeing the best use of our weapons. He’s waiting downstairs for you to sign his paperwork and receive his new commission.”
Dorg turned and then commed his adjutant to bring Lt. Chen to the meeting. Lt Chen came in and came to attention and saluted the three officers. “At ease, Lieutenant,” Mikado said. “I need your insight into something we’re trying to get our hands around.” Dorg then told him about what he saw as the problem.
Lt. Chen thought a moment and said, “So we’re wasting 50 % of our penetrators just to soften up their screen along with all the hornets inside them and if the second hit is delayed then both penetrators are wasted?”
“Exactly,” Kosiev said.
“Have you thought about making a two stage penetrator?”
Mikado said, “What do you mean two stages?”
“Well, what if the penetrators were made in two parts but launched as a single pulse. The front part of the penetrator is an energized power cell with a tremendous energy charge that would separate from the rear section and speed a half second ahead to impact the screen of the ship it designates. The second stage would contain all the hornets and it would hit the exact spot the first stage impacted; its guidance system would be looking for that point of impact. The first energy pulse weakens the screen and the follow up breaks thru with the load of hornets.”
Mikado said, “Get Cade McAllister on a com and ask if what he’s suggesting is possible.”
Three minutes passed and Chen was given a bag of popcorn to eat. The wall display lit up and McAllister was on the screen. Chen quickly explained his idea and Cade listened and took notes. “Actually, it would be very easy to build what you’re suggesting,” Cade said. The reason the penetrators don’t make it thru their screen is that we can’t make the energy shell around the hornets too hot or the hornets will degrade or explode inside of it. They can only handle a medium amount of energy. If the first stage is just an energy pulse activated when launched with no hornets it can be much hotter with three times the penetrating power in the warhead. The unit will be guided by the system in the hornets but the pulse will be programmed to follow the Coronado screens designated beam that locks on any ship without a Coronado screen. It should also only be about 5 feet longer than the current penetrator so it won’t require tremendous modification of our magazines or ports.”
“How long will it take to make them and how long until a mass quantity will be available,” Mikado asked? “There are troops that will need relief and we can’t wait too long.”
“We can actually modify the existing penetrators to accept the front stage; we will just need to put a shield between the two stages to protect the hornets from the high energy of the front stage. I would think that if the Queen approves the change and authorizes changing all of the manufacturing facilities on all the planets, we should have them ready in less than 5 weeks.”
Dorg looked at Kosiev and then called his adjutant in, “Please get Queen Danielle on a com and let her know it’s an emergency.”
Right away sir.”
“Admiral Mikado,” Kosiev said, “Admiral Dorg and I have made a number of decisions. First, you are hereby promoted to Vice Admiral responsible for the ongoing fleet action at the Pydres planet. Commodore Smith is promoted to Rear Admiral and will command one of the Megaship squadrons under your command. Captain Kelly is also promoted to Rear Admiral to command one of your squadrons. Lt. Chen, your promotion is denied.”
Mikado jumped out of his chair starting to protest the action but Kosiev held up his hand and said, “Gentlemen, I was promoted from a ship’s captain to Fleet Admiral. I was not qualified but after the fact it dawned on me that I was a good choice at the time. Things worked out well and it was because Mr. Gardner recognized what little ability I had and challenged me to use it. I agree with you Mikado, this officer has the ability to see the big picture which is absolutely critical in high command positions. He possesses insight into our weapons mix that will be crucial to our success. Lt. Chen, if Admiral Dorg is in agreement, I am promoting you to Rear Admiral commanding Mikado’s third squadron of 500 Megaships. I expect the best of you. Don’t disappoint me. Lin, I would also recommend that Lt. Colson be promoted to Captain of the rising sun to replace Captain Kelly.”
Dorg said, “I support the decision; Mikado, take Admiral Chen and let him choose his command ship and give it a name. If we have five weeks, we should have a thousand more Megas for you to organize. You will have three rear admirals under you commanding 500 ships each; these three new admirals will take 500 Megas each and whip them into order. A large number of current fleet personnel from all of the Realms planets are joining the SR Navy and we need to get them sorted out into ship crews. You need to start choosing the crews that have applied to join. You have a heavy organizing and training load ahead of you so get busy.”
Suddenly the display came on and Queen Danielle was looking at them with Tag sitting next to her. Dorg said, “You’re dismissed Admirals.” Then he turned and bowed to Danielle and began explaining how they needed her help.
Mikado and Chen left the room and Chen was in a small state of shock. “This is happening too fast. Sir, do you think I’m up to the task they’ve given me?”
Mikado looked at him and said, “Quite frankly, I will probably be reporting to you in the future. You have a gift of using the weapons at your disposal in unique ways. I can’t think of anyone that could do a better job.”
“Thank you sir, do you think any of the current Admirals in the Alliance fleets will resent my promotion?”
“No, they have their own commands in their home fleets. I suspect a large number of them will be requesting to join the new SR Navy. The only thing they’ll regret is that they weren’t here earlier to get the command. This will probably cause a number of them to speed up their transfers. What are you going to name your ship?”
“Nemesis, Sir”
“Why that, Admiral?” and Mikado noticed that Chen flinched at his new rank and then smiled.
“He was the ancient Greek God of Retributive Justice; I think the Algeans are long due for justice after all the species they’ve destroyed.”
Mikado nodded his head and said, “I like it. Your first command decision is a good one. Now let’s go make some more.”
Chapter 12
Richard Wiseman sat on the bridge of the Cainth Transport Four Swords and watched as the Empire Ships fired their beams into a section of land just north of one of the Plants concentrations. He flexed the arms of his new battle armor and marveled at how he really didn’t even notice it any more. It was like a second skin but what a skin it was. It allowed him to run ninety six kilometers an hour and jump more than forty feet straight up. It had a built in pulse rifle in one arm and another hand blaster for his other hand. It could also be put in camo mode and assume the color of its surroundings. When the developer had introduced it to him, Richard walked into the room for the presentation and when told about the suits ability to blend in with the background, Richard laughed and said, “Nothing blends completely.” At that moment the developer said, show yourselves and eight suits of armor suddenly appeared in the room along the wall. Richard nearly fell over backwards in his seat. “I take back what I said; I didn’t see any of them. How did they stay so still?”
“They didn’t. The suit compensates for movement. You just won’t see any breaking of the surrou
nding colors as it moves by. Whatever is behind the suit is shown on the front.”
Richard was impressed. “I notice that the skin on the armor looks like clear plastic; what is it?”
“It’s the same clear coating we put on our Megaships to protect the Coronado Power Cells. It is actually the strongest substance we currently manufacture. It can withstand most weapon floater’s guns and it would take many hits to break its integrity. One of the things you’ll like is the visor incorporates a heads up display of the terrain around you 360 degrees and can track multiple targets in that terrain. The hornets in the back launcher can be targeted from the display or fired to use their own targeting systems.”
“How many hornets can the back pack carry?” Richard asked.
“Seventy five of the new ones; we want to call them wasps because they are smaller, faster, and carry a bigger punch than the original hornets you used on Ross.”
“How much time in combat will the armor have at full power?”
“Ten days if the blasters are fired constantly. Two weeks if used more sparingly. They also can be recharged in sixty seconds from one of the mobile black hole reactors. The reactors can charge more than 3,000 suits using the cables that attach to it. We hope to shorten the time but that’s where we are with the current technology. We’ve also added a high intensity laser to the helmet that will cut thru most substances out to a hundred yards. It won’t damage the armor on the suits so it won’t be dangerous to use in close in fighting. The suits will just shrug it off.”
Richard was amazed at his new suit but knew it was going to be tried to its fullest against the horde of plant soldiers. “I hope it’s enough,” he thought.
Richard looked on his console and saw that the asteroid forts had finally gotten into position so that they could engage the screen. The Algean fleet was still ten hours out and was looking larger every time he looked at it. The Captain of the transport announced over the ships com that fleet control had set drop to begin in ten minutes. Richard keyed his general com and said, “All Division Commanders, prepare your forces for drop. Get the mobile fort up quickly and charge your weapons. The transports will unload your heavy weapons as soon as they ground; make sure the perimeter around the fort’s site is secure and your troops ready to hold off mass attacks by the plants.” The 16 huge Cainth transports began their decent and Richard could see the bright clouds below made stark by the dark landscape where the Plants has stripped all life and sent it to one of their harvesting ships.
Lt. Colonel Jeremy Watson also watched the clouds thru his viewport and thought about his last decent on Ross. He flexed his arm in his armor and thought that if the new armor were available when they had landed on Ross then Al would probably still be alive today. He loved Maria who was Al’s wife before he died but he would gladly give up his happiness just to see him again. He owed Al his best effort in this campaign. The Solar Star he won for the battle on Ross led to promotions faster than he thought possible. The reality was that so many were killed on Ross that officers with actual combat experience were rare among Humans. Now he was responsible for a battalion of Naval Marines. He looked deep inside himself and saw that he had no fear of dying; Maria and the children were taken care of for life because of the benefits of him receiving Humanity’s highest award for bravery. He thought about his troops and made a vow to himself that he would do his best for them. He also saw the stark barren landscape they were dropping on and thought, “We should have no trouble seeing them coming.”
Lt. Colonel Huseen was working hard to get his forts on line. He had finally managed to move them into the correct positions around the planet and was talking with his fort commanders to check their systems. “No, I don’t want the screen turned on yet. I want each fort to fire a laser at each other’s emitters to make sure they are lined up properly.”
“But Sir, we need to make sure the system is working,” Captain Donaldson said.
“Why would you want to wait to turn it on, Sir?” Captain Paulo asked.
Huseen took a deep breath and said, “Our forts are no longer just defensive constructs. With the focused primaries and penetrators we can be formidable offensive platforms. What would happen if we turn the screen on as soon as that fleet gets in system?” He paused a moment and said, “They will send a few ships in to test a situation they have never seen before. Otherwise they will approach us just as they would any other ship and launch missiles at us from close range. I want them close. We can do a terrible amount of damage to them if we can get them close enough. Here’s what we’ll do, align your emitters and turn them on at 1/10,000 power for 1/10 of a second. The screen should be invisible at that level and their sensors may pick it up but assume it was from weapons used on the planet. We’ll also have the empires fire into the surface at the moment we run our trial.”
The eight captains nodded and thought about what he was saying. Donaldson asked, “What time will we run the trial?”
“In exactly thirty minutes, set your timers, from rightttttt now.”
The display went dark and Huseen turned to his communications officer and said, “Lieutenant, get the commander of the Naval ships on a channel.”
Thirty minutes later Huseen counted down the seconds. Just before the test he saw on his sensors that all the Empire ships above the planet fired their primaries at the planet’s surface. Then the countdown hit zero and his readings showed the screen was active and then off. “What was the reading?” he asked his sensor officer.
“Ninety nine point nine, Sir; everything was aligned perfectly except for fort six. It needs to be moved forty meters closer to the planet.”
“Get Captain Green on the com.”
Suddenly Captain Green appeared on his display and said, “I know, my position is forty meters too high. I’ll move immediately.”
Huseen nodded and thought, “I’ve got a great group of officers here. Now let’s show the Plants what we can do.”
The SR drop troops headed in toward the planet and 10,000 feet above the surface the transports opened all of its troop ports and 160,000 troops dropped from the transports and fell toward a beacon already on the planet’s surface. The eight divisions separated while falling and moved toward the assigned positions on each side of the beacon. General Dorg’s and Richard Wiseman’s divisions were assigned the northern line with the two Glod and Vgrig divisions taking the east and west fronts. The remaining Vgrig and Cainth divisions took the southern line. Once the troops landed they organized and dug in along their lines. The sixteen huge transports landed in the center of their formations and began disgorging their weapons platforms and floaters. Right behind them the engineers were unloading the materials to construct the fort along with its screens. The troops waited nervously while their equipment was being off loaded. So far the Plants had not shown up but they knew from the recordings that they would come in mass and fast once they began moving.
“Fleet Leader Hogn,” Richard Commed to the Empire Ships Commander, “Do you have any plant movement on your sensors?”
The Small Cainth Commander on board the Cainth Empire Ship Short Sword replied, “We have some movement your way but it is so scattered that they’re not presenting much of a concentration for us to fire on. They won’t arrive at your location for more than eight hours which will be around the same time that the Plant fleet arrives. It will be dark by then and since they don’t give off any heat, they’ll be more difficult to see. If they use weapon platforms or anything else that uses energy, we will hit it from space but the plants won’t be easily seen, at least not from this altitude. If you’ll set your markers, you can call in supporting fire as you need it. If the forts get in trouble, we will have to move to support them and you and your men will have to hold out.”
Richard thought that it was not coincidence that the Plant troops and fleet were arriving at the same time. “How are we doing on the off loading of our weapons?” He looked over his shoulder and saw the huge structure going up in the midd
le of their formations. The four sides bordered a square that was two miles on each side. Once completed the structure would have walls fifty meters thick. There would be enough room for all the drop troops to enter but then they would be trapped inside with no freedom of movement. Drop troops were at their best in fluid situations that allowed them to move and attack from different directions.
General Dorg beeped his com and Richard said, “Go ahead, General. What can I do to help you?”
“Have you decided how you want to handle the initial assault?”
“I would like to entice them into attacking our front. It’s my opinion that the Naval Marines armor is superior to all of the forces here so I would like to take the initial and heaviest charge.”
Dorg looked at Wiseman and said, “Just how do you intend to do that?”
“We will space our forces among your troops and turn on their invisibility. To the on rushing Plants our lines will look much more porous than the other three. All of our weapon platforms have also been coated in the clear armor and they will also be unseen.”
Dorg said, “How will we maintain unit cohesion during the fight? Won’t the command structure be compromised if we mix our forces together?”
“Our basic structure is built around our companies which consist of 160 troopers and their support weapons.”
“My division is broken down much the same way,” Dorg said.
Then I suggest that we alternate our companies along our front. The 160 man spacing will look like openings in your lines. Set up your weapon platforms to cover the area between your companies so it looks like you don’t have enough troops to cover your front. We will set up our platforms to cover the front of your companies. Once the Plants discover our little subterfuge, we’ll free our platforms to targets of opportunity.”