by Saxon Andrew
“No, I do want to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Would you please get Mikado, Ron-Dar, and the fort commander to join us on this channel?”
“Dorg looked over at his communications officer and said, “Standby for just a moment.”
Tag and Rose sat in their chairs tapping their feet while listening to the Matt McCagg Experience sing “Don’t Play With the Spaceship,” while they waited for the others to join the meeting.”
“I believe that everyone is on the channel with us, Your Majesty.”
Tag shook his head; he just could not get used to being treated as royalty. “Good day and welcome everyone. I want to make sure that we are all in complete understanding of the plan for the upcoming battle. We are going to wait here at the planet for the Algean fleet to come in system more than five hours before we start our response.”
“Why are we waiting so long?” Mikado asked.
“It is the opinion of our strategist that it will take that long for their entire fleet to get in system from the jump point. If we start our attack too early then a huge portion of their fleet could escape.”
The group was silent for a long moment and then Ron-Dar asked, “How many ships do they anticipate the Algeans will send against us?”
Tag took a deep breath and said, “Between five and six million.”
Dorg shook his head slowly and said, “I’m even more uncomfortable now with waiting five hours.”
Rose said, “Uncle, for every hour you reduce from five hours, two million of their ships will be able to escape.”
Tag looked at his daughter with surprise. How did she know that?
“It might also interest you to know that they are not sending eight million ships,” Rose said as a matter of fact.
Dorg said, “Good, I was worried about handling that many.”
“They’re sending a little over eleven million with more than six million of those ships redesigned to suicide with anti-matter warheads,” Rose continued. “The suicide ships also have the five screens protecting them.”
The SR Fleet Commanders looked at her with shock on their faces.
Tag looked at his daughter and said, “Did you know this before I agreed to bring you into this battle?”
Rose looked at her father and said, “Yes, and there’s much more that I can’t tell you yet.”
Tag stood there in turmoil. This was going to be very dangerous space and he was scared for his daughter’s safety. Rose looked at him and said, “You need not worry about my safety; I just need you to do what I ask you to do at the precise time I need it without questioning my decisions. Will you do that for me?”
Tag looked at Rose and nodded begrudgingly.
“Dad, I’m extremely serious. You’ll want to think it thru but I need you to respond immediately. Promise me you will or the danger to all of us will be unimaginable.”
All of the SR Fleet Commanders were listening to the dialogue and they could see the struggle taking place with Tag, then they saw him nod and say, “I trust you with all of our lives, Rose. It will be done as you say. I wish you would tell me what I’m agreeing to do.”
Rose smiled and said, “I can’t because then you wouldn’t do it.” Then she looked at Bridget and said, “The first thing I need you to do is to move the forts self destruct module from our ship to Admiral Mikado’s and I need it done immediately.”
Tag started to protest but then caught himself and said, “Do as she says, Commodore. She is in control now and believe me, I almost said no to her first request and my inner senses warned me that I would be making a mistake.” Tag then looked at Admiral Mikado and said, “The forts self-destruct module is being moved to your ship. You will be in control of the timing of their runs.”
Dorg looked at the two Gardeners and felt real fear. He knew the power of Tag’s talents having seen them over the years. Then he remembered that Tgon-Gee had told him more than twelve years earlier at Rose’s birth that her powers would make her parents look small in comparison. The thing that made him draw some comfort from the present situation was that Rose was not showing any doubt what so ever and knew what she wanted. Then he chuckled to himself and thought, “I guess trying to explain it to us mere mortals would just take too long.” He then saw the shuttle leaving the Kosiev with the destruct module for installation on the Rising Sun. I wonder how much longer we have before the Plants arrival.”
Chapter 23
Tag sat on the bridge with Rose waiting for what they knew was coming. They were talking with their thoughts and Tag was hurt that his daughter didn’t trust him enough to tell him what was going on. “Dad, It’s not an issue of trust and you’ll understand that when everything happens. However, I know that you can’t see that right now. Just keep your promise and follow my instructions.”
Danielle was also listening to the conversation and she said, “You can’t tell me either, can you?”
“No, Mom, I can’t and I’m going to ask you not to try and figure out why. I know your talent at digging out the truth but this is one time I’m going to ask you as a lifetime wish to forego using your talent until this battle is over.”
Danielle was almost dying to work it out but she forced herself to not think about why, “yet.”
Rose looked at Tag and said, “It’s time; they’ll start arriving here in less than a minute.”
O’Donald was listening in and nodded to her communications officer. She sent the message out to the fleet and she turned on her general ships frequency. “Battle stations, all hands to battle stations. Secure the ship and report in on status.”
Bridget watched her communication officer’s console and saw all ninety lights go red indicating her ship was ready to fight in less than thirty seconds. She had heard Mikado say that when he served on the Moscow that they could do it in forty five seconds. “We beat them,” Bridget thought. (Later Mikado would tell her that the Moscow did it when the crew was asleep and was not expecting anything to happen.)
Everything looked normal at the jump limit; then suddenly more than 20 thousand ships emerged from star drive and began accelerating toward the planet. Less than thirty seconds after the first line of ships began moving in system, 20 thousand more ships appeared and began accelerating. Every thirty seconds after that a new line of twenty thousand ships would jump in. The SR Fleet watched the ships coming at them and Mikado noticed a pattern. He commed the other commanders and said, “Have any of you noticed a pattern in the Algeans formation?”
Tag said, “Yes, I have; all of the ships in the initial wave are the heavy harvesters and they are allowing the ships behind them to catch up to form what looks like a cylinder.”
Mikado raised his eyebrows and said, “Right on, Your Majesty. What do you think they’re doing?”
Tag thought a moment and then said, “I hope I’m wrong but it appears to me that the heavy harvesters will form a shell around their suicide ships and do the blocking of our weapons until they get in range.”
Ron-Dar looked at his display saying, “Do you think that will work?”
Tag thought and then said, “What will happen to a harvester when one of our new penetrators hit it?”
“It should destroy it when it sets off their magazines,” Dorg said.
“What if they aren’t carrying missiles and the only weapon they use is a beam.”
“Then a five mile wide hole will be blown in them,” Mikado said.
“And what will happen to the remaining fifteen miles of ship?” Tag asked.
Then they all saw it. Ron-Dar said, “The remainder will continue moving toward the planet because of its inertia which will still give the smaller ships a huge moving screen to hide behind.”
Tag pressed his com and got Cade on the channel and explained what he believed was happening. “Are our penetrators programmed to handle this situation?”
Cade looked worried. “No, we aren’t. The penetrators are programmed to ignore ships designated by another penetrator. The harvest
ers will only be hit by one penetrator at a time. Since the ships that have been hit will probably not be under power, our penetrators will probably ignore the damaged ships.”
Tag said, “Begin reprogramming as many of them as you can. Notify me when you’ve made progress.” Tag then looked at the commanders and said, “Change of plans, our fleet will use their penetrators to target the damaged ships. To totally destroy a harvester may take four penetrators to destroy its twenty mile length, however, I want you to assign a section of the incoming plant formation to your ships and hit them as them approach. We will move the fleet to within twelve hundred miles of the five hour mark and begin firing as we retreat toward the forts matching the Plants speed. We cannot allow them closer than the penetrators range. Cade, as soon as the Plants hit the five hour mark in system; start volleying the jump penetrators; we will hit anything that comes thru the volleys; any questions?”
No one said anything, so Tag ordered, “Move the fleet forward now.” The 83,000 ships of the SR Fleet moved to 1,200 miles from the five hour mark and watched for more than four hours as the Plant fleet entered the system. The Plant formation was more than thirty million miles long and was picking up speed as it moved toward the planet. The SR ships watched amazed at the huge numbers moving toward them. Now the only thing separating the two enemies was a short period of time.
The Fleet Leader watched as the Stranger’s ships left the planet and moved out toward his fleet. “I knew they weren’t stupid,” he thought. “They have figured out that the heavy ships will be used as a shield and are moving to counter them.” His fleet had been jumping in system for more than four hours and finally, all of his fleet was moving toward the planet. They were limited to the speed of the heavy ships but that was a risk that he had to run to protect the new screened missiles. He keyed his fleet frequency and said, “Form the attack formation and begin full acceleration.” The Algean fleet picked up speed and formed a huge cylinder four hundred miles wide with the harvesters composing s hundred outer layers. The plant fleet moved inexorably toward the planet.
Five hours into the system the heavy ships in front of the plant formation were suddenly being hit by jump penetrators coming out of star drive. The Algean fleet leader was amazed at the new weapon. “How can they jump a missile with a screen so close to the sun?” He also received notice that every frequency ship had been destroyed. He moved more in but as soon as they crossed the jump limit they were hit and totally destroyed. He watched his display as thousands of the missiles began hitting his ships but the damaged ships continued moving toward the planet as other ships dropped in behind them. The cost was going to be heavy but his fleet was still moving forward.
The SR Fleet was firing penetrators at the huge ships that were damaged that continued to come at them. The entire front of the Algean fleet looked like a giant wall of fire that huge pieces of wreckage would come out of and continue toward the planet. As the damaged ships moved forward the jump penetrator’s arrival points had to be moved backward because they would not come out of null space close to another object. The Algean Fleet moved slowly but surely toward the planet. The SR Fleet backed away from the Algean formation firing at the huge ships that came thru the wall of fire. Dorg commed Tag and said, “We’re not killing them fast enough. There’s only an hour and a half left before they reach the planet and we run out of space to jump the penetrators in.”
Tag looked at the display and said, “We need to give ourselves some room to operate. Jump one of the forts into the front of their formation now.”
Dorg pushed his com and said, “Mikado, jump one of the forts 50,000 miles into the plant formation and detonate it.”
Mikado pressed the control on his control panel and one of the forts moved out from the planet and began moving toward the plant fleet. The crew on the fort boarded their ship and counted down their jump to coincide with the forts jump. Mikado turned on the fleet general frequency and said, “Ten seconds until the fort jumps.”
All of the human ships watched until the fort suddenly disappeared and a blast engulfed the front ranks of the plant fleet. The plant ships in the first 100,000 miles were blown out of existence. Rose watched the blast and closed her eyes and saw what was going to happen. She turned to Tag and yelled, “Withdraw the fleet now, we’re about to be hit.”
Tag looked at her and looked back at the huge blast in front of the Stars Realm fleet wondering how they were going to get hit by anything. Then he commed the fleet and said, “Withdraw toward the planet now.”
The Stars Realm fleet turned and accelerated toward the planet. Then Tag saw what Rose was yelling about. More than two million of the new plant ships came around the blast from all sides moving at a speed that was incredible. They were going to be on them in less than five minutes and the fleet was not going to be able to outrun them.
Tag commed McAllister and said, “Launch as many penetrators as you can. We’re about to be overrun.”
Cade commed him back and said, “We won’t be able to get enough in to stop them all; we are still trying to slow the rest of the plant fleet coming around the forts blast.”
“Do what you can but we are going to lose ships if you don’t slow these new plant ships.”
The Stars Realm ships began firing their penetrators and space between the two fleets looked like hundreds of thousands of laser beams as the penetrators accelerated into the incoming plant ships at half the speed of light. There were so many plant ships that the front ranks would be targeted by the penetrators but those in the second and third ranks were hidden behind the front rank. Then the two fleets hit and ships began to die.
Tag watched as his ships killed thousands of ships every second but more than six thousand of the plant ships made it through and hit his fleet. Five thousand mega ships died with nine hundred more being damaged severely within five minutes of contact.
Tag lifted his com and said, “Admiral Mikado, prepare the remaining forts to make their run into the plant formation to take out the front of their fleet. Walk the forts out with the second one exploding 25,000 miles further into their formation than the first one. Let’s see if we can’t back them up to give us some room to maneuver.
One of the forts jumped into the front of the oncoming fleet and exploded clearing a hundred thousand miles of their front ships. The next fort jumped to the back edge of the explosion and cleared out another hundred thousand miles. This continued until all sixteen forts had made their jumps. Almost two million miles of the front of the incoming fleet was blown away in the huge explosions of the forts. Of the plants eleven million ships, more than six million were destroyed.
Rose looked at the plant fleet and knew that most of the ships killed were the old heavy harvesters and that more than four million of the new missile ships were still coming. Now there were no more forts. She looked at Tag and said, “You’ve got to prepare the fleet to jump away. They are coming and there are still more than sixty thousand miles of heavy harvesters to get thru before you can hit their new ships. Those new ships will be on you before you can get underway if you wait.”
Tag looked at Rose and keyed his com, “All ships, have your star drives ready to jump on my command. We are going to go out to 1,200 miles from their front and back away toward the planet. As soon as their new missile ships come at us, I want you to jump away when they are five hundred miles away.”
Tag keyed his com again and said, “Cade, we’re out of forts; you have got to keep them off us. Jump your penetrators into the gap between the fleets and keep firing as we back away toward the planet.”
Cade nodded and the screen went dark. Suddenly thousands of the new penetrators began jumping in between the front of the oncoming plant ships and retreating Stars Realm fleet. Tag and Rose looked at the penetrators coming out of their star drives and the whole front looked like a continuous silver-blue lightning flash as they emerged from null space. Rose watched the rolling of wave after wave of penetrators and saw that the Plant fleet
was being held two thousand miles in front of the SR Fleet.
Rose looked at Tag and said, “Dad, it’s time. She looked at Commodore O’Donald and said, “Jump your ships to these coordinates, please.”
Bridget took the paper with the numbers on them and said, “These are a long way from here.”
Rose said, “None the less, make your jump immediately and have all your weapons brought on line before your jump.”
Bridget looked at Tag and he went to his chair and placed his hand in the indent on his console and said, “Weapons free.”
The Kosiev felt like it had come alive. There was a hum that filled the room then rose in pitch until it disappeared. The lights dimmed and a background of yellow light filled the bridge. Bridget handed the coordinates to the helmsman and said, “Jump to these now.”
Tag commed Dorg and said, “Hold the fort and don’t let them take the north wall. We are leaving and you now will assume overall command of our fleet.”
“Where are you going?” Dorg asked amazed that Tag would leave at this critical moment.
“I don’t know, Admiral, but Rose says we must go now.”
Dorg looked at Tag and said, “Stay in touch and tell that daughter of yours I love her.”
Rose commed back, “I know, Uncle; we’ll contact you shortly.”
The jump officer entered the coordinates and hit the jump switch. The jump tone sounded and the Kosiev disappeared from the raging battle.”
The Algean Fleet Leader saw the huge ship disappear from his sensors and wondered where it was going. He didn’t know why but it worried him. These strangers just weren’t predictable and he knew that the big ship leaving was not a good thing.
The Kosiev broke back into normal space above a green covered planet. It hadn’t been in normal space but ten seconds before thousands of ships began attacking. He could see that millions of ships around the planet were moving toward them on his chair’s console screen. “Where are we Rose?” Tag asked.