Death Never Leaves a Calling Card (Stories From the Filaments Book 5)
Page 14
Netty appeared on Tommy’s monitor, “Sir, we have enough ships in the two groups to move into an overlapping formation.”
“Are you talking about a Phalanx, Admiral?”
“I am.”
I’m unwilling to not have defenses between the Dragon and those lines.”
“We’ve practiced moving into the…Phalanx and I’m ordering the front two units to move into the front lines before the mass of Tronan Warships are on them. I’ll launch another unit to form up between the Dragon and the Phalanx.”
Tommy saw more scout lines leaving the landing bay and said, “We need to keep to the plan, Admiral. This is going to be a long campaign and I need our warriors to get enough rest.”
Netty, nodded, “We have enough scouts to still allow them eight hours’ rest before going out again, even if we increased our forces. I’d rather err on the side of caution early on and, once things sort themselves out, go back to the original plan if the situation allows for it.”
“Use your best judgment, Admiral.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Sir.” Tommy looked at the Dragon Communications Leader, “The scouts in the front lines are relaying heavy Tronan communication traffic to me.”
Tommy looked at Leb and he said, “None of it is getting by our static-field.”
“Tell the scouts to cease relaying it unless their computers hear something critical.”
“Yes, Sir.” Tommy continued to stare at the wall monitor. The war was on. So far…” “He shrugged. This was the easy part of the mission. He knew trouble was coming soon.
• • •
The Fleet Director commanding the first Tronan Fleet in the long line of Tronan Fleets pressed his communicator, “Senior Fleet Director, I am detecting a mass of ships at the edge of my scanning range ahead of me in the filament.”
The Senior Fleet Director commanding the invasion said, “Send me a view of what you’re detecting.” An image appeared on his monitor and he said, “Enlarge the image.” The image grew until he saw thousands of tiny ships holding position in front of his lead unit.”
“SENIOR!! OUR COMMUNICATIONS JUST WENT DOWN! WE ARE UNABLE TO CONTACT THE PRIME DIRECTOR!” The Communication Director listened to his ear-piece and said, “I’m receiving reports from the Communication Lines where the break occurred that a large vessel moved into a gap in their lines where more than twenty-thousand warships were destroyed.”
“DESTROYED?”
“They all exploded at the same moment. Nothing was detected near them. There appears to be some kind of field emanating from that large vessel that is blocking any communications from passing through that gap in our communication lines.”
“Remove that ship!”
He turned back to his second-monitor and said, “Activate a blaster barrage and remove those tiny ships in the filament!”
“I will be making contact in thirty-minutes, Senior.”
The Senior stared at his monitor and wondered if these tiny vessels had stopped the previous fleets? He thought about it and said, “Order all fleets behind the first fleet to slow to half-speed.”
The giant line of Tronan Warship slowed. Only ten-percent of the Tronan Invasion Forces had turned on the filament leading to the last reported position of the missing fleets and the fleets following them began backing up at the intersection.
• • •
The Fleet Director of the leading fleet heard the Senior’s order and decided not to fly into that mass of small ships at maximum speed. He looked at his Communication’s Director, “Ten minutes before contact, order all ships to stop thrusters and move forward at the filament’s speed.”
His Second looked at him, “Is that wise?”
“We’ve lost five-fleets here. I’m not rushing in to this blind with only one fleet.”
“The following fleets may overrun our ships.”
“I’m continuing at maximum speed for twenty-minutes. The gap between us will be sufficient.” Second nodded and looked at the main monitor.
• • •
Abanee watched the approaching Tronan Warships and suddenly saw them slowing down. She said instantly, “Use your Eggs! If they’re moving slow enough, launch an Egg as you pass through their ships!!”
The Lead Tronan Warships began firing a massive blaster barrage ahead of them five minutes out and then they hit the wall of small vessels.
• • •
Claret Jugg kept his attention on the scanner with Abanee’s formation. He commanded another Phalanx holding position in the filament ten light minutes behind hers. There was another Phalanx ten light minutes behind his. He knew there were ten more behind that one but he couldn’t see them on his scanner; the Phalanx behind him blocked the view. He looked at his tactical monitor and saw his scouts were in perfect formation. He wondered how many Tronan Warships would make it thought Abanee’s Phalanx. The answer came suddenly.
• • •
The lead Tronan Warships hit Abanee’s formation and the impacts continued without slowing down. The five-thousand warships in the Tronan Lead Fleet could not see what was happening to the ships in the leading edge of the fleet and continued to rush ahead following the ships in front of them.
“FLEET DIRECTOR! I’VE LOST CONTACT WITH EVERY SHIP THAT’S HIT THAT WALL OF SMALL SHIPS.”
The Fleet Director knew his fleet was in trouble. He yelled, “ORDER ALL SHIPS TO STOP!!” But the fleet was moving too fast and before the order could go out, his ship hit the scouts and one of them blew through the bridge he was on; his body was ripped into shreds by the scout’s fins and a moment later, the giant ship blew out of the filament into normal space. An instant after that, the Egg in the rear of the warship detonated.
• • •
Gem watched the action on his monitor and said over his communicator, “Captain Boranee, move your unit into normal space and start removing any Tronan Vessels still operational. Captain Jugg, you are now assuming the position of the Front Unit.”
Abanee’s unit left the filament and entered normal space. There were burning Tronan Warships scattered across thousands of miles of space. Her unit broke formation as they scattered scanning the massive numbers of Tronan Warships for any that were still operational.
The Senior looked at his monitor and turned to his scanning officer, “WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LEAD FLEET?”
“I’m receiving scans from the second fleet that they were thrown out of the filament into normal space. They are detecting massive explosions among them, Senior. I’ve also been notified that thousands of those small ships are passing our fleets, still on the filament in the reverse flow at more than double our maximum speed.”
The Senior wondered what they were doing and then it dawned on him. They were going to attack his fleets in the filament and take them on where they couldn’t mass against them. “ORDER ALL FLEETS NOW ON THE FILAMENT TO FULL SPEED AND TO GO INTO NORMAL SPACE WHERE THE FIRST FLEET WAS FORCED OUT OF THE FILAMENT!”
He looked at his Communications Director, “HAS A LINE BEEN OPENED TO THE PRIME DIRECTOR!?!”
“No, Senior, it has not.”
• • •
Sam leaned forward and said, “Gem, send your First Fleet down the reverse flow.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Randy received the attack order from Gem and nodded at Emily. She pressed her communicator button and said calmly, “Time to go. Enter the filament and carry out your assignments.”
Fifty scout fleets, with one-thousand and twenty scouts in each of them, were holding position just outside the reverse flow when the order went out. The fleets flew into the filament and went to maximum speed. Randy watched his monitor as each fleet entered the filament. Each fleet was broken up into thirty-four units of thirty scouts each.
Only six Tronan Warships could fit side-by-side in the twenty-eight-mile wide filament and only five rows would fit inside the filament’s twenty-five-mile height. Randy stared at his scanne
r and saw the thirty-ship units were maintaining the proper gap between them. The scouts in First Fleet were the most highly trained in the Navy. He felt a huge sense of pride at their skill and professionalism. The lead scout unit peeled off out of the reverse flow and fell in behind the Tronan Fleets rushing to enter normal space at the site of the first contact.
• • •
The Senior turned and heard, “Senior, those ships that passed us in the reverse flow have punched into the filament close to the intersection and are preventing any more of our fleets from entering.”
“Order the fleets on the filament closest to them to turn and attack them.”
“Senior, you ordered our fleets still on the filament to go to full speed and enter normal space. We have other fleets entering the filament, now that things are moving again, but those enemy ships in the reverse flow have passed the fleets ordered to the site of the initial contact. It took some time to get the fleets that were stopped at the intersection to start moving and there is a huge empty gap between them and our fleets rushing to the attack site.”
“What are those ships in the reverse flow doing?”
“Those ships have begun moving into the ranks of our fleets now moving out of the intersection into the filament.” The Senior fought to make sense of what was happening but things were moving too fast for him to collect his wits. His ship was far from the intersection but it was clear his fleets had come to a stop again. What should he do?
• • •
A hundred Tronan Fleets rushed to the site of the initial contact with the small ships and entered normal space as they arrived. The warships in the rear of the long line were being attacked by small ships rushing up on them from behind them. As the half-million Tronan Warships entered normal space, the Senior Fleet Director screamed for his fleets to fall into formation and to initiate their blaster barrages once they were in formation.
The Warships entering normal space represented a tenth of the entire Tronan invasion force. They entered normal space to find a vast field of burning wreckage and debris of the Lead Fleet. The Senior Fleet Director lifted his communicator and said, “Senior, our ships were not just forced out of the filament into normal space. The Lead Fleet is destroyed.”
“HOW?”
“I don’t know. But whatever did it was done fast. I don’t know if the fleet was destroyed in the filament or after they left Under Space.”
“What’s your status?”
“My fleets are moving into formation; however, there’s a hundred thousand of the small ships holding position four-thousand miles from my current position. I’m sending out the first of my fleets to get organized to meet them. It going to take several hours for my ships to get organized. They were scattered over a large distance when they emerged in normal space.”
“Stay in contact!”
“Yes, Senior.”
The Senior looked to his left, “Order the fifty-fleets at the rear of our forces to launch message probes detailing what’s happening here.”
The Communication Director nodded and turned to his panel. Ten minutes later, more than two and a half million message probes erupted from the rear of the Tronan Fleets and moved into the reverse flow of the filament.
• • •
Gem sat on board his Command Scout and stared at the Tronan Fleets struggling to get organized. His command was composed of a total of two-hundred-thousand scouts. Captain Jugg’s hundred-thousand scouts were holding position in the filament to prevent the Tronan from moving forward. Fifty-thousand scouts were now attacking the Tronan Fleets entering the filament and fifty-thousand more were rushing to assist them in blocking the intersection. His remaining hundred-thousand scouts were with him in normal space tasked with attacking a Tronan force ten times their size.
He smiled and was amazed that Embree and Desiree had correctly predicted they would send large numbers of their fleets at the site of the initial confrontation. Now it was up to Leonidas to do the heavy lifting; his fleets were committed. He leaned back and stared at the disorganized Tronan Fleets struggling to get organize. It was almost, but not quite, amusing. Jack was playing the leader of these fleets screaming over his communicator. He needed to chill-out; stress could kill you. Ummm…gem wondered if that was true for a Tronan.
• • •
The Senior Fleet Director’s Science Director interrupted his tirade by saying, “Fleet Director, I don’t believe those ships are going to attack us before we organize.” The Fleet Director stopped in mid-sentence and looked at him. The Science Director pointed at the monitor, “They haven’t moved since we arrived. If they were going to attack, I would think they’d do it while we’re so disorganized.”
The Fleet Director stood up and walked over to the huge wall monitor and stared at it. The Science Director was right. Why haven’t they attacked. He turned around and looked at the Science Director, “What are they doing?”
“I don’t really know. There are a couple of possibilities,” He said while shrugging. “It may be that they know they cannot defeat our warships and are unwilling to attack.”
The Fleet Director glanced back at the monitor and wondered how those tiny ships could stand up to his giant warships. “What’s the other possibility?”
“They want us to gather all of our fleets so they don’t have to chase us down.”
The Fleet Director’s eyes narrowed as he said, “And which of the two do you think is accurate?”
The Science Director was old for a Tronan serving on a warship but he was the Fleet Director’s best friend, “I suspect the second.”
“Why?”
“You need look no further than what happened to the lead fleet. Whatever destroyed them did it at an incredible speed.” The Science Director pointed at the monitor, “The clincher is, why are those ships here?”
The Fleet Director sat down in his command chair and heard his communicator filled with hundreds of voices. He looked at the Communication Director, “Hold all contacts.” The speaker on his panel grew silent. He looked at the Science Director, “I’m not sure I understand what you mean by your last statement.”
“They were here waiting when we left the filament. Why were they here?” The Fleet Director was silent and he continued, “And with so many ships?”
The Fleet Director’s eyes narrowed and he looked back at the monitor. He looked at the communication Director, “Order all ships to hold their formations until I order otherwise.”
“Yes, Fleet Director.”
“Are you sure that’s wise?” The Fleet Director turned to the Science Director and he said, “I think being on the move makes it easier to run if the situation calls for it. I wouldn’t wait for them to move first.”
“You don’t honestly think…”
“Why are they here?” The Science Director asked and then shrugged, “I’d start moving toward them and make sure this ship is at the rear of our formations.”
The Fleet Director stared at the monitor in silence.
Chapter Twelve
Lieutenant Bharate swept out of the reverse flow and fell in behind the Tronan Warships moving at high speed toward the initial attack site. “Alright, you all know the drill. Maintain your spacing and keep the line intact. Once we start hitting them, do not slow down or you’ll get to know a trillium blast up close and personal.”
The thirty-scouts went to two-thirds speed and flew through the giant blaster barrages behind the giant warships and then flew through the booster wash just before puncturing the hulls of the Tronan Warships. They ejected an Egg in the punctured ships and blew out of the bows. They continued puncturing ships ahead of them and were shoved by the massive blasts of the ships exploding behind them. In what seems like an extremely short time they flew out of the huge Tronan formations. The remainder of the Tronan force had moved out of the filament into normal space. The thirty-scouts swung hard left before running into Captain Jugg’s Phalanx. They reentered the reverse flow and accelerated to maximum sp
eed to join the rest of their fleet.
Claret watched them make the turn and shook his head. They barely missed hitting his massed scouts and that would have not been a good thing; sailors would have died from the impact. He would recommend to fleet that the distance between the first and second phalanx would need to be greatly increased if they had to do this in the future.
• • •
Randy remained behind the scouts he sent into the reverse flow with the Phalanxes holding station in the filament. He could not move them into the fight at the intersection until Gem’s scout fleets handled the Tronan that entered normal space. They could move back into the filament if he moved his forces forward and escape through to Heaven’s intersection. He was going to have to depend on Teg to handle the fight for the other intersection. Hours passed and Randy prayed that Gem would launch his attack soon.
• • •
Tamara looked at Blake and said, “I want a family.”
Blake glanced at his wife sitting beside him and smiled, “So do I love. But I want them to be born into a world where they don’t face the possibility of being eaten by an alien species. We’re going to have to trust our technology to get us through this.”
“I know. But this is new. We’re punching into side of their formation and have to turn while we’re still inside a Tronan Warship.” Blake nodded and said, “I’ve heard from the first units to do it that they came through it ok. You just lay the Egg before we exit. Four minutes until we exit the filament to the other side.”
Tamara nodded and pressed the red button on her console activating the lever. She put her right hand on it and reached across and squeezed Blake’s hand. He returned her squeeze and said, “Make sure your belts are tight. The first punch will be the worst.” She released his hand and pulled her belts again.