Death Never Leaves a Calling Card (Stories From the Filaments Book 5)

by Saxon Andrew

  Kelly stared at Gamgel and tilted his head, “You use that word too easily, Gamgel.”

  “What word?”

  “Impossible.”

  Gamgel smiled, “Do tell. Sit down and tell me what you did.”

  Cassie looked at Kelly and said, “We’re here because of you…not me.”

  Kelly lowered his eyes, “You were the one that sent the recording.” Cassie rolled her eyes again and sighed heavily.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gem looked at the Tronan Fleets as they started moving into an attack formation. He lifted his communicator and said, “Admiral Mooney, I believe this is where I pass the baton to you.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Walter looked up and said, “Computer, what have we got?”

  “There are a hundred Tronan Fleets and each fleet is broken up into five formations with a thousand warships in each. The leading line of their attack is composed of twenty-five fleet units.”

  Walter nodded, “So they have five-fleets in each of those lines moving toward us.”

  “Yes. A hundred-miles behind the leading line are two other lines with one of them ten miles higher than the leading line and the other directly below it ten miles lower than the leading fleets.”

  “The pattern appears to repeat itself.”

  “That’s correct Admiral. There are ten lines with five fleets each above the leading line and ten fleets below the leading line.”

  Tasha said, “It looks like a giant “V’ moving toward us point forward.”

  “That is a good description, Commodore. If their leading fleet is attacked, the ones above and below can sweep over the attacker and envelop them. If the V-formation is attacked from either side, the V will pivot and allow the attacker to enter the two legs of the V where they will again envelop the attacker.”

  “What are the dimensions of the smaller fleet units?”

  They are organized into a globular formation a hundred-miles wide and a hundred-miles high. The Tronan have always shown a tendency to have dense formations so they can concentrate their blaster barrages around them. That’s why the following lines are a hundred miles behind each other, to avoid the blaster barrages from the lines in front of them.”

  Walter lifted his communicator and pressed the Fleet Frequency, “We will organize our attack as follows. Starting with fleets One through Four. You will move into a formation forty-five ships wide and forty-five ships tall. You will maintain a one-mile separation between all ships. Your assigned target is the Tronan Unit on the left end of the leading line of Tronan Warships. Fleets Five through Eight, you will move into an identical formation and you will attack the second Tronan Unit from the left. Use your computers to continue this progression and determine each of your targets.”

  The remaining hundred-thousand scouts will form up in an identical formation behind the front line. The first attack line will fly into the leading line at high speed and, once it clears, it will move upward and attack in succession the ten lines of Tronan Formations following behind the leading Tronan Line. The Second attack line will fly under the leading Tronan Line and attack the ten lines below the leading Tronan Line. My computer will send each fleet where they should be in the coming attack.”

  Walt paused and said, “Our attack units will be less than one-half the size of the Tronan Units they are assigned to attack. It is my hope that your units can take out the center of all their formations and that the Egg blasts you leave behind will remove even more of their warships. Each line will sweep out of the last Tronan Line and reform for another run.”

  “If the Tronan Fleets scatter before we can complete the attack on all their lines, you will be released to go after targets of opportunity. You will move into your waves and maintain the eight-mile separation as your wave moves forward.” Walt smiled, “I know I’m only telling what you already know but if you stick to the procedures we’ve developed, you will stand a better chance of survival.”

  Gem came on the frequency and said, “There is an additional order that you will follow during this mission. You will not attack a Tronan Ship that has been punctured but appears to be undamaged by an Egg. We have had large numbers of Eggs malfunction and if you hit those ships, the chances are good that the malfunctioning Egg will detonate with you inside the Tronan Ship. We’ll come back later and clean them up. That is an order! Do not violate it!”

  An hour later, the hundred-thousand scouts were formed up into two-lines of twenty-five formations. Walt smiled at their efficiency in getting their units in formation and said over the fleet frequency, “The things I want you to focus on during our assault are, first, if your scout falls behind the moving line you’re flying in, you will pull up and out of the Tronan Unit you are attacking. I will not allow your units to have Eggs exploding and killing your units. If you fall out of line even slightly, you will pull out of the attack. This order includes individual lines that waver as well. You will be disciplined if you fail to follow this order.”

  “Second, I repeat that if the Tronan Fleets scatter while we’re attacking their lines, all units will immediately move out of their attack formations and form up in your assigned fleets. All fleets will then form up into the pattern of waves and every scout will maintain the eight-mile separation between ships. You’ve practiced this enough and you should be able to do it blindfolded. The Admiral will notify us if the Tronan scatter their fleets. DO NOT HESITATE TO MOVE OUT OF THEIR FORMATIONS!! That is all. We’ll launch when the Tronan Formation starts moving toward us.”

  • • •

  Randy looked at his Phalanx still holding formation in the filament leading to Heaven’s intersection and was starting to get nervous. He hoped his fear would not be an issue but he didn’t want to depend on hope alone. “Admiral, we’re moving in on the reverse filament. How do you want us to form up?”

  “Thank the stars you’ve come. Commander, move your ships behind the first Phalanx and aim you bow missile launchers between my scouts.”

  I’ve brought twenty-thousand warships, Admiral.”

  “Good. I’ve communicated with Admiral Gem and he intends use the majority of your vessels to clean up damaged Tronan Ships in normal space.”

  “Where are those ships?”

  “I’ll give you the coordinate where they left the filament.” I’m waiting to release my units until Gem’s command takes on the Tronan Fleets. I’ll only need a hundred of your warships behind the front Phalanx. Move the others out of the filament but keep them in Under Space.”

  Randy watched the Insectoid fleets start moving and Emily breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you thought about Tronan Warships with working stardrives could reenter the filament.”

  Randy nodded, “Since the battle will be taking place in normal space it’s button’s to bows that every ship punctured will have an Egg in them. No punctured Tronan Warship still had operational blasters but many still have operational stardrives. Without their blasters, they cannot stop an Insectoid missile.”

  Suddenly, they saw a Tronan Warship appear on the scanner and it started drifting in the filament flow toward them, “Commander, your ships behind my lines are free to fire.”

  A missile lanced out from the Phalanx and hit the drifting warship. It went up in two massive blasts. Emily lowered her eyes, “The second blast was probably the Egg.”

  Randy nodded; Gem’s Fleets had started their assault.

  • • •

  Walt saw the Tronan Fleet start moving and he switched to Gem’s private frequency, “Sir, I’m concerned that your warship dwarfs my scouts; the Tronan will have to know our commander is in your ship.”

  “What are you suggesting, Admiral?”

  “Sir, if they scatter, thousands of them will be coming after your ship. I know your silver hull will be immune to their blasters, but they will attempt to ram you if they can pin your ship down.”

  “I can always go into the Filament.”

  “So can they, Admiral, and they can go in on both sides
of your vessel.”

  Gem knew he was right, “You’re my tactician, what do you suggest?”

  “You’re in command of the fleets currently taking on the Tronan in the filament leading to Heaven. I suggest you check up on them and allow me to get this assault on the way. I’ll contact you when we’ve removed enough of their warships for you to come back.”

  “I’m staying here until the Tronan Fleets scatter. Once that happens, I’ll contact Admiral Hummel and let him know I’m moving into the filament.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  Gem smiled, “You worry that having to defend my vessel and focusing on our attack might pose an issue?”

  “Yes, Sir, I am. You are a Senior and Founding Member of our Leadership Team. You are more important than all of the scouts here.”

  Gem suddenly realized he had made a huge mistake. “I’ll get out of here the moment they scatter, Admiral.”

  “Sir, I’m going to leave a scout from each unit to stay with your vessel until you leave. They will go into the filament with you and make sure you arrive in a safe zone.” Walt saw Gem shake his head and immediately said, “Sir, a member of the Leadership Team will not be lost on my watch.” Gem nodded and the monitor went dark. Randy said over the fleet frequency, “The scouts I assigned to protect the Senior Admiral’s vessel will move out of formation and go to his vessel.” A thousand scouts left formation and moved to surround Gem’s Silver Ship.”

  • • •

  Jack looked at Gem from his console, “Sir, you know he’s right.”

  “I do, Jack. I just didn’t think this through. I hate he had to tell me; I should have thought about this.”

  Jack turned around, “It’s a good thing you’re doing this alone.”

  “Why?”

  “Ana would have knocked you silly for taking the risk.” Gem rolled his eyes and nodded. It was easier when he was an Insectoid; being human made things a lot more complicated. But he loved being human.

  • • •

  The Senior Fleet Director stared at the formations the small ships had moved into and wondered what they were up to. There weren’t near enough of them in each of their units to take on his units. They were organized into twenty-five units with 2,500 ships in each unit…but their formations were half the size of the units they were confronting. “ORDER THE SHIPS IN THE LEADING EDGE OF ALL LINES TO INITIATE BLASTER BARRAGES!”

  He sat back and waited for the small ships to move away from the barrages and attempt to attack from above or below his forces. His forces would go to a full surrounding blaster barrages when they arrived at the leading edge of the front unit.

  He looked at the Science Director, who was staring at the monitor on his panel intently. “What are you thinking?”

  “I don’t know what they’re doing.”

  “Neither do I.”

  The Science Director frowned, “Fleet Director, we know they destroyed the Lead Fleet extremely fast. You need to keep your communication channel active and be prepared to issue new orders!”

  “I’m not sure what you’re saying.”

  “I wish I knew what they were doing but they wouldn’t have moved into those formations unless they intended to attack in them. Something is very wrong with this.”

  The Senior Fleet Director nodded to his Communication Director and then focused on the monitor as his front formations approached the small ships at one-third speed.

  • • •

  Walt looked at Tasha, “How fast?”

  “Ten-thousand-miles per hour. They’ve matched our approach speed.”

  Walt nodded and said over the general frequency, “Our closing speed with the Tronan Formations is 20,000 miles per hour. That is both good and bad news. The good news is that in the time it takes the Egg to explode with its three-second delay, you’ll be sixteen miles away from the first ship you penetrate and will be outside the Egg’s blast radius. The bad news is that you’ll only be inside one of their ships for about a second. The Egg Layers must pull their levers quickly. You’ve trained for this and I know you’re ready. Contact in twenty-minutes.”

  • • •

  Walt kept his Command-Scout close to Gem’s warship; he was forbidden to enter the fight. He didn’t like it but knew resisting the order didn’t make sense if Gem was forced to leave. He still had difficulty believing that he was that important but Admiral Oliver was adamant. “YOU WILL STAY OUT OF THE CONFLICT AND IF THINGS GO BAD, YOU WILL DO EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO ESCAPE. I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE MY SENIOR ADMIRALS BECAUSE OF THEIR EGOS. IS THAT CLEAR, ADMIRAL!?!”

  Walt had sighed and nodded at the order. Tasha had told him afterwards, “Would you want Admiral Oliver to enter a raging battle?”

  “Hell no!”

  “Then the principle is the same. You’re just going to have to accept it and follow your orders!”

  • • •

  Walt watched the distance between the two-formation decrease…and then…they collided. He switched the monitor to a stealth-probe holding position high above the Tronan Formations and saw massive explosions in the leading line of Tronan Warships. He stared at the chronometer in the probe’s feed and waited for twenty-seconds to pass. The leading scout formations emerged from the Tronan line and moved toward the next Tronan line above it.

  • • •

  Ensign Jerry Ricks felt a bump as he penetrated the bow of a Tronan Warship and quickly glanced to his left. Another scout emerged in the Tronan Warship’s landing bay directly across from his position. With only a mile separation between the scouts, many, of the three-mile wide warships, were punctured by more than one scout.

  Jerry saw the scout disappear into the back wall of the landing bay and wondered what would happen if both dropped an Egg into that Warship. Both scouts emerged from the rear of the warship side-by-side and then instantly hit another Tronan Warship. Three seconds later, the warship he was moving through moved violently around his scout. He used the side thrusters to maintain his course and exited the warship an instant later. As he hit another Tronan Vessel, he had the answer to his question.

  Many scouts were thrown off course by the gigantic double blasts of the Eggs. They immediately moved out of the Tronan Formation they were attacking and accelerated over or below it. They arrived at the end of the formation as their attack lines emerged. They immediately moved back into their attack lines and assumed their prior positions.

  • • •

  Walt watched the scouts and smiled. He never anticipated they would be able to rejoin their lines. He shook his head and Tasha smiled, “You didn’t tell them to get out of the fight.”

  “No, I didn’t. I’m really glad I left out that little detail.” Tasha smiled and looked back at her monitor. The scouts were well trained and didn’t need detailed instructions. This was a good lesson for Walt to learn.

  The Egg’s explosions savaged the leading Tronan Line. The massive explosions took out Tronan Warships outside the scout’s line of attack and the debris that was flung out from the destroyed Warships hit many other Tronan Warships causing massive damage to their hulls. The attack was over in twenty-seconds and the two lines of scouts accelerated toward the second lines of Tronan Warships; twenty-seconds later, they ripped into the second Tronan Lines.

  • • •

  The devastation of the Leading Formation stunned the Senior Fleet Director. The massive explosions masked what was happening and when the small ships emerged from the rear of the Leading Formations, he fell back in his command chair. The Science Director looked up from his monitor, “FLEET DIRECTOR, THOSE SHIPS ARE NOT HARMED BY OUR BARRAGES. OUR SHIPS ARE INCAPABLE OF STOPPING THEM!” The Fleet Director looked at him in shock and the Science Director screamed, “YOU HAVE TO BREAK OUR FORMATIONS OR WE’RE GOING TO LOSE EIGHTY-PERCENT OF OUR SHIPS!!” The Fleet Director stared at him in a daze and two minutes later, the Science Director picked up his communicator, “ALL SHIPS, SCATTER. MOVE OUT OF FORMATION AND SCATTER!!”

  The Fleet
Director’s failure to make the order faster allowed eight more lines of his forces to be hit by the fast-moving scouts. The remaining twelve lines flew apart and scattered. Thousands of Tronan Warships rammed into each other as they flew out of their formations causing a huge number of crew casualties from the concussion of the impacts.

  • • •

  Walt saw Gem’s ship disappear and said calmly, “Move into waves and commence the next attacks.” The two waves of scouts flew out of formation and moved into their individual fleets. They formed above the carnage taking place below them and then reentered the fray in long lines moving parallel to each other.

  • • •

  Gem contacted Admiral Hummel and said, “I’m leaving the attack and moving back into the filament.”

  “Sir, I recommend that you enter the reverse flow and use your boosters to move behind my lead formation.”

  “What’s going on, Admiral.”

  “Hundreds of damaged Tronan Warships are entering the filament and moving toward my formations. I have Insectoid Warships firing missiles at them and, if you attempt to enter now, you will arrive in the middle of them, Sir.”

  “Are there any in the reverse flow?”

  “Yes, Sir. They are being swept away by the filaments flow and you should be able to move against the flow and avoid them.”

  Gem nodded and looked at Jack, “I’ll make a good scan before I enter the filament, Sir.” Gem nodded and knew his mistake of placing his ship in danger was now bearing fruit. He would not make the same mistake again.

  His warship moved in above the reverse flow and Jack flew the ship into the flow and went to full boosters. Suddenly, a giant Tronan Warships crossed into the flow from the other side of the filament and crashed into his vessel at a massive speed. Gem’s silver coated warship was thrown out of the filament and remained above Under Space for a moment before it entered Normal Space. The ship’s Bellingham hull survived the impact but the concussion killed the crew.

  Randy felt his heart stop as he saw the impact and heard Emily immediately order fifty-scouts out of formation to go to the vessel and check for survivors. He hung his head and after a few minutes, he contacted Admiral Oliver.