by Saxon Andrew
Chapter Fourteen
Jerry Ricks moved into his assigned wave and looked at Jenny Ricks sitting next to him, “Sis, are we properly aligned?”
“Yes, we’re in position and Commodore Gillene has ordered us forward.”
Jerry blew out a breath, “At least now I can see what I’m attacking.”
“Make sure you don’t attack a warship with another close by!”
“I’ll do what I can. But with this many ahead of us, that’ won’t be easily done.”
“JUST DO IT, JERRY! JOSE WILL NEVER FORGIVE ME IF I GET MYSELF KILLED!”
Jerry started laughing and felt his tension ease. He flew over three Tronan Warships less than a mile apart and hit one turned broadside to his approach in its landing bay. He continued through it and hit another warship at an angle that penetrated from the bow to the center of the giant vessel. He said while staring at his proximity monitor, “Are you able to release an Egg in time?”
“You worry about your job. I’ll handle mine,” Jenny replied.
The corner of Jerry’s mouth went up, his sister was relaxing and getting into the rhythm. He heard a tone on the portside and jerked the scout hard starboard and flashed past a Tronan Warship attempting to ram his scout. Jenny said, “That was a nice move.” Jerry smiled and lined up on another Tronan Warship.
• • •
The Senior Fleet Director managed to pull himself together and stared at the giant wall monitor. Space was filled with massive explosions over tens of thousands of miles of space. He had served in the Empire’s Forces since he was twelve-years old and never during his thirty-seven years of service had he encountered a civilization that could stand up to the Empire’s Warships. He looked at his Scanner Director, “Status?”
“We’ve lost more than sixty-percent of our warships, Fleet Director.”
He looked at the Science Director and he said softly, “You’re facing execution for this failure.”
“What would you suggest, my old friend,” the Fleet Director asked softly.
“Your crews deserve an opportunity to survive.”
The Fleet Director nodded and lifted his communicator, “ALL SHIPS, ATTENTION ALL SHIPS. FLEE INTO THE FILAMENT AND ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE! MOVE INTO THE FILAMENT AND ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE!”
• • •
Randy hung his head and heard Tasha behind him, “THOUSANDS OF TRONAN SHIPS MOVING IN ON THE REVERSE FILAMENT!!”
Randy took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. He contacted his formations and said, “Hold formation. We have Tronan Warships that have not been damaged entering the filament.”
“What about the damages ships?” Tasha asked.
“There are so many entering the filaments that they cannot avoid bumping into the damaged vessels.” A huge blast in the filament punctuated his remark. Randy contacted the Insectoid Fleet holding position outside the filament and said, “Move to the coordinate in the reverse flow and enter normal space to start cleanup operations.”
Randy thought for a moment and opened Walt’s frequency, “Admiral.”
“Sir, I’ve been attempting to contact Admiral Gem and he’s not responding. The surviving Tronan Warships are fleeing out of normal space.”
“Admiral Gem’s vessel was hit by a Tronan Warship at high velocity. I’ve sent ships out to check for survivors.” Walt’s face showed his shock and Randy said, “I need you to bring your scouts out of normal space and form up next to my formations in the reverse flow. You will hold position there until every surviving Tronan Warship has exited normal space. At that point in time, you will move forward attacking them from the rear. I will be forced to keep my units here to prevent damaged Tronan Vessels from getting past us into the filament leading to Heaven’s intersection.”
“Yes, Sir. I’ll start moving my fleets now.”
“Congratulations on your victory.”
“Sir, losing Gem makes it a loss.”
“You didn’t lose him, Walter; I caused his death.”
“I’m the one that convinced him to leave, Sir.”
“As you should have. This was an accident that happens in war.” Walt nodded and the monitor went dark.
• • •
The intersection the Tronan were attempting to enter was a nightmare of dying warships. The scouts moving up the filament finally arrived at the intersection and fell in behind the Phalanx holding off the wave of Tronan Warships spilling through the nexus.
Admiral Tej saw Randy appear on his panel, “Admiral, I have assumed command of the Fleets tasked with defending the Filament to Heaven.”
“What happened to Admiral Gem.”
“I believe he was killed in a collision with a Tronan Warship. You have several hundred-thousand Tronan Warships fleeing toward your location in the reverse flow. I will be moving toward the front momentarily and I need you to hold the filament’s entrance.”
“Sir, how do you want me to handle the Tronan Warships moving my way?”
“What’s your current status?”
“I have eight Phalanxes spaced out from the filament’s intersection. I have the seven behind the first Phalanx outside the filament holding position as punctured Tronan Warships blow past them. Half of my scouts are further back in the filament taking them out.”
“They’re doing a good job. I’ve not seen any make it as far as my formations. However, I have enough Insectoid Warships to move into the filament and take them out with missiles from long range. I’m concerned about the warships moving your way; they may attempt to cross over to your filament and ram your ships from the side.”
Tej shrugged, “I doubt they can manage to pull that off.”
Randy’s eyes lowered, “Tell me why you believe that?”
“With thousands of destroyed Tronan Warships flowing back from my front formation. I doubt they’ll be able to see it in time to change filaments. Do you know what speed they’re moving?”
“They’re moving at maximum speed, Tej.”
“My formation is only seventy-yards wide and there are thousands of damaged warships constantly moving through it. If they move in to hit it from behind, they’ll be rammed by the punctured ships passing through. If they attempt to move directly into it from the reverse flow, they’ll ram the Tronan Warships fighting to enter the filament from the intersection. If they’re moving at maximum speed, I honestly don’t believe they can pull it off.”
“I don’t want to risk the scouts in your front Phalanx. Let’s do it this way. If the oncoming Tronan Warships start using their thrusters and boosters to slow down, order your lead formation to get out of the filament.”
“But…”
“No, it will not allow them to gain entrance. The warships moving out of the reverse flow will ram into the ships attempting to gain entry to the filament. They will cause a break in the flow of their warships. Order your second line to wait for any damaged warships to blow past them in the filament and then have them move into the filament forming a new blockade. They’ll have to fight their way back to the intersection.”
“Sir, I need to relieve the lead formation and I’ll do that before they arrive. I think your plan makes sense and I’ll issue the orders now.”
“Thanks, Tej.”
• • •
Randy said, “Computer, connect me with the Commander of the Insectoid Fleets.” The Commander appeared on his monitor a moment later, “Commander, how is the cleanup progressing?”
“I must confess that I am amazed at the number of warships your scouts destroyed. We’ve not run into any issues so far but the cleanup is going to take weeks.”
“I need you to send me four-hundred warships.”
The Commander didn’t hesitate, “I’ll start them moving now.”
“Have them stay above the reverse filament flow and fall in behind the scouts.” The Commander raised an arm and disappeared from the monitor.”
Randy watched the long-range scanner and saw thousands of Tronan Ships leaving normal sp
ace and flying into the reverse flow. The large stream became a roaring river. Once they detected the thousands of scouts not far away, they dove into the reverse filament throwing caution to the wind. Some of the Tronan Warships were damaged too severely to be operational and they were bumped out of the filament. Randy heard Walt say, “I’ll assign a scout to take them out, Sir.”
Randy nodded, “At least those ships won’t have an Egg in them.”
Randy turned and looked at his scanner, how much longer was this going to take? Still, the massive numbers of huge warships continued to pour into the filament. Randy pressed his panel and said, “Captain Jugg.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I’m promoting you to Commodore and you will take command of the Phalanxes. You will hold your position against anything that comes down this filament.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Randy sat back and watched the stream of Warships continue to pour into the filament.
• • •
The Senior Fleet Director’s Warship ran at high-speed toward the filament and saw the thousands of scouts formed up in the distance. The other warships around him moved out of his way and gave him room to enter the fast-flowing filament. He was not going to take them on again if he could avoid it. The Science Director looked at him, “What are you going to tell the Senior?”
“I’m working on that.”
“You have about two-days to come up with an answer.”
The Fleet Director nodded and said, “How many ships did we lose?”
“We went in with half a million and only a 173,067 made it out of normal space.”
The Fleet Director knew that the Empire’s technology was useless against this new enemy. He wondered if the Senior had come to the same conclusion.
• • •
Tommy sat in his command chair and stared at the monitor. Roger looked at him, “You used to fall asleep during times like this.”
“Command has a way of making that impossible.”
“Why don’t you go to your quarters and get some rest.”
Tommy nodded and stood up, “You’ll let me know if anything changes?” Roger nodded. Tommy left the bridge of the Dragon’s Maw and headed toward his quarters. The situation remained the same. The front scouts had finally opened a gap large enough in the Tronan Communication lines that was longer than the range of their communicators. Now the scouts were not fighting to increase the distance but maintained the current gap. More than a four months had passed and it wouldn’t be much longer before any message-probes launched by the Tronan would be showing up. He leaned against the corridor’s wall and took a breath as he closed his eyes. Roger was right; he was exhausted. He stumbled down the corridor keeping his eyes on the floor.
Suddenly, Netty was under his arm supporting him. He looked at her with red-eyes, as she said, “Roger told me you were going to get some rest. He was concerned you’d make the trip without falling.” He smiled and stumbled to his quarters. Netty lowered him to his bed, where he collapsed. She removed his boots and then his clothes. She shook her head. She joined him a few minutes later. The Dragon’s Maw continued moving toward home and into growing numbers of Tronan Warships.
• • •
The Senior was past frustration. His forces were stopped in the filament as his warships trickled through the intersection. This was maddening. He learned that any warships that hit that small-ship formation immediately stopped communicating. He was tapping his foot when he heard his Science Director say, “Senior, have you considered the other filaments in this intersection?” The Senior looked at him with a scowl. “There are nine other filaments in this intersection. Perhaps we should send our forces on them to find a way behind their forces. Several of the filaments appear to be moving in the right direction.” We can at least invade some planets and collect stores for our fleets.”
The Senior knew there was a great abundance of civilizations in this space. Perhaps sending forces out would accomplish getting around these enemy ships. He smiled as he thought, and I will the first one to invade in this space and I can lay claim to the territory. I could become the Prime Director in this space. “Start sending seventy fleets into each of those filaments and send the transports with them. The remaining three-hundred fleets will remain here with me.”
“What about trying to break into the filament?” his Second asked.
“The fleets with me will move off the filament and wait until I hear from the other filaments.” The Senior looked at his Communication Director, “Send out another wave of probes notifying the Prime Director of my current situation and the steps I’m taking to correct it.”
Another wave of three-million probes left the rear of the long Tronan line and moved into the reverse flow of the filament.
A day later, the Senior heard his Scanning Director say, “Senior, I have massive numbers of our warships moving at maximum speed toward the intersection.”
“Where did they come from? Surely the fleets we sent into the filaments haven’t arrived this quickly.”
“No Senior, they are the survivors of the attack made in normal space at the site of the initial contact with this enemy.”
“How many warships do you detect?”
“Less than two-hundred-thousand.”
“I sent a half-million ships into that battle. Connect me with the Senior Fleet Director!” The Fleet Director appeared and he said, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING RUNNING FROM THE EMEMY!”
“Senior, I hope you’ve determined that our ships are no match for the technology being used by this enemy; my fleets found out the hard way. They are immune to our blaster barrages and they puncture our hulls and leave an explosive device behind. The only thing we’ve found that can destroy them is to ram them from the rear or sides.”
“Senior, I’m detecting thousands of those small ships in pursuit of the Fleet Director’s survivors.”
The Senior looked at his Communication Director and heard the Fleet Director say, “I’ve come up with a possible way to take out the ships pursuing me.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, do you have fleets at the intersection?” The Senior nodded. “I will fly through the intersection into the reverse flow and make the turn toward the rear of your fleets, where my ships will fall in behind them. As those small ships arrive at the intersection to make the turn, have your fleets ram them from the side.” The Senior stared at the Fleet Director and heard, “None of our ships that rammed them from the rear or sides were damaged.”
The Senior looked at his Second, “Set it up.”
The Fleet Director sat back in his chair and heard his Science Director say softly so he wouldn’t be heard, “Now that is a great idea.”
Chapter Fifteen
Angel sat with Ana and had her arms around her. Ana was wailing and only managed to keep it together for Elena to take the twins out to bow practice. Once they were gone, she fell to pieces. Angel hugged her and rocked her slowly back and forth. After an hour, Ana’s wails diminished and she grew silent. “I guess I should be thankful for the time we’ve had.” Angel nodded. “We should have died at Romania attacking my father. Gem could have died when the two-hundred Tronan Ships destroyed Heaven. I should be thankful.”
“We never have enough time with the men we love even if we have forever.” Ana nodded and stared weeping softly again. Angel continued to rock her and worried about Sam. This was the lot of those that chose to love a Warrior.
• • •
Leonidas sat on the Thermopylae with a heavy heart. Gem’s crew were former members of his Mercenary Unit. Even Bart was silent and had his head lowered. Desiree was softly crying and Leo kept his arm around her as he dealt with his sorrow. Embree sat silently at his console and heard Shelly say, “The Tronan are launching massive numbers of warships and transports into the other nine filaments.”
Leonidas looked up and squared his shoulders. He looked around the bridge and said loudly, “IT’S TIME FOR PAYBACK!” The sailors on the bridge
raised their heads and saw Leo’s burning anger. They straightened up and Leo looked at them, “ARE YOU READY TO DO THIS?!”
Bart snarled, “YES, SIR!!”
Leo nodded, “Notify the others.”
Shelly nodded and began speaking into her communicator.
• • •
The fifty scouts sent to Gem’s warship managed to go through the landing bay door that had opened at impact. They landed their ships and exited their scouts wearing spacesuits; the impact had knocked out all the environmental controls. The odds of finding anyone alive in the vacuum were miniscule.
Lieutenant Harper looked at the other scouts and said, “Half of us will move toward the rear of the ship and the other half will move forward.” Harper looked at the group headed toward the rear of the warship and said, “Each of you take a portable force field with you and check the port’s indicators you encounter to determine if any of the compartments are still pressurized. If they are, use a portable air compressor to put atmosphere inside the force field before you attempt to enter. If you don’t find any survivors, take the force field and compressor, and continue to move toward the rear. We’ll do the same thing as my group moves forward.
• • •
Harper led the scouts forward and they spread out in the corridors leading toward the bridge. They were forced to turn around several times when the interior walls had buckled in and blocked the passage. Everywhere they went they found death. The massive impact had propelled the crew into the walls and furniture. Even in the few quarters that were still pressurized, there was no life. A warship arrived and a shuttle moved into the landing bay and the scouts began moving the bodies of the crew they found to the landing bay. The first shuttle left to be replaced by another.
Harper’s group finally made it to the bridge, Harper was determined to bring the bodies back to be honored. “Sir, the indicator is green. The bridge is still pressurized.”
Harper nodded, “The bridge is the most heavily armored place on this ship. Set up the force field and compressor.” Harper and four other scouts moved next to the wall as the force field activated. The compressor began pushing compressed gasses out of the containment vessel until Harper saw the green indicator go on in his helmet,