by T. R. Harris
In actuality, Nate Allen knew his task would not be that difficult. These were all military professionals, who although they respected the concept of death, they did not fear it. In fact, after such a long lead-up to the fight, they were all chomping at the bit to get at it.
But still, this fight would be like nothing they had ever experienced before.
“All right, let’s get this meeting started,” Allen said with good-natured charm. Immediately, the light chatter died down and a number of coffee cups were placed back down on the long, gray-metal table.
“First off, I have to say I’m encouraged by your enthusiasm. Going into battle can test the will and resolve of even the strongest amongst us, and this upcoming conflict is unique in of itself. The field of battle, the forces we’re going up against, and even the nature of the enemy itself, is still mostly a mystery to us. Even though we do have Klin intelligence to guide us, this is all virgin territory for Humanity. As such, it has been virtually impossible to formulate detailed battle plans prior to our arrival in theater, and as the fight continues, our plans will naturally evolve. All of us need to be prepared for an ever-changing battlefield.”
Allen smiled and lifted his coffee cup to his lips. When he continued, he looked to his right at Admiral Howie Levin. “As all of you know, I have been put in overall command of the fleet, but you also know I come out of SOCOM, which is more adept at small-unit operations, not big-ass battles like the one we’re about to start here. As such, I am more than willing to turn over the day-to-day operational battle control and planning to Admiral Levin, who has vastly more experience with large-scale operations such as this. Admiral….”
Howie Levin was a studious-looking man, rail-thin with almost non-existent grey hair and dark brown eyes that seldom blinked. He had been in the Navy for thirty-two years, mostly in surface ops, having once commanded the USS Ronald Reagan. He was known as a master tactician with an unflappable demeanor, and if it hadn’t been for Nate Allen’s relationship with the JCOS Admiral Keller, Levin would have been placed in overall command of the fleet from the get-go. Yet Levin never questioned the decisions of the higher bass – of which there were very few placed any higher than he.
“Thank you, Admiral Allen,” Levin said without emotion; he simply rose from his seat and activated a large screen on the wall behind where Allen sat the head of the table. On the screen was a diagram of the Fringe, with graphic representations of its twelve habitable planets. Near the top of the screen, and fourth in the line of planets, was Melfora Lum, the capital world of the region.
“As you’ve been briefed, the Juirean fleet is massed near this planet, and according to both the Klin intelligence, plus the Human assets we have in the area, is about two hundred ships in strength. As best we can tell, these are all top-of-the-line warships, so even though we out number them nearly five-to-one, they still pose a considerable threat.
“As far as tactics of the enemy go, we have reliable data that the Juireans prefer to form static lines of attack and defense, which we intend to use to our advantage. Our fast-attack squadrons will attempt to cross the ‘T’ at the outer limits of their lines, concentrating fire at the narrowest point. We don’t want to allow any large segment of the enemy lines to concentrate fire on our ships. Do your best to maintain the smallest possible profile to the enemy guns, and attack in threes, so as to provide the most cover.
“Also, at the same time, we have to be aware that this is a three-dimensional battlefield, and that the enemy may come at you from any direction and from any angle. Just be aware.
“It has also been reported that the Juireans seldom retreat from battle. This has something to do with their cultural pride, which again, is something we can use to our advantage.”
“Since the number of enemy ships is quite a bit fewer than our forces, I will initially leave squadrons twelve and higher in reserve. Commander Schwartz and Captain Burton will take operational control of the initial attacking units. Remember, however, that we want to hold the sixteen hybrid ships back until we can determine the strength and effectiveness of the Juirean defenses. We don’t want to reveal our ace-in-the-hole unless we have to.” Levin stretched out a devious smile at his last comment.
Admiral Levin scanned the anxious faces of all the others seated at the table. The talk of actual strategies and tactics in the face of battle was serving as an aphrodisiac for the warriors in the room; there was almost a giddy exuberance in their expressions.
After a moment, Levin continued. “We’re all professionals in this room, so I don’t have to point out to you that the earlier victory against the Juireans was more of a fluke than a statement of our superiority. This upcoming battle, however, will be our first encounter with a force fully expecting the engagement. We will also be piloting interstellar spaceships for the first time in battle, and against an enemy with thousands of years more experience than we have. This is some serious shit, gentlemen. Just stay frosty, and I know you’ll all perform at your best.
“Jump-off is at oh-four-thirty hours. Now let’s all go out and make our planet proud!”
Chapter 11
As the Juirean Fleet Commander in the Fringe, Senior Guard Hoan Ga Chold was an experienced combat commander, having participated in the Ranqil Federation Uprising sixty-two years before. That uprising had lasted only nineteen days and consisted in a total of two space battles. He’d been a ship’s third-captain at the time, and as such was not involved in the overall planning and execution of the campaign, so his experience with tactics and strategy was not all that extensive.
He was, however, the only living Juirean Guard in the Expansion who had command experience during a military campaign. This limited experience made him uniquely qualified to lead the makeshift Juirean fleet against the invading Human forces.
Hoan’s position as Fleet Commander also revealed a major weakness in the Juirean military hierarchy: namely the lack of anyone with actual combat experience. Unfortunately, this was a consequence of several hundred years of relative peace within the Expansion. Most of the conflicts in the past had been a result of initial encounters with new worlds not familiar with the Expansion. Recently there had been a slowdown in Juirean exploration and colonization, and now the consequences of this ‘peace-dividend’ were becoming apparent.
Hoan had been groomed since birth to serve in the Juirean Guard. He was military through and through, disciplined and serious, exposed to all the theory and philosophy regarding the practice of war. And now, sixty-two years since his one and only exposure to the realities of war, he was desperate to recall any of the lessons he might have learned from that experience. Unfortunately, the lessons were not coming; the conflict had been too short and too long ago to be of any value to him now.
And that was why Fleet Commander Hoan was sitting in the command chair of his flagship, looking out at the illusionary emptiness of space, and in the process of second guessing the plan he and Overlord Kackil had devised. He knew that a battle of this size and complexity was purely an exercise in military theory, and with the Human’s short history of unpredictability, Hoan was having trouble maintaining confidence in his plan.
Even though he knew the computers had already counted the foreign contacts dotting his main tac screen, Hoan couldn’t help but try to manually count them himself. One-thousand thirty-four contacts, divided into three distinct groups. He let out a deep breath. His fleet level now stood at two-hundred nineteen ships, all front-line battlecruisers with the most powerful weapon systems in the Expansion. Still, it was an overwhelming numerical advantage for the invaders.
The Juirean plan called for the battle to take place within the Melfora Lum system, sandwiched between an asteroid field and a large gas giant. With such a narrow field of battle the Human numerical superiority should be muted, but not totally negated. The battle would be joined, and counting the enemy contacts on the screen, Hoan knew instinctively that the second part of their plan would have to be initiated. That realizatio
n made him feel a little better.
The idea of a Juirean victory in this initial meeting with the Humans had been entertained by the powers that be – briefly. But now, in light of the swarm of blue contacts on his screen, he knew that was not a possibility.
So all he had to do at this point was make it look convincing….
Chapter 12
Lee Schwartz couldn’t believe where he was – this was like something out of Star Wars.
Less than a year ago, he had been living out his life on the only world he knew of, yet like most boys growing up in America, having spent much of his childhood fantasizing about glorious battles in outer space, with ray guns and light sabers. And now, here he was, over a thousand light years from Earth, staring out at an enormous Jupiter-like planet with a thin, brightly-lit ring of yellow and orange. He was also in the pilot seat of an alien-built flying saucer, his small crew of twenty-five at their stations, and about to enter a desperate fight against the forces of a vast galactic empire.
In one way, it was a dream come true; in another – a nightmare.
Lee was operational commander of Eagle Squadron, with ninety KFV-A’s making up thirty three-ship units. Each unit was configured into a triangular formation, with a lead ship and two wingmen. Lee’s assignment was to feign a head-on attack of the Juirean lines, and then sweep to port, toward the asteroid belt. He would then cut across the enemy lines, crossing the ‘T’ while his ninety ships concentrated fire on the one or two Juireans at the narrowest point in their lines. The Juireans would then alter their profile to confront his forces. Once the Juireans broke formation, Falcon Squadron would penetrate straight through the center of the regrouping aliens and split their forces.
The Juireans were blocking the space between the gas giant and the asteroid belt, having formed four long lines of capital ships, stacked one upon another, and with shorter lines capping the top and bottom of these four lines. Even though the distances involved did not allow for the ships to be visible to Lee and his squadron, their locations were brightly illuminated on the forward tac screen, along with the half-dozen smaller screens at the various bridge stations.
There were six other people on the bridge with Lee. Four others manned the generator room, five were on the damage control gang, with the remaining ten divided among the two weapons-control stations. Lee’s ship was one of the few in the fleet that had been fitted with additional armament, namely the good-old-fashion 90-mm cannon and Hellfire missiles. The missiles had been modified to carry liquid fuel, allowing them to operate in the vacuum of space. Even though he carried this extra firepower, Lee’s orders were not to use them unless necessary. The brass wanted to first see how the KFV’s handled themselves against the Juirean energy weapons before revealing anything ‘special’ to both the enemy and the Klin. In a few short breaths from now, they were about to find out.
The bridge was quiet as the ship approached the Juirean lines head-on, their position represented on the tac screen, and flanked to the right by Sammy Burton’s mirror forces. At the right moment, both squadrons peeled away from each other and Lee accelerated.
Within moments they were near the edge of the first Juirean battle line, and to his relief, the Juireans did not attempt to change course to form a broader profile to his attack. Just then he felt the first jolts as his ship opened up on the target ships. The Juireans were still too distant to be visual, but he knew the maximum range of the bolts was somewhere around thirty-seven hundred miles, with the maximum strength rated at around twenty-five hundred. The bolts left his ship traveling at around three-hundred thousand miles per hour, so even though they consisted of a single intense concentration of electricity, they appeared as streaks shooting out from his ship, like beams from a laser. The bolts were also strictly ballistic, with no guidance once released. At the speed they traveled, impact would be only seconds away.
Off in the distance, Lee could see circles of light bursting forth as the bolts struck the diffusion shields of the Juirean ships. The area around his own ship suddenly flashed bright as well, as bolts from the Juirean ships impacted Lee’s own shields. The screens held, and he swept past the line and out of range, heading for the next row of Juirean battleships. Behind him, the string of KFV’s continued to pour a constant torrent of electric bolts at the lead Juirean ships until Lee noticed two of the red circles disappear from his screen.
The Humans had their first victories.
On the screen, Lee saw the long Juirean lines begin to break at their centers, with each half swinging around to face the string of Human ships speeding past them. The enemy began to move forward as a unit, forcing Lee to steer more to his left, maintaining the safest distance from the massive Juirean ships. As the Juireans reformed to face the Humans they unleashed such a barrage of fire that it looked like a solid wall of light coming his way.
The bolts hit, knocking his ship even further to the left. Nine of his ships disappeared from his active list, while twelve others reported damage sufficient to cause them to fall out of line and back to the main fleet.
Two more Juireans disappeared from his screen.
Sammy was having similar success on the opposite side of the lines, and with similar casualties. The plan was working; the Juireans had separated their lines of defense, opening up a channel in the center of their forces. Soon, a force of two hundred Human ships would penetrate the center and form two more attack lines, one to the left and one to the right. The Juireans would be split into two clusters, with Humans surrounding them both. Then depending on the attrition of the Human forces, Admiral Levin would either let the existing forces squeeze the Juireans into submission, or he’d bring up additional forces to overwhelm the aliens.
Everyone in the fleet knew the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion. The only question came from not knowing how many of the Human forces would be lost. They had been told that the Juireans did not retreat, so it was working out be a bloody battle – for both sides. But Lee and his crews would learn a lot. They would come out of this engagement battle-hardened and experienced. The next battles wouldn’t be any easier, just the expectations would be more realistic.
Lee’s ship continued to unleash barrage after barrage of bolts at the wall of aliens slowing moving his way. On the tac screen, he saw the first traces of the main Human force moving toward the Juireans. Soon the aliens would have to divide their attention to confront this new threat. At that point, the punishment his squadron was taking would be lessened—
Just then, an excruciatingly loud sound came from the port side of his ship. Alarms began to sound, as lights flickered and sparks shot out from the control boards behind him.
“Report!” he called out.
“We’re taking damage to the port perimeter, hull breaches in a number of locations,” Tim Carlson cried out from his position at the console. Tim knew the intimate operations of the ship better than anyone, so he was in the best position to evaluate the damage. “Damage control teams are being deployed. Port weapons battery is offline.”
“Send the port weapons crew to assist with DC,” Lee commanded. “What’s causing the damage?”
“We’re passing through a field of microscopic meteorites. The forward field is being absorbed by the well, but others are passing through the diffusion screens and ripping through the hull.”
“I’m reducing speed; that should limit the damage.”
“If the Juireans don’t blast us to dust….” said Latoya Scott, Lee’s navigation officer.
“Anyone else in the squadron reporting damage?” Lee asked the room.
Steve Sexton, his communications officer turned toward his captain. “Most of the forward units are reporting damage. The rear units are turning back.”
Lee watched the forward tac screen as the four stacked lines of Juirean battlecruisers continued to close on their position. He made a decision.
“I’m turning toward the asteroids. We’ll use the forward gravity well as vacuum for the particles
to clear a path.”
As the disk-shaped Klin saucer turned to port, the buffeting from the particles began to decrease, but now he was ass-end to the advancing Juireans. Where is Falcon Squadron? They better engage soon.
On the screen, Lee could see the blue-indicated contacts from his supporting squadrons move further into the gap down the middle of the Juirean lines. The two hundred Human ships passed cleanly into the opening then began to separate, with two units each beginning their attack on the rear of the Juirean lines. Immediately, the Juirean advance began to slow, as rear units broke off their pursuit of Lee to confront this new threat.
Once Lee was out of range of the Juireans, he slowed his ship down to a crawl, minimizing any further damage from the unseen meteorites.
“Damage report – how we holding up?” he called out.
“The breaches are being sealed, but the port weapons are still down and we’ve suffered damage to one of the generators, Carlson answered immediately. “Well intensity is down by thirty percent.”
“Quarterback to Eagle Command, report,” an announcement blasted out of the comm speakers. “Condition update.”
“Eagle Command to Quarterback. We’ve entered the outer edges of the asteroid field and have suffered damage to our weapons, hull and generator. I will be assembling the other damaged ships at fallback position L-151 for assessment and to commence repairs.”
“Understood,” came the immediate reply. “Repair units are already on station.”
Oh well, Lee thought, that didn’t go exactly as planned….
Just then a remarkable thing began to happen. One-by-one, the red Juirean contacts on the tac screen flared bright and disappeared. The momentum of the flares grew exponentially, until, in the span of about thirty seconds, the Human forces suddenly found themselves completely alone on the battlefield.
Lee was on the comm with Command immediately. “What happened to them?” he asked without protocol.