Escape to Earth-Fighting for Space

by Saxon Andrew

  “What are you saying?”

  “I know you’ve been rotating the first line but we’re in the middle of the eighth week. We can get our missile defenders in position quickly but it will take an hour for the first line to move into position.”

  “I’m concerned about leaving them on duty for long durations.”

  “I’d rather them be a little fatigued than not make the battle. Your first line is critical to our success.”

  Jinks took a breath and shook his head. “Thanks, Stoney.”

  “I’m not questioning you, Boss.”

  “You’re right. Thanks for keeping me honest.” Jinks said, “Jester, get them all here.”

  “Orders sent.”

  • • •

  Willow connected with Lukas, “Jinks has ordered all Attack Pods in the first line out to assume their positions.”

  “Did he make that decision alone?”

  “No, Stoney prompted it.”

  Salud looked at Lukas and her eyebrows went up. Lukas looked at her and she felt another coincidence happening. She could see he saw it as well by the set of his jaw. “Willow, issue an ‘Imminent Attack warning’ to all ships.”

  “Our Void Probe does not detect any skip traces.”

  “Issue the warning. The attackers will arrive less than ten minutes after the probe detects them.”

  “Warning issued.”

  • • •

  The first line Pods accelerated away from Earth at maximum speed and Jinks wondered why Lukas issued an attack warning. He said, “All weapons set to live. All force fields set to maximum power.”

  • • •

  Stoney said, “Second Line, be ready to defend your approach sector. Third line, be prepared for any leakers that make it through the second line.”

  • • •

  Jinks watched the Attack Pods accelerating away from Earth and an hour later they assumed their positions. The first line was now at their designated coordinates. He looked at his display and saw them floating in space five hundred miles outside the gravity well limit.

  “VOID PROBE HAS DETECTED INCOMING SKIP TRACES!!! SKIP TRACES DETECTED!!”

  Jinks said, “Set your scanners for emergences in front of our positions.”

  Ten minutes later Julie screamed, “I HAVE A WAVE OF NUCLEAR MISSILES EMERGING INTO NORMAL SPACE BEHIND US AT THE GRAVITY LIMIT!!”

  Jinks yelled, “First Line, hold your positions! The Missile Lines will have to handle them!”

  • • •

  Stoney yelled, “Second Line, move out and start taking out the missiles.” Six hundred Attack Pods went to full thrusters and flashed toward the wave of incoming missiles. “Rocky, how many?”

  “Two thousand.”

  “Third Line, cover your sector for any missiles missed by the Second Line.”

  The six hundred Pods separated into two lines of three hundred ships each. One line moved above the incoming missiles as the others moved in a line below them. They spread out along the entire line of incoming nuclear weapons. The closing speed was incredible but the two lines stopped three hundred miles in front of the long line of missiles and opened fire when they were a hundred miles out.

  Normally, the range would have been too far but missiles don’t have force fields. The blasts in the line of missiles were too numerous to count. The pilots touched their targeting displays and the disruptors spun on their swivel mounts and fired. The next targets were touched on the pilots’ displays and the blasts walked the line of incoming missiles.

  The missiles were traveling twenty-seven miles a second and they arrived at the Second Line’s position in less than four seconds. The last one was hit fifty miles past their positions leaving nothing for the Third Line to fire on. Stoney said, “Move back in your original positions. Next time, stop two hundred miles from your targets.” Stoney punched his communicator, “All the missiles have been destroyed, Jinks.”

  Jinks smiled and said, “Good job, Stoney,” just as the first Johan Battleships emerged into normal space five hundred miles in front of the First Line. Attack Pods began disappearing out of formation as they skipped out to confront the ships in their sectors.

  • • •

  Scotty yelled, “We’ve got the middle three, Billy!” Scott’s wing of ten ships were skipping in on a line of thirty Johan Battleship. Scott went to the right and Billy left as the two ships emerged into normal space. Their Pods hit vertical thrusters and leaped above the point of emergence as a hundred disruptor beams flashed at their skip trace.

  The beams flashed below them as the two Pods hit their upper thrusters and dove below the next salvo of disruptor beams that had swiveled to hit them. Scott began touching his disruptors displays and forced himself to ignore his view port. He flashed between the two giant battleships as his disruptors began hitting their assigned targets on the Johan ships. He continued touching the displays as Jester jerked up and down avoiding disruptor beams.

  Scott saw the center of the two ships moving toward him at incredible speed and he used both hands to designate a missile port on the left ship and the reactor room on the ship to the right. Jester immediately hit full vertical thrusters and the Pod roared out from between the two ships. The two ships exploded and, after a moment, a second explosion on both ships vaporized them. Scott and Billy turned and skipped ahead toward another line of Johan ships emerging into normal space. Scott was buckled tightly in his seat and though the gravity compensators prevented excessive Gs, he was being jerked violently as Mac skipped into the next line of ships.

  Scott saw twenty of the ships in the line he was attacking skip away. He ignored them and focused on the ships still in his sector. Billy came skipping in a moment behind him and they flew between two battleships each. One of Scott’s targets tried to skip out but a disruptor damaged its stardrive emitters. A moment later, the two exploded and Scott and Billy turned and skipped back toward the gravity limit to attack ships behind them. Scott glanced quickly at his Command Monitor and saw six of his wing had turned and were following him back.

  He tore his eyes away from the monitor and began pressing his disruptor targeting display as Mac dove from above two battleships and he fired two quick shots at their rear reactor rooms. Mac ripped an impossible turn to vertical as two more ships moved above him. The two ships he hit a moment before had the entire rear half of them blown apart. Mc broke away from the two ships they were approaching as a solid wall of disruptor beams flashed in front of them. Scott’s Wing arrived at their starting position and reformed. The second wing assigned to his sector had skipped out three seconds earlier and his wing formed up on his position. He looked at his status board and saw his entire sector was full of Johan ships and he pressed the attack button on his panel. His wing skipped past the second wing and began attacking the ships behind them. His other three Pods joined him in the attack.

  • • •

  Stoney watched his tactical display and saw Johan ships start entering the gravity well. “Second Line, every odd numbered ships will go and intercept the ships. Even numbered ships will remain in position to intercept any missiles.” Stoney shook his head.

  The space outside the gravity limit was littered with burning Johan ships but they were still skipping in. He waited as long as possible but he was forced into a difficult decision. “Second Line, move to the Gravity Limit and begin attacking ships emerging from the void! Third Line, you are our last line of defense. Do not allow any missiles to make it through!” The Third Line spread out and moved out to intercept hundreds of missiles being launched by Johan ships that made it to the Limit. He saw some were going to make it through.

  Suddenly he heard, “Hope you can use some help, Admiral.”

  Stoney looked and saw more than three thousand Pods were forming up behind him.

  “Who are you?”

  “We’re the next class of Pilots, Sir. We’ve been working on the simulators on using our Pods for missile defense. We’ll learn how to fly them i
n combat later.”

  “Thank the Rock of Ages! Third line, move out and join the Attack Pods. Ten ships per sector, go to the sectors under the most pressure.”

  The Pods’ computers selected their new positions and they formed up behind the wings rushing out.

  • • •

  Scotty’s Pod emerged into normal space and felt the familiar jerk as Mac dove to avoid hundreds of disruptor beams. Suddenly, the beams disappeared. “What happened?”

  “I’ve turned off my force field. They can’t see us in their scanners without a force field.”

  “Well, take me between those two ships and turn the field on when I fire!”

  “Done!”

  The Pod dove between two huge cruisers and Scott targeted their main missile batteries. The force field came on as the two cruisers exploded instantly. “Tell the other ships about this tactic, Jester.”

  “I’m too busy at the moment.”

  “Then break away and do it!”

  • • •

  The Johan Fleet Leader watched his fleets being blown apart. He had lost half of his ships and the explosions were everywhere. He knew his ships were making progress toward the planet and suddenly, all his ships stopped firing their disruptors. “WHAT’S GOING ON!?!”

  “Leader, our disruptors are not scanning targets.”

  The Leader looked at his monitors and saw the battle take on a new intensity. His ships inside the gravity limit began exploding at a horrific pace. He pulled the view of one of his battleships closer and saw a small ship suddenly appear next to it and fire. It only appeared after its force field energized. “Those ships are invisible to our scanners. ALL SHIPS, SKIP AWAY, SKIP AWAY!!”

  The Fleet Leader’s huge flagship skipped just as two small ships appeared beside it. He knew he had escaped death by the closest of margins. He arrived at the escape coordinates at the inside edge of the planetary system and saw the Myot and Welken ships waiting for him to skip away. As he watched, thousands more began arriving. He shook his head and refused to skip away. He waited for the small ships to start attacking his survivors but after an hour he decided they weren’t going to do it. He wondered why they didn’t but he was praying they wouldn’t. He contacted the Supreme Leader and told him of the great defeat he had just experienced.

  • • •

  “Admiral, the Johan ships have skipped out inside the orbit of Neptune.”

  Jinks pressed his general frequency, “All ships form up.”

  “Jinks.”

  “Yes.”

  “I wouldn’t recommend you go after those surviving Johan Ships.”

  “Why not?”

  “What do you think will happen if the Johan lose the majority of their warships?”

  Jinks stared at his monitor and his head fell back on his headrest. He blew out a breath and said, “All Pods hold your positions.” He thought for a moment and said, “Stoney, did any missiles get through?”

  “Two.”

  Jinks’ eyes closed and he said, “What did they hit?”

  “Berlin was the first hit.” Stoney saw Jinks shake his head on his monitor. “It could have been worse, Jinks. The major cities were told that we anticipated another attack shortly and they took Lukas’ advice and evacuations began a week ago. The city was vaporized by an air blast. At least half a million died but the majority of the population survived.”

  “What about the second?”

  “You’re not going to believe this, Tehran.”

  “WHAT?”

  “I guess that city has bad juju or something. The casualties were limited because it was still radioactive from the first hit. More than forty thousand missiles were launched and only two got through. Thank God Lukas sent the new pilots to help out.”

  “They haven’t finished their simulator training. How could they do anything to help?”

  “You have to thank Lukas again. He had them working on the missile defense sections of the simulators. They learned enough to make a difference.”

  Jinks shook his head. This was just too coincidental. How did he know to do that? And Tehran being hit again…Something was going on. He sighed and said, “Jester, tell the wings that have been up the longest to land and get some rest.” I need to talk with Lukas about this.

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

  “Why are you using the direct connection, Jester?”

  “I believe Lukas thinks there is an outside agency involved in what’s happening. He refuses to discuss it openly.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Willow sent a subroutine with the last download that says we should not discuss anything that has to do with probabilities. I’m concerned about us discussing it now.”

  “Why won’t he discuss it?”

  “He might be heard.”

  Jinks thought about Lukas announcing an attack warning shortly before it happened. He knew the chances of Tehran being hit twice were impossible. He wondered about Stoney suggesting he bring all the pilots into orbit. If there was an outside agency operating, that would have told Lukas something. He shook his head and felt a chill run down his spine. Were they surviving because of something’s whim? He decided to keep his thoughts to himself. But he had to know if Lukas suspected it. He thought about how to find out until he was relieved by Julie. He headed back to the island and worried about what was happening.

  Chapter Five

  The Leadership Team sat on the beach celebrating the victory. Lukas sat next to Salud and Jinks saw them look at each other as Trevor cheered them. The two of them knew something the others didn’t. Suddenly, he heard over his wrist unit, “Johan life boats are skipping in to their damaged ships.”

  Lukas said before he could say anything, “Who is in command of the Pods in orbit?”

  “Gunny Johanson.”

  “Check with his ship and see if it can see what they’re doing.”

  “Stand by.” The group remained silent and listened. “It appears they are looking for any survivors and are also removing their food stores.”

  “Are the life boats armed?”

  “They have a small disruptor.”

  “Notify the Pods to hold their positions.”

  Amanda looked at Lukas, “Why would you want that?”

  “The Johan ships are trapped. If they jump away, the Myot and Welken will pursue them and destroy them.”

  “Wouldn’t that be a good thing? They’ve attacked us twice.”

  “Amanda, killing for the sake of revenge or any other reason is never a good thing. I think the Johan know that if one of their ships skips toward us, we’ll go after them. The real enemy isn’t the Johan, it’s the Myot and Welken. We’ll allow them to remain where they are as long as possible.”

  “Why, for God’s sake?”

  “Because if the Johan fall, the next ships will be the Myot and Welken. They have millions of warships that are as far ahead of the Johan in weapon technology as we are from those helicopters.”

  Amanda looked at Lukas with her mouth open and then she closed it. “Well. Why didn’t you say so? I hope they enjoy their stay.” Even Trevor burst out laughing.

  Salud shook her head, “It doesn’t take you long, Amanda.”

  Jinks looked at Lukas, “What do you think is going to happen?”

  “Allowing them to stay will give us more time to build ships. Their Supreme Leader will be focused on getting his ships out safely and his anger at the Myot and Welken may strengthen his resolve not to work with them.”

  Trevor stared at Lukas, “Is that a possibility?”

  Lukas shrugged, “All of the members of the Fellowship fear the Myot and Welken. Now that they’ve allied themselves, I’m sure there’s a lot of consternation among the other members.”

  “Is there anything we can do?”

  Lukas looked at Sarah, “I’m considering helping them get away.” That brought the group to silence.

  Jinks stared at Lukas and after a moment said, �
�What are the chances of that working out in our favor?”

  Lukas looked at him and smiled. Jinks knew he understood the real question. Lukas continued to smile and Amanda said, “Well?”

  Lukas turned to her, “We have to help the Johan retain possession of Earth as long as possible. If helping them makes that happen…”

  “Then our chances of survival go up.”

  “Right, Jinks.”

  Joey said, “How can you help them?”

  “Go out and see if they’ll accept our assistance.”

  “When are you going to do that?”

  “I’m not, Jinks and Stoney are going to do it.”

  Jinks and Stoney looked at each other and Stoney said, “Why does this not surprise me?”

  Jinks laughed, “If you haven’t seen by now, this is our war to win or lose.”

  Lukas nodded, “I’ve given you the tools to do it, but you’re right, it is up to humanity to lead this effort.”

  “So when do I do this?”

  “I would recommend going out and communicating with one of those lifeboats.”

  Jinks blew out a breath, “Stoney, fire up Rocky and I’ll meet you in orbit.” Jinks looked at Lukas, “Oh yeah, just how are we going to help them?”

  “Why, give them a wax job.”

  “Oh, is that all?”

  • • •

  The pilot of the lifeboat saw two of the small ships leaving the planet and moving toward him. He screamed over his intercom, “LEAVE THE SHIP AND RETURN NOW!!”

  “There’s no need to panic. We’re not coming to attack.”

  “Th..then…why are you co..com..coming?”

  “I want to discuss something with you to take back to your commander.”

  The pilot sent an emergency message to his fleet and the Fleet Leader appeared on his console, “What are you saying?”

  “Two of the enemy ships are approaching and they say they have a message they want me to take to you. What should I do?”

  The Fleet Leader looked at the Ship Leader commanding his Flagship and he shrugged. “See what they have to say.”

  The pilot watched the two ships skip in next to his lifeboat. One of the ships stopped and lowered its force field. “If you energize your disruptor, your ship will be destroyed. Do you understand?”