by James Edward
“They demanded that we turn over all scientific development and advances, as this is their right to have them.” This brought snorts and laughs from the science sector at the meeting. Outright shouts to murmurs of “no chance of that” echoed around the room. “Yes, I informed them of the fact that that technology was not going to be handed to them, much to their agitation. They even threatened to seize our ships to get the superior weaponry off of them. Again I had to explain that any movement toward our ships would result in our taking action against their shipyards and gate defenses. I understood that they have their back to the wall but told them that it would take years to build the infrastructure to develop the technology, and by the time they did, they would be overrun by the PRC. We did give them the plans for a more powerful beam weapon, as per your instruction, Ray. With that weapon on their platforms, they will be able to do considerable damage, and planet-based weapons with boosted power will be a major deterrent against orbital bombardment.
“In all, we will get no help from them and might end up fighting them as well down the road. Understand that, for the most part, the representatives that I met with were the same ones that gave away the AWG, all senators and governors.
“The one exception was the Belusticus system. Navarina was always a warlord system, and they have had the better victories in their battles with the PRC. They were prepared before the collapse and still prepare and develop as best as they can. They were very grateful for the beam technology and have pledged their support if needed. They also know that they would never be in a position to supply that help but were willing to supply us with any raw resource that were might need or a safe haven if we are damaged in battle.”
“I am saddened by the core world’s response but not in any way surprised,” Ray stated. “They are the reason that we are in this war now. I had hoped that they would wake up, but when the rot is in place for so long, it takes a supernova to change them.
“I would like to have a think tank to develop a plan to counter the pending attack by the PRC. All pertinent departments, have a representative present to assist. Final planning will be at week’s end. No pie in the sky quick fixes; plan for a tough fight. If they get through our blockade at the gate, they will destroy everything in system. Remember, they are here to kill your families, not enslave them; there will be no quarter in this battle.” Ray stopped and started at each man and woman sitting there. “On either side.”
PRC
In the Yegus system, in orbit around Omicron 2, a commander from the Office of Supply was dealing with a official of Great Ursa in the office of the fueling station. Both were talking in an urgent if not aggressive manner.
“Administrator Jenson,” growled Commander Dirkson, “I don’t care who you want to blame. The fact of the matter is that we have received a bad batch of fuel that is causing engine failures throughout the fleet. Our demand is that you flush the tanks and replace them with clean fuel. The Office of Supply will not pay for the fuel either unless you would like to pay the repair bills on over twenty starships that are out of commission.”
“The fuel was tested and passed as usual, Dirkson.” Jenson retorted. “I care a fig for your poor maintenance that caused your ships engines to break down. Perhaps it’s all the gate jumps you are doing, but either way, the fuel passed and will be paid for by Star Fleet.”
As Commander Dirkson was reaching across the table to grab Jenson by the lapels, the station shook. Alarmed, he turned to the window just in time to see one tank erupt in a ball of fire. All along the fueling docks, starships were disengaging their umbilical and trying to get out of the way of the fire. A fueling dock exploded, ripping a corvette in half, sending pieces into another ship and spraying fuel, parts, and bodies into space. The ships were in a panic now, blowing their docking clams and trying to get out of the way only to crash into another ship doing the same thing. In the crush of what was virtual demolition derby, another tank exploded, sending parts and pieces scattering around, penetrating other tanks. Explosions engulfed starships, which exploded as well. Docks tore themselves apart, and Commander Dirkson, Administrator Jenson, and all the station personnel were ejected into space when the roof of an exploding tank sheared through the station.
Out in deep space, Supreme Fleet Commander Arthur Selebus sat in awe as he watched the fueling dump orbiting Omicron 2 explode. He listened to the panic and confusion as the starships raced to get out of the way, just missing each other or smashing into each other, causing more damage.
Selebus turned to his XO and ordered an open channel for all ships to hold position, and only the tow-tug ships were to go into the fire to pull ships out. He raged at the captains of the ships for panicking, making this more dangerous and difficult.
In the Garthwood system, the PRC ships were fueling up at the fueling station that was in orbit around Sempter. They were blissfully unaware of the catastrophe at Omicron 2. This area was the fueling for the big ships, which were also having engine problems. Fleet Commander Ferling Stouwe sat in his command chair on the battleship Savage, going over the reports of fuel line and engine failures when the docks where the heavy cruisers were fueling exploded. Startled for a moment, Stouwe looked at the screen. Seeing the burning fuel engulf a heavy cruiser, he called for general quarters and ordered all ships away from the docks. Again, pandemonium ensued as the heavy exploded, sending shrapnel through the dock and into other ships that were trying to disengage. As that happened, the fuel tanks started to explode, sending balls of burning fuel in all directions, some coating other tanks and docks, others splashing onto ships. As on Omicron 2, the ships started running into each other, causing more damage and in some cases major damage. Titanium armor cracked or tore open, sensor arrays were ripped off, and gun mounts were sheared off the hulls.
In the weeks following, a report was filed and sent to the president, who in turn called a meeting. The two principals at the meeting were the war chief and head of Fleet.
“So,” Avis Garthman said. “The blowing of the fuel storages at both planets was the work of saboteurs. What is the final damage estimated to the fleet?”
“Excellency, there is no real evidence of sabotage, but there is no way that both systems would explode at the same time. Added to that is the fuel that is bad. Someone put something in the fuel that causes it to corrode fuel lines, engines, and fuel tanks,” the war chief explained. “We have had a major setback as we lost four ships with crews in the fires and explosions and three more ships due to the panicked reactions at the docks when they smashed into each other. Fifteen ships were significantly damaged to have them sent to repair docks, and thirty-four ships have experienced engine problems.”
“So no good news then?” Garthman asked.
“I am sorry, Excellency, no,” Chief of the Fleet Arnold Jagorsin said. “I will also add that we are down to 134 ships and that we will be delayed by at least two more weeks.”
“I suggest that we go ahead with the 134 ships. Three waves of fifty, fifty, and thirty-four should be sufficient to destroy the fortress platforms at the gate and engage their fleet. Maybe with any luck we will hit them when their fleet is gone,” President Garthman said. “Have as many ships as possible repaired, but make sure all the capital ships are repaired. We must remove the threat of this Conrad as soon as possible. Gentlemen, you have three weeks to refine your attack and launch.”
“As you wish, Excellency.” War Chief Julio Ruiz bowed.
0
Ray read over the file that the think tank had handed to him. It had a rough battle plan to defend the gate. They were anticipating a hundred-plus ships blasting into the system through the gate. Some suggestions had been to attack the ships in the two systems, or destroy the gate, which would strand them from conventional travel. Both of those were rejected for the moment. What was concerning them was just how many ships could transverse the gate at the same time. No one knew that, but the belief was
that a steady stream would enter and exit. They also figured that there would be waves because if the ships exited steadily, there was a chance of collisions and a choke point that they could saturate with missiles.
What was finally accepted was the use of the latest weapon, which was an extremely strong electromagnetic pulse or EMP. This pulse was so strong that it would even destroy the electronics in Ray’s Banshee, which was designed to protect from EMPs. The range was limited to 100,000 kilometers, and nothing was safe within that distance. All Conrad ships were to stay away from the gate.
It was also thought that the arriving ships would have missiles that would be fired into the space before and around the platforms to destroy the mines, so the mines, which had compressed air jets for maneuverability, were to be moved away from the targeted area. Once the first ships had passed through the area, they would move the mines back and activate them.
The two Anaconda carriers were to be hidden on the far sides of the mines field. At the right time, they were to launch their two hundred each Taipans loaded with ship-killer missiles and enter the fray. The rest of the fleet was stationed in layers to protect the guard platforms or behind to intercept any ship that got past the platforms. The two in-system guard platforms were fitted with ten thousand Dred missiles that were fitted with the jump capacity. They would target, launch, and destroy anything within the jump range. The two Mamba class battleships were to park cloaked out of EMP range and wait for the last wave, at which time they would attack from the back.
Ray approved the plan with a few tweaks. They did some practices and moved the mines for a reset later when the battle started. They tested the launch of the Dred missiles from the in-system platforms to test their accuracy and range. The marines were placed to protect all the planetoids and entrances. The solar forge was shut down so that it wouldn’t be noticed and destroyed. The refineries were shut down, and the huge fuel scoops were pulled. Conrad system was ready for the coming battle.
Out on the outer rim of the Yegus system, extremely powerful telescopes pointed at the fleet maneuvers around Omicron 2 and the space beyond there. Captain Steadman and Lyn Dawson watched the trials and practices of the PRC fleet. They had identified most of the ships and sent that information back to Conrad. They were interested in the new additions to the fleet. These ships appeared to be heavily armored and heavily shielded but oddly enough just had the normal point defense weapons. It looked as though the PRC had developed a new ship that emitted a gravitation emitting pulse that disabled anything in front of it. These ships could be a game changer. They would disable any ship, friend or foe, in front of them by firing powerful gravimetric beams, which would envelop a ship and then crush it like an empty pop can. Both Lyn and Steadman agreed that the guard platforms could be rendered powerless against an onslaught of graviton beams. Lyn figured that even shielded the guards were vulnerable to the beams. She knew that the think tank at Conrad needed to know that.
“Don, I think it’s time to leave,” she said. “We have to get this to Ray before he commits to a battle plan.”
“I agree, we have to move anyway,” he said as alarms started to sound throughout the ship. “We have been noticed from the surface scanners. They must have picked up on our reflection. We will have to go deep and head further out to the edge of the rim. There are a couple of corvettes heading in our direction. XO, plot a course away from the planet without blowing our cover. Try to get the ground observation post to believe that we are an anomaly. Move us toward the asteroid field and go dark. Use maneuvering jets to move around. I want no heat emissions.”
The Covert ship broke its cover and moved toward an asteroid field. Soon there was the hissing of compressed air jets pushing the ship around asteroids and rolling rocks. Dan with his XO plotted a course to the edge of the system so that they could jump without being seen. Lyn was eager to get to Conrad to tell Ray the new development. She also knew that there would be little time to counter the new threat. The fleet didn’t even notice when the ship flashed out of existence in the Yegus system.
At the Nerve Center in the center of the Conrad system, the incursion of a ship that suddenly appeared on their screens out on the rim was flagged, and an alert was sounded. Ray and the station manager, Early Landrew, both arrived in the tactical center at the same time.
“Hey, Ray, seems that we have an in-system incursion,” Early stated. “It’s got to be one of ours.”
“I hope so, but since we developed the technology to start jumping in and out of systems, I wouldn’t be surprised if the PRC hasn’t developed something of the same thing,” Ray said. He turned to the coms station. “Any communication yet?”
“Yes, sir, it’s coming through now with a recognition code,” the officer said. “It’s the Covert ship with Lyn Dawson requiring an immediate meeting upon docking. States that it is important and is sending an encrypted file, your eyes only, sir.”
“Early, priority docking and put the word out for the think tank to convene ASAP! I have a feeling that the file that she sent is detrimental to our plans for the coming fight,” Ray ordered. “Ops, how long to docking?”
“I have them on a direct telemetry, so eight hours at system speed. I can crank them up to sub-light speed, which will shave five hours off their arrival,” the ops officer stated.
“Do it then,” Ray ordered. “Top priority to lanes and docking, no exceptions. Early, can we get the committee together in three hours?”
“It’s doable if they all drop what they are doing,” Early said. “Question is will they drop it. Yeah, I know, Ray. We will express the urgency and send shuttles.”
“Thanks, bud. I knew I could depend on you. Can you flag my wife and ask her to be in the meeting? I will need some computer wizard on this encryption,” Ray said.
It took just under two and a half hours to have the committee assembled. Ray presented the facts and the video from Lyn. Sinclair had decoded it in the first hour. The video showed an oddly shaped ship that was more of a square box with one tapered side. It showed heavy armor and weapons dotting around the vessel and a flared nozzle at the center of the tapered side. It showed the tapered end firing what looked to be a beam, although it was practically invisible except for the disturbance to the space in front of the nozzle. The scene swung away to an old derelict frigate that was floating 100,000 klicks away. The disturbance reached the frigate and seemed to envelop it. The frigate glowed for a minute as the beam fixed on it, then imploded; it was almost like someone had taken a paper cup and crushed.
“Well that’s a hummer!” Sergie said in a quiet awe. “We will need some time to review and analyze this new technology. It would be nice to capture one of these ships.”
“It would also be nice to know where they got them, what system is developing them. There must be a secret system somewhere that the PRC is using for R&D,” Byron Weatherfew stated. “Where ever it is, it has to be new, as I had no idea that these were in development, and I am only out of the picture by about two years.”
“Agreed. I would like to find that research base. Lyn, do you think you could look for that base? I will get Sin to start doing a search through all the captured databases of the ships for a reference to this R&D base. Someone must be delivering supplies to it,” Ray said.
“I will start looking as soon as I get refitted. There are only so many places out on the rim that they can hide,” Lyn said.
“I am wondering what the strength is of those beams,” Sergie stated. “Perhaps they need all three to take on a capital ship or a heavily armored guard platform. Perhaps they were designed to go up against the core platforms and not ours. As well, just looking at the video, I don’t see any weaponry, which could mean that the graviton is a massive power hog. I will bring a copy to the research center and have a complete committee work on the video to see if we can discover anything of import.”
“Either way,” Ray said, “we wi
ll have to revise our battle plan to take them out first. That will be our number-one priority.”
“Agreed,” Lydia Goodfellow said. “I think we should use the inner two platforms to launch against the three ships. They will be able to coordinate fire against them. I don’t believe that any ship could withstand two hundred ship-killer missiles in a continuous volley.”
“I concur,” Ray said. “We will start in two hours to build a battle plan. Sergie, you start figuring this graviton out.”
The meeting broke up with small groups gathering to discuss the graviton ship. Ray, Lyn, Byron, and Sinclair walked down the hall to the cafeteria. They caught up on the news and people. Sinclair learned that her ex-husband was now the governor of Darnen, the habitable planet in the Jovan system. It was also where Doust was situated. Doust was a prison planet that was very short on water. Conrad had raided the prison planet, taking AGW prisoners and replacing them with the captured PRC prisoners from their various battles. Ray decided to pay the system another visit when things had settled down. He owed that to Sinclair. Lyn had heard that the regime on Darnen was very repressive, with the governor being completely ruthless.
Later that night, Ray held Sinclair and asked her what she thought of the news that Lyn had brought. Sinclair thought for a while and then replied.
“It was unsettling to hear about that bastard. I feel sorry for the people of Darnen.”
“You know, Sin, he needs to be punished,” Ray said softly.
“Yeah, I know, and I know that you will go there and deal with it,” she said.
“All in good time, but yes I will deal with him. If it works right, he will end up on the prison compound on Doust. If it doesn’t, then he will die in the governor’s chair. But first we need to deal with this new threat,” Ray said.
“Well if you have a little time, you can deal with something right now,” she said as she turned and started kissing him.