“Ok, I’ll just get started,” she said with a chuckle.
“Leo, please let me know as soon as you complete your simulations, I need to know if we will leave behind an intact shell generator. We cannot and will not leave the shell technology in the hands of the enemy” commanded Inman.
Within an hour Leo Bennett excitedly paged Inman to join him in his lab. Inman ported to the lab and an excited staff of scientists and engineers.
“Will, I think we have the perfect deception!” began Leo Bennett, “take a look at this simulation, one of Bo Juniors staff science and engineering teams has been working with one of the dimensions; they call it the Replicator dimension. The shell generator system can be programmed to create the illusion we are just part of the Silirc fleet; we will just fit right in. The size of their fleet will be our cover.”
“What do you mean the size of their fleet, and why not just display an image of space,” asked Inman.
“An image of space alone would block the view of other vessels, and their sensors would then be able to detect us and open fire” began Bennett, “however, if we just look like another Silirc ship, they will be none the wiser. So the shell gravity systems will just look like another Silirc ship in their midst. At the instant the ships collapse into the shell’s center, the Star Eater will send a plasma ball through the wormhole right on top of the mass of ships. The fireball will assure everything in the mass of ships and the shell generators at the center of it are molten metal.”
“How long do you need to get it all ready?” queried Inman.
“The UB with the Star Eater is on route to the nearest star as we speak, should be there by the time we arrive at the Silirc location” replied Bennett.
“How many of these gravity shells can we deliver once we get there,” asked Inman.
“We can deliver about one thousand of them by the time we get there. We can manufacture about one hundred per hour, so we will have to pull away and start the process all over again” replied Bennett.
“They are too smart to fall for it twice; we have to get them all the first time. How long will it take to manufacture enough of the gravity shell’s to get the entire military fleet?” queried Inman.
“A couple of days” replied Bennett.
“Ok, let’s get your plan underway Leo” commanded Inman.
“We are already on it” Leo replied.
“Nice work everyone, you may have just earned your keep,” Inman said with a smile as he walked out of the lab and headed for the observation deck.
“John Cerro, please join me on the observation deck of the Titan please” Inman paged.
“Aye, sir” Cerro replied over the comlink.
Will Inman ported to the observation deck of the Titan to meet up with John Cerro.
“John” Inman began; “we need to buy time and keep the Silirc busy while we complete building the new weapons systems” Inman began. The Silirc are back on course for earth, and I am concerned they will arrive before we are ready to engage them. I would like to try and stall them. How about using the shuttle fighters and some of the smaller cruisers support ships to execute strafing runs, kind of like they did in the days of close in support, something to lull them to sleep, let them feel we are out of options. I have the feeling we will have a showdown with them on our home turf. We cannot afford any missteps.”
“I will take care of it” Cerro responded.
Delays led to other delays as casualties and frustration mounted. All the while the Silirc fleet was closing in on earth.
With the Silirc fleet within striking distance of Earth, Leo Bennett finally signaled the completion of the new weapon systems.
Will Inman ported to the command bridge of the Titan and gave the command “execute operation Indo.”
The Star Eater’s new position at the earth’s sun was uneasy although unavoidable reality as Inman brought the fleet into a defensive position between the approaching Silirc fleet and earth.
You can only protect your liberties in this world
by protecting the other man's freedom. ~ Clarence Darrow
Chapter Sixteen –Earth
I t was three in the morning in Washington DC when the call came, “Mr. President.”
“Yes” replied President Darren Shelton.
“Mr. President your presence is required in the situation room sir, we have a National Emergency sir,” said an excited voice on the other end of the line.
“What is the problem Bill” replied President Shelton.
“Sir, hundreds of spacecraft have just appeared in orbit. They are immense sir” replied the excited Chief of Staff Henry Sterns.
“I’ll be right there” replied President Shelton.
The President joined secret service agents standing outside his room and headed for the situation room located in the basement of the West Wing of the White House.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen” the President began as he entered the room.
As he was about to begin Will Inman and John Cerro appeared out of nowhere at the rear of the room. The entire staff was alarmed as secret service escorts quickly drew weapons and demanded Will and John to get on the floor.
“President Shelton, it is nice to see you again” began Inman, “we have body armor on, tell your agents not to approach us as they will be severely injured or killed.”
“Arrest these men” shouted President Shelton.
At his command, three agents lunged at John Cerro and Will Inman head on and their bodies partially disintegrated as the remains of their corpses fell before them.
The startled room filled with agents who opened fire on the two uninvited guests. Bullets disintegrated as they met the shell generator and within a few seconds the agents had spent their rounds, and General Lockman ordered the agents to cease firing.
“John Cerro, Will Inman” chimed General Lockman. “How did you guys get into this room and where did you get this kind of shielding?”
“President Shelton knows the whole story General” Inman began. “Mr. President the Silirc will be arriving in about an hour.”
“Who are the Silirc” interrupted General Lockman.
“Let them talk” shouted President Shelton, “I’ll fill you all in later.”
“Gentlemen, the Silirc fleet about to arrive here is over one million ships strong, half of them are battleships hardened by thousands of years of conquest and enslavement of other races. They are a luminous race; they glow in appearance as do their ships. When they arrive, the sky above you will light up the night sky. I am sorry; we tried many times to stop them before they arrived without success.
“What makes you think you can stop them this time?” queried General Lockman.
“We have a defensive force in place with a different battle plan this time. Our forces will meet them the instant they arrive, and you will see thousands of fireballs, and many of them will possibly fall out of the sky and onto the earth. We are not sure we can stop them, but we must. Our failure means the end of life as we know it. We will be leaving orbit within the next few minutes to a safe distance from here. I want you and the rest of the world’s leaders to know we are not abandoning you. Our forces are not sufficient to face them head on; we must attack them from a distance” Inman continued.
“You are just telling us this now” shouted General Lockman.
“We told Present Shelton and the entire World Alliance leadership months ago” began Inman. “We took them aboard our flagship the Titan even took them to the outer edges of the Milky Way. Your response Mr. President was, and I quote, “I would rather see the entire human race enslaved than to start a war we might not win.”
“All we wanted was supplies and personnel to equip our fleet with what we needed to fight the Silirc. The leadership in the Alliance of Nations betrayed the entire world. General, we had to commandeer the troops, supplies, engineers, and piece together what we could to mount a defense. Your leaders are traitors to their countries” explained John
Cerro.
“The blood of the brave agents lying before us is on your head Mr. President” Inman continued. “I suggest you warn the people of the earth to get underground as quickly as possible. We have no idea where the burning ships falling out of the sky will land.”
“Newman, get us out of here” commanded Inman.
Within two seconds both John Cerro and Will Inman disappeared before the eyes of everyone in the situation room.
Inman walked onto the bridge and ordered the fleet to retreat to the designated operations location. Within seconds the sky was clear of the Titan’s battle group.
Evelyn Reeder Inman met Will as he walked onto the bridge of the Titan.
“Will” began Evelyn, “I had a brainstorm while you were gone.”
“Is it something we can talk about later” replied Will.
“No, you need to hear this now, come to the lab with me. I think Bo Jr. and his team might have a solution as to how to deal with the greater numbers” continued Evelyn.
Will and Evelyn ported to her lab and met Bo Junior, and his team gathered around Bo’s fancy holographic simulation where a simulation of Evelyn’s idea was running.
“Good morning sir” began Bo Junior, “Mrs. Inman’s is a genius, sir.”
“I hope you did not bring me here to tell me that” replied Inman with a smile, “everyone knows she is a genius.”
“No sir” replied Bo Junior as he restarted the simulation.
“Will” began Evelyn, “The Silirc coordinate their fleet into a layered attack formation when they go into battle, kind of like sheets of paper one upon another with a substantial distance between each layer, there are about forty-eight of these layers remaining .”
“Ok” responded Inman as he anxiously observed the simulation.
Evelyn gave the simulation some commands, and small groups of battleships appeared at the front of each of the layers, two evenly spaced on each layer.
“I want to have groups of ships put the shell generators in tow and have them collect enemy ships like a magnet collecting metal shavings” Evelyn explained as the simulation began. “We have no idea how long it will take for the Silirc to discover our strategy and break formation to avoid becoming part of the collection of ships. I think we can gather and destroy the bulk of their fleet within about sixty seconds.”
“How long will the preparation take?” Inman queried.
“We can have everything ready in about an hour” Evelyn replied.
“What is the ETA of the Silirc fleet?” Inman asked.
“Any time now sir” Bo Junior replied.
“So we need to stall them somehow,” Inman said in a thoughtful tone.
“Why not contact them and ask for their terms of surrender, something to buy us time?” asked Elizabeth Murphy Stockman. “Take a lesson from the deceptive Indo race.”
Will Inman motioned to Bo, Elizabeth and Evelyn “Executive team, meet in the conference room immediately” Inman commanded in a comlink page.
“Ambassador Loken” Will Inman paged over his comlink, “please join the executive team in the Titans conference room.
The executive team viewed the holographic simulation and came up with a plan to distract the Silirc in a series of negotiations. Will Inman was not so sure Ambassador Loken would be able to stall the aggressive Silirc attack, but it was worth giving it a try if it would save human lives.
“Commander, the Silirc have arrived in orbit around the earth” reported Newman over the comlink. “They have opened fire on the earth, sir.”
“This operation is designated Clean Sweep” announced Inman as he turned his attention to his comlink.
“What formation are their ships in Newman” replied Inman.
“They are in their standard layered attack formation sir” replied Newman.
“Ambassador, are you ready?” asked Inman.
“Yes Commander, please port me to the bridge of the Silirc Supreme Commander” replied Loken.
“First I want to equip you with body armor and an open comlink so we know when to get you out of there” Inman replied.
“As you wish Commander” replied Loken.
“Newman, open communications with the Silirc Supreme Commander” Inman commanded.
“Aye Sir” replied Newman.
Instantly the Silirc Commander Schlickman was on the monitor in front of Will Inman, “Supreme Commander Schlickman” Inman began, “I am Commander William Inman. I would like to negotiate a truce with you on behalf of the human race.”
“There will be no truce commander, only unconditional surrender” Schlickman warned.
“Sir, we would like to have Ambassador Loken meet with you to negotiate the terms of our surrender” Inman continued.
“I agree to meet with him” replied Schlickman.
“Sir may I ask you to cease the bombardment of the earth while we learn of your requirements” Inman replied.
Schlickman hesitated and then gave a reluctant wave to one of his crewmen, and the bombardment of high energy weapons ceased.
Ambassador Loken ported to the Silirc ship and began the discussions. It amazed Will by just how much time Loken was able to waste in subtle but effective distractions about the greatness of Schlickman command and his fleet. Loken knew the buttons to push to buy time.
The minutes passed as Bo Junior’s team pressed ahead equipping of the battle groups with the supplies, weapons and tactical planning to carry out Operation Clean Sweep.
Inman glanced at the operation countdown clock, fifteen minutes remaining.
“How are preparations coming along Bo” queried Inman over his comlink.
“We will be ready Commander” replied Bo Junior.
“I think Ambassador Loken is in trouble sir” announced Newman.
“Put it on my console and get ready to port him back here the instant I give the command and watch his body armor strength” commanded Inman.
Images of the negotiations appeared on Inman’s console. It was obvious Schlickman had grown impatient with Loken's stalling tactics. Armed guards were ready to fire on the Ambassador as Schlickman demanded Loken return and announce his terms to earth’s leaders.
“Very well” Loken announced with hesitation as he signaled Newman to transport him back to the Titan’s conference room.
“Cerro” Inman commanded, “Establish the shell web the minute the Silirc begin to send in invasion forces, I want a carpet of destruction laid out in front of them. As soon as they open fire and start penetrating the shells on the ships generating the web I want them out of there.”
“I am on it sir” replied Cerro.
Almost as soon as Inman gave the command, the Silirc invasion force began to leave the massive formation headed toward earth.
Cerro sent in the web generating ships ahead of them and as they tried to pass the web damaged the ships to the point they began falling freefall toward earth.
Within minutes Commander Schlickman realized Lokman deceived him and commanded his fleet to open fire on the web generator ships.
Cerro recalled the ships and simultaneously deployed shuttle fighters to combat the landing forces. Schlickman countered with battle cruisers fighting to gain firing solutions on the small, maneuverable shuttles.
Inman looked up at the operations countdown clock, five minutes. Time was moving very slowly.
“One of the shuttles is in trouble sir” Cerro reported.
“Get the crew out, send it on a collision course and detonate it as soon as it gets close enough to Schlickman’s ship to do some damage” Inman ordered.
“Already done sir” Cerro replied.
“The landing forces are breaking through Sir; there are just too many of them” reported Cerro. “Earths forces are engaging the landing ships, sir, the Silirc ships are repelling everything they are throwing at them.”
“Have the shuttle fighters follow them all the way into the atmosphere; I don’t want any of them getting through” commanded Inman.
“We are ready sir” Bo Junior reported.
“Deploy Operation Clean Sweep” Inman commanded.
Aboard the Supreme Commander Schlickman’s flagship, things were going according to plan for the Silirc leader.
“Battle formation” Schlickman commanded.
Schlickman used his layered defensive positions every time they had come into contact with the humans and each time they were able to fight off the pesky little fighter craft and force them to retreat.
“Begin the bombardment and deploy the troop landing craft” ordered Schlickman.
“Yes, Supreme Commander” replied his fire control, officer.
Schlickman knew the human fleet would be upon them soon. He had a special surprise for them this time on two fronts. Schlickman had discovered the humans were reluctant to fire on civilian ships, so he cunningly ordered civilian ships to be positioned within the battle groups to act as human shields.
Sending in the landing craft would split the human attackers into two groups as they would have to fight off the landing craft escorts at the same time they tried to silence the bombardment coming from within the massive Silirc fleet.
The bombardment was targeting air and missile bases trying to deploy defenses; the humans were throwing everything they had at the Silirc fleet; however, the conventional weapons they employed were ineffective against the Silirc shielding.
Schlickman was suddenly uneasy.
“Where is the human fleet, small but effective,” thought Schlickman. “They should be here and why are they not deploying their dimensional array weapons from the planet they used against us so effectively in the past.”
“Move us away from the battle group” ordered Schlickman.
“Commander Schlickman, the human fleet has just dropped out of warp and are taking positions outside our perimeter” announced Schlickman’s fire control officer.
“There is the answer to my first question,” thought Schlickman as his ship broke formation.
Battle Group Titan: Beyond Warp ((Battle Group Titan Series Vol 1)) Page 20