by Saxon Andrew
Kelly hugged her and said, “Let’s go join the planning meeting.”
“Planning meeting?”
“The Combined Planet’s Leaders are meeting on the top floor. We need to hurry.”
• • •
Sam looked around the giant conference room on top of the Fleet Operations Building on Romania. The last of the invitees were entering the room and he saw Kelly Green run into the room pulling a strikingly beautiful young woman behind him. They took a seat with the military personnel in the rear of the room and he saw Kelly give him a thumbs-up. Sam couldn’t blame him for not leaving that woman behind; she was something else.
Several Admirals were frowning at the two late arrivals in an Ensign and Midshipman’s uniform sitting down on their row and Sam said, “This meeting is in session and the first order of business is for Kelly Green to stand up.” Kelly went to his feet and Sam said, “Kelly Green has accepted a promotion to the rank of Admiral and will be commanding a new class of scouts designed to remove malfunctioning Eggs.” Sam looked at the gathered admirals, “If I were one of the Fleet Admirals here, I’d really try to get to know Admiral Green.”
Admiral Doris Agnew immediately stood up and ordered the lower ranking admiral sitting next to Kelly to move to her former chair. She sat down next to Kelly, leaned over, and whispered, “I want your best unit.”
Kelly leaned over and softly said, “You’ve got it.”
• • •
Sam smiled. There was not a shy bone in Doris’ entire body. He looked out at the assembly and said, “Fighting the Tronan in our space is over; we are taking this war to them. We will be reorganizing our forces to meet this challenge and some of you will not like the changes. However, that will not stop them from taking place!” Sam stared at the senior officers in the rear of the room and then looked back at the assembly.
“In the past, we’ve organized our fleets into fleets with more than two-hundred-thousand scouts. Not only is that unwieldy but doesn’t maximize the scout’s inherent advantages of speed and high maneuverability; it locks them up in tight formations where they’re forced to stay in long lines with no ability to maneuver. The Leadership Team recognizes those formations are essential in a war being fought in the filaments, but we’re taking this fight to their Empire and they are going to have to come out of the filaments to prevent us from attacking the critical structures of their civilization.”
Sam paused and said, “During the last invasion, the fighting was left up to the scouts; that will not be the case in the coming conflict. We will be organizing our forces into what we call Seek and Destroy Fleets; SD Fleets for short. Every SD Fleet will be self-contained and will go out in Tronan Space looking for a fight.”
Sam paused and said, “I should mention at this point that every one of those fleets will have transports assigned to them to move their forces to the sites of any battles and then move them away quickly if needed.”
Sam saw some of the Military start whispering among themselves and he smiled, “The Transports that will be taking you will have a faster speed than any vessel it carries.” The room instantly grew silent and Sam looked at Gregor sitting to his left, “We can thank Gregor McGregor and Gregory Romanov for that development. The transports increased speed is due to the power of their boosters and no fighting ship has more powerful thrusters. The two of them along with Gamgel, have developed fins and sharp edged wing units for the transporters, which greatly reduces friction in the filaments and increases the Transporter’s speed to more than our fastest scouts can fly.” Sam smiled, “Escape should not be an issue if it’s called for. I hope, however, that doesn’t happen often.”
Sam looked around the room and said, “Each independent Fleet will have one of Admiral Green’s units on board to remove any Tronan Vessels with a malfunctioning Egg in it. They will be used primarily in filament warfare.
Each unit will also have Missile Warships from the Dragon and Insectoid Military that will be used to take out any damaged Tronan Warships in normal space that aren’t completely knocked out of action. In the rare event that they’re needed, those ships will launch a missile barrage to keep Tronan Forces off our scouts, while they board their transports.”
The Insectoid King raised an arm and Sam nodded to him, “How are we going to keep our warships supplied? They are too large to be carried on a transport.”
Sam smiled, “We’ve forgotten how it used to be when our civilizations only sent warships out to patrol for extremely long periods of time. Warship crews are accustomed to living comfortably on board their vessels. However, the Transport’s landing bays are large enough for eight of your warships to land on them and be provisioned. The crews can take a break from action while that is being done, however, your ships are large enough for the crews to be comfortable on their vessels during our invasion.”
The King shook his head, “But with that many ships to be supplied, even our largest transports will run out of provisions before this conflict is over. And we don’t have enough transports to keep them supplied, much less carry our forces.”
Sam stared at the Insectoid King for a moment and then asked, “How many transports do you think we’ll need?”
“At least six or seven hundred, maybe more. Currently we only have a little more than a hundred.”
“What about twenty-thousand? Do you think that would do the trick?” The King’s tri-angular shaped heat did a full twist to the left, before he looked around and started shaking his head in disbelief at Sam’s response. Sam lowered his eyes and smiled, “We have more than twenty-thousand Tronan Warships available that Romania can convert to transports at a rather remarkable speed. They are five-miles long, three-miles wide, and two-miles high. The Tronan on Heaven have offered all of them to assist our war effort.”
The Dragon Monarch said, “How do you see them being used?”
“We currently have close to a million-scouts in our inventory and are adding more every day; we’ll be producing about 800,000 a year for the foreseeable future. As those new scouts come on line, they will be assigned to a transport and sent out to relieve one of the Units fighting in Tronan Space or simply add to our total forces fighting there.”
Sam turned and looked at Gem; he stood up and said, “Each transporter will have most of their blasters removed and missile tubes, which take up less space and power, will replace them. They will then have an advanced vertical storage system installed to house the scouts in individual berths in a much larger landing bay. That will make them capable of carrying fifty-thousand scouts on board along with enough provisions to keep them fighting for three-years. That means we’ll only need twenty transports to move our current inventory into Tronan Space.” Gem looked at the Insectoid King and said, “Some of the Tronan Ships will be converted to provision the Insectoid and Dragon Units in each of our units as well.”
“But we have about twenty-thousand warships available to send. That means a thousand of our ships will be going with each of these SD Fleets,” the King stated.
Gem nodded, “And we’ll have twenty-transports assigned to their support. They’ll carry the missiles needed to keep your ships fighting along with the provisions to keep them fed.” Gem looked at the Dragon Monarch, “A similar number will be supporting your warships.” Gem paused and smiled, “For those of you keeping score, in each SD Fleet there will be one transporter moving the scouts, twenty transporters for the Insectoid and Dragon Warships, and five transporters for the silver coated warships.”
“Silver coated warships?” the Monarch asked.
“Yes. Gregor McGregor also found a way to weld fins and sharp edges on his ship and we’re in the process of modifying the 10,000 coated warships in our inventory. He took his ship through a Tronan derelict and found it left a very large hole in it. Each unit will have 500 of them.”
“When will we start this war?” The Monarch asked.
“The Tronan started it, however, we intend to continue it in about a year or so f
rom now,” Gem answered. “By that time, we will be able to organize about forty of these new units.” Gem paused and then said, “Again for those keeping score, each of these new units will have twenty-six transports. With forty units, that makes 1,040 transports needed to move our units into Tronan Space. Gregory tells me that the necessary transports will be ready in a little over a year and that’s why we’ve decided to start our invasion then.”
Sam stood up and said, “Six-months prior to launching our SD Fleets, we’re sending five transports to scout Tronan Space to find targets for our SD Fleets. Each of those transports will be carrying forty-thousand of the old Ghost Scouts to go out and map the Tronan Empire. Ten-thousand of our new scouts will be on each of them as well strictly for the defense of their transporters.” Sam nodded to Gem to continue and sat down.
Kel raised a claw and Gem nodded to him, “You said we have more than twenty-thousand Tronan Ships to use as transports; what are you going to do with the others?”
“That’s a good question,” Gem replied. “I think all of you recognize that filling a transport with provisions, missiles, or any of the other stores needed to conduct a war takes time and performing that task while in enemy space is fraught with danger. We will provision transports here and send them out to replace the transports running low on provisions. The scouts will simply move to the new transport and their former one will head back to be provisioned. Those transports servicing your warships will simply be replaced.”
Kel raised his hand again, “That still doesn’t add up to more than two or three thousand transports.”
Gem looked at Gregor and he stood up, “I am going to use a large number of them to move my ground forces to Tronan Space when we find a planet being invaded.”
“Just how many ground forces do you have?” Kel asked.
“I’ve had more than seven-million Tronan on New Heaven volunteer to join my current forces.”
Kel’s head went back but the Monarch spoke first, “My Dragons will not be left out of this fight. My warriors will demand to be included in the ground forces.”
Gem looked at the King and Kel, “Can you possibly now see why we’ll need those transports?”
Sam stood up, “We will be shortly announcing the officers to be assigned to command the new units. Those selections will be based on merit and their actions during the Tronan Invasion. Some of you in the room will take a reduction in rank until more units are brought on line. I don’t think you’ll have to wait long for an opportunity to recover your lost rank.”
Sam’s expression turned serious and he glared at the assembly, “It needs to be understood that the Senior Commanders of these units will come from the ranks of the scouts and all of the other forces in each SD Fleet will report to them. All the other units are there to support the scouts; the scouts will be doing the heavy lifting during this effort.” Sam looked at the King and the Monarch, “Do you have any issues with this?”
The King shook his head and the Monarch said, “We were left out of the last conflict. Honestly, we don’t know enough to be in overall command.”
Gregor smiled, “Your Commanders will get up to speed quickly enough. Are there any questions.”
“Are the transports carrying our ground forces going to have to be defended?” Kel asked.
“When they arrive at the planet they’ll be dropping on, they will,” Sam answered. “However, I mentioned earlier that our transports will be the fastest vessel we’ve ever built. When one of our units discovers a planet being invaded by Tronan Ground Forces, our transports will leave to remove them. They will arrive in Tronan space in three-weeks. Any other questions?”
“THREE-WEEKS!” the King said in surprise.
Sam smiled, “I did tell you that the Transports will be the fastest ships in our fleets. Are there any more questions?” No one spoke and Sam said, “The Leadership team will be in contact with you about organizing the forces you’ll be sending. This meeting is adjourned.”
• • •
Six-months later, Tommy and Netty arrived on the Dragon’s Maw by shuttle. “She looks really different, Tommy.”
“The fins and sharp edges on the wings and rear stabilizers make her look like she’s got chromed.” Tommy smiled, “I’ve enjoyed my time on the ground but I’m ready to go.”
Netty snorted, “You were ready to go the day after our wedding!”
“Well, not right at that moment…but you’re right, I’m most comfortable in a filament. Have you spoken with the other Transports?”
“Everyone but Oscar is ready to shove off.” Netty shook her head and sighed, “There was a huge level of resentment when Admiral Oliver promoted our Commodores to command the Scout Transports leaving in the first wave.”
“That’s because many of them were losing their commands. The Admiral shut them down when he asked how many of them had been isolated and forced to survive alone surrounded by millions of Tronan Warships. He suggested to the whiners that if they were willing to command a Ghost Scout unit, he would put their names at the top of the list for future promotion.”
“I didn’t hear about that, Tommy. What happened?”
“Only six of them volunteered and he promoted them less than a month later. When the others tried to volunteer, he turned them down, telling them they had their chance. He wants Commanders ready to do whatever it would take to be successful. He didn’t need officers only intent on advancing their careers.” Tommy paused and said, “Admiral Oliver seems to possess natural wisdom that many lack. He promoted our Commodores because he knew we would be isolated and we would have to able to work together. I’ve seen some of the benefits of his decision already.”
“So, have I. Your two new additional stars look good on you.”
Tommy’s face turned red, “The Admiral didn’t have much choice about that.”
“Get out of here! You earned them!”
Tommy chuckled, “Travis Montgomery has two stars and he’s in overall command of our Ghosts. There are five One-Star Admirals on each transport commanding the scouts on board. He wanted there to be no doubt who was in overall command.”
“I didn’t get promoted.”
“Tommy looked at her, “No, you didn’t and out of all of us, you deserved it the most!”
Netty smiled, “But that would have required me to go to another ship…I’m not going to do that!”
“The Admiral understood. However, you don’t need additional stars.”
“Why not?”
“Because as my Executive Officer, you speak with my voice. You won’t have any problems with the other Admirals on this mission; they’re accustomed to following our orders and they don’t out rank you.” Tommy felt the shuttle bump slightly as it landed and he smiled, “Let’s go say hello to Leb.”
They stepped out of the shuttle and saw the entire ships compliment of sailors standing at attention in ranks and dressed in formal uniforms. Leb stood in front of them beside Admiral Montgomery. Leb roared, “ATEENNNNSSSSHUN!!” His roar reverberated in the giant landing bay and he said, “Welcome Aboard the Dragon’s Maw, Sir!!”
Tommy walked in front of them with Netty right behind him and returned his salute; Leb roared, “Stand-At-Ease.”
Tommy looked at Travis, “I thought you had a higher rank than Leb.”
“Only slightly, Sir and I can’t sound anywhere close to what Admiral Leb can do.”
Tommy laughed and said, “Dismiss the crew. And thank you for this welcome.”
Leb smiled showing his rows of sharp teeth, “The Crew insisted on it, Sir.”
“Notify all transports that we will be launching toward the Death Filament in an hour.” Tommy smiled, “It’s time to go to work.”
Travis smiled and yelled, “ATTTEEENNNSHUN! CREW DISMISSED!”
Leb looked at Travis, “Hey, that wasn’t half-bad.” Travis rolled his eyes and went to get his scouts ready. Leb looked at Netty, “It’s good to see you again, Admiral.”
“It�
�s good to be back, Leb.”
“I’ll have your things moved into your quarters and once you settle in, I’ll meet you on the bridge.”
“Thank you, Leb,” Tommy replied.
Leb smiled at them and said, “Yes, Sir.”
• • •
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN’T SEND ANOTHER INVASION!?!”
The Senior Director over all Tronan Military Forces said, “Oh you can send another invasion, if you only plan to send a hundred fleets.”
“ARE YOU INSANE? I JUST LOST A THOUSAND-FLEETS.”
“Along with all their provisions. Are you prepared to use ninety-percent of your stores, Prime Director?”
“No, of course not.”
“That’s what it will take just to get another invasion half the size of the one we just lost. Besides, we should make them come and fight in our space and have to deal with long supply lines, no communication coverage, and no idea of the location of filaments in our Empire. Force them to move around blindly.”
The Prime Director sat back on his throne and said, “Have you come up with a means of defeating their technology?”
“That’s another reason not to rush our forces out. We’re working on it but that will take some time.”
“How much time?”
“As I said, we’re working on it. I can’t say how long new discoveries will take. However, we have a year or more before they could send their forces here and they face the same problem with provisioning their fleets as we do.”
The Prime Director thought about it and then said, “We’ll do it the way you suggest. However, if we discover a way to defeat their technology, we will be going back to conquer them.”
“Yes, Prime Director.” The Senior Director left the audience and knew the Prime Director coveted the riches of millions of intelligent civilizations in the distant space. The Senior Director couldn’t really blame him.
• • •
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAVE TO DELAY OUR INVASION!!”
Gregor looked at Sam and shook his head, “Sam, I’ve just had more than ten-million recruits enter our ground forces. I want you to think about that number…ten-million. Just how long do you think it will take to get them organized into units and train them on how to work together. Much less how long it will take to train them to use our armor and weapons. Once you launch the invasion, our SD Fleets will be in Tronan Space in three-weeks. What happens when they discover a planet being invaded?”