“The satellite system is back online, sir! We’ve reestablished communication with our colonies!” she exclaimed.
“Show us the latest images.”
“Yes, sir.”
She ran back to her station. A few seconds later, it was clear their worst fears had been realized. Again there were audible gasps of shock around the command center, as everyone present stared at the ruins of the largest city, Ulara, on Loveer, one of Terea’s colonies, as well as that of cities on other Alliance colony worlds.
“Oh, my God! First the production centers on Mars and Europa, and now this!” exclaimed Johnson, clearly shocked.
Ray sighed. This situation was deteriorating by the minute. But he had an idea. While he doubted anyone would take him seriously, he threw caution to the wind and motioned Johnson over to him.
“Yes, Captain Perkins?” Johnson asked.
“Sir,” Ray whispered quietly, “I have to talk to you about
this situation.”
He quickly glanced around, and his eyes locked on Thompson, who seemed to be glaring at Ray.
“In private.”
Johnson nodded quickly, and together they went into a small adjoining briefing room. Once the door had closed behind them, Ray began, “Dr. Johnson, I know I’ve said this before…but I still think Commander Thompson was responsible for attacking the Rockoids first….”
Johnson sighed. “Ray, please, you know we can’t talk about this. Do you know what she would do if she heard what you were saying? You’d be stripped of your rank, court martialed. I’m cutting you slack here, but you’ve got to face reality. There’s no way…”
“What about my dreams? What if Thompson really did attack them first?”
The scientist shook his head. “Oh come on. That’s crazy, just crazy. I’ve known Liz nearly all her life. She’d never betray the Alliance if her life depended on it!”
“My dreams clearly show…”
Johnson held up a hand. “I’m sorry, Captain, but just because you weren’t born in this century doesn’t mean you are exempted from following your orders and obeying our laws. I order you to stop this behavior this instant. Don’t do anything rash or else you could very well sabotage our entire military operation.”
He paused for just a moment to let his words sink in. Ray looked on in stunned silence.
Quite reluctantly, Ray finally replied, “Yes, sir.”
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Johnson gave an acknowledgment and it rapidly slid open. Francesca burst into the room, with a big smile on her face.
Johnson glared at her. “Lieutenant Francesca, what the hell…”
“I’m very sorry, sir, but we have successfully established a trans-space link with the Rockoid flagship.”
Johnson’s eyes widened. “How the hell did you do that?”
“It was Commander Thompson’s idea, sir….”
Johnson did not let her finish her sentence; at that moment he rushed back to the main control center. Thompson stood in front of a viewscreen with a big smile on her face. She stepped aside to show the emblem of the Rockoid Empire. Looks of amazement filled the eyes of the onlookers.
“How did you do it, Liz?”
Her smile lessened a bit. “It wasn’t as hard as you might think. You see, while you and Captain Perkins were in that room chatting away, I decided to make one last attempt to resolve this situation peacefully. I asked Lieutenant Francesca to test a few protocols. I realized there was a way to get around the Rockoid jamming frequencies by throwing a hailing signal at multiple frequencies from different locations.”
Johnson smiled at her. “Thank you, Liz.”
He turned to Francesca, who stood behind him. “All right, open all hailing frequencies. Y’all get ready for our first communication with the Rockoids…on our own terms!”
Everyone cheered in approval, but Johnson quickly quieted them down. Static filled the airwaves. The hailing frequencies were open and ready.
“Greetings, Rockoid flagship. I am Commander Henry Johnson of the Alliance. I don’t know what we’ve done to offend your Empire, but I assure you our people only seek peace.”
Johnson spoke in slow, measured tones, making sure each word was spoken clearly, so there would be no possibility of misunderstanding. The message was beamed through the Alliance’s universal translation system, which instantly converted it to the speech forms of hundreds of different alien races. Since the Rockoids were able to tap into that system, he felt certain they’d have little difficulty deciphering his message.
“The Alliance is still willing to make peace with your people. It is not too late to stop this war. We are prepared to hold a conference in the next Earth day to discuss this matter. Please respond.”
The image on the screen changed to that of the ominous flagship hovering in space not far from Earth.
An Alliance warship came into view on the screen, and it just as quickly exploded into millions of tiny fragments as the Rockoid cruiser destroyed it.
Dr. Johnson smashed his fist on the nearest table as hard as he could, nearly cracking the table in half. Although the table didn’t split apart, a telltale crease was left in its shiny surface.
“This is it!” he shouted, “We’ve waited around long enough! It’s time we took some action and staged a counterattack!”
Thompson chimed in, “It’s about goddamned time!”
“All we have to do now is get President Rogers to sign off on the battle plan,” said Johnson.
“Ms. Francesca, get President Rogers on the viewscreen!”
“Yes, sir!”
A few seconds later the Alliance president’s concerned face appeared.
“Yes, Commander Johnson?” asked Rogers.
“Mr. President, we need your approval to begin military engagement with the Rockoids…”
Rogers interrupted Johnson with a bit of abruptness, tinged with sadness, “Yes. Begin the counteroffensive. We cannot waste any more time.” Johnson nodded in agreement.
“If there’s any good news here,” Rogers continued, “it’s the fact the Rockoid ships are moving very slowly. They’re cruising in normal space, so we have a little more time to prepare.”
Everyone hoped the Rockoids would truly adhere to their three-day deadline. A miscommunication among Rockoid commanders had already resulted in the premature attack on Terea.
“The evacuation forces are doing the best they can to get most of the populace in the threatened areas away to shelter. We have assembled six large assault groups from available personnel. Briefings are going on as we speak. Right now I believe we should focus our efforts on defending the colonies instead of the capital worlds.”
Johnson couldn’t conceal his shock. “President Rogers, I don’t wish to question your orders, but we’re leaving our three most important planets defenseless. We can’t risk what would happen if the Rockoids break through the defenses.”
“Commander Johnson, you have to realize the Rockoids expect us to send most of our forces there. Since they’ve left only a small portion of their fleet at the colony worlds, it would be more productive to attack the enemy forces there. It will force them to move the majority of their forces away from their real targets, and it might just give us more time to gather our resources. If they are really going to abide by this three-day deadline of theirs, then they will not attack any more planets until the time limit is up. Clearly they’re hoping we’ll surrender without putting up a fight.”
Rogers continued to detail his well-thought-out battle plans, and as he concluded his presentation, he looked straight at Ray. “Captain Perkins, I have a special mission for you.”
Once again, Ray was dumbfounded. “Me, sir?”
“Yes.” There was a trace of a smile on the president’s lips as he spoke. “You will be part of a fighter squadron defending the Mars colony. Commander Johnson will see you’re escorted to the nearest base. That’s all for now.”
Ray tried to speak, but only stammere
d and mumbled away. Maybe he shouldn’t have voiced his fears about who was really responsible for that battle above the Dorton colony so freely.
Before Ray could utter a coherent word, the President’s stern image disappeared from the screen.
* * *
Cadets, crew members, pilots, and officers, an odd mixture of humans and non-humans, hastily put on uniforms, quickly boarded cruisers, and took their assigned stations on other Alliance worlds. Before departure, they ran through standard flight checks, and reviewed the final commands from Thompson and other military leaders.
Most of the troops were excited about going into battle at last, but they had all seen the destruction wrought by the Rockoids, and many of them harbored the same fear—the fear they would not return home alive.
Chapter 15
Tensions rose rapidly on both sides.
Within twenty-four hours, the Alliance’s counterattack began in earnest. The Rockoid ships didn’t have a moment’s freedom to attack more colonial cities before they saw their adversaries speeding toward them.
As Alliance fleets approached their targets, most of them were forced to split their forces, due to the presence of enemy warships both out in space and in the upper atmospheres of the colony worlds.
The fleets themselves were quite impressive, even though they were clearly outnumbered by what they presumed to be the greater firepower of the enemy.
The enemy fighters, shaped remarkably like Earth fighter jets of the early twenty-first century, were incredible devices by any standard. They were ten meters long, six meters wide and had room for only one pilot. They were capable of limited hyperdrive travel, as the engines had to be recharged frequently. Due to the sometimes daredevil maneuvers they had to make while in combat and limited energy reserves, they were not outfitted with artificial gravity generators.
Armed freighters, sixty-meter-long wedge-shaped ships, supported the fighters.
The brunt of the battle was to be borne by light cruisers, huge, long, bulky craft with a circular appearance. These ships were massive, some two hundred sixty meters long and one hundred sixty meters wide.
Backup was provided by a small number of the most powerful Alliance attack ships, the heavy cruisers, thick, irregularly shaped vessels consisting of an assemblage of turrets and cylinders. These were some five hundred meters long and three hundred meters high.
The size of the fleet coming to engage their ships was not lost on the Rockoids, who were quick to react.
In the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet, above the ruins of New San Francisco, the Rockoid super cruiser spun at a dizzying pace. The maneuvering ability of that craft amazed the Alliance commanders. As it turned to face the incoming ships, the Alliance fired.
Large beams emerged from the huge guns at the bows of the Alliance cruisers, and torpedoes spun wildly toward the invaders. Everything seemed to hit its target head-on.
The Alliance commanders looked on with astonishment when they saw the Rockoids did not change their battle formation to avoid the incoming firepower. Ray knew the answer—his dreams told the awful truth. He just didn’t want to believe it.
Soon the Alliance found out; when the torpedoes and laser blasts struck their target, they simply bounced off without doing any harm. The enemy’s shields were clearly impervious to Alliance weapons. The commanders ordered that the Rockoid flagship be fired upon with renewed intensity, hoping to overcome the alien shielding by sheer force.
Multicolored beams shot forth and struck the Rockoid ship from all directions. Hundreds of torpedoes were fired. A fiery, explosive display almost obscured the target. Commanders watched in expectation and exasperation. They tried again and again to penetrate the Rockoid shields, without success.
Alliance commanders found they had to scurry back and forth to avoid the beams and missiles that rebounded from the Rockoid craft. In a few cases, they sustained minor damage from their own “friendly fire.”
Ray watched the entire sad affair carefully, trying to cull details from his memory of the Rockoid fleet that would help his comrades get past those shields. He could recall practically nothing that would help the Alliance military tacticians.
Meanwhile, the situation looked increasingly hopeless. Thompson ordered the fighters to withdraw and directed the cruisers to stay on course, try again to penetrate the invader’s defenses. Before the Alliance ships could complete these tasks, what seemed like hundreds of enemy ships of varying shapes and sizes, all smaller than the super cruiser, entered Mars’ upper atmosphere, approached them, and started firing.
The Rockoid fighters were themselves quite impressive compared to the equivalent Alliance vessel. Ray clearly recalled developing animated simulations of those fighters when he created his computer games. Seeing them up close was still a jarring experience.
The fighters were saucer-shaped. Ray wondered if they might have been a source for some of those UFO reports back in his time. Measuring fifteen meters long and eight meters high, the silvery craft had an intricate design, with creases and curves flowing in incredible symmetry.
They were works of art, as were the larger Rockoid ships, which displayed equally impressive, almost beautiful designs.
Ray wondered about the society that could create such strikingly elegant pieces of machinery. How could a race, so obviously devoted to beauty and form, stage a barbaric attack on another alien race without provocation? The more he thought about it, the more it didn’t make sense. If the Alliance were the aggressor, then the Rockoids would be acting in self-defense.
Nothing about the situation seemed logical, but Ray was in the thick of it now, struggling to defend himself against enemy fire. Yet, strange as it seemed, he didn’t find the going terribly rough. It often seemed to him as if the Rockoids were avoiding him. He had the vague sense this was deliberate. He maintained a defensive posture; he made no overt effort to engage the enemy.
Could Zanther be responsible for any of this? Ray sensed she was someone in authority, and had the power to tell her soldiers not to fire their weapons. How could she possibly pick out his craft from among the fleet of Alliance spaceships, unless…unless she could read his mind, know precisely where he was.
The thought was frightening, yet compelling at the same time.
The Alliance ships fought back vigorously, bravely, against the onslaught. They renewed the attack, focusing mainly on the sleek Rockoid fighters and smaller cruisers. Fortunately, the smaller vessels did not have impenetrable shields. The Alliance began to inflict some damage. A few alien craft exploded into fiery debris. Some of the larger Rockoid ships also began showing signs of damage under the relentless attack of the Alliance fleet.
Although they managed to make inroads into the rampaging enemy forces, the Alliance just couldn’t withstand the weapons. Thompson watched angrily as she saw cruiser after cruiser disintegrating in a blaze of fire and falling debris. There must have been millions of those alien ships. She remembered the battle on Dorton not so many years ago. There the Alliance had the tactical advantage of superior numbers. Those images sometimes came back to haunt her.
The Alliance fleet had to withdraw or be destroyed. They could only prevail in this war by discovering the secret of those shields, so they could destroy the biggest Rockoid ships.
She pondered the situation for several more seconds, as her commanders urged her to press on.
”No, we have to end this before we have no fleet to defend ourselves. Call back the ships!” she barked. “Mission aborted!”
Although there was no radio response to the command, within minutes the Alliance formation started to break up.
The Alliance’s withdrawal began.
Movement was observed on the Rockoid super cruiser. Large turrets began extending outward from the center of the ship. It appeared the enemy was preparing to fire their weapons again. She dared not consider how powerful the resulting explosive force would be.
Thompson ordered the withdrawal to speed up, but not
in time. Small beams spewed forth from the guns on the Rockoid cruiser and began coalescing into one great beam.
Before anyone could react, a giant laser shot sprayed forth from the super cruiser and sliced through five Alliance cruisers. Each one was turned into space dust within seconds. One second, there was a massive explosion; the next, only a cloud of dust was evidence that an object had been present. Some of the captains of the other cruisers appeared to panic and retreated without thought.
The Alliance’s defeat wasn’t confined to the ships assigned to protect what was left of the Mars colony. Similar destruction was wrought by the aliens in battles elsewhere. The weakened Alliance forces retreated, leaving the Rockoids free to roam without having to fight off any defenders. There was one positive development in this engagement. The Rockoids temporarily halted the forward march of their fleet. Instead the enemy ships returned to the Alliance colony worlds to provide extra support for their ships orbiting those planets.
The forces attacking other major Alliance worlds stayed put, waiting for the moment when the order would be given to begin their major assaults, once the ultimatum had expired.
As the Alliance ships retreated, many of the Rockoid ships started to pursue them while the super cruiser stayed behind to finish off Mars’ last intact cities, most of which had been evacuated. Many more Alliance cruisers and armed freighters were destroyed before the remnants of the fleet returned to safety. While the cruisers remained in position, fighters and smaller craft headed toward one of the seven main command bases on Earth. Finally, the Rockoids gave up the pursuit. Enemy fighters returned to docking stations aboard their command ship and smaller cruisers returned to space.
Although terrible damage had been inflicted on the Alliance fleet, the devastation on the colonies was far worse. Fortunately, a large network of shelters had been created to offer protection for the populations of these worlds, so most of the colonists escaped serious injury; serious casualties remained relatively small. Many of their possessions and large portions of the tourist centers, though, were reduced to smoke and rubble.
Attack of the Rockoids Page 18