“If we can stop the Vorn at Lakiam, the alliance will only grow,” Mara said excitedly. “With the help of the Glaymons, we can drive the Destroyers of Worlds from our galaxy.”
“How long do we wait until we move in?” asked Andrew.
Kurt’s fleet had arrived in this empty star system a day ago. The two large colony ships and the support vessels had moved out, orbiting around the star in deep space where they wouldn’t be detected. The colony ships and the support ships had sensor-dampening fields in operation too. A vessel would have to pass very close to even see one. As far as those ships were from the star, the likelihood of that happening was pretty close to zero.
Kurt looked at the viewscreens, displaying the ships in his fleet. Fleet Captain Waelt had placed himself and the Glaymon warships under Kurt’s command. The Golan Four and the Construct One were out near the colony ships. There were no plans for Lomatz’s ships to take part in the battle. The Aurelia was floating in space close to the Star Cross.
“We’ll make a hyperspace jump to the edge of the Lakiam System as the Vorn get closer. I want to engage them on a moment’s notice. When the battle commences, we’ll watch as the tactical situation develops, and then we’ll engage the Vorn. I want a rapid attack upon the Vorn vessels, focusing on those larger warships. If we can take them out, then Fleet Commodore Dreen can handle the rest with some assistance from us.”
“Fleet Commodore Dreen will have plans in place to cause the Vorn as much trouble as possible,” said Mara, confident in Dreen’s ability to punish the Destroyers of Worlds’ fleet. “He will never let them near Lakiam.”
“Mara, when we jump in, it’s essential you contact Fleet Commodore Dreen and tell him who we are. He must understand that my fleet is to be allowed free reign in whatever needs to be done.”
“When we jump into the system, I’ll locate the Basera. It’s Fleet Commodore Dreen’s flagship. I’ll jump to its location and report in.”
Andrew stared at the tactical display and all the red threat icons representing Vorn ships. “I can’t believe we’re about to go into battle against the Destroyers of Worlds.” Andrew paused for a moment, shifting his gaze to Kurt. “What if we can’t win?”
Tasid grinned. “You’ve never seen one of our disk ships in battle. All will be commanded by our AIs. They are very efficient, and I seriously doubt if the Vorn have ever encountered anything like them before.”
“Tasid is correct,” said Aleea, her eyes seeming to gleam with excitement. “I have been trained to operate a warship as efficiently as possible. For example, I estimate that the fighting efficiency of the Star Cross would increase by 72 percent if I were allowed to command the ship.”
Kurt was startled by the efficiency increase Aleea stated. “Perhaps someday I’ll take you up on that. For now, I think it best to allow my crew to operate the vessel during the battle.” He didn’t feel comfortable with giving the AI so much authority over the Star Cross. Perhaps sometime in the future he would feel differently.
“As you wish,” said Aleea, sounding disappointed. “Just remember, I’m here if you need me.”
-
Prince Brollen was growing concerned. They were nearly to the target system, and the long-range sensors were picking up a lot of ships moving toward the system of food species 236.
Fraymot, is there any indication that our hyperspace sensor-dampening field is malfunctioning?
No, answered Fraymot. The dampening fields on all our ships are functioning properly. The food species should not detect us.
The prince focused his multifaceted eyes sharply on the various ship movements on the tactical display. Something wasn’t right! Already the two smaller fleets of five hundred cruisers each had left the main Vorn formation and would shortly be dropping from hyperspace to take up waiting positions for the coming battle. If food species 236 could detect the approaching Vorn ships, how had they gotten the technology? It would also mean they would be aware of the two smaller fleets.
Is it possible they are tracking us?
No, answered Fraymot decisively. Most likely they have been following our other attacks and have deduced they are the target. It would not be difficult to compute a probable arrival time for our fleet based on our harvesting of other planets along the way. The vessels we see on the tactical displays are most likely the result of that surmise.
This fleet battle will be much larger than expected, sent Prince Brollen. Our losses may be considerable. Is our fleet powerful enough to destroy these other fleets coming to the aid of food species 236?
You forget about our battleships, Fraymot responded with confidence. They alone are capable of annihilating everything that now opposes us. We will be victorious. We will destroy the fleets coming to aid food species 236. It will make harvesting their worlds easier as there will be fewer ships to resist us.
Prince Brollen nodded his understanding. So, instead of fighting a number of smaller battles, we will be fighting one large battle instead. A battle for control of this entire quadrant of Galaxy X241.
We will be facing fleets from four Protector World food species if our long-range sensors are correct, Fraymot sent. Once they are destroyed, it will leave hundreds of worlds defenseless and ready to harvest. All our motherships will be overloaded with food pellets.
This answer satisfied the prince. He could already picture the food cubicles in his private quarters full and overflowing. We will fight the battle as planned. You are quite correct in that the enemy fleets have nothing that can destroy one of our battleships. We will be victorious, and, with thirty motherships, this will be the greatest harvest of worlds in the history of the Vorn. We will fill a large number of Collector Ships from this region alone. The Queens in the Conclave Habitat will be overjoyed when we bring this bounty home. It would also firm up his position as a consort of Queen Alithe’s. Perhaps, when he returned with the Collector Ships, it would be time for him to mate with her. His progeny would become a major part of the Vorn species. All that needed to be done was fight this battle and begin the harvest.
Chapter Nineteen
Fleet Commodore Dreen took a deep fortifying breath as the two smaller Vorn fleets dropped from hyperspace and immediately moved toward Lakiam. Laylem had been tracking them ever since they left the main formation.
“Target one comprises 512 ships and another 507 in target two,” reported Laylem. “Ships are inbound toward Lakiam at 27 percent sublight. Main fleet should be dropping from hyperspace in forty-six minutes.”
Alborg looked intently at the tactical displays showing the Vorn ships. “The two smaller fleets have none of the larger ships in them. They’re all the small spindle-shaped cruisers we’ve fought before.”
“From the looks of things, they still believe their sensor-jamming field is working,” added Laylem. “I don’t believe they have any idea we can detect them.”
Commodore Dreen had to agree. The Destroyers of Worlds’ fleets were passing close to several Lakiam patrol vessels and were completely ignoring them. “Sheera, contact Captain Callast. He is to focus the cargo ships and his fleet on target one.” Captain Callast had 814 Lakiam battlecruisers under his command. Dreen was hopeful that, when Callast’s fleet was combined with the cargo ship attack, it would be sufficient to annihilate the 512 Vorn ships in target one.
“Message sent,” replied Keenol.
“Send a message to Captains Veen and Swiffe. They’re to hit the rear of the primary Vorn fleet as soon as I engage the front echelon.” Captains Veen and Swiffe were in a nearby star system, holding their ships powerless so they would be undetectable to the Vorn. Each captain had a fleet of 1,100 Lakiam battlecruisers under their command.
“Messages sent,” replied Keenol. “No sign of hyperspace jamming as of yet.”
“No, there won’t be,” predicted Alborg. “The Destroyers of Worlds don’t believe we can detect them. They won’t jam transmissions until their main fleet drops from hyperspace.”
“Only it
won’t work this time,” said Keenol. “Thanks to the Vorn mothership we captured, we know how they were jamming our hyperspace transmissions. Once they try, we will send out a countersignal that should interfere with their jamming frequencies. If it works, and it should, we can communicate normally.”
“We’ve neutralized a number of their advantages,” said Alborg. “Let’s hope it’s enough.”
Fleet Commodore Dreen spent the next few minutes contacting the Andock, Bascom, and Parmont fleets, informing them of the appearance of the two smaller Vorn fleets and the expected arrival time of the main force. It didn’t take long to put his battle plan into motion.
Commodore Dreen took a moment to confirm he had done everything possible to repel this attack. As he studied the tactical displays and replayed in his head how he thought the battle would go, still one major disconcerting problem remained. No one knew how powerful the battleships were in the Vorn fleet. Dreen had decided to call them battleships due to the expected amount of firepower the vessels possessed. What worried him was what would happen if the dark matter missiles couldn’t destroy those bigger Vorn vessels. For a moment he toyed with the thought of using the cargo ships against the battleships. However, he strongly suspected the big ships would destroy any cargo ships that came near them. After what had happened in the Andock System, the Vorn would be on the watch for such an attack.
With a deep sigh, he realized all he could do now was wait. He had done all he could do; now they had a battle to fight.
-
Prince Brollen waited as the fleet neared the system of food species 236. All the fleet movements in nearby systems still made him anxious. He was not familiar with the emotion and did not care for. He walked over and gazed intently at a tactical display. The enemy had divided their fleet into three units. This concerned him as it matched exactly the three fleets the Vorn possessed. Surely it was just a coincidence. There was no evidence the food species was tracking the Vorn fleet. There had been no response to the two Vorn fleets already in the system.
Fraymot, when we drop from hyperspace, I want our fleet to remain in its globular formation. I still feel something is wrong. The globular formation was the best defensive formation he had available. Ships could be aligned so their weapons covered the entire area around the fleet, leaving no blind spots.
Fraymot turned toward Prince Brollen, confused. Why? The battleships ensure our eventual victory.
The prince responded, Nevertheless, when we drop from hyperspace, we will hold our position and let them come to us. In previous battles against this food species, they used short hyperjumps to attack our fleet. By staying in the globular formation, we will prevent them from doing that as, wherever they jump, we will have weapons that can destroy them.
As you command, replied Military Commander Fraymot with a slight bow.
-
In Fraymot’s opinion, the prince was making a mistake, but Fraymot dared not say so. It was always better to go on the offensive rather than the defensive when beginning a fight. However, by doing as the prince suggested, it would allow the food species to decide the tempo of the coming battle.
-
Fleet Commodore Dreen’s muscles tensed as the main Vorn fleet dropped from hyperspace. For the first time, Lakiam sensors could get a good read on the larger enemy ships.
“Twelve hundred meters,” reported Laylem. “From the power readings I’m picking up, I would estimate each vessel has four times the firepower of one of the smaller spindle-shaped cruisers.”
“Four times,” said Alborg, his eyes widening in consternation. “I assume their shields are equally more powerful. That’ll cause problems with our dark matter missiles. It might take over fifty to overload their shields.”
“It wouldn’t matter if it were ten times,” replied Fleet Commodore Dreen, dismayed at the power of the Vorn battleships. He reached forward and activated the comm unit on his command console, which put him in instant contact with all Lakiam fleet units. “All ships, commence attack as per plan ZETA. Good luck and good hunting.” Time to put his battle plan into operation.
“Entering hyperspace in twelve seconds,” reported Jalad. “All ships will emerge in standard offensive formation.” The formation was ten ships high and two hundred ships in length with no reserve. It would be a virtual wall of ships hurtling toward the Vorn vessels.
Commodore Dreen braced himself for the Basera to enter hyperspace. Moments later a slight wrenching sensation in his body confirmed that the ship had made the jump, and would soon exit near the Vorn fleet.
“Captain Callast is sending in the cargo ships,” reported Laylem. On one of the tactical displays, hundreds of green icons appeared behind the unsuspecting Vorn fleet, deeper in the system.
-
In space 1,400 cargo ships laden with water emerged from hyperspace four hundred kilometers behind the rear of the Vorn fleet. At the same time Captain Callast jumped in with his fleet of 814 battlecruisers.
As soon as the cargo ships’ systems stabilized, they activated their subspace drives and accelerated toward the unsuspecting Vorn fleet. One hundred and seven cargo ships exploded as their old drives and power systems failed catastrophically. Many of the ships had been repaired just to the point where they were barely spaceworthy. Jumping into hyperspace had been more than they could handle.
The Vorn fleet had thought it had gotten into the system undetected and was not prepared for the unexpected attack. Their ships were running with reduced power and their shields at a minimum to ensure their sensor-dampening fields would block all possible scans of their vessels. The sudden appearance of hundreds of cargo ships behind the fleet and the emergence of a fleet of powerful battlecruisers in front of it took the Vorn military commander totally by surprise.
In moments the cargo ships began slamming into Vorn energy shields. In brilliant novalike explosions, the spindle-shaped ships died. Recognizing the threat, the Vorn’s energy shields suddenly snapped to full power, and their black antimatter beams fired. In bright flashes of light, hundreds of cargo ships exploded as they were ripped apart short of their targets.
In the Vorn formation, a water-laden cargo ship crashed into the energy shield of a Vorn cruiser, releasing all the pent-up kinetic energy from its speed and mass. The resulting release of energy quickly overloaded the energy screen, disintegrating the spindle-shaped cruiser as the energy wave struck it. All across the Vorn fleet formation, ships died at an appalling rate as cargo ships completed their suicide runs. While hundreds of the cargo ships were being destroyed, many more struck their targets.
Since the Vorn were occupied with the cargo ships, Captain Callast fired off his first wave of dark matter missiles. They smashed into already-stressed energy shields, bringing down many and releasing their stored energy. More novalike explosions spread across the unraveling Vorn fleet formation. Seeing the results of his attack, Callast quickly ordered a second strike. The Vorn fleet was vulnerable, and he intended to destroy it!
-
Prince Brollen reeled in shock as he watched one of the small fleets he had sent ahead dying before his eyes. The tactical display was full of red threat icons, appearing behind the Vorn fleet and then ramming its vessels. Not only that but an enemy fleet had appeared directly in front of the Vorn force and was launching dangerous dark matter missiles.
This is impossible! sent military Commander Fraymot as he stared at the tactical display, displaying the ongoing annihilation of one of the smaller fleets.
They were tracking us the entire time, replied Prince Brollen, his multifaceted eyes focusing on Fraymot. How is that possible?
They could not have been, answered Fraymot as alarms sounded, indicating more ships exiting from hyperspace.
Prince Brollen stared at one of the other tactical displays as 2,000 enemy battlecruisers appeared in front of his fleet. The Scythe! It wasn’t destroyed. It must have been captured. It was the only explanation for the enemy to be able to track his fleet.
&
nbsp; Military Commander Fraymot looked in panic at the prince. The computers on the Scythe would tell the food species where the staging area is as well as the location of the Conclave Habitat!
With a sinking feeling, Prince Brollen realized the Vorn’s greatest secrets may have been revealed.
Enemy launching missiles, warned the Vorn at the sensors.
Fraymot, fight the fleet. We will worry about the Scythe later. Call our second fleet to join us.
What about our other fleet?
Prince Brollen looked at the tactical display, showing the now shattered fleet. It has been lost. We will remain here and allow our battleships to bring us victory.
-
Taking a glancing blow on its energy screen, the Destonn shook violently in response to a black ship’s black antimatter beam.
“How many of them did we get with the cargo ships?” Captain Callast was aggravated that so many of the cargo ships had suffered mechanical problems.
“Confirmed at 362,” reported the sensor operator. “Most of the others have been damaged to some extent.”
“Keep hitting them with our dark matter missiles,” ordered Callast. “Many of their shields must be near the saturation point from all the energy released by the exploding cargo ships.”
On a viewscreen, he saw a Vorn black antimatter beam tear one of his battlecruisers apart. Even though the Vorn fleet was on the verge of destruction, it was still dangerous. On another screen, he could see the shattered remains of the Vorn fleet. Massive explosions lit up space where dark matter missiles detonated against the enemy’s energy shields. Occasionally a brilliant flash of light would indicate the failure of one of those shields as the ship it had protected was annihilated.
“We’re losing a lot of battlecruisers,” the sensor operator reported.
Captain Callast clenched his teeth. “Continue to press the attack. I want every one of those Vorn ships destroyed regardless of the cost!”
-
Fleet Commodore Dreen gripped the armrest of his command chair as six of his battlecruisers exploded from the attack of just two Vorn battleships. At the same time, more friendly green icons appeared. Captain Veen and Captain Swiffe had arrived and moved in to attack the rear of the Vorn formation. Moments later Andock, Bascom, and Parmont ships exited hyperspace and quickly formed up to join in the battle. The third fleet Commodore Dreen had been holding in reserve jumped in too, bolstering the main fleet formation by another eight hundred vessels.
The Star Cross: Galaxy in Peril Page 28