The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series)

by Benning, William J.

  Now, John planned to surprise Elizabeth at her book signing, and they could spend some time relaxing together in New York City. After the visit to Nakamura and a trip to Nevada, John Caudwell was feeling more than a little tired, and some R & R was definitely amongst his plans. Elizabeth had always wanted to visit the big department stores, the Empire State Building, and a Broadway show. Well, now they had the chance, and John Caudwell had a large bundle of dollar bills in his pocket, and a heavy cheque book account with which to spoil his wife. And, yes, he did admit to himself that maybe he had been neglecting her. But, now he was going to make things right. Now, he had enough money coming in for both of their dreams, and for several of Billy’s, too.

  They would have a new life in the United States. They could live on the new site that he was developing in Nevada. It would have everything that a family needed; shops, schools, leisure facilities. They would have the best that money could buy. There would be a new house, a new life away from the dreary Scottish climate, and a fresh start to make things work as a family.

  With the wonderful vision of a new future buzzing around his head, the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel where Elizabeth was staying in seemed to flash by in an instant. The buildings and traffic were simply a blur in the mind of John Caudwell, and even the oppressive New York summer heat was less of a burden and more of an inconvenience. The future was looking bright in the mind of John Caudwell, and he was going to bend every ounce of will and effort that he possessed to make it work. They hadn’t really had much of a family life up until now. With him working all the crazy shifts at the plastics factory, and Elizabeth in all of the shops that she had worked in since they had got married, their jobs seemed to take up all of their time and effort. Nonetheless, they had had to make ends meet, and now they had done it. Elizabeth had her best-selling book, and was working on another. He had more money behind him now than both he and Elizabeth had ever dreamed of.

  Now, the struggling was over, and the family could enjoy the fruits of their labours. Billy could stay at his school in the Highlands, and then go to University anywhere he chose. With his grades in science and mathematics, the colleges would be clamouring for him.

  That, and his father’s money, of course, John Caudwell smiled as the buildings of New York had hurtled past through his yellow cab window.

  Everything was going to be all right from here on in, John Caudwell thought. Maybe I can get to know Billy a bit better, he mused, be a real father to him now that I have the time.

  The tradition of Caudwell males still held strong. John Caudwell had never been close to his own father, yet felt a closer affinity to his grandfather.

  And, Billy was shaping up to be the same. Billy had always been a distant boy, and was turning into a distant young man, with a closer bond to his own grandfather than to John Caudwell. When John’s own grandfather had died, there had been no one to fill that gap in his life. Looking back, his own father had made a feeble attempt, but his work and career had always managed to get in the way. In a way, John was jealous of that bond, just as, he supposed, his own father had been of his bond with his grandfather. Yet, another part of him was glad of that grandfather and grandson bond, because now that he was older, he understood it. He was also glad that now he still had time to form his own bond with his son.

  After paying his fare, John Caudwell stepped out of the cab and sprang energetically up the dozen stone steps of one of the most exclusive five-star hotels in New York City. At the top of the steps, he passed through an immaculately-cleaned wooden revolving door, adorned with sparklingly clean glass pane and brilliantly polished brass handrails. A few enthusiastic steps later, he entered the marble-floored lobby of a hotel that seemed to have been drawn out of the 1930’s and set into modern day New York. Elegant and well-dressed people seemed to glide majestically over the high-polished floor beneath the sparklingly spotless chandeliers.

  In front of him, a large marble counter bore a large sign declaring it to be the “Reception Desk”. Confidently, John Caudwell strolled up to a young man behind the desk who seemed busy with duties not related to customer service. The young man was of medium height, and sported immaculately groomed black hair. His jacket was a uniform burgundy colour that all the Desk Clerks seemed to be wearing. His shirt was a crisp and impeccable white, whilst his bow tie was of the uniform burgundy colour. The shiny, gold, oval badge fixed to his left lapel revealed that his name was “Glenn”.

  “Excuse me, I wonder of you can help me?” John immediately realised that he sounded too much like a British tourist, and continued without waiting for a response. “I’m looking for Missus Elizabeth Caudwell...I’m her husband. I phoned and left a message for her earlier today.”

  “Oh yes, sir.” The Desk Clerk, named Glenn smiled, shuffling through some cards behind the imposing marble counter. “Oh, I’m sorry sir, but Missus Caudwell checked out this morning.”

  “Ch-checked out…you mean, as in, left?” John Caudwell stammered.

  To John Caudwell, it felt like someone had hit him in the stomach with a steel girder.

  “Yes, sir.” Glenn’s smile evaporated. “I’m sorry, sir, she checked out and took a cab to the airport.”

  “Did she leave any messages?” John’s good mood was dissolving as he stood at the desk, waiting for any crumbs of information.

  “Erm, no sir...Sorry sir.” Glenn seemed genuinely apologetic.

  “Did she get my telephone message from earlier on?”

  “I believe so, sir, she picked it up before going to her book signing engagement,” Glenn offered, attempting to be helpful.

  “O.K., thank you.” John smiled insincerely, leaving Glenn to return to his duties.

  Turning slowly from the Reception Desk, John Caudwell’s mind began the million and one possible explanations as to why Elizabeth would suddenly leave when she knew that he was going to be in New York that afternoon.

  She was due to be in New York for a few more days, so why would she suddenly take off without leaving him a message? He began to work the permutations in his mind.

  It just didn’t make sense.

  Walking slowly and absent-mindedly back through the lobby, he was jostled by a well-dressed man and woman. Muttering an apology, he walked as if in a daze back through the revolving door and down the stone steps he had so exuberantly bounded up only a few minutes before.

  “Cab for the airport, please,” John Caudwell mumbled to the tall man, who stood on the sidewalk wearing a burgundy tailcoat and top hat with the spotless white gloves.

  The burgundy dressed man raised a shiny silver whistle to his lips to summon one of the numerous cabs that plied their trade around the hotel. Whether the man blew the whistle or not, John Caudwell was completely unaware. Lost in his own thoughts and fears, he kept asking himself one word:

  Why?

  Chapter 15: The Star-Destroyer Colossus

  Standing behind the War Table in the darkened War Room, First Admiral Billy Caudwell had issued his instructions for the imminent battle. The Staff Officers now scampered away to carry out their instructions and begin the battle that would decide the fate of the Ganthoran Empire for decades to come.

  Billy Caudwell knew that the stakes were high. They were outnumbered - heavily outnumbered. In terms of single-seat fighters, the Alliance would be facing over three-hundred- thousand Axe-Blades. The Eagle pilots were brave, and their fighters completely outclassed the Frontier Fleet Axe-Blades, but in a fight like this, they would be completely swamped by this horde. The Imperial Guard pilots, with their limited to non-existent combat experience, would simply be lambs to the slaughter.

  This will have to be a battle of mobility with the big warships, Billy considered.

  He could not afford to allow the Axe-Blades to engage with Alliance Eagles or the Imperial Guards when the numbers favoured the Frontier Fleet.

  His plan had been simple and straight-forward: To lure the Ganthorans onto the Calyx Wormhole. At the far side of t
he wormhole, Admiral Parbe’an and loyal Frontier General Grobbeg would decimate the rebel Frontier Fleet warships as they emerged. However, to get the rebels to the wormhole, Billy Caudwell had outlined a “sting and run” strategy to bait and enrage the rebel Frontier Generals into making the fatal error of pursuing.

  “Sir,” the Scanner Officer began, “Ganthoran warships are within one-hundred-thousand kilometres of our position, and closing rapidly.”

  “Thank you, Scanners,” Billy replied calmly.

  Once again, he had to show calm to give the troops confidence. One-hundred-thousand kilometres meant that the combined Ganthoran Frontier Fleets would be with them in about three hours at the most. But, Billy Caudwell was not prepared to stand and wait for this huge fleet of Ganthorans to sweep over his position. Billy Caudwell planned to take the fight to the enemy. There was an old saying on earth that sometimes the best form of defence was to attack. And, that was what Billy Caudwell was planning to do.

  “WATO,” Billy ordered, “send the Fleet Carriers and General Grobbeg’s forces through the wormhole.”

  The Fleet Carriers were the weak link in the Alliance’s strategy for this type of battle. With no heavy weapons, the Fleet Carriers couldn’t offer any fire support to the Star-Cruisers and Star-Destroyers that Billy hoped would give this Ganthoran formation some significant problems.

  The Ganthoran rebels would have seen the movement of the Fleet Carriers, and what remained of Grobbeg’s Frontier Fleet on their own Scanners. With any luck, the sight of their withdrawal would encourage the Ganthoran rebels into some form of recklessness.

  “Sir,” the Senior WATO responded.

  “And, give the order to begin phase one,” Billy added.

  The Star-Destroyers Olympus and Colossus would form the backbone of this formation. The Trionic Cannon would terrorise the Ganthorans and keep them penned into a formation, allowing Billy Caudwell the freedom of mobility on this battlefield, whilst denying the enemy the opportunity of attacking him. Parbe’an had shown how effectively the Trionic Cannon could squeeze the enemy’s flanks and restrict their movements. Billy Caudwell needed that advantage.

  With the loyal Ganthorans and the Fleet Carrier despatched to the safety of Parbe’an’s formation, Billy Caudwell could now get on with the business at hand.

  “Comms,” Billy said, “send a signal from the Emperor of the Ganthorans; requesting the Frontier Fleets to stand down, and tell me who responds.”

  “Yes, sir,” came the voice of the Senior Communications Officer from the darkness.

  What Billy needed to know was who he was going to have to deal with. From the image of the advancing Ganthoran warships on his War Table, it looked like General Sal’nor’s Fleet was to the centre, Timmeg to his left and Kav’al to the right.

  “Sir,” the Communications Officer announced from the darkness, “response was made by Frontier General Sal’nor, which says....”

  “Thank you, Comms, you can scrap the message.” Billy assumed that the message contents would be less than respectful to him.

  Well, well, well, General Sal’nor is in charge of this little party, Billy considered as he watched the Ganthorans begin to approach towards his position.

  In classic Ganthoran formation, the “Six-Cigar” Carriers sat in the middle of a screen of Destroyers and Cruisers. They were still flying in their individual Frontier Fleet “Ring” formations, as opposed to one combined, mass formation.

  They still don’t trust each other, Billy surmised.

  And, once again, he knew that this was a situation he could exploit to his own benefit.

  On the War Table image in front of him, Billy Caudwell watched the fourteen Star-Cruisers change from Alliance light-blue in colour to highlighted yellow. The Alliance Star-Cruisers had gone into Stealth mode. This was the first part of stage one. And, amongst the Star-Cruisers was the Aquarius. Every Star-Cruiser gun that could be brought to bear on the Ganthoran formation was needed, which was why the First Admiral‘s flag had been transferred from Aquarius to Olympus. Watching the yellow highlighted Star-Cruisers setting off towards the Ganthorans, Billy Caudwell felt a pang of guilt that he wasn’t aboard Aquarius. They had both shared so many dangers in the past that he somehow felt he was letting down an old comrade. Part of him wished for the excitement of going into action with the Star-Cruiser, whilst the part of him that was Teg Portan knew that he had to monitor and respond to changes in the battle situation. And, that was something he couldn’t do aboard Aquarius in the middle of a fight.

  Still, the Alliance Star-Cruisers made a fine sight as they formed into a flying wedge formation and began to climb above the level of the advancing Ganthorans. The Ganthorans had seen the Star-Cruisers before they disappeared into Stealth Mode, and now their Scanner Technicians and Officers would be sweating it out as where they had gone. However, Billy Caudwell could see them on his three-dimensional War Table image, and he knew that they were going to try to tear the heart out of this huge Ganthoran formation.

  It took almost six minutes for the Alliance Star-Cruisers to close the range to the Ganthoran “Rings”, and for four of those minutes, Billy Caudwell stood in silence, listening to the whisper of communications traffic in the War Room of Olympus. At two minutes to Star-Cruiser contact, Billy ordered the Trionic cannon to open fire on the flanks of the Ganthoran-combined Fleets. Generals Timmeg and Kav’al would feel the force of Alliance gunfire before the Star-Cruisers attacked.

  The two enormous Star-Destroyers, standing side by side, let fly simultaneously with Trionic Cannon Streams that tore a lane of destruction one hundred metres wide through the left and right flanks of the Ganthoran formation. Olympus firing obliquely from the left of the Alliance formation tore a lane of annihilation from the Ganthoran right wing.

  Once again, the classic indication of a Trionic Cannon strike was shown by the vessels, flattening for a split-second before they were destroyed in cataclysmic explosions.

  Then, Colossus fired obliquely at the Ganthoran left wing with similar results. The first Trionic Cannon strike shaved nearly one hundred Destroyers from the flank of the Ganthoran formation in the space of a few seconds. And, at the extreme range of the Trionic Cannon, the Ganthorans were still unable to respond with weapons fire of their own. On the three-dimensional War Table image, Billy watched as the two Star-Destroyers slowly turned around their vertical axes to bring the next loaded Trionic-Cannon to bear on the Ganthorans. To Billy Caudwell, there seemed to be something almost balletic and graceful as the two giant warships turned in opposite directions to bring their weapons to bear, like two dancers in space. However, Billy Caudwell had no time to admire the graceful symmetry of two of the most powerful and deadly warships in the universe in their dance of death.

  It would take the two Star-Destroyers a full minute to bring the next of their four Trionic Cannons to bear on the Ganthoran Fleet. With the first Trionic Cannon Stream fired, the next shot would mean that there was only one minute until the Star-Cruisers attacked. Slowly, the huge, slab-sided, octagonal Star-Destroyers turned to bring their Trionic Cannon to bear on the Ganthorans. Watching the War Table image, Billy could see the Star-Cruisers had reached the highest point of their climb, and were about to dive onto the Ganthoran formation.

  Again, the Trionic Cannons fired, and, once again, a great lane of destruction scythed through the Ganthoran flanks. This time, the Trionic Cannon Stream cut a huge swath of destruction through both the Destroyers and the Cruisers on the flanks of the formation. To the immense credit, and a testament to the stalwart courage, of the Ganthoran soldiers, the ships on either side of the lane of annihilation closed up to seal the gaps left by their fallen comrades. Meanwhile, on the War Table image, the fourteen Alliance Star-Cruisers were starting their attack dive into the three Ganthoran “Ring” formations.

  With a combination of smoothness and grace, the fourteen Star-Cruisers banked the whole formation forty-five degrees to their left as they approached the Ganthorans. Bil
ly Caudwell had to acknowledge that it was an amazing piece of close control by the Star-Cruiser pilots, who could fly and handle the huge warships like single-seater Eagles in close formation.

  And, as the Star-Cruisers began their attack, they started to widen their spacing in the formation. From the angle of attack indicated upon the War Table image, the Star-Cruisers would need the gap between them to avoid hitting each other with their own gunfire. With Aquarius out in the lead of the attack, Billy felt confident that the plan would succeed. The first strike of the Star-Cruisers was being targeted at the Ganthoran “Six-Cigar” Carriers in the centre of their three formations. That meant that the Star-Cruisers would have to operate in a slightly extended line of attack to cut through the Ganthoran formation. The Aquarius, at the tip of the Alliance attack, would have to pass through the centre of General Sal’nor’s Carrier formation. The following Star-Cruisers would then have to follow on Aquarius’ flanks, lashing out at whatever Carrier targets fell under their gun-sights.

  To reach Kav’al and Timmeg’s Carriers, the Star-Cruisers would have to be well spaced, with several having to attack the Destroyer and Cruiser escorts that lay between the separate Carrier formations.

  There had been the temptation for Billy to split his Star-Cruiser attack force to simply target the “Six-Cigar” Carriers. But, Billy quickly realised that splitting his force in the face of his huge Ganthoran armada was just too much of a gamble.