The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series)

by Benning, William J.

  On the War Table image, the icon for Aquarius turned a red colour and then vanished. Aquarius had neatly slipped into the Trionic Web, and would re-appear around one hundred thousand kilometres behind the Colossus and Olympus. The rest of the Star-Cruisers, however, were still completing their devastating runs through the Ganthoran formations.

  The War Table image was showing that the cone-shaped path of destruction that stretched upwards from the bottom of the Ganthoran position, and fanned out at the top, was starting to broaden out. The attack runs were tearing the very heart out of the Ganthoran formation. The Self-Defence Turrets aboard the Star-Cruisers and the high-yield pulsar-cannon were firing at almost point-blank range into the Ganthoran vessels.

  Many of the Ganthoran captains were completely taken by surprise, yet large numbers of the Ganthoran ship commanders had sufficient presence of mind, to try to take their vessels away from the sheets of pulsar-bots that were blasting from the invisible Alliance ships. And, inevitably, in all the confusion and destruction, vessels would collide with other vessels, adding to the mayhem and devastation. On the edges of the attack runs, Billy was starting to see Destroyers and Cruisers trying to evade the hail of pulsar-bolts that were descending down through their formations. The huge, cumbersome and lumbering Carriers were, however, completely powerless to escape from the rampage of the Star-Cruisers.

  As Billy watched the image, the next two Star-Cruisers completed their attack runs, and dropped neatly into the Trionic Web. Behind them lay a tube-like trail of destruction, debris, flames, explosions, and devastation. Meanwhile, the Star-Cruisers further back in the formation were still strafing and shattering the vessels that were closest to them. The cone of destruction that the Star-Cruisers were carving through the Ganthoran ranks was widening as the tail of the “V” formation plunged deeper into the formation.

  The Star-Cruisers were now completing their attack runs, as another two dropped out from the bottom of the Ganthoran formation and vanished into the Trionic Web. The attack was shaping up to be far more successful than Billy Caudwell had envisaged, as he watched the final pair of Star-Cruisers at around the halfway-mark of their attacks, pouring pulsar-cannon fire into a “Six Cigar” Carrier at point-blank range. The defenceless Carrier lurched and jolted under the relentless blows of the high-yield pulsar-cannon, until finally succumbing to the inevitable and exploding in a massive fireball, strewing destruction and death in all directions.

  Another two Star-Cruisers completed their attacks and sped away from the scene via the Trionic Web.

  That’s five clear without any losses, Billy thought as the two Star-Cruiser images vanished from his War Table.

  That left only nine to complete their runs, and as Billy Caudwell waited for the ships to emerge, he noticed that there seemed to be a deep red, fiery, flashing glow from the centre of the Ganthoran formation. Damaged ships were exploding as were those newly targeted by the Star-Cruisers, and the glow from the explosions, deep in the heart of the Ganthoran formation, was casting an eerie glow around the surviving ships. Like the colour of a cooling furnace, the deep red glow reminded Billy of the birth of new stars out in the Star Fields, where the Proto-Star matter that fuelled the Alliance ships was harvested.

  Meanwhile, another two Star-Cruisers had emerged from the fray and were on their way to the Trionic Web.

  That’s seven, Billy noted, acknowledging that half of his Star-Cruisers had completed their missions.

  The cone of destruction that was being torn from the heart of the Ganthoran formation was broadening at the base as the Star-Cruisers emerged. Whilst in the heart of the formation, the Star-Cruisers were still wreaking havoc.

  Between bursts of fire from the high-yield pulsar-cannon, the Self-Defence Turrets were shredding and tearing at the hulls of any Ganthoran ship that got in their way.

  With low-yield pulsar-cannon against a Ganthoran “Six-Cigar” Carrier or Cruiser, the damage was only likely to be superficial. Billy imagined that it would be like taking a heavy wire brush to a surface of flaking paint.

  The low-yield pulsar-cannon would tear and shred at the superstructure of the large Ganthoran ships, causing annoyance and nuisance damage; which would take time to repair, but it also distracted the Ganthorans whilst the high-yield pulsar-cannon were cooled for their next firing.

  Those high-yield pulsar-cannon were being used to tremendous effect by one Star-Cruiser on the War Table image. The tail of the “V” formation was now starting to strike into the carrier formations of Frontier Generals Timmeg and Kav’al. And, one Star-Cruiser had cleverly split the high-yield pulsar-cannon fire into two directions. The first two high-yield turrets, on the spine of the Star-Cruiser, had fired their pulsar-bolts straight into one of Timmeg’s Carriers. The third turret on the spine had fired only one of the pulsar-cannon. Thus, five high-yield pulsar-bolts had slammed mercilessly into the stricken Carrier. The crew of the third turret had then swung their turret around and fired their remaining cannon, with the last two turrets on the spine, into another of Timmeg’s Carriers. Both Carriers, hit by the overwhelming salvo, exploded in a huge burst of flame and debris. And, once more the flying debris hammered into the Cruisers and Destroyers in the vicinity, adding to the death and destruction.

  A further two Star-Cruisers competed their runs, making nine survivors of the attack. Quietly, Billy started to pray that he might actually have all fourteen ships survive. It had been exactly forty seconds since the attack had begun, and Billy Caudwell had managed to recover nine of the attacking vessels. In the heart of the Ganthoran formation, it was chaos and devastation. The order had been given to disperse the vessels. However, large and cumbersome Carriers and Cruisers simply did not have the capacity for violent evasive manoeuvres. Many were trying to lumber and lurch free from their stations, when the Alliance high-yield pulsar-bolts slammed into their hulls to the accompaniment of the torrent of low-yield Self-Defence Turret fire.

  Some Ganthoran vessels began to open fire at the ghosts that were tearing their formations to shreds from within. And, some even managed to hit Alliance ships with bursts of “Screaming Death”. On the War Table image, Billy could see the shimmering waves of Ganthoran weapon fire sheeting over the highlighted forms of the Star-Cruisers. The Ganthoran Destroyers that had been in the way were now vanishing). Several of the Star-Cruisers were lurched or jolted from their attack paths, however, their Force Shielding held. One Star-Cruiser, blown from its course, collided with a Ganthoran Cruiser. The Alliance Star-Cruiser looked like it had been side-swiped and smashed into the side of the Ganthoran. In a deafening torrent of shrieking and rending metal, the Star-Cruiser ploughed slowly into the side of the Ganthoran, and with the Self-defence Turrets still blazing, it tore two of the “Screaming Death” weapons pods from their housings creating a massive dent in the side of the main fuselage, before continuing back to his original course.

  One of the loose weapons pod span away rapidly and hit another Ganthoran Cruiser in the highly-vulnerable front fan intake. Like a shark gobbling up a smaller fish, the fan intake of the second Cruiser seemed to greedily devour the fast-moving weapons pod.

  An instant later, the tell-tale flashes and explosions that marked the ship out for final and total destruction began to flicker from the main fuselage, before the whole vessel burst like a ripe watermelon in a huge fiery inferno.

  Two more Star-Cruisers emerged from the chaos and confusion.

  That makes eleven, Billy thought to himself, as the two most recent Star-Cruisers vanished from his War Table image and into the Trionic Web.

  With three more to go, Billy anxiously watched the three-dimensional image in front of him.

  Towards the bottom of the image, the last three Star-Cruisers were completing their attack runs. They had passed through the “Six-Cigar” Carriers and were now inflicting as much damage as they could on the Cruisers. One Commander from a Star-Cruiser had decided to inflict damage, as opposed to going for the destruction of enemy ships.
His five high-yield pulsar-cannon turrets selected different targets for their final salvo. One turret targeted a Cruiser that was trying to turn away from the Alliance attack. The two pulsar-cannon bolts promptly struck it on the superstructure, just behind the weapons pods. To Billy, the Ganthoran Cruiser lurched forwards as if it had been kicked in the rear. The vessel, however, had survived, but would be seriously damaged, and would take hours, perhaps days, to repair and return to combat duties.

  At that moment, the two Star-Cruisers dropped down out of the Ganthoran formation, and one immediately entered the Trionic Web. The other Cruiser, however, took a few seconds and began to level out. For one single, horrified instant, Billy Caudwell thought that the second Star-Cruiser had been damaged. That was until the vessel unleashed one final salvo of ten high-yield pulsar bolts. And, with his final salvo, the Ship’s Commander smashed three more Cruisers on the fringe of the formation into red, roaring destruction.

  Thirteen, Billy thought with a sense of relief as the second Star-Cruiser dropped into the Trionic Web.

  If the Star-Cruiser had been stranded with a malfunctioned Trion Drive, there would have been little or no chance of being able to rescue them.

  Finally, Star-Cruiser number fourteen appeared from the bottom of the Ganthoran position, and vanished from Billy’s War Table image, met by a cheer from the War Room Personnel. Fifty-five seconds dead and he had smashed the heart out of the Ganthoran “Six-Cigar” Carrier formation. The last of the Star-Cruisers had dropped into the Trionic Web, leaving the two Star-Destroyers; Colossus and Olympus, alone with the remnants of the Ganthoran Frontier Fleets. On the War Table image, and in Real Time mode, Billy could see Frontier Fleet vessels exploding in the middle of the formation.

  It had been a successful strike. The Ganthorans had been caught completely by surprise, and now nearly half of their “Six-Cigar” Carriers had been destroyed or crippled by the devastating Star-Cruiser attack. Watching the War Table image, Billy knew that the Frontier Generals would be raging at their subordinates in their Command Centres. They would be angry at the losses and screaming for retribution. Billy had managed to successfully provoke Generals Sal’nor, Timmeg, and Kav’al with the Star-Cruiser strike. The question now was would the Generals be sufficiently provoked into making a serious tactical error?

  Standing at the War Table, alone with his thoughts in the darkened War Room, this was where the burden and loneliness of command was felt the heaviest. As the First Admiral, it was Billy’s job to answer the questions that only the battlefield commander could.

  Aboard one of the Ganthoran warships, Billy knew that Frontier General Sal’nor would be experiencing that same loneliness of command.

  What would Sal’nor do next? Billy asked himself. Would he be bold and attack or would he take a more cautious approach? Having seen their Carrier formations mauled and savaged, the other Frontier Generals would be baying for blood and revenge. And, having committed their Fleets to supporting the shadowy Emperor figure, there was now no way out for the rebels but to try and conclude the business in their favour.

  Billy concluded that Sal’nor could not afford to be cautious.

  But, the question once again popped into Billy’s head: How would Sal’nor respond? The part of Billy Caudwell’s mind that was Teg Skarral Portan gave him the answer. In such a situation, you had to respond to your enemy with a stunning counter-attack to regain the initiative.

  The part of his mind that was Teg Portan told Billy that his enemy would play to his strengths. And, the greatest strength of the Combined Frontier Fleets was their sheer weight of numbers.

  “Sir!” The voice of a Scanner Technician from the darkness of the War Room claimed Billy’s attention. “We have multiple Axe-Blade fighter launches from the surviving Carriers.”

  “How many Carriers are launching?” Billy asked calmly.

  “All of them, sir - forty-five surviving Carriers are all launching their Axe-Blades,” the Scanner Technician confirmed.

  On the War Table image, and in Real Time, a cloud of single-seat Axe-Blade fighters were swarming out into space, and already Billy could see the clusters of Axe-Blades circling around the cigar-tube landing bays, like fleas on a dog’s back, as they held station, waiting for their comrades to launch and to join in formation.

  “How long until the Star-Cruisers rejoin us?” A plan started to form in Billy’s mind.

  “Just under four minutes, sir,” one of the Third Admirals around the War Table indicated.

  “Very well.” Billy nodded slowly. “Order the Star-Cruisers to hold station one hundred thousand kilometres from here, and await our arrival.”

  “But, sir!?” The Third Admiral began to protest. “We can’t hold this position here on our own!”

  “Who said anything about holding this position, Admiral?” Billy smiled meekly. “Comms! Contact Colossus, instruct her to warm up her engines, her Trionic Cannon, and the Self-Defence Turrets...we’ll be receiving visitors shortly, and I wish to give them the warmest of welcomes.”

  “Yes, sir!” came the response from the darkness.

  “And, pass the instructions on to the Propulsion Officer. WATO, fire up the Trionic Cannon and the Self-Defence Turrets!” Billy called.

  “Already done, sir,” the WATO replied.

  “Sir.” The Third Admiral protested again, though he was slightly less voluble this time. “You are not seriously contemplating attacking that...that...that horde with two unsupported Star-Destroyers?”

  “No, Admiral, I am not contemplating it....” Billy grinned. “I’ve decided to do it!”

  But, sir...!” The Third Admiral was completely astonished at the young human’s audacity.

  “What better way can you think of to tweak our little friend Sal’nor’s nose?” Billy smiled. “Olympus and Colossus will swat those Axe-Blades away like flies!”

  “But, what if he sends Destroyers and Cruisers with the Axe-Blades, sir?” the Third Admiral asked.

  “Admiral, after the savaging we gave his Carriers and Cruisers, I doubt if they could organise an Honour Guard right now, let alone a co-ordinated attack with Axe-Blades and Destroyers. He’ll send his Axe-Blades, because he has close to two hundred thousand of them, and we’ve fielded no Eagles so far.

  “He’ll send Destroyers to support them, because he has lots of them, and, they’re still in some kind of organised shape,” Billy explained, turning his attention to the War Table image.

  “And, when they attack us, Admiral, we’re going to shove two Star-Destroyers right down his throat,” Billy added.

  “Sir!” one of the Communications Officers interrupted, “Colossus signalling, all systems ready and standing by!”

  “WATO!?” Billy waited for an update from the Olympus systems.

  “All weapons systems ready, sir. Propulsion reports ready to go when you are, sir,” the WATO responded.

  “Signal from Aquarius, Sir,” another Communications Technician said, “acknowledging order, good hunting.”

  “Excellent.” Billy focussed on the three-dimensional image.

  Already, huge numbers of Axe-Blades were circling around the “Six-Cigar” Carriers. From some of the damaged Carriers, the launch process seemed to be taking an inordinately long time. However, the numeral read out on the margin of the War Table image showed that over one hundred and seventy-five thousand Axe-Blades were holding station around their Carriers.

  “WATO, when they start their attack, open up with the Trionic Cannon and take us forwards slowly. When we engage with the Axe-Blades, increase speed to one hundred and fifty percent of theirs,” Billy ordered.

  “Yes, sir.” The WATO did not quite understand why that was the command, but he knew that an order was an order.

  “The enemy fighters are starting to move towards us!” a Scanner Technician nervously looked ahead, waiting for an answer.

  Looking at the War Table image, Billy could see three large blocks of Axe-Blades, each with almost seventy-thousand
vessels. There seemed to be no formation or structure to the blocks of fighters that ranged almost five-thousand kilometres across and ten-thousand deep. Behind the three blocks of fighters came a large oval formation of Ganthoran Destroyers, five-thousand kilometres behind the fighters. From the numerals on the margins of the War Table image, Billy read close to ten thousand Destroyers.

  Well, well, well, Billy considered. He’s committed almost all of his fighters, and around half of his Destroyer strength.

  “And not a Cruiser in sight, eh, Admiral?” Billy teased the Third Admiral who had protested earlier.

  “No, sir,” The Admiral replied stone-faced. “But, how did you know, sir? How could you be so sure he wouldn’t send his Cruisers?”

  “It’s very simple, Admiral,” Billy lied smoothly. “Our friend Sal’nor over there has too many ships to fight them with any form of subtlety.”

  “His big strength is in Axe-Blades, and we have knocked a significant hole in his Cruiser numbers with our own Star-Cruisers.” Billy paused to look at the War Table image.

  The Axe-Blades and the Destroyers were gradually moving away from the safety of the main formation, which seemed to be having a major headache with damaged, destroyed, and burning vessels from the Star-Cruiser attack. From what Billy could see, the “Six-Cigar” Carriers were in a shambles. The Carrier Captains were no doubt relieved to have the Axe-Blades fighters away from the Landing Bays, so that they could concentrate on ship repairs. The Cruisers, it appeared, had fared slightly better, although a new screen of Cruisers were developing in front of the whole Combined Frontier Fleet position, as if, somehow, they would be able to hide the damaged ships from the prying Scanners of the Alliance.

  “Time to contact with Axe-Blades?” Billy asked.

  “Just over three minutes, sir.”

  “Excellent...WATO, open fire with the Trionic Cannons, and target those two flank formations...let’s thin their ranks down a bit.” Billy turned back to the Third Admiral who had asked him the question.