“Captain, there is a fleetwide transmission from the Admiral,” announced Beta-3.
“Fleet, they have brought all of their smaller ships to bear upon us. They are keeping their space stations behind the front lines. All our frigates and battleships need to move forward to engage their fleet. capital ships remain back but in range to use the rail guns and lasers on the Terest. Mars laser stay in the middle and use the capital ships for cover. If we can get through their upfront barrier then will go after the space stations, and you’ll move forward,” directed the Admiral
Surprisingly, the 3D display in front of Joan began taking on a new shape. The line of three space stations was on the top of the display. Below them was a dense cloud of attacking Terest warships. Across a small space was a smaller but equally dense cloud of white and blue dots representing the EDF’s frontline. Below that was the nine remaining capital ships spread out but close enough to protect each other, with the Mars laser maneuvering into the center of the formation.
As the formation was forming the EDF fleet began slowing to engage the Terest fleet at a pace that they wanted.
Once again, the Terest fleet formed their typical defensive balls. That formation perhaps wasn’t as effective as they hoped, but it was the only defense that they had against the EDF frigates. If the balls were large enough, that gave them sufficient maneuvering space to avoid the ballistic railgun slugs with their ten Degree maneuvering cone, and to reduce their vulnerability to the laser bursts from the capital ships. Again, it would turn into a conflict of attrition. The Terest had more powerful vehicles than the EDF, and it was clearly their tactic to wear down the earth’s fleet.
“Captain, I think we are going to be forced to maintain these two battle lines. With only three space stations they don’t have enough resources to attempt a flanking maneuver. Conversely, we don’t have enough resources to penetrate the defenses as we did in the first attack. This will be a long -drawn-out battle with many more losses on both sides,” pointed out SIMPOC.
SIMPOC stood watching the 3D display between him and Captain Herl. His computer brain continued to analyze the situation trying to find similar patterns in earth military history and possible strategic answers to it. SIMPOC continued to analyze the pattern of lights in front of him. Slowly some thoughts began to emerge. What he was looking at was very similar to the 18th-century line attack strategy. Referring back to Napoleon Bonaparte’s tactics, at the time when two lines of forces met he would launch the Calvary against the other forcing them to break off the line formation and turn into a square formation for self-defense. Then the artillery would be used to attack the densely populated troop formation. How could the EDF perform such a maneuver? Suddenly, the answer came to his mind.
“Captain Herl I have a suggestion,” announced SIMPOC.
“Whatever it is, let me have it,” responded Captain Herl.
“We need a cavalry,” said SIMPOC.
“I’ll what?” Responded Captain Herl.
“A cavalry.”
“I hate to be the dumb one in this discussion, but where the hell are, we going to get a cavalry?” Asked the captain.
“Between the ten remaining capital ships, we have thousands of Cow-Robots that can maneuver in space. I suggest we launch them towards one of the Terest defensive ball formations. They don’t know what capabilities the Cow-Robots have; their natural instinct will be confusion. If we allow the Cow-Robots to attack and swarm using their light gauge railguns, it may cause disruption and confusion in the Terest formation. It might cause enough confusion for our frigates, battleships and one or two capital ships to penetrate the ball and totally disrupt their plans.
“Open a communication line to the Admiral,” directed Captain Herl.
Admiral, I have a suggestion, which I think it will work. I propose we launch all our space mobile Cow-Robots towards the center of the Terest ball. The majority of them have small caliber railguns. A large number of small craft will confuse them and disorient them. They don’t know what the capabilities are. As the Cow-Robots attack I and another capital ship will follow them in and if we can get inside the ball, we can break it apart with a railgun and lasers.
“Did you come up with this brilliant idea or did SIMPOC?”
“Sir, actually it was Napoleon. He used a cavalry, and we can call our Cow-Robots our cavalry,” pointed out Joan.
“Joan, what a shit-assed stupid maneuver. But we don’t have many options. Do it. EDF fleet launch all your Cow-Robots and focus them on the center defensive ball. Chevesky and Burlington tighten it up and follow them it. Africa and I will follow you then Mars Laser follow us and make a break for the central station. This might be it guys, so make it good. Admiral Monson out.”
Joan and SIMPOC looked at each, then the captain said, “Launch every cow-robot that we have.”
Surprisingly the huge ship was able to open numerous large cargo doors, and the robots jumped to life, and thousands began moving at once. The clouds of mechanized bees didn’t take the time to form up near the ships they were leaving. They moved in ten streams from the remaining capital ships. They were small and under maximum acceleration.
“How long before they reach the ball?” Captain Herl asked.
“Eleven minutes,” answered SIMPOC.
As Joan stood there watching the lines of white dots moving towards the middle ball of red dots, she noticed that another eight of their frigates and four of the battleships were lost as they pursued all three defensive balls.
“Fleet wide transmission is coming in,” announced Beta-5.
“EDF fleet, on my signal redirect all frigates to the center ball and follow the lead through. Leave the battleships on the outside to form a boundary. We’re going to punch a ball through this mess and go for the center.”
“Captain, we just got the signal from the Admiral,” announced Beta-5.
“Redirect our frigates and battleships,” commanded the Captain.
“On my command send a max thrust signal to the Burlington and tell them to stay on our starboard side. Tell them, to max thrust, then prepare for max deceleration so we can slow when we enter the ball. I want to stay inside that long enough to pick them off and clear the way for the rest of the fleet to punch through.”
“Captain, all of the Cow-Robots have exited the Chevesky and Burlington,” announced Beta-Prime.
“Let’s go; tell the Burlington.”
Both capital ships began to accelerate. Due to their mass, they accelerated slower than the Cow-Robots they were following.
The eleven minutes ticked off slowly as Joan stood watching the 3D display. Eventually the streams of white dots converged on the center ball, and at first, there wasn’t any change in the behavior of the red dots.
Joan watched, waiting to see if the programming they put in the Cow-Robots worked. The software was readily available; it’s called swarm software. It allows the individual units to coordinate their movement with those around it.
The concept was obviously a mystery to the Terest. Suddenly each of their ships was surrounded by many smaller craft, and most of them were firing rail guns into their ships. They couldn’t fire on all of them, and because they maneuvered so fast, they had to work hard to pick one out.
The impact wasn’t immediate, but within a minute the red dots began to blink out. The shape of the defensive ball began to deteriorate, and openings occurred.
“There’s our opening,” Captain Herl transmitted to Captain Drummond. “It’s opening up and let’s clear our path in.”
Both ships fired the rail guns as fast as possible. They were much closer now, and many of the slugs hit their targets. Those ships that evaded the swam of Cow-Robots, had to face the frigates and battleships. They were distracted by the traffic and weapons fired from the frigates and battleships, and they were picked off by the lasers on the two capital ships.
The only difference between this attack and the previous one with the defensive ball was the two huge capital
ships were now inside the ball firing outwards and picking off the invading ships on the surface of the ball was easy. The numbers of destroyed ships mounted as the Mars Laser ship approached at high speed.
Joan stood at the 3D table watching the battle unfolding in front of her. She was waiting for the point in the battle where it was clear that the Mars Laser was able to pass through the defensive ball. When that was clear, Captain Herl gave her next order.
“Burlington let’s accelerate at max rate and provide cover for the Mars Laser. Pull all your frigates and battleships along with you as well as the Cow-Robots you deployed. We’ll leave the remnants of the defensive ball to the fleet behind us. We’ve got only a few minutes to take out the station before reinforcements arrive from the other two balls. Let’s make it good.”
The Chevesky and Burlington were behind in their acceleration. The Mars Laser passed out of the ball before they were able to catch up. As the two ships did exit the now disorganized defensive ball, the remainder of the EDF was pressing its attack.
This time through the middle of the Terest defensive alignment was much different. The three space stations were much closer than during the initial attack. That translated to a shorter time for the two defensive balls on either side of the fleet to disintegrate and attack the fleet on both sides and the top and bottom. Now that they weren’t in a defensive position the Terest fleet went to full attack mode.
The only chance for Earth’s fleet was to follow through on its gamble and take out the middle station B without too many losses.
“Beta-5, tell our frigates to break off the attack on the ball and to support us and tell the Burlington to do the same. I think we’ll need all the firepower we can put together for this one.”
“I calculate that the Mars Laser is approaching the outer range of the station’s weapon and the Burlington is closer than we are,” said SIMPOC.
“Tell the Mars Laser to max decelerate until they’re abeam the Burlington. I don’t want it taking on that thing by itself.”
“Tell the Burlington to open up on the station and as soon as they’re close enough, give it everything they have. Fire our rail gun and laser continuously.”
“Tell the Mars Laser to fire as soon as it’s in position and its speed is matching the Burlington’s.”
Joan was staring at the 3D display in front of her, frustrated that the three ships had gotten out of position in the confusion and now they were vulnerable. The 3D display increased its magnification as they got closer. The space station in front of them was growing larger in the display. Joan could see the features clearly, and she could almost feel the huge ship looking back at her.
Suddenly the 3D display went dead, and Captain Herl was blind.
“What happened?’ she screamed.
“Our sensors were overloaded, and the 3D display has gone offline.
“Captain, I presume the space station has discharged its weapon.”
For the first time since the battle began, Joan was at a loss for words. The command section was quiet, which was the worst sound she had ever heard.
“Get it back up,” Captain Herl yelled.
“Captain, there are many sensors that need to come back online in the proper sequence before the 3D display becomes active,” said Beta-Prime in a typical robotic voice. A voice that, at that moment was driving Captain Herl crazy. How can they be so calm, we’re about ready to be blown up, she thought to herself? The fact that they were robots and always talked that way didn’t matter to her. They were sitting ducks and was she the only that was worrying about it?
“Are the other systems up?” she yelled.
“Yes captain, it was only our sensors that were overloaded,” answered Beta-3.
If we’re still pointed in the right direction, continue firing the railgun and laser. Fire it as long as we’re able.
Sunday, November 12, 2051
Burlington & Mars Laser Power Down
“Captain, the Burlington and Mars Laser have powered down. It appears they’ve been hit with a power pulse from station B’s weapon. They were closer than we were, and they took the full force of the blast,” explained SIMPOC.
“Is our laser and rail gun still firing?” Captain Herl yelled.
“Yes, but they might not be enough. We’ll be within range in 32 seconds and likely receive another blast.
Suddenly Joan remembered the experimenting that SIMPOC had down with the mysterious onboard weapon on the Chevesky.
“SIMPOC can we fire the weapon you found on this ship?” she yelled.
SIMPOC hesitated for only a fraction of a second.
“Yes, I believe so,” he responded.
“Are we pointed in the right direction?” Captain Herl yelled back to SIMPOC.
“It is a field weapon and multi-directional,” he responded.
“Then fire it,” the Captain yelled.
SIMPOC reached out to the Chevesky computer system using the alien connection and went through a rapid checklist. He checked the status of the software that he knew had to be in the computer. All the algorithms were loaded. He checked on the power supply, and it was near full power. He then checked on the weapon that was integral to their propulsion system; everything appeared green. He used his knowledge of the targeting methods and focused the target straight ahead. He went through all those items in .6 seconds, and he passed the command, “FIRE.”
“The huge Chevesky rumbled as the powerful weapon ramped up, then there was a bone-jarring rumble that turned to a huge jolt as the massive amount of energy was released.
The sudden shock waves that shook the ship were so strong; Captain Herl had to hold on to the 3D display until the rumbling subsided.
“Either we fired it, or half of our ship just blew up,” she said.
“Captain, I believe we fired the weapon. Note our sensors are still offline, so we can’t determine our weapon’s effectiveness.”
“Either it worked, or we’ll be dead the next time that station fires at us. I guess we just wait,” Joan Herl said with a mix of relief and acceptance in her voice.
Captain Herl sat and took a sip of the cold cup of coffee, some of which had spilled on the top of the 3D display.
“Captain, our sensors are coming online, and the 3D display is powering up.
Captain Herl took another sip as she watched the fuzz over the 3D table slowly take form. As it finally coalesced into a picture, it took her breath away.
The huge space station filled the entire space over the table.
“What the?” she said aloud to no one in particular.
“It appears we drifted closer to the station,” SIMPOC said.
“I’ll say.” As Captain Herl said that, her first thought was, I don’t want to run into it. Then looked at the Chevesky’s trajectory and her concern was addressed.
The entire lower third of station B was gone. There was a stream of debris flowing away in the opposite direction to the Chevesky’s gentle drifting motion towards the station.
“Looks like, we blew the bottom off that sucker.”
“Impressive,” was SIMPOC’s only reply. “Captain, I’m reading no significant energy readings from the station. Apparently, the bottom third was critical to their operations.”
“Captain, the Burlington and Mars Laser are coming back online, and there is an incoming transmission from the Admiral.
“Great job, the station is down, but now we have two other huge problems bearing down on us. While you three have been having a picnic, we’ve been taking losses. I have three other ships powered down, and two of them have taken damage. I’m moving the remaining fleet around you guys, and we’ll take a stand here,” Admiral Monson said.
“Paol, are you guys okay?” Joan passed to her marine lead.
“Was that one of those pulses?” he asked.
“Yes, sometimes they blow our electronics offline, and other times they blow us offline. Our systems are coming back online. Make sure all of your equipment and pe
rsonnel are Okay.”
“Will do, ma’am.”
Drummond Recovers
Captain Drummond opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling of the command section. All she could see was a red glow around her.
What is happening? She asked herself.
Her body seemed to be all there, and she moved one appendage at a time to make sure that she was all right and her body parts were working. Then she became aware of the deafening silence. Then she remembered where she was. She abruptly sat up, and she had to hold her head to keep her head from falling off her shoulders.
“My God,” she said aloud after her head stopped spinning and she was able to focus her eyes.
The command area looked like some macabre wax museum. There were the beta units at their stations. Beta-Prime was standing next to the 3D table, and BG was laying on the floor next to her.
“BG,” she screamed as she rolled on her side and reached out for him. When she got her hand on his chest, she felt it moving, and she heard the moan.
“What the?” the crackly voice bubbled up through BG’s throat.
“I think they hit us with their energy weapon. This is like what happened to Joan when they hit her. As long as we’re still alive, the systems should come back online automatically. It will just take some time.”
She crawled over, and they put their arms around each other.
“I guess we just have to wait and hope,” BG said in a low voice.
Hollister Recovering
Captain June Hollister was laying, face down on the deck. She felt the warm blood flowing out of her nose onto the deck. Her head was throbbing, and the room was spinning. As her memories came back, she thought that she was working on a patient’s molar and something happened. Was there a crash or explosion, she asked herself? I’ve got to check on my patient.
She worked hard to get onto her hands and knees which the blood still flowed out of her nose. She finally got her feet under her, and she wiped off her nose with her sleeve as she looked around the room.
Earth II - Emergence Page 27