Saving America

by Saxon Andrew

  “Dunhan, we don’t know the scanning range of those new warships Earth has. Move the ship further out so the aliens are barely on our monitor.”

  Dunhan frowned but followed her suggestion. He immediately saw three green blips on the monitor. His eyes narrowed, and Abby smiled, “We were followed.” Dunhan nodded and Abby said, “Move toward them and take them out. We don’t want them vectoring warships in on us.” Rory turned the Roo Rabbit and accelerated toward the closest stealth scout. It tried to run but was destroyed by an intense white beam as Abby targeted the second scout and hit it from long range. The third scout flew away at its maximum speed and Abby locked the targeting computer on it. Rory whipped the Roo Rabbit around and chased it down. Abby fired at long range and blew it into rubble. “Move us to another position, Rory.” Rory nodded and moved high above the approaching alien formations. “Those scouts are defenseless if they’re detected and attacked,” Abby noted.

  “They can’t carry any powerful weapons; the energy would give away their position.” Dunhan paused and added, “Do you think they might have developed a new scout model?”

  “That’s why I had you change our location,” Abby replied. “Keep the thrusters active.” Dunhan nodded and stopped the ship.

  • • •

  The alien War Leader stared at his monitor and saw the giant ships moving out to meet his fleet. His planet killers were outnumbered two-to-one and he shook his head at the size of the giant blasters on those monsters. He also learned from his scanning leader that this enemy had a new warship that was far deadlier than the warships he had been facing out at the edge of the Empire, and his warships were no match for them. This could be devastating. He lifted his communicator and ordered, “All odd-numbered planet killers and their supporting fleets will move out ahead of the even numbered planet killers in a staggered formation. Put two thousand miles between the two lines and then all ships will move forward together.” The War Leader stared at the monitor and lifted the communicator again, “All ships will record the fight and feed it to your message probes. If your ship is in danger of being destroyed, you will launch all of your message probes immediately.”

  The War Leader’s Second asked, “Are you thinking we’re going to lose this fight?”

  “I don’t know what to expect. But I’m making sure the Empire finds out what happens here,” the War Leader replied. “See my orders are carried out!”

  “Yes, War Leader.”

  • • •

  Admiral Jennings saw the alien formations change their alignment and shook his head, This alien commander was a smart cookie. He couldn’t move in between the staggered alien planet killers without placing his DPs in jeopardy. Well, he’d take out the front line and then move in on the second line if they continued moving forward. He issued new orders and sat back to stare at the monitor. “How long until contact, Captain?”

  “One hour, Sir.” Jennings nodded and interlaced his hands on his stomach. He hoped the scientists were right about the Defense Platforms. He’d find out in an hour.

  • • •

  Senior Captain Toruga looked at Captain Alvarez on his console and stated, “Our orders are for me to fire first and if my blaster doesn’t stop the planet killer, we will fire together.”

  “Why don’t we just fire together the first time, Sir?”

  “We must find out if our Defense Platforms can take them on alone. They have more than a hundred-thousand planet killers defending their territory and there’s no way we can match their numbers.”

  “You know there will be a five second delay before you can fire again, Sir. If that planet killer isn’t stopped, it may be in range to fire on us.”

  “Our range is a lot longer than theirs, Captain Alvarez; we should be ok. However, we have no option but to follow our orders. Power up your blaster and be prepared to fire.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Toruga turned to his weapons commander and heard him announce, “Commencing fire in one minute.” Toruga nodded and turned to the monitor. That planet killer was gigantic, and he so wanted to use both DPs for the initial salvo, but orders could not be ignored. The countdown hit zero and Toruga felt his giant ship shake as the huge blaster in the bow opened fire. He was stunned by what he saw on the ship’s main monitor. The giant blue beam hit the planet killer and ripped through it all the way back to the rear thrusters. It went up in a massive explosion and Toruga punched his communicator, “ALVAREZ, FIRE ON THE WARSHIPS BEHIND THE PLANET KILLER NOW!!” Toruga saw the giant beam erupt from Alvarez’s DP and blow into the ranks of the five hundred alien warships holding station behind the planet killer; three hundred of them were vaporized. The survivors turned, spread out, and fled at high speed from the site of the attack. But Toruga’s blaster had recharged and he opened fire on them immediately. When the blaster beam went out, only forty-five alien warships had survived.

  • • •

  The War Leader watched all five-hundred of the planet killers in the lead rank blasted into rubble. He yelled over the fleet’s general frequency, “ALL SHIPS TURN AND FLEE BACK TO THE EMPIRE. ALL WARSHIPS STAY CLOSE TO THE PLANET KILLERS AS WE LEAVE THIS SPACE.”

  • • •

  Jennings watched the surviving alien warships turning and moving away from Earth at their maximum speed. The DPs were just not fast enough to keep up with them and sending the warships after the surviving Planet Killers was wasted effort. Getting close enough to fire blasters or missiles was certain death. He sighed and knew if he didn’t do something the Council would censure him, so he ordered the fleets to move out with the aliens and make sure none of them turned around. Even at that, more than a thousand warships commanded by ambitious officers were destroyed when they moved inside the range of the planet killer’s blasters. Jennings was thankful when Admiral Martov called off the fleets; now he wouldn’t be questioned by the Council. He would defend Martov; it was easier to defend another than one’s self. The debris field left by the destroyed alien warships was expansive and covered a huge area between Earth and the Moon. Something would have to be done to clear it. Perhaps the wreckage could be used for ship construction. One thing was certainly made clear in this confrontation; the Defense Platforms performed far beyond what was expected. Something had to be done to increase their speed. But…that was for later. He knew the aliens wouldn’t be coming back any time soon and it was fruitless to continue the attacks on their territory. For the moment, there was a stalemate.

  • • •

  Dunhan twisted the ship hard right and then dove as fifteen Earth Warships came flashing in from in front of the Roo Rabbit. The large battleships flashed past them in an instant but not before they launched a wave of missiles as they passed, but the Roo was too nimble to be caught in the missile’s scanners. Dunhan jerked the ship vertical and then turned back over the top of the incoming wave of missiles. The missiles didn’t have the maneuverability of the small ship and failed to turn fast enough to hit the fast-moving ship and passed under it. Dunhan went to maximum speed and flew out of the hundreds of warships moving in to surround him.

  “That was too close, Rory!”

  “I know, Abby. They set up ambushes far out from Earth with their old model warships to prevent us and the alien scouts from getting a look at what’s going on. I think they’ve figured out the range of our scanners.” Rory stared at the temperature gauge and saw it was dropping slowly out of the red. “Bob, what’s going on with the cooling system?!”

  The huge robot instantly replied, “It’s been damaged by the last attack. One of the impellers has melted in its housing.”

  Abbey shook her head, “We were hit by thirty blaster beams as that squadron came out from having their systems shut down. I don’t think Roo can survive another attack like that one. We need to go back to Melbourne for repairs.” Abby exhaled sharply, “That was my fault, Rory. I didn’t use the active scanner in an effort to sneak in and they surprised us.”

  Rory turned to Abby, “Did yo
u get a look at what’s going on around Earth?”

  “No, we need to contact Grady and Taffy let them know we’re out of the fight, Rory.”

  “We aren’t supposed to communicate with each other this close to Earth, Abby. I’m moving the Roo above the Solar System and send a squelch burst to them with our coordinates.”

  “I’m initiating an active scan to see if there are any more warships ahead of us. Hold off on the burst until I can confirm we’re in a clear area.”

  Rory jerked his head to the scanner’s monitor and saw hundreds of Earth Warships appear in the distance ahead of them. He shook his head and jerked the Roo Rabbit away from the vertical course he was following and headed out high above Mars. It was near Saturn before they found an area of open space without enemy warships in it. Abby stared at the monitor as Rory went to full speed directly away from Saturn and after ten minutes, Abby turned to him, “This is a good place. Send the burst.”

  • • •

  Grady stared at his tactical monitor and heard Taffy say, “I’ve just received a squelch burst from Rory, Grady; they’ve sent coordinates on it.” Taffy turned to Grady, “Something must be wrong.”

  Grady kept his eyes glued to the tactical and said, “I’ll find us a way out shortly. It appears the aliens lost the fight in a big way here.”

  Abby stared at the huge debris field on the monitor as the Rex Rabbit was flying back toward the sun and shook her head, “Earth has obviously found an answer to the alien’s planet killers.”

  Grady huffed a laugh, “Yes, they’ve built an even larger planet killer. They waited for the alien fleet to arrive inside the orbit of the moon and then jumped them with those giant ships leading the way.”

  Taffy stared at the gigantic weapon platforms in the distance and her expression turned serious, “Grady, there’s no way Earth could have built that many platforms in the two years we’ve been out here harassing them.”

  “Taffy, Earth probably built a large number of them but remember that Earth has more than two hundred planets they’ve conquered. I’m sure those planets were building them as well. With populations that are tightly controlled, they devoted all their resources to building a weapon to take on the alien’s most dangerous weapon. At least the aliens have found Earth’s location and the war has moved here. Earth is forced to keep a defense fleet here to protect the planet.”

  “Grady, can’t they just send out those huge platforms to wipe out the alien’s fleets at their territory?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Earth doesn’t have nearly enough of them to challenge the hundreds of thousands of planet killers the aliens have defending their territory. The aliens have a huge advantage in numbers and from what I’ve seen of those new platforms, they’re not faster than the alien’s planet killers. It’s also a certainty that if Earth launched a large enough fleet to threaten the aliens, they would immediately launch a fleet large enough to destroy Earth.” Grady glanced at Taffy and immediately said, “And no, the aliens can’t send all of their planet killers to Earth to attack, either.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s those planet killers that are keeping Earth’s fleets out of their territory. With the new warships Earth has built, the aliens’ warships don’t stand a chance without the planet killers protecting them. It appears a stalemate is in place for the moment.”

  “Grady, I find it hard to believe the aliens haven’t developed any technological advances during the last two years.”

  “We’ve not scouted inside their territory, Taffy. They felt confident enough to send half-a-million warships to attack Earth. It’s possible they could afford to send this large of an attack force due to a new warship replacing them that we’ve not seen.” Grady paused and added, “I suspect Earth also believes the aliens have developed a new warship and they won’t be attacking the aliens until they’ve built enough of those giant defense platforms. I think both sides will be backing off and building the forces needed to take on each other.”

  Grady tapped the gravity thruster and then shut it down. The Rex Rabbit moved above the sun. Grady tapped the gravity thruster again and picked up speed as he moved above the Solar System. “Give me an active scan, Taffy.” Grady suddenly saw thousands of red blips appear ahead of the Rex Rabbit and he went to full thrusters. Earth had set up ambushes above the planet with thousands of warships that were powered down. Hundreds detected the active scan and began powering up to give chase, but Grady found a clear route out and went to maximum speed. The ambushers were all old model warships and the Rex Rabbit disappeared from their scanners in less than ten minutes. He entered the Roo Rabbit’s coordinates and turned the ship toward Saturn.

  Chapter Two

  “Grady, the Roo’s cooling system is damaged and poses a real risk if we’re attacked by multiple warships. We have to go back to Melbourne for repairs.”

  “Dunhan, how did you allow yourself to get jumped by those warships?”

  “We didn’t use our active scanner in an attempt to enter the space close to Earth; we felt it would be detected.”

  “You should have just followed an Earth warship in close to the planet.”

  “None of them were moving, Grady. We shutdown our systems and coasted in. Unfortunately, we coasted close by fifty powered down warships and they immediately opened fire on us. We were hit by thirty blasters and Bobby reports that the excessive heat damaged an impeller in the cooling system.”

  Grady turned to Taffy, “Send them the recordings we’ve made.” He looked back at the monitor, “Abby, tell me what you think about what we’re sending you.”

  Abby nodded and saw the recording appear on her console’s display. Rory stood up and went behind her to watch. After an hour, Abby looked up at Rory and then turned to Grady and Taffy on the monitor, “It appears the war has reached a stalemate, Grady.”

  “That’s how I see it as well, Abby.” Grady was silent for a moment and then looked at Taffy as he said, “I think we’ve done all the damage we can do for the moment. Now is a good time to head back to Melbourne.” Rory went to his chair and powered up the thrusters. Grady started the Rex Rabbit moving and said, “We’re going to fly out toward the center of the galaxy for a day and then turn toward Melbourne. I don’t want to run a risk of being followed.”

  “Lead the way,” Rory responded. The two small ships disappeared at an incredible velocity and the six Earth stealth scouts lost them an hour later.

  • • •

  The commander of the scouts cursed and ordered, “There’s no way we can match their speed. Fan out and see if you can detect them changing course.”

  Taffy stared at her monitor and shook her head, “Grady, we have six stealth scouts following us. They’re spreading out to see if they can catch us changing course.”

  Grady pursed his lips, “We need to get the scientists on Melbourne to come up with a way for us to track them. We’ll be far enough ahead in twelve hours to not be detected.”

  “It would be nice if the Rabbits were undetectable,” Taffy said under her breath.

  “We’ll look into it back on Melbourne, my love. I’m really curious about what the aliens might have developed but there’s no way we can enter their space without being detected. Maybe next time we’ll try to take a good look.” The two small vessels flew away from Earth at their maximum speed.

  • • •

  The two ships were a day out from Melbourne when Dr. Goldman appeared on Grady’s monitor, “I just received your message. What’s the problem?”

  “Rory’s cooling system has been damaged. An impeller in the cooling system has melted and fused to the housing. Where do we need to take it to get it repaired?”

  “You can bring it here, Grady. I’ve purchased enough spare parts from the government to make the repair.”

  “They were willing to sell them to you?”

  “Yes, Taffy. They didn’t even yell about it.”

  Ta
ffy smiled, “Josh, have you been looking at the data we’ve sent you on the stealth scouts being used by Earth.” Joshua nodded. “Is there any way we can incorporate that technology into the Rabbits?”

  “The active scans of those scouts you sent me has allowed me to examine the stealth technology they’re using. All they’ve done is apply a highly absorptive coating on their hulls that prevents electronic beams and light from being reflected,” Dr. Goldman replied. “I’ve analyzed the composition of that coating and we can coat the Rabbits with it, but a powerful blaster could melt it off the hull. You need to understand that you won’t be able to use the blasters that hit your ships to heat up the expansion fluid if you choose to coat the rabbits.”

  “We no longer need to use blaster hits to head the fluid, Josh,” Grady replied. “The new fusion reactors provide enough energy to keep our weapons at maximum power.”

  “There is a new update that needs to be installed on your ships, Grady. A new more powerful blaster has been developed and an additional reactor needs to be installed in the Rabbits to provide the additional power to operate it.”

  “Is there room for another reactor, Josh?”

  “Yes’ Grady. There’s actually room for three more if they’re needed. But one should be enough to power the new blasters.”

  Taffy chuckled, “It appears you’ve been busy in our absence, Joshua.”

  “I can’t take credit for the new blaster, Taffy. The scientists at the science center came up with it.”

  “Did they come up with anything else, Joshua?”

  “They’ve developed a tiny, and I do mean tiny, missile that the Rabbit Class of warship can use.”

  “Where could they possibly be stored?!” Taffy asked.

  “Under the ship, Taffy. A magazine box can be attached to the hull between the landing wheels.”

  “How many missiles will it hold?” Grady asked.

  “About a hundred.”

  “NO WAY!”

  “They’re really small, Grady. But they’re extremely powerful and faster than you can imagine.” Joshua was silent for a moment and then said, “You know. If we coat those missiles in an absorptive coating, a ship they’re fired at won’t see them coming. I need to pass this information on to the construction facility. I’ll get back to you later.”