“Gy now has an idea of what their outer armor is made of. I want you to work with him on a way for you to blast your way onto one of those ships where we can attach or leave a transmitter. It would of course remain passive until such time as we fed it a signal. But we could have it store the ship’s movements for say… the prior year, and then have it broadcast that signal to us once we were within range of them.”
“We would have to disguise the raid so that it looked like it had another purpose. Maybe attempt a download of their computer core. I’m sure the encryption would be almost impossible to break, but it might give them concern that we somehow have a way to do just that.”
“My biggest concern with that type of raid though Colonel is that we can’t afford to have any of our men captured. Otherwise, they would know right where to find us.” The Colonel sat up. “Grange. Every time we board one of those Milgari ships we run that risk. It is one reason I have been saying we need to really beef up our defenses here.”
“Forget the Durians, if the Milgari were to find this place we would be in a world of hurt. We need some solid set defenses if we are going to continue this war. Otherwise, they wipe us out with one easy blow. The guns we have here on the Suppressor are the best we have, but even they would buckle under the assault of a large force.”
“Going back to your assault on a Durian destroyer, I say we work up a strategy and see if we can put it into practice. If we can put a little fear into the Durians, that might be a good thing. They will find us eventually. The more we know about them when that happens, the better.”
The Colonel worked with Gy on the best method for our assault tubes to be used to board a Durian craft. Their armor was thicker, our current set of explosives and magnetic pulses would not blow a hole into the side of a Durian destroyer. Until such time as we had that process nailed down we would not be going after the Durians.
In addition, Rita was working on a data recorder with a micro-transmitter that we could attach to a Durian hull. If the Colonel could get his men on-board we stood a good chance of being able to track the Durains back to their home-world. It was something that we were increasingly in desperate need of.
With Frig in full recovery I decided to make another trip to the Pollus sector, I wanted to know what information had been gathered about the Milgari ship movements. Frig insisted on riding along. His injuries were now only cosmetic and George needed time to grow new skin in the lab to be grafted. We departed with the Swift in the hold of the Helix.
We sat with Jarrod, discussing the information that had been gathered before the Durian attack. “Don, if you ask me, the Milgari are gearing up for a major offensive on the Dakar. We had one of our ships stop by the Prassi world and they have managed to assemble a decent fleet in a short time period. They now have 5,000 ships at their disposal. Of course the Milgari ships are now more powerful than before.”
“Anyway, what I was thinking was, if the Milgari go after the Dakar, maybe it would be a perfect opportunity for us, the Prassi, and maybe even Admiral Zimmerman and his crew to launch an all-out assault on the Torrian strongholds. I think either Barithia or maybe even Torrus itself.”
I took a sip from my cup, “I wish I had your confidence Jarrod. I���m just worried about throwing everything we have into the fight all at once. If we were successful in taking Barithia that would be a big win. It could buy the Grid some time while they work to take it back and then to rebuild.”
“I can’t imagine getting close enough to Torrus without taking major losses. I’m not willing to ask others to go against those odds, at least not while we don’t have to.” Frig spoke, “Sir, I think what he is suggesting has merit as it concerns Barithia. That is a major supply hub for them as well as some manufacturing. If we could capture it and destroy that manufacturing, it would be a major blow.”
“We would not however be able to hold onto it. That would require building up a defense that places a high cost on an assault by them. We do not have the men or any type of an automated system that would function in that capacity. We are still limited to the hit-and-run strategy that we have developed.”
I took another sip, the coffee was good, piping hot, almost burning my tongue as it traveled to the back of my throat. “I’ll have the Colonel begin work on an assault plan if he doesn’t already have one in place. If we could shut down Barithia, even if that was only for a few months, it could buy us substantial time. If the Dakar fall or fold quickly and withdraw, the Torrians will turn their efforts back to trying to take the Grid.”
“Our ships are more capable than ever and we now have upwards of 280 of them. But that is a far cry from the 3,000 ships of the Prassi or the possibly tens of thousands of the Milgari. The battlefield keeps changing all the time. And the Durian involvement is accelerating that change. Something needs to break in our favor soon or we are going to find ourselves on the run again.”
“Look around at our team Jarrod. We aren’t a bunch of spring chickens here. Most of what makes up Defiant is of extended age. George, the Colonel, even you… do you think you will be as prepared to fight in ten or 15 years? I know I won’t and I am much younger than you. If the Grid has to jump to survive then most if not all of our efforts here will fall by the wayside. We need to turn this war while we are at our best!”
It was a good speech, but I was preaching to the choir. Frig and Jarrod were both of the same understanding as I. Something needed to happen and we were the ones that were going to have to force it. Whether that happened at Barithia or against the Durians, something had to turn in our favor.
When the Helix arrived at the rendezvous point we waited for the other ships to return with what they had found. The Honcho and the Haven arrived first. The captain of the Honcho was the first to offer the findings. “Gentlemen, we just came from a system near Mortel. The attack on Mortel was with approximately 500 Milgari ships, the fleet we observed was closer to 4,000 ships in size, including eight of the massive globe shaped ones.”
“The numbers were also more heavily slanted towards battleships and cruisers. Almost 2,300 of those 4,000 ships were of the upper class. We scouted most of the grids in that sector and that was by far the largest gathering of forces. And the area is thick with pickets out searching for the likes of us. Most of our information was gathered at the extreme range of our sensors.”
The next set of Raiders arrived with similar information. The grids they had scouted contained a large force of nearly 4,000 ships which included several of the massive globes. When the remainder of the teams had returned we had a good picture of what the Dakar had coming their way. An armada of almost 17,000 ships was gathering in the grids nearest the Dakar.
I quizzed the captains further and learned that they had each deposited a number of passive probes in the grids where they had been. At a set time each week the probes would all send a snapshot of the information they had gathered, it would flow back towards a single point. So long as nothing interfered with the line of sight between the probes the information would be sent back silently.
With the number of ships they had at their disposal it was evident that the Torrians and Milgari were no longer having supply problems. Our strategy had worked for a while, but they had found a way to compensate for their losses. I again wondered if it was due to their dealing with the Durians.
After several meetings with the captains to discuss the information we now had, I turned to Frig to ask a question. “Do you think it would be of any benefit to warn the Dakar of what is coming their way? If they heed the warning they might flee, leaving the Milgari force to turn after the Grid. But I don’t see us having a choice if we want them as allies. If they run, they could one day still join us in a fight.”
Frig replied, “I think it is imperative that we offer the warning. If we leave it to chance it may only be a minor distraction for the Torrians and Milgari. The Dakar made a truce with the Milgari before, who says they won’t do it again. And if the Grid runs to a new sector, t
he Dakar might just get left alone, which is what they want. Either way, I believe it would be in our best interest to let them know.”
Soon after the meeting we were on our way towards the Dakar front. From there I would attempt to establish communications with Feta Lunge. After our arrival, several days passed before we met with Feta on the Paswari.
We landed in his cargo hold and Feta met me on the deck, “I know this meeting was not planned, but we have information that I believe should be taken immediately to your council. The Milgari are massing a fleet in this sector. We count over 17,000 ships. And we believe these ships have upgraded defenses and weapons.”
I took Feta through much of what we had gathered, he replied, “This is quite interesting. Our council has been in contact with the Torrians. They are nearing a truce. They would return several of the contested star systems in exchange for peace and trade relations. Our intelligence places those estimates at only 6,000 ships. Are you certain your people are not inflating numbers for your own political gain?”
I stepped back with a look of disbelief, “Political gain? I just handed you evidence that the Milgari are massing for an attack on your Dakari Expansion! I don���t know where your people got their information, but I can assure you that this is accurate and current, gathered within the last week.”
Feta looked down at the data store I had placed in his hand, “As I said, I will pass this on to the council. If what you say is true, they will take the appropriate action. Now I would suggest you go back the way you came. Even though your intentions are good the council might take your entry into our space the wrong way, given our current state of negotiations.”
I wanted to punch the snarky alien in the face. We had offered vital intel without any expectations and our offer was being treated as though it was worthless. Feta turned to his robot assistant Passi and gave it a command. The robot turned and moved out of the bay and down a hall. As I started to turn towards the Swift Feta grabbed my arm.
Then, as he leaned in close, he whispered, “I am just following orders Mr. Grange. What you gave me is quite alarming, but I am not sure who is in charge of the council anymore. Take care, Mr. Grange. If what you are saying is true, we may not meet again.” Feta released my arm and then motioned for me to board the Swift.
My immediate thought was to pull my blaster and to take back the data from Feta. But he wasn���t the one calling the shots. Those in charge of his government would be making those decisions. He was just following orders.
I boarded the Swift with a dejected look. Frig asked why, “Sir, by your expression I would say they rejected the intel offer, or they are going to push it aside and accept whatever the Torrians throw at them.” I sat in my chair and gestured for Frig to take us back out into space.
“I���m afraid they are going to bargain with the Torrians, whether they get attacked or not is yet to be seen. The Torrians are not going to sit idly by while the Dakar build up their forces. If I were to guess, the Torrians will order a massive attack after which a weakened Dakar will accept whatever terms they send their way.”
“But that is not my biggest fear. If the Dakar sign a truce and then a trade pact, we will be so vastly outnumbered that I cannot fathom a victory scenario. We don���t have the ships or the manpower to fight 17,000 Milgari ships, much less a third that number.”
“We have the wealth to buy more ships, but we don���t have the people to man them, the Torrians have both. I really thought we had found a way to defeat them with the supply-line strategy. They have managed to find a way around that. We can and will continue to do our raids, but we still won���t have the boots on the ground that are needed. The Dakar could have been those boots.”
“Do you ever get the feeling that the odds are stacked against you?” Frig rolled his eyes, “The odds have been against me my whole adult life. All that can be expected of you Sir is that you do your best, no one expects more. We will find our way around this issue, just as we have done so many times before.”
I reached over and placed my hand on Frig���s shoulder, “Thanks for keeping me grounded. Sometimes I let my mind run down a rabbit hole and it���s difficult to back out of it.” Frig responded, “A rabbit hole Sir?” I then explained what a rabbit was and where it lived as described in the Grid archives. “I���m sure there are other burrowing animals that you have encountered. You go down a rabbit hole and you end up popping out somewhere else.”
Once we were away from the Paswari we set a course back to the Raiders and the Helix. With the latest intel in our hands we headed back to the Suppressor to plan our next move with the Colonel. After landing we met him in his office.
“Grange! Hope you brought back some good news for us. How���d it go with the Dakar?” I plopped down in a chair and shook my head, “It did not go well Colonel. They are either cooking up a deal with the Torrians or they are about to get their asses handed to them, and then have whatever deal the Torrians see fit to dole out shoved down their throat.”
The Colonel then placed his hand on a comm device on his desk, “Gy, grab Rita and get up here. We need a strategy session.” The Colonel then placed his big hands on the desk with his fists balled up. “I think we need to strike while the Milgari are occupied. Their garrison at Barithia has about 500 ships and other assorted defenses in orbit and our estimates place 500,000 troops on the ground.”
“I think we hit them and hit them hard. Destroy everything we can and then hi-tail it out of there. Jeb was in here the other day and made mention of a war strategy he read about in the archives. It was called Blitzkrieg. The People running the war were idealists like the Torrians, very brutal to many of their own and in the end they collapsed because of opening up too many war fronts.”
“This Blitzkrieg strategy was used at the beginning of the war and was highly successful. Of course, once politics got involved it was over. What I was thinking was we are perfectly set up to use this strategy. Attack with a force that is light and capable and go in with overwhelming numbers. Strike fast and achieve a quick victory.”
“If we can follow that one strategy, I think we can be in and out of Barithia in a week. Getting in and out quick would put us well away from any backup fleet they might send. I called Gy and Rita up because they have made some progress on the technology the Durians sold us.”
Gy walked into the room and the Colonel showed him to a chair. “Gy, tell Don and Frig what you were able to do.” Gy nodded, “Well, the image projection software they gave us, well it works. But there was something about it that bothered me. I couldn’t put my finger on it until Rita showed me some signature graphs.”
“It was very subtle, but I believe the patterns had a detectable signature to them. My guess is that the Durians left a little back door in there so they would be able to detect a ship when it was approaching. Anyway, between our former image projection efforts and the efforts here, I think we have a solution that you are going to love.”
With the Durian image projection technology, so long as you traveled in a straight line at a constant speed or remain perfectly still, it would look like there was no one there. Of course when you sped up, slowed down or turned that image distorts and you lose most of your cover. That itself is still an issue, but we figured out a way to project not one, but two ship images out to either side.”
“To the enemy, we could be any one of three ships that their sensors pick up. We just made ourselves three times harder to target. And the best part is, it is an easy upgrade and we are about half way through the fleet as of now. We will have the full fleet updated within a week.”
The Colonel turned back towards me with a grin, “Blitzkrieg! We can take out half of their cannons before they know we are there. The tech then acts as a defense multiplier making us three times harder to kill. And the final piece Gy forgot to mention… the coating adds strength to the outer Aquamarine skin, making it 26% more durable!”
“I say we start planni
ng today for a strike at Barithia in the next few weeks. That might just be the thing that takes a little pressure off the Dakar, could draw things out a bit which works in our favor. So, what do you say Don? Are you ready to kick some Milgari ass!”
The Colonel had an evil grin on his face. It was a grin he got when he knew a good fight was coming. I called a meeting of the full council and informed the others of the plan. They were to tell no one, not their staffs, not their families. There had been no evidence to date of spies amongst us, but I reasoned it was only a matter of time. When growing an empire you needed new participants. Some were bound to try to sell you out if they could.
Chapter 8
Our preparations were complete. The newest ships coming out of the automated docks had been staffed and were formed up in our 302 ship armada. We were going to hit Barithia with all we had. The only warships remaining would be 20 troop transports that we did not have the manpower to fill. Another 20 transports, loaded with ground assault troops, were going with us.
The small armada departed for a rendezvous point near Barithia. Plans were solidified and passed out to the commanders. Frig and I proceeded forward to Barithia to gather intel on ship and troop positions and strengths. Upon our return I had final meetings with our senior commanders to adjust and finalize our attack plans. I then gave a speech to all who had come.
Frig patched me through to all ship���s comms, “Today, we leave for a battle with our enemies. The battle we are about to fight is designed to give us more time, more time to grow and train and build our fleet. We will be going up against an enemy whose ships and troops outnumber us. We must take on and achieve the goals that are to be laid out before each of us. The better each of us perform our tasks the higher the chance of us all coming home.”
“Each of your commanders will be detailing out exactly what you are to accomplish. Do it to the best of your abilities while keeping an eye on your fellow soldiers. This will not be our final battle, but it could have a substantial impact on the overall war, a war that we must win.”
AMP Blitzkrieg Page 8