The transmitter suddenly went dead.
In the silence that followed, Faye Anne said, “I think we should send a courier to Stellar and have them put this planet on a regularly scheduled freight route.”
“I agree,” Rachel said. “Send our data from the drones. No sense in leaving them isolated.”
The battle group reassembled, collected the errant shipping containers Greg had abandoned and prepared to jump to the planet that was its real target, Swordsman military headquarters.
Rachel returned to her office after the battle group was established on course for Swordsman Headquarters. Elizabeth spoke as soon as Rachel had settled into her chair. “Rachel, I’m worried about Rashi. He does not look well.”
“Reuben says he has been like this since Esther died. He doesn’t eat and he doesn’t take care of himself. Reuben doesn’t know what to do. He had hoped this trip would bring him back around.”
“I share Reuben’s concern. Reuben is not in great shape either. I worry that the stress of battle could kill them.”
“I agree. They are dear friends and I would hate to lose them,” Rachel said. “Do you have any ideas?”
“Matilda has already spoken to me about Rashi. She has asked my advice.”
“What did you tell her?”
“To keep him as busy as possible with the younger engineers.”
“Good plan, how did she take the advice.”
“She had come to a similar conclusion on her own. She needed me to fill in the details.”
“Excellent, so what do we do about Reuben?”
“All we can hope for is that he survives this voyage long enough to get back to Eretz and the rest of his family.”
“I agree.”
GENERATIONS - CHAPTER SIX
“THEY KNOW WE WERE AT HOMESTEAD and they know we’re coming here. There’s a spy on Homestead.” Faye Anne was furious when she reported the results of the first sweep by the glass recon drones.
“Probably got a courier off from the moon base,” Rachel said calmly. “Either way, we’re committed. Do they know we have arrived or where we are?”
“There’s so much noise, I don’t know how much is propaganda and how much is real.”
Rachel sighed. “We’ll shut it all down soon anyway. We launch one hour after sunset at the tunnel complex. Get the containers moving.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Faye Anne, don’t be like that. The plan is solid. We may be outnumbered, but we’re smarter and better armed.”
“I hope so.”
Using the PI ships and small picket ships as glorified tow trucks, forty of the laser armed containers were flung into position around the small moons that held the smallest of the outlying Swordsman defensive bases. The hope was that the containers would eliminate many of the lighter in-system interceptors before they could become a threat. Even if some of the containers failed to respond to the wake-up signal, any that did was more than they had before.
At one hour after sunset, the battle began. The laser armed containers were signaled to activate. There would be no way to know if they functioned until they attacked something. Wren’s sixteen PI ships hyper jumped to planned coordinates ringing the planet. They each launched two Glass-ruptors from the over-wing mounts and jumped back to the tender where Matilda’s team removed the mounts. As close as they had come to the planet, there was no doubt that they had been detected. Since virtually no one else used short hyper jumps with ships other than PI ships and there were not a lot of PI ships still in service and no one else used them in a fleet, there was only one force that could be attacking this planet. However, before the news could be spread, the surveillance and communications satellites fell silent as the Glass-ruptors did their work.
Having determined the locations of the weapons satellites from the first pass by the glass recon drones, after verifying that the communications satellites were dead, the PI ships attacked the weapons satellites with Disruptor missiles. Unlike the glass drone which was stealthy due to the fact that its glass structure did not reflect radar, the Disruptor deliberately drew attention to itself. Sensing the direction from which a laser intending to destroy it originated, it could follow the beam back to its source while deflecting the beam with its spinning mirrored exterior. Once reaching the proximity of the beam’s source, the missiles turned on their equipment and destroyed the satellite’s higher order electronics.
The PI ships were now well inside the perimeter guarded by the system’s interceptors and picket ships. The defenders scrambled to meet the intruders. As soon as the interceptors had abandoned their large bases near the planet, the convoy escorts hyper jumped to the vicinity of the biggest and closest military and freight depot on the planet’s larger moon. Within ten minutes, the escorts’ vast laser arrays had reduced the fragile buildings to rubble. Freighters on the ground were disabled before they had a chance to start their engines. Missiles from the ground batteries were less than half way to the escorts before the escorts jumped away putting them out of range. The glass recon drones which monitored the attack recorded secondary explosions deep in the rock underneath the installation. The experimental, spinning, ground penetrating missiles worked. The missiles had been Matilda’s pet project for a couple of years. Rashi had made adjustments to the software and the combined effort paid off.
The laser armed shipping containers began picking off the interceptors as they rose from their remote bases. It was hard to tell how many of the containers functioned, but enough did that they had a large impact on the forces attacking from behind where the Queen Elizabeth and group had slipped inside the defensive perimeter. Even with the containers, entire fleets of interceptors were able to leave their bases and Rachel prepared her group for the attack.
The convoy escorts jumped to another close-in interceptor base, but where the first base had been thrown off by their drive to engage the PI ships, this second base was further away and had launched its ships by the time the escorts arrived, but the ships were still close to the base. This was where everyone expected the plan to fall apart. Whether it did or not remained to be seen.
The PI ships, taking advantage of the parallax derived from their relative distance from each other, used their lasers with brutal efficiency. Of all the simulations Greg had ever developed, this was the toughest to master and the deadliest. Targeting solutions and laser coordination between ships required a level of concentration not possible without sentient ships. Fifty Swordsman interceptors and picket ships were destroyed before one got close enough to lob a missile at one of the PI ships. A counter-measures missile distracted that one Swordsman missile and it detonated harmlessly.
Up to this point the PI ships had been up against small nimble lightly armed ships with limited armor. Killing them was not difficult thanks to the intense training Wren had imposed on his crews, but even as Wren tried to keep his mind on the swarms of ships attempting to reach his squadron he wondered about the bigger ships. If the Swordsmen had been given warning of the attack, where were the capital ships? Where were the destroyers and the cruisers? He did not expect to see a battleship like Elizabeth. No battleships had been built that he knew of in at least twenty years. The Federation had abandoned battleships in favor of carriers and most of the other forces used mid-sized ships. Still, there had to be more ships than this.
The convoy escorts finished destroying a second military installation on the moon when a wave of destroyers appeared around the Queen Elizabeth and Wren's tender which were parked in orbit near the asteroid belt. The Queen Elizabeth and the tender had their heaviest armor and greatest concentration of weapons at their head ends. They were vulnerable at their propulsion systems and so had parked facing away from each other. The two dozen picket ships that guarded them were no match for the destroyers. Rachel had deployed the pickets in a ring around the space between the propulsion units. Their weapons faced outward from the ring. Unlike most battleships whose weapons are restricted to the armored mushr
oom top, Elizabeth’s weapons were positioned all along her frame. Only her missiles were restricted to firing forward. Wren's tender had no missiles, but it had more lasers than the convoy escort.
Using the same parallax advantage Wren had used, Rachel ordered her laser batteries to engage the enemy. The destroyers were much better armored than the interceptors and were harder to kill. Still, Rachel, who had been doing this since she was sixteen, called her targets carefully and destroyed them as methodically as possible. Even so, some of the missiles did get through and impacted the armored mushroom top of the battleship. The tender took half a dozen missile strikes, but since Rachel ordered all crew on all ships into space suits before the battle, no lives were lost. Elizabeth’s damage was limited to the cargo decks and external laser batteries. The troop carrying modules and the unarmed cargo ship with their weapons escaped unscathed.
Lasers alone had not been enough to kill all the destroyers. Rachel had deployed fifty of her missiles, and in the end, had prevailed.
After the destroyer assault, a hyper jump brought the Queen Elizabeth and her support ships including Wren’s tender to within striking distance of the planet. The ships lined up single file in a low orbit just outside the planet’s atmosphere. The planet’s atmosphere was thin, but not so thin that troops and equipment could not be parachuted to the surface from space. Airborne drones and manned aircraft descended to the surface first. They approached the planet through the large holes in the planet’s defensive network and attacked communications towers as they encountered them. The power grid was next. By destroying selected power line towers in long stretches of wire, they could disable the grid and minimize the difficulty of repair once the planet was turned over to the Federation.
While covering the mercenary aircraft’s descent, one of Wren’s ships got caught between two suicides and rammed. The three ships fell together toward the planet's surface exploding when they hit the ground.
Ground based missile batteries licked up at the mercenaries’ aircraft and destroyed many of them, but not enough to stop the ground assault. Mechanized armor and artillery parachuted to the surface. Rumbling across open flat territory, their treads left scars on the face of the planet. The Swordsmen were particularly adept at ground warfare. Even though the battle in space had been lost, the Swordsman soldiers fought valiantly inflicting great losses on the advancing mercenaries. But even that was not enough. The mercenaries drove relentlessly toward where the headquarters was believed to be housed.
The ground battles had been going on for a full day and night when Tracker noticed a disturbing reading on his sensors.
“Task force inbound,” Tracker commented. “A battleship, four cruisers and ten destroyers. ETA to missile range six hours.”
Wren studied the formation carefully. No matter how he figured it, he was hopelessly outnumbered. “Dustin, climb out of there. Take the front seat,” Wren said as he unstrapped himself. He climbed into the fire control position swapping places with Dustin. He closed the display shell around him. “Tracker, give me the firing display from one half missile range directly aft of the battleship on its center axis.”
The spherical display showed the ships of the enemy task force as if Wren was sitting in the middle of their formation. Wren studied the formation rolling on the seat’s gimbals until he felt he completely understood it. “Tracker, here’s the plan. You will pass these instructions to each of the ships in turn. Communicate with UV lasers.”
“Understood.”
“We will jump simultaneously in one hour. I will point to a location with the targeting helmet and you will calculate the coordinates. I will tell you which ship will go to those coordinates. They will load two heat seekers, one proximity and one range-effect missile in their forward and after tubes. We will all jump at the same time and as soon as they are in position, they will fire full volleys forward and aft. They will need to jump to interim positions away from the formation so they approach it from the sides. As soon as their missiles are away, they are to jump in two steps to a point just outside missile range behind the task force. Are you ready?”
“Yes, Wren.”
“Here is the first location.”
“Got it.”
“Forward target.”
“After target.”
“Got it.”
“Make sure you give them their alignment so that the missiles are properly aimed.”
“Got it. Which ship?”
“Hawk Three.”
“Wren, perhaps it would be simpler if you chose the targets and I calculated a point midway between them for the ships to jump to,” Tracker offered.
“Good idea. Hawk Four, forward target, after target.”
“Got it.”
Wren assigned each of his ships to specific targets and Tracker passed the information to each ship in turn.
“Wren, where are we going?” Tracker asked.
“Up the pipes on the battleship,” Wren replied. He had picked the most dangerous assignment for himself.
“What about Kim and Huntress?” Tracker asked.
“They’re going with us.”
“Do you mind if I consult with Huntress as to the best way to approach to this attack?” Tracker asked.
“I was about to suggest that you do exactly that,” Wren replied.
Ten long minutes later, Tracker reported back. “We have a plan,” he announced. “It will require the expense of every missile in our external racks, but we believe it has the best chance of success.”
“Whatever it takes. I do not want Elizabeth to have to go head-to-head with this ship.”
“Understood. Given the significant risks involved, we have developed a complex plan. We will make a series of short jumps. We will fire at each jump and if we have attained enough of an element of surprise, should be able to destroy the battleship without being destroyed,” Tracker said. “Wren, you do know that this is exactly the sort of battle strategy I was designed for.”
“I do indeed. my friend. Greg’s journal is full of such tactics. And you realize that you are the only type of ship that could pull this off,” Wren said.
“Wren, I have enjoyed traveling with you. I hope we survive this together,” Tracker said.
“We will. Dustin, back to your seat. How much of that did you follow?” Wren asked.
“Most of it, I think. Am I to assume that the lasers will be primarily defensive in this engagement as opposed to the last one where they were our prime offensive weapons?”
“Good point, Tracker, please pass that instruction to the other ships,” Wren said.
“It is done,” Tracker replied.
“Tracker, please remind our human colleagues to trust their ships,” Wren said.
“Aye, Captain.”
“Tell everyone to check their suits one more time. I don’t anyone dying of decompression.”
GENERATIONS - CHAPTER SEVEN
“TRACKER, ON YOUR MARK,” Wren said as the time approached for the launch to attack. They had been traveling at sub-light speed in a straight line toward the advancing task force. This was an established opening move for Federation officers, except that Wren, not having been to the Academy, did not have to abide by the “rules” although he did know what they were. He had gone into battle enough times seated next to his grandmother to know what the rules were and when to ignore them. Of course, by knowing the rules, he could feint that he was obeying them until he broke them.
The Queen Elizabeth had noticed the task force and was aligning herself to present her armored mushroom top to the oncoming battleship. Rachel had observed Wren’s Hawk squadron form up and race off in the direction of the arriving task force. Wendy pointed out that Wren was one ship short. Rachel nodded. She knew how emotionally he had taken the loss of the two ships and crews in the earlier battle. How would he fare this time? She held her fire although she knew her lasers could probably find targets at this range, but with Wren’s Hawk Squadron out there in the middle, it was
better to wait.
The convoy escorts flashed by the ships clustered around the Queen Elizabeth and raced to face the arriving enemy.
Wren’s favorite tactic was to get behind his enemy and blast them from behind. This was the first time he had developed a plan that dropped him in the center of an enemy formation. He knew the risks, but he also knew the certainty of failure if he did anything else.
“Three, two, one, jump,” Tracker intoned and the battle was on.
Rachel watched as Wren’s ships whisked out of sight. Whatever he was doing would be a bold and risky move.
Fifteen small warships appeared in the center of the enemy formation. Eight fired their missiles the instant their ships reported that they had stabilized in firing position. As soon as the missiles had cleared the tubes, they jumped away. They trusted their ships and lived. Five delayed until the human pilots were sure they were stable and stayed until they were sure the missiles were traveling in the right direction. In the time it took for the missiles to find and destroy their targets, for destroy them they did at such short range, laser batteries from four cruisers and six destroyers pummeled the five small ships and disabled them leaving the ships that had not been destroyed in the first volley to kill them.
Wren and Kim jumped to the first programmed point and fired. Before the missiles had even cleared the end of the ships, and before the battleship’s laser arrays could detect their presence, the ships jumped the next point, and the next and the next. Eight separate firing positions and thirty two missiles later, two positions and four missiles shy of the end of the plan Tracker and Huntress had developed, the battleship’s munitions magazine, having been laid open in one of the first volleys, took a missile straight in and detonated breaking the battleship into a dozen pieces spinning out of control leaking air and spewing debris as they spun. Four destroyers, all that was left of the task force, maintained their course to attack the Queen Elizabeth although the probability of surviving an attack on a battleship was very slim. It was made even slimmer by the rapid approach of the convoy escorts.
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