by S. H. Jucha
Mickey and his engineering teams had prepared banishers to complement each element of the plan. Those aboard Descartes’ squadrons had no comm capability, and they were programmed with visual targeting methods. Each banisher would focus on its own platform.
Descartes’ Trident led the squadron, which included the de Long twins. Per Alex’s orders, Descartes’ squadron was approaching Toral from above the ecliptic and carried the precious cargoes of Dischnya and Chistorlans.
The next events took place in so little time that a human could be excused for not absorbing their sequence. The sisters threw copies at Artifice, as the squadrons shot from above and below Toral. The ships’ controllers held the launch coordinates, and on cue, they loosed the banishers by shutting off the tethering beams and activating the devices’ programs.
Descartes’ sister was about to warn the SADE of her imminent failure, when Artifice’s attention disappeared. The reason was obvious. Artifice had switched its attention from the Tridents to the banishers that the warships had launched.
Using their energy reserves to accelerate away from the Tridents, the banishers homed in on their targets. Unlike the federacy’s missiles, these weapons had no comm capability, which Artifice soon discovered.
In desperation, Artifice directed its automated shuttles away from the planet’s single station toward the nearest comm platforms. The shuttles carried bots for managing the loading and unloading of material brought by freighters to the planet. Three shuttles flew to interdict what Artifice perceived as incoming missiles. Two were successful, and one didn’t arrive in time.
“That could not have been predicted,” Descartes commented, as the banishers struck, and his forces flew past the planet.
Descartes’ squadrons didn’t carry banishers loaded with Libran-X. At the velocity the banishers obtained, it wasn’t necessary to arm them with explosives. Ten platforms and two shuttles were struck. The platforms were enormous in size, which meant the banishers did severe damage but didn’t destroy the structures. They tended to shoot through the platforms like slugs thrown from rail guns. Nonetheless, those platforms were taken offline.
It went without saying that the two shuttles were little more than chunks of debris. Some of it drifted into space, some pieces began to orbit the planet, and the rest fell into Toral’s gravity well to burn up.
The two functioning platforms still gave Artifice control of the probes, even if its signals must be relayed around the system’s periphery.
Each squadron decelerated until they were near the original transit point of the other Tridents. The one good piece of news was that the sisters reported to their captains that they weren’t receiving Artifice’s attentions. The entity was busy fighting on multiple fronts. It was the essence of Alex’s plan.
Descartes’ squadron was forced to wait while the ships of the other squadron prepared to make another run to eliminate the remaining comm platforms.
-29-
Hit and Run
Alphons Jagielski had been temporarily promoted to admiral. His command comprised the Tridents waiting outside the system’s periphery in line with the ecliptic. When Alphons received word of Descartes’ attack run, he ordered his Tridents to execute their portion of the plan.
Fifteen Tridents transited from out of the dark and raced toward the system’s outer belt. On reaching the prearranged coordinates, the sisters launched a total of twenty-nine banishers.
Artifice’s probes were advanced models. They’d been replaced with updated versions many times. When the probes detected the inbound banishers, jets were employed to hide the probes behind the nearest large, metal-ore asteroids.
The SADEs had anticipated this action, and Mickey and his teams had prepared these banishers with a heavy load of Libran-X. They wouldn’t deliver the impact of Sugatar’s medium-sized missile, but it was calculated to be sufficient to create the desired results — the obliteration of anything the probes might hide behind.
Fully eleven of the twenty-nine probes failed to find adequate protection in time. Some were caught in the open and detonated. Others hid behind rocks too small to prevent the banishers from exploding their shields and sending the shards crashing into the probes.
The remaining eighteen probes were shoved inward by the wave of energy created by the banishers slamming into their solid mass of protective rock. Unfortunately for the attacking forces, the probes remained operational.
“Plan B,” Alphons muttered, when the sisters reported that the majority of probes were still sending signals. Circumstances had placed his forces in the same situation as those at Toral.
The orders were transmitted, and the five Tridents executed movements to clear the system’s gravity well and transit until they could join the forces that waited in the dark to stop the lesser fleets fleeing the system.
The remaining Tridents under Alphons’ command reversed course. They’d sailed up and over the outer belt. Plan B required the captains to launch auto-controlled travelers. With the sisters removed, it would take some time for the controllers in the travelers to hunt and destroy the probes, but time was a luxury that the Toralian fleet didn’t have to expend.
* * *
The Toralian fleet continued to sail inward. The failure to eliminate every comm platform and probe on the first attack wave allowed Artifice more comm time across the system. Despite its attention divided among multiple points of attack, it managed to order the elder fleets to intercept the Toralians.
The two elder fleets nearest the Toralians accelerated inward, when they received Artifice’s interdiction directives. As expected, the spinward fleet would intersect the Toralians’ vector first, and the reverse spinward fleet would arrive soon afterwards.
The Toralian fleet had lost one battleship. It was in danger of losing another, but Artifice had been forced to shift its attention to concentrate on the Tridents and the banishers that threatened its comm platforms. It gained the Sisterhood more time to analyze Artifice’s code and design better means of blunting it.
The sisters acknowledged that the entity could vary its codes faster than the sisters could compete. It wasn’t about winning the individual conflicts; it was about stalling Artifice to gain time for Alex’s plan to unfold.
Sargut’s sisters were openly communicating with the battleships’ commanders and one another. There wasn’t a reason to hide anymore. Artifice knew the Omnians were attempting to eliminate or capture it. Still, no mention was made on the comms of the wedge positions of the grand commander or the senior commanders.
“Where’s Artifice’s attention?” Suntred asked Sargut.
“It’s not on us,” Sargut replied. They’d heard the sisters announcing there’d been no further contact with the entity since the second sister, who had been under attack, announced Artifice had abandoned its assault.
“Then it’s on the Omnians,” Suntred surmised.
“Imagine, Suntred, the Omnians know in nearly real time what their ships are doing, while we wait for hours, if not days, to receive images of what’s transpired,” Sargut lamented.
“If we win, I believe the Omnians will share their technology,” Suntred said, hoping to boost her grand commander’s morale.
“Why should they value us?” Sargut challenged. “We built Artifice. It’s terrorized our race and every race it could find. Then it sent the Nua’ll to stamp out new civilizations, including the Omnians. We chose to fight back only when they appeared. It’s a poor record.”
“I believe that Alex will not abandon us,” Suntred said stubbornly.
Their discussion had been overheard by the bridge crew, and Sargut could see the hope that flickered in their eyes. “Yes, you’re probably right,” he said to Suntred. The statement was meant for the crew, even though he didn’t believe it.
While the Omnians worked to eliminate every piece of Artifice’s network, the Toralian fleet entered the engagement envelope of the first elder’s fleet. As Sargut expected, hundreds of missiles were launched in the Toralian fleet’s general direction. They flew on a trajectory far inward of the fleet and then curved into the Toralians’ path before shutting down their engines and gliding ballistically. They were spread wide, twice the width of Sargut’s wedge.
The Toralian sisters tested the possibility of electronic warfare on the incoming missiles. They’d learned from the discussions between Alex and Sargut that the missiles had comm capability.
“Grand Commander, we can interfere with the missiles,” Miriamelle said, when the sisters discovered the armament was vulnerable to intrusions.
A senior bridge officer addressed Sargut. He asked, “Will Artifice think the sisters’ interferences are on the part of the fleet that fired them? What credence would it give to the idea that digital entities, who are aboard our ships, would have caused the problems?”
“Insightful questions,” Sargut acknowledged. “However, I fear that Artifice, after obliterating Commander Sugatar’s ship, knows that it fought a powerful digital entity to gain access to the commander’s systems.
“Miriamelle, have the sisters investigate the missile guidance systems,” Sargut requested. “Understand how to control their trajectories and detonate them. I’ll give you the order to interfere with them, when the time is right.”
On hearing Sargut’s lament about delayed reports, Miriamelle began delivering a running count to Sargut of the Omnians’ progress. She shared the news with the other sisters, who delivered it to their commanders. The count ticked down, as the Toralian fleet and the inbound missiles closed on each other.
“Grand Commander, we should launch countermeasures,” the armament officer stated nervously.
“We wait,” Sargut replied. The probe count was down to eight, but Miriamelle had just informed him that auto-controlled travelers were closing in on them. Also, banishers were inbound on the final two comm platforms.
Not much later, the armament officer began to repeat his warning. He started to say, “Grand Commander,” but he got no further. Sargut had held up a hand to hear Miriamelle.
“The platforms have been eliminated, Grand Commander,” Miriamelle announced. “Four probes remain and should soon be eliminated.”
“Fleet-wide announcement,” Sargut ordered.
The comms officer was so taken aback by the request that he failed to respond. The senior bridge officer nudged him, and he hurried to set up the connection.
When Sargut received the comms officer’s cue, he said, “This is Grand Commander Sargut, Artifice’s comm capabilities have been seriously attenuated. Our ships should be in the clear from its attack, but we must be vigilant. Sisters, if you will, please change the trajectories on the missiles and send them into one another or detonate them, as you see fit. Commanders, disband the wedge. Move your ships out of the way of the missile debris but continue for Toral.”
There was a moment of silence on Sargut’s bridge, while the crew digested the grand commander’s announcement. Then they broke out in celebration, whistling shrilly. Amid the loud noises, Sargut whispered, “Thank you, Sugatar, for your sacrifice.” Suntred was the only one to hear him.
The Dark Whispers data stream registered a series of detonations that lasted for minutes, while Sargut’s pilot exited the wedge and headed in a loop above the ecliptic.
The sensor officer swept the stream for missile debris that might be headed the ship’s way. The ship’s dense armor could withstand numerous hits from small debris. What was worrisome was a missile head that hadn’t detonated. This happened when a missile’s tail was impacted, damaging its comm and diverting its trajectory.
“Grand Commander, all probes have been eliminated and all inbound missiles to your fleet have been destroyed,” Miriamelle announced. “Congratulations, you’re one step closer to obtaining your freedom.”
Sargut understood Miriamelle’s reminder. It echoed Alex’s remarks. There was much more to do to obtain the release of their race. After that, there was even more work to do to make the federacy a place of peace in the galaxy.
* * *
The scout ships were positioned near the lesser fleets, where they would be the first to notice any signs of movement. The scout SADEs registered the arrival of the first group of Tridents from the periphery. They’d separated to join one of the admiral’s forces waiting in the dark for the lesser fleets to make a move.
The traps that had been laid for the lesser fleets were complex. They depended on intricate timing and hit-and-run tactics. SADEs had calculated fleet trajectories, closing distances, and optimum positioning for the Omnian ships and the elements of their traps.
Deirdre sent privately to Ellie and Darius.
Darius sent. He was eyeing the view of a battleship fleet on the bridge holo-vid. The Omnians and the Toralians referred to these fleets as lesser ones, but from Darius’ point of view that was a misnomer. In actual fact, each admiral commanded only seven to eight Tridents, and they faced a massive wedge of behemoth battleships.
In quick succession, the other two scout ships reported the same event. All three lesser fleets were headed outward. Artifice was intent on a measure of revenge.
Darius guarded the space below the ecliptic, while Ellie and Deirdre waited for the two fleets, which were above the ecliptic.
The first element of the trap was to draw the battleships commanders’ attention to the Tridents. The captains flared their transit engines and engaged in intricate maneuvers designed to confuse the enemy as to their intentions. However, they didn’t advance on the fleets.
Deirdre sent.
Once the battleships were underway, having assumed their characteristic wedges, their flight paths were confirmed. Each fleet chose to take on the Omnian forces rather than divert to another vector. Tatia and Reiko had assumed they would. Turning aside would make the battleships more vulnerable to a rear attack.
Each Trident admiral would follow his or her own timetable. There was no opportunity to combine forces or assist another command.
On cue, Ellie’s forces closed their clam-shell aft doors over their transit engines. Without any light emanating from their ships, they disappeared in the dark, blotting out a tiny section of stars. The Tridents accelerated, using grav engines. They created a pattern, sailing out in a widening circle toward the battleship fleets, and then looping in arcs that closed the circle.
The middle portion of the maneuver had the Omnian warships crossing in front of the advancing battleships. When the Tridents completed a full circle, they ended where they started. The clam-shell doors were opened, and the engines were flared again.
To the battleship commanders, it must have appeared as some kind of ceremonial demonstration of courage and power. It wasn’t. While the commanders paid attention to the warships’ unusual display, Omnian crews dumped pallets of minelettes out the bay doors.
Ensconced in environment suits, the crews were anchored to the decks with safety lines, and they used grav pallets to throw the loads of minelettes out of the ships. SADEs cued the crews when it was time to make their drops, and each Trident ejected four pallets of minelettes. Altogether, Ellie’s forces slew thirty-two thousand of the dangerous black objects directly into the paths of the alien fleet.
The minelettes were small, but
they were packed with Libran-X explosive. Against a battleship’s armor, a single minelette’s damage would be minimal, but there was a chance of striking vulnerable points.
The lead battleship confronting Ellie’s forces was the first to encounter a cloud of minelettes. Later, the Omnians would argue why they thought the fleet didn’t try to evade the minelettes. Some would argue arrogance — the commanders thought the small objects were insignificant. Others would argue that perhaps the minelettes didn’t appear in their telemetry. For whatever reason, the lead ship sailed into hundreds of minelettes.
Holes were blown in the ship’s bow and many forward sections. Explosive decompression ejected crew and material. The fleet’s commander and his senior staff were among the first dead. Hundreds more followed them. Fires were started, and suppression systems automatically activated to douse them. The lead battleship was still capable of fighting via a secondary bridge, but the fleet had lost its commander.
Along the wedge, minelettes damaged one ship after another. Some escaped with minor damage, while others suffered grievously. It all depended on fortune. Of course, fortune’s view depended on whether you were the Omnians or aboard the alien battleships.
The scenario repeated for Darius and Deirdre’s forces. Unlike Ellie’s attack, the other two admirals had greater success. In addition to a plethora of minor impacts, three battleships had minelettes enter armament doors that had been opened to launch missiles. The missiles were ignited, and they tore great holes in the ships’ sides and touched off other missiles. Soon the ships were nothing more than expanding balls of hot gases, flares of detonating missiles, and debris.
The effect of the minelettes was to drastically slow the advance of the lesser fleets. One fleet had lost its senior commanders, and the other two had lost ships. And they hadn’t fired a single missile.