The Forbidden Wilds: Crossing the Styx

by Saxon Andrew

  Chapter Twenty

  Alex and Jingle sat on their ships receiving the feeds from the units trying to escape from the Nebula. The thousands of units dropped stealth probes as they moved toward their targets and the tactical wall monitor showed an area of the nebula they chose to watch. Jingle took one side and Alex viewed the other. One thing was clear, the aliens knew the exact moment the attacks took place at their construction planets and reacted instantly.

  Alex watched the monitor and said, “Admiral Glennon was right, Jingle. There’s no way I could have exerted any control over what’s happening in the nebula.”

  “The unfortunate thing about doing this so soon was our pilots didn’t have the opportunity to fully understand their new ship’s capabilities. We’re losing ships, Alex.”

  Alex was silent as he watched another Union warship explode as it was slammed head on by an Alien warship. He sighed and replied, “The ones that survive this mission will be better prepared for what’s coming next.”

  “Something about this is bothering me, Alex.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t put my finger on it, but something just doesn’t seem right. I’ll tell you if I figure it out.”

  Curtis fired his last two defense missiles and fired blasters at three alien warships moving in from the starboard. “MISSILE COUNT!?!”

  His question was greeted with silence. So far there was always a response. “MAXIMUM SPEED NOW!!”

  The surviving six warships pushed their thruster controls fully forward and they accelerated away from the enemy warships moving in on them from behind their formation. Curtis lined up on the gap between two large alien formations ahead of him and gritted his teeth. Could he make it before they closed ranks on him? The two formations seemed to leap forward toward him, and his unit blew past them and out of the nebula. Curtis fell back in his chair until his force field flared from the blasters being fired by the Union’s defensive line. Holy…!” He fell back again and shook his head; he forgot about them. He set a course for Bucket and his ships followed his lead.

  • • •

  Alex stared at the monitor and said, “That’s the last of them. Brooks, collect the data recorded by the stealth probes and let’s get moving toward Bucket.”

  “I’ve been collecting it as our ships passed, Alex. I’ve got all of it.”

  “Send Jangle a copy, Brooks,” Jingle requested.

  “Already have it, Jingle.”

  The Rapids and Jangle turned and went to maximum speed toward Bucket. Jingle stared at the recordings that were made by the stealth probes but couldn’t determine what was bothering her.

  • • •

  The warships began landing on Bucket at the giant supply base and the ground crews began loading missiles on board and servicing their reactors’ cores. Alex ordered every pilot to get some sleep and the meeting would take place on a video conference the next morning at eleven hundred hours. The weary pilots didn’t have to be told twice. They immediately went to sleep. Seven hours later, many of them woke up and walked into the community next to the base. They found the Watering Hole and for a short time, they put war aside.

  Alex and Jingle were dressed in civilian clothes and sat at a back table and watched the pilots start to arrive. They watched the regulars greet them and buy them drinks. As the bar filled, Joesen announced the drinks for the pilots were on the house. Jingle shook her head and Alex put a hand on her arm, “Jingle they’re warriors and know they have to be at their best tomorrow; they won’t overdo it.”

  Jingle wasn’t so sure about that but watched pilots leaving the bar that had several drinks. It appeared Alex was right. The pilots didn’t recognize them in civilian clothes and most of them had never seen an image of the mission commanders; they only dealt with their fleet officers. Alex stood up after a few hours, “We need to get some rest.” Jingle nodded and followed him out of the Watering Hole. Dolly pulled the car around and gave them a ride to her home. They went directly to bed, but Jingle just couldn’t fall asleep. Finally, her fatigue overcame her troubled thoughts and sleep found her.

  • • •

  At six-thirty in the morning, Jingle sat up straight in bed. Her eyes were wide open as she jumped out of bed and began hastily getting dressed. “JANGLE, GET OVER HERE AND PICK ME UP AT DOLLY’S!!”

  “On my way.”

  Alex sat up, “What’s going on?!”

  “I’ll meet you at the meeting!” Jingle ran out and Alex shook his head. He rolled over and instantly fell asleep; he was exhausted.

  • • •

  Alex sat at the console with Admiral Glennon and Glennon raised his eyebrows. It was two minutes until eleven and Jingle had not shown up. Alex raised his shoulders and responded, “She said she’d meet me here.”

  The clock moved to leven and Glennon looked at Alex with a frown and pressed the video send button on the panel. On every Union Warship a view of him and Alex appeared on their monitors. Glennon smiled and said, “I’m proud of what you accomplished yesterday. I’m sorry for the brave pilots we lost but you completed your mission. Admiral Berringer is going to go over the next mission profile with you and if you have any questions, please take them up with your Fleet Officers.”

  Glennon nodded to Alex and he glanced at the door before he started, “The next mission is to go in the nebula and take the fight to the aliens; we won’t be running from them anymore.” He paused and said, “Every ship will be coupled with another ship that will be your wingman. We will attack the aliens’ fleets using two-ship groupings. The rear ship will defend the front ship and you will be moving at a speed where your ships can’t be attacked from the rear. You are there to destroy their warships. We will move in on one of their space hives and take on any warships they send to defend it. If we find ourselves outnumbered, we will go to maximum speed to another hive and continue our attacks. The alien ships at the site of our first attack will not be able to arrive in time to prevent our next attack. We will not be attacking the hives; the warships are our objective…”

  Jingle came rushing into the room and shouted, “THE PLAN MUST BE CHANGED!!”

  Glennon and Alex turned to her and Jingle ran to the console and inserted a computer cube. She looked at Glennon and Alex, “We must immediately change our attack plan!”

  Glennon’s expression turned angry, “Admiral, it’s a little to0 late to do that!”

  Jingle looked at Glennon and her expression revealed her anger, “Admiral, if you want to lose this war then go right ahead!!”

  Every one of the surviving pilots watched the exchange and expected Admiral Glennon to slap this woman down. They were shocked when he didn’t. Instead he asked, “What have you found, Admiral Jingle that we’ve missed?”

  Jingle pressed a button on the control panel and an image appeared on the huge wall monitor. The image also appeared on every pilots monitor. Alex and Glennon looked up at the monitor and Jingle used a laser pointer to point at a distant point of small lights. “This is a recording done by the stealth probes our pilots dropped behind them.” Jingle used the pointer to circle a large group of lights and then circled a small light close to them. “The small light is one of our units fleeing the nebula. I’m going to start the recording and I want you to keep your eyes on the first group of lights I circled. That group of lights is the closest alien ships to that unit.”

  Alex and Glennon stared at the monitor as Jingle started the recording in slow motion. The large group of lights began turning toward the fleeing Union ships but half of them broke away and headed away. Jingle stopped the recording and put another image on the monitor. This time the circles were already on the image and once again they saw a huge formation of alien ships split and go in different directions. As the images changed, Jingle stared at the monitor and began speaking, “There was something bothering me when I watched these recordings, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It came to me while I was sleeping. Those large alien formations are the clos
est alien ships to the units I’ve circled. But half of them didn’t move in to attack them. Why didn’t they do it? I finally saw the reason last night.”

  Alex turned to her, “What have you determined?”

  “Those formations were located at the border between two of their hives. The ships outside the territory of the hive where the unit was located, left to defend the construction planets in their hive. Even though they were closer to the fleeing unit, they left.”

  Glennon stared at the monitor and saw another alien formation divide on a new image. He turned to Jingle, “And just how are we going to use this information, Admiral Jingle?”

  “I understand how the aliens think now, Admiral. Every one of those space hives have their warships piloted by their warriors. Those warriors are instinctively programmed to defend their home hives ahead of everything else. If their hive is under attack, they will stop what they’re doing and go there immediately. If we send all of our ships to attack one hive, all the others will send their warships to attack our fleets because they are not threatened. They can’t catch us if we leave for another hive but there will be a vast wave of them moving across the nebula to surround us ahead of our advance and behind us.”

  Glennon looked at the monitor again and saw another alien formation divide when the unit was within striking range of all of them. “What are you suggesting, Admiral?”

  “Sir, we must attack all of them simultaneously.”

  “Are you out of your mind…”

  “Sir, I didn’t say we had to actually do it. We just have to make them think they’re being attacked.”

  Glennon stared at her and said, “Go on.”

  “We’ll send ten warships moving in on a course to each of those space hives making the largest wake possible. The hives will have every warship they control move to meet the attack. While that’s happening the other twenty-seven-thousand warships will move in and attack one of their space hives. The warships moving in to defend it will be destroyed and once that’s done, the hive will be destroyed.”

  “I thought you insisted that the hives had to be ignored until all the alien warships are destroyed!” Glennon replied forcefully.

  “Sir, I didn’t see the big picture. I was worried that if just one of the hives’ warships wasn’t destroyed, it would leave and make a new colony. But if we destroy all of the warships at a hive, there’s a strong reason to destroy the hive.”

  “Why?” Glennon asked.

  “Because I’m reasonably certain there are vessels in those hives that can be sent out to spawn, Sir.” Jingle paused and added, “As long as the hive remains intact, I don’t believe their warships will leave to found a new colony but once they’re removed, the hive must be destroyed.”

  Jingle turned to Alex, “I know how hard you worked on the mission profile and I’m sorry to be coming in at the last moment…”

  Alex held up his hand, “That’s what you’re here to do, Jingle.”

  Glennon asked, “Do you agree with her, Admiral Berringer?”

  “Sir, she’s never been wrong and what she’s saying makes sense.”

  “So, how do we use this?”

  Alex turned to Jingle, “Please tell me you have an idea.”

  Jingle smiled and used the monitor’s remote to put a new image on it. An image of the Styx Nebula appeared with numerous red circles filling it. “What you’re seeing is a map my computer generated showing the borders of each hive.” Jingle zoomed the view in until only two circles filled it. “Notice that if we send ten ships in to this first circle at this point, then we can realistically expect every warship in that hive will react and rush to meet the attack. If the ships that entered that territory then flies across it and moves into the second circle while another ten ships enter the first circle…”

  Alex smiled, “They’ll be bouncing from one side of their territory to the other.”

  Jingle nodded, Exactly!”

  Glennon nodded, “And while they’re doing that, the rest of our fleets will be attacking their hives.”

  Jingle turned to him, “I think this plan is a good place to start, Sir; until they come up with something that will counter it.”

  “What could they do?”

  “Sir, they could just say to hell with it and send every ship they have against our fleets attacking their hives.” Glennon stared at her in silence and Jingle continued, “I don’t think they’ll do that for a while, Sir.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because they’ll have to overcome a million years of instinctive behavior to make that happen, Sir.”

  Do you know how many warships each hive has to use?”

  “Yes Sir. The stealth probes tracked the attacks and estimates that each hive has between a hundred and a hundred and forty-thousand warships.”

  Glennon blinked and Alex interjected, “Sir, our ships destroyed more than four-hundred-thousand of their warships during the first mission. This is doable.”

  Glennon exhaled a big breath slowly and asked, “How do you intend to keep our ships supplied with missiles?” Glennon saw Alex slowly shake his head and turned to Jingle and saw her expression, “Do you have an answer, Admiral Jingle?”

  “You won’t like it.”

  “Try me.”

  “You attack the hives with half of the fleets; that’s thirteen-thousand-five-hundred warships.”

  “You can’t be serious!”

  “Admiral, I watched the recordings of our ships holding off the thousands of alien warships attacking them and some of our warships destroyed more than fifty enemy ships. We’ll be outnumbered ten-to-one, but our defense missiles will even the odds faster than you know. Our ships will not be saving them but will launch from long range and work to take out as many enemy warships as possible before they can move inside their firing range. They’ll keep firing until they run low on missiles and then the second group of thirteen-thousand-warships will move in and replace them. The first fleet will go to Bucket, resupply, and come back.”

  “You have a lot of confidence in what our new ships can do, Admiral Jingle!”

  “Sir, they’re faster, more maneuverable, and four alien warships can’t break through their force fields. Our ships will hit them on the edges and work their way into their formations. If they launch together I suspect the aliens will lose a large number of ships running into the warships destroyed around them.”

  The pilots listened to the discussion and many of them thought about the idea the woman was suggesting. This sounded a lot safer than facing all of the alien warships in the nebula attacking them together.

  • • •

  “There’s something else you’re not considering.” Glennon and Jingle turned to Alex. “The aliens attack in large formations attempting to surround their enemies. We’ll start our attack with a DD missile into their largest formations; that should make an impact on their numbers.”

  Glennon and Jingle blinked at the same time. Alex smiled, “Don’t tell me you didn’t think of that, Jingle.”

  “Actually, I didn’t. However, that is an outstanding suggestion. But we must wait until every warship defending the hive has joined the fight before using them.”

  “So, what must be done to make this happen, Admiral Berringer?”

  “The first thing to be done is determine the seven-thousand ships that will be moving on the other hives we’re not attacking. Once that’s done, Fleet Operations will need to take this map of the nebula and work out the optimum courses those ships will be following between the hives. While they’re doing that, you and I will divide the remaining ships into two fleets. We’ll choose a hive close to the edge of the nebula to attack first just in case things don’t happen like we want. I can get my computer to divide our forces and should have that done within twenty-four hours. You will decide who the commanders of our units will be and their seconds.”

  “Fleets one through ten will make up the ships keeping the hives occupied. Admiral DeChirico will be in overall co
mmand of those ships. I’ll announce the commanders of our two large fleets later.”

  Alex nodded, “That simplifies my task, Sir. We’ll move the attack time back three days to get prepared.”

  Glennon smiled and looked at the camera, “Enjoy your time off. You’ve heard the plan, all of you need to be thinking about how to make it work.” Glennon ended the conference.

  Alex turned to Jingle, “You are amazing!” Jingle blushed and Alex pulled her into his arms.

  “What will the two of you be doing during the attack?”

  “Launching the DD’s at the appropriate time during our attacks on their hives, Sir,” Alex replied.

  “Do tell!” Glennon smiled.

  Alex and Jingle left the video room and Glennon sat back on his chair. He thought about what was happening and tried to put himself in the aliens’ place. What would he do if he were them? He thought about it for several long minutes and couldn’t make himself believe that the aliens were incapable of getting around their instinctive behaviors. After a moment, he lifted his communicator and pressed a button. A middle-aged man appeared and Glennon smiled, “I’m wondering if you might assist me with an issue.”

  “What is it?”

  Glennon told him and began discussing what he needed.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Attacking the hives proved to have a steep learning curve. Jingle was right, and once all the warships defending a hive were destroyed, the hive began launching ships to escape and start new colonies. None escaped but the hive structure had to be destroyed to stop their launches. The fleets also discovered after the first three hives were destroyed, that two fleets weren’t enough. The pilots learned quickly how to handle huge numbers of alien warships and Alex ordered the two fleets to reorganize into three fleets of nine-thousand warships in each. One fleet would attack a hive and the second would standby to go in if it was endangered. Once the hive was destroyed and the munitions on the first fleet ran low, the second fleet would move in on another hive while the third fleet would be arriving and moving in from Bucket. The first fleet would immediately leave to be provisioned at Bucket.