by Don Viecelli
Doug listened to the cacophony of voices from his fighter squadron pilots over the open comlink speakers in the Fighter Squadron Command Room. Some pilots were yelling in excitement; others in fear just before their fighter exploded killing all on board. The tension is the room was near panic levels.
Seated next to Doug was Captain James Weston, Commander Space Group. Both of them felt helpless at the moment. They relied on the skill and bravery of their squadron fighter pilots to repel the attackers. On all accounts they were losing the battle.
“Our losses are too high,” Captain Weston noted with sadness in his voice.
“They’re on their way back to the ship. They destroyed numerous Spitka fighters and took down two Yoyka warships so far. They’re doing great, Captain,” Doug said.
“We can’t hold them back much longer, Commander. We’re taking a pounding.”
The Bakutu lights dimmed again as their energy shield absorbed two more nuclear missile explosions, which shook the warship side to side. Doug held his seat straps until the shaking stopped.
Doug looked at the monitoring screens on the wall. “I agree. We’re almost there. We lost one Holtu warship. Two more are damaged, but the Yoyka have committed their whole fleet to attack us as expected.”
The space battle was in full fury. Both sides were throwing everything they had at each other. Doug knew time was not on their side. They were hopelessly outnumbered. As soon as their fleet reached the midpoint between Earth and Mars, they would be surrounded by the Yoyka warfleet. If they were to be saved from total destruction, the time was now!
Chapter 39
Entrapment
Fleet Commander Balota knew he had the enemy warships and Zoltu fighters right where he wanted them. The Holtu warships were trapped. It would be a classic end to the space battle with a total Yoyka victory as he predicted. He pounded his fist on his command seat and turned to First Commander Rida standing next to him.
“It’s time to show these Holtu androids and simple humans what Yoyka military might is all about. Send the command for all warships to close the distance to the enemy and recall their Spitka fighters. Keep firing laser beams at any attacking Zoltu fighters until they are all destroyed.”
“Yes, Commander. Sending orders to all warship commanders now.”
Balota took inventory of his warships. Four had been destroyed; four more were damaged but still able to fight. He had more than enough warships left to destroy this worthless enemy fleet. He checked his monitor. Soon he would be close enough to fire his energy beam and kinetic energy weapons and overpower the enemy energy shields. A few nuclear missiles would then finish them off.
“As soon as the Spitkas are clear, have all commanders begin firing all weapons at the Holtu warships. Once the Holtu shields are down, we will fire more nuclear missiles until they are all destroyed.”
“Do you wish to take any prisoners, Commander?”
Balota did not hesitate in his answer. He had clear and direct orders from High Commander Anahta who had been told exactly what must happen to any Holtu found in this star system. “They must all die. No prisoners!”
Second Commander Rida obeyed. He sent final orders to the commanders whose warships now completely surrounded the eight surviving Holtu warships and what was left of the Zoltu fighters trying to protect their ships.
Balota was now completely confident of his victory. He began preparations for the next step in conquering this star system.
“First Leader, instruct the Spitka fighters with the new nanomachine missiles to launch.”
“Yes, Commander!” A moment later, Rida said, “They have launched, Commander. Spitkas on approach to targeted planets.
Fleet Commander Balota was filled with self-satisfaction. His victory was assured. Soon he would send a quantum link message to High Commander Anahta that victory was achieved and nanomachine weapons had been delivered as ordered.
Suddenly, Second Commander Rida noticed something unusual appearing on his monitoring screens. Alarms began to go off on the Bridge. He turned to Balota with disbelief on his face. “Enemy warships appearing everywhere, First Commander!”
Balota jumped up in his seat to view the monitoring screens closer. He too couldn’t believe his eyes. It was impossible! “How many warships?” he yelled to Rida.
Balota asked the AI to verify the number. The answer that came back took a moment to register in Balota’s brain. Three to one! How can this be? He immediately knew his situation was now perilous.
*****
Doug noticed the Yoyka Spitka fighters had begun to withdraw from the fight. It could not be good news. “The Spitkas are retreating!” he said to Captain James Weston who noticed the same thing.
“The warships are getting ready to hit us with everything they’ve got!” James said.
Doug glanced at the monitoring screen. “They have us surrounded! Our shields are holding, but that’s not going to help us once we come within range of their weapons.”
The Yoyka warships were now within a few thousand kilometers of their ships. Once they got within two thousand kilometers, the Holtu energy shields would not be effective at stopping nuclear missiles, energy beam weapons or kinetic energy weapon. All would penetrate the shields causing massive damage to any surface areas they hit.
Doug looked at his wristcom. He counted down the seconds. It was now or never. Then the monitoring screens everywhere light up. A dozen loud cheers sounded around the room, including cheers from the Zoltu pilots still attacking the Yoyka. Help had arrived.
High Leader Altek watched as his fleet of one hundred Holtu warships exited hyperspace in groups of twenty each that began to separate in attacking positions. They were spaced in a circle that completely surrounded the thirty-seven Yoyka warships. Altek had received messages on the Yoyka warship positions from Vice Leader Di
Altek issued his first orders to all warship Leaders. “Launch Zoltu fighter squadrons. Allow no Yoyka fighters to escape to hyperspace!”
Then Altek focused his attention to the Yoyka warships that were desperately trying to turn away from the fighting and escape. “Fire all weapons until the Yoyka warships are destroyed!”
High Leader Altek’s warship fleet was now within range to easily penetrate enemy energy shields. Catching the enemy by surprise certainly had the desired effect. The Yoyka had little time to fire their weapons at the attacking Holtu warships before their hulls began exploding in critical areas. One after another heavily damaged Yoyka warships began to self-destruct rather than be captured.
The space battle raged on for less than twenty minutes. The remaining Yoyka warships tried to withdraw and split up to escape the deadly missile attacks that swarmed in from every direction, but there were too many Holtu warships blocking their escape path. The Yoyka warships and Spitka fighters fired all their weapons at the Holtu in a desperate attempt to escape the onslaught. A few missiles hit their targets and two Holtu warships were damaged, but were not destroyed in the space battle. Very few Zoltu fighters were lost in the battle.
Soon the last Yoyka warship would explode with a violent, but silent blast of nuclear energy and the final Spitka fighters would be destroyed. No prisoners would be taken; no mercy given. The Yoyka did not deserve to live in the same galaxy as other alien races.
The only remaining problem was some of the Yoyka Spitkas had already fired their nanomachine missiles at Mars and Earth. Long range scanners confirmed the missiles were not nuclear, but Altek gave orders to try and destroy as many of the missiles as they could. They destroyed several of them, but many more managed to get through and hit both planet surfaces.
*****
“We are lost, Fleet Commander Balota!” Second Commander Rida said calmly. He stood at attention and gave Balota a final Yoyka military salute with arm across his chest with fist closed.
Balota shook his head sadly and stood to return the salute. Alarms were blaring all around him. Smoke began to fill the room. He barely had time to
send a distress call to High Commander Anahta informing him of the attacking Holtu warship fleet. If nothing else, Balota felt his death would not be in vain. The Holtu had sent a large part of their warship fleet to help defeat him and save the humans in this backward star system. Now the Holtu would surely pay for this by being defeated in their own home world. Anahta would have far fewer Holtu warships to deal with. Anahta would return to this star system and finish what Balota had failed to do.
The AI counted down the time. The self-destruct sequence was almost at zero. Balota’s final thought was that the nanomachine missiles his Spitka fighters had fired toward these human planets could not be stopped. Balota’s face was twisted in contempt for all inferior races when the nuclear destruction of his warship ended his life.
Chapter 40
Aftermath
High Commander Anahta re-read the QTL message he just received from First Commander Balota. He was shocked. It was not the good news he was expecting to deliver to Emperor Rahta on board the Yoykan Malee Ta dreadnaught as it sped through hyperspace on its way to Holtu. Anahta considered his options carefully. Rahta would be furious and would blame Anahta for the bad news. Something did not make sense and Anahta could not figure out what it was. How did the Holtu have so many warships waiting to defeat their fleet? The answer eluded him for the time being as he made his way to see Rahta.
Anahta knocked on the door and Rahta opened it himself. “Ah, it’s Commander Anahta. I was wondering when you would come to see me.”
“Imperial Leader!” Anahta saluted his Emperor. He decided to just report what happened. “I received the most recent space battle news regarding Fleet Commander Balota. I’m afraid it’s not good. Balota’s warfleet in the Earth star system has been destroyed by the Holtu. Balota is dead.”
Rahta stopped moving and looked at Anahta with disbelief on his face. “How is that possible? We sent forty warships and the Holtu only had ten warships in the entire star system!”
“That was correct according to our spy probes, Imperial Leader. But something changed after Balota arrived. The Holtu sent another one hundred warships to protect the humans. They just appeared out of hyperspace. It doesn’t make sense why they would do such a thing.”
“What about the nanomachine weapon?” Rahta suddenly remembered.
“Balota did report the nanomachine missiles have reached their targets. Both human occupied planets have been hit.”
“Good. Very good! I want the humans to pay for what they did to us. By the time we get back, the humans will be our new subjects.” Rahta looked pleased in spite of what happened.
“I caution against proceeding directly to Holtu until we know more about what the Holtu are planning, Imperial Leader. They have changed their battle tactics for reasons unknown to us.”
Rahta considered the advice, but was even more determined to attack Holtu. “Our spy probes reported the Holtu warship count was no more than four hundred—correct?”
“That is correct, Imperial Leader.”
“If the Holtu sent one hundred of their warships to Earth star system, then they have only three hundred warships left to defend their star system. We can easily defeat them now, High Commander. Do you not agree?”
Anahta saw the logic in Rahta’s thinking, but something still clawed inside his gut. The Holtu androids could not be that stupid to leave their own star system vulnerable to attack like this. It would be a colossal military blunder. Was it even possible to make such a mistake?
“I can see no reason why we would not achieve a great victory against these odds, Imperial Leader. I recommend we send more spy probes ahead to verify before we attack in full force once we arrive.”
“Let it be so, High Commander. We will destroy this Holtu warship fleet and take control of their planet and people as planned.”
Anahta saluted Rahta once more as he left the emperor’s large state room and headed back to the Bridge. He needed more information about what was going on in Holtu star system. The only good news is it would be many more days before they actually reached Holtu. It would be more than enough time to figure out what really happened to Balota.
*****
Vice Leader Di, Captain James Weston and Commander Doug Martin were meeting with High Leader Altek on board the Iconda as it orbited Mars. The space battle reports were in from all warship commanders. There were no Yoyka survivors. All warships and Spitka fighters had been destroyed. All crews had been killed. Altek was discussing what they planned to do next.
“I’m sorry for your losses, Vice Leader Di. Perhaps we could have exited hyperspace sooner, but your reports showed the Yoyka warships were not in position to be defeated quickly. It is the human losses I regret the most,” Altek said.
“It was the right decision, High Leader. The Yoyka have been defeated and none have escaped,” Di answered.
“I agree with Vice Leader Di, High Leader. It could not be avoided,” Captain Weston added.
Altek continued to speak. “The Holtu dead will be revived, but the human minds were not saved in Onutu. I am sorry this is so for now according to our Military Alliance. The greater threat to humans is the Yoyka nanomachine missiles that impacted Mars and Earth. We need to analyze what the Yoyka did to see its impact on human lives.”
“My wife, Doctor Martin is trying to get samples now to study, High Leader. She is an expert on the Yoyka nanomachines along with the Qum scientist Tumil. They will send us a report as soon as possible.” Doug had spoken to Jan and knew she and their baby were safe in the underground shelter on Mars.
“What is your plan for Holtu? When will you return?” Captain Weston asked.
“As far as we know, the Yoyka still do not know about our new FTL hyperdrive capabilities. Hopefully, the main warship fleet will stay on course to attack Holtu. It will take them another sixty of your Earth days to reach our planet. We know they have spy probes in our star system and will think they have the numbers to easily defeat us. We will wait for them to complete their journey through hyperspace and surprise them back at Holtu as we did here. For now, we remain here in case the Yoyka change their mind and try to avenge the loss of their warships.”
“We will continue to train our Zoltu pilots in space battle tactics, High Leader. Our first warship will be ready soon. I have been assigned as first space warship captain for the UN Space Strike Force and will join you in the fight,” Weston said confidently.
“Your offer is appreciated, Captain Weston. Your Zoltu fighter pilots performed as well in battle as our own Holtu pilots. I am confident we can defeat the Yoyka the next time we meet them in battle. Let us return to our duties. We will meet again as necessary.”
Vice Leader Di and Captain Weston planned to return to the Bakutu. Doug had permission to fly down to Mars and meet with Janice to see what she found out about the nanomachines. Whatever the Yoyka did to make the nanomachines more deadly could be disastrous. Doug just hoped Jan and Tumil had a solution to stop it.
Chapter 41
New Nanomachine Terror
Doug flew his own shuttle down to Mars and landed at Haffen City Spaceport to find Janice. A few people had left the underground shelters and were performing needed tasks now that the Yoyka threat has been eliminated, at least for the time being. Doug didn’t think the Yoyka would return anytime soon. As soon as he landed he called Jan. She agreed to meet him at the Mars CDC office building where Doctor Chang-Woo Mun was already hard at work trying to figure out just what the Yoyka did to their planet.
Jan met Doug at the front door to the MCDC; kissed and hugged him tightly. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. How’s the baby?”
“We’re both fine. Nobody has been hurt down here. We heard about the space battle with the Yoyka. It was all over the media. I thought you were going to be killed when the Yoyka showed up. We were all scared to death!”
Doug hugged Jan again and said, “It’s alright. We knew what they were going to do and the Holtu were ready for them
. The only unforeseen circumstance was the nanomachine attack. We didn’t anticipate they would send missiles down. That’s why I’m here. To find out what the Yoyka did.”
Jan held Doug’s hand and pulled him along to go down to the lab. “Doctor Mun is already working on what happened. Let’s go see him.”
When they finally entered the MCDC main lab located two floors down, Doctor Mun was hunched down looking through a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) that was hooked up to their new quantum tunneling computer, which can get 0.1 nanometer resolution at the atomic level; good enough to see images of individual atoms.
Doctor Mun looked up when he heard footsteps behind him. “Hello, Colonel Martin. Janice said you were stopping by.” Doctor Mun looked older than the last time Doug had seen him. He was shorter than Jan and his hair had a streak of gray now, but his smile was genuine. He held out a hand to shake with Doug.
“Good to see you again, Doctor Mun. Jan says you may have something for us regarding the Yoyka nanomachines.”
Doctor Mun’s smile disappeared. “Yes, I may have something, but Doctor Martin needs to confirm my findings. She is the expert on the nanomachine infections, after all.”
“How did you get a sample so quick, if I may ask, Doctor?”
“It appears the Yoyka know a lot about our planet, Doug. I don’t know how, but they knew exactly where our agriculture facilities are located. On Earth, this would not be a problem, but on Mars we grow our food supplies indoors. The Yoyka had to hit our agricultural centers to do the damage they are trying to affect.”
“I’m not sure I’m following you, Doctor Mun.”
Janice interrupted to answer the question. “What Doctor Mun is referring to is the new nanomachines are meant to interrupt our food supplies as far as we can determine. He had agricultural samples brought to the lab from one of the missile strikes.”