“As you know, we now have eleven Patrol Craft in operating condition,” Walt continued once the assembly had settled. “Back at the beginning of February, we were isolated, unprepared and feared a mass invasion at any moment. By some incredible piece of good fortune, the Narlavs from Rhaal have not followed through yet on part two of their plan for the conquest of Earth: the decimation of the surviving remnants of Earth-bound humanity itself. As of this moment, they are too late to complete their deadly scheme! We now have the means and the will to take the battle to them. You have been told that our analysis of the dust being used to create the worldwide winter on planet Earth has shown that it is undoubtedly from the Moon. Somehow they are launching projectiles from the Moon into our upper atmosphere, attenuating the light – and most importantly, the heat – of the sun. The longer the attack is allowed to continue, the harder it will be to maintain life here. Instead of heading towards spring, as we now should be, we have determined that the temperatures in North America and Europe are still dropping. In Australia and New Zealand, it’s already winter, but the kind of winter that neither country could ever have imagined – for Australia, floods in the interior, making the Outback into an inland sea, now starting to ice over, and so much snow, almost everywhere in N.Z., that ground movement there is mostly restricted to skis and snowshoes. The avalanches have already been responsible for destroying several towns, though of course many of the inhabitants may already have died from starvation or exposure or anarchy – we really don’t have a complete picture, as our focus has been almost exclusively North America… we have had to be pragmatic, focusing on Patrol Craft construction. Our number one priority must be to stop this bombardment, so that we can reverse the cooling process. Professor Hardy has theorised that the delivery system for these Mecuba bombs must be some kind of rail gun, or a whole battery of them, mounted on the far side of the Moon. According to our sources in NUIT, it is in Crater Tsiolkovsky. Latt and Paranak, our amateur psychoanalysts of Narlav behaviour, agree…”
Here he had to pause, as several chuckles were heard and the two leading non-Earth-borne players in the preparation of the defence of Earth could be seen, respectively patting each other on the back or slapping each other on the side of the head. “…they agree that the likelihood is that the full force of the enemy must not yet have assembled in our Solar System, and so the Mecuba launch device or devices cannot be very well defended. The earlier reconnoitring with EDEM One will have convinced them that we are effectively defenceless, as that valiant vessel had neither Eliminator Drive nor Shell fields, nor Negatruction weapons. We have endeavoured to maintain that illusion by keeping all Patrol Craft under cover and by limiting our Aircar activities to times before Moon rise, though we would not be able to detect those atmospheric craft from the Moon – if we were there – with our own short range scanners, so some have felt certain that the Narlavs wouldn’t be able to detect them, either.”
“One, two or at most three Warrnam are the likely numbers to have been used to set up the Mecuba launch system, and their crews are likely to be reduced, due to the presence of humans being used as construction slaves. (Privately, the leaders had speculated that almost all the Warrnam might be present, which is why they had insisted on waiting until they had enough Patrol Craft completed to be able, according to their estimations, to defeat them all, but Walt did not want to make this general knowledge, as it really was just speculation, and might have lowered the optimism of the GAF members and their associates unnecessarily.)
“Our task, which we will begin immediately after this meeting concludes, will be to launch…”
Cheers and whistles interrupted him as he made this long-expected announcement. He waited for the excitement and the noise to die down before continuing:
“…will be to launch our Patrol Craft through our ‘under ocean’ tunnel, remaining submerged until we are far out to sea. Then, after dark, to make sure we avoid revealing the location of our secret construction facility here, only then will we head for the Moon. Two ships, PCs Sixteen and Seventeen, commanded by our specially selected Marine helicopter crews led by Captain Sanders and Captain Noth, will position themselves about halfway between the Earth and the Moon. This ‘Marine Squadron’ will ‘hover’ there to intercept any Warrnam that might get past our main force and attempt to penetrate Earth’s otherwise non-existent defensive screens, and the rest of our fleet will swoop around the Moon and come in along the horizon, with the sunrise of the lunar day at our ‘backs’. Paranak, please continue with a review of our battle tactics.” Walt stood aside and let the Narlav rise and stomp to the front.
“As Walt stated, my misguided and misinformed fellow Narlavs will have assumed that Earth has no credible defence, after the trip to the far side of the Moon, last November, of EDEM One on its maiden voyage. This experimental vessel was then, as you know, unarmed, ‘un-Shelled’ and under-powered, being equipped with a conventional and surplus naval nuclear reactor.” Paranak did not indicate in his ‘speech’ how he felt about the fate of the crew of that ship, Harold Morton and Kevin Steele, but all present knew that he had stated on previous occasions that they must have been blasted from the skies by the Narlavs, or, if they miraculously survived the destruction of their defenceless vessel, died slow deaths marooned in that airless world. He knew that they would surely have returned to Earth to pass on the news of their discovery personally, rather than just sending a cryptic message by modulated laser from the lunar northern regions, if their craft had not been destroyed.
“The Rhaal force must still be assembling after searching for a suitable planet; or perhaps the ship of one of the Ruling Council’s leading four commanders, maybe even the Prime Leader’s Warrnam itself, is undergoing repairs and has not yet made the journey. According to the Narlav principles of war, the attack cannot begin until the leaders are present. Latt assures me that these ships are very old, and take a great deal of maintaining. The Narlavs of Rhaal seem to have had little interest in their fleet, preferring to concentrate on hand-to-hand combat. They must have forgotten how important it is to be able to deliver your forces to the point of battle! And I think sometimes those much-maligned Shaatak may not do a very good job for their ‘beloved bosses’…”
A few chuckles could be heard again as the assembly pictured the speculative subversive actions of the enslaved humans so far away. Latt tried to see the funny side of this, but the thought that took pre-eminence in his mind was how this battle was the last task he must complete before he could go back home and rescue his people. I will return!
Leroy turned to Violet standing beside him and he looked into her eyes, knowing what was coming next. I wish you were going to be out there, piloting my ship, instead of Baynes.
The Canadian fighter pilot returned his glance. She knew what he was thinking as they had discussed it before, but she also knew that the Chief of NUIT still had authority enough to get his own way and that she would have to wait on Earth, whilst the battle proceeded, far above her. She limited her response to a quick squeeze of his hand, and turned back to listen some more to the visually arresting and vocally impressive renegade Narlav.
“In any case,” Paranak continued as the sounds of laughter faded away. “Lead Squadron – that’s Richard, Kirrina and I, in Citadel, and Tracy, Brad and Beckie in PC Eight, will locate critical target components for laser attacks in the Mecuba launch system and will then provide cover for Attack Squadron One, that’s Latt, Walt and Judy in PC Nine and Leroy, Ed and Eric in PC Ten, to disable the system. In reserve will be a second wave – Attack Squadron Two – of PC Eleven and PC Twelve, commanded by Captains Brodeur and Huston, and a third wave – Attack Squadron Three – PCs Fourteen and Fifteen, Captained by Wodder and Chella to mop up. PC Thirteen, under the leadership of Frank Attenburgh, will stay in low orbit or more accurately a hover in Earth’s high atmosphere, providing a communications bridge from the GAF forces on the ground, here, to the aerial force, and being well-positioned in case a lone Wa
rrnam somehow manages to slip through our Marine net and head for Earth. In that case PCs Sixteen and Seventeen will be right on their tail, led by Sanders and Noth, and these three PCs together should be able to finish them off. We are pleased to have some top warriors, or should I say: pilots, from the military forces of North America to fly these ships!”
“You got it right first time!” One of the new pilots, a moustachioed man of average height that looked like a slightly younger version of Brad Hawk shouted out, his gruff voice exemplifying his opinion. “We are warriors, and we are ready!”
Paranak twisted from side to side and laughed, his deep, hacking voice ringing through the chamber.
“Remember, our tactics will be very simple,” Kirrina interjected as the sound of her Narlav friend’s laughter faded. “Leave it to Citadel and PC Eight to engage the enemy ships, as both Craft have dual Drive systems, making each one twice as powerful as any of these Warrnam.”
Karen, Richard and Paranak had initially planned on equipping all the new Patrol Craft with two Eliminators each. The unexpected revelation of the Narlav lunar presence and the foreboding regarding the follow-up attack on Earth had only allowed them time to complete one extra Drive installation – meaning that all the other Patrol Craft were built according to the original specifications, with a solitary Drive.
“If we are wrong and there is more than a small contingent of Warrnam, you ‘warriors’ will have to pitch in, too.” Kirrina smiled, her dimples showing briefly. “In those circumstances, it is critical that you get as close as you can to the enemy, but remember to never act alone. That’s why all our ships, except PC Thirteen, will be in pairs, which we have chosen to call ‘squadrons’. A squadron attack will have over twice the firepower of any single Warrnam, and, in addition, our Negatruction weapon is capable of far greater precision than theirs, at close range. Remember that: close range. You’ve done well in many simulated battles, now may be the time to show that you can do it for real.
“PC Thirteen will remain high up in Earth’s atmosphere, as Paranak said, and so cannot be subjected to Negatruction attack – you should remember that key fact about the most devastating weapon known to mankind or Narlavs – it will dissipate in even the most tenuous of atmospheres, be absorbed and fail to reach the target ship, making the weapon ineffective against Warrnam, or Patrol Craft. However, the fact that it is innocuous to space vessels in our planet’s atmosphere is not much of a consolation – as you have been warned again and again – it will do significant damage to the rarefied air, creating a long-term chain reaction in the upper atmosphere that could potentially make the planet uninhabitable.
“So above all, don’t fire when in the upper atmosphere, don’t fire towards a Narlav ship closing on Earth if it is between you and our home planet and closer than a few thousand miles or so from it, and most importantly, don’t let any Warrnam get close enough to target Earth – Narlav last-ditch strategy may be to destroy the enemy stronghold, especially if our attack has succeeded and most of their ships have been vaporised. Unlike our laser weapons, the Negatruction beam is like an unguided missile: once launched, it will continue on until it runs out of power, or more correctly, the opposing energies contained in the wave-package cancel-out. In the case of these negative energy and anti-matter ‘strings’, that’s after sometimes many thousands of miles in vacuum. And when you remember that the Negatruction weapons are inhibited by dense – atmospheric – gases, so they will not function at all at commercial airplane altitudes down to sea level – you’ll recall that there you can only use lasers, and these will have no effect on Shell field-equipped ships – none whatsoever!
“The forces left here will be on stand-by, ready, in the hopefully very unlikely case a Warrnam breaks through our screen and lands, and the Narlav ground forces are set loose. We expect that they don’t even know where this base is, but perhaps they have analysed the flights of conventional aircraft and our Aircars by some kind of remote monitoring – an ability the Fepniners have not yet developed – and have figured out our location. So, if that happens, and the Patrol Craft are still busy engaging the other Warrnam near the Moon, well, you know how important it is that this facility is defended.” Kirrina looked directly at Terry Stadt, leader of these mostly amateur troops, as she spoke.
“I have total confidence in our defence forces!” Stadt looked around, catching the eye of his ground-based friends as he spoke. There stood Isaac, Ruth and people he could not imagine being separated from: Kamran – though his Pakistani family was not present at the meeting, and Sylvia, Violet and some others from Cold Lake, the incorrigible two ‘Georges’, Pat and the other members of the Norrington family, others from the lower GAF Leedites, their family members, his two personal assistants, and a few of the local survivors. “We have put them through their paces in simulations so real, we had to pick up the pieces and Restore them after each battle!”
This was a bit of poetic licence, as the lasers used in the training exercises were always detuned to minimise the damage and the most serious injuries had been blindness – an experience no one had enjoyed, though the Medic easily handled and ‘restored’ these mishaps.
“You’ve proven their value over and over, Terry! Now, I must get back to battle tactics in space,” Kirrina continued. “I’ve said this before so many times, but if your ship is in danger, you must run, so that you can repair and return to continue the fight. You have six layers of Shells around your Craft, each layer may provide up to ten seconds of protection from a single Narlav Negatruction weapon strike. Never go below three Shells. Remember the ‘game-changing improvement’ that Paranak, Latt and Isaac have devised: the crucial upgrade to the Drive systems that Brad and Penny-Lee helped them install. This modification to your mobility will maximise your escape velocity for a brief period – a kind of space-age ‘turbo-boost’.
“Each ship is programmed with a maximum boost duration of twenty seconds – meaning you can move away quickly when in danger. It should be possible to get out of range within those twenty seconds. The Drive will be overloaded but will soon recover – just don’t do it again within five minutes, or your Thurgiderns will be shot and your ship will be ‘dead in the water’! If the enemy maintains a Negatruction bead on your ship during your bolt for safety, your Shells will continue to degrade until you dodge out of contact. So – dodge as you turbo-boost! If you fail to dodge, this would mean that you would be brought down to your last Shell, and of course the Structural Protection Field as the final barrier, so ‘don’t delay in moving away’ and ‘sway, sway, sway to keep the N-beams at bay’.”
Several faces broke into smiles at the mention of these oft-repeated couplets.
“As long as you keep within one hundred thousand kilometres or so of your paired craft – the other half of your squadron – at all times, your communications delays will be less than a second, so that should never be a negative factor in your coordination, as even the gap between the Earth and the Moon is not as much as four times that. As calculated, your maximum turbo-acceleration is going to be about ten Earth gravities, but the nature of the Drive in the Patrol Craft is such that you will feel no acceleration, being constantly in a distorted gravity field with a standard Earth gravity simulation for all interior compartments.” Kirrina stopped, aware that these crews knew all this, but suffering from a compulsion to re-emphasise each pertinent point. She looked over the restless throng, noting the anxious anticipation of the enthusiastic assembled force – volunteers all. How many of them will be alive at the end of this day? She smiled in an attempt to disguise her sudden premonition. Perhaps I am wrong. In any case, we have no alternative.
“To your ships!” Walt proclaimed, gauging the moment when the tension and enthusiasm had peaked. Then, as his eyes settled on Kirrina: “Today, we save Earth, tomorrow, the Fepniners!”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Steady… turn…
Richard settled into his central seat, feeling amazed that the time had fina
lly come to battle the Rhaal Narlavs for Earth’s freedom. He turned to look at Paranak, his Engineer / Navigator and Tactical Officer. The stocky alien was laid out on his incliner and rocked his body from side to side in a silent affirmation of his Captain’s unasked but easily identified question.
Pilot (and Secondary Navigator) Kirrina just met his gaze with a wide-eyed excitement. We will win… we must!
Richard could see the hint of grey in her beautiful blue eyes as she opened up to connect with Beckie, the nominal Navigator in Patrol Craft Eight, and let her know that the moment had finally come to depart.
Time to go! Karen broadcast to her young friend, her emotions tempered with anticipation and excitement.
READY! The young girl’s response thundered into both Richard and Karen’s minds from that ship, just metres away from Citadel, as if her thoroughbred mind pawed the ground before a big race.
Kirrina raised the rear end of the Patrol / Scout Craft hybrid off the floor of the huge underground hangar, bringing the ship to a level configuration, and glided slowly and silently over the other Patrol Craft. Below them, between the black space vessels now ready for battle, the assembled throng (members of the GAF not assigned to any ships, military personnel and locals) cheered and waved, jumping up and down in a huge release of tension as the launch of the attack after the completion of the ten spacecraft finally began.
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