ARMS Helm's End: (Book 7)

by Stephen Arseneault

  "I hope you also realize the interference field will also protect other ships from sensors as well. It's a blanketing field, covering everyone out to probably ten thousand kilometers."

  "We realize that. What I want you to work on is a reflective shield equivalent to what Bax is using."

  Gandy said, "Doesn't that skin on the Bangor have a mirror-finish mode?"

  "It does, but I doubt it would reflect enough of one of those pulses to make a difference."

  Gandy opened a comm. "Idiot, the active skin of the Bangor, when set to the mirrored look, how well would if reflect the Burrell lasers?"

  "One moment... quite well. The surface of the Bangor is coated with a plasma bond that when activated can assume different densities, colors, and reflective surfaces. In the mirror mode, it becomes a plasma mirror. While not ideal due to the many angular surfaces of the hull, it should be highly effective."

  Harris asked, "You certain about that?"

  "I've just completed a simulation that verifies my conclusion."

  Tawn said, "You aren't planning to take us in there, are you?"

  Harris chuckled. "I'm not suicidal. Too many stray tungsten rounds flying about. This is good news if we find we have to get involved. But that's not happening here and now. Alex, I still want us to have a reflector ship design we can make use of if needed. At the moment, I'm only asking for a design."

  "Will get right on that, Mr. Gruberg."

  "Harris. Please start calling me Harris. Gruberg is too formal."

  Bax yelled into her comm. "Fourth wave! Launch!"

  Croft asked, "How are we faring? I'm having difficulty discerning what's happening."

  "We're doing better than I expected. Forty-six Banshees lost to their forty-two cruisers. More than a fair trade. And we took out another forty when we set off the boson. So we're doing well."

  "How long are we expecting the fight to go on?"

  "You got somewhere to go?"

  "No."

  "Then shut up and watch. We probably have an hour more of this fight and then the rest of that fleet will be popping in. Fifth wave! Launch!"

  Harris shook his head. "She's just harsh all the way around. He's supposed to be her partner in all this."

  Tawn replied, "She's not acting like she has much respect for him. You want my guess, he was good for support and hashing out ideas on, but he's not a doer. He got himself elected, but that's all talk. His actions did nothing but drive that economy into the ground."

  "May have been deliberate. Weaken Domicile so they could topple the emperor and then take over both worlds with his fleet. Wasn't that their plan?"

  "Partly. I think his economic reforms were supposed to produce jobs and make the people happy with those reforms. Instead they were failing miserably."

  "You think she really has a cure for that toxin on New Earth?"

  "It's not a cure, it's a neutralizer. And yes, I think she has it."

  Tawn returned her focus to the nav display. "Whoa, you see that? That's different. Hit a dozen of those Banshees at once."

  Harris pushed the throttle forward.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Taking us back in closer. It’s difficult to see what’s working for each side. I want to know for future reference."

  "There. Another dozen Banshees at once. They seem to have some synchronization going on between those ships."

  Bax yelled, "Wave six! Launch!"

  Harris continued to push the Bangor forward.

  "Aren't we getting a little close here?"

  "We are. But we need this interference field to cover at least those first few Burrell ships. I want to know if it disables their coordination."

  The Bangor was brought to a stop.

  Harris nodded. "Did you see that? Same formation, half the casualties."

  A heavy laser pulse impacted the active skin of the Bangor's hull. The vast majority of the energy was reflected, but the hull temperature was pushed to 84 percent of its rated value.

  "That was almost a full strike. Caught us at an angle."

  Tawn asked, "So are we safe here or not?"

  "I think we are if we maintain this position."

  A second strike, a direct hit, sent the hull gauge to 92 percent of rated. A third showed a similar result. Another forty minutes of fighting passed as the two Biomarines watched.

  Tawn looked over the display. "Three hundred ninety Banshees lost. Two eighty-two on the Burrell. I'm surprised she hasn't committed more ships. I would want them finished off before the bulk of that fleet arrives."

  Harris opened a comm to Midelon. "Alex, this interference system, how small could you package this thing?"

  "For what purpose?"

  "So we could float it into the middle of this fight and render the Burrell sensors useless. They would have to switch those lasers to manual aiming, and with the chaos going on out there, I doubt they would be hitting much. Could you make this small, and dark so it's not a good visual target? I'll comm back shortly."

  "Wait. How’s the fight going?"

  "Sorry. Still going in Bax's favor, but that Burrell fleet could be here at any time."

  Tawn said, "She's committing! Here we go!"

  "I'll get back with you in few, Doc. I need to see this."

  The remainder of the Maxter fleet raced in, Banshees following reflective shields, the armada of captured Hoya cruisers following. The Burrell ships had waited too long to run, their wormhole generators unable to spawn a fracture in space-time with so many Human ships being in close proximity.

  Tawn raised her eyebrows as the mass of ships seemingly collided. More than a hundred Burrell cruisers were felled in the opening seconds. For the others, a brief stand ended in a breakdown of command. Chaos ensued, and the Maxter fleet quickly took control. In under five minutes the six hundred ship Burrell fleet was reduced to wreckage.

  Tawn crossed her arms. "Wow, she did it. And with fewer than five hundred casualties. And against superior ships."

  "I'm thinking the Burrell might have been a bit too regimented in their response. I'd have attempted to rush Bax's position."

  "And you'd have gotten your butt kicked. We just saw how quickly she was able to get those bots to adjust to the situation. The Burrell chose a strategy and stuck with it until the end. You have to be able to adapt. They didn't."

  A hail came over the general comm. "Morons, I know you're here."

  Harris replied, "Not that I want to praise you, but good work out there."

  "We're just getting started. And thanks for the help. I wasn't sure what to do there until you showed me the way. That was worth it for us to lose our sensors if they did too. The bots can aim a rail cannon at a large, mostly stationary target, but the Burrell have trouble against us. Those Banshees are too small and too quick."

  "How's it feel to get double-crossed? Your underhanded deal got turned around and shoved in your face. And how'd you manage an alliance with the Frizoid?"

  "It was you? You ratted me out?"

  "About the Frizoid? I heard that was the reason the Burrell accepted the President's counter offer."

  "Whose side are you on? Humans or Burrell?"

  "Oh, definitely Humans. What I would like to see is your stolen fleet there either wiped out or weakened considerably. If you defeat the Burrell, that makes your stated position as Empress of Maxter tenuous at best. You need a strong fleet to rule, and when this fighting is done, you'll no longer have one."

  "What you're failing to comprehend is if the Frizoid sense weakness, they will send a fleet this way, if only to wipe us out so the Burrell can't have us. Is that what you're looking for?"

  "When did the Frizoid arrive?"

  "I came in contact with a scout ship they had sent here. The crew was patient and friendly. After we captured them, they were kind enough to open up a comm all the way back to their homeworld. It only took a short conversation to reach an agreement."

  "You talked over a comm stretching back to the Frizoi
d Communion?"

  "Nine hundred sixty light-years according to them."

  "And you trust them enough to strike an alliance with them?"

  Bax scowled. "No. That was made as a backup plan. If the Burrell were successful here, I would call on the Frizoid for assistance. If I defeat the Burrell, that alliance would be canceled the moment I thought I had enough of a fleet to hold them off."

  "And then of course there would be conquest."

  "A girl can't just sit around going to parties all day. I want to get out there and kick some alien ass for all humanity. We should be the dominant species. Humans will rock this galaxy."

  Harris chuckled. "With you at the top I suppose?"

  "Someone has to be there. And who do I know that's more qualified than me? No one."

  "Others would disagree. Regardless, if your goal was to build us up to the point we could defend ourselves and then to sit on it, you might get a few followers. Conquest of the galaxy? Forget it."

  Tawn nodded. "What he just said. We want peace and prosperity through our own efforts, not by taking it from someone else."

  "And that's why you're a slug and I'm an Empress. You have no depth or ambition. Ambition is what drives us to better ourselves and our world by bettering our surroundings. You want status quo? Then why live at all?"

  Harris sighed. "It's always a circular argument with you. You know better than everyone else and therefore you should rule the galaxy."

  "Well, there you go. That's exactly what I've been saying."

  A bot interrupted the talk. "Empress, the Burrell fleet is arriving."

  Tawn turned to the camera with a smile. "I have a war to fight. Oh, and if I were you, I'd put some distance between yourselves and the action. I feel a few gamma bursts coming on."

  Harris turned the Bangor away from the oncoming fleet before pushing the throttle to full. With the ship set to hop-mode, they were instantly out of the most dangerous zone.

  "She could be a badass President or politician if she wasn't so stuck on herself. She's motivated and well spoken. Too bad it’s all wasted on this unbridled ambition."

  Tawn scowled. "You keep going back and forth on her. That's just weird."

  "I was just making a salient comment."

  "Do you even know what salient means?"

  "It's uh... not important. Never mind."

  "No. It is important."

  "What?

  "Salient."

  "Salient what?"

  "Am I talking to a wall here?"

  "Maybe. What is it you're trying to say?"

  "Salient, it means important."

  "So?"

  "So you said your comment was important and then said it wasn't."

  "What are you, the word police?"

  Tawn rolled her eyes. "You really are an actual stump, aren't you?"

  "If you say so. Now hush. The fight is starting."

  The first wave of more than five hundred Burrell cruisers came toward the automated Human fleet while in a vee formation. As they drew to just within range of their weapons, Bax's fleet turned away. At the same instant, a dozen gamma ray missiles, that had already been in flight, detonated, sending their deadly emissions into the oncoming rush of warships. The alignment of the bursts to the Burrell ships was optimal.

  Several dozen on either end of the formation fired their laser weapons as the rest went strangely silent. With the bulk of the Burrell attackers neutralized, a wave of a thousand Banshees rushed in. After riding in close behind several sets of plasma mirrored reflectors, the Banshees unleashed their fury. The two dozen remaining cruisers were pummeled, and soon broke apart.

  A small fleet of former Hoya cruisers rushed in, depositing bot crews on the neutralized Burrell ships.

  Bax grinned at her comm camera. "Since I know the two of you are still watching, that's how we do it in the Maxter Empire."

  — Chapter 15 —

  * * *

  Harris slowly shook his head. "She just added five hundred of their ships to her fleet."

  "She's moving them to the back. Wonder what she has planned for them?"

  "I don't know, but that was a brilliant move. That places the Burrell at just under ten thousand ships, while increasing her own."

  "Yeah, she's wonderful, huh?"

  "Today she is."

  A second wave of Burrell ships moved into formation and zipped toward the Maxter fleet. Again, a handful of gamma missiles managed to take out the bulk of the attackers. After a five minute skirmish with several thousand Banshees, forty-eight cruisers turned in retreat as another three hundred drifted into Bax's territory.

  Harris shook his head. "Wow, you lose five hundred ships and you make the same stupid move a second time? If this is how the Burrell fight, maybe we don't have anything to worry about."

  "Except Bax."

  "Yes. Of course."

  Harris looked on in disbelief as a third wave of cruisers formed up and rushed in. Seconds before the newly released gamma missiles were detonated, the cruisers broke rank and scattered. Two of the Burrell ships fell victim to the aimed bursts while the others opened up with their lasers. Three hundred Banshees perished in an instant.

  Several minutes of back and forth mayhem happened before the Burrell ships turned for their own lines. A hundred fifty-five cruisers had been sacrificed, but not before vaporizing more than twelve hundred Banshees. It was an exchange that had gone very much in the favor of the Burrell.

  As Harris and Tawn watched, Bax stomped her glossy red boots on the deck of the Fargo as she pulled at the sides of her hair. "You idiots! I said pull back if the firepower is too much! Bring them into our bulk, where we can be the ones that do the heavy damage. You've just lost 15 percent of our Banshee fleet!"

  Tawn nodded. "Now we need another one of those to make this fight even."

  "Even? It's still forty thousand to ten thousand. How is that even?"

  A new line of Burrell cruisers formed up. An assault proceeded, yielding similar results to the one that had just passed. Again Bax stomped around her ship as she yelled at her minions.

  "You're as useless as a bunch of coffee-makers at a wine festival!"

  She took a seat in her pilot's chair while she contemplated her next move. With a long breath, she again stood while pointing at the camera. We're going with plan X. Execute on my mark... launch!"

  Tawn chuckled. "Plan X? This has to be good."

  All forty thousand automated ships raced toward the Burrell as a new line of cruisers was beginning to form.

  Harris said, "Plan X looks to be all or nothing."

  A comm was opened to Bax. "You sure you want to do this?"

  "Just shut up and watch. This is where our decisive victory comes in."

  Thousands of laser pulses flashed from the Burrell emitters as the Human ships approached. Only a handful of attackers shone bright white as they were struck and vaporized. Bax nodded as the first of the Banshees split from behind their shields and began to interact with the Burrell. A high number of early losses told of shortcomings with the early strategy, but a major adjustment was made.

  As the thirty thousand captured Hoya cruisers neared, most of the eighty-five hundred gamma missiles that had been stolen from Midelon were fired toward the block of Burrell ships.

  Tawn sat forward. "She just used every one of those she had. And her own ships are in there."

  "Her ships aren't affected by the gamma radiation. They're all bots. And the Burrell are fools. They aren't moving to avoid those missiles."

  The dark space in front of the Burrell warships glowed for several seconds with the brightness of eighty-five hundred mini suns. Three quarters of the hostile fleet began to drift as their crews succumbed to the ultra-deadly radiation. The automated Maxter fleet continued its fight without issue.

  Harris shook his head. "Wow, that just evened the odds."

  The fight quickly fell into a game of attrition, the Burrell easily maintaining a ten-to-one kill ratio. Their shi
ps were superior and their tactics wholly acceptable. But the Maxter bots fought tirelessly.

  Ten thousand Burrell ships dwindled to twenty-five hundred and then to a thousand. The heavens surrounding Gondol filled with debris as the Maxter losses topped twenty-thousand.

  "I can't believe it, but it looks as though Baxter Rumford is going to win this. And win it big."

  Tawn shrugged. "She had a good strategy and she executed on it. Her ships are taking a beating out there, but I bet she still has ten thousand when this is done. And Domicile will be right back in the same predicament they had before. Surrender or complete isolation, at least for a while, using those boson bombs."

  Harris shook his head. "Don't think that will matter. There's about seventy-five hundred perfectly good Burrell warships out there. She takes control of those and she can go right through any negated field."

  Tawn grimaced at the thought. "That again gives her a large fleet. She'll be able to run right to Midelon whenever she wants."

  Harris opened a comm. "Trish, what's our plan for retreating from Midelon?"

  "It's not looking good. First question is where do we go? Any colony or planet inside boson space is easily traveled to by her fleet. Looking outside of there, we have the world the Denzee wanted to get to. We can be there in six days using the Burrell drive. But so can Bax if she has that tech."

  "Have our Banshee designs been refitted with the hop-drive tech?"

  "They have. But we still don't have that regenerative mast they fly behind their ships. A Banshee would need a jump fuel supply the size of the Hailstorm to make it out there on its own. So we're stuck here in our space, with nowhere to run."

  "Well, that's no good. Looks like you blew the assignment."

  "Hey, that's not fair. There's nowhere we can go."

  Harris chuckled. "You still fall for my cheap replies. Please don't stop. It's always amusing."

  The comm closed on an image of a scowling Trish.

  "So, Mr. Gruberg. Where does this leave us?"

  Harris stared at the display of a shrinking Burrell fleet. "It— wait... when that fleet first arrived, wasn't there also a bunch of troop transports with it?"

  Tawn looked. "Yeah, there was. And we haven't seen those here."