The Bardomil commander had been taken by surprise, ambushed and then out-planned, out-thought and his fighters out-fought. The Bardomil commander would have to sit down and think what his response to the trouncing his fighters had received would be. He would be in an unenviable position. The Bardomil could not retreat from this position now. To withdraw, and admit defeat, could well encourage revolt amongst some of the subjugated species of the Bardomil Empire. The Bardomil had lost one hundred and seventy fighters in the battle, plus the five M-Cruisers. However, the Imperial Fighter Carriers were undamaged and the majority of his fighters had not been committed. The Bardomil commander would quickly recognise that he could outnumber this Alliance force.
He would most likely attempt to salvage some pride and honour for the Bardomil Imperial Fleet by wiping this impudent alien force out of existence. This was what Billy Caudwell hoped that the Bardomil commander would do.
But, having been bloodied by the defeat of his fighters and small contingent of M-Cruisers, he would take vital time to prepare that response.
Billy Caudwell needed time for part two of his strategy to work.
Out on the battlefield, the Eagle pilots, hyped up on their victory, were beside themselves with rage at being recalled. They wanted to kill more Bardomil. But, Billy knew that he had given them this small, and relatively bloodless, victory. The Bardomil fighters had been routed at very little cost to the Alliance. Of the one hundred and fifty Eagles engaged, they had lost only ten. Billy knew, however, that he could not afford to tarnish that victory with what he considered to be expensive and futile losses. The Alliance pilots had received a tremendous confidence boost, and their morale would be sky high. Billy had shown them that they could beat a larger Bardomil force to a pulp. That would begin to dispel the almost unconscious pre-programmed fear that many of the Thexxians had of their Bardomil adversaries.
There was still work to be done. Injured Thexxians had to be rescued and tended; damaged vessels had to be recovered or evacuated. The Thexxian military personnel would be inducted into the Alliance forces almost immediately. They had resigned from the New Thexxian military and were, hence, no longer under the control of Praetor Maximus Margallan. The Thexxian rebel breakaway movement had been all but destroyed in a few short minutes of the most brutal blood-letting. Now, they had nowhere else to go, except back to New Thexxia.
As the last of the Bardomil fighters scampered back to their Imperial Fighter Carriers, Billy watched as the debris began to drift past on the Real View mode of his War Table. Already, the Alliance medical technicians were clambering over the twisted wreckage deep inside damaged civilian vessels to rescue and tend to the wounded Thexxians. Many other Thexxian survivors were being teleported or shuttled to the safety of the Aquarius. The lightly damaged civilian vessels were Jump Gating back to New Thexxia, and the surviving military saucers were being recovered into the flight hangars of the Aquarius. Billy needed pilots for the Alliance.
By now, Alliance Officers and NCOs would be bullying the surviving Thexxian pilots and crews into Alliance uniforms. There would be less than four thousand military personnel still alive, however, they all counted. They would probably take days, even weeks, to train and familiarise with the new Garmaurian technology. But, the sooner they started, the sooner they would start to be of use to the Alliance.
With his head clouded with a feeling of great sadness, regret and guilt, mixed with the elation of victory, Billy decided to return to the Control Cabin, the old-fashioned way, on foot. On his travels he passed through the Hospital Decks, which resembled charnel houses. The bays and corridors were filling with wounded, screaming and moaning Thexxians.
The air stank of blood and burned flesh, mixed with another more antiseptic smell, which Billy would become all too familiar with in the years to come. As he passed through the Medical Decks, Billy caught flashes of images of the activities going on around him. In the milling and shouting chaos of one bay, a young adult female in a green Thexxian military uniform was sitting upright on a trolley bed. She was clutching the stump of her severed left arm, as she screamed for help in the midst of the organised confusion. On another trolley, a badly burned young adult male in the remains of a green uniform caught Billy’s eye. The horribly burned, yet bravely silent soldier’s eyes, white against the black charred flesh of his face, held Billy’s shocked gaze. For a moment the gravely injured Thexxian smiled through the grotesquely burned parody of a mouth. A moment later, those same eyes closed, never to open again. The young Thexxian soldier had done his duty. He had protected his people, at the cost of his own life, but, he had seen his people reach safety; job well done.
A shocked and appalled Billy remembered something of his history. The Duke of Wellington had said something along the lines of that the next most horrible thing to a battle lost, was a battle won. Now, Billy Caudwell understood those sentiments. He was faced with the very personal and very individual consequences of his own particular decisions, and it shook him to the core.
The Bardomil had been savagely mauled. The Alliance was victorious once again. The Thexxians had been shown that they could win. What Billy feared most of all was a psychological defeat. Or, more accurately, an inability to deliver the ruthless and devastating defeat that would forever banish their fear of their bitterest and most powerful enemies. Round one to the Alliance, Billy Caudwell thought to himself.
Still, it felt horribly like a defeat.
Chapter 50
The Bardomil Imperial Fighter Carrier was the pride of the Bardomil Fleet. But, to the trained eye of Teg Skarral Portan, they were vulnerable. And, Billy Caudwell, the inheritor of Portan’s Mind Profile shared that knowledge.
Like the Aircraft carrier in Naval Fleets back on Earth, the Bardomil Fighter Carrier was of a flat-top design. However, whereas Earth Aircraft Carriers had one Flight Deck, the Bardomil Fighter Carrier had three decks set one above the other. The three deck design had originally been devised to protect fighters taking off and landing under fire. To the rear of the Fighter Carrier, a large rectangular structure stretched vertically through all three decks. This vertical structure housed not only the massive engines, but also the Hangars for the Harpoon fighters and the Flying Devils. The edges of the Flight Decks were populated by the crews of the self defence weapons, which over the passage of time had been cut back and depleted. The dominance of the Bardomil, had, in the minds of their military planners, made close defence of the Fighter Carrier almost obsolete. And, this lack of close defence capability made the Fighter Carrier vulnerable.
Around him the War Room was a hive of activity. For a few moments Billy Caudwell felt entirely alone, and vulnerable, in a room full of other people. Billy also knew that they had their jobs to do, just as he had his. At that moment, sitting at his War Table, he watched as the ten red M-Cruiser icons on his Tactical View Screen were slowly joined by more vessels.
“How many fighters, Scanners?” Billy asked in the brightly lit War Room.
“Four hundred Harpoons with the M-Cruisers, and another two hundred making formation around the Fighter Carriers, sir,” a Scanner Officer responded.
“Flying Devils?” Billy asked.
“About one hundred and fifty,” the same Officer replied.
“Very well, bring the ship’s personnel to Action Stations,” Billy ordered, “and bring all of the Eagles to launch readiness.”
The War Room was immediately plunged into darkness ready for the activation of the War Table, as throughout the massive Star-Cruiser, the crew rushed to their Action Stations.
On the Tactical View Screen, Billy could see more and more of the small red triangles were joining the protective screen, facing the one large light blue Alliance triangle. Having been bloodied, the Bardomil would want to hit back and try to restore some degree of pride, and Billy Caudwell was giving them a nice big juicy target.
They’re reinforcing, Billy thought to himself. Calmly, he watched the View Screen, scrutinising the Bardomil f
ormation. From his own limited experience of combat with the Bardomil, he knew that they were forming to attack.
Now, he was ready for them. The Aquarius had created a Jump Gate through which the hundreds of Thexxian transport vessels were pouring. They were sent to pick up the surviving Separatists and return them to Falkus Margallan on New Thexxia. Billy had also ordered all non-essential personnel from Aquarius onto the civilian transport vessels. Quietly, he had waited and watched as the first of the Thexxian Separatists transports headed back through the Jump Gate. Within twenty minutes, the last of the transports had gone and the Jump Gate was collapsed. This left the Aquarius with the three Explorers in the depths of space. This was what Billy wanted. He wanted to give the Bardomil forces the impression of a handful of vessels at the end of a successful rescue mission.
Moments later, Billy saw confirmation that he may have succeeded. Within the image on the Tactical View Screen, the line of small red triangular icons started moving.
“Enemy formation is now heading towards us, sir,” a Scanner Officer said calmly.
“How many, and of what?” Billy asked for confirmation from the array of scanners of what he could already see on the two-dimensional View Screens.
“Six hundred Harpoons and one hundred and fifty Flying Devils, sir” the WATO confirmed what the image displayed.
There were three distinct waves of Bardomil vessels. The first wave consisted of two hundred and fifty Harpoon fighters, as did the third wave. The second wave, however, consisted of only one hundred Harpoons that flanked one hundred and fifty Flying Devils.
“Any M-Cruisers with them?” Billy asked.
“No, sir, they’re still holding station,” the response came from the gloom of the War Room.
So, it’s to be a fighter-only preliminary attack, Billy considered, recognising that the M-Cruisers would be held in reserve, to deliver the kill blows after the fighter attacks.
“First, you soften them up with the fighters, and then send in the heavy bombers,” Billy said softly to himself.
“Sir?” the Thexxian WATO had barely heard Billy speaking.
“Just thinking aloud, WATO,” Billy smiled, “now launch the Eagles, and when they’re in position, I want full force-shielding around us,” Billy ordered.
“Yes, sir,” came the response from the WATO.
The Aquarius carried six fighter Landing Bays, three on each flank. From each Landing Bay, the Eagle fighters flooded out into the dark, empty, airless, frozen hostility of space. Like bees bursting from a disturbed hive, the Eagles zipped and darted from their launch bays and took up their stations close to the hull. One hundred and seventy five armed and ready fighters began to take up their appointed stations.
“Eagles launched and taking station, sir,” The WATO announced
It took only a few minutes for the Eagles to find their positions close to the hull of the Aquarius. The one hundred and seventy-five Eagles, all facing forwards, were arranged in clusters of twenty like a collar around the front quarter of the Aquarius.
“Time to enemy contact with Aquarius?” Billy questioned.
“At current speed, two minutes and twenty seconds, sir,” another voice responded.
“Are we ready to welcome our visitors yet, WATO?” Billy asked.
“All weapons systems are coordinated to Main Tactical Computers,” the WATO replied.
“Put the pulsar-cannon crews on standby,” Billy ordered, “target them on those M-Cruisers.”
“But, they’re out of effective range, sir?” the WATO correctly queried.
“Yes,” Billy replied, “but if they make a move, I want them neutralised quickly.”
“Yes, sir,” the WATO responded.
“Flight Control, sir,” another voice emerged from the darkness, “reporting all Eagles in position.”
“One minute to enemy contact, sir,” the first Scanner Officer reported.
On the View Screen image, Billy could see the three waves of red triangles approaching the large light blue triangle with its collar of smaller ships. There was a slight curve to their formations rather than the traditional Bardomil “V” shape with greater numbers on the right flank. This is going to be a straight rush, Billy thought, there is no need for subtlety or flanking manoeuvres here.
“Calculate a firing solution, sir?” the WATO questioned.
“Yes,” Billy responded, “but, we’re going to wait until we can see the whites of their eyes.”
The Aquarius had a nasty surprise waiting for the Bardomil fighters. Within the outer skin of the huge Garmaurian Star-Cruiser were lodged hundreds of low-yield pulsar-cannon turrets that made up the Self Defence System of the Aquarius. Like tiny blisters on a huge animal, the twin low-yield pulsar-cannons, similar to the weapons on the Eagle fighters, were remotely operated. From whatever angle any attacker chose to approach the massive Garmaurian Star-Cruiser, dozens of these close defence turrets could be trained on the approaching vessel.
Sitting in the War Room of the Aquarius, Billy began to feel the tension build. The small red triangular symbols on the left side of the Main Tactical View Screen slowly crept towards the cluster of light blue triangular Universal Alliance symbols. To the untrained eye it appeared as if the great mass of red symbols would slowly creep forwards and completely overwhelm the fewer light blue triangles, and then proceed on their way. However, Billy Caudwell knew that battle was not quite as simple as numbers.
“We have forty-five seconds to contact, sir,” the WATO announced.
“Very good,” Billy responded, “calculate firing solution for enemy first wave passing to both left and right flanks for Self Defence Turrets only.”
“What about the Eagles, sir?” the WATO asked.
“We’re not using the Eagles on the first pass,” Billy announced to the stunned WATO.
“Not using the Eagles, sir?” the WATO queried.
“That’s right, we’re not going to use the Eagles, just yet,” Billy smiled confidently.
Calmly, Billy watched as gradually the gap between the red and blue icons closed on the View Screens.
“Flight Control, keep those Eagles within the force shielding, and no firing until I give the command, or, tell them, I’ll have their guts for garters,” Billy ordered.
Staying within the protective umbrella of the Aquarius’ force shielding, Billy reinforced the discipline of his pilots. The breakdown in discipline at the order not to pursue the defeated Bardomil fighters had shaken Billy, and he needed to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“Sir, at their current speed, we have thirty seconds until contact,” a Scanner Technician announced nervously.
“Firing solutions calculated for left and right flank defence turrets,” the highly efficient WATO announced.
“Excellent,” Billy replied, “now we wait to see which way they break.”
On the View Screens, Billy could see the three waves of red triangles, approaching the position where a number of blue circles clustered around one larger blue circle, were perilously close.
“Fifteen seconds to contact, sir,” the WATO announced.
“Do we have the firing solutions, WATO?” Billy asked.
“Yes, sir,” the WATO responded calmly.
“Well, here we go,” Billy Caudwell said softly, “hold your fire WATO,” Billy ordered calmly.
Outside the protective force shielding of the Aquarius, the host of Bardomil fighters swarmed into their attack. Their pilots were angry at watching their comrades being driven off by the upstart newcomers, and supremely confident that they would batter this huge alien ship into space dust with their weapons.
“Ten seconds to contact, sir,” the Scanner Technician counted down the seconds until the Bardomil would overfly the Aquarius.
In the War Room, the tension was raised several notches. Many of the Thexxian officers and technicians were silently praying and hoping that this shockingly young human knew what he was doing.
“They’re open
ing fire,” another Scanner Technician announced, and a moment later, the soft dull thuds of weapons fire was heard in the depths of the War Room.
Out in front of the Aquarius, the Bardomil fighter pilots in the first attack wave were launching their second salvo of weapons fire against the hull of the huge alien vessel. The first salvo of Bardomil weapons fire was already striking harmlessly against the Force Shielding, like a massive raging and roaring fireworks display. In the Eagle fighters, Thexxian pilots, unused to force shield protection, flinched and winced as Bardomil fire exploded harmlessly in front of them. However, the light flashes did, for several moments, give the impression of explosions against the hull of the enormous alien vessel.
This was the effect that Billy hoped for. It would take several minutes of sustained losses for the Bardomil pilots to comprehend that there was some form of shielding around the enemy position. It would take further minutes for their commanders to explore the possibility that this shielding had some form of weakness. By then Billy Caudwell would already have sprung his own deadly surprise.
“Damage or casualties?” Billy asked the Damage Control Officer embedded in one of the Battle Crew consoles on the floor of the deck.
“Nothing, sir,” the gruff voiced Damage Control Officer responded from the depths of his Battle Station console.
Long may it last, Billy thought to himself and turned to the Tactical View Screen he had just flipped into Real View mode. From the image, Billy could see the flashing impacts of the Bardomil weapons fire on the Force Shielding of Aquarius.
On the View Screens, back in Graphic Mode, Billy hit the magnification button. The large blue triangle that was Aquarius sprang into a sharp crystal clear view, surrounded by the Alliance Eagles within the Force Shielding of the great Star-Cruiser. Billy, and the rest of the War Room, watched the first waves of Bardomil fighters sweeping over and past the Aquarius like a spring tide in full spate. The accompanying soft dull thuds of their weapons striking uselessly against the Force Shielding of Aquarius were like raindrops on a metal sheet. Already, the excited Bardomil pilots were claiming direct hits, and explosions, on the Aquarius.
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