by Saxon Andrew
The Swarm Leader said, “Your Supreme Controller doesn’t look at this as a waste of time.”
The Controller knew he had to be careful. This bug had the ear of the Court. “Send me the coordinates.”
“You should have them momentarily.”
The screen went dark and the Grogat decided that he would not be punished for his response. He was still being applauded for the defeat of the enemy fleet and the destruction of the planet with the enemy warriors. However, that good grace would fade quickly. He better learn how to control his mouth. He looked at his board and said, “Do you have the location plotted?” The Navigator nodded. “Send it to the fleet and prepare to jump. How long before we’re ready?”
“A hundred ships are being loaded with both weapons and food stores. They will be done in a quarter rotation.”
The Controller said, “Notify the Swarm of our arrival time.”
He continued to watch his display and heard his communication controller send the message behind him. He wondered if the enemy would attack in his absence. He sighed and decided that it was no longer his problem. The order had come from the Royal Court and he had no option but to obey. If the enemy came, someone else would have to handle it.
• • •
“Sir, twenty thousand of the advanced Grogat Ships are moving away from the planet.”
“How many?”
“Twenty thousand, Sir.”
“Notify the Admiral!”
Thomas Gardner received the message and smiled. Only sixty thousand warships remained in orbit and half of them were not modified to the new beam technology. The attack needed to be moved up a week. He pulled up the training reports on Duke Robbins’ Company and saw the scores from the electronic facility. They were impossible. It appeared the company was superior to any unit in the two divisions. Should he use them against the Grogat Weapons Plant? He leaned back in his chair and struggled with the decision. What finally pushed him was the realization that if any other officer other than the Duke commanded the unit. there would be no hesitation. He had to do the right thing for the other warriors dropping on the planet. He sighed and said to himself, “I’m sorry, Jon.” He sent the orders and knew their chance of survival was low.
• • •
Sam received the massive data from fleet and queried the system to see if his company was included in the attack profile. He found it and felt his heart go into his throat. They were dropping in on the main weapons plant. Were they ready?
“Captain Haines. Is the transport ready for action?”
“We’ve been released by the construction crews. I’m taking her out for a trial run at this moment.”
“She’ll have to do that later, Captain. We’ve been called up and I need you here to pick us up.”
There was silence and after a long pause Sam heard, “We’re on our way, Sir.”
Sam hit the general frequency, “All Life Warriors in Alpha Company, general quarters. We will be going into combat and this is not a drill. Prepare for boarding and perform your weapon’s check.”
“What’s going down, Sam?”
“Dort, the attack on the Grogat is forming up. We’re going with the elite warriors to take the Weapons Plant. Get your platoon ready.”
• • •
Jixie went into Sam’s command system and saw what their objective was and smiled. Whoa, this was going to be fun. She smiled and then thought about Jennifer and Sam. Would they be able to survive? She put the thought aside and felt her heart beat faster. At long last the playtime was starting. This was why she left home. She focused on her armor and felt it come to life. This was a great toy. Gon looked across the field and saw Jixie with the biggest smile. Was she crazy? He put the thought aside and focused on the trace. Soon he was smiling as well. Perhaps she wasn’t crazy.
The four platoons felt their armor become a part of them. The joy of that connection filled them as they waited for their transport to arrive.
Captain Roy G. Haines set the coordinates and felt the transport around him. He smiled and pressed the teleport button. Now he would see if the wild selection of weapons made any sense. The ship was singing at the coming mission and the song was glorious.
• • •
Sam sent a priority code to Admiral Gardner. “I’m sorry, Your Grace. I need your unit at the plant.”
“That’s not why I’m calling, Admiral. I’ve thought about your time frames and I think they won’t work.”
“What do you mean?”
“The city has more than twelve million Grogat living there. What do you think they’ll do when they learn we’re attacking their fleet?” Admiral Gardner didn’t say anything. “They’ll drop everything and mass around the weapons plant. By the time you defeat their fleet, there will be close to half of the planet there.”
“What other option is there?”
“If you jump your fleet in fifty thousand miles out from the planet and delay activating the null suppression field, what would you do if you were in command of the Grogat Fleet?”
“I would move it out to meet the fleet so it couldn’t bombard the planet and expect more fleets to come in to support me.”
“I think they’ll do the same thing, Admiral. If the fleet moves out, we can jump the transports in so they arrive just outside the planet’s atmosphere and move toward the planet. Once inside the atmosphere, their teleport systems will work and the warriors can teleport to the planet immediately and not have to drop through their air defenses. Then you activate the null suppression field and stop any other Grogat Fleets from coming in. The transports can teleport to the side of the planet away from the fleet action and move out to a safe distance from the planet.”
“The Grogat could send ships after them.”
“Admiral, the Grogat fleet will be outnumbered and they won’t do that until help arrives. Once the suppression field is activated, they would have to use standard ship drives to offer any chase and they won’t be fast enough to catch the transports. They’ll also weaken their forces trying to hold off your fleet. Once the Grogat Fleet is removed, the transports can move back to the planet and move inside the atmosphere to retrieve the warriors that will use teleportation to board them.”
Thom thought about the idea and said, “We would also be able to teleport any weapons we’re able to capture directly to the transports without having to use a ship to fly them off the planet.”
“If we’re forced to use a ship to get those weapons off the planet, they’ll never make it through their air defenses.”
“What if we don’t take out the Grogat Fleet?”
“We’ll either win on the ground or be forced to teleport out. If there’s forty million Grogat at the plant, there’s no chance of taking anything. We have to arrive and stop them from getting close to the plant. At least this way there’s a chance we can capture the weapons while the Grogat Fleet is tied up fighting our ships. If we can’t get through, we’ll board the transports and you kill the planet. After you deactivate the suppression field, we’ll all jump away.”
“I should have thought of this. I’ll issue the orders. The attack will be delayed two hours while the new commands are delivered to the units.”
“Thank you, Admiral.”
“No, thank you, Sam.” Thom called in his staff and issued the new plans for them to get out. He watched them start sending the new coordinates, timeframes, and targets. He shook his head and thought, “My daughter is a bimbo.”
• • •
The Grogat Fleet Controller waited at the planet the Swarm was moving in on. “I think we’re eliminated your problem. I’m going back to my assignment.”
“You will wait until we are on the planet. If you leave and more ships arrive, we’ll lose this fight.”
“How much longer before you arrive?”
“Two wing spans.”
The Controller shook his head and said, “Please make the best time possible. My fleet should be elsewhere.”
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p; “I’ll notify you when your task is completed.”
The Controller smiled and turned off the display. He fought the urge to kill the Swarm Fleet and fell back in his chair. He contacted the fleet defending the planet and was told all was normal. What were the chances that an attack would happen at this very moment? He leaned forward and thought, “What if there was another probe and the enemy saw his fleet leave? He started to order a withdrawal and decided he was being paranoid. He moved back and then forward. Would these stupid creatures never reach the planet? His bridge crew watched his agitation and did everything possible to stay out of his vision. Their lives depended on it.
• • •
The Fourth Sword arrived and Sam’s company teleported on board. The probe’s most recent scan of the planet began downloading and Jixie ignored it and looked at the planet. There were hundreds of units that were not seen by the probe because they were under a cloaking screen. Jixie stopped the probe’s download and sent her view to the half million life warriors being dropped on the planet. Their systems began changing their drop points and targets. Sam saw the sudden change in information and wondered where it had originated. His company was dropping in on the southern side of the giant plant and there were massive weapon emplacements in their drop zone. Sam said, “Jixie is this new information coming from you?”
“You asked me to scout, Sir.”
“How can you see the planet?”
“The probe is connected to our system, Sir. I can see some difference in the coloration of the surface. It must be coming from the screens hiding their forces.”
Sam smiled, “Keep us up to date.”
“I think we need to drop the line of buildings just beyond our DZ as soon as we arrive to slow down any Grogat forces moving our way.”
“Our platoons will be taking out those emplacements. Will you do the honors?”
“It will be my pleasure, Sir.”
“Captain Haines, how’s the ship responding?”
“Like the dream she is, Sir.”
“I’ll need you to handle any air defenses targeting the transports.”
“We’ll do our best.”
Sam watched the countdown and hoped the transports could get in fast enough for the null suppression field to be activated before any Grogat Fleets could arrive. He’d see in thirty minutes if the plan was going to work. He cleared his mind and listened to the music that was growing in intensity. He set his coordinates and stared at the blur on the scan. That blur covered fifty yards. It had to be a major weapon’s location. He maintained his focus and watched the countdown creep toward zero. At zero plus a minute, the four hundred thousand ships in the Bristone Fleet jumped in a hundred thousand miles from the planet. He watched the counter move slowly toward zero.
• • •
The Grogat Fleet Controller saw the massive fleet appear and he began issuing orders, “Go to weapons active and prepare to jump out to meet those ships on my command. Black squadron, get your cloaking field off and go to full power on your force fields. Do it now. Grey Squadron, move your ships in line. You’re too far back…” The controller watched his ships activate their fields and after thirty seconds, he ordered the fleet to jump. That thirty second delay to move his fleet was going to prove critical. His fleet jumped and he began sending out distress signals to the Empire’s Fleets. The ten seconds it took for the messages to be received and the twenty five seconds it took for the fleets to enter the planet’s coordinates and jump proved to be five seconds too late. Only a small squadron of a hundred ships arrived before the null suppression field activated. The two million ships that arrived within the next thirty seconds were forced out of their null drives more than ten hours from the planet.
• • •
The Fleet Controller watched the Swarm Fleet enter the atmosphere of the planet they were attacking and heard, “We have an Enemy Fleet in the home system!”
He stood and yelled, “Enter the return coordinates. Notify me when all ships are ready. Thirty five seconds later his fleet arrived ten hours out from the planet and watched the massive explosions taking place around the planet. He whipped around and yelled at his drive controller, “Why have you stopped here?”
He pulled his blaster as the drive controller yelled, “There is a field preventing us from jumping closer! All our fleets are stopped here!”
He spun around and looked at the display and saw hundreds of thousands of ships appearing around his fleet. “Start us moving in at maximum speed.” The twenty thousand ships in his fleet hit full thrusters and accelerated toward the inner planets. More than a million ships fell in behind his fleet and raced toward the planet being attacked.
• • •
The Grogat Fleet raced toward the enemy fleet which turned and moved away at a matching speed. The Fleet Controller watched and said, “Increase speed. Prepare to jump to the enemy’s coordinates.”
“We have ten thousand enemy transports jumping in next to the planet and entering atmosphere.”
“Jump back to the planet, NOW!”
“Our jump drives are inoperative, controller. There is some kind of frequency being broadcast that is suppressing the drives.”
The Fleet Controller looked at his display and saw two things at once; thousands of Grogat ships were appearing at the limiting band and the enemy fleet had stopped and was now roaring in on his ships at a tremendous closing speed. “Slow down and fire from formation.” The Fleet controller watched his fleet begin to slow, but the enemy fleet was on him in an instant and the battle degenerated into a ship to ship contest. The explosions of dying ships filled the sector where the two fleets slammed together.
• • •
Admiral Donaldson said, “I want four ships on each of the advanced Grogat Warships. Take them from behind when possible. Donaldson watched eight hundred of his main battleships explode as they approached the Grogat formations. The faster Algean Attack Craft split into two formations and went over and under the Grogat fleet and turned into the middle of the dark ships. Grogat ships began exploding in waves. The battle took on a new level of frenzy as ships fought to survive in the millions of beams and missiles that were haunting the killing ground.
The Fleet Controller looked at the secondary display showing the planet and did not see the transports. What he did see was tremendous explosions on the planet’s surface. His pilot jerked the ship vertically and came over the top of his ships. Six Algean ships roared in on him and he prayed the Empire’s fleets would arrive in time to save his ships. He could not retreat and leave the planet open to attack. He would survive or die holding this enemy away. The issue was settled ten seconds later when the surviving three Algean Attack Craft blasted the entire front half of the ship into rubble. The following explosion killed three more ships. Two of them were Bristone Warships.
• • •
The ten thousand transports jumped in and accelerated into the planet’s atmosphere. Two miles below the vacuum of space the teleport systems became operational and half a million Life Warriors teleported to the surface.
Captain Haines flipped the weapons console active and the smaller transport looked like it was burning. The beams and missiles left too fast to count and the incoming air defense ships and missiles were obliterated as they moved into the upper stratosphere to attack the transports. The Forth Sword also fired its heavy beams into the ground outside the weapons plant, blasting giant craters into the paved surface. Suddenly, every transport teleported to the other side of the planet and accelerated into space before the ships, missiles, and beams could reach them from the planet’s surface. The transports moved three thousand miles away from the planet and picked off the missiles coming at them from the surface defense installations. They waited for the Warriors to call them back. The scans showed a battle on the surface that made the fleet’s fight to the death look tame.
Four hundred thousand Life Warriors teleported in a thousand yards from the complex surrounding it and began clearin
g all of the buildings and setting up a perimeter to hold the expected population’s charge at bay. Twenty five thousand Warriors teleported in on each side of the giant square building, intending to blast their way in. What they found was a nightmare. The entrances were guarded by fortified and hardened bunkers containing heavy blasters and high velocity cannons. The four walls of the tall building began changing as thousands of heavy blasters began rotating out from the inside and began firing at the Life Warriors below. Sam took in the massive armament and shouted, “Spread out and survive. Take out anything you can.”
Able Company arrived with the other twenty five thousand Life Warriors, designated to attack the southern side of the plant and found themselves in an unimaginable crossfire. Ten thousand Life Warriors were vaporized within the first two seconds. Even though Able company’s Warriors teleported the instant they arrived and allowed their armor to take control; thirty Able Company Warriors were dead within the first minute.
Robby arrived with his platoon next to the building’s wall and was immediately teleported to the side of a reinforced bunker, housing a heavy blaster. The beam began to swivel toward him and he fired four hornets at the blaster’s force field and teleported away. The three hornets hit right after five others that were fired by other warriors and blasted a hole in the force field and the fourth flew through the opening and exploded beside the swiveling blaster tube fusing it closed. The energy pouring into the barrel blew back into the bunker exploding the small reactor powering the massive beam. The bunker exploded and threw shrapnel three hundred feet in the air as a superheated rush of air shot skyward. The barrel landed a mile way and embedded into the wall of a tall building. The barrel’s heat set the building on fire and it spread rapidly into the interior.
Sgt. Dant teleported in behind Robby as he fired at the heavy blaster and killed eight Grogat Warriors raising their blasters on Robby. She immediately teleported eight feet to the right, as forty high velocity slugs flew through the space she just occupied. She launched a hornet at the Grogat Cannon team and teleported to the other side of cannon’s bunker and fired her main beam at twenty Grogat Warriors streaming out of an armored cover in the street. She ran over and launched a mini-penetrator through the opening and teleported away as a massive explosion blew out of the opening and collapsed the street.
