Earth Under Fire

by Lee Guo

  Chapter 5

  Vega Gathering Point

  Main Human Fleet

  Flagship Envy’s Curse

  Holoconference Room

  The round table was massive. Vin could see dozens of commodores, rear admirals, vice admirals, and full admirals sitting on each of the seats. To him, they looked as real as real people, but they were all holograms, sent from various points of the fleet.

  “The meeting begins,” Fleet Admiral Hayet announced in his baritone voice. “Lare?”

  Hayet’s chief of staff, Lare Rodrenal, opened the briefing, “Based on the information we gathered using our scouting fleet, it appears as if the enemy does not have any significant technological edge over us – certainly there is no indication their weapons or armor or deflector systems have improved in the past forty years since the last war. Based on these deductions, it appears that our fleet, all 1600 ships, stand a chance at repelling such a numerally advantageous force… if we use our forces correctly and tactfully. Allow me to show you all this.”

  A hologram appeared at the center of the table in front of every flag officer. It showed an alien cannon array.

  “… Here is the typical zero point cannon mounted on nearly every one of their warships,” the chief of staff explained. “Its power and detonation yield is gauged at 40 gigatons of TNT per standard mass. Its range is 9,000 miles, certainly not on a level that overwhelms our very own zero point cannons. And here – is their typical x-ray laser mount.” Lare now pointed at another hologram of a weapon. “It’s range is 70,000 kilometers, identical to ours. Its destructive yield is 2 gigatons per every five seconds burst.”

  The officers murmured to each other. Some were surprised, others look disappointed, yet others looked hopeful.

  “Their technology is outdated,” one officer noted.

  “We stand a chance,” another said.

  There was an instantaneous agreement over the table.

  Vin breathed a sigh of relief knowing that his flag officers thought the same way. But the truth was, every one of these flag officers had witnessed Chambers’s battle with his scout ships. They knew what was coming. He had expected this.

  “Therefore,” Hayet’s Chief of Staff continued, “the Fleet Admiral and his staff have agreed that a future frontal engagement with all our forces is not out of the question. It is definitely within our arsenal of possible moves.”

  There was another murmur of agreement throughout the table.

  Vin felt a weight lifted off his chest. Before the scouting battle, it had appeared to Vin that a frontal attack would not be the best option. Yet, if a frontal attack did not occur, the Garolan fleet would be able to head straight into the production core – Earth, Vega, and Proclyon. They had to be stopped, and now such a maneuver to stop them seemed hopeful.

  Hayet’s Chief of Staff sat down.

  Fleet Admiral Hayet himself stood up. “At 0200 hours tomorrow, we will head straight for the enemy fleet with all our ships. I expect every one of you and the fleet partitions under your responsibility will be ready at that time. We will wage a frontal war and hopefully, put an end to the enemy fleet for good – now that we know our technology is at the same par with theirs. More operating details will be forwarded to each of your departments. Any questions?”

  Vin watched as members of his fleet voiced question after question. Hayet answered them crisply, but at other times, new avenues of thought came because of the questions. Vin was most concerned with one question – which came like this, “Even if we defeat this fleet, how do you intend to sack their production worlds?” one vice admiral asked.

  Hayet answered it , “We will have to scout and find the Garolan production cores. How we attack this production core will depend on what, if any, we have left after our battle with the Garolan invading fleet. Hopefully, the main battle will be decisive and to our favor.”

  And on and on…

  Eventually, Hayet dismissed the admirals and Vin watched all the holograms blink off one by one. Finally, only three people remained in the room.

  “What do you think, my Majesty?” Hayet asked.

  Vin nodded. “I think you briefed them well. I am anxious but optimistic of our success in the coming battle.”

  “That will depend on well we fight.” The elder Admiral smiled. “But my confidence goes to the men and women who have gathered today. We will win, your Majesty. Earth will be aptly defended, once again.”

  Vin continued nodding. “I am glad you are Fleet Admiral Wilbur Hayet. I doubt anyone else could perform such a feat.”

  “I do it for the crown,” Hayet said, nodding. “If you will excuse me, your Majesty. I will take my leave as I have more planning to do in preparation for the battle.”

  Vin nodded and watched him and his Chief of Staff leave the room.

  He was now alone. Suddenly, the massive room weighed so heavily on him. With just himself standing in it… Why did he suddenly feel like the world was against him? Vin tried to shake the feeling away, but it persisted. He felt like something was going to go bad – a deadly omen appeared in his gut, and he couldn’t shake it off. “No…” he murmured.

  He walked out of the room. Maybe it was just an aftereffect of encountering so many holograms…

  Imperial Palace, Earth

  Flower Gardens

  Countess Maylene Nestario gazed at the stars in the night. The love of her life – the King of Earth – was out there, fighting for her and everyone else’s freedom. She thought about it more and felt that she ought to be happy… to be dignified by a marriage proposal by a man who wanted to protect her and everyone she knew on Earth. Less than four nights ago, she was a free woman. Now, she was betrothed to the most powerful bachelor of all the human stars.

  Vin. Vin. Will you protect me like you’ve done for the last two years? Will you win the day, again? Win the day, Vin. Win it for humanity. Win it for me.

  Chapter 6

  2 days later…

  Main Human Fleet

  Envy’s Curse

  Flag Bridge

  Vin watched on the main holomap as the main human fleet zoomed forward valiantly towards its foe. The battlefield: an expanse twenty light-years away from Vega Prime – literally at the doorsteps of humanity’s core worlds. His flagship, the Envy’s Curse, was a dreadnought -- twelve hundred meters long and seven hundred meters wide. It held four thousand crewmen, and could blast a planet to smithereens if it got within range.

  The enemy fleet two hundred thousand miles away had four hundred of these.

  His fleet, Fleet Admiral Hayet’s fleet, had only two hundred dreadnoughts. Armed with the latest zero point singularity burst cannons and zero point deflectors, it was the pinnacle of human achievement.

  Would it be enough? wondered Vin, as he sat in the seat beside the admiral, well protected by gravity fields and his own armor in case the bridge was compromised by enemy fire.

  It’s time to find out.

  Vin gazed at Fleet Admiral Hayet and said, “Good luck, Admiral,” through his suit’s intercom.

  “The pleasure is mine, your Majesty,” Hayet answered back.

  Vin returned his gaze at the holomap. The attack plan was simple. Because the enemy had inferior, outdated weapons, the enemy’s numerical advantage would be nullified by the human fleet’s qualitative advantage. The human fleet would concentrate on the enemy’s smaller ships first, because the smaller ships were easiest to destroy. Once the enemy’s smallest assets were eliminated, the human fleet would attack the enemy’s medium-sized warships, leaving the enemy dreadnoughts and the occasional superdreadnought last.

  Vin, knowing Hayet’s estimations that up to eighty percent of the human fleet might not survive the encounter were pessimistic at worst, hoped that the best outcome would happen – that the human fleet would obliterate the enemy and force a surrender while losing much less in the first few minutes. “Good luck, everyone,” he whispered, and waited.

  Throughout the Human and Garolan
fleets, millions of soldiers waited for the battle to come… they, along with their comrades, were about to be tested in the ultimate test.

  “My Majesty,” Hayet spoke, “would you like to speak to the fleet?”

  Vin nodded. “Actually, I would. Put me on fleet-wide speakers.”

  “Connection established,” Hayet said. “You’re active, my Majesty.”

  Vin cleared his throat. “This is King Vin speaking. The battle will soon start, so I will keep it short. Star Sailors of the Human Fleet, in minutes you will be tested by the ultimate test. I have no doubts about your courage or your skill, therefore I have no doubt you’ll perform your duties admirably. But today is a special day. Today, we fight not against ourselves but for the human race from alien invaders. We fight as one united force, and will be seen by the gods for exactly who we are, what we’re meant to be. So don’t perform just admirably, but spectacularly. Work your body and soul inside those armor exoskeletons you’re wearing, star sailor! Do your duty for your mothers and fathers as well as your sons and daughters like you’ve never before! For, if we lose this battle, it will be they who will be danger next. So fight well and with precision! Exert all your strength in this battle, for we’re fighting for our right to exist! Win the day. Your King wishes you all well! Vin, out.”

  “Connection closed,” Hayet announced. “Short and precise, your Majesty. I liked it.”

  “I hope it made a difference,” Vin replied.

  “It did. We will win… spectacularly.”

  And I will soon find out. Vin concluded anxiously.

  Chapter 7

  Vin gazed at the three thousand strong ships within the alien armada. Then, he gazed at his own ships. 0-space had no light, not even the sprinkle of stars that he could see. The only thing he knew existed was what the t-sensors could detect. We’re almost there… Almost…

  In the darkness of 0-space, the two fleets closed the distance…

  When the distance reached 100,000 miles…

  “Fire all lasers!” Fleet Admiral Hayet ordered. “Target the smallest ships first!”

  Vin nodded approvingly. The Fleet Admiral’s confident voice even made Vin’s nervousness almost fade away.

  In 0-space, both fleets readied their laser cannons at each other and fired. Thousands of Gigaton bursts of raw electromagnetic energy slammed into the frontal warships in both fleets. For the most part, the zero-point deflectors in both fleets held against the rain of E-M blows. But relatively, it was the Garolan fleet who won this stage of the battle, for their zp-deflectors protected their ships more efficiently than the humans on the other side…

  “Eh, Admiral?” one of the ensigns in the flag bridge called out. “Something is wrong…”

  “What is it?” Admiral Hayet asked.

  “Their shield efficiency changed. I don’t know how or why but they’re blocking all our shots.”

  “I see,” Hayet said.

  The bridge was silent. Vin was silent as well.

  “Continue on course,” Hayet instructed.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Vin watched the distances between the forward units of both fleets close. 50,000 miles. 40,000 miles. 30,000 miles. Almost reaching singularity burst range.

  The distance reached 10,000 miles.

  “All ships, fire zp burst cannons!” Hayet commanded. “Form intensive power in forward deflectors!”

  At a distance of 10,000 miles in 0-space, both fleets fired their main zero-point cannons at each other. In the Garolan fleet, space exploded as 40 gigaton blasts coming from the human cannons slashed into the Garolan fleet’s zero-point deflectors and… only a tiny fraction of the explosion seeped through the alien deflectors, causing only minor damage.

  However, on the other side of the battle, the bursts from Garolan cannons slammed against human deflectors with new 120 gigaton bursts, and overwhelmed the human shields with their raw power. The human deflectors had a tough time pushing away such raw energy and a much higher percentage of raw alien energy slammed into the hulls of the human ships, caused widespread damage in the many systems in the forward ships in the human fleet. Hundreds of thousands of star sailors died instantaneously.

  “Damage report!” Hayet yelled as Vin looked on in stunned silence.

  “Twelve ships have lost propulsion drives!” yelled the ensign. “The fleet reports massive damage to all forward systems! Many ships report that their forward zero-point deflectors are not powerful enough!”

  “How are the Garolans able to do that? I thought their per burst yield was only 40 gigatons!” Hayet shouted.

  “I don’t know, sir!”

  Vin was shocked. He watched the Fleet Admiral stare on in confusion, then Vin turned his attention towards the battle map. One by one, the human ships within his fleet blinked away into nothing. They were destroyed. He couldn’t understand how – he was confused just like the Fleet Admiral.

  Suddenly, that overwhelming feeling hit. It all felt so wrong – everything felt very wrong. “Admiral?” he asked . “Perhaps we should turn around.”

  The Admiral was silent. Vin didn’t know what the Admiral was thinking but he could guess – too shocked, maybe? The Garolans aren’t supposed to have this much power! We were supposed to be immune or at least equal to them! How can this be?

  Throughout the battlefield, human starships exploded in a dazzling array of fireballs and plasma waves in 0-space due to the aliens’ overwhelming singularity blasts. Ship after ship of humans disappeared from the universe – their crews dying in the same eternal explosions that blew apart their hulls.

  As the distance between the two fleets closed even further, the enemy’s advanced weapons became even more accurate. The human warships fired back, but their singularity bursts were nowhere near as powerful as the aliens’ variant.

  “Admiral!” Vin called out.

  “Your Majesty… I think we’ve been had,” Fleet Admiral Hayet’s low voice said in Vin’s suit speakers. The Admiral then turned his attention back to the flag bridge. In a loud booming voice, he ordered, “All ships, retreat! Full withdrawal!”

  “Yes, sir!” the lower ranking flag officers answered back through the fleetwide command net.

  Throughout the warzone, human ships turned tail and ran. The battle hadn’t even lasted ten minutes so far. Most had to decelerate and reaccelerate in the opposite direction, but a few of human ships simply changed their vectors so they moved towards the sides. From the alien’s perspective, it looked like the mother of all routs, but it was a disciplined withdrawal. Still, even a quick retreat like this enabled the aliens to continue shooting their singularity burst cannons at the fleeing human ships. A large portion of the human ships didn’t exit out of singularity burst range fast enough and were gunned down. Hundreds of human ships died this way, due to alien zero point burst and their less powerful laser fire.

  After twenty minutes, all the human ships exited out of weapons range and quickly retreated off the battlefield.

  Chapter 8

  Main Human Fleet

  Envy’s Curse

  Flag Bridge

  “They launched a surprise on us,” the Fleet Admiral exclaimed as he’d taken off his helmet so Vin could see him. “We’ve been had. They were deceiving us and the scout fleet the whole time by pretending that their weapons and shield technology was subpar – when in fact, their weapons and deflectors were much more advanced and contained higher yield values than our own. Like I said before, we’ve been had.”

  Vin nodded, at least a little relieved that part of the fleet had escaped. “What do we do now?”

  “We lost a third of all our warships in those few minutes of battle,” the admiral continued, “but not all is lost. We still have over one thousand ships compared to their three thousand.”

  “But how do we win, now?” Vin asked incredulously. So many dead men… so many dead star sailors. He had asked them to perform their best, and now, they were dead. “Is winning even possible?”


  “We will use and rely on the power of Vega’s system fortresses,” Hayet answered. “Vega is where that enemy fleet is heading next. The next battle will have to be there.”

  Vin nodded. The fortresses at Vega were indeed powerful. They contained thousands of normal space missiles, and were equipped with navtron technology. They were built just for that purpose, to defend against alien warfleets who wanted to sack the system. “To Vega, then.” Vin nodded.

  “To Vega, your Majesty,” Hayet replied while still sweating from the battle.

  Chapter 9

  Vega System

  Main Human Fleet

  Envy’s Curse

  Holoconference Room

  “What are our options exactly?” Vin asked the round table.

  Every flag officer in the fleet was sitting at the table. A giant hologram chart sat at the center of the table displaying the losses suffered from the battle. 120 battle dreadnoughts, 219 cruisers, and 300 smaller destroyers. It was devastating to see.

  “There is only one option left, now that we know what we know, your Majesty,” Fleet Admiral Hayet answered. “We must defend Vega at all costs, while using her fortress and defenses to our advantage.”

  Vin nodded. Vega was a mineral heavy system and was considered one of the most valued core worlds within the human sphere. It contained numerous nanufactories and plentiful deposits of metals essential to starship construction. It had to be defended at all costs.

  Fleet Admiral Hayet continued, “The defenses of the system are the star fortress orbiting Vega III and the numerous zero point turrets in orbit as well. Because they are immobile, their power factor is immense. There is much more destructive yield on these zp cannons than our warship cannons. In addition, since the battle will now be fought in normal space, we have forty thousand antimatter navtron missiles.”