Homeworld

by Ben Winston

  Ben nodded. "Okay, I'll collect my guards and get moving. I'm proud of you and everything you and our people have done here, Gail. Good Luck."

  "Thanks Ben. We'll get through this. The Lizards won't know what hit them," Gail replied.

  Ben again nodded as he stood. "I just hope we don't lose too many people; then again, losing any will be too many. I'll call you from the chamber once I get there." He closed the connection, made sure the coffee pots were turned off, and left the office.

  Ben and his guards did go down to the pod, and after making sure Deirdre and Jorga were safe, Ben used the old council chamber to monitor the battle that would soon be taking place in the system. After letting Gail know he had made it to the command pod, he kept the connection as monitor only so he wouldn't distract her and her staff with endless questions. He was nervous and knew that he would quickly make himself a pest.

  "Highness, my sensors detect you have an elevated level of anxiety. Is there anything I can do to help reduce your stress levels?" Mother asked.

  "I'm not sure, Mother. I don't understand why I'm so nervous this time; we've been attacked before, and I never felt like this," Ben replied.

  "In the previous engagement you are referring to, the enemy ships were much fewer in number, and they were not allowed to enter the system. None of our people were in direct danger. This attack is much different; because of the number and composition of the enemy fleet, we know that our system defense will not be able to stop all of them before they arrive and are able to fire back at us. It is a foregone conclusion that we are going to take casualties this time. The possibility exists that some of them might even be civilians. This situation is much different, perhaps it is this that has made you worried," Mother replied?

  Ben was thoughtful, considering her words. "I think you might be right, Mother. I know we are going to get hurt this time, and it's bothering me."

  "My files on human psychology suggest distraction; do you have questions you would like to ask, or perhaps a game would help get your mind off of the battle? During The Fall, my designers would like to play poker in times of stress." Mother suggested.

  Ben chuckled. "I suck at poker. Gail mentioned something earlier that made me curious. When I asked her about the arrival of Admiral Tyrel's fleet, and how they would have to travel in system just like the enemy, she said they were not going to arrive in the normal way. Can you explain this?"

  Mother was quiet a moment. "Have you noticed that freighters and single ships can drop out of hyperspace much further in system than a fleet of ships can?"

  Ben nodded. "Yeah, something about the relationship of mass and hyperspace. I don't understand it, but I can accept it. What does that have to do with this?"

  "We will be taking advantage of this rule to allow Admiral Tyrel's fleet to exit hyperspace far deeper into the system than would normally be possible. Military fleets tend to move as a single unit in order to protect each other. They enter and exit hyperspace as one unit, thus, how close to a star they can exit hyperspace is governed by the total mass of the fleet as a whole. The rule states that the smaller the mass, the closer the exit point can be," Mother explained.

  "Wait, I think I remember something about this from one of the science fiction books I read; it depends on the mass of the ship and stellar class of the star, right?"

  "Almost, the class of the star is not relevant; only the star's mass as well as the mass and location of the planets in the stellar system have any effect. When an incoming fleet exits hyperspace, because of the mass involved, it is usually safest to do so either just outside the system or in the outer system at the closest. However, if the fleet does not travel as a unit, the ships of the fleet can arrive in the target system far closer to the inner system than would normally be possible," Mother explained.

  Ben was confused. "Okay, I can follow that, but how are they going to do this?"

  "Admiral Tyrel will be arriving in the Centauri system very soon. At that time, his ships will begin jumping individually for Sol System. The traffic control computers for the Sol and Centauri Systems are linked to give the ships exact placement and timing to prevent collisions and stellar instability. Admiral Tyrel will arrive here one ship at a time; missile and torpedo boats first."

  "Oh," Ben said thinking the issue through. "Isn't that dangerous? How will the ships protect themselves while the rest of the fleet makes the jump?"

  "It is a risky tactic. However, our fleet will already be here to defend them as they arrive. The smaller ships will group up and be ready to defend the heavies when they make their jumps. The dreadnought, carriers and battleships cannot jump any closer in than Mars’ orbit because of their mass, which is where they will arrive. If all goes according to plan, that will be right in front of the enemy position," Mother explained. She darkened the lights and formed an exaggerated hologram of the inner system, then showed the movement of the arriving fleets and how they hoped the battle would proceed.

  "I once heard that no plan survives contact with the enemy; let us hope and pray the Lizards have never heard that," Ben said with a half grin.

  "That is true, all the careful planning in the world can quickly be tossed out the window in the face of the enemy. However, this plan has the advantage of being based on Lizard actions and maneuvers from past battles. That is to say, it is based on the past actions and reactions of the enemy. Admittedly that is no guarantee of success, but it should improve the odds," Mother finished. "Deep space hyper-missile batteries are beginning operations. Aegis Terra is in target acquisition and should begin firing with their hyper-missile batteries."

  The big hologram zoomed out to show the outer system. Mother replaced the icons in the image with real-time data showing their forces and how they were positioned. It also showed the position of the enemy fleet just inside the Oort Cloud.

  "Okay, I'm confused about something. What's the difference between the Oort Cloud and the Kuiper Belt? Aren't they the same thing?" Ben asked.

  "No, they aren't. The Kuiper Belt is like the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter only many hundreds of times larger. It also exists on a flat plane consistent with what is called the plane of the ecliptic that most planets are in. It begins just outside the orbit of Uranus and extends well past the orbit of Pluto. I should mention that the dwarf planet, Pluto, does not follow the afore mentioned plane of the ecliptic. The Kuiper Belt begins at roughly seventy AU and extends to just past a thousand AU. AU stands for ‘Astronomical Unit’ and is measure as the distance between the sun and the Earth. One AU is about ninety-eight million miles.

  "The Oort Cloud is more like a shell that completely surrounds our solar system. It is very far out from the main star. Although it is obviously affected by our system's gravity, it is considered to be in interstellar space. It's fifty to sixty thousand AU from our sun and extends out over two hundred thousand AU," Mother explained. "That is point-eight to three-point-two light years distant. Yes, the two do overlap."

  Ben snorted. "So big, it's hard to imagine the real size. We're so used to looking at stuff in these exaggerated views that the true size and distance becomes almost meaningless. It's all kind of humbling, actually."

  After a moment, Mother replied, "Yes, I suppose it is."

  The missile barrage fired by the hyper-missile launchers and Aegis Terra reduced the mass of the incoming fleet by almost half. However, Mother was having difficulty determining the composition of what was left until they arrived, exactly where expected, at the inner edge of the Kuiper belt. Twenty-five super-destroyers and thirty destroyers dropped out of hyperspace just outside the orbit of the planet Uranus. Eight large freighters accompanied them.

  Their arrival eliminated the hyper-missile launchers as weapons. However, Aegis Terra simply switched modes. The big fortress did not resume fire though, it began moving back toward Terra to position itself midway between Terra and Mars. Where it could shield not only Terra, but most of the heavy industrial facilities in solar orbit in that reg
ion.

  The facilities themselves had been all but evacuated for the battle. The only remaining personnel on them were armored guards for security, and a few engineers to maintain power systems and monitor any damage taken.

  Tracking projected the enemy course into the system as passing close to Mars before continuing on to Terra. No one believed that just happened to be a coincidence.

  Admiral Oldstone had the Terran Fleet cloaked and waiting near Jupiter’s orbit. The debris that 'trailed' the planet in its orbit served as good camouflage for the defending ships. Of the Terran defenses, the only unit the enemy should have been able to track was Aegis Terra as it 'retreated'.

  Knowing the system wasn't completely undefended, the Lizards began a cautious approach. They were allowed to move forward unmolested and had gradually begun to pick up speed. As they passed the orbit of Neptune, ships from Admiral Tyrel's fleet began arriving in system in sporadic and seemingly random places. Arriving either singly or in groups of two or three, the light elements of the fleet dropped out of hyperspace in and around Mars’ orbit and immediately began moving, regrouping with each other, but never stopping and not turning towards the enemy. Their movements showed panicked confusion.

  Sensing a trap, the Lizard fleet spread out and slowed slightly. After seeing the actions of the arriving forces and sensing the weakness of the system defenses, the Lizard commander ordered all units to full speed; directly toward the quietly waiting, hidden defense fleet.

  The Terran defense fleet was entirely comprised of the newly designed and built ships, crewed by mostly newly trained humans. There were a few non-humans among them, veterans who had agreed to help train the humans as well as those who had simply wished to join the new Terran Navy. However, for the most part, the defense fleet was a new force, in new, and unproven ships, led by an Admiral that had no military command experience. The unit's official designation was The First Terran Guards, but their unofficial name was 'Bedouin's Buccaneers', usually shortened to just 'The Buccaneers'. Gareth Oldstone laughed when he heard it, and adopted the Jolly Roger from old Earth as a unit crest. However, instead of a human skull he substituted one from a Lizard.

  As the Lizards approached Jupiter’s orbit, Gareth released the torpedo boats. The small ships had been floating, 'dead' in space and were now actually among the enemy formation. The squadron of nine ships powered up, and began firing before they had dropped their cloak and raised their own shields.

  Fifty-four torpedoes fired at point blank range hit the enemy before they even know they had come under attack. The Lizards did have their shields up, and so the attack did little more than damage their shields, but all damage mattered at this point. Besides, the torpedo boats were not finished with the enemy yet.

  Five of the small ships raised their shields and ran back toward the still hidden fleet. Four others reset their cloaks and took position mere inches from the belly shields of the super-destroyers.

  Several of the destroyers picked up speed to give chase while the rest remained with the fleet as escort for the bigger ships. However, when the big ships fired missiles at the fleeing torpedo boats, more than their missiles went out in the barrage. The hidden torpedo boats fired with the big ship to hide the launch signatures and twenty-four more torpedoes hit the pursuing Lizard destroyers. Three destroyers lost their shields, a forth lost its shields and took damage to propulsion.

  The fleeing boats spun around and fired full salvos at the chasing ships when the missiles were fired, further hammering the destroyers and adding to their damage.

  Far away, Aegis Terra loaded four heavy ship-killer missiles and targeted the four super-destroyers the boats were using as cover. Given the distance, the missiles would be little more than torpedoes themselves by the time they arrived at their targets, having exhausted their propellant in flight. Missile flight time would be thirty minutes, but the missiles would be out of power and untrackable before coming into point defense sensor range of the big ships. Aegis Terra notified the torpedo boats and fired the missiles.

  While the five decoy ships continued to play tag with missiles and the remaining destroyers, the four hidden torpedo boats continued to fire on the enemy completely undetected. Fifteen minutes into the battle only four of the original ten pursuing destroyers remained, but one torpedo boat had been destroyed and another had taken damage. The damaged ship cloaked and limped back to the fleet with one functional engine and no weapons.

  Five minutes later the remaining three torpedo boats executed in-system jumps as they had exhausted their supply of torpedoes to fire. They docked with Aegis Terra to resupply.

  However, they hadn't been the only forces involved in the fighting. As more and more of Tyrel's fleet arrived, they jumped out to harass the invaders and slow them down.

  Now confident that the system was defended by only light units, the Lizard fleet commander pressed forward at full speed towards his objectives. When they got in optimal firing range of the hidden defense fleet, Admiral Oldstone ordered the attack. The heavy missiles fired by Aegis Terra were still five minutes away, which meant that the enemy was still moving too quickly and had to be slowed down. The missiles were still on target, but the fleet was further in-system than anticipated at this stage.

  The original plan called for Admiral Oldstone to attack and fall back, to slowly draw the enemy into position for Admiral Tyrel's ambush. However, in order to slow them down, Oldstone ordered his ships forward into the attack. As one, all of the remaining ships of the Buccaneers went to full power and kicked open the gates of hell.

  Although the two fleets were almost balanced in number of ships, the Lizards had the superior force in raw firepower. The Lizards knew it, too, and focused completely on the now emerging fleet.

  However, not only did the Buccaneers have ships that had the new transponder system, which made Lizard targeting suffer, they were also newly built models with multi-tasking computer systems and stronger shields. Oldstone didn't even try to hide the abilities of his ships; too many lives were on the line this time.

  It didn't take long for the enemy commanders to see the difference, but whether they didn't know what it would mean in the long run, or simply didn't care, was unclear. They moved their destroyers closer to the super-destroyers and used the smaller ships to defend the larger ones. The super-destroyers then turned their missiles against the Buccaneers while the destroyers protected them.

  Whether by design to protect them, or they had simply been left behind, the Lizard freighters had fallen well behind the fleet. Equipped with standard commercial grade shields and no weapons, combat was not a place for these ships. It was to these ships that the newly reloaded torpedo boats of the Buccaneers jumped.

  The timing of the event was almost exact for the arrival of the heavy missiles from Aegis Terra. The four torpedo boats that had been hiding under the target ships fired their remaining torpedoes at the ships they had been hiding under and blasted clear of them, immediately jumping back to the fortress to rearm.

  The torpedoes fired by them had been perfectly targeted and totally destroyed the shield generators. When the missiles arrived, the big ships had no defenses against them at all. The high yield anti-matter warheads hit all four amid ships and blew them apart in impressive explosions that also damaged the destroyers that had been guarding them.

  The remaining destroyers, one for each of the remaining super-destroyers, moved in very close to the much larger ships and slowly flew all around them, looking for any more hidden enemies. When the freighters were also destroyed, the Lizards must have begun to realize they were in trouble. The Lizard warships were close enough for general scans of the inner system, they would know what was where, but not what the status of the facilities was. They could see the colony on Mars, but were still too far away to attack it. They could 'see' Aegis Terra, but it was too far away for them to gather any information on it. They held position and pulled the destroyers in tighter to strengthen their defenses. The move put them
back on the schedule the Terran forces had planned for. Now, the enemy needed to begin attacking again, so Oldstone could pull his forces back.

  The arrival of nine torpedo boats from the destruction of the freighters seemed to be the prodding they needed to once again get moving. They again tried to attack the fleet and moved forward. However, now it seemed more of determination to do as much damage as they could before they were eventually destroyed. While the two fleets again joined in battle, the torpedo boats behind them began work on the rear-most destroyers.

  Oldstone got his opportunity, and the fleet began to pull back, pulling the enemy fleet with them. Some of his ships would fake battle damage and 'retreat' away from the battle to make repairs while other ships covered for them.

  Because of the change in tactics that had to be made, the Buccaneers would provide the screen for the arrival of Tyrel's heavy ships while the lighter elements of Tyrel's fleet jumped out behind the Lizards to join with the Buccaneer ships in doing as much damage as possible.

  When Oldstone and his fleet arrived at the outside edge of the asteroid belt, Tyrel's capitol ships arrived. The asteroid belt helped to shield the arrival of the heavy warships, but the Lizards knew something had arrived because of the energy readings.

  The Lizards stopped moving forward, but continued to fight. Just as the torpedo boats were about to begin hammering the rear of the Lizard fleet, five destroyers broke free and started a run for the outer reaches of the system.

  When the fighting started, special devices given to the big mining ships were activated that filled that part of subspace the Lizards used for communications with 'white noise'. They had not been able to transmit any of the data they had gathered here back to their command. Now they were trying to ensure at least one ship escaped with all the data they had been able to gather on the system and the forces defending it.