Time Commander (The First Admiral Series)

by Benning, William J.

  In that dejected silence, the Axe-Blade survivors limped slowly home to face whatever fate awaited them.

  Chapter 7: Alliance Fleet HQ, Planet Garmauria

  Whilst Third Fleet struggled for survival in the Tergus Star System, on the planet that was once called Garmauria, Senior Intelligence Officer Karap Sownus was busy with the latest political and intelligence situation reports.

  Senior Intelligence Officer Karap Sownus was a creature of habit who liked certainties in his life. He was a creature who liked his universe to be simple and straightforward; right or wrong, black or white, yes or no, positive or negative. Yet, in his chosen profession, he’d had to become the master of uncertainty; of shades of grey, of illusion, of smoke and mirrors, where things were very often not what they appeared to be. It was a universe in which Karap Sownus had thrived and prospered. The Universal Alliance was his future, and also the future of his species; the Thexxian people.

  Karap Sownus was what many observers would have described as a very plain and nondescript individual. At just over four feet in height, Sownus was average in height for a young male of his species. Like hundreds of thousands of other young Thexxian adults, Karap Sownus bore the scars of poor nutrition and the irregular food supply of the Exodus. These, in turn, had caused problems with their physical development through the lack of essential vitamins for bone growth and development. One of the effects was to produce a severe bowing in the bones of the lower leg. As a result, Sownus shunned the tight uniform and leg-hugging knee boots in favour of the voluminous trousers, tunic and lace up ankle boots of the enlisted crews.

  Sitting in his Private Office; his Inner Sanctum, or the Holy of Holies as the irritatingly jovial Chief of Staff Marrhus Lokkrien had teasingly dubbed the brightly lit, yet very sparsely decorated office, Sownus was ploughing his way through yet more reports and Observer Activation requests. This was the inevitable administrative details that were the annoying and frustrating price of a sprawling intelligence network. It had been just over a year since a slightly nervous, but highly motivated Junior Scanner Technician (Third Class) in the Thexxian military, Karap Sownus, had volunteered and been accepted to become the Senior Intelligence Officer aboard the Universal Alliance flagship, “Aquarius”. At the very dawn and foundation of the Universal Alliance, the flagship Aquarius had been the entire military presence of the Alliance. In that year, the Universal Alliance Fleet had grown dramatically, as new varieties of species signed up their destinies and citizens to the new Alliance. The Alliance’s Intelligence Network had also grown significantly in that short space of time. This was mainly thanks to the billions of “Sleepers” installed throughout the universe by the Garmaurians prior to their ruinous civil war.

  The Administrative Centre, deep in the heart of the planet itself, had now become Sownus’ second home. Not that Sownus really had a first home. With his entire family now dead; killed in the Thexxian Exodus, Sownus really had no roots or commitments to tie him to any one location. He did, however, have one commitment in life that he hoped would give him the kind of stability that he found himself desperately craving: Her name was Shula Targianen, and she was a Theatrical Stage Manager back on New Thexxia.

  In his usual tongue-tied, insecure and bashful way, he had tried to strike up a stunted conversation with the most beautiful creature he had ever seen in his life. Shula, slightly concerned at the attentions of this odd, bow-legged young Alliance officer, had done her best to ignore Sownus. That had been almost a year previously, and as was the way of most things Thexxian, the formal courtship would take several more years before Sownus could consider a “Bonding”.

  To his credit, Sownus, however, made sure that his romantic attachments did not interfere with his duties. Karap Sownus considered himself scrupulously fair in his professional endeavours. Shula kept her private and professional life separate, so he should be able to do the same. As he thought about Shula, he dragged his mind back to the situation on the Tergus Star System. The last report he had sent to First Admiral Caudwell, with First Fleet, was that there was a dangerous build up of Ganthoran forces in the area. The pattern had been apparent for many weeks now. However, First Admiral Caudwell had still insisted on leaving Third Fleet badly exposed around the planet of Tergus. Sownus hoped that the First Admiral wasn’t making a terrible mistake.

  It was the job of the Senior Intelligence Officer to provide as much relevant information as possible for the First Admiral to make big decisions. Yet, with the Tergus System situation, the First Admiral seemed to be going against all the indications and advice that Sownus’ Intelligence Command was sending him. Well, the First Admiral must know what he’s doing, Sownus considered, but it did seem that he was taking a tremendous risk. The decision and judgement of the First Admiral made those decisions.

  That, after all, was what First Admirals were paid to do.

  Chapter 8: The Star Cruiser Aquarius, Tergus System

  “Hello?” Billy Caudwell stared intently at the three-dimensional image on the War Table. “And, what do we have here then?”

  Billy zoomed in on a small formation of vessels approaching the right flank of the Ganthoran “Six-Cigar” Carriers.

  A group of thirty vessels, in a ragged cluster formation, snapped into sharp focus. Billy recognised the vessels immediately as Universal Alliance Ranger-Class Long-Range Patrol vessels. The short, squat Ranger was used to patrol the isolated and desolate frontiers of the Universal Alliance, and looked very similar to toads back on Earth. With a crew of twenty, the Ranger patrolled out in the inhospitable wastes of the Alliances’ ever expanding frontiers; maintaining as much law, order, and political control over the areas as their lightly-armed vessels could muster.

  Not specifically designed as a combat vessel, the Ranger did have Force Shielding and a Trion Drive, but was burdened with a badly underpowered engine capacity, two medium-yield and six low–yield pulsar cannon. In terms of combat effectiveness, the Ranger was very poorly equipped. Designed for long range patrol, the original Garmaurian designers had considered that the Ranger was going to be doing nothing more dangerous than chasing off joy-riders, and dealing with angry mobs of poorly-armed, protesting colonists. Scraping together any, and every, vessel that could carry a pulsar-cannon, Parbe’an was using the battle in front of his formation to draw attention away from this ragged group of Rangers. The Trionic Cannon aboard Olympus were still being effective in cutting down the Ganthoran vessels on the flanks of the main enemy formation.

  This, Parbe’an hoped, would stop any attempts by the Ganthorans to launch an attack against the flanks of the Alliance position, by pinning them down to their original formation structures. Parbe’an hoped that he could weaken the Ganthorans sufficiently to allow the Rangers to at least have a shot at the “Six-Cigar” Carriers from the Alliance’s left flank. Billy Caudwell, looking at the unfolding battle on his War Table, had to admit that it was indeed worth trying to mount a surprise attack on the Ganthoran Carriers. However, to throw the Rangers at such a well-defended formation like the one established by the Ganthorans, was at best optimistic and foolhardy and, at worst, suicidal for the crews involved. But, these were desperate times for Admiral Parbe’an. His Eagles were still fighting in the life and death struggle between the hulls of the Ganthoran larger vessels.

  The main part of his Fleet was trading blows with another formation of Ganthoran Destroyers and Cruisers, whilst his Trionic Cannon were attempting to keep his flanks secure from further attack by hemming the Ganthorans into their current formation. The weight of numbers of the Ganthorans was beginning to tell. After throwing away thousands of Axe-Blade fighters against the Self-Defence Turrets of the Alliance ships and the Force Shielding, the Ganthoran General was now increasingly wary.

  Now, the Ganthoran General was standing his vessels off from the Alliance position, and using his advantage in numbers and weapons to slowly grind down the defensive shielding of the Alliance formation. From Admiral Parbe’an’s perspective, the G
anthorans were starting to gain the upper hand, and if First Fleet didn’t arrive soon, the position would soon deteriorate into terminal decline. Parbe’an needed something, no matter how desperate, to shake the confidence of the Ganthorans once again, and buy himself a little more time.

  Taking the three-dimensional image of the battle out to a broader view, Billy kept a weather eye on the progress of this rag-tag, forlorn hope of a formation of Rangers that seemed to be creeping ever close to the Ganthoran formation, apparently unobserved.

  In the battle between the Alliance Eagles and the Axe-Blades between the hulls of the Ganthoran warships, the Eagle pilots were starting to tire. In the great fighter-on-fighter dogfight, almost three thousand Eagles had been crippled or destroyed. The cost to the Ganthorans had been huge. Over sixty-thousand of the Axe-Blades had been destroyed in the battle, but now, with the Eagle pilots suffering from combat fatigue, the Axe- Blades were slowly and surely establishing their dominance over the Eagle fighters. It was now only a matter of time before the last of the Eagles would either capitulate or fall victim to the Screaming Death.

  Switching the image to the battle in front of the main Third Fleet position, Billy could see that the Alliance’s pulsar-cannon had inflicted heavy losses on the Ganthoran ships. The Ganthoran General may have been able to defeat Third Fleet, but his forces would not be able to do much more afterwards. The area in front of Third Fleet’s main formation was littered with debris and ruined Ganthoran warships. Of the two hundred Ganthoran Cruisers who had started the attack, over one hundred and fifty had been destroyed or crippled. Of the five hundred Destroyers, less than two hundred remained. However, hardest hit of all had been the Axe-Blades. The Ganthorans had flung twenty-five thousand Axe-Blades at this Alliance formation, and they had been scythed down in their hundreds by the Self-Defence Turrets aboard the Star Cruisers, Fleet Carriers and the Star-Destroyer Olympus.

  Over seven thousand Axe-Blades had been blown to destruction by the Self-Defence Turrets, however, the Ganthoran pilots had realised, too late, that the Alliance ships carried some heavy shielding. Another ten thousand Axe-Blades had smashed uselessly into the Force Shielding around the Alliance warships. In a few seconds, the Alliance gunfire and Force Shielding had effectively shattered the Ganthoran Axe-Blade fighter strength. The Ganthorans were now contenting themselves with peppering the Alliance Third Fleet with weapons fire in the hope of finding some way to break up the shielded formation. Gradually, they were starting to have some success. Many of the Alliance ships were badly damaged, and Admiral Parbe’an was aware that their Force Shielding could not hold out for much longer. When their Force Shielding did collapse, Parbe’an knew that they would have to be withdrawn from the battle. That meant that their pulsar-cannon would no longer be able to hit back at the Ganthoran attackers. Admiral Parbe’an needed every gun he could set against the Ganthorans.

  Watching the battle in front of Third Fleet unfold, Billy noted that the Ganthoran Destroyers were using the debris and damaged hulks of their crippled comrades as cover against the Alliance’s pulsar-bolts.

  The Ganthoran General learns quickly, Billy thought to himself as he watched a Destroyer emerge from behind a badly damaged Cruiser and unleash its weapons fire at the Alliance formation. The electro-magnetic wave bounced harmlessly from the Force Shielding in front of the Star Destroyer Olympus, whilst the Ganthoran Destroyer darted back into the cover of the damaged Cruiser, before setting off to find another piece of cover to fire from. Yes, they were very quick learners these Ganthorans, Billy considered, realising that the only way to deal effectively with “hit and hide” tactics like this was to use weapons fire to clear away all the debris and damaged vessels.

  Admiral Parbe’an had neither the time, nor the weapons fire capacity to clear the area in front of his formation. Parbe’an’s gunners had to respond as best they could to the Ganthoran fire that was being directed towards them. The gunners were still being effective when they could get sight of a target. As Billy attentively scanned the image in front of him, a Ganthoran Destroyer broke cover, from behind another Destroyer, to fire at one of the Star Cruisers. Unfortunately for the Ganthoran, the neighbouring Star Cruiser spotted his movement, and the ten high-yield pulsar-bolts from the Star Cruiser hurtled downrange towards the Ganthoran vessel. Before the Ganthoran could fire, both the active and abandoned Destroyers were swept away in a massive explosion of the impacting pulsar-cannon salvo. It was a very effective strike, Billy Caudwell considered, but much too expensive in terms of weapons fire.

  “Make signal to Third Fleet,” Billy said, “I should arrive in two minutes.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “But we’ll need time to launch and direct our Eagles...” Marrhus Lokkrien said.

  “Yes, but Third Fleet need to know that we’re here,” Billy said. “Morale is vital if they’re to hold out for the time we need, they just need to hang in there for a few more minutes.”

  “But sir, we don’t have a plan, we haven’t even briefed the Eagle pilots and the Ship’s

  Commanders yet.” Lokkrien looked as if he was in deep thought. “It could well take us half an hour to launch the Eagle strike.”

  “We brief them on the wing, Marrhus,” Billy said, “leave the tactics to me. You just make it happen when we reach Third Fleet; get those Eagles ready to launch the moment we arrive,” Billy emphasised the urgency of the situation.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, sir.”

  “But, we do have a plan.”

  “Gentlemen, the Ganthoran Fleet is split into three parts,” Billy used the highlight control to isolate each part of the enemy disposition.

  The first area, he highlighted in yellow, was the concentration of “Six Cigar” Carriers and their defensive screen. Then, Billy added the area of the fighter-on-fighter battle in a pale blue, and then the battle in front of Third Fleet’s position in a pale red.

  “Yellow, blue, and red, Gentlemen. The Ganthoran commander has been kind enough to split his forces up for us, so we shall repay the compliment by keeping them that way.

  “We approach the battle area from their left flank in two columns, Gentlemen. The right hand column will launch one thousand Eagle fighters into the yellow zone to draw the defensive screen from around their Carriers, then five of our Star Cruisers will attack the flank and rear of the Ganthoran formation to destroy those Carriers,” Billy outlined.

  The Staff Officers around the War Table nodded appreciatively. It was good military logic and tactically sound to target the core and nerve centre of the Ganthoran force. With luck, the Star Cruisers could force the surrender of the Ganthoran Carriers, and end the battle quickly. However, if that failed, the Star Cruisers would be able to cut off the Ganthorans’ line of retreat.

  “In the blue zone, a further two thousand fresh Eagles will go in to support the surviving Eagles from Third Fleet, extricating them from the battle with the Axe-Blades. That should effectively turn the tide in our favour in that section of the battle... Once the Axe-Blades have been driven off, the Eagles can press home a further attack on the Carriers and their defensive screen,” Billy said.

  Once again, it was tactically sound, but the question of committing half of the Eagles to this battle was bound to be asked. Billy, however, was ready to answer that they had to pull as many surviving Third Fleet Eagles from the battle as possible. The Eagle pilots of Third Fleet had done a superb job, and Billy Caudwell wanted as many as possible to survive.

  “Finally, Gentlemen, in the red zone, Star-Destroyer Colossus will attack the left flank of the Ganthoran position and sweep across their formation with Trionic Cannon. They may have found themselves little hidey-holes from Parbe’an’s pulsar-cannon, but they won’t hide from our Trionic Cannon. Meanwhile, seven Star Cruisers will cut off the Ganthorans’ line of retreat, and take targets of opportunity as they present themselves. A further one thousand Eagles will be held in the red zone for support; should the remaining Axe-Blades in fron
t of Third Fleet try to avoid our Star Cruisers. The remaining five hundred Eagles and two Star Cruisers will form the defensive perimeter around Colossus and the two Fleet Carriers.” The room was still as Billy sighed with relief. “Any questions?”

  Strangely, for an Alliance Staff Officers’ briefing, there were no questions forthcoming. It was a sound and logical strategy.

  “Very well, to your duties, Gentlemen.”

  “Gentlemen, your assistance, please.” Marrhus Lokkrien approached the Third Admirals around the War Table as the meeting broke up.

  The First Admiral had outlined what he wanted to happen, and now Marrhus Lokkrien had to make it happen in a very short space of time. Leading the Third Admirals over to the Tactical View Screen that was projected from the floor at the bottom end of the War Table, Lokkrien began to allocate tasks and orders for the Third Admirals to undertake. Having been promoted from the position of Observers, the Third Admirals from the other Fleets were only too eager and enthusiastic to be part of the action. This left Billy Caudwell alone with the three-dimensional War Table image.

  As the Senior Officers huddled around Marrhus Lokkrien and the Tactical View Screen, the battle in front of the Ganthoran “Six-Cigar” Carriers took an unexpected turn.

  The fighter-on-fighter battle was moving into its final phase. The Alliance Eagles from Third Fleet were down to under eight hundred vessels. Billy considered that it might be unlikely for him to be able to rescue any more than a few hundred from the original four thousand brave Eagle pilots who had stormed into the heart of the Ganthoran formation less than an hour previously. Parbe’an and the larger Alliance ships were still trading blows with the Ganthorans in front of Third Fleet’s position. Third Fleet may well be shorn of their Eagle fighters, but the Star Cruisers and Fleet Carriers would be left intact.