Lens of Time

by Saxon Andrew

  “I think we’ve determined that the force fields around those ships is strong but not that much stronger than our own. I think you need to use a weapon that chases them and can move deftly enough to stay between those two beams as it moves in on their ships from the rear.”

  Cyanna said, “There’s the same clearance on the front.”

  Anne said, “True but the bow of the ship can be moved up and down much faster than the stern where the thrusters are located.”

  RV stared at the two of them for a long moment and said, “Did you see this before you came in here?”

  Phil looked at Anne and turned back to RV, “Actually, this is the first video of a battle with the Red Ships that we’ve seen. We’ve observed them fighting hundreds of thousands of years ago but this is the first current use of their ships we’ve seen.”

  RV leaned back in his chair and said, “So what would you do with this information?”

  “I’d back off on production of the Light Waves and start producing the mini-strikers.”

  Cyanna was watching RV and saw that he had already arrived at the same conclusion, but wanted to see how this young captain’s mind worked.

  “Why?”

  “Because they are one third the size of the main penetrators and have more space to maneuver in that gap between the beams. They’re weightless when they’re attacking, so then can move instantly to the commands being given by their guidance boards and can accelerate as fast as any missile we use. Just set them to detect the heat from the thrusters and launch them in waves.”

  Cyanna said, “Wouldn’t all of them home in on the first blast?”

  “You don’t set them to target all heat; only the specific heat being emitted by the Red Ship engines.”

  RV said, “You’d have them also avoid any ship that had the frequency of a mini-striker between it and the thrusters.”

  Phil tilted his head and nodded at RV, “You read my mind.”

  “Where did you learn so much about the strikers?”

  Phil smiled, “Anne taught me while we were collecting light from the Red Sector. She also told me that the weakest point of a force field is where the engines are sending thrust.”

  RV looked at Anne and smiled, “She’s right.” He looked at Phil and said, “What have you learned from your study of the Red Sector’s past?”

  “You are absolutely right about breaking up their formations. Once the formation is completed and starts moving, it is irresistible.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Every Red Ship starts firing their beams which extend more than sixty miles in all directions from their location. The base of the pyramid fires to the rear and the four sides cover everything else. Nothing you fire at that formation can make it through their beams. Once it starts moving, it can’t be stopped.”

  RV didn’t want to ask but needed to know, “Can a new attack craft with the new force field make it through?”

  “I honestly don’t know. The data is just too close to call.”

  RV looked at Cyanna and then said to Phil, “Does this formation have any weak points?”

  “Not really; but the weakest point it has is where the base of the formation meets the four sides.”

  “Why is that?”

  “That’s a transition point. The ships in the base are firing at the rear of the formation and the ships next to the base are firing across their beams to cover the gap between the two walls. That area usually only has one of their beams firing through it.”

  “That seems to be an area we can exploit.”

  “Only if you can get a ship into that corridor without other beams moving before it hits.”

  Anne added, “And the ship attempting to hit that corridor must be moving at extremely high velocity and be able to hit a moving target.”

  Cyanna said, “What about the gaps in the thrusters at the base?”

  “The ships are staggered in the formation so there is not a clear path to the ships.”

  RV thought about the formation and how to crack it open. Then Phil said, “Sir, I’m not sure you understand the full magnitude of this.” RV looked up at him. “The base of that formation is a ten thousand mile wide square and the four sides extend more than twenty thousand miles in front of the base. It’s shaped like a spearhead that’s big enough to kill a universe. When that formation arrives at a planet it turns so that the base is pointed at the planet and it burns the planet into ash.”

  RV looked at Cyanna and said, “That’s one heck of a box.”

  Cyanna slowly nodded, “I’m force to agree.”

  RV turned to Phil and said, “From this moment forward you are being reassigned to the Havana and will report directly to Admiral Hardy. The two of you are going to work on how to beat this formation.” Phil started to protest and RV said, “You have no excuses. We don’t need to see the past any time soon. I need the two of you in the present. You are promoted to Rear Admiral and Lt. Hardy you are promoted to Commodore. Now get to work.”

  Phil sighed and looked at Anne, “I had to open my mouth.”

  “We’ll get back to flying the Ninja when this is over. This is a challenging assignment. I’m looking forward to it.”

  Phil smiled, “Then let’s get to work.” Phil turned to RV, “I need six main battleships.”

  RV did a double take, “What on earth for?”

  “I really need six thousand but six will do for a start.”

  RV slowly shook his head and looked at Cyanna. She smiled and said, “You’ll have your ships in an hour.”

  “Thank you, Admiral.”

  The two left the room and RV watched them leave. Cyanna smiled, “You can still be surprised.”

  “What surprises me is that they have been hidden in their current assignments. I’m thankful they came here.”

  “Do you think they’ll come up with a way to penetrate the formations?”

  “Smaller ones, maybe; I’m not sure there is a way to break the biggest one.”

  “Let’s hope they find an answer.”

  • • •

  Dolly watched the Red Ships start to gather above Sierra-Garcia and the size of the fleet was growing by the minute. Thousands of ships would arrive and immediately take their place in the giant formation. According to George, these ships were only a small fleet compared to the ones being fought in M-87. She was so wrong in her thinking; there should be nothing withheld in fighting these creatures and even the other two sectors should have been allowed to die.

  She sighed and knew that even that was an error in judgment. If our fleets weren’t in M-87 attacking the Red Sector, then billions of ships would be surrounding the planet instead of the millions gathering in orbit. She looked over at George and he said, “That’s only half of them.”

  Dolly looked at her display again and wondered how they could possibly survive against such a massive force.

  • • •

  Cyanna sat in RV’s lap and sighed. It was two a.m. ship time and they were on the bridge looking out of the viewport. She saw a Moet ensign come in and relieve the sensor officer. “We’ve really been lucky.”

  RV continued to stare out the viewport as he said, “Why is that?”

  “Without the huge populations on the Alliance and Moet planets, we would have never been able to crew the ships in the fleets, much less the small craft. The fight with them could have gone another way.”

  RV nodded and remained silent.

  “Are we going to be able to use the small craft against their formations?”

  “If we can’t, we’ll lose this war.”

  “I suspected as much. How are we going to get them in close enough to be effective?”

  “I’m still working on that.”

  “Their force fields are just not strong enough to get through their massed beams. One would think that if they were moving fast enough the force fields wouldn’t be stressed very long.”

  RV said, “Like moving your finger through a candle flame. Mo
ve it quickly and it won’t be burned.”

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  RV raised the command chair back from a reclining position and Cyanna saw the wheels turning in his mind, “What?”

  RV hit his panel, “Admiral Phillips, you and Commodore Hardy report to the bridge immediately.”

  Cyanna looked at RV with raised eyebrows and he said, “The problem with using the new attack craft the way they were designed is that they cannot hit a force field too fast or they’ll punch through and hit the ship inside it.”

  “Yeah, so what?”

  Phil and Anne walked in yawning, “Do you ever sleep?”

  “It’s not on the schedule. I need you to make a quick jump to Sierra-Garcia and get a reading on how far from the Red Ship Formation their beams extend. I need you to do it now.”

  Anne saluted and said, “We’re on our way.”

  RV hit his panel again and Boden appeared, “How fast is the relay you put in the new attack craft?”

  Boden said, “And good morning to you as well.”

  “Oh, sorry about that. Good morning.”

  Boden smiled, “It operates at light speed.”

  “Yes, all our relays do because they’re electrical. What I mean is; how fast can it receive an input and activate?”

  “If it’s done by the computer, almost instantaneously. Why do you ask?”

  “The almost part is important. What if I want the relay to return a ship to weightlessness if it hits something, how long would it take to make that happen?”

  Boden thought a moment and said, “Stand by just a moment.” He looked away and after a short pause another face appeared on the display beside his. “Tell Ramson what you want.”

  RV repeated the question and the engineer began entering data on his panel. “I need more information. How fast will the ship be going when it hits?”

  “I won’t have that information until a ship I dispatched returns. Let me tell you what I’m thinking and if it can be done.”

  Cyanna listened as the two Federation leaders listened and nodded. After fifteen minutes Boden said, “We can’t bring all those ships in to make the kind of modifications you want within the time frame you’ve given us.” Cyanna saw RV’s excitement dissipate. Then the Engineer said, “You have to run the commands through the computer. If what I’m thinking works, it would only take a download.”

  Boden eyes got a far-a-way look and then he said, “That’s eight actions that have to done.”

  “If the speed isn’t too fast, it can do it in the time allotted.”

  Boden didn’t look convinced and he said, “Let us work on this on our end and get back to us with the other data as quickly as possible.”

  The Display went dark and RV said, “I’ll see you later.”

  Cyanna chuckled and said, “Like a candle.”

  RV smiled, “Blow them all out to have your wish come true.”

  Two hours later Phil and Anne arrived and said, “Seventy-five miles.”

  “Did you get a reading on the energy of those beams close to the ships firing them?”

  “We did. I’ll have the computer send it to you now.”

  RV received the data and sent it straight to Boden’s Panel. He and Cyanna waited and after six hours went to get some sleep. Two hours into their naps the communicator on the wall buzzed. RV pressed the button and heard, “We have a priority communication from the Leader of the Harmony Federation. He says it’s important. I’m sorry for disturbing you, Sir.”

  Cyanna beat RV to the bridge, but only barely. RV punched his panel and started to say something but stopped himself. He took a breath and said, ‘Good afternoon.”

  Boden smiled and said, “You are a fast learner. We can do it.”

  RV picked up Cyanna and laughed out loud as he swung her around in circles. The bridge crew wondered what was going on.

  • • •

  George and Dolly had RV on their display, “The enemy formation has been completed and is moving closer to us. We expect them to stop outside the range of the space cannon but that formation is something to see.”

  “How is the force field holding up?”

  “We brought the other reactors on line just to keep it at the level it had fallen. I suspect they would breech it in less than thirty days at the current rate they’re firing.”

  Dolly shook her head, “Is there anything you can do?”

  “We are going to make an effort to stop them shortly. Hang in there and hope this works.”

  George looked at Dolly and she came over and hugged his neck. “He’s the best. If it can be done, he’ll do it.” She looked back up at the wall display and felt her fear.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Beth and Riebbe waited as the shock ships downloaded the new program into their computers. The remainder of the attack force was rearming at their main ships and reading the orders that had been issued thirty minutes earlier. This was something they had never trained on and all of them were nervous.

  “Do you think this is going to function as they say?”

  “I asked them the same question, Riebbe, and the answer they gave me was we’ll soon know.”

  “Why aren’t the main battleships taking part in this?”

  “You have the same information as I do. I wish I knew the answer to that question.” Beth paused and said, “I’ve just received word from one of our mechanics on the Rome that all of the mini-penetrators have had new software downloaded into their guidance boards. What’s going on?”

  “I’m not going in blind.” Riebbe hit his communication switch and Cyanna appeared on his display, “May I help you, Admiral?”

  “We’re getting new software to control our ships and I understand the weapons are also being changed. We’ve had no training on any of this. We’re concerned about the safety of our pilots.”

  “Do you have any trouble understanding your orders?”

  “No Sir.”

  “Then follow them.”

  Riebbe watched his display go dark. “It looks like we’ll find out how this works as it happens; not before.”

  “It’s not like Cyanna to just shut you off like that.”

  Riebbe looked at his display that had started receiving a feed from the Sensor Buoys at Sierra-Garcia and he said, “Oh my God. They have other worries to handle.”

  Beth’s display had also picked up the feed and she knew they were all going to die.

  • • •

  Captain Amie Jabaran formed up her wing with the thousands of others and yelled, “No, I don’t know what’s going on. Now shut up and follow the mission plan. Be the professionals I know you are.”

  Her second in command said, “But Sir, we don’t know what these changes do. We’re flying in blind.”

  Amie took a deep breath and said, “Has the Old Man ever asked us to do anything he wouldn’t do himself? Hasn’t he always planned everything so that our chances of survival are in his plan? Now is when you are going to have to trust our leaders are competent. You see Sierra-Garcia is under attack; there’s not enough time to walk us through everything. You have your targets and you have your orders; follow them!”

  Amie decided at that moment that if she lived through this mission she was going directly to Asia and visit Mark in the hospital before she reported back to the Mecca. She didn’t tell him how much she loved him before he was injured and she was not going to live another day without him knowing her feelings. It didn’t matter if he felt the same. She had to tell him. She looked at her target and felt her fear. She knew all of the million shock ships felt the same.

  • • •

  Two hours later the massive fleet of attack craft jumped into Sierra-Garcia’s system.

  • • •

  The Red Fleet Sub-Admiral’s ship was in the space between the four walls of the pyramid. He was receiving a feed from the ships in the outer walls on what was happening around the giant formation. The last ships had arrived and he ordered, “Move
forward to sixty miles from the planet and commence bombardment.”

  “Sire, we have massive numbers of small ships emerging into normal space.”

  “Did you say small ships?”

  “Yes, there aren’t any of their large battleships present.”

  “Those ships can’t hurt us. Keep me informed if the battleships appear.”

  • • •

  Riebbe slowly shook his head and then said over the main frequency. “On my command, all shock ships will engage the new software; engage.”

  Amie pressed her computer key and the force field formed around her attack craft. “What is this?” She saw the sharp point appear to the front of her ship but there was a single white beam extending from that sharp point more than ten miles in front of her. She looked around and saw all of the million shock ships had the same beam. “I wonder what this does.” Multiple voices came on her channel and she said, “I don’t know.” The channel grew quiet.

  Riebbe watched as the force fields formed and was just as surprised as the shock ships. He muttered, “I’m getting too old for this.” He said, “I am going to activate the new software in a moment and your ships will be controlled by your computers until you reach your targets. Buckle in tight, hang on, and good luck.” Riebbe took a deep breath and pushed the activation frequency on his panel.

  • • •

  Amie watched as her ship suddenly accelerated at an unbelievable velocity at the base of the giant formation. There was no way they could hit that formation at this speed and survive. She tried to take manual control but nothing worked. She leaned as far back into her seat as possible as her ship rushed into the wall of flame being fired by the Red Ships.

  • • •

  Beth watched the million attack craft roar down on the huge base of the formation and watched the panel as the countdown continued. Just as it reached ten, she saw the base of the formation look like a giant circle of explosions was expanding out from the center of it into the surrounding Red Ships. The countdown hit zero and she pressed the activation code for the second wave. Fifty million attack craft shot forward and moved into the center of the explosions happening in the Red Ship formation. Just before the second wave, arrived the shock ships flew out of the base and moved away from the giant formation.