by Dale Musser
Even at first glance, it was clear that we were in big trouble. Over a third of the Federation ships were out of action. Many were completely destroyed. The remaining ships were scattered about randomly and taking heavy fire. I quickly scanned the display and noted our position. The FAZTA’MINA was located on the edge of the fighting. Then I walked into the display to a location that seemed to be devoid of fighting.
“Open a link to all the warships,” I said. A moment later, screens all around the war room lit up with images of the admirals and captains, all of them clearly steeped in stress and fear.
“This is Fleet Admiral Tibby. I regret to inform you that Admiral Regeny is dead and his flagship has been destroyed. As the next admiral in the chain of command, I am, as of this moment, assuming command of the fleet. Captain Marranalis will be issuing orders on my behalf. Understand that the battle is not lost, but we will all need to pull together to turn this situation around. I need you to follow my orders explicitly, if we’re going to get out of this mess.
“All Federation stellar gates have been closed in order to protect the inner worlds and prevent further passage of Brotherhood ships into the currently unguarded sectors. There is no leaving Glomar Rosa for any of us until we’ve won this battle; so fight like your lives depend on it, because they do.
“All Fleet officers are to send me reports within the next thirty minutes detailing your respective losses. In the meantime, Marranalis will be sending you coordinates where I want all warships to convene and immediately configure into spherical formation Alpha‑1. It's going to be a rough ride for many of you to get to that spot, but the survival of all of us depends on it.”
Then I turned to Marranalis and said, “Order all warships to the location where I’m standing in the display. From what I can surmise, it’ll take more than an hour to get all of them together.”
Marranalis quickly determined the coordinates and disseminated the information.
I studied the display further and noticed that all the enemy asteroid-ships were clustered in groups – six ships in formation around a seventh. These formations moved quickly through the field of battle unimpeded as they attacked the Federation’s largest warships. I suspected that their combined firepower was acting in some way to penetrate the Federation’s RMFF shields. If that was true, I deduced that taking out one or two ships from each cluster should weaken their combined destructive capability. The uniformity of the formations indicated that the center ship was in some way the key to the operation of the clusters.
As I scanned the display, it was woefully obvious that an inordinate number of our fighters were missing from the battle. “Admiral Windangar, where are all our fighters?” I asked.
“When the Brotherhood started decimating them, Admiral Regeny ordered most of them back to the carriers. He left only the Ruwallie Rasson fighters out there to deal with the enemy, because they’re superior pilots and better at avoiding fire.”
“By the stars, the man was an idiot! Marranalis, order all the fighters out into the battle immediately. I want them to concentrate their firepower on the center asteroid-ship in each cluster. Admiral Windangar, you and your captain will be responsible for bringing in fighters from the MAXETTE. Captain Mareoparen should have contacted your captain by now and configured your hangar tube gates.”
“What are you planning, Admiral?” asked Windangar.
“I’m planning to fight this battle according to survival tactics. Unlike Regeny, I have no time for glory,” I replied bitterly.
“Marranalis, as soon as you get the chance, connect me with Admiral Wabussie,” I commanded.
“Yes, sir. One moment, sir.”
About thirty seconds later Wabussie’s face appeared on the vid screen and he immediately began to speak.
“What’s happening, Tibby? Where are you? I’m getting calls from my agents around the Federation that Brotherhood ships are coming through Cantolla Gates and attacking our bases.”
“It’s a long story that we don’t have time to discuss right now, Admiral. In short, Regeny foolishly commanded the stellar gates to be left open during the battle, which has allowed the rapidly advancing Brotherhood ships to pass into other sectors. Admiral Regeny is dead and so are over a third of the forces he brought to Glomar Rosa. I’ve assumed command of what remains of the fleet, and I’ve since ordered all Federation stellar gates to be closed, which means we’re trapped here to fight a massive Brotherhood fleet on our own. I’m currently with Admiral Windangar aboard the FAZTA’MINA, which will serve as my flagship, at least for now. The situation is not looking good, Admiral. I’m trying to get all warships collected into a defensive formation. Regeny apparently never bothered with this approach, as he believed it was going to be easy pickings here. What I need from you is the most recent intelligence that you collected on Glomar Rosa. Since you and Regeny kept me out of the loop, I have no idea what I’m up against,” I said with growing venom in my voice.
Wabussie’s image went pale. “I… I…tried to warn Regeny that it wasn’t wise to attack Glomar Rosa. We only managed to get spies on the surface three days ago and the incoming reports indicated that bases across the entire planet were bracing for an attack. Our agents reported the mobilization of thousands of troops and massive shipments of heavy armaments, but Regeny rationalized that this activity was occurring at only one of their bases, when in fact it was all of them. He insisted that the reports indicated nothing more than training exercises. Obviously, he was incorrect.”
“Obviously,” I repeated sarcastically as I continued to scan the display of the battle scene. “Do me a favor; send me all the intelligence you have on this damn planet, starting with the most recent data associated with Brotherhood activities. I’d like to bring our forces back home alive from this debacle.” Then I looked Wabussie’s image and said, “Oh, and if you still have any agents on the surface, tell them to get out immediately, because the planet won’t be a safe place to be much longer. All hell is going to break loose here soon.”
Before Wabussie could reply, I ended the connection and studied the display once more. Our warships were slowly making their way to the assembly point I had dictated.
“Marranalis, inform our troopers on the surface to retreat from their ground conflicts and get to the Cantolla Gates as quickly as they can. They have to get out of there. The most time I can give them is two hours, and we may have to act even sooner than that. Are the FAZTA’MINA’s launch tube gates ready to receive ships?”
“Yes, sir, the tubes are clear.”
“Admiral Windangar, contact Captain Mareoparen. It’s time the two of you coordinate the transfer of fighters. Marranalis, as soon as they arrive, they’re to join the others and do whatever is necessary to destroy the center asteroid-ships in those clusters.”
“Understood, Admiral,” replied Marranalis.
“How many ships are coming?” Windangar asked, as if dumbfounded by my commands.
“Not nearly enough. Maybe a little over a thousand,” I replied.
“You held back that many Federation ships from this battle?” Windangar said with shock and anger.
“I held back ships? No, Admiral. First of all, the only Federation fighters joining this asinine battle are those assigned to the MAXETTE – and half of those were already here by Admiral Regeny’s orders. The remaining fighters belong to the Ruwallie Rasson private forces and to me, meaning almost all of my own private security forces, including half of my fleet that protects Alle Bamma, and the additional fighters I recently ordered from the androids, who, by the way, are piloting those ships at my request.”
Windangar’s eyes widened. “The androids! But... But... they’re our enemy!” he fumed.”
“Everyone keeps saying that, but they continue to save our asses, don’t they?” I replied. “However, if you would rather continue this conflict without their assistance, I’m sure the androids would be happy to oblige you,” I said, giving him a hard stare.
“But… b
ut… the Senate ruled…,” he stammered.
“I don’t see any of the senators here fighting, do you? So do you want the androids to cease and leave us to fend without them or are you going to get onboard with the plan and accept their help?”
Windangar stood frozen, paralyzed by the totality of the situation.
“What’s it going to be, Admiral? Are you going to get those fighters over here?” I pressed.
“Uh… yes, Admiral,” Windangar said weakly.
“Good. Make it happen now. Marranalis, confirm that they have their orders as they make entry. We’ve got to disable those asteroid-ship clusters as soon as possible.”
Windangar directed his communications officer to activate the gates and advise Captain Mareoparen to do the same on the MAXETTE. Then he looked at the display and asked, “Admiral, what will we do once the warships are gathered?”
“We’re going to move the formation toward Glomar Rosa and ultimately focus all our firepower on the planet simultaneously. Marranalis, contact A’Lappe and have him remove the PLABE from my personal fighter and transfer it over here immediately. Once it’s here, we need to replace one of the laser cannons with the PLABE weapon as quickly as possible. The installation should be relatively easy. A’Lappe has designed them to be interchangeable. I want that PLABE in place in record time. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” replied Marranalis.
“But Admiral, we still have teams down there! And billions of innocent civilians!” he protested.
“Yes, regretfully there are. I wish Regeny had thought about all of this before he forced us into the situation we have now. At this point, if we don’t direct some heavy fire at that planet, the Brotherhood will destroy us. And if they destroy us, there won’t be enough ships left in the Federation left to save it from total Brotherhood domination. So, the choices are either to fire on that planet, knowing that we’re targeting the Brotherhood forces, any remaining Federation forces and billions of innocent civilians; or we allow the Brotherhood to win here and go on to enslave the entire Federation.”
“But how will that kind of devastation save us?”
“I’m hoping the Brotherhood forces will then decide there is little or nothing left here worth protecting and issue withdrawal commands to their ships. On the other hand, it’s possible they may just decide to stay and annihilate us. It’s a gamble, but it’s the only option I see, and we need the PLABE to make this work.”
I watched helplessly as ship after ship was destroyed by the Brotherhood’s asteroid-ships.
“By the stars, Marranalis, how are those weapons penetrating our shields? Either they’ve gotten hold of our slow torpedo technology or they’ve discovered some new way of breaching the RMFF defenses.”
“Maybe they tracked down a torpedo that missed its target and went off into space during a past battle. If they did, they certainly could have reverse-engineered it,” suggested Marranalis.
“If we manage to get out of here, we need to study the problem. Even if it’s just a remote possibility that they did get a hold of a torpedo, we need to develop some sort of self-destruct mechanism that activates when a projectile weapon misses its target. But right now what we need is that PLABE.”
“Admiral, what is this PLABE you keep talking about?” asked Admiral Windangar.
“It’s a new weapon that combines the amplified power of a plasma beam with a standard laser weapon and produces a beam that can more or less vaporize anything it hits. It will penetrate an RMFF shield as if it isn’t there,” I said.
“Why haven’t we heard of these and why don’t we have them on all our ships?” asked Windangar in an accusing tone.
I was beginning to get visibly irritated with Windangar’s impertinence. “Two reasons, Admiral. First, they were only invented a few days ago in my personal science laboratory; and secondly, they require rundadite, an extremely rare element. There’s only enough to build four PLABEs and, at the moment, we have only two working models. One is on the MAXETTE and the other is being transferred here from the NEW ORLEANS.”
“Did Admiral Regeny know about these weapons?” asked Windangar.
“I’m afraid the admiral wasn’t interested in communicating with me much these past several weeks,” I answered bitterly. “After ordering me to stay out of this battle and restrict my actions to guarding Sector 1, he disengaged me from all communications.”
“That was a big mistake on his part,” Windangar said. “It didn’t sit well with the rest of the Admiralty, but we were all afraid to speak up about it. His behavior went from irrational to volatile at the smallest sign of uncertainty or resistance among the commanding officers. Every time someone questioned his plans or made a suggestion he didn’t like, he would bellow at them and ask if they wished to join you in patrolling Sector 1 instead of being part of the greatest battle ever fought against the Brotherhood.”
“Well, it’s too late to think about those things now, Admiral,” I replied. “It’s going to take all of our attention to get out of here alive.”
“Admiral, the fighters are coming through now,” Marranalis said.
“Good,” I responded while looking at the display. Moments later, small sparks of light moved away from the location of the FAZTA’MINA and into the battle scene. Remarkably, these pilots were picking off their targets with one hundred percent accuracy while making impossibly complex maneuvers at phenomenal speeds.
Windangar looked at the display in amazement. “Are those Ruwallie Rasson fighters?" he asked.
“No, sir. Those are the androids,” Marranalis responded.
“What? They’re so… fast!” Windangar exclaimed.
“Yes,” I answered. “Fast and deadly accurate,” I answered.
The remaining fighter squads followed the androids through the launch tubes and moved directly into the battle. The conflict raged for nearly two hours before the warships managed to finally gather into formation. During that time, the Brotherhood had managed to decimate a sizeable portion of the remaining fleet. Our own luck wasn’t as good. Even with the slow torpedo technology, disabling or destroying an asteroid-ship was no easy feat. In order to completely destroy one, it was necessary to direct the torpedo directly into a hangar or some other portal to the asteroid’s interior; but our ships missed these openings more often than they hit. Even just two PLABEs would have helped to equalize the firepower between the Brotherhood and Federation forces and give us a fighting chance. Most of the damaging hits came from android pilots, even though they represented only about one tenth of the fighters mobilized from Domagota. I was grateful that they were agreeable to continuing their assistance at Glomar Rosa. Without them we would likely have succumbed before we could gather the warships and prepare the PLABE weapon.
As the battle continued to unfold, A’Lappe’s team managed to get the PLABE dismantled and shipped to the FAZTA’MINA. A crew had already removed one of the laser cannons so the installation and activation of the PLABE could be expedited.
While we waited for the PLABE installation to be completed, I held a quick vid conference with the Fleet Admirals to outline my plan. Most of them reacted with silent shock when I told them we were going to fire on the planet, but a few objected strongly.
“We’ll be killing billions of people!” one exclaimed.
“I’m well aware of that fact, Admiral. Listen, I don’t relish the idea of annihilating innocents so that we can survive to defend the Federation. You do recognize that we are nearly all that’s left of the Federation’s military defenses, don’t you? How many more lives will be lost if we’re all destroyed here today? I’m happy to entertain any ideas that can get us all out of here alive and prevent the Brotherhood from taking over the Federation. However, I honestly don’t see any other way and we are running out of time. As it is, there’s only a fifty-fifty chance that my plan will save us; but those chances certainly improve in a scenario where the Brotherhood decides there’s nothing left to defend here. One thing is relativ
ely sure; they’re unlikely to leave while they have control of the planet. Clearly they do have control – and they’re winning. So, if you have another idea, let’s hear it now.”
“Why can’t we just re-open the stellar gates and escape? Let them have Glomar Rosa!” asked another admiral.
“If you look, Admiral, you will notice that the Brotherhood has taken up positions around our stellar gates. If we reopen them, one of two things will happen. They will either rush through them again and move into sectors where the protection of the Federation military is absent because Admiral Regeny pulled everyone and everything here for this mission; or we’ll lose over a third of our remaining ships trying to escape, possibly more. We simply cannot suffer that level of risk or loss in a desperate effort to retreat. Besides, there is nothing to stop the Brotherhood from destroying the gates just as we reach them and, in that scenario, we would still be trapped but in an even worse position.” On the screen, I saw the sullen face of the admiral as the words sunk in.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I see no other way. Either we win this fight today or the Federation is destroyed. I accept full responsibility for this action as acting Rear Admiral and leader of this battle. Every record and report is to reflect my sole accountability, so none of you need to feel at fault for the innocent lives that will be lost. If the Federation is to survive, Glomar Rosa and maybe everyone on it must be sacrificed.
“Now, if there are no more comments, it’s time to fight. May the stars be with us,” I said.
“May the stars be with us,” responded the admirals in unison before disconnecting their vid coms.
“Marranalis, warn our fighters to avoid the zone between the Alpha-1 formation and the planet. The attack commences now.”
Marranalis responded seconds later, “The fighters are clear of the area, Admiral.”
“I stepped into the War Room’s remote firing console and logged in as controller of the PLABE weapon. As of this moment, it was aimed at Glomar Rosa.
