by Jeff Sims
Korno spoke in Frank’s absence. He said, “Senator Figur, excellent math. However, if you factor in the relative mass difference between the combatants, you could say the Sunflower was outnumbered 4 to 1.”
Senator Figur said, “Maybe it is a fake message.”
Admiral Dolen spoke for the first time. He said, “No. The message is authentic. It was definitely generated by the Informer.”
Frank said, “We need to know the facts quickly. I propose that Admiral Dolen sends a small fleet to temporarily reinforce Conron. Further, I think we should ride with the Admiral so that we can get a firsthand account of the battle.”
He gave his everyone his latest gem, the ‘this is serious’ frown. It didn’t seem to have the desired effect, so he said, “This is critical everyone. We need to go.”
The speed of the mobilization surprised even Frank. Within four hours of his pronouncement they were hurtling through hyperspace bound for Conron. Admiral Dolen had assembled a sizeable fleet for the mission, including four battleships, four destroyers, and four cruisers. Frank thought the class of ships chosen was odd, but perhaps these were the only ships that were ready to leave at what had literally been a moment’s notice.
Frank had tired of listening to his other Senators and had proclaimed that each Senator should ride on a different ship. He had argued it was necessary to separate to ensure that the entire council wouldn’t be killed by a freak hyperspace accident.
They arrived in Conron, performed a quick scan, and micro jumped to the entryway of the Opron hyperspace lane. The Senate members reconvened aboard the flagship Protector. Admiral Dolen had hastily converted his personal conference room into the temporary Senate chamber. He led all of the Senate members to the room and informed them that according to their calculations the Sunflower should arrive in the next few minutes.
…………………………….
Ella said, “Captain, we are now exiting hyperspace. I am performing a quick scan.”
The bridge crew all turned and looked at Ella expectantly. A moment later she said, “Scan complete. We are in Conron. Oh and we have some company.”
Solear said, “Put it on the overhead monitor.”
Solear looked at the scan and was impressed. They were surrounded by a considerable fleet; it was the largest fleet he had ever seen outside of Advranki Prime or Altian. There were 5 battleships, 6 destroyers, and 8 cruisers, and 2 corvettes. In addition, there were 200 fighters flying in a protective pattern around the fleet.
Clowy said, “We are being hailed. It is Admiral Dolen.”
Solear said, “On monitor.” Admiral Dolen appeared and on the monitor and Solear said, “Good afternoon Admiral. It is good to be back.”
The Admiral spent little time with pleasantries. This was rather surprising because he was normally a talkative person and rarely dispensed an opportunity for a conversation. The Admiral said, “Tell you pilot to park in the opening directly beside the Protector. Please take a shuttle and join me here at your earliest convenience. Dolen out.”
Solear winced inwardly and said, “Clowy, you have the bridge. Ella, pilot the Sunflower to the required position. Arean, come with me.”
They walked quickly down the main corridor to the hangar. The caribou had to hop to keep up with the brisk pace. Arean checked the hangar and determined it was free of humans. He deactivated the force field and led the captain to the nearest shuttle.
It was a quick 10 minute shuttle flight to the battleship. Arean easily landed the shuttle in the hangar and said, “I will wait here for you.”
Solear answered, “No. I need you. You were instrumental in creating the simulation. We will present it together.”
Arean said, “The hangar is empty. Where do we go?”
Solear responded, “Admiral Dolen hailed us personally. Let’s go to his conference room.”
They walked down the main corridor toward the bridge and admired the birds flying along beside them. The artwork was a true masterpiece, but Solear believed that he liked the running caribou slightly better. They entered the bridge proper and took the electro lift to the fifth level. Unlike a cruiser and a destroyer, a battleship has an additional bridge level that can be used to house an admiral and his personal staff.
They entered the conference room and were startled to see that it was overflowing with beings. Solear had obviously expected to see Admiral Dolen and wasn’t surprised to see Admiral Kornal, the commander of the Conron fleet. However, he had not expected to see all eight Alliance Senators in attendance.
Everyone was quietly staring at them so Solear said, “Respects Senators, Admirals. I would like to introduce Arean, my first officer. He has prepared a simulation showing the battle.” Solear placed the flashdrive cube in the appropriate slot and started the computer reenactment. Arean had updated it and had added voices and conversation to it.
Ella: The unknown object is massive. I can’t get a clear scan because we are blocked by the planet. There are no other ships in the entire system. We are alone.
Arean: Should we try to get a closer look?
Solear: How far will we have to travel?
Ella: We will have to travel almost an hour to get a clear view. We will be well inside the system’s gravity well.
Solear: So, we will not be able to jump. It is worth the risk to get the scan. Proceed.
The simulation fast forwards about 40 minutes until the Sunflower rounds the planet.
Ella: I can’t get a clear scan. The object is shielded.
Solear: Fire missiles, two rounds of shield busters. One round of ship busters.
Arean: They won’t be nearly powerful enough to do any damage.
Solear: I know. However, the missiles should deflect the shields long enough for us to get a clear scan.
Senator Figur said, “Computer, pause playback.” He waited for a moment and said, “Solear that was very smart, firing the missiles to try to get a better scan. However, you were well out of the powered range of the missiles. Why did you fire them so far away?”
Solear answered, “Well, we wanted to minimize the amount of time that we spent in the system, so we fired the missiles early. Recall Senator that the object is stationary and unable to maneuver. The missiles cannot miss.”
Senator Figur said, “Well, that is true I suppose. Why ship buster missiles with the third volley?”
Solear answered, “Based on the shield strength readings we knew that the missiles would do negligible damage. However, we thought that was the best strategy to deflect the shields long enough for us to get a clear scan.”
Frank grimaced when he heard Captain Solear answer the question exactly as the simulation had just explained. He looked over and saw Figur was about to ask another question, so he said, “Perhaps we could watch the simulation and save our questions until the end.”
Frank daydreamed about the humans only a few kilometers away. Perhaps he could convince Senator Figur to take a tour of the Sunflower and somehow throw him into the human’s living quarters at lunch time. He smiled at the idea.
Senator Figur responded, “Excellent idea. I was just about to propose that. Computer, resume playback.”
Lexxi: Missiles away. They are on target. Burn complete. Contact in 10 minutes.
Solear: Begin continuous scanning. We will turn when the missiles hit.
Ella: We have contact. Two Hiriculan destroyers just appeared on the scan. They are on a least time intercept course.
Clowy: They were hiding behind the object. We are being hailed. They want us to surrender.
Arean: It’s a trap. The enemy is launching fighters.
Solear: Ella, perform the turn now. Launch fighters.
Arean: Our fighters are launching.
Lexxi: Both destroyers are charging their ion cannons.
Solear: Evasive maneuvers. Let’s try to outrun them.
The two destroyers now passed directly in front of the object and directly into the path of the on-coming missiles. Jus
t as they were about to hit the destroyers, Senator Figur stood up and shouted, “The destroyers are going to fly directly into the unguided missiles.”
No one knew exactly how to respond to the outburst. The computer had interpreted the outburst to mean pause playback. Everyone looked at the still motion shot of the 5 missiles about to strike the enemy ships.
Solear finally answered, “Yes Senator, the Hiriculan destroyers ran directly into the missiles. I believe that is because the destroyers did not see the missiles get launched and they were no longer powered.” Solear waited for further questions. None came, so he said, “Computer resume playback.”
The first five missiles struck the nose of both destroyers, disrupting their shields. Then the destroyers made a fateful mistake. They turned directly into the path of the remaining missiles. The velocity of the destroyers combined with the velocity of the missiles. Exactly 12 seconds later the second set of missiles struck the prow of the destroyers.
The successive strikes were enough to lower the shields on the front of both ships. Exactly 12 seconds after that two ship buster missiles flew through the exact spot where the shields were missing and went straight down the barrel of each destroyer’s ion cannon. They hit the back of each ship and exploded.
Senator Figur said, “Pause. That is insane. Both ships turned directly into the missiles and left their bows completely exposed.”
Solear responded, “Yes Senator. Basically, they were dead the moment they turned. If they had remained on their previous course, the remaining 10 missiles would have missed them.” He paused for a moment and said, “Continue.”
Clowy (crying): The destroyers are severely damaged. They have lost propulsion. The power generators appear to be losing containment.
Solear: Ella. Reverse course and slow. We need to help them.
Solear: Contact the destroyer. Hiriculan commander. This is Captain Solear. Your ship is in danger of exploding. Abandon it immediately. We will pick you up and take you to safety.
Clowy: The computer shows they did receive the message. They are not responding.
The leading 8 Alliance fighters had a one-on-one duel with the leading 8 Hiriculan fighters. The fighters looped and danced and made multiple passes as they tried to gain supremacy. However, the Alliance fighters prevailed and shot down the 8 Hiriculan fighters with no losses.
Senator Figur said, “Stop playback. Captain Solear, you have the human fighters, correct?”
Solear said, “Yes. You are watching human pilots battle Hiriculans. We were able to scan the debris. None of the first 8 fighters were Netos. I am not sure about the next 40 though.”
Solear was particularly happy about the fighter battle. The reenactment had actually been Jim Donovan’s idea. They humans had split into two teams of 8 and had fought a battle in the simulator. The winner was shown as an Alliance fighter and the loser was shown as a Hiriculan. They had done the simulation three times. The first two times the humans had switched to manual mode and the dogfight did not look believable.
Frank suddenly spoke, “The humans went 8 for 8. That is remarkable. Lorano’s earlier assessment had shown the humans were slightly better than Advranki fighters. What is your assessment?”
Solear said, “I believe Lorano’s initial assessment of 15% was conservative. I would say the human fighters are closer to 25% better than the average Advranki pilot. There is a clear, measurable difference between their performance and the baseline.”
This started several side conversations. Eventually, the commotion subsided and Frank said, “Please, continue the playback.”
Solear: Hiriculan commander. I implore you. Stop fighting and abandon ship. Your ship is in danger of exploding.
Lexxi: They are launching 4 more fighters. These fighters are firing missiles.
These 4 Hiriculan fighters now had two-on-one battles with Alliance counterparts. With superior numbers, the 4 battles were quickly won by Alliance fighters.
The Alliance fighters then split into 4 groups of 4 fighters and surrounded all four enemy launch bays. The remaining 4 Alliance fighters returned to guard the Sunflower. One by one, the remaining 36 fighters launched from the two destroyers and were immediately killed by the Alliance fighters.
Senator Figur said, “That is terrible, awful. They just kept fighting even after it was clear they had lost. I feel sorry for our pilots. That was like shooting aquatic creatures in a rainwater collector.” He waited for a response, got none, and said, “Continue.”
Ella: The destroyers are firing their ion cannons.
Lexxi: I am detecting feedback. The destroyers are going to explode.
Arean: All fighters, get away from the destroyers.
Solear: Nooooo.
The ion cannons tried to fire, but the collector units had been damaged from the ship buster missile blast. As a result, the charge lost containment and exploded. It caused a chain reaction and engulfed the main power generator. A moment later both destroyers exploded in a massive flash. The Hiriculan destroyers effectively disintegrated from the inside out.
Lexxi (looking shocked and horrified): Both destroyers are gone; completely and utterly gone. There are no survivors.
Frank couldn’t believe it. They view of the two ships exploding into a massive cloud of dust was mesmerizing. One moment they were ships, the next they were nothing. He watched the rest of the simulation in stunned silence.
The fighters immediately turned and flew away from the destroyers with the rapidly expanding dust cloud chasing them. All of the fighters successfully exited the cloud, but the dust had severely damaged the drives on two of them. The Sunflower then retrieved its fighters in an orderly fashion.
Ella: We have a clear board. We will pass the gravity well in 5 minutes.
The simulation focused on the countdown clock, showing mere minutes until they passed the gravity well. Suddenly a battleship appeared and fired 24 missiles at the Sunflower. The Sunflower responded by firing 10 defensive missiles. The defensive missiles stopped 8 of the 24 approaching missiles.
The simulation again focused on the countdown clock nearing zero. The cruiser jumped to safety just two seconds before the remaining missiles reached the cruiser. The simulation ended with the lone missile hitting the object and destroying it.
Senator Figur yelled, “Woo hoo. That was amazing.” Everyone joined in a few minutes of revelry. The Senators stood and gave an ovation to the crew.
When the celebration subsided, Solear stood up and said, “Are there any questions?”
Frank asked, “What was the mystery object?”
Solear responded, “We were able to scan it after the missile impact. The shields weren’t really there. The false shield strength readings were somehow being generated by the Hiriculans. The mystery object was simply two enormous steel plates welded together at a 45 degree angle.”
Frank said, “Congratulations on returning. I can appreciate how awful this situation must have been for you and your crew. I am sure it wasn’t easy watching those beings die for no reason other than their pride.”
Korno said, “I hate to ask this as I am sure it sounds insensitive, but do the kills count?”
Arean said, “Yes. I researched the Alliance Navy handbook. The destroyers were ultimately vaporized as a direct result of the missiles fired by the Sunflower. The Sunflower is the first ship in Alliance history to record two kills.”
Korno nodded and said, “And the fighters?”
Arean said, “The fighters got credited with all 48 kills. They are now the most decorated squadron ever.”
Frank asked, “What is your final assessment of the humans?”
Arean answered, “They are definitely worth the trouble.”
Korno said, “That needs some further explanation.”
Arean answered, “The humans are without question slightly better pilots than any other species in the Alliance. I don’t think Advranki, Altian, or Solarian pilots could have won 12 duels with no losses.”
> Korno said, “Your original answer made it sound like there was a downside.”
Arean answered, “They are humans. You can’t forget for one minute that they come from a culture where violence and threat of violence is commonplace.”
Arean paused for a moment and scanned the room. It was clear that everyone was waiting for a specific example. Arean said, “They had a disagreement with maintenance about the fighters’ ordinance and threatened bodily harm.”
Korno said, “That doesn’t sound good. I assume it was just an argument.”
Solear waved his hand and said, “The details don’t really matter. The humans were able to work out their differences without violence. I personally like having the human pilots aboard.”
Frank wasn’t smiling. He asked, “Was it a real threat?”
Solear said, “The humans indicated that they would hang the maintenance worker in question on a wall, slit his wrists, and watch him bleed to death. However, in the humans’ defense, the gesture was nonverbal and has a much gentler meaning on Earth than it does on Advranki.”
That answer seemed to somehow appease everyone. There were no further questions, so Arean, Solear, and Kornal exited the conference and returned to their respective ships.
Admiral Dolen stayed in the conference room with the Senators. Frank scanned the room to judge everyone’s emotions. They had just received disturbing news and were still processing the information.
Frank broke the silence by saying, “The Hiriculans are going to be furious. Even though the destruction of the destroyers was technically their own fault, they will still want Solear and crew to stand trial for murder.”
Admiral Dolen said, “Computer, display star chart on the main monitor.”
Dolen waited until it was displayed and continued, “I don’t think so. I think the Hiriculans will respond by trying to destroy a few of our ships. I recommend that we immediately scale back lone ship operations above this line.” He drew an invisible line across the monitor just above Opron.
Frank added, “I also think they will target the Sunflower. We should send it somewhere far from Hiricula for a while.” He paused for a moment, flashed his award winning smile, and said, “I have an idea. Let’s assign the ship to help Lorano search for Old Solaria.”
