The power of a Queen a-2

by Saxon Andrews

  Commodore Johnson was starting to worry. The second fleet had jumped in and started moving in behind the first Alliance fleet. He knew his time was running short and that in less than fifteen minutes the second fleet of Earths ships was going to have to jump. “Sir, we found the other two. They were trailing the second Alliance fleet. We have 10 ships in range to attack.”

  Bobby opened a channel to his ships and said, “Only the ten ships in range of the eight recording ships will attack, on my command, take them out then jump out of the system. Execute!”

  On the Alliance Central Government World, State Leader Sten and Headman Dgzh were watching their monitor which showed their ships moving in on the Human Fleet. According to the analysis, the Humans had 450 ships facing 3500 Alliance ships. The Cainth must have been mistaken on how many ships the Humans had. The Humans had probably not used all their ships in the first battle. Then he heard over his feed a Human voice saying in Alliance, “This is the Earth Ship Peaceful Living with a message for the Alliance Warships invading our system. We are going to have to resist your occupation because of the murder of our colonists. We can’t trust that we will be treated fairly. Please abandon your plans and return to the Alliance and let’s try to work this out thru peaceful means.” Sten got a visual on the Earth Ship which was just behind the second Alliance fleet. Then he saw two Alliance Cruisers turn back and close on the Earth Ship and fire their primary weapons into the small ship. Nothing happened for a moment then the Earth Ship blew up.

  Then a Voice was heard from the Alliance Fleet that said, “Resist and we will kill every Human in this system. There will be no negotiation.”

  Sten said to Dgzh, “They shouldn’t have fought us the first time.” Then his screen went black. State Leader Sten remembered what happened last time his screen went black and he opened a channel to his Military Liaison, “Get a ship ready to jump to the Humans system. I need to know what’s happening.”

  “State Leader, we don’t have a ship ready to send. All of them are in the Human’s system. It will take three hours to get a ship from our inner system to the jump point to go investigate.”

  Sten looked at Dgzh and said, “Get me a ship, Headman. Get me a ship there now.”

  The eight Alliance recording ships were trailing the fleets and everything was moving according to schedule. On board the command ship for the recording flotilla, Ship Leader Monjh heard his sensor officer shout, “Sir, a ship is powering up and bearing down on us. Contact in 2…” He never finished his sentence. Two needles from two different ships struck the cruiser and it blew apart piecemeal. All eight ships were destroyed within three seconds of each other. The ten Human ships then disappeared from the system.

  “Commodore Davidson, Bobby said. “The slate is clean.”

  Commodore Davidson ordered, “All ships, jump to assigned coordinates on my command, Jump!” The second Earth Fleet jumped in behind the two Alliance fleets and went to full speed. The first Alliance fleet was still 20 minutes from contact with the Earth fleet when their sensors showed the second Earth fleet jump in behind them. The Subleader didn’t like this situation at all and ordered his ships to stop and wait for the second Alliance fleet to join up with his ships. Then he noticed that the first fleet of ships was no longer waiting for him to come to them. They were accelerating at an extremely high speed toward his fleet. “How fast are those ships coming at us,” he asked his sensor officer?

  “Sixty Thousand segs per sem and still accelerating, Subleader.”

  “You must be mistaken, no ship can fly that fast?”

  “Every one of their ships is moving at that speed and will be here in less than five dregs.”

  The Subleader looked at his screen and could visibly see the Earth Ships getting larger. “Order all ships to prepare for battle. Target the big ships first.”

  The sensor officer looked at the Subleader and thought, “All of us see the same thing you do. We know these Humans destroyed two thousand ships in their last battle and I think we are all afraid that we have been placed in a terrible trap that none of us will live thru.” Then the Human ships were upon them.

  On Glod, Tgon-Gee saw the Human ships accelerate at an inconceivable speed at the Alliance Fleets. Now he could see that the Humans had more than 900 ships and had trapped the Alliance fleets between them an hour inside the Star Drive limit. The third Alliance fleet was approaching the Humans home world but he couldn’t take his eyes off the space battle. He saw the eight Alliance recording ships all blow up within a couple of sems of each other and he knew he was seeing this when no one else in the Alliance was getting any information on what was happening. Now he was thankful to the Cainth Admiral for getting him to not be a part of this action. Then the fleets smashed into each other and ships began to die.

  Misty Nicole went on the Earthwide emergency channel and made an announcement to everyone on Earth. “We are going to be attacked within the next four hours. There are eight hundred Alliance heavy warships approaching our planet from the Sun. Their intention is invasion to hold us hostage so our fleet will stop fighting the 4000 plus Alliance ships coming in from Jupiter. I am declaring an emergency holiday and request that everyone go home and await the outcome. We have installed a heavy shield around our planet that we feel will protect us from any harm until our ships can come and remove the Alliance threat. Do not panic. Take your time going home. We will keep you informed of what is happening.”

  Director Nicole watched one of her public display monitors where a news person was saying. “We knew this day was coming. The traffic lanes are full and millions are leaving their work locations and going home. Only essential personnel are remaining at their stations.” Then he stopped a person on the street moving toward a parked floater and asked him, “How do you feel about the Director’s announcement?”

  “I’m very frightened but I know our leaders have planned for this and that we’ll come out of it ok. We all pray for our sailors putting their lives on the line. Now I need to go home to be with my family.” The citizen then calmly boarder his floater and waited in line to enter the traffic lane.

  “No one has panicked and it appears to be an orderly evacuation, John,” the news reporter said. I think the man has summed up how we all feel right now; back to you.” Director Nicole felt a sense of pride in how her people were handling this crisis and then went back to the feed from the battle. “Let us hope that screen is all they say it is,” she thought.

  The Warleader saw the blue-green planet ahead and looked at his sensor officer. “How many ships are here to protect the planet?”

  “We detect none. The only things we see are the nine moons circling the planet.”

  “There’s only supposed to be one moon according to Alliance charts, a large single moon,” the Warleader said.

  “There is one large moon further out than the eight small ones circling the planet. It’s interesting that those eight moons are all in the same orbit and equidistant from each other.” Suddenly the planet disappeared behind a bright white colored light.

  “What is that?”

  “They have surrounded the planet with some kind of screen, War Leader; according to our readings, its more than 60 degs thick.”

  The Warleader’s eight hundred ships arrived in Earth orbit and looked down on the screen that covered the planet. “Communications; ask the Humans to drop their shield or we will begin bombardment of their planet.”

  The message was transmitted and an answer was immediately received. “Take your time. We will enjoy the show down here. If you want to surrender, please let us know.”

  The Warleader was livid, “Fire all weapons into the screen. Target their largest cities.”

  More than 80,000 primary beams and 4,000 missiles were fired at the screen surrounding the Earth. The flashes were gigantic; but nothing got through the screen.

  “Warleader, it appears that the screen is getting stronger with our attack. It was 60 degs when we started our bombardment and now it
is 86 degs thick.”

  “Move all our ships to one side of the planet and have them fire all our weapons into one part of the screen.” The 800 ships gathered above Central City and formed a circle. “On my command fire all weapons into the marking beam on the screens surface; fire!”

  The Alliance fleet fired into the screen and the Warleader could see waves of color move out like ripples into the rest of the screen. “Warleader, the screen is now 93 degs thick.”

  The Warleader slammed his claws into his console. “How am I going to get thru this screen he yelled at his crew? Hit it with five fusion missiles.” The Warleader thought, I didn’t want to destroy this world, we’ll just have to take what we can of the remains.”

  Five 400 foot long missiles left the massed Alliance ships and impacted the screen. The blast knocked all sensors off line momentarily and when they came back on the Sensor officer said, “The screen around the planet is now 110 degs thick.”

  ‘Cease firing energy weapons at that screen,” the Warleader ordered. “How am I going to break thru this screen?” He thought.

  The four hundred and fifty Human ships hit the Alliance fleet at 60,000 miles per second. The three ship teams found spaces between the Alliance ships and flashed in among them before they could respond to their presence. Each of the small ships fired two needles into the ships they encountered and the battleships fired their primary beams as they passed thru the Alliance fleet and then turned to come around for a second attack matching the speed of the Alliance ships, 450 Alliance ships exploded. Five of the Human ships died when they collided with an Alliance ship. “Reduce speed,” Kosiev ordered. “Pull up vertical and come over the top of their formation. Keep your formation together. Use each other’s screens and hold your positions in the line.”

  Captain Rubens in the Los Angeles was amazed at the number of targets around him. There were twenty dreadnaughts moving in to attack his ship and escorts. The huge ships were beautiful and all looked on fire as they fired their beams and missiles. Some were so close that their screens were bumping against each other. “Weapons, target the closest Dreadnaughts and fire two needles each into them. Use the primary beams on those more than ten miles from us. Helm, pick the cleanest path thru.” The Los Angeles was being hit by more than 800 primary beams when she began firing. Six of the dreadnaughts were hit by the two needles each and seven others were hit by the awesome 700 foot wide primary beams. All thirteen were damaged with seven of them blowing up into small rubble. The surviving six continued to fire and were being joined by eight others. “Weapons, I want the primary beams fired every three seconds whether we have a target or not. We need to bleed our screens.” Captain Rubens saw his screen moving into red as the Los Angeles turned and flew between four of the dreadnaughts as they sought to surround the smaller ship. The dreadnaughts beams followed the Los Angeles as it moved away from the mass of gathering dreadnaughts. The two escorts of the Los Angeles would fly thru her screen and take some of the energy then attack other Alliance Ships. The Los Angeles moved thru the Alliance formation killing ships and darting between open spaces to avoid being rammed. Some of the Human ships were not as fortunate.

  The Dallas was also being attacked by twenty dreadnaughts and was having success until two of 3,600 foot long ships accelerated and rammed her from both sides. Before she died she fired 40 needles into the surrounding dreadnaughts and fired her primary beams into the two ships ramming her. The resulting explosions cleared space for 20 miles around the site.

  Kosiev asked, “Has the second fleet made contact?”

  “In three minutes,” Kelly answered.

  “Ship count, Ensign?”

  “We’ve lost 68 ships, sir. The Alliance has lost 875. The Empire ships have taken a drastic toll on their heavy ships but they still have more than 800 in the first fleet. They have started to ram our larger ships, Admiral.”

  Kosiev pushed a button on his com and said, “All ships begin weave on my command, Execute!”

  The Earth fleet suddenly went in four different directions. One quarter of them went straight down thru the Alliance fleet while one quarter of them went vertical. The other half of the fleet went left and right. The Alliance fleet found itself with ships passing from different directions and they could not change directions as quickly to ram. They would try to follow the ship they were attacking only to find another human ship firing at them from above and below.

  Kosiev ordered, “Initiate one quarter change, execute!” All the Human ships rotated ninety degrees and continued moving thru the Alliance ships firing needles and Primary beams. The Alliance ships just could not change direction fast enough to keep up with the faster smaller ships and they were getting mauled.

  The Washington looked on fire as it was struck by hundreds of beams and missiles. Captain Mikado watched as three dreadnaughts picked up speed and attempted to ram. “Fly straight at the lead dreadnaught and run down its length,” Mikado ordered and then held on to his arm rests as the Washington abruptly changed direction. The other two dreadnaughts tried to match the turn but only flew into the dreadnaught the Washington was running along. The screen of the Washington was so hot it penetrated the dreadnaughts screen and burned thru the top of the dreadnaught for its entire length setting off its missile magazines as it passed. The dreadnaught exploded behind the Washington taking the other two Alliance ships with it. Alliance ships were dying by the hundreds.

  Captain Rubens in the Los Angeles was approaching three dreadnaughts from below that were chasing the Clearwater. He hit two with his primary beams and the third one with three needles. All three were dead and bleeding atmosphere as he passed. The Clearwater turned suddenly leaving three ramming ships passing thru the spot it had just occupied. Captain Rubens ordered, “Kill those three rammers.” As the Los Angeles passed vertically by the three dreadnaughts, three needles punctured each of the dreadnaughts screens. Two of them didn’t even leave rubble when the hornets hit their missile magazines. The third was broken into three parts bleeding atmosphere and enduring multiple explosions.

  The Subleader was watching his fleet being destroyed around him. He tried to call the Warleader for direction but he couldn’t break thru the interference. He saw his second support fleet being attacked by the second Earth Fleet and he knew he couldn’t expect help from that quarter. “Order the remaining ships to turn and join the second fleet. Do it immediately.”

  “Sir, the Alliance ships are turning and running toward the second fleet.”

  Kosiev ordered, “Cease weaving and pick a ship to destroy before it joins them.”

  The Human ships broke formation and every ship attacked a single Alliance warship. Three hundred and forty Alliance ships were destroyed before they made it to their second fleet.

  “Ship Count, Mr. Kelly?”

  “We are down to 330 ships. The Alliance first fleet has lost 1908.”

  “Form up and prepare to move in on the remaining Alliance fleet. Commodore Davidson, we will be joining your attack in thirty seconds.”

  “Welcome to the party, Sir.”

  “All ships, forward,” Kosiev ordered.

  Tgon-Gee watched the carnage and looked at his Fleet Admiral and said, “Can you think of any reason why we would want to take on these Humans?”

  “Excellency, I would suggest that our burial plans should extend indefinitely. Whoever attacks those small warships is going to lose a high number of theirs. We should thank the Cainth Admiral for his warning.”

  “I agree. The thing that interests me the most is that shield they have around their planet. We don’t have anything remotely close to the technology to do that. If we had that shield so we didn’t have to fear the Alliance, we would have our freedom back. Make immediate plans to visit the Cainth. I’m going to leave tomorrow and surprise them; I want to know how they knew this was going to happen.”

  The Warleader was beyond frustration. Nothing he did would penetrate the screen around the planet. Then he had a thought.
“Subman Fznegt. I want you to take your ten ship squadron and go out to the orbit of the big moon and accelerate into one of those small moons circling the planet. Keep your screens on and launch all your nuclear missiles right ahead of you.”

  Subman Fznegt heard his instructions and knew that his time had come. All Vgrig with his rank were used if necessary to suicide. “Warleader, May I off load all the non-essential crewmen?”

  “No you may not. I want your ships operating at top efficiency when you hit the screen.”

  “As you wish Warleader.”

  “Sir, we have ten ships moving away from the fleet toward the moon,” Lt. Minishe said.

  “Weapons, target those ships. It they turn toward us, I want them hit 80 miles out from the screen,” Colonel Taz ordered. “Get me a channel to the Washington.”

  “Admiral Kosiev, this is Colonel Taz; I’m the overall commander of the fortresses. We have observed ten Alliance ships leaving the main body of the fleet and moving toward our moon. If they turn and make a run at us, I am going to release weapons. Do you want us to then continue to fire at the Alliance fleet?”

  Kosiev looked at Tag and Tag asked, “How many of their ships are in range of your beams?”

  “All but one; the largest ship is stationed by itself between the moon and our screen about 8,000 miles out, all the others are holding station within five miles of the screen.”

  Tag shrugged and looked at Dorg and Kosiev; Kosiev said, “Colonel, kill as many as you can. I don’t want all those ships to scatter and run the chance that one might escape to warn the Alliance of our screen. I’m going to have Commodore Johnson jump ten battleships to the other side of the sun to prevent their ships from escaping the way they came in.”

  Colonel Taz said, “We’ll delay firing as long as possible to give them a chance to jump.”

  “There’s no need Colonel; all of his ships are outside the jump limit. Start your firing when and if those ten ships run at you. If they don’t, then hold your fire. I don’t want to use your weapons if it can be avoided.”