He next addressed his helm officer, “Miss Stuart, please adjust our position too. Make sure you maintain our invisibility. In the meantime, while we are waiting for the squadrons to report on their activities on the far side of the planet, Commander Robertson and I will discuss a plan of action. Mister Robertson please join me in the tactical room.”
* * *
Victor was staring at the face of his friend Taerg on the view screen in front of him. He slowly shook his head and said, “I am sorry my friend, but he would not listen. He has caused three of his people to put themselves in harm’s way and they paid for it with their own lives. He did this even after being specifically warned about the exact consequences. Those battleships normally have a three person crew. They do have a manual ejection device, but there was no time for that.”
“Victor, I know you wanted to have no loss of life. We all wanted that. However, did you honestly expect that to happen? I think that even the grand council do not expect that. So far we have made all efforts possible to achieve that aim, but we cannot control every reckless action of these people. Especially when they unreasonably act against their own interests and safety. Your simulation program that we have been training on, has clearly shown us this. I think now is a good time to start neutralizing their battleships, so that they do not foolishly cause many others to dutifully kill themselves.”
“Yes, you’re right, they have moved farther away, out of the range of our pulse devices. They realize that intimidation, did not work. Now would be the right time when they are planning their next move. At least at their present location, they will not be on a crash course with anyone but possibly themselves or your shielded ships. Less risk for them, is a more desirable outcome. We will be watching, to advise you on anything that may help. I am afraid it’s all in your hands now my friend.”
As Victor turned off communication with Taerg, he felt Ylil hold his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. He smiled and squeezed hers back.
* * *
Taerg shook his head sadly as he thought about the people that had already died, in the battle that was only just beginning. He was determined to neutralize this entire fleet before his eyes hopefully without the loss of a single life. He would do his very best to achieve this, just as Victor had while realizing it was an unlikely prospect. He gazed at the enormous fleet. He realized that this battle, would be a long one. He wondered if what Victor said was true, concerning another part of the fleet separated from this one. If so, he hoped it was small. He focused his mind on the task at hand and on the battle, that he had spent years training for.
The battle formation was not exactly like the simulated battles, but it was remarkably similar. Victor sure was an intelligent man, a genius really. He was glad Victor was on his side of the battle and that he was his friend. He also realized that there were many individuals on the mothership that were innocent. Now they were caught up in a battle that probably, they did not know was going to happen. He did not want these people harmed. His three squadrons approached from three different directions as planned. They stayed out range of one another’s pulse devices. Taerg’s heart began to beat faster. He felt his muscles tense.
They were to maintain their positions and fire the beam on any ships that approached their individual squadrons. He knew that this first stage of the battle would take hours. They would all be completely exhausted, by the end of this day. He wished he had some of that malt drink that Victor introduced him to, seven years ago.
* * *
Captain Anderson was asking for the report of the four squadrons of battleships that he had sent to the far side of the planet to destroy the wells in each village, when the communication officer interrupted him. “Captain I am receiving the report from our relay station right now. Their mission goal, has not been achieved. The leaders of each squadron say the same thing. That their weapons have no effect on any of the villages they fire upon. They say the villages are all shielded. They have fired upon the wells of over five hundred villages with the same result.”
“How could all the villages have their own individual shields?”
“I do not know sir.”
“Perhaps these shields are not as powerful as the ones on the base. Tell them to pick a medium sized village and all four squadrons are to fire upon it simultaneously to destroy their shields. Then they must destroy their well. Tell them to report immediately once they have completed this task.”
“Yes sir.”
“Sir.”
“Yes, Mister Lewis. Please tell me you have some good news.”
“There are three squadrons approaching the fleet from different directions.”
“Put them on the view screen.”
“Yes, sir.” Almost immediately the three squadrons appeared at a distance.
“Magnify the views, so we can see the individual ships more clearly.”
Closer views of the three squadrons appeared before him. “It appears that they are not approaching, Mister Lewis. They seem to be just waiting there.”
“Yes sir, as you were speaking, they reversed their engines and stopped.”
“They are probably waiting for us to make the first move. It looks like each of their squadrons have ten ships except that one with the larger ship. It has twelve. Thirty two ships. Each squadron has a tight configuration. The odds are overwhelmingly against them. It is hard to believe that they would foolishly approach such a fleet as this. We will have to teach them an unforgettable lesson for taking this unwise action against us. Commander Robertson, send five squadrons against each of their squadrons. Order these fifteen squadrons to surround them and pummel them with weapons continually, until there are no active ships in their squadrons. Even though this is a very feeble threat, let’s be cautious and decisively neutralize it.”
“Yes, sir.”
* * *
Victor looked at the view screens in front of him and noticed movement among some of the battleships of the fleet. It appeared that three large sections of battleships were separating from the rest. He immediately communicated this to Taerg who thanked him for this valuable information. Taerg said they were ready. Victor knew they were all ready as they could be.
As each of the five squadrons surrounded them, the individual ships in Taerg’s three squadrons adjusted the position of their ships until they were all pointing outward. Defiantly facing the approaching battleships. Whenever a ship came within range, the computer on each ship indicated which ship should fire its pulse to neutralize the approaching ship. It worked very well. All the while, they were being subjected to continuous fire from the ships that had not been neutralized yet. Their shields absorbed all this with no problem.
There were about one hundred fifty battle ships, attacking Taerg’s three squadrons. Within an hour, that number was quickly reduced to about fifty ships. Victor smiled. Things were going rather well. He realized that even the life support systems, would not be able to function on these ships that were disabled. He was not worried, because he knew each vessel was equipped with valve operated oxygen masks. These would keep them alive for a few days, while they were waiting to be rescued. For now, these people would have to be patient. He was worried and wondered if this here was the entire fleet. For now he would believe that it was not.
* * *
Communications officer, Mister Richards said, “Sir, we now only have forty seven battleships that are still engaging the enemy.”
“Okay, order those forty seven to fall back and resume guarding the mothership.”
“Now forty three sir.”
“Fine.”
After five minutes had passed, Mister Richards said, “Thirty-nine ships were able to return sir.”
Captain Anderson was now officially concerned, about what his next step should be. It seemed every single thing he tried, ended up failing. He had not imagined that Victor Marcus could accomplish such advancements in technology stranded here, in this primitive place with so very little resources at hand.
It was truly remarkable. So far he was not able to inflict any damage to his opponent’s forces. Not even to the villages on the planet. What else could he do?
Mister Richards disrupted his thoughts by saying, “Sir, I have the report from the squadrons on the far side of the planet. They report that they succeeded in bringing down the shields of one village, after forty five minutes of sustained weapons fire. They used up all of their missiles and nearly depleted their power reserves for their lasers. They managed to destroy the well, but report that at least seven of the villagers were killed during the attack.”
“Why were so many villagers killed?”
“They say that the whole village was terrorized and so they all gathered in the center of the village near the well.”
“It is unexpected that so many would be killed by just destroying a well. Well then, tell them to return to the mothership to replenish weapons and to continue guarding it. Their mission on the far side of the planet is complete. At least we know what it takes to take down the shields of a medium sized village. Unfortunately, the answer is, that it takes too much.”
“One more thing sir. There are only thirty two of the forty battle ships remaining. Eight have crashed after being disabled.”
“You mean they have pulse devices in the villages? That is truly remarkable. Tell them to pick up the survivors and then return.”
“Yes sir.”
* * *
Taerg looked around at all the ships floating aimlessly or still travelling at their last direction and speed before the pulse deactivated everything on their ship. They were far away from anything dangerous. They would just have to keep going in that direction until they were rescued. For now, many of the battleships were in the way, like a cloud of obstacles obscuring their view. The last remaining ones that were still operating had returned to the fleet, to hover around the mothership.
Taerg knew that it was now time, for phase two of the battle. So, he ordered all squadrons to assemble into their circle cycle formations. This plan had been thought up by Victor initially. It had gradually developed over the many training sessions, with the simulators and actual training exercises. Now it worked as a finely tuned machine. The strategy was for each squadron to pass by the mothership separately, while keeping a circle cycle formation and neutralize battleships as they passed slowly by. Although there was no need to have such a cycle, it was decided that it would dishearten many in the fleet. They would not be able to deplete the group shields, before they passed out of range and another fresh squadron took over. It was hoped that at this point they would realize that their defeat, was inevitable. It would be an opportunity for them to surrender.
Even the powerful lasers of the mothership, would not be able to deplete their group shields. For some reason the mothership was not firing her weapons. Taerg wondered why. Even so, it was just a matter of time. Slowly, one-by-one the battleships were being neutralized.
* * *
Victor was absorbed in watching the battle unfold. So far, all ships in all three squadrons were still operating as planned. Ylil nudged him with her elbow and said, “Vic, I think you should look at this.”
He looked at Ylil’s screen and saw that some ships were coming from the vicinity of the planet. Thirty two to be exact. “We thought there would be some attacking the villages. Okay, I’ll warn Taerg.” He pressed a couple of buttons on his control panel and Taerg’s face appeared on his computer screen.
“Hello Victor, how may I be of assistance?”
“I am just calling to let you know that thirty two more battleships, are headed your way from the planet.”
“That is not good news, but it is better that they are here than near the villages. I hope no harm has come to anyone.”
“Those are my sentiments as well. As soon as we have dealt with the problems here, we will go check during rescue operations. By the way, your team is performing very admirably. More than half of the fleet has already been neutralized.”
“That is good news. Thanks, Victor.”
After Taerg’s face disappeared from the screen, Victor turned to Ylil and said, “Thanks, Ylil. I’m glad we have you on the lookout.” He looked at the time indicator on the back of his hand and continued, “This battle has lasted almost three hours, since the first missile was fired at this base. I’m guessing it will take another four to five, before they surrender. I hope there is only minimal damage to the systems on the mothership. Rescue operations for all the derelict battleships will take two to three days. We will focus on the ones furthest away first. The mothership would be a good place to detain those that are rescued. In a few days, we will once again be before the grand council. If all goes well, we will make plans for the future using what we have learned from this confrontation.”
“Ylil smiled and said, “I think it will be a good time also to think about our future too, Vic. It would be good to have a larger family.”
“Yes, it sure would. I would like to give some children something that I never had back on Homeworld.”
“You will,” she said with a reassuring smile.
* * *
“Sir, all thirty two ships have replenished their weapons and are ready for duty once again.”
“Commander, I have something different planned for them. Let’s have all of them concentrate their firepower on one group. Just as they did before on the village, but this time I want them to focus on one of the enemy squadrons. The one with twelve ships. They are to continuously perform flybys at high speed, so it will be more difficult for the squadron to target them. Commence firing, as soon as they are finished making a pass over our mothership. They are to follow them wherever they go, while continuing their onslaught.”
“Yes sir.”
Captain Anderson hoped that this tactic would work. The battle was not going well. The enemy had suffered only the loss of those on the planet. So far, none of their thirty two ships had even been touched by a single laser or missile. Half of his fleet had been disabled by these vexatious three squadrons, without them firing a single laser or missile in retaliation. In fact, scans had indicated that they were not even armed with missiles. How could their shields be so powerful? How could they be absolutely unaffected while the pulses that they were firing easily went through the shields of his battleships? Even the shields on Mothership could not deflect these pulses. One had hit her starboard flank and had obviously shut down a whole section. It would have to be evacuated and sealed off. Miss Harvey, would look after that.
It felt like the control of the situation that he had at the beginning, was steadily slipping through his fingers. This was far beyond anything that he expected, even from the resourceful Victor Marcus. No one ever in the history of his people, could have accomplished this. No, he must have had help. From whom? As much as he did not want to admit it, he realized that he was obliged to communicate further with Victor Marcus.
“Mister Richards, please hail the moon base.”
When he saw the face of Victor Marcus bigger than life on the view screen, it sickened him. Victor’s face was darker. His eyes were a pale orange. He seemed to be a little bulkier and incredibly after seven years, a little younger looking. How was he able to accomplish such things?
“Yes Captain. Are you ready to settle this, like civilized people should?”
“Mister Marcus, what you have accomplished is simply astonishing. Just think what this remarkably powerful technology could offer to our people. Homeworld, would be grateful to you for your contribution. The expanding Kastat people could colonize other worlds, without worry. They could peacefully neutralize any threats, without loss of life. You could offer your entire race, a kind of lasting peace and security they have never known. You would be highly esteemed. A thousand years from now, children at the academy would learn about who you are and what you did for them. Victor, we would halt this invasion, if you would be willing to share this technology with the Kastat people.”
* * *
Ylil cou
ld see by the expression on her husband’s face, that he was angry. She gave him a reassuring pat on the knee. Victor put his hand out over the console and pushed a button that blocked communication. He turned to Ylil, smiled and winked one eye at her. He said, “Don’t worry Ylil, I will handle this properly.”
She kissed him on the cheek and said, “I know you will.”
Victor then, pushed another button that resumed communication. Forced to stare momentarily at a view screen displaying Nevah’s Gate Defense with representations of a planet and a moon, Captain Anderson did not look pleased. So he said to him, “Sorry captain, we just had something important that we needed to look after. In regard to what you said, frankly I have to say that you give me too much credit. I did not and could not come up with these advancements all on my own. I have received a great amount of help, both from our people and the people native to the planet. The people of the paradise world below, are a very intelligent people. They have an extraordinary culture that gives them wisdom that is far beyond yours or mine. Your words offer a seemingly good compromise, but Captain I cannot believe that you would honor them. Not when I consider what has already happened, between you, me, your people and mine. The result of such a compromise, would surely not be lasting peace and security. It would give the Kastat people the power to force their way of life on a galaxy with many free worlds. These civilizations are already doing just fine without us. Like the people below. True, many lives would be spared, but not all of them. Realistically, there would be some loss of life as there was here today. Captain, you must understand, that we cannot allow these things to happen.”
“That is truly an unfortunate decision, because one way or another my people will eventually obtain this technology that you possess. Goodbye, Mister Marcus.” He said these last words with a tone of disgust in his voice that was palpable. He then terminated communication.
Tomorrow's Paradise World: Colonize Page 14
