by Ken Pence
Word of their promotion spread around the remaining ships like electricity. All the Allung were fired up at their accomplishment even though it had been a slave who suggested the course of action and their return. Cetosme realized that transitioning slow was not a good idea. The successful frigate jump was a bit over seven light years because they had left the field on so long.
Cetosme had all the ships begin building a rear field framework though his ship confiscated the front shields of two cruisers. He was not going to put his life at risk with so much at stake. He certainly wasn’t going to a battle when those at home knew nothing of this technology. The ships jumped at a bit slower than top speed, held it for a time and covered twenty-five light years this time. They waited ‘til everyone was together and he had them try jumps at 1,250 lights and had them hold it for a longer period. They jumped nearly 150 light years. He had them repeat that jump and then increasingly faster and shorter jumps as they were returning to their home base.
***
“Sir, I have a contact six light years away. It looks like dozens of ships. It wasn’t there a second ago. Look…see,” the tactical officer said to the watch commander of the York.
“Sound general quarters. Alert Captain Darby. This is the first time we’ve had anything like this. Get the alert frigate ready to jump to Earth if need be. We’ve never done a jump that long but Captain Williams’ task force is supposed to be there,” said the watch commander.
Five minutes passed and the ships remained at six light years. “Maybe it was a false…” said the watch commander just as the ships disappeared and reappeared on the outskirts of the system. “Send the alert vessel now,” he yelled and the alert vessel disappeared from view. “I hope the slicers are up to this,” he said and started praying.
The slicers recognized Allung ships and started jumping through the formation.
***
Senior Arbitrator Cetosme was in the process of congratulating his navigator when ships around him started calling in distress. Some type of weapon was jumping through their ships and putting them out of commission in short order. The scan tech reported strange ships in port and no friendly challenges. This was insane. Where was the protection fleet? Nothing was right. He had the ships that could, jump with him to the next large base. They would rally there.
***
Cetosme’s ship arrived in the next Allung system and the same type of weapons immediately attacked him. He lost two more ships before he could jump away and head for the next base. He decided to stay further away this time and saw ES and what must have been Earth ships in system. There were many damaged Allung ships visible. He had his remaining ships jump out before they could be attacked again.
He had them jump two hundred light years in a vector away from any port. He stopped and gathered his top commanders. The frigate commander had actually destroyed one of the weapons. He promoted him again and demoted a cruiser commander that had his cruiser damaged. He had them swap ships not realizing that the frigate’s slaves had again given them the hit to spare their own lives.
They had a meeting of minds and concluded that most of the bases had been compromised but they must inform the fleet that was about to attack Earth. It was rallying at an obscure, uninhabited star system and was due to depart any time now. Cetosme told the commanders where they were going but nothing else. They were not in the habit of questioning orders and didn’t this time. Cetosme had a reputation for winning or he wouldn’t have been on the council at such a young age.
They arranged themselves in what Cetosme thought would be a formidable looking pattern and jumped together.
***
The scan tech for the flagship planetoid of the grand Allung Brotherhood fleet turned to the senior coercer on duty. “A number of vessels have just appeared on my screen and they are headed directly at us. I am trying to raise them but they have not responded. They just appeared Senior. They were not there a moment ago.”
“This may be an attack like happened at Gralon. Sound…” he was winding up to alert everyone when the scan tech interrupted.
“It is Senior Cetosme. He wishes you to alert the fleet Senior Arbitrator and come to his ship. He says immediately.”
“Oh he does – does he? He may be on the Council but he can not expect the commander of the Grand Fleet to get…” the Senior Coercer was cut off again by the scan tech.
“He says to get him there immediately or you will be sentenced to death as a traitor…and yes…he says he is on the Council and he does expect him to get up immediately and meet him. He will regret it if he does not do so,” said the scan tech.
The senior coercer knew he was not going to win a staring contest with a high member of the council so he turned on his heel to notify the Senior Arbitrator.
Several minutes later, a disheveled looking Allung was escorted into the conference room on board Cetosme’s cruiser.
“What is this breach of protocol Cetosme? Why have you dragged me here to this ship on the eve of an attack?” said the aging commander of the fleet.
“Come with me, Senior. I have to show you or you would not believe me. You would resist me. I would have you killed and it would slow my response. I am trying to save our race from extinction,” Cetosme said and escorted the aging commander and an aide to his bridge.
“I want you and your aide to pay close attention to this as we are risking our lives by doing this…” he said and turned to the navigator. “Are all the destinations plotted?” he asked.
The navigator acknowledged and Cetosme directed the visitors to regard the outside views and scan displays showing the friendly icons of the grand fleet. He counted down and on zero the displays changed. The icons showed dozens of threat icons and the home base.
“Captain – we have to leave,” said the scan tech as threat icons were converging on their position.
“Jump,” said Cetosme and the view changed to another B-class sun and another Allung port and more threat icons and converging weapons. He did the same thing three more times and then had them jump back to the Grand Fleet.
“This is some kind of trick. You just showed us different views. We felt small shocks every time, right before the view changed,” said the aging senior.
“Have your aide go to the navigation – scan station then. That person will show him how to input coordinates. Tell him some system within the empire where you would recognize a different sun. I would prefer a location where we will not be attacked. Tell him,” Cetosme said.
The aide was shown how to enter coordinates in the rudimentary new system by the scan tech and the aging commander told him coordinates. He went back to the console, entered then and turned to Cetosme.
“Do it whenever you want,” said Cetosme and the aide activated the jump without turning back around. The screen showed only one friendly icon other than their own and a tiny white dwarf sun.
“Well?” said Cetosme.
The aging commander was speechless. This had not been some hoax. “How?’ he asked. “What has happened to our bases? You have my full support and loyalty. I doubted you…it seemed so incredible.”
“Yes. It was hard for me to accept too,” he lied trying to befriend this aging commander who would be a strong ally in a bid for a stronger position on the Council. “I have some idea on how this happened and I had to risk everything to keep the Fleet from facing defeat. My life was nothing to risk against so many lives in the fleet,” Cetosme said.
“Your bravery will go down in Allung history,” said the old commander.
That is the idea old one, Cetosme thought. I had to warn you or I might have had a bid for the Council disrupted. “Here is what we must do,” he said as they planned their offensive.
***
Tod and Shiv rolled the bin of lamlee up to the side of the renamed Junior II, the retrofitted Allung cruiser that had become Andrew’s flagship. Tod put his hand in the lamlee while the bin was tilted against the ship. He visualized the lamlee formed a phase
d array barrier to the beamer dimensional weapon. A gray cloud rose out of the bin and started spreading across the surface of the ship. The stream continued out of the bin and was rapidly covering every outside surface of the Junior.
The installation of beamers on the Junior II was going full tilt. Steve and Joel had figured out how to manufacture the beamers in volume. They had twelve weapons installations and six of those replaced former laser installations. They had decided that they couldn’t cover many ships since each cruiser would use half a ton of lamlee and they didn’t even know if it would work – wait – that could be tested easy enough.
Joel had them set up a beamer outside the Junior II. He had it powered and had the service crew fire up the ship’s fields along with the new phased array coating. He had the weapons team aim the beamer in a line that wouldn’t harm anything and had them fire. It made no sound other than a brief, high-pitched hum and a hole appeared where it was pointed. The hole went a long way through and out of the warehouse.
Joel then had them point the beamer at a section of the Junior II and made sure the targeted sections were empty of personnel and clear on the other side of the ship – just in case. There was a short countdown and they fired at the ship. The same high-pitched hum was present but there was no visible effect to the ship. Apparently the coating had worked. They would coat twenty ships with lamlee and those ships would acquire the beam weapons also.
***
Twenty of the confiscated Allung ships – now of the ERF Auxillary fleet under Commodore Williams – were coated and prepared with the new beam weapons. The Earth Enclosures were churning out slicers and they were being deployed in every human outpost. Many were being shipped to ES bases. ES ships came in to be fitted with slicers and field neutralizers. They would get their laser tracking and navigation avoidance systems upgraded also. All the reticence to have a human touch their systems was gone and humans were treated like visiting rock stars on their ships. Of course, the humans made a habit of bringing wine, apples and jalapenos to any visiting ship – it had become somewhat of a ritual.
Trade was continuing, in spite of the war – especially after the Queen was upgraded to jump capability. It had made three trips to Earth already. Tau Ceti had been visited twice more and the learning machine, learning cylinder facility on Sirius A. The Allung Brotherhood history was becoming a classic and they could not duplicate them fast enough. A shipload of duplicators went to Sirius A with master copy cylinders of Allung battle losses, interrogations and more Earth technology plus available trade goods. The facility was going full blast and the recent news was a sensation to residents.
The economy was booming – as was the war.
Letting the Cat Out of the Bag
Master Arbitrator Cetosme suggested the plan that was adopted. The retrofitting of the Allung attack fleet was going slower than expected. Fears of discovery grew as the delays mounted. The leaders decided that they would attack with the largest ships in the lead. A reserve force would approach from a different vector. They would try a slow approach and see if they could draw the defenders away from where they were bound to have more defenses. The three hundred ships they would have converted in a few days time would jump in behind the Earth fleet and cut them to pieces. Any plan with a thousand ships had to be straightforward.
***
Admiral Kyger called Andrew. “Commodore, we’ve had reports that a brief sighting was made a month ago of a possible Allung ship that jumped into all the bases we attacked. We didn’t put two and two together for such a long time because we didn’t compare minor detection recording from all the different bases. The computers caught the correlation – we sure didn’t. I’m sorry we dropped the ball on this one. It will change our strategy if they can jump,” Brad said.
“Well, I wouldn’t do anything except let everyone know that the days of having a half day to prepare are long gone. Tell them to have their fast courier ships ready and don’t be afraid to call out for help. We might even be able to do something now. Unless they’ve figured out the time acceleration – which they will if this war goes on much longer – they would have a hard time retrofitting their ships to jump. I know what’s involved and its slow going. We think the number of ships they have is huge – far exceeding our fleet though we have more firepower – they are still dangerous if they get close with their lasers. Those planetoids take massive damage before they stop shooting,” Andrew replied.
“I’ve always hated the wait,” Vice Admiral Kyger said as he stared off in the distance.
“You won’t have to wait much longer I’m afraid,” Andrew said.
“You are right – there,” Kyger said.
***
It was another three days before they had any indication that something was up.
“Sir – my screen just lit up with detections,” said the tactical officer.
“Sound yellow alert. How many?” asked the watch commander.
“Lord, sir. Hundreds. They’re moving about 1,300 lights sir. They’ll be here in 3 days at this distance,” he said.
“Three days – are there any detections of jumps?” the watch commander asked.
“Not as of yet, sir…I heard the reports. Are these guys really jump-capable now?” the tact officer said his voice breaking a bit.
The watch commander smiled – the kid hadn’t been on the other four missions like he had – “Doesn’t matter. Admiral Kyger will bring us through – always has before.”
***
Admiral Kyger had been expecting an attack for days. He was thankful the Brotherhood was so dogmatic in their ways. They didn’t realize that their reputation was ruined anyway. Sentient beings knew they could be defeated and everyone knew their little tricks. No one would roll over when they came to call anymore. He put on his clothes and called Andrew.
“Commodore, are you ready for these folks?” he asked.
“Yes, Admiral. Suggest you send your ten special ships forward once we are in engagement range mixed in with a large portion of the fleet. I expect more ships to jump in if they have that capacity. I will keep my special ships close to Earth/Lunar orbit distances,” Andrew said.
Brad chuckled. “Still trying to teach your pappy to suck eggs I see,” he said. “Do you think they’ll have surprises for us?”
Now Andrew laughed. “You’re the one that taught me that no plan survives first contact. I want as many slicers as we can get to hit them first.”
“Agreed…I will keep you abreast of any developments. Kyger out.”
***
The master Arbitrator was pleased. The plan laid out by Cetosme was a good one. His initial objections to having a lower number of jump-capable ships would be overshadowed with the new first strike capabilities. He appreciated Cetosme’s cunning. He had never thought to use those weapons in this way. Soon, they would see who was to prevail. The Earth Regulatory Forces would mourn their losses if there were any left, thought the aging fleet senior Arbitrator.
***
The days passed agonizingly as the Allung Brotherhood fleet grew in resolution on their screens. “They are still coming at the same velocity sir,” said the tactical officer. “Sir. I have another detection of fifty ships coming from anther vector. I just picked them up sir. I’m not sure if they were blocked by one of the planets or they jumped in.”
“Check with the other ships. I’ll alert Admiral Kyger,” said the watch commander who was worn out from the long watches since the alert.
There was a long time as other crews reported in. It did appear that these last fifty Allung ships had jumped in though most of the ERF fleet had their sensors occluded by planetary masses.
***
Kyger weakened his forward line by moving fifty of his ships to intercept the new threat. He decided to not wait for them to approach however…
The fifty ERF ships jumped to the location of the emergence of the fifty Allung ships.
***
Master Arbitrator Cetosme was pleased
. His plan was working out splendidly. He knew he could not face the ERF on a one-to-one basis so he would pull off bits of their fleet using their jump capability and then he’d pick them off.
***
Captain Thayer jumped his cruisers to the area adjacent to the Allung fifty and he wasn’t disappointed. They were laid out near him in as pretty a grid pattern as he had ever seen. Most of the Allung ships were battleships and cruisers however. He ordered his troops to launch field neutralizers and slicers. Suddenly there were four times more Allung ships. The fifty larger ships had hidden enemy cruisers and destroyers. Thayer now faced two hundred ships. Those two hundred surged in unison right through his formation – tearing it to pieces.
***
“Admiral! Thayer’s squadron is gone. There are two hundred enemy ships there. They just appeared. We didn’t see an emergence flash except when they first appeared so they must have some way of hiding. The two hundred emerged – then they plunged in unison. We have three frigates and a destroyer that survived sir – I’ve recalled them. That’s over 3,200 men lost in an instant. The surviving ships are transmitting the video for us to analyze,” said the tactical officer of Kyger’s flagship.
“Brad, did you see that? What do you make of it?” Admiral Kyger asked his senior staff, whom MemDex tied together.
“I see it, Admiral. Looks like they used the shielding ploy Commander Castellano invented at Bellatrix. Then they accelerated together like a slicer does – they just micro-surged together. All their ships have a front screen and it could do the same thing with their main fleet. We have to stay out of their flight path. I’ll have Shiv reprogram out slicers on-the-fly if we can – the ones we can reach. I’ll turn any slicers upgraded on their main force,” Andrew said and immediately called Shiv and explained what she needed to do. Shiv had said she ought to be able to reach most of the deployed slicers and she was on it.
