Against All Odds (31 page)

"They've pulled in their entire reserve fleet of ships to replace those of other pact members as well as the Uthlaro warships lost to us. If we attempt to defeat that many in a toe-to-toe slugfest, we'll lose too many ships. I keep thinking back to the first battle with the Milori. We were barely able to contain the group that escaped from our encircling minefield. I
have
to take the chance. The next group of DS ships will arrive in eight days, so the base will have the protection of ten additional scout-destroyers, four destroyers, and two cruisers. I just have to hope the intel is accurate and that the Uthlaro don't arrive during the eight-day gap."

"Can you reach the rendezvous point before they deploy?"

"If we leave immediately, we should just make it. Want to take a ride?"

"I wouldn't miss it for anything."

"Alright, pack your spacechest."

* * *

The twenty small ships left orbit before midnight. Jenetta wished with all her heart the ten additional scout-destroyers under way to Quesann had already arrived so she could bring them with her, but the twenty would have to suffice.

It took nineteen days to reach the assembly point the Uthlaro had reportedly chosen. Two of the scout-destroyers were on point and passed the Uthlaro fleet on either side at the very fringe of their extended sensor range. To the Uthlaro it would seem like a momentary anomaly, if they even noticed it, but it was enough for the SC ships to produce an accurate graphic representation of the stationary armada. When they called to make their reports, Jenetta set up a twenty-ship vid link conference.

"They're just where you said they'd be, Admiral, linked together in large clusters," Commander Diana Durland of the Danube reported, "but our computers only detected four-hundred-sixty in the scans, not the expected seven-hundred-sixteen."

"That tally agrees with our computer information, Admiral," Commander Omega Kostopolis of the Seine said.

"The reserve ships coming from the Dominion must have been delayed," Jenetta said. "We'll wait for a while before we attack. Let's give them a chance to get here."

"But what if the fleet moves out?" Commander Scott Hyland of the Hudson said. "We could lose the opportunity."

"That's true, but our intel is that the other ships will be coming and I want to have as many targets as possible before we attack. Commander Romonova?"

"Yes Admiral?"

"Take the Thames to a point where you can observe the approach to this location from Uthlaro space without being detected and report any movement of ships."

"Aye, Admiral."

"The rest of us will remain here and wait."

Four days later, the Thames reported the imminent arrival of two-hundred-fifty-six ships. "They should join the Uthlaro fleet at the RP in two hours, Admiral," Commander Romonova said when a taskforce conference link had been set up.

"Very good, Commander. All ships should prepare for battle. We'll give them a chance to get settled in before we strike. The Tigris will do a flyby in six hours to record their positions. All tubes should be loaded with WOLaR torpedoes. That will put three-hundred-sixty torpedoes on target. Once we have the plot information from the Tigris, we'll establish vectors for approach and departure, and target points for each ship."

Jenetta had time for two mugs of coffee and a trip to the head before the Tigris relayed its sensor data. The information was shared with the other ships and the attack plan was finalized. Each of the three-hundred-sixty torpedoes was assigned a specific target point where it would do the maximum damage. The twenty small ships then moved to their deployment locations so they could approach the armada at Light-9375.

"We'll commence this operation at exactly 0320. Each of you will arrive one thousand kilometers from the armada and fire a full volley of torpedoes at your designated targets. Drop a sensor buoy, then accelerate to maximum Sub-Light speed while building your departure envelopes. Your navigators all have your assigned vector for Light-9375 speed. We'll be fifty billion kilometers away before any of the torpedoes reach their targets. From there we'll head for the established rendezvous point and wait for the data from the buoys. Any questions?"

"Is 0320 significant?" Commander Dillon Wilder, the commanding officer aboard the Tigris asked. "Is it their sack time or something?"

"No. As far as we can determine the Uthlaro don't observe any particular time for rest. There's always a fourth of the crew on duty. They have four seven-point-three hour watches each day. Anything else?"

"Isn't this the maneuver you used at Milor?"

"Yes, it is. It worked very well once. Let's hope it works again. Some of the Uthlaro ships have been here for many months waiting for the others to arrive, so they might have grown complacent in their tight clusters. By approaching at Light-9375, we'll be inside their alert perimeter before their sensors even report our presence. If your torpedo gunners are fast and accurate, we'll do some serious damage today. Anything else?" When no one spoke, Jenetta said, "Okay, let's go kick some Uthlaro butt so hard it lodges up between their eye sockets."

The mood on the bridge of the Colorado was tense, as it was on the other ships. Jenetta sat coolly in her bridge chair, sipping coffee as if she had nothing more on her mind than deciding what to have for breakfast. The plans had been set, the course laid in, the double envelopes built, and there was little for her to do except give the word to engage the Light-9375 drive.

At 0320 Jenetta said simply, "Engage". The ship moved quickly and arrived where it was supposed to be, on time. After firing all bow tubes, the tactical officer immediately launched a sensor buoy. The helmsman began rebuilding the double temporal envelopes while torpedo guidance specialists were still directing their torpedoes for maximum effect. In most cases the target point wasn't a spot on a hull, so the specialists were using coordinates in space for the point of detonation. They locked their settings as the helmsman announced the envelopes were built. The Colorado disappeared at Light-9375 before a single shot had even come its way. Over the next twenty seconds, the rest of the task force appeared around the Colorado at the RP.

"Everyone complete their mission without a problem?" Jenetta asked when a conference call had been set up.

The other captains, all smiles now that they were fifty-billion kilometers from the enemy ships, either nodded or verbally confirmed that they had.

"Very good. We should have data from the sensors anytime."

"Coming in now, Admiral," The tactical officer said.

"Put it up on the front screen, Lieutenant."

An enhanced view of the armada they had just attacked, provided by coordinating the signals from the sensors deployed at the RP, appeared on the large monitor at the front of the bridge. Suddenly, a tremendous explosion that almost white'd out the screen erupted among a group of clustered Uthlaro ships, then another and another and another. For most of the next thirty seconds, the front monitor was a blank screen of blinding white as multiple explosions filled the space being observed by the twenty sensors.

As the explosions ended, blackness descended over the area once again. The sensor buoys compensated for the changed light level and immediately relayed an enhanced image of the area as the bridge crews of the SC ships stood transfixed by the spectacle. Where the most formidable armada ever seen in space had been just seconds before, there was now death and destruction on an unprecedented scale. The Uthlaro fleet had been ripped asunder by the three-hundred-sixty WOLaR torpedoes. The destruction had taken less than a minute. Sections of broken ships tumbled off into the blackness of space as minor explosions continued to ripple through the former fleet. Bodies and parts of bodies, most blackened by explosions or fire, floated everywhere.

At first glance it seemed that the entire fleet must surely have been destroyed, but then a few ships began to move, most dragging broken sections of other ships that dangled from docking points.

"Wow!" Commander John Cleviss of the scout-destroyer Mississippi said.

"I think this should slow their advance down a bit," Jenetta said, seeming almost apathetic.

"They can't possibly recover from this," Lt. Commander Soren Mojica, the Captain of the Nile said. "They'll have to turn around and head home."

"It wouldn't stop us," Jenetta said. "And from what we've seen of their dedication to duty, they'll keep coming at us until they're dead. We'll hang around and watch for a while to see what happens. According to my intel, they weren't scheduled to leave here for a few more days."

"Shouldn't we attack them now while they're still in shock and finish the job, Admiral?" Commander Kimberly Riccio of the Amazon asked.

"Look at the telemetry," Jenetta said. "Ships are already moving away from one another. It appears that a quarter of their ships are under power. We hurt them, but there's still a very large and dangerous force there. And right now everyone still alive aboard those ships is awake, angry, and looking for enemy targets. Let's give them some time to get tired and stand down before we send our regards again."

A day later, a number of the Uthlaro ships had moved off a short distance to a staging area apart from the site of the destruction, but they didn't link up. They maintained at least a ten-kilometer distance from one another. According to data from the sensor buoys, two-hundred-three ships had left the original area and five-hundred-thirteen remained behind. Over the next two days, three more ships moved out of what Jenetta had begun calling the 'Junkyard.'

At 1417, the two-hundred-six Uthlaro ships got under way towards Quesann.

"Aren't we going to pursue, Admiral?" Commander Frank Fannon of the Yangtze asked.

"No, we know exactly where they're going and when they'll get there. I'm more interested in the Junkyard right now."

"The ships in the Junkyard are in no condition to attack Quesann, Admiral," Commander Omega Kostopolis of the Seine said.

"No, not as they are, but they're trying to get their ships repaired. If they do, they'll either join the others or attack the base on their own if we've been able to destroy the others. We've already learned how tenacious these warriors are. They will not turn back while they live. They'll just keep coming at us until they cease to breathe. I want to make
sure
none of the ships in the Junkyard can follow their original orders."

"So do we attack them again?" Commander Scott Hyland of the Hudson asked.

"Yes, at 1630. The Uthlaro fleet will be two hours away and unable to return in time to be helpful. Everyone prepare their ship. We'll commence action in two hours."

Jenetta had time to send reports to Quesann and the Admiralty Board, and take care of a lot of little details before she was needed back on the bridge.

At 1630 the twenty ships engaged their engines and returned to the Junkyard, immediately jamming the IDS bands with deployed satellites. Many of the five-hundred-ten ships were beyond repair, but Uthlaro crewmen in EVA suits and bots were everywhere, working on the less damaged ships. As the SC ships arrived, they immediately began pouring laser fire into the central area of the damaged ships where the computers are located. Some ships began to return fire and a few managed to get torpedoes off, but as the devastating fire from the task force of tiny ships ripped the guts out of any enemy ship not already ripped apart, the resistance died quickly. Knowing that the Uthlaro would never surrender while they lived, the task force continued to pour fire into the ships until every ship was permanently out of action. It may have seemed like overkill, but the small SC force didn't let up until there was no doubt every ship was dead. When they ceased fire, none of the five-hundred-ten ships would ever be useful for anything except scrap metal. The Junkyard was truly a junkyard when the task force pulled back to a safe distance as a security precaution.

"Now I'm
sure
we'll never have to face any of those ships in battle," Jenetta said. "I suppose we should change the name from Junkyard to Graveyard."

"There are still two-hundred-six warships headed towards Quesann, Admiral." Commander Diana Durland of the Danube said. "How do we stop
them
?"

"It's four-hundred-ninety-one light years to Quesann and it will take them more than sixteen months to get there at Light-375, so we have plenty of time to prepare our greeting. If anyone has any ideas, please share them. We certainly can't pursue and use the envelope-merge tactic to stop them and we already know the electronic-debris tactic won't work on them."

"The only thing I can think of is to confront them," Commander Frank Fannon of the Yangtze said. "Perhaps they're angry enough to stop and destroy a task force of small SC ships."

"I'm not entirely sure we'd be successful in a fight where we're outnumbered ten to one, Frank. We might be better off waiting until we meet at Quesann. I like the odds of two to one a whole lot better."

"Okay, Admiral," Commander Fannon said smiling. "What you say makes sense."

* * *

"I have distressing news," Uthlaro Prime Minster Taomolu Barguado said to the Council of Ministers. "Admiral Krakosso has sent word that just hours after the reserve forces joined them, while they were in war conference, the fleet was attacked at the rendezvous point.