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***

Lilly watched her ships attack the Dreadnaughts with a partner ship from the first Strike Fleet. The first engagement had been a huge failure, but they had improved tremendously in each subsequent attempt. She had found the pilots to command her squadrons with the help of the veterans from First Strike. She lifted her communicator, “All ships in Beta Strike Fleet will now join your assigned partner. Only Beta ships will participate in the coming exercise.”

The pilots from First Strike said their goodbyes and saw that the training had increased their skills. They also saw some in the Second Strike Fleet were as good as their best. The pilots stayed to watch the exercise. Two hours later, the Dreadnaughts jumped in and the pilots of Second Strike were ordered in. The veterans from the First Strike Fleet were shocked to see that the new pilots were more effective without them. The Dreadnaughts were eliminated at an incredible speed.

***

Mikki watched the exercise and contacted Chip, “Sir, how do you explain their sudden efficiency?”

“Have you ever had to work with a teacher looking over your shoulder? It made you try to do everything perfectly and prevented improvisation.”

Mikki thought about it and nodded, “Sort of like when you trained us initially.”

“Exactly; you and Bang were much more effective when left to your own devices.”

“Sir, I hate to admit it but Lilly’s fleet is close to our skill level.”

“Actually, they beat your time in the same exercise.”

“Maybe, but we’re better now than we were then.”

“True; notify your ships that we’ll be jumping out in thirty hours. Make sure your ships are provisioned and ready for extended fighting.”

“Is it coming soon?”

“Yes.”

***

Mikki disappeared from the channel and Chip said, “Salud, have you given the coordinates for the missile transports?”

“They are on station as we speak.”

“Make sure they’re ready to rearm my ships.”

“They’ve got it down to a science, Chip. The magazines will be directly loaded to the Thetas. Rearming should only take thirty five seconds.”

“Get it down to twenty five.”

“I’ll pass the word to the transports commander.”

Chip looked at the feed from the enemy fleet and it was clearly shaping up; it wouldn’t be long.

***

“Bang, how do you feel about reporting to me?”

“Don’t feel guilty; we both know you’ve received higher scores in about everything fleet measures. You’re the perfect choice to command the First strike Fleet.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Bang sighed, “I’m going to miss our day-to-day interaction most. I really am happy for you, Mikki.”

“I already miss you, Bang.”

“Come on; you’ll do a great job.”

Mikki stared at him for a long moment, “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Bang saw his display go dark and he fell back in his chair. He replayed their conversation in his mind over and over and wasn’t sure what she was trying to tell him.

Max and Claire continued to work their pilots against each other. It became almost impossible for any of them to gain an advantage against each other. Max shook his head, “You’ve got to get the shot off faster than that, Edwards. You’re going to be fried if you take that long!”

Lilly appeared on their display and said, “Enough! I don’t want your groups to lose their edge from exhaustion. The invasion is imminent and I want your squadrons rested. Is that clear!?!”

Max took a breath, “Yes Sir.” Claire sent a message to both groups to go back to base and get some rest. Max watched the ships disappear as Claire said, “Max, did that close call with the Invader’s beam affect your confidence?”

Max shook his head, “It fired so fast. I thought I had timed it perfectly and I nearly bought it.”

“I’ve asked Moe to analyze the attack and he says that the beam that almost hit you wasn’t fired by the ship you attacked.”

“It wasn’t!?!”

“No, it was the ship over it that began firing wildly. There’s no way you could have timed that other ship’s response. You still have your touch.” Max sighed. “Now what’s wrong?”

“I’ve really been hard on our pilots.”

“Trust me on this, Max; they’ll be thanking you if they survive.”

“I’m glad they moved us to Lilly’s Strike Fleet.”

“Me, too; now we need to get some rest as well. I’ll see you back at El Dorado.”

***

Ian looked at Dom on his display, “How are your fleets shaping up?”

“I’ve had their Admirals working them hard but with millions of ships to train, they’re not getting as much one-on-one attention as the Strike Fleets.”

“You can only do what you have time to do. Get them rearmed and ready. It won’t be long.”

“Yes Sir.”

“By the way, how’s Becky?”

“She’s due next week. Congratulations on your son.”

“Thanks, Dom. I hope to see him after this is over.” Dom nodded and hoped he would survive to visit Becky as well. It wouldn’t be long before he found out.

***

The Senior Father looked at his Second-in-Command on his display, “Are you ready?”

“My fleet is taking on the defender’s largest fleet. I have no idea how many ships will be sent to assist them when we arrive. I suspect all of our attacks will have to face huge numbers.”

“We outnumber them. I’ve chosen to attack that sector in the hopes of reducing their numbers.”

“Is that why you’re not bringing the transports?”

“We won’t be able to defend them and use our advantage in numbers. The first planets will be destroyed; we’ll start gathering populations after we win the first engagement.” The First noticed his Second’s expression, “What’s bothering you?”

“We’ve never had all the civilizations in a galaxy unite against us. We’ve defeated most galaxies piecemeal. This is going to be a new experience for us.”

The First swelled as he took in air, “That’s due to them discovering our probes. We still have an advantage in numbers and I agree that it’s not going to be easy. I’m more worried about technology we’ve not seen during our initial attacks. Make sure every Father knows that, if we issue a withdrawal order, to follow it without hesitation.”

“Do you think it will come to that?”

“I hope not; however, that galaxy is an unknown place. That worries me more than their combining against us. Just be sure you don’t get surprised.”

“I will, Father.”

“Get your ships ready, we’ll launch in ten hours.” The display went dark and the Senior Father leaned back in his chair and hoped his ships were ready for whatever that giant galaxy threw at them. He was sending twenty thousand ships in each fleet against fifty thousand planets. Surely that would be enough. It had to be.

***

Chip looked at the Green Civilization’s Fleet Controller on his display, “I appreciate you getting your ships here quickly. I know we’re going to need them.”

“Have you determined where we’re going?”

“No, our main computers will assign our fleets once the Invader arrives. My two strike forces will be assigned a planet each to defend. If we’re able to destroy the Invaders attacking those planets, we’ll be given another planet to defend.”

“Has space been disrupted yet?”

“Yes, every civilized planet in your galaxy is now inside a forty million mile wide area of disrupted space surrounding it. We should have time to pick our targets and get there before the planet is placed in danger. You’ll receive the coordinates as soon as I get them.”

“Good luck; we’ll do our best to soften them up.”

“Thank you; I hope it’s enough.”

Chip’s display went dark and he heard his alarms go off, “War alert, war alert! Invader ships are activating jump drives. War alert, war alert!…” Chip turned off the alarms and waited for his assignments. It was starting.

T
he First Father saw his fleet suddenly erupt into normal space much earlier than planned and he turned to his Niece, “Why are we emerging this far out from the planet!?!”

“Subspace has been disrupted and this is as close as we can go on our jump drives.” His nephew shouted from across the bridge, “All our fleets have encountered the same phenomenon, Father!”

He swelled and knew he had no choice but to continue forward, “Order the fleets to go to top speed toward their objectives.”

His Nephew nodded and sent the orders. He watched as his hundred and fifty thousand battleships accelerated and knew it was going to take a long time to arrive at the planet. He worried about what else was waiting for him.

***

Kregen saw his assignments come in and contacted Marissa, “I want you to go with me.”

“Why?”

“We may have to join in the fighting and I don’t trust anyone as much as I do you to be my wingman.”

“How’s it breaking down, Kre?”

“We’re only able to send sixteen hundred Alliance ships to defend each planet being attacked. We’re facing twenty thousand Invaders at each planet if the probes are right.”

“We’ll have the ships from M87 to assist us.”

“You know they won’t be able to kill the Invaders; the hard work is ours.”

Marissa shook her head, “I’m locked on your transponder, Sir. Lead the way.”

Kregen pushed his panel and normal space disappeared. He arrived at Kneath’s planetary system just as fifty thousand Pental ships arrived outside disrupted space. He saw the huge Invader fleet had entered disrupted space and was moving at their maximum speed toward the distant planet. The Pental Admiral appeared on his panel and Kregen said, “I need you to fire volleys of FTL missiles at the Invaders from above and below their formations. Don’t get inside the range of their beams.”

The Pental Commander shook his head, “They’ll be able to kill the missiles if we fire that far out.”

“I know; but we need to prevent losing too many ships early on. Some of your missiles will get through and we’ll go after those that are hit.” The Pental Admiral nodded and his ships disappeared as they went FTL. Kregen looked at the planet and saw the home fleet leaving to meet the Invaders. “Marissa, tell the defenders leaving the planet to hit the Invader fleet from above and below their formation.” Marissa nodded and Kregen pushed his communicator, “We are going to come in from the sides of the advancing Invader fleet and target any ship that’s hit by a FTL missile. Try to prioritize those ships hit by more than one. We’ll run along the edge of their formation and turn to make another run once we determine if our new missiles are effective against them. Go FTL and meet at the coordinates on your boards.” The sixteen hundred attack ships disappeared as they went faster than light.

***

“Father, I’ve detected ships arriving at the edge of the disrupted space and others leaving the planet. They’ve disappeared from my sensors.”

“Where did they go?”

“I don’t know. They are not on my screens.”

“Power all beams to hit anything approaching the fleet. I want overlapping coverage.”

***

Marissa watched her screen and saw the Invader fleet serenely moving through space, when suddenly; twenty five thousand Pental battleships appeared above and below them and fired a barrage of a hundred thousand FTL missiles each. The Pental ships turned away as the Invader’s beams lanced out. The Pental missiles were programed to avoid energy beams but the area around the Invader fleet was awash with them. She wondered if any were going to get through but it was a game of numbers. Thousands of missiles were hit and exploded before getting to the Invaders, but suddenly, Invader force fields began exploding with strikes. They weren’t powerful enough to break through but the giant ships were rocked by the blasts. Their controlled covering fire suffered and another barrage was launched. Thousands of Invaders began falling out of formation.

***

Kregen looked to each side of his ship at the eight hundred attack ships that had formed a long line behind him. Another line of eighth hundred was lined up behind Marissa slightly below him. He lifted his communicator, “Start your first run; use your computers to select your target.” Marissa and Kregen watched as their attack groups disappeared. They waited and watched their monitors for what would happen.

***

Gregen watched his display as he approached the Invader fleet. “Selm, have you selected a target?”

“Give me a moment.”

“We don’t have a moment!”

“You know I have a sensor outside the FTL field. Things are moving much slower inside the field compared to real time.” Gregen was nervous. He knew that objects moving faster than the speed of light had time greatly reduced on board. It was relativity that allowed him to control his ship in FTL maneuvers. He saw the giant ships moving up at high speed but saw gaps in the beam coverage around the outer edge of the fleet. His computer announced, “The battleship just to our left has been hit by three FTL missiles. That’s our target.”

“Space the micro-runs along its hull.”

“Gregen, I’m going in with you.”

“Shawna, I’ll take the bow, you hit the rear.”

“Got it; we’ll separate once we’re inside their formation.”

Gregen watched the giant ship fill his display as his computer moved slightly right to avoid a beam reaching out at them. He twisted the ship as soon as it emerged into normal space and fired a three missile salvo at the bow of the giant ship. He was back in the FTL field in an instant and disappeared from above the giant as two beams ripped through the space he had just occupied. He never saw the giant jerk violently away from the huge explosions made by the three missiles that impacted its force field. Thousands of crewmembers on the Invader battleship were slammed hard against their harnesses and most of them had massive trauma injuries. They didn’t have time to feel any pain as Shawna’s missiles hit the rear of the stricken ship, exploded through the force field and vaporized the back half of the giant. The front half remained in space briefly before it blew up in a massive explosion, shoving the battleships around it forcibly away.

Gregen roared in on three Invader battleships and fired a three missile salvo at each of them as he flashed away. One of the Invaders managed to fire a beam, killing the missiles fired at it but the other two were hit. One was slammed hard to the left and the other had its force field penetrated and exploded in another massive explosion that hit the first ship as it moved into its path, slamming it in the opposite direction. The instant change of direction killed most of the crew instantly. Shawna also fired at three battleships but a massive beam from a fourth battleship hit her before she could escape and vaporized her ship. The three battleships she fired on were rocked and were hit by another attack craft that followed her into the Invader formation. All three exploded at the same moment, sending a massive shock wave out that rocked the ships around the blast.