Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time) (29 page)

Gibbs looked at Kune and said, “Get Fleet to check the others and see if that is the manner in all the others.” Kune nodded and raised his wrist unit.

Dat looked at the Admirals, “The problem will be when they learn we’re waiting on them at that point and change the entry point.”

“Is there any way to prevent them finding out?” Everyone looked at Kelli and she said, “If we can kill them as fast as they emerge, they shouldn’t be able to get a message out.”

Gem shook her head, “You know they’ll have probes observing the attack.”

Gresha said, “I expect them to come after Earth first and then move on the other planets. We can have every advanced probe in our inventory matched up with one of their probes to take it out the moment the first ship appears.”

Dat leaned back in his chair, “Gresha, they have millions of probes.”

“That’s true, but will they send millions here? I’m sure they don’t want them damaged by random beams or missiles. They’ll also be continuing their search for the Matadors so I really think the vast majority of their probes will still be searching for them.”

The Admirals thought about the idea as Katherine entered the room. Gibbs stood to call everyone to attention but she said, “As you were; continue what you were discussing.”

Dat nodded at Katherine and said, “It bothers me that we will run out of penetrators rather quickly with the numbers coming at us.”

“I’m trying to help with that issue.” General Robinson activated the monitor and a transport appeared; the transport looked like it was covered with holes in its hull. “We’re modifying transports as quickly as possible by installing penetrator launch tubes and high speed belts to feed them. These ships will hold more than four million penetrators each.”

Shane stared at the image and shook his head, “How do you intend to use them?”

Brad smiled, “I was hoping you would come up with a plan on how they would be most effective.”

Everyone looked at each other and no one spoke. After a minute Katherine looked at Dat, “How would you use them?”

“I’d place them behind our ranks and have them fired at any warship that made it past our ships.” Dat paused and said, “I’d also have a huge number of them gathered in one area to jump to any other site of a breakout. We’ll have about two seconds warning of an impending jump into normal space. The transports could be there launching before any ships could enter normal space.”

Angel listened to the Senior Admirals and said, “My Strike Fleet is smaller than your fleets. We could be stationed with the transports and jump with them to the site and begin the initial barrages. With the transports, we might be able to hold until you could send ships to reinforce my fleet.”

Everyone thought about the idea and some were nodding at the suggestion. Matt said, “We could also have the Rovers with your fleet to add their fire to your fleet.” Angel smiled and nodded.”

Katherine said, “And what happens if they break through our ranks?”

Dat said, “We explode a nuclear device in green space kicking every Rust Ship that hasn’t entered normal space out beyond our solar system. They’ll have to come in the old fashioned way and I’ve not seen their ships attain any velocity close to light speed. It will buy us time to reform and hit them as they move in.”

Shane nodded, “We’ll have to do that quickly before enough of them break through and overwhelm us.”

Katherine nodded, “We’ll handle the detonation of the device. All of you should be focused on combat.”

Kune tilted his head to the left, “You know if we detonate that device that none of our ships will be able to escape.”

Dat shook his head, “That’s not entirely true. The Rovers will all have the Stealth Field and can slip away without being seen. The Jukeboxes will be able to skip out on the barrier as long as they are outside the orbit of Jupiter.”

“What are you saying, Admiral?”

“If it becomes clear we will lose every ship if we continue the fight, we should consider sending them away to fight the enemy at other planets.”

Gibbs shook his head, “We can’t leave Earth defenseless.” He looked at Katherine, “Isn’t that right, Admiral?”

“We won’t be entirely defenseless.”

Gibbs leaned back, “Oh?”

“We’ve been receiving massive shipments of penetrators from the colonies and we’ve been loading them on commercial platforms. We have more than a billion heavy commercial haulers on the planet and we’re modifying them to accept a large load of penetrators.”

Kelli’s eyebrows came together, “How can a commercial hauler stand up to a single penetrator launch?”

“The Penetrators will have their gravity units set to push them off the haulers. Once they’re a mile above them, they’ll activate their normal systems and select a target to hit.”

Gresha smiled, “That should be quite a show; at what point do you intend to use them?”

Katherine’s lips came together and she looked around the table. “We’ll use them after we disrupt green space. Once the Rust Ships arrive at Earth and start their bombardment of the force field, we’ll lift the haulers and start launching.”

Gibbs looked around the table and shook his head, “I don’t see how any civilization could survive that many penetrators.”

Katherine looked at Gibbs, “I sincerely hope you’re right.”

Dat looked at Brad, “How much longer do we have before their probes arrive?”

“We estimate we have about sixty days. The exact time will depend on whether or not they stop to remove the colonies of Matadors in the Servant’s Galaxy.”

Dat nodded, “And if they don’t?”

“Sixty days. We’ll have longer if they pause to attack.”

“They’ll stop to destroy them.” Everyone turned and looked at Gresha. She raised her shoulders and held her hands up, “What if someone went into your church and desecrated it. Would you pass up the opportunity to let them know how much you disapproved of their actions?” Gresha saw everyone still staring at her, “They won’t either.”

Katherine looked at Dat, “I’ve been notified by the colonies that all shipments will be stopped today. They can’t run the risk of a ship being followed back to their location.”

Gibbs said, “If we disrupt space, there’ll be no way to resupply Earth.”

Katherine stared at Gibbs and shook her head, “If we have to be resupplied, I suspect we’ll no longer be here.”

Gem lifted her hand, “Admiral, have the essential personnel been transported out?” Katherine nodded, “Why do you ask?”

“My parents were scheduled to leave in the last ship.”

“They left two days ago. They’re fine.”

“Thank you.”

Katherine stood up, “I’m going to leave it up to Admiral Arvolo to set up the plan for Earth’s defense. Brad and I need to get the commercial haulers ready; I know all of you will make us proud.” The Admirals rose from their chairs and came to attention until Katherine left the room. Dat said, “Take a seat.” He looked at Admiral Kune, “Make sure the Rovers know their initial assignment is to destroy every enemy probe the moment they launch their attack and to kill any others that appear once combat operations begin. I suspect that once their leaders find they’re not receiving any information, they’ll start launching high numbers of probes to see what’s going on. At some point it will become fruitless to continue to destroy them; they’ll send enough that we don’t have enough ships to kill them all.” Dat turned to Admiral Matthews, “Shane, I want your fleet with Angel’s strike fleet and be prepared to jump to any other breakout point that appears. Your fleet is the best we have at jumping in formation. Gem will join you as quickly as possible.”

Kelli said, “I suspect we will be over crowded at the first breakout.” Dat looked at her and she continued, “We’ll have a hundred and twenty million old and new model Jukeboxes. Their pattern appears to flood through an entry point that is about nine hundred miles wide. The Jukeboxes average about half a mile in length so it will only take eighteen hundred of them lined up nose to tail to cover the entire length.”

Dat pressed a button on his wrist unit and a formation of ships appeared on the monitor. Angel looked at it and was surprised at what she was seeing. Dat said, “This is what I call the Can. All of the ships in this formation will form a three dimensional shape that surrounds the break out point. The distance to the center of the Can is fifty miles. Can anyone tell me why?”

Angel said, “That is the range of blasters when fired at full power.”

Dat smiled, “Very good, Angel.” He looked at the monitor and said, “The cylinder will be wide enough so that none of our ships will be damaged by beams fired from other ships across from them in the formation. It will be a hundred miles in diameter.” Dat looked back to the attendees, “Gibbs, Kelli, Matt, and Gresha’s fleets will compose the walls of the cylinder. Admiral Kune’s fleet will fill in the ends and prevent any ships from exiting the Can.”

“What about the Rovers?”

Dat looked at Gresha, “They will be standing by to go to any other breakout points; however, until another breakout happens, they will surround the Can and attack any ships that manage to escape.”

Angel stared at the formation, “What happens if multiple breakout points happen?”

“We have six major fleets. Each of you will learn to move into this formation and attack a breakout point with just your fleet. We’ll do all we can to stop them but if they open more than six entries into our solar system, Katherine is going to disrupt Green Space. Your fleets will then move out into the outer planets and start killing as many enemy warships as possible. If we’re pushed back to Jupiter’s orbit, you’ll jump out and go to other planets in the Union and fight to prevent them being destroyed.”

Gibbs looked at Kune and saw what he was thinking. He took a breath and said, “Sir, if we’re pushed back, what good are we going to do at other planets?”

Dat raised his right hand and scratched his left eyebrow, “Probably no good at all. However, at that point our goal is to do all we can to weaken the Rust Civilization to the point where they will not be invading other galaxies for a long time. If nothing else, we’ll buy the colonies time to rebuild the fleets and start preparing to eventually meet this menace.” Dat stared at the Admirals, “Are there any other questions before we start discussing the coming operation.”

Angel said, “When do we open fire on the breakout points”

Dat smiled, “I’m glad you asked that. I don’t want to use the Jukebox’s penetrators during the breakout defense unless I’m absolutely forced to do it. We’ll open fire at the breakout point as soon as we surround it. Every ship will fire their standard blasters and launch barrages continuously until ordered otherwise. I want those fanatics to emerge into normal space in the middle of a hell storm.” Dat looked at Angel, “Does that answer your question.” Angel smiled and nodded.

Matt said, “You know if you have the Can set up prior to their arrival, they’ll not jump in at that location. Their probes will see it and warn them.”

Dat nodded, “The Can will be located in deep space and will jump in the moment the oncoming wave is detected in Green Space. We’ll have three seconds to jump in and open fire. The enemy probes will be taken out at the same moment by our Rovers and Advanced Probes. The incoming enemy ships won’t have any warning prior to their emergence in normal space. We’ll be there ahead of them.”

Gresha shook her head, “Dat, we can’t jump that many ships in that close together without collisions.”

“Actually, the Can will be three times its normal size when we jump in. We’ll close up our ranks as we open fire. Everyone will have their coordinate locked into their jump boards so we should be fine. The only ships here will be Admirals’ Matthews and the Strike Fleet. They will be holding position above the planet directly below the jump point we’re anticipating they’ll use.” Dat looked around the table, “Let’s read the operational plan and see if we come up with anything we can modify or add to it.”

General Robinson stuck his head in the door and said, “The enemy’s probes have entered the Servant’s Galaxy. I’ll send you a feed if anything happens.”

Dat nodded and knew time was getting shorter.

• • •

The Exalted looked at the reports that were sent to his panel. His nose jerked up and down as he read the findings. The second display on his panel illuminated and he saw the Chosen appear, “I’ve been told you’ve found the species that was on my planet.” The Exalted’s nose rose in agreement but it still twitched left and right. The Chosen saw his expression, “What’s bothering you?”

“We have found that species on hundreds of planets and our probes are still discovering more each minute.”

“This must be their home galaxy!”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“How did that scout get here?”

The Chosen’s nose went straight down and then back up, “What do you mean?”

“So far, none of the planets they’ve located have any ship building facilities on them. The Probes have also uncovered that there was a massive galactic war here. There are derelict, burned out battleships scattered all over this galaxy. Someone came in here and exterminated the builder of those dead ships.”

“How many ships have you seen?”

“Close to a billion.”

“Are there any burned out ships of the ones that exterminated them?”

The Exalted looked at the Chosen on his display, “No, there is not.” The Exalted looked back at the data stream coming in, “It appears that species you’re so interested in lives in rather primitive societies.”

The Chosen thought about the statement and said, “If you look at most of our worlds, we also appear, on the surface, to live in primitive societies.”

“I know that; however, there are advanced manufacturing plants on all of our planets. There’s nothing on these.”

“Well, you know they have the capability to hide their ships. There could be millions of ships in that galaxy and you’re not able to see them. I suspect they could also hide manufacturing plants if they chose.” The Exalted’s nose slowly moved up and the Chosen smiled, “I scored on that one, didn’t I?”

The Exalted nodded, “Yes you did; I hadn’t considered that. I’m launching an attack fleet on these planets and will watch to see what happens. If my fleet is attacked by warships we’re not able to see, I’ll open a major campaign here.”