The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series) (18 page)

“Engineers, engage the Force Shielding on both Olympus and Colossus, maximum intensity,” Billy ordered.

“WATO, fire Trionic Cannon straight ahead when the guns bear,” Billy added.

“Yes, sir.”

No matter the occasion, making an attack run through over two hundred thousand enemy fighters was a risky business, and a malfunction in Propulsion could easily leave them stranded. If the Force Shielding failed, they would be slowly picked apart like a carcase by a host of ants. This had to be a quick and clinical strike to savage the Axe-Blades. There was no need for a defensive position here - mobility and Force Shielding would be the key.

“Full Force Shielding engaged, Sir,” a female voice emerged from the darkness of the War Room.

On the War Table image, Billy could see the great horde of Axe-Blades and the horse-shoe of Destroyers starting to converge on the two Alliance Star-Destroyers. In a few seconds, the Axe-Blades would be in weapons fire range. The two Axe-Blade formations on the flank were already starting to turn inward making their attack turns to encircle the huge Alliance vessels. The curved horse-shoe of the Destroyers was also starting to close inwards to support the Axe-Blades.

“They’re opening fire, sir!” a Scanner technician shouted.

Out on the battlefield, tens of thousands of “Screaming Death” weapons pods were activated, sending hundreds of thousands of individual sonic waves and electro-magnetic pulses towards the two huge Alliance ships.

Inside the slow moving Colossus and Olympus, it was like being inside a bell when a hammer struck it. The massive blow of “Screaming Death” smashed onto the Force Shielding; sending a huge shock wave through the hulls of both Star-Destroyers. The huge warships lurched for just a second, absorbing the massive shock, and continued relentlessly onward, spinning slowly to bring to bring the Trionic Cannon to bear.

In the War Room, Billy was jolted as he stood at the War Table. And, with as much grace and poise as he could muster, he clutched the edge of the table with his right hand. The War Table image flickered for a split second, and then returned.

Meanwhile, the Ganthorans continued the bombardment from their single-seat fighters. Wave after wave of “Screaming Death” smashed against the Force Shielding of Colossus and Olympus. However, at maximum intensity, the Force Shielding of the two Star-Destroyers was more than a match for the Ganthoran weapons. Inside the two Star-Destroyers, things were starting to become uncomfortable, but there was never any real danger of the Force Shielding collapsing.

Even inside the massive Alliance warships, crew members were being shaken and jolted as they stood to their battle-stations. But, Billy Caudwell knew that they had to absorb a few more seconds of Ganthoran weapons fire before he could respond effectively.

“Damage!?” Billy called from the War Table, over the shuddering and shaking of the warship.

“Minor damage, sir!! No casualties!!” a voice said.

“WATO, are we ready to fire Trionic Cannon!?” The vessel juddered and shook under the tremendous impact of the “Screaming Death.”

“Ten seconds to firing, sir!!”

“Very well! Activate Self-Defence Turrets and link them to the Tactical Computers!” Billy called.

“Yes, sir!”

With ten seconds to go until the Trionic Cannons were ready to fire, Billy knew that he had to set up the link between the Self-Defence Turrets and the Tactical Computer. With the Star-Destroyers travelling at one-hundred-and-fifty percent of the speed of the Ganthoran attack, the gunnery crews would have little or no chance of hitting anything as they sped past the great swarm of targets. The Star-Destroyers, carrying close to sixty-thousand Self-Defence Turrets, each with two low-yield pulsar-cannon, could make a significant dent in the Axe-Blade and Destroyer formations. But, it would have to be with the guns in automatic mode.

The reflexes of the gun crews would just not be able to cope with the myriad of targets that would become available to them.

Instead, Billy had linked the guns to the Tactical Computer. The Tactical Computer would run all of the numbers and permutations that would identify the Ganthoran vessels in the great scrimmage that was to follow. The Tactical Computer would analyse just how much of a threat each individual Ganthoran vessel was, and allocate it a Threat Potential Score. The Tactical Computer could calculate and re-calculate each individual’s Threat Potential every second. When the Tactical Computer had calculated all of the Ganthorans’ Threat Potentials, it would send signals to the Self-Defence Turrets, directing their fire to the most dangerous vessels attacking the Alliance ship. And, with one threat eliminated, the tactical Computers would search for the next most dangerous one, until all the threats had been destroyed.

“Trionic Cannon ready, sir!” the WATO called as the Star-Destroyer shook and jolted.

“Very well, ready the Self-Defence Turrets and move us in when you open fire!” Billy said.

“Propulsion ready, sir!” another voice called.

“O.K., let’s do it!” Billy grabbed the edges of the War Table with both hands.

One second later, both Trionic Cannon fired straight ahead. The twin Trion Streams burned a two hundred metre path through the mass of Axe-Blades that were attacking the Star Destroyers from the front.

With the Axe-Blades massing for the final assault, the casualty rate amongst the single-seat fighters was appalling. Almost two thousand of the small, single-seat fighters flattened and then exploded as the Trion Streams smashed through their formation. And, having fired straight ahead, the Trion Streams then seared through the major body of Ganthoran Destroyers that formed the lump to the rear of the horse-shoe. Like a running flame on a fuse cord, the Trion Streams annihilated one vessel after another in rapid sequence as they carved their way, unopposed, through the Ganthoran ranks. When the last of the Destroyers in the lane of destruction had been struck, the Streams hurtled towards the Cruisers and “Six Cigar” Carriers that stood in their way.

The crews of the Cruisers and the Carriers in the way of the Trion Streams had no opportunity to avoid their fates.

Like a speeding bullet, the Trion Streams cut through the static Cruiser and Carrier formations. Presuming that they were safe from the Alliance guns, whilst the Axe-Blades and Destroyers handed out a little pay-back for their earlier mauling, the crews were caught completely unaware. One of the one hundred metre wide lanes of annihilation seared through the single Cruiser that stood at the front of the Cruiser Screen. One Stream smashed through two more damaged Cruisers until it reached a damaged Carrier in Timmeg’s formation. The other smashed through the Cruiser Screen, catching two of the Ganthoran vessels on the weapons pods. It took ten seconds for the unstable Trions to consume and annihilate the two Cruisers. Then, having signed the death warrants of two Cruiser crews in the Cruiser Screen, the Stream hurtled onwards, devouring another damaged Cruiser and one of Sal’nor’s undamaged Carriers.

Meanwhile, as the Carrier was being annihilated, the two Star-Destroyers attacked the horde of buzzing and zipping Axe-Blades that were about to envelop them. From a slow, lumbering start, the huge engines of the Star-Destroyers ramped up their output and hurled the two huge warships toward the Ganthoran fighters. The front line of Axe-Blades was completely overwhelmed by the two enormous Alliance warships. Ganthoran Carriers and Cruisers did not possess such a formidable turn of speed, and the Axe-Blade pilots did not expect these two huge cities in space to have such amazing agility.

Like two enormous steel wrecking-balls, the Star-Destroyers smashed into the approaching line of Axe-Blades, and at the moment of impact, hundreds of Axe-Blades were shattered against the Force Shielding of the two marauding Star-Destroyers. The Axe Blade pilots, with no hope of avoiding the massive warships, fired their ineffectual weapons one last time, and perished in the red, roaring flames of destruction that peppered the Force Shielding of the massive Alliance ships.

“We have contact with the enemy, sir!” a Scanner Technician called.

“Thank you, Scanners!” Billy continued to cling onto the edge of the War Table.

“Propulsion!” Billy said, “Warm up that Trion Drive of yours and get ready to take us to the Star-Cruisers’ location!”

“Yes, sir!”

“WATO, when we emerge from this, I want one shot from the Trionic Cannon from both Olympus and Colossus, go for the heart of the Carrier formation, and then get us out of here!” Billy began to lurch forward, towards the War Table.

“Yes, sir,” the WATO called out enthusiastically, “Self-Defence Turrets opening fire, sir!!”

“Good!” Billy responded, “Now hang on and enjoy the ride!”

Some of the Third Admirals, around the War Table had taken a more cautious approach, and were seated on the floor around the War Table, hanging onto the edges as if their lives depended upon it. However, several others stayed on their feet and held on; savouring the excitement.

On the War Table image, the two Star-Destroyers had just punctured the line of Axe-Blades, and the real slaughter had just begun. With the Star-Destroyers entering the Axe-Blade formation, the Self-Defence Turrets had received their first firing instructions from the Tactical Computer. Simultaneously, the Self-Defence Turrets had opened up on the Ganthoran Axe-Blades that had survived the initial impact, and were making their attack runs on the huge Star Destroyers.

And, in a few vicious seconds of low-yield pulsar-cannon fire, around eight thousand Axe-Blades were shot to pieces. With rapid-fire pulsar-cannon being aimed at the highest identified threats to the Star-Destroyer, the Self-Defence Turrets tore the first targets to shreds. On the War Table image, it resembled thousands of tiny twinkling lights in a Christmas bauble, with each little flicker being a Ganthoran pilot losing their life. Looking at the tactical situation on the War Table, Billy could see the two Star Destroyers starting to scythe their way through the centre block of Axe-Blades. This meant that the two flanking movements were about to snap the jaws of their pincers closed – on nothing. The two Star-Destroyers were rapidly advancing, and the two Ganthoran pincers were about to overshoot. Even with some skilled manoeuvring, the Axe-Blades on the flanks would have to sweep around to start any form of pursuit, and by then, the Colossus and Olympus would be long gone.

Billy had outsmarted Sal’nor with that move, and now the two Star-Destroyers were shattering their way through the centre of the Axe-Blades. Like a bulldozer smashing through a wall of sand, the two Star-Destroyers ploughed through the great swarm of Axe-Blades that were speeding towards them on their own attack runs. The Ganthoran pilots, with enough distance and presence of mind, began to veer their fighters away from the advancing Star-Destroyers. Some had just enough time to fire their weapons as the huge Alliance monsters advanced. Unfortunately, for some of them, there just wasn’t enough time or distance to avoid the great space juggernauts that were bearing down upon them. Those who had the right angle of approach pressed home their own individual attacks on the huge ships that seemed to have an amazing turn of speed. Many of the Ganthoran Axe-Blades did manage to fire at the large and speedy warships, to little effect. And, having fired, many chose to set off in pursuit of an enemy that rapidly outpaced them. Those that got too close in their attack runs were savagely cut apart by the Self-Defence Turrets, whilst those that could not avoid the Star-Destroyers were shattered on the Force Shielding. 

The Star-Destroyers were unstoppable, and scythed their way through the ranks of Axe Blades with many of the Ganthoran pilots being smashed to eternity before they knew what had hit them. Many Ganthoran pilots high up in their attack runs sat open-mouthed in their clear, bubble-cockpits as the massive Alliance ships barged their way through line after line of Axe-Blades at an astonishing speed. It seemed to many that, at one moment, the Alliance ship was there, then, the next, it had gone. From their high vantage points, many Ganthoran Axe-Blade pilots watched their comrades being impaled on the Force Shielding, or being mowed down by the Self-Defence Turrets. Many Axe-Blade pilots were unaware that the Alliance ships had just attacked. Like so many of their comrades, they expected the big ships to be slow and cumbersome, and that it would take a few minutes for them to reach the fight.

And, moving quickly forward, in the wrong place at the wrong time, they were suddenly aware of the massive ships moving close to them at tremendous speed. The relentless and remorseless Tactical Computer did not have the capacity to factor in a pilot unaware of their situation. A target was a target, and if it was too close, the guns were instructed to eliminate it.

For thirty nail-biting and anxious seconds, the two Star-Destroyers ran the gauntlet of Ganthoran Axe-Blades. The Olympus and Colossus shook and jolted their way through the almost-incessant weapons fire from the Ganthorans, yet, at the same time, the combined Self-Defence Turrets and sheer physical size of the vessels smashed a path through the fighters. There was no subtlety or finesse in the confrontation, it was a simple meeting of force against weight of numbers, and the Alliance ships won.

Having smashed their way through the Axe-Blades, the two Star-Destroyers then began to bludgeon their way through the Ganthoran Destroyers. The Destroyers, bringing up the rear, had been ordered to provide fire-support for the Axe-Blades, and were, therefore, not in the front ranks of the attack. Once again, the sheer speed and ferocity the Alliance attack took the majority of Destroyer captains entirely by surprise. Many, however, knowing just what First Admiral Billy Caudwell was capable of, had enough foresight to have their weapons pods primed and ready. So, when the two Star-Destroyers burst free from the Axe-Blades like rampaging cattle on a stampede, these Ganthoran Destroyer captains let fly with every available weapon.