Tipping Point in the Alliance War (18 page)

The
Major addresses the fleet again.  “All ships get ready to ‘pair up’ and
spread out.  Try to get them to divide up and run with you.  Then,
when you separate one of them out of the pack, both ships should gang-attack the
lone one. 

If
they don’t go for that gambit, then any ships that are not being followed
should attack their fleet, from behind.  Everyone get your boarding
parties ready.  Our fleet has three boarding party launches, which have
stealth systems.  Get those launches out now – my guess is that their
gravity sensors won’t be able to detect a launch in stealth, while it’s among
larger vessels.  Those launches should stay close to our ships, until the
action starts – then they should slip out.  Good hunting, everyone. 
Dawkins out.”

As the
Alliance vessels pair up and spread out, the Confederation vessels split up to
follow them.  There are seven Alliance ships, so that makes 3 pairs, and
the Brutus is by herself.  Each Alliance ‘group of 2’ has a ‘’group of 4’
Confederation ships in pursuit.  The Alliance ships are just as fast as
the Confederation vessels, and are keeping their distance from the
attackers. 

The
Brutus has three enemy ships in pursuit, and is pretending to have a faulty
thruster, which works intermittently.  She looks like easy prey.  The
Major has two stealth launches filled with Alliance Marines, so she feels more
than equal to three Confederation warships.  The Confederation forces have
not been confronted by stealth launches before, and may not be looking for
them.  She will just need to get them distracted, so that their Tactical
Officers don’t have time to look for small gravity-wells.

Her
plan for distracting them centers on launching a few decoy lifeboats, which
they have salvaged for just such a time as this.  The enemy will destroy
the lifeboats, and the gravity from the debris will mask the gravity from the
stealth launches – at least that’s the plan.  In addition to that
distraction, the Brutus is going to put on a ‘weapon and light show’, which is
purposed to both damage the Confederation ships and to distract their tactical
officers.

The
Confederation vessels in pursuit of the Brutus destroy the decoy lifeboats, as
expected.  While the lifeboat debris field is between the Brutus and the
Confederation vessels, the Brutus turns and unleashes a torrent of armament and
light. 

As
soon as the Confederation ships are past the location of the Marine launches,
the Brutus turns and begins to run away at full speed.  The Marine
launches are faster than a warship, so they will be sneaking up behind their
prey. 

As
planned, within 50 minutes two of the Confederation ships have been
boarded.  The Marines cut off the self-destruct connections and proceed to
capture the vessels.  By now, they are experienced and well trained
professionals - the prey is ‘sliced and diced’ within a matter of
minutes. 

The
remaining Confederation ship knows that the other two vessels have been
boarded.  That knowledge is enough to cause panic in the crew, and that ship
turns to flee.  The Brutus attacks the fleeing vessel with a fury, which
only serves to increase the panic on the enemy ship.  There is little
return fire, as the crew of the fleeing ship puts its whole effort into
defensive measures.  It is a short battle.  The Brutus focuses its
weapons fire on the engineering section and before long the vessel is ‘dead in
the water’.  At that point the Brutus breaks off the attack -
that
ship is out of the battle.  The Brutus goes
looking for fresh meat.

As
Major Dawkins surveys the battle-space, she gets word that the Marine boarding
parties are in control of the two boarded vessels.  She orders them to
disable the weapons and defensive systems, and then to re-board their
launches. 

Once
the Marines signal that they are in space, she orders her Tactical Officer to
target the Engineering Sections and Command Decks, on both vessels.  In
short order, both of the ships are in flames.  The crews can put out the
fires, but those two ships are out of the battle.  She has more work for
the Marine stealth launches.  

Her
study of the battle-space leads her to believe that all of the Alliance ships
are holding their own.  She sees the wreckage of two Confederation
vessels, which indicates that the battle strategy is working.  The odds
are 7 to 10 now.  She orders the Brutus to head for the closest
battle.  She tells the faster launches that they can go on ahead and board
more vessels - the Brutus will catch up.

And
the Marines do board two more ships.  That leaves the 2 Alliance vessels
evenly matched against the 2 remaining Confederation vessels.  The Brutus
arrives within minutes and the battle quickly goes badly, for the outnumbered
Confederation ships.  After those two ships are dispatched, the odds are
now 7 against 6 - the hunters now become the hunted.  She orders the
Marines, who boarded the two Confederation ships, to secure those vessels and
to confine the crew to quarters.  Those Marines can not only board and
capture a ship; they can also fly it and fire the weapons.  Right now the
Alliance fleet had 9 warships, capable of a weapons assault.

The
remaining Confederation ships want to ‘warp out’ or to flee the battle, but
they can’t because they are guilty of treason if they run.  There is no
choice but to fight to the death.  Actually, Major Dawkins does them a
favor by not destroying them or their vessels.  She just disables their
ships so that they can’t fight and leaves them to explain their defeat to the
Confederation Fleet Admiral. 
(Good luck with that.)

Major
Dawkins takes the time to update the ‘little fleet’s’ status report and to
launch the last of the Brutus’ faster-than-light probes, toward Alliance Navy
Headquarters.  She then orders
Benji
Woo, who is
Captain of the Predator, to change ships, because the Predator’s warp drive
doesn’t work.  Dan Woo disables the Predator; moves his crew to one of the
newly captured vessels; and sends the POW’s to the Predator, in
lifeboats.  The other captured Confederation vessel dispatches its POW’s
to the Predator, as well.

Now,
the Alliance fleet has 8 warships, and all have working warp drives.  The
‘little fleet’ takes a few days, to get thing in order before leaving. 
Repairs are made; munitions and supplies are restocked from the wrecked
vessels; and a fresh crew is sent to relieve the Marine boarding party on the
newly captured vessel.  It’s a skeleton crew, but they don’t have far to
go.  Both stealth launches and the remaining warp-capable launch are
returned to the Brutus. 

One
more thing to do.
  The Confederation Navy insignias and
identification numbers are removed from the hulls of the ‘little fleet’
vessels, and are replaced with the Alliance Space Marines insignia.  The
ships are re-numbered 1 thru 8, with the Brutus being number 1, and the
‘Captain
Baarg
’ being number 2. 

Now
it’s back into warp-space for the ‘little fleet’.  Major Dawkins still has
doubts, about making it to Alliance Navy Headquarters without more
fighting.  She just needs to keep moving the battle-spaces, closer to
home.

Alliance Navy Headquarters

Fleet
Admiral Walls had not heard anything, from the Courageous or Captain Niles for
months, and had given them up for dead.  Then, a week ago a Marine
assault-launch, which had been stationed on the Courageous, emerged in Alliance
Navy Headquarters space.  The Marine crew announced - to everyone who
would listen - that Marine Major Dawkins and a small fleet of captured
Confederation vessels is en-route and is fighting its way through a fleet of
300 Confederation warships.  That 300 ship fleet is right outside of
Alliance space, in the sector known as the ‘back yard’.

The
Alliance Navy is unprepared for an invasion by 300 warships.  If such a
fleet were to emerge from warp in the vicinity of Alliance Navy Headquarters,
it is difficult to see how Navy Headquarters and the planet Earth could
survive.  Since they still have some time to prepare, the Alliance Navy is
making every effort to get ready. 

Faster-than-light
probes are sent to all Alliance planets declaring the emergency and appealing
for warships.  The earliest that help could begin to arrive from other
Alliance planets will be 2 weeks.  If the Confederation Fleet arrives
before Alliance reinforcements, it’s going to be a precarious situation.

 Every
Alliance Navy vessel, which can arrive within 3 weeks, is recalled.  Some
of those vessels are stationed locally and should begin to arrive within days.

Emergency
Rule is declared and all of Earth’s resources are available to the Alliance
Navy.  Earth’s civilian shipping and commerce resources are conscripted by
the Navy and begin moving massive amounts of resources, into orbit. 

Any
vessel with ‘defensive shields’ or armor is also conscripted.  Fast ships
of the Corvette class are conscripted for use in fighter squadrons.  Ships
without warp drives will be just fine for this battle - there is no need to
travel to faraway places - the enemy is bringing the war right to the
Earth. 

Retired
ships are being pulled out of mothballs.  Retired sailors are sending
resumes and hoping for assignment to the ships that they had served on.
(The
training is 20 years old, but that’s OK, because the weapons are 20 years old,
also.) 
The retirees are trained sailors who are ‘ready right
now’.   

Navy
personnel are volunteering for any combat position that will accept them. 
‘Desk jockeys’ want to transfer to combat duty, only to find that their desk
jobs are more important to the war effort.  The sudden ramp-up of
logistical operations is creating a huge backlog of documentation records. 
Someone has to know where ‘things’ and ‘people’ are and how to get them from
point-A to point-B.  It is 18 hour shifts for the desk jockeys and they
have never been more essential.

Space
stations and platforms are being moved into defensive positions and fitted with
weapons.  Ships that had been hauling iron-ore a week earlier are now
hauling weapons and people.  Munitions and weaponry are flowing out of
every Navy warehouse and into hands that don’t yet know how to use them. 

(One nice
thing about fighting the Confederation is that everyone knows what will happen
if you lose - everyone will be killed.  All life on the Earth will be
eradicated.  That knowledge is a great motivator.  There isn’t going
to be a second chance.  This is an ad hoc war effort and every trained
person is eagerly pressing forward, to climb aboard the Alliance Navy
Headquarters ‘armada’.)

And
then, just this morning, a probe arrived, reporting more space battles coming
closer to Headquarters.  The ‘little fleet’ of captured vessels is less
than a week away in warp-space and will emerge in the same place that the
Marine launch emerged.  The little Alliance ‘fleet’ is being ‘captained’
by a Marine Major named Sasha Dawkins.  Where are Captain Niles and the
Courageous?  Admiral Walls isn’t looking forward to receiving that
information.

It
seems like a good time to worry but Fleet Admiral Walls feels an unexplainable
peace.  The response to the ‘call to arms’ is just overwhelming.  It
isn’t possible to find places for all the personnel who want to fight.
 People are aggressively looking for a way to serve.  It seems, to
the Admiral, that something this good just has to survive.

There
is another reason for optimism, besides the zeal of the Alliance
citizenry.  The Marine launch delivered an information package to Navy
Headquarters.  That package contains the secrets to the Confederation’s
technology advantage.  Part of the information is a copy of the computer
core from a Confederation warship named the Brutus.  The secrets of the
warp drive, and design specifications for the Brutus are in that package.

Assuming
the Alliance survives this battle, the future looks much brighter for the war
effort.  The information delivered by the Marines is enough to make
Alliance warships as powerful as the Confederation warships.  And, judging
by a cursory evaluation, those improvements can be implemented quickly.

All
they have to do is survive this next battle.
 
But just in case they don’t, the Admiral has sent the technology
information to 3 other Alliance worlds.

***

The
Brutus

Major
Dawkins and her ‘little fleet’ of 8 captured warships are about to emerge into
real-space at Alliance Navy Headquarters.  All ships will emerge and immediately
power all systems down - except life support - and broadcast a prepared
message, which proclaims that they are Alliance sailors and are not a threat to
anyone. 

Major
Dawkins, as the senior officer, is going to ‘report in’ from the deck of the
Brutus.  There will be Alliance Navy and Marine personnel behind her,
holding the Alliance flags.  She hopes it will be enough to keep them from
being shot on sight.

***

Alliance
Navy Headquarters

The
unprecedented citizen zeal came at a price for the Alliance Navy.  The
Alliance Government and Navy decided that there isn’t any hope of being
prepared for the approaching battle in time, unless the Earth’s citizens are
fully informed and totally motivated.

There
will be no ‘glossing over’ of truth – the situation is dire.  The Earth is
on the brink of total annihilation.  Battle plans are shared with the
public and the running tally of weapons and ships is available for all to
see.  There is no time for secrets and there is no need for secrets. 

Citizens,
across the Alliance Systems, have a voracious appetite for news about the
battle preparations and about the Marine crew from the ‘little fleet’. 
The warriors from the Marine launch are so popular that they have become media
‘icons’, with fan clubs and numerous proposals of marriage. 

Even
though their coming may bring great danger, the Alliance is breathlessly
awaiting the arrival of the ‘little fleet’.  Fear for the future of the
Earth is mixed with awe for the courage of these warriors.  This is the
first victory for the beleaguered Alliance forces in years, and the audacious
nature of the Space Marine raid has rekindled hope for Alliance citizens. 
All eyes are on the space where the Marine launch emerged.  The
anticipation is palpable.

***

Then,
as if according to script, the ‘little fleet’ of eight captured warships
emerges into Alliance Navy Headquarters space.  The citizens of Earth are
the only ones able to view the arrival ‘live’.

There
is euphoria.  The streets are filled with spontaneous celebrations. 
Traffic stops.  Neighbors are shouting to neighbors, who already know the
‘good news’.  They have made it!  Alliance Space Marines have boarded
and captured eight Confederation ships and they have survived battle after
battle to bring them home.  What a day!

The
Alliance citizenry, on other planets, view the scene after it is delivered by
faster-than-light probes.  The celebrations on those planets are just as
ecstatic as the ones on Earth, and the euphoria spreads as fast as the
news.  They have made it!  
The Space Marines have made it
home!

***

Meanwhile,
the personnel on the eight captured vessels are unaware of the celebrations
occurring on the planet and in local space.  They are hunkered down -
waiting to see if they will live or die. 

The
sailors, with the Alliance Systems flag and the Alliance Navy flag, are
decked-out in their finest uniforms.  The Marine holding the Space Marine
Corps flag is in space armor.  All are standing at attention, behind Major
Dawkins.  As the Major begins her declaration of peace, the flags are
‘presented’ - the symbols of the Alliance are on display.

She
begins; “Greetings. This is an Alliance Systems unit returning home from an
Alliance Navy mission.  My name is Sasha Dawkins and I am a Major in the
Alliance Space Marine Corps.  I am the Senior Officer on this ship, the
Brutus, and Commanding Officer of this ad-hoc fleet of eight captured
warships.  The crews on these ships consist of Alliance Navy and Alliance
Space Marine personnel, as well as a number of former Confederation Navy
personnel.  We come in peace.  All of our systems, except life
support, have been powered down so that we can demonstrate that we are not a
threat.   We await further orders. 
Dawkins,
out.”

***

Fleet
Admiral Walls has been watching the news feeds, along with the rest of the
world, and he is the first to officially respond. 
(The necessary media
equipment and personnel are already in place, in the hopes that this day would
come.)
  He puts on his best military demeanor and calmly announces: 

“Major
Sasha Dawkins, this is Fleet Admiral Gregory Walls representing the Alliance
Navy. 
Greetings.
  And welcome home. 
We have been awaiting your arrival.  Power your ships UP, with the
exception of weapons, and proceed along the designated route to the Navy
Headquarters Space Station.  A Space Station Corvette will lead you
through the defensive array.  Once you are in the docking ‘cue’, the space
station will take over your ships’ controls and will dock your vessels. 
Walls, out.”

 The
‘little fleet’ powers their ships UP and Major Dawkins orders the ‘dove’
formation, on her ‘mark’.  The execution is perfect – it should be perfect
after so many rehearsals.  With eight ships, the dove formation has 3
ships for each wing. The 7
^th
ship – the ‘Captain
Baarg
’
- is the neck, and the Brutus is the head.  That formation is maintained
for the journey from 1,000,000 klicks, until the fleet comes within the near
proximity of the Space Station.  Major Dawkins then orders a shift to the
spear formation, which is executed on her ‘mark’.  The execution is
‘military to the max’, and the viewing audiences are duly impressed.  They
may be a rag tag bunch of pirates, but they sure look professional.  It’s
almost like watching one of the precision drill squadrons, on the Navy
recruitment ads.

***

Everyone
familiar with Alliance space knows where the ‘designated routes’ to the Space
Station and the ‘docking cue’ are.  Anyone with a launch, a ship, or even
a lifeboat, has formed up around the route that the ‘little fleet’ will
travel.  The route begins to look like a tunnel with ships massed around
the periphery.  The ships aren’t just sitting there.  Some are
launching celebratory fireworks and others are displaying programmed light
shows, on their billboard-sized exterior displays.  Every vessel is
flashing their ship’s running lights. 

It
takes some encouragement from the Space Station personnel, to get the ‘little
fleet’ started into that tunnel of ships.  The opportune arrival of the
Corvette escort helps to calm the anxiety, among the ‘little fleet’ helm
officers.

***

Nervous
anticipation.
  That is the general feeling aboard the
captured warships.  The ‘little fleet’s’ ships are still in the process of
docking, and there isn’t anything else for the crews to do - the Space Station
is in control of the vessels now.  

Major
Dawkins is at a loss for what to do next – success had seemed so remote that
she hadn’t thought that far ahead.  She doesn’t know the military decorum
for this situation.  Who gets off first?  Is she first or last? 
She asks around the Bridge and no one knows.  She asks the other ships’
Captains and no one knows. 

Well
then!  She is in charge, so she decides what to do and gives instructions:

o
  
  Don’t
forget to kiss your ship, before you disembark.  The ships deserve some
love for getting us home.

o
      
Everyone
is to be in their best uniform.   

o
      
Exit
according to rank – lowest ranking exit first. 

o
      
Disembark in
the following order:

-
        
The Alliance Navy
personnel, on all ships, will disembark first, beginning with the last ship in
line, and ending with the Brutus. 

-
        
The former
Confederation Navy personnel will disembark next, in the same sequence.