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  “What is that?”

  “If they attack my new capital, you will stop them.”

  Ian looked at Drey knowing that was a promise that would be difficult to keep. Drey said, “If needed, I’ll die in the effort.”

  The Sovereign smiled, “That’s good enough for me. I’ll have the last of my populations moved in another four days. I’ve set the planetary defenses on automatic and I’m sure the Invader will think the installations are manned.”

  Ian nodded, “You’ll need to attack them with standard FTL missiles.”

  “I was wondering what to do with the surplus. We’ll use them up when they arrive.”

  Ian nodded and ended the call.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Dreadnaughts moved in toward the uninhabited planet and the defenders began moving in. Captain Tegen shook his head. So far the defenders had simply roared in and micro-jumped along his ship. His beam crews found it impossible to target the fast moving ships and he began to feel the frustration of his weapon crews. So far, only ten of the fast moving Thetas had been hit. Suddenly the numbers of incoming defenders diminished and then stopped.

  “What are they doing, Sir?”

  Tegen looked over at his Executive Officer and shook his head, “Now they come in and start hitting us. This first round was to practice their avoidance procedures; now the real fun begins.” Tegen thought a moment and said, “Contact the Dreadnaughts around us and have them put some space between us. When the first defender appears, start firing all our beams and fan them around our ships. Let’s see how good they are at getting through now.”

  ***

  Chip watched the fifteen Dreadnaughts on the right side of the incoming formation start firing all their beams. Those beams were fanned in different directions and Chip smiled, “Now that’s an interesting gambit.” He pulled the view in closer and saw fifteen of his ships were hit by the wildly swinging beams. He looked closer and saw two of the Dreadnaughts suddenly stopped firing; they had been hit. He rewound the recording to see how it was done.

  ***

  “Hey, Maxwell; how are we going to get to those ships?”

  “Give me a moment, Claire.” Max watched the dreadnaughts firing, “Brad, do you see any sort of pattern in their beams?”

  “No, they’re completely unpredictable.” There was a pause and the computer said, “But there is an issue with the timing.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They can’t fire a beam forever. The beam has to be turned off briefly to recharge and then can be fired again.”

  “How long?”

  “They fire for ten seconds and then turn off for about half a second.”

  “Are we capable of jumping in directly above the beam during that pause?”

  “Max, that ship is moving at high speed and the beam chosen will have to be determined in advance so we jump at the precise moment. It’s like hitting a rocket with a sling shot.”

  “You didn’t answer my question; can we do it?”

  “Piece of cake.”

  “Claire, we’re going to micro-jump in above one of their beams when it turns off to recharge. We’ll then immediately jump away from the ship.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  “Hey, Bradley thinks we can do it.”

  Claire shook her head and heard, “It is possible.”

  “Come on, Liz; we’re good but not that good.”

  “If we haven’t had so much practice at micro-jumping, I’d be forced to agree with you. However, I think we can do this.”

  Claire shook her head, “Well, Lilly does insist we win this competition. What the heck; the worst that could happen is that we’ll be knocked out of the exercise.” Claire pushed her panel, “Alright, Max, which two are the lucky contestants?”

  “The two on the left wing of their formation.”

  “Which one is mine?”

  “The one on the outside.”

  “Got it; count it down Liz.” The two Thetas disappeared.

  ***

  Tegen smiled at his success. He saw that all the other Dreadnaughts had begun using his tactics and was already celebrating the coming success of the exercise. Suddenly, all the weapon consoles lost power and his ship stopped accelerating. A mechanical voice announced, “Your ship has been hit twice and is out of the competition.”

  Tegen looked at his sensor officer, “What in the heck just happened?”

  The sensor officer shook his head, “Sir, one of their ships jumped in and fired on us while the beam under it was recharging. It then jumped to the end of the ship and did it again.”

  Tegen shook his head, “How long does it take for the beam to recharge?”

  “Four tenths of a second, Sir.”

  Tegen fell back in his chair; that kind of jump control was impossible. But he looked out at the fleet of Dreadnaughts and saw hundreds of them were stopping. He slowly shook his head grudgingly admiring the pilots capable of pulling off that maneuver.

  ***

  “Jack, did you see that?”

  “Yes, I did. It appears we have two hotshot pilots.”

  “I want their names.”

  “I have them.”

  Lilly smiled; her squadron had the most kills in the first engagement. Let Mikki and Bang take that.

  ***

  At the end of the week, all twenty thousand Dreadnaughts attacked the planet and none of them arrived to hit it. Chip smiled and knew the practice was invaluable to his young pilots. He knew it was great practice, but the Invader Battleships fired twice as long and recharged in half the time. But this was a start; perhaps it would save the lives of many pilots.

  Mikki appeared on his panel, “Congratulations.”

  “Thanks, Sir. Lilly made it difficult and I have to give her credit for developing the process we used to beat them.”

  “It was close.”

  Mikki smiled, “There was only three ships difference in all three fleets. I beat Lilly by one and she beat Bang by one.”

  “How did you manage to pull off the victory?”

  Mikki smiled, “You caught me.”

  “I did. That was rather sneaky.”

  “I knew it would be close, so I had five of my pilots select one of Lilly’s pilots and follow them in. They timed it such that Lilly’s pilot fired first which by competition rules would not eliminate the target. My pilots fired immediately after the first hit, getting credit for the kill.”

  “Are you going to tell Lilly?”

  Mikki started laughing, “No, but I know you are.”

  “She did the same thing with Bang.”

  “What!”

  “He was leading at one point.”

  “What about Bang?”

  “He played it straight. You know he won’t resort to anything that’s deceptive.”

  “Now I feel bad.”

  “As well you should!”

  “I’ll talk with Lilly.”

  “As well you should.”

  Mikki smiled, “You have to admit it was a good idea.”

  “Not really; but the timing needed to pull it off was remarkable. Those pilots are good.”

  “I know. I have plans for them.” Mikki saw Chip start to speak and interrupted, “I know, as well I should.”

  Chip laughed, “Good day.” He was excited at the coming attack. His pilots had begun making the previous training exercise into a game. That meant they were now familiar with how to fly their ships in close to an Invader Battleship. His display activated and his excitement was immediately dampened. Drey said, “Admiral, I’m pulling your ships from the coming attack.”

  Chip was shocked, “Why are you doing that, Sir! We’re ready.”

  “We’re going to allow the Invaders to hit the planet.” Chip’s shock at the statement was obvious. Drey shook his head, “We’ve decided to allow them this victory in the hope that their main invasion will be done with just one on their fleets. If we stop the attack, our consensus is that they would attack wi
th multiple fleets.”

  Chip was angry but after considering the issue for a moment, he decided he could use the extra time to get his officers chosen and his squadrons organized. He thought a moment and said, “How are you going to hit them?”

  “We’re going to allow the Green Civilization to attack them with standard FTL missiles.” Chip started shaking his head and Drey said, “What?”

  “Just how many Invader ships will be destroyed if you only employ that tactic?”

  Drey thought a moment and his eyes narrowed, “Probably about twenty or thirty will be overwhelmed.”

  “Do you think they’ll buy this subterfuge with that small number of losses? They lost more than that when they only sent fifty ships. They also know that those ships were killed quickly, instead of being overwhelmed by a missile barrage.”

  “What are you suggesting?”

  “I say we send in a few of my ships to take out a limited number of their ships. I also think we should attempt to target the ship that’s leading the attack.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “This attack is important to them; I think they’ll send one of their best Commanders to lead it. If we could take him out, I believe they would be hurt a lot.”

  “Why?”

  “What if you were killed in an attack? Would that have an impact on our efforts?” Drey just stared at Chip. “What if I were to be killed, or Prince Montgomery, or Admiral Kregen?”

  “Alright, you’ve made your point. How many ships do we need to kill?”

  “At least sixty or seventy; if you project twenty or thirty will be killed by the missiles, we need to use my pilots to take out forty more.”

  “Getting to that Commander won’t be done easily.”

  “I have two pilots perfect for the attempt.”

  Drey thought about the idea and slowly started nodding, “I suspect you need to see if our new weapons will work more than anything else.” Chip nodded. “I’ll approve your limited attack. However, we’ll make it after we determine how many ships they lose to the missiles. If seventy ships are destroyed before that fleet makes it halfway to the planet, then we’ll not use your ships.”

  “Yes Sir.” Chip paused, “I’ve been wondering about something, Sir.”

  Drey had almost disconnected the call but stopped, ‘What is that?”

  “Why haven’t we hit that fleet with a Neutron Mine where it’s gathering outside that distant galaxy? That would put a stop to their invasion.”

  Drey smiled, “And what would be the blowback?”

  “I’m not sure what you’re asking?”

  “How many fleets would they send if that happened?”

  Chip reflected on that observation, “I understand.”

  “We’ve counted nine of those monster fleets that appear to be working together. We don’t know for certain that is all they have to use. There are too many unknowns to take that risk. However, if they start organizing to send multiple fleets against us, all bets are off.”

  “Thank you for straightening me out on that issue.”

  “What’s your plan?”

  “I’m going to have seventy ships available to attack. We might find that none of their ships are stopped by the missiles and I’ll send all seventy in if that’s the case. I’ll notify you before I launch an attack.”

  “That would be good. Get your crews ready; I suspect we’re going to need them.”

  “Are you certain they’re coming to the Green Capital?”

  Drey laughed, “Their biggest attack was there and it failed. If you’re looking for Big Foot, you go to the last place he was sighted. Oh, they’ll go there. Wouldn’t you?”

  “Yes Sir.”

  The panel went dark and Chip thought, “Big Foot? What in the heck was that?” He pulled up his data banks and entered a query. The answer went all the way back to humanity’s destroyed home world, Earth. How in the universe did Admiral Montgomery know about that creature?

  Chip received a copy of the battle plan for the coming attack and shook his head as he sighed. He was probably not going to be able to send his ships against the Invaders. He thought a lot of Drey before their conversation; but his knowledge of Ancient Earth’s history and the battle plan for the coming attack raised it to a very high level indeed. The man was brilliant.

  ***

  The Senior Father looked at his oldest son, “I want you clear on this; if you’re attacked and start losing ships, you will immediately run!”

  “What do you suspect, Father?”

  “I wish I knew. There’s something going on in that galaxy that we’ve not been able to determine. Ships have been destroyed and we’ve not been able to see what did it.”

  “Then why are we attacking with just a thousand ships?”

  “Because the High Council are idiots and refuses to see the danger. I’m forced to send in an attack to prove to them we need assistance in our coming main invasion.”

  “I’ll make sure we discover what’s going on. I promise not to take any dangerous risks.”

  “I know how good you are, Son; but there is too much that’s unknown. We’re still in the discovery phase of our invasion plans. I can’t afford to lose you.” The Son swelled with pride and left the bridge of his father’s ship. The Father thought about sending another commander but knew he didn’t have anyone else as competent. He contacted his Son’s second-in-command, “I am going to hold you personally responsible for protecting my Son. If anything happens to him, don’t come back.”

  “Yes Father.”

  The Father didn’t feel good about the coming attack. Something just wasn’t right.

  The thousand Invader Battleships were all gathered in formation inside the giant fleet’s ranks. The microprobe closest to them saw increased electrical activity and then jump screens began coming on. It sent the warning and thirty seconds later the thousand ships disappeared.

  Chip heard his alarms go off as Salud announced, “A thousand Invader Battleships are powering up their jump screens.”

  “Notify our ships involved in the attack. Go to weapons free and feed me everything coming from our probes.”

  Chip’s display activated and he didn’t have long to wait. The thousand Invaders appeared directly above the Green Capital and went to high speed as they flew into disrupted space. It would take them an hour to arrive at the planet.

  ***

  The Green Civilization’s Fleet Controller looked at his main wall display and heard his Sensor Controller announce, “They’ll arrive at the launch coordinates in twenty minutes.”

  He nodded, “Notify the Grey Ships.” He watched the giant Invader ships approaching his position and felt a deep anger. He knew it had to be done but he was furious at the price being paid. He looked at his personal board and saw his fifty thousand ships in subspace waiting for the Invader’s arrival.

  Space had been disrupted out to 250,000 miles from the planet but there was a small thousand mile band in the middle of the disruption that still allowed ships to enter subspace. Fifty thousand Green and Grey ships waited on each side of the incoming path the Invaders were taking to the planet. He looked at his Weapons Controller and saw him nod. Everything was ready. It would take the Invaders fourteen seconds to cross the undisrupted space. At two hundred and fifty thousand miles per hour, they wouldn’t have much time to detect the band. Even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to stop before they entered it. He smiled; he had a hot reception waiting for them.

  ***

  The attack Commander turned an eyestalk to his Nephew sitting directly to his right, “Status?”

  “Nothing showing on my scans, Uncle.”

  He looked at the planet on his display and saw it growing larger. His ships were almost halfway to the target and nothing had appeared to slow them down. This wasn’t right. Something was going on but he couldn’t determine what it was. In the last attack on this planet, the battleships had been hit as soon as they entered the disrupted space. He sai
d where all his bridge crew could hear, “Stay alert!” He saw his fleet arrive halfway to the planet and stood up as his Nephew shouted, “WE’VE ENTERED SPACE THAT HASN’T BEEN DISRUPTED!” He looked at his main display and saw ships on each side of his formation being hit by massive waves of missiles. His ship entered open space and he watched the ships to the side of him being blown apart.

  ***

  The Fleet Controller watched the oncoming Invaders and, just before they entered the band his ships were hiding in, he yelled, “LAUNCH!”

  Each of the fifty thousand ships on each side of the oncoming invaders released a hundred FTL missiles as they jumped away. Once the jump field around the missiles disappeared with the ship that released them jumping away, they popped into normal space and their targeting systems locked on the Invader Battleships and they ignited their thrusters. Five million FTL missiles roared into the flanks of the thousand Invaders and thousands of them hit individual ships. Those unfortunate enough to be hit were exploded into massive fireballs. Those massive fireballs burned the majority of the missiles following the first launch but more than two hundred of the Invaders were destroyed.

  The eight hundred survivors finally crossed the undisrupted band and began to be targeted by Green and Grey Ships that came roaring in and fired missiles salvos. The Commander watched as his ships began firing their main beams out at the incoming missiles and breathed a sigh of relief. The attacking ships were forced to keep a distance to avoid being hit by his ship’s beams and that gave the beam operators enough time to lay down a covering fire of main beams to burn the incoming missiles. It was a violent fight but his ships finally arrived at the planet and saw the incoming beams from the planet’s defenses. He nodded and his nephew ordered, “Launch the nuclear missiles.”

  Eighty thousand nuclear missiles were launched at the planet and the Invader Commander ordered his fleet to turn around. “Have our jump drives active to jump away as soon as we enter that open area.”

  He sat down in his command chair and looked at the casualty reports. He had lost two hundred and eighteen ships. Now he understood how the ships in the first attack had been destroyed. This tactic used by the defenders could easily be countered by keeping their jump drives active. The incoming ships would just immediately jump across the barrier and continue their flight to the targeted planet. “Send a recording to our Family of what’s happened here.”