Death Never Leaves a Calling Card Page 5

  He stared at the long-range monitor and forced himself to relax. He’d start the scouts training once the Ghosts were far enough ahead to warn him if anything was detected. Leb looked at him, “Admiral, I’ve received a message from Admiral Oliver directed to your attention.”

  “Send it to my quarters, Commodore.”

  Tommy stood up and left the bridge. He arrived in his quarters and activated his panel. Sam’s face appeared and he said, “Tommy, I’ve recorded a conversation I had with a newly promoted admiral as well as a discussion he had with Admiral Hummel. I think you need to take a look at them. I hope this helps and stay safe.”

  Tommy pressed a button, “Roger, I need you to come to my quarters.”

  “On my way.”

  Roger arrived and they viewed the recordings. Roger shook his head and Tommy looked at him, “I’m really glad we got this.”

  “We’re going to have to completely change our tactics.”

  Tommy nodded, “Yes, we are. I want our units disbanded and a new pattern developed to attack at the Sand Civilization’s planet.”

  “There’s at least some good news in this.” Tommy looked at him, “We won’t need as many commanders.”

  “No, but the ones we select will need to be incredibly smart. We’ll determine who they are once maneuvers begin. I need you to come up with a flow pattern.”

  “I’ll get on it, immediately.” Roger left and Tommy looked up, “Computer, I need you to develop a means for our scouts being able to track every other scout around their position.”

  “They all have transponders. They should be activated during combat.”

  “That’s a good place to start. Now we need to determine how close they can come to each other and avoid the blasts of Tronan Warships.”

  “That is going to take some time, Admiral.

  “Take all the time you need as long as you have it in three weeks.”

  “You’re all heart.”

  Tommy smiled and began to think that the Computer was starting to sound more and more like him. Is that possible?

  • • •

  Three weeks later, half of the scouts were designated at Tronan Warships and ordered to fly in a tight formation. The other half were designated as the attack force and were sent out to attack the formation. The attackers flew into the huge formation and Roger screamed over the general frequencies, “You are violating the minimum range!! Maintain your distance!”

  Tommy stared at the monitor and shook his head. He lifted his communicator and said, “All ships, return to your starting positions.”

  Roger looked at him, “What are you doing?”

  “How long will those Tronan Warships remain in a tight formation when they start going up in massive blasts?”

  Roger raised a shoulder, “Probably not very long.”

  Tommy lifted his communicator, “Once the attack commences, all ships in the tight formations will scatter. You will only be allowed to move at half of your maximum speed.”

  Tommy looked at Roger, “Do it again.”

  Two hours later, the scouts were recalled to the Maw. Tommy looked at Roger, “I want all of our crews in the conference room in three-hours.”

  “Sir, with eighty-thousand crewmen on board now, it won’t hold all of them now.”

  “Then have only the crews that were attackers in attendance.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  • • •

  The conference room wasn’t full…but it wasn’t far from it. The assembled crews sat in silence and knew they had made a mess of things during the maneuvers. Tommy stood up and said over the PA, “I’m going to show some videos I received from Admiral Oliver. Once it’s completed, I’ll be asking you some questions.” Tommy looked at Roger and he started the video. The hour that Admiral Oliver thought about what was discussed was reduced to five minutes but it seemed to take forever. The video ended and Tommy looked out at the pilots, “Do you understand the necessity of not getting close to each other?” The room was silent and he said louder, “DO YOU?”

  “Before that can happen there needs to be some understood guidelines before we attack, Sir,” a voice shouted from the crowd.

  Tommy looked around and said, “Who said that?” His question was greeted with silence. “I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!!”

  A moment later, a young woman stood up and yelled, “I did, Sir.”

  Tommy looked at an Ensign, who went to the woman and handed her a microphone. “Tell me what you mean!”

  The woman looked around and then said, “Sir, during the last maneuver, I was forced to break off six attacks to maintain my distance from other scouts getting too close. During seven other attacks, scouts moved inside the required distance before I could break off my attacks.”

  “What did you mean by guidelines?”

  “Sir, we’re all rushing into the Scouts that were assigned to be Tronan Warships haphazardly with no understanding of what everyone is doing. I think we should know our area to attack and stay inside that area.”

  “I need more detail than that…” Tommy lowered his eyes.

  “Lieutenant Nettles, Sir.”

  “Tell me what you’re thinking, Lieutenant.”

  “I think we should have a line of attack and not move outside the line. We should be able to count on the scouts attacking on each side of us that they will keep their line of attack and that will reduce the likelihood of us having to constantly avoid each other. I spend more time reacting to the proximity alarm that I do targeting a Tronan, Sir.”

  “What is the distance from each other you need to maintain, Lieutenant?”

  “Four miles, Sir.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because if a Tronan goes up and we’re closer than that, we could be killed by the ensuing shock wave or debris. If we’re more than four miles, we should be ok.”

  Tommy nodded, “Come down here and sit at the table with me!” The woman blew out a breath and handed the microphone to the Ensign. She stepped out of the row and started moving toward the front table. She wondered if this Admiral didn’t like being challenged. Tommy looked out at the assembly, “Does any of you know the dimensions of the target ships when they scattered?”

  A young man stood up and the Ensign took him the microphone.”

  “It was sixty-miles high and a hundred and ten miles across, Sir.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I scanned it before I initiated my run, Sir.”

  Tommy asked, “Who else knew those dimensions?”

  An older man stood up and was handed the microphone, “The depth of the Tronan ships was two-hundred miles as well, Sir.”

  “Anyone else?” Tommy asked. No one stood up. Tommy said, “The last two of you to speak will move to the front table. “How many of you did not violate the minimum distance protocol?”

  Three pilots stood up. Tommy looked at the closest pilot and said, “How many ships did you hit during the exercise?”

  “Twenty, Sir.”

  “Tell me how you did it.”

  “I programed my computer to sound a different tone for the starboard and port side of my scout whenever another scout moved inside the four-mile limit, Sir. I expanded the scanner’s view to ten miles and I could see any transponders in my line of attack. I only went after ships on my line that had no other scouts close by. When I heard the alarm, I moved away from the side sounding the alarm until it went off. If both went off, I’d accelerate until they went off.”

  Tommy looked at the other two and one shouted, “That’s similar to what I did, Sir.”

  Tommy waited until the pilot was handed a microphone and said, “You said it was similar, how was it different?”

  “When a scout rushed in before I could react, I moved to the opposite side of a Tronan vessel and put it between my scout and the attacker as I accelerated outside the four-mile limit.”

  Tommy smiled at her and said, “The three of you move to the front table.” The three arrived and s
at down. They looked at the others and wondered what was going on.

  Tommy looked at the gathering and said, “There’s something that all of you must understand. The tactics to guide you in the coming fight have not been written.” He waited as the pilots absorbed that information and Tommy could see them start feeling apprehension. “If you’re depending on me to know everything, you’re in deep trouble. The scouts you’re flying are just as new to me as they are to you. We were sent out before any tactics could be developed to get to Tronan Space before they launched the invasion.”

  Tommy paused and said, “I’ve just learned about the danger of attempting to attack the Tronan Formations with an organized and orderly battle plan. If we follow the old patterns, most of you are going to die. You’ll die by being slammed into the walls, bulkheads, or even your own consoles by concussion from the blast of a Tronan Warship exploding or the debris that blows out from them. We must develop tactics that keep you safe…well, safer. There is no safe place in interstellar war.”

  Tommy said, “Computer, put an image of the Tronan assigned scouts after they scattered.” The giant wall monitor illuminated and vast numbers of ships appeared. “Place marking lines on each side of that image indicating a distance of sixteen-miles. I want them running both horizontal and vertical.”

  The lines appeared and Tommy used a laser pointer to point to the top horizontal line, “Notice that if we sent a wave of scouts into that gathering of ships eight miles above the first line, and separated each scout in the lines by eight-miles, they should be able to move forward and attack anything in front of them. As long as each scout stayed on their line of attack and doesn’t move more than four-miles to either side, they shouldn’t encounter any other scouts in their path.” Tommy turned around and said, “Right?”

  The room yelled, “Yes, Sir.”

  Tommy pointed to one of the vertical lines, “And if the same procedure is followed on the vertical lines, the same thing would hold true.”

  “Sir.”

  Tommy looked at the young woman who was first at the table, “Yes, Lieutenant.”

  “That wouldn’t be true if scouts were moving in on the horizontal lines at the same time.”

  Tommy smiled and said, “True, Lieutenant.” He turned back to the gathering, “But if the wave of scouts going in horizontal moved in first, then they would clear the gathering in less than three-minutes. At that moment, the vertical attack would move in. Once they cleared, the horizontal waves would have already turned and would be reentering the gathering.”

  Tommy smiled as he heard the woman say, “Sir, I believe the Tronan ships would then scatter even more.”

  Tommy didn’t turn around as he said, “And then they would have more than four miles between their ships and it would become a process of going after targets of opportunity.”

  “Sir, we only had twenty-thousand ships to attack. The Tronan will be coming with millions.”

  Tommy turned around and looked at the older Pilot, “That would mean that as long as you remained in your line of attack, you’d just take longer to clear their vessels. If necessary, there could be a range where all scouts would break off the attack and leave the Tronan Forces. Remember, their blasters cannot harm your scouts. The only thing you must avoid are the explosions and being rammed from the sides. The Tronan ships are not fast enough to come at you from the rear, if you maintain your speed. You only have to watch out for them coming in from the sides. Setting up two more different sounding alarms on each side to warn you of their approach is all you’ll need to avoid them. They cannot come close to matching our maneuverability.”

  The conference room was silent and Tommy turned around and looked at the six pilots sitting at the table. He said over the microphone you are looking at your new commanders.” Tommy looked back at the assembly, “Those of you that demonstrate success will be rewarded and those of you who fail will be punished! These six pilots have demonstrated behaviors we all need to survive. They will lead you into combat, but once it starts, you will only have yourself to depend on. We will provide guidelines that we’ll follow but this is going to be a ship-on-ship war. Follow your guidelines, and you might survive what’s coming. You’re dismissed.”

  Tommy turned around and looked at the six pilots at the table, as the gathering stood up, and said over the microphone, “The six of you are promoted to Commodore and will remain behind and develop the guidelines we will use to attack. Each of you will be given eight-thousand scouts to command.”

  The woman’s eyes widened slightly, “Sir, there’s only forty-thousand scouts. There’s not enough to assign us eight-thousand each.”

  Tommy smiled, “I knew you’d see that first. You are promoted to One Star and will be in overall command of your commodores. You will report directly to me and I’ll want your completed guidelines in two days. I will make this room available to you along with any information in our ship’s computer for you and your team to come up with your report. Is that clear.”

  The woman was shaking her head and Tommy said, “Get it together, Admiral. Your pilots are counting on you to get it done.” The woman looked at the other pilots and the older man said, “We’ll support you, Sir.”

  The woman smiled and said, “Then let’s get to work.” She looked at Tommy and he said, “You have what you need. Use it.”

  Tommy turned and left the room with Roger right behind him. “Are you sure about this, Sir.”

  “No, but the pilots are. Notice most of them are sitting back down to hear what they come up with. Let’s see what our new admiral has to say. As they arrived at the exit they heard her say over the PA, “We are going to discuss this where all of you can hear. If any of you think of something we’re missing, you need to immediately let us know.”

  Tommy smiled and left the room. Roger said, “You never cease to amaze me.”

  “Get the names of the pilots that left early. They don’t have what it takes to be leaders.”

  “You used to leave meetings early, Sir,” Roger replied.

  “And look at how much time and effort and it took for Randy to prepare me to lead. We don’t have that much time to waste.” Roger nodded and knew Tommy was finally grown up.

  Chapter Four

  Randy came roaring off the filament and saw Delilah’s Sword surrounded by shuttles. His eyes narrowed and suddenly, Jek appeared on his monitor, “Welcome to paradise, Admiral.”

  “If you say so. I wouldn’t call that planet a paradise.”

  Jek chuckled, “No, I guess I wouldn’t either. The predators here make the Nagsta’s look like kittens. You are being given the responsibility to protect the Sword from attack.”

  “Who do you expect to attack?”

  “Admiral Oliver is bringing some of the Tronan Leaders on board and he is then going to go the Heaven’s system and see if the Tronan Fleets stranded there might agree to move peacefully to New Heaven.”

  Randy glanced at Walt and then turned back to Jek, “Sir, there are more than twenty-thousand Tronan Warships in that system.”

  Jek smiled, “I know, isn’t it great? You’ll have the opportunity to trial our new technology against them if they don’t cooperate.”

  “But I only have three-thousand scouts with me.”

  Jek snorted, “Seven to one odds aren’t bad. Besides, it’ll give your training staff the opportunity to really learn how the new scouts operate in combat conditions. You ought to be ecstatic by this.”

  Randy shook his head, “Jel was right about you, Jek.”

  “Oh? How so.”

  “She said you are first, last, and always a warrior and odds mean nothing to you. You live for the fight.”

  Jek shrugged, “She knows me well. What can I say? By the way, did I tell you Sam wants a report on how you are going to go about defending the Sword prior to leaving?”

  “No, you didn’t; when are we leaving?”

  “In less than an hour; I suggest you get on it.”

  The s
creen went dark and Walt asked, “Is this common?”

  Emily shook her head as she began typing into her console, “No, not really.”

  Tasha stared at her and asked, “Are you writing the report?”

  Randy shrugged, “She’s better at it than I am and she is the better of us at tactics.” Tasha looked at Randy with lowered eyebrows. “Tasha, I’m so involved in the fighting that I don’t have the opportunity to sit back and really see the big picture, Emily does.”

  Tasha looked at Walt and he smiled, “I imagine that will also hold true with us. I’ll be so focused on operating the ship that I’ll be pushed to see the entire picture. You will have that opportunity.”

  “You’re saying that because all I have to do is pull a lever.”

  “I’m saying that because between each pull of that lever, you can look at all the monitors and keep track of what’s happening. I’ll be flying the ship at the next target and focusing on the position of Tronan Warships as well as other scouts operating around us.”

  Tasha nodded and said, “Then between now and then, I want you to teach me everything you know about tactics.”

  “I’ve never commanded a ship before, Ta.”

  “No, but you’ve read everything ever written about it.”

  Randy looked at Walt, “Is that so?”

  Walt shrugged, “There’s a lot of empty time manning a blaster. Tactics have always fascinated me.”

  “Who is the earliest tactician you’ve studied.”

  “The earliest known records of military tactics were written 2200 BC on ancient Earth in Sumer during war with Akkad. Menes of Egypt and the Zhou Dynasty in China were also written around the same period. The records about Alexander the Great were very illuminating and what Leonidas and the 300 Spartans did at Thermopylae is amazing.”

  “Did you know that Leonidas is named after both of them?” Walt tilted his head and Randy smiled, “His full name is Leonidas Alexander Piper. I understand that when he was a mercenary officer his troops called him Leonidas the Great.”

  Walt smiled, “I’ve not met him personally. I look forward to it.”

  “He is also a historian on human history. I suspect the two of you will have a lot to discuss.”