Fighting for Melbourne Read online

  “Yes, Prime Minister.” Abby leaned back in her chair and Mulvaney asked, “What has you worried, Sir?”

  “You know that Earth went to the Fagan and asked about joining forces against the aliens?” Mulvaney nodded. “What happens if the aliens ask the Fagan to join forces to attack a civilization that’s forced them to go to wa?.”

  Mulvaney shrugged, “Sir, none of the three civilizations would ever agree to work with each other. All of them attack any civilization they encounter.”

  “I know that, Admiral. I don’t think the Fagan or aliens would ever agree to peace. But they might just agree to work together for a short period for their mutual welfare.”

  “You’re talking about a truce?”

  “Yes, I am, Admiral. Or whatever term they use to call a temporary truce. And by removing those scouts, both of them are going to start wondering who did it.”

  Mulvaney nodded, “I’ll make sure any future attacks are run through me first.”

  “That would be good, Admiral. Have any of our scouts heard the Fagan discussing this issue?’

  “Not yet, Sir.” Mulvaney paused and added, “I find it amazing that the Fagan broadcast their new encryption program to all of their vessels.”

  Abby shrugged, “They believed there were no alien ships in their space; they have no idea of our existence. That will change if they start to believe an unknown civilization is working against them. Keep me posted on what the scouts learn.”

  “I will, Prime Minister.” Mulvaney paused and asked, “Is this why you had the government offer a fifty-thousand crown payment to anyone on Melbourne willing to move to the colonies?”

  “Why do you ask, Admiral?”

  “You’re not telling me something, Prime Minister, and to be effective I need to know what’s going on.” Abby stared at Mulvaney and he added, “Either you trust me, or you need to find someone else to command our forces.”

  Abby blew out a hard breath, “Admiral, the odds of Melbourne being found within a year is better than seventy percent and higher than ninety-percent in two years.”

  Mulvaney’s eyes flew wide open and he sat down, “Are you sure about this?”

  “I’m not but the computer is. The payment has led to close to half of Melbourne’s population leaving for the colonies to assist in building our warships; at least that’s what they think they’re leaving to do. The truth is that we’re trying to move as much of Melbourne’s population as possible before we’re attacked. Right now, anyone on the planet is little more than the walking dead. I’ve named the plan to move our population, the Zombie Exercise.”

  “But Prime Minister, we’re building our new Garrions at an incredible rate.”

  “Mike, we’re building our ships on five planets; the aliens and Fagan are building up their forces on more than a thousand planets and we’ve not come up with a way to take out their planet killers and fortresses. If Melbourne is attacked, we can’t reveal our newest carriers and warships; we must keep the colonies hidden.”

  “So, you’re saying we sit back and not defend Melbourne.”

  “No, I’m not. The construction facilities on Melbourne are currently building Super Rabbits and they will attempt to defend Melbourne.” Admiral Mulvaney blinked. “Our using the Rabbits to attack them will convince them that Melbourne is the source of the attacks. If we use the new Garrions and Carriers, they’ll know they’re being built somewhere else.”

  “But we’ll never have enough ships to attack them, Prime Minister.”

  “Mike, Earth, the Britannia Aliens, and the Fagan are going to fight it out and they’ll reduce each other’s numbers over time. Our colonies will continue building against the day when we can take them on.”

  “What about the civilians still on Melbourne when it’s attacked?”

  “Once it becomes clear that either the Fagan or aliens are starting a search in our spiral arm for an advanced civilization, we will execute a massive exodus of our civilians.”

  “Do you think there will be enough time to make that happen?”

  “Our Super Rabbits will delay the search for a while. We have twenty-carriers on line now. The ten old model carriers can move a hundred-thousand civilians each and the fifteen new carriers can move two-hundred-thousand civilians each. That’s six and a half million civilians. With their increased speed, they can go to the colonies and return in three days. We have more than twenty-thousand military and commercial freighters also available to move the population and the computer estimates that a hundred-million civilians can be moved to the colonies every ten days. If we can delay the discovery of Melbourne forty-five days, we can move eighty-percent of the population currently on the planet. I’m increasing the amount to eighty-thousand crowns for every family that agrees to move to the colonies. I’m hoping twenty-percent of them will leave before the search of our spiral arm begins.”

  “The government doesn’t have enough funds to make that happen, Prime Minister.”

  “We don’t intend to pay it, Admiral. The citizens will have to understand that we did this to save their lives. We’ll tell them that we’re providing a new house for them on the colonies and saving their lives. I’m hoping they understand after the fact.”

  “This still won’t work, Sir.”

  “Tell me why, Admiral.”

  “What happens when Melbourne is attacked, and no people are on the planet? The attacker will know they’ve been moved somewhere else.”

  “Your responsibility is to make sure they don’t find out, Admiral.”

  “And just how am I going to do that?”

  Abby smiled and told him. Mulvaney was stunned by what she said but then started smiling.

  • • •

  “Grady, have you seen what happened during the most recent Fagan battle?”

  “Yes, I have, Taffy. Melbourne was incredibly stupid taking out the alien scouts.”

  “Have our scientists done a new projection?”

  Grady sighed, “The odds of Melbourne being discovered have gone up to eighty-percent within a year.”

  “What are we going to do, Grady?”

  “Taffy, we cannot get involved in the defense of Melbourne.”

  “What about Melbourne’s colony planets?” Grady was silent, and Taffy’s expression changed, “Grady, we can’t sit by and watch them destroyed!”

  “We’re going to have to cross that bridge when it happens, Taffy. That’s why we chose to colonize this planet far away from the other colonies. We also chose to colonize a planet orbiting a Red Giant Star. Finding New Britannia won’t be easily done, and we may find ourselves having to hide.”

  “Grady, can we live with ourselves if we do that?”

  “Taffy, we led Earth to the aliens to try and save Britannia. We put the lives of the survivors on Britannia ahead of Earth.”

  “But Earth is ruled by a dictator and is just as horrible as the aliens and Fagan. They would have enslaved the survivors on Britannia.”

  “But you realize we put the survivors ahead of Earth. The people on New Britannia are our responsibility and come ahead of everything else!”

  “And what happens if we sit back and allow Melbourne and its colonies to be destroyed and we’re discovered anyway?” Taffy asked with her hands on her hips.

  “Taffy, there isn’t a good answer. What would you suggest?”

  “We build up our defenses and do whatever we can to remove these three despicable civilizations.”

  Taffy, you need to get real! There’s no way we can match their forces.”

  “We don’t have to, Grady! We just have to come up with a means of removing them in large numbers.”

  Grady glared at her in silence for a moment and then asked, “And just how are we going to do that?”

  “Hey, you’re the scientist here! Do your scientist stuff and make it happen!” Grady burst out laughing and Taffy sighed, “You have Joshua and the best scientists from Melbourne here. You built the Rex Rabbit and it was capable
of destroying ten to twenty alien and Earth warships and that was with severe power limitations. Don’t tell me you can’t build a warship that can take on much higher numbers than that and survive.”

  Grady’s eyes closed slightly as he thought about the new warship being built on New Britannia. He said absently, “The main issue will be the huge vessels used by the three enemies.”

  “Just find the right rock to hit them, Grady.” Grady was silent again and Taffy said softly, “This new warship we’re building is large enough to launch missiles the size of the Rex Rabbit. Surely you can come up with something that could break through their defenses.”

  Grady was still staring off into space and after a long moment, he said, “Taffy, kiss Candy for me. I need to go to the lab.” Grady turned and left their living room. Taffy knew his expression; he had come up with a thought and needed to work on it immediately. She heard Candy waking up from her nap and she went to her bed and picked her up. She felt differently about things now that she was a mother. Hiding was not what was needed; removing the threat to her daughter was what was called for. She was not going to run again.

  • • •

  Supreme Fleet Admiral Jennings sat in front of the ten most powerful leaders on Earth. A woman sitting in the middle of the ten stated, “It appears that civilization in the next spiral arm attacked the aliens’ front lines and caused massive damage.”

  “Yes, they did, Councilor.”

  “And you’re suggesting we go and attack both of them?”

  Admiral Jennings nodded, “Yes, I am.”

  “Why should we do that? We can just sit back and watch them fight each other.”

  “That is what I’d recommend but they’ve stopped doing that. If we just sit back, they will both build up their forces and eventually turn their attention to attacking us here. We need to lower the numbers of warships they have to use until they start attacking each other again.”

  “That idea is ludicrous, Admiral. Both of them have giant vessels our warships can’t stand up against!”

  The man sitting in the middle of the table raised his hand and the woman sat back. He turned to the woman and said sarcastically, “Do you not think Admiral Jennings doesn’t know that?” He turned to Jennings and smiled, “You are aware of that, are you not, Admiral?”

  “I am, Excellency.”

  The Supreme Dictator leaned forward, “They why are you suggesting an attack?”

  “Currently, we have more than ten-thousand Defense Platforms around Earth to defend it. But we can’t win this war if we sit back and allow our enemies to build up their forces without acting against them. We have twenty-four of the new high-speed Defense Platforms that can match the speed of our warships. We must buy time to build more of them and reducing their forces will accomplish that. An attack on them will force them into a stalemate and we can attack them when we choose, Excellency.”

  “Why would they be stalemated if we attack?”

  “Because neither of them would be willing to risk attacking each other with the threat of us moving in if they do. Their large vessels cannot stand up to our Defense Platforms and we can use them to reduce the numbers facing us.” The Dictator was silent, and Jennings continued, “All of us know that our warships will be useless in defending Earth against those giant warships. Since we can’t use them here, they can be used to take out the enemies’ warships in their territory along with their large warships.”

  “And just how do you envision an attack against them, Admiral?”

  “Excellency, we’ll surround the Defense Platforms with a Fighting Square to hold off their warships and used the Defense Platforms to take out their major vessels. If things start going wrong, we’ll back off and return to Earth.”

  “And what will prevent them from following your fleets back?” the Dictator asked in a wicked tone.

  “Their warships won’t be able to follow us because our Defense Platforms will destroy them. Their major vessels are too slow to keep up with the new Defense Platforms,” Jennings replied.

  “So, you’re suggesting that all that we would be risking in attacking them is twenty-four new Defense Platforms and a hundred-thousand warships?”

  “Yes, Excellency.”

  “And what happens if both of them decide to attack Earth, Admiral?”

  Jennings smiled, “Then they’ll have no survivors, Excellency. The range of our Defense Platforms far exceeds the range of their major warships and they’ll never get close enough to Earth to pose a danger. However, I don’t think that will be a problem.”

  “Why not!?”

  “They’ll realize that it would be foolish to take on our defenses. In less than a year, we’ll have another thousand Defense Platforms and we’ll be ready to go out and defeat them.”

  “Then why not wait a year?”

  “Excellency, their numbers must not be allowed to grow to the point where they would represent a danger to us. We must reduce their numbers of warships to maintain an advantage.”

  The Dictator stared at Admiral Jennings and then smiled, “You’re right about our warships not standing up to a massive attack by their large warships here at Earth. Your plan sounds intriguing and I’m approving it. If for no other reason than to see how our Defense Platforms currently match up with their new vessels.”

  “Thank you, Excellency.”

  • • •

  Admiral Martov was given a choice of which fleet he wanted to command. He struggled with the choice and decided to command the fleet going after the Fagan Civilization. His Second-in-Command made a point he hadn’t considered, “Admiral, the Fagan civilization is much closer to Earth than the aliens. If we’re forced to run, we won’t have as far to escape.”

  Martov nodded, “You’re right, Gary. But our scouts have reported that their major warships have stardrives and are faster than the aliens.”

  “That’s true, but the range of their weapons is shorter, Admiral,” Gary responded. “We can hit them much further out and if things get dicey, we can run and keep them at bay.”

  Martov sat back and thought it over. The aliens had a new major warship that was not well known. He contacted Admiral Jennings, “Sir, I will lead the fleets going to attack the Fagan Civilization.”

  “That’s a wise decision, Admiral. I’d choose that one as well,” Jennings replied. “Get your fleets organized and be ready to launch in six days.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  • • •

  Scott Robinson sat in his stealth scout and wondered how much longer he would remain on duty until he was relieved. He turned up his earphones and listened to an ancient music group Midnight Oil. He started singing along, “How can we sleep while our beds are burning…” He heard a ping through his headphones and ripped them off; what was this? Thousands of warships were moving out of orbit around Earth and moving into two giant formations. He was stunned when he saw twenty-four giant Defense Platforms move out with them. “Ken are you getting this!?”

  “I am. It appears Earth is planning an attack.”

  “They’re forming up in two different locations, Ken. They must be launching an attack on the aliens and the Fagan!” Scott responded. “I’m notifying fleet!” Ten minutes later, Scott was ordered to follow one of the formations and Ken was assigned the other. Scott realized his relief was not going to happen any time soon.

  • • •

  Abby looked at the feed coming in from the two Stealth Super Rabbits assigned to Earth and listened to Mulvaney ask for orders. “Notify all the stealth scouts of the coming attack and have them in position to record what happens. Make sure they understand that under no circumstances will they allow themselves to be detected, Admiral.”

  “Yes Sir! What do you think this means?”

  Abby smiled, “Earth might just be buying us some more time, Admiral. Keep me updated on what the Fagan High Leader says about this.”

  “Will do.”

  Abby sat back. This is just what the doctor ordered;
a distraction to prevent questions about white ships from coming up.

  • • •

  Squadron Commander Wade Alexander began issuing orders, “All stealth scouts, Earth is launching an attack on the Fagan forces shortly. All scouts intercepting communications at the Fagan main planets will remain in place and send any communications you intercept to Fleet Control. All other scouts will move to the side of Fagan space closest to Earth and take up positions to record what happens. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL YOU ALLOW YOUR SHIPS TO BE DETECTED!! If that means missing something, miss it! Report in on the receipt of this order!” Wade saw his panel start illuminating with green lights and activated his thrusters. He was not going to miss this.

  • • •

  Squadron Commander Lilly Parker issued the same orders to her scout wings and moved out from the Fagan front lines. When the aliens detected the Earth Fleet moving in they were going to explode out of their lines like a swarm of angry hornets. It wouldn’t pay to be anywhere near the course the Earth Fleets were moving. Her stealth scouts could move in once the battle kicked off.

  Chapter Five

  Admiral Martov looked at the tactical monitor and nodded to Gary, “Launch the fleets.” Martov’s flagship was in the center of twelve giant Defense Platforms. Six formations of eight-thousand-three-hundred warships surrounded the Defense Platforms and the huge gathering went into their stardrives and disappeared from above Earth. The other attack fleet wasn’t prepared and Martov smiled; this would look good on his record. Once these two civilizations were defeated, he might be given a planet to rule. His smile grew larger as he watched his ships go to maximum speed.

  • • •

  Alarms were going off in the High Leader’s chamber and the Senior Fleet Manager appeared on his monitor, “High Leader, our scouts have detected a large fleet of warships moving toward our space!”

  “The enemy has launched another attack?”

  “No, High Leader. These warships are coming from the direction of the civilization that asked us to join them!”

  “WHAT?”

  “Yes, High Leader. I’m sending our fleets to meet them outside our territory like you ordered.”