Saxon Andrews - The power of a Queen

“We left one of our small ships behind after the last battle and we’re going to have it send us a feed on the next one. I was wondering if you might want to see it too.”

“I thought you said the Humans could detect your ships even unpowered,” Tgon-Gee said suspiciously.

“You’re right. But no ship is completely unpowered. You have to have environmental controls on. We parked the ship on an asteroid with a high metal content and turned off all power. The three man crew has lived in space suits for three weeks after the last battle until everything settled down. The power they use now is only for atmosphere and heat. So far they have not been discovered. Are you interested?”

“Absolutely, after hearing about the size of the fleet being sent this time, I think you were giving these Humans far too more credit than they deserve. I hate that we’re going to miss out on the spoils of occupation.”

Dorg looked at the Crown Prince of the Glod and said, “Ambassador. If I’m wrong about your race being set up by the Alliance then I’ll resign my position with the military. I went there with 2,000 ships and barely escaped with my life. I didn’t want to see you as weakened as my world has become.”

Tgon-Gee said, “Admiral, you don’t have to resign either way. I appreciate your concern for my people whether you are right or wrong. This should be good viewing, how do you intend to get it to me?”

“Give me a secure communicator channel designation you want to have it sent and as soon as it starts, I’ll notify you and start transmitting.”

Tgon-Gee pushed a lever and a link appeared on Dorg’s screen. “Use that one, Admiral. I’ll be waiting for your call.”

Kosiev was watching the Alliance fleet go thru its maneuvers and had become almost bored by it. He could see that those maneuvers wouldn’t work with the speed of his ships. Then he saw something happening that caught his attention. The fleet was organizing into three groups. They were going to come in from three different jump points. He had to reorganize his ships quickly. “Kelly, have the Gardner’s report to the briefing room immediately, please.”

“Aye, Aye, Sir.”

Tag and Danielle entered the briefing room and Tag said, “What’s up?”

Kosiev pointed at the monitor and said, “The Alliance fleet is dividing into three groups; two large ones and a smaller third.”

Tag and Danielle watched the screen and Danielle said, “Those larger ships are all in the smaller group. Do you think that’s significant?”

Tag looked at Kosiev and asked, “Admiral, if you were going to plan an attack, how would you do it if the previous one lost 2,000 ships?”

Kosiev thought a moment, and then said, “I would send 2000 ships in to tie down the enemy’s fleet then jump a second group in to attack from a different direction. I suspect they think we will meet them just inside the star drive limit like before which would allow them to jump the second fleet almost on top of us.”

“But what about the third group,” Danielle asked?

Tag looked at her and said, “It’s the makeup of that group that gives away its purpose.” Danielle and Kosiev looked at him showing their bewilderment. “Just like their occupation of Ross, if they can take control of the planet, then they can hold our civilians hostage to stop our resistance. It’s the Vgrig killers that are going to do that because that is what drives them. If I’m right, the smaller group will jump first to the other side of the sun from Earth and start moving in system to time their arrival at Earth with the battle at Jupiter’s orbit. I’m sure if they nuke a couple of our largest cities we would get the message. Then it won’t matter who is winning the battle, we would have to surrender.”

“What are we going to do about it,” Danielle asked?

“Basically, nothing; we’ll have 450 ships waiting an hour inside the limit and 450 out of our system ready to jump in when called. When the first group reaches our position and the conflict begins, the second Alliance fleet should jump in. They might come earlier once they recognize that they must travel an hour inside the jump limit. Once the second group jumps in, our ships not in our solar system will let them get 40 minutes inside the SD limit and jump in behind them. Our ships are so much faster that we will close on them is less than 10 minutes after we jump. I hope the recording ships come with the first group so the Alliance won’t see our tactics. It’s also important that none of the ships that attack Earth escape. We have to keep our fortresses a secret as long as possible.”

Kosiev pressed a button and said, “Ensign Kelly, get me the Cleveland on a secure channel. I’m going to send the Cleveland to the other side of the sun and have her track any movement in that part of our solar system. She can also disrupt any communications if necessary.”

“That’s a good idea. I suspect that the Vgrig will be somewhat frustrated trying to get thru our screen around the planet. Once we settle the battle with the first two fleets, half of our ships will jump to the other side of the sun and start moving in on the Vgrig ships from that direction. We’ll be much closer to the Star drive limit and should get back there and jump across the system before they could escape. The remainder of our ships will move in system toward them. That’s the plan unless you have any other suggestions.”

Kosiev thought and said, “Do we use the fort’s weapons?”

Tag thought a moment, “Only if they try to fly a suicide ship into it at full speed. I still think the screen would hold; it’s at half power now and has grown to 50 feet thick. But there’s not a good reason to see with so much at risk if I’m wrong. Does this plan meet your approval Admiral? Danielle?”

Kosiev said, “It sounds good to me.”

Danielle said, “Don’t forget the ship warning them that we will resist their occupation.”

Tag looked at Kosiev and the Admiral said, “It’s already in place. The Saratoga will control it and will also be sending a feed of the action to Central Command and to Terl on Cainth. At the end of the battle, one of our ships will be shown approaching the Saratoga and firing as we cut the feed.”

Danielle looked at them and said, “Are we over confident? We’re sending video of this assuming that we are going to win. Are the two of you sure of the outcome? I confess that four thousand ships scare me.”

Tag looked at her, “Danielle, before we took on those 2000 ships with 350 of ours, I was petrified that our technology would not win out. I saw so many of our ships dying in flames and felt that we were in serious trouble but most of our losses happened within the first 30 minutes of the conflict. After that our ships learned how to use each other’s screen to protect themselves and our losses stopped. We also learned the right mix of ships to fight together and also to hold our formation and attack together instead of just picking a target and going after it. Our ships know how to save each other now. The small ships empty their overloaded screens into the battle ships screen and the battle ship releases the excess energy by firing its primary beams. We would not fire before until we were next to a target; now we know that firing the primary beam keeps their screen stable. Danielle, we’ve learned a lot and now we’re going to use 900 of our ships against 4000 of theirs. That’s more than a 30 % improvement in the ratio of ships than last time. We will lose some ships but we will learn from it. Our plan is to try and make sure that no one else learns from it. Are you sure you want to be here when the battle begins?”

Danielle looked into Tags eyes and saw his concern and fear for her and said, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but by your side. Whatever happens; we’ll face it together.”