Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time) (18 page)

“Then we’ll end up with the ones that are lucky. I suspect the one’s that survive will be quite good.”

Angel looked at Bret and he said, “That is what space combat is; ships chasing ships.”

Angel looked at the three new Rear Admirals and smiled, “Set up the area where the exercise will take place and make sure the computer places the ships so that no one has an advantage due to location.”

Bret tilted his head, “That will require a huge volume of space, Sir.”

“Perhaps, but in real combat there are no limitations. This will tell us a lot about where we are as a fleet.”

Bret shrugged and nodded, “I’ll get Fleet Control to set up the area and the coordinates each ship will be assigned to start the exercise.”

Dizzy smiled, “I expect ships from the same unit to possibly work together until the majority are eliminated.”

Angel smiled, “Bret, see if Fleet can distribute the ships so that they are uniformly mixed so that no two ships from the same unit are next to each other.” Bret nodded and lifted his communicator. “Arve, please send out a notification to all ships about the coming exercise and what the restrictions are.”

Arve’s eyes narrowed, “What restrictions are you talking about? Other than staying inside the confined zone and using training weapons, what other restrictions are there?”

“None.” Arve smiled and lifted his communicator to contact his XO.

Bret said, “I’ve asked Fleet to have any ship that is knocked out of the competition to be immediately jumped out of the area and their communications blocked so they can’t assist anyone still in the exercise.”

Dizzy laughed, “I like it. It will give them time to see what they did wrong. You should have the feed from the competition sent to their ships so they can watch; they’ll learn from that as well.”

Angel pursed her lips and nodded, “I’m really looking forward to this.”

Bret looked up from his panel, “Fleet says they’ve received instructions to work with us and they can have the exercise set up in two days.”

Grest said, “You might want to delay sending the orders until six hours before the exercise begins.”

Angel looked at him and Bret said, “You don’t want them to work together.”

“If I had two days, I’d have forty ships working with me until all the others were eliminated.”

Angel looked at Arve, “Delay sending the orders.”

Arve picked up his communicator and started rapidly speaking. After a moment he leaned back in his chair, “My XO was about to push the send button. He hasn’t sent them yet.”

Angel smiled, “Good! Let’s see what we’ve got, shall we?”

• • •

General Robinson rushed into Katherine’s office, “Sir, a Blue Warship has emerged into normal space outside the edge of our galaxy.”

Katherine sat forward and pressed her panel, “Arvolo, where are you?”

“I’m boarding my Rover to go out and watch the Fleet maneuvers.”

“We have a Blue Warship holding position outside the galaxy. I need you to take the three Jukeboxes and see what they want.”

Dat shook his head, “That will prevent Angel from being present at her exercise.”

“Reality trumps games, Admiral. Get them moving.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

Bret looked up from his panel, “We’ve been ordered to wait for Fleet Admiral Arvolo and to then go with him to meet a Blue Warship!”

Angel shook her head, “But the exercise kicks off in ten minutes!”

“The orders come from Admiral Hull’s office.”

Angel pushed a button, “Dizzy, we have been called away. You will have to manage the exercise in our absence.”

“I’ll do my best, Sir.”

“Grest, you and Arve jump to my location and form up on the Wellington.”

“Yes Sir, I’ll notify Arve.”

“Angel, have you been notified?”

“I have Admiral; we’re forming up and waiting on your arrival.”

“I’ll be there in less than a minute. You should have the jump coordinate before I arrive.”

Angel looked at her panel, “It just came in, Sir.”

“I’m sorry about taking you away from your exercise.”

“We understand. We’ll be jumping as soon as you are on board, Sir.”

Angel saw her eighteen thousand battleships arrayed in the exercise zone and wished she could see how they performed. She looked at Bret and he smiled, “You have to have your priorities, Sir.”

Angel smiled and heard, “The Admiral is on board.”

Angel lowered her visor and said, “Jump in three, two, one…” The three white battleships disappeared just as the exercise began. Dizzy sighed and watched the exercise zone explode into motion as thousands of starships began maneuvering at high speed. She was glad she was present; it offered her an advantage in selecting the ones to command her two task forces. That was the benefit of being left behind. She laughed and hoped the others wouldn’t be back too quickly.

• • •

Mark looked at Jillian, “Are you still in agreement that we only operate defensively?”

“I am, Sir. The order of the day is survival, not how many ships you can eliminate.”

“The first jump coordinate is still clear; jumping now.”

The Denver jumped to one of the eight corners that bounded the site of the exercise. He whipped the ship round sideways and kept it five hundred yards out from the boundary. The only way a ship could attack was to come at them from directly ahead. The bow and tail blasters were launching barrages of weak training pulses out preventing a ship from coming in from the sides. The only open channel was directly in front of the huge warship.

Jillian ignored the ship’s status and focused on any Jukeboxes moving toward them. She kept the other seven corners of the operational area in her helmet and locked in the coordinates. Three of them were still empty of ships. She saw a Jukebox dive away from an attacker and turn toward the Denver, “Launch barrage in two, one, now!” The barrage left at light speed and moved toward the incoming warship. She saw that it would meet the ship outside the effective range of the attacker’s blasters. She heard Lt. McAfee say over the tactical channel, “You have your assigned zones; hit that ship as soon as it moves around the barrage.”

Jillian watched and saw two ships turn and move toward the ship moving in to attack and knew the attacker saw them as well. She used her visor to read the distance between them and knew the attacker saw that he could get off a volley at the Denver and jump before the other two ships could arrive. Ummm, what would those two ships do if the ship they attacked didn’t reappear on their displays? She decided to wait until the Denver was endangered by more than three ships before she jumped away. She prayed she was making the right decision.

The attacker came over the top of the barrage and was immediately hit by a broadside of eighty blasters. It immediately disappeared as the computer determined it was out of the competition. Jillian yelled, “Launch another barrage, now!”

The barrage moved out from the Denver and Jillian saw that the two attackers would arrive inside the range of their blasters. She used the helmet to determine that they would need two tenths of a second to lock on the Denver. She decided she would know if the theory of multiple blasters hitting a ship would block the beams they fired. She knew McAfee’s crews had worked hard on targeting all zones around the barrage and hoped their hard work paid off. If she jumped away, it would tell them she didn’t trust them. She stared at the tactical as the two Jukeboxes came over the barrage. The two attackers were instantly hit by twenty blasters each and more piled on. The two ships disappeared as they were knocked out of the competition. “That’s using excellent patience, Lieutenant. Great shooting, weapons!”

“We have another ship coming in; launch barrage in four, three, two, one…”

Jillian kept the Denver up against the barrier for thirty minutes and more than fifty attackers were eliminated. It became known that the ship in the corner was dangerous. Twenty ships banded together and charged in on the Denver. Jillian launched a barrage and immediately jumped the ship to the bottom portside corner of the exercise. The twenty ships came around the barrage and discovered their target had jumped away. Fifty ships came roaring in on them from the rear and twelve of the twenty were knocked out of the exercise. The other eight forgot about going after the ship in the corner.

• • •

The Denver arrived in the corner and Jillian was barely able to stop it three feet from crossing the barrier. She had applied full port thrusters and then had to use the starboard thrusters to stop the Denver ten yards from the boundary. She swore and knew they had almost been knocked out of the competition due to poor piloting. She heard Mark say, “I don’t know if I could have stopped us, Lieutenant. Great job.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

Mark looked at the tactical and saw two ships coming in at the very bottom of the boundary attempting to hit the bow of the Denver. “Stop bow barrages, launch two penetrators, then start barrages after the launch.”

The two Jukeboxes skimming the boundary flew under the barrage and found a penetrator flying in too fast to avoid. They dove under them and crossed the boundary and were knocked out of the competition. Mark shook his head. Ships weren’t supposed to work together but his ship was being attacked by multiple ships. It made him angry as ten ships flew in at top speed. “Launch barrage in three, two, one, now! Weapons, we have ten coming in. Cover your zones!”

Lt. McAfee knew trying to give orders was useless. The blaster teams were going to have to maintain their discipline or it would be over in a moment. He saw the ten ships come over and under the barrage and he closed his eyes. A moment later he opened them and saw the Denver was still fighting. The Captain flew the ship behind a forward barrage and the blaster teams were covering their standard zones in less than half a second. The Denver followed the barrage and the blaster teams knocked out twenty more ships before the Captain jumped back to the original corner they fought in. Jillian took over tactical as the Captain maintained the ship’s position.

• • •

“Sir, I think you need to see this.”

Dizzy looked at her XO, “What is it?” A recording appeared on her display and she saw the Denver knock out ten ships attacking it. She then watched the Denver accelerate away from the boundary and knock out twenty more. It jumped away and Dizzy yelled, “Keep that ship on my display.”

• • •

Jillian stared at her visor and said, “Computer, status?”

“Two thirds of the starting ships have been eliminated from the exercise. Six thousand ships are still active.”

Mark said, “I heard that, Lieutenant. We still play defense until the odds are better.”

“Yes Sir, three ships coming in. Launch barrage in four, three, two, one, now! Weapons are clear.”

• • •

Dizzy stared at the Denver and shook her head, “Where did they come up with those tactics?”

“I don’t know, Sir, but they’re knocking ships out at twice the normal range of blasters.”

Dizzy stared at the display as three more ships were knocked out of the exercise, “Computer, what approach would allow a shot at that ship?”

“There is no approach they don’t have covered, Sir.”

“So how does one take that ship out of action?”

“The only way is to overwhelm its defenses.”

“Sir, forty ships are banding together to attack.”

Dizzy looked at her display and wondered what the Denver was going to do about the coming attack.

• • •

“Sir, I have forty ships moving on us from all approaches.”

“How many are coming from the sides?”

“Ten on each side.”

“I’m taking the ship; I want you to accelerate us toward the thirty that are attacking us from head on. Weapons, I want a double barrage launched in ten seconds; we will follow that barrage into the formation moving at us and you will fire on the ships as they fly over and under us. Lieutenant, if any of them detect what we’re doing, jump us away. Barrage in….three, two, one, now! Hit em hard!”

• • •

Dizzy watched as the Denver suddenly fired a double barrage ahead of it and accelerated toward the incoming ships. She stood up and shook her head; the Denver was flying broadside into the oncoming ships. She jerked her head and yelled, “How fast is the Denver moving?”

“It is ten miles an hour slower than maximum speed, Sir.”

“How is that possible?”

Dizzy saw the Denver blow by the thirty ships that were unable to see the giant ship behind the barrage it was following. Ships began disappearing as they were knocked out of the exercise and the last ten ships flew vertical to see what was happening behind the barrage. The Denver immediately disappeared and entered normal space in another corner of the boundary. Dizzy started smiling. She sat back and had to give the ship credit. This was amazing.

T
he three Jukeboxes appeared in normal space and surrounded the dark Blue Warship. Dat pushed his panel and said, “Did you find our revelation informative?”

The Third leaned back and forth showing his amusement, “We were surprised you did it. However, the one we sent here to communicate with you says you offered to assist us.”

“In what way do you need assistance?”

“There are numerous probes in our galaxy and we don’t know who is sending them. Could you determine where they originate?”

Dat paused and looked at Angel before saying, “You know it will require sending ships into your galaxy.”

“How many?

“How many probes are there?”

The Third looked at his Ship Leader who could only shrug, “We really don’t know. We’ve only seen several and that was due to them blocking light from a star.”

“We’ll need to send in a thousand unmanned probes initially.”

“Why so many?”

“If there is a large number of them, they will be gathered around your major planets.”

The Ship Leader stood up and looked at the Third. The Third stood up on his central leg and said, “How did you know we have a thousand major planets?”

“We sent probes in eighteen years ago when you sent probes into our galaxy. We’ve pretty much mapped your galaxy and know where your major planets are located.”