Tipping Point in the Alliance War (17 page)

The
‘little fleet’ of captured vessels is now hurtling toward the array of 300
Confederation ships.

There
are lifeboats, unused furniture, surplus materials, and ‘various in sundry’
items attached to the ships’ hulls.  In the friction free environment of
space, there is no advantage in being streamlined.  The materials are
going to be released into space near the array of Confederation ships, with a
velocity
of more than 20,000 klicks/second
.  The
hope is that the clutter will confuse the targeting systems on the
Confederation Fleet. 

The
confusion only needs to last for seconds.  That is all the time that is
required for the Alliance fleet to zip past the barricade of warships, which is
assembled in front of them.  Once the Alliance fleet has passed, the
Confederation fleet will have no hope of catching the speedy ships.  The
velocity already built up, will insure that no missiles or rail gun projectiles
can catch the small fleet, before it enters warp-space.  

There
will be barrages of laser canon fire, which travels at the speed of light, but
the ‘little fleet’ shields are programmed to shift, from the bow to the stern,
the instant the ‘little fleet’ clears the array boundary.  The expectation
is that the shields will hold for the seconds needed to get out of the gravity
well.  It is a good plan, but plans don’t always work as intended. 
Things often go awry.

***

…………
The Alliance vessels are advancing with all ships in a line, parallel to the
border.  All vessels are cloaked and communications between the vessels is
continuous, thanks to the laser comm link connecting them.  Computer
controlled events on all ships have been synchronized and the dispersion of the
debris field is a programmed event, under the Brutus computer’s control. 
Events are moving much too quickly for humanoids to keep pace.

At the
programmed instant, the ‘debris field’ is released.  The ships are in
stealth mode but the debris, after release, is not.  The automatic
targeting systems on the Confederation ships quickly identify objects
approaching at high velocity.  Laser canon fire begins to erupt, from the
array of Confederation ships, at almost the same instant as the release of the
debris. 
(Fortunately, the debris is being targeted, and not the
Alliance ships.)
The battle has begun, and the fates of the ‘little fleet’
ships will be determined primarily by happenstance.

There
will be laser cannon fire from a fleet of 300 ships and it will be ‘the luck of
the draw’ that determines which Alliance ships survive.  There is no
telling which ships will be
decloked
or who will get
the most heat energy from the laser canon fire, and whose shields will be able
to deflect sufficient energy.  Hopefully, the space debris will attract
most of that heat.

***

On
Board the Brutus

After
an instant of blinding light in the bow view-screen, the blinding light
switches to the aft view-screen.  They are past the array and moving
quickly away.  One of the ‘laser comm system’ connections has been broken
- either the comm system has gone out of sync, or one of the vessels has been
destroyed.  The comm link between the remaining vessels continues to
hold.  The missing ship is the
Everdorne
, under
Captain Yung.

The
nine remaining ships hurtle onward, releasing more debris as they go. 
Unfortunately, inadvertent hits from the laser canon fire have uncloaked most
of the fleeing ships.  The ‘little fleet’ is now taking fire from all of
the Confederation vessels - which would imply that the enemy ships have their
offensive systems on automatic, and that the weapons are being coordinated by a
master computer, at Fleet level.  Too bad - Major Dawkins had hoped to
catch them with humanoids at the controls of individual weapons systems.

If
they can make it into warp-space, they will be safe from the energy
weapons.  Every second counts.  All eyes are on the ship’s ‘warp
ready indicator lights’ – waiting for them to turn green. ………….. Some of the
Alliance vessels are down near zero on their shield strength, but the ‘little
fleet’ makes it to the end of the gravity-well, and enters warp-space.

***

They are in Alliance space
,
but
still have a two week warp journey, before they reach Alliance Navy
Headquarters.  They aren’t home yet, but their ‘hope level’ begins to
rise.

***

The
Confederation Admiral’s Flag Ship

The
Confederation Fleet still has two ‘trump cards’ to play. 

The
first ‘trump card’
is the small fleet of 20 Confederation ships,
which has been stationed some light minutes inside the Alliance border. 
That fleet was placed there in order to counter this very situation - what if
the Alliance fleet breaks through, or goes around the Confederation Fleet
gravity-well?  In that event, the fleet of 20 ships is stationed close
enough to the Confederation Fleet so that laser comm signals, from the Fleet
Admiral, can be received in minutes.  At the same time, they are far
enough away from the gravity-well’, so that they can enter warp immediately.

The
Confederation Fleet reads the ‘warp signatures’ of the fleeing Alliance vessel,
as they enter warp.  Those ‘warp signatures’, along with orders to pursue
and destroy the Alliance ships,
are
transmitted to the
20 Confederation vessels.  Within minutes, those ships are hot on the
trail of the ‘little fleet’ in warp-space. 

The
second ‘trump card’
is the experimental-weapons ship, which is
capable of knocking every ship out of warp-space, within a 50 light year
radius.  They don’t want to play that trump card yet. 

For
one thing, they are afraid that the weapon has a dangerous problem. 
Another ship, which had performed two of the warp explosions, exploded and took
a bunch of ships with it.  It would be better to wait until the fleet is
dispersed before using the experimental weapon, so that the possibility of
collateral damage is reduced.

For
another thing, the Confederation Fleet is still arranged in the array
formation, which creates a huge gravity-well.  The Fleet needs to
disperse, so that the gravity-well will dissipate as quickly as possible. 
The Fleet Admiral orders the dispersal and transmits coordinates for the
rendezvous area, where the fleet will reform.

They
will use the ‘warp-space explosion’ weapon, when they are fully
dispersed.  The warp explosion will push both, the 20 ship Confederation
fleet, and the 9 ship ‘little fleet’, out of warp.  The two fleets will be
in close proximity and a battle should ensue.

After
the Confederation Fleet of 300 ships has reformed, they will enter warp and go
looking for the Alliance ‘little fleet’, and the 20 Confederation ships. 
If the Alliance fleet survives the battle with the 20 Confederation warships,
then the Confederation Fleet of 300 warships is headed to Alliance Navy
Headquarters, for a decisive battle.

***

The
Brutus

Major
Dawkins’ ‘little fleet’ is 5 days into their 14 day journey to the center of
Alliance space.  Aboard each vessel, repairs are under way and battle
preparations are being made.  No one expects the journey to end without
more battles along the way.  The Confederation is able to follow them in
warp and can pull them out of warp.  And even if they make it to Alliance
Navy Headquarters they are not out of danger.

Will
the Alliance Navy ‘shoot and ask questions later’?  The fleet of captured
vessels plans to exit warp in the vicinity of the Alliance Navy Headquarters,
and immediately power down their vessels, as a show of surrender.  Will
that be enough to calm the fears of the defensive forces?

What
will happen if Confederation ships follow them, and also emerge near Alliance
Navy Headquarters?  Will the Alliance defense forces just shoot at
everyone, or will they spare the ships that are powered down?

 What
will happen, if the entire 300 ship Confederation Fleet follows them into
Alliance Navy Headquarters?  The Alliance Navy may not welcome the little
Alliance fleet, if they bring ruin and destruction with them.  A surprise
attack from a force of that size could be a disaster.

Major
Dawkins is contemplating these matters.  The best solution to all of the
possible scenarios is for someone from the fleet of captured ships to arrive
early, and tell everyone what is coming.  Major Dawkins expects that the
Alliance ships will be pushed out of warp before the journey’s end.  If
that happens, she should have some options ready.  She makes a plan:

1
-
   
After they are pushed out of warp, the Major can
monitor the status of all warp drives.  The ship, with the first good warp
drive, will re-launch into warp.

2
-
   
One sure way of having a functional warp
drive
is to send one of the Marine launches that have been modified for warp-space
flight.  She has two of those launches.  A message could be delivered
to Alliance Navy Headquarters by Alliance Space Marines in a Marine
launch.  The defense forces will surely hold their fire for a Marine
launch. 

What a
good idea!  Major Dawkins immediately sends a message to the Space Marine
commander instructing him to get both of the modified launches ready and loaded
for a warp trip to Alliance Navy Headquarters.  She gives specific
instructions about the procedure for emergence, and the announcement of
imminent danger.  A copy of the information package - with the technology
information - is to be delivered. 

3
-
  
The next best method for delivering the message is via a
faster-than-light probe.  There are two of those on the Brutus.  Major
Dawkins immediately sends a message to the Tactical Officer instructing him to
prepare both probes for launch, to Alliance Navy Headquarters.  Those
probes are to be loaded, with the file warning of an imminent attack.  A
copy of the information package is to be included. 

So,
she has three methods of getting a message to Navy Headquarters, and she is
going to use all of them.  The probability of the ‘little fleet’ making it
to Navy Headquarters still seems pretty small. 
(Being chased by a 300
ship fleet can cause feelings of self-doubt and insecurity.) 
But if
the information package is delivered, they have done their jobs
.

It
always seems to happen while she is asleep.  The Brutus is pushed out of
warp-space, and the klaxons announcing Battle Stations sound, as the crew jumps
to life. 

Once
again, Major Dawkins steps out of bed and into her boots and clothes.  She
is out the door and on the Brutus’ Bridge in seconds.  Once again, the 2
^nd
shift is on duty and Captain William
Esterling
has
the Bridge. 

The
Brutus is in stealth mode, and moving away from the warp exit point.  The
Marine Captain is giving orders to Tactical to set the defensive weapons system
on automatic, and to bring the offensive weapons online for battle, but
do
not
set the
weapons system on automatic.  He, as always,
explains that the rest of their fleet is out there somewhere and they must be
careful to not target them.

Then
he orders Navigation to plot new warp coordinates in case they need to get out
quickly.  

He
turns to Tactical, again and asks; “What are the sensors saying?  Are
there ships in the area?”

“Yes,”
replies Tactical.  “I briefly saw a number of vessels, but they have all
gone into stealth mode.  There were 8 other vessels.  I would guess
that they are the rest of our fleet.”

“Continue
scanning,” orders Captain
Esterling
.  “Look for
ships farther out.”

“Aye
sir,” responds Tactical.

“I
have the Bridge now, Captain.” says Major Dawkins.

“Yes
sir,” responds Captain
Esterling
.   “You
have the Bridge.”

“Tactical,
uncloak and broadcast our ‘recognition code’,” she orders.

When
the ship uncloaks and broadcasts the ‘recognition code’, the other ‘little
fleet’ ships uncloak as well.

“Comm
Officer, establish secure communications,” orders the Major.  “After that,
coordinate with the other vessels and connect our laser comm system.

      
“Aye sir,” the Communications Officer replies.  ……  “Secure
communications established.”

She
presses the ship-to-ship com button.  “All ships.  This is Major
Dawkins.   Report your status to Brutus’ Communications. 
Specifically, report the condition of your warp drive.”

“Tactical,”
she says.  “Launch one of the faster-than-light probes for Alliance Navy
Headquarters.”

“Aye
sir,” he responds.   …… …. “Probe launched.… …..
probe
entered warp.”

The
Major presses the Engineering comm button.  “Engineering… Dawkins here…..
Status?”

“Aye
sir,”
comes
the reply from Engineering. 
“Thrusters are nominal ….   Warp drive is ‘offline’
….    Running diagnostics
  …
.  
More info in 5 minutes.”

“Keep
me informed.  Dawkins out”

She
presses the comm button for Marine Captain
Krington
,
the commander of the Marine contingent on the Brutus.  “Captain, Major
Dawkins here.”

“Yes
sir,”
comes
the immediate response. 

“Are
the warp-space launches ready?” she asks.

“Both
are ready, sir.”

“Launch
one of them for Alliance Navy Headquarters.  Tell the crew that I said
‘God Speed’,” says the Major,

“Yes
sir.  
Launching one.
  
Krington
out.”

“Comm,
what’s the status on our ships?” she asks.

“All
thrusters good except for one that is marginal on the
Sentious
.
 
All warp drives are off-line. 
All running diagnostics.
 
Minor damage to some ships – nothing mission critical” replies the comm
Officer.

She
presses the ship-to-ship comm button. “All ships. 
Dawkins
here.
  Notify me immediately, when your warp drive comes
on-line. 
Dawkins out.”

Captain
Krington
sends a message to the Majors computer
screen.  “Your message was delivered
  -
 
Launch is away  -   Launch entered warp-space.

Major
Dawkins presses a confirmation button, to acknowledge receipt of the
message.  “Just one more task to complete,” she thinks.

“Navigation,”
she calls. “Take over scanning from Tactical.  Look for enemy ships. 
There must be some.”

“Aye
sir,” answers Navigation.  “Scanning”

The
Communications Officer interjects; “
Sentious
reports
warp drive online, sir.”

“
Sentious
” she says as she pushes the ship-to-ship comm
link. 

“Aye,
Sentious
here … Captain
Wreel
here, sir.”

“Captain
Wreel
,” the Major says.  “Take the
Sentious
into warp-space, bound for Alliance Navy
Headquarters.  Advise them that we are en-route and that there is a 300
ship Confederation Fleet following us.  Do it now.”

“Aye
sir,” he answers.  Captain
Wreel
keeps his
finger on the comm button, while he speaks to his crew.  “You heard what
she said.  Get going.  Navigation, verify the coordinates. 
………………  Helm, take her in.”  ……………. And they are gone.

“Everything
on my ‘to-do list’ is done.  Nothing left now but to fight our way home,”
she thinks.

“Ships
headed our way in real-space.  I count 20,” says the Navigations
Officer.  
“At 307,000 klicks and closing rapidly.”

Major
Dawkins asks the Communications Officer: “Is the laser comm system connected?”

“Aye
sir”, he replies.

The
Major presses the ship-to-ship comm button.  “All ships. 
Dawkins here.
 
20 enemy ships at
307,000 klicks and closing.
  All ships go to stealth mode, and
prepare for battle.  Keep me apprised of your warp drive condition. 
We will all stay until all warp drives are online, or until we evacuate the
ships that can’t be fixed.  Prepare boarding parties and form up behind
the Brutus, in the ‘spear’ formation.  Communicate via the laser
link. 
Execute!
 
Dawkins out.”

“Nothing
to do but execute.” she thinks.  Her mind is now clear of all the clutter
that goes along with command.  Now she is doing what she was made to
do.  Her father had been a Marine.  Her grandfather had been a
Marine, and his father before him.  She was born a Marine.

Her
breath settles into a slow quiet rhythm, something like meditation.  Her
thoughts are ‘still’ and ‘focused’.  She has run this simulation so many
times that she knows all of the parameters and the possible outcomes. 
Nothing is ever certain, but she is pretty sure that her ‘little fleet’ can handle
this - even if the Brutus is destroyed at ‘the tip of the spear’.

The
Confederation ships are ‘sweeping’ the battle-space with a continuous cone of
laser canon fire.  The canon fire is coordinated by one of the ship’s
computers, so that the combined beam is large and fast-moving.  The
Confederation sailors get lucky and hit the Alliance fleet with the large
beam.  All of the Alliance vessels are uncloaked and are kept that way, by
continuous beams of low-level laser energy. 

The
Brutus is the ‘tip of the spear’.  The attacking ships are at high
velocity, and are launching missiles and rail gun bolts.  The ‘tip of the
spear’ takes all of the incoming fire, and protects everyone behind her. 
The Tactical Officer had better be good today - their lives depend on it.

As
the projectile barrage gets closer, the Tactical Officer launches decoys and
debris, to confuse the missile guidance systems.  He is counting on some
of the incoming missiles destroying each other in the heat of battle, as they
lose and the re-acquire targets - and then the debris from those explosions
will elicit more destruction.  That is especially likely to happen in the
‘spear formation’, when everything is headed to the same spot. 

***

 
Luck is good to the Brutus today – so far.  The missiles are being taken
out by a variety of methods.  Finally, if the missiles avoid all of the
confusion and debris, they are met by the defensive missiles, the plasma
canons, and the laser canons.  A couple of the enemy missiles get close,
but there are no hits.  The bolus of rail gun projectiles is avoided, by
having the Alliance fleet shift to starboard, in a coordinated real-space
‘hop’.

The
Brutus has fired missiles of her own, at the Confederation vessels.  There
are 20 ships spread so that they are all visible.  The Brutus doesn’t have
enough missiles for all of them, so 30 missiles are fired at 3 ships - 10
missiles per ship.  10 missiles will keep a ship busy fighting for its
life, for a few minutes. 

(Being
hit by a missile is a major problem, often resulting in the ship being
destroyed, or severely damaged.  Missiles are most effective when they are
fired from a great distance so that they have time to build up a high velocity,
which makes them more difficult to destroy.)

The
Major checks her computer screen for the latest data on warp drives.  The
Brutus’ drive is on-line, as are three others.  “Still four to go,” she
thinks.

The
Confederation vessels begin to slow.  They are firing their thrusters in
reverse and will be coming to a stop, near the Alliance ships.  It’s time
to get the ‘little fleet’ into a different formation.  The missiles and
rail guns are probably finished for the day.   

A
glance at the view-screen shows that one of the enemy ships has exploded, and
another is on fire. 
Two ships down, thanks to the
missiles.
  Maybe there is time for one more missile volley – from
the whole fleet this time.

The
Major presses the ship-to-ship comm button and orders:  “All ships,
Dawkins here.  Go to formation ‘Dove’ and each vessel fire ten missiles at
a ship designated by my Tactical Officer. 
Execute!
 
Dawkins out.”

“Tactical,”
she says.  “Pick the targets for them, so that they won’t all be shooting
at the same ship.”

“Aye
sir,” responds tactical.     ………………...    “
instructions
sent.”

The ‘Dove’
formation looks like it sounds.  The Brutus is the head and the other
ships move laterally and upward, on both sides, to form the wings.  Upon
receipt of the target selected by the Brutus’ Tactical Officer, each ship
launches ten missiles, in rapid succession.  The Brutus doesn’t fire more
missiles, because there is still plenty of fighting to do and Major Dawkins
doesn’t want to run out of missiles.

The
Confederation commander sees that Alliance missiles have been launched and that
all of the Alliance vessels are now exposed.  The enemy commander
apparently agrees that there might be time for one more missile volley - a
stream of missiles flows from the Confederation fleet.

Major
Dawkins presses the ship-to-ship button and says: “All ships, return to the
‘spear’ formation. 
Number 2 ship.
  Change
places with the Brutus - we are running low on defensive supplies. 
Execute!
 
Dawkins out.”

On
command, the Alliance ships move back into position behind the Brutus. 
The ship, which was directly behind the Brutus, pulls in front of the formation
and becomes the ‘tip of the spear’.  Everyone, on the Brutus’ Command
Bridge says a silent prayer for the Harkin and her crew.  The ‘tip of the
spear’ is a very dangerous place.

The Alliance
fleet has practiced this missile defense formation in drills and every one of
the ships officers has run numerous simulations.  All have practiced at
the ‘tip of the spear’ position.  It seems that, in many cases, success
and failure are decided, not by skill or cunning, but by luck.  The Brutus
had been lucky earlier in the battle.  The Harkin is unlucky.  The
debris field and missile defense weapons take their toll on the incoming
missiles, but they don’t get every one of them.

The
Harkin takes one missile hit, at the bow.  The ship can survive the one
missile hit.  Unfortunately, there is another right behind it - while the
Harkin’s shields are still down.  The Harkin explodes in a ball of flame -
the ship and all hands are lost.

(Another
advantage of the ‘spear’ formation is that, when the ship at the ‘tip of the
spear’ is destroyed, the resulting debris field often shields the ships behind
it.) 

The
rest of the incoming missiles explode in the Harkin debris field.

As
Major Dawkins surveys the situation in front of the Brutus, she briefly
contemplates both the fickleness and the serendipity of fate.  Then, as
the debris field clears, she can see the enemy forces still advancing and that
three more of those ships are on fire and have fallen out of formation. 
The odds are now 7 against 15, and the Confederation ships are still
decelerating. 

Major
Dawkins glances at her computer display and sees that every Alliance vessel,
except for the Predator, has a functional warp drive.  She sends a text message
to
Benji
Woo, the Captain of the Predator, and
informs him that, if an opportunity arises, she may order the fleet into
warp-space.  She orders the Captain to be prepared to evacuate the crew to
other vessels.  Dan Woo acknowledges receipt of the message and responds
with “Aye sir.”