Annihilation: The Power of a Queen Read online

  “Six hundred ships,” she answered.

  Tag and Kosiev both looked at her with open mouths. “Why that many, Danielle,” Tag asked?

  “If we’re successful this time, how many ships will they send next time no matter how many you use; do you know how many they’re sending this time?”

  Kosiev looked at his console and said, “It appears between four thousand and five thousand.”

  “So if you use only 200 and defeat them, how many will they send next time?”

  Kosiev and Tag looked at each other and Kosiev said, “Twelve thousand or more.”

  “If you use 200 or 600 they’re going to send 12,000 ships next time,” Danielle said while putting a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

  Tag and Kosiev looked at each other again, munched some popcorn and both said at the same time, “900.” They laughed and Tag said, “Let’s break down how we want to deploy our forces. Do you think they might split their fleet and come from different jump points?”

  “Probably, they know what happened last time. What might be a good idea is to have half the fleet here at Earth and move out from there to meet them on the way in. If they split their forces, we could let one of them come and try to crack open the clam while we handle the other; I doubt that they can break the shell of our asteroids. After we finish with the first we could surround the second with our other ships and finish it.”

  “What about ships sent to record the battle?” Danielle asked.

  Kosiev rubbed his temples and said, “I don’t know how we’re going to get them.”

  Tag thought for a minute and said, “Let’s try this. We know they will have to be on Earth’s side of the sun; they can’t see anything unless they are. They’ll probably want to keep a safe distance from the battle and also stay outside the jump limit to escape to safety if attacked. What if we spread the other 6,000 ships half way out between the outer system and the star drive limit and wait for them to come to us instead of jumping in on them. The moment they see a star drive breaking normal space they will jump to a new location and keep recording.”

  “But how do we get in range of them without them seeing us?” Kosiev asked.

  “We’ll know the moment the fleet jumps to our system. Just as they jump we’ll have our ships at the star drive limit with half of them at one edge of the sun’s view and the other half at the other edge. We’ll put them in a pattern of squares with one side being 100,000 miles then just as the Alliance fleet jumps we’ll have both groups accelerate to full speed toward each other and then shut down their power to life support only. The chances are good that the recording ships will fall close to one of the ships in our pattern as we coast toward each other. Our ships will be coasting at thirty thousand miles per second so any recording ship that enters our pattern will only take two seconds for us to power up and attack them. That’s too quick for them to jump.”

  “Do you know how many recording ships they’re going to use, Danielle asked?

  Tag leaned back and said, “We’ve looked hard at their fleet organization and there are eight ships that have stayed together and have taken no part in the maneuvers. We think that they are the sensor ships.”

  Kosiev thought and picked a kernel out of his front teeth and said, “The other benefit is that the only ships the recording ships will see will be the ship that attacks them. They’ll have no idea how we were able to know their location.” He paused and said, “It still might not work because they’ll stay in the outer system.”

  “They won’t,” said Danielle. “The Alliance leaders will want to see what caused the destruction of the last fleet and the safety of a few ships is less important to them than getting a good view. All you have to do is ask the Cainth what is the maximum range of the Alliance recording ability and measure that from our fleets’ position. Start your ships coasting along that line at that distance and you should get them. Since it’s going to take time for the Alliance fleet to move from the Star drive limit to our fleet, you have plenty of time to find them.”

  Kosiev looked at Danielle for a long moment and then said, “I take it all back when you asked her about the self-destruct mechanisms. Her advice is invaluable. I’ll ask Admiral Dorg now and get that range.”

  “Danielle,” Tag asked. “Have the Cainth officers been assigned to their ships?”

  “Yes they have. Admiral Dorg is down in weapons now looking at our hornet magazines. Do you think they will jump early?”

  “No. The Alliance was angry at the Cainth for violating their instructions so they won’t allow any deviation this time. We still have four days until they come.”

  “Do you think we should ask their fleet to leave before the fighting starts?”

  “What possessed you to ask that, Danielle?”

  “I think that there will be members of the Alliance that will not look kindly on what they are doing to us. If we allow them to come in with no warning and then attack, then we risk losing that goodwill. You can have a ship meet them as they jump in and ask them politely to just leave; you just make sure it’s an unmanned ship.”

  “Once again, another good idea I would have missed, Darling. I’ll have the ship stationed in the extreme outer system and have it jump to the Alliance’s jump coordinates once they arrive. It may be at the back of their position if they start moving immediately, but the recording ships should see and hear our broadcast. We’ll also send a feed to our Cainth brothers and see if they can’t distribute it around the Alliance. As I think about it, Oh Hi, Admiral Dorg, I see you’re back from your tour of weapons.”

  “Hello Mr. Tag and Mrs. Danielle. Yes, I can see why you kicked our grumps in the last battle. Those hornets are fabulous.”

  “Admiral, Danielle and I were thinking, what if we send a feed of the upcoming battle to Clan Assembly; could you arrange for the Glod to also see the feed? You can always say you had a ship you left behind after the last battle powered down and hiding to send you information on anything that we were doing.”

  “I’ll try to arrange it. Are you going to destroy that imaginary ship of ours too?”

  Danielle and Tag looked at each other and Tag said, “My, you are the clever one. Yes. The last video will be of one of our battleships approaching the Camera. Then we will shut off the feed. We hope you and the Glod will be the only two that will actually see the battle. We have a plan to kill the ships sent to record from the Alliance.”

  “Now who’s being clever? Tell me how you’re going to do that. But first let me get some of this wonderful food you call popcorn. If no one else does, I want exclusive trade rights on this product. We’ll all get rich.”

  Tag and Danielle laughed and Danielle said, “Let me show you what happens when we put an elixir called butter on it.”

  State Leader Sten sat with the Vgrig Warmaster and wanted to run from the room. The Vgrig looked like one of ancient earths gargoyles. He had wings and long fangs with long claws on his ten fingered hands. He was red in color and was over 8 feet tall with a silver plume of feathers on top of his head. Sten felt certain that he would represent a great trophy for this violent warrior but if he attacked me he would lose the opportunity to kill many others during the upcoming occupation of Earth. He had two armed soldiers in the room anyway; you can’t be too safe; this was a very dangerous race. Most members of the Alliance totally voided the Vgrig. “Warmaster, I can’t pronounce your name so if you don’t mind, I’ll address you by your title.”

  “That would be fine; I assume I’m here to get my instructions.”

  “Yes you are. You are to occupy the planet and take control of these Humans. Use whatever methods you choose. They destroyed one of our fleets and need to have a lesson taught but first I want you to capture one of their warships and send it back to us for study. I want that done before you do anything else.”

  “I may have to occupy the planet and kill a few before they give one up. Don’t limit my options.”

  Sten thought for a moment, “You’re r
ight. If they surrender they probably won’t have one near the planet. Do whatever you think is necessary; just get me that ship.”

  The Warmaster smiled and Sten felt a chill go thru him. “Oh, I’m sure they’ll give you anything you ask for State Leader by the time we’re done.”

  “Yes, well….good hunting, Warmaster.”

  “State Leader, we don’t hunt, we kill.”

  Admiral Dorg commed Tgon-Gee and the ambassador answered quickly. “I did as you suggested and the Alliance released us from their invasion plans. They must really be upset with these humans; they replaced us with the Vgrig. Some day someone is going to have to exterminate that race. When they can’t kill others; they kill themselves.”

  “That’s good news about your release, Dorg said. “I was wondering if you might want to do something that our Alliance friends might not approve.”

  Tgon-Gee looked at the Admiral, “Here it comes again. Just what is that, Admiral?”

  “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 scre
en 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.”

  Kosiev slipped out of the room to give them time for each other. He hoped Tag was right about the new tactics and formations but he knew that barroom fights and space battles didn’t always happen like you plan them. He knew one thing for certain. There were 4,000 reasons to be nervous coming their way shortly. “I wonder if they are worried,” he thought.

  Aboard the Vgrig flagship Mass Murderer the Warmaster was discussing the coming battle plans with his Subleader. “You understand your responsibility.”