aboard civilian ships. Very few chose to leave. They don’t appear to be afraid at all. One other thing I saw on my way from the planet, they appear to have big rocks orbiting the planet in a belt around the middle.”
Sten and Dgzh both jumped out of their seats and Dgzh yelled, “They have what?”
The Ambassador looked shaken and started mumbling, “I don’t know what they were. They looked like huge rocks circling the planet.”
Dgzh grabbed his remote to his console and pushed several button on it until a picture appeared on the wall screen of the Earth with its asteroid forts circling at the equator. “Did they look like that?”
The Ambassador looked at the picture and nodded, “Exactly like that.” Stein and Dgzh looked at each other and said nothing. The Ambassador said, “What’s so serious about those rocks?”
“Ambassador, those are a Human defense system designed to put a shield around a planet. We have designed a system to drain the shield but it has never been tried in actual field conditions. I find it extraordinary that the Humans could install that system as quickly as they did. Do you happen to know when the asteroids were first put in place?”
The Ambassador searched his memory and appeared to draw a blank but then his face lit up, “I remember right after our assault of their planet thirty five rotations ago that I was standing outside and suddenly a big shadow crossed over me on a cloudless day. I couldn’t figure out what caused it but it had to be one of those things.”
Sten looked at Dgzh and asked, “Do you know how many warships the Glod have in their inventory?”
“More than 3,000, State Leader but they are standard Alliance ship types.”
“Order 6,000 of our ships to jump into the Glod system and see how many ships come out to defend the planet. Once we get a count have our ships jump back.”
Tag was in the Glod system holding his wife’s hand while they looked down on a pond where reptilian frogs were jumping ten feet in the air to catch what looked like giant gnats. “Things sure look different here,” Tag said. Danielle just smiled. Suddenly Tag’s com buzzed. Kosiev was on it and Tag heard him say, “Mr. Gardner, more than 5,000 Alliance ships are forming up in an area away from the rest of the fleet. We still have ships jumping in and the count is up to 16,300. Do you think they intend to attack us piecemeal?”
“That wouldn’t make sense. Keep an eye on those ships and let me know if they start turning on their star drives.” Kosiev nodded and signed off.
“What’s going on?” Danielle asked.
“The Alliance Fleet has 5,000 of their ships forming up away from the main body of the fleet. I just can’t believe they would jump to Earth ahead of the main body.”
Danielle thought a minute and said, “Maybe they’re not jumping to Earth. We sent the Alliance Ambassador packing three days ago. Perhaps he told them about the Asteroids and they’re coming to check it out.”
Tag thought furiously and said, “Danielle, there wouldn’t be any reason to check out the asteroids with 5,000 ships. Either they attack with the entire fleet or stay where they are.” Then it struck him, “Maybe they are trying to see if we are going to use the Glod Navy to defend the Earth. If it’s not here then this may be their first attack. He lifted his com and said, “Tgon-Gee, respond immediately!”
Tgon-Gee came on his com and said, “Yes Mr. Tag, how can I help you?”
“How many of your ships are here?”
“About 2,800; we have 800 ships being converted at your building facilities. Why do you ask?”
“Bear with me a minute, how many of the 2,800 have been converted?”
“About half of them have the new technology.”
‘I’m expecting the Alliance to jump in more than 5,000 ships to see how many ships you answer with. Can you get your ships out and have the new ships placed behind the old ones with their screens shut off. They should still look like standard Alliance warships.”
Tgon-Gee nodded and disappeared from Tag’s com. “I hope we have enough time to get this done,” Tag said. “Kosiev,” he said into his com. “How close is that group of ships to being sorted out for jump?”
“They’re encountering some difficulty, they just had 400 ships jump into the area they were assembling and they all scattered probably thinking that it was another one of our attacks. It will take them at least another hour and a half to reorganize.”
“Thanks, Admiral.” Then Tag called Tgon-Gee, “Excellency, it looks like we will have about, what’s the Alliance word for minute, on yeah, dreg, ninety dregs before they jump. Can you organize your fleet that quickly?”
“It’s being done right now. We were already in formations around the planet so it shouldn’t take more than thirty or forty dregs.”
“I might be wrong about this but I have to leave and get that Ultra Battleship out of your system; there is no way to explain that. I’m going to leave my wife and your Queen here for you to take care of.”
“It will be our honor.”
Danielle hugged Tag and kissed him, “Are we always going to be saying good-bye?”
Tag smiled and said, “That’s what makes the hellos so great. I’ll see you after the battle.”
“See that you do,” Danielle said to him as he ran from the room.
Tag’s ship jumped out of the system thirty minutes before the Alliance fleet jumped in. They formed ranks and began moving in system. Shipven Vi looked at his sensors and asked his sensor officer, “How many ships do you register on your instruments. Some of them are behind those in front but it looks like at least 3,000 or so.”
“Do you see anything unusual about their ships?”
“We’re a long way out from the planet but they look like standard ships.”
Vi turned on his com and said, “State Leader, they have approximately 3,000 ships here. They all look like standard ship types.”
Sten looked at Dgzh and said, “Jump back into our system immediately.”
The Alliance fleet disappeared from the Glod system.
Sten said, “How many ships did you say they had?”
“At their last inventory they had about 4,400 but we have on record 800 of their ships being destroyed by the Humans. That leaves 3,600. I suspect that they have those other 600 scattered among their colony worlds. Either way, the majority of their fleet is in the Glod system.”
“Then we continue as planned. If their ships were in the Human system, we would attack Glod first to try our new draining device. There’s no good reason to fight 3,000 ships when the humans only have a hundred. How long until the fleet is ready?” he asked Dgzh.
“Counting the last 400 to jump in, we only have 300 ships left to arrive to complete our roster.”
Forget the last 300, they can merge later. Get the fleet organized now; how long, Headman?”
“At least one rotation to organize and one more to assign jump coordinates then we will be ready to jump.”
“Notify the draining dreadnaughts that they need to be prepared to leave at that time.”
“Yes State leader, it will be done.”
Tag jumped in to Earth and went directly to Kosievs Bridge, “What happened?”
“The 5,000 ships jumped into the Glod system, took a ship count, and left. Now the fleet is shaking itself down in preparation to jump. Those big dreadnaughts with the machinery on board are also moving away from the planet out to the star drive limit; looks like it’s going to be show time shortly.”
Tag pressed his com and said, “Director Nicole.”
After a moment he heard, “Yes Tag, what can I do for you?”
Tag then explained to her that they were going to manipulate the screen surrounding the planet to try and draw the Alliance fleet in close to the planet. To prevent a general panic in Earth’s population, she needed to give a warning of what to expect.
Kosiev sat there and thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Then he knew he saw only his piece of the puzzle. This young man seemed to see all the pieces at once.
“You’re right,” Director Nicole said, “I’ll get it out immediately.”
“You might also let everyone know that we may let a few beams thru into things like the ocean or desert. Don’t be afraid if that happens.” The Director disappeared from his com.
“Well, Admiral. Would you like some popcorn? We have a few hours to waste until they come calling.”
Kosiev said, “Absolutely, and I’ll have butter on mine. I’ll be jumping out to Ross with the other Ultra Ships shortly but there’s always time for popcorn. I have no idea why I don’t weigh as much as a Glod with all the
