popcorn I consume. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to hide the Ultra Ship Atlanta on the Earth’s surface and keep tabs on what the Alliance is going to do. I also intend to help Colonel Taz play with the screen.”
Kosiev stopped his hand halfway to his mouth and said, “I’ve heard what you’re like when you’re trying to fool someone. I almost feel sorry for those Alliance ships. Please notice I said almost.”
They laughed and continued to eat their pop corn.
State Leader Sten and Headman Dgzh watched as their fleet sorted itself out. Sten said, “That is the largest fleet we’ve ever put together in our long history.”
“It is huge and looks invincible.”
Sten looked at him and said, “So why am I so nervous about this venture?”
Dgzh continued to look at the fleet and without moving his head said, “The Humans have been one step ahead of us every step of the way. I don’t care what the Vgrig Warleader says; I wouldn’t be surprised if the Humans turned up with a thousand ships or none. They will prove to be unpredictable whatever happens.”
“What happens to us if we lose this battle?”
Dgzh looked at him and said, “We don’t need to worry about us. If we lose 17,000 ships we probably won’t have an Alliance to worry about. This is a critical moment in our history.”
Sten watched the fleet and continued to worry.
The Vgrig Warleader looked at all his assembled ships and thought of the majesty of the moment. Now was the time for a great victory. Not only would his people grow in esteem but he can claim whatever prize he wanted. He would also have an entire planet to torture and punish for his earlier defeat. He looked forward to starting this operation. He turned in his chair and asked his communication officer “Is the fleet ready?”
“Yes it is, Warleader.”
“Open a Communication channel to all ships,” he said and waited for the light on his console to light up. After a moment it turned on and he pressed the com channel, “I want to make sure that everyone understands out plan. We will enter the Human system at the orbit of their outermost planet and begin moving in. I want every square inch of their system gone over thoroughly with our sensors to ensure there aren’t any surprises waiting for us. We will move in toward the planet and tighten our fleet formations as we advance. No one gets closer than 50,000 miles from the planet. The dreadnaughts will begin draining their screen as soon as we make sure that the system is clear of ships. We will divide our fleet in half once we arrive at the planet. Half will stay at the planet to make sure no one escapes and the other half will proceed to the jump limit to prevent anyone coming in to rescue these humans. Prepare to jump in 10 dregs.” The Warleader then leaned back in his chair and thought that he was being cautious having half the fleet at the jump limit. After his last experience, he wasn’t taking any chances. He was going to be with those at the jump limit just to make sure he would have an escape just in case things got ugly. He had seen firsthand how quickly things could go wrong. It wasn’t that he wasn’t brave; he just wasn’t stupid.
“One dreg to jump,” his ship leader informed him.
He leaned forward and thought, “What are they planning this time?” then his ship jumped.
Chapter 13
T ag watched his feed from the passive sensor in the Central Alliance System and saw all the ships getting into formation. He was sitting in the main control room of the Asteroid Defense Center watching the screen with Colonel Taz. “They should be jumping in shortly,” Colonel Taz said. “Where are the ships you want to bring inside the screen?”
“They’re at Mars orbit. We’re going to hold them there until the Alliance fleet arrives and can see them on sensors. We’re not sure how the Alliance will approach their invasion and we’ll have to wait to plan our response. What are your plans on deceiving them about our screen?”
“I’ve set screen depth at 72 feet. That’s slightly bigger than it was after the last attack but it should make them think it’s all we’ve got.”
“How much depth do you really have?”
Colonel Taz touched a switch on his console and looked at the result then said, “About 124 feet.”
Tag whistled and then said, “I know our engineers don’t put much stock in their ability to drain our energy but they really don’t know how effective those dreadnaughts will be. Once they start their operation I’ll need an estimate of how effective they are. If they are making a big dent in our reserves, we may have to attack them without the support of your fortresses.”
Colonel Taz glanced at another screen and said, “We have taken these asteroids almost to the suns outer corona to fully charge them and it took a week to reach full charge. I just don’t see 800 ships draining our screen; I don’t care how large they are.”
“Science is funny, Colonel, you just never know until it starts operating. Here we go; some of the Alliance ships just disappeared from the feed. They’re on their way; notify Kosiev and send him a feed on what’s taking place.”
“Yes sir, right away.”
Seventeen thousand Alliance ships jumped into Earths solar system. They arrived in a globular formation even with Neptune’s orbit with the Earth at the center. They then began moving in system running back and forth between their ships making sure that all space was checked for unpowered ships lying in wait. They didn’t rush but took their time scanning the outer reaches of the solar system and moved slowly and inexorably in toward the planet Earth. When the Alliance ships reached the Star drive limit the 800 Draining Dreadnaughts jumped in and joined the fleet. By that time they were inside the orbit of Jupiter and could clearly see the 97 Earth ships at the orbit of mars. The Alliance Fleet ignored the Earth ships and continued scanning for other hidden ships. The distance between the ships in the huge fleet diminished as the globe became smaller as it moved closer and closer to the inner planets. Suddenly the Earth Ships gathered at Mars orbit turned and ran back to Earth and landed on the Planet.
The Warleader thought, “I wouldn’t waste them either. We’ll probably have to deal with them at the end. Continue scan,” he ordered his fleet. “At this rate we should reach the planet in two rotations,” He said to his bridge crew. “It will be worth the time though; there won’t be any hidden surprises.” “Let me know if anything is detected,” then he left and went to get some rest before the actual fighting took place.
Tag and Taz watched as the fleet moved closer. “Looks like they’re not taking any chances,” Tag said.
“Do you think they will be able to detect the caverns on the Moon?” Taz asked.
“No. Those caverns are deep and shielded by miles of metallic rock. Even the Launch tubes were just cut with a power laser so there won’t be any exotic metals. Their sensors aren’t that good and I’m not convinced that we could detect them either. I know Kosievs ship couldn’t.”
“At the rate they’re moving, we probably have a couple of days before they reach moon orbit. Why don’t you get some rest,” Taz said.
“I think I will. Thanks, call me if anything changes.”
“Count on it. I’m taking a shift off but Captain Glenn will keep us informed.”
Admiral Dorg and Tgon-Gee were watching the feed from Earth as the Alliance fleet moved toward the Human’s home world. Dorg said over his com, “That fleet is the largest I’ve ever heard of and it looks like they aren’t taking any chances.”
“You’re right. Do you think our Human brothers can handle that fleet?”
“I don’t know. If they can lure them in close to the planet, those asteroids pack quite a punch. It just depends on how the fleet commander decides to play it out. If they won’t come closer, it will be a space battle. I understand that the Humans have more than 7,000 ships which give the Alliance less than three to one odds. That is the best the Humans have faced so far. If they can destroy most of those ships, then the Alliance will be in real jeopardy.”
“If that many ships are lost by the Alliance, I know at least five hundred members that would take advantage of the moment and attack other members. Have you been directed to stay out of this battle?”
Dorg thought for a moment and said, “No, we just haven’t been invited and I sure would like to see how our new ships perform in combat. Why, are you planning to crash the party?”
