The Subleader thought for a moment then asked, “I have one request of you and then I will comply with your requests.”
Kosiev looked at the Alliance Fleet commander and said, “What request is that?”
“I want to leave the commanding officer of each ship and one other crew member for support behind on each ship.”
Kosiev looked amused and said, “Why would you want to do that?”
“I’m going to have to go back and explain how I allowed all our ships to fall into enemy hands without fighting. If someday we do come back to retrieve them and we’ve left the self destructs active, we could have a huge loss of life. Also, it will insure that you won’t use our own ships against us. The commanders can use the self destruct mechanisms to destroy the fleet if you don’t keep your word.”
The Human looked off the display and appeared to be listening to someone else. “We will allow it provided we place a mine on each ship’s hull to ensure that no one tries to move them. We will also allow a relief of the crew members left behind on a scheduled basis. Will you have enough stores for them?”
“We just arrived and the ships are provisioned for entire crews. There should be plenty.”
“Then we are agreed,” Kosiev said. “I will open a communications channel as soon as all your ships are parked on the moon. I would ask the following to expedite the process. All ships from one member of the Alliance will move out from your ranks and move as a unit to the moon. That way it will be easier for the members to move their ships later.”
The Subleader thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Then he said, “All Spejk ships move out of formation and form on the Human escorts. After them the Bewyas will go second. My staff will notify each of you when it is your time to move.” The Subleader knew his career was over but at least he would not be remembered for a massacre. He had hoped the other Alliance ships further out in the system would come to their aid but they had made no move to come in system. He suspected that the Warleader was somewhat fearful of these Humans. Now he knew why. He suspected that the former Subleader didn’t make it out alive because he was stupid.
The Warleader was relaxing in his command chair when his sensor leader said. “Warleader, there’s something happening around the Human’s home world.”
He looked up and said, “What do you see.”
“Nothing, our feed from the Subleader has been cut off. Our long range sensors show the asteroids circling the planet firing their energy beams.”
“Why would they do that? Are they reaching our ships?”
“No, Warleader, but now I’m getting a reading of numerous ships lifting from the large moon and moving toward our fleet at an extremely high speed.”
The Warleader felt a sick feeling and asked, “How numerous?”
“At least 4,000 and now I’m reading more than 2,500 more ships coming around from the backside of the planet.”
The Warleader just stared at the sensor leader.
“Our systems now confirm more than 7,000 ships have moved in and trapped our fleet between the moon and the planet.”
“Open a channel to the fleet and tell them to get out of there.”
“Our communications are being blocked. Warleader, sixty huge ships have just come out of star drive inside the moons orbit and destroyed eighty ships trying to escape. They have now jumped back into star drive and disappeared from our sensors.”
“That’s impossible. No ship can jump in that close.”
“I’m replaying it on your display.”
The Warleader watched and saw the ships appear close to the escaping ships and then destroy all of them instantly. They then disappeared. “Do we still have communications to the Alliance Center?”
“Yes, Warleader, I’ll open a channel now.
State leader Sten was in his office waiting for updates from the fleet with Headman Dgzh when his assistant came in saying emergency communication from the fleet. Stein and Dgzh looked at each other and both could see the anxiety in each other’s face. “Put it thru.”
“State Leader, the Humans have surrounded half of our fleet at their home world,” The Warleader said. “It appears they have more than 7,000 warships.”
Sten and Dgzh were stunned speechless. Finally, Dgzh said, “Why is only half your fleet at the planet?”
The Warleader felt a sick feeling but knew his life depended on his answer. “I expected some kind of trap from the Humans. We scanned every inch of space in their system with the entire fleet to make sure no low powered ships were hiding. We found only the 90 ships left over from the last battle. I was concerned that the Glod Union would jump in to save their Human ally so I stationed half our fleet at the Star drive limit to prevent any surprise attacks that would pin our fleet in system too far to jump to safety. The Humans hid their ships inside the moon deep enough to avoid our sensors and had 3,000 more on the surface hidden by their screen. It’s a good thing I did what I did or we might lose our entire fleet.”
“Warleader, you outnumber them almost three to one. You would have had a better chance with your fleet intact.”
The Warleader looked at the Alliance leaders and said, “Admiral, 600 of their ships jumped into your system before this battle and destroyed more than 5,000 ships. They lost only 500 or so ships. They have consistently killed between six to ten ships for every one of theirs we kill. Now they have 7,000 ships in system. How many ships do you think it would take to defeat them?”
Sten and Dgzh knew he was right. If all their ships had been trapped that far from the star drive limit; they would have probably lost them all.”
“There’s one more thing that you need to know,” the Warleader said. “I’m sending a recording of what happened when some of our ships tried to break thru the Human blockade.”
Stein and Dgzh watched as the eighty ships tried to escape and the 60 huge Human battleships jumped in on top of them and destroyed them all. “That’s not possible,” Dgzh said as he jumped up from his chair. “No one can jump that close to a star.”
Then the two Alliance leaders looked at each other and it dawned on them that if the Humans could jump that close to their own planet, then they could jump in right next to theirs. “Warleader, bring the remainder of your fleet back to Alliance Central immediately. As soon as you jump in move your fleet around the planet.”
“State Leader,” his assistant said while running into the room. “There are more than 250 warships that just jumped in close to our planet. They are right outside our atmosphere and the leader is requesting to speak with you.”
The Warleader looked at the two and could see their fear. He then said, “Do you still want me to jump into your system?”
“No, you would never arrive in time to save us. Take your ships to Luris and inform the leader of our Safety Prime Council what has happened. He will decide our next course of action.” Sten then looked at his assistant and said, “Put the communication thru to my office.” He then sat down knowing his world did not have long to live.
The Subleader watched as his ships were escorted to the moon and parked. He kept hoping that the Warleader would come and assist him but even that hope was dashed. “Subleader, the Alliance ships at the jump point have disappeared. They have jumped out of system.”
Now he knew most of his personnel would be trapped here. They just didn’t have enough transports to move them all. He could tell in his crews faces that they were feeling despair.
“The Human leader wishes to speak with you again.”
“Put him on.”
“Commander, it appears your fleet has decided to leave,’ Kosiev said. “I would like to offer a suggestion if you’re open to it.”
“What is that?”
“There are 400 dreadnaughts that you were using to drain our screen. If you will park them at the coordinates I’m about to give you, our engineers will remove all the machinery from them and you can then use them to transport the remainder of your forces. Those dreadnaughts had very small crews because they were not built to fight. With the shuttles and extra cargo space in them, we have calculated that you should be able to get all your crews home.”
