programmed that to only target one ship if it is designated by the sensor may not be enough to stop them. If we don’t impact them quickly after the first strike then their screen may have time to recover. I think from looking at the recording of our last fight that their screens are more powerful than any we have ever encountered but lose efficiency immediately after a hit for a short period. I don’t want to waste weapons but I’m worried about what will happen if we barrage them with single penetrators and none get thru.”
Colonel McAlister watched the display and said, “I see what you’re talking about. What if we set up dual protocols in the hornets software where we can change the system so that they will lock on any ship without a Coronado screen initially but if they don’t get thru we send a signal which will switch them to going after ships that have already been designated.”
“Would you have many then strike a single ship?”
“No, we will program them to lock on a ship if there are no penetrators locked on and then have the closest penetrator to see the single lock designate the same ship. If the penetrators sense that two sensor beams are locked on a ship, then they will ignore that ship. Until you send that signal, they will operate normally. I would suggest your initial salvo be limited so that you can see their effectiveness and then you may want to double your salvos very quickly to make sure you have enough to be effective. Our current magazines can fire a salvo every five seconds. If their screens can recover faster than that the ships that get hit with only one may not be destroyed and you’ll have to depend on your primary beams.”
“Colonel, if we get close enough to use our primary beams, then we are going to lose ships to their anti- matter missiles.”
“How far would you have to be to be able to escape the missiles?”
Mikado thought and said, “At least 100 miles to be able to get up to speed to out run them.”
Cade thought a moment and said, “Admiral, your primary beams are currently as wide as the ship is long. What if you focused all of that energy into a beam that was only 300 feet wide?”
“What would be the benefit of that?”
“The Megaships primary beam would have 95 % of its power 200 miles away. The Ultras would probably be good for about 110.”
“Can we target a ship that far, Colonel?”
“The beam is moving at the speed of light. The ships you’re firing at would be relatively standing still. We could modify the software and have the beams automatically lock on anything your sensors detect. It would be hard to determine what part of the ship you would hit at that range but you could fire each primary on the Megas every five seconds and you have six of them instead of just two.”
“How long will it take to make these changes?”
“All of these changes are basically software changes. If you get all the ships you’re going to use in the upcoming battle in one location, I could download the changes in less than twenty hours after I write the programming. The program can be completed in fourteen days.”
“One more question, Colonel; could this same thing be done to the primaries on the asteroids?”
Cade thought for about a minute and scribbled notes on a pad, “Yes it can.”
“How far would the beam be effective?”
“Well, if you make the ten mile wide beam six hundred feet wide it would have 95 % of its power at 4,000 miles. The seventy foot Asteroids would have a beam 1,500 feet wide at 30,000 miles. Remember that the 70 foot forts primaries are sixty miles wide out to 2,000 miles.”
“Colonel, why haven’t we done this before?”
“Admiral, our development processes were designed to protect a fleet in close fleet actions. We just haven’t focused on long distance engagements. Bigger and more powerful has been the watch word. The needle development has been the closest thing to a standoff weapon.”
“Could a hornet package be contained in those focused primary beams?”
“Not in time for your battle. The protective sheath around the hornets would not handle the high energy of the primaries. We’ll work on it but I doubt we’ll have an answer for that very soon.”
“Has anyone mentioned adding pulse penetrators to the asteroids weapons mix?” Mikado asked.
“As a matter of fact they have. All of the new seventy foot asteroids will have the magazines built right into the surface beside the needle ports and the forts will have more than twenty million penetrators in their stores.”
“Our ships and asteroids will be gathering in the gamma galaxy in twenty days. I’ll give you the coordinates and you can meet us there to download your changes.”
“I’ll need to get to work; I’ll see you there.
Chapter 8
Kosiev contacted Tag and brought him up to date on what was being planned. Tag was at home with Danielle and the baby and he was concerned about the upcoming conflict. “Admiral, your fleet is going to be attacked by numbers that are almost unthinkable. Why do you want to start this conflict early?”
“Mr. Gardner, this is going to be a war of attrition on a monumental scale. Once we take a stand and stake out a position, then you’re right, it is going to be a huge battle. Our thinking is that we would rather start this at a place where a planetary population is not at stake. If we’re pushed out, then we take another position away from the Dremel; the longer they stay hidden from the Plants, the better their chance of survival. It will also give us time to get the transports for their population to move.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to wait until we have more Megaships in our arsenal?”
Kosiev looked at Tag and then said, “What if the Megaships aren’t enough. What if they can’t handle the Plants weapons? We need to know before we continue to throw all our development into them. We have some new tools that we hope will keep them at arm’s length but it may be that smaller ships equipped with these weapons are the way to go. We need to find out.”
Tag thought a minute and wished he had a bag of popcorn, “You’re right. We can always jump out and work on new weapons. Would it be a problem if I came to the party?”
“Absolutely not, Admiral Mikado would appreciate the help.”
“Admiral Mikado?”
“He is the leader of this excursion. It is his plans that we are following. He is also the one that came up with the new long range weapons we’ll be deploying in the coming battle.”
“I’ll take a pass then; I want him to be focused and not worried about my presence.”
Kosiev looked at Tag with a degree of amazement on his face, “You never cease to amaze me at your insight. I have to agree with you. He would defer to you and he needs to be the one making the decisions.”
“That doesn’t mean I won’t be watching,” Tag thought. “Keep me updated, Admiral.”
“I will Mr. Gardner.”
“Does that mean what I think it does?” Tag heard in his mind.
“Atlas, you’ve been snooping.”
“I always snoop so get used to it; am I right?”
“Yes you are. Would you like to go check out the planet before our fleet arrives?”
“I think that would be a good idea. When do you want to go?”
“After the baby is asleep; I’ll go tell Danielle now.”
Atlas and Tag were parked on the third moon of the Pydres Planet watching the ships that were harvesting the planet. “Atlas those are huge ships. They have to be 20 miles long or longer. They also look like they’re fully armed with beam and missile ports.”
“They are and they’re actually 23 miles 856 feet long. There are about 3,000 of them in place around the planet; most of the others are used as transports to bring the spoils from the planet to them.”
“How many plant warriors are there on the planet?”
“More than 3 million.”
“Atlas, do we have a chance against these creatures?”
“I don’t know but if you don’t try then they will someday be knocking on your door. You don’t want to have to
