300 miles out, fire a full salvo of penetrators and prepare to follow them in to 200 miles.”
Suddenly, the tide of ships began turning and moving out toward the battle that the Megas were raging just inside the jump limit.
“Attention all ships, assume line formation and form up on my ship. We will attack the Algeans as they move toward the Megas. All Empire class ships will leave formation as soon as the forts jump in and assume formation under them as the drop troops begin landing operations. Plan to intercept any missiles fired at the forts from the planet’s surface.”
As Mikado continued to back away from the Algean fleet they suddenly turned and moved away from his ships. Colson said, “The ships headed toward the planet have reversed course and are moving out toward our location. The other ships are moving to join them.”
“Stop all engines and hold position,” Mikado ordered. “Captain Kelly, they haven’t fired any missiles at us. Why do you think that is?”
“Commodore Smith scared them. He used their missiles to destroy that follow up fleet. They’ve observed twice that we can outrun any missile they fire at us. I think they’re not going to give us a stick to beat them with.”
Mikado thought about it and said, “You’re probably right. I wanted to keep this at long range but they probably are not going to cooperate. Ms. O’ Sullivan, contact Commodore Smith and tell him to hold off attacking until the two fleets have joined up and to wait for further instructions.”
Captain Kelley said, “What do you have in mind?”
“We have knocked out one quarter of their fleet and have not lost a ship. I think they plan to spread out and attack us on a front too wide for us to stop them.”
“We could always run,” Kelly said.
“I think that’s what they hope we’ll do so that they can come up with better tactics against our superior speed. However, there is one more thing they can do.” Kelly raised his eyebrows and Mikado said, “We are still 150,000 miles inside the jump limit and they look like they want to draw us further in; that’s why the withdrawal. They will spread their fleet out around our 500 Megas, move forward, and then jump another fleet in to trap us between the two of them inside the jump limit and then fire their missiles when we are surrounded on all sides so we have nowhere to run.”
“Do you think they can get another fleet together that quickly?”
“Do you think they had those 100,000 ships just waiting for us to show up?”
Kelly shrugged and said, “You make a good point. What are you going to do?”
“Exactly what they want me to do; order the fleet in system pacing the Plant fleet at 300 miles. I want single volleys fired as we advance. Our software will now apportion our Megas out to the Heavies hit by one penetrator but I suspect that the heavies will be moved behind the other ships as they move in to join with the other Algean fleet.”
Colson looked up from his console and said, “That’s exactly what they’re doing and it also looks like they’re trying to coordinate the firing of their energy beams so that there is a solid wall between them and our penetrators.”
“How successful are they at that?” Mikado asked.
“They are knocking more than 60 % down than before but once they start maneuvering to dodge the incoming penetrators then their coordination fails miserably.” Colson looked up again from his display and said, “How many do you think they will jump in to trap us, Sir.”
Mikado got a faraway look on his face and said, “I’m scared to even think about it but as soon as those two fleets join up in front of us I’m going to jump the forts in to the planet, have Smiths group fire two salvos of penetrators from behind them and then have the Ultras jump to our position and fire two salvos of penetrators while the Megas fire five salvos into the fleet facing us. We will all then jump in next to a Heavy and hit it up close with our main primary beams. Colson, have three jumps locked into each ship’s guidance so that they can multiple jump within that fleet next to three heavy battleships. I only want two seconds of time between each jump. After the third jump, have all ships jump to a location directly above their formations and fire all of our remaining penetrators. We will then jump to the planet and stay as long as possible to make sure the forts are up and running. Then we will jump out and go home to replenish our stores. Mr. Colson, will you send the orders to Commodore Smith along with the down loads for their selected targets.”
After receiving his orders, Chen looked up again and said to Smith, ‘Why can’t you launch a full volley of penetrators at each jump inside their fleet to increase the odds of more getting thru; plus, if they use their beams to hit the penetrators they will probably hit their own ships.”
Commodore Smith commed Mikado and offered Chens suggestion. Kelly and Mikado looked at the sensor officer relaying the message and then at each other. Mikado lifted his personal com and said, “Effective immediately, Lieutenant,” Mikado paused his recording and said, “Mr. Smith, what is Chen’s full name?”
“Tony Olivo Chen, sir.”
Mikado continued his recording, “Tony Olivo Chen is promoted to the rank of Captain and will be assigned a Megaship to command upon return to fleet headquarters.” Mikado stopped the recording and said, “Mr. Chen, this is a battlefield promotion that cannot be revoked. You will continue in your present position until the conclusion of this campaign and then await the assignment of your ship. Please issue the orders with your suggestions included.”
Chen rose to attention, saluted Commodore Smith who was smiling and said, “Thank you, sir.” The entire bridge crew cheered and Smith could see that Chen’s crew members respected the promotion. “Good,” he thought, “that supports my views of him. He’ll move fast in this navy.”
The SR fleet continued to follow the Algean fleet further in system firing penetrators and primaries as they advanced. The Algeans had lost 43,000 ships in the rescue fleet and another 20,000 that were originally in the system. The destruction was far from over.
The Algean Fleet Leader watched as his fleet was being mauled by the smaller ships but the plan was working. The Leaders will have to look at how we handle these strange ships in future conflicts. It was clear that they were more technologically advanced. The Fleet had depended on its size for too long and now it was paying the price of not continuing advances in weapon development. Those energy missiles the strangers were using were killing his fleet. We should have them in the position we want shortly,” It thought. “It won’t be long now.”
Colson looked up from his display and Mikado saw a look on his face that told him more than words. “Sir, another Algean fleet has just jumped in to the system and is moving our way.”
Mikado kept his voice steady and said, “How many ships Mr. Colson?”
“Five hundred thousand, Sir and more are still arriving.”
“How many of them are heavy battleships?”
“Three hundred thousand, Sir.”
“Mr. Colson, notify the forts to jump in to the planet, have Commodore Smith execute his orders and be prepared for his Ultras to arrive at our location”
Smith received his orders and raised his fleet com, “All ships, we will accelerate to flank speed and launch two salvos of penetrators into the Algean fleet. The Ultras will then jump to the Megas position and launch two more salvos. The Rising Sun will then press the signal that will jump all our ships simultaneously into the Algean fleet. You have two seconds between jumps to fire a salvo of penetrators and hit a heavy with you main primary beams. When we rejoin we will launch our remaining penetrators into the Algean fleet from above. The Empire Class ships will return to the planet after the first two salvos. On my command, execute!”
The eight thousand ships in Smith’s fleet accelerated at full speed and closed on the Algean fleet so fast that the Plants didn’t have time to return fire before the 3800 Ultra’s disappeared from their sensors and the Empires turned and fled toward the planet. The Plants sensors did record the eight huge constructs that suddenly appeared surrounding the planet. They even made their heavy battleships look small. Then they were fighting to avoid the three million plus penetrators coming at them from the rear.”
The Algean Fleet leader watched his display and suddenly stood up and yelled at his bridge crew, “Where did those ships go?”
His sensor leader said, “Leader, they jumped to the position of their big ships and all of them are launching those energy missiles at us.”
“That’s not possible. They are inside the band that prevents jumping.”
