and they didn’t start hitting our ships until they were 100 miles out.”
“Are you saying that if we attack them from further out than 200 miles they won’t catch our ships?”
“You’re looking at the same data I am. Some of Admiral Smiths ships were destroyed right at the 300 mile mark but forty% of those missiles had stopped and run out of energy at 280 miles. I think that we have their top speed in these videos so with a 100 mile head start, they won’t catch our fleet.”
Cade looked at the video again and said, “What’s to prevent them from firing their missiles at our ships as soon as they get within 300 miles; that way in order for us to get to 200 miles to attack, their missiles will be less than 100 miles from our ships when they reach firing range? They could also have the missiles flying 100 miles in front of their formations.”
“That’s true but remember that they only have a finite amount of fuel and if they use it flying in front of the main fleet, then they reduce the distance they can fly at full speed to chase our ships. It’s a tradeoff. We also need to look at our penetrators; they are slower than the new missiles.”
Both of them continued to look at the video and then Cade said, “We’re using the wrong type of ship for this new plant fleet.” Anita looked at him and shrugged and Cade continued, “Let’s look at what we know. First, hornets are not needed to destroy the new ships, all we need do is hit its surface on a missile port or beam port. Second, our penetrators are slower than their anti-matter missiles and are not faster than their new ships. Third, we have to use millions of armaments to kill their ships sometimes using 100 for a single ship. And lastly, our screens cannot handle multiple anti-matter hits. Is that about right?”
“Those are the most obvious problems,” she said.
“Cade smiled at her and said, “Well that shouldn’t be too much of a problem,” and they both laughed and called in their team.
After all twenty engineers on Cade’s developmental force arrived; he explained what he thought they should do.
The engineers pondered a moment and one said, “How do we target them and what will we need to do to make the current cells operate with the smaller beam?”
Cade rubbed his forehead and then said, “We make it happen automatically. The cells will use its leakage to sense any ship that doesn’t have a Coronado screen and when it gets inside 228 miles the cells will target it and fire the condensed beam that will then move seventy feet along the target’s surface.”
“Will every cell on the surface of the hull target and fire at the same target?”
“You keep asking me tough questions,” Cade answered.
“What about this,” the Anita said. “We program every cell on the hull with a number designation from one to fifty. All cells designated as number one will fire together after each of them designate a target, then number two will fire and they will be programmed to ignore the targets designated by number one; then three will fire ignoring number two’s target and so forth until it gets back to one; while this is happening all the cells not being fired can be used for the primaries, screens, or sensors.”
“How many cells will be needed to produce the beam you’re talking about?” one of the junior engineers asked.
“Our calculations indicate that fifteen could do it. There are seventy five cells along the length of the mega ships arranged in ten rows around the hull. That would make 50 beams available for firing. They could be fired for up to three seconds and recharged every two seconds.” Cade answered.
Anita looked at the video again and said, “I notice that the missiles do not have a screen to protect them. What is the top speed of our new hornets?”
John Nichlos who had designed the new hornets said, “They are twice as fast as the penetrators.”
Cade and John went to the video and measured the speed of the new plant missiles. Cade said, “It looks like our hornets are slightly faster than the new missile.”
“They can also maneuver faster than the missile because of less mass to change direction,” John said. “They would be effective as an anti-missile weapon. They don’t have long range capability but could protect our ships if the new missile gets closer than a hundred miles.”
Cade looked at the clock and said, “It’s going to be a long night, call the entire team in and let’s get this moving. Dorg’s command team wants an answer is five days and I want to have this on a ship for trial in four days. Get moving, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
The Algean Fleet Leader watched his display at the elements of his fleet as they sorted themselves out into their squadrons. An explorer had discovered a high technology planet and had sent its coordinates to fleet command. His fleet had the new ships and missiles and any discovery of a world with advanced technology meant that he was the one chosen to investigate. The explorer had remained at the null band so as not to get trapped inside by one of the stranger’s ships since there were no frequency vessels to prevent them from jumping to attack. So far nothing had happened and the fleet began moving uneventfully toward the planet after setting up the frequency generating ships.
“Fleet Leader, there is a battle going on at the planet.” The sensor tool paused and said, “I do not recognize any of the ship types involved in the conflict.”
“How many ships are there involved?”
‘Sensors indicate more than 50,000. There are also ground installations firing at the ships in orbit. It appears the planetary forces are losing this battle and the attacker’s ships heavily outnumber the other. They appear to be using conventional laser and projectile weapons.”
The Fleet Leader smiled; the planet was lush and green with huge land masses. The Common was suffering due to the loss of the harvested food sources from the planet the strangers had defended and here was a possible replacement for it. Then he had an idea. “The ships that are attacking the planet are to be allowed to escape. Have tracking ships at the null band to follow them back to their source. Maybe we can get two food sources from this.”
The huge Algean fleet moved in quickly toward the Planet feeling its hunger. Five hours out from the planet, the attacking ships stopped firing at the planet and remained in orbit. Ten ships left the planet and accelerated toward the incoming fleet. “Destroy them quickly. I want the others to run home,” The fleet leader commanded. “Also notify all ships that no power missiles are to be used on the planet. Only conventional missiles will be used in this conflict.”
The ten ships arrived at the Algean Fleet and started firing their lasers that didn’t make it thru the first force field of the incoming ships. The Algean ships fired and missiles weren’t needed. All ten ships were blown apart in expanding explosions. The invading ships at the planet turned and flew out toward the null band away from the incoming fleet. The Sensor Leader noticed that they could catch those ships easily but chased them at 1/3 speed to make sure they escaped.
The planets inhabitants saw the attackers of their world flee and began celebrating their rescue by the huge fleet coming their way. The planet had been fighting a war with the invaders for fifty cycles of their sun. They knew that they would have lost had not these new ships arrived and they began broadcasting their welcome and thankfulness to the rescuers for their timely arrival. It was six hours later when the first Algean troop ships began landing on their planet and the giant harvesting ships were seen moving in from the outer system that the inhabitants realized that they had not been rescued but made to face a brand new horror that even the old invaders would have been hard pressed to beat. The inhabitants faced a green horde that consumed all it touched and this time there was no one coming to save them.
The Fleet Leader looked at his Sensor Tool and asked, “Were we able to follow the ones that escaped?”
“Yes, Fleet Leader; they led us to another planet that is a giant food source for the common. I have the coordinates in our data.”
“We will finish here first. We must make sure the Strangers don’t come and try to prevent our harvesting. After we finish, then we will take the other world.”
The Elders on the Home world were faced with a dilemma. They had spread their fleet out to look for the Strangers but here was a bonanza of two food sources found. Do they leave their fleets spread out or do they defend their newly discovered food sources?
‘What are the chances that they will attack while we are harvesting the food source?” one of the middle Elders asked.
“The Eldest replied, “You need only look at when they attacked last time; we were in the middle of our harvest. If we take our new ships to look for the strangers then you have seen what they can do to our old vessels
