Sara turned a beaming countenance to her crew. “We just won, guys,” she announced. “The odds are better than two-to-one, and I guarantee us a win. We won’t ease off, it’s still going to be a hard fight, but we’re going to shine. Be aggressive, not defensive.”
When the Rebels split up, Trexler grinned. They must be truly confident of the superiority of the scree. He said to Chandrajuski, “They just made a determining mistake. The battle is ours.”
The battle was his now. He ordered his inner squadrons back, delaying their attack. He wanted both of his battle groups to engage at the same time. He had no intention of letting either group of Rebels learn his tactics before they engaged. He assigned three fast squadrons to flank each of the Rebel groups. When the attack started, they would materialize beside their targets with complete surprise.
His job as fleet commander was just about over. He took command of the inner battle group and assigned a senior admiral to command the outer battle group.
To the Rebels, the approaching battle probably looked like a win. They had 37 squadrons against 17 squadrons of defenders, better than two to one odds, and they likely had the scree. Trexler had no doubt they felt confident. They didn’t know about his 6 invisible squadrons, and they didn’t know about the Terrans’ immunity to the scree.
Both of his battle groups approached the Rebels. Suddenly, the scree sounded. Trexler, was the only one left functioning in the operations center, and on the bridge, it would only be Terrans flying the ship. His lips formed into a thin smile: he had trained his men for exactly this. He no longer confronted fully manned Rebel ships – he was now up against limited crews of Chessori.
Chessori aboard the Rebel ships held their fire. Trexler notified all his ships to hold fire until the Chessori took the first shots. It looked to him like the Chessori were confident their scree had disabled the crews of his ships. Overconfidence by the enemy was a gift no commander would turn down.
Reba received orders from Trexler: previous target assignments were cancelled. She was to hold fire until the Chessori took their first shots. He expected the Chessori to merge with his ships before that happened. She was to take on the nearest enemy ship unless directed otherwise.
Sara ordered her sister cruiser in closer. It took the position normally occupied by a frigate. Since no one knew exactly how this new ship combination was going to work out, they would start with what they knew, and improvise as necessary.
Reba’s leg was on fire with Cassandra relegated to her lower left leg, but she had been through the scree for hours on end during her previous fighting and had learned to cope.
The Chessori neared, and her gunners held their fire, but the net practically sung with anxiety. Reba double- checked all her shields at full strength, and everything else was in order. The Chessori slowed, and the two fleets began to merge. An eerie, surreal sensation filled Reba as, through her senses on the net, she watched enemy ships sliding between the ships of her battle group. Still no word to open fire from Trexler, and the Chessori held their fire, moving into perfect firing positions.
Sara’s target changed, but no one needed to tell her. A Chessori squadron approached, and another stood off slightly. Sara passed the word: both ships in her squadron would engage the nearby squadron first, inflicting as much damage as they could before the second squadron moved in.
Guns on the enemy cruisers opened up, but almost lazily, as if the Chessori believed they had all the time in the world. The guns on Reba’s two cruisers exploded, sending a tremendous barrage of fire into the enemy cruiser that, clearly, was not prepared. The enemy cruiser did not just go dead in space – it exploded, completely disintegrating.
Fighting stopped for a moment. The crew was stunned, and so, apparently, were the attacking Chessori. Reba didn’t give her crew a chance to rejoice. She still had the other enemy cruiser and four frigates to deal with. “Shift target,” she ordered Sara.
Sara quickly brought her two cruisers into range of the second enemy cruiser. Meanwhile, Reba issued orders to her gunnery officer: “Those frigates are going to gang up on us. Your target is the cruiser, but keep an eye on defense.”
“Aye, Ma’am.”
She passed the same word to her sister ship, then began a quick assessment of her shields. She met her engineer doing the same.
“We’re solid, so far,” he informed her.
“It’s going to get harder. No breaks,” she ordered.
Back to the big picture: Sara was just engaging the enemy cruiser. It was two-to-one odds in her favor, but she had to contend with four frigates as well. Combined, those four frigates could mount a formidable offense.
Every gun on the ship barked continuously. Her batteries only had one gunner each, so all the guns in that battery fired on the same target. Most remained offensive, but the massed firepower of two batteries from each of Reba’s cruisers held the frigates at bay. A frigate’s shields simply had no chance against such barrages.
“Bang!” sounded through the net. A shield had been penetrated with a direct hit on the hull. Reba raced to check, but the hull had not been breached. Sara clung to her target, as did her sister ship. A moment later, “Screech!” from a glancing hit on the hull. Her guns kept up a constant pounding.
As bad as it was, Reba knew it had to be worse on the enemy cruiser.
Suddenly, “Bang!” The whole ship shook. Number 7 battery exploded out into space, opening a major hull breach. Reba raced to check on it, but her engineer was already there.
“The AI has it under control,” he said. “I could use some help with the shields.”
“I’ll take forward,” she said. She didn’t wait for a response. She checked in with the gunnery officer, but he had already reassigned the gunner from the destroyed battery to another battery.
“Bang!” again. Reba raced through the net, giving the AI a push now and then as shields became dangerously weakened. “Screech!” Another glancing blow. Reba focused on the big picture again. Her ship’s readiness numbers were acceptable, and so were the numbers of her sister ship. The Chessori cruiser was not doing so well. Its numbers indicated less than 80% shields and 40% guns.
It gave up the fight and turned tail.
Sara’s cheer of victory echoed throughout the web as her fist pumped the air. “Yee-ha!”
Her body, normally sprawled in her seat, even sat up straight, leaning forward to urge the ship faster. “Stay on it,” she yelled to her sister ship. Batteries from both ships opened up on the stern of the fleeing enemy. With so much firepower striking in one place, it’s shields quickly overloaded. The Chessori cruiser exploded violently rather than simply dying, just as its partner had.
Sara chose new targets, the frigates. They knew they had no chance and fled instantly, splitting up in different directions.
Reba put in a call to Trexler for a new target. While she waited to get through, she studied the big picture. Every single enemy cruiser was either dead or close to it. Numerous enemy frigates raced around, almost aimlessly, seeming intent on avoiding contact with the more powerful cruisers. Her own squadron chased down another frigate and took it out in moments.
Suddenly, Trexler came on, speaking to all squadrons. “Disengage. Let the survivors go.”
An anguished cry escaped from Sara. “Nooo! We’re just getting warmed up! Let’s show them what we’re made of.” Angry shouts of agreement from the rest of the crew raced through the net.
Reba agreed with them, but this was Trexler’s show. “Uh, I think we just did,” she announced to everyone.
The battle, as seen by Trexler aboard his flagship, was less personal. The fast ships, invisible until just before attacking, stood off from their foes, pounding away without mercy, the reach of their weapons keeping them out of
