Planet Wrecker

downloaded the latest information from Chief Strategist Tan. It was dark in the think-tank, with simulated light showing the star fields.

“Now we know exactly what the Highborn plan to do,” Marten said.

“It strikes me as overly complicated,” said Osadar.

Marten nodded as he switched to strategic zoom. According to Tan, the plan had originated with Grand Admiral Cassius.

Their part was interesting. They had passed the Sun and now sped through the Inner System faster than anyone else did. Their objective was to land on the asteroids. They couldn’t do that if they sped straight at the cyborg taskforce head-to-head. The two objects with their velocities as they headed at each other would make landing impossible. Any space marine in a patrol boat trying to land on the surface in those circumstances would be instantly crushed like an insect. Instead of trying to land head-to-head, the Spartacus would soon whip around Mars, turn enough and speed toward the asteroids as the asteroids went away from them. The meteor-ship could have accelerated even faster during the trip. But for what they needed to do, they couldn’t whip around Mars until the asteroids had passed the Red Planet.

For the Earth and Luna-launched ships and missiles, the problem was similar—at least for those vessels that wished to land on the asteroid surfaces. If they headed straight at the asteroids, none of them would be able to land troops but would smash like two cars in a head-on collision. The angle for Mars was wrong for Earth and Luna- launched vessels. Instead, they headed for Venus. The Saturn-launched asteroids moved almost parallel to the Sun, at least in relation to Earth.

For tactical purposes, the Solar System wasn’t just empty space. Planets and gravity were the major terrain features, as it were. Because of the near parallel line of attack from Saturn to Earth—parallel in relation to the Sun—Venus became critical. The Earth and Luna-launched vessels traveling to Venus, would whip around it, turning, and then accelerate on their new heading. They would come at the planet wreckers at an oblique angle. This angle would allow the SU and Highborn vessels to decelerate enough so troops could theoretically land on the surfaces.

It was the gut of the plan.

As Marten examined it, his doubts grew.

“We will have little time to defeat any cyborg occupants, learn how to control the asteroid and then move it out of position enough so it misses Earth,” said Osadar.

Marten silently agreed. The Saturn-launched asteroids had gained their initial velocity long ago around the gas giant. That velocity had taken the taskforce across the great gulf between Saturn and the Inner Planets. Roughly, the distance from Saturn to Earth was 1,400,000,000 kilometers. The distance from Mars to Earth was presently nearly 210,000,000 kilometers. In other words, the asteroids had already traveled six-sevenths of their journey, and now time was running out.

A klaxon began to blare.

Marten checked his watch, and he grew queasy. Was it already time?

“Mars approaches,” said Osadar.

“It seems we just left it,” Marten said.

“Not for me,” said Osadar.

“…Do you remember much of what it was like under the Web-Mind’s control?” Marten recalled that Osadar had first come to Mars as a full-fledged cyborg.

“Do you recall any of your childhood nightmares?” asked Osadar.

Marten thought about the bad dream he’d had the other day. “They stick with me,” he said.

“Yes,” said Osadar. Then she made a vague gesture and headed for the hatch. “It is time, Force-Leader.”

Marten switched off the think-tank before heading to the control center.

-53-

As the Spartacus neared Mars, Grand Admiral Cassius endured heavy acceleration aboard the Julius Caesar. His ship and the Genghis Khan trailed the Luna-launched missiles and the six Orion-ships from Earth. They fast approached Venus.

Cassius lay in his quarters as he refined the plan. There were so many variables to contend with that the plan absorbed his interest. This was why he’d been created. Some premen gambled for enjoyment. Others rutted. Still others ate gourmet meals. For Cassius, war-planning and its execution was the elixir of life.

He’d been ingesting the information gleaned from the Martian Battlefleet. It had been a pitiful waste of military assets using the battleships like that. One of them could have achieved the data. It also became clear yet again that left to themselves the premen would fall before the cyborgs. This attack on Earth was brilliant, if genocidal madness. To counter it, he’d have to use every ounce of his brilliance.

Cassius rubbed his big hands together. He was under hard acceleration toward the battle of his life. Several of his agendas merged in this fight. He needed to defeat the cyborgs and then smash the remains of Social Unity’s pitiful space-forces. Hawthorne’s harrying tactic of keeping a fleet-in-being had been making everything more difficult than it needed to be.

After cracking his knuckles, Cassius adjusted his screen. His was the supreme strategic mind in the Solar System. Now was the time to bend every facet and find a slot for it in his schemes.

First, the big Cohort-7 Missiles sped at Venus. Behind them followed the Orion-ships and then the commando missiles. The main wave attack would occur after they used Venus as a pivoting post, redirected their heading at an oblique angle toward the asteroids. The Julius Caesar and the Genghis Khan would follow close behind them, also using the planet.

Secondly, the Gustavus Adolphus accelerated toward the asteroids. Behind them accelerated the so-called SU Fifth Fleet with two battleships and a missile-ship. They could theoretically engage the asteroids before the Julius Caesar was in range, but Cassius had already forbidden that. The cyborgs had shown the destructive power of concentrated fire. He would do likewise.

Cassius tapped his screen. The cyborgs hadn’t deployed any prismatic crystals or gels. That did not necessarily mean the cyborgs didn’t have any. He would assume they had crystals and gels and would deploy them at the needed time. It would be a preman mistake to think otherwise.

Hmm, the Jovian meteor-ship neared Mars. It was a small military asset, but it would play its part before the cyborgs eliminated it. Was it worth the designation of third factor? No. It was too puny. Maybe if the Jovians had sent a fleet…but they hadn’t. Given this miserliness, it was clear that conquering the Jovian System should prove to be simplicity itself once the cyborg menace was eradicated.

Third then, was Scipio’s space defense of Earth. After pivoting around Venus, he would send an inquiry to the Highborn and see how matters stood.

The fourth and final component was the Earth-based defense of proton beams, merculite missiles and Highborn orbitals and laser satellites.

Together, it was an impressive array of military hardware and personnel. The heart of the plan, however, was the Highborn commandoes, whatever the Earth soldiers could perform and the Jovian space marines. Earth would live or die on their collective abilities.

“I can lose this fight,” Cassius said.

He scowled, as he hated losing. But it would be a weakness if he couldn’t see the real possibility. To that end, he’d ordered every Highborn off-planet and into space. That could mean a possible loss of control of Earth. That would depend in the end on the FEC formations and their loyalty. But if the asteroids made it through everything he could throw at them, he wasn’t going to let precious Highborn die. Let the premen cattle do that in their teeming billions.

Scowling more deeply, Cassius shook his head. He did not intend to lose to these aliens freaks from Saturn. How was it possible the cyborgs had conquered Saturn without at least some premen sending out a message of the awful conquest? It showed once again how pathetic premen soldiers really were. Premen were good for rutting and menial labor, nothing else. In the New Order of the coming Solar System, they might not even be good enough for