Two more bug ships immediately left the blockade accelerating at full power. Those would reach Nemesis in less than 30 minutes, even though they executed continuous tactical maneuvers. The remaining blockade ships shifted position closer to the Nemesis 12 vector approach.
The enemy began jamming across the electromagnetic spectrum. Nemesis communications went down. Targeting systems were rendered ineffective. It took time, but an emergency communication channel was established and a limited targeting resolution developed. By that time the enemy ships were on their attack run. On the initial pass five Nemesis ships were destroyed. The enemy ships circled the Earth, using our planet’s gravity well to help decrease velocity. They intended to slow down for their second attack run.
As the ships passed around Earth dozens of hypervelocity missiles with nuclear warheads were launched. Most missiles were destroyed at a distance by enemy DEW and rail defensive fire. One missile was relatively close to a bug ship when the ground crew decided to detonate before the missile was rendered useless. There was a massive nuclear explosion that rocked one of the enemy ships. That ship was damaged but still operational. BugEye sped out on the reconnaissance run at flank speed.
When the bug ships rounded Earth, the damaged enemy ship did not attempt to slow and instead moved off on a far-right vector. The other bug ship continued on an attack course as the Nemesis ships continued to pivot for effective weapons fire. By that time Nemesis had also moved far enough out of the interference zone to allow normalized communication.
Nemesis Eight had taken lead upon destruction of Nemesis One. The Nemesis ships linked weapon control systems to once again concentrate fire. Eight was seeking an optimal firing solution, anticipating the enemy attack run. Laser cannons from the undamaged enemy ship began pulsing as it rounded the Earth. Two of the Nemesis ships glowed momentarily and exploded. The others simply exploded.
Those in the EDF War Room were watching the crew of Nemesis Eight live on their screens. The crew was close to having an optimal firing solution, hoping the concentrated fire would once again realize a good outcome. The tension was off the charts. On the viewing screen something odd drew the attention of most in the War Room. A large section of the internal bulkhead of Nemesis Eight began to glow, the metal skin bubbled, the screen went blank. The remainder of the Nemesis 12 strike force was destroyed.
<AD-STAMP: “There was one survivor who was rescued in a manner that would be hard for most people to believe.” >
BugEye had a good head start and was pushing for the Moon under maximum acceleration. But it would require almost an hour to round the Moon and gather information about the bug base. Any of the seven bug ships near the Moon could have easily intercepted BugEye. They didn’t move. Bug command evidently gave the interdiction role to the ship that had finished off the Earth strike force. The damaged bug ship adjusted course to return to the blockade section.
The enemy interdictor shifted course, moving in what seemed to be a leisurely pursuit course toward BugEye. Perhaps the ship had taken damage after all. As the clock ticked, there was still no blockade movement. Perhaps the High Queen took no concern over little BugEye, deciding to leave its destruction to the Darkside gun emplacements. Perhaps she was in a drug induced haze and her bug attendants were afraid to wake her.
BugEye moved to the far side of the Moon and began gathering data relative to the bug base. That lasted 25 seconds before Darkside defenses destroyed it. The base was well hidden. It was actually the Darkside scanning of BugEye, to get a weapons lock, that allowed for clear identification of the base location.
There was little time to gather additional data. Of interest was detection of a brief burst of gravitational waves. And an odd artifact was filmed hovering close to the surface of the Moon. The minimal information obtained was transferred by radio telemetry to a satellite receiving station near Earth. From there the data was pushed on to the EDF <Earth Defense Forces>.
END REPORT.
***
PART TWO.
It occurs to me a reader might wonder why Shockwave didn’t raid the bug blockade ships. That sort of operation could have spared the crews of the Nemesis ships. I feel compelled to answer that potential question. Mr. T and the general gamed several plans that would have utilized Shockwave against the blockade.
Bug ships are crowded when fully loaded. Their fighter ships, the flies, take up the entire holding bay. That was the area to which we always ported. We considered trying other possible locations. Unfortunately, when fully loaded and off planet, bugs could be crawling anywhere in the ship. There are a lot of bugs crammed into each nest ship when underway.
Mr. T decided porting onto a fully loaded nest ship wasn’t a reasonable option, not with the current state of the quantum teleportation technique. The possibility of untangling in space occupied by a bug was high. Mr. T considered other plans that would utilize Shockwave but there just wasn’t time for much planning or implementation. You can imagine our sorrow at the loss of the Nemesis crewmembers.
Here is the original Journal entry that was also confiscated, by the authorities.
***
September 14th. We were ALL in the office bright and early Friday morning. Mr. T had promised a surprise, and he delivered. Everyone loves a field trip. Right? We could hardly believe it. Mr. T kept the invite all hush-hush, with last-minute details provided by the general, our general. Shockwave was invited to the War Room at the Earth Defense Force <EDF> headquarters.
The general said we could observe, in real time, the operation that would lead to the destruction of Darkside. We would need to find our own
