Citation Series 1: Naero's War: The Annexation War (29 page)

T
ogether they could polish moves and tricks, or the instructor could even take over and let the recruits feel the magic in the controls, as the vets executed them flawlessly. Then let the newbs try them repeatedly, until they had them down.

The trainers could slow techniques down and let the recruits practice them in slow motion at first, working out each elemen
t, before speeding them up once more.

Saemar called them together in scattershot formation
.

“Nice work, sweeties. For the rest of our time today, we’re going to take turns jumping on single ships
and small groups with larger sorties. This is also the way the enemy tries to peel us off and swarm on us in an attempt to overwhelm us. If we get the chance, we try to do the same thing to them.”

Saemar took a deep breath. “You need to know how to resist and defend against these strategies
and tactics, and how to get away when you are outnumbered and outmatched. Right now, I just want the recruits to focus solely on survival. Don’t worry about doing damage to your opponents. Later on, we’ll work on wave, squadron, and wing tactics to back each other up with, and to turn the tables on the bad guys. After that, we’ll get into fleet defense modes, and attack strike methods to use against different types of enemy ships.”

Naero joined in. “Excuse me, Captain Saemar. I just want to
interject something here.”

“
Please do. Go right ahead, N.”

“People, in your free time, I want all of you studying up and drilling each other on the various types of enemy ships you will be facing and their current strengths and we
aknesses. You need to become experts on these matters and have the data in your heads. Help each other. You will be too busy flying and fighting in the mix to stop in the middle of a battle, and read the latest intelligence dossier on, say, the Triaxian Centurion Class Heavy Cruiser, and where its shield patterning is weakest, due to a slight design flaw and the placement of its deflector shield projection hardpoints.”

Tia spoke up. “Twenty-three meters directly forward of the front sublight engine
nacelles, on both sides and below.”

“Very good, ensign. Can you or anyone else tell me why not to bother targeting the bridge until the shields are down on the same vessel
?”

Another recruit jumped in.
“Because the new Triaxian wave-flux shields lay down extra layers of protection over both the bridge and the cruiser’s power core to improve both function and survivability.”

“Excellent. So currently, what other design flaw on that warship allows the best opportunity to take the shields down, as quickly as possible?”

Silence.

“Uh, sir,” Tiali
noted, “there wasn’t any info on that in the latest Intel dossier.”

“Exactly. The Triaxian
Centurion Class uses three very large Stellar Corps Quasar SJ303-K sublight engines, coupled with the jump drive and the power core, protected in the aft section of the warship. Yet concentrated fire or multiple hits on the aft shield node, especially when that type of ship is accelerating rapidly, will disrupt the wavering shields and take them down. It will also possibly damage the engines themselves, and other interlinked systems, leaving the ship even more vulnerable.”

Silence again
.

Tiali again.
“Sir…that info isn’t anywhere on record. How would we possibly know it?”

“Because I’m telling it to you now. It hasn’t been officially confirmed yet, but I assure you, it works. Go with it. And if you stumble on something like that, report it
immediately and spread the word.”

Warnings suddenly sounded from the fleet
.

Fifteen enemy carriers
jumped in close, almost right on them in the rear areas, protected by two enemy strike fleets.

“All ships, prepare for battle!
”

Saemar gave the orders
.

“Shields up, full on. All training modes off. Fire up all weapon arrays and prepare to a
ccelerate to attack speed. Form up into three wings of nine, led by me, and Captains Chaela Maeris, and Naero Maeris. All three wings, tight three talon support. Back everyone up.

“
Battle computers online. Watch your optimal targeting protocols. Let’s throck, sweeties! In on my mark. Enter the mix.”

“We’re with you, Saemar,” Chae said
.

“Copy that. We need to buy our fleets time to form up and coordinate a counter-attack. Delay and slow the enemy down. Containment cloud formation Tango-X-ray-4
.”

“They’re la
unching now. Look at them swarm.”

Naero analyzed the enemy plan of attack
.

Not good
.

Everything favored Triax on this one
.

“They’ve caught us napping back here,” Naero said. “Our people are in a bad way. They’ll try to overwhelm our defenses
and take out all the helpless ships.”

“More waves launching from our available carriers
,” Chae added. “Good thing we had some of them waiting in line back here.”

“Time. We need time
,” Naero said. “Increase attack speed. Let’s make some.”

Fleet attack orders came down, trying to coordinate whatever Alliance ships were not
disabled or stuck passing through the fixer cloud gauntlet.

“All available warships and fighters, commence immediate attack on enemy formations. Expand into forward melting waves of the evolving Tango-X-ray-4. Re-enforcements are on the way
.”

“Here we go,” Saemar told them. “
We’re up against mostly Triax Achilles 125D and E variants.”

Twenty-seven
Ghost Dragon tandems hit the advancing swarm with everything they had.

Four cruisers, eleven destroyers, and a handful of other smaller ships waiting nearby expanded the containment screen
and joined them.

No battleships available
yet.

The
Condor
was the only carrier free and clear, out in the open.

It bravely advanced with the responders, right behind its launching fighter waves, secondary batteries already blazing
.

The
foremost, thin screen of defenders slammed into a vanguard of three hundred enemy fighters, or vice-versa.

Having disgorged their lethal insects, the enemy carriers retreat
ed behind the offensive waves of their two strike fleets without a scratch.

The two enemy strike fleets proceeded to swivel around on either flank to catch the Alliance ships stuck in the fixer clouds in a medium-range crossfire of big gun salvos.

The enemy attack stalled only long enough to attempt to absorb the few initial defenders.

Naero grinned
.

The enemy commander leading the attack
must be a complete dope.

Had he been bolder or smarter, he or she would have merely swept past the Alliance’s thin, meager defensive screen—ignoring it
entirely. Triax could have then concentrated all of their initial firepower on the helpless fleets stuck in refit.

They could have
really done some damage.

Now, the defenders were in for a definite pounding, to be sure. But at least they could still maneuver and fight back
.

Each precious second that ticked by, the odds of the battle
would slowly swing over toward the Alliance’s favor.

Anyone with any battle sense at all could see that
.

This was the price commanders paid for being too cautious at times
.

Yet
, as expected, the withering enemy beat down quickly commenced.

Naero and Tia spun and fired and fought and got kicked around, along with everyone else
.

“I’ll fly and keep us alive, Tia. You focus on keeping our guns doing damage. Give anything around us
sheer hell.”

“On it, sir
.”

Naero bounced, bucked, stalled, flipped and spiraled, using every trick and every technique she could think of to keep them moving and make them harder to hit
.

But they got pummeled anyway
.

Tia
calmly maintained a steady patter of blazing fire from their heavy blaster cannons. She fired micro missiles and discharged microbombs and mines right into the packed ranks of the foe to soften them up.

Shields reduced
rapidly across the entire defensive screen, under heavy, relentless, enemy fire from multiple attack trajectories.

One destroyer, a missile frigate, and two gunships got swarmed on and taken down in the heat of the initial engagement alone
.

By then, t
he Alliance had less than five hundred fighters out in the mix against six time those numbers or more.

Seventeen percent of those defending fighters were lost outright as well, in the course of the first pass
.

Chaela’s three
wings remained intact momentarily, quickly joined by the rest of their wave forming up around them.

But three of their tandems were forced to pull away with heavy damage. Ghost Dragons were tough, but not
indestructible.

Saemar kept the
rest moving and fighting, coordinating with the other ships and Fleet Command.

“Inch the cloud back. Lima-Tango-4. Tight loop, clockwise fighting retreat. Cycle back in on r
andom vectors and keep firing–right in their teeth.”

Naero performed the maneuver
s in timed conjunction with the rest of the defenders. Tia kept acquiring and nailing targets according to the coordinated firing protocols.

Their few larger ships pulled back, many already heavily damaged. Their fighters did the same, but looped out of the way and
then back again in crazy swoops and angles, to blast the advancing tide of enemy fighters once again and keep them guessing.

This delaying tactic led to an effect where the defensive screen
appeared to ripple, waver, and wobble, as the enemy attack continued to slam into it, bounce back, and then surge forward once more.

Only minutes into the battle, and the enemy punched gaping holes in the thin defense
.

It nearly collapsed
.

Then the foe would sweep them away
.

Fleet orders saved them
.

“Retreat to tertiary defensive line. Form defensive sphere Delta-Victor-5 around
The
Condor
.”

Any of them that could still move pulled back and fell in around the battered fleet carrier. Loose formation, allowing them
all to still maneuver and fight.

The deadly enemy pounding continued
.

Then Naero noticed the enemy commander making a second fatal mistake
.

Realizing his
first error, he immediately divided his forces in half, sending one part to finally attack the gauntlet of refit nebulae ships close up. The trapped Alliance vessels attempted to break up, come about, and either join the mix or get clear and jump out.

The other half
of the enemy kept up their assault on the beleaguered defenders, who were suddenly somewhat relieve to find that the odds against them were now halved.

The enemy leader
should have stuck to doing one thing or the other from the outset, once they had committed themselves to an action.

Triax could have crushed the defenders within another few minutes at most
.

Now
it grew likely that the enemy would accomplish neither objective.

And in a few short m
oments, the tide should begin to turn against them–the price of indecision.

The defenders merely needed to do their best to stay alive until then
.

Fleet orders gave them what they needed.

“Scattershot retreat. Max out. Three-sixty dispersal. Form back up on coded signals.”

The defenders suddenly broke away, poured on every ounce of speed, and fled in every direction possible
.

The enemy tried to pursue them all, and only succeeded in confusing and jumbling its superior numbers up in all directions as well.
This led to a further waste of valuable time, effort, and energy.

All the w
hile, the Alliance fleets that we’re able, began to form up and go on the attack out of the fixer clouds.

To make matters worse
for Triax, a new Alliance fleet jumped in behind the enemy strike fleets, and also right behind the bunched up, enemy carriers.