Lens of Time: Book 06 - Star Rover-Running Out of Time (14 page)

“Maybe they don’t have a large number of those ships.”

Dat thought a moment and stared at the huge behemoth. “That ship doesn’t have the brittle hull of the Grey Ships and the force field is a different color. That would make me believe that it uses technology similar to standard ships. I see it has the beams of the Grey Ships but that’s all that’s similar. That would support the belief that once the weakness of the Grey Ship’s hulls is discovered; they are too much of a liability to use as the main weapon of war.” Dat continued to stare at the huge ship and then he understood, “Admiral, you can only build a small ship with that grey substance. It wouldn’t support all the weapons on it that you see on that monster. The hull would crack with the stresses of space combat.”

“But why not use the force field? Our standard weapons won’t penetrate it.”

“The force field stops metallic objects. The hull of the ship neutralizes any beam fired at the Grey Ships. Our beams would hit that ship if they used the grey material in the hull. They’re forced to use standard force fields.”

Katherine pushed a button on her console and Belwen appeared on the Monitor, “Belwen, have you been able to determine anything about that ship’s force field?”

“We’re still working on it. However, it is vulnerable to a close shot from a Rover. I’ll know more once I look at all the probe’s scanned information. It might take two quick hits to break through.”

“What about penetrators?”

“I won’t know about that until we actually fire one at it.”

“Please keep me informed.” Kat turned to Dat, “What do you think we should do?”

“Well, that ship is here and we know its location. We might as well take advantage of the situation and take a shot now and see what happens.”

“Is that a good idea, Dat?”

“Admiral, you’re looking at the real enemy against us. We need as much information as possible to develop the means to take them on. Since their major warships use standard technology, they chose to use the Grillen to soften us up before they attacked. Do you have a ship that can deliver a penetrator barrage?”

“I have a ship that is undergoing initial flight trials that could hold off the Grillen Grey Ships and launch one.”

“Who is the commander?”

“Shane Matthews.”

“I’d hate to lose him but we have to know. I’d issue the orders to send him in.”

Katherine stared at Dat for a long moment and then lifted her communicator.

• • •

Shane was watching the Rover’s go through maneuvers around the Saturn and had them jumping with the ship multiple times. His communication panel illuminated and he saw a message coming in from Fleet Control with a Red Flag Priority. He pulled it up on his display and felt an instant moment of fear. He stared at the massive ship on his display and then he reached forward and lifted the clear cover off a light blue button. He pressed it and the alarms started going off. “Battle Stations…all hands to Battle Stations.”

Kelli jerked her head away from her display where she had been watching the maneuvers and Shane shouted over the alarms, “Recall all the Rovers. Have them armed and ready for combat operations immediately.”

“What’s going on!?!”

“Commodore, you’re about to see your first taste of combat. Now get the crew moving and prepare the ship.”

Shane looked back at the giant bronze colored warship and said, “Cally, what are the coverage zones of the blasters on that ship’s hull?”

“My initial analysis is that they can pretty much cover any lane of approach.”

“Can they fire and completely cover the ship with their beams?”

“No; no ship can do that unless the entire hull is one giant blaster. They can hit any zone around it with directed fire.”

“Do we have any idea about their response time?”

“Any answer would strictly be a guess. We don’t know if they gave the Grillen blasters that are equal to their own.”

“What about the Grillen Blasters?”

“We’ve measured about three tenths of a second to lock on a new target.”

“What would you guess their range to be?”

“The size differential would indicate about ten times the range of the Grillen Grey Ships.”

“Fifty miles.”

“That would be my guess and I remind you it is strictly a guess.”

• • •

Shane had sent Kelli the message from Fleet Headquarters and she listened in to Shane’s running commentary with the ship’s computer as she read it. She tried to think what she would be doing if she was in command and she was at a loss. She was frozen and had no idea how she would have attacked that ship. She had her recorder on so she could look at Shane’s dialogue later. This was a different experience from being a tactical officer and she tried to control her emotions but her fear had a tight grip on her. Shane’s even tone and calm demeanor helped her and she wondered how he was able to control his emotions. For the first time, Kelli felt admiration for her commander. She looked at her panel and said, “All Rovers are back on board and are being armed, Sir.”

Shane nodded and listened to Cally’s analysis. After Cally finished, Shane leaned forward and stared at the image of the giant ship. He looked at Kelli and said, “Call the Wing Commanders in to the conference room.”

Kelli’s voice was shaky, “Do you have a plan, Sir?”

Shane looked at Kelli and smiled, “Kelli, I was the same way before my first combat mission. You just let me do all the talking and dismiss the Commanders at the end of the meeting. Don’t let them see your fear; you can do this.”

“Yes Sir.”

“You’ll hear the plan with the pilots.”

“Yes Sir.” Kelli forced herself to relax and remembered what Lydia had said when she first met Shane. She said I should see him fly. Kelli forced a smile and knew that was going to happen shortly.

T
he Grillen King saw the Servant enter the huge hall and felt fear grip his heart. Did they really believe the Union had destroyed their ship? He held his breath as the Servant arrived in front of his throne and bowed slightly. He let the breath out as the Servant said, “It appears your enemy was able to plant a destructive device on my predecessor’s ship. We really don’t know how it was done but I need your records from the destruction of the production facilities.”

“I will gladly provide them.” He nodded to his son, who left the room at a trot.

“We are curious about when you are going to open hostilities with the spiral galaxy?”

“I’ve been working hard to build enough of the Grey Ships to start that process. We hope to have enough completed within sixty days to open hostilities.”

The Servant stared at the King and, after a moment that seemed to last forever, it said, “That is faster than we thought possible. We wish you luck in your endeavor.” The King’s son arrived and handed the Servant a data module, “Thank you. We need this to confirm that it was the Spiral Galaxy that destroyed our ship.”

The King was reluctant but he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “That is an impressive ship you have.”

“We are proud of it.” The Servant paused and seemed to be listening to something. It looked at the King, “It is currently under attack.” The King was stunned and looked at his panel. The giant Servant Ship looked like it was on fire from the hits on its force field. “This is just a momentary distraction. We should have this handled shortly.”

• • •

Shane entered the conference room and Kelli shouted, “Attenhut, Admiral on deck.”

The twenty wing commanders came to attention as Shane entered the room and walked up the center aisle. He pressed the display controller he was holding and an image of the giant Servant Ship appeared on the display. The commanders were shocked at the huge ship’s image. Shane moved behind the podium and looked at the pilots, “At ease; take a seat.” The twenty commanders sat down but their attention was on the display. “What you see here is a warship of a civilization that is providing the Grillen advanced technology. It has double the Saturn’s mass and three times the number of beams and missile launchers. We have been ordered to determine if penetrators can be effective against it. It is not my intention to destroy this ship. We are going to attack it to collect information on its capabilities. If it is destroyed, then I’ll celebrate with you; however, I am not taking chances with this ship or its crew. We’re going in to launch a penetrator barrage and get out. Is that clear?”

“Yes Sir!”

“Captain Gomez, you will divide your wings into two groups with two hundred Rovers in each. They will move into a formation with every ship less than two yards from each other. I want their formation to be the size of a Grillen Major Battleship. They will jump in on that ship seventy five miles above and below it and immediately spread out and fire their dark matter blasters at that ship. Once they fire, they will immediately jump away to the first assembly coordinates. I want your two groups to fan out and prepare for the Grillen Grey Ships that I’m certain will be following your jump tracks. When they arrive, you will then jump to the secondary assembly coordinates and form up on the Saturn, which I hope will be there waiting on you. If the Saturn is not there, jump away and report back to base. Do you have any questions?”

Gomez said, “Sir, from that far out, our beams will do little more than energize that ship’s force field. I’m sure they won’t penetrate.”

“We are not going there to trial our beams against that ship. We’re there to trial the penetrators. If all of you fire simultaneously, the force field will go to full power and there should be a moment before their scanners can adapt to the energy change. The Saturn will jump in and launch a penetrator barrage immediately after you fire. We will be jumping in level with the center of the enemy ship and it will take them a short time to deflect their blasters and lock on us. The Saturn will jump out as soon as the penetrators are launched.” Shane stared at the pilots and saw they wanted to take the ship on. “Gentlemen, we are jumping into the most heavily defended planet in the Grillen Empire. What do you think they are going to be doing while we go after that ship?”

Gomez knew Shane was right. Then he had a thought, “Do you think that ship might fire on our jump signature before we emerge into normal space? We could emerge into a huge blast area.”

“That’s why you’re making your formation the size of a Grillen Battleship. I don’t believe that ship has access to the Grillen communication frequencies and will hold their fire until they determine if your two groups are possible allies of theirs. The Grillen will hesitate to fire on the two jump points because they won’t know if the two could be more ships from that civilization. This provides us a unique opportunity to get in, take a shot, and get out before we’re fired on. This much I can tell you; you will be chased. So get out and jump to your assigned coordinates.” Shane looked at his wrist unit, “You have an hour to get your two groups formed up and we’ll be jumping immediately after. The Saturn will jump into the Grillen Home World a tenth of a second after your departure. This is going to happen fast so make sure your Wings know their responsibilities.”

“Sir, what do we do when we jump to the second assembly coordinates?”

Shane looked at Captain Jennings and knew this pilot was ready for promotion. He saw it when the others didn’t. “We were conducting flight trials when this interrupted us. What better way to trial our Ship than to do it against live targets? You’ve been working on this for weeks; now we’ll see what you’ve learned.”

Captain Wisecup, the gunnery commander, raised his hand. Shane nodded to him, “Yes Captain.”

“What will the gunnery crews be doing?”

Shane smiled, “You’re going to be firing arrows at the savages attacking us. Your teams know the drill.”

Wisecup smiled and the commanders laughed. Shane picked up the folder he had brought in with him and Kelli shouted, “Attenhut.” Shane walked out of the room and Kelli said, “You’re the best in the fleet. Make the Admiral proud.”

The Pilots shouted, “Yes Sir!”

“Dismissed!”

Kelli watched the commanders exit the room and was amazed at the plan Shane had developed. As a tactical expert she saw the nuances of the attack and knew she should have thought of them as well. She had learned a lot. Her fear was gone. She knew she could follow her commander into battle and not worry about losing her life. Everything that could be done to prevent that happening was done. She smiled and left for the bridge.

• • •

Gem took the Triton out of Space Dock for initial trials when Admiral Gibbons appeared on her display, “Commodore, is you ship armed and combat ready?”

“Our Rovers are not armed and their beams are set for training level. The ship has all its weapons on board.”

“I need you to prepare your ship for combat immediately. I may be sending you into a war zone.”

“Sir?”

“Read the download; once you complete it, get back to me and let me know if you can get ready in time.”

Gem saw the message that was sent to Shane and then the attack profile he was going to use. Her heart went into her throat and she activated the ship’s alarms. She stood up and her face took on an expression that was a combination of fear and determination. The Triton was going to be ready or heads would roll. The urgency of the Triton’s crew matched the ship’s Commander. The Rovers were being armed and prepared for combat as the gunnery crews armed their weapons. Penetrators were loaded into the belts and began moving into the launchers. Gem watched her display and saw she only had twenty minutes left before she would have to jump. If she couldn’t get ready in time, she was ordered to remain at Space Dock. She watched her panel and there were still numerous lights showing red. She looked at Captain McCagg and yelled, “GO TO THE PENETRATOR TEAMS AND GET THEM MOVING!!!”

McCagg ran off the bridge for the tubes, jumped in a cart, and accelerated toward the center of the mile long ship. He arrived and found one of the penetrator belts had jammed against the side of a channel. He saw the teams moving the belt back and forth attempting to get it to move without success. He ran to the wall and pulled a heavy hammer out of its mount and ran to the frozen belt. It moved forward and he hit the side of the channel with the heavy hammer with all his strength. There was a loud pop and the belt hesitated…and then moved forward. The other twenty belts sensed the movement and began moving in unison. The penetrator team leader looked at Matt with shock on his face and Matt said, “Sometimes…not very often…nothing works like a hammer.” The team leader smiled and the penetrator tubes on the port side of the Triton began receiving their payloads.