Lens of Time: Book 06 - Star Rover-Running Out of Time (36 page)

The ships on the outer edge of the giant square formation were maintaining their position slightly behind the moving square and fired on any Servant Warship that rushed toward the formation from the sides. Fifteen minutes after the start of the exercise, the probe detected a huge number of jump signatures. Lee received the warning and pressed the escape button. Every Union Ship above the planet disappeared…just before two million Servant Warships arrived. They appeared in normal space and fifty Union Ships, that had been hit and damaged or destroyed, exploded in their ranks. The explosions could be seen in bright daylight on the planet. However, most of them went unnoticed as thousands of Servant structures on the surface burned from penetrator or beam strikes. Gibbs saw the two units jump away and said, “Give me a report.”

“Initial estimates are that more than a million enemy warships have been damaged beyond repair. Huge numbers of them are now starting to fall on the planet.”

Gibbs could only imagine what horror those falling warships were going to cause on the planet’s surface. A probe sent a week after the attack took recordings and Gibbs learned that most of the ships that crashed on the planet had their reactors cook off and cause a huge nuclear explosion. The entire planet was laid to waste. Gibbs lifted his communicator, “Reserve fleets jump to escape coordinates of fleet six.”

• • •

The Commanding Lord of the Servant Support Fleet ordered his ships to follow the jump track of the escaping Union Fleets and emerged into normal space only to find a huge wall of Union Ships blowing into his ranks. Before his fleets could get organized, the huge line disappeared. He ordered his ships to follow and the two Union Fleets that had attacked the planet flew into his ranks at the second jump and once again he lost a huge number of ships. The attackers disappeared again and this time he chose not to follow them. His fleet was reduced to half their original number and none of the enemy ships had been hit. He slammed a leg on the chair arm and shattered it. He took his fleet back to the planet that had been attacked and saw there was little he could do. A week later he was executed for his incompetence.

• • •

Dat looked at the data coming in and saw the Servants had not been successful in reorganizing their support fleets. Some of the planets attacked had two million ships jump in and others had ten million jump in. The fifteen minute delay was more than he could have hoped for knowing the Servants were ready for another attack. He looked at the casualty reports and shook his head. The Union had lost eleven thousand Jukeboxes. However, the Servants had lost fifteen million ships destroyed and another six million damaged to varying levels. Most of them were no longer combat worthy. The war had kicked off and he knew the Servants were not going to just lay down and die. They were adaptive and with each attack they would learn how to meet their attackers. However, the initial attack had to be considered a success. He began contacting his Admirals to congratulate them on their missions.

• • •

The attacks continued and became more and more deadly. After three months, the Servants would jump every ship in orbit to the sides of the detected jump signatures and start firing into the area before the Union Ships emerged. That tactic killed more than a hundred thousand Union Warships before the survivors could jump away. The Servants didn’t lose a ship in that terrible battle. The Union lost Admiral Jennings in the first ten seconds of that slaughter. In the next attack, the Union Ships skipped in and emerged into normal space for less than a tenth of a second before skipping beyond the Servant fire zone. Every ship ejected their full load of penetrators a short distance from the Servant Warships and they popped into normal space as the Jukeboxes continued to skip around the attackers. The penetrators emerged outside the Servant fire zone and honed in on the local fleet as well as the support fleet that arrived ten seconds later. The huge cloud of penetrators locked on their targets and the Servant Warships were hit before they could react and jump away to safety. When the penetrators no longer detected an enemy ship to target, they turned and flew toward the planet where they targeted installations with high energy levels. The devastation was beyond belief.

The war became a game of counter measures to hit the Union Fleets and the Union Fleets would adapt and counter the Servant’s new plan with one of their own. After two years of constant fighting, the Union had lost more than eight million warships. The Union had lost count of how many Servant Warships had been destroyed.

Fortunately for the Union, the ship building facilities in the Milky Way and the colonies had been constructing Jukebox Battleships at an incredible pace and the new ships coming online had a new development. Belwen had managed to find a way to increase the power of the inner grey force field. The Jukeboxes could now stand toe-to-toe with the Giant Bronze Battleships and slug it out.

• • •

Dat sat on the Havana and looked at the Union formations in open space. So many friends had been lost. Hundreds of thousands of sailors were now atoms floating in Servant space where their ships had self-destructed. He felt the weight of their deaths on his soul and he wanted this nightmare to end.

“Sir, I have a ship entering normal space a thousand miles outside our location.”

“How many ships?”

“Just one, Sir.”

“Put it on my display and move a squadron close to its point of entry.”

Dat watched his display and saw a huge steel blue colored ship emerge into normal space. He saw that it did not have a force field activated and he said, “Hold your fire.” Twenty Jukeboxes surrounded the strange ship and Dat wondered where it had come from.

Dat heard on his wall speaker, “We desire to communicate with the individual commanding these ships.”

Dat was surprised; the intruder spoke in the Union’s language, “I am commanding these fleets.”

The display remained dark so Dat couldn’t see who was communicating. “I have been sent to communicate with you. We have been watching your fight against the Bronze Warships and wish to inquire as to why you are at war with them.”

“They are planning to invade my galaxy and use my civilization as hosts for their eggs. We launched a preemptive strike to stop them.”

There was a long pause and the voice said, “Are you aware that the Bronze Ships have invaded another galaxy?”

Dat shook his head, “No, but it doesn’t surprise me.”

“Will you continue to expand to other galaxies if you manage to win this war?”

Dat got angry, “You are acting ridiculous. We aren’t thinking beyond surviving this war. We just want to be left alone.”

“Are you aware that the ships that invaded the other Galaxy are being recalled to defend this one?”

Dat’s fear was instant, “No, I am not aware of that.”

“It appears you have done extensive damage to their resources and they are attempting to get the other invaders to return here to join the fight against you.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“The invaders are in my galaxy and have not found my civilization…yet. We have the capacity to remove them but cannot stand against them and the ships they have here. Before we open hostilities against them, we need to know that you will see this war to a conclusion.”

“How long have you been observing our war?”

“Since it started.”

“And after seeing all we’ve sacrificed, do you seriously think we will quit?”

There was a long moment of silence and then the voice said, “I told my leaders that would be your response but they had to be sure. We will prevent any of their forces in our galaxy from coming back to fight against you. We do hope you persevere and see this to its conclusion.”

Dat smiled, “Of that you can be sure.”

“Thank you; as a military commander, I admire what you’ve faced and endured. Before I leave, you should know that all of their ship building capacity is located on just six of their major planets. If you can destroy those, they don’t have enough ships remaining to invade anywhere.”

“How do you know this?”

“Our probes are far ahead of your current technology. I’m sending you the coordinates of those planets and the remaining major planets you’ll have to face. If you can remove those planets, you can ultimately win your fight. You just can’t give up and quit.”

Dat thought a moment and said, “If you’re going to kick off your campaign against them, you should wait for seven days.”

“Why?”

“If you’re watching us, you’ll see why.”

Dat actually heard a chuckle, “We will delay that long. I hope the show will be entertaining.”

“You have no idea.”

“Good luck and we will continue to pray for your success.”

“And we will do the same for your civilization.”

The huge ship became transparent and disappeared. Dat looked at his Scanner Officer, who said, “They did not leave a jump track…as far as I can tell, they didn’t use a jump field.”

Dat shook his head and looked at the stars through his viewport on the Havana and smiled. They no longer made him sad. He lifted his communicator and said, “Attention all ships, we will conduct random attacks for the next four days. All units will then report to this location and form into their original three fleets.” Dat punched up a channel and said, “Admiral Hull, please have all Fleet Admirals report to my location immediately and notify the Grillen and the Rovers that they will be needed here as well.”

“What’s going on, Dat?”

“I’m sending you a copy of a conversation I just had. It’s time, Sir.” Katherine’s eyes narrowed and then she turned to see the recording Dat had just sent her. Dat pushed another frequency, “Belwen, how many of the Major Penetrators have you prepared for us?”

“I have six hundred in inventory.”

“I need them and the ships to launch them at the coordinates I’m sending you.”

“Admiral, before you go, you should know something about the penetrators.”

“What is that, Belwen?”

“I’ve managed to increase the power of their force fields; I don’t think the Servant’s beams will be able to damage them before they hit.”

Dat’s smile was huge. He ended the call and looked down at his display. After a moment, he saw Gresha, “It’s time for you to come.”

Gresha smiled and handed Angel to Grest, “I’m on my way.”

“Kiss the children for me.”

“I do that every day.”

Dat’s panel activated and he saw the Grillen Admiral and Admiral Kune appear, “Yes, I’ve asked for you to bring your ships here. It’s time you entered the fight.” They looked at Dat and immediately disappeared.

Katherine reappeared on Dat’s panel and before she could say anything, Dat said, “No, I don’t believe that species is a danger to us.” Kat stared at Dat wondering if he was a mind reader. She nodded and ended the connection without saying anything.

The word went out that the Union was starting the endgame. The millions of ships arrived and assembled into their box and globe formations like they had trained on it the day before. Dat looked at the formations and slowly shook his head. He opened a special frequency and saw Blacky appear on his display. “We begin our attacks on their major planets in three days.”

“I’ll notify the teams. Good luck, my friend.” Dat nodded and the panel went dark. Dat launched a probe to the Servant’s Ruling Planet and waited expectantly for it to return. When it finally arrived he waited for the all-important data to come in. He saw the video start and he fell back in his chair. He pulled up the original recording of the planet and saw that the number of ships in orbit around it had been reduced by two thirds. Now he understood why they had called for help from the galaxy they had invaded. If the most important planet in their domain was now defended with only a third of the ships they once had…he started shaking his head as Shane appeared on his panel, “What’s wrong, Chief.”

Dat smiled and sent him the images. Shane looked away from the screen and his shock was clearly visible, “Is this what I think it is?”

“It is, Admiral.”

Shane smiled, “Then all this sorrow was worth it, Sir. My team will arrive within the hour.”

“Bring them to my conference room; we have a lot to do.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

• • •

The Supreme Lord looked at his Advisor, “What do you mean they can’t come for another month?”

“Lord, the Son you sent to rule that Galaxy knows that your forces here have been greatly reduced. I suspect he is considering a coup.”

“He wouldn’t dare!”

The advisor was uncomfortable but had to be truthful about his older brother, “You know how ambitious he is; he knows he has more ships that we do and I suspect he believes that if he can delay, your Empire will be his for the taking. I don’t know if the other Major Lords will remain loyal to you if he comes with the intent to replace you.”

“I’ll have them killed.”

“That wouldn’t be wise with the ongoing enemy attacks. They will stay loyal as long as he stays away.”

The Lord thought about his dilemma and looked at his Advisor, “Do you think you can get close enough to kill him?”

The Advisor stiffened and after a moment said, “It might be possible.”

“I will send you with a proclamation naming you the new ruler in that galaxy. Remove him and send the ships we need to win this conflict.”

The Advisor lowered his head, “I will arrive there in a few days and look for the opportunity.”

“You must do this!”

“I know, Father.”

“Now go and make it happen.”

The Advisor left the giant chamber and went to say goodbye to his family. He suspected his brother would anticipate treachery; they both knew what their father was capable of doing. However, he may not believe he would be a party to it. He knew if he didn’t follow his father’s commands; his family was dead. He boarded a shuttle two days later and jumped out of the planet’s system. The probe recorded the jump track and stored it in its data banks.

• • •

Things started happening quickly at the assembly of the Union and Grillen fleets. The three huge formations formed up with the new model of Jukebox Battleships filling out the slots where ships had been lost. More than two thirds of the box formations were comprised of the new Battleships, which had a force fields capable of withstanding the Servant’s most powerful beams. Even the grey missiles would not penetrate it. Dat looked at the data from the probes sent out to the six production planets and saw the numbers of ships being constructed was unbelievable. He decided that one of the Jukebox formations would go to the Governing Planet and the other two would be divided into three equal formations. They didn’t have to face the number of warships at the Servant Ruler’s planet and they would have to make sure the planets were destroyed before they jumped away.