Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (42 page)

             
"No, I can still fight; it's just that my skills are better served leading for now. I was seriously injured, but I am almost back to full strength. Don't worry, Admiral, I love Kaldor, and I won't let it fall into Tovanoras’ hands." He added, closing the subject that was still too raw and awkward for him to fully address.

             
Togglasem looked away from the transmission for a moment and when he returned, he had a sly grin on his face. "The Zinnebailan fleet has just left Zinnebulous heading towards Ginderbar where three hundred fifty
Battle Hammers
and one hundred thirty additional Alliance vessels await him."

             
"That is good news, Admiral. I'll leave you to your last minute preparations. Just send a transmission when the enemy arrives and we'll be there a half hour later." The screen went dead as the transmission ended. Jesse looked over to see Kimi looking up at him. "I'm sorry I woke you, I was trying to be quiet."

             
"It is not your fault, Jesse," she replied as she stood up and embraced him. "I woke when Captain Snyder commed you. I did enjoy watching you try to speak quietly so as not to wake me." She smiled mischievously and then began to massage his shoulders.

             
"You could have told me, you know," he laughed.

             
"What, and spoil my fun?" She kissed the back of his neck and made her way into the washroom. Jesse smiled as he began getting ready to jump into the Kaldorian system.

______

              Tovanoras arrived at Kaldor with four hundred fifty ships while the other half of his fleet of five hundred ships arrived almost simultaneously at Ginderbar. He smiled in anticipation as his fleet came back into focus around him. This was the first step in accomplishing what even his brother could not: taking Kaldor. He would also be taking the legendary Ginderbar. He would be using his fleet to hold them at bay, and once he had Kaldor, and more importantly, their money, he would be taking the rest of his fleet to stomp out the arrogant mercenaries once and for all. After he had destroyed his two most powerful adversaries and added their shipyards to his own, there would be no one left to stop him in this sector. He would also destroy Sollonia and possibly a few other worlds, but after that it would be subjugation. As he looked out at the fleet lined up to defend Kaldor, he felt a flash of annoyance at the ninety-six Hyperian vessels while at the same time being thankful that six of the fleet groups had gone elsewhere. He didn't know what caused their departure, but he was thankful for it. If he could consolidate power quickly enough, even King Dominus would think twice before coming after him.

             
"The entire fleet has arrived," Challa called from the bridge of Tovanoras' flagship,
Retribution
. It had been his brother's flagship, and briefly belonged to Challa, but he was happy to give it up when a true leader came along. Captain Xia was leading the fleet at Ginderbar, with the Jar-Kargen captain Trae-bar second-in-command of that fleet. His second-in-command was a Pandaran named Guile aboard a powerful Coalition destroyer named
Annihilator
. The wandering fleet that would hopefully be keeping Kaldor's closer allies out of the fight was led by the Farannsian Captain Yartan. He was proving to be a very disciplined and capable leader and Tovanoras was happy he had agreed to join them. It would have been a pity to lose one so talented.

             
"Begin the sequence of infiltrating their banking system. I want every last chron on Kaldor to be mine."

             
"It's not working, sir," a panicked Challa called out. "I think we need to be closer to introduce the foreign tech. We might even need to land someone."

             
"Fine," Tovanoras bit out with his jaw clenched. “We will have to engage their fleet earlier than I had hoped. Send a transmission on all channels." As the transmission flared to life, Tovanoras began to speak. "Forces protecting Kaldor," he began with a booming voice similar to his brother's. "I have come to claim your planet. Stand down and I will let you live. Fight me and your entire world will be destroyed. You have one minute to decide." He smiled and looked at Challa, “Set a timer, Challa, in one minute I wish to be advancing on Kaldor.

             
"Come now, Tovanoras," Admiral Togglasem replied in an almost singsong voice. "That tactic didn't work when your brother tried it, why would you think it would work now?" He began to laugh to mock him. Then his voice turned hard. "Leave the Kaldorian system now while I still allow it."

             
"Ha, ha, ha," Tovanoras boomed again. "There is no Colonel Marcos to save you now, Admiral. I shall enjoy watching your government plead for mercy." Just then, Challa's timer went off and Tovanoras smiled. "TIME'S UP," he yelled and
Retribution
opened fire followed by the rest of the fleet. His smile turned into a scowl as the lightshow played out in front of him. How had he not known Kaldor had a planetary shield?

             
Returning fire aimed at his fleet shot out from behind the protective shield and splashed off the first ranks of his ships. Several ships’ shields were quickly overwhelmed and they were blown to pieces. As Tovanoras saw debris and lifeless aliens floating out in the cold of space, he lost his good mood. "All ships," he began. "Fire at will and do not let up. Their shield cannot last forever. In the meantime, I want each rank to be rotating so we spread their insignificant retaliation out among a much larger number of ships." He then called into the transmission. "So, you managed to keep your shields a secret, Admiral, it will do you no good. In fact, it will only allow me to relish this victory even more."

             
Admiral Togglasem did not answer, instead he commed Josiah. "You are sure these shields will hold for an hour and a half, Captain?"

             
"At least, Admiral, and we have extra power supplies, so if my people can switch out the sources right before the shield goes down, you'll have at least three hours. I can't promise that will happen, however."

             
"Very good, Captain," he replied as he gave the order to the rest of the fleet to continue firing at will. "Every ship we destroy is one we won't have to face when the shields go down." he reminded them.

             
After a half hour, Challa called out, "Their shields are down to sixty-three percent, Tovanoras. We shall be through them within the hour."

             
"Very good, how many ships have we lost, Challa?"

             
"Forty-five, Sir. Shall I call in Yartan's raiders?"

             
"I think you over estimate Kaldor's chances. We still have nearly three times the amount of fighters they think we'll have. We should be able to quickly devastate their fighters and then take out all of their gunships without significant loss to our own forces. From there, it will be a battle of attrition for them." Tovanoras smiled, not only did he have a full complement of fighters aboard each vessel, but also he had an additional three thousand waiting behind the closest planet. As soon as the shield went down, they would join the fray and seal the victory. Suddenly his smile once again turned into a scowl as Challa's words rang out.

             
"We have an incoming fleet."

______

              Captain Reed wished she could be defending Kaldor with her ship and crew, but she was out hunting for Yartan's marauders. She had to make sure the fleet at Zelanott would be ready to defend Qualoosh, Julan and Sollonia, since their fleets were on their way to Kaldor. She sat hidden behind the third moon of Julan where her ship's extended sensor package would be able to monitor all three systems. She also had a dozen ships with her to slow down any attacks on those worlds until reinforcements could arrive."Anything yet, Wen?" She called out, wishing she knew what was going on back home.

             
"Nothing yet, Captain. Don't worry, we should know with more than enough time to get help to the proper planet."

             
"I know, I just hate the waiting, and the not knowing."

             
"Captain," Sibbie called out. "We have an incoming transmission from Zelanott.

             
"Put it through." She anxiously replied.

             
"Captain Reed, Yartan's fleet has arrived in our system. We are attempting to engage them now."

             
She hadn't been monitoring Zelanott, because it was the only protected planet. "Excellent, I'll be there with my group in ten minutes and I'll have Sollonia send its remaining thirty ships as well." She couldn't wait to crush Yartan's fleet and get back to Kaldor. She sent the message to Sollonia and then jumped to light space. Her group arrived a few minutes ahead of Sollonia's ships and they immediately began to pound the rear flanks of Yartan's fleet.

             
"Captain, we are badly outnumbered and have already lost close to twenty ships, what are your orders?" A wide-eyed Xenul communications officer asked.

             
Yartan hated to have the
Dominator
retreat from battle, but somehow the humans had been ready for them and had boxed him in with reinforcements that were supposed to be too frightened to leave their own systems.
Are those Kaldorian frigates?
He wondered.
Shouldn't they be defending their home from a fleet twice the size of theirs? They wouldn't release a dozen ships to fight him unless they were sure of victory at home.
As the reality of that thought hit him, he yelled anxiously, "We need to send a transmission to Tovanoras, NOW."

             
"I'm sorry, Captain, no signal is getting out of the system." the Xenul replied.

             
"Withdraw, call the fleet to withdraw." Yartan continued nearly frantic.

             
"There is no reply from our forces, it would appear that a powerful jamming field is emitting from one of the enemy ships. We can communicate with no one.

             
"Find the ship and destroy it, we must warn Tovanoras he has walked into a trap." Another three ships were lost as orange beams of light from three different directions converged on them. All of the
Razzers
were locked in dogfights with
Cutters
and
Steel Birds
from Sollonia and
Hunters
from Zelanott, and the
Razzers
were not faring well. Tovanoras had spread the experienced pilots too thin in favor of putting more fighters in play. This was going to end badly. He was getting routed and he couldn't even signal a retreat.

             
"I've found it, Captain; the signal is coming from a modified freighter behind the Kaldorian ships."

             
"Let us flush them out, then." Yartan responded as the
Dominator
went straight for their position.

             
"Captain Reed, it looks like they're on to us," Tioga called out. "The
Dominator
is heading straight for our position."

             
"Sibbie, get our ships in between us and the
Dominator
. We have to keep them from getting a message out."

             
"Two ships are on an intercept course, Captain Reed." Sibbie replied.

             
"Enso, How are we on shield strength?"

             
"We are sacrificing shield strength to maintain jamming. If the pirates get too close, we will have to turn it off to protect ourselves."

             
"Let's hope that doesn't happen. The rout is on, Tovanoras only has about a dozen ships left here; let's hope we can dispatch them before
Dominator
can lock on to us."

             
"It doesn't look like that's going to happen, Captain," Teha added as the
Dominator
took out one of the frigates sent to intercept them. The
Catamaran II
tried to get behind the second ship, but it was already taking a pounding from the
Dominator's
powerful weapons. By this point, only seven pirate vessels remained, but it seemed the
Dominator
was determined to take them out.

             
"Full power to sublight and shields, Goslar," Cassie ordered. "Desmond, clear a path through those
Razzers
and Wennagal, get us as far from the
Dominator
as possible. We can begin rebroadcasting the jamming signal from behind the Sollonian ships.

             
The
Catamaran II's
crew did as instructed. They abandoned their position as the
Dominator
was plowing through the remains of the second frigate. Desmond was taking out
Razzers
at a pretty good rate, but the
Dominator
was not giving up the chase. As Wennagal spun the ship and weaved in and out of enemy and friendly fighters, he began to get some distance, but it was taking too long.