Total Betrayal (Deep Space Endeavor) (43 page)

             
"Captain, we have transmissions, it appears as if the vessel cannot flee and jam at the same time. What are your orders?"

             
"Sound the retreat, and get me Tovanoras." Yartan watched in anger as only the
Dominator
and four other vessels were going to live through the encounter.

______

              "What are we looking at, Admiral Dyson?" Enosal called from the bridge of his flagship the
Wealthy Battle
.

             
"It would appear as though Tovanoras’ forces wish to draw us out before attacking, Sir. They are sitting just outside of the effective firing range of our planetary defenses."

             
"Have they noticed there are only three hundred ships defending the planet, Admiral?"

             
"It wouldn't appear so, Chief of State Enosal. I do not think Tovanoras is leading this fleet. I believe he went to Kaldor."

             
"And they have yet to notice the
Reclaimer
and the rest of your forces behind our fourth moon, Admiral?"

             
"They have not let on if they have, Sir."

             
"Very well, we will not cower in fear just because they have shown up in our system. Let us show them what happens when an enemy comes to Ginderbar in force. Have your ships and our allies come up behind them firing as soon as they are in view. Make them come closer. We will attack from here and our planetary cannons can pick off the ones that venture too close."

             
"Yes, sir." Admiral Dyson replied. She had one hundred
Battle Hammers
and eighty allied vessels come out of hiding, firing on the rear of Captain Xia's unsuspecting fleet. At the same time, Chief of State Enosal led two hundred fifty
Battle Hammers
and fifty allied ships from the planet on a full on frontal assault. The
Battle Hammers
were more powerful when used as attack ships anyway and were easily able to overpower frigates and gunships. They were also more than a match for the pirate heavy cruisers, and fairly evenly matched with the Destroyers and Battleships of the pirate fleet. Enosal had no doubt he could win and wondered at Tovanoras plan.
Did he mean to intimidate us into surrender or did he really feel he could outmatch three hundred fifty Battle Hammers
? He wondered as his ships prepared to engage.

             
Captain Xia stood on the bridge of his flagship
Savage Destruction
. His orders were to detain Ginderbar until Tovanoras could get here with his remaining ships from the battle of Kaldor, then, together, they would crush Ginderbar. He had not expected Ginderbar to attack them while they were so far from the planet. He should have known a people as proud as the mercenaries would not take kindly to a large fleet sitting in their system attempting to intimidate them. They had three hundred fifty
Battle Hammers
and would not be intimidated. This probably would have worked at Kaldor, Xia thought as a surprise attack from behind caught Captain Trae-Bar and the
Closed Fist
off guard.

             
"Captain Xia, we are under attack from two fleets. It would appear that they have more than three hundred fifty ships." Trae-bar informed as his ship began returning fire.

             
"All ships return fire, if it is battle they want, then it is a battle we shall give them."  The powerful tube-shaped ships of Zinnebulous began to open fire and all of their ships launched their
Razzers
only to be met by a wave of
Spykes
from Ginderbar. As thousands of dogfights began in the space around Ginderbar, the powerful ships that resembled the top of a hammer began to inflict serious punishment on the alien fleet. The
Battle Hammers
began to create a wedge right down the middle of Xia's fleet, while the small but nimble ships of the small mammalian species the Salacateans of Honasaur buzzed about destroying gunships and retreating quickly before they could take fire. Xia could also see the spider shaped ships of the insect species the Rizniaz and the proud royal ships of the small human monarchy of Valagan. It would appear that the Alliance had come together against them even with the threat of Yartan's fleet of marauders out there. As ships were blowing up all around him, Captain Xia called for his ships to remain in formation. He knew discipline was the only way they would win this battle. Unfortunately, he had too many Pandarans and Mannagore in his fleet to keep effective discipline within the ranks.

             
"Continue pressing your advance, Admiral Dyson, the wedge I have created will draw many of their ships into the firing range of our planetary defenses. This will quickly become a rout. We must take as many of them as we can before they retreat, I tire of fighting these aliens and I do not wish to have to do it again." Enosal angrily said.

             
"It will be as you say, Sir," Dyson replied as she continued to assault the rear guard of Xia's fleet. "I only hope Kaldor will make it through as well."

             
"I wouldn't worry too much about them Admiral, they have a few surprises in store for Tovanoras." Enosal replied.

             
"Humans," Captain Trae-bar called into all channels. “You may think you have the advantage, but when Tovanoras gets here, your fleet will be broken and your planet will bow before us. Surrender now and avoid your destruction."

             
"Why would we surrender, we're winning," Admiral Dyson laughed. Captain Trae-bar's reply was cut short as the
Closed Fist
shields gave out and bright green streams of light hit the ship from two directions. By this time, the ships forming up to follow Enosal's fleet that had plunged deep into the enemy formation were hit by Ginderbar's planetary defenses. Nearly two dozen ships went up at once and the rest beat a hasty, disorganized withdrawal from the planet, right into the waiting attack of the
Battle Hammers
. The route was on as Captain Xia called for the aliens to retreat. Admiral Dyson's forces followed them, firing on them all the way to light space. Her crew let out a cheer and they were joined by celebrations across the fleet as Enosal began receiving totals.

             
"Sir, our combined forces lost one hundred three ships, sixty-one of which were
Battle Hammers
. The rest were spread fairly evenly among our allies. Captain Xia's fleet lost three hundred seventeen ships. It will be a long time before they try to come back here."

             
"Yes, it will," Enosal agreed. After Kaldor won its battle, he was going to suggest a massive Alliance fleet pay Zinnebulous, Taglaharn, Xenul and Jar-Karga a visit to destroy any ships they had left, and level their shipyards. As long as eight or ten alien species were willing to pool their resources for attacks of this nature, they would always be in danger. So this time, they were going to make sure that the aliens wouldn't be able to do this again anytime soon.

______

              "How is it possible that more ships would be coming to help Kaldor?" Tovanoras yelled as his ships sensors were reading two substantial fleets jumping into the Kaldorian system. Both fleets opened up on him without preamble and his fleet started taking immediate damage.

             
"Admiral, now would be a good time to break out the cannons." Jesse called over a transmission. "I want him to see the futility of ever coming after Kaldor again." At that moment, forty plasma cannons opened up on Tovanoras’ fleet, quickly overpowering shields and destroying ships. Melee cruisers began their ramming runs taking out many more, while Hyperian and Kaldorian destroyers went toe to toe with Tovanoras’ big guns. Tovanoras did have a surprise up his sleeve in the form of thousands of extra fighters, which he launched at Jesse's fleet, but he didn't know who he was dealing with and recoiled in horror as Vee Fleet and the Olympians fired their laser nets, destroying almost two thirds of them.
Cutters
,
Predators
,
Vipers
and other allied fighters then began to chase down the remaining fighters and the dogfights that ensued were relatively one-sided.

             
"I know that laser net anywhere," Challa yelled. "Colonel Marcos is here. He has come back to help Kaldor.

             
"Colonel Marcos, here?" Tovanoras could not hide his shock. He called over the transmission. "Colonel Marcos, this is Tovanoras. I owe you for killing my brother. Fight me, or I will always come after those you care about. Fight me and I will stand down."

             
"Tovanoras," Jesse mocked. "Let me ask you a question. Does bad planning and pointless vendettas run in your family, or are you all just plain stupid? You'll be standing down soon enough because you're getting your butt kicked."

             
"So, fight me then and you never need worry about us again. That is, unless you're a coward."

             
"You know the rules, Tova. Can I call you Tova? I don't really care. According to your own planet's law, I can never be branded a coward because I survived one of your death matches. If you want to blame someone for your brother's death, blame him. He abducted my friend and made me fight him or he would kill her. He broke the agreement in every way possible, and I still won. The author of your brother's demise was your brother, so get over it. I've got nothing left to prove and no reason to trust you'll keep your word because if you you're anything like your brother, you're a lying cheater."

             
"I will kill you for that, Colonel Marcos. You will die by my hand."

             
"That's Admiral Marcos, Tova. I got promoted." Jesse punctuated his taunt by destroying Tovanoras' second-in-command, Guile's ship the
Annihilator
. By this time, all of the
Leviathans
and
War Hawks
were engaged along with the Special Forces cruisers. The Hyperians were out in front, not wanting their battle-weary Milky Way friends to lose any ships fighting a war that wasn't theirs.

             
Tovanoras received a desperate automated transmission from Yartan while the battle raged on around him. "Tovanoras, we have been ambushed at Zelanott. Some of the ships were Kaldorian. Only five of our vessels have survived. You are walking into a trap. We couldn't transmit sooner because the Kaldorians were jamming signals. If you have not yet attacked Kaldor, stay away." The bitter irony of Yartan's late warning left a bad taste in Tovanoras’ mouth as he called for a withdrawal. His fleet was harried by the humans and their allies all the way to light space. He left Kaldor with only one hundred seventy-one of the four hundred fifty ships he attacked with. As he arrived back at Chawanas, he met up with Yartan's five ships and received a transmission from Captain Xia who lost badly at Ginderbar and only had one hundred eighty-three ships left. He took his whole remaining fleet to Zinnebulous.

Chapter eleven

______

              "How did this happen?" Tovanoras was beside himself. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to put together that fleet? How did we not know Marcos was back? We lost over six hundred ships along with Trae-bar and Guile. There is no way we can take the sector now."

             
"This defense, the battle plan reeks of Jesse Marcos. He has interfered once too often in our affairs, it's time we took him out." Captain Xia spat.

             
"I agree,” Yartan added as he remembered his frustrating chase of Marcos through the Pandaran jungle.

             
For the next day, the fleet stayed at Zinnebulous, licking their wounds. While on Ginderbar, Kaldor and throughout the Alliance, celebrations were underway, at least that's what was being reported. The reports turned out to be misleading as a large Alliance fleet arrived in orbit above Zinnebulous and began firing without warning on the remnants of Tovanoras’ fleet. The Alliance had mustered close to nine hundred ships from their twenty-seven member planets plus their Hyperian allies. Jesse's fleet did not take part in the festivities, as he did not want to risk losing any of his people on the Alliance’s revenge tour.

             
Tovanoras couldn't believe the Alliance had followed his fleet here to continue the battle. Even worse, the
Retribution
was caught on the ground along with the
Dominator
and the
Savage
Destruction
. There was no way all three of them would make it into orbit. They had to try; Zinnebulous’ planetary defenses were quickly overrun, while the unprepared fleet was being torn to shreds. Tovanoras watched sadly as Captain Xia and the
Savage
Destruction
were obliterated before they could get out of the ionosphere. His ship and the
Dominator
both made it to orbit, but things were not going much better up there. He could never remember a planet that was attacked sending its forces after the attackers once the battle had ended. This was unprecedented.