Annihilation: The Power of a Queen (21 page)

“That wouldn’t make sense. Keep an eye on those ships and let me know if they start turning on their star drives.” Kosiev nodded and signed off.

“What’s going on?” Danielle asked.

“The Alliance Fleet has 5,000 of their ships forming up away from the main body of the fleet. I just can’t believe they would jump to Earth ahead of the main body.”

Danielle thought a minute and said, “Maybe they’re not jumping to Earth. We sent the Alliance Ambassador packing three days ago. Perhaps he told them about the Asteroids and they’re coming to check it out.”

Tag thought furiously and said, “Danielle, there wouldn’t be any reason to check out the asteroids with 5,000 ships. Either they attack with the entire fleet or stay where they are.” Then it struck him, “Maybe they are trying to see if we are going to use the Glod Navy to defend the Earth. If it’s not here then this may be their first attack. He lifted his com and said, “Tgon-Gee, respond immediately!”

Tgon-Gee came on his com and said, “Yes Mr. Tag, how can I help you?”

“How many of your ships are here?”

“About 2,800; we have 800 ships being converted at your building facilities. Why do you ask?”

“Bear with me a minute, how many of the 2,800 have been converted?”

“About half of them have the new technology.”

‘I’m expecting the Alliance to jump in more than 5,000 ships to see how many ships you answer with. Can you get your ships out and have the new ships placed behind the old ones with their screens shut off. They should still look like standard Alliance warships.”

Tgon-Gee nodded and disappeared from Tag’s com. “I hope we have enough time to get this done,” Tag said. “Kosiev,” he said into his com. “How close is that group of ships to being sorted out for jump?”

“They’re encountering some difficulty, they just had 400 ships jump into the area they were assembling and they all scattered probably thinking that it was another one of our attacks. It will take them at least another hour and a half to reorganize.”

“Thanks, Admiral.” Then Tag called Tgon-Gee, “Excellency, it looks like we will have about, what’s the Alliance word for minute, on yeah, dreg, ninety dregs before they jump. Can you organize your fleet that quickly?”

“It’s being done right now. We were already in formations around the planet so it shouldn’t take more than thirty or forty dregs.”

“I might be wrong about this but I have to leave and get that Ultra Battleship out of your system; there is no way to explain that. I’m going to leave my wife and your Queen here for you to take care of.”

“It will be our honor.”

Danielle hugged Tag and kissed him, “Are we always going to be saying good-bye?”

Tag smiled and said, “That’s what makes the hellos so great. I’ll see you after the battle.”

“See that you do,” Danielle said to him as he ran from the room.

Tag’s ship jumped out of the system thirty minutes before the Alliance fleet jumped in. They formed ranks and began moving in system. Shipven Vi looked at his sensors and asked his sensor officer, “How many ships do you register on your instruments. Some of them are behind those in front but it looks like at least 3,000 or so.”

“Do you see anything unusual about their ships?”

“We’re a long way out from the planet but they look like standard ships.”

Vi turned on his com and said, “State Leader, they have approximately 3,000 ships here. They all look like standard ship types.”

Sten looked at Dgzh and said, “Jump back into our system immediately.”

The Alliance fleet disappeared from the Glod system.

Sten said, “How many ships did you say they had?”

“At their last inventory they had about 4,400 but we have on record 800 of their ships being destroyed by the Humans. That leaves 3,600. I suspect that they have those other 600 scattered among their colony worlds. Either way, the majority of their fleet is in the Glod system.”

“Then we continue as planned. If their ships were in the Human system, we would attack Glod first to try our new draining device. There’s no good reason to fight 3,000 ships when the humans only have a hundred. How long until the fleet is ready?” he asked Dgzh.

“Counting the last 400 to jump in, we only have 300 ships left to arrive to complete our roster.”

Forget the last 300, they can merge later. Get the fleet organized now; how long, Headman?”

“At least one rotation to organize and one more to assign jump coordinates then we will be ready to jump.”

“Notify the draining dreadnaughts that they need to be prepared to leave at that time.”

“Yes State leader, it will be done.”

Tag jumped in to Earth and went directly to Kosievs Bridge, “What happened?”

“The 5,000 ships jumped into the Glod system, took a ship count, and left. Now the fleet is shaking itself down in preparation to jump. Those big dreadnaughts with the machinery on board are also moving away from the planet out to the star drive limit; looks like it’s going to be show time shortly.”

Tag pressed his com and said, “Director Nicole.”

After a moment he heard, “Yes Tag, what can I do for you?”

Tag then explained to her that they were going to manipulate the screen surrounding the planet to try and draw the Alliance fleet in close to the planet. To prevent a general panic in Earth’s population, she needed to give a warning of what to expect.

Kosiev sat there and thought, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Then he knew he saw only his piece of the puzzle. This young man seemed to see all the pieces at once.

“You’re right,” Director Nicole said, “I’ll get it out immediately.”

“You might also let everyone know that we may let a few beams thru into things like the ocean or desert. Don’t be afraid if that happens.” The Director disappeared from his com.

“Well, Admiral. Would you like some popcorn? We have a few hours to waste until they come calling.”

Kosiev said, “Absolutely, and I’ll have butter on mine. I’ll be jumping out to Ross with the other Ultra Ships shortly but there’s always time for popcorn. I have no idea why I don’t weigh as much as a Glod with all the popcorn I consume. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to hide the Ultra Ship Atlanta on the Earth’s surface and keep tabs on what the Alliance is going to do. I also intend to help Colonel Taz play with the screen.”

Kosiev stopped his hand halfway to his mouth and said, “I’ve heard what you’re like when you’re trying to fool someone. I almost feel sorry for those Alliance ships. Please notice I said almost.”

They laughed and continued to eat their pop corn.

State Leader Sten and Headman Dgzh watched as their fleet sorted itself out. Sten said, “That is the largest fleet we’ve ever put together in our long history.”

“It is huge and looks invincible.”

Sten looked at him and said, “So why am I so nervous about this venture?”

Dgzh continued to look at the fleet and without moving his head said, “The Humans have been one step ahead of us every step of the way. I don’t care what the Vgrig Warleader says; I wouldn’t be surprised if the Humans turned up with a thousand ships or none. They will prove to be unpredictable whatever happens.”

“What happens to us if we lose this battle?”

Dgzh looked at him and said, “We don’t need to worry about us. If we lose 17,000 ships we probably won’t have an Alliance to worry about. This is a critical moment in our history.”

Sten watched the fleet and continued to worry.

The Vgrig Warleader looked at all his assembled ships and thought of the majesty of the moment. Now was the time for a great victory. Not only would his people grow in esteem but he can claim whatever prize he wanted. He would also have an entire planet to torture and punish for his earlier defeat. He looked forward to starting this operation. He turned in his chair and asked his communication officer “Is the fleet ready?”

“Yes it is, Warleader.”

“Open a Communication channel to all ships,” he said and waited for the light on his console to light up. After a moment it turned on and he pressed the com channel, “I want to make sure that everyone understands out plan. We will enter the Human system at the orbit of their outermost planet and begin moving in. I want every square inch of their system gone over thoroughly with our sensors to ensure there aren’t any surprises waiting for us. We will move in toward the planet and tighten our fleet formations as we advance. No one gets closer than 50,000 miles from the planet. The dreadnaughts will begin draining their screen as soon as we make sure that the system is clear of ships. We will divide our fleet in half once we arrive at the planet. Half will stay at the planet to make sure no one escapes and the other half will proceed to the jump limit to prevent anyone coming in to rescue these humans. Prepare to jump in 10 dregs.” The Warleader then leaned back in his chair and thought that he was being cautious having half the fleet at the jump limit. After his last experience, he wasn’t taking any chances. He was going to be with those at the jump limit just to make sure he would have an escape just in case things got ugly. He had seen firsthand how quickly things could go wrong. It wasn’t that he wasn’t brave; he just wasn’t stupid.

“One dreg to jump,” his ship leader informed him.

He leaned forward and thought, “What are they planning this time?” then his ship jumped.

T
ag watched his feed from the passive sensor in the Central Alliance System and saw all the ships getting into formation. He was sitting in the main control room of the Asteroid Defense Center watching the screen with Colonel Taz. “They should be jumping in shortly,” Colonel Taz said. “Where are the ships you want to bring inside the screen?”

“They’re at Mars orbit. We’re going to hold them there until the Alliance fleet arrives and can see them on sensors. We’re not sure how the Alliance will approach their invasion and we’ll have to wait to plan our response. What are your plans on deceiving them about our screen?”

“I’ve set screen depth at 72 feet. That’s slightly bigger than it was after the last attack but it should make them think it’s all we’ve got.”

“How much depth do you really have?”

Colonel Taz touched a switch on his console and looked at the result then said, “About 124 feet.”

Tag whistled and then said, “I know our engineers don’t put much stock in their ability to drain our energy but they really don’t know how effective those dreadnaughts will be. Once they start their operation I’ll need an estimate of how effective they are. If they are making a big dent in our reserves, we may have to attack them without the support of your fortresses.”

Colonel Taz glanced at another screen and said, “We have taken these asteroids almost to the suns outer corona to fully charge them and it took a week to reach full charge. I just don’t see 800 ships draining our screen; I don’t care how large they are.”

“Science is funny, Colonel, you just never know until it starts operating. Here we go; some of the Alliance ships just disappeared from the feed. They’re on their way; notify Kosiev and send him a feed on what’s taking place.”

“Yes sir, right away.”

Seventeen thousand Alliance ships jumped into Earths solar system. They arrived in a globular formation even with Neptune’s orbit with the Earth at the center. They then began moving in system running back and forth between their ships making sure that all space was checked for unpowered ships lying in wait. They didn’t rush but took their time scanning the outer reaches of the solar system and moved slowly and inexorably in toward the planet Earth. When the Alliance ships reached the Star drive limit the 800 Draining Dreadnaughts jumped in and joined the fleet. By that time they were inside the orbit of Jupiter and could clearly see the 97 Earth ships at the orbit of mars. The Alliance Fleet ignored the Earth ships and continued scanning for other hidden ships. The distance between the ships in the huge fleet diminished as the globe became smaller as it moved closer and closer to the inner planets. Suddenly the Earth Ships gathered at Mars orbit turned and ran back to Earth and landed on the Planet.

The Warleader thought, “I wouldn’t waste them either. We’ll probably have to deal with them at the end. Continue scan,” he ordered his fleet. “At this rate we should reach the planet in two rotations,” He said to his bridge crew. “It will be worth the time though; there won’t be any hidden surprises.” “Let me know if anything is detected,” then he left and went to get some rest before the actual fighting took place.

Tag and Taz watched as the fleet moved closer. “Looks like they’re not taking any chances,” Tag said.

“Do you think they will be able to detect the caverns on the Moon?” Taz asked.

“No. Those caverns are deep and shielded by miles of metallic rock. Even the Launch tubes were just cut with a power laser so there won’t be any exotic metals. Their sensors aren’t that good and I’m not convinced that we could detect them either. I know Kosievs ship couldn’t.”