The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series) (14 page)

Standing behind the War Table in the darkened War Room, First Admiral Billy Caudwell had issued his instructions for the imminent battle. The Staff Officers now scampered away to carry out their instructions and begin the battle that would decide the fate of the Ganthoran Empire for decades to come.

Billy Caudwell knew that the stakes were high. They were outnumbered - heavily outnumbered. In terms of single-seat fighters, the Alliance would be facing over three-hundred- thousand Axe-Blades. The Eagle pilots were brave, and their fighters completely outclassed the Frontier Fleet Axe-Blades, but in a fight like this, they would be completely swamped by this horde. The Imperial Guard pilots, with their limited to non-existent combat experience, would simply be lambs to the slaughter.

This
will
have to be a battle of mobility with the big warships
, Billy considered.

He could not afford to allow the Axe-Blades to engage with Alliance Eagles or the Imperial Guards when the numbers favoured the Frontier Fleet.

His plan had been simple and straight-forward: To lure the Ganthorans onto the Calyx Wormhole. At the far side of the wormhole, Admiral Parbe’an and loyal Frontier General Grobbeg would decimate the rebel Frontier Fleet warships as they emerged. However, to get the rebels to the wormhole, Billy Caudwell had outlined a “sting and run” strategy to bait and enrage the rebel Frontier Generals into making the fatal error of pursuing.

“Sir,” the Scanner Officer began, “Ganthoran warships are within one-hundred-thousand kilometres of our position, and closing rapidly.”

“Thank you, Scanners,” Billy replied calmly.

Once again, he had to show calm to give the troops confidence. One-hundred-thousand kilometres meant that the combined Ganthoran Frontier Fleets would be with them in about three hours at the most. But, Billy Caudwell was not prepared to stand and wait for this huge fleet of Ganthorans to sweep over his position. Billy Caudwell planned to take the fight to the enemy. There was an old saying on earth that sometimes the best form of defence was to attack. And, that was what Billy Caudwell was planning to do.

“WATO,” Billy ordered, “send the Fleet Carriers and General Grobbeg’s forces through the wormhole.”

The Fleet Carriers were the weak link in the Alliance’s strategy for this type of battle. With no heavy weapons, the Fleet Carriers couldn’t offer any fire support to the Star-Cruisers and Star-Destroyers that Billy hoped would give this Ganthoran formation some significant problems.

The Ganthoran rebels would have seen the movement of the Fleet Carriers, and what remained of Grobbeg’s Frontier Fleet on their own Scanners. With any luck, the sight of their withdrawal would encourage the Ganthoran rebels into some form of recklessness.

“Sir,” the Senior WATO responded.

“And, give the order to begin phase one,” Billy added.

The Star-Destroyers Olympus and Colossus would form the backbone of this formation. The Trionic Cannon would terrorise the Ganthorans and keep them penned into a formation, allowing Billy Caudwell the freedom of mobility on this battlefield, whilst denying the enemy the opportunity of attacking him. Parbe’an had shown how effectively the Trionic Cannon could squeeze the enemy’s flanks and restrict their movements. Billy Caudwell needed that advantage.

With the loyal Ganthorans and the Fleet Carrier despatched to the safety of Parbe’an’s formation, Billy Caudwell could now get on with the business at hand.

“Comms,” Billy said, “send a signal from the Emperor of the Ganthorans; requesting the Frontier Fleets to stand down, and tell me who responds.”

“Yes, sir,” came the voice of the Senior Communications Officer from the darkness.

What Billy needed to know was who he was going to have to deal with. From the image of the advancing Ganthoran warships on his War Table, it looked like General Sal’nor’s Fleet was to the centre, Timmeg to his left and Kav’al to the right.

“Sir,” the Communications Officer announced from the darkness, “response was made by Frontier General Sal’nor, which says....”

“Thank you, Comms, you can scrap the message.” Billy assumed that the message contents would be less than respectful to him.

Well, well, well, General Sal’nor is in charge of this little party
, Billy considered as he watched the Ganthorans begin to approach towards his position.

In classic Ganthoran formation, the “Six-Cigar” Carriers sat in the middle of a screen of Destroyers and Cruisers. They were still flying in their individual Frontier Fleet “Ring” formations, as opposed to one combined, mass formation.

They still don’t trust each other
, Billy surmised.

And, once again, he knew that this was a situation he could exploit to his own benefit.

On the War Table image in front of him, Billy Caudwell watched the fourteen Star-Cruisers change from Alliance light-blue in colour to highlighted yellow. The Alliance Star-Cruisers had gone into Stealth mode. This was the first part of stage one. And, amongst the Star-Cruisers was the Aquarius. Every Star-Cruiser gun that could be brought to bear on the Ganthoran formation was needed, which was why the First Admiral‘s flag had been transferred from Aquarius to Olympus. Watching the yellow highlighted Star-Cruisers setting off towards the Ganthorans, Billy Caudwell felt a pang of guilt that he wasn’t aboard Aquarius. They had both shared so many dangers in the past that he somehow felt he was letting down an old comrade. Part of him wished for the excitement of going into action with the Star-Cruiser, whilst the part of him that was Teg Portan knew that he had to monitor and respond to changes in the battle situation. And, that was something he couldn’t do aboard Aquarius in the middle of a fight.

Still, the Alliance Star-Cruisers made a fine sight as they formed into a flying wedge formation and began to climb above the level of the advancing Ganthorans. The Ganthorans had seen the Star-Cruisers before they disappeared into Stealth Mode, and now their Scanner Technicians and Officers would be sweating it out as where they had gone. However, Billy Caudwell could see them on his three-dimensional War Table image, and he knew that they were going to try to tear the heart out of this huge Ganthoran formation. 

It took almost six minutes for the Alliance Star-Cruisers to close the range to the Ganthoran “Rings”, and for four of those minutes, Billy Caudwell stood in silence, listening to the whisper of communications traffic in the War Room of Olympus. At two minutes to Star-Cruiser contact, Billy ordered the Trionic cannon to open fire on the flanks of the Ganthoran-combined Fleets. Generals Timmeg and Kav’al would feel the force of Alliance gunfire before the Star-Cruisers attacked.

The two enormous Star-Destroyers, standing side by side, let fly simultaneously with Trionic Cannon Streams that tore a lane of destruction one hundred metres wide through the left and right flanks of the Ganthoran formation. Olympus firing obliquely from the left of the Alliance formation tore a lane of annihilation from the Ganthoran right wing.

Once again, the classic indication of a Trionic Cannon strike was shown by the vessels, flattening for a split-second before they were destroyed in cataclysmic explosions.

Then, Colossus fired obliquely at the Ganthoran left wing with similar results. The first Trionic Cannon strike shaved nearly one hundred Destroyers from the flank of the Ganthoran formation in the space of a few seconds. And, at the extreme range of the Trionic Cannon, the Ganthorans were still unable to respond with weapons fire of their own. On the three-dimensional War Table image, Billy watched as the two Star-Destroyers slowly turned around their vertical axes to bring the next loaded Trionic-Cannon to bear on the Ganthorans. To Billy Caudwell, there seemed to be something almost balletic and graceful as the two giant warships turned in opposite directions to bring their weapons to bear, like two dancers in space. However, Billy Caudwell had no time to admire the graceful symmetry of two of the most powerful and deadly warships in the universe in their dance of death.

It would take the two Star-Destroyers a full minute to bring the next of their four Trionic Cannons to bear on the Ganthoran Fleet. With the first Trionic Cannon Stream fired, the next shot would mean that there was only one minute until the Star-Cruisers attacked. Slowly, the huge, slab-sided, octagonal Star-Destroyers turned to bring their Trionic Cannon to bear on the Ganthorans. Watching the War Table image, Billy could see the Star-Cruisers had reached the highest point of their climb, and were about to dive onto the Ganthoran formation.

Again, the Trionic Cannons fired, and, once again, a great lane of destruction scythed through the Ganthoran flanks. This time, the Trionic Cannon Stream cut a huge swath of destruction through both the Destroyers and the Cruisers on the flanks of the formation. To the immense credit, and a testament to the stalwart courage, of the Ganthoran soldiers, the ships on either side of the lane of annihilation closed up to seal the gaps left by their fallen comrades. Meanwhile, on the War Table image, the fourteen Alliance Star-Cruisers were starting their attack dive into the three Ganthoran “Ring” formations.

With a combination of smoothness and grace, the fourteen Star-Cruisers banked the whole formation forty-five degrees to their left as they approached the Ganthorans. Billy Caudwell had to acknowledge that it was an amazing piece of close control by the Star-Cruiser pilots, who could fly and handle the huge warships like single-seater Eagles in close formation.

And, as the Star-Cruisers began their attack, they started to widen their spacing in the formation. From the angle of attack indicated upon the War Table image, the Star-Cruisers would need the gap between them to avoid hitting each other with their own gunfire. With Aquarius out in the lead of the attack, Billy felt confident that the plan would succeed. The first strike of the Star-Cruisers was being targeted at the Ganthoran “Six-Cigar” Carriers in the centre of their three formations. That meant that the Star-Cruisers would have to operate in a slightly extended line of attack to cut through the Ganthoran formation. The Aquarius, at the tip of the Alliance attack, would have to pass through the centre of General Sal’nor’s Carrier formation. The following Star-Cruisers would then have to follow on Aquarius’ flanks, lashing out at whatever Carrier targets fell under their gun-sights.

To reach Kav’al and Timmeg’s Carriers, the Star-Cruisers would have to be well spaced, with several having to attack the Destroyer and Cruiser escorts that lay between the separate Carrier formations.

There had been the temptation for Billy to split his Star-Cruiser attack force to simply target the “Six-Cigar” Carriers. But, Billy quickly realised that splitting his force in the face of his huge Ganthoran armada was just too much of a gamble.

Billy Caudwell knew that he could never strike a decisive blow with the first attack, but the combined elements of confusion, shock, and surprise would be invaluable.

If he could halt this seemingly relentless juggernaut of a fleet, it would shake the morale and confidence of the Ganthorans, and that would give First Admiral Caudwell another invaluable edge in the battle. Studying the War Table image carefully, the yellow highlighted, stealthed Star-Cruisers were approaching the position where they would open fire on the advancing Ganthorans.

Normally, sound military logic dictated that you held your fire until you were right in amongst your enemy to maintain the element of surprise. This, however, was not a normal military situation. Badly outnumbered, the Alliance warships had to make every advantage count, and that meant taking down every “Six-Cigar” Carrier and warship that they could reach within a short space of time.

At sixteen seconds to contact, the one hundred and forty high-yield pulsar-cannon of the fourteen Star-Cruisers opened fire. One hundred and forty ship killing, white-hot, high-yield pulsar-bolts sped downrange to their unsuspecting targets. It took less than two seconds for the pulsar-bolts to impact on the hull of a Ganthoran warship, giving their Scanner Technicians little chance to do anything other than shout a warning. Too late to make a difference, the Ganthoran Technicians screamed their warnings mere moments before dozens of “Six-Cigar” Carriers began to reel and lurch under the sudden bombardment of their invisible attackers.

On the War Table image, Billy could see the pulsar-bolt strikes smashing into the unshielded hulls of the Ganthoran Carriers with huge sheets of orange and yellow flame. Large chunks of debris were being torn from the Ganthoran Carriers struck in the first salvo.

On the left flank, three of General Timmeg’s Carriers exploded within a few seconds of being struck by several pulsar bolts, and five more were severely damaged with two of the badly damaged vessels colliding in one enormous inferno of death, destruction, and devastation. A further two Carriers sustained minor damage, and were still able to progress with their advance. However, many of the Cruisers and Destroyers around the Carriers met with a similar fate to their escorts in the great maelstrom of flying debris. The Ganthorans insisted on flying their warships in close formation, and this was the result of that policy.

On the right flank, General Kav’al’s Carriers fared no better than Timmeg’s. Four of Kav’al’s Carriers erupted in a blazing inferno of devastation beneath the pitiless strikes of the Alliance pulsar-cannon. Like ripe water melons, the Ganthoran Carriers would burst apart; sending deep-red flames shot through with orange and yellow out into space, along with the huge and unstoppable avalanche of equally destructive red-hot debris. Any smaller vessel caught in close proximity to the explosion would be instantly annihilated or badly damaged. Three of Kav’al’s Carriers were severely damaged in the first attack. The pulsar-bolts striking home relentlessly onto their hulls cast great spumes of flame and debris, as well as terrified, screaming crew members out into the vast, frozen, airless, emptiness of space.