The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series) (17 page)

On the War Table image, and in Real Time, a cloud of single-seat Axe-Blade fighters were swarming out into space, and already Billy could see the clusters of Axe-Blades circling around the cigar-tube landing bays, like fleas on a dog’s back, as they held station, waiting for their comrades to launch and to join in formation.

“How long until the Star-Cruisers rejoin us?” A plan started to form in Billy’s mind.

“Just under four minutes, sir,” one of the Third Admirals around the War Table indicated.

“Very well.” Billy nodded slowly. “Order the Star-Cruisers to hold station one hundred thousand kilometres from here, and await our arrival.”

“But, sir!?” The Third Admiral began to protest. “We can’t hold this position here on our own!”

“Who said anything about holding this position, Admiral?” Billy smiled meekly. “Comms! Contact Colossus, instruct her to warm up her engines, her Trionic Cannon, and the Self-Defence Turrets...we’ll be receiving visitors shortly, and I wish to give them the warmest of welcomes.”

“Yes, sir!” came the response from the darkness.

“And, pass the instructions on to the Propulsion Officer. WATO, fire up the Trionic Cannon and the Self-Defence Turrets!” Billy called.

“Already done, sir,” the WATO replied.

“Sir.” The Third Admiral protested again, though he was slightly less voluble this time. “You are not seriously contemplating attacking that...that...that horde with two unsupported Star-Destroyers?”

“No, Admiral, I am not contemplating it....” Billy grinned. “I’ve decided to do it!”

But, sir...!” The Third Admiral was completely astonished at the young human’s audacity.

“What better way can you think of to tweak our little friend Sal’nor’s nose?” Billy smiled. “Olympus and Colossus will swat those Axe-Blades away like flies!”

“But, what if he sends Destroyers and Cruisers with the Axe-Blades, sir?” the Third Admiral asked.

“Admiral, after the savaging we gave his Carriers and Cruisers, I doubt if they could organise an Honour Guard right now, let alone a co-ordinated attack with Axe-Blades and Destroyers. He’ll send his Axe-Blades, because he has close to two hundred thousand of them, and we’ve fielded no Eagles so far.

“He’ll send Destroyers to support them, because he has lots of them, and, they’re still in some kind of organised shape,” Billy explained, turning his attention to the War Table image.

“And, when they attack us, Admiral, we’re going to shove two Star-Destroyers right down his throat,” Billy added.

“Sir!” one of the Communications Officers interrupted, “Colossus signalling, all systems ready and standing by!”

“WATO!?” Billy waited for an update from the Olympus systems.

“All weapons systems ready, sir. Propulsion reports ready to go when you are, sir,” the WATO responded.

“Signal from Aquarius, Sir,” another Communications Technician said, “acknowledging order, good hunting.”

“Excellent.” Billy focussed on the three-dimensional image.

Already, huge numbers of Axe-Blades were circling around the “Six-Cigar” Carriers. From some of the damaged Carriers, the launch process seemed to be taking an inordinately long time. However, the numeral read out on the margin of the War Table image showed that over one hundred and seventy-five thousand Axe-Blades were holding station around their Carriers.

“WATO, when they start their attack, open up with the Trionic Cannon and take us forwards slowly. When we engage with the Axe-Blades, increase speed to one hundred and fifty percent of theirs,” Billy ordered.

“Yes, sir.” The WATO did not quite understand why that was the command, but he knew that an order was an order.

“The enemy fighters are starting to move towards us!” a Scanner Technician nervously looked ahead, waiting for an answer.

Looking at the War Table image, Billy could see three large blocks of Axe-Blades, each with almost seventy-thousand vessels. There seemed to be no formation or structure to the blocks of fighters that ranged almost five-thousand kilometres across and ten-thousand deep. Behind the three blocks of fighters came a large oval formation of Ganthoran Destroyers, five-thousand kilometres behind the fighters. From the numerals on the margins of the War Table image, Billy read close to ten thousand Destroyers.

Well, well, well,
Billy considered.
He’s committed almost all of his fighters, and around half of his Destroyer strength.

“And not a Cruiser in sight, eh, Admiral?” Billy teased the Third Admiral who had protested earlier.

“No, sir,” The Admiral replied stone-faced. “But, how did you know, sir? How could you be so sure he wouldn’t send his Cruisers?”

“It’s very simple, Admiral,” Billy lied smoothly. “Our friend Sal’nor over there has too many ships to fight them with any form of subtlety.”

“His big strength is in Axe-Blades, and we have knocked a significant hole in his Cruiser numbers with our own Star-Cruisers.” Billy paused to look at the War Table image.

The Axe-Blades and the Destroyers were gradually moving away from the safety of the main formation, which seemed to be having a major headache with damaged, destroyed, and burning vessels from the Star-Cruiser attack. From what Billy could see, the “Six-Cigar” Carriers were in a shambles. The Carrier Captains were no doubt relieved to have the Axe-Blades fighters away from the Landing Bays, so that they could concentrate on ship repairs. The Cruisers, it appeared, had fared slightly better, although a new screen of Cruisers were developing in front of the whole Combined Frontier Fleet position, as if, somehow, they would be able to hide the damaged ships from the prying Scanners of the Alliance.

“Time to contact with Axe-Blades?” Billy asked.

“Just over three minutes, sir.”

“Excellent...WATO, open fire with the Trionic Cannons, and target those two flank formations...let’s thin their ranks down a bit.” Billy turned back to the Third Admiral who had asked him the question.

“As I was saying, Admiral….” Billy paused as the first pair of Trionic Cannon streams slashed downrange and seared through the two blocks of Axe-Blades on the left and right flanks of the attack.

“We’ve knocked a hole in their Cruiser strength and their Carriers, so Sal’nor had either to use his Axe-Blades or risk losing them in another of our attacks.” Billy briefly gazed at the battlefield, as thousands of Ganthoran Axe-Blades were vapourised in the great one hundred metre wide swath of annihilation caused by the Trionic Cannon.

The Axe-Blades, swarming to meet the slow-moving Star-Destroyers, hurtled towards the huge Alliance warships that they had been told they could overwhelm by sheer weight of numbers. Instead, thousands of single-seat fighters flattened in the classic unstable Trion stream before exploding into billions of atoms a split-second later. All along the lane of the Trion Streams, those fighters that the Trions struck were annihilated. This was the terror weapon that had smashed Grobbeg’s Frontier Fleet, and had terrified many of Kallet’s troops. It was now being turned on the great Axe-Blade host of the Combined Frontier Fleets.

“With his Cruiser formations reduced to shambles, there was no way he would be able to string together anything like a cohesive battle formation, so the Cruisers were going to be staying at home. The Destroyers had been barely touched, so Sal’nor is always going to have that option to provide fire support for the Axe-Blades,” Billy said.

The simple truth, however, for all the explanations and calculations, was that Billy Caudwell simply did not know whether General Sal’nor would send the Cruisers to support the Axe-Blades and Destroyers. Watching the unfolding battle positions, Billy could see that the two flanking formations of Axe-Blades were on course to pass beyond the positions of the two Star-Destroyers.

He’s either going to swing them in at the last moment for a full frontal assault with the entire Axe-Blade formation, or he’s going to try to surround the Star-Destroyers with two pincers
.

“Just like the Zulus.” Billy smirked, absent-mindedly watching the approaching avalanche of Axe-Blades and Destroyers.

“What was that, sir?” another of the Third Admirals around the War Table asked.

“He’s going to try to envelop us with the two pincers that he is developing out on our flank,” Billy indicated, “not that it will do him any good.”

“No, sir.” the Third Admiral smiled in his confusion, thinking that sometimes it was best not to ask.

Meanwhile, the two Star-Destroyers were about to complete another quarter turn as they slowly marched up to the huge swarm of Axe-Blades. Moving forward, the two Star-Destroyers were spinning slowly, gracefully and elegantly on their vertical axes to bring the next Trionic cannon to bear on the rapidly advancing Axe-Blades.

On the War Table image, Billy could see that the Destroyer oval formation was starting to catch up to the Axe-Blades and was shaking out into a horse-shoe formation, with a large bulge to the rear of the centre. Like a huge crab sending out its pincers in search of food, the Destroyers were forming up to support the Axe-Blades, which confirmed Billy’s idea that they were about to attempt an encirclement of the two Alliance Star-Destroyers.

Not that it mattered to Billy Caudwell. When the Axe-Blades approached, the Star-Destroyers would not be sitting waiting to be fired at by the Ganthorans. The Trionic Cannon from the enormous Star-Destroyers fired, once again, within seconds of each other. And, once again the Trion Streams hurtled downrange, carving a lane of annihilation through the oncoming Axe-Blades on the flanks of the Ganthoran attack. The one hundred metre wide stream tore a gaping hole in the Ganthoran attack, flattening those fighters struck for a split-second, then annihilating them in red, roaring flame and destruction. Thousands of Axe-Blades fell to both Trion Streams, but the Ganthorans pressed onwards with their attack. This time, the Destroyers to the rear of the Axe-Blades also felt the destructive effects of the Trion Streams. Dozens of Destroyers went through the process of flattening and being annihilated as the stream of unstable Trions disrupted the molecular integrity of their hulls.

For one unfortunate Destroyer crew, the very tip of an extended weapons pod was their undoing. With the tip of the “Screaming Death” weapons pod caught in the very edge of the Trion Stream, it, at first, looked like the vessel might survive. However, the stream of unstable Trions was just as corrosive as any powerful acid. With the weapons pod struck by the stream, the unstable Trions quickly began to bond with those of the Destroyer’s hull. The unstable Trions from the stream sought out stable partners on the vessel’s hull and crept rapidly across the superstructure. To anyone viewing the vessel from outside, it would appear like the vessel was being dissolved as the unstable Trions rapidly overwhelmed the hull, sweeping down from the weapons pod and onto them main body of the ship. The Destroyer captain, quickly comprehending that his vessel was in danger, jettisoned the weapons pods. But, it was already too late. It took only four seconds for the unstable Trions to consume the hull. The vessel then flattened and, with its crew, was consigned to oblivion by a massive explosion. It had taken only five seconds to annihilate the Destroyer, which was five seconds of life more than many of their comrades also struck by the Trion Stream had enjoyed.

“How long to contact with the Axe-Blades?” Billy asked as the two Trion Streams smashed through the Ganthoran formation.

“One minute and ten seconds, sir,” was the response from the WATO.

“Very good, WATO,” Billy said, “when we fire the next Trion Stream, take us into the Axe-Blades, one hundred and fifty percent of their attack speed and open fire with all Self-Defence Turrets.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why one hundred and fifty percent of their attack speed, sir?” Another of the Third Admirals at the War Table looked to Billy for a logical answer.

Once again, Billy took a deep breath, not out of frustration and agitation, but simply to begin his answer. The idea to bring one Third Admiral from each Fleet to his Senior Staff had been his own. The best way for officers to learn the intricacies of how to handle a Fleet in combat and the tactical assumptions behind it was to watch it happening for real. It also gave Billy the on-the-spot information that he required with regard to the status, effectiveness, and capabilities of the Fleets that these Third Admirals came from. As First Admiral, Billy had the most experience of Fleet-on-Fleet combat, and the best way for someone to learn was to ask questions.

“Because, Admiral,” Billy began patiently, “we’re going to go through their formation like a dose of salts. We can’t afford to stand still with so many of them around. And, when we emerge from the other side of this attack run, I’d prefer to show these Ganthorans a clean pair of heels, rather than wait around for them to overwhelm us. Keep moving, keep firing and let them chase after us. Use your advantages and keep the initiative.”

Around the War Table image, heads nodded. It was a good strategy. It was unconventional, but so far the attack run with the Self-defence Turrets of the Star-Cruisers had paid off. The Ganthoran “Six-Cigar” Carriers were a total shambles after the successful Star-Cruiser strike, and now Billy Caudwell was attempting to hand out some of the same medicine to the single-seat fighters.

Watching the War Table image, Billy could see the range between the two Star-Destroyers and the Ganthoran Axe-Blades narrowing.