The Khruellian Encounter Page 35

  Silence followed Jon’s speech. He had been clear enough to be understood. None of the assembled fighters and engineers, Human and Alien alike had any delusions about the Allied Defense organization’s chances in a head-to-head confrontation with the Khruellians. Any ploy to give the Organization time to upgrade its fleets was worth their maximum effort. Their training now took on a life-or-death quality that in the end would produce a powerful strike force, one that just might be able to stop the Khruellians’ relentless push toward the homeworlds of the Allied Defense Organization. If the ADO’s consolidated weapon’s fleet could deliver a painful enough blow to a Hegemony fleet, perhaps it would be enough to make the Absolute consider avoiding them altogether to keep his own worlds safe from suffering the same fate. Jon was convinced it was the best they could hope for.

  Thirty days later that hope was becoming a certainty in Jon’s mind. He and Ben were singularly impressed by the way the combined engineers had forged the CCS Constitution and her sister ships into formidable weapons, capable of delivering a devastating attack while defending themselves from a counter-attack. Added to those capabilities were stealth and the ability to change directions and speed in an instant without suffering the effects of inertia. Their crews would be safe from internal stresses in the heat of battle and have the ability to evade trouble almost instantly.

  The last item to be checked out before leaving on their mission was the dissembler missiles, which had arrived from Gruenwald earlier in the watch. In addition to the missiles, the Admiralty had shipped out a large freighter that had been scheduled for recycling. It would become their target drone. Every engineer in the small fleet examined the weapon as the lab technician from Gruenwald explained the operation and theory behind the bizarre missile.

  “It doesn’t create nuclear fission, so there’s no danger of excess radiation,” John Protter, the lab tech explained. “It neutralizes the free ions which weaken the bond between molecules, especially in the heavier elements, including most of the hard metal alloys.”

  Halagio, the lead engineer from the Hooshag Confederation and one of their spaceship commanders asked, “What is its destructive radius?”

  It was a practical question that got to the heart of the military personnel’s primary concern, which was how it worked, not why it worked.

  John Protter said, “We estimate the maximum effective destructive range to be one thousand meters. The greatest effect is at the point of detonation. It will diminish geometrically from that point out to one thousand meters.”

  Jon had listened to the engineer's questions. He voiced his opinion, “It sounds like we have to actually hit the target to destroy it.”

  The lab tech nodded his head in agreement. “These prototypes are close proximity weapons, Commander, which is why we suggest you use your railgun launcher to deploy them. Between your stealth cover and the high velocity of anything fired from a railgun, you can launch your missile from several hundred kilometers before the enemy can react to their presence. Future missiles will have their own cloaking devices, and Alphan drives to make them virtually undetectable by the Khruellians.

  Jon was satisfied with his explanation and gave the order to begin the testing exercise. Several hours later he knew he had an incredible weapon at his disposal. He had watched in wonder as the old freighter had simply dissolved into smaller pieces. Those parts of the old ship that survived the initial destruction were ideal targets for the fleet’s particle beam weapons. There was virtually nothing left of the ship after fifteen minutes.

  “We are ready,” Jon said.

  Talor, who had remained silent throughout the testing process, added his endorsement, “I believe you are, Jon.”

  After the visiting engineers and lab technicians had transferred to the Gruenwald bound ship that had delivered the missiles, Jon called another meeting of his captains. The three ships were in tight formation with the Constitution, so the transfer was executed quickly. All the captains were anxious to get into action and use the weapons they had trained their crews on for a month.

  When the officers were seated, Jon flicked on the table top holograph and pointed to the central globe in the rotating image. “This is Plaxyata, the capital world of the former Plaxian Confederation. Their worlds have been subject to the Khruellian Hegemony for more than ten thousand years. It has been so long that their life as an independent confederation is but a distant memory. Their citizens accept the status quo and will consider any attack on the Hegemony as an attack on them so we will not be able to count on them as allies if we are forced to land.”

  Jon looked at the young officers and knew they understood the dangers they faced. He had selected them personally from his own knowledge and from recommendations by other trusted sources. He had no doubt they would perform as they had been trained, but he wanted them to clearly understand his next statement.

  “Our ships are equipped with the most advanced weapons in this part of the galaxy. They cannot fall into enemy hands.” He paused for a moment to make sure they understood the meaning of his words.

  “If your ship is disabled and cannot escape enemy capture, you are to destroy it after you have made every effort to evacuate all personnel. Your ship’s Talo has been programmed to carry out that order if you are incapacitated or not capable of ordering its destruction. Do you understand me?”

  All four captains including Ben said, “Yes sir.”

  Satisfied they understood the directive given him by Admiral Dexter and Admiral Chen Warren, Jon continued, “The Alphans have reported the existence of a large Khruellian base on Plaxyata, one of the few outside a native Khruellian planet. They believe this base is home to the enforcement fleet for that part of the Hegemony. These images are from Alphan survey ships and clearly show the size of the complex and the number of ships using it. Before we can safely attack this base, we have to first take out the orbiting Khruellian warships that are not built to fly in atmosphere. Those are their super dreadnaught class ships. We will use our dissembler missiles to take them out and then attack the ships on the surface.”

  The meeting went on for a few more minutes while Jon explained the order of action. They would slide into a high orbit under stealth cover and complete a survey of the entire planet before beginning their run on the super dreadnaughts. Once space was cleared of any big threats, they would proceed to the deck and begin the systematic destruction of as many warships as possible in the Khruellian’s main weapons depot before the odds got too high for them to continue.

  “Any more questions?” Jon asked. When there were none, he said, “We leave in five hours.”

  The captains of the smaller ships rose in unison and left the wardroom.

  Chapter 58

  Plaxyata

  The CCS Constitution and her 3 escorts slipped into a high orbital plane above Plaxyata. No detection alarms sounded, and the threat board showed no unusual signs of traffic headed their way. The Hyloxian cloaking device had passed its first critical test. Jon ordered the ships to scatter in a preplanned pattern to survey the military might the Hegemony kept in this remote part of their empire. Plaxyata was centrally located among the stars that made up the remote end of the Perseus Arm. Beyond the concentration of stars in the Perseus Arm were the scattered stars of the much smaller Outer Arm and beyond that was intergalactic space, a forbidding place of vast distances and dark energy. Talor had told Jon the Ankh would eventually travel across this distance to another galaxy once they exhausted their studies of the life forms in the Milky Way.

  Ben broke the silence on the bridge after the squadron had split up. “Do you think the Hegemony keeps such a large military presence at this end of their empire just to keep the peace, or are they protecting themselves from something else? Maybe something from outside the galaxy?”

  “Good question, Ben,” Jon said. He turned to the one source he knew would have the answer. “What do you think, Talor?”

  The android said, “The Ankh have no record of an
y sentient species crossing intergalactic space to this galaxy, although they admit it is possible. In my opinion, this is more likely to be just a police force to keep their empire under control, not a defensive installation.”

  Jon looked at the Alphan data and said, “From what I’m seeing, they must experience some serious unrest to maintain as big a military presence here as the data suggest.”

  Ben studied the information for a moment then said, “Perhaps we can use that unrest to our advantage.”

  Jon was thinking along the same lines. “What do you have in mind, Ben?”

  The captain of the Independence and Jon’s second in command smiled wolfishly. “Well, if we successfully bloody their nose here, maybe we should spread the word among the Hegemony’s captive worlds at this end of the empire that the guard dog has lost a tooth or two.”

  Jon laughed softly. “You are a devious devil, my friend.”

  Ben shrugged his shoulders and answered. “Well, we were sent out here to create confusion and leave the impression the Hegemony was being attacked by parties unknown from worlds other than our own. It might be more realistic for them to believe some of their own captive peoples are responsible. That could even scare them more than an outside enemy would.”

  Jon thought it over for a moment and then said, “We might be condemning some of those worlds to death.”

  “Only if they are in fact in rebellion,” Ben countered. “Sometimes the threat of rebellion can tie up as many ships as actual rebellion.”

  “I like it, Ben, but I think it’s a decision for the Admiralty and the ADO command. Let’s get our job done here and then we’ll present your idea on our return.”

  Ben grinned in appreciation and said, “Aye aye, Commander.”

  After three hours the fleet reassembled and shared the data they had collected. Captain Adams of the destroyer CSF Westcovia recapped what the three smaller ships had uncovered.

  “There are numerous small military installations and one large repair facility, but no other large installations, except for the main one you surveyed, Sir.”

  The captains had their combat display holograms synced with the Constitution, so they were all looking at the same display. Jon studied it for a second longer and then said, “They certainly have made our plan of attack simple enough. Between the Dreadnaughts in orbit and the ships on the ground, there are five hundred Khruellian ships on Plaxyata, twice as many as the ADO has in its entire fleet. We’ll start with four dreadnaughts in orbit. Each of us will Target one of the Dreadnaughts and then immediately reassemble to attack the ground installation in a sweeping formation. After we enter the atmosphere, Adalan and her fighter team will deploy to protect us from attack from above. Your ship’s Talo has been given the identity of the dreadnaught your ship has been assigned to attack and the coordinates on where to reassemble. Are there any questions?” There were none. “Tea time is 0600, good luck, gentlemen.”

  The images of the three captains blinked out. Jon turned to Adalan and asked her to join him in his stateroom. The Hyloxian warrior’s fur had morphed to a mottled green during the meeting with the Destroyer captains. Jon guessed it was the native combat colors she would have worn in the jungles of her native world. It spoke volumes about her state of mind.

  Talo closed the door behind them, and they sat down at Jon’s small conference table. He used this room only for the most sensitive of meetings. Adalan knew this and quickly said, “You are worried, my friend.”

  Jon smiled at the alien cat-warrior. He was well aware of her devotion to him and accepted it as part of their relationship. Now he had to use that relationship to ask her to take on a terrible duty.

  “Yes, I am, my friend,” Jon said softly. Before Adalan could ask why he said, “What we are about to do is incredibly dangerous, Adalan. By all military standards, some of us will not survive. The enemy is too large and too experienced for us to just fly over one of his bases and destroy a good part of his fleet without us suffering some casualties.”

  Adalan said, “It is to be expected. We are warriors. We know the risk.”

  “I agree,” Jon said, “But none of our personnel or any piece of our ships must be allowed to fall into enemy hands.”

  Recognition dawned on Adalan’s face. Her fur morphed to a dismal grey. ‘You want us, the Hyloxians to clean up the pieces as you call them.”

  Jon nodded and said the word with difficulty, “Yes.”

  Adalan reached across the table and put her hand on Jon’s shoulder. She looked him in the eye and said, “Leadership demands a high price from those who lead, Jon. It is good that you dare to make such decisions, but it is better that you also have a heart that is troubled by them. I will do my duty as you ask of me and ask for forgiveness afterward.”

  Jon put his hand on top of hers and said, “I will fight for your world until there is no more fight left.”

  “And I for you,” Adalan said.

  Talor had sat silently throughout the exchange. Now he spoke up. “Each of your ships is equipped with several small dissemble missile. Do not use them until you are confident all our ships and personnel are away. Then you may use them to destroy any enemy installations or ships you encounter. If one of our ships is shot down, you should use them to eliminate any trace of our presence on this planet.” After a pause, he added, “All the ships’ Captains are aware of your contingency assignment.”

  Jon was glad that Talor had spoken up. He was not sure he could have. “We best get ready,” he said, breaking up the meeting.

  In the following hour, each of the ADO ships moved to their assigned space behind or above the orbiting, goliath sized Khruellian dreadnaughts. A pang of regret ran through Jon as he viewed the ungainly looking, thousand-meter ship knowing that most of the Khruellian personnel aboard it would soon perish. He reminded himself they were in a fight until death, either the death of the Khruellians or the death of all the Allied Defense worlds. As if reading his mind, Ben commented, “They are an aptly named species, the Khruellians. From what I have seen they are a cruel and merciless society.”

  Jon thought, “As we have been forced to become to defend ourselves.” It was time for action. Aloud, he said, “Execute the order.”

  Simultaneously four missiles left the ADO ships at extremely high speed and crossed the hundred-kilometer gap to the orbiting dreadnaughts in seconds, too fast for any defense system to react. Jon had instructed his captains to aim for the large bay doors in the middle of the ships. He had consulted with Talor, and both of them had surmised this was where any internally stored fighter ships would be located. Hitting them there would eliminate that threat and at the same time effectively cut the huge ship in two.

  The simultaneous strikes were followed by a visible cloud of fine particles mushrooming from the center of the dreadnaughts. Jon checked the screens of all four strikes and saw the same picture; the ships were literally dissolving from the center out. The dissembler bomb was not strong enough to vaporize the entire ship, but the effect was so devastating it reduced it to a pile of orbiting trash. As soon as Jon was satisfied that all the dreadnaught threats had been eliminated, he ordered the fleet to reassemble and start the attack on the surface. Before they entered the atmosphere, Jon ordered the Hyloxian fighters to deploy.

  “Fighters away,” Ben announced and they turned their focus to the expanding view in the forward screen.

  The weapons officers announced, “Two minutes to target.”

  The systems defense officer quickly followed with, “Activity on the surface. Interceptor crafts being launched.”

  “Well, they’re not completely asleep,” Jon said more to himself than to the assembled bridge crew. He wasn’t worried about the Constitution being able to defend herself. The stealth shield would protect her until her plasma cannons revealed her location, and her defense shield would stop anything except a direct hit by a large plasma charge or a close-range impulse shot. Even then she could survive and fight until she took too man
y such devastating blows. His concern was for the Hyloxian manned fighters. They too were equipped with stealth and defense shields, but not nearly to the extent the larger destroyers of the even larger frigate were protected. Their real defense was speed and agility. That, coupled with the natural ability of their Hyloxian pilots should get most of them through the fight. He prayed that Adalan would be among the survivors.

  “One minute to target,” intoned the weapon’s office like a prophet announcing a pending doom.

  The defense officer followed with, “Enemy formation of fifteen ships ten kilometers ahead. They appear to be tracking toward the remains of the dreadnaughts.”

  Jon told the defense office, “Do not fire on them. Let them pass. The fighters will handle them if they detect us and come to investigate. We do not want to give our location away until the last second.”

  Within ten seconds, the fifteen Khruellian ships had passed by the advancing ADO fleet at a steep angle toward space. If they had detected the enemy armada, they did not vary from their flight path. Someone let out a pent-up whoosh of air expressing what everybody on the bridge was feeling.

  A sense of déjà vu passed over Jon as the familiar scene of Khruellian warships lined up in vast quantities appeared directly ahead. “Commence firing,” the weapons officer said, a little louder than necessary. Every weapon in the Constitutional’s arsenal opened up simultaneously. The destroyers were spread out in a fan formation separated by a kilometer between them on either side of her. A five-kilometer wide path of destruction passed over the field at Mach one. Once again, the Khruellians were totally unprepared for such an unexpected, devastating attack. The thought of, “We might just win this war,” crossed Jon’s mind, but was cut short when the field’s defense weapons started firing.