Celeste’s eyes stared into the vastness of space. Although she couldn’t see them, somewhere out there the Zandrax ships were waiting. Sensors had confirmed it, but the ships weren’t moving. Instead, they had gotten into an attack formation. However, that had been the extent of their activity.
Tara was at the console holding their ship next to Surl and his Hitongu ships. Celeste sensed that Surl may have been a bit unhappy that she was there advising him. She also didn’t want to be in that position, but General Palt had explicitly told Surl that he should take her instructions without question. That conversation before Celeste and Tara had left the planet’s surface had been uncomfortable. Once they had reached orbit, she found Surl to be his usual self.
“Why aren’t the Zandrax moving in?” Tara asked.
Surl had informed them that once the ships had exited hyperspace they hadn’t moved any closer to the Hitongu planet. It was as if they were waiting for something. Celeste suspected the Zandrax fighters were waiting for other ships to join them. It could possibly be their frigates or other larger vessels. Because of that possibility, Celeste had decided to make a pre-emptive strike on the ships. The Zandrax would not expect it from a species, such as the Hitongu. If the Zandrax had been gathering intelligence on the Hitongu all this time, they would know the Hitongu species had limited military experience. She hoped to take advantage of their incorrect assumption. The Zandrax probably wouldn’t have expected her, Tara and Phog to stop at Hitongu and help them.
“I am not sure, but we cannot wait any further. Inform Surl to begin.”
“Message transmitted,” Tara reported. “He won’t be happy.”
“Has Surl given us a direct datalink with his two ships?”
“Coming up on screen now.”
After discussing with Phog, Tara and Captain Torin, the plan was to send two Hitongu fighter ships ahead towards the group of Zandrax fighters. It had been easier to convince Captain Torin than Surl. She had to credit Phog for building trust with Captain Torin. Surl had been reluctant to sacrifice his own people. He probably knew those two ships may not make it back alive. Celeste felt Surl was a good leader to be concerned about his fighters, but, in a war, there were going to be casualties. He had to be ready to face an even greater casualty count if they couldn’t stop the Zandrax fighters. In the end, Surl identified two of his ships to send forth.
Celeste could see the displays of the two ships. Both were edging forward slowly in the direction of the Zandrax fighter ships. “Any reaction?”
Tara peered at the sensor readings. “The Zandrax ships are still holding their attack formation.”
“Have we heard anything from the Leaders Collective?”
“General Palt just sent a message that the evacuation of Holru has begun,” Tara highlighted. “They are using the larger ships that the Grekk provided to move the people.”
General Palt had made a wise decision to use these larger ships. Moving people on foot or smaller transports would have been a herculean task and taken more time than they had. The Grekk ships would help facilitate that process. The most important part had been that the General had suggested the idea instead of her, Tara or Phog. She needed the Hitongu species to take responsibility for their own survival. That was the only way they were going to survive whatever was coming. Celeste felt for this species, but she was doing everything she could do. Tara had sent a message to the Grekk home world that a Zandrax attack was imminent on this planet. No reply had returned.
By now, Celeste noted that the two Hitongu ships had crossed half of the distance between them and the Zandrax fighters. The pair of ships remained together as they continued to move forward.
“Surl is hailing us,” Tara said.
“Put him on.”
“Envoy, there has been no reaction from those enemy ships,” Surl commented. “Are you sure this plan will work? I can send my other ships to join them.”
Surl was getting nervous. Celeste shared in his anxiety, but couldn’t reveal that to him. She had to stay focused on helping the Hitongu. The two Hitongu ships were armed and had shields. They wouldn’t be simply blown into bits.
“I understand,” Celeste replied. “We need to hold and wait. Please ask your pilots to initiate the second step.”
Celeste motioned for Tara to close the transmission. The second step was for both Hitongu ships to pretend they didn’t know what was going on and simply hail the intruders.
“The Zandrax ships are breaking formation,” Tara highlighted. “They must have reacted to the hail by the Hitongu.”
The display identified the Zandrax ships moving away from each other.
“Instruct the Hitongu fighters to initiate the third step,” Celeste commanded.
The two Hitongu fighter ships separated with one going towards the left and one going towards the right. Then, both Hitongu ships fired missiles at the Zandrax ships. Celeste hoped this would break down any assumptions the Zandrax had about the Hitongu being unable to defend themselves. She had borrowed the concept from Commander Shail. It was time to show the Zandrax that the Hitongu wouldn’t simply roll over and die. She was playing a mind game with the Zandrax with one goal: to buy enough time for General Palt and the Leaders Collective to get all their people to a safer place. The Leaders Collective had come to an agreement that the outer regions had many mountains and valleys in which the people could take cover in. They had also decided to load up some of the Grekk ships with supplies to feed the population. Celeste had feared the people wouldn’t agree to it. However, the Hitongu, through their Collective governance structure, had been able to transmit the information quickly to everyone. She had been impressed by the speed at which the information had gone out. And, the Hitongu citizens had responded once they had been informed of the context of the situation. The female Hitongu in the outdoor market had been right. The Leaders Collective just needed to inform the people more clearly.
The Zandrax vessels began to take evasive action and started firing back. Space was again set ablaze as the Zandrax fighters engaged and moved towards the two Hitongu ships.
“Ask them to fall back now,” Celeste ordered.
The two Hitongu ships turned and began to move towards the planet.
“Several of the Zandrax ships are chasing the Hitongu ships as you expected,” Tara shouted.
“Inform Phog and the pilots to begin.”
“Affirmative.”