| |
Brendan checked one last time with every battle station on his ship. Bob had worked tirelessly with Juan’s team on the MDP science that would make their strategy today possible.
Bob had created a map of the coordinates of all the known MDPs with the help of the Mookookies, the Nanoites and the Daringi, which meant a person didn’t have to use a gate to send supplies or troops to anyone who wore an MDP. Brendan wondered why the Alliance had neglected to realize that the place inside an MDP was an actual physical place with an actual location in dimensional space time.
With the help of the Nanoites, the inner environments of all the MDPs had been optimized for oxygen breathing creatures. The Daringi, paired with Mookookie had confirmed the coordinates of each MDP. The Mookookie would give the Daringi the coordinates, and then the Daringi would confirm by transporting directly into the MDP coordinate without any physical contact with an MDP armband.
They had found that the Daringi could transport from within one MDP directly into any other MDP they had the coordinates for, and that they could carry an MDP armband into any other MDP without any complications. Brendan admired the courage of these testers, as anything could have happened, including destruction of the MDP, the person, and the Nanoites who lived there.
So, they had created a delivery system, combining what Juan and his team were doing, collecting all the necessary resources and equipment using MDPs much like an additional gate network.
The resources were simply transferred to an MDP at one end, as usual. The person wearing that MDP would enter an MDP in any other place in the multiverse with the help of a Daringi guide.
Once in the destination MDP, they would relay a message via the Mookookie, who could communicate from inside an MDP to a Mookookie at the destination who would notify the MDP wearer at that end.
The MDP wearer would invoke the MDP to bring the delivery person out of the MDP and then the delivery person could empty the equipment, resources, or troops to the new destination.
Brendan couldn’t get his head around how people thought up these things, but he was grateful for it. He knew what his ship could do, but the engineers did the real magic. Brendan’s job was simply to keep his crew working at top efficiency. He was a firm believer in getting the best possible people for your team; trusting them to do their jobs and to be brilliant at what they did. He had a great crew. They all knew their jobs and were good at them.
Commanders commanded, as one of his trainers in the Royal Australian Air Force was fond of saying. His job was to see to it that they stuck to the plan agreed on by the joint commanders of the Dimensional Alliance Space Fleet.
They honestly didn’t know as much as they would have liked about the space station and the space fleet of the Great Insenium, but they knew enough to prepare for every imaginable possibility. In a situation like this, there was no such thing as over preparation.
The same four ships that had protected the Groga planet had done whatever repairs they needed and were assembled once again behind a large asteroid. When they revealed themselves to the space station, they would appear to be pretty pathetic compared to the number of warships surrounding it.
The camouflaged drone they had sent to scan the station had noted a fleet of about fifty ships, give or take, as ships were constantly leaving and arriving similar to a large airport. The majority of those coming and going were transport or cargo ships, but that still left a combat fleet of around twenty ships, and they had no idea if there were more hanging out in space and within rescue distance.
The enemy would only see three of the four in the initial contact, a meager show of force for certain. But they left the fourth ship safely behind the asteroid, a crucial part of their strategy.
The last thing they needed was a cavalry charge by enemy ships held in reserve. There was no way of knowing yet what their capabilities were, whether they had smaller fighters in their launch bays, or weaponry their intel couldn’t have accounted for. All in all, it was a chancy business, but the Alliance fleet had a few surprises literally up their sleeves.
Even now the launch bays on the Alliance ships were on high alert to respond instantly with their little surprise. That element of surprise was the one thing they had in their favor after the three seemingly puny ships had lured the Inseni fleet away from the space station.
The comm unit on his command chair blinked red. It was time.
Three of the assembled fleet maneuvered in unison from behind the asteroid close enough to the space station that they would be seen on any instruments they had for tracking incoming ships. Brendan doubted that the Inseni considered this more than for the purposes of tracking their own fleet, as they had no enemies in their Galaxy. But they had been noticed.
A broadcast on all frequencies went out from the Admiral’s con. “Attention Inseni space station. Surrender now to the might of the Dimensional Alliance and none will be harmed.”
The “fair warning” was actually part of their strategy. They didn’t expect any such surrender by their enemy, but the blatant challenge obviously got their attention. Several of their warships pulled out of docking bays and zoomed toward them. Obviously, they didn’t think three measly ships was much of a threat.
As they had done at the Groga home world, they sent out a swarm of armed space drones toward the oncoming ships. Let them think what they would about that. Much like a giant swatting mosquitos, the ships began to fire on the drones with their minor weaponry. The drones were fast and more maneuverable, so many of them actually got through, once again planting the little nanobots on the hulls of the ships. Of course, it would take time for them to do their damage, but it was a start. It had distracted the enemy ships for stage two of their plan.
Each of the launch bays now disgorged slightly smaller versions of the ships in their tiny fleet which had been stored in MDPs awaiting this part of the plan. All were fully crewed and ready for battle. It was like a magician pulling several rabbits out of a hat, since within moments after those emerged, three more ships joined those...and then another three and then another three. In a matter of minutes, their fleet no longer looked so harmless.
In the meantime, evidently a call for help had gone out to the space station. Several more ships now flew toward the Alliance’s quickly multiplying fleet, but the Alliance ships were just beginning.
Out of the launch bays of the smaller ships flew individual fighter planes, about the size of the fighter jet Brendan had flown in his Air Force service on Earth. Brendan knew that there were around forty of these fighters assigned to emerge from each of the smaller ships, which now numbered at a few dozen and more continued to come.
Brendan blessed Bob and his MDP research for this seemingly impossible stunt.
The fighter ships immediately began to engage the enemy. And Brendan’s ship continued to send out the relatively tiny drones as part of the attack. It was as if they had surrounded each of the enemy fleet with a swarm of bees along with an intimidating flock of large angry eagles. Zipping in and out, it was nearly impossible for the enemy ships to know on which of the flying menaces to focus their attack.
More enemy ships poured off of the space station. The Alliance now faced a fleet of nearly two dozen enemy ships, but by now the enemy faced an Alliance fleet of a few dozen ships of varying sizes and capabilities, not counting the swarms of fighters and drones.
The battle that ensued was not without its danger or fatalities. More than one Alliance fighter ship was either damaged or destroyed. The large Alliance attack vessels had taken minor damage, but shields were holding.
As part of the plan, they allowed their enemies to believe they were slowly retreating, farther and farther from the space station. In the meantime, their attack formation became slowly bowl like, drawing the Inseni fleet farther and farther into their midst. Additional ships and drones continued to emerge from the launch bays. This was a bit risky as there was a bigger chance that a stray shot might miss an enemy ship and instead hit an Alliance ship. But it also made it much harder for the Inseni ships to get behind the Alliance fleet.
At one point, in the heat of the battle, Brendan began to wonder if all of their preparations were going to be enough. The Inseni were mostly planet busters, more suited to conquer those on the ground than a dog fight with equal or superior forces in space. But the Alliance force had not been used for combat in living memory. The only reason they had any experienced commanders now was because the Alliance had recruited commanders such as Brendan, who had flight and combat experience on their own planets.
There was an abundance of “dastardly alien tech” in the ships, and the MDP delivery system meant that they had nearly unlimited supplies and equipment available. There was even a “hospital ship” that could receive a damaged ship into an MDP and get the repairs they needed to return to the battle. This definitely gave them an edge, but the Inseni captains were holding out remarkably against the numbers the Alliance had been able to put into the field, and now small agile fighter ships began to emerge from the Inseni’s launch bays.
Alliance ships tried to pick them off one by one as they came out, but they didn’t get enough of them to prevent the Inseni from evening the odds somewhat.
Now the fighter pilots had two things to worry about, the battle ships and the fighter ships. Dogfights ensued with ferocity on both sides. It was time. They were fully engaged and far enough away from the space station to implement the second stage of the mission.
The fourth ship would, at this moment, be cruising from behind the asteroid and heading for the space station to destroy it. Without the station, the enemy fleet would be greatly hampered, unable to do repairs, refuel or restock their ships. Unless they had a technology unknown by the Alliance, it was unlikely they could land easily on a planet from space.
This would mean there would be one less destructive arm of the Great Insenium that Gall and his minions would have at their disposal.
From where they were now fighting, the space station was a small glowing dot in a sky filled with stars. Brendan’s tactical officer was directing the shipboard weapons crew, and his team was directing the drones and the fighter ships. The launch bay continued to pour out new drones at irregularly spaced intervals. Brendan wasn’t entirely sure how many they had at their disposal, but he was grateful Bob had started production of these soon after he had been given the go ahead by the Alliance Chief Council.
They had engaged several off-dimension factories that had been cranking them out day and night ever since. As a result, part of what Juan’s team was doing was constantly replenishing the fleets of them waiting in the MDPs issued to Brendan’s launch bay crew.
Most of the drones were pre-programmed to recognize Alliance ships and to only fire on anything that was “not Alliance”. Not all the drones were autonomous, however. Many of the drones were also being directly manipulated by pilots stationed inside the ship based on the strategy put forth by the fleet officers’ tactical plan.
Brendan continued to watch the view screen, squinting to see the little dot of light. It was already at maximum magnification, so he couldn’t zoom in any closer. There was a lot to keep track of, but his team was on top of it. They had drilled so hard over the last few months that Brendan sometimes felt a little extraneous. So he watched.
Occasionally his view was obscured by the flashes of light caused by a direct hit on one side or the other, but he kept focused on the tiny light. He knew he couldn’t see the fourth ship approaching, and he wondered what defenses the space station had, if any.
He didn’t like working with as little intel as they had on this situation, but he trusted everyone to do their best. The destruction of the space station was crucial. By now the approaching ship would have disgorged a number of smaller ships as the first three had done, and they were a small fleet bearing down on the station. But a small fleet of camouflaged drones that had issued from each of the approaching ships were the real menace. Each of them was actually a small but powerful bomb.
They would attach themselves to vulnerable areas of the hull of the station and explode simultaneously. This should even be visible from this far away. As before, the fleet of spaceships was simply a red herring, intended to draw attention away from the real danger.
Nearby, the battle raged on. Brendan knew that the real test of their fleet hadn’t come yet. They still didn’t know if the cavalry was on the way and their instructions were that even if they destroyed all the enemy ships, they were to remain in place for at least 24 hours to be sure there weren’t more ships out there.
And there it was! The tiny light burst into a bright corona like a very miniature exploding sun. The bridge crew cheered, and Brendan was sure that the others would have celebrated as well, if it weren’t for the fact that they were still in the heat of an intense battle for survival.
Now the commander of the fleet sent a message on all frequencies: “Attention Inseni fleet! Your space station has been destroyed. We regret the necessity, but your government has given us few options to protect ourselves. We now demand your surrender before we summon our reserves. As you have seen, our resources are vast and your fleet is diminished. Surrender and you will be treated fairly.”
There was no reply, so the Alliance fleet continued to fire. As planned, the ships that had destroyed the space station were now closing fast on their position. The enemy fleet had been effectively surrounded.
Afterwards, Brenden would never be able to quite say what happened. All of the Inseni ships went silent. Perhaps they were going to surrender after all? But no...Brendan’s ship was rocked suddenly by the huge blast created when every single Inseni ship exploded. The Alliance ships careened out of control into the blackness of space. The battle was over, but they weren’t out of danger yet.
