A New Day (10 page)

The vote did not take long, and Ben called Gail from his terminal. When she answered he returned her salute. Ben spoke to her in a very serious voice. "General Greenwald, as of a few moments ago, the Council of Terra has officially acknowledged that a state of war exists between ourselves and the forces of the Duke Tammerain on the surface of the planet. At this time I am authorizing you to arm and activate all weapons systems, both defensive and offensive. Please try to maintain our invisibility as long as possible. Also, you are not authorized the use of large-scale, tactical weapons. It is further asked of the Council that you take your lead from the Hyclarion Military leader currently on planet. Do you understand your orders General?"

"Yes Sir, I understand my orders," Gail replied. She paused, "Are we really doing this, Ben?"

He nodded to her. "It's mostly to try to protect the civilians on the surface and to assist the Rangers if they need it. Now you have the freedom to do what you need to do to save lives. Good luck Gail."

"I understand your intent, Sir. We'll do what we can," Gail replied. He gave her a brave smile before closing the channel.

Hjoolous smiled sadly and put a hand on Ben's shoulder. "It will be enough, Prime Council. We thank you for your assistance in this dark time." He turned back to the assembled Councilors. "We appreciate your efforts to assist us in the defense of this world. We also realize how late it is getting for all of you. As there are several matters we need to attend to, we would retire for the day and attend to them. We wish all of you a restful evening, and thank you again for your wisdom."

The Council once again bowed to the Emperor and Ben quietly asked mother to return the monitors to stand-by mode. Hjoolous turned to Ben and spoke quietly. "You’re dead on your feet, Ben. Get some rest if you can; we can talk more tomorrow."

"I will Majesty, but before we part for the evening, may I ask if you have reached a decision regarding Captain Coir and his people?" Ben asked.

Hjoolous smiled as Ben and his guards joined him in the elevator. "It is refreshing to see someone who is truly concerned with the well-being of others. The Captain and his crew will receive a full pardon on the condition they remain on this planet for a minimum of ten years to assist you and the Council in the transition of this world."

Ben grinned. "That is very good news, Majesty. Thank you for sharing it with me."

Terran Marine Base Alpha

Command and Control

26 - 27 Apr. 10266 CE (AD)

Sector 34871 - Great Inland Sea

Earth, Sol system

While the two leaders were resting and eating dinner, Gail and Yolinar were trying to keep the galaxy from exploding into war. Yolinar issued orders to the Imperial fleets bringing them all to red alert and putting them on a wartime stance. He also ordered all the fleets in Lizard space to avoid all contact, regroup with their main fleet, and then return immediately to Hyclarion. He warned all the separate Admirals that there was a strong possibility that they would be attacked before they could make the jump to hyperspace.

While he also informed the Admirals and Captains not in Lizard space of the reasons for the alert, he cautioned them that if the Lizards were really going to restart this war, no place in the Empire was truly safe. The closest fleet to Hyclarion was three days away in the Belisarius anchorage. A massive naval shipyard left over from the previous lizard war that was mostly shut down and unused. The fleet had been returned there to undergo repairs and updates to the aged ships. Yolinar ordered them to proceed to Hyclarion with all haste to protect the planet from an armada of modern Lizard destroyers and super-destroyers.

Yolinar knew it was a death sentence for the entire fleet, but there simply was nothing closer to send to the planet. The old Admiral in charge knew it too, but didn't even flinch when given his orders.

"He is a good man. He knows what he's facing, but didn't even question it," Gail said sadly.

"Admiral Tyrel is a good commander. He's an old one, but very crafty. I think he can still show those Lizards a thing or three," Yolinar replied. "His ships may be old, but his crews are very well trained. He only needs to delay that armada for a day. If he can do that, the Lizards are finished. Admirals Tarin and Histel will arrive, and that will be that. Both of those fleets are heavy assault units with dual carriers and six battleships each."

"That is a strong force, did you ever get an accurate count on the lizard ships?" Gail asked.

Yolinar nodded. "Six hundred and thirty four. However, it is not the number of ships that is important, but the type. Lizards are not good at small ship fighting, so they tend to forgo fighters and anything smaller than a medium cruiser, which they call a destroyer. Their two favorite designs are the Destroyer and the Super-Destroyer.

"The Destroyers are not overly powerful in weapons, but it carries a ton of armor and strong shields. They are also all but immune to fighter attacks because of their point defense and anti-fighter weapons systems. They can take a massive pounding while slowly working their target down.

"The Super Destroyers are massive constructions, heavy in both weapons and defenses. It can stand toe to toe with a standard battleship until both units are eventually destroyed. It is susceptible to small scale attacks by fighters due to a lack of anti-fighter armament. However, they take forever to build and are also horribly expensive.

"The armada headed to Hyclarion only has twenty-nine of those Super-Destroyers," Yolinar replied.

"Won't those Destroyers make quick work of the fighters from the carriers when they arrive?" Gail asked.

"They would if given the chance; the smaller destroyers will be Old Tyrel's main targets. You see, back in the days when his fleet was built, the Destroyer was the primary ship the lizards used, it was also the largest. His fleet was specifically designed and built to hunt and destroy those ships. If Tyrel can stay away from those Supers and focus on the regular ships, he should be able to last until the other fleets arrive," Yolinar replied.

"Well, at least no one's started shooting yet. That's always a good thing," Gail replied.

"Yes, this is always a good thing. I would prefer it if they didn't shoot at all, but I do not believe that will be the case this time," Yolinar replied.

"Admiral, High Command reports ships under attack, source unknown!" One of the techs working in the center called.

"Show me please," Yolinar replied as the man transferred the data to the holographic tank.

In the tank, data appeared showing four smaller Hyclarion ships under long range missile attack by unidentified ships as they were leaving a star system.  The attacking vessels appeared to have entered the system from the far side, hiding their presence from the small squadron with the noise and radiation of the local stars. However, before those attacking ships could get close enough to destroy the four Hyclarion ships, the Hyclarion ships had broken orbit and departed.

Amid the hail of point defense fire, the watchers saw the icon for a scanner probe being fired back toward the attackers. Yolinar smiled grimly and nodded agreement with the small force commander. "Good, we do need a positive identification of those ships. Although we are sure we know who they belong to, proof is always a good thing."

Gail checked the data feed and stats for that probe. "Probe will be in range in six minutes. The squadron will reach a safe jump point in four."

Yolinar shook his head. "They'll stick around for the probe data. Expect the ships to either slow down or alter course," Yolinar replied.

Gail smiled and looked back up at the Admiral. "Cruiser Dawn Light has slowed; one of its engines appears to be off line. The other three ships are slowing to assist and protect it."

Yolinar nodded. "Considering the amount of missile fire, the lizards should believe they have suffered battle damage. They will attempt to take advantage of this by pressing their attack."

"Missile launch from Dawn Light and Wrath of Justice; enemy formation separating," Gail reported. "The missiles are all part of the ruse to get the scanner into position, right? Our ships are appearing to make every effort to protect the damaged ship until they can get it 'repaired' and escape."

"Exactly so, the missiles forced the ships to put more distance between them, thus making it easier for the scanner to identify them. Our ships moved closer together to increase their point defense fire and to cover the cruisers while they fired their missiles," Yolinar explained.

Gail looked up at him. "The cruisers can't maintain their point defense fire while they launch missiles?"

Yolinar shook his head. "It takes an incredible amount of computing power to track and lock on to the incoming ships, at this distance it takes even more. Tracking and firing on the incoming missiles that have countermeasures of their own takes almost twice the fire power of the missile targeting. We simply have not been able to build a computer large enough or fast enough to be able to handle that many complex tasks at one time. When they make the jump, one ship will have to stop completely just to plot the jump while the others provide protective covering fire. It is the primary reason a warship never travels alone."

"Oh we gotta fix that!" Gail said.

"It is a limitation all warships share, General. The computations involved in space combat are simply too great for current computer technology," Yolinar replied. "Our enemy shares this weakness."

Gail put in a call to Marcy Carmichael, Ben's Science Adviser. "What can I do for you, General?" Marcy asked as her face came up on a small portion of the holotank.

"Minister Carmichael, I'm sorry to bother you this late in the day, but I believe there is something I learned that we might be able to do something about in order to help the Empire. This would fall under your ministry, so I'm calling you," Gail said.

"It must be important and urgent, what do you need, General?" Marcy asked.

"It is a weakness in the computing systems of the warships; none of them, enemy ships included, have the computing power to engage multiple targets with more than one weapon system at a time. Conversely, if a ship needs to jump and it's under fire, it can't because the computer needed to plot the jump is handling the targeting defenses of the ship," Gail explained.

"Oh my god! That's horrible!" Marcy said as she paled. "Look, I can't promise anything yet, but let me look into this if I can. I'll make some calls and talk to Mother. I'm waiting to testify before the Emperor right now, or I'd be on this myself, but I know of some people I can get working on it. I'll let you know as soon as we know anything. I'll get Ben to give this a high priority."

"Thanks Marcy, I knew we could count on you!" Gail replied.

"May I ask who this Marcy being is?" Yolinar asked.

Gail nodded. "She is one of the smartest people we have, Sir. She's really young, but knows how to get stuff dealt with. I'd be very surprised if she and her people didn't have a fix for this by morning."

"This has been an ongoing research project in the Empire for centuries. The one thing about this issue I am absolutely sure of is that it has no easy answer," Yolinar replied gravely. "I mean no disrespect to your people on this, but we have some pretty smart beings working on this as well."

Gail nodded. "I have no doubt of that at all, Admiral. However, sometimes all a problem needs is a fresh pair of eyes and a different point of view."

"Admiral Yolinar, please forgive the interruption, but the ships the survivors fleeing this world used had computer systems well able to perform multiple combat functions at once. However, I should point out that those ships actually had multiple computer systems installed and designed for each task. The fire control and weapons computer systems were capable of multiple engagements at a time. According to the design specifications in my memory cores, the smallest of those ships could engage up to six separate targets at once while maintaining point defense integrity," Mother replied. "This technology already exists."

Yolinar stared at Gail for a moment with his mouth slightly ajar. "General, with this system alone you could easily become the greatest military power in the galaxy."

"Admiral. It has always been our intention to join and support the Empire. We have no intention of taking over," Gail replied.

"You would share this technology with us?" Yolinar asked.

"I can't speak for the Prime or the Council, Admiral, but I believe they would approve. Once we have solid data, we can talk to him about it," Gail said.

Yolinar nodded. "I must speak with the Emperor as soon as possible. Communications, please connect me with Ranger Commissioner Holdst immediately."

"Yes Sir!" came the reply and the image of the Commissioner appeared over the table in front of Yolinar.

Holdst bowed. "What can I do for you, Admiral?"

"Things are starting to heat up, Holdst. Please make sure your people are prepared and safe. I also need permission to allow our new allies down here to examine all systems in the patrol ship, Dalphine."

"There are many classified systems on that ship, Admiral. Allowing a foreign power to examine it in detail would compromise the security of all of our military technology," Holdst replied. "There would have to be a very good reason to allow this."

Yolinar nodded his understanding. "This is critical to the defense of the Empire, Holdst. It could very well decide the outcome of the war."

"You feel strongly about it then?" Holdst asked.

Yolinar nodded. "I do. However, before allowing the technicians here access to the ship, I will be speaking to the Emperor on this issue. He will make the final decision."

Holdst raise a bushy eyebrow. "Who am I to go against the Emperor? If he allows it, then so do I."

"I will inform you of the reasons once we can speak face to face. This cannot be spoken of over a communicator," Yolinar said. "In fact, I would not mention this to anyone else at all. It is that important, Holdst."

"I understand, Admiral. I only ask that I be informed of the Emperor's decision on this, I will not speak on it further," Holdst replied.

Yolinar nodded to him once. "It will be so. Good luck, Brother."

"May Gaia guide and protect you, Brother," Holdst replied and closed the connection. Yolinar looked at the curious Gail. "Commissioner Holdst is my younger sibling."

Gail mentioned nothing further about the computer systems in the warships, and the Command Center got back to the business of war. The Dawn Light Squadron identified the three attacking warships as a Super Destroyer and two regular Destroyers belonging to Duke Amreliss of Hassinaiss Prime, the same duchy the ships were currently in.

Once a positive identification was made, the Dawn Light Squadron broadcast their I.D. to the incoming ships to make sure they knew exactly who they were firing on. The hail was ignored and the attack continued. Putting an end to the ruse, the four Hyclarion ships went to full power and made the jump to rejoin their main fleet assembling near the Corinth Nebula. So far, the location had been kept secret from the Lizards, and the fleet was as yet unmolested.

Several other small units that had been out on missions had come under attack by Lizard forces, and in two cases, Hyclarion Marines on the surface of a planet had been attacked by Lizard troops that had been hiding nearby. The Hyclarion Marine units did manage to evacuate, but not before they took losses. However, once back on their ships, they were again ambushed before fleeing the system. None of them escaped.