Annihilation: Love Conquers All (33 page)

“Belay that roll,” Rubens said. ”Fire the starboard beam at the second dreadnought.”

The second dreadnought saw what happened to the other and turned to escape. They weren’t fast enough and the entire rear end of the dreadnought was blown away. It could no longer maneuver and it had lost screen integrity. It would have probably survived the battle, but it made the mistake of firing at the Los Angeles as it moved away. Two Earth cruisers moved in and launched ten strike missiles and blew the rest of the ship into rubble.

“Sir,” Lieutenant Kelley said, “we’ve lost the Taj Mahal.”

“What happened?” asked Kosiev.

“Six dreadnoughts cornered it and overloaded its screen. Those six are now moving on the Melbourne, and her screen is moving into red. It can’t last much longer.”

“Can we get there in time?” Kosiev asked.

“Probably not, sir,” Lieutenant Kelley said.

“Wouldn’t screen dumping work for the empire ships feeding our smaller ships?” Tag asked.

Mikado, Kelley, and Kosiev all looked at Tag with blank expressions. Then Kosiev said, “Make it happen, Kelley, and Helmsman, move us alongside the Melbourne.”

“Attention all ships close to the Melbourne,” Kosiev said over the general fleet frequency. “Switch your screens to charge and fly through the Melbourne’s screen. Melbourne, switch your screen to discharge mode.” They watched as two Earth cruisers flew through the Melbourne’s screen, entering and exiting it at the rear of the beleaguered ship where it was not the heaviest direct attack. Six more ships flew through so fast that the dreadnoughts didn’t have time to target them before they were out of range. Melbourne’s screen went from light blue to red and finally yellow. Now the ship could use the energy the enemy ships had poured into its screen. It had been using all its power to support its screen integrity during the attack, but now it could turn its attention to the attackers. It fired both of its primary beams into two of the six attacking dreadnoughts and both of them were cut in half. One of them drifted away and the other exploded. The remaining four dreadnoughts were joined by three others and continued to fire on the Melbourne.

“Join on the Melbourne’s left flank and join screens,” Captain Mikado ordered. The Washington flew in and joined Melbourne at the center of the attack. Once the two screens touched, Melbourne’s screen turned yellow. Washington targeted two of the Alliance behemoths and Melbourne targeted two others. In less than thirty seconds there were four more dead hulks floating in space. The remaining three dreadnoughts turned to flee. Washington chased one and Melbourne the other. The third accelerated away from the planet toward the star drive limit to try to escape to warn the main fleet. Only four dreadnoughts remained of the twenty, and then there was only one, which was trying to escape.

“Sir, we have one dreadnought making a break for the star drive limit,” Lieutenant Kelley said. “Should we use the blocking force to stop it?”

“How many Alliance ships remain?” Kosiev asked.

“Forty-five, sir.”

“What is the count of our remaining ships?”

“We have eighty-nine remaining ships. We have lost one of our empire class battle ships, four cruisers, and six destroyers for a total of eleven ships lost against 155 of theirs.”

“Assign two ships to each of the remaining Alliance ships and let’s complete this operation,” Kosiev ordered. “What happened to the Alliance troop transports?”

“Just as you said, sir, they ran to the planet’s surface.”

Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “I’m glad you were here to anticipate that. We probably need to start giving support to our marines. We can let the blocking force handle the escapee. They’ll feel like they’ve taken part in the action.”

“I agree. Besides, didn’t you assign all of your ships to finish the Alliance presence in this system? Pick out the one you want and let’s finish this business.”

Admiral Ecsra accelerated out of the Ross system toward the safety of the star drive limit, where he could jump to safety. He was in a state of shock at what had happened to his fleet. No one could have guessed that the Earth ships were capable of what he saw. They were things that inhabit an admiral’s nightmares. Ships that wouldn’t die no matter how much energy or missiles were fired at them. Nothing could withstand a dreadnought’s fire power except another dreadnought. That was a fact that had been proven in endless battles. Only he had seen one of their small battleships withstand the fire of six dreadnoughts for twenty minutes before it exploded. Then the next one handled that fire and destroyed two of them. Two of those small ships destroyed six dreadnoughts. The Alliance had to be warned. “Are they chasing us?” Admiral Ecsra asked.

“No sir,” his sensor officer said. “One of those medium Earth battleships started to move our way, then turned around and attacked one of our remaining battleships.”

Ecsra didn’t need to ask the outcome of that engagement. The Alliance battleship didn’t stand a chance against that demon ship.

“Sir, all of our ships have been destroyed or severely damaged. We’re the only one to escape.”

“How many ships attacked us?”

“Sir, they only used one hundred ships.”

“How many did we destroy?”

“According to our sensor log, no more than fifteen were killed.”

The Admiral was stunned speechless. “How many ships do they have?” he wondered. “Maybe all they have are those one hundred ships.”

“Sir. Sir!”

Admiral Ecsra looked at his sensor officer and saw in his face the fear he was starting to feel. “What?”

“Sir, our sensors show more than 180 of those human warships powering up their screens on all sides of us. Twenty of those battleships are moving in to intercept us; what are your orders, sir?”

Admiral Ecsra was beyond giving any orders. All he could do was stare at the screen and mumble over and over, “Why did we have to start this?”

L
ieutenant Colonel Richard Wiseman stood in front of his men in front of the Rossville concentration camp and could see their nervousness. He could hear his weapon floaters broadcasting to the civilian population to return to the camp so they could be protected. Most of them had left as soon as the Alliance ground troops evacuated, but fortunately they had not had time to go very far before Wiseman landed. His battalion was assigned to liberate the largest camp, which was just outside Rossville. There were over thirty thousand unarmed civilians that had been staying there in terrible conditions. Fortunately, most of them listened to the broadcast and were returning. His engineers had set up the small black hole reactor and the Coronado screen was already in place over the camp. The camp was located in the middle of a flat floodplain surrounded by high hills. The green valley was lush with plant life and farms that the colonists had been farming before the Cainth occupation. He saw that the Cainth would have to come down the middle of that plain to retake the concentration camp. “Now if our navy is successful up there, we might get out of this alive,” he thought. “We have to hold out until they can support us.” He looked at his troops in their shiny new armor and understood their fears.

“Sir, all men present and accounted for, sir,” his sergeant major reported.

“At ease, men.” He stood in front of them and said through his armored suit’s radio so every one of them could hear, “You all know why we’re here. That much of our mission is obvious. What I want to make sure of is that you know why we are here. How much do any of you know about ancient Earth marine traditions? A young man that rescued me from myself taught me some of the valuable lessons of our past. Before mankind laid down their weapons and embraced peace, it was the marines that were called on to handle the toughest combat roles. They lived by a code that made them stronger together than they were individually. Our history books tell us about their victories, defeats, and bravery. It all derived from their simple code, semper fidelis.” Wiseman could see a number of his men looking at each other. “It comes from a truly ancient language called Latin that was used by the earliest world power on Earth called Rome. It simply means ‘always faithful.’ The marines would not leave their wounded on a battlefield. They would endanger themselves to protect their brothers in arms, often causing their own death. The marines were a brotherhood that meant much more to them than simple words could explain. They knew to their core that their well-being was being watched over by all of their comrades. They also knew the importance of their mission and the importance of being faithful to the ones that sent them. Now we stand here today about to face an enemy that outnumbers us and probably outguns us as well. We are the new marines of mankind. We as a people have not engaged in combat for more than four hundred years, and yet here we are. Our ancient brothers established their reputation, their traditions, and their memories in blood on hundreds of battlefields. Today, you will have the rare honor of making our new traditions. Your future brothers in arms will look back at today and see the example you give them. We face an enemy that wants to exterminate our species. If we don’t send them a message here of what the cost will be to accomplish that, then we should be deeply ashamed of ourselves. Some of you wonder about why a criminal was made your commanding officer, and I must humbly respond to you, so do I. But this much I can promise you: I will always be faithful to you. I will not leave you cut off to die or leave you behind. If there is power in my armor, I will be at your back. I pledge to every one of you semper fidelis. Semper fi,” he yelled into his mike and heard all his men answer together, “Semper fi.”

“Dismissed,” he said.

“Attention!” Richard’s adjutant said. The marines came to attention and saluted their commander. They then turned to each other, and all of them could see in each other’s eyes that something was born here today that each of them would never forget. “Move to your positions, men. Fleet reports the Alliance transports are entering atmosphere.”

The Alliance ground commander was frustrated and frightened. The fleet was being chewed up by ships one-third their size. He ordered his troop ships ground-side as soon as the dreadnought covering his transports was destroyed by three of the Earth cruisers. If things went bad up there, he had to capture the human colonists on the planet to negotiate for his safety, or to hold until the main fleet arrived. He ordered two regiments to retake the camp at Rossville since it was the largest.

Richard had taken the fortifications of the Cainth invaders and added small Coronado screens to cover them. The screens had not been tested in battle but looked good during their earlier tests. Even the marines’ armor used a smaller version. The new power cell technology extended the time they could fight before having to recharge. The civilians were inside the main screen and his battalion was in place around its perimeter. “Sir, regiment reports that massive Alliance forces are heading our way, probably two regiments. We will be supported as soon as possible, but you must hold out until relief arrives.”

“And so it begins,” he thought. “Perhaps now I can atone for my sins.”

“Sir, the humans have landed ground forces and they have set up a defensive perimeter at the camps,” General Dorg’s communications leader said.

“How strong are they at Rossville?” Dorg asked.

“It looks like they have a full mechanized heavy weapon battalion dug in there,” the communications leader responded.

“Only a battalion; two regiments should be plenty. Land our forces, then ask for their surrender. These humans haven’t fought a war. They’re basically pacifists and they should roll over without a fight.”

“You should tell that to those ships of theirs up there, sir. It may not be as easy as you think.”

“Sir, we have two regiments of Alliance assault troops landing twenty miles to the west. They’re forming up and moving this way. We’ve just received a message from the Alliance ground commander and he requests a meeting with you to discuss surrender,” Richard’s communication officer said.

“Have him drop by, Lieutenant. I’d like to get a feel for him. Tell our men to dig in deep and make sure they have vertical as well as forward coverage of their screens. Have our heavy floaters been hidden?”

“Yes sir. They are dug in underground on each side of the valley. Only their visual port is above ground. I’ll make sure they are well camouflaged.”

“Here comes the Alliance representative.”

The Alliance floater settled just outside the town, flashing a blue and green strobe indicating its purpose of peaceful meeting. No one would ever consider violating a truce strobe. The last commander to do that had been summarily executed on the spot when they returned from the meeting, and all his family members were later executed. Richard Wiseman walked out to the Alliance floater and said, “Lieutenant Colonel Wiseman, Fifth Battalion Naval Marines. How can I be of service?”

The Alliance Colonel looked at the human and said in a voice that was almost a sneer, “I’m going to give you and your men the opportunity to surrender and live. We will destroy you and all your civilians if you resist. We will allow you to live until our fleet arrives and removes the problem overhead.”