Citation Series 1: Naero's War: The Annexation War (19 page)

“Is it true that most military vessels have higher jump ratings than private vessels
?”

Naero nodded. “In general, yes. Most private and commercial starships are rated Jump-1 through Jump-5. Military vessels currently have ratings between Jump-4 and Jump-7
.”

“You said there was a Jump-8
?”

“Most ships don’t have Jump-8. That’s still mainly experimental. But the theory and the raw tek is out there. Good teks and engineers modify and tinker with their own ships all of the time, attempting to gain whatever edge they can. But doing so can be perilous. A single malfunction during a jump–a
misjump
–can be extremely dangerous.”

“How so? What is a misjump, and what happens to the ship and the crew? Can it dump them into a star, or smash the ship into a planet
?”

Naero shook her head. “Not so much that. Although such calamities have happened
, on super-rare occasions. The odds are simply very high against that sort of thing. But when a jump drive misjumps, it sends a starship into jump space out of control, and out of balance. While the ship bounces out of control for a random space of minutes or days, the physical stress forces on starships is intense, and can even tear ships apart. Next, the ship could be damaged severely and dumped out of space into the middle of nowhere. Dead Space–where no one can hear or reach them in time before their systems fail, and all within perish.”

“So, is that part of the reason why starships have to pull a safe distance away from a planet
, or even other ships, before it is clear to jump?”

“Somewhat. But anything with sufficient mass in close proximity to the jumping starship can greatly interfere with the entry into jump space. And those calculations are made automatically. Jumping too soon or too close to another large mass can trigger anything from a misjump to the worst calamity—a gigablast
.”

“A what
?”

“The ship and everything on it becomes a gigantic quanta-bomb. Protonic reversion reduces all the atoms into sudden, explosive energy. The starship blows up, obliterating itself and everything nearby it
.”

“That sounds bad
.”

“Exploding all of your atoms isn’t usually good for anyone. But sometimes, as a last resort, a doomed ship will use this technique as a desperate, last resort
in wartime. If a ship is going to be destroyed anyway, such a suicide run, ploughing through enemies all around it, can do a lot of damage.”

Tarim nodded. “I remember stuff like that early on in the Annexation War. Not so much now
.”

“No, thank goodness. Now things are pretty much conventional. One side simply trying to wear down the defenses of the other and crush them. I want to explain that, but first I want to make sure we’re clear on jump drives and what they do
.”

“I guess so
.”

His eyes still looked a little glassy
.

Naero rolled her own eyes briefly. “Think of it this way. Two systems are separated by a stellar distance of
say…ten parsecs, about thirty-three light years. A Jump-1 starship can reach that destination in about thirty days, or one standard month. Perhaps, even, by taking several smaller jumps along the way. That’s the way the first jumpships traveled. But a Jump-2 starship can reach the same destination in about half the time, say, two weeks.

“While a
starship with a Jump-3 drive can reach it faster yet, in a few days. Jump-4, in a single day. Jump-5, a handful of hours. Jump-6, one or two hours. And a starship with Jump-7 can reach it in a matter of minutes–not even hours.”

“Jump-8
?”

“Like I said, Jump-8 is still experimental. I don’t really know what it can do yet
.”

“Got it. I can see why a navy reaching a conflict zone within minutes would have a decisive advantage over ships that would take days or weeks to arrive. Can a ship be tracked or followed through jump space, to pursue it or see
where it comes out?”

Naero thought of Baeven’s unique vessel
.

“Intel or some ships might have experimental tek to do such things, but those capabilities do not exist on most ships. When a ship goes into jump, you normally can’t tell where it is going to go or come out. You can plot and calculate all of the possible places that it
could
do so, but those variables are usually too many to attempt to track. And a ship could always come out of one jump, change course in any direction, and go right back into another jump. How would you know?”

“I see. Making a ship that gets away nearly impossible to track
.”

“Exactly
,” Naero said.

24

The Alliance spent almost two weeks containing, probing, and regrouping around both Helapine-3 and Kysarra-5. Yet that
also gave Triax time to prepare and strengthen all of their defenses.

Oddly enough, the Alliance also busied itself with the pacification of several dozen Triaxian worlds
, many with no apparent strategic value whatsoever.

Naero got called
into one of the fleet labs one day.

Zhen was part of the medical research team working
in conjunction with Intel.

They continued to study the Triaxian genocide devices, developing new ways to neutralize the various neurotoxins,
nerve agents, and bio-weapons that Triax inflicted on its own civilian populations–and then blamed them on the Alliance.

Even Shalaen leant them a hand against
all of that.

Intel had a plan to seed future Triaxian worlds with concealed or cloaked microfixers–well in advance of future pacification efforts.
Sort of a genocide device inoculation that they could control.

The little
nanomachines would actively seek out enemy genocide devices and stand ready to neutralize them as needed, on command, or in coordination with Alliance efforts.

Naero communicated with Zhen through a bio-hazard screen
link and a shielded, sealed environment.

“What’s up,
Z?”

Shen smiled through the clear bubble of her hazmat face shield
.

“Thanks for coming,
N. I wanted you to be the first to inform Admiral Klyne and Admiral Sandusky. After months of research since Heaven-7, we’ve finally broken virtually all of the Triaxian cosmicide codes and formulae. A handful of them we cracked right here. Others have been de-coded at other research facilities.”

Naero clapped her hands together and grinned
.

“What about the newest generation of microfixers? Are they ready to go to work
?”

Zhen nodded. “Almost.
Ty said they’ll be online in a few days, ready to mass produce in great numbers.”

“That’s great,
Z. Excellent work. Then we can begin inoculating future liberated worlds against Triax’s cosmicide devices. For once, we’ll be one step ahead or our foes, instead of them being several steps ahead of us all the time.”

Naero put in a direct call to Tyber’s lab, in order to double-check
.

His holo floated before them. “Ladies...what’s up
?”

“Hey, sweetie. Miss you!” Zhen called out
.

Naero kept going.
“Nothing but good news on this end, Ty. I hear you and your team are close to wrapping things up on the tek side of things, with our new generations of microfixers?”

Tyber leaned eagerly on one of his counters, but he looked haggard and tired. Yet his excitement clearly overrode that
.

“Better than we expected. The microfixers will be ready. And even more, the fixers will also be capable of detecting, tracking, and secretly de-activating and neutralizing the actual mechanics of the genocide devices, and rendering them completely inoperative.”

“Good work, both of you and your teams. You’ve really made a difference. Intel can’t implement this initiative quickly enough. And all of you have helped make this possible.

Zhen sighed. “We’re about to save countless lives. Billions
, perhaps trillions, who might have perished needlessly.”

“We
still need to be cautious and work in secret,” Naero said. “We know Triax will figure out what’s happening soon enough. Then they’ll try to counter us.”

Zhen nodded. “And we’ll counter them, until their time runs out, and Triax falls into the abyss of history
.”

*

Naero helped prepare Strike Fleet Six for the next, all-out assault on the two Triaxian stronghold worlds.

Despite the fact that
the Alliance forces found themselves vastly outnumbered once again, they brazenly dared to attempt a two-pronged attack on both Triaxian bases. Strategically, their efforts looked insane to any military mind–even suicidal.

The Triaxian high command
even hailed and mocked them, goading and daring them to attack.

Then, j
ust before the lead elements engaged, something very strange occurred.

Over half of the massed Triaxian fleets and ships jumped out of the two systems–in the space of a
few standard minutes.

Stunned, the Triaxian forces remaining made a feeble, confused attempt to pull back and regroup
their scattered and broken remaining elements.

Naero laughed and gave the command
.

“All forces, commence att
ack. Don’t give the bastards any chance to reset their lines. Charge in and gut them!”

Now the odds against them were only three or four to one at best
.

Acceptable
odds for any Spacer.

The right wing of the entire Alliance forces thundered at Helapine-3 with twenty-three
massed fleets. Eleven held back in strategic reserve at key points, depending on whether things went well or badly.

They faced
seventy-four enemy fleets, with ten in reserve.

Y
et almost all of those fleets had lost one third to half of their complement of warships.

Admiral Sandusky, Spacer Intel, and the pacification fleets had done their job
s well in advance—and brilliantly.

Nebulae of fixers melted and dissolved the
layered curtains of mines and death drones.

Admiral Maeris sent the massed Alliance fleets
in in stacks of wedges.

Battl
eships and their biggest guns up front in three staggered lines.

Hippolyta
and fourteen of her amazon sisters held a reunion of half of their total number, anchoring the core of the Alliance assault. They roared their war cries in rage and fury.

Sixty
16m, rapid fire quad guns were a blinding, terrifying force to behold indeed, especially when massed together. All threescore of those gigantic 16m batteries blazing. They lit up the entire sector like a gigantic super nova.

Enemy ships vanished before them, completely obliterated
.

The best Triax had to offer fled the field before them or got taken down in bright sheets of destroying light
.

The Dromon Class planetoid dreadnaught, easily
proved themselves to be the largest, toughest ships in the war. They had no equal. Battered and damaged repeatedly, but they continued to fight on.

N
one of them had ever been destroyed or had known defeat.

Naero shot to her her feet from her command chair, shook both fists at the enemy, and cried out to
Hippolyta
’
s
sisters over their links.

“That’s it. Fight you amazons! In for the Alliance.
For the Omaria and all our dead!

HEW THEM DOWN AND SCATTER THEIR ASHES IN
THE FLAMING MAELSTROM OF OUR WAKE!

A great cheer split the links
, as the crews of the Alliance roared in echoing response.

Aunt Sleak
formed the various cruisers into diamond wedge wings on either side of the massed battleships. Then the destroyers next on the outer flanks, where their speed and great maneuverability would be key, in multi-ring formations on either side.

The Carriers brought up and protected the rear this time, their waves of starfighters ready to swarm, waiting for the fixers to do their work, and clear the attack vectors for them
.

The Alliance fleets rode head-
on into the fury of battle–straight into the teeth of waves of enemy fire, on wings of flame.

Haisha
! By the Powers, it was a stirring sight.

The Alliance
lost eight ships in the initial sortie, three destroyed outright.

Triax lost forty ve
ssels–sixteen of them dust or reduced to burning wreckage.

Enemy vessels continued to flee in terror, whether they defected or merely voided the field
.

Unfortunately, m
ore than enough Triaxian zealots still remained to continue the bloody fight.

Triax attempted an
envelopment strategy. They still had the raw numbers.

Admiral Sleak re-directed the
Alliance fleets on their secure link, including Strike Fleets Six and Fifteen.

“
Captains Maeris and Wilde, Bravo-Hotel-2 helix assault formation. Ribbon sweep through their port side on these vectors. Continue to concentrate all fire on their battleships and dreadnaughts. Take down their shields and maximize all damage. Leave their carriers to the smaller ships or let them retreat to the rear.”

“When we come about, we’ll
be exposed, completely wide open to their many reserves,” Naero noted. “You know they’ll hit us hard.”

“Planning on it. Our reserves and fighter elements will cut them off. Got your backside
s, but I do need to use them as bait for a time, so make sure you wiggle. Next, figure-eight back through their starboard side. Same objective. Take down shields, eliminate as many primary warships as you can. Once you reduce their bigs enough, we can–”

“–split off and go on
the hunt. So many of their ships are jumping. Do we know how many are actually defecting?”

“No clue. We’ll sort it out later. Just glad to see them go
for now. Plenty of foes left to fight. Now ride!”

“
N, watch our two-sixty, X-Y-Z!” Captain Rebecca Wilde called out.

“I see
them, Becca. On it.”

Five enemy fleets, clockwise galaxy tight formation. Designed to concentrate all of their firepower in a small, intense area
.

“Okay, they’re trying to break us
, Becca. Not happening.
Mohawk
.
Panther
.
Swordbreaker
.
Strongheart
.
Form your Alpha-Tango attack lines on splitting and punishment vectors.

“
Take these heavy cruisers and destroyers, spin out and bring these fighter elements along with support to hold the attackers off. Bottle them up and delay them. Admiral Sleak is sending two fleets in to join you. Just hold them for a few minutes.

“Copy that, sir.”

Two minutes could be a long time in a hot fight.

“I know things will get r
ugged. When we figure-eight and ribbon back, the amazons will link back up and take them on their right from above on their one-fifty-seven arc. Once we break them, you can form up with us once more, or retreat to the rear–if you need to do so.”

“Don’t worry about us, sir. We’ll do our best. Give the girls their head.
Mohawk
out.”

Naero trusted her people–e
ven at the toughest times like these.

Over one hundred ships
from the two combined strike fleets spiraled off in precise, complex formations at full attack speed, screaming into the enemy, cutting off their advance.

Aunt Sleak sent in the two support fleets
behind them.

Complication
s led to Naero and Becca taking almost twice as long to execute their actions, and pause to help three other Alliance fleets that had gotten cut off and trapped.

They blasted their comrades free
with raking fire.

By the time
they got back to Naero’s people, those battered units were still holding the enemy in place, but just barely.

H
alf of Naero’s warships on either side were gone or in flames. Yet the remaining forces stayed steadfast, exchanging close-up duels and broadsides with the still larger enemy force.

“Sorry we’re late,
Mohawk
.
Mohawk
?”

“This is
Swordbreaker
, sir.
Mohawk
is in flames and losing power. She’s being towed to the fixer clouds. Glad to see you and the gals. We could use some help here.”

“We’re coming in white-hot and ready to fire. Have all your ships scatter out from your positions away from our incoming attack vectors.
Coordinate on these marks.”

Naero led her
and Becca’s sortie, looped down and unleashed their tsunami of firepower.

At the last instant,
Naero’s battered holding forces and the remains of the other supporting two fleets peeled away and out of the fight at top escape velocity.