The Ganthoran Gambit (The First Admiral Series) (19 page)

Aboard the Olympus, Billy Caudwell had just watched the images of the two Star-Destroyers break through the final line of Axe-Blades. Already, he could see a huge armada of Axe-Blade fighters and the Destroyer pincers from the flanks giving pursuit. However, travelling at a much faster rate than the Ganthorans were capable of, the two Alliance vessels were showing the pursuers a clean pair of heels. The image also showed the pincers of the great horse-shoe image curving in on itself. Out on the margins of the Ganthoran Axe-Blades, the Destroyers in the pincers would be mixing and mingling in the confusion of the pursuit. Some vessels, unaware of the position of the two Star-Destroyers, would be obstructing the efforts of those better informed. Orders and counter orders would be flying around to confuse Axe-Blade pilots and Destroyer captains alike.

Looking at the snarl up on the fringes of the Ganthoran Axe-Blade position, Billy wished he had thirty thousand Eagles. With a force that size, he could smash the entire Ganthoran fighter capability to ruins. But, thirty thousand Eagle fighters was something Billy Caudwell did not have. So, instead, he hung on grimly to the edge of the War Table as the Star-Destroyers broke clear of the Axe-Blades. And, as the two rampaging monsters smashed and blasted the last Axe-Blades from their paths, the wave of gunfire from the Ganthoran Destroyers struck.

“Enemy firing!” A Scanner Officer had just enough time to warn the War Room and crew of the Olympus.

Once again, the “Screaming Death” shrieked downrange towards the Alliance vessels, and once more the huge wave of sonic and electro-magnetic energy smashed into the Force Shielding of both vessels. This time, the intensity was not as great as that from the mass of Axe-Blades. However, it was still sufficient to cause both Olympus and Colossus to lurch in their progress towards the Destroyer lines. And, before the Destroyer captains could fire again, the two huge Star-Destroyers had plunged into the front rank of Ganthorans.

The impact against the Ganthoran Destroyers was as devastating as it had been against the Axe-Blades.

Hundreds of Destroyers were smashed against the Force Shielding of the two Alliance vessels, and once more, the explosions decorated the front face of the octagonal space monsters. The Self-Defence Turrets opened up as soon as contact was made, smashing and damaging any Destroyer that was too close for the Tactical Computer’s comfort.

Being larger vessels, the Ganthoran Destroyers did, at least, have a slim chance of survival against the hail of low-yield pulsar-bolts that seemed to sprout from every millimetre of the Star-Destroyers surface. Flying into the attack, many Ganthoran Destroyers found themselves getting the attention of six or more Self-Defence Turrets as the huge Alliance warship hurtled past. The quick-witted Destroyers captains having been hit once or twice, managed to veer their vessels away from the murderous rain of pulsar-bolt fire that accompanied the two rampaging juggernauts.

Those who were less quick-witted found that third, fourth, fifth and sixth pulsar-bolts swiftly struck their speeding vessels, tearing and shredding their small attack craft to shreds and final destruction.

On the War Table image, Billy could now see that they had entered the Ganthoran Destroyer lines. The Destroyers and Axe-Blades from the two pincers following them were just managing to extricate themselves from the confusion of the block of Axe-Blades in the centre. Even the speedy and nimble Axe-Blades took time to turn and pursue. At that moment, they were no threat to the Alliance Star-Destroyers. However, someone in Frontier General Sal’nor’s HQ was very much awake. From the War Table image, Billy could see Ganthoran Cruisers starting to congregate in front of the remaining Carriers, at roughly the places where the two Alliance Star-Destroyers burst free from the Ganthoran Destroyer formation.

“Well, well.” Billy still gripped onto the edges of the War Table. “We have ourselves a welcoming committee.”

“WATO!” Billy tried to sound louder than the juddering and jolting of the vessel. “Cruisers massing to welcome us, instruct Colossus that the instant we break free from these Destroyers, we will fire the Trionic Cannon at them and then drop straight into the Trionic Web!”

“Yes, sir!” The WATO began to shout orders into the comm-link for the Propulsion Officers and the Trionic Cannon gunners.

Meanwhile, the two Star-Destroyers were still ploughing relentlessly through the ranks of the Destroyers. Once again, caught by surprise, the vessels on the flanks of the Alliance corridor of destruction were having to turn to give pursuit. However, the Destroyers were less agile than their single-seat comrades, and needed time and space to turn. This was just fine by Billy Caudwell. By the time most of them had managed to turn, the two Star-Destroyers would be entering the Trionic Web and heading for the rendezvous with the Star-Cruisers. And, the lack of agility was still the downfall of too many Destroyer crews. The relentless progress of the two Star-Destroyers meant that those who could not avoid the huge vessels were smashed to oblivion on the Force Shielding, whilst those who chose to attack, or, were too slow in getting out of range, were chopped down mercilessly by the Self-Defence Turrets.

“Emerging now, sir!” the WATO announced.

And, as Billy watched the War Table image, he could see two Star-Destroyers just about to break free from the Destroyer lines. Behind them was a trail of devastation and debris that stretched from the first contact point with the Axe-Blades all the way through to the rear of the Destroyer formation.

The Axe-Blades and Destroyers, from the initial contact point, were all hopelessly muddled together, with no formation or cohesion, as they hurtled along at full speed trying to catch up with the Alliance vessels.

Having carved a lane of destruction through the Destroyer formation, many of the surviving Ganthorans were trying to turn to bring weapons to bear on the huge Alliance ships. But it was all far too late. The shambles of a pursuit would never reach them in time, and the Ganthoran Destroyers close enough to cause any damage were too slow to make their turns in time.

As the last Destroyers were being shot to oblivion, or being smashed to smithereens against the Force Shielding, the Trionic Cannon fired one last time in the attack. It was very much a case of the fastest trigger finger would win. Ranged in front of the two Star-Destroyers, Sal’nor had arranged over sixty Cruisers. The combined “Screaming Death” from that formation would give the Alliance ships a fairly severe jolt, along with some significant damage and casualties.

However, forewarned was fore-armed, and the WATO hit the fire button at exactly the right moment. The two Trion Streams hurtled downrange, as the loud hum of the Trion Drive aboard the Olympus climbed to its strident final note, smashing two Cruisers to oblivion in Sal’nor’s make-shift picket line. The one hundred metre wide Stream then passed through two more Cruisers in the Cruiser Screen, before searing through three damaged Cruisers and two more “Six-Cigar” Carriers.

“Enemy weapons firing, sir!” The WATO was followed exactly one half-second later by another voice.

“Entering Trionic Web, sir!” a Propulsion Officer shouted.

On the War Table image, the two Star-Destroyers vanished - just an instant before the shimmering wave of a massive blast of “Screaming Death” seethed over their last location.

“Yes!!” Billy raised his bunched fist into the air in triumph, as the War Room began to illuminate again, and the personnel broke out into applause and cheering.

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield the huge wave of “Screaming Death” from the Cruisers smashed into the Destroyers and Axe-Blades pursuing the Alliance ships. Dozens of Destroyers and hundreds of Axe-Blades shuddered, shredded, exploded or were damaged by the fire from their own Cruisers.

Back aboard his flagship in the Main Conference Room, Frontier General Sal’nor watched in horror as hundreds of his own ships were torn apart by his own guns. With his equally horrified Staff Officers and Conference Room Technicians sitting in terrified silence, Sal’nor angrily banged both of his fists down on the table top.

And, let out a roar of sheer animal frustration and rage.

Ten minutes after dropping into the Trionic Web, the Alliance Star-Destroyers Colossus and Olympus took their stations amongst the Star-Cruisers that had reformed after their successful attack on the Ganthoran Combined Frontier Fleets. There had been two successful raids on the three Frontier Fleets, inflicting considerable damage with no loss of vessels on the Alliance side. There had, however, been casualties and damage on the Alliance side.

Several of the Star-Cruisers had been hit by heavy blasts of “Screaming Death” as they had rampaged through the Cruiser and “Six-Cigar” Carrier formations. Of the fourteen attacking Star-Cruisers, six had sustained some form of damage. The Force Shielding had remained intact, however, but the shock waves from the “Screaming Death” impacts had effected the vessels structurally. No serious damage had been sustained by any of the Alliance vessels. However, eighteen Alliance personnel had been killed, with twenty-two injured aboard the Star-Cruisers. Aboard the Star-Destroyers, there had been no fatalities, but over one hundred injured. It was a very light price to pay for what had been achieved, but the deaths had tinged the victories with an inevitable edge of sadness for the survivors.

Calmly, Billy Caudwell watched the three-dimensional image on his War Table. The battered remnants of General Grobbeg’s Frontier Fleet were just entering the Calyx Wormhole. The wormhole with its grey, misty, ethereal appearance looked to Billy like a huge pulsating circle of grey cloud that was controlled by a burst of Cheddax radiation set at a precise frequency.

Billy Caudwell’s intention had always been to lure the numerically far superior Combined Frontier Fleets to the Calyx Wormhole. There, he could negate their massive advantage in warships. But, his problem would be in getting the Frontier Fleets to enter the wormhole in pursuit of his own vessels. And, so far, his plan had gone well. The two strikes against the Combined Fleets had done much to reduce their numerical advantage. However, it would still not be decisive enough to risk engaging in a final warship-on-warship battle. There were still too many Frontier Fleet ships for Billy to be confident of a decisive and final victory.

The two strikes would also enrage the Frontier Generals and, hopefully, drive them into making some serious tactical errors. Billy had shown them that he could sting and hurt them, but he also hoped that he had shown the Frontier Generals that his own ships were vulnerable by using the hit-and-run tactics as opposed to a full battle. He hoped that Frontier Generals Kav’al, Timmeg and, especially, Sal’nor, had made the hoped-for deductive leap as to why he wasn’t offering a full scale battle. The two strikes had, Billy surmised, stung the Frontier Generals into action that would lead to a pursuit through the Calyx Wormhole.

If Billy could lure them into the wormhole, then he could use his own forces to block the other end. Learning his lesson from the Isandlwana battle in the Time Warrior Ritual; where combining different types of weapons proved to be advantageous to him, Billy had concocted a similar plan whereby combining the types of weapon with another had proven to be advantageous. In his Isandlwana experience, Billy had combined the spear and shields of his Natal Native Infantry with the rifles of his redcoats. In the hand-to-hand fighting around the barricade, the Native spears had held the Zulus at bay long enough for the redcoats to use their rifles and bayonets with tremendous effect.

At the other side of the Calyx Wormhole, Billy planned to use the “Screaming Death” from Grobbeg’s weapons pods to disable and disorientate the Ganthoran rebels as they exited.

With the Frontier Fleet ships at such a disadvantage, Parbe’an’s Second Fleet, plus First Fleet, with their more focussed and destructive Trionic Cannons and pulsar-cannons, could tear the Ganthoran rebels to shreds.

Billy was now ready to implement the second part of his plan. And, having rejoined the Star-Cruisers, it was now a matter of waiting for the Ganthorans to approach the Alliance formation for the next round of hostilities. And, from the image on the War Table, it looked like the Ganthorans would be reaching Alliance gunfire range within the next twenty minutes.

“Reporting for duty, sir!” Lokkrien snapped his heels together.

“Marrhus...Admiral Lokkrien.” Billy looked up from his contemplation of the War Table image. “Good of you to join us,”

With the Chief of Staff’s appearance, the officers around the War Table all snapped to attention. Of all the Second Admirals in the Universal Alliance Fleet, Marrhus Lokkrien, as Billy’s Chief of Staff, was the most senior. In effect, Marrhus Lokkrien was second-in-command to First Admiral Caudwell.

“Well, sir, I thought I might be missing the fun being stuck on Olympus,” Lokkrien replied.

“Admiral Lokkrien, it’s good to have you back.” Billy smiled.

“Good to be back, sir.” Lokkrien reverted into his attentive subordinate role.

“Well, Admiral Lokkrien, you’ve missed some of the fun, but you did manage to get yourself here for the final kill.” Billy nodded and indicated the War Table image.

On the War Table image, Marrhus Lokkrien could see the Alliance formation, in position, waiting for the Frontier Fleets to approach. The two Star-Destroyers were centre of a four-by- four vessel rectangle, surrounded by the Star-Cruisers of First Fleet. Taking the Manipulator in his right hand, Lokkrien switched the image to that of the pursuing Combined Frontier Fleets. The sight that met Marrhus Lokkrien’s eyes was not what he had expected. The three distinct circular formations were not as large as he had anticipated, and there seemed to be a trail of damaged vessels stretching out behind the Ganthorans. However, there were still enough large Ganthoran vessels for Lokkrien to understand that they still presented a tremendous threat to the Alliance ships. In the distance of the image, Lokkrien could see the twinkling flashes of explosions that he recognised so well from his days in the Bardomil Imperial Fleets. It appeared that the Ganthorans had been on the receiving end of some of First Admiral Caudwell’s attentions.

“There doesn’t seem to be as many of them as I expected,” Lokkrien said.

“Well, we did thin them out a bit, Admiral.” Billy pressed a small white button on the side of the War Table.

The image of the advancing Ganthorans was replaced by a slightly hazier image of the stationery Ganthoran positions from less than an hour beforehand.

From above the three “Ring” positions, a “V” formation of highlighted Alliance Star-Cruisers plunged straight through the heart of the Ganthoran ships.

A very impressed Lokkrien watched, as in less than a minute, the Star-Cruisers began to emerge from the bottom of the Ganthoran positions; having wreaked havoc amongst the enemy’s “Six-Cigar” Carriers and Cruiser formations.

“Yes, that would do it nicely.” Lokkrien studied the Image as the last of the Star-Cruisers disappeared to enter the Trionic Web, and made good its final escape.

“That would get their attention, but what about their Axe-Blades?” Lokkrien asked

“Watch and learn.” Billy indicated the War Table image once again.

This time Lokkrien saw the three massive blocks of Axe-Blade fighters, followed by the horse-shoe formation of Ganthoran Destroyers. Standing against them were the two Star-Destroyers. With growing unease, Lokkrien watched the Destroyer horse-shoe start to close in on the Alliance Star-Destroyers as the Axe-Blades swarmed forwards.

“So, what’s our next move, sir?” Lokkrien was eager to be brought up to speed.

“Admiral Lokkrien, we wait,” Billy began, “then we hit and run, fire, and retreat.” 

“Hit and run usually means there’s a trap set somewhere?” Lokkrien asked speculatively.

“Yes, you’re still very perceptive, Admiral,” Billy said, “We have what’s left of Grobbeg’s Fleet and our own Second Fleet on the far side of the Calyx Wormhole.”

“Interesting combination, sir?” Lokkrien remarked quizzically.

“Yes, the Ganthoran “Screaming Death” to pin them down at the wormhole exit, and our pulsar-cannon to pick them off,” Billy announced triumphantly.

“Sounds fine in theory, sir.” Lokkrien had to admit it was a good idea to combine Ganthoran and Alliance weapons. “But we still need to get them in to the wormhole?”

“Well, I didn’t say it would be easy,” Billy joked, “we fire and retreat, leading them closer and closer to the wormhole.”

“And, they just follow us in?”

“Yes, that’s more or less it.”

“And, what if they don’t buy it, sir? Lokkrien asked. “What’s the fall back plan?”

“Well, if they don’t buy it, the most likely path they will take is to go after Ganthus and Ganthus City,” Billy began, “the Imperial Guard Fleet is stationed in orbit above Ganthus, and we can easily bring First and Second Fleet from the Wormhole and catch the enemy between our two forces, but you’re forgetting one very obvious circumstance, Admiral.”

“And, what’s that, sir?” Lokkrien asked.

“We have all three Adjudicators in our custody. If they want their mysterious Adjudicator/Emperor figure, they’ll have to take them from us,” Billy announced. “Without him, they have no figurehead, and the Ganthoran people will not accept a military dictatorship.”

“Sir!” The voice of a Scanner Officer cut through the darkness of the War Room. “The Ganthorans are within pulsar-cannon range!”

“Excellent!” Billy exclaimed. “Give them one salvo of all guns, plus the Trionic Cannon and then withdraw fifty thousand kilometres.”

“Yes, sir,” the WATO responded, “opening fire now, sir!”

On the War Table image, the fourteen Star-Cruisers each unleashed ten high-yield pulsar- bolts, whist the two Star-Destroyers fired one Trionic cannon each.

With a screen of Destroyers in front of the Cruisers and “Six-Cigar” Carriers, the smaller Ganthoran vessels took the brunt of the pulsar-cannon salvo. The one hundred and forty high-yield pulsar-bolts slashed downrange and blew almost one hundred Ganthoran Destroyers to oblivion. Dozens more were damaged as the high-yield pulsar-bolts hurtled though the Destroyer lines, grazing and damaging hulls as they sped onwards. For many of the Ganthoran crews, the end was swift and painless. Following their orders, they were making full speed to catch up with the Alliance vessels after the humiliating encounter with the big Star-Destroyers. With less than a second to respond, many Destroyers ran headlong into the hail of pulsar-bolts that hurtled out towards them. And, when struck by an Alliance pulsar-bolt, the Destroyer simply exploded and cast debris and flames into the paths of their comrades.

For those aboard the vessels that were only grazed by the white-hot, speeding pulsar-bolts, their chances of survival decreased depending upon the damage that they had sustained.

In a badly-damaged Destroyer, there were only seconds of blind panic and terror for the crew members to find their way to the life-pods. For many crew members, there were not enough precious seconds before the vessel de-pressurised and froze or suffocated them to death. For other crews, a last panic-stricken scramble for survival meant trying to repair the massive damage that the pulsar-bolt had inflicted. And, once more, the fate of freezing, suffocation, or annihilation awaited them.

For those crews where the damage was slight, the battle for survival revolved around being able to avoid the Destroyers around them. The pulsar-bolt made no distinction as to whom it struck, but one Destroyer having been struck would most likely be in the path of other vessels which had also been damaged. The Navigation and Helm operators aboard the Destroyers would hold the lives of their comrades in their hands as they tried to guess and second guess where the debris and out of control vessels around them would fall. For some; the operators and their skilled captains that proved to have guessed right, they were able to extract their wounded vessels from the destruction.

For others, their operators took a wrong turn and collided with debris, an out of control vessel, or were simply mown down by the progress of the larger vessels following behind them.

For those struck by the Trionic Cannon Streams that seethed through the entire Ganthoran formation, the end was usually mercifully swift. With the Trions of the ship’s hull de-stabilised, the explosion was usually instantaneously fatal to the crew. The exception was for those caught on the very edge of the Trion Stream. A large Cruiser would last a few seconds before the entire hull was engulfed by the corrosively-spreading unstable Trions. With the hull engulfed, the final explosion was catastrophic; nothing and no one would survive the annihilation that followed.

Once more, the Trion Streams had ripped a pathway through the Ganthoran formation sweeping two “Six-Cigar” Carriers and five Cruisers, from the centre of the formation into oblivion.

“Right, Navigation, take us back fifty thousand kilometres, one percent light speed.” Billy was well pleased with the result of the latest round of gunfire.

“Yes, sir!” As the Navigation Technician responded from the darkness, the Alliance images on the War Table began to turn and move away from the advancing Ganthorans.

“Giving them a bit of a sporting chance, sir?” Lokkrien asked.

“Well, we don’t want to run away from them too quickly.” Billy grinned.

At one percent of light speed, the Alliance ships would cover the fifty thousand kilometres in less than thirty seconds. At full speed, the Ganthoran “Six-Cigar” Carriers would take around two minutes to cover the distance.