Criticism is welcomed. Without, it there can't be any improvement. Address criticisms to [xazqrten@cox.net]
***************************** 1000 hours on the bridge of EAS Santiago: Senior Captain Richard 'Dick' Cashdollar, watched the jump points forming with interest, wondering who could be arriving, since there weren't any ships due on the schedule he had been provided. As the senior captain in the area he had overall tactical command of the Earthforce ships present. By default he also had security responsibility for the area around Mars. The Ares was due at Earth, and he didn't think they would have any reason to stop at Mars. Cashdollar had been one of a number of Earthforce starship commanders who had expressed their opposition to having command of the first Warlock, EAS Zeus, be given to Captain Susan Ivanova. It was as if they were rewarding her for being a rebel, and taking up arms against Earth. He hadn't actually been an active supporter of Clark, but he hadn't expressed any opposition when it had still been possible to do so. He and his friends had virtually fumed when Ivanova had been given command of the Ares. She was Leftcourt's little princess. Just the thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. His fit of self-pity was vaporized by what he saw coming out of the jump points, and the alarm from the Heracles. In the next few minutes he watched as the three old Omegas were destroyed. In less than fifteen minutes his ship began to take fire from the Drakh fighters. He sounded General Quarters and used point-to-point laser communications to command the other three warlocks to disperse. It had been almost half an hour and his ships had dispersed, but it wasn't helping much. The Drakh fighters seemed to have at least three times the firepower of their Earthforce counterparts, even though the Earthforce fighters had modified versions of Shadow beam weapons installed. His ship had bio-armor, but the Drakh fighters were pounding the hell out it. Some had deliberately rammed the ship. He watched the very large Drakh warship open fire on the EAS Sinclair, named after the first Earth ambassador to the Minbari Federation, and rake a high-energy beam along its length. The hit was more that enough to destroy an Omega, but the bio-armor seemed to handle it without suffering excessive damage. However, if the Drakh kept it up, or started using their main weapons systems, the Sinclair wouldn't last very long. Three ships destroyed and at least twenty-eight hundred dead, his command on the defensive, and it never occurred to Captain Cashdollar to contact the whitestars in the vicinity. ***************************** Inside Cheyenne Mountain, former NORAD Command Headquarters, now Earth Defense Headquarters: 1003 hours in the Communications Center: The center was a room ten by fifteen meters, housing twenty control consoles of various configurations. The front wall of the room was covered by displays of myriad circuit connections representing the active circuits in use by EA forces. The back of the room was the watch supervisor work area. "Hey Top! We just lost all our Mars feeds!" Exclaimed the young corporal doing circuit quality monitoring. "Murphy, if this is another one of your jokes, I'll have your ass," answered Sergeant Major Lewis Hangar, the watch supervisor. "Honest, Top. Everything coming out of Mars and the ships visiting there just stopped. All I am copying is a horrendous noise level. Come and see for yourself." Hangar quickly stepped over to the QM station that was Corporal Murphy's watch station. The station's function was to monitor incoming transmissions for overall quality, noise levels, signal plus noise to noise levels and waveform integrity. As he looked at the monitor displays all that was visible were very high noise levels in the monitored channels. "How long has this been going on, Murphy?" "It began about three minutes ago, Top. I wanted to make sure it wasn't a monitor malfunction. It isn't," replied Murphy, looking back over his shoulder at Hangar. "I tried transmitting test signals on several channels. I haven't received any acknowledgment. None of the automatic loopback tests worked beyond the comsat transceiver level, either. Top, I think something’s wrong, bad wrong. No way should all those signals just vanish." "I agree," replied Hanger turning to go to his station. There he called up the section watch supervisor, First Lieutenant Neville Fraiser. Hangar quickly explained the situation to the First lieutenant. However, Fraiser, being overly cautious, delayed passing the information up the chain of command. ***************************** 1010 hours on the bridge of Drakh Dreadnought: "Commander, we have destroyed the Omegas and disabled one of the whitestars. I suggest we leave the warlocks and whitestars to the cruiser/carriers and their fighters, and proceed to attack the largest environmental dome on the planet," commented his intelligence officer. "They can't call for help. Our jamming is most effective." "Give us at least one shot at the warlocks, commander?" requested the weapons officer. "Do it," ordered the commander. The secondary Drakh weapons raked the nearest warlock. They did damage, but nothing extensive. "Commander, their armor is better than we expected. I wish one shot with our main batteries," said the weapons officer. "When we finish with the domes, I will let you shoot at whatever remains of them," said the commander. "Will that be satisfactory?" he asked. "Yes, commander," replied his weapons officer. The dreadnought proceeded toward a point five hundred kilometers above Mars colony's major dome. ***************************** 1013 hours in near Earth Space Monitoring Center: The space was a roughly rectangular room, fifteen by ten meters, with five very large display screens located four meters off the floor in the front of the room and sixteen control consoles in three rows of five with the sixteenth console located in a raised area in the back of the room. It's purpose was to locally display a composite of the available console inputs for strategic analysis and planning. The sergeant sitting at the number three monitor console had the responsibility of tracking the EAS Ares and any ships or objects that came within twenty thousand kilometers of it. Becoming alarmed when he observed it pivoting on its axis and turning to a heading away from Earth, he called his supervisor, "Captain James, I think we may have a problem." Captain James, a ground-pounder, stepped over to and behind Sergeant Phillips. Looking at the display, he asked, "What's the problem, sergeant?" "Sir. The Ares has changed her heading and is moving out of her assigned orbit." "Get her captain on the horn." "I've already tried, sir. She doesn't respond. Indications are that her communications gear is offline." "Offline?" "Yes, sir. She is receiving, but she is not answering." As the captain watched, it was obvious that the Ares was accelerating away from the Earth. As he and the sergeant continued to watch, the Ares opened a jump point and disappeared off the monitor screen. Enabling his link, Captain James called the senior duty officer, Lieutenant General Michael 'Iron Mike' Besel. "General Besel, sir. We have a problem. The Ares has left Earth orbit and jumped to hyperspace." "This is a problem because?" "Sir. Half the congressional leaders and a snoot full of reporters are onboard." "So far I don't see a problem. Maybe they're going on a short demonstration run." "Sir. President Luchenko is on that ship. I think we would have been notified of any movement of the Ares." "Captain. I have another call coming in. I'll get back to you." Turning to his communications panel, "What do you mean you’ve lost all communications with Mars?" "We lost communications about ten minutes ago, General," said First Lieutenant Fraiser's voice from the communications panel. Looking into the comm. panel pickup, Besel gave Fraiser a look that was guaranteed to stop the heart of the typical junior officer. "Why did it take you so long to notify me, lieutenant?" "I didn't think it was serious and wanted to wait until we had more information." "You are correct, lieutenant. You didn't think. There must be at least two or three dozen active circuits between here and Mars, not including those between here and the ships in orbit there, and you didn't think the loss of all those circuits was serious? Get your head out of your ass and get me a sitrep. I want it five minutes ago. I want to see you and Top Hangar when this is over." "Yes, sir!" replied the image on the panel screen. General Besel was considering the impact of what he knew and didn't like it at all. He didn't know Susan Ivanova personally, but he knew her reputation. For her to leave orbit without prior notice and close down her communications systems fairly screamed emergency. He just knew he wasn't going to like whatever it was. Besel left his watch office and made his way down to the Near Space Control Center. He had no sooner arrived than he was led into the main situation briefing room. Colonel William Rodner ran the normal day watch and motioned him to grab a seat. "General, I believe we have a very dire situation taking place at Mars." Lifting his link to his mouth, he said, "Run the feed we got on the point-to- point laser circuit." The video displayed was the same one that had caused the Ares watch to get her underway. After watching the video, Besel said, "Don't tell me that this video, the lost communications, and Ares getting underway are connected." "I'm sorry, general, but they are. We’ve examined the time frames of the items in question and they paint one grim picture," said Rodner. "Elaborate, colonel." "We checked the time stamps of the events in question and we found that the video takes place almost nine minutes after the loss of communications with Mars, and the Ares got underway while the video was being received. It appears that she got underway at the same time the video was showing that the destroyer was being fired upon. Someone was on top of the situation from the letter 'G' in go." Besel thought about it for a minute, then commented, "I'm not at all surprised. I've been told she has the best crew in Earthforce. They certainly have the shortest reaction time. I feel sorry for the civilians on board her." "Civilians?" asked Rodner. "Yes, colonel. They include the President, her husband, most of her cabinet, all party leaders from the house and senate and a bunch of reporters." Rodner observed, "If they don't get back alive, we're going to have a bunch of special elections." Besel just chuckled at the observation. "I don't suppose there’s anything else we can do there?" "No, sir. The Ares was the only ship available." "Now we set DEFCON FIVE and wait," observed Besel, "... And pray." "I have Earthdome on line one, general," said Colonel Rodner. "Sorry to ruin your day, Bart, but we have a crises," said Besel to the general on his display screen. "I've taken us to DEFCON Five. The video and other info I’m sending on the sub-channel will explain why." "Keep the line open, Mike. I'll get back to you, after I see what you sent." "You might want to give the VP heads up too." ***************************** 1020 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares: "Give me your worst case scenario, gentlemen," ordered the President. "Madam President, if Susan and the ships already at Mars don't destroy this Drakh force, there will be nothing to stop them from destroying the Mars Colony, and then moving on to Earth. They most assuredly will be able to wreck havoc on the major cities of Earth. It is imperative that these Drakh be destroyed at Mars," said Leftcourt flatly. George White quietly listened to the discussion and came to the conclusion that Ivanova was a very valuable talent. "General Leftcourt, you mentioned that there would be people here I should meet." Shifting his position, Leftcourt answered, "General Marsh, this is George White, he is Susan's attorney. I believe you and he should talk about the Arkland fiasco." Marsh reached across the table and shook hands with White. "It will be a pleasure, Mister White, just as soon as this danger is past." White nodded acknowledgment. Leftcourt looked at the sheet of paper with Susan's insignia still lying on it. It hadn't moved from where Susan had tossed it. Luchenko followed Leftcourt's gaze as did several others at the table. He pushed it over to her saying, "You don't want to lose these." The President's face reddened and she looked like she wanted to be anywhere, but sitting in the flag mess with the people assembled there. White reached over and picked up the sheet of paper causing the insignia to fall to the table top with an small clunking sound. Before she could say anything he began to read it, "I ...umm...mumble... do submit my resignation from Earthforce effective... umm.... Interesting reading, Madam President, very interesting reading." "That is none of your business, Mister White!" said Luchenko. "Quite the contrary, Madam President. Once I became Mrs. Wayne's attorney of record, anything that affects her well being, business operations, and so forth became my business, and according to this paper, you have a civilian running this ship," commented White, not the least intimidated by Luchenko's outburst. "You don't have the whole picture, Mister White," noted Leftcourt. "Do tell me, general, exactly what picture is that? From the looks of it, I'd say Susan Wayne has decided that her services are no longer desired in Earthforce. Or... am I missing something?" "I'd rather not discuss it here, Mister White," said Leftcourt, defensively. "It's a sensitive situation." "General Leftcourt, there are no reporters or news people in this room. Except for me, the President, her husband and aide, there are no other civilians. There are only your people. So, why are you reluctant to discuss what is obviously an important situation?" "I refuse to discuss it any further, Mister White." White studied the President, Leftcourt and the other general staff officers with an obviously amused expression on his face. [Somehow, she has their shorts in a bad bind. This is going to be a most interesting trip, if we live to tell about it,] he thought to himself. ***************************** 1020 hours on the bridge of Whitestar 71: "We are no match for the Dreadnought," observed Sheraun's executive officer. "True enough," agreed Sheraun, "But we can do a great deal against the carrier/cruisers if we attack them as a group. Communicator, establish circuits with the other four whitestars." Less than a minute later point-to-point communications had enabled the circuits to be established. "We will attack as a group. Whitestars 44, 87 and 90 will provide cover from the Drakh fighters while 71 and 65 make an attack run. After we are past closest point of approach (CPA), we will reverse our heading and provide cover for 44, 87 and 90 to make follow-up runs. After that you will come around and we will repeat the procedure until we destroy the target ship. If we kill the mother ship, the fighters should become useless, unless there are live pilots controlling them. Any questions?" asked Sheraun. Silence answered him. "Then follow me in." ***************************** 1025 hours in Earthdome Earthforce Headquarters: "I'm sorry, Mister Vice-President, but that is the situation. I will inform you if anything changes," said General Bart Maddy into the communications panel pickup. "General, is there anyone else we need to notify?" asked his aide. "Not at present. Let's hope we don't have to reconsider that question in the very near future." "What are their chances, sir?" "I don't want to think about that either, and I don't feel like speculating." ***************************** 1030 hours on the bridge of EAS Sinclair: "Captain, these Drakh fighters are beating us all to hell. We can take the energy beams for a while, but not forever," commented Lieutenant Fox, the engineering watch for General Quarters aboard the EAS Sinclair. "We have been ordered into dispersal pattern Alfa," responded Captain Gary Denson, the ship's commanding officer. "I don't think Captain Cashdollar has a clue as to what needs to be done." "I believe, captain, that the manual for dealing with these aliens was written by Captain Susan Ivanova. Her recommendation is to attack the mother ships at all costs. According to her, the Drakh like to operate their fighters by remote control. It enables them to maneuver more quickly than any manned space craft," volunteered his navigator, Lieutenant Commander Keith Davis. "Cashdollar is a leftover Clark sympathizer. It would be just like him to never read the manual Captain Ivanova wrote. After all, she was one of the rebel leaders," noted Denson. "Keith, plot us a course straight at the closest Drakh mother ship. Comm., cut all our external communications. Weapons, use the video feeds to get a firing bearing on the target ship. It’s time we took this fight to them." "Captain Cashdollar is going to be pissed at us for abandoning his orders, captain," commented Davis. "We’ll worry about crossing that bridge if, and when, we survive. If we don’t survive, a court martial is a moot point. That big fellow is going to attack the environmental domes on the surface of the planet. I can just feel it," responded the captain. ***************************** 1035 hours on the bridge of Whitestar 71: "Captain, we are five minutes from optimum firing range," commented Sheraun's second in command. "Try to get a point-to-point circuit between us and the senior commander of those warlocks. Between the two groups of us we should be able to beat these Drakh," noted Sheraun. Two minutes later he had a circuit up with the EAS Santiago. "To whom am I speaking?" asked Captain Cashdollar. "I am Shai Alyt Sheraun, captain of Whitestar 71 and tactical commander of the whitestars in this area. I note that you have dispersed your resources, Captain Cashdollar. I believe a concerted effort by both our groups, using my whitestars to give you cover from the Drakh fighters and you using a closed up formation would give us the best chance for destroying the cruiser/carriers and driving off the dreadnought." "I don’t need to be told how to conduct a battle," retorted Cashdollar. "Captain Cashdollar. I wasn’t tying to tell you how to operate your forces. However, considering the power of the weapons demonstrated by the dreadnought, and its movements since it destroyed the three Omegas, I think they intend to attack the environmental domes on the planet’s surface. Like it or not Captain Cashdollar, the facts indicate that you and your sister ships will be destroyed if you continue your present method of operation. My whitestars can destroy the carrier/cruisers, but we are badly overmatched against that dreadnought. If any of you survive this day, you will surely have to answer for your lack of effective tactical leadership," replied Sheraun. "I don’t need a Minbari to tell me how to conduct a campaign!" snapped Cashdollar, motioning for the circuit to be broken. Sheraun just sat and thought for a long moment, then said to no one in particular, "Have it your way, captain." "They are going to get themselves destroyed and leave the planet undefended," said Sheraun’s second. "Just make sure we keep a copy of all that we are hearing, seeing, and doing today. Someone is going to be held responsible for today, and it isn’t going to be us. Open fire!" As ordered the weapons operator opened fire as they reached optimum firing range and held a continuous stream of weapons fire directed on the weak point of the carrier/cruiser, its reactors and power switching and management centers. Whitestar 71 passed CPA and immediately flipped its direction to face back the way it had come. It kept up a continuous level of weapons fire giving cover to its sister ships as they began their attack runs. ***************************** 1040 hours on the bridge of EAS Santiago: "Captain Cashdollar," said one of the scanner console operators, "The Sinclair has broken formation." "Comm., get Captain Denson on the point-to-point!" ordered Cashdollar. "He isn’t answering, sir," replied the communications station operator. "He appears to have shut down their comm. systems." "I’ll have that son of a bitch court-martialed!" groused Cashdollar, as his ship shook heavily from an impact. "What in hell was that?" he barked. "We were hit by one of the Drakh fighters, captain. It exploded..." The engineer listened intensively, then continued, "It exploded inside the hull, captain. It has blown a hole at least fifty meters wide from the outer armor hull all the way up to deck twelve. We have a bunch of dead." Cashdollar looked fearful as he ordered, "Navigator, get us the hell out of here! Jump to hyperspace!" "We can’t, captain. That hit took our jump engines offline," responded the navigator. "Comm., get me that whitestar captain back online," ordered Cashdollar. "I can’t find them, captain. They began a run on one of the mother ships, and we lost visual on them. They’re using their stealth capability to confuse the Drakh, and we can’t track them through all this jamming," responded his senior scanner console operator. ***************************** 1040 hours on the bridge of EAS Sinclair: "Captain, we’re on a bearing to the nearest Drakh mother ship, but I can’t get an accurate range to it. I don’t know if it’s within our weapons maximum effective range," commented his S.W.C. "Fire a few short bursts from the main batteries and monitor the results with the video receivers. Increase the magnification," replied the captain. A minute later, the S.W.C. reported, "We’re able to hit him, Sir, but I’m not sure how effective it is." The navigator offered, "Sir, we are beginning to pull away from the fighters, ours and theirs." "First things first," responded Denson. "Let’s kill some of these mother ships, otherwise, none of us will survive." "We’re on a CBDR course, captain, and we are accelerating at our maximum. We should know how things are going to go in about twenty minutes or so," noted the navigator. Five minutes later Captain Denson said, "Start firing on them, S.W.C; keep up a continuous stream of fire as we close." Ten minutes later the navigator reported, "Captain, they’re trying to move away." The video being shown on the tactical display showed a jump point forming close to the Drakh ship. As the Drakh ship entered the jump point, it collapsed. The Drakh ship was reduced to small pieces by the energy released in the disaster. "One down and five to go," noted Denson. "Captain. The video receivers are showing the dreadnought is preparing to attack the major dome on the planet," commented his navigator. "Plot a course toward him. The other Drakh ships will have to wait. If we don’t disrupt his plans there will be upwards of a million deaths in the dome," replied Denson. ***************************** 1056 hours on the bridge of the Drakh dreadnought: "Commander, the Earth destroyer has caused the destruction of the Klentah," noted a Drakh sensor operator. "I see it for myself," replied the commander with a biting hiss. "Maybe it isn’t simple anymore, commander," offered his intelligence officer. "Commander! The Earth ship is coming toward us," informed the sensor operator. "Weapons! Destroy that ship!" ordered the commander. ***************************** 1057 hours on the Bridge of the EAS Sinclair: "We won’t be within maximum weapons range for at least ten minutes, captain," said his S.W.C. "Get a bearing and fire on him anyway," replied Captain Denson. "Maybe we can distract him from his main mission." The Sinclair began firing at the dreadnought with her main batteries. Captain Denson knew that even if he managed to hit the dreadnought at this extreme range, a lucky shot at best, that it would probably do no real damage, but he had to try anyway. Too many lives were at stake to play it safe. [If that damned holdover form the Clark days wasn’t in charge of the tactical situation, we might have had a real chance to destroy these Drakh,] Denson thought to himself. ***************************** 1058 hours on the bridge of the Drakh dreadnought: "The Earth ship is firing on us, commander," commented his weapons officer. "We are well outside his effective weapons range, commander," observed the intelligence officer. At that moment, the weapons fire from the Sinclair raked across the hull of the dreadnought. It didn’t cause any real damage, but it irritated the hell out of the Drakh commander. "This Earther knows how to shoot. So much for being outside of his effective range. Now, I want that ship destroyed!" ordered the commander. "Firing now, commander," replied the weapons officer. ***************************** 1059 hours on the Bridge of the EAS Sinclair: "They’re firing on us, captain!" exclaimed the S.W.C. as the Drakh energy beams raked the Sinclair’s hull. The Drakh weapons scored the Sinclair’s hull, but didn’t cut through it. Apparently the distances involved were beyond their optimum range. The Sinclair continued to close at an increasing speed. "We’re hitting him, captain, but there’s no way to tell if we are causing any damage," said his S.W.C. "We at least have his attention," replied Captain Denson. ***************************** 1100 hours on the bridge of the Drakh dreadnought: "Why hasn’t that ship been destroyed?" demanded the Drakh commander. "It is at the extreme limits of our secondary weapons effective range, sir. Also, it is coming head on and its engines and power plants are located in its aft section," answered the weapons officer. "Bring the ship about. Use the main batteries. I want that ship destroyed," ordered the commander. It took four minutes to bring the dreadnought around to a course that allowed it to engage the EAS Sinclair with its main batteries. ***************************** 1105 hours on the Bridge of the EAS Sinclair: "Captain! They’re turning on us, sir," noted Denson’s navigator. A few moments later the Sinclair was hit by the fire from the dreadnoughts main batteries. The initial barrage cut several weapons turrets from the ship’s hull and breached the hull along two-thirds of its length. Missiles exploded in their launching tubes on the starboard side of the ship causing it to shake like rag doll in the mouth of an exuberant terrier. Numerous spaces down the side the ship were suddenly exposed to the vacuum of space. Denson lost more than a hundred crewmen in the short encounter. The explosions had the effect of changing the ship’s course and exposing it broadside to the next barrage. The second barrage all but cut the ship in half and killed more than half its crew. It also destroyed their main engines and power plants. As a result the Sinclair was left drifting in space with more than half her crew dead and most of the survivors were injured, her weapons and engines non-functional, and only emergency batteries and life support still operational. Remembering the Drakh destroying the life pods from the Omegas, Denson did not order abandoning of the ship. ***************************** 1110 hours on the bridge of the Drakh dreadnought: "The Earth ship is powerless and drifting, commander," announced the weapons officer. "I see that. Navigator, bring us back around and line up on the largest dome on the planets surface," ordered the commander. "Don’t you want the Earth ship totally destroyed, commander?" Asked his weapons officer. "It can be done after we destroy the domes. They are no longer a threat," replied the commander. ***************************** 1115 hours on the Bridge of the EAS Sinclair: "They stopped shooting, sir," said Denson’s S.W.C. "Thank whatever Gods you believe in for the reprieve, lieutenant. Just hope we live long enough for someone to take out these Drakh. Otherwise, this is a very temporary delay," responded Denson. "Can we see anything at all?" "Yes, sir, replied S.W.C. "Some of our video units are still operational. We can watch the big ship, for what it’s worth." "Captain," groaned the navigator, "There’s a jump point opening behind the other warlocks." "Swing our other cameras around and see what is going on back there," ordered Denson. As they swung what cameras that still worked around, the bridge personnel saw three jump points open and close, but could see nothing exit from them. ***************************** 1115 hours on the bridge of the Drakh dreadnought: "Commander, there is a jump point opening on the other side of our cruiser/carriers," noted a sensor operator. "What is coming out of it?" asked the commander. "Nothing, sir," replied the sensor operator. "There is another one, sir," he said a few minutes later. The Drakh commander watched as another jump point opened then closed without any ships coming out of them. It puzzled him. ***************************** 1120 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares: "Captain, we have inserted the third set of buoys," said Lieutenant Breen. "Put the composite picture on the tactical monitor." "Yes, sir." The tactical monitor display changed to show the composite picture of the area under surveillance of the three sets of monitor buoys. It also showed that there were two fewer Drakh cruiser/carriers than what had been seen earlier. Someone had apparently taken out a couple of them, and one of the warlocks was drifting out of control. "It’s the best we can do, captain. The jamming prevented setting them any farther apart." "It’ll have to suffice, Mister Breen." Susan studied the display for a couple of minutes and decided to change the tactics she originally had discussed with her tactical team. "What do you see, Mister Breen?" "I’m not sure, sir. It’s not a good layout for what we discussed." "S.W.C., how about you? Anything come to mind?" "I’m not seeing it, skipper." "Anyone else want to take a stab at it?" ***************************** 1133 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares: Observing what was transpiring between Susan and her team and at the same time seeing the tactical display, President Luchenko asked, "Does anyone here see what she is getting at?" "With all due respect, Madam President, I think she is considering a way to take out the dreadnought without completely destroying it," commented Captain Owens. "You can’t be serious, captain," said White. "Yes he can," interjected Charles Luchenko. "I’ve made it my business to learn as much about this woman as I can. She’s just ballsy enough to pull it off." "No one in their right mind would seriously consider a move like that," replied the President. "That’s what makes her so dangerous, Madam President. She thinks outside of the box. She does what others either don’t or won’t consider, and she is very successful at it," noted General Sanchez. **************************************** 1135 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares: "I can’t believe none of you see the obvious," commented Susan. She stepped over to the tactical display and pointing to the image of the dreadnought. "I don’t want any of these ships to be able to escape." [She doesn’t want any of THEM to escape,] thought Breen. [Jesus, I wouldn’t have believed anyone had balls this big.] Each of the other CIC team members expressed similar thoughts to themselves. "Exactly how do we propose to do that, captain?" asked Breen. "Rotate the picture, Mister Breen, until the dreadnought is the foremost ship," ordered Susan. The display shifted and Susan looked at her officers. "Do you see it now?" "I think so, captain. We jump in very close to the dreadnought, hit him in the section that normally houses their reactors and jump engines, go under him, drop some of our really big nukes close enough to him to fry most of his electronics and power systems with the EMPs, and jump back to hyperspace before they detonate. We cripple him, maybe even destroy his weapons capability. Then, we kill the cruiser/carriers. The icing is we send Lieutenant Colonel Munoz’s troops over to capture him," explained Breen. "You stole my thunder, Mister Breen. But... that’s exactly what I propose to do." ***************************** 1145 hours in the wardroom onboard EAS Ares: Having observed and heard Breen’s exposition, Senator Harry Mathers asked, "Tell me Captain Ivanova isn’t completely insane. She actually thinks she can capture that thing?" "I’m quite sure she isn’t insane, Senator Mathers. She is thinking of what we might be able to learn from the equipment and weapons on that ship. Why destroy a valuable prize if you don’t have to?" replied Egan. "Maybe all of you over in Earthforce are nuts," grumbled Mathers. "Senator, are you afraid we won’t get back alive? Maybe you should spend your life in your nice safe bed," said the senate minority leader. "Personally, I ask myself if I’ll survive every time I think about crossing the street. You learn to live with it." That brought laughter from many of the others present. ***************************** 1145 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares: "Did she just say she wants to CAPTURE that thing?" asked President Luchenko incredulously. "That’s exactly what she said," chimed in her husband. "Tom, you aren’t seriously considering letting her try that? Are you?" queried President Luchenko. Leftcourt had a thoughtful look on his face when he answered, "It’s a good plan. It’s dangerous, but it just might work." "What my people wouldn’t give to get their hands on that thing," said Sanchez, wistfully. "This is insane!" exclaimed the President. "Not at all, Dear," said her husband. "You just don’t understand the military point of view. That ship, if taken intact, could advance some of our technologies as much as a thousand years. Ivanova knows this. She has weighed the pluses and minuses and decided it is a worthwhile gamble. Just remind me never to play poker with her." "What worries you most, Madam President? Is it that she will actually succeed? Or... is it having to eat crow afterward?" asked White. "It must gall you no end to hate her so much, and have her be one of the most capable officers you have." Luchenko gave him what had to be the dirtiest look she had given anyone in her entire adult life. It wasn’t lost on her husband. He felt sorry for her. She would never truly understand people like John Sheridan and Susan Ivanova. ***************************** 1150 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares: "Captain," said S.W.C., "We don’t have precise enough location data on the dreadnought. We couldn’t get it as accurate as we wanted since we only inserted three sets of buoys. We should have at least one more set of coordinates to nail it down, Sir." "What have you guys cooked up now?" she asked. "We devised a program almost eight months ago to fool an enemy into thinking we’re badly crippled while we gather data on him. It was Chief Jackson’s idea. We’ve only run static tests using it, but it seems sound," noted Breen. "Chief Jackson. Isn’t he the division chief for the dry cleaning and tailor shop group?" "Yes, sir. He runs the ship’s servicemen division. He asked us about doing something like that after watching a nature documentary that one of his kids gave him. We set up a scenario, and then got the programmers to work with the engineers, and lo and behold we have a program designed to cause overconfidence in an enemy." "Exactly what does this program do?" asked Susan. "It takes our operating parameters from engineering, navigation and weapons, and then it varies the parameters to make it look like our systems are not under total control. It makes them look like they’re about to fail. If we take a hit, it changes our parameters to simulate the damage the hit might cause, even if we take no real damage. It can let us look like we are badly crippled while keeping our systems ready to use at full capability on short notice," explained the S.W.C. "That means we’re going to have to let them take a few potshots at us for free, so to speak. Aren’t we?" "Yes, sir. I honestly believe this is the only hope we have of capturing that thing, captain." "I’m ready if you guys are. Take us in Mister Breen," ordered Susan. Then she passed the word, "Colonel Munoz, call CIC." ***************************** 1150 hours in the main gymnasium onboard EAS Ares: The news people were watching what was transpiring in CIC on the big monitor screen that had been quickly set up at one end of the gym. There was a sharp intake of breath when the scenarios were outlined by Susan’s CIC team. The talking amongst the various parties soon followed. A lieutenant from ship’s admin stood up and started to address the group. "Gentlemen and ladies if I can have your attention for a minute or two." The group got quiet. "If we live to tell about this, there are some ground rules you need to know about. Everything you are seeing and hearing by way of this monitor is classified. It is not permitted to write about any of it. If you fail to follow the rules I am going to tell you about, you will be prosecuted for espionage. Now as to specifics..." ***************************** 1155 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares: "She has lost it, Tom. This farce has gone long enough!" snapped the President. "I want her relieved immediately." Leftcourt looked at President Luchenko and said, "Absolutely not. You can have my resignation when this is all over, but she stays in command of this ship until this is finished." "General Sanchez, I order you to relieve Susan Ivanova of command of this ship!" ordered the President. "I am sorry, Madam President. Under the orders that assigned Susan to be captain of this ship, only the CJCS can order her relieved." "Are refusing to carry out my orders?" "Not at all, Madam President. I’m saying that I can’t legally relieve her of command. It has to be CJCS." "Madam President, if I may. General Sanchez is correct. You will have to fire General Leftcourt then appoint someone to replace him. That person will have to be approved by the Secretary of Defense and the senate. Then you can order that person to relieve Captain Ivanova of command of this ship," explained General Marsh. "These procedures were instituted after former President Clark was deposed to prevent civilians from directly controlling Earthforce forces. In other words, this process - which you approved - prevents another Clark from happening, Madam President." "You mean I have to sit here and watch this, but I can’t do anything about it?" "That’s exactly what it means, Madam President," replied Leftcourt. "She is the best person in Earthforce to command this ship in this situation. Whether you believe that or not is up to you, but please refrain from demonstrating gross ignorance in front of these people. You may want them to vote for you in the next election." President Luchenko sat and fumed and looked at her husband. All she got for her efforts was him giving her a {keep your flaming mouth shut} look in return. ***************************** 1155 hours in the wardroom onboard EAS Ares: "She’s insane!" shouted Mathers. "All of you are nuts for supporting this fiasco." "We will debate it later today, senator," replied Egan. "Later today... hell, we won’t live that long!" spat back Mathers. "Then it’s a moot point, Senator Mathers," chimed in Mistress Lukens. Her comment drew laughter from the group. ***************************** 1200 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares: President Luchenko was still smarting from General Leftcourt’s ‘polite’ rebuke and refusal to relieve Ivanova of command, when Owens asked, "Has anyone of you noticed something wrong with the ship disposition of the warlocks?" "What’re you getting at Captain Owens?" asked Sanchez. By this time Leftcourt and the others were studying the display intently. "The warlocks should be attacking the Drakh using a tight formation, they should not be fighting from a dispersed grouping. Susan wrote the book on fighting these ships, and I’m very familiar with it. Also, why aren’t they attacking the dreadnought. That thing could destroy the protective domes on the planet’s surface. There is something very wrong with this whole picture, gentlemen," commented Owens. Leftcourt looked at Sanchez and Marsh and said, "Manuel, Arthur, I suppose you two have something real to inquire about now." "Tom, what are you talking about?" asked the President. "Madam President, Susan Ivanova wrote the {Standards of Engagement} book for dealing with Drakh encounters. Everything we see here is counter to those standards. I will authorize a board of inquiry to look into it, assuming we survive this encounter," answered Leftcourt. ***************************** 1200 hours on the bridge of Drakh Dreadnought: "Why are we staying so high, commander?" inquired the weapons officer. "If we are too close to the planet, we lose some of our maneuverability. Does it make a difference if we are one hundred or five hundred kilometers above the target?" "No, commander?" "How long until you start the bombardment?" "Fifteen standard minutes, commander." "Commander! There is a jump point opening two thousand kilometers off our starboard side." reported a sensor console operator. The tactical display at the front of the bridge changed to show the opening jump point. "Weapons officer, prepare to fire at whatever exits that jump point!" said the commander. "Without turning the whole ship, commander, I can only bring the secondary batteries into play," he replied. "Turn the ship toward the jump point," ordered the commander. ***************************** 1201 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares: The Ares exited the jump point with all her major weapons systems pouring carefully orchestrated fire down the bearing to the dreadnought - most of it was on target. Even though the power levels of the Ares’ weapons was being held to a fraction of their maximum possible output, the energy in them was equivalent to the nominal output of a normal warlock class destroyer. Ares was classified as an improved warlock, but the real truth was that it was in actuality an assault/attack battleship. It carried a marine detachment of just over a thousand personnel. On the average its armor ranged from two to four times as thick as that of a normal warlock, depending where on the hull it was located. The hull areas around the missile launchers had the heaviest armor. It had been sold to the EA congress as a slightly modified warlock class destroyer. Ares had cost almost three times as much as a regular warlock class destroyer. The senators and congressmen aboard the Ares this day would learn the truth of what they had bought for slightly more than five billion credits. "They’re returning our fire, captain," noted Lieutenant Breen. "I see you are a student of the obvious, Mister Breen," she replied. The fire from the dreadnought’s secondary weapons had little effect on the heavy armor of the Ares. "Here comes the heavy stuff, captain," observed Breen, as the beams from the dreadnoughts main batteries impacted the Ares hull. The beams raked the Ares from stem to stern, destroying several secondary battery positions and a few tertiary emplacements. The hull was deeply scored, but not penetrated. "S.W.C., navigator do you have what we need?" asked Ivanova. Both said yes. "Bring us about hard to port, Mister Breen and show them our underside," snapped Susan. "Turning hard to port and initiating jump point, captain," replied Breen, smartly. ***************************** 1201 hours on the bridge of Drakh Dreadnought: The image the Drakh commander saw coming out of the jump point was that of a very large ship that had obviously been shot up very badly in recent combat. The idea that it had paid a high price for the attack on the space station swelled the Drakh commander’s heart. The weapons fire hitting his ship did not. He was furious. "Destroy that ship!" "We are bringing the main batteries to bear, commander. Its weapons fire has severely damaged several of our secondary batteries. Its power levels and weapons fire are very erratic - probably from previous damage," offered the senior sensor operator. "I don’t care about that! Just destroy it! It presents a real danger to us!" "We are hitting it with our main batteries, sir. Its power levels are dropping severely," said the sensor operator. "I only want to hear that it is destroyed!" snapped the commander. "It has turned away and is opening a jump point, commander," noted the sensor operator. "I can see that for myself," replied the commander. "Bring us back around and get on with the destruction of the domes. That ship will return. I don’t want to be caught off guard." ***************************** 1215 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares: The Ares was back in hyperspace. Ivanova looked around CIC and commented, "If that is the best they have, I’m not overly impressed. Engineer, how much damage did we sustain?" "We lost three secondary battery emplacements and eight tertiary ones, captain. The beams scored the hull pretty badly, but we didn’t experience any hull breaches," replied the engineer. "Mister Breen, do we have a good enough fixes to execute our plan for this guy?" "Yes sir, captain. S.W.C. and I are ready and champing at the bit," responded Breen. ***************************** 1225 hours in the flag mess aboard EAS Ares: "Maybe she isn’t as insane as some of you think," commented Mister White to no one in particular. For this remark he got another killing look from President Luchenko. Sanchez looked at Leftcourt and said, thoughtfully, "What do we give her if she pulls this off, Tom, and it looks more and more like she will." Realizing that Sanchez had used his first name, Leftcourt replied, "I honestly don’t know, Manuel." "How about anything damned thing she wants, gentlemen," offered Charles Luchenko. He would later swear he heard his wife’s teeth grind when he made that statement. "Do you begin to understand why this ship is worth every credit EA paid for it, Madam President?" Asked Owens. President Luchenko looked at Owens, thoughtfully, but didn’t reply. ***************************** 1225 hours in the wardroom onboard EAS Ares: "Senator Mathers, gentlemen and gentlewomen, you saw what this Drakh dreadnought did to the Omegas and saw the result of a warlock attack drifting in space. Do you still think this ship isn’t worth every credit of its cost?" inquired Secretary Egan. "I have to admit, it is impressive, so far," replied Mathers. "If we were on any other ship in the EA, Senator Mathers, we would now be dead and you and everyone else in this room knows it," commented Nancy Lukens. "You just can’t face the fact that your - and your party’s - effort to kill it before it was built was a major mistake." "I’m sure that fact and a whole lot more won’t be lost on the voters in the upcoming elections," added the Senate Minority Leader. Both laughter and groans accompanied that observation. ***************************** 1230 hours in CIC onboard EAS Ares: "We’re ready, captain," said S.W.C. "On your word." "Engineer, transfer all power from reactors one through six to the forward weapons arrays and split the remainder between the main engines and the jump engines." "It’s already being done, captain. Reactors one through seven are operating at one hundred and sixty percent of optimum. Reactor eight is at one hundred and twenty-five percent," replied the Engineer. "Take us in, Mister Breen. Let’s show these Drakh the error of their ways," ordered Susan. "Yes, Sir!" replied Breen sharply. "Initiating jump point now." "Look sharp, people. Let’s show the warlocks and whitestars how professionals do it," commented Susan. ***************************** END PART 9