The Eldest Leader said, “What plans have you decided to use to attack the Stranger’s System and how long before you leave to attack them?”
“We will finish here in ten rotations and we will then organize the three fleets and go directly to their system.”
“Will you need more ships?”
“No, Eldest, they ran from our combined fleets last time and we should have enough ships to defeat them.”
Suddenly the Fleet Leader’s sensor tool interrupted him by yelling, “Thousands of Stranger ships have just jumped in the system and are moving in toward the planet.”
The Fleet Leader looked at his display and saw thousands of the white ships lined up and moving inside the jump limit toward his massed fleet. He had moved most of his ships close to the planet to protect the harvesters from the hit and run tactics the Strangers had been using at the jump limit. He had left two bands of anti-matter missiles between his fleet and the jump limit and those missiles were now turning on their engines and began targeting the incoming ships. The Eldest looked at the Fleet Leader and said, “Are you able to handle this attack?”
“They are bringing in the same number of ships they used in the last attack, so I believe we should have enough unless they have new technology. It might be a good idea to have another fleet ready to jump in behind them to prevent their escape.”
The Eldest looked away from the display and said, “Order another fleet to the system.” He then looked back and said, “They will arrive quickly to support you.”
The Fleet Leader nodded and turned off his display. He looked at his console and saw on his display that the anti-matter missiles were waiting for the incoming fleet to reach 300 miles from their position. There were 30 million missiles waiting for the Strangers to come into range and he ordered his fleet to begin moving to intercept the Strangers. Suddenly, 2000 huge ships jumped in behind the line of Stranger’s ships, accelerated to just in front of the incoming ships and then turned and accelerated back to the jump limit and disappeared. “What was that about?” he wondered.
Tag watched his display as the transports accelerated to his formation and released their full load of hornets. Each one of those transports carried more than 30,000 hornets that were ejected out of their pulse cannons at tremendous velocity. The 60 million hornets leaped ahead of the Stars Realm fleet and moved toward the band of waiting anti-matter missiles. “Maintain five thousand mile separation from the hornets,” Tag said over the general fleet frequency. The SR Fleet slowed and allowed the hornets to move 5,000 miles in front of them and the fleet accelerated and matched the hornet’s velocity. Once the hornet’s sensors began detecting the anti-matter missiles, they turned on their thrusters and accelerated into their ranks. As the hornets designated the front ranks of the Plant missiles the remainder flew above and below those that were targeted. Five thousand miles in front of the SR Fleet, anti-matter missiles began exploding.
Tag spoke into his com, “All ships, move into tube formation and launch hornets as needed.”
The 50,000 ships of the SR Fleet moved from a line into a hollow cylinder formed by five lines of ten thousand ships each moving toward the waiting missiles like a spear. The hornets had been programmed to destroy everything in front and to the sides of the formation. The blasts were far enough away from the fleet that the Megaships screens could handle it without failing. As the outer ships screens turned red, they would move inside the cylinder and new ships would replace them. The SR Fleet moved inexorably toward the Algean Fleets surrounding the planet.
The Algean Fleet Leader could not determine what was happening. The entire space in front of the Strangers ships was a huge mass of anti-matter explosions that were happening on such a massive scale that none of his sensors could see into it. Power missiles were exploding on a ten thousand mile front. He ordered his ships to stop moving toward the Strangers ships out of fear that the anti-matter explosions would destroy his ships. His fleet stopped and stayed behind the second band of power missiles. He kept watching the massive explosions wondering how much longer they could possibly continue. He had placed two bands of power missiles between the jump limit and the planet. The power missiles had a range limit of 300 miles before they ran out of fuel so they had to wait for the incoming ships to get inside their range. There was 100,000 miles between bands and the second band could not go to support the first band because they were too far out. The first band was 90,000 miles wide and had more than 30 million power missiles. “How can anything survive that?” he thought and then he saw the huge cylinder of the Strangers Ships emerge from the explosions and then fan out into a long line moving toward his fleet. The Fleet leader was stunned. The missiles did not appear to have any affect. The Strangers ships accelerated toward his second band of power missiles and moved rapidly beyond the 300 mile range of the missiles in the first band that had survived.
Tag watched as the fleet emerged from the explosions and fanned out into a line again. He looked at Ron-Dar and said, “Issue the orders for the second hornet launch.” Ron-Dar nodded and turned to his communication console. The transports had launched 60 million hornets to get the fleet through the first band of anti-matter missiles. There were still explosions behind them where hornets were killing any missile that survived. The SR Fleet moved more than five hundred miles beyond the first band of missiles and out of their range. Each of the 50,000 megaships launched one thousand of the old pulse penetrators toward the second band of Algean missiles. Each of the old penetrators carried 80 hornets which were released 100 miles from the Algean missiles. Four hundred million hornets roared into the ranks of the Algean missiles as the SR Fleet stopped and waited for the explosions to stop. Across a 100,000 mile front, the universe looked like it had gone nova. The members of both Algean and Stars Realm fleets were amazed at the magnitude of those explosions. It looked like a universe gone mad.
Tag looked at Ron-Dar and said, “When the explosions stop, advance at full speed. We will launch one million of our new penetrators 1,000 miles from their fleet and then move into cylinder formation behind them at full speed and penetrate through their ranks to the planet. Once we hit the harvesters, we’ll exit the system.”
Tag’s display showed Admirals Dorg, Mikado, Chen, and Kelly. He pushed his communication button and said, “You all know the plan; each of your individual fleets will make one of the five walls of the cylinder and as soon as we penetrate to the planet you will all exit at ninety degrees from the formation and launch half of your new penetrators. We will then reform the cylinder and exit vertical to the systems plane. We will only use enough penetrators to break out of the Algeans formations. I want to save as many of the penetrators as possible to break out to the jump limit. I expect the Plants to jump ships in behind us.”
Dorg shrugged and said, “What happens if we don’t have enough after the attack.”
“Those ships with the most remaining will form the point of the formation where most of the action will be happening. At full speed, it’s my belief that they won’t be able to hit us from the sides. Remind you ships that when they empty their magazines of penetrators to fall to the back of their respective line and launch hornets from the side of the formation to hit any Plant missiles that get close to us.”
The four admirals looked grim; they had seen the two and a half million ships surrounding the planet. This was war on a scale that was beyond anything they had ever experienced. Tag’s display went blank as the admirals began issuing orders to each of their ten thousand ships. Tag looked at his viewport at the continuing blasts of anti-matter in front of his fleet. The explosions continued unabated for two hours until they slowed and finally stopped. Now there was nothing separating the two fleets.