Clan Leader, we will still use very limited numbers against the forces we face. Your commanders will be in danger as you know, we lost 150 ships.
Yes, but the ones that survive will be seasoned which will save more lives in the long run. I also think it will help bring our clans into a fuller understanding of what Clan Brotherhood means in our culture.
Tag and Danielle looked at Misty and she said Transport your officers here quickly. Theyll be assigned a ship that corresponds to their command in you navy as much as we possibly can. I dont think we have anything that will correspond to those dreadnaughts of yours, but they will see firsthand what their weapons are capable of doing.
Tag stood up and said, So we are agreed that we will resist. We are also agreed that our Clan Brothers will share the battle with us. Finally, as soon as the asteroids are available they will be transported to the Clans Home world and put into operation. Is there any opposition to these decisions? All in favor please stand. Everyone in all three locations stood and shouted their agreement.
This meeting is adjourned, Danielle announced.
Tag looked at Danielle, How did I do, honey?
You were fabulous.
Later after the conference in Clan Assembly Hall, Terl looked at Dorg and said, We nearly lost it all when we took on these Humans. We were just lucky to have not been destroyed. Seven thousand ships! Its like attacking a grneck with a small stick. We should have been eaten alive. We were so incredibly stupid. We came so close to being totally wiped out.
Dorg said, Havent you been listening. They never kill out of aggression, anger, or vengeance. The same cant be said for those huge carnivorous grnecks. This is a lesson that we also need to make part of our culture. Weve been made fearful by the Alliance when we should have embraced new races. We were so proud of being warriors that we attacked anything we touched to demonstrate our toughness instead of using our strength to protect those that needed it. Clan Leader, for the first time in thousands of years we are truly free and we have them to thank for it. Terl nodded and smiled. Then Dorg said, There remains one issue to take care of, Clan Leader.
Whats that?
The self-destruct mechanisms on our ships have to be changed to allow our crews to escape. The prisoners that have come back from their incarceration with the Humans are raising almighty Torg about it and I think they are right.
See that its done, Admiral. We learn. We grow.
Chapter 4
Admiral Kosiev, Tag, and Danielle were sitting in Washingtons briefing room drinking their favorite beverage and eating popcorn. They were staring at a feed of the fleet assembling at the Central Alliance Government planet. They were getting it from a Cainth commercial ship parked just outside the orbit of the fleet. Admiral Dorg had arranged for the ship to be there on the pretense of delivering food that was part of their price for being an Alliance member. The Central Government covered the entire planet with its administration offices so there was very little land set aside for agriculture. Can you believe that they are making the Cainth ship park there until the fleet leaves? Kosiev remarked.
Great! Well have early warning of their departure, Danielle observed. How have you two decided to handle this conflict?
Admiral Dorg says that those massive ships in the center belong to a race called Vgrig, Kosiev said. Evidently, the Alliance must really want to teach us a lesson because the Vgrig gain status in their society by how many they kill. The only reason the Glod are feared more is there are more of them. Admiral Dorg also says that we have got to kick the holy groad out of this fleet so the Glod will be suspicious of the Alliance.
Danielle, were not sure if we should use more ships which would give away that we have more than they suspect. The Problem is that obviously, 140 ships cant take on four to six thousand. We still dont want to give away our total but were going to have to decide how many to use. What would you guess would be an appropriate number?
Six hundred ships, she answered.
Tag and Kosiev both looked at her with open mouths. Why that many, Danielle, Tag asked?
If were successful this time, how many ships will they send next time no matter how many you use; do you know how many theyre sending this time?
Kosiev looked at his console and said, It appears between four thousand and five thousand.
So if you use only 200 and defeat them, how many will they send next time?
Kosiev and Tag looked at each other and Kosiev said, Twelve thousand or more.
If you use 200 or 600 theyre going to send 12,000 ships next time, Danielle said while putting a handful of popcorn in her mouth.
Tag and Kosiev looked at each other again, munched some popcorn and both said at the same time, 900. They laughed and Tag said, Lets break down how we want to deploy our forces. Do you think they might split their fleet and come from different jump points?
Probably, they know what happened last time. What might be a good idea is to have half the fleet here at Earth and move out from there to meet them on the way in. If they split their forces, we could let one of them come and try to crack open the clam while we handle the other; I doubt that they can break the shell of our asteroids. After we finish with the first we could surround the second with our other ships and finish it.
What about ships sent to record the battle? Danielle asked.
Kosiev rubbed his temples and said, I dont know how were going to get them.
Tag thought for a minute and said, Lets try this. We know they will have to be on Earths side of the sun; they cant see anything unless they are. Theyll probably want to keep a safe distance from the battle and also stay outside the jump limit to escape to safety if attacked. What if we spread the other 6,000 ships half way out between the outer system and the star drive limit and wait for them to come to us instead of jumping in on them. The moment they see a star drive breaking normal space they will jump to a new location and keep recording.
But how do we get in range of them without them seeing us? Kosiev asked.
Well know the moment the fleet jumps to our system. Just as they jump well have our ships at the star drive limit with half of them at one edge of the suns view and the other half at the other edge. Well put them in a pattern of squares with one side being 100,000 miles then just as the Alliance fleet jumps well have both groups accelerate to full speed toward each other and then shut down their power to life support only. The chances are good that the recording ships will fall close to one of the ships in our pattern as we coast toward each other. Our ships will be coasting at thirty thousand miles per second so any recording ship that enters our pattern will only take two seconds for us to power up and attack them. Thats too quick for them to jump.
Do you know how many recording ships theyre going to use, Danielle asked?
Tag leaned back and said, Weve looked hard at their fleet organization and there are eight ships that have stayed together and have taken no part in the maneuvers. We think that they are the sensor ships.
Kosiev thought and picked a kernel out of his front teeth and said, The other benefit is that the only ships the recording ships will see will be the ship that attacks them. Theyll have no idea how we were able to know their location. He paused and said, It still might not work because theyll stay in the outer system.
They wont, said Danielle. The Alliance leaders will want to see what caused the destruction of the last fleet and the safety of a few ships is less important to them than getting a good view. All you have to do is ask the Cainth what is the maximum range of the Alliance recording ability and measure that from our fleets position. Start your ships coasting along that line at that distance and you should get them. Since its going to take time for the Alliance fleet to move from the Star drive limit to our fleet, you have plenty of time to find them.