I dont know. Whatever it is, it doesnt look like a weapon.
Send a copy of this to our engineers and see if they can figure it out, Tag said. There are 800 of them being fitted for this and Ive got to believe its not a good thing.
Five days later Kosiev commed Tag and asked him to come see him aboard the Washington. Tag arrived and said, Whats up?
Our engineers have looked at the machinery going on those dreadnaughts and its their opinion that its purpose is to drain the screen around the Planet. I asked them if it would work and they didnt know but agreed that the Alliance would not be building it if they thought it wouldnt. They did say, however, that the ships used to drain the screen would have to be outside the range of the asteroids beams. That means at least 800 miles out. They also are of the opinion that the Alliance has no idea just how much energy those forts have stored.
Whats the significance of that? Tag asked.
Well, to coin a phrase, think about it. Tag smiled at that. They design a system to drain a screen that they think is a normal storage system. As you know, one those nine foot power cells can store enough power to run the entire planet for five days. Each one of those forts has more than 25,000 on each. The screen right now is at its full charge level of 110 feet. Our engineers think they can drain power indefinitely and the sun will replace it as fast as they drain it.
How can we use this to our advantage? Tag asked.
Kosiev thought for a few minutes and said, If their fleet is going to come to the planet, can we decoy them in closer?
Can the forts vary the amount of power going into the screen?
Kosiev thought a minute and said, Lets get Colonel Taz on the line and ask; communications, open a channel to the main fort and get Colonel Taz.
While they waited Tag asked, What do you have in mind?
Well I was thinking, and Ensign Kelly interrupted him saying, Colonel Taz is on the com, Admiral.
Kosiev and Tag looked at the com screen and Kosiev said, Colonel Taz, do you have a moment to discuss your forts?
Certainly Admiral, what do you need to know?
Can your forts control the amount of power in the screen?
That is something we can do but what would you do with that capability?
Kosiev then filled him in on what he suspected the Alliance was going to Attempt. I was thinking that if we could convince the Alliance that their ships were draining our screen, they might move in closer.
Admiral, you know that most of the time the screen is not even employed. We allow direct sunlight in to the planet. Usually when we turn the screen on we just turn it on at full power.
Colonel Taz, do you have a record of how thick the screen was at the end of the last battle? Tag asked. Colonel Taz looked away from the screen and manipulated his console and requested one of his aides to send the information to his console.
Admiral, it was 67 feet thick at the conclusion of the last battle. Its maximum thickness was over 100 feet during the energy bombardment. We had to use some of our storage to fire our beams last time but now the weapons cells are fully charged and we should be able to fire them constantly for 10 hours and not have to draw on the screens power reserve.
Could you maybe start the screen at 75 feet and as they start to drain the power reduce the thickness rapidly to maybe, Colonel, how thick would it have to be to stop missiles and beams?
Actually, missiles would be exploded at 2 foot thickness and energy weapons would still be absorbed into the power grid.
Could a window be opened in the screen over places where an energy strike would do no damage? Tag looked at Kosiev with a gleam in his eye. And could you fire a greatly attenuated beam that would have little power?
Sure, what do you have in mind?
Think about it, and Tag winked at Kosiev. If they are draining the screen and you fire your beams at them with maximum power at first and then as you shrink the screen you lower the intensity of the beams, it would look like your system is about to fail. Maybe when the screen gets down to two feet thick, you turn it on and off over various sections of the planet and then you quit firing your beams all together. If they move in closer to penetrate the screen, you fire greatly weakened beams at them that their screens will have no problem handling. I think we will then have them within 40 miles of the screen. Thats when we bring the fleet in. We have a cavern carved out on the moon that will hold three thousand of our ships and it has 800 launch tubes that can launch five ships each in less than five minutes. The remainder of our ships will be parked unpowered on the opposite side of the planet from the route the Alliance fleet enters our system. At that point we englobe their fleet and pick off the ones that escape your beams.
All of this depends on them thinking they have destroyed our fleet, Kosiev said. They wont come close if they think we still have ships to threaten them.
Well, as soon as the last dreadnaught is refitted, I believe the fleet will be arriving. Lets hope they form up outside the star drive limit; it shouldnt take long now to find out.
Chapter 9
Tgon-Gee was talking with Admiral Dorg and discussing what the Cainth were going to do if the Alliance discovered their new relationship with the humans. Dorg said, Its only a matter of time until the Alliance sends a representative to visit.
Perhaps that visit can be delayed.
How can we make that happen?
What do you think would happen if I notified the Alliance that we have scattered our ships beyond the star drive limit and were attacking as soon as any ship was detected breaking out of star drive. Further, Ill tell them we launch high speed missiles at the breakout point immediately. Then Ill tell them that thats the only way we can defeat the Humans screens and that we have destroyed eight of their ships so far and they havent attempted to jump in the last 1ten rotations.
That would at least make them warn us of their coming. Dorg said.
Thats one benefit, but the other is that when they tell us where they are going to be breaking in, well just destroy that ship and tell them they had the misfortune to jump in just as the Humans were attacking us.
Dorg smiled and said, Excellency, what a great idea. You would be a formidable adversary.
Tgon-Gee smiled and said, Admiral, I went to that meeting expecting to leave in support of the Alliance. Those Humans are remarkable arent they?
Dorg sat up in his chair and looked off in the distance at a beautiful 3 ^ rd quarter day and said, I never expected to see another day like this again. If it had been either of our races we wouldnt have hesitated to totally destroy the other. I think being in the Alliance as long as we have diminishes the value of other species. Their answer to any problem is total destruction. Now I sit here and look out at this beautiful day with the two suns shining and the pale blue rain falling from the condensation and thank the creator that we were given a second chance. Excellency, they will do the right thing even if it doesnt support their best interests. Somehow they have ingrained into their culture, right things for right reasons. Of all the Humans I have met that couple named Gardner is the most remarkable. Their race follows their lead with very few exceptions. It seems their psychic leaders have selected them as the ones most able to insure their future. I dont understand how they come up with that but I can see that she is especially talented at seeing the truth.