Off in the distance, Lee could see circles of light bursting forth as the bolts struck the diffusion shields of the Juirean ships. The area around his own ship suddenly flashed bright as well, as bolts from the Juirean ships impacted Lee’s own shields. The screens held, and he swept past the line and out of range, heading for the next row of Juirean battleships. Behind him, the string of KFV’s continued to pour a constant torrent of electric bolts at the lead Juirean ships until Lee noticed two of the red circles disappear from his screen.
The Humans had their first victories.
On the screen, Lee saw the long Juirean lines begin to break at their centers, with each half swinging around to face the string of Human ships speeding past them. The enemy began to move forward as a unit, forcing Lee to steer more to his left, maintaining the safest distance from the massive Juirean ships. As the Juireans reformed to face the Humans they unleashed such a barrage of fire that it looked like a solid wall of light coming his way.
The bolts hit, knocking his ship even further to the left. Nine of his ships disappeared from his active list, while twelve others reported damage sufficient to cause them to fall out of line and back to the main fleet.
Two more Juireans disappeared from his screen.
Sammy was having similar success on the opposite side of the lines, and with similar casualties. The plan was working; the Juireans had separated their lines of defense, opening up a channel in the center of their forces. Soon, a force of two hundred Human ships would penetrate the center and form two more attack lines, one to the left and one to the right. The Juireans would be split into two clusters, with Humans surrounding them both. Then depending on the attrition of the Human forces, Admiral Levin would either let the existing forces squeeze the Juireans into submission, or he’d bring up additional forces to overwhelm the aliens.
Everyone in the fleet knew the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion. The only question came from not knowing how many of the Human forces would be lost. They had been told that the Juireans did not retreat, so it was working out be a bloody battle — for both sides. But Lee and his crews would learn a lot. They would come out of this engagement battle-hardened and experienced. The next battles wouldn’t be any easier, just the expectations would be more realistic.
Lee’s ship continued to unleash barrage after barrage of bolts at the wall of aliens slowing moving his way. On the tac screen, he saw the first traces of the main Human force moving toward the Juireans. Soon the aliens would have to divide their attention to confront this new threat. At that point, the punishment his squadron was taking would be lessened-
Just then, an excruciatingly loud sound came from the port side of his ship. Alarms began to sound, as lights flickered and sparks shot out from the control boards behind him.
“Report!” he called out.
“We’re taking damage to the port perimeter, hull breaches in a number of locations,” Tim Carlson cried out from his position at the console. Tim knew the intimate operations of the ship better than anyone, so he was in the best position to evaluate the damage. “Damage control teams are being deployed. Port weapons battery is offline.”
“Send the port weapons crew to assist with DC,” Lee commanded. “What’s causing the damage?”
“We’re passing through a field of microscopic meteorites. The forward field is being absorbed by the well, but others are passing through the diffusion screens and ripping through the hull.”
“I’m reducing speed; that should limit the damage.”
“If the Juireans don’t blast us to dust….” said Latoya Scott, Lee’s navigation officer.
“Anyone else in the squadron reporting damage?” Lee asked the room.
Steve Sexton, his communications officer turned toward his captain. “Most of the forward units are reporting damage. The rear units are turning back.”
Lee watched the forward tac screen as the four stacked lines of Juirean battlecruisers continued to close on their position. He made a decision.
“I’m turning toward the asteroids. We’ll use the forward gravity well as vacuum for the particles to clear a path.”
As the disk-shaped Klin saucer turned to port, the buffeting from the particles began to decrease, but now he was ass-end to the advancing Juireans. Where is Falcon Squadron? They better engage soon.
On the screen, Lee could see the blue-indicated contacts from his supporting squadrons move further into the gap down the middle of the Juirean lines. The two hundred Human ships passed cleanly into the opening then began to separate, with two units each beginning their attack on the rear of the Juirean lines. Immediately, the Juirean advance began to slow, as rear units broke off their pursuit of Lee to confront this new threat.
Once Lee was out of range of the Juireans, he slowed his ship down to a crawl, minimizing any further damage from the unseen meteorites.
“Damage report — how we holding up?” he called out.
“The breaches are being sealed, but the port weapons are still down and we’ve suffered damage to one of the generators, Carlson answered immediately. “Well intensity is down by thirty percent.”
“Quarterback to Eagle Command, report,” an announcement blasted out of the comm speakers. “Condition update.”
“Eagle Command to Quarterback. We’ve entered the outer edges of the asteroid field and have suffered damage to our weapons, hull and generator. I will be assembling the other damaged ships at fallback position L-151 for assessment and to commence repairs.”
“Understood,” came the immediate reply. “Repair units are already on station.”
Oh well, Lee thought, that didn’t go exactly as planned….
Just then a remarkable thing began to happen. One-by-one, the red Juirean contacts on the tac screen flared bright and disappeared. The momentum of the flares grew exponentially, until, in the span of about thirty seconds, the Human forces suddenly found themselves completely alone on the battlefield.
Lee was on the comm with Command immediately. “What happened to them?” he asked without protocol.
The answer that came back was from Admiral Levin himself. “The Juireans have activated deep-gravity wells and have bugged out. The gravity waves have them departing the system.”
“I thought they never retreated, sir?”
“That was our belief as well. Commander, continue on to the repair coordinates; I will send other units to pursue the Juireans.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
Lee turned to face his stunned bridge crew. “So much for military intelligence. But in any case, it looks like we survived this battle.” Even though his words were encouraging, the faces of the bridge crew did not reflect his confidence. Something just wasn’t right.
Chapter 13
Admiral Levin called an immediate meeting of his senior advisors. In attendance was Michael Rittenberg, the 2G/Savior tactical advisor to the fleet. He had been trained by the Klin to think like a Juirean and to attempt to anticipate their every move. All eyes fell on him as the other six men took seats around the table in Admiral Allen’s ready room.
“So what just happened, Rittenberg?” Admiral Levin asked, not hiding his anger. Even though he welcomed the conclusion of the battle, he did not like surprises. “Reports show the J’s had only lost nine ships out of two-hundred nineteen before they bugged. We lost twenty-two, with another seventeen damaged enough to be out of the fight. At that rate, the aliens could have caused considerable damage to the fleet.”
“I do not know, Admiral,” was Rittenberg’s embarrassed reply. “All reports we have indicate that the Juireans do not retreat, but there have been so few battles in recent history for the reports to be reliable. I would think this would be good news, sir.”