"Send the Marines!" yelled Jiao and a squad of Marines was launched from the torpedo bay to capture the Kaitian frigate.
***
Ellen's Marine squad was sent to capture the frigate.
"Yeehaw!" yelled Karl as he was launched from the torpedo bay and flew toward the enemy ship. He hit the ship near the bridge and the rest of the squad followed to the same location.
"Cut it! Cut it!" yelled Caleb and looked around to see the battle of countless ships raging over him.
Karl cut through the hull and yelled in surprise as the air from the ship blew a dead Kaitian into space. He pushed himself to the side and let the dead Kaitian float out into space, then yelled, "Ready!"
Karl went inside first and the rest followed.
Ellen came in last and sealed the opening.
"Hurry!" called Caleb. "To the bridge!"
The Marines ran across the hallways and the dead Kaitians to the bridge.
"Ellen!" called Caleb. "Set up the link." Caleb looked at the squad to see all of them smiling. He was smiling, too. He couldn't explain it, but he felt as he was just playing a role written by someone else.
"The link is ready," said Ellen. "The Sea of Boston is taking control."
The Kaitian ship was reprogrammed by the Sea of Boston via the link Ellen had set up. The Coalition AI was downloaded to the Kaitian ship and it started to fight against other Kaitians under direct control of the AI and the Sea of Boston. Caleb smiled to see the plan working. The Kaitian frigate battered the other Kaitians.
"Come on!" said Caleb. "We have to leave!"
They moved back to where they came from to reopen the hull. Oddly relaxed, they went outside and watched the battle like a movie as the shuttle brought them back to the Sea of Boston.
***
"They are back," said Tricia to Jeffery. "All came back alive."
"Thank you, Tricia," said Jeffery. He knew that already; he'd felt it. And it hadn't even worried him to send Ellen to capture the frigate.
The frigate captured by Ellen, and the others, had fought well under the Sea of Boston control.
Capturing enemy ships in the middle of the battle had been a total surprise to the Kaitians and Jeffery suspected they didn't even know what had happened.
It tipped the balance to Coalition favor; the captured Kaitian ships distracted the enemy so that they were easy targets for the genetic torpedoes and conventional weapons of the human ships.
"Admiral!" called Tricia. "Five super-cruisers closing in fast. They are powering their weapons!"
"Where the hell did they came from?" said Jiao.
"Evasive actions!" shouted Jeffery just in time. The enemy cruisers had made full reconfigurations to their ships and were ready to show them. The Kaitians fired a single beam that destroyed everything in its path--including two human cruisers that were in its way after the Sea of Boston evaded the beam.
"Holy hell!" cursed Jiao as the cruisers were destroyed.
"Destroy them!"
Tricia fired a black energy ray that destroyed one of the super-cruisers, and barely evaded again as the remaining four concentrated their fire on the Sea of Boston.
More enemies joined the attack against the Sea of Boston.
"Hell and damnation!" cursed Jiao. "They must know we're commanding. Signal the captured ships. Ram the cruisers!"
Only three captured ships remained and they accelerated toward the enemy super-cruisers. It distracted them enough so that the Sea of Boston could destroy one of them.
Two captured ships were destroyed by the super-cruisers, but the third one rammed and destroyed the third super-cruiser.
Two were still remaining and fought bravely, even desperately, against the Coalition ships. The Sea of Boston moved away from the super-cruisers and concentrated on fighting the other enemy ships.
Suddenly, the cruiser was shaken badly.
"A direct hit!" yelled Tricia. "We lost the starboard engine!"
Jiao's stomach turned. With the engine gone, they lost maneuverability and they were like sitting ducks.
Think fast, Jiao commanded herself.
She looked at her console. They'd lost most of their ships, down to one quarter of the original strength. The Kaitians had lost even more, down to one tenth of the original strength. But they'd fought well, and now they were getting desperate. Jiao realized that their victory had been achieved at great cost. She thought for the first time that it had always been possible that they could lose the battle.
She thought hard and could come up with only one idea to assure victory.
Tears came to her eyes as she typed the orders to the fleet. She couldn't bear to ask directly.
To her surprise, all of the remaining ships volunteered for the task and more tears fell as she randomly chose five cruisers.
"Ocean of Suzhou! Ocean of Hobart! Ocean of Curitiba! Ocean of Fargo! Ocean of Madeley!" called Jiao. She made no effort to wipe the tears from her eyes and cheeks. "Your sacrifice will be remembered! May you live forever!"
The Coalition fleet advanced toward the remaining Kaitians; in the middle of the attack, all but the five cruisers disengaged and entered hyperspace.
The five cruisers made course changes, firing all the way, so that they were evenly distributed among the Kaitian fleet, and then self-destructed.
And the Kaitian fleet was destroyed.
***
"Take us back, Commander," said Jiao quietly.
Jeffery nodded and ordered the fleet to return to normal space right in the middle of the battle field.
"Scan the debris," said Jeffery. "Any survivors?"
"No, sir," said Tricia after a moment. "But scanners may not penetrate the debris."
Jiao overheard the comment and said, "Send an order to the fleet to search for survivors; salvage anything that we can use, and destroy all we can't."
"Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery.
The Coalition fleet had suffered great losses, and they needed everything they could salvage to help them fight against the Kaitians.
As Command had ordered, they were going to the Miccvan home world to reinforce the forces there, now that they'd destroyed the enemy here. Jiao sighed. "Commander. May have a word with you in my office?"
"Of course, ma'am," said Jeffery.
"This was a bad battle," said Jiao in a tone that Jeffery understood all too well.
"Very bad." Jeffery sighed. "But we did not lose. We knew we'd win."
Jeffery paused; he didn't know if he should say what he intended.
Jiao understood. "And I still feel free. And content that we won."
"Right, ma'am," said Jeffery, "That's what I was about to say."
"And it makes you uncomfortable," said Jiao, "to feel like that while so much of our people died to give us our victory."
"Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery, surprised to find out that Jiao felt the same. Their eyes met again and both knew that this was a bond never to be broken.
They went by the window to look outside. No words were exchanged. None were needed. The silence itself said everything that was necessary.
"Sir." Tricia interrupted the silence. "May I see you on the bridge?"
"I''ll be right there," said Jeffery and went back to the bridge.
"What is it, Tricia?"
"The salvage operation is complete," she said. "Very thin results, I'm afraid."
Jeffery nodded. "I didn't expect much."
He informed Jiao about it and she ordered the fleet toward the Miccvan home world at maximum speed.
The Kaitians would reach the Miccvan home world soon and the fate of the galaxy would be decided there--and on the Rg'Tkeen home world, where the Kaitians were ready to attack.
33
"Admiral," called one the clones on board the Rg'Tkeen flagship. "The humans have succeeded defeating the Kaitian fleet at the Ooktian home world. But at considerable losses; they lost over three-quarters of their forces. And now they are going to reinforce the Micc
vans."
Grand Admiral Z'eenkoo, Mr. Grey, nodded. The humans had fought well, he thought, much better than he'd expected.
He looked at his clones with a non-existent smile. If real humans fought so well, then his clones, created only for war, would fight even better. A long time ago, Mr. Grey had made a deal with humans--specifically with William and Bruce. He'd received samples from the human population to breed a new kind of fighting force for the Rg'Tkeen, the only known sentient species in the galaxy not to resemble humans.
Mr. Grey considered himself lucky to have found humans, even luckier to have found William and to make a deal with him. Over time, the Rg'Tkeen had perfected the human clones to serve as the Rg'Tkeen military force, and the entire Space Fleet was manned with clones. The only Rg'Tkeen on the ships were the ship commanders.
No one in the Coalition knew about this--even if they did know, it wouldn't matter to Mr. Grey. This started as a deal between humans and Rg'Tkeen, and then it became purely the internal affairs of the Rg'Tkeen. But Mr. Grey didn't doubt that William would be very upset if he ever found out about the clones.
Mr. Grey looked at the clones. They all looked the same. All human individualism was long gone; the clones were bred and trained for only a few functions on a ship. They lived their entire lives in a single ship; after dying or aging beyond useful capability, a new clone replaced them. The Rg'Tkeen had spent much time and resources to optimize human natural maturation to happen in a matter of standard weeks instead of years, and they had built reproduction tanks that produced new clones in hours.
"The Kaitian forces have encountered our defenses in hyperspace," said a clone.
Mr. Grey turned to the console. Knowing the risk of combat in hyperspace, he'd assigned the latest ships from Rg'Tkeen Space Fleet Research to hyperspace to encounter the enemy.
The new ships were heavy cruisers controlled by next generation technology, a combination of human DNA, AI technology, and nanotechnology.
As the ships encountered the enemy, reports came in and indicated success of the new ships, although they were soon overwhelmed by the vast numbers of the Kaitian fleet.
"Send the results of the battle to the Research," said Mr. Grey, "And tell them I want new ships ready before this battle is over."
The clone nodded in obedience.
"Send the first wave of fighters to edge of the star system," said Mr. Grey. "Order them to attack immediately when the Kaitians enter the system."
Again a clone nodded, and the fighters flew to meet the enemy. The fighters were also new technology, perfected only short time ago. The project had been difficult, and had required a lot of personal investment from Mr. Grey at expense of everything else--including personal and professional relationships.
The fighters were almost fully organic, based on human DNA, able to generate their own power and repair or heal even in the middle of the battle.
"The board is set," said Mr. Grey to himself after the fighters were in position. "Black and white. Pawns, rooks, bishops, and knights. Which is which? That we'll see."
***
"Anything from the scout?" asked Mr. Grey after a too-long silence from the scout he'd sent to hyperspace to find out what the Kaitians were doing.
He'd expected the attack to have started already, but it seemed like the Kaitians were not coming at all. But Mr. Grey knew it wouldn't be the case. They were coming, and the only question was when.
"No, Admiral," said one of the clones. "It appears it has been lost. Like the others."
Mr. Grey nodded in frustration. Why aren't they attacking? he thought.
Perhaps he should attack first. But to engage in combat in hyperspace was risky thing to do, and it was unnecessary risk to his fleet. The Kaitians themselves were risk enough.
But perhaps he could risk one cruiser to investigate. He opened a channel to one the cruisers, the RGT-7472.
"Colonel V'eet," called Mr. Grey. "I have a task for you."
He ordered the colonel to go to hyperspace and investigate what the Kaitians were doing. He also ordered colonel to come back alive, even if it meant abandoning the cruiser.
"Yes, Admiral," said V'eet obediently.
***
Colonel V'eet ordered the ship to enter hyperspace, where he half-expected to encounter the enemy. But no ships were to be seen.
"Scan the area," said V'eet. "Find out where the enemy is."
"Nothing found, Colonel," said a clone. "Should we maximize the scanner range? If we do, we'll lose third of the reserve power."
"No," said V'eet. "We might need it. Move ahead and keep scanning."
The cruiser slowly searched the enemy in hyperspace, but the enemy was nowhere to be found.
"We are now at the edge of our system," said a clone.
V'eet nodded and wondered where the Kaitians were.
"Do we know where the Kaitians attacked our ships?" asked V'eet.
"Yes," said a clone. "It's beyond the edge."
"Take the ship there," said V'eet. There should be debris of their ships and the enemy ships.
But there was nothing there. No debris. V'eet wondered why that was and it made him uneasy. As moments passed, the uneasiness grew.
He cursed aloud.
"Take us back," said V'eet. "Move the ship backward at normal speed."
"As you say, Colonel," obeyed a clone.
"Prepare to fire plasma rays from the bow," said V'eet. "High and wide."
"The force of the wide plasma rays won't be enough to damage any enemy ships," said the clone.
"It doesn't have to be," said V'eet. "It is enough to detect cloaked ships."
"Yes, Colonel," said the clone. "It is enough for that."
The weapons of the cruiser were highly configurable, so they were ready almost immediately.
"The weapons are ready, Colonel," said the clone.
"Fire!" ordered V'eet.
There was a moment of disbelief when the rays hit hundreds of Kaitian ships. V'eet's black eyes widened as all enemy ships decloaked and started to accelerate toward them.
"Back to the home world!" yelled V'eet. "The attack starts!"
He was correct. And, although he didn't know it, the Kaitians had been surprised by the advanced technology of the Rg'Tkeen ships and had decided to stop and reconfigure their ships in order to match the Rg'Tkeen technology.
***
"Admiral!" called a clone. "RGT-7472 returns."
The clone opened a channel.
"They are coming!" said V'eet. "Right behind me!"
"Now it starts!" said Mr. Grey.
Thousands and thousands of Kaitian ships emerged from hyperspace at the edge of the star system right in the middle of the Rg'Tkeen fighters, who started a brave fight, clearly surprising the Kaitians.
For a moment, it looked like the fighters would prevail--but it was only an illusion. When the Kaitians realized what they were up against, they sent their own fighters--which, after the reconfiguration, were superior to the new Rg'Tkeen fighters.
The Rg'Tkeen fighters were destroyed one by one and then they were gone.
Mr. Grey was surprised to see the Kaitian forces were more deadly than he'd anticipated. He shrugged and decided to take the initiative himself.
He waved a hand and the map of the star system appeared in front him. The Rg'Tkeen ships were displayed as white and the Kaitians as red. The enemy had slightly more ships than the Rg'Tkeen, and they had many more cruisers than the Rg'Tkeen, whose forces were mostly frigates and corvettes.
Mr. Grey grabbed the ships in front of him and made a throwing gesture toward the Kaitians. The order was sent to the ships and they advanced toward the enemy.
"Fight until death!" ordered Mr. Grey, and grabbed another group of ships and ordered them to flank the enemy. Another group was ordered to flank from the other side.
He selected the fourth group and ordered them to enter hyperspace and then emerge in the middle of the Kaitian forces.
The
fifth group was ordered to not directly engage the enemy, but to observe and support those who needed it the most.
He left only a fifth of his forces to reserve. He sighed; the fate of the Rg'Tkeen Empire would be decided in this battle.
***
Colonel V'eet was part of the flanking group and as they moved to position, a group of Kaitians came to give them a deadly welcome.
"Evasive actions!" yelled V'eet.
"Fire!" He pointed to the nearest enemy. The plasma rays hit the enemy cruiser and it stopped.
"Fire! Fire!" he shouted, and plasma rays obliterated the cruiser.
But another one came right behind it. And it was not alone.
"Evasive actions!" he yelled, and barely evaded the enemy cannons.
Fortunately, another Rg'Tkeen cruiser helped them and destroyed the attackers.
V'eet sighed in relief.
"Contact the others," he said. "Let's concentrate all our weapons on a single ship. And then another. And another. One enemy at a time."
Soon the action was approved and V'eet was given the command of the unified group.
"Ready!" called a clone.
V'eet targeted one of the nearest ships and hundreds of Rg'Tkeen ships fired upon it. He then targeted another and again Rg'Tkeen ships fired all their weapons on it. And then another.
V'eet tapped enemy ships so quickly that all the Rg'Tkeen ships didn't even have time reload between new targets.
The Rg'Tkeen attack was devastating and it caused the Kaitians to retreat.
"Ha ha!" laughed V'eet.
"Message from the admiral," said a clone, and put Mr. Grey on speaker.
"Excellent work, Colonel," commended Mr. Grey. "I have already ordered the others to follow your example."
"Thank you, Admiral," said V'eet, pleased.
"Continue the attack," said Mr. Grey.
"Fight until victory!" he added to the entire fleet.
"Forward!" ordered V'eet and pointed to enemies in front of them. "Destroy them all!"
They advanced toward the enemy; although the enemy saw them, they couldn't do anything about it. They were already engaged with the Rg'Tkeen forces.
"Colonel!" yelled a clone. "Enemy ships behind us!"
The Kaitians had called in their reserves.
"Destroy them!" said V'eet, and cursed.
But now the Kaitians knew the Rg'Tkeen tactics; as the Rg'Tkeen ships concentrated their fire on one ship, so did the Kaitians, and forced the Rg'Tkeen to evade. The effect of concentrated fire was lessened.