William was surprised and delighted.
"She asked for it," said Milton. "And I approved. She'll launch her shuttle at the moment we launch the attack."
William was surprised to feel his heart pounding with the anticipation of seeing Rachel again.
"Thank you, Milton," he said from the heart.
"You’re welcome, old friend." Milton smiled.
***
"Marya," said Bruce quietly. "Are you ready?"
"Ready for what?" she asked.
Bruce just smiled for an answer.
At that moment, two things happened: there were huge explosions within the Kaitian fleet and there was a surprised shout from the bridge officers. Then, a half a second later, the loudspeaker went active.
"Coalition fleet!" said Milton. "Let's meet our destiny! All ships forward to engage the enemy! Let none survive!"
"Full speed ahead!" ordered Bruce. "Fire at will!"
The same command was heard in two-thirds of the ships, who started to advance. The remaining third was left as reserves.
"What just happened?" asked Marya, surprised but eager to fight.
Bruce told her of the plan.
"Wow," said Marya eyes wide. "Unbelievable."
"But it worked, the fusion bombs destroyed a lot of their ships and the remaining are in chaos. Although their chaos won't last," said Bruce.
"Firing!" The black energy rays destroyed quickly three enemy cruisers.
"Hurray!" the weapons officer shouted and continued firing.
***
"Argh!" shouted Captain Kould in fury when a cruiser beside his ship was destroyed.
"Evade and return fire!"
But they didn't have time. A blast from an enemy drilled his cruiser and cut through the hull.
"We're breaking apart!" one of the officers shouted.
"Argh!" shouted Kould again. He had no choice but to abandon ship. He ran to his fighter, which he'd brought with him, so he could continue the fight with it.
Although he feared that the ship would break apart before he reached his fighter, he smiled as he ran to it.
He made it just in time. The cruiser exploded as he was flying away from it.
Kould cursed, then grinned devilishly. The enemy now has something to worry about, he thought, and attacked the nearest enemy ship.
***
Milton was happy. Not since the War of Borders had he been in a battle of this magnitude. He enjoyed every time he fired on the enemy, every time he evaded the enemy, and even every time they took a hit.
He even laughed aloud occasionally when they took a hit.
He was glad that Rachel had gone to William, as he didn't want to worry about Rachel, for whom he cared deeply.
Now Milton could concentrate on battle and the victory he was sure to have, albeit at great cost.
***
"The battle goes well," said Rachel.
The Thoughtful Flame destroyed two enemy frigates and continued to the next target.
"That fighter looks familiar," said William, looking at the small and agile fighter.
"Correct," said the AI. "It's the same fighter that was at battle of the Mopian home world.
"Ah," said Rachel. "I remember. It caused us much headache."
"Inform Milton," said William to the AI.
As an answer, the Thoughtful Flame fired all its weapons on the fighter, who barely evaded and then retreated. Milton apparently decided to pursue; his cruiser went after the fighter.
"Hah!" laughed William. "That'll teach him!"
"Commander!" said the AI. "The Kaitians are planning something. Look."
The AI displayed how the Kaitians had moved within the last half an hour or so, clearly concentrating their forces for an attack.
"They'll move soon," said the AI.
"I don't think so." William smiled, tapping the concentration of the Kaitian forces. "Send a message to the Sea of Boston. Instruct them to attack the enemy right in the middle. Send the same message to Milton. He'll want to know about it."
***
"Admiral!" said Jeffery. "Orders from Command."
"Show me." Jiao looked at the orders and the accompanying situation report.
"Excellent," she said approvingly.
"Warriors!" she said to the fleet. "Let's go and taste victory once again!"
She heard cheers from the fleet and it made her smile. She felt good again and she knew that Jeffery felt the same.
"Get us in position and wait for my command," said Jiao.
"Yes, ma'am," said Jeffery.
The fleet moved to a position that correlated with the Kaitian forces in normal space.
"All report ready, ma'am," said Jeffery.
"Warriors!" said Jiao to the fleet. "Prepare your weapons and fire at will as soon as we exit hyperspace. There are plenty of targets!" Jiao waited for a second before giving the order.
"Engage!"
The hyperspace exit point opened and they saw the enemy ships right in front of them.
The human ships fired in unison and caused great destruction among the Kaitian forces.
***
"The humans attacked, Advisor," said Nisha and added, "with great success. The Kaitians were totally surprised and they lost a third of their forces at the attack. They are scrambling to assemble their forces."
"Let's join the fun," said Milton. "Order all who can to assist the humans."
Nisha nodded and Milton turned to the projection that showed the battle. He walked among the projection, looking for something.
"Where's the fighter?" he asked when he didn't find it.
"Unknown, Advisor," said the ship's AI.
"Why?" asked Milton.
"Unknown, Advisor," said the AI.
Milton had an uneasy feeling about it, but it passed as one of the Kaitian cruisers fired a direct hit to his ship.
"Evasive actions!" shouted Nisha. "Return fire!"
They hit the enemy directly in the engines and it stopped.
"Finish it!" ordered Milton. "Then order the humans and our forces to pull back and regroup. And order the reserves also to regroup with us."
***
"Order from Milton," said Rachel.
"We're ready to end the battle." William smiled.
"Hey, William," called Bruce.
"Bruce." William smiled at him. "You've fought well. Ready for the final fight?"
"We're more than ready," said Bruce.
Bruce and the rest of the Behemoths had fought well, but with heavy losses. Only six Behemoths remained, but combined with the rest of the Coalition forces, they were enough to end the battle and destroy the Kaitian forces.
The Coalition forces hurried to regroup and so did the Kaitians, but it wouldn't do them any good. It was obvious that they would lose the battle.
"Let's send them to oblivion!" called Milton to the fleet and as he said it, the fleet started to move forward and each ship was assigned a target. As soon as they were in weapons range, they would fire at the all enemy ships at the same time.
"They are not moving," said William thoughtfully. He'd expected them to counter-attack, or to flee, but they did nothing.
"Commander!" shouted the AI and if ever William had heard emotion in the AI, it was now. The AI sounded almost in panic.
"Ships emerging from hyperspace right in front of us! A thousand Kaitian cruisers!"
William's heart stopped in disbelief. Rachel cried aloud, "Evasive actions!" but the AI was already doing it, as were all the Coalition ships.
The Kaitian cruisers exited from hyperspace at full speed and came fast toward Coalition fleet, already firing on the Coalition ships.
***
"Evasive actions!" shouted Nisha.
"Where the hell did they come from?" Milton cursed.
He hadn't expected that the Kaitians had any reserves left. The amount of ships in the battle had corresponded to the sightings made by the Behemoths.
"Advisor!"
shouted Nisha. Milton had enough time to see the surprisingly slow-moving torpedoes coming directly toward them. Even as he looked at them, he knew there was nothing he could do.
The explosions shook the ship and Milton knew the ship was lost.
"Engines lost," said Nisha in a matter-of-fact tone. "Life support failing. Weapons not functioning."
Milton sighed. "Abandon ship! Repeat, abandon ship immediately! You too, Nisha."
"No, Advisor," responded Nisha. "I will not leave without you."
Milton nodded. "Send a message to William. Tell him to rescue as much of the crew as possible."
"Yes, Advisor," said Nisha. "But we must leave, too. Now. The ship will break apart soon."
After a moment's pause, Milton sighed. "You're right. Let's go."
***
Captain Kould had insisted that they must have reserves and although he had to fight to get his will through, the Divine Command had eventually decided that Kould's suggestion was valid.
The Divine Command had decided on only one reserve force that would be sent to Miccvan space to wait until directly called.
Kould had left the battle to call the reserves and they came just in time to bring victory to the Kaitians.
"Leave none alive!" shouted Kould to the fleet, and hammered one of the enemy frigates to pieces.
***
"Admiral!" called Jeffery. "Request for help!"
"Show me!" said Jiao. She looked at the broadcast message from William to rescue all escape pods from the Thoughtful Flame and other ships in the vicinity. Jiao knew that the Thoughtful Flame was the flagship and Advisor Milton was on board.
"We're near them! Find and rescue them!" she ordered.
Jeffery sent a reply to William and ordered the ship toward the wreck of the Thoughtful Flame.
"The escape pods are coming toward us," said Jeffery.
"Pick them up and keep an eye on the enemy," said Jiao.
That went without saying--but, lucky for them, the Kaitians were busy enough destroying and pursuing other Coalition forces to leave them alone for now.
"All escape pods picked up," said Jeffery after a few moments.
"Go to see if Advisor Milton is aboard," said Jiao.
The Coalition forces were in a general retreat and Jiao ordered her ship to join the retreat. There was little she could do alone.
***
"William," said Rachel, relieved. "Milton is rescued. He's aboard the Sea of Boston."
"Good." William sighed, relieved. "Open a channel to the Sea of Boston."
The AI obeyed immediately and Jiao's image appeared in front of William.
"Commander," said Jiao. "What can I do for you?"
"Rendezvous with me and tell Milton to come to my ship," said William.
"Yes, sir," said Jiao and closed the channel.
"The Kaitians have stopped," said Rachel. "They are regrouping."
The Coalition fleet had been forced to retreat to the orbit of the Miccvan home world. It was the last line of defense, but William knew they couldn't hold it. Most of the Coalition forces had suffered damage and the Kaitians had a thousand fresh cruisers ready to attack.
"Milton is boarding," said Rachel after the Sea of Boston had docked with the Lake of Nevada.
Milton knew the way to the bridge and was there soon.
"Milton," said Rachel and hugged him.
"I'm glad you survived," said William and shook Milton's hand.
"So am I," said Milton. "What do you think?" He nodded toward the Kaitian ships.
William sighed. "Doesn't look good. In fact, I think we've already lost."
"No!" cried Rachel. "We must fight!"
"Rachel," said Milton, "William is correct. Look what we have. Look what the enemy has."
There was no denying it and Rachel knew that. She felt tears in her eyes.
"We must retreat," said William, "So we can fight another day."
William knew how hollow his words were. In principle, he was correct, but they simply didn't have much to fight for another day.
"Whether to die today," said Milton, "Or to die another day. It's all the same."
"William," said Rachel. "Message from Bruce. He wants to know what he should do. He's ready to fight."
"No," said Milton. "We die another day. Send a message to the fleet. We regroup in hyperspace and then move on to tend to our wounds and prepare for the next battle."
William nodded and ordered the AI to send the message.
Within seconds, the first ships had entered hyperspace; soon all were gone. The Lake of Nevada was the last ship remaining in orbit of the Miccvan home world.
"They're coming," said Rachel when the enemy ships started to move toward them. In front of them was the small fighter.
"We need to leave," said Milton in a sad and heavy voice.
The Lake of Nevada entered hyperspace and the Miccvan home world fell to the enemy.
35
In the days and weeks after the Miccvan home world fell to the enemy, the battles became increasingly desperate. The Kaitian reserves had been a complete surprise and they were fresh fighters compared to the weary Coalition soldiers.
The Kaitians steadily pushed back all the Coalition forces they encountered and brutally secured the conquered systems.
William had been in his office at SD-9 ever since the defeat at the Miccvan home world. Milton was with the remains of the fleet to organize the defenses--and, hopefully, a counter-attack. Rachel had gone to the Saami home world to improve the genetic weapons.
The map of the galaxy on the wall did not look good. The Kaitians had conquered a large portion of the Coalition territory, nearly a third of the galaxy. William didn't remember it, but the Coalition and the Kaitian territories were nearly the same as the territory of the old Hwzeenn Empire at the time of their extinction.
William rubbed his chin and thought about the situation. He'd known it for some time now: it was obvious that they were losing the war. And badly. The Kaitians didn't want to just conquer. They wanted to kill.
He sighed and thought aloud to the ceiling, "We need a divine intervention."
He paused for a moment, looking again the map of galaxy.
"Yes," he continued, speaking alone in his office, "a divine intervention. But what kind of intervention? I'm open to suggestions."
William wasn't surprised that no one answered. He turned to the window and looked into the blackness of space. The same blackness and the same stars far and away and forever.
Not forever, thought William, only a very long time, until stars explode as novas. And then only blackness will remain.
"Stars explode?" said William, surprised by his thought. "As in a nova? That would definitely be a divine intervention."
A sly smile came over his face.
***
"Are you certain you know what you are asking, Commander?" asked the AI.
"Of course I am," said William irritated. "Can it be done? Now?"
The AI was quiet a long time for an AI. "Yes, Commander. But I need substantial resources."
"Everything you need," said William. "You have my authorization and I want it done now. We don't have much time." He nodded toward the galaxy map.
"I agree, Commander," said the AI. "You should have the device ready in a week."
"Excellent," said William. "Send for Nick and Louis. I have a mission for them."
Nick and Louis had been on SD-9 ever since they'd returned from Kaitian space and watched the battles of the Ooktian, Rg'Tkeen, and Miccvan home worlds. They'd wanted to be in each of them, but William had forbidden them to leave SD-9.
"Commander," said Nick formally as he entered the office.
"Commander," said Louis, following Nick.
"Good to see you, too, gentlemen," said William formally. "Have a seat."
Nick glanced at Louis and said, "He has something for us. And it can't be good."
"Oh, yes," said Louis. "He definitely has somethi
ng."
"You are correct, of course," said William and walked to the map on the wall.
"As you can see, the war is not going well."
"We are losing," said Louis. "And we're losing badly."
William sighed. "You are correct again. And that's why we need something radical. A divine intervention."
Nick laughed, but turned serious when he saw that William was dead serious.
"And what that might be?" asked Louis curiously.
"In a week," said William, "we will have a weapon to change the galaxy. We already have the cloak and cloak detector. And soon we will have a weapon that can destroy entire star systems."
"How?" asked Nick.
"By exploding the stars as novas," said William.
"Impossible," said Louis immediately.
"No," said the AI. "We already have the technology. It's only a matter of combining the current technology in new ways."
"Explain," ordered Louis, and the AI did.
"Uh-huh," said Louis after the AI had finished. "A very radical plan."
"But you're right, William," said Nick. "We need to be radical. And this is about as radical as we can be. And I assume you want us to deliver that doomsday device to the Kaitian home world?"
"That's right," said William. "Take the Lake of Fairwater and deliver it to the star. And wait and see it work. I want a detailed recordings for further analysis."
Nick and Louis nodded physically and shook their heads in their minds. They were about to commence an act of terrible proportions.
"You have doubts," commented William as he saw the expressions on their faces.
Louis nodded immediately.
"You can tell me," said William. "I'm sure I have the same doubts."
"Well," said Louis. "Think about it. To destroy a star. And not just a star, but the entire star system. All planets, moons, asteroids. And the Kaitians themselves."
He paused.
"What have we become?" he said. "What will become of us?"
Louis looked William directly in the eyes and the men were quiet.
"Very good questions," said William after a while, and sighed. "This will guarantee that if there is hell, we will have seats reserved there. But I see little choice here. To put it plainly, it's either them or us. And I'd rather it'd be them, even it means a seat in hell for us."
"I know, Commander," said Louis. "We have no choice here. It's them or us, I agree. I also believe that it's better that we are the ones responsible of this instead of anyone else, human or otherwise."
"I couldn't agree more," said William.
"Will you be ready when the device is ready?"
"Yes, we're ready," said Nick.
"Good," said William. "The mission is easy. Go to the Kaitian home world as fast as possible without being detected, deploy the device, and see it work."