Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (51 page)

The orbital defense platforms were unmanned points of death in space.
They were sixty thousand tons--roughly the same tonnage of the United States World War II battleships--and armed with thirty heavy and light energy cannons and twenty-two torpedo tubes. The weapon systems were controlled remotely from the temporary command center at Hanscom Air Force Base until the new base was completed in Texas just northwest of Midland. The multi-national base would be the largest base in the world for the newly established Earth Defense Force. While largely composed of men and women from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan, other nations such as Russia, Canada, France, Australia, Israel, and Spain would be contributing manpower and materials as well. Eventually, it would be all the nations of the world working together in the defense of Earth.

             
If one were to actually sit back and think about it, they would see, in a manner of speaking, that this could be the best way to unify the nations of the world. What better way to make the nations of the world come together than to throw the threat of human extinction at them?

Shenkar Command Base, Terran system.

              Krailsha stood at the command station as he watched the holographic images of the human fleet forming up between Earth and his closing Shenkar fleet. He had to give the humans credit; they knew how to establish a good defense. They kept their battlecruisers separate from each other but not so far apart that they couldn’t lay down sufficient crossfire to anything that tried to pass between them.               Consequently, a quick thrust while the troop transports slipped through was out. Four heavy cruisers were positioned to the right and left flanks to prevent any attempt to overwhelm the center forces and punch through. The heavy cruisers would sweep in and crush them from behind. The humans also had a number of medium and light cruisers in addition to destroyers spread about. As for fighter support, it looked pretty close to even, which wasn’t comforting for Krailsha, as the humans had already proven to be exceptional pilots.

             
Then there were what looked to be orbital defense platforms. There were two that were nearby and would be within striking distance when he chose to attack. Scans of the platforms revealed a heavy array of weapons. Those would be a problem as well.

             
By the looks of it, this was going to come down to a straight-out slugfest: throw everything at them and do more damage to them before they did it to his fleet. Krailsha was pretty confident that his fleet would be successful, but his losses would be very high. His thoughts were interrupted as a subordinate hurried up, holding a handheld computer.

             
“
Supreme Commander, the surveys as you requested.”

             
Taking the computer, he read the screen.
“
And these are all accurate?” he asked the subordinate.

             
“
Yes, Supreme Commander, the resources present in the asteroid field are plentiful enough to replace all losses we might incur in the upcoming battle.”

             
Waving the subordinate away, he turned back to the holographic display. As he surveyed the scene before him, he began to change his battle plan. He no longer worried over the losses he would suffer as it seemed they could be easily replaced. This command base could construct a battlecruiser in under three weeks. The soldiers needed to crew the ship could be grown in slightly more time. Even if he lost half his fleet, he would have them replaced within the next six months. Turning to his communications officer, he then spoke.

             
“
Command all mining cruisers to establish a mining outpost.               Begin gathering the resources we will need to replenish our forces. Also, ready the incubation centers to begin a new batch of clones. We will need them for the new ships.”

             
“
Are we to send any warships with the mining groups?” asked the operations officer.

             
Krailsha, slightly annoyed at being questioned, thought this over for a time before answering. The humans should be too occupied with the assault fleet to spare any ships to attack his mining cruisers, but these humans had already proven resourceful.

             
“
Send a cruiser with three squadrons of light fighters to cover them.”

             
Once the order had been relayed, Krailsha then turned back to the holographic display.

             
“
Order all ships forward. I want to crush them, and I want to crush them NOW!”

             
“
Supreme Commander, we aren’t leaving any forces to cover the command base?” asked the operations officer.

             
Krailsha swept forward and gripped the operations officer by the throat, lifting him free of his chair. The officer’s fingers tried to pry Krailsha’s fingers free but couldn’t break the viselike grip.
“
I WILL NOT BE QUESTIONED FROM SUCH A LOWLY SUBORDINATE SUCH AS YOURSELF!”

             
The sound of popping cartilage and breaking bones cut off the gasping sounds coming from the operations officer. Without a thought, Krailsha tossed the body against the nearest bulkhead, where it made a sickly crunch and slid to the floor.

             
“
Now, do I have a warrior who will do what I ask without question?!”

             
The seat was immediately filled by the warrior Krailsha had expected. This warrior was ambitious and one to be watched, but if he proved to be not too ambitious, then this warrior could one day be a fleet commander.

             
Turning back to the holographic display, he saw that his forces had now begun their push forward. Shenkar fighters streaked forward ahead of the fleet to engage the awaiting enemy fighters.

             
So now it begins
, he thought to himself. Now he would crush the humans once and for all.

EDF
George Washington
, Flagship of the EDF

              “
FIRE!” commanded Fleet Admiral Saunders.

             
Dozens upon dozens of antimatter torpedoes streaked forward from the Earth forces toward the oncoming Shenkar forces.

             
Saunders watched as the blips that indicated the torpedoes closed the distance to the enemy fleet. Soon the Shenkar forces’ energy cannons opened up in an attempt to intercept the incoming torpedoes. One by one, blips started to wink out as the torpedoes were successfully intercepted. However, not all were intercepted. Soon, explosions could be seen in the distance through the view port. The holographic image of one of the Shenkar cruisers winked out as did three of the destroyer images. Looking up through the forward view port, Saunders could see four massive explosions off in the distance as the four Shenkar warships exploded. The bridge crew cheered at the sight, and Saunders had to admit he felt some inner satisfaction.

             
Keying the fleet comm channel, he spoke.
“
Okay, people, we gave them a taste of what they have come for. Now let’s shove it down their throats and make them choke on it. All fighters, engage those incoming fighters. Blow them out of my sight! Defense Platform Alpha-1, lock all weapons on that big bastard in sector three two. Defense Platform Alpha-2, lock all weapons on the one in sector three five.”

             
“
Sir, enemy torpedoes incoming!” said an excited ensign.

             
Looking back to the holographic display, Saunders saw dozens of Shenkar torpedoes closing the distance.

             
“
Fire energy cannons!” commanded Saunders.

             
The faint thump of heavy cannons firing sounded off in the distance as fire control worked to intercept any torpedoes inbound on the
George Washington
. Saunders gripped the railing in front of him tightly as he watched the incoming threats. Soon energy began to intercept the torpedoes, and they began to wink out.

             
“
Sir, all threats eliminated.”

             
Saunders let out his breath that he hadn’t even realized he had been holding.

             
“
Lock all weapons on the nearest enemy warship and--”

             
Before he could finish his orders, he was interrupted as the ship shook and the sound of a massive nearby explosion sounded through the hull.

“
             
Are we hit? Give me a damage report!” commanded Saunders.

             
“
No, sir, we are clean. Reports coming in saying that was the EDF
Jericho
. She was hit . . . we lost her, sir,” said a stunned comm officer.

             
Silence filled the bridge at the news of the loss. Someone could be heard whispering to himself.
“
My brother was aboard the
Jericho
.”

Anger boiled up in Saunders as he watched the holographic display of the battle unfolding. Both groups of fighters had fully engaged now and were slugging it out.

              Shenkar forces had now closed the distance, and by the looks of it, both forces would be fully engaged soon. Two Shenkar battlecruisers were moving toward the
Yamamoto
, and the three warships were trading heavy fire. If something wasn’t done soon, they were going to lose the
Yamamoto
, too.

             
“
Get me the
Reagan
!” commanded Saunders.

             
Within a few seconds, the communications officer signaled that he had the link established.

             
“
Admiral Gergi, this is Fleet Admiral Saunders. I want you to take the
Reagan
and support the
Yamamoto
. She is taking a beating and won’t survive much longer.”

             
“
On our way, sir!” answered Admiral Gergi.

             
The holographic display showed the EDF
Reagan
pulling up and moving to stand with the
Yamamoto
. At this point, the battle was quickly turning into mixed battles as the warships began to intermix. Destroyers were moving in and about quickly to support the heavy cruisers and battlecruisers. Over the next half hour, Saunders was constantly on the comm net, relaying orders and moving ships about in support of others. While the Earth forces were certainly dealing out severe damage to the Shenkar assault fleet, they were in turn suffering heavy losses. Already they had lost four battlecruisers, one heavy cruiser, two medium cruisers, five light cruisers, and four destroyers. The Shenkar forces had so far lost seven battlecruisers, five cruisers, and twelve destroyers.

             
“
Sir, all Shenkar forces are pulling back.”

             
Watching the holographic display, Saunders saw that the Shenkar forces were, in fact, pulling back. Some Earth forces moved to follow. Keying the fleet net frequency, he spoke.

             
“
This is Fleet Admiral Saunders. All forces are to pull back to the line. No one is to follow the retreating Shenkar forces, no matter how tempting a target you think you have. I want complete damage reports to me within the next half hour. Saunders out.”

             
Pulling his headset off, he set it aside and actually sat back down in his command chair. Oddly, the first thing he thought of was how comfortable the chair was. For the first time, he actually looked at the chair. It had a view screen that swiveled over to show the same holographic display he had been watching for the past forty-five minutes. The chair also had a small display that provided a net channel to connect directly to any of the EDF fleet. Well, when the battle resumed, he would definitely be occupying this chair. The question was, when would it begin again?

Shenkar Command Base

              Krailsha seethed with anger at having to withdraw from battle. Not once had the mighty Shenkar fleet ever had to retreat from battle. How was it that this one planet was able to fight them into a standstill? The Shenkar ruled over thirteen worlds, covering eight star systems, and now one small planet’s inhabitants had actually stopped the Shenkar fleet? Not today--never under his rule of this fleet. In truth, the deciding factor had been the two massive defense platforms and their vast array of weapons. The platforms were unmanned, controlled from a military base on Earth. They needed to be removed and removed soon if he was to succeed this day.