Vice Admiral Fortali’s her dark olive eyes matched her dress greens with the golden epaulets. Fortali had a firm powerful gaze, both commanding and intimidating. Strangely unaware of her power, she had the ability to be intimidating or sincerely assuring depending on her attitude. Her glossy black hair hung limply a few centimeters past her shoulders. She kept her long bangs clipped above her ears with gold hairpins.
“Sir, suicide attacks should always be a last resort, if not a non-option. Despite the Buldethian advantage in numbers, there are hopeful signs. Fifteen of the Buldethian cruisers are of untried, non-utilitarian design. Our analysts have confirmed that it’s doubtful they would hold against the stress of even minor battle damage. Six of the cruisers are light builds, designed for speed of manufacture and cost effectiveness; they’re sturdy, but should be relatively easy to deal with.
If the mercenary escort breaks away, destroys the weaker designs, and rejoins the fleet, it would eliminate half the enemy firepower with minimal effort. We’ll use the main gun conservatively, establishing a primary kill zone forbidden to even friendly vessels, and a secondary kill zone to be used after the mercenary cruisers engage the Armageddon and draw it into that zone.
With the Armageddon destroyed, the rest of the Buldethian Interstellar will disperse to regroup. In order to implement this strategy, we’ll need the Imminent Destruction to delay its planned operations against the Neimun until after the Armageddon has been taken care of, assuming the Buldethians are willing to stick around.”
“We’re too slow,” Major Green said, “How do we prevent the enemy from just keeping out of the neutralizer's range?”
“That’s where the Imminent Destruction and the Kshatriya come in. Those two cruisers are strong enough to hold their own against the Armageddon for a short time, and fast enough to lure it into the kill zone. The enemy might know about the range of our main gun, but they don’t know about the extended range. We can lure them just into the edge of the kill zone. It’ll work even if we damage the Armageddon enough to finish it off without the neutralizer.”
“Too bad,” Admiral Norima said, “It might have worked if the Imminent Destruction wasn’t designated for operations against the Neimun. Operations that I have no authority to overturn.”
“But we could neutralize the core of the enemy fleet without taking losses.”
“I’m still going to implement your plan,” Norima said, “but the Garter and the Kshatriya will have to go it alone.”
We’ll never get them from the Dorian’s cover without the Imminent Destruction’s participation. It’s the core of the independent fleet. They’ll follow Fade, regardless of their motivations. And the Buldethians, they’ll chase him for the same reason.”
“Sorry, Vice Admiral, but without disrupting the distortion shield generated by the Neimun, we can’t even win with a suicide strike. This is crucial intelligence that can’t be thrown away on hunch.”
“That shield is a decoy. I wouldn’t suggest using the Imminent Destruction otherwise. The shield only protects the Neimun and vessels in extremely close proximity. It has little in the way of known offensive capability. We can afford to ignore it for a time.”
“No, I won’t ignore any threat invulnerable to the neutralizer cannon. The infiltration of the Neimun will continue as planned. End of discussion.”
“Yes, sir, though I submit my protest and declare that our chances of survival have been reduced to ten percent. The other mercenaries can’t be depended on without Captain Defacto’s leadership.”
The admiral nodded stoically.
“Major Green, what’s the condition of the Dorian’s resource and repair situation?”
The Major stood by the door and straightened his jacket, “I’ve said the same thing since I started here, and now you people decide to listen. These are the facts, most of our torpedoes are worthless, so my staff has cannibalized their propulsion systems to upgrade a select few Karvars into something half battle worthy. The explosives of the torpedoes we cannibalized were so degraded as to pose a threat to the safety of the crew and had to be disposed of immediately.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
We have fifty-four torpedoes that might or might not function properly, and four capable of threatening this enemy. As for our fighters, half the Karvars won’t fly because my crew cannibalized their parts to keep the Dorian in decent shape. Considering that the remaining Karvar models are flying coffins anyway, I feel for those pilots. It’s better to simply hold them in reserve than force them to fly those things.”
“All the needs of the Dorian are met through Senatorial funding. Why would you have to cannibalize the fighters and the torpedoes?” asked Tennyson.
“The funding barely covers the cost of fuel, crew pay, and basic maintenance. The recent resource cost inflation means there’s next to nothing left for part and vehicle acquisition. To cover the cost of major repairs, we have to ask for more money. Each request takes months to work through the system and is rarely approved, so we do the work in flight and take parts from the Karvars, or other non-critical systems.
Trust me, those old fighters okay planet side but are a lost cause in space, we ought to take what parts we can and sell what’s left as scrap metal. The Rigors are extraordinarily capable, but so expensive and take so long to build that we have precious few, fifty to be exact, including the one circling around the observation rooms to make the reporters feel safe.”
“We’re expected to do wonders,” Admiral Norima said, “After a generation without a major challenge we’re being thrown into battle against a numerically superior enemy with unknown abilities. And this flag ship’s escort fleet is nothing more than an illusion.”
Admiral Norima stared at the Buldethian cruisers as they interchanged on the screens and pounded his desk. Major Green walked to the desk and sniffed the tip of the gold canteen. There was a strong odor inside, but not from coffee. The Admiral snatched the canteen from the Major and pushed him away.
“That’s none of your concern Major,” he put the gold canteen back on the desk, “Major Green you may continue with your overseeing, I want all escape vehicles at full readiness, top priority. Vice Admiral Fortali, take command of the neutralization gun. Captain Tennyson, supervise the bridge. The Neimun must be captured and the remaining Buldethian fleet destroyed. Even if that means we sacrifice our lives in the process. Are you prepared?”
They all saluted to affirm their preparation.
“Good, the rest of the crew should be given time to prepare as well. Do what you can, and I’ll make an announcement later. Dismissed”
-----
The First Buldethian Interstellar Fleet kept its distance, especially the Neimun, which was over a kilometer long from its front bridge and observation area to the huge open thrusters that opened its back end. A thin dark ship, in deep space the Neimun would have been almost impossible to see but for the small lights that glimmered from its hull. The bowl shaped outer thruster casings shone a deep red as the Neimun slowed, remaining a few thousand kilometers behind the Armageddon, the Buldethian Comand Cruiser.
The Interstellar combat group separated into four groups. Rectangular ships, each hiding a heavy cannon underneath a retracted compartment moved out thousands of kilometers to the left of the Armageddon. These cruisers were ancient beasts with circular missile openings in the front and back, eaten by rust and lime; no hatches closed them, so their sore festering lips screamed silently over multiple missile tongues. Three cubed cruisers followed the left group. Their extended panels for retractable cannon resembled tables; some were closed by metal plates, while others were exposed like the legs of a table without a top.
Thousands of kilometers to the right of the Armageddon were spherical cruisers, all painted half red, half black; rounded panels revealed glassy holes. Fifty openings existed over the surface of each spherical cruiser. They were Argus class cruisers, in honor of the mythical monster with thousands of eyes. The Argus cruisers were joined by spiral cruisers, each resembling a stretched slinky with medium beam cannons lined over their coiled hulls. A destroyer with a hull shaped like two twisted bars of steel covered in spikes led the formation.
Protecting the Armageddon in the center formation were three Cannon Sphere type cruisers. These cruisers were overloaded with a hodgepodge of non-retractable cannons, giving them the appearance of over used pin cushions. Five Zepher-432’s, which were copycat designs of the Imperial X-380, circled within a hundred kilometers of the Armageddon’s sides.
Ten disc-shaped vessels warped in through a captured warp anomaly. Five joined the Armageddon’s group while the others formed a line between the Armageddon and the Neimun. These vessels, resembling carriers, had flat surfaces almost a kilometer in diameter. This surface had retractable openings rimmed with a silvery metal, yet none large enough for any significant cannon. In the center of these disc carriers elevated nubs with clear panels revealed their bridge location.
Masses of small, unarmed transport craft flew tight formations around the carriers. These transports moved at a dull pace. They were all Imperial craft captured during the initial rebellion, now painted in black and red instead of the white with the royal purple line. The only hint of Imperial color was from square generators that emitted a slight glow of subdued violet from where cannons had been formally.
Black wasps, newly manufactured, single fifty millimeter beam cannon armed, attack craft circled both the Neimun and the Armageddon. Their propulsion systems jutted from the back of a one-man bridge like a wasp’s abdomen. Each had a small missile on each of their thin wings. Numbering in the hundreds, they sped around dizzyingly to display a vigorous ability to change formations.
This was the muster of the First Buldethian Interstellar.