Republic 3rd Fleet

RSS Mei Zhou - Dauntless - Class II Battleship

Insectoid Home System, Anchored in Null Space

1554 Local Time, June 8th, 2176 A.D.

The sixteen stealth drones flashed out and immediately sent a data burst with all the scanning results they had collected before flashing back out into null space.

“Captain, I have updated the IFF according to the tactical information the android had sent us before we left the border.

According to the scans from the stealth drones, there are twenty Hive ships and fifty-one cruisers that are producing the specific Bremsstrahlung radiation wavelength the android had specified from their fusion cores.

They are in a sphere formation located at the L1 Lagrange point, with ten Hive ships in the center and the other ten interspersed among the screening force of cruisers. The two approaching Insectoid formations are not outputting the radiation wavelength and have been designated Skunk 1 and 2. The other two formations coming from the outer system have been designated Skunk 3 and 4, Captain."

“Excellent, Mr. Alvarez. How long until the enemy ships reach their maximum firing range in relation to the friendly formation at L1?” Captain Michaels asked as he looked at the 2-D top-down representation of all forces in the system being displayed on the main viewer.

“Based on the most recent intelligence from the Battle of the Jaleeni system, 57,000 kilometers was the last known verified maximum range of their upgraded particle beams, which would be... thirty-six minutes and twenty seconds until they reach their engagement envelope, Captain,” the tactical officer replied as he added faint bubbles around the approaching enemy formations on the viewer to highlight their known maximum weapons range.

“Understood, Mr. Alvarez. Nice work.” Michaels replied before looking at his XO.

“You ready to do this?” he asked her quietly as she looked at him with a neutral expression.

“I’m ready, Captain. Let’s get some payback.” She responded, the coldness in her voice sending chills down his spine. She might not have fought in combat yet, but judging from her tone, she sounded ready to lay waste to the entire solar system if need be.He nodded to her before turning back to face the viewer.

“Are you ready, Naomi?” he asked, addressing the battle AI he had transferred over from the Saratoga when his ship was deemed a total loss after the Battle of Eleania. He was offered a newer, more “powerful” battle AI before he took command of the Mei Zhou, but he wasn’t having it. He had been with Naomi for seven years, and he was as loyal to her as he ever was to any human.

A feminine, husky voice came over the speakers as Naomi responded to his query.

~I am ready, Captain. I am looking forward to going into combat with you again; it has been too long according to my perception of time. ~

He chuckled before responding to Naomi. “That it has, Naomi. It seems as if we are about to rectify that for you very soon.”

~I am glad to hear you say so, Captain,~ . ~ the feminine voice replied, sounding pleased with the promise of imminent combat. Time to make her happy and let her do what she was made for.

“Set condition one. Combat stations!” He called out, feeling the words triggering an immediate physiological response inside of him as the bridge lights dimmed before changing color and bathing the bridge in a reddish hue.

The bridge crew responded immediately, coordinating with each other and the fleet as Naomi’s voice came over the speakers again, her voice reaching every section of the ship as she activated the ship-wide comm.

~Condition One has been set; all hands to battle stations. Condition One has been set; all hands to battle stations. ~

“Naomi, flash out in 120 seconds, tactical plan 3-B. Execute.”

~Understood, Captain. ~

The void helmet chime sounded, repeating itself every two seconds as Naomi counted down the time to ship-wide depressurization.

Tapping on the console next to him, he grabbed the stim that popped out of its alcove and injected it into his neck, seeing the XO and the rest of the crew doing the same as he grabbed his void helmet from its maglock on the side of his chair and put it on.

As soon as the helmet was locked and sealed, the safety harness deployed and pulled him tight to the chair as all the bulkheads surrounding him disappeared and were replaced by an unobstructed 360-degree view of the outside.

He tested the visual link with the void helmet, looking down at his lap and seeing through the entire ship to outside the ventral hull as if there was nothing there.

Feeling the air being withdrawn from the bridge as the life support systems turned it into a vacuum for combat operations, he quickly looked to the side, seeing his XO’s expression of grim determination as she clenched the arms of her chair.

The holotank appeared in the center of the bridge as multiple tactile holo interfaces populated the air in front of the bridge crew. He put his two hands up, palms facing outwards, before pinching with his fingers to bring the two main holo interfaces he would be using closer to him.

Naomi’s countdown to flash out passed ten seconds, and he looked around, seeing all the formations of the fleet surrounding the ship as if he was standing on the hull. He felt the usual emotions as the countdown reached five seconds: fear, anxiety, excitement, and the desire to test himself against the enemy.

~Three, two, one, transition. ~

The bright light of the null space transition filled the bridge, momentarily blinding him as he felt the usual disconnection from his place within reality when flashing out into real space.

Ignoring the temporary dizziness of the transition, he focused on the holotank, seeing the different colored icons populating the screens as it displayed the positions of his fleet formations in relation to the Insectoid ships.

~Tactical plan 3-B is ready for implementation, Captain. ~

“Let’s get some, old friend. Execute!”

Queen World of the Insectoid Empire

Brood Chamber of the Hive Mother

Fourth Cycle, 384.91 years, Insectoid solar calendar

June 8th, 2176 A.D.

She wished the focuser had not broken when the traitors had come to cull her. She enjoyed sharing thoughts in such an unusual way, and making claw signs now seemed slow and insufficient.

Bandit-Friend, who had not left her side in the over ten solar hour time span since he sent his thoughts to the machines in space, turned to face her and made claw signs.

~ They will come, Hive Mother. You do not know these animals yet, but you will see their true nature soon. You will realize how fortunate you are to have told Aurora that you wished to make peace with them. ~

The Hive Mother chose not to correct Bandit-Friend again, thinking maybe he was damaged somehow during the fighting and was unknowingly suffering from a thinking defect.

She reached out with her thoughts to share with her two loyal sisters who were still trapped within the Hive like she was.

One sister answered, though she felt them both in her mind.

She felt their minds leave hers, and she decided against sharing thoughts with the envoy. She did not want to distract her and the machine animals; they were her only hope of surviving for a little while longer when the traitors finally came to invade the Hive.

There were sudden thoughts from command drones, frantically asking for permission to share with her. It took her a moment to realize they were from the small loyal swarm in orbit, and she selected one of the command drones, telling her she was going to take her.

She felt the command drone accept being taken by her, and she entered, seeing out of eyes that were not hers. Looking at the viewer, she now understood the reason for their confused and nervous thoughts.

Hundreds of ships were flashing out of null space all around the approaching traitors outside of their weapons range, and she felt a surge of happiness at the sight of the animal ships.

The animals were here. Bandit-Friend was right; they had answered his summons to come and save her. Overwhelming shame came over her for doubting Bandit-Friend and thinking he was defective.

She must ask pardon for doubting him, and she looked at the viewer again, her shame being replaced by something else: hope.

All the command drones responded to her command, telling her they would obey. She left the command drone she had taken and returned to her body, letting the disorientation pass before excitedly making claw signs to Bandit-Friend.

~I know, Hive Mother; I received thoughts from the drone I have in orbit. There is nothing to pardon; please tell your ships not to fire on them. ~

~ I have already shared thoughts with the machine drone on Luna’s cruiser to tell them again not to fire on your ships. Now you will see why you were fortunate to want to make peace with us. ~

Though she could not share thoughts or make animal noises with Bandit-Friend, she felt her fear rising at the thoughts he just shared with her. She must see for herself what he meant by that.

She reached back out and took a worker drone on the primary Hive ship, making it go to the command chamber to look at the viewer so she could see what Bandit-Friend meant.

The animal ships had finished flashing out all around the still rapidly approaching traitor swarms, and she wondered why they had not attacked them yet, which was unusual for these aggressive animals. They should have been closing in and attacking them already.

* * *

Michaels called out again as the Mei Zhou started accelerating to assume position above the Insectoid formations with her battle group.

“Naomi, have battleship wings one through three accelerate to combat speed and hit the outer edge of skunk 1 in a strafing attack along the x-axis, at coordinates... 374 mark 112 in four minutes. Heavy cruiser wings two through four are to hit the same location from -30 z-axis in four minutes, ten seconds.

Time the attack with their captains and give full control of navigation and weapons to the heavy cruiser battle AIs for the duration of their attack run through the Insectoids. We need to get them to stop advancing on the planet and reorient to engage us.”

Naomi acknowledged his orders, and the XO called out to the tactical station as she continued to organize the formations and coordinate his commands to the battle groups and wings.

“Tactical, what’s the status of the nullship wings one through five? Are the DeeWave torpedo systems online yet?”

“The systems are online, and they are awaiting target coordinates, Commander Blum.” The tactical officer replied, his voice heavy with excitement.

“Naomi, what do you recommend?” Michaels called out again, looking for her input.

~ Captain, I would have the nullships target the eight Hive ships in the center of Skunk 1; perhaps we can break that formation in half and defeat them in detail. ~

“Exactly what I was thinking. Make it happen; time the attack for thirty seconds before the battleship and heavy cruiser wings hit the outer edge.” He ordered before pinching his fingers to zoom in the holotank and monitor the bomber wings as they neared Skunk 2 with their escorting starfighters.

The two large Insectoid formations were only just now starting to react to their sudden appearance as dozens of cruisers started braking with their bow thrusters and pivoting around with directional thrusters to confront the new threat.

All forty-four bombers opened their bay doors, the missile racks sliding out as the bombers cut their aft engines and began coasting. Each bomber released twelve P-20 anti-ship missiles, and Michaels felt his heart beat faster at the sight of the 528 points of light streaking towards their targets.

Their payloads released, the bombers used their thrusters to begin their looping turns back towards their motherships to rearm. Half of the eighty escorting starfighters had peeled off from the bomber formation and were now charging towards Skunk 2, the missiles trailing them by 5,000 kilometers. The rest stayed with the bomber formation to provide cover for their retreat.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

The forty starfighters heading for the Insectoids fired their payloads, and Michaels closely watched to see what effect the new countermeasure pods would have on the insectoid point defense systems. The starfighters then used their thrusters to begin turning back to their mother ships while preserving their fuel and momentum.

The still undetected stealth pods reached 400 kilometers from the Insectoid formation and activated, flooding the space in front of them with ionizing radiation that created a massive bloom of interference on the holotank.

The pods then exploded, each one turning into a massive cloud of reflective chaff. None of the sensors of the Mei Zhou could penetrate that mess, effectively creating a huge blind spot, and the hope was the insectoids wouldn’t be able to as well.

The Insectoids blindly fired their particle beams and flak guns into the field created by the pods, the particle beams being disrupted by the massive chaff clouds that severely attenuated them. Still, they kept firing, knowing the missiles would be coming from that general area.

The 528 missiles coming in behind the pods shut down their thrusters and systems, their hardened warheads specifically designed to protect against the radiation as they neared the disruption field.

The missiles disappeared from the sensors as they went cold right before they entered the interference bloom, and he waited impatiently for them to pass through as he ordered for a datalink to be established with a stealth drone that was maintaining an overwatch position above the Insectoid formations.

The datalink was established, and Michaels stared at the holotank with anxious anticipation, hoping this new tactic worked as planned. Nothing was showing up, and he felt worry mounting inside of him, wondering if the missiles had been damaged or burned out by the radiation.

The holotank was suddenly populated by hundreds of tiny icons that appeared less than 200 kilometers from the Insectoids as the surviving 476 missiles reactivated their thrusters and went into terminal guidance.

The Insectoids finally reacted and started firing their flak guns, but it was too late. Seven missiles were destroyed, and two seconds later, the surviving 469 missiles began to hit their targets as they streaked in towards their victims.

The fifty-two cruisers that had fallen back to face the new threat were destroyed, as well as another sixty-four cruisers that were torn apart by the new P-20 anti-ship missiles.

Eighteen Hive ships were turned into tumbling, lifeless hulks, and another twenty-four had been severely damaged, falling out of formation as they trailed frozen gases and bodies from the massive hull breaches.

The bridge was utterly silent as they saw the results of the new missiles and the countermeasure pods. He realized that his own mouth was opened in shock and closed it as he tried to grasp the sheer destruction he had just witnessed.

The rest of Skunk 2 fell apart as the now half-destroyed formation blasted off in all directions, trying to get away from whatever it was that just decimated them.

Naomi’s voice came over the intercom, snapping his attention away from the holotank and helping him to refocus.

~Null ships wing one through five are ready, Captain. ~

“Send them, Naomi.”

The holotank switched to displaying Skunk 1 as he heard the XO continue to direct the bridge crew and control the flow of information that was populating the two small holo screens in front of him.

The icons representing the five squadrons of eight upgraded nullships disappeared from the holotank as they dropped their datalinks, no longer able to be detected even by the Republic ship scanners before flashing into null space.

The holotank was focusing on the new target, the eight Hive ships that formed the nucleus of Skunk 1. Four seconds later, forty null space flashes erupted around the eight Hive ships from less than one hundred kilometers away.

The nullships reconnected to the datalink, and their icons populated the holotank as Command Unit 138 sent video telemetry from its perspective.The nullships fired their new weapons system, and Michaels stared at the holotank, praying for it to work like it was supposed to as the nullships flashed back out before the Hive ships could target them.

The eighty torpedoes surged towards the eight Hive ships and split apart when they reached twenty kilometers from their targets a second later, each one sending a hundred tungsten darts that embedded themselves within the hulls in a specific pattern.

The darts activated their internal mechanisms, transmitting a unique sound wave that traveled through the hulls. Michaels stared at the telemetry being transmitted from the stealth drones, scarcely believing what he was seeing.

Large sections of the Hive ships hulls that had been hit by the darts turned opaque before suffering sudden decompressions that expelled the internal atmosphere and any unlucky drones in the affected areas.

The Demolecularization Waveform System reverted the hulls back to the soft, waxy material they originally were before the Insectoids turned it into a super-hardened hull material with a unique combination of sound frequencies.

With Aurora’s help, Republic scientists were able to isolate the frequencies that would revert the material back to its original state and created the tungsten darts. The darts had a specialized system that would transmit the sound frequencies in a one-hundred-meter radius surrounding each individual dart.

Within ten seconds of the nullships flashing back out, all eight hive ships were suffering from massive, catastrophic decompressions caused by the sudden failure of thousands of meters of hull area, far beyond their capacity to seal off and isolate.

A massive cloud of frozen gases, fluids, and bodies surrounded each stricken Hive ship as they lost their internal atmosphere to the vacuum of space. There might be pockets where there were still survivors, but the ships were effectively dead for all intents and purposes.

The nullships that had flashed out returned, each squadron targeting a single undamaged Hive ship within Skunk 1 and launching another wave of Deewav torpedoes before flashing back out to target another one.

The battleship wings had reached their coordinates and targeted the outer edge of the formation, sending a deadly barrage of missiles, railgun slugs, and triple shots into the screening element of cruisers.

Firing their maneuvering thrusters, the battleships pivoted and strafed the survivors with broadsides of secondary war beams as they surged past the shattered cruiser screen at 150,000 kilometers an hour.

The heavy cruiser wings, attacking from under the Insectoid formation relative to the plane of the ecliptic, arrived exactly ten seconds after the battleships did and fired their bow quad turrets, punching through the weaker ventral sections of the Insectoid cruisers and tunneling through the interior compartments.

The heavy cruisers threaded the needle as they penetrated the bottom of Skunk 1 and entered amidst the enemy formation, the battle AIs navigating the ships and firing all weapons as they flew by targets at a rate far too fast for human reaction times.

The heavy cruiser wings exited the enemy formation, and both they and the battleship wings continued along their trajectory away from Skunk 1, leaving a parting gift of aft torpedoes as the reeling Insectoid counterattacked with particle beams and missiles.

Michaels cursed as the Insectoid missiles disappeared from the tracking systems, realizing they were the same stealth missiles that had wreaked havoc on the Republic and rebel Commonwealth forces in the Jaleeni system.

“Naomi, have the battle AIs activate Jaleeni protocol 1!” He called out nervously as his eyes roamed the holotank for any signs of the Insectoid missiles. Two seconds later, over two hundred small gravitational anomalies appeared on the holotank, heading right for the retreating ships.

The point defense systems of the retreating ships activated and began to target the anomalies as their battle AIs switched targeting protocols. The longer-ranged secondary particle beams started hitting targets, but not nearly fast enough as the hit rate remained under 20%, and the anomalies rapidly closed the distance.

“C’mon, get the hell out of there!” Michaels snarled as the surviving stealth missiles zeroed in on the retreating ships, their drone pilots executing evasive maneuvers that further confounded the point defense systems trying to hit the localized gravity fields of missiles they could not see.

The aft grapeshot turrets activated, shooting hundreds of canisters and flooding the space behind them with ¼-inch-diameter maraging steel ball bearings. Dozens of Insectoid stealth missiles were destroyed, but the remaining anomalies being tracked by the battle AIs were still headed directly towards dozens of heavy cruisers and battleships.

“Naomi, are the new hacking systems working on those missiles?” He called out nervously as the plotting screen showed over a hundred anomalies getting closer to fleeing Republic ships that were still trying to shoot them down.

~ I have been trying, Captain. The hacking toolkit is having difficulty functioning properly within the biochemical operating system. I was briefly able to take control of a subsidiary system, but the drones destroyed it before the viruses could infect the primary control systems.~

“Okay, have the AIs deploy the new countermeasures. Any ships that are in imminent danger of being hit are to flash out and go to waypoint two to recharge their capacitors.”

~ Understood, Captain. ~

Five seconds later, the battleship and heavy cruiser wings released the new countermeasures, and Michaels zoomed in on the screen to see the results as he fervently prayed for the ship crews trying to get away.

Each ship released dozens of small mines that came tumbling out of two aft ports, and the mines fired their gas thrusters, the battle AIs of the fleeing ships positioning the mines as they tracked the gravitational anomalies still heading towards them.

Half of the mines suddenly exploded, dispersing massive clouds of nano-zirconium particles as the remaining mines continued to be maneuvered by the Battle AIs controlling them.

Forty-eight Insectoid stealth missiles suddenly appeared on the scanners as they entered the cloud of nanoparticles, their passage through the zirconium particles lighting them up on the scanners like Christmas trees.

Longer-ranged particle beams from the aft turrets of the Republic ships began to fire, the missiles blinking out one after another as they were targeted and destroyed. The remaining mines exploded, and the rest of the missiles became visible.

The drone pilots must have realized what was happening because they switched from gas thrusters to their main engines and suddenly accelerated at incredible velocities to close the gap and get out of the particle clouds.

Twenty-two missiles made it through the gauntlet, and the retreating ships continued to try to shoot them down, their particle beams and grapeshot turrets firing wildly as the stealth missiles streaked towards them.

Eighteen missiles made it through the fire and entered their terminal guidance phase, now less than three hundred kilometers behind their targets. All eight targeted ships flashed out a second later, the missiles less than fifty kilometers away from impact when they transitioned.

They immediately shifted targets, and another three battleships had to flash out to avoid being hit before all the missiles had finally been shot down by the other battle AIs.

“Jesus, that was close!” Michaels gasped as he turned to Miriam and saw her pale, glistening skin that probably mirrored his own. The Insectoid stealth missiles were incredibly powerful, capable of temporarily knocking a battleship out of the fight with just two well-aimed hits.

Looking back at the holotank, he quickly assessed the tactical situation as he saw that the remaining Insectoid ships had finished braking and were now reorienting to engage his forces.

There were still fifteen undamaged Hive ships and a hundred and thirty-four cruisers, and they were rapidly combining to form a sphere formation. No longer having the element of surprise, he had to attack them while minimizing his own losses before the other insectoid ships that had just crossed the inner system boundary joined the fray.

“Naomi, how long until Skunk 3 and 4 get into range?”

~112 minutes if they continue advancing at their current rate of acceleration, Captain. ~

He looked at Miriam again, seeing the same concern in her eyes. They had to eliminate the remains of Skunk 1 and 2 in less than 60 minutes, or they would be in danger of being flanked and caught between two enemy forces.

They needed the remaining time to reorient and prepare to face Skunk 3 and 4, or they would suffer severe losses.

“Naomi, I want destroyer wings 1 through 3 to lay mosquito mines along this path.” He paused as he traced a finger across the screen in front of him to mark where he wanted the minefield to be placed.

“Frigate squadrons 3 through 6 are to position themselves... here,” he traced another line behind the minefield line he had already marked on the screen.

“They are to position themselves 200,000 kilometers behind the minefield and intercept any missile volleys from Skunk 3 and 4. They are to flash out before the Insectoids reach their maximum particle beam range and return to the fleet.”

He stopped speaking, looking at the holotank as he tried to think of anything he might be missing. The heavy cruiser wings looping back would reach them in forty-five minutes, and the battleship wings would reach them in fifty-one minutes.

They could not flash back to rejoin the fleet, or they would lose their last remaining transition charge. They would be stuck in the system until they refilled their capacitors, denying them the ability to retreat with the fleet if they had to bug out.

The eleven battleships that had flashed out were still at waypoint two, a million kilometers away, and were currently refilling their capacitors. Looking at their updates, he saw they would have a full charge, good for three null space transitions in 126 minutes, so they would not be available until five minutes after Skunk 3 and 4 arrived.

That left him with the forty nullships, eleven battleships, thirty-four heavy cruisers, seventy-eight light cruisers, and a hundred and forty destroyers to eliminate Skunk 1 and 2 before the rest of the Insectoids arrived.

The one hundred and sixteen frigates he had were a screening force, too lightly armed and armored to send against the Insectoids. It would be a suicide run to send ships meant for protecting their bigger brethren from missile attacks into close-range combat.

Even using the destroyers was a risky proposition. Despite them being larger and able to take more punishment, they were not intended to attack much larger ships like the Insectoid cruisers in a slugging match. They just wouldn’t survive for long in the circumstances they were now facing.

So far, he hadn’t lost a single ship, though several battleships and over twenty cruisers had mild to moderate damage. Two battleships and six heavy cruisers were heavily damaged but still being listed a s combat effective by their captains.

He had been drilling the 3rd fleet in a new way of fighting after the losses suffered by the Republic in the Eleani and Jaleeni systems. He took to heart the painful lesson he had learned after losing half his crew and the Saratoga in the Eleani system.

Before that, the only times the Republic had ever engaged in space combat with a peer adversary was in the three battles they had fought against the Kilthek Dominion when they had first come across them.

The Kilthek dreadnoughts had incredible weapons systems that had almost three times the range of Republic weapons at the time. They had not yet been uplifted by the Xenxin and were still technically a 3rd-rate power at that time.

As a result of the range disparity, the Republic battle doctrine called for closing with the enemy and fighting at close ranges to negate the advantages the Kilthek had over them.Coupled with the aggressive mindset of the Republic military, this led to a style of fighting that encouraged grabbing the enemy by the belt and ignoring losses.

Only after two of their dreadnoughts rammed and destroyed by desperate Republic ships did the Kilthek finally withdraw. There had not been a major battle with them since, just small skirmishes that ended almost as quickly as they started whenever the Kilthek decided to test the Republic forces guarding the frontier.

This way of fighting carried over even after they had become a middle power, and Michaels saw the need for a new combat doctrine that didn’t rely on knife fighting and overwhelming numbers to secure victory.

What they had just achieved without the loss of a single ship proved him right, and he wanted to avoid reverting to the old doctrine just to secure victory. He had also made his carrier complements bomber heavy, eschewing the preferred fighter-heavy doctrine of the Republic fleet.

His first strike with the bombers was a success, and he wanted to replicate it before committing the heavy warships and destroyers to the attack. Making up his mind, he called out to Naomi again.

“Naomi, all bomber wings are to launch. I want the starfighter escorts to do the same as the last run, and the fighters are not to attack the Insectoid ships, not yet. Is that understood?”

~Perfectly, Captain. All carriers have a wave ready to launch at your command and can have the second wave ready to go two minutes after the first. Shall I launch them, Captain? ~

“Yes, have wave one target the screening cruisers; we’ll decide on targets for wave two depending on the results of the first bombing run. I want them to hit... here.”

He tapped on the holo screen in front of him and highlighted the section of the sphere he wanted targeted, where the largest concentration of cruisers was currently located.

“Launch the first wave in 90 seconds. I don’t want to see those cruisers anymore, so make them go away, Naomi.”

The XO laughed at what he said, and he flashed a grim smile to her as Naomi confirmed his targeting preferences on the holotank.

Looking around the battlespace, he saw the forty nullships assembled off his right flank, seeing that they still had four transition charges remaining in their capacitors according to the updates being displayed under their icons.

“How many DeeWav torpedoes do the nullships have left?” He muttered to himself as he zoomed in on the remaining fifteen Hive ships in the center of the sphere formation.

The Insectoids were still traveling towards the planet, though only at just over 16,000 kilometers an hour. All the cruiser bows were pointed in the fleet's direction, making it look like they were traveling backwards.

The fleet was following them at 80,000 kilometers and maintaining the distance and acceleration while Micheals figured out the next move for the fleet.

Their greatly reduced speed now meant they would not reach the allied Insectoid formation for another 108 minutes. He listened intently as Naomi took it upon herself to inform him of the nullships remaining DeeWav torpedo complements after hearing his muttered question

~ Twenty-two nullships have three torpedoes each remaining; the other eighteen have one torpedo each remaining. Eighty-four in total, Captain. ~

“Excellent, Naomi. How many torpedoes does it take to cripple a Hive ship and render it combat incapable based on the last attack, Naomi?”

~ Five each, if we target them in the pattern and location I will display for you now, Captain. ~

A mockup of a Hive ship appeared in front of him and Miriam, the patterns and locations of where the torpedoes needed to be targeted marked in yellow.

An alert sounded, and he looked at the holotank, seeing the first wave of bombers and their starfighter escorts being launched from the eight carriers trailing the main battle line.

“Naomi, when will the bomber volley reach their targets?”

~Three minutes, forty-two seconds, Captain. ~

“I want the nullships to hit the Hive ships as soon as the last P-20 missile detonates. Please coordinate the time to attack with the nullships; the targeting parameters are at your discretion.”

“This is an excellent tactical plan, Captain, if I may say so. ~

He could see the XO rolling her eyes at Naomi’s praise from the corner of his eye and he ignored it as he answered Naomi, thinking of another thing he wanted done.

“Thank you, Naomi. I want a screening force of frigates to go with the bombers and the starfighters; let’s make it happen.”

~ Aye, Captain. ~

While Naomi handled the coordination of his commands, he stared at the holotank, his nerves returning with a vengeance as he saw three frigate squadrons leave the battle line and leap forward to screen the bombers and fighters.

He saw the time to arrival of Skunk 3 and 4 being displayed over the holotank. Each second counted down moved far too fast for his taste, and he stared at the holotank as the first wave of bombers approached the waiting Insectoids.

“We need those damn torpedo boats and missile cruisers I keep hearing about, Captain. If we had those with us, this battle would already be over, and we are going to need them for the Insectoid enemies that are coming here.” Miriam said quietly as the bombers reached their optimal range and began deploying their missile racks.

He looked at her and nodded slowly to let her know he agreed wholeheartedly with her statement. It was as if she was reading his mind, because he was just wishing he had a couple of them with the fleet.

A strident alarm sounded over the speakers, and he snapped his eyes back at the holotank, feeling dread as a swarm of over two thousand standard insectoid missiles left the sphere formation, their icons appearing as a single, massive red wave that was heading directly for them.