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Forum Index » » Fan Fiction » » Jupiter Fleet - Yes, its actually an update
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 Author Jupiter Fleet - Yes, its actually an update
Tbone
Grand Admiral

Joined: July 21, 2001
Posts: 1756
From: Vancouver
Posted: 2003-07-01 15:21   
Prologue:



Chapter 1: Last Stand:

“Torpedoes!”

“Ready, sir!”

“Fire!”

The proton torpedoes streaked out of the launcher tubes and rocketed toward their target, a K’luth dreadnought. Several other ships had the same idea and their combined torpedoes impacted mere seconds apart. The K’luth ship’s hull was ripped apart and gaping holes appeared in its sides and rear. The defense bases on Io finished the job, sending a full 15 IT Missiles careening into the ship’s front. The dreadnought exploded into a bright cloud of escaping gases and exploded weaponry, destroying a careless UGTO frigate in its blast wave.

One down, too many to go.

Admiral James Stewart sat straight up in his command chair on the bridge of the Elite Assault Dreadnought Beowulf, pondering how exactly the UGTO got caught so unaware. The K’luth had broken through the lines at Luyten 726 and Lalande without so much as a distress call, not even from a merchant vessel. With the ICC having been defeated, save for a few pockets in fortified planetary clusters in various systems, a few months earlier, the UGTO Military High Command had strengthened the outer lines of UGTO territory to almost triple their usual strength. But the K’luth, somehow, someway, had destroyed them as easily as if they had attacked a fleet of scouts.

The K’luth tore through Van Mannan, always a weak system, and Wolf 359 like tissue paper. When the situation in Ross 148 became hopeless, with all the planets, even Ross 3, being captured except the cluster, the UGTO pulled back to Sol, and began barricading the Jump Gate with mines and setting up a blockade of Carriers around it with overlapping Interdictor Fields to trap the K’luth. Leaving only a small, but powerful, fleet to defend the UGTO stronghold in the Ross 148 system, all ships returned to Sol to await, and defeat, the impending invasion.

Unfortunately, it was not that easy. High Command, expecting the K’luth to completely secure the Ross 148 system before moving into Sol was caught completely unaware. Skipping the cluster completely the K’luth moved into Sol before the minefield was laid and the blockade firmly in place. While the mines strewn around the gate damaged the K’luth fleet coming through and the Carriers’ fighters dodged in and out of Disruptor fire, the massive K’luth fleet was able to punch through before reinforcements could be moved in. K’luth transports quickly moved onto Pluto and Neptune’s moons, securing the two areas and establishing a beachhead. Command had set their dependency on controlling the entrance Jump Gate, but within the first battle, now called the First Battle of Sol, they had lost that and two vital areas of Sol space.

Two more “Battles of Sol” occurred before the UGTO had lost control of the Saturn area, Uranus, and Mars. The K’luth fleet was significantly slowed and damaged when they attacked Mars and, had it not for their large numbers, the invasion would have most likely stopped at Mars. But they were not and with the K’luth now occupying the inner system, High Command and the UGTO was frantic. The K’luth had breached UGTO space and destroyed much of its strongest defensive fleet and had no sense of slowing down. Even with the massive casualties inflicted on the K’luth fleets their reinforcements seemed endless. Dreadnoughts, cruisers, and destroyers poured through the captured Jump Gate.

When the K’luth finally attacked Venus and Earth in a double pronged attack, the UGTO Sol Fleets were a mere shadow of their former greatness. The High Command had, in a fit of panic, had poured any ships into any area under attack, losing control of the situation. A small fleet of ships was all what was left to put up the last, short, but spirited, fight for humanity’s home planet.

But there was one thing the K’luth hadn’t counted on.

Jupiter.

Jupiter and its 75 moons to be more precise.

Soon after the 60th moon of Jupiter was discovered in the early 21st century, the invention of the Ion Engine was conceived and several deep system scouting missions were undertaken in the form of unmanned probes, able to reach the outer system in as little as a 2 months. Overall, 15 more moons were discovered orbiting Jupiter.

Jupiter Fleet was caught on the wrong side of the sun when the K’luth finally attacked Earth. Unable to help, the only thing they could do was watch and listen to the video reports from Earth and Venus. They watched, with some in tears, as the final defending ship of Earth blossomed in the darkness of space.

Jupiter Fleet had sustained its share of K’luth attacks but James Stewart had rushed his remaining resources into converting almost all of Jupiter’s moons into “Death Stars,” as they had come to be fondly called by the crews and civilians. Every available space on these moons had been covered with IT Missile launchers. The first attack by the K’luth in the early days of the fighting was devastated. Not expecting the massive lunar fire, the K’luth ships rushed headlong into the system. Crisscrossing missile trails filled space. The advancing destroyers and frigates, though nimble, were unable to dodge the missiles from the moons and fighters from Carriers and Battle Dreadnoughts forever. Stewart kept his anxious fleet under control and kept them near the planets, forcing the K’luth to cross a massive area of crossfire to even reach them. Jupiter Fleet didn’t lose a single ship in the first attack and barely fired a shot. Successive attacks by K’luth fleets were more organized and more effective causing some UGTO ships to be destroyed, but the ratio in casualties was staggering.

What possibly could have gone —.

A volley of anti-matter torpedoes from a cruiser jarred Stewart out of his thinking. “Hard to port! Don’t let our aft be hit again!” AM Torpedoes were known for their sheer power, and two full volleys to a single armor plate could destroy it completely. “Return fire and get within laser range. Fire lasers at their maximum range.” The Beowulf turned quickly and accelerated after the K’luth cruiser. The Dreadnought fired two torpedo volleys at the cruiser before reaching laser range and raking the beams across its hull. The cruiser was cut clean in half and tumbled helplessly, oxygen escaping in gaseous clouds before freezing into crystals.

“Sir! A Hive has exited FTL space and is heading for Ganymede,” the sensor’s officer reported.

Stewart responded immediately. “Order all Carriers to launch any and all fighters at the Hive and divert Cruiser Squadron 2 to intercept it. If it is able to land its troops on Ganymede we are finished.”

“Sending orders, admiral!” Communications responded.

Stewart shifted his attention back to the battle around him. “Target these three dreadnoughts,” Stewart ordered sending the coordinates to the weapon’s officer from his personal tactical view. “They are moving to help that Hive. Get Destroyer Squadron 3 to target them as well. Once they are destroyed, continue firing at will.”

The Beowulf turned and increased speed to head off the K’luth ships, with the 5 Destroyers from the squadron forming on its wings. “Order the Destroyers to fire once they are in range of their Particle Cannons, do not wait for my order,” Stewart said.

“Acknowledged,” was his response.

The small cannons of the destroyers opened up. Though relatively weak compared to torpedoes and lasers, their range, speed and accuracy against large ships more then made up for it. Multiple impacts stung the sides of the dreadnoughts, some being absorbed, some not. Small pieces of the hull material began to flake off. One of the Dreadnoughts broke off and turned to fire a volley of torpedoes and several Psi Missiles at the closest destroyer. The destroyer deftly turned and dodged all but one of the missiles, which was easily absorbed by the armor. The Beowulf launched its torpedoes then and all impacted, severely damaging the dreadnought’s drives. The destroyers began to circle the ship, eventually destroying it with the help of some surface fire, while the Beowulf continued after the two dreadnoughts.

“Status of the Hive?” Stewart asked.

“Our fighters are severely damaging its outer hull. Cruiser Squadron 2 is also peppering it with torpedo and cannon fire. It is still some distance away form Ganymede.” A short pause. “With the damage it is sustaining it will probably not reach orbit distance, as long as the two dreadnoughts do not reach it.”

“Has Destroyer Squadron 3 destroyed the damaged dreadnought yet?” Stewart asked the tactical officer.

“Yes, sir. They have and are advancing toward the remaining dreadnoughts,” Tactical replied.

“Tell them to target the one closest to reaching the Hive. Helm, get us within firing distance of the other. Fire when ready, Weapons.”

A round of “Aye, sirs” was his response.

More cannon and torpedo fire filled the space between the ships. The destroyers, using their greater range and agility, were able to dodge almost all of the dreadnought weaponry, while it was unable to avoid the fast moving cannons. One of the Destroyer captains got a little to zealous in his attack. Taking his ship in close to use his own lasers, he was rewarded for his efforts when the dreadnought’s reactor core exploded. The ship was flung off toward Ganymede, where it was quickly halted by tractor beams on two carriers before impacting the surface.

The Beowulf had also reached the dreadnought and opened fire. Hitting it from behind, the UGTO ship was able to cripple the dreadnought without receiving almost any return fire, save a torpedo or so, which was deflected by the stronger frontal armor of the dreadnought. K’luth dreadnoughts were known for there ability to fire massive amount of fire to the space immediately in front of their ships, but their rear, port, and starboard weaponry left something to be desired. 5 IT Missiles from Ganymede finished the job.

The tactical officer reported in just then. “It looks like K’luth fleet is retreating,” he reported in a surprisingly calm tone, considering the situation. A few more seconds past. “Yes, sir. The remaining K’luth ships are pulling out of range of the moons and are charging their Jump Drives. The Hive will be destroyed in matter of seconds, according to the reading of its core.”

The bridge crew eagerly looked up at the viewscreen and was treated to a beautiful (in their eyes) sight. The Hive, still a respective distance from Ganymede, exploded in a dazzling display of fire. Several fighter craft were seen to be destroyed in the outer fringes of the explosion, unable to escape in time.

Stewart nodded. “Order all ships to fire on any ship in range, but do not proceed outside the lunar system. Once the K’luth are gone, gather a casualty report and send it to my computer. I’ll be in my quarters.” Stewart called the Shift B commander and left the bridge for the lift.

[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2003-07-24 02:44 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2005-07-29 02:07 ]
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Tbone
Grand Admiral

Joined: July 21, 2001
Posts: 1756
From: Vancouver
Posted: 2003-07-01 15:21   
Chapter 2: Aftermath:

A few hours later, when things had quieted down once again, Stewart was in the main briefing room with his department heads for the daily briefing. The casualties from the day’s fighting had been the heaviest yet, with a Dreadnought, 3 Cruiser squadrons, and 2 Destroyer Squadrons being lost.

This was reported by the operations officer, Lieutenant Commander Jean Raymond. A fiercely independent, fiery, and intelligent woman, as one must seem to be in the military, she didn’t let any stereotypes left over from the 20th and 21st century stand in her way. Her military record was clean and as impeccable as any of her male counterparts. She had proven herself many times over and then some in both space and ground command situations. She had commanded the Harrier Frigate Swarmer at the age of 29, a remarkable age, especially for a woman, and built an impressive track record with the small ship, with over 20 confirmed kills and crippled ships painted on the hull. She requested a transfer to the Beowulf after she and another captain of a destroyer were the only two surviving ships of a disastrous raid in the Procyon system. It was here where she sparked the interest (professionally in any case) of Admiral Stewart. He once made the mistake of being condescending to her and although here reply to the comment wasn’t exactly insubordination, Stewart saw in her eyes that if he did it again, she wouldn’t give a damn about the command structure.

The damage to the Beowulf wasn’t immense, though it was significant. Minor damage was sustained to the port and bow armor plating, while major damage was caused on the aft plating, courtesy of that torpedo volley. Repairs and replacement were underway and would be finished within 4 to 5 hours.

“How are the recovery operations going with those distress calls outside the system?” Stewart asked.

Raymond looked grim. “We have recovered some; most have been cut off, presumably from being destroyed. Most of the ships we recovered must have modified their distress call to avoid using the known K’luth channels. The ones who didn’t make it must not have had time, the crew, or equipment, since the beacons activate as soon as a ship’s drives become inoperable.”

“What ships have we recovered?” Stewart persisted.

She glanced down at his data pad. “2 dreadnoughts from the 7th Saturn Defense Fleet, 3 cruisers from the 2nd Mars Defense Fleet, a destroyer from the 1st Venus Defense Fleet, and 5 frigates from the 4th Neptune Defense Fleet; and there are bound to be more ships out there, playing hide-and-seek with any K’luth patrols. We also recovered several hundred merchant transports and freelancers that were in the vicinity of our recovery operations, they are now docked or in orbit around the inner moons, along with several unsalvageable derelict ships that have drifted from the planets. We have gutted them for ammunition and spare parts since, and given any remaining bodies a proper burial, according to their wishes.”

Stewart nodded somberly. His ship, being the flagship, had carried out the majority of the space burials while the ground burials were performed on Ganymede and Europa. Any family members present on Jupiter’s moons were notified and given any personal effects that were recovered.

Stewart went on to the more pressing situation. “What is the status of Jupiter Fleet?”

“Our casualties have been relatively light, compared to K’luth losses that is, but we cannot hold out forever. We have no construction shipyards, only repair bays, and even if we did, we have no crews to man them. Ammo and replacement armor and hull plating is plentiful for the moment but if the K’luth continue with their attacks we will begin to run dry in a matter of weeks. The same goes for the number of missiles available on the moons. Most still have a number of weeks supply left, assuming the current pattern of attacks persist, but some moons are below that number.”

“So, the only thing we can do is --”

The whistle of the room’s communications panel interrupted Stewart. He got up and depressed the button. “Stewart here. What is it?”

“Sir, Ensign Adams. Salvage teams report finding the flagship of the Mars Fleets, Hunter’s Moon. They are towing it to the Callisto repair yard for salvaging. They also report a power reading, apparently a stasis field, coming from the medical bay of the Hunter’s Moon but have not boarded to check it. They are awaiting orders just outside the defense envelope.”

Stewart pondered that for a second. “Tell the team to hold position. Then contact Callisto and have them prepare a boarding party with a double security force. They last thing I need is to have some K’luth hiding in stasis to ram a dreadnought into Callisto’s surface. Stewart out.”

“Yes, sir.” The ensign cut the link.

Stewart turned back to the table. “Unless there is anything else, this meeting is concluded. Questions? Comments?” A short pause. “Then you are dismissed.” The gathered humans stood and returned to their respective stations.

Stewart returned to the bridge and turned to Ship Operations. “Lieutenant Commander Raymond, call the shuttle bay and have them prepare the Lexington. I’ll be taking it to Callisto to supervise the boarding. Something about it just doesn’t seem right. A stasis field activated for this amount of time, aboard a derelict, isn’t normal.”

“Right away, sir.” Stewart left the bridge and took the lift to the shuttle deck.

* * * *

Two small shuttles departed Callisto’s orbiting docking platform and made their way toward the Hunter’s Moon. They approached carefully, running scans and keeping their distance just outside laser range. Although the dreadnought’s reactor core read offline, the boarding party hardly wanted to take a chance, especially with the commanding admiral soon to take off after them.

Huge gouges were plainly visible along the hull of the gigantic vessel. Jagged opening could be seen in almost every area of the ship. The salvage crews had put up temporary field generators around the holes along the path to the medical bay of the Hunter’s Moon and left the rest open to the vastness of space.

After several minutes of circling, scanning, and repeating, the two shuttles finally approached the ships manual docking latches; the hangers’ door wouldn’t open because there was no power. Seconds later, the pressure’s equalized and the outer door of the airlock cycled and opened.

4 boarding marines with rifles already raised stared out the door, zero-g suits donned and oxygen tanks filled. A second passed before a small hand motion sent 2 more standing out to the inner door. Peering left and right through the small portholes in the door then taking out a portable scanner, the marines nodded all clear. One stepped back and palmed open the door. A brief rush of air brushed past the marines as they stepped out of the airlock and into the empty and airless ship. A few meters to their left the second group of marines was performing the same routine and was opening the inner door. When both shuttles were cleared out, a total of 12 marines stood inside the dark corridor. The ship was as dark as a tomb, though no one was stupid enough to say something like that.

“Lights,” the commander said as he flipped on his two headlamps, followed by his marines. He motioned down the hallway toward the access hatchway to the maintenance ladders that led down to the medical deck. Taking slow, deliberate steps, the boarding party proceeded to the nearest ladder, careful to step around any debris, and the occasional body or two, floating around. Reaching the hatch, one of the marines flipped the lock and stood aside while another peered up, then down the ladder column. Taking a step inside, the trooper, slung his weapon over his back and grasped the ladder, taking it one step at a time. Two at a time the marines descended the 4 decks and exited the tube. The door to the medical bay was only 3 meters away and, as soon as all the marines were down and weapons back in hand, one approached the door, attached a manual release, and opened the door.

The medical bay was just as deserted as the rest of the ship. A quick survey of the room revealed a faint glowing in a back room, along with the hum of the stasis field. Another hand signal sent the marines toward the source of the light. Stepping through the door the marines discovered a small, one-man stasis pod in the middle of the room, surrounded by a mass of tools and several cobbled together boxes, which looked like power sources… and three technicians floating in the air.

The commander pointed to two of his marines. “Get this room pressurized. Perry and Mueller, guard the room. The rest of you, come with me and secure this deck.” The 4 assigned marines went to work, setting up equipment to generate and atmosphere inside the medical bay while the commander radioed in to report they had reached the sickbay.

* * * *

An hour later, after the sickbay was pressurized and two more marine squads were on board securing the ship, Stewart set off for the Hunter’s Moon. Walking through the ship toward the medical bay, he couldn’t help but look at and think about what had happened on board this ship. Its once pristine interior was mangled with scorch marks from burnt out computer panels and the fallen bodies, waiting to be carried off but the coroners. A temporary airlock had been setup outside the medical bay, which Stewart quickly passed through, saluting the two guards on his way. One inside, Stewart removed his helmet and approached the rear room, where he was saluted by the commanding officer.

“What’s the situation here, commander?” Stewart asked.

“This deck and the two above and below have been reported clear, sir,” the marine responded. “While we were waiting for you, sir, we downloaded the ship’s logs and ran some scans on the stasis field. There is someone alive in there, Admiral.”

This stopped Stewart short. Although he suspected that it held a person, he wasn’t really expecting it would be true. He glanced at the small tube before responding, “Then what are we waiting for? Commander, you may open the field.”

“Yes, sir.”

The marine walked over to the field and pressed a single button. Almost immediately the glow began to fade as power was dissipated. The commander pressed another button and the top of the tube slid back, revealing a young man, barely 20 years of age.

Struck speechless, the admiral tried to think of something to say, but the young man beat him to it. Opening his eyes, he looked at the admiral, glanced around the room, then back at Stewart. “So,” he said, “Are you going to rescue me, or just stand there?”

[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2003-07-24 02:45 ]
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Tbone
Grand Admiral

Joined: July 21, 2001
Posts: 1756
From: Vancouver
Posted: 2003-07-01 15:22   
Chapter 3: Unexpected but Welcome:

The Hunter’s Moon, despite its outward appearance, was actually in decent ship on the inside. Though the power core’s workings were severally damaged, it wasn’t a total loss as the main generator was mostly intact.

Stewart had ordered the Moon into the Callisto repair yard immediately after a larger detachment of boarding marines declared the ship clear of danger. Salvage tugs, all engine and almost no hull, pushed and pulled the dreadnought into the even bigger repair bay orbiting Callisto, then docked themselves.

During the recovery, Stewart had placed the man they found under armed escort, though Stewart could clearly tell he was no threat. After the Moon was placed safely into the shipyard, Stewart recalled their guest from the surface of Callisto to the Beowulf, to begin his debriefing, so to speak.

“You are the what of the Mars Fleets?” Stewart asked.

“I am the battle savant of the Mars Fleets, admiral,” the man repeated. “My name is Michael Devine. No cracks about the name, please” the young man pleasantly.

Stewart’s face remained as hard as a rock despite the small joke. He thought for a second or two. A battle savant, that sounds familiar…. “A battle savant… I thought that program was years away from completion.”

“It was, admiral. But the K’luth pushing into Wolf 359 pushed us out into the real world of combat. We were still 2 years from officially completing our training.”

Battle savants were incredibly gifted humans, specifically in the areas concerning warfare. From tactical control of a planet’s defenses to strategic control of entire fleets, savants were to be the answer to the K’luth’s seemingly impenetrable organization and control. Implanted with computer chips in their brain stems, the savants could, after finishing training, could be as fast as the smartest AI program in receiving information and giving orders.

“I was the one,” the savant continued, “that significantly slowed the K’luth attack on Mars. The only reason they succeeded in that attack was because of their numbers, which is a valid tactic in itself of course. I just wish I had that tactic on my side as well then.” There was a touch of regret in his voice.

Stewart asked the big question. “So how did you get into that stasis field aboard the Hunter’s Moon?”

“It’s not as long a story as you might think admiral. After it appeared the K’luth were going to win no matter what, Fleet Admiral Freeman, the commander of the Mars Fleets, ripped me from my fleet-computer interface and forced me down to sickbay where he stuffed me into stasis. He then had two technicians, the two you saw lying beside me, hook the field into an independent power source just before the ship took a hit to the reactor core, causing life support and other systems to begin to fail. At that point Freeman set a course for the Hunter’s Moon directly away from Mars. Toward Jupiter more or less in fact, which is I guess why I ended up here.”

“That’s it?” Stewart asked incredulously.

Devine’s answer was a shrug and the slight tilt of his head.

“I must say I’m curious Mr. Devine about your… occupation, shall we say. I must say I’m intrigued, but--”

Devine cut off the admiral. “Admiral, if its possible, I’d rather not beat around the bush. I’d be glad to act as the battle savant of Jupiter Fleet.

A small grin perked up the corners of Stewart’s mouth.

* * * *

Stewart gave Devine the grand tour of the ship; just because their species was on the verge of being conquered was no reason to dispel with pleasantries after all. Devine was, understandably, more interested in the engine and weapon rooms more then anything else. Stewart’s chief weapons engineer, a typically proud Russian named Aleksandr Alekseevich Bondarenko, was beaming as Devine inspected the systems. The Russian was not an imposing man, and his small size allowed him greater access to the ship’s access tubes and circuitry, but growing up on the edge of Siberia had hardened his body to a fine tone, but one rarely saw what he could actually do. And though engineering wasn’t exactly the place to keep up a work-out cycle, whenever Bondarenko wasn’t in engineering, one could almost always find him in the ship’s gym. But the man knew weapons as well as he knew a dumbbell. Devine was especially complimentary of the modifications Bondarenko had made to the torpedo reloading cycle; he had shaved 3 seconds off the normal reload time.

Stewart glanced at a chronometer, noting that the present shift was just about to end, and the alpha shift about to start. Stewart stepped into the nearest lift and ordered it to take him to the bridge. The lift hummed and began its ascent to the bridge deck. As Stewart stepped out, the sensor’s officer called out, “Admiral on the bridge!” The bridge crew snapped to attention.

“As you were,” Stewart responded. He turned to the shift commander, a not-yet middle aged commander. “Admiral has the conn.”

“Admiral has the conn, aye sir,” the commander responded, standing from the command chair.

As Stewart sat down the lift door to the bridge whisked open and admitted Stewart’s first officer, a recently released from the medical bay Captain Andrew Madsen.

Madsen had been injured early in the last attack on Jupiter when 2 Psi Missiles impacted a scarce 25 meters from the bridge. A support beam had collapsed from the impact and swung down into Madsen’s chest, breaking almost all of his ribs and puncturing both of his lungs. The medics responded with record speed to Stewart’s frantic call to the medical bay and got Madsen down in time before his lungs collapsed beyond repair.

Stewart had felt Madsen’s injury more then any other crew member. He and Madsen had being serving as admiral and first officer for almost 4 years, sticking together through 2 ships before reaching the Beowulf. Madsen had proven himself an invaluable asset to his ship as a tactician and operations officer. He knew almost every square foot of every ship he ever served on and could pass at almost any post on the ship.

Stewart leaned over to Madsen, who sat in the chair beside him. “How do you feel?”

“Like new, sir. Doctor Porter worked his usual magic,” Madsen said, referring to the ship’s chief medical officer.

“Good. You had me worried there for a while.”

“Nothing to worry about, sir. As long as that beam is fixed, I’ll be fine,” Madsen said with a small grin.

The tactical officer spoke up then. “Admiral, the scouts patrolling the Chaldene area report detecting intermediate contact with an energy reading.”

“K’luth?” Stewart asked.

“I believe so, sir. The scouts can’t pin it down for very long, but it definitely seems like a K’luth signature.”

The lift doors chose that moment to open and Devine stepped out. “Admiral, I must compliment you on your excellent engineering…” Devine noticed the serious looks of the bridge crew. “Is something going on, admiral?”

“As a matter of fact, there is.” Stewart turned to Tactical. “Show Mr. Devine here those readings the scouts discovered.”

Devine moved over to the tactical station, and the officer manning is stepped aside. But when Devine started to press a few buttons, the officer started to move back toward his station. Devine noticed this and said, “Admiral, please. I have full training on all bridge functions on every ship type in the fleet. I am not about to target a friendly ship.”

Stewart nodded to the tactical officer and he stepped back, leaving Devine alone, for the moment. Devine started to depress even more buttons until his fingers were a veritable blur across the board.

30 seconds past before Devine’s fingers stopped and he looked up. “Admiral, I suggest you divert your combat ships to cover this area immediately.” Devine brought the tactical display on the main screen, outlining the indicated area in red. It was almost half the Jovian system away from the pulsing energy reading and just outside the defensive zone of the system

Stewart glanced at the screen then back to Devine. “Do you have a reason to suggest that?”

“There is no time for explanations, admiral. You must divert your ships there.”

Madsen spoke up then. “Sir, with all due respect to Mr. Devine’s abilities and training, we simply cannot take this advice blindly.”

“Noted.” There was no time for hesitation, Stewart knew. It was one thing or the other… Communications, order all ships to converge on that area immediately and send them the coordinates,” Stewart said, then added, “But tell them to not move outside the range of the defense bases of the closest moons.”

“All ships acknowledge, sir. They are proceeding to the targeted area.”

The dots on the tactical display representing the UGTO ships began to move away from their patrol patterns and toward the red area.

A startled cry came from sensors. “Sir, I am reading a large disturbance in space! It’s a decloaking fleet!”

Stewart stared at the screen, seeing 20 enemy ships appear where there was once nothing. A small fleet of 4 dreadnoughts, 10 Cruisers, and 6 transport ships had come out of nowhere and slipped by the most concentrated system of sensors ever built.

Unfortunately for the K’luth ships, the UGTO ships were faster on the triggers. 20 Battle Dreadnoughts, armed with dozens of particle cannons, had just come into range of the K’luth ships. Not missing a beat, all cannons opened fire on several of the K’luth ships, destroying 2 cruisers, a dreadnought, and a transport with their rapid fire cannons within the first 20 seconds.

Another 30 torpedo cruisers from various squadrons, traveling slightly ahead of the dreadnoughts, targeted the remaining 3 dreadnoughts a second later, and let loose dozens of torpedoes on the three targets. The dreadnoughts’ were ripped to shreds and destroyed as the unprepared ships sustained multiple impacts.

The darkness of space became a small sun as the remaining K’luth ships began to return fire, but it was much too little, and much too late. UGTO dreadnoughts, cruisers, and destroyers tore into the almost helpless ships, peppering them with particle cannons, pummeling them with torpedoes, and raking them with lasers. 2 transports were able to jump in the direction of Io, but were easily handled by carriers and the defensive network.

The whole battle was over in less then 2 minutes. On the bridge of the Beowulf, the bridge crew was dumbfounded, except for Stewart, who was looking at Devine with a slightly raised eyebrow.

Stewart broke the silence. “Well done, Mr. Devine.”

[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2003-07-24 02:47 ]
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Tbone
Grand Admiral

Joined: July 21, 2001
Posts: 1756
From: Vancouver
Posted: 2003-07-01 15:23   
Chapter 4: Preparations:

An hour after the slight scare, yet another briefing was scheduled, but only for the senior officers this time. Devine was sitting outside, waiting to be called in.

“So have you analyzed the probably K’luth attack pattern?” Stewart asked his tactical officer.

“Yes, we have, admiral. And if it wasn’t for Mr. Devine, we would probably be in a rather deep hole right now.” He turned to the briefing screen. “If Devine hadn’t diverted our patrols when he had, the K’luth would have appeared at the exact moment where all our patrols were the furthest away. The K’luth transports would have been able to make a quick jump toward Ganymede and land their troops. Their escort, meanwhile, would have stayed in orbit and defended against any of our attacking ships. Although small, they possessed enough firepower to hold us at bay while the troops secured the planet. Estimates put them at controlling the majority of defense bases and military installations within an hour.”

“Well, sir, I think Mr. Devine is better qualified to answer those questions than I am. I’ve looked at the recording over and over and I still can’t figure out what he did or what he saw.”

“Very well.” Stewart pressed the comm. button to the waiting area. “Mr. Devine, could you join us in here please?”

The door swished open and allowed Devine entrance. “Admiral,” he greeted.

“Well now, Mr. Devine, I must admit you have us all at a complete loss. We have gone over your actions, and we simply cannot see what you saw. If you would pleas enlighten us, we would be appreciative.” Stewart waved a hand toward the screen.

“It would be my pleasure admiral,” Devine responded. He stepped toward the control panel and began to call up screens. He stopped abruptly on one. “The appearance of the K’luth signatures was, of course, my first clue. I then quickly pulled up the sensor data of these the scouts transmitted to us,” he called up another screen, “and found this.” A pulsing red line appeared on an overlay of the Sol system, bouncing from Neptune, to Uranus, to Mars, to Venus, to finally the spot where the reading appeared. “You see, this is how they fooled our sensors. They took actual energy signature readings of their own ships and relayed it around the system. The distance the signal traveled degraded it enough for it to appear like a small group of cloaked ships.

“The next step was elementary. I called up your patrol patterns and figured the likely distribution of ships to cover the area of the false readings. From this I calculated the point in space that would put a small, it would have to be small to hide their signatures, fleet the furthest away from any ship patrol and within easy distance of a important planet. From there, a simple matter of converging on the area was easy enough to do without alerting the K’luth. To remain undetected as long as they did, they would have had to run completely black, no energy diverted to any system that could cause any leakage in their cloak, including their sensors. By the time their sensors were back up to full operation, it was much too late for them to take any significant course of action.”

Stewart, during this, had leaned forward onto his thumbs and steepled his fingers up his face. Leaning his fingers to the side he said, “You make it sound so easy, Mr. Devine.”

Devine made a small gesture with his hands.

“Well Mr. Devine, I must say I’m impressed. If it wasn’t for you, my tactical officer here has said that the K’luth would have controlled Ganymede by now and we would be looking at an invasion.

“But on to more pressing matters,” Stewart continued. “Mr. Devine, you have offered your services to us and I intent to make full use of them, if you’re still willing of course.”

“Of course I am, admiral. This is still my home, no matter how much we actually control,” Devine responded with conviction.

“Glad to hear it. Now, here is a list of every ship we have at our disposal and our estimation of K’luth strength,” Stewart handed him a data pad. “I need you to look over it and get back to me by tomorrow if you think there is anyway we can take back Sol with what we have here…”

* * * *

The next day was an unusually quiet one. A small group of K’luth frigates were spotted near the outer limits of the system during the “early” hours, but they were too far out to warrant an attack and not worth the risk. Very little happened for the rest of the day, except for Devine finishing his review and reporting back to Stewart.

The door chime to Stewart’s ready room on the bridge sounded. “Come,” Stewart responded. Devine entered. “Have you finished your review Mr. Devine?” Stewart asked.

“Yes, admiral, I have. And I regret to inform you that your available combat ships are simply not enough to counterattack the K’luth in Sol.” Stewart visibly slouched back in his chair, but Devine kept talking. “However, you haven’t mentioned every ship you have at your disposal in this,” he gestured at the data pad.

Stewart sat upright now. “What are you talking about, Mr. Devine?”

“I’m saying, admiral, that you haven’t listed every ship in here. I did a little review of my own on the situation before I arrived, and found that you actually have a greater number of ships that you think you have, with significantly more firepower.”

Devine began to tell Stewart of his plan, and soon Stewart was smiling along with Devine.
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Joined: July 21, 2001
Posts: 1756
From: Vancouver
Posted: 2003-07-01 23:01   
Part I - All or Nothing



Chapter 1: Setting Out:

A week later all preparations had been made for the first strike outside the Jupiter system since Earth fell. All ships were prepped, loaded, and armed.

“Are you sure this will work Mr. Devine?” Stewart asked on the eve of the first attack outside the Jupiter system.

Devine’s face was perfectly impassive. “Nothing is sure in this universe admiral. I can only guess how the K’luth will react to the situation we will present to them. Granted they are very well educated guesses, but are still guesses none the less. I can, though, guarantee that the K’luth will never see what we have in store for them.”

Stewart looked hard at Devine for a few seconds. “And after the first attack? What then?”

That brought a reaction onto the savant’s face, his features hardened. “Obviously they won’t fall for the same trick. But I believe the advantage the transports will give us will be able to give us considerable advantage, even if the K’luth will expect it.”

Another pause. “Well, I hope that will be enough Mr. Devine. If this fails, all our strength will be sapped and we won’t be able to defend Jupiter, let alone Sol.”

“I realize that, admiral. Speaking as a human, not a savant, I will tell you now that this won’t fail.”

“I hope you’re right Mr. Devine. Because if you’re wrong, humanity will be wiped out of this universe.”

“It won’t come to that admiral. Now, is my fleet interface ready?”

“It is Mr. Devine. It was a bit of a hassle to get all ships hooked into the same link without overloading the system, but we managed it. You can test it out now if you wish.”

“I will, admiral. …And admiral?”

“Yes?”

“Call me Michael.”

* * * *

The Jupiter Fleet’s first target was Mars. Although the K’luth were well entrenched there, attacking any other planet just wouldn’t do. Pluto and the Neptune or Uranus systems were just too far away from the inner system to act as a beachhead. Mars would also be partially blocked by Sol, so the large K’luth fleets at Venus and Earth wouldn’t be able to assist until it was too late.

The Jupiter moons were almost drained of any fighting unit. Armored vehicles, artillery, and ground troops were crammed inside every available space on every available ship. Some were battle hardened, some were green, but, at over 8 million, they didn’t necessarily have to be veterans.

The fleet formed at Callisto to make the jump to Mars. Dreadnoughts, cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and scouts lined up in formations. Destroyers and cruisers formed protective rings around Dreadnoughts, with frigates scattered throughout the fleet to harass the larger ships while remaining near a dreadnought’s guns.

Stewart was the on the bridge of the Beowulf, awaiting the signal from Devine was in the positions he called for. It was slightly disconcerting to see him in the fleet interface. He was sitting straight up, eyes staring at the screen in front of him, and you could literally shake him and he wouldn’t even notice, but if you asked him a question, he could answer instantly. Harnesses held him in place should the ship be rocked unexpectedly. Stewart looked ahead at the main viewscreen. UGTO ships hung majestically in space, awaiting the order to go. Light glinted off of hulls, and the window lights added a touch of awe.

Stewart cleared his mind and went on to more important thoughts. This attack was all or none. A loss would mean the finish for the UGTO and possibly humanity itself, and a loss was a very real possibility. Depending on a man, albeit an obviously brilliant man, who they just met a few days ago, was a perplexing danger. While he had somewhat proven himself earlier, he was still an unknown factor with an almost untested ability. But Stewart did realize that without the rapid observation and reactions of Devine, there would be no chance of victory (and victory was already a slim chance).

“Fleet reports ready, admiral.” Devine’s calm voice broke through Stewart’s train of thought. Glancing over his shoulder, Stewart responded, “Thank you. Captain Madsen, inform the fleet and… our companions to begin the countdown to jump.” He leaned over to Madsen and whispered, “These guys better come through. I don’t care if we couldn’t do this without them; they are too unreliable and unproven in combat.”

“Agreed, sir. But we don’t have much of a choice do we? It’s either use them and possibly succeed in this, or cower in the Jupiter system and wait for the inevitable,” Madsen said matter-of-factly.

Stewart looked at the ceiling and rubbed his chin, feeling a bit of stubble there he missed. He turned to Raymond. “Commander Raymond, begin systems check.”

Raymond ran through system diagnostics with her usual efficiency. With still 5 minutes left on the countdown all systems were given the green light. The Beowulf was ready for battle.

* * * *

Damn these freaks, the man thought as another patrol of K’luth walked by. So damned efficient at war. He and his small group of freedom fighters, formed shortly after the takeover of Mars, were about to carry out there first major operation to let their presence be known. Made up of military officers, some retired, some of those given up, and intelligence operatives, the group, it had no name as of yet, had planned the operation down to the finest detail.

The man was hiding behind two large crates, mere meters away from his target. The last patrol walked past and started to turn around a corner. Now!

The man sprinted across the path and reached a door with a combination lock. He knelt down beside the key panel and took out a small pad from the pack on his back. He held it an inch away from the number pad and pressed a button on the side of the device.

As expected, the K’luth hadn’t bothered to change the locks on the human installation. A few seconds later, the pad displayed the correct combination to the door. The man withdrew a small projectile weapon from a holster on his belt, punched in the correct sequence, and slipped inside the building.

Inside the hum of the massive fusion generators that powered Mars was immediately apparent. The lighting was dimmed and long, dark shadows were created by support beams and machinery. So much the better.

A noise.

The man froze, and took a step further into the shadow created by an overhanging catwalk. He pressed up against a wall and peered around, barely exposing his eye. A K’luth was there, crouched in front of an open panel of one of the gigantic machines manipulating delicately the mechanisms with its four arms, obviously having trouble with the smaller pieces not designed for the K’luth hand. A technician. Too bad it’s in my way.

The K’luth looked down at the assortment of human tools at his feet, having trouble discerning which one it should use. Which one was I supposed to—.

The man stepped around the corner and placed a single, suppressed shot into the K’luth’s head. There wasn’t even time for the surprise to register on the K’luth’s face. It collapsed backward without a sound.

The man would have preferred to wait a minute or two, to let the adrenaline flush from his system, but time was a luxury he didn’t have. He stepped over the body, a pool of blood forming under its head, and continued forward.

He reached another door with another combination lock. Withdrawing the pad and repeating the same process, the correct number sequence was obediently shown to him. Punching in the combination the door was unlocked with an inaudible click. Raising his weapon in one hand, the human pushed the door open slowly. The room was deserted, the lights out and machines shut off. It was the power station’s computer room.

The human was not going to use something as crude as explosives. No, the group had something more devastating then simply taking out a single power station. The man turned on the main computer and logged onto the account name given to him by a worker in contact with the group. Removing a palm-sized disc from his pack, the human inserted into the terminal, pressed a few buttons, then removed himself from the computer room. He exited the same way he came, not bothering to remove the body. Let them wonder, he thought with a smile.

* * * *

“Engage jump drive,” Stewart ordered.

“Jump drive engaged, sir,” the ensign at the helm reported.

“Status of the fleet’s formation, Mr. Devine?” Stewart asked, not ready to call the man by his first name in front of the bridge crew.

“Slight deviation of 10 meters of the frigate Meteor and the cruiser Passat. Several other misalignments of 2 meters or less,” Devine reported in that eerily calm voice of his through the interface.

“Any effect on the formation?”

“Nothing noticeable.”

Stewart turned to the helm. “ETA to Mars, ensign?” He asked.

“2 minutes until interdictor field contact, sir.”

The tension was, understandably, extreme. Looking around the bridge, one could see every crew member standing straight, backs rigid, and muscles tense.

“We are passing the asteroid belt now, admiral.”

Stewart nodded then leaned forward and placed his chin on his two fists.

* * * *

Sir, the K’luth commander “heard.” I have discovered something strange in the defense network computers I think you should see.

Very well, the commander responded. I’m on my way.

To any non-K’luth, this conversation would have happened in the blink of an eye. Psionic communication did come in handy sometimes, though for the K’luth it was simply their language.

A few seconds later the commander entered the main computer room of the Mars Defense Network, which controlled all aspects of planetary defense, from missile launches to organizing ground combat in case of invasion.

What is it? The commander asked.

I’m not sure, sir. I am still unsure of the more complicated aspects of the human computers, but I discovered this just a short time ago. A screen was called up, filled with a complex code.

The commander glanced at it, then back to the computer technician. I am not an expert at computers and I don’t pretend to be. What am I looking at here?

That’s just it. I’m not sure but I swear to Y'Rath'Atar that this wasn’t here before.

The commander grew irritated. What is your point here then? All I have learned that you have discovered an unknown program that you missed before.

But, sir, I have analyzed the program and—

A new, much louder thought, one ringing with urgency, overwhelmed the technician’s mind. Sir! It shouted. The human fleet that has been hiding in the Jupiter system has emerged from tachyon space! They are converging on Mars currently.

Their numbers? The commander asked.

We are reading their numbers now; they seem to have a large flotilla of additional craft with them as well, not of obvious UGTO design. We are attempting to scan their capabilities.

The commander sent out orders at once, Order our ships to execute their defensive plans! Get those orders to our ships in orbit!

In the communication room down the hall, the K’luth manning it heard the order and donned an odd-looking helmet. The K’luth closed his eyes and the machine hummed to life, sending the amplified psionic communication to the ships in orbit.

[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2003-07-24 02:51 ]
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Joined: July 21, 2001
Posts: 1756
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Posted: 2003-07-01 23:02   
Chapter 2: First Strike:

Before the war started, both the UGTO and ICC were able to maintain a firm control over the black market trade of weapons, ships, and armor and shields. The strong military presence of both governments was often enough to keep most potential traders off the market, while some others needed stronger “persuasion” to give up their current lifestyle. Either way there were very few pirates operating in the territory occupied by either the ICC or UGTO.

But that was before the war. Ever since almost the start of the war between the ICC, UGTO, and K’luth, technology was falling into the wrong hands and being installed on the wrong ships. There were even reports and rumors of pirates and privateers even installing K’luth weapons on their ship, not to mention UGTO and ICC tech. Ship designs from the size of scouts to cruisers now scoured the stars with the firepower of any military ship.

* * * *

The K’luth, on the other hand didn’t know this.

In the space above Mars, UGTO and K’luth ships scattered and began to exchange shots, torpedoes and cannons criss-crossed between ships and space. Blossoms of light appeared where weapons impacted, ships began to take damage.

The UGTO ships, without the new vessels, had a mere 300 ships assigned to the fleet to attack Mars compared to the K’luth’s 500. But with the addition of the pirate vessels, the UGTO numbers topped 800, and the surprise the new ships were going to give wouldn’t hurt either.

The newly added ships to the UGTO fleet advanced slowly behind the main body, but accelerated once the fighting began. The K’luth on Mars had since identified these ships as merchant transports and private vessels, of no concern to their fleet… or so they thought.

Breaking formation, they took off on their own, though still under control of Devine on the bridge of the Beowulf, but he felt they would perform better without direct control. The transports let loose with military grade particle cannons, lasers, torpedoes, and even some of the more advanced technology of the UGTO and ICC.

The K’luth were caught off guard and before they knew it, a dozen ships were destroyed without the privateers sustaining a single loss. The K’luth reacted quickly, and began to target their new adversaries, releasing any other ships they were firing on and began to chase the new danger. Devine had anticipated this (quite easily he said) and the merchants quickly ducked back behind the main force. Large pursuers were picked off by advancing dreadnoughts while cruisers and destroyers held the smaller ships, destroyers and frigates, at bay. Within a few minutes, it was obvious that K’luth had gotten off to a very bad start. Only 10 UGTO had been destroyed, while over 75 K’luth vessels were space dust.

The K’luth recognized this and began a fighting retreat back closer to Mars, where the planet’s defensive missiles could help them without the risk of hitting their own ships. Privateers again moved out from behind the veritable wall of dreadnoughts, and began to swarm in and out of the larger K’luth ships. They started to take losses, but not without giving some back in return. Several privateers were destroyed, but another 30 K’luth ships went down, unprepared for the nimble ships with firepower to match theirs. One took a mortal hit in the engine and, in a final heroic gesture, rammed the ship into the side of a cruiser, creating a gaping hole and crippling the vessel for good.

Devine and Stewart both knew that they had no time for regrouping. It was either press on to Mars or lose this fight forever.

“Order the fleet ahead!” Stewart called out on the bridge.

The UGTO and privateers surged ahead, bearing down on the retreating K’luth. Once again the K’luth rear weakness came into play. K’luth destroyers broke off and began to attack the leading UGTO ships, but the dreadnoughts quickly advancing toward them kept them mostly at bay. Another 20 UGTO ships were destroyed before the fleet was able to catch up the K’luth fleet and pour fire into their engines, but the weak rear firing arcs of the K’luth ships came into play once again. The destroyers, seeing they had no chance of even slowing down the advancing fleet, turned tail and rejoined their fleet.

Torpedoes lanced through the black of space, most of it coming from the UGTO fleet. But then the fleet came into the range of the Mars defense bases.

* * * *

“Missiles launched, admiral!” The tactical officer reported.

Stewart flipped the fleet channel open. “All ships! Planetary missiles have been launched! All lasers switch to automatic defense mode,” he closed the channel.

Devine then executed his plan. Once again, scores of privateers surged out from the ring of UGTO ships. But their doctrine was different this time. As the missiles neared, salvaged and stolen ICC Pulse Beams lanced out toward the incoming missiles. Dozens of missiles fell to the rapid fire lasers, almost none breaching the wall of pulse technology. The second wave of missiles looked like it was going to have more success, more then half penetrating the line of privateers, but suddenly a bright blue light expanded throughout space, destroying the dozens of missiles in an instant. It seemed not even Pulse Waves could be kept out of pirate hands.

Communications between K’luth on the surface and in the fleet were becoming frantic. Orders were being lost, misinterpreted, and gathered by the wrong people. The battle was taking a downhill slide, but then things went really wrong for the K’luth.

* * * *

The computer virus installed the night before came to life. Going unnoticed because of the massive computer traffic, it executed its orders. Multiplying itself thousands of times over, it spread rapidly throughout the entire Mars Defense Network, infecting everything from the launch codes for the defense bases to the psionic communication enhancers the K’luth had installed. In less then a millisecond, Mars was cut off from the rest of Sol, and its fleet.

* * * *

It took less then 5 seconds for Devine to recognize the disarray barely becoming present in the K’luth ships. Not a savant to give up any advantage, he immediately sent out orders to all ships. The K’luth were almost firing at random, making them extremely easy targets for organized strikes. Destroyers and frigates began dodging over, under, and around dreadnoughts, constantly hitting them with small cannon fire while dreadnoughts and cruisers began to dig into other ships. K’luth destroyers, without an overall commander, were left to their own devices and were devastated as they came too close to dreadnoughts and were chewed up by their CL2000’s.

The privateers once again advanced on their own and began to fly in and out of what was left of K’luth formations. These were quickly broken up by the massive number of the private ships swarming in and out, pelting the K’luth with weapons they shouldn’t have possessed.

On the bridge of the Beowulf Devine was analyzing the data he was receiving from the ships in the fleet, and made his decision. “Admiral, it is safe for the transports to proceed to Mars. The K’luth fleet is in disarray and will be destroyed or will retreat momentarily.”

Stewart swiveled his chair. “Are you sure about that?” He answered his own question. “Never mind, of course you are. Inform the transports that they are clear for invasion.”

“Yes, sir,” communications answered.

Waiting just outside of sensor range, the transports engaged their jump drive for the short hop to Mars. Hitting the interdictor field they didn’t hesitate a second. They proceeded unheeded toward the orbit of Mars as what was left of the K’luth fleet scattered into space.


[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2003-07-24 02:54 ]
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Joined: July 21, 2001
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Posted: 2003-07-22 01:47   
Chapter 3: Foothold:

The drop pods, filled to the brims with infantry, tanks, artillery, and all other means of ground combat, descended through the atmosphere of Mars. With the defense bases mysteriously disabled, no losses were absorbed in the landing craft. This was an unexpected bonus, as both Stewart and Devine anticipated at least a 20% loss in the descent. But they could adapt to this situation much easier then if they had taken more losses then thought.

The drop ships landed fast and expelled their cargo as quickly as possible, whether it be supplies, fighting implements, or building materials. As soon as they were done, they ascended back to the awaiting transports, which as quickly as they came, retreated back into the Jupiter system.

General Robert Martin sat in his command tank. Opening his hatch he looked around at the barren landscape, not a K’luth or animal to be seen. He opened a radio frequency, “Start setting up base camp and establish a perimeter. I want this place totally secure in an hour and base constructed an hour after that.” He closed the channel.

The bulk of the UGTO army had landed in the middle of the desert that still occupied most of the Mars surface. Though terraforming had been a perfected science, the prime example being Venus being turned into an almost Earth-like planet, the Mars colonists had protested strongly against the proposed terraforming and insisted that Mars be left as it had been for centuries, except for the part of breathable air of course.

All around him armored personnel carriers and tanks began to move out on their anti-gravs. Artillery took up positions and deployed their massive launchers. The UGTO artillery resembled the MRLS of the late US Army, but with many improvements. For one, the rocket gas fumes were no longer fatal to inhale, mostly because the rockets used almost no fuel. The initial velocity was provided by a chemical reaction, like an old style handgun, and then that was increased exponentially by a railgun system, as well the rockets were very easy to replace, allowing for quick reloads. The same firing mechanism applied to most of the UGTO army’s weapons. The UGTO had, however, recently begun large scale production of a new type of tank, one that used proton cannons similar to those found on starships. The Jupiter Fleet received a large shipment of the new tank just before the K’luth made it to Sol, and planned to make full use of them. The proton cannon was easily superior to any ground weapon known in the K’luth arsenal and could penetrate, though disintegrate was a more appropriate word, almost any armor plating.

* * * *

Two hours and fifteen minutes later the army’s command and control center had been set-up in the base of a small canyon to prevent strafing or bombing runs from any K’luth fighters stationed on Mars. Relays had been set up just above the canyon walls to allow communication with ground forces along with anti-air and ground cannons.

Battalions and armored cavalry divisions were organized and had begun to move toward their targets. The first one to be hit was a small town, given the name of New Perth, 20 kilometers away from the canyon. It was believed to contain a single armor regiment and a battalion of troops. Two divisions of troops and 3 regiments of tanks, including one consisting of the new proton tank, were assigned to take the town.

Separating into tactical formations, the UGTO tanks moved in slightly ahead of the APC’s. Despite the frenzy in the K’luth command structure, the commander of the town was no fool. As soon as the communications systems were disabled, he immediately put his tanks and troops on defense.

* * * *

The rocket launchers rose up out of the back of the artillery piece and took aim. Though collateral damage was going to be a problem, no matter what the UGTO was to take Mars. If a few civilians died in the process, so be it.

“Are we ready?” The gunner asked.

“Hell yeah! Let ‘em rip!”

All at once, a kilometer long line of the artillery opened up on the defensive positions dug in on the edge of the town from a range 100 kilometers. Hundreds upon hundreds of rockets filled the air, all heading for the same line of defenses. 30 seconds later, they impacted and brought devastation with them. Plumes of dirt a hundred feet high were launched into the air. Bunkers and trenches were blown apart and collapsed, along with whatever soldiers were still in them. The bombardment continued for what seemed like a lifetime for the K’luth soldiers, but was only 5 minutes. But 5 minutes was plenty of time for the artillery.

Survivors began to crawl out of what was left of their shelters, only to be looking down the 150mm barrels of UGTO tanks. Advancing under the cover of the bombardment, the tanks were a mere 100 meters from overrunning the perimeter. Several tanks opened fire on the trenches on the move for good measure, and that was enough. Almost all of the remaining K’luth broke ranks and ran. Those who stayed were either blown apart by the .50-caliber machine guns on the tanks or simply run down.

APC’s stopped 25 meters from the town’s edge and began unloading troops. No one liked what was going to come next. Although the town was small, it had enough buildings to serve as an arena for urban warfare. Even with the advancements in detecting technology, weapons, and armor, urban combat was still a dangerous game to play. The UGTO forces split into their squads and platoons and ducked into the streets and alleys, under cover of armor.

Almost instantly windows burst open and K’luth soldiers opened fire on the advancing troopers. Casualties were sustained and fire was returned. Individual squads broke off and entered the occupied buildings while the bulk of the force stayed on the street. The architecture of the Martian buildings allowed for easy building-to-building access, as most were connected to each other. The squads barely had to return to the street

The K’luth command center was located near the center of town in the former town hall. The hall had an extensive underground communications facility. A dozen tanks hidden behind piles of rubble with only their turrets showing, along with several platoons, guarded the entrance to the command center. They had nothing to fear from artillery, as several high-rise buildings surrounded the square where the hall was situated, effectively blocking almost all angles.

The UGTO force took control of most of the town in a few hours, leaving only the center untouched, but not for long.

The K’luth soldiers heard the distinctive whine of the anti-gravity pads on the approaching tanks. They tensed and prepared for the worst.

They got it.

A K’luth tank fired off a psi bolt into a UGTO tank turning a corner a hundred meters down the road. The bolt was absorbed by the armor, much to the dismay of the crew of K’luth tank. The UGTO tank turned and trained its cannon on the frantically recharging K’luth tank. The tank fired and an encased ball of pure proton energy loosed down the road and impacted the turret of the K’luth tank, disintegrating it along with the rear half of the tank. Much the same was happening on the other defensive positions. Four UGTO tanks were destroyed before the last K’luth tank fell and the APC’s moved in to discharge their loads of troops. Advancing behind the slow moving tanks, the ground forces converged and surrounded the defensive positions of the command center. A few brave souls popped out from behind cover to fire off some anti-tank rounds, but they were shooting at the frontal armor of main battle tanks, and the missiles they fired bounced harmlessly off the plates. Most were unable to duck back to reload for a second shot, cut down by .50-caliber machine guns and human rifles.

The side mounted rocket launchers on the UGTO tanks went to work. Acting almost like short range artillery, the rockets cut through the air and detonated on the K’luth lines, ripping apart 20 soldiers. The tanks reloaded their rockets and fired another volley, this time accompanied by an infantry rush. Under the cover of the bombardment, the infantry overran the K’luth positions as they hid from the rockets.

Inside the command center, the K’luth technicians and officers glanced at each other. The commander looked at a computer technician who then punched in a few commands on his station. He was reaching for the last button when the door burst open and a small canister was tossed inside. It exploded in a brilliant white flash as it hit the floor, knocking every K’luth in the room for a ride. By the time they recovered from the stun blast, they found themselves manacled and restrained. A few struggled against their bonds and were struck unconscious by the human soldiers. With the town center secured, the last organized resistance in New Perth fell.

[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2003-07-24 02:55 ]
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Posted: 2003-07-23 02:07   
Chapter 4: Results:

The Beowulf was now in orbit around Mars. For whatever reason there was the defense bases had shut down on the surface and all the remaining ships had made it unscathed into orbit after the transports dropped their contents. With a blockade, one that included Interdictors, set-up to fend off any attacks from space, the main concern now was the battle on the ground.

“Is everything going according to plan?” Stewart asked.

“As well as can be expected, sir,” Raymond responded. “We have control of 20 cities and attacks proceeding on several others as we speak. Thanks to the apparent communication disruption on the surface, almost no word has been sent out from the K’luth forces of our attacks. Their military on the surface is in chaos. Whatever, or whoever, disrupted their communications sure did a good job at it. Every single piece of their psionic amplification devices are offline. As such, they have no long range communication, except those in battle suits, fighters, tanks, and other equipment separate from the main net, and those aren’t enough to coordinate massive attacks. The only thing bad about this is we don’t know when those systems could come back online.”

“Meaning we will probably have to move even quicker to take advantage of this ‘disruption.’ Status of the fleet?” Stewart asked.

“The blockade is firmly in place, sir. All interdiction devices are on-line. With the planetary defenses off-line, we have been able to block a significantly larger portion of Mars’ space then originally thought. We have already intercepted several K’luth attempts to break through and stopped them.”

“Is there any sign of K’luth reinforcements?”

“None yet, admiral. I believe the fleets at Earth and Venus are not going to attack. They know we have not attacked with our full strength and along with the pirate vessels, so they won’t risk attacking us and leaving Earth or Venus wide open.” A small look of disgust crossed her face as she said “pirate.”

“That a large and dangerous assumption, Commander.” Stewart said. “What do you base that on, exactly?”

“Well… it’s what Mr. Devine said they would do, sir.”

“Oh.” Stewart was silent for a brief moment. “Very well.” He turned to Bondarenko, “What’s the situation in Weapons, commander?”

“Adequate, sir.” Things almost never got above that rating, anyways. “Torpedo launchers are at three-quarter loads and laser batteries are approaching full charge. Several energy relays for the CL2000’s burnt out during the battle, but they have been replaced and tested and are at full capability. Besides that, no other damage or problems.”

“Is the crew holding up well?” Stewart directed his question at Madsen.

“Morale is very high, sir. With the relatively easy victory we’ve had today the crew isn’t very anxious. I’d say they are I their best spirits since Sol fell.”

Stewart was about to draw the meeting to a close when his tactical officer, Lieutenant Michael Knight, spoke up, “Sir, are you sure we can trust the privateers? I realize they will be, and already have been, a deciding factor in this war, but we cannot put them in any position of trust or authority. They are inexperienced, erratic, and, to be frank, sir, disloyal. They are concerned with no one but themselves.” Raymond was nodding along with Knight.

“True enough, Mr. Knight,” Stewart said. “But I’m afraid we have to trust them for now. We couldn’t have defeated the K’luth at Mars, and we won’t be able to retake Sol, without them. I don’t like integrating unknowns into our fleet as much as anybody, but until they prove themselves unreliable, we must continue to use them.”

Stewart adjourned the meeting and returned to the bridge. On the view screen hung the dusty red planet of Mars and behind it was Sol, twinkling away oblivious to the great violence around it.

* * * *

The group still didn’t have a name for itself. It didn’t exactly need one anyways as they hadn’t gone public with their existence quite yet. After hearing of the UGTO invasion force, they had stopped most of their high grade activities for fear of interfering of what was, if the rumors were true, a very successful invasion. They concentrated on their low key actions, propaganda and recruitment, for the most part.

But the group had a problem.

The virus the group had installed had no antidote program. Not expecting the UGTO to attack so soon after the virus did its magic, their few computer experts had been working day and night to find a way to counter the virus. They hardly wanted the UGTO to take over a defenseless planet and especially didn’t want the K’luth to have an easy time to retake the planet if they tried to. The virus had to be removed and destroyed.

“Richard,” the man said, “Are you sure it’s wise to develop an antidote program so quickly? We may be a tight group, but nothing in this universe is perfect. We could be discovered, and if the K’luth find the program, the UGTO force could be pushed back.”

“I know, Jason, I know. But I can’t risk not developing the program. The UGTO could roll in here at anytime and liberate the capital, and I don’t want to be the one that handed them over a dead planet!”

“But the risk--”

“Is acceptable. Without their psionic equipment, the K’luth can barely talk to each other, much less put up a planet wide defense or find a small group of freedom fighters. We will develop that program and hang onto it until we find some way of either giving it to the fleet or installing it ourselves.”

* * * *

Indeed, the K’luth simply couldn’t put up an effective planetary defense without their long range psionic amplifiers. No information could be sent quickly enough for forces to know when to attack, reassign their defenses, or retreat. All across the planet K’luth army after K’luth army fell before the UGTO force. And with the defense bases off-line, orbital bombardment become child’s play. Precision guided warheads streaked unscathed through the atmosphere and devastated K’luth positions. Town after town, city after city, and base after base were conquered or wiped from existence. In only 2 days, the UGTO army was closing in on the Mars capital, ready to liberate for what many hoped was the only time.

[ This Message was edited by: Tbone on 2003-07-24 02:55 ]
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DaMadCow
Fleet Admiral

Joined: July 20, 2001
Posts: 407
From: A Farm
Posted: 2003-07-23 04:01   
just thought id say i really like the story. It has some great ideas on how DS should be.

-Planets taking more than 2 minutes to capture. Requiring a large fleet ETC.



Great job TBONE!!
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Axianda The Royal
Fleet Admiral
Terra Squadron

Joined: November 20, 2001
Posts: 4273
From: Axianda
Posted: 2003-07-23 07:57   
wow great story.


love the idea of those moon deathstars
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Eledore Massis [R33]
Grand Admiral
Templar Knights


Joined: May 26, 2002
Posts: 2695
From: tsohlacoLocalhost
Posted: 2003-07-23 09:05   
nice story dude
loved it

{to add .50 & 150 mm ?? we live in the future maby railguns of fusion rifles are suitable }

other than that keep up the darn good work
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Ishtarra
Cadet

Joined: November 06, 2002
Posts: 177
Posted: 2003-07-23 10:07   
very nice, first time ever i saw a good piece of fanfic on the darkspace forums
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Captain Caveman
Cadet

Joined: October 12, 2002
Posts: 668
Posted: 2003-07-23 10:43   
Constructive criticism:

The Kluth appear to be merely another human faction. I was always under the impression that their technology should be more organic e.g. The Kluth tank. Surely they would have something different to merely a tank. This is my own personal opinion however.

Some times you end what could be a particularly good piece of narrative far too early, e.g. The first time the savant is presented. I think it would be nice if you could extend these concepts and really dig deep.

General outline of the story reads quite nicely though.
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Axianda The Royal
Fleet Admiral
Terra Squadron

Joined: November 20, 2001
Posts: 4273
From: Axianda
Posted: 2003-07-23 13:33   
Quote:

On 2003-07-23 10:43, Captain Caveman wrote:
Constructive criticism:

The Kluth appear to be merely another human faction. I was always under the impression that their technology should be more organic e.g. The Kluth tank. Surely they would have something different to merely a tank. This is my own personal opinion however.

Some times you end what could be a particularly good piece of narrative far too early, e.g. The first time the savant is presented. I think it would be nice if you could extend these concepts and really dig deep.

General outline of the story reads quite nicely though.


he does have a point there but mind you that they invaded Mars and other human planets so they would use/salvage any parts they can
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Malduc{-GTN-}
Cadet

Joined: January 19, 2003
Posts: 544
From: New Jersey
Posted: 2003-07-23 13:46   
VERY well written Tbone, keep it up, I look foreward to reading the rest.

Malduc
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