WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  The crews of the Orion ships lay on their couches, enduring the hammering blows as each of the nuclear bombs exploded and shoved them that much faster toward the enemy.

  Soon, Admirals Wilson and Tojo gave orders, and the nuclear acceleration ceased. The ships were moving quickly toward the Phoenix vessels and space marine breaching units.

  Speeding at the Phoenix capsules and breaching units from the aerosol cloud were fast alien missiles.

  “Start targeting the enemy missiles,” Tojo said.

  Admiral Wilson gave the same order to his Orion ships.

  Anti-missile defenses began to launch from the seven Orion ships, speeding out to intercept the incoming enemy missiles.

  The combined tonnage of the Phoenix capsules did not possess that kind of firepower. They simply lacked the mass or space for it. In some ways, this was like a game of poker. Each side had a set amount of money (resources) determined by the weight of the vessels. The five Enforcers had ten million dollars against a thousand dollars of the Phoenix capsules. Therefore, it would be an easy matter to sweep them from the table just by laying down too much money for them to match. The Phoenix ships lacked mass, meaning the Valiant mass would sweep them aside.

  Now, however, an equally rich player advanced to do battle, perhaps an even richer player than the aliens. If this were to be decided by an exchange of missiles, of sheer materiel, the Earthers would prevail, as they had two more warships than the Valiants. They also had the smattering from the Phoenix capsules.

  Hours passed until the two sets of staggered missiles began to converge on each other. Soon, nuclear detonations dotted the space between the two opposing fleets, creating whiteouts. It was impossible to scan through that mass of explosions. In a sense, however, that didn’t matter to the humans. For the Watchdog satellites continued to scan from behind and send the data around all that back to Command Central on Aphrodite. Aphrodite could still send it out to the ships beyond the Moon.

  The explosions continued between the missiles until each expended its payload, as the missiles dwindled in number until none remained.

  The engagement favored the Earthers—not because their missiles inflicted more damage, but because they neutralized the Valiant missiles aimed at the Phoenix capsules.

  Given the situation, massed spaceships now headed against massed spaceships. The mobile asteroids were still too far behind to engage in battle for the moment. Instead, the heavier mass of Earth was coming upon the technologically superior mass of the Valiants behind the aerosol cloud. Could greater weight defeat better technology? That was the question. Even if the fleets expended themselves to destroy each other, it would not matter if the asteroids broke through.

  Earth needed to do more than just keep pace with the aliens. They needed to smash the covering alien fleet and have enough left over to begin hammering the mobile asteroids.

  The two sides remained on a collision course, moving toward each other—not as quickly as the asteroid ships were moving, which still accelerated. The two fleets were like cars speeding toward each other on a highway, each threatening to ram the other.

  Soon, battle royale would begin.

  -23-

  Admiral Tojo had obeyed orders until this point. Now, as the fleets closed in on each other—

  Tojo had calculated that the fleets would pass each other swiftly. That meant the two sides had only a short time to engage each other. That short time might not be long enough to win. Therefore, for Earth to win, they needed to prolong their attack on the enemy.

  Admiral Tojo was an avid student of naval warfare, and his greatest hero was Admiral Nelson of the British Navy, particularly for his great victory at Trafalgar in 1805, where the English smashed the combined Spanish and French fleets. Now Tojo, in a way, took a leaf from Lord Nelson’s book on war.

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  His three Orion ships accelerated away from the others, heading faster for the approaching aerosol cloud. Messages from Petty and Wilson came in thick and fast.

  Tojo pointed at the comms officer and said, “I don’t want to hear them. We are maintaining comm silence, except if I signal the other ships.”

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  The three Orion ships accelerated again toward the enemy, now less than an hour away given their current velocities.

  What was the point of this stunt?

  Tojo knew exactly what the point was: Glory! Great glory and honor as the greatest fighting admiral Earth had ever known. He was Admiral Tojo. No one was like him; he was unique. Only he had the balls to do what needed to be done, even if that meant sacrificing his Orion ships and command. Did he tell others about this? Hell no, he did not, because Tojo knew a secret. He was braver and more courageous than anyone else on the planet; therefore, he would do what needed to be done for Earth’s survival.

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  The three Orion ships sped toward the enemy.

  First, Tojo knew they needed to get rid of that aerosol cloud. That was a monstrous disadvantage, particularly for the space marines in their breaching units. Tojo had studied the Battle of Neptune. You could bet your last pair of shorts on that. Tojo had studied. He had also done exactly as the so-called masters had told him to do, all for this moment. He would rather have commanded the whole fleet, but he would take the Plato, Duke Wellington, and Ulysses S. Grant. He was riding to victory and glory such as no samurai from the land of Japan had ever known. This would wipe out the insult of World War II. His ancestors had fought then, and the Americans had gloated over their victory in the Pacific when they had a ten-to-one advantage in materiel against Japan.

  Tojo had been named after the Emperor’s helper who the Americans had so reviled all these years. Now, it was all Tojo could do to not pump his fists into the air in gloating.

  He went into his wardrobe, opened a special case, and took out his great-great-grandfather’s samurai sword, belting it on. Then he returned to the bridge of the Plato.

  The officers looked at him askance.

  Tojo did not smile or scowl; he stood straight and proud with one hand on the hilt of the samurai sword.

  Was this a kamikaze assault?

  No, it was more than that, but he didn’t think these three ships were going to survive the battle, but that was okay. He hadn’t expected to survive the battle anyway. This was for the future of Earth, for humanity, and for the honor of his ancestors. Could others understand? So many people had slipped into mercantile ways, into corpocracy thinking.

  Tojo wanted to spit. He did not do this for money. No, no, he did not do this for money, not for women—but for glory.

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  The three Orion ships sped fast, and they began to launch heavy nuclear-tipped missiles.

  Tojo launched a prodigious amount of missiles because he did not think there would be many left soon.

  Shortly, alien missiles came out of the aerosol cloud.

  Twenty minutes passed, and then there were nuclear explosions between the two sets of staggered missiles.

  “Now,” Tojo said, “give the order.”

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  As the Orion ships accelerated, they launched decoy missiles. Those would send out the EW signals that mimicked Orion ships.

  At the same time, the three Orion ships moved to the side even as they headed straight for the aerosol cloud.

  The missiles from the Valiants and the barrage from the three Orion ships continued to detonate between them. That caused a vast whiteout and therefore a lack of visuals, a lack of any kind of sensor data, thermal or radar, between them.

  This continued for some time, even as the aerosol clouds drew near and Admiral Tojo and his captains received telemetry data from the Watchdog satellites via OS Aphrodite.

  At this point, recriminations no longer mattered. Tojo went to the comm and opened channels with Aphrodite.

  “CEO Petty,” Tojo said, “I am going to bring victory to Earth. It is going to cost you three Orion ships, but I am depleting the enemy of their missile reserve by inundating them with mine. We will wipe out that cloud. And if my ancestors are with me, I shall take two of the enemy vessels down into perdition with me. But if not, I salute you, CEO Petty, and I thank you for giving me this command. I will not receive any more communications except for data regarding enemy positions.”

  Tojo chopped the air as if he were karate chopping the comms officer.

  At this point, the three Orion ships had almost reached the aerosol cloud. That meant it was time for a full-speed glory ride into battle.

  24-

  Several of Tojo’s nuclear missiles made it into the aerosol cloud and detonated, as their proximity fuses were designed to. In moments, the veil that the Valiants had put over themselves was reduced to wisps and strands of aerosol instead of a blanket.

  All three of the Orion ships centered their railguns on the Marduk. They fired the railguns and launched the last of their nuclear-tipped missiles.

  The enemy responded by launching a barrage of missiles, soon creating a dense whiteout between the vessels. This happened as the warheads of the missiles detonated against each other.

  The moment when visibility returned, the Orion ships hammered the Marduk with their railguns, the projectiles smashing into and beginning to dent the thick enemy hull armor. Those in the Orion ships didn’t know it was the flagship or the Marduk, but it held the place of honor and so they were going to nail it hard.

  As the two fleets converged on each other, the five Enforcers unleashed their particle beam cannons. The beams, like surges of electricity, poured into the three Orion vessels, hammering them, taking out railgun ports and blowing away hull plating. Yet, even as the three Orion ships were dying, they continued to hammer the Marduk with their railguns.

  In this cauldron of nuclear detonations and near-light-speed railgun projectiles, a missile came close to the Marduk and detonated. The explosion smashed hull plating and shook everyone in the ship off their feet if they had been standing.

  Assur watched on the screen, gritting his teeth with rage. The Earthers were madmen. Why did they send these three ships alone? It was tactically unsound. He knew that his side had expended far too many missiles against these interlopers.

  Then the flagship shuddered yet again as more railgun projectiles hammered against the hull.

  Sections of the Marduk began to slough off. It was 100,000 tons, so it didn’t break apart immediately. Then, a missile struck the Marduk and detonated. The explosion was massive, with heat, radiation, and gamma rays blowing apart most of the Marduk, so it no longer existed as an operational Enforcer.

  Chief Marshal Assur sat in the command chair. The blast shook the ship and then barreled throughout the corridors. Assur screamed with horror. He had wanted to be the great conqueror. He would have been the father of the Valiants. Instead—

  Chief Marshal Assur died as the titanic blast killed everyone in the Marduk. Harven, the entire bridge crew died in that blast. In fact, all the Valiants aboard were dead.

  More railgun projectiles rained and finished off the mighty Marduk, the flagship of the Valiant fleet.

  Now, there were only four Enforcers out of what had once been six a short time ago.

  Tragically, under a barrage of particle beams, the Duke Wellington exploded. Multiple explosions shattered the rest of the Orion ship, blowing people through corridors and chambers, some venting straight into space, where they died due to the lack of pressure to keep their bodies intact. It was death and destruction.

  The enemy Enforcers soon focused their firepower on the Ulysses S. Grant, and it, too, blew apart. Great hull plates flew into the void, some smashing into the crumbling Duke Wellington, and a few hammering against the Plato.

  “Target the Enforcer ahead of us,” Tojo told the helmsmen.

  “Me, sir?” the helmsman asked. “Not the weapons officer.”

  “Aim at the enemy vessel, Helmsman,” Tojo said, his hands gripping the sheath of the samurai sword so tightly that his knuckles turned white with strain. “We are going to ram him.”

  “Sir?”

  “We are already dead men,” Tojo said. “Now, we deal death fearlessly, without qualm.”

  The helmsman stared at Admiral Tojo, the hard-eyed fanatic. Maybe something passed from Tojo to him.

  The helmsman’s face hardened, and he punched in new coordinates. “We’re ready, Admiral.”

  “Engage,” Tojo said, as he swept the samurai sword forward.

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  WHAM

  The Plato accelerated like a bat out of hell, flying straight at an enemy Enforcer as if it bore a lifelong grudge.

  By this time, a few of the particle beam cannons had begun to burn out or simply shut down from overheating. The rest—

  Aboard the Enkidu, Marshal Naram Sin ordered all weapons to target against the maniacal Orion ship. A storm of particle beams, depleted uranium shells, and nuclear missiles hammered the huge Earther vessel as it charged.

  That destroyed the Orion Ship Plato and Tojo along with his samurai sword. But it did not destroy his final dream. His dream lived on as the mass of the broken Plato slammed against the Enkidu, knocking many of the officers and crew off their feet, some out of their harnesses.

  That did not destroy the Enkidu as a warship, but it left a huge, ugly dent on the hull and started fires in the interior.

  While the Plato, Duke Wellington, and Ulysses S. Grant were gone, they had gravely weakened the enemy fleet. How deeply had they done so? No one knew how deeply yet.

  In the various Enforcers, Valiant damage control parties were running like mad to fix what they could, as medical personnel patched up those who had taken wounds, many of which were head wounds.

  It soon turned out that four mighty Enforcers—one damaged—were heading to face four Orion ships, the massed Phoenix capsules, and the space marine breaching units.

  Had Admiral Tojo gone crazy, or had he given humanity its best chance to blow away the covering force of Enforcers?

  As all this unfolded, the four Orion ships advanced, along with the Phoenix capsules and space marine breaching units.

  Yet all the while, behind the Enforcers and auxiliary vessels, closing fast now, came the three horrible mobile asteroids, still under power, still with crew, and still with ejection capsules for the crews to escape at the last moment. They had been watching what was occurring.

  Clearly, the Battle for Earth was well into its first quarter. How it would end, no one could yet say.

  -25-

  Four Orion ships hurtled forward in formation, their heavy railguns ready. Flanking them were over seventy Phoenix capsules, each equipped with small, rapid-fire railguns. Opposing them were four alien Enforcers, equally massive as the Orion ships, their dark hulls dotted with particle beam cannon ports. The auxiliary vessels were cargo ships with supplies but little offensive firepower.

  At just under three million kilometers beyond the Moon, the two fleets converged, the space between them rapidly shrinking.

  On the bridge of the Orion Ship Daniel Boone, the tall Admiral Wilson gripped the arms of his command chair.

  “All ships, prepare for full engagement,” Wilson said. “Phoenix capsules: target their particle beam cannons. Orion ships: focus on the lead vessel. Let’s take it down as fast as we can.”

  As the distance between the fleets dropped, the void erupted in violence. The Orion ships fired their railguns, spewing massive slugs of tungsten propelled at near-relativistic speeds. The projectiles streaked too fast for the naked eye to see but were tracked by targeting sensors.

  The Enforcers responded with equal ferocity. Their particle beam cannons unleashed streams of high-energy particles. The beams converged on the Orion ships and Phoenix capsules. The capsules melted under the searing energy before exploding in fiery flashes.

  The Orion ships hammered the Enforcers. One of the railgun slugs slammed into the side of an Enforcer with a force that crumpled hull armor. The Enforcer shuddered, explosions ripping through its internal structure. That wasn’t enough to destroy the alien warship, though. Its particle beam cannons continued to fire.

  Several Phoenix capsules targeted the exposed hull, spitting a rapid barrage of projectiles. Shots punched through weakened armor, causing a chain reaction of explosions within the alien ship. The Phoenix capsules paid a heavy price for the privilege. Particle beams sliced through the capsules, killing the crews and destroying the Phoenixes.

  On the Daniel Boone, alarms blared as a particle beam gouged deep into its hull. The beam carved a swath of destruction through the nearby decks.

  The Daniel Boone’s railguns kept firing, and this time, an Enforcer’s already damaged hull buckled under the barrage. The critical blow was a hit to the enemy’s reactor core. In a titanic explosion, the Enforcer blew apart, fragments spiraling away into space.

  Elsewhere, an Enforcer’s particle beams punched through an Orion ship’s armor, penetrating deep. This triggered explosions that continued as chain reactions until the nuclear pulse propulsion bombs detonated, reducing the Orion ship to a rapidly expanding cloud of glowing debris.

  The battle raged, with neither side giving quarter. More Phoenix capsules disappeared in the maelstrom of projectiles and particle beams.

  An Orion ship, its hull scarred from multiple impacts, unleashed one final barrage before a direct hit from a particle beam severed its main power conduits, leaving it adrift and helpless.

  Two Orion ships concentrated their railguns, taking out an Enforcer.