Chapter 12: Colonial HQ

Proxima Centauri

I had done what I could, I had laid out in great detail the enemies defenses and capabilities, I had been called before the President of the Colonies and had told him the same thing, that the enemies defense and offensive capabilities far outstripped ours. I had told them all how they had wanted peace, that they claimed their was a threat to the universe from another dimension, I now was in fleet HQ and a meeting of the Admiralty, the President and key members of the senate.

"As Commander Taylor has stated, these aliens are Earth Loyalist, they have a massive fleet, we must act decisively in how we handle this, our only hope is a suprise attack, with the 1st and 2nd fleets." Admiral Dyson who was in charge of the 1st fleet said.

"I agree with Admiral Dyson, we know where their home planet is, they don't know where all our colonies are, we must act now before they are able to acquire that knowledge and strike us first, this non-sense about aliens from another dimension is a ploy to cripple our use of Worm Hole generators." Admiral Drake who commanded the 2nd fleet said.

My eyes widened at the direction this was going.

"Admirals, I beg you to sustain from committing the fleet until we can gather more intelligence, not since the revolutionary war against earth have we thought about committing so many ships to an offensive." One of the Senators said.

"I am afraid to say that their ability to target and track our stealth ships is a huge disadvantage to our intelligence gathering assets, and as Taylor said these aliens seem to wish to pursue peace, if that is the case we should use a diplomatic envoy to gather more intel in preparation for war." Admiral Martinez who was in charge of Special War Fare division said.

"I have to object to that, the enemy could use the same method to gather intelligence on us, we would be stripped of our ability to attack them by surprise." Admiral Dyson said.

"The 3rd fleet is engaged countering pirate action on the outer rim, I would recommend recalling them as well as the 4th and 5th fleet for defense of the inner colonies." Admiral Nelson who was in charge of the 4th fleet said.

The two other Admirals for the 3rd and 5th fleet both nodded at this, the president caught my eye and nodded to me.

"Commander Taylor son, what was your impression of these people, did they seem to want to go to war with us?" The President asked me.

"Sir, I have to say that they seemed just as willing to pursue peace, if anything it seemed to me that they were supremely confident in their ability to defend themselves and defeat us, but they genuinely seemed willing to pursue a peaceful existence." I said.

"We can not allow a pro-earth government who feels we are no threat to them exist, Commander Taylor is no diplomat he could not know their true intentions! Look how they stripped our A.I. From our own ship, already showing an earth attitude in our first encounter" One of the Senators said admittedly.

I sat there watching the room descend into chaos, Senators and Admirals arguing, the President nodding more and more with the Admirals words, I watched as the decision moved from if we should attack to who should lead the attack and how many ships would be needed to surprise them, I felt the pit grow in my stomach, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, I didn't have to wait long.

"Commander Taylor, it is decided that you having the most intelligence on the enemy shall be promoted to Captain, you will command a battleship in the assault under Admiral Dyson. You will be tasked with designating first important military targets and secondary civilian infrastructure" Admiral Martinez told me.

I nodded numbly through the whole thing, the next few days became a blur to me, I was transferred to Dyson's command, I was placed in charge of the Battleship Destiny, it was one of 122 Battleships that would be apart of the strike force, each ship carrying a minimum of 50 fighters, it was thought the element of surprise would carry the day. As an intelligence asset the Destiny would be toward the rear of the task force to transmit important targets.

I walked the long hallways of the ship, it was over 5 km in length, the ship was one of the newest battleships, it had the newest in particle beam weaponry on it, as well as a new design in wormhole generators, every system was state of the art, as I walked I looked over the specs for the weapons, it had 4 of the new particle weapons, 10 traditional MAC guns, and over 100 anti ship and missile rail guns.

Deep down I knew that all of this wouldn't be enough, I had sent a report requesting the addition of the 3rd and 4th fleet, but it was thought leaving only the 5th fleet to defend the colonies was stretching the defenses too thin, they would hold back at Proxima Centauri just incase, no objection I made was listened to, I had to be careful least it was thought I was an enemy sympathizer.

I made it to my quarters to be greeted by the newest status of the fleet, we where 2 days from being ready, I looked over the impressive array of ships, part of me hoped we would win just so that all these humans would be spared, another part thought we where initiating an uncalled for war against a potential ally and we deserved what ever we got, I sat in my chair at my desk rubbing my temples.

"Coral, please find a bunker and stay in it for awhile." I said rubbing my temples.

Every recommendation I made was shot down, I had recommended that the fighters be launched through the wormholes first to clear the area of the small fighters I had encountered, instead the order was given for the fighters to stick near their battleships the entire time. I had recommended a staggered entrance with the fleet hitting various points through out the system, instead we would focus all our efforts at breaking through at one point, none of it made sense.

My com beeped than, I triggered it.

"Sir we are receiving a classified transmission from fleet command." The voice said.

"Patch it through here." I said.

I typed in my authorization into the computer, and in that moment I new why all my recommendations had been ignored, the fleet was deploying a new weapon, several of the ships would be equipped with an anti-matter charge capable of destroying a planet, all we needed was one ship to take out their home world and it was thought that their hive collective would be destroyed. That was the reason all the ships would stay close as long as one made it to launch the weapon we would win.

"Oh my god." I said.

I put my head in my hands, I could not believe what the Colonial fleet was planning.

A week and a half later and the fleet waited in formation, it was impressive over a hundred ships in a arrow formation 5 rows deep, the destiny was at the rear, the plan was to punch through the enemy defenses as quickly as possible so that hopefully one of the 20 ships equipped with the antimatter bomb would be able to launch.

The ships at the lead would generate the wormholes needed, than the entire fleet would move through, it was a move we had practices over the course of the trip, each jump had been made information, the ships had it down, we now waited for the final jump, I sat in my command chair watching the screen as the first ships started to move through the wormhole, 20 minutes later it was the Destiny's turn to move through, after a brief interval we exited back into normal space.

What followed was Chaos, the sensors went crazy with the amount of debris and ships in the general area.

"Sir fleet is reporting 35% losses on exit, over two thousand enemy contacts" My tactical officer said.