The Mob - Book 2
Chapter 1

Copyright© 2017 by Hunter Johnson

Orelia

“It has been a busy and disturbing time for me,” said Jason. “In a little over four months I have traveled to another galaxy from Earth. I left all I knew behind me, except my dogs. I have fought pirates and then acquired a military force of forty-million women, a few men, and a substantial battle fleet; and we have conquered three planets.

“A week ago, a homicidal arch-priest nearly killed me. I should not be alive after being shot through the heart and the spine. Yet, here I am, and my fleet is going to fight The Mob in the defense of the Empire. Yet, at the same time, I’m still in a rehabilitation pod! I’m in no fit state to do anything! I’m thankful to be alive, but I’m very frustrated to be so restricted.”

“I think for many of us it has been an interesting period,” General Morgan James said, “and a remarkable and strange story when I think about it. Three weeks ago, Admiral Peter Kane, his son and his wife were hostages of a psychopathic patriarch who was the instigator of a war. I was in the midst of fitting out a fleet that was to be stolen and used by those same priests. Who would’ve thought that any of us would’ve had our lives changed and disrupted to such a degree. On the other hand, both Peter Kane and I have been bored to tears for centuries.”

“I must say you have provided a lot of entertainment for us, Jason. You turned our lives upside down and now we are busy heading to wage war with The Mob,” remarked Admiral Peter Kane.

The medical pod lay open as Jason lay in it while the shuttle ferried them to the battleship accompanied by the general, the admiral and Jason’s medical retinue.

“There is very little that I know about The Mob. I know they have attacked the Empire twice previously and were repulsed. I would very much like to know more about them,” said Jason as he lay back, and relaxed, in his medical pod. He was still too weak to do anything for himself. Next to the pod stood his three physiotherapists that were assigned to him from the hospital, as well as two of the doctors from the battleship who were accompanying him in the medical shuttle. Peter Kane and Morgan James sat next to the pod.

“It going to be a very difficult and frustrating month for me before I get back to normal. I’m so used to being an integral part of everything that is going on, and now I think I’m going to be very bored.”

“Jason, you asked about The Mob. I’ll tell you what we know,” said Kane. “The behavior of the enemy during the two wars in which we participated was very strange. The enemy suddenly attacked the Empire on both occasions using large fleets. They never once attempted to invade any planets. They started their attacks by bombarding planets or by ambushing ships, largely cargo convoys. In the latter stages of the war in both cases they were characterized by large fleet engagements. They did not surrender, or allow any ship to be captured. As a result of that, we never found where they came from. Their strategic objectives remain obscure to the Empire.

“We did capture a few ships and officers. We were able to establish that there were an original group of people on a few planets who took in refugees from the Empire. Over time, somehow that relationship went sour and the refugees gained control. We never found out anything else. We had the greatest difficulty in tracking the source of the refugees within the Empire. In a huge empire that spans a large quadrant of the galaxy you are bound to find unhappy and dissident groups.

“There are many and frequent conflicts between different houses jockeying for power with the Emperor as a referee with a stick. The refugees could have arisen from any number of conflicts and arguments over tens of thousands of years.

“Let me come back to your situation. It is true that you are stuck, but we will all spent plenty of time with you and discuss our plans. You make a very valuable contribution and, in one way or another, you have become the leader of this motley group. When I say motley group I say it with pride. You have collected a group of some of the most outstanding and amazing people that I have ever encountered, and that includes the funny little fellow who resides in a pocket within you of trans-dimensional space.”

Jason started to laugh.

“Peter, Winston has just appeared in my mind and he is sitting in his study furiously smoking his pipe and blowing smoke rings. He looks quite agitated. He tells me that he is not a funny little fellow. He says that if you were stuck in a trans-dimensional space you might also be funny little fellow. He says one day he will be able to live freely and independently, and he will make sure that when he does, he will be taller and bigger than you.”

Both Peter and Morgan laughed. Jason felt the pod being moved out of the shuttle and onto a transport sled. He watched the ceiling go by as he was rapidly transported to medical. He felt his muscles being stimulated by the pod as it continued working on him, which in turn made him increasingly drowsy, so he dropped off to sleep.

Command Central

Admiral Peter Kane stood in command central next to the bridge. He looked around the comfortable room. It was half full with close to sixty people planning in groups. “Is this not a strange ship? We have Stan the AI pilot whose an ex-Cargo boat pilot. We have no captain, and no defined leader.

“Morgan, I have never been in a situation with no defined command structure that works so well. Jason is the closest to being in command, but he does not think he is. Decisions are made apparently by committee but practically it works well. What army or ship has ever worked like this?” Peter said and laughed. “Let’s pick up some pastries and a drink and sit at the command table.”

He then sat next to his good friend of many years, General Morgan James. At the same table sat the top team. He turned to Admiral Andrea Phillips and Admiral Felicia McDonald.

“I’m pleased that you suggested, as did Linda, Phoebe and Janet, here; that I go through the simulations of the situations that you faced before we met up with you. Morgan and I, had both heard bits and pieces of what had happened, but we never faced the same situations until we were confronted with them in the simulations.

“We performed poorly in the first simulation of the pirate attack. Even though we knew about communication drones we didn’t use them. We tried five times each, but each time the Pirates got us. We were able to beat the single cruiser very easily, but in the engagements with the two cruisers and the subsequent reinforcement by the other two cruisers, we did not do so well. We would have never got to the clones in time.

“We are impressed with Jason. This is an intelligent young man with off the wall strategic and tactical insights. He’s a formidable telepath, and is a competent martial arts practitioner with impressive powers from what we have heard onboard the ship.”

“Jason saved Peter’s family from being hostages, and I’m sure you, Peter, will be eternally grateful to Jason and his fleet for that fact,” said Morgan James. “My life has certainly taken a turn for the better.”

“Over the years, I have become bored and stale,” said Kane. Every day was the same. This last month was the worst, yet interesting and challenging, month of my life. Papa Zora blackmailed me into stealing then leading his fleet to fetch the clones; as he held my wife and son hostage. In many ways, I thought it was lucky that it was me instead of someone else because I diverted The Mob and the priests from their common purpose. Papa Zora and the Mob wanted to attack the core planets of the Empire, but I diverted The Mob to attack seven possible industrial planets hoping to spread their forces thinly.

“I persuaded Papa Zora to use his fleet to betray The Mob and attack their core planets as I knew the locations of those planets.

“The Empire can move now to exact its revenge upon The Mob. The situation as it evolved was moving into becoming a personal disaster for me. Now I’m sorry to say all of us are having to deal with the consequences of my actions.

“I’m delighted that my wife and son are now safe but I’m sorry to drag you guys into this war. I have to thank all of you for helping me salvage my reputation. At least I’m pleased to say my wife is supportive of my proposed involvement with everyone here, which she regards as reparations for an act into which I was forced. I still remain acutely embarrassed by what I did,” said Peter Kane stiffly.

“Don’t be a complete idiot, Peter,” said Admiral Andrea Phillips. “I think that you were in an impossible situation and you converted a possible disaster for the Empire into a manageable war. You guys may not have done as well as Jason did in the simulations, but I think you did an amazing job on the evil Zora. I’m not sure that I would’ve held it together and I’m far from convinced that I would’ve done half as good a job as you did.

“Two weeks ago I had a short life ahead and I would be a pariah in the Empire. All of us clones were in the same situation. We knew that we did not want to serve the priests and that we could gain control of the fleet, but what then? We had no future.

“All of us here were born to be leaders of navies and armies, now we have a future. We will do what we were made to do and Jason made it so that we will all enter the Empire as heroes and if not in the Empire we can all live as happy families on Porquenta or Mars.

“I can’t wait to see what he is going to do in this campaign. He is going to be so frustrated to be trapped in a medical pod. He is not himself if he cannot run or cycle or go to the gym. We are going to need to make a special effort to keep him involved,” said Linda. “While I’m talking about exercise, I got engineering to make me a bicycle like Jason’s. I have been riding secretly for a week taking the dogs for some exercise. It is great fun. It only took a day to get my balance right. I want to go for a ride on the first planet with suitable surfaces. You will never guess what I saw! Robert our chef has been riding secretly as well. Ship told me. He brought several different cycles from Earth. I will put up the hologram. Here he is on one called a mountain bike. Look, here he is in the hanger and he’s jumping over boxes with this ramp. He does it nearly every night, she tells me, after he finishes in the kitchen. I asked the Engineers to make me one, too. It looks like great fun. But back to our friend and lover Jason.”

“He is a complicated man, due to his screwy ideas from Earth. We laugh at how he regards himself as an old man, when everyone can live forever in the Empire unless they are killed in war or have an accident. Most of the people on the ship are much older than he is other than us the clones,” said Admiral Felicia McDonald.

“He is still an enigma. He comes from a primitive planet and appears to be an ancient and is recognized as such by ancients. I wonder what the hell that is about? I want to find out what it is all about,” said Linda.

“Jason is full of conflicts. He detests what he did in wartime, but he puts everything that he can into fighting for what he believes, even though he is conflicted between the needs of the Empire and the needs of his house. He desperately wants to help his great grandfather but he sees himself as honor bound to fight for the Empire. He sees himself as without sufficient skills; but his growing skills surprise us.

“I don’t know, Peter and Morgan ... did you see his attack on the bunker on Porquenta?” asked Linda. “You didn’t! This is a story second to none! He goes to visit Porquenta, which is this AI that’s integrated into the planet. He got a call to visit the AI. Porquenta recognized him, somehow. So he goes to this mountain and through an entrance where gravity squashes his people to the ground. He meets the avatar of Porquenta and gets some special training after climbing a mountain path. Of course, this training takes no time in our time, and he comes out with a Warhammer. It takes two of us to lift the handle. Anyhow, he has it propped casually on his shoulder. Off to this nearly impregnable bunker he goes. Explosives had done nothing to the doors.

“‘Stand back,’ he tells them. Then he hits the doors with that huge hammer, and shatters them. Not only that, he grows into a huge version of himself. Not only that, his armor grows with him and still functions. He calls them to follow him and jumps in. He goes on a rampage with his lightning and fire spewing Warhammer. The troops are fine with it. They follow along and clean up as he casually returns here, goes to the refresher and comes to chat to us about what is going on. He is totally pissed off that the bunkers have not surrendered.

Rights there in front of us he grows, then he gets on the priest communication frequency somehow and talks in a spooky voice. Come on, Andrea, you do it so well,” said Linda encouragingly.

Andrea puffed herself up.

“Plutarch, I know you by your foul smell. You refuse to obey me! You will suffer the fires of eternity. You will surrender or you and your minions will be fodder for my war machines of Cirrus.

“Then lava bursts out of the ground beneath the bunkers and burns the Plutarch. Jason got all the priests to surrender after he sent them the horrific images. Even the ship’s saboteurs surrendered,” said Andrea.

“‘It wasn’t me’, he says, ‘it was all Porquenta.’ He believes that bullshit, but none of us do. It’s that ancient side of him coming out. For an intelligent guy he can lack insight. I think it’s more that he’s in denial. He cannot accept what he is becoming, but sees the gap between what he is now and what his instincts tell him is his true ancient self.

“Peter, I also agree with Linda,” said Andrea. “You don’t need to consume yourself with guilt over a situation where no one holds you responsible. I agree with her that very few people would have created the very clever situation that you were able to forge in trying circumstances,” said Andrea.

Peter Kane turned to his very good friend of many thousands of years and patted him on the arm while smiling at the group then looking at Morgan directly. “Morgan, I thank you for being such a very good friend and covering my back during these very trying times.

“I must say I enjoyed time that we spent together running Nirvana and mentoring that fine young man who’s going to take over from us. I know a couple of very fine administrators who I think will be ideal for that position in the long-term,” said Morgan James.

“We have both run many bases and facilities over the years, but I must say that I have enjoyed the process of running a planet. I think you did, too. I feel more fulfilled than I have for some time mentoring this exceptional group of young people. I do not ever want to go back to what I was doing before,” Peter Kane stated emphatically.

Canteen

At lunch in the canteen, Andrea sat at her table with Felicia McDonald. They were considering the options for the defense of Orelia. She saw Peter Kane looking around the room and smiling while looking at his old friend Morgan James. Felicia saw which way she was looking and smiled.

“I like the two of them very much. They are both distinguished old men, with impressive careers and backgrounds. I find both of them very yummy. They are handsome sophisticated and intelligent, but both of them are absolutely dedicated to their wives and families. Both are so self-effacing and self-deprecating, but are also helpful and easy-going. They are so well-connected that they are making this whole job very much easier for all of us,” said Felicia

“I’m delighted that they are so well-connected. They know both the planetary administrator of Orelia, Fleet Admiral Delia McPherson and the general in command of the Marines on the planet and on the moon. I think we are not that far away from a final deal. Let’s get back to the grindstone.”

Command Central

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Peter Kane, “I have some news to tell you all from Central Command on Cassiopeia about our proposed target destination.

“The Mob appeared to attack all seven planets at the commencement of hostilities, but we have discovered that they have not pursued the attacks on two of the planets. Those planets were central to the other planets. This allows them to field two very substantial reserve fleets to support other planetary attacks as needed. I had hoped that they would overextend themselves attacking seven planets at once, but it was not to be. It will make the defense of the planets much harder.

“The attack on Orelia is going ahead. From what Admiral McPherson knows, the attacking forces are substantially bigger than I or she expected. She thanks us however for the advanced warning.

“I know her well and she is a very clever commander who thinks out-of-the-box. Many of her war strategies and tactical battle techniques are taught at the War College.

“Admiral McPherson was warned of the impending attack by Central Command, after we communicated with the Emperor and had two weeks to prepare. She left thousands of heavy anti-ship missiles, and tens of thousands of antimissile missiles in geosynchronous orbit around the planet. Jason, that is similar to your mine strategy. She also has established defensive missile and cannon platforms surrounding the planet. The moon is bristling with missile and cannon.

“McPherson said they were alerted to The Mob fleet twenty minutes before their arrival. The Mob did as expected. They jumped in, launched missiles, and jumped out. They left behind planetary attack platforms that were intended to damage and knock out the defensive systems. Dropping them off took time, and they paid a heavy price. The Mob fleet left to attack the moon, which resulted in them leaving ten severely damaged ships behind. Missiles struck them sooner than they had expected. Missiles then struck the four very large attack platforms, severely damaging them before they had the opportunity to return fire. The heavy cannon from the moon fired, and the moon launched very large anti-ship missiles. They hit their targets within seconds of each other.

“The enemy fleet jumped to the other side of the moon. They expected it to be undefended as it never faces the planet. Their scouts saw nothing on the surface as the defenses are hidden. McPherson’s team had been busy on the other side of the moon over many years. They installed hidden missile silos and cannon emplacements very carefully on the far side of the moon. They even had a small base, deeply buried. They placed missiles around the moon in orbit. These missiles damaged the attacking fleet. The remaining fleet is still twice the size of the planetary fleet as you can see on this hologram, but has sustained significant damage. The battle AI informs me the enemy sustained thirty percent damage. Many are so severely damaged that they are barely operational.

“They retreated but are still in the solar system. I suspect they are waiting for reinforcements. Orelia is the furthest out from the reserve fleet, so I expect that it will still take six to eight hours for Mob reinforcements to arrive. McPherson is sending out further sensor and communications probes. This is her on the holo-com.”

“Hi, everyone, we will meet and introduce ourselves later as events are progressing quickly and I have things to do and places to be. I will link you to our battle computer to update your holograms with our sensor and readiness information. I will send you the positions of our missiles along with an updating hologram of our fleet position. The battle computer has the current estimates of their fleet damage ship by ship, and that is on the way to you now.”

“Admiral Phillips, Admiral Kane informs me you are senior admiral for this engagement, we will speak more when you arrive in our solar system,” concluded Admiral McPherson.

Andrea waited to see the updates. She carefully evaluated them together with Felicia, Linda and Celia Ford, and their teams then they all decided to take a break.

“Linda you know that it is seven months since we were awakened from the vats in which we were created. We are both two weeks pregnant. It is amazing how much has happened in our short lives as clones. I’m also very happy and pleased that I have a man who loves me and who I love. My original was such a miserable cow. I hope that I can meet her useless husband and give him a piece of my mind. It’s wonderful to be in love and I’m looking forward to having a child, something that my original was never able to do. I love being an admiral and I thrive on the challenge and look forward to every day.”

“I also am having a great time. We need to help Felicia and Celia to get more involved with Jason. I worry about him every day. He seems to attract trouble at every turn. I have no doubt that he is some kind of pivotal figure upon which lots of future of galaxies will depend. There is just something about him that I feel. I also worry about him and I worry about him far more than I worry about myself or anybody else. I would do anything to protect him,” said Linda

“What I fear the most is that he will die before he can fulfill his destiny,” said Andrea.

“Let’s go and see him and have a chat. I miss his input. Felicia and Celia, do you want to come with us? We are going to see Jason, present the scenario that we appear to be facing and see what he has to say. His Lordship may well have some kind of unique insight into what we can do. I don’t want him to feel left out,” said Linda.

The Hospital, Rehabilitation Section 12A

Jason woke feeling refreshed; the day had been hard going with four sessions of rehabilitation. His muscles were no longer aching, and he felt considerably stronger. He could open and close his hands and move his head from side to side. He experimented with his feet. He could feel his toes, and he could move them. He chewed and swallowed food easily.

The pod opened, and he saw Andrea and Linda smiling down at him. On the other side, he saw Celia and Felicia grinning.

“We are just under four hours from the planet Orelia. We have come to consult the Oracle.” Andrea said.

“I’m bored to tears and absolutely sick and tired of the rehabilitation process. It’s hard to believe that I’m going to have this for a month. Ladies you are not only beautiful but come to me with often insurmountable challenges. With so much brainpower at your disposal, I have to work very hard to add to what you are already doing. I have just told Winston that you are here. He suggests that we go ahead, and if he has anything to add he will do it telepathically without going through me as all of you are telepathic according to him. Please, go ahead,” said Jason, “I’m all ears and my telepathic antennas are tuned.”

“The first Mob attack failed due to a good defense from the fleet Admiral and the Marine General on the moon. They have retreated, and the defending fleet is intact as are the defense platforms,” said Andrea. She went on to explain what she had been told in depth and showed Jason the current holograms.

“We would be interested in what you would suggest. None of us want to contaminate your ideas with the thoughts that we have had,” said Linda.

“I’m impressed with the strategies of the Admiral. I like the idea that she had of leaving missiles in space. It is a great idea and I love it. She probably only fired a small number of them from close to the platforms, to give the impression that they originated from the platforms. If she leaves them passively waiting, then antimissile systems will not target them. No doubt you guys have been thinking about mines, as well. The first thought that I have is to drop mines at expected invasion assault positions with a small number of ships. They drop mines in the expected areas for the release of assault craft, which is close to the major planetary assets. On second thought, I would reserve that strategy for a bit later. It will give them too much information far too early.”

“I would look at a conventional attack with one-third of our fleet jumping in on one side of them and place the rest of the fleet not visible to them behind the planet and launch missiles towards them. The small fleet hits them with everything but also dumps a load of mines programmed to head towards the ships. They only slug it out until the missiles get to the Mob fleet. Then they jump and dump mines in geosynchronous orbit over the city where we expect the attack shuttles to be launched. It will look like they are trying to prevent the planetary assault. The enemy will not see the mines. We then wait.”

“The rationale is as follows: I don’t want them to run, but I want to maximize damage to them. To do this, we must appear to attack first with slightly fewer ships than they have. This encourages them to stay where they are and blast the fleet. We want them to believe that this small fleet is the planetary defensive fleet and there is nothing more. I would like them to say aha and rub their hands together in glee. I want them to be so happy that they can be easily distracted to the point that they miss the missiles coming from around the planet.

“The way we set it up is as follows: Before that attack by our small fleet, we set them up. The bulk of our fleet arrives on the other side of this large planet after we send a few ships to remove scouts and block sensors. Our fleet will be invisible to the enemy fleet if we block all communications traffic and hit any scouts and sensors on that side. Just before the smaller fleet jumps in they launch a full load of missiles around the planet. We time it so that the small fleet becomes visible seconds before the missiles come around the planet.”

“The critical success factor is the communications block. We must ensure that we block sensor and/or fighter/scout communications. They must not know we are there. What I hope happens, is they will see the attack by the smaller fleet. Their concentration will be on that battle. They will be more likely to miss the missile attack from around the planet. We could get lucky and they do not jump but slug it out. There is a high chance they will while they protect their own assault ships.

“Then we jump around the planet and hit them as hard as we possibly can, with everything we have, as the smaller fleet jumps out to lay mines near the planet. By that time, the mines dropped by the smaller fleet should be close to or already damaging the enemy. But, and this is a big but, we do absolutely everything we can to block communication from them to warn the enemy reserve fleet. Then I would mine the surrounding area. The reserve fleet knows where their compatriots are and will arrive nearby. There is an even chance that the reserve will join the fleet, but an equal choice that they head for the planet and launch the assault in a position where the moon cannot see them and instruct the other fleet to join in the assault.

“If they see damaged ships, they may well investigate. Then the mines can do their job. They will be very surprised on arrival when they see no fleets. If I knew their admiral better I could predict better where the reserve will come out of transdim space. If I have any insights when we get there, I will communicate them.

“They will think that both fleets damaged each other, wherever they land up,” Jason said thoughtfully. “I suspect that they will then launch their attack on the planet. We will help them have a very difficult time. Before the attack and before we disappear, we also lay a new batch of mines near the planet. I’m tempted to suggest that we send our troops to reinforce the ground defenders, but I don’t want to risk them receiving a pounding from above from the enemy ships. We will reinforce the ground troops later as needed and where needed.

“The enemy fleet will try to stay close to the planet to support the landing troops. They should be even more damaged by that time. We let the mines, and missiles do their job. Then we hit them as hard as we can together with the planetary defensive fleet. They will run a difficult gauntlet. The moon defenses and the planetary defenses are intact. Perhaps they will bring along more assault platforms that will make it a bit easier for them, but we can hit those platforms from behind.

“Those are my first thoughts and probably my last thoughts prior to the battle. I wish you the best of luck and good hunting. I want to give you all a kiss before battle. Stay safe.”

The Officers’ Canteen.

They quickly made their way to have a light meal in the canteen. They needed some time away from the operations room.

“Jason is looking a lot better. I’m very pleased to see how much progress he is making. His color has improved, and I can see that he is moving his arms quite well. His Warhammer should be well rested,” said Linda facetiously.

“From what I can see his strategy will expose us to the least risk. The Empire does not think that way; they have had such big populations that people and ships have been expendable. The Empire fights battles head-to-head. It relies on a superior force and slugs it out with the enemy.

“However, Jason thinks carefully about the most efficient way of hurting the enemy. Behind most of his strategy is the thought of the importance of human life. He also is very reluctant to damage his precious ships. I like his tactical approaches very much. I don’t know how much of it will play out but there is nothing to lose. I will let McPherson know what we are doing by direct burst when we get there, and the attack is underway. I don’t want to take the risk of any communications interception. Once we are there communications will be more secure,” said Andrea after a period of contemplation.

They moved to command central and communicated the plan to their groups. Andrea commanded a single destroyer to move ahead from the fleet to reconnoiter on the other side of the planet from The Mob fleet. Immediately on arrival, it blocked all communications and launched communications blocking probes, and sensors around the planet and missiles towards the enemy scout fighters that were caught unawares. Jason’s larger fleet arrived and launched large anti-ship missiles around the planet. The smaller fleet engaged the enemy with full loads of missiles and firing all their cannons. They dumped their loads of mines while they continued to fire missiles and cannon. The enemy engaged them as expected, and they continued to fire until the missiles from around the planet began to hit the enemy ships from the other side. They fired their antimissile missiles to knock out as many enemy missiles as was possible. They didn’t want to risk themselves to return fire.

The smaller fleet jumped to the planet and dropped a further load of mines. The smaller fleet jumped back from the planet as the larger fleet attacked The Mob fleet. The mines began to hit The Mob ships. Too many of them were damaged to break out of the trap and escape. Linda sent boarding pods to the larger ships to capture the senior officers for interrogation. They sent live feeds to Admiral Delia McPherson on her flagship and General Rebecca Cunningham on the moon of the entire action.

“Admiral Phillips; that was an inspired strategy, how much damage did you take?” Delia McPherson asked.

“Thank you, Admiral McPherson, that plan was prepared by the Archduke Kargo. He is the master of unusual strategies. We have one frigate out of commission with four seriously injured on board, and a severely damaged destroyer with fifteen injured and two deaths. The casualties are in transit to the hospital ships. The hospital ships were upgraded on Nirvana and are now state-of-the-art facilities. We are shortly going to hide while we wait for the enemy’s reserves. Here is the suggested plan of attack. Have a look at it and get back to me,” said Andrea with a wry smile on her face.

“That wasn’t bad for a battle with a hundred and ten miscellaneous ships from battleships and assault carriers to cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. The surprise attack, the unexpected missiles, and mobile mines made an enormous difference to the outcome of the battle. The small size of the mines fooled the enemy sensors every time,” Andrea said.

Linda delegated Celia Ford to brief Jason on the first stage of the battle. Celia returned and quickly spoke to Andrea, Linda, and the staff at their table.

“Jason has had one of his intuitions. He believes that the reserve fleet will move as quickly as they can to be close to the planet. They will then request the original attacking fleet to join them,” said Celia.

“He suggests that we pick up as many of the remaining mines as we can from here and take them to the planet before we hide. He thinks that every mine will make a difference. He thinks that they have changed their mind. He believes that after failed planetary attack, the Mob fleet went to lick their wounds some distance away. They suggested the reserve fleet meet them near the gas giant. This was initially accepted then changed as it was not seen as efficient by the reserve Mob Admiral,” continued Celia.

The boarding shuttles returned with the prisoners. In the previous wars with the Mob, Mob ships and crew elected to die rather than surrender. Now there was a change. That is unusual thought Andrea. I would like to find out the reason for the change.

Some of the ships collected the mines while others added missiles to the stockpile around the planet. They then moved the fleet behind the sixth planet which was a giant gaseous planet with eleven small moons. There were rings of large rocks around the planet which would further obscure sensors.

The reserve fleet arrived exactly as Jason had predicted and right where he had predicted. The reserve fleet was nearly the size of Jason’s fleet. The invading fleet split with forty ships heading to attack the moon. The moon launched missiles and fired cannon. The enemy fleet towed along with them, four large missile and cannon platforms. They were each the size of a cruiser and twice the size of those from the original offensive fleet. The invaders rapidly began to disgorge fighters and ground assault shuttles. Admiral Delia McPherson activated her space-based missiles. Mines exploded next to at least half of the attack shuttles. They began exploding next to the enemy fleet. Antimissile systems were of limited effectiveness against so many of the missiles and the invisible mines. Some of the damaged smaller ships began to head for the surface on suicide runs. The first ground based missiles struck them. Some of the ships broke into large fragments, others continued out of control down to the surface. The rate of mine explosions, particularly adjacent to the bigger ships increased. At least, half of the shuttles headed toward the surface used erratic random paths, to try to fool the missiles heading their way. There was a steady rate of attrition of shuttles as they faced dense cannon and missile fire from the surface and then ground-based defensive fighters. The shuttles were heavily armed and well armored. Fighters supported the Mob shuttles, while the atmosphere filled with debris from the intense battle. A million enemy troops and their equipment reached the surface. They faced a smaller but well dug in force. The ground force was well prepared for invasion. Meanwhile the fleet above was not in good shape when defensive missiles and cannon fire halted the attack on the moon. The moon continued to pound the fleet. The Mob fleet again split its assault between the planetary surface and the moon. Missile and cannon fire relentlessly struck the fleet. Under the weight of the assault, shields failed and more cannon and missiles fire struck the ships. Cannon fire from the ships and missiles did extensive surface damage to them and to the planetary surface. They struck defensive positions and created pathways for the attacking enemy troops.

Jason’s full fleet, together with the planetary fleet, jumped in and launched an offensive. Andrea sent boarding craft to every large ship. A battleship, cruiser and a destroyer accelerated and managed to break through the attackers and escape. Further attackers attempted to escape and failed as cannon, mines and missiles continued to wreak havoc on the attackers. Andrea would not risk Jason and commanded from behind the fleet. She supported the fleet with heavy cannon and missile fire. The battleship had two close calls with missiles that came close. The enemy fleet surrendered. Every attacking ship was extensively damaged.

The ground offensive continued for a further half a day. They did not believe that the fleet had surrendered and continued to fight. The planetary administrator asked for troops to help. Linda sent in a persuasive force to dissuade The Mob troops from continuing. The Mech Warriors and assault craft were instrumental in striking fear into the attackers leading to their surrender.

Andrea suggested that Admiral Delia McPherson and General Rebecca Cunningham briefly met with her and her team and Jason before they moved on to the next planet.

“Delia we are being pushed by Central Command to move on once the situation here is manageable by your people. We are discussing with them what we do next but are under pressure to move on as quickly as we can. We will talk more when we see you.”

Delia McPherson collected Rebecca Cunningham from the moon and flew to the battleship where they met with Jason, who was in fine form and who congratulated them on their defense. “I was very impressed by the idea of leaving missiles in place. I have never seen that technique used in any simulation, and it is a brilliant idea. Sensors do not pick them up as they are inactive. They were very effective and made a substantial difference to the outcome of this conflict. I’m very pleased to have had the opportunity to meet you and congratulate you on a brilliant effort. The moon defense is a great concept. I did like the trap that you created with hidden weapons systems on the other side. You well and truly caught them,” said Jason appreciatively.

“We liked your idea of sending missiles around the planet or a moon. Those mines are also a great idea. It kept your damage and casualties much lower than they would otherwise have been,” said Rebecca Cunningham warmly. Andrea and Admiral Delia McPherson agreed on the salvage split. Andrea asked to take half of the most senior officers for interrogation. She transported the remainder to the planet. This was a common procedure. Central command of the Empire paid a substantial fee for the intervention of Jason’s fleet. Salvage was an extra bonus for the defenders.

Central command again contacted Andrea urgently. The situation on Virgil was deteriorating. They asked her to move as a matter of grave urgency to the defense of Virgil. The deal struck was more than satisfactory in the view of Morgan James.

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