Chapter 22: The Battle for Charassa

Jason arrived at Charassa before the invading fleets. He informed his own Generals and Admirals about what he had been doing and why, so that they could convey this to the most senior Admiral and General directing the battle.

“I can’t get over this, Jason! You constantly seem to manage to surprise me,” said Ouma Chatzke. “We now have a second extremely ancient race on our side, and their unique defense against planet and star system missiles is a true blessing.

“These are trying times for us. We hope that we have enough capacity to repulse the impending attack. Porquenta has created a new defensive strategy built around a machine that blocks trans-dim travel and has sent one prototype which he has manufactured which we have placed in the most likely pathway that the cockroaches will use,” she said sounding anxious for the first time ever in Jason’s experience.

“Ouma Chatzke I also have some anxiety but in general a good feeling about this battle,” said Jason reassuringly but still feeling a gnawing sense of unease. “You have very powerful and committed allies. You have very superior military minds at the helm. It will be a tough fight but we will come through it perhaps bruised, but victorious. These evil ones are the scourge of these galaxies, and will face a shock that they will not expect. The situation is infinitely better than it would have been, otherwise, with you facing them on your own. You also have had pre-warning. The battle is inevitable; they are committed to the attack. We are all here as your friends and your allies to help you through thick and through thin. We will persevere and fight with you side-by-side, and back to back. Wherever you fight, we will fight,” said Jason ardently.

“I estimate that we still have twelve hours, and we will make use of every second of that time. Ouma Chatzke they have planned to attack the flagship to take out the senior leadership with a group that will deliberately delay until battle has commenced, and communication is analyzed. It is essential that there is communication that appears to come out of a battleship but is a trap and the flagship needs to be elsewhere and very well protected. This is a very strong precognition! They will try as much as they can. The leadership may need to be dispersed more than is usual and communication origination obscured,” said Jason decisively acting on his very strong feelings.

He spoke to Linda and Andrea at some length.

“The bugs have planned for these kinds of invasions and attacks for a very long time. They’ll re-plan their defenses continuously. In a situation where you have almost unlimited resources, plus drones and AI power, you can rebuild continuously. Ground air and space defense and attack has been considered and planned for. They have vast underground bunkers for the population. In recent times we have both been intimately involved in the planned defense. The big difference this time is that all of this was discussed with Porquenta, as he built a number of simulations from his past experiences. As a result of that, the bugs had the first major change in strategy in a long time. The battle that we were involved in with The Mob was also critical in implementing a system of asteroids, to be involved in defense alongside defense platforms. Porquenta sent two large fitted out asteroids, and they arrived a week ago. They each have many of his new super cannons with power supplies dedicated to them.

“Porquenta designed a new device and we have two of them. They interfere with the engine technology on the ships of the enemy, and substantially reduce their power. They will also interfere with many devices on the ships, if we are lucky. He said unfortunately many of the ships are hardened against such EMP emulating technologies, but the engines cannot be protected. In the first instance we will need to warn our allies about these devices, but our ships are protected as are some of the Collective fleet,” said Andrea. “It effectively pulls a ship out of trans-dim and slows them down further.

“That is an interesting sounding device, what has he called it?” Jason asked.

“Suppressor type I,” she answered and laughed, “And he has also sent along ships with a new weapon. The weapon is almost the full length of a frigate like ship. He says that it is a weapon of doom or Dhoom. One hit with the weapon, and it will take out the biggest of the cockroach super battleships and will even destroy another ship on the other side of the super battleship. He has sent along twelve of his new frigates of doom for us and twelve for Cassius. Porquenta is going full steam ahead with new ideas and super weapons, but he apologizes that he doesn’t have more ready,”

“We have learned a lot from them and owe them an enormous amount. They are a fine group of bugs and we are delighted to help,” said Linda contemplatively.

“Jason we have both desperately missed you. You have been such an important part of our lives, and now we fear losing you. We know you will do anything for your beloved Ouma Chatzke even sacrificing yourself.

“We are amazed, yet again, at how you seem to suck powerful allies out of your thumb. This new set of allies is not only exceptional but formidable,” Linda said admiringly. “Perhaps you can grow a few tusks as well, they could be useful.”

“Jason we all love you. Be careful. We know you will do all you can to help your beloved Ouma, but please take care. You are key to the survival of so many, but you allow yourself to be vulnerable and get hurt all too often,” Andrea said sadly.

“Those dinosaur ships are unbelievable. One of them is worth ten battleships at least. I think our opponents are going to get some nasty shocks. I just hope that Charassa will survive without too much damage,” said Andrea.

They spent an anxious few hours with him while awaiting Philippa’s return from visiting Ouma Chatzke. Both Celia and Felicia had gone down to Charassa to meet with all their compatriots.

Linda, Andrea, Celia, and Felicia were to remain with Jason forming a reserve command on the battleship. Linda told him that while he was on Laomedeia, Porquenta had continuously sent upgraded weapons systems to his ship. She said that it was in Porquenta’s view one of the most formidable ships in history. She said it was better shielded, and had more powerful weapons than any other ship in the fleet. It also had an incredible array of other offensive capacities. Sheila would also remain with them. She said that she had heard from some of the engineers on the planet that Sheila, along with Razza, had produced some unique ideas as well as built some interesting products with both the engineers and cyber warfare groups. She and Razza had become great friends and had enjoyed working together creatively.

Philippa returned quite out of breath from her shuttle.

“Ouma Chatzke is worried about my safety, and wanted to send me to another planet. She fears that she herself may die, and does not want the collective to lose too many of its leadership. The other queens and kings have dispersed elsewhere, as have many of the senior administrators. A core remains on Charassa. The entire population has been mobilized and is aware of the threat. She has also sent many of the corporate leaders to safety. The medical establishment refused any suggestion that they move. Many have dispersed themselves to deal with the critically injured throughout the fleet, and to hospitals on the ground,” said Philippa excitedly.

They made their way to the canteen for dinner. No one felt particularly hungry, but the delicious food whetted their appetites. They were joined by Gamma, Jonathan, and Norbert, then a few minutes later by Janet Malone, Colonel of Marines on the ship and Colonel Phoebe Harris who commanded the fighter group, some of Jason’s earliest friends. It was a pleasant time of joking with each other and talking of interesting times. As was usual, Jason was the butt of much of the teasing and humor. They were joined by Sheila and Razza who were very excited by their work together. They explained what they had been doing and what they had achieved in a very brief period.

Jason suggested that they go to bed early, to try and get some rest as the early sensors he expected would pick up the enemy fleets arrival at approximately 3 AM.

Jason awoke to the blaring of alarms, moved automatically to the dresser, and decided to run to the control room to wake himself up, rather than be transported. The dogs and boar ran along beside him.

The sensors showed two fleets approximately ten minutes out.

“Now we will see if Porquenta’s Type 1 Suppressor does what it is supposed to do,” said Andrea.

She enlarged the hologram of the area.

“Yes, it’s working see Jason the cockroach fleet is stopping. That is strange, for some reason, so are the Dhoom merchants! Ahh, I see why, they think the Cockroaches are letting them go ahead and get destroyed. The Dhoom group is not on an expected vector, so the Suppressor has not got the area fully covered yet.

“The attacking fleets are twenty-five percent bigger than our defending fleets at this time. There is another Collective fleet on the way; that may just be useful in twenty minutes, as there is a smaller fleet of ours about ten minutes out. There is a Collective reserve fleet three-quarters of an hour out,” said Andrea.

“Andrea there are nine of those stupendous mega-battleships at the back of the roach fleet and the mollusk flagship is a moon sized beastie,” said Jason.

“Excellent,” said Andrea rubbing her hands, I will send the frigates of Doom to hit them. They can hit one every twenty-six seconds from where we are, as long as they can see them.”

She moved her hands on the hologram giving her instructions.

“Just one-second,” said Jason, “there is something big, here! Let two of them fire at this target, now!” Jason said.

Andrea looked at him briefly, and then did as he asked. She could clearly not see what he saw. She knew him too well to refuse. He saw her shake her head.

“Here, Jason, they hit the moon ship twice. The shield partly blocked the first hit but collapsed before the second went through and went through the center of the ship. It looks like it is under duress.

“Now they have hit your target, which was forced to de-cloak. We can see through most cloaking technologies. That is one strange ship. It is like one of your eggs, with hair on it. Look at that the second shot hit it. The surface has gone pink. Now it looks like a cloud is around the ship. It has disappeared. What was it?” Linda asked.

“Somehow, I just knew it was there. I also know that it is a Ghoul ship. I also don’t know how I know, but I know I recognized it from somewhere. Somehow, I can recognize them and their ships. Porquenta has also tuned our sensors to see them. We did not expect to see them and were tuned to our enemies. Marduk and the Warriors can probably see the slugs who are also probably observing.

“I am incredibly impressed with those frigates. That weapon is something else. I have been looking at the hologram and I can see that they stop a battleship with one hit, and destroy it with a second. I saw one shot penetrated directly through a battleship and severely damaged a destroyer on the other side. We need a lot more of them as I can see that the enemy has sent destroyers to intercept them. Our frigates have now jumped and are behind the cockroach big ships.”

“Linda half of our fleet fired a mass of missiles at the cockroach ships. Many of them are of a new Porquenta design. There the Orcs have jumped and are hitting them from the other side. The cockroaches are countering with missiles split between both sides,” Andrea noted.

Jason observed both attacking fleets at the last moments jumped, one ahead of the fleet, one behind the fleet again launching missiles broadside. Before the missiles struck the cockroach ships, multiple explosions occurred against each of the larger ships, followed by explosions on the hulls of the smaller ships. Jason realized that those were the mines. The first set of incoming missiles was much reduced by already launched countermeasures, but close in defenses had also been reduced, and shields collapsed. Ships were struck by multiple missiles, the first missiles being shield penetrative and the second trans-dimensional exploded within the ships.

“The plan is to reduce enemy numbers as much as we possibly can with conventional strategies before we risk the Marines and the dogs,” Andrea stated flatly.

“It is interesting to see that the attacks on the Dhoom ships have been less successful when undertaken by the Charassa fleet, where our attacks on the same ships, has had the same success as we did with the cockroaches. I suspect that both of them amended their technologies to counter the known bug technology. I see the Una have hit them in the rear, and are having similar success.”

“Dammit, the Octopi have jumped! They are now in position to send landing craft to the surface,” Linda shouted.

“The octopi landed as predicted in the ideal position to launch attack craft into the ocean alongside the capital. We are short of troops on the ground. Ours were training on Mars with a big group of bugs. The ships were being refitted on Porquenta, hence the delay in their arrival. The sneaky bastards are trying for a first devastating strike.

“They have a lot of gunships, and they’re all spread out. The moon, asteroids, and defense platforms simply have too many targets. The enemy are firing ahead of the gunships, a standard strategy to clear their path downward, and are trying to penetrate the ground shields. Two in three gunships are getting through, as they are simply too many of them. The nearer asteroid has disgorged a mass of missiles that are chasing gunships heading for the surface,” Linda said excitedly.

The enemy ships faced a steady attrition. Jason saw the two asteroids built by Porquenta steadily firing cannon and missiles. Jason was aware that Charassa had one natural moon and one large hollowed out asteroid that was used for shipbuilding, and had missiles and artillery on the surface and a major defensive force within.

The Octopi sent a secondary force to attack the asteroid shipbuilding facility. Jason could see attack craft streaming towards the surface near the largest ship size doors. He saw forces trying to land on the asteroids facing intense counter fire that was temporarily keeping the enemy at bay. Gunships and shuttles trying to land were being destroyed as fast as they approached, while enemy frigates attempted to silence the defending fire but in their turn were destroyed, only to be replaced by more attackers.

Jason saw explosions rapidly increasing among the enemy fleet attempting to undertake planetary landings.

“Mines are hitting their ships and the secondary suppressor is now in full operation near the planet and it will help keep the Cockroaches away and trap the Dhoom ships. It’s a more sophisticated suppressor than the other one as it has a flexible operation; as the enemy change engine parameters it changes to trap them again. It will also help to trap or slow down their gunships,” Andrea said carefully, looking at her hologram.

“Now I think we can move towards the moon, to offer some support. It is important that we try some of the weapons that are unique to this ship. There are several enemy ships in range. Porquenta decided to fit out the frigates first as he could do it more quickly than trying to modify the battleship,” Andrea said.

Linda said that it would be ideal to let loose dogs on their own, and dogs with Marines, onto the surface of the moon and if the moon was breached within. She suggested that as the landing craft had now hit the surface it was appropriate to use the boars to patrol the beaches with the dogs, as well. At some time the craft would attack from the sea, and they were likely to be assembling an underwater base of operations. This was conveyed via the battle computers, to indicate that Jason and his group were commencing operations. Andrea directed the weapons fire, and instructed Jason as to when shields failed so the dogs and Marines could attack the ships. Holding cells were made ready for the captives. Jason asked the battle computer to indicate in blue when shields failed, and direct dogs and Marines to the ship. Ships missiles and mines would be redirected from the ships that they were boarding. Jason had millions of dogs available with and without Marines. He directed maximum effort to the largest of the ships of both the octopi and the cockroaches. In the slowed area where the cockroaches were trapped, the ships attacking and mines had concentrated their attempts on the larger ships to primarily destroy shields. Mines then attached to the hull and could be triggered to explode if the ship could not be boarded satisfactorily. The battle computers directed the dogs and Marines to the ships effectively. Some of the mines were cyber warfare mines that blocked external communication between the ships, and obtained relevant identities of cockroaches on board for use by the boarding parties.

There were concurrent major battles occurring between the defending fleets and the attacking Octopi. Defensive missiles were readied to take down planet buster missiles. Jason saw a badly damaged battle cruiser belonging to the Octopi suddenly accelerate to hit Marduk’s ship. Jason detected a powerful telepathic form on one of the very large assault carriers of the octopi that was attacking people on Marduk’s ship and impeding their defense, so that the cruiser could penetrate. It was too late now for the defense of Marduk’s ship, but it was not too late for Jason!

He directed fire to destroy the shields of that ship as a priority and he made it his mission to destroy the telepathic being. As his rage built he reached out to the ship in a way he had never done before. He knew what to do when he found the mind. He entered it. It was an ancient sentient marine being, trapped and blackmailed by the octopi, and threatened by its own destruction and the destruction of its family. There were others on other ships. Through his mind Jason connected to them all very rapidly. Jason terrified the daylights out them with his power, and threatened that he would kill them all, and every family member, down to the last; unless they ceased their activities. He would free them and return them to their families if they remained neutral for the rest of the battle, if he felt the slightest threat from any of them he would destroy them from his ship. The one who had led to the destruction of Marduk ship he utterly destroyed, making sure that the others knew what would await them if they disobeyed.

By this time, the capital ships where he had identified the telepathic brains, were having their shields destroyed and were being boarded. He provided instructions for the return to the ship of these beings.

Jason saw the huge doors to the asteroid open with a counter-attack being launched from within and very powerful artillery weapons firing from within the asteroid. Jason noticed 50 to 75 medium-sized ships and one battle carrier of the cockroaches escape the Porquenta suppressor field and move on the planet while being pursued. They rapidly passed the planet and launched full battery of missiles at the planet including planet killers. The remaining few ships managed to escape leaving most of their sister ships to be captured or destroyed.

Jason confirmed with the battle computer that at least a thousand landing craft, carrying one thousand five hundred Octopi each had made it to the surface. At least four times that number had been destroyed by mines, ground fire or by ship fire. The planet was ringed by artillery and missile protective batteries. Both the octopi and the cockroaches had towed massive offensive platforms for the attack. The platforms of the cockroaches had been rendered ineffective, and had not reached the planet. The Octopi had moved too quickly following the original attacks to face much destruction and had not followed the expected path to the planet thus largely avoiding minefields. The defensive platforms had not lasted as long as expected, but for that matter neither had the offensive platforms. The Octopus offensive fleet did well until they commenced their direct planetary attack. The defending fleets were still slugging it out with the attackers. Jason noted that already two hundred of the Octopi’s largest ships had been boarded, and were under control. Both sides had lost significant numbers of ships. The Octopi had filled their ships with Marines which made boarding much more difficult and required many more resources.