Chapter 10

The Ghoul Attack on Remza in Sub-Universe Recta 6

“Colonel what are we seeing on the holograms?” Supreme Admiral Bilulus Gelex asked her aide Emrix Normalux.

“Sir, ahead of us I see a miserable defensive fleet of two battleships, six cruisers and eight destroyers. There are some scattered frigates. A long way behind us near the orbit of the eighth planet I see two large ships. In front I cannot see planetary defenses. Atarax sent a message as we arrived and informs us the ships we see jumped in when we did and they warn of ships behind us.”

“Normalux, they have done well. Inform them we will split the fleet to intercept the ships behind us and proceed at full speed for the planet. We will debark most of our assault craft here and the rest once we subdue all opposition. Atarax can join the reserves.

“Do you have a damage report?”

“None of our ships suffered appreciable damage and all are with us. Sir, that is odd. The AI count says we are missing ten percent of our ships yet we see them all.”

“Normalux, we have more than enough to do the job. Inform Adm. Dermosh Neptar she is to debark her assault craft, then smash the opposition behind us. We will move ahead of the assault craft towards the planet.”

“Yes sir!”

“The blue planet ahead of us is Remza, just waiting to be plucked and we see paltry opposition in front of us,” said Gelex. “Send fighters to scout around us and cover our flanks.

They watched the holograms as the fleets debarked the assault craft.

“Sir, our fleets are ready.”

“Order the fleet into attack formation Beta Four.” The admiral ordered.

“Our rear-guard is away Sir!”

“More enemy ships have arrived on our left flank between the third and the fourth planet according to the Atarax sir. I can see them now sir, on the hologram. I can see one large cockroach style Titan Battleship, a carrier, several battleships and miscellaneous cruisers, destroyers and frigates.”

“Send Adm. Lamdon Newmark and his fleet to intercept and destroy them and we will head for the planet. I can’t wait to get there,” said Gelex.

“The fleet behind us have fired their missiles at the Azayal and are continuing to load and fire missiles until they get into range of the cannon. They inform us they detect thousands of missiles heading their way, far more missiles than expected from the size of the enemy fleet. They suspect cloaked ships hide adjacent to the other ships. They believe the definitive enemy fleets could be behind us.”

“I am sure that they will counter the enemy attack and destroy the fleet,” said Gelex.

“Our fighters are under heavy fire near the asteroid belt. It is a dense asteroid belt according to them and they cannot penetrate the belt with sensors. They are asking what should they do next.”

“We will send the young Admiral Fefton Gramulos to investigate with two battleships and escorts.”

“Sir, I have had confirmation from Bekta Delta, we have ten percent of our fleet damaged and one Titan has not accompanied us Sir. Our assets board is revising the count. I don’t like this Sir, we never have these issues.”

“Normalux you worry too much. In war things go wrong. Remain alert.”

“Sir, our fleet behind us is in cannon range of the enemy ships but they sustained fifteen percent damage from enemy missiles. They are still under missile threat. Sir, forty percent of them have shields down or close to failing. The Admiral appears to be preparing to jump to the other side of the enemy. The enemy has sustained minimal damage from our attack. Admiral Lamdon Newmark has fired missiles at the flanking fleet and is facing heavy missile attack. We are under attack by far more missiles than the visible ships can fire, sir.

“Normalux please ask our sensor operators to continue scanning and searching for alternate cloaking frequencies. I don’t want us to be ambushed,” said Gelex.

“Yes sir, they are still following previous instructions. Sir, we will reach the planetary fleet in ten minutes and we are two minutes to missile range.” Normalux said.

“Normalux let them load and fire. Usual protocol heavy ships first.”

“Sir, are they not in an unusual defensive position for such a fleet? They are too far away to be really useful and they are out of the most likely approach pathway for assault craft to attack the capital. They are poorly placed are they not?”

“Indeed they are. It is a place for the unwary and careless. I would not place ships in such a position in a million years,” Gelex observed.

“Sir, look at the hologram, we are being flanked by another small fleet slightly further behind us.”

“Send Admiral Jakomo Zorgon to intercept them. We will concentrate on our targets.”

“Admiral, do you not find this defense of the planet decidedly odd?”

“I do admit I have found this whole campaign the enemy waged against us exceedingly strange. I have never seen such a strange defense. I am not even sure it is a defense. We have small threatening forces, none of which appear to amount to much. They fire more missiles than they should. The planet itself seems undefended. How are our other forces doing?”

“Sir, the rear guard have temporarily jumped to allow their shields to reconstitute, but they are again under missile fire. Our force near the asteroids came under heavy fire from within the asteroid belt. They are attempting to find the enemy.

“Admiral Lamdon Newmark is also under heavy missile attack but is pushing forward. I can see several of their ships have been hit and are damaged Sir. The enemy must carry very heavy missile loads. We as yet have not faced cannon fire except from the asteroid fleet hidden there.” Normalux reported.

“Sir we have incoming missiles. The fleet ahead of us is countering our missiles and is not sustaining significant damage. Sir, four missiles will impact our ship in five-seconds, brace yourself.” They felt the deck shudder, beneath their feet.

“Damage?”

“Sir we have lost an engine. Reserve fighter bay 3 is destroyed with eighty fighters and men and marine staging areas 5-8 are destroyed with all personnel. We have lost one power supply and have a weakened shield on the port side.”

“A second wave of missiles is incoming sir; our defenses are holding so far. Sir, brace yourself 3 missiles incoming in 7 seconds.” The seven-seconds seemed interminable. They felt the deck shudder convulsively, and then felt the same again but closer.

“Sir, Engineering area 2 is not responding. We have lost further power and our second Engine is not operating at full power. Sir, our assault forces are under heavy attack. It looks like by smaller ships with very rapid fire cannon and small missiles. The enemy disabled the accompanying escorts.

“Sir the enemy ahead of us jumped somewhere and I can’t find them, but we are facing another wave of missiles and our shields are at thirty percent.”

“The rear guard say the enemy jumped and they cannot see them. The battle at the asteroid belt is fierce and they are asking for direction Sir.”

“Let the rear guard join them and destroy the fleet in the asteroid belt,” said Gelex.

“Brace sir we have incoming and I can see the enemy are now close to the third planet and trying to get behind us sir. We have launched missiles towards them. Six-seconds to impact, sir, three missiles. Our fleet has fired missiles at the enemy. Sir, we destroyed thirty percent of the enemy ships. The remainder are damaged.”

They felt the distant impact on the ship and felt minimal vibration of the deck.

“Sir, we lost forward marine areas, engineering area three and a power supply to the starboard side.”

“Let us mop up the enemy flanking us.”

“How are we doing elsewhere?”

Normalux flicked through the holograms. “We knocked out sixty percent of the enemy. The rear guard report only one large ship, heavily damaged, is attacking them. They sent half their ships to capture it and they have boarding parties ready to launch. The battle of the asteroid belt continues to hot up. There is a large base hidden there. Our fleet exposed a heavily armed asteroid. Boarding parties have headed to attack the asteroid and capture it. We are making excellent progress, sir. All ships report we are low on missiles. Our supply fleet has not arrived and we cannot establish a connection to Bekta Delta.”

“Keep trying we will need to replenish our own supplies soon,” said Gelex.

“Sir, our missiles damaged the enemy severely. Our fleet suffered damage, but we face more missiles incoming. Unfortunately, sir, we have depleted most of our defensive missiles and are relying more heavily on short and medium range cannon. Sir, we do not have incoming the missiles are heading for our other ships.”

“That is a relief. The enemy must have depleted their own missiles by now.”

“Sir our fleets report they can see a fleet of ships hidden in the asteroid belt. They have asked for reinforcements.”

“How are the others doing?” Gelex asked.

“Several other fleets report destroying their targets and can assist, sir.

“Send all but one fleet to the asteroid belt we cannot afford to be cut off. We will finish off our puny opposition and we will be clear to hit the planet.

“Send all the assault teams to the planet the way is clear, then we will engage the enemy once more.”

“Yes sir, I am sure they will be glad to get away. Marines hate waiting and being killed on board the ship.”

They watched the marines debark and start towards the planet.

“It is strange the enemy do not attack when we debark the marines,” said Normalux.

“I suspect they needed some respite and a chance to do some repairs. How long until we are in missile range?”

“One-minute, Sir.”

“Fire all our missiles, let us get this over with!” said Gelex.

“All missiles are away sir, but there are hundreds of missiles heading our way.”

“Sir, our AIs are getting better. Only one missile will hit us! Impact in nine-seconds.”

They felt the deck shudder beneath them.