Chapter 9

The lead up to the Ghoul attack

Meeting Room 4.1, Castle of the Queen in the Capital Gresh on the Planet Drak:

Attendees:

Queen Parbath Kabal.

Biqalak Kabilal – her Secretary and Assistant.

Gen. Etzil Tsanak – Chief of Intelligence.

Adm. Namenal Kabilaqua – Intelligence Division Acquisitions.

Bilulus Gelex – Elevated Admiral in charge of Armed Forces.

“This is our last meeting prior to our attack on the Azayal in two days. Is everything going to plan?” Queen Parbath Kabal asked.

“My Queen we have assembled our fleet and we are commencing to load our troops in the assault ships. We do not believe they expect an attack. We have not received information to contradict what I am telling you. I am confident we can overcome them.”

“We know they can detect our ships through cloaking, and for that reason we have not recently sent scout ships that might alert them to our intentions. We cannot risk a ship being intercepted and our people captured,” said Elevated Adm. Bilulus.

“They are an alert and warlike people and must have some suspicions after the recent events. Even if they were expecting an attack, I have my serious doubts they would expect one of the size that is going to hit them. We are in the phase where we suspend communications with our people on the planet so we do not expose them to risk. Our sensors detect only the usual ship movements. We cannot risk active scans until we arrive in force. Our passive scans show only cargo traffic and the usual picket ships. We will send forces to attack the defensive platforms two hours ahead of our intended attack,” said Bilulus.

“Everything is in place my Queen. We launch our arranged cyberwarfare attacks today and our agents on the ground begin their attacks three hours before they expect the fleet to arrive. They are all in place as are the assassination squads throughout the planet. We have done everything we possibly can to weaken control and communication on the enemy planet. We will also make sure we deal with Lord Kargo once and for all. We have ample forces in place to assault the palace. The death of the king has, I am sure, added to the confusion on the planet,” said General Etzil Tsanak chief of intelligence.

“Namenal, how soon can we have people in Drak to feed our people for the attack on the Una,” asked The Queen.

“I estimate between three days to a week my Queen,” said Adm. Namenal Kabilaqua Intelligence Division Acquisitions. “I estimate we will have more than enough to deal with our problems for some time hence.”

“Then all is well,” said Queen Parbath Kabal and sat back comfortably. “My people will be saved!”

Jason carefully looked at the hologram in the solar system near the Ghoul capital planet Drak. “That is one massive fleet. We are fortunate they used so few ships against us in the past. It makes me wonder about the consequences of rule breaches. I have not had the opportunity to explore the mathematics and look at the consequences of mass movement from one place to another. I have heard of these rules but I don’t know much about them. We have seen the shifting of mass between the sub-universe and ours led to a synchronization of time that only happens every few million years. Now we are in sync with them.”

Andrea and Linda sat next to him one on each side. “The mines are starting to go off. I can see the explosions on the sensors,” said Linda pointing to the hologram in front of her. “The ship shields are all on. A fat lot that is going to help them!”

They all looked carefully at the holograms which showed explosion after explosion around the capital ships and the cruisers. There was a pause in the explosions. A second round began a half minute later.

“They are firing short range defense systems actively on all ships. That was incredibly fast thinking on their side. Our missiles are being activated now,” Andrea said, “fire all batteries and missiles and we will then wait till they move. Hit them again and get the hell out of here before it gets too hot. Before we go, let us send some big nasty missiles to the planet.”

“Admiral, before the explosions began, I noticed a large gravitational displacement. We cannot see anything, but we suspect there is a fleet nearby,” said the XO on the Ghoul Flagship BBB Kregadam.

“XO, I have commanded the fleet to jump further out in the solar system. I suspect we are surrounded by bombs and if we jump, we may leave some behind us. Mark the places of maximal gravitational displacement and we will fire missiles and cannon after we jump. Our people have still not got to battle stations. Switch on all antimissile systems and shields, this is a surprise attack. I am recalling the titanic battleships, and we will get out of here as soon as we can. Captain how long before we can jump?” Elevated Admiral Bilulus Gelex asked.

“Admiral Gelex we are transitioning from maintenance power to full power in twenty seconds and we will be ready to do a short, within system jump, in two minutes!”

“XO as soon as possible, fire missiles or cannon, if we can prior to the jump, fire at the gravitational disturbances.” said Bilulus.

“Sir, we have thousands of missiles heading our way. Many of them are coming from a totally different direction to the gravitational disturbance. We will be able to fire missiles in three minutes. We had not as yet loaded missiles into the automated systems. Our antimissile systems are fully loaded throughout the fleet. Sir, we are under cannon fire as well as missiles from yet another direction. Our fleet is fully engaged in defensive fire.”

“Warning there will be an imminent impact. Shields are holding, but they are under heavy fire. Huge explosions are observed on and around the assault platforms. We are jumping in ten-seconds. Sir, I can see thousands of missiles heading for the planet. The deck shuddered twice beneath their feet. We have been hit by two missiles in non-critical locations. We are jumping now!”

“Try and target the gravitational disturbances as soon as is possible. Start retuning our sensors to see if we can penetrate their cloaking.” Ordered Gelex.

“Admiral our cannon will commence firing in fifteen-seconds and missiles will be ready in fifty-five seconds. We were hit in hangar two destroying two hundred and seven fighters, and the area near engineering. We have four-thousand-three-hundred casualties. We are commencing repairs. We have drones investigating our outside damage.”

“Sir, the gravitational disturbance has disappeared. The Palace was struck by four missiles and we have missiles raining down onto the planet below. We have no clear targets.”

“Fortunately, I was on the ship at the time of the attack and talking to the captain on the bridge. Ten minutes earlier I might have been killed in my shuttle. Captain, you and the XO have done well. Please send fighters, some frigates and destroyers back to the planet to see if we can recover enemy missiles and bombs. We need to investigate these weapons and find out who has manufactured them.

“Ships that are big enough to create a gravitational disturbance are of great concern. Alert all sensor operators to watch for gravitational disturbances. Inform all operators that if one such disturbance is found to try and retune the sensors to find what is behind the cloaking. The Azayal, do not have ships big enough to produce these disturbances. Our own Titanic Battleships will do it as will the very large cockroach and the moon size ships of the people of Dhoom. Surely none of those ships could get here! Even though it is improbable it must not be ruled out.

“I must fly down to the planet to talk to my colleagues and the Queen; as soon as we can assure ourselves that we are not under attack. Notify the planet I will be there in an hour. We will return to position one hundred miles further from the planet and change position every hour on a random basis. We will scatter our ships so we do not present such an inviting target again. Capt. please arrange for reports of damage from the fleet. I need a preliminary damage report before I leave for the planet.” Elevated Admiral Bilulus Gelex ordered.

“Sir, we have missiles incoming and the battleships Makra and Pekondo have been hit by a beam weapon. Sir, we have also been hit, our shield is down but we are weaving. We can jump in sixty-seconds. The Battleships Belem and Nosra are also hit. We have had a near miss. There is an imminent single missile strike,” the XO shouted. There was a faint shudder felt through the deck. “We have targeted the beams origin and knocked out two frigates of Empire origin. They are severely damaged. Belem is sending boarding craft.

“Too late! Both frigates exploded. Our antimissile systems work exceptionally well, sir.”

“I have reports coming in. Forty battleships were hit by missiles in this strike. Fifteen have severe damage from cannon attacks.”

“Fighters and probes are following the direction of the attack.

“I have a report from one of our fighters near Drak. He has found our own limpet ship killers floating in groups. He says he would recognize them anywhere.” The Captain said.

“Interesting,” said Bilulus, “they play with us!”

“XO let us jump randomly and continue moving, unpredictably around our system. Stay clear of the planet but send in missile sweepers to clear residual missiles around the planet. I am sure they are hoping we will return and hit us again. If they hit us get all the operators to point in the direction of the strike and allocate different bands to each of our ships to look for the enemy. We will get lucky with a lot of hard work. Tell command I will return to Drak in two hours not one as previously passed.” Gelex ordered.

“Admiral thousands more, heavier missiles are heading for the planet and for our assault platforms.”

“That is bait I am not prepared to take. Move as planned. The planet will have to defend itself.” Ordered Gelex.

“Admiral another wave of even more missiles are heading for our assault platforms and the planet.”

Meeting Room 4.1, Castle of the Queen in the Capital Gresh on the Planet Drak:

Attendees:

Queen Parbath Kabal.

Biqalak Kabilal – her Secretary and Assistant.

Gen. Etzil Tsanak – Chief of Intelligence.

Gen. Nordox Belandrimus – Home Defense, Planet Drak.

Bilulus Gelex – Elevated Admiral in charge of Armed Forces.

“Nordox, can you tell us the situation on the planet?” Queen Parbath Kabal asked.

“Your Majesty your beautiful Palace has sustained damage from two missiles which struck the West Wing. Power plants, military installations, government buildings, and two of our dams have been severely damaged. Our communications are in disarray, the spaceport is severely damaged, missile defenses and short range defensive systems were nearly all destroyed. This was a highly targeted attack on our infrastructure. They were able to shut down and target our most important defensive systems. Our ground troops were targeted first and most of them were not in hardened facilities. We have lost thirteen percent of our ground troops and their equipment.

“In addition we have a similar number who are injured or will need repair. We will not be able to mount a satisfactory planetary defense for at least a week. They could park a ship and launch planet killers with impunity. They managed to destroy fifty percent of our fighters hidden deep in the ground. Our planetary defense platforms are in ruins. They had bombs planted all over them and they exploded prior to any missile strikes,” General Nordox Belandrimus reported.

“Etzil, please report, “asked the Queen.

“This attack, was entirely unexpected. There were large gravitational anomalies noted by several ships, but no large ships were seen. Two frigates of Empire origin were destroyed. We know Lord Kargo has captured several titanic Coven battleships and an enormous moon sized Dhoom ship, which I understand was severely damaged. None of our known enemies other than the Azayal, Parzool and Warriors have the necessary knowledge and prowess to fly between universes. The Parzool do not have modern ships capable of crossing universes, and neither do the Warriors. Neither has traveled Universes for millions of years. The Azayal do not own large ships as far as we know. If the allies of the Collective and the accursed Duke Kargo have developed this technology we are going to face a larger force than we expected.

A messenger raced into the room to speak to Elevated Adm. Bilulus Gelex. He stood up with his face looking gray and drawn.

“The Fleet is again under attack close to the asteroid belt. They are under very heavy fire. Several ships have been damaged by asteroids. Again there are explosions in close proximity to the ships that conform to limpet attacks. The fleet is maneuvering, but sustaining damage and cannot jump for another two and a half minutes. We cannot detect any ships, nor can we detect gravitational anomalies. The damaged ships were targeted again. We have further missiles heading for the planet!”

Minutes later they felt the ground tremble several times and heard the low rumble of the transmitted sounds of the explosions, despite being five miles below the ground. The ground trembled violently and they heard the sound of an explosion that was frighteningly close. The Queen absently looked at a crack forming in the ceiling while dust fell on the table.

“That was pretty nasty and it was not that far from us,” said the Queen.

“Etzil please continue,” the Queen ordered.

“The conclusions our team have reached is: firstly, the enemy know of our plan, but they do not have a big enough force to attack us and destroy our fleet, so they are warning us that we are at risk of our home planet being destroyed. They are telling us they have teeth and they have allies, but they do not have a big enough force to prevent our invasion.”