Chapter 16: The Gray's Strike

Jim and his wives watched the battle between the Excelsior and the Flagship. The flag launched 80 fighter craft. All were keeping Excelsior busy as they had enveloped around the craft trying to prevent its escape.

Basketball size explosions tore at the ship shields before Excelsior went to warp and fired a single phaser at the Flag's engines disabling them.

Excelsior dropped out of warp .1 AU behind the fighter craft and started a systematic sweep with its phaser banks of the fighters. Before completely destroying them. They stopped firing because the Gray ship sent an unconditional surrender announcement.

The Excelsior pulled up next to the Gray flagship. As she lowered her shields to launch shuttles full of troops to take the ship. The Gray's 12 remaining fighters struck. The basketball size explosions of antimatter pitting the hull of the ship.

Excelsior's shield went back on line just before a powerful x-ray burst from the flagship struck it. What followed was nothing short of out right slaughter of the Grays. First the phaser and disrupter banks dispatched the remaining fighters. Then they watched in shock as Jason using disrupters only. Sliced and diced the flag ship in 100-foot sections.

The now disabled flagship was without any hope at this point. To Jim's utter shock, Jason tracker beamed the sections, and sent them on a 3-day voyage towards the system's sun.

Jim became concerned that Jason was capable of doing something like that. He would have to have a long talk with that boy. As he thought of what he could say to Jason, images entered his mind of distasteful things he had done to frogs, in his first life. Jim remembered being young and foolish. Was what Jason doing here, any different?

"AI, do the sensors show any life signs in the sections hurtling towards the sun?"

"Yes, twelve life signs in the section containing the bridge. All other life signs have ceased to exist."

"Jim, he may be giving the captain a chance to contemplate the error of his treachery," Jennifer said.

Annette added, "Such things do need to have a price, Love."

Jim nodded his understanding. He realized, in that moment, that the justice Jason had dispensed was perhaps mild compared to what the people of earth would have done to the Grays. After all, this way, Jason had given them time to prepare for their deaths.

It was odd that something that seemed so cruel, could also contain the opportunity for redemption. Jim wondered if the Grays even believed in a god. When he spoke to Rainer on this subject. Rainer was sure that they only worshiped their leader, if they worshipped at all.

Their prisoner, the heir to the Gray empire had clammed up after his rescue failed. Despite the evidence showing that the ships had attacked with the intent of destroying everyone, he held firm that his father would save him at some point.

The council was undecided about what to do with the prisoner. Ideas ranged from spacing him without a suit, to slow death by means that would have made Spanish inquisitors green with envy. Jim had vetoed them all, and continued to hold out that the intelligence value the prisoner represented, was too great to simply kill him outright.

Three weeks more went by. The UFP had completed 6 of the 30 planned carriers, and. seven of the battleships. They had also completed the testing of the new photon torpedo. Jim signed the order to replace all other forms of torpedoes on the UFP war ships with the new one.

News came from Wendy and Amber that their prisoner had still not disclosed the location of their home world. However they did learn of a planet called Salina, and why it was important to the Grays.

Jim, having no other target, he decided that if it was so rich in power metals, it made strategic sense to take the planet away from the Grays.

He sent Leah on a spy mission to the system. Even at warp 9, it would take a month to get within sensor range. By that time, the Federation's battle strength would have grown by 200 percent over current levels.

Plans were laid down for the carriers to act as planetary defense bases. The Battleships, when completed, would constitute the main attack force of the Federation.

Jim also made a request that remote sensor stations be build and deployed, at one light-years distance surrounding the planets of the federation. The plan being that with advanced notice, the battleships could respond to problem areas by use of the jump gates. On paper, it was a good plan. The only problem was that they still had no way to track ships in hyperspace.

The Gray's Strike

Three and one half months after the 'B Centauri Battle' (as it became known within Star Fleet) a Gray fleet dropped out of hyperspace around the UFP protectorate planet, Vega II.

Twelve Flagships (the largest ever built.) along with 1400 Fighter craft, accompanied the twenty-four mother ships, along with eight 'cubs', each. Ten of the experimental 'long nose' spacecraft, and one Planet Destroyer completed the deployment.

Despite knowing they were there, what few inter system craft there were, were not armed. The fleet approached the planet from its dark side. The 47 small lights were growing larger to the inhabitants, as each moment passed.

The Vasgar experimental space station passed through the ecliptic. Its orbit approached the strange space fleet. The two and a one-half mile long space station had every eye fixed on the alien craft. They watched in utter astonishment as the odd shaped craft, one one-half miles long, oriented themselves towards the station. There eyes could not register the fact that this weapons platform fired its enormous rail gun at them.

Gray Leader sat comfortably on the bridge of his Flagship. He watched as the new 'long-nose' rail gun ships oriented themselves to fire at the space station. He was pleased as he watched the first one discharge its 100-ton projectile. It was almost too fast for the eye to follow. He did have big eyes, though, in his oversized head. The projectile was modified to carry anti-matter in stasis. It really wasn't needed as the pure size and speed of the heavy metal ball was more than was needed to take out the station.

Gray Leader's face showed as close to glee as it could, when the explosion took place. It was a massive explosion that even ripped into the planet's atmosphere, causing shockwaves for over a thousand miles upon the planet's surface. He sat in grim satisfaction at this new class of ship. They would almost be able to kill all life on a planet, on their own.

The nine remaining long nosed craft fired non anti-matter solid balls of element 158, a dense mineral. It took almost a week for the Gray's home world's particle accelerators to create each three-meter ball. The nine projectiles raced into the planet's atmosphere at seven-tenths lightspeed. They barely had time for the friction to create purple vapor trails, when they struck the planet's surface. They plowed deep into and through the planet's crust.

Nine plumes rose over the surface of the planet. Each reached well above the atmosphere, blowing gasses, debris, and air, free of the planets gravitational influence. The 32-mile wide crater created at each impact site, quickly filled with an overflow of magma from below the planet's crust.

The ships AI reported to Gray Leader, "Sufficient damage had been done to the crust of the planet to insure the deaths of the beings remaining with in two standard cento-cycles."

Gray Leader, "Continue the experiment."

AI, "Orders going out."

Fighter craft left the launch bays of the Flagships, heading in all directions. Their job was to take out all satellites and other ships in and around the system. They quickly accomplished their mission with complete immunity from interference. They even took the time to destroy the space garbage surrounding the planet.

AI, "Recalling fighter craft to safety zone. Their task is complete. No losses"

Gray Leader was again gleeful as he ordered the Planet Destroyer into place.

The Planet Destroyer was little more than a larger 'long nose'. However, it was designed to fire its smaller projectile, much faster. To accomplish this it extended its already long nose by thrice. The rail gun fired its projectile at only 100 miles per hour below the speed of light. The projectile was also special. Incased in element 158, it was much smaller and had less mass than the projectiles from the long nosed craft. It was meant to do one thing. Deliver its payload to the very core of a planet. The payload was a simple device. It was just a bomb with a yield of less than 1 megaton. However it was constructed of antimatter. And when it detonated it would release untold trillions of anti protons at the speed of light, within the planet's core. The end effect was theorized to be equivalent of one metric ton of anti-matter, exploding at the planet's core. The science that came up with this monster, all but promised that the planet would no longer exist once the process was complete.