Attack of the Bounty Hunters Ch. 10

[This is not a "sex story". It is a story about a society where people have superfast reflexes... and guns.]

Chapter 10: The Fleet Steps In

The fleet had arrived, and was waiting in orbit.

The transport landed in the main landing bay of the League Battleship Majestic. They had made it.

A large number of very shaken diplomats slowly emerged. Medical and support personnel were waiting to take them away. On Croft's say-so the Slurians were put under guard.

"I'm looking for Clifford Croft," said an officer.

The Clapper came forward and gave a moronic grin. The officer looked at him. "Are you Croft?"

"What do you think?" said Croft, stepping forward.

"Admiral Lillard wants to see you," said the officer.

"I'm used to being in high demand," said Croft dryly.

The officer made a deprecating face, but led Croft to the bridge. Before they got there, however, they felt something and the ship shook slightly.

"What was that?" Croft asked.

"I don't know," said the officer.

They hurried to the bridge.

A middle aged admiral sat in the battle chair. Admiral Lillian Lillard was one of the few women Admiral in the League fleet. She was often compared to a crusty, weather beaten boot. And that was one of nicer things people said about her.

The officer led Croft to the Admiral, and saluted.

Admiral Lillard looked Croft up and down. "This is Clifford Croft?"

Croft looked Admiral Lillard up and down, and turned to the junior officer. "This is Admiral Lillard?"

"Your levity is ill-timed," said Lillard.

"Admiral, they're launching a second wave," said one of the bridge officers.

"A second wave of what?" said Croft. But he only had to check the holoviewer to see what was going on. The Graftonites were lobbing anti-ship missiles from the planet at the fleet.

Anti-ship missiles. Either Croft hadn't destroyed them all, or Quandry had procured another shipment.

Croft eyed the trail of the ten or so slow moving missiles. Surely Quandry didn't think he could destroy the fleet with a relatively small number of missiles.

"Anti-aircraft batteries on full," said the Admiral. "Target their launching points."

"Admiral," said Croft.

'We're a little busy now, Mr. Croft,' said the Admiral.

A holoimage of the launching points appeared in the air. They were all clustered at one point on the eastern seaboard.

"They're launching from a very narrowly confined area," said Admiral Lillard. "Not very smart. Set main lasers."

A narrowly confined area? Croft eyed the image closely. That was Regular! All the launchers were in Regular.

Why, with so much open space over a nearly completely empty planet, were all the launchers clustered in Regular, the only real city on the entire planet?

It didn't take Croft more than half a second to figure out the answer.

"Admiral-" said Croft.

Suddenly they felt a small explosion, and then another, and then another.

"Damage?" said Lillard

"All ten offensive missiles destroyed," said an officer. "The destroyer Janson reports minor damage from a close interception."

"Prepare to fire," said Lillard.

"Admiral, you have to withdraw," said Croft.

Lillard turned to Croft. "We are under attack, Mr. Croft. What kind of message would we be sending the Graftonites by running? That would only encourage their aggression."

"Normally I would agree," said Croft. "But Quandry wants you to fire back! That's part of his plan!"

Lillard cocked an eyebrow. "Then the warmonger will get what he wants."

"Lasers targeted," said the weapons officer.

"Fire!" said Lillard.

Brilliant stabs of light shot out from the Majestic. On Regular, deadly beams thundered from above, incinerating launchers, but also nearby streets and buildings. The explosions started fires which spread. In moments, a third of Regular was on fire.

On the Majestic, a magnified holoimage of the city could be seen.

"Launchers destroyed," reported the weapons officer.

"Cease fire," said Lillard. "We'll keep our response proportional."

"Believe me, you've done more than enough," said Croft.

Lillard glared at him.

********

"See what the offworlders have done to us," said Quandry. He was speaking at a Peaceful Debate, where a holoimage of Regular displayed above him. The fires were largely out, but wisps of smoke could still be seen rising here and there. Blackened and partially destroyed buildings could also be viewed.

"What did you expect?" said one Graftonite, standing up. "You lobbed anti-ship missiles at them."

"Yes, that's true," said Quandry. There was a murmur in the audience. "But I only did so after I was attacked. I was willing to reach an honest parley with the offworlder diplomats; what I found instead was a commando team sent in to assassinate me."

The murmuring rose to a roar as the image of the burned out building where the diplomats had been held came on the screen. Then an earlier image of a transport hovering above the building appeared.

"They landed a commando team from the roof and tried to assassinate me; when that failed, they tried to set the building afire," said Quandry. "Should I have sat still for this?"

"No!" some cried.

"Will we take this lying down?"

"No!" more cried.

"Then join me, and help us teach the Leaguers a lesson they won't soon forget!" said Quandry.

The crowd was chanting his name now. Quandry allowed himself a small smile.

********

Croft was on a transport headed back to August with Red Sally, the Clapper, and Tane when he heard the news. The Chief broadcasted on a secure holo.

"The Graftonites have invaded Karis," said the Chief. She didn't have to wait long for this to sink in. Unlike Grafton IV, the previous planet to be invaded, Karis was a full-fledged member of the League. This was nothing less than a direct attack on the League itself.

"I'm not surprised," said Croft coolly. "Not after what that idiot Lillard did."

"Explain."

"Quandry wanted to provoke an attack. That was why he was going to slaughter those diplomats," said Croft. "Only since I rescued them, he had to work a little harder at it. By getting us to attack Regular, he helped unite the Graftonites behind him."

"But his attack was unprovoked," said the Chief.

"Have you checked the latest newsfeed from Grafton? That's not how he's portraying it," said Croft.

"Will the entire population believe it?" said the Chief.

"The entire population doesn't need to believe it," said Croft. "All Quandry needs is to convince a minority of the population to carry his war to us. And that's what he's done now."

"Well, we certainly have to resist him now," said the Chief.

"Certainly," said Croft. "Or, at the very least, stop the next invasion."

"The next one?"

"It's not going to stop with Karis," said Croft.

"I'll talk with the President about deploying the fleet," said the Chief.

"Good," said Croft. "If we have any chance of stopping them, it's in space. Just make sure you get an admiral with a little less attitude and a little more brains."

Admiral Lillard watched as reinforcements arrived to help enforce the blockade off of Grafton II. There was now a similar blockade off of Grafton IV and Karis. Nothing was getting in or out.

If the intel could be believed, the Graftonites had invaded Karis with little more than space fighters and a handful of transports. Lillard's capital ships could handle the transports, but fighters required a different tactic.

Lillard eyed the Command Carrier Glory, which had been detached from regular duty and assigned to her. She established communications with the ship. In seconds a holoimage appeared on the bridge.

"Admiral," said the grizzled looking officer staring at them.

"Captain Harkness," said Lillard.

"I've heard things are quite a mess," said Harkness. Captain Myster Harkness wasn't the regular Captain of the Glory; he had been pressed into service at the last minute when the assigned captain had fallen ill. Harkness had protested that he didn't have the experience to command a Battle Carrier, but evidently his superiors thought that his skill in commanding battleships would carry him through. Either that, or they didn't have any other carrier captains available on very short notice.

Lillard glared at him, interpreting his remark as criticism. "You only need be concerned about the present, Captain. I want an airtight cordon around Grafton II. I want two squadrons in continuous CAP around the planet at all times, and four squadrons on active duty ready to launch."

"Continual active duty?" said Harkness. "Admiral, how long is this going to be for?"

"Until further notice."

"Admiral, I'm no genius, but having six squadrons on active duty will wear down our resources very quickly. It's only meant to be done-"

"When ordered," said Lillard. "And it is an order, Captain."

Harkness muttered something.

"Did you say something, Captain?" said Lillard.

"Just that this isn't the kind of working vacation I planned," said Harkness. "Glory out."

Battle Lieutenant Idaho J. Took sat in the cockpit of his Wildcat 98-J looking very annoyed. As the commander of Wildcat "C" it was now his squadron's turn to sit on "active ready" status. That meant the pilots had to sit in their cockpits of their very still and unmoving ships in the Glory's landing bay. In eight hours, maybe, his squadron and Wildcat "D" would get a chance to replace Wildcat "A" and "B" on patrol. Took flicked on his comm switch.

"Obe, you there?"

"No, I transferred to the seventh fleet two weeks ago," came back Ensign Obe's voice.

"I think my sense of humor is rubbing off on you," said Took.

"Or rubbing against me, in the wrong way," Obe suggested.

"I can see you're testy too," said Took.

"It's all this waiting," said Obe.

"Are you sure it wouldn't be anything else?" said Took.

"Such as...?"

"Well, I don't know, let's see," said Took. "The Captain is gone. And our new Captain knows nothing about fighter combat. Our Admiral is reputed to be one of the dumbest to win flag rank. And we're about to face the fastest gunslingers in the galaxy."

"Being fast with a blaster doesn't automatically mean they're fast in a cockpit," said Obe.

"Don't you know anything about Grafton?" said Took. "Everyone has a starfighter. That's how they get around. I hear they have fewer miles of electric road on the planet then they do in all of Sarney Sarittenden."

"Don't believe everything you hear, Iday," said Obe.

"I don't," said Took. "But the problem is, I tend to believe most everything I say."

********

"A convoy is launching; forty fighters, eight long range transports."

"It looks like another invasion force," said Lillard. She reflected. "Just how do they take over an entire planet with such small forces? Never mind. Launch fighters."

********

"Wildcat "C", rendezvous with Wildcat "A" at the following coordinates," came the voice over Took's helmet. He eyed the coordinates which were pouring onto his screen.

"Understood," said Took. "Launching." He pressed the launch button, and was pushed back into his chair. He had just cleared the Glory launch tubes when he heard the cries for help over his comm. It was Wildcat "A". They were in trouble.

"Squadron C, full thrusters," Took ordered his squadron. It would cut down on their fuel available for combat maneuvers, but time was of the essence. His Wildcat 98 J accelerated to the max. It was a pity they didn't have the new Wildcat 110's like Wildcat "A" and "B" did, but now wasn't the time to worry about that. He had to make do with the resources at hand.

Took checked his sensors. He could see the rapid images of ships darting around each other. There must be quite an active dogfight. He should be close enough to see it visually...

Took saw nothing. Then, suddenly, he saw a piece of debris whip by him. Then another, then another. His trained eye knew the obvious immediately. They were all bits and pieces of Wildcat hulls. Took tried to raise the squadron leader from Wildcat "A". There was no response. Then he broadened his message to anyone from Wildcat "A".

********

"What's happening?" said Admiral Lillard. She had Captain Harkness on holo.

"Just a moment," Harkness growled. He was talking to another officer whose voice couldn't be heard.

"Captain!" said Lillard. She demanded his attention.

"We've lost contact with Wildcat "A"," said Harkness bluntly.

"If you can't contact the squadron commander, try one of his subordinates-"

"You don't understand," said Harkness. "The entire squadron. It's been destroyed. Just a minute." They saw him receive another battle report. He conferred with another officer.

"There are four survivors from Wildcat B. They're trying to link up with "E" and "F". Wildcats "C" and "D" are engaged in heavy combat right now."

"Blow the enemy out of the sky!" said Lillard. "Have them target the transports."

"But Admiral-"

"Carry out my orders!" she said.

********

"Target the transports, sure," said Took, as he received the order. He was having a hard enough time just dodging the fighter that was on his tail. The only thing that had saved him so far was that the pursuing fighter periodically diverted momentarily to destroy "easier" targets, but the fighter always returned to his tail. "Obe, need some help here!"

"I can't help you," said Obe. "Every time I try to turn and acquire one, they simply flit out of the way. I've got one on my tail now."

"Time to go on the offensive," said Took. He did an inverse corkscrew maneuver, twisting the ship violently. He watched with satisfaction as his pursuer overshot him... only to return to his tail seconds later.

"Well, that bought me a good five seconds," said Took. Suddenly there was a blinding flash as one of his wingmen was blasted out of existence. The other pilots started to call for help.

********

On the bridge of the Glory, Harkness watched without expression as a holoimage of the battle played above him. Every few seconds one of the lights representing one of his fighters would wink out.

"What's the situation, Captain?" came the holoimage of Admiral Lillard. "How many transports have been destroyed?"

"None," said Harkness. "Our fighters are getting slaughtered."

"Slaughtered? With two to one superiority?" Lillard asked. How could this be?

"Our pilots can't keep up with them," said Harkness. "More than thirty ships have been lost already."

"Thirty? How many of those are Graftonite?" Lillard demanded to know.

"None," said Harkness. He signaled for his fighter officer. "Withdraw the fighters."

"What?" said Lillard. "I gave no such order. I order you to pursue and engage!"

"Withdraw them now," said Harkness, ignoring her, speaking directly to his comm officer.

The comm officer looked hesitant.

"I take full responsibility," said Harkness. Another light winked out on the screen. "Do it."

"Harkness, you'll be court martialed for this," said Lillard, her face a mask of rage.

Harkness snapped, "It wouldn't be the first time."

********

"That coward," Lillard fumed. She opened another comm line. "Fleet Battle, this is Admiral Lillard. All capital ships are to pursue those transports. I want them disabled or destroyed, immediately."

The Grafton fighters broke off from the Wildcats almost immediately after they stopped pursuing the transports and turned back towards the Glory. Took gave a sigh of relief. If the Graftonites had wanted to, they could have destroyed most of their fighters before they had reached the Glory.

The battleship Majestic, supported by a quartet of heavy cruisers, bore down on the transports. The Graftonite fighters turned their attention to these capital ships. Racing across their hulls, they blasted away at sensors, gun emplacements, and engines.

Admiral Lillard felt the Majestic give another shudder. "Why haven't the anti-aircraft lasers disposed of them?"

"Admiral, they're too fast for our AA lasers," said the weapons officer.

"Then forget about them," said Lillard. "Target those transports!"

But the Majestic was losing gun emplacements almost as fast as it could target them. The situation was the same with the other cruisers. One of the weapons emplacements managed to get online, however, firing at a transport. The shot scored a near miss, and they could see the transport sputter with damage.

"Good," said Lillard. "Keep going."

The fighters as if on cue changed tactics after that, targeting the battleship's engines. In a few minutes the capital ships were either defenseless or without engines.

Lillard watched on the screen as the image of the fleeing ships faded away, and her career along with it. How would she explain it? A numerically inferior force had disabled an entire fleet, killing dozens and injuring hundreds.

For a moment Lillard thought of the Glory. It was a command carrier with capital weapons of its own. The Glory was undamaged; if she replaced Harkness and took command... the results would be the same. Lillard was enough of a realist to realize that. What, then, would she say to fleet command?

********

It was called the Complex. It was the command and control center for the combined armed forces of the League. Located in the heart of Sarney Sarittenden, it was a large bunker complex that extended beneath the city. In one especially secure room, deep underground, a group of senior admirals sat, watching reports.

One of them, a man in a War Admiral's uniform, sat back in his chair, scowling.

"I told you she wasn't ready," he said. His name was War Admiral Adam Lafferty.

"What was your solution to the problem?" said another, Battle Admiral Kenna.

"North," said Lafferty simply.

"That's always your answer," said Kenna. "But sending Admiral North in repeatedly to solve our most difficult of situations breeds a certain resentment in the ranks. It makes the military look impotent, as if only he can solve our problems. The resentment-"

"Obviously extends to some of those in this room," said War Admiral Lafferty calmly.

"Gentlemen," said a new voice. It was War Admiral Carnaby, the Chief of Staff. He expected a certain code of conduct in this room. "I've just briefed the Chief of Staff. He wants to know why the engagement went so poorly. We outnumbered and outgunned them by every method we can measure."

"Except that they're much faster than us," said Lafferty. "I think we've now learned that their exceptional speed isn't limited only to gunfighting."

"Gentlemen, I need options," said Carnaby. "What should I tell the Chief of Staff?"

They were silent for a moment. No one seemed to have any ideas.

"Well?" said Carnaby.

"I don't know the answer," said Lafferty. "But I suggest I know who does."

"There you go again," said Kenna.

"This is a serious crisis," said Lafferty. "Two planets have been invaded in two weeks. How long do you think it will take for them to launch another invasion?"

"How do they capture planets so quickly?" another admiral asked. "From the intel I've seen, they only invade with a few hundred soldiers."

"That's an issue for the army and the intelligence community to find out," said Carnaby. He had to keep the group focused. "Right now my issue is space defense. What am I to tell the Chief of Staff?"

"Tell them you're sending Norman North in," said Lafferty.

"Any other suggestions?" Carnaby looked around. He wasn't against using Admiral North; but he always liked to have choices. But the other admirals were silent. They had no other ideas. Much as they were jealous of Norman North, they knew that he was their best chance to fight the Graftonites.

Carnaby turned to an aide. "I'm going to meet with the Chief of Staff now. I want you to set up a holomeeting with Battle Admiral Norman North in sixty minutes."

********

The image of Battle Admiral Norman North appeared in the Complex conference room, broadcast in scrambled code from his private office on the battleship Westwind. Although he was "only" a three star Battle Admiral (only a four star War Admiral or five star Victory Admiral ranked higher), his previous string of successes on the battlefield inspired awe among both military and civilian alike. He was the best military mind the League ever had. He could analyze a situation almost instantly, predict possible and probable results, and plot the best countermeasures while others were still debating the first step to take. But while his ability inspired a great deal of support, it also created a great deal of jealousy too, causing him to sometimes be sidelined when great events were taking place.

"Battle Admiral," said War Admiral Carnaby, by way of greeting.

"Admirals," said North cautiously.

"You are of course familiar with the Graftonite situation," said Carnaby informally.

"I've been reading the intel," said the Battle Admiral guardedly, not wanting to admit too much familiarity with the situation.

"There are indications that the Graftonites are gearing up to launch another invasion," said Carnaby. "We want you to take a fleet to stop it."

The Battle Admiral nodded. "My resources?"

"You can use whatever's in the area," said Carnaby.

"I want the Glory back," said the Battle Admiral promptly.

"That's possible," said Carnaby. He knew that the Battle Admiral was sentimental about his old ship. "But the Glory has lost about forty percent of its fighters, and thirty percent of its pilots. It will take at least two weeks to get new fighters-"

"We don't have two weeks," said the Battle Admiral. "Just give me the Glory, and as many battleships and heavy capital ships as you can muster."

"Most of the Graftonites are in small fighters," said Carnaby. "They move so fast that your AA lasers won't be able to intercept them."

"Understood," said the Battle Admiral. "But get me those ships." And then he added, almost as an afterthought, "I'll contact Captain Harkness directly regarding the rendezvous."

"That will be impossible," said Carnaby. "Captain Harkness is under arrest for insubordination and mutiny."

"That won't work. He won't be able to command the Glory very well from a cell," said the Battle Admiral, being deliberately obtuse. "You told me I could use whatever was in the area."

Carnaby considered. If it were any other officer, he could simply order North to drop the matter. But this was Battle Admiral Norman North. Still, Harkness had disobeyed orders.

"Norm, he disobeyed the direct order of a superior."

"A stupid order," said North. Only an officer with his stature would risk being this blunt with the Chief of Staff. "Battle analysis shows that not a single enemy fighter was taken out, while we lost 39 of our own. Our fighters had no business being there. By ordering the retreat, he saved lives. If Harkness is to be at a court martial, it should be as a witness, testifying at Admiral Lillard's court martial." North, by giving this level of detail, had betrayed more than a casual interest in the intel from the battle. He had been prepared for this moment, had been waiting for it.

Carnaby hung his head. "All right. But I'll have to clear it with the Chief of Staff."

"Do so," said the Battle Admiral. "And one last thing." He transmitted a data stream, a list of munitions. A number of eyebrows went up.

Carnaby nodded, "We'll get these to you quickly." Signing off, North's image faded.

"How did he have that list of munitions ready made?" Kenna said. "He must have known we were going to contact him."

"Be glad he's able to anticipate," said Lafferty. "That's one of his greatest strengths."

********

Some hours later, the Battleship Westwind rendezvoused with the Glory. A shuttle carried the Battle Admiral aboard the Glory.

"Good to see you again, sir," said Harkness, as Battle Admiral Norman North entered the bridge of the Glory.

"Myster," the Battle Admiral smiled. He spent the next moment greeting the other senior officers on the bridge.

"Battle Admiral." "Good to see you, sir." "Welcome back," they said.

"It's good to be back," said the Battle Admiral. He turned to Harkness. "What's the situation?"

"The Majestic and the heavy cruisers are still out of action," said Harkness. "We've been joined by three battleships, and two battle cruisers should be here within four hours."

"And my special cargo?" The Battle Admiral asked.

"The cargo landed just before you did," said Captain Harkness. "The tech teams have already started work on them. But I still don't understand-"

The Battle Admiral held up a restraining hand."Later," he said. "According to the latest intel, their next invasion could launch as soon as tomorrow. I want to see the chief engineer, the weapons officer, and the starfighter commander in my quarters in fifteen minute intervals, starting in thirty minutes."

"Sir. Yes sir," said Harkness. He looked at the others. They didn't know what the Battle Admiral had in mind either. But they trusted him; that was all that mattered.

The starfighter commander entered the Battle Admiral's quarters. The Battle Admiral had been so busy that he hadn't had the time to look up his name. So when the Battle Admiral looked up he was very surprised.

"Lieutenant Took?" said the Battle Admiral.

"Battle Admiral," Took saluted.

"You're the starfighter commander?" said the Battle Admiral. "I thought you were in Command of Wildcat "C" or "D"." The senior starfighter commander was always in Command of the Alpha squadron, and was almost always a captain or major.

"I am now," said Took.

The Battle Admiral took it in immediately. "The starfighter commanders of A and B...."

"A and B went in first," said Took. "Everyone was lost in A; four pilots from B survived, but not the squadron commander."

"It must have been awful," said the Battle Admiral grimly.

"That's an understatement," said Took, equally grimly. "I can't say that morale is very good."

"That's understandable," said the Battle Admiral.

"When are we getting reinforcements?" Took asked.

The Battle Admiral held his hands out wide, to indicate the ships on a holodisplay. "This is it."

"A couple of capital ships?" said Took. "What about fighters?"

The Battle Admiral shook his head. "Intel says they won't reach us in time. Not before the next invasion fleet heads out."

"We'll be cut to ribbons again," said Took.

"Not if I have anything to say about it," said the Battle Admiral.

"Sir, they're simply faster than we are. We can't match their reflexes."

The Battle Admiral sighed, coming around his desk. He put an arm around Took. "Do you think your pilots can hold out against the Graftonites for two minutes?"

"Two minutes?" Took said.

"Or maybe three," said the Battle Admiral. "Not more than that."

"What are you talking about?" said Took.

"Your men won't have to fire a shot," the Battle Admiral assured him.

"We're going to win without firing a shot?" said Took.

The Battle Admiral explained his plan.

"That's quite a plan," said Took, after he had heard it. "Is the technology tested?"

"It's never been used quite like this before," said the Battle Admiral. "I have a full tech team working on the retrofitting. But you'd better go down to landing bay two to supervise the installations."

"Yes sir," said Took. He turned to go. "You really think we can beat them?"

"With luck," said the Battle Admiral.

"And you on our side," Took added.

The next day Captain Harkness gave the Battle Admiral a status report. "The retrofitting on the Wildcats is almost complete."

"Good, good," said the Battle Admiral. "I noticed a resupply ship arrived a few hours ago."

"Yes," said Harkness. "They're carrying D-34's, our largest ship killing missiles. But Admiral, those are only for use against other capital ships. Do you intend to use them against small fighters?"

The Battle Admiral gave an enigmatic smile.

"That's a bit of overkill, isn't it?" said Harkness. "It won't work anyway."

"Why not?" said the Battle Admiral.

"The D-34 are huge, lumbering missiles. With their super reflexes, the Graftonites will shoot down the D-34's before they get close."

"Under normal circumstances, I would expect that," said the Battle Admiral.

Harkness cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing.

********

The intelligence reports were right on the mark; a small fleet of starfighters and transports could be seen leaving the orbit of Grafton II.

"Sir, sensors detect forty nine fighters and eight transports!" said the sensor officer excitedly.

"I see them," said the Battle Admiral calmly. "Launch all Wildcat squadrons."

"Wildcats launching," said the starfighter commander.

The War Admiral turned to Captain Harkness and pointed to a holomap. "Captain, have the following capital ships redeploy here, here, here, and here," he said, pointing to positions on the map with an electropointer. Coordinates immediately sprang up at those positions.

"That will cast a pretty big circle around those fighters," said Harkness. "We don't have enough ships to prevent them from slipping through the gaps."

"Understood," the Battle Admiral said. Though Harkness was puzzled by his strategy, he knew better than to question it, and he quickly gave the orders to the other capital ships.

Battle Lieutenant Idaho J. Took commanded the squadrons going into battle. He couldn't help feeling a wave of fear as he noticed the rapidly approaching sensor blips.

The Battle Admiral's voice came over the comm. "Remember, Iday, I want you to deploy the special cargo within two minutes after you make contact. I want as many enemy fighters in the zone as possible, while minimizing the risk to you and your crew as much as possible."

"Understood," said Took. He issued orders to the other squadrons.

The Battle Admiral eyed the scene on the holomap. When the fighters had closed to a certain distance from the Graftonite invasion fleet, the Battle Admiral opened the interfleet comm. "Now," he said. "Launch all D-34 missiles."

Giant ship killer missiles spat out from launch tubes throughout the fleet. As the fleet was encircling the Graftonite force, the giant missiles came from every direction, slowly roaring towards the enemy fighters. There was only one problem; the Wildcats were between the Graftonites and the missiles.

The Graftonite commander, a silver medalist named Tron Uorlo, saw what was coming, of course.

"They must think their fighters can tie us down sufficiently so their missiles can close with us," said his wingman. "But I can't believe that they would sacrifice their fighters to get to us."

"The sheep have become desperate," Uorlo sneered. "Those fighters are no threat; we can safely ignore them." He set his comm to interfleet. "Attention escort force: ignore enemy fighters. Target ship killers with anti-ship missiles. Once those are wiped out, we'll take out the sheep fighters at our leisure. Just like last time."

The Wildcat 98-J's closed to visual range, and then they were on top of the first wave of Graftonite fighters. Almost immediately Uorlo noticed something was wrong; the Wildcats weren't trying to fire on them. Not a single one had opened fire. Instead, the Wildcats were maneuvering to get closer to the rest of the Graftonite starfighters.

"Wildcats... release!" said Took. He pressed a button, and a small munitions package dropped off from the weapons rack of his ship. Seconds later, similar munitions dropped off the other Wildcats.

Uorlo, busy targeting the ship killers, didn't focus his attention on the Wildcats until his proximity alarm blared.

Suddenly, his short range sensors were filled with blips. There was a sudden explosion near him as his wingman was blown apart.

Uorlo sheered to the right to narrowly avoid a homing mine. "Incoming!" he shouted over the comm, and then he was too busy dodging munitions to say anything else."

Each Wildcat had deployed four homing mines, each programmed to home in on any target without the proper IFF (friend or foe) code. Several Grafton fighters were taken by surprise, and destroyed; the rest caught on quickly, and suddenly had to divert attention to avoid being hit. Slowly, one by one, they were blasting the mines out of the sky.

But they were so focused on the mines that they didn't notice the rapidly fleeing sensor images of the Wildcats. And they certainly didn't have time to focus on the incoming ship killers.

The Graftonite fighters were still engaged with nearly half of the homing mines when the first of the ship killers got into range. The first giant missile detonated a quarter mile out from the nearest Grafton fighter, but that was enough to send several Grafton fighters spinning out of control. Others scored more direct hits, vaporizing fighters.

Captain Harkness watched the battle unfold on the Glory. "Never have so many missiles so large been blown up to destroy so few."

But the Battle Admiral had a smile on his face. The mission had been a complete and total success. He also noticed that all the Wildcats had gotten away. There had been no casualties.

When the last missile had detonated and the last explosions had faded, they did an intensive scan of the area. The region was filled with debris.

And nothing else.

They had destroyed 100% of the Grafton invasion fleet.

250 Graftonites had been killed. Zero League soldiers had been killed or wounded.

For the League fleet, a loss of 250 soldiers would be bad; for the Graftonites, with their much smaller population, the psychological impact was catastrophic.

********

"They're not going to take this well, Mo," said Rocco.

"I didn't ask your opinion!" Quandry screamed. He paced in his office back and forth, clutching a blaster. His aides kept very very still.

Finally he calmed down a bit and said, "All right. What are our options?"

"People are going to want to know how the sheep killed 250 of us," said Rocco.

"Then we don't talk about it," said Quandry.

"The League surely will," Rocco pointed out.

"Maybe," said Quandry. "They don't know how many we lost. We can say it's all lies, sheep propaganda."

"And what about the families of those who are lost?" Rocco asked.

"We'll buy their silence one by one," said Quandry.

"That could be expensive," said Rocco worriedly. "The families would undoubtedly demand a large amount of credits for their silence. If they would be content with any amount."

Quandry looked at him. "We have the resources. I'll talk with our backers."

"Do you think they'll want to pay?" Rocco asked timidly.

"I'll make them see the wisdom in it," said Quandry grimly.

********

"Congratulations, Battle Admiral!" came the holo of War Admiral Carnaby. The other admirals in the Complex also rushed to offer their congratulations.

When the cheering had died down, North nodded fractionally. "Thank you, sirs. Very kind of you. But now is not the time to celebrate."

"What do you mean?" War Admiral Carnaby asked.

"We've dealt them a severe blow, but it's just one battle," said North. "We also had the complete advantage of surprise. They were overconfident, and bunched up their fleet together. If anyone has half a brain on their side, they'll disperse their next attack fleet. That won't make the use of D-34 missiles very practical."

"But you can still use the homing mines mounted on your fighters," said Battle Admiral Kenna.

"Now that they know what to expect, they will shoot down those mines," said Battle Admiral North. He pressed a button, and a holoimage of the battle appeared to the side. "I have reviewed the telemetry. We knocked out eight of their fighters immediately with the mines in the first 30 seconds. But after they figured out what was happening, our mines didn't knock out a single enemy fighter. They avoided the mines, and shot them down. The only purpose they served was to distract the Graftonites until the ship killers arrived."

"So what do you recommend?"

"This," said the Battle Admiral, and another holo appeared on the screen. "Smaller concussion missiles that can detonate around the area of the Graftonite fighters and disorient them long enough for our fighters to move in and take them out."

"Won't the enemy be able to shoot them down?" War Admiral Carnaby asked.

"Not as easily as the ship killer missiles," said the Battle Admiral. "And not as easily if there are many concussion missiles. Now that we've forced the Graftonites to operate in smaller groups, they will have a harder time protecting themselves. Conversely, however, we will have a harder time tracking them down."

"But you feel this strategy will be successful?" War Admiral Carnaby inquired.

"Presuming we have an adequate supply of these missiles, and presuming an invasion fleet the size of the one we just encountered, I estimate we could stop a quarter to a third of the next invasion force," the Battle Admiral estimated.

"A third!" The murmuring in the Complex was audible to the Battle Admiral.

"Perhaps a quarter," said the Battle Admiral. It was important to be honest about their chances.

"Surely you can devise a strategy with a higher chance of success," said War Admiral Carnaby. This was Battle Admiral North he was talking to; surely he could come up with a better solution!

"No," said the Battle Admiral. "Not unless we had new technology."

"New technology? What kind of technology?" War Admiral Carnaby asked.

"I have theorized that a giant forcefield or focused energy draining device might work," said the Battle Admiral.

War Admiral Carnaby looked at the other admirals, who looked puzzled. "We have no such technology."

"Precisely," said the Battle Admiral. "Gentlemen, this war will not be won in space. If it is to be won, it will need to be won on the ground."

The other admirals looked uncomfortably at each other. Never before had the Battle Admiral admitted that an enemy couldn't be beaten.

Carnaby saw the confusion and indecision on the others' faces and turned to the Battle Admiral. "Battle Admiral, we'll get back to you."

The image faded.

"They don't believe you," said Captain Harkness, stepping out of the background.

The Battle Admiral squinted, as if he were looking into the future. "They'll spend a few hours trying to think of alternatives. When they fail to think of any, they'll realize I'm right."

"Then how will we stop them?" Harkness asked.

"That's a problem for the army," said the Battle Admiral. Then, looking thoughtful, he said, "Or the Column."

********

The Chief listened dispassionately as the Chief of Staff and War Admiral Carnaby argued back and forth. Other senior League officials and officers jumped in.

"If the military can't stop them, why don't we just blow up the planet?" said an undersecretary for defense.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" said one of the admirals.

"They've invaded the League!"

"One planet," the admiral corrected. "Besides, this may come as a surprise to you, but we don't even have the ability to blow up a planet."

"You can bombard it from orbit, can you not?" asked the undersecretary. "I say pound it until you destroy everything down there." He made it sound simple.

"It's not that easy," said War Admiral Carnaby.

"It is that easy," said the undersecretary. "They have almost no ground to orbit defense, so what's the problem?"

"The problem is several thousand spacefighters," said Carnaby. "We've only been fighting the small fraction of the population which is against us. Imagine if the entire population were united. No fleet could hold off thousands of spacefighters. In any event, what would we bomb? There are only two small cities on the entire planet. The entire population is spread out over the countryside. Each citizen's starfighter can be parked or hidden almost anywhere--in a field, in a cave, under a tarp. We could bomb the whole planet for years and not get ten percent of them."

"We have to do something," the undersecretary persisted.

"I agree," said the Chief, speaking for the first time. "Speaking for the Column, I think we need to find some other area of vulnerability."

"Your super agent was on the planet and he didn't find any vulnerability," said the undersecretary of defense. He couldn't resist sticking the bureaucratic knife in and twisting a bit.

"Clifford Croft gathered important information," said the Chief sharply. "And in case it escaped your notice, he rescued the entire diplomatic delegation to Grafton almost single handedly."

The undersecretary said nothing.

"What do you suggest?" the Chief of Staff asked.

"The Graftonites are able to take over entire planets with only a few hundred of their fighters," said the Chief. "Many of these planets had tens of thousands of soldiers to defend them that were somehow nullified. If we can find out how the Graftonites do it, we may be able to put a stop to it on the ground."

"That sounds like a good idea," said the Chief of Staff. He started to say more, but was interrupted by an aide, who whispered something in his ear.

He looked grave.

"What is it?" said Admiral Carnaby.

"An invasion fleet launched from Karis evaded the blockading fleet, and is even now attacking Greenfields," said Carnaby.

********

"You are to divert immediately to Greenfields," said the Chief. The quarter sized holo flickered in the small cabin of the transport.

"And let me guess," said Croft. "You want me to find out how they're conquering these planets so easily."

"That's your secondary objective," said the Chief. "Your primary goal is to prevent the capture of the Greenfields fleet. Battle Admiral North believes that the fleet will be seized and used in future invasions."

"Chief, I'm not a battalion of marines," said Croft. "This is outside my line of work--even you can't expect me to capture an entire fleet single-handedly."

"But sabotage is in your job description," said the Chief coldly.

Suddenly, the Chief was looking for an activist operative. Just how many days ago had it been that she had been disparaging them?

If the Chief had asked any other single operative to sabotage an entire space fleet on the ground, it would have been taken as a joke. But both of them knew that Clifford Croft could do it.

"All right," said Croft. He thought about the logistics. "How do I get there? If they control the spacelanes-"

"Battle Admiral North's fleet has been relieved at Grafton II at his own request; his fleet will arrive in orbit just a few hours before you do. He will supply any assistance you need."

Croft nodded.

"Mr. Croft, I can't overstate the importance of this mission. It is vital you uncover how the Graftonites are successfully invading these planets. Our efforts to interdict them in space has had only limited success at best."

"I'll do my best," said Croft.

The holoimage faded.

Croft turned to Tane. "I guess we won't be needing any of your political science models for this one."

The Clapper clapped.

"And none of that either," said Croft. "The key word here is discretion. I need to be able to get in and out without being detected."

The Clapper clapped again.

"And you, my friend, don't exactly fall within the definition of that word."