Star Traders
Chapter 26

Jake and his fleet of fifteen ships were heading for the moon. Jake planned to approach the backside from three directions at the same time. They would stand off 200 miles to see what the invaders would do. Radar showed the thousands of ships gathered on the moon. The Federation ships lay off and waited. Nothing happened. No activity was observed though they knew the invaders knew they were there.

“What now, Jake?” Eric called on the videophone. “They know we’re here, I think.”

Karl Larsen commanded the third ship of the fleet. “Suppose I send a conventional down there just to see what they do with it,” he offered.

“Go ahead, Karl,” Jake said. “We’ll replace our how far out we can get before they fire. I’m sure the missile won’t get there.”

The conventional rocket could be seen heading for the surface of the moon. Two lasers flashed when it reached about 75 miles from touchdown. A few seconds later the missile exploded.

“Do it again, Karl,” Jake said. “You send one too, Eric.”

The two missiles descended toward separate parts of the grounded ships. Both were destroyed.

“OK, guys, let’s get a little closer. Get to about 150 miles out and fire a couple more conventionals.”

They launched two more missiles from 150 miles with the same results. The missiles were destroyed at about 60 miles out.

“One more time, now. Let’s close in to about 100 miles out and repeat the procedure.” Jake said with a smile. “This might just bring a response. When it does, load up your SAMS and wait until they clear the surface while we retreat at about the same speed they follow.”

The operation went like clockwork. Two missiles were fired and almost immediately destroyed. Thirty invader ships lifted off and headed for them. Jake’s fleet retreated quickly to 500 miles out. The invaders followed.

When the invaders were far enough out from the moon to insure hits by their SAMS, Jake gave the order to fire. All sixteen ships fired a volley of SAMS. Long before the invaders could come within range with their lasers they were hit with the SAMS. They took three or four hits before they blew up, but it was no contest. The invaders got in three shots at Jake’s ships. While all shots found their marks, the Earth ships moved away too rapidly for the lasers to hold them in their sights for the required three seconds. Their lasers were ineffective against the Gravity Well powered SAMS. It was over in moments. Every invader ship was destroyed.

“That was fun!” Eric said when it was over. “Think they will fall for it again?”

“Would you?” Jake asked.

“Probably not, but let’s replace out, shall we?”

The fleet moved towards the moon again. They fired two conventionals at 100 miles out. The missiles were destroyed, but the invaders stayed on the moon. They didn’t try to come out again.

“They learn quickly, don’t they?” Karl laughed. “We’re 100 out. We may not be able to do a lot of harm to them from here, but I think I can hit a few of them with the Gravity Well driven SAMS. What do you think, Eric?”

“What I think is that we don’t need sixteen ships to guard this end of the operation as was first considered. I think one will be just fine. Looks like we have the upper hand, technologically speaking. My suggestion is that one of us stays on patrol to make sure this fleet stays put on the moon and doesn’t try to supply their ground forces.”

“I’ll volunteer for that mission, guys,” Karl said. “I don’t have enough missiles to stop them if they really want to leave though. I can maybe get a hundred of them, but there are ten thousand of them down there.”

“I don’t believe all those ships are warships,” Jake commented. “The thirty that came up after us came from the outer edges. It looks to me like a let’s circle the wagons type of thing. I think the unarmed vessels occupy the center of the circle and the armed ones are around the outside. You can see the ones inside are larger and fatter than the sleek warship that came out. Makes me think of a population movement rather than an invasion. I’m sure we’ll know soon.”

The time for the meeting with Jayne was fast approaching. Jake and Eric broke off contact and headed for Earth with the fleet of fifteen they had taken from the moon mission.

Jayne came straight down on the Invader camp in the Congo from 100 miles out. She launched her missiles on the way down, almost carpet bombing the installation. Her ship was fast enough to dodge the lasers. Once they locked onto the Earth Princess, she was able to quickly move laterally faster than they were able to follow. Her missiles did little damage, however. They weren’t large enough to destroy much unless it was a direct hit on a ship or building. She hit a few, but not enough to satisfy her.

“Hell!” Jayne was disappointed. “All they have to do is go to ground, and I won’t be able to do a thing with these peashooters! We need a bigger bomb, I guess, but we don’t have anything ready. And the planes of the Air Force will be knocked out before they can come close enough to drop a bigger bomb. And we don’t have missiles fast enough to do the job either!”

“Looks like it might be a stand off for the moment, Captain,” Lars radioed. He had the same trouble in the Amazon. Did a little damage, but not enough to bother with.

They tried several passes over each site, with the same results. A lot of flash, bang, but no change. They changed tactics, coming in low and fast, but their aim was off and they did little real damage to the bases. Jayne did manage to take out three ships on the ground but their fire power got thick and fast. She almost lost her ship several times.

The meeting went as scheduled, 24 hours after the first attack. All twenty two captains shuttled over to the Earth Princess for the meeting. Jayne could have used the videophones for the meeting, but chose to do it face to face. And besides, it gave her cooks a chance to do some fancy cooking. Time was no longer a problem. They could take their time now that they knew they were not pressed.

A good steak and baked potato was the fare for the meal. The Larn did it up with gusto, starting with a salad and ending with apple pie.

“We can beat hell out of them on the moon,” Eric informed them. “It’s just a matter of time and getting enough fire power up there to wipe them out. And I think they know it. If I was running their show, I’d be looking for a way out about now.”

“I agree with Eric’s assessment,” Jake said. “How about the bases in the Congo and Amazon, Jayne?”

“The SAM missiles aren’t doing much to them, and they won’t come out to try to get to us. I think they got the message from your success up there. We don’t have much chance for a quick victory. If they dig in, and I assume they will, it could be a long campaign to beat them.” Jayne said thoughtfully. “The good news is they can’t beat us from the looks of it. We certainly have the upper hand. The bad news is it isn’t going to be quick.”

“By the way, Eric,” Jayne said. “How are things going with the Expedition ship we brought back from Epsilon 4? I haven’t had the time to check on them.”

“They’re doing fine,” Eric informed her. “Our people are working closely with them on E-6. As you know, the ten planets in the 10 universes are very much alike. There’s a little difference in the flora and fauna, but even that’s close. The continents and location of the minerals are, for all purposes, identical. Maps of E-1, therefore, will tell us the best location for farming and mining on all 10 worlds. We just showed the Expedition ship the maps and they took it from there. Last I heard they were headed for several sites. We have no worry there at all. A large contingency of their people are gathering small Gravity Wells to replenish our store of missiles.”

“Great! I’m glad we were able to help them out and at the same time help ourselves out. I’m sure they will be a fine source of food for all of E-6 eventually,” Jayne smiled

“Captain Rice! We are being hailed!” Her communications officer LaPorte called on the intercom.

“From where?” Jayne asked, looking around. The only ones who would hail them were on board and no one on earth had their signal.

“It is originating from the Amazon invader base, Captain.” LaPorte exclaimed.

She looked around and stood up. “To the bridge then, gentlemen. We may have an answer to all our problems.”

They hurried to the bridge and Jayne told the communications officer to put the call on the forward Simscreen.

A sleek skull topped with a short red comb and a pair of piercing slit pupils greeted them as the picture came up. The creature had flaps over its nostrils and wore a shimmering cloak of a rich looking material. Its tunic was of the same material but of a different shade. Both garments seemed to change color as they watched. It held up a three fingered hand and an opposable thumb in what was obviously a greeting.

It addressed them in English.