Titan Battle, page 31
Thorim caressed his chin. Now, what do I do?
How do I take out these Thornguards… with their new shields? And if I can take them out, can I take them all out fast enough before some of them reach Earth?
Their shields… how did our sensors fail to detect them before? How much % saturation does each of Thornguard's shields have left? How much more damage do we have to inflict before we can actually damage each Thornguard's armor?
There were so many questions running through Thorim's mind. He sat there stonelike, in the middle of the flag bridge, but inwardly, he could feel his perspiration. He knew he was lost in frantic thought.
Ok, Thorim. Solve each of these questions one at time, nevermind the fact that the clock is ticking and time is running out. This is the only way you can navigate through this mess. But hurry!
First things first, how the hell did they manage to hide the existence of their shields from our scanners? "Computer, why didn't we detect the shields on their Thornguards before we hit them with our missiles?"
The computer answered. "The error was made by our software, namely diagnostic program a1t1. The shield emitters on each Thornguard were diagnosed as small vessel enhancement detectors. The mistake has been corrected."
"I see," said Thorim. Did the enemy purposely construct their shield emitters so our software would think it was something else? That was troublesome, thought Thorim… if the enemy knew how human scanning programs worked. But then, why not? They have had ample time to study human software after rummaging through dead human warships.
He blinked. Now was not the time to dive deeply into that, he thought… or was it? If our diagnostic problem had made this type of error, what other errors had it made? What other systems on board each Thornguard weren't what we thought they were?
The problem in finding other misdiagnosis errors, that wasn't already obvious, was… how could the computer tell? How could he tell? Other than asking his software to rediagnose the scanned images more thoroughly? "Computer," Thorim's voice wavered, "are there any other possible misdiagnosis errors?"
"I am uncertain."
"Can you rescan or check the functionality of all objects inside and on the Thornguard's hull, again?"
"Yes, sir. Rescan initializing. Rechecking and reanalyzing with more thorough parameters…" said the computer. Then, five seconds later, "… No more errors found."
So much for that, thought Thorim.
He looked at the timer. ETA to Earth was 39 minutes. Gosh, time is really running out.
And there's so much to think about!
Focus Thorim. Forget the scanning errors for now. What matters now is how we can destroy the Thornguards! That's all that matters!
"Computer, how much percentage of full saturation do the shields on each Thornguard have left… after our missiles crashed into them? What is the total strength of their shields before our missiles crashed into them?"
"The shields on each Thornguard is equivalent to our Mark 12 shield strength measurements. They are capable of absorbing 2500 direct impact 50-megaton bombs before depletion," the computer stated. "As for current shield strengths. Currently, Thornguard T1 has 16% shield saturation remaining. T2 has 24%. T3 has 19%. T4 has 33%. T5 has 26%."
Wow, those are strong shields! But it makes sense… the Thornguards have huge power cores to power them, unlike our ships, which are much smaller and have equivalently much smaller power cores...
But now, the real question comes... the one question that matters most… "Computer, how long will it take to destroy a Thornguard, providing all our pulsars concentrate their fire on just one — even with its shields starting at say… 20%?"
"Calculating…" said the computer. A moment later, "It will take an average of 22.1 minutes to destroy a Thornguard, assuming its shield saturation is at 20%."
Thorim blinked, stunned. What? "Why does it take so long, even with only 20% shields remaining?"
"The original estimation for a Thornguard, without shields, was 13.33 minutes for all 3 pulsars to take down," the computer explained. "However, with 20% shield saturation on each Thornguard, that estimation becomes 15.5 minutes. But that is not all. The shield recharge rate of each Thornguard must also be included in the estimation. The shield regeneration rate on board each Thornguard — as seen by our newest scans of how their shields recharge — is estimated at 0.2% each second, meaning that even after that initial 20% shield saturation goes down, our pulsar beams will still have penetrate the 0.2% new shield saturations that are recharging each second. That is what accounts for the additional 6.6 minutes."
My gods… with technology like that, can we even defeat the enemy even if we win this battle with all our remaining forces intact? Thorim thought. They have vastly improved on their newly acquired shield technology taken from us. Human shield recharge rates are around 0.05% each second… at most! A recharge rate at 0.2% a second is… blasphemous. It's uncanny! It's unbelievable!
Thorim then shook his head, coming out of his daze. But nevermind their amazing technology! If it really takes 22 minutes to take down each Thornguard…
"Computer, are you certain?"
"Affirmative."
… then we will never succeed in taking out the entire 5-ship Thornguard fleet before they reach Earth! That means…
Thorim gasped. "We lose."
It was like a bitter hammer fell down on him… it slammed against his face.
We lose…
We lose…
We only have 38 minutes before the enemy fleet of Thornguards reaches Earth. We can only kill one or two more Thornguards, at best, given a rate of 22 minutes per kill. At least some of those Thornguards will reach Earth, and they'll be able to hammer away at our orbital manufactories.
We lose!
What can we possibly do to prevent this from happening? What can we do to shorten this 22 minutes per kill? — besides ramming their Thornguards, which doesn't work, as our ships' kinetic velocity does not convert to kinetic energy due to how both enemy and human sliding drives work?
What other trick is there?
Then… Thorim opened his eyes wide. What… what about pulsar beaming each Thornguard's drive rings?
No… he shook his head… we already decided that we can't specifically target the Thornguard's drive rings because our pulsars are unable to hit that small of a target from a maximum range of 200,000 km, especially since the Thornguard is moving at .2 c and we're also moving at .2 c. This wouldn't be the case if we were firing on that enemy fortress, because neither us or them would be moving very fast.
And… the same problem applies for targeting the Thornguard's shield emitters or its TPCs. Besides, its TPCs are probably shielded like the enemy fortress.
Damn… Thorim ruminated to himself. If we could aim for the drive rings of the other downed enemy warships, we could have saved ourselves a lot of time. We wouldn't have to keep shooting at all those enemy warships in hopes of blowing them up. We'd just pulsar attack their drive rings and immobilize them. Once they were immobilized, then we could have blown up each of them one by one afterward with pulsar beam strikes much later…
… But we couldn't have immobilized any of them from this distance and at this speed, so it's all a waste of thought. Besides, all those other warships are already blown up the old fashion way.
He blinked. So what other trick is there that will stop these Thornguards?
Think! Think!
For the next minute, Thorim searched his mind, but no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't find a solution that would work within 37 minutes.
Is this it? he thought at last. I can't believe this. After all this time, all this work, all this thinking and tricks, I can't take out these last remaining ships of theirs. It was all for nothing… they win?
No! He shook his head. I must not falter! There has to be a way!
But… I can't find it!
Several more moments passed. I can't believe it. After all this work, from humanity and from all our crews, and now it rests on my ability to find a solution within these next few minutes… and I can't find it!
I fail… we all die… because of me!
This is surreal! My mind is frozen because of the pressure! Am I really the one to fail humanity? Am I really the one that will cause my race's own downfall? Because of me, humanity becomes an extinct species? Would it have been better that someone else should have led humanity, someone who could have prevented all 680 billions from death and extinction?
Someone… who would have surrendered much earlier than I?
Thorim blinked. Ought I wave the white flag? Ought I surrender?
Would it have been better that I never existed? Would a more realistic mind have surrendered much earlier, and saved so many more billions of our race from being annihilated?
And if I surrender now, will the enemy accept our surrender considering how much damage we've dealt to their fleet and their numbers?
I can't believe it! It all comes down to this! Time… not enough time to take down these last pieces of the enemy's fleet — these Thornguards!
— because once these Thornguards reach Earth — it's all over. There's NO WAY we can win the war without Earth's manufacturing shipyards.
These damn shielded Thornguards! If only I could just —
Ok think, Thorim. None of our pulsar beams can pinpoint hit the enemy Thornguard's drive rings… but -
Wait a minute! Thorim opened his eyes wide and inhaled. But our fighters can! I didn't use my fighters to bomb the drive rings on all the other enemy capital ships because they were protected by the enemy's destroyer shell, but now that their destroyers are all dead… we can totally do this!
The solution was there all along. Right at my fingertips!
My fighters! I have 1140 fighters remaining! And each can hit any subsection on those enemy Thornguards with pinpoint accuracy — unlike my pulsar beams!
My gods — the… the solution was at my fingertips all along!
"All fighters," announced Thorim on the command channel, "for your next fighter strike — after you reload with new bombs — I want every fighter to hit the enemy Thornguards' drive rings." Even if their drive rings are individually shielded, they can't possibly withstand 4000 500-megaton bombs. "I also want each fighter to minimize its refueling phase. Instead of 10 minutes of refueling, I want that phase minimized to five minutes. After all, none of our fighters have to travel much in terms of distance since our carriers are at minimum safe distance from the enemy Thornguard's TPCs. Also, instead of encircling our fighter force around the enemy before attacking, I want our fighters to move toward the enemy fleet in a straight line, as the enemy no longer has any significant anti-fighter defenses. Hopefully, all this will reduce the amount of time between fighter strikes to 10 minutes. 2 minutes to go the enemy fleet, 1 minute to bombard, 2 minutes to come back, and 5 minutes to rearm and refuel. Is everyone on board? Let's do this! Godspeed! As for the enemy's shields, we'll use our fleet's pulsar beams to eliminate the remaining saturation of each Thornguards' shield."
This should work. By the star gods, it should work!
Chapter 54
Wing Commander's Cockpit, fighter 001, refueling inside carrier Enterprise
Distance to Earth: 7.2 light-minutes — ETA: 36 minutes
Funny, thought Beck. He's finally using my idea. He peered out of his cockpit. "Hey refueling crew! You heard what the fleet commander said. Let's minimize the refueling stage to as short as it can be! The more fighter strikes we commit, the better our chances are of stopping those Thornguards cold!"
"We're rearming and refueling as fast as we can, Sal!" said the maintenance chick.
And I can refuel you as fast I can, murmured Beck. They don't call me flyboy from Praxis V for no reason.
Flag Bridge, Federation Battleship Carginan
Distance to Earth: 7 light-minutes — ETA: 35 minutes
"Computer," said Thorim, "scan enemy Thornguards T1 to T5 for shield emitters surrounding their drive rings."
"Scanning… Scans complete. Affirmative. Shield emitters found on all five Thornguards' drive rings."
So they do have them, nodded Thorim. "Estimate power level and maximum strength."
"They are the equivalent of our mark 11 shields. Each drive ring shield is capable of repelling 600 50-megaton bombs."
How many fighters and accompanying bombs should I devote to each Thornguard's drive ring?
Well, that's an easy one. Since each fighter bomb is around 500-megatons in destructive strength, 60 bombs… or 15 fighters per drive ring should be able to knock out the shields on each drive ring. Then, it becomes an guess-estimate of how much more bombs are needed to damage the drive ring despite the armor protecting it.
Piece of cake, thought Thorim, as he started thinking of how to distribute his 1140 fighters for every Thornguard.
Don't forget that each Thornguard still has primary shields that can recharge at 0.2% each second…
xxx
The human fighters all left their carriers. It would take less than 2 minutes to reach bombing range of each Thornguard.
Meanwhile, Thorim's 3 pulsars continued firing away at each Thornguard, chipping away the Thornguards' primary whole-body shields so that the fighter bombs can hit the Thornguards' drive rings, which were also shielded.
Time passed like a tedious waterfall. Every second that ticked meant the enemy was coming closer to Earth.
Human civilization in its entirety held its breath while watching the next events unfold…
Wing Commander's Cockpit, fighter 001, on route to the Thornguards
Distance to Earth: 6.8 light-minutes — ETA: 34 minutes
Ok, Beck. The last goal I'll ever have to make. The most crucial step is here. Gotta bomb those drive rings.
Beck glanced at his minimap and saw all 1140 fighters heading in unison towards the fleet of Thornguards… like a swarm of mosquitoes. Each fighter had 4x 500-megaton bombs, and Beck knew this was more than enough to take out those drive rings. It had to be. After all, the Thornguards weren't invincible, were they? They couldn't have another trick up their sleeves, could they?
I mean, even if those drive rings are shielded, they couldn't possible withstand this much explosive energy, could they? Even if they have armor underneath those shields as well?
On the minimap, he saw it — the Thornguard he was told to bomb. 'T2' was massive. Four kilometers long by one kilometer wide, it looked like a gigantic protozoan amoeba, with all its anti-fighter point defense cannons and sensor blisters spread across its hull. Its massive tachyon pulse cannons at the front of its bow was unsettling and unnerving.
Without any hesitation (except perhaps desperation), T2 fired its tachyon pulse cannons in his direction.
It missed Beck by several kilometers, but it did manage to wipe out four fighters due to the width of the beam. Luckily, it was never meant to be used against fighters but only other capital ships. Beck looked at his Wing health display and sighed in relief that no one from his wing had died.
And then the Thornguard opened up with its point defense beams, spraying laser beams into the path of the swarms of fighters, including Beck. Beck instantly began dancing, but he wasn't worried about getting hit. The enemy fleet without their screening ships and other capital ships could not spray that much anti-fighter firepower.
Then, he glanced at the same map display and watched as human pulsar beams slammed into T2's shields. The shields of T2 splashed red, which was a good sign, meaning the shields were in the lowest digits of saturation. Beck glanced at the other Thornguards in the enemy fleet and saw they were also at the lowest digits of saturation for their shields as well.
And then… seconds later, he saw the first of many fighters reach bombing distance of T2's drive ring.
The first of many human fighters let loose their bombs!
And the missiles slammed into T2's whole-body shields one by one! Seconds later, T2's whole-body shields turned dark and dissipated, and Beck knew that the shields covering its whole body had failed. Now, it was all about how the next fighter bombs would do against the shields protecting T2's drive rings.
As more and more human fighters entered bombing range of T2, Beck watched in anticipation as more of those short-ranged missiles slammed into T2's drive rings, and splashed against the shields protecting those rings. Bam! Bam! thought Beck, who watched in glee, knowing that soon he would also add his payload to those hitting the drive rings.
The shields on T2's drive rings flared green… then yellow… then crimson yellow… and then finally dark red — and seconds later, it dissipated into greyness, meaning it was about to die, and then, seconds after that, it collapsed completely.
