This pace is a little ridiculous, but I had most of this written out 
before, as I noted.  Chapter 12 will be released later tonight or early 
tomorrow morning.

Previous chapters are available at http://templar.anifics.com/  comments 
are always welcome, and always answered.

Disclaimer: Everything contained in this work of fiction is property of 
its original owner.  No infringement is intended.

No Need for Protoculture
by Andrew Wilson

Chapter 11: No Need for a Holocaust

The shuttle glided smoothly into the SDF-1's main hanger.  Just hours 
before, it was used to welcome a Zentradi emissary, and now it was 
welcoming a different alien representation.

Honorra was followed down the ramp by seven other officers.  By their 
rank insignia, Ayeka deduced them to be the other three captains of the 
squadron and their executive officers.

"Welcome aboard the SDF-1, Captain," Ayeka said with a sly smile.

Honorra started to sketch a salute, but stopped herself when she saw the 
civilian clothing.  A moment later her eyes widened and her entire 
contingent dropped to one knee. "Princess, we did not expect to see you-"

"Probably because my father decided not to give you a full background 
brief," Ayeka barely stopped herself from snapping in irritation. "Get 
up, Captain.  All of you, get up.  We have more important things to 
worry about than stupid rituals and ceremonies."

Ayeka could have sworn she saw the Captain's lip twitch into a smile as 
she regained her footing. "In that case, My Lady, would you please 
direct us to the conference room?"

Ayeka smiled and led the way toward the lifts. "Only four ships?"

Honorra gave a feral smile. "Four is all that would be needed.  They're 
the test run of a new concept, and Queen Misaki suggested that this 
sector might be ideal for the shake-down cruises."

Ayeka returned the smile. "Yes, and you probably received priority use 
of the warp gates to get out this far."

"Of course.  The ships still aren't completely up to true hyperdrive 
shifts yet.  Though the engine trees indicate they're more than ready."

Ayeka gave Honorra a sideways glance as the lift doors closed. "What do 
you mean 'engine trees'?"

The dark-skinned captain behind Honorra cleared her throat. "What the 
Skipper means, My Lady, is that each battleship contains seven trees."

"Seven?" Ayeka's eyes widened. "And the theory about generational power?"

"Disproved," Honorra said with a trace of smugness. "Power comes from 
age, not how close they are in relation to Tsunami.  The youngest second 
generation trees - such as your Ryu-Oh or Prince Yosho's Funaho- were 
actually less powerful than many third generation trees, and even a few 
fourth generation trees."

"So you have seven trees," Ayeka mused. "Two for engines, because more 
would be redundant with drive physics, one to coordinate power and 
handle sensors and communications.  The other four power weapons?"

Honorra nodded. "And all seven share defensive responsibility, since the 
fourth generations trees are too young to form more than one Light Hawk 
Wing per pair.  My own Nimizon is third gen, and can form one."

Ayeka nodded in reply as the lift arrived at it's destination. "Which 
would increase the effective power of our battle line, and give officers 
such as yourself heavy combat experience, instead of picket and scouting 
duties."

"Exactly," Honorra replied as they filed into the conference room.

Gloval had finally decided that he couldn't stand planning a battle with 
com screens, and invited the commanding officers to the SDF-1.  In 
addition to Honorra and her senior officers, Kiyone brought along her 
flag staff.  Breetai, easily the most experienced commander in the group 
(though not the eldest; Honorra, at seven hundred fifty-three Terran 
years old, held that spot), was the only one that was restricted to a 
screen on the wall.

Gloval's own staff was a varied lot.  Claudia was filling in as his 
executive officer, since Lisa was Earth-side for the time being.  Doctor 
Lang represented both Engineering and Science Divisions.  Ryan, his 
intelligence officer, was pouring over stacks of data with his 
counterpart from Kiyone's staff.  Fokker was back in Medical for tests, 
so Hunter was the senior flight operations representative (a sobering 
thought, given that he was a civilian when the SDF-1 launched). 
Exedore, Ayeka and Washu were not direct representatives of any 
particular group, though their advice and technical knowledge were 
invaluable.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Gloval began, "I will disperse with any further 
pleasantries since we have a great deal of work to do, and not enough 
time to do it in.  If someone has a problem with that, too damn bad.  I 
will not play games when the Earth's survival is concerned.  Is that clear?"

Everyone at the table nodded.  Several, including both visiting 
commanders, smiled approvingly.

"Good.  The first order of business is what we are up against.  Exedore, 
if you would give us a basic run-down of Dolza's fleet and his usual 
tactics."

*******

The hodgepodge fleet was finally ready.  As ready as it was going to be, 
that is.  Gloval, Bretai and their allies knew that in order to survive 
the coming battle, the Zentradi High Command station would have to be 
taken out as quickly as possible.  If the fleet were to lose their 
command and control, any hope of coordination would vanish.  The 
individual ships would then become easy pickings.

This strategy was to be combined with the transmission of Minmei's 
singing over all Zentradi frequencies.  At best, the Zentradi would shut 
down their communications rather than listen to the music, at worst they 
would at least be sevearly distracted.  Either way, their combat ability 
would be degraded.  And Washu had hooked up some kind of booster to the 
transmission array that would cause the songs to be received by the 
Zentradi radars, causing even more problems.

All they had to do was survive long enough to use those advantages.

But before that, they had time to train, and plan.  The best guess 
Exedore was able to give was between four and six weeks before the Grand 
Fleet arrived.  This gave them a limited amount of time to organize the 
combined fleet.

Of course, there were a few snags to the organization.  Khyron earned 
his name of 'backstabber' when his entire battalion rebelled against 
Breetai's command.  In that brief battle, Khyron's entire battlegroup 
was destroyed, yet he managed to take over a quarter of Breetai's ships 
with him.  That left just over seven hundred thousand Zentradi ships, 
one hundred GP vessels, four Juraian battleships, and the SDF-1 against 
almost five million ships of the Zentradi Grand Fleet.

*******

"Hyperspace signatures detected," Sammie exclaimed.  She slammed her 
hand on the general quarters alarm before Gloval could give the order.

"Where?" Gloval asked as alarms began to blare beyond the bridge hatch. 
  Half of their stratagy was built around Dolza's fleet coming out of 
hyperspace near the Lunar orbit, where Bretai's task force had first 
appeared.  They could adapt to other transition points, but there was 
always a risk of not adapting quick enough.

"Everywhere!" Sammie gasped.

*******

There were no flares, not sudden decelerations.  Clouds of starships 
simply appeared in Earth orbit.  More and more appeared, until the mixed 
defensive fleet was outnumbered, outmassed, and outgunned over a 
thousandfold.  Here and there a spot of light appeared in the mass as a 
starship defolded in the space another was occupying, or came out of 
hyperspace too deep in the Earth's gravity well.  But even a thousand 
losses would not have made a dent in the huge fleet.

"There!" Vanessa pointed to a spot on the master plot. "Captain, I've 
located the command ship!"

Gloval nodded.  This could be very bad. "Plot an intercept course, full 
power to drive."

"Captain!" Sammie called. "There's a massive energy buildup coming from 
the Zentradi fleet."

"The purge has begun," Exedore breathed.  Every eye was riveted to the 
plot as the rain of fire began all over the planet.

*******

Yosho technically didn't have any business being in sensor control, but 
since Washu wouldn't leave her equipment to be run by anyone else, he 
was given the dubious title of her bodyguard.

"Oh no," Washu whispered.

Yosho was about to ask what the problem was when a transmission from 
Funaho invaded his consciousness.  Though the senses of the tree, he saw 
a rain of fire march steadily across the landscape.  The entire island 
was being systematically leveled and Funaho was right in its path.

*Goodbye, old friend,* Funaho said.  It was the only time the tree used 
words to communicate.  In the next seconds, Yosho saw a protective 
shield forming over the Masaki household, protecting Yosho's son-in-law 
as he stared out the window in shock.  That shield cost the tree the 
last of its life energy, and the image began to fade even before it was 
cut off in an explosion of light, heat, and pain.

"NOOOOOO!!" Yosho screamed as the shock of Funaho's death reverberated 
through his soul.  It was as though a portion of his being had been 
ripped away, and the remainder cauterized with a flaming torch.  He 
wasn't even aware of the others in the room as he stumbled out the door.

*******

The book Sasami had been reading dropped to the floor as every muscle in 
her body froze in shock.  She held that pose for a moment before her 
head was tossed back uncontrollably and a primal scream echoed around 
the emergency shelter.

"Sasami!" Ayeka exclaimed as she rushed to her sister's side.  She 
didn't make it, though, because Sasami's form faded out of existence an 
instant before Ayeka reached her.

End chapter 11

Yeah, shorter than the others, but it's a nice, evil ending.  And the 
next chapter is long and can't be cut off mid-way.


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