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No Need For Protoculture
by Andrew Wilson

Chapter 12: A Short, Victorious War

Captain Henry Gloval stared for a moment at the cloud of Zentradi ships 
in Earth orbit.  This was to be a day of reckoning.  Billions were 
already dead, and the remaining few would soon die unless they took 
immediate action.

"Captain," Kim said, "all ships are standing by for your signal."

Gloval nodded. "The orders stand.  Full speed ahead." Of course, the 
SDF-1's full acceleration was only around fifty gravities.  The 
Zentradi and Galaxy Police vessels were capable of around three times 
that.  However, Dr. Lang was never able to completely repair the SDF-1's 
gravity drive.  Once they reached the engagement zone, the acceleration 
would drop even further in order to allow the Veritechs to maneuver 
outside of the gravity well the SDF-1 produced.

The amazing thing about it was that even with its malfunctioning drives, 
the SDF-1 was the most advanced ship in the fleet.  While Breetai freely 
admitted that Zor's ship was greater than anything in the Zentradi 
armada, the other groups represented in the fleet couldn't believe that 
their ships were lower on the technological curve.  It took Washu's 
voice to finally convince the Juraian captain.

Of course, given what Captain Honorra and Admiral Kiyone had said about 
Washu, Gloval was wondering what she was doing on Earth, much less his 
ship.  He promised himself that he'd get an explanation for that if they 
survived the day.

Gloval heard the bridge hatch open and turned to see Washu's companion 
staring out at the approaching Zentradi fleet.

"Civilians are not allowed on the bridge," the captain thundered.

Yosho turned his haunted gaze to the military officer, causing Gloval to 
flinch.

"If I am going to die," Yosho whispered, "I would rather do it in a room 
with a view"

"We are entering optimum range, Captain," Fokker reported. "Mecha 
standing back to launch."

"Signal from Fearless, sir," Kim said. "Honorra is reporting that her 
ships are in position."

Gloval nodded and turned from Yosho.  The entire fleet was shaped like 
an arrowhead.  The Galaxy Police and Zentradi fleets were in 
wedge-shaped formations, while the SDF-1 and the Juraians were in the 
center and slightly behind.  For the entire strategy to work, the SDF-1 
had to reach the command asteroid.

"Begin the transmissions and jamming.  Signal to all ships.  Fire at will."

*******

 From the icy tundra of northern Alaska came a wave of energy that 
dwarfed even the SDF-1's main gun.  The Grand Cannon annihilated 
thousands of Zentradi ships in a single shot, yet it was hardly noticed 
as the allied fleet charged in from the opposite side of the armada. 
The largest single defeat the Zentradi had ever suffered was ignored. 
And soon it would only be the *second* largest single defeat the 
Zentradi had ever suffered.

*******

"We will advance in escort formation around the battle fortress," 
Captain Honorra instructed over the communications link. "Fearless has 
the dorsal position.  Captain Keneon and Protector will cover the 
ventral arc.  Commander Heneka: Victory has starboard.  Commander 
Nosyar: Invincible has port.  There is no dispersal of fire arcs.  If 
you have a shot, take it.  The Terrans have detailed a squadron of 
fighters to cover inside our formation once we separate from the 
fortress.  Good hunting, people.  Let's be about it."

The Zentradi weren't waiting around for their enemies.  Wave after wave 
of gunboats, mecha, and starships mercilessly sped toward the SDF-1. 
Range and targeting were useless concepts as the solid mass of enemy 
forces advanced.

"Open gun ports," Honorra barked. "Rotate to combat formation.  Fire at 
will!"

The other starships reacted instantly to her orders.  The four ships had 
been in a parade formation, meaning that they were oriented along both a 
horizontal and vertical axis.  In combat formation, they retained the 
same relative distances and positions, but the ships themselves rotated 
so that 'down' was the ship they were escorting.  The sweeping curves of 
the Juraian ships may not have appeared combat worthy, but their 
orientations gave each weapon cluster a fire arc of over one hundred 
thirty degrees.  Because of this, the majority of the guns were mounted 
on the broadside spars, allowing them to hit anything above or to the 
side of the ship.  This was one reason the new class was developed and 
tested in a group of four.  The combat formation allowed them to present 
a devastating volume of fire in all directions, and their point-defense 
weapons made life very difficult - and short - for anything that 
attempted to get inside the formation.

*******

It was as though the fires of hell and the lights of heaven mixed in the 
vacuum above Earth.  The allied fleet ripped through the disoriented 
Zentradi line like a chainsaw through a pokemon plushie.

The Zentradi sub-commanders attempted to restore order to their 
divisions, but they were the first to die as Veritech fighters loaded 
with enhanced reflex missiles swooped in and immolated the command 
ships.  Without any sort of coordination, the ships in the fleet were 
doomed.

That isn't to say that the battle was completely one sided.  Here and 
there a Zentradi or GP ship would dissolve in the brilliance caused by a 
breached power core.  The communications net was filled with the screams 
of pilots as their mecha blew apart.

*******

"Admiral!  That dreadnaught division looks like it's going to ram."

Kiyone studied the holotank on her flag bridge.  Sure enough, four 
damaged Zentradi ships were pouring all their energy into acceleration 
and shielding.  Predictably, they were trying to bust through the line 
and open a route to the SDF-1.  And with their shields overloaded like 
that, nothing could get through, even if the crew would be dead in 
moments from the radiation.

Kiyone keyed her command comm frequency. "This is flag.  Justicar, 
Emancipator, Yagami, and Crusader: new targets, belok fifteen through 
nineteen, respectably.  They are on ramming courses.  Activate grav lances."

Acknowledgments came instantly.  Justicar, her flagship, shuddered 
slightly as its drive energy was briefly diverted to the generators 
filling the ship's "hammerhead" bow.  The grav lance operated on a very 
simple idea: hit an enemy ship with two entirely opposing gravitational 
forces.  The gravitational force was spread over the entire ship, and 
(contrary to what some physicists might insist) they did not cancel each 
other out.

Kiyone nodded in satisfaction as the four Zentradi dreadnaughts were 
ripped apart before they got within five hundred kilometers (one problem 
of fighting so close to a planet is the insanely short ranges ships had 
to deal with).  She then turned back to the felinoid form on her monitor.

"Captain Kajique," she told her flag captain, "engage at your discretion."

*******

"Command planetoid in range, Captain," Sammie reported.

"Begin phase two," Gloval commanded.  At once the SDF-1's engines ramped 
up to full acceleration while transmission flew to the allied ships and 
mecha to break off.

*******

"So what now, boss?"

Tenchi glanced at his com screen for a moment as he threw his Veritech 
into a hard deceleration.  The SDF-1 continued on into the thickest 
cluster of Zentradi ships around that hulking asteroid-sized command 
ship.  The Skulls had been calling him 'boss' ever since Rick had 
dropped off the net.

"Fall back," Tenchi told Max's image, and his voice was transmitted to 
the rest of the squadron. "Form up with the Battleships, and let's make 
sure they make it out of this mess."

The battleships had dropped back a few minutes before, and had turned 
over shortly after.  They were also getting swarmed by fighter pods and 
one was trailing plasma flames from one of it's weapon spars.  That 
ship's Light Hawk Wings were curled back over it's flanks to provide 
protection, but the occasional missile was still getting through all 
it's defenses to explode against a spar or the core.

Tenchi called up the frequency for the Juraian command ship and switched 
to it as Skull squadron finally stopped decelerating and started 
accelerating toward the quartet of ships. "This is Skull Lead calling 
Fearless, do you require assistance?"

Tenchi's comm screen snapped on with the Captain Honorra's image. "That 
is a rather silly question Skull Lead.  Invincible is proving to be 
anything but, and enemy fighters are concentrating on her.  If you would 
be so kind as to take them out?  I'm feeding you targeting data now."

"Acknowledged," Tenchi stated and cut the connection.  He then switched 
over to the squadron frequency. "Skulls, take out the fighter pods. 
Telemetry is come in now.  Fire at will."

The Veritechs paused for a moment, then spat out volley after volley of 
missiles from their booster-mounted launchers.  The warheads streaked in 
with greater accuracy than a Veritech's limited sensors could normally 
archive.  One fighter pilot managed to see his doom approaching, and 
threw his craft into an evasive curve - directly into a waiting pulse 
cannon's arc of fire.  The other's died without warning in a galaxy of 
light and energy around the wounded Juraian ship.  For a few minutes, 
they were in the clear.

Tenchi's com screen lit up again. "Thank you, Commander," Honorra 
commented. "If you'll just stick around, we might just live through this 
battle."

"Lieutenant, actually," Tenchi corrected. "Captain Hunter had to make an 
emergency re-entry shortly before the SDF-1's attack run."

"Lieutenant, then.  Might I have your name?"

Tenchi hesitated as he contemplated how much information he should give 
her.  His identity wasn't something he wanted to advertise to anyone. 
Especially with the Juraians in system.  Most especially to the 
Juraians.  There was also the fact that the transmission might be 
intercepted.  However, something inside him said that she deserved to 
know.  Besides, they were on a closed channel. "Lieutenant Tenchi 
Masaki.  Grandson of Yosho, First Prince of Jurai."

Honorra's eyes widened fractionally, then she nodded. "Thank you, 
Lieutenant.  I hope that we have some time to...talk after this is over. 
  I'm sure you have some stories about my old teacher." The captain's 
eyes shot to something off screen, then snapped back to Tenchi. "There's 
an enemy cruiser moving into firing position at two-seven-six by 
zero-five-one.  I need your squadron to handle missile interdiction."

"Will do," Tenchi replied.

*******

The SDF-1 plunged into the command fortress like a dagger.  By that 
time, the allied fleet was regrouping as far from the planetoid as possible.

For a few moments there was nothing, then the entire planetoid erupted 
in a fury of light and energy to rival most stars.  The raging inferno 
quickly spread to nearby ships.  After the initial bombardment, most of 
the Zentradi ships had returned to formation around the command ship. 
That proved to be their undoing as fully half the remaining ships were 
vaporized.  Another quarter were damaged by the blast and began tumbling 
toward the nearest gravity well - Earth.

"All ships," Breetai instructed over the com net, "begin phase three."

*******

Tenchi bit back a sigh as he roared out of the Zentradi ship's landing 
bay.  There had been just enough time to refuel and rearm before the 
fleet turned right back around and charged the remnants of the armada. 
The SDF-1 should be in the center of the globe of ships, and the fleet 
had to open a path for the fortress.

Easier said than done, since there were still well over a million fully 
functional ships out there.  And the fleet's losses hadn't been minor, 
either.  Invincible was a floating wreck and had to be left behind at 
the rally point.  The Galaxy Police had lost two of their 
super-dreadnaughts and a quarter of their lighter ships.  Breetai had 
lost over a half his fleet, including Azonia's flagship and most of her 
quadrono carriers.  Few of the remaining ships were in top shape, 
either.  On the other hand, even before the command planetoid was 
destroyed, they had managed a kill ratio of over five hundred to one in 
mecha, and ten to one in capital ships.  Not that such thoughts helped 
the fact that too many irreplaceable lives had been lost already before 
the Zentradi juggernaut.

"Form up, Skulls," Tenchi told his squadron.  They were sticking with 
the Juraian battleships this time, at the request of Captain Honorra. 
The fact that the three remaining Juraian ships were almost undamaged 
and would therefor be taking point only reinforced the request.

Skull had lost half its number in the battle, and the remaining six aces 
split into two-man elements to cover each battleship.  It was a sorely 
understrengthed escort, but sensor reports indicated that the Zentradi 
mecha force was being recalled.  It seemed obvious that a slugging match 
was unavoidable.  In that case, the Veritech's could contribute to the 
larger ships' defenses.

Tenchi and Horn flew to opposite sides of the Fearless' dorsal spar and 
switched to Guardian.  Unlike the SDF-1 and Zentradi ships, Juraian 
vessels had not been designed with mecha in mind, and therefor did not 
extend their artificial gravity (and, therefor, their acceleration 
compensators) outside the hull of the ship.  The Veritech's own 
acceleration compensators could handle inertia (so long as the booster 
packs containing the compensators were not damaged or destroyed) but it 
would waste too much power to keep up with the battleships.  A solution 
was devised early on in the planning stage, and each Skull was carrying 
a special pod in place of the missile rack on one arm.

Once Tenchi had the starboard spar lined up, he triggered the pod.  Out 
shot a weighted cable, which stuck to the wooden spar with an 
unbreakable hold.  When he needed to, he could trigger a solvent that 
would dissolve the molecular adhesive without damaging the hull.  Until 
then, he and the rest of the Skulls would be riding their charges. 
Tenchi switched to Battleoid and landed on the hull in as planned, in a 
manner that had one pilot muttering something about 'Dune' (whatever 
that meant).

"I think they've figured out our plan," Honorra said from Tenchi's com 
screen. "We have a wall of enemy battleships forming between us and the 
SDF-1's estimated location."

Tenchi glanced down at his readout.  Sure enough, there was an almost 
solid wall of enemy ships out there.  Too solid, in fact...

"Captain," Tenchi stated, "I think they're hiding something."

Honorra nodded. "My thoughts exactly, Lieutenant.  We're reconfiguring 
the Light Hawk Wings to forward shielding, just in-"

"Captain!" a shout came from Fearless' bridge. "Five enemy dreadnaughts 
emerging from the wall."

Tenchi gulped as five ships, exact copies of Breetai's flagship, slid 
out of their hiding places and into position.  The huge emitters on 
their bows lit in sequence as their main gun's charged.

"Brace for impact!" Honorra shouted on the all-ships frequency.

A channel of starfire rushed out of the first dreadnaught and engulfed 
the three Juraian ships.  Tenchi and his pilots were given a first-hand 
look at the inside of the beam as the Light Hawk Wings diverted the 
energy.  A swirl of color passed over the Fearless as the Wings refused 
to let the reflex cannon past.  A moment later the inferno ended, and 
Tenchi could see that the next blast would be the last.  The Wings were 
already beginning to crack, and they would be lucky if they could 
survive another blast, much less four more.

Honorra's eyes unfocused.  Tenchi realized that she was communicating 
with the ship itself, which bypassed the normal sensors officer.  An 
instant later her eyes snapped back and she addressed the comm screen. 
"Victory, Protector, are you picking up a quantum distortion between us 
and the next dreadnaught?"

The Protector's captain, a rough-looking, dark-haired man nodded as he 
appeared on the screen. "Dead ahead, skipper.  Looks like the 
dreadnaughts are hesitating."

Tenchi glanced ahead, and sure enough there was a rippling of space 
ahead of them.  The second dreadnaught had yet to fire, and the 
Fearless' Light Hawk Wings were slowly regenerating.

The ripple became a flash.  The flash became a cloud of light.  The 
light faded to reveal a slim, blue ship.  The ship was smaller than the 
Fearless, though it retained the classic Jurian style of slim, organic 
booms surrounding the disk-shaped core.

Or rather, classic Juraian shipbuilding was modeled after this ship.

"By the first tree," Honorra breathed.

"Tsunami," Tenchi whispered.

Tsunami's ten Light Hawk Wings unfolded at the same moment the remaining 
dreadnaughts decided to fire.  Four simultaneous reflex beams impacted 
the Wings, and were then turned aside.  Tenchi had a brief vision of 
Tsunami appearing in the space around her ship and smiling at him before 
the ship charged the Zentradi line.  Oddly enough, it wasn't the Tsunami 
he remembered meeting before.  She seemed more a mischievous teenager 
than a serene woman.

Honorra needed no prompting as her ships surged forward into the forming 
firestorm.

*******

"Orders, Admiral?"

Kiyone looked to her communications officer.  The Juraian ships were 
accelerating closer to the enemy battle line.  Soon they would be within 
spiting distance, and without cover.

"Signal the fleet.  Increase power to the drives." Kiyone nodded grimly. 
"Give us some space for a pincer, but don't let us fall behind."

*******

Breetai was silent as his ships raced toward their insertion point. 
Because his ships were built on a different principal than their 
allies', he had a different mission.  The Juraians and Galaxy Police 
were hitting hard and fast, driving through to reach the SDF-1.  His 
fleet, on the other hand, was supposed to open the way out.

"Coming up on energy range," his weapons officer reported.

"Very well," Breetai replied. "Hold off all offensive power until we are 
within one thousand kilometers.  We can't afford any misses."

Indeed they couldn't, Breetai mused.  Zentradi ships were built on a 
whole different combat doctrine than other races'.  Their ships were not 
as solidly built as others.  They were built to be expendable and cheap, 
so that even the largest dreadnaughts would still be numerous enough to 
swarm opponents.  In a straight slugging match, his own ship was only 
slightly tougher than the mid-sized Galaxy Police cruisers that were 
only slightly larger than his frigates.  The only ships his could 
actually stand up to on a ton-for-ton basis were the Invid's, who 
believed even more in the throw-away doctrine.

That would have to change, Breetai knew.  He was already formulating 
plans to use the human's ingenuity and creativity to enhance his fleet.

What remained of this fleet, that is, after this battle.

Breetai saw the range numbers scroll down as his weapons concentrated on 
keeping incoming missiles from reaching his fleet.  Energy weapons could 
not be intercepted, though, and his ships' shields were at their limits.

"All ships," he commanded, "open fire!"

While the Zentradi ships may be fragile compared to others, they did not 
have a shortage of firepower.  Breetai's two hundred thousand remaining 
ships coordinated within their intact datanets - the same nets which 
destruction of Dolza's fortress had knocked out or overloaded on the 
opposing ships - to deliver exactly the right amount of firepower to 
their targets, while those same targets couldn't even coordinate their 
offensive fire, much less their defensive systems.  Those same datanets 
that were designed for the Zentradi to counter the Invid hive-mind was 
now being used with great efficiency, just not against the expected targets.

Dozens of ships vanished in the first second as missiles, lasers, and 
partical beams lanced out.  While Breetai's fleet couldn't match it's 
opponents in firepower, it did prove the ancient rule that an organized 
force is never outnumbered by an unorganized one.  Cruisers, 
battleships, and destroyers were consumed in a wash of plasma as 
Breetai's ships moved in.  A few battlepods were launched in a futile 
attempt at a what the humans called a 'trench run' (Breetai was unable 
to get an explanation about that phrase).  They were quickly blow apart 
by the few remaining flights of Quadronos that Breetai had stationed 
throughout the fleet.

Breetai smiled grimly as he studied the sensor readings. *Our part is 
done.  We will hold the door open.  I can only hope someone survives to 
fly through it.*

*******

The Juraian ships, led by Tsunami, raced past the Zentradi fleet.  They 
were like a drill right through the formations.  None of the ships so 
much as slowed as they exchanged devastating broadsides with the huge ships.

Tenchi was beginning to feel disoriented as Fearless spun and shifted 
through its twisting course.  The Juraian ships were pulling almost two 
hundred gravities - which Tenchi also knew was only for the Veritechs' 
benefit, for the ships were capable half again that.  If it hadn't been 
for the acceleration compensators in the FAST packs, Skull squadron 
would be dead.  As it was, they were running dangerously close to the limit.

"Can't take much more, boss," Max gasped over the squadron frequency.

"Come on, Max," Tenchi grunted, "this is nothing.  Once, I got sucked 
into a-"

Tenchi broke off as Fearless ceased accelerating and swung about to face 
their pursers.  Tenchi gulped as he saw rank after rank of Zentradi 
ships.  A small part of his mind told him that many times that number 
had already been destroyed, but he still found the sizes intimidating.

Tsunami had also swung about and was set to charge right back into the 
fray as the battleships oriented their dorsal spars toward the 
approaching ships.  Tenchi saw the weapon turrets around him shift 
position as the broadside weapons took aim.

Tenchi's radar lit up with incoming missiles as the Zentradi line 
finally got its act together.  This was where the Veritech's came in, 
and their booster pods began spitting warheads back at the incoming 
missiles.  The Juraian ships had no missile launchers, so they had to 
rely on their own batteries for defense.  That weakness became very 
pronounced as Tenchi watch wave after wave of warhead race closer. 
Skull Squadron's missiles thinned out the incoming waves though direct 
hits or generated fratricide, which eased the defensive net's load. 
Each intersection of the woven tendrils between the main spars on the 
battleships was a low-powered point-defense cannon.  While not powerful 
enough to threaten other starships, they were powerful enough to cut 
through the thinly armored missile bodies.  If any missile evaded those 
two stages of defense, they still had the Light Hawk Wings to deal with.

Fearless shuddered as a reflex warhead penetrated the defensive layers 
to strike the dorsal spar.  The wood cracked and blackened, but the spar 
held.  Horn managed to stop a second with his gun pod before it hit the 
core, while Tenchi was barely able to stop one from taking out a section 
of the defensive net.

Then Fearless returned fire.

Each pulse cannon fired a rapid stream of energy at its designated 
target.  The shear number of guns made the volleys seem like solid waves 
of energy flashing out at the Zentradi line.

Shields flared briefly among the Zentradi ships before they collapsed 
under the weight of fire.  The energy blasts erupted against the 
unprotected Zentradi hulls.  The lucky ones were disintegrate as their 
reflex furnaces were hit.  The unlucky ones were blasted to pieces, with 
their crews condemned to slow death as they drifted in the vacuum of space.

And Tsunami was right there with them.  She wasn't returning fire. 
Instead, her Light Hawk Wings were spread over the battleships so they 
could devote more of their power to their weapons arrays.

And Tenchi could only stare in awe as a hundred Zentradi heavy cruisers 
died in the space of a few minutes.

Of course, there were still ten times that number screaming in at them.

"Boss," Max said over the com net, "I'm picking up a transmission on the 
SDF-1's frequency!"

Tenchi checked his HUD and saw that Max was right.  In fact, that 
frequency was...

"All ships," Tenchi called over the general frequency, "fire in the hole!"

That code phrase had been distributed to the other ships in the initial 
planning stages.  At once, the Juraian ships pulled back from the 
engagement area.  One the other side of the battle, Tenchi could only 
hope the Galaxy Police fleet was doing the same.  The radio tone changed 
to a rapid beeping a few seconds before a wave of energy - more powerful 
than the Zentradi dreadnaughts' main guns - cut through the enemy battle 
line.

Loud cheers erupted over the tac net as the SDF-1 cut into the enemy 
flank.  The Zentradi fleet had already been fighting on three fronts, so 
the introduction of a fourth attacking force was too much.  The 
surviving fleet ships began vectoring away from Earth in hopes of 
escaping into hyper-space.  A few hundred realized the futility of that 
and did what no Zentradi had ever done: surrender.

Five million ships entered the Sol system.  Less than one thousand left.

End chapter 12


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