New Neighbors

Chapter 17

Once all the invaders had been either captured or killed, and the cities had returned to a somewhat normal state, Ted met with the full UN. Ted explained that the only reason the invaders had been as successful was because they had not come out of hyperspace until they were inside the system. The Iberians, and their reptilian allies, had taken a big chance; if they had dropped out of hyperspace at the wrong point they could have ended up in the Sun. Ted went on to explain that since the invaders had attacked Earth and not Mars that showed that they didn't consider Earth as a threat. That would change very quickly. Ted told the UN that the US, Russia, China, and the UK were being asked to contribute 10% of their armed forces to a planetary defense force. This force would be trained, equipped, and charged with the defense of the planet. They would be completely under the command of the Amyins. This announcement caused a small riot among the representatives. Many wanted to know why just these four countries were being asked to contribute troops. Ted explained that these four countries, based on Earth history and population, were the ones most likely to be able to withstand the loss of troops. Ted said that he would meet with the leaders of these four countries separately over the next few days to discuss the implementation of this action.

It was about a week later before everything was able to be set in motion. During that time Amy had asked Kate to see to the upgrade of all the ships in the Alpha sector to the latest technology and to have them manned in preparation for aiding the PDF. Jones was charged with the task of getting as much information from Blythe as he could, by any means possible. They needed the information in order to rid space of the Emperor's pirates and to settle the SuLak problem once and for all; once the PDF situation had been stabilized.

While the new troops were being gathered, another platform was being built. This platform would be sent to Mars as soon as it was finished to replace the one Jake had brought to Earth. The new platform would have all the latest technology incorporated in it's construction. Amy had become very tired of the intrusions by the Iberians, and now their reptilian allies. The plan that Amy, Ted, John, and Jake had worked out was fairly simple, maybe too simple, they would go to the aid of the PDF home system and once finished there they would help retake the other systems. Then see about overtaking the Iberians, and their allies.

It was time to go. All of the new troops were on the platform and being trained. Kate reported that she had 20 ships manned and ready. The new platform would be completed inside a month and would be towed to Mars. Ted had found a suitable captain for his ship and was once again acting as Amy's First Officer, freeing Jake to return to his Engineering duties. The first stop would be at Mars, from there the fleet would go to meet up with Kate's ships. Then on to the Organo system and see what they could do.

Kate was looking over the test flight results for the newest ship. This one was huge; it had a crew of 300, carried 100 of the newest two person fighters, it's shields had been patterned after the ones used by the Iberians except the shield frequency was constantly changing, had four main guns, and a new type missile that used hyperspace to reach it's target. This was the new Dreadnaught class. Through shear luck they had discovered a way to make this ship stealthy to the extreme. If it wasn't for the IFF transponder even their own ships couldn't locate this ship when it cloaked. The only problem was that this ship would never be able to function inside the atmosphere of a planet. They had completely removed several asteroids testing the guns. This one was a planet killer if needed. All the tests were right on the money. Boy, was Amy going to be surprised.

Kate was just settling in for the night when there was a perimeter alert. Once she got to the command center she found out the details, there were five ships that had dropped out of hyperspace about 1000 Km outside the system. All five ships had PDF markings and they appeared to have been in a battle, according to the damage on them. Jones was the closest ship and would arrive in about a minute, Toddus was his backup. Kate was told that the ships were asking for permission to enter the system, Jones would take care of that she hoped.

Jones hailed the ships, even before he headed their way, and received their request for entry. He told them to hold position until they could be scanned. On arrival at their location, Jones decloaked and asked what the ships needed and what had happened to them. A Captain DeMeirus took the lead and told Jones that they had been enroute to the Organo system to aid the PDF when they ran into the enemy. A battle had ensued and they almost lost all of their ships. They came to this system because DeMeirus knew that Turrini was here and hoped that he could help them. While Jones and DeMeirus were talking Toddus arrived and notified Jones, but stayed cloaked. Jones told DeMeirus that he would have the ships escorted in and that they must not show any signs of hostility and follow instructions. DeMeirus agreed quickly, maybe because of the appearance of five fighters right in front of the ships. Each fighter joined with one of the ships and lead them to the space dock.

The ships had just cleared the perimeter drones when Jones noticed a large jump point open where the ships had been. Through the point came something that resembled a small moon, except it was made of metal. It appeared to be about a kilometer in diameter and was unloading small fighters at a rapid rate. The drones were already armed and as soon as the first fighter got close they opened fire. All this didn't go unnoticed; Jones called for backup, and lots of it.

As soon as the drones opened fire Kate issued a full alert and had the inner defenses activated. Then more jump points opened and five more ships came through. Now things were getting serious. Kate had all available ships head for the area. Jones and Toddus had launched their first fighters and were getting more ready. Jones called Kate and told her this might be a good test for the Dreadnaught, besides they could really use the added firepower. Kate told him it would take about 30 minutes to get the new ship enroute.

The drones were doing a good job, but several fighters got through only to meet the outbound fighters who were cloaked. Then the big ship fired some type of weapon and a whole section of drones were destroyed. Through this hole came the five enemy ships and they were headed for the inner system. The five PDF ships even turned and started firing on the enemy. The Dreadnaught was powered and had launched the first ten of it's fighters by this time. When it fired main guns the first target exploded, but not before it had launched several fighters itself.

The battle was intense. Both sides were holding their own. Then things shifted. The big enemy ship fired and two of the PDF ships were destroyed. The dreadnaught was tasked with taking on the big spherical ship. Most of the shots at the big ship didn't get through it's shields. When the big ship hailed and demanded that the system surrender, the image shown was reptilian. Now the new ally of the Iberians had a face.

The captain of the Dreadnaught decided that it was time to do something that should surprise the enemy, he had noted that the big ship was holding position so the captain had his missiles to launch with the target point being inside the big ship. Ten missiles dropped out of hyperspace inside the big ship, the explosions that followed was spectacular! The shock wave from the explosion disabled several ships on both sides and shook the planet when it hit. Several of the enemy fighters crashed on the planet, the ground forces would have to check the sites when they got a chance. There were several injuries from falling objects. Kate was one of the injured, she had a broken leg and arm and was knocked unconscious. With the big ship gone, the battle turned in favor of the system forces. It took another hour for the battle to come to an end.

Patrols checked each of the crash sites of the enemy fighters and found only dead bodies. On an over flight of the valley where Blythe was, the patrol reported that one or two of the enemy craft had hit the compound and it was destroyed. There was no sign of any survivors from the people being kept there. The platform was very busy as there were about ten ships that needed repairs, plus replacement drones were needed.

Kate woke up in the hospital, she hurt all over. It was about an hour later before Turrini came by and told her what had happened after she was knocked out. Turrini also told her about Blythe's compound being destroyed. Kate commented that Blythe wasn't really a big loss and asked if Amy had been told about the attack yet. Turrini said that Jones was taking care of that now.