Of course, before I made that bold declaration, I made sure to check with Aegis and Arondight beforehand whether my tactics were viable.
"Okay, we need to get on top of those Sagittaur ships and cut them apart in close range before they obliterate them from a distance. Options, people?"
Neither of them responded. They were AIs, so they could only assist me on what I wanted to do, not come up with ingenuous ideas on the spot. That was the difference between AIs and humans or sentient beings. Creativity. AIs could be used to gather vast amounts of data, collate them and perhaps attempt to replicate them, but in the end, they were making use of existing data and rearranging them, whether it was AI art or AI written stories. But unlike a human, they couldn't create anything from scratch.
In the end, it was up to me to find a way to break the deadlock.
"The Alcubierre Drive," I thought, my opinions audible to both Aegis and Arondight. "Can we manipulate it to conduct relatively short distance intra-system jumps?"
"Theoretically, you can," Aegis replied. "We can cross millions of kilometers in a second using the Alcubierre Drive, but there are risks. Exiting from the warp bubble into a cloud of debris or a celestial body would be dangerous. Not to mention the gravity well of the planets in the system."
"So to minimize the risk, we need to lure them as far away from the planets as possible."
"Correct."
I thought about it. It made sense. The Alcubierre Drive allowed ships to expand the space behind them and contract the space in front of them, causing a phenomenon where the vessel was still traveling under light speed relative to reality, but in effect could reach its destination in an amount of time that was shorter than that the amount light needed. There was no reason why the AIs couldn't make the necessary calculations to cover a much shorter distance.
We just needed to adjust the amount of space expanded and contracted in front and behind us respectively.
"Excellent." With that confirmed, I then voiced my plan out with a grin. "I think I may have a plan. It's going to be incredibly risky, but if we pull it off…we might be able to turn things around."
"What plan?" Conrad O'Connor looked suspicious. I didn't blame him. I wouldn't be so trusting of some random guy who popped up in unidentified ships all of a sudden. But he knew that they were the ones who were begging for our help, so he wasn't rude either.
"We're going to teleport directly on top of them. My ship's AI will send you the necessary calculations. I'll also draw up estimated positions and assign targets."
"Teleport?" O'Connor's brow furrowed. "We can do that?"
"We're warping into the space next to those Sagittaur ships using the Alcubierre Drive," I explained. "I'm not going to sugarcoat it. it's incredibly risky, and there's a chance we'll destroy ourselves when we emerge from our warp bubble and collide with their ships or nearby debris. To minimize the risk, we'll allow them to continue pursuing us until we're far enough from the planets that our Alcubierre Drives won't get affected by their gravity."
"…understood." O'Connor swallowed. He sighed. "Whatever we do, we're doomed, anyway. We might as well gamble everything on this. If we succeed, we'll turn the tables on them."
"Yeah. Given that we have the advantage in a close-range firefight, we should be able to take them completely by surprise and destroy most of them before they can even shoot back. But things never go as planned so we should also be prepared for the worst."
"I concur."
When O'Connor's image – and the holographic renditions of the captains of the other two destroyers, Turner and Mason – vanished, I saw that Shang Xiao, Lin Xue and Lionel Johansson were waiting for me.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lin Xue asked. I shook my head.
"Is it a good idea? Not really. It's incredibly risky and we're just as prone to blowing ourselves up as we can destroy the enemy. But it's the best idea I have right now."
"I say go for it," Johansson said, studying the various holographic screens and combat data. "Trust your AIs and technology. The numbers seem fine, and theoretically, everything should work out. Now's a good time as any to put it into practical."
"A man has to believe in himself!" Shang Xiao declared with a grin. "No second-guessing yourself. Now that you've decided, you've to see it all the way to the end!"
"Yeah." I turned to Aegis and Arondight. "Let's begin."
Honestly, I couldn't tell anyone that I had taken the idea from a game I had when playing Starcraft 2. I learned from the very best – Gumiho and TY back when he was still playing, before he went to the military. Terrans rule!
The Sagittaurs continued pursuing, firing kinetic kills and antimatter balls that would take a long time to reach us from such extreme range. Their weapons were out of range…well, kinetic kills theoretically had an infinite range, but when fired from so far away, they would require such a long time to reach their targets that our ships would be far away before then.
Not that we were intending to stay in place, anyway.
"Ready Alcubierre Drives…begin warping."
I had shared with Aegis and Arondight my plans, and they performed the calculations necessary to make my tactics a reality. By highlighting the exact precise positions where I wanted my ships to be, I also had them run simulations and approximate the enemies' locations when we emerged. Tapping their holographic iterations with my fingers, I began assigning targets and suggesting which weapons should aim for which.
All this based on the combat data gained from the sacrifice of the Avalon Navy.
Once that was done and I was confident that I had done all I could to even the odds in our favor, I gave the order. There was a slight pull, though most of the gravitational forces exerted upon our human bodies when ships moved close to light speed were offset by the inertial dampeners. Instead, space warped around us and we vanished from physical space as the ships were engulfed in a bubble.
Then we were instantly spat out from the warp bubble, emerging right behind the Sagittaur fleet. I was gratified to see that all of my ships had reached their destinations safely, all five vessels sliding silently into the void amidst roiling energies.
Our warp positions weren't precise. The Straight Arrow was several thousand meters off course, the Striking Spear was angled incorrectly and also far from its calculated transition point. there were various discrepancies in terms of vectors and distance, but all of them were within perfectly acceptable parameters. Even with super-AIs making the calculations, there were always obstacles in reality that would cause my schemes to deviate.
Nonetheless, we adapted, improvised and overcame. And we largely achieved what we set out to do anyway.
"Fire at will! Target whatever you can, and destroy the enemy! I ask that you try to follow my projected targeting solutions as best as you can for maximum damage, but I leave it to the individual captains' discretion."
"Roger that."
"Copy."
"Understood."
The three captains responded tersely, probably barking orders on their own bridges. Ruby laser lances seared out from prow turrets, stabbing into fragile Sagittaur ships and cleaving them apart. Torpedoes spread in a wide dispersal pattern – and I was relieved to see that the Avalon captains had taken my advice. The expanding tide of torpedoes cast a massive net over this particular region of space, boxing in desperately evading alien vessels and homing in on those too slow to move out of the way.
The Striking Spear was swinging about, simultaneously gliding toward its assigned position and presenting its broadside toward the enemy as I had requested it to. All the ships were firing their broadside plasma batteries now, bolts of superheated matter streaking across the void to hammer into swerving Sagittaur ships.
Explosions filled the void, with at least nine of the enemy ships destroyed by the surprise attack. It was a classic teleport and strike tactic that I saw professional Terran players execute on their Protoss opponents in Starcraft 2, particularly the Global Starcraft 2 League, or the GSL Code S. I couldn't believe I was actually carrying it out in reality.
"Don't let up! Continue pummeling them! Get closer!"
Engines burning, the five human ships screamed toward the beleaguered alien armada. The Sagittaur ships were clumsily spinning around to face us, but their weapons were mostly mounted on their front, which meant they couldn't bring their formidable antimatter balls and kinetic kills to bear. Moreover, they were slow and found it difficult to maneuver, which meant they were being blown apart before they could confront us directly.
They were being massacred.
"Evasive pattern. Try to keep out of their weapons' arc of fire." I sent the order, my fingers tapping along the holographic screen quickly as I signaled the respective ships and highlighted projected trajectories of weapons and ships. It was almost like playing a fleet based real time strategy game, micromanaging each ship and clicking the location where they should go. But using a holographic touchscreen instead of a mouse and keyboard.
Speaking of which, before I played Starcraft 2 or even Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, I used to play a space fleet real time strategy game called Conquest: Frontier Wars. I doubted anyone knew about it now, given that it was over twenty years old at this point, but it was one of my favorite games.
"Captain O'Connor, target these three ships on your flank. Don't worry about the two bearing down on you from your port. Captain Turner, cover the Swift Blade, please. Take out those two bearing down on his flank with your laser lances – you're in prime position for that."
To their credit, the captains didn't balk or protest at me giving orders. They had accepted my tactical advice as readily as they would their admiral. Perhaps they were relieved that they had someone to tell them what to do so soon after the loss of their commanding officer.
Also, this whole thing was my idea, and they knew that it would only work to its best effect if they adhered to my proposals. Either they followed me all the way or they refused to at all. Half-assing it was going to get all of us killed.
Plus, they were highly motivated. They had to protect their home planet, and they wanted revenge for their massacred fleet.
The Sagittaur ships were being slaughtered in turn, the clumsy behemoths set upon by the much nimbler destroyers, who descended upon them like packs and tore them apart with teeth made of lasers and plasma. Those that were too slow found themselves struck by the torpedoes we fired earlier, hemmed in by the wide dispersal spread. Most of the torpedoes didn't hit anything – but they didn't have to. The intention was simply to trap the Sagittaur ships in a killing zone.
The Stalwart accompanied the destroyers, while the Crusader hung back and hit like a sledgehammer with his more fearsome array of weapons. We might lack the speed and maneuverability of the Lancer class destroyers or the Squire class frigate, but the Templar class cruiser packed a slightly heavier punch.
The lasers punched through the belly of a bow-shaped ship, cutting it in half and reducing both drifting pieces in flames that were quickly snuffed out by the vacuum of space, though the interior air continued to combust within. Another bow shaped ship tumbled, its antimatter ball having escaped its containment field when struck by a stray torpedo and consuming the ship in its own immense firepower. A third crumpled, its hull burning furiously as plasma ate away at its crumbling curves. The last Sagittaur ship tried to turn away, only to run straight into the path of a laser lance from the frigate. The Stalwart finished it off with a volley of plasma to its guts, eviscerating it and causing bodies and molten debris to spill out from its softened center.
"We're done here as well."
Captain O'Connor reported, and I saw that his three destroyers had just…uh, destroyed one of the bigger siege ships, which was also vanishing as antimatter leaked from ruptured containment fields and annihilated the solid matter of the ship. With that, the Sagittaur fleet had been completely destroyed, wiped to a ship. I smiled.
"Good job, everyone. Thank you for following my plan to the letter."
"Not at all. If anything, we should be the ones expressing our gratitude to you for helping us exterminate the enemy." Captain Turner was a brusque, tough man with a square jaw and dark skin. He nodded grudgingly, his eyes as intense as ever, but now filled with a newfound respect. "We will forever honor this debt we owe you."
"Let's worry about debts later." I waved his words away and gestured toward the three massive troop ships still in orbit over Avalon. "We still have those three to deal with."