They say the worst part about war is the waiting. The utter silence in anticipation of the horrors about to unfold. I don’t know who “They” are, but “They” were clearly full of crap. Try and wax poetic when there is enough firepower to bore a hole through a small moon coming your way at half the speed of light from all directions. The only time the waiting is worse than the actual fight is when it’s a simulated fight. Much like the one I am waiting for right now. And only because I am bored out of my little primate mind.

  They make a big deal about all the people who will be watching and the fate of two careers and all these speeches about the importance of excellence in this position and blah blah fuckety blah. Then they shove me in a training deck with all the holo screens and mechanicals turned off and tell me to pick my fleet composition for two hours. Union hours at that. Those are almost twice as long as Human ones. Could have at least left me some snacks. I was ready after ten minutes.

  Granted I would normally see the importance. Every race has their own favored tactics and every commander their own preferences within them. The massive variety of designs and technologies create unlimited combinations. But for this, they forced us to use only the most bog standard designs. So the possibilities are very limited.

  We got the standard Multi-Response Fleet composition. One hundred vessels split into five Battle Groups of twenty plus an Auxiliary Group and a Command Squadron. Instead of vessels being represented by existing classes, each is a shape and designation. The Mark 5s are rectangles and the largest in each Group at one thousand five hundred meters. This is meant to represent the galactic "Average" for ships of this role. Humanity only has two or three in its whole armada that would count. Below them is the cylindrical Mark 4s at one kilometer exactly with two per group. Then the five Star shaped Mark 3s at seven hundred and fifty meters, the eight elongated spherical Mark 2s at three hundred and the four triangular Mark 1s at one hundred and fifty. The range for each Mark is pretty wide. My old Frigate was just three meters shy of being a large Mark 1 rather than a very small Mark 2. We also get a few Auxiliary vessels, whatever we choose, and a single two kilometer Mark 6 to act as our Command ship. Plus some escorts for the Command ship, I went with five Mark 3+s.

  These come without any equipment and I am supposed to fill them out. This is where the actual strategy comes in. Fleet engagements are a whole different beast from commanding a single vessel all on your own. Each ship has to work in tandem towards a greater goal. There are many ship classes built from the ground up to never operate outside a fleet. They do one job and do it well. Without proper support from other vessels, they would never survive long enough to do their job.

  Of course I was never one for those complex interlocking chain combos some people strive for. The concept of having each vessel support the other to maximize some effect means if even a single link is broken the whole thing falls apart. Life rarely works in your favor, after all. Though just sending a fleet full of Jack-of-all-trades vessels doesn’t work either. You’d always be outranged, out speed, out lasted and all around out played. It’s a delicate balancing act with no real answer. No matter how perfect the strategy, there is always a counter.

  For my part, I went with a three part system. Battle Groups Kite and Tower are my Shield groups. The Mark 5s and 3s are Bulwarks, vessels that forgo heavy weaponry in favor of a super heavy shielding field allowing them to protect not only themselves but any nearby vessel as well. The Mark 2s are all support frigates, loaded up with as many tertiaries and wide spread secondaries I could fit on them to stop missile swarms and small attack craft. The Mark 1s are loaded up with advanced sensors and target finders to keep cloaking craft from trying to sneak around. And to paint targets for the Mark 4 heavy missile cruisers,

  Backing them up are Howitzer and Ballista. The Mark 5s and 2a are Artillery cruisers with Particle Accelerators. Not the strongest option available but fast firing and accurate. Would make any ship fast enough to try and push past my shield groups think twice. The 4s and 1s are Carriers. The 4s provided the heavy long range craft while the 2s faster short range interceptors for rapid response. Last the 3s are high speed destroyers, sacrificing armor and shields to hunt down and destroy anything that breaks through the frontline.

  Battle group Crusader is in reserve. This is my breakthrough force and will be waiting for a chance to strike. Fast and tough with an emphasis on short range firepower. If any of Inanna’s forces start to falter, they rush in and end things as quickly as possible. My personal vessel has the usual command package. I don’t care to lead from the back but given my options it only made sense. Still I made sure to have the longest range weapons I could. Concentrated Microwave Projectors. They don’t do a lot of damage, even at this scale, but can hit a micro credit dead center from just under three hundred thousands kilometers. So no matter what I’ll be contributing something. My Mark 3+ are Rounded and meant to protect me. They have power closer to a Mark 4 but can’t exactly win the battle on their own.

  Last and in the opinion of most least is the Auxiliary group. We had a lot more flexibility for this one. Anything from mining freights to hospital ships were on the menu. That Group isn’t expected to stay together and instead move where they are needed. I went mostly with Heat dispersers. These ships can drain the excess heat created by other vessels and then dispel it far quicker. This will allow my Bulwarks and Artillery ships to keep running at max power for much longer. Besides that I took a few tugs. Just a little back up plan in case things go south. And that’s it. Pretty basic, I know. I don’t like to plan for what could happen. I’d rather deal with what does happen.

  “Attention Contestants.”

  Thank Space Christ it’s starting.

  “Combat will be starting in one Standard minute. Prepare yourselves. Once the timer runs out, all is fair game. May the best Captain win.”

  One standard minute. That’s one hundred seconds. Standard seconds, that is, which are shorter than Human seconds. All in all it’s about sixty seven human seconds. One hundred of those make an hour, thirty of those a day and one hundred of those a year. The days feel so long yet the years are so short. Screws with your head. One thing they didn’t tell us was the battle map. Most of space is empty. But that’d be too boring for something this important. I got a hunch, well several possible hunches, and a plan to use them if I’m right.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Starting in five, four, three, two, one!”

  The screens light up. Mechanicals burst to life. Suddenly I’m on the bridge of a starship again. I order a scan asap. Inanna’s fleet is a million kilometers in front of me. Neither of us should have anything that would be effective. As I guessed, the area is not empty. We are in a graveyard. The long rusted remains of thousands of vessels from some great war long past surround us. The shlubs in charge weren't cruel enough to make us spawn in a concentrated pile at least. Still, all these old ships add much to worry about. In addition to collisions, they can be rather volatile. Old generators, fuel cells and ammunition stores can just go off randomly. All the movement in random directions makes tracking enemy vessels all the more difficult. With so many exotic materials all around, anything could hide anywhere. Perfect.

  “Task Force Gibson, you know your mission. Prepare for duty.”

  My tugs fly off. At this extreme range it would be impossible for Inanna to notice. Got my plan B all good and ready. Now it’s time to see what Inanna has in store for me.

  “Battle Groups Kite and Tower. Advance in Alpha formation. Battle Groups Howitzer and Ballista, keep in formation behind them. I want this done by the book. Battle Group Crusader, stay close to my vessel and be ready. Prepare to engage.”

  We go slow. Just a hundred kilometers per second. I have no idea what Inanna is bringing so I want time to react. All our ships are vague shapes so I can’t rely on the visual reading to hint at her strategy. And I’ll need those ships to be at least a hundred thousand kilometers before the scanners will be able to overpower the jammers enough to start getting readings. Assuming she didn’t opt for the stronger versions. As a Major race, Phibian tactics are fairly well known. They often opt for sturdy vessels that take hits well. A highly defensive fleet meant to last until reinforcements could arrive. A strong strategy that has won them many battles. Though not the best for a situation like this.

  Inanna’s fleet arrives sooner than I expected. Looks like she didn’t like the “take things slow" approach. The first thing I see are the drones. Hundreds of them. Thousands even. She must have dedicated some of her largest ships to maintain so many. My first instinct is to open fire. Luckily a cooler head prevailed. My Recon Mark 1s identify them as observation drones. Unarmed, meant more for exploration than combat. They stay just far out enough to prevent my Tertiaries from being effective. The Mark 2 Secondaries could gun them down but they’d run out of ammo really fast. And Inanna might have sprung for a mobile fabricator meaning she’d just send more. Shooting them down will be more trouble than it’s worth. Inanna now knows my every move from this point on. Meanwhile, we just crossed the hundred thousand threshold and her ships are still coming in fuzzy. Well played.

  “I want all Mark 1s in Battle Group Kite to concentrate their scanners on the nearest enemy formation.”

  Even the strongest jammers can’t hide everything. From what I can tell, Inanna is only sending one Battle Group to meet my two. A mass of Bulwarks not unlike my own. Just far more of them. Looks like all her 2s, 3s and 4s are Bulwarks. Will be a tough nut to crack that’s for sure.

  “Battle Group Tower, move in and engage enemy formation. Battle Group Kite, keep ten thousand kilometers behind. And be ready to support. Howitzer and Ballista, move to points gamma and zeta. Keep sixty thousand kilometers back from Kite and charge Primary weapons to full.”

  Time to poke the beast and see how sharp her claws are. Battle Group Tower reaches thirty thousand kilometers, then opens fire. It’s scattered and weak. The Bulwarks aren’t meant to fight this far out. Would barely be a threat to normal vessels let alone other Bulwarks. Her Bulwarks fire in return, to the same ill effect. Of course the goal isn’t to win just yet. I need to goad her into acting. See what she’s working with. My missile cruisers will run out of ammo before they break those shields. I need the artillery cruisers to grind them down first. But committing half my fleet to such a direct action leaves them vulnerable.

  “Captain. Battle Groups Kite has lost a Mark 3 Bulwark.”

  “How? Are the over shields still active?”

  “Yes Captain. According to the Group Commander, the Shields were still operational when the vessel exploded.”

  Impossible. Things were supposed to be evenly matched and I saw no weapons capable of penetration shields. Even if they could, one hit should not be enough to break through a Bulwark’s frontal armor. This match is being watched. Cheating would be called out immediately. She’s doing something clever, that's for sure.

  “I want Tower’s Mark 1s on full spectrum scan for the entire area. Have Kite concentrate their scenarios on Tower’s shield. If this happens again I want to know every last detail.”

  The long range visual cameras zoom in on Tower. It doesn’t take long until I see another Bulwark break into pieces. There was something there alright.

  “Captain, scans from Kite indicate there was a temporary break in the shield.”

  “Malfunction?”

  “No sir. It appears the enemy fleet fired a concentrated EMP bolt. Invisible to the naked eye. Tower’s scanners are too close to the enemy. They couldn’t detect it.”

  “That explains how they hit past the shield. Now how did those Bulwarks blow up?”

  “Ambient scans only detect thermal trails.”

  Thermal trails. Interesting. There are many weapons that could leave something like that. EMP weapons of this kind are very short range so it must be coming from a ship in that battle group. All the Mark 2s, 3s and 4s accounted for as Bulwarks. That only leaves the 1s and the solo 5. Even firing in unison the 1s could never create a hole large enough to break through even for a split second. So it must be the 5. An EMP projector that strong would take up most of the free mass. The vessel would basically be engines and a gun. Which would be a problem, if not for the mass of Bulwarks. Very sneaky.

  This means the Mark 1s are the only remaining vessels for concentrated fire. They must be using the same weapons as the Bulwarks. Basic Infrared laser cannons. Mine are using much the same. Easy to miss one or two specific trails with so many being fired. Reliable and accurate, though rather middling in power. She must have turned her Mark 1s into dedicated gunships. Engines and guns like the Mark 5. They fire in unison, delayed just enough to allow the EMP burst to open a hole for a brief moment, then all fire on the same target directly behind. Providing just enough strength to rip through the Bulwark’s armor. The level of timing and coordination needed to pull off such a strategy is insane. I could never.

  “I want the Tower Missile cruisers to start a slow bombardment. One missile each every other second in an alternating pattern. Dumb fire dead center with max speed and high explosive.’

  The cruisers fire as ordered. Each carries around two thousand missiles so they can maintain this for some time. It will never break through the Bulwark’s shields but it’s not meant to. Most weapons are polarized to fire through allied shields. EMP projectors hate all shields, friend or foe. My fire was too light. Inanna was timing her EMP blast with a very brief shield drop. With this continuous fire she can’t risk that anymore.

  “Send out an unencrypted message on a wide broadband. Start recording now. I am starting to see why you were so favored for this position. I’m zero to two. Let’s stop holding back and show everyone what two Expeditionary Captains can do.”

  The message is sent out to the void. I get one back in no time.

  “I have not even begun to show you what I am capable of. It was an honor serving under you, Captain Tom.”