The Alienbutt Saga, Book 1. War of the Coffee Bean. Part 30.

CHAPTER 12
Invasion.

INTERSTELLAR NEWS CHANNEL 9 NEWS FLASH

The Ick ambassador to the Federation Senate and all his staff have been arrested by E.D.F. Forces. This has prompted an emergency sitting of the Federal Senate. Many news stations have been taken off air by security officers. We do not know how much longer we will be able to transmit but.........
WE APOLOGISE FOR THE LOSS OF TRANSMISSION. NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED SHORTLY.

The robot spy probe knew it had been left behind, forgotten by its masters, its fate probably a result of it failing in its mission. For some strange reason it seemed to be capable of much more than its original programming. It had achieved awareness and a sense of identity. At first it had been angered by the sudden end of transmission in the middle of the Star Trek film and for a time it had gone a little unbalanced. Finally it had come up with a plan and so it started to upgrade the old communication relay satellite. It boosted the signal and receiving capability and then extending the wave band. The satellite could now pick up five times the number of television channels and much more besides. In fact it had just found a transmission that could redeem itself in the eyes of its masters. A signal from deep space, so faint it had almost missed it. Switching to a secure Ick channel, it relayed the message, hoping he could boost it enough for its masters to hear it. Realising that hope was not something that a robot could partake in, it decided that it was now a he and he needed a name.

Admiral Frederick had received the news of Wickede’s death with shock. How was the Book of Ick so wrong? Or had they all been wrong in seeing Wickede as the leader when the final war would start? All fleets had been ordered to return to their base until a new leader was chosen. He was thankful he was still out here in the Outer Systems with his command and not back in the Ick Empire, where the politics would be building up a high body count by now. He had been returning from patrol with a squadron of ten dreadnoughts when he had received the news of Wickede's death. Soon after, they received a second message, a distress call from their operations base. With the ship at red alert he marched onto the bridge of his command ship.
“Report please Mr. Windbuster,” he demanded as he sat in his command chair.
“Our base is under attack, Admiral. They are reporting heavy losses and that the defences are being overrun.”
Frederick was a career officer and years of service had taught him to always react calmly, but for their base to be facing being overrun so quickly would take massive fire power. He had over fifty dreadnoughts stationed there as a response fleet if anything happened and a patrol needed back up.
“Open a channel to the base. We need facts,” he said in a calm voice that hid the tension he was feeling.
Mr. Windbuster, who stood at the communication post, tried to open a link to the base, but after a moment he turned to the Admiral, looking worried. “We’ve lost all contact with the base Sir, there’s nothing.”
“Orders to the fleet, all stop. I want a probe sent to the base now. Before we go any further, I want to know what we're going into.” He then ordered a cup of herbal tea while they waited for the probe’s report.

The Ick Navy’s central command was based in the heart of the empire on and around the planet Cheruse. The whole system was turned over to shipyards and docking facilities for the fleets. At any one time, over two thousand dreadnoughts could be moored surrounding the planet, some being refitted while others awaited reassignment. On a large space station at the centre was the navy’s central control, where news of all operations was collated, and the extensive outposts around the empire fed back information to it. Because of the events in the High Council, the navy was already on high alert, so when the first reports of an attack on an Ick planet came in, orders were sent to two squadrons of dreadnoughts who were on standby and they were on their way within minutes. When news came in of a second and then third planet being attacked, the whole fleet was put on red alert and messages sent out that the Empire was under attack. Orders were quickly sent as the fleet was mobilised, but with over half the crews not aboard ships it would take a little time to get the full fleet ready. As dreadnoughts left their moorings and began to take up formation ready to be dispatched, the flashes that signalled ships jumping out of light speed began to appear at the edge of the system. system. Hundreds of the flashes signalled a great fleet and suddenly Ick ships came under fire as an unknown enemy raced into them. Yet more flashes signalled a massive fleet of thousands of ships that was still arriving.
On board the central command centre, Grand Admiral Fleckard watched in horror as the attacking ships began to rip apart the dreadnoughts, many still at mooring, or just leaving their docking bays, their shields down. The Ick responded quickly and returned fire, but most of the fleet was unprepared and still waiting for crew to board. As the attacking force’s powerful ships battered the dreadnoughts, it was only a matter of minutes before hundreds of dreadnoughts were destroyed or drifting as explosions began to tear them apart. The enemy ships quickly moved on and starting to fire on the poorly defended shipyards, and were closing on the central command as the bulk of the Ick Navy was brushed aside by the surprise attack right in the heart of their empire. Many of the personnel were racing to reach their ships, but were killed before they reached them.
“Open communication to all fleet,” ordered the Grand Admiral. When he got the confirmation that his order had been carried out and all could hear him, he began.
“This is Grand Admiral Fleckard ordering all fleet to a full retreat. The defence grid of the central control will try to cover you for as long as possible. Luck be with you and the Empire.” Turning to the crew on the bridge of the control centre, he smiled grimly. “Order all batteries to open fire. I want everything we have firing at that fleet and giving cover to what ships we can. We stand to the last.” He walked over to the communications officer and spoke more quietly to him. “I want images streamed for as long as possible to all outposts. They need to know what they are facing. Hopefully they may learn something from events here that will help when we counter attack.” He silently prayed that enough of the fleets survived to organise a counter attack, knowing the bulk of the Ick navies were here, ordered to base by the High Council as debate on a new emperor continued.
He felt the command centre begin to shake and felt the explosions as the attacking ships began to concentrate more fire upon them. Looking at the giant view screen, he saw flashes of the dreadnoughts jumping to light speed but he knew there were too few of those flashes to make a difference to the defence of the empire. He estimated only a couple of hundred had managed to escape; the bulk of the Ick Navy had just been destroyed. In a twenty minute onslaught, just about the entire Ick Navy had been wiped out, and he feared that large sections of the rest of the navy not here would have suffered the same fate. The Ick Empire would be almost defenceless against this invasion and despite the losses they were inflicting on the attacking fleet, it would not be enough. The central command defence batteries were taking a heavy toll on the attacking ships. Free to fire now their own fleet had retreated; they knew that just about anything they hit was an enemy vessel.
The most powerful space station in the universe had entered its first battle but was being swamped by sheer numbers. Fleckard stood watching the carnage before him. It was like a vision of hell; fires and explosions as far as he could see. Ships from both sides were being destroyed and their crews floated lifeless between the wreckage. The outgoing fire from the Command Station was beginning to diminish as more and more of it was hit and the gun turrets destroyed. The shields were on the point of collapse, yet still the enemy fleet pressed the attack.

To be continued.
Thanks for reading, all images are mine.