Gravity Wielder - Book 2 of Re-Forge

The Battle for Eden

The enemy attack fleet was closing fast, as was the time for battle. Matt maintained open comms to the fleet, but Storm filtered two-way priority communications, so Matt only heard the news about issues needing command decisions during the conflict; otherwise, the chatter would be overwhelming.

Matt spoke via tight-beam comms to Eden, saying: "Calemon, how long do we have before the enemy attack force is unable to avoid engaging us?"

Calemon answered: "Admiral, they're already in maximum deceleration phase, and that will terminate exactly four hundred kilometres to your starboard side at the two o'clock position. The critical point where evasion for them becomes impossible will be in five minutes from...NOW! At that point, they must come to a stop in two hours or risk blowing straight through."

Matt said: "Okay, when they reach that commit point, light your antimatter drives and move through the fleet, placing Eden next to Storm as planned."

Calemon said: "Eden's pre-start sequence is concluded, and antimatter injection will commence when the count reaches zero, as requested, Admiral."

Matt said: "Thank you, Calemon. Are your refugees from the Jupiter colonies settling in without too many hassles?"

Calemon said: "Yes, Admiral, everyone onboard is fine; they're having the time of their lives. How could they not, Eden is a utopia, after all. Oh, Joseph Winton and Adrian Beecham were among the prisoners evacuated from Ganymede. Joseph is behaving reasonably, but I still can't trust him. He doesn't know that I was once Carl. He hated me back then, as he thought I was an AI."

"It could be that I am a woman now, and he is trying to find a weakness. Maybe he even thinks he can take control of Eden, but Mr Winton was uncomfortable when he found out that this avatar is a deadly bodyguard. He doesn't know that it is SP1 yet. I'll save that in case he creates a problem. I suspect that Joseph Winton relies on stirring others up to create problems for leaders. So, he's harmless for now."

"SP1 wants to know why Winton didn't walk the plank, but apart from that, most prisoners are well behaved toward others, I don't have resources to keep them guarded, so I placed them with the general population. Oh, Mr Beecham is still a bully, but don't worry about my wellbeing. I have an SP1 bodyguard."

Matt didn't believe for a minute that Joseph Winton was reformed. He was deeply conditioned to fulcrum situations and people to increase his power base and benefit just himself. Winton was 'addicted' to the power he felt when creating mayhem to control people. Matt knew that at least for the moment, events were too fluid for him to cause too much trouble. Joseph Winton was still on death row with one more appeal before he gets flushed out an airlock and was a man Matt could never trust.

Matt said: "Storm, give me Fleet Comms, please... Attention fleet. We will engage the enemy in two hours when they arrive. This battle strategy has been rehearsed in theory only, but I can promise you that the enemy is going to get a nasty shock and a bloody nose."

"There are five hundred and fifty enemy motherships in the attacking component of their fleet, and our battle AI's have them individually locked in as priority targets in the AI network. Fire your nuclear missiles as soon as the AI's lock on and let the AI's do their job."

"Remember everyone; our ships are faster and more manoeuvrable; let's use every advantage we have. Try to dodge the antimatter streams and let the auto lasers take out boarding pods, while the larger weapons focus on mothership and attack craft elimination."

Matt continued the last-minute update, saying: "You have your designated targets. When they are destroyed, turn your attention to other attacking enemies, and then we clean up. The enemy commit point is... minus two minutes." When that time arrives, Eden will ignite her antimatter drives and raise her defence shields as per plan. The enemy should be momentarily off-balance. Good luck all ships and crews."