Anachron

Invasion of Jovix

I was out on patrol around planet Jovix.  It wasn't actively under contention at the time.  The Markadian front lines were light years away, so we had no reason to expect an attack.  Jovix was just a stopping point.  Real combat ships would pass Jovix on their way to real battles.

Looking back, I realize that Jovix was really an ideal target.  Minimally defended, Jovix and many other stations like it would be easy to capture, but it would cripple the humans' fighting strength at the front lines.  After losing a waystation like Jovix, we would be forced to fall back to restore our supply lines.  We could have sent a few ships to retake it, but that would leave our front line divided and vulnerable.  We could have pulled back whole fleets, but that would mean surrendering contended worlds.  Perhaps the worst choice of all, we could have left the ships where they were, and they would have withered without much needed supplies.  It was brilliant.

Our captain was off duty, and on this particular day he was on the planet when the attack came.  As the subcaptain on duty, it was up to me to take control of the situation.  It wasn't a very good situation either.  Only my ship, the Watchdog, was present in the system when the sensor technician alerted me to the problem.

"Sir.  I'm showing a gravimetric displacement."

"The Kent?  It couldn't be that early."  Even then, I knew it was a silly question.  The Kent was coming from Quarta, six days away.  For the Kent to arrive two whole days early would be impossible.

I expected an operations officer to answer, but it was the sensor tech again.  "No, Sir.  This is close.  Very close.  To open a wormhole this close so close to the star would take ... I don't want to think how much energy.  Whoever it is, they'll be on top of us in just a few hours.  Three at the most."

"Too soon to recall the captain."  Even if we moved to a lower orbit to make it a short trip, it would take at least six hours for him to get back to us.  Eight would be more likely.

I only knew a little about wormhole physics, but I did know this much.  The closer a ship was to a source of gravity, like a star system, the more energy it would take to open the gate.  Normally, a ship would conserve energy by jumping to a location well away from a star and make the last leg of the journey by more conventional means.  If a ship was in trouble, it would have to conserve energy, and would still arrive outside the system.  There was only one reason a ship would choose to open a wormhole so close to a star.  This was a surprise attack.

"How many ships?"

"Can't see yet.  The first will be coming through momentarily."

We all waited to find out how many ships would be coming through.  Against a single Markadian ship we would have a fighting chance.  Against two, we might be able to manage a victory with heavy losses.  Any more than that, and it would be a lost cause.  This, of course, would depend also on the size of the ships.

The tech was especially nervous, as he knew that everyone was waiting on him to let them know the situation.

"There's one.  It's small.  A fighter."

Fighters were not unique to the Markadian fleet.  Small ships holding only a few officers, with many of the systems left out.  A fighter could not, for example, produce its own wormholes.  It would have to travel as part of a much larger fleet, using wormholes created by other ships.

"Two."

Fighters were smaller, but less powerful than larger ships.  The Watchdog could confidently repel two fighters.

"Three."

This was shaping up to be bad.  Three fighters could do some serious damage, but there was a slim chance we might be able to win.