Chapter 9

"Commodore, I'm picking up strange sensor readings."

Commodore Doberman of the battleship Juggernaut strode over to the sensor officer. "Yes?"

Suddenly the pitch of her voice rose half an octave. "It's a warp field! I'm reading 20… no 30 ships entering the system, 12 of them Battlecruiser class or better! They're broadcasting as Hostile! They outnumber us two to one!"

Doberman shot a glance out the bridge viewport. The tiny specks highlighted and circled up by the computer were still distant, but the datafeed next to each target showed each one was coming on fast and powering up weapons.

"Weapons, charge our forward batteries. Don't open fire until we can score a good hit with a full power shot. Navigation, what's our situation if we have to run for it?"

The Nav officer shook his head. "No. With Titania behind us and that fleet ahead, we're trapped in Titania's gravity field. We can't warp out unless we break past that fleet first."

Doberman gritted his teeth. This would be a tough one. With the 5th fleet not arriving for another two hours, he was effectively fighting this entire invasion force on his own.

"Communications, contact Corneria, ask for any help they can give us."

At that moment, the enemy fleet opened fire from maximum range. Most of the shots passed harmlessly by, and those that hit did little damage.

"Arm missile batteries one and two." Said Doberman. I wonder why they're taking such great measures to capture Titania? There's nothing down there but dust and ruins.

"Enemy ships are standing off, sir. They're continuing to fire at maximum range."

This was something new. If they had a siege in mind, they'd be in for a surprise when the other fleets got to Titania.

"Sir, message from High Command. The Starfox team is being redirected to here. They're changing course from Macbeth to get to us."

Doberman almost cheered. Unless the enemy fleets wizened up and drove on home, all he had to do was keep his ships intact until help arrived.

"Return maximum range fire. Hold our missiles unless they get closer. Communications, order all our fighters and bombers to return to the Merdom Watcher. Don't engage the enemy fleet unless it moves aggressively."

Even as he gave the orders, though, Doberman had a feeling that something else was coming into play. No commander would be so ignorant as the one standing off just above Titania's rings, simply waiting for trouble to come.

"Communications, order the Merdom Watcher to launch high-speed probes along the routes the 5th fleet and the Starfox team are using to get here. Also cease firing on Laser batteries two and three so we can boost power to scanners. I want everything around this planet scanned for additional ships, any sign of a cloaking field at all, or whatever other traps might be lurking around."

"Smell something, sir?"

"Oh yeah." Doberman peered into the stars. Whatever they had planned, his people would find it.

Across several hundred miles of space, another Commodore was smiling to himself as his fleet fired away at the Cornerians from a safe distance. The Cornerians had not moved towards his superior fleet, just as planned.

One of his bridge crew addressed him. "Sir, detecting probe launches from their escort carrier. Wait… A battleship has commenced high-power scanning."

So the creature across the battlefield from him was as canny as he was. Not that it mattered. Everything was still going to plan. This battle would be over soon.

"Sir, our second probe has been picked up by the 5th fleet. Nothing but the usual debris, space creatures and merchant traffic on their route."

Doberman nodded to the Communications officer. A quarter of an hour ago, the first probe had been picked up by the Starfox team, with similar results. The scanner sweeps had come up with nothing, and the first set of reinforcements, the Great Fox and three state-of-the art Arwings, would arrive shortly. Perhaps the opposing commander was more foolish than he thought.

Suddenly a great, sleek ship skipped out of warp-space just above Titania's horizon. It immediately launched three fighters and began forming up with his fleet. Two other Cornerian Battleships left warp space in its wake.

"The Great Fox." Doberman smiled. "Communications, order the Great Fox to fall in beside us. Bring the Arwings to the front and launch our fighters to back them up. Redirect power to engines from scanners. This ship and the Great Fox will be the spearhead of an assault on their flank, there. We'll do a Forbes maneuver. This ship and the Great Fox might absorb some damage while the rest of the fleet gets into position, but the Arwings should cause enough havoc to buy us time."

"Sensors detect warp field materializing!"

"Enemy reinforcements from Venom? How'd they time that with our team?"

"No, it's an exit warp! Enemy fleet skipping out! 10, 3, no more enemy ships remaining! Repeat, zero enemy ships remaining!"

Doberman thought frantically, running a paw through his hair. Several silent seconds passed. Nothing happened. The arrival of Starfox would not have been enough to spook them. They hadn't even started fighting yet.

Then his gut went cold. He had been able to communicate without difficulty with Corneria. He had received transmissions from the Starfox Team and the 5th Fleet. There was no jamming like what had happened at Venom. The enemy had wanted him to communicate. To draw forces to Titania.

But why? He thought. No traps here, no weapons of mass destruction, no hidden fleets. Nothing between here and the 5th fleet but unarmed merchant vessels, nothing between here and Macbeth but unarmed merchant vessels, the safe arrival of Starfox bears testament to that…

Doberman froze.

MACBETH!!!

Possibilities began running off in his mind. The enemy fleet had been staying away from Titania's gravitational field. Communications were allowed with Corneria. Merchant vessels lay on a path between Macbeth and Titania, despite the fact that it was a war-zone and was supposed to be only traversed by Military vessels.

"By the gods! Anti-warp technology!"

"Excuse me, sir?"

Doberman quickly regained his composure. "What vector was their warp-skip on?"

There was a slight pause from the sensor officer as realization set in. "Directly for Macbeth."

Doberman was already striding back to face his communications officer. "Issue an order to the Great Fox, the Invincible, the Victory and the Merdom Watcher. Have all of them warp immediately for Macbeth, full warp power! We can't lose any time!"

Somewhere between Macbeth and Titania, three freighters dispensed thousands of small orbs into deep space, each a tiny part of an extensive comms jamming and counter-warp network that would drag any ships passing by out of warp-space. Their mission completed, the trio of ships engaged their warp-drives and skipped out. Not long afterwards, a massive fleet of warships which had just left Titania passed by in warp-space. The flagship transmitted a signal to all the orbs in the area once it had safely passed.

In an instant a massive web of anti-warp fields activated, just in time to halt a smaller Cornerian fleet giving chase. Fighters launched, lasers flashed in every direction, the tiny orbs were being destroyed in their masses.

But their sheer numbers and elusive size meant that even with the full firepower of this fleet, it would be another couple of precious hours before they could set off again.

A couple hours too late.