Planet Wrecker

-53-

As the Spartacus neared Mars, Grand Admiral Cassius endured heavy acceleration aboard the Julius Caesar. His ship and the Genghis Khan trailed the Luna-launched missiles and the six Orion-ships from Earth. They fast approached Venus.

Cassius lay in his quarters as he refined the plan. There were so many variables to contend with that the plan absorbed his interest. This was why he’d been created. Some premen gambled for enjoyment. Others rutted. Still others ate gourmet meals. For Cassius, war-planning and its execution was the elixir of life.

He’d been ingesting the information gleaned from the Martian Battlefleet. It had been a pitiful waste of military assets using the battleships like that. One of them could have achieved the data. It also became clear yet again that left to themselves the premen would fall before the cyborgs. This attack on Earth was brilliant, if genocidal madness. To counter it, he’d have to use every ounce of his brilliance.

Cassius rubbed his big hands together. He was under hard acceleration toward the battle of his life. Several of his agendas merged in this fight. He needed to defeat the cyborgs and then smash the remains of Social Unity’s pitiful space-forces. Hawthorne’s harrying tactic of keeping a fleet-in-being had been making everything more difficult than it needed to be.

After cracking his knuckles, Cassius adjusted his screen. His was the supreme strategic mind in the Solar System. Now was the time to bend every facet and find a slot for it in his schemes.

First, the big Cohort-7 Missiles sped at Venus. Behind them followed the Orion-ships and then the commando missiles. The main wave attack would occur after they used Venus as a pivoting post, redirected their heading at an oblique angle toward the asteroids. The Julius Caesar and the Genghis Khan would follow close behind them, also using the planet.

Secondly, the Gustavus Adolphus accelerated toward the asteroids. Behind them accelerated the so-called SU Fifth Fleet with two battleships and a missile-ship. They could theoretically engage the asteroids before the Julius Caesar was in range, but Cassius had already forbidden that. The cyborgs had shown the destructive power of concentrated fire. He would do likewise.

Cassius tapped his screen. The cyborgs hadn’t deployed any prismatic crystals or gels. That did not necessarily mean the cyborgs didn’t have any. He would assume they had crystals and gels and would deploy them at the needed time. It would be a preman mistake to think otherwise.

Hmm, the Jovian meteor-ship neared Mars. It was a small military asset, but it would play its part before the cyborgs eliminated it. Was it worth the designation of third factor? No. It was too puny. Maybe if the Jovians had sent a fleet…but they hadn’t. Given this miserliness, it was clear that conquering the Jovian System should prove to be simplicity itself once the cyborg menace was eradicated.

Third then, was Scipio’s space defense of Earth. After pivoting around Venus, he would send an inquiry to the Highborn and see how matters stood.

The fourth and final component was the Earth-based defense of proton beams, merculite missiles and Highborn orbitals and laser satellites.

Together, it was an impressive array of military hardware and personnel. The heart of the plan, however, was the Highborn commandoes, whatever the Earth soldiers could perform and the Jovian space marines. Earth would live or die on their collective abilities.

“I can lose this fight,” Cassius said.

He scowled, as he hated losing. But it would be a weakness if he couldn’t see the real possibility. To that end, he’d ordered every Highborn off-planet and into space. That could mean a possible loss of control of Earth. That would depend in the end on the FEC formations and their loyalty. But if the asteroids made it through everything he could throw at them, he wasn’t going to let precious Highborn die. Let the premen cattle do that in their teeming billions.

Scowling more deeply, Cassius shook his head. He did not intend to lose to these aliens freaks from Saturn. How was it possible the cyborgs had conquered Saturn without at least some premen sending out a message of the awful conquest? It showed once again how pathetic premen soldiers really were. Premen were good for rutting and menial labor, nothing else. In the New Order of the coming Solar System, they might not even be good enough for that. Cassius had toyed with the idea of mass geldings. There were too many premen in the Solar System, far too many.

“Grand Admiral.”

Cassius looked up, and opened channels with the bridge. “Yes?”

“Venus is near, Your Excellency.”

First rubbing his hands, Cassius swung his legs off the acceleration couch. It was time to head to the bridge. “I’m coming,” he said. “Carry on.”

With a grunt, Cassius stood under the heavy-Gs. Then he slowly headed for the hatch. The battle of his life was fast approaching.