I walked off with ten men and women following me. I entered into a building where debriefings were normally held. I waited until the group following me was fully inside and the door closed before I lashed into him. I said to his face, “Captain, if you so much as ever even think of retreating again, I will have you court-martialed for cowardice! I would have understood you running away if your ship had five enemy warships picking on it alone. In such a case, I wouldn’t blame you at all. Such was not the case. Now I want you to look around at your other officers and the pilots to see how much shame they have in their faces for their ship’s conduct. It’s evident to me how they feel. First Officer, if Captain Bleyer does not comply with his orders the next time, you are to take over immediately. The pilots are to ignore his commands and follow yours. Is that understood?”
They were a little hesitant in answering, so I repeated, “Is that understood?” with a little more emphasis.
The second time, they answered with a little more emphasis of their own.
I continued my bullying, saying, “Understand this. This war shouldn’t have lasted longer than three months. Our Navy outnumbered the enemy initially by three to one. Our Navy squandered away half of its initial advantage because ships didn’t respond to the situation in a positive manner by attacking forcefully against the enemy. From now on, our squadron will do nothing less than attack in a forceful manner against the enemy. In order to do that, I need the complete cooperation of every ship in the squadron. I will accept nothing less than that. You are all dismissed.”
The patrol wasn’t an outright success in my opinion, but to Headquarters, the combat videos told a different story. They were impressed to see the combat videos from nine ships charging at the enemy who outnumbered us. They were impressed with the three destroyed ships we accomplished without a loss. They were impressed with the way we caused eighteen enemy ships to retreat from our smaller number. They were impressed enough that they asked my squadron to cut its shore leave in half and return to space.
The next patrol didn’t resolve any of the problems since we were completely unopposed in our sector for the week we spent in space. We returned back to port, disappointed only in not having anything to show for all our time in space. Otherwise, there was no lack of pride in the squadron. Every man and woman was beginning to realize that we were becoming the best squadron in the entire Navy.
Chapter 15
Our squadron’s practice at scrambling to take off from port paid off sooner than I thought it would. I had reasoned that it was only a matter of time before the enemy tried to bombard our planet much as my ship had attacked their home planet before. They managed to break through the squadron patrolling the border. Four ships made it through and hot footed it to Beulah to launch an attack on Headquarters.
Communications discipline was being relearned throughout the Navy once again. Now the problem was that some ships were forgetting to send vital information when it was needed. They were trying to avoid giving away their position, even when their position was already known because they were in direct combat. Such was the case with the four enemy ships when they broke through the squadron at the border.
The first warning we had was when Headquarters sent the scramble alarm, that my squadron used before, just as soon as the planet’s sensors picked up the four hostile ships approaching. Since I hadn’t asked for a scramble drill, I knew that it was the real thing and that it was up to my squadron to actually defend the planet.
As the crews of my squadron raced towards their ships, I hollered, “This is not a drill! This is a real attack on Beulah!” They seemed to run harder and faster for their ships when they heard me holler that. My ship took off first. The sensor operators quickly picked up the locations of the four enemy ships. We didn’t wait for the rest of the squadron to arrive. We charged immediately at the four oncoming ships.
While I let my pilots and Captain handle my ship, I then turned my attention to the other ships of the squadron. A few seemed hesitant and unsure of what to do. I took the communications system and hollered back at them, “Captains, use individual initiative!” A few moments later, I was pleased to see two ships leap out in our direction to take up battle with the enemy. Then slowly, and one by one, the rest of the ships’ commanders realized that was part of what they had trained for and that we outnumbered the enemy if we were all together.
By that time, my ship was already engaged with the four enemy ships and scoring hits with its longer ranging Mark IV quads. By the time our other weapons were in range, the other two ships to first respond were also scoring hits with their own Mark IV quads. The enemy was the one who was then hesitant and ready to flee. We didn’t give them the chance to flee as enough of my squadron finally arrived to totally destroy the four hostile ships, thus ending the crisis.
I drilled the squadron for an hour before we returned to the port where we were met by a cheering Headquarters’ staff along with various ground personnel. I called all my ships’ personnel together and gave them a quick debriefing before I let them get besieged by the crowd of people wanting to congratulate them on their efforts.
I was able to smile proudly as I told them, “You did a good job of getting into space quickly. Some of you continued that fine performance by responding immediately to the crisis by attacking forcefully and aggressively. You may not have noticed it, but the enemy wasn’t prepared for us to respond in so aggressive a manner. Because we responded together, they didn’t have a chance to even get away. This won’t be the last time they try this. If you use the tactics we’re learning right now to our full advantage, then I can assure you that you will be giving yourselves the best chance for survival and helping to shorten the war significantly. That’s all for now. Dismissed!”
Most of the men and women from the ships cheered themselves over their performance. They knew they did a good job and were happy to have all the attention the ground personnel were giving them a few moments later. I let them enjoy their celebration and reported to Headquarters where the Fleet Admiral was waiting, apparently for me.
He said, “My boy, come in and sit down. Light up if you want! Your squadron did a superb job out there last night!”
I replied, “Thank you, Admiral. Most of them did a good job. A few need more practice and confidence. It could have been real bad if there were more of the enemy present than there was.”
“Regardless, you’re inspiring other squadrons to do better. Fewer of them are retreating than before. Of course, we’re losing more ships, but we’re also destroying enemy ships in the process. How soon do you think your squadron will be ready to attempt an attack on their home planet?” he asked.