Annihilation: The Power of a Queen

by Andrew, Saxon;Chiodo, Derek

  “Exactly; and when he spoke and stepped out to meet his wife I got my first look at him.”

  Dorg looked at the Glod and saw the fear in his eyes. Then Tong-Gee said, “His aura was deep violet with a red glow around it.”

  Dorg looked confused and said, “What does that mean?”

  “He is death incarnate. When the Guidance Peers saw his aura they demanded we surrender to the Humans unconditionally. Fortunately, I was the one they selected to be there and I was able to keep my head and simply make his wife our sovereign. That removed us from his list of enemies.”

  “I don’t understand?” Dorg said. “How does that color aura mean death? I’ve had many dealings with the Human named Tag and he doesn’t appear threatening at all.”

  “When the humans came to conquer your world, who made the decision to see if you would try to communicate?”

  Dorg thought hard and tried to remember the discussion that Terl had with the Human Director. “I seem to remember that their SFT team said she had to be at his side at every battle after their victory or their future was in jeopardy. The Director said that she was given equal power to his and she had said that they would only attack us if we fired on their ships.”

  “That’s because their future is tied to yours. If they had destroyed you, they would have lost to the Alliance in the end. The same thing is true of my race. Who suggested we be made Clan Members?”

  “Mrs. Danielle made that suggestion, Excellency.”

  “We are here with you today because of her psychic talent. If she had not been involved in their decision making to include us, we would be dead within a half a cycle. She keeps him in check. She can turn him from his target.”

  “Excellency, I just can’t see him as that dangerous. He just seems, I don’t know, as one that goes about his business not causing any trouble.”

  Tgon-Gee looked at Dorg and said, “Admiral, you could send forty armed warriors against that human and he would destroy all forty faster than you could imagine even if he was unarmed. He doesn’t realize how dangerous he really is because his psychic skills will do whatever is necessary to destroy his enemies. He won’t even have to think about it for it to happen. I understand that he tries to keep the casualty rate down, but make no mistake, if you come at him you’re probably not going to leave alive.”

  “Thank the creator he’s on our side but I’m still having difficulty grasping how an individual can have such a big impact on events like you’re describing,” Dorg said.

  “No admiral, you’ve got it wrong; thank the creator we’re on his side. That still wasn’t the most remarkable thing at the meeting?” Tgon-Gee said.

  Dorg looked at him and said, “You mean there is still something more remarkable than those two Humans.”

  Tgon-Gee looked out of his window and said in a far away voice, “Admiral, I couldn’t see it until I bent my knee in front of the Human Female to pledge my loyalty.”

  “See what?”

  “The Female is expecting a foundling and I got a glimpse of its aura.”

  Dorg’s face showed his confusion then showed comprehension.

  “These two super strong psychics have combined to have a child. Its aura is so deep in the violet as to appear black. It has three surrounding auras colored red, yellow, and green.”

  “What does that mean? Dorg asked.

  “The Guidance Peers have told me and all our people that our next rulers for the foreseeable future have been chosen and my race is celebrating its good fortune to find such fine leaders. Even our warriors are scared of doing anything that might anger the male human. They know what his aura means. I think that if good fortune happens and we survive the might of the Alliance, we are entering a golden age for our people; Glod, Cainth, and Human. That foundling of theirs is going to be incredible in its abilities. It is my races sacred duty to make sure of its safety at all costs. It will become our ultimate leader.”

  Dorg thought to himself that he had a lot to discuss with Terl and the Clan Leaders.

  Chapter 10

  Tgon-Gee was on his communications console talking with Danielle and Tag. “You Majesty it is important that you come to our home world and allow your subjects to see the one selected to lead our people. There is too much they don’t know about you and it would go a long way toward cementing our agreements.”

  Tag looked at Danielle and said, “I will not allow her to go where she would be in danger, Tgon-Gee. Have the asteroids been put into service?”

  “They are in position now and the system will be on line in two rotations. They were fully charged before their arrival and she will be safe on the planet.”

  “How many dreadnaughts have been converted to power cell technology?”

  “We have fifty around the planet and expect fifteen more within five rotations.”

  “Why is it so important for her to come now?” Tag asked.

  “Our people are amazed at what our Guidance Peers have told them and a large number are skeptical of what they are being told. It is important in a warrior race such as mine that they see the ruler they are pledged to follow. Some of them are having difficulty grasping that an alien is being made ruler of our people. Her visit would help assure them of our choice.”

  Danielle put her hand on Tag’s arm and said, “We will be there in six rotations of your planet. We will jump in as close as possible to the planet and I will make myself available for whatever you choose to schedule.” Tag started to protest but she looked at him and said, “These are dangerous times my darling. We must do what is right by our Allies and to delay would only show fear. In his culture, fear is not respected.”

  Tgon-Gee was once again amazed at her insight. “You’re right. There are some that insist you won’t come out of fear.”

  Tag looked long and hard at Tgon-Gee and then at Danielle and closed his eyes and said, “There are some of your warriors that actively oppose her selection. Will they be a danger?”

  Tgon-Gee was startled by his statement and wondered, “How can he possibly know that?” Then he said, “That is why she must come quickly to head off any growth of their views. We are at a threshold of major change and the timing is critical.”

  Danielle interrupted them and said, “We will be there in two rotations when your forts are active.” Tag looked at her sharply and she said, “These people are depending on us to be the symbol of their belief structure. We cannot let them down.”

  Tag looked at her for a long moment and then said to Tong-Gee, “We will be there tomorrow before the forts are activated. We will be coming with 600 ships so let your defenses know. I also will be at her side where ever she goes during the visit. My people will take it seriously if anything happens to harm her.”

  Tgon-Gee said, “I need some time to prepare for her arrival.”

  Danielle smiled and said, “Prince Tgon-Gee, you have one rotation. It will also limit any time the opposition has to plan anything.”

  Tgon-Gee bowed his head and said, “As you wish my Queen.”

  Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “Are you out of your mind? Their world is in the middle of Alliance territory. There are Alliance diplomats on their planet. There is no way this can be kept secret. You not only place yourself in danger but you also endanger their planet.”

  Tag shrugged his shoulders and said, “We have agreed by treaty with our Allies that she is our ruler. Do you think you can change her mind?”

  Kosiev looked at Danielle and started to speak then stopped. “Ok if this has to happen, we need to make sure we can get her out if the groad hits the reactor.”

  I told them we would be bringing 600 ships to escort her. We can’t take more because it would tip our hand to the Alliance that we have more than 640 ships.”

  Kosiev thought about the trip and said, “We will be bringing 100 of our new battleships then. We’ll keep them inside the ranks of our ships to prevent too close an inspection.”

  “I didn’t think we had that many ready yet
,” Tag said.

  “We actually have close to 500 in the ranks. Even the Cainth haven’t seen one yet. They will be hard to hide at 1,400 feet in length.”

  Tag whistled. “I’m still amazed that those nine foot power cells could be charged on a mobile platform like a ship. Have they lost any speed?”

  Kosiev smiled and said, “They are 50% faster than anything we have. We’ve also discovered another benefit of their screen; they can jump in closer to stars that we ever thought possible. Gravity doesn’t seem to affect them as much because a screen at that power reduces the effect of gravity when it is pulled in to 100 feet from the hull.”

  “How did you find that out without killing someone?”

  “Our engineers noticed a measurable change in gravity when the screen around the planet was operating. In moving the asteroids out to the Cainth system one of our engineers stopped at a solar system in transit and jumped one of the rocks into the system close to an inner planet.”

  “I’ll bet he was chewed up and spit out over that.”

  “Not really. It wouldn’t complete the jump if it was too close to the sun and gravity interfered with the emergence. If it was too close it would just continue in non-space to the other side of the system until it was in a space that would allow it to work. He discovered that with screens as strong as those asteroids, they could jump almost to the stars outer corona.”

  “Atlas, is that how you’re able to jump into a system?” Tag thought at Atlas.

  “No. I use a different process but this was one of the steps that led to discovering the process I use. That’s also why they are so much faster; gravity and inertia has less of an effect on the ships mass.

  Kosiev had continued talking, “With that discovery, we started to wonder about whether a ship could do the same thing. Our standard ships were just too small to put those eighty one square foot power cells on, they will only bend so far, so we took an old dreadnaught and covered it and flew it to the sun for a week while it’s power cells charged and then went to Earth Orbit and jumped out of the system. The screens on these new ships are another order of magnitude stronger than the one they replace. They’re twenty feet thick and can be expanded to forty miles and not lose their integrity. The leakage for our sensors extends almost a light week from our ships. These ships don’t even have to be in a system to see what’s going on.” Kosiev thought for a minute and said, “I don’t know if 200 dreadnaughts could crack its screen.”

  “Could ten of them ramming the ship injure it?” Tag asked.

  Kosiev looked startled at the question and said, “You know the screens will stop things like missiles and other objects of similar size and energy weapons just won’t come close to getting thru. I’m not sure about that much mass hitting. I’ll get the engineers to investigate how much the screen can handle.”

  “We’ve seen that they will suicide if all else fails. I suspect that we would do the same if our backs were to the wall. How close can we jump into the Glod Home World?”

  “Since their sun is much larger than ours and their world occupies an orbit further out, we should be able to jump in right to their planets orbit.”

  Tag thought for a long time and then said, “Then her ship will jump directly to the planet. The others will come in the old fashioned way. Their process toward their planet should keep the Glod on their toes. Are you moving your flag to one of the new ships?”

  “It’s already been done. The Washington is going to be part of your remote controlled fleet. She whispered to me that she wanted to make sure you were taken care of. You don’t think I would let you go without me being there. You heard the Director; I’m responsible for her safety. If you are planning to leave in the morning, I’m going to transfer to the Atlas immediately.”

  Tag and Danielle looked at each other and Danielle said, “What is your new ships name?”

  Kosiev looked at them and said, “She’s named Atlas.”

  Danielle said, “Could you do me a favor and call it the Zeus.”

  Kosiev looked at them and said, “Why.”

  “Let’s just say it’s my intuition that it will be a lucky name for her that way.”

  “Is that an order?”

  “Yes Admiral it is,” Tag said. “I never question her intuition. Would you?”

  “Absolutely not, Mr. Gardner; Kelly, contact ship registry and change the ships name to Zeus; besides wasn’t he the head honcho.”

  “Tag and Danielle heard Atlas say in their mind, “Thank you for that.”

  Danielle thought back, “Now you have another god to travel with.” They both laughed at that.

  Kosiev said, “Now if you two will excuse me, I have some work to get ready for our on time departure.”

  The next morning Kosiev welcomed Tag and Danielle aboard and ordered the fleet ready for jump. The ships sorted themselves out into formation and reported in their readiness for the non-space jump to the Glod system. Kosiev looked at Tag and said, “I have also brought along a body guard for the two of you.” Danielle looked at him quizzically and he said, “I’ve ordered a company of Naval Marines to accompany you to the planet.”

  “Admiral, they can go with us to the surface but they will remain on board the shuttle unless my husband calls for them.”

  Kosiev started to protest but Tag cut him off, “Admiral, these soldiers will be jump trained so they can use their jump armor to jump to anywhere in the city we’ll be. We have got to show trust to our new ally. I agree with her; they stay in the shuttle.”

  Kelly turned and said, “All ships report in ready for jump, Admiral.”

  Kosiev shrugged and looked at Captain Mikado and said, “Execute jump.” The fleet disappeared from Earth’s solar system and almost instantly reappeared in the Glod Home World’s system. The fleet fine tuned its formation and began moving toward the planet. Kosiev turned on the general command channel and ordered the fleet to continue in system. He also ordered all the ultra class battleships to keep their star drive on and be prepared to jump to the planet if he issued an emergency order. “Captain Mikado turned and said, “The welcoming party has cleared you to enter the system, Admiral.”

  Kosiev looked at them and said, “Are you ready?” They both nodded and he said, “Execute jump.”

  On the Glod Home World Tgon-Gee and his fleet leader was watching the Earth Fleet move in toward the planet. Suddenly they saw one of the big Earth Ships vanish and reappear close to their world. “Holy groad,” the fleet admiral said. “It’s impossible to jump that close and I’ve never seen that class of ship before.”

  Tgon-gee looked at him and said, “Admiral, these Humans are just full of surprises and wonders. Be thankful we’re on the same side now. Tell the welcome staff that we don’t have as much time as I thought.”

  The shuttle landed on the roof of the central government building and Danielle, Tag, and Kosiev exited the shuttle where they were greeted by Tgon-Gee, the fifty members of the Guidance Peers and the chosen representatives from the other 16 royal families. They went to a formal luncheon and were formally introduced. Tgon-Gee noticed that all of the Peers were almost mesmerized by the aura the two Humans possessed; especially the male human. He also saw that Danielle was captivating them with her charm and total lack of self importance. Each person she met was greeted warmly and treated as an equal. Even the representatives from the royal families who tried not to be impressed were genuinely drawn to this Human Female. Finally, Tgon-Gee said, “We will continue our welcoming ceremonies after our Queen has addressed the people assembled outside. We will walk down the Quilleron Path to the Solar Arch where she will enter the temple grounds and say hello to her new subjects.”

  With that he led them out of the Central Government Building and out the front entrance. There were thousands of massed Glods lining the azure colored street that led to a huge Arch that dominated the central area of the buildings. “Won’t you join us Admiral?”

  Kosiev said, “No I’ll watch from here,” an
d then he moved to the side and turned on his com.

  As they walked along the path with Tgon-Gee in the center of Tag and Danielle a huge roar arose from the crowd as the Glod citizens got their first glimpse of their new queen. When they arrived fifty yards from the two arches at the entrance of the temple Tag put his arm in front of Tgon-Gee and Danielle and said, “Stop and stay where you are.”

  Danielle felt a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, “What’s wrong, Tag?”

  Tag was standing listening to his senses tell him of danger. “We’re going to be attacked momentarily and I can’t defend both of you. Tgon-Gee, move away from us into the crowd.” Tgon-Gee was confused and he didn’t move. Then Danielle said, “Your Queen orders you to go now!” He bowed and stepped off the path wondering what was happening.