Tag reached down to his console and pushed several buttons. “You have it now.”
Kosiev put an ear bud in his ear and started head nodding to the music. “There’s only one thing missing.”
Tag looked at him and they both said together, “POPCORN.”
Harauik looked at his control board and thought, “Finally, we can go now.” They he commed his fleet and said, “Group commanders we will jump to the Central Alliance system in 50 sems and begin moving is system. Target the rebel ships first then the ships assigned to bombard the planet will start as soon as the fleets are engaged. You have your orders; make sure you follow them. I will punish anyone that fails.” The countdown continued and the 29,000 ships all disappeared at once.”
Chapter 17
The Hargon fleet appeared just outside the jump limit opposite the Central World, formed up and began moving in system. It would take the fleet two days to reach the planet because the size of the star in this system being larger than normal pushed the jump point further out. Harauik asked his sensor officer, “How many ships do they have to face us?”
“Our sensors show about 6,700. They are formed around the planet but are now moving to intercept us before we reach the planet.”
“A lot of good it will do them,” Harauik sneered. “We outnumber them in dreadnaughts 10 to 1. This won’t take long. Assign the targets to our groups. I want them destroyed quickly and then we’ll make an example of that planet. Call me in 12 drags; I’m going to my quarters.”
The Hargon fleet sailed toward the planet. Sten looked at his display and thought, “There’s too many and they have much heavier ships. We stand no chance.” Then he commed the Vgrig Subleader and said, “It is my opinion that you have no chance of survival if you take on that fleet. You should order your ships home and save them against the coming war.”
The Subleader looked at him and said, “State leader, we all knew we would be outnumbered but at some point in a military person’s life, the cause they’re fighting for becomes more important than the person. Make your announcement to the fleet but I choose to stay.”
Sten turned on the general channel and said, “I have just spoken with your fleet commander and told him that I see no way you can prevail against the number of ships coming to attack us. I think you should leave and save yourselves.”
Silence dominated the channel for more than ten dregs but no ships left. Finally a voice said, “I’m the commander of one of the ships that came here because I refused to attack the Humans again. They gave me my life back when they chose not to destroy my ship. I learned that day that I could no longer support a government that arbitrarily destroyed civilizations at their whim. I think you’re right, State Leader. We will probably lose, but if I can reduce the strength of the ones that make those outrageous choices then my life will have been worthwhile. I choose not to leave.” Suddenly the com was filled with voices yelling their refusal to run. Sten felt a pride rise up in him and his voice joined theirs. Even Dgzh was shouting. Finally, Sten said to Dgzh, “It’s been a great pleasure working with you. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you, but I value your insights. I just wanted to tell you before I no longer had the chance.”
Dgzh looked at Sten and Sten said, “Uh, oh. You have that look again. Are you not telling me something?”
Dgzh smiled and said, “You haven’t asked me about my trip to the Glods home world. I had an opportunity to get to know their new queen; she’s Human by the way. One thing I learned there; it’s actually a Human expression, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” I think that describes our situation perfectly here.”
Sten watched his friend closely and then looked at his display showing the two Alliance fleets moving toward each other. Finally he smiled and said, “Those Humans; they’re always full of surprises aren’t they?”
Dgzh actually laughed at how quick Sten had figured it out, “You have no idea State Leader.”
“Admiral, I think they’ve gone far enough in system, don’t you?” Tag said while watching his monitor.
“Yes Mr. Gardner, would you be so kind as to let them know what’s about to take place.” Kosiev said.
“My pleasure, Admiral.” Tag then nodded to his communications officer and received confirmation that his channel was open to the entire Alliance of worlds. “Good day to everyone in the Alliance, this communication is being broadcast to every receiver among the eight hundred plus members. I want to make sure there are no misunderstandings. First, I’m telling the commander of the Fleet that is currently moving toward the Central Alliance World to stop his fleet and turn around. We know you have actually gathered this fleet to attack my home world and we warned you that we will destroy the next fleet put together for that purpose. We will give you a chance to withdraw because we prefer to avoid unnecessary death but you have five of your dregs to comply; after that we will destroy any of your ships continuing toward the planet. Second, we believe that some of the Alliance members will use this opportunity to attack some of their fellow members. I would caution you to think long and hard before you do that. I have stationed 16 of our warships at the jump limit of every member of the Alliance. If any of you move to attack another member, we will destroy as many of the attacking ships as possible and the ships in the attacking members system will take action against the one that initiates the action. Check your sensors, those ships are in your system as we speak. Our brothers from the Glod Union and the Cainth Empire are participating in this exercise and will do whatever it takes to prevent loss of life. We don’t know what will happen after this fleet action, but for the moment, we will not allow any of you to bombard another’s planet.”
Harauik interrupted Tag’s communication by saying, “We’ve just totaled the number of ships you had to use to send sixteen to all our members. Just what do you think you’re going to use to stop my fleet?”
“I trust the feed from this is being shown to all the members.” Tag said.
Sten commed, “It is; some of our members have never seen your ships in action; neither has the Commander of the fleet attacking us. Whatever happens, we should all be witness to what happens here today.”
“To answer your question Commander, the ships that will stop you will be in front of your fleet right about…..now.”
Five thousand miles in front of the Alliance fleet 621 Human battleships appeared. Each was 1,400 feet long and glowed brilliantly white against the darkness of space. They were spread evenly across the width of the Hargon fleet. The Human ships still looked small against the 3,600 foot dreadnaughts and Harauik laughed over the Communicator, “You think you can stop us with those? We’ll destroy you and then your species.”
Everyone in the Alliance watched the Human look at the Hargon Leader and shake his head sadly. “I still don’t want to kill those crews that have been intimidated into this action. If any of you turn and leave the system, we will not destroy your ship. Turn, move out of the combat zone. Turn off your screens, and we will allow you to go home. Anyone else will be dealt with. You have ten sems to stop.”
Billions watched what was happening. All of them wondered, how can so few ships stop the twenty nine thousand ships that composed the juggernaut of the Hargon fleet; it just wasn’t possible. The last thing the Human said on the screen was, “Time’s up.”
Sten and everyone else in the Alliance watched as the 621 Human ships disappeared and then reappeared in the middle of the Hargon Fleet. Each of those white ships blasted every ship within forty miles of its hull into dust. The 1,400 foot wide primary beam killed ten ships with one shot. Hundreds of the small compressed beams went out and struck ships that were within eighty miles of its hull. Once the area around the Human ship was cleared, the ship would disappear and then reappear in another part of the fleet.
Tag sat aboard the Atlanta and watched Captain Smith fight his ship. “Captain, we have sixty dreadnaughts approaching us with what looks like an intention to ram us,” the sensor officer announced.
“Stand
by star drive, weapons, I want our primary beams fired continuously until they come within two miles of our location, then jump to five miles behind them. I also want every one of them that aren’t covered by another ship hit with a needle. Rotate the ship so all 100 needle ports can be used if necessary.”
The Atlanta had a three mile circle around it blasting anything that entered the radius of that circle. Needles were striking the ships just outside the circle blowing them apart with the 600 hornets that were contained in each needles core. Ten dreadnaughts accelerated at the Atlanta and suddenly the Human ship disappeared and reappeared behind them and continued the destruction. All sixty dreadnaughts in the original run at the Atlanta were dead, an additional seventy were killed trying to support the original forty. Tag thought, “We’ve never killed ships this fast.” He looked at the sensor officer and asked, “How many destroyed and how many have we lost?”
“I need more time to compile the total number but just our ship has killed 320 ships so far, make that 400, and only one of our ships had withdrawn from the conflict. One of the Tallahassee’s needle ports malfunctioned and blew a section of its hull away; it is jumping back to Earth for repairs. All other ships are still fighting, Sir.”
Tag was stunned.
Harauik watched his fleet die around him. He couldn’t believe what he was witnessing. Within the first sixty sems he had lost 5,000 ships. After 120 sems had passed another 8,000 were dead. Now half his fleet was gone and the other half was going quickly. “How many of them have we killed,” he asked.
“The sensor officer looked at the Hargon and said, “None.”
Harauik was sick. All his pride, all his stubbornness, all his belief in his invincibility was gone. Then he saw in his display that one of those Human ships had jumped in front of his ship and he knew that his time was over. The thing that troubled him the most was he had taken most of his home world’s fleet into this battle and now most of them were gone. Just as his ship was blown into dust, he thought, “Perhaps the Humans will protect my people.”
The sensor officer aboard the Atlanta said, “Sir, most of the Alliance ships are turning and moving out of the system.”
“Order an immediate cease fire,” Tag shouted.
The worlds of the Alliance watched the battle and knew real fear. The ones that were planning to attack their neighbors decided that perhaps they would wait. No one was willing to give these Humans a reason to attack them. Every planet watched and waited for what was to follow.
“State Leader Sten,” Tag commed.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“It is not in my province to tell you how to run your government but now is the time for you to build something here that is worth saving. I will be removing my ships from your worlds in two rotations. You need to make sure the aggressive members have their claws clipped. Before you try to say that you are no longer the State Leader, after what happened today, you have gained more power than you know. You might hint that you don’t want to have to call the humans for help; that should make them hesitate. We do not choose to rule by force and ordinarily we would have left you alone but we just couldn’t let you kill each other without trying to help. However, we will not force ourselves on you. You will have to invite us in the future before we again come into your space. Build something good here State Leader.” Sten watched as the Human ships disappeared from his system.
Sten looked at Dgzh and said, “What now?”
Dgzh smiled and said, “Get out your tools and let’s get busy. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Fortunately, we have enough ships to send out to replace the Human ships. Let’s get the Subleader involved in making it happen.”
Atlas was parked watching the plant like race attacking one of the few planets left in the Galaxy that had not been consumed by the race his masters had such trouble defeating. The inhabitants of the planet were a space faring race that had not discovered interstellar travel but did have good defenses. The nations of that world had been fighting amng themselves and had joined forces prior to the creatures appearance. They had managed to hold the Plants initial attack of nine hundred ships at bay but they would not last much longer. A new armada was approaching the planet that was composed of more than 100,000 war ships. Some of the ships were close to 12 miles long and bristled with energy beams and missile ports. After the last battle the defenders only had 800 ships left from all of their nations and Atlas could see civilian transports leaving the planet trying to escape the incoming fleet; but without interstellar capability they stood no chance of escaping. The Plants could finish the planet and catch them at their leisure. The armada ignored the escaping ships and moved remorselessly on the planet. Once the Armada arrived at the planet, it destroyed the 800 war ships quickly even though they suffered some losses in the battle. The big ships then disgorged thousands of troop transports that started dropping to the surface landing near all the population centers. Resistance was ferocious but the defenders were being overwhelmed by the millions of soldiers. Atlas turned his sensors to the largest city on the northern continent. The southern Continent was not as populated and the population there had fled the small rural cites and hid in the forests. The Plants focused their attention on the larger cities and that was where the majority of the drop forces were landing. Atlas focused even closer and listened in as he watched the battle happening below.
“Here they come; ready the anti-ship missiles,” A-group commander ordered. His forces aimed the anti-ship missiles at the incoming drop ships and fired a hundred missiles from the tops of the tallest buildings in the center of the city. The commander watched as the missiles homed in on the incoming transports and began impacting. The transports were not screened. Drop ships exploded and began falling on the buildings below.
“Commander, those ships are hitting the city as they crash.”
“Would you rather have those ships deliver the ten thousand soldiers? Fire all remaining missiles and go to your second stations. Do it now before they start hitting us.”
The sky above the city was awash in flame as thousands of missiles headed skyward and homed in on the incoming Plant transports. Thousands of the transports were hit and fell to the planet destroying huge sections of the city below. A-Group ran from the tops of the buildings and dove into elevator shafts that were empty of elevators. As they fell close to the ground they used their suit jets to slow them down. As they landed they ran out of the building and found the laser cannons they had hidden. The Commander of A-group looked up and wondered if the Plants were not as bright as he expected them to be. Suddenly the building where they had launched their missiles was hit by a beam from space and the entire structure blew apart. All over the central part of the city buildings were being blown into rubble.
“Alright, they think they have us now. Pick your targets wisely, warriors, and get on the move immediately after you fire.”
The mobile laser cannons watched their sensors as the transports began to come in again. They had reached fifteen hundred feet off the ground when every cannon in the city fired simultaneously. Transports fell by the hundreds. The mobile cannons raced away from their firing sites and looked for other places that had been set up to hide.
“Commander, invaders that were landed outside the city are approaching in mass. They’ll be hitting the southern city limit in moments.”
“Are the ardvile cannons ready?”
“Yes they are sir.”
“Fire when they are crossing the city limit.”
“Yes Sir.”
The Group Commander hoped he could slow the invaders down long enough for the transports that had left the planet to escape. His brother was the fleet commander and those ships were the best and brightest of his race. He watched his display as a green mass came rushing toward the southern part of the city. “Come on; get closer; get ready, fire!”
As the green horde rushed up on the city, ten thousand cannons launched twenty thousand energy projectiles each in a mass wave at the invaders
. The cannons had been camouflaged and gave off no energy signature until they were fired. The entire wave of green invaders was blown back; more than a mile of their ranks was totally blown out of existence.”
All over the northern continent the Plants were being hit hard by the dug in defenders. Atlas watched the unbelievable carnage and thought that these defenders had been preparing for this invasion for a long time. The invaders were taking a huge hit on their landing forces. Perhaps the defenders might prevail and hold on to the planet. Then the city disappeared in a nuclear blast. All over the northern continent the ten largest cities were blown into radioactive dust.
Then the slaughter began. Organized resistance disappeared with the ten cities destruction. The green mass of invaders swept through the remaining population centers. Civilians were captured by the horde and eaten alive. Once their hunger was satisfied the invaders began herding the survivors into camps where they were stunned and transported up to the fleet to be consumed. Not only were the inhabitants transported but all the native wildlife and fish were transported. A ship would dive into the ocean and fire a stun beam into the water and all the sea life within miles of the ship would float to the surface to be swept into nets and transported. Within twelve hours ten percent of the life on the planet’s northern continent had been consumed or transported. At that point the ships began harvesting all the plants on the continent’s surface along with any organic life forms. Atlas then saw thousands of huge twenty mile long transports moving into the system to receive all that was being harvested from the surface. At that point a thousand ships began moving toward the escaping civilian ships.
Annihilation: The Power of a Queen Page 22
