by Saxon Andrew
“The penetrator ships don’t have a crew, Admiral.” Dat was surprised by that remark. “The ships launching the Major Penetrators will have all of their power directed into their force fields. It’s going to be coming in at an incredible speed and I hope it can survive long enough to deliver its pay load.”
“What will the ship do once it launches the penetrators?”
“If it survives the run, it will scan the planet to see if the penetrators managed to hit. If they didn’t, it will make another run and launch again.”
Dat tilted his head, “How many runs can it make?”
“As many as are needed to get the job done; if our probe sees that the ship is destroyed and was unable to hit the planet; another ship will launch.”
Dat nodded, “Please let me know the status of the launches as quickly as possible.”
“I will, Admiral.” Dat broke the connection just as Gresha arrived on the bridge and she ran across the room and wrapped her arms around him. For the first time in a very long time, Dat felt peace in his soul. He held her tight and didn’t care what the crew thought about it. For their part, they had grown to love their commander and only felt the love he demonstrated with his wife.
• • •
Three days later, Dat looked out at the seven giant formations. Even the Fleets that were a third of the original fleets looked huge with the millions of Rovers and Grillen Battleships surrounding them. The Grillen Warships had been given the improved grey force field and would now hold their own with the Servant’s ships. They made up the difference created by dividing two of the original fleets into three equal units. Their beams would be effective in one-on-one encounters.
• • •
The Fleet Admirals organized their units and made sure they understood their orders. Dat waited and looked at his ready board. They still had two hours until jump and he wasn’t worried. He wondered if the first Admiral Arvolo had felt the same way when he faced the giant Red Zone Pyramid formations bearing down on his fleets. He knew he should be nervous…but he wasn’t. He knew the quality of the warriors going out to face the Servants head on for the first time. They wouldn’t bend or give way. He thought about Admiral Jennings and the command chair he designed. It had made a huge difference in the efficiency of the Jukeboxes and he was going to receive the Union’s highest award for bravery. He deserved it. He thought about Shane’s former officer, Timson, who had been promoted to Rear Admiral and was killed by fifty Servant Ships attacking his wing. His ship was hit five times as he flew it into the ranks of his attackers and detonated the self-destruct circuit, taking all of them out with him. The list was too long to count and he sat and thought about the sacrifices the brave sailors made to protect the Union. Now he was going into his first battle and he was going to give his best effort. Their ghosts both demanded it and deserved it.
He looked out at the largest gathering of ships in the Union’s history and knew all of them were thinking about all that had happened to bring them to this moment in time. He thought about a speech to say to fire the fleets up…but knew they didn’t need it. It also seemed somehow demeaning to even make the effort. He watched the countdown continue and he smiled. He lifted his communicator and quietly said, “Many thought we would run out of ships before we could arrive at where we are today. Others said we would run out of time. We have the ships and we will never run out of time. Go and honor those that made this moment possible.”
The millions of ships listened to the simple phrases and felt their resolve harden. A moment later, the countdown ran out of time and the massive display of military might disappeared.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Servant Lord commanding the fleets surround the Supreme Ruler’s planet sat in his command chair and wondered when the reinforcements from the invaded galaxy would arrive. He had watched the Empire’s fleets whittled down over the last three years and still the enemy kept coming. He was worried; there had not been an attack for the last three days. He didn’t know if that was good or bad news; the uncertainty made him restless. Where were the reinforcements?
He saw his Scan Leader’s expression undergo a strange metamorphosis. It went from boredom, to shock, and then fear in less than three seconds. The Leader looked at him and he said, “Our sub-space scanners have detected an incoming wave of ships. The wave is gigantic, Lord.”
“Is it coming from the direction of the galaxy we invaded?”
“No, Lord; it is not.”
The alarms went off and the Lord buckled into his command chair. What emerged into normal space made him speechless. A moment later his ship was blown apart by three penetrators that hit it. The giant Jukebox box swept into the ranks of the Servant fleets and ships began exploding. Every ship in the system rushed in on the giant enemy formation but were slowed by small White Ships and large battleships they had not seen before.
The Lord that replaced the deceased commander heard his Scan Leader yell, “I have a jump track moving into the system.”
“How many ships?”
The Leader started at his monitor, “Only one, Lord.”
“Ignore it and focus our efforts on the giant formation.”
The Servant Warships rushed out at the huge formation of enemy ships and were suddenly blinded by a massive blast.
• • •
The Supreme Lord saw the massive formation of enemy ships enter normal space and was shocked at what he saw. The small ships were from the Spiral Galaxy and the large battleships defending the formation belonged to his Ally. His shock turned to anger and he suddenly realized that the only ones who knew about the Ally were on his planet. He didn’t share his operations outside his immediate circle of advisors and unless he notified his military leader of where they had originated…there could not be a counterattack. He suddenly realized that the huge White Ships must have also come from the Spiral Galaxy. He lifted his communicator and managed to make contact with his third son on one of the other Major planets. He looked at his son on the display and said, “We are under attack and I must tell you something. I know where the enemy is located.”
“Where, Father?”
“They’re…” and the son’s display went dark. He tried to get his father back on the panel but nothing worked. At that moment, he heard the alarms go off and he looked up into the night sky and saw thousands of explosions high above the planet. He realized his world was under attack and he ordered the ships on the planet’s surface to launch to meet the enemy. The giant fleet parked at the edge of the construction facilities waited for their crews to arrive. They ran out of time moments before the first crew boarded their ship.
• • •
Shane watched his fleet perform beyond his wildest expectations. They were holding their own against millions of Servant Warships and giving much more than they received. He jumped the box out of the massive rush of Servant Warships and started attacking them from another location. He heard his Scan Officer yell, “The ship has launched the penetrators.” Shane hit the escape button a moment before a brilliant flash temporarily blinded his ship’s scanners. They came back on a moment after the giant Union formation arrived in open space.
Shane jerked his vision to the main display on the wall and gasped. He knew if there were a hell it would look like the image on the large display. A massive shockwave was blowing out from the planet at an extreme speed and the wave was full of debris from the planet’s destruction. The millions of Union Ships jumped away just before the shock wave blew through the space they had been fighting in a moment before. The Servant ships had no warning and were shocked by the planet’s destruction; they couldn’t process what was happening quickly enough. Millions of the Servant Ships were hit by rocks more than ten miles wide that came exploding through their ranks. The shock wave was a solid globe that moved away from the planet and hit everything around it. Modern force fields can handle a huge amount of punishment, but nothing could withstand a twenty mile wide piece of rock traveling at the spee
d of sound. Shane watched the wave blow through the Servant Fleets and jumped his fleet back in behind the shockwave’s passage. The battle became a slaughter.
The Servants were disoriented and didn’t know what to do. They had no one to give them orders and by the time they processed what had happened, ninety percent of them were killed. The ten percent that managed to jump away were followed by Union Ships that chased them down and destroyed them. Shane jumped his fleet to the next largest Servant Major Planet and saw the Union Fleet was holding its own. His ships jumped in and the slaughter continued. The six ship building planets were blown into pieces by Major Penetrators and the fleets gathered around the planets to defend it were decimated by the ensuing shock waves. They just couldn’t force themselves to jump away and leave their Royalty undefended. As a result, most of them died with the planet. Servant Ships from around the Galaxy jumped in to the Major Planets to defend them and were blown into dust as quickly as they arrived.
The Minor Planets had their own problems. The Ruling Lords on more than a hundred thousand of them were killed by some kind of black creature that had managed to get close enough to them to pull them apart. Very few of the black creatures were killed. More warriors in the room were hit by their own beams than the black assassins, as they attempted to kill the fast moving monsters that killed their rulers.
The Union Fleets began jumping in on the Minor Planets after the Majors were blown apart by Major Penetrators. The few thousand ships they found in orbit above the Minor Planets were a pitiful remnant of the once giant fleets that protected the planets when the war started. The Minor Lords’ fleets had been sucked dry by the Major Planets and now they could only offer a slight resistance against the massive fleets coming to kill them. After much discussion, the surviving Servant Lords and Warships decided to jump to the invaded Galaxy to survive. They arrived in the middle of a battle from which none of them survived.
• • •
The Supreme Lord’s son arrived in the invaded galaxy and finally managed to arrange a meeting with his older brother. He told him about his father’s treachery and asked for assistance in rescuing his family. His brother’s anger at their father was immense and he stared at the Advisor and then shook his head, “As long as any of Father’s children are alive, I will always be in danger.”
The Advisor knelt in front of him and said, “I would never betray you, Brother.”
The older brother nodded and his son pulled a blaster out and shot the Advisor through the head. “I’m sure you won’t now.” At that moment, the huge Royal Residence was hit by a beam from space and disintegrated. Blue Ships were attacking and the Servants were being killed by the millions.
• • •
The advanced probes followed the escaping Servant Warships to the edge of their galaxy and plotted the line they took as they jumped away. Dat had every probe in the fleet sent to the side of the galaxy the Servants had jumped way to and had the fleets wait for any trace of their return. Shane looked at Dat, “How long are you going to hold the fleets here?”
“As long as it takes; you heard that being; they’re attacking the Servants in their galaxy. What do you think is going to happen if they’re successful?”
“He said that he would not allow any of them to come and help the Servants here.”
“If he can keep that promise, then I am going to be really impressed.” The Union Fleets remained at the galaxy’s edge and Arvolo waited for something to happen. There was still an unresolved issue that had to be handled.
• • •
A week later, Dat sat on the Havana and sighed. He looked at his jump officer and then shook his head. “I was waiting to see if you were going to leave.”
Dat heard the voice and blew out a breath, “Some of the ships here managed to escape and I’m certain they went to your galaxy. I’ve held my fleets here to see if you needed our assistance.”
“You saw their jump tracks; why didn’t you just follow them?”
“We would never go to your home without permission.”
There was a long pause and the voice said, “Are you certain about that?”
“I’m as certain about that as you are about going to my home without permission.”
“That was very well said; a threat without being a threat.”
“I intend no threat. This universe already has too much danger in it for us to add to the problem. We simply want to live in peace and raise our families.”
“We’ve watched you during your war and some of your actions have confused us. We really don’t understand your species.”
“Misunderstandings are where most problems begin. However, this much I can promise.”
“Another threat?”
“No, if you ever need us to come and fight to help defend your civilization, we will immediately come and help you survive.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because you prayed for us.”
The speaker was silent and after a long pause, Dat heard, “We understand; we will never come to your galaxy without an invitation.”
“My civilization thanks you for the information you gave us; it made a huge difference in our struggle and we will never forget your kindness.”
“We did that for our own self interests.”
“You did it for both of us. We will always be in your debt.”
“Go in peace.”
“Thank you.” Dat lifted his communicator, “All ships will return to their home port for a week of liberty and to rearm their ships. We will return at that time and see about freeing the invaded planets. Once they are free, we will go home and hope to study war no more.”
• • •
Dat arrived at Earth and met Gresha at Admiral Hull’s office. Shane and Gibbs arrived right behind them and Katherine said, “I didn’t expect all of you to come here first. You should take a few days to decompress.”
Shane shook his head, “I need to find out why Admiral Arvolo held us at the edge of the Servant Galaxy for a week.” Gibbs sat down and nodded. He wanted to know as well. Before Dat could answer, Gem, Kelli, and Matt entered the office. Dat watched them arrive and shrugged.
Kat looked at Dat, “Why did you do it?”
“I hoped to prevent that civilization from coming here and attacking us in the future.”
Everyone in the room was shocked by the statement. Shane’s eyes furrowed, “Tell me what I missed?”
“During the initial conversation with their ship in open space, one of their first questions was whether or not we were going to expand after our war with the Servants.”
Gibbs nodded, “I remember that.”
“They had been watching us for two years and only chose to speak with us at the end. They weren’t worried about handling the Servants in their galaxy but were worried that, if reinforcements were sent from the Servants we were attacking, they would be overwhelmed.” Dat paused and looked at the group, “Please tell me one redeeming thing we’ve done during our war with the Servants.” The room was silent as they struggled to come up with an answer. “They saw us at our worst. Brutal attacks not taking or giving quarter to those we fought against. How do you think they view our civilization?”
Shane nodded, “They would have to determine if we were a danger to them?”
“Yes they would and if they determined we were…”
Matt said, “They would invade us here and not wait for us to come to them.”
Dat smiled, “Exactly.”
Kat sighed, “How did waiting at the edge of that Galaxy change anything?”
“They couldn’t figure out why we were there and it must have made them crazy with curiosity. Finally they had to ask. I told them that I was waiting to see if they needed our help against the Servants in their galaxy. They asked why I just didn’t go there and I told them I would never go to their home without their permission.”
“You showed them we have manners.”
“Yes I did and it was the first civ
il thing they saw us do.”
Kelli slowly shook her head, “Why did you agree to go to their defense?”
“I want you to think about this.” Dat paused. “If you are in a bar brawl and you and another person are finally able to beat all the competition down. How are you going to see the other winner? Every time you think about him, you’ll wonder if you could take him and you also wonder if he is going to take you on. However, if after the fight, the other winner makes a point of coming to you and says that he is so thankful that you helped him survive and that he owes you big time…what do you think about him then?”
Gem said, “I’d feel safer if he was in the bar with me.”
Gibbs said, “So you didn’t really mean what you said?”
Dat’s expression turned serious, “I meant every word of it!!! Those beings gave us information that allowed us to see that we could end this conflict. We saved thousands of lives by making our move now. They eliminated the Servants in their galaxy that could have come and beat us if they joined the ones we were fighting. We do owe them in a huge way and I had to make sure they saw it as well.”
Katherine slowly shook her head, “You have just made an official treaty with them without consulting the Union.”
Dat looked at Katherine, “Do you support it?”
Katherine stared at Dat for a long moment and finally said, “I guess I do.”
“Well, if you say it’s ok, that’s all we need for a treaty to be official.”
Dat looked around the room and Kat said, “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
“Yes, I’m afraid there is.”
Kat leaned back in her chair, “I bet this is going to be a doozy.”
Dat chuckled, “You know me too well. There is the issue of thousands of planets the Servants have enslaved.”
Gresha said, “I thought you said we were going to rearm and go back to free them?”
