by Saxon Andrew
Dort had no time to command his platoon. Life Warriors were dying by the hundreds around him and he was totally defensive. His armor almost flickered with the number of times it automatically teleported him way from Grogat weapons fired at him. He teleported, fired and teleported again. To stop was death. He teleported into an indentation in the buildings fourth story and threw a delayed charge at the base of a heavy blaster moving forward. He teleported and a half second later the heavy blaster was blown out of the opening and into the massive battle below, crashing into a Grogat popup turret and crushing it shut.
Jennifer focused on the melody and wondered how she was still alive. She had just used her main blaster, auto-cannon, and a stream of fifteen hornets to take out just one of the heavy cannon bunkers. There were still hundreds around her. She fired her auto-cannon at eighty armored Grogat Warriors coming out of a portal in the complex’s wall and she teleported away as fifteen slugs tore through her former location.
• • •
Jixie arrived on the planet in middle of two wide thoroughfares that crossed two hundred yards from the giant weapons building. She fired one of her blasters up the street and burned numerous vehicles rushing toward the complex. She fired up the other three legs of the cross formed by the two wide streets causing a massive back up in traffic. She tuned and faced the long line of tall buildings lining the street that ran parallel to the weapon complex. She turned to the right and quickly rotated to the left. Fifteen mini-penetrators ejected from her armor and raced out toward the buildings lining the cross street. She targeted every other building and the wave of explosions blew out the bases of the buildings and collapsed them into the wide street creating piles of rubble fifty feet high for a mile in both directions. Jixie immediately teleported up the street to the next row of buildings saw thousands of armored Grogat Civilians scrambling forward into the street. The rubble of the buildings was funneling the huge mass into the middle of the thoroughfare that ran toward the weapons complex. Jixie teleported three times; two feet to the right, six to the left, and five back to the right to avoid beams and high caliber projectiles fired at her. She waited until the street was filled with the incoming warriors and then she activated the main beam that was used on the Realm’s largest warships. The beam shot up the street and burned everything on if for two miles. She blew down another row of the skyscrapers and watched them crash into the already impassable rubble. She turned and teleported into the melee taking place around the entrance to the complex.
Jennifer arrived in front of the southern wall on top of a cloaked heavy blaster. She was focused on the music and her armor fired a mini-penetrator directly into the top of the harden bunker as she teleported up the wall beside a high velocity cannon. She hit it with her main blaster and launched a hornet down the barrel of the giant gun. She teleported two floors higher and launched a mini-penetrator into a force field protecting a heavy blaster. She teleported back to the ground as the first hardened bunker exploded, followed by the cannon and blaster blowing out into the street. The entire three shots had been done in less than a second.
Jixie teleported in and fired her main beam at three bunkers at the base of the building that were raising their barrels toward the warriors fighting on the walls. One of them was targeting Jennifer.
She teleported around the building to the front lines of the dug in life warriors, as six thousand heavy armored blasters came roaring down the street toward the warrior’s front line. The blaster’s overlapped force fields were shrugging off the hornets and beams of the Life Warriors, as Jixie appeared at the front line and fired a heavy penetrator up the wide street. The huge missile ejected from her armor, expanded its two hundred foot wide force field, and burned every armored Grogat Warrior, leading the armor into ashes. The heavy penetrator hit the front vehicle and released its stored energy, vaporizing the front line. The blast blew forward into the ranks of the blasters, blowing the six thousand armored vehicles end over end into the thousands of rushing Grogat warriors rushing in from the surrounding city. Jixie turned and fired sixty mini-penetrators into the buildings in front of the Life Warrior’s front line and they blew up and collapsed into rubble a hundred feet high. The next Grogat to attempt to reinforce the complex were going to be forced to climb that rubble.
Eight hundred attack craft came roaring in over the top of the rubble and Jixie launched hornets at a rate that was impossible. She teleported out as the warriors in the front line added their hornets to those fired by Jixie. The next six waves of attack craft were beat back. The Colonel Commanding the line of warriors yelled to the Lieutenant where Jixie had appeared, “Who was that?”
“I have no idea, Sir. Her insignia said Able Company.”
“What regiment?”
“There wasn’t one on her armor, Sir.”
• • •
Jixie was at the street where she had arrived and found it flooded with close to a million Grogat Warriors running in at high speed. She launched two heavy penetrators whose force fields covered the entire width of the street. The two missiles vaporized the mass of charging warriors and hit the incoming armored vehicles two miles up the street. She teleported out and arrived at Sam’s side as eighty Grogat Warriors erupted out of a bunker and raised their weapons. Jixie and Sam hit and killed them with their auto-cannons. Jixie fired six hornets with only six feet spacing between them and the blaster aiming at them from ten floors up exploded and fell to the ground, adding its blast to the impossible destruction taking place at the base of the building.
“We’ve got to find a way into the building.”
Jixie turned and fired two main beams into the reinforced walls of the building and burned a ten foot hole through it. She stopped the beam before it penetrated into the building. She sent the latest update to Sam’s general frequency and every warrior in Able Company rushed into the opening and turned to prevent any Grogat following Sam’s platoon in. Jixie teleported back to the main thoroughfare again and fired her main beams up the street, burning another charging mass of warriors and pushed them back three miles. She went back to the Life Warriors front line and launched six main penetrators into the million Grogat Warriors scrambling over the rubble of the buildings and blew the entire mass back eight hundred yards and collapsed another row of tall buildings into rubble. She teleported back to the opening and rushed in to find Sam’s platoon teleporting around the facility taking out the defenders firing from hundreds of locations. She started teleporting at a rate that was incredible and in thirty seconds she had killed every Grogat in the room. Sam watched her on his command link and shook his head. Sam yelled, “Get a beam, warhead from the planet killer, and take the computer at the end of the assembly line. Bring them over here as fast as you can.” He looked at Jixie and said, “We have to clear a way for us to get them to the transports.”
Jixie shook her head, “The only way to do that is to teleport them out of here, Sir. There is no possible way to fly them out of here. More than eight million warriors are rushing in while we stand here.”
“There’s no way to teleport them to a ship off planet. The teleport suppression keeps us from doing that.” Jixie stared at him and fired her laser over his shoulder and killed a sniper aiming at Sam. She looked at the ceiling and said, “Can’t fleet take it out?”
“It’s cloaked and we can’t find it.”
Jixie said, “Come with me, please.” Jixie teleported out of the entrance into the middle of the three platoons of Able Company Warriors holding off the charging Grogat. Sam watched her as she looked at the sky and reached into her armor and pulled out a brightly glowing six foot long device. Jixie lifted it and Sam saw it was a bow made from Coronado Power Cells. The string was a line of high power energy that kept the bow bent. Jixie looked at the sky and raised the bow. She pulled the string back and allowed it to enter the armor on her chest. She released the string and something huge shot out of Jixie’s armor at a speed that blew the atmosphere away at three hundred miles an ho
ur. Jixie stared at the sky and said, “Teleport as many of the Grogat Weapons as possible to the Forth Sword and order recall.”
Sam checked his armor and saw the coordinates of the Forth Sword’s assembly bay appeared. The teleport suppression had been removed. “All Life Warriors, teleport to your transports in ten seconds. First platoon, get in here, move one of the weapons inside your armor’s field, and teleport the weapons out now!” Jixie saw massive incoming fire moving toward them and instantly extended the Algean Force Field she had absorbed in front of their position. The incoming beams and solid weapons hit the force field and scattered just as Able Company teleported off the planet. Sam hit the main frequency, “Admiral, we’ve removed the teleport suppression device. You can call in reinforcements if you need them.”
Donaldson looked at his drive officer and he nodded, “It’s operational, Sir.”
The Algeans already knew the system was active and once they started teleporting, the remaining Grogat ships were killed in less than a minute. Donaldson punched his com, “Admiral Gardner. The teleport suppression device has been removed and I have more than six million Grogat Warships, with more arriving every minute, moving our way that are now trapped inside the jump limit. Do you want to exploit this?”
“How far out are they from your location?”
“The lead elements are four hours out.”
“Give me a feed on your situation.”
Thom looked at the incoming Grogat ships and sent out a Priority Rose Order. Six million Bristone Warships that were scattered around the Realm received their instructions and entered their attack coordinates. The Algean Defense Fleet launched four million sleek attack craft and received their targeting instructions. They were going after the advanced Grogat ships. Fifty thousand of the Algeans were targeted on the twenty thousand advanced Grogat Ships leading the charge into the system.
Thom activated the General Fleet Frequency, “I expect a huge response from the Grogat Empire if we take too long to take advantage of this situation. Get in, take out one of their ships and get out. Donaldson, are you ready to fire on the planet?”
“Sir, if you don’t have a problem, we would like to launch one of their planet killers at them.”
“Who is requesting that?”
“This is Captain Haines on the Fourth Sword, Sir. We teleported eight of them on board and it just seems right to let them receive what they’ve been giving.”
“Launch the missile in thirty seconds. Immediately after the planet blows, launch your attacks.”
“Launching in twenty seconds.”
Sam and the ninety five surviving warriors of Able Company watched the main display on the wall in the assembly bay and saw the huge missile leave the ship and accelerate toward the planet. Thirty seconds later the planet exploded into a giant fireball.
• • •
The Fleet Controller was pushing his fleet as hard as he could. He continuously watched his bank of displays and suddenly saw one of the large ships in orbit fire an object at the planet. “What was that? Give me a close up.”
The Sensor Controller pulled the view in closer and rewound the recording, “I’m running it at one hundredth speed.”
The Fleet Controller absently nodded and saw the distinctive shape of a planet killer accelerate from the ship toward the planet. He stood up in shock and watched the huge missile hit the planet. Twenty five seconds later he saw the planet explode as he fell back into his command chair. His shock was the last thing he felt as two Algean Attack Craft roared in from the right flank of his fleet and vaporized his ship. In less than six minutes, eight million Grogat ships exploded. The White Ships disappeared, leaving blasted ships scattered all the way out to the null limit. The twelve million ships that arrived later found nothing to do but look for survivors and leave. More than ninety five percent of all the advanced Grogat ships had been destroyed. The biggest loss was the planet that was their only source of the mineral that powered their advanced beams. The war with the White Ships was back to even.
Chapter Eight
Sam sat at his desk on Fourth Sword with Jixie standing at attention. She saw that he was upset and figured it was because of the loss of half the warriors in the company. Sam looked at her and said, “I haven’t told you what the Cat said in our planning meeting.”
Uh oh.
“The Cat said that a creature had tried to enlist in the Life Warriors and was turned down because of its size. The being was just too small to fit in warrior’s armor.” Sam paused, “The Cat said that the creature was encountered more than a hundred years ago and was one of the most dangerous beings in creation.”
Sam stared at Jixie and she said, “Imagine.”
“Imagine what?”
“Size is not a measure of talent.”
Sam stared at Jixie. “Do you know the whereabouts of that Creature, Scout?”
“What does it look like, Sir?”
“It looks very much like a fairy from Earth’s mythology.”
Jixie shook her head, “I’ve not see a creature like that around here, Sir.”
Sam leaned back in his chair, “The Cat says that creature is a real danger to us. He also said SHE was invited to come and fight with us against the evil we’re trying to remove.”
“Wouldn’t that be a good thing, Sir?”
“The Cat says that we are nothing more than toys to be used by this creature and discarded after it has its fun.”
Jixie looked at Sam and said, “I find that hard to believe, Sir.”
“Why?”
“That way of thinking is evil. I don’t think that being would be here fighting evil if it was evil as well.”
Sam smiled, “I was hoping with the things you’re now able to see since you’ve heard the music that you might know how to contact this creature.”
“Why?”
“To thank her and tell her she will always have a place in my command.”
Jixie stared at Sam and said, “Why would you thank her, Sir?”
“If you ever see her, she’ll know the reason. You’re dismissed.”
Jixie saluted and turned toward the door. Just before she exited she heard Sam say, “You’re just as beautiful as our first queen.”
Jixie paused without turning around and then went out. Sam stared at the door for an hour before he went to meet with the platoon leaders.
• • •
Jixie went to her quarters and sighed. Sam knew. She had given herself away and she knew where she had done it. She had told him she looked forward to playing after the long months of training. Jennifer was right; she talked too much. She shook her head and realized that he knew but he didn’t admit he knew. She sat and thought about it.
“Jixie.”
Oh crap. “Hello, Mother.”
“I think you have violated the rules enough to come back now.”
“What rules would that be, Mother?”
“You know you’re forbidden to use any toys that your playmates don’t possess. You’ve clearly violated that convention.”
“Not really.”
“Yes you have. You used weapons that none of them have and you used your superior speed during your last play time.”
“Mother, the weapons I used were offered to me by the ones commanding our play.”
“Jixie!”
“My commander told me to move around the armory and see if there were any other weapons I’d like to use. Didn’t you hear him?”
“Uhhh…”
“You did not hear him tell me that some of them were not to be chosen? No, he said all of them were available.”
“Absorbing that star is not something they do!”
“Mom, I’m sending you information I have that shows them doing exactly that more than two hatchings ago.”
There was a pause and her mother said, “But that was done by their ships.”
“My armor is made from the same material as their ships and can absorb energy. I didn’t create the tech
nology, I just used it. I’ve done nothing that they couldn’t do themselves. I’ve even refrained from moving faster than their toys’ maximum limits.” Jixie paused, “Why are you so anxious to force me back home?”
“Most of your hatching has been bonded. If you delay any longer, you will never have a family of your own. You must come back.”
“Mother, I feel at home here. It was hard at first, but I’ve become closer to my friends here and they need me to survive. There’s nothing for me at home. I can’t accept anyone else but Trex and he’s taken. I’ll suffer my entire life if I try to bond with another and you should be able to see that in my pattern. Please tell me you see it.”
“Jixie, can’t you at least try to find happiness with another? I want you to have all the happiness you deserve, my favorite child. This breaks my heart.”
Jixie sent her vibrations to her mother and said, “I’ve always known I have a special place in your heart. I feel pain for your misery over me, but I have found peace here, Mother. This is where I belong.”
“Can you not find peace in the Study?”
“I’ve found more excitement in what I’ve learned here than anyone I’ve ever talked to in the Study. I’m going to give you what I’ve learned and see if you can see what I mean.” Jixie transferred her information to her Mother in less than a second. “Look at this, Mother. Tell me that I am not doing the right thing by coming here and I’ll consider returning.”
Jixie waited and thirty minutes later she heard, “I love you so much, Jixie.”
“I’ll always love you, Mother. I pray I can grow up and be just like you.” Jixie felt her mother’s sorrow as she ended the contact and she fell back on her bed and cried. She wondered at the expression of sorrow that her body used to express her emotion but couldn’t stop her tears.
