Survival is Never Free (The Death Prophecies Book 5)

by Saxon Andrew

  The Death Prophecies

  Survival is Never Free

  Contents

  Books by Saxon Andrew

  Introduction

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Epilogue

  Copyright

  Books by Saxon Andrew

  The Annihilation Series

  Love Conquers All

  The Power of a Queen

  A Rose Grows in Weeds

  Tommy’s Tale

  Searcher

  Demon’s Sacrifice

  Finding Keepers

  (The Seven books above are audio books at Audible.com)

  Prequel-Psychic Beginnings

  Searching for a Hero

  Dahlia’s Deception

  Annihilation-The Complete Series Box Set

  Ashes of the Realm

  Juliette’s Dream

  Greyson’s Revenge

  Death of an Empire

  The Return of the Realm

  Lens of Time

  The Pyramid Builders

  Planet Predators

  Pray for the Prey

  The End of Time

  Star Rover-The Worst of Time

  Star Rover-Running Out of Time

  Lens of Time-Chosen To Die

  The Fight for Creation

  Life Warrior

  Scout Warrior

  Ultimate Warrior

  Star Chase

  The Lost Prince

  (An audio book at Audible.com)

  Nowhere to Run

  Nowhere to Hide

  Probe Predators

  Jesse’s Starship

  Mike’s War

  Joshua’s Walls

  Nemesis

  Revenge is Best Served Hot

  The Search for Orion

  Trapped in Time

  The Time Takers

  Taming A Planet

  Exinction

  Escape to Earth

  Running From Fate

  Fighting for Space

  Defending Holy Ground

  The Legacy of a Conqueror

  Living Legends

  Defending Earth

  The Sequel Series to Escape to Earth

  Searching for Death Feeders

  Discovery Means Death

  The Death Prophecies

  The Coming of the Prophet

  The Eyes of the Prophet

  The Unknown Enemy Will Kill You

  No Technology Is Invincible

  Survival is Never Free

  Coming soon

  The Last Prophecy

  Introduction

  Captain John Hart sat in his command chair and stared at the massive viewport that ran the width of the bridge. It was currently showing a large galaxy spinning far below the ship and he knew that, in spite of its beauty, most of the life in it was dead. The Black Fleet had killed all life forms to feed themselves and removed all of its natural resources to build additional warships to add to their numbers. He knew the species inhabiting the Black Ships called themselves Azura but humans called them the Black Civilization for more than two decades because of the color of their giant warships and that name stuck.

  They were similar to humans. For that matter, they were much like the Darkness Civilization and the Builders, although the builders were about a third of their size. Two arms, two legs, one head, and without any empathy for those they conquered. Their skin was scaly and iridescent blue in color. They could have evolved from a reptilian or possibly an avian ancestor. They didn’t have feathers but they did have hair, which was a lighter shade of blue than their skin. They weren’t carnivores; at least their teeth weren’t jagged and serrated to tear meat and flesh. They took life from the planets they conquered and processed it into something they could consume. John looked away from the viewport and decided that the end result was the same. They ate what they captured, just like a carnivore.

  He looked at his console and activated the center display. He pulled up the tactical feed coming in from the probe and turned to his scanning officer, “Lieutenant, has something changed during the last hour?”

  Lt. Ying looked up from his display, “Another Black Family arrived about an hour ago, Sir.”

  “How many does that make?”

  “Eight, Sir.”

  “I want you to immediately notify me if any others arrive.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  John stared at the tens of thousands of giant black vessels gathered outside the galaxy, which had been stripped of life. He stared at the image as he pressed a button on his panel, “Timmy, another Black Family has just arrived.”

  “I know. This one was fifty percent larger than the last six that showed up.”

  “I didn’t notice that. How many motherships?”

  “This one had more than two thousand.”

  John activated another display and stared at the split screen. After a moment he asked, “Estimated arrival time of the remaining two Black Families?”

  “They will arrive in less than six months, Captain.”

  John sat up straight in his chair and said to the ship’s computer, “Sally, I thought they were a year out?”

  “They have increased their acceleration and will arrive sooner than originally anticipated.”

  “Sally, I depend on you to keep me informed of any major changes.”

  The ship’s computer was silent for a moment and then said, “I’ve just received the feed from the Hawk Fighters following them. They just arrived and relieved the Fighters that were assigned to them for the last four months. Their increased acceleration just started, Sir.”

  “Sorry, Sally. What do you conclude from their increasing their speed?”

  “I’m of the opinion that they have rationed their fuel and are now close enough to make the voyage faster. I suspect they are going to have to be refueled and provisioned by the Black Fleet that stripped the galaxy and that will delay their starting their attack on the Builders until that is completed. Since those two Black Families are the largest, I would estimate that we probably have a year until the attack commences, assuming their refueling times are similar to the last seven families that arrived.”

  “Send this information to Captain Hart on the Homosassa and collect any information he might have that we’ve missed. Tell him I’m launching a Hawk to take the information back to the Admiralty.”

  “Communicating now, Sir.”

  John sat back in his command chair. The Crystal River and the Homosassa were due to be relieved in a month. They had been on station for more than seven months and the crew needed some down time. With this new development, his mother may keep them on station and send in additional warships. He stared at the massive gathering of Azura Motherships on the tactical monitor and knew that the war that had been anticipated for almost twenty years was about to begin.

  He really wanted to go in and see how the Crystal River would do against one of those giant motherships…but that wasn’t going to happen. Never do what others can. He
looked up at the giant viewport and said, “Lt. Ying, put the Black Ships on the main display.” The huge viewport immediately changed into an expansive view of the gathering of giant black colored warships. “How many Motherships?”

  “Eight thousand plus, Sir.”

  John nodded and then rested his chin on his hand as he continued to stare at the giant wall monitor. This was shaping up to be a catastrophic collision between two highly advanced aggressive civilizations. He reached over to his left shoulder and rubbed the patch that was sewn on it. It was the patch his mother sewed on his academy uniform years ago when she was struggling with the decision about joining the Navy. Hart’s Breakers. John smiled, Timmy wore a duplicate of the patch on his uniform and the crew of the Crystal River had been asking to be allowed to put the patch on their uniforms. He had not approved it but decided that perhaps now was the time to do it. War was coming.

  Chapter One

  Squadron Commander Cameron Holiday sat in his Hawk Fighter and felt the lift raise it and place it on the launch rail. He completed his launch checklist and looked up, “Doc, do you have the data they want us to deliver?”

  “Received it ten minutes ago, Cam.”

  Cam heard over his helmet’s communicator, “Commander Holiday, launch in ten seconds.”

  Cam looked down at the deck thirty feet under his fighter and saluted the flight officer standing below as the cockpit cover lowered and snapped into place. He leaned back in his chair and put his hands on the thruster controls. The gravity suppressors were operating at full power but even they couldn’t totally suppress the massive acceleration his ship was about to experience. The Crystal River could launch its entire complement of four thousand fighters through the two hundred launch tubes in less than two minutes. The countdown ended and the small fighter shot out of the launch tube at incredible velocity. He activated the fighter’s force field and stardrive and the fighter disappeared from the Crystal River’s scanners.

  “Why were you selected to deliver the message, Cam?”

  “Just lucky, I guess. It will be good to get some dirt under my boots, I’ve missed being home, Doc.”

  “Cam, Fleet doesn’t do anything without a reason. You were chosen for a specific reason.”

  Cam’s head went back slightly, “What are you getting at. What possible reason would they have for sending me? I’m only one of forty Squadron Commanders on the ship.”

  “I don’t know. But I would think that they could have sent one of your pilots to take the message. Why are they sending a Squadron Commander when any pilot on the ship could have delivered the message?”

  Cam leaned back and saw the Carand Galaxy growing larger by the second on his viewport. “Perhaps the nature of the data called for a higher ranking officer.” Cam paused, “You don’t think I’m in some kind of trouble do you?”

  “Now there you go, always looking for the negatives.”

  “Look for the worse that can happen, plan for it, and hope for the best is my motto.”

  “I guess that practice has accounted for your fast promotions. However, I don’t think they would send any one they didn’t trust, so I don’t think you’re in any sort of trouble but I do believe there is a reason you were chosen to take the data.”

  “Doc, are you seeing any issues around the Carand Black Hole?”

  “There does appear to be a large number of their warships gathered around it.”

  “Is there a clear course to avoid them?”

  “Yes, I’m taking us from below the black hole. It appears they may be anticipating our flying in from above it.”

  “Do you have any information in your data banks about past passages through the black hole?”

  “The last vessel that came through was fired on but from too far out to hit the ship the Carand Warships targeted. This would explain sending you. You are the best pilot in the Wing.”

  “I understand why we’ve not removed the Carand from the universe but sometimes I really wish we would. They can be a real pain in the backside.”

  “Fleet Admiral Hart was postured to invade their domain when the Darkness betrayed us and brought their towers into the Milky Way to shut down our black hole from the Builders. The invasion was called off due to the black hole being blocked.”

  Cam sighed, “Now we’re allowing the aggressive civilizations in the Carand Galaxy to live so if the Builders do flee to their galaxy, they’ll be met by the Carand and the other civilizations in that galaxy.”

  “They won’t slow the Builders much.”

  “Any help would be appreciated. If the Black Fleets are in pursuit of the Builders, none of those civilizations are long for this existence. But we really shouldn’t write them off too quickly. There has to be several billion warships in that galaxy.”

  “Apex Predators do have nasty dispositions.”

  Cam nodded and watched as his fighter moved below the plane of the galaxy and then dived back toward the black hole. He kept his hands on the thruster handle but didn’t need to take control from the ship’s computer; Doc was also an excellent pilot. There were Carand Warships patrolling the black hole but he flashed by them too fast for them to do anything but watch him disappear into the event horizon.

  • • •

  The Fleet Royal watched the recording of the object fly into the black hole at a speed that was astounding. He no longer contacted the Royal Family whenever one of them appeared. It happened too often to continue to bother them. They no longer stopped in the Empire and the High Royals came to accept that attacking them might precipitate further attacks from the strange warships. The Royal flew away from the Fleets surrounding the black hole and accelerated to an area of the empire that bordered intergalactic space. The asteroid was difficult to find but he had the coordinates and after thirty minutes he found it. The High Royals never checked up on what was happening on the asteroid after the detection field was put in place. They might be upset if they knew it was no longer where they thought it was located.

  He took a shuttle to the surface and entered the portal that took him to the lowest level. Janek was working in his office and he smiled as the Royal entered, “It’s been a long time, my friend.”

  “I’ve stayed away but I’m starting to be bothered by the frequent appearances of the ships coming through the black hole. Their numbers have greatly increased and if the field is right, the size of the ships passing through our detection field have greatly increased in size.”

  Janek sat back in his chair, “How much larger?”

  “If the field is right about the mass, the ships going through it now are somewhere between three and six miles long.”

  “Are you certain about that?!”

  “Based on the time those ships take to move through the field, I am.” Janek’s eyes narrowed as the Royal sat down. “Janek, I thought you predicted that the civilization on the other side of the black hole was going to attack us?”

  “They should have.”

  “But they haven’t and they’re continuing to move out of our galaxy toward open space. Can you think of any reason why they’re doing that?”

  “I think there could only be one reason why they’ve turned their attention elsewhere.”

  “What is that?”

  “They’ve found a bigger danger to them than we are.”

  “I’ve had the same idea. What would that mean to us?” Janek stood up and walked to the large monitor on the wall. He pressed several buttons and a speck of light appeared. The Royal saw it and his eyes narrowed, “What is that?”

  “It’s the closest galaxy to ours. I’ve been plotting where those vessels have left our galaxy and their courses are all on the side of the black hole where this galaxy is located. I’m forced to believe they’re going there.”

  “But that galaxy is close to a billion light years away. It would take close to a year to arrive there.”

  “It would take us close to a year to arrive. According to my calculations, they can do it in a matt
er of a day or less.” The Royal’s fear was clear. Janek nodded, “You should be afraid. If we can track them, it’s highly possible whatever civilization they’re confronting in that galaxy can see where they’re coming from. It could lead to that civilization coming here.”

  “That is not a good thing.”

  Janek nodded and sat back down, “Our civilization is in danger either way. We’ve hidden our location and we’ll just have to wait it out. Fortunately, our current location is on the opposite side of the galaxy from the one those ships are going to. We won’t be in the direct line if an invading force comes here.”

  “I’d send a fleet but…”

  “They’d run out of provisions before they arrived.” The Royal nodded in agreement. “We’ll just have to continue to be vigilant and hope for the best.” The Royal continued to nod as he looked at the speck of light on the monitor.

  • • •

  Cam came through the Milky Way’s black hole and flew past one of the Darkness Civilization’s giant gravity towers. He saw the tower pushing dust into black hole feeding the two high-energy jets that blasted out into space from the event horizon. He activated the stardrive and the Milky Way disappeared. He arrived at the Ghost Colony ten minutes later and slowed the fighter as he spiraled down into the colony’s upper atmosphere. Twenty minutes passed and he landed on the tarmac outside the Admiralty Building. He took the data cube out of its slot and left the bridge for the exit port as he heard the computer say, “Keep me informed on anything interesting.”

  “I will, Doc. Go and get a check up on your systems.”

  “Good idea; I’ll come back once they complete it.”

  Cam heard his fighter rise on its thrusters behind him as he walked into the front entrance, where he was stopped by an armored guard. Cam handed him his ID and the Guard matched it up with his current calendar. “Admirals Connor and Hart are expecting you on the tenth floor.” He handed Cam his ID card back and Cam headed for the elevator. He knew that the building wasn’t anywhere near as tall as the Fleet Operations Building on Earth. It did cover a lot more area but the scientists and engineers agreed that a tall building could be seen from orbit, even if it was invisible. It would change the wind patterns around it and expose it to scans.