by Saxon Andrew
The Engineer smiled, “You won’t, Sir. Your light signature will be loaded into its Light Drive and it will skip directly to the location you want it to go. It will remain at that location until you send it another signal to move to your ship.”
Rocky smiled, “That’s a great system. Thank you.”
The Engineer smiled; he wasn’t accustomed to Full Admirals being so polite. “Glad to be of service, Sir.”
Jill arrived at the end of the third day and found Rocky at a terminal with a Transfer Band on his head. “What’s going on?”
“They’ve changed the missiles in the new magazines. They’re about half the size and feed through the belts at four times the former speed. I’m having all the information on them transferred to my learning centers.” Rocky paused the transfer, “Is everything ok with your brother?”
Jill smiled, “It’s like he died and went to heaven. They have him working with the top scientists in the Alliance and he’s loving it. They even gave Genève a position and both of them live in the Officer’s Village next to the beach. The High Leader kept her promise.”
Rocky’s eyes narrowed, “I’m surprised you didn’t just disappear.”
“I thought about it. My brother will be fine no matter what I do. The Alliance really needs his device and he won’t be put under any pressure no matter what happens.”
“So why did you come back?” Jill sighed and remained silent. “Are you going to tell me?”
“I guess it’s because I didn’t want to disappoint Amber and Willow. I think they expect better of me than I do myself.” Rocky stared at her and nodded. He reached for the button to continue the transfer and heard, “Besides, there’s some Captain in intelligence that has contacted me repeatedly asking me to tell you to contact her.” Jill looked at her wrist unit, “It’s a Captain Olivia Collins.”
Rocky nodded and pressed the button. Jill stared at him and tapped him on the shoulder. He paused it again and turned around, “Are you going to contact her?”
“No, I’m not.” He started the transfer again and turned his back on Jill.
Jill stared at him and then pressed one of the messages. A very pretty woman appeared on her wrist unit and Jill said, “I’ve delivered your message so you can quit contacting me.”
“WAIT! Did he say he was going to contact me?”
“No.” Jill saw the woman’s expression and said, “What did you do?”
“I told him I was seeing someone else.”
“Then you deserve his scorn. Don’t contact me again.” Jill ended the call and blocked the code.
Olivia tried to call back but saw she was blocked. She decided that she would have to take matters into her own hands and just go and see him the next morning. She signed up for Off Time and went to the construction site. She was greeted by Commodore Nelson, who told her that the Admiral had left the night before. She waked away and felt her tears. There wasn’t anyone else. She told Rocky that lie to remove any pressures or fears he might have about leaving her. She was stunned when the Commodore called him Admiral. She found out an hour later that he had been promoted. She now knew why he refused to speak with her. She took the rest of the day off and fought with her emotions. Why did she do it? She felt like the biggest fool but knew in her heart she had done it for him. Now, she had lost the only man she ever really cared about.
• • •
“Jill, do you think this is a good place to drop off the missile transport?”
“Will it stay in this moon’s shadow?”
“Yes, its gravity compensators will reduce its mass to keep it in the same place.”
“I’m not all that savvy on the technology of our light drive but will we be able to go to it in the dark?”
“A small hull light will be shining on it. Even if we didn’t use it, the vessel will be reflecting light from the outer planets of this system. We will come directly here when we need to rearm. How are you doing on the weapon’s systems?”
“I think I’ll improve with time. What do you intend to do?”
“I’m going in on that powerful Keeper’s Fleet and take out some of his ships located on the outer edge away from their current search line. Don’t hold back on using the missiles during this first attack. We’ll skip out when we’re close to exhausting them.”
“Are you going to allow them to detect us?”
Rocky sighed, “I think we have to do that to get them moving in the direction we want.”
“That means you’ll also have to communicate with them.”
Rocky leaned forward, “Why, Willow?”
“That’s the only way to make sure they know we’re the same species that destroyed a city on their central planet.”
“What should I say?”
“Stand by.” After a moment, Willow said, “I’m going to play the conversation Admiral Gonzalez had with the Entity at one of its Central Planets.”
• • •
Rocky heard the Admiral’s voice, “I think that you should surrender.”
“JUST WHY DO YOU THINK I SHOULD SURRENDER?”
“You’re an inferior species. You’ve had your way with other civilizations and we’ve thought about removing you from existence. However, you’re really not worth the effort. Just be aware that if you move into my domain, we will eradicate you.”
“IF YOU COULD DO IT, YOU WOULD HAVE ALREADY DONE IT!”
“I was sent here to determine if we should destroy you. However, you don’t represent a danger to us. So go and live your lives, just don’t move anywhere near our Realm.”
• • •
“Admiral Gonzalez launched a missile at the largest city on that planet at the conclusion of that exchange blasting it into nuclear fire.”
“Willow, do you think that the Feeder leading that fleet is linked to the Entity?”
“I suspect it is, why do you ask?”
“If I’m going to communicate with it, then there’s no need to reveal our location.”
“That’s true. However, you will be seen if you attack their warships.”
“Will they see my ship or just the weapons leaving it?”
“I suspect their sensors will be able to put together a picture of what this vessel looks like by piecing together the images of our disruptors reflecting off the hull.”
“Well, there’s no helping that. We need to decide on which line we want them to take.”
“I’d suggest taking an escape route directly perpendicular to their current course.”
“It needs to be toward a distant galactic cluster.”
“There’s more than ten of them in that direction.”
Rocky sighed and said, “Put them on the display.” Ten separate images appeared on the large wall monitor with four of them close to each other. Rocky said, “Pick one, Jill.”
“Let’s use the one with the giant ball galaxy on the outer edge.”
“Lock it in Amber, that’s the one we’ll flee toward. That particular cluster is located among three others. Hopefully they’ll have to search all four.”
“Why didn’t you pick one, Rocky?”
“I just couldn’t bring myself to send the Keepers into one. The civilizations in that cluster, if our plan works, will be visited by billions of Keeper Warships.”
Jill thought about that and shook her head, “HEY! I DON’T WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT!”
“You won’t. You made the choice without knowing the consequences. One of them had to be picked and you made a good decision.”
“I hate this. Why is it a good decision?”
“Because it will take the Feeders a long time just to search that one giant galaxy much less the thousands of others in the cluster.”
“Do you plan to follow up on the plan?”
“Do I have a choice, Amber?”
“What does she mean, follow up?”
“We’ll have to move out on that line and attack any Feeder Fleet that starts moving toward that cluster.”
“That’s suicide.”
“That’s the reason we’re here Jill. If we just attack once and don’t follow up, the Feeder Entity will suspect we’re attempting to trick them into taking a false direction. We have to do it.”
There was a moment of silence and Willow said, “You’re not telling her all of it.”
Rocky shook his head and saw Jill staring at him from her cockpit, “What are you leaving out?”
“Jill, we’re going to have to attack that Central Planet again.”
“FOR GOD’S SAKE WHY!?”
“Because a truly advanced civilization would do it to teach the Feeders to stay away. Poncho blasted a city on that planet and set the example. We’re going to have to do it again.”
“We’re just one ship!”
“Even so.”
“I’ll worry about that when the time comes. What’s the plan?”
“I’m moving in on the Feeder Fleet to locate the ship of the Fleet Leader. I’ll tell him that his advance has strayed in the wrong direction and inform him that I am going to demonstrate what will happen if his species continues on the wrong path.”
“And then?”
“While I’m communicating, Amber is going to lock in the light signatures of five hundred Feeder Warships and feed them to your tactical system. Once you have them, the ship will be yours to initiate the attack.”
“What will you be doing?”
“I’ll have the main tactical on my visor and if I see a real danger to us, I’ll skip the ship out to the missile transport.”
“My tactical system will automatically target any warship that comes close.”
“Jill, the numbers that will be coming after us are almost unimaginable. I’ll keep an eye on the number of missiles in our missile magazine. If it runs out, I’m skipping away.”
Jill was silent and sighed after a few moments, “I might not manage to attack all five hundred targeted warships.”
“Like you said, you’ll get better with experience. This is a training exercise and we won’t be taking a major risk.”
“If you skip away, they won’t know the direction to take?”
“I’ll be going through the void initially, before I activate the light drive. Amber, I need you to keep the correct course to take on my panel throughout this attack.”
“It will be on your panel.”
“Let’s go through a checklist and make sure everything is running properly.” Jill nodded and started the program. She fought to keep her heart from beating out of her chest. This was not something she was prepared to do; she was a civilian. She was thankful to have Rocky, who remained cool, calm, and collected. Rocky activated his program, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes. His breathing was getting faster and he struggled to calm his nerves.
Chapter Four
Rocky looked at his tactical and moved toward the Feeder Fleet that was moving through a small bar spiral galaxy. He lined up on the middle of the fleet and heard, “Prime, I am turning back and moving the fleet toward our dominion.”
“I HAVE YOUR NEXT ASSIGNMENT WAITING FOR YOUR ARRIVAL.”
Rocky watched the huge fleet turn directly toward his line of approach and smiled as he quickly said, “Change of plans.”
“WHAT!”
“Jill, don’t kill that Fleet Leader’s vessel. He’s the only one that can confirm with the Entity that he moved in this direction. He has to survive to make sure our plan works.”
“Just don’t send me his light signature.”
“Sorry, I didn’t think of that. Amber, omit it from the targets.”
“Will do.”
“Alright, I’m skipping in close to his ship and let us pray our stealth systems are all they’ve been cracked up to be. Willow, move a thought antenna to the hull’s surface.”
“Done.”
Rocky skipped in to within ten miles of the Fleet Leader’s ship.
• • •
The Fleet Leader watched his fleet come around outside the edge of the galaxy. He could have just had every ship reverse course but he liked to keep the same organization when he moved his fleet. The best warships were at the leading edge of his Fleet.
“We warned you long ago not to move toward our Realm. You have not heeded our warning and we will teach you a lesson for not doing as we demanded.”
The Fleet Leader immediately linked with every ship in his fleet and searched for the location of the being that spoke to him. He found nothing. “What warning are you talking about?”
“I can see in your mind that you know exactly what I’m referring to and your attempt at deception is useless. Stop your movement or you will pay the price of those I’m going to kill.”
• • •
Rocky saw the five hundred light signatures were collected and sent to Jill. He pressed a button on his panel and Jill took control of the ship. The new thought directed combat helmets were light years more advanced than those that were used when the Feeders were attacked three hundred years earlier. She looked at her tactical display on her helmet and sent the ship after the first target.
The twin bowed light ship appeared a half-mile from its hull as a disruptor flipped out of the hull and opened fire. The huge red warship was raked from bow to stern and blew up in a massive explosion. Jill was at the second targeted Feeder Warship before the first ship exploded and another disruptor emerged from the hull and fired into it. It was sliced in half and a third warship was destroyed before the Feeders could react to the attack. The huge fleet went to evasive maneuvers and vessels began firing at the place where the light ship’s disruptors were being fired. They quickly determined that the ships being attacked were all located in one small zone of the fleet and thousands of Feeder Warships flashed toward the huge explosions taking place in the mist of their formations.
Jill stayed focused on the list of targets and began feeling the missiles leaving their launch tubes. She refused to look at anything but her targets; she was leaving it up to Rocky to keep them out of trouble. But the missile launches were increasing in frequency and the entire ship vibrated as they continued to launch out of the hull. She saw the targets on her visor and went to one that was far down the list that had moved closer to her location. She fired at it and used another disruptor to hit an enemy ship that suddenly appeared next to the light ship. She skipped to the next ship on the list and fired as ten warships opened fire at the disruptors being used on the hull. She skipped out before they could hit and they obliterated the ship she had just hit.
She went to the last ship on the list that had moved outside of the zone they were in and saw a new list appear on her visor. She destroyed the huge red warship and skipped across the fleet to the outer edge. She killed twenty warships before the rest of the Feeder Fleet arrived and began chasing the source of the brilliant white beams. The twenty first ship fired a huge beam as she arrived and the light ship was staggered. She fired at the ship and saw that every Feeder Warship was continuously firing their main beams.
She gritted her teeth and skipped in on her targets in the gaps between their beams. The light ship was invisible until it fired and most of the time, the targeted ship couldn’t move a disruptor toward it. The ship was hit again and she wondered how many of those hits the ship could take. She could feel the missiles leaving the hull at an incredible rate and suddenly, she only saw the blackness of the void in her visor. A few moments later, it disappeared and she saw the missile transport below the ship.
She collapsed back in her chair and started shaking. She looked at her panel and saw the huge magazine in the ship was empty. She managed to say in a shaky voice, “You, you cut that close.”
Each of the missiles launchers have six missiles still in the belts feeding them.” Jill fought to slow her breathing as she heard the empty magazine drop out of the ship and another magazine replace it.
“Rocky, I don’t know if I can do this right now.”
“We’re not going back at the moment. I need to
see what’s happening before we do anything.” Jill looked at her visor and saw the tactical display change to the PS display. She thought hard and then remembered that PS stood for present status. Rocky must have dropped a light probe before he skipped out. She saw the probe start sending images and the remnants of explosions were scattered across a huge volume of space. She punched up the Analysis Display and saw that she had hit and destroyed three hundred and eight Feeder Warships. She looked at the display coming from the probe and the number of dead Feeder Warships far exceeded that number. “How many?”
“About twelve thousand give or take a hundred.”
“How is that possible?”
“You’re not factoring in the ships the missiles took out, Jill.”
Jill blew out a breath, “No, I guess I wasn’t.” Jill put her face in her hands and started crying. Rocky heard her and came out of his armor and ran down the corridor from his cockpit. He turned the corner and rushed into Jill’s cockpit and took her in his arms, “It’s alright. It’s fine; you did an outstanding job.” Jill just shook as she wept. Shudders racked her body as he held her and gently rocked her.
• • •
“WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?!”
“Prime, my fleet was just attacked by one of the beings we’ve been out here trying to find.”
“HOW DO YOU KNOW IT WAS THE SAME SPECIES?”
“Did you not hear what it said?” The Feeder Entity replayed the conversation and remained silent. “It attacked us when my fleet changed course.”
“WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?”
“When I had my fleet turn it moved to Universal West during the turn. That’s when that ship attacked.”
“IT COULD BE TRYING TO LEAD US ON A WRONG COURSE AGAIN.”
“Prime, it was obviously watching us and only attacked when I made that turn. It should be easy to find out.”
