by Saxon Andrew
“Can you do this faster than five years?”
“No. You know how much has to be done just to modify the thousand plus reactors on just one warship. It will take three years just to build the facilities to speed up the process. It will only take an additional two years after they’re built to complete the modifications to the remaining forty percent of our Fleets.”
“Start the building now. I want the first fifty thousand warships completed sent to my planet and used to defend it.”
“I will do as you order Great Grengen.”
• • •
The Defense Grengen saw the display go dark and he leaned back in his chair. He thought about the new and more powerful warship and smiled. He was number two in power on the Council and perhaps before the five years were over, the Great Grengen would have a fatal accident. One never knew when the threat from the spiral galaxies would strike. He had to make sure the Great Grengen didn’t take possession of one of the new warships until that accident happened. The scientists assured him that the new warship could defeat a hundred of the old model. It would only take ten or eleven of the new vessels to destroy the Great Grengen’s vessel along with his thousand escorts. And he had just the right Ship Grengs loyal to him to make that happen when the moment arrived.
He sent his brother to tell his father to stop the building of Colony Ships. He had deliberately lied about there being thousands of them at another location; there were only six and they weren’t completely constructed. They would no longer be needed once he took control of the Council.
• • •
Poul listened to the conversation between the two Flasher Leaders and then heard the thoughts of this new Flasher Leader. Now he knew why the Griffets were working with the humans; this new warship would be able to kill them. War was coming and this one would be a war to end all wars. Four galaxies would be fighting first and into that maelstrom the humans would step in and enter the death match. He hoped they’d be ready in time.
• • •
Twitch looked at Tony and smiled, “I’m glad you’ve been assigned to go in with me.”
“I think the Sarge knew we’d work better together. I am proud that you’ve been chosen to take out the number one priority target.”
“I guess I have the reflexes to do it.”
“You think!”
Twitch laughed. She earned her name by how much faster her response time was than any other Marine. No one messed with Twitch. She could hit you six times before you could see her hands move. “Are you ready to go, Tony?”
“I am and I’m going to hold you to your promise to marry me when this is over.”
Twitch leaned over and kissed Tony on the cheek just before they closed the visors on their combat helmets. They looked around the landing bay on the giant Hart Battleship and saw the six hundred Marines chosen to assault the warship’s bridge gathered together in the center of the bay. They were the initial assault force going in to remove the priority targets before the others moved in to take control of the ship’s interior.
The Jamaica was inside its Dark Energy force field just outside the Flasher Warship’s force field. Admiral Sol Jones lifted his communicator and said over the ship’s intercom, “We are in position and will stand by to assist you in the event something goes wrong. Admiral, I along with my crew wish you and your Marines success on this endeavor.”
Amy smiled, “Thanks, Admiral.” Amy knew she had chosen well in selecting the officer to command the ship for this undertaking. Sol had always been one of her best officers and knew he wouldn’t flinch at the danger of this assault and he never, ever, lost his cool. He had requested to be allowed to leave his fleet of Hart Battleships to fly this mission and Amy had immediately accepted his request. She looked around the landing bay and saw the professionalism of the crew assisting the marines. Sol ran a tight ship.
She turned to the six hundred marines in the initial assault force and said, “We will launch our assault the moment the Prophet’s Eyes lets us know the most opportune moment to kick it off. Be ready to go in an instant!” She looked across the landing bay at another group of Five hundred Marines and said, “You will leave twenty seconds after the initial assault force. Set your countdown accordingly!”
• • •
Twitch looked down at the Griffet hugging her boot, “Speedy, you’re sure about where I want you to take me?” The ball on the Griffet’s top edge remained close to her. “Do you see a better place for us?” The ball rolled around the top edge once. Twitch reached down and rubbed Speedy on the top and then stood up. It shouldn’t be long now. She glanced at Tony and hoped they survived this assault. She had put him off long enough and she wished she hadn’t done it. She just had to know for certain that he was committed to her and no one else.
Tony wasn’t just handsome, he was beautiful, and she couldn’t count the number of times that other women had come on to him when she wasn’t standing next to him. She didn’t have the curves of the beauties that sought to turn his head. She was only five foot two inches tall and was almost skinny. She thought of herself as being lean and though she knew she was pretty, she couldn’t compete in looks with the women that threw themselves at Tony.
He had never swayed from his commitment to her but she just found it difficult to believe that he wanted her over all the beautiful women that pursued him. He looked at her and she saw the love in his eyes. She nodded, held up her left hand, and pointed to the third finger. He smiled and nodded. She should have listened to the message his eyes sent her. It was clear what was going on in his soul.
Everyone in the landing bay looked up as they heard the Computer’s thoughts that was located on the Prophet’s Eyes, “The Commander of the Warship has just ordered the daytime crew to change shifts. The night crew has four hundred less members in it and I’m going to wait for them to make the change before sending you in. You have another hour before you leave.”
Amy activated her command frequency, “Everyone sit down and take it easy.” The thousands of Marines sat down on the landing bay floor, raised their visors, and began rubbing their Griffets. Rubbing them seemed to relieve the tension of the moment and Twitch moved over and sat beside Tony. He put his left arm over her shoulder as they rubbed their Griffets.
• • •
Essay watched what Poul was seeing in his mind and saw the smooth exchange of the Flasher’s two bridge crews. “Do you see anything changing in the exchange?”
“One of the Flasher Officers carrying a blaster is being replaced by one that’s not carrying one.”
“That doesn’t require us to change anything. If that officer carrying the blaster goes to his quarters, the blaster will do no harm once the atmosphere is removed.”
“I know. We’ll be sending the attack order in another thirty minutes. I want the crew to settle in.”
“That’s a good idea Poul.”
• • •
The Ship Greng watched the crews change shifts and once again felt his rage at this mind numbing assignment. He knew the ship’s computer was right to suggest avoiding being sent to move the debris out of the spiral galaxy. He was scared out of his wits of what killed the two scouts and did not want to be anywhere near that galaxy with only his shell. But this assignment was driving him insane. The constant boredom with nothing ever happening was intolerable. He hadn’t seen his family in almost a year and none of the other warship Grengs every contacted him. They were leery of talking with any Greng undergoing punishment.
He sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. There was only thirty more days to endure and he would be able to return to civilization and put this black, empty void behind him. He had made it this far, he could make it another thirty days. He thought about his threat to remove the computer and decided that he wouldn’t do it. He had said it out of his anger but having an engineer come in might reveal his subterfuge about the thruster if it inspected the computers central processor. He couldn’t risk that. He went to sleep
without telling the computer and that small mistake would turn out to be monumental.
• • •
Amy sat on the floor and prayed Poul was right about the Griffets knowing what was needed from them. She just had no way of confirming that he was accurate in what he had told them. She stared at Jolly and the ball remained focused on her, “Jolly, I’m going to trust that you and the others are here to help us. Please tell me I’m doing the right thing?” The ball remained focused on her. Amy sighed and heard, “Begin the assault in five minutes.”
Every Marine in the landing bay jumped to their feet and Amy saw them activating their armaments. She looked at the six hundred gathered in the center of the bay and kept her eyes on them. The countdown moved slowly down and finally it hit zero; the six hundred Marines disappeared. Amy watched her chronometer and twenty seconds later the second group of five hundred Marines disappeared. She waited another ten seconds and said, “Take me to the place, Jolly.
Chapter Nineteen
Priority One
Twitch suddenly appeared on the Flasher Warship’s bridge and lifted her left hand holding the Traugh hand blaster. The large Flasher laying back in its command chair started to straighten up as she pulled the trigger and simultaneously pulled a silver colored handle on its console. The Commander flashed bright red as the Traugh beam disintegrated his body. She turned toward the communication consoles and saw that Tony didn’t need her assistance. The ten Flashers sitting at them were all bright red fires. She bit the tab between her teeth notifying command her assignment was completed successfully. She then turned and moved quickly toward the right firing her hand blaster at every Flasher she encountered. She wondered how the others were doing in taking out the primary targets.
Priority Two
Captain Wheatley arrived at the self-destruct panels and had both armed raised as he appeared. He fired the blaster in his left hand at the two Flashers sitting next to the self-destruct panels and they burst into the bright red light of Traugh disintegration. He simultaneously fired the dart gun in his right hand at the Flasher in the spacesuit behind the other two and the dart punctured the space suit and released the Traugh charge. He fired at the armed Flasher without looking at it and he turned and saw a bright light coming out of the spacesuit’s visor. He smiled. He was chosen for this assignment due to his being ambidextrous. He had been practicing those shots for months and they were now second nature to him. He bit the tab and moved across the back wall of the bridge firing at anything he saw moving. He made it to the second armed officer in less than a second after killing the three at the self-destruct panels and hit him with a dart just as it was drawing a blaster. A moment later, a Traugh blaster beam hit it and Ken heard, “Thank you, Sir. A Flasher jumped in front of me and slowed me down.”
“Forget it, you would have still taken him out. Spread out and keep firing.” Ken holstered the dart gun and pulled a Traugh blaster out of its holster. He moved along the back wall and was a killing machine. Whatever he fired at, died, no one in the assault had better accuracy with a hand blaster and Flashers were disintegrating on all sides of him as he sprinted along the wall. He glanced to his left and saw a Flasher Crewman a hundred feet away dive toward the floor to pick up a blaster dropped by a Flasher Officer. He dropped the blaster in his left hand as he pulled the dart gun out of its holster. He quick fired two darts and both of them hit the Flasher in the head just as it grabbed the blaster and raised it. The Flasher’s head dissolved into a red flame and the blaster fell back to the deck. Ken continued across the back wall wrecking carnage on the hundreds of Flashers still alive.
Priority Three
Sgt. Hite Solan’s squad of Marines arrived in the middle of four rows of Flashers sitting at their consoles. The giant warship’s environmental systems required a hundred Flashers to control all of the functions on the warship. Three Marines trained their Traugh blasters on each row and swept them across from right to left. Hite found the Commander of the unit and fired two darts into its spacesuit. He whipped around and saw two Flashers had somehow managed to dive under their consoles before the beams being swept across their units had hit them. He fired a dart into each one of them and saw that all that remained of the hundred Flashers were their empty uniforms. He bit the tab between his teeth and activated his communication circuit, “Form up around the consoles!!”
Fifty more Marines appeared a moment later inside the square made by the consoles and rushed to chairs in front of display screens. They began pressing buttons on the consoles as Hite’s Squad held off any Flashers trying to get to them. The fifty Marines first went to the consoles controlling the outer ports on the giant warship’s hull and began opening them without powering the restraining force fields. The atmosphere inside the giant warship began rushing out into space at extreme velocity blowing everything not bolted down inside the ports out into space around the giant warship. Once all the outer ports were open, the Marines went to a different console and began opening the ports on the next levels. They ignored the battle swarming around them and kept focused on their tasks.
Amy arrived and saw that the Marines were mopping up any Flasher survivors. She looked at the four Officers around her and said, “Get us moving…now!”
Priority Four
Twenty five Marines arrived in the rear engineering room on the Flasher Warship and fired their dart guns at the fifteen Flashers in Spacesuits. All of them went down as they turned their hand blasters and began sweeping the room around them. More than a thousand Flashers worked in the giant room that controlled the ship’s giant thrusters. If one of the lines feeding those thrusters were damaged by a blaster beam, the rear of the giant vessel would have gone up in a huge explosion. A moment later, a hundred more Marines appeared and joined the original twenty five in sweeping the room with blaster fire. Fifty seconds later, Lt. Russel bit his tab. The room was under their control.
Priority Five
Sgt. Anez arrived in the reactor room and saw that the chair where the armed Flasher was supposed to be located was empty. Oh Crap! He ran past the chair and looked down the long row of reactors. Where was he!?! He shook his head and knew his time was running out. He looked down at his Griffet and saw the ball rolling around its top. “Take me to him, Greeny!” Anez suddenly appeared next to a Flasher pressing the side of its helmet yelling for instructions. It had its blaster raised and pointed at a reactor as Anez fired four darts into the Flashers chest as he dove forward and pushed the shoulder blaster away from the reactor it was pointed toward. It discharged into the deck and burned a hole but none of the reactors were hit. Anez bit his tab and rubbed Greeny. This had been close. Seventy Marines appeared and spread out in the reactor room. There were fifty Flashers on night duty and they were removed in less than twenty seconds after the Marines’ arrival.
Priority Six
The giant Flasher Warship had five hundred launch tubes on board for their small fighters. One Marine was assigned to each of those tubes and all of them would arrive simultaneously at the first ship in line to be launched. Private Gorback arrived at his assigned fighter, jumped up on the rail, and placed the barrel of a hand weapon against the cockpit. He saw the Flasher’s mouth inside the fighter open wide as he pulled the trigger. A beam shot through the cockpit’s armored glass and hit the pilot in the chest. The pilot’s mouth went wider an instant before he died. Gorbie bit his tab and moved to the second fighter in line. When the other pilots in the long line of fighters lined up to be launched realized they weren’t able to go anywhere with the first ship in the line disabled, they opened their cockpits and began exiting their ships just as the port to the giant launch bay moved up and exposed the giant room to open space; the atmosphere rushed out at explosive velocity. The five hundred Marines had clipped their cables to the small ship they were standing beside and felt the hurricane force winds howling out of the giant landing bay. All of the Flashers in the giant room died as they were blow out of the giant launch bay. Gorbie waited until the
force of the exiting atmosphere died down and then moved down the line of fighters and fired at any of them that still had a pilot inside. The pilots were trapped and helpless to do anything to save themselves. They couldn’t even fire the weapons on their ships because of the safety circuit preventing it and the same system prevented them from powering up their force fields inside the ship.
• • •
Amy glanced around the bridge and quickly pulled up a status visual on her visor. Five hundred and twenty three priority numbers were originally listed on the visual and she saw that more than two thirds of the red numbers had turned green. The others were turning green almost faster than she could follow and then they were all green. She looked up, “Poul, order the rest of the Division in.”
Poul thought to the thousands of Marines still gathered in the Jamaica’s landing bay, “Initiate occupation now. Go to your assigned targets.” The eighty thousand Marines on the landing bay disappeared in an instant.
• • •
The Marines controlling the environmental systems were doing an extraordinary job. The vacuum of space was rushing into the giant vessel at incredible speed and many of the Flashers caught out in the open were sucked out of the ship along with the howling atmosphere as it rushed out into open space. Some died in the weakening winds as they no longer had an atmosphere to breathe.
• • •
“Sir, the boards have been locked.”
Amy jerked her head around, “WHAT!?”
One of the four Navy Pilots sitting at the consoles shook his head, “One of the pilots had time to press the lock button on its panel. These boards are inoperative. We are unable to control the ship.”
