by Saxon Andrew
• • •
“Sir, we’ve lost track of the ships at Ventura.”
“When did that happen!?!”
“We aren’t sure. There are eight ships colored just like the ones that had been holding station at their main defense facility but scanners reveal there is no power on board those eight. We know the eight ships the day before had reactors on board.”
“Could they have powered them all down?”
“It takes longer than a day for a reactor to go totally dead. No, those are not the ships that were there the day before.”
“Damn those Venturi. They’ll arm any ships willing to pay for their services. Did you manage to find out where those ships originated?”
“No. There are no markings and they did not lower the force fields around their bridges to allow us to get a reading of the life forms on board.”
“How do we know those ships are a danger to us?”
“We received a warning that eight ships were going to attack us. The source of the warning was not tracked.”
“This is too much of a coincidence. Notify defense to put all ships on alert.”
“I’ll issue the orders immediately.” The officer turned to his panel and saw an incoming message. He read it and said, “We’re too late.” The Station Commander looked at his subordinate and saw the shock and horror on his face.
• • •
The main city on the planet’s surface had finally rotated around the edge of the planet and was only fifteen minutes from being directly below their position. He flashed the other seven ships and they broke out of subspace and roared in on the planet. Three of them were exploded by defense satellites before they had moved more than a hundred miles but the other five flashed by the huge orbiting facilities and they couldn’t bring their weapons around fast enough to hit the fast moving ships. All of the orbiting defense installations had their weapons aimed away from the planet. That error was going to cost them.
The Commander saw three more ships exploded by ships rushing in on them from the outer defense ring and saw that only his ship and one other had made it inside the planet’s mighty orbital defenses. The ship flying next to him launched missiles at the giant city under them and he saw defense lasers pick them off before they could arrive inside the planet’s atmosphere. The ship flying beside him blew up when it was hit by an incoming missile barrage from incoming defenders. The Commander looked at his flight Officer who yelled, “We’ve got to jump away.”
The Commander hit the override button on his console and took control of the ship from the bridge crew. He applied full thrusters and aimed his ship at the tall crystal buildings located in the planet’s largest city’s financial district. The crew jumped up to stop him but didn’t arrive in time. His family had died of starvation from the predatory lending policies of this planet and he was not calling off the attack. He knew that even if he did jump away, he would be followed and killed. His eight ships were nowhere close to the technological wonders this rich planet had to use against him. Missiles and lasers began hitting his ship from the surface but they weren’t designed to penetrate a warship’s force field. The nine hundred foot long brown ship flashed through the atmosphere so fast that its sonic boom arrived ten minutes after it hit the very epicenter of the crystal towers. The sonic boom was erased by the massive shock wave that met it a mile above the city’s streets. The city ceased to exist along with all the financial records that were stored on this most important planet. No one trusted that information anywhere else and it was defended against every threat they could imagine. No one imagined this. The Philo Civilization went from one of the wealthiest in the galaxy to destitute with the city’s death. With the destruction of the records, all the vast wealth owed to the planet along with all the citizen’s personal accounts was destroyed.
• • •
The Defense Commander looked at the massive flames burning the once beautiful city and snarled, “Who would do this?”
His assistant forced his gaze away from the display and said, “You need look no further than five planets that are close to being broke. With this attack they are now back in business and we have no way to prove their debt to us.”
“Which one did this?”
The Assistant looked at him and snarled, “Does it matter?”
The Commander jerked his head around, “No it doesn’t.” He issued the orders and five more planets were burning less than eight hours later. The civil war had kicked off and the first plays were devastating.
• • •
The giant Snake watched his monitor and shook its head up and down. He had warned Philo but they had done nothing. He checked his board and saw a hundred more of the wealthiest planets being attacked. He might have been able to stop the slaughter if he had immediately acted. But he waited to get the Assembly’s approval; before that happened, the government building was hit from space and exploded. He died with the Assembly and now there was no one to stop the carnage that was spreading at an unbelievable pace.
• • •
Admiral Hull watched the destruction of the Galactic Government Center and punched her command board. A message went out to every Rover to return to the Milky Way immediately. She pinged Jon’s communicator and said, “Civil war has broken out in M87. You are to take command of our ships and take the necessary steps to defend Earth. You are also charged to defend the Horde and Hive from any attacks. Get moving; you don’t have long.”
“Who is my Second-in-Command?”
“Jillian Connor will command any attacks you wish to launch. You are promoted to full Admiral and she is promoted to Rear Admiral. Now get it done, Jon!”
Jon ran out to his ship and saw Jillian running toward her ship. She saw him coming and the shock on her face was clear. Jon veered toward her and pulled her into his arms. He pushed her back and kissed her hard. He broke the kiss and said, “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time. You will command the eight hundred Rovers that have been training with Dat along with twenty thousand additional Rovers I’m assigning to your fleet. You need to put the fear of God into them and make sure they work together. If we detect any ships headed to attack Earth, the Horde, or the Hive, you directed to stop them. Act first; talk later. You are now promoted to Rear Admiral and my second-in-command.”
Jillian stared in Jon’s eyes, nodded, and turned to run to her ship. Jon heard her yell before she disappeared in the port, “You shouldn’t have waited.”
Jon smiled and began getting the millions of Rovers coming in assigned to fleets to spread out in the Milky Way to defend the Union’s members. He hoped the Horde and Hive had enough ships to hold off any attackers for the moment.
Jon ran on board and his ship lifted at supersonic speed. He didn’t worry about any damage the sonic boom would cause. It would be minor compared to a nuclear missile. He saw thousands of ships being powered up next to the academy as the fourth year cadets were taking them into war. “Kenny, what do you have?”
“The major civilizations in M87 are picking sides at the moment and things are getting out of hand quickly. More than twenty thousand planets have one or more cities burning.”
“Notify me when the bulk of our ships are out of Earth’s Solar System. I want you to also direct a thousand Rovers to each planet in the Union.”
“The last ships should be clear in another twenty minutes.”
“We can’t wait that long.” Jon hit his panel, “Admiral, we need to make it happen now. Any ships still inside the disruption radius will just have to fly out.”
Kat turned to her XO and said, “Do it now!”
A huge battleship entered green space and launched ten nuclear missiles. The massive blasts disrupted green space and made it impossible to jump into Earth’s Solar System. Immediately after the blast, eight hundred ships from M87 were forced out of green space at the orbit of Mars. They were coming in to attack Earth. The ten thousand Rovers assigned to planetary defense flew out at light speed and blew t
hem into dust before they could turn and run. The disruption of green space was done a thousand years earlier but no one outside of Earth had ever been told it could be done. Every Union Member Planet in the Milky Way had green space disrupted around it and the defense forces continued to disrupt it when the disruption started to fade. Rovers began arriving at each planet to supplement their defenses and soon attackers were being fought off at most of the protected planets. Jon saw that the number of ships he could use was rapidly decreasing.
“Kenny, did you get a reading on who sent those eight hundred ships?”
“I did, Jon. Kenny was busy getting us off planet.”
“Who was it, Mary?”
“The Remst and Logren.”
Jon hit his board, “Captain’s Gibbons and Kune, I’m assigning each of you a planet in M87 and I want you to take your squadrons and destroy every warship they have. You will not accept surrender and tell them to think twice in the future before they send ships against us again.”
“Yes Sir.” Jon watched his board and saw two fleets of three thousand ships each disappear off it. Reports of more ships coming out of green space at Earth began coming in and he sent squadrons to punish the aggressors. He looked at his panel, “Jill, we’re getting things under control here. Take your fleet and the additional squadrons I’ve assigned to you out to the Hive and see if you can help them. We think the Hive will be the first target.”
“On my way, Admiral.”
• • •
Leigh Ann rushed into Kat’s office, “What’s happening?”
“Civil war has broken out in M87. The Government Center has been nuked from space, killing all of the Alliance’s leadership. More than twenty thousand planets have been attacked and we’ve beaten off six waves of attackers attempting to destroy Earth. We’ve killed more than eight hundred invaders at the orbit of Mars.”
“What are we doing about it?”
“Admiral Anders has sent squadrons to punish the attacker’s planets and one of our main attack fleets to help the Hive and Horde.”
“Don’t we need those ships here?”
“We’ve disrupted space around our solar system and no one can jump in. We’ll see them coming and none of them have ships that can match our Rovers. We have managed to get ahead of this for the moment. The worse time will be when the civilizations in M87 choose up sides. That is when the real devastation and much larger attacks will start here.”
“Get me a ship. I’m moving my office to the colonies.”
Kat stared at President Connor, “It’s going to be extremely difficult to direct our defense efforts from there, Sir.”
Leigh Ann sneered, “You will have to do that here. I’ll stay in touch if you find you need me. Now get me a ship that will hold my personal staff.”
Kat said, “Yes Sir.”
Leigh Ann rushed out and Kat thought about the cowardice of the President. Her board pinged and she heard, “We’ve detected an enemy force just outside the edge of the solar system. We think they’re waiting to attack anyone that tries to come in or get out.”
“Notify Admiral Anders.”
“He’s put handling them off until the fleets are organized. They aren’t an issue yet.”
Her board pinged and Kat saw President Connor on the screen, “Where’s my ship?”
“I’m sending you a large shuttle that will hold your staff and I’m assigning ten Rovers to escort you to the colonies.”
“Well, get moving.”
Kat saw the shuttle pilot appear on her board and she gave him his instructions. The Rovers were to precede him beyond the edge to ensure a safe place for the President to escape. She received messages and watched her panel for eight hours until the President’s ships arrived at the edge of the disruption. She really managed to look distraught when the message came in that the President’s shuttle had been blasted by an enemy force. All hands perished but the enemy force was also destroyed. Kat notified the colonies of President Connor’s death and a period of mourning began for the brave woman that had died in combat. Kat ordered all flags on Earth to be flown at half-mast until further notice.
Kat knew the President would have pulled most of the ships away from Earth’s defense to ensure her worthless hide was safe in the colonies. She would cause more harm to the Union than the enemy. Now Kat was going to have to make sure everything didn’t fall apart until another President could be elected.
Admiral Anders appeared on her display and Kat saw his distress, “I couldn’t do anything about that enemy. Why did she leave, knowing they were there?”
Kat looked at Jon and raised one eyebrow. Jon saw her expression and his brow furrowed, “Where was she going?”
“She was running to the colonies. I suspect she would have recalled half of our ships there once she arrived.”
Jon stared at Kat and said, “Safety before policy.” Kat stared at him and then nodded. Jon nodded back and disappeared from the screen. Kat smiled; this new admiral was going to work out. He was quick on the uptake.
Chapter Eleven
“Dat.”
“Yes Stein.”
“Civil war has broken out in M87 and one of the first casualties was the President.”
“How were they able to hit Earth?”
“They didn’t.”
“Then how was the President killed?”
“It appears she was taking her sorry backside to the colonies to miss out on the festivities and was killed at the edge of disrupted space when her shuttle was hit by a lurking enemy force.”
“What was she doing in a shuttle?”
“She had ten Rovers as escorts but insisted on a ship large enough to hold her personal staff.”
“That doesn’t answer why she was in a shuttle with them.”
Dat waited for an answer and Gresha said, “Perhaps she was put in a shuttle to take her off the board. It appears someone made the decision that she was expendable.”
Dat looked at Gresha as Loree said, “She would have taken most of our ships to the colonies and written Earth off.”
Dat sat down and said, “Patch me through to Admiral Hull.” Katherine appeared on his display, “Sir, do we need to come back?”
“No, Admiral Anders has everything under control at the moment. You need to complete your task. We are not in a position to do anything about that galaxy at the moment. We can only do so much until some sort of equilibrium is reached in M87. If things go to hell in a hand basket, I’ll call you back.”
“Yes Sir.”
“Good luck, Captain.”
The screen went dark and Stein said, “The Wing that relieved us has just been destroyed attacking a Black Squadron.”
“WHAT!”
“I’ll put it on your panel.”
Dat watched the twenty Rovers skip into normal space and fire on the eighty ships they were attacking. “Sixteen enemy ships exploded but all twenty Rovers were hit by brilliant narrow beams and exploded. Six of them were only hit by one beam. “Loree, what have you determined?”
“They have condensed their beams even more. They aren’t wider than our ships now and contain the power of the original wide beam. That new beam is able to punch through our Dark Matter force fields. They have also come up with a targeting system that allows them to fire on our ships the instant of their appearance in normal space.”
“That has to mean their beams are now scanner directed.”
“That doesn’t normally work, Dat.”
“It does if you have the frequency reading on the targets you’re trying to hit. Once the frequency appears the beam emplacements will automatically turn on it.”
“You think they have a frequency on us.”
“It’s the only way they could fire that fast. They now have the edge; we are now behind them technologically and totally defensive. Does Fleet know about the loss of the Wing?”
“They do but all of their resources are extended due to the current crisis and nothing can be done about the
se new developments for the near future. Admiral Hull says she’ll decide what to do later.”
Dat looked at his panel, “I really think we could hit them and skip away if we come in on the right approach, but it has become much more difficult. Was the enemy able to recover anything from our ships?”
“You know if our force fields are breached that a Rover will go off like a bomb. They didn’t have anything they could examine.”
“Stein, what has the microprobe picked up at Gresha’s home?”
“That giant Master has been true to his word and they have not returned since the run. I do think you should not spend too much time out in the open.”
“Why is that?”
“I’d really hate for that Master to come back and see you on his scanner. That would cause a real brouhaha.”
Gresha shook her head, “I’ll just cut his hair short. They really don’t see the differences in us. The only way we knew which Master was chasing Dat was because it was so much bigger. They all look alike to us as well. They won’t recognize him with shorter hair.”
Dat looked at Gresha, “Are you ready to go home?”
“First your hair; then I’m looking so forward to seeing my parents.” Dat smiled and hugged Gresha. She kissed him on the cheek and left for the medical closet to get a pair of scissors.
• • •
Jill arrived with her twenty thousand Rovers at the border between The Horde and Hive Civilizations. Her display illuminated and she said, “I’m Admiral Jillian Connor and I’ve been sent to assist in the defense of your planets.”
“We welcome you, Admiral. We’ve managed to fight off ten attacks but the numbers coming have been steadily increasing. We can use your help.”
“How many ships do you have to use against them?”
“We have ten thousand Rover ships between us and four million of our old ships.”
“Have you disrupted space around your planets?”
“No, we’re waiting for large numbers of our commercial ships to make it back from the galaxy proper.”
“Don’t wait any longer. Those ships will have to fly in to your worlds. Disrupt them now!”
