The rhythmic motion continued. Charlotte’s fingers digging into Frank’s back as she flexed her pelvis, opening and closing her legs a little, as the feelings of ecstasy came in waves of sheer pleasure.
After a while, she felt hot and knew an orgasm was coming. And, at the same time, felt Frank come inside her. Both groaned with ecstasy. They had climaxed at the same time.
Frank was still moving slowly, in and out, and the new sensation made her desperate for more. She wanted him to keep doing it, but both relaxed instead, still locked together.
She couldn’t believe she’d wanted him to be rough with her. But, she really wanted to feel and remember this time together forever. After a while, they separated.
Frank took an ISO shower, then calm now, slipped the jumpsuit back on, and checked the time the ship would rendezvous with Andromeda.
“Two hours,” Frank said as he leaned over and kissed her.
“I’ll lay here for a while before I shower.” Charlotte lazily said, smiling dreamily to herself.
“Okay. I’ll be preparing to move the other warp-coffin to Andromeda.”
With that, he left her.
Once Frank had left, Charlotte lay there, mentally and physically, trying to sense if the two eggs traveling through her Fallopian tubes, had been fertilized by Frank’s sperm. She could sense them moving, but nothing was conclusive.
So, Charlotte, there and then decided that Frank would have to perform again once they were on the Andromeda.
She smiled at the thought of that.
Yes, it would be fantastic again.
Chapter 30
Time, T minus nineteen hours
The Michigan group exited warp, right at the center of the newly designated location. Only to find they were alone.
Commodore Lenny Denning, on board the Carrier Lexington, called Captain Campbell on the all-ships comms link.
“Seems we’re on our own, Captain.”
“Bait might be a better word,” Campbell jested, being careful not to offend other captains listening in. “We certainly kicked ass, as you put it, Commodore.”
“I might have been over-zealous when I talked about kicking ass… Anyway, do we have any orders?”
“None, yet… But, I’m sure we’ll be given them, soon enough.”
“H’mm, I’m sending out long-range killer Surveillance probes, just to make sure the Garodens aren’t watching us.”
“No. Don’t do that, Commodore. I’m certain that we need to be seen here.”
Commodore Denning thought about Campbell’s statement.
“You’re right, Captain. I’ll recall them immediately.”
Moments later, he was back on the link.
“The probes are on their way back.”
“Very good… One other thing, Commodore. You out-rank me. So, do you wish to take command?”
“No Captain. I think experience is what we need right now, not ranking.”
“Thank you, Commodore. I had to ask.”
“Understood.”
“Okay… Although Lexington lost three WEPs during our battle with the Garodens, you still have plenty, So, it might be wise to let each of our three, lesser ships, have a couple of yours.”
“Why not.” Commodore Denning replied, smiling as he did so. Then turned, and spoke to his science officer. “Lieutenant Strant, see to it,” Denning ordered.
Captain Campbell didn’t waste any time either. “All ships, lock-in and synchronize their AI’s so we can update any wonky systems.”
Then, turned to speak to his Science officer. “You’d better go over the WEP control system with Lexington, Lieutenant Paris. Then set up to transfer two of their WEPs, and their control, from Lexington,” he ordered.
Then called his other two ships. “Captain Blacksmith, Captain Winston, liaise with Paris, then set-up your WEP transfers from Lexington.”
Both Captain’s acknowledged Campbell’s order.
Campbell knew that the AIs, and their ships sensor grids, would soon warn them if any Garoden wormholes started to form, even though the timing didn’t dictate this happening anytime soon.
Then, knowing there was nothing else for him to do until instructions from the Jefferson came through, Campbell sat back and relaxed.
Admiral Winton was, as were all his ships captains, running over the tactical AIs update on recommended attack deployment and weapons configuration. They were also in direct communication with the Crillon fleet, and two Solveron Battle spheres that had just arrived.
Winton wasn’t sure what good the two Solveron ships would be, but their Commander Savron had assured him that his ships would be beneficial.
“Admiral, the three stealth surveillance probes that are monitoring the Garodens, have just reported the arrival of the Garoden’s so-called, Seventh Fleet,” Lieutenant Farrow informed.
“So, how many ships?”
“One moment Admiral… Ah, here we are… Geeze, the three probes have counted eighty-three so far…No, Eighty-seven now.”
“Is that including the original group, Farrell?”
“Our probes aren’t able to differentiate between them. So, I’m not sure if the ships from Sol two’s location, are included.”
“Can you pick out that larger Garoden ship?” Winton asked.
“Not with any certainty, Admiral.”
“What about their deployment configuration?”
“Distances and orientation coming through now, Admiral... Routing to all fleets tactical AI’s… We should soon be able to triangulate each Garoden ship’s position. And use the probes positions to give our fleets the advantage, Admiral.”
“Very well, Lieutenant.”
“That seems to be the last of them, Admiral,” Lieutenant Farrow then advised Winton.
“Admiral. Michigan’s group have arrived at the target assembly point,” Comms Officer, Ensign Paula Childs informed Winton, as a subspace link was established.
“Do we have a video link with them, Ensign?”
“No, Admiral. Apparently, the tactical AIs quashed it as there would have been more than a fifteen percent chance of it being detected by the Garodens.”
Winton went to challenge the AIs action, but Captain Gort stopped him.
“Best leave it, Admiral. They are right not to take the risk.”
On hearing Gort’s warning, Admiral Winton thought about it, then decided that the AIs were, of course, right.
Now was not the time to take risks. So, he would let the AIs and their human tacticians get on with the planning.
Nevertheless, Winton realized that adding the Michigan group into the mix from, what was essentially the wrong location, was going to be tricky, with so many ships going into battle at the same time. Therefore, it was crucial to ensure the Michigan group were kept updated.
“Lieutenant Farrow, make sure our tactical AI updates the Michigan group with the Garoden ships individual locations, and on where the Michigan’s Group can join the battle without causing havoc.”
“Understood, Admiral.”
Winton stared at his countdown chronometer. It was relentlessly dropping towards zero.
Still, he thought to himself, all three of his ships, the Crillon’s ships, and, unless there were more to come, the two Solveron Battle spheres, were all ready and waiting for that moment. That time, to jump straight into a battle with so many variables and unknowns. Yet, the outcome of it all seemingly hanging on what these Time people had up their sleeves.
Winton looked again at the countdown chronometer and saw it was now reading, sixteen hours.
But what if the Garodens decided to move, and there’s no-one to fight when we get there. Winton then wondered.
Then we would be in the wrong place, and the tables could easily be turned against our alliance, he decided.
“So, just sixteen hours,” Winton said out loud. But no-one even noticed.
Winton had also been thinking about the fact that a full day meant twenty-four hours. But, only
sixteen hours were remaining in this one.
Would they all be dead before this day was out? He wondered.
Chapter 31
Earth
Jack Medcalf, and his wife Georgina, together with Susanna, and her son Alex, sat out on their veranda watching the sun set as the orange ball dropped slowly behind the city heights.
“Have you heard anything about Frank or the Neutron, Uncle?” Susanna asked.
“Sues, I haven’t heard anything…In any case, you know I would have told you if an attempt to find them was possible.”
Susanna remained silent. Thinking what if Frank was still alive? Then surely, over the last four years, something would have popped up?
“What about Andromeda? She’s further out from Garoden… and, even though she must still be a frozen wreck, she’s got to be worth salvaging?” Susanna then asked.
“We’ll never get to her unless we win this war, Sues.”
“But, Procard managed to,” Susanna replied, sounding weary now.
Alex pointed to four small fuzzy points of light that had suddenly appeared in the sky.
“Mummy, is that Daddy coming home?”
Susanna followed the direction that Alex was pointing to, just in time to see the four dots fade from view.
Then, she struggled to resolve something at the extreme range of her mental senses. And gasped, realizing just which recognizable minds she was picking up.
“Garoden Star Destroyers, are coming,” she yelled almost jumping out of her seat.
“Quick, get to the bunker, everyone,” Jack ordered, taking Alex’s hand, and almost pulling him along towards the shelter.
Both Jack and Susanna knew about the Garoden’s Planet Killer weapon. And, if these were Garoden ships, and they had this weapon on board, then there was nowhere for them to hide.
Earth would be blasted apart from within, and there wouldn’t be any survivors.
The Navy Battleship, Roosevelt, and the cruiser, Vanguard, were stationed twenty thousand kilometers out from Earth’s orbital defense grid. They were there just to protect Earth against any Garoden ship that might somehow get through, and attack the planet itself.
Nothing had happened for what seemed a long time. When suddenly, Roosevelt’s Bridge became active, as the Roosevelt picked up an Intruder warning burst coming from one of the many detection buoys stationed around Mars and Jupiter.
“Commodore. Four unknown ships have exited warp... Hell, they’re not stopping, just heading straight for us,” Science officer, Lieutenant Dexter uttered. Hardly able to believe his tactical screen’s rapid update which displayed the physical size of the ships. And, more importantly, showed that the four ships protective screens were fully up.
Commodore Bateman didn’t have enough time to plan a course of action, he just hit the general Battle-Stations tab.
“They’re Garoden vessels,” Captain Anderson calmly said. Knowing full well that the Garoden ships would be on them before either of his two ships field and weapons grids had fully charged.
The last thing anyone saw, was the flash before their eyes.
The Garoden lead ship, Z361, veered abruptly to avoid the largest Battleship’s hull as it fractured, in front of them.
Explosions created fireballs that spread rapidly through the center of the Earth ship melting bulkheads and feeding on the remains of its atmosphere as they went.
Then, the Battleship Roosevelt’s warp core exploded in a blinding flash. Sending her life forms, debris, and large metal sections, hurtling outward like missiles. Until only a mangled skeleton remained.
The other three Garoden Warships then moved further away, as a field of slowly expanding debris, signaled the end of the Cruiser Vanguard
In the meantime, Enrant, the Z361’s captain, and his Science Officer, Lieutenant Trank, both studied the tactical and sensor reports on the planet’s defenses. Including two orbital structures closer in, before ordering their destruction.
Once their defenses are down, Captain Enrant thought to himself, our planet-killer weapon will make short work of these alien’s homeworld. However, it seemed a shame to him that his higher ups felt it necessary to destroy this planet when they could so easily eradicate its life forms, then turn it into a world that the Garodens could be at home on. Still, orders were orders, Enrant decided.
“Eliminate that defense grid,” Enrant ordered his other three ships, as his ship re-joined them. “Then take out the two orbital structures closer to the planet.”
The three Garoden ships moved closer in to engage the Earth’s orbital defense grid components. Then, particle beams shot out of each Garoden ship, vaporizing Earth’s grid weapon’s platforms as they went.
Some weapons platform emitters managed to auto-fire at the Garoden ships but failed to penetrate their protective shields.
Four minutes later, and Earth’s primary planetary defenses were destroyed.
The secondary orbital space stations made a brief attempt to fight back, with missiles that never reached any of the Garoden ships. With this action being abruptly ended by a synchronized particle beam blast from all four Garoden ships, that burnt gaping holes in each of the secondary targets structures, causing them both to start breaking apart.
Meanwhile, a few missiles that had been fired from the planet’s surface were quickly vaporized by the Garoden’s primary weapons.
Captain Enrant couldn’t believe how easy it had been. Nor, that they had found one of the Aliens home worlds.
And, he didn’t care that their particle beam onslaught would have slowly pushed the wreckage into a declining orbit. Knowing it would have been different if they were going to save the planet for future use. But they were not, and now, the planet would soon be just lumps of rock floating in space.
However, he needed to get on with destroying the Planet, now. As his ships were urgently needed back with the main fleet.
“Withdraw, and prepare the Planet-Killer,” Captain Enrant ordered. “Weapons, how long before we can launch the planet killer weapon?”
“Twenty minutes, Captain,” the weapons Lieutenant confirmed. “But, what about all those small objects in orbit, Captain?”
“They aren’t a problem. There are no detectable weapons, just comms, and observation items,” the ship’s main AI interjected.
“Ignore them, but keep our shields up,” Enrant ordered. He wasn’t going to drop their protective screens until the planet was physically destroyed. Only then, would he be convinced that this Alien race was finally eradicated.
Four minutes had passed, and Captain Enrant was getting impatient.
“Can’t you speed it up, Lieutenant?”
“If I could, I would have, Captain,” the Lieutenant snapped back.
Enrant was about to reprimand him for his manner when contact warnings lit up his tactical screen.
“Eight ships have just exited warp… Ninety thousand kilometers out…, closing rapidly,” his AI announced.
“What are they?”
“Solveron Battle-Spheres.”
“What? I thought that race had been eliminated,” Captain Enrant exclaimed, somewhat apprehensively.
Even so, he thought, they weren’t a threat before, and, they’re certainly not a threat to our ships now.
“Their shield properties do not conform to those located in my memory,” the AI then informed Enrant.
“Engage the enemy,” Captain Enrant ordered, ignoring his AI’s last statement.
Lieutenant Trank looked up from his analytic display, “Captain, we might have a problem,” he stated, knowing full-well there was a problem, and what the problem was.
The eight Solveron Battlespheres hurtled towards the Garoden group. Curving in towards vulnerable areas that they had been able to pinpoint, with the technical knowledge they had gained from the Garoden Star Destroyer that was now in their possession, courtesy of the operator, Cindy.
Particle beams and missiles from the Garoden ship hit the Battle Spheres molecul
ar-disrupter protective shields. But, just dissolved in streaks of fire that quickly dissipated.
The eight Battle Spheres then split into sets of two, slowing down as they reached the Garoden ships Force-field boundary.
Then, the Solveron blue Globe ship just drifted through the boundary, and within seconds, reached the Garoden vessels.
As each Sphere touched a Garoden ship. The ship’s hull disintegrated, as the Solveron ship then passed slowly through the body of the ship. With each Solveron Battle Sphere leaving a gaping hole, and a dead Garoden ship behind them.
Chapter 32
Unclear
Supervisor Javon watched on his secondary temporal holographic display, as Plato’s Temporal team fine-tuned the temporal overlay.
Javon was feeling his age, and this, added to the stress concerning operator Charlotte, was taking its toll on his health. However, he had just finished a four-hour stint in Delta’s rejuvenation cubical, and now felt the sharp focus that was essential for a predictor, back again.
He could see that the Garoden Homeworld strand was still foggy. Therefore, the Homeworld elements of the master plan were not yet in place.
Javon directed his thoughts to Platos.
The Garoden War. (SpaceFed StarShips Series) Book 7. An exciting, action-packed SpaceFed Series finale that also concludes the Garoden War.: ‘Military Gamble.’ Page 13
