She had used a Delta Time-ship to capture this vessel, which was crewed by just four Garoden technicians, and a pilot, all of whom had easily been mentally persuaded to obey her commands.
Then, once she had installed the Orb that she had legally obtained, from Delta’s store, on the ship. Charlotte then hid the second stolen BEC Cryopreservation injector in a safe place, on board.
Charlotte had then ordered the ship’s service droids to paint a bird-like crest on the ship’s bow. The crest, somehow, seemed a statement of her determination to succeed.
Then, while Frank had been busy, securing the Shutdown-pulse-generator chamber they had removed from the Neutron to the floor on Andromeda, and connecting it up. Charlotte had also taken the time to order Andromeda’s special tasks replicator, to directly replicate several of the stealth BEC Cryopreservation injectors.
Charlotte ordered the Task Replicator to carry out this work, while Andromeda was traveling to the Garoden’s Homeworld with Frank. And, importantly, to ensure that the replicated units were complete with their brain-enhancing cells. With these units, having to be ready to be transferred to Charlotte’s ship when Andromeda returned.
The other thing that had made her day was that the Orb on Andromeda had just verified that Charlotte’s conception scan was positive and that she was pregnant. And better still, the chemical changes detected were consistent with her having twins, a boy, and a girl.
However, there was one thing that worried Charlotte, and that she had no control over while Frank and Andromeda were in transit. She had been stunned when her Orb had reported that Andromeda was unpicking its systems to try to remove the memory blocks, that she had installed to ensure that Andromeda and Frank would do exactly what she wanted.
Unbeknown to Charlotte, however, Frank, was on Andromeda’s bridge, and was also trying to override some of Charlotte’s memory blocks, that he knew were meant to prevent him from gaining access to Andromeda’s systems.
Andromeda was now just one hour’s warp time from Charlotte’s Crillon vessel. When, suddenly, Andromeda made its first contact with Frank.
“Frank.”
“Bingo,” Frank elatedly exclaimed, as he felt the connection establish between him and Andromeda, and heard her voice.
“Glad to have you back... Klondike,” Frank said out loud. Hoping that Andromeda remembered the silent mode conversation code he’d put in Andromeda’s security list over four years earlier.
‘Yes, Frank. Just as Delta’s Orb split into two, the Galactic coordinates for the Neutron’s exit point into the battle area were transferred. I managed to unblock that particular strand and recorded the location.’ Andromeda mentally informed him.
Frank, smiled to himself, as he realized that, not only had Andromeda remembered the silent-mode code, but she was also slowly regaining control from the Orb.
‘Glad you’re back, old friend,’ he told her.
‘You too Frank,’ Andromeda responded.
‘Andromeda, we need to keep that Orb oblivious of our conversations and actions… So, how long before we rendezvous with Charlotte? And what, if anything, have you been instructed to do for her…? Oh, and what do you know of the present situation?’
‘Forty-seven minutes, Frank, and I can’t change that… I have just completed replicating four BEC Cryopreservation injectors for Charlotte. Well, that’s what she called them… The stealth function of the units, was, however, beyond my replication ability, Frank.”
‘And,’ Frank urged.
‘Oh, yes. And lastly, about the current situation. Charlotte is pregnant… But, I am at a loss to understand your part in that.’
‘What do you mean, my part in that?’ Frank asked.
‘Well, has your relationship with Susanna ended?’
Frank, couldn’t understand what she meant about that. ‘Susanna… She’s dead, along with the rest of our crews,’ he said.
‘Incorrect, Frank… Susanna and the crews were rescued by your Crillon friend, Procard.’
Frank was stunned. ‘What…? Charlotte was quite explicit that they were all dead by the time Procard arrived… How do you know what happened anyway, if you were shut down?’
‘The Force Crafts logs, Frank. Also, from a recording made by one of their monitoring systems, of Procard informing the crew that he would be taking them all back to Earth.’ Andromeda told him.
Frank felt sick. But now he understood why Charlotte needed him to believe that they were indeed all dead. She had known that, only then, would he have agreed to give her the children she truly believed she was destined to have by him.
Frank couldn’t think for a while, he was gutted at how easily he had been used by Charlotte.
‘I’ve been lied to, Andromeda,’ Frank finally told her. ‘And, about the crystals. Even with the three warp crystals I grabbed from the Neutron, we still won’t be able to reach Earth,’ Frank added.
Then thought about that, before going on. ‘Even so, Andromeda, you could use the Neutron’s coordinates, and exit near the battle area, couldn’t you?’
‘Yes, Frank. I have already taken back control of my droids, and they are moving the three crystals to the warp engine, right now. The droids will then be able to replace the exhausted crystals as necessary.’
‘Excellent, Andromeda,’ Frank replied. Then feeling somewhat relieved left the control room and headed for the Marines quarters, with a grim but determined look on his face.
Frank knew exactly what he was looking for, and it wasn’t long before he found several discarded weapons. He smiled, and selected the most powerful looking one, then picked it up and checked to make sure the power cell was still active.
Then Frank chose Wide beam, pointed the rifle at one of the marine’s beds, and squeezed the firing stud.
Frank, felt the weapon’s jerk as a particle beam shot out, and vaporized most of the bed.
“That’ll do nicely,” he said out loud, as he selected the Narrow beam then headed for Charlotte’s Orb, which was located close to Andromeda’s secondary interface point.
Chapter 36
Bitter Action
The Starcruiser Neutron safely exited warp within the battle area, and immediately triggered the warp crystal’s Shutdown death pulse.
Lord Dankel, Head of the Garoden Space Navy, shook his head trying to remove the blackness that had suddenly invaded his mind. He felt giddy and sick at the same time, and gripped the command chair’s armrests tightly, trying to take control of his actions.
“Lieutenant Chellor,” Dankel cried out in pain.
Although he was almost blinded by the blackness, he could just see, and hear, everyone else on his ship’s bridge gasping in pain. It was almost as if something had been ripped out of their bodies.
He cursed himself for not listening to Plank’s request to carry out a training exercise. An exercise that would have tested the reactions of his ships crews, in operating without the assistance of their companion brains.
Dankel knew that it wouldn’t just be his bridge crew in turmoil. He tried to picture an item in his personal pod. But nothing happened. He stood up, then trembled, remembering his son had said that they wouldn’t be able to teleport.
Then, he finally realized, that his son had been right to fear these Aliens.
“Our companion brains power source is dead, we are on or own now,” Dankel shouted at Chellor above the din of contact alarms.
Then, he, and his crew struggled to change the way their brains functioned, now that they were on their own, and without a Companion brain, to execute their wishes and commands.
Dankel’s vision was slowly returning, as his body and implants adjusted to the new situation.
A short time later, he was able to look at his main tactical screen and was horrified, as he saw Alien ships exiting wormholes everywhere around them.
Worst of all, Dankel then realized that some his ships had lost their protective shields. Probably the jerk reaction of a dying companion brain, he d
ecided. It might have been only for a few seconds. But, it was enough to let the enemy…
Then, a bright flash interrupted his thoughts, and he tried to shield his eyes as Excellency Vectra’s flagship blew apart.
Dankel was almost shocked out of his command chair as his ship shuddered violently.
Someone screamed as a small power conduit blew.
By the time Dankel realized that his ship was under attack from a large alien vessel, a red mist was already swirling around the bridge. A red mist that was all that remained of Comms Officer, Ensign Savric.
That was enough for Dankel… He flipped open the manual control that he’d set earlier, to Auto-Origin-Ready. Then hit the Execute tab.
The Jefferson exited its hyperspace wormhole, almost on top of the largest Garoden warship, and with its ship’s collision alarms sounding.
“Weapons and shield power grids, on-line in three seconds,” yelled Lieutenant Gort.
“Bloody hell, she’s going to warp.” Lieutenant Farrow, frantically warned seeing the Garoden’s warp pulse.
“Back us out of here, quickly,” Garret ordered.
“Weapons and shield on-line,” Gort confirmed as his board indicated that the emitter doors had opened, and the Particle beam collimators, were extended.
“Well, fire at the damn thing,” Admiral Winton snapped.
The Jefferson’s Skipper Drive yanked the ship backward as her forward pulse cannons opened up, but with little effect at first.
“Their shields are weakening,” Jefferson’s AI, Anna, pointed out.
“I wondered when you’d wake up,” Winton grumbled.
By now, the Garoden warship’s wormhole had formed, and, as the ship slid forward, it appeared to elongate, then safely vanished into the wormhole.
Then, the Jefferson rocked, as the Garoden ship’s warp field rippled space-time for a few seconds before the ripples disappeared.
“Sorry Admiral,” Anna said. “I’m fully operational now. But, whatever disrupted the Aliens, caused my awareness to wobble.
Winton didn’t reply, He was looking at his display.
“That’ll be Frank Richardson, I’ll bet,” Winton said, seeing the Star Cruiser Neutron sitting in the middle of the Garoden fleet.
"Switching to the secondary target,” Anna advised as the Jefferson rolled to a new heading. Her maneuvering emitters whining under the sudden power surge.
The Michigan group exited warp, exactly where the Strategic AIs had ordered, right in the center of the battle.
Lexington’s Commodore Lenny Denning immediately called Captain Campbell on the all-ships comms link.
“Are we staying in two groups?” Denning asked, needing clarification on seeing several Garoden Star Destroyers drifting into each other’s protective screens.
“That’s the AIs recommendation, Commodore.”
“Weapons and shields online Captain,” Lieutenant Crain confirmed.
Campbell gripped the command chair as the Michigan’s skipper drive suddenly wrenched the ship onto an intercept with the nearest Garoden vessel.
His tactical screen showed what seemed like hundreds of red hostile ship markers, to Campbell. But just a few green tags, thereby indicating that not many Tri-Planet ships had arrived yet.
“WEPs away,” Science officer, Lieutenant Paris informed as the WEP’s shot out of the Lexington’s hanger bay.
Captain Campbell knew that all his Michigan groups WEP’s would be diving out there to back-up his ships.
However, he worried that with there being so many WEP’s, would they be more of a hindrance, than an asset?
Suddenly, there was a flash close by, then his ship rocked as a violent external explosion’s shockwave hit something nearby.
“What the hell was that?” Campbell asked out loud. Then realized, from looking at his tactical display, that Captain Harry Blacksmith’s vessel, the Turpin, had blown apart.
“Crillon and Solveron ships have entered the combat zone, Captain,” Ensign Chapel informed Campbell. With Chapel sounding relieved that the friendly green markers on her comms board had suddenly increased.
Now, the Fleets AIs were taking control of the battle, with the officers and science teams just monitoring their progress.
The Michigan’s forward particle beam cannons then opened-up on the closest Garoden warship.
“Unbelievable, their shields are fluctuating,” Lieutenant Paris, excitedly exclaimed. “There’s something wrong with them.”
The Garoden Star Destroyer’s protective screen had dipped for a moment. Just long enough for the Repulse to add its firepower to the Michigan’s.
The Garoden hull melted in small areas, under the combined particle beam onslaught from the Repulse and Michigan, until the hull’s melting sections became unstable.
“Watch out, Captain,” Admiral Barry Winston’s voice warned over the comms.
Furious fireballs formed inside the Garoden ship, melting bulkheads as they spread through the center corridors, feeding on its atmosphere until the whole ship erupted in one consuming ball of fire.
A fire that shrunk at first. Then, expanded violently, sending debris outward like missiles, and causing a mini shockwave.
“We can repel, it,” Paris assured his Captain.
Then the Michigan shuddered as her protective screen absorbed the impact from the larger chunks of debris.
“Clear,” Lieutenant Paris confirmed after a few seconds.
Looking at his secondary display, Captain Campbell was thankful to see that the overall battle status had moved up a gear.
He tapped each new battle area in turn and noted that the Solverons and Crillons were also having success.
Then, an information line appeared across his secondary display.
Second phase: Linking Michigan group with Jefferson group.
“About time,” he muttered.
Then, he recollected that sometime during the battle, he didn’t know how, but he’d heard Admiral Winton make a remark over the comms link, that referred to Frank Richardson.
‘So, Frank’s plan must have finally worked,’ he mused.
Chapter 37
Dangerous Truth
Frank sat on the floor, close to where Charlotte’s Orb was connected to Andromeda’s secondary interface point.
He was waiting for the moment when Andromeda would drop out of its hyperspace wormhole, close to Charlotte’s waiting Crillon ship.
The muzzle of the marine’s rifle was set to maximum power, and rested on his arm, just two centimeters from the Orb.
Then, Andromeda finally sent him the last five seconds of the countdown to exit, via his implant.
Five…Four…three…two…one…zero.
“Geeze,” he grumbled as he strained to hold back the nauseous effects of Andromeda plunging into normal space, exactly where she was programmed.
He ignored the stomach compression and giddiness, as he squeezed the weapon’s firing stud.
It's violent purple discharge, vaporized Charlotte’s Orb, which ended in a swirling patch of sparkling lights that soon extinguished, leaving a cloud of white powdery material that slowly settled on the floor.
His mind reeled, as Charlotte’s mental voice thundered into his brain before he could mentally block her out.
You destroyed my Orb, you fool… You will join me on my ship. Now!
No, he shot back. You lied to me… Susanna and my friends are still alive, he mentally accused her as he hurried back to the control room.
They are not important, Charlotte venomously replied.
Of course, they are. Susanna’s my wife.
Nevertheless, Frank, you will be with me, Charlotte commanded him. Your…, our children, are all that matters from this moment on… They will have our combined powers and more.
I know, what you said, Frank sarcastically replied. You said that one day they would rule the Galaxy.
Of course, they will… They will have the power. Join me, or die with Andromeda, Cha
rlotte warned him.
Frank felt Andromeda cringe at the thought of being vaporized.
You forget that I sensed your thoughts when you had a weak moment, Charlotte… I know that all you needed me for, was to get you pregnant, he finished.
By now, Frank had reached the control room and quickly sat down in his command seat. Then waited a moment having seen that Andromeda was shifting his secondary display’s view, to include a magnified view of Charlotte’s Crillon ship as it approached the Andromeda.
And now I am, Frank felt Charlotte’s final statement in his mind.
Then, Frank sensed that Charlotte was about to leave, without him. He quickly looked at Charlotte’s Crillon ship, which was showing on his screen. And, could see that it was getting larger the closer it came. So, not leaving yet, he thought to himself.
Then he looked at the ship again. Now the ship seemed, for some unknown reason, to look familiar to him. Especially the markings on its bow. Frank vaguely remembered seeing this ‘bird-like crest, before, but couldn’t quite remember when or where.
The Garoden War. (SpaceFed StarShips Series) Book 7. An exciting, action-packed SpaceFed Series finale that also concludes the Garoden War.: ‘Military Gamble.’ Page 15
