Pray for the Prey

by Saxon Andrew

  Cyanna said, “Already done.”

  RV nodded and said, “Send a message to Kate to hold her line next to us.”

  “Done.”

  The two fleets from the Milky Way were in the center of the three long lines. They were positioned slightly ahead of the upper and lower lines so their weapons could be targeted on any large force attacking the weaker ships. RV said over his fleet’s frequency, “We will use our ultrabeams at one third power in the first attack and slowly raise the power as different ships arrive or until we see we need a higher power to penetrate the attacker’s force fields. We will launch our small craft when the Commander releases us from the line.”

  • • •

  “Hey Eric.”

  “What do you want, Gibbs. I’m busy at the moment.”

  “The one that kills the most ships pays for the next meal.”

  “You’re on.”

  “You’re going down, clown.”

  Eric laughed and knew Gibbs thought the aggressiveness of his ships would win the bet for him. Eric sent orders making sure his fleet understood the plan and the call word. Gibbs won’t know what happened until too late.

  • • •

  “They’re starting to bet, Sir.”

  “Who?”

  “Gibbs and Eric.”

  “Who do you want?”

  “I hate to bet against my own, but I have to take Gibbs.”

  “Will you give me odds?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “I’ll take Eric anyway.” RV looked at his display and tried his best to hide his thoughts. Cyanna stared at him for a moment and shrugged as she went back to her panel. RV looked at the opposite wall from Cyanna and smiled. Then he made a serious expression and turned back around. He mentally patted himself on the back. He was getting better at hiding his thoughts. He had worked on it in front of a mirror for weeks and it appeared to be working.

  Cyanna sighed; she was going to lose again. He accepted that bet too quickly. He knew something she didn’t and it was going to cost her.

  • • •

  The Fleet Director received calls from six other Majors before he launched. They all volunteered to send ships to punish the minors and he welcomed their participation. He only had to take two million ships instead of four. Seven million should be able to handle this quickly enough. He looked around his bridge and said, “Launch in a ninety micro-measures.”

  He smiled and looked forward to teaching the rebellious civilizations a lesson. He had lost more than a thousand on his wager. He owed them.

  • • •

  The dark creature watched his display waiting for the fleet to attack. His communication panel sounded and he pushed the switch, “I’m busy at the moment.”

  “I think there is something you should know.”

  “What is that?”

  “Those new ships being used by the Minors are very dangerous.”

  “Really? Where did you learn that?”

  “From a source in the adjacent sector.”

  The Dark Being watched and thought about the two million ships being sent there. “Are there wagers being taken on this?”

  “There are and the odds are two thousand to one and going up.”

  “Thanks, I’ll take your warning under advisement.” He ended the call and placed a bet on the Minors ten seconds before the fleets fired their first shots. The wager takers were amazed that one of the Purple Clan would bet that much against his own ships. However, they gladly took the bet.

  The dark creature knew it was too late to stop the attack. He had been contacted by the Highest and he let him know that an attack had been ordered. Now, if his source was right…”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  RV saw the millions of ships appear and accelerate toward their lines. The entire front on the charging ships were Purple followed by other types of ships chasing behind then. He nodded at Cyanna and she said, “Beams are free,”

  The three lines of white ships fired a massive barrage at the incoming ships. The Bugs and Horde launched energy pulses and RV’s fleets fired their beams. He stared at the scanner display and calmly said, “Order beams increased twenty percent.”

  The Purple Ships were being blasted. The energy pulses hit and blew through their force fields and blasted the ships. The Beams from RV’s fleets didn’t penetrate until they were twenty miles out. Suddenly the beams grew brighter with intensity and Purple Ships began exploding forty miles out. The space in front of the three lines was one giant explosion. More and more ships were jumping in and RV said, “Rotate the first section.”

  Every third ship in the line turned and faced the ships that had jumped in behind the lines. The Bug and Horde also rotated one third of their forces and the space behind the lines looked like the front on a somewhat smaller scale. Soon ships were jumping in on all sides of the three lines and ships were dying faster than could be counted. Some of the Major Ships broke through the lines and killed ships in all three lines. RV winced every time one of his ships exploded but so far he had only lost a thousand. The upper and lower lines had lost ten times that number.

  Other Major Civilizations called in and offered to send ships. There was huge anger at this uppidy Minor killing their master’s ships. The number jumping in swelled to twenty million. Many massed together to attack the line in a massive attack against a small section in an effort to penetrate the line and roll it up. RV watched the ships as they started to move forward and he heard, “Break ranks. Break ranks, pick a target and make it count.”

  RV looked at Cyanna and said, “Launch all ships and strikers are now free.”

  Kate received the command and yelled, “Allllriggghhhhtttt! All weapons free, all weapons free. Launch all ships and strikers are free.”

  “The incoming mass of nine million ships thought the middle line in front of them had exploded. White seemed to puff out from the line and expand outward. Moments later they learned what those puffs were made of.

  Wing Commander Jak turned and was followed by three hundred and forty Needles. He smiled at their flight discipline and knew no orders were needed. His pilots were well trained and prepared. They flew in single file to offer the smallest target possible to the oncoming ships. Eight miles, out they moved out into a line and bore in on the giant ships approaching them. They each targeted two ships and launched a main striker at each. They broke away as the strikers hit the front ships at ninety five percent of light speed. The front of the incoming ships exploded so fast that the ones following were forced to fly around them only to find more than a million lines of tiny ships moving toward them.

  The neutral zone looked like a picture from hell. Millions of ships were fighting and dying. RV checked his display and saw that no more ships were jumping in. The strikers were making the difference and Kate’s fleet was racking up kills. Cyanna saw that her fleet was scattered throughout the war zone while Eric’s fleet all fought in one small area. The Bugs and Horde were also working together in groups and though they were losing large numbers of ships, they were giving more than they got.

  • • •

  Eric said calmly into his com, “Domino, domino, Domino.”

  Cyanna watched Eric’s entire fleet jump to the edge of the combat zone and form a giant square with two hundred lines of two hundred ships. The formation looked like a game she played as a child. The giant square moved forward and she saw five thousand ships moving behind the formation to attack any ships that moved into its rear. The fleet moved into the combat zone and began killing any Major Ship in its path. The ships were spaced so any concentration of enemy ships would be caught in a cross fire by the ships closest to the area of danger.

  The ships were equally spaced with twenty mile separation and the four thousand mile wide square moved through the giant battle killing everything in front of it. Kate saw the huge formation and started laughing. It looks like he’s teaching us something new. Gibbs saw the formation and checked his scanner. He fell back
in his chair and slowly shook his head. Before that formation could make it across the war zone, every Major Ship disappeared.

  “Return to formation, return to formation.”

  The survivors jumped back to their lines and then moved the lines together. RV said, “How many?”

  “Ten thousand battleships, seventy thousand plus small craft.”

  “How many Majors?”

  “Twelve million in our initial count.”

  RV sighed but knew the price was worth it. Now he would have to wait and see what happened next.

  • • •

  Beth waited for Riebbe but he had not returned. After all ships were on board she waited and his slot was empty. “Oh Rieb!”

  She went to his wing and pulled the second in command by the sleeve, “Where’s Reibe?”

  The Captain lowered his head and said, “He crashed his ship into an oncoming major Battleship that was attempting to ram the Havana.”

  Beth nearly broke down. Then she remembered, “Where did that happen?”

  “I don’t know. This battle moved all over the neutral zone.”

  “Pull up your record. Do it now!”

  • • •

  Riebbe floated in space and saw the three lines reform off in the distance. Looks like we won the first round. He kept his right arm still. He couldn’t move his fingers so he assumed he had broken it when he ejected from his ship just before it accelerated into the Major battleship. Thank the stars that the biggest part of the resulting explosion was contained by the ship’s force field before it died. He was still pushed away from the blast and was moving away from the fleet. He thought about Beth and hoped she was ok. He looked at the stars and found peace. He had a good life. He loved a good woman and she loved him in return. He sighed and closed his eyes and saw her face smiling at him. He moved his left arm and though it hurt like the blazes, he could still use it. He decided before he ran out of oxygen, he’d blow out his faceplate. That death would be much quicker. He closed his eyes and lost consciousness. He didn’t know his arm was bleeding from the compound fracture.

  Beth flew the Attack Craft that had been modified into a medical craft and scanned the area suggested by the Havana’s computer. There was so much debris drifting and flying around that it was impossible to see anything as small as a person. She started to panic. Cyanna said, “Calm down and think about this. What can we use to locate him? Is there anything on his suit that we could track?”

  Beth couldn’t think she was so scared. She forced herself to take deep breaths and she closed her eyes. She thought of her space suit and started at the floor and worked her way up in her mind. “The Blaster! We all carry a hand blaster.”

  “Dolly!”

  “Yes Cyanna.”

  “Do you have the frequency that our hand blaster emits?”

  “I do.”

  “Send it to my board now!” The frequency appeared and Beth set the scanner. An alarm sounded and Cyanna said, “It’s behind us. Turn around.”

  Beth flipped the medical craft and saw the blip. She rushed up to it and saw a space suit moving quickly away from the site of the battle. She opened the cargo door and eased the ship next to the body and prayed. One of the crew pulled the body in and closed the cargo door.

  “Is it him!?”

  Cyanna said, “Calm down, Beth.”

  “That’s my life, Admiral!”

  “Yes it is but he looks bad. He’s got a broken arm and has lost a lot of blood. We need to get him to the Havana.”

  Beth punched in a coordinate and jumped the ship. Cyanna said, “Don’t…” But it was too late. The Havana appeared outside the ship and Beth quickly flew into the landing bay. Cyanna let out a deep breath and said, “That jump was entirely too short to be accurate. We could have ended up jumping into the ship.” Cyanna was talking to an empty chair. She sighed and decided that this was one action that Beth would not be disciplined for. She knew she would have done the same thing if it were RV.

  • • •

  Riebbe felt something and quickly determined that it was his arm. It hurt. I guess I passed out. He slowly opened his eyes and there was Beth leaning over staring into his face. He smiled and she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. “You remembered.”

  “I did.”

  “I was trying to remember if I had ever told you about that maneuver but my mind wasn’t entirely clear.”

  “I remember you saying ejecting out of a craft moving at those speeds was next to suicide.”

  “It looks like I was wrong.” Beth leaned forward and kissed him again. Suddenly Riebbe broke the kiss, “Where is my uniform!?!”

  “Relax, they had to cut it off you and I put it in the closet over there.”

  “Look in the front right pocket. I left something in it.”

  Beth went over and pulled the uniform out and saw the blood stains on the sleeve. She almost broke down but held herself together. She reached in the pocket and found a small silver box. She looked at Jeff and he said, “Will you marry me?”

  She opened the box and the ring was beautiful. She ran over to the bed and saw him wince. She quickly slowed and slowly leaned down and kissed him again. “Is ten minutes from now too soon?”

  Riebbe smiled, “It’s ten minutes too long.”

  Beth went to the wall and said, “Admiral, will you come to the medical bay to perform a ceremony?”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

  Beth smiled and said, “You’ll just have to wait.” RV and Cyanna arrived along with the pilots from their two wings and found them kissing.

  • • •

  RV, Cyanna, Kate, Kenny, and Bob were in the conference room on the Havana. George and the rest of the Command Team looked at them on their wall monitor and George said, “You have done an excellent job. We’re proud of you.”

  “It cost us.”

  “I know but you have made them pay for those losses. What are you going to do now?”

  “We are changing our tactics.”

  George stared at the screen and said, “In what way?”

  “We are not going to use the long lines in the future. We’re going to use Kim’s Domino in all future attacks.”

  “You’re talking about Admiral Kim’s formation?”

  “I am. It combines the strength of the linked force fields of the Bugs and allows us to put any attacker in crossfire. We will initially form the lines, but once the Majors arrive we will form our squares immediately. Our three Admirals here are working on it with their fleets at the moment.”

  “How long do you think before they return?”

  “It won’t be right away. There will be a number of civilizations that took part in the attack that will be attacked in turn due to their loss of ships. That will take a while to resolve.”

  George thought a moment and his expression grew serious, “What if they all combine to attack you; how many ships will you have to face?”

  “The two leaders here don’t know for sure but estimate more than four hundred million at the least.” RV saw George’s expression change and quickly said, “I don’t think that will happen and even if it does, it won’t last long.”

  “Why not?”

  “There’s that other sector that would jump on the Majors if they sent all their ships away from their planets. I think the Majors realize that and will be reluctant to use them all. However, they could put a formidable force together if they agreed to work together.”

  “Well, at least we didn’t use our other ships in that battle. They don’t know about them.”

  RV nodded, “Next time all of our ships will jump in at the first sign of trouble. The Majors will be coming loaded for bear.”

  George smiled, Maybe we’ll be given some time. We’re building ships at a record pace. If they delay, we’ll only get stronger.”

  “Time has always been the most important element in our success.”

  George smiled, “Perhaps time is on our side.”

 
; RV leaned back in his chair, “We can only hope. The next visit we have from the Majors will start the beginning of the end.”

  “The end of whom?”

  RV looked around the room and shrugged, “That has yet to be determined.”

  The end

  Excerpt from

  Lens of Time Book Four

  The End of Time

  Arvolo looked up at his display and saw the gathering ships. There were millions and more were arriving every second. He hit the general frequency, “It appears that both sectors of M-87 have now combined and are coming to destroy our fleets. There is now possible way for us to fight in formation so once the battle is joined, all ships will be on their own to fight and survive as best they can. It is our intent to kill as many of the enemy as possible and lessen the possibility of them finding our new home. Small ships will fight until they run out of munitions and will then jump away. You will not waste your ships by ramming the enemy. We will need you in future combat operations. On my command, weapons are free and pick a group of those warships and introduce yourselves. Make sure they remember you; God speed and good luck.”

  RV stood and moved to the pilot’s chair, “Dolly, can you handle the weapons?”

  “I can.”

  “Cyanna, take over control of the fleet and order retreat if we’re going to be overwhelmed.”

  Cyanna moved to the command chair and watched the giant mass of warships as it continued to grow. She looked at RV, “If you don’t mind, I’ve never been the patient sort.”

  RV smiled and said, “Go ahead.”