Annihilation: Love Conquers All

by Andrew, Saxon;Chiodo, Derek

  Atlas asked, “What was that all about?”

  “Atlas, look in my memories at human history and see what happens when one nation or group of nations became more powerful than their neighbors. We have the capacity in us to become conquerors and destroyers. You represent the ultimate weapon, and we would use your technology to become dominant over all other races. We will lose ourselves if we allow ourselves to depend on knowledge that we don’t earn. I’m not suggesting that you would make your technology available to us, but I am telling you that at our current level of social development that no race could handle being invulnerable, least of all humans.”

  “I’ve wondered why you didn’t ask for my help in the previous conflict.”

  “Would you have given it?”

  “No. I’m still working on issues over my master’s disappearance from the universe. If they could cease to exist with all their advanced technology, I’ll not take action until I have a better understanding of where my actions might lead.”

  “Do you want to remove the tools you gave me?” Tag asked.

  “No. Our link gives me direct access to the events shaping the future. I wish to protect that link. What did they mean ‘psychic skills?’”

  “There were too many witnesses to what I did during the ground battle with the Alliance. Most people know I have a psychic gift, and if what happened can be chalked up to my mental abilities, it would remove the temptation to look for a technological answer. In other words, the ability dies with me.”

  “I understand,” Atlas said. He then told Tag he was going to take a look at human history. “I wonder what this human would say if he knew when I put the shield in him that I changed his lifespan too,” Atlas thought as he started looking around at Tag’s memories. “I have begun to understand what friendship is, and I don’t intend to lose my only friend for a long time.” Then Atlas noticed in Tag’s memory that humans often lost the will to live with the loss of their mate. “I’ll have to do something about that soon, perhaps next time he sees her.”

  The Cainth dreadnought Sharp Claws and its escort ships emerged from star drive and entered the Ross system. They parked just outside the star drive limit with their drives on ready and sent two cruisers in to investigate the planet. Their sensors were set as sensitive as possible and the two ships’ crews were nervous; however, nothing showed up on their scans and they continued to proceed in system until they were parked in orbit above Ross. The planet rotated below them and looked absolutely normal. If a comet had struck here, it had left no evidence. The eerie thing was that there was no sign of intelligent life remaining on the planet’s surface, nor was there any sign of the two hundred Cainth warships that had taken possession of the planet or the twelve thousand ground troops. On the surface they found the grounded Cainth troop transports and the shuttles sent groundside were sending back recordings of the battle sites from around the planet. “Sir, there was fierce combat here. We’ve counted more than nine hundred burned out floaters and weapon platforms near the main captive camp alone, and most of them are still smoking.”

  Ship leader Haronk looked at his visual screen and saw the extensive wreckage of both Alliance and human military hardware. “The last report from the fleet before we lost contact was that a comet was on collision course with the planet, and the admiral was ordered to evacuate his ground forces.” Haronk looked at his console and continued, “Up to that point the civilian population had not resisted our forces. According to ground command, there were no weapons on the planet for them to use in a resistance.”

  “Something happened to change things, then,” one of the crusier commanders said. “Sir, there is human military hardware here and a lot of it that was destroyed. The battle here must have been extraordinarily fierce. My scouts also report the same thing from the other sites around the planet. We see nothing anywhere on the planet that would suggest it was hit by a comet.”

  “Keep me informed it you find anything else, captain.”

  Haronk continued to stare at the beautiful blue-green world on his screen. Try as he might, he just couldn’t come up with what had possibly happened to all those ships and men. “We were in total control,” he thought. “Now what?”

  He turned and ordered, “Communications, open a channel to Central Clan Leader Terl.” Haronk had been ordered to report his findings to the clan central chamber. He was not sure what he was going to report. He also wasn’t sure what action he was expected to take. He hoped that they would pull his task force from this system. Nothing remained here but ghosts of a battle and unanswered questions. Until an answer was found, he worried about his men and ships.

  Aboard the Cleveland, Captain Patel recorded the movements of the Cainth task force. It appeared that they were nervous about entering the system. The flagship and five escorts remained just outside the star drive limit, and sensors showed that their star drives remained charged and ready to make an instant jump. The two cruisers had come in cautiously with screens and weapons ready, and over the last four hours they had landed shuttles on the planet while they remained in orbit and received information from their scouts. All the shuttles returned to the cruisers and they headed back out of the system. The dreadnought and its seven escorts jumped into star drive as soon as the cruisers arrived back to their position and disappeared from the Cleveland’s sensors. “Send the sensor records to Earth command and a copy to the Washington,” Captain Patel ordered as he thought about what the Cainth must be thinking. “They have to be nervous, or those ships would have stayed,” he thought. “Ah well. It shouldn’t be too long before the main Alliance fleet will arrive. Things should get interesting then.”

  Chapter 30

  Admiral Dorg looked at his conference screen, and Head Clansman Terl was asking him questions that he could not answer. He was scared and he was trying his best to hide it. Terl continued his barrage: “Are you aware that we have lost two hundred warships and twelve thousand ground troops and there’s no trace of what happened to them?”

  “Yes, I am, Clan Leader. I have not been to the scene yet, and I won’t arrive there until tomorrow.”

  “Please explain why you felt it was necessary to attack that human colony with only two hundred ships instead of your entire fleet.”

  “I felt that the humans needed to see that our occupation was coming and that we would not tolerate any resistance. This colony was taken easily and all appeared to be going as planned.”

  Terl looked at the admiral and said, “Of course it went easily; they surrendered as soon as the first ship showed up and welcomed you to their planet. You showed them your appreciation for that warm welcome by executing 25 percent of their population. Now we are missing 10 percent of our naval forces and a division of our infantry. Didn’t you tell me that you didn’t know what the humans’ capabilities were?”

  “Yes, I did.”

  “So you thought you could send two hundred ships and twelve thousand troops and they would be perfectly safe against an enemy that you said represented a grave threat to our race?”

  Dorg felt the chill run up his spine. His life was in the balance here. His face was damp and his heart was almost out of control. “Sir, I covered your assigned officer with my plans to make sure the clans approved them. I was told they were approved.”

  “That’s the only thing saving you from execution. You are supposed to be the human expert. You are supposed to make the right decisions about them. You more than anyone should not under estimate them, but you obviously did. It’s that inefficiency that has the clan leaders angry. Do you have enough ships to handle the job?”

  “I believe so. After what has happened, I’m hesitant to be sure of anything.”

  “Will the Alliance send more if we request them?”

  “State Leader Sten is furious about the executions and the early start of our occupation. I suspect that we would be publicly embarrassed and forced to request help from the general assembly, where our actions would be censured,” Dorg rep
lied. “It’s also hard to justify more ships when we don’t know how many ships the humans have.”

  Terl stared at the admiral and said, “If you had simply waited and took your entire fleet to the home world of these humans and occupied their planet, then you could have taken your time finding out just what capabilities they have, and we’d still have our ships and men. Your hatred of the humans led you to make mistakes, and now there is no way you’ll occupy their planet without a fight, which, incidentally, I think was your intention from the start. What makes this problematic is that you still have no knowledge of their capability. I agree with you that the remaining 1,200 ships should be enough, but I’m not going to take a chance; when will you arrive at the colony world?”

  “Tomorrow, Clan Leader.”

  “I have spoken with the Glod ambassador and he has agreed to send an additional four hundred ships, and we will also send another four hundred ships. You will take your fleet to the colony world and wait for those ships to arrive. Keep the majority of your fleet outside the star drive limit prepared to jump. While you’re waiting, investigate in detail and see if you can determine what happened to our ships and men. When the additional ships arrive, take enough time to organize them into your fleet, and then go after the human home world. Do you have any questions, Admiral?”

  “No, Clan Leader.”

  “Win this time, Admiral, or don’t bother to come back,” Terl said and then cut the connection.

  Admiral Dorg sat looking at the blank screen for a long time. He not only lost the ships and men, but he also lost his brother. These humans had played him every time he tried to get the better of them. “Where did they go? Where did they go?” he wondered.

  Richard Wiseman opened his eyes and saw Maggie sitting in a chair next to his bed with her head resting beside his hand. He looked around and saw all the medical machines that had his leg and arm inside them. He felt terrible. He felt like ten miles of bad highway. His whole body was just one big pain, but he found enough strength to raise his hand and place it on Maggie’s head. Maggie felt the touch and raised her head and looked at him and saw his eyes were open. She screamed and jumped up out of her chair and started kissing him on the forehead, cheeks, and finally, tenderly on his lips. “Oh, Richard, I’ve been so worried about you. I was so afraid of losing you. I’ve been praying that you would wake up and come back to me.”

  He looked at her and softly raised his hand and touched her cheek. He tried to talk but his voice wouldn’t work, so he mouthed, “I love you, Maggs.”

  She started crying and couldn’t stop the tears. “Welcome home, darling. We’ve missed you so much.” Richard squeezed her hand and then went back to sleep. Maggie could tell that her husband was back. She knew in her heart he was going to be fine. The two marines standing guard outside his room had heard Maggie scream her joy and knew that Colonel Wiseman was conscious, and they stood even straighter. The survivors of his battalion had taken turns on their spare time to stand watch outside his door. Even the wounded had argued for their turn. The guards sent word out over the com that he was back, and slowly but surely his men began coming to stand outside the hospital where he slept, finally at peace. There they waited for him.

  Jeremy Watson was also in the hospital. He had been shot in the leg after he had joined the headquarters staff in support of Charlie Company. He continued to fire his weapon until he lost consciousness. He, like Richard, had been rushed back to Earth for special care. He had regained consciousness three days ago and was beginning to walk on his repaired leg. Getting his repaired shoulder to work properly was not going as well, but he knew it was only a matter of time until he was, if not 100 percent, at least ninety. He looked in his personnel pack and saw the letter Alonso had charged him to deliver, and he vowed to finish that promise quickly. Alonso deserved his best effort. He never considered having anyone else deliver it. It was his duty, his solemn duty. He missed Alonso tremendously and felt a huge weight on his heart because Alonso was killed saving him. “I’ve got to deliver this letter,” he thought.

  Two days later, Richard woke to see Tag, Danielle, Maggie, and his children surrounding his bed. He smiled and said, “What’s the matter? Am I going to die or something?”

  Tag took his friend’s hand and said, “Richard, we have been worried that you just might, but now we know you’re going to be fine. This is the first day your doctors would allow us to move you out of this room, and we have some visitors that will not leave until they have the opportunity to say hello. So, are you ready for a little trip?”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Richard said.

  Tag took the bed Richard was lying in and started rolling it out of the room and into the hall. The hospital staff lined both sides of the hall, and as soon as they saw him they started clapping. It continued and grew in volume as they rolled him through the front entrance and out to the grassy area directly in front of the hospital.

  Richard heard, “Attention!” There, lined in perfect ranks, were the survivors of his battalion. The veterans of the Ross conflict saluted and then cheered their leader. Even the wounded that were unable to walk sat in their chairs and cheered. Richard felt a big lump in his throat and returned their salute. Then he saw, directly to the side of the entrance, the large crowd that covered the hospital grounds and extended out into the streets in both directions. The director of the government of Earth was approaching him with all the members of the general staff behind her. She came to Richard’s bed and he saluted her. “I’m sorry I can’t stand, Madam Director.”

  Misty Nicole took a microphone and said, “It is I that should be saluting you, Colonel Wiseman. All of Earth wants to thank you for the sacrifice and bravery you and your men demonstrated during the relief of the Ross population. When confronted by a force more than six times your number, you and your brave comrades held out until relief could arrive. You fought even though your leg was broken in four places and you had shrapnel in your arm. Even thought your armor’s screen no longer functioned, you refused to leave the battle and continued to fight to save your men from being overrun through a weak point in your lines. We have not fought a battle in more than four hundred years,” she said to the assembled crowds. “Colonel Wiseman and his men have set a standard for all of our armed forces to follow that should inspire us all. It is with a grateful and loving heart that I have the pleasure of awarding Colonel Richard Wiseman the Solar Star, which is mankind’s highest award for bravery. He is the first marine recipient of this award. We also have changed his battalion’s numbers to First Battalion, First Division Naval Marines. His unit will be awarded the Golden Transport Medal, which is the highest award for bravery a unit may receive. Colonel Richard Wiseman is also hereby promoted to the rank of general and will command the newly constituted First Division. General Wiseman, all mankind thanks you and your men for the sacrifice and job you’ve done in freeing our brothers from the Alliance concentration camps on Ross.”

  The crowd went crazy with a roar, and Richard could barely keep control of himself. He was crying for the men he lost and the memory of their sacrifice. His men were chanting over and over, “Wise-man, Wise-man, Wise-man.”

  Tag leaned down and whispered in his ear, “Richard, your ghosts should rest easy now. You’ve atoned for your sins.”

  Richard looked at Tag and said, “I can’t thank you enough for giving me a chance.” Then Maggie and the children were all over him with kisses, and he finally found peace and knew his heart was free.

  Jeremy Watson rang the tone on the door of Alonso’s family’s living quarters. A pretty young woman answered the door and said, “May I help you?”

  “Are you Maria Singh?”

  “Yes I am.”

  “I have something for you,” Jeremy said and handed her the letter from Alonso. The young woman took the letter, looked at the handwriting on it, and started crying. Jeremy continued, “I promised Al on Ross that if anything happened I would deliver this letter to you personally. He was my pa
rtner in the squad and he saved my life.”

  “Come in please, sit down,” Maria said through her tears. Then she opened the letter and began reading it. Tears rolled down her face and finally she clutched the letter to her chest when she finished. Three young children were looking from around a corner and saw their mother crying. She saw them and motioned them to come in, and all three ran over and held onto her. She wiped her eyes and said, “It’s alright, children. This is a good friend of your father who has come to visit. He was there when your father died.”