by Saxon Andrew
“I know. But you have been placed in an untenable situation and don’t have any other alternative,” she quickly replied. “Just tell me I’m being foolish, and I’ll stay here with you and Jorele.”
The Fleet Commander stared at Misha and lifted his communicator, “Jorele, report to my ship, immediately. Meet me in the landing bay.”
“On my way.”
Misha looked at him and he saw her fear. He put his arm around her and hugged her, “You are not in danger, Misha. I know you’ve said blasphemous things that would call for a death sentence…but…I will not lie to you. I am going to order Jorele to leave with you and the children on this shuttle. He will take you to Haven and he will remain there with you.”
“But…”
He put his finger on her lips, “I will tell everyone that he tried to prevent your deaths by bringing you here showing those left behind extreme disrespect. I’ll say I ordered him and you back to the planet to face whatever happens. I suspect before anyone could challenge me on doing this, the planet will be destroyed.”
“Father, he will not leave you!”
“Yes, he will. Since I lost his mother, you, Jorele and the children are all I have left that means anything to me. He will do as I order; he’s a good son.”
Misha started crying, “Can’t you go with us?”
“No, I’m the one that found Haven and no one else knows about its location or existence. Life is going to be hard there but you’ll be among others that have lost their faith in the Brotherhood. Make it a special place, Daughter.”
• • •
Two hour’s later, the shuttle left the huge warship’s landing bay and headed back toward the undefended planets. It changed course as soon as it moved outside the scanners of the Brotherhood warships.
• • •
Dan arrived back at his attack fleet and Rachael appeared on his console’s monitor, “Welcome back, Commodore.”
“Rachael, why were you so opposed to me going to meet with the aliens?”
“I didn’t want to lose my best officer.”
Dan activated his subvocal module, “That’s not true, Sir. Dorman, Jan, and Lani are more important than I am and you know it! There’s something else going on and I want to know what it is!” Rachael glared at Dan and he softened his tone, “Admiral Talent asked me if you and I had something going on. I told him no; was I right to answer that way, Rachael?” Rachael took a deep breath and lowered her eyes. “Was I!?” Dan pressed harder.
“We don’t have anything going on, Dan.”
“You’re not answering my question, Rachael.”
Rachael raised her eyes and said, “I do have feelings for you, Dan. But I know that you and I will never be together.”
‘And you say that because…?”
Rachael raised her left shoulder, “Because you will always see me as the tyrant I once was.” Dan stared at her for a moment and ended the contact. Rachael sighed and sat back in her chair. She touched her console and ordered, “Jan, Lani, start moving your fleets into position between the planets being defended and the first planet next to them that has been abandoned by their fleet. Be prepared to hold off any attacks by the Brotherhood.”
Jan acknowledged the order and touched Dan’s monitor on her console, “Commodore, I need you to move into position with your attack fleet.”
“I’ll be there in an hour, Sir.” Jan stared at the tactical monitor and wondered if the aliens were really going to show up. So far, none of their ships had appeared on the long-range scanners.
• • •
Tal thought about what was about to happen and activated his unit’s subvocal frequency, “Jab, I want you to take your ship and move out from one of the abandoned Brotherhood planets on Jee’s side of the Brotherhood arch. Jeri, take your ship to Rachael’s side and I want both of you to send me a live remote scan of a Brotherhood planet being attacked by the aliens.”
“Sir, is it a good idea to leave your ship undefended?”
“Jeri, I’ll run at the first sign of trouble. I can’t depend on the scouts to send the images I need. It would cause them to be detected by the aliens and I’m not risking them being attacked in error. Although I’m not completely certain the aliens would attack them anyway. Stay outside the alien’s scanner range and follow them in to make your recordings.”
“Should we check in with Jee and Rachael, Sir?”
“No, Jab. Their fleets are going to be at the inner edge of the defended Brotherhood planets and you should choose a planet far out from their positions. Get moving and start sending the recording when the aliens attack.”
Tal watched the two warships flash away and Ka asked, “Are you doing this because of Ryshana?”
Tal glanced at her and turned back to his console before answering, “Partly. I do want to know if the aliens completely remove the Brotherhood colonists from those planets.”
“I suspect you also want to see if they nuke the planets to the point of being uninhabitable,” Ka replied. Tal shrugged. He was thankful the aliens were attacking the undefended planets; he wasn’t sure his ships had the will to kill every Brotherhood believer on them. They were humans and his warriors couldn’t help but identify with them, but that was a mistake.
“Sir.”
Tal looked down at his console, “Yes, Captain Gowie.”
“My scouts have reported two thousand alien warships moving toward Brotherhood territory. It appears a thousand warships are headed to the left and right of the defended Brotherhood planets.”
“Thank you, Captain. How long until they arrive?”
“About twelve-hours, Sir.”
Tal contacted Jee and Rachael, “Our scouts have detected a thousand alien warships moving toward each of your assigned areas. They’re expected to arrive in twelve-hours; get your crews to get some rest before they show up.” They nodded and Tal ended the contact. Ummm, the aliens would be sending about twenty warships to each of the planets they were attacking.
Tal started shaking his head and Ka asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Each of the undefended Brotherhood planets is going to have about twenty alien warships attacking it. If they intend to remove every believer from those planets before the Brotherhood fleets can arrive, they’ll have to do it with nuclear weapons; if they use blasters, it could take a couple of days to completely eradicate them.” Ka stared at Tal and then looked away. Tal saw her expression and asked, “What are you thinking, Ka?”
Ka turned back to him, “What would you do if Earth was invaded by the Brotherhood? Would you nuke the planet killing every living thing on it? Imagine every animal and most of the life in the ocean gone. What would remain behind for humanity to resettle the planet hundreds of years later?” Tal stared at her and she looked away as she added, “I don’t think I could make myself do that, Tal.”
“Ka, I don’t know if we can hold off more than twenty thousand Brotherhood warships for two or three days.” Ka didn’t reply and Tal lowered his chin. He didn’t want to agree with her, but he did.
• • •
The Supreme Fleet Commander sat at his desk and looked at the junior clerics filling the wall monitors. The spokesman for the video gathering said forcefully, “Commander, the military reports to the clergy. We are ordering you to send warships out to defend our planets!”
“Cleric, I’ve received my orders directly from the High Cleric. If you have issues with them, have him change them.”
“All of the senior clerics from our planets have left for the Holy Planet to appeal to him to change what’s been done. Send warships to defend our planets until after they have an audience with him!” the spokesman demanded.
“You know I don’t have the authority to make that happen, Cleric. This decision wasn’t made lightly and I will follow my orders.”
“Will you send warships if we’re attacked?!” another cleric asked.
“To do that, I’ll have to weaken the defenses of planets that have more
than three times the population of your planets. It would leave them open to attack and the harm would be far greater if I complied with your request. However, if the High Cleric orders me to do it, I will follow his commands.”
The spokesman interrupted them, “Commander, the faithful on our worlds deserve to be defended. You can’t just turn your back on them!”
The Supreme Commander hated himself for what he was about to say, but said it anyway, “The High Cleric speaks with the voice of the Creator. Are you challenging his orders?”
The clerics on the monitors all knew that to say anything to the commander’s question was a death sentence. But one of them was fearless and spoke up, “Yes! I challenge him on leaving billions of the faithful to die!”
The Commander turned to the cleric’s monitor and said, “I will be notifying the Law Enforcers on your planet about your blasphemy.” He removed the cleric from the monitor and all the others saw him lift a communicator and say, “Connect me with the Senior Law Enforcer.” He paused and then said, “Junior Cleric Acksen has just committed blasphemy challenging the High Cleric’s orders. Go and administer the appropriate punishment!”
The Commander turned back to the other monitors and the spokesman snarled, “You will pay for this.”
“I will pay for this if I don’t follow my orders. This conference is over.”
The monitors went dark and the Commander’s Second asked, “If they are attacked, what are you going to do?”
“Have you really thought about what’s happening?” The second’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Why wasn’t the Holy City nuked when the enemy had the opportunity to do it?”
“The defenses may have prevented them from doing that, Commander.”
“You’re missing it. There were only ten warships defending the holy planet and the attack was launched from just above the planet’s atmosphere. They hit the city where the High Cleric was located just after he left the city. They could have taken out the High Cleric’s ship with a blaster but didn’t do it. What does that tell you?”
“They wanted him to survive,” the second suggested.
“Yes, they did. They knew that the High Cleric would demand me to send warships to defend the Holy Planet and he didn’t really care if we lost some of the conquered planets. The only way to convince the High Cleric that he made a mistake recalling half of our fleets is to allow the abandoned planets to be removed. I’m open to another suggestion.”
“Surly the High Cleric knows that billions will die if he doesn’t send some warships back to us!” the second responded.
“He doesn’t appear to care,” the commander replied. He lowered his eyebrows and asked, “If the planets we’ve abandoned are attacked, would you send ships out to defend them?”
“Do you have the authority to do that?” the second asked.
“Just answer the question.”
“If we do send ships out, there’s no way to defend all of them,” the second said buying time.
“Answer the question.” The second was struggling with how to answer and the commander asked, “Do you think the High Cleric will be sending some warships back to us?”
The second’s eyes narrowed and he replied, “No, he won’t be sending any ships back. And if that’s true, to defend the planets we’ve deserted will only weaken the defenses we have to protect the others.”
“So, what’s your answer?”
The second sighed and answered, “We are forced to keep our forces at the most populated planets. I would not send our forces out to defend them.” The second shook his head, “How can we live with this decision?”
The Commander asked, “Do you believe in the Creator’s Mission?” The second stared at him in silence. “According to our leaders, the High Cleric speaks with the Creator’s voice and you and I are only doing what the Creator want’s done. I’m not making this decision; it’s being made for me by the Creator, through the High Cleric. I am not to blame for what comes out of it and neither are you.”
“Do you really believe that, Commander?”
“Does it matter? We are in the hands of those that don’t allow us to disagree with them in any way. If you haven’t learned that by now, you should know it after what’s coming.” The second nodded and noted that the Supreme Commander didn’t answer his question; and the answer he did give wouldn’t get him in trouble.
• • •
The Backpack was far out in space from one of the undefended Brotherhood planets waiting for the alien warships to arrive. Jab sat at his console and turned to Bobby, “I need to know if a Brotherhood fleet shows up.” Ryshana snorted. Jab turned to her, “Is something wrong, Captain?”
“Sir, we’ll hear from Fleet if any Brotherhood warships make it through the blockade.”
Jab stared at Ryshana and his eyes narrowed slightly, “What are you not saying?”
Ryshana exhaled a quick breath and turned to Jab, “Do you remember the fleet Tal defeated before we were sent back to Earth?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“There were thousands of survivors on those damaged warships and what did the Brotherhood do?” Jab didn’t answer and Ryshana continued, “They burned every ship along with the survivors on them. You were on the Brotherhood’s Holy Planet, Jab. What did you learn about their attitude toward the believers?”
“Are you suggesting that they won’t send fleets out to defend these planets?” Jab asked shaking his head.
Ryshana lowered her chin, “Jab, you really don’t understand just how evil the Brotherhood really is. I can understand that because you were only there a few months before we left. But I lived my life there and I know what’s going to happen.”
“What is going to happen?” Makayla asked.
“The Brotherhood fleets will remain where they are and do nothing to save the planets they abandoned.”
“But there are more than two billion inhabitants on that planet we’re watching!” Makayla responded.
“These planets have been written off by the High Cleric,” Ryshana replied.
“Are you certain about that, Ryshana?” Jab asked.
“Wait and see.”
Jab stared at her and turned to Bobby, “Get a message out to Admiral Talent and tell him what Ryshana just told us.”
“Why are you going to do that?” Ryshana asked.
Jab turned to her, “If they are not coming out to defend them, the aliens shouldn’t use nuclear weapons. It would render the planets uninhabitable and prevent their resettlement.” Jab turned to Bobby, “Send the message!”
Everyone on the bridge looked at Ryshana and she shrugged, “They won’t come out!”
Chapter Twelve
Tal received Jab’s message and he quickly turned to Ka, “Ryshana believes the Brotherhood will not be sending warships out to defend the planets.”
“What?”
“Jab says she insists the Brotherhood have written them off. Can she possibly be right about this?”
Ka stared at Tal and sighed, “I believe she’s in touch with the Creator. Why do you ask?”
Tal turned to his console and contacted Dan, “Commodore, you need to contact the aliens and tell them that we have it on good authority that the Brotherhood fleets will not be coming out to defend the planets they’ve abandoned. Tell them that nuking the planets may not be necessary.”
“Sir?”
“Just tell them!” Tal ordered.
Dan disappeared from the monitor and Ka asked, “And what happens if they do come out?”
“We’ll be forced to hold them off until the aliens complete their attacks,” Tal replied.
“I thought you said we weren’t able to do that.”
“We can’t. But…we’ll let the aliens know if they do attack and tell them that nuclear weapons are called for. Let’s pray we don’t have to destroy those planets.
• • •
The Order Giver ended the contact with the human and thought about what he heard. He turned t
o his communications commander and said, “Put me on a channel with every ship.” The commander began operating his panel and after a few moments, he looked up and nodded. “I have just been told by the ones in the black ships that they don’t expect the Invaders to launch fleets to defend the planets we’re attacking. I find that difficult to believe, however, I’m going to change our attack plan. Do not use nuclear weapons unless absolutely necessary. Remove the Invaders with your ship’s blasters but be prepared to launch nuclear missiles if the black ships are wrong about this. We will stay and remove the Invaders until they send their fleets out to stop us.”
A voice came over the frequency, “I don’t believe the Invaders will stand by and do nothing, Order Giver!”
“I agree with you, Sandel. However, what if they don’t attack and we’ve destroyed those planets where we can’t resettle them in the future? I’m willing to wait and see if they’re right about this. Just be prepared to use your nuclear weapons quickly if they’re wrong.” The OG turned to his pilot, “Move the ship in to one of the planets close to the defended Brotherhood planets.”
“You should not take this risk, Order Giver!”
“I’ve taken bigger risks. I need to see if the black ships are right about this before I endanger our fleets. MOVE THE SHIP!”
• • •
The Second looked up from his console and said to the Supreme Fleet Commander, “Scouts have detected a large enemy formation moving toward the outer planets.”
The Commander looked at his communication officer, “Connect me with every ship in the fleet.” He saw the light on his console turn green and he said firmly, “This is a Creation Order. All ships will go into full communication black out immediately. The only channel that will be operational is my personal frequency and any one violating this order will be executed. You will shut down your communication receivers and only use my frequency. Fleet Commanders notify me when the ships under your commands have responded to this order.”
The second was staring at the Commander and he said, “You don’t want them to hear what’s happening.” The Commander nodded. “Some would not be able to resist going out to defend them.”