by Saxon Andrew
Ka looked at Jab, “How does this affect the final resolution?”
Tal shook his head, “I’m at a standstill, at the moment, Ka. Before I can implement it, I’ll need to get a ship down on the Brotherhood’s home world. I’ve put a lot of thought into it but I see no way that will happen.”
Ryshana immediately asked, “Final resolution?”
Ka turned to her, “Tal has a plan to end this war. But the Brotherhood’s home world is posing an issue.”
Tal nodded, “Even our new scouts couldn’t make it through their defenses; they’re too densely packed around the planet.”
Jab stared at Tal and then asked, “Do you need to get a ship down to the planet or do you need someone to make it to the planet?”
Tal and Ka turned to him, “It’s the same thing, Jab.” Tal replied.
Ryshana saw Jab’s expression and she grabbed his arm, “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!”
“Think about what?” Ka asked.
Jab looked at her, “I can get on the planet.”
Tal and Ka were shocked by his statement but Ryshana grabbed his face and forced Jab to look at her, “YOU WILL NOT DO THIS!!”
Jab took her hands in his and asked Tal, “Will you really put an end to this war?” Tal glanced at Ka and then nodded. Jab looked into Ryshana’s eyes and smiled slightly, “You know this is the only way.”
“I don’t care! If you love me, you won’t do this!”
“It’s because I love you that I have to try, Ryshana.”
Tal hesitated and stood up, “Come with me to my office and tell me what I’m missing.”
Chapter Sixteen
They went to the conference room and Ryshana said fiercely to Jab as they sat down, “IF YOU GO, I GO!”
Ka saw Jab look at Ryshana with a tender loving expression, “That will never work, Ryshana.”
“WHY NOT!!”
“Because you’re carrying our child and neither you or I will put her in danger,” Jab said softly. Ryshana’s tears started as she put her face in her hands, “Please don’t do this, Jab!”
Tal watched them and said, “Just how could you get on the Brotherhood’s home world?”
Jab put his arm around Ryshana and turned to Tal, “When we left the Holy Planet, we faked our deaths. I’m reasonably certain that the investigators weren’t able to figure out what happened and have no idea what happened to us. Do you have any captured Brotherhood shuttles?” Tal nodded. “I can use one of them to go to the planet and demand to speak to the Third Cleric. He’ll insist I be brought to the planet to be questioned.”
“That’s sounds like a stretch, Jab.”
“I’ll come up with a believable story, Tal. I’m pretty certain the High Cleric will also insist on speaking to me.”
“What if they just attack your shuttle instead?” Ka asked.
“If it’s a Brotherhood shuttle, they’ll talk first. They won’t know if it was sent from the conquered planets and would investigate first.”
Ka looked at Tal, “It’s your call.”
Ryshana raised her head, “Tal, please don’t let him do this?”
Jab reached over and turned her face to him, “Ryshana, if you could kill every member of the Brotherhood knowing it could cost you your life, would you do it?” Ryshana was shaking her head slightly and Jab pressed, “Would you?”
“But you don’t hate them as much as I do!”
“Hating them has nothing to do with doing what must be done, my love.” Jab turned to Tal, “Will this resolution save lives?” Tal nodded. Jab turned back to Ryshana, “I’m doing this to insure those monsters never show up at our child’s door trying to kill her…and you.” Ryshana started weeping and Jab smiled slightly, “I’ve learned a lot about the Brotherhood, Ryshana. I won’t make a mistake.”
Tal pursed his lips before saying, “If you manage to get down to the planet, you’ll have to stay there for seven to eight months. There’s no way we can go in and pick you up.”
“When do you need me to do this?”
“I must do something else first, Jab. I’ll let you know in a week. In the meantime, you and Ryshana are relieved of your duties until I make a determination.”
“I can still perform my duties, Tal.”
“I’m aware of that but I’m not willing to risk the only one alive that can get down to the Brotherhood home world.”
Jab shrugged and then nodded, “I understand.”
“Make the promotions on your ship and I’ll send the crewmembers to take their posts.”
Jab and Ryshana left the office and Tal pressed his communicator, “Captain Gowie, report to my ship immediately!”
“What are you going to do?” Ka inquired.
“Find out if now is the time to do this.”
• • •
Drum flew his scout on a set course and stared at his passive scanner’s monitor. It was set to detect an energy pattern on a specific frequency. He had been flying on his course for two days and nothing had shown up. He sighed and wanted to beat a rhythm with his drumsticks but refused to give in to the urge. He glanced back at his monitor and suddenly saw a white speck on it far ahead. He changed course and moved high above the distant dot on his scanner as he picked up speed. As he moved closer, more white dots began appearing on the screen. Eventually, he arrived high above the location of the dots and saw a long line of giant Cyren warships holding position next to each other. He visually counted the number of warships and continued past them. Two hours later, he detected another white dot. Over the next day, he passed over ten long lines of gigantic Cyren warships. After the tenth line was passed, nothing was detected for thirty hours. Then he saw another white dot appear in the distance. He looked at his positional monitor and saw the dot was located inside a large planetary system. He stared at the screen intently and determined that the dot was the fourth planet out from the systems star and it was huge. It was at least fifteen times the size of Earth and the dots around it were growing in number. He moved the scout higher and fought the urge to run. He flew over the planet and saw hundreds of giant warships holding station above the planet. There were also numerous giant defense satellites in close orbit above the planet. He coasted away and moved out of the opposite side of the planetary system. He checked his positional monitor again and saw the outer edge of the Andromeda Galaxy wasn’t far away. He accelerated briefly and saw the galaxy’s edge getting close. He flew over a single line of giant warships just inside the outer edge and moved out into the interstellar void beyond the galaxy. He added the total of warships in the last line to his running total and accelerated a light year out from Andromeda. He turned and brought the scout to a halt. He sat back and waited. The next day, two scouts emerged from the edge of the galaxy, changed course, and joined his ship. Drum was starting to get nervous when the final two scouts emerged two days later. Thank the heavens, none of them had been detected. He gathered the information collected by the scouts and ordered them to move around the edge of Andromeda until they were outside Cyren territory. Once they were clear, the six new scouts accelerated back to the freighters.
• • •
Tal looked at Duncan on the wall monitor in his office, “Duncan, how many alpha warships do we currently have in the fleet?”
“We’re at about two thousand and eight hundred; why do you ask?”
“I’ve just scouted Cyren territory and my scouts counted eighteen hundred Cyren warships.”
Duncan sat up straight in his chair, “Are you certain they counted all of them?”
“Drum tells me it’s possible they missed some but he doubts they did.”
“Why does he doubt it?”
“It appears the Cyrens only live on one planet. They require a very specific atmospheric pressure for them to survive and they’ve apparently not found any other planets to meet their needs. Even if they missed some, it can’t be many,” Tal answered.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because
I’m going to implement the final resolution now. You need to complete your end of it quickly.”
“Why not delay it?”
“Duncan, it’s going to take more than half a year for it to impact the Brotherhood. Every day we wait, I’m losing lives in my fleet. Now is the time.”
Duncan stared at Tal and blew out a harsh breath, “We’ll have an additional four hundred alphas in six months. Carry out your plan.”
“Thank you, Duncan. Besides, if the Cyrens attack the new colonies, there’s no way they’re going to send all of their fleets.”
“They will the next time, Tal.”
“You’ll just have to make sure they don’t have as many to send the second time.”
Duncan smiled slightly and ended the call. Tal sat back and shook his head before contacting Jab on his subvocal module, “Jab, will you and Ryshana report to my office?”
“On our way, Sir.” Jab hated what he was about to do but too much was hanging on doing it. If this worked out, he was resigning from the service. This was one pain he wouldn’t be able to bear. He thought about his preparation for this mission.
• • •
Jab had changed his appearance to Borgt and walked into an office on the Brazil where a petty officer was sitting at a desk. The petty officer smiled and stood up, “Please step in front of this screen.” Jab walked over in front of the screen and stood up straight. The petty officer took an image of him with a device and went back to his desk. He downloaded it into his computer and turned to Jab, “Exactly how do you want this image modified?”
“I want you to make it look like it’s suffering from severe malnutrition.”
The petty officer frowned slightly and then began using the computer’s software to change Borgt’s image. Jab walked behind him and saw the remarkable transformation taking place on the computer’s monitor, “Hey, you’re pretty good at this.”
“I’ve had a lot of practice, Captain.” After a few minutes, he asked, “What do you think?”
“The eyes need to be a little more…I don’t know…”
“Sunken,” the officer suggested.
‘Yeah, and possibly a little darker around the socket,” Jab replied.
The officer went to work and after a few minutes, Jab was amazed at the final image. “That’s perfect. Please print me off several copies I can take with me.”
The officer pressed a button and the printer across the room began operating. He took out several copies and handed them to Jab, “If you need anything else, let me know.”
Jab sat down in a chair and nodded absently, “I will.” The petty officer left the room and Jab focused on the image. He closed his eyes and then looked at the mirrored wall to his left. He saw an emaciated Borgt sitting in the chair. He rolled the chair over to the mirror and stared at his new appearance. The genetic modification drug Tal gave him prior to his first trip to the Holy Planet never ceased to amaze him. He could even turn invisible but this mimicking another person was incredible. He stared at himself in the mirror and closed his eyes. He needed to try and make this new image change. He focused on the image in his mind and forced himself to see the eyes less sunken and dark. He also added some weight. He got the image clear in his imagination and opened his eyes. Borgt didn’t look as bad. It was easier to get Borgt’s image in his mind than his own. He spent the next four hours changing Borgt’s image from extremely malnourished back to being healthy. At the end, he watched Borgt change appearance before his eyes; he was ready. He contacted Tal on his subvocal module, “I’m ready. When do you want to do this?”
“We’re waiting to see if the Brotherhood abandons some more planets. When they do, we’ll take you in to one of them and you can take the shuttle from there. It looks like two-weeks or so before they make the move. Take the time and spend it with Ryshana.”
“Thanks, Tal. I will.” Jab ended the contact and left for his quarters on the Brazil. Ryshana was inconsolable but she was starting to understand that it needed to be done. He needed the time with her to help her deal with his mission; she could be so stubborn.
• • •
The Supreme Fleet Commander sat on his command chair and tried to think of another way to combat the new tactics being used by the black warships. He had no proof but he suspected the black warships were being flown by humans from the Brotherhood’s original galaxy. They appeared too suddenly and only after a warship with humans on board was destroyed more than a year ago. But there was no way to go to the other galaxy looking for them; he barely had enough warships to defend half of the conquered planets. He wondered if the High Cleric suspected that humans from the home world were now attacking them. If he did, he didn’t mention it.”
“Commander, all of the crews’ and pilots’ families have been moved to the central planet.”
The Commander turned to his Second, “Have they been given places to stay?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Have you detailed the new assignments for the ships we’re moving?”
“I notice that you’ve decided to only defend eighty planets, Commander. We have enough warships to defend eighty-three.”
“The nine hundred warships that would be used to defend three more planets will be divided into three quick-reaction fleets. They will immediately respond to any attack on the remaining eighty planets. They will be placed evenly along the line of planets such that one of them can rush at full phase speed to defend any planet in less than a minute.”
The Second wasn’t happy about the decision but answered, “Yes, Commander.”
“I also want any warships or Berserkers that have been completed to be moved off the planets we’re leaving immediately and send them here for assignment.”
“That will leave the planets with nothing to defend themselves.”
The Commander glared at his second, “If we don’t move them, they’ll be destroyed. Are you not thinking clearly?!”
The Second-in-Command answered, “I’ll issue the orders immediately, Commander.”
The Commander continued to stare at him for a long moment and then said before turning around, “Notify me the moment all of them have been moved!”
“Yes, Commander.”
• • •
The Cleric responsible for ship construction on one of the Brotherhood planets looked at the ruling Planetary Cleric on his monitor, “I’ve been ordered to immediately launch every completed warship and Berserker to join the fleet’s ranks, Cleric.”
“Why?”
“The Supreme Commander says we don’t have enough ships to stop the new tactics being used by our enemies.”
“Then it makes sense to get them into the fight, wouldn’t you say?” the Ruling Cleric replied.
“I like to keep ships on the ground to use in the event they might be needed, Supremacy.”
“They won’t be used to defend us if they’re on the ground and those black ships attack. The decision made by the Commander is a good one.” Five days later, he was screaming into his communicator and no one was listening.
• • •
Drum looked at the feeds coming in from his scouts and saw new warships and Berserkers being launched from numerous Brotherhood planets. What was going on? He stared at the monitors on his console and saw they were only being launched from the planets on both sides of the central line of planets in the arc of conquered worlds. The process continued for two days and then Drum understood what was happening. Once all the new ships were launched, the fleets above seventy-nine planets went to their phase fields and disappeared from above them. Brotherhood communications immediately shut down and Drum knew more planets were being abandoned. He immediately contacted Admiral Talent.
• • •
The Order Giver looked at Tal on his monitor and was shocked by what he was saying, “Are you certain they’ve abandoned defending more planets?”
“Seventy-nine of them to be exact. It appears our destruction of eight planets has forced them to consol
idate their forces to defend the remaining eighty. Are you able to get enough warships to remove them?”
The OA stared at Tal and then nodded, “I’ll get them moving now. Are you sure this isn’t a trap?”
“I’ll have my ships in position to delay any forces they send against you long enough for you to escape,” Tal replied.
“It shouldn’t take as long this time,” the OG replied. The civilizations that didn’t take part in our first attack did so because their invaded planets weren’t being attacked. We’ll have double the number of ships to use this time.” The OG looked at his communication leaders working feverishly at their panels and turned back to his monitor, “Give us a day and we’ll launch our attacks this time tomorrow.”
“We’ll be in position,” Tal replied and the monitor went dark. The OA stared at it and wondered if the Invaders could be removed during his life time. It was beginning to appear they might. But there was still the issue of these new humans, could they really be trusted?
• • •
As Tal began issuing orders to Jee and Rachael, he glanced at Ka and nodded. Ka activated her subvocal module and said, “Jab, it’s time. Report to the Zak’s Jil; we’re at cradle number seven!”
Jab stood up and Ryshana stood with him, “Ryshana, we’ve discussed this!”
“Jab, I can’t stop you from going but I will stay by your side until the last moment. I will then stay on Tal’s ship until he brings you back to me!”
Jab shook his head slightly, “You know I’ll be gone for a long time, my love.”
“And when our baby comes due, I’ll go to the Brazil’s hospital to have her. But then we’ll be waiting for you on the Zak’s Jil, you got that!”
Jab sighed and pulled her into his arms, “I do. I love you so much, Ryshana.” Ryshana hugged him tightly and refused to give in to her tears; they would come later. Jab picked up the grey colored backpack and they walked out of their quarters.
• • •
This time the Brotherhood planets left undefended didn’t just sit back. Thousands of shuttles launched from the seventy-nine planets but were met in open space by a fleet of Brotherhood warships. The fleet commander ordered them to turn around and most of them refused to do as ordered…until the warships began blowing them out of space with their blaster beams. The Supreme Fleet Commander made sure the crews on those warships were loyal to him and they carried out their orders. Hundreds of the shuttles turned and headed toward the Holy Planet to confront the High Cleric. The fleet commander ignored them; he was ordered to prevent them from going to the defended planets. He could care less where they went as long as his orders were followed.