by Saxon Andrew
“Because there may not be any wait, Tal.”
“They should have to endure a wedding at Disney like we did!”
“Endure?” Ka asked.
Tal sighed, “It was probably the happiest memory I have now, Ka. But at the time I was unnerved by all the attention.”
“That was the assassin in you, Tal. Perhaps this is the best way; they can avoid all the publicity and may be able to live in peace when they make it back.” Tal shrugged. “I also believe that Jee married Mamani at the same ceremony but we’re not supposed to know it. Be sure to act surprised when he tells you.”
“I thought you had convinced Jee to wait?”
“Sometimes, love can’t wait, Tal.” Ka paused and said softly, “I wish I could have been there.”
Tal reached over and put his hand on hers, “So do I, Ka.”
Kellie announced, “Eighteen hours until arrival at the Cyren home world.”
Tal looked up at her from his console and asked, “Projected time before the Cyren fleet arrives?”
“They’ll arrive four hours behind us, Admiral.”
“That’s cutting it close.”
“I agree, Ka. But isn’t that how our entire life has been.”
Ka giggled, “Yes.”
Tal turned back to his console and pulled up the feed the scouts were sending from the Cyren planet. Something was happening there.
• • •
The Cyren High Leaders issued orders and the five hundred and sixty warships surrounding the planet moved around to the space side of the planet. The enemy warships would be coming from open space and the warships fanned out into a long line in high orbit above the planet. The giant defense satellites above the planet began maneuvering around the planet to close any approach from being used by the approaching enemy fleet.”
“What about the sun side of the planet?”
“Fleet Controller, we’ll move the satellites to match the movement of any of their vessels around our planet,” the Highest Leader replied. “First we have to stop them and then start removing them.”
The Controller turned and began issuing orders to the warships, “We will start firing our blasters continuously when they arrive five hundred miles from the planet. We will then move out into their formations.” The controller didn’t like this plan but he wasn’t about to challenge the High Leader. The defense satellites should be able to fire a covering barrage around the planet. They just had to hold out until the other fleet arrived to pin the enemy ships between them.
• • •
Jee looked at Indie on his console and shook his head, “I thought their warships were impossibly huge but those satellites around that planet make them look small.”
“That’s where they build those ships, Jee; they have to be that big.”
“They’re covered with blasters,” Jee responded absently.
“The Cyrens have just one egg in a single basket. They’ve focused on making sure it wouldn’t be attacked.”
“I really don’t like this, Indie. I don’t see any way our Ste Warships can get close to make a difference.”
“Those satellites also have hundreds of missile ports on them. I can only guess at how many missiles are stored on them.”
“We may not have enough tees to stop them,” Jee commented.
Indie shrugged, “We’ll see. We’ll either win or lose this very quickly.” Jee nodded again as he stared at his tactical monitor; Indie was probably right.
• • •
The alphas came flying into the Cyren system at maximum-speed with Tal’s fleets surrounding them. They flew toward the planet and came out of their phase drives five thousand miles out. The huge fleet continued forward and when it arrived a thousand miles out, a cloud of missiles left the defense satellites above the Cyren planet that blocked the view of the planet. The Alphas came to a stop and Jee didn’t need to worry about having enough tees. The alphas seemed to explode with a giant cloud of white sparks leaving their hulls. Tal ordered his fleets to withhold firing and watched the two giant clouds of missiles moving toward each other at an incredible closing speed.
Tal saw Kellie shaking her head and asked her, “What’s bothering you, Kellie?”
Kellie turned around from her console and raised her shoulders, “The Cyrens have never had to defend their planet, Sir.”
“Why do you think that, Lieutenant?”
“Sir, they launched a massive barrage of missiles and didn’t space them out. If just one of them is hit by a tee, it will probably take out all of their missiles around the hit.”
Tal turned to the monitor and saw Kellie was right. The explosions started and the space between the alphas and the planet became a veritable hell. A chain reaction of explosions began in the Cyren missiles and spread out at an impossible speed. In a moment, the massive explosions spread out and filled the space with a rolling brilliant blast that was impenetrable. Even the scanners couldn’t penetrate through it. The electrical discharge from the explosions filled every scanner with static and both sides were forced to wait for it to end.
• • •
“All ships go to full speed in three…two…one…GO!”
The fifty Ste warships accelerated for twenty seconds and then coasted toward the top of the central star. Lori looked at Tee, “I was wondering what you were waiting for, Tee.”
“We can’t use our phase drives this close to the star, Lori. They’ll instantly degrade. I had to wait for the Cyrens to move their forces to the other side of the planet.”
Lori stared at the star below their ship and said, “If the Cyrens had been keeping track of the invaders, this wouldn’t have worked.”
“But they didn’t and the star blocked their scanners from detecting us,” Tee replied. Tee watched the star’s surface moving quickly below his attack fleet and then the star’s gravity captured his fleet and slung it over the top toward the Cyren planet. His ships doubled their speed and, after ten minutes, they were far enough away from the star to activate their phase fields. They accelerated toward the planet at a faster than light speed before the planet’s gravity knocked their phase fields out. They came rushing in toward the planet at more than a hundred miles a second and Lori announced, “It appears we’ve been discovered.” Tee nodded and saw hundreds of the Cyren warships moving out of their ranks and accelerating toward his fleet.
Tal saw the Cyren warships breaking ranks and the solid wall of blaster beams being fired from the long line of Cyren warships suddenly had breaks in it. He reached for his console to order the alphas in but Greg beat him to it. The alphas rushed into the breaks in the Cyren blasters and peeled off and began targeting individual Cyren warships.
The defense satellites began changing orbit to move back around the planet to confront the enemy ships moving in from the star but weren’t fast enough. They began launching missiles but didn’t fire them quickly enough. Tee had already launched the tees and they sped over the planet and met the Cyren missiles as they came over the poles. The explosions of the missiles forced the Cyren warships rushing toward Tee’s fleet to fly over them and Tee ordered, “LAUNCH ALL MISSILES AND GET OUT OF HERE!”
Tee felt the Australia shudder as the missiles left the launchers and Bobby hit reverse gravity thrusters before they finished launching. Tee saw the Cyren warships rushing in on them and he reached over and took Lori’s hand, “I love you, Lori.” She squeezed his hand and smiled as she kept her eyes pinned to the tactical monitor. The Cyrens opened fire and Lori closed her eyes. The Australia accelerated away from the Cyrens and the ship was hit by the outer edge of their blaster beams. The Australia shook but the hull stayed intact as the ship moved out of the blaster beams and opened a gap.
The Cyren warships may have saved their planet if they had ignored Tee’s ships and fired their blasters between the incoming missiles and the planet…but they didn’t. By being forced to go above the exploding missiles, they didn’t arrive in time to make a good decision. Tee st
ared at the tactical monitor and saw his ships being destroyed. The only thing that saved his ship was Bobby’s quick thinking in going to full reverse before the missiles finished launching. Forty-three of his ships were destroyed and he hung his head in sorrow.
Lori turned to him and said, “Don’t take your eyes away from what they died to do, Tee!” Tee looked up and saw brilliant lights start appearing on the planet’s surface. The numbers of nuclear explosions accelerated and these explosions weren’t air blasts. The nuclear missiles fired by his fleet had been delivered from the colonies and they were less than a third of the size of the previous missiles used at the Brotherhood planets. However, they were faster and their warheads were ten-times more powerful. Each of Tee’s ships had fired three hundred of the new missiles and the planet reeled under their impacts. The blasts rolled across the planet and their shockwaves began running into each other. The heat built and then the planet’s atmosphere caught fire. It wasn’t known that one of the most prevalent gasses in the planet’s atmosphere was methane. When the atmosphere ignited, the entire planet went up in massive flames. The heat exploded out into the high reaches of the atmosphere and rolled over the defense satellites holding position in low orbit above it. The connections between their energy screens melted and the satellites went up in massive explosions before falling in to the conflagaration on the planet’s surface.
The Cyren warships still facing off with the alphas saw the planet’s destruction and their shock immobilized them. The alphas opened fire and soon, the final Cyren warship was destroyed, just as the Cyren fleet arrived.
The Fleet Controller saw his home burning on his wall monitor and felt a rage building in him. He and all of his crews were going to die, there was no avoiding it. Once his food and atmosphere in the ship were depleted, they could not be replaced. He couldn’t defeat this enemy. They were faster than his fleet and, though he didn’t want to admit it, they were more powerful. But, he could make them pay for what they did. “Turn the fleet around and set a course for the planets they inhabited.”
“What purpose would that serve?” his second asked.
The Controller pulled a blaster and shot the second in the head, “It will make me feel better!” the Controller sneered. “Turn the fleet around, now!”
The four hundred surviving Cyren warships turned and began firing their blasters around their formation. Tal’s eyes narrowed and Kellie turned around, “Sir, their blasters are now firing at full power.”
“How is that possible?” Ka asked.
Tal closed his eyes and shook his head, “I should have realized that they have more than enough fuel on that giant ship to recharge their reactors. Order all ships to form up and move after them!”
Greg appeared on Tal’s monitor, “The power of their…”
“I know!” Tal interrupted. “They’ll be able to make it to the colonies, Greg. Are you sure we don’t have anything that can make it through their blasters?”
“No, Tal! There’s no way to stop them.”
Tal stared at the Cyren fleet turn and head toward the colonies. For the first time since taking command of the fleets, he felt helpless.
• • •
Jee stared at the Cyren formation and also felt frustrated. He hit the arm of his command chair with his fist to try and relieve some of his frustration. Mamani turned around and shook her head, “Where is the Brotherhood when you need them.”
Jee raised his eyes to her, “Why do you say that?”
Mamani shrugged, “They would just crash several thousand warships into them.”
Jee stared at her and then his eyes narrowed. “Mamani, you’re a genius.” He hit his console and Indie appeared, “Indie, follow me to the colonies.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you on the way. Get moving at maximum speed!”
Tal watched the monitor and didn’t notice Jee and Indie’s ships leaving the fleets. Indie put Tee in command of his fleet and left to catch Jee’s ship.
• • •
Tal tried everything he could think of to break through the Cyren blasters. He had every alpha mass together and fire every blaster at one place on the Cyren blaster coverage and nothing broke through. He had every remaining missile launched in combination with another blaster barrage, and it failed as well. There was nothing to do but pace the Cyren formation and wait for their blasters to run out of energy…that wouldn’t happen before it arrived at the colonies. All the time and effort to prevent this from happening had been for nothing. All the lost lives in his fleet fighting this war were wasted. He felt something inside him die and he knew it was hope.
Ka watched him closely and went to sit in his lap, “Tal, Earth and the colonies in the Milky Way will be safe from them.”
Tal sighed and shook his lowered head, “It’s not enough, Ka. It’s just not enough.” Ka saw Tal’s spirit was broken. This was worse than when Sha was killed and she didn’t have the words to bring him back. She stayed close to him all the way back to the colonies.
The Cyrens were one day out from the colonies when Tal saw Jee appear on his monitor, “Tal, move the fleets away from the Cyren formation.” Tal looked up at Jee with haunted eyes and Jee’s expression turned angry, “PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER AND MOVE THE FLEETS NOW!!”
Tal felt his anger rise as Ka spoke into her communicator, “All ships, attention all ships, move away from the Cyren formation immediately.” Tal looked at her with a furrowed brow and Ka said, “He’s just like you, Tal. He’s learned from watching you and if he says we need to move, you should listen.”
“What can he possibly do, Ka?”
“Sir, I have a hundred alphas moving toward us at maximum-speed,” Kelli said over her shoulder. Tal and Ka turned to the wall monitor and saw a hundred large warships moving out from New Americas.
Tal sat up straight and Ka said, “Tee just informed me that Jee and Indie left us more than eight days ago.”
Tal turned back to the monitor and watched what had to be alphas moving toward them at phase speed.
• • •
The Cyren navigator turned to the controller, “I’m detecting a hundred of those large ships moving toward us at high speed from one of the inhabited planets.”
“Ignore them and hold your course. That will be the first planet we kill.” The Controller reclined in his container and watched the hundred ships as they flew toward his formation. He looked away and sneered slightly; he looked forward to destroying this species settled worlds. He glanced back at the monitor and then stood up. Those ships weren’t slowing down and they were right on top of his formation. He tried to order his ships to change course but was slammed so hard against the bulkhead that he was crushed into a pulp.
• • •
The hundred old model alphas flew in at maximum phase speed and hit the Cyren formation dead center. The Cyren blasters blew away the phase fields around the old alphas but they emerged traveling more than two-hundred miles a second. Their heavily armored hulls began melting but they punched through the Cyren blaster coverage in less than a second. The six million-ton ships crashed into the tightly packed formation of giant warships and the formation flew apart like a cue ball hitting a rack of pool balls.
The most unbelievable thing to happen was that the alphas didn’t break through the rotating energy fields protecting the Cyren ships. The fields held but they smashed down into the hulls at an energy beyond belief. Every Cyren on board the ships that were impacted by the alphas were instantly killed by being thrown into the walls and crushed by the force of the impact. Even those belted into chairs were killed by the belts ripping into their bodies and tearing them apart.
The ships that weren’t directly hit by an alpha didn’t fare much better. The hit Cyren warships shot back in to the ships around them impacting with a horrific force. The formation blew apart and the alphas immediately rushed in. Most of the Cyren ship’s hulls were deformed by the devasting impacts of ships hitting each other
and the blasters on those hulls were demolished. Only twenty Cyren vessels emerged operational from the attack and the alphas made short work of them. In less than three-hours, the only thing remaining of the Cyren fleet was a vast vapor cloud, expanding shock waves, and a massive debris field.
Tal contacted Jee, “You saved the day, Jee.”
“It was Mamani’s idea, Tal. She suggested the Brotherhood had it right and would have just crashed a thousand warships into them. I remembered the old alphas at New Americas and Indie and I went back and programmed their computers to make this attack.”
“I’m proud of you, Jee.”
“Thanks, Tal. That means a lot.”
• • •
Tal ended the conversation and watched the alphas attacking the Cyren fleet. His crew was focused on the front wall monitor watching the massacre and he stood up. Ka saw his expression and stood up with him, “What’s wrong, Tal?”
“I’m done!”
“What?”
“I’m done with all the death and killing. And I’m not going to accept being cheered and praised for the billions of lives I’ve ended. I’m through with this.” Ka stared into his eyes and then nodded. He took her hand and they quietly walked off the bridge. They went to the landing bay and boarded a high-speed courier. They launched out of the launch tube unnoticed and disappeared. The new couriers were just as stealthy as the new scouts and no one in humanity’s fleet detected them as they flew away from the still on-going battle.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The crew of the Zak’s Jil thought Tal and Ka had gone to their quarters to be alone. However, Admiral Ward insisted the crew notify Tal that the fleet was waiting for orders. After numerous attempts to contact them over the communicator failed, Kellie went to their quarters and knocked. The ship’s computer informed the crew that neither of them were on board the ship. They quickly discovered the missing courier and notified Admiral Ward of their disappearance.
Greg immediately contacted Jee and asked him where were his parents? Jee was shocked by the question and tried to connect with Ka and Tal using is subvocal module; he came up empty. He immediately contacted Jan and she knew nothing about what was going on. Jan stared at Jee on the monitor and sighed, “I’m not surprised by this, Jee.”