by Saxon Andrew
Half of his crews were on Melbourne’s surface trying to relax until the aliens and Fagan arrived. They would be sent out to relieve the pilots above Melbourne every five days. He looked at the tactical monitor and shook his head. That was a giant fleet coming for them. The feed from the stealth scout in the void between the Perseus and Sagittarius Spiral Arms showed them in large formations and then suddenly, they disappeared from the tactical; they had launched and were headed toward the Perseus Spiral Arm.
Desmond lifted his communicator, “All pilots, report to your units. War alert. I repeat, war alert. The enemy fleets have launched.”
• • •
Abby watched the final freighters launching from Melbourne and breathed a sigh of relief. They were the last to leave and now she hoped their plan was successful. Hundreds of old commercial freighters were scattered around the cities on Melbourne and now it was up to the brave pilots to make this plan work.
• • •
Rory stared at the monitor on the Roo Rabbit and said softly, “Grady was against using the planetary lasers. He didn’t believe using computers to attack the alien ships was a good thing.”
“I agree with him,” Abby replied.
“But, the lasers are computer controlled, Abby.”
“I know. But I asked for volunteers to operate them and more than twenty-thousand older citizens stepped forward. Some were dying, and others had lost their children in this war. Five thousand were chosen and they will activate the laser’s systems.”
“But…”
“Rory, don’t minimize their sacrifice by criticizing their choice. If I were in their place, I would do the same thing and be proud to do it.”
Rory sighed and shook his head, “Such a waste.”
“They’ll go down in history as some of Melbourne’s greatest heroes. I wish I could say the same for us.” Rory nodded and turned back to the ship’s monitor. He and Abby would remain out from Melbourne on the Roo Rabbit to witness the attack.
• • •
It took more than three weeks for Melbourne to be found. The Super Rabbits attacked the warships entering Melbourne’s star system and destroyed all of them quickly with no losses. The drones took out the three Fortresses and the Super Rabbits overwhelmed the fifty warships. Word went out and the massive enemy fleets turned and moved in on Melbourne’s star system at high-speed.
• • •
The War Leader looked at the monitor and heard his scanning leader announce, “There is a highly developed planet close to the central star.” The War Leader smiled, this had to be the planet of the unknown civilization. His guess was verified as the huge fleet began moving in toward the planet and fell under attack. He kept his ship at the edge of the star system along with his personal escort of warships. He noticed that the Fagan Fleet Manager did the same.
• • •
Desmond issued orders as the giant fleet moved in toward Melbourne, “Do not move inside the enemy’s formations. Stay outside of them and pick a place to launch your drones. Once you’ve completed that task, you’re free to open fire at the edges of their formations.” Desmond paused and continued, “Remember and keep this at the front of your brain; we can’t stop this! Your job is to make it appear we are attacking them to defend the planet, but your main mission is to stay alive. Melbourne needs you in the future and I’m ordering you to not waste your lives. If superior numbers start pursuing you, run. Do not allow your ships to be destroyed, we’re going to need them at the end. Use your missiles wisely to stay alive.”
• • •
The War Leader watched the inexorable advance of his ships toward the planet and began seeing hundreds of his Planet Killers going up in giant explosions. He stood up and yelled, “WHAT’S GOING ON?”
The scanning leader answered, “War Leader, those white ships are crashing into our Planet Killers. They have powerful nuclear missiles that are exploding close to our vessels.” The War Leader sat down. This was to be expected. This is what would happen if this was the only planet of this enemy. If there were more, they wouldn’t waste their ships in suicide runs.
• • •
Captain Gemel Kapow heard the loud tone in his helmet and he shouted, “MOLLY, THE DRONE HAS SOLID TONE ON A TARGET!!”
Molly fired six mini-missiles and punched the button on her weapons panel releasing the drone. It veered away from the Super Rabbit and Molly yelled, “GET OUT OF HERE!!” Gemel jerked the ship directly away from the enemy formation and twenty other enemy warships bearing down on them. He activated the stardrive briefly and disappeared from the pursuers before turning and heading back toward the huge invasion fleet. Suddenly he saw a brilliant blast in the formation ahead of him in the distance and Molly announced, “That was our drone hitting a Fagan Fortress. Score one for the good guys.”
“That’s a ka-pow they won’t forget,” Gemel responded. “Alright Molly, I’m moving in outside their formations and you’ll need to pick your targets carefully. I’m running again if more than six warships start moving our way.”
“I can handle six, Gemel. Just don’t get too close and take a lot of blaster hits.”
“I’ll run if I need to allow the hull to cool off. You just make them pay.”
Molly nodded and launched three mini-missiles at three Fagan warships turning toward them. Gemel flew outside the giant formation and ran when twenty warships turned their way. The giant fleet was getting closer to Melbourne and Gemel was starting to worry that there wasn’t enough time to whittle down their numbers. Another giant explosion in the distance blinded his monitor and he whipped the Rabbit hard right. Fifty missiles fired on his ship blew past as the Rabbit veered away. Molly shook her head, “That was close!”
“Molly, we’re launching from further out.” Gemel turned the ship vertical as more ships left the giant formation moving their way.
• • •
The drones were programmed to target the enemies’ Planet Killers and Fortresses. Many of them were hit by blasters but they still exploded in giant nuclear fireballs. If the Planet Killers and Fortresses weren’t taken out, thousands of warships around them were blown away in the shock waves. Many of the large warships were hit by a lethal dose of radiation and, though the crews were still alive, they wouldn’t be for much longer. The drones were programmed to go after the Fagan Fortresses but didn’t pass up a good opportunity to take out an alien Planet Killer. The battle was impossible to follow, there were too many ships striving to survive and the enemies’ giant attack formations fell apart attempting to avoid the attacking drones.
• • •
Abby watched the monitor and was astounded at the sheer violence taking place. Rory looked up from his console, “The drones have been exhausted.” Abby nodded and watched the huge fleet moving in on Melbourne. She lifted her communicator and ordered, “All ground installations, you are free to fire!”
The War Leader watched thousands of brilliant beams erupt from the planet’s surface and hit the warships and Planet Killers moving into orbit above the planet. Those beams were larger than any that could be mounted on a spaceship. They were powered by more than a hundred reactors each and they decimated the enemy vessels moving into orbit above Melbourne. “ALL SHIPS OPEN FIRE ON THE PLANET IMMEDIATELY!! DON’T WAIT TO FORM UP!! START FIRING NOW!!”
The planetary lasers were placed at the largest cities on Melbourne leaving wide uncivilized areas of the planet uncovered. Planet Killers and Fortresses rushed in close to the planet and opened fire at the cities from just above ground level. They rushed across Melbourne’s surface burning everything under them until they came in low toward the huge cities. They fired at the giant lasers and they went up in gigantic nuclear blasts that moved out into the cities leveling them. The attacking warships rushed in and added their fire to the exploding laser installations.
• • •
The War Leader ordered, “Show me an image of one of those cities!”
The monitor immediately
showed a huge city with laser beams being fired around it. Tens of thousands of small aerial vehicles were lifting from the city along with ten large vessels trying to get off the surface of the planet. They were blown out of the sky when the laser installations exploded. The city was one giant ball of flame as the Planet Killer continued to fire its horrific beams into it.
The Fagan Fleet Manager ordered, “Burn it all! Leave nothing on the surface!”
The War Leader started to stop him but remained silent. Within an hour, the entire planet was on fire. He looked at his situation monitor and saw the surviving white ships fleeing from the planet. “Where are they headed?”
The scanning leader stared at his panel and looked up, “The current course they’re taking will lead them to the location of the First Enemy’s planet.”
The War Leader nodded; now it all made sense. His Second asked, “Should I have them followed?”
“No.” The War Leader responded. “They’re going home.”
“What?”
The War Leader looked at his Second, “They’ve been allied with the First Enemy all along. We just didn’t see it.”
• • •
The High Leader and Fleet Manager appeared on the War Leader’s monitor, “We have destroyed this planet. We should launch ships to chase down the surviving white ships!” the High Leader ordered.
“That would be a waste of time,” the War Leader responded. The High Leader’s expression turned angry and the War Leader continued, “Did you notice all the large vessels around the large cities on the planet’s surface?”
“Yes. There were hundreds of them on the planet’s surface,” The Fleet Manager answered.
“Why do you think they were there?”
The Fleet Manager paused and then saw it, “They were there to move the planet’s population to safety.” The War Leader nodded his agreement.
“Where did they go?” the High Leader demanded.
“I suspect a huge number of the inhabitants have been moved to another planet before we arrived,” the War Leader answered.
“You know where they went, don’t you?” The Fleet Manager asked.
The War Leader was surprised by the question but answered, “My scanners tracked the course of those white ships and they’re headed toward the planet that attacked you a year ago.”
“I thought you said they weren’t a part of that civilization?”
The War Leader shrugged, “I didn’t believe they were. But that must be where they tried to move the population on this planet; after all, they are the same species. We were thrown off because two of those white ships attacked the First Enemy’s vessels after they led them to my civilization. Those ships belonged to the planet we destroyed near our territory and they were angry that the Earth Fleet didn’t move the survivors off the planet to save them. Those white ships were allies of Earth all along and they were used to lead you to my civilization.” The War Leader saw the High Leader look at his Fleet Manager and he added, “Didn’t you tell me that you detected invisible ships in your space?”
“We did,” the High Leader replied.
“Well, Earth is the only civilization with invisible scouts. They had to be working with this planet we just destroyed to move the population of slaves here. They then led you to our territory.”
• • •
Abby was listening to the intercepted conversation and prayed that the question wouldn’t be asked.
• • •
The High Leader said to the Fleet Manager, “It was their invisible scouts that lead us away from the slave planet.” The Fleet Manager nodded. The High Leader turned to the War Leader, “Why would it be a waste of time to pursue those ships?”
“Because you’ve seen their most powerful warships. We lost a quarter of a million warships when we attempted to attack that planet. There were five thousand of those giant vessels surrounding the planet then and our scouts say there’s more than ten thousand there now. We’ll never catch them before they arrive at Earth and I’m not jeopardizing my fleet to go after them. You’re welcome to go if you want.”
The Fleet Manager started to ask how the War Leader detected the invisible scouts, but he never got the opportunity. The High Leader’s expression turned angry, as he said firmly, “Then if this unknown enemy is destroyed, you will leave here immediately!! The truce ends one week from now! Start moving your ships!””
The War Leader was starting to really hate the High Leader, but his fleets suffered high losses and his survivors were no match for the Fagan fleets around him. He nodded and said, “We will be leaving immediately.” He looked at his communication officer and said, “Order all ships to move away from this star system and head toward the Empire. Tell them to take the long route we used to arrive here.”
• • •
The High Leader’s monitor went dark and he contacted the Fleet Manager, “Make sure they leave!!”
“Yes, High Leader. I wanted to ask him some questions before they left.”
“Such as?”
“I was wondering how they detected the invisible ships.”
“Well contact him and ask.”
• • •
Abby held her breath and prayed.
• • •
After a few minutes, the Fleet manager reappeared on the High Leader’s monitor, “He refuses to take my communication. I think you angered him by ordering him out of our territory so soon after the victory.”
“It still wasn’t fast enough! We’ll destroy them one day!”
“Yes, High Leader,” the Fleet Manager replied and ended the contact.
• • •
Abby fell back in her chair, “Thank God.”
Rory nodded, “If the War Leader had learned that the invisible ships in Fagan Space was detected by their gravity drives, he would have known it wasn’t Earth’s scouts; they don’t use gravity drives. That would have blown everything and caused them to start looking for other planets.”
“But they didn’t ask and for the future, the colonies are safe,” Abby sighed. They remained for several hours as Melbourne burned. Every continent was on fire and soon, the black smoke from the fires rose high into the atmosphere hiding the flames far below. Abby’s tears were falling unabated and Rory said, “Time to go.” Abby nodded, went to his lap, and put her head on his chest. She stayed there all the way back to New Melbourne.
• • •
The War Leader’s fleet accelerated back toward the Empire and he knew that numerous crews on the surviving Planet Killers were suffering from radiation poisoning. They should live long enough to arrive back, but it was going to be close. The losses were much higher than he anticipated, but those damnable white ships were no longer an issue. Ten days later, his communication Leader jerked his head up, “WAR LEADER, OUR DEFENSES ARE UNDER ATTACK!” The War Leader jerked erect in his chair as the communication leader looked back at his console, “The first enemy has sent a thousand of their giant ships and more than two-hundred-thousand of their warships!”
The War Leader hit the fleet’s frequency on his panel, “ATTENTION ALL SHIPS! THE EMPIRE IS UNDER ATTACK AND YOU WILL GO TO MAXIMUM SPEED IMMEDIATELY. IF YOUR SHIP IS DAMAGED AND CAN’T GO TO MAXIMUM SPEED, MAKE THE BEST SPEED YOU CAN!” Sixty-thousand vessels in the alien fleet accelerated away leaving more than ten-thousand damaged ships behind.
Chapter Ten
Abby and Rory arrived above New Melbourne and she went to her chair, pressed a button, and saw Admiral Mulvaney appear on the monitor, “Admiral, it appears our plan worked. The aliens and Fagan believe they destroyed us.”
“Sir, the Parliament has voted non-support of your actions and has called for a new election.”
Rory interrupted Abby, “The Parliament President is on another channel demanding to speak with you.”
“Admiral, I’ll get back to you.” Abby then saw the President of the Parliament appear on her display, “PRIME MINISTER, I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU PREVENTED OUR NEWEST W
ARSHIPS FROM DEFENDING MELBOURNE!! YOUR BEHAVIOR IS TREASONOUS!!”
Abby glared at the president and said, “You have computers in the Parliament Building, don’t you?”
“OF COURSE, I HAVE COMPUTERS!!”
“Then why don’t you shut up and go ask your computers what would have happened if we sent our newest ships to defend Melbourne. Get back to me when you find out!!” Abby cut the communication channel.
Rory looked at her, “Perhaps we should remain here above the planet.” Abby sighed and nodded.
• • •
An hour later, the President appeared on Abby’s display. He said in a softer tone, “I did what you asked.”
“And?!”
“The colonies would have an eighty percent chance of being attacked within two years if you had used them to defend Melbourne.”
“And what odds if I didn’t!?” Abby asked angrily.
“The colonies will not be attacked for more than a decade,” the President responded after a short pause. Abby glared at the President and he shook his head, “This data won’t be listened to by the mobs, Prime Minister. They will insist you should have used them anyway.”
Abby sighed, “I know.”
“The colonies are calling for your head, Prime Minister. The Parliament has voted unanimously to call for a new election.”
“Tell them that I resign as Prime Minister and to choose someone more to their liking.”
The President shook his head, “I have no option but to condemn you or I’ll be removed as well, Abby. I’m sorry.”
“John, deny me at the top of your voice! You need to win this election and make sure the colonies don’t make a huge mistake in going after our enemies before we’re ready. I’ve recalled all our stealth scouts and DO NOT send any out to our enemies’ space before we can take them on. The colonies must remain hidden!!”
John lowered his head and shook it slowly. After a moment, he looked up, “Abby, one day in the future you’ll be recognized as Melbourne’s greatest hero when cooler heads prevail. But not now. I’m sorry, you don’t deserve this, Prime Minister.”