Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher

by Saxon Andrew

  Sprig looked at Twig and she answered, “Five hundred, Matt. Why do you ask?”

  Destiny has asked for you, Cassandra and me to join him on his ship as quickly as possible. He asked me and I didn’t have an answer as to how many you have manufactured.”

  “I’m bringing Twig with me.”

  “By all means; I’ll see you there.”

  Destiny watched at the four appeared on his bridge, “We don’t have much time but my family is bothered by the loss of life today and we think we can possibly reduce the number that have to be killed moving forward.”

  Matt furrowed his brow, “What do you mean?”

  I understand that two hundred main ships launched their ships to harvest planets. How many have landed?”

  “Al?”

  “Three are close to atmosphere. The others are between two and six hours out from the planets.”

  “Then those three cannot be saved, however, if we act quickly, we can possibly save the others.”

  “Why would we try to save the others, Destiny?”

  “Matt, the Supreme Male and all the Ship’s Males have been killed. The compulsions placed in the crews of those small ships will fade if they are given enough time.”

  Matt looked at Cassandra and they saw it at the same time. Sprig looked at his device and said, “I need the coordinates of those planets that are being invaded immediately.”

  “Sprig, I just downloaded them to your com.”

  “Thank you, Al. I’ll get them screened as quickly as possible.”

  “What do you think we can do, Destiny,” Cassandra asked?”

  “Only the Kosiev can save them, Cassandra. All of the Searchers weapons have the iron balls included. We can’t take them out in the time remaining. If we hit them without the balls, then the crews will just float around inside. Can the Kosiev launch without the iron ball box in the mix?”

  Cassandra thought for a moment, “I don’t know. It will be like trying to make a fighter only throw soft punches instead of knock out blows. I can only try, Destiny.”

  “You are the only hope they have, Cassandra. In the meantime, I need you to call off the attacks planned by the Searchers on those fleets of incoming small ships, Matt.”

  Matt thought, “Melanie, where are you?”

  “I’m with Admiral Kosiev at the entry point.”

  “I need you here right now.”

  Melanie closed her eyes and saw Matt on destiny’s bridge. “Fly Girl, he’s on Destiny’s bridge.”

  “On your way.”

  Admiral Kosiev was talking with Melanie about the success of the action when she suddenly disappeared. “I wonder what caused that,” Leo thought.”

  Melanie appeared on the bridge and Matt moved forward and took her in his arms and felt the psychic field build instantly, then he thought, “Attention all Searchers; this is a Red Star Order. You will not fire on the incoming invader small ships unless you are give a direct order from me. I am super ceding Fleet Command and you will take your orders directly from me.”

  Life had a transport lined up to hit when Matt’s thoughts came through. He turned his ship away from the transport and barely stopped from pressing his firing button, “I wonder what’s happening?” Searchers in the two hundred systems being invaded backed off their firing solutions. Some had already fired and killed some ships but refrained from hitting any more.

  “Sprig, how many are shielded?”

  “We’ve teleported devices to the ones that have the closest invading fleets. We should be able to reach the others in time. Three planets have invaders almost on the ground, Matt.”

  “Sprig, I need to know if you are unable to screen a system in time. I will need that system’s coordinates sent to me with enough time to get all of our searchers there.”

  “I understand; my adolescents are moving as fast as they can.”

  Matt looked at Destiny, “We will stop a lot of them. What are we going to do with them after we stop them?”

  “Why teach them how to fish.”

  Matt and Melanie looked at Destiny and started laughing out loud. Destiny smiled and said, “I know a planet that has a great seafood buffet.” Even Eyes had to laugh at that.

  Matt was still holding Melanie and he saw her look into his eyes with a curious expression. He released her and turned away to talk with Destiny. His heart was beating fast and he didn’t want to think about what was causing it.

  Melanie looked at Matt and felt his heart. She thought about Angel and shook her head, “He’s been thru so much. I wish I could help him.

  Brez teleported into the government center of the planet he was assigned and turned off his invisibility mode. Two armored soldiers opened fire on him and had no affect on his armor. Brez walked forward and took their blast rifles and bent the barrels. “I don’t have time for this nonsense. I need to speak with your leaders immediately.” The two soldiers looked at the small armored warrior in front of them with three huge armored warriors behind him. “If you want to live you better get moving. That invading fleet will be here in moments.”

  An officer walked forward and said, “Come with me.”

  Brez followed him into the building and took an elevator up to the top floor and entered a room with thirty beings standing and watching display panels. The officer shouted, “This being has requested to speak with you. My weapons are ineffective against his armor but he says he’s here to talk about the fleet moving toward our planet.”

  A tall being with black fur covering his head approached and said, “I am the leader of my world; what is it that you want? Are you a member of the fleet approaching?”

  “No, I am not. I am a representative of a government that has more than twelve million planets associated with it. We are currently fighting the creatures that are coming to invade your planet and I have brought my warriors to try and defend your population from being eaten by them. Your weapons will not harm them and they have killed millions of worlds just like yours. I need you to get your population off the streets and into buildings. That includes your armed forces. They can defend themselves if faced with these invaders but they will get in our way if they are out in the open. We will not fire around them once the fighting starts.”

  “Who are these creatures?”

  “They are universe killers. They consume all intelligent life.”

  “We know about them; are they green in color?”

  Brez was surprised, “Yes they are. How do you know them?”

  “We found ancient drawings in a cave that showed them killing every being. We dated those drawings to more than six million cycles ago.”

  “It was more like eight million cycles ago but they come to harvest this universe and they have been here four times.”

  The leader looked around the room and then said, “Issue the orders as this being has requested. He is not green in color and we don’t have time to argue this out among us.”

  Brez looked at the leader and said, “My team will be responsible for the defense of this building. Do not go outside once the invaders land.”

  “We will comply with your instructions.” The leader along with everyone else in the room flinched as Brez disappeared.”

  Brez ported to the front of the building and said, “Are the teams in place?”

  “Yes General, our fire teams are teleporting to the sites the transports are landing and setting up their penetrator arms.”

  “The invaders will be targeting the largest cities. I see there are forty of them. Get the right mix of weapons sent to each.”

  “Already on it, Sir.”

  “Then get ready, we won’t have to wait long.”

  “Sir, Fleet Command just notified me that another division is available. It appears that some of the planets will not be invaded as we thought.”

  “Get their commanding officer on my com.”

  A Spjek appeared on his display, “General, I understand that you are available.”

  “Yes, we are, S
ir.”

  I’m giving you twenty of the cities to defend. We only have forty five minutes until they hit ground. I am also downloading the weapon mix I’ve planned for each. Please get your warriors moving and get in place as quickly as you can.”

  “I’ve already sent four regiments to half of those cities. The others will arrive in less than five minutes.”

  “I’ve also given you the transport landing sites. Get your penetrator teams set up first.”

  Brez hit his com, “We have another division coming to support us. I want those units in the cities I’ve just downloaded to teleport to the city in your tactical displays. Move it!”

  The Red Warriors were operating in full visibility so the local population could see them. The local population didn’t know what to think as thousands of warriors disappeared to be instantly replaced by thousands more. The commanding officer of the local forces watched and shook his head. “Stand by. We will fire if our buildings are penetrated by the green creatures. Stay out of the way of the Red Armored beings setting up in the streets.”

  Brez was waiting for the first ships to hit atmosphere when General Durk appeared on his display, “I know this is last minute, but we have two more divisions available.”

  “General, there is no way we can mix them in with our forces at this time, however I know how they can assist us once the ships have landed.”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Teleport them in two thousand feet above the twenty largest cities and have them come in on their jump jets hitting targets of opportunity.”

  “They will be issued appropriate orders immediately. You are the Senior Commander on site. Use them as you deem necessary.”

  “They won’t need their penetrators, General. Load them up with close combat weapons.”

  “The two commanding officers are listening in on this call. They will make the changes.”

  “Attention all units, support elements will be dropping in on suit jets once the invaders hit ground. They will link with your systems once they appear above the planet. Make sure your systems are set for maximum link. Good luck, Red Warriors, make the Realm proud.” Brez looked up and saw the first small attack craft coming in.

  The Commander of the lead transport had been trying to communicate with the main ship but was having no success. His Sensor Male looked up, “The main Ship is no longer moving toward the planet but has started drifting off course.”

  The Commander worried about what was happening but was too far in to landing operations to change plans. “We will just have to go see what’s happening after the planet is taken. Keep trying to reach them.” That was his last thought as his transport was hit just before touching ground by a projectile that exploded inside his ship and then released thousands of little balls.

  Of the two million transports moving toward the surface, only a hundred thousand were able to open their doors to release the creatures. Half of them had balls bouncing inside but the impact released the door allowing those still alive to escape.

  The small attack craft didn’t fare much better. More than three million started toward the surface and millions of them were hit by the smaller penetrators which destroyed their systems instantly and released forty of the balls. All eight members of the small ships were killed when those balls started bouncing. Not all of the attack craft were hit and more than a million landed and the eight crew members came out with the survivors from the transports. They stepped out into hell.

  Brez stood with Juck his teammate and moved forward as the first attack craft landed. He activated his link and saw which of the invaders was not targeted and fired his arm gun at two that were moving fast to the left. He hit both and they continued forward ten feet before the ball bouncing inside their armor killed them. Juck fired and hit four more that came out of the back of the ship and the two of them moved forward targeting spiders as they advanced. An attack craft landed behind them and Juck spun and fired all four of his hand guns and hit all eight emerging from the ship. There were millions of spiders around them. “Four have broken into the building to the right,” Juck said.

  The Commanding officer of the planet’s armed forces watched as his troops fired at the four huge green creatures advancing up the steps at him and saw that nothing penetrated their green armor. One of his troops was bitten by the advancing creatures and another was moving quickly toward him. Suddenly a red colored warrior appeared in front of him and fired a hand weapon into the advancing green creature. He then turned and fired at the other three and pulled a long sword and hit the creature about to bite him. The creature split in half and died instantly. “Sorry about the loss of your warrior. We’ll handle it form here, Sir.” The small Warrior then moved forward shooting the green creatures pouring through the front entrance. He was joined by another small red colored warrior with four arms and they swept the creatures away as they moved toward the front entrance. Another three warriors joined them and they routed the green creatures until there was nothing but a quivering mass of them at the front of the building. They disappeared and the commander just shook his head in amazement.

  Brez looked at his display and saw that he had lost three thousand warriors. He could see that the majority of them were in the city center where two transports had landed and released their full load of two million spiders each. “First Regiment, teleport to city center and support second.” He continued to move in front of the government center shooting at spiders. Juck suddenly spun behind him and cut two spiders rushing at them in half. “More coming in, Sir.”

  Brez kneeled and raised his auto cannon and fired a stream of projectiles into the mass of spiders rushing them from behind. Juck had already started firing his two auto cannons and continued to use his other two hand guns to pick off individual targets. “It’s good to have a Cainth Teammate,” Brez thought. Ten other warriors teleported in beside them and laid down a blistering barrage of iron balls that killed thousands of the green creatures charging in toward them. The creatures kept coming and Brez was about to order the group to teleport out when the oncoming mass turned and ran from the twelve warriors. “Advance,” Brez ordered and the twelve moved into the green creatures.

  The city center was a picture from someone’s twisted nightmare. Thousands of Red Warriors were twitching from the poisonous bites of the invaders but millions of the spiders were also dead. The links of the Red Warriors reorganized them as they lost members of their teams and moved them where they would be most effective. It looked like chaos but there was order in the mist of the millions fighting and dying. At the start of the battle there were more than six million spiders but now their numbers were down to less than two million. The twenty thousand Red Warriors stood their ground and fired their auto cannons continuously. They were thankful for the Algean device in their auto loaders that teleported iron balls into their magazines when they were running low. That device is what made the difference. Even with the power of their armor, none of them could have carried as many balls as they fired in that battle. As other parts of the city were coming under control, Red Warriors teleported in and joined their team fighting for survival at city center. The twenty thousand grew to thirty thousand and soon there were more than fifty thousand Red Warriors holding off the charging green mass. Soon, even the spiders knew that this battle was going to determine who would win on this planet and they all started swarming toward the site. As they ran toward the battle the Red Warriors followed them until the center of the city was full of the two forces.

  Brez looked at his tactical display and said, “Admiral Grace, are you ready?”

  “We are, General.”

  “Attention all Red Warriors in city center, on my command you will teleport out to the coordinates on your combat link. We will execute that command in ten seconds.”

  Melanie looked at Admiral Kosiev and said, “Have you got your targets.”

  “We have Admiral. Leo then pushed his com and said, “Fire in 3,2,1, fire.”

  Abov
e the city center the twenty megaships hidden behind their red screens fired their loads of iron balls at the streets below them. Just before those balls struck every inch of pavement the hundred thousand Red Warriors disappeared. On the streets below the millions of green creatures stopped and looked for the beings they had been fighting and then the iron balls hit.

  Brez keyed his command circuit, “Red Warriors advance. The hundred thousand Red warriors moved into the city center and found there was nothing alive to clean up. Brez looked at the millions of dead spiders and ordered, “All Warriors, teleport to the city on your link to support those still fighting.” Brez saw ninety thousand of his warriors disappear and then he ordered the remaining ten thousand, “Start looking for any that might still be in the city. Make sure you leave no stone unturned.”