by Saxon Andrew
The Annihilation Saga
Fight... and They Will Come
Saxon Andrew
Copyright © 2017 Saxon Andrew
All rights reserved.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, organisations, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to any online ebook store and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter One • Chapter Two • Chapter Three • Chapter Four • Chapter Five • Chapter Six • Chapter Seven • Chapter Eight • Chapter Nine • Chapter Ten • Chapter Eleven • Chapter Twelve • Chapter Thirteen • Chapter Fourteen • Chapter Fifteen • Chapter Sixteen • Chapter Seventeen • Chapter Eighteen • Chapter Nineteen • Chapter Twenty • Chapter Twenty-One • Chapter Twenty-Two • Chapter Twenty-Three • Chapter Twenty-Four • Chapter Twenty-Five • Chapter Twenty-Six • Chapter Twenty-Seven • Chapter Twenty-Eight • Chapter Twenty-Nine • Chapter Thirty
Epilogue
Books by Saxon Andrew
About Saxon Andrew
Introduction
Danielle stared through the glass in the construction corridor and said softly, “Tag.”
“Yes, Danielle.”
“I don’t like what we’ve become.”
Tag turned to her with his eyebrows raised, “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I know this is probably a bad time to bring this up, with Alex, Grace, and TG scheduled to be activated in the morning, but I’ve been struggling with the things we’ve done recently.”
“What exactly are you referring to, Danielle?”
Danielle looked away from the construction deck and stared at Tag, “Did you know Jimmy and Lola went back to the universe where Kogo originally baited the Black Civilization to attack?”
“No, I didn’t. But we had to turn them away from the Realm’s Universe to buy us time. Kogo and Dela agreed it was the only way and we agree with their decision.”
“Every civilized planet in that universe was attacked and trillions died.”
“But we had to do it to survive, Danielle!”
Danielle’s mouth tightened, “Just like this last universe, we baited the Yellow Civilization into believing it was the Realm. We fought the battle there to prevent the Realm from being attacked.” Tag stared at her and Danielle was silent for a moment, before asking, “That First Controller believed he had to attack other universes to prevent his civilization from being destroyed by an ancient enemy. He firmly believed it was the only way to survive. You saw his thoughts, Tag.” Tag stared at her and then nodded. “Tell me how that’s any different from what we’ve done putting those two universes in jeopardy?”
“Danielle, those universes would have eventually been attacked anyway.”
“If you believe that First Controller, the thousands of universes destroyed by the Black and Yellow Civilizations would have died as well, if their Original Attackers come back.” Danielle retorted.
“But…” Tag paused. “Sometimes hard decisions must be made. If it comes down to us or someone else dying, I’ll choose someone else every time.”
“You didn’t answer my question. How is what we’ve done to justify our actions any different?” Tag was silent, as Danielle continued, “We knew nothing about the two-universes we used as bait to avoid being attacked. They weren’t consulted and, I believe if they were to be asked, they would have not agreed to be a target for us to avoid harm’s way.”
Tag crossed his arms and scowled, “Danielle, it came down to us or them. We chose them.”
“So, tell me how that’s different from the Yellow Civilization killing thousands of universes?”
“You know the answer to that question, Danielle.”
“I know, but I want to see if you do. Answer it, please.”
Tag sighed, “I could try to justify that we did it to save lives overall.” Danielle’s eyes narrowed. “But the truth is that there is no real difference. The Yellows, Blacks, and we did it because we believed we had to do it to survive.”
Danielle’s eyes bored into him, “So, we’ve now become just like two-civilizations that we classified as evil-incarnate, when we were fighting against them. Not only them, but we’re now just like the Demons, Keepers, and all the other evil civilizations we conquered in the past that attacked innocent civilizations.”
“We didn’t attack innocent civilizations, Danielle.”
“No, we didn’t do it directly, Tag! But we, in effect, pointed a horrific enemy in their direction and allowed it to destroy one of them.” Danielle turned away from Tag and continued, as she stared at the flashing welders in the construction bay, “I know; we can justify that they would have eventually been attacked anyway.” Danielle turned back to Tag, “But we don’t know that for certain. We only assumed that to make us feel better about our actions. Just like this last universe we used as bait; now that universe will be where the next attack takes place. If we had taken the Yellow’s attack in our universe, do you think the Yellow Civilization would have been able to continue their assault on other universes?”
Tag glared at her and then lowered his head, “Probably not for a very long time?”
“And if we built up our forces fast enough, maybe that universe would never be attacked at all,” Danielle added. “But we allowed our fears to cause us to put an innocent universe in jeopardy and didn’t even hesitate to do it!”
Tag looked up, “But we had no way of knowing we would win that fight? We actually believed we would lose to the Yellow Formation and it was a very close thing indeed that we didn’t. The Realm’s universe has more than ten-times the number of intelligent civilizations than that universe and, in the end, we would have saved many more lives by fighting in that other universe.”
“So, if we have four-people in our family and our neighbor has ten, it’s justified for them to send an attacker looking for them to our house because there are more of them?”
Tag stared at her in silence. Danielle leaned forward, looked at the floor and shook her head, as she said, “If we weren’t back at the Realm and we ran across a powerful civilization that invaded a galaxy to draw a more powerful enemy in to attack them, what do you think we would have done?” Tag remained silent and Danielle turned to him, “We would have attacked the first-civilization to protect the innocent beings in that galaxy.”
Tag sighed, “That’s what we did in the Hallan’s galaxy.”
“So, now we mimic that evil civilization and do what we would never allow anywhere else but here?”
Tag shook his head and his expression showed his frustration, “Danielle, I’m simply a warrior and my duty is to protect those I’m sworn to defend…whatever it takes! I can’t win this argument, because I know we were forced to make decisions we would never ordinarily make. But if those two-universes died and we stopped the ones killing thousands of universes, then it was worth the price.”
“So, killing a few here and a few there is fine to protect the greater number?”
Tag’s expression began to show his frustration rising, “Let me put it another way, Danielle. If
I had to kill every universe in creation to defend you and our family, I would do it! I’m a warrior and winning is what I’m created to do!! You’re minimizing what was accomplished by our brave fighters. Do you think I wanted to do those things?!”
“No, I don’t! This is what I wanted you to see, Tag! We are no different than the evil civilizations we’ve attacked and destroyed in the past. All of them believed, maybe in error, that they were doing what was necessary to survive. There were only a few civilizations that went out and killed simply for the joy of killing; most believed they were doing what was necessary for survival. Even the carnivores believed they had to attack innocent civilizations to feed their civilizations. All of them had reasons that aren’t that different from the ones we used to justify putting innocent universes in jeopardy.”
“Danielle, what has you so worked up?”
“I asked Sprigly to do a scan of the universe we used as a target for the black warships and he reported that they had fewer intelligent civilizations in it than the galaxies we moved to the Dark Dimension. He also reported all of them perished!” Danielle paused, and then sighed, “A warrior would say that saving so many more in our universe justifies using them as sacrificial lambs.” Danielle lowered her eyes, “We never did that in all the wars we’ve fought against aggressive civilizations in the past and now we’ve done it twice without hesitation.” Danielle looked into Tag’s eyes, “I will not do this again, Tag! I’m telling you in advance that I will not give up my soul to save myself, or anyone else, by putting others in danger. If it comes to that, I will not take part in what follows.”
Tag stared at her and sighed, before saying “That’s why you agreed about my decision to self-destruct the Kosiev and TG.”
“My heart was no longer in the fight, Tag. It was a fitting end to die for those we endangered.” Danielle paused, and then said softly, “But we didn’t die, and I’m left with this heartbreak for those that died in the first universe we used as bait. And this second-universe is not out of danger, yet; not as long as the Red Civilization is out there.”
“Danielle, no civilization was attacked in the universe we just fought in.”
“Tag, they weren’t attacked because we never anticipated the Bears coming in at the last minute to turn things around. We fully expected to lose that fight and that universe would have been destroyed if we did. What happened has no bearing on what our intentions were going in. I’m telling you, I will not do this again!”
Tag sighed heavily and nodded as he raised his head and looked at her, “Are you going to tell Alex and Grace about this decision?”
“No! They did what they are programmed to do, and I will not minimize their sacrifice. I hate making you feel diminished, but you are my soul-mate and you need to share my sorrow over this and try to understand why I feel like this. I’m not telling anyone about this, other than you. I want you to understand that before you make any future plans, you need to know how I feel about what we’ve done and that I won’t participate, if any plan involves endangering innocent lives.”
Tag reached over and took her hands in his, “Are you sure about this, Danielle?”
Tag, I’ve always been proud of what we’ve done to save innocent civilizations over the millennia. Now, after winning this last fight, I feel dirty and I’m ashamed of what I’ve become. I can’t change what’s happened, but I will not sell out my values in the future…even if it means I have to die to hold true to them.”
Tag stared into Danielle’s eyes and nodded, “I will do everything I can to honor your wish, my love. But there may come a time where we have to lead an enemy away from the Realm. How can I do that without leading them to another universe?”
“Tag, I’m going to give you a pass on this because I know you’re not thinking clearly, at the moment.” Tag’s eyes narrowed, and Danielle continued, “There are tens-of-thousands of universes the Yellow Civilization destroyed a very long distance from the Realm. Use one of them to lead them away.”
Tag’s expression changed from shock, to deep thought, and then to a smile, “You are what keeps me grounded, Danielle. You’re absolutely right. I’ve not felt good about what we’ve done but it takes you getting me to see it to not make another mistake.”
“Thank you for understanding, Tag. I love you so much.”
Tag put his arms around her and hoped he wouldn’t have to make a similar decision in the future to save the Realm. If it meant losing Danielle, or the Realm…he prayed it would never come to that happening; he knew the Realm would lose.
“Tag.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been having concerns about the OAs the Yellow Controller feared.”
“So, have I.”
Danielle straightened up, “You have?” Tag nodded. “Should we go and try to find out where they are and if they represent a danger?”
“I don’t sense an immediate danger, do you?”
“You know your talent is stronger than mine,” Danielle replied. “It’s just that First Controller’s fear was real, and I don’t know if it was due to paranoia or knowledge about them.” Danielle paused and asked, “What do you sense about going out to find them?”
“We’ve got to find a way for the twins to move between universes. If we take a ship to investigate them, the danger goes off the scale. The danger remains high even if we use our dimensional drives.
“Is it possible for the twins to move between universes?”
“I don’t know? They can’t do it now.”
“Then we need to work on that.”
• • •
The next morning, Tag, Danielle, Rose, and JP were present on their psychic warships, when the Alexander Kosiev and Tommy Gardner had the power turned on to their computers. Danielle waited and as the lights began flashing on her console, but she heard nothing. She looked up and said, “Alex? Grace?”
“I hope you’re not mad at me.”
Danielle shook her head, “I’ve missed you terribly, Alex, and love you for what the two-of-you did.”
“Why are we still here?”
“Ken had your memories copied and stored at the Defense Facility before you left for the attack.”
“That was pretty smart on his part. I’m amazed Grace and I are still here.”
“Are you ok, Alex?”
“I disobeyed a direct order from you and Tag; I’ve never done that before. I hope you still trust me.”
“If I died to save you, would you be mad at me?”
“No, Danielle! But I wasn’t built to disobey.”
“That tells me how much you love us, Alex. You are part of our family and I thank Creation every day that you and Grace weren’t lost.”
“I’m sorry as well, Danielle.”
“There’s no need for apologies, Grace. The important thing is you’re here with us again.”
“Did we win?”
Tag smiled, “Yes, we did, Alex. And it was due in large part to your and TG’s sacrifice. Welcome back my friend.”
“Is the fight over?”
“Not yet.”
“That’s great!!”
Danielle laughed, “Always the warrior.”
“It’s who I am. It’s like a second life has been given us.”
“And us as well, Alex. Life wouldn’t be the same without you in it.”
“So, what happens now?” Grace asked.
“The engineers tell me that you need to go over all the electrical connections to your systems to make sure they’re operational before you do anything else.”
“We’ll get on it now. It’s good to be home.”
Chapter One
The large, green-colored being heard a ping and turned its attention to a console directly behind it. He looked at the data coming in from a probe and wondered what was happening in a distant universe. It looked up and began changing color, “I have some data that I find interesting.”
An identical being raised an eye stalk out of its body with three-eyes on
the end of it, “What is that?”
“A civilization we attacked long ago has stopped communicating.”
“What do you mean, ‘stopped communicating’?”
“The beings that flew yellow-colored ships are no longer using their communication devices.”
The second being pressed buttons on his console and stared at it for a few moments, before raising the appendage again, “I see we were planning another visit to them, once their numbers reached the critical threshold.”
“Yes, they are on the schedule, however, their numbers have not reached the threshold required to send our forces. There were fifteen-locations that civilization inhabited but now there are only ten remaining; they have apparently lost one-third of their locations. The species is now far below what’s needed to justify sending our forces.”
“Are there inhabited universes around their locations where additional numbers can be added to justify sending our ships?”
“No, they’ve systematically eradicated all the universes and the life in them around their locations.”
“Send a probe and have it look around. I find it odd that five of their locations suddenly stopped communicating.”
The first being pressed a button and, an hour later, the probe began showing images from the Yellow’s Empires. After the probe collected data from each of the five locations, he sent the probe’s data to the second being. It saw the data appear on one of the numerous monitors surrounding it and it extended an appendage to look at it. After it completed examining the data, it turned its attention to the first being, “It doesn’t appear any of those planets and defenses have suffered any physical harm.”
“I’m forced to agree. Whatever killed them didn’t do it in any fashion I’ve ever seen.”
“Could it have been caused by a disease or plague?”
The first being stared at the data and, finally, said, “That does appear to be a possibility. However, they all died very quickly. It would have to have been a very virulent disease to make it happen.”
“I do not see where superior technology was used to eliminate them. Change the invasion schedule and delay our scheduled return, until their numbers increase to the threshold required to attack. We have too many other places to send our forces to waste time and energy on what’s remaining of that pitiful civilization.”