by Saxon Andrew
“I’m in. Now let’s go learn all we can about our new ship.”
Eddie heard them telepathically and lowered his head, “I’ll keep her safe, Cali. I promise.”
• • •
Danielle looked at Tag and he saw her anger was about to get the best of her, “What in your ever-loving warrior mind makes you even suggest that the Kosiev and I won’t be doing this with you?!”
“Because the Kosiev is too big and I’m going to use a talent I’ve not used since my childhood.”
Danielle was surprised by his comment and she sat back, “What are you saying!”
“I need a ship that is highly maneuverable and can be operated at my accelerated speed.”
“With both of us on board, the Kosiev can operate at your accelerated speed.”
“But it won’t be able to change direction fast enough.”
“Go on.”
“You know that I could avoid being seen when I was a kid.” Danielle nodded. “I’ve not used that talent since I married you and I am going to have to use it to avoid the OA scanners.”
“You can’t see those scanner beams!”
“No, that’s true, Danielle. But I can see shadows where they aren’t.”
“What difference does that make?”
“Look, we need a psychic beam fired at one of their ships, right?” Danielle nodded. “If that beam damages one of their ships, then I’ll be detected, and the chase will be on. I intend to lead them on a chase that eventually leads to a dark dimension. If they follow me there, then I’ll move back into normal space and continue the chase hopefully making them think I didn’t go into a dimension. The timing is critical, and I must be able to avoid being seen in the dimension I enter. That’s where my talent is going to be needed.”
“You think that if they don’t see you in the dimension, they’ll believe we don’t have a dimensional drive?”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t think my being there will be an asset?”
“No, it would be a distraction. I wouldn’t be able to see through your psychic field and might miss a place to hide.”
“And you really think you can pull this off?”
“I do.”
“Well, we’ll just have to see about that.”
Tag’s brow furrowed, “What do you mean?”
“Get your ship ready and you will try to escape while we chase you.”
“What do you mean by ‘we’?”
“The Kosiev, TG, and Grang will be chasing you. If you can get away from us, then we’ll discuss it further.”
“I need some time to reconnect with this talent.”
Danielle smiled, “Take all the time you need but you won’t be doing this if you can’t escape from us.”
Tag stared at her and then said, “The OAs don’t have a warship like the psychic ships,”
“You’ll have to escape from us before I agree to this, Tag. And don’t even think about doing it without my approval. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
Tag sighed heavily, “I promised to never do that again.”
“And I expect you to keep your promise. And have you asked yourself about what will happen if we attack one of their ships?”
“I’m having the Prime made to look like a smaller version of the civilization that was able to destroy their ships in the universe they attacked when Cali died. I’m hoping they will believe it was one of their warships seeking revenge.”
Danielle lowered her eyes, “I see you’ve thought this through.”
“I have, and it must be done.”
“Going into a dimension is a risk, Tag.”
“Only if they see me. We’ve had twins sent to the closest dimensions to their attacks and none of them have shown up in them. That doesn’t mean they can’t do it and we need to eliminate that as a possibility.”
“Why will they enter a dimension this time?”
“Because they’ll lose me and figure the only answer was I escaped into a dimension. If I see them, I’ll jump back into the universe they lost me and start the chase again. They’ll figure I hid on a planet or asteroid to avoid their scanners.”
“I want you with me as much as possible until you’re ready to try to escape us.”
“I intend to do just that, my love.” Danielle stood up and went to Tags lap. He held her close and hoped he was right about this. But first, he needed to start walking around and avoid being seen. A talent unused can be lost.
• • •
He quickly discovered that it was still there. Now, was it still strong enough to keep him out of harm’s way? A lot depended on him being able to use it in his accelerated state. He had never used it in it before. He decided to try sneaking up on the Defense Facility, but every inch of space around it out to fifty-thousand-miles was covered by a fixed scanner beam. He knew that a warship could also cover everything around it with complete scanner coverage. How could he move inside the coverage to take a shot and escape without being detected? Tag sat back and thought about the issue. The only way to avoid a scanner beam was to force the warships using them to be on the move, then their scanners would not be covering a fixed distance around the ship. He felt pretty certain he could avoid their blasters; the shadows would show where they weren’t firing. But could he evade their scanners long enough to take a shot and get out? This was not going to be as easy as he thought. Perhaps Dr. Taylor might have a suggestion.
• • •
Eddie stared at Tag, “Are you telling me that you can see where scanners and blasters aren’t functioning?”
“I’m saying that I can see where they aren’t covering a space with their scanners and where their blaster beams won’t be fired. I used the talent may times as a child and young adult but haven’t used in on this scale.”
“Tell me what you intend to do,” Eddie said as he sat back in his chair.
“I have to see if a psychic beam can damage their ships and the crews inside them. I intend to hit one of their warship with a psychic blaster and then run. I’ll try to get a large enough lead to jump into a dimension and see if they follow we there.”
“If they follow you into a dimension, they’ll know a civilization has that capability.”
“Only if they see my ship when they enter the dimension. I’ll use my talent to avoid being seen and then jump back into the universe where they were chasing me. They’ll think I hid close to a planet or star and disregard the possibility that I was in a dimension. However, escaping them will be an issue.”
“Have you thought about destroying the ship?”
“I have, and I’ve come up with a plan that involves jumping into a dimension just as some of their blasters and missiles are about to hit me. I’ll jump at maximum speed hundreds of times the moment I enter that dimension. They shouldn’t go look for me if I can make the ship appear to explode just as I jump out.”
“I think jumping back into a dimension is pressing your luck.”
“What else can I do?” Tag asked.
“If you set this up properly, I can have the Nightmare waiting in a universe and teleport you out of your ship. You can have it run on autopilot until it’s hit and destroyed.”
Tag shook his head, “They’ll detect you the instant you use teleportation.”
“My teleport system operates on dark energy; they won’t detect it,” Eddie responded.
“So how would you do this, Eddie?’
“I think you should use your dimensional drive to jump back into that universe close to a position where the Nightmare is waiting for you. A moon or asteroid would be a good place and I’ll teleport you on board the Nightmare as you land your ship. We’ll wait until they eventually find it on their scanners, and they will find it, then you’ll have the ship powerup and fire at them with conventional blasters. The OA warships should be able to take it out before it can get to full power.” Tag thought about the suggestion and Eddie smiled, “This is dependent on your getting a large enough lead to m
ake it work.”
Tag nodded, “The moment I get a large lead, I’ll jump to the universe where your ship is waiting and go into the closest dimension and see if they can follow me.”
Eddie nodded, “And then you’ll jump to the chosen location to land your ship, where I’ll be waiting.”
Tag nodded, “I need to go and select a universe to do this.” Tag thought furiously and then smiled, “I’ll jump back into the universe where the chase started.”
“Why there?”
“Eddie, my ship is going to look like one of the advanced warships that damaged their probe and warships. We hope the OAs think it’s a survivor and is taking revenge on them.”
“Then it’s important that it be destroyed to prevent them searching for another civilization.”
Tag smiled, “That’s part of the plan. Before I can even think about doing this, I have to show Danielle that I can escape from three-psychic-warships.”
“Do you think you can do it?” Eddie asked.
“I think so. We’re going out tomorrow to see.”
Let me know how that turns out, Your Majesty.”
“Call me, Tag, Eddie. I think we’re past formalities now.”
Eddie smiled, “While you’re out playing tag, Tag. I’ll take the Nightmare to that universe and look for a place to pick you up. We’ll discuss it when you finish playing.”
“Fair enough. Talk to you later.”
Tag teleported out of Eddie’s office, as Bobby and Janie entered. “What’s up?” Eddie asked.
“The Nightmare has completed its shake down and is ready to go, whenever you’re ready.”
Eddie stood up, “Pack your things; we’re leaving immediately for OA space.” Both of them showed their surprise and Eddie said over his shoulder as he left the office, “We’re not going to look for trouble; we’re going to find a good hiding place.”
“Why do we need to hide?” Janie asked. “The Nightmare can’t be seen by the OAs.”
“It’s not for us. I also want you to develop a telepathic remote-control system for a ship, Bobby.”
Bobby shrugged, “Don’t need to do that, Boss. The Algeans already have one.”
“Good! Get a working system and be ready to install it when we come back.”
“Will do.”
Eddie looked up, “Bong, did you hear everything?”
“I did. You might drop me off and give me a few days to look around.”
Eddie stopped walking and his brow furrowed, “That’s a good idea.” Eddie turned to Janie, “Do you know if we have the coordinates of the civilization the OAs dropped their forces on the surface?”
“I don’t know but I can get them from Sprigly.”
“Let me know when you have them. That is where we’re going to concentrate our search.”
Janie ran away, and Bobby watched her leave. “What’s going on, Sir?”
“Tag is going to take a psychic shot at an OA warship and we are going to pick him up during the chase. I need his ship to be capable of flying military maneuvers autonomously.”
“You’ll probably need to assist me in the installation; I’m not telepathic.”
Eddie nodded, “Just find the system, Bobby. We may not need to do it, depending on Tag’s success in evading some psychic warships. We’ll work on it if he pulls it off.”
“Yes, Sir.” Bobby ran toward the elevator and Eddie smiled; he had a good crew.
Chapter Fourteen
Tag sat at the controls of his modified Prime and extended his acceleration field around it; it barely covered the vessel…but it did cover it. He activated the systems and placed his hands on the controls. Eddie had delayed him a week, insisting that a new telepathic control system needed to be installed before he took on the psychic warships. He resisted at first but soon discovered that flying the ship and entering coordinates in the universal drive system was too much. Now, all he had to do was issue mental directives to the drive and it responded immediately. All the Realm’s ships should have this new system installed immediately. The pilots could use their telepathic links to operate it.
Tag pushed the thruster handle forward and the ship took off at a blinding speed. He forced his eyes away from his control console and stared at the space ahead. He turned the steering wheel left and the vessel made a hard-ninety-degree turn. He heard the gravity compensators whine in the back ground as he turned the wheel right. The ship whipped right and came around in a tight 360-degree circle. He pulled the steering wheel back and the ship instantly went vertical. The gravity compensators wailed their complaint the entire time he practiced with the controls and knew that outside his acceleration field, they probably would have failed.
He flew in to the fleet above Ross and dove into shadows he saw among the warships holding position out from the planet. He didn’t depend on his scanner to guide him. If he saw a shadow, he flew into it and looked for another one close-by. He flew among them for an hour undetected and then teleported away. His teleportation field was detected, and an alarm was issued that he quickly called off. Three-days later, he knew he was wasting time; he learned how his new ship operated and taking more time would not serve a useful purpose.
He arrived at the castle that evening and Danielle smiled as he walked in to their quarters, “How was your day, Dear?”
Tag smiled, “Is it just me or has the Kosiev been away for a while?”
“Oh, you know how it is; ships need their exercise.”
“And TG and the Grang?”
Danielle chuckled, “They’re in the same jogging class.”
“Well, let them know that tomorrow they’ll get all the exercise they need.”
Danielle’s eyes narrowed, and her smile disappeared, “You know if we catch you, you won’t be doing this?”
“I do.”
“I’m serious, Tag!”
“I know, and I’ll keep my promise. I need to have them chase me as much as you want to do it.”
Danielle stood up and hugged him. “I’m struggling with both wanting to see you succeed and fail.”
“Whatever happens, let’s at least make it fun, ok?”
Danielle smiled as she hugged him tightly, “Fair enough.”
• • •
The next morning, Danielle sat in her command chair and asked, “Alex, are you fully powered?”
“I am. My psychic containment system is at maximum capacity.”
Danielle smiled, “Rose, are you and JP ready?”
“We are, Mom. Jimmy and Lola have just arrived, and they are ready as well. How do you want to do this?”
“In five-minutes, we will activate our long-range scanners and look for Tag’s ship. He is required to remain in open space inside our scanner’s range and the chase will begin the moment he detects us moving in on him. Make sure your blasters and missiles are set to training.”
“I thought we were only allowed to use our blasters.”
“Rose, if he somehow manages to escape being hit by our blasters, I will use missiles; it’s for his own good. The OAs will have missiles and we need to make this as real as possible.”
Rose laughed, “You are the sneaky one!”
“Never…ever…underestimate my sneakiness. You and the Grang will jump to the sides of his position first and the Kosiev will jump after you leave directly at him. I’m hoping we drive him toward one of your two-ships.”
“This could be over before it starts, Mother.”
“We’ll see. Never underestimate Tag’s talents either. Three-minutes; get ready to go.”
• • •
Tag sat on his command chair and wondered what direction the three-psychic-warships would be coming from. There was one more minute before the exercise began and he knew that if they were coming from directly in front of his ship, he’d probably be caught. His ship was fast but the time it would take for him to turn, even thought it would be incredibly short, would take too long. He focused his mind and allowed his vision to move outside h
is ship. He looked in front of his ship and didn’t see anything. He looked to the left and right and, also saw nothing. Was his talent not working? He glanced at the rear of his ship and saw a huge dark shadow in space. Sneaky! He whipped the ship around and pointed it toward the shadow. He placed his hand on the thruster control and listened for the long-range scanner’s alarm. He saw the countdown reach zero and he saw them coming before the scanner alarmed. He pushed the thruster handle forward and his ship accelerated away.
• • •
Danielle stood up, as she watched Tag’s ship accelerate away at a blistering speed, “ALEX!”
“Drat, he saw us coming. I’m not able to match his speed so I’m going to teleport closer and cut off some of the distance.”
Tag was flying directly away from the Kosiev and instantly saw a shadow appear directly above his ship. He pulled back hard on the steering-wheel and went vertical in an instant. He saw the Kosiev appear directly below him as it came out of its teleport field. He saw shadows to his right and turned toward them.”
• • •
The Kosiev came out of its teleport and saw Tag’s ships moving away above them. He fired two-blasters at it and missed as Tag’s ship turned right just as he fired. “Boy! I’m out of position. Rose and Jimmy are going to have to take over until I can teleport back into position.”
“I’ve got him, Mom!”
• • •
Tag was saw shadows below him and he pushed the wheel away from him. The gravity compensators screamed at the sudden turn, three-blaster-beams went through the space he just left. The Grang came roaring in and Tag was already turning away from it. Tag pushed the thruster handle fully forward and his ship flew away from the three-psychic-ships in an instant.
The psychic ships chased him for an hour and, at that point, Tag closed his eyes and focused his mind on the space around his vessel. Suddenly, there were no shadows around his ship and he thought, “UNIVERSAL DRIVE ACTIVATE!” His ship disappeared as twelve-training-blaster-beams ripped through his former position.
• • •
“HOW DID HE SEE US?! He’s left this universe, Danielle, I’ve got the coordinates and following!”