by Saxon Andrew
“But I should have insisted I go with her!”
“And leave the air filter development to wait until after she got over her boredom?! I also told her to wait for you, but she was having none of it!” Ka responded. “She thought she knew it all and ignored both of us. She intended to prove she was better than both of us!”
“I would have seen the trap and avoided it, Ka.”
“You know that, I know that, but Sha didn’t and had made up her mind to go. You can beat yourself up and believe that it’s all your fault, but Sha is accountable for her insufferable stupidity! I’ve tried so many times to get her to think things through before making a mistake, but she refused to listen! Her stubbornness and pride got her killed along with Ste and the young engineer. She told you she was sorry because she saw it at the end.”
Ka stood up and sighed, “Tal, she’s left both of us with broken hearts. But I don’t intend to sit around and mope like you.” Tal’s tears began, and Ka’s eyes narrowed into slits, “She was killed by those aliens. But for them, she would still be alive today, or do you not see that?!” Tal’s eyes narrowed, as Ka continued, “They are the ones to blame for her and Ste’s deaths; I’m going to make them pay for her death. You need to get off your ass and make her death mean something!” Ka turned and walked out of the room. Tal stared at the door and thought about what Ka said. After a few minutes, he stood up, wiped his eyes, and headed toward the door. Ka was right, and his enormous intellect began working on how to make the aliens pay for Sha’s death. The first thing to be done was to build another Epy. Then he could begin his vengeance against Sha’s killers.
Epilogue
The President of the Colonies’ Council stood with his arms behind his back staring out the glass that surrounded his office. The Government Building was the tallest structure in the capital city and had an excellent view of the giant megalopolis in all directions. He glanced at the wall-clock and saw the minute hand was ten-seconds away from nine pm. He turned back to the window and thought, “It’s time.”
Suddenly, night was turned into day as four-giant-freighters out toward the horizon activated their huge thrusters and began slowly moving into the sky. The President had to admit that the view was awe inspiring. He watched as they gained altitude and their thrusters became bright glowing dots high above Americas. He kept his eyes focused on the giant ships and saw thousands of small points of light suddenly appear around the four glowing dots of light.
Seven-thousand-medium-sized freighters activated their thrusters as the four- giants moved through them high above the planet. They grew smaller and disappeared thirty-minutes later. They were moving away from Americas to move outside the planet’s gravity field, where they could use their phase drives to go to faster-than-light speed.
The President lowered his eyes and looked out over the giant city far below him. Air-traffic was far below what it was six-months ago. He shook his head and wondered again if he was doing the right thing. After further reflection, he decided he was. The four-giant-freighters were carrying heavy equipment, building material, and food stores to a new city being constructed on a habitable planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. It was their fourth-trip to the new planet and would probably be their last; their next voyage would be to another habitable planet in Andromeda. The seven-thousand, medium-freighters were transporting four-thousand-colonists on each vessel.
Each colony had been assigned two-habitable-planets to colonize and the migration started before the alien-fleets arrived and attacked five more colonies. Panic swept through the colonies and the mad rush to be included in migration came close to overwhelming the military. But it was brought under control and only those possessing a skill needed to start a new-colony were being allowed to leave.
The wealthy in the colonies used all their political power to be included and the Council finally agreed to allow them to migrate, but it would cost them ninety-five-percent of their wealth. The wealthy finally decided five-percent was better than a hundred-percent, if they were dead. Paying the assassins would not be problem.
All communications from the invaded colonies were shut down by the aliens, so the Council had no problem spreading rumors that millions were being killed by the aliens. The truth was the aliens’ intentions weren’t known. The planets had not been bombarded and loss of life was limited. Fear drove millions to leave to the new planets. Now that the aliens had decided to cancel their major invasion to find another alien civilization, there would be time to move billions of citizens out of the colonies.
The aliens were actually saving the colonies, in a weird sort of way. Over population would have led to civil war, eventually. Now that would no longer be an issue. The President sighed heavily and turned toward his desk. A new slate of laws would allow each family to only have two-children during their lifetimes. The fines for having more than two were heavy…very heavy. Even the very wealth would blink before violating the laws. The laws would lead to controlling the colonies’ populations and remove the need of an Assassins Guild. But that was only if the aliens could be stopped. The laws were meaningless if the colonies were invaded and fell under the alien’s control.
He put the packet of laws in his desk and prayed Earth would come up with a way to defeat them. He put the worry aside and forced himself to focus on the mass migration to new planets; time would determine the final outcome with the aliens. For the moment, there was enough to keep his mind occupied and he turned to the schedule of freighters leaving for the new worlds.
The End
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Books by Saxon Andrew
The Annihilation Series:
Love Conquers All
The Power of a Queen
A Rose Grows in Weeds
Tommy’s Tale
Searcher
Demon’s Sacrifice
Finding Keepers
(The seven books above are also audio books at Audible.com)
Prequel-Psychic Beginnings
Searching for a Hero
Dahlia’s Deception
Annihilation-The Complete Series Box Set
The Annihilation Saga:
Lost Royalty
The Warrior's Destiny
No Way Out
Fight... and They Will Come
Ashes of the Realm:
Juliette’s Dream
Greyson’s Revenge
Death of an Empire
The Return of the Realm
Lens of Time:
The Pyramid Builders
Planet Predators
Pray for the Prey
The End of Time
Lens of Time - Star Rover:
The Worst of Time
Running Out of Time
Chosen to Die
The Fight for Creation:
Life Warrior
Scout Warrior
Ultimate Warrior
Star Chase:
The Lost Prince
(Also an audio book at Audible.com)
Nowhere to Run
Nowhere to Hide
Probe Predators
Jesse's:
Jesse’s Starship
Mike’s War
Joshua’s Walls
Nemesis:
Revenge is Best Served Hot
The Search for Orion
Trapped in Time:
The Time Takers
Taming a Planet
Extinction
Escape to Earth:
Running From Fate
Fighting for Space
Defending Holy Ground
The Legacy of a Conqueror
Living Legends
The Sequel Series to Escape to Earth - Defending Earth:
Searching for Death Feeders
Discovery Means Death
The Death Prophecies:
The Coming of the Prophet
The Prophet's Eyes
The Unknown Enemy Will Kill You
&nb
sp; No Technology is Invincible
Survival is Never Free
The Last Prophecy
Stories from the Filament Universe:
Gregor’s Run
A Pirate’s Tale
Soul of the Swords
The Death Filament
Death Never Leaves a Calling Card
Gregor’s Search
Jimmy's Dreams Stories:
Jimmy’s Dreams
Jimmy’s Dreams II - A Recurring Nightmare
Other:
The War Against Earth
The Book of Life
(a short story)
Earth Must Be Stopped
Coming Soon:
About Saxon Andrew
Saxon Andrew is a former social worker with a degree in Psychology and Education from Mercer University. He has taught school, managed several sales organizations and owned his own business.
He has devoured science fiction since he first learned to read and his stories are the product of years of personal experience and exposure to the universes created by the genre’s great authors.
He lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and two dogs who still appreciate his sense of humor after all these years. "Dogs are always ready to smile."