Nowhere to Hide

by Saxon Andrew

  He sat back and smiled, “The invasion could succeed.” That was his last thought as his ship blew up around him.

  ***

  Chip sent a message to Drey, “I have the location of the Commander of this attack.”

  Drey thought a moment and nodded, “See if you can take him out.”

  Chip pushed a button and Max looked up from his panel, “Claire, we’ve been given the go ahead.”

  “I see that; you take the left and I’ll come in on the right.”

  “Just one shot and then get out.”

  The two thetas went to light speed and were on their target in less than a second. They came out of FTL drive and fired the Boson Combo at the giant ship. They went back to FTL and disappeared as the giant ship exploded. The boson beams weakened the force field around the giant battleship and the three boson missiles on each side blew through and hit the Invader in the center. Both of the Thetas were barely able to escape an Invader beam that blew through the space they had formerly occupied. The response time of those beams were incredible. The heat damaged the rear fins on Max’s ship but he was able to get away before his systems shut down. He limped away as the Invader Fleet arrived at open space and jumped away.

  ***

  The Second-in-Command jumped out of his command chair, “WHAT JUST HAPPENED? GET ME SOME ANSWERS, NOW!”

  His bridge crew scrambled but did not have any answers before the giant ship jumped away. The Nephew manning the sensors briefly saw a small Green Ship off in the distance from the escaping Invaders and wondered what it was just before his ships jumped away.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The Senior Father had the Second-in-Command in his office and was past anger. His emotions moved rapidly toward rage and he pulled a blaster to kill the incompetent fool that allowed his Senior Son to be killed. He was tightening his finger on the trigger of the blaster when he heard his daughter say, “He wasn’t killed like the other ships.”

  He wanted to blast this idiot but he forced himself to turn an eyestalk to her and say. “What are you talking about?”

  “Missiles didn’t kill my brother’s ship. All the others were killed by missiles coming in at extremely high speeds but no missiles were fired at his ship.”

  The Father turned and walked over to his Daughter’s display, “Show me what you’re saying.” The Father looked at his Son’s battleship and saw it surrounded on all sides by escorts. He stared at the screen and wondered if it was possible to place more ships around the ship in the center of the formation. With that observation, he began questioning what else his Son’s second could have done. His Daughter said, “I’ve slowed this recording down to our slowest speed and it’s still not clear but we should be able to see something.” The Father watched and saw a momentary green flash and was blinded by a main beam firing at the spot the green flash appeared. “What was that?”

  His Daughter leaned back and tilted left, “If it’s a ship, it’s very small and it was only there for a hundredth of a second. It took that long for our scanner to turn to record it, but our beam was faster than the scanner, and got off a shot before we could get a clear picture.” His daughter looked at him, “This is how our ships were killed in the first attack.” The Father put the blaster away and the Second-in-Command swelled with a full breath. He knew he was going to die. The Father replayed the recording six times and still couldn’t determine what happened. “Father, we had a ship fire a beam on the opposite side of the my brother’s ship but we’ve not been able to see what it was attempting to hit.”

  The Father stared at his Daughter. She was as smart as her brother and he depended on her to help him see things clearly. She looked at the display and pulled up another picture. The Father stared at the image as his Daughter increased its resolution. “This image was taken by another ship just before it jumped away.” The image grew larger and suddenly there was a small green ship moving away from the fleet with a small smoke plume coming from its rear.

  “How big is that ship?”

  ““It’s smaller than our shuttles.”

  He turned to his daughter, “Could something that small damage a battleship?”

  “I honestly don’t know but something did. That ship wasn’t there when our fleet moved in.”

  “Could it have been launching the missiles and was damaged in the effort?” His Daughter pulled up an image of an FTL missile and placed it beside the small ship. They were close to the same size. “Were we able to determine the power of that ship?”

  “No, it evidently had most of its power shutdown. Father, something damaged that ship and I suspect it was one of the beams fired by the ships around my brother’s ship.”

  “If that’s the case, how did it get so far away from our fleet’s location?”

  “I’m still working on that but nothing else makes sense.”

  “Weren’t the ships launching the missiles also green in color?”

  “Yes, but it was a slightly different shade of green.”

  The Father went to his command chair and thought for a long time. The Second remained standing at attention and his Daughter waited for further instructions. Finally, he looked up, “Daughter, do you think they deliberately allowed us to kill that planet?”

  “It was one of their major capitals. What makes you think they did?”

  “I don’t know; this whole thing just doesn’t feel right. If they have ships that can kill us when we’re defended like my Son’s ship, why did they only use missiles?”

  “It may be that they only have a small number of those ships.”

  “Let’s assume the worst and say they have large numbers; why didn’t they use them?”

  The Daughter thought about it and after a few moments leaned back, “You know the Council won’t believe this.”

  The Second said, “Believe what?”

  The Daughter leaned left and right, “They’re setting us up.”

  “How!?!”

  The Daughter looked at her father and he nodded, “If they stopped this attack, we would have asked for another Family to join us.” The Second saw it. The Daughter continued, “They took out the most heavily defended ship in our attack. If they can do that, they can kill any ship in our formations.”

  The Second nodded, “They were also able to determine which ship our commander was in.”

  The Father waved a pseudopod, “That was easy; having that many ships around it was a clear give away.” The Second lowered his head and the Father said, “You couldn’t have done anything else. I’d have done the same thing you did.”

  “I still blame myself for his death, Father.”

  The Father looked back at the image of the small ship, “There is where the blame lies.”

  “What are you going to do, Father?”

  “Ask to speak to the Council.”

  “Do you think they’ll hear you?”

  “We better be praying that they do.”

  The Second looked at the Daughter and she nodded; they needed to start a family quickly. He would ask her Father for permission later.

  ***

  Claire stared at Max’s ship limping away from the Invader fleet from just outside disrupted space. The freaking battleship had gotten off a lucky hit. She waited and watched for an Invader to head towards Max. If they did, she was going to be forced to kill him; both knew they couldn’t allow the Invaders access to the technology contained in Max’s ship.

  “Claire, you’re going to have to do it if they start moving this way.”

  “Max, I’ll die if I have to kill you.”

  “Please don’t blame yourself, Claire. We knew going in it wasn’t going to be easy.”

  “If you weren’t such a slowpoke…”

  Max softly said, “I know, I know.”

  Chip appeared on their displays, “Max, you know what we’re going to have to do if one of their ships starts your way.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Perhaps I can be of assistance.”

>   Chip looked at his main display and saw one of the giant Green Civilization’s Ship Commander, “We can use any help you can give us.”

  “I’m going to your ship at FTL speed and have my landing bay doors open. Have your ship enter and I’ll take him to El Dorado.”

  Chip shook his head, “I wish I could accept your offer but my Leaders have forbidden showing our technology to any other species. I know we’re fighting together in this war, but that rule cannot be violated.”

  The Ship Controller stared at Chip and after a moment said, “I guess I’d feel the same way. I’ll bring your ship inside my FTL field and send a cable out to it. We’ll attach it to his ship and he can shoot if off if we don’t take him directly to your planet. Your other ship can follow us.”

  Chip tilted his head, “Thank you for understanding.”

  “If we hadn’t violated your trust earlier, I suspect this wouldn’t be an issue; but we did. We are working hard to earn it back. Perhaps this will help in that effort.”

  “Thank you, Controller.”

  “Max.”

  “Yes, Claire.”

  “I want you to move to my quarters.”

  Max smiled, “I didn’t think you knew.”

  “I know.” Max nodded as the small shuttle moved to his ship and anchored a cable. He stared at Claire in his display all the way back to El Dorado.

  ***

  Chip shook his head, “I’m sorry, Sir.”

  Drey nodded, “It does appear they saw your damaged ship before they jumped away.”

  “Perhaps I was too hasty in wanting to participate in the engagement.”

  “You’re probably right; however…I never expected your pilots to be able to take out their flagship. That ship was heavily defended and I suspect your estimate of the importance of that Commander was spot on. It is encouraging to see that if your team could hit it, they will fare well against their ships in the next invasion.”

  “Do you think they’ll know what happened?”

  “They can’t be so stupid that they don’t put two and two together. I hope their ego is so large that they won’t really believe a ship as small as a Theta could destroy one of their heavily defended battleships.” Drey paused and shook his head, “However, they will know that the flagship was not destroyed by missiles.”

  “Will that lead to multiple fleets coming next time, Sir?”

  “Possibly; we should know shortly. You should reward those two pilots for taking the risk of going in.”

  “They’ve been promoted to Commodores and will command sixty squadrons each. I suspect their groups will be two of my best.”

  “I need to take one of your sub-fleet commanders to start organizing the next fleet. Your numbers are at a hundred thousand and I want another strike force put together; which one should I take?”

  Chip started shaking his head, “Sir, that will have a huge impact on our effectiveness.”

  “Which one, Admiral?”

  Chip fought making the decision but after a long moment he sighed, “Lilly Lambert, Sir.”

  “Why did you choose her?”

  “Mikki and Bang really work well together. If I sent one of them, I’d hurt two groups. Lilly works well with either but is highly competitive with both of them. She was their previous commander before their promotions and I suspect they will applaud the promotion.”

  “Please inform her of her new position and have her report to strike Fleet Beta.”

  “Sir, may I request one thing?”

  “What is that?”

  “Bring her fleet to us so we can pair her new pilots up with one of ours to learn the new tactics. It will shorten the learning curve and I believe it will sharpen my pilot’s skills by having to train another in how to use them.”

  Drey smiled, “It will also make it easier for your two strike fleets to work together.”

  Chip smiled, “Indeed it will.”

  “You are promoted one star, Admiral Robinson. You will command both units. You should choose your replacement.”

  The Screen went dark and Chip sighed; he knew it had to happen. He pressed his panel, “Please call Commodores Lilly Lambert and Mikki Martin to my office.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  ***

  The High Council listened to the Senior Father and watched the videos of the attack on the Green Capital. There was much back and forth and finally the Leader called a halt. He looked at the Senior Father and his Grandfather, “Are you saying that small ship went through our defenses and killed your Son?”

  “Nothing else fits the facts, Grandfather.”

  “Could it be possible that ship was there recording what happened and managed to get damaged? It’s not big enough to do much more.”

  The Senior Father knew he had lost. He looked around at the Grandfathers and saw they sided with their Leader, “That is a possibility.”

  “Is it also true that the tactic used by the enemy won’t work again?”

  “Yes, Grandfather.”

  “I see no reason to interrupt the gatherings to send another family to invade with you.” The Leader looked around the room, “Unless one of you wishes to volunteer to go with him.” The Senior Father heard nothing but silence. “Prepare your Family to invade. I want a full report sent to me once you start that process.”

  “Yes, Grandfather.”

  “How long is it going to take you to start the invasion?”

  “Twenty one days.”

  The Leader rose and left the room ending the conference.

  The Senior Father’s Grandfather looked at him, “Do you really think that small ship killed your son’s ship?”

  “They don’t need a ship to record anything. We know they have probes just as good as ours; it was not there to record.”

  The Grandfather leaned back and after a moment said, “You don’t know how many of those ships are there; do you?”

  “I suspect I’ll have the answer to that question shortly.”

  The Grandfather initially thought his Son was being paranoid…but now, he started to worry.

  ***

  Moe broke into Ian and Drey’s conversation, “It appears only the one fleet is coming.”

  Ian jerked his head around toward the speaker on the wall, “What have you seen?”

  “The fleet outside the galaxy is organizing into groups and no other fleet has come to join them.”

  “Can you determine how long we have?”

  “I’m sure they’re assigning specific targets to each group with the anticipated number of ships to carry out the attack. At their current rates, you’ll have between eighteen to twenty days.”

  “I guess there’s no way to determine where they’ll be coming?”

  “No, there’s not. However, I’ve assigned a theta to every civilized planet in M87 and, when it appears they’re close to completing their organization, I’ll have the thetas fire a boson beam into subspace, disrupting it out to forty million miles.”

  Ian looked at Drey, “You need to get the attack craft and your strike groups organized. I’ll get the Theta fleets prepared. Moe, we’ll send you our organizational charts and we’ll need you and the Hub to make the initial assignments.”

  “I’m handling the assignment of the Alliance’s forces. The Hub is assigning the assets in M87. They are going in first to soften up their force fields. The Alliance’s forces will arrive to do the heavy lifting.”

  Ian looked at Drey, “I’ll see you when this plays out.”

  Drey smiled, “It should be fun.” Ian shook his head and ran out of the room.

  ***

  Lilly stood at attention in front of Chip’s desk. Chip was always amazed that someone with brown hair had the bluest eyes. Lilly’s hair hung to the middle of her back but she had it tied up in a ponytail. Her natural exuberance was infectious. Her ever present smile disappeared with Chip’s first sentence, “Commodore Lambert, you’ve been promoted to Rear Admiral and will take command of our second strike fleet imm
ediately.” Lilly was stunned. She started shaking her head and Chip said, “We are bringing your newly formed fleet here and will assign your pilots to those in the First Strike Fleet. The Dreadnaughts will be back for them to practice on and they should be brought up to speed quickly.”

  “Why me, Sir?”

  “You think Mikki and Bang should have been chosen?”

  “They’ve both been using the new tactics longer than me.”

  “Yes, but you’ve been able to give them all they can handle in the war games. You have more experience as a commanding officer and in my opinion, you are the best choice.”

  “Sir, I’ve depended on you a lot to get me up to speed and direct my ships.”

  “Don’t think you’re the only one taking this hit; I’ve been promoted to command both strike fleets. Your fleet will have my undivided attention until they’re ready.”

  Lilly’s smile was instant, “Are you going to take some of our more experienced pilots to fill the command positions in my fleet?”

  “We don’t have much time; so obviously, I’ll have to do that.”

  “We need to start immediately.”

  “Get your ships here and Moe will assign your pilots to one of our veterans. I want the first run at the Dreadnaughts done in forty eight hours. You have a lot to do, Admiral.”

  Lilly beamed, “I never thought I’d hear that title. It sounds pretty good.”

  “Get in line; I still see myself as a Lieutenant. Things happen fast in this Navy.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, Sir. You are amazing in what you can do.”

  Lilly ran out of his office and Chip smiled. She was just so…so…Lilly.

  Lilly ran out as Mikki was walking in and yelled, “Congraturlations!”

  Mikki said, “For what?” But Lilly was already out the door. Ten minutes later she stumbled out as the new Admiral commanding the First Strike Fleet. Her first thought was to wonder how Bang was going to take this.