Nowhere to Hide

by Saxon Andrew

  “They’re following a neutron missile and hitting the ship it hits with a Boson Combo.”

  “That sounds dangerous.”

  “It is Ryan; however, I’ve asked the Grey and Green Civilizations to send us some of their missile launching battleships to support our attacks.”

  Marissa shook her head, “Sir, the Thetas have stronger force fields than our attack ships. I don’t think we could survive the missile blast.”

  “You’re right; we wouldn’t. What the Thetas are going to do is follow the missile in and go around the blast and hit the targeted ship away from the point of impact. They have to follow it in with at least twenty miles between them and the missile; we can get closer and the missile’s warhead will block any beams fired at out ships.”

  Ryan stared at Kregen, “We’re more maneuverable.”

  “That’s the key to making this work. We can move around the missile faster than the Thetas are capable and hit the target ship just as the missile hits.”

  Marissa tilted her head, “Sir, our missiles will take time to get up to speed. Will they have enough time to do that after the neutron warhead hits?”

  “It really doesn’t matter; whichever hits the Invader ship first will weaken its force field to the point where the second hit will penetrate to the ship. If they hit at the same time, our scientists say the impacts will either completely collapse the force field or the shock of the two hits will cause more than four hundred gravities of impact. A body cannot withstand that level of G’s, even if they’re strapped in. I’m leaning toward massive force field failure.”

  “Sir, how are we going to train to do this?”

  “Admiral Fox, the ships from our allies will be arriving within the next two hours. You will assign four attack ships to each of their vessels. Those ships will fire a spread of four missiles and your pilots will chase those missiles until the missiles run out of fuel. I expect them to maintain a four mile separation between themselves and the missiles they’re pursuing. Once the FTL field around the missile fails, the missile will come to a complete stop and the ship that fired them will retrieve them, refuel them, and fire them again.”

  Annie shook her head, “Sir, I don’t know about this.”

  “Would you prefer to go in without the shield of the neutron warhead? We lost the majority of our pilots attempting to get close to the Invader’s battleships.”

  “And if the missile is burned by an Invader beam?”

  “In combat, the missile’s warhead will have an inertia of two thousand miles a second before the FTL field activates. The neutron warhead will continue into the ranks of the Invaders at that speed until it hits something. Our ships will continue to follow the warhead until it does.”

  “What if it goes through their formations?”

  “Then our ships will have the opportunity to fire three missile barrages from their side launchers at ships they pass until they emerge.”

  “What happens when the missile hits and our pilots’ fire on the target ship?”

  “They will activate their FTL fields and get back to their missile ship to start the process again. They’ll be dead if they try to stay inside the ranks of the Invaders and take on their beam barrages.”

  The three Admirals looked at each other and Annie smiled, “Well, things should get interesting.”

  Ryan looked at his watch and winked at Annie, “I would say in about two hours.”

  Annie smiled. She would send the instructions to her commodores and would have about thirty minutes alone with Ryan. She saw he understood it as well.

  Marissa had already started sending instructions to her staff. Ryan and Annie quickly made up for the delay.

  ***

  “Max, you’re crazy!”

  “No I’m not; we can do this.”

  Claire shook her head, “Alright, explain this to me again.”

  “You know every beam on the ship targeted by the missile will be firing at it as it approaches.”

  “I guess that’s what I’d do.”

  “They will have to acquire it quickly and all the beams on the side of the ship the warhead is going to hit will be hitting it with a cross fire.”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you really?”

  “Just go on.”

  “Instead of going over or below the warhead, we’ll follow it in turned sideways to the flight of the missile. Just before it hits, we’ll deactivate the FTL field and that will cause our ship to shoot out from behind it at two miles a second. We’ll fire three missiles at an area outside the missiles strike and FTL away.”

  “We’ll be inside the beams hitting the warhead.”

  “No we won’t, Claire. As the missile, or warhead, gets closer, the angle of the beams to the side of it are steepened. Our force fields can handle an Invader beam for at least ten seconds. Our computer will launch as soon as it detects we are not being hit. It should be over in less than a second. They’ll be so focused on stopping the missile; I don’t think we’ll be hit at all.”

  Claire thought a moment and shook her head, “What do we gain from doing it this way?”

  “Instead of being fifteen miles behind the missile, where beams could hit us from the sides, we’ll be less than a mile from it when we move to the side.”

  Claire sighed, “I guess you’re going to try this no matter what I say.”

  “If it works, we’ll save a lot of lives.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  Max shrugged.

  “How are you going to time the run?”

  “I won’t; our computers will handle that task. It will be our task to aim our run from the missiles at an area of the Invader ship’s hull that is clear for a three missile package.”

  Claire started bouncing up and down in her command chair, “We need to go do this before I lose my nerve.”

  “Follow me, baby.”

  ***

  The Senior Father looked down from orbit on the planet being invaded and thought about what the inhabitants were experiencing. The image of millions of the invading Family’s ships exploding wouldn’t leave his mind and he realized the crews flying those ships knew they would not escape before their death. It was similar to the beings on the planet below. He had never thought about the feelings of those being taken before and it caused a new feeling he had never experienced…empathy. There was no escape for them.

  “What’s bothering you, Father?”

  He looked at his daughter manning the sensor panels and took in a big breath, “I don’t know. I guess I feel bad about what we’re doing to the inhabitants of this planet.” His daughter stared at him in amazement. He blew out the breath and looked out of the view port, “I’ve never thought about this before.”

  “I have.”

  Two of his eyestalks turned quickly toward his daughter, “And?”

  “We’re too lazy to collect our food without killing intelligent species. The recent destruction of the Family that invaded that galaxy has made me reflect on what we’ve become.” He turned around and gave his Daughter his full attention. She lowered her head, “The leader of the Council was right. Those civilizations in that giant galaxy will not rest until our species is removed as a threat to them. If I were in their place, I would do the same thing.”

  “What other way is there to feed ourselves?”

  “Oh Father, you’re not that stupid. You know the answer to that question.”

  He smiled at his Daughter; she was so brilliant and she didn’t tell him what she thought he wanted to hear; she told him the truth. That, more than anything else, made her invaluable to him. “Answer the question, Daughter.”

  She shook side-to-side and blew out a breath, “We evolved in sea water. We could feed ourselves just by sending our crews down to the surface of a planet and going out in the water to absorb nutrients. We could absorb plants to survive if forced to do it. Protein tastes better, so we appease our appetite with things that taste good. Since civilizations have t
he highest concentration of protein, we attack and consume them. We could get our protein from animals if we chose; we’re just too lazy to do the work.”

  “You think we’re wrong in attacking civilized planets?”

  “I didn’t give it much thought until the family was decimated. Now, if we lose the coming conflict and, by some miracle we are able to escape, we will be attacked in the future. It made me think about what we’re doing.”

  The former Senior Father looked up from his panel across the bridge and said, “I agree with your daughter. We should have never attacked that galaxy. Truth be told, we should never attack any intelligent species.”

  “You’ve never mentioned that before.”

  “When arrogance is your main attribute, it’s difficult to see reality. The death of my former family has removed every trace of arrogance in me. My former Family had what we’ve been doing for centuries done to it.”

  The Father stared at the two of them for several long minutes. “I have to know if we can survive.”

  “You have some time to trial it, Father.” His Daughter looked at the other Father, “I’m impressed with your insight.” He lowered his head and looked back at his panel.

  The Senior Father looked out of the viewport again and watched the explosions on the planet’s surface. “Recall our transports.”

  The Daughter looked up, “What?”

  “Recall all our ships from the surface and send them to one of the uninhabited planets we’ve bypassed to feed ourselves. I need to see if we can still use our natural skills.”

  “The Council will be angry if you do this.”

  “They won’t know; this small number of ships will not draw attention. Make sure they understand to follow communication silence until they complete the assignment. Issue the orders now!” The Senior Father turned to the new Father, “I want you to move to the First Battleship in this group and go with them to the selected planet. Report to me what you discover.”

  “Should you place me in command? Won’t there be resentment from our Family’s Fathers?”

  “I use my best tools to ensure my family’s survival. You’ve earned my trust; now don’t let me down.”

  The new Father actually showed the first moment of happiness since his Family’s destruction. He stood and left the bridge. “Father, he is much more than I thought.”

  “What do you mean, Daughter?”

  “He is brilliant. He is also fearless and possesses much more leadership than most of our Ship Fathers.”

  “I think they’ve seen what you’ve determined; they’ll give him the respect he deserves. Now, I hope he knows what he’s telling me is good advice. I’m concerned about what might happen.”

  “I suspect he is your equal, Father. You know how highly I treasure you; he is an asset you should exploit.”

  The Senior Father nodded and watched his ships begin moving away from the planet.

  ***

  The planet’s inhabitants were stunned. The ships that had dropped to the planet’s surface and started stunning the local populations suddenly recalled all their troops and lifted. Ten hours later, the huge fleet in orbit disappeared. The microprobe following the Senior Father’s fleet recorded the incident, followed the fleet to an uninhabited planet, and continued to send the feed to the Obelisk. Moe watched the information being collected and wondered what was going on. This was just not their usual behavior. Their attacks on other planets continued but this attack was called off. It continued to collect information and couldn’t figure out what the Invader Leader was doing.

  ***

  Commander Lynch watched the military shuttles that had left the huge colony ship start landing operations on the planet. The first eight shuttles landed and were suddenly barraged with missiles and beams strikes. Their force fields held up and he heard on his panel, “It appears there are survivors from the Invaders attack. What do you want me to do?”

  “See if you can get them to communicate.”

  The Lieutenant saw the area around his shuttle exploding and he looked at his communication ensign, “I’ve sent a message out on every frequency and I’ve not received a response. All eight shuttles were targeted and the explosions were huge. He took a deep breath and said, “Open the landing bay.” He stood and walked off the bridge. He stepped out of the bay and walked forward to the edge of the force field surrounding his shuttle and stood there looking out. He saw the area where the missiles and beams were being fired and waited for the attackers to see him. The barrage continued unabated. He thought a moment and said, “Weapons, I want a full powered beam fired over the location of those attacking our shuttles. Do not hit their positions!”

  “Yes Sir.”

  A brilliant white beam lanced out from the shuttle and moved over the position of the attackers and swept from one end of the hill to the other. Instantly, the barrages stopped. He stood inside the force field and waited for a minute. He pressed a button on his wrist unit and neutralized the force field in front of him and stepped out into the open. He walked fifty yards through the blasted soil and stopped. He hoped he wouldn’t be fired on, but anything could happen. Fifteen minutes later, he saw a creature leaving the hill in front of him and start moving in his direction. After an hour of struggling to understand each other, the computer had enough information to decipher the inhabitant’s language and the Lieutenant began discussions with the creature.

  “We thought everyone on the planet was killed by the Invaders.”

  “Most of us were but some of us managed to escape into the wilderness. Why are you here?”

  “Our home is going to be attacked by the Invaders who came here. We’re searching for planets to move some of our populations to safety. We will leave and look elsewhere.”

  The strange blue colored creature looked around and said, “This is our home.”

  “We respect that and will not bother you further.”

  “There is room for others here now. Can you live in peace with us?”

  “You will have to assimilate into our society but yes, we can live in peace. Your people will become part of our civilization if you so choose.”

  “Why would you come here?”

  “Where’s the last place those Invaders would look for us?”

  The blue creature changed color from royal blue to light blue, “You make a good point. There’s not many of us left and our survival is uncertain. If you will help us, we will gladly share our planet with you.”

  “I will bring one of my leaders here and you can discuss your expectations with her. I hope we can work together to make this happen.”

  Six days later, the automated machinery landed and began building the structures to support an advanced civilization. The blue inhabitants watched and were amazed at the changes taking place. It was six months later that the Colony Commander learned the skill of the blue creatures in flying ships. These people were amazing in their ability to fly any device. When one was allowed to fly an attack ship, the amazement increased tenfold. A month later, the first thirty Lengel pilots enrolled in flight training. They were eager to face off with the killers of their planet again. The only reason they lost to the Invaders was due to their technology not being advanced enough to take them on. Ian and Drey quickly determined that the Lengel would have to fly with their own species. No one could match their ability to fly the Attack Ships. No one! It was later learned that the ridges on their backs enclosed a set of wings. Some talents could not be learned; they had to be evolved.

  ***

  The Senior Grandfather looked at the three Grandfathers chosen to go to attack the huge galaxy, “Are you ready to start organizing?”

  “We are.”

  “I want you to make sure that the first family to attack there leads your forces in the initial attack.”

  The Grandfathers looked at each other and one asked, “I’m not sure what you’re saying?”

  “That family are a bunch of trouble makers. You should not endure the losses
associated with the first wave being sent against the enemy’s most advanced civilizations. Do whatever you need to do to make sure they are on the front line of the invasion.”

  “We will follow your orders.”

  “Make sure you are the only ones that hear them. Am I clear?” The three nodded; they weren’t willing to incur the anger of the Senior Grandfather. The third Grandfather contacted his eldest son and played the secret recording of the meeting. “Grandfather, is what he’s doing legal?”

  “Of course not; but who is going to challenge him? Make the plans accordingly.”

  “Yes Grandfather.”

  ***

  The Senior Father’s Daughter-in-law was manning the sensor console and heard the discussion from her navigation board. She went into the system, copied the recording, and sent it via a young son to her father. He watched the recording and sent it to the Senior Father of the targeted Family. He viewed the recording and his rage grew by the moment. He looked at his Daughter, “What have we discovered about feeding ourselves?”

  “The Father leading the group has informed me all that’s necessary to feed our family is to just simply go out into the oceans and absorb what we need. The entire group was fed in less than three days and nothing was needed to be brought on board to store. Going after the local animals was unnecessary.”

  “How did he know about sea water?”

  “He thought, rightly, that if we evolved from sea life, we should be able to still feed there.”

  “Stop our attacks and send our ships to feed at a planet with oceans. I’m not going to waste anymore of our warriors attacking planets in this galaxy. We’re going to need them to survive the coming invasion. Order our ships to prepare to attack.”

  “So we’re going to the galaxy with the other three families?”

  “Just get them ready.”

  “Yes Father.”

  ***

  “Ian.”

  “Yes, Moe?”

  “Three of the Invader fleets are starting to move outside the galaxy they’ve invaded. It looks like they’re starting to organize to invade here.”