Nowhere to Hide

by Saxon Andrew

  Dee said, “There is a real possibility that none of your planets will be attacked.” The leaders stared at her. “Once the Invaders see they’re trapped in your systems, I suspect most of them will attempt to escape. If they don’t, I suspect they will once we start destroying their fleets.”

  The leaders saw the wisdom of her words and began cheering her and Drey.

  ***

  Ian smiled, “I knew you could do it, Drey.”

  “Trust me on this one, Ian, it wasn’t me.”

  “Really?”

  “Really; it was Dee and Andi that won the field. If not for both of them being there, they would not have agreed.”

  “I wondered why Dee would allow Andi to go.” Drey’s eyes narrowed and he stared at Ian. “Hey, I know Violet wouldn’t have allowed Junior to go.”

  Drey nodded and Ian disappeared from his wrist unit. He turned to Dee and she sighed, “I sensed that Andi had to be there.”

  “You did?” Dee nodded. Drey’s frown turned to a smirk and then to a small smile, “I guess no one can really resist either of you.”

  Dee smiled, “I’m just glad you can’t.”

  Drey saw the new Union’s Capital planet appear below Doc as they emerged into normal space, “Moe, do you have what you need to make this work?”

  “Pretty much; we still have about four or five weeks before they arrive. That should give us time to get things ready for their reception.”

  “Us?”

  “The Hub is taking part in the festivities and M87 has a new computer online that can help out.”

  Drey felt fear touch his heart, “How good is that computer, Moe?”

  “It’s really a leap beyond what they’ve had but it’s still is a long way from matching either of us.”

  “Keep me informed about its development.”

  “I will. However, I think you and Dee have won them over. The fact that you allowed them to decide has gone a long way to cement their trust of us.”

  “Thanks, Moe.”

  Drey looked at Dee and she frowned, “I still sense the attack happening. I think we can eliminate M87 as the source at this point.”

  “Then where is it coming from?”

  “I honestly don’t know. Perhaps it will declare itself during the next invasion.”

  “I have to leave in a few days to get the fleets organized.”

  “Then let’s make the best of what time we have.” Andi laughed and cooed at Drey. He took her from Dee and held her over his head as she laughed.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “Grandfather, the last coordinates will go out tomorrow.”

  “How much time will those last ships need to prepare?”

  “No more than ten hours. They’ll receive verification from the ships given the same coordinate and they’ll set up their command structure for the attack. They should be ready to leave after that is done.”

  “Make sure they know to surround their transports and provide covering fire on the way to the planets.”

  “Every Family has verified receipt of those instructions.”

  “It won’t do them any good to arrive and have no way to lift the inhabitants off the surface.”

  “They understand, Grandfather.”

  “How many ships are being sent to each planet?”

  “About thirty five hundred; your fleet will have twenty thousand as befits someone of your station.”

  “Make sure we’re defended.”

  “Our best ships are in your fleet.”

  “What’s our target?”

  “Some species called the Gongril according to the last data received from the probes before they were destroyed. Their fleets are small and lack advanced technology.”

  “Good. Inform me two hours before we jump.”

  “Yes, Grandfather.”

  ***

  Moe activated his communication system and contacted the Negotiator, “Please notify all the planets in your galaxy that we are starting the initial disruption. Jump drives will not work inside the inner planets in their systems. We will initiate the second disruption the moment the Invaders jump in. We have determined they will be coming within the next seven days.”

  “The message has been sent. Please allow three hours for any ships that must leave to have time to make their departure.”

  “We will commence the operation three hours from this moment.” Moe moved to another channel, “Notify your units that initial disruption will begin exactly two hours fifty nine minutes and forty seconds from…..now.” The Hub Computer sent an acknowledgment of the directions. “Ian, disruption will commence in about three hours.”

  “When will they arrive?”

  “I’m not certain but the probes detect massive movement among the four fleets. It appears that ships assigned the same location are moving closer to each other. That would indicate they’ll be coming quickly.”

  “Do you have a good guess?”

  “You know I hate guessing about anything.”

  “Humor me and make one.”

  “Earliest would be in ten hours; latest would be a week.”

  “Moe!”

  “Ok, ok; they’ll be here within twenty four hours after the initial disruption is done.”

  “You cut it pretty close.”

  “Not intentionally; they surprised me.”

  “Get our ships moving.”

  “They’re already jumping to their assigned locations.”

  ***

  “Drey.”

  “Yes, Dear.”

  “Where are you going to send your ships that will rest during the first day?”

  “I have several locations picked out; why do you ask?”

  “Could you make one of them the planet where that Lizard is located?”

  “Do you sense something?”

  “No, I don’t. It’s just…I know his ships are not really all that advanced and I’m reasonably certain the Invaders know that particular piece of information. I don’t want anything to happen to him or his planet.”

  Drey smiled at his wife, “I’ll change our rendezvous point to his planet. After their initial attack, half of my ships will go there for forced rest and relaxation.”

  “I expect that won’t be easy initially.”

  “No, but after some time has passed, they’ll appreciate it.”

  “What planets will be defended first?”

  Drey looked at his panel, “All the major players here. We want their ships freed up to participate in the defense of other civilizations.”

  “Thanks, darling. I do appreciate it.”

  “No problem. I’ll see you when I can.”

  “We already miss you.”

  ***

  It was fifteen minutes before the four giant Invader fleets jumped. The Grandfather looked at his daughter and said, “Connect me with all of our ships and send this to their navigators.”

  She looked up at him and stared to say something but saw his expression and carried out his orders. He lifted his communicator and said, “Every ship’s Father will follow the orders I am issuing you. You will put the coordinates I’ve sent you into your drive units and jump to them when the countdown reaches zero. When you break into normal space you will remain where you are and I will address the family at that time. Until that happens, every ship in our Family is now under strict communications silence and anyone that violates it will be shot on the spot. Fathers, please draw your weapons and stand behind your communications relatives now.”

  The Grandfather saw his son go and stand behind his sister with a drawn blaster. She looked up at him with shock on her face and the Grandfather smiled, “No exceptions, Daughter.” He looked up at the clock and watched it move slowly down toward zero.

  ***

  The Thetas all waited for the arrival of the Invader fleets to disrupt the remaining space in the planets’ systems. Once that was done they would jump to their assigned units to start the defense of M87.

  ***

>   Chip activated his fleet frequency, “Alright, you understand your assignments. Your fleets have been divided into four independent squadrons. All sixteen of you will go to a system and attack the Invader ships in it. Once they have been removed, the even numbered squadrons will continue attacking the systems you’ve been assigned for the next twenty four hours. The odd numbered squadrons will report to their rendezvous location to rest for the attacks tomorrow. The squadrons fighting today will then report for rest. That is going to be the order of the day for the foreseeable future; report to your squadrons as soon as you complete the second disruption.”

  Chip switched frequencies and looked at Lilly on his display, “Be careful; I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Lilly smiled, “We’ll do our job, Sir.”

  “I know you will.” The screen went dark and Chip wanted so much to go with Lilly but knew his duty was to coordinate all the squadron’s assignments. Please stay safe, my Love, he thought. He looked at his panel and saw the seven ships assigned to the new capital of the Green Civilization. His duty was to disrupt space around it and he wanted to get it done quickly so he could get involved in the fighting. He smiled; he suspected every pilot in his fleets felt the same way.

  ***

  The Senior Father looked at the Senior Grandfather and nodded. The Grandfather smiled and said, “Prepare to jump to your target in five, four, three, two, one, and JUMP!” Billions of giant ships disappeared from the four galaxies.

  ***

  They reappeared in M87 and Moe said in a steady tone, “Initiate second disruptions.”

  ***

  Chip looked at his display and didn’t see any Invader ships. He hit his communication panel, “All ships in the Green and Grey Civilizations, report.”

  “Sir, no Invader ship has appeared.”

  The reports came rolling in and Chip looked up and yelled, “MOE, WHAT’S GOING ON?”

  “It appears one of their fleets did not come here.”

  “Where did it go?”

  “I have no idea.” Moe scrambled trying to make sense of his sensor reports when he heard from one of the probes left behind in one of the Invader galaxies, “The fleet from this galaxy will not be participating in the invasion. They have joined us and have sworn to follow our new principles.”

  “Why are you just now informing us!?!”

  “We didn’t know if they were going to do it until the last moment.”

  “Well, thanks for clearing this up.”

  ***

  “THEY DID WHAT?”

  “I just found out, Ian. It appears only three Invader fleets arrived and the ships assigned to the major civilizations in M87 are the ones that didn’t come.”

  “Well get them reassigned.”

  “It’s going to take some time.”

  “I thought nothing was as fast as you?”

  “Hey, I have more than twenty four million of our ships and a half a billion of theirs to reroute. Give a machine a break.”

  Ian burst out laughing, “This is a good thing. Let’s do something with it.”

  “I’m on it, keep your shirt on.”

  ***

  Chip saw the information come in on his panel and hit the fleet frequency, “All ships in the Green and Grey Civilizations, report to your squadrons immediately.”

  The Fleet Controller appeared on his display, “What’s going on?”

  “One of their fleets bailed out of the invasion. It appears it was the one assigned to attack here. Our main computers are assigning your ships as we speak.”

  The Controller looked shocked for a moment, “Are you sure about this?”

  “My computer is and I’ve never known it to be wrong. Your planets are safe.”

  The Fleet Controller smiled, “The Sovereign and Gedna will like hearing this. We’ll see you when this is over.”

  Chip’s display went dark and he went FTL at an incredible speed to the rendezvous coordinate and saw twenty thousand Invader Battleships in the system, “Moe, do you see this?”

  “I’m sending your squadrons that have been scheduled to rest today for you to use to attack that fleet. They’ll start arriving as soon as they complete their initial assignments.”

  Chip recalled all the ships assigned to the major civilizations to the rendezvous location and they began appearing by the hundreds as they flew in at FTL speeds that were incredible. He couldn’t take his eyes off the main display showing the giant invader fleet located close to the orbit of the sixth planet. It wasn’t moving. He was pretty certain that wouldn’t continue much longer.

  ***

  The Senior Grandfather looked at the main display and turned quickly to the Senior Father, “Why are we out so far from our target planet?”

  “Grandfather, it appears subspace has been disrupted by some kind of energy. This is as close as we can go on our jump drive.”

  “How long will it take us to arrive at the planet?”

  The Senior Father looked at his panel and the Senior Grandfather saw the answer was not going to be a good one. “A year.”

  “WHAT!!” The Senior glared at the Father and said, “We will not make the mistake of entering that region. Jump us away.”

  The Senior Father turned to the navigator and nodded. The navigator activated his panel and pressed the jump button four times. He looked up at the Senior Father and sent the sensor’s records to his panel. The Senior Father turned dark and said, “Grandfather, it appears they have now disrupted subspace all the way out to the edge of this planetary system. We cannot use our jump drive.”

  “HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE US TO ESCAPE THIS SYSTEM?”

  “At our normal highest speed, two years.”

  The Grandfather looked at the long range picture of the planet and saw hundreds of small Green Ships were appearing, “How are they getting in?”

  “Those ships have a faster-than-light drive.”

  “I want a definitive answer on what the shortest time it will take us to get out of here.”

  “If we start accelerating and keep our thrusters at full power, three months. We will arrive at space that hasn’t been disrupted traveling at ninety six percent light speed.”

  “Will we be able to jump at that speed?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why will it take us so much longer to reach the planet?”

  “We will have to decelerate.”

  The Nephew at the communication console looked up, “All of our ships are trapped inside the systems they’ve been assigned to attack. They are asking what they should do.” The Nephew looked down and said, “Six thousand of our attack groups have been destroyed. Make that seven thousand.”

  The Grandfather knew his death was gathering at the distant planet and he had to do something to make those ships go elsewhere. “Order them to attack their target planets. They can’t stop us all.” The Nephew looked at the Senior Father and he reluctantly nodded. The Senior yelled, “GET US UNDERWAY AND GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!” The huge fleet turned and started accelerating away from the distant planet toward open space.

  Chip saw the Invader fleet turn and start accelerating away, “Salud, how long will it take them to escape?”

  “Two months, twenty two days, and twelve hours; give or take an hour.”

  Chip stared at the fleeing ships and said, “Moe.”

  “Yes, Admiral.”

  “Why is this fleet so much larger than all the others?”

  “Please launch a microprobe and have it go FTL so I can take a look at the ships in it.”

  “Salud.” Chip felt the small jerk as the probe ejected and he saw the blue field form ten miles away. He waited for twenty minutes and heard,

  “It appears the Leader of the Invaders is in the middle of those ships; I recognize his flagship.”

  “When are the squadrons attacking the Invaders today due to arrive?”

  “They will come in twenty two hours from now.”

  “Before they start their day off, I want them to join
my ships here and go out to properly introduce ourselves to that fleet.”

  “I’ll delay the assignments for the ships with you. The ships coming will start their rest time after you deal with that fleet.”

  “Moe, I want their attack time shortened by two hours so they’re not completely fatigued when they arrive.”

  Chip waited and after two minutes he heard, “I had to change the assignments. They will arrive in twenty hours.”

  “Thank you.”

  ***

  Max arrived at one of the Gongil planets and saw the Invaders moving at their top speed toward the distant planet. The four thousand Grey Civilization Main Battleships appeared and his twelve thousand attack ships moved to their assigned missile ship. Max thought about it and activated his communication panel, “Would it be possible to only send a thousand ships in the first attack?”

  “What are you thinking?”

  Max looked at the Grey Commander on his display, “We’ve been cautioned by our leadership not to waste our munitions. There are only three thousand Invader ships and I want to see if we can do this with three thousand missiles.”

  “I’ll send in the first wave and limit it to one thousand ships.”

  “Have those ships move out of your formation and my ships assigned to them will go with them.”

  ***

  The Invader Senior Father saw the giant enemy ship gathering off in the distance and knew there was little chance of survival. His giant battleships surrounded the giant transports to give them covering fire and knew the transport’s beams were not strong enough to add much to their defense. He took in a huge breath as he saw a small group of ships move out from the massive enemy formation and strapped himself in his command chair. He saw the small group disappear and after a few moments his ship was savagely rocked to the right. The last thing he was able to do before his ship was blown apart in a massive explosion was to curse the cowardly Senior Grandfather.

  ***

  “Ian.”

  “Yes Drey.”

  We’ve been able to determine that we can destroy those Invader fleets with just four hundred Green or Grey Main Battleships and three thousand of our ships following them in.”

  Ian looked up, “Moe, have you made any adjustments to our attack profiles?”

  “I have your, Highness. The Hub and I are changing the assignments of those ships currently taking their rest cycle for the next day’s attacks. The ones currently attacking will have their assignments changed tomorrow during their rest cycle.”