Annihilation 09: Dahlia's Deception

by Saxon Andrew

  “What is that?”

  “Let’s jump away and go to a planet I know that’s uninhabited and be together for what time remains.”

  “We’ll be executed for treason.”

  “Rranga, how will they know if we survived this battle? If we go now, they’ll never know. Do you love me?”

  “Send me the coordinates.” Rrena smiled and the two attack craft jumped away from the hell they had endured for far too long. The happiness they shared was beyond everything they imagined and, even though it wasn’t very long, it completed their lives.

  • • •

  The Beast Master saw the Blue Ships blown out of existence and wondered what had caused it. His main advisor told him a day later that the energy that destroyed the Blue Ships was a combination of the green energy pulses and a high powered red beam. It had to be the ones that were attacking his production planets. He chuckled about that. It would appear even they were now a target of the Blue Invaders; it served them right.

  The fleets reinforcing the ships at his home world arrived an hour after the battle ended. The war would continue and the work to build a portal to escape would be moved to the fleet. He looked at the display showing the huge blue portals and saw a constant stream of Blue Ships coming through. There was no way to prevent them from coming and his fleets were decreasing every moment. The only answer was to escape. But how?

  • • •

  Dahlia and Ping sat in their command chairs on the Rover and watched the Blue Ship attack at the Beast Master’s home world beaten back. Dahlia shook her head, “This is only a temporary fix.” Ping shrugged. Dahlia looked at him and sighed. Ping turned to her, “What?”

  Dahlia looked at the Blue Ships that were jumping away from the site of the battle and then turned to Ping, “I guess if we’re going to put our lives on the line to remove the Four and Blue Ship Civilizations…”

  “What, Dahlia?”

  “Do you think all those giant harvesting ships will be here when the Gardner’s launch their device? I mean if the Four have enough warships to go to the Realm and cause massive damage, will the harvesters even be here?”

  “I thought about that.”

  “And?”

  “I really don’t have an answer.”

  “If their giant ships aren’t removed, they’ll just rebuild the ships they lose here and invade the Realm after they’re replaced.”

  “I know; I know. I’ve tried to figure that out but have been totally unsuccessful. I can only do what each moment demands and wait until the end to see the big picture.”

  Dahlia looked at the Beast’s Governing Planet in the distance and said, “I’ve read the history of the Realm and, during the war with the Keepers, the Realm actually moved planets to different star systems. Could my planet be moved to the Realm?”

  “No, not really. Sprigly has already discussed it with the Gardners and they say moving a planet around a universe is not difficult. Moving it into a different Creation is not doable…at least not at their current technology.”

  “Would moving it around my universe possibly save it from their device?”

  “They told Sprigly it would do no good to move the planet.”

  “I wonder what their device is?”

  “I don’t know; but I know it is effective.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Dahlia, I don’t want to color your thoughts. Read the history of the Realm titled The Fight for Creation. Go to where the fight was over and tell me what you see.” Dahlia nodded and looked back out at the Beast reinforcements starting to arrive. “They still have a huge number of warships.”

  Ping shrugged, “They won’t last long; Blue Warships are still streaming through the portals.”

  “Where to now, Love?”

  “The Chinga are preparing to attack the portals. I suspect they can use some help.” Ping looked at his panel, “Pare, have you received the coordinates of the next site?”

  “I have; we’ll arrive momentarily.”

  Ping reached over and took Dahlia’s hand as space outside their viewport disappeared.

  • • •

  The Invasion Leaders looked at each other on their communication devices as the Leader of the lower quadrant said, “It appears that planet is getting involved in defending the others.”

  The Upper Quadrant Leader asked, “Have we not found a way to detect their ships?”

  “No, that technology is beyond anything we’ve ever encountered.”

  The Right Quadrant Leader said, “It really doesn’t matter. We are still on schedule and could have ended this earlier if we so chose.”

  “We can’t destroy their entire inventory of ships. They must have enough to use in the other Universe.”

  The left Quadrant Leader said, “We may not have a choice if they don’t find a door to escape.”

  The Lower Leader responded, “We’ve allowed some of their ships to get close enough to our portals to take readings. Our sensors have seen the power of their experiments increase tenfold. They should have a portal rather quickly.”

  “That planet still angers me.”

  The Lower said, “Well, we can’t go after the other fleets with all our forces. Why don’t we send a combined fleet and eliminate that problem.”

  Silence greeted the suggestion and the Left said, “Would it be worth the price in ships?”

  “Probably not; but it would be fewer to feed when this is all over.”

  The Lower said, “I’ll send my Second to lead the attack. Send out the coordinates to gather the ships from each of your quadrants and we’ll have them all jump in to a coordinate near that planet and start the attack. Now, is there any other business?”

  “We’re running low on food. We need deliveries to start soon or our ships are going to have to go down to the planets we’re attacking and feed.”

  “Set it up like last time. When a planet has been defeated, have ships from all your groups go there and feed. I’ll not endanger any of our Mother Ships.”

  The four nodded and ended the conference.

  • • •

  Tess looked at Dean and saw him stand up at his terminal, “What’s going on?”

  “A single Blue Warship just jumped into our system at the closest distance it could come to our planet.”

  “What’s it doing?”

  “It wasn’t there but for just a moment; I suspect it was collecting coordinates around us for ships to jump in.”

  “You sound rather calm about this.”

  Dean shrugged, “You know it was going to happen. Once we stepped out of line and went after their fleets…”

  “They would do something to stop it. Do you think we can hold out against them?”

  “I really don’t know for sure; however, have you ever gone to the weapon storage facilities under the northern icecap?”

  “I’ve been to the construction facilities.”

  “The storage chamber is ten times the size of the production facility.”

  Tess shook her head, “Dean, the Production Facility is huge.”

  “I know; and the storage facility is filled to capacity with Pulse Missiles.”

  “How did we get so many?”

  “Since the Realm is no longer fighting here and have no enemies currently in their space, they sent all of their missiles here.”

  “Do you know how many?”

  Dean shrugged, “We’ve tried to estimate and gave up. We might lose this coming battle but I can assure you we won’t run out of missiles.”

  “Shouldn’t you recall the ships?”

  “They’d just get in the way. I’ve told Ping and Dahlia what’s going on and they will stay on their ship and watch what happens from a distance. You might want to start moving the citizens underground.”

  “Dean, I’ve seen the numbers they use to attack.”

  “Tess, the Barges are manned by our best people. They’ll do what needs to be done. If it’s not good enough, you know how we v
oted. There won’t be any regrets. Please start moving the citizens underground.”

  Tess moved to her terminal and pressed the alarm code. Sirens started blaring and she sat down and watched the people on the surface start moving in an orderly fashion to the tubes. They didn’t look frightened and she was proud of their resolve in the face of being attacked.

  Dean’s panel buzzed and he saw Ping on the display, “It’s good to see you.”

  “Thanks, Dean. I’ve been thinking about the coming attack and, if I were leading it, I’d launch a massive wave of missiles ahead of my fleets advance.”

  “That could get you into trouble.”

  “How so?”

  “Every one of the twenty thousand Barges have a red beam set for wide pattern on each corner facing away from the planet. Those four beams will overlap with the Barges next to them and they should provide coverage of the entire planet.”

  “Why do you have them on wide pattern? They won’t be effective against warships.”

  “We have missiles to handle ships. Missiles fired at us don’t have force fields.”

  Ping nodded, “The beams will explode them.”

  “Exactly, and the explosions will provide a barrier to any of their ships coming through until they stop launching missiles at us.”

  “What if they launch in waves and have missiles between the waves?”

  “We’ll answer with waves of missiles followed up with a red beam sweep. Fortunately, the planet’s gravity forces them to emerge into normal space two hundred thousand miles out. We should have time to respond to their attack choices. If not, give them all they can handle afterwards.”

  “You aren’t worried about Victoria?”

  Ping saw Dean look around to see if anyone was nearby. He leaned in closer to his communicator and softly said, “I honestly thought about trying to contact the Gardners to come and get her.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I like sleeping indoors.” Ping started laughing and Dean said, “They’re supposed to be keeping an eye out for her safety. I have more than I can handle without worrying about that.”

  Ping looked away from the display, “It looks like the early birds are starting to show up.”

  Dean looked at the feed from the probes placed around the planet. More than a million ships had arrived and more were appearing by the second. Dean smiled, “I have to go, Ping. I’ve got to get dressed for the party.”

  “I’ll keep the fleet on standby.”

  “I really hope we don’t need them but it appears they’re taking this dance quite seriously.”

  Ping nodded, “Indeed they are.”

  Dahlia shook her head, “He’s really come a long way.”

  “So have you, Love.”

  “Ping, I sense the only way the aliens are going to call off this attack is to have something happen that would distract them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If they are pressuring the Five to flee and attack the Realm, they can’t be trying to destroy their ships wholesale. They’re simply mounting constant pressure to force them to leave this universe.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “If that’s true, they have an excess of ships to use; I suspect they’ll use them here and not break off the attack until the job is done.”

  Ping thought for a moment and then looked at Dahlia, “I sense you’re right. What can we do to take their attention away from here?”

  “If you were in their place, what would get your attention?”

  Ping’s eyebrows came together and after a moment he shook his head, “I’m missing it.”

  “Why do they have an excess of ships?”

  Ping shook his head, “You’re incredible. Pare get Virgie on the channel.”

  “Good morning, Your Highness. I do hope we’re going to help out at home.”

  “We are but we’re not going to do it at home. Since Dean is occupied, I’m placing you in command of the next mission. I want you to organize the fleets so that they are divided into a thousand fleets with an equal number of Main Battleships. I want you to go to the Rageon Rulers Governing planet and ask him if…”

  Dahlia listened to the plan but saw the Blue Ships start accelerating toward her home world. Her heart was in her throat as the vast line of Blue Ships launched missiles.

  • • •

  The Rageon had the other four leaders on his panel, “Can you do it?”

  “How do you know they can pull this off?”

  “If they don’t, back out. However, can you do it?”

  “If they can do what you claim, I’ll have my ships there.”

  “You have three hours to get organized. Now get moving.”

  • • •

  Dean saw the missile launch and pulled a toggle, “Beams are free, start ten second sweeps.”

  The twenty thousand invisible Barges began moving around the planet as they fired the four beams on the four corners of their craft. Two beams would sweep out vertically and the other two would sweep horizontally. The entire wave of incoming missiles was hit and exploded more than eighty thousand miles out from the planet’s orbit. The Blue Ships following the massive missile launch were forced to stop before they ran into the massive explosions created by the incinerated missiles. The moment the explosions died out, the Blue Ships saw a wave of destruction move across the entire front of their ranks. Nothing was detected, but something was hitting them by the tens of thousands. The Pulse Missiles did not leave any remains of a ship it hit. If a Pulse Missile hit a Blue Warship, the warship was disintegrated into its atoms. It looked like a giant eraser was removing the entire front of the incoming Blue Warships.

  Ping and Tess looked at the feed coming in from the Probes scattered around the planet and were shocked at what they saw. The entire planet had a solid globe of Blue Ships surrounding it. The globe started a hundred thousand miles out from the planet and extended for three hundred thousand miles. “How many ships, Dean?”

  “More than a billion.”

  “Are we going to be able to hold them off?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to add the beams to the missiles and teleport the brackets around them.”

  “Why?”

  “Those ships are so close together that the beams will cause the ships they hit to explode. I’m hoping they will take out the ships next to them. Until they launch another missiles barrage, I’m tightening the red beams to planet killer width. They should get through several layers before they fade out.”

  The globe had moved to within ninety thousand miles of the planet at the center, when suddenly eighty thousand brilliant red beams lanced into the ranks of the Blue Globe and blew through eight to ten warships before they stopped. Most of the ships hit exploded and their debris blew out into the ships close by. Collisions in the hundreds of thousands happened immediately. And still Blue Ships continued to jump in. The destruction was unbelievable but the Globe slowly tightened on the planet at the center of the maelstrom. In two hours, it was sixty thousand miles from the planet and once it was twenty thousand miles out; the planet could be bombarded from space with beams. And Blue Ships continued to jump in and move into the giant globe.

  Dean shook his head and looked at Tess, “They’re forty thousand miles out and we’re more than halfway through our inventory.”

  “Dean, no one could have done a better job. We’ve made them pay.”

  Dean shrugged, “Yeah, I guess we have.”

  Tess tilted her head, “Don’t give up hope. I’m starting to think like Ping and Dahlia.”

  “What? There are no accidents?”

  “Nope; that there’s a reason for this. Even if we die, I can rest easy knowing I’m part of something bigger than myself.”

  “They’re at thirty five thousand miles.”

  “Just keep it up, champ.”

  Dean smiled briefly and turned back to his panel.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Virgie, are you ready?�
��

  “We are, Your Highness.”

  “Count it down.”

  Virgie pressed her panel, “All fleets, we will launch in fifteen seconds. Don’t waste time and stay on schedule. Launch in…three, two, one…”

  • • •

  One thousand groups of two hundred ships teleported to their first targets. Each group had fifty Major Battleships loaded with Pulse Missiles. They teleported first followed by a hundred and fifty Mites six seconds later. Each of the groups teleported in to one of the blue portals and the battleships launched forty thousand missiles at the Blue Warships standing guard at the portal’s entrance. Six seconds later the Mites teleported in and hit targets of opportunity among the survivors from the Battleship’s missile launch. The Blue Ships guarding the portals numbered fifty thousand ships and their ranks were decimated by the sudden violent attacks. They had no warning they were under attack until their ships started exploding.

  A moment after the Battleships and Mites disappeared, a fleet of two hundred thousand ships from one of the Five Civilizations jumped in and opened fire on any surviving Blue Warships and then began attacking the Blue Warships still coming through the portal. The fleet formed a square of a hundred thousand ships in front of the portal as the other hundred thousand formed another square a mile behind the front square’s ranks and fired between their ships.

  Unlike the initial invasion where hundreds of thousands of ships were exiting the portal at high speed, the ships coming through now were in the thousands and traveling at normal speed. They had no way of knowing the portal had been retaken and they were blown into rubble. None of them made it through.

  • • •

  The Planter’s thousand groups attacked one portal each every six seconds. In a minute, ten thousand portals were retaken from the Blue Ships. In ten minutes, a hundred thousand were back under control of the five. At the forty minute mark, nearly fifty percent of the Portals were retaken and that was when the Blue Leadership learned of what was happening.

  • • •

  “They have taken control of nearly half the portals.”

  “How did they do this?”

  “I don’t know; send all your ships to take them back.”

  “We’ve sent all of our surplus to attack that human planet.”