by Saxon Andrew
“We’re not done, Admiral. There’s one thing remaining to do.”
“What is that?”
“One of those Flashing Warships is present in this galaxy and I’m reasonably certain it was listening in on the spoken part of the conversation we just had. The Builder Leader told the Elder that we are the ones that attacked them twenty years ago. That is information I don’t want them to have.”
“But it already obtained that information when one of their ships scanned the Prophet’s Eyes database.”
“Even so, it also knows that we were involved in preventing the destruction of the Darkness and I don’t want them using that to lure us back here.”
“But you said…”
“We will defend them but they must start standing up on their own. They can’t be aware of our assistance or they’ll simply rely on us and not start developing again. How many of your Attack Fighters were converted to the Dark Energy Beams?”
“Only one wing has been converted.”
“That will have to be enough.” Essay looked at Kamela, “Take the Eyes, go and find that vessel, and send us its location.” Kamela nodded and stood up to leave. Essay looked at Erica, “Go with her.”
“Why? I want to say here with you.”
“She needs a good scanning officer, Erica. Go with her.”
Tim saw the pain in Erica’s eyes but she nodded and followed Kamela off the bridge. “She fears for you being on this ship if we attack that monster.”
“That’s what love is all about, Admiral. Do you support my position on attacking that ship?”
“That’s easier than defending the Darkness. This involves remaining an Unknown Enemy and like Admiral Bell mentioned, we need to see how our new technology stands up to them.”
Essay asked, “Do you have a place where I can clean up?”
Tim looked at Lt. Orton, “Take Commodore Connor to the Guest Quarters on third deck.” The Lieutenant nodded and Essay followed him off the bridge.
Alexandra watched them leave and turned to Tim, “Is this a good idea?”
“I would ordinarily say it isn’t but there’s nothing else on the horizon that is going to assist us against that giant warship. What we currently have is the only tools we’ll have to use against them and my Flagship has all the upgrades. We’re going to have the Prophet’s Eyes record our confrontation and get the information back to the Colonies in the event we fail.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Someone is going to have to take on one of those giant warships and we drew the short straw. This is not your ship, Alexandra and I’m ordering you to join the Prophet’s Eyes once it finds the target.”
“Oh no you’re…”
“Admiral, this is not a personal request!” Alexandra’s mouth closed and Tim continued, “You are one of the few experienced Commanders of a Prophet Class Carrier. It is utter foolishness to risk you in battle and throw away one of our best Admirals. If you were here with your vessel, I would leave. That is the logical and smartest thing to do to make sure we don’t weaken our forces. You know I’m right.”
Alexandra stared at him and then went to attention, “Yes, Sir. I’ll report to the landing bay and wait to be picked up.” Timmy saw her anger but he knew he was doing the right thing. He nodded and she left the bridge. He went to his command chair and sighed. He guessed that being emotionally involved with a subordinate might cause problems but he never thought it would happen this fast. Oh well, he could only dot what he believes is right.
• • •
“Admiral, we’ve located the enemy ship.”
“Send me the coordinates and I need you to come back and pick up Admiral Bell.”
Alexandra had her on her armor and she heard the conversation on the Command Frequency. She was furious she was being forced to leave. Then she heard the Kindred say, “Erica and I were wondering why you didn’t send her with us. Keeping her on board your ship would not be a wise idea.”
“I know that. If we don’t win this confrontation, we’ll need a Command Grade Officer to report the data to the Admiralty.”
“You should have sent Admiral Bell with us Admiral Hart.”
“I know. I just wanted some more time with her before we go after this monster ship.”
“Have her report to the landing bay, we’ll be arriving in two minutes.”
Alexandra closed her eyes and started shaking her head. She was such an idiot. She was falling back into her old selfish ways and now she had wasted precious time she could have been with Timmy. She started to run back to the bridge to apologize but saw the Prophet’s Eyes come into the landing bay and settle down on its landing legs. She punched Timmy’s private frequency and said, “Admiral.”
“Yes.”
“I will not accept failure in this coming engagement. You will win this and come to me as fast as you possibly can. If you’re not going to win, get out and come to me.”
Timmy smiled, “I’ll do what I can, Admiral Bell.”
“That’s not good enough. Win!!”
Timmy nodded and saw on his console that the Eyes had exited the landing bay. He turned to the tactical monitor and said, “Change the status light to enemy contact.”
Every room on the giant carrier had a small orange light in the corner of the ceiling that stayed illuminated when the ship was at battle stations. It would start flashing when combat was expected. When the location of an enemy was detected, the light would change to neon blue and start flashing. When an attack was imminent, it stopped flashing and turned solid blue. The blaster and missile teams kept a close eye on that light. It was starting to flash faster and they knew it was going solid quickly.
Timmy didn’t hear the sonic scanner so he knew the Giant Warship was stationary, he could see the blip on the Tactical Monitor. He would have heard it long before he saw it if it were moving. He knew the scanning range of that warship far exceeded that of his ship but it did not appear to be reacting to his approach. It was remaining in place, which told him the new dark energy force field was preventing the Homosassa from being seen. The real question was going to be whether or not the new field would keep out the red beams of the enemy’s blasters. Timmy spoke into his armor’s communicator, “Commodore Embree, launch the First Wing, keep the others on the rails.”
Tee sat in his Attack Fighter and pressed the launch button. The ten thousand modified Attack Fighters began leaving their launch tubes at high velocity. The ten mile long carrier had four launch tubes every hundred yards. The set of four tubes were equally spaced around the ship’s hull with a tube on the top, bottom, starboard and port side of the vessel. The hundred and sixty sets of launch tubes were spewing out fighters at an incredible speed and they began forming us as soon as they left the tubes.
Roy saw the Attack Fighters moving up the rails ahead of his ship and glanced over his shoulder, “Unleash the dogs of war and charge into the fray where destiny does not matter.”
Joe groaned and said, “Leash your lip and close it down, I’m tired of all the chatter.” He smiled and looked at Jill, “Hey that was pretty good.”
Jill smiled and started clapping as she said, Bravo, Bravo!”
Roy turned around with his head tilted back, made a small sniff with his left nostril, and said with a droll voice, “You call that poetry?”
“Jill can verify that it was perfect for the moment.”
Roy reached up and rubbed his aching shoulder as he turned his chair around where they couldn’t see his smile. If Joe started spouting verse, he would only get better at it and he didn’t mind that his new wife supported her twin brother. Roy saw his Attack Ship approaching the launch port and said, “Pat, find our position in the formation.”
“Got it nailed down, Skipper. It’s good to be back home.”
Roy saw the port as his Fighter was shot out of the tube and he smiled as he answered, “There’s no place like home with your family.”
• • •
Tim stared
at the tactical monitor and saw no reaction from the enemy ship when the attack fighters were being launched. Maybe the scientists were right about the dark energy force field being undetectable. Timmy looked at Commodore Collins, “Bring the ship around for a broadside when we move in range.” The carrier continued moving toward the gigantic warship and Timmy could only shake his head in disbelief. This monster dwarfed the Azura Mothership. He wondered how long it took to build this thing.
The Homosassa began turning broadside to the giant and he heard Kamela in his mind, “Admiral, if you can delay firing for a few moments. The beings on the ship are having a conversation that we need to hear.”
“Kamela, the longer we sit here the more lightly we’ll be discovered.”
“This is important, Admiral. I also want you to target one of your new Dark Energy Blasters on the bridge of that ship. It’s located near the bow.”
“Why is that?”
“We want to prevent them from broadcasting our attack to their home worlds. Destroying the bridge will take out their long range communications.”
Tim looked over at his Weapon’s Commander and saw him nod and announce, “Done.”
“We’ll notify you the moment we have what we need.”
“Don’t waste any time, if my scanners detect any activity from that warship, I will immediately open fire.”
“Understood, Admiral.”
Timmy thought about the new Dark Energy Blasters. The containment vessels for the Dark Energy feeding them were kept in Other Space by a remote star drive. If the containment vessel started exhausting the dark energy inside it, the Carrier would drop the lower section of the ten-mile long warship into other space where hardened scoops would extend and scrape the plaque off the edge of other space. It would only take a four hundred yards move forward to refill the containment vessels. However, they had not been trialed in combat. Would they operate effectively enough to keep the new blasters firing? He was about to find out.
• • •
Commodore Embree moved his Fighters in front of the Homosassa and they spread out into four long lines. One of the real benefits of the new Dark Energy Technology was that unlike the previous blasters used on the Carrier, they could move around safely inside the Carrier’s beams. As a matter of fact, the Carrier’s Dark Energy Beams would actually strengthen the Dark Energy Force Field around his Attack Fighters. He organized the Fighters to take out all the blasters on the giant warships hull located on the side facing the Homosassa. He was much closer to the monster than the Carrier and he was starting to get nervous.
• • •
Alexandra sat in Essay’s Command Chair on the Eyes and stared out of the forward viewports at the vessel that filled all of them. She had seen the recordings but the real thing was so much more unbelievable. This thing was beyond any ship she had ever seen. She looked at Kamela as she played the conversation that was taking place on that monster over the Bosrean Thought Recorder and Broadcaster.
• • •
“What do you mean the Blue Vessels left without destroying the resident civilization?”
“It appears someone or something intervened and stopped it from happening.”
“Send me your recordings.”
“I’ve already sent them earlier.”
“Did you not use the Frequency Suggester?”
“As we informed you, we couldn’t use it on the Leader of the Blue Vessels. The force field around his large vessel was more than six times more powerful than any of their other vessels. Instead, we targeted the Leaders on the largest Blue Vessels with the Suggester and according to the conversation we recorded, they ordered the Leader to destroy that civilization. However, if you listen to the transmissions we intercepted, there are long periods of silence. At the end, the Small Species was talking about another species that intervened.”
“And you did not detect the presence of a different Vessel?”
“We did not.”
“That species they left behind must be removed before we can safely use that galaxy’s black hole.”
“I understand. However, it didn’t happen.”
“I’m wondering if the one that intervened is the species we allowed to scan our old warship.”
“I do not have enough data to make that determination.”
“Have you not found their location?”
“No, I have not and the second scout has failed to find them as well.”
“Where is it searching for them?”
“It’s scanning the small galaxies close to the other spiral galaxy at the moment. If they’re not there, one vessel will not be enough to find them.” There was a pause and the Speaker on the giant warship said, “You can send vessels through the black hole in the Ritual Galaxy and then have them go to the black hole that empties into the other spiral galaxy.”
“There is a war being fought there that makes it too dangerous to go near that galaxy.”
“What are you going to do?”
“The only option we have is to send enough ships through subspace to search for that missing species.”
“That will take a long time for them to arrive.”
“Do you have another option?”
“I must confess that I don’t.”
“I’ll let you know if the Community agrees with my assessment. Join the other vessel searching for the missing species.”
“Do you not think I should remain here?”
“And do what? The Small Species has left and that resident civilization is not going anywhere. Go and assist the other scout.”
“Your advice is wise. We’ll leave for the other galaxy now.”
Kamela heard the contact end and thought, “NOW, ADMIRAL HART!!”
• • •
Timmy hit the communicator button, “WEAPONS FREE!!! WEAPONS FREE!!! OPEN FIRE!!!” Timmy pressed the side of his helmet and the tactical view of the giant warship disappeared from his visor and was replaced by the view from the optical scanners. He increased the magnification and honed in on the large protruding bulge on top of the gigantic, saucer shaped warship. As soon as he saw it, it disappeared in a brilliant flash.
The Dark Energy Beam that hit it was invisible but the damage was easily seen. He backed the view out and saw the hull on the side of the giant warship closest to his Flagship was going up in a massive line of destruction that was destroying everything it hit. That had to be Embree’s Fighters. The giant came alive and red beams began firing at random but they weren’t firing at any specific target. It was clear that the blaster operators on that ship could not see their attackers.
Tim stared at his visor and said to his Weapons Commander, “Captain Thompson, we’re moving the ship so you can target that ship’s thrusters. Take them out Makala!”
Makala started issuing orders and a few moments later, as the Homosassa moved around to the rear of the exploding warship, the giant thrusters came into view. They were starting to glow and Tim saw one of them go up in a massive blast. The others began exploding like a string of giant firecrackers as the DE Blaster beams hit them. Tim smiled, “Good job, Captain.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
Tim heard, “SMALL SHIPS LAUNCHING, SIR.”
Tim stood up and said loudly over the general frequency, “Expand the beams and sweep the incoming ships. Embree, you will focus on the continued destruction of that ship.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Hundreds of thousands of Yellow Fighters erupted out of the ships giant hull and began swarming as they looked for the enemy that was destroying their vessel. They knew the general direction it was located because of the side of their ship that was going up in massive blasts. They flew at top speed toward that side of their ship and ran into a wave of destruction that was unbelievable. The new DE Blasters spread the focus of their beam until it was fifty miles wide. The blaster teams began sweeping the beam into the ranks of the swarming enemy fighters and the entire front of the enemy format
ion went up in flames. The teams swept the enemy Fighters into dust and debris until the survivors turned and fled to the safety of the giant vessels opposite side.
• • •
Tim was told by the engineers that the DE Beam would be invisible but that it would cause massive explosions. When he questioned them in detail, Ali explained to him, “Admiral, what happens when a nuclear explosion takes place?”
“Radioactive material converts from matter to energy.”
“Describe that process.”
“The electrons around the atom’s nucleus fly away when a high energy particle strikes the nucleus and blows it apart.”
“Well, Dark Energy causes the atoms of matter it hits to fly apart at the speed of light. It’s the same principle as an atomic explosion only the radiation level it much higher.”
“Why is that?”
“Admiral, what is radiation but the electrons, protons, and neutrons that make up an atom that’s been split. Dark Energy converts atoms in larger quantities and does it much faster than the nuclear process. Any life form exposed to that level of radiation will die without the protection of a very powerful force field.”
“What about my Attack Fighter Pilots? Will they be safe?”
“The Dark Energy Force Field around their ships is a repelling force, Admiral. Those subatomic particles will be shoved away from your fighters and they will not be harmed.”
• • •
Tim stared at the Giant Warship and saw that its blasters had stopped firing and no more small ships were emerging from its hull. He changed the view on his visor and saw that the surviving small ships on the opposite side of the giant had stopped moving and were hanging motionlessly above the vessel. He activated the main frequency, “Cease firing and withdraw!” The Attack Fighters turned away from the burning warship and moved to form up within their groups. Timmy sighed and ordered, “Scan that vessel and tell me what you see.”
Lt. Orton pressed a button on his console activating the powerful active scanners. Tim and the rest of the bridge crew looked up at the wall monitor as the views inside the ship changed. Everywhere there were bodies lying on the floor that were smoking from the severity of radiation burns. Tim shook his head and softly said, “Scan for life.”