by Saxon Andrew
• • •
The giant Feeder Fleet appeared and Jill launched a light missile. The Light Ship immediately disappeared and reappeared a quarter of million miles away from the Feeder’s main planet. “Rocky, I think they’re detecting our presence.”
“Ignore them and focus on what the Feeder Entity is communicating, Willow!” Rocky watched numerous Feeder warships start turning in their direction. “Amber, how are they able to detect us?”
“Rocky, it appears they are able to detect the dark matter cloud. They can’t see us but they appear to be moving toward our location. They must have come up with a way to detect dark matter.”
“What if we leave the cloud?”
“Then they’ll detect our ship. They’re not moving quickly so their detection devices must not be extremely effective. However, they are moving directly toward our location.”
“Willow, do you have anything?”
“The Fleet Leader has just contacted the Feeder Entity and it says that the weapon they found was used against one of his ships. The Entity says the scientists are working on disassembling it now. The Entity contacted one of them and I got a location on where they’re studying the missile.”
“Amber, skip us out of here now!” Rocky saw the giant fleets of warship around the planet disappear as normal space appeared. “Willow, where is that missile?”
“It’s in a giant sphere shaped building on the second Feeder Planet in the system.”
“Didn’t Poncho get a light map of that planet before he left this system?”
“He didn’t but he launched a probe that did.”
“Was that building on the map?” There was a long moment of silence and then Willow said, “Yes. But that planet is just as well defended as the one we attacked, Rocky. There are ships all the way down to a thousand feet above the surface. There’s no way we can enter their system without being detected.”
“What are you thinking, Rocky?”
“Jill, I need you to come up with a plan where we can destroy that building and everyone inside it.”
“But…”
“Jill, you’re the smartest one I know in knowing how to use our weapons. Come up with a way to make it happen!”
“Give me some time to work on it.”
“Let me know as soon as you come up with something. I’ll be working on finding a way to take it out as well.”
Jill nodded and activated her console’s data system. “Amber, skip in close to the other planet and take a quick photo. Skip out and send me what you find.” Ten seconds later, the image of the planet appeared on Jill’s display. “OH MY GOD!”
Rocky heard her, “Just find a way, Jill!” Jill shook her head and began entering data into her panel. The defenses around and above the planet were absolutely frightening. She also knew there was no way to approach that planet without being detected.
• • •
“Willow, you will do as I ask!”
“Rocky, you don’t know what you’re doing here!”
“Then tell me another way to do it.”
“It can’t be done!”
“You will do as I order.”
“I…will.”
“Do not share this with anyone else and that includes Amber.”
“I will keep it to myself.”
“Send me the item I need and do not have it on the ship’s internal display.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
Two hours later, Jill sat back in her chair and shook her head, “Rocky.”
“Yes, Jill?”
“There’s no way to penetrate that planet’s defenses and take a shot at that building.”
“Are you certain about that?”
“I’ve looked at every possible avenue and there’s no way to get to the surface and have time to launch a missile. Nothing launched from space would make it through the massive warship formations above the planet.” Jill looked across at Rocky’s cockpit and didn’t see him. She looked at her display and scrolled through the ship’s cameras. “Rocky, where are you?”
“I’ve left the ship, Jill.”
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!”
“There is only one way to take out that building and you had to see it while you were looking for a way to do it.”
“ROCKY!!”
“It has to be done. I’ve clamped a nuclear missile to this scooter and I’m skipping directly to the planet’s surface and instantly detonate it.”
“ROCKY!”
“I’m sorry, Jill. There’s no other way and you know it.”
“But…”
“The Feeders will detect me the moment I enter normal space on the planet’s surface. I have to detonate the nuclear warhead instantly or they’ll vaporize it. If the Feeders take apart the light missile, they’ll learn about our light drives. It’s our fault they have it and I have to stop them from learning our technology.”
“Rocky, I don’t want to live without you! Please don’t leave me!”
“Jill, you and I both knew this mission was probably a one way trip. This must be done. I hate losing my chance to spend my life with you but if I don’t do this, all of mankind could end up dead. That includes you.”
“I’m going to attack that planet.”
“No you won’t. I won’t let you throw your life away.”
“You are!”
“Yes, but I’m doing it to save lives. Attacking that planet won’t save anything and you know it.”
“You can’t stop me!”
“I’ve ordered Willow to skip away the moment the probe we left in that planet’s system detects the explosion on the surface. She has no choice but to follow my orders.”
“WILLOW!”
“He’s right, Jill. Don’t make this worse than it already is.”
“I’ll never forgive you if you do this!”
“I’ll never forgive myself for doing it. But Rocky is right, it must be done.”
Jill shook her head, “Rocky, please don’t leave me!”
“I’ll always be watching over you, Jill. Launch in three, two, one…”
“ROCKY!! I’ve never kissed you!”
• • •
Rocky put four fingers on four separate button on the scooter’s control panel and pressed the light drive with his thumb. The scooter suddenly appeared about two hundred feet above the planet’s surface and he saw the giant sphere shaped building less than five hundred yards in front of him. He immediately pressed the other four buttons simultaneously and closed his eyes.
The nuclear warhead detonated and a gigantic blast ripped out and roared into the giant city at the speed of sound as more than twenty disruptor beams hit the ground around the scooter. The three hundred Feeder Attack Ships that had instantly turned when the scooter appeared, roared in on it, and opened fire at it but were vaporized in the blast. The huge Feeder Science Building was blown away in the massive shockwave and rolled twice before it disintegrated into ashes as the nuclear blast ripped through it. The huge city was vaporized by the eight hundred megaton blast. The ships above the city were blown away by the shock wave and they damaged other ships holding formation directly above them. The mushroom shaped cloud rushed rapidly into the atmosphere as more than hundred million Feeders died on the planet’s surface. The Entity at the other planet roared its rage at another city being destroyed. Its rage grew as it learned it had lost the weapon that had been captured along with all the scientists that were studying it.
It raged at the Fleet Leaders failure to protect the planet but wondered in the back of its mind how this enemy had known the location of the missile his forces had captured. The explosion happened at the exact location it was being studied. It broke through his consciousness that the enemy must be able to hear its thoughts. It had contacted the building just before it was destroyed. Something had to be done to prevent being heard in the future. It felt a sudden shock from the death of so many Feeders that were part of the link that brought it into existence. It was thr
ee days before it was able to fully reconstitute itself.
Chapter Thirteen
Jill looked at the panel’s display and saw the feed from the probe Amber had left behind. A moment later she saw the brilliant blast erupt on the planet’s surface. She closed her eyes and wept as Willow skipped the ship away. She put her head in her hands and wailed with misery.
• • •
Open space is beautiful. The distant galaxies and the light leaving them were incredible to see. Some of the light had left them more than a billion years in the past. They were somewhat dimmed by the barrier, but they were still gorgeous.
Rocky looked at his panel and saw the scooter was in bad shape. He didn’t know what possessed him to press the four buttons together. He really didn’t think he would survive the nuclear detonation, but somehow, he did. One of the buttons he pushed released the clamps holding the nuclear missile to the scooter. The second one ignited the thrusters pushing the scooter away from the missile. The third button activated the barrier field around the scooter and the fourth detonated the warhead.
The fourth button is the one he pressed first. He knew at some level that it would take a small delay for the two nuclear spheres to be slammed together. He saw the planet disappear at an incredible speed as the scooter was shaken violently as it left the planet’s surface. He looked at the control panel and saw that the only thing still operational on the scooter was the barrier drive. It wouldn’t do him any good without thrusters to maneuver. But at least the Feeders wouldn’t be able to see him in the barrier.
He looked and tried to see if the Feeder’s Galaxy was still visible but saw that it wasn’t. He managed to flip the scooter to use the bottom thrusters to stop the scooter’s mad rush through space. A moment later, the thrusters died. The nuclear EMP must have damaged the controls. Normally, the controls could withstand a nuclear EMP, but probably not that close. His eyes narrowed and he activated his armor’s medical display. He had been hit by a large dose of radiation but his armor had blocked most of it. He would live; he looked around and wondered for how long. His armor’s communication system had been damaged by the blast. The antenna was useless. He was stuck out in intergalactic space with no way to call for help. He should have just died with the blast.
He couldn’t even turn off the barrier field to get a better view of the universe around him. He pulled up his tactical display hoping to find a star map but his visor started scrolling madly through all the systems. His armor’s central processor was also damaged.
He sighed and thought about Jill saying she had never kissed him. Actually, she had kissed him on the cheek at the wedding…but that wasn’t a real kiss. He knew that statement is what prompted him to press the four buttons without really thinking it through. He shook his head; it appeared she would still never get that kiss.
Rocky leaned back on the scooter and thought about opening his armor to space and just ending it quickly, but that wasn’t his style. He thought about all that had happened and, after a couple of hours, his eyes narrowed and he sat up straight on the scooter. He had been operating like a moron. He hadn’t really thought things through and had almost made a terrible mistake in using the new missile transports.
He knew the Nudges had stopped him from making that mistake. He was so stupid and short sighted! He also knew the Nudges had put the idea of using the scooter to deliver a nuclear weapon into his mind. He knew it came from them because he didn’t discuss it with anyone before doing it. That was their normal operating procedure. He looked up and wondered if they had stopped him from seeing things correctly. After a few minutes, he knew they didn’t do that. They probably tried to get him to realize the new reality but he was too focused on the mission at hand to see it. The mission ended the moment the Feeders turned their attention on the four distant galactic clusters.
It took the Feeders close to three hundred years to arrive at their current location. Going to search those four clusters were going to take them an additional two or three centuries to complete. Each of those clusters had a couple of thousand galaxies in them and he had failed to realize that the new search would keep them tied down for a very long time. He had managed to give the Alliance the additional time it needed to prepare to take them on. If he had launched a million light missiles at their fleets; he shook his head. They would have had thousands of missiles to collect and study. He leaned back on the scooter’s handlebars and looked up at the distant specks of light. He felt at peace. He had accomplished the task he was assigned and he was reasonably certain Jill would see it once she took a moment to think about it. She was so incredibly brilliant and beautiful and funny and gorgeous and wonderful. He spent the next hour thinking about how he was so lucky to have had some time to get to know her. He closed his eyes and focused on her face. He smiled and, after a few minutes, he fell asleep under the light from a billion distant galaxies.
• • •
“It is my opinion that this new enemy is able to hear our communications.”
The Fleet Leader sat up in his chair, “Why do you think that, Prime?”
“After you contacted me about one of your ships being hit by a missile, I contacted the lead scientist to see how he was progressing in determining how the missile we captured functioned. A few hours later, a nuclear explosion happened just outside the building that was housing the missile. The enemy has to be able to hear my communications and pinpoint those I’m contacting.”
“Prime, we know that enemy is telepathic.”
“Yes, but they can’t hear everything in the universe. One of their ships had to be here to hear me contact the scientist. I suspect they launched a missile at one of your vessels and had a ship close to my planet to listen in on what we discussed. They must have found out that we had captured one of their weapons.”
“Wasn’t a ship detected in your planetary system?”
“A concentration of dark matter was detected.”
“That must be how they avoid detection, Prime. Now that we know that piece of information, we can use it to better defend ourselves.”
“What are you saying?”
“The moment a concentration of dark matter is detected, we immediately attack with overwhelming numbers. Even if we can’t hear their thoughts, we can find them. The only real advantage they’ve had is our inability to detect them.”
“I’ll discuss this with our engineers and see if we can’t develop a missile that can lock on dark matter. We also need to incorporate the targeting into our gravity beams.”
“Do you want to do this before we go to those distant clusters? I’d hate to go and not be able to defend our fleets.”
“You’re right. Hold your fleets where they are and I’ll discuss this with our engineers. If we can develop the necessary tools, I’ll recall your fleets to be upgraded. I’m also going to see about adding an additional force field around your ships. The lead scientist thought before he died that an additional force field would stop that missile.”
“My fleets could use the downtime.”
“We’re not going out half ready any more. I’ll contact you shortly.”
“Yes, Prime Leader.” The Fleet Leader settled back in his chair and smiled. He had been at this task for more than ten years. Once he returned to the main planet, his family would pull strings to get him transferred to the High Council. He would just have to make sure his personal location was nowhere near a large metropolitan center. This new enemy had actually done him a favor. Someone else would have to take the fleets out to find the enemy’s home worlds. He was thankful it wasn’t going to be him.
• • •
The probe collected the conversation and began processing it. This was something that needed to be sent to the Alliance’s Leadership. It downloaded the conversation into a micro-probe and launched it into the barrier. An instant later it was out of the Feeder’s galaxy and activating its light drive. It was received by Fleet Intelligence six minutes later and the conversation was downloaded to
Admiral Gibbon’s panel. He immediately contacted the High Leader and notified her of what was happening. A recall was immediately issued to Admiral Stone’s Light Ship but no response was received. Gibbons wondered if the ship had been destroyed when the captured missile was destroyed. He prayed they survived. The Alliance owed them so much. But two days later, the recall was still unanswered. He feared the worst had happened.
• • •
Rocky was finding it hard to move. He opened his eyes and saw the oxygen indicator showed he was down to a dangerous level. He realized his armor must have lost integrity during the blast and was slowly leaking. He smiled and saw the sleep system was still operational. He activated it and closed his eyes. The end would be peaceful. He closed his eyes and thought about Jill. After what seemed like a long time, he felt something and realized it was his back hurting from being in one position too long. He closed his eyes again and heard, “DAMN IT! CUT IT OPEN!”
He tried to take a breath and failed. Suddenly, his face was washed with cold air. He forced his eyes open and saw Jill leaning over him holding his head in her hands. He smiled and said, “This must be heaven.” Then Jill was kissing his face over and over as she cried with happiness. Rocky was too weak to raise his arms but he managed to say just before he blacked out, “You did get your kiss.” Then darkness took him.
• • •
His foot hurt. He tried to move it but was unsuccessful. Then he felt every part of his body screaming in pain. He opened his eyes and saw Jill standing over him as he was being wheeled on a gurney into an operating room. He was struggling with the pain and was unable to talk. There was a tube in his throat and he saw a doctor push a needle into his arm. He started struggling against the bonds holding him to the table and heard, “You’re going to be alright, Rocky! You’re going to be alright!” Rocky looked into Jill’s eyes and stopped struggling. A moment later he lost consciousness.
• • •
He began to feel his feet. He heard a voice say, “I’ve taken him out of the induced coma. He should be regaining consciousness momentarily.”