by Saxon Andrew
“Less than a second. I could fire every disintegrator within a second of each other.”
“I notice that you’re not trying to hide our full speed capability in attempting this.”
“I spent some time on the computer last night and asked if there was a way for a Traugh Warship to increase its speed.”
“And?”
“They can do it if they’re willing to overload their reactors. I doubt they’ll do it.”
“Why not?”
“They’ll run out of fuel in less than six minutes if they do. They’ll be stranded without power and no Traugh Warship Commander will waste expensive fuel like that. They can’t afford it.”
“That will also explain our increased speed.”
“That’s how I see it. They’ll think we’re overloading our reactors and will run out of power.”
“We wasted more than a month trying to come up with something we can do. We might as well give this a go or just remain in hiding.”
“We won’t be keeping our promise to carry out our mission if we do that?”
“We also promised to stay alive for a year.”
Sparky stared at Pam, “I would have thought the pressure to meet your needs would be driving you loopy by now.”
“I guess. I can feel it but I’m ok at the moment.”
Sparky looked up, “Query. Where is the closest depot to our current location?”
Pam’s head went back, “You want to do this now!?”
“The closest depot is forty minutes from your current location.”
“How far from there is our closest hiding location?”
“Seven minutes at normal speed. Ninety seconds at full speed.”
“What are you thinking, Sparky?”
“We hit the depot, make a run for it to move outside the Traugh’s scanner range and go to the hiding place immediately after losing the pursuit.”
“Why?”
“Because they will be calling in ships from all over Traugh Territory. If we continue running, we may run right into other Traugh ships moving toward the scene of our attack.”
“You’re right.”
“Pam, this is your mission. All I’m going to do it fire the disintegrators for a second. The rest is up to you.”
Pam stared at him and smiled, “I won’t let you down. Do you have any more advice?”
“When you beat a path away from the depot move on a path away from the hiding location and turn toward it as soon as you clear the limit of their scanners. You won’t have long before the reinforcements arrive.”
Pam nodded slowly and stood up, “We need to get our suits on.” Sparky nodded and headed to his locker. There were a lot of ifs on this attack. The biggest one was wondering if they would survive.
Chapter Sixteen
Andres looked at Connor, “Any word from our scouts?” Connor shook his head. “Do you think they’re still alive?”
“I hope they are. We’re keeping a ship out waiting for a communication but we’ve not received anything.”
“Do you think keeping a ship there is wasted effort?”
“I don’t care if it is. We will keep our promise and keep one there for a year. Longer if necessary.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that, Essay.”
“You like them, don’t you?”
“I have to admit that I do. I admire their courage at taking the mission.”
“But…”
“I know what drives them but they still went. That means they really didn’t want to kill other humans. I admire them, Connor.”
Essay sighed, “I hope they’re alright.”
“Let us pray they are.”
“How’s the carrier coming along?”
“Much faster than I thought. The first one will be commissioned in another seven months.”
“I hope the missiles work out.” Andres smiled. Connor saw him and tilted his head, “What?”
“We’ve been able to include a small stardrive in it. They can be program to attack ships using a stardrive and kick them into normal space. Their targeting systems are also improving every time we work on them. If we have enough time, we’ll give more than we get.”
Connor looked up at the sky, “I hope they can buy us the time.” Andres nodded.
• • •
Pam gripped the ship’s controls and looked at Sparky, “Ok, Let me make sure I have this down. I’m going to kick us out of our stardrive over the depot and count to two. I’ll then get the flock out of Scotland.”
“Just say Mississippi and run.”
“Mississippi it is. On five, four, three, two, one, and go!” Pam pushed the thrusters fully forward and then began pulling them back. Sparky kept his eyes on his panel and ignored the monitor. He mentally counted it down and suddenly felt the severe lurch as he was thrown savagely into his chair harness. He hit the master disintegrator button and every disintegrator fired directly below the ship. The ship was rocked violently and then it blasted away from the exploding depot at a mind numbing speed. He looked out of the viewport and wondered if he had cracked a rib. The streaks of stars they were passing through were blowing past them at an unbelievable rate. How was Pam able to avoid them? He looked at the scanner display and saw the light blue stardrives appear in the distance behind the ship as the Traugh Warships at the burning depot turned to give chase. “SPARKY?!”
“I can still see them, Pam. That means they may be able to see us as well!” He counted to ten and the light blue colored stardrives disappeared from the display, “WE’RE CLEAR!”
Pam whipped the ship hard left and Sparky grabbed his rib as a sudden pain ripped through his consciousness. He thought he felt the ship go even faster, if that were possible, and he held his chest as the pain grew. He listened to the Traugh communications and said, “They’re sending everything!” Pam moved the ship slightly and he felt the ship start to slow…slightly. He saw planets flashing past the ship at an unbelievable speed and then he was viciously thrown into his harness. Now he was certain he had a broken rib; he was having severe difficulty breathing. He saw the surface of the moon rushing toward the front viewport and then they were in the cave. He held on long enough for Pam to land the ship and then darkness took him.
• • •
The Ultimate Supreme Leader looked at the Fleet Admiral on his monitor and the Fleet Leader was surprised at the calmness the leader of the Supreme Council displayed, “Explain to me how that ship managed to escape!”
“We hit the ship twenty times while it was above the depot but it managed to shrug off the hits. It then flew away at a speed we could not match.”
“How is that possible?”
“The only way is that they overloaded their reactors to achieve that speed.”
“Tell me what that means. Why didn’t you do the same to pursue it?”
“Our ships have a failsafe installed that prevents our ships from overloading their reactors.”
“Why is that?”
“A ship that overloads its reactors will run out of fuel in less than six minutes.”
“Did that ship run out of fuel?”
“We were unable to find it on the course it took away from the depot. The fleets that rushed in from all directions were also unable to find it.” The Ultimate Leader stared at him and the Fleet Leader said, “It must have gone to ground on a planet or moon before it ran out of fuel.”
“And?”
“All of our ships are searching every planetary system within the range that ship could have traveled. We will find them.”
“How was it able to withstand the hits on it?”
“The hits were not simultaneous. Our scans show that the force field around it flickered brightly just before it flew away. It was only above the depot for a second and a half before it ran.”
The Leader’s eyes narrowed, “How long?”
“Less than two seconds. It arrived and fired every disintegrator and fled.”
“How could it h
ave come to a stop, fired, and escape in less than two seconds?”
“Our scientists are working to find out, Greatest Leader. Our ships are not able to withstand that stress and survive.”
“Something has been done to that ship.”
“It’s been missing for more than a year. Our scientists agree that something has been changed during the time it was gone.”
The Leader stared at the Fleet Leader and said, “How far could that ship fly in six months?”
The Fleet Leader was reluctant to say it but knew he had no choice, “It could have flown to the other spiral galaxy and returned during that time.”
The Fleet Leader saw the first reaction from the Ultimate Leader at his remark. He regained his composure and lowered his eyes, “Do you think that is what happened?”
“I don’t know. The being that stole the ship was inexperienced and it may have fled there out of inexperience.”
“You don’t think it would have fled to another place in our galaxy?”
“We’ve not found another civilization capable of doing what this ship has done in our experience. The other galaxy is easily seen and flying our ship among the stars in our galaxy is not easily done. It could have found a civilization here but the scouts sent out to find it didn’t find anything.”
“Find that ship! I’m holding you responsible for determining what’s been done to it.” He bowed his head and the monitor went dark. He contacted the scientists and they told him that the ship may have nothing different about it. The force field may have held because none of the beams hit it in combination with other beams. The additional speed was due to the failsafe being removed. He ordered them to inform the Ultimate Leader of their findings. He hoped that would possibly save his life if he didn’t find the ship.
• • •
Pam sat beside Sparky and listened to the wall speaker as the sonic scanner fed the sounds of Traugh stardrives to the speakers around the ship. Whatever wave caused the noise; it could still be heard by the scanners deep inside the cave. The roar was growing louder and constant. There were no moments during the previous four hours that the sound disappeared. She could only imagine how many Traugh warships were out searching for them. When the noise started increasing, she had moved the ship back to the cave’s entrance and blasted the opening with a disintegrator beam to close it. A large pile of rock now blocked the opening. The ship’s disintegrators could remove them later but she wasn’t going to take a chance of the opening’s being discovered.
Sparky groaned and she put a cool wet bath cloth on his head. He opened his eyes and looked at her. He took a shallow breath and groaned. Pam put her hand softly on his shoulder, “Take it easy. You have two broken ribs.”
He softly murmured, “How did you avoid being hurt?”
“I know when I’m going to stop and I exhale before I do it. You didn’t have a warning.”
“Now you tell me.”
Pam smiled and rubbed his head, “You’re also a lot bigger than I am and that makes a difference. I’ve also dealt with high G’s flying combat aircraft and I know how to avoid tensing up.”
“Braggart.” Pam smiled and continued to rub his head. He closed his eyes, “That really feels good.”
“You scared me.”
“Scared you? I thought I was dying.”
“I did too. And I’d be lost out here without you.”
“How long have I been out?”
“About a week.”
“WHAT?”
“I shot you full of morphine and to keep you still. I’ve been feeding you with an IV.”
“You’ll have to give me the recipe.”
Pam chuckled as Sparky closed his eyes. She had given him another shot of morphine when he started stirring and it finally took effect. She stared at him as she rubbed his head and felt something stirring inside her soul. She wondered what it was.
She looked at the wall speaker as the noise began increasing. The noise from the speaker was growing louder by the moment and she knew there were Traugh Warships close by. She stood up and went to the bridge to shut down every system but environmental. The noise ended abruptly as she shut down the sonic scanner and the silence was good. She went back to Sparky’s quarters and waited as she continued rubbing Sparky’s head. The ship suddenly shook and bounced up and down on its three landing legs. She looked up and felt the ship rock as things started falling off the table next to Sparky’s bed. The Traugh were bombarding the surface of the moon and the powerful explosions were shaking the moon’s crust. They must have detected the ship. She took a deep breath and blew it out; at least Sparky would die in his sleep if the cave collapsed on their ship. She looked up as another explosion shook the ship hard. She tightened the belts holding Sparky to his bed and closed her eyes. It should be over soon.
• • •
The Traugh ship commander shook his head and pressed the communicator button, “Whose idea was it to bombard the moon’s surface?”
“The Supreme Leader has ordered every moon in the search area bombarded to try and force the attacker to make a break from their hiding place.”
The Ship Commander stared at his leader. It wouldn’t be wise to challenge the Supreme Leader’s orders on an open channel. He nodded and ended the contact. He looked over his shoulder at his Lead Disintegrator Operator and shook his head, “Who is going to pay for these bombs? They could be used on the next planet we invade instead of remodeling the surface of this moon.”
“I’d send the Supreme Leader a bill.”
“I’m not that stupid. I’ll send it to my Fleet Leader and let him fight that issue.” The Traugh paused and contacted his Leader again, “Do we have any evidence that the ship is on this moon?” The Leader stared at him and broke the connection. The Traugh blew out a breath and said, “They don’t even know if they’re here! There are more than a hundred moons in this system alone and that ship could not be on any of them. I’m wasting my bombs and they don’t grow on my ship’s hull.” He reached forward and changed the configuration of the bombardment. He’d follow orders but he was not going to drop one every hundred yards. Three hundred yards between them would at least reduce his expenditure by two thirds. This was asinine. He looked out his left viewport and saw the warship paralleling his course had already stopped dropping his ordinance at a hundred yards separation. He looked at the disintegrator operator again and yelled, “THIS IS LUDICROUS!!” The Operator shook his head and went back to his chair. The Commander was right, this was a waste of good ordinance.
• • •
Pam was lifted off the floor and slammed back by a close explosion. She looked out of the small porthole in Sparky’s room and saw dust filling the cave around the ship. One more like that and it would be over. She pulled her head into her shoulders and held on tightly to the bed. It was a good thing it was anchored to the deck. She closed her eyes and waited for the end and then felt another tremor…but it wasn’t as powerful. She opened her eyes and felt another slight tremor. The Traugh Warship that was bombarding the surface had passed over them.
She looked at Sparky and knew the violent shaking would cause him excessive pain if she didn’t keep him out. She could feel small vibrations in the floor but they were slowly becoming infrequent. After two hours, they disappeared. She looked at Sparky and was thankful he was unconscious. She had desperately wanted to take the ship out of the cave and kill the Traugh Warships bombarding the surface of the moon. Not being able to fire the disintegrators was the only thing that held her back. She stood up to go and activate the sonic scanner but decided there was no good reason to do it. She knew they were blasting the surface and the scanner would detect them from several light years out. It’d just tell her what she already knew; the Traugh were present and accounted for. Wait a minute! If the Traugh had detected the ship, they would be back to bombard the surface again.
She went to the dining room and quickly prepared a meal. She ate it as quickly as possible and went to the landing
bay to get a leather harness to tie her to Sparky’s bed. She took it out of the locker, paused, and put it back in. If she needed the harness, it would be over. The cave couldn’t withstand another close hit. She sighed and went back to Sparky and stretched out on the bed beside him. She stared at him and sleep took her without warning. She had not slept for twelve hours and had slept very little the week Sparky was in la-la land. She had to make sure she kept the schedule of morphine shots.
• • •
The Traugh Supreme Council was in an uproar. The Leaders of Traugh Society were pointing fingers at each other and no one was accepting the blame for two lost fuel depots. The Ultimate Leader listened to them and finally had enough, “SILENCE!!” The other leaders closed their mouths and, after a slight hesitation, sat down. The UL looked to the right at his son and said, “Has anything turned up?” His son shook his head. The UL looked at the other nine Leaders and said, “What do we know about this ship?”
Growler stood up, “Great Leader, our scientists are of the opinion that the ship is really not different from our own.”
“Then we need to find better scientists. None of our ships could do what that ship has done.”
Growler knew the UL would not threaten him. His support is what had allowed the UL to rise to his current Status. But he wasn’t going to take any rash chances. “The scientists took one of our warships and had thirty disintegrators fired at it with none of them hitting it simultaneously. The ship survived and its force field flickered just like the force field on that ship did at the depot. They then had the ship flown with overloaded reactors and it flew just as fast as that ship did when it fled from the depot.”
The UL stared at Growler and leaned back in his chair. “So that ship could have been hiding in our territory the entire time we’ve been searching for it?” Growler nodded and sat down. “Then why haven’t we found it? It should have run out of fuel.”
Fangs stood up, “I had the new Fleet Leader question the ship owner’s family and they said that he had more than forty refueling bars when he bought the ship. They must have landed somewhere and refueled.”