by Saxon Andrew
The Crocs didn’t slow down but swam at their best speed toward the eastern continent. They had four thousand miles to cover and they hoped the planet wouldn’t be destroyed before they arrived. Tricky was of the opinion that it wouldn’t happen until all the munitions were removed or destroyed. But one never knew.
The shoreline of the western continent was a wasteland of nuclear destruction. Most of the giant city had not been damaged by the nuclear blasts but citizens began pouring out of the city to get away from the huge munition facilities located inland. The ensuing panic killed nearly as many as died in the nuclear explosions. Raider citizens killed each other to get away from what they knew was coming. Millions that clamored for a ship to get off the planet overran the spaceport. The Military was eventually forced to turn their blasters on the mob to prevent them damaging the ships in port. Many of the citizens collected weapons from the warriors they had overrun getting to the port and the battle became intense. Ships began lifting and at the end, a nuclear bomb was detonated over the port to teach the unruly mob just who was in control.
Once word got out about what happened at the port, the citizens turned on the military and an all-out civil war began. The munition facilities inland were forced to open fire on the civilians charging the perimeter to board one of the shuttles coming down to the planet. It was a recipe for disaster.
Tricky focused and heard Oily, “We need to come and take you out!”
“Why, we haven’t made it to the other continent.”
“The munition facilities are going up in horrific blasts. There is a civil war happening and the locals are doing our work for you. It’s our belief that the planet will be destroyed.”
“We’re in the middle of the ocean.”
“Come to the surface. I’ll bring the shuttle and pick you up.”
The ten groups of Crocs and Spiders went to the surface and Oily flew over the ocean collecting them. It took two hours to gather all of them and forty Spiders gathered on the shuttle’s hull. Tricky lifted his communicator, “Grant, we need you to come get us. The Planet may be destroyed.”
• • •
Grant heard the communication and yelled, “Get us back to the target planet and hold us in subspace. Look for the shuttle.”
The Nemesis jumped and extended an antenna. Cinny looked at the monitor and shook her head, “OH MY GOD!”
Whippet sat down, “How could they have done that much damage so quickly?”
Grant stared at his display and shook his head, “They didn’t. The entire planet has turned on the military. Do you see them yet?”
“They’re coming up from the ocean. Two of those missile ships are moving to intercept them.”
“Where is the other shuttle?”
Whippet yelled, “It just jumped in and is behind the two Planet Killers.”
Grant pressed his communicator, “Oily, as soon as you clear the atmosphere, look for us. Get on board as fast as you can!”
The first Shuttle was blasting every Raider ship close to the path of the retreating shuttle. The shuttle arrived above the atmosphere and the Nemesis appeared just in front of it. It flew into the landing bay as ten battleships converged and began opening fire. The first shuttle arrived and blasted the ten ships but one of the planet killers arrived and fired two missiles at the first shuttle. The Nemesis jumped away just as the two missiles detonated next to the first shuttle. When the blast cleared, nothing remained.
Grant extended an antenna into normal space and witnessed the shuttles destruction from ten thousand miles away. He blew out a breath and shook his head. Cinny looked at him and he said, “It appears the Spiders do have a limit on how much energy they can handle. They’re all gone.” He looked up, “Pull the antenna. We’ll take another look later.”
• • •
The new Fleet Commander watched the insurrection taking place on Bergold and really couldn’t blame the citizens. They were being blasted by their owned armed forces. His panel activated and he saw the Principal, “You will destroy that planet.”
“Sire, the creatures that were attacking it have left.”
“I will not tolerate their insolence. Fire the missiles!”
The Commander now knew what his former leader felt. He was faced with a decision that would scar his soul. He issued the orders as more explosions appeared on the planet’s surface. A huge one went up on the eastern continent’s shoreline and then the Planet Killers struck. He blew out a deep breath and watched more than twenty billion innocent civilians go up in flames.
• • •
Grant looked up, “Extend the antenna.”
Cinny looked at the monitor and couldn’t endure any more shock. The planet was laid to waste and it was done even though the Crocs and Spiders had jumped away. The evilness of this society was beyond belief. She heard Grant say, “Whippet, is there any way to talk with Ana without endangering the ship?”
“I think so.”
Cinny jerked her head up, “Are you serious?”
Whippet nodded, “If you remember, her program didn’t activate until both of you inserted the key together. I suspect that was done to prevent the ship from being captured by the Raiders and giving up its technological secrets. I suspect if just one of you inserts the key, the holographic program should activate.”
Cinny shook her head, “Wouldn’t she be able to take control again?”
“No, the chips she resided in are no longer there. Only the programs in the key will activate and they will be isolated to the key.”
Grant stared at Whippet and then looked at Cinny and nodded. “I don’t like this?” Grant shrugged and Cinny stood up and picked up the key from the console’s surface. She put the tip of it in the slot, hesitated and pushed it all the way in. A hologram of the woman in a military uniform instantly appeared and said, “You will be destroyed if you don’t replace my chips and reinstall me.”
Grant looked at the Hologram and shook his head, “We already know about the destruct frequency.”
The Hologram looked at him and crossed its arms, “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
Cinny sat down and said, “Ana, were you born on Earth?” The Hologram jerked its head toward her and said nothing. “Were you?”
“How did you know there was another planet?”
“It was the one that was actually destroyed. Earth is still very much alive.”
“And that’s why you have to reinstall me.”
Grant looked at the Hologram, “Answer the question.”
“No, I was not.”
“Then how can you support them?”
“Earth had no option. We had to convince the Raiders that Avalon was the only planet that humans lived on or both would have been destroyed.”
Cinny shook her head, “Not from where I stand. This ship is far beyond what the Raiders have.”
“But there were only two of them.”
“What?!”
“This ship and its twin was built on Avalon and there were only two in existence. One was taken for you to use to keep the Raiders distracted, while the other was taken to Earth for it to start building a fleet of them.”
Grant leaned back in his chair, “What about the Orion?”
“There is no Orion!” Grant and Cinny were shocked by the comment and the Hologram continued, “That was a story we made up and allowed the Raiders to intercept.”
“Then what purpose do we serve?”
The Hologram looked at Cinny, “You were just a development by the Avalon scientists. The animals were also developed to use against the Raiders until Earth could build its fleets.”
“Why does Earth want to destroy us?”
“Because you are an unknown element in this struggle and are acting independently.”
“What about the Animals?”
“Their planet will be blasted as soon as the fleets are completed.”
“How is Earth going to find them?”
The Hologram turned
to Grant, “I’ve sent them the coordinates of their planet.”
“What coordinates did you send?”
The Hologram shook its head and recited the thirty-six numbers. Grant stared at the Hologram and after a moment it said, “You don’t seem surprised.”
“One of the first things I did before your program was activated was to make a change in the jump computer.”
“Go on.”
“I inserted the coordinates of a barren planet in the drive and programmed it to default to the actual coordinates of the Animal’s Planet. Every time you programmed those coordinates you just recited, it would default to the actual one.”
Whippet looked at him, “What about the scooters?”
“If you look, the display only says ‘Animals’. It doesn’t show an actual coordinate.” Grant looked at the Hologram, “And since the Earth ships won’t have the default programmed into them…”
Cinny smiled, “They will show up at that barren planet.”
Whippet shook his head, “Why would you have done that?”
Grant tipped an imaginary hat, “You need look no further than this program. I was suspicious and worried about Iggy and Slick’s welfare if someone took control of the ship.”
“They will be found!”
“I know about jump tracking through subspace. However, did you know that if a ship goes into subspace and fires a nose thruster slightly, it will not show a track and the ship will be shoved so far away that it can’t be followed?”
Whippet looked at Cinny, “Is this true?”
Cinny nodded, “We’ve tried numerous combinations and this one works.”
The Hologram stared at them and said, “You think you’re so smart.”
“You’re the genie trapped in the bottle.” Grant looked at Cinny and she pulled the key out of the console; the Hologram disappeared.
Whippet looked at them, “When did you try this without Ana catching you at it?”
“When we took the scooters to follow Raider jump tracks, we discovered that a slight firing of a thruster moved the scooter an incredible distance away. It takes the power of a full thruster to show a jump track.”
Cinny smiled, “Oh and one more thing.” Cinny looked at Grant and saw him shake his head. Whippet didn’t see it but Cinny said, “We are now free and clear from Ana.” Whippet smiled.
Cinny thought, “Why did you stop me from telling him we hear each other’s thoughts?”
“Whippet took those chips and put them in his pouch. Why would he do that?”
Cinny kept her face neutral as she turned and looked at the control panel’s display, “I really don’t know. Do you suspect something?”
“He knows his way around this ship. Where did he come by that information? You know how hard advanced technology is to fathom by those that didn’t develop it.”
“Then we may not be as free and clear as we thought.”
“I hope I’m wrong, Cinny.”
“How will you know?”
“Let me work on it.”
Chapter Fifteen
The Crocs and Spiders were devastated at the loss of the shuttle. Tricky looked at Grant, “Are you sure they didn’t shrink where you couldn’t see them?”
Grant shook his head, “I scanned the area down to the molecular level and they weren’t there. That missiles is powerful enough to kill you.”
Iggy snorted, “This changes everything.”
Slick looked at him, “How is that?”
“How can we send our hatchlings down to a planet now that the Raiders know that missiles will kill them?”
Slick went down and then up on his legs, “I’m not willing to give up that easy.”
Cinny said, “Perhaps the only way to continue the attacks is to target the Raider ships carrying those missiles.”
“That could be dangerous.”
Cinny nodded, “I know, Tricky, but if there are two shuttles above the planet, they should be able to jump fast enough to kill them. I have to believe the Raiders don’t have a huge supply of them. Killing planets can’t be something they do very often.”
Iggy snorted, “The way they kill their own people shows me they have no problem using them.”
Grog lifted his head, “It makes me think that being angry at them for destroying our home world would be like getting angry at fish for swimming.”
Grant looked at Cinny and then turned to the gathering of animals around him, “I have some news that you should know.”
Iggy said, “What is that?”
“It appears that Earth was not destroyed but is probably very much alive.” The entire assembly was stunned into silence.
Cinny sighed, “We’ve learned that Earth colonized a planet and they convinced the Raiders that it was our home world. The planet’s name was Avalon and we were all developed there.” Cinny paused, “I’m sure your ancestors were brought to Avalon’s geneticists from Earth and they developed you into what you are today.”
“What about you?”
Cinny looked at Slippy, “We were born on Avalon. I’m sure our development started while we were embryos.”
Slick twisted his body to the left, “Then why are we attacking the Raiders?”
Grant lifted both shoulders, “We were sent to attack the Raiders and distract them from finding Earth. Earth has a ship like ours and is building a war fleet to take on the Raiders.”
“They should be thankful for all we’ve done.”
Grant looked at Cinny and she shook her head, “Grog, it’s their intent to destroy this planet and all of you once they launch their attack.” Cinny saw the animal’s shock and then their anger.
“What about the two of you?”
“They placed a self-destruct order in our computer that would be activated when they initiate their attack.”
Iggy looked at Slick, “We have to move!”
“No you don’t.” The two looked at Grant. “I managed to hide the coordinates of this planet from them. They have no idea where you’re located. The thing is, their ships can follow jump tracks just like the Nemesis. We have to teach you how to avoid being followed.” Grant paused and looked at Iggy, “You’re right about this changing everything. I need you to assist us in collecting shuttles.”
“Where are we going to collect shuttles?”
“The planet that was just destroyed had thousands of them in the landing bays of the ships you killed. Perhaps, some of those landing bays were not destroyed and there are shuttles that can be salvaged.”
Tricky looked at Grant, “Why would we need more shuttles?”
“Earth is building a huge fleet. I think you need to build one as well. I’ve not seen a ship capable of withstanding the blasts from a Spider covered shuttle.” Grant paused, “You may need this fleet to defend your planet.”
The animals looked at each other and Iggy said, “We’ll go and see if any survived.”
“Whippet needs to go with you and if any are found, he’ll need to remove any tracking devices on them before you bring them back.”
Slick looked at Tricky, “Call your team together and prepare to jump to the planet that was just killed.”
Grant said, “I have two shuttles in the Nemesis. We’ll bring them down and you can take the three of them with you. Whippet will research the Raider shuttles and show you what devices need to be disabled. You can then do it on your own.”
The Spiders started jumping up and down in anticipation and Cinny looked at Grant, “What are we going to do while they’re doing this?”
“We’re going to see that Raider Ana told us not to see.” Cinny smiled and they walked over to their scooters.
• • •
The Former Commander leaned down and used the atomic cutter to slice a wedge out of a tall tree. His son was standing next to him and used a repulsion beam to push the tree away from the clearing they had cut in the forest. The Commander looked up and saw his son looking behind him with wide eyes. He stood up and slowly looked over
his shoulder; two small flying devices were coming down out high atmosphere toward them. “Go inside with your Mother.”
“Father, I can’t leave you.”
“Son, you won’t be any help against the beings coming here. I hope it’s just me they want and will leave the rest of you alone; now go!” His son hesitated and then turned and ran toward the small metal building they had welded together upon their arrival. The Commander wiped his hands on his uniform and started walking out into the middle of the clearing. He sat down on a tree stump and watched the two small devices come smoothly in and land fifty feet in front of him. He looked at the two beings he had been chasing for more than a year and shook his head, “It never dawned on me that you would follow me here.”
Grant tilted his head, “A shuttle leaving a battleship while a planet is being attacked is not something that normally happens. You caused me to be curious about where you were going.”
Cinny nodded, “We thought you might be going to your headquarters planet.”
“No, I was attempting to escape with my family before my Leader had me executed.”
Grant’s head went back, “Why would he do that? It appears you followed your orders.”
“I proved him wrong and he won’t allow that to happen.”
“Wrong about what?”
“That you can follow our ships through subspace. I knew if you appeared at Bergold, my life was over.”
“It seems to me you don’t have any problems taking others’ lives.”
The Commander looked down and shook his head, “Their ghosts haunt me every night.” He looked up at Grant, “If I didn’t follow his orders, he would activate the self-destruct circuit on my flagship and then order someone else to do it. That’s the nature of serving in our Navy; we’re all held hostage to the whims of the Principal.”
Cinny said, “Principal?”