by Saxon Andrew
“Tell your children that none of them should use a jump drive.”
“They know. We’ve ceased gathering shuttles. Most of them are parked on the moon until we can hatch enough Spiders to cover them.”
“How many do you have?”
“About a hundred thousand. We discovered a jump coordinate on one of the new ones that led us to the planet building them. It was simple to sneak in with enough pilots to take them.”
“How could you have trained that many pilots in such a short time?”
“Most of the Spiders can now hear each other’s thoughts. We had to hold off the Raider Navy for a week and it took numerous trips to gather them all…”
Grant smiled, “But here they are.”
“Yes, and here they’ll stay.”
“Have you made any other plans in our absence?”
“We’ve sent six shuttles out with Crocs and Spiders as well as eggs for new ant mothers. They’ve jumped far away from any of the known civilizations on the Raider’s star maps to find planets for them to start over.”
Grant blew out a breath and sat down on the ground, “Good.”
“What about you? I see that being is missing a hand.”
Grant saw Whippet staring at them and he said, “Accidents happen, Iggy.”
Iggy nodded, “Indeed they do.”
Grant looked at Whippet and saw his thanks expressed on his face, “Iggy, see if you can find a place for Whippet to settle down. He’ll need to stay here for the foreseeable future.”
A Croc came running up and Grant’s eyes narrowed. Iggy smiled, “It appears we are starting to be able to hear each other’s thoughts as well.”
Grant wondered what their creators had made. This was too much of a coincidence. He looked at Iggy, “How far can they hear each other?”
“We’re only able to hear each other here on the planet.” Grant nodded. “However, the Spiders can actually hear each other in distant galaxies.” Grant shook his head. Iggy looked up at the sky, “There doesn’t appear to be a limit to the distance.”
Cinny walked up and Grant smiled. Iggy looked at them and said, “It appears our real enemy is the planet where our species evolved.”
Grant looked at him and nodded. Cinny sat down and pulled Grant’s arm over her shoulders. He pulled her close and thought about Earth trying to find them.
Chapter Sixteen
The Planet Commander on the Principal’s display was yelling, “SIRE, OUR PLANETS ARE BEING ATTACKED BY MASSIVE NUMBERS OF RED WARSHIPS!”
“What?”
“They suddenly appeared above my planet and began attacking our ships. Our battleships are no match for them and they’ve begun blasting cities on the surface with nuclear weapons.”
The Principal’s eyes went wide as his planet’s defense Commander ran in, “Sire, we’re being attacked by thousands of red warships.”
The display changed on his panel and he saw hundreds of his battleships above his planet being destroyed by huge red colored warships. He stared at the display in shock as the image disappeared and a human’s face appeared, “It’s time for payback. I hope you enjoy the show.”
An hour later, a nuclear missile hit the palace in the center of the Capital City and the Principal no longer had to worry about making escape plans. They no longer served a purpose. He was burned in atomic fire like the billions of his citizens he had killed on the two planets he had destroyed.
• • •
“Sir, we’ve destroyed the defending fleet above the Raider’s Capital World.”
“Destroy the planet.”
“Do we need to capture their leader?”
“Admiral, follow your orders or do I need to find a replacement?”
The Admiral stared at his display and shook his head, “No Sir. I remember Avalon.”
“See that you don’t forget.’
The Admiral lifted his communicator, “All ships will spread out and start launching nuclear missile at all cities on the surface. I want them to hit the planet’s surface causing as much radioactive fallout as possible.”
The Admiral put the communicator down and watched the Capital City on the surface go up in a giant nuclear explosion. Three hours later as the mushroom cloud spread out in the upper atmosphere, he saw that the crater made by the blast was ten miles wide. His eyes narrowed as he thought, “That should leave a testimony to what they did to Avalon. That will be here ten thousand years from now.”
He was right. The crater would be there for millennia, but life on the planet would be gone in two weeks.
• • •
“Captain, have you found them?”
“No Sir. We’ve scanned this entire quadrant and the frequency of their reactors has not shown up.”
“Take your ships to your fleet and join the attack on the Raider’s planets. We’ll expand the search at the conclusion of hostilities.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
The Head Servant entered the High Priest’s quarters and found him looking at the feed from thousands of probes. He looked up at the Servant and said, “It’s started.”
“Do you think they will honor their agreement?”
“Probably not.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Activate the force field structures and raise the planetary guns above surface. If any of their warships enter our system, activate the defense systems.”
“What if just one ship enters?”
“Hail them and stop them from coming too close.”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
The Head Servant left the High Priest’s chamber and wondered if any agreement with evil was ever kept.
• • •
Captain Rory Culholland saw one of Earth’s major battleships blow up next to his ship and the shock wave rattled his console. He looked at his Helmsman, “Get us out of here!” The giant Earth Battleship Taj Mahal shimmered for a moment and jumped two hundred miles away. The Planet Killer Missile went through its former location and turned as it locked on another Earth Battleship close by. It went to full speed and ran in on the giant ship’s rear thrusters. There was a momentary pause and then the entire battleship vaporized.
Rory watched the destruction and hit his communicator, “Admiral, hundreds of missile ships have jumped in on us and the missiles they’re launching are penetrating our force fields and killing our ships.”
“Send me an image of one of those ships!” Rory looked at his Communications Officer and he nodded as he copied the image on the monitor and fed it to the Admiral Hall’s frequency. “I’ve not seen this vessel.”
Rory shook his head at the failure of Intelligence to uncover this menace. “Sir, the ships carrying those missiles jumps in, launches twelve missiles, and then jumps away before we can hit them. We’ve lost more than eighty five major battleships and at least as many cruisers and destroyers.”
“Spread out and look for incoming jump tracks. Follow the track and emerge next to the incoming ship and fire at it before it can launch.” Admiral Hall waited for Captain Culholland to acknowledge his order but the Taj Mahal wasn’t responding. Admiral Hall contacted his Commander and detailed what was happening.
After a discussion with his staff, Admiral Nelson opened the general frequency and began issuing orders to all of Earth’s fleets on how to counter this new Raider Missile Ship. He pulled up the fleets’ status report and saw that thousands of his ships were being destroyed. Three fleets were forced to withdraw before attacking their target planets due to heavy losses. This wasn’t going to be as easy as the Command Staff had pictured it to be. The Raiders were heavily outnumbered and the end was certain…but…it was not going to happen according to the planned timeframe.
• • •
Grant took a scooter up to the Nemesis and went to the bridge. He picked up the key from the main console and inserted it into the slot. The Hologram appeared and Grant said, “The attack has begun on the Raider’s Planet
s. I’m also of the opinion that their warships are searching for this ship.”
“You should be dead now.”
“We uncovered Whippet’s double status and prevented him from activating the tracker.”
“That’s surprising. I wouldn’t have thought you’d catch him before he activated the frequency.”
“We’re just lucky, I guess.”
“No, it’s more than that. You probably saw clues that gave him away.”
“I did.”
“It won’t matter. They’ll find you any way.”
Grant shook his head, “How will they be able to do that?”
The Hologram stared at him and crossed its arms on its chest, “I might as well tell you. You’re not going to reinstall me no matter what I say, are you?”
“No, that’s not going to happen.”
“They can detect your reactors from a light year away.”
“WHAT!?!”
“The fuel used in them produces a frequency that can’t be masked. Once they finish with the Raiders, I’m reasonably certain they will take all their ships and start a scan of the known universe to find you.”
“What if we shut off the power?”
“That still won’t stop the radioactive elements in them from producing the frequency. You know as well as I do that you never completely shut down the nuclear reaction in a reactor. You merely dampen it.”
Grant snatched the key out of the console and flew the scooter back to the planet. “Cinny, we have to get away from here!”
“Slow down, Grant. What’s going on?”
“The Earth Warships can detect the Nemesis from a light year away. When they finish with the Raiders, they’ll use all their ships to come looking for us.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Ana told me about it; I believe her. We’ve got to put some distance between the Nemesis and the Animals’ Planet.”
“I’ll take the scooter back to the Nemesis.”
“No, we’re leaving them on the planet.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to remove as much mass as possible from the ship to increase its maneuverability. The Scooters are heavy. I’m going to pick you up and we’ll take the remaining two down to the surface.”
“Won’t they detect the scooter’s power source?”
“No, I’ve discovered that the Spiders can weave a web around an object and whatever it covers will not be detected.”
“Can they do that with the Nemesis?”
“Cinny!”
“I know, I know. It’s just too big.”
“I’ll be there in a moment.”
Grant arrived and he yelled at Slick, “Please weave a web around the scooter. I’ll be bringing two more down that you’ll need to cover. We’ll need one of your shuttles to take us back up to our ship.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ve just found out that the Warships from Earth can detect our ship from a very long distance. We have to get away from your planet.”
Slick didn’t like what he was hearing but he ordered eight of his children to start building a woven web around the parked scooter. Cinny watched the young Spiders start weaving a web around the scooter and shook her head, “Isn’t the scooter going to be stuck in that web?”
Grant shook his head, “Daddy Longlegs’ don’t spin a web. They weave a web that their prey can fall in and become entangled. Their webs are not sticky so the scooter should be fine.” Grant blasted off the surface and returned with Cinny in an hour. They looked at the scooter left behind and it was completely covered with a woven web. Cinny looked at Grant, “Do we need to take the extra armor out of the scooter’s storage?”
“No, we have another suit on board. We don’t need the additional weight.” A large group of young spiders came running over and began covering the two scooters in large webs. Oily walked over, “If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to your ship.”
Cinny shook her head, “There’s nothing slow about Slick.”
Grant laughed, “Indeed there’s not.”
• • •
They arrived in the Nemesis’ landing bay and Grant yelled, “Wait a few minutes, we’re sending some things down with you to the planet.”
“I’ll be here.” Grant and Cinny ran out of the landing bay and Oily looked over his shoulder. He turned back around waited for Grant and Cinny to return.
• • •
Oily landed the shuttle and Slick came over and met him as he exited the shuttle. The landing bay door opened and Slick yelled, “WHAT IS ALL THAT?”
Oily shrugged, “They sent this down to reduce the weight of their ship.”
“We can’t use this shuttle packed like this.”
“Then cover it and put it with the scooters.”
Slick stared at Oily and smiled, “That’s exactly what we’ll do.”
Oily walked away and said over his abdomen, “It’s not like we can’t spare one.”
Slick smiled. His son was growing older and wiser.
• • •
Grant watched the shuttle exit the landing bay and ignite its thrusters. It moved toward the planet and as it entered the upper atmosphere, Grant looked up, “Computer, jump us across the universe to the other side away from here.”
“Do you want to move beyond all known civilizations?”
Grant looked at Cinny and she shook her head, “No, just beyond all of those furthest from here.”
“Setting coordinates; jump in ten seconds.”
“Why don’t you want to disappear?”
“Do you think Earth will stop looking for us?”
Grant leaned back in his chair, “Probably not.”
“Grant, they could still find the Animals if they search hard enough.”
“Are you saying we should allow them to find us?”
“What purpose do we serve? The Orion was a myth created by Earth and I believe the Animals stand a much better chance of standing up to Earth than we do. It’s something we have to consider.”
Grant slowly shook his head and sighed, “Let’s go see how the Raiders are holding up.”
“Be careful.”
“I’ll try.”
• • •
The Fleet Commander was worried. It had been confirmed that the Earth Warships could follow jump drives through subspace. He had lost ninety-eight Missile Ships to Earth Warships when they were followed to the site where they were to replenish their munitions. He sent out orders that every Missile Ship was to program ten random jumps into their jump drives and activate them one after the other as quickly as possible. So far, the red warships couldn’t react fast enough to stay with them.
He looked at his status board and saw more than a thousand Raider planets had been blasted. There were only four hundred holding on and the number of red ships attacking them was increasing at an alarming rate. He wouldn’t give up but he knew he couldn’t win; the numbers were against him. The only effective weapon he had to use was the Planet Killer Missiles. Most of the fleet was gone, blasted into rubble above the planets that died. He had more missile ships than battleships and he didn’t have many of them.
He looked at the monitor with the landing bay on it and saw the furious construction taking place. Giant missile tubes were being welded on the floor and stacked on top of each other. They had more Planet Killers than he could count and he decided to use them in a last stand.
Every battleship had the same scene where tubes were being installed at a frenetic pace. He was thankful that his new Scan Leader had suggested that all the munitions in the Dominion be taken aboard huge freighters and moved out into open space between galaxies. The planets they had previously been stored on were no longer there. If the Earth ships found them before the modifications were complete…well, worrying about it wouldn’t change anything. No more ships had arrived in eight hours and it looked like this was all he had to use. The work continued as two hundred more planets were destroyed. He knew that t
he Earth Fleets were combining against the surviving worlds and their numbers were beyond belief. They had to have been planning this attack for a very long time. Finally, the modifications were complete and now there were only two Raider Planets that had not been destroyed. He divided his ships into two fleets and then he began issuing jump coordinates to his remaining ships while he waited for the probes at the two surviving planets to send him the images of the Earth Ships when they arrived.
• • •
The High Priest stood on a high balcony at the Temple and gazed at the massive number of ships on the vast plain outside the monastery. He had hired more than a hundred thousand commercial ships to go to the Choten-Zan temples scattered throughout the vast known civilizations scattered across countless galaxies. They filled their capacity with the Priests living at those temples and then jumped to the Monastery Planet. Their occupants left with what belongings they could carry and their numbers were staggering. The vast migration had been going on for more than a month and there were still countless ships waiting to land. He knew that all over the planet, every clear landing area looked just like the plain in front of the Monastery. He tilted his head back and said, “How many?”
“More than a billion have landed and about a third that number are waiting in orbit.”
“There’s not much time left.”
“The process is accelerating and twenty percent of the commercial ships on the ground are lifting in ten minutes.”
“Will we get them all down?”
“Everyone will be on the planet in two hours.”
“That’s not what I mean; I need those ships off the planet as well if we’re going to feed everyone.”
“The last ship is scheduled to leave in six hours.”
The High Priest nodded and then said, “What about those left behind?”
“They are waiting.”
He turned his attention back to the plain and saw thousands of ships lifting and boosting into orbit. He was constantly amazed at the organizational skills of the Head Servant. He would be a worthy successor.
“Your Holiness.”
He turned and looked at the Head Servant, “Yes.”
“The leaders of many civilizations are asking why we are evacuating our temples.”