by Saxon Andrew
• • •
The sixty ton attack fighter shot across the four mile wide landing bay in seconds and flew out the far landing bay doors into the Homosassa’s landing bay continuing to rip out anchored reinforced mesh as it flew by. Five hundred yards from the end of the landing bay, it slid to a final stop.
Amy hurt in places she didn’t know existed. The terrible deceleration had pressed her deep into her chair’s cushions as she kept her arms pressed tightly against her sides. She could feel the violent hits into the long rows of reinforced mesh but her chair remained anchored and she didn’t lose consciousness. When the ship finally came to a stop she looked over at Scott and saw him grimace in pain. She heard a noise and saw two bright white lines moving in two semi-circles. Four seconds later. The hull was snatched away and sailors began pouring into the ship. Two went directly to her and Scott and lifted them out of their chairs. Amy struggled to stand and heard behind her, “GET A DOCTOR IN HERE NOW!!”
She looked behind her and saw Timmy’s chair against the control panel and her heart went into her throat, “Oh no, Timmy!” The two sailors put her arms on their shoulders and carried her out of the Attack Fighter.
The Engineer pulled an electronic key out of his pouch and inserted it into the chair. He turned it and the chair fell away from Timmy. Three sailors pulled Timmy away from the control panel and laid him on the deck. His helmet visor was cracked and was completely covered with blood. The engineer inserted the key into Timmy’s armor and it fell away from him to the deck. Timmy’s face was covered in blood and it was continuing to pour out of a horrible cut on the left side of his head where the visor had ripped an open gash. A doctor rushed in, took out a can, and sprayed the gash with a white foam. The bleeding instantly stopped and he turned around, “TIE HIM DOWN AND MOVE HIM TO THE HOSPITAL!!”
Three sailors lifted Timmy as two more sailors pushed a gravity sled under him. They picked it up and ran to the hole in the ship’s hull and passed the sled out to four more sailors who grabbed the sled and started running with it.”
Amy started struggling while still being held up by the two sailors, “Let me go, I can stand.” She put her weight on her legs and almost collapsed but kept her feet under her. When she saw Timmy come out of the ship the entire front of his uniform was covered in blood. She started moving toward him, when Captain Torenson stepped in front of her, “Admiral, we need you on the bridge!”
Amy’s face was one of anger and fear, “I am going with my, Son!!”
“Sir, we need you.”
Amy stared at the Captain and Scott put his hand on her shoulder, “I’ll go with Timmy.”
Amy looked at him and, after a long moment, nodded. A vehicle pulled up and Torenson ordered, “Take Admiral Hart to the tubes.” Amy slowly sat down in the vehicle and it flew across the giant landing bay to the tubes. She needed assistance standing up but she managed to get into the cart on her own. The cart accelerated and she looked down. All she was wearing was a short pair of blue jean shorts and a bikini top. She arrived at the end of the tube and a female Lieutenant was waiting with a jumpsuit. Amy moved very cautiously out of the cart on unsteady legs and the Lieutenant assisted her getting in the jumpsuit. She walked to the portal and entered the bridge. The Bridge Crew jumped to attention and she shouted, “AS YOU WERE. GIVE ME A SIT-REP!!”
Commodore Luge met her at the portal and walked beside her as she headed toward the command chair, “The current situation is that the fleet surrounding Earth has stopped the bombardment.”
Amy’s eyes narrowed, “Why, they’ve not had enough time to destroy the planet?”
“Our Bosrean reports that the Commander of this invasion called it off and threatened all of his ship commanders that if they made the planet uninhabitable he would personally have them all executed. It appears the first hit on the planet was a nuclear facility and he told his fleet that habitable planets were rare and that this one would be colonized in the future and they had best not damage it preventing future colonization.”
“Good for him. What are they doing now?”
“Currently they are backing away from Earth and forming up.”
“What about the other ships?”
“They’re moving in to join the fleet at the planet.”
“AMY”
Amy’s eyes went wide, “Admiral Connor?”
“Thank you for helping me. I know you’d rather be with Timmy but I need your help.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Kamela is monitoring the conversation between this Flasher Fleet Commander and one of their Leaders back in their home space. The Leader has ordered him to go and pull the two ships we destroyed back to their home territory where they can be examined. I need you and Admiral Bell to go and try to destroy them such that they won’t be able to learn anything from them. I’m leaving it in your hands to make that happen. I’m going to have to stay here with the Eyes.”
“Yes, Sir.” Amy pressed a button on her command console, “Admiral Bell, did you hear that?”
“I did, Sir.”
“You will go to the ship in Andromeda and I’ll take the one in the dwarf galaxy. Stay there and I’ll come to you once I complete my assignment.”
“Yes, Sir. How is Timmy?”
“I don’t know but I’ll keep you informed when I arrive. Alexandra, focus on doing your duty.”
“Yes, Sir.” Amy ended the call and looked at George, “Commodore, get us moving. We have to arrive ahead of these ships. I want an inventory of weapons available to make it happen.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Amy looked up, “Sally.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
“I want you to send any updates you might have on Timmy’s condition.”
“I will. He’s currently in surgery.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“When he was slammed into the console, he went in head first. The visor made the initial contact; it was fractured and a piece of it went inside the helmet and lacerated his head. The surgeon said a few moments ago that if it hadn’t broken, the impact might have killed him. The visor harmed him but it may be what saved his life.”
“Keep me informed, Sally. I want the scan Timmy made of the Flasher Warship put on my console.” The image instantly appeared and Amy stared at it for a few minutes. Finally she looked up, “Show me the images of the ship we destroyed in Canis Major.” The image appeared and Amy shook her head, “Put it up on the tactical monitor.” Amy looked up and saw a huge image of the destroyed Flasher Warship. “Sally, what can you tell me about that ship that would help me destroy it.”
“Most of the damage is done in the top ten and lower twenty decks. It was the radiation that actually killed the crew.”
“Is there anything deeper inside the ship that could assist me in blowing it into small pieces?”
“The center of the ship is where the vessel’s main reactors are located and they’ve not been damaged. On each side of the reactors are two heavily armored rooms that contain the munitions for its fleet of small attack ships.”
“What sort of munitions?”
“Primarily missiles.”
“What sort of explosives do their missiles carry?”
“Small and large nuclear warheads.”
“How many are in each room?”
“More than five hundred thousand.”
“How deep are they?”
“About fifty miles inside the hull.”
Amy sat back and exhaled. “How thick is the armor around those warheads.”
“Fifty feet.” Amy was silent and after a few minutes, Sally said, “You may be able to detonate them without penetrating the armor.”
Amy sat up straight, “How?”
“If you can get a Dark Energy weapon into the reactors, the radiation could penetrate the armor. It wouldn’t take much radiation to cause a runaway nuclear reaction in the warheads; they are, after all, highly radioactive as well.”
“Do you think radiation could penet
rate fifty feet of armor?”
“It penetrated more than eight hundred miles inside that vessel’s hull. The hundreds of reactors are located right next to both rooms of warheads.”
“How do we get a hit on the reactors? We don’t have enough time to use the blasters to burn away everything above them.”
“The Homosassa has fifty six of the new DE Major Missiles.”
Amy’s eyes narrowed, “I remember hearing something about them before I left. Tell me about them.”
“They hit with a velocity close to half light speed. They’ll penetrate and blow their entire Dark Energy Containment Vessel directly in front of the impact.”
Amy nodded and then said, “Pull the information out of your data banks and show it on my console.” Amy saw the material appear and she began scrolling through the data. They were less than an hour from the derelict Flasher Warship and the fleet around Earth was underway. Amy stared at the scan of a Flasher Warship and said, “Sally, how does the Bridge on that ship get power?”
“Hold on.” Amy waited and thirty seconds later she heard the ship’s computer say, “It was hard to find. There is a power cable running directly from the reactors to the bridge.”
“How does it get there?’
“It comes up from the center of the ship on a 45 degree angle.”
“Does that mean there is a channel from the bridge to the reactors that isn’t armored?’
“Ummm…it appears you’re right. It comes in at the rear of the bridge. If you fire a missile behind the bulge on that ship’s hull perpendicular to the hull, it should go straight into the power channel.”
“I thought you said it was 45 degrees.”
“It is, but the hull of that ship slopes from the top and it’s basically level to 45 degrees directly behind the bridge. The missile should be fired straight on to the hull directly behind the destroyed bridge.”
Amy looked over at the Weapon’s Officer, “Can you do it?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Load two of them in the event the first one doesn’t make it through to the reactors.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Sally, send this information to Admiral Bell.”
“Transmitting it now.”
Amy sat back and looked at her monitor. Timmy was still in surgery. Still no word on his prognosis. She pressed her wrist unit, “Scott?”
“No news yet, Amy.”
Amy exhaled sharply, “Keep me up dated, please.”
“I will as soon as I know something.”
Amy looked up at the forward monitor and saw the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy filling it. The derelict Flasher should be visible shortly. She heard something and focused on it. She tracked the noise and ended up staring at the sonic scanner’s speakers. It was already picking up the huge Flasher Fleets. She tried to put the noise out of her mind but it kept getting louder.
• • •
The Sector Grengen looked at the Council Data Grengen on his monitor as it asked with a sneer, “Why did you stop the bombardment of that planet?”
“There was no reason to continue and a good reason to stop.”
“Explain your logic. I fail to see it.”
“If the Humans had the technology to destroy our two Scouts, they wouldn’t have waited for us to surround the planet before coming to its defense. It was clear to me as soon as we fired the first blaster at the planet that it wasn’t the humans that did it. There was no reason to continue to bombard the planet and make it uninhabitable. If we invade this area of space, we’re going to need good planets for our colonists and you know how rare a good habitable planet is.”
The Data Grengen smiled, “I understand now and you’re right. May I assume you killed the inhabitants?”
“I’m sure thousands of them survived; you know how hard it is to kill all of them without destroying the planet. The survivors will struggle to stay alive and we’ll remove them easily enough if we send colonists.”
“So the civilization that killed the two Scouts is still unknown?”
“It is, Council Grengen.”
“I want you to go to the two scouts and bring them back to our scientists. Perhaps they can discover how they were destroyed.”
“We won’t be able to pull them through a black hole, Grengen.”
“I know. Tractor them here in subspace. I do not care how long it takes, I want them brought back for study.”
“I’ll take the fleet to them and start moving them immediately.”
“I also want two of your warships left at the black hole in that other spiral galaxy.”
The Sector Grengen lowered his three eyelids, “Is that a good idea?”
“They did not attack more than one of our ships at a time. If one is attacked, the other can record it and flee into the black hole.”
“Is it your intent to bait them into attacking by only leaving two ships?”
“Perhaps, but I don’t think they’ll attack more than one. They haven’t so far. Do you have an issue with carrying out my orders?” the Council Grengen sneered.
“No, Council Grengen. I’m just concerned that if both ships are attacked, then we’ll get nothing out of it but two more destroyed warships.”
“You will do as I order.”
“Yes, Grengen.” The Sector Grengen’s monitor went dark and he tried hard not to show his disgust. One never knew what was being recorded by the Council. The Data Grengen was being incredibly naïve if he thought those attackers wouldn’t attack more than one ship. The reason they didn’t before was because the two Scouts were in different galaxies. He knew that all conversations made by the Council were recorded and he had made his objection clear. He hoped he wasn’t right. He looked up at the main monitor and suddenly saw a brilliant light appear. He stood up and said, “What is that?”
“Grengen, it appears to be a large explosion.”
“Why are we headed directly toward it?”
The Scan Greng turned around and looked at him, “Because it is coming from the location of the destroyed Scout.”
The Grengen’s eyes went wide as he snatched his communicator off his panel, “ALL SHIPS, GO TO FULL SPEED TO THE SCOUT’S LOCATION!! FULL SPEED TO THE DESTROYED SCOUT’S LOCATION!!!”
He looked at his Ship Operator and said, “Not us. We will follow the fleet in with our escorts.” The Flyer moved his ears in agreement and moved out of the path of the thousands of warships flashing past.
• • •
The Homosassa arrived at the derelict and stopped ten miles out from the upper level of the destroyed Flasher Warship. The former location of the bridge was easy to see, the hole was eight miles wide where it had been. Amy looked at the Missile Control Officer, “Are you ready to launch?”
“ADMIRAL!”
Amy flinched at the volume and said, “What, Sally!?”
“Do you not think you might have the ship a little close?”
“What do you mean?”
“If this works, the DE Missile is going to set off more than a million nuclear warheads and thousands of nuclear reactors. Ten miles is too close for just one nuclear warhead.”
Amy stared at the ceiling and closed her eyes as she said, “Suggestion on how far to launch, Sally?”
“Three hundred miles and be prepared to run.”
“Sally, that’s ridiculous.”
“What makes a hand grenade dangerous, Admiral?”
Amy’s eyes lowered, “The shrapnel inside it.”
“And you’re looking at a dead ship with more than eight hundred miles of high strength metals, and who knows what else, surrounding the reactors and warheads. What do you think is going to happen to all that metal and plastics if that ship goes up?”
Amy looked at the Missile Officer, “How far out can you launch and hit the target?”
“I’ll designate the target with a tracking beam. We can do that from more than a five hundred miles.”
“Five hundred miles it is.” Amy looked at the Pilo
t, “Move the ship.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The giant carrier moved away from the derelict and turned broadside to it. The Missile Officer fired a tracking bean and said, “Move the ship up a half a mile.” Amy’s eyes narrowed and the officer said, “We need it to hit perpendicular to the hull directly behind the bridge’s former location.” Amy nodded and the Carrier used it’s thrusters to change position. The Missile Officer said, “Stop.” The Carrier stopped and Amy saw the Missile Officer press a button on her console. She actually felt the Carrier vibrate as the huge missile shot out of its launch tube. She would have never believed that one missile could be felt in a ship as large as the Homosassa. The missile left at incredible speed and it hit the giant derelict five hundred miles away in less than two seconds after it was launched. The massive explosion on the hull didn’t seem like it was that much of a big deal. It was the second explosion three seconds later that had her yelling, “EVADE, EVADE, EVADE. GET US OUT OF HERE!!”
The Pilot pushed the thruster handle fully forward as he engaged the stardrive. The Homosassa shot away at an incredible velocity as the giant shockwave blew out over its former location. The shockwave carried mile long pieces of debris in it moving at more than ten thousand miles an hour. Amy’s heart was beating furiously as she shouted, “SALLY, WARN ADMIRAL BELL ABOUT THIS!!”
“Notifying her now. She was about to launch and has moved five hundred miles out.”
“Tell her to run as soon as the missile is launched!”
“Yes, Sir!”
Amy looked at the main monitor and saw that the explosion looked like a small star had gone nova. Then she heard a loud noise and looked around. She turned and heard the sonic scanner was booming. The Flasher Fleet had seen the explosion and was coming at their maximum speed. “Move us away but keep us in scanning range.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
The Flasher Fleet arrived and found a massive debris field where the derelict scout had once been located. Millions of pieces of the ship were flying away at high velocity and there wasn’t much left to gather. He lifted his communicator and contacted the two fleets he had sent to the other galaxy to collect the other Scout and start it moving back to the Governing Planet, “Get to the dead Scout as quickly as possible. The one here has been destroyed.”