by Saxon Andrew
Rose stepped forward and handed them their medals. Wes was amazed. Sprig was also stunned. Twig and Linda Kay ran up to their mates and held them tightly. The crowds went crazy. Rose then turned to the crowds and raised her hand. After silence was restored, Rose looked at the monitor and said, “We will be going to confront the Captors soon. The Stars Realm’s fleet is getting ready as we speak and I want you to tell all of those you know in the fleet how much they mean to you and how much you appreciate their sacrifice. However, today is a day for celebration. Let the festivities begin.”
The speakers erupted into music and the crowd roared and moved to the music. Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “I love you. I’ll always love you.”
Cassandra just moved close and held him tight.
Atlas watched the proceedings from high orbit above Ross and thought about all that he had seen. He could still hear his brothers talking among themselves and he wondered if he was like them before he came to know this race called human. Now they sounded petty and small and he actually found no pleasure in hearing them. The female who was the lone dissenting voice among them was shouted down by the mass of voices. Atlas thought about the Gardners and their place in the universe. Something was operating to bring those super psychics together. Tommy and Cassandra coming together was unavoidable. He could see that they were driven together. He just could not understand the power that made it happen. Tag and Danielle were of the opinion that it was their DNA that forced them together. What they did not think about was that their DNA came partially from him and not one of the members of his race throughout their long history had shown the psychic power of these Gardners. Perhaps if his race had kept their physical forms and had not moved into the silver ships they might have eventually become what these humans are. Well, that can’t be it either; his race was more than a million years older than the humans when they moved into the ships. Nothing like this happened before the metamorphosis. Atlas thought about the eight legs and knew they were going to return eventually to harvest this universe again. His race survived because they were able to hide; simply power down and wait for them to leave. There was no way the Stars Realm could do that. He looked down at Tommy and Cassandra dancing and thought about the strength of their minds. He didn’t want to lose his favorite child and humans had such short life spans. Tag and Danielle had their life spans changed when he gave them their force fields and weapons but that had been eliminated when Rose removed all that he had done. Now he thought about who was more important to the survival of the Stars Realm and he had to admit that although Rose was important, it was the weapon of Tommy and Cassandra that was needed more. Should he discuss it with them? Nooooo, it would only get complicated. The next time Tommy came on board he was going to extend his life. Once Tommy was done, he could do the same to Cassandra when Tommy made physical contact with her. Atlas paused and thought about the two adolescents but he had no worries there; their normal life span was hundreds of thousands of years. The Eldest was more than three million years old. He still heard his brothers and sisters talking about conquest. He turned off the frequency they were using to communicate; he tired of their self importance. He tasted his disappointment and thought about what their reaction was going to be if the Captors were eliminated and they were not released. That was not a moment to look forward to seeing. Atlas turned his attention back to the wedding and listened to the music. Sometimes he wished he had a body to join in on the dancing. He gave a mental sigh and continued to watch the celebration on the planet below.
Chapter 16
The Captor warrior jumped into a system with a planet that obviously had advanced intelligent life. He was looking for the strange white ship that had attacked the home planet and had found nothing. He scanned the planet and noticed a white ship keeping station above it. He matched it to the ship he was looking for and it did not match. He started to jump away but then matched the ship to the other smaller ships involved in the last attack and discovered that the shape was very similar. The energy reading was completely different but it did physically look like those other ships. He thought about what he should do for a moment then contacted the First Male and sent him a recording of the scan he had just completed. The First Male received the scan and said, “Just a moment. I’m setting up the First Mother’s defense. I’ll contact you momentarily.”
The Warrior held his position and waited for the First Male.
Admiral Mikado contacted Tommy on his emergency frequency, “Duke Gardner, a Captor ship had entered the Crengren system and is sitting stationary at the moment. One of our Megaships is holding station above the planet.”
Tommy punched the control panel on his chair and the ship’s internal alarms went full blast, “Battle stations, all hands to battle stations.”
Tommy linked Cassandra to his com and said, “Admiral, give me the megaships frequency now.” Mikado punched it in and sent it to Tommy’s com. Tommy cut the connection and commed the SR Megaship Phelagend. Captain Gidhu appeared on his com. “Captain, what is your status?”
“Your Highness, the Captor ship is holding its position in the outer system and is not moving. The ship is approximately eighteen hundred miles in diameter and is glowing bright red.”
“Captain, there’s not much time; you are going to have to draw that ship away from the planet. You stand no chance against it in combat and I think it is your ship that has caused the Captor to stop. Order your jump officer to program in five hundred random jumps immediately and if that ships moves, jump out of the system and don’t stop jumping. I am giving you a coordinate for the final jump. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Tommy then thought to Sprig, “Where are you right now?”
“I’m in the library at Castle Gardner.”
“I need you and Twig on the Kosiev immediately.”
Sprig and Twig appeared one second later on the Kosievs’ bridge.”
“Duchess Gardner, update them on what’s happening.” Cassandra linked with the two adolescents and gave them the situation.
Tommy then pressed his com and said, “Wes, what is the status of your ship?”
Wes appeared on the display and said, “We are currently holding station above Sten’s Planet with four of the converted pulse ships. The Rossville is at one hundred percent efficiency.” Wes was given the command of the Rossville which was Admiral Dorg’s flag ship during the Algean War. It was another Megaship that bore a strong history.
“Go to battle stations and take the four ships to the coordinates I’m sending you and expect a megaship to arrive being chased by the Captors. Do not allow your ships to be caught in energy blasts; I expect multiple Captors to take up the chase. Have one of your ships place a teleport screen in front of the coordinates set to one transfer and send the megaship to a safe location. Kill as many Captors as possible then have your squadron escape in different directions away from the Realm; teleport to safety when you must.”
Wes looked at his screen and said, “We’re on our way.”
Tommy commed Captain Gidhu and said, “Captain, if you make it to the final coordinates there will be a silver field in space directly in front of your ship. Take your ship through that field immediately on entering normal space; do not delay.”
“The Captors screen has just turned a brighter red, Your Highness. We are jumping now.”
The First Male finished setting up the layers of ships and turned his attention to the transmission from one of the searching warriors. He looked at the ship in the transmission and then compared it to the ships that had attacked the First Mother. From the angle of the picture he could see similarities between the two but he needed a full side view to make sure. “Move in and take a full scan of that ship; I’ll monitor as you scan.”
The Warrior replied, “As soon as I moved toward the planet the ship jumped.”
“Follow that ship, I want a full scan. The planet isn’t going anywhere; we’ll look at it later.”
&n
bsp; “Yes, First male. The ship jumped using a standard drive system and I have recorded that its energy signature does not match the ships that attacked.”
“I don’t care if it matches or not. It may not be the ones who attacked but it may have a relationship to them if their ships are similar. Don’t let it escape.”
The Captor warrior disappeared from the system chasing the Megaship.
Tommy was watching a feed from the planet and saw the Captor disappear. He said a quick prayer for the Phelagend and said, “Jump to the Crengren system, now.”
Cassandra said, “Jump in 3,2,1, execute. The Kosiev broke into normal space next to the planet and Tommy commed President Dgzh. The former Headman of the Alliance looked worried. Tommy said, “We don’t have much time. I am going to hide your planet behind an invisibility screen but I’m uncertain if it will work if the Captors really decide to fly a huge number of ships through the space they expect you to be. Our last resort is to move your planet to the system that Earth is currently hiding. I want to avoid that if possible because they will deduct that Earth was probably not destroyed as they thought.”
President Dgzh looked off the monitor and said, “Are you sure you can do it safely?”
Sprig answered, “We’re actually further along now. We will send your planet to the opposite side of the star from the Earth’s current location so that gravity won’t affect you. Your orbit will be slightly outside that of Earth but we will find a better system for you before Earth catches up with your orbit.”
Dgzh smiled and said, “We are in your hands.”
Tommy said, “Ground all of your space ships and have as many of the personnel on the settlements in your system make emergency jumps to the planet. If they are not on the planet they will be killed.” Dgzh disappeared from his com.
“Duchess Gardner, please plan to hide the planet, however, you have to wait until the last possible moment so that the ones coming from the system’s settlements can find the planet. I suspect that once the chase of the megaship is over, the Captors will be coming here. Communications, make contact with that ship and let us know what happens.”
“Aye, Aye, Your Highness.”
Captain Gidhu and the bridge crew kept their eyes on the sensor monitors watching for what they knew was coming. They had just flashed through the 233rd jump and jumped again just as the Captor ship entered normal space. After every jump the Captor was incrementally closer. The ship was fighting the fear that they were losing the battle. Jump 300 passed with the Captor coming out of normal space and firing some kind of energy matrix that passed through the space the megaship occupied just before it disappeared. “Your highness, we will never make it to the 500 ^ th jump. They almost caught us on the last jump.”
Tommy hit his com, “Wes, are you ready?”
“Yes, we’re on station.”
Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “Times up; hide the planet.” Then he pushed his transmission key and said, “Jump to the last coordinates now.”
Captain Gidhu nodded to his jump officer and the Megaship jumped as a piece of the energy matrix hit the tail of the ship.
Wes watched as the Megaship flashed into normal space and moved slowly toward the teleport screen. The engines of the Megaship was enclosed in some form of energy that prevented them operating. Just before the ship hit the field the Captor emerged into normal space and hit it with a beam destroying it. Wes ordered, “Fire.”
Two black negative energy balls hit the Captor and it imploded so fast it didn’t even flash as it disappeared. “Be ready, they’ll be here shortly.”
Captor ships began appearing around the four pulse ships and started firing energy balls at them. Each of the SR ships fired at the Captors as they emerged into normal space and watched as they were imploding by the hundreds. Wes watched two energy balls flashing toward his ship and he pressed the jump button on his console and came out into normal space directly behind the Captors that had fired on him. He hit them with negative matter shots and then jumped again. The jump button was a new development where the sensors automatically tracked incoming missiles or ships and determined the closest point behind them and entered the coordinates into the Captains console. The four pulse ships were killing giant red ships by the hundreds. Finally Wes saw thousands of red ships jump in around him and he ordered, “All ships escape.”
The four pulse ships jumped away in four different directions. Wes watched as the Rossville entered normal space and said, “Ready weapons, fire.”
Forty Captor ships appeared at the jump point and were immediately hit by negative energy balls; all forty imploded. “Jump now,” he ordered. The Rossville disappeared as five thousand ships appeared. This process repeated itself ten more times before the Rossville teleported to safety. The Vgrig pulse ship Vendriqul was hit by ten energy balls as it attacked the incoming Captor ships. The pulse ship was broken in the tail and the Captain knew there was no escape. He hit the detonate button on his console to prevent the Captors from getting one of the SR ships and learning its technology. The skin of the ship blew outward from the ship with all of the negative energy being released. All ten thousand Captor ships in the system were disintegrated along with every planet, moon, and asteroid. The star’s gravity slowly pulled what negative matter remained and when the two combined, the star went supernova and exploded.
The next eight hundred Captor ships jumping into the system burned in the Atomic fire before the watcher could warn the others to stay away. The First Male asked the watcher, “What happened?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure if we caused the explosion, the strangers caused the explosion, or the star was just ready to explode naturally. We lost many warriors in that system.”
The First Male asked for and got a ship count from his ship leaders and learned that more than thirty five thousand warriors were killed chasing those ships. Then he thought, “Groups orange, blue, red, and black. Jump to the planet where this chase began.”
“Cassandra, the chase is over; now is the time. But Tommy, there are eight hundred ships still moving toward the planet.”
“It’s them or the planet, Cassandra. Do it now!”
Sprig said, “We’ll teleport the ships to Ross. Hide the planet.”
A huge silver field appeared in front of the ships moving toward the planet and moved toward them. As it passed, no ships remained. “Now, Cassandra, now!”
Cassandra closed her eyes and thought, “You cannot see it, you cannot see it, you cannot see it.” The Planet disappeared along with the Kosiev that was orbiting just above the planet’s atmosphere. Cassandra extended a tube from the skin to the surface of the field hiding the planet and used the passive sensors to watch what happened in the outer system.
“Twig, if we have to move the planet, how much room do you need to do it?”
“Actually, we can do it from right here.”
Sprig said, “She has become quite the maestro at manipulating the fields.”
Tommy looked at the sensor display and said, “Be ready to move.”
The bridge crew watched the bridge display watching for what they knew was coming. “Here they come.” Lt. Ortiz said.
More than a million Captor ships appeared in the outer system swarming in all directions. “What is that,” Tommy asked. A Captor ship more than four thousand miles in diameter was sitting still while the other Captor ships swarmed around it.”
Cassandra said, “I think that must be one of the Captor leaders. The only ship I’ve seen larger than that one was the Queen.”
Tommy thought about what was happening. “If that huge ship starts this way, Twig, send the planet. Duchess Gardner, keep us inside the invisibility field and charge our weapons. Stand by.”
The First Male compared the picture of the system when the warrior had jumped in and started the chase to what he saw in the system now. The planet was gone. This just can’t be happening. Pictures don’t lie. The Planet has to be there; but where. He remembered the s
trange ship that was in the home system that no one could see. Can they hide the planet? He looked at the picture of the planet again and estimated where it would have to be if it were still in the system. His curiosity made him move toward the spot. The warriors took up posts around him making sure of no danger. One of them notified the First Mother and she contacted him immediately. “Stop and go no further.”
The First Male slowed and said, “I need to see what happened to the planet. I suspect that it’s being hidden.”
“And if that ship is there.”
The First Male stopped. “You can’t protect me every time I go out from the home planet.”
“That might be true when we were always able to destroy any race we found. We just lost more than ten thousand warriors. Would you allow me to approach that suspected location. If your answer is no, then it should be no for you as well.”
The First Male struggled but could not argue with her. He turned and began moving back to the outer system.”
Tommy saw the huge ship stop and then turn and start moving away. “Twig, send the planet now.” Twig punched her device and the planet was gone. Tommy looked at his display and looked at Cassandra and said, “Can we get close enough to take a shot at that ship?”
Cassandra thought a moment and said, “We could teleport out to its location and launch. There are so many ships around it that it might not work. We can’t occupy the same space as another object. The other option is to just hit plus light speed and make a run at it. We should get there is less than two seconds and just continue running as we pass.”