Nowhere to Run

by Saxon Andrew

  “There’s going to be a problem?”

  “I hate it when you say that.”

  “Something will be different this time.”

  “Should we go?”

  “We have no choice.”

  “Drey, keep the FTL Drive hot.”

  “First sign of aggression, I’m outta there.”

  “Notify Ian we’re ready to go.”

  “He and Violet are arriving momentarily.”

  Doc said, “We’re risking a lot here. We can’t afford to lose Ian.”

  “I don’t sense that happening.”

  “How would you know?”

  Dee shook her head, “I just…don’t see it.”

  Doc stared at her and said, “If we make it back I was wondering if you would consider changing our contract.”

  Dee jerked around and said, “What do you mean?”

  “Well, currently it’s only good until the end of this war.”

  “Yeah, so what?”

  “I was wondering if you might consider an extension.”

  “An extension; how long?”

  “Uhh, the rest of our lives; I was wondering if you might consider marrying me.”

  “Of all the hair brained, idiotic, moronic things you could say, you had to say this now.”

  “I guess that’s a no.”

  “Doc, I’ll marry you right now. You’re forcing me to wait.” Doc started smiling and then he laughed. “What’s so funny?”

  “Life with you is going to be so exciting.” Dee rushed over and Ian and Violet found them in the same chair.

  “Are we interrupting something?”

  Dee jumped up and Doc said, “Dee has just agreed to be my wife.”

  Violet smiled and said, “Well congratulations are in order. This is wonderful.”

  Ian looked at Doc and said, “Maybe it could be a double wedding.”

  Doc looked at Dee and said, “Who else is getting married?”

  Ian said, “Violet and I, if she’ll agree to have me.” Violet turned to Ian and he smiled, “I do love you, Violet.”

  Violet stared at Ian and said in a quivering voice, “Are you sure about this?”

  “Just look in my heart and you’ll know.”

  Violet went into Ian’s arms and Dee said, “Now aren’t you really ticked off that we don’t have time to really celebrate this moment because of this mission?”

  Violet stepped back and said, “As a matter of fact, I am.”

  Ian looked at Doc, “Maybe we should have waited to ask.”

  Violet punched him on his arm, “We’ll make up for it when we get back.”

  Ian rubbed his arm and said, “She doesn’t know her own strength.”

  Doc said, “Dee senses there might be an issue.”

  Violet and Ian both looked quickly at Dee, “I don’t know what it is. Just be aware that something is going on.”

  Drey announced, “It’s time to go.”

  Doc turned and said, “Pull up a chair. I think we might be surprised by what’s waiting at the end of this jump.” Violet and Ian sat down in their secondary control chairs and Doc pushed the jump control. What awaited them exceeded anything they expected.

  • • •

  The Green Ship Controller didn’t like having the Sovereign so close to the border but he had insisted. He had ordered a hundred ships between his vessel and the border but the Sovereign had ordered them moved. He looked at his Subcontroller and saw him roll his head to the left. What good were two hundred thousand ships if none of them were between the enemy and the Sovereign?

  • • •

  The Grey Commander was also frustrated. The Leader of the assembly also insisted on being close to the anticipated arrival point. Why couldn’t their leaders understand their reasons for caution? Suddenly the small Green Ship appeared and he looked at his third officer. The officer stared at his panel and then looked up and shook his head. Good, it wasn’t shielded.

  • • •

  Doc and Dee looked at the hundreds of thousands of warships and were shocked at the display. Dee lifted the portable communicator and said, “I didn’t think we would draw this large a crowd.”

  The Green Ambassador chuckled and said, “We really didn’t know what to expect.”

  “You only invited us; we wouldn’t show bad manners by bringing anyone else.”

  “Even so, one never knows.”

  Dee shook her head, “I guess you’re right about that.”

  “I have brought our Leader to lead this discussion.”

  “I have also brought one that speaks for our civilization.”

  The Sovereign said, “Gedna, feel free to enter the conversation at the time of your choosing.”

  “Thank you, Sovereign.”

  • • •

  Dee looked at Ian and said, “There is a large Orange Ship holding station outside the Grey Ships. It’s one of those ship types that were involved in the first planned invasion.”

  Ian nodded and waited for the aliens to speak.

  • • •

  The Sovereign said, “I understand that you wanted us to ask those that are planning to attack you to not do it.”

  Ian saw Dee nod and he said, “It really would end a lot of issues if they wouldn’t.”

  “We have been contacted by the leader of that effort and invited him here so you could ask him yourself.”

  Ian smiled and said, “We welcome the opportunity.”

  A voice came over the speaker and they all heard the contempt in the speaker’s voice, “I don’t think you can say anything that would change my mind.”

  Ian’s expression changed, “I assume you are the one that killed the Black Civilization in the other galaxy.”

  “I am.”

  “The Black Civilization made a critical mistake.”

  “They came here.”

  “Exactly, and as a result of jumping into an unknown situation, it led to their destruction. You’re about to do the same thing.”

  There was a moment of silence, “We’re different from that civilization.”

  “In what way? Do you know what awaits you in our galaxy? You’re going in blind assuming victory; just as the Black Ships did here.”

  “I’ve seen your ships and though they’re different, they’re not powerful enough to defeat my forces.”

  “How many ships do we have?” Silence greeted the question. “How many planets do we have?” Again there was silence. Ian said, “The universe is filled with more galaxies than can be counted. Why go to one that you know is not defenseless? We are not an aggressive civilization and represent no danger to your worlds here. We will agree to never violate your space and will come to your defense if you are ever attacked. It doesn’t make good sense to attack us.”

  “When would we ever be attacked?”

  “You need only look at those billions of galaxies. One never knows where an enemy may originate.”

  “You attacked my fleets and destroyed more than five million ships.”

  “Those ships were organizing to attack my galaxy. We attacked to defend ourselves.”

  “You will pay for that aggression.”

  Ian thought a moment and said, “If I were to pull a blaster and point it at you, are you entitled to shoot me first?” Silence followed the question. Ian said, “Who was the aggressor? The one that pulled the blaster first or the one that fired in self-defense?”

  “This conversation is over. You should prepare to die.”

  Dee said, “Do you know what we’re going to do in the event that you are able to destroy our planets?”

  “It won’t matter. None of you will survive.”

  “You might be right about our planets but how many ships manage to escape major battles? We have loaded every ship type that was in the fleet organizing to attack us into all of our warships. If you succeed in killing our planets, the survivors have been ordered to come here and find the planets of those ships and start destroying them until you’re a
ble to destroy our ships.”

  “One ship can’t destroy a planet.”

  “One of our ships can blast a planet into fragments with one beam and it will be able to escape faster than you can imagine. You should really think about this before you unleash this horror on your worlds. We don’t want to have to do this.”

  “You’re pitiful in you deceit.” The Orange Ship disappeared.

  Silence ruled the frequency and after a minute they heard, “I told you they didn’t listen to us. At least they are consistent.” Another pause and the Sovereign said, “Are you being honest about destroying a planet?”

  Ian thought a moment and said, “We do not deceive, Sovereign.”

  The Gedna said, “There is an uninhabited planet seven light years away. I would like to see you demonstrate this ability.”

  Ian looked at Doc and he slashed his hand across his throat. Ian turned off the communicator and Doc said, “This is not something you can avoid. If you don’t do it they’ll know you’re capable of deceit and if you do it they may fear us enough to join them.”

  Ian looked at Dee and she opened her eyes, “Destroy the planet.”

  Ian turned the communicator back on, “We did not come here to fire weapons of war but to avoid doing this will cause you to believe that we are capable of not telling the truth. We will do this if you want.”

  The Sovereign looked at his son and said, “We need to know.” The Royal said, “We would like permission to enter your borders to observe this demonstration.”

  “You no longer need permission; our borders no longer exist. Your ships are welcome in our territory.” The Gedna paused and looked at the Ship Commander who looked at his navigator who nodded, “I’m sending you the coordinates of the planet.”

  Ian said, “I will not raise my force field. I’ll only energize one beam.”

  “We will meet you at the planet.”

  Ian shut off the communicator, “Are we able to destroy a planet?”

  Doc shook his head, “Now’s a fine time to ask.”

  Drey said, “I don’t know if we can fragment a planet but the Boson Blaster should do tremendous damage.”

  Ian said, “Drey, it’s only an inch wide.”

  “At sixty miles it’s a foot wide; it’s more than eight hundred miles wide at ten thousand miles.”

  “Will it hold together that far out?”

  “I’ll use the entire collector to fire it.”

  Ian looked at Doc, who shrugged, “Take us to the planet.”

  Drey jumped to the coordinates and saw a small planet hanging in space. It was little more than bare rock and did not have an atmosphere. They heard, “You may proceed.”

  The Grey and Green Fleets were hanging in space about twenty thousand miles from the planet. Drey moved to ten thousand miles from the planet’s surface and energized the forward Boson Blaster. Doc said, “Drey, what do you think is going to happen?”

  “How would I know?”

  Doc rolled his eyes and everyone looked at the display. Doc lifted the cover from the firing mechanism and said, “I guess we’re going to find out.”

  • • •

  The Controller said, “You are recording?”

  “I am.”

  • • •

  The brilliant blue beam shot out of the nose of the Union ship and hit the planet. Analysis after the fact indicated that if the planet had an atmosphere the beam might not have been as effective. But it didn’t. The beam hit in an eight hundred mile wide circle and blew through the center of the planet and out the other side. All of the matter it contacted immediately released all of its energy in a nuclear explosion. The planet didn’t fragment; it blew apart in a massive explosion that scattered it outward in a massive shockwave. Every ship jumped away to avoid the onrushing debris from the planet’s explosion. They all reassembled back at the original location.

  • • •

  Ian listened but only silence greeted him. He thought about what to say and struggled. Dee pressed the communicator and said, “I know what you’re thinking. You’re afraid of what you’ve just seen but you’re wrong to think that way.”

  The Sovereign was shocked speechless. His son said, “Why?”

  “We do not deceive. We were being honest when we said that we would come and defend you against any enemy that attacks you. You should think about having that beam being used to protect you.”

  “How can we know you’re being honest?”

  “There’s only one way.”

  “And that is?”

  “You have to trust. Just as we’ll have to trust that you won’t attack or attempt to cause us harm.”

  “We can’t stop the others from invading your galaxy.”

  “We know and we don’t blame you for it. You will be safe from any action we take to defend our civilizations.”

  The Sovereign listened and said, “Gedna, we are going to agree to never attack them.”

  “We will also honor the agreement.”

  Ian took a deep breath and said, “We wish you long life and we thank you for allowing us to come and communicate with you.”

  • • •

  The small Green Ship disappeared and the Gedna said, “Are you going to share this with Zemmar?”

  The Sovereign shook his shoulders, “And spare them what they have coming, no I’m not.”

  “It might stop them from invading.”

  “Perhaps, but I suspect he would keep it to himself. He’s power mad and nothing is going to prevent him from moving forward. He wants to be the all-powerful ruler of a galaxy and his ego will push him forward.”

  “You know that he’s really trying to gather enough strength to take us on.”

  “I suspect our recent visitor might do something about that.”

  The Gedna smiled, “One can only hope.”

  The Controller listened to his leaders communicate and couldn’t get the image of the exploding planet out of his mind. His superiority complex was undergoing an adjustment. Perhaps in future encounters it might be better to communicate first.

  • • •

  Violet looked at Ian, “Did you know that was going to happen?” Ian shook his head. “Will our beams be that powerful against a normal sized planet?”

  “No, they won’t do as much damage.”

  Violet looked up and said, “I didn’t know you were listening in, Moe.”

  “I was following this in Dee’s thoughts, although I must say they’re somewhat muddled with Doc’s proposal.”

  Dee said, “Moe, you need to mind your own business.”

  “Oh, did I do something wrong?”

  Doc looked at Dee and she said, “This is so sudden, I’m hoping you really mean it.”

  Doc shook his head, “It’s all I’ve thought about for months. I was worried that you wouldn’t accept after what you originally said.”

  “Things change, Doc.”

  “I guess they do.”

  Violet said, “Let’s get back to the question. What do you mean, Moe?”

  “That planet had nothing to buffer the beam before it hit the planet’s surface. A planet with an atmosphere would greatly weaken the Boson Beam before it hit the surface.”

  “Oh…so it wouldn’t destroy the planet?”

  “No, it would ignite the atmosphere and burn the entire surface but it wouldn’t blow it apart.”

  Violet rolled her eyes and said, “I meant to imply that it wouldn’t kill everything on the surface.”

  “It won’t; some bacteria would survive and the oceans would remain for the most part after the beam strike.”

  “What do you mean for the most part?”

  “They would probably lose about a half a mile of depth but some sea life would remain in the lower depths until the atmosphere dissipated. Once that happened, the oceans would freeze.”

  Violet looked at Ian and he said, “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  “Would we do it?”

  Doc said
, “I would.”

  Violet looked at Doc, “Yeah, but you’re different.”

  “If you say so.”

  “You are, Doc.”

  Doc looked at Ian, “If all of our worlds were blasted, would you just let it go or would you go after their worlds? Assume Violet was killed in their attack.”

  Ian stared at Doc, looked at Violet, and then said, “I’d burn them to bedrock at every opportunity.”

  Dee said, “So would I.”

  Violet stared at them and Doc said, “Imagine Ian was killed while defending our planets.”

  Violet’s expression changed three times and she said, “Someone would pay.”

  Doc tilted his head, “I’m just saying; our surviving ships won’t be any different. You know how fast our ships can emerge, fire, and jump or fly away at light speed. Oh there will be massive payment for their actions if they succeed.”

  Ian said, “Why wait?” Doc looked at him and moved his head back, “Now you’re starting to scare me.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re supposed to keep me in check; you’re sounding like me.”

  Ian stared at Doc and after a moment said, “Send a ship out and have it release a thousand more advanced sensors outside that galaxy. We have the frequency of his ship. Have the sensors programmed to find the location of the planets where those Orange Ships are located. Once they’re found, have them find the capital.”

  Violet looked at Ian, “What are you going to do?”

  “The moment their ships come here, we’re going to hit that planet.”

  Doc looked at them and said, “I’ll do it.”

  “No, we need you leading our fleets against them.”

  “Then let me find a suitable ship to make it happen.”

  “Knock your lights out. Just make sure they’ll do it.”

  “Trust me, I know what it takes.”

  • • •

  Cole’s and Argel’s wedding was viewed by both civilizations. There were thousands of dignitaries present and the moment that touched the hearts of all the populations was the First Councilor’s speech blessing the wedding and declaring the planet a memorial to remind his people of the evil inherent in slavery. He vowed to make sure his leadership would do everything possible to make up for the horror and evil his civilization had caused. He also vowed that slavery would never be allowed in the galaxy again.

  The viewers saw he was sincere and meant what he said. For the billions that suffered under the Kilper domination they started to find peace. They were now members of the new Galactic Union and saw their future looked brighter. The marriage of Cole and Argel symbolized that union and all of the hundreds of thousands of planets felt their resolve grow to defend the new alliance. Ship construction surged and the numbers of warships accelerated. The numbers of citizens joining the fleets also saw a remarkable surge as well.