by Saxon Andrew
The Algean Half Fleet Leader that had just arrived with his fleet of half a million ships watched on his display as the strange ships demolished the ships that had called him for support. It had been thousands of eight seasons since the Common had to call in more than the tenth fleet that had just been destroyed. His half fleet was involved in harvesting efforts on the other side of the galaxy when the request was received. The Home Leaders made the request so he had moved his fleet immediately; now he saw why. Those strange ships were capable of making null moves inside the limiting band that restricted their own null moves. He was of the opinion that it was impossible to make those moves that close to a star but now he had seen it done and knew his scientists were in error. This was going to call for an examination of their decisions and processes. His fleet had spread out at the limiting band and waited for the strange ships to try and run for safety when the fifth fleet attacked. Obviously, it should have been the fifth fleet running for safety. Of course that would never happen because the Common never ran from conflicts. The Fleet Leader had it cross his mind that sometimes it might be better if they would run but then he dismissed it from his mind. He sent his captured views of the destruction of the fifth fleet and what he could see of the huge constructs now circling the food source planet. The ships that had destroyed the fifth fleet were also at the planet apparently waiting for them to come to them. He held his fleet at the limiting band and awaited instructions from the Home Leaders. He wondered how he was going to attack ships that were faster and could go into null inside the limiting band.
The Home Leaders were studying the views of the fleet battle between the strangers and their tenth fleet. They had already seen the harvester’s fleet destruction and that was why they had sent the half fleet to trap the strangers before they could get back to the limiting band. Now they knew; the effort to trap the strangers was wasted effort; they could escape anytime they chose. The leaders dug their feet deeper in the soil and thought about the current situation. “What do we do now,” one of the younger leaders inquired?
No one else spoke and it remained that way for several moments. The Elder Leader said, “We cannot trap those ships but we can do something about what they are trying to do at the planet. I recommend we send the half fleet in to remove the strangers and continue our removal of the food source.” The other Leaders shifted from leg to leg and finally one of them said, “We need new technology if we’re to prevail against those ships.”
The Elder Leader said, “Go waken the scientists in their grove and show them these views. Instruct them to develop new methods to defeat these ships. Also send in the half fleet to remove them from the system.”
The Younger Leader inquired, “What do we do if the half fleet is destroyed?”
“Then we send in a total fleet. If necessary we will destroy the planet with our most powerful missile. We will not allow these strangers to intrude on the Commons space. Set up our tracking ships to determine the line those ships leave on and ready a ship to follow them on that line.”
A Plant Elder swayed and said, “We have to be close to where they jump out to read the coordinates. We cannot get to the planet, read the coordinates and jump from that point because we can’t jump inside the null limit.”
The Eldest thought and said, “You’re right. We have to be prepared to go to one of their jump points outside the limit to get a direction on their escape.”
The half fleet leader looked at his board and saw the instructions that had just arrived. “Attention all elements, spread out and move in toward the planet; I don’t want a concentration of ships for them to mass launch against. Leave enough room between ships to use your energy weapons to defeat those stranger’s missiles. Once in system we will surround the planet and destroy those constructs.” The huge fleet began their movement toward the planet that was 20 hours away.
“Sir,” Colson said, “the Algean fleet is moving in system. They should be here within twenty hours. They are spreading out with twenty miles between ships.”
Mikado looked at his display and said, “They learned not to mass together. It won’t be as easy next time.” He looked at the landing operations and commed General Wiseman, “General, we are going to jump out of system shortly. We are going to leave the Empires under the forts screen for support. Is there anything else we can do?”
Richard Wiseman looked at Mikado and said, “Admiral, just get back with relief as soon as you can. There are several million Plant Warriors dirt side and they won’t be happy that we crashed their party. I thank you for the ground fort and screens; they should make a big difference in holding the plants off us.”
“Are you thinking that they will come to you or will you have to go to them?”
“Admiral, all their food was destroyed with their fleet. This continent is basically stripped bare and we’re the only food available. Oh they’ll come or they’ll starve.”
Mikado knew the Marine General was right. “General, I shall return as quickly as possible; you hold out until I do.”
“Yes sir. That is my intention.”
Mikado broke connection and asked Colson, “Are all ships ready to jump?”
“Yes Sir, they are, however, I’ve noticed something interesting.”
Mikado raised his eyebrows and asked, “What is that, Mr. Colson?”
“The fleet moving into our system has left 1000 ships evenly spaced around the system at the jump limit.”
Mikado thought for a moment and then said, “What do you think is their purpose?”
Logan looked at his display and then said, “I believe that they are there to get a line on the direction we jump out of the system and then those ships are to try and follow us to determine our origin.”
“Do we still have that old program that makes multiple jumps thru different galaxies?”
“Yes Sir, we do. I can download it to all our ships and reduce the time between the jumps to one second. Matter of fact if you’ll give me an hour I can modify it so that every one of our ships jumps out in a different direction and none of them toward our home.”
“Make it happen, Mr. Colson.”
One hour later the 4,238 SR ships jumped from the system in four thousand different directions. The 1000 ships set up to track the line of departure were overwhelmed with the data and failed to follow any of them. By the time they picked one at random and followed it; the trace in the other Galaxy had faded.
The Home Leaders were once again dismayed by the tactics of the strangers. “Next time we will have as many tracking ships as they have ships. Next time we won’t miss.”
Chapter 11
Tag sat in Danielle’s office holding their daughter. He felt a warm glow and he knew it was coming from her. He knew he would never tire of looking at Rose and the same could be said for staring at Danielle. Danielle finished talking with Leila about her schedule and came over and sat beside him. “She’s got your eyes Tag Master. They’re so green that they look like they’re on fire.”
Tag smiled and said “It looks that way but she’s has your beauty. Just look at her smile and that beautiful blond hair.” Rose stood in his lap and bounced up and down on her legs smiling at her father.
Danielle just smiled and leaned against Tag’s shoulder and sighed, “She also looks like she’s going to be taller than I am.”
“Danielle, I need to discuss what you suggested to me just before Rose was born,” Tag said.
Danielle straightened up and looked into Tag’s eyes and said, “It has you bothered doesn’t it?”
“Yes it does but not for the reason you think?” Danielle arched her eyebrows and Tag said, “You might be right in what you believe but I think there is more than you see.”
“Such as.”
“What you suggest about our DNA leading us to each other makes sense even if it is hard to fathom but there are issues that trouble me. If our DNA was leading us together because we are the perfect match psychically, then what about before?”
“I was going to end up with Leila. I had known that since the second level. I stole her test booklet because of that love. Everything changed to you after that theft took place.” Danielle started to respond but Tag held up his hand and said, “I know what your response is going to be but Danielle, I was firmly fixed on her, so much so that finding you was a tremendous change for me. I just want you to consider another theory.”
“Ok, shoot. I’ll keep an open mind.”
“I fell for Leila one night in the second level when I could see her in my mind looking at my picture in our school annual. I just assumed that it was part of my psychic gift that I could see her because she was thinking about me. She was more than two miles away from me at that moment. I’ve done a lot of thinking about this and quite frankly, I’ve not seen anyone else that far away thinking about me.”
Danielle furrowed her brow and said, “Maybe those circumstances haven’t happened again.”
“Danielle, think about it. I’ve been out in my front yard hundreds of times and my mother was inside with my pictures scattered all around the house. Do you believe that she never once looked at my picture and thought about me? I only got a reading when she actually looked where I was. That’s the way my talent has always worked; I know when someone is looking at me.”
“So what are you saying, Tag?”
“With the information you have, your answer is the only solution to explain all the coincidences that brought us together. Let me give you something else to think about. Did the Special Forces Group tell you when they first sensed my psychic gift?”
Danielle thought hard and tried to remember, “They asked us to find you two years after you went missing. They said they had seen your aura and how your psychic powers were strong. I think I assumed that is when they saw you.”
“What if it wasn’t?”
Danielle sat and played with that thought and after a minute her face suddenly showed understanding about where he was going. “Do you really think they did that?”
“Which makes more sense?”
Danielle pressed a button on her bracelet and Leila came in, “Leila would you please request Sung Lea to com me at her earliest possible convenience for a private call.”
Leila went out and Tag and Danielle looked at Rose and made funny faces at her. It’s time to give her a bottle, would you like to do the honors?”
“Absolutely, hand it here.”
Tag fed Rose and by the time the baby had finished half of the bottle Leila announced that Sung Lea was on a channel. Danielle’s wall display came on and not only was Sung Lea on the display but the other five members of their team. “Good day Sung Lea, you didn’t need to have everyone present.”
“I believe I did; hello Mr. Gardner.”
“Hello Sung Lea, I guess you know why we called.”
“I have seen a number of possibilities. Maybe you should tell me why you called.”
Tag looked at the display and said, “I understand that it was one of your members that sensed my psychic skills which led to you asking the Enforcement Committee to find me.”
Sung Lea simply nodded.
“When did you discover my psychic skills?”
Sung Lea looked at Danielle and knew she would know immediately if she did not tell the truth. “Why do you ask, Mr. Gardner?”
“Just answer the question, please,” Tag said.
“You were two days old,” Sung Lea said.
Even Tag was shocked; neither he nor Danielle could speak. The Special Forces Team just sat by and waited for them to gather their wits. Finally Tag said, “It was one of you that allowed me to see Leila looking at my picture in second level.”
One of the SFT members raised their hand and nodded.
“So you had decided that she was the best possible mate for me even at that age.”
Sung Lea said, “She is a remarkably talented and smart woman.”
“Did you also arrange for her parents to have that fight which led to me taking her test booklet?”
Another member said, “We felt that once she found out what you did for her that it would start the relationship between you.”
“Then the attack on me going home was a surprise to you.”
“I never saw it in any of my visions. It was one of those events that exist outside of predictability,” Sung Lea said. “After it happened, we worked to maintain damage control so that you would not be caught.”
Tag looked at Danielle and said, “Up until that moment, you had planned for Leila and me to eventually marry. However, once you saw Danielle and her psychic aura, you changed your plans.”
“We never would have seen her unless that attack had happened. Once one of us saw her, we knew she was the one.”
Danielle looked up sharply and said, “What do you mean “the one?””
“You were the compliment of Mr. Gardner’s psychic gifts. The two of you would produce a child with psychic skills so far ahead of us that we would effectively become obsolete.”
Tag and Danielle looked at Rose and then at each other. Then Danielle said, “Did you manipulate Tag into a relationship with me?”
“We didn’t have to; once you shook his hand in the lunch room when you met him, your auras touched each other and you and he were bound. It just took a while longer for your consciousness to realize it. It was that contact, incidentally that caused us to see Danielle. I’m sure both of you felt a small shock but we could see the blast of the aura on the other side of the planet. We immediately sent one of us to investigate and we discovered the happy news.”
“What do you mean happy news?” Tag asked.
The leader of the SFT said, “Mr. Gardner, we tried to find the best mate possible for you so that your gifts could be passed on to your children. You actually found the perfect mate on your own. Once you touched Danielle, all of our plans were for nothing. Quite frankly, I thought we were out of the woods and things were going to work out well but then you were attacked again. Danielle’s psychic gifts had also been improved as a result of your contact. Her aura was getting stronger every day but your contact accelerated the development. When you ran away after the last attack, we could no longer see you. If you are thinking that you have to hide, your talents make you invisible to us. That’s why we enlisted the aid of the Enforcement committee to find you. You might also be interested to know that the man you chose to live with has a psychic talent at being invisible to psychics. He’s the reason we never saw the attacks in any of Sung Lea’s visions.”
Danielle looked at Tag and said, “Do you still think my original answer is not true?”
Tag thought hard and said, “Do you still think it’s true after all you’ve just heard?”
“Did a force invisible to the SFT cause the circumstances that brought us together? Did it happen at just the moment that you were going to be bonded to Leila? Did it send you into safety once you were discovered to be the superman we were searching for? Finally, what got you in the crater where you landed?”
Sung Lea asked, “What does that crater have to do with what happened?”
Tag looked at Danielle and said, “Love will find a way. It couldn’t allow me to leave you for another planet and it had to make sure I wasn’t hurt in stopping my escape. The subsequent fall of the Alliance was simply a byproduct of it making sure we were safely together. Love conquers all.”
Tag and Danielle looked at Rose again and wondered at just what their child was going to become. Danielle said, “Thank you for your honesty. My husband and I have some things to discuss.”
The six members of SFT bowed and the display went blank. Danielle pressed the button on her bracelet and said, “Leila, would you mind coming in for a moment?”
Leila came in with a notebook in hand and Danielle could see she was trying to maintain a neutral face. “What do you think about what the SFT just said?” Leila turned bright red and Danielle said, “I know you listen in on my
calls to make sure that you can protect me or help me thru difficult times. I trust you with my life; now I need to know what you’re thinking.”
Leila sat down and hung her head. “I must confess that I have terribly mixed emotions about it. I see the two of you and I can’t help but picture myself as Queen.” Leila paused and then said, “But I would never want to be manipulated into any relationship and that is what they were doing. I also love Eric with all my heart. Danielle, I think everything turned out exactly the way it should have. Eric and I can go anywhere we choose and enjoy ourselves; you can’t. You’re the most recognized face in the universe. No disrespect, Tag, but I’m glad you ended up with Danielle.”
“None taken, Leila; I also know how much Eric loves you. I think that all of us have happier lives just the way things are.”
Suddenly, they felt the warmest feeling of happiness and then Rose’s pacifier lifted from the table and floated over to her mouth. Leila, Tag, and Danielle watched it and Leila said, “I think the best thing about the two of you getting together has just been demonstrated. Life is going to get very interesting and I’m glad I’m going to be around to watch it.”
Mikado sat with Kosiev and Dorg and munched on a bag of popcorn while they watched the recordings of the fleet action against the plants. “Lin,” Kosiev said, “you did an outstanding job and before you talk about the loss of 2,000 ships, anyone else would have lost many more than that. Your plan was very well done. My concern is that it takes too many weapons to kill those ships. Our penetrators are the best tool in our box; I would hate to think about what a ship to ship action would cost us. However, we used more than 15 million penetrators to kill 120,000 ships. We can’t carry enough of them to take on the fleet that arrived when you jumped out.”