by Saxon Andrew
Danielle knew her daughter could sense her moods and she was not going to ever be less than honest with her. “Honey, I just wonder who your husband will be some day. I want you to be as happy as your father and I are.”
Rose looked into her mother’s eyes and said, “Don’t worry Mommy, he was born two years ago and we know we will be happy.”
Danielle was stunned. “Tag,” she thought.
“Yes dear,” Tag answered.
“Rose just told me that her future husband was born two years ago.”
Danielle could hear Tag’s silence in her mind. Then he said, “She did what?”
Rose looked at her mother and said, “Mommy, let me tell him.”
Danielle nodded and Rose thought at her father, “Mommy was worried about who I was going to marry and I wanted her to feel better so I told her that he was born two years ago. I am older than him just like Mommy is older than you.”
“Rose,” Tag thought, “How do you know he is going to be your husband?”
“The same way you and Mommy knew,” Rose said matter of factly.
Danielle thought to Rose, “How does he feel about it, Rose.”
Rose giggled and said, “He doesn’t think about it yet but he feels me and it makes him happy. We will talk when he learns how to talk better.”
Tag was amazed and then he had a thought, “When can we meet him, Rose?”
“When I meet him; I think that will be when I am eighteen.”
“Why do you have to wait until then?” Danielle asked.
Rose looked at her mother like the answer was obvious, “Because we won’t be ready for each other before then.”
Danielle and Tag shared a thought, “Perhaps that’s exactly the way we did it.”
Danielle took Rose into her arms and hugged her tight and Rose could tell that her mother’s worries were gone. “I love you, Rose,” Danielle said.
“And I love you so much Mommy.
Chapter 17
Ron-Dar sat in the Captain’s chair on board Retribution. The chair had been specially built for the physical dimensions of a Glod. He looked at his controls and displays showing the status of the ships many systems. He glanced over at a young Cainth female that had just been assigned his new sensor officer and asked, “How are the sensors operating, Lt. Rena?”
She looked up from her console and said, “I have a small fluctuation in three Coronado Cells that reduce the range to our port side by 10,000 dregs. I have assigned a team to go correct the problem but other than that, our system reads out to three light weeks.”
Ron-Dar knew that 10,000 dregs was less than one, one trillionth of optimum performance. Too small to really be noticed but his sensor officer had found it. This spoke well of her ability. “Carry on, Lt,” he said and then he went thru his crew list and noted the department heads. He sent a message to each one’s com with a time he was going to inspect their departments. He looked around the bridge and he could tell the intensity everyone felt as they prepared the new Megaship for Thomas Gardner’s arrival. He knew that everyone on the ship had been selected because of their outstanding performance. He was surprised at how well the new crew members had meshed together and were working well with each other.
He was also amazed at the difference in his ships Coronado Power Cells. Most Megas had the forty five foot cells but Sten had built Retribution with 120 foot cells that for the first time in the manufacturing process had been bent into a curve such that three of them surrounded the hull instead of the usual twenty seven to cover the same space. Retribution also had a new generation of black hole reactors which removed the need of having an outside energy source to help keep the power cells charged. In meeting with Planet Leader Sten, Ron-Dar was told that this was the first of the new megaships that would use this new technology. The Megaships were fast but this ship was more than double their speed. Sten also believed that the new screen would handle multiple anti-matter hits. Although production of new Mega Ships had been stopped, Admiral Dorg had insisted that the five ships Thomas Gardner was going to use had to be stronger than normal. He and Mikado both agreed that the risk of losing Tag was something that they would do everything to minimize. Thus the new ships were much stronger than normal. Ron-Dar looked over at Lt. Rena and said, “When are the other four ships scheduled to arrive?”
Lt. Rena looked at her display and said, “They have just completed on loading their munitions and stores and will jump within half a rotation.”
Ron-Dar pressed his com and said, “Weapons, how much longer until our magazines are loaded?”
Chief Petty Officer O’Brien answered, “Six drags, sir. Two of our hornet launchers are jammed and are being replaced. The penetrators went in without a problem. All the other hornet magazines are loaded.”
“Have you calibrated the new needle to our sighting systems.”
“Yes sir. We launched three hornets 200 miles out and the system hit all three of them within five hundredths of a second.”
Ron-Dar was impressed. Those hornets were only three feet long and moving at extreme velocity. The system was impressive. He had decided that he would use the ships needles to protect it against incoming missiles until they were 125 miles out and then he would launch the hornets. Anti-matter explosions were no danger unless they were inside fifty miles. “Carry on, Mr. O’Brien and inform me when those launchers are completed.”
“Yes sir.”
Ron-Dar called in his jump officer and began issuing instructions, “Have you managed to finish calibrating the jump linkage for the other four ships?”
“Sir, what you’re asking has never been tried before.”
“I didn’t ask you if it has been tried before; I asked if you had completed the project I assigned you.”
The drive officer looked uncomfortable and said, “I have the slave mechanisms built but I need to trial it on two ships before I install it.”
Ron-Dar pressed his com and was connected to Admiral Mikado. “Sir, I need two ships to trial a device before we leave for the Algean Galaxy.”
Mikado looked at the newly promoted Glod Captain and asked, “Just what is the purpose of this device?”
“I want to be able to press a button at Mr. Gardner’s direction and have all of the ships in our squadron jump immediately to the coordinates entered on Retribution. I also want to be able to enter the formation that they will emerge into normal space so that we can maximize our firepower.”
Mikado stared at the Glod and said, “What prompted you to come up with this, Captain?”
“I thought that fast hit and run tactics would work best if all the units involved could move simultaneously without having to coordinate every jump officer on every ship. The mechanism will engage when the flagship energizes the master unit, then he only needs to decide where to go and put the formation he wants next to the coordinates.”
“I understand that you will have a total of five ships in your squadron; is that right?”
“Yes sir, it is.”
Mikado looked away from his display then said, “I will have five mega ships jump in to your position within an hour. Run your trials with them and if your device is successful, I want a working copy left with Captain Schmidt on the Texas.”
“Yes sir and thank you for your help,” Ron-Dar said. He looked at his drive officer and said, “Get your staff and equipment ready and go make it work. I’ll expect our ships to be linked by nine hundred hours.”
“Yes sir,” and the drive officer ran from the bridge. Lt. Rena watched the exchange between the two officers and thought that this new captain was one sharp blade. She looked forward to seeing what other surprises he had planned.
Tag sat in his ready room aboard Retribution looking at the five captains sitting around his conference table. Two of them were Human and one was from a race called Venzer and had participated in the final battle between the Humans and the Alliance at Sten’s Planet having chosen to side with those that rebelled against the Hargons. H
e looked almost amphibian with webbed fingers and toes and sleek dark fur covering his body. He stood four feet tall which actually made him shorter than the Cainth. Tag thought he looked like a beaver without the tail. The last two were his captain, Ron-Dar, and a Pydres. Tag was surprised to learn that he was Klas’ son and had worked his way up thru the ranks fighting against the Plants. Tag could sense the intensity of the young Pydres and knew he had a score to settle with the Algeans.
“Officers, good morning and welcome aboard,” Tag said. “The Plants are currently attacking a planet in their galaxy and harvesting all the life forms for their consumption. We jumped a stealth sensor probe outside the solar system, accelerated it toward the sun, and then shut down all systems except for passive sensors. We have been able to determine that the new ships the Plants have developed are there guarding their harvesting efforts. We have seen that forty of their heavy harvesting vessels are leaving the planet and moving toward the jump limit. We would like to be able to jump into the system and hit them but there are also frequency ships in the system preventing that. We will be attacking those harvesters just before they reach the limit. We also have developed a new technical device that will jump our ships as one unit. Ron-Dar will explain how it works. The harvesters arrive in 20 hours so we will be jumping to Gamma Galaxy in 19 hours and then to the system being attacked. Ron-Dar will be the senior officer on this mission simply because he is the commander of the flag ship; any questions?”
No one said anything so Ron-Dar stood and said, “Let me explain how the new device slaves our star drives together.” Tag stood and left the room to his officers.
The Algean Fleet Leader watched his display onboard his flagship as the fleet continued harvesting operations. His crew had just finished eating some of the inhabitants and he was preparing to move his ship back to the null band when his sensor leader stood up at his terminal and said, “Our ships at the null band have just been attacked by the Strangers.”
The Fleet Leader asked, “With what results?”
The Sensor Leader said, “We lost 489 ships with twenty of them being the heavy harvesters that were leaving the planet fully stored.”
The Fleet Leader slammed his arm on his console and broke the chair arm. “How do they keep finding us? Did they go inside the null band?”
“No Fleet Leader, they stayed outside and made a quick attack and jumped away.”
The Fleet Leader thought and then ordered, “No harvesting ship is to leave without an escort of 5,000 ships. Have the fleet form up at the null band and enclose a space for our harvesters to go and jump out of this system. Where did the Stranger’s ships go?”
“They jumped away after running thru the middle of our ships destroying everything in their path. The fleet is spreading out waiting for a return.”
“Are the broadcasters in place to prevent them jumping into the system?”
“Yes Fleet Leader. We’ve located them 550 gelds inside the band.”
“Form up the Fleet. Those ships that have not eaten will rotate in to the planet 100 at a time. Bring one of the harvesters out to 20 gelds to expedite the process.” He then turned back to his display and sent a message to the elders that the Strangers had attacked again.
Tag’s five ships jumped into the system being attacked by the Plants, spaced themselves sixty miles apart, and ran full speed at the huge harvesters. The Plant fleet was caught by surprise and hundreds of ships tried to get between the harvesters but then the five ships turned on those new needles as they swept thru the Algean ship formations. The tiny beams lanced out and struck the Plant ships and every time a needle hit a ship died. The Plants launched more than 50,000 missiles at the stranger’s ships but they were exploded before they could reach them.
Ron-Dar ordered the squadron to load their missile ports with the old two stage penetrators which had hornets and watched as his ships approached the huge harvesters; they then fired 90 penetrators at each of the twenty mile long ships. They started blowing up like a string of giant firecrackers and in less than 15 seconds all twenty had been totally destroyed.
The new hornets were keeping the plant missiles off his ships as they passed thru the Plant squadrons but Tag looked at his captain and said, “Time to leave.” The formation was slaved to Tags ship so whichever direction Ron-Dar directed his ship the others moved automatically with it. The strike force was moving at full speed and just as a huge swarm of missiles approached them, Ron-Dar jumped his formation away. “It looks like your new device worked well,” Tag said.
Lt. Rena said, “We give up a lot of our advantage not being able to jump inside the jump limit. Has anyone come up with a way to counter that frequency they’re broadcasting?”
Ron-Dar looked at his jump officer and said, “Not yet. The gravity of the star coupled with the frequency work together just enough to dampen the resonance of our drives. We tried to find a frequency that would eliminate the one they are using but they are broadcasting at such a high power that nothing has worked so far.”
Tag looked at his display and said, “Then there isn’t much we can do to save the inhabitants. All we can really do is to try to make things miserable for the Plant fleet but it would be suicide to move in toward the planet.”
“What about the other world?” Can we do anything there?” Ron-Dar asked.
“Admiral Kelly went to see if we could support them against the Algeans but that species is totally antisocial. They attacked his ships and even though he didn’t fight back, they refused to acknowledge our communications and continued their attack. It appears they are just as violent as the Plants but lack their technology. We have left a passive Coronado sensor in their system to give us a feed when the Algean invasion starts.” Tag thought a moment and then said, “We’re probably wasting our time here except for making the Plants keep their new ships here to defend the harvesting of the planet. It looks like they will be here for the next five years before they move on to the next planet. If the other planet takes as long then the Dremel should be moved and safe before they could move against them. Captain, why don’t you target another group of their ships and let’s keep letting them know we aren’t going away.”
Ron-Dar looked at his display coming from the remote sensor for a good target and Tag leaned back in his chair and ordered a bag of popcorn. Mikado should have his fleet updated with the new beams and penetrators shortly and then we can start to reduce the size of this fleet.
Ron-Dar looked up and said, “All ships prepare for group jump in twenty sems. We will fire two volleys of penetrators and immediately jump away. On my mark, 3,2,1, jump.”
The five ships entered normal space in the middle of the bulge the plants were forming at the jump limit for the harvesters to jump from and fired two volleys of penetrators. The Plant ships could not fire back at them for fear of hitting their own ships across from them. Before they could target the SR ships with piloted missiles, they had jumped away. The Plant Half fleet Leader pounded his chair again and asked his sensor leader, “How long were they in normal space?”
“Only four interals, Fleet Leader.”
The Fleet Leader stared at his display a few moments and then turned on his communicator, “Attention all ships, launch two layers of power missiles and form the bulge with one layer facing in and one layer facing out. As soon as a star drive is detected the closest missiles will attack immediately. Form the layers now.”
Ron-Dar watched the feed from the stealth probe and leaned back in his chair. He turned and said, “It will be too risky now to make any further attack, Sir. There are more than a million anti-matter missiles in that bulge.”
Tag was also watching his display and shook his head. “No one can say these weeds are dumb. If we jump into that bulge to go after their harvesters, then those missiles are close enough to hit us just as we emerge from null space. Well, it’s going to take some time for them to fill up some new ships. I don’t think they will come outside the jump limit to challenge us, so I
guess our work is done.”
“Maybe not sir,” Ron-Dar said.
Tag arched his eyebrows and said, “What else do you have in mind, Captain?”
“Those missiles are rather close to each other and I think we can jump far enough away to launch a full volley of hornets at them before they could reach our launch site. The hornets would have no effect on the ships they were using to form the bulge because of their screens but those missiles don’t have a screen. I suspect that we might cause a chain reaction and probably destroy them all and any harvesters close to them. If we brought more ships in we could possibly launch enough hornets to destroy all of those missiles.”
Tag looked at Ron-Dar and smiled. He had a feeling similar to the one he used to have when Kosiev would come up with a new idea. For a moment he missed his friend but then he knew that he had a new commander that could step right in and work closely with him. “That is an excellent idea; however, I don’t want to waste it on just those missiles. I’d like to get the next group of harvesters. We’ll have the probe to send us a feed and we’ll plan our attack with their exit from the planet. Let’s go home, Captain. The other four ships can also go home until we notify them to join us.”
Ron-Dar turned to his com and began issuing orders. Tag leaned back in his chair and thought, “It will be good to see Danielle and Rose. I miss them very much.”
Tag then jumped straight in his chair when he heard Rose say in his mind, “I have also missed you, too, Daddy.”
He didn’t even know she was listening to him, so he thought back at her, “Honey, I thought I told you not to go in someone else’s mind without permission.”
“I didn’t, Daddy. I heard you say you missed me. I just answered you.”
‘OK, Darling,” Tag thought back at her. “I love you and I’ll see you later today.”
“I love you, too. I’ll tell Mommy you’re coming home. I’m so happy.”