by Saxon Andrew
Two hundred thousand ships read the jump track of the Stars Realm fleet and jumped after them. They broke into normal space and were immediately hit by thousands of penetrators waiting on them. The next jump track was read and the ships jumped to the new coordinates but not before losing more than 35,000 ships. The Plant fleet once more emerged into normal space and once more was barraged by 300,000 penetrators. These penetrators were programmed to hit with five per target and the Algean ships jumped right into the middle of them. The Ship Leader hurried his sensor tool to quickly read the jump track and follow but it took four seconds to read and then transmit it to the other ships. This time the number of ships chasing the Strangers was reduced another 50,000 ships. Once more they emerged into normal space in the middle of another 300,000 penetrators and again the fleet was reduced another 47,000 ships. This process was repeated a fourth time and the original 200,000 ships were down to 60,000 ships. The Ship leader ordered his surviving ships to jump back to the main fleet and discontinue the chase. He had no idea how many more traps were set but it was foolish to continue the loss of his fleet. He reported to the Half Fleet Leader and sent a video of what had happened. The Half Fleet Leader slammed his arm on his console breaking his new display screen. It was just not worth the price to pursue the Stranger’s ships. The Algeans were no closer to finding out where the Strangers were coming from.
The Stars Realm Ship Short Sword broke into normal space and Tresk looked at his jump officer and said, “Do you detect any Plant ships?”
“No Sir, the screen is clear.”
Tresk, looked over at Cade McAllister and said, “The ship is in your control.”
Cade set the two screens and announced, “We will be jumping 10,000 miles into the jump limit on my mark; ready, execute.” The short sword disappeared and broke back into normal space 10,000 miles inside the jump limit. “Jumping back out on my mark, execute.”
Short Sword emerged back outside the jump limit. Cade then said, “This time we are going to jump in system next to the planet closest to the sun and then jump out of the system to the Gamma Galaxy and begin our trip home. On my mark, execute.” Short sword broke into normal space next to the inner planet, released two stealth sensor buoys, and then jumped out of the system.
Tresk looked at Cade and asked, “Were the plants using their dampening frequency?”
“Yes they were and the system appears to have operated flawlessly. We need to look at our data but we’ll do that when we get back to our labs.
Tresk looked at his jump officer, “Ok, you know the drill. Jump thru four galaxies to erase any jump tracks. Let’s go home.”
At the jump limit, the four million penetrators that were launched by the Stars Realm fleet before jumping away began locking on Algean ships that were just inside the limit and those that were breaking out into normal space. Everywhere ships were being hit by the penetrators as they accelerated to full speed after acquiring a target. As the two fleets began maneuvering to avoid the penetrators, more than a million hornets homed in on the anti-matter missiles that were in the bulge that was formed for the harvesters to escape. As the hornets began hitting the missiles, a huge chain reaction of explosions began and the blast zone expanded instantly to more than 4,000 miles wide and engulfed the harvesters, which had not quite made it to the jump limit with 20,000 of the new Algean ships that were escorting them out of the system. There was nothing left of those ships after the blast wave passed them and the explosions continued as the hornets continued to chase and hit the missiles trying to escape the wave front. The Half fleet Leader watched as his ships were being destroyed by the thousands but even more serious than that was the loss of the second group of harvesters to the strangers. In hindsight, using the missiles was not a good decision and he worried that the loss would cost him his command.
On a moon circling the inner planet on the other side of the sun, an Algean Installation buried beneath the surface recorded the emergence of Short Sword as it entered normal space and then its jump back into null space. An Algean shuttle lifted and flew quickly to the jump point and attempted to read the jump track but came up with nothing. The pilot of the shuttle contacted the Half Fleet Leader and reported what had happened. The Half Fleet Leader watched the display showing the Stranger’s Ship as it jumped in and back out.
“Were you able to get a reading on their line of departure?” he asked the shuttle pilot.
“”No, Fleet Leader, I arrived too late and the track was gone. I recorded no reading at the jump point.”
The Half Fleet Leader pondered what he was seeing and then contacted the Elder Leaders on the home world. “Eldest Leader, it appears the strangers have found a way to defeat our dampening frequency. I believe that the attack at the null band on the harvesting ships was a diversion to test their new Star Drive. We have also lost the second group of harvesters from the food source.”
The Elders started swaying and the Eldest said, “Fleet Leader, what is your plan to protect the food source you are currently harvesting. It is unacceptable to continue to lose our harvest to the Strangers. How are you going to stop them?”
The Half Fleet Leader knew his future rested in the balance of his answer. “Eldest, we will station the two full fleets completely around the food source planet with spacing such that anything coming out of null space will have more than five ships firing power missiles at the emergence. The only place the Strangers can approach the system is outside the formation of our ships. We will use a third whole fleet to escort the harvesters to their jump. I recognize that they have tied up more than three whole fleets but this food source is worth it. Even with the loss of the first two groups of harvesters, we have not touched more than ninety five percent of the planets food. No other food source has as much to offer as this one. We will use what we have an advantage in, numbers. Even if they can jump into the system, they will have to do it outside our ships and we will have enough missiles on station around our formations to force them to stay away from us. We will also place our ships such that the heavy ships are on the outer edge. We will use their beams to destroy the weapons they might launch at us. We should have enough to completely cover any approach to our fleet.”
The Eldest stood still and then said, “Make sure your plan works, Fleet Leader.”
Tag was sitting in his office with Cade McAllister looking out over the rapidly growing city that has sprung up after Danielle had announced that Ross was to be the Stars Realm Capital. The population had grown swiftly and in the last five years had grown to more than a billion. Every race in the Ream had some of their citizens living there and the planet was becoming a model for the other members of the Realm to emulate. It was also the home of the Fleet Academy and it also became the center for weapon development since it was the academy that their use would be taught.
The fleet had arrived from the attack on the Algeans a week before and Tag had isolated himself from the military and had stayed in his study pondering the next action to be taken. He called Cade in an hour ago and he had promptly dropped what he was doing and went to Castle Gardner.
Tag looked at Cade and asked, “How did the new star drive work in the Plant system?”
“Both jumps worked perfectly, Mr. Gardner, they went off like clockwork.”
“I want to show you a video, Cade, that I received a day after we arrived home from the attack. I think you’ll find it interesting.” Tag then played the video from one of the stealth buoys that Tresk’s ship had dropped in the Plant harvesting system while making the two jumps. Cade saw Short Sword come out of a jump close to one of the inner planets of the system and then jump away. “Here’s the interesting part,” Tag said. Cade continued to watch and he saw a Plant Shuttle lift off one of the planets moons and fly quickly to the sight of the jump. Cade was shocked.
“Sir, our sensors did not show anything of Algean activity.”
“I know,” Tag said. “The Plants have an installation buried under the surface of that moon
. With its high metal content, your sensors would not see it. It is now a certainty that the Plants know that we have found a way around their dampening field which leads me to believe that is why they changed their tactics after we left.”
“What changes did they make, Sir?”
“Take a look at the current feed we’re getting from our probe,” Tag said.
A picture of the system being harvested was on Tag’s display showing the planet that was being attacked surrounded by what looked like millions of ships evenly spaced around it out to 100,000 miles; outside the ships was a band of anti-matter missiles also evenly spaced encircling the plant ships. “Cade, there are more than a billion anti-matter missiles in that formation and the spacing between those ships means that any ship that jumps into their formation would be hit by five to ten anti-matter missiles as soon as it emerged from null space.”
Cade was speechless. “One more thing,” Tag said. “I’ve had a thought about your new star drive. Have you tried it in a small ship with a standard screen to see if it could jump inside the jump limit?”
“No Sir, why do you ask?”
“I have a feeling about the new drive that bothers me. What would happen if the Plants discovered the frequency of null space; could they then jump inside the jump limit from null space? Right now they can’t because they don’t have power cell technology. Would this new technique give them the means to jump inside the jump limit?”
Cade had a quick nightmare about that possibility. “I don’t know but I’ll find out quickly. Give me one day and I’ll let you know tomorrow.” Tag nodded and Cade left the room quickly.
The next day Cade was back in Tag’s study. “You were right, Mr. Gardner, using the null space resonance frequency allows any ship to be kicked out to whatever coordinates their second screen uses. Ships no longer have to use the larger power cells to reduce the effect of gravity to jump inside the jump limit. If the plants acquired this knowledge then they would be unstoppable.”
Tag looked at Cade for a long moment and then said, “I don’t think they know what we did when you jumped into that system. I timed how long it took that shuttle to get to your jump point and it was twelve minutes. If it read anything, it would read no resonance, which will cause them to think that we can now mask our star drive tracks or that they just arrived too late to get the reading. Our probe doesn’t show any of their ships being taken off line to change their drives so I think we’re safe at this point. However, we cannot use the new star drive system because we can’t run the risk of the Plants discovering it.”
“So we’re back where we started,” Cade said.
“Yes we are. I’ve asked our analysts how long it is going to take the Plants to harvest that planet and they say that it will probably take them five years.” Cade furrowed his brow and Tag said, “That planet has very small oceans and a huge amount of land mass; the amount of organic life is huge. They will have to keep a large number of their ships in the defensive formations and out of the harvesting activities. It would be suicide to try and attack that planet. Since we cannot jump into the system, we would have to fly 8 hours to get to their fleet. I’m sure that the plants would also jump a fleet in behind us. We are going to take the time they are harvesting the planet to work on our weapons. The Plants are also going to attack another planet after they finish the one they’re harvesting which means if we can keep them occupied with long range attacks we will probably have more than eight years before they move on to another planet. I want some long range weapons we can fire from the jump limit at their ships so I can remind them that we are still here and force them to keep all those ships in that system. You and your team have to find us the tools to win this fight, Cade.”
Cade looked at Tag and said, “We’ll do our best, Sir.”
Tag smiled, “That’s all I ask.”
Chapter 19
Five years passed while the Stars Realm fleet would jump in and fire penetrators at the jump limit to remind the Algeans that they were still aware of their harvesting. The Stars Realm had also grown and prospered during that time. The original 832 members had grown to 856 with the discovery of new races and the 1,400 planets that were originally inhabited had grown to 3,300 with the economic expansion of the Realm. Now that the members no longer feared being attacked by other members, they turned their attention to making life good for their citizens. Danielle played a huge role in choreographing the new expansion and she had become more and more dependent on Rose’s help. The psychic talents of Rose were incredible and she seemed to know everything that was happening and how it all related. She was eleven now and she enjoyed the ruling of the Realm immensely. The Stars Realm loved their Queen but they also adored Princess Gardner. Danielle was sitting in her bedroom in front of the fireplace with Tag and enjoying the moment. She looked up at him and said, “Tag, Cade McAllister has asked me to issue an order to convert more than 200 of our fleet weapon facilities to a new device his team has developed.”
Tag sat up straighter, “He hasn’t said anything to me.”
“I think he plans to do that soon. He knows that I would discuss it with you and that you would call for him to explain. You haven’t been easy to contact since the last fleet action.”
Tag lowered his head, “I didn’t want to stifle his creativity. I sensed that he and his team would need some room to maneuver and my constantly looking over his shoulder would be a distraction.”
“Well, I’ve appreciated your help in governing the Realm but I think he might have what we need to get you back into the fight. As Kosiev said, you should be the point on the Stars Realm spear.”
“I still miss Alexander, Danielle. Dorg is doing a great job, but Alex had so much to offer our efforts.” Tag remained silent for a few moments and then lifted his com and said, “Leila, would you contact Cade McAllister and ask him to meet me here at midday tomorrow. Tell him to bring anyone he thinks might be needed.”
“Yes Your Majesty, I’ll set the meeting up.”
Tag was startled and Danielle snuggled closer and said, “I guess you didn’t know that the First Family voted this morning and declared Rose to be my successor; that vote was 100 percent for her. They also voted you the title of Prince Thomas Gardner, Defender of the Realm; which was also 100 percent. I signed both votes into law so now you are royalty.
Tag was stunned, “Danielle, I don’t have anything that comes close to making me royalty.”
Danielle smiled, “And a medical technician is qualified to be Queen because…”
Tag sighed and said, “OK, I see your point. I’m just not comfortable with the idea.”
Danielle actually laughed and said, “Trust me, it will grow on you. You’re already known and respected for your fighting skills. This is just the Realms way of letting you know how much they appreciate your efforts.”
“Alright, I accept. I’m not surprised about Rose. She is the perfect choice.”
Danielle said, “You know she’s hearing your thoughts right now but the truth be told, at the rate she’s developing, I should step down and let her begin her reign.”
Eleven year old Rose walked in the room and Tag saw how beautiful she was becoming. She was as tall as her mother with her mother’s long blonde hair and her green eyes shone like emeralds on fire. She was wearing a red jump suit that fit tightly and Tag wondered at how quickly the years had flown. It seemed she was just a baby yesterday. Rose said, “Not yet, Mom, the Realm adores me but they love you. Never forget, Love conquers all and love can accomplish things that would never be done without it. The Realm is not yet ready for me.”
Tag and Danielle both looked at Rose feeling their love for her and both were amazed at her maturity at such a young age. “Thank you, Darling, and I’ll keep that in mind. Now come over here and join us by the fire.”
Rose ran over and jumped into Tags arms and snuggled in between her parents. For a moment, the Gardners were at peace.
Tag looked across the conference table a
t Cade and thought, “He’s aged a lot since our last meeting. His hair was now grey around the edges and there were wrinkles at the corner of his eyes. “I understand you want some of our weapon factories for your use.”
Cade smiled and said, “Yes, I do, Prince Gardner.”
Tag sighed heavily and decided that he was just going to have to get used to his title. “Alright, what do you want to make?”
Cade had brought Anita Lea in with him and she pressed a button on her portable console and a picture of a strange looking ship appeared on the room’s display. “What is that?” Tag asked.
“It’s a new penetrator,” Cade said.
Tag stood up and walked over to the display, looked closely, “Are these power cells on its surface?”
“Yes, the entire surface is covered in the power cells that used to be on our destroyer class vessels.”
Tag raised his eyebrows, “Does it carry a reactor?”
“No it doesn’t.” Cade said. “The power cells are charged by taking them close to the surface of a star and once maximum storage has been achieved, it will have all the power it will need for its function.”
Tag sat back, “I’ll listen from this point on without interrupting you; why don’t you tell me all about it.”
Cade looked at Anita and she started by saying, “The penetrator is 140 feet long and thirty feet wide. Fifteen power cells will provide its acceleration which will approach? the speed of light in less than fifty seconds. If you remember Admiral Kosievs’ attack on the frequency ships which cost him his life, he was moving too fast for any of the Plant missiles or ships to hit him from the sides. This penetrator will be moving more than three times faster than the Moscow was able to achieve. It will also be programmed to avoid any missile in its path and target only Plant vessels. The Coronado Screen around it will shrug off any beam fired at it for more than three minutes just like our old destroyers could. It’s the screen that makes this new weapon truly a penetrator. Once it locks on its target, it will accelerate to full speed and the entire screen will be focused in front of its warhead just before it impacts the screens of a Plant ship. The Plants could put ten screens around their ships and this penetrator will punch through. Once it makes contact with the mass of the ship, all of its Coronado power cells will completely release their stored energy.”