by Saxon Andrew
Dorg was stumped on what to say but then Tag stepped in front of his com and said, “Good day, Director. I interrupted his trip to come and pick me up. It seems my ship was shot out from under me during the battle at the harvesting planet and my ship’s commander and I were barely able to escape in a pod. I had Admiral Dorg’s com frequency on the pods control board and he came to pick us up.”
Misty looked shocked at Tag and said, “What were the results of the battle? Are you ok?”
“Yes, Director, I’m fine but we lost more than 18,000 ships and Admiral Chen was killed when his ship was hit. According to Admiral Dorg, we destroyed more than two million Plant ships so we have to look at this as a victory, but they can afford to lose massive numbers and we can’t. The next battle will probably determine the final outcome of our war; I expect the Algeans to use the bulk of their fleets to attack the Dremels’ planet.”
“Please keep me updated on what you plan.”
“Director, I expect you and your staff to attend the next planning session.”
“I look forward to seeing you again Prince Gardner.” Tag could see her smiling as she broke the connection.
Dorg looked at Tag and said, “Thanks for stepping in on that conversation; I was at a loss on how to explain what happened.”
“Glad to do it Admiral.”
Dorg stood up and looked out the viewport and said, “I’m somewhat angry at the Ship’s Captain that jumped me when I jumped into the Human’s system. She also passed information along that she would have only had by keeping an eye on my actions. She must stay alert all the time. She also jumped in on me within three seconds of my breaking into normal space and that tells me that her crew must be well trained to respond so quickly.”
Tag looked at him and said, “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”
Dorg grinned and said, “Yes I am, if it meets with your approval.”
Tag shrugged and laughed, “You’re going to scare the living groad out of her, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely,” then Dorg keyed his com and said, “Earth Command Center, please respond.”
“Go ahead Admiral.”
“Please detach the Dublin from your system defense and have it report to Castle Gardner in forty eight hours.”
“How long will they be detached, Sir?”
“Indefinitely, have them report to me upon their arrival.”
“Yes Sir, I will notify the Dublin and Command immediately.”
Dorg looked at Tag and Ron-Dar and said, “Who says I don’t have a sense of humor?”
A voice came over the speaker that said, “You are making progress, Admiral.”
All three of them laughed out loud and continued their flight to Ross.
Tag walked into Castle Gardner from the roof to find Danielle and Rose waiting for him. They both ran up and wrapped their arms around him and held on tightly. “I was so worried, Tag,” Danielle said as tears started down her cheeks.
“Danielle, you know I’m protected.”
Rose chimed in with, “Yes you are, but what if the Plants found you floating in space and began nudging you toward the sun. If you were forced into that furnace, I believe we don’t have a ship that could rescue you.”
Tag thought, “Atlas, is there any truth in what she’s saying?”
“I’m afraid she’s right, Tag; oh excuse me, Your Majesty. I would not be able to go to the core of a star.”
“Forget the Your Majesty, we’re among friends here. Then if they had tried that, I would have determined just how effective your hand weapon is.” “If you used it they would pinpoint your location and then use their primary beams to push you toward the sun. Rose is right, we could have lost you.”
“But you didn’t; so let’s be thankful and try not to let it happen again.”
Danielle held on to Tag and continued to cry. Rose kissed her father’s cheek and left the room. “Danielle, I’m here and I’m ok. You know there are risks in what we are doing and you have to come to terms with them.”
She looked up into his eyes and then turned and took his hand and pulled them toward their private quarters. “I’ll show you some terms,” and then she closed the door behind them.
Rose commed Leila and said, “I believe Mom will be busy for a while. Will you hold her calls?”
“Already doing it, kiddo.”
Rose smiled and then she went to the map room to take a look at the Algeans.
Bridget O’Donald was sitting on her bridge preparing for departure to Ross. She sat there knowing that she was in big trouble and was hoping she kept her command. “I thought I was doing the right thing but now it looks like I messed up keeping an eye on my Commanding Officer. Oh, this is not going to be good,” she thought.
“Sir, the ship is ready for departure.”
She looked out of her viewport at Earth and then said, “Jump in five seconds.” She sat and waited nervously as the universe turned around her.
The Dublin broke into normal space just outside the orbit or Ross and settled into a geostationary orbit over the capital city. Bridget keyed her com and said, “Spaceport Authority, I am arriving at Admiral Dorg’s request and ask permission to make orbit.”
“Permission granted and he is expecting you. I have sent the directions to your display and he asks that you be there in thirty minutes.”
“Holy Mother,” Bridget thought. “It’s worse than I expected.” Then she turned to her sensor officer and said, “Locate the coordinates of these directions so I can get there quickly.”
Lt. Miller ran them thru the program he had set up for Ross and found them very confusing, however, the program was almost intelligent and when the answer came out, both of them were confused.
“Sir, I suggest you take a chance and go where this says you should be,” Lt. Miller said.
Bridget looked again at the coordinates, shrugged, and went and boarded a small one man shuttle. She exited the main bay and dropped through the atmosphere to the planet’s surface. She braked and hovered forty feet above a park in the middle of the city and waited while people under her ship moved so she could land. After a minute she lowered the shuttle to the ground and stepped out into the park. She immediately noticed a large group of statues in front of her. She walked up to the edge of the clearing and saw that they were statues of human colonists that were being killed by Cainth weapon platforms. She stared at them and then heard a voice from behind her.
“It looks like I owe Prince Gardner five credits.”
She turned around and saw Admiral Dorg. “I always come here whenever I come to this planet. I don’t want to ever forget the debt I owe for my stupidity and arrogance.”
Bridget looked at him and could tell that he was sincere. She had heard about all he had done for the survivors of the Ross invasion and she knew he had been forgiven by the colonists. “You can’t forgive yourself, can you, Sir.”
Dorg looked at her with an expression that showed his surprise. “Captain, I’m surprised. I never expected you to work out those directions in time to make this meeting in a timely fashion, but you did. Now you see me as few have. No, I will never be able to forgive myself for what happened here. I come here to remind me to never forget what conceit and arrogance can lead to.” Dorg then sat down on a bench and motioned Bridget to join him. “Quite frankly, I was going to work you over and then tell you why I brought you here, but now after seeing the statues, I don’t have the heart for it.”
“Why did you bring me here, Admiral?”
“I was somewhat angry about you keeping track of me back at that moon. When your Director called and asked about my actions, I knew you had kept me on your monitors and I didn’t like it.” Bridget looked very uncomfortable but remained silent. “I notice you’re not apologizing and that makes me more convinced that I’ve made a good decision here.”
“Here it comes,” She thought.
“You kept track of me because you are responsible for the safety of yo
ur system. Keeping track of me was also done for my safety.” Bridget was startled that he would know that. “If anything happened to me on your watch, you like I, would have difficulty forgiving yourself.”
“I’m genuinely surprised you see that, Admiral.”
“Now, letting Director Nicole know was more than what was needed but I’m forced to admit that if you reported to me and didn’t notify me if someone of my stature came in the system, then I would be greatly upset.”
“Exactly, Sir; she deserved to know.”
“So, why are you here, Captain?”
“I thought you were going to bust me and send me home; now I honestly don’t know.”
“How did you find your way here?”
“My sensor officer spends his spare time developing programs that will get the coordinates of any place in the Stars Realm. He fed your directions into his program and it said that I was expected here.”
Dorg lifted his com and said, “How long will it take you to get here.”
“I’m actually right behind you waiting for you to call me.”
Bridget turned around and there walking toward them was Prince Thomas Gardner and his daughter. She jumped up and came to rigid attention and saluted.
“At ease Captain,” Tag said. There was a crowd of people being held back more than a hundred yards away by a company of marines. “It’s hard for us to go out in public but I think this situation is worth the effort.” He then turned to Dorg and said, “Well, what’s your decision?”
Dorg looked at Bridget and said, “Captain O’Donald, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Commodore. You will turn you ship over to a crew graduating from the academy and move your crew to the transport waiting for you in orbit.” Bridget was stunned but Dorg continued, “Your current Megaship is one of the first generation and is only used for system defense. You and your crew will be taken to Sten’s planet to take possession of a new megaship that incorporates a number of new designs. You and your crew will learn how to fight that ship and once you master its systems, it will be brought back here to Ross and will become Prince Gardner’s Flag Ship. I expect you to perform admirably, Commodore.”
Bridget could not stop grinning. This was more than she could have ever hoped for and Prince Gardner was signing her promotion as she stood there. Then he turned and said, “My last ship’s commander is now a fleet admiral, but I’ll make sure he takes time to bring you up to speed on the systems he used in Retribution.”
Bridget saluted both Dorg and Tag and then asked, “What is our new ships name, Sir?”
Tag looked at Dorg and said, “She is named The Stars Realm Ship Alexander Kosiev.”
The emotion that washed over Dorg and Bridget O’Donald could be seen by anyone looking at them. The pride the new commodore felt was clear to all. “Dismissed, Commodore; you need to go get you crew ready to transfer to the transport.
Bridget ran to her shuttle and took off at a speed that was excessive, but she didn’t care; her crew was going to be excited beyond belief about their new assignment and ship.
Dorg watched her leave and looked at Tag and said, “Was I ever that young?”
Rose laughed and said, “No Admiral, you were born old.”
Dorg scowled, “Not you, too.”
Rose laughed then ran and jumped into Dorg’s four arms. “No uncle, you know I love you.”
Dorg held her and remembered her sensing him as she was being born and sending him her feelings of good will; what a remarkable family these Gardners are. Then he stood and swung Rose in circles.
The conference room was full and Tag looked around at everyone. He reflected for a moment and then thought, “Atlas, we are at a critical point of this conflict and I’m worried about the upcoming conflict.”
“Tag, I’ve visited the Plants and I don’t think they will be attacking soon. They are changing a whole class of ships. I think you have some time.”
“He’s right, Daddy,” Rose thought. “The Plants are going to get ready for the battle and it’s going to take some time.”
Tag took a deep breath and said, “How much time?”
Rose said, “Hard to tell; probably more than a year.”
Tag stood and said to the group, “I hoped that by using fewer ships that the Plants would attack the Dremels planet with the bulk of their fleets. I think I’ve succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. My daughter tells me that they are redesigning a class of ships and I don’t think it takes a genius to figure that the ships will be used to ram. That means that the hornets being used to stop their anti-matter missiles are no longer an effective weapon; which also means that the rammers will be screened and fast. I don’t know how many ships they will bring but I’m certain that the number will be staggering.” The room was silent. Tag then looked at Cade McAllister and said, “The delay in attacking us is actually a blessing. We don’t have nearly enough of the jump penetrators to win this fight. The delay will give us an opportunity to manufacture enough to make a difference.”
“How many do you think we’ll need?” Terl asked.
Tag looked at Rose and said, “Millions.” He noticed that Rose nodded.
Misty Nicole stood and asked, “How do we use the new weapons?”
Tag looked at Cade and said, “Why don’t you handle this one.” Cade stood up and looked at the large group and hesitated. Then he turned on the wall display which had a diagram of the Dremels system. The Dremels planet had 16 asteroids circling it and the 32,000 SR ships were in orbit around the planet.
“I’m not going to try to tell you that when the battle starts for this planet that it is going to be easy. Matter of fact, being on board a ship will be a very dangerous place to be. I have looked at this situation and unfortunately I’ve only come up with one plan that maximizes the jump penetrators.’ H e looked directly at Tag and said, “All of our ships will have to be at the planet.”
Tag said, “You know that there will not be an escape through their ranks once they arrive at the planet.”
“Yes Your Majesty, but if there were ships attacking from outside the planets orbit, they will be in the path of the penetrators. There will literally be millions of penetrators jumping in and moving at their incredible velocity into the Plant Fleet. If ships are between them and the Plants, there will be gaps for them to escape. The ships and the forts will be launching the normal penetrator and we will be jumping in the jump penetrators so that the Plants can’t retreat from the system. The forts will have a huge number of the penetrators and each ship will have more than 400 mounted on their hulls. If the Plants begin to get close to our ships then the forts will launch all their penetrators and then fly out into the middle of their fleets and release all their energy. The ships will not fire their penetrators until the forts have exhausted their stores and have self-destructed.”
Tag looked out at the leaders of the Stars Realm and said, “This is not a place for the faint of heart and I believe that our Navy will carry out this plan. Admiral Dorg, I agree with Cade on this plan and we need to move the rest of our ships to the Dremels system. Transports will move the penetrators to be mounted to the hulls as they are produced. We will manufacture them as quickly as possible and maybe the Plants will give us enough time to manufacture the number we need to be successful. There is one more thing, Cade.” Cade looked at Tag with raised eyebrows, “You do have the penetrators that will seek out and destroy the frequency ships, don’t you?”
Cade nodded and said, “Yes, we do.”
Tag looked around the room and said, “Then if it gets to the point of the destruction of our fleet, we will jump away, however, I want to take a toll on the plants before we go.”
Danielle and Rose watched Tag lead the meeting and once more Danielle felt the fear of losing Tag. She looked at Rose and thought to her, “Will he be safe?”
Rose broke her gaze from Tag and looked at Danielle. She had never lied to her mother and she was tempted to tell her first lie; but she couldn’t. “Mom,
no one will be safe. He knows it, too; but Mom, he wouldn’t be the man you love if he didn’t lead his sailors in this conflict. He has to go and you know it.”
Danielle looked into Rose’s eyes and was amazed at the maturity of her eleven year old. She kept her composure and then reached out and hugged her daughter. Rose held on to her mother and thought, “I would tell you that you’re expecting another child but I don’t think you could handle it at this moment. You don’t need to learn this happy news at this sad time. She felt the little embryo and sensed that it, like her, would be very talented. It would be good to have a brother to share her gifts with.” She let her mother go and turned her attention back to her father. Even this battle won’t solve the problem with the Algeans. It looked more and more like total extermination of the plants was the only solution. “I know how to do that,” she thought.
Chapter 22
Bridget O’Donald and Tag sat in a room with Planet Leader Sten looking at his new ship that was being completed at the Central Planet’s largest ship yard. Both Tag and Bridget were amazed at its size; it was at least two miles long. Sten let them stare and then said, “I suppose you’re wondering why it’s so big.”
Tag looked at him and said, “Yes, I am. How big are the power cells on its surface; I can’t see the seams where they come together.”
“That’s because there aren’t any.”
Tag and Bridget both looked at Sten with shocked expressions and Sten said, “Sit down and let me explain how this ship came about.” They sat down and Sten turned on the large display in front of their table. “This is a one of a kind ship; we will never be able to build another. Cade McAllister came to me more than two years ago with a video he wanted me to see; it was the destruction of Admiral Kosievs’ ship.” Sten immediately saw the pain in Tag’s expression and knew the loss he felt for Kosievs’ death. “McAllister saw something in the recording that he couldn’t explain and wanted me to help him understand it. I know the pain this video might cause you, Your Majesty, but I think it’s important for you to see it.”