Death Never Leaves a Calling Card (Stories From the Filaments Book 5)

by Saxon Andrew

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Our Transporters will remain here and await the SD’s arrival.”

  Tommy ended the contact and pressed his collar communicator twice, “Admiral Leb, get an up to date list of planets being invaded by the Tronan out to Senior Ground Forces Commander McGregor!”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Tommy pressed the collar communicator once and said, “Netty, get out a unit of Ghosts to make sure there are no Tronan Fleets near us when we’re launching our scouts.”

  “I’ll use the one assigned to our transport.”

  “That’s good. Love, we’re now at the beginning of the end.” Netty smiled and he ended the contact. He sighed and thought about nine-thousand Tronan War Fleets. This was going to be an experience like no other.

  • • •

  Travis began receiving reports from the ghosts and said, “Computer, what do you have so far?”

  “More than two-thousand-ship-building planets have been mapped and six more have just been reported since you inquired. The planets inhabited by the Tronan appear to be all in the galaxy where the Prime Director is located and they are in the tens of thousands.”

  Travis sat back in his chair and looked at Zek, “This is beyond my wildest estimates.”

  “How are you going to handle this?”

  “The most important thing is to get the Prime to order his fleets to his protection. We can’t go after the other inhabited planets and make that happen.”

  “He already has more than two-million warships around his planet.”

  Travis nodded and said, “We need to make him fearful of us getting through to his planet. I’m ordering our Ghosts to have trillium missiles installed on their bows and they will attack the ship-building planets the moment our new scouts launch an attack against the fleets at the Prime’s planet. He should learn about the destruction of the planets the ghosts are attacking and call in more fleets to protect his planet from being hit. Once the ghosts complete their attacks, they will join the new scouts at hitting warships protecting the Prime.”

  Zek shrugged, “That sounds like a good idea.”

  “It would be good if we had more new scouts available to really put a scare into him.”

  “Tell Admiral Cranton and see if he can get a couple of SD’s sent out ahead of the others to support our attack.”

  “Good idea, Zek.”

  • • •

  “Walter, I’m sending you in ahead of the other SD Fleets to support the attack being done by Admiral Cranton’s scouts. You will be in command of the five SD Fleets I’m sending with you. You have a little over three-weeks to get to the location of Admiral Cranton’s transports; they are starting their attacks then.”

  “Yes, Sir, we’re launching in an hour. I’ll make it before their attack.”

  “The other SD’s will be delayed to allow the Prime to order his fleets to his planet; you’ll need to keep the pressure on the Prime’s planet.”

  “Yes, Sir.” Walter sat back in his chair and looked forward to the coming fight. The last four-years had been incredibly boring.

  • • •

  Walter’s SD’s arrived just hours before the scheduled attacks began and Tommy put a hold on the countdown. “I’m glad you could make it, Sir.”

  “How many of the new scouts do you have, Admiral?”

  “Ten-thousand in each transport, Sir.”

  “I need about two hours to work them into my formations.”

  Tommy nodded, “I’ve put the attack countdown on hold. Let me know when you’re ready.” Walter nodded and disappeared from the monitor. Tommy smiled, “Now we’re cooking with butane!”

  “What do you mean, Tommy?” Netty asked.

  “Admiral Mooney fought a hundred-Tronan Fleets in normal space during the invasion. He’s recognized as the best tactical mind in Fleet. Travis is good but no one is better than Admiral Mooney.”

  “Is he in overall command now?” Leb asked.

  “He’s a three-star and has more seniority than me. I have no issues with him assuming command.”

  Leb nodded and said, “You’re pretty good as well. I hope you’re right about him being better.”

  Tommy smiled, “Watch and learn.”

  • • •

  “Three hours later, they listened to the attack orders Walter was issuing and Leb started shaking his head, “He is one gutsy human.”

  Netty nodded, “He can’t be too successful.”

  “I know, but I would have never come up with this plan.”

  Tommy nodded, “I don’t think any of us would have. Let’s see what happens.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Travis received his new orders and contacted the Ghosts under his command, “Change in orders, Lads. We will complete the destruction of their ship-building planets and return to the transports.”

  “What’s going on, Sir?”

  “Jacob, we’ve just added two-hundred and fifty-thousand new scouts to attack the Prime’s Planet. It’s certain all the warships there will have their blaster barrages going and we won’t be able to get in to hit them.”

  “What about the Tronan inhabited planets, Sir?”

  “Admiral Mooney wants them to send the fleets defending them to the Attack at the Prime’s location. They won’t do that if we’re attacking them.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Travis looked at the countdown; fifty-six minutes until launch.

  • • •

  Tasha looked at Walt, “Are you sure about this?”

  “It’s the only way to do it and accomplish the goal of the Prime ordering all his fleets in for his defense.”

  “But we could just go in and destroy the Prime’s planet.”

  “And what would happen to those forty-five-million Tronan Warships scattered around their empire if we did that?”

  Tasha shrugged, “They might not show up.”

  “Right. Once their overall commander is gone, they’ll be free to make their own decisions and, if I were in their place, I’d probably stay away. They’ll follow their orders as long as he’s issuing them.”

  “I hope these new Eggs don’t malfunction!”

  Walter nodded, “We have the Detonation Scouts if we need them.”

  “We aren’t going to use the Insectoid and Dragon Warships?”

  “Not until the final. We’re going to have to get out once the Tronan Fleets start arriving in full-force.”

  “How are we going to do that?”

  “There are six filaments that leave the Prime’s central star. We’ll leave on them and allow the Tronan to pursue us. They’ll be ordered to turn around when the other SD’s arrive and start their attacks. That’s when we’ll turn with them and start taking them out on our way back to the Prime’s Planet.”

  Tasha shrugged, “Sounds like a plan.”

  “Let us pray it’s a good one,” Walter replied.

  • • •

  Travis watched the countdown. There were forty-thousand-ship-building planets. He had 160,000 ghosts to attack them, which broke down to four ghosts per planet. It looked impossible but each ghost had nine-trillium tipped missiles on their bows. Each of those missiles produced a massive blast and shockwave in space; the blast in a planet’s atmosphere was an entirely different order of magnitude. He looked at the three-scouts holding position around his Command-Scout and he saw them leave and move around the planet with thirty-minutes left on the countdown. The countdown hit zero and all four ghosts flew toward the planet’s surface.

  • • •

  The Tronan Squadron Director sat in his chair and fought going to sleep. His two-hundred warships were holding formation between the filament and the planet’s location. If anything appeared, it would have to come from the filament. He yawned and looked at the monitor as a brilliant light erupted from the planet’s surface. It was immediately followed by three more. He jumped up from his chair pointing at the monitor and tried to speak with a voice that didn’t function
. He finally shouted, “MOVE TO THE PLANET!!”

  • • •

  The only planet that ever had a trillium explosion take place on its surface was Heaven. When the surviving Tronan Warships launched nuclear missiles at it, the entire planet blew up in a massive blast and created a small star. That was due to the billions of tons of trillium on the planet’s surface; these planets wren’t covered in trillium.

  Travis completed launching his nine missiles and moved the ghost away from the planet’s surface. He saw the two-hundred Tronan Warships moving at maximum velocity toward the planet and smiled; someone had neglected to order a blaster barrage. He spoke into his communicator and his ghosts moved in on them and fired into the nuclear missiles stored on the bottom of the nine-warships. The ensuing explosions blew out into the surround warships holding tight formation and only twelve of them remained operational. They started their blaster barrages but far too late to save the bulk of their squadron. The surviving warships arrived at the planet and looked down into hell.

  • • •

  The trillium missiles were relatively small compared to a normal nuclear missile. However, size can be deceiving. The thirty-five-mile wide blast ripped the atmosphere above it, superheated it, and sent it blowing out into space. The air around the blast was sucked in, joined the shockwave blowing out, and pushed it close to the speed of sound. The shockwave burned everything on the planet’s surface for a diameter of two-thousand miles around the missile’s explosion.

  Thirty-six trillium missiles hit the ship-building planet and their blasts eventually began overlapping. The entire planet was burning and had lost seventy-percent of its atmosphere into space. There were few survivors and they quickly died from asphyxiation within hours after the missiles detonated.

  • • •

  The Prime Director had fifty-Fleet Directors gathered in his throne room to interview about their loyalty, when alarms went off at full volume. He looked at his Senior Science Director who was screaming, “WE ARE BEGING ATTACKED BY LARGE NUMBERS OF SMALL SILVER COLORED VESSELS!!”

  The Prime Director looked at the gathered Fleet Directors and shouted, “ORDER YOUR FLEETS TO MEET THE ATTACKERS!!”

  The Senior Military Director sneered, “YOU ORDERED THEM TO COME WITHOUT THEIR FLEETS!!” He turned to his console and said, “ALL FLEETS IN THE ROYAL GALAXY, MOVE TO THE ROYAL PLANET! ALL FLEETS MOVE TO THE ROYAL PLANET!”

  The Prime Director looked at him, “All fleets?”

  “There is a stream of those ships moving off the filament. We have no idea how many are coming to attack us.” The Director looked at the Prime, “Should I change the order?” The Prime shook his head. Two hours later, the Senior Director ordered, “ALL EMPIRE MILITARY FORCES ARE ORDERED TO THE ROYAL PLANET TO DEFEND IT FROM ATTACK. MOVE NOW!!”

  “PRIME DIRECTOR, I’M RECEIVING REPORTS FROM OUR CONSTURUCTION PLANETS!!” The Communication Senior Director’s mouth fell open and he said, softly, “All of them have been destroyed.”

  “WHAT!?!”

  “They’ve all been obliterated by massive nuclear blasts. The attacks coincided with their forces arriving here.”

  The Prime Director knew that none of those small ships could be allowed anywhere near his planet! GET OUR FORCES MOVING NOW!!”

  • • •

  Walter watched his waves of scouts only attacking the outer edges of the millions of Tronan Warships moving out to meet them. Soon, hundreds of Tronan Fleets began flashing in on the six filaments and moving in to join the planet’s defense. Then, thousands began arriving and began surrounding the planet. He pressed his communicator and ordered, “All scouts not involved in the attack, move in and start attacking the Tronan Formations.”

  Close to 300,000 scouts joined in the attack but only went after the outer edges of the Tronan Fleets. The numbers of Tronan Vessels coming off the Filaments went from a stream to a raging river. He looked at Tasha and said, “I think we got his attention.”

  “How long is it going to take for them to all arrive?”

  “About a month.”

  “Can we survive that long?”

  Walter smiled, “Normal space is a giant place. We’ll allow them to push us away from the planet out into the outer planets if necessary. Notice that all the arriving Tronan Fleets are moving in close to the planet before they start moving out.”

  “When do we run, Walt?!”

  “Whenever they stop coming off one of the filaments.”

  Tasha nodded and looked at the monitor filled with exploding Tronan Warships. But the numbers of Tronan Warships continued to increase at an unimaginable speed. She shook her head and now knew what 45 million warships looked like. She was incorrect about that number.

  • • •

  Two-weeks after Walter’s SD’s launched for Tronan Space, Sam looked at Admiral Agnew on his monitor, “Leonidas has recommended that you lead the initial relief forces. I’m sending you with nine other SD Fleets to try and assist Admiral Moody’s forces. The other SD Fleets will be arriving about three-weeks later.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “I hope you’re not too late.”

  “We’re launching half of my force now. Five of my SD’s will launch fifteen-hours later after they’re provisioned and will catch up with us in Tronan Space.”

  “Get moving, Admiral.”

  Doris nodded and said over her communicator, “First five Fleets will launch now!” Five SD Fleets lept away from Romania and went to maximum speed toward the short cut. A week later, they ran into forty Tronan Fleets holding position just inside Tronan Territory. She lifted her communicator, “All SD’s go into normal space and launch your scouts!”

  • • •

  Bcref led the lead group of scouts out from his transports and allowed the others to form up behind his units. He accelerated toward the massed Tronan Warships as the scouts formed up into waves behind him. As he moved closer to the Tronan forces, he saw none of them were firing blaster barrages. The giant scout formation picked up speed as it flew in and Bcref started shaking his head. He lifted his communicator and yelled, “BREAK OFF THE ATTACK, MOVE AROUND THEM AND SWING BACK AROUND IN FRONT OF THEIR FORMATIONS. HOLD YOU POSITIONS AND FOLLOW ME!”

  • • •

  The giant scout formations suddenly turned and flew above and below the Tronan Formations. They swept back around and stopped twenty miles in front of them. The massive Tronan Formation didn’t move. Bcref stared at the Tronan and Admiral Agnew screamed, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!”

  The Tronan Scout Commander said, “Admiral, give me a moment.” He looked at his Second, “Do you have their frequency?” She nodded and pressed a button. Bcref said, “Why are you not defending yourselves?”

  “Do you know about the GL?”

  “GL?”

  “The Great Lie.”

  Bcref heard Admiral Agnew screaming again and said, “Admiral, please give me some time. Something is going on that I must investigate.”

  “Commander Bcref…”

  “Admiral, you know my commitment to defending your people. If you trust us, give me a few minutes.”

  Doris stared at the Tronan on her monitor and heard Matthew say, “Something is going on. They didn’t fire their blasters or make any movement.”

  Doris stared at Bcref and then nodded, “Do not try my patience!”

  Bcref turned to his monitor and said, “I do know about the Great Lie.”

  “Is it true?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you have any proof.”

  Bcref’s eyes narrowed, “I’m going to assume that you’ve seen the recording.”

  “I have along with all of my crews.”

  “Do you have a copy of it?”

  “I keep one hidden.”

  “Has all of those here with you seen it?”

  “They have. But many of us believe that it is a fabrication developed by you to deceive us.”

  Bcref said, “Pull up the place in the recording where the fir
st warship was captured.”

  “Give me a moment to get the recording.”

  “While you’re at it, I want our conversation heard by all of your vessels.”

  The Fleet Director nodded as another Tronan appeared on the monitor and handed him a device. The Fleet Director inserted it into his console and pressed some buttons. An the recording moved forward at high speed and then an image appeared on the monitor showing a Tronan Warship with its hull blasted smooth. Bcref said, “Move the recording to the conversation between the two leaders.”

  The images moved quickly across the monitor and Doris was wondering what in the hell was going on. She forgot about attacking and shook her head as she stared at the recording on her console.

  The image froze on the monitor showing the young Tronan Ship Director and Sam speaking with each other. The Fleet Director asked, “How is this proof.”

  Bcref said, “The fact that I’m leading these ships should be proof enough; however, enlarge the image of the Ship Director.” Sam’s image disappeared and the image of the young Tronan Ship Director grew larger on the monitor; Bcref said, “Stop it there!” The image froze and Bcref said, “Look over the Ship Director’s left shoulder.” The image changed and moved slightly. The image now revealed a young Tronan at the scanner console. Bcref said, “Do you notice anything?”

  “Not really,” the Fleet Director replied.

  “Look closer…that was me ten-years ago.” The Fleet Director’s eyes flew wide open as his eyes went back and forth from the image of the young Tronan to Bcref’s image next to it. Bcref lifted his black stands of hair off his forehead revealing a small scar. The image of the young Tronan had short hair and the scar was easily seen. Bcref smiled, “If this was fabricated, it had to be done more than ten-years in the past.”

  “And you’ve been surviving that long on plants and animals?”

  “I told you, the Great Lie is true,” Bcref replied.

  • • •

  Doris looked at Matthew, “What’s going on here?”

  “I have no idea, Admiral.”

  • • •

  The Fleet Director lowered his head, “We didn’t want to believe it but those who gave us this information swore it was accurate. They insisted that some of our warriors were fighting against us. We can no longer defend our civilization. That’s why we didn’t attempt to defend ourselves.”