by Saxon Andrew
Danielle volunteered to move her family back to Earth, after it was moved to the Dark Dimension, but she rebelled at the suggestion. Her parents didn’t feel strongly about leaving and chose to honor her request to stay on Bristone. They felt she had already had to endure one major disruption in her life and another wasn’t needed. JP was the main reason she refused to leave. She stepped out of the classroom and heard JP’s thought, “Don’t be jealous, you’re the only one I’m interested in.”
“YOU’RE IMPOSSIBLE!”
“Just tell me I have no chance and I’ll leave you alone.” JP waited and didn’t hear a response. He smiled and headed to his next class. Rose glanced at him, as he walked away from her, and saw a faint blue glow around him. She still didn’t know how he discovered she was a natural telepath and could hear his thoughts. She made him promise to keep it a secret and, he did. She turned with a grin, it was just like Tommy and Cassandra Gardner. But she wasn’t going to tell him what she knew. He wasn’t ready for it…yet.
• • •
“BC, the Emperor wants to know if the Primes are ready to relieve our forces?”
“Prince Carter, they are all provisioned and have been assigned a Prime to replace. They are scheduled to jump into the Realm’s Universe in the morning.”
“What’s the status of the ships they’re replacing?” James asked.
“Every Prime in our universe has a DEC staking them out in their former territory. I’m surprised the creatures haven’t given up on them. There’s no intelligent civilizations there for the Creatures to consume, so they’re not causing any harm. It appears they don’t depend on intelligent life to feed them. The Fleet of Primes they’re replacing are running low on their provisions.”
James shrugged, “Danielle was right about using the Primes to draw them away from the Algean Galaxy, before they completed the destruction of the civilizations there, and subsequently headed toward the Milky Way.”
“They are close to completing that task anyway. Most of the civilizations in the Algean Galaxy are dead. We may have to send all of our Primes in to draw enough of them away before the destruction is complete,” BC suggested.
“Danielle has announced that she will be leaving for Ross soon.”
BC hesitated before commenting, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Your Highness.”
“You tell her! She’s not listening to Emperor Robbins or me!” James replied.
“I have told her but she insists it has to be done,” BC replied.
“Do we have enough Coronado Field Ships to defend the Realm?”
BC hesitated, “We can defend a thousand of the most populous planets, but there are still tens of thousands that won’t have a shield.”
“I hope she knows what she’s doing.”
“She and Tag do see things we miss.”
“Keep me up to date on the relief of the Prime Fleet.”
“We have probes that will be launching slivers as soon as the process begins.”
“I’ll contact Seedel and ask her to let me know.”
“That would be good, Prince Carter. She’ll know what’s happening before I do.”
• • •
Captain Kelly Mongovie stared at the monitor on her console and saw the giant DEC holding position a hundred-miles out from her Prime. She had tried numerous times to get a shot off at it and failed miserably. The freaking thing was just too freaking fast to get inside the range of her blasters. She activated her telepathy module and thought, “Why don’t you move in closer so we can get to know each other better.” She listened and thought she heard laughter. That only infuriated her more. What to do, what to do?
Suddenly, she heard the pilot coming to relieve her over her electronic communicator, “Kelly, I’ve made the dimensional jump and will be teleporting to your coordinates once the rest of the relief fleet arrives.”
Kelly thought for a moment and glanced at the monitor before suggesting, “Pat, do you have my current coordinates?”
“I do.”
“I want to try something.”
“What is that?”
“I want you to teleport in exactly one-hundred-miles away from my current position, directly away from the DEC that’s staked me out, and send your thought from there.”
“Why do you want me to do that?” Pat asked.
“I’m going to release one of the new mites, just as I teleport out. I’m going to set the timer on it for twenty-seconds and wait to see what happens, before I jump out from my teleport position to the Dark Dimension.”
“Kellie, do you honestly believe the creature won’t see it?” Pat Koenig asked.
“It’s made of plastic and its energy signature is practically invisible if the engine doesn’t ignite.”
“MONGOVIE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!”
Kelly flinched; Admiral Dela heard her transmission. “Sir, that creature is laughing at me. I don’t want to leave without at least trying to take it out.”
Dela had listened in on Kellie’s plan and pressed the general fleet electronic frequency, “Attention all Primes in the relief force. Captain Mongovie is going to tell you what she’s going to attempt and I want all of you to do the same thing. This will only work once, so be prepared for all ships in the relief-fleet to move in at the same moment! Captain Mongovie, explain what you’re going to attempt.”
Kelly explained over the electronic frequency what she wanted to do and the million Primes that were staked out by a DEC prepped a mite for launch. Dela listened to her and wondered if this just might possibly work. She’d know in thirty-minutes. Dela waited with the Relief Fleet she commanded and, as the timer showed twenty-nine minutes had passed, she announced, “One-minute until all the Relief Primes will teleport in to replace their assigned Primes and use their telepathy modules to draw them in to your ships. The forces being relieved will teleport out at the same moment and wait at their coordinates, until ordered back to the Dark Dimension. I recommend every Pilot in the relief fleet shut down their telepathy module the moment after they send a thought to the DEC staking them out.”
Fleet Commander Solomon asked, “Why would we do that, Sir?”
“If this works, the magnitude of the screams might damage your brain, if it’s left on; shut them down on arrival after you send a thought to the DECs. Thirty-seconds to teleport. Twenty-seconds…ten…nine…eight…seven…”
The countdown hit zero and a million Primes teleported out of creature territory to a distant location, as a million more Primes instantly replaced them a hundred-miles from their former positions. Dela arrived far out from the relieving fleet to record what happened, as she shut down her telepathy module, and studied her monitor. She discovered quickly that she was wrong about one thing…the DECs’ screams were heard even without the telepathy module. She had a huge headache and was having difficulty focusing on her controls. She held her head and rubbed her temples furiously until the pain subsided enough for her to activate her telepathy module, “REPORT!”
“Sir, the creature staking out my position is no longer present,” Pat reported.
Admiral Solomon quickly added, “Most of the DECs died, Sir.”
Dela pressed another button on her console and asked, “How many of the DECs are still present?”
The Probe immediately replied, “I am only able to see a hundred.”
Dela screamed her joy and announced over the frequency, “All ships that are still being staked out will remain here. Those that are not being staked out will set coordinates for the Algean Galaxy and will teleport there immediately. Use your telepathy to draw a DEC to your ship and come back here. Now get moving!!”
She suddenly heard Solomon over the fleet frequency, “Sir, I don’t think we need to go to the Algean Galaxy”
“Why not?” Dela asked.
“Look at your long-range monitor, Sir!”
Dela flipped a switch on her console and saw a massive white cloud moving toward her coordinates at an incredible velo
city. “BELAY MY LAST ORDER AND EXTEND YOUR CORONADO FIELDS. INCREASE THEM TO FULL POWER!! She watched the cloud come roaring toward the relief fleet and ordered, “We will wait here and see what happens. Keep your telepathy modules shut down, until this is over!”
“Dela!”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You will report to the Defense Facility immediately.”
“Kogo, I need to stay here and see what happens to my ships.”
“You are too important to lose! Jump out now! That’s a direct order!” Kogo said sternly. Kogo then ordered, “Admiral Solomon, you will teleport out to the position of First Prime Fleet and await orders!”
“Yes, Sir.”
Dela delivered a last order to the probes to launch slivers to inform the communication center what was happening. Dela screamed her frustration and hit her dimensional drive as the giant cloud arrived.
She appeared in the Defense Facility’s landing bay and rushed out of her Prime toward the communication center. She could still feel the telepathic anger of the approaching cloud of DECs and her throbbing headache was back, with a vengeance, but she ignored it and continued to stumble across the Defense Facility’s landing bay, as she held her head. She needed to know what was happening to her fleet in the Realm’s universe.
• • •
Kogo met Dela in the landing bay and thought, “BC, teleport us to the communication center.”
He had his arms around her, holding her steady, and she managed to gasp, “I should have thought of that.”
They appeared in the communication center and Seedel pushed a chair over to them. Kogo lowered Dela into the chair and rubbed her head with his four hands. Dela had her head down with her eyes closed but still managed to ask, “What’s happening?”
Seedel began speaking as she was pressing buttons furiously on her console, “The Primes that were relieved have teleported back in and have formed a giant globe with extended Coronado Fields around the Relief Fleet. The Primes in the relieving force aren’t moving and still have their telepathy modules shut down. It appears the DECs are attacking our ships without regard for their safety. They’re dying by the tens of thousands as they attack the Fleet’s Coronado Shields.”
Dela started shaking her head but immediately stopped when the pain surged, “I heard that cloud, as it approached. They were in a rage over the loss of so many creatures that died during our new tactic.”
Seedel was still punching her controls and shouted, “I’ve received another sliver and the creatures are backing off and staking out the Primes.”
Dela barely lifted her head, “Kogo, if the pilots that were there are suffering like I am, they may not be able to respond.”
Kogo looked up and shouted, “Get General Turner on the channel, BC!”
A moment later, Jack appeared on the main wall monitor, “What’s going on, Sir?”
“Jack, I may have as many as a million-pilots in the relief-fleet that are incapacitated in DEC territory. I need you to take enough Transports, with enough Red Warriors, to get through the Coronado Fields on to their Primes, and jump them out.”
“I’ll need the entry and transponder codes to their ships, Sir.”
“I’ll start sending out the Prime’s transponder codes to your Transports, along with the entry codes,” Seedel replied.
Jack nodded and a moment later, the Defense Facility’s alarms went off at full blast. Giant Transports began powering up in the mammoth landing bay, as Red Warriors stationed across the Bristone Galaxy, teleported on board. In less than twenty-minutes, the hundred-giant warships moved out of the landing bay and began disappearing. Kogo looked up and shouted, “I want all of our medical personnel on board ready with the necessary injections to knock our pilots out!”
“I’m notifying them now. However, we don’t have enough room in the landing bays or medical rooms for that many Primes on the Defense Facility, Admiral!” BC announced.
“Start assigning the Red Warriors that arrive here from creature territory to go to medical facilities on Bristone upon their arrival and notify the doctors what’s happened!” A moment later, a medical technician rushed into the room and pushed a needle into Dela’s arm. She collapsed in the chair and Kogo assisted the technician in moving Dela to a stretcher.
“I’m assigning each hospital on Bristone to take as many Primes as they can handle as they jump back into the Dark Dimension. The Red Warriors will receive the coordinates of their assigned hospitals as soon as they arrive!” BC announced as Kogo nodded and left with Dela.
• • •
The Transports arrived in DEC territory and Jack said forcefully over the fleet’s frequency, “I need a report on what’s happening.”
Fleet Admiral Solomon immediately answered, “We have many of the relieving Prime Pilots unable to respond, Sir.”
“I need the affected ship’s transponder codes, of those not answering, sent to my main computer, along with their current coordinates. I have every Pilot in the Relief-Fleet assigned a Red Warrior to take their Prime out, if necessary. I need to start with those most severely affected.”
“I’ll have the active pilots start scanning the Relief Fleet and send that data immediately.”
Jack stared at the monitor showing the thousands of Red Warriors on his transport and saw many of them begin disappearing. The Red Warrior’s armor used a Coronado Field and they could move through the Primes Power Cell Field with no harm. It seemed to take forever, but soon thousands of Primes began disappearing.
Jack watched and then ordered, “Admiral, your ships will need to replace the Primes being moved out until I can send another fleet to relieve you.”
“Yes, Sir. Don’t take too long, we’re low on provisions. You also need to send someone to relieve me. I don’t know how much longer I can hold on with this raging headache.”
“Do you have any idea on how many of the creatures we managed to kill?”
“Several-million. However, it was the simultaneous death of a million-creatures, at the same moment, that caused the damage to our pilot’s minds. We’re all suffering from severe headaches.”
“Just hang on and I’ll get another fleet out to relieve you as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Jack queried the closest probe, “Do you have a line on where the cloud originated?”
“It appears to have come from the Algean Galaxy’s location. It is the closest galaxy to this location.”
Jack sat back and said, “What is Captain Mongovie’s frequency?” He saw it appear on his panel and pressed the activate button, “Captain, I understand that this was your idea.”
Kellie appeared on his monitor rubbing her temples, “Yes, Sir, but I never thought that I’d cause this much harm to my fellow pilots!”
“Warriors know the dangers of confronting a powerful enemy and know it’s part of the job. We are getting them out as quickly as possible and let us pray they aren’t permanently injured. However, this is the first time we’ve managed to inflict real damage on the DECs and we owe that to you. I am issuing a battlefield promotion and you are promoted to Junior Fleet Admiral. You will relieve Senior Fleet Admiral Solomon and take command of the Primes still able to function. Get them organized and remain here until I can get another fleet here to relieve you.”
“Yes, Sir. I just hope our fellow warriors are ok.” Kelly hesitated and said, “I just wanted to stop that creature from laughing at me.”
Jack smiled, “Well, you’ve certainly done that. Congratulations, Admiral.”
Jack contacted Admiral Solomon, I’ve promoted Captain Mongovie and she will relieve you. Jump out now and report to a hospital!”
“Jumping now, General.”
• • •
Kelly was so worried about her fellow pilots that her promotion hadn’t sunk in. She suddenly felt completely out of her depth but began issuing orders to the fleets. Out of chaos, eventually came order.
• • •
Twe
lve-hours later, the last transport jumped away and, ten-hours after that, the emergency relief force arrived and replaced the Primes still holding position. The pilots suffering with headaches immediately reported to a medical facility for treatment. The First Fleet was not in as bad a shape as the fleet that relieved them; they had teleported out to a distant location and didn’t get the full effect of the DEC’s screams.
• • •
Dela woke slowly expecting to feel the extreme pain in her head. Slowly, she regained consciousness and barely opened one eye; thank Creation the pain was gone. She saw Kogo leaning over her and she closed her eye. The corner of her mouth went up slightly, “Now you know what I went through when you and Tag took your mental vacation from reality.”
Kogo instantly leaned down and kissed her gently. He broke the kiss and sighed, “Let’s promise never to do this again.”
“Deal!” Dela opened her eyes and looked around, “What happened to my pilots?”
“Most are recovering but we lost more than two-thousand, whose brains were too damaged to repair.” Dela eyes closed and Kogo said softly, “More than two-million DECs died and the pilot’s sacrifice was worth the price.”
“How can you say that, Kogo?”
“Most of the creatures that roared in to attack our Primes came from the Algean Galaxy. Very few of them remained behind and this has bought us time before the Milky Way is attacked.”
“We have to find a way to block out their screams!” she said softly as she felt her head start to ache.
“We’re working on that as we speak, Dela. Your ordering the telepathy modules turned off is what allowed most of the pilots to survive. If they had been left on, I doubt any would have made it.”
Dela’s eyes were closed tightly as the pain returned. She felt a prick on her arm and, a moment later, she disappeared in the blackness of deep sleep. Kogo stayed with her and hoped the headaches would pass. He sat down next to her bed and closed his eyes. Sleep had eluded him and he quickly lost consciousness for the first time in two-days.