by Saxon Andrew
“Well, it should make delivering messages easier.”
“I didn’t think about that,” Grace replied. “Their twins are telepathic and can contact us if Sprigly or Seedel needs to reach us.”
“Or visa-versa,” Danielle added. Danielle turned back to the long list of messages and noticed the fourth one of the list came from General Turner. He suggested that the transports should be painted black to make them more difficult to see in space. Danielle sat back and thought about it; the Black Ships were difficult to image…suddenly, her eyes flew wide open and her mouth dropped open. She focused her mind and yelled mentally, “SEEDEL!!”
Seedel’s twin immediately answered, “Danielle! What’s wrong?”
“You said the DECs are no longer attacking ships!!”
“Yes, they’ve stopped.”
“What about the Black Ships still in our universe?!”
Seedel was silent and then replied, “I just looked and the DECs that were staking them out have left for the Algean planet where the uniting process is being done! Oh my God!”
“Can the Elders get them to go back and stake them out!?”
“Danielle, that would generate far too much confusion and getting it across to the DECs to only attack Black Warships would take a lot of time. To them, every starship looks the same. They could end up killing the crews of millions of innocent ships.”
“TELL EMPEROR ROBBINS TO SEND ME EVERY WARSHIP HE CAN SPARE, IMMEDIATELY!!”
“I’ll tell him now!” Seedel replied.
“Seedel, can your twin see the location of the Black Ships still here?”
“I can see them,” she heard the twin reply.
“I need you to start sending their coordinates to the computer named Grace on my ship. Put those that are currently organizing to attack a planet at the top of the list!!” Danielle glanced up, “GRACE…”
“I’ve heard you and I’m receiving the list now.”
Danielle punched a button on her console and the alarms on the Kosiev went off at maximum volume. She shut down the klaxons but allowed the flashing orange lights continued to flash. Fleet Admiral Solomon and General Turner appeared on her console monitor in a split screen. Danielle calmed her voice and said, “Admiral Solomon, I want every Prime and Glod Warship under your command to power up and go to full combat readiness. That includes all of those at the thousand planets with Coronado Fields around them.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. What’s going on?”
“The DECs that were staking out the Black Ships have left for the Algean Galaxy. The Black Ships are now free to start their attacks on civilized planets!”
Tag stumbled on the bridge wearing a pair of shorts and heard Danielle issuing orders. He touched the back of his head and mumbled, “ON”, as he rubbed his eyes. He listened to her thoughts rushed to his Combat command chair. He pulled a pair of pants and a grey tunic out of the pouch behind it, quickly dressed, and kept his mind focused on Danielle, as he moved around to his chair and pulled up the tactical program showing the current disposition of the Realm’s fleets.
Jack asked, “Your Majesty, what do you want my Red Warriors to do?”
“They are going to have to defend the shielded planets against Black Ship attacks until help can be called in from the Fleets. I’m targeting the Black Warships in the Milky Way first, so I’m hoping the shielded planets will be safe, for now. Your Warriors will have to use their teleport systems and their armor’s boosters to fight in open space.” Jack disappeared from the monitor as Danielle looked up, “GRACE?!”
“I have numerous groups of Black Ships forming up to start attacking planets and I’m dispatching an appropriate number of Primes to attack them as quickly as they come on line.”
“Target all the Black Ships in our galaxy…”
“I’ve already sent their coordinates to be the initial targets, Danielle.”
“Tell Solomon to order our ships to use their masking fields!”
“He’s already issued the order! Calm down, Danielle.,” Grace replied loudly. “You have a good team working for you and Admiral Solomon has his fleets well trained. Two-million Primes and a million Glod Warships are receiving their coordinates as we speak and are launching to their targets.”
“What about the ships at Bristone?!”
“Emperor Robbins has released all but a hundred-thousand he’s keeping in reserve. Four-hundred-thousand Primes and Glod Battleships are receiving their attack coordinates from Seedel before they jump in.”
Tag smoothly entered the conversation as he contacted Admiral Solomon, “Admiral, I see that the Black Ships are forming up in formations with a hundred-warships in each. I’ve ordered my computer to send a hundred-Primes to attack each of those formations. Have them get in and get out quickly.”
“Yes, Sir, however, we’re going to be forced to start the initial attacks with fewer warships than a hundred. We don’t have enough ships to match their numbers.”
“Then, get them moving and if they haven’t received new attack coordinates when they complete their initial mission, have them immediately jump back to the planet they were defending, where they will remain until new target coordinates are received.” He looked at Danielle and heard her think, “Thank you!”
Tag nodded and pressed another button, “General Oliva!”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Send out orders to the commanders of the Coronado Field Ships at the protected planets to shut down their shields and jump to the Dark Dimension!”
“But, Sir…”
“GENERAL, THE CORONADO FIELDS WILL NOT HARM A BLACK WARSHIP AND THE DECs ARE NO LONGER ATTACKING. THEY NO LONGER SERVE A PURPOSE! THEY’LL BE SHOT DOWN AND DESTROYED IF THE PLANET THEY’RE DEFENDING IS ATTACKED!! NOW DO IT!!”
“Yes, Sir!”
Looking at the tactical monitor, Tag’s eyes narrowed and he pressed another button. Admiral Solomon appeared and Tag quickly said, “Admiral, what are the Primes doing in orbit above Ross?”
“This planet is too important to leave undefended, Your Majesty.”
“You will start sending attack coordinates to the Primes around Ross and get them out defending our universe.”
“But, Your Majesty…”
“The Kosiev will remain here and I’ll notify you if any Black Warships show up here. Now get them out of here, now!!”
“Sir, I will obey your order but Ross has been attacked and its coordinates must be in every Black Ship in our universe. With the massive cities covering Ross’s surface, it will be a prime target for the Black Ships!”
“Follow your orders, Admiral!”
“Yes, Sir.”
Tag looked up, “Alex!”
“Whoop, whoop! It’s back to war we go. Powering up our defense and offensive weapon arrays.”
Tag turned his attention to Danielle, “It’s time you tried out your least used fashion statement.”
Danielle gave him a quick smile and was suddenly inside a suit of Red Armor, except for the helmet, “I’ll wait until later for the helmet,” as she forced a giggle, “I don’t want to mess up my hair.”
Tag’s eyes softened and he reached over and took her hand, “Try to relax, my Love. We’ll do what we must using the tools we have.” Daniele took a deep breath and nodded. Tag turned his attention to the tactical screen inside his helmet. It was linked to the Kosiev’s scanners and receivers and he quickly changed views as he watched what was happening around Ross and the messages coming in from the Realm’s Universe. He never used his armor on the Kosiev, before he returned to the Realm, but he was starting to grow accustomed to wearing it now. The attack on the DECs with Kogo, showed him that refusing to use it was simply being egotistical. It was time he grew up and recognized his limitations. The universe could throw things at you that could crush the largest ego.
Danielle suddenly heard Emperor Robbins, “What’s happening, Danielle?”
“I never expected one war would end and another would seamlessly start, James
. The DECs are no longer attacking planets or ships. That freed up the Black Ships, when the DEC’s staking them out left to go to the Algean Galaxy to unite. The ‘War with the Black Universe’ has officially kicked off with a bang and we’re late getting in the game.”
“Are we ready for this?” James asked in a nervous voice.
“We’re never ready, James! We’re constantly forced to react to what’s happening around us. But we’re making up for lost time. Thank you for sending most of your warships to assist us.”
“I wanted to send them all but my subjects are fearful.”
“James, keeping only a hundred-thousand is more than I could ever expect. Thank you!”
James disappeared from her mind and she knew Seedel had used her Twin to make the connection. My how things changed, so quickly, she thought to herself.
• • •
Junior Admiral Kellie Mongovie’s fleet was assigned the task of removing all Black Warships from the Milky Way. She had ten-thousand Primes under her command and a hundred-thousand Black Warships to attack. Five-hundred Black Ship formations were moving in on civilized planets and she couldn’t send an equal number of Primes to attack them. The best she could do was to send forty-Primes to attack the Black Ships that were closest to the planets they were targeting and then immediately send them to another target. She activated her telepathy module and thought to her warships, “All right, you must get in, destroy your initial targets, and immediately jump to the next one. If you take too long, planets will die! TELEPORT NOW!!”
• • •
Kellie arrived just above a planet’s atmosphere with thirty-nine-Primes and saw a hundred-Black Warships moving toward the planet from the portside of her formation. The Primes turned and spread out as they flashed in on the Black Ship’s flank. The Primes had their masking fields operating and the Black Warships never saw the Primes coming.
Kellie’s eyes narrowed as she used the attack computer to designate three-Black Warships on her line of approach. She flashed in and pulled the trigger on her steering-wheel. The first Black Warship shuttered as the Prime’s four blasters hit and she blew past it, before it went up in a massive explosion. The second-Black Ship exploded close to her violently rocking her Prime. She struggled with the steering-wheel to get back on course, as the third-Black Ship she targeted moved out of her attack profile. She quick-fired at another approaching from her starboard side and it blew up, as she cleared the Black Ship formation. She whipped the Prime around to rejoin the attack and saw that only six-Black Ships were still operational. Her pilots beat her to them and she felt disgusted with herself; she had lost her edge spending too much time behind a desk in her command role. “Teleport to next target, now!!” she ordered her attack force.
Kellie glanced at her tactical screen and saw that she had lost two-Primes in the first attack. She beat herself up seeing that the two-Primes lost were piloted by her least experienced pilots. They weren’t ready! She lined up the next Black Ship formation, moving in just above the planet’s atmosphere and didn’t have to issue orders to her attack unit, they knew what to do.
• • •
Tag kept his eyes on his tactical screen and saw ten-planets were now under attack in the Milky Way. “WE HAVE COMPANY!!” Grace announced loudly.
Tag jerked his eyes away from the tactical screen to the main-scanner monitor and instantly saw a hundred-Black Warships teleport in above Ross. “We need to welcome them appropriately, Alex.”
“I’m going to extend a personal welcome, Tag.”
The Alexander Kosiev was hidden behind its masking field and flashed out from just above Ross to directly above the incoming Black Ship Formation. Unlike the Primes that only had four-heavy-blasters, the Kosiev had fifty, along with forty-psychic blasters. In less than ten-seconds, every Black Warship was little more than an expanding cloud of vapor. The citizens on Ross looked up into the night time sky and saw the explosions strobe across the planet’s surface.
Jimmy and Lola connected their scanner’s images to every electronic device on Ross. Lola announced, “A hundred-enemy-warships came to attack Ross. None remain.”
The cheers that rose around the planet grew in intensity as the Alexander Kosiev appeared on their monitors moving back toward the planet.
“Do you think they got a message out?” Danielle asked.
“One of the last ten we killed probably got a piece of information out.”
Tag glanced at Danielle as he contacted Admiral Solomon, “Admiral, Ross has just been attacked by a hundred-Black Ships. We think one of the survivors got a message out.”
“I’ll pull some Primes to return to Ross.”
“Not yet!” Tag interrupted, “I don’t want them wasting time here waiting for another attack. I’ll press the Red-Execute button if a large number arrive here.”
“I’m activating the emergency-button on four-thousand Primes.”
“That would be good, Admiral.”
“What do you sense, Tag?” Danielle asked.
Tag moved his attention to the tactical monitor as he answered, “More are coming, Danielle.”
“How many?”
Tag turned to her, “I sense that this is where the fight for our galaxy is going to take place.”
“Tag, is four-thousand Primes going to be enough?!”
“The Primes assigned to Black Ships will follow them here. We just have to hold out until they teleport in.”
Danielle smiled, “Sort of reminds me of the war we fought with the Hallan.”
“Or the one against the Pzel a thousand years earlier.”
Danielle’s brow furrowed and, then, she nodded, “You’re right; I forgot about that one.”
“Alex, you might move directly above the North Pole.”
“I’ve already started moving that direction.”
Tag shook his head, “I should have seen that; you know what to do.”
“That was fun, Grace giggled.”
“The next attack might be more challenging, Grace.”
“I know. But I wouldn’t miss it for anything.”
Danielle smiled, “Spoken like a true warrior.”
Tag looked over at Danielle and saw her smiling. It was the first genuine smile he had seen in a long time; she missed the fighting; he and Alex weren’t the only warriors on board. He looked at the tactical screen in his helmet showing the feeds coming from around the Realm and saw hundreds of Black Ships disappearing as they teleported out from the attacking Primes. He glanced at Danielle, “Time to mess up your hair.” Danielle looked at him and her helmet appeared on her head. “Have I ever told you you’re still incredibly beautiful, even in your armor?”
“I’ve never worn it, Tag.”
“Well…you are.”
Danielle looked down and saw her armor fitted her like a second skin. It revealed every curve and shape of her body. She smiled and decided Tag was right. She decided she might wear it again in less violent circumstances.
Tag closed his eyes and pressed the Red-Execute button, “Alex, move above the equator. They’re coming in directly from the moon.”
The Alexander Kosiev fired its thrusters and moved directly above the center of Ross’s dark side as four-thousand Primes teleported in and formed up around it. A moment later, more than fifty-thousand Black Warships appeared ten-thousand miles out from Ross. They began forming up and Tag thought over his telepathic module, “Do not wait for them to organize, attack targets of opportunity around the edges now!”
Kellie Mongovie arrived with four-thousand of her Fleet’s Primes and saw the giant mass of Black Ship forming up in the distance. She heard Tag’s order and immediately ordered, “DO NOT FLY INTO THE CENTER OF THAT FORMATION!! HIT THEM ON THE EDGES LIKE THE OLD MAN ORDERED!!”
Tag looked at Danielle, “Old man?” he muttered.
“Hey, name one of them older than you!” Tag shrugged as the Kosiev flew directly into the middle of the giant mass of Black Ships and opened fire with ev
ery blaster.
• • •
The Senior Commander of the giant fleet of Black Warships stared at the planet on his monitor and saw the massive sprawling cities covering its surface. His forces were under attack everywhere in this universe but he detected no warships on his monitor. “Form up in groups of a hundred and prepare to attack the planet.” He decided to send for the transports once the attack was completed. A second later, he was a small ball of gas expanding in a huge ball of vapor that had been his flagship.
Tag smiled, “Alex had learned long ago to target an enemy’s leader first. It would take time for the next one to be determined. He watched the tactical monitor and saw thousands of Black Ships exploding on the outer edges of their giant formation; the Primes were doing a good job. Suddenly, every Black Warship fired all their blasters and kept them firing. The Kosiev was hit by a hundred-blaster beams just before it teleported out of the center of the huge formation.
The new Commander of the Black Ships screamed, “SCATTER AND KEEP FIRING!!”
The Kosiev remained outside the battle and Tag asked, “Are you ok, Alex?”
“I managed to barely escape before my force field failed. I need some time to get the power back up.”
“What about the psychic field?” Danielle asked.
“If I activate it, they will immediately be able to see us. The masking field won’t keep us hidden.” Alex answered.
Tag reached over and took Danielle’s hand. They instantly heard a deep tone that was quickly rising into a higher note. Grace announced, “Psychic Generators are fully charged.”
Alex quickly said, “Grace, while you were gone, you weren’t with us for most of the wars we fought. I’m going to take over piloting and you will take control of the weapons.”
“What are you going to do?”
Alex’s smile could be heard in his voice, “Stick and move, Grace! Stick and move!”
Grace announced, “Activating psychic field now!”
The Kosiev leapt forward and entered the battle. It had a brilliant blue field surrounding it and every Black Ship saw it instantly. They turned and began firing at the fast-moving warship.