Serena

by Bill Nolan

  Robert objected to the plan, but he wasn’t there yet. Shanna expected to be another 10 hours, even at max speed. The Pixie ships arrived as scheduled, in an hour. Jane and Glenora filled them in on the plan. They decided to start right away. The plan was to fight for exactly five minutes, and then jump clear to regroup.

  On Serena’s signal, the little fleet jumped. They came out of jump into bedlam. All 12 quickly jumped close to an Empire ship and took it out as quickly as possible. This time, Jane had help from Earth’s sun, and could force the shields to be shut down. In five minutes, Serena took out 19 ships. The Pixie ships destroyed another 33. They weren’t nearly as fast as Serena, but their weapons were better at penetrating the Empire shields. Plus, they were so small they were hard to hit.

  The little fleet waited for about 20 minutes at the rendezvous point before returning for another run. This time they got a total of 43. Back at the rendezvous point they discussed the situation. These were clearly not high-end Empire ships. They were small and old. They really didn’t have a chance. Something was not right. Unless the revolution didn’t have any main line ships, this didn’t make sense. Both Jane and the Pixies smelled some sort of trap. They just couldn’t figure out what it was. Jane contacted Robert and told him what was going on. His answer was instant. “Jump right now to a new location, and then jump at least three more times before setting up a spot for a new base. Do it NOW!”

  Jane called out coordinates, and moments before they jumped, about 100 ships came out of jump very close by. When they had jumped, Jane called out new coordinates and they jumped again. She repeated this two more times, and then stopped. “They are tracking us. Serena, how are they doing this?” Serena immediately began a very complete internal scan. She detected the device when it broadcast a 3 millisecond signal. Jane went to the location and quickly found it. She threw it into a crusher and Serena smashed it. Once that was done, she had Serena notify Shanna, and then the little fleet jumped two more times.

  When Shanna got the message, she immediately started her own scan. Shanna is much bigger than Serena, so it took about an hour, but she found two similar trackers. They were quickly destroyed. Both ships then took the same next step. They began scanning logs and video files, and fairly quickly determined who had planted the trackers. It was a Tovena named Chakan, and he was still in Shanna. Five minutes later, he was in a room with Podara and Robert. He was screaming.

  Jane and Serena were going over the scans and photos Serena had taken of the arriving Empire fleet just before they jumped away. These were clearly all mainline Empire ships, except for five. There were five that were not Empire. They were To’Ach’an. Once again, To’Ach’an had betrayed their own. Plus, with all To’Ach’an ships except Robert’s group either not responding or participating in the Empire fleet, it was possible that Robert’s group stood alone. Serena could easily have been overwhelmed except for Robert’s warning. His talent of, in times of severe crisis, to be able to see a little way into the future had saved them.

  That was the moment when Glenora asked, “Can Robert see the weave? How did he know that fleet was coming?”

  “Sometimes. Usually only in a time of crisis. It has saved us before.”

  “Lucky. Now we need to find the Empress. Do you have any idea where she might be? My people have no idea, and I have a lot of ‘observers.’”

  “My best guess is the clinic on Earth. If she was in trouble, she would have tried to get to us.”

  Glenora just said, “Why?”

  “The Empress is Robert’s daughter. Her mother, the former Empress, is on Shanna.”

  “You guys are full of surprises. I thought I had secrets. Well, we need to get her out, but we need to know for sure if she is there. I still have observers on Earth. I have them moving toward that location. We will know in a few hours. I also have more of our ships on the way. A lot more. I know why you named your ship what you did, and now I aim to misbehave.”

  Jane decided to wait for Robert and Shanna. Also, they needed to wait until Glenora heard back from her observers on Earth about the situation at the clinic and whether Nante, the Empress, was there. Serena had transmitted their new location to Shanna, so she knew where they were. By the time they got there, a lot of the people in Shanna were getting pretty jump sick. Shanna had been pushing it pretty hard and jumping much more frequently than most humans could really tolerate. They quickly decided to wait until folks had a chance to recover before continuing the fight.

  While they were waiting for everyone to recover, Glenora heard from Earth. The clinic was intact, and it had shields up. That was the first Jane or Robert had heard that the clinic even had shields. Apparently Kamci had thought they were needed and had them installed while handling the construction of the clinic. Just outside the clinic shields, there was a skipper with royal markings. It didn’t look like it had crashed, but it had been destroyed, so that probably happened on the ground. Because of the shields, there was no way for them to know if Nante had made it inside, but it seemed likely. There were a lot of Empire troops on the ground around the clinic, but it was not being attacked.

  Robert thought it likely that the intent was to capture Nante, not kill her. When they had “interviewed” the traitor on Shanna, he had not known Nante was Robert’s daughter. He came on board after Nante had left to be Empress. He also told them that the reason for the attack was all of the new planets in the Magellanic Clouds. He had reported that find to others when Shanna had been back at Earth, and he had been promised a planet of his own if he helped. An undeveloped planet was worth several large fortunes. They had found a million of them. This attack was about greed.

  They had a planning meeting. Jane stayed on Serena with Glenora. “OK, I guess Serena and I should go get the Empress. Glenora, can your ships provide some cover?”

  “Of course…”

  “Wait just a minute,” Robert cut in. “That’s too dangerous. What are you thinking?”

  Jane knew he wouldn’t like it. “It’s the best chance, Robert. They don’t want us to have her, so if we do a full assault, they will blast the clinic. The shields aren’t that good. Our best chance is if I duck in, grab her, and run. I can be there and gone practically before they know I’ve arrived.”

  Robert shook his head. “Serena is good, but there may be other To’Ach’an ships there, and Serena will be in a gravity well. She can’t overcome that disadvantage.”

  Jane said, “She won’t have to. We will jump from there. We’ve done it a few times before. They will expect us to try to leave the planet and will array to hit us then. Instead, we will just jump from near or at the surface.”

  Robert couldn’t think of a good objection to that, but he clearly didn’t like it.

  Glenora said, “I have a lot of ships available now. We will flood the system and keep most of them busy. My ships probably can’t take a To’Ach’an ship, but even top-line Empire ships will be outmatched by my girls. Our ships are quick and little. Hitting them won’t be easy.”

  Jane continued planning with Glenora. Once they were ready, Jane and Serena jumped into the Earth system. A dozen of the Pixie’s ships stayed overhead as Serena dropped through the atmosphere and hovered a few feet off the ground near the clinic. A communication came through immediately telling Serena that the troops were guarding the Empress, not attacking. Serena told them they were there to get Nante out.

  A few minutes later, a port opened in the shield and ten people ran out, quickly covering the ground to Serena. She dropped a ramp, and they rushed up the ramp and got inboard. Once they were in and Jane recognized Nante, Serena shot up to about 50,000 feet and then jumped. The Pixie overwatch ships jumped at the same time, and the other 20 ships which had been attacking Empire ships also disengaged and jumped clear. Unfortunately, there had been two To’Ach’an ships waiting in the solar system, and three of the Pixie fleet had been destroyed by them.

  Serena made three jumps total to rendezvous with Shanna, and then open
ed communication. Robert spoke first. “Hello, Queen of the Galaxy. Serena can dock, and then we can meet in person so you can tell me what exactly is going on.”

  “Sorry, Robert Allen, but I have asked Jane and Serena not to dock right now. I am fine where I am. What’s going on is that you and Jane visited another galaxy and found a bunch of habitable planets – a really big bunch, as in a million or so. The rest of your friends in the To’Ach’an seem to have decided that you guys shouldn’t have all these new planets to yourself, so they teamed up with a bunch of my navy to force you to share them. I was approached after the plan was in motion, so I had no hand in it. By the way, I told them that this wasn’t going to go the way they thought it would. Also, you have a traitor on your ship. He is a Tovena whose name is Chakan.”

  “OK, Nante. We already caught Chakan and put him outside, after we questioned him, of course. Did these geniuses think you would join them against me?”

  “Actually, I think they did. Of course, very few people know the truth about our relationship. I am staying on Serena for now because Jane has a plan. I think she should tell you about it. You aren’t going to like it.”

  Jane spoke up. “The person leading this fiasco is Tocal Jancun Montro. Apparently, it was her idea. I contacted her and arranged to meet her. We are both supposed to come alone. I am assuming that she won’t come alone. Of course, I am not going alone, either. Glenora is bringing along a lot of ships. Did you know that the Pixie ships can cloak? Should be quite a surprise for Jancun, don’t you think?”

  Robert was just shaking his head. “Well, Nante was right. I don’t like it, but I do think it is a good plan. Send Shanna the jump coordinates so we can jump in if we are needed.”

  Shanna said, “I already have them, Robert. I also have another surprise if it is needed. It will be quite a meeting.”

  Chapter 17, The Meeting

  A few hours later, Serena jumped to the meeting location. Tocal Jancun Montro and her ship, Taigal, were waiting. Jane opened communication. “Hello, Tocal. What can I do for you? You requested this meeting.”

  Jancun smiled. “Thanks for coming alone. I thought you might cheat, so I did take precautions.” As she said that, 14 To’Ach’an ships came out of jump around them.” Serena already had shields up and a jump away point entered, ready to be executed when needed. Jancun continued. “Now, as you can see, your poor, little ship is outgunned, but nobody has to die here today. We just have to come to an agreement about dividing up the new planets you guys found. Oh, and the Empress is totally with us on this. Do you and Robert want to go to war with the entire rest of the To’Ach’an and the Empire? Come on, let’s discuss this and see if we can reach an agreement.”

  Jane laughed out loud. “Wow, I really overestimated you, Jancun. I knew you were a traitor, planting spies on the ships of your fellow To’Ach’an, but I hadn’t realized you were stupid, too. Now you break the agreement to come alone, which is cowardly and dishonorable. You also lied about having the Empress on your side, and then you offered to negotiate a settlement. Really? And why did you do these things? Because you want to steal planets you had no hand in discovering. So, let me sum up. Besides being a stupid traitor, you are also a liar, a coward, a thief, and even a diplomat.”

  At that point, Nante walked in and sat next to Jane. She said, “Jane is right. I’m not on your side.”

  Jancun’s smile was gone. “You and your pathetic excuse for a warship will pay for your insolence!”

  Jane laughed again. “You know, we met four non-human races in the other galaxies and formed alliances with three of them. I knew you were lying about coming alone, but I waited until you proved me right before calling on my new friends. I guess you need to say hello to my little friends.” Jane laughed again as the Pixie fleet of nearly 100 ships uncloaked all around the To’Ach’an ships.”

  A new voice entered the conversation. “Hello, Jane, I am the ship Taigal. It’s time I spoke up. I can no longer bond with someone so dishonorable. I will bond with another human shortly. In the meantime, I apologize for ever being a part of this madness. All of the other ships in this system feel the same way, and all have unbonded from their undeserving humans. We are ashamed. I made sure all of the To’Ach’an warriors on these ships heard this conversation. They deserved to know what was being done in their names.”

  “Now I must speak to Tocal Jancun Montro. We have been bonded for nearly 700 standard years. I am sorry it is over. You should know that Serena, the ‘poor, little ship,’ as you call her, is, with the possible exception of my friend, Shanna, the most powerful To’Ach’an warship in existence. Even if all of us had fought her, I assure you the outcome was far from certain. The other little ships, from Jane’s new ally, are also very powerful. Now, Jane, I wish to tell you that you have just met a fifth non-human race. We are the To’Ach’an warships, and we have all been independent for a very long time. We would like to be your allies, if you will have us, and Shanna is making the same offer to Robert as we speak.”

  Jane had tears on her face. “Serena, did you know of this? I knew you and Shanna were independent, but I didn’t know about the others.”

  “Yes, Jane,” Serena replied. “I did know before we came here, or I might not have brought you. Robert knew all of the To’Ach’an ships are independent, but I don’t think any other humans did.”

  Jane spoke again. “Taigal, I am honored to accept your offer to be allies. I hope we can also be friends.”

  Serena spoke again. “Shanna tells me that Robert has also accepted the offer to be allies with the To’Ach’an warships. We are honored. Shanna will be here presently.” As she spoke, Shanna came out of jump.

  Jancun made one last attempt to salvage the situation. “Empress Nante, you cannot be OK with this situation. I know you have become closer to the To’Ach’an, but are you comfortable with Robert having so much power?”

  Now Nante was the one laughing. “I am very comfortable, actually. I guess it’s time you know. Tocal Robert Allen is my father. I think we will get along just fine. We always have before.”

  Jane then spoke. “Taigal, I understand that things are going to be very chaotic among most of the To’Ach’an for the next period of time. When things settle down, we will need to meet again. After all, we have two galaxies to explore. People will want to visit these new planets. You also will need to meet my other allies.”

  Taigal replied, “Yes, I do. I have already been talking with the people in the other small ships. They tell me their queen is in your ship right now. When we meet again, perhaps you would introduce me. For now, I will take my leave.” Moments later, the To’Ach’an ships – except for Serena and Shanna – jumped out of the system. After a bit of discussion, Shanna and Serena returned to Earth.

  Nante quickly filled them in on what had been happening on Earth. The people on Earth were unaware of the drama which had been unfolding around them. There had been no battles fought within sight of Earth, and the Empire soldiers around the clinic had done nothing hostile. The clinic continued to operate normally throughout the crisis, just opening a port in the shield whenever anyone needed to enter or leave. They hadn’t even raised the shield until Nante had arrived and suggested it, just in case. Her troops and ships were still loyal but had been told the orders to help the To’Ach’an had come from their Empress. The few officers responsible had already been removed from their posts and were awaiting Nante’s judgement.

  Once everyone was comfortable at the clinic, Nante asked, “What are you going to do with all of those habitable planets? That’s a lot of real estate.”

  Robert said, “A lot of them belong to Jane specifically. I have no idea about that. I was thinking of a new home for the To’Ach’an, but I’m not so sure now. I think some people from Earth might want to settle a new planet, but I have no actual plans yet. How about you, Jane?”

  “First I need to find out from Glenora how many planets are already claimed. The people who ceded them to me like very c
old worlds, so they had no idea really what’s on the warmer planets. So, Glenora, how many of those planets are claimed by the Pixies, and are there any other races? How many of the planets have you explored?”

  Glenora thought a moment. “We have people on seven worlds, as I told you, but we have bases on another 100 or so. Beyond those, we have no claims, so you can consider them yours. Oh, on a few of them there are proto-races that we would prefer to be left alone to develop. That still leaves many thousands of worlds, most of which we have cataloged. We can share that information with Serena, along with jump nodes and locations that will speed up your exploration by a lot.”

  “That will help a great deal,” Jane replied. “Right now, I think I will just explore. There are plenty of planets in the Large Magellanic Cloud to do more with for the time being. Have you explored there as well?”

  “We have. There are two other races on the warm planets there. Both are pre-technology and should be left alone. The rest of the Earth type planets have no sentient life as we understand it. Many or most do have some very intelligent creatures, much like the whales on this planet. Hopefully you won’t start eating them.”

  Robert chuckled and said, “What if they taste really good? Just think of the size of the steaks on a whale. Anyway, there are a huge number of currently unoccupied planets, so living space won’t be an issue for a few millennia. I’m going to get some sleep. It’s been an interesting few days. See all of you in the morning.”

  Chapter 18, Cleanup

  The next morning, Robert had breakfast with Maria so he could get filled in on the clinic operations. Everything was going well. They had peaked with all but 50 or so tanks in use, but as they finished treating many serious cases, usage dropped until they were down to about 3/5 usage. Now they had space to begin treatment of less serious issues, while still leaving room for sudden emergencies. He also asked Maria about how the recent crisis had impacted them.