by Saxon Andrew
“Are you willing to make an unbreakable agreement with him?”
“I am. I’ll leave it up to other Fellowship Members to take him out. The agreement will only prevent us from doing it. We’ll announce his home world’s location and I believe many of the others will attack to prevent him joining us.”
The Myot smiled, “I can see you’ve thought this through. I never considered using the others to dispose of them. That’s genius.”
“Thank you, but first we have to get access to that planet with petroleum. To do that, we need an agreement.”
“If the Johan are attacked, the member that takes possession of their planet will also have possession of the primitive planet.”
“Yes, they will, but they won’t be immune from us. We can remove them and have total possession.”
The Myot shook his head, “Perhaps we should make an agreement as well.”
“I’ve considered it but you know after all we’ve been through; trust would not be easy.”
“Use the word impossible.”
“Ok, it would be impossible.”
“But if the agreement is sanctioned by a Sentinel, trust would not be an issue.” The Welken stared at the Myot and said, “Think about it for a moment. If we’re asking the Johan to enter into an unbreakable agreement, wouldn’t it make sense that we would do the same? It would make them think we’re sincere.”
“It means we would have to divide the Fellowship between us.”
“Is that a problem?”
The Welken Royal stared at the Myot and couldn’t see any way he could lose. Then he realized that the Myot fleets heavily outnumbered his. The Myot could attack more members than he could. “I’ll agree on the following condition.”
“What?”
“We may only attack one planet at a time. You attack one and then I attack one.”
“Do you think it would be good to say that in front of the Johan?”
“We’ll make the agreement prior to our arrival.”
The Myot was angry and saw the Welken had figured out what he planned. He was brighter than he thought. The Welken saw the Myot’s anger and smiled. Caught him. “Ok, I’ll agree with you on that. However, one of the conditions we’ll make with the Sentinel is that if the Johan doesn’t agree to join us, our agreement is void.”
The Welken smiled, “I will agree to that condition.”
The Myot looked up, “Sentinel?”
“Yes.”
“I wish to enter into a sanctioned agreement with my Welken counterpart.”
“Will this agreement extend to your successors?”
The Myot closed his eyes and shook his head. The Welken smiled, caught him again. The Myot took a breath and said, “Yes it will.”
“Are the Welken also bound by this agreement?”
The Royal said, “Yes, we are and so will my successors.”
They made the agreement and then they sent a message to the Johan Ruler.
• • •
“Jinks, the probe has a small skip trace moving toward Earth.”
“Jester, pick me up and take me into orbit above Earth.” Jinks lifted his wrist, “Lukas, a small skip trace is moving our way.”
“I suspect it’s a messenger from the Johan.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If were anyone else, you’d see a massive number of skip traces.”
“I’ll link you in.”
“That would be good, Jinks.”
Jester blasted out of its launch tube and moved out to the edge of the gravity limit. Four minutes later, a lifeboat emerged three thousand miles outside the lime. Jinks moved Jester toward it and saw the landing bay was open when he arrived. Jester moved up against the lifeboat’s hull and Jinks stepped out of the cockpit and stepped into the small bay. The bay pressurized and Jinks removed his helmet. He was surprised to see the Johan Fleet Leader step into the bay. “I thought you were going to become the Ruler of your species?”
“I am.”
“Why are you here?”
“I have been put in an untenable position and I’ve come here to tell you that I’m being forced to make a decision that will violate our earlier agreement.”
“Your home world has been found.”
The Johan nodded, “It has. It was discovered by a Welken commercial vessel against all odds. The chances of it’s happening were astronomical but it found us and broadcast its location before we could destroy it.”
“So what’s happening?”
“The Myot and Welken have asked me to enter into an unbreakable agreement to accept them as equal partners. They agree to never attack my planets and I will not be able to attack theirs as well.”
“What do you mean unbreakable agreement?”
“The agreement is made with a Sentinel and the sanctions one would face who broke the agreement would be devastating for the guilty party. They will not break their agreement.”
“Are you going to accept their offer?”
“I’ve told them I would answer tomorrow. I put them off to come here and tell you before I broke our agreement.”
“So you’ll be attacking us with them?”
“No, I’ve told them I’ve made agreements with you and that I would not attack an ally.”
“However, they have agreed to share what they take from my planet with you.”
“They have and though I hate doing it, I can’t allow only them to use the petroleum to make their ships invincible.”
“Why, they can’t attack you?”
“No but they could give some of their ships to others that could.”
“You know they’re setting you up to be attacked by the other members.”
“Of course. Mutual defense will have to be a part of the agreement. They won’t like it but I think they’ll do it.” The Johan paused and said, “If you would come and defend my planets, I wouldn’t make this agreement.”
“We can’t do that.”
“I suspected as much. I’m responsible for protecting my citizens. If I don’t make this agreement, billions could die.”
Jinks nodded, “They wouldn’t just launch one missile to take possession.”
“No, they’ll launch thousands saying they felt it necessary to get through my defenses. I do hope you survive their attack. I just felt I had to come and tell you what was going on.”
“I don’t hold you to blame for protecting your species. You and your people are safe from us.”
“I thought you wouldn’t go out and conquer others?”
“We won’t. But if someone attacks us, their planets are not out of bounds. We will defend ourselves from those that mean us harm.”
“I hope the time you’ve had since our agreement was worth making it. We’ve managed to keep a stalemate but it’s over now. I’m sorry.”
“One thing you may want to make clear to them is that you will not attack an ally even if it attacks them.”
The Johan smiled, “I didn’t consider that. I’ll make sure that’s clear.”
Jinks put out his hand and the Johan took it, “Perhaps we’ll meet as friends one day.”
“I do look forward to that possibility.” The Johan ruler left the landing bay and it depressurized. Jinks kicked himself off the hull into Jester’s cockpit. “Did you get all of that?”
Lukas said, “I did. I’ll issue a War Warning. You should get your fleets out and mobilize the Defense Pods. I’ll have Amanda issue the warning to all the nations on Earth and tell them to start evacuating the cities. We’ll send enough ships to move the food converters out of the cities. That’s about all we can do for them.”
“Do you think Earth will be hit?”
“The Myot and Welken have been building during this stalemate. It’s a high probability that we won’t be able to stop everything.”
“I’m going to stay in orbit above the moon. I’ll discuss the plan with my Admirals.”
“That would be good.”
“Where are y
ou going?”
“I’m staying on the moon. We won’t reveal the magnitude of what we’ve built here unless we’re forced to do it. I’m hoping they underestimate us on their first attack. We can use the element of surprise on the second.”
“How long do you think we have before they arrive?”
“Once the agreement is made tomorrow, they’ll launch within four days. The agreement will take some time because the Welken and Myot won’t like a mutual defense clause and they’ll do all they can to avoid it. Once they complete it, they’re going to have to assign the fleets being sent and provision them. There will be some disagreement about who is going to command the fleets and that may delay them an extra day. I’d be surprised if they attack before three days time.”
“I’m moving the bulk of my ships out in two days.”
“I think you’ll be safe doing that.”
“Lukas, will anything be safe?”
“That’s what training is all about, isn’t it? Preparing to meet any eventuality? We’ve built for two years without interruption and trained our pilots to work together. They need an attack like this to really prepare them.”
Jinks knew what he was saying without saying it. He also expected this to happen. All the signs pointed to it. Now he’d see if they were ready. The pilots no longer had to touch a display to designate a target. A new combat helmet had been developed that automatically searched for the critical targets on a battleship. The pilot would simply say, “Fire,” when they locked on. The tactical display showed them their position and the closest enemy targets. The pilot would select the best target and then designate which targets to prioritize. The simulators could only take them so far. Now it was a matter of putting it into actual combat. The new gravity compensators allowed the Pods to make radical course changes without harming the pilot and hitting one of the pods was not going to be easy. They had practiced more than a year dodging the disruptors on other pods and they swiveled at four times the speed of a Fellowship Warship’s disruptors. But like barroom brawls, you could be hit from places you never saw. The tactical displays were critical to avoiding that.
Jinks saw Attack Pods launching from the moon and he smiled. Their Admirals wanted to use the time to practice their part in the coming attack. He didn’t blame them. After twenty-four hours he stopped the practice and sent the reluctant pilots back to rest. They were going to need it. He decided they would not launch until the void probe sent a warning. If Lukas thought it could take four days, it could be longer. Nothing took the edge off a pilot like long hours in space waiting. He heard Chad’s background music start and he smiled. Everyone now demanded it and it did help them focus. He was happy Chad and Julie had finally made it official; they were married a month earlier. He knew it was music that made the difference in getting her to come around. They were perfect together.
Jinks watched his fleets move out and he headed back to the moon. He wanted to see his wife as well. Sarah would be launching with the defense fleets shortly and he was going to make the most of the time before she left. He thought about Amanda and Trevor using the huge moon disruptors but knew Lukas would want to save them for the second round.
Those disruptors were absolutely incredible. He better make sure they understood not to fire unless they were directly order to do so. One good thing was that the moon was moving to the sun side of Earth. They would be a big asset to the defense pods if the second attack tried to come in from all angles of approach. They could pick off ships well outside the gravity limit and whatever they hit stayed hit. They were force field protected and the moon’s surface was covered with thousands of them. He saw his launch tunnel ahead as Jester flipped and landed dead center. Sarah was waiting for him as he exited the Pod.
• • •
The agreement took a week. The Johan Ruler quickly determined that neither the Welken nor the Myot wanted a mutual defense clause. So, he said there was no need for an agreement. The argument went back and forth for six days and the Johan told them after three days that he might as well go ahead and blast their governing planets and get it over with.
That caused them to back up and start again. Finally, they agreed that they would defend the Johan if they were attacked but refused their assistance, which was fine with the Johan. They rehearsed making the agreement verbally and none of the three could agree. Finally, they had a scribe come in and they wrote the agreement line by line. Then they argued about who would read it. They finally agreed the Johan would read it. The Myot and Welken agreed that he was not the least trusted member of the new alliance. Then they contacted the Sentinel.
Once the agreement was in place, the Myot and Welken argued about who would lead the coming attack on the primitive planet. The Johan listened to them and every few minutes he would lob a verbal bomb into the proceedings. “What happens if the Leader’s ship is destroyed?”
“Do you think that planet can destroy one of our ships?”
“How would I know? I don’t know the power of your ships or theirs but in the event it happened, who would be the second-in-command?”
The Johan sat back and saw another day wasted. Finally, the two bickering rulers decided that each of their fleets would go in working independently of each other. One would go in to the left of the other. It took another hour to decide who would be on the left or right. The Johan Ruler said, “Why don’t you just come in above and below each other?”
The Johan sat back and wondered if they would ever launch an attack. He had to admit it was fun watching them not work together. He knew they were in for a rude awakening when they met the Humans. He especially knew they were in trouble when they decided that sending a hundred thousand ships each would be enough to do the job. They looked at him after the suggestion and he shrugged, “Do you need that many?”
“Probably not, but we need to make sure.” The Johan shrugged and knew the next meeting was going to be different…very different.
While the Myot and Welken were arguing, the Johan sent his invisible ships to more than four hundred members of the Fellowship and discussed a proposition with them. His representatives met with initial resistance but within a few days, the Johan Commanders began receiving messages from those they had approached. A time and place was chosen for each of the members and the Johan sent out the necessary ships. The Johan ruler arrived home and found more than seventy percent of the Fellowship demanded to be included in the plan. He smiled and wondered how his new friends were going to like him. It really didn’t matter. They were bound by the agreement.
• • •
The two fleets formed up and the Myot Fleet Drang contacted the Welken Fleet Royal, “We will move on the planet from above your fleet.”
“That is my understanding.”
“We should have some room between our fleets to maneuver.”
“Are you planning to jump to the gravity limit?”
“Why do you ask?”
“With this many ships coming out of skip at the same time, we may arrive out of formation.”
The Myot nodded, “That is a good point. Why don’t we skip in outside the fourth planet, form up, and then skip in?”
“That is a good suggestion. I’ll send you the coordinates my fleet will emerge in and you can make sure you skip in with enough spacing between us.”
“We’ll be ready to skip in three hours.”
“I’ll notify my fleet. If you will count it down…”
“I’ll send the countdown on the general frequency.”
“That would be good.”
• • •
The Welken smiled; he was going to jump in when the countdown was at five. He’d get a jump on the idiotic Myot. The Myot looked at his navigator, Notify all ships to skip when the countdown is at six.”
“Yes, Fleet Drang.”
The countdown started and the argument began the moment they arrived in normal space. It didn’t last long. The warships from the primitive planet arrived right behind their entry.
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Chapter Nine
Jinks shook his head. The two giant fleets of battleships arrived at the orbit of Mars, which is where he had two of his Attack Fleets waiting for their arrival. They had launched at the moment the void probe gave the warning and skipped out to Mars to be prepared to launch an attack from the rear on the Fellowship Fleet when it skipped in. It was a complete surprise that the enemy also skipped into Mars.
The Pods had their force fields turned off and were invisible to the Myot and Welken scanners. The Attack Pods surrounded the Myot and Welken fleets and many of them were actually inside their formations as soon as they entered normal space. They wouldn’t have to skip in behind like they had planned. Three more Attack Fleets were just inside the Gravity Limit at Earth and remained in place with their force fields down.
Chad looked at his Pods moving into position and smiled. The Pods scattered among the huge battleships held position and started selecting their initial target. Chad’s ships were moving over the top of the Myot Fleet while Sergy’s Fleet moved in under the Welken Fleet. Chad waited until his ships were in position and he said calmly over the Fleet Frequency, “Take them out!” A total of a hundred thousand Attack Pods dove into the two invading fleets and all of them had designated targets before they made their runs.
A hundred thousand battleships exploded as they were moving into formation. The survivors went to full thrusters and broke out of formation. The Attack Pods turned after their first targets were hit and turned on their force fields. The surviving Myot and Welken were firing all of their disruptors around their ships. The Myot destroyed more than a thousand Welken Battleships and the Welken fired back in self-defense. Chad had his Pods moved out from the warring fleets and started attacking those on the outer edges.
• • •
Windy Davis banked her Pod around a Myot Battleship and designated a missile port with her starboard disruptor. It locked on and fired, her disruptor beam was hit by a disruptor beam fired by her target at another Pod. She fired again as she blew past the giant and saw the hull explode outward. She felt her Pod dive straight away from the battleship as a salvo of fifty disruptor beams reached out for her ship. Five hit and she felt her ship rock violently. “Come on Pan, you can do better than that!”