by Saxon Andrew
Jinks raised his head and looked at Stoney. Stoney shook his head and said, “Mosul.”
Jinks nodded and shook his head. He looked at the group and said, “I’ve been here from the beginning as well; I’ve recruited most of you.” He looked at Lukas, “I know your heart. I just don’t know my own. I’ve been thinking that if we attack first we will save lives here. Honestly, this urge comes from my failure at not attacking in Mosul. I failed to realize the two are not alike.”
Lukas said softly, “It would be, if we couldn’t defend ourselves.”
Jinks sighed, “That’s why you didn’t resign when this suggestion first came up. There was still doubt about whether we could.” Lukas nodded. “But now if we attacked and won, the urge to attack again at any perceived danger would be overwhelming.”
Lukas nodded, “That’s the real danger of being an aggressor. It begins to feed itself.”
Jinks looked at the assembly, “We will not be attacking tomorrow, if ever. We will defend Earth like the Holy Ground it is but we will not go out and impose our wills on other civilizations.” He looked at Lukas, “I will resign if you will agree to stay, Lukas.”
Silence dominated the gathering and Salud looked at Lukas, “I supported your decision to leave but I will not support it now. Earth needs you.”
Lukas looked at her, “Why?”
Salud smiled, “Because you are the best of us. You remind us of that thing inside us that makes us beautiful. We need you here to never forget.”
Lukas stared at her and after a moment took her in his arms. Jinks said, “Does this mean you’ll stay?”
Lukas looked at him, “I will if you will.”
Jinks jumped up and went over to Lukas and stuck out his hand. Lukas stood up and pushed the hand aside and hugged Jinks. He whispered in his ear, “Both of us are needed. Neither of us is complete without the other.” Jinks hugged him back and nodded. The gathering stood and cheered.
Chad was holding Julie’s hands, “Does this mean you’ll stay as well?” Julie looked at him through her tears and nodded. “Thank God. I’d be lost without you.”
• • •
All of the Fellowship Rulers were linked electronically as they waited nervously for the Sentinels to announce their decision. The Myot and Welken Leaders were worried the most. Finally, they all heard mentally, “We have reached a decision to resolve the issues bought to us by the Welken and Myot Civilizations. It is our opinion that the Johan used the agreement to subvert the original intention of the agreement to only be between the three that made it. However, after the fact, we’ve decided to allow those civilizations to decide whether their possession will be voided or permanent.”
The Johan Ruler said, “What do you mean permanent?”
“The ones that allowed you to take possession will permanently belong to you. They will not be allowed freedom to act independently if they opt to stay in possession.”
The screams began immediately and after the yelling grew louder the Sentinel said quietly, “Silence.” Everyone quit talking. “It appears none of those the Johan took possession of want to remain a permanent possession. That confirms that it was a means of subverting the intent of the original agreement. The Johan will remain in the agreement with the Welken and Myot but loses possession of the Primitive Planet. The Welken and Myot will be allowed to go and take possession of the former Johan possession without interference from the other Fellowship Civilizations. Should they fail to take possession, the rest of the civilizations will be released to attempt possession. This is our decision.”
The Sentinel disappeared from everyone’s mind and civilizations began dropping out of the electronic link immediately. After five minutes, only the Welken, Myot, and Johan Rulers remained on the link. The Myot Ruler smiled, “It appears we don’t need our agreement anymore.”
The Johan smiled, “But I will have to agree to abort it. You cannot endanger me.”
“Others can.”
“But they won’t because they saw I was trying to help them. But give it a shot. We’ll see how it turns out.”
“We now have possession of the primitive planet. That was what we wanted from the beginning.”
The Johan laughed out loud and said, “Be careful what you wish for,” and ended the link.
The Myot looked at the Welken on the display, “This was better than I ever expected!” He saw the Welken’s expression and said, “What’s bothering you?”
“Did you really listen to the Sentinel?”
“Of course I did.”
“Did you hear the part about if we failed to take possession, the others would be allowed to try?”
“So?”
“Our first effort met with failure. Is there more at that planet than we know?”
“If you don’t want possession, say so now!”
“I need to speak with my family members. I’ll get back to you within an hour.” The Welken ended the link and sent a call to the Johan. He appeared on the display and the Welken said, “Why did you just laugh at us?”
“Why should I tell you anything?”
“Because I will defend you if you’re attacked by other civilizations. I’m not so sure the Myot will.”
The Johan stared at the Welken and shook his head slowly side-to-side, “I suppose you know that I failed to take possession.”
“I do.”
“That planet is not primitive anymore. I really should just allow you to go in and get your fleets blown up but I think you’re being honest about defending me.”
“I am.”
“The Sentinel knows that taking possession is doubtful, it said as much.”
“What it said could be taken in different ways.”
“When have you ever heard of a Sentinel saying anything that was unclear?”
The Welken nodded, “Thank you.” The link went dark and the Welken stared at his monitor for almost an hour. He activated the link and the Welken said, “I will not be going to take possession.”
The Myot almost showed his smile but managed to hide it, “I will not share the petroleum with you and you will not be able to fight me for it.”
“I know.”
The Myot stared at the Welken, “What’s going on?”
“The Sentinel has me concerned that there is a real possibility that we won’t be able to take that planet.”
“That’s blast rubble.”
“Even so, I wish you success.”
“No you don’t!”
“Being polite is always a good thing to do.”
The display went dark and the Myot began sending orders to his fleets. The others could not interfere in his taking possession and that included attacking his planets. He was free for the first time to take possession of the planet that would make him invincible. His excitement continued to grow and he was seeing dominion over all the other civilizations. Eventually, the Welken and Johan would be gone; he’d use others to carry out his dirty work. All they’d need is the technology to do it. He jumped up and did a dance.
• • •
“Lukas, the Void Probe just relayed a message from the Johan Monarch.”
“What did he say?”
“He said the Welken are not going to participate in the coming attack. Only the Myot will be coming and they will be using all of their ships. The Sentinels have ordered that no one interfere with their effort to take possession.”
“Thanks, Willow.”
Jinks looked at Lukas and sighed, “This confirms you were right. The Welken are staying out of the fight and I would have sent our ships against them. That would have added an enemy we now don’t have to face. You were right that waiting was the best course of action.” Jinks looked out of the viewport at the rugged surface of the moon and shook his head, “I wonder why the Welken backed out?”
“I think the Supreme Royal is worried about something the Sentinels must have said. We need to get our ships out of their silos; the Myot aren’t exactly known for being pa
tient.”
Jinks lifted his wrist, “Fleet, announce a War Warning. Get the first three attack fleets out and start moving the Defense Pods out of their silos and off the planet.”
“Yes Sir. The others will remain at ready status until we receive warning from the Void Probe.”
“Make sure the Leadership on Earth know we’ve issued the warning!”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
The Orange Being watched the massive fleets gathering around the Myot Planet and he contacted the other ship, “It appears the ones I’m watching are going somewhere with all their ships to attack someone.”
“The ones I’m watching are not doing anything different.”
“Should I follow their ships?”
“That is not our orders.”
“But they may be going where the one we’re searching for is located.”
“And if it shows up in your absence, what do you think will happen?”
The ship leader knew that there would be an energy trace if it did appear. That would lead to his execution for violating orders. He shook the tub he was in and said, “You’re right. But this is too confining. We either need to just call this off or bring more ships to search.”
“I suspect the Legends are going to do something.”
“Why?”
“There was a trace discovered below the tube.”
“WHAT!?!”
“It appears someone in this galaxy knows we are here. The Legends don’t know who it is but they are discussing with the Great Ones what their next step might be.”
“Anything is better than the monotony of just sitting here doing nothing.”
“I’ve heard that sending two ships is probably what caused the tube to be found. The Legends did say that sending more ships would increase the odds of being seen.”
“Did the ship that found the trace follow it?”
“Of course not…”
“That would increase the odds of discovery.”
“My words exactly. I don’t see why they just don’t send the fleets here to do a thorough job of examining this galaxy.”
“Could it be the image they detected frightens them?”
“That’s probably the reason. These civilizations we’ve been watching don’t represent a problem. Let me know if you see anything.”
“I will, you do the same.”
Chapter Thirteen
“WE HAVE AN ACTIVE WAR WARNING!! THE VOID PROBE DETECTS FIVE LARGE INCOMING SKIP TRAILS. I REPEAT, FIVE LARGE SKIP TRAILS!!”
Jinks pressed his launch button, “Lukas, what does five trails mean?”
“They’re going to spread out around the planet and launch nuclear missiles as soon as they make the gravity limit.”
“That’s a long way out from the planet.”
“Not with the numbers they’ll be launching. Assign the Attack Fleets positions around Earth outside the limit so they can skip to wherever they’re needed. Do the same with the Defense Fleets but leave half of them in orbit to move around where they can be the most effective.”
“Will they be able to move in front of them in time?”
“We’ll see their skip trace when they start to emerge in normal space. Our ships are a lot faster with the new reactors. I do expect the Myot Fleets to emerge with their disruptors being constantly fired.”
“I guess this is where we find out if our new force field strength can withstand them.”
Lukas shrugged, “I’m freeing the Moon Disruptors to open fire on any of their ships on that side of the Earth. It may allow you to move some of the defense pods elsewhere.”
“I’m out, raise the moon’s force fields.”
Lukas looked at Salud and nodded. She threw a large handle upward and a large dome of bright light covered all the surface bases on the moon.
• • •
Julie’s fleet was racing around to the day side of Earth and she said anxiously, “Chad, talk to me!”
“I’m here.”
“How are you going after the fleet you’re assigned?”
“I listened in to Lukas and Jinks and Lukas thinks the five Myot Fleets will emerge into normal space close to the gravity limit and launch a massive missile attack. He also believes they will be firing their disruptors continuously.”
“So how are you going after them?”
“We can’t attack them head on; we’ll run right in the middle of their missile launch.”
Julie smiled, “And attacking from the side exposes us to the maximum numbers of disruptor cannons. That leaves the rear.”
“You are so smart, my love. There’s only six disruptors on the rear of a battleship and I firmly believe our new ships can handle more than three times that number.”
“Thanks, you may want to send this info to the other fleets.”
Julie disconnected and began issuing orders to her fleet.
• • •
Stoney looked at the feed coming in from the Void Probe hanging above Earth and saw the five large skip trails start spreading out from each other. The first one to arrive was going to come in directly above Europe and the Middle East. “Alpha Defense Pods, move in above Austria. Move out and go to live weapons. Fall back if you’re threatened to be overwhelmed.”
“Beta Fleet you have Africa and Australia. Delta, you have Asia. Epsilon, you have the North American Continent. Gamma, you have South America. Get moving and link your fire control systems.” Stoney had six fleets assigned with only five Myot Fleets attacking. Whichever sector was not attacked would have their ships reassigned to missile defense. The Probe didn’t have a clear sight on where the Myot would come out of the void so every approach had to be covered.
• • •
Manos Pandelines flew around Earth at high speed and fought flying away from the planet. He was traveling four times escape velocity and had to use his bow and stern thrusters to stay in orbit. He arrived with half of his fleet above Austria and he glanced down at Earth. He quickly saw the Mediterranean and there was Greece at the eastern end. He liked defending his home. He checked his panel just as the Myot Fleet Emerged into normal space and launched a massive wave of nuclear missiles. He linked with the twenty thousand Defense Pods and their ranks looked like thousands of tracers being fired every second. The second half of his fleet arrived and began firing on the missiles from the sides as they accelerated toward Earth. The numbers coming at them were unbelievable. Then it went from bad to worse, the Myot Fleet launched a second wave. Manos shook his head, fleet better start taking them out or Earth was going to go up like a firecracker.
• • •
Chad’s Attack Fleet skipped in behind the first Myot Fleet to arrive and he saw they had chosen a real tail-twister of a formation. It looked like the shape of a contact lens with all the Myot Ships packed in close together in the curve. This allowed them to fire their bow missile launchers and have their hull’s disruptor cannons clear to fire on all sides of the curve.
“Eagle Squadron, Line up and see how far you can move into their disruptors. When your field starts degrading, fire and move out.” Two hundred Attack Pods flew in on the rear of the Myot formation and entered the solid wall of disruptor beams. Jack watched his dials and shook his head, “Jill.”
“Yes Jack.”
“My dial says our force field is holding at eight percent.”
“It is.”
“We’re almost on top of their ships, does this mean we can ignore their disruptors?”
“Long enough to open fire and move away.”
“What if we stayed?”
“We’d last for about fifteen minutes before the field went too low.”
“Send the information to the Admiral, We’re going after the ships in the center of that formation.” Jack held the trigger as Jill roared in on the rear of the Myot fleet and opened fire less than five miles away. The two hundred ships were focused on the Myot Formation’s center and five hundred battleships were hit by massive
disruptor beams that blew through their hulls. More than three hundred of them exploded and the others fell out of formation and began drifting. Chad received the report and ordered the remainder of his fleet in.
• • •
Bailee watched the Myot Fleet suddenly appear through the wall of disruptor flames and Barnum dove through a gap in the Myot line as Bailee opened fire on the Myot ships around the hole in their formation. Barnum went vertical and accelerated through another gap in their formation above them and exited the center of the formation but not before Bailee designated six ships and hit every one of them with her main disruptor. The last one was hit in the bow and the ship fell off from its course. The other five had large holes blown completely through them but were not exploded. The beams had not hit a critical place on them but there were fires raging inside where the disruptors had blown through. Four were able to turn and run for the gravity limit and miraculously didn’t encounter an Attack Pod on their way out; all four skipped away.
The other Attack Fleets heard about their force fields holding up under sustained Myot disruptor fire and their Admirals sent their entire fleets into the Myot Formations. The destruction was incredible and fast. The vast majority of the Myot fleets were gone in less than thirty minutes and the Attack Pods entered the gravity limit at their highest speed and arrived above Earth to assist the Defense Pods with the surviving missiles. Even with their assistance, four nuclear warheads managed to make it through and hit the planet. Two in the Pacific Ocean, one in the Sahara Desert, and the last in the Australian Outback. Their guidance systems were damaged by the massive electrical pulses made by the destroyed missiles. The only nuclear warhead to detonate was in the Sahara.
• • •
The Myot Fleet Drang was screaming, “TURN AROUND, TURN AROUND!!! Skip out; all ships, skip away.” The Fleet Drang and his two-hundred ship escort turned and began accelerating toward the gravity limit. He had seen enough. His wall of disruptor fire didn’t have any effect on those ships. Whatever power source they were using was beyond anything he had ever witnessed. His force fields were useless against their weapons. He watched as his escort was whittled down to forty ships before they arrived at the gravity limit and skipped out. He screamed out a warning to the other four fleets and one of them managed to break off the attack before it entered the gravity limit. It skipped away but not before losing ten thousand ships. It was lucky. The other four fleets experienced massive losses.