Gregor's Run: The Universe is too Small to Hide

by Saxon Andrew

  “I don’t.”

  Gregor chuckled, “It would be ok for you to feel a little bad if you want.”

  Bart laughed, “Alright, I feel a little bad. But I’d do it again.”

  Kaylee looked at Leelah, “How are we going to do this?”

  “I’m going to contact the five captains on those grounded warships to report to the Leader’s conference room and to bring their executive officers with them. I’ll tell them to not discuss the reason they’re being called and to enforce communication silence on their ships until they come back.”

  “How will that help us,” Kaylee asked.

  “The captains and executive officers are the only ones that possess the codes to unlock the blasters and force fields. Their ships will be defenseless while they’re in the Headquarters Building.”

  Gregor smiled, “Do you think they might try to lift those ships?”

  “Not without the Captain’s direct orders.”

  “And they have been ordered to shut down their personal communicators until they are in the conference room along with their ships maintaining communication silence,” Bart added.

  Gregor looked at Kaylee, “We won’t have long to pull this off.”

  “The geography works against them,” Kaylee said. “The building is located in the mountains so that anything they do won’t be seen electronically by the city and communities in the valley on the other side of the mountains. We have to make sure we’re below the level of their scanners as we move in.”

  “And you know where the force field generator is located?” Gregor asked.

  “I do.”

  Gregor looked at Bart, “We’re moving to the landing bay. Let us know when we should launch.”

  Bart nodded, “Good luck.” Gregor nodded and turned to leave the bridge.

  The giant freighter moved into Earth’s atmosphere at an extremely slow speed and came in at a steep angle over the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City. The men manning the scanners in the Movement Headquarters Building watched it pass to the south and commented to each other about how it was possible for such a large vessel moving that slow could still stay airborne. Then it passed below the mountain range and they moved their scanners back to orbital scans.

  As soon as the freighter moved out of the scanner’s detection grid, it stopped briefly and seven small aircraft flew out of the opening landing bay doors. At the same moment, Leelah sent a telepathic message to the Commanding Officers on the five-grounded warships. The seven small ships moved into the mountain range and hovered just below the edge of the highest peaks until Leelah yelled telepathically, “GO, GO, GO!!”

  The seven attack floaters that had been captured on Bellingham and repaired on the Dragon’s Home World went to high speed and went over the peaks. Simultaneously, four ships leapt out of the Freighter’s landing bay and accelerated toward the mountains surrounding the Movement’s Headquarters Building.

  A man operating the scanners saw seven blips appear on his display and sent them to his computer to analyze. The computer responded that they were seven of the floaters sent to attack Bellingham and the operator assumed the pilots were being called in to be questioned by the Leaders. He went back to monitoring his scanner before it suddenly hit him ten minutes later…how did they arrive? No warship had entered orbit and asked permission to land. He pressed the alarm on his panel as he felt the building shake.

  • • •

  Five of the floaters split up above the five warships and dove toward the ground. They arrived at the rear of the five ships and fired their blasters at the rear boosters on each ship fusing them into melted metal. The two other floaters roared over the top of the tall building and opened fire on the force field generators located on top of the tall building blasting them, along with the top of the building, into rubble.

  The five warship Commanders felt the building shake as the elevator they were in came to a stop and alarms started blaring at high volume. They tried everything to escape but the doors were sealed shut between floors. They tried to use their communicators to reach their ships but failed; the communication arrays on their ships’ hulls had been blasted away.

  The Leader was sitting in his office and felt the blast on the roof above him and leapt out of his chair and went to the windows. He looked up and saw smoke blowing toward the south from the top of the building. He looked to the south west and saw four dots moving over the top of the mountains at high speed and after a few moments, they resolved themselves into four warships. He ran to his desk and yelled over the building’s intercom, “WE HAVE INCOMING INTRUDERS!! I REPEAT, WE HAVE INTRUDERS!! CALL IN THE FLEET AND ALL GUARDS GET DOWN TO THE LOWER LEVELS TO MEET THEM!!”

  • • •

  Bart sat in his command chair and heard an angry voice come over his communication system, “YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF OUR AIRSPACE! RECALL YOUR VESSELS AND LEAVE IMMEDIATELY.”

  Bart lifted his communicator, “Some of your citizens have attacked a human planet and inflicted a large number of injuries and death on their citizens. Those responsible for the attack are being confronted by citizens from the planet they attacked. Recordings of the event are being transmitted to you now and we assure you that only the ones responsible for the attack will be confronted.”

  “We will not allow you to attack anyone on our planet!”

  Bart smiled, “You should note, when you take a look at the recording that a large number of citizens from The Venzel Empire were killed during the invasion and if you want to discuss this with their sovereign, I’ll be glad to connect you with the Dragon Queen.”

  There was a long pause and the voice said, “That will not be necessary.”

  Bart ended the contact and smiled at Leelah.

  • • •

  “ADMIRAL, OUR HEADQUARTERS BUILDING IS UNDER ATTACK!!”

  “What about the warships on the ground!!”

  “They’ve been damaged by floaters that were used on Bellingham! Two Dragon Transports have landed outside the building and Dragons are entering it now.”

  “ORDER THE FLEET TO EARTH IMMEDIATELY!!”

  The communications officer began issuing orders and heard the Officer in charge of the scanners say, “The filament to Earth has disappeared!!”

  “WHAT!?!”

  “It disappeared at the intersection and there is no trace of it going to Earth.”

  The Admiral stared at the Communications Officer, “Gather the fleet on the filaments that come into the intersection. Have them wait for orders.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  • • •

  Two Dragon Transports came roaring in from the mountains and Dragons were leaping out of the landing bay doors before it landed outside the tall building. Gregor and Kylee’s ships preceded them and had their force fields in place directly in front of the main entrance. The guards inside the building were firing heavy shoulder blasters at the two hovering ships but nothing made it through their force fields. The Dragons came running at full speed from their transports and Gregor said, “Computer, I want you to shoot out the front façade. Do not collapse the building!”

  A blaster beam shot out from the top of Gregor’s ship and fanned across the front of the building. The glass entrance was blown into dust and the guards on the first floor were lit on fire. “Drop the force field!”

  The two hovering ships dropped their force fields and moved higher where they activated them again. Guards higher in the building shot out the glass and opened fire with their shoulder blasters to no effect. “Gregor, I need to get in there!”

  “Kaylee, let the Dragons do their jobs. You’ve told them what they need to do and there is no one that can match the Dragons in taking out enemy forces.”

  The Dragons went through the basted entrance and fanned out into the building. They used their neck blasters to remove everyone on the first level and then started up the stairwells. Several Dragons ripped the elevator doors away and then clawed out the top of the elevator cars that were st
alled on the ground floor. Hundreds of Dragons rushed into the cars and started climbing the cables. They lept from cable-to-cable and soon every elevator shaft had Dragons waiting inside the elevator doors on every floor.

  The car holding the warship officers was ripped open and a Dragons fired his neck blaster into it vaporizing the ten officers. The Dragon Warriors flashed through the blasted shell of the car and continued moving toward the top of the building on the cables.

  • • •

  The Movement Guards set up tripod mounted heavy blasters in the stairwells and were holding off the Dragons from moving up toward them. The Dragon Commander studied the map of the building Kaylee provided and led his warriors through the floor to rooms in the center of the building. He issued orders and Dragons began leaping off the floors and clawing their way through the ceilings where they moved up the building’s girders and burst through the floor firing their blasters at everyone in the room they emerged. They rushed out of the room and spread out in the hallways as five Dragon’s rushed down the hall to the stairwell. They quietly entered the stairwell behind the entrenched guards and opened fire on them from the rear killing all of them. The guards had no opportunity to warn the blaster teams in the higher floors what was happening and all the Chief-of-Security heard over his communicator were screams of dying guards.

  Gregor listened to the Dragon Commander’s communicator and said, “Time to go, Kaylee. Computer take us down to ground level.”

  The Security Chief saw the two ships holding position outside the building suddenly drop. He wondered why they hadn’t fired into the top offices and then it hit him. They were coming to take prisoners. At least he hoped they were.

  • • •

  Gregor and Kaylee stepped off their ships and they immediately rose to the top of the building. Eight Dragon Warriors were on the ground waiting for their arrival and surrounded them as the leader pressed his communicator, “Make sure the stairs are secure! We’re moving up!”

  Four Dragons ran ahead of them as Kaylee led the way and Gregor had a hand blaster out watching every door they passed as they climbed higher and higher into the tall building.

  • • •

  The men and women in the Movement’s Communication Center were frantically calling for help but discovered quickly that the fleet was unavailable. They began contacting other Movement locations around the planet for assistance as they listened to the sound of blasters being fired moving closer and closer. Suddenly, the armored door was blown off its hinges and twenty Dragons burst into the room. The Shift Officer pulled his hand blaster and a Dragon rushed up and slammed his hand with an armored claw. The blaster hit the floor so hard it bounced ten feet and the Officer’s hand was broken in the process. The Dragon waved a claw at him as it shook its massive head, “No, no!”

  Three more operators tried to resist and the Dragons did not use their blasters; they rushed over and bit the three and their dying screams frightened the others into immobility. The Dragons moved faster than could be followed and everyone in the room was shocked silent. The Leader of the Dragon Team said, “Back your chairs away from you panels and put your hands behind your heads!” No one moved and the Dragon shouted, “NOW!!” Every chair in the room moved at once.

  The Dragon Commander moving us the stairwell looked at Gregor and Kaylee, “We’ve taken the upper floors.”

  “What about the communications center,” Kaylee asked.

  “We had to kill three but the others are under control.” Kaylee nodded and continued the climb up the stairwells.

  • • •

  They finally arrived at the top floors and Gregor said over his link, “Computer, I want both of you to shut down your communication equipment now and land outside the front entrance.”

  “Shutting it down now.”

  Gregor looked at Kaylee and nodded. They walked through the blasted doorway and Kaylee walked into the center of the room, “Albert Johnson, please stand up!” No one moved. Kaylee looked at the Shift Officer holding his broken hand and saw by his expression that he was not going to cooperate. Kaylee looked at the Dragon Commander, “I want you to start biting the one at the end of the first row and keep at it until Johnson stands up!”

  The Dragon moved to the first operator on the first row and she screamed, “ALBERT IS THE FIFTH ONE IN ON THE THIRD ROW!!!”

  The Dragon paused and Kaylee nodded as she walked over to the third row and counted in from the end. A young man stared up at her and it was clear he was scared out of his wits. Kaylee looked at the one that screamed and asked, “Is this him?”

  “YES, PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!”

  Kaylee nodded to the Dragon Commander as he stood beside the operator, who collapsed into her chair. Kaylee looked at Albert and smiled, “Settle down, Albert. I’m not going to kill you as long as you follow my instructions.”

  The Shift Leader yelled, “DON’T DO IT!” Gregor’s sword came out so fast that the only thing the operators saw was the Shift Leader’s head bounce away from his headless body before it fell to the floor.

  Albert’s eyes were so wide that they appeared to fill his face. Kaylee grabbed his chin, “ALBERT, FOCUS!” The young man looked at her and Kaylee smiled, “You don’t want to lose your head over this, do you.”

  Albert shook his head so hard Kaylee thought he was going to break his neck. “Wh..what…do you want? Why me!?!”

  “I have it on very good authority that you are a genius at computer programing. I simply want you to do a little programming for me.” Albert’s head went back and Kaylee said, “I want you to write a program that will prevent any of the ships being used by the Movement from using their force fields or blasters.”

  “What?”

  “I want you to write that program and send it to every ship connected to your communication system.”

  Albert stared at her and Gregor pulled his sword. He began typing furiously on his console and Kaylee said, “Leelah.”

  Everyone in the room mentally heard Leelah’s reply, “Yes, Kaylee.”

  “You will listen to Mr. Johnson’s mind and let me know if he isn’t doing what I’ve requested. We’ll have to find another to do it if he is trying to pull a fast one.”

  Albert immediately stopped typing. “He was not really cooperating but I see he has cleared everything he typed before you contacted me. Albert, the movement is done. You are too talented to lose your life over this.”

  “Leelah, they’ll kill me if I do this!”

  “No they won’t. We’re going to take you and Jasmine with us when we leave and you’ll be fine. We will protect you from them and you should do what is requested.”

  Everyone heard another woman’s thought, “Thank you, Leelah. Albert, do what they want. I don’t want to live if you die.”

  Albert sighed and turned to his console, where he started typing at an incredible speed. Three hours later he looked at Kaylee, “It’s done.”

  “Just how does this program operate, Albert?”

  “It sends commands to the computers on all Movement Ships that prevents the force field and blaster turrets from activating. If anyone tries to get around the commands, the computer will first warn the crew against attempting to get around the program and will then kill everyone on board with the intruder system if they refuse. Failing that, it will activate the self-destruct circuit.”

  “I’m going to assume that if the intruder defense system is tampered with that the ship will self-destruct?” Kaylee replied.

  Albert nodded, “Of course. It will also self-destruct if the computer is tampered with.”

  “Albert, I want this program sent to every ship that Earth has had a blaster and force field installed. However, I don’t want the ones on ships who are unaware of the weapons on their ships harmed.”

  “Would disabling their computers be ok?” Kaylee nodded. Albert turned to his panel and pressed buttons for five minutes before turning around, “That’s all of them.”

  Kaylee s
miled, “Send the programing.”

  Albert pressed a single button on his panel and shrugged, “It’s done.”

  Kaylee looked around the room, “I am not going to harm you. I know most of you are hardcore members of the Movement and I would ask that you think long and hard before attempting to continue this plan. We will come back after you if you do and we will not just go after you but all the members of your families. Please leave the building in an orderly fashion.”

  A man stood up and said, “They know where we live. Albert is right about them coming after us.”

  Kaylee looked at him, “Where do they keep all the information on their employees?” The man nodded toward the row after row of computers. Kaylee looked at the Dragon Commander, “Kel, when we wrap up, I want every computer in this room burned.”

  “I will ensure that is done.”

  A woman said, “But the Leaders know most of us by name.”

  Kaylee smiled, “I really don’t think that will be an issue in a few more minutes. If you want to live, I highly recommend you get out of the building now.”

  The men and women looked at each other and began rushing out of the room. Kaylee looked at the Commander, “Have some of your warriors escort them out of the building.” The Commander lifted his communicator as Kaylee and Gregor went to the stairwell to climb one more flight of stairs.

  They arrived in the conference room where all the Headquarters Leaders of the Movement were gathered. Kaylee entered and looked around, “Where is Steve?”

  “The Wise One had him executed for his failure.”

  Kaylee sighed and looked at Gregor, “I have no need to speak to anyone else.” Gregor took her hand and led her out of the room as the final noise from blasters being fired in the building ended abruptly. Kaylee looked at him, “They know you’re coming.”

  “I know.”

  “It won’t be easy as what we faced here, they are highly trained killers.” Gregor nodded and started the long decent down the stairwell. Once they were outside and on board their ships, Gregor ordered, “I want this building brought down.” The two ships lifted and backed away from the tall burning building. Two brilliant blaster beams shot out and cut through the bottom six floors at an angle. The building wobbled slightly and then came crashing down into a giant pile of rubble.