“Why are there ships not firing on the field?”
“There’s not enough room for them.”
“Move our ships closer together and order those ships in to take part in the bombardment.”
• • •
“Brad, it appears all of their ships are now next to the field.”
“We still have more than a day before the field fails. Give them time to relax and let their guard down.” Katherine nodded and looked back at the huge wall monitor.
• • •
Angel watched the bombardment and wondered why Katherine had not launched the penetrators. Detforth said, “She must be waiting for them to relax and let their guard down.”
Angel looked at him, “Why do you say that?”
“What do you think those ship commanders are doing?” Angel stared at him saying nothing. “They’ve got their hand on their thruster buttons looking for anything to make them run. Once they relax and take their hands off those buttons, they’ll be a better target.”
Angel looked back at the display and nodded. He was right. That’s exactly what she would have done in similar circumstances.
“Admiral, now is the time.” Katherine looked at Brad and nodded. He lifted a small transmitter and pressed a yellow button. He waited for the signal to go out and arm the billion plus penetrators on the commercial carriers that were hovering five miles above Earth’s surface. A green light appeared on the unit and he looked at Katherine as he pressed the red button.
• • •
One moment, three billion rust colored warships surrounded Earth continuously firing their blasters into the force field surrounding the planet. A moment later, a billion heavy penetrators shot into their ranks causing a massive chain reaction. The entire planet looked like a massive explosion had erupted around it. The ships hit by the penetrators exploded adding the blast to the penetrator’s and exploding the ships holding station next to the targeted ship. High speed recorders were hard pressed to track the progress of the explosions and after a few seconds, the only ships alive above Earth were those that were blown away by the blast. Most of them died in the shockwave that bounced off the force field and roared away from the planet. The Rovers had just arrived and they found less than ten million of the enemy ships were still operational. They selected a target and in less than an hour, every one of them was chased down and destroyed.
The Exalted sat in his chair and couldn’t move. He stayed there for an hour and then saw the Chosen appear on his panel. “I’ve ordered our remaining ships to attack that planet.” The Exalted stared at the Chosen and shook his head. “They exhausted their supply of that weapon. We can destroy them now.”
“How do you know?”
“If they had more, they would have used one for every ship in orbit.”
“We should have ships at our planets to defend them.”
The Chosen shook his head, “They don’t know where our planets are located. I’ve ordered a hundred ships to stay at each planet.”
The Exalted stood and said, “I’m going with them this time.”
The chosen smiled, “You should.” The panel went dark and the Exalted looked at his Ship Believer, “Take us to the fleets.”
Chapter Nineteen
The bridge crew on the Wellington started cheering and Angel smiled as she watched the final Rust Warships being destroyed. Earth had survived the attack and the surviving Jukeboxes celebrated the victory. She lifted her visor and reached to press her communicator when Detforth yelled, “Sir, I have massive numbers of ships appearing at the orbit of Neptune.”
Angel felt a sinking feeling in her stomach and she whipped her head around and looked at the wall monitor. The massive wave was pouring in through more than a thousand jump points. She said, “Computer, put a ship count on the top right corner of the monitor.” She stared as the size of the massive wave grew and in less than twenty minutes the number was larger than four billion. She shook her head and knew her mother was right. The size of that civilization was beyond comprehension.
The surviving Union Ships watched the massive wave move toward them from Neptune. Detfort looked away from the monitor, “What are we going to do, Sir?”
Angel remembered her Father saying that if they could do nothing else they should do everything they could to reduce the power of the attackers so the colonies and the Matadors would have a chance to build their forces to take them on. She blew out a breath and said, “Pull me up a view from one of our probes at one of their ship building planets.” The view appeared and Angel said, “Query the probe as to how many warships are defending that planet.”
Detfort started typing and after a moment he said, “A hundred and fifteen, Sir.”
Angel looked at her Sensor Officer and knew he was excellent at his job. Let’s see just how good he was. “Detforth, see if you can find the planet that has the most ships defending it in those ten galaxies.”
Detfort smiled and started typing. In less than an hour he said, “None of the manufacturing planets have more than a hundred and fifty ships defending them. The planet the Matador visited with the giant temple has a million.”
Angel looked at Detforth and said, “I want you to do the following.” She started talking and Detforth’s expression turned serious. He stared at her when she stopped and then turned to his board.
Just before the giant fleet arrived at the Union Ships, they disappeared. The Exalted smiled. They were wise to leave. An hour after the mammoth fleet passed, the white ships reappeared and remained in place as the Rust Warships flew toward Earth. Once the fleet arrived, it spread out around the planet and the Exalted picked up his communicator. “All ships will commence launching nuclear missiles at the force field around the planet. You will launch one missile every minute until your inventory is depleted.” Billions of missiles left the ranks of the invading fleet and the force field around Earth exploded in brilliant nuclear blasts.
• • •
Katherine looked at Brad and saw him shake his head, “What are you thinking?”
“At the current rate of bombardment, the force field will fail in eighteen hours.”
Katherine stared at him and sighed, “Is there anything we can do?” Brad shook his head. Katherine punched her board and said, “Everyone go home and be with the ones you love. Make the most of the time we have remaining.” Katherine looked at Brad, “Do you think we can make it to that beach in New Zeeland?”
Brad smiled, “I’ll get us there.” Katherine smiled and turned off the lights in her office as they exited the room.
• • •
Angel sat up from in her command chair. She had just transferred the language of the Rust Civilization to her mind from the computer. She looked at her panel and said, “Computer, have you isolated the command frequency of the invaders?”
“I have.”
“Send it to my panel.” Angel saw the frequency appear and pressed the communication button, “I hope there is some way I can convince you to back off your attack and leave my galaxy.”
The Chosen and Exalted heard the voice on their speakers. Neither responded. Angel’s frown grew, “I know you tell your followers not to communicate with non-believers, but I really think you should consider the consequences of your actions. I cannot just stand by and do nothing while you’re attacking my home world.” Angel waited and still there was silence. “Will you please listen to me and stop your attack.”
The Chosen lifted his communicator, “Nothing you can say or do will save that planet. Stop your whining and know that we’ll be coming after your puny fleet next.”
Angel had played the conversation over the fleet’s general frequency and she knew every Union Sailor was just as angry as she was. She was glad they were; she was going to demand a lot from them. The fleet continued to watch the bombardment and after fifteen hours had passed, they saw the force field fail and billions of nuclear missiles hitting Earth. The entire planet’s surface went up in flames.
Angel stared at the image of the planet as it died and her expression hardened. She looked at Detforth, “Have you done it?” He nodded. She lowered her visor and said, “All ships jump to your first target and start broadcasting a feed on the frequency I just sent you.” Angel took the Wellington’s controls and hit the jump button. The Jukebox Battleship arrived in a planetary system and saw more than a hundred rust colored warships moving out toward her. It took forty minutes to kill all of them. A hundred ships were no match for a Jukebox. Angel skipped the Wellington in to the inhabited planet and smiled as she spoke into her communicator.
“I really don’t understand why you chose to ignore my request. After much discussion, my ships and I decided that we didn’t adequately entertain you on your voyage in to my planet. We’ve decided to rectify that issue on your voyage out.” The Chosen and Exalted were confused by what Angel was saying. The Exalted’s confusion ended abruptly when he saw an image of his home world appear on his console. Right behind that image, every video on the wall illuminated with a view of another Believer Planet. “What you see on your monitors is some of the planets my millions of ships are approaching as we speak. I’m going to start the entertainment and the others will join in afterwards.”
Angel’s expression turned savage as she moved in close to the monitor, “I believe this is the home planet of your Military Commander that led your ships to my planet. You have twelve days before you exit my solar system. We will make sure you’re entertained the entire voyage.” Angel looked away from the monitor and nodded.
• • •
The Exalted’s head was jerking side to side as he saw the large white warship accelerate around the planet firing hundreds of beams into every construction facility in orbit. They were all obliterated and blown into vapor. He stared at the planet and knew his family was still there waiting for his return. He saw the being who had contacted him look away and nod. Three streaks left the white ship and hit the planet. The penetrators blasted into the planet’s core and the explosion broke the planet apart. It appeared to separate into eight giant pieces that moved slowly away from each other. The Exalted sat down and looked up at the other videos and saw every planet was being blown apart. He heard the being say, “We weren’t able to show you all thirty nine million planets we just destroyed. However, we’re now off to the next thirty nine million. I hope you enjoy the show.”
The Chosen appeared on the Exalted’s panel, “They know the location of all our planets!”
The Exalted couldn’t speak. He looked at the Chosen and could only shake his head. Then he said, “They know where you are.” The Chosen’s face showed his instant fear as the Exalted said, “They sent one of their scouts there.”
The Chosen was forbidden from leaving the Holy Planet. His fear was growing by the moment. He looked at the Exalted and said, “We have lost the Deity’s favor. We were led to that planet to punish us.”
“What did we do to deserve punishment?”
“I don’t know. It’s clear to me now that the Deity has turned its back on us.”
“What can we do? We’ll never arrive in time to save our people.”
The Chosen could only shake his head and say, “Pray for forgiveness.”
• • •
Angel was surprised at how quickly the Union’s fleet had killed a civilization spanning ten galaxies. The last ten million planets had to be destroyed with nuclear missiles instead of penetrators. The Jukeboxes just didn’t carry enough to complete the job. Now the fleet was moving in on a planet with a giant rose colored structure on its surface. The million Rust Warships had been dispatched without the loss of a single ship and Angel was proud of the ships she commanded. She arrived above the planet and activated her communicator, “I do hope you enjoyed our show. However, now it must come to an end. Is there anything you wish to say before your miserable life comes to a close?’
The Chosen appeared on Angel’s display and it said, “Nothing I can say will stop you. However, you should not destroy this planet. It is the chosen home of the Deity we worship. Kill all of us but I would caution you to leave the planet intact. I’m sorry. I know now we are being punished for something we’ve done. I don’t know what it is but I can see the Deity had turned its back on us.”
The display went dark and Angel said, “Launch one of the penetrators we’ve saved for this planet.”
Detforth nodded and pressed a button on his console. A bright blue streak left the Wellington toward the planet. Angel smiled in anticipation and waited for the massive explosion. After a moment she looked at Detforth, “What’s going on?”
Detforth was staring at his combat visor and shaking his head, “Sir, the penetrator hit the surface and stopped.”
“WHAT!!”
“It’s laying on the planet’s surface intact. It stopped instantly on contact.”
Angel pulled the image in on her visor and saw the huge penetrator laying on the ground. She started shaking her head and said, “Launch the second.” The second penetrator lanced out and once again there was no explosion. Angel began feeling nervous. This wasn’t possible. She looked at Detforth and said, “Launch three nuclear missiles at that structure.”
Angel saw the three missiles leave the Wellington and there was a giant blast on the planet’s surface. She watched the shock wave blow out from the impact site and smiled, “At least explosions worked normally.” She started to order more missiles but heard Detforth say, “Admiral, there’s something disturbing on the surface.”
Angel looked in her visor and saw something in the center of the expanding shockwave. A small rose colored building was in the middle of the massive mushroom cloud rising above the surface. She looked at Detforth and he shook his head. Angel decided it was time to leave. “All ships, skip back to Neptune’s orbit. Form up on the Wellington upon arrival.”
• • •
Angel watched the giant fleet of Rust Warships moving at maximum speed toward the edge of disrupted space. In another two days, they would enter normal space. She wondered what it was going to do. She knew the being commanding the monster knew all of his civilization’s inhabited planets had been destroyed. She said, “Computer, what would happen if I overloaded all of my ship’s reactors simultaneously?”
There was a pause and she heard over the wall speaker, “The ship would explode into a blast hotter than the core of a star.”
“What area would the blast cover?”
“More than two hundred miles in diameter.” Angel nodded and continued to stare at the monitor showing the approaching fleet.
Detforth heard Angel’s question and the computer’s answer. He thought about why she would want that information and then he knew. The fact that she wasn’t doing anything with it showed she was not going to act on it. He lifted his communicator and started speaking.
• • •
Angel didn’t know what to do. She thought about what she would do if she was in the enemy Commander’s place and she knew she would take the fleet and attack every civilized planet in this galaxy. She didn’t have enough warships to stop him from doing it. “Sir.”
Angel turned and looked at Detforth, “The fleet has taken a vote and we’ve decided to exercise the overload initiative.”
Angel’s head tilted, “You’ve what?”
“Sir, our duty is to protect the Union. Earth is gone but the other planets are still alive. If we allow this enemy fleet to escape, it will go after the rest of the Union’s planets. We’ve done a study on what would happen if all of our ships overloaded our reactors inside the ranks of that fleet. We wouldn’t kill them all…but there wouldn’t be enough survivors to break through a planet’s force field. Every ship has voted to do this.”
Angel shook her head, “We could escape to the colonies and live out our lives.”
Detforth shook his head, “Our lives were on Earth. My family is gone and I choose to kill the bastards that murdered them.”
Angel stared at Detforth and sa
id, “Are you sure about the vote being unanimous?”
“Yes Sir.”
Angel saw the fleet moving closer to normal space and she sighed. She didn’t know if Bret was on Earth when it died but he probably was. Her family was dead; killed by these monsters. Detforth was right. Her father’s last order was to make their lives count. This was the way to do it. She activated her visor and said, “All ships form the can on the Wellington. Move your ships hull to hull and once we’re in formation, we’ll accelerate at maximum speed behind a forward barrage. All ships will fire barrages from their ships as we move into the center of their formation. Once there, we’ll scatter and overload our reactors. I’m proud of you. Let’s do this for Earth.”
• • •
Every planet in the Union was receiving the feed from the advanced probes following the Believer Fleet. They watched as the surviving white battleships formed a tight cylinder and suddenly accelerated at an incredible speed toward the giant globe of rust colored warships. The cylinder disappeared as it struck the outer ranks of the oncoming fleet. A few moments later, a massive black colored light flashed inside the giant sphere and a shockwave blew through the giant globe of Rust Warships. The light blinded the probes for a moment and then the Union Planets saw burning hulks of Rust Warships being blown out on the wake of the expanding shockwave. More than five billions warships were in the globe. Less than three million survived the blast and a third of them were severely damaged. Only the ships on the outer edge of the formation that were blown away by the pressure of the blast survived. The undamaged ships flew to the damaged vessels and moved the crews out. They flew out of disrupted space and jumped away. The Union was safe.
• • •
The Union mourned the loss of Earth and the heroes that had given their lives to protect them. The legends of the heroes grew over time and the one whose name was the largest was Angel Arvolo. A viewing facility was built on Earth’s moon for a thankful civilization to come and view the site of the Galaxy’s most horrific war. Earth would never support life again. Its crust and atmosphere were blown away by the billions of nuclear explosions leaving a cratered rock orbiting the sun. The humans in the Colonies came and assisted the surviving planets in the Union to form a new government to lead them. They were told that Humans would not come back to the Milky Way. Earth had been destroyed twice and now it was time to move on. They promised to assist the Union in building its defenses and in a hundred years, the Union was able to protect itself from any aggressor.
Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time) Page 26