by Saxon Andrew
The Dragon Monarch jerked his head toward the large Insectoid, “I am not willing to be responsible for the deaths of millions of planets and trillions of beings! I will not support doing this!”
The Insectoid King stood up and Sam said, “Your Majesty, you should sit down.”
“WHY?”
Because, even if all our planets vote to do this, Angel will not sell her soul to make it happen.”
The King turned and looked at Gregor, “I stopped Earth from taking control of the filaments to prevent them from conquering the universe. I will not use my talents to kill trillions.”
Kaylee smiled, “I stand with my husband.”
The King stared at them and shook his huge triangular shaped head, “I can just never understand humans.” He turned to Sam, “So what do we do?”
Sam sighed and said, “I guess going over the remaining questions is a moot point.”
The Monarch and King said simultaneously, “It is.” They looked at each other and smiled.
Sam shook his head and sighed. “It appears we have no option but to stop building warships and start building colony ships to go out to the far reaches of the universe to settle other planets. Perhaps before the Tronan arrive at those new homes, we’ll develop technology to stop them.”
Embree said loudly, “Are you suggesting we become conquerors?”
Sam shook his head, “No? I would hope we can find habitable planets that do not have a civilization on them.” Sam looked around the room, “Does anyone have a better suggestion?” The room was silent and Sam said, “Then this meeting is over and I wish all of you good-luck.”
The attendees all hesitated but then stood up and began talking with the others. They were saying good-bye to their fellow warriors. Embree walked to the front of the conference room with Shelly and said to Leonidas, “I hope you still have room for us on the Thermopylae.”
Leonidas hugged Embree and smiled, “There will always be room on my ship.”
“What are you going to do?”
Leonidas shrugged, “Desiree and I have taken a liking to Bellingham. I suppose we’ll settle in there after we go and visit a friend.”
Embree smiled, “I’d like to see John, too.”
Leo smiled and said, “I’m going to talk to Sam before we leave. You and Shelly should pack your things and take a shuttle to the Thermopylae.” Embree nodded and walked away with Shelly. Leo walked up to Sam and said, “I hate this, Sam.”
Sam shrugged and sighed, “So do I.”
“We’re going to see John Blakely and I was wondering if there is room on Bellingham for the Pirates.”
Sam tilted his head and looked at Gregor. Gregor saw him and walked over with Kaylee. “Leo wants to know if the Pirates can move to Bellingham.”
Gregor looked at Leo and said, “I’ll have to discuss it with the High Council.”
“If they approve it, will you send me a burst to let me know?”
Gregor nodded, “I will. I’ll call for an immediate meeting to give you a fast answer.”
Leo stuck out his hand and Gregor took it, “Thank you. I will be making Bellingham my home as well if it meets with the Council’s approval.”
“You’re already a member of the McAfee clan along with all of your crew. You don’t need approval.” Leo smiled and hugged Gregor and Kaylee before turning away. Gregor looked at Sam and he said, “What happens now, Gregor?”
Gregor shrugged, “We return to being an isolated world of forest dwellers.”
“Do we work on developing technology to take on the Tronan?”
“No, Sam. Bellingham is not a technological planet. We’ll have to hope that sometime in the distant future someone else will make that happen.” Sam sighed, then nodded, and took Angel and Elena in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-four
The Senior Fleet Director said, “Prime Director, we’ve inspected the first two warships in our communication line and all of the message probes between them. They have all been destroyed.”
“Have you made any determination about what happened?”
“It appears that the two warships were destroyed at almost the same moment. The Probes between them were then destroyed one-by-one.”
“Just how were you able to make that determination?” The Prime demanded.
“My scientists read the energy levels of them and made the determination. It is possible that both warships in the line were destroyed at the same moment but our margin of error cannot prove that. I can say with certainty they were destroyed within a few seconds of each other.”
“How many warships do you have with you?”
“I have my three personal fleets in attendance, Prime Director.”
“Go and inspect the communication line with your fleets and leave a line of ships behind you to stay in constant contact with me.”
“I do not have the provisions to make it all the way to the end of the communication line.”
“I know that! But if our fleets were attacked when we lost our communications, they must have launched message probes. You should encounter them in five-months. Collect their data and send it back to me.”
“Yes, Prime Director.”
The Prime Director looked at his eldest son, “Start getting our forces prepared to invade that space.”
“How many of our Forces, Father?”
“A thousand Fleets.”
“That’s ten percent of our total forces!”
“If you question me again, your bother will assume your position!”
The Tronan bowed, “Yes, Father. It will take time to provision that many fleets.”
“How much time?”
“Fifteen-months.”
“Do it in ten and execute anyone that gets in the way of making it happen. I should have information from the probes by then and know what we’re going to face.”
“Yes, Father.”
The young Tronan left the Throne Room and the Prime Director stared at him as he walked away. He would not kill his eldest son but it was always good to keep him worried. He pulled up the data the Senior Fleet Director sent and ordered his scientists to examine it.
• • •
Gloria thought, “Tommy, we’re down to twenty-nine missiles and we’re moving too close to where we might encounter a Tronan Fleet to suit me.”
“I know. There’s still a hundred-thousand or more of them still operational. Do you want to call this off?”
“No! We have to find a way to take the remaining probes out faster than what we’ve been doing.”
“I’m honestly surprised we’ve been able to destroy eighty-percent of them,” Tommy replied. Tommy stared at his scanner screen and said, “Computer.”
“Go ahead.”
“What is the blast radius of our missiles?”
“The trillium creates a fireball thirty miles in diameter.” Gloria and the other scouts were connected mentally by Tej and they listened in and wondered what Tommy was considering. “Do you have the dimensions of the probe’s formation?”
“Currently, it is moving in a cylinder formation nine-hundred miles long and twenty-miles in diameter.”
“What are you thinking, Tommy?” Tej asked.
“What if we take our scouts out and spread out along the length of their formation? We have twenty-nine missiles remaining and they should overlap and cover about a thousand miles if they are launched such that they explode thirty-three miles apart. Their blasts might take out all of them with one attack.”
“How are we going to coordinate the missiles to hit them simultaneously. Several of us will have to make multiple launches very close to the probes so the missiles won’t be detected, which would allow the probes to scatter.”
“You’re right, Pat. But time is running out.” Tommy paused, “Computer, see if you can work out a launch program that would allow us to hit the probes simultaneously with twenty-eight missiles.”
“Why twenty-eight, Tommy?” Pat asked.
“We’ll want to save one for any that might survive.”
“Working,” the computer responded.
Joanna said, “I’m out of missiles.”
Tommy knew the firing program just got more difficult. There was no way to move a missile to Joanna’s scout. “Lieutenant, since you are out of missiles, take your scout and accelerate ahead of us and see if there are any Tronan Warships moving toward us. If you see any, move into the reverse filament and get back here immediately.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Tommy watched the scout disappear and waited for the computer to respond. Gloria said, “I don’t have any missiles, either.”
“I know but I need your wisdom to make sure I’m making good decisions.” Gloria smiled and looked at Pat. She held her thumb up.
• • •
“Commodore, I’ve worked out an attack profile that meets your requirements.”
“Tej, link us in. Computer, tell me what you’ve determined.”
An image appeared on the scouts’ monitors and Tommy stared at it. The eighteen scouts with missiles were spread out on a line with irregular intervals between them. “Why do the distances between us vary so much?” Tommy asked.
“Six scouts will have to fire multiple missiles. They must launch them at slightly different times to allow them to detonate simultaneously.”
Tommy closed his eyes and said, “Computer, humans are not capable of this level of precision.”
“I would suggest that for this exercise that you violate communication silence and link all of the scouts’ computers to make the launches.”
“The probes will detect the transmissions.”
“Make the link a second before the probe wave moves into position. We operate at close to light speed and we’ll fire in less than another second. The probes will not have time to move during that brief time.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“I couldn’t do it. I assume those probes’ computers are not close to my capabilities.”
“How do I know when to make the link?”
“The scout without missiles will initiate the link when the wave is exactly two-light-seconds out.”
Gloria shook her head, “That’s going to require reflexes we don’t have, Computer.”
“That’s why I’ve made it two instead of one-light-second.”
Tommy said, “You can do this Gloria.”
Suddenly, the scouts heard Joanna’s thoughts, “Commodore, a huge formation of Tronan Warships is ten hours behind me.”
Tommy shook his head, “Computer, how long do we have to set this up.”
“You’re going to have to move three hours ahead and move into formation. The probes will arrive ten minutes after your ships setup.”
“That will make the approaching Tronan Warships less than two hours away.”
“Closer to one hour, Commodore. It will take some time to execute the attack and make an escape.”
“Everyone get moving. This is our last shot!” Tommy thought to them.
• • •
Gloria stared at her monitor and shook her head. The approaching Tronan Fleets had moved into scanner range and they numbered in the thousands. She turned from the long-range scanner and read the reducing numbers on her console’s monitor. The distance was now at fifty-six light seconds and dropping fast. She put her finger on the button controlling the communication system and stared intently at the monitor. The numbers reduced quickly and then it was three-light seconds. As the number two appeared, she pressed the button.
• • •
The scouts saw their consoles illuminate and an instant later they felt their scouts jerk as their missiles were launched. The scouts immediately activated their force fields, turned, and fled toward the edge of the Death Filament away from the huge wave of probes that suddenly appeared. Gloria went to full boosters the moment she pressed the button and stared at the images being received from the rear scanner. The scouts had to be extremely close to the wave of probes to prevent the missiles from being detected too soon. The scanner was overwhelmed by the horrific blast behind her scout and Gloria prayed the other scouts managed to escape.”
• • •
“Fleet Director, I’m detecting a massive explosion ahead of us.”
“How far?”
“A little over one hour.”
“First Fleet, go to maximum power on your reactors and move ahead to the explosion. Overload your reactors twenty-percent!”
The five-thousand Tronan Warships accelerated away from the giant formation and within forty-minutes, two-hundred of them exploded from reactors that over-loaded and burned through their containment vessels. Twenty-minutes later, the Senior Fleet Director heard the Director of the First Fleet say, “I’ve arrived at the site of the explosion, Senior Fleet Director.”
“What have you found?”
“It appears that a large number of our message probes have been destroyed.”
“Please tell me that one of them is still operational!”
“We are scanning the wreckage now. I’ll contact you if we find anything.”
• • •
Gloria remained at the edge of the filament holding her position as she listened to the Tronan communications. Two scouts failed to escape and were vaporized by the trillium explosions. The others entered the filament moving away from Tronan Space and disappeared. Gloria held her position and waited. She looked at Pat and saw she was stressed. This was foolish. Gloria agreed but she was not going to allow the scouts who died trying to stop the probes to die in vain. She held position and waited.
“Fleet Leader, I’ve found a probe that appears to be intact. Its engine has been knocked out but my scanners show it is still operational.”
Gloria looked at Pat and she sent the Tronan Warships position to her console. Gloria hit the boosters and accelerated at maximum speed. She arrived at the Tronan Warship’s position and saw it had retrieved the probe. She flew in under the giant warship and opened fire at the nuclear missile tubes. The scout’s two blaster beams hit just as six huge blaster beams hit the scout and vaporized it. A moment later, the giant warship exploded into a massive explosion.
• • •
The Senior Fleet Leader detected the explosion and yelled, “WHAT’S HAPPENING!!”
The Fleet Leader appeared on his monitor, “One of my ships found a partially damaged probe and had it brought on board. A moment later, his ship was attacked and destroyed.”
“What vessel attacked it?”
“Fleet Director, we saw nothing on our scanners. Whatever destroyed it was invisible to our sensors.”
“Find another probe!!”
“Continuing our search, Fleet Director.”
• • •
Tej thought to Tommy, “Gloria is gone. She destroyed the Tronan Vessel that found an operational probe.”
Tommy’s eyes closed and he put his head in his hands. He thought, “Continue to monitor them as long as they are in your telepathic range, Tej.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Roger blew out a breath he had been holding. “She shouldn’t have done it. The odds of that being the only operational probe out of a hundred-thousand is remote.”
Tommy looked up and said, “All scouts return to our sector. Tej, I want you to stop and listen in to the Tronan Communications with me.”
“Commodore, do not throw away your life.”
“Just listen and tell me what you hear!”
“Yes, Sir.” Six-hours later, Tej thought to Tommy, “They have not found another operational probe. The leader of the Tronan has ordered them to go to full speed and check any probes they encounter.”
Tommy nodded. The universe would not be so callous to allow Gloria to waste her life. He thought, “Enter the filament and go to full speed.” The two scouts moved into the reverse filament and flew away from th
e Tronan Fleets at twice their best speed. Tommy sat in his chair and finally collapsed in exhaustion. Roger took control and after the Tronan Fleets could no longer be detected on the long-range scanners he said, “Computer, you have the ship.”
“I have the ship, Captain.”
Roger put his head on his console and fell asleep.
The surviving scouts flew at maximum speed and Tej contacted them. He told them what happened and that Tommy and Roger had collapsed from exhaustion. The scouts slowed and waited until Tommy’s scout joined them. Four weeks later, ten scouts arrived with provisions.
Chapter Twenty-five
Four weeks after the conference with the Combined Forces Leadership, Gregor, Sam, and Jek sat against the log and watched the fire was burning in the clearing. Sam looked at Gregor, “I can get used to spending my time here. I imagine, by now, it’s nothing special to you.”
Gregor snorted, “I don’t know if I’ve ever told you about how my life has been. I was born here but I was taken to Earth with my mother, when I was an infant. I stayed there until my mother was killed and I was then given to a trader to raise when I was five-years old. I didn’t come to Bellingham until I was eighteen years old. The fire has never grown old, Sam.”
Jek said, “You really left a lot of information out in that synopsis.”
“The details aren’t important.”
Sam smiled and looked at Jek. Jek thought to them, “What you said, Sam. I agree with what you just said.”
Sam looked at Jek with his eyes twinkling, “I guess we should do some sword training if we’re going to be stuck here for the rest of our lives.”
Jek snorted, “You need to pick someone you stand a chance against.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed and he said, “Oh, so you think you’re better than me!?”
“Come on, Sam. Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t match my reflexes.”
“That might have been true before we went through Gem’s machines.” Sam stood up and drew his sword, “But that is no longer true.”
Gregor yawned and said, “Put the guards on your blades.” Jek and Sam looked at him, pulled the blade-guards off the edge of their scabbards, and put them on the sword’s bladed. They began circling each other and tried to get through each other’s defenses. Gregor would occasionally stop them and offer some advice on how to make a different move. Jek and Sam both knew that challenging Gregor was senseless. No one could match his skill with a sword.