by Saxon Andrew
“Violet, if what I fear the most becomes a reality, we are going to have to destroy that ship.”
Violet was surprised, “Why?”
“We can’t allow it to escape and lead another alien species to our galaxy.”
Violet thought about it and nodded, “You’re right.”
“E, do you sense any kind of scan being done outside normal space?”
“It’s hard to recognize something when you don’t have any idea what it would look like, but the only thing I sense on every frequency I can scan is communications. I’ll let you know when our aliens run into the new ones.”
“How will you know?”
“Their communications will go off the scale. Right now there has been no change.”
“Are you able to understand them yet?”
“Only a few basic words but I’m getting closer.”
“I’m bothered by how long ago those planets were destroyed.”
“I understand why.”
“Do you?”
“You need look no further than how far we’ve come in just the time since we discovered that dead planet. It’s been less than a year and our advancements are huge. The civilization that killed those planets did it twenty thousand years ago.”
“Competition brings out the best in us. If they eliminated all their enemies back then, their military advancements might not have changed dramatically.”
E paused and said, “Ian, I’d find it hard to wager on that happening. However, it appears there is a gradual learning slope once the FTL and Jump drives are discovered. The next discoveries don’t come quite as fast.”
“What do you think the next discovery will be?”
“I suspect we’ll see as soon as that civilization is found.”
Ian shook his head, “You could have gone all day without saying that.”
“What would be the fun in that? By the way, Gary is here.”
“Why is Drey always late?”
“Doc hasn’t been upgraded.”
Ian shook his head, “That worries me.”
“Me, too.”
“He carries too much blame and I guess I would as well if I were in his shoes.”
“Andi balances him. They’re good together.”
“Keep me updated on the language.”
“I will.”
• • •
The Councilor listened and heard, “I’ve detected some anomalies inside the star cluster we’re approaching.”
“What are they?”
“I’m not sure, but they appear to be widespread throughout the cluster.” The Junior Admiral looked at the Councilor, “What do you want to do?”
“You’re in command here. Where is that Admiral?”
“I’m not sure, Sire.”
“What would you do?”
“I’d gather all our ships and enter the cluster in force.”
The ship at the cluster said, “I don’t know what’s causing it, but our jump drives take a few minutes to activate. The search here could take some time.”
The Councilor said, “Gather the fleets and have them jump in together.”
• • •
“Ian, something’s going on. The aliens are massing their ships to jump into a giant star cluster. Their jump drives are not operating at normal speed.”
“What could cause that?”
“I have no idea.”
“Alright, everyone; we’re going to jump outside that star cluster and try to see what happens.”
Abby looked at Gary, “I don’t like the delay on jump drive activation.”
“Don’t get close enough to be affected by it.”
Gary jumped in and read the anomaly and backed out until it disappeared. “Drey, you might want to move out half a light year.”
“I’m on it.”
E said, “They have found the aliens that destroyed those planets. Their communications just went off the scale and the new aliens know those ships are here.”
The aliens from the Milky Way began jumping into the star cluster in ripples that moved through their ranks. After a moment all of the ships had disappeared. That’s when the screaming started.
Ian looked at Violet and saw her shock and said, “E, what’s going on?”
They heard, “…that ship is coming at me. I can’t jump, I can’t jump!” followed by a scream.”
Doc said, “The number of ships that went into that cluster have been reduced by twenty thousand…make that fifty thousand…now there’s only a hundred left communicating.” There was a pause and Doc said, “There are no ships communicating on the frequency used by the aliens from our galaxy.”
E shouted, “Ian, they know about the giant ship out at the edge of the galaxy. They’re planning to follow it back from where it came.”
Drey stood and shouted, “We can’t allow that to happen. We’ve got to destroy it before it leads this species to our galaxy.”
Gary said, “He’s right, Ian.”
Ian said, “Jump back to the ship. Drey, you’ll standoff sixty miles and launch missiles while Gary and I go after it with blasters. Jump in five seconds.”
Gary shouted, “Drey, aim for the jump drive emitters.”
“I’m on it.”
The Councilor listened to the communications and listened as they became fewer and fewer until there were none. He looked at the junior Admiral and said, “What happened?”
The Admiral was shaking, “All of our ships have been destroyed.”
“That’s not possible. We had a hundred thousand ships.”
“They’re all dead, Sire. Something did it faster than we could track.”
The Councilor stared at the Admiral and was too stunned to speak. The Admiral said, “We need…” just as the giant ship was rocked by several explosions.
The Drive Commander said, “Our jump drive has just been disabled. Three ships are attacking us.”
Gary and Ian flew in toward the giant vessel firing Higgs blasters and then turned away as the giant ship’s blasters opened fire. G and E shrugged off the hits and continued firing. Drey watched the fight and felt frustrated. “Doc, can we withstand those blasters?”
“No, E and G’s fields are ten times stronger than mine.”
“Hit it with a full spread of missiles.” Doc launched the missiles and moved to fifty miles out from the burning ship.
• • •
Ian heard, “THEY’RE COMING TO STOP US!!!”
Gary heard the computer just as a black ship emerged into normal space that made the alien’s huge ship look small in comparison. It instantly fired three beams at the Union ships, hitting all three as the beams swept across them.
Ian and Gary felt their ships rock with the hits as Ian shouted, “Dive!” The two ships disappeared as two more beams swept toward them. G shouted, “Doc’s been hit.”
Ian looked at his display and saw Drey’s ship on fire and listing. All the exterior lights were out and the fire was moving up the left wing toward the bridge. There was a giant hole completely through the left wing. “Drey…answer me, Drey!”
Gary shook his head, “G, status?”
“We’re lucky that beam swept across us or we would be dead as well. My force field is going to take ten minutes to restore full power but even if it does, I can’t withstand a direct hit from that ship.”
“Ian, that ship is planning to scan the alien’s ship for star maps in its database. When it finishes with that ship, it’s planning to scan Drey’s ship.”
Gary looked at Ian on the display, “They’ll find the Union. We must stop them.”
Ian shook his head, “We couldn’t emerge fast enough to take a shot before that ship killed us.”
Suddenly Abby said, “Look!”
• • •
The huge blaster beam hit and Drey was slammed out of his chair and against the back wall. He was stunned and saw a white haze with black spots for a moment and then his vision started clearing. “Andi, Andi, where are y
ou?” Drey pushed himself up and sat against the back wall of the bridge. He felt something warm on his face and he ignored it. He looked to his right and saw the wall crumpled. He looked left and saw Andi. He closed his eyes and cried. Her chair had been closer to the blast and it had been ripped out of the floor and slammed into the back wall with her in it. The impact killed her instantly. Drey crawled over and wrapped his arms around her and wept. After a minute he released her and struggled forward, toward the control boards. “Doc, Doc, are you there?” All he could hear was the flames burning outside the bridge. He pulled himself to the control board and looked up at the panels. He heard a beeping sound and pulled himself up and looked out the forward port and saw the giant black ship moving closer to the alien ship. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and he started pushing controls.
• • •
Ian saw Drey on his secondary display. The signal was grainy but he could see that Drey had a gash on his forehead and burns on his left ear. “Drey, we need to get you out of there!”
Drey stared at them and said, “Andi’s dead. I’m not leaving her.”
“Drey, we need you in this fight.”
Drey shook his head, “I should have gone back for the upgrade. Andi would still be alive.”
Abby saw Violet crying as she said, “Drey, she would want you to live.”
Drey shook his head, “You know what that ship is doing. Andi would want me to stop it.”
“You can’t. You’ve got to take the small ship and escape.”
“The landing bay is in flames. There is no small ship.” Drey took a deep breath and said, “Doc is off visual, but he tells me on the computer terminal that the only system that’s still working is the dark matter drive. I am going to activate it and use what power remains in the thrusters to hit that ship.”
Ian saw the agony Drey was feeling and he sighed. Drey looked at him and Ian nodded. Drey reached forward and paused, he looked at Ian and said, “This one is for Natalie.”
Abby watched him shaking her head and heard Gary say, “What’s going to happen if a ship Doc’s size traveling faster than light speed hits the black ship’s force field?”
Abby looked at Gary with a look of confusion, but then her eyes went wide. She punched the communicator and screamed, “GET OUT OF HERE. DO IT NOW!”
E jumped a thousand miles away and joined G. They watched their displays as Doc’s bow rose slightly and pointed toward the two ships fifty miles away. Suddenly, it was surrounded by a blue field and disappeared in a blue streak into the giant black alien ship.
Abby shouted, “Get into normal space and FTL away from here.”
The two white ships emerged and accelerated away from the bright light that had suddenly erupted.
• • •
Drey saw the field panel activate and he used the starboard thrusters to right the ship and then push the drive activate button. Dray watched the four second countdown start and he had just enough time to fall back and take Andi into his arms for the last time.
Doc flashed into the black ship’s force field, which stripped the blue field from around the injured white ship. Without the Skinner field to surround it, the three hundred ton ship traveling at twice the speed of light converted into energy just as it hit the black ship. The explosion rocked normal space and space outside it. The three ships disappeared as the blast released as much energy as a supernova in less than a millionth of second and the shockwave rolled out into the galaxy. There was no nearby intelligent life to witness it, but in two million years it would be seen in the Milky Way.
• • •
The two Union Ships had stopped and watched the giant blast start expanding. Ian shook his head and held Violet under his arm. E, said, “Ian, one of the alien ships from our galaxy survived.”
“How did it do that?”
“It jumped out of the galaxy before the attack. I’m hearing signals that those black ships know it’s there.”
“Can you contact it?”
“The frequency is open.”
• • •
The Admiral watched the destruction of the Councilor’s ship and knew his life was over. “Sir, what do you want to do?” The Admiral stood in shock and started to order the ship back to port.
“I hope you’re not planning to go back to your galaxy.”
The Admiral heard the voice and looked at the Communicator.
“I’m not able to track it.”
The Admiral said, “Why do you say that?”
“The black ships know you’re here and are planning to track your departure.”
The Admiral felt his fear threaten to take him. “What do you suggest I do?”
“Jump out toward the largest galaxy in this region of space and take some time to randomly jump around it before you go home.”
“Why that galaxy?”
“It’s large enough to keep them busy for centuries looking for you.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m headed that way as well. I’m going to have one of my ships act as a decoy to allow you to escape.”
“How do I know you won’t attack me?”
“You don’t. However, I think our real issue is to prevent those black ships from following either of us home.”
The Admiral looked at the Drive Commander, “Do it.” The Ship Destroyer shimmered and disappeared.
Ian said, “We need to do the same. We’ll use FTL most of the way?”
“Why?”
Abby looked at Gary, “We’ll leave a trail of missing particles behind us that will linger until they close in on each other. We need to lure them away from the Milky Way.”
Gary nodded, “G, follow E.”
The two ship’s blue fields covered them and they flashed away.
• • •
The black ship appeared a moment later and began scanning. It was oriented on the closer spiral galaxy, but after a long pause it turned and oriented on the tracks left by the three ships. It suddenly disappeared.
• • •
The black ship chased the three ships all the way to the giant ball galaxy and pursued one of them for two weeks before it lost it close to the galaxy’s black hole. It decided to return to Andromeda just as a green ship emerged next to it and blasted it into atoms. Gary and Abby watched the ship’s destruction and jumped out of M87.
Gary sighed and looked at Abby. “What?”
“Abby, all the piloting skills in the universe won’t save you from a more powerful ship that has the element of surprise.”
“Then that means that if you’re going to play chase, you better pick the playground carefully.”
Gary smiled and said, “I’m taking a roundabout way home. I want to make sure we’re not followed.”
Abby nodded and said, “I’ve been wanting some time alone with you when you weren’t in pain. How do you feel?”
Gary stared at her, lowered his head, moved his hands around his chest, and said, “I feel great.”
Abby said, “G, dance us around several other galaxies and let us know when we’re on the final leg home.”
“I’m on it.”
Neither Abby nor Gary heard him.
Epilogue
Cole blamed himself for Andi’s death. He was inconsolable until Violet made him see that Andi had lived and loved more in that short time than most people did in a life time. The Nebula built a monument to Drey that was extraordinarily beautiful. But the place everyone considered his burial site was the two stone markers placed next to Natalie’s grave. Even the Union recognized that it was appropriate for Andi’s marker to be there beside his.
• • •
Ian stared at the two markers and held Violet in his arms. Her tears fell and Ian pulled her close as he continued to stare at the two stones. “Ian, I was so wrong. We need him so much. Now we’ve been so weakened…” Violet started weeping. Ian held her and after a few moments heard her say, “There’s no one that can replace him.”
Ian stared at Drey’s marker and said, “There is one that can.”
Violet looked up at Ian and saw he meant it, “Who?”
Ian looked in her eyes, “He’s still here, my love. He’s not gone.”
“Ian, how can you say that?”
“Because he made sure we wouldn’t be without him.”
Violet looked at him shaking her head and he told her. Her shock was enormous but after a moment she said, “Do you think he’ll do it again?”
Ian took a deep breath, “I don’t know.”
The End
Books by Saxon Andrew
The Annihilation Series:
Love Conquers All
The Power of a Queen
A Rose Grows in Weeds
Tommy’s Tale
Searcher
Demon’s Sacrifice
Finding Keepers
Ashes of the Realm:
Juliette’s Dream
Greyson’s Revenge
Death of an Empire
The Return of the Realm
Lens of Time:
The Pyramid Builders
Planet Predators
Pray for the Prey
The End of Time
The Fight for Creation
Life Warrior
Scout Warrior
Star Chase
About Saxon Andrew
Saxon Andrew is the author of the number one bestselling Annihilation Series. All seven books of the series have been a number one bestseller on Amazon’s kindle Science Fiction Series. Ashes of the Realm is the second series created by him and continues the history of the Stars Realm after its destruction. A third series, The Lens of Time, will be published in early 2012.
His books are written so that anyone can enjoy them and not worry about their children picking them up. He lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and looks forward to each day so he can write the stories that his fans enjoy.
Copyright © 2013 by Saxon Andrew. All rights reserved. Screen Writers Guild no. VQEA3E380432.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.