Death Never Leaves a Calling Card

by Saxon Andrew

  “No, you’d just answer me with one word.” Jek laughed and the monitor went dark. Sam thought about the conversation and said, “Lydia, give me the current disposition of our forces on the monitor.”

  Sam saw the map of the massive conflict appear with colors and numbers. He leaned back and stared at it but kept looking at the red blip far away from home on a distant filament.

  • • •

  Tommy was in the landing bay and looked at Netty, “How are they holding up?”

  “As well as could be expected having to stay in their ships for weeks at a time.”

  Tommy looked up at the giant wall monitor and saw a massive wall of message probes smashing into his lines of scouts in the reverse filament. Every scout not fighting in the front and rear lines were in the filament massed to stop the probes.

  The probes were true to their programming and most of the impacts were happening at the edges of the filaments. Tens of thousands of probes were forced out of the filament by probes rushing up from the rear and then moving toward the outer edges of the filament. But they immediately forced their way back in. Now the mass had grown to the point where even the center was filled with message probes as the millions of incoming probes began running into the millions ahead of them.

  Tommy looked at Netty and said, “There’s something in my mind that keeps eluding me! I just can’t pull it out.”

  “Does it have something to do with the mission where you lost Gloria?” Tommy flinched and his eyes narrowed…then they went wide open. Netty said, “What is it?”

  Tommy grabbed her and kissed her. He pressed his collar button three times pulling up the General Frequency. He kept his finger on it and smiled, “Sometimes we forget old technology.” He moved his finger off the button and said, “Attention all scouts confronting the probes. Starting with the scouts closest to the edges of the filament, you will commence firing your blasters immediately. The lines next to them will start firing until all lines are firing into the probes. Continue firing until ordered to stop.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Netty, we fired our blasters at the probes trying to get by us in my last mission. We only had twenty-scouts and we were able to overlap our beams and hold them back. Before we can determine how many lines we need to do it, we’re going to have to blast them back to the edge of our blaster’s range.”

  Netty and Tommy stepped back from the giant monitor and, in five minutes, saw a huge space in front of the scouts filled with blaster beams. “Now, I want every other line to stop firing. If the probes move forward, fire your blasters again.”

  Half of the lines stopped firing and Tommy saw the blasters from the remaining lines still overlapped fifty-miles in front of the scout’s formation. “All scouts not firing will go to the landing bay immediately!”

  Tommy looked up, “Computer, can you determine what lines we need to have our blaster fire overlap?”

  “Yes, Admiral. There are still twenty lines that can be moved out of the formation and still have overlapping fire.”

  “Are any of the probes making it through?”

  “No, Admiral. They are exploding and probes behind them are impacting them.”

  “Notify the twenty lines that aren’t needed and have them go to the landing bay.”

  “Yes, Admiral.”

  Netty looked at Tommy, “Why didn’t we see this before now?”

  “Because we’ve become accustomed to using the scouts’ hulls to inflict all the damage. We know our blasters take too long to penetrate a warship’s armor but we forgot the probes are not armored. We also didn’t pay attention to the fact that our dark matter systems will not run out of power as long as our scoops pull it out of the filament.”

  Netty smiled and said over the fleet frequency, “All scouts moving into the landing bay will have eight hours of rest. You will be notified at that time which of you will relieve the front and rear lines. The others will relieve those scouts still holding the probes back.”

  Netty looked at Tommy, “I don’t have enough time with you.”

  “One of us has to be on duty with what’s been happening. If this works, we can make time for us.”

  Netty smiled and Tommy said, “Your turn.” Netty hugged him and left for their quarters. Sixteen-hours on with only eight hours off had worn both of them out. He looked at the monitor, sat down in a chair, and watched the lines of scouts coming in for a landing in the empty landing bay. The support crews went to work on them as the lead lines were pulled to the other side of the giant bay.

  • • •

  Two weeks later, Tommy’s wrist unit vibrated and he saw Captain Montgomery. “What’s up, Travis?”

  “Sir, we’ve been destroying Tronan Warships for more than a month. The last two to come in had their blaster barrages going and we had to follow them into the Sand Civilization’s planet. We destroyed them both when they lowered their barrages and managed to do it before they communicated.”

  “What’s happened?”

  “The Leader of the Tronan Forces at the planet witnessed their destruction and sent twenty-warships with active blaster barrages out of the system and into the filament. We have no way to prevent them from making contact with the Tronan Leadership.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, Travis. The numbers of warships attacking from behind us have decreased in numbers and I knew the closest warships to us are at the Sand Civilization.”

  “I’ve been wondering why the Tronan Leader didn’t just send warships from his Empire.”

  “Travis, they’ve exhausted the available provisions sending out the invasion force. Those ships at the Sand Planet were provisioned. They have enough to leave and arrive at our location.”

  “What are your orders, Admiral?”

  “There’s enough space between the Tronan Warships for you to get your Ghosts back to the Maw; I need your ships to take the scouts’ place that are holding the probes off. I’m going to need every new scout to confront the warships coming from the Sand Civilization.”

  “It’s going to take them some time to arrive, Sir.”

  “I know. But time is not something we can waste. Get moving and get here as fast as you can.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Tommy sighed and was glad Netty was asleep. She had enough worries without adding this new one. Tommy said, “Computer.”

  “Yes, Admiral.”

  “Send the recording of my previous conversation with Captain Montgomery to Admiral Oliver.”

  “Sending.”

  Tommy sighed. Now his command was trapped between the Tronan Invasion force ahead of him and the nearly two-million Tronan Warships moving from the Sand Planet to his rear. If the Invasion Force began moving his way…he didn’t have enough scouts to keep them off the Dragon’s Maw. If it was destroyed…he had to make sure Netty was in a scout if that possibility presented itself.

  • • •

  Sam left his quarters as Netty walked in. He gave her a hug and kiss and headed to the bridge, where he sat down in his chair. Leb looked at him. Tommy saw his expression and said, “Uh-oh. This doesn’t look like good news.”

  “Sir, I’ve received a message from Admiral Hummel that almost two-hundred-thousand Tronan Warships have left the invasion forces and are moving back toward their space.”

  “Anticipated arrival time?” Tommy asked.”

  “Four weeks.”

  “What’s taken them so long to get here?”

  “They went to half-speed and a message we intercepted from that attack force said he didn’t want to run through the probes and destroy them.”

  Tommy sighed, “That’s about the same time as when the ships from the Sand Civilization will be arriving.” Leb nodded. “We don’t have enough scouts to hold them off from both filaments.” Leb nodded. Tommy took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. He looked out of the forward viewport and thought about his options.

  • • •

  Sam sat in his conference room and
stared at the map. He just learned that the scouts preventing the Tronan from communicating with their leaders were going to be overwhelmed. He continued to stare at the map and an hour later his expression turned angry. They were right!!

  He lifted his communicator and said, “Admiral Leonidas.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “How long until you make contact with the Tronan Fleets sent into the nine-filaments.”

  “About two-weeks, Sam.”

  “You will move your forces into this new formation called…uhhh…”

  “Ronco, Sir.”

  “Move them into that formation and move through them at your fastest speed. You will destroy them all the way to the filament intersection leading to Heaven’s intersection and continue past that toward Tronan Space; order your transports to follow you to keep your scouts provisioned.”

  “Sam, what’s going on?”

  “I’m done with waking softly around the Tronan. We’re going to kick them out of our space and take this war to them.”

  Leonidas smiled, “That’s what I like to hear, Sam.”

  “Every real warrior prefers to fight. I’ve forgotten that lesson. I won’t forget it again.” Sam changed the frequency and saw Jek appear, “Admiral, I am launching an attack to kick the Tronan out of our territory. Are your fleets ready?”

  Jek smiled, “They are in position, Sir.”

  Angel will be arriving at the short-cut in a few hours. Move across and carry out your orders.”

  “You don’t want me to wait on our fleets.”

  “NO!”

  Jek’s smile grew larger, “Thank you, Sam.”

  Sam nodded and he pulled up Admiral Hummel, “Admiral, you will take your fleets along with Admiral Mooney’s fleets and remove the Tronan from the intersection.”

  “Yes, Sir. Do you want me to wait for Leonidas’ Fleets to arrive?”

  “NO! Remove them now.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  Sam sat back and stared at the map. It started changing immediately.

  • • •

  Leonidas said over his communicator, “Attention all Fleets, a WAR ORDER will be issued in fifteen minutes. We will initiate our attacks in all nine filaments simultaneously. Move into Ronco Formations and then we will go to full speed and not launch any Eggs. If at any point the Enemy moves into the reverse filament, we will send scouts to follow them and continue our attack. Upon arriving at the intersection, Fleets One through Eight will board their transports while Fleet nine continues past the intersection. I may order one fleet into the other side of the filament but I’ll let you know about that when we move into scanning range. Set your countdowns to thirteen minutes in five, four, three, two, one, NOW!”

  Leo looked at his wall monitor and saw his fleets were an equal distance from the approaching Tronan Fleets; they would contact them at the same moment.

  • • •

  Randy looked at Walt on his monitor and said, “There are three-hundred plus Tronan Fleets holding position just outside the filament at the intersection. In two hours, your forces will exit the filament and attack them using the same strategy you used in your last attack. I’m moving half of my fleets to join your forces. Once I see some of their fleets entering the filament, I will start sending Ronco formations into the filament to attack. I will continue the process until all of the Tronan Forces enter the filament; at that point, you will then move into Ronco formations and continue our assault in the filament.”

  “Sir, how far will we pursue them?”

  “All the way across the universe, if necessary. Once they are all moving away from us, you may move the bulk of your fleets onto their transports. You will relieve your Ronco formations regularly from that point forward. We will keep two Ronco’s moving in each filament.” Randy looked at Walt on his monitor and said, “There’s more than three-times the number of warships, Walt. Be safe and keep your units organized and working together.”

  “Yes, Sir!”

  Walt disappeared and Randy looked at Emily, “Get our units formed up into Roncos.”

  Emily turned to her panel.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The Senior Fleet Director took a deep breath. This filament seemed endless and he wondered when his forces would encounter an intersection of filaments where he could get off this endless, never ending, infinity long, filament. Well, it wasn’t that long but it seemed like it.

  “FLEET DIRECTOR! I HAVE THOUASANDS OF SMALL SHIPS MOVING TOWARD US AT HIGH SPEED IN THE REVERSE FLOW!”

  “Order the barrages,” the Fleet Director said calmly. His fleet had been far back in the Tronan Invasion Line and had not seen what was happening at the intersection. He leaned back in his huge command chair and watched as the blips on the monitor moved at them. “How fast are those ships moving?”

  “They’re in the other side of the filament and moving at twice our maximum speed.”

  “Did I hear you, right? Twice our speed?”

  “Yes, Fleet Director.”

  He stared at the small blips and, as they came roaring in, they crossed over into the filament his fleet was taking and immediately slowed down as they moved against the filament’s flow; however, they were still making fast forward progress. The lead warships in his formations rammed into the small ships’ formation and the Fleet Director’s mouth fell open. Giant five-mile long sections of his warships flew out behind the enemy’s formation and then disappeared out of the filament. The Fleet Director jumped to his feet as the front third of his fleets were being decimated and cut apart. He took all he could stand and yelled, “MOVE OUT OF…” were the last words the Fleet Director would ever speak. He made the error of having his ship in the front-half of his forces and he was cut in half as a scout’s fin flashed through him.”

  • • •

  Doris Agnew watched the destruction and heard James Schmidt say, “Admiral, the rear of their formations is turning into the reverse flow!”

  “Hold position in this filament until there are no move vessels moving toward us.” James issued the order to the Ronco and Doris thought back to facing those nine giant blaster emplacements on the hill with Leonidas long ago. She had come a long way since then from being a private in his platoon. So had the other Admirals commanding the nine fleets during this assault; all of them served with Leonidas in the Tenth Legion. He put those he trusted into command positions and so far, they had proven him right. She could still remember Leo, Bart, and Embree sprinting across open ground between their unit’s heavy blaster fire. She thought he was crazy then and she still believed it today. But his bravery in saving the unit won her loyalty. She was determined to not let him down.

  “Sir, all Tronan Warships have moved into the other filament.”

  “Order the Ronco across, straighten their lines, and go to maximum speed.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  The Tronan Fleets had opened a gap but she would run them down. She leaned forward and stared at her monitor.

  • • •

  The Senior came on the bridge and stretched. This was really boring; waiting for the fleets he sent out into the filaments to report in had taken far longer than he anticipated. He sat down and leaned back.”

  “SENIOR, REPORTS ARE COMING IN FROM ALL NINE FILAMENTS THAT OUR FORCES ARE UNDER ATTACK. OUR FORCES HAVE LOST BETWEEN THIRTY AND FIFTY-PERCENT OF THEIR WARSHIPS!”

  The Senior was stunned but another Communication Warrior yelled, “THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF SMALL SHIPS COMING AROUND THE INTERSECTION AND MOVING OUT OF THE FILAMENT INTO OUR FLEETS CLOSEST TO THE INTERSECTION.”

  The Senior jerked his head at the wall monitor, stood up, and saw massive explosions appearing in the front of his forces. “ORDER BARRAGES AND MOVE IN ON THOSE ATTACKERS!” He stared at the monitor as more than eighty-fleets move forward. The explosions increased at a speed hard to follow. The massive battle moved deep into his forces and then a fleet in front of the waves of small ships, turned and fled into the reverse flow of the filament.
In an instant, ten other fleets followed it. He turned to order them back but it was too late. The remaining fleets turned and fled toward the filament. He turned to order his formation to flee but didn’t complete the order.

  • • •

  “Jenny, do you have the location of the vessel issuing commands.”

  “I do. We’ll be over it in three-minutes.”

  Jerry saw a Tronan Warship designated on his monitor in the middle of a giant Tronan Formation and said, “Form the line and follow me in!” Six-hundred scouts that had been chosen to find and attack the Commander of the Tronan Invasion turned with Jerry and went to maximum speed. Jerry sighed. Being a lowly Ensign was a lot safer than being promoted to Captain. Someone somewhere thought he knew what he was doing. He was promoted to replace his unit’s commanding officer, who was killed by a malfunctioning Egg. “Hold the line steady,” was the last thing he said before hitting the giant Tronan formation.” Jerry was one of the ten scouts that blew through the designated target.

  • • •

  Randy watched the first eleven-fleets flee into the filament and said, “Ronco One, launch.” The formation exploded out of the intersection and flew after the Tronan Fleet. Fifty other Tronan Fleets fled into the filament and Randy said, “Ronco Two, GO!” That was all the Roncos he had left to launch. But he saw Ronco formations from Walt’s fleet moving into the filament and giving chase. “Atta boy, Walt.”

  Emily stared at Randy and saw his expression, “You want to be with them.”

  “I do but Gem showed me I would be making a mistake.”

  “I just received a message a minute ago, from Admiral Oliver. He apologizes for not sending it earlier.” Randy looked at her, “The scouts that went to Admiral Gem’s ship found the crew had been killed..” Randy closed his eyes. “However, Admiral Gem was still alive and is now doing well.” Randy’s eyes opened and he jumped out of his chair and yelled his Joy.

  Tasha received the same message but kept it to herself, too much was taking place to interrupt Walt’s focus.

  The rout was on. And the Tronan fleeing back toward their Empire were being chased down. Several fleets tried to turn off the filament at intersections but found large numbers of small ships blocking their entrance. None who turned survived.