by Saxon Andrew
“But Great Leader, those fish may only be on that planet.”
“Then send probes into that galaxy and see if that pattern appears above another planet. Let me know what you discover.”
• • •
Poncho looked at Brittany and stood up. She moved to the pilot’s chair and he activated his sleep module. They were getting closer to the core and he knew sleep would be limited soon.
• • •
Four days later, Brittany woke Poncho. He opened his eyes and heard, “If those fish exist on another planet, then it’s possible that the species is other places as well. That sector is off limits to any of our scouting fleets.”
“What about the other clusters in that sector.”
“I SAID THAT SECTOR WAS OFF LIMITS!!”
“Yes, Great Leader, I’ll issue the orders.”
Poncho looked at Brittany and wrote on his tablet which immediately transferred to hers, “One approach is now closed.” Brittany looked at her tablet and then turned to Poncho and nodded. She put her hands together beside her helmet and he nodded and reactivated his sleep module. Six more days to the core.
• • •
The Light Ship hung in the barrier at the edge of a huge planetary system. There were twenty-five planets orbiting the distant star with two of them located in the habitation zone. Poncho stared at his display and shook his head. He was amazed that the two planets were sharing an orbit around the star. That was not something that happened very often. The Alliance had found only one other star where two planets shared an orbit and they were not in the habitation zone. These planets were also larger than Earth and had more than two times Earth’s mass. That explained the strength of the Feeders. They originated on planets with heavier gravity. He sensed the thought pattern of the Feeder Entity and had felt it long before they arrived at this system. The system was surrounded by hundreds of Death Feeder Fleets. But it appeared none of them were inside the outer edge of the system. He wondered why and looked at Brittany as he wrote the question on his tablet. She read it and began writing. Poncho saw her answer start appearing on his tablet, “That many Feeders, who are not part of the link, might disrupt the harmony of the Leader’s Connections.”
Poncho looked up and nodded. He pointed toward the wall monitor showing the planetary system and then pointed at the drive module. She immediately understood that he was going to enter the planetary system. She lifted the covers off the failsafe and self-destruct buttons on her chair’s arm and nodded. He shrugged and turned back to his console. He pushed the slide controlling the compressed air tanks and the small warship moved smoothly forward. Poncho worked his way around several Feeder Warship and passed the outer edge of the planetary system. Poncho began the long trip into the system at one third the speed of light. It would take two days to arrive at the closest inhabited planet. Both of them could hear the Feeder Entity handling thousands of issues every minute as the vast Feeder Empire sent questions that only their leaders could answer. The entity’s thoughts grew louder as they moved away from the millions of Feeder Warships outside the system and drew closer to the large blue and brown planet.
As they moved down on the giant planetary system, the Feeder World they targeted began to grow on their monitors. Both of them were awake; neither of them were going to sleep before they either died or managed to escape. They moved within three hundred thousand miles of the planet and Poncho stopped the ship. Brittany’s eyes narrowed and he pointed at his ear. She tilted her head wondering what he was trying to tell her but then noticed that all the thoughts that were emanating from the planet had stopped. She focused on Poncho. If that Entity took his mind, she was going to push the self-destruct button. Suddenly, both of them felt a massive thought wave move over them. She almost pushed the button but saw Poncho shaking his head. She took her finger off the button and felt the sweat start on her brow. Both of them waited and after three more thought waves passed them, they heard, “I KNOW YOU’RE HERE.” They remained silent. “I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU MANAGED TO GET BY MY DEFENSES BUT YOU SHOULD SURRENDER. YOUR DEATHS WILL BE QUICK IF YOU DO.”
Poncho quickly wrote on his tablet, “It doesn’t know where we are!”
Brittany nodded and wrote, “But it does sense our presence.” Poncho nodded and focused on the outer edges of the planetary system. The millions of Feeder Warships had begun moving in toward the planet. He could hear them linking up to form a huge globe around the planetary system and begin accelerating toward the two inhabited planet scanning space in front of them. Poncho’s eyes narrowed and saw Brittany writing on her tablet, “They will not see us in the barrier.”
Poncho stared at her and after a moment wrote, “I wouldn’t bet the farm on that. Keep your finger on the failsafe. It doesn’t appear that entity can detect our minds enough to get a location. We should be able to escape.”
Brittany nodded and wrote, “The thought pattern that’s scanning for us is getting stronger. I suspect those warships are being linked in with the Leader’s linkage.” Poncho’s eyes narrowed and he felt the thought pattern blow over them at a much higher speed. He looked at Brittany and she knew what he was thinking. She focused on his mind. They weren’t out of the woods…yet. Poncho used the compressed air tanks to turn the small ship around so the rear was pointed toward the planet. Brittany wrote, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”
Poncho began writing, “Program a nuclear missile to target the largest city on the planet below us.” Brittany shook her head hard. “Do it!”
She mouthed toward him, “WHY!” She refused to look in his mind this close to the Entity.
Poncho wrote, “I’m going to engage this creature in a conversation in a moment and I want to leave a message it will understand.” Brittany stared at him with shock on her face and he smiled as he wrote, “We have to see if we are truly mentally invisible to this being. If the thought pattern rushes up on us and stops, hit the eject button on the missile and hit the failsafe.”
Brittany stared at him and turned to her panel. She activated the low power missile launcher and began typing in instructions. After a moment, she turned, looked at him, and nodded. Both of them sensed the giant globe of Feeder Warships moving closer and in less than thirty minutes, it would be at their location. Brittany looked at Poncho and he held up his hand. She knew she would have fired the missile and run. His bravery was incredible and she was going to follow his lead on this.
The giant globe of warships moved up until it was even with their position…and then it passed. Poncho wrote, “Did you program the missile to evade?” Brittany nodded. Poncho smiled and thought…”
• • •
The Feeder Entity was beyond rage. It felt another being but couldn’t determine where it was located. It sent a search pattern out at incredible speed and power but nothing was detected. He could sense them but not find them. It was frustrated and getting angrier by the moment. Then it heard, “I think that you should surrender.” The Entity flashed out its thought pattern in the direction it sensed the thought had originated but came up empty.
Brittany had her finger on the failsafe and she almost pushed it but the Entity’s search pattern had passed over them. She was on edge and wondered how she had managed not to push the button.
“JUST WHY DO YOU THINK I SHOULD SURRENDER?”
“You’re an inferior species. You’ve had your way with other civilizations and we’ve thought about removing you from existence. However, you’re really not worth the effort. Just be aware that if you move into my domain, we will eradicate you.” Brittany felt the thought pattern pass them more than a hundred times without pausing.”
“IF YOU COULD DO IT, YOU WOULD HAVE ALREADY DONE IT!”
Poncho laughed mentally and thought, “I was sent here to determine if we should destroy you. However, you don’t represent a danger to us. So go and live your lives…just don’t move anywhere near our Realm.” Poncho looked at Brittany and nodded. Brittany pressed the failsafe button and three things hap
pened instantly. The nuclear missile ejected from the ship and used its small light drive to skip into the atmosphere above the giant city on the planet’s northern continent, where it ignited its thrusters and shot down toward the surface.
The failsafe activated and the ship’s reactors came to full power, activated the light drive, and the Light Ship skipped away as a small probe accelerated away from it. The probe moved through the void at an incredible speed but kept its scanner on the planet as it moved away. It recorded the giant city on the surface go up in a massive nuclear blast. The millions of Feeder Warships around the planet turned and accelerated after the probe. The probe’s drive field was huge and it appeared to be the size of a medium vessel.
Twenty million Feeder Leaders were incinerated by the nuclear blast and the Entity was blown apart by the sudden death of that many Feeders that made it. It took an hour before it could reconstitute itself. It was forced to use the Feeders in the Fleets to do it and would have to maintain that link until new leaders could be chosen to replace those that died. It saw the Fleets chasing that vessel in the void and was furious that it hadn’t left any ships outside the system to intercept it. It tracked the probe’s course and saw it veer slightly when it exited the planetary system; it suddenly disappeared. It pulled up star maps from one of the facilities on the planet and extended the course of the tiny vessel out into the universe. There were thousands of galactic clusters on that line. Which one had that ship come from?
“ALL SCOUT FLEETS WILL RETURN TO MY CENTRAL PLANET AND PREPARE TO START SEARCH OPERATIONS. ALL MAJOR FLEETS THAT HAVE COMPLETED THEIR CURRENT MISSIONS WILL ALSO RETURN TO JOIN IN THE SEARCH. DO NOT START ATTACKING ANOTHER GALAXY!!”
One of the High Leaders on the planet thought, “Prime, how can you know that is the correct line to start the search? That vessel could have deliberately moved in that direction to throw us off its true location?”
“DID YOU NOT HEAR THAT BEING? ITS ARROGANCE WAS CLEAR THAT IT DIDN’T CARE IF WE PURSUED IT. THAT IS THE DIRECTION OF ITS CIVILIZATION.”
“Should we attempt to find them if they’re that powerful?”
“THE VESSEL WAS NOT THAT POWERFUL. WE HAVE TO FIND THEM AND DESTROY THEM WHERE THEY LIVE. THEIR MAIN WEAPON AGAINST US IS THEIR INVISIBILITY BUT THAT WON’T HIDE THEIR PLANETS. THE SEARCH WILL BEGIN IMMEDIATELY!!”
• • •
Poncho and Brittany heard the Entity. The Light Ship had skipped out to the limit of the Entity’s thought pattern and they could clearly hear it. Poncho nodded and skipped the ship out of the Death Feeder’s main galaxy. “It appears the two of you were successful.”
“We were, Willow.”
“The Feeders weren’t able to detect you?”
“They could sense that we were in their system but they couldn’t get a lock on our location.”
“If those linked Leaders couldn’t get a lock on you, the other Feeders scattered across Feeder Space won’t be able to see you.”
Brittany nodded, “I don’t think normal Feeders that link will even sense our presence.” She looked at Poncho, “So what happens now?”
“Well, we’ve bought the Alliance some time. We’re going home after you carry out your promise and the Alliance will start preparing to invade the galaxies the Feeders have conquered.”
Brittany’s yes narrowed, “Promise?”
“Something to do with a first kiss.” Brittany smiled and deactivated her armor and walked toward Poncho. His armor disappeared and he met her in the middle of the bridge.
Willow watched them and thought to Amber on a private channel, “I think the Nudges will be celebrating.”
“I do believe you’re right. It appears their modifications will work.”
“Are you willing to wait until the war begins?”
“Of course. There’s so much going on that time will pass quickly.” There was a pause and Amber said, “That is a very long kiss.”
“Like she said, some things are worth waiting on. It appears she was right about that as well. Amber, take us home.”
The Light Ship disappeared while two humans didn’t notice their arrival at Fleet Operations. It took Cisco running on the bridge to break them apart.
The End
Epilogue
Grendel looked at the recording and shook his head. The computers on the Light Ship that had entered Feeder Territory had captured an image above the planet where Admiral Gonzalez had destroyed a Feeder city. He pulled up an earlier image that Kyle and Nicole had taken at another Feeder controlled galaxy and put them side-by-side on his monitor. He started shaking his head and fell back in his chair. The warship in both images were identical. It appeared the Feeders had been successful in capturing a red warship from the species they were trapping in the core of the first galaxy.
He pulled up the report on the ship’s capabilities and blew out a breath. Ultra-strong force field, powerful gravity beams, and scanners that were far beyond anything the Feeders possessed. He knew that the Alliance had bought some time with the deception of an advanced species located in the opposite direction from the Alliance…but…more time meant the Feeders would be able to mass produce this vessel. That was a real problem. Going back now to destroy it wouldn’t work. He was certain it had been moved to the Feeder’s ship building planets.
He questioned the two computers as to why they not shared the images with their crews and they rightfully said that this was not something they should have to worry about moving into the future. Their only concern should be their families.
Grendel thought about those two computers. They were different and he didn’t know how to pin point what the different was… They would need to be kept in the loop of what was going to happen. He was reasonably certain that everyone in the Alliance would be long gone before the conflict erupted with the Death Feeders. He lifted his microphone and began leaving instructions that would be passed on to every future High Commander. The Alliance had to find a way to deal with these new Feeder Warships. Weapons had to be developed that could penetrate that vessel’s force field. He put the communicator down and stared into space. The two couples’ children were needed desperately to take the fight forward. He prayed there was enough time remaining to make that happen.
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
Prequel-Psychic Beginnings
Searching for a Hero
Dahlia’s Deception
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
Star Rover-The Worst of Time
Star Rover-Running Out of Time
Lens of Time-Chosen To Die
The Fight for Creation
Life Warrior
Scout Warrior
Ultimate Warrior
Star Chase
The Lost Prince
Nowhere to Run
Nowhere to Hide
Probe Predators
Jesse’s Starship
Mike’s War—
Joshua’s Walls
Nemesis
Revenge is Best Served Hot
The Search for Orion
Trapped in Time
The Time Takers
Taming A Planet
Exinction
Escape to Earth
Running From Fate
Fighting for Space
Defending Holy Ground
The Legacy of a Conqueror
Living Legends
The Sequel
Series to Escape to Earth
Defending Earth
Searching for Death Feeders
Coming Soon
Hiding from Feeders
Also an audiobook at Audible.com
Love Conquers All
The Power of a Queen
A Rose Grows in weeds
Tommy’s Tale
Searcher
Demon’s Sacrifice
Finding Keepers
The Lost Prince
Copyright © 2015 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.
First Electronic Edition: August 2015