by Saxon Andrew
“Sir, they won’t be here for hours,” Syl replied.
“Lieutenant, they will be able to detect our gravity drive holding us off the surface in less than an hour. We can’t allow them to detect that large of an anomaly. We’d be giving away too much to let that happen.” Syl’s eyes widened and she began entering instructions into her panel. Maranda pressed a button and Abby appeared on her display, “I got the message, Maranda. I’ll be lifting in ten minutes. Rory has already lifted and is moving out of the spiral arm.”
“There were more inhabitants in the communities I’ve picked up, Abby. I’m lifting in twenty more minutes, even if I have to leave a few behind.”
“Try not to do that, Maranda.”
“The ship comes first, Abby.” Abby nodded, and the display went dark. Twenty five minutes later, the last inhabitant ran on board and Maranda ordered, “LIFT THE SHIP!!”
The ship jumped off the surface instantly before the landing bay doors had time to close. Winds buffeted the passengers in the landing bay for a few minutes before the crew managed to get them closed. The giant carrier turned and headed toward a chain of mountains and Maranda turned to Syl, “You can move faster than this!”
“Sir, if you don’t want the Fagan to detect our gravity drive, then I’m reasonably certain you don’t want them to see a three-mile-wide scorched area made by our rear thrusters in the field. I’ll pick up speed when I move over the mountains toward the horizon from that fleets line of approach.”
Maranda shook her head; Syl had made another great decision. The Songbird moved over the mountains and Syl added two thrusters. The carrier flashed higher into the atmosphere and Syl pushed the thruster handles fully forward. The Songbird left the planet at an incredible speed and the sonic boom was thunderous. But no one remained on the planet to hear it and the Fagan were too far away to detect it. Maranda turned to the optical scanner and saw three large freighters and fifty small rabbit class warships moving into orbit above the planet. Grady was moving into position. He’d distract the Fagan and give her the opportunity to get away.
• • •
Grady watched the scout’s reports and saw the huge Fagan fleet rush into America’s star system. The plan to destroy the freighter was a moot point as the giant Fagan Fleet moved inside their scanning range. Grady ordered, “Desmond, stay ahead and outside of their scanning range. All ships and freighters activate your thrusters and move directly away from America toward the core of the galaxy. Do not go faster than half-speed.”
Taffy looked at him, “That will allow them to cut the corner and move in closer to us.”
“That’s exactly what I want, Taffy. We’ll still be outside the range of their blasters and I want them as close as possible.” Taffy shrugged and looked at the tactical monitor in her combat helmet. Boy! That was a huge fleet.
• • •
High Leader, we’ve detected three large ships and fifty small white ships fleeing away from the slave planet.”
“Send a ship to see what’s going on at the planet. Report in to me when you find out. Do not lose those ships!”
A ship left the fleet and flew at maximum speed to America. It reported in and the Fleet Manager contacted the High Leader, “It appears that all of the slaves have been evacuated from the planet, High Leader.”
“How did that happen?!”
“Whoever is in those ships must have been moving the populations for an extended period prior to my arrival. Those three large ships must be the last ones to leave.”
“What about the collars on the slaves.”
“My scout reports that there are millions of them lying in the fields. They must have found the frequency to remove them.”
“These ships must have come from the home worlds of the species on that planet. Fleet Manager, that civilization represents a clear danger to us. You will not lose them! Do you understand?”
“High Leader, they’re headed toward the Galaxy’s core.”
“I don’t care if they’re headed straight into the dark domain! You will not lose them!”
“High Leader, should we call off the invasion to the other spiral arm. It’s in the opposite direction from where they’re headed.”
“NO! They could be trying to deliberately mislead us about their location. Do not allow those ships to escape. It must be confirmed where they originated. We’ll call off the invasion only if you verify they originated in the core.”
“We’ve cut the distance between my fleet and those ships. We’re not gaining on them, but they are not opening the distance from us. These ships are not invisible, and we have them clearly on our scanners.”
“You have your orders, follow them!”
• • •
Grady listened to the Fleet Manager’s conversation and smiled. “Settle in, we have a long way to go.”
“Grady, the Fagan are picking up speed and gaining on us.”
Grady saw Taffy was right and he ordered, “All ships maintain the distance between us and the Fagan Fleet.” Grady increased speed and the gap between his command and the Fagan remained consistent. “Desmond, the Fagan can fly faster than we thought possible. Increase speed and maintain your distance from my formation.”
Grady’s formation was at the edge of Desmond’s scanning range and he ordered his ships to maintain the distance between the formations. His fifty rabbits accelerated and moved quickly ahead to maintain the gap.
The chase was on and Taffy smiled. “What do you find amusing?” Grady asked.
“This reminds me of when the servants tried to catch my bunny at my father’s home.” Taffy giggled, “Catching a bunny in open ground is an extremely difficult thing to do.”
“And catching one in open space is not easily done, either,” Grady replied.
Taffy looked at the tactical monitor and smiled, “Well, at least there’s one good thing to come out of this.”
“What is that?”
“At this speed, we’ll arrive close to Britannia in eight days instead of two weeks. I believe those Fagan ships might be slightly faster than the alien’s warships.”
Grady shrugged as he took off his combat helmet and transferred the tactical feed to the main monitor. Taffy kept her helmet on and said, “I can watch all the monitors in my helmet, Grady. I prefer it that way.” Taffy paused and turned to Grady, “The inhabitants on America reacted quite differently from the survivors on Britannia.”
“The survivors on Britannia were never slaves, Taffy; that’s why so many of them refused to leave. The people on America saw an opportunity to escape and they didn’t hesitate to take it. I completely understand why they didn’t hesitate to get on board the ships.”
Taffy nodded, and Grady leaned back in his chair, “Wake me if anything happens.” Taffy glared at him and shook her head; how could he sleep at a time like this? But she heard his breathing become regular and she rolled her eyes. How she wished she could do that.
• • •
Desmond turned to Louisa, “All the people on America were lifted in time and are now on their way to Melbourne.”
“Thank heaven for that!”
“That’s the first part of this mission, Louisa. All that will be for nothing if we can’t carry out our part of the mission.”
“Then we can’t fail in making it happen, Des.”
Des nodded and put the ship on auto-pilot. He stood up and went to Louisa’s chair. He lifted her out of it and took her in his arms. There hadn’t been any time prior to this moment and he made the best of the time he had; the chase was going to be long.
• • •
Maranda looked at the long-range scanner and saw no Fagan blips on it. She turned to Lt. Tyers and raised her eyebrows. Syl shrugged, “Sir, Admiral Mulvaney has ordered that all military vessels move out into the void between the Sagittarius and Coma Spiral Arms ten-thousand light years before turning for home.”
Maranda jerked her head to her console and pressed a button, “Commander O’M
alley, how do we stand on enough provisions to feed the passengers? Our trip back has been extended three days.”
“We have enough food-balls to last an additional six days, Admiral. We might have to start rationing them if the voyage back to Melbourne is extended further.”
“Start rationing now, Commander. Also see if Captain Pickering can make room in the landing bay for a space for our guests to exercise.”
“Sir, I don’t see that happening. We boarded fifteen thousand more Americans than was planned. I would recommend that the corridors leading to the bridge and crew quarters be opened to allow them to walk or jog.”
Maranda thought a moment and pulled up a schematic of the carrier’s lay out. There were four corridors running the length of the ship that were used by the crew to go to their personal quarters and for the missile and blaster teams to go to their weapon consoles. “Open the two center corridors and have Captain Pickering make a schedule for the passengers to use them to walk or exercise. They need something to break up the boredom and keep their minds off having to leave their planet.”
“Will do, Admiral.”
Maranda turned to Syl, “Do you have the location of the freighters that left ahead of us?”
“I do, Sir.”
“Set a course to join them after they start turning back to Melbourne.” Syl nodded and turned the carrier slightly as she pushed the thruster handle forward. Maranda turned to Captain Tarangelo, “Status of your rabbit wings?”
“They’re flying a defensive cover a light year around the Songbird, Admiral.”
“Send all but ten wings to join the freighters and set up a defense around them. The ten wings will set up a screen around the Songbird until we join the freighters.” She turned to Todd and asked, “Where are the other two Carriers, Lieutenant?”
“They lifted before us, Admiral and they have set course for the commercial freighters to add to their defense. All their wings are assigned to defend them until they arrive at Melbourne. The commercial freighters are taking a much longer course back to Melbourne to insure they aren’t being followed.”
“Are they moving anywhere close to Earth?”
“No Sir, they are going around the Sagittarius Arm in the opposite direction. None of our vessels are going anywhere near the Orion Spur where Earth and its conquered planets are located.”
Maranda turned back to the tactical monitor and still no Fagan blips appeared on it. That huge Fagan fleet didn’t spread out but remained in formation to chase Grady’s two formations. He had the ball now and she prayed he and Taffy would make it safely out of the coming confrontation. She knew the plans and the timing needed to pull it off was next to impossible. But…if anyone could make it happen, Grady was the one to do it.
• • •
“Grady, we’re approaching the Coma Spiral Arm. Do you think they’ll turn back if we continue beyond it? They’ve been chasing us for five days.”
“Taffy, you heard that Fagan Leader; he gave them no options.” Grady pondered the situation and activated his communicator, “Attention all ships. We will be decreasing our speed two-percent on my mark. I want to make sure the Fagan Fleet doesn’t give up pursuing us. They will close the ground between us but not before we arrive at Britannia in three days.” Grady paused and said, “MARK!” He used the computer to reset the Rex Rabbit’s speed and leaned back in his chair. “Let’s see how they react to this.”
• • •
The Fagan Fleet Manager was starting to consider breaking off this pursuit but knew if he did, the High Leader would probably execute him. He shook his head and heard his scanning manager report, “Sir, those ships are slowing slightly. It will still take four days to catch them and move into the range of our weapons, but we are gaining ground on them.”
His Senior Manager spoke up, “It appears they are running low on power.” The Fleet Manager nodded. “If they slow further, we’ll know for certain.” The Fleet Manager nodded again and kept his eyes on the monitor.
• • •
The pursuit moved over the Coma Spiral Arm and the core of the galaxy was growing larger. Three days later, the Rabbits and freighters flew past Britannia’s star system and Grady felt a wave of sorrow move through him. Taffy stood up, put her arm around his shoulders, and hugged him, “Hang in there, my love. We’re about to extract a little payback.”
Grady nodded and looked at their current position on the star map. They were rapidly approaching the front lines of the aliens that destroyed Britannia, and Grady lifted his communicator, “Captain Bertram, it’s time you made your exit. Accelerate ahead of my formation and before you enter the aliens scanning range, go vertical and make your escape. Make sure you’re outside the Fagan scanning range before you make your vertical run.”
“See you back at Melbourne, Fleet Admiral.” The three huge freighters accelerated at high speed ahead of the rabbits around it.
• • •
The Fagan scanning manager shouted, “The three large vessels are accelerating ahead of the small white ships! They have now moved out of the range of our scanners!”
The Senior Manager stared at the monitor and said, “Those small ships are slowing down. The three large ships must be leaving them behind to avoid being attacked!”
The Fleet Manager stared at the scanner and said in a dead tone, “Or, they could be arriving at the location they’ve been fleeing toward since they left our territory.” He lifted his communicator and ordered, “All ships will go to war status and activate all weapons. Maintain formation and be prepared to open fire on my command.”
• • •
Grady saw the Fagan ships powering up their blasters and allowed his formation to fall back slightly closer to their leading formations. He kept his ships outside the range of the Fagan blasters and looked at the tactical monitor. It appeared that his rabbits were actually leading the Fagan Fleet. No one outside the pursuit would be able to determine that the Fagan were attempting to attack his ships. Grady pressed Desmond’s frequency, “We’ve got the brush beaters set up, Des. You need to go and wake the dragon.”
Desmond smiled and looked at the giant formations of warships directly ahead of his formation of rabbits. His ships were moving inside the scanning range of the aliens and he ordered, “All ships, go to maximum speed and take out an alien warship or two. Do not allow your ship to be damaged. Once we complete our attack, turn and fly back to join Admiral Henricks formation.”
• • •
The alien War Leader shut down the alarms going off on his flagship and looked at a monitor to his right that covered a section of his front lines. He heard in the sudden silence, “War Leader, there are fifty of the white ships that have been attacking our ships approaching at high speed.”
The War Leader lowered three of his six eyes, “It appears there are more than just two of them.” He watched the fifty small white ships blow in on his front line at an incredible speed and open fire on the warships in the front ranks. Seventy-one warships exploded, and the War Leader saw the fifty small ships turn and move away at high-speed. “WAR LEADER, SCANNERS ARE PICKING UP MORE SMALL WHITE SHIPS LEADING A HUGE FLEET TOWARD OUR FRONT LINES!!”
• • •
“FLEETS TEN THROUGH FIFTY, MOVE OUT TO MEET THAT INCOMING FORMATION. ALL PLANET KILLERS ASSIGNED TO THOSE FLEETS WILL FOLLOW THEM OUT AND SUPPORT THEM!” the War Leader ordered. Thousands of alien warships accelerated out of the front lines blocking the view of the destroyed warships left behind them.
• • •
Desmond looked at his monitor and sighed heavily; his attack had gone off perfectly. The attack on the alien ships happened outside the range of the Fagan scanners and the alien warships moving out at high speed blocked the view of the damaged alien warships. He knew he had cut it close. Louisa looked up, “Grady’s formation is moving up on us at a high closing speed.”
• • •
The Fagan Fleet Manager suddenly saw thousands of large warships appear on his
scanner moving at high speed toward his fleet. He saw fifty small white ships leading the large warships and they joined the ships he had been pursuing for eight days and they suddenly turned and went vertical above the incoming wave headed toward him. “What are they doing, Fleet Manager?”
He said to his Senior Manager, “They’ve come out to save the ships we’ve been chasing. They’re flying away and leaving us to confront that large formation of warships moving toward us.”
“Shouldn’t we continue the chase, Fleet Manager?”
“We followed them here to confirm that this is where they originated. If we change course, that wave of ships will slam into the side of our formations as we turn. Launch the scouts to record what happens here and make sure they get the information back to the High Leader!”
• • •
“War Leader, that formation is launching more than a thousand small ships and they are holding position behind them.”
The War Leader turned two eyes to his officer and said, “They’re scouts that are going to record what happens here. I want scouts launched to follow those small ships. This is the civilization that led the War Ships to our space that attacked us three years ago and destroyed thousands of our ships. Those small white ships come from that civilization and it’s imperative we find out where they’re located.” The officer began issuing orders over his communicator.
• • •
The two giant formations slammed into each other and the Fleet Manager quickly determined that the attacker’s warships were more powerful than the ships in his fleet. The attacker’s formation flew over and below the Fagan fleet and surrounded it, there was no escape. He suddenly heard his scanning manager scream, “FOUR GIANT WARSHPS ARE MOVING IN ON US!!”
The fleet manager jerked his attention to the status monitor and saw four gigantic structures move in and open fire with blaster beams more than twenty miles wide. The Empire was in great danger. He prayed the scouts made it back to warn the High Leader what they were up against, just before his ship was vaporized.