by Saxon Andrew
“What are you going to do?”
Jek looked at Josh and said, “The Alliance Crew has decided to make a run at the planet and see if they can open fire. We estimate they only have a few more minutes before their force field fails.”
Josh turned back to the view port and saw the stricken Q ship accelerate toward the planet and hit the massive glow around it at its maximum speed. It exploded high in the planet’s atmosphere. Josh looked on with shock and said, “You’ve got to save her!”
Rumel shook his head, “Her force field will last another hour or so but we don’t possess a weapon to kill those creatures.”
Josh felt his heart almost stop. He pressed his communicator and saw Prissy on his communicator, “PRISSY!”
“I’m so sorry, Josh!” She lowered her head, “I didn’t know this would happen.”
Josh looked at Rumel and shook his head. Rumel could only close his eyes and shake his head. The large Gracken Commander looked at Josh, “Have you been on your wife’s ship recently?”
“I go there as often as I can.”
The Gracken Commander looked at Rumel, “Do you have any of the fighters used to deliver the aerosol on the Weg planet we just jumped to?” Rumel looked at the Commander and nodded. The Commander looked at Josh and held out his hand, “May I speak with her?” Josh handed him his communicator and the Gracken said, “Colonel Adams.”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where your husband keeps his armor?”
“Yes. It’s in the storage locker on the landing bay.”
“Go there and contact me when you arrive.”
Rumel looked at the Commander, “What are you thinking?”
The Commander held up his hand as Prissy said, “I’m here.”
“Turn on the armor’s systems. You do that by…”
“I know how to do it. I’ve worn armor many times.” Prissy put her hand inside the armor’s helmet and pressed the system activate button. The lights illuminated inside the helmet and the Commander said, “The gravity compensators are on now. Pull the armor out of the locker so that it’s lying face down on the floor.” Prissy pulled the armor out of the locker and let it fall to the floor. “Now, I want you to look at the panel that runs across the back of the shoulders and tell me if you see anything you haven’t seen before.”
“There’s a round, black, disc stuck on it.”
The Commander looked at Jek, “Is there any way to activate that magnet remotely?” Jek nodded. The Commander looked at Rumel, “Send the coordinates to the dark side of Malegna to those two ships and jump there with them.”
“What are you doing?”
The Commander said sternly, “Just get them the coordinates and take your ship there with them.”
Rumel looked at his Navigator and nodded. The Navigator pressed his keyboard and after a moment said, “They have them.”
The Commander said, “Tell them to jump to the coordinates we just sent them.” The Communication’s Leader began speaking and the Commander looked at Rumel, “Start filling the aerosol tanks on your fighters and launch them as soon as we enter normal space on the backside of Melegna.”
The three ships disappeared and a moment later reappeared above a dark planet. The Commander looked at Rumel who was issuing orders and after six minutes he said, “The fighters have been launched. The Commander walked over to the Communication’s Leader and said, “Open a channel to the fighters and those two ships.” The leader nodded. The Commander picked up the remote communicator off the Leader’s console and said, “Who is in command of the fighters.”
“I am, Commander.”
“I want you to stand off from Colonel Adam’s vessel and fire a stream of aerosol at it. I want her entire vessel covered with it.” Josh looked at the Commander and opened his mouth but the Commander shook his head. The Commander watched the stricken Q ship until it appeared to be inside a huge vapor cloud. “Colonel Adams, move your ship to the center of the dark side of the planet below you and take your ship to a mile above the surface.”
“What’s going on?”
“Colonel, I’m trying to save your life. Please do as I ask.” The Q ship emerged from the white cloud of aerosol and the entire force field was covered with a white film.
“Alright, I’m a mile above the surface.”
The Commander looked at Jek, as he said, “I want you to be prepared to extend your jump field.. Do not allow the two fields to touch.”
Prissy looked up, “Tuffy, can you do it?”
“I’ve got the jump field activated and it’s not set to touch the force field.”
Prissy pressed her communicator, “We’ve established the jump field coordinates.”
The Commander looked at Jek, “Tell her how to activate the magnet.”
Jek took the communicator, “Colonel Adams, grip the black disc and turn it as far as you can clockwise.”
Prissy gripped the disc and twisted it. “It turned a quarter of a turn. An orange light came on in the center or it.”
“Now twist it back to the starting point.”
Prissy turned it a quarter turn counter clockwise and said, “A red light just illuminated and has moved slightly above the surface of the disc.”
The Commander looked at Jek, “Do you know the magnetic charge of that disc?”
Jek pulled out his tablet and started pressing keys. After a moment he said, “I have the one assigned to General Adams.”
The Commander said, “Come with us.”
The Commander pulled Josh toward the door and said, “Where are we going?”
The Commander smiled, “I had one of the carriers used on our drop brought on board while we were above the Weg Planet. We’re going out.”
Rumel’s eyes were narrowed but he remained silent as the three left the bridge. They arrived in the Flagship’s huge landing bay and ran over to the carrier that was sitting in the left front of the huge bay. The Commander ordered the bay doors open and the three left the landing bay on the carrier and arrived ten miles above Prissy’s Q ship. The force field was brightly glowing and they saw it didn’t have much longer before it failed. The commander looked at Jek, “Hit Colonel Adams’ ship with a magnetic field that is the same as the magnet on General Adams’ armor.”
Jek pressed buttons on the control panel at the rear of the carrier and said, “The ship is now surrounded by the field.”
The Commander said, “Colonel Adams, can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“On the count of three, I want you to depress the red light on that disc and if the white film on your force field blows away, I want you to immediately jump two thousand miles out from the planet.”
Prissy looked up and heard Tuffy say, “The jump drive is ready.”
“We’re ready.”
“Alright. On three; one, two, three…”
• • •
Josh was on board the carrier and saw the white aerosol covering the ship was blown away at an incredible speed. The Q ship immediately disappeared.
The Commander said, “Rumel, scan Colonel Adams ship for any Eaters.”
After a few moments they heard, “None are present.”
The Commander said quickly into his communicator, “Spray the other Q ship quickly.”
Jek looked at the Commander, “There’s no magnet on board it.”
““While the ship is being sprayed, program three of this carriers composite balls to surround it.”
Jek smiled and began pushing buttons on the console. The Q ship came out of the white aerosol cloud and accelerated to a mile above the dark planet. Twelve composite balls left the carrier and surround the Q ship. Jek set the magnetic fields and pressed the activate button. The Q ship disappeared as the white aerosol film exploded off it and hit the twelve balls surrounding it. The commander looked at Jek, “Send the balls down to the planet’s surface and turn off their power.”
The twelve balls moved toward the planet’s surface and they saw
bright swaths of Eaters come toward them at high speed.
The carrier flew back into the landing bay and Josh was met by Prissy who had docked on the other side of the battleship. She ran into his arms and both of them were crying at what they almost lost. Rumel arrived in the huge bay and smiled, “That was good thinking.”
The Commander shrugged, “I heard what was going on and I had a carrier brought on board.”
Josh looked at the Commander, “I owe you my life. I couldn’t live without her. Thank you a million times.”
The Commander looked at Josh and smiled, “It is I that owe you.” Josh looked at him and tilted his head. “You have given me back my name.”
“What?”
Rumel nodded, “Anytime a Gracken Officer loses his entire command, his name is struck from the roles of our warriors and he will remain nameless until he atones for the loss.”
The Commander looked at Josh, “I was the highest ranking officer on our drop. I wasn’t in command but my people don’t recognize any other ranks other than our own. To them, I was in command. Killing more than a billion of the Flying Weg has allowed me to atone for the loss of my command. I was given back my name.”
Prissy released Josh and went over and hugged the huge Gracken, “What is your name?”
“Tindel.”
“Well, Tindel, your name is going to be our baby’s middle name.”
Tindel’s smile was huge, “That’s…that’s…wonderful.”
Josh took Prissy back into his arms and said, “I need some time with my wife.”
Chapter Eight
Alex looked around the conference table and saw Josh talking to one of the Gracken Division Commanders that had been sent by the Gracken Leadership. He must be the one that saved Pricilla. It appeared the two liked each other. The Alliance Engineers and Scientists occupied one leg of the table and the Military Leaders the other. Alex and his staff were sitting in the center of the U shaped table. He stood up and said, “What have we learned from the first confrontation between our Warriors and the Weg?”
He sat back down and after a few minutes, Rumel said, “Your new carriers and magnetic devices does allow us to go back down to the surface to fight them.”
Alex nodded as Josh said, “I’m not completely certain about that, Commander.”
Rumel looked at Josh, “Why not?”
Josh looked at Prissy and nodded. She pressed a button on a small controller she was holding and the huge wall monitor on the front wall illuminated. It showed the massive cloud of flying Weg that burst out of the ground after the composite balls had killed the Weg attacking Josh’s Division. She looked around the room and said, “This is what happened after the Weg attacking our Warriors were defeated. Please notice that they are coming out of the soil all over the continent.” Pricilla nodded toward the monitor, “I want you to notice that none of those Weg have been coated with the aerosol. If our warriors continue to fight until this cloud arrives, the carriers will be hit before the warriors can escape.”
Josh nodded, “The Weg are a lot of things but stupid isn’t one of them. I’m reasonably sure they’ve collected samples of the aerosol and analyzed it. They won’t be coming through it next time.”
Rumel stared at Josh and then Pricilla said something that got his attention, “The Weg have also dug some defensive tunnels.”
Alex said, “What do you mean by defensive tunnels?”
“They have dug tunnels at every mountain range on the planet and the seismic sensors tell us that millions of them are staying at those sites. To land next to any mountain on the planet will have the Weg coming out of the ground as soon as your Warriors put a boot on the ground.”
Prissy sighed, “If you stay long enough to fire at the waves of Flying Weg coming in on you, the carriers will be hit at the same moment your troops are attacked.”
Rumel didn’t like what he was hearing, “But the carriers are armed to defend themselves?”
Prissy nodded at the giant cloud of Weg that covered the continent, “Not against those kind of numbers.”
Rumel looked across the table at the Alliance Engineers and Scientists, “Do you have anything to use against this?”
Jek looked at Rumel and said, “Possibly.” Every military leader in the room looked toward him. Even Prissy was surprised by his remark. Jek saw them staring at him and he said, “Colonel Adams, may I use the monitor?” Prissy nodded and Jek pressed the controller he was holding. The image changed and they saw a giant green and orange colored cloud of Weg flying below the carriers. Jek started the video and the attendees saw the Weg were struggling to reach the carriers. Many were flapping their huge wings as fast as possible but they weren’t moving any closer.
Tindel said, “I remember that. The air was too thin for them to move higher.”
Jek nodded, “Yes, it was. The carriers were at seven miles above the planet when that happened.”
Josh shook his head, “Are you going to suggest that the carriers pull the warriors off the planet to that altitude?”
Jek looked at Josh, “Yes.”
Tindel started laughing and everyone looked at him. He shook his head as he said, “Now that will be quite a ride.” He collected himself and then said, “What do you think will happen the second time you use this escape method?”
Jek’s tilted his head, “I’m sorry. I don’t understand what you’re trying to say?”
“The Weg won’t keep trying to go after carriers they can’t reach. What they’ll do, and I say this because it’s what I’d do if I were in their place, is stack up a layer of Flying Weg five miles thick above our warriors on the ground.”
Alex liked this new Gracken. He looked at Jek, “If they were to do that, what would happen?”
Jek smiled, “I see his point. We have some more work to do.”
Prissy said, “Is there any way to magnetize the area under the carriers?”
Jek looked at Ganol, “You’re the magnet expert. What do you think?”
“The aerosol won’t work in this application. We have to develop a means of magnetizing every Weg below the carriers.”
Prissy looked at Ganol, “Why?”
Ganol was surprised by her comment and said, “To get them out of the path of the escaping warriors.”
Prissy shrugged, “It’s a shame to waste such a great opportunity to kill that many Weg.”
Josh looked at her, “What are you saying?”
She looked at Josh and said, “Can you imagine firing ten thousand Gracken sized bullets into that cloud of Weg?”
The room was silent and Josh looked at Jek and Ganol, “Would our escaping warriors be able to penetrate through that cloud of Weg?”
Ganol shook his head as he said, “Oh they would penetrate it because the magnets on their armor would not stop being pulled to the carrier. I’m just not sure what shape they’d arrive in after that many high speed collisions with the Weg.”
Prissy’s eyes narrowed and Josh knew her mind was really working. He watched her as the engineers continued to discuss the dilemma. Then he saw her smile and he knew she was about to say something dramatic.
Prissy said, “Our warriors will be moving toward their carriers at what speed?”
The room grew silent and Jek said, “Two miles a second.”
“Isn’t that faster than any conventional round fired out of any weapon we have in our inventory?” Jek nodded. “What would happen if we could change the shape of the warrior’s force fields to a sharp point and have it spinning around them?”
Alex looked at Jek, “Is that possible?”
Jek looked at the scientists and Uginoth shrugged. Jek said, “Is it?”
“It would require the field projectors to realign. I also think two more projectors would be needed to change the basic shape from an oval.”
Alex lowered his eyes, “How much weight would that add to their armor?”
Uginoth shrugged again, “The weight would be negligible. The weight of the powe
r units is what makes the armor so heavy and they won’t be changed.”
The room started talking but Prissy kept her eyes on the old scientist. She saw his eyes and knew there was something he wasn’t saying. She said, “What are you not saying?”
The old scientist flinched at her question and the room immediately grew silent. Uginoth looked around the room and said, “I’ve been accused in the past of making things too complicated and I don’t want to make that mistake with this development you’re asking for us to put together.”
Prissy smiled, “But you have an idea?”
The old Alliance Scientist held up his hands and shrugged, “I was just thinking that if you really want to do some damage, why not shape the force field to have sharp edges that are spinning around our warriors? I imagine they would do a rather nasty job on any Weg they hit.” The entire room was struck silent. The old scientist looked around and said, “I don’t mean to complicate things.”
Alex smiled, “That doesn’t sound like a complication if it can be done.”
Uginoth titled his head, “If we’re going to spin the force field, it shouldn’t require much more to shape it with spiral force blades surrounding the warrior.”
Josh looked at Prissy and never loved her more than in that moment. She was incredible.
Alex said, “Start working on this immediately but before we go any further, I want to know about this Energy Eater that destroyed one of our most advanced Q ships.”
Uginoth looked at Jek, who nodded for him to go ahead, “It is a life form that was at the Weg’s home world when it was first discovered by the Gracken. It is able to move in space by using a tiny energy emission on its rear.” He lifted his controller and the monitor changed images again to a bright yellow colored creature.
General Young said, “That looks like a spot of light.”
Uginoth nodded, “It’s not much more than that. However, if it finds a source of energy, it will attack it and consume it, growing continuously as it feeds.”
Alex said, “What’s the actual size of that creature?”
Jek said, “We measured it at a thousandth of an inch. It will grow to half an inch if it finds an energy source large enough for it to feed.”