Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four))

by Saxon Andrew

  Cassandra thought a moment and said, “We could launch all of our shuttles into its path.”

  “Launch them now. I’ll explain why later.”

  All fifty shuttles launched from the Kosiev under remote control and moved between Earth and the incoming energy ball. The ball was two minutes away and Wes started a countdown to impact. “Two minutes. One minute. Thirty seconds.”

  Sprig looked at Twig and said, “Energize the emitters; prepare the device.”

  “Fifteen seconds, ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six..”

  “Twig threw the switch on the device and a silver field appeared between the Kosiev and Earth. Earth moved into the field and disappeared.”

  The energy ball lost the target it was locked on and only saw the shuttles in the zone. It struck the shuttles and a giant explosion rocked the Kosiev and blew it more than twenty thousand miles from the position it was holding. The Kosiev then flew away so fast toward the sun that the explosion had not started to settle and it was gone from the solar system. Where once a green and blue planet existed, now there was only a moon following a wobbling orbit where the planet had been.

  The First Male watched the explosion and saw afterwards that the planet was gone. The strange ship was also missing. Something wasn’t right; there should have been more debris left behind from the Planet’s destruction. One of the Captor scientists heard his thought and said, “It is possible that the planet had huge stores of energy on it and combined with the energy missile it was enough to totally disintegrate the planet. It certainly isn’t there now.”

  The First Male went to the site of the explosion and still didn’t feel comfortable with the findings. “Were we able to see anything behind the explosion of the energy missile?”

  The Watcher that had accompanied the warriors said, “The missile was actually bigger than the planet. We were not able to see anything behind the blast and until we can get into a nexus, there is no way to see the details.”

  The Scientist said, “It had to be disintegrated. It’s not here. Would you prefer to believe that these creatures moved the planet?”

  The First Male snorted at the idea and said, “Of course not, but there just isn’t enough mass left to account for the planet’s destruction.” After a pause he said, “I must agree with you; I can’t see any other possibility. He scanned the system with his sensors and said, “There are outposts of the creatures on some of the moons and asteroids in this system. Warriors, clean them up.” The giant red ships scattered through the solar system and systematically destroyed everything with intelligent life on it. Five of Jupiter’s moons were blown apart and the pieces obliterated.

  Rose sat in the throne room in Castle Gardner and watched the destruction of all the settlements left in Earth’s solar system. Then she saw the Giant ships moving toward Earth’s moon, “Tommy,” she thought.

  “Yes, Rose.”

  “The Captors are moving in on Earth’s moon. There’s more than 125, 000 people in the settlements there.”

  Tommy ordered, “Stop the Kosiev and prepare to return to…..,” then he stopped in mid sentence. “Rose, did you just feel that?”

  Rose signed heavily and said, “Yes, I did.”

  Suddenly Tag broke into their thoughts, “What are you two planning? Whatever it is, stop now!”

  Rose thought to her father, “Dad, the Captors are moving in on Earth’s moon. If they destroy it more than 125,000 people will lose their lives.”

  “What were you going to do about it?”

  Tommy said, “I started issuing orders to return and possibly teleport the moon away. But then I felt what you must have felt, too.”

  “If you do that Tommy, Earth will be destroyed.” Tag paused a moment and listened to his senses and then said, “It appears that the Captors did not see the Earth disappear. My sense tells me that Earth is safe for the near future. However, when I think about you going back to save the moon, my alarms go off full blast.”

  “I know, Dad. Tommy and I both felt it, too. I just can’t bear to watch so many innocent people die.”

  Then they all felt it; the moon was gone. Tommy felt anger and then hate for the race that so callously killed. Cassandra sitting on the bridge just below his chair could actually see the aura around Tommy roll, boil and turn in on itself. Cassandra’s heart grieved for the loss of life on the moon. More than two hundred of her former classmates were assigned there. She had watched the moon while Tommy was discussing what could be done without endangering the Earth. She listened to the Gardners and watched the moon in her mind as three Captors approached and hit it with their main beams. The resulting blast exploded it out from its center in all directions. The Captors then fired their beams at the largest pieces of the moon to erase the possibility of them ever being a danger to Jupiter. Once they were through, they turned and moved toward mars. The settlements there were blown out of existence but the planet was left intact. The Captors did not want huge pieces of the planet near their nest. Within three hours, more than 1,430,000 people were killed in the systematic extermination of all intelligent life in the system. Not once did the Captors attempt to communicate with the ones they were destroying and they ignored the pleas for mercy. Cassandra felt a harness in her heart for this cold blooded race of killers. Everyone on the bridge suddenly felt the Kosiev begin vibrating and then start shaking.

  Tommy interrupted his conversation with Rose and his father and thought to Cassandra, “Are you alright?”

  Cassandra came back into the moment and thought, “Yes. I just let them get to me.” The Kosiev quit vibrating and returned to normal. The bridge crew was sharing glances at each other. They had begun talking among themselves that the Captain could probably fight the ship alone. Even Wes sensed that Captain Dodd and the ship moved to the same heart beat. Unlike his fellow crewmen, Wes was thankful that the Captain and the ship performed almost like they were one. “We’re going to need all she can do against these creatures to stay alive. Be glad she can do what we’ve witnessed.”

  Cassandra turned her attention back to Earth’s former solar system and saw millions of the Captor’s ships jump in and surround Jupiter. The ships then began construction of the construct they saw in their home system. Cassandra’s eyes narrowed and she wanted to jump in and start killing those red ships. The Kosiev started vibrating again and Cassandra saw Tommy look at her so she settled down and the vibration stopped. She thought to the ship, “Settle down, you’re giving me away.” She could almost feel the ship smiling at the thought of action. Then she knew that it was the ship reflecting her own feelings back at her.

  Sprig entered the bridge and Tommy and Cassandra looked up at him. “We need to go check on Earth and make sure the orbit is what it should be.”

  Cassandra looked at Tommy and saw him nod, “We will be jumping in two minutes. Prepare for jump in two minutes. Please count it down, Mr. McAnn.”

  “Aye, Aye, Captain.” Wes entered the coordinates and counted it down.

  Cassandra sat in here chair and wanted revenge. This fight had become personal and the Captors had no idea of the power they had just turned against them. Even Cassandra didn’t know; but the Kosiev was vibrating to a deeper hum and the crewmembers could feel a difference in the ship. The Kosiev jumped and Cassandra turned her attention to her home planet.

  Chapter 13

  The Kosiev came out of its star drive just outside the atmosphere of Earth. Tommy’s display came on with Misty Nicole looking at him. “That was cut pretty close, Duke Gardner.”

  “Director Nicole, we didn’t plan it that way. We were fortunate to complete the assembly of the device before their weapon hit the planet.”

  “I want to apologize for telling you that we were not going to run,” Misty said. “We watched that weapon coming and everyone on the planet was frozen. We knew we were going to die. You were right; I had no idea of the danger of this Captor race. That first ship wasn’t much smaller than our moon.”

  Tommy l
ooked at Misty and she could tell something was wrong. “What happened after we moved?”

  Tommy hung his head and then looked at his display and said, “The Captors destroyed every trace of intelligent life. The moon no longer exists; they blew it into small pieces. Everyone left behind was obliterated.”

  Misty looked shocked. Then she asked, “You were unable to save any of them?”

  Tommy just sighed. Cassandra then said on her display, “We determined that the Captors did not see us move the planet. They must be skeptical but we sense that they believe the Earth was destroyed. If we tried to teleport anyone out, then they would know that the planet was not destroyed. They would have found you very quickly and attacked again. We could not teleport you fast enough to avoid destruction. It was save those settlements and lose the population of Earth or take no action for Earth’s safety.”

  Misty looked ten years older. “Some of our finest people were on the moon. We even had a screen around it to protect it.”

  Tommy slowly shook his head and said, “The screen did nothing to slow their beams.”

  Misty looked up and said, “Don’t blame yourself. It’s those creatures who are to blame. The people of Earth thank you for saving our life.” The display went blank.

  Tommy took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Cassandra could see how despondent he was. Tommy looked up and said, “Captain Dodd, may I talk with you privately in the conference room?”

  Cassandra stood up and walked with him to the conference room. They entered and Tommy sat down. Cassandra sat down beside him worried about his obvious depression. Tommy looked at her and said, “Cassie, I need to talk with you about what I’ve seen during out fights with the Captors.” Cassandra furrowed her brow and Tommy continued, “I don’t understand how you are doing some of the things you’ve done.”

  Atlas said over the speaker in the room, “I hope you don’t mind me interrupting but I also have some questions.”

  Tommy looked at the speaker and said, “Hello, Atlas. Did you watch the action at Earth?”

  “No, Tommy. I’ve avoided being anywhere near the confrontations. Don’t think I’m not interested; I fear that if the Captors read my signature and learn that one of my species is still free, then they might think that I am responsible for the things you’ve done and kill the others of my kind at their home world. I just can’t run that risk.”

  “You’re right, Atlas; that is probably what would happen. What questions do you have?”

  “Do you mind if we join you during this conversation,” Twig asked?

  Tommy and Cassandra looked at each other. “We can’t hear what you and Captain Dodd are saying but we heard what Atlas said. We would very much like to know what you have to say.”

  “I guess two more might not matter,” Cassandra said.

  Sprig said, “You should also invite Tgon-Gee, too.”

  “Why,” Tommy asked?”

  “Because a lot of what’s happening is directly related to your auras,” Twig responded.

  Tommy shrugged and reached for his com, Sprig said, “You don’t need your com; Tgon-Gee is telepathic now.”

  “When did that happen,” Atlas asked.

  “The night of the wedding,” Twig said.

  “Tgon-Gee, do you have a few minutes,” Tommy thought?”

  “Yes, Your Majesty, how may I be of service?”

  “You’re not going to leave me out of this conversation, I hope.”

  “Hello, Rose; were you listening in?”

  “I’ve actually been watching you closely since you moved Earth to its new location. However, I also have some questions.”

  Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “I’m sorry, my love. I thought this would be private but obviously it’s just not going to happen.”

  Cassandra smiled at Tommy and said, “Go ahead everyone; ask your questions.”

  Sprig said, “Captain Dodd, how did you destroy five of the Captor’s ships and blow such a big piece of their construct out of existence?”

  Cassandra said, “I don’t know?”

  The entire group was silent. Then she continued, “Since my first physical contact with Tommy, things have been changing too fast for me to understand. When we attacked the Captor’s planet and I saw them stop all of our weapons, I got angry and thought “Kill that Queen.” Something shot out of the Kosievs’ hull and hit the construct around the planet. You saw the results. When the five ships attacked Earth, I didn’t get angry; I was afraid but I thought “Kill them now.” The same thing happened; five pitch-black balls of something shot out of the Kosiev and struck those five ships destroying them.” I wish I could tell you what is going on but I don’t know. One thing I’m sure of though; I have somehow bonded with the Alexander Kosiev and the two of us are almost a part of each other.”

  “What do you mean a part of each other,” Rose asked?”

  “Well, I know that the number eleven black hole reactor is operating at ninety five percent because of a small dent in back side of the case against the bulkhead. I know that the black hole material inside the skin had become negative matter so that whatever it touches is consumed through cancelation of each other’s atoms. What I have found truly amazing is that the Kosiev fires only the exact amount of that negative matter to completely destroy the target and nothing more. How it happens, I don’t have a clue; it just does. I also know that the readers the adolescents are using have been modified by the Adolescents to be more than a hundred percent faster by using an Algean algorism. I sense every part of the Kosiev as if it were my own body.”

  Tgon-Gee asked, “If that is true, were the Kosiev destroyed, would it destroy you as well?”

  Cassandra sat and thought. “If I were tuned in to the ship at the time of the destruction, then I believe I would die with the ship.”

  Tommy said, “Then we need to get you off that ship.”

  Cassandra looked at Tommy and said, “Did you not say that if taking action because of personal feelings weakened the Realm, then you could not do it. Do you think removing me from the Kosiev would weaken our chances against the Captors?”

  Tommy sat and struggled. “Boy, you’re good.”

  Tgon-Gee said, “I am reluctant to say what I’m about to say but I feel it must be said.”

  Rose said, “What is that?”

  “When I first met your parents, Rose, I was amazed at their auras. I’ve never seen anyone with an aura as strong. I told Admiral Dorg when he said that he was glad your father was on our side, I corrected him and told him that we had better be glad that we were on his. We chose to align our people with Earth because of their auras. Tommy, Rose, your auras are actually stronger than your parents. We celebrated that the succession was settled when you were born. I know that, even now, your father’s aura represents the ultimate warrior. He cannot be defeated; even by the two of you.” Tgon-Gee hesitated and then said, “Now I must change my opinion. Captain Dodd is capable of defeating all of you even if you combined against her.”

  Cassandra was stunned speechless. Rose and Tommy thought to each other, “Can this be true?”

  Tommy said, “What makes you say this, Tgon-Gee?”

  “I didn’t understand it at first but I’ve come to understand that it is not the aura that gives you your power. The aura is just a representation of the power you possess. Can you understand that concept?”

  Everyone in the conference thought and then started nodding, Tgon-Gee continued, “Right now Tommy and Rose’s aura extend more than fifteen feet from their bodies which is a substantial increase from the four inches it was a few weeks ago. If you extrapolate from the percent of increase, the Gardner’s powers have increased more than four hundred and fifty percent.” Tgon-Gee waited for everyone to absorb what he had just told them. Then he said, “Captain Dodd’s aura extends more than five miles.”

  Everyone was speechless and then everyone started feeling a small measure of nervousness and fear. Cassie could sense their reaction. She said, “
You have nothing to fear from me. I would never hurt you.”

  Tgon-Gee said, “You can’t say that and be honest. You do not know your own powers. You could do it accidently. I can say this; you are the ultimate warrior in this universe. Even an inanimate object almost comes to life when it is touched by you. You must learn yourself and you must learn control. It is a possibility that you could actually destroy this universe.”

  Tommy and Cassandra thought about the nerve centers the adolescents had told them about and how they had caused its heat to rise so dramatically. Rose said, “Perhaps it is she who should be Queen.”

  Cassandra immediately started protesting but Tgon-Gee interrupted, “Perhaps her children might be the Realm’s leaders, but it is not a good thing to put a weapon in charge of making decisions. Make no mistake; she is the Realms strongest weapon. She should not be the one who decides where she is pointed. I also suspect that she does not want to make that decision. Someone that is more peace oriented should be the ruler.”