by Saxon Andrew
Cassandra slowed the video and the entire bridge crew watched as the primary beams began to fail. They also saw the hull of the Moscow start to go from bright white to a dark color moving from the rear of the ship forward. This process continued until the dark color moved forward and covered the nose of the ship just as the primary beams failed.” The ship then launched all of its penetrators and the entire ship went dark.
The crew was in a somber mood. This was when one of humanity’s hero’s had perished. Admiral Kosiev and his entire crew died as the Moscow was hit by hundreds of anti-matter missiles. The ship exploded and the bridge crew saw a piece of it fly off the top of the ship into space.
“What am I looking for, Twig?”
“Every attempt to recreate the event that created that piece of the hull that later became the skin of this ship has failed. They failed because they misunderstood what they were seeing.”
Cassandra furrowed her brow and said, “I don’t understand.”
The skin of the Kosiev was formed not because of the blasts that destroyed the ship but because of the total lack of energy remaining in the Coronado power cells.”
Cassandra thought and reran the video. Sprig added, “Notice that the piece that flew off was directly over the black hole reactors. The skin had already absorbed those black holes before the missiles struck.”
Suddenly, she understood; it was a lack of energy that gave birth to the skin, not the blast from the missiles. “I think I understand. The power cells were totally depleted and the reactors had failed. There was no place for the cells to draw energy so they absorbed the black holes.”
“Exactly, Captain; we believe that the power cells are like a regular battery and develop a memory of the charge they hold. When that charge is absent, the cells look for another source and draw it to them.”
“So what went wrong here?”
Sprig said, “We don’t know. When we dropped the black holes on the hull after fully discharging the power cells the ship exploded and started burning.”
Cassandra said, “Well, we have three more ships; let’s try it again.”
The second megaship was moved out and the ship began constant firing of its primary beams and its screen was brought to full power. The process took more than four hours bur finally the screen and primary beams failed. “This is where we were last time,” Sprig said.
Cassandra closed her eyes and looked at the armored skin of the ship and said, “There is still power in the hull coating.”
Twig and Sprig looked at Cassandra and said, “Our instruments show zero power.”
“You instruments are wrong.” Cassandra closed her eyes and let her mind roam the megaship. I see you’ve disconnected the reactors from the hull.”
“Yes we did.”
“Are you aware that each of those reactors has a backup 18 volt battery to keep the display working in the event of power failure? There are also four more batteries on the bridge consoles. They are being drained as we speak.”
Sprig and Twig looked at each other and then said, “Let’s remove the batteries on the ship and see if that changes anything.”
Cassandra said. “I don’t think it will. That charge, even though it’s small must be discharged but the hull doesn’t have enough power to operate the discharge system. That little bit of power won’t allow any system to turn on to remove it.”
The adolescents thought a moment and Cassandra said, “The batteries will be drained completely in thirty minutes. We will then hit the skin of the ship with a weak beam until it has enough power to trip the primary beam circuit. Then we’ll take another reading.”
Thirty minutes late the Algeans read their instruments and said, “They still read zero. If there is energy in the hull the charge is too small to detect.”
Cassandra said, “Weapons, hit the megaship with a low power laser.” A laser stabbed out and hit the megaship.
“Sprig looked at his instruments and said, “The screen is now active, Captain.”
“Weapons, increase the power of the laser to three million watts.” The laser grew in intensity and hit the ship for three minutes. “Cease firing.”
The megaship hung in space and Twig pushed a button on her hand held instrument. The megaship fired its primary beam for two seconds and then went out. Cassandra closed her eyes and felt the ship. “There is still a charge. The ship is drawing power from the learning facility. We need to move further out into empty space.”
The megaship was towed away from the learning facility and the process was repeated. Cassie closed her eyes and said, “We’re drawing power from the star in this system.”
The Algeans were shocked. “Captain, lets charge the ships so we can jump it out into empty space between the galaxies.”
The laser was fired again and the power increased until the ship had enough power to operate. The two ships jumped out into empty space and the megaship was discharged again. Cassandra closed her eyes and said, “The ship is empty of any energy. However, I want to attempt something.”
The adolescents looked at her and Cassandra said. “The black holes that entered the skin the Kosiev were converted to negative matter when the hundreds of ant-matter missiles struck the Moscow. Instead of dropping black holes into the skin, I want to deposit some of the matter from the Kosiev and see if it takes it.”
The Kosiev stayed back from the megaship to prevent it from drawing any power. Cassandra looked at the Megaship and tried to think of a command that would make the transfer. Then a thought wormed its way into her mind; “Feed the ship” she thought. A long black tube shot from the Kosiev and entered the megaships outer plating. Nothing appeared to be happening until Wes said, “The megaship has just gone off our sensors.”
The Algeans looked at each other and jumped off the floor. “We did it!”
Cassandra looked at them and said, “We have one more task before it will be ready for combat. We need to move it to a system that is dead and drop it into the star.”
The bridge crew looked at her with mixed expressions. “The ship must have enough material to fight the Captors. A star should do the trick but first we need to put in the control systems. Lt. Ortiz, take a team of five and jump the ship to the learning center and I’ll contact Sten to begin the work. Leave now and Lt. McAnn, bring the last megaship here and let’s make the conversion.”
Two months later eleven megaships had been converted, had their control systems installed, and had been dropped into a star. Cassandra went to each ship and changed the penetrator launchers so that they were mounted inside the ship and the barrels stuck into the inside walls of the hull. She then melded the launchers to the negative matter inside the skin of the ship. Now when fired, the launchers would send a piece of negative matter at the target. The size of the matter was set for a medium size captor ship. It should destroy the largest but would leave wreckage. On a smaller ship, there would be negative matter left behind that would need to be reabsorbed into the skin of the ships. Tommy watched Cassandra fine tune the launchers and marveled at her mental control of the ships systems. “You’re remarkable, Cassie. I have no idea how you’ve made this work but these ships should give more than they get in a battle with the Captors.”
“This is easy; I’ve always had an affinity for machines. They talk to me now and I just tell them what I need them to do. Well, something like that.”
“You do that to me, too.”
“Yeah, but you don’t always listen.”
“That’s true, however the Royal Family has approved you for a medal and I’m here to present it.”
“I don’t deserve a medal. Everyone on the ship deserves one as much I do.”
Tommy moved in front of her and said, “That maybe true but there’s only one person on this ship that the metal will fit.”
Cassie tilted her head to the side obviously confused when Tommy opened a ring box and held it up to her and said, “Cassandra Dodd, will you marry me?”
Cassandra looked
at the ring with a stone the size of a small planet on it and felt her heart swell ten times its size. She started crying and said, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.” She rushed forward and threw her arms around Tommy and held him tight.
“Hey, hey; don’t you want to see the ring?”
“Right now I want to see you as close as I can get to you.” She held him close and after a few moments stepped back and Tommy placed the ring on her finger. “After Jupiter we will have the wedding.” Tommy reached for Cassie and held her tight.”
Chapter 15
Captain Wes McAnn looked at his control board. He had been given the command of the Atlantis one of the new pulse ships as the new models were called. He had worked his crew into top shape and his board showed their readiness. His com beeped and he looked on his screen and saw Captain Edward Jones the new commander of the Polaris. “Wes, I just wanted to make sure you saw that I will be covering your port side.”
“Hello, Ed; yes I did. I couldn’t ask for a better wingman. Congratulations on your promotion.”
“Thank you and congratulations to you, too. Let’s make sure we bring these ships back.”
“I agree, keep your eyes open and stay close to the Kosiev. She’ll protect our flank; our job is to keep the masses as far away as possible. I’ll keep my eye on you,” Wes said.
“And I will be watching both of you.”
Wes looked at his com, “Hey Captain Fergerson. Is the Sydney up to your expectations?”
“Yes it is, however my Davlid sensor officer developed stones in her primary stomach and had to be taken to a hospital. They’ve replaced her with a Cainth.”
Ed smiled, “How lucky can you get. Have you ever seen how the Cainth can perform four functions simultaneously with those four arms?”
“Yes, but I can’t stop thinking that he looks like a bloody Roo from my farm in Australia. It’s something I’ll just have to get over but I keep expecting to see him hop off the bridge.”
Wes and Ed laughed, “You’ll get over it Ferg.”
“I know, I know; it’s just weird.”
The twelve ships were in formation preparing to teleport into Earth’s old solar system and begin the fight against the Captors. Admiral Cassandra Dodd keyed the fleet frequency and said, “Hold our formation and do not get pulled away from the Kosiev. If the Captors launch one of those huge energy missiles, we will teleport out of the system and come right back after the ball has passed our position. If the fight gets out of hand, I will push the fleet teleport key and take everyone out. Hold your positions around the Kosiev until we launch the fusion missiles into Jupiter. We will be going in five minutes. Make sure your ships are ready. That is all.”
The Algeans were standing on the bridge running calculations and Sprig didn’t like what he was seeing. “Admiral Dodd, our calculations lead us to believe that the fusion missiles may not be enough to ignite the core.”
Tommy looked at Sprig and said, “How many will it take to ignite the core?”
Sprig raised his limbs over his head and said, “It a mass problem. Jupiter is just too big. I’m not certain every fusion missile in our inventory will do the job. If the Captors have been raising the temperature of the core like we believe, then it might work. We just won’t know until we launch,”
Tommy and Cassandra looked at Sprig and Tommy said, “We have to try. The plan stands as we’ve drawn it up.”
Lt. Johns, the Kosievs’ new sensor office said, “Teleport in one minute.”
Cassandra said, “Count it down, Linda Kay.”
“5,4,3,2,1, execute.”
The Stars Realm Pulse Ships appeared above the southern Pole of Jupiter and the Kosiev launched twelve fusion missiles into Jupiter’s atmosphere just before a hundred thousand Captor ships came screaming around the planet. Cassandra said over the fleet frequency, “Weapons free, hold your positions.”
The Captors started blowing up and imploding. The Kosiev had the black negative matter balls leaving its hull so fast that the entire skin looked black. The first wave of Captor ships were disappearing faster than the eye could follow but now the rest of the Captor fleet arrived with more than a million ships piling on the rush to destroy the intruders. Linda Kay announced, “The fusion missiles have detonated.” She paused for a moment and said, “The core has not ignited.”
The Captors launched thousands of the energy balls and Cassie hit the mass teleport button. The fleet came out above Jupiter’s north pole and fired negative matter at the construct that the Captors had been building and huge holes were blown into it.”
Sprig yelled at Cassandra, “Go into energy space and ignite Jupiter’s core.”
Cassandra was so focused on fighting the Kosiev that she only heard Sprig with the back of her mind. Then it broke through her consciousness and she keyed the ships com and said, “Penetrator crews, take over firing weapons.” Then she looked for the nearest nerve center in space and focused her mind into it.
Wes saw thousands of Captor ships rushing in to attack and he issued orders as fast as he could. “Penetrators focus seventy percent of weapons on the starboard side, helmsman, roll us sixty degrees to the starboard, Launch a volley of two thousand toward the nose, Belay that roll. Move toward the Polaris, keep them off his flank.”
The Atlantis moved closer to the Polaris as thousands of red ships flew at the beleaguered pulse ship. Wes ordered, “Take some of the heat off Polaris’ port side. Helmsman, take us in closer.” Suddenly the red ships turned from the Polaris and moved on Atlantis. More than five thousand energy balls flew at Wes’ ship. The Captor’s beams were being absorbed by the pulse ships’ skin but the energy balls blasts were so violent that the ships were being tossed around like leaves in a gale. Five hundred energy balls made it through Atlantis’ defenses and hit on both sides of the rear of the ship. Simultaneously two hundred energy balls hit the front port side of the ship. The rear was held in place by the blasts on each side but the front part of the ship was slammed starboard. The ship broke in half.
Linda Kay on board the Kosiev watching her sensors saw the Atlantis break up and said, “Oh no! Please God, not Wes.”
The Polaris and Sydney took station above and below the broken pieces of the Atlantis and were struggling to keep the energy balls away but they were close to being overwhelmed.
The entire bridge crew glanced at the monitor and saw the Atlantis dead in space broken into two pieces. Tommy felt a huge pain in his heart and Sprig’s leaves turned dark brown showing his shock. Sprig reached for his device and Twig shouted, “Sprig, no!” Sprig disappeared from the bridge.
The Twelve ships were being hit by more than four hundred thousand of the Captor’s beams and energy balls were coming as thick as raindrops in a thunder storm. The pulse ships were being rocked by the energy blasts but held on as Cassandra looked for Jupiter on the surface of the particle in null space. Linda Kay controlled her tears and continued to send sensor data to the weapon crews. Then she saw more than twenty thousand of the energy balls home in on the broken Atlantis and explode in a huge blast. When the screen cleared the Atlantis was gone. She had tried desperately to contact Wes with her mind just before the blast but she could feel nothing. Twig watched the blast and felt something die inside her. She couldn’t move or even think clearly.
Cassandra found the particle in energy space but could not find Jupiter on the particle. It was like finding a needle in a mile high haystack. Then she had a thought. She pulled out of the particle and turned her attention on Jupiter. She sent a thought toward Jupiter and then immediately returned to the particle. She looked and then she saw it. There was a blue spot on the particle. She rushed to the spot and looked closely. There, right there, she went closer saw Jupiter. She focused on the minute point and thought, “Hot!” She immediately withdrew from the particle and came back mentally into the Kosiev and pushed the mass teleport button just before Jupiter ignited and became a star. Sprig yelled at Cassandra, “you’ve got to cool the particle;
it’s approaching critical.”
Cassandra took her mind back to the particle in energy space that had also felt her thought and saw it turning white hot, she thought as hard as she could, “Cold, cold, cold, cold.” She kept thinking cold but the temperature didn’t change and the particle started spinning faster; but then, it slowed, and the particle went from white to bright red. She continued to think cold but the temperature remained bright red.”
Twig shortened her height from twelve feet to a normal seven. “The particle is no longer critical but it is not losing heat very fast. It is going to stay hot for many months, Admiral Dodd.”
Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “What does that mean?”
“I’ll show you,” Cassandra said and teleported the fleet back to Jupiter. The fleet came out into normal space near the orbit of mars and Tommy was amazed. There were now two suns in the solar system. Jupiter’s core had ignited and started a fusion reaction which ignited the entire planet into a small star. The Captors construct that had been built around the planet had been melted in the blast of ignition and most of the Captor ships that had been damaged during the battle had been burned in the blast and pulled into the new star’s gravity well. There were still hundreds of thousands of Captor ships swarming around the planet but there was nothing left for them to defend. The new nest was too hot and could not be used as another home.