by Saxon Andrew
“Yes.”
“Keep an ear out for the Dragons to be called on to make another drop. I’d like to crash their party.”
“I have their frequency. I’ll let you know if anything happens.”
Grant looked at Cinny, “You are soooo tough.”
“Come on. You want to do this just as much as I do.”
“Maybe more.”
Cinny looked around and smiled, “Is this meeting over?”
Slick looked at her, “Why do you ask?”
“Grant and I need some alone time.”
Slick laughed and said, “We’ll continue in the morning if we think of anything else.”
Grant stood up and grabbed Cinny’s hand. They ran toward the hut and Cinny yelled over her shoulder, “That would be good.”
• • •
“Colonel, I have another problem on one of the planets we’ve taken.”
“What is it?”
“The Ambassador we sent there has seemed to develop a heart. He’s requesting us to send food and medical supplies for the local population.”
“Why would he even consider that?”
“It’s beyond the understanding of our Prime Minister and he’s of the opinion that he must have gone insane. However, he is very well placed with very high-ranking family members in the government. We need you to do your magic again.”
“I’ll be more than happy to handle this situation. Send me the location and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“You’ll have to be somewhat more careful on this one. It’s not a Capital Planet but it does have a supply depot in orbit. There is a steady stream of our ships coming and going.”
“That will make it easier to get the sniper team on the surface. Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”
“I knew I could depend on you.”
• • •
“Grant, the Dragons have a new Ambassador to hit.”
Grant jumped up out of bed ran to his armor, “Where…when…”
“Calm down. The Sniper team is going in three days from now. It’s going to take that long to get a brigade ready to move in with the Dragons.”
Grant took a deep breath and saw Cinny lying under the covers smiling at him. He slowly shook his head and moved toward her.
• • •
Admiral Blake left the restaurant on Lovely and boarded an armored troop carrier. He really liked the meals at the Lovely restaurants and was glad something made this occupation at least palatable. He arrived at the spaceport and his communicator beeped. He raised it and the display was blank. He heard, “Admiral, you might want to take a look at this alone. You should pause this recording now if there are others around you.”
Blake saw his support staff walking toward the shuttle with him and he paused the message. He walked over to a bench and said, “I’ll join you in a few moments. I have a call I need to make.”
His staff continued toward the shuttle. Blake hit the play button and a voice said, “Most of this is self-explanatory, unless you’re a lot dumber than I think you are.” Blake felt a momentary surge of anger but then saw a planet on his communicator’s display. He froze the view and saw that it was an image of Avalon. It had to be before the four billion colonists arrived from Earth; most of the planet was still undeveloped. The view changed and moved toward the planet’s surface. He saw something on the surface and he continued to stare until he saw buildings. The view moved closer and his eyes went wide. Raiders were walking around the colony and he saw a large colony ship with Raider markings resting on the planet’s surface just outside the community. The size of the colony meant it had to be several years old to have grown as large as it appeared. He stopped the recording and shook his head. When could this recording have been done?
He resumed the recording and heard, “Are your ships in place?”
“Yes Sir. We’ve assigned ten ships to each of the five Raider Warships above the planet.”
“You understand that you will not attack the colony ship on the surface until you are ordered?”
“But Sir, they’ll get a warning out if we don’t take it out quickly.”
“Follow your orders, Commodore!”
“Yes Sir.”
Blake watched the five Raider Warships being attacked by very old Earth Warships. He listened to the pilot’s communications and learned that the five Raider Warships destroyed thirty-eight Earth ships before the last one was killed. Then he heard, “Have you detected any communications from the planet?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Destroy the colony and that colony ship.”
“Yes Sir.”
The images on the display faded and he heard, “You know your instructions.”
“Yes Sir, we are to remove any trace of the colony on the planet’s surface as well as any debris of their warships.”
“Your life hangs in the balance. You must make sure that nothing remains.”
“Yes Sir, we’ll be thorough.”
Blake paused the message and remembered the High Priest saying the Raiders were justified in attacking Avalon. He started shaking his head. He looked at the date on the feed tape in his communicator and saw it had happened several years before Earth sent colonists to Avalon. Why would they want the Raiders warned about their colony’s destruction? He knew he would have never moved to Avalon if he knew an advanced warlike civilization had been attacked there. Then it hit him.
The government on Earth wanted Avalon to be attacked. He thought about the implications and his heart began pounding. He started the message again and saw the conversation with Colonel Leftwitz and the planned assassination of the Ambassador. He lowered his head and heard, “We just want you to know what an evil lot you’re working with. You’re no better than them.” The message stopped and suddenly, it erased itself. He tried to pull it back up but it was gone.
“Sir, another Ambassador has been assassinated.”
“Where?”
“On Mejinan.”
Blake stood and quickly ran to his shuttle. He had to get to his communications panel.
• • •
The Earth Ambassador to Mejinan exited his ground floater and looked at the top of the hills above his Embassy. Fires were still burning out of control where Earth’s Drop Troops had attacked the armed forces in the hills. It wasn’t really a contest and didn’t call for so much death. Many of the Mejinan Troops tried to surrender but were burned anyway. Stockard shook his head and wondered what had happened to his planet. Where was this brutality coming from? Earth wasn’t like this in the past and now it was like some strange metamorphosis had taken place. He went inside his office and saw his communication panel was flashing. He picked up the mobile controller and pressed play, “You need to go to the Financial Center at ten o’clock. There is a serious issue you must resolve on the local currency.”
Stockard shook his head. There seemed to always be something that demanded his presence. “Are you planning to walk?”
Stockard twisted around and saw a young woman stepping out of his coat closet. She was wearing black armor and the uniform of a Navy Captain. “You startled me! How did you get in my closet?”
“I came in last night. Are you planning to walk to the Financial Center?”
“It’s just three blocks down the street.”
“Then I want you to put this on under your uniform.” The woman tossed him a black suit of armor.
“Why should I wear this?”
“You will find out when you come back from your meeting. However, you will wear the armor.”
“Why should I bow to your demand?”
“Think about it. What could possibly be wrong with wearing armor?”
“You must have a reason.”
“I do. However, I need you to do as I…request and put this in your ear.”
She handed him a small black earplug and he stared at it, “What is this.”
“It’s a way for me to communicate with you.”
“Somethi
ng is going to happen to me on the way to the meeting, isn’t it?”
“Ambassador, I really hope it doesn’t. However, I will take the armor and ear plug and leave if you don’t want to listen to my requests?”
The red headed woman held out her hand. Stockard sensed she wasn’t trying to harm him. “As you say, what harm can come from wearing armor? I’ll do as you ask if you’ll tell me what’s going on.”
“I’ll do that when you return from the meeting.”
“Fair enough.”
Cinny turned around and the Ambassador pulled off his uniform and donned the armor. It stretched and fit him perfectly. He put his uniform back on and said, “I’m dressed.” The young woman turned around and he looked at his watch, “I need to be going.” She smiled and nodded. He stepped to his office door, opened it, and felt a breeze as he turned back to the woman. She wasn’t there. He heard the front door open and when he looked, no one was there. What was going on? His assistant said, “You need to be leaving, your Excellency.”
Stockard nodded and stepped out of the front door and started walking down the street. He felt nervous and didn’t know why. Why did she insist he wear armor? As soon as he thought about the question, he felt an incredible pressure hit him in the center of his chest and he fell over backwards. He was stunned and he heard in the ear bud, “Stay down and don’t move! If they see you moving, they’ll take a head shot and you aren’t wearing a helmet!”
Stockard remained still but the pain in his chest was excruciating. He whispered, “What’s going on?”
“I’m coming out to get you and I need you to remain still.”
Stockard barely opened his eyes and saw two armored warriors running up the street toward him. The female rushed up and put her hand on his neck and shook her head. She looked around and the two of them grabbed an arm and dragged him back toward his office. “Just be still. We’ll take care of your chest when we get you inside.”
“You’re killing me.”
“Just be still and don’t move or you’ll be killed for certain.”
• • •
“Report Red Unit!”
“I hit him with a center chest shot, Sir. He went down and didn’t move. Two naval personnel came running to him and it appeared they didn’t find a pulse. They dragged the body out of the street to the Embassy.”
“What about the one chosen to take the fall?”
“Blue unit has him and he understands what will happen if he doesn’t do as we ask.”
“Good, “I’ll be coming in shortly.”
• • •
Cinny and Grant took the Ambassador through the Embassy and out the back door. Grant helped him on the back of Cinny’s scooter and tied him to her with a black nylon band. Grant stepped on his scooter and the two accelerated into the atmosphere. Cinny landed on her ship and helped the Ambassador to her quarters where she helped him lie down. She opened his armor, took a hypodermic, and pushed it into his chest. The Ambassador closed his eyes.
She dropped the ship into subspace and jumped away. She arrived and found Grant and the other two ships waiting for her. “Are we going to be sticking around to see what happens?”
“No, I’m sure there’s a huge number of warships headed this way now. We need to go home before the scouts arrive and see our jump tracks.” Cinny nodded and the four ships disappeared.
• • •
The Brigade of Drop Troops arrived first and surrounded the area where the attack had happened. They knew what was coming and they didn’t allow any of the locals to leave the area. The local population also knew what was coming and most of them had rushed out of their homes near the site of the Ambassador’s death.
Cpl. Cashion watched the frightened civilians and shook his head. His squad was on top of the hill overlooking the street three hundred yards below and saw the members of his squad were staring at him. He saw the platoon’s Lieutenant was using his helmet to watch the street below and he put his hand over his mouth. The squad got the message and remained silent. He looked further to the right and saw that most of the company didn’t like what was coming. Why didn’t the locals learn that attacking an Earth Official would lead to heavy loss of life?
He pushed the frightened civilians away from his squad and heard the Dragons before he saw them. Their special carrier broke the sound barrier coming in and the shock wave was deafening. The Carrier landed and the battalion of Dragons rushed out and formed up in the middle of the street. Colonel Leftwitz strutted off the carrier with his hand speaker and smiled at the thousands of civilians being held back by the drop troops.
“I would have thought that you would have learned the lesson about attacking one of our Ambassadors. It appears you haven’t and must be taught a lesson!”
• • •
The Red Team watched the Dragons arrive and they crowded around the window pushing for a good view of what was coming. Red Team Leader heard something behind him and looked over his shoulder just as a small blaster bolt hit him and all of his six team members in the head. The Spider left the room and rushed up two flights of stairs to the room directly above the dead Dragons. The door was open to the room and a civilian was being held by the Leader of the Blue Team, “If you don’t do as you’re told, we are going to skin every member of your family alive. We’ll start with your infant daughter and then kill your mate. Do you understand?”
The male nodded and trembled with fear, “How do I know you won’t kill them anyway?”
“You don’t. However, they don’t know we have you and so there’s no reason to kill them if you do as you’re told.” The Blue Team Leader sneered, “We know where you live. I almost hope you don’t do it. I’d enjoy playing with your older daughter.”
“So you want me to go out and confess to shooting the Ambassador?”
“Yes, but first we have to teach the others a lesson.”
“But you shot the Ambassador, the ones that live here are innocent.”
“Now there you go nit picking. Just be thankful we’re not choosing your family to teach the lesson.”
Suddenly, the Leader’s grip on the civilians arm fell as a blaster bolt blew through his helmet. The other five members of the blue team were then hit and fell to the floor. The civilian was shocked and saw a large silver colored, eight-legged creature walk up and take his left hand and place a disc in it. “Take this to a local news agency.”
“Wha…what?”
“Take this to a local news agency. Your family is safe for the moment. Do as I tell you!” The Civilian ran out of the room and Skimmy walked up to the open window and looked at the Dragons still standing in formation while their Colonel told the locals that he was going to kill a thousand of them for their treason. Skimmy smiled and charged his mouth.
• • •
Leftwitz enjoyed seeing the civilians fear and he told them in graphic detail how they were going to die slowly this time instead of being burned. They didn’t deserve a quick death. He lowered the hand speaker and looked at his troops. Suddenly, the entire battalion was hit with a massive blaster beam that swept through their formation burning all of them into ashes. The screams of the civilians were silenced and even the Drop Troops surrounding them were shocked speechless. Leftwitz turned and looked in the direction the beam had come from and saw a brilliant light that vaporized his head.
The Drop Troops’ Commander saw the building the beam had originated and yelled over his company frequency, “SURROUND THAT BUILDING NOW. Don’t allow anyone to escape.”
The Drop Troops rushed through the civilians and moved to the backside of the six-story building. They saw the size of the beam that killed the Dragons and they weren’t going to move in front of it. The civilians fled and kept running.
Skimmy killed the Colonel and moved quickly down the stairs until he arrived at the bottom stairwell. He went to his smallest size and climbed under one of the stairs and began weaving a web around himself. When the first soldiers rushed through the door
, he was completely covered by his web. The Lieutenant leading the troops looked at his Scan Corporal as he moved the scanner over his head. After a few moments he looked at the Lieutenant, “Sir, I don’t detect anything alive on the floors above us. There does appear to be twelve dead humans on floors four and five.”
The Lieutenant yelled, “Move up and spread out on every floor.” Hundreds of Drop Troops rushed into the building and began an intensive search. They arrived on the fourth floor and found the six dead members of the Red Team. The Lieutenant picked up a blaster sniper rifle and saw that one charge was missing from the magazine. He yelled for the corporal, “Get in here and tell me if any of these dead men fired this weapon.”
The Corporal came in and scanned the blaster and the six dead bodies, “Sir, the one with Captain’s bars fired the weapon.”
“Are you certain about that?”
“I am, Sir. The residue on the baster matches the residue on the Captain’s chest.”
The Lieutenant stared at the dead bodies and saw they wore Dragon Uniforms under their fatigues. He collected the rifle and activated his command frequency, “Sir, I have something here you might want to see.”
“What!?”
“It appears that a Dragon Captain is the one that fired the blaster that killed the Ambassador.”
“WHAT!?”
“Sir, I think you should come and take a look at this.”
“Don’t allow anyone else in there before I arrive.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
The Drop Troop Commander arrived and looked at the evidence and shook his head. His Executive Officer arrived and said, “Sir!”
“I’m busy right now, Captain.”
“You need to see this now!”
The Commander looked at his XO as he brought a small display over and he saw a recording being broadcast all over the planet and out to hundreds of others, of a civilian being forced to take the blame for killing the Ambassador. He shook his head and put in an emergency call to General Montgomery. The Fleet Ships above the planet also sent an emergency call to Admiral Hall.
Chapter Six
Admiral Blake arrived on board his Flagship, The Triton, and opened a private channel to his Communications Officer, “I need you to open a channel of all communications going to Fleet and Army Control units. I don’t want to communicate, I just want to hear what’s being said. Can you do it?”