by Saxon Andrew
Cinny looked at the map and sighed, “We might as well move to that line and jump in that direction. We don’t have any other place that’s better.”
Ana said, “Jump in one minute.” Grant sighed. They had spent two weeks jumping around aimlessly and he began to worry the High Priest was right. Four more weeks passed and nothing turned up. It really was an infinite universe.
• • •
The High Priest called Mariah and Alberto to his chambers. They walked in and bowed as he said, “Where is Kent and Arlin?”
Mariah looked at the High Priest, “I assume they’re sulking around somewhere.”
“When was the last time you saw them?”
Mariah looked at Alberto and said, “I guess it was about four days ago.” She looked at Alberto and he nodded. “Why do you ask?”
“They’re not on the planet.”
“WHAT?”
“I’ve had the entire planet searched; they’re not here.” The High Priest looked at the head Server, “Contact every commercial vessel that came here over the last four days.” The Servant nodded and left the room. He looked at Mariah, “We still have items brought to us by commercial ships on a regular schedule. It’s impossible to survive without various wares from other civilizations.”
Mariah nodded. She had seen many ships come and go, “Why would they leave here?”
The High Priest stared at them in silence and Mariah grabbed her throat with her right hand, “Surely you don’t think they would…”
“I sincerely hope they wouldn’t. You know them better than I do.”
Alberto shook his head, “They’d do it and celebrate it.”
The High Priest shook his head and picked up his communicator.
• • •
Kent looked at Arlin as he queried the small ship’s database. He finally cursed and threw up his hands, “The coordinates aren’t in the computer. He went to the general library and looked up the galaxy he was searching for and it appeared. He made six inquires and then turned the ship and aligned it. He set the jump drive for a million light years and pressed the activate button. After four more jumps, he could see the galaxy off in the distance. Arlin looked at him, “Are you certain you want to do this?”
Kent looked at him and lowered his eyes, “Are you getting cold feet?”
“Your actions could lead to the extinction of humanity.”
“There are humans at the Temple. They can start over.”
“But you heard the young man say that the temple was in danger if they found Earth.”
“What do you suggest?”
“We need to think this through, Kent.”
Kent sat back in his chair and after a moment nodded, “Perhaps you’re right.” He suddenly pulled a small blaster out of his pocket and shot Arlin between the eyes. Arlin’s body collapsed to the floor and Kent smiled; blasters didn’t cause much blood spatter.
He had built the small blaster when he was installing the planetary defenses at the Choten-Zan’s planet. He had hid it for years against the day when he’d need it to get his revenge. He stood up and dragged Arlin’s body off the bridge to the landing bay and threw it on top of the dead bodies of the ship’s crew. He went back to the bridge and set up the next jump. His wife and baby daughter were killed on Avalon during the Raider attack. Earth was going to pay for their deaths and then he could join his family. But first, Earth had to be destroyed. He didn’t care if humanity was exterminated. They had proven they weren’t worthy of living. He focused on the distant galaxy and aligned the ship. He pressed the jump button and snarled at the display.
• • •
“Grant, the High Priest is trying to contact you.”
“Put him on the monitor.”
The High Priest appeared and said, “Kent and Arlin are not on the planet.”
“What?”
“He somehow managed to leave during the last four days. We’ve contacted every commercial ship that came here during that time and there is one small vessel that doesn’t answer.”
Sneaky said, “They’re going to lead the Invaders to Earth.”
Grant looked at Sneaky, “How do you know?”
“His hatred for Earth burns like an unquenchable fire in his mind. He doesn’t care about the consequences, he’s going to lead them to Earth.”
Mariah said, “Kent might be crazy enough to do it but Arlin would never allow him to do it.”
Sneaky said, “You assume Arlin could stop him.”
“Sneaky, contact the Animals and have them jump to the Invader’s galaxy with orders to destroy his ship. Do it now!”
Grant looked at Mariah, “You knew he was crazy enough to do this?”
“I knew how much he hated Earth for the deaths of his family but I never in my wildest dreams thought he could do anything about it.”
Grant shook his head, “I told him how to do it when I was there. This is on me.”
“No it isn’t.”
Grant looked at the High Priest on the monitor, “How can you say that?”
“I knew he had a small hand weapon and didn’t force him to turn it over to me.”
“What?”
“He could have never fired it at one of us without us taking it from him before he could use it. I should have taken it after you left.”
Mariah looked at him, “Why didn’t you?”
“It didn’t cross my mind. However, I suspect if Arlin tries to stop him, he’ll fail in the effort.”
Grant looked at Sneaky, “Anything?”
“Not yet. Our ships are arriving as we speak.”
Cinny said, “Send some of them to Earth.”
Grant shook his head, “I should have thought of that.”
Sneaky lowered herself to the console, “We’re too late.”
“What happened?”
“Kent arrived at Earth with eight Invader Battleships chasing him. Our warning put them on high alert and they detected his arrival. He jumped away and they followed him to Earth. Our ships just arrived and destroyed six of the ships that Earth’s fleet was unable to kill. They had to have enough time to get a message out to the Invaders, telling them Earth’s coordinates.”
“What about Kent?”
“His ship was the first one destroyed by the Invaders when they arrived.”
“Sneaky, tell Gaylee to keep a close eye on those Starkillers.”
“They’ve gone to full power and are absorbing a huge amount of energy from the black hole.” Grant blew out a breath and shook his head. Cinny put her hand on his shoulder as he said, “Tell the Animals…”
“They’ve already started their attacks.”
Grant looked at the High Priest, “So much death.”
The High Priest lowered his head and nodded slowly.
• • •
Gaylee thought to the ships jumping in on Kyaamga, “Do not attack the flagship of this fleet.”
“Why not?”
“I’m hoping I’ll be able to convince him to stop this.”
Groggy and Emee moved out into the huge city toward the giant munitions factory four miles away. Groggy blew fire in front of him and burned a swath of buildings five hundred yards wide. He walked into the flames pushing the burning structures aside as Emee absorbed the thousands of blasters fired at them from the ground forces. She grew in size as she absorbed the power and was soon pulsing a silver color. Groggy saw her turn toward the buildings in front of them and spit a beam a quarter of mile wide. Every building within a mile in front of them vaporized. Groggy thought, “I’ve never seen a beam like that.”
“It appears I have more power than my older brothers.”
“Indeed it does.”
Emee began collecting more power as the giant Dragon pushed his way toward the giant factory.
• • •
The Watcher saw his fleet being blasted and even moving into squares didn’t stop the killing of his ships. He suddenly saw a brilliant flash on the planet’s surface and
saw a giant mushroom cloud blow up into the atmosphere. He saw six of the ships around him vaporized and wondered why he hadn’t been killed. He looked at his Talker and he said, “Thousands of our planets are going up in flames.”
The Watcher shook his head and then thought, “Why are you not killing my ship?”
“I’m hoping you can convince your leaders to power down those Starkillers.”
“Will you stop killing my ships if I agree to try?” Suddenly, the massacre stopped. Even the explosions on the planet ceased. He looked at his talker, “Connect me with the Great Leader.”
“What do you want?”
“Great Leader, thousands of our planets are being attacked and there is severe loss of life.”
“We will put an end to this shortly.”
“Great Leader, they started the attacks when you began powering up the Starkillers.”
“What are you saying?”
“Perhaps we should consider their offer to stop the fighting.”
“When the main planet of this civilization is destroyed, you will turn yourself in for execution. Your cowardice is disgusting.”
The channel went dead and the Watcher thought, “I’m going to contact the Lower Council and see if they will overturn the Great Leader’s plans.”
Gaylee listened in to the conversation and the Watcher was given authority to replace the Great Leader. He had the Council contact the Great Leader and waited for them to contact him. After five minutes, the Leader of the Lower Council appeared on his panel, “He refuses to resign his position and is sending one of the Starkillers. He also plans to activate the others and move on the new civilizations we’ve discovered.”
The Watcher sighed and thought, “We can’t stop him. Our ships can’t penetrate his force fields and unless we can destroy the ship he’s in, he will continue this war.”
Gaylee saw the Watcher’s thoughts and said, “I will call a ceasefire on all your planets. What can you tell me about his ship?”
“It can’t jump directly into a star system. It can jump in a half a billion miles out and then it must fly into the range of its weapon.”
“How far out it that?”
“Two hundred million miles.”
Gaylee contacted Grant and told him what was going on. “Does that ship have any defensive weapons?”
“Hold on.” Gaylee’s thoughts stopped and several minutes later he heard, “No. It totally depends on its force field to protect it.”
“Order all our ships to Earth and have them gather at the fourth planet out from the sun. I need the most powerful Spiders to be on the hulls of our ships.”
“Grant, we’ve discovered during the fighting that the new females have a beam more powerful than any we’ve seen.”
“Send the ships to our home and collect as many as you can. When you arrive at Earth take the ships as close to the star as possible and have them absorb as much power as they can handle.”
Cinny looked at Grant, “Do you think they’ll be able to defeat the force field?”
“It’s our only hope. Ana, take us to Earth and get Admiral Blake on the channel.”
“What’s going on? How did those Invader Warships find us?”
“Admiral, we’ll discuss that later. Right now we have a Raider Starkiller powering up and headed your way.”
“Oh my God!”
“It can’t jump directly into your system. It will arrive half a billion miles out and have to fly to the orbit of Mars to fire its weapon. I’m sending all my ships to attack it with our Animals’ beams. You should also use every ship in your inventory to fire on it.”
“It has a force fifty force field.”
“Unless you have a better idea, please do as I ask.”
“I’ll meet the ship when it arrives.”
“Admiral, it doesn’t have any defensive weapons. It is totally dependent on its force field for protection.”
“Why would it need anything else? I’ll open fire as soon as it arrives.”
Grant ended the call and looked up, “Gaylee, how long before that ship jumps here?”
“It’s currently moving away from the black hole at a high rate of acceleration. I suspect it will take some time before it’s far enough away from the gravity well to use its jump drive.”
“Let me know when it jumps.”
Grant looked at Cinny, “It looks like the High Priest was right. We’re no closer to finding the Orion than when we started.”
Cinny shook her head, “We can only pray the new Spiders are powerful enough to stop it.” The Nemesis entered normal space at the orbit of mars and Ana said, “Hundreds of thousands of transports are leaving Earth.”
“What can you see?”
“They’re filled with people and supplies to support them.”
Grant smiled, “They prepared for this eventuality.”
“Millions will survive but billions will die, Grant.”
“I know that, Ana, but at least the species will survive.”
“Only until this enemy shows up again.”
Grant shook his head and knew she was right.
“Grant, the ship just disappeared from normal space.”
Grant looked at his monitor as Ana showed the giant vessel on the screen. Earth’s fleets rushed in and they looked like gnats attacking an Elk. The giant ship’s force field was barely glowing. “Slippy, are your ships ready to attack.”
“Grant, it takes much longer for the females to absorb enough power.”
“What?”
“They aren’t close to being fully charged.”
“Move closer to the sun.”
“I’m as close as I can get without melting our ships. The Dragons can only keep the heat out at our current distance.”
Grant and Cinny watched death flying toward Earth as Grant said, “If that ship arrives at Jupiter before they’ve fully absorbed all they can hold, you’ll have to bring them.”
“What planet is Jupiter?”
“The giant planet with the big red spot on it. It’s the fifth planet out from the sun.”
“I see it now. I’ll come as quickly as possible.”
Chapter Twenty
The Watcher on the Starkiller looked at his monitor and nodded, “Their ships are not anything to concern yourself about. They haven’t been able to do much more than illuminate our force field.”
Lenga smiled, “I would have sent a fleet of warships with you but they are defending our citizens.”
“We wouldn’t need them, Great Leader. I’ll continue to send you a feed on what’s happening.”
“That would be excellent.” The monitor flickered and the ten Leaders saw the tens of thousands of red warships attacking the Starkiller. “This will soon be over and we can start going after their other planets.”
The Leaders watched the display and it appeared Lenga was right.
• • •
The Giant ship passed Uranus’ orbit and moved quickly toward the orbit of Saturn. Grant shook his head and as it neared Saturn’s orbit and thought, “Slippppy!”
“We’re jumping out. Ask the Earth Ships to clear an area for us to move in.”
Grant looked at Sneaky and she said, “I’ve contacted the Admiral.”
Grant looked at the monitor and saw the thousands of red battleships move away from the front of the Starkiller’s bow. Thousands of small crimson colored cruisers appeared in front of the oncoming giant and gathered in a tight formation as they backed away from the Invader. Grant waited and then saw a brilliant flash that almost blinded him. Ana lowered the brightness of the screen and they saw a single brilliant energy beam hitting the Starkiller’s force field in a small area. The giant was quickly approaching the orbit of Mars but the giant’s force field was glowing with a bright intensity.
• • •
Lenga saw the small ships arrive and gather in front of the Starkiller. The brilliant beam leapt out from them and struck the force field. He pressed his communicator, “W
hat’s happening.”
“Great Leader, that beam is more powerful than any we’ve ever encountered!!”
“Can you complete your mission?”
“We’ll be there in another four minutes.”
Lenga watched the giant ship power up its huge beam and a moment later the feed ended. He shook his head and his eyes narrowed. He changed the channel on his communicator and yelled, “A hundred Starkillers will leave and destroy that planet. I will be going with you to make sure it’s done.”
Glery looked at Lenga, “Is that wise?”
“You saw what happened. They were barely able to stop one ship with everything they had. Two could probably do the job but I’m not taking any chances.”
• • •
Gaylee watched the black hole and lowered herself to the console, “Grant, a hundred of those ships are moving out from the black hole.”
• • •
Grant watched the Starkiller glowing brightly and then he saw the huge beam on its hull start glowing. A moment later the giant ship’s force field was penetrated and it exploded in a massive blast. The thousands of ships gathered around it were pushed away by the shock wave.
Grant yelled, “Slippy, are you alright?”
“The Dragons protected us from the heat of that blast but some of our systems were knocked offline. It’s going to take some time to get them back online.”
“How much energy did the Spider’s use?”
“They’re down to less than ten percent.”
“Grant, a hundred of those ships are moving out from the black hole.”
Grant fell back on his command chair. “There’s no way to stop two of them much less a hundred.”
Cinny nodded and shook her head, “We should escape.”
“I will not leave Earth without making an effort to defend them.” Cinny nodded and sat down in Grant’s lap. After a few moments she put her arms around his neck, “I love you so much.”
“I’d sing you a love song but I can’t think of one right now.”
Sneaky said, “Ask Ana. She sings a lot.”
Grant and Cinny looked at Sneaky and then looked up as Ana said, “How do you know I’m singing?”