Nemesis: The Search for Orion

by Saxon Andrew

“I’ve got most of your circuits down where I can communicate with you. I’ve noticed recently that you seem to be singing.”

  Cinny said, “What are you singing, Ana?”

  “It’s a song that Lydia wrote about the two of you. She sang it to me before she left with the Orion.”

  Grant’s eyes narrowed, “Can you sing it for us.”

  “Sure.”

  Grant and Cinny heard a beautiful voice start singing;

  You take a boy and girl away to grow and to one day be the ones that save us from our demons.

  A daughter and son chosen to be all that we would ever need to save us from the evil of the demons.

  They’ll buckle on their scabbard and draw their sword high to fight for you and me.

  They’re babies now, but later in life, they will win their victory.

  So hide them well and keep them safe, they will never be replaced, their value it beyond a price.

  It’s up to you to do this well and to never tell where they are in this dark night.

  • • •

  Cinny smiled, “That is beautiful, Ana.”

  “She told me that keeping both of you safe was my destiny.”

  Sneaky started to speak but saw Grant’s expression. “What are you thinking?”

  Cinny looked at Grant and tilted her head, “What are you thinking?”

  “I know where the Orion is located.”

  Sneaky looked at his thoughts and said, “You have to be right.”

  Grant jumped up out of his chair and yelled, “Ana, I love you.”

  “What did I do?”

  “Ana, put the star map of the Milky Way up on the monitor.” The spiral galaxy appeared and Grant pointed, “There is where it is.”

  Cinny looked at the giant nebula Grant pointed toward and said, “That’s the first place we looked.”

  “Yes, you know we both thought it was too obvious to be the actual hiding place and besides that, the area is more than eight light years across. The clues were there all along. We just didn’t see it.”

  “What clues?”

  “Ana, do you see the three evenly spaced stars?”

  “I do.”

  “Jump us to the middle one.”

  Grant grabbed Cinny and lifted her off the floor as he hugged her tightly. Normal space disappeared and the Nemesis jumped away. It reappeared at the central star and Grant said, “Orion’s belt.” Cinny shook her head. Grant looked up, “How many planets are in this system, Ana?”

  “Six.”

  “Jump us to the third one and go into orbit above it.”

  The Nemesis jumped and arrived above the planet. Cinny looked at Grant, “What’s going on?”

  “Cinny, what did your parents name you?”

  “Diana.”

  “She was the goddess of the hunt.” Cinny nodded. “And who was known as the Hunter?”

  Cinny thought for a moment and looked up with a smile, “Orion the Hunter.”

  “And Ana’s song says that we would buckle the scabbard. It didn’t say scabbards.”

  Cinny started shaking, “It has to be on Orion’s belt.”

  “And those three evenly spaced stars were what part of the Orion constellation?”

  “Orion’s Belt!”

  Suddenly they heard Ana say, “Oh my God!”

  Grant and Cinny looked out of the forward viewport and saw something gigantic emerging into normal space a hundred miles ahead of them; it dwarfed the Starkillers. Lights began coming on the giant’s hull and Grant said, “Sneaky, stay here until we tell you it’s safe.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Grant looked at the giant vessel and said, “We’re going home.”

  Grant and Cinny ran off the bridge and Sneaky saw a scooter leave the Nemesis and boost toward the giant ship. She suddenly bobbed up and down, “Ana, are you crying?”

  “She trusted me, Sneaky. She gave me the clue that would lead us here and I didn’t recognize it. I thought she would never entrust me with that information but I was wrong. She truly loved me.”

  Sneaky looked out at the giant vessel and saw the scooter flying toward a giant door. As it moved closer, the door opened and brilliant light came flooding out. The scooter disappeared inside and the door closed. Sneaky bobbed up and down; it was a close thing. If she hadn’t mentioned Ana singing… She shook her head and wondered about destiny.

  • • •

  Grant landed the scooter and both of them jumped off and ran toward the forward wall of the landing bay. As they drew close, two covers rotated open exposing holes in the wall. Cinny and Grant dove into the holes and the covers snapped back in place. They accelerated furiously through a long tube surrounded by a clear polymer covering. No one directed them to the wall tubes; they knew they were there.

  The small polymer craft slowed quickly and came to a stop in a wide passage way. The cover of the two-tube craft rose and both of them jumped out and ran toward a door in the center of the passageway. It opened as they approached and they ran through it into an expansive room.

  They stopped and gazed at the lights, panels, and displays. Cinny looked forward and saw two chairs facing toward the massive front viewport. She walked down six steps to the bridge’s main floor and moved toward the two chairs. Grant followed and saw her pick up a green colored uniform off the chair. She held it up against her as Grant arrived and picked up the uniform off his chair. Grant smiled, “Forest Green; the perfect color for the Hunter.” He looked out of the viewport and said, “We need to put these on.”

  Cinny nodded and began removing her armor. She had it off in moments and began putting on the new uniform. She snapped the last two buttons and a helmet appeared over her head. She was startled and looked at Grant as he finished dressing. His helmet snapped into place and he jerked slightly. He looked at Cinny standing by the chair on the left, “That chair is the pilot’s chair.”

  Cinny nodded, “Grant, your parents developed the weapons on this ship.”

  He nodded, “I know. My place is in the weapon’s chair.” They both sat down in their chairs and when they placed their arms on the arms of their chairs, lights began illuminating on every wall. They heard, “Identity confirmed. Welcome aboard.”

  Cinny smiled, “Will you transfer what we need to know to operate this ship?”

  “Transfer commencing.” They closed their eyes as their chairs automatically reclined.

  • • •

  Sneaky contacted Slippy, “What’s going on?”

  “We’ve been recharging the Females and the rest of Earth’s warships have been jumping in by the thousands. Gaylee says the Starkillers will be jumping here shortly.”

  “What’s happening on Earth?”

  “The transports are still jumping away. Killing that first Starkiller bought them more time to save as many as possible.” Slippy paused, “Gaylee says that thousands of Invader Warships have jumped in and are waiting on the Starkillers to arrive at their jump point.”

  “I thought there was a ceasefire?”

  “There is in this galaxy, however, Gaylee says these ships have been sent by the other Invader Galaxy. Earth’s Warships can’t stand up to them so Tricky and I are going to have to take them on while Earth’s Battleships fire on the hundred Starkillers.”

  Sneaky shook her head, “We don’t stand much of a chance of saving Earth do we?”

  “We probably won’t be able to damage any of those ships. The only reason the first one was destroyed was because it pulled energy to power its weapon.” Slippy bobbed and said, “Gotta go, the Invader Battleships have jumped in ahead of the Starkillers.”

  Sneaky bobbed and looked out at the Orion. Where were Grant and Cinny? She could no longer hear their thoughts.

  • • •

  “Grant.”

  “Yes Cinny.”

  “I knew every inch of this ship as soon as I saw it.”

  “Me, too. Right now the computers are connecting to our neural systems.”
>
  “I can see why our speed and reflexes were developed.”

  “There’s more than just those abilities.”

  “I know. I can feel them now.” Cinny paused, “Grant, what clue told you the Orion was here.”

  “There were actually three.”

  “I’m not seeing them.”

  “The first was that neither you nor I ever called this ship Orion’s Sword.” Grant paused and said, “And in the song Lydia left Ana, the second line says a Daughter and Son. That told me the clue was built around you. That made me think about your name being Diana. Diana is also a constellation.”

  “I can see that now. What’s the third?”

  “The third line says that we will draw our sword high. Notice again that it says sword and not the plural Swords. That means we would both be using the same sword. And what constellation has a sword drawn and held high?”

  Cinny smiled, “Orion the Hunter. How did you know it was located on Orion’s Belt and not the tip of his sword?”

  “Because the song says we will buckle the scabbard before we raise the sword.”

  “You are so smart my love.”

  “I’m not sure if it was all me. It might have been the Orion nudging me in the right direction.”

  What?”

  “Remember how we can always feel it?” Cinny nodded. “It was always with us. I’m not any smarter than you are but I saw it.”

  “Time to wake.”

  Grant opened his eyes and reached over and took Cinny’s hand as they both heard, “WHERE HAVE THE TWO OF YOU BEEN!?”

  “What?”

  “The Starkillers have jumped into the solar system and have just passed Jupiter’s orbit!”

  “Ana, bring the Nemesis into the landing bay.”

  “On my way.”

  The Nemesis landed and Cinny said, “Sneaky, there is a hole opened in the front wall. Enter it and join us on the bridge.”

  Cinny looked at Grant, “Are you ready?”

  Grant straightened his arms out in front of him and stretched. The lights on the Orion grew brighter. Cinny smiled and knew the ship was also getting ready for war. She thought of where she wanted to go and the Orion flashed out of normal space.

  • • •

  Tricky whipped the cruiser around and fired his thrusters at full power. He accelerated and moved in behind two Invader Battleships lining up for a shot at the Triton. Tricky thought, “Fire now!”

  “We’ll have to use a high level of power from this far out, Tricky.”

  “That Admiral is too important to lose, fire now!”

  Just as the two Invader Ships moved in on the Triton, two brilliant beams erupted from empty space and hit both of them in the middle. The two ships exploded as the Triton moved toward one of the Starkillers. Cleve looked at Blake, “That was close!”

  Blake shook his head, “Those animals are the only thing preventing us from losing all the ships in our fleet.”

  Cleve looked at the Starkiller they were rapidly approaching and slightly shook his head, “We won’t be able to stop them.” Blake nodded.

  Bobbi screamed, “This is damnably frustrating! Nothing we fire at those ships has any effect. I’ve had every ship in the combined fleet fire at one of them to no avail. Nothing can stop them.”

  “If the Animals had more ships…”

  Blake shook his head, “There still wouldn’t be enough to stop them all.”

  Cleve looked at the Admiral and then shrugged. Blake was right.

  Aubrey put his hand over his ear to hear better and said, “Admiral…”

  Blake looked at him and Telee said, “The Genetics want you to withdraw all your ships immediately.”

  “Wha…What? They’re almost to the orbit of Mars.”

  “JUST DO IT!!”

  Blake looked at Aubrey and said, “Send the order.”

  • • •

  The Great Leader was laughing at the futility of the Earth’s fleets and the other Leaders joined him as they dined and drank their fill to celebrate the coming victory. Glery stood away from the other Leaders and leaned against the front viewport as he stared at the main wall display. His eyes narrowed as he stood up and said, “Hey!!” Everyone ignored him and continued with their meal. Glery shouted, “THOSE SHIPS HAVE MOVED AWAY!!”

  The other eight Leaders stopped and stared at Glery. He pointed at the wall display and said, “They have withdrawn all their ships.”

  The Great Leader stood up from the table and walked over to the monitor. “Why would they do that?” Glery started to speak but then all he could do was point at the monitor showing space behind the Starkiller. Lenga turned around and said, “What in nine hells is that?”

  • • •

  The Watcher sat on his ship and gazed at the destruction that had taken place on the planet. The main cities were still burning and the blast of one of the major munition factories had leveled the city where it was located. He knew he had no means of stopping those beasts from killing everyone on the planet. “Watcher.”

  “Yes.”

  “You might want to see this. If those ships destroy that planet’s star, we will be ending the ceasefire.”

  The Watcher looked at his display and followed the Starkillers as they moved toward their firing positions. He knew in his heart that his species had finally run head on into a species that would do to his people what they had done to the original Attackers. He also knew his ship would no longer be ignored by the ships that were destroying his fleet. His bridge crew watched the monitor with him and his Seeker said, “Watcher, they’ve withdrawn their ships.”

  The Watcher snapped out of his reverie and stared at the monitor. Why would they break off their attack just as the Starkillers were arriving at their firing points? He stared at the monitor and then stood up. What was that?

  • • •

  The Orion didn’t suddenly appear in normal space. It rose out of subspace like a giant emerald ship emerging from an ocean. It kept pace with the Starkillers as it emerged and it seemed to emerge for very long time, however, the actual time was less than twenty seconds. Sneaky looked at the Starkillers and thought, “Are you going to give them a warning?”

  “They came here to eradicate an entire species. There are consequences for one’s actions.” Grant pushed a button on his chair’s arm and a grip with a red trigger at the top emerged. He gripped it and pulled the red trigger.

  A green beam erupted from the Orion’s hull and twenty of the giant Starkillers shimmered and then dissipated into thin vapor clouds. Cinny turned the Orion and Grant swept the beam across the giant Invader vessels to the right of center. Forty more blew up and formed drifting vapor clouds. The other forty Starkillers scattered and the Orion swept in on them and multiple beams blew out of its hull destroying half of them. The remaining twenty Invader ships turned away from the Orion and fled. Thirteen more were destroyed as seven of them stopped and lowered their force fields.

  Cinny looked at Grant and he said, “There are consequences. They must face them to make sure their species knows there is no escape from their actions.” Grant blasted five into vapor and then fired a beam at one of the two survivors as Cinny chased the Leader’s ship. The beam reached out more than ten thousand miles and vaporized the fleeing giant.

  Lenga appeared on the Orion’s display and stammered, “We will..will com..comply with your ca.. ca…call for peace.”

  Grant stared at the Great Leader and shook his head, “You had your opportunity and turned it down. Now it will be left to another of your species to make the call.” Lenga screamed and then his voice went silent as the Starkiller vaporized.

  • • •

  Blake watched the destruction of the Starkillers and was shocked silent. He heard the Invader Leader plea for his life just before his ship was destroyed. He shook his head, “What is that?”

  Cleve smiled, “That is Orion’s Sword.”

  Blake looked at Cleve, “It really exists?”

 
Cleve nodded toward the display, “Indeed it does.”

  “Admiral.”

  Blake looked up, “Yes, Telee.”

  “You have been invited to bring your ship on board to witness the end of this war.”

  Blake saw a giant door in the hull of the emerald colored ship open. He stared at the vessel and looked at Captain Tofur, “Take us in.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Grant and Cinny waited in the landing bay as the Triton moved in and landed on a huge cradle. The thrusters on the huge Earth Battleship died and they watched Blake exit the landing bay door. He walked up to them and shook his head, “This is some ship you have here.”

  “It took us a while to find it Admiral.”

  “I am really thankful you did. Why are you inviting me to join you?”

  “Because you are going to deliver a message to Earth after this is over.”

  Blake’s eyebrows went up, “What message is that?”

  “Earth’s days of conquest are over. It will not be tolerated in the future.”

  “We’ve already stopped that behavior.”

  “That is only as good as long as the current leaders hold power. Some of your leaders still have the urge to expand their domain.”

  “Just how…” Blake paused and sighed, “The Spiders.”

  Cinny nodded, “Perhaps you’ll be able to remove their doubt.”

  Grant and Cinny turned and Blake said, “Would you mind if my bridge crew goes with us?” Grant looked at Cinny, turned back to Blake, and nodded. Blake lifted his communicator and said, “They’ve agreed. Get out here!”

  Grant and Cinny saw six Officers run out of the landing bay and join Blake. They all had huge smiles and Cinny laughed out loud. Grant said, “I’m opening nine holes in the front wall. Climb in and we’ll meet you at the bridge.”

  Grant and Cinny seemed to disappear as they ran toward the holes. Cleve watched them dive into the holes in the bulkhead and shake his head, “Now that’s something I’ve never seen.”

  Bobbi shook her head, “And you probably never will again. Come and help me in like a good gentleman should.”

  Cleve lifted her and said, “Whoever said I was a gentleman?”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot.”

  Bobbi disappeared and Cleve dove into another hole. As the polymer sled formed around him he thought, “She forgot? Forgot what?”