Death of an Empire aotr-3

by Saxon Andrew

  “Will our ships be able to stand up to it?”

  “Probably not and that’s why we have to see if our current stealth technology works. If it does, we can leave a probe behind once we make sure it’s observing the universe we’re attacking. Our ability to hide from it is something that is as important to discover as the effectiveness of our weapons.”

  Weed looked at Carter and thought, “Your wisdom has surprised me again. You were right to suggest he lead this dialogue.”

  Carter looked at the two Algeans and nodded.

  Timmy looked around the room and said, “So what orders are you giving these brave sailors going to confront the Black Ships?”

  Trey turned and looked at the three and smiled, “Blast the ever living groad out of them and teleport away when the party crashers show up.”

  Trent looked at the other two commanders and said, “That sounds like a party that’s going to be hard to leave.”

  “Leave your com code so they can invite you to the next one.”

  Ron Kune smiled, “After the mess we leave behind, I’m not sure we’ll be welcome at the next one.”

  The room erupted in laughter and Timmy called the conference to a close.

  “How did I do?”

  “Trey, you were fabulous.”

  “Thanks, Cassie.”

  The three brightly glowing ships hung in space outside the Defense Facility preparing to teleport to the universe the Invaders were harvesting. “Jingos, how did you manage to weasel your way into this exercise?”

  “I managed to get Admiral Blake to bust me back to Commodore before the plan was submitted to the Emperor. I figured he would never allow an admiral to participate.”

  “Clever, how do we want to handle this?”

  “Ron, I think we should follow Trent’s lead.”

  “Hey guys, both of you are senior to me. One of you should be the overall commander.”

  “Seniority doesn’t carry weight during space battles. Tactics and ingenuity trump seniority. You’ve demonstrated that you’re more effective in ship maneuvers than either of us. You’re in command and that’s an order.”

  Trent laughed and said, “This is how we’ll go in; we’ll form an equilateral triangle with our ships separated by two thousand miles on each leg. That way we’ll overlap our beams and support each other in the event one of us is heavily outnumbered. Every ten seconds we’ll teleport a thousand miles and rotate the triangle forty five degrees. Every thirty seconds we will turn the triangle ninety degrees horizontally and rotate in the opposite direction. We’ll start the maneuver on my mark.”

  Ron looked at his drive officer, “Lock the pattern in and start the clock with Commodore Moore’s signal.”

  Jingos said, “We’ve locked the pattern and will implement it on your signal.”

  “At some point we’re going to have to withdraw and we should do it together. The escape command is Bristone. We’ll jump to our predetermined escape coordinates and wait to see if we’re followed. Commodore Kune, if you will deploy the stealth probe.”

  “It will be my pleasure, Sir.”

  Trent sighed, “Thank you.”

  “Get used to it. As an admiral you’ll hear it all the time.”

  “I’d rather be here fighting.”

  Jingos laughed, “We’ll all miss the next round if we’re successful here so enjoy it while you can.”

  Trent looked at his Drive Officer and he nodded, “Set your chronometers on our departure and that will happen in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, execute!”

  “Alright, Greyson, it’s show time.”

  “We’re teleporting right behind them, Sir.”

  “Keep your teleport system hot. If we’re seen we won’t have much time to escape.”

  “You could use a psychic bubble.”

  “Yes, but then we won’t know if our stealth technology is effective.”

  “Stealth is active and we’re teleporting now.”

  The Ship Master sat in his chair and fought the constant mind numbing boredom of watching ships land and leave with the finished production of Remid. This was a warship, yet there was no war to fight. He had instructed his Sensor Master to keep an active scan of deep space running at all times in the hope of something happening to break the monotony of guard duty. Destroying those two white ships had been a welcome distraction. He settled back in his chair and fought falling asleep. Then…

  “Sire, I have three ships on the long range scan.”

  He jumped up and sat erect in his chair, “Send me an image.” He stared at the three ships and thought he recognized them.

  “Sire, those ships are exactly like the ones we destroyed in our last attack.”

  “Get the Fleet Master on the channel. Power up all systems and prepare to jump to their location.”

  “Why are you disturbing me?”

  “Master, there are three ships exactly like the two ships I killed out in open space.” He looked at his board, “They are at the same location as the last encounter.”

  “Take you ship out and eliminate them. Notify me when you’re done.”

  The Ship Master looked at the Drive Master and nodded, “Now this was more like it.” He was about to learn that sometimes boredom is not always a bad thing. He thought about killing two of the ships quickly and chasing the third. He started to issue the orders as his ship broke into normal space but all he was able to get out was the first three words when the rest of his sentence was blown away by the heat of the beam that burned through his bridge and ignited his reactors. Even the reactors couldn’t explode when the following two beams burned the nuclear fuel out of existence. A fourth beam was fired and all the dust and debris were burned into gas.

  “Gentlemen, let’s move a hundred miles starboard to get away from this cloud.”

  “That didn’t take long.”

  “All weapons are free. We should be receiving some uninvited guests momentarily.”

  “Hey Trent, I sent an invitation to all of them.”

  “What address did you use, Ron?”

  “1234 Get Your Grump Fried Ave.”

  “Maybe they aren’t sociable.”

  “Give them a moment. They need to be dressed appropriately.”

  The Fleet Master looked over the harvest inventory and took a pinch of orange powder and sniffed it. Oh that was so good. He turned back to his reports and noticed that the light on his communication panel from the ship that was sent to investigate the three ships was extinguished. That was odd. He pushed a control toggle and sent a query. No response. Something wasn’t right. He punched his board and sent the coordinates of the three ships to a ten ship group. “Tell me what’s going on out there.”

  “I’ll contact you as soon as we arrive.”

  The Fleet Master watched his board and saw all ten lights on his panel go out in less than three micro units. He stood and hit his main alarm and sent the coordinates out to the quick response units. He looked at his Ship Master, “Take me one light year from these coordinates and feed the view to my display.”

  The Empire’s Ships had moved another eight hundred miles starboard to clear the huge cloud of vapor caused by the destruction of the ten Black Ships that had jumped in on them. The three ship’s beams fired so fast that all ten were dead in less than three seconds. “Alright, the party is about to start. I’m sure the band will arrive with the next group and we’ll have the opportunity to show our dance moves. Start the rotation now and listen for the escape signal. I would suggest a beam width of fifty miles and don’t be afraid to sweep up the floor around you.”

  Jingos and Ron looked at their Weapons Officers and they nodded that they heard the order.

  One moment the three ships were alone in empty space and the next moment they were surrounded by a thousand Black Ships.

  Trent watched his display carefully and saw that half of the Black Ships were close to Jingos’ Ship. “Sweep to the top of the formation.”

  As the three ships fired a wide whi
te beam and moved it across the space surrounding their formation, they rotated forty five degrees, and the five hundred ships surrounding Jingos’ ships were caught in a cross fire between two Empire Ships as they rotated. All five hundred were disintegrated and the three ships rotated again and eliminated the remaining ships. Trent heard his Drive Officer yell, “Going horizontal, Sir.”

  “Trey, it looks like you were right. The current model of Black Ships can’t stand up to our beams.”

  “Greyson, keep your attention on your scanner. We need to see if we’re detected.”

  “I’ve felt several active scans pass us. If they can see us, they would have sent a ship in the last group to our location.”

  “I don’t care at this point. Keep your attention on the scanner and have your recorders gather the view of the battle site. You can watch it later.”

  “Will do.”

  Trent watched his display and said, “More incoming; continuous firing of the beams.”

  Each of the three white ships had six huge beams sweeping space around and inside their formation. “How are the collectors holding up?”

  “We’ve been hit seventy four times by one of their main beams. The Collectors are still in the blue.”

  Trent was surprised. The hull collectors had not come close to being overcharged and all three ships were being hit continuously. “Hey, Trent, I see a shy wall flower about a light year away watching the proceedings.”

  Trent looked at his scanner and saw the ship, “If I had to guess, I think that might be one of their higher ranking officials. He’s probably their best dancer.”

  “Are we going to do anything about it?”

  “Ron, we’re holding our own but I feel we’ve gathered enough information. I’m ordering a withdrawal in sixty seconds. Why don’t you jump over on the way out and ask that ship to dance. You can join us at the escape coordinates. We’ll be waiting on you.”

  “Thank you. I hope he can cha-cha-cha.”

  Trent watched his chronometer and said, “Bristone in 3, 2, 1, Execute!”

  The Fleet Master was shocked at the destruction being done to his ships. More than four thousand had been completely disintegrated and fourteen hundred more damaged and hanging immobile. He looked over at his Communications Master to open a channel to the Masters when he heard his Sensor Master yell, “White Ship off our bow.”

  He looked at his display just in time to see the beam coming to take his life.

  The three Empire Ships waited for another attack but nothing showed up. Ron looked at his display, “How long are we going to wait?”

  “I think if they could have detected our escape coordinates, they would have already arrived.”

  “I agree, Jingos. Let’s go home.”

  The three white ships teleported into ten other universes and waited an hour in the last before they jumped back to New Hope.

  “Greyson, it appears you were right about them seeing us. There are more than a thousand Black Ships at the site of the battle and none of them are moving our way.”

  “Trey, I was just thinking about the ones behind the Invaders and wondering if they have any connection to the Red Demons.”

  “Yeah? So what?”

  “Well, I’ve dug around in my ancient data and found the coordinates of the universe where the Eight Legs launched all their attacks.”

  Trey thought a moment and started laughing out loud, “Greyson, you sly old dog. You’re brilliant.”

  “I just thought it might cause them some consternation.”

  “Let me look at this with someone and determine the implications but I want to do it.”

  Maddy looked at Jingo, “Do what?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Maddy looked at her Father, “You better be thankful the Emperor doesn’t know you came along on this trip.”

  “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

  Trey smiled, “Oh, I suspect he wouldn’t say much.”

  Jingo tilted his head, “Why not?”

  “Because he was here in Grace watching it as well.”

  “What!?!”

  “He wasn’t in any danger. He was covered with a psychic bubble as well as the stealth field.”

  “Was he here before us?”

  “No, he left after we jumped here.”

  “How did you cover him in a bubble?”

  “I didn’t. I had someone else do it.”

  “Who?”

  “Let’s just say it was a close friend. Greyson, take us out of here and while we’re jumping through other universes, why don’t you play your recordings of the battle.”

  The large wall display activated and they watched in slow motion as the first Black Ship to arrive was blown apart. “Freeze it there just a moment, Greyson and run it back to the view of the Black Ship before it was hit.” The view changed to the huge Black Ship as it emerged out of null space. “Put the picture of the ship that destroyed our first two ships that were sent here beside it.” Trey stared at the two and said, “Can you rotate the picture so we’re seeing the same side?”

  “I’ve already done an analysis and it’s the same ship.”

  Trey felt his joy and said, “This is the first payback. There’s more to come. Go ahead with the recording of the battle and tell me what you see.”

  “The Invaders will need a ship that is several orders of magnitude stronger than those in use presently. I suspect that we may have a delay before that happens.”

  “Why do you say that, Greyson?”

  “Maddy, Trey can probably answer this better than I but you know how long they were delayed after we seeded their ships with the spores? I would think that their first order of business was to build a fleet to continue their harvesting of the Orange Pods. Once that fleet was completed they sent it out and began working on fleets to be held in reserve. If the next ship is not a huge improvement over the one currently being used, they will have to start construction of a ship that can handle our beams. Even then they may not be successful with whatever they build.”

  Trey nodded, “Our ships didn’t use their reflective hulls in this fight so the builder doesn’t know about them. I also noticed that we didn’t use the full power of our beams.”

  “They didn’t?”

  “No, Jingo. I suspect the Commanders were concerned about tapping into the full energy stored in their ship’s outer skins. If they narrow those beams to less than a hundred yards in width and use full power, I suspect even the next ship they send won’t hold up.”

  “So what happens now?”

  Trey thought about what was coming and played the various situations in his consciousness, “I think a much stronger ship will be built and the new fleet will come to attack our ships. Once those fail, I suspect single newer models will be sent to trial against us until they find something that works. While they’re working on that, we will send the fleet here to destroy their ships in this universe.”

  “What about my suggestion?”

  “I need to collaborate with someone to see the long term danger of doing that, Greyson. However, if we sense it’s safe, we’ll send a couple of ships first and have them jump to that universe using their standard universal drives.”

  Maddy and Jingo saw it and Jingo said, “Now that should prove interesting.”

  Trey started laughing, “I’m going to have to be there to see what happens. I wouldn’t miss that for anything.”

  “Grang and I want to see, too.”

  “So do I.”

  “Ok, ok, just keep this quiet until I check it out.”

  Greyson said, “Mum’s the word.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Distributor was jerked awake by a major alarm screaming from his board. He shook himself and stumbled over to the console and silenced the alarm. He pushed the flashing pad and rewound the scene that had been transmitted. He watched as three white ships savaged thousands of the harvesting fleet. His shock drove his lethargy away and he pulled the view in c
loser. It was the same ships that had been destroyed the last time they had interfered with their fleet. The color, lines, size, and shape were identical but that was all that was similar. It looked at a read out next to the display and saw that the power of the beams being fired by those ships was incredible. It looked at the panel again and saw that the recording was sent to him from one of the ships that survived the battle. It was heavily damaged but had been able to transmit the recording.

  His display changed and the Council was staring at him, “What is happening in that universe!?!”

  The former Distributor started feeling extremely nervous. Evidently the origin of those ships had not been in one of the destroyed eight universes. He had to think of something to deflect the Council’s anger from him.

  The new Distributor glanced at the data, “It appears that the builders of those ships escaped our efforts to destroy them.”

  The first three Council Members looked at the former Distributor but turned back to the new Distributor when he said, “That really shouldn’t surprise us.”

  The First Councilor jerked its attention back, “Why do you say that?”

  “If these beings are advanced as we believe them to be, they must have made plans to escape our retribution. I’ve looked over the data from the destroyed eight universes and we were unable to find any civilizations that possessed a technology high enough to develop the spores. That leads me to believe that they were smart enough to move somewhere else to avoid us.”

  “I’m not clear on how you came up with that analysis.”

  “I agree with my predecessor that we were seen by one of the universes we were scouting. They had to know that they would be attacked after they used the spores. They had enough time to move their operations to another universe before we could return with another fleet.”