by Saxon Andrew
“I will do all I can to protect you. Now allow me to do my job!” Martov ended the contact and knew his life was over if he survived this, which was highly unlikely. He stared at the alien fleet and saw movement. What is this?”
• • •
The War Leader ordered, “Launch the four Planet Killers!”
Martov watched the four giant warships move toward Earth and saw them stop outside the range of his main blasters. He saw them powering up their weapons and ordered, “START THE BARRAGE!” Earth was instantly surrounded by a giant wall of blaster fire and Martov stared at the four enemy warships from a feed being sent by a stealth probe high above Earth. He instantly realized they were waiting for him to start the barrage a moment before the four giant Planet Killers opened fire. One of the giant Defense Platforms in the outer ranks suddenly blew up in a massive explosion and Martov realized Earth was going to die and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.
• • •
RJ watched the Defense Platform explode and remained silent. His crew stared at him expecting him to react, but he remained in his chair staring at the tactical monitor. Angel turned to RJ, “Our cutters can hit them!”
“The Hares’ cutters can make it through their blaster barrages but the Garrions can’t. Once the aliens start a blaster barrage, we will not be able to defeat them.”
“But the heavy missiles can make it through!”
RJ turned to Angel, “We will kill them all or not reveal our presence.” RJ turned back to the monitor and Angel shook her head as she stared at the monitor. RJ turned to Angel, “What do you think will happen if we don’t attack them here?” Angel was too emotional to think clearly. RJ looked back at the monitor and said grimly, “This fleet will return to their territory and the aliens will launch an attack against the two enemies at war with them on the other side of the core. We will assemble our forces and attack them then. We will not reveal our presence and endanger our planets. If we don’t kill them all, they’ll come looking for us. That is not something I’m going to allow!” Angel suddenly understood and nodded. But watching the birth place of humanity destroyed was something that hit her at the core of her soul.
• • •
The Supreme War Leader smiled broadly as his skin color turned bright red, “They are no match for our blasters! We outnumber them twenty-to-one and have nothing to fear. Order the fleet to move and surround the planet far outside the range of their weapons. On my order we will move into range and open fire with all of our ships.”
• • •
RJ remained in his chair and suddenly saw the alien warships start moving. He watched them closely and smiled, “YES!” He quickly stated, “Computer, it appears the alien fleet is going to surround Earth and open fire when they have the planet surrounded. Do you now have a plan that won’t involve the loss of our Garrions?”
“I do.”
“And what losses do you anticipate?”
“Possibly none.”
RJ punched the main frequency button on his combat helmet, “Attention all ships in the combined forces. You will be receiving your attack orders momentarily. Carriers, launch all Garrions and have them follow their directives!”
Maranda muttered, “At last! Commence launch operations immediately.”
RJ connected with Connie, “I need a current feed sent to my computer of every ship in the alien fleet!”
“Sending it now, Sir. I have four scouts surrounding Earth and they will be sending their scans directly to the Troke.” RJ nodded and focused intently on the tactical monitor.
• • •
Senior Captain Riale launched with his Wing from the War Bird Carrier and saw coordinates appear on his console. He spoke into his combat helmet to the fifty Garrions under his command, “Move to your assigned coordinate and be prepared to launch a heavy missile and follow it up with your cutters when the attack command is received. Don’t miss lads!”
• • •
As the alien fleet moved into a giant globe formation, the Hares moved in behind them maintaining an exact distance from the alien ships assigned to them. The Hares also moved in as well and found they were assigned multiple ships to attack. The alien fleet outnumbered the combined forces by four-hundred-thousand warships and the Hares were assigned two Planet Killers to attack. The Garrions and Hares were invisible to the alien fleet and they had no warning of what was happening. RJ contacted Maranda, “Have all your Garrions launched?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Move your carriers to their assigned positions, Admiral.”
“On our way.”
RJ watched the globe of Planet Killers surround Earth and asked, “Computer, when do you plan to issue the attack order.”
“The moment the alien fleet opens fire.”
“I want to change that order.”
“In what way, Commander.”
“Once the aliens form up the globe around Earth, I believe they will then move in and tighten the globe just outside the range of Earth’s Defense Platforms.”
“That is accurate, Commander.”
“Issue the attack order when the alien’s ships come to a complete stop prior to them opening fire. Will that compromise the plan?”
RJ waited for two minutes before hearing, “No, Commander. I will issue the attack order when their formation stops moving toward Earth.”
• • •
Grady was surprised to see that the Rex Hare was also given two Planet Killers to attack. Mallory moved the ship to its assigned position and Grady chuckled, “It appears rank doesn’t prevent participating in combat.”
Taffy snorted, “I don’t think that blooming computer knows the difference.”
Grady laughed out loud and then smiled at her, “Admit it, you want to do this!”
Taffy looked at him with an intense expression, “This is for my parents and friends they vaporized on Britannia. If the damn thing didn’t order us in, I would have demanded to go in!”
“Now that’s the woman I married! And I must say your language is getting quite bad.”
“Oh, shut up, Grady!” Grady howled again and watched the tactical monitor as the Rex moved behind two giant Planet Killers.
A moment later, RJ appeared on the monitor and said, “Admiral Henricks, I’ve been assigned to the two Planet Killers you’re approaching.”
“RJ, I don’t think Taffy is going to like that. She’s intent on taking them out.”
“The Commander of the alien Fleet is holding position outside their formation and I believe you would prefer to pay him a visit instead.”
Taffy’s head went up from her console and her smile was deadly. Grady looked at RJ and said, “Send me that ships coordinates.” They appeared on Grady’s console and he nodded at RJ, “Thank you for this.”
“My pleasure, Admiral.”
Taffy got up from her chair and went to the weapon console, “Captain, you are relieved.”
Jon stared at her and turned to Grady. He nodded and Jon went to Taffy’s chair. Grady said firmly, “Taffy, you will fire when I order it!”
“The order is to fire when the computer orders it, Grady!”
“I outrank that computer and you will fire when I order it!” Taffy glanced at Grady and saw by his expression he wasn’t kidding. She nodded and waited for the Rex Hare to move into position behind the giant Planet Killer. Grady looked at Rachael, “Do you have the frequency that ship is using?”
“I do, Sir.”
“Send it to my console.” Rachael nodded and Grady saw it appear on his monitor. He entered it into his communicator and sat back. He thought a moment and then sat up straight, “Rachael, I want anything I say on this frequency broadcast to all of our ships.”
“Yes Sir.” He sat back again and waited.
• • •
The giant alien formation began moving in on Earth and Grady turned to Taffy, “Fingers on the launch and cutter button!”
“Way ahead of you, Sir.” Gra
dy smiled and stared at his console.
• • •
The War Leader watched his fleets move in on the planet and felt gleeful. The Second turned and asked, “Sir, should we initiate a blaster barrage around our ships?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. We’re outside the range of their weapons and I’m not going to diminish the power of our beams by having them produce a barrage.”
“Yes, War Leader.”
• • •
The globe of Planet Killers moved inexorably toward Earth and came to a stop a hundred miles outside the range of the Defense Platform’s blasters. The attack button instantly illuminated on the eight-hundred-thousand Combined Forces Warships and hell erupted in the space above Earth.
• • •
Admiral Martov was staring at the wall monitor when it suddenly flashed bright white and went dark. Then the bridge was filled with a brilliant light that overwhelmed the viewport’s filters. He turned quickly away as his ship was buffeted by a huge shockwave that blew past it. It took more than a minute for the monitors to recover and when they did, Martov saw a massive globe of nuclear destruction surrounding Earth. He turned to his scanning officer and heard, “Sir, someone or something has destroyed every alien warship above Earth.”
“Who?”
“Nothing is showing up on the feed, Admiral. But every alien warship has been blown into vapor.” Martov turned back to the monitor and wondered if his vessels would be destroyed next.
• • •
The Supreme War Leader was smiling and about to order his fleet to open fire when every monitor on his Planet Killer overloaded and went black. He jumped up out of his chair and looked out of the viewport toward the planet; all he saw was a vast nuclear cloud surrounding it. Suddenly he heard over the wall speakers, “I told the Fleet Leader that destroyed my home world more than twenty years ago that she was going to be the first casualty in the war between your civilization and mine. I promised her that she wouldn’t be the last and that one day, I was going to kill every living being in your civilization. What just happened is the first step in making that promise a reality. All of your ships are gone, and you are the only survivor, that will end now.”
“WHO ARE YOU?!”
Grady snarled, “Your worst nightmare!” He turned to Taffy, “You know what to do.”
The Rex Hare’s six-cutters began strobing beams at the huge Planet Killer and after a minute, more than ten-thousand holes had been blasted through the giant vessel. The huge ship didn’t even have time to powerup its thrusters before everyone on board was killed. Grady stared at the derelict and knew it wasn’t near enough to satisfy his need for revenge for the destruction of Britannia. Mallory looked up and said, “Sir, the ship is being moved by the computer.” Grady nodded and kept his eyes on the burning Planet Killer as the Rex Hare went to full-speed.
• • •
Maranda stared at Admiral Tarangelo on her monitor and asked, “Richard, do we have an estimate on how many survived?”
“Sir, the cloud is too large to get an accurate count. Computer estimates between ten to twenty million.”
Maranda saw the giant cloud of message probes on her tactical monitor moving at high speed toward the carriers and ordered, “All carriers will hold their current positions and launch the first salvo of head knockers……now!” Each carrier launched a hundred of the giant nuclear missiles into the path of the giant black cloud of message probes and Maranda ordered, “Fall back to the asteroid belt!!”
The two hundred Attack Carriers flew away from the orbit of Mars and went to maximum speed. The twenty-thousand head knockers arrived at the programmed coordinates and exploded into a giant wall of nuclear flame. The alien message probes flew into the gigantic flaming wall and a huge hole was blown into the cloud, but millions continued past the giant explosions.
• • •
RJ heard the computer announce, “All alien warships have been destroyed.” RJ stood up and shouted, “Computer, move the fleets to join the carriers!!”
“Commander, I’m moving the fleets past the Carrier’s current position. It is not possible to arrive in time to take part in their next launch,” the computer announced.
“Shut up and get the fleet moving!!”
Angel stared at the monitor as the Troke went to maximum speed away from Earth and said softly, “If just one of those message probes makes it through, the aliens will learn about our existence.”
RJ nodded and stared at the tactical monitor before contacting Connie, “Admiral, are you tracking those probes!?”
“I am, War Admiral. My scouts are able to use full scans now that the alien ships have been removed and we’ve got all of them plotted and fed to your computer.”
“Send the feed directly to the other ships!” RJ ordered.
“Commander, that would not be a wise idea,” the computer instantly responded.
“Why not?!”
“If our ships start attacking them piecemeal, it will disrupt going after them in an organized fashion.”
RJ rolled his eyes and quickly ordered, “Connie, only send the feed to my ship.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
The eight-hundred-thousand warships in the Combined Fleets flew past the Carriers just as they launched another volley of head knockers. The fleets arrived close to Jupiter’s orbit and coordinates began appearing on every ship’s display. Targets were assigned to each ship and orders given to only fire cutters at the incoming cloud. The original cloud of message probes was greatly reduced in size by the Carrier’s two missile salvos, but it was still incredibly huge. RJ waited as Joe targeted five of the message probes and saw the Carriers fly past above the fleets. The cloud of probes arrived, and more than three-million cutters opened fire into it. Millions of the probes exploded and the computer moved the fleets again. The probes that managed to make it past the fleets were a small shadow of what they were when they left Earth. It took five more leapfrogs before the last alien message probe was destroyed. RJ fell back in his chair and released a huge sigh.
The fleets joined the carriers and the Garrions began landing operations. The Command Admirals appeared on RJ’s wall monitor and Grady asked, “What is your plan now, War Admiral?”
“Sir, my function is to command and coordinate our attacks. I am not empowered to make political decisions. One of you is going to have to decide what our next step will be.”
“What are you saying, Admiral Dunhan?”
“If you order me to destroy Earth, I will carry out that order. However, making that order is not within my authority. Either the Colonies or New Britannia’s leadership will have to make that decision. I am not experienced enough or authorized to determine what our next action will be.”
Grady stared at RJ for a long moment and then looked at Maranda on the display, “Admiral Connor, do you wish to assume command on this issue?” Grady asked.
Maranda raised her hands, “Grady, you are the only one I’d trust to make this decision. You will be the one to communicate with Earth and decide what is to be done.”
“Will the Colonies support my decision?”
“Stand by and I’ll ask the Prime Minister.” Grady looked at Taffy as she went back to her chair beside him and saw her shrug. A few moments later, Maranda appeared on the display and announced, “The Prime Minister says he will support whatever action you deem is appropriate.”
Grady lowered his eyes slightly and then looked up, “Let me know when your Garrions are provisioned. Once that is done, we’ll head back to Earth.”
“Sir, I suggest we start moving back now,” RJ interjected. “We can launch the Garrions when we arrive at the Moon’s orbit.”
Grady nodded, “Have the Computer form up the fleets and start us moving, Admiral Dunhan.”
“Yes Sir.”
• • •
Admiral Martov finally opened the frequency to the Dictator and found him yelling at high volume, “WHAT IS GOING ON?”
“Supremacy, it appears an outside agency has attacked and destroyed all of the alien warships surrounding Earth?”
“WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY AN OUTSIDE AGENCY?!”
“We didn’t do it, so it had to be someone else that attacked them.”
The Dictator was suddenly silent and after a moment, he asked, “Could it have been that Fagan Civilization that attacked them?”
“I highly doubt it, Sire.”
“And why is that?”
“Because we can detect their warships and whoever did this was not detected doing it.”
“SEND OUT SHIPS TO FIND OUT WHO DID THIS?”
“Supremacy, until the nuclear cloud around Earth dissipates, I won’t be sending any ships out; they’d burn up before getting through.” The Dictator started screaming again and Martov shut down the frequency. He was dead anyway and he had no desire to listen to him rave at high volume. Chelly looked at him from her console and he shrugged. She was worried sick that he would be executed.
• • •
The Combined Fleets arrived just inside the Moon’s orbit and the Carriers started launching their Garrions. Martov heard a scanner operator shout, “Sir, I’m detecting numerous shadows on the surface of the Moon!!”
Martov immediately shouted, “INITIATE THE BLASTER BARRAGE!!”
Grady was staring at Earth when it was suddenly surrounded by a blaster barrage. He looked at Rachael and he raised his left shoulder, “Sir, they can’t see us, but I’ve just noticed that the Carriers are casting giant shadows on the moon’s surface.”
Grady chuckled, “Just our luck the moon was full. It doesn’t matter; they were going to learn of our presence momentarily.” He turned to Taffy, “Do you still have that frequency you used when we escaped from Earth?”
Taffy smiled, “I saved it for sentimental reasons.”
“Give it to Rachael and I want you to connect my panel to it, Rachael.”
Taffy quickly said, “You know that will give them video?”
Grady nodded, “All the better.” Grady turned to the wall monitor and waited.
• • •
“Sir, I’m receiving a communication coming in on one of the old command frequencies.”