by Don Viecelli
“That will not be possible, Imperial Leader. I must protect my people from your atrocities. I demand that you stop your aggression and free my people on Qum.”
Rahta was becoming angry at such insolence. He stood up facing the screen. “Your planet is under my control. You will do as I command and provide the knowledge I seek or I will destroy your starship!”
“That would not be wise, Imperial Leader. We do not bow to your threats. We are a peaceful people, but we are also capable of defending our worlds. You attacked us without warning and now you attack another alien race more defenseless than us. You will pay for this if you do not stop and go back to your home world.”
Rahta looked at High Commander Anahta and the other officers on the Command Deck who were listening in on the conversation with the Qumru leader. Rahta could feel their hostility at this impertinent leader of a defeated race who dared argue with their Imperial Leader. They were waiting for Rahta to destroy the starship without mercy, but Rahta wanted the mind transfer and body regeneration knowledge of the Qumru race. He knew it was on the starship.
“I demand your surrender immediately, First Chair Cleota of the Qumru people. Otherwise I will attack and board your starship!” Rahta retorted in a loud, firm voice.
“I expected such an answer from you, Imperial Leader Rahta of the Yoyka. You will now pay for your treachery!”
The viewing screen went dark. Rahta was enraged. He turned to Anahta and ordered, “Fire more missiles and take down their shield!”
Anahta spoke to his weapon officers and was about to order the control AI to fire five more 50 megaton nuclear missiles at the Qumru starship when alarms sounded all over the Command Center.
“Several large warships appear near us, High Commander!” one of the monitoring station officers reported loudly.
“How many and what type!” Anahta snapped. He began preparing for attack.
“There are five warships, fully armed and ready to fire! They are Qumru warships, High Commander! They appeared out of hyperspace and surrounded us!”
“How can this be?” Rahta shouted at his High Commander who was busy giving orders to his officers and the AI to defend the Yoykan Malee.
Never before has a Yoykan dreadnaught been challenged by so many alien warships at one time. As powerful as the Yoykan Malee was, it would find it challenging to fight off five enemy warships at one time if they had sufficient weapon capability to bring down the Yoykan Malee’s defensive shield.
Anahta give a brief sideways look at Imperial Leader Rahta with a facial expression that said, “I told you so!” They should never have travelled this far in space without a full Imperial military escort of dreadnaught warships.
“We must leave, Imperial Leader Rahta! We cannot try to win this battle without support!”
Rahta nodded his head in disappointment. He understood what the odds were without asking the AI to compute the chance of success in battle. “Where did the Qumru get warships?”
“They must be Holtu android military warships, Imperial Leader. Utor warned us the Qumru have defensive military space forces on Holtu! They knew where to find us. The Qumru Leader led us into a trap!”
More alarms sounded, even louder than before. The AI that controlled all weapon firing and automatic defensive maneuvers broadcast a warning to the Flight Deck. “Prepare for attack! Nuclear missiles have been fired and are approaching our shield. I am firing antimissile laser beams now.”
Anahta glanced at the view screens at the five warships surrounding his ship. They were positioned perfectly for battle. The planet Mars was in front of them blocking their exit. They had one chance to escape as the AI calculated their odds. They had to destroy two Holtu warships to break out of the trap.
Anahta ordered the AI to fire everything they had at the Holtu warships in front of them as they changed course to avoid Mars and increased speed to try and enter hyperspace before it was too late. The outcome would be known in seconds.
Chapter 55
Final Battle
Holtu High Leader Altek faced the viewing window in front of him on board the command warship Iconda, named after the capital city of Holtu. Iconda was almost one Earth kilometer long and half as wide. It was armed with the most deadly space weapons the Holtu android military could devise. Its defensive energy shield could prevent damage from high energy beams fired as close as ten kilometers and resist the explosive power of five 50 megaton nuclear missiles all exploding at once. The warship FTL hyperdrive engines, operating systems and all weapon systems were powered by ZPE, zero-point energy, from the quantum vacuum, which exists everywhere in the universe. ZPE power was endless and provided all the energy the Holtu warships needed in most battles. At least that was the theory High Leader Altek understood. He was about to find out if this theory was accurate in a real space battle with the Yoykan Malee.
“The Yoykan Malee is returning fire! Shields at full power!” Altek’s First Leader reported to the Bridge in the Command Center.
Altek braced for impact. The Iconda and a second warship named Tollbay were directly in front of the Yoykan Malee at twenty thousand kilometers. Mars was behind them less than five thousand kilometers. Three other Holtu warships were closing in on the Yoykan Malee from all sides. They had the enemy in the center of their attack. There was no escape unless the Yoykan Malee destroyed two or more of the Holtu warships in its path.
The Qumru starship Solruku with First Chair Cleota was now positioned safely behind the Holtu warships orbiting the planet Mars. The Solruku had served its purpose and led the Yoykan Malee with its Imperial Leader into a trap. Now the Solruku was departing to head back to Earth. It was now up to High Leader Altek and his five warships to destroy the Yoykan Malee and its Imperial Leader Rahta.
The first volley of nuclear missiles fired from the Yoykan Malee impacted the energy shields of both the Iconda and the Tollbay. It became obvious very quickly what the Yoykan Malee intended to do.
“The enemy is firing everything they have at us and the Tollbay, High Leader!” the First Officer reported.
“Keep firing missiles at their shields! Prepare to fire laser guns. We must weaken it before it passes by!” Altek ordered. He planned to protect his position at all costs, even if it meant destruction of his warship and crew. Androids did not fear death, just the absence of consciousness. His primary duty was to protect the Solruku and its passenger minds until they could reach Holtu. His second objective was to capture or kill the Imperial Leader Rahta.
The Yoykan Malee was increasing its speed preparing to fight its way through the two Holtu warships in front before the other three Holtu warships could close in and all use more weapons to weaken its shields. The chance of success was falling by the second.
Alarms began to sound inside the Iconda. Several missiles hit the shields of the Iconda and the Tollbay as they tried to avoid more missiles coming their way. The antimissile laser beam defense systems did their best and knocked out numerous missiles, but ten missiles made it through the shields and hit both warships. Six missiles hit the Tollbay, reducing their energy shields to a dangerous level and disabling the warship. Four missiles hit the Iconda, but the shield remained at protective levels. The Tollbay ceased firing its weapons. It was defenseless.
The Yoykan Malee sensed its advantage and headed straight for the Tollbay. It planned to blast its way through the hole in the trap and escape.
“The Tollbay is damaged, High Leader! The enemy it trying to escape past us!”
“That must be prevented at all costs, First Leader!” Altek instructed the Artificial Intelligence Control (AIC) entity, “Change course and head straight for the Yoykan Malee. Fire all remaining missiles at the target. I want their shields brought down now! Begin firing laser beams as soon as their shields weaken!”
The space battle would be over soon one way or the other. Altek was determined to stop or destroy the Yoykan Malee even if it meant the destruction of his ship. He would not allow the Imperial
Leader of the Yoykan Empire to escape.
*****
Rahta sensing success at escaping the trap set by the Qumru leader and her Holtu android warships shouted, “Only one more warship to destroy and we can flee this backward solar system!” He faced High Commander Anahta. “We will make it through now!”
Anahta was not so sure. “The other warship is heading straight for us, Imperial Leader! He aims to ram us!”
This brought Rahta back to his senses. “Destroy that damn warship!”
Anahta was well aware of what had to be done. ”Fire all laser beam weapons and remaining missiles at the approaching warship!”
There was no other choice other than to change course away from the enemy warship and head directly for the planet Mars before they could escape freely.
Numerous enemy missiles reached the Yoykan Malee as it was changing course and increasing speed. They had one chance to flee the solar system and it was now. Direct impact from several nuclear missiles overloaded the energy shields and power was disrupted to the engines as the AI tried to compensate.
“Shields are weakened!” the AI announced over the speaker system.
The two warships were approaching each other at sublight speeds. Anahta realized they were now within range of the kinetic energy railguns (KERs) and ordered the AI to begin firing as the two warships passed each other by.
Railguns launched electromagnetic projectiles at very high speeds at enemy warships once they were at close range. The projectiles were made of high density metal projectiles that travelled up to 20 km per second using kinetic energy to penetrate and destroy its target.
The Yoykan Malee and the Iconda were now within 100 kilometers of each other and would just miss each other within seconds. Both were now firing KER projectiles in a desperate attempt to destroy each other in battle. Both warships were being raked by enemy fire and sustaining serious damage.
Lights began to dim inside the Command Center as enemy fire began to penetrate the hull of the Yoykan Malee. Alarm warnings of hull breaches lit up the monitoring screens. Smoke began to fill the room with sparks from electrical circuits making crackling noises and dissipating toxic fumes. The AI confirmed hull damage across the entire length of the dreadnaught. The final message indicated total failure of the Fusion Engines as they shut down. The Yoykan Malee was powerless and headed straight for Mars.
“We must depart the ship, Imperial Leader! It is lost!” Anahta yelled to Rahta who was holding his head from a wound sustained by flying debris.
“How could this happen? I am the Imperial Leader!” Rahta’s voice was filled with anger and disbelieve.
Anahta issued the orders for all hands to leave the dying ship. “We must leave now, Imperial Leader. Your escape shuttle is ready to depart!”
Rahta looked up. He was furious. “I want Humans to pay for this!”
“What do you mean?” Anahta was not quite sure what Rahta had in mind.
“The infected ones. How many are there on this Earth planet?”
Anahta coughed from the smoke and fumes filling the room. He spoke to the AI that was still functioning under reduced power. “What is the approximate number of humans on Earth infected with our nanomachines?”
The AI responded, “There are approximately ten sentas (million) humans infected with the nanomachines, High Commander. The number is increasing slower than anticipated from past infection rates.”
Rahta was still angry. “Increasing slower?” He knew what that meant. “The Qumru found a way to slow down our nanomachines from spreading. This is proof. I will destroy the Qumru for this!”
Anahta knew that time was short to escape the Yoykan Malee. There was no way to save the dreadnaught and he could only hope to save the Imperial Leader and himself. “What do you want to do, Imperial Leader?”
Rahta raved in fury, “Send the termination code to the nanomachines in these humans!”
It meant instant death to ten million humans on Earth. Anahta was appalled, but did as ordered. He instructed the AI to send the termination code over the quantum transmission link. This had never been done before to any of the Yoyka controlled alien races. It was a total loss of productive slaves.
Smoke had filled the room. Anahta led Rahta to the escape shuttle. If they were lucky they would escape the Holtu warships still firing on the Yoykan Malee and reach hyperspace before they could be detected and make their way back to Yoykan.
As the cloaked Imperial shuttle escaped the space battle, Rahta watched the Yoykan Malee dreadnaught began to explode and break apart into pieces. Several large sections were headed straight for Mars and began falling on a large black plain near the largest volcano on the planet. Rahta raged inside and vowed revenge against the Qumru, the Holtu androids and even the primitive humans for his losses. He would not rest until he returned, destroyed the Holtu androids and conquered or destroyed these humans of Earth.
Chapter 56
Atlanta CDC
The battle in space was being reported live by the media on all the TV screens in the Atlanta office building of the CDC. Doctor Janice Martin and Doctor Chang-Woo Mun were working with Tumil calibrating the new quantum computers they had brought with them to the CDC from the Qumru starship Solruku. Every few minutes Janice and Chang-Woo would look up at the screens and wonder what was going to happen.
“Do you think the Yoyka will win?” Janice asked Mun clasping her hands in worry.
Tumil interrupted without looking up from his work, “The Holtu will defeat them. The Yoyka dreadnought is outnumbered by our warships.”
“Those pictures are coming from the actual space battle. How is that possible?” Mun stared at the screen while the reporter talked.
“It is being recorded by the Solruku in space. They are the ones sending pictures to your people, I am sure,” Tumil said.
“If we lose the space battle, it will cause more panic than what is happening now,” Janice said watching the scenes on the TV.
Images of large explosions appeared on the TV screen. People could be heard screaming in joy when they saw the enemy Yoyka dreadnought break apart right before their very eyes.
“It looks like the Yoykan Malee warship just blew up!” Mun shouted.
Tumil looked at the TV screen without saying a word. His face tried to mask his concern.
“What’s wrong, Tumil? You doing look too happy about this.” Janice noticed his expression.
“The Imperial Leader Rahta will react badly to this defeat if he survives. He is a ruthless leader.” Tumil noticed activity on the quantum computers. They were reacting to a quantum transmission link data burst. “Something is being transmitted over the QTL channel.”
Janice and Chang-Woo looked at the computers. A crystal lit up briefly and then stopped.
“What was the message?” Janice looked concerned now. It was the first time any quantum link message had been intercepted.
“It cannot be deciphered without the encryption codes, but I believe it is a message sent to the nanomachines that infected your people.”
Janice looked at Doctor Mun. She knew he had just come from a meeting with the Atlanta Director of the CDC and other government officials discussing the latest situation in the infected cities. “What is the status of the contagion, Doctor Mun?”
“Miami has been contained as you know thanks to the work you and Tumil did, but the situation in other cities is still just starting to get under our control. The National Guard and other military personnel distributed the Qumru preventive nano-agent shots to as many volunteers as they could find and sent them to the infected areas in the US.
“Shipments of the nano-agent solution and volunteers who have received the shots have even been sent to other cities in other countries. But the spread of the Yoyka nanomachine infected people is still spreading quickly in some cities, even with our quarantine recommendations. It was reported at our meeting today that it would take at least another month before we had all the infected areas under control.�
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Tumil looked at both doctors and said, “I don’t think that will be of concern much longer.” He was looking at the final pictures of the space battle and watched as flaming debris from the Yoykan Malee started falling on the surface of Mars.
“The Imperial Leader is dead or he escaped on one of his shuttles. Either way, he would have made a decision what to do with the infected people on this planet.”
“What do you mean, Tumil? What would he do?” The tone of Tumil’s voice scared Janice.
“There are only two possibilities. He would instruct the nanomachines in the infected people to become more aggressive in spreading the contagion to others. However, if he suspected we have a way to slow down or prevent its spread than he would...”
Tumil’s conversation was interrupted when TV screens broke away from showing the space battle scenes to news broadcasters showing scenes of people lying down in city streets all over the country and the world.
“Something dreadful is happening, folks,” one TV announcer was saying looking down from a TV helicopter circling over New York City. “We are receiving reports of people dropping in the streets all over the city. There are similar reports coming in from all over the world. People are dying! Just falling to the ground. Wait...It appears only infected people are dying. This doesn’t make any sense. Why would infected people be the only ones affected? Give us a moment...Ok, I’m told to pass this broadcast back to the news desk at headquarters. They have more information. This is David Brinks reporting live; Channel Two News.” The broadcast switched to the main TV anchor desk where more information was coming in.
“They killed them!” Janice raised her voice in anguish. “Millions of people, for no reason!” She was close to tears.
Doctor Mun put his arm around her. “We had no way to save them, dear. We did the best we could. We prevented many others from becoming infected. We’ll get through this.”
Janice wiped tears from her eyes. She looked at Tumil. “Will they do this to your people?”