The Fight for Britannia V-Home Coming

by Saxon Andrew

  Charlie smiled, “I’ll go.”

  Cami looked at him, “Which reason made you change your mind?”

  Charlie shrugged, “The second.”

  • • •

  Cami went to the sleeping quarters, cleaned up, and put on a clean dress. Charlie received clearance to land, and they exited the ship together. A shuttle landed next to the large warship and immediately lifted. It flew over the city and Cami wondered if it would still be here in a year.

  The shuttle landed on the roof of the Henricks’ home and they emerged to find Taffy, Candy, Linda Kay, and Abby waiting on them to exit the shuttle. Charlie stood back and watched the hugging and tears and knew this family truly loved each other. Taffy walked over and smiled, “Are you the pilot that kept my children safe?” Charlie nodded. Taffy pulled him into her arms and kissed him on the cheek. She stepped back and smiled, “I owe you!”

  “No, Mrs. Henricks. I just did my duty.”

  “And that’s why I owe you.” Taffy turned to the others and said, “We need to get down to the meeting.” She led them to the stairs and Abby looked at Taffy with a frown. Taffy shook her head and said, “Later.”

  Linda Kay leaned into Sweets, “I’ve missed you.”

  “Where’s Britt?”

  “I don’t know, and Taffy has forbidden me to ask. He’s been gone for months.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I have no idea, but it must be something serious. Otherwise he would have contacted me. I’ve been worried sick.”

  “The only thing that would keep him from contacting you is he can’t.” Linda Kay’s eyes narrowed, and Sweets shook her head, “We’ll talk after the meeting.” Linda Kay nodded and followed Sweets into the large underground conference room.

  • • •

  Everyone stood up as they entered and again there were hugs and kisses while the Prime Minister and President watched them. Finally, everyone took a seat and President DeChirico turned to Grady, “Admiral, you will lead this meeting.”

  Grady nodded and turned to Sweets, “First, I want to know why you refused to send your report and insisted on a secret meeting.”

  “This isn’t exactly what I meant by a secret meeting.”

  “Oh?”

  “I wanted to meet with just you and Admiral Dunhan. But I don’t think that’s going to happen now,” Sweets replied. “I’m sure all of you are up to date on the destruction of the Stealth Warships that were pursuing us. Cami managed to intercept the thoughts of the scouts and fleet that was sent from Andromeda to investigate what happened. I’ve recorded what she heard and I’m going to play that information for you. I think that will give us what we need and avoid a lot of questions.” Sweets inserted the data cube into the player, and everyone turned to the wall monitor. They saw Cami say, “Fleet Grip, I’m detecting a large vapor cloud filled with tiny pieces of debris…”

  • • •

  The recording played to its conclusion and Taffy ignored the monitor and kept her arms around Cami. Grady turned back to those sitting around the table as Sweets said, “Cami says the weapon those aliens were talking about is a long-range-stealth nuclear missile that can be launched from more than a light-year targeted on a planet.”

  President DeChirico turned to Grady, “Is there any defense against this missile?”

  Grady was silent for a moment and answered, “If Earth would give us enough defense platforms, we could surround New Britannia with a blaster barrage.”

  The Prime Minister immediately asked, “Are there enough of those platforms to surround New Melbourne as well?”

  RJ stood up, “It doesn’t matter; it won’t work.” He turned to Grady, “But I suspect you know that, don’t you?”

  Grady sighed, “It’s the only option we have.”

  “Why?” Taffy asked.

  Grady turned to RJ, “Why don’t you tell everyone?”

  RJ sat down and shook his head slightly before starting, “Those aliens aren’t stupid and I’m certain that they’ll launch a huge number of those missiles programmed to arrive at New Britannia and New Melbourne at the same time. The Defense Platforms can’t continuously fire their blasters, they’ll run out of power eventually. And the missiles will arrive among their ranks and blow past them before they can react. I suspect thousands of their Defense Platforms would be destroyed in the effort.”

  “Couldn’t we stop them before they launch?” The Prime Minister asked.

  “Now that they won’t be using their transponders, we won’t be able to detect their ships, Mr. Prime Minister,” RJ answered.

  “Can’t these telepaths detect them?”

  Grady shook his head, “Sir, they can launch from more than a light-year away from our planets and there’s no possible way we can cover that amount of space. Even if we detect them, we couldn’t get enough ships to them before they could launch. If they sent a thousand warships to launch on each planet they would fire at least twenty of those missiles before we could stop them. Once they’re launched, there is no way to track them.”

  “Why would they have planned to launch an attack on our planets if they can use those missiles?” Candy asked.

  RJ turned to his wife, “The missiles will destroy the planets but would not damage our fleets. The aliens worry that we’ll send our fleets to attack their civilization in Andromeda, so they initially planned to take out our fleets along with the planets with a major attack by their warships and the warships from the two aggressive civilizations on the other side of the Milky Way’s black hole. We stopped that plan by destroying all the ships they had converted to gravity drives.”

  President DeChirico sat back, “Are you saying there is no way to prevent our planets from being destroyed?”

  “Not unless we find a way to detect their missiles and warships, Sir?” Grady replied.

  “How long do we have Admiral?”

  “According to the recording, we have about a year.”

  “Are you absolutely sure about this?!” DeChirico asked firmly.

  Grady looked at RJ and he shook his head. He turned to the President and replied, “I hate to admit it, but I am.”

  DeChirico stared at them and the room was silent. He blew out a breath and shook his head before turning to Taffy, “It appears you were right.” Taffy shrugged.

  Chapter Twelve

  Grady’s eyes closed slightly, and he turned to Taffy, “Right about what?”

  “She came to me and told me that there was a possibility that New Britannia would be attacked and destroyed. She asked if I would support a plan to save it.” DeChirico responded.

  “What were you right about, Taffy?!”

  Taffy lowered her head and then looked at Grady, “Do you remember my asking you after that scout was discovered about how our missiles could be used to destroy the aliens’ warships?” Grady nodded. “Do you remember what you told me?”

  “I told you they wouldn’t work. They couldn’t target what they couldn’t detect.”

  “That started me thinking and it dawned on me that the missiles could detect one thing.”

  “What was that?” Grady asked.

  “They could detect a planet. And if our missiles could detect a planet, so could theirs. I decided to start working on an escape plan and convinced President DeChirico to assist me in making it happen.”

  “What exactly do you mean by an escape plan?”

  “Grady, it was your idea.”

  Taffy! I know nothing about an escape plan.”

  “Didn’t you say last Christmas that it was time for us to move back to Britannia?”

  “But that was before you omitted telling me about the scouting report on the aliens!”

  “Did you mean it?”

  “MEAN WHAT?!”

  “That we would be going back to Britannia.”

  “Only after this crisis was handled. It’s obviously not handled!”

  “Well, it never hurts to prepare against the day when we would be moving.
”

  “What have you done?” Grady asked harshly.

  Taffy lowered her head into her shoulders, “Well, I’ve sort of been getting Britannia ready for us to return. I told President DeChirico that it would also be a good place to escape if New Britannia were in jeopardy.”

  The Prime Minister and Maranda listened to the back and forth and Maranda asked, “And what escape plan have you concocted for New Melbourne?”

  Taffy waved a hand at her, “You already have one.”

  “And what pray tell is that?!” Maranda said sarcastically.

  “The aliens have not been able to find the other Colonies. They only know where New Melbourne is located, and they actually suspect that they might be located in the Perseus Spiral Arm. You can move New Melbourne’s population to the Colonies and move the fleets there to defend them.”

  “And just how are we going to risk sending ships to the Colonies if the aliens have scouts watching us?”

  Taffy looked at Grady and waited for him to respond. She was glad he did and took his attention away from her. “We’ll send a telepath out with the ships you send. They’ll detect the thoughts of any aliens far outside their scanner and telepathic range. They’ll lead the ships around them without being seen.”

  Maranda stared at Grady and Taffy and then blinked. “That’ll work.”

  The Prime Minister turned to her and Maranda said, “We’ve done this before; we can do it again.”

  Abby nodded, “And if you start now, you can make it happen in less than a year. I only had five carriers to help move Melbourne’s population. You now have more than two hundred Carriers.”

  RJ interrupted them by saying, “Using Earth’s Defense Platforms is off the table.”

  “Why?”

  “Mr. President, the aliens don’t know about Earth’s existence and that must be kept secret. We won’t endanger Earth by introducing their ships. The aliens will learn that there is another place where humans live if we do.”

  DeChirico turned to Taffy, “Where are you in getting Britannia ready for our populations?”

  “We’ve accomplished a lot, Mr. President. The robots have constructed more than three hundred million residences and once the Military construction sites are finished, the additional ones will be completed in less than six months.”

  Grady leaned back in his chair and glared at Taffy, “Robots?”

  Taffy’s head lowered again, “I convinced Abby to send all the surplus robots that hadn’t been sold to Britannia to start underground construction of ship building sites under the mountains and underground residences under the cities that were destroyed. There was an abundance of metals and other things needed in the destroyed cities. President DeChirico has been sending more than a hundred freighters a week with construction supplies to Britannia.”

  “And exactly who is leading this construction effort?” Grady asked.

  “Britt.” Grady’s head went back. “He’s leading a huge group of engineers and scientists in the reconstruction process.”

  “Taffy, those two aggressive civilizations are not that far from Britannia.”

  “I know, but they’re in the wrong place to find it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Grady, if they leave to attack New Melbourne and New Britannia, they will be coming over the black hole on a course toward the Outer Spiral Arm which is far to the side of Britannia’s location. With everything being built underground, I doubt they’ll detect anything even if they did come near it.”

  “But they could detect the Robots.”

  “The Robots were coated in the stealth coating before they left for Britannia. The underground structures also have a stealth coating above them. They won’t be detected unless a ship lands on the planet and most scouts will just fly past it if they don’t detect anything. Besides, I don’t think those two civilizations will be moving toward Britannia for a very long time. They don’t trust each other enough to try and expand their territory.”

  “And just how do you know that?”

  “It was at the end of the scouting report I didn’t show you. You stopped the report before it completed.”

  “Is there any way to speed up this building process?”

  Taffy turned to DeChirico, “Yes. If more robots could be sent along with additional building materials, it would help a lot. It would also help to move the ship building facilities as quickly as possible. The sites for them are just about completed.”

  “I’ll send another three hundred thousand robots this week,” Abby announced.

  “I’ll get the construction sites set up for the move,” Rory added.

  DeChirico turned to the Prime Minister, “Bob, it looks like both of us are going to have our hands full for the foreseeable future. Contact me if I can assist you.”

  “You do the same.”

  RJ turned to Maranda, “Maranda, you should get some of your telepaths organized to lead your ships out to the Colonies. It might also be a good idea to have some of your ships go toward the Perseus Spiral Arm to throw them off.”

  “Do you honestly think they’ll have scouts watching us?” Maranda replied.

  “Not right away. They know if we catch them scouting us we’ll launch a fleet into their territory. But as their attack gets closer, they’ll send scouts in.”

  “Sir, I recommend you use the telepaths to keep any of their scouts outside of their scanning range.” Everyone in the room turned to Charlie. “I think it would be better for them to believe that all of the populations on both planets were killed. I would also recommend that none of the missiles they fire be stopped.”

  “Why do you say that?” Grady asked.

  “I’ve heard Sweets say that their real goal is to take possession of New Britannia where they can start construction of the strengthened hulls used on our ships. If they’re going to destroy the planet, I would put enough nuclear weapons on it to blow away the atmosphere so they can’t use it.”

  “That means we can never come back to New Britannia if we do that?”

  “If they hit the planet with enough nuclear missiles coming back won’t be an issue. I suspect they are planning to launch far more missiles than they’ll need to destroy it. They’re probably anticipating that many of them will be intercepted before they arrive at the planet’s surface. Allowing them to build stronger hulls is not a good thing.”

  “So, how would you go about doing this?” RJ asked.

  “The most expeditious way would be to put a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons on one site and set it off. The blast would blow away the atmosphere above that side of the planet and collapse the atmosphere on the other side. I suspect the nuclear missiles the alien’s launch will possibly do irreparable damage to the atmosphere but there’s no reason to take the chance it doesn’t, Sir,” Charlie answered.

  The room was silent as they thought about destroying their home planet. Finally Candy stood up, “He’s right. It would be like leaving a weapon behind for a robber to use against you later. I hate this, but if we’re truly going to leave here for Britannia, we don’t need to leave anything behind for them to use against us. All of our warship construction sites should also be destroyed before we go.”

  Candy sat down and RJ turned to President DeChirico, “Sir, this will have to be your decision”

  President DeChirico slowly shook his head and sighed. “I don’t want to do this, but….” He turned to RJ, “Are you sure we can’t stop their attack?”

  “I am Sir. We don’t have a means of stopping it now, and I really don’t see us coming up with something to detect them before they launch the missiles.”

  “Then do what needs to be done to leave them nothing to use against us,” DeChirico said softly.

  The Prime Minister turned to Maranda, “You will do the same on New Melbourne.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  The Prime Minister turned to the President, “Once our population has been moved to the Colonies, I’m sending fifty of my Carri
ers to Britannia to aid with its evacuation and defense. You’re going to be much closer to our enemies than the Colonies.”

  “I appreciate the help, Bob. Thank you.”

  Candy whispered something in RJ’s ear, and he looked at Sweets staring at Charlie. He nodded to her and said, “Captain Grinstead, your suggestion was a good one. I’m promoting you to Admiral commanding the warships charged with preventing the alien scouts from getting close to New Britannia and New Melbourne. Determine what you’re going to need to make that happen and get back to me immediately.”

  Charlie’s eyes narrowed, “Yes Sir.”

  Sweets looked at her parents and knew something had just happened that didn’t make sense; there were plenty of Admirals with more experience that would have made a better choice than Charlie. She looked at her mother and saw her instantly look away; Sweets rolled her eyes. She must have seen her staring at Charlie and decided to keep them separated. She almost allowed her anger to get the best of her but then forced herself to think about it.

  Charlie would be away from New Britannia for more than a year, possibly two. He would get his weapons officer back and there was little chance another woman would be able to get his attention while he was just outside the Andromeda Galaxy or in the outer reaches of new Britannia’s star system. It actually wasn’t a bad thing this happened. He now outranked her and that would remove that issue hanging between them. She sat back and saw Cami staring at her. Cami smiled and nodded. Sweets told Cami she could look at her thoughts anytime she chose and evidently she had been listening in to her.

  She instantly heard, “I was. I just wanted to make sure you saw this is a good thing.” Sweets smiled and Cami added, “This will allow both of you some time to see if your feelings for each other are real and can stand the test of time.”

  Sweets raised a shoulder and saw Charlie staring at her. “Cami, tell Charlie to meet me on the roof after the meeting.”

  “I don’t have to; he’s already planning to talk with you after the meeting.” Sweets smiled and turned back to the President.

  President DeChirico stood up, “I’m going to address the planet tomorrow and tell everyone what’s going on. I’m setting a date six months from now for all of our available ships and freighters to start moving our people to Britannia. Until that date, every freighter both civilian and military will be moving supplies to New Britannia.” He turned to Abby, “I want half of the new robots you’re sending to Britannia to start farming operations immediately. We can subsist on the food-balls for a while but we’re going to need to become self-subsistent of them as quickly as possible.” He turned to the attendee’s and said, “We’ve lived here for a little more than three decades. We’ve moved once and we can do it again. We’re fortunate that our population is small enough to make this move easier than if we were forced to do this in another three decades. Our people are resilient, and we will emerge from this experience stronger because of it.” He turned to Taffy, “You told Grady that you chose to do this to prepare Britannia for the day you moved there. It’s my belief that you suspected this was going to be necessary and I personally thank you for all the people on New Britannia for your forethought and planning.”