Defending Earth-Searching for Death Feeders (25 page)

Nicole saw Kyle’s arms drop slightly and she almost opened fire but she could see the main monitor and the scout was changing course. Her eyes were little more than slits when Kyle opened his eyes and smiled, “Done.”

Nicole collapsed in her chair and wept. She turned her back to Kyle and shook as she released her fears and tears.

Kyle saw her and slowly stood up and walked over to her chair. He turned it around and Nicole put her hands over her eyes. He knelt in front of her and took her in his arms. She put her arms around his neck and wept. He slowly rocked her and softly said, “It’s alright. It’s alright.”

“No it’s not.”

Kyle smiled, “Yes it is. I’m fine.”

“What if you were infected by that Feeder?”

Kyle paused and his smile disappeared, “I didn’t consider that?”

Nicole leaned back and hit him on the arm, “Of course you didn’t, you big idiot.”

Kyle thought for a few moments and said, “I didn’t really go deep into its mind. I just sent some suggestions it can’t ignore. However, that was pretty stupid wasn’t it?” Nicole stared into his eyes and burst out laughing. “What?”

“I sensed the Nudges protected you from that infection or I would have blasted that scout into dust.” Kyle looked into her eyes and sighed. Nicole lowered her head and said, “Don’t worry about me, Kyle. I know you still belong to Callie.”

Kyle’s eyes narrowed, “What?”

“It’s alright. I know how much you loved her and how much you miss her.”

“Just how do you know that?”

Nicole stared at him, “It’s obvious. Now let’s get back to work.” Nicole turned back to her console and Kyle remained on his knee for a moment before he stood up and went to his chair. He turned around and stared at his display showing the scout moving through the void. He remained in that position for a very long time.

“F
leet Leader, we have lost more than a third of our warships. We can’t continue to lose ships like this. There won’t be enough left to take this planet.”

The Fleet Leader didn’t want to leave this prize but knew his Second was right. “All ships; prepare to jump to the coordinates of these attacker’s home world. We will be jumping in fifteen seconds.”

• • •

The Red Fleet Commander was worried about losing all his ships to this telepathic species and was about to issue orders to reform when every enemy ship disappeared from normal space and didn’t reappear, “What’s going on?”

“Commander, the enemy has entered the void and they have left on a course toward our home world.”

“ORDER ALL SHIPS INTO THE VOID AND GIVE CHASE! We have to stop them from attacking the planet.”

The void was full of warships headed toward the Red Aliens’ home world. The Red Ships were faster than the Feeders and would arrive slightly ahead of them. The Feeder Fleet Leader smiled and slowed his ships slightly. They would arrive linked and then he’d see how this species faired against his ships. He would enjoy killing every one of them.

• • •

“Admiral Norden, delay your attack until I authorize it!”

“Sorry, Sir, but the First Commander has ordered us to attack as soon as the Feeders kill the Red Alien Fleet.”

Kyle almost lost his temper but he forced himself to calm down. He took a deep breath and keyed the communicator, “Admiral, I chose you for promotion because of your ability to look at things and make a good decision. Don’t prove me wrong in choosing you to lead our fleets.”

Eric looked at Kelly and rubbed his fingers through his hair, “Sir, I don’t have enough information to make that decision.”

“I’ve sent the scout that was going to find the Goran back to the Feeder Fleet. It’s been infected by contact with a species of telepathic fish. If that scout links with the Feeders when they’re linked, it could infect them as well. We need to see if it happens.”

Eric’s eyes narrowed, “What does this infection do?”

“It prevents them from doing anything but focusing on those fish.”

“Sir, I’ll delay but we have to hit them before they skip away.”

“Fair enough. The scout will arrive about an hour after the Feeder Fleet. I suspect they will take at least that long to kill the fleet and go after the planet.”

“Will they stay linked that long?”

“They’ll stay linked until they complete the destruction of the planet. If they finish faster than that, go ahead and attack them but make sure every ship has their thought blockers at full power.”

“Yes Sir. I am going to notify First Commander Ambrose about the change in my orders.”

“Tell her what I just told you.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

“That was a little heavy handed.”

“I know but he listened and is doing the right thing. How long before the Feeders arrive at the Red Aliens’ home world, Amber?”

“The Red Alien Fleet has already arrived and is forming up around the planet. I think the Feeders deliberately slowed their approach to make sure they were all there.”

“That has to mean they’ll arrive mentally linked.”

“Kyle, the Fleet Leader has ordered all ships to prepare to link prior to entering normal space.”

“Thanks, Willow.” Kyle turned around and looked at Nicole, “You mentioned earlier the Nudges prevented my mind from being infected.”

“They did and they took a huge risk to do it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The scout sensed them. If it doesn’t infect the Feeder Fleet, they’ll learn of their existence, which will lead to every Feeder Attack Fleet coming to find them.”

Kyle’s eyes narrowed, “Why would they take that kind of risk?”

Nicole sighed, “It appears there’s more to you than you, or I, think. I sense they believe you are critical to their survival. I’d have Admiral Norden attack before the scout arrives to possibly prevent the Fleet Leader from having an opportunity to take a close look at its mind.”

Kyle stared at Nicole and then looked up, “Willow.”

“Yes.”

“Did the probes collect the light signature of the Fleet Leader’s vessel?”

“What are you thinking?”

“I want you to really focus on that Leader and if it determines the existence of the Nudges, we are skipping in and attacking that ship.”

“Kyyylllleeeee!”

“Willow, we’ll skip in and skip out. Nicole will fire as soon as we arrive next to it.”

“But it’s going to be at the strongest spot of their linkage.”

“Then we’ll find out if our thought blocker force field is all it’s cracked up to be. We will do this.”

“It might detect me listening to it.”

“That’s not necessarily bad. It will distract it from focusing on the scout.”

“There’s a better way to accomplish the same thing.”

Kyle looked at Nicole, “What is that?”

“Skip in and kill the scout if Willow doesn’t detect the infection in other Feeders. I suspect the Feeder Leader will be preoccupied and will take a few moments before it focuses on it.”

Kyle shook his head, “This is the second time you’ve come up with an extraordinary tactic. Was that idea a nudge?”

“No, it just seems obvious.”

“Willow, what’s going on with her?”

Nicole’s eyebrows went up and she opened her mouth but heard Willow say, “It appears her kerit and Human brains are organizing in a rather remarkable way. It’s like when Lukas changed his DNA to human. His mind improved over time and he became much more than he was when he initially arrived on Earth.”

“Will she become telepathic?”

“I don’t know. But the level of energy in her brain is fifty percent higher than it was when she first converted her DNA.”

Nicole shut her mouth. She thought for a moment and looked up, “I don’t feel any different?”

“Nicole, Chris and Michael determined that when Lukas went through his DNA change, the process was different from all the others that changed after him.”

“What do you mean?”

“His primary brain was Welken and he should have killed the child he and Kathy produced to hide his presence. He didn’t do it; so something had to happen during that process. There were other examples of behavior to support their belief but they decided that some outside force modified him during the change. If it was the Nudges that did it, it could well be that they also modified your mind during your change to human DNA.”

“Why would they do that?”

“Why would they endanger themselves to protect Kyle? It appears the two of you play a vital role in their plans.”

Kyle and Nicole looked at each other and Kyle shook his head, “It may be that you need to be our First Commander.”

Nicole shook her head, “If that were the case, the Nudges would have told Hensel to choose me.” Kyle’s eyes narrowed and Nicole held up a hand, “I know, I know. I wasn’t ready to do it then but there’s another reason I’m not the one to do that.”

“What is it?”

“You and I are being forced to stay together on this ship. Would you follow me around if I were the First Commander?” Kyle stared at her and, after a moment, sighed and shook his head. Nicole smiled, “However, I am willing to follow you around. I find very interesting things happen around you. Besides, the Alliance would never accept a person from a new alien species to be the First Commander and, before you disagree, you need look no further than the reason you were chosen.” Kyle’s eyes narrowed and he thought about the comment and after a moment his eyes went wide. Nicole saw his expression and said, “What are you thinking?”

Kyle shook his head, “This is not something I’ll discuss. And please don’t press me on it.”

Nicole slowly shook her head, “Touché.”

Kyle looked up, “Amber, send me the scout’s light signature and I’ll lock it in my panel. Nicole, be ready to blast that scout into dust if we’re forced to skip in.”

“Will do.” Nicole activated her armor and pulled up the tactical display on her visor. She entered the scout’s signature and set the disruptors to all fire on it the instant it was detected. She turned off her armor and leaned back in her chair. Willow played the thoughts she intercepted over the loud speaker and the two of them listened. The Feeder Fleet entered normal space and the Red Alien Warships began dying by the thousands. Nicole started shaking her head, “WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR PLANS!”

Kyle whipped his chair around, “What?”

“Kyle, everything feeds through the Fleet Leader. In order for the infection to spread, the Fleet Leader must focus on that scout! Only then will all the other ships be infected. We have to go after the Fleet Leader’s vessel if it doesn’t work!”

Kyle stared at her and heard Willow say, “She’s right. The Fleet Leader’s mind is the only one operating as a control on all the others.”

“Amber, send me the Fleet Leader’s light signature. Nicole, change your targeting.” Nicole activated her armor again and Kyle saw the new light signature appear on his panel. He locked it in and shook his head, “I should have seen this.”

Nicole nodded, “You would have. You’re preoccupied with the attack taking place on the Red Aliens.”

Kyle blew out a breath and shook his head, “Where’s the tequila when you need it?” Nicole turned around to hide her smile.

• • •

The Feeder Fleet emerged into normal space fully linked and the Fleet Leader smiled as he focused on the thousands of formations of Red Ships in orbit above the planet. He swept the massive might of the combined Feeder’s minds across the front lines of the Red Alien Fleets and the entire front that was advancing on his fleet stopped and started drifting off course.

The Red Fleet Commander was shocked by what he saw happening. His ships were twenty miles from the enemy ships and thousands of his ships started blowing up in self-destructive blasts. “RUN! ALL SHIPS, RUN!!” The Red Fleet Commander suddenly felt something in his mind and a moment later, he collapsed twitching spasmodically to the bridge floor along with the rest of the crew. The Red Alien fleets gathered above the planet began a massive wave of self-destruction starting on the right end of the formations and ran across toward the left end. Only a thousand ships on the left end managed to escape into the void and the Feeder Fleet Leader dispatched ten thousand ships to chase them down.

• • •

The Fleet Leader smiled and waited for the massive blasts to stop. The nuclear reactors exploded and they fed on each other causing a massive atomic fire high above the planet. He kept the fleet Linked and waited to finish destroying the planet. Not a ship lost and he could shortly return to finish off the planet of Telepaths. He savored the minds of the dead aliens along with every other Feeder in the Fleet. He felt renewed and ready to take on the universe.

• • •

“Eric!”

“Hold on, Kelly. They’re waiting to attack the planet. Once they launch that attack, we’ll have to go in. Have the probes assigned all the light signatures?”

“We still have a hundred thousand unassigned.”

“Get it done!!”

“Yes Sir.”

Eric glanced at his tactical monitor and saw the signature codes flashing on the screen at an incredible speed but there were still eighty thousand unassigned. He prayed the Feeders would continue delaying their attack. He looked back up at the monitor, fifty thousand to go. Come on, come on!

• • •

The Fleet Leader made a critical mistake. It had been a very long time since his fleet had killed so many in such a short period of time and the meal was almost more pleasure than he could handle. His fleets remained in formation without moving as they fed and it made the probes’ task of collecting light signatures much easier than having to track ships that were moving. Finally, the Fleet Leader was ready. “Leader, the scout has returned.”

“What scout?”

“The one sent to examine the distant cluster.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea.”

The Fleet Leader focused on the Scout for a moment and then turned his focus on the planet below him and launched a massive psychic wave toward the surface.

• • •

The Red Alien Leader sat in his chair and trembled in fear. His fleet was destroyed and burning pieces were falling out of orbit setting massive fires in the main city. He hid in his deep bunker and felt the impacts on the surface far above him. His walls held and he began to hope he might survive. But then he heard, “Oh no, you will go with all the others. Wait, what are these two ships that warned you?”