“Jillian!”
“I’m already on it. All power is going to the force field. It’s holding at eighty percent.”
“I expect a rush towards the planet like a sale of tennis shoes at Wal-Mart; prepare the missiles.”
* * *
Jdah saw more than nine hundred ships burning or exploding and knew that his fleet would not survive more passes. “Order the ships to dive towards the planet and launch their nuclear missiles.”
The Jukebox arrived and turned to face the thousands of ships still in ranks. Suddenly the ranks broke apart as the survivors turned and moved at high speed toward the planet. “Missile alert! All ships, Missile Alert.” The Earth ships passing under the Alliance Fleet turned, dove, and accelerated away at high speed. Jillian hit her board and eight fusion missiles left the Jukebox and spread out across the front of the advancing Fleet. They arrived at the fleet and detonated. The blasts were gigantic and covered the entire front of the Alliance Fleet. When the blast cleared only twelve hundred Alliance Ships remained operational. Jdah saw the Moet Ships moving out towards his formation and the small ships roaring back in to attack. He punched his fleet communication pad and yelled, “Escape, escape! Get out of here!”
Three hundred more ships were destroyed before they could enter Sierra Space. Of the three thousand ships that arrived only eight hundred and ninety six managed to survive. The space at the Moet planet looked like a starship grave yard. The two hundred Earth Ships lined up between the destroyed Alliance Ships and the planet scanning for any ship that could still fight. The Moet Ships moved through the ships looking as well.
* * *
The Moet High Master appeared on his display, “It appears we are at your mercy.”
“I told your Prince that we are not your enemy. Unless you choose to attack us again, we will remain that way.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“I think you can take it from here. I wish you luck and hope you survive.”
Chris punched the withdrawal button and the small white ships disappeared.
* * *
“What do you think about this?”
“I don’t know, Watcher. This is just not how things happen.”
“Would you vote to attack them again?”
“NO! We can’t stand up to their ships.”
“What if we could; would you vote to attack?”
The High Master lowered his stalks and pondered the question. “If they could destroy us now and choose not to, why would they ever choose to destroy us?”
“I think that being said it right; he is not our enemy. It seems to me that we should not be his.”
“Two of our planets were attacked. Have you received any information from them?”
“The Alliance Ships were stopped at the other two as well.”
“Collect the recordings of the attacks and add ours. Send a courier with them to the Highest Master.”
The Watcher turned to its board and contacted the other two planets. Its secondary brain carried out the task while its primary brain struggled with a new concept that was foreign to it, friendship.
* * *
“Jillian, is the Ninja back on board?”
“Yes, they arrived before we jumped.” Jillian checked her feed to the landing bay, “It appears that the good Captain is cleaning up the ship.”
“What?”
“He’s scrubbing off dust that was on it after it went through some debris while landing.”
“What’s Isadore doing?”
“She’s doing a check on the beam collectors to make sure they were not affected by the continuous firing.”
“Do we need to go back to refit the Ninja.”
“No, my analysis of the emitters shows they weren’t affected during combat. What about the missiles; do we need to pick up some more?”
Chris raised his shoulders and pushed his com, “Captain Riose, how many fusion missiles do you have on board?”
Anna looked over at her Weapons Officer and he held up ten fingers. “We have ten, Sir.”
“We’re going to jump back into the outer planets in the Moet System and need you to transfer eight of them to the Jukebox. Captain Arvolo will use the Ninja to make the transfer. You can replace them when you get back to Earth.”
“I’ve just received the coordinates. We’ll be there momentarily.”
* * *
Arvolo and Izzy tied the eight large missiles down and used a gravity gun to return them to normal weight. Arvolo turned to Anna, “Thank you very much for you assistance, Captain.”
“I’m glad to help. Come see me when you get home.”
Arvolo looked at the beautiful Latin woman and smiled, “I’ll do what I can.” He turned back to the Ninja and saw Izzy staring at him. “What?”
“Why don’t you just go back with her and I’ll handle the Ninja.” Izzy turned and went back into the Ninja’s cargo bay.
Arvolo watched her walk away and looked around.
What did I do?
He went onboard and transferred the missiles into their launch tubes. He actually felt the air in the bay was ten degrees colder until Izzy went to her quarters.
* * *
Jillian was sitting in Chris’s lap when the console announced, “Incoming call from Dolly Garcia.”
Chris smiled, “Connect call.”
“Well, are you happy now?”
“As a matter of fact, I am and I know you must feel good about it as well.”
Dolly tried not to smile but just couldn’t pull it off, “I am. It was the right thing to do.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Hemon has requested he be allowed to discuss a few items with the Alliance at their Capital.”
“Now that I hate I’m going to miss. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“I promised him he could handle any negotiations. We’ll send you a record. I assume that since you transferred the missiles you’re departing from your current location.”
Chris looked at Jillian and they both looked at Dolly, “You already know about that?”
“I have an alarm that notifies me anytime fusion missiles are moved. We take them very seriously.”
“Well, to answer your question, we are leaving momentarily.”
“Just be careful and all of our prayers are with you.”
“Thanks, Dolly. Maybe we can all go dancing when we get back.”
“I’ve missed that more than you know. Count on it.”
The display went dark and Jillian stood and went to her station, “Where do you want to start the search?”
“I’ve thought about the best way to find a Jenze planet but I don’t expect that the list will do us much good.”
“Why is that?”
“The Alliance says that the screen around their planets was taken from the Jenze. I suspect those planets that are listed as dangerous would still have defenses to defend them. I don’t want to try that until everything else has failed.”
“So where do we go?”
“We know where a live Jenze is.”
Jillian looked confused and then said, “The scientist that was killed by the T-Rex.”
“I was thinking that we have the exact coordinates to go and look at where he jumped into normal space when he came to Earth. We could send the Ninja into Sierra Space and have it follow its tracks back to where it came from and we go take a look at that locations history.”
“That would mean the Ninja would not remain close to our screen when it jumped away.”
“Yes, but we would keep it active until it returned and then retrieve it.”
“Do you think the Moet will detect the Ninja?”
“Not if we wait for the Jenze to get to Earth. Remember they were hiding behind the moon to avoid detection by the Jenze. They wouldn’t be able to see us. My worry is that the Jenze may be able to detect it.”
Jillian thought a moment and said, “What if we wait to send the Ninja until the Jenze had left his ship to hunt the T-Rex.”
“That might work. As soon as he left, the Moet attack craft started their runs. His ship would probably give warning on those before a ship in the outer solar system. Since the ship was destroyed by the asteroid there would not be a record of our appearance.” Chris paused and replayed the recording of the Moet attack and the death of the Jenze. “We should try this first. Get Arvolo and Izzy up here and fill them in on what they’re going to have to do.”
“What do we do if the Moet see us?”
“That’s something we’ll have to avoid. It might change the entire history of this galaxy.”
Chapter Eight
K
enny looked at his communications panel and saw Dolly Garcia, “How may I serve you, Madam?”
“I want you to gather six hundred of our ships and pay the Alliance Capital a visit.”
Kenny looked over at his map board, “I’ll get fleet to vector the other two fleets to my location. Is there a message you wished delivered?”
“Yes, but Hemon is going to deliver it. I want you there to support whatever action he chooses to take.”
“I’m sending you my coordinates. If you’ll have Mr. Hemon come join me, I would appreciate it.”
Dolly looked over at her panel and said something to someone off the screen, “He’ll be delivered momentarily. Get your fleet organized and ready for possible combat operations.”
“Yes Sir.”
* * *
“Hemon, why do you have to go to the Alliance Capital?”
“Sasha, if I’m still alive, I have to believe that the Sheera that killed my family is still alive as well. I want to find out.”
“So you’re going for vengeance?”
Hemon looked at his wife and slowly nodded, “I think they are accountable for their actions. However, I’m not feeling any blood lust over this.”
“I hope not. You’ll pay a price for making a bad decision. I don’t want to see that happen.”
“We’ll see. Either way, we know the Alliance is a ruthless master that doesn’t place any value on life.”
“I wish I were going with you.”
“I refuse to endanger our child and I would hope you would feel the same.”
“I do. Just don’t rush to judgment.”
Hemon saw the Guantanamo ahead and got up to leave for the landing bay. He leaned down and kissed Sasha and started to say something but stopped and left the bridge. Sasha watched him go and knew the Leaders of the Alliance would need to be very careful if they wanted to live.
* * *
Kenny watched the shuttle approach and called Jeff, “Sir, why is the Egyptian coming to negotiate with the Alliance?”
Jeff looked down and said, “The Alliance killed his family before they left Earth five thousand years ago. He formally requested to be our negotiator.”
Kenny stared at the display and Jeff saw his concern, “Kenny, we aren’t there to have a blood bath. Use your best judgment.”
“Thank you, Sir. I might have to get you to confirm that if events force me to take command.”
“I’ll have Dolly standing by.”
Kenny nodded as Hemon entered the bridge. He came to attention and saluted, “Welcome aboard, Sir.”
Hemon returned the salute and took the chair at the weapons board. “Are you ready to go, Admiral?”
“Yes’ Sir, we were waiting on your arrival.”
“Let’s go visit our former visitors. I’ll be an observer until we arrive.”
Kenny hit his com, “We will be jumping momentarily to the Alliance Capital. Upon emergence, tighten up your formations and follow me in to the system.” Kenny looked at his board and said, “We will jump in ten seconds.”
Six hundred ships counted it down and disappeared from normal space.
* * *
Jdah arrived at the Capital and sent an emergency message to the Council of Ten, “Attack warning; we have been attacked at the Moet’s planets by another species ships and have lost more than two thirds of our fleets. I must conclude they will be coming here.”
Tenah was sitting with the Council waiting for the fleet to return and jumped up from his chair, “You’ve lost what!?!”
“Of my three thousand ships, only nine hundred survived. The other two fleets were also mauled by strange ships that came in and defended the Moet Planets. They were not Moet ships. My sensors indicated their beams were as powerful as those of the Blue Ships.”
“How big were they?”
“They were one third the size of our main battleships. They defy analysis.” Tenah saw hundreds of ships appearing around the planet and looked over at one of the Council, “Get the planetary screen down and move those ships inside. Get the orders out that all other survivors should go back to their place of origin.” Tenah looked back at his display, “How certain are you that they will come here?”
“I would if I were them. They must have followed our fleet from here to the Moet Planet. We can hope they don’t but we should prepare as if they will. Do you want me to report for discipline?”
Tenah looked at the Admiral who was one of the most senior Council Members and slowly shook his head, “No, I don’t think any lessons would be learned from punishing you. If this menace is real, we need every ship we have in our inventory. How many are available for our defense?”
“I’ve sent word out to the members and we can get ten thousand here within a rotation.”
“How many of those ships destroyed your fleet?”
Jdah shook his head, “Only two hundred, Sire.”
Tenah was stunned speechless. Another Council Member asked, “How many did you manage to destroy?”
“None.”
Tenah regained his composure and said, “Get the fleet moving.”
“Yes Sire, I will issue the directives immediately.”
* * *
Hemon leaned back in his chair and watched the Earth Fleet move through Sierra Space. He felt his anger and animosity at the Alliance Leadership growing by the moment. He hoped the Alliance would attack his ships so he could take his vengeance without giving them a chance to talk their way out of destruction. He looked and saw they would arrive momentarily.
* * *
Kenny watched Hemon out of the corner of his eye and his expression said more than words could ever communicate. He had pulled up the records of the Command Team’s initial meetings with Hemon and knew about the Sheera killing his brother, wife, and son. He sighed and guessed the old saying was wrong; time does not heal all wounds. It appeared Hemon’s anger was fresh. Kenny put a feed in to Fleet Headquarters with a request to forward it to Admiral Garcia’s console. This was shaping up to be a blood bath, “Emergence into the Alliance System in ten seconds.”