Lens of Time Read online

  Lens of Time Book Four

  The End of Time

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter One • Chapter Two • Chapter Three • Chapter Four • Chapter Five • Chapter Six • Chapter Seven • Chapter Eight • Chapter Nine • Chapter Ten • Chapter Eleven • Chapter Twelve • Chapter Thirteen • Chapter Fourteen • Chapter Fifteen • Chapter Sixteen • Chapter Seventeen • Chapter Eighteen • Chapter Nineteen • Chapter Twenty • Chapter Twenty-One • Chapter Twenty-Two • Chapter Twenty-Three • Chapter Twenty-Four • Chapter Twenty-Five • Chapter Twenty-Six • Chapter Twenty-Seven • Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Excerpt from The Fight for Creation Life Warrior

  Books by Saxon Andrew

  About Saxon Andrew

  Introduction

  Arvolo looked up at his display and saw the gathering ships. There were millions and more were arriving every second. He hit the general frequency, “There is no possible way for us to fight in formation against the numbers moving against us, so once the battle is joined, all ships will be on their own to fight and survive as best they can. It is our intent to kill as many of the enemy as possible and lessen the possibility of them finding our new home. Small ships will fight until they run out of munitions and will then jump away. You will not waste your ships by ramming the enemy. We will need you in future combat operations. On my command, weapons are free, pick a group of those warships, and introduce yourselves. Make sure they remember you; God speed and good luck.” RV hit the internal com and said, “All crewmembers prepare for damage control.”

  RV stood and moved to the pilot’s chair, “Dolly, can you handle the weapons?”

  “I can.”

  “Cyanna, take over control of the fleet and order retreat if we’re going to be overwhelmed.”

  Cyanna moved to the command chair and watched the giant mass of warships as it continued to grow. She looked at RV, “If you don’t mind, I’ve never been the patient sort.”

  RV smiled and said, “Go ahead.”

  “Attention all ships; we will not wait for their attack. Launch all small ships immediately and prepare to hit those ships in the center of their formation in five seconds; four, three, two, one, and go!”

  The millions of White Ships roared forward, hit the giant mass of warships at one quarter light speed. Ships began dying.

  Chapter One

  Arvolo sat on the shuttle with Kenny and George. He was dressed in a tux and Kenny tried to control his laughter. RV frowned and said, “If you say I look like a walrus penguin, I’m going to tusk you.”

  Kenny and George both laughed out loud and Arvolo looked down at his still large stomach. “Where is this ceremony taking place?”

  George smiled, “Cyanna made me promise not to tell you.” RV looked at Kenny and he shook his head.

  RV sighed, “How long before we arrive?”

  “Actually, everything is ready. We’ll be jumping in momentarily.”

  RV stood up and Kenny pulled him back down to his seat. “No, you cannot go to the bridge and peek.”

  “Are the two of you freaking mind readers? How did you know I wasn’t going to the head?”

  “You went five minutes ago and it’s toward the rear of the ship.”

  RV sat down and sighed, “Were either of you this nervous on your wedding day?”

  George said, “I was terrified. I was worried I was not worthy of the woman I was marrying.”

  “That’s what I’m feeling, George. She’s so beautiful and smart and witty and beautiful and stunning and brilliant. Did I say she was beautiful?”

  George smiled and said, “No, you left that out.”

  RV thought a moment and said, “No I didn’t!”

  “Relax, RV; we’ll be landing in a few more moments. Now remember, we will exit the ship, in intervals of five seconds. You will follow Kenny five seconds after he steps out of the door.”

  “I know, I know. Let’s get this started.”

  They felt a small bump and the airlock door slid up in the ceiling. George stood and slowly walked down the short corridor. Five seconds later, Kenny followed him. RV tried to count to five and just couldn’t pull it off. He watched Kenny step out of the door and started walking forward. What has Cyanna planned? He’d know momentarily. RV stepped out of the door and froze in his tracks. He stared at the beautiful church in front of him and couldn’t move. He remembered the church from his childhood. The Basilica de Nuestra Senora del Cobre; Our Lady of charity. She was the patron saint of Cuba. He was standing at the front of the Church twelve miles from Havana and two long lines of fleet officers had their swords raised and crossed for him to enter the church. George and Kenny stood beside him and Kenny whispered, “I told Cyanna what you once told me; anyone who goes to the Island will always have good luck. She decided she would marry you here and nowhere else. Your belief Cuba is special was borne out in Earth’s destruction. The island wasn’t hit. “ Kenny saw RV’s tears and said, “Your bride is waiting for you inside.”

  RV took a deep breath and blew it out. He stood straighter and moved forward with a purpose in his step. He glanced up at the force field protecting the church from Earth’s radioactivity and he knew what she must have gone through to make this happen. He saw her love in it and he didn’t want to spend another moment without her. Kenny and George followed him into the church and, unlike most weddings; Cyanna was waiting for him at the front. Chris Connor joined Kenny and George and followed RV down the aisle. Jillian, Meisa, Jessica, and Cyanna’s sister Anne stood beside her at the altar.

  RV saw nothing but Cyanna. She was almost too beautiful to look at in her white wedding gown and her love was visible for all to see. The ceremony was one that everyone present would always remember. It was one RV and Cyanna would always hold in their hearts. As RV arrived beside Cyanna he leaned down and took off his shoes and socks. He smiled at Cyanna and said, “I need to feel my homeland under my feet in this moment.”

  Cyanna looked into his eyes and smiled. RV took her hand and they turned to face the priest. Everyone in the church that loved someone felt their love burst out. Great moments lead to great emotion. RV and Cyanna already knew that.

  Chapter Two

  George looked at Admirals Anders and Owens, “It’s been eight months and it appears the Majors are still attacking those civilizations that were weakened during the attack on the Violet Civilization. Has the Hive Controller been able to determine how much longer the combat will continue?”

  “No Sir, but he says that even when it ends they won’t immediately attack again.”

  “Why is that?”

  “The ones that stayed out of the battle will not be willing to risk losing ships and being attacked by the other Majors. He’s of the opinion that the Majors will have to come to an agreement to send ships from all of their civilizations before any of them take on the Horde and Violet Beings.”

  George ran his fingers through his hair, “I wish there was some way we could monitor what’s happening.”

  Bob looked at Kenny and said, “We discussed that before Admiral Arvolo left for his honeymoon. We might be able to make that happen but we’ll run the risk of losing ships.”

  George sat back in his chair, “Tell me what you mean.”

  “We have the new sensor buoys that are next to impossible to detect. If we could deliver one to each of the capital planets in the Majors, it would be possible to listen in on their communications.”

  “Do we know the location of those capitals?”

  “No sir but the Horde and Hive know.”

  “Why do you say we’ll lose ships?”

  “Sir, we have not faced the really advanced civilizations in the Majors. We believe that our beam
s will penetrate their force fields but their beams will also blow through ours. The new beams are a leap in technology but our screens have not kept up with them. Our ships can be killed by their advanced civilizations. The other Majors can destroy our ships if they attack with multiple battleships.”

  Kenny said, “They will also detect any ship that jumps into their system and pursue it faster than you can believe. We might get the sensor in but I doubt the ship that delivers it will survive.”

  Bob added, “And there is a possibility that if they’re able to take one of our ships they will have access to our technology.”

  George thought about the risks and then pushed a button on his console, “Bender, are you available to join a meeting?”

  “I’ll be right up, Sir.”

  Kenny looked at Bob and wondered what George was thinking. Two minutes later Bender walked into the command center. “Bender, do you still have some of the old warships that were used by the Alliance?”

  “We have more than ten thousand of them. They’re scheduled to be converted to commercial transports once their weapons are removed.”

  “Were they set up for remote control when they were built?”

  “They were; why do you ask?”

  George pushed another button and said, “Admiral, will you join us in the command room?”

  The Moet representative arrived and George said, “How many of your old warships are still operational?”

  Admiral thought a moment and said, “There are about eight hundred of the cruisers still in operation.”

  George said, “We need to confuse the Major Civilizations when we deliver our sensor buoys. Admiral, can your ships be operated by remote control?”

  “Not really.”

  George’s expression fell and Bob asked, “Do they have the capability to automatically pursue another ship?”

  “Certainly; that would have to be done by the computers. No one can make the decisions fast enough to pursue a ship attempting to escape in Green Space.”

  George said, “Why is that important, Bob?”

  “I see where you’re going with this. If we can have old Alliance Warships being pursued by the Moet ships, it would look like the Alliance ships were chased into M-87. They could be firing on each other and they could drop a sensor buoy as they emerged into normal space close to a Major’s Capital system.”

  George smiled, “Exactly, and if we jump them in from the direction of another galaxy, it would throw them off as to where they originated.” George looked at Kenny, “Is it possible to make this subterfuge happen?”

  Kenny thought about it and said, “You want to do this by remote control and not have anyone on board either ship, right?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Kenny turned to the Admiral, “What happens when a ship is being pursued automatically and the ship it’s chasing is destroyed?”

  “What do you want to happen?”

  “Could it be made to attack the closest ship to it?”

  “It could.”

  Kenny looked at George and said, “We’ll program the Alliance ships to jump into six Major systems sequentially. At that point, the Moet warship will destroy it.”

  Bender said, “But the Moet ship can’t be flown by remote control.”

  “I know, but I think you can bet the farm on a Major Ship being a part of the chase long before the sixth jump. Once the Alliance ship is destroyed, the Moet Ship will turn and attack the Major. Even if they disable the Moet Ship and capture it, they won’t learn anything from its technology that would help them.”

  George said, “Then why program six jumps?”

  “Why just launch buoys at the capital planets? If the ships are able to make multiple jumps, we might as well launch as many sensor buoys as possible. Who knows, we might get lucky.”

  The Admiral was silent for a moment and said, “What happens if a ship is captured and there isn’t any crew on board?”

  Bob said, “Set the self-destruct circuit to activate if its force field is breeched. We know the Alliance ship won’t do it so it should be able to complete its run if it doesn’t encounter another ship. If there isn’t another ship around when it destroys the Alliance Warship, program a seventh jump out into deep space.”

  George leaned back in his chair, “We’ll have a sensor buoy at that location and we’ll wait and see if they’re followed. We’ll jump in as many mini-strikers as needed to destroy any ships that make it to that coordinate.”

  George looked over at Meisa, “Contact the Hive and see if you can get the coordinates of all Major Capital Planets. Also request the location of other important planets in the Major’s civilizations.”

  Meisa nodded and George said, “Admiral Anders, will you handle this exercise?”

  “I will. I’ll let you know before we launch.”

  “That would be good.”

  • • •

  The large dark creature slithered up to the door to his quarters and looked at his aide, “Why are you here?”

  “You asked me to inform you if anything changed.”

  “Go on.”

  “The Rhys has broken off their attack and our fleets are no longer being challenged. The Rhys are being attacked by the Krim but we don’t think they will continue if the ships attacking us return to their domain.”

  “How many civilizations are still being attacked?”

  “Only twenty four and it appears that half of those will be conquered and disposed of within a short time.”

  “How many have been destroyed?”

  “Fifty one.”

  “About ten percent have fallen. Are all of the advanced members still staying out of the fight?”

  “They are so far. If they come in at the end the number destroyed could go up.”

  The dark creature thought a moment, “Are any of the ones we have mutual defense agreements with in jeopardy?”

  “Four, but ships from all of our domains are patrolling each other’s planets.”

  “I suspect that is also happening with the other weak systems.”

  “It is.”

  The large creature paused and didn’t want to know but finally forced himself to ask, “What have you heard from our source in the other sector?”

  “If this large of an attack happens again, the other sector is considering invasion.”

  “That limits our response to the rebellious Minors.”

  “That’s why we’ve always had them fighting each other. No one is willing to risk attacking them for fear of being overwhelmed afterwards.”

  “We must do something.”

  “Some are starting to talk. You know how long it will take to get agreement.”

  The large creature saw something in his aide’s expression, “You’re withholding something.”

  “My source in the other sector says that one of them has been contacted by one of the rebellious Minors and has been given one of those ships. There was an attack to destroy that ship but it failed. The other sector will have to factor that into whatever plans they make.”

  “That might slow a response.”

  “My source seems to think it will to some extent. I expect the magnitude of our next attacks on the Minors and the number of ships lost will be the determining factor.”

  “It’s a very tight line we’re crawling on.”

  “It is.”

  “Does the High Assembly know any of this?”

  “They do not.”

  The creature thought a moment and said, “I want to lay on this for a while. I’ll let you know what I want to do with this information later.”

  The aide lowered his head to the floor and the door slammed down. He turned and slithered away. The High Assembly didn’t know but he felt certain that other Majors had the same information. All of them were thinking about how to use it to take control of the sector.

  The dark creature remained at his door for a moment and thought about what all this meant. He craved a position on the H
igh Council but didn’t know how to parley this information into getting him the position. He flipped the switch on his necklace and said, “Have you taken the ship to a secure location?”

  “We have.”

  “What have you been able to discover?”

  “The force fields, weapons, and drives are double our strength.”

  “Collect the technology and get back to me.”

  “It will be done as you order.”

  The dark creature turned and went to the ground. As he slithered back to his pad he thought about the good fortune of one of his ships stumbling on the site of a space battle between one of the Nexu ships and forty Hoyeis. Every ship was killed but the Nexu ship was not so damaged that it couldn’t be examined. He sincerely hoped the Nexu would never discover who had taken the derelict. Their reaction would be swift and severe. However, so far the theft had gone unreported. First his ships; then he would approach the High Assembly. Fear often made things happen that just wouldn’t occur normally. He curled up his fifty foot length, pulled his eight pairs of arms close to his side, and closed his eyes.

  • • •

  Boden looked at the detail of the new ship and said, “It will still be vulnerable to the predator’s ships.”

  “We don’t have any new advances in force field technology.”

  Boden stared at the diagrams and said, “If we can’t stop the beams, would it be possible to escape them?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Is there a way to slow the beam down after it hits and move the ship beyond it?”

  “We could possibly have an inner force field controlled by one reactor that would slow it down twenty thousandth of a second. I don’t see us being able to make it any stronger. Remember that the first force field will be slightly weakened by not using that reactor.”

  “Do we have a relay that will respond that fast?”

  The engineer thought a moment and said, “We have several slightly faster than that.”

  “Follow me on this. If the ships drives are active and on line and the outer force field is breeched and the incoming beam hits the second force field, could an automatic relay trip the drive circuit and push the ship forward?”