Annihilation Saga IV - Fight and They Will Come Read online

  Danielle shook her head, “Do you have any idea how many ground stations it would take to cover a planet’s surface?”

  “We don’t need to cover the entire surface, Your Majesty. They only drop on large cities or defense installations. Protect those and use our armored warriors to go out and take them on in sparsely populated areas. It’s even possible we could use Mag-Cannons to take them out away from the cities.”

  Tag smiled, “He’s making some good points. We at least know what we need to do to defend the Realm’s planets.”

  Eddie turned to Bobby, “Let’s take a look at the recording of the psychic beam.”

  “There’s not a great deal to see, Sir.” The recording started, and they saw a brilliant blue beam reach out and hit the front third of an OA warship. It instantly vanished. Tag reached over and raised his hand for Danielle to give him a high-five. Then his smile disappeared as Bobby brought the view in closer and he began seeing small objects floating in space. As the view moved closer, he saw the objects were OAs floating in space; they were very much alive.

  Tag shook his head and Eddie announced, “There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the psychic ships can destroy the OA warships. The bad news is that they do not harm the crews. There is still an unanswered question.”

  “What is that, Admiral Taylor?” Danielle asked.

  “We don’t know if the psychic beam will damage their motherships; the force field on those giant ships is far beyond the power of the force fields around their standard warships.”

  Danielle stared at Eddie and then smiled, “Well, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. We’ve accomplished everything we set out to do on this voyage and the motherships will have to wait for a later date.”

  “Your Majesty, aren’t the psychic beams on the new psychic ships far more powerful than the one you fired at that warship?”

  Danielle smiled, “Yes, they are, Janie. But we don’t know for certain if they’ll be able to breach that giant’s force field. At least we know we can take on their fleets of smaller warships. That’s a victory for this voyage.”

  “OA FLEET JUST JUMPED IN!!” the computer announced loudly.

  “Bong, you might need to get out now.”

  “Ed, I’m not finding any surviving OAs; however, if there are any, that fleet that just arrived should find them. I’m staying away from their ships and watch what happens.”

  “Remember to…”

  “Keep my density the same as the dark energy around me!” Bong interrupted. “I’m making sure I do, Ed.”

  “Computer, record any images coming from Bong.”

  “Recording, Admiral.”

  Eddie turned to Bobby, “You need to get back to the rear-defenses with Dottie. I hope we don’t need you, but we are at Battlestations and will remain at them until we jump out.”

  Eddie looked at Janie and she quickly said, “Sir, my weapons are active and online.”

  Eddie saw the thousands-of-OA-warships jumping in and moved the Nightmare further out. He prayed Bong would be safe.

  • • •

  Three days later, the computer announced, “There are survivors of the moon’s destruction, Admiral. They’ve been transmitting to the Commander of the fleet and reporting the same thing; all of them were slammed into another OA and managed to live. The OA they slammed in to died.”

  Janie heard the computer and sighed, “I still find it inconceivable that they could survive the nuclear blasts.”

  “They are immune to any energy less powerful than a star’s outer corona,” Eddie said under his breath.

  “Sir, why didn’t you mention to the Gardners that dark matter projectiles will penetrate the OA force fields?”

  Eddie looked at Janie and shrugged, “I’m not certain they will.”

  “But…”

  “Janie, the force fields around those motherships are a different sort of beast. Dark Matter projectiles use energy to get up to speed. The force fields around those monsters are more than twelve-miles-thick. We won’t know if compressed dark matter will penetrate that far.”

  Janie stared at Eddie and turned to her console, “I’ve found something in the data Bong sent us.”

  “What is that?”

  Janie pressed several buttons on her console the turned to the wall monitor. Eddie turned with her and she said, “Keep an eye on the OAs leaving that destroyed warship’s hull.” Eddie stared at the blasted hulk and saw several OAs emerge from it. Suddenly, they started moving quickly toward the OA warship holding station out from the derelict. Eddie’s eyes flew wide open and Janie nodded, “They have the means to move in open space.” Janie brought the view in closer and Eddie saw something just outside the OAs surface; it appeared to be some kind of thruster.”

  Eddie shook his head, “Send this recording to the King and Queen’s computer. If they can do this, they can attack any of our ships that move near them.”

  “They can also use that thruster to fly into a planet’s atmosphere if their ship is destroyed above it,” Janie added.

  Eddie leaned back in his chair, “Every time we make headway against them, something else rears an ugly head.”

  “Sir, can an OA get through the psychic force field surrounding the newest psychic ships?”

  Eddie jerked his head around to her, “You could have waited to drop that bomb until we got back home.”

  “Sorry, Sir.” Eddie sighed and watched the OAs flying at high-speed toward the warship.

  • • •

  The OA fleet commander glared at the survivor, before asking, “What happened here?”

  “A small silver warship was detected close to the moon and it immediately jumped away. Before it disappeared, it fired something at the first ship that jumped in destroying the front third. The next ships to arrive detected the residue from its universal drive and they went in pursuit.”

  “What happened then?”

  “We chased that ship for more than a day and it fired numerous missiles at the warships that came close to it.”

  “What kind of missiles?” the Commander asked.

  “They were the same missiles used by the advanced civilization we conquered in the system that ship was discovered. The ship was smaller than the warships we defeated but it was the same color and similar in shape.”

  “Go on!” the Commander ordered.

  “We noticed that the ship had stopped firing missiles and we chased it into a universe where we did not detect residue from a universal drive. The Senior Monitor ordered the closest dark place searched.”

  “Why would he do that? That’s ridiculous.”

  “He insisted that fleet protocol demanded it be done.”

  “And?”

  “Nothing was found.” The Commander snorted, and the OA survivor continued. “One of our ships detected residue behind a giant star and it indicated the silver ship had reversed its course. The Senior Monitor said that it must be going back to where our pursuit started to rearm. The fleet arrived in time to detect the silver ship being lowered into the surface of a moon on an elevator. The fleet rushed out to the moon and discovered it was a weapon depot used by the advance civilization. The fleet surrounded the moon and several launches were made to drop some of our warriors on the moon’s surface. Before they arrived, the moon went up in a horrific blast that destroyed the fleet.”

  “The fleet commander made a mistake; he should have kept his fleet at a distance!”

  “He worried that there were numerous elevators on that moon and he didn’t want to allow the ship to escape again.”

  The Commander thought about it and flashed a shrug, “I guess that’s understandable.” He paused and stated, “So he believed that small ship was a survivor of our invasion.”

  “He did.”

  “Was there any evidence pointing to it being a different civilization.”

  “There was not.”

  “You may leave.”

  The survivor left the bridge and the Commander�
�s Second spoke up, “Two-warriors were killed on the advanced civilization’s planet. We’ve not seen that happen when we invaded them.”

  “We also didn’t see small silver ships like the one that was chased. They probably just developed a weapon capable of killing our warriors but didn’t have time to get it out to their forces. I still don’t see anything other than it being done by a ship from that advanced civilization. Send all the data to the Senior Monitor and see if he sees anything I’ve missed.” The Second turned to his console and began transmitting.

  The next day, the Senior Monitor appeared on the Commander’s panel. “This small ship was an improvement over their warships. It appeared to have some kind of system that allowed it to avoid the ships pursuing it and, it was faster as well. However, it used the identical missiles of the advanced civilization and went to a weapons depot near their home planet. It had to be a one of their ships. We were fortunate to have conquered them when we did.”

  “I agree. Let me know if you find anything else.” The Senior Monitor disappeared from his panel and the Commander was nervous. Too many coincidences. He forced the fear out of his mind and began compiling a report for the Council. The two-dead-warriors worried him, and the warship damaged by some sort of new weapon was also an issue. But the ship was destroyed with the moon and there was no way any of it could be found to investigate. He completed his report and sent it.

  Bong listened to the report being transmitted and sent it to the Nightmare’s computer. Eddie’s panel pinged, and he looked at the OA Commander’s report. He looked up and thought, “Come back on board, Bong. It’s time to leave.”

  Janie was watching him read the report and he glanced at her. He looked up and ordered, “Computer, send a copy of the OA’s report to the members of my crew.” Janie saw the report appear on her display and she started reading. Tag and Danielle walked on the bridge and Eddie asked, “Have you seen the report?”

  “We have. We received it a few minutes ago,” Danielle answered.

  “I believe we’ve done all we can and should start back to Ross.”

  “I agree, Admiral.” Danielle replied. Eddie glanced at Tag and saw him nod. He turned to his console and saw Bong in his usual place close to the ceiling on the bridge. He energized the dark matter drive and the Nightmare disappeared.

  • • •

  The first stop was Ross where Tag and Danielle were teleported down to the castle. He turned the ship and set the coordinates for Kelen and Janie turned to him, “I’ve been wondering about something.”

  Eddie activated the drive and turned to her, “What is that?”

  “Before Cali died, she had a conversation with me about something called a compliment.” Eddie’s eyes narrowed, and he didn’t respond to her question. Janie waited and then continued, “I asked Sprigly about what exactly a compliment is, and he referred me to several places in the Stars Realm history before answering.”

  “Where did he tell you to go?” Eddie asked.

  “Tag and Danielle’s initial meeting, Tommy, and Cassandra Gardner’s time on the Kosiev, and he asked that I discuss it with Jimmy and Lola before he would discuss it with me.”

  “What did you find out, Janie?”

  “Before I go into that; is it true the King and Queen had you scanned and determined that you are a powerful psychic?”

  “They did.”

  Janie lowered her eyes, “I didn’t need to ask Sprigly. Once I knew what a compliment was, I did a thorough search of the Realm’s history and it is replete with numerous couples that fit the description; all of them were powerful psychics.”

  “Why are you asking me this?”

  “Cali told me you told the Gardners that there was no one else for you but my sister. You swore Cali and you would never be separated and this so-called compliment be damned, you would not accept them into your life. Did you tell her that?” Eddie nodded. Janie shook her head, “That decision is probably what killed her.”

  “WHAT?”

  “Eddie, I’m not going to discuss this any further with you until you do what I did and research what a compliment is. Once you’ve done that, I’ll talk with you about this.”

  “How do you get off saying my decision killed her?!”

  “Do your research, Doctor Taylor. I’ll discuss it with you afterwards and you can tell me how I’m crazy at suggesting it.” Janie turned back to her console and Eddie glared at her. He finally looked away and refused to look at her again all the way back to Kelen. Janie left the ship and Eddie sat in his command chair and was fuming at her suggestion. He teleported to his quarters and tried to control his anger. Finally, at two-in-the-morning, he got up and went to his computer. He wrote an inquiry and asked for examples of psychics finding their compliments. At five-AM, Eddie knew Janie was right. He lowered his head and felt tears in his eyes. He was in the tight hold of a power far beyond anything he ever thought possible. And Cali died because of it.

  He finally managed to get his thoughts in order and realized that Tag and Danielle knew what was coming and didn’t warn him or Cali. His anger now had a target. He went to the Nightmare and flew the ship away from Kelen and arrived above Ross. “What are you going to do, Ed?”

  “Have a conversation with the Gardners, Bong.”

  “Are you sure about this?”

  “They have to answer for their actions, Bong!” Bong was silent, and Eddie sent a message to the Queen’s communicator.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Tag, Eddie has arrived above Ross and has requested we meet him on the Nightmare.”

  “What is this about?”

  “I don’t know, Tag. But from the wording of his request, it sounds like he’s not a happy camper.”

  “It must have something to do with Cali.” Danielle nodded, and Tag looked up, “Alex, notify Admiral Taylor that we will teleport to his ship as soon as we get dressed.”

  “Is something wrong, Tag?”

  “I don’t know Alex; just send the message.”

  An hour later, Tag looked at Danielle and said, “Alex, teleport us to the Nightmare.”

  • • •

  Eddie was sitting in his chair and his eyes turned to slits as Tag and Danielle appeared. “You allowed Cali to die!”

  “Nothing we could do would have prevented that happening, Eddie.”

  Eddie’s features were drawn into a mask of rage, “YOU COULD HAVE WARNED US ABOUT IT!!”

  Danielle’s expression hardened, “And what would you have done?”

  “We would have separated, and she would still be alive!” Tag sat down in a chair and listened to the back and forth with a neutral expression. Eddie saw him and sneered, “You’re as guilty as she is!!”

  “Not really,” Tag replied.

  “YES, YOU ARE!!”

  “Sorry, Eddie, but Danielle did warn you and you ignored her.”

  “NO, SHE DIDN’T!!” Tag stared at Eddie and shook his head. Eddie glared into his eyes and sneered again, “You’re a liar!”

  Tag reached into his belt pack, took out a small datacube, walked over to Eddie and asked, “Play this, please.”

  Eddie’s expression was terrible to see but he took the cube and shoved it into the slot. The wall monitor illuminated, and Eddie saw himself and Cali on the Kosiev’s bridge.

  • • •

  Eddie sighed heavily and looked up, “Run your test, Alex. It’s a moot point if I can’t do this.”

  “Running scan now. HOLY CRAP!”

  “WHAT’S WRONG, ALEX?!” Danielle yelled.

  “HIS PSYCHIC FIELD IS OFF THE SCALE!!”

  Tag and Danielle stared at Eddie and he saw the shock in their expressions, “What’s…going…on?” He saw himself ask.

  “You were right,” Tag said to Danielle.

  “Right about what?” Eddie asked.

  “You are a unique creation, Eddie,” Danielle replied. “Tag and I were created to be tools to be used by creation to defend it against evil civilizations. Y
ou are also a tool created to be used to defend creation.”

  Eddie looked at Cali and couldn’t determine which of them was shocked more by Danielle’s statement. He turned to Danielle, “This is crazy!”

  Danielle looked up, “Alex, how strong is his field?”

  “Cassandra was the strongest psychic in the history of the Realm. His field is more powerful, Danielle.”

  “Why hasn’t he discovered more talents?”

  “He’s not been released,” Alex answered.

  “Are you saying he has a compliment out there somewhere?”

  Alex paused before saying, “I don’t know. The power is there and it’s latent.”

  “What is this complement you’re talking about?” Cali asked.

  Danielle sighed, “Powerful psychics have another person that will release them when they touch each other.”

  Cali’s head tilted, “What happens when that takes place?”

  “Cali, they will be bound to each other by forces that cannot be broken. Tag and I were each other’s compliments.”

  Eddie turned to Cali and saw her shock and dismay. “There will never be anyone for me but you. I promise you that.”

  Cali was shaking her head and Danielle said softly, “Creation will find a way to bring you together with your compliment, Eddie; It can’t be avoided.”

  “If it’s not Cali, I say damn to creation. I won’t do it!”

  Eddie stared at the dark monitor and turned to Danielle. His expression turned to misery and he lowered his head into his hands, “Tag’s right; you did try to warn me!”

  “And you were having none of it, Eddie!” Tag said harshly. “Did you go back and research what a compliment was?” Eddie shook his head. “If you had done that you would have known Cali was in danger. Danielle tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen and neither of us were going to tell you that Cali was not the one you’d end up with. Especially with her standing there. It nearly killed her to hear what we said.”

  Danielle went to Eddie and put her hand on his shoulder, “Eddie we tried to come up with a way to prevent her coming to harm but knew if we tried to protect her, it would only lead to worse things happening.”