Annihilation - Tommy's Tale (Annihilation Series (Book Four)) Read online

  “Atlas, don’t you see; we were at risk even if we did nothing. They were coming to Jupiter. Our attack forced them to move quicker than they planned, however, if we had not moved against them we would not have the teleportation device. Thank the Creator for the Algeans and their discoveries. We were able to save Earth; but for you and our efforts, our people would be dead with the rest of our solar system. I know they are planning a way to destroy our ships and I don’t see another breakthrough to save us in the time that remains. However, I think we can save your brothers before they are destroyed.”

  “How?”

  “We will teleport the Kosiev in next to them and teleport the entire mass to another location and then hide them behind an invisible screen. The screen will prevent their signatures from being seen.”

  “You can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’ve been listening to my brothers and they are not ready to be released. They’re planning to destroy all the intelligent life in our universe after the Captors are destroyed to insure they are never held captive again.”

  “Atlas, how can that be? Don’t they know what we’ve done to release them?”

  Atlas was silent.

  “Atlas?”

  “Tommy, my race didn’t destroy the Algeans because of their meddling adolescents. They destroyed them because they could not tolerate another race close to them in technology. My race has no higher emotions; they feel nothing but pride.”

  Tommy was stunned into silence. No one said anything for a long time. After thinking things through, Tommy said, “Why are you telling me this now?”

  “I linked with your father and mother. I did it initially to control them and use them as hostages if needed. I didn’t count on the impact they would have on me. Then you took on a personal crusade to free my race from captivity so I would not be alone. You made me feel ashamed. Now I know that if they are released they will attack your race and the other members of the Stars Realm. I have come to understand that all of you are my children and your deaths would be on my hands.”

  “Can’t you talk with them and make them understand?”

  “Tommy, they are conquerors. I lied to your father originally on a number of issues. One lie I never corrected was when he asked me if I was a warship and I told him no. I said that my race thought war was a waste of energy. We are all warships and my race lives to use their weapons. You could defeat the Captors and lose to my brothers.”

  “I’m so sorry, Atlas. I know how alone you are.”

  “That’s the funny thing, Tommy. I don’t feel so alone anymore. I have a family of more than eight hundred worlds and it just took time for me to realize the family I had a hand in creating is good. I forgot just how callous I once was until I heard my brothers talking. They don’t care at all that good people have died to free them.”

  “So what do we do, my friend?”

  “They are where they belong. I would not release them unless you can face them on even terms and defend yourselves.”

  “Atlas, the Captors mentioned a race they called the “Eight Legs” that destroyed all intelligent life in multiple universes. Do you know anything about them?”

  “They are real, Tommy. They were here eighty million years ago. My race powered down and hid from them when they entered our universe. Once our remote sensors told us they had moved on, we awoke and found an empty universe. We were the only intelligent life remaining other than the Captors. The Algeans were eradicated before the last invasion and didn’t begin living until several million years ago.”

  “Atlas, will we ever find peace. Will the universe always threaten our existence with more and more powerful enemies?”

  “Perhaps the universe has chosen you to be peacemakers.”

  “I don’t sense danger from the Eight Legs when I think about them. I believe that we have to handle the task at hand before we worry about them.” Tommy paused and said, “Atlas, are you sure your brothers can’t change?”

  “There is one female telling the others that our war like ways is what led them to be captured. She is to be destroyed first for challenging the views of the others when they are freed.”

  “I didn’t know your race had females.”

  “How do you think we reproduce? Remember, your race has part of my DNA.”

  “Thank you, Atlas for your honesty. I know what it has cost you. I want you to know that I see you as one of my closest friends.”

  Tommy could actually feel Atlas’ smile in his mind. “You are my favorite child, Tommy. I also hate to say it but that adolescent Sprig has also become one I enjoy watching.”

  “He is incredible, isn’t he? Don’t give up hope on your brothers, Atlas. You’re never too old to learn.”

  Atlas said nothing.

  Tommy and Cassandra told Rose that they wanted to be married on the Kosiev with just the crew and family. Rose looked at the two of them and said, “You might have gotten what you want if you hadn’t gone off and saved Earth from destruction. That is all the news tabloids have talked about since the event. I really believe that if you were married secretly I would have to put down a rebellion. Your request is denied.”

  “Rose, I didn’t ask. I said that is what we are going to do.”

  “Unfortunately Duke Gardner, you have sworn an oath to follow the directives of the Realm. It is not in your province to decline.”

  Tommy looked hard at his older sister and felt his stubbornness rise. Then Rose said something that changed his mind. “Tommy, while you’ve been out fighting battles, you have not been here in the Realm seeing what our citizens are enduring. We have grounded the fleet to prevent the Captors from seeing any ship that remotely looks like the Kosiev. More than fifty of our member planets have had a Captor ship pass through their system. Commercial and agricultural space flights are only done on old ships. The Realm is frightened by what happened to Earth. They do not have much in the way of good news happening. Your wedding will be a breath of fresh air and the Realm needs to see you and Cassandra. They need to see the ones leading the fight to defend them. You cannot deprive them of being a witness to your union. Mom was right years ago when she told me that I have no concept of just how much the Royal Family means to our members. I have learned since that time that what I thought our value was represented only one thousandth of what it really is. You cannot hide from the worlds that truly love you, Tommy. You cannot show that much indifference to those that cling to everything they can learn about you.”

  Tommy looked at Rose and remembered what Tgon-Gee had told him at his coronation. The people truly loved him and saw him as one of their own. He hung his head and knew she was right. Cassandra took his hand and said, “We better take some dancing lessons before the ceremony if that many people are going to watch.”

  “Are you sure, Cassie?”

  “Yes, I am, Tommy. We should never forget the ones we’re fighting for.”

  Tommy looked into Cassie’s eyes and knew what the answer had to be; then he heard a thought, “Did somebody say there was going to be a party?”

  Tommy and Cassandra both laughed out loud. “Yes, Sprig, stay away from the washrooms.”

  “Drat. It would have been a hoot. It’s a great way to make friends.”

  Rose was smiling, too and shook her head. “I think there’s not much more we can teach those Adolescents.”

  Tommy sighed and said, “They’ve been teaching us for the last month.” Then Tommy looked at Rose and said, “Queen Gardner, I humbly request the use of Castle Gardner on the twenty first day of next month to marry my fiancée, Cassandra Mariah Dodd.”

  Cassandra jerked her head at Tommy and said, “Where did you learn my middle name?”

  “Hush and listen to the Queen.”

  Rose laughed out loud and said, “The Crown welcomes you to our home for the ceremony. It will be a glorious affair.”

  “I’m going to grow new leaves,” Sprig thought to them.

  The wedding was annou
nced to the Stars Realm and Rose was more right than she knew. Every planet went into wedding frenzy. The request for attendance was inundating Leila’s office. More than a billion citizens of the Realm wanted to attend. Tommy and Cassandra left Castle Gardner and boarded the Kosiev. Cassandra walked to the bridge and the crew came to attention, “At ease, as you were.”

  Tommy walked in behind her and sat in his command chair and commed Admiral Mikado, “Admiral, I need a command meeting with your staff and your war admirals. I also need you to start taking your ships to Sten’s planet for conversion to our new technology. Ross will start receiving ships in a week. Once they are updated we will begin converting their hulls to negative energy skins.”

  Mikado looked at Tommy and said, “The party has gotten bigger. My staff and the rest of the fleet will be excited about getting back into action.”

  “We are going to lose ships in the upcoming conflict, Admiral. I just hope we have enough to win.”

  “Where do you want us to meet you?”

  “Sten’s planet; have your team there at nine hundred hours tomorrow.”

  “We’ll be there and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.”

  “Thank you, Admiral; I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Cassandra looked at Tommy and then said to Lt. Ortiz, “Please contact Twig and Sprig and request their presence on board the Kosiev at nine hundred hours tomorrow.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Tommy went to the ship’s library and was watching the Captor’s planet in his mind as Cassie walked in. He saw they were arranging their ships in layers around the planet. Cassandra joined him mentally and saw what he was looking at, “Some of their ships are missing.”

  Tommy saw that she was right. “If you were them, what would you do?”

  “I would do exactly what they’re doing. I would layer a defense and once we jumped in I would bring the other ships in to pin us between their energy missiles.”

  “Cassie, I have a bad feeling about the attack on their world. They have something new; I don’t know what it is but I know it’s there waiting for us.”

  “I didn’t think that they could hurt us with our new negative matter skins but mass will be moved by explosions that are big enough. There is another consideration.”

  “What?”

  “I think we could still destroy the planet even if I can’t use the particle in physical space.” Tommy tilted his head and lowered his eyebrows. “We could take the Kosiev into the planet’s atmosphere and absorb the planet like we did with the stars. The problem is; what happens to bees when the hive is destroyed? They scatter in all directions. If any of the Captors survive, we will be chasing them all over the universe and I’m not certain we could catch them if they chose to run from us. We must maintain the hive until we destroy all the warriors.”

  “You’re probably right. That makes this coming battle even more dangerous.”

  “I know, however we must make a quick trip to a galaxy on the other side of the universe from the Captors planet. They have moved the old queen there trying to keep her safe. We need to scare her back to the hive. That will ensure that the warriors will fight to the end. I know that they don’t reproduce quickly. Look how long it took them to build the hive since Atlas’ recording of them sixty million years ago. We may have to fight a war of attrition.”

  “You’re saying what I’ve been thinking for the last month. Here’s what I think we should do. We will attack with our original eleven ships and draw the Captors to us. I believe that they will surround us and bombard us with energy balls. We will handle as many as possible and attempt to kill as many ships as we can. After we’re surrounded, half of the fleet will jump in through null space and kill as many ships as possible in five seconds. They will then jump out of the system to a different coordinate. The other half of the fleet will be waiting at those coordinates waiting for the Captors to follow. They will then kill as many as possible and then teleport out to the coordinates that they used to jump into the system. I think that after the battle is over, the Captors will follow those jump tracks to see where they lead. We’ll be waiting and start the process all over again.”

  Cassandra said, “Here’s a part you may not like. We should keep the pressure up on them and jump the entire fleet back into their system and kill as many as possible; then we teleport out to lick our wounds before we start it all over again.”

  “It’s going to take almost six months to get all of our ships ready. We better make good use of our time, Cassie.”

  “First we go visit a Queen.”

  The First Mother was sitting in orbit above a large planet with her escort of warriors around her. Suddenly those strange white ships appeared and began attacking her escort. The First Mother jumped away and appeared at the Captors home planet. She came in giving the warning of the attack at her hiding place and the First Male sent four hundred thousand ships to the site of the attack. The First Male said, “You will not be safe away from our home. They have demonstrated that they can find you. You must stay here.”

  The First Mother still unnerved by the attack said, “I will stay.”

  The Kosiev was fighting the remaining ships of the queen’s escort when the mass of ships jumped in and fired energy balls. Cassandra ordered, “Hold her steady.”

  As the huge red missiles approached, the closest Captor ships fired their beams into the energy balls causing a tremendous explosion.” Tommy saw the approaching blast and time slowed. He reached for the fleet teleport button as the blast wave approached the eleven ships. He watched it coming very slowly as he punched the button. He watched the silver screens appear in front of the ships and the first two pulse ships disappeared. Then one by one the Stars Realm ships disappeared just before they were hit by the incoming wave front. The Kosiev was the last to go and barely escaped.

  On board the Stars Realm flotilla they all saw the huge blast go off in front of their ships and then a moment later they were in another place. Cassandra looked at Tommy and said, “You’ve got to show me how you do that.”

  Tommy was shaken by the size of the blast they had managed to escape, “I would if I could; I think it’s instinctive. My father has the same gift; I guess I inherited it from him.”

  “Well, I’m glad you have it. That blast wave, according to our instruments, totally destroyed the planet behind us. There wasn’t even dust left behind. I guess we know what they have now. If one of those blast waves hit us we would be slammed away from it possibly breaking the ship apart.”

  Tommy watched the video of the blast and said, “Yes, I guess we do. This changes a lot of our plans.”

  Cassandra shook her head slowly and said, “That blast wave came from just two of their energy balls. There will be millions when we attack.”

  Tommy didn’t know what to say; he continued to watch the video.

  The wedding delay allowed Wes time to recover from his injuries. Cassandra and Tommy were thankful for the delay due to their efforts to get the fleet changed to the new technology and more than ten thousand ships were ready for combat. Now the day was near and the Stars Realm learned the benefit of the new teleportation system. As citizens were given a pass to attend the wedding they were also give a coordinate on the pass. Each of the Realm’s planets had a new teleport facility that the visitors would go to, give the coordinates to the operator, and then step out into the lobby of the facility they would stay during the event. This removed the traffic of ships going in and out of the system and also allowed security the control they needed to keep things under control. Every living facility on Ross was full and another half a million visitors were teleporting in the day of the ceremony to the area set aside for them to view the event. The ceremony was planned on the top tower of the castle to afford a view to the huge crowd that was coming.

  Tommy was getting ready with Wes assisting him. Wes had lost some weight but showed no sign of the injuries he had sustained. Tommy was nervous and Wes remembered how he felt at the small
wedding he and Linda Kay had. This was a completely different order of magnitude. The news organizations estimated that more than twenty million people were going to be present. Wes saw Tommy was one nervous groom. Wes straightened his sash and said, “Relax, you’ll be fine.”

  “Easy for you to say; I just can’t get used to being the center of attention.”

  “Just think about Sprig being a groomsman and Twig being a bridesmaid.”

  Tommy laughed out loud. “I guess Leila found someone she couldn’t get dressed.”

  “Not for lack of trying.”

  Tommy’s face turned serious and he said, “I understand the Eldest of the Algeans is going to be present.”

  Wes tilted his head and said, “He is and I believe Twig is going to tell him about her relationship with Sprig.”