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

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  Tommy then thought to Sprig, “Where are you right now?”

  “I’m in the library at Castle Gardner.”

  “I need you and Twig on the Kosiev immediately.”

  Sprig and Twig appeared one second later on the Kosievs’ bridge.”

  “Duchess Gardner, update them on what’s happening.” Cassandra linked with the two adolescents and gave them the situation.

  Tommy then pressed his com and said, “Wes, what is the status of your ship?”

  Wes appeared on the display and said, “We are currently holding station above Sten’s Planet with four of the converted pulse ships. The Rossville is at one hundred percent efficiency.” Wes was given the command of the Rossville which was Admiral Dorg’s flag ship during the Algean War. It was another Megaship that bore a strong history.

  “Go to battle stations and take the four ships to the coordinates I’m sending you and expect a megaship to arrive being chased by the Captors. Do not allow your ships to be caught in energy blasts; I expect multiple Captors to take up the chase. Have one of your ships place a teleport screen in front of the coordinates set to one transfer and send the megaship to a safe location. Kill as many Captors as possible then have your squadron escape in different directions away from the Realm; teleport to safety when you must.”

  Wes looked at his screen and said, “We’re on our way.”

  Tommy commed Captain Gidhu and said, “Captain, if you make it to the final coordinates there will be a silver field in space directly in front of your ship. Take your ship through that field immediately on entering normal space; do not delay.”

  “The Captors screen has just turned a brighter red, Your Highness. We are jumping now.”

  The First Male finished setting up the layers of ships and turned his attention to the transmission from one of the searching warriors. He looked at the ship in the transmission and then compared it to the ships that had attacked the First Mother. From the angle of the picture he could see similarities between the two but he needed a full side view to make sure. “Move in and take a full scan of that ship; I’ll monitor as you scan.”

  The Warrior replied, “As soon as I moved toward the planet the ship jumped.”

  “Follow that ship, I want a full scan. The planet isn’t going anywhere; we’ll look at it later.”

  “Yes, First male. The ship jumped using a standard drive system and I have recorded that its energy signature does not match the ships that attacked.”

  “I don’t care if it matches or not. It may not be the ones who attacked but it may have a relationship to them if their ships are similar. Don’t let it escape.”

  The Captor warrior disappeared from the system chasing the Megaship.

  Tommy was watching a feed from the planet and saw the Captor disappear. He said a quick prayer for the Phelagend and said, “Jump to the Crengren system, now.”

  Cassandra said, “Jump in 3,2,1, execute. The Kosiev broke into normal space next to the planet and Tommy commed President Dgzh. The former Headman of the Alliance looked worried. Tommy said, “We don’t have much time. I am going to hide your planet behind an invisibility screen but I’m uncertain if it will work if the Captors really decide to fly a huge number of ships through the space they expect you to be. Our last resort is to move your planet to the system that Earth is currently hiding. I want to avoid that if possible because they will deduct that Earth was probably not destroyed as they thought.”

  President Dgzh looked off the monitor and said, “Are you sure you can do it safely?”

  Sprig answered, “We’re actually further along now. We will send your planet to the opposite side of the star from the Earth’s current location so that gravity won’t affect you. Your orbit will be slightly outside that of Earth but we will find a better system for you before Earth catches up with your orbit.”

  Dgzh smiled and said, “We are in your hands.”

  Tommy said, “Ground all of your space ships and have as many of the personnel on the settlements in your system make emergency jumps to the planet. If they are not on the planet they will be killed.” Dgzh disappeared from his com.

  “Duchess Gardner, please plan to hide the planet, however, you have to wait until the last possible moment so that the ones coming from the system’s settlements can find the planet. I suspect that once the chase of the megaship is over, the Captors will be coming here. Communications, make contact with that ship and let us know what happens.”

  “Aye, Aye, Your Highness.”

  Captain Gidhu and the bridge crew kept their eyes on the sensor monitors watching for what they knew was coming. They had just flashed through the 233rd jump and jumped again just as the Captor ship entered normal space. After every jump the Captor was incrementally closer. The ship was fighting the fear that they were losing the battle. Jump 300 passed with the Captor coming out of normal space and firing some kind of energy matrix that passed through the space the megaship occupied just before it disappeared. “Your highness, we will never make it to the 500th jump. They almost caught us on the last jump.”

  Tommy hit his com, “Wes, are you ready?”

  “Yes, we’re on station.”

  Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “Times up; hide the planet.” Then he pushed his transmission key and said, “Jump to the last coordinates now.”

  Captain Gidhu nodded to his jump officer and the Megaship jumped as a piece of the energy matrix hit the tail of the ship.

  Wes watched as the Megaship flashed into normal space and moved slowly toward the teleport screen. The engines of the Megaship was enclosed in some form of energy that prevented them operating. Just before the ship hit the field the Captor emerged into normal space and hit it with a beam destroying it. Wes ordered, “Fire.”

  Two black negative energy balls hit the Captor and it imploded so fast it didn’t even flash as it disappeared. “Be ready, they’ll be here shortly.”

  Captor ships began appearing around the four pulse ships and started firing energy balls at them. Each of the SR ships fired at the Captors as they emerged into normal space and watched as they were imploding by the hundreds. Wes watched two energy balls flashing toward his ship and he pressed the jump button on his console and came out into normal space directly behind the Captors that had fired on him. He hit them with negative matter shots and then jumped again. The jump button was a new development where the sensors automatically tracked incoming missiles or ships and determined the closest point behind them and entered the coordinates into the Captains console. The four pulse ships were killing giant red ships by the hundreds. Finally Wes saw thousands of red ships jump in around him and he ordered, “All ships escape.”

  The four pulse ships jumped away in four different directions. Wes watched as the Rossville entered normal space and said, “Ready weapons, fire.”

  Forty Captor ships appeared at the jump point and were immediately hit by negative energy balls; all forty imploded. “Jump now,” he ordered. The Rossville disappeared as five thousand ships appeared. This process repeated itself ten more times before the Rossville teleported to safety. The Vgrig pulse ship Vendriqul was hit by ten energy balls as it attacked the incoming Captor ships. The pulse ship was broken in the tail and the Captain knew there was no escape. He hit the detonate button on his console to prevent the Captors from getting one of the SR ships and learning its technology. The skin of the ship blew outward from the ship with all of the negative energy being released. All ten thousand Captor ships in the system were disintegrated along with every planet, moon, and asteroid. The star’s gravity slowly pulled what negative matter remained and when the two combined, the star went supernova and exploded.

  The next eight hundred Captor ships jumping into the system burned in the Atomic fire before the watcher could warn the others to stay away. The First Male asked the watcher, “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure if we caused the explosion, the stranger
s caused the explosion, or the star was just ready to explode naturally. We lost many warriors in that system.”

  The First Male asked for and got a ship count from his ship leaders and learned that more than thirty five thousand warriors were killed chasing those ships. Then he thought, “Groups orange, blue, red, and black. Jump to the planet where this chase began.”

  “Cassandra, the chase is over; now is the time. But Tommy, there are eight hundred ships still moving toward the planet.”

  “It’s them or the planet, Cassandra. Do it now!”

  Sprig said, “We’ll teleport the ships to Ross. Hide the planet.”

  A huge silver field appeared in front of the ships moving toward the planet and moved toward them. As it passed, no ships remained. “Now, Cassandra, now!”

  Cassandra closed her eyes and thought, “You cannot see it, you cannot see it, you cannot see it.” The Planet disappeared along with the Kosiev that was orbiting just above the planet’s atmosphere. Cassandra extended a tube from the skin to the surface of the field hiding the planet and used the passive sensors to watch what happened in the outer system.

  “Twig, if we have to move the planet, how much room do you need to do it?”

  “Actually, we can do it from right here.”

  Sprig said, “She has become quite the maestro at manipulating the fields.”

  Tommy looked at the sensor display and said, “Be ready to move.”

  The bridge crew watched the bridge display watching for what they knew was coming. “Here they come.” Lt. Ortiz said.

  More than a million Captor ships appeared in the outer system swarming in all directions. “What is that,” Tommy asked. A Captor ship more than four thousand miles in diameter was sitting still while the other Captor ships swarmed around it.”

  Cassandra said, “I think that must be one of the Captor leaders. The only ship I’ve seen larger than that one was the Queen.”

  Tommy thought about what was happening. “If that huge ship starts this way, Twig, send the planet. Duchess Gardner, keep us inside the invisibility field and charge our weapons. Stand by.”

  The First Male compared the picture of the system when the warrior had jumped in and started the chase to what he saw in the system now. The planet was gone. This just can’t be happening. Pictures don’t lie. The Planet has to be there; but where. He remembered the strange ship that was in the home system that no one could see. Can they hide the planet? He looked at the picture of the planet again and estimated where it would have to be if it were still in the system. His curiosity made him move toward the spot. The warriors took up posts around him making sure of no danger. One of them notified the First Mother and she contacted him immediately. “Stop and go no further.”

  The First Male slowed and said, “I need to see what happened to the planet. I suspect that it’s being hidden.”

  “And if that ship is there.”

  The First Male stopped. “You can’t protect me every time I go out from the home planet.”

  “That might be true when we were always able to destroy any race we found. We just lost more than ten thousand warriors. Would you allow me to approach that suspected location. If your answer is no, then it should be no for you as well.”

  The First Male struggled but could not argue with her. He turned and began moving back to the outer system.”

  Tommy saw the huge ship stop and then turn and start moving away. “Twig, send the planet now.” Twig punched her device and the planet was gone. Tommy looked at his display and looked at Cassandra and said, “Can we get close enough to take a shot at that ship?”

  Cassandra thought a moment and said, “We could teleport out to its location and launch. There are so many ships around it that it might not work. We can’t occupy the same space as another object. The other option is to just hit plus light speed and make a run at it. We should get there is less than two seconds and just continue running as we pass.”

  Tommy thought and weighed the options. “Sprig, what do you think?”

  “It’s too big a risk to teleport close to him. More than half a million ships are swarming around it. I don’t believe that they can fire those energy balls fast enough to hit us. I also suspect that they won’t fire them near that giant ship.”

  “Then prepare to go, we will be running is ten seconds. Are you ready, Lady Gardner?”

  Cassandra closed her eyes and everyone could feel the Kosiev start vibrating. Tommy said, “Try to hit as clear a path as possible through those ships coming to look for the planet.”

  “Get ready, running……now!”

  The Kosiev flew out of the invisibility screen so fast that the Captor ships moving in couldn’t react before it was past them. The huge Captor ships were getting larger faster than the display could see.

  “Danger, danger, danger, danger,” the Captor ships moving toward the planet screamed at the First Male.

  The First Male’s sensors showed the white ship bearing down on him at an incredible speed. He hit his jump circuit but saw those black energy balls coming in on him and knew he was not going to make it.

  Five thousand of the ships near the planet jumped in front of the First Male. The ships surrounding the First Male didn’t have time to react. The ships at the planet had two seconds which was barely enough. The First Male watched as four hundred of his warriors were destroyed just before he disappeared from the system. He appeared in the home system and was stunned at the close call with death. He could still see the black balls coming at him and knew he was lucky to survive. He was unable to communicate for several minutes and then he ordered two more squadrons to jump to the place he was just attacked. They would not arrive in time to help.

  Cassandra said, “Crap, they blocked the negative matter.”

  “Are they chasing us?” Tommy asked.

  “No, they’re staying in the system looking for the planet.”

  Twig said. “I think they expect us to come back and try to save the planet.”

  Tommy thought for a moment and said, “Stop us now.” Cassandra focused and brought the Kosiev to a stop. “Twig, teleport the ship back inside the invisibility screen,” Tommy ordered. Cassandra furrowed her brow and looked at Tommy. “The more ships we can destroy here, the fewer there will be to face at their home world.” Tommy then keyed his com and said, “Wes, Twig is going to send you a coordinate, jump your four ships here immediately.”

  Wes saw the coordinates and ordered his jump officer to teleport the ship immediately. He sent the coordinates to the other three ships and they arrived four seconds after the Rossville broke into normal space inside the screen.

  Tommy said to the four ships, “We are going to wait for the Captor fleet to gather around our location and we are going to fire a full salvo of negative matter through the middle of their fleet; we will then follow it out and fire on those ships to the side of the salvo; any questions?”

  The four ships lined up on the Kosiev with two on each side. One was stationed above the other each of them higher and lower than the Kosiev. The ship on top would fire at ships above the formation and the one below would fire on those below. The Kosiev would handle those ships coming from the sides firing between the ships on each side. Tommy looked at Cassandra and said, “Can you include them in your aura and run with them.”

  Cassandra closed her eyes and thought then said, “I think so but I don’t think I can go further than the outer planets.”

  I just want to get them outside the Captor fleet. Once we’re clear then everyone can teleport away if it comes to that. I’m hoping the negative matter will clear a way through the energy balls that I know they’ll be firing into our path. I’m hoping that they won’t be able to hit us from the sides because of our speed.” Tommy then hit his fleet com and said, “As we run from the screen, I want full salvos fired above and below our escape path. When we hit the outer planets, we will teleport away; signal if you understand.

  Lt. Ortiz said, “All ships have con
firmed instructions.”

  Wes looked at Linda Kay who was now his sensor office on the Rossville. She had requested, actually demanded, to be stationed on Wes’ ship. There was no way she was not going to be with him after what had happened before. Wes had protested but she said, “I will not, cannot, live without you. We will live together or die together.”

  Rose had written an order giving her an exclusion from the fleet rule concerning commanding officers having members of their family serving on their ship. The crew of the ship was skeptical at first but saw that Wes showed absolutely no favoritism and actually made things harder on her than normal. For her part, Linda Kay was glad he did. After a short time the crew came to like Linda Kay a great deal. She had a way of brightening everyone’s day.