Annihilation Saga IV - Fight and They Will Come Page 28

  The Tech thought for a moment, then pulled the cable out of the torch, and connected it to Susan’s armor. He started the download and said, “Good-luck with this.”

  Susan nodded, and the download completed. She connected the cable to the green-torch and sat down in front of the first OA that surrendered. Mark and the other members of the squad raised their Mag-Guns, “Sargent, we can’t protect you that close to them!”

  Susan turned to him, “We need to find out if they’re a danger, Mark. You have the squad if something happens.”

  “I don’t want it, Susan! Why are you doing this?”

  Susan shrugged and smiled, “Looks like the fighting is over now. This should at least keep me occupied.” Mark rolled his eyes as the green-torch began flashing.

  • • •

  Mark watched Susan communicating with the OA and, after two-hours, the squad relaxed and sat down. Makayla came over and shook her head, while keeping her eyes on the OAs, “I don’t like this!”

  Mark raised a shoulder and nodded, before saying, “About thirty-minutes ago, that OA said something to the Sargent that made her laugh. I’ve always thought of these creatures as something that has nothing in common with us. If they possess a sense of humor, perhaps we’re more alike than I thought.” Mark looked around, “The other units have left for their companies leaving our squad here alone; we could be easily overrun if the OAs choose to attack. It appears they are just as interested in what Susan and their leader are discussing as we are.” Mark turned to her, “Relax, Makayla, we’re outnumbered and if they wanted to harm us, they would have already done it.” Mark lowered his Mag-Gun and Makayla lowered hers as well. Mark stared at the OAs and smiled, “You do have your bite-pad in your teeth, don’t you?” Makayla nodded; she wasn’t stupid. She would teleport out instantly if the OAs made a sudden move. She could tell by Mark’s voice tone that he had his bite pad in his teeth as well.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Sprigly watched his monitor at the attacks taking place at the six-sites of the destroyed probes. He punched the Senior Staff frequency and said, “I’m changing the plan. I’m sending the Realm’s Warships to form up at two-sites where the probes were destroyed. The Bear’s fleets will take two-sites, and my forces will take the last two. Tag, do you think this is a good idea?”

  “Sprigly, you have to do what you think is best.”

  “Tag, you’re the strategist here; I need to know what you think!”

  “Have the Transports stay out of the fight. We’re going to need them at the planets. I’ll divided the Psychic Warships among the six-sites. Don’t use them there except to escape. We’re much better off fighting them at the six-sites than at the planets where the OAs could endanger the Red Warriors on the ground. If things get out of hand, issue a general recall and everyone will fall back to their original assigned positions. The Psychic Ships will attempt to distract them while our fleets jump out.”

  “I’m sending each of the Fleet Commanders the coordinates of the sites you’ll be defending,” Sprigly announced. “Move your forces and prepare for the arrival of the OA fleet. Remember, our task is to remove all their warships; avoid the motherships! I expect them to send their warships in first. Focus on them!”

  • • •

  “What do you see happening, Tag?”

  Tag moved his head slightly left, “This new plan will work against the OA fleet coming back here,” Danielle.

  “Buttttt…”

  “If the OAs send all ten-fleets here, then we’ll be forced to fall back to the planets the Red Warriors are attacking.”

  “Why?”

  Tag’s expression was grave. He turned to Danielle, “There are 30,000 mother ships in that fleet that invaded this universe. If all ten-fleets show up, that number will swell to 300,000. We don’t want them gathered in large numbers.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because they can choose to pursue and destroy 300,000 of our warships at the same moment. They will have to divide those ten-fleets to attack 20,000 planets; only fifteen-motherships can then be assigned to each planet. If the ships they choose to pursue can extend the pursuit, then it will allow our other warships time to take out their smaller warships.”

  “You know they’ll decide to go after the transports first?” Danielle replied.

  “I know; they’re our largest ships. But they are as fast as our Primes and have been working hard on evasive maneuvers.”

  “TAG, YOU’VE SEEN HOW THEY ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE!”

  “Danielle, they had thousands of warships chasing our ship; they only have fifteen-motherships to pursue each of the transports. I also believe that the transports are faster and getting close to them in normal space won’t be easy.”

  “That’s why you put the idea in Rose’s mind of using them in this attack?”

  “It is, Danielle. Fifteen-motherships could not catch the Kosiev.”

  “Let us pray you’re right about that.”

  Tag was silent for a moment and then said softly, “I think once the psychic ships enter the fight, the motherships will forget about the transports and unite to chase us.” Danielle’s eyes widened in anxiety. “But that will take time to organize and will give our Primes time to take out their warships. We’ve got to distract the motherships from attacking the Primes.” Tag looked at his display, “Show time!”

  • • •

  Ensign Russ Baker checked his systems again and heard Lyla over his communicator, “Launch in thirty-minutes.”

  Russ shook his head and then answered, “Lyla, there’s something I need to discuss with you before we launch.”

  Lyla heard the tone in his voice and responded, “YOU’VE FOUND SOMEONE ELSE!!”

  “No, Lyla; there’s no one else and I certainly wouldn’t be telling my wingman that before going into battle.”

  “You have an incurable disease!”

  “NO! Why all the dramatics?”

  “Russ, I just seem to strike out in all my romantic relationships. I’ve been expecting you to call if off for a while…but you haven’t.”

  “Have you ever called off a romantic relationship, Lyla?”

  “I guess…several times.”

  “You might be doing it again.”

  “Why?”

  “Lyla, my name isn’t Russel.”

  “What? Of course, your name is Russel! I’ve looked at your file in Fleet before I started seeing you.”

  “That file was made with my older-brother, Russel.”

  “Older brother! What are you talking about.”

  “My name is Drew Baker and I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a long time but couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

  “Did you say older bother?”

  “I did.”

  “Are you going insane?”

  “Lyla, my brother used to come home on his vacations and Fleet allowed Prime Pilots to take their Primes with them. There was the fear of imminent attack from the Yellow Civilization and they wanted them to be able to instantly respond to a call up.”

  “What are you…”

  “Lyla, please let me finish. I have to get this off my conscience.”

  “Go ahead,” Lyla said tentatively.

  “Russel would take me into space on his Prime, even though he knew it was against regulations, and even taught me how to fly it. I loved those moments with Russ. On one of his vacations he came to our house and picked me up. There was something wrong, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. He told me we were going to do some sightseeing on the other side of Earth and he flew to Indonesia and landed on the side of an active volcano. He told me to follow him and I asked him what was going on. He ignored me until we arrived at the top of the volcano and we stopped at the edge.”

  Drew paused and then continued, “I didn’t get near the edge, but I could see the molten lava far below across the top of the volcano. Russ knelt down beside me and told me Caroline had left him for his best-friend in his unit. He was be
ing transferred to another unit and she refused to continue their relationship. Russ laughed and said, ‘She refused to endure the separation’.”

  “What happened then?” Lyla asked.

  Dew sighed, “He stood up, looked me in the eyes, and said, ‘Never, ever, fall in love, Drew. It will kill you.’ He paused and then said, ‘Get my Prime back to fleet.’ He then turned, sprinted up to the edge of the volcano, and dove into it.” Lyla was silent, and Drew said softly, “He did it so suddenly, I couldn’t stop him.”

  “Drew…”

  “Lyla, I flew his Prime home and landed it behind our house. I went inside and went to his bedroom and wept. I finally sat up and saw a large folder on his dresser. I opened it and found his Naval ID, his transfer orders, and personal papers. I took his ID and went to the bathroom to shower. I stood up the hot water and wept for him. Finally, I got out and rubbed the steam off the mirror. I stared at myself and hated that I couldn’t stop him. I picked up his ID and stared at it. I looked in the mirror and saw that I looked very much like Russel. We were always been asked if we were twins. I grew faster than he did, and we were the same height when I was twelve-years old. I went to my father and told him what happened, and he lost it. It took a week for him to get to the point where we could discuss what happened. I told him that I was going to take Russ’s place. It took another week to convince him, and he really didn’t think I could pull it off, but he agreed to keep Russel’s death quiet.”

  “What about your mother?” Lyla asked.

  “She left my father soon after I was born. I put on one of Russel’s uniforms he kept in the closet and went out and powered up his prime. It took some convincing for me to get the computer to work with me, but it finally agreed to at least not report what happened.”

  “But you didn’t have enough information to fly a Prime!”

  “Lyla, flying was the easy part, knowing all the systems was the real issue. The computer provided me the books used at the academy to train pilots and I started studying them constantly. I used a transfer band to learn most of them, and you know how much downtime pilots have on duty. I had the information down pat in less than seven-months.”

  “Just how old are you?”

  Drew was silent for a long moment and then answered, “I’ll be eighteen in three-months.”

  “YOU MEAN TO TELL ME I’VE BEEN DATING A KID?!”

  “I’m sorry, Lyla!”

  “I’ll be twenty-one in two-months! How old were you when you did this?”

  “Sixteen.”

  “YOU WERE STILL IN SECONDARY SCHOOL!”

  “My father contacted the school and told them I had gone to live with my mother on Ross. That removed any issues with them.”

  “Why would you do this?!”

  Drew sighed, “Lyla, Russel’s happiest moment in his entire life was when he graduated from the Academy and became a Naval Pilot. He was driven to fight to defend the Realm. He lost his mind when Caroline left him. I decided that if he couldn’t go out and defend the Realm, I would do it for him.”

  “But his Prime’s computer should have never allowed you to take command.”

  “You know how our computers are bonded to their pilots. Russ’s computer was devastated by what happened and it was there to see him die. I convinced it to give me an opportunity to try. It made me go out with it and fly it to determine if I were capable of not endangering other pilots. Afterwards it told me I was a better pilot than Russel. It agreed and here I am.”

  “But your new unit’s commander should have seen through this immediately.”

  “Lyla, I looked like a thinner version of my brother. He looked at my orders and asked me why I wasn’t as heavy. I told him my girlfriend had left me for my best friend and I hadn’t been eating much. He ordered to start and stamped my brother’s papers.”

  “But there should have been hundreds of things that would trip you up and expose you!”

  “And I avoided all of them. I never volunteered for anything that would get me noticed and always remained in the background. I never asked questions in meetings and I was very careful not to do well in any fleet maneuvers that would get me noticed. Which brings me to the point of why I’m telling you all of this.”

  “OH?”

  “Lyla, I do love you. I wanted to follow my brother’s last bit of advice, but I failed and fell for you. I suspect you will end our relationship, and I understand if you do. However, I want you to follow some instructions when we launch.”

  “Who are you to be giving me instructions?! You’re just a kid and a very mediocre pilot. I have to keep you out of trouble in most of the fleet maneuvers.”

  “Lyla, that was intentional, and I am a better pilot than you believe. You and I don’t stand much of a chance of survival in the coming fight and I intend to do all I can to protect you. You must do what I ask.”

  “Insanity must run in your family!” Lyla sneered.

  “Have I ever lied to you.”

  “HOW CAN YOU ASK ME THAT AFTER WHAT YOU JUST TOLD ME!!!”

  “And it has caused me many sleepless nights not telling you. But this is where you can get killed and I’m not going to let that happen if I can prevent it! Now listen; Please just hear me out!”

  “Say what you have to say.”

  “When we launch, instead of flying to my left and behind me, I want you to move slightly behind and under my Prime.”

  “DREW…”

  “Please let me finish!”

  Lyla sighed, “Go on!”

  “Lyla, I asked that you just try what I’m suggesting and if you want to change it after a few-minutes, then I’ll agree; but please try it!”

  “Why do you want me there?”

  “Because it’s the only place behind me that you can keep an eye on my ship no matter what direction I turn.”

  “Drew, I can follow you easily.”

  “No, Lyla; you could follow Russel easily. You are going to be pushed to stay with me. With that in mind, I want you to set your Mag-Cannons on automatic to fire slightly ahead and below my Prime.”

  “Drew, this is ridiculous.”

  “Lyla, do you believe I love you?” Lyla was silent. “Do you?”

  “I thought you did.”

  “Well, if I do, do you think I would tell you to do something that would put you in danger…or would I be suggesting things that would keep you safer?” Lyla was silent again and Drew said before she could speak, “All I ask is that you try it for a few minutes. If it doesn’t work, then call it off and we’ll go back to our normal flight pattern.”

  “I should report you to fleet. You’re still under-age and should be sent back to the Realm.”

  “Lyla, all of us have been ordered to live or die in this fight but no one may go back to the Realm. The question is, do you want me to sit here and wait to be attacked or will you fight with me? It’s too late to get another pilot to be your wingman.”

  Lyla screamed, “I ALWAYS CHOOSE A LOSER!!” Drew was silent, and Lyla sighed, “I’m sorry about that.”

  “I understand why you said it, Lyla. Will you do as I ask? Please.”

  “I’ll agree to do it for the first-five-minutes.”

  “Lyla, I need you to focus on the rear stabilizer on my prime and turn with it.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Lyla, I’m deadly serious. You and I will be moving a lot faster than we ever have in the past. Set your cannons to auto and keep your eyes on the rear of my Prime!”

  “ALRIGHT!”

  Both of them heard over the Fleet’s frequency, “Launch in five…four…three…two…one…LAUNCH!”

  Lyla pushed her thruster handles forward but Drew had lept out in front of her at an incredible speed. She was forced to slam them forward, as he slowed slightly for her to catch up. He went to full speed and he said, “Focus on the rear of my Prime, Lyla!”

  Drew made a hard-right turn and Lyla fought the controls to stay under his ship. This was incredible, and it was
all she could do to stay with him as he flew into a giant formation of OA warships. He flew over the top of the formation and a long line of OA warships went up in blasts as Drew’s Prime raked the warships at the top of the formation. Lyla’s cannons ripped into them as well as they blew over the top of the OA formation at maximum-speed. Suddenly, Drew broke hard right and blasted a line of eight-OA warships moving toward them at high speed. Drew’s four Mag-Cannons ripped into the center of the eight ships blasting holes through their hulls. He whipped the ship vertical and Lyla’s cannons took out the other four-warships. She never saw it happen, she only focused on Drew’s Prime and it was all she could do to stay with it.

  • • •

  The 30,000 OA motherships had 2,000 warships each. The OA Fleet arrived in the universe they conquered and launched a massive number of probes. The Senior OA quickly discovered the last planets they attacked were under attack and he divided the fleet to go and remove the attackers. That sent one-or-two--motherships and their warships to each planet. The motherships didn’t immediately jump in with their warships and that was a mistake. The Realm’s forces outnumbered the OA warships, with the Realm, Bears, and Algean Primes combined. By the time the giant motherships discovered their warships were outnumbered, most of them were destroyed.

  • • •

  Drew blew in behind two-OA-warships moving in to fire on a Prime and swept his Mag-Cannons across their thrusters. He whipped the Prime vertical and barely missed the shockwave that blew out from the OA warships destruction. “Lyla, follow me.”

  Drew sent her a coordinate and she entered it into her teleport system. They teleported out into a dense field of dark matter. “Open your collection tube, Lyla, we’re low on projectiles.”

  Lyla pressed the red-glowing button on her panel and saw she only had three-projectiles remaining in the magazine. She followed Drew through the dense field faster-than-light and pressed the ship-to-ship communicator. “Where did you learn to fly like that?”

  “I learned when Russel would take me out with him.”

  “You could have won every fleet competition.”