Lens of Time: Book 06 - Star Rover-Running Out of Time Read online

  Blacky wanted to stay longer, but this was not an opportunity that could be passed up. He thought about it and decided that their mission needed to be cut short. He contacted George and John and told them what he wanted them to do. They agreed and Blacky told them he’d give them a time shortly.

  Blacky moved out to the edge of the city attached to the bottom of the huge blaster vehicle. He recorded his request and the time it needed to be done as he waited for a troop carrier to leave the checkpoint. He hit the transmit button and quickly slid off the blaster vehicle and moved under the troop transport. He watched the blaster vehicle get smaller with distance and just before the troop transport moved out of eyesight, he saw multiple military skimmers flying in and surrounding the huge vehicle he had just left. He dropped off the troop carrier next to the Grillen Barracks and went inside and molded himself under one of the beds. He waited for nightfall and wondered if the Union had received his request. An hour before dark he felt the unit vibrate and he sent instructions to Ringie, George, and John.

  • • •

  “Dat, I’ve received a message from the Madators.”

  Dat hit his communicator, “What does it say?”

  “They request an attack at the planet they were dropped on tomorrow at midnight.”

  “They can’t be serious; that will require at least a hundred thousand ships.”

  “It says you don’t need to attack the planet, just go in and make it appear that is what you plan to do. He says you should jump away before engaging any hostile ships.”

  Dat wondered what Blacky was doing but he knew he had no choice but to do as his friend wanted. “Get Gibb’s Fleet fired up and send confirmation back to the Madators. I hope he knows what he’s doing.” Dat looked at Katherine, “Did he say what he was doing?” Katherine shook her head. “I’m going with them.” Dat changed the frequency on his communicator, “Stein, you and Loree need to get ready for combat. Come and pick me up at home.”

  “Is Gresha taking her ship or coming with you?”

  Dat looked at Gresha, “I’m taking my ship.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “They need our best effort, Dat. I’ll join you with Gibbs’ Fleet.”

  Dat felt the communicator vibrate and saw Gibbs on the display, “We’re going to stage an attack at the planet we dropped the Madators. I want you to design a profile that will allow us to get close and jump away.”

  “We’re not going to engage the enemy?”

  “No, but we want them to really think we are. We need to get every ship instructions and we only have a little more than twenty hours to do it.”

  “I just received the coordinates of the planet from Fleet Headquarters. I’ll see you when you get here.”

  “Gibbs, only send Rovers; leave the Major Battleships out of this.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not going to have them face the Grey Ships; they’re not fast enough to evade or escape if needed.”

  “I’ll transfer to one of my Rovers, Sir.”

  “That would be good.”

  • • •

  Blacky left the planet’s space port under a vehicle in a fuel convoy that was heading back to the manufacturing center. He made it back into the manufacturing complex and dropped off close to the pilot’s barracks. He had one more task to do and he completed it in less than an hour. He placed a dot under the boots of every pilot that was sleeping. He had already placed a dot on the pilots that were currently on duty in their ships above the planet. He slid out of the barracks and made his way back to the checkpoint. It was mid-morning before he was able to get on a scouting convoy leaving the city and he hoped he had time to arrive at the designated coordinates.

  He dropped off the convoy just before it turned south and waited for it to disappear over the horizon. He ran forward and extended his body into the shape of a foil and lifted off the ground. He reduced his thickness and flapped ten times and moved up into the sky, riding the thermals higher and higher. He looked north and stayed in the clouds as he flapped hard to make the rendezvous. It was going to be close.

  • • •

  “One hour to attack.”

  “Be ready to run, Admiral.”

  “I don’t know how this is going to help the Madators, Sir.”

  Dat shook his head, “I don’t either, Gibbs. Just make sure you keep your ships out of trouble.”

  • • •

  The Grillen Fleet Admiral’s Executive Officer ran into his office, “Our probes had detected more than a hundred thousand human ships jumping out of their galaxy.”

  “Did it get the coordinates of their jump?”

  “Yes, but it was out into deep space.”

  The Fleet Admiral thought a moment and decided to not take any chances, “Get the planetary fleets ready to go to their assigned positions immediately. If anything is detected at one of the Prime Planets, have them jump in.”

  “Yes, Sire.”

  “What do you think they’re doing?” The Fleet Admiral watched his panel for a report of an enemy appearance. He had his ship pick him up and immediately went to his command chair. He activated the panel and wondered what the humans were going to do. “Did you get a probe to the location they jumped?”

  “We did but it was detected and destroyed.”

  “I was hoping they wouldn’t see the probe.”

  “Sire, they detected the probe’s jump drive. If it was already in place, I don’t believe it would have been detected.”

  “Send another.”

  “Yes, Sire.”

  • • •

  “Dat, we’ve just destroyed a probe that jumped to our location.”

  Dat stared at Gibbs on his display, “That means they have probes in our galaxy monitoring our movements. Have we detected any near our planets?”

  “No, Sir. The probe that arrived here was only detected by its jump drive signature. We fired a wide pattern of beams and hit it. Once it arrived, we couldn’t see it on our scanners.”

  “Look for them to send others.”

  “Fifth Squadron has just destroyed another probe, Sir.”

  Dat saw they had another hour before the attack, “Jump the fleet to another location. They shouldn’t be able to see us without a probe here.”

  The hundred thousand Rovers disappeared and the third probe arrived and found nothing. The Fleet Admiral was furious but knew he would have done the same thing if he was in the humans’ place. He went back to staring at his display waiting to see what the humans were going to do.

  • • •

  Blacky saw the bright lights of the city ahead and felt the intermittent vibration start to increase in speed. He was flying at his fastest speed and as the vibration became one long beep, he saw George and John circling just above a cloud ahead of him. He flared his body and came circling in on the other two Madators. “I was starting to worry you weren’t going to make it.”

  Blacky fought to catch his breath, “It was a close thing to get away in time. How much longer do we have?”

  “Two minutes.”

  Blacky continued to pull air into his body and watched the city off to the right. He hoped his plan worked. It was all up to Ringie now.

  • • •

  Dat watched the countdown and heard Gibbs say over the main frequency, “We will be jumping in four hundred thousand miles from the planet in ten seconds. Hold your positions and keep your hands on the jump drives. Three, two, one…”

  • • •

  The alarms went off on the planet and the pilots of the Grey Ships rushed out of their quarters and ran to their ships. Ringie waited just inside the bridge of her ship and as the two crewmen ran in she wrapped them up with two arms each and pulled their heads away from their bodies. She heard two pops and ran off the bridge and threw them into the landing bay with a long piece of flexible cable. She ran back to the bridge and started operating the two panels with six of her arms as she strapped her body in the main command chair.
The Grey Ship lifted as the force field was dropped for the four hundred Grey Ships to move into orbit. She modulated the energy panel and her ship lifted erratically and moved to the east from the city. She raised the current going into the communications panel and heard the tower say, “Get your ship into orbit!”

  She said in the Grillen language, “I’m having problems with the energy delivery circuit. I’m resetting it.” The tower only heard parts of the transmission but understood what she said.

  The Grillen Commander watched the ship move erratically higher and looked at his controller. “The ship’s energy circuit is fluctuating. There, it’s turned off.”

  “What are they doing?”

  “It’ll take a few moments to reactivate and that should clear it up. If it doesn’t, we’ll have to bring it in and run a diagnostics check on it.” The Commander watched the ship hover for a few moments and then the ship started moving higher.

  • • •

  Ringie opened the landing bay and hoped the others had made it. She stared at the display and saw the three Madators fly into the landing bay and she closed the port and brought the energy circuit up to full power. She began moving quickly toward the upper atmosphere.

  Blacky saw the two dead Grillen and he said, “Give me every dot you have left.”

  John took his container out of his hide, “I only have four left.”

  George said, “I only have eight.”

  Blacky took the containers and added his own. He changed the timer on them as he took the cable and tied the two dead bodies together. He wedged the dots between them and pulled the bodies next to the landing bay’s doors and yelled, “Get out of here and go to the bridge!”

  The three Madators ran out and Blacky arrived on the bridge just as Ringie arrived in orbit. “Ringie, open the landing bay door.” Blacky looked out the rear port and saw the two bodies were pushed out of the landing bay by decompression of the bay’s atmosphere.

  “All ships jump out to meet the enemy.”

  “Send the command over the main frequency, Ringie.”

  Ringie activated the main frequency and said, “Madator,” in a frequency too high to be heard. She reached for the jump drive and, just before she pushed it, Blacky sent a frequency from his transmitter. The Grey Ship disappeared and a huge explosion detonated behind their former location.

  • • •

  The Fleet Admiral saw the human ships arrive at one of the Prime Planets and started to order the defense fleet in but saw they had arrived a moment after the human ships appeared. He had more than two million ships between the humans and the planet. The human fleet remained stationary and he smiled. He lifted his communicator, “Send the Grey Ships out to greet them.” He watched the two thousand Grey Ships in orbit above the planet disappear.

  • • •

  Gibbs said, “Sir!”

  “Hold your position.”

  Dat watched the Grillen Fleet closely and saw they were holding their position. He changed his view to the Grey Ships above the planet and saw them disappear. “Jump away! Jump Away!” The hundred thousand Rovers disappeared.

  The Fleet Admiral smiled as the Grey Ships arrived at the former location of the Human Fleet but his smile disappeared in shock as almost every Grey Ship exploded in massive blasts. Only two of the Grey Ships weren’t destroyed.

  • • •

  The Ground Commander looked at his Controller as he said, “That ship that was having problems with the energy circuit blew up as it attempted to jump. Evidently, its jump field didn’t activate.”

  “Sir, I’ve just received word that all of our ships have blown up as they arrived at the enemy’s position.”

  “WHAT?”

  “Only two ships weren’t harmed. All the others exploded.”

  The Commander could only stare at his Controller who had no answers.

  • • •

  The Grillen Fleet Admiral stared at the massive debris field where the ships had exploded and fell back into his chair. Had the humans found a way to kill the Grey Ships? If they had…

  He yelled, “Get some ships out there and tell me how this happened! Get moving now!” He jumped to the fleet’s location and waited for answers. Seven hours later, just after the night shift left the manufacturing facilities and an hour before the day shift arrived; he had a ringside seat to the destruction of every ship and construction facility on the planet. The only things remaining inside the force fields protecting them were massive flames and explosions.

  • • •

  Dat arrived back in the Milky Way and watched the Grey Ships explode on the main display. The fleet had dropped five probes and they broadcast the event in crystal clear video. He shook his head and seven hours later he watched the Grillen forces on the planet blown into dust. He waited but didn’t hear anything from the Madator Team. Gresha arrived on his ship and saw his expression. She ran forward and wrapped him in her arms and held him tight. She knew how much he cared for Blacky.

  “Dat, do you have a moment?”

  Dat looked up and saw Belwen on his display, “Belwen, I believe we’ve lost the team. I need some time.”

  Suddenly, Blacky appeared on the display, “Time for what?” Dat was shocked speechless. Blacky stared at Dat and smiled, “Are you upset that I might have been killed?”

  Dat shook his head, “Why didn’t you tell me you escaped, you oversized, round bodied, eight armed…”

  “We had to disable the tracking device in Green Space before we could emerge.”

  “What tracking device?”

  Belwen leaned in and said, “They’ve delivered a brand new Grey Ship to my lab, Dat.”

  Dat jumped up and yelled, “You wonderful demon! You’re the BEST!!”

  Blacky laughed, “Yes…I believe I am. Now you need to get here; we have a lot of work to do.”

  Dat looked around and heard Stein, “Jumping now.”

  • • •

  Katherine arrived an hour behind Dat and sat down and debriefed the four Madators. Dat listened to their report and was amazed at what they had managed to accomplish. He was proud of their bravery and their skill at evading detection. At the end, Blacky said, “We need to get our teams trained on how to attack those planets and get them dropped as quickly as possible.”

  Dat slowly sighed and shook his head, “I’m afraid that isn’t going to be easily done.”

  Everyone in the room turned to him and George said, “Why not?”

  “We know they detected the ship that took you there.”

  Katherine looked at Dat, “Yeah, so what?”

  “Do you think they might put two and two together and be watching for another ship skipping through the barrier toward the other planets?”

  Silence dominated the room until Blacky said, “What could they do about it? They can’t detect us.”

  “No, but they can see the flames from your entry to the planet. I suspect they’ll fire on you from orbit. Targeting those bright lights will be easy.”

  Blacky turned to Belwen, “Is he right?”

  Belwen shrugged, “I’m afraid he is.”

  “So how do we get in?”

  “I need to think about it.”

  Dat looked at Katherine, “We need to get them back to their planet so they can train the others. We need to be ready if another way to drop them is found.”

  Blacky was reluctant to go without knowing what was going to happen but he finally agreed to go after Dat asked him how he was going to contribute to the effort. “Now, you know I’m not that good with technology.”

  “So leave it to those that are and get your warriors trained to go.”

  Ringie said, “You know he’s right.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  Dat turned to Belwen, “Do you have any ideas?”

  Belwen shrugged, “Let me work on it. I’ll let you know what we come up with.”

  Dat looked at Gresha, “We will probably need to get our ships ready for meeting them. I d
on’t think they’ll take this lying down.”

  “They’ll be reluctant to start something at the moment.” Belwen, Katherine, and Dat stared at her. “They don’t know how their ships were destroyed. They’ll investigate that before they use them against us.”

  Katherine smiled, “I hope you’re right. We need to find their probes.”

  Belwen said, “I might have an answer for that; they have to communicate with the Grillen and we have the frequencies they use. I’ve developed some of your probes to attack their probes. We need to trial them.”

  Dat looked around, “Well, we all have more than we can do; we need to get on it.”

  Gresha looked at Dat, “I’m going with the Madators to their planet to watch their training.”

  Dat nodded and was secretly thankful she wasn’t going to be with the fleets.

  • • •

  Gresha sat on a wide open plain and watched the Madators working on their flying techniques. From a distance they looked like large sheets of dark paper that magically dropped a yoyo which fell to fifty feet above the ground and suddenly expanded, caught the wind, before flying back up into the afternoon sky. Off in the distance Gresha saw Madators flying in formations. They would disappear from view as they turned edge on to her. and suddenly reappear as they turned to move higher. “What are they doing, Ringie?”

  “They’re practicing flying toward a destination and keeping their profile edge on to it. We can reduce our thickness to less than a hundredth of an inch and, moving straight at a viewer, we are impossible to see. It’s not easy to maintain that position and it will take a lot of practice to master it.”

  “How do you avoid being seen by ships in orbit?”

  “The easiest way is to remain below cloud level. We’ll assume our smallest size and just drop toward the ground until we’re low enough and then expand to our wing shape.”