Defending Earth-Searching for Death Feeders Read online

  The port disappeared and the Elder looked at Kyle, “Is it gone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Uhhh, how are we going to leave?”

  “I’ll handle it. Now give me a moment to concentrate.” Kyle faced the wilds toward the northern edge of the field and closed his eyes.

  “What are you doing?” Kyle raised his hand and waved it at the Elder. The Elder heard a loud roar coming from the north that was deafening. His eyes went wide as six giant Grondons broke through the edge of the brush running toward them at top speed. He moved behind Kyle and shook his head. These were the largest Grondons he had ever seen or heard about. One of them had to be over thirty feet tall. They came running at them and suddenly came to a stop fifty feet from them.

  Kyle opened his eyes, “I know you have hated the intruders that have taken your domain and killed your children.” Kyle pointed toward the village, “I ask you to remove this blasphemy from your lands.” The Grondon’s roar did deafen the Elder this time as the six giants turned and rushed into the village. “Amber, now would be a good time.”

  The Elder saw a port appear behind him and he jumped through it as Kyle leapt in behind him as he yelled, “Get us out of here!” The Light Ship disappeared just before one of the Grondons swept its giant claws at it.

  The Elder struggled out from under Kyle and said, “Next time I insist on staying with you, please knock some sense into me!” Kyle nodded and started laughing. The sudden release of tension was too much and his laughter took him. A few moments later, the Elder joined him.

  “Kyle.”

  “Yes, Amber.”

  “Legune wants to know if you will bring the Elder to the colony ship and meet with the villagers.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “It’s not a mutiny, but it’s pretty close to it.”

  “I’m on the way. Tell Captain Donovan to hold the ship in open space outside our cluster.” Kyle looked at the Elder, “I should have made you go with them.” The Elder sighed and nodded.

  • • •

  The Light Ship entered the giant Colony Ship’s landing bay and he went to the main deck where all the villagers were yelling at Legune. The Elder entered and yelled, “BE SILENT!!” The Villagers turned and saw him. They grew silent slowly and Kyle could see they were sitting on a powder keg. Control could be lost if this wasn’t handled properly. The kerit stared at the Elder and he turned to Kyle, “Tell them.”

  Kyle rolled his eyes. He leaned in next to the Elder and whispered, “Shouldn’t you handle this?”

  “No, I’m just as curious as they are about what you’ve made us do.” The villagers heard him and started nodding. The Elder was still one of them. The Elder walked over to the gathering and said, “Sit down and let’s see what this being has to say.”

  Kyle looked at Legune and he sat down beside her father. Oh, this was just great. Then he remembered Legune saying her mother was killed by a Master ten years ago. He shook his head and looked at them. He walked forward and sat down in front of them. He looked at them and said, “Please remove the bands from around your heads.” They all looked at the Elder as he immediately removed his. They took the thought blocker off and Kyle looked up at the ceiling and said, “Captain Donovan.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Please activate the DNA modifier.” The Kerit saw a silver flashing field appear around the young male sitting in front of them and Legune knew Kyle was making a terrible mistake but it was too late to stop him. The Kerit watched the form inside the golden field and after a few minutes, an alien was sitting in front of them. The screams were immediate.

  Chapter Six

  Legune closed her eyes and suddenly opened them wide as she heard in her mind, “BE SILENT OR I’LL TAKE YOU BACK!!” Silence slammed down on the assembled Kerits. Kyle stared at them and blew out a slow breath. He thought, “I have just received an update from a probe above your planet. Look at the monitor on the right wall and pay attention!”

  The Kerits turned and saw hundreds of small ground craft moving above the planet’s surface toward their former community. The females saw a close up of the city zoom in and they looked at the males who told them what the alien had ordered them to do before they left. There were the remains of dead bodies scattered among the ruins of their former homes, in the roads running through the community and in the brush surrounding the fields. The giant tracks of Grondons were everywhere. The view moved out slightly and the ground craft flew in and landed among the ruins. Hundreds of Masters stepped out of the vehicles and gathered at the edge of the ruined village. The Kerits stopped talking and they heard the Masters on the wall speaker.

  • • •

  “What has happened here?”

  “Are you stupid? This territory was wiped out by the Giant Carnivores.”

  “How is that possible? The local ruler should have been able to keep them away.”

  “It appears he died with them.”

  “That’s not possible. These bodies have been dead a long time and the buildings look like they’ve been destroyed recently.”

  A Master walked up and looked around, “It could be the carnivores came back recently to scavenge for a meal. These meals have been dead for a long time.”

  “When was the last time the Ruler was heard from?”

  The Masters looked at each other and no one answered the question. The Leader looked at them and said, “The Fleet Leader communicated with him about eight months ago. This had to happen since that contact.”

  “Where is the body of the Ruler?”

  The Leader looked around and walked back to his ground vehicle. He went inside and after, a few moments emerged and walked back over to the group, “The Fleet Leader is sending a ship to investigate. Spread out and see if we’ve missed his body.”

  Kyle stopped the recording, “This happened an hour after you were taken off the planet. I’m moving the recording forward another hour when the ship they called in arrived.”

  The Kerits turned back to the Monitor and gasped. A giant warship appeared on the monitor hovering a quarter of a mile above the destroyed village. It had to be a ship of war, it was covered with huge barrels sticking out of its hull along with large number of missile launchers with a missile in their cradles.

  The Feeder Leader looked up, “Thank you for coming. We’re trying to understand what happened here. The one that ruled this territory is missing and we’ve been unable to find his body.”

  “I will scan the surface for it. Wait until I complete the search.” The Masters looked around and waited. More than a hundred more Masters came roaring in on their vehicles and joined those standing at the edge of the community. They didn’t have to wait long. “I have found the body in a ravine. Its head is about a quarter of a mile away from the body.”

  “Will you bring the body to us?”

  “I’m dispatching a shuttle.” The Purple colored beings waited and ten minutes later heard a hum. A huge shuttle came over the horizon at high speed and had something dangling below it. The shuttle came to a stop and moved toward the surface. A cable with a claw on it was lowered to the ground and the claw released what it was holding. The dead body of a Feeder fell to the ground along with a badly decomposed head. The Leader looked at the remains and saw the giant claw marks on the body.

  “It appears this one was killed by one of the carnivores. It had to be a large one for the claw marks to go all the way through the body.”

  A Master shook its shoulders, “How could this happen? There’s no possible way one of the carnivores could have gotten close enough to do this?”

  “Are you blind? There must be a way or it would still be living.”

  A female sneered at the male Masters, “You never see yourselves when you’re in the throes of a blood lust.”

  The Leader looked at her, “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve tried to communicate with you during a blood lust and you never hear me. You’re caught up in consuming an intelligen
t meal. That’s what happened. This one was blind when it consumed a meal.”

  The Leader snarled at the female but knew she was probably right. He looked at the Master standing next to him and thought, “Go and thank the Ship Commander for coming to assist us in finding the missing Ruler.” The Master walked away and the Leader looked around the huge gathering of Feeders that continued to grow. “Make it a policy to scan your surrounding for the presence of Carnivores before you begin consuming a meal.”

  “Shouldn’t we remove the carnivores from this planet?”

  The Leader snarled at the Master, who made the suggestion. “The carnivores serve a purpose. They prevent our meals from running out into the wilderness and attempting to hide. They save us the effort of having to go out and capture them again. This one was stupid. Just make sure none of you make the same mistake. Now go back to your territories and I’ll report our findings to the Fleet Leader.”

  The large gathering broke up and they moved back to their vehicles.

  • • •

  The monitor went dark and Kyle stood up, “You may discuss what you’ve just seen among yourselves and if you want to return, I’ll take you back.” Kyle looked at Legune, “Call me when you’re ready to act like an intelligent species!” Legune flinched at the remark and nodded.

  Kyle walked back to his Light Ship and walked to the bridge, “Amber, what did we learn about that ship?”

  “It’s a monster. It’s not as large as those used by the Legends but it does pack a varied assortment of heavy weapons.”

  “I only saw disruptors and missiles.”

  “It also has some extremely large tubes on its hull that appear to fire a powerful magnetic field.”

  “What would it do if it hit a ship?”

  “It would knock out the electronics. It’s like the EMP pulse made by a nuclear explosion.”

  “Could it penetrate our force fields?”

  “There’s no way to know except to go out and allow one to hit one of our ships.”

  “Can you make an estimate on its speed?”

  “If it came from that fleet we saw in Legune’s mind, it’s faster than our void stardrives. It did take longer than using the barrier but it was really quick in the void. I think the void is the only drive they have. The force field around it, when it arrived, can be penetrated, I think.”

  “We were lucky.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “The Feeders that came to the village all landed in the field where the colony ship moved its port out of the barrier; there had to be an electronic residue left behind. Their landing craft were left running and masked the evidence of our presence.”

  “I didn’t think about that. You’re right. Is that why you had the Colony Ship land in the field next to the buildings?”

  “It is. There’s no other place to land other than that field. We were also lucky the Feeders on that planet don’t have a warship.”

  “The ship that came in didn’t scan the barrier.”

  “What?”

  “I would think the Feeders that were working with the Legends would have told them about the barrier when the Legends kicked them out. But it appears they either didn’t or the ship didn’t suspect us of being present that far from our cluster.” Kyle leaned back in his command chair and put his hand on his chin. “One other thing.” Kyle looked up. “The scanner used to locate the dead Feeder wasn’t that advanced. I don’t think it would operate more than one AU.”

  “Are you pretty certain about that?”

  “The scanner they used was the largest one on that ship’s hull. I find it hard to believe a smaller one would have a longer range.”

  Kyle thought for a moment and tilted his head, “That makes sense.”

  “Why?”

  “The Feeders can detect the minds on ships over a very long distance. Why would they need an electronic scanner except for attacking warships near them?”

  “That is an excellent point.”

  “Did you send the Micro-probe to follow that ship?”

  “I did. What are you thinking?”

  “I think I’m going to follow it.”

  “Kyle!?”

  “I’ve determined while I was on the planet that the other Feeders didn’t sense my presence. I can stay outside the range of their electronic scanners and go see what we’re up against.”

  “You should run this by the High Leader.”

  “This falls in my province.”

  “Then you should at least take Legune in her human form with you.”

  “Why?”

  “You need look no further than the Feeder that was able to stalk your Great, Great Grandfather.”

  Kyle put his hand back on his chin and thought about it. He leaned back in his chair and in a few minutes, he fell asleep.

  • • •

  “Kyle.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Legune. I’m intercepting his calls so he can sleep.”

  “He told me to contact him.”

  “Please understand that he hasn’t slept much for more than thirty six hours. He worked to get the fleets moving before he picked you up. He’s physically exhausted and interrupting him now will deprive him of the energy he’ll need to be effective. If you insist, I will wake him.”

  “No, allow him to rest. Let him know we’re ready to have a discussion with him.”

  “Have you decided to return to your planet?”

  Legune chuckled, “We’re a lot of things but stupid isn’t one of them.”

  “I’ve just notified Captain Jorgenson to take the ship back to Earth and to send some stewards to take your people to the cafeteria.”

  “We’re going to have to wait on the cafeteria.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Your food is not digested well by our bodies; I discovered that when I tried to eat something in my normal form in Kyle’s office before we left. Everyone understands that they will have to undergo the DNA change to survive.”

  “Why don’t you do this then? I’ll have the Captain start converting your people to human DNA and they can go and eat after the transformation.”

  “That will work.”

  “I’m sure we can go back and collect the seeds you used to grow crops on your planet and a community can be built for you.”

  “Before we do that, we need to talk with Kyle.”

  “I’ll notify you when he wakes.”

  “Amber.”

  “Yes.”

  “You are a machine?”

  “More or less.”

  Legune chuckled, “I think it’s more less than more.”

  “Thank you.”

  • • •

  “What did you determine?”

  “The ones left on the planet are of the opinion that the dead Elder was killed by a local carnivore.”

  “That doesn’t sound right?”

  “I know Fleet Leader. But all the evidence supports their findings.”

  “Send me what you have.” The Ship Leader pressed a button and sent it to the Fleet Leader’s panel. He waited and after twenty minutes he heard, “I see why they came up with that outcome but it just doesn’t seem right. Even an old member of our species shouldn’t have missed that creature’s presence.”

  “It couldn’t have been killed by the Meals it was ruling; they were all killed as well.”

  “Did they get a reading on how long the Meals had been dead?”

  “They sent me away before they completed their investigation. I would think that if they found anything out of order, they would have contacted you.”

  The Fleet Leader was silent again and after ten minutes the Ship Leader heard, “I’ve just received a message from a planet in the inner core of this galaxy. One of our ships has encountered a civilization with a large defense fleet. I’m sending you to assist that ship against the fleet. Once you have the situation under control, return and join your unit.”

  “Yes, Fleet Leader.” The Feeder looked at his panel an
d saw the coordinates of the planet appear. “Move the ship to the coordinates I’m sending you. Arm all your weapons and move there immediately.” The giant ship’s stardrive activated and the ship went into the void. The micro-probe followed it as it accelerated toward a distant planet.

  • • •

  Kyle opened his eyes and shook his head. “How long have I been out?”

  “About eighteen hours.”

  “WHAT?”

  “The Kerit agreed to allow you to rest. You can’t keep pushing yourself so hard, Kyle.”

  Kyle took a deep breath and raised his arms over his head and stretched, “I know. Where are the Kerit now?”

  “They’ve been converted to human form and the final group are being fed in the cafeteria.”

  “Why did they choose to do that?”

  “Legune told them she wasn’t able to eat our food; her body wouldn’t absorb it.”

  “How did she know that?”

  “I think she tried to eat something you had in your office before you left and found it didn’t agree with her.”

  Kyle thought a moment and then remembered the cashews on his desk. “Nuts are one of the hardest foods to digest.”

  “I suspect she used them to justify getting them to make the change.”

  “I’ll be back later.”

  “Are you still planning to follow that ship?”

  “I’ll let you know.” Kyle walked off the bridge and exited the port. He saw the sailors in the landing bay come to attention and salute him. He returned their salute and smiled, “As you were.” He walked across the huge bay and headed toward the assembly room. “Where is the ship, Amber?”

  “We’re currently in Earth Orbit.” Kyle sighed and continued walking toward the Kerits. He was planning to send them to Goran but now it was probably too late to make that decision. The Kerits had to be growing accustomed to their new bodies and making them change again was probably not a good idea. He stopped walking and his eyes narrowed. Legune developed the ability to detect the Feeders in a human form. That ability may not be possible in a Goran body. He started walking again and decided to see if the ones brought from the planet also had the trait. If may be that the human form would be the chosen one for Legune’s species; if they were willing to assist the Alliance against the Feeders.