Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground (20 page)

“What kind of ships are they building?”

“Mainly warships and armed transports. The Warships are the same kind you attacked at the planet they invaded and the ones that Chris recorded at the planet of the Grey Ships.”

Loree looked at Chris and Audrey, “That might be their home world.”

“There are thirty eight more planets building that particular warship but none of them are close to the population density of that planet.”

“Change all the planets that are building those ships to green.” The image changed again and Loree said, “Notice that all of them are centered around that massive planet. That suggests that they were conquered by the largest. Barbie, what civilization has the second largest number of ships gathering.”

“Actually, those ships we’ve discussed are the second largest. The largest number of ships come from a group of planets that surround those shipbuilding planets.”

“Change their color to orange.”

The image changed and Chris shook his head, “Barbie, how many planets is that?”

“Five hundred.”

“How many planets does the first civilization have control over?” The group of red stars grew until they filled the area inside the green stars. Chris looked at Loree, “It appears they are surrounded and we know nothing about the capabilities of the green warships.”

Loree stared at the monitor and said, “Emily, move in close enough to that quadrant where Barbie can show us the planets.” Emily sent the ship into the void and pushed forward on the steering wheel. The LaGrange accelerated and thirty minutes later, Emily moved the ship into normal space. “How far out are we?”

“About two hundred light years.”

“Barbie, I want you to focus on the stars that lie between those two civilizations. I notice that quite a few of them are not showing any color. Try to look at any that might be located in the habitation zone.” The monitor began flashing rapidly and Chris looked at Loree, “Barbie is looking at all of them and will give us a summary when the study is completed.”

“Is each one of those flashes a planet that lies in the habitation zone?

Loree nodded. Chris shook his head and Audrey said, “What are you thinking?”

“The probabilities are high that some of those planets have to be inhabited. If they’re not…”

“Then there must be a reason.”

“The most likely answer would be an intergalactic war. Of course, I might be wrong.”

“I’ve changed two of those stars to green.”

“What about the others?”

“Admiral, it appears most of them have been bombarded from space.”

“Can you tell which civilization they belonged to?”

“Only a few of them but it appears that they are equally divided between the red and green stars.”

Loree looked at Lance, “Contact Commodore Schilling’s squadron and have them assigned to one of those planet to go and take a look around.” Lance turned to his board and began speaking quietly. Loree looked at Chris, “The images we’re seeing out here are two hundred years old. I want to know if those planets are still uninhabited.”

Chris looked at Loree and Audrey, “The green stars are more powerful.” Both of them looked at him and he pointed at the monitor, “Take a look. The red stars are completely surrounded by the green. They were moving in on the reds and winning.”

“Why did they stop fighting?”

Chris looked at Emily, “That is something we need to find out.”

Loree sat back in the command chair, “Why is that?”

“Because the only thing that could make them stop is a force stronger than both of them.”

Loree shook her head, “Barbie, how many different civilizations are represented at the ship gathering?”

“Ten in total; however, the other eight have contributed a small fraction of the green and red fleets.”

“What fraction do they represent?”

“Less than a one hundredth.”

Loree looked at Chris, “The only way any of them could have stopped the fighting is if they had indestructible warships.”

“Even then, that’s highly unlikely they have that or they would have gone on and defeated both of them.”

Chris stared at the monitor and Audrey wondered what he was thinking. She saw his concentration and didn’t want to interrupt him to ask.

“Sir, I have the first reports coming in from Commodore Shilling’s squadron. Those planets are still uninhabited but they’ve recovered from the bombardment two hundred years ago and are all beautiful planets now.”

“Show me.”

Everyone looked at the right hand monitor and began seeing image after image of beautiful blue and green planets begin appearing one after another. Chris sighed and shook his head, “Do you think the billions of beings crowded on that ship building planet might want to live on one of those?”

Frank said, “Why aren’t they?”

Chris continued to stare at the planets as more reports came in, “It’s a neutral zone that no one will violate.”

• • •

Frank shook his head, “But they’re attacking planets outside this quadrant. The planet where we just attacked their ships is far outside this quadrant.”

“Who’s to stop them from violating that zone?”

Chris turned and looked at Loree, “That is the key to understanding what’s going on here.” Everyone looked at each other as planet after beautiful planet rolled across the monitor.

• • •

“Amanda, what can you tell me about the beam that damaged our battleships?”

“Jinks, it’s not nuclear or plasma generated.”

“Then what is it?”

“I haven’t been able to make a determination yet. However, every ship that one of those beams hit has been damaged.”

“What can you tell me about the damage?”

“It blew through the force field and went completely out the other side.”

“Get this out to Admiral Barber now!”

“She’s not where I can reach her.”

“She’s currently holding station above the galaxy. Get it out now!”

• • •

Lance looked up and said, “I have a message from Commodore Ambrose.”

“Put her on the monitor.”

Amanda appeared and said, “Thank God! I’ve done an analysis of the beams being used by the ships you attacked.”

Chris looked at the monitor, “And?”

“Every one of our ships that was hit by one on those beams was damaged. Admiral Mitchell was lucky that most of them weren’t at battle stations when he attacked. The analysis of the recording shows that the enemy ships didn’t have time to bring their weapons online before they were overwhelmed.”

Loree said, “How many of our ships were configured with their most powerful force fields?”

Amanda looked down and then looked up, “None of them were higher than thirty percent; however, those beams blew all the way through and weren’t slowed at all.”

“Thanks, Amanda. We’ve been lucky so far that we’ve been able to take them by surprise.”

“Half of the ships sent to that group of two hundred ships were damaged. They were at battle stations.”

Chris looked at Audrey and then turned back to Amanda, “So whoever shoots first wins.”

“It does appear that is the case.”

“Thanks Amanda.”

“Be careful!”

“You know we will.”

The monitor went dark and Loree looked at Chris, “What do you think about this?”

“It confirms there is an outside entity that is heavily involved in this.”

Loree started laughing and Chris tilted his head, “What’s so funny?”

“I am beyond amazement at how you make these intuitive leaps. I might figure this out after several hours of reflection but why don’t you save me the effort and tell me how you know this.”

Chris shook twice with a snicker and shook his head, “When have our weapons ever exceeded our ability to stop them?”

“Right now. The Dark Matter Rounds will penetrate our force fields.”

“And where did we get that technology? Did we develop it?”

Loree’s eyes went wide, “YOU’RE RIGHT!”

Lance looked at them and said, “Perhaps I’m not as bright as you two geniuses but I don’t understand.”

Audrey looked at him and said, “Our force field will stop our disruptors which was our strongest weapon. We stole the Dark Matter Technology from the invaders use of the Dark Cloud.”

Lance stared at her and then turned to Loree, “Their force fields won’t stop their beams.”

Loree nodded, “So that means they either stole that technology, or…”

“Someone gave it to them.”

Lance looked at Chris, “What are we going to do about this?”

“I want everything that’s happened downloaded into a datacube.”

Loree shook her head, “If you intend to go anywhere, we’re going with you.”

“No, you’re not, Admiral. I think we’ve completed our mission and we need to see if we can get our reward for it. I will not endanger this ship by allowing you to go with me.”

Loree stared at Chris and after a moment smiled, “It’s been a real pleasure serving with you, Mister Stone. Please feel free to join me in the future.”

Chris smiled, “I’ve heard a lot about you before this mission and I wondered if what I heard was true.” He paused and said, “You are actually even better than I was told you are. I would…suggest that you clear this area of your fleet.”

Loree nodded and looked at Lance stand up and bring the cube to Chris. He looked at Audrey who had stood up and said, “I’ve learned a lot from you, Sir. It’s been a real pleasure.”

“I hope Admiral Barber might release you to serve on my ship.”

Loree laughed, “Not a chance.”

Audrey smiled and winked at Lance, “I didn’t think so but I had to make the effort.”

Chris looked at Audrey, “Let’s go and join Willow.” She nodded and they left the bridge. The crew watched the small Attack Pod exit the landing bay on the monitor and Emily said, “I miss them already. Things were really interesting on this mission.”

Loree sighed, “I miss them as well, Captain.” She turned to Lance, “Send a message to all ships to skip out and return to Eden.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

Audrey strapped in and said, “You’re not saying something.”

“It needs to wait.”

“So you know something.”

“If I knew for certain I would tell you but it’s only a suspicion right now. Willow, take us back to the Grey Planet.”

“It’s good to have company again.”

Audrey laughed, “We’ve missed you as well.”

Chris remained silent all the way back to the Grey Civilization. They arrived and entered normal space outside the furthest moon. They heard one of the Grey Beings ask, “Have you completed your assignment?”

“I have. I’ve downloaded everything in a data cube.”

“Please transmit the information at high speed.”

Chris inserted the data cube into his panel and said, “Willow, if you’ll do the honors.”

Thirty seconds later they heard, “It appears we are underestimating the magnitude of the coming attack.”

“Our offer of assistance still stands.”

“We may take you up on it. However, you’ve done more than we expected.”

Chris heard Willow say, “Holy guacamole.”

He looked at the display and saw something huge move out of the planet’s force field. The Gravity Ship was gigantic. “I’ve sent the information on how to operate the ship to the data cube you have on board. We will take it to your planet and the crew will leave on one of our vessels. Make good use of it.”

“Thank you. Contact us if you need our assistance.”

“We will.”

• • •

“Willow, take us home.”

Willow entered the void and the Gravity Ship entered with her and followed her all the way back to Eden. They arrived and Chris pressed a button on his console. Amanda appeared on the display and Chris said, “I have a ship here with instructions on how to operate it along with more than twenty Dark Energy reactors on board. Are you interested?” Amanda screamed and the display went dark. Chris looked at Audrey, “I guess she is.” Audrey laughed and Chris said, “You should take your fleet now.”

“What?”

“I’ve found what I went out to find. I’ll be involved in the development of Dark Energy for the foreseeable future. You should go and get your fleet ready for war.”

“Chris…”

He put his index finger on her lips and shook his head, “Now is not the time.” Audrey stared at him and when he removed his finger, she remained silent. “Willow, drop me off at that ship and take Audrey to Fleet Headquarters.”

“Are you sure about that, Chris?”

“It’s what has to be done, Willow. Thank you for all you’ve done.”

Audrey remained silent until Chris left the ship. Her tears started and Willow said, “He’s not ready, Audrey.”

“I know,” she managed to say. “But knowing it doesn’t change the pain.”

“It’s his pain that is forcing him to go.” Audrey looked back at the giant ship and wiped her eyes. He knew. That was enough.

• • •

“This information is disturbing.”

“It is.”

“Where did they get that beam?”

“I wondered about that when they attacked the first time. The numbers coming are much higher than I anticipated.”

“Can we hold out against them?”

“We’ll be forced to remain on our planet but they have no idea how strong our force field is.”

“Having to remain here is nothing.”

“I know. It just bothers me that we won’t be in complete control.”

“Are we going to start up the factories?”

“Yes, it will take some time before we have enough ships to remove them from our space.”

“Should we accept their help?”

“I don’t know. That’s another form of outside control.”

“You’re right.”

• • •

The Attackers arrived and found nothing to attack around the planet. Their massive fleets moved in and began bombarding the planet’s force field but nothing broke through. They moved in missile ships and the missiles exploded harmlessly. Every ship possible moved into a small area above the force field and fired simultaneously at the same place. Nothing broke through. The Leader screamed and killed the Leaders of the fleets but nothing changed. Finally, most of the warships left and a large fleet remained behind. It was relieved periodically but still nothing broke through. That’s where the situation stayed for a very long time.