Escape to Earth-The Legacy of a Conqueror (23 page)

“It was my fault.”

Lukas looked at Allison and once again marveled at her hair. “Let’s get started.” Everyone moved to a chair and Lukas looked around the room. Everyone grew silent and he looked at Loree, “Why don’t you fill us in on what happened.”

Loree looked around the room and then began speaking, “I lost twenty-one of my battleships to the Black Ships. I ordered all my scouts to escape and those that were the furthest from the Legends’ Planet managed to get away. Twenty-two of us were on the Legends’ side of the galaxy and weren’t able to escape before they saw us. I had a Black Ship blow past my ship at an incredible speed and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to outrun it. I ordered my ships still in the galaxy to use their dark matter clouds to hide them. The twenty ships that were destroyed had to slow to prevent the clouds from being stripped away.” Loree looked around the room, “They could see the cloud if the ship was moving.”

Jinks said, “How do you know that?”

“I’ll explain in a moment.” Jinks nodded. “My ship had run to a dwarf galaxy circling M-87 but I was followed there. The Black Ship was making a turn to come back at me just as I ordered the ship into normal space. We emerged into a planetary system and I ordered the pilot to land on a small moon that was close by and take the ship into a crater. I knew the Black Ship would have to come back to where we entered normal space to be anywhere near our exit point. My pilot did an impossible job of landing the ship in a huge crater just as the Black Ship entered normal space and started looking for us. The black cloud was still being emitted and my ship was almost covered but not before I saw the Black Ship fly over the crater. The cloud covered us and we waited to be attacked. All of us were frightened out of our wits and we remained in that crater for three days. I had an antenna extended beyond the cloud and saw on our passive sensors that the Black Ship was still holding orbit above the moon. The ship’s power had been shut down and we were all living in our armor. We were too frightened to do anything but time was running out on us. We had to turn on the environmental systems or we were going to run out of power in our suits and die.”

Lukas looked at her, “How did you escape?”

“Actually, we didn’t.”

Allison said, “Before you continue, Admiral, you mentioned that all of you were frightened?”

Loree looked at her and nodded, “We all knew that we were going to die. There was no way to escape.” Allison nodded and Loree said, “We were saved by my Aman, my weapons officer.” Loree took a breath and smiled, “I think he took all he could take and couldn’t take it anymore.”

Jinks said, “What did he do?”

“He turned every disruptor on top of the ship toward the Black Ship and opened fire.” Loree took a breath and slowly exhaled, “I was ready to strangle him but the disruptor beams blew through the black ship. It didn’t die before getting off two shots at us and it couldn’t miss. We were a sitting duck in that crater. Once again, it was Aman’s fast thinking that prevented our destruction. Immediately after he fired he activated the force field to full power. The first disruptor beam was slowed by the force field and the silver coating stopped the second. The coating was melted but it stopped the beam from penetrating our hull. The black ship blew up in a massive blast before it could fire again. I ordered the ship to full power and we got out of there in a big way.”

Stoney said, “Did you reprimand Aman for his actions endangering your vessel?”

“No, I’m putting him in for the Fleet Crescent.” Stoney’s eyes narrowed and Loree said, “I wish I could describe the emotions we were all experiencing. None of us were thinking clearly and we probably would have died there doing nothing. He saved us.”

Chad said, “Admiral, First Commander Stone has postulated that the Legends are able to generate a field of some sort that amplifies emotions to an unbearable level. Your experience would appear to confirm that idea.”

Allison said, “Admiral, did your fears start to go away after you fled?”

“We destroyed that attacker, so there was nothing left to fear.”

“But they didn’t disappear immediately, did they?” Loree stared at Allison and, after a moment, nodded.

Lukas looked at Allison, “What are you suggesting?”

“Sir, I experienced losing control of my emotions. I was almost paralyzed by fear. Commander Stone suggested that this field that causes the amplification of emotions is either a mental field produced by the Legends’ minds or a technological device. I think we can now assume that it’s done by technology.”

Everyone in the room stared at her and Loree said, “And you arrived at this conclusion by…?”

“The ship that had you trapped did not have a Legend on board.”

Jinks eyebrows wend up, “There’s no way you can know that one way or the other.”

Allison tilted her head, “Look at the conversation we recorded between that Legend Leader and the Legends on the planet. The Leader ordered them to send their ships out to destroy the probes and he continued talking to the Legends on the planet after that order. That means the fear that was being generated in Admiral Barber’s crew had to be done by a device on that Black Ship above her.”

Everyone stared at Allison and Salud said, “What difference does it make how it was done?”

Amanda spoke up, “It makes a huge difference.”

Everyone turned to her and Salud said, “How is that?”

“Because stopping telepathic fields is a different kind of beast from an electronic field. An electronic field can be blocked by the application of more power.”

Lukas leaned forward, “Are you saying we can stop that field?”

Amanda sighed, “Sir, we only use three volts to power the thought blocker.”

“What?”

“We didn’t think more would be needed. We can directly wire the blocker into the armor’s main power supply and I can assure you no electronic field will get through it. If it were telepathic, stopping it with more power would be very iffy.”

Jinks shook his head, “Do you know how long it will take to rewire all those suits of armor.”

Amanda looked up at the ceiling and after a few seconds she said, “About twenty seconds, if you take your time.”

“What?”

“The helmet is set up with subroutines to reroute power to all of the systems it uses. I’ll type up the instructions on how to do it and send it out on a mass message.”

Chris looked at Allison, leaned over, and whispered, “This is why you insisted on coming? You knew about that sub-routine.”

“Yes, but if it wasn’t electronic, more power wouldn’t have necessarily worked.” Chris nodded and straightened up.

Jinks looked at Loree, “Admiral, are you saying the Legends’ warships can destroy our ships.”

“Twenty of mine did not make it out of M-87.”

Chris looked at Loree, “How were your reactors configured?”

Loree looked at him and thought for a moment. She started nodding as she said, “I think I know what you’re asking. Most of the reactors were directed to the thrusters.”

Chris nodded, “Since your ship couldn’t outrun them, if you had put most of your power to the force field and disruptors…”

Loree nodded, “It would have made a difference. I had the reactors shut down so I couldn’t reroute them while we were hiding.”

“How many reactors were powering the weapons?”

“Four.”

“I suspect the ships you lost were attacked by multiple black ships and they only tried to run because of the fear that was overwhelming them. If the disruptors had twenty reactors behind them, it may have had a different result.”

Lukas looked around the room, “We need to have our engineers look at the hull of the Montana and we need to examine Admiral Barber’s recordings. Everyone plan to meet here the day after tomorrow so we can share our findings.”

The meeting broke up and Loree came over to Chris and Allison, “What can you tell me about that ship that destroyed our probes?”

Chris said, “Give me a moment. Gene, do you have the analysis you did of the Legend Supership?”

“I do.”

“Transmit it to my wrist unit.” Chris felt his wrist unit vibrate and he connected it wirelessly to the huge wall monitor. He activated the download and the three of them walked up to the giant monitor. Loree shook her head, “I don’t know how you had the courage to follow that monster if you were as frightened as I was.” The other attendees watched their discussion and moved over to look at the wall monitor with them. They began asking questions and Chris and Allison answered them. Soon all the chairs were in front of the monitor. Lukas watched them and knew he had a great group of officers. He was going to need them.

L
ukas stood up and said, “Let me summarize what we’ve decided. We are going to let sleeping dogs lie as long as possible while we build up our forces, right?” Everyone around the table nodded. “Next, the survivors of Admiral Barber’s Scouts are going to be given the new Barrier Pods to scout any targets we select.” Lukas looked around and everyone nodded. “We are going to remove our fleets from M-84 on the off-chance that their presence might provoke the Legends to attack them there.” Lukas thought for a moment and looked at Loree, “And you are going to go out and start searching for the source of that giant Legend Battleship?”

Loree stood up, “Sir, I have no idea how I’m going to find them. It’s a large universe.”

“Would it be inappropriate for me to interrupt?”

Everyone heard the thought and Loree said, “No it wouldn’t, Barbie. What’s on your mind?”

“Well, it may be easier to find them than you think.”

Everyone in the room looked at Loree in surprise as she said, “You never cease to amaze me, Barbie. Just how would I go about it?”

“We know what line that ship came into M-87. Line your scouts up on that line and go to full speed in the barrier.”

“But I’d be moving too fast to be able to see them.”

“You don’t need to see them, just stop when you feel frightened. Turn on your armor’s thought blocker and look around.”

Chris started laughing and everyone looked at him. Chris shook his head and smiled at Loree, “Thank you so much for allowing me to use Barbie on my ship but I think it’s time the two of you were reunited. You belong together.”

“What about your ship?”

“I have two computers fully capable of replacing her. You need to select who your co-pilot will be.”

“That’s been done.”

“Oh, who?”

“Commodore Hawk Red-Feather will be flying with me.”

Chris smiled. He remembered Audrey recommending Loree get to know him. He felt a wave of melancholy sweep through him and he forced himself to smile, “He is an excellent choice, Admiral.”

Lukas looked at Chris, “Are you going to replace Barbie?”

“No, I think I’ve seen that two computers are capable of performing all the tasks required of them.”

Allison looked at him, “Neither one of them are telepathic.”

Chris nodded, “I’ll discuss that with Piper later.” Allison nodded and wondered why Chris was giving up the lead computer.

Lukas looked at Joey, “How are the assembly plants coming along on Eden?”

“We’re building complete Barrier Pods now. The assembly lines will start moving at full production in less than a month.”

Lukas looked at Stoney, “Where are we on trained Pilots to fly them?”

“All of the senior officers have completed simulator training and are practicing on the Training Pods until their ships are ready.”

“What’s the hold up?”

“The Senior Officers want their computers installed in their personal ships.”

Lukas tilted his head, “Can’t say I blame them for that.” He looked at Chris, “What are you going to be doing?”

“I’m considering stepping out of the ranks for a while to go and visit M-84.”

Lukas stared at him and Allison grabbed his sleeve and shook her head. Chris looked at her and she said, “You have to go back to M-86 and tell them what’s going on.”

Chris stared at her. This was the first time he heard about the necessity of going there. “Are you sure about that?” Allison nodded. Chris looked at Lukas, “I think Admiral Simmons makes a good point. Since I’m the one Commander they know, I should be the one to go.”

Lukas nodded, “I think that is wise. If you don’t mind my asking, why do you need to go to M-84?”

Chris stared at him and sighed, “Redemption and I intend to go to every planet my fleets destroyed and say a prayer.”

“That’s thousands of planets, Chris.”

Chris looked around the room, “I don’t think you’ll be needing a conqueror anytime soon. I’ll come back when you need me.”

Lukas looked at him, “We may need you rather quickly.”

“I’ll take a Barrier Pod. I can be back before you stop asking me to come back.”

Lukas stared at him and nodded. Lukas looked at Allison, “You should start thinking about someone to replace him.” Allison stared at Lukas, and then nodded.

• • •

Allison sat on the Barrier Pod in the giant black ship’s landing bay while Chris was meeting with the Commander of M-85’s forces. She was fidgeting and she heard Alley’s thought, “You can’t let him do this!”

“I know, but how can I stop him.”

“Tell him.”

“No!”

“Then you will watch him leave and he won’t be back. He’ll have his own ship.”

Allison shook her head and fought with the thoughts running through her head.

• • •

“This is not good news you brought. Why are you telling me?”

“I suspect some of the civilizations you’re leading are growing impatient to go and take their vengeance.”

“They are.”

“If you initiate an attack on the Monsters, you will be eradicated and it will probably cause the Legends to use their ships to come here and finish the job.”

“How can I stop them? If I don’t act soon, they’ll replace me.”

Chris reached across his panel and inserted a connection into his computer console. Kilon watched him and when Chris withdrew his hand he said, “What was that?”

“It’s a recording of the Legend Ship that eliminated my probes. I’ve also included a recording of the ships around their planet as well as the destruction of the Green Flagship by one of the smaller Legend Ships.”