Lens of Time (18 page)

Chapter Fourteen

C
aptain Melodie Tulu watched her board as the countdown proceeded. She looked at the photo of the ships surrounding the Jongen Capital. The other seven main battleships waited beside the Hiroshima for the moment to arrive. Their drives were slaved to the lead ship and they would jump the instant Melodie pressed the drive button. She looked at her executive officer, “Status of the Attack Craft?”

“The new one’s are warming up their engines and powering up the force field. The standard ships are arming their penetrators and checking their release systems.”

“I want the Needles launched immediately on entry and accelerated toward the enemy ships.”

Greg Landry smiled, “Relax Skipper. They’ve been prepared properly. Their wing leaders have already issued their targets.”

Melodie started to question how they could do that without getting a scan of the waiting ships. Then she realized the small craft had the same feed from the probe that she was watching. Melodie fidgeted in her chair; would the last eight minutes never pass? Greg smiled, “We’ve loaded the light wave and we’ll go in behind the small craft. The other ships will clear a lane.”

Melodie said, “Toranaga, I want you to fire at the first open opportunity. We’re heavily outnumbered in battleships and we need to make this happen quickly.”

“It’s not as bad as you think, Captain. According to the probe’s scans, those ships are not advanced models. We should be able to handle them.”

Melodie furrowed her brow and said, “How many ships are at the planet?”

“About a hundred thousand.”

“We’re still outnumbered sixteen to one. We’ll do it as we’ve planned.” Melodie hit the general frequency, “Attention all ships. Our scans indicate the ships we’ll be facing are not from one of the advanced Major Civilizations. Your primary responsibility is to clear a lane through their ranks but you are free to take out as many as possible once you’ve cleared your area of responsibility. Small craft should avoid being attacked by large numbers. Use your speed advantage as much as you can; I don’t want to see you die needlessly. Don’t follow a predictable path in and I’ll see you at the assembly coordinates.”

Melodie looked at Greg, “Do you know anything about the Light Wave?”

“No one really does. I’ve received word that even if we don’t have a clear shot we should take it anyway.”

“That doesn’t make sense, does it?”

“I have no idea. It was in my orientation on the weapon that there’s not much that’s going to stop it.”

“It seems odd that we’re using the new attack craft and the Light Wave now instead of holding them until the final battle.”

Greg shrugged, “This may be the start of the final battle. I suspect we’ll be jumping in and attacking any large formations before they can leave to attack us.”

Melodie smiled; that’s exactly what the fleet was going to do. Greg should have his own command; he seemed to know what was going to happen before it was done. “Sound General Quarters; two minutes to jump.”

Greg pushed the blue button and let it alarm for ten seconds. All units reported in less than five seconds from the alarm. He looked at Melodie and said, “They were already at their stations, Sir.”

“I know, but we must follow the forms.”

“Does this count toward our record?”

“Of course not; the crew must have something to challenge them.”

Melodie saw the countdown hit ten seconds and she put her hand on the drive button. It reached zero and she pressed it.

• • •

The Jongen fleet commander heard the alarms go off and he jumped out of his chair. Eight of the white ships were bearing down on the planet at an unbelievable velocity and a huge white cloud of small white ships was surging ahead of the eight battle ships. He hit the emergency pad and his fleet moved to confront the incoming ships. Thousands of ships were jumping in to the capital but they were passed before they could join the fleet at the planet. Three hundred of the battleships in the center of his formation suddenly exploded. Then three hundred more exploded behind them. “What’s happening?”

“Their small ships are getting inside our force fields and firing missiles. We’ve been unable to target them.”

The fleet commander looked up at his display and saw a huge wave of projectiles moving toward the center of his formation. He had just enough time to wonder what they were before his ship was hit by a heavy penetrator and blasted in half.

The Jongen fleets moved to confront the incoming ships but were being hit before they could close the hole in their formation. The Madrid was hit by more than ten thousand beams and exploded. Nine hundred Needles were hit by multiple beams and exploded but the Hiroshima accelerated through the enemy fleets and Toranaga announced, “Light Wave is launched.”

The computer had just barely made the announcement when the planet blew into a huge explosion that looked like the planet had become a small sun. Melodie and Greg were stunned by the magnitude of the blast and Greg hit the general frequency and yelled, “Jump, jump, jump.”

The surviving seven battleships and small craft disappeared from the system. They were not followed. The hundred thousand ships could not move as their capital burned below them. The shock of the loss was more than they could mentally process. They remained at the planet as thousands of ships continued to arrive too late to save their leaders. Finally, a sub-admiral ordered the ships to return to their stations to defend the other planets. The Admiral who issued the order began asking who was in command. No one responded.

• • •

Melodie and Greg replayed the recording of the planet’s destruction and were shocked at what they saw. Melodie slowly shook her head and said, “There were billions of inhabitants on that world.”

Greg looked at Melodie. He knew below her tough exterior was a gentle heart. This moment was critical. He stood and went in front of her chair, knelt, and took her hands, “Mel, I want you to think about what these civilizations are going to do to our planets if they find us. You need look no further than what happened to Earth. You understand the value of what you did today, don’t you?”

Melanie looked into Greg’s eyes and saw the feelings he was trying to hide. She knew Asia would be blasted to rubble if these civilizations weren’t stopped. She also knew Europe, Greg’s home planet, would be destroyed as well. She gave a soft smile and said, “That’s several billion less to kill us.”

Greg smiled and said, “That’s my girl.” He stood and went to his chair and said, “Sir, we lost the Madrid with all hands. We’ve also lost nine hundred and forty six small craft.”

Melodie stared at him and said, “What did we get in return for those losses?”

Greg saw she was back in control, “They lost thirty seven thousand main battleships and the major ship yard on the planet. There was another eighteen thousand ships on the ground when our light wave hit.”

Melodie said, “Toranaga, pursuit status.”

“We were not followed.”

“What?”

“We were not followed. It appears the loss of the planet left them stunned or leaderless. Either way, we can assemble and return home.”

Melodie looked at Greg, “Issue the recall, Lieutenant.”

Greg turned to his board and knew the next attack wouldn’t be so easy. He thought about what was going to happen when he heard Melodie say, “Lieutenant Landry.” He turned around and looked at her. “I have some things I would like to discuss with you in my personal quarters after we arrive home.”

Greg looked in Melodie’s eyes and smiled, “It will be my pleasure, Sir.”

Melodie shook her head, “No, I think it will be mine.”

• • •

RV jumped the Havana in with Captain Rajh Megem’s twenty ships. The jump had been timed to allow the ships at the Ramst Capital to begin their attack. There were still forty thousand advanced ships waiting at the Scanner Planet and they moved to confront the twenty ships. There was not much time for them to move all of their ships but Captain Megem’s ships were heavily outnumbered and the enemy had beams that could penetrate the ship’s force field. The difference was made by the two thousand new attack craft that blew the first six lines of ships in the center of the Ramst formation into rubble. The other small craft fanned out and hit the lines of ships closing in on the twenty battleships. RV watched and saw that there was not going to be a clear shot at the planet. RV was sitting in the pilot’s chair and he punched the communication panel. “Captain Megem, fire the light wave now.”

Rajh wondered what good it would do, but he followed RV’s orders. RV flew the Havana in at high velocity and arrived behind the Mecca right after the light wave launched. “Dolly launch the first light wave, wait one second, and fire the second.”

The first light wave hit the three lines of ships between them and the planet and blew them into massive bursts of energy. The second light wave hit the six thousand ships that moved in to fill the hole made by the first light wave and were blown into rubble. Most of the ships didn’t have a large part of their structure. The third light wave flew through the destroyed ships and hit the planet. RV shouted on the frequency, “Jump, jump, jump.”

The survivors of the attack disappeared immediately after the planet blew into a giant fiery blast. The defenders watched the explosion and were shocked at the violence of the explosion. The Ramst Admiral finally gathered his senses and yelled, “Pursue those ships.”

They had waited too long. There were no trails to follow and the attackers had moved out of visual range in null space. The Admiral stared at the burning planet and knew his civilization was now blinded along with the rest of the sector. He contacted the fleet at the Capital and let out a breath he had been holding. The attackers had been fought off but more than a hundred thousand ships had been lost. He ordered the ships to jump to the Capital and wondered where the White Ships were going to hit next. When he discovered that his civilization was the only one hit in the sector, he knew that it was done to blind them as to what was taking place in the Major’s territories.

• • •

The dark creature lay in his cabin on his ship and heard a chime. He opened the door and saw his aide, “Yes.”

“The Capital has been destroyed.”

“WHAT!”

“The White Ships launched a surprise attack and the Capital is now a burning rock. Every member of the Government was killed.”

The dark creature stared at his aide and said, “Not every member.”

The aide jerked his head off the floor and stared at his master. “You’re right.”

“Order the fleets to move to protect our ship yards. Get your nephew to move his fleet to Kilegain. Impress on him that his life depends on him making sure nothing happens to the planet.”

The aide lowered to the floor and rushed toward the bridge. Halfway there he stopped. The Master knew about his nephew. His fear rose higher than he was capable of controlling. He started moving and was shivering when he arrived at the bridge. He issued the Master’s orders and waited for his execution. It was much later that he learned the Master had orchestrated the replacement of the egg. He had not given the Master credit for his ability to manipulate those around him. He had also made the plans available for him to steal. He knew he was not really in control and made the decision that it was a good thing that his civilization was now being protected by someone of the Master’s skills.

The dark creature smiled at his aide’s shock. He really was too good to eliminate. Now he needed to decide what to do to take advantage of the new situation. He knew one thing; he was not going to attack those white ships again without being reinforced by an overwhelming fleet. He decided that his survival needed to be hidden initially. He ordered the nobles to start a long process of arguing over the successors. They complied, wondering what he was trying to accomplish.

• • •

RV sat on the Tampa and waited as the fleets began arriving from their attacks. Captain Able sat at Cyanna’s console and collected the data from the returning ships. RV smiled. The Moet watchers were perfect communication and scanner officers. Their ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously was a huge advantage. The two brains also allowed them to handle both tasks efficiently. He wished he could pronounce the Moet’s name but that was a wasted wish. RV looked at him and said, “Captain, what have you been able to determine so far?”

“We lost all of our ships at the Ramst Capital but we took out their Scanner Planet.”

“How many did we lose?”

“Twenty main battleships and all but nine thousand of their small craft.”

“Distribute those ships to other battleships that lost small craft.”

“I’ve already made the assignments. There are twenty thousand more to assign but I felt I should wait until all of our ships arrived.”

“Carry on, Captain.”

“Yes Sir.

• • •

Kate arrived at the assembly coordinates and hit her panel, “Captain Gibbons, are you back?”

“Yes Sir.”

“What’s wrong?”

“We took out the capital of the Krim but I lost ninety percent of my ships.”

“I knew that nut was going to be hard; that’s one of the advanced civilizations.”

“It wasn’t a nice welcome, Sir. The Belfast delivered the Light Wave. It was destroyed in the process. I lost six more ships in the pursuit.”

“How many ships did you take out?”

“I’m still having the computer work on it.”

“What is the total currently?”

“Eleven thousand, six hundred and counting.”

“Check on your survivors and keep me informed.”

• • •

“Admiral Arvolo, I have an incoming message from Dot McFadden.”

“Put it on the display.” RV saw Dolly’s face and knew something bad had happened.

“Admiral, we’ve lost Admiral Owens.”

RV lowered his head and knew there were going to be many others to follow Bob. But his loss was going to be felt and he forced himself to get a grip on his emotions. “Thank you for telling me.”

Dolly saw RV’s sorrow and nodded.

RV remembered all the battles he had fought with Bob and then pressed his console, “Admiral Diamond.”