Lens of Time (23 page)

The Chairman exited the tube in the control room of a small ship on top of the building. He looked up in the night sky and saw massive explosions taking place. They covered the sky from horizon to horizon. He hit the drives and the small ship shot off the building and headed toward the south at high speed. He continued running through the atmosphere until the explosions overhead diminished and then he lifted the nose and left the atmosphere behind. He hit the jump drive just after a bright flash knocked his display off line. He felt himself start to shake and wondered what had caused the bright flash.

• • •

Number twelve jumped in with two million Penetrator Craft and accelerated into the center of the twelve million Major Battleships surrounding the planet. The PCs arrived less than six miles from the fleet and were on them before the giant fleet could fire. Number twelve was glad to be a Moet. He flew the ship into the force field of a huge starship while his secondary brain launched the fusion missile. He exited the first ship and was into the second’s force field in less than a second. The secondary brain slowed the rate of travel to allow the ships around him to move forward together. To an outsider, it looked like a hole was being burned into the Major Fleet. Layer after layer of ships were exploding as the fire burned into the giant fleet. Major battle ships began arriving from the back side of the planet to support the ships being attacked. After a few moments, the fleet commander ordered the fleet to fire into the ships that were being penetrated by the small ships. Number Twelve saw many of his fellow pilots killed by the combined fire of the giant fleet. The incoming beams were moving close but he continued his forward surge toward the planet below. Then a light illuminated and his ship jumped away automatically. Fifty thousand PCs were lost but they had done their job and created a huge hole in the Major Formation.

Admiral Barber’s fifty thousand main battleships emerged into normal space three hundred miles from the giant fleet around the planet. All fifty thousand were in twenty single files and all of them accelerated toward the huge fleet and launched a Main Penetrator just before they jumped away. Less than a second later, Admiral Roman’s fifty thousand ships appeared and launched another fifty thousand main Penetrators and jumped away. Ten main battleships emerged into normal space behind Roman’s main fleet as it jumped away and each launched a Light Wave Penetrator behind the Main Penetrators and then disappeared into Sierra Space.

The Admiral ordered the pursuit fleets to chase the invaders but was unable to complete the command. The line of penetrators looked like a solid line as they flew into the depression made by the attack craft at ninety percent light speed. They were moving so fast that none of them were targeted by the surrounding ships. The layer of battleships next to the planet was pulverized by the incoming missiles and the explosions from the blasts blew the surrounding ships away. It took all hundred thousand of the penetrators to eliminate everything between the planet and the remaining incoming Light Waves. Directly below them was the structure with all of the delegates that were rushing to escape. The ten Light Waves struck the planet in less than a millisecond of each other and the planet exploded in a fusion reaction from the heat generated by the strikes. The entire fleet surrounding the planet was blown away from the explosion. Those closest to the planet were vaporized by the mini-nova and the others were blown end over end in the resulting shock wave. No ship gave chase to the intruders. The planetary system now had a small sun among the inner planets.

Chapter Eighteen

T
he meeting at the Ramst Capital was getting argumentative. The civilizations could not stop accusing each other of past wrongs and blatant attacks. The Ramst King finally gave in and let them scream at each other. His communicator beeped and he pressed the button on his throne and read the message. He immediately stood and pressed the alarm on his chair. The room was silenced by the blaring alarm and everyone looked at him, “You will leave this planet immediately. The Major’s conference was attacked by the white ships and all the delegates were killed when the planet was destroyed by the attackers.”

One envoy stood, “They don’t know we’re meeting here.”

“They know where this planet is located and have attacked it previously. Do you want to risk your lives on that assumption? We don’t know how they learn what’s going on but they do. I’ll not have my planet a target of those ships. Leave immediately.”

Most of the delegates didn’t have to be told twice. Many of them started rushing for the exits as soon as the announcement was made. The others watched the exodus and rushed for the doors as well. The fleets left the Capital and rushed back to their territories.

The King sat on his throne and thought about the damage that had been done to the Majors. “The next meeting will be easier to control. They should be able to see the danger now.”

• • •

RV was ready to launch the fleet when his sensor officer said, “The fleets are leaving the Ramst Capital. It appears the delegates are fleeing the scene.”

Crap, we just couldn’t get organized in time. RV pressed his board and said, “The attack has been canceled. Get with your fleets and map out your next targets in the Major sector. I don’t want to reveal we’re keeping tabs on the other sector just yet.”

RV looked at his display and said, “Get the Fleet Admirals on the channel.”

Kenny, Kate, and Gibbs appeared on the display and RV said, “I want you to integrate the Hive and Horde ships into your attacks. I suspect the best use would be to set up ambushes for the pursuers until they start sending massive numbers. Keep me informed of what’s going on.”

The three nodded and disappeared from the display. Something had to be done to slow the Majors down. They were starting to combine effectively and the pursuit was coordinated. He sat and thought about what to do. He thought about the gravity of the situation and then had another thought. He contacted Chris and was transferred to Captain Phillips. Phil appeared on RV’s display and said, “How may I be of assistance, Admiral?”

RV told him and Phil’s face showed surprise. After thirty minutes, Phil said, “I’ll investigate the possibility and get back to you as soon as I have a definitive answer.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

• • •

Phil looked at Anne and said, “I need you to bring three remote controlled attack craft with you and meet me at the following coordinates.”

“What’s going on?”

“We’re going to take a look at a deep hole.”

Anne showed her confusion but left to get the needed ships.

• • •

Six months passed and the Allies were attacking the Majors with larger and larger numbers of ships. The small attacks were overwhelming and had hundreds of ships pursuing every ship after an attack. A new tactic was devised and Mikal’s fleet was selected to make the first effort.

Mikal’s fleet jumped away from the Moget industrial planet with more than a hundred thousand ships in pursuit. Amal Gerji, the Captain of the Rome, looked up from his display, “They jumped in before we could even start an attack on the planet. They have more than a million ships stationed at all their important planets as well as massive numbers waiting to jump in pursuit. They’re really getting their act together.”

“I expect more ships will be joining them in the chase. How many more jumps?”

“Five, Sir.”

“Notify the spider.”

“He’s counting it down already. They’ll be waiting.”

The 8
^th
Fleet jumped all forty thousand ships a fifth time and immediately went weightless and accelerated away from the emergence coordinates into the ranks of the Horde’s 1
^st
Fleet. The million white ships waited and after a short delay, two hundred thousand ships emerged into normal space to find millions of beams and penetrators fired at their ships. In less than five seconds, a hundred and fifty thousand were damaged or destroyed. The remaining ships were lucky enough to be behind the outer layer of their formation and were able to return fire. Ten thousand white ships were damaged and another six thousand destroyed. The survivors of the pursuit were blown away when the small craft roared in with their main penetrators and hit each survivor more than sixty times.”

The Horde Fleet Leader said, “Get a tow for the damaged ships that can be repaired and evacuate the ships that can’t. Start destroying them as soon as the crews are out.” Ships move out from the fleet’s ranks and began putting a tractor beam on the damaged ships and then jumped away. Escape pods and shuttles began entering other ships as the fleet moved to save as many crews as possible.

Mikal appeared on the Fleet Leader’s board and said, “The probe shows a giant mass moving through Sierra Space this way. There’s no time.”

“Jump, jump, jump.” The Horde Leader made the announcement and the ship’s drives automatically jumped every ship away at the command. The Fleet Leader sent the self-destruct signal and the six thousand ships that were damaged beyond repair exploded in massive blasts as the five reactors on board went critical and exploded. The Fleet Leader jumped away just before a million ships arrived at the site. Two million more arrived six minutes later. The sensor probe recorded the Major’s frustration and heard the plans to start using five million ships in any future pursuit. Attacking the Majors had become increasingly dangerous.

RV watched the video and knew that small attacks were going to be next to impossible. He knew that if he was not able to attack them in their sector, they would combine, jump away, and destroy the Hive and Horde planets. Before he could allow that to happen he would have to force a major fleet action against their combined fleets. That could lead to the loss of all his ships. He sat and thought about what to do next. His options were running out. He pressed the communication frequency and said, “Operation Black Widow is now in force. Make your runs according to the data you’ve been given.”

• • •

Ten sub-fleets were running from the millions of ships pursuing them. They had all jumped in to attack a secondary capital when the conference had been targeted and had been forced to flee before they could attack. Melodie listened to the other admirals and said, “We will jump into the spider’s web in exactly ten seconds from my mark. Ready, Mark.” Melodie looked at Greg and he said, “All ships are locked in on our position and have gone weightless.”

“Move them away at maximum speed on emergence.”

The ten sub-fleets emerged into normal space and every ship hit their thrusters and moved laterally away from their point of entry. The eight million ships in pursuit roared in and emerged into normal space to find themselves inside the event horizon of the largest black hole in the observable universe. The monster in the middle of M-87 had no peers and the Major ships immediately saw their error.

Melodie Watched as the million plus Major Ships that has chased her fleet were sucked into the black hole faster than she could see. The Spider had caught them in its massive gravity well and their jump drives wouldn’t function in that environment. The ten sub-fleets were weightless and unaffected by the massive gravity surrounding them. Greg looked up and said, “I’m really thankful Captain Phillips made the determination of how far we could move into the event horizon.”

Melodie sighed and said, “Get us out of her and back to port.” She knew this escape tactic would only work once and the Majors would not jump in this close to the coordinates of the black hole. At least this was an escape of last resort. Once they crossed the horizon, they couldn’t jump out so the Majors could just keep them trapped. It wouldn’t be good to be forced to come back to the giant black spider’s web.

• • •

RV sat in the command chair and looked at the clock. It was three in the morning ship time and he was depressed at all the magnificent ships and crews that had been lost. He also knew he wasn’t all that he was cracked up to be. He was lost on what to do next. A supply transport arrived and began unloading in the landing bay. He sighed and leaned back in his chair and thought about his wedding. He closed his eyes and heard, “I hope you’re not sleeping on the job.”

RV eyes flew open and he saw Cyanna standing before him. He jumped up and hugged her tightly. She held him and felt his sadness. “It’s alright; we’ll find a way.”

RV leaned back and said, “You shouldn’t be here. Leigh Ann needs you.”

“I know; but I need you.”

RV pulled her close again and slowly rocked back and forth. After a few minutes he asked, “Where’s Leigh Ann?”

“Chris and Jillian are taking care of her until we come back.”

“I can’t leave her an orphan, Cy.”

“And neither can I. You know there’s no one better than me working at your side and the best chance I have of getting you back is to come and make sure you have the best chance of returning to us.” RV started to say something but Cyanna put a finger on his lips, “If I stayed and you died, Leigh Anne would have a mother lost in her sorrow. Chris and Jillian will take care of her and I don’t know anyone better to raise her to be the wonderful woman I know she’ll become. We both go home or we’ll be together whatever happens. I won’t leave your side again.”

“You know how that scares me.”

“RV, I’m a warrior. You’ve know that from the beginning. It’s what I chose to be and I’m dying a slow death away from you. This is my place.”

RV sighed and then slowly nodded, “I couldn’t do it either.” RV sat down and Cyanna sat in his lap. After an hour of just holding her and stroking her hair RV said, “I’m lost. I don’t know how to continue attacking them in this sector without losing every ship in the attacks. They are jumping five million ships to pursue us and they still have a million ships at every important planet.”

Cyanna said quietly, “I’ve been busy while you’ve been gone. How would you like to give those fleets chasing your fleets a surprise party?”

RV lifted his head, “What kind of surprise?”