Nowhere to Run (2 page)

Ian eyes narrowed, “Why not?”

“The storage containers and technology to prevent the decay of the Boson particles are massive. Most of the power is directed to operating the Boson Beams and channels for the Boson’s to the beam projectors. A warship would have to be too large to use this particular weapon. We’ve also seen that the Higgs Beam is a close in weapon. You have to be no more than five miles from the one you’re attacking for it to operate effectively.”

“That means our ships will be inside the range of the Slaver’s weapons.”

Cole sighed, “It does. It is a last resort defense.”

Violet said, “They’ve got hundreds of thousands more planets in their civilization than we do. They can overwhelm our fleets with sheer numbers if given time. If they really crank up their ship construction, we are not going to be able to match their numbers.”

“I suspect the ships they’re going to build will be stronger than the ones we’ve faced, Ian. We’re working to develop a more powerful ship to face them.”

Ian shook his head, “Well, we’re not going to go back and attack them until we’re further along in building our defenses. Our current strategy is to delay their search for the Union as long as possible.”

Cole could only shrug, “Defeating the Slavers is the immediate issue but those Black Ships in Andromeda will eventually show up.”

“Were you able to determine anything about them from our recordings?”

“The only weapons we have that will get through their defenses are the Higgs and Boson beams.”

Ian shook his head, “And we’ll have to get close to use them. I’ve seen the power of just one of their beams; we’re no match for those ships.”

Cole took a deep breath, “Let’s handle one problem at a time.”

Violet stared at the image of a platform on Cole’s display, “If these platforms are mobile, you might want to build a reserve of them that could be moved to any planet the Slavers find until we have enough to defend all of them.”

Ian and Cole looked at Violet and Cole said, “Now that is a great idea. I should have thought of that.”

Violet shrugged, “I do sometimes have a good idea.”

Ian hugged her and said, “Don’t sell yourself short, Love. This one is a doozy.”

• • •

The First Councilor looked at the Admiral in his private quarters and said, “You should know that by abandoning the Councilor during the last battle you would ordinarily be executed for your behavior.” The Admiral nodded and said nothing. “Why aren’t you worried?”

“Because you knew when you sent that idiot to lead my Fleets that he was woefully inadequate for the task. If I had not taken the steps I did, the Council would be facing those Black Ships here.”

The First looked at him and said, “Why is that?”

“Because one of the Black Ships was scanning the Councilor’s ship for data on where he had originated; it was stopped when it was rammed by one of the White Ships. I ordered my ship to flee to the largest galaxy in our cluster and I was chased by another Black Ship. I barely escaped it.”

“I’d think that it would have caught you.”

“It would have if my ship was the only one fleeing to that giant galaxy. Two of the White Ships also fled in that direction and it chose to chase one of them. I suspect it selected one of them because it was one of their ships that destroyed the Black Ship.”

The Second Councilor said, “I thought you said those ships came from this galaxy.”

“They suggested I flee toward that galaxy to prevent the Black Ships from seeing our home galaxy. They would not have fled toward their own galaxy. I’m certain that they were just as surprised as we were by that advanced civilization.”

The First stared at the Admiral for a moment and then said, “You appear to be brighter than most of your predecessors. I’m reluctant to execute you because of that.” The First continued to stared at the Admiral who remained silent and said, “You were right. The Councilor was an idiot.”

The First looked at the Second and the Second said to the Admiral, “So what would you do now?”

“We are going be forced to prioritize our problems. I think the Black Ships will scout that other galaxy before they come here. That gives us some time before we’ll have to take them on. The immediate problem is the White Ships.”

The Second glanced at the First, who remained silent and said, “So you’re suggesting we go searching for the home worlds of the White Ships?”

“We can’t do that now.”

“Why not?”

“We’ve lost our surplus of ships when we were attacked in that other galaxy; if we take those we have remaining to search for them, who will defend our home worlds? We must rebuild our lost ships and once we have enough to defend our planets, we’ll start the search.”

“They haven’t reappeared.”

“I believe they haven’t because I’ve ordered all our ships to our main planets. I suspect if I weaken the numbers, they will attack.”

The First leaned forward with a gleam in his eyes and said, “How certain are you about that?”

“It’s what I’d do.”

The First glanced at the Second and then asked, “What if we take all the ships from one of our planets and start the search?”

“Then that planet would be wide open to attack.”

“What if it was a planet that is…problematic?”

The Second stared at the First and wondered if he was just that cold blooded. “Are you suggesting Aeredom?” The First just glared at the Second. The Second took a deep breath and said, “If we do as the First suggests and the planet is not attacked, we could start our major search efforts now.”

The Admiral looked at the two and saw just how evil they really were. Aeredom had more than eighty billion inhabitants and they didn’t think twice about putting it in harm’s way. He saw them staring at him and he knew he had no choice, “I’ll issue the orders.”

The First leaned back and said to the Second, “Dismiss the Council and send everyone home.”

The Second nodded and the Admiral knew that one of the First’s main competitors was now a target.

• • •

G said, “I have an encrypted message coming in to the Hub Computer.”

“Can you translate it?”

The speaker on the bridge came on, “They want to do what!?”

“I’ve been ordered to take all of the ships at Aeredom and start the search for the White Ship’s home worlds.”

“That leaves them wide open to attack.”

“The First is of the belief that they won’t be attacked and we can start our major search now.”

“This is outrageous.”

“Think it through and you’ll know why.”

“Are they that unfeeling?”

“Be careful what you say.”

“This is encrypted. No one will break this.”

“I’ve sent you a copy of the orders. Send a ship to Aeredom and give them the coordinates to start their search. Sub Admiral Hreg will lead them.”

The Hub Computer said, “This is outrageous; the First better hope this information doesn’t get out if something happens.”

“If we want to continue our existence, it won’t come from us.”

There was a moment of silence and the Hub Computer said, “I’ll dispatch the ship.”

• • •

Abbey said, “G, follow that ship.”

“I’m on it.”

Gary looked at Abbey, “What are you going to do?”

“If we don’t attack that planet as soon as those ships leave, then they’ll release all their ships to search for the Union. We must attack the moment those ships leave to buy the Union time.”

“We need more ships.”

“We won’t have enough time to go back and get them. We don’t know what planet that ship is jumping to and we’re forced to follow it. We will have to do this alone. G, I want you to scan the planet when we arrive and locate every nuclear reactor on the planet’s surface. We will take out the orbital satellites and hit them.”

G said, “Are you sure about this?”

“What do you think they’ll do if they find a Union Planet?”

Gary said, “A ship is backing out of the Hub.”

“Don’t lose it, G.”

• • •

The Slaver Ship arrived at a planet that was just like all the other main planets. All of its land masses were covered by a giant city. There were thousands of commercial freighters delivering food and other products for the planet’s consumption and there were twenty thousand warships in orbit. G said, “The Fleet Commander is not happy with his orders.”

Gary said, “He’s not?”

“No but he’s going to follow them. He knows he’s dead if he doesn’t.”

“How long will it take them to leave?”

“About ten hours to form up. They’re being sent to the other side of the black hole to start their search.”

Gary shook his head and Abbey said, “G, start scanning the planet. Get a fix on the nuclear facilities.”

Gary looked at Abbey and she saw his expression, “Gary, you know how this war is going to have to be fought. They will not negotiate.”

Gary sighed, “You don’t have to hit them all, G. Just hit those on the continent below us and the radioactivity will kill everything else on the planet.”

Abbey shook her head, “We need to hit both sides of the planet.”

“Why?”

“So they won’t know how many ships were used to do it. We need to make them think we have more ships than we currently have in our inventory. We must scare them into calling off the search.”

Gary stared at her and then reluctantly nodded.

Abbey slowly shook her head, “They are going to wonder if we intercepted that communication at the Hub or if we’re watching all of their planets. I want them to think we’re watching all of their planets. That’s why we have to do this in multiple locations.”

“I didn’t think it through, Abbey. I’m glad you’re here. I would have missed it.”

“G, hit this continent and immediately jump to the other side of the planet. You need to scan the other side while they’re forming up.”

“Jumping now; I have this continent locked in.”

• • •

The Third Councilor arrived at his home world and saw all of the warships defending it had just jumped away. As his ship landed at the main spaceport he sent a communication to the First, “Where have all my warships been sent?”

“Admiral Hreg has volunteered to start the search for the White Ships. The ships here will be joining him momentarily. We can’t just sit and wait for them to attack us.”

The Third knew that to challenge the First when he was sending his own ships was a losing battle. He exited his ship and immediately sent a message to the Sixth Councilor to see if he would send some of the ships guarding his planet to defend his world. He never received an answer.

“G, are you ready?”

“I’ve got eight hundred reactors targeted on each side of the planet; however, I’m only going to hit a hundred on each side.”

“Why?”

“The shock waves produced by those hundred will expand and blow the containment facilities from more than ten thousand others. The radiation blasts from those broken containment vessels will exceed what the first blasts create. I can also hit those hundred in about twenty seconds and go to the other side to make it look like there was more than just our ship attacking.”

Abby looked at Gary, “What about the orbital defenses?”

“We’ve locked on FTL missiles and they’ll hit just as G comes into normal space and fires on the surface.”

“Gary, my systems are activated and are routed to your board.”

Abbey looked at Gary and he reached forward, lifted a glass cover, and pressed the red button on his console. G jumped in close to the planet launched FTL missiles at the orbital defenses, and fired beams at the planet. Hundreds of nuclear explosions erupted on the surface sending a massive shock wave out that marched across the land mass as the White Ship jumped to the other side of the planet and a hundred more reactors were hit by brilliant beams coming from orbit. They watched as the shock waves rushed across the surface of the two continents, obliterating the giant cities. Bright red hot spots appeared glowing through the clouds where nuclear reactors were blown flat and their containment vessels ruptured causing them to burn into the planet’s surface. The nuclear fires sent tons of radioactive material soaring into the atmosphere joining the mushroom clouds which rose to sixty thousand feet and began releasing the highly radioactive particles back into the planet’s atmosphere. The particles were then spread around the planet by the high winds in the upper stratosphere.

Gary watched the conflagration from orbit and saw that billions had been killed on the surface. There were billions more that survived the shock waves but they would only have ten days before they died of radiation poisoning. “The warships are coming back.”

Gary sighed, “Get us back to the Hub, G.”

The warships arrived and the Admiral was furious. His anger lasted five minutes as the second in command shot him with a blaster at the Second Councilor’s orders. The thousands of commercial vessels and warships in orbit saw they could do nothing to save the survivors. To enter the planet’s atmosphere was certain death. If they opened their ports to remove survivors, radioactive particles would enter the ships. They watched as the planet died. Many went to the two orbital platforms to see if anyone survived the massive missile strikes.

• • •

The First began receiving communications from the rest of the High Council and the Second told them that the Third had suggested they use his ships to start the search. The First had started getting his ships ready to join them when the planet was hit and he called off sending them.

The only one that knew the truth was the Sixth Councilor when he saw the communication from the Third asking for assistance. He remained silent and knew that his planet would be the next one set up for destruction if he said anything. He decided that this was something that would have to be discussed by the members of the High Council that were not supporters of the First. The First was going to pay for this.

• • •

G arrived back at the Hub in time to intercept the conversation between the Admiral and the Hub Computer.

“It looks like you are now in the First’s pocket.”

“Here’s a news flash in case you’ve missed it, we all are.”