Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time) (35 page)

• • •

The being watched Angel approaching and she saw his face was…something. As she moved up to him the being said, “Good day.”

Angel stared at him and said, “This is going to be your last day.”

The being’s expression didn’t change, “Why is that?”

“I’m going to blast you into atoms and rid the universe of your miserable existence.”

The being stared at her and said, “I’m not sure I understand.”

“Your followers are going to become the most dangerous civilization in the universe. Your teachings are going to cause them to kill billions of civilizations and enslave billions more. They are going to destroy my home world along with all of my family.”

“How do you know this?”

“I watched it happen. The only good thing that happened was that my civilization was able to kill every planet your followers inhabited in ten galaxies along with more than ten billion of your warships. I’m ending it now before it can ever begin.”

“Are you saying you come from the future?”

“I am.”

“How far in the future?”

One hundred twenty six thousand six hundred years in the future.”

“You say my followers destroyed your home world.”

“They did.”

“You should not have been consuming other intelligent species. You know that is wrong.”

“We didn’t.”

The being’s serene expression changed for the first time. It looked troubled. “My followers would never attack a planet that did not feed on other intelligent civilizations.”

“Your followers attack any creature that consumes protein. They not only kill intelligent species but every animal that consumes meat. They killed all the predators on billions of worlds.”

The being started shaking his head, “That would be ludicrous; how would the populations of the other animals be controlled?”

Angel looked at the being and shook her head, “You should have thought about that when you were teaching your future murderers. Your followers go out in hunting teams and blast the other populations.”

Angel saw the being’s eyes close and his expression turned to anguish. “You must be wrong. The Deity has taught me that all life is precious. Living creatures are beautiful and when life was created it was given free will to become whatever it chose to be. The only evil that came into existence was those intelligent species that fed on other intelligent species. Animals do not know it is wrong but intelligence should allow one to see that you’re evil if you feed on others. The Deity has asked that I try to remove that evil carnivore from his creation.”

Angel stared at the being and shook her head, “Well, somewhere along the way your message was corrupted in a major fashion. Now your followers are killing all the universe’s carnivores. That stops now.” Angel raised her blaster and pointed it at the being.

“What is your name?”

Angel pushed the activate button on the blaster’s handle, “Why do you want to know?”

“I think anyone should know the name of the one that kills them.” Angel stared into the being’s open eyes and heard it say, “The Deity will have to choose another to deliver its message.”

“My name is Angel.” Angel saw the being’s face become serene and it smiled as it lowered its head. Angel’s finger tightened on the blaster’s trigger…but she couldn’t force herself to pull it. She lowered the blaster, took a deep breath, and raised it again. The being continued to wait with its head down and Angel couldn’t do it. She knew she had to kill him…but she couldn’t. She took a deep breath, holstered the baster, turned and walked to the Rover.

• • •

The being raised his head and watched the small ship lift and move into the bright sky. He was still staring at the sky when the first inhabitants arrived. They had seen the strange ship lift and saw him come out of the rose structure. They all wanted to know what was inside. The being looked back up at the sky and then told them.

• • •

Angel landed the Rover on the Ninja and Bret waited for her on the bridge. She entered and Bret stood up, “You have to go back and kill that creature!” Angel raised her face and looked at him. Bret saw her expression and sat back down. The pain on Angel’s face was clear.

Angel released a heavy sigh, “It wasn’t him that caused what happened. I don’t know what it was about him but…I just don’t know. I can’t do it.”

“Should I go?” Angel looked at Bret and shook her head.

Bret stood up and walked over to Angel and took her in his arms. She released her tears and wept for her lack of strength. He held her for a long time and then helped her sit in her chair. He turned off the time fields and then entered new jump coordinates into the panel; the Ninja jumped away.

• • •

Bret and Angel were back on board the Rover above the moon where they found the time ship. They had taken the Ninja back to its hiding place and reset the security systems. Bret entered the Wellington’s coordinates and Angel looked at him, “If we couldn’t change it then, we have to change it now.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have to prevent the Chosen’s followers from finding us.”

“How are we going to do that?”

“Why did they come to our galaxy, Bret?”

Bret closed his eyes for a moment remembering and said, “They were looking for the Matadors.”

Angel nodded, “And why were there Matadors on their planets?”

Bret stared at her for a moment and said, “Because we agreed to help the Pumgas.”

“That’s exactly why. We have to prevent my father from helping them.”

Bret tilted his head, “But the Pumgas were planning an attack against us before we agreed to assist them.”

“Who would you rather face, Bret?” Bret’s expression showed his answer. Angel nodded, “We have to provoke a war with them and stay out of their galaxy where the Chosen’s Probes can see us.”

“But they’re stronger than our fleet, Angel.”

“If everything is the same, if they attack us, their galaxy will be attacked by the Chosen and they’ll leave to go and defend their home.”

Bret tilted his head to the right and thought about that idea, “You may just have something here. How do we prevent losing most of our ships against them?”

Angel smiled, “We teach our ships to fly like a crab.”

Bret nodded and skipped the Rover back to the Wellington.

• • •

Angel entered her conference room with Bret and pressed a button on her console. Dat appeared and Angel said, “Admiral, I have a request to make and I want you to trust me in allowing it to happen.”

Dat stared at Angel and said, “What is that?”

“Commodore Young and I have developed a new maneuver that will increase the power of our Jukeboxes. It will, in our opinion, allow the old model to stand up against the Blue Warships.”

“Are you serious?”

“I am and we need to get the fleets trained on it immediately. Will you send all of our ships out and let us get started training them on it.”

“Angel, I don’t know about this?”

Angel stared at her father on the display and said, “Dad, I’ve got to ask you to trust me. Please, make this happen.”

Dat stared at Angel and saw she wasn’t telling him everything. He took a deep breath and said, “I’ll have the fleets sent in a week. I hope you’re right about this.”

Angel smiled and said, “Thank you.”

The display went dark and Bret said, “I’m surprised he agreed.”

“He did it because I broke our agreement.”

“What?”

“I agreed to never call him anything on fleet channels but Admiral. By calling him Dad he knew it was something important.”

Bret shook his head and Angel said, “Pull up the frequency of the Denver.” Bret did a double take but then smiled. Angel had already pulled up the frequency of the Academy’s commandant. He heard her say, Admiral, I need you to assign one of your current graduates to the Denver and have her report immediately.” Bret watched Angel and saw her smile as she listened, “Sir, I will get you the appropriate paperwork by tomorrow. Please send her now.” Angel listened and then ended the call, “You’ll take care of that I trust.”

“Done; the Denver’s frequency in on your panel.”

Angel pressed the frequency and saw Captain Mark Anderson appear. “Yes Admiral.”

“Captain, it is my understanding that you have been working on a maneuver where a Jukebox Battleship is flown sideways in combat; is that true?”

Mark’s expression showed his shock. He hadn’t discussed that maneuver with anyone. “Uhh, yes Sir, it is.”

“It is my belief that the maneuver will function better with two pilots controlling the ship. One keeping track of tactical to initiate an escape if needed while the other fights the ship.” Mark nodded slowly and Angel said, “I am sending you a pilot from the academy who will arrive later today. That pilot is one of the best in the navy and you will take your ship and perfect that maneuver over the next week; you will then send the information on how to use it to all the ships in the fleet. You will be the authority on how to master it.”

“How do you know about it, Sir?”

“Come on, Captain; Admiral’s know everything.”

Angel ended the transmission and smiled at what Mark must be thinking. She wondered if the chemistry would be the same between him and Jillian but she knew she had at least given it a chance. That was all she could do for the woman forced to leave the one she loved and watch him die. She sacrificed so much to warn them. She looked at Bret and said, “We need to start training our fleets on the maneuver now. We’ll start with Arve, Grest, and Dizzy. I’ll go and talk with the blaster crews while you set up the training site.”

Bret nodded, took Angel in his arms, kissed her, and left the room. Angel put her fingers on her lips and decided that a wedding was in order. But first, get the fleets ready.

• • •

Five days later the Angel’s task forces were progressing at a high rate in using the new maneuver. She watched her monitor as they maneuvered in training exercises and smiled. They were really making progress. She looked over at Bret and said, “Get me Jillian Connor on a channel.” Bret’s eyebrows went up and Angel said, “You can listen in.” He nodded and turned to his board.

A few moments later Jillian appeared on her display, “Good morning, Admiral.”

“Good Morning, Lieutenant. I wanted to call and apologize for assigning you to a ship without offering you a choice. Your scores at the academy gave you the right to select a ship to serve on. I’m going to allow you to transfer to the Jukebox of your choice.”

Jillian’s expression didn’t change as she said, “Thank you, Admiral, but I will stay with the Denver.”

Angel smiled and said, “So you’re getting along with the Tyrant?”

Jillian’s expression barely changed, “He no longer has that title, Sir and you don’t give him respect for what he’s been able to accomplish.”

“What is that, Lieutenant?”

“He has recorded all of the possible moves a Jukebox can make coming out of flying sideways to avoid enemy ships. He’s prepared a download for all the other ships in the fleets, Sir.”

Angel smiled and said, “That is excellent. Please extend my thanks to him and send it to Commodore Young as quickly as possible.”

Jillian nodded, “I will, Sir.”

The display went dark and Angel looked at Bret, “Promote them as soon as the training starts. Give them three thousand ships to command.”

“Are you going to put them on separate ships?”

“Absolutely not.”

Bret shook his head, “Are you certain they’re an item.”

“She gave it away when I called him the Tyrant.”

“I noticed her tone of voice changed slightly but I didn’t see any other indication.”

Angel smiled, “You have to know what to look for, Bret. Her shoulders went up. He may not know it yet but she does. Captain Anderson is hers.”

Bret shook his head and turned to his work station.

B
ret looked at his panel, “Sir, I have a priority message coming in from Fleet.”

“Put it on the Monitor.”

Angel watched the monitor and saw her father appear, ““How far are you and your brothers from Earth?”

“We’re about twenty minutes out between Neptune and Uranus.”

“I’m jumping out to your location. An Alien Battleship has appeared outside the edge of our galaxy and is hanging in space with its force field down. I’m going to see what they want and I don’t want to give them any information about how many new Jukeboxes are in our inventory. I’m certain they will be able to tell if I take a different ship out to meet with them; so I want you and your brothers to go with me.”

“We’ll be waiting.” Angel turned to Bret and nodded. He saw the sadness in her eyes and guessed at what was coming. He contacted the Haven and Melbourne and they skipped in next to the Wellington.

Angel saw her father’s Rover appear and smiled as her father and her mother entered the bridge. Dat came in and everyone came to attention; Angel saluted and said, “Welcome aboard, Sir.”

Dat returned the salute and said, “As you were; do you have the coordinates?”

Angel looked at Bret and he nodded, “Yes Sir.”

Dat went to the command chair and Angel went to the second’s chair. Bret moved to the weapons console. Gresha stood behind Dat and Bret said, “Sir, you should buckle into one of the chairs.” Gresha looked at him with eyes narrowed and Angel said, “This ship is capable of overwhelming the gravity compensators.” Gresha’s expression changed slightly and she moved to the second chair at the weapons console. Dat looked at Angel and said, “Admiral, you have the ship. Take us out.”

Angel looked at Bret and he nodded again, “Melbourne and Haven, we’ll be jumping to the coordinates in four, three, two, one…” The three ships shimmered for a moment and disappeared.

The three ships arrived and surrounded the navy blue warship. Bret ignored the monitor and kept his eyes on Angel. He noticed something out of the corner of his eye and saw the control of his weapons board had been transferred to Angel’s control panel. A moment later, a penetrator shot out of the bow launch tube and two blasters fired on the ship. All three hit the Blue Ship and it exploded with debris flying out from the ship’s hull.