Star Rover-Chosen to Die (Lens of Time) (6 page)

“It’s an acquired skill. Touch down in ten seconds.”

Dat and Gresha stood up and went to the portal. It opened and they stepped out and saw a ground vehicle waiting on them. They returned the salute of the driver and sat down as he roared toward the top floor of the Fleet Tower. Dat looked out at the Academy below and shook his head, “I’ve missed this.” Gresha nodded as they exited the car and saw Katherine waiting, “Are you up to speed?”

“I am.”

“Good! Now you can tell me what we should do.” Dat’s eyes narrowed and Katherine said, “You are my tactician. All I’ve done is to try and set the table with tools you can use to protect us. You need to decide what our next step will be.”

• • •

The Master looked at the others gathered around the tactical table and said, “It appears they’ve known about us from the beginning. How do you think they were able to do that without us knowing?”

The Master from the Probe Command said, “They must have a probe or some other device that can see our probes.”

“Why did we not see that device?”

“I don’t know. I’ve sent the fleets to scour our galaxy for any trace of a device spying on us. Nothing has turned up.”

“That doesn’t mean they’re not here.”

“I had a fleet come in ship to ship and nothing was hit in normal space and nothing entered subspace. If they have devices here, they would certainly have one at this planet.”

“So let’s assume for the moment, they don’t have devices here spying on us. What options would that give us?”

“It would allow us to organize without worrying about being seen.” The Master nodded.

The Fleet Master said, “We could launch an attack on their central planet.”

“Why would we do that now? They know about us and we’ve lost the element of surprise.”

“If they know about us, what have they been doing for the last eighteen years? You don’t think they’ve been idle, do you?”

The Supply Master said, “None of our probes have seen any construction of new ships taking place.”

The Fleet Master scowled, “If they could see our probes, they wouldn’t do anything where they would be seen. They had to have been doing something.”

“But we had the entire galaxy covered with our probes.”

“Then they did it outside the galaxy. What would we have done in their place? I’m telling you, things are not as they appear to be.”

The Lead Master said, “Then why would you launch an attack on their main planet?”

“It’s always good strategy to remove an enemy’s leadership. They would also be forced to reveal anything they’ve developed to defend that world. It’s worth doing.”

“If that idiot hadn’t fired at their leader I’d probably just send someone to talk; however, they know we’re planning something aggressive. How many ships would you send?”

“I don’t want to risk a large number of ships when we don’t know what they would be jumping into. I think six ships should be able to destroy that planet.”

The Weapon’s Master said, “I would think we could do it with two. Their ships are no match for our Battleships.”

The Military Master said, “You’re assuming nothing has changed; I am not willing to make that assumption. We’ll send six heavy battleships with their attack fighters. They will jump in and disrupt space around that planet so they won’t be overwhelmed with numbers.”

“Why would you disrupt space?”

“The most recent data on that planet showed their local defense was being done by about twenty ships. If we act quickly, that should be all our ships will have to face.”

The Lead Master thought about the suggestion and looked at his most experienced advisor standing against the wall. The Advisor raised his head slightly and the Master knew the shrug meant he had no advice to offer. The decision was his. He looked around the table and saw most of them were uncertain. He looked at the three Masters in charge on the Military and saw they wanted to do it. “Send the ships.” The three Military Masters quickly stood up and the Master said, “Don’t send them immediately; give them seven days to let their guard down. Perhaps we’ll get lucky and they’ll gather their leaders at that planet.”

The Military Master leaned back in agreement and pushed a button on the table. He began issuing orders and the other Masters changed their panel settings to the frequency assigned to the attacking ships. They would watch the communication feed from the ships being sent to destroy the main planet of the civilization in the spiral galaxy.

D
at watched the presentation Belwen was making and tried to remain still. The Senior Officers had a lot of catching up to do but he didn’t know how much longer his backside was going to be able to handle it. Admiral Hull called for the midday lunch break and he looked at his wrist communicator. Ummm, why would Angel be trying to contact him directly? She should have gone through channels. She couldn’t appear to be receiving preferential treatment. He started not to answer but decided that it had to be something important. She knew the situation and wouldn’t go outside channels unless something was important. He pressed his wrist unit and Angel appeared on it, “I’m sorry for contacting you directly, Dad but Arve, Grest, and I have discussed it and decided we needed to talk to you.”

Dat stared at his daughter and was once again amazed at how much she looked like her mother. “What have the three of you done now?”

Dat saw Angel was nervous. He hoped it wasn’t serious. “Uhhh, we’ve kinda violated Fleet Protocols concerning the weapons on our ship.”

“YOU’VE WHAT!?!”

“We made some major modifications on the weapon systems. I was of the opinion that we should just keep the changes to ourselves but you know how tightly wound Grest is. He insists we should tell you.”

“Please tell me they aren’t major changes.” Dat stared at Angel and he could see by her expression that it was serious.

Katherine saw Dat and said, “Is something wrong, Admiral?”

Dat blew out a breath and shook his head, “My children appear to have violated Major Fleet Protocols.”

“How?”

“They’ve made major modifications to the weapon systems on their new Jukeboxes.”

“I thought Belwen said those ships are at the peak of their development?”

“He did.” Dat looked at Angel and said, “Hold on a minute.” Dat looked across the table at Admiral Gibbs and said, “Will you send an order to your command directing my three children to bring their ships here to be examined.”

Gibbs had been listening to Dat and he felt sorry for what was going to happen; he lifted his communicator and began speaking. Ten minutes later, the three new Jukeboxes appeared above Earth. Dat looked at Katherine, “Gibbs and I need to go and investigate what they’ve done to their ships.”

“Gibbs can go. You need to stay here. I don’t want there to be any hint of impropriety in this.”

Dat sighed and looked at Gibbs. He stood and said, “I’ll be back shortly, Sir.”

Kat nodded, “I’ll extend the lunch break if necessary.” Gibbs nodded and left the room.

• • •

Angel looked at Arve and Grest on her display, “Admiral Gibbs is coming to my ship to start an investigation.”

Arve looked at Grest, “You and that cursed conscience of yours. That neighbor never would have worked out who fired the potato if you had just kept your mouth shut. Now look what you’ve done.”

Angel sighed, “Back off, Arve. Doing this in secret was wrong and I haven’t felt good about it either.”

Arve tried to maintain his anger but felt it fade. After a moment he sighed, “Let’s hope we keep our commands.” Grest and Angel nodded.

• • •

Gibbs arrived on the Wellington and was led to the bridge. Angel saw the Senior Fleet Admiral enter the bridge and she said, “Bridge Crew, Attennnnshun.” The crew came to attention and Angel saluted. Gibbs returned her salute and said, “As you were.” He stared at Angel and swore he was looking at a younger Gresha. If this child of theirs possessed just a tiny fraction of their abilities…he was not going to lose her due to technicalities. “Captain, I understand you have modified the weapon systems on the Union’s most modern Battleship?”

• • •

Suddenly, the alarm klaxons began blaring; the ship suddenly accelerated and made a sharp dive. Angel pulled her helmet visor down and jumped into her command chair, “Buckle in Admiral, we have six ships that just appeared and disrupted space around Earth.”

Gibbs fought the gravity push and managed to get to one of the empty chairs on the bridge. “Get me a combat helmet!!”

The jump officer reached under his console, pulled out a helmet, and tossed it to Gibbs. He activated it and heard the Executive Officer say, “All stations report in ready, Sir.” Gibbs was shocked. It took him ten seconds to manage to crawl to the chair and get a helmet. This ship was combat ready in less than fifteen seconds.

He looked at Angel and heard her say, “I’ve got the ship. Captain Stone, you have the weapons.”

“All are active and tracking the incoming ships, Sir.”

Gibbs activated the visor on the helmet and saw six large ships moving in toward Earth from just outside the moon’s orbit. He saw six of the old Jukeboxes accelerate out from the moon to intercept them. The six ships began launching attack ships and the Jukeboxes started launching their Rovers. A massive dogfight broke out as the two groups of ships moved closer together.

Gibbs looked at his tactical and saw that Arvolo’s children were moving their ships out toward the battle. “Captain, you should stop here and wait for the defense ships to handle the invaders.”

Angel shook her head, “Sir, according to my computer, those old Jukeboxes are no match for the beams being fired by those six ships. My parents and all of Earth’s Senior Flag Officers are on Earth and we can’t allow those ships to get close enough to fire on the planet. They’ll be forced to use the planet’s force field and we have to avoid revealing that technology to them.” Gibbs stared at Angel and saw in his tactical display that three of the six Jukeboxes were burning in space. He looked at Angel and she said, “Please let me do my job!”

Gibbs saw the determination in the young woman’s eyes and he nodded, “You are clear to attack, Captain.”

Angel brought the nose of the Wellington down and accelerated toward the six Blue Ships roaring in toward Earth. “Arve, Grest, move out and come at that formation from the sides. I’m going in head on.” Gibbs saw the two ships flying beside the Wellington make a turn that was impossible. They moved ninety degrees away and turned back toward the incoming ships from eighty miles on each side of their formation. Angel stared at her visor and said, “They’re launching missiles, notify the crew of hard acceleration.” Captain Stone pushed a button on his panel and Gibbs saw a bright orange light on the wall start flashing. The missiles roared in and just as they arrived, Angel turned the ship vertical and flashed out from in front of them. The missiles tried to make the turn but their small motors couldn’t do it. They began turning and started moving toward the rear of the giant Jukebox. Angel turned the ship back toward the enemy formation and Gibbs forced his heart back into his chest. He almost blacked out but the screaming of the gravity compensators kept him conscious.

Young said, “Captain, we have three hundred missiles moving in on the rear of the ship.”

Angel nodded, “I see then and I’m going to cone shape on the force field, launch a barrage behind us. Keep their attack craft off us as well. Prepare to launch a barrage from the hull blasters when we move inside fifty miles.”

Gibbs watched the display on his panel and saw the Jukeboxes’ force fields move and change shape. The fields became sharp points in front of the giant ships and extended down the sides. Another wave of missiles was launched from the six ships and ten of them struck the Wellington’s force field and were deflected to the side. As Gibbs watched the main wall monitor, he saw a dark colored cloud emerge in front of the three ships and move quickly away toward the Blue Ships. Another cloud followed the first and then the gap between the clouds disappeared. He looked at the Probe’s feed from outside the battle and saw the invader’s ships were being rocked by the clouds of dark blaster beams hitting them from three sides. Their missiles and beams were stopped at the surface of their force field as the clouds continued to roll in on them.

Angel looked at her visor and said, “Stone, I have ten attack fighters moving in on the rear.”

“I’m baiting them, Sir. I’ve got them handled.”

Angel smiled, “Arve, Grest, fire two more barrages and follow the second barrage with six penetrators. Target one of them on each of those ships.”

“Affirmative, you do know that three will be targeted on each ship?”

“We don’t have time to experiment; those ships are attacking Earth.”

Stone said, “Penetrator Launch in three, two, one…”

• • •

The Command Leader arrived and released a small nuclear bomb in sub space. The explosion disrupted subspace so that no reinforcements could arrive to save the planet. The fight with the first six ships wasn’t easy and one of his ships was slightly damaged. He placed it in the center of his formation and continued toward the planet. They would be in range in twenty minutes. “Leader, there are three large white warships accelerating toward us. They’re different from those we just destroyed.”

“Put the view on my panel.” An image appeared and it was significantly different from the first ships that had destroyed. “Launch missiles and direct the surviving attack craft in on them. Start firing beams as soon as they move into range.”

• • •

The Masters gathered around the large table watched the missiles leave their ships and accelerate toward the three white ships. When the ships went vertical and flew over the top of the incoming missiles they stood up. That kind of maneuver was impossible. They watched the three ships moving in on their force from three different directions and saw something dark emerge from them. They watched missiles and beams hit the dark wall and explode. The wall hit their ships and the communication feed was disrupted. Their displays went dark.