The Fight for Creation: Book 01 - Life Warrior (30 page)

Molly listened to the brothers and thought about the problem they were facing. She felt the link disappear and she heard distant music. She recognized the Melody. She punched her communicator, “Jon, the old storage facility is emitting music again.”

“It is?”

“Yes, I can hear it on Ross.”

Jon linked his brothers again and said, “Teg, Molly is hearing music from the old storage facility. Go there and see what’s causing it.”

“I’m on it. I’ll get back to you.”

“Thanks, Molly.”

“I hope he finds something, Jon.”

“We can only pray.”

T
eg arrived at the storage facility and could hear the melody from a thousand miles out. He entered the protocols and took his speeder into the massive landing bay. He rushed out of the ship and took the elevator up. He listened carefully and stopped the elevator on the thirty fifth floor and lowered it to the thirty fourth floor. He rushed out of the elevator and ran out into the large open space between the massive storage racks and closed his eyes. This was the floor where the old missiles were stored. He kept his eyes closed and moved rapidly to his left. He bumped into a rack and opened his eyes. He turned the corner and moved rapidly down the long aisle. He closed his eyes again and continued moving forward. He suddenly stopped and opened his eyes. He was at the back wall and he saw row after row of massive nose cones sticking out of huge containers. He rushed forward and read the description on one of the missile containers. Jump Penetrator. He read the description of the missile and sat down on the floor.

He activated his armor and pressed a frequency. Admiral Mandel appeared and Teg said, “Sir, I need you to prepare a place on Bristone and Ross for some weapons to be teleported in.”

“What kind of weapons?”

“They’re called Jump Penetrators.”

Mandel looked over to the side and Teg could see he was reading something. “I didn’t know we had any of them still around.”

“There are more than six thousand of them here at the storage facility. Please have half of them sent to Bristone and the other half to Ross.”

“Colonel, we’ve looked for those penetrators in the past and were unable to find them.”

“Perhaps they decided to hide from you, Sir. Please get the armory staff to get them moved as quickly as possible.”

“Where are you?”

“Thirty fourth floor next to the back wall.”

“Turn on your transponder. Admiral Kim will be there momentarily.”

Teg stayed on the floor and continued to read the information on the container. The more he read, the more his excitement grew. These could make a difference. Thank you, Molly. You’ve come through again.

• • •

Jon teleported out to the huge transport that had just arrived in orbit above Bristone and parked inside the fort’s force field. He appeared in the main storage bay in the center of the giant ship and saw hundreds of Algeans and engineers working at a desperate pace on thousands of containers. Jon went over to Admiral Kim and said, “What are they doing?”

“These missiles are thousands of years old. They’ve been stored in a vacuum but all of them must be checked out and refueled before they can be used.”

Jon looked at one of the huge missiles that had been taken out of its container and said, “What exactly are they?”

“This is a missile that was used in the war between the original Realm and the Algeans.”

Jon’s mouth fell open. “These are ancient.”

“They are, but they used a technology we’ve forgotten.”

“What is that?”

Kim turned to Jon and said, “We always teleport our ships out to attack any enemy targets. All of our really powerful weapons are on our ships.”

“I understand that.”

“These are called Jump Penetrators. They jump through null space close to the enemy and then accelerate close to half of light speed and hit their target.”

“How fast?”

“Half the speed of light in less than fifty seconds. The missile is 140 feet long and thirty feet wide. It’s powered by the Coronado Power Cells on its surface and has a force field to protect it. It is one of the fastest accelerating devices we’ve ever built.”

“Do you think it can penetrate a modern force field?”

“No.”

Jon stared at Kim and shook his head, “Then why are we using them?”

“One won’t do it but we’re going to launch more than three thousand of them at the Megat Dreadnaughts. The second wave of three hundred will teleport in less than half a mile from them and the others will be coming in from fifty seconds out. The initial hits on their force fields will blind their scanners to the incoming spread.”

Jon thought about the physics of the missile and said, “How much do these missiles weigh?”

“More than sixteen thousand pounds.”

“That kinetic energy might be off the scale.”

Kim smiled, “There’s one other benefit.”

“What’s that?”

“These missiles have a power cell force field that is a hundred feet wide.”

Jon thought a moment and he started smiling.

Kim nodded, “Any Dremor that is in the path of those missiles is going to be burned. We’re attempting to coordinate getting twenty of the Algean attack ships behind the missiles as they move in on the Dreadnaughts. They’ll fire on them and teleport out immediately.”

Jon smile grew larger, “If these missiles don’t do the trick, the attack ships will.”

“That’s the plan.”

Jon tilted his head, “The penetrators aren’t much smaller than the Algean Attack Craft.”

“We’re hoping that if the penetrators start killing the Dremor in their path, they might think the Algean’s ships are also missiles and get out of their way.”

“You don’t think they can tell the difference?”

“Their ships probably can, but this is going to happen so fast that the information may not get out in time to the individual Dremor surrounding the Megat Ships. They’ll have less than a second to detect the attack craft and then transmit the information.”

“Are the Algean ships going to be able to keep up with the missiles?”

Kim nodded, “They’re the only ones that can.”

“We don’t have much time before they attack.”

Kim looked at Jon, “How do you know that?”

“I have a way to determine their targets and their approximate time of attack. I think we have three more days.”

“Well, we’re going to need every minute to get these ready.”

Jon smiled, “I’ll get out of your way.”

Kim nodded and turned to direct the engineers on moving the penetrators into organized bays for inspection.

• • •

Jon teleported out and shared what was going on with Molly and his brothers.

Molly listened and said, “Jon, why are we here?”

“What do you mean?”

“This is going to be a fight between our technologies. We will only make a difference if the Dremor make it through the planetary force field. If they do that, we still won’t be able to stop them from killing every one that’s not protected by armor. Why are we here?”

“I’m not sure I understand your question, Molly.”

Dern said, “I do. We were created during a Dremor attack. If we were created for a purpose, it must have been to stop them. Molly, are you saying we’re missing something?”

“I am and I don’t know what it is.”

Jon paused and said, “I don’t either.”

Molly said, “I just sense we’re missing something.”

Jon shook his head, “Well if you find out what it is, please let us know.”

Molly snickered, “I suspect you’ll know first.”

“You heard the storage facility; we didn’t.”

“Touché; I’ll keep working on it.”

Jon broke the link and thought that he needed to know Molly’s purpose. If he found that he would know what he was missing about himself. He turned to go back and check on the Jump Penetrators when his com buzzed, “This is Admiral Robbins.”

Amet appeared on his wrist unit, “Sir, I’ve had a request for you to contact Lady Juliette Gardner.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t say, Sir. She just requested you to contact her at the frequency I’ve sent.”

“Thanks, Amet. How’s the ship doing?”

“We’re loading some of the heavy lasers from the Armory into our skin.”

“How many?”

“Twenty thousand.”

“For the Creator’s sake, why so many?”

“We figure it like this, Sir. The power celled ships of old had a force field that was basically a blaster beam that surrounded the ship. If we load up enough heavy beams, there won’t be a part of the ship that won’t be covered by them if they all fire together.”

“How are you going to power them long enough to be effective?”

“That’s an issue we’re working on at this moment. We think we’re going to absorb a portion of a live star into our skin and use it to power the lasers.”

Jon thought a moment and said, “Why couldn’t you just release the energy of the star around the ship. Wouldn’t that be better coverage?”

Amet stared at Jon and finally said, “I didn’t think of that.”

Jon shrugged, “It’s just a suggestion. I figure coordinating that many blasters to work together will more difficult than releasing the stored energy.”

“Thank you, Sir. I’ll look into your suggestion.”

• • •

Amet saw the display go dark and he yelled, “Leave the blasters. Get the engineer in here. Helmsman, get us out of here and take us to the nearest Type-O star. Get moving.” Amet pressed his com and yelled, “Get your ships moving. We’re going to try something and you need to be there if it works.”

• • •

Jon looked at the frequency on his wrist unit and debated on what to do. He didn’t feel comfortable ignoring a call from a High Royal but he also didn’t want the emotional roller coaster that Juliette caused. He decided duty took precedence over emotion. He pressed the frequency and Juliette appeared on his unit, “I was just informed that you wish to talk with me.”

Juliette heard the formal tone in his voice and prayed it wasn’t too late, “Jon, I’m not going to go through with the marriage.”

Jon was shocked by the revelation, “What’s changed your mind?”

“I don’t love him and he would be the worst possible choice to rule the Realm. He’s a troll.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to continue this charade and give my mother every opportunity to accept responsibility for her actions. I’m hoping the Queen will grant her leniency if she does. It may come down to walking down the aisle, but I won’t go through with it. The Realm deserves better than James Dodd.”

Jon stared at Juliette and saw her beauty. She still held a tremendous attraction for him. “Juliette, I’m not going to respond to your comments. Talk with me after you go through with your plans.”

“You don’t think I’m serious?”

“I don’t think you have the control you think you do. I’ll talk with you after the wedding ceremony.” Jon paused, “Maybe.”

Juliette said, “There isn’t going to be a marriage, Jon.”

“Will there be a ceremony?”

“Possibly, I’ll have to allow it to start.”

“Then talk with me after the decision is final.”

Juliette said, “Jon, there is only one man I want in my life.”

Jon stared at Juliette and terminated the call. Juliette knew she was close to losing him but he wasn’t gone yet. She saw it in his eyes.

• • •

Jon linked with Dern and Teg and said, “Our ships have left to see if they can use a process that would allow them to go after the Megat fleets.”

“How can they do that?”

“Absorb a live star and release the energy around the ship.”

“I think the old power cell ships did that long ago during the war with the Captors.”

“I think you’re right, Teg.”

Dern said, “What’s bothering you?”

Jon sighed, “Juliette just called and informed me there was not going to be a wedding. She might have to wait until the last moment to call it off, but she is not going to marry James Dodd.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“I really don’t know, Teg. I’m struggling with it.”

“Well, you need to put that behind you and focus on the Dremor.”

“I know. It’s just a sudden shock. I’ll keep you informed on what happens with our ships.”

• • •

Molly listened in on the link and saw that Jon had forgotten she could hear him during the link with his brothers. She thought about Juliette and was amazed that she had gathered enough courage to do the right thing. That woman was beautiful, a High Royal, and had her sights set on Jon. She sighed and went back to looking at the heavy blasters placement around the castle. She looked up at the ceiling and suddenly felt her grief. She had acted stupidly and now Jon was going to belong to someone else. He should marry a High Royal; he deserved it. She saw his smiling face in her mind. Her misery was almost more than she could handle. She had committed to never having another love in her life. She wished her heart had listened. Perhaps the coming battle with the Dremor would end her misery.

• • •

Amet arrived back at Bristone sixteen hours later and sent a contact request to Jon. “Welcome back, did you accomplish anything?”

“Yes and no.”

“Tell me what you mean.”

“We are now able to release the energy we captured from the star such that it completely surrounds the ships. That will prevent any Dremor from gaining entry.”

Jon said, “But…”

“We can’t use any of our weapons or force fields while that energy is being released; that means we will be susceptible to the Megat warship’s beams.”

Jon thought a moment and said, “You will be a Dremor Killer extraordinaire.”

“I’m not sure I follow you, Sir.”

“What do you think the Dremor will do if we’re able to take out Megat Ships by teleporting in and firing from outside the Dremor cloud?”

“They will probably have the Megat Fleets move into a smaller formation.”

“That means the Megat beams will be a long way from the outer edge of the Dremor cloud. Our ships could fly through that cloud and make life miserable for the Dremor.”

Amet thought about it and said, “We could possibly clear a path through the cloud so that the Algeans can move close enough to launch on the Megat Fleet.”