The Stars Realm Command Team along with Tgon-Gee, Terl, Misty Nicole, Sten, Headman Dgzh, Cade McAllister, Danielle, Rose, Sten, and Tag sat around a large conference table in Castle Gardner’s meeting room. The room had displays that covered most of the walls along with an active universal map. The room was circular so any display could be seen by all. Tag pulled a photo the two new penetrators that had been developed and then said, “Cade, explain how these two new weapons actually perform.”
Cade stood and used a laser pointer to indicate the first display, “This penetrator is designed for ship to ship conflict. It has an armored skin of Coronado Power Cells that are charged to the maximum. It can accelerate faster than anything we’ve ever created or seen and it will also penetrate any screen we’ve ever observed, even ours.” Everyone immediately sat straighter in their chairs; this was an important development. “Once its sensors detect immediate impact, the entire screen around the penetrator will focus directly in front and burn a hole thru any screen it impacts. Once the penetrator hits anything solid, then it will release all of its stored energy into a single blast. We have measured the diameter of that blast to be five miles.” Cade faced the group, “Nothing can out run it, no screen can stop it, and anything it hits will be destroyed. Even the ships that are twenty miles long will not work if a five mile wide hole is blown into it. This is the ultimate ship killing weapon.”
“Is there anything that can stop it?” Dorg asked.
“An anti-matter hit will stop it, however, it is programmed to avoid their missiles and it will blow past anything in its path faster than they can react. Theoretically, if you can surround your ship with antimatter missiles so that there are no gaps smaller than the width of this penetrator, then you might be safe. However, if you do that, then the blast will then lead to a chain reaction of explosions of all the other missiles which will probably destroy the ship in the middle.”
Tag stood and said, “The second penetrator is just like this one except we can jump it to any coordinates programmed in using the null star drive.” Everyone gave a start at this statement. “We have learned that if you use the null drive to jump into a system, it will only read the coordinates of the place it arrived and not the null coordinates. However, if you use it to jump out of the system, then the null coordinates will be read running the risk of letting the Plants learn of the null star drive system. These penetrators, however, will only be jumping in, not out.”
Terl said, “Why do we even need to risk a ship; just jump enough of these in system to destroy their ships.”
Tag looked at Cade and nodded; Cade stood and said, “Picture in your mind what would happen if we jumped these penetrators into the Plant fleet. The fleet would scatter and we don’t have a system big enough to target millions of ships rushing out of a system on different trajectories and get their coordinates into a single missile for each escaping ship. These penetrators have a 1,200 mile limit. Even with their acceleration, ships would block the penetrator’s sensors if they were bunched and a large number would be able to escape. The Megaships could use their systems to target ships that were escaping.”
Tag remained in his chair and said, “It really doesn’t matter about this particular penetrator because we are probably not going to use it in our first battle at the planet the Plants have been harvesting.”
Tgon-Gee said, “How could you attack them without using it? It’s suicide to hit them head on if you can’t use the null star drive to escape.”
Tag sat in his chair and listened to the meeting disintegrate into the various participants all giving their opinion about the best use of the new penetrators. In his mind he could see Admiral Kosiev leaning back in his chair, eating his popcorn, and saying to him, “Now is when you tell them how it’s going to be.” Tag smiled and once more missed his old friend; then he reached under his chair and grabbed his bag of popcorn and began eating a few kernels. Dorg and Mikado saw him eating and stopped talking. They knew him well enough to know that he had something that would make a huge impact. Chen then saw them eating popcorn and he also sat back and quit talking. Then one by one, everyone noticed the popcorn and the room became silent.
Dorg chewed his popcorn and after a few minutes of silence he said, “Oh how I miss Kosiev.”
Tag stood and said, “He’s still here with us. We’re not going to use the new star drive penetrator for two reasons; first, I want to have the biggest impact possible when we do use them; and second, we won’t have enough manufactured by the time the Plants finish harvesting the planet. I have asked Cade to use all of the facilities to produce the ship-to-ship penetrator so we can have enough in time for the first battle.” Tag looked around the room and made sure everyone was listening to him. “We are also going to go into the harvesting system with only half of our megaships.” That statement started the room buzzing but Tag held up his hand and the room became quiet again. “We are going to use tactics that we used to defeat the Alliance. We are not going to reveal our numbers to the Algeans. They know we have 40,000 ships so 50,000 won’t be a huge surprise to them. They cannot stand up to our fleet with the new penetrator. We can carry fifty of them on each megaship and that means we will have two million of them in our fleet. Remember, each one of them will destroy any ship it hits. We can enter the system and go after the fleet that’s there in the system then choose our route out and fight our way to the jump point. The Plants might be able to jump a fleet in on us but the penetrators will clear us a path out. We will then immediately jump to the Dremels system.”
Dorg said, “Now I understand. The Dremels population has left for the former planet of the Grendap so no civilians are endangered by leading them there. They already know about our forts there so they would be planning to attack there as soon as their fleet was free from harvesting operations.”
Mikado leaned forward and said, “And since you hurt them in the harvesting system, they will bring the biggest fleet possible to the Dremels’ system setting up the use of the new jump penetrator.”
Tag nodded and said, “I also suspect that they will take some time to organize their response which will give us more time to manufacture the new penetrators. When we use them, we will jump them straight to the Dremels’ system and not go through multiple galaxies. We will stockpile all we have in one location and jump them from there.”
Danielle watched Tag lead the meeting and it reminded Danielle of all the reasons why she had fallen in love with him. She sat and remained quiet during the meeting sharing her thoughts with Rose. “He’s doing a great job, isn’t he,” she thought to Rose.
“Yes he is, Mom. These people have learned to trust him and he really doesn’t know his own importance to us. He’s not humble but he isn’t self important. I’ve learned a lot from him.”
“As have I, little one.” Then Danielle had a thought, “Rose, can we handle the Plant’s response?”
Rose was quiet and then thought, “Our ships can escape if it gets too bad. Now that we can destroy the frequency ships, everyone should be able to survive when they attack at Dremel.”
Danielle was very quiet and then thought, “What about at the planet they are harvesting. Is it going to be that bad,”
“Yes Mom.”
“Are you going to tell your father?”
“He already knows at some level but I still won’t tell him. Mom, we can’t avoid them and win. We have to reduce their ship counts and by avoiding every battle that the Plants use huge numbers will only give them more time to build better weapons to use against us.”
“Are you going to suggest anything that might help them?” Danielle asked.
“No, but you are.” Then Rose shared a thought with Danielle.
Danielle said, “I have an idea that the group might consider.”
The room was silent; then Tag said, “What it that, Your Majesty?”
“If those missiles can release all of its energy at one time, can the mobile forts do the same thing?”
The room was quiet as everyone thought about why she would ask that question. Then Tag said, “I believe we can program them to do that; why would we want to do that?”
“What if things turned bad and we were forced to jump out. What would those forts do if they were flown into the Plants fleet and detonated? How big of an explosion would they make? Also, if they appeared to be escaping, wouldn’t the Plants attack them with large numbers?”
Tag was quiet and then turned to Cade. “What about it. Does what she’s suggesting have any merit?”
Cade sat there running calculations on his console and then he looked up shaking his head and said, “If we flew the 16 forts around the Dremels Planet half way out to the jump limit and detonated them, everything within 100,000 miles of each of those forts would be destroyed.”
Tag sat down stunned, “How can that be?”
Cade said, “Remember, those 16 forts have the ninety foot power cells and it takes more than two weeks close to a star to fully charge them. Releasing all that energy at once would be similar to a small nova; the blast wave would be devastating.”
“What about the crews manning the forts?” Misty asked.
“That’s actually the simple part,” Cade answered. “We place a transport on the fort with the null star drive to escape. When the star drive is activated, the fort detonates five seconds later. The resulting blast will eliminate the null drives coordinates so the Plants won’t be able to read them.”
Tag looked at Danielle and said, “What a great idea. Even if things don’t go bad, we will use these forts for that purpose. What better use could we use them except to reduce the Plants fleets. I think we can now break off and discuss this among ourselves and see if there is anything else we can think to do. We’ll get back together in two hours, or drags for those speaking Alliance.”
Tag looked at Danielle and thought to her, “Tell Rose I said to thank her for that idea.”
Danielle furrowed her brow and thought back, “How did you know that?”
Tag looked at the woman he loved and thought, “Because thinking of ways to take life is foreign to you; you always find ways to save life.”
Rose sheepishly thought to Tag, “Caught again. You have to admit, it is a good idea.”
Tag laughed and thought back, “Keep them coming, Rose; keep them coming.”
The Algean Fleet Leader was discussing the completion of the harvest and the plans to invade the recently discovered system suspected of being the Strangers Home System with the Elders. There were only ten rotations left and most of the final 900 harvesting ships were full and ready for departure. He was beginning to believe that the Strangers were not going to interfere with their final harvest and that he had just been nervous. He keyed his console and said, “I was worried about the Strangers attacking again but it appears that we will finish with no interruptions.”
The Eldest Leader said, “What plans have you decided to use to attack the Stranger’s System and how long before you leave to attack them?”
“We will finish here in ten rotations and we will then organize the three fleets and go directly to their system.”
“Will you need more ships?”
“No, Eldest, they ran from our combined fleets last time and we should have enough ships to defeat them.”
Suddenly the Fleet Leader’s sensor tool interrupted him by yelling, “Thousands of Stranger ships have just jumped in the system and are moving in toward the planet.”
The Fleet Leader looked at his display and saw thousands of the white ships lined up and moving inside the jump limit toward his massed fleet. He had moved most of his ships close to the planet to protect the harvesters from the hit and run tactics the Strangers had been using at the jump limit. He had left two bands of anti-matter missiles between his fleet and the jump limit and those missiles were now turning on their engines and began targeting the incoming ships. The Eldest looked at the Fleet Leader and said, “Are you able to handle this attack?”
“They are bringing in the same number of ships they used in the last attack, so I believe we should have enough unless they have new technology. It might be a good idea to have another fleet ready to jump in behind them to prevent their escape.”
The Eldest looked away from the display and said, “Order another fleet to the system.” He then looked back and said, “They will arrive quickly to support you.”
The Fleet Leader nodded and turned off his display. He looked at his console and saw on his display that the anti-matter missiles were waiting for the incoming fleet to reach 300 miles from their position. There were 30 million missiles waiting for the Strangers to come into range and he ordered his fleet to begin moving to intercept the Strangers. Suddenly, 2000 huge ships jumped in behind the line of Stranger’s ships, accelerated to just in front of the incoming ships and then turned and accelerated back to the jump limit and disappeared. “What was that about?” he wondered.
Tag watched his display as the transports accelerated to his formation and released their full load of hornets. Each one of those transports carried more than 30,000 hornets that were ejected out of their pulse cannons at tremendous velocity. The 60 million hornets leaped ahead of the Stars Realm fleet and moved toward the band of waiting anti-matter missiles. “Maintain five thousand mile separation from the hornets,” Tag said over the general fleet frequency. The SR Fleet slowed and allowed the hornets to move 5,000 miles in front of them and the fleet accelerated and matched the hornet’s velocity. Once the hornet’s sensors began detecting the anti-matter missiles, they turned on their thrusters and accelerated into their ranks. As the hornets designated the front ranks of the Plant missiles the remainder flew above and below those that were targeted. Five thousand miles in front of the SR Fleet, anti-matter missiles began exploding.
Tag spoke into his com, “All ships, move into tube formation and launch hornets as needed.”
The 50,000 ships of the SR Fleet moved from a line into a hollow cylinder formed by five lines of ten thousand ships each moving toward the waiting missiles like a spear. The hornets had been programmed to destroy everything in front and to the sides of the formation. The blasts were far enough away from the fleet that the Megaships screens could handle it without failing. As the outer ships screens turned red, they would move inside the cylinder and new ships would replace them. The SR Fleet moved inexorably toward the Algean Fleets surrounding the planet.
The Algean Fleet Leader could not determine what was happening. The entire space in front of the Strangers ships was a huge mass of anti-matter explosions that were happening on such a massive scale that none of his sensors could see into it. Power missiles were exploding on a ten thousand mile front. He ordered his ships to stop moving toward the Strangers ships out of fear that the anti-matter explosions would destroy his ships. His fleet stopped and stayed behind the second band of power missiles. He kept watching the massive explosions wondering how much longer they could possibly continue. He had placed two bands of power missiles between the jump limit and the planet. The power missiles had a range limit of 300 miles before they ran out of fuel so they had to wait for the incoming ships to get inside their range. There was 100,000 miles between bands and the second band could not go to support the first band because they were too far out. The first band was 90,000 miles wide and had more than 30 million power missiles. “How can anything survive that?” he thought and then he saw the huge cylinder of the Strangers Ships emerge from the explosions and then fan out into a long line moving toward his fleet. The Fleet leader was stunned. The missiles did not appear to have any affect. The Strangers ships accelerated toward his second band of power missiles and moved rapidly beyond the 300 mile range of the missiles in the first band that had survived.
Tag watched as the fleet emerged from the explosions and fanned out into a line again. He looked at Ron-Dar and said, “Issue the orders for the second hornet launch.” Ron-Dar nodded and turned to his communication console. The transports had launched 60 million hornets to get the fleet through the first band of anti-matter missiles. There were still explosions behind them where hornets were killing any missile that survived. The SR Fleet moved more than five hundred miles beyond the first band of missiles and out of their range. Each of the 50,000 megaships launched one thousand of the old pulse penetrators toward the second band of Algean missiles. Each of the old penetrators carried 80 hornets which were released 100 miles from the Algean missiles. Four hundred million hornets roared into the ranks of the Algean missiles as the SR Fleet stopped and waited for the explosions to stop. Across a 100,000 mile front, the universe looked like it had gone nova. The members of both Algean and Stars Realm fleets were amazed at the magnitude of those explosions. It looked like a universe gone mad.
Tag looked at Ron-Dar and said, “When the explosions stop, advance at full speed. We will launch one million of our new penetrators 1,000 miles from their fleet and then move into cylinder formation behind them at full speed and penetrate through their ranks to the planet. Once we hit the harvesters, we’ll exit the system.”
Tag’s display showed Admirals Dorg, Mikado, Chen, and Kelly. He pushed his communication button and said, “You all know the plan; each of your individual fleets will make one of the five walls of the cylinder and as soon as we penetrate to the planet you will all exit at ninety degrees from the formation and launch half of your new penetrators. We will then reform the cylinder and exit vertical to the systems plane. We will only use enough penetrators to break out of the Algeans formations. I want to save as many of the penetrators as possible to break out to the jump limit. I expect the Plants to jump ships in behind us.”
Dorg shrugged and said, “What happens if we don’t have enough after the attack.”
“Those ships with the most remaining will form the point of the formation where most of the action will be happening. At full speed, it’s my belief that they won’t be able to hit us from the sides. Remind you ships that when they empty their magazines of penetrators to fall to the back of their respective line and launch hornets from the side of the formation to hit any Plant missiles that get close to us.”
The four admirals looked grim; they had seen the two and a half million ships surrounding the planet. This was war on a scale that was beyond anything they had ever experienced. Tag’s display went blank as the admirals began issuing orders to each of their ten thousand ships. Tag looked at his viewport at the continuing blasts of anti-matter in front of his fleet. The explosions continued unabated for two hours until they slowed and finally stopped. Now there was nothing separating the two fleets.
The Fleet Leader ordered his ships to surround the Stranger’s ships and the newer designed vessels started moving ahead of the older Plant ships because of their superior speed. He was nervous about the attack. They were not fleeing like they had done before. His anxiety turned to fear as the Stranger’s ships moved into that cylinder formation and came at his fleet at a speed that was faster than anything he had ever seen. Then things went bad very, very quickly.
One thousand miles from the Algean fleet, the SR ships launched one million of the new penetrators that flew into the incoming ranks of the Plant fleet so fast that there was no reaction time. The two mile long newly designed ships that were out in front of the Plant fleet were blown into fragments so small that sensors could not register them. The larger older ships behind the front ranks were hit and five mile wide holes were blown into their hulls often exploding their weapon magazines and totally demolishing them. An eight hundred mile wide hole was blasted through the approaching Plant fleet that the SR Fleet flew through to the planet. The new penetrators flew so fast that they looked like laser beams as they struck the Plant ships.
The Fleet Leader was in his command ship at the planet as the Stranger’s ships broke through his lines and then split into five groups that scattered and launched more of those terrible new weapons. He saw ten of the ships were going to come close to his ship and he saw his death coming. “Now I wish I had been relieved after the last battle.” Just before one of the new penetrators hit his ship he thought, “Can we win this war?” That was his last thought as his ship and all of the harvesters disappeared in five mile wide blasts.
The Plant fleet did not have a chance to scatter to avoid the new penetrators. Once the penetrator locked on a ship, that ship died. On all sides of the SR Fleet, millions of ships exploded. The Algean Elders watched the feed of the battle and swayed almost uncontrollably as they saw their ships being blown apart. The fleet sent to jump in behind the Strangers ships watched as the huge toll of destroyed ships grew. The Elders were stunned. Then the Eldest leader said, “Order the support fleet back, there aren’t enough to stand up to those weapons. Order our ships in the system to ram those intruders.”
The SR Fleet turned to reform the cylinder and found hundreds of thousands of Plant ships running full speed at them. On board the London, Captain Jane Calloway watched as a solid wall of Plant ships moved toward her ship. Her orders were to save as many penetrators as possible for system exit but she had to launch all of her remaining penetrators to barely escape the ships trying to ram her. Other SR ships were not so lucky. More than 18,000 megaships were rammed and destroyed before the cylinder could be reformed. One of those ships lost was Chen’s Nemesis.
Chen watched as solid walls of Algean ships surrounding his ship were moving at full ramming speed. He tried to blast his way out but there were just too many. Just as he saw a gap in the Plant ships one of the seven mile long battleships hit him from the side. Both ships exploded as the Coronado power cells release all of their energy.
Ron-Dar was doing everything possible to escape the ramming ships but nothing was working. Tag was amazed at how well he fought his ship but he could see that there were too many. Ron-Dar had exhausted all of his weapons and 100 of the Plant ships were closing on Retribution. He turned and said, “I’m sorry sir. I’m responsible for your loss. Please forgive me.”
Tag could sense the Plant ships accelerating toward his ship; just before impact he jumped from his chair and ran over to Ron-Dar and wrapped his arms around him and closed his eyes and thought, “You cannot see me, you cannot see me, you cannot see me,” and then the world turned white.”
The SR ships that made it back into formation turned and accelerated up and out toward the jump limit. Mikado commed Admiral Dorg and said, “Retribution has been destroyed.”
Dorg felt a pain hit him and thought, “Not another friend. Not you too, Tag.”
Then he heard Mikado say, “What are your orders sir?”
Dorg shook off his sadness and made himself focus on the situation. “Tactical, Lt. Grada”
“Sir, we have broken out of the Algean formations and are headed toward the jump limit. A Plant fleet of a million plus ships have jumped into the system and are just inside the jump limit moving toward us. We have less than 90,000 penetrators remaining.”
Dorg knew that it wouldn’t be enough to break out of the system and knew that he was probably going to lose the rest of the fleet. “Well,” he thought, “might as well go out with a bang. Form the cylinder, redistribute ships as needed, those with penetrators move to the front of the formation, and full speed ahead. Let’s take as many as we can.”
The cylinder moved closer and closer to the jump limit and when they were less than thirty minutes from the Plant fleet, the Algean ships turned, moved outside the jump limit, and jumped away. Dorg was dumbfounded. “Why did they do that?”
Mikado appeared on his communication console. “I guess they thought they didn’t have enough ships.”
Dorg looked at him on the com screen, “What makes you say that?”
“Look at your ship count. The Plants had two and a half million ships in that system and all of their new designed ships. They lost more than two million ships. It’s my guess that they thought we had enough of the new penetrators to kill the fleet that had jumped in. They didn’t know how few we had left.”
Dorg realized Mikado was probably right. “All ships prepare to jump to the Dremels’ system.” As the survivors of the SR Fleet jumped Dorg felt his sadness again, “Oh Tag, how could we lose you?”
Rose opened her eyes and went into her mother’s office. Danielle looked up from the list of issues put before her by the Stars Realm representatives and saw her standing in the doorway. She immediately saw the look on Rose’s face and Danielle felt her heart go into her throat. She dropped the document and said, “No! Rose, tell me he’s ok.”
Rose looked her mother in the eye and said, “His ship was destroyed.”
Danielle immediately thought, “Atlas, Atlas, where are you?”
“I’m inside the system waiting for the ships around Tag to move so I can go in and get him. There are so many that there’s no room for me to get close. He is still alive, Danielle. Just hold on.”
“What if they see him and capture him,” Danielle wailed.
“Danielle, I don’t know exactly what he’s doing but the only way I’ve been able to locate him is because I can read the force field around him. I’m unable to see him and you know how good my systems are.”
Rose thought to them, “He’s using his psychic skills to hide. He’s able to put a field around him that bends light around him. I haven’t seen him do that before and it’s a pretty clever trick.”
Danielle and Rose had walked out of her office and were sitting in the bed room. Danielle looked at Rose and said, “What do you mean?”
Suddenly, right in front of Danielle, Rose disappeared. Danielle jumped up and spun around and started to panic, but then Rose reappeared right where she was before. “I’m sorry, Mom, I just wanted to demonstrate how he was hiding.”
“Rose, is he going to be ok?”
“I think the weeds better hope they don’t find him, remember, he has a pretty effective Alfont hand weapon. Just be patient, Mom, Atlas will get him.”
“Can you see him, Rose?”
Rose closed her eyes and furrowed her brow, “Yes, I can.” Then Rose’s eyes got wide and she said, “He’s not alone. Someone is with him in the force field.”
Danielle said, “Show me Rose, I’ve got to see him. I can’t lose him, he’s my life.”
Rose sent her thoughts to Danielle and she saw him floating in space surrounded by thousands of ships. Tag, are you alright?” she thought at him.
“Mom, your thoughts can’t get through his psychic field. Even Atlas can’t reach him; just be patient.”
Danielle sat down and worried about the love of her life.
Tag floated in space surrounded by the force field Atlas had given him during their first meeting on the moon. Ron-Dar was lying against the force field wall looking out at the thousands of Plant ships surrounding them. He looked at Tag and said, “I’m sure there’s an answer for what’s happening. Would you mind telling me? Are we dead?”
Tag sighed and looked out at the Plant ships around them, “I have been given a gift by a friend that puts a force field around me whenever a projectile or explosion comes at me. I knew that there was room for me and one more. You are too valuable to the Realm to allow you to die. I watched you fight your ship and you are the best ship commander I’ve ever seen, other than Kosiev, and you might be better than he was. I was able to get to you before the ship died.”
Ron-Dar looked out again and said, “Mr. Gardner, no one has this kind of technology.”
“You’re right and I’m afraid before all this is over, you’re going to know more than anyone else about it. I ask that you keep this information to yourself and never reveal it.”
“You have my promise, Mr. Gardner. I’m just sick to my soul at the loss of my ship and crew. I couldn’t save them.”
Tag could feel Ron-Dar’s pain, “Never lose that feeling, Commodore. It’s what keeps us aware of the price we all have to pay in conflicts. If we ever start enjoying it, we’re doomed.”
“What happens now, Mr. Gardner?”
“Well, I thought I could call for help but my communication methods are not working.”
A giant Plant battle ship moved by and brushed against the force field surrounding them and pushed them away. The ship stopped abruptly and Tag could sense the sensors of the ship sweeping around it. “My force field must have tripped their sensors,” Tag thought. The ship remained stationary for an hour scanning space around it and then it moved away.
“Why can’t they see us?” Ron-Dar said.
“I’ve placed a psychic field around us that prevents them seeing us but I think they can detect us if they make contact with the force field.”
Suddenly, the Plant ship that hit them stopped, turned, and moved back at them with five other ships side by side. “Uh oh, it looks like they aren’t going to pass our contact off as a bad sensor.”
“What are we going to do,” Ron-Dar asked as the ships moved closer and closer and it was clear that one of the ships was going to hit them.
Tag knew his time was short and if they hit him again, they would send ships out to find him. He held his hand out and pointed it at the oncoming ship and a hand weapon appeared in his grip. Just as the ship came within ten feet of their position, they were suddenly pulled out of the way of the oncoming ship and pulled inside a small room. Tag though, “You can see me, you can see me,” and the psychic field around him disappeared.
“Welcome aboard, Tag. You do live an exciting life.”
“Atlas, you are a life saver. Thank you for being here.”
Ron-Dar lay on the floor of the Alfont ship looking out at the Plant ships around them and then suddenly the fleet disappeared and they were in empty space with a blue star shining off in the distance. He looked at Tag and said, “What kind of ship is this?”
Tag stared at him for a long moment and then sighed, “We are on board an Alfont ship. The ships name is Atlas and is intelligent.”
Ron-Dar was stunned into silence and then one of the speakers on the wall said, “Welcome aboard Commodore; you did an excellent job during the last battle.”
Ron-Dar and Atlas began communicating and Tag was suddenly barraged by thoughts from Danielle and Rose. “Tag, are you alright, did you get hurt in the blast of the ship, tell me you’re coming home.”
Rose was right beside her mother’s thoughts, “Dad, don’t ever scare me like this again. I was worried sick but I couldn’t show Mom because I was afraid she was going to lose her mind.”
‘Slow down both of you; I’m fine and I was able to save Ron-Dar. It got scary right there at the end but Atlas came thru again and saved us.”
Danielle started crying and couldn’t control her emotions as the fear found outlet in tears. Tag thought to her, “It’s ok, Darling; I’m fine and I’ll be home as soon as I can get a ride.” Rose went over and put her arms around Danielle and held on to her. Give me a few moments to arrange a few details and I’ll talk to you then.”
On board the Rossville, Admiral Dorg was trying to get the nerve to contact Queen Danielle to tell her about the loss of her husband. His heart was heavy and he was worried about how the Stars Realm would be able to make up for his loss. Suddenly, his communications officer stood up and said, “Admiral, Thomas Gardner is on the com wanting to speak to you.”
Dorg looked at him and was going to bust him into the brig for the hateful joke when he looked at his display and saw Tag. He pushed his com and said, “I saw the recording of Retribution exploding. I thought you were dead. Thank the creator you survived; how did you survive?”
“All in good time Admiral, but first I need you to help me.”
“What do you need done, Your Majesty?
“Admiral, you don’t need to address me that way.”
“Yes I do. I was sitting here sick at the thought of continuing the fight against the Plants without you. You are our fighting forces spiritual leader. You deserve the title and much more.”
Tag looked at Dorg on his display and nodded to him. “Do you remember the cavern we hollowed out on Callisto to hold the prisoners we captured during the Ross conflict?”
Dorg pulled up the description of the cavern on his console and saw it was on a moon circling the largest planet in the Humans home system. “Yes, I know where it is; why do you ask?”
I want you to take one of the interstellar shuttles from your ship and meet me as quick as you can jump to its location. It’s just inside the jump limit so you won’t have to go far inside the system.”
“I’m on my way, sir.”
“Admiral, come alone.”
Dorg looked at Tag and wondered what was going on but nodded, turned off his console, then turned to Tresk and said, “You have total command of the ship until I return. Begin rearming immediately.”
Everyone on the bridge wondered what was going on but Dorg left without telling them. There was a vibrancy that everyone felt on the bridge; Thomas Gardner was alive and the word was going out to the survivors of the battle. The emotions of despair that was taking hold of the fleet vanished with a sudden swell of pride and happiness. They had hurt the Plants and their leader had survived. On all 32,000 ships, they felt that this was a war that they could win. The celebrations began and continued until the Fleet arrived at the Dremels Planet.
The newly promoted Algean Fleet Leader began getting his surviving ships into formation. The Strangers had destroyed two million ships that were in the system when they attacked. When the Fleet Leader’s ship had been destroyed, he had assumed command and ordered all remaining ships to ram the strangers. Up to that point, according to recordings, the strangers had not lost a single ship. The subsequent recording revealed that once the ramming started, they lost close to 20,000. He guessed that the Elders promoted him because of his actions. As the fleet reorganized, he knew that his surviving ships were in bad shape. Ninety percent of the newly designed ships that were in the system had been totally destroyed. He knew that another full fleet of them had been manufactured during the four cycle lull of combat, but those were all of the new ships that were available. The three fleets at the planet were pretty much destroyed. The survivors would have to be integrated into other fleets. He continued to watch the recording of the battle and grimaced as the fully loaded harvesters were totally destroyed. The only bright spot out of this battle was that tremendous stores of food had been harvested and saved before this attack.
He turned his display to slow speed and put a close up of one of the new weapons the Strangers had used against them. He had to slow it down three more times before he could get a good picture of what they looked like; super fast missiles with screens that penetrated the new five screened ships like they were protected by thin leaves. He also watched as the tiny missiles hit the band of power missiles. Those tiny missiles were not screened. He began thinking about how to overcome this new weapon and he kept coming back to screened missiles. He looked at his display on the arm of his chair and decided to ask the Elders about possibly screening their own missiles and extending their range.
The Algean Elders swayed in their groves discussing the new technology of the Strangers. The fourth Eldest said, “We have analyzed the new weapon and found that it is a missile that has its own protective screen. It is also faster than any manufactured object we have ever recorded and is also as powerful as our power missile but doesn’t use the negative matter. It appears to have a range of one point five punds.”
The seventh eldest said, “The new fleet leader asks if there is any possibility of screening our own missiles and extending their range.”
The Eldest listened to their discussions but wondered if his race had finally encountered another race strong enough to defeat them. Millions of cycles ago his race had been almost totally destroyed except for seeds that had survived in space. His species was still paying the price of that virus that had infected their food. Now there was a new strong enemy. The only thing that worked in the last battle was ramming the Strangers ships. Then he had a thought. “Power missiles will no longer be effective against the Strangers. They can be stopped with those small missiles they use. We need to come up with a new plan and I think I have a thought that might help us destroy their home system.” The remaining Elders quit talking among themselves and listened to the Eldest. “How many ships do we have remaining in all our fleets?”
The Tenth Eldest looked at his portable com and said, “Eighteen million.”
“How many of those are scouts?”
“Six million.”
“If we were to remove everything inside a scout ship and install eight engines along with the five screen force fields; how much faster would they be?”
The tenth worked his calculator and said, “Twice as fast as the power missiles and if you used that empty space for additional fuel you would extend the range to 3,000,000 punds instead of one third pund.”
“We will put a negative matter warhead on the front and use the scouts to ram the Strangers,” the Eldest said.
“How many tools would be needed to fly the ship? The Second Eldest asked.
The Fourth Eldest that was responsible for ship building said, “We could tie all controls into one control board. Since it will basically be a one way trip, one tool is all that would be needed to pilot the ship.”
“How long will it take to convert them? The Eldest asked.
“Two cycles,” the Fourth Eldest answered.
“Begin the conversion. We will destroy this home system of the strangers no matter the cost. We will use eleven fleets to make sure we win and every ship is ordered to ram if the opportunity presents itself. Are there any objections?”
“The Eleventh Eldest said, “What if we lose all of our ships in the conflict?”
“We will still have seven fleets for home defense; as long as we destroy the Strangers, it will be worth it; we can always rebuild and our food requirements will be reduced.”
No further objections were given and the plan was agreed to be implemented.