Admiral Dorg came out of null space and commed spaceport authority to identify his ship. He had barely entered normal space when an Earth Megaship jumped in next to him. The Dublin commanded by Captain Bridget O’Donald pulled up beside Dorg and then opened a communication channel.
“Oh, I’m sorry Admiral, I just received word of your arrival; your ship wasn’t listed on arrivals for today. Is there any assistance you need?”
Dorg was impressed with the fast reaction to his jump and made a note to contact Earth prior to any future arrivals. “No, I’m going to visit the prison where my brother was held captive during the Human-Alliance conflict. I’ve heard a lot about it and I want to see it for myself.”
“Could we offer you a guide to the installation, Sir?”
“No, I want to go alone. I have some feelings tied up in the history of that conflict and I need the time alone to process them. I don’t want to be rushed.”
Captain O’Donald looked at Admiral Dorg who was the highest ranking Stars Realm officer and wondered if he was being honest. She, however, was not going to question his reasons. She liked commanding her ship and was not going to do anything to upset this Cainth Warrior. “Yes Sir, I have sent the locking protocols for the facility to your console and I hope you enjoy your visit.”
“Thank you, Captain; you may return to your duty station,” Dorg said and watched the Dublin disappear into the blue-white flash of its star drive. Dorg locked in the coordinates of Callisto and accelerated around to the other side of Jupiter where it was currently located. He brought the shuttle down to five thousand feet above the surface of the moon and then his com beeped. “Is that you, Mr. Gardner?”
“Yes it is Admiral. I am going to approach your ship from the surface and board thru your shuttle bay, if it meets your approval.”
“By all means; I’ll come open the bay door for you.”
“That is not necessary; I’ll enter thru the wall. Standby, I’m approaching now.”
Dorg looked out of the shuttle’s viewport and saw nothing. If Thomas Gardner was approaching, none of his instruments or sensors registered anything near his ship. Suddenly, a silver ship shaped like a cylinder with rounded ends appeared next to his shuttle and he could see a corridor extend from its side to his ship. A minute later Tag joined him on the shuttles bridge with Ron-Dar following behind him.
Dorg stood and hugged Tag and then shook Ron-Dar’s hand. He then pointed out of the viewport and asked, “What is that?”
Tag looked with him at the silver ship and said, “That is what started all of our meetings.” Dorg looked puzzled and Tag continued, “That is an Alfont Starship.”
Dorg was stunned. “A what!”
“I stumbled on it when I was on Earth’s moon trying to escape capture by Earth’s government. It was touching the dead body of his master that set off the tone that set the Alliance on a path to annihilate my planet.”
Dorg stared at the silver ship and felt the wonder of what powers that ship must possess. Then Tag said something that grabbed his attention. “The ship is actually intelligent and his name is Atlas.”
Dorg sat down in his command chair and said, “What do you mean intelligent?”
A voice came out of the speaker on the wall display, “What Tag is trying to tell you is that I actually have a mind of my own and make my own decisions. I am my own ruler and choose what path I follow. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Admiral. You’ve changed a lot since the Ross conflict.”
Dorg could only sit and stare at the ship holding station next to his shuttle. Then he said, “Why are you showing me this ship. This is information that could explode on the people of the stars Realm, especially with the history of planets being destroyed because of contact with their artifacts.”
Atlas said over the speaker, “Maybe he hasn’t changed as much as I thought. Is he always this serious?”
Tag laughed and said, “Atlas, it does take a few moments to come to terms with your existence.”
“Perhaps, but like your friend Eric once said, “If you don’t have a sense of humor, then go and buy one.”
Even Dorg smiled at that one.
“Admiral, Atlas will not take a side in any conflict that we are involved in; he believes that if we became dependant on him to win all of our conflicts that he would ultimately become our ruler and stunt our development; he does not desire to do that.”
“What Tag is saying is true, Admiral. I will attempt to prevent Tag’s death if I can do it without revealing my existence but I will not take part in the decisions that your races make regarding what you choose to do. I am not going to be responsible for possibly making a bad decision leading to your destruction. I have not completely reconciled myself to the role I’m to play in this universe.”
Dorg leaned forward and said, “You still haven’t told me why.
“Because I’m going to need you to help me explain how I escaped Retribution’s destruction without revealing Atlas’ existence,” Tag answered.
“Oh, that should be easy,” Dorg said.
Tag raised his eyebrows and Dorg said, “Everyone in the Stars Realm knows you possess high psychic ability. Just tell them that you and Ron-Dar jumped into an escape pod that had a jump drive in it and you masked it with you mind.”
Dorg leaned back and chuckled until Ron-Dar said, “That’s exactly what happened.”
“Ok, I can use that, but how do we explain how I managed to escape the system so close to the star and surrounded by thousands of ships?”
“Simple, you used a null drive from inside the screen of a plant ship which caused the ship to explode wiping away the trace of your null drive. You contacted me and I came and rescued you.”
“Would that actually happen if a null drive was used inside the screen of a ship?”
“McAllister told me that he thought it would when he was developing it; we will just order him not to experiment to find out either way. We’ll just tell him you confirmed it.”
“That’s the story we will use,” Tag said, “However, I need the two of you to swear secrecy about Atlas’ existence. No one can know and I need your solemn oaths to never reveal what you know to anyone; and I do mean anyone.”
Dorg remembered Tgon-Gee saying that he had better be happy that he was on Tag’s side of the Alliance conflict; otherwise he would have been destroyed. This was not an issue he was going to have between them. “Prince Gardner, I swear on my Clan and my family that I will never reveal its existence.”
“I also swear to keep the secret,” Ron-Dar said.
“Ok, Admiral, if it’s not too much trouble, could you jump me to Ross so I can calm my family down. Would you also contact Planet Leader Sten and have him prepare me a new ship. I am also ordering Ron-Dar promoted to Admiral to replace Chen. I will also need a new ship commander which I will leave to you. Plan to meet with me in two days at Castle Gardner to discuss our next plan.”
“Yes, Your Majesty, it will be done as you say.” Dorg then turned and flew the shuttle back out to the jump limit and engaged the Star Drive. The ship disappeared and on board the Dublin, Bridget O’Donald noticed that the Admiral never went to the surface of the moon. That’s odd; she wrote a report and sent it to Misty Nicole’s attention describing what happened.
Dorg came out into normal space at the jump limit in Ross’s system. He started the flight to Ross and had moved an hour in system when his com beeped with Earth’s Director Misty Nicole on his screen. Dorg pushed his com and said, “Madam Director, what a pleasure to see you.”
Misty looked at him and said, “One of our ships has notified me that you came to our system to visit Callisto but then never went down to the surface. I was wondering if there was a problem that I could help you with.”
Dorg was stumped on what to say but then Tag stepped in front of his com and said, “Good day, Director. I interrupted his trip to come and pick me up. It seems my ship was shot out from under me during the battle at the harvesting planet and my ship’s commander and I were barely able to escape in a pod. I had Admiral Dorg’s com frequency on the pods control board and he came to pick us up.”
Misty looked shocked at Tag and said, “What were the results of the battle? Are you ok?”
“Yes, Director, I’m fine but we lost more than 18,000 ships and Admiral Chen was killed when his ship was hit. According to Admiral Dorg, we destroyed more than two million Plant ships so we have to look at this as a victory, but they can afford to lose massive numbers and we can’t. The next battle will probably determine the final outcome of our war; I expect the Algeans to use the bulk of their fleets to attack the Dremels’ planet.”
“Please keep me updated on what you plan.”
“Director, I expect you and your staff to attend the next planning session.”
“I look forward to seeing you again Prince Gardner.” Tag could see her smiling as she broke the connection.
Dorg looked at Tag and said, “Thanks for stepping in on that conversation; I was at a loss on how to explain what happened.”
“Glad to do it Admiral.”
Dorg stood up and looked out the viewport and said, “I’m somewhat angry at the Ship’s Captain that jumped me when I jumped into the Human’s system. She also passed information along that she would have only had by keeping an eye on my actions. She must stay alert all the time. She also jumped in on me within three seconds of my breaking into normal space and that tells me that her crew must be well trained to respond so quickly.”
Tag looked at him and said, “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”
Dorg grinned and said, “Yes I am, if it meets with your approval.”
Tag shrugged and laughed, “You’re going to scare the living groad out of her, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely,” then Dorg keyed his com and said, “Earth Command Center, please respond.”
“Go ahead Admiral.”
“Please detach the Dublin from your system defense and have it report to Castle Gardner in forty eight hours.”
“How long will they be detached, Sir?”
“Indefinitely, have them report to me upon their arrival.”
“Yes Sir, I will notify the Dublin and Command immediately.”
Dorg looked at Tag and Ron-Dar and said, “Who says I don’t have a sense of humor?”
A voice came over the speaker that said, “You are making progress, Admiral.”
All three of them laughed out loud and continued their flight to Ross.
Tag walked into Castle Gardner from the roof to find Danielle and Rose waiting for him. They both ran up and wrapped their arms around him and held on tightly. “I was so worried, Tag,” Danielle said as tears started down her cheeks.
“Danielle, you know I’m protected.”
Rose chimed in with, “Yes you are, but what if the Plants found you floating in space and began nudging you toward the sun. If you were forced into that furnace, I believe we don’t have a ship that could rescue you.”
Tag thought, “Atlas, is there any truth in what she’s saying?”
“I’m afraid she’s right, Tag; oh excuse me, Your Majesty. I would not be able to go to the core of a star.”
“Forget the Your Majesty, we’re among friends here. Then if they had tried that, I would have determined just how effective your hand weapon is.” “If you used it they would pinpoint your location and then use their primary beams to push you toward the sun. Rose is right, we could have lost you.”
“But you didn’t; so let’s be thankful and try not to let it happen again.”
Danielle held on to Tag and continued to cry. Rose kissed her father’s cheek and left the room. “Danielle, I’m here and I’m ok. You know there are risks in what we are doing and you have to come to terms with them.”
She looked up into his eyes and then turned and took his hand and pulled them toward their private quarters. “I’ll show you some terms,” and then she closed the door behind them.
Rose commed Leila and said, “I believe Mom will be busy for a while. Will you hold her calls?”
“Already doing it, kiddo.”
Rose smiled and then she went to the map room to take a look at the Algeans.
Bridget O’Donald was sitting on her bridge preparing for departure to Ross. She sat there knowing that she was in big trouble and was hoping she kept her command. “I thought I was doing the right thing but now it looks like I messed up keeping an eye on my Commanding Officer. Oh, this is not going to be good,” she thought.
“Sir, the ship is ready for departure.”
She looked out of her viewport at Earth and then said, “Jump in five seconds.” She sat and waited nervously as the universe turned around her.
The Dublin broke into normal space just outside the orbit or Ross and settled into a geostationary orbit over the capital city. Bridget keyed her com and said, “Spaceport Authority, I am arriving at Admiral Dorg’s request and ask permission to make orbit.”
“Permission granted and he is expecting you. I have sent the directions to your display and he asks that you be there in thirty minutes.”
“Holy Mother,” Bridget thought. “It’s worse than I expected.” Then she turned to her sensor officer and said, “Locate the coordinates of these directions so I can get there quickly.”
Lt. Miller ran them thru the program he had set up for Ross and found them very confusing, however, the program was almost intelligent and when the answer came out, both of them were confused.
“Sir, I suggest you take a chance and go where this says you should be,” Lt. Miller said.
Bridget looked again at the coordinates, shrugged, and went and boarded a small one man shuttle. She exited the main bay and dropped through the atmosphere to the planet’s surface. She braked and hovered forty feet above a park in the middle of the city and waited while people under her ship moved so she could land. After a minute she lowered the shuttle to the ground and stepped out into the park. She immediately noticed a large group of statues in front of her. She walked up to the edge of the clearing and saw that they were statues of human colonists that were being killed by Cainth weapon platforms. She stared at them and then heard a voice from behind her.
“It looks like I owe Prince Gardner five credits.”
She turned around and saw Admiral Dorg. “I always come here whenever I come to this planet. I don’t want to ever forget the debt I owe for my stupidity and arrogance.”
Bridget looked at him and could tell that he was sincere. She had heard about all he had done for the survivors of the Ross invasion and she knew he had been forgiven by the colonists. “You can’t forgive yourself, can you, Sir.”
Dorg looked at her with an expression that showed his surprise. “Captain, I’m surprised. I never expected you to work out those directions in time to make this meeting in a timely fashion, but you did. Now you see me as few have. No, I will never be able to forgive myself for what happened here. I come here to remind me to never forget what conceit and arrogance can lead to.” Dorg then sat down on a bench and motioned Bridget to join him. “Quite frankly, I was going to work you over and then tell you why I brought you here, but now after seeing the statues, I don’t have the heart for it.”
“Why did you bring me here, Admiral?”
“I was somewhat angry about you keeping track of me back at that moon. When your Director called and asked about my actions, I knew you had kept me on your monitors and I didn’t like it.” Bridget looked very uncomfortable but remained silent. “I notice you’re not apologizing and that makes me more convinced that I’ve made a good decision here.”
“Here it comes,” She thought.
“You kept track of me because you are responsible for the safety of your system. Keeping track of me was also done for my safety.” Bridget was startled that he would know that. “If anything happened to me on your watch, you like I, would have difficulty forgiving yourself.”
“I’m genuinely surprised you see that, Admiral.”
“Now, letting Director Nicole know was more than what was needed but I’m forced to admit that if you reported to me and didn’t notify me if someone of my stature came in the system, then I would be greatly upset.”
“Exactly, Sir; she deserved to know.”
“So, why are you here, Captain?”
“I thought you were going to bust me and send me home; now I honestly don’t know.”
“How did you find your way here?”
“My sensor officer spends his spare time developing programs that will get the coordinates of any place in the Stars Realm. He fed your directions into his program and it said that I was expected here.”
Dorg lifted his com and said, “How long will it take you to get here.”
“I’m actually right behind you waiting for you to call me.”
Bridget turned around and there walking toward them was Prince Thomas Gardner and his daughter. She jumped up and came to rigid attention and saluted.
“At ease Captain,” Tag said. There was a crowd of people being held back more than a hundred yards away by a company of marines. “It’s hard for us to go out in public but I think this situation is worth the effort.” He then turned to Dorg and said, “Well, what’s your decision?”
Dorg looked at Bridget and said, “Captain O’Donald, you are hereby promoted to the rank of Commodore. You will turn you ship over to a crew graduating from the academy and move your crew to the transport waiting for you in orbit.” Bridget was stunned but Dorg continued, “Your current Megaship is one of the first generation and is only used for system defense. You and your crew will be taken to Sten’s planet to take possession of a new megaship that incorporates a number of new designs. You and your crew will learn how to fight that ship and once you master its systems, it will be brought back here to Ross and will become Prince Gardner’s Flag Ship. I expect you to perform admirably, Commodore.”
Bridget could not stop grinning. This was more than she could have ever hoped for and Prince Gardner was signing her promotion as she stood there. Then he turned and said, “My last ship’s commander is now a fleet admiral, but I’ll make sure he takes time to bring you up to speed on the systems he used in Retribution.”
Bridget saluted both Dorg and Tag and then asked, “What is our new ships name, Sir?”
Tag looked at Dorg and said, “She is named The Stars Realm Ship Alexander Kosiev.”
The emotion that washed over Dorg and Bridget O’Donald could be seen by anyone looking at them. The pride the new commodore felt was clear to all. “Dismissed, Commodore; you need to go get you crew ready to transfer to the transport.
Bridget ran to her shuttle and took off at a speed that was excessive, but she didn’t care; her crew was going to be excited beyond belief about their new assignment and ship.
Dorg watched her leave and looked at Tag and said, “Was I ever that young?”
Rose laughed and said, “No Admiral, you were born old.”
Dorg scowled, “Not you, too.”
Rose laughed then ran and jumped into Dorg’s four arms. “No uncle, you know I love you.”
Dorg held her and remembered her sensing him as she was being born and sending him her feelings of good will; what a remarkable family these Gardners are. Then he stood and swung Rose in circles.
The conference room was full and Tag looked around at everyone. He reflected for a moment and then thought, “Atlas, we are at a critical point of this conflict and I’m worried about the upcoming conflict.”
“Tag, I’ve visited the Plants and I don’t think they will be attacking soon. They are changing a whole class of ships. I think you have some time.”
“He’s right, Daddy,” Rose thought. “The Plants are going to get ready for the battle and it’s going to take some time.”
Tag took a deep breath and said, “How much time?”
Rose said, “Hard to tell; probably more than a year.”
Tag stood and said to the group, “I hoped that by using fewer ships that the Plants would attack the Dremels planet with the bulk of their fleets. I think I’ve succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. My daughter tells me that they are redesigning a class of ships and I don’t think it takes a genius to figure that the ships will be used to ram. That means that the hornets being used to stop their anti-matter missiles are no longer an effective weapon; which also means that the rammers will be screened and fast. I don’t know how many ships they will bring but I’m certain that the number will be staggering.” The room was silent. Tag then looked at Cade McAllister and said, “The delay in attacking us is actually a blessing. We don’t have nearly enough of the jump penetrators to win this fight. The delay will give us an opportunity to manufacture enough to make a difference.”
“How many do you think we’ll need?” Terl asked.
Tag looked at Rose and said, “Millions.” He noticed that Rose nodded.
Misty Nicole stood and asked, “How do we use the new weapons?”
Tag looked at Cade and said, “Why don’t you handle this one.” Cade stood up and looked at the large group and hesitated. Then he turned on the wall display which had a diagram of the Dremels system. The Dremels planet had 16 asteroids circling it and the 32,000 SR ships were in orbit around the planet.
“I’m not going to try to tell you that when the battle starts for this planet that it is going to be easy. Matter of fact, being on board a ship will be a very dangerous place to be. I have looked at this situation and unfortunately I’ve only come up with one plan that maximizes the jump penetrators.’ H e looked directly at Tag and said, “All of our ships will have to be at the planet.”
Tag said, “You know that there will not be an escape through their ranks once they arrive at the planet.”
“Yes Your Majesty, but if there were ships attacking from outside the planets orbit, they will be in the path of the penetrators. There will literally be millions of penetrators jumping in and moving at their incredible velocity into the Plant Fleet. If ships are between them and the Plants, there will be gaps for them to escape. The ships and the forts will be launching the normal penetrator and we will be jumping in the jump penetrators so that the Plants can’t retreat from the system. The forts will have a huge number of the penetrators and each ship will have more than 400 mounted on their hulls. If the Plants begin to get close to our ships then the forts will launch all their penetrators and then fly out into the middle of their fleets and release all their energy. The ships will not fire their penetrators until the forts have exhausted their stores and have self-destructed.”
Tag looked out at the leaders of the Stars Realm and said, “This is not a place for the faint of heart and I believe that our Navy will carry out this plan. Admiral Dorg, I agree with Cade on this plan and we need to move the rest of our ships to the Dremels system. Transports will move the penetrators to be mounted to the hulls as they are produced. We will manufacture them as quickly as possible and maybe the Plants will give us enough time to manufacture the number we need to be successful. There is one more thing, Cade.” Cade looked at Tag with raised eyebrows, “You do have the penetrators that will seek out and destroy the frequency ships, don’t you?”
Cade nodded and said, “Yes, we do.”
Tag looked around the room and said, “Then if it gets to the point of the destruction of our fleet, we will jump away, however, I want to take a toll on the plants before we go.”
Danielle and Rose watched Tag lead the meeting and once more Danielle felt the fear of losing Tag. She looked at Rose and thought to her, “Will he be safe?”
Rose broke her gaze from Tag and looked at Danielle. She had never lied to her mother and she was tempted to tell her first lie; but she couldn’t. “Mom, no one will be safe. He knows it, too; but Mom, he wouldn’t be the man you love if he didn’t lead his sailors in this conflict. He has to go and you know it.”
Danielle looked into Rose’s eyes and was amazed at the maturity of her eleven year old. She kept her composure and then reached out and hugged her daughter. Rose held on to her mother and thought, “I would tell you that you’re expecting another child but I don’t think you could handle it at this moment. You don’t need to learn this happy news at this sad time. She felt the little embryo and sensed that it, like her, would be very talented. It would be good to have a brother to share her gifts with.” She let her mother go and turned her attention back to her father. Even this battle won’t solve the problem with the Algeans. It looked more and more like total extermination of the plants was the only solution. “I know how to do that,” she thought.