The Supreme Male joined his family after millions of Eight Leg ships had jumped into the new universe to be harvested. It had been more than six million years since the last harvest and the scouts had discovered millions of planets with intelligent life. This was going to be a good meal for his children. There were still six million ships to jump in and go to their initial targets as the first four million set their star drives for their assigned planet. The Supreme Male looked at his sensor leader and asked, “Status?”
“Our first arrivals will be arriving at their targets within six dxls. The remainder of our ships will be here in less than four dxls.”
The Supreme Male leaned back on his pad and looked forward to the harvest.
Six light hours away from the universal entry point a white furred being listened to the thoughts of the two eight legs and felt his excitement rise. His plotting board had every Eight Leg main ship plotted that had arrived in the universe and it was good news that all of their ships would arrive before any had actually landed on a planet; those planets were a meal best saved for later. It punched up its plotter and sent the updated information to those waiting in another universe. It wasn’t going to be long before his clan’s arrival. As the Eight Leg ships continued to jump in, the plotter tracked them and sent their coordinates to the waiting clan.
Four hours later the sensor leader said, “All ships are here, Supreme Male and have received their assignments.”
“Excellent, prepare to jump to our first meal.”
The White Furred Creature heard their remarks and hit the communication panel, “They’re all here. Begin your attack.” The Supreme Male’s Ship was the target of the plotter and he jumped his five hundred mile long ship in to within six miles of the huge, thirty thousand mile wide, main ship and fired his ships’ main beam. A thousand mile wide hole was blown through the mother ship and exited the other side. The beam was targeted on the mother ships engines and communication panels and the huge green ship began drifting. The green substance of the mother ship’s hull was not immune to the energy being used and all of its drives were destroyed.
“What was that?”
“I don’t know, Supreme Male but our ship is disabled. We are unable to move or communicate.”
The white ship flew into the huge hole blasted through the mother ship and stopped at the center of the huge green ship. Millions of white furred creatures began exiting holes in its surface and spread out attacking every Eight Leg they could find. The spiders viciously fought back but their fangs stopped on the skin under the fur of the white creatures. The talons and teeth of the attacking clan ripped through the Eight Legs’ armor exposing them to the vacuum of space and exploded them.
The White Clan Warrior exited the white ship and immediately sensed huge numbers of the green Eight Legs floating directly ahead. It rubbed its feet talons and moved toward the huge floating mass and smiled as it began striking the Eight Legs with its talons. The eighteen inch retractable talons were made from a substance that nothing physical could resist and Eight Legs began exploding in their armor as the vacuum of space entered and pulverized them. This was wonderful. Three Eight Legs landed on the Warrior and bared their fangs to attack but could not penetrate its skin, which was made of the same substance as its talons. The white warrior just shrugged them off and ripped them to pieces. She saw three of her other clan members approaching and was angered to have her fun interrupted. She snarled at them but heard, “Don’t be ridiculous. There’s millions more here for all of us.”
The clan warrior looked around and released her senses and saw her brother was right. “Come join in, I see a much larger mass of them behind the large ship our beam penetrated.”
“We see it, too. Now quit wasting time talking and enjoy the moment.”
The White Warrior flew toward a group of ten Eight Legs trying to escape and ripped them apart.
The white creatures also carried hand guns that disintegrated every Eight Leg unfortunate enough to be hit by its white beam. Those beams killed large groups of Eight Legs that were attempting to mass to attack the boarders. Each of the White Clan killed thousands of the spiders floating in the weightless environment before they could respond. The spiders quickly determined that they could do nothing to protect themselves from these creatures and tried to escape to formulate a plan to handle these mysterious invaders, but the attackers sensed them wherever they tried to hide. The White Clan could sense any creature that possessed organized thought. Thousands of Eight Legs would attack a single white creature only to be disintegrated or ripped apart by teeth and talons. The white creatures easily maneuvered in the weightless environment by rubbing the claws of their feet and hands, which directed a propulsion beam. The substance of their claws absorbed energy and used it for movement. These creatures were designed to kill in the emptiness of space or the surface of a planet.
They flew around the interior of the mother ship killing every Eight Leg on board before landing on the hulls of the thousands of ships parked inside the giant green ship. The ships could not escape because the machinery that operated the doors on the surface was disabled by the initial beam strike. The White Clan Warriors landed on the hulls of thousands of small ships and used their talons and guns to rip their way into the interior. The Eight legs inside were dismembered or disintegrated. After the small ships were destroyed, the huge white ship used its main beam to blow large holes in the hundred-mile-long transports, making it easy for the Clan’s Warriors to enter.
The Supreme Male could hear millions of his children dying and could not grasp what was taking place. His interior sensors had been destroyed when the main beam had blown through his ship and the Sensor Leader could not determine what was happening. His time to develop a strategy to combat these creatures was short as the Plotter entered the bridge of the mother ship and smiled as it killed every Eight Leg it encountered in the room. He saved the Supreme Male for last. As The Supreme Male backed into a corner he heard, “Your species is weak. Is this the best you can do?” The white creature back handed the Supreme Male into the back wall where he fell and jumped back up. “No wonder you’re being replaced.”
The Supreme Male bared his fangs and rushed the advancing white creature that contemptuously slashed him in half with his talons and burned the remains with his hand gun. He looked around the bridge and turned to go back to his ship. He killed fifty Eight Legs on his way out and wondered how the rest of his Clan was faring.
As the White Clan Leader flew back to his ship, he looked around and saw the killing continue around him and start to spread to the parked ships. He entered his control room and punched his control panel and heard, “Clan Leader, the first green ships that jumped into this universe launched their attack craft before we arrived. What is your order?”
“Kill the Mother Ship and then follow the attack craft to the surface of the planet; you will then dispose of every Eight Leg and all other intelligent beings after you finish the green creatures on the surface. If they try to escape in their ships, use your ships’ main beam to destroy them.” He then hit his general communication button, “All ships that finish with the Mother Ships will go to their targeted planets and dispose of any intelligent life. Your next targets have been sent to your boards. Do not waste time. We’ll come back to eat the remains later.”
Every Eight Leg Mother ship that had jumped into the new universe had a white ship assigned to it and they jumped in next to them and killed them. Every green ship and every green creature was dead in less than twelve hours. The white ships then jumped to planets that had not yet been attacked by the Eight Legs and began systematically destroying every civilization. The main population centers were hit by beams from ships above the planet and cities disappeared in a white inferno that burned down to the planet’s bedrock. Millions of white creatures flew down to the surface and used their senses to home in on any survivors that possessed organized thought. Unlike the creatures they were replacing, these beings enjoyed killing in large numbers callously using their guns to hit any concentration of inhabitants. Collecting information from those killed was not something they were programmed to do and the death of a planet’s population happened at an unbelievable pace.
The killing released a blood lust in the White Clan and they reveled in the misery and suffering of those they attacked. Anyone struck by their claws slowly died if they weren’t killed immediately; the substance of their talons was poison to any other life form. A huge number of intelligent beings were slightly slashed so they would die slowly and be alive when the white creatures returned for their meal; like cats they wanted to play with their meal before consuming it. They were amazingly fast and could move faster than any other creature in existence; hitting these creatures with any kind of weapon was next to impossible. They sensed the weapon being aimed and moved faster than the defenders could target them. Their hardened skin was impenetrable to any projectile fired at them and beams didn’t even burn their fur. Where the Eight Legs killed planets in ten to eighteen hours, these creatures finished in less than five; they were extraordinary killers.
Six weeks later the universe was empty of intelligent life. The savagery was beyond imagination and the Clan Leader wished for more; he was angry there was nothing left to kill. He looked at his board that had originally shown millions of intelligent planets and saw it empty. He thought a moment and then ordered, “Go back to the green mother ships and disintegrate them. I want nothing of them left behind. After you have completed that task, you may feed.”
The fourteen million white ships jumped to their original targets and made short work of the mother ships. They then rushed to the planet below to sate their hunger. After ten hours, the Clan Leader saw a message on his board and felt immediate fear. “Stop eating and return to your ships. We have been ordered back to our world by our maker.”
The billions of the White Clan stopped instantly and lifted off planet. Not one of them wanted to anger the Maker. They boarded their ships and shivered hoping the Maker wasn’t angry.
“Very impressive.”
“I thought you would like the demonstration.”
“I notice you gave them the ability to jump directly to a planet.”
“I just couldn’t justify the waste of time having to move in from the gravity belt. The old tool wasn’t given this technology because I enjoyed watching the fear of the planets being attacked.”
“And now?”
“It bores me.”
“Destroying large populations was a nice touch. Is there enough left to feed them afterwards?”
The Red Being smiled, “I made them eat the ones they killed but they survive on the energy their ships collect from the stars in the attacked system. They have no real need to eat but I thought it was the environmentally right thing to do to remove all the waste.”
The first red being looked at the second with an expression that showed his disbelief, “Oh you are so sarcastic; environmentally right thing my crooked left leg. When have you ever worried about the environment?”
The Red Being laughed out loud holding his sides, “You’re right, I only set it up for this one demonstration. I thought you would find it funny. The final product will just leave the dead behind. You caught me. Don’t you find it humorous?”
The first red being laughed and said, “Yes, it was a nice touch; I also see you don’t have them collecting any information from those they kill.”
“I originally added that so the tool would be able to develop whatever it needed to be effective over its millions of years use. I hate taking time on them. They never added anything to their weapons so it was a wasted effort.”
“Why develop anything if you never lose? Do you think there might be anything they collected of interest to us?”
“They killed almost every one they encountered. If those attacked had anything of use my tool wouldn’t have been successful.”
The first thought a moment, “There was one instance.”
“It’s being handled.”
“I suppose you’re right. What now?”
“I see no reason not to go ahead and make the necessary numbers to replace the current tool. It will take some time for me to make that happen and there is a little fine tuning left to finish. The means to remove them if necessary needs some work but I don’t see it taking much longer.”
“What about those you just used?”
“I have to bring them back to make the necessary numbers. I’m sure they won’t like it but what choice do they have. I’ll stun them so they won’t be a nuisance. I also need to manufacture their ships. Do you have any other concerns?”
“No, but if I think of any I’ll let you know.”
“You always do.”
“Nest Mother, one of our families sent to harvest is not reporting.”
The Nest Mother felt her fear, “Send ten ships to investigate. Report back immediately.”
Ten Green Main Ships entered the targeted universe and did not detect any of the Main Ships that had come to harvest. “Sensor Leader, do you detect any of our ships?”
“No, First Fang but there are grounded transports on numerous planets. I do not detect any life around them.”
The Supreme Male looked at his display and decided, “We will take nine ships to one of the planets and investigate. Leave one here up against the entry point ready to jump instantly if anything appears.”
“It will be as you order, First Fang.”
The nine main ships jumped to a planet where hundreds of grounded transports were seen on the surface and moved in system. Eight hours later they arrived above the planet’s surface and saw the devastation. Cities were burned and billions of bodies were lying everywhere. They also saw millions of their warriors scattered around the ships they had used to land. Most had not moved very far from their landing site; whatever had killed them had done it extremely fast.
“Send a transport down and see what happened.”
The transport landed and saw the atrocity. Millions of their brothers were laying where they had been ripped to pieces. Some had holes burned through them that cooked the Eight Leg inside its armor. The Landing Leader was sickened, “First Fang.”
“What have you found?”
“Something has killed our brothers here. They have ripped through our green armor with some kind of sharp object and killed millions of our family. They also possess some kind of energy weapon that was not stopped by our armor. The local inhabitants are all killed in the same manner and they were killed in huge numbers by some kind of beam weapon. It looks like the cities were struck from above, so it is my guess that they were fired on from above the planet’s atmosphere.”
The Supreme Male looked over at his Sensor Leader, “How many planets still have intelligent life?”
The Sensor Leader looked at his board and said, “None.”
“There were millions reported here.”
“They no longer exist, First Fang. Someone has killed them all.”
The Supreme Male knew there was no way this family could have done what they were witnessing. It had only been a short time since their harvest started and less than a quarter of this universe could have been collected in the time since their arrival. Someone else was killing intelligent life and it was also able to kill them.”
“Recall the transport and tell the Transport Leader to download what he has collected as soon as he arrives on board. Prepare to leave immediately.”
The Nest Mother looked at the collected information and knew real fear. She deduced that the first universe that had stopped her harvest did not do what she saw in the second. She knew that the being had not lied when he said that the missing Mother Ship was now a friend. She also thought that if the first universe had a universal drive to go to any universe without being limited to one door, then they would be coming here. It also didn’t make sense to threaten to kill her for killing intelligent life and then go out and do the same thing.
If not them, then who could have done this? Then she thought about the being that had made her species intelligent. This had to be their doing. This must be a new species being controlled and this was one that represented a real danger to her and her families. She fought hard but then ordered another harvesting. She tried to resist but could not overcome the compulsion. She feared for herself and her children.
Two weeks had passed since Sprig was charged with coming up with a plan to try and save the Nest Mother. The round table was full with Matt and Melanie at the head of the table and all the other attendees were seated by species. Matt looked around the table, “What have you come up with?”
Sprig stood, “We have been working to prepare a ship that can take us to the Nest Mother’s location. We decided to work on making a defender class vessel the instrument that might carry out our plan. Destiny has converted the drive system so that it can jump into other universes. Newton has connected his repulsion device to a red generator and it should keep the Green ships away from us long enough to make our attempt. We’re hoping our red screen will allow us to get close enough without being detected so we can launch a penetrator to pierce the hull of her ship.”
Matt took his hand off his chin and asked, “Do we have a penetrator that can penetrate a hundred miles?”
“We actually have quite a few that could get through that far; however, it is going to take two more special penetrators to make a hole big enough for our purposes.”
Melanie tilted her head to the right, “What do you mean by that?”
Sprig looked at the Royal Couple and said, “We are going to blow a hole through the hull big enough for two searcher vessels to fly into the core of the ship.”
“Isn’t that dangerous; how are they going to escape?”
“We will fire a second penetrator through the same hole that will be tipped with an extremely hot Coronado Power Cell that will burn all the standard materials used inside the ship all the way to the hull on the opposite side. The third penetrator will follow the second and should pass completely through the ship and exit the hull providing an escape route out. The three penetrators will be launched simultaneously with a half second spacing between them; the two ships will follow the third penetrator through the hole and stop only long enough to teleport the queen into one ship and her command chamber into the second.”
Matt said, “You have got to be kidding. Do we have that kind of control in aiming the penetrators? Why do you need the command chamber?”
“We believe we can do it. The hull is too thick to teleport them out so we have to bring them out to us, teleport the two ships to the defender, and then escape to our universe. All we need to do is fire the penetrators at a section of the hull where they pass through close to the center. They will go out as one unit and will all hit the same strike point.”
“Why the command chamber?”
“Oh yes, I skipped that point. If we are going to break the compulsions controlling the Nest Mother, we have to do it with the leg receptacles. Einstein has studied pictures of the command chamber in his ship’s data and it is his belief that the chamber is totally self-sufficient. All of the power supply, atmosphere generators, and connectors are in a room slightly smaller than the size of a searcher ship’s landing bay. It is not made of the green matter so it should teleport normally. Before you ask why we don’t just teleport both of them together, consider that we don’t want her to send a distress call to her creators through those receptacles.”
Just who is the commander of the defender class vessel being sent to do this?”
Sprig looked at Destiny and the Spider rose on his eight legs, “I am, Your Highness.”
Matt started and said, “I am not willing to risk losing you, Destiny.”
Destiny lowered himself, “I am sorry to disappoint you your highness, however, we are the only ones that know how to control the universal drive. We do not have time to train anyone else in time to make this mission possible. The drive requires eight different tasks to be done together and unfortunately, we are the only ones in the Realm with eight appendages.”
“Who are the Searchers chosen for this mission?”
Life stood and said “Grena and me, your majesty.”
Matt shook his head, “Why are we risking some of our most valuable assets in this exercise?”
Sprig leaned forward, “Your Majesty, this exercise will determine our future efforts against the beings in that galaxy. If we are unsuccessful, then we will probably turn to developing weapons. Our armed forces will have very little to do for many years. It is thus incumbent upon us to use the absolute best personnel to maximize our chances of success. The Gresh have the best vision of all our Searchers and their depth perception is the best. Their natural psychic skills will also keep the two connected mentally such that they should be acting together with no communication delay. Destiny and his children know the place we are going and are best qualified to navigate us there. I am the best at teleportation devices so I will be there as well.”
“Sorry, Sprig; you cannot go.”
Sprig looked at Matt, “Why not?”
“Because you are in line for the throne of the Realm and are prohibited from combat operations. This is not a rule I’ll ignore.”
Sprig lowered his branches and Twig said, “I’ll go.”
Matt shook his head, “The answer is no for the same reason.”
Stem moved forward, “I’ll go, Father. I have all of your memories and I do understand the teleportation processes.”
Sprig turned to Stem and showed his disappointment at missing the exercise, “You would be a good substitute for us. You will go in our place. Enjoy life while you’re young. I envy you.”
Melanie looked at Sprig, “When are you planning to do this?”
“We are installing the repulsion screen on Life’s and Grena’s ships as we speak. The defender class vessel is ready and Destiny and Edison will check out the universal drive later today. Newton and Einstein are downloading the coordinates of the Nest Mother’s chamber into the Searcher’s computers. In the event we’re successful, we have built a facility to hold the chamber for our tests and we’ve selected a planet with enough food to keep her fed while we work on the chamber. If all goes well, we will jump to their universe tomorrow. We don’t have much time before the Reg implement their block, so time is essential. If we fail to get the Nest Mother, then we are going to fire a load of iron-tree balls into the green command vessel and jump back home.”
“I hope we aren’t forced to do that.” Matt thought a moment then looked at Destiny, “What happens if we are successful and take the Nest Mother? What will those left behind do in her absence?”
“I’m not certain. I suspect the senior Supreme Male will assume command. If we take the command chamber, then he will have no reason to hatch a new Mother. He’ll know that without the chamber the new mother would be useless. Perhaps he will get the scientists focused on building a universal drive that would allow them to come after her. That should fail in that we have never found a generator powerful enough to make it work. Either way, we are going to need her assistance to save the other members of my species. She is going to be the key to our success. If we killed her, we would have to kill every Supreme Male on every ship and I just don’t see that happening. She is our only chance at making this work and anything else would be wasted effort. This is literally all or nothing.”
“How are you going to remove her compulsions?”
Sprig looked at Melanie, “Einstein, Newton, and Freud are working on developing a virus that will attack the instructions that allow them to be implanted. Once that program sees their structure, then another virus will be downloaded into the Nest Mother, hopefully canceling the compulsions. All of this is speculative until we can actually see the device that puts the compulsions in her.”
Matt sighed and looked at the gathered group, “Life, do you think the two of you can pull this off?”
Life and Grena looked at each other and smiled, “I don’t know, Your Majesty, but it will be huge fun trying. I’m sorry you can’t tag along.”
Matt smiled and said, “Good luck with your plan. We’ll keep the light on in the guest quarters. This meeting is adjourned. Notify me of the results.”
Stem looked at the bridge crew of Stars End and thought they were very efficient at their tasks. The ships’ commander was Admiral Sen-gen who was chosen by Admiral Kosiev for this particular mission. The huge Glod female filled her command chair and kept a close eye on the activities of the bridge crew. “Are the Red Warriors on board yet?”
Captain Mendel looked at his board, “Yes Sir, both teams are in the forward ready room checking their weapons.”
“Make sure they are ready before the jump. They may have to repel borders.”
“Yes Sir.”
Sen-Gen looked at Stem and said, “Sir, we are almost ready for the jump. The eight penetrators are locked in place and their systems are active.”
Stem leaned back, “I thought we were only firing three.”
“That is the plan, but I’m not taking any chances on penetration. If the first doesn’t make it through the hull then another will follow it and then we’ll fire two more to breach the other side of the ship. The two Searchers will be notified when to launch.”
“What happens if four don’t penetrate?”
“I am authorized at that point to launch the other four main penetrators and kill everything in that vessel.”
“Keep me notified Admiral.”
Sen-Gen nodded and turned back to her board. The Stars End was active. The crew was manning the 2,400 penetrator launchers and checking the ship’s weapons systems to insure no failures during combat. Sen-Gen knew that once they jumped into the other universe Destiny would become the overall commander of the mission. She was going to make sure the ship was as ready as possible for the coming mission.
Stem went to the teleportation panel and checked the modulator and power readings. These screens must be timed perfectly and only cover the object being moved. It wouldn’t be good if Eight Leg Warriors were brought on Life’s and Grena’s ships. He checked their calibration again.
Destiny was with Edison looking at the jump and teleport boards. “Now you understand that we are jumping in more than half a universe away from the Nest Mother’s ship.”
“I know father, and as soon as our red screen is activated I am teleporting to a distance of fifty diameters from her. We’ll scan the area around her vessel and then teleport away to plan our approach.”
“What happens after the Searchers enter her ship?”
“I will teleport to the opposite side of her ship where the second penetrator has exited and wait for the Searchers to emerge. I’ll teleport them in to the landing bay and then jump back to our universe.”
Destiny looked at his child and knew he was ready. He just worried like any anxious parent. “We may have to fight off attackers, but you keep your eyes on your screen for those Searchers.”
“I will, father.”
“I’m going to the bridge; call me if you need me.”
Destiny arrived on the Bridge and Sen-Gen rose and saluted him, “Your ship is ready to jump when you are, Sir.”
Destiny knew Naval protocols but still felt it unfair that one of the Realm’s highest ranking officers was junior to him. “Admiral, I realize that I have the overall command of this mission; however, I do not know this ship and its capabilities as well as you. You will remain in the command chair and direct the ship. I will give instructions about what we want to see happen and you will use your knowledge of this vessel to carry them out.”
Sen-Gen’s opinion of the spider went up considerably. She recognized a good leader making the best decisions based on available resources and putting self second, “Yes Sir, I will do my best.”
“Then launch when you are ready, Admiral.”
Sen-gen hit her intercom button, “Attention all crew members, report your ready status to the bridge.”
Captain Mendel looked at his board and said, “All sections report ready, Admiral.”
Sen-Gen looked at Captain Mendel, “Go to battle stations, Captain.”
Mendel hit the button and the klaxon began wailing, “Battle stations; all hands to battle stations. Arm your weapons.” The lighting on the bridge went to combat luminosity so the board’s lights would be clearer. Sen-Gen nodded and the klaxon silenced. “All hands report ready, Admiral.”
Sen-Gen looked at Destiny and nodded; he said, “Edison, take us into the other universe.” The huge three hundred mile wide ship disappeared.
“Nest Mother, I have detected a universal drive entering our universe.”
The Nest Mother looked quickly at her communication panel, “Where is it?”
“It’s about halfway across our universe from this location.”
“Is it one of our vessels?”
“I do not see a vessel, Nest Mother. We just sensed a drive but nothing where we scanned it.”
Could this be a hidden vessel? She had to know, “Send a family to investigate. Get them there immediately to scan for jump tracks.”
The communications male issued the orders and watched as millions of ships left for the site of the disturbance. After ten minutes he reported, “Nest Mother, there were no jump tracks and no ships in the area we scanned.”
The Nest Mother was confused. “Are you sure a universal drive was used?” The ships had arrived in plenty of time to read jump tracks if a ship had entered there and jumped away. Could it be that it was not visible?
“Nest Mother I have no doubt about a drive being used in that area.”
“Have another family report to the site and then order both families to fly through the area covering every inch of that space.”
Thirty million ships began crisscrossing the area of the emergence. The Nest Mother watched her display as her children looked for a ship.
Edison teleported away from the entry point to a point where he could barely see the Nest Mother’s ship; there were millions of ships around her vessel. He scanned their locations and downloaded it into his board and then teleported away. He sent his download to the bridge’s main display and waited for Destiny to decide about how to approach. The bridge crew took one look at the screen and was dumbfounded. The Nest Mother’s ship was totally surrounded by main ships out to ninety thousand miles.
Life looked at Grena on his display, “Are you sorry we accepted this mission?”
“No, love; I would have been sorry if you were here without me. Even if we die today, at least we do it together. That is all I really want; to be with you.”
“I think we can do this, and if we do make it out of here I want you to become my mate.”
“You could have asked me before now. How am I going to show you how happy you just made me?”
“I thought about that but I want you to know going in that I love you and always will. I just couldn’t wait if things don’t work out.”
“I accept, Life. No matter what happens today, I will always be your mate.’
Life smiled and felt his resolve grow to survive this mission. Grena just sat, waited, and felt her heart sing.”
Stem looked at the screen and said, “How are we going to get through those?”
Destiny looked at the display, “I am open to suggestions.”
Sen-Gen shook her head, “I don’t see any way we can get a clear shot at that vessel. The penetrators must have four hundred miles to get up to speed before they hit.”
Everyone remained silent and began fearing that all of their plans were wasted effort. “Father, I have an idea.”
Destiny started and then said, “Go ahead, Edison.”
“We have more than ten thousand screened probes on this ship. Why don’t we teleport them outside this system and then have them use their jump drives to jump back in on the other side of the Nest Mother’s ship. They will detect the probes breaking back into normal space and it should cause some kind of reaction from those surrounding the ship. We’ll turn the probe’s red screens off before they jump back and it might make them think an attack is in progress. I suspect some of the ships on our side will move around to defend against the incoming probes. Just before the probes jump I’ll teleport just outside the outer edge of her defenders and scan for a clear approach to fire the penetrators. All we need is one of the ships in the inner group next to the hull to move. Once we fire, I suspect all of the ships will move to our side just as we teleport to the other side. It’s the only thing I can think of that might give us a chance.”
Destiny looked at Stem and Sen-Gen and they were nodding. Sen-Gen looked at the display and said, “Let’s do it. I am going to have the probes programmed to detonate their power cells just after they enter normal space.”
Stem thought, “Then have them jump in among the outer edge of ships and spread them out.”
Sen-Gen pressed her com, “Attention probe storage; we are programming the stored probes for auto teleport and jump coordinates followed by self-destruct. Check your status boards and insure that all of them respond receipt of the download. Notify me as soon as they are ready.”
Destiny sent a thought to Edison, “Thank you child. That was good use of your brain.”
“Let us hope it works.”
“We’ll know shortly.”
Stem pressed his com, “Admiral, the probes are programmed. They will jump back in groups of four hundred every four seconds.”
Sen-Gen looked around the bridge, “Teleport the probes in ten seconds from my mark; Edison, you have control of the ships navigation. Weapons, standby for firing the first three penetrators.” Sen-Gen looked around and announced over the intercom, “Mark.”
The Nest Mother was watching her display of the ships searching for the possible hidden vessel when the communications male shouted, “We have explosions close to the ship.”
The Nest Mother jerked around and saw giant explosions among her defenders. Her fear rose dramatically, “Get your ships between me and those attackers. Now!”
Every Supreme Male thought she was ordering them to engage so they all ordered their families to the other side of the huge ship.”
Destiny watched his screen closely and then saw one of the innermost main ships move away from the vessel it was guarding. There was a thirty thousand mile wide opening and Edison teleported the Stars End into it. “We have a clear shot, Admiral.”
Sen-Gen saw the giant ship below and ordered, “Fire the first penetrator package.”
The first three penetrators ignited and disappeared too fast to follow. The first struck the ship and disappeared followed by a huge explosion from the second. Sen-Gens computer notified him that the first penetrator had breached the hull into the interior. The second penetrator had ignited and burned a path to the outer hull. The third penetrator was a full second behind the first two penetrators and entered the hole in the hull with the two Searchers following immediately behind it. All four disappeared into the giant green ship.
The Nest Mother felt her ship shake violently. Just as she recovered she was thrown off her bed to the floor as a second violent shaking hit. “What’s happening?” She turned to go back to her command structure when a silver field formed above her and dropped down on her. Right after that another silver field appeared and the command chamber disappeared.
The communications Male saw the two lights appear and strike the ship from the opposite side of the explosions. “We have been hit on the side away from the explosions. Move to defend us.”
The Supreme Males felt fear for the Nest Mother and millions of their ships rushed around to the site of the strike. Edison had teleported to just above the green ship’s surface and waited. He knew the Searchers were going to have to travel 18,000 miles through the center of the huge vessel and it would take time. Ships began moving toward the site where the second penetrator had exited the ship and Edison notified the bridge. “We have thousands of Main Ships approaching the exit point.”
Sen-Gen ordered, “Extend the repulsion screen to eight thousand miles. Penetrator crews, prepare to commence firing on my order.”
Life and Grena followed the third penetrator into the giant ship until their computers told them they had arrived at the center of the ship, “Wild Man, grab the Mother and let’s get out of here.”
The computer searched for the chamber but couldn’t find it. Then, Grena’s ship located it and teleported the Nest Mother out.
Grena sent a thought, “I’ve got the Mother. Life, take the chamber.”
Life’s computer said, “I think I’ve found the chamber.”
“Take whatever you want; just get us moving.”
“Got it; on our way behind Grena.”
There weren’t any ships in the Nest Mother’s vessel but there were millions of warriors moving to block the exit of the two ships. They chewed their way into the channel and gathered to block the two escaping ships. “Grena, I hope that repulsion screen is all they cracked it up to be.”
“We’ll see in less than five seconds. There is a huge mass of Eight Legs trying to block the way.” Grena was accelerating and the mass of warriors in front of her braced for impact. She flew at them and grabbed the arms of her command chair just before she struck them. They still had nine thousand miles to the exit.
Outside the ship, Destiny watched for the two Searchers to emerge but saw nothing on his sensors. Suddenly he saw thousands of green warriors fly out of the exit point at tremendous velocity. He smiled and thought, “They’re on their way.”
The mass of warriors blocking the tube flew away so fast from the approaching ships that they didn’t have time to realize that their next stop was open space. Thousands of them were rushing away in front of the escaping ships like leaves in a hurricane.
Sen-Gen didn’t want to fire penetrators at the approaching ships and give away the technology used to kill their ships, but the mass attempting to push through the repulsion screen was growing by the second. He ordered, “Pick a target, prepare to fire.”
Edison watched the hole in the giant ship as hundreds of thousands of green armored warriors flew out of it into open space. Stem monitored the teleportation system and made sure it stayed within optimum parameters. Then the two Searchers emerged and Edison immediately teleported them inside. He then hit the main teleport key and the Stars End disappeared from the giant mass of green ships. Sen-gen nearly ordered her ship to fire on the mass of ships when she saw open space on the display screen. “Get us home, Edison.”
“Jumping now to the planet site.”
The Stars End jumped into the Stars Realm’s universe close to a planet that had abundant life. The Nest Mother was teleported to the planet’s surface and left there to try and figure out what had happened. The huge red ship then teleported to the Algeans laboratory and dropped off the command chamber for them to study. Einstein, Newton, Freud, and Edison began working on it immediately along with Stem, Petal, Sprig, and Twig. Destiny teleported back to his ship and wondered what the Nest Mother was thinking.
The Nest Mother had almost gone mad with fear when she suddenly appeared inside the small room. She stormed around the room sinking her fangs into anything she could bite and could not think coherently. After five minutes, she forced herself to calm down and think about what was happening. Fifteen minutes later she found herself out in the open on a strange world. The Nest Mother looked around and replayed the preceding twenty minutes. She felt her fear but marveled at how the being that had threatened her had actually made good on their threat. She looked around and thought, “Well, at least I won’t be sending my families anywhere from here.” She felt her hunger as she looked around and decided to eat a rather large four legged creature. She worried about her survival but reasoned that she could have been killed instead of captured so maybe she had some time before they decided what to do with her. “I might as well enjoy it.”