Annihilation: Love Conquers All (31 page)

“We reviewed the tapes and it appears you never actually killed anyone. It was the other four that did the murders. We’ve been told your family was threatened, and if you had not participated they would have been killed.”

“It doesn’t matter. I helped those monsters, which makes me as guilty as they are,” Richard said while holding his head in his hands and looking at the floor.

The colonel looked at him for a long moment and then said, “Maybe so, but sign here anyway.” Richard signed the form, and then the colonel said, “I also need you to sign this form.”

“And what is that?”

“You are being assigned to active duty with the rank of lieutenant colonel. You will report to Admiral Kosiev in fleet operations immediately, and in three days you will take command of a battalion of naval marines that is scheduled to be dropped in a relief effort at Ross’s star. Your training will start as soon as you report.”

Richard was dazed. “How can this be happening?” he thought. His highest rank when he served was master sergeant. Then he asked, “Do I receive a lieutenant colonel’s pay and benefits, sir?”

“You actually receive double pay because of forthcoming combat. You will have full benefits including retirement and medical as soon as you sign.”

“Hand me that paper, sir.”

Richard was transported to the Washington. “Boy, that’s a beautiful ship,” he thought as the shuttle approached. He still could not understand what was going on, and now he was reporting to the fleet admiral, no less. The ship docked and Richard was met at the port by two naval marines that saluted him and said, “Welcome aboard, sir. Will you follow us, please?”

Richard returned their salute and said, “Lead the way.”

He walked to the ship’s bridge that was a hundred yards up ship, entered, and came to attention as he saw Fleet Admiral Kosiev. “Lieutenant Colonel Richard Wiseman reporting as ordered, sir,” he said. “Damn. I just can’t get used to saying that,” he thought.

“At ease, Colonel,” Kosiev said. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“I’m confused, sir. I have been released from prison for crimes that I am guilty of committing. I’ve been given a command in the marines and quite frankly, I am not at all sure this is really happening.”

Kosiev looked over Richard’s shoulder and said, “Do you want to explain it?”

Richard turned around and saw a chair next to the science consoles turn around, and there was Daniel. “Daniel!” Richard yelled and ran up and hugged the young man. “I’ve been so worried about you. Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine, Richard. I’ve had you released and assigned to the marines. It seems someone respects my opinions. Let me tell you why I’ve done it.” Tag put his arm around his friend’s shoulder and said softly, “You have some spirits that need to be exorcised, and the only way that can happen is for you to balance your debt. We are going to retake Ross’s world from the Alliance and we’re going to drop a battalion of naval marines on the largest city where the Alliance is most heavily armed. I need someone that understands the importance of saving those civilians, about thirty-five thousand of them, and won’t hesitate to act. I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourself for your past transgressions. There is a good possibility of heavy loss of life—you and your men are being dropped into an extremely dangerous situation—but I need you to rescue those civilians. Will you lead the attack?”

Richard stared at Tag for a long moment and said, “I expected to be executed for my crimes. I don’t believe in throwing lives away, but I would welcome the chance to save them. I’m honored that you have that much faith in me. I’ve already considered my life over, so this rescue attempt holds no fear for me.”

Kosiev said, “Then welcome aboard, Colonel. Your officer training starts in three days, after you visit your family. These two marines will be your executive officer and your contact with command staff. Get to know them; you’re going to need their expertise. We’re counting on you. Dismissed.”

“Tag, are you going to be alright during this battle?” Danielle asked.

“Who can say? I’ll be on our strongest ship. If we lose, then no one is safe.”

“I want the wedding moved up to day after tomorrow,” Danielle said.

“Why?”

“I want to make the most of the time we have left. I also want to be on board your ship until you complete the fleet training.” He started to object, then looked in her eyes and knew he would be wasting his breath. So he took her in his arms and they snuggled until they fell asleep. Just before he dozed off, he heard Danielle mumble under her breath, “If Eric is the best man, I hope he behaves himself.”

Tag chuckled, knowing there was no way Eric would, simply because he couldn’t. Eric had to stir the pot.

T
he wedding, which Tag thought was going to be a small affair, turned out to be one of the largest events in Directorate history. He didn’t know how, but the news agencies had learned that he was head of Directorate Special Forces and they planned to broadcast the upcoming wedding. Danielle had planned for the ceremony to take place inside the church, but more than two hundred thousand people showed up and were standing outside to observe the event, so Danielle had the ceremony moved outside. It was also being been viewed by nearly every human on the planet. Everyone knew what had happened on Ross’s planet, and they knew that this young man would be heavily involved with Earth’s response. The wedding was viewed as a symbolic response that there was going to be a tomorrow. Tag and Danielle were overwhelmed with the massive attention, and for their part could not see why there was so much interest, but then the ceremony started and they only had eyes for each other. Eric was best man and Leila was maid of honor. Lilly, Richard Wiseman’s youngest daughter, was the flower girl, and Maggie was a bridesmaid and was able to walk under her own power holding onto Director Nicole’s arm for the ceremony. Maggie had made tremendous strides against her illness. Danielle’s father walked her down the aisle, and his pride could be seen by all. Danielle’s mother cried before, during, and after the ceremony.

Richard watched the wedding and marveled at his good fortune in having encountered Tag when he did. It had changed his life completely. Tag’s parents had arrived the day before, and it was quite an emotional homecoming for them.

“Mom, Dad, I thought you were dead. I’ve blamed myself for so many years.”

“Thomas, that’s all ancient history. We’re so proud of you,” his mother said. They had spent the rest of the day catching up and getting back in touch. His father had reminded him that he always thought he would be flying around the galaxy. Tag was the happiest he had been for more than three years.

Even Atlas took part, unknown to everyone else. As Tag kissed his new bride, the sky was suddenly filled with the brightest multicolored lightning flashes they had ever seen. Tag had never seen lightning so bright that was not accompanied by thunder. “Oh Tag, how beautiful; how did you do that?” Danielle said.

“I didn’t.”

Then he heard it in his mind: “Happy wedding day is the correct phrase, right?”

“Yes it is,” thought Tag. “Is this your doing?”

“I thought it would add a spot of color to the festivities.”

“You were right, my friend. Thank you, Atlas.”

Around the Earth, everyone saw that multicolored lightning in a cloudless sky, and for the people of Earth it became a symbol of hope. It united humankind to look forward to the future with a common vision. Soon colorful lightning bolts began showing up on children’s clothing, and even adults had small lightning pins they wore through the day.

Ten days later, Kosiev and Tag sat on the bridge of the Washington and discussed their plans to retake Ross from the Alliance. “It’s important that we not give away how many ships we have,” Tag said. “That means that in every initial conflict we are going to have to allow ourselves to be heavily outnumbered.”

“What do you mean by heavily?” Kosiev asked. “I don’t want to throw away our men’s lives.”

“Two to one and maybe even higher in future conflicts, depending on the class of ships the Alliance sends. We have got to maintain the façade of being weaker. We’re going to send one hundred ships against the Cainth fleet surrounding Ross. Prior to our attack we’re going to send two hundred ships to block any attempt at escape by the Alliance forces.”

“How do you plan to prevent the Alliance ships from seeing the blocking force with their sensors?”

“Both our blocking and attacking forces will jump into the system on the other side of the star from Ross. This will prevent them from seeing our star drive entry points. We will then go to full acceleration and use the star’s gravity to slingshot us around. All of our ships will have their power turned down to minimal levels during and right after we pass the sun. The blocking force will go to the left of the sun and should be outside the range of their sensors. They will coast to the star drive limit and then spread out. We won’t be able to contact them, so we’re going to give them a twenty-four-hour head start. The attacking force will follow one day later and will slingshot around the right side of the sun on the shortest route to Ross. We will again go to minimal power, and it will take thirty hours to reach the planet at nine hundred miles per second. We know that eventually the Alliance ships will detect us with their mass sensors. When they do, we will then go to full power and acceleration and engage them.”

“What about the population on the ground?” Kosiev asked. “If they learn about our attack they could start killing the civilians.”

“We’ll be approaching the planet from the day side, so any action won’t be visually seen from the ground. The Saratoga has been hiding in the Ross system for seven days, tracking the movements of their ships. Once the battle begins she will use her screens to disrupt communication between the fleet and ground forces. That way they can only communicate with their ground forces by physically sending a shuttle or ship. That’s going to be almost impossible once the battle is joined, but even if they did by the time the ship lands to warn them, our marines will already be on the ground. Our naval marine drop ships will be coming on the heels of the five Empire class battleships, of which Washington will be included. Their initial task will be to punch a hole in the Alliance fleet so that our naval marines can make planet drop. Then they will spread out and start knocking out those twenty dreadnoughts. We’re going to try as much as possible to spread them out for screen dumping. By the way, how have your experiments worked on that process?”

“Extremely well, sir,” Kosiev replied. “We loaded up a destroyer’s screen by hitting it continuously with eight primary beams until the screen was approaching violet and system failure. The destroyer then flew into the screen of the Washington, and when it exited all the energy had been removed and the screen was back to yellow; the Washington didn’t even show a change in color. We also found out that it doesn’t matter how fast the ship goes through the screen, all the excess energy is absorbed and stored by the Washington.”

“Those Empire ships are going to be life savers for some of the other ships,” Tag said. “When the five Empire class ships go after the dreadnoughts, the remaining ninety-five ships should have a ship targeted and attempt to destroy it as quickly as possible. We will assign those targets while we’re coming in from the sun. If they are successful, then the numbers of ships we’re facing should be equal after the initial assault with the Alliance having a weight advantage because of the dreadnoughts.”

“What about the civilians in the concentration camps on the planet? Do you think they will be executed once the ground forces see the drop troops?”

“Our initial drop forces will be landing at those camps first. They will be transporting a portable Coronado screen to cover the camp while they hold off the Alliance ground forces until they are relieved,” Tag said. He looked at Kosiev and continued, “There is a good chance that there is going to be heavy loss of life in this exercise, but it is my firm belief that if we do nothing now, when the main Alliance fleet arrives, they will execute everyone on the planet. They will do this for two reasons: one, to make sure that no one is left that could attack them from behind, and two, to make sure that we resist them in their occupation attempt on Earth. They want a reason to annihilate us. We might as well grant them their wish.”

“Why did you set up a blocking force? You’re using twice as many ships there as you are in the attack. Why not send all three hundred to overwhelm the Alliance fleet?”

“Because shortly our three hundred ships will be facing more than a thousand, and it’s important that they learn that we can successfully handle superior numbers. The Alliance can call up more than twenty-five thousand ships immediately. We have got to reduce that number in the early conflicts or we will be overwhelmed. We’ll use the blocking force in the attack if it becomes absolutely necessary, but if we can defeat those ships with half their number, then the veterans from this battle will send the message to the rest of our fleet that we are the best. That pride of conquest will be contagious. The blocking fleet will also be observing the battle and will learn from the experience. It is vitally important that no Alliance ship escapes to warn them of our capabilities. The blocking force must stop any escape attempt. At some point during the battle if we achieve numerical superiority the remaining Alliance ships will run. It’s up to the attacking force to run them into the blocking force or destroy them.”