Annihilation Series-Searching for a Hero (31 page)

“You need to move further south. My ancestors were traveling toward Crotoan Island and were a little over half way there when they moved inland.”

“How long did they move inland before they found the cave?”

“About eighteen hours or so.”

“What are you doing, Sprigly?”

“I’m estimating the distance inland they could have traveled in that time and start searching.”

“Will you be able to detect it?”

“If it’s still active and I can get close enough to it, I should be able to find it.”

Sprigly moved about ten miles inland and started moving the shuttle north and south while he took readings from his scanner. Dahlia shook her head, “You aren’t going to find it with a scanner.”

“Why not?”

“I have got to believe that in this planet’s long history, every square inch of it was scanned many times with very powerful scans.”

Sprigly stared at Dahlia, “Then how do you suggest we go about finding it?”

Dahlia thought a moment and said, “Change the map lay out to show elevations.” Sprigly reached over and made the change. “Now, overlay the old map with the current one.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Ping, I’m forced to agree with you. It doesn’t make sense that you and I would have to go through all this without there being someway to make a difference. It also makes no sense that my ancestors were forced into that cave for no reason. If that portal is still active, I have to believe it is affecting the area around it. Sprigly, have the computer do an analysis of the two maps and indicate on it where any point is at the same elevation on both maps.”

Sprigly entered the instructions and a moment later they heard a ping. They looked at the area on the map and saw a hill that had not changed elevation. They looked at the hill’s location and saw it was about where it should be if it was the one described by Dahlia’s ancestors. Dahlia looked at Sprigly, “We need to land and inspect that hill.”

“This area is inhabited and we’ll need to request permission to land.”

Ping lifted his wrist unit, “Jeffery, get some marines to my location to clear out an area for inspection.” Dahlia looked at Sprigly and five minutes later, four thousand armored marines began teleporting in and having the homes evacuated. Thirty minutes later Ping said, “We can land now.”

Sprigly exited the shuttle and began running along the base of the hill. Dahlia and Ping watched him and, as he began his third trip back along it, Dahlia said, “Maybe I’m wrong.”

Suddenly, Sprigly stopped and lifted his device in the air. He walked in the front door of a house and Ping and Dahlia sprinted to join him. They heard him moving down some steps in the rear of the house and they followed him into the basement. Sprigly walked up to the wall and said, “The Portal is about a hundred yards behind this wall. I have my device at its most sensitive setting and it’s barely moving.” Sprigly turned, “The portal is here.”

Ping lifted his communicator, “Jeffrey, notify the Duke that the Crown is going to confiscate all the area a mile around this location. Give the people living here time to come and move their possessions, pay them well for their losses, and find them another place to live.”

“I’ll contact the Duke, Your Highness.”

Sprigly looked at Ping, “What are you planning?”

“We are going to have to see if the portal is large enough to send our ships through. If it is, we need to start moving them to defend Dahlia’s star cluster against the return of the Black Ships. We also have to get our ships back home.”

Dahlia looked at Ping, “I have a suggestion that might buy us time.”

“What is that?”

“The Rageon are contesting our location with the Black Ships. The Black Ships invaded because the Rageon were severely weakened when they invaded your space. Have all your ships attack the Black Ships before they leave and see if they can’t even the odds. If they can do that, neither side will invade.”

Ping stared at Dahlia, “You are amazing. Sprigly, get the word out to our forces and start clearing the land here to open an access to the portal.”

• • • • •

Kosiev received the orders from an Algean courier and began sending orders to all of the Realm’s Warships. They teleported to the assembly coordinates Kosiev had sent and began forming up into a long line more than a thousand ships thick. Eric Pederson sent the locations for his ships to go and shook his head. He had lost more than seven thousands of the ships he had brought to fight. He knew those that had managed to survive were truly dangerous and he was proud of the numbers of enemy ships they had killed. Jenny moved in next to his ship, “What’s up?’

“We’re going home.”

“We’re nowhere close to finishing this job.”

“There’s another issue that’s arisen and we have no choice. However, before we go, we’re going to pay the Black Ship’s home planets a visit.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“Be careful what you wish for. They outnumber us more than twenty to one.”

“That’s lower than the thousand to one we’ve been fighting.”

“There is that. Get your squadrons situated and stay on the frequency for instructions.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Jenny.”

“Yes.”

“When we get back, will you marry me?”

“Have Kosiev do it over the frequency; I don’t want to wait.”

“No! I will have a proper wedding.”

“Does that include a honeymoon?”

Eric laughed, “Indeed it does.”

• • • • •

Kosiev saw the last ships arrive and issued his instructions, “We are going to make a run through the middle of the Black Ship territory. We are going to be moving at a high rate of speed and will be jumping into normal space whenever we detect any of their ships. Jump in and fire at them and then jump out. Don’t worry about wasting your energy pulses. The intent of this run is to reduce their number of warships. When we arrive at their main planet, every ship will empty their reservoirs of energy balls and teleport to your exit points to return to the Realm. Make sure your target is the main planet. We want to force them to try and stop them from hitting the planet. We will be teleporting in three, two, one, and go!”

• • • • •

The long line of warships jumped into a Black Ship planetary system and began teleporting forward in decreasing jumps. Every time the line broke into normal space it fired millions of energy pulses at the ships confronting them. The Black Ships attempted to fire at the oncoming line but it would disappear before their beams arrived. Most of the Black Ships in the path of the oncoming wave of energy balls were not so fortunate. The long line finally arrived at the planet and launched a massive wave of pulses at it. The Black Ships in orbit attempted to blast the balls with their beam before they hit the planet but there were just too many. As the line of Realm Warships jumped to the next planetary system, the side of the planet that faced the incoming barrage was burning. Every land mass was hit thousands of times and even the oceans had fire on their surface. More than ten million Black Ships were killed in defending the planet.

• • • • •

The Master began receiving reports of the destruction being done to the planets in his domain and saw that the line was moving toward his planet. He screamed for every ship in the domain to come to the Capital to fight off the incoming ships. The millions of ships began arriving and formed a massive wall between the planet and the wave of enemy ships rolling in.

The Advisor saw the reports being broadcast by the planets that had been hit by the enemy and he placed his ship on the backside of the planet away from the direction the line was approaching.

Kosiev received the scan from one of his ships that was moving in front of the line and saw the massive wall of Black Ships surrounding the planet. “We will emerge outside the edge of the ships gathered to defend the planet and launch every energy ball we have remaining at the planet. Be sure to target the planet and not their ships.”

Eric heard the order and wondered what Kosiev was trying to do. He thought the objective of the mission was to kill their ships. He loaded his remaining energy balls into the blaster channels and thought about what was about to happen. Just before he emerged into normal space, he realized what Kosiev had planned and he started laughing out loud as he emptied his magazines at the distant planet.

• • • • •

A wall of more than a hundred million energy balls shot out from the long line of warships and moved in toward the planet more than a hundred thousand miles away. The Black ships in the path of the incoming barrage started jumping away until they heard the Master scream, “If any of you jump out the path of that incoming wave, I will have you executed. You will stop it with your beams or die in the effort.”

The ships that were on the path of the incoming energy pulses tried to stop it but failed miserably. Millions of ships were ordered to confront the wave and millions of the energy balls were hit by black beams and exploded. The resulting shock wave followed the pulses toward the planet. More than ninety million Black Ships were destroyed in the attack but no energy ball made it to the planet. However, stopping a massive shockwave was not something the Black Ship’s beams could do and it rolled over them and hit the planet. Every building and structure on two continents was blown flat and set on fire. The smoke rose into the atmosphere and darkened the sky. It threw the planet into a nuclear winter and within a year more than three quarters of the local inhabitants were dead of starvation or freezing to death. The Master was forced to move his capital to another planet.

The Master watched the holocaust and felt his rage nearly take him. On top of the loss of his main planet, a messenger arrived to notify him that the enemy ships had apparently left for where they had come from. The messenger also told him that the Rageon Emperor had sent a message that further invasions of the disputed territory would not be tolerated. He tallied how many ships he had lost and knew he couldn’t take on the Rageon without building more ships. He killed the messenger and threw his body through the wall of his bridge, damaging major circuits. He had to call in another ship to escape to as his ship began losing atmosphere. That act of anger is what led to the major leaders authorizing the Advisor to execute the Master upon his arrival at his new planet. The Master stormed into the Chamber donated to use for the government and found the Advisor waiting on him, “Just how did you survive that attack?”

“It wasn’t that hard; one just had to find something between the barrage and their ship.”

The Master screamed and the Advisor shot him through the legs with a blaster. The Master was shocked and heard the Advisor say, “You know messengers come from important families. It appears you killed the wrong one this time.” The huge beast crawled toward the Advisor trying to reach him with his claws and just as he arrived two feet away the Advisor blasted his head off. The Advisor stared at the dead Master and decided that he no longer needed the disputed territory to build a fleet. He inherited the throne and all the ships that went with it. He sent a message to the Rageon that he would attack them if they tried to invade the disputed Star Cluster and that he was not going to attempt another invasion. The Rageon agreed to stay out but that they would attack at the first sign of a Black Ship entering the cluster. The new Master knew they didn’t have to worry. He had more than he could handle just rebuilding the ships he had lost.

• • • • •

Ping watched as the buildings were cleared from the hill and the Algeans arrived to start exploring what was underground. Dahlia stood beside him and saw Sprigly approaching from his ship. Sprigly said, “All of our ships are now back in our space.”

Ping nodded, “Good.”

“Ping, in the rush and confusion in finding the portal, I forgot to tell you what I found out about that substance on Dahlia’s planet.” Both of them turned and looked at Sprigly, “It is an amazing substance. You don’t have to build a ship out of it for it to be invisible to a scanner. All you have to do is simply spay a coating of it on the hull.”

Ping smiled, “That means we can coat all of our ships.”

“There’s more; the coating only has to be a few molecules thick to function and it goes on clear when applied that thin.”

Ping yelled, “That’s wonderful news!”

Dahlia looked at Ping, “Why?”

“Our ships have a hull that can shift colors to what’s around it. They’re next to impossible to see unless you’re right next to them. If they can’t be detected and an enemy will have to see them to fire…”

“You can attack an enemy at will.”

Ping nodded, “Exactly.”

Ping looked at Sprigly and his leaves weren’t as bright green as he expected with the good news. “There’s something you haven’t said.”

Sprigly leaned back showing consternation, “I’m afraid we can’t use the Realm’s warships.”

“Why not?”

“They’re too big to go through the portal. We’re going to have to build a much smaller ship to use there.”

“How much smaller?”

“It can’t be longer than sixty feet and the diameter can’t be more than eight feet.”

“Sprigly, that’s smaller than some of our air cars!”

“I know.”

“A ship that small won’t have enough power to be effective.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

“Oh?”

“Another thing we discovered when we coated a power cell hull with the new material is that its ability to absorb power goes up dramatically.”

“How much?”

“We’ve not been able to make that determination. So far it has exceeded the Searcher’s capacity and we’re still not close to filling it.”

“What about the energy pulses?”

“The energy pulses have also been strengthened and reduced in size when we added the nemite to them.” Ping stared at Sprigly and he continued, “The new energy balls are one tenth the size of the current ones and has twice the power. They can also be put in small missiles that can track and chase a target.”

“How many can a ship that small carry?”

“More than six hundred in an aft storage bay. By putting the balls in missiles, it will allow us to use the power cells to feed the blasters. They’re going to need standard beams if they have to attack anything on a planet’s surface.”