Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground (17 page)

C
hris sat at the table and looked at the attendees. All of the Fleet’s Flag Officers were present but he focused on Loree Barber. He wondered if she was going to resist going out to scout the Attackers. She had already asked Lukas to allow her to send her fleet back to M-87 to keep an eye on the invaders. He looked at Jinks talking with his father and his mother listened in while she glanced his way numerous times. Audrey sat beside him and he saw her looking at Chad. She really had a tremendous respect for her former commanding officer.

The group rose to their feet as Lukas and Salud entered the conference room. He smiled and said, “Please, keep your seats.” He moved around to the center of the table and the room grew quiet. He looked at Chris and his eyes narrowed. Audrey had dyed his hair red. Now his appearance was just different enough to make him not look so much like Lukas. “Nice hair.”

“It’s a phase.”

Lukas chuckled and said, “I’m going to assume that everyone has seen the videos Chris sent back?” He looked around the table and everyone nodded. He turned back to Chris and said, “So this new species you found wants us to give them a scouting report on the civilization that attacked them?”

“They do. And if we agree to do it, they will give us a ship that is equipped to collect the coating we need to go out and acquire Dark Energy.”

Lukas looked at Amanda, “Can we use Dark Energy?”

Amanda glanced at Trevor before saying, “I’m not really sure we can use it.” Audrey leaned forward and started to say something but Chris put his hand on her arm and shook his head. She looked at him and leaned back in her chair.

“You don’t see any use for it?”

“It’s such a diffuse substance. The particles are almost non-existent. I just haven’t been able to determine how it would help us.”

Lukas looked at Chris, “You say that species uses it in their reactors.”

“They do.”

“How do their reactors measure up against ours?”

“Willow did an examination of one of their damaged ships. I think she would be better equipped to answer that.”

Lukas looked at the wall speaker, “Willow, before we get into this, I just want to say that it’s good to have you back.”

“Thank you, Lukas. It’s really good to be home.”

“Did you examine one of their reactors?”

“I did. Their ships only use one reactor and it handles all the power needs of their warships. I wasn’t able to measure the power it puts out because it was ruptured during the battle but I was able to get a reading on their force fields and beams.”

“And?”

“Their force field is twice the strength of our battleship’s field when it is using all but one reactor to power it.”

Amanda’s eyes narrowed and she said, “That’s not possible!”

Everyone looked at her and Lukas stared at her until she sat back down. He turned back to the wall speaker, “And their beams?”

“Are four times the power of our disruptors.”

Lukas shook his head and turned back to Chris, “You already knew this, didn’t you?”

“I was concerned that some of those present might not take the word of someone so…young.”

“What else do you know about this energy?”

“I really don’t know how it can produce that much power but there is something else that you may not be aware of.”

“What is that?”

“The coating we need to put on scoops to collect this energy is the same substance on the hulls of the Silver Ships.”

Silence slammed down on the gathering. Chris looked up, “Piper, is that true?”

Everyone in the room heard in their mind, “It is.”

Chris looked around the room and said, “I am of the opinion that if we could coat our ships in that substance, we probably won’t need a force field at all.”

The room broke out as everyone started speaking at once and Chris kept his eyes on Amanda. She glared at him for a moment and then her expression changed. He hadn’t used telepathy but she understood his expression. Trevor leaned over and whispered to her and she nodded.

Lukas said loudly, “Come to order!” The room grew quiet and Lukas said, “Chris, how did you arrive at this conclusion?”

“Do you have the recording of the Silver Ships that showed up to remove us from this planet?”

Lukas punched some buttons on his console and stared at the small monitor in front of him. After a few moments he looked up at the huge wall monitor. The recording started and they saw the fifty Silver Ships appear in normal space. Chris said, “Freeze it there.” The recording stopped and Chris looked at Chad, “If you were entering normal space inside an enemy’s territory where you were facing thousands of warships, would you emerge without your force field on?”

“No way.”

Chris nodded toward the monitor, “Do you see a force field around those ships?”

Everyone stared at the monitor and Lukas brought the view in closer. There was no field around the ships. Chad looked up, “Piper, do you use a force field?”

“That is not something I can reveal.”

Chris said, “He doesn’t.”

Chad looked at Chris, “How are you so certain about that?”

“If he did, he’s say so. The beings on that planet are Piper’s species. They chose to remain living on planets.”

“If that’s the case, why do they use force fields if they have access to that substance? I would think they’d use it to coat their own ships.”

Chris looked at Jinks, “Admiral, there is enormous enmity between the two of them. I believe the ones that live on the planet would never coat their vessels because it would make their ships look like the ones they hate.”

Chad said, “Piper?”

“This is not something I can discuss. You will have to find your own way to develop the weapons you’ll need. I am not allowed to interfere with your development.”

“Are you allowed to assist us?”

“Within reason, I can.”

Lukas shook his head and looked at Chris, “What are you thinking?”

Chris looked around the room and said, “We have the same species living two different ways. One of them has developed a power source that is beyond anything we currently possess. Incidentally, no one has said anything about the force field around their planet. Are we capable of producing enough power to put one around Earth? We have another group of this species that lives in ships that, in my humble opinion, are pretty much indestructible. Between them, they have what we need to face off against the invaders.”

Jinks shook his head, “There’s no way we can take on that many and survive.”

“You will if they can’t harm you.”

Amanda said, “How did you arrive at that conclusion?”

Chris looked at the wall speaker, “Willow, how large was that reactor compared to the ones we use on our battleships?”

“It’s about one third the size.”

Chris looked at Amanda, “And we have fifty of them on our battleships.”

Amanda smiled and Lukas said, “Amanda, have you changed your mind?”

“I was being stupid, Lukas. I let my pride get in the way.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m an expert in nuclear energy. Dark Energy is something I’m completely unfamiliar with and I guess I was trying to remain an expert.”

Chris smiled at her, “But you are the one best suited to learn how to harness it.”

Amanda nodded, “I guess I am.”

“Then there is a good reason for us to assist them.”

“We should assist them even if there was nothing in it for us!” Everyone looked at Chris. “These Attackers are very much like the invaders, at least from what I’ve seen and heard when I followed them back to one of their planets. I thought part of our vision was to prevent any other civilization from having to go through what we experienced. It is a moral imperative that we do the right thing here.” Audrey glanced at Kathy and Stoney and saw their pride in their son. Kath’s eyes glistened from her tears and Stoney’s expression was clear for all to see that he was proud of his son.

Lukas looked around the table and said, “I’m not putting this to a vote. I’m going to pull rank.” He looked at Loree, “Your request to return to M-87 is denied. You will take your fleets and scout that civilization that attacked the Grey Ships. I will permit you to send a squadron of ships but that is all.”

Loree nodded, “Yes Sir. I’ll get the coordinates of the planet Chris found and start there.”

Lukas nodded and turned to Amanda, “You will start working on how we can use this new energy source.”

“I’ll need some of it before I can make any progress.”

Lukas looked at Chris, who said, “We’ll be able to make some scoops after we complete our end of the bargain.”

Lukas looked at Jinks, “I want you and Stoney to get the fleets brought to a war footing and armed as quickly as possible.”

“Yes Sir.”

Lukas looked at Chris, “What are you going to do now?”

“Audrey and I are going with Admiral Barber.”

Loree jerked her head around toward him, “Why are you going to do that?”

“I suspect you can use a telepath to listen in on the Attackers. I also want Willow to go with us as well. We can use the Dark Matter Cloud and can follow them where your battleship might be seen.”

Lukas looked up, “Willow?”

“For the duration of this mission, I should be with Chris.”

Lukas looked around the table and said, “You have your assignments. Let’s get moving. This meeting is adjourned.”

• • •

Chad walked over to Audrey and smiled, “It’s good to see you’re all right.”

“Sir?”

“We were told by Piper that Chris and you were in danger.”

Audrey blew out a quick breath, “I don’t think they would have harmed us but it was pretty stressful.”

“I was given a task to perform and it concerns you.”

Audrey tilted her head, “What is that?”

Chad handed Audrey a small felt covered box and Audrey opened it and saw two small gold stars, “Fleet has authorized your Star. Congratulations, Admiral.” Audrey’s eyes flew open wide and Chad smiled, “You’ll pick up your fleet whenever you’re ready.”

Audrey’s smile faded and she shook her head, “Sir, I really believe I need to stay with Chris right now. He might take chances that I can prevent.”

Chad shook his head slightly and looked her in the eye, “So you don’t want out of this mission?”

“No Sir. There’s too much happening to leave now and force Willow and Chris to break in someone new.”

“We’ll not divide the fleets until you’re ready to accept the assignment. I’m proud of you, Audrey. Keep up the good work.”

“That means a lot more than you know, Sir. Thank you.”

• • •

Salud walked up to Chris and hugged him tightly, “You’re really something, Son.”

“Thanks, Salud. Am I mistaken or are you putting on some weight?”

Salud smiled and leaned in, “No one knows yet but you’re going to have a half-sister.”

Chris’s eyes went wide and he picked her up and swung her around, “That is fantastic!”

“Hey, hey, it’s supposed to be a secret.”

Kathy said, “What’s supposed to be a secret?”

Salud shook her head and looked at Lukas. He was looking up at the ceiling and after a moment he stood up and walked over to them. He looked around and said, “May I have everyone’s attention!” Everyone stopped talking and Lukas said loudly, “Salud has an announcement.”

He looked at her and Salud sighed, “We were going to wait but now is as good a time as any. Lukas and I are going to have a baby.” The room exploded in a roar and everyone rushed up to congratulate them. Salud looked at Chris and he lowered his head, “I’m sorry.”

“Chris, it warms my heart to know you’re going to love her. It was worth it.” The crowd rushed in and Chris stepped away.

“Looks like you’re going to have a sibling.”

Chris looked at Audrey standing next to him and smiled, “It does, doesn’t it.”

“You know the baby will also have a mind like yours.”

Chris looked at her, “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

Audrey laughed, “It absolutely is Chris. Congratulations.”

“Thanks, Audrey.” Chris saw the stars on Audrey’s collar and said, “Wait a minute. Are those new?”

Audrey beamed at him, “They are.”

“Well congratulations yourself. When are you going to get a fleet?”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily. You’re stuck with me until a war starts.”

Chris smiled, “Good. I was hoping you would stay.” Chris turned around and walked toward his parents. Audrey watched him go and wondered about something the Grey Being had said. They called Chris her companion and, when she denied it, it said ‘If you say so.’ What did it see in her mind? She thought about that for the remainder of the day until they left to join Admiral Barber on her Flagship.

• • •

Audrey arrived at Willow’s landing pad and looked around, “Where’s Chris?”

“He left with Admiral Barber. We’ll meet him on her ship.”

Audrey was slightly peeved he left without her and she climbed into Willow’s cockpit. “Let’s go see what he’s up to now.” Willow received clearance and entered the LaGrange’s giant landing bay. Audrey stepped out of Willow and saw sailors running around on all sides of her. She looked across the giant bay and saw Chris talking with Admiral Barber.

She walked up and saluted. Loree returned her salute and smiled, “Congratulations on your promotion, Admiral. We need more officers like you.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Audrey pointed over her shoulder, “What’s going on?”

Chris smiled, “We’re moving all of the magnets out of storage and attaching them to the walls. Another pressurized container of Dark Matter is being installed on the port side to compliment the one on the starboard side.”

“You’re planning to hide the ship behind the cloud.”

“That’s the plan. The Attacker ships don’t leave skip traces so we’re going to have to keep them in sight in the void to follow them.”

Audrey looked around and tilted her head, “Will the cloud be able to hide a ship this big?”

“If it can’t, then we’ll have to use Willow to follow them.”

Loree nodded, “We should know shortly. If it works, I’m going to have all of the ships in my fleet modified to use it.”