Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground (23 page)

“Ok, you can stay here and I’ll go alone.”

Nudge turned and walked toward the door. Budge began moving up and down and shaking. Nudge walked out the door and Budge was only able to resist for another minute before he ran after his brother, “How are you able to make me do these things we’ve been ordered not to do?”

Nudge smiled, “I guess I just have to give you a nudge.”

“Funny!”

“Let’s take the pods out and get their reactors powered. Then, it’s off to the black hole.”

“Are you sure just one gravity compensator can handle that level of stress?”

“It will have to cope with far less mass than the new battleship’s compensators. You saw the recording Amanda sent back. Plus, we’ve used a compensator that’s fifty percent larger than the ones on the new battleship. This is worth doing.”

Budge nodded and said, “Trevor told us to forget working on the pods. They’re going to scream when they find out we modified the compensator and added all the weapons.”

“I know.”

“Just checking to make sure you do.”

“They shouldn’t have left us here alone without a new battleship to work on.”

Budge chuckled, “It’s their fault.”

“Absolutely. And no one has come to check up on us! They know we should never be left alone. At least that’s what they’ve always said after we blew up the engine compartment on one of the ships.”

“Absolutely.”

“Do you think they’ll buy it?”

“Nope!”

“Just checking.”

• • •

Amanda looked down at Earth and felt her heart in her throat. Trevor put his arm around her shoulders. “They really hit her hard.” Amanda nodded and sighed. Trevor stared out of the viewport and sighed, “I never knew when Lukas asked me to join in his efforts to defend Earth that it would end up being destroyed. I remember all the Attack Pods in orbit waiting for the first Fellowship attack. We were so idealistic and ready to die for our beliefs.”

Amanda nodded, “We come so far from those first Pods we built.”

Trevor chuckled, “The Bennett Twins would argue with you about that.” He felt Amanda stiffen in his arms and he leaned back, “By the way, what did Salud say about keeping an eye on them?”

Amanda raised her shoulders and meekly said, “I forgot to call her.”

“YOU WHAT!?”

“Audrey asked us about her panel and we went to help her. I forgot!”

Trevor shook his head and lifted his wrist unit. He pressed two numbers and did not get a response. He shook his head and pressed another button. An image appeared and he said, “Salud, will you please do me a favor.”

“Sure Trev, what do you need?”

“Will you go to our labs and see if the Bennett twins are around?”

“Sure, give me a moment.”

Trevor stood there tapping his foot and Amanda said, “You couldn’t reach them on the lab’s communicator?” Trevor shook his head. “On either of their numbers?” Trevor shook his head.

“Trevor, I just spoke with Captain Logan and he says the twins were logged out of the lab three days ago. The computer doesn’t have them going back in since then.”

Trevor’s eyes widened and he said, “Salud, please contact fleet operations and see if they’ve left the planet.”

“How could they leave? They don’t have ships.”

“Salud, please just check to humor me.”

“Stand by.” Trevor started shaking his head and Amanda looked at the floor. “Trevor, when were the twins assigned attack pods?”

“Oh Crap! Salud, they salvaged two of the ones that were slightly damaged in the last battle with the invaders.”

“Were they Delta Models?”

“Yes, and I suspect they have been working on them without us knowing. Did Fleet get a flight plan from them?”

“No, but the operator that gave them clearance to leave said that their thrusters were the new DE type.”

“WHAT?!”

“He says the thrusters emitted the residue of a Dark Energy reactor.”

“Thank you, Salud!”

“Hey, what are they doing?”

“Getting into trouble. I need to see if I can stop them.”

“But…”

Trevor ended the call and ran across the bridge, “Chris, I need you to help me!”

Chris looked up from his panel and said, “Whoa, slow down! What’s going on?”

“Blane and Lane Bennett left Eden three days ago in two Attack Pods that appear to be powered by Dark Energy Reactors.”

“Oh Crap! Are you serious?”

“I wish I weren’t. If they have the new reactors on those pods then they must have also built scoops for them. You know what they’re going to do!”

Audrey looked at the three, “Who are you talking about?”

Chris sighed, “Blane and Lane Bennett are two geniuses that have a knack for getting into all kinds of trouble. Their curiosity just overwhelms their good sense and before you know it, something explodes. They have been arguing that writing off the Attack Pods is not a good idea and it appears they been planning to do something about it.”

Audrey tilted her head, “Have we written off the Attack Pods?”

Trevor nodded, “Audrey, can an attack pod stand up to the enemy ships we’ve been running in to?”

“No. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be updated so they could.”

Amanda shook her head, “Now you’re sounding like them. We don’t have the resources to build the new battleships and work on the pods as well.”

“But there are more than a hundred thousand pods?”

“Which will require different size reactors, weapons, and other systems to modernize them. We don’t have the manufacturing resources to build both.”

Audrey looked at Amanda, then at Chris, and then back at Amanda, “Didn’t I just hear you say the pods they left in have Dark Energy reactors?”

“It appears they do.”

“Have we built different sizes of Dark Energy reactors?” Amanda looked at Trevor and he shook his head. Audrey said, “Well it appears they managed to get them to fit in a pod. What do you think they’re going to do with those pods?”

Trevor sighed, “I believe they’re going to the central black hole in Andromeda to coat them in the white substance.”

Audrey started shaking her head, “There’s no way a pod can stand up to those stresses.”

Trevor looked at Chris, “Can we go and try to cut them off?”

“Trevor, they left three days ago.”

“I know, but the scoops they must have built for their pods aren’t as large as those on a battleship. It will take them some time to pressurize their reactors. It’s my fault. I never should have left them alone without someone keeping an eye on them. If they die…”

Chris sighed and said, “Admiral, get the ship moving. Everyone buckle in and prepare for a high speed run back to Andromeda.”

Hawk listened to the exchange and began pushing buttons on his panel. The Montana turned and went into the void. It went to full power and the giant battleship left the Milky Way at a speed that had never been witnessed before.

“Are you sure this will work?”

“It’s the only way to coat our pods, Nudge. The pods don’t have steering thrusters on the hull. I’ll lower your pod into the liquid surface and pull you out after Stonewall says you’re covered. We’ll then reverse our positions and you’ll lower me.”

“Will that stuff clog our thrusters?”

“No, the outer covers will be in place and the ports will be covered by their armor. Are you ready?”

“I was right about the compensator handling the load. You have to be right about this, right?”

“May we pray! Here we go.” Budge moved down toward the white planet’s surface and after a minute, Nudge’s Attack Pod disappeared below the planet’s surface. Budge waited to hear from Nudge and after three minutes, he pulled the pod out.

“WHY DID YOU NOT PULL ME OUT!!? I’VE BEEN SCREAMING AT YOU FOR THREE MINUTES!!”

“It appears electronic emissions do not make it out of that liquid.”

“YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!!!”

“Do your thrusters still function?”

There was a moment of silence and then Budge heard, “The covers still operate. The board says they’re operational.”

“How long did it take to cover your pod?”

“Less than thirty seconds.”

“Alright, let’s flip and do it.”

“I should let you sit in there and see how it feels.”

“Come on Nudge; you know I wouldn’t do anything to harm you.” Nudge shook his head and flipped his pod and began lowering Budge’s pod into the white liquid. A minute later, he pulled the pod out and they began checking out each other’s ships.

“WHAT ARE YOU TWO IDIOTS DOING!!?”

Budge looked up at the roof of his cockpit and shook his head. He heard his brother say, “Weighing our options.”

“I am going to put the two of you in the brig for the rest of your lives.”

“Awww come on Amanda! We’ve proved that the pods can handle the stresses here. Further, I don’t think you could catch us if we decided to run to avoid going to jail.”

“WHY YOU LITTLE TWO BIT…”

“Just a minute, Amanda! What do you mean you can outrun this ship?”

Budge saw Chris on his display and shrugged, “It’s simply an issue of power and mass, Mr. Stone. These pods now have a higher power to weight ratio than your new ship. They also have a much smaller profile to move through space. Your battleship shouldn’t be able to stay with us.”

Chris looked at Hawk, “What do you think?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve got fifty reactors to push us. He only has four.”

“Chris, I’m going to bar-be-que the two of them!”

“Amanda, if they’re right, they may have just done more for our war efforts than you can imagine.”

“How!?”

“We just set a speed record getting here. If their pods are faster than this ship, they can hit and run better than you can imagine.”

“But they don’t have the weapons to survive.”

“What are they missing? It appears your two apprentices have armed those pods.” Chris shook his head, “First things first.” He pressed his communicator, “Ok, the two of you stay together and let’s see if we can run you down.”

“If it’s alright with you, may we make a run to Earth? First one there wins.”

Chris nodded, “We do need to go back and check up on the force field construction. How did your pods hold up to the gravity stresses here?”

“You could probably see on the scans we ran. We don’t have enough mass to really cause us problems, right, Nudge?”

“The gravity compensator was operating at sixty percent, Mr. Stone.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Alright, let’s drop into the void and I’ll count it down.” The three ships left normal space. Chris smiled, looked at Hawk, and nodded as he quickly said, “NOW!” The Montana lept away leaving the two pods behind. Hawk laughed and poured on the power.

Budge watched the battleship flash away and shook his head, “Now that wasn’t fair.”

“NO, it wasn’t. Are you ready to reel them in?”

“After you.”

“No after you.”

“Oh, but I insist, after you.”

“OK.” Budge watched Nudge flash away and shook his head. He hit the thrusters and accelerated at maximum speed after his brother. He ignored the battleship, which he blew by so fast that they were astounded. He knew he wasn’t going to catch Nudge. He had a head start.

• • •

Audrey stared at her monitor and said, “What are they waiting on?”

Chris shook his head, “I have no idea.” Hawk smiled as the distance between them grew at a staggering pace. His smile vanished fifteen minutes later when the two pods blew by him so fast that they were lost to their scanners in another fifteen minutes. Chris looked at Trevor and Amanda and shook his head, “Why were the two of you not allowing them to work on the pods?”

Trevor and Amanda’s mouths were open. Trevor finally said, “I guess we’re no longer able to see things from an objective point of view. It looks like the smaller a ship is, the faster it can travel with that coating. At the speed it passed us, I suspect it can outrun us with just one reactor. We owe the twins an apology.”

Chris looked at Lance, “How much faster were they?”

Lance shook his head, “More than six times our speed. I imagine there are going to be some very happy pod pilots. Of course, we’ll need to see how they perform in normal space.”

Chris nodded and knew that the pods were back in business. The difference in normal space wasn’t as large. They determined a week later that the pods were only fifty percent faster than the battleships in normal space but that was still a huge advantage in a space battle. The pods and battleships were now faster than the void and normal space missiles used by the invaders. Now the issue was how much their new force fields could handle. That item would be checked out soon. Very soon.

• • •

“Excellency, our probes have detected skip traces moving toward our galaxy!”

“WHAT!? HOW MANY?!”

“There is between forty and fifty.”

“Why don’t you know for certain?”

“Those traces are moving faster than anything we’ve seen. They’re approaching at an incredible speed.”

The Welken Royal shook his head and knew he couldn’t meet those ships before they moved into the galaxy. He thought for a moment and then pulled up an old frequency and activated it on his panel, “I pray someone is monitoring this channel.” He waited and shook his head. Then he heard…

“This is the Warship Montana. We’re currently undergoing field trials on a new ship and are close to your galaxy, Sire. What’s going on?”

“One of my deep space probes has detected between forty and fifty skip traces moving toward our galaxy at an incredible speed. Their frequency matches up with the ships used by the invaders.”

Chris looked at Amanda and his eyes went wide, “How fast are they moving!?”

The Royal looked at Kyel and he looked at his panel, “It appears they are moving fast enough to arrive here from that ball galaxy in about a month. That’s twelve times faster than their previous top speed.”

Chris looked at Audrey, “They’re headed toward Earth.” He looked at Hawk, “How long before we arrive?”

“About an hour.”

Chris shook his head, “Have you determined how long it will take them to arrive at my former home world?”

“At the speed they’re traveling, less than thirty minutes.”