Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground (27 page)

The Greatest Leader shook slightly in his tub as he said, “And soon, the Others will be ordered to go to that galaxy. That Galaxy has been given three years to prepare for our next invasion. What do you think is going to happen?”

“But we destroyed the planet where those ships were coming from.”

“Then explain how our most advanced ships were destroyed in such a short time.”

“How many ships attacked them?”

The Greatest Leader raised an eyestalk out of his tub and looked at the Second, “I received a very short message from the Supal commanding the ships that said he was being attacked from the rear. The recording wasn’t good but I’ve had our scientists working on it and they’ve been able to determine that they were destroyed by two small ships.” The gathering stared at the Greatest Leader through eyestalks sticking out of their tubs. “And now the Others are going to invade. Would any of you like to join them?”

The Eighth said, “I think staying here on our side of the galaxy is a marvelous way to spend the foreseeable future.”

The Greatest Leader laughed, “This should make for a great show. Make sure we send probes out with them when they leave.”

“Will the Legends allow it?”

“We’ll say we need to learn how to do things correctly and watching the professionals at work will help us learn. They may insist we send the probes to shame us. If they don’t, we’ll make the request.”

“You sound like you expect them to lose.”

“Did we?”

“We destroyed that planet!”

“And what if that planet was the wrong target?”

Everyone was stunned by the question and the Eighth said, “Then we will learn a lot more than we anticipate.” The Greatest Leader nodded.

• • •

“Lukas.”

“What?”

“Wake up. I have some disturbing images coming in from the probes we left at the conduit between the two galaxies.”

“I’ll be right there.” Lukas got up and dressed. He splashed water on his face and shook his head to clear it. He had slept heavily. He left his quarters and arrived at the cockpit and sat down in his command chair, “What’s going on?”

“I’ve been recording this while you’ve been asleep.”

“How long was I out?”

“About ten hours.”

“WHAT?”

“You needed the rest. However, watch your display and I’m going to play the recording at high speed.”

Lukas looked at the display and saw thousands of green ships entering the conduit at M-87 and emerging into M-86. A moment later, thousands of orange ships would enter the conduit in M-86 and emerge into M-87. “What do you make of this, Willow?”

“The exact number of warships are replacing each other. It appears the orange colored ships are leaving M-86 and are being replaced by the green warships.”

“The orange species is no longer the weapon of choice.”

“It does appear that way. The probes show the orange ships are returning to planets on their side of that galaxy.”

“The ones directing the forces in this galaxy aren’t happy with the orange species and are replacing them with the others.”

“Willow, didn’t the orange ships pull most of the ships out of M-86 when they invaded?”

“They did.”

“If they were going to invade, why would they be sending the green ships to that galaxy?”

“They might think they have enough ships to invade and still control that other galaxy.”

“I find it hard to believe the green ships outnumber the orange species that much.”

“That’s why we’re here. That’s a question we need to answer.”

“I would think the ones calling the shots would have just left the orange ships in M-86 and used the entire green civilization’s fleets to invade.”

“It seems they don’t operate that way. It’s all or nothing.”

“If that’s the case, we may be in luck.”

“Why do you say that?”

“If those green ships were as fast as the orange ships that just flew to our galaxy, they wouldn’t need that conduit.”

“That’s a good point. Do you think they have the technology used on those orange ships?”

“Do you think the Orange Civilization is happy about this turn of events? If I were in their place, I’d give them nothing and cheer us on to beat their eyes out, if they have eyes. There can’t be any love lost between those civilizations.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because they are not allowed to mingle. They are forced, or they choose, to stay on their side of the galaxy. Remember that green ship called in an orange ship to continue a pursuit of one of our scout battleships. They do not enter each other’s territory. That must mean they are not on good terms.”

“So how does this change our plans?”

“There’s both good and bad news if what we suspect is true.”

“What’s the good news?”

“It will probably take the green ships close to a year to arrive at the Milky Way.”

“And the bad news.”

“The Orange Civilization can now take all of their ships and start upgrading them.”

“So what do we do first?”

“We need to find the capabilities of the green warships.”

“Then we need to go to M-86.”

“Why?”

“If there’s any fighting, it’s happening there.”

Lukas pursed his lips and tilted his head. “Well, change course and let’s go see what we can find out.” Willow turned and started moving toward another splotch of white in the distance. Willow was more right than she could possibly know. There was fighting in M-86. More fighting than either of them had ever seen.

• • •

“Is everything on board?”

“Yes Sir. We’ve also loaded more than three times our normal inventory of DM rounds.”

Chris looked at Audrey, “Alright, close it up and let’s get moving!”

“We don’t know where he is?”

“We’ll worry about that when we get there. Get moving!”

Audrey looked at Hawk, “Take us out!”

“Yes Sir.” Hawk activated the steering thrusters and the Montana moved out of the Space Depot. Hawk glanced at the Magnetar in the distance and looked at his panel’s monitors to make sure the ship was clear of its moorings. He feathered the rear thrusters and the Montana moved slowly out of the huge satellite. It cleared the walls and Hawk applied more thrust. Once the giant ship was three miles away, he activated the stardrive and saw normal space disappear from around the Montana. He went to full power and the gravity compensators whined briefly as they dealt with the massive gravity of full acceleration. He flew over the top of the Andromeda Galaxy and turned toward the distant Virgo Cluster. He adjusted the course slightly to avoid the giant disruption caused by the destruction of the first conduit. “Sir, where are we going?”

Audrey looked at Chris and he said, “I don’t want to get close to M-87. Take the ship into open space outside the galaxy and activate the Black Cloud when we arrive.”

“Why did he go alone?”

Chris looked at Audrey, “That’s exactly what we did on our first mission, if you remember. The key word is stealth. He doesn’t want to be seen.”

“Then why are we going after him?”

“We’re the supporting cast. We will be there in the event he runs into trouble.”

Chris focused his thoughts and said, “Piper, contact Willow and find out where she is.”

“Stand by.” Chris waited and Piper said, “They’re headed toward M-86 to see if they can determine the capabilities of the Green Civilization’s warships.”

“Why would they do that?”

“It appears the Orange Beings have been replaced by their Leaders with the Green Ships. Willow wants to know why you’re asking.”

“Tell her that we’re going to go on standby in open space to support them if they need it. We will not interfere with their mission. However, we will stay until they complete it.” Chris waited and after a minute Piper said, “Willow says to tell you thanks for your concern. She’s not going to tell Chris but will call you if she thinks you’re needed.”

“Thanks, Piper.”

“No problem.”

“So where are we going?”

“Take us outside M-86, Captain.”

Hawk nodded, “Changing course. We’ll arrive within twenty eight hours.”

Chris looked at Audrey, “Order the crew to rest until we arrive. You should also get some rest.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll join you after we clear Andromeda and get out into deep space.” Audrey nodded and left the bridge. Chris looked at Aman, “I want Hawk to move the ship into normal space when we arrive and I want you to extend the scoops and pressurize the reactors to maximum settings. While you’re charging them, fire the disruptors and make sure there’s no issues with their operation.”

“Yes Sir.”

Chris turned to Hawk and Lance, “We have the new scanners on board now, don’t we?”

Lance nodded, “We do, Sir.”

“I want you to make sure we don’t run up on any probes put out in open space. Hawk, if you have to reduce speed to make sure you avoid them, do so.”

“Yes Sir.”

“Call me if you need me.” Chris turned and left the bridge.

Hawk looked up, “White Eagle.”

“Yes.”

“Can we avoid the probes moving at full speed?”

“Probably not.”

“Lance, how far out would they have probes?”

“M-87 probably has them scattered all the way to the Milky Way. I’m not so sure M-86 would.”

“Why not?”

“That’s apparently a work in progress. They must still have civilizations there that are offering resistance. Getting probes out to track ships coming in from outside the galaxy is superfluous. Their main problem is to get a handle on those inside of the galaxy.”

“I’m going to avoid M-87 and go over the top to M-86.”

“That is a good idea. I’ll let you know if I detect any probes.” Hawk pulled back on the steering wheel and the Montana changed course. He went to full thrusters and four hours before arriving outside M-86 he took the giant battleship into normal space and deployed the scoops. Aman started pressurizing the reactors and fired the disruptors in sequence. He watched the readouts and saw the disruptors were dead on their targeting systems.

“The reactors are at maximum settings and all weapons are on line and live.”

Lance smiled and called Audrey and Chris in their quarters.

“L
ukas, there is a group of ships that are planning an ambush on the Green Ships moving into that planetary system on your display.”

“Are the attackers from that system?”

“No, that particular system has been pacified by the invaders. The ships planning the attack are from a planet that has been invaded. They still have secret installations scattered around this quadrant and are using them to supply and arm their surviving ships.”

“Can you put it on the display?”

“I can but we would get a better view if we move in closer.”

“Is the Cloud operational?”

“It is.”

“Then take us in to a distance that’s safe to watch what’s going to happen.”

“I’m staying out of the void. I’m moving through normal space.”

“You do what you think is best. Like you once told me, ‘leave safety in the hands of the professionals’.”

“That was so long ago.”

“It certainly feels that way, my friend. Let’s go take a look at what we’re going to have to face.”

• • •

The Ambush Commander asked, “How many of the Beasts are coming?”

“The same number that left. I’ve visually counted eighteen vessels emerging at the edge of the drive limit.”

“Will they be coming close enough for us to fire on them without warning?”

“If they don’t waste time and move in toward the planet, they’ll pass within thirty miles of the moon’s surface.”

“You don’t think they’ll swing away from it?”

“Why should they? It’s on the most direct path to the planet.”

The ship’s commander looked over his shoulder, “Open all missile bay doors and use the computer’s scan to target them. I want two missiles fired at each of those ships as they pass over us.” The bronze colored being looked at his navigator, “Do you think they’ll be able to see us?”

“The walls of this crater will block their scanners. The only way I can see them is through the optical scope we put on top of the wall.”

The Commander nodded, “I’m surprised the previous invaders all left before these new ships arrived. They should have known we would take the opportunity to sneak in and launch an attack.”

“They probably did know and didn’t care.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because they left without leaving anything behind to detect us. They wanted us to do this.”

“Is that a reason not to do it?”

“Not at all. Kill them all, I say!”

“These ships are different from the Orange Ships. Do you think they can withstand our missiles?”

“No, I don’t. They may be able to knock them out with their beams if we fired from a long distance but from this range, I don’t think they can react in time.”

The Commander nodded and put one of his hands on his chin and pulled the black hair, “I want this ship out of here as soon as we open fire.”

“If we don’t kill all of them, any survivors will be able to run us down.”

“I’m not going to stay here and be a stationary target. Get out of here and we’ll launch missiles to try and hold them off.” The Navigator slowly shook his large head and the Commander stopped pulling his long beard, “I know. This was a one way trip but if we can kill at least two of their ships, it will be worth our lives.”

“I would recommend one thing.”

“What is that?”

“We normally aren’t close enough to use our lasers on them. We should be able to fire on them as we launch the missiles, it might make a difference if those ships have a stronger force field.”

“Our beams were useless against the Orange Ships.”

“But we never fired them this close before.”

The Command leaned slightly to the left and looked over the Navigator’s head at the Weapons Controller. She said, “He’s right. We should use the beams too, if nothing else, weaken their force fields before the missiles hit. It can’t hurt.”

“Can you continue to hit them as we get out of this crater?”

“I can.”

The Commander turned to the Navigator, “Alright, we’ll do it that way. Now get us underway as soon as the missiles clear their ports.”