Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground (32 page)

“They’re moving our way.”

“On three, Barbie, one, two, three!!” Chris pulled the trigger and Barbie accelerated away at an incredible speed as the void went from blackness to a bright flash. Chris was pushed back in his chair by the explosive acceleration. He heard the gravity compensators whining but he kept his eyes on the display. The entire conduit went up in a massive explosion. The white wave of the disruption rushed out at them but did not gain ground. The B-Pod raced ahead of it then began putting it further behind.

“Do you think they enjoyed the show?”

Chris burst out laughing and Audrey joined him. They continued to run away from the expanding disruption and Chris wondered what the ramifications of his actions would be.

• • •

“GREAT TALON, THE PASSAGE HAS BEEN DESTROYED!!”

“WHAT?!”

“THE ENTIRE PASSAGE HAS GONE UP IN A MASSIVE DISRUPTION!”

“How many ships were in it?”

“Only a few hundred but the disruption has destroyed more than ten thousand preparing to enter it.”

“How did this happen?”

“The Orange Ships were defending it! It appears every defender was destroyed by the disruption!”

“How many ships?”

“More than a hundred thousand.”

The Combined Fleet Leader suspected the Orange Ships may have done it but even they wouldn’t do something that would kill that many of their ships. He knew this had to have been done by forces from the Spiral Galaxy. He fell back in his chair and immediately knew the loss of the conduit was devastating. Now the ships in the other galaxy were trapped and it would be impossible to move them in time to participate in the invasion. It was also impossible to send reinforcements to the other galaxy if they were needed. With the removal of more than six hundred thousand ships to participate in the invasion, the ones left behind would not be able to withstand the forces fighting them. The other Galaxy was lost! He wondered if the Legends realized it. He heard the thoughts of the Legends a moment later and saw that they did know. He felt bad for being thankful that his ships were not defending the passage. He should survive the fallout. He didn’t know about the Orange Leaders.

• • •

“Oooooo. We opened a hornet’s nest with this.”

“What’s going on, Barbie.”

“The Big Shots are beyond rage. They’re screaming at the two civilizations trying to find someone to blame. Hey, I’ve been able to locate the star where those leaders are located.”

“Mark that system on your star maps!”

“I’ve already done it.”

“What are they going to do?”

“They’re too mad to make a reasonable decision at the moment. I’ll continue to listen in and I’ll let you know what they decide.”

Audrey listened to the exchange and looked at the giant ball galaxy, “What are we going to do now?”

“We’re going to stay out here and wait for things to settle down.” Chris smiled, “The worst time to go near a disturbed hornet’s nest is when they’re going after anything in sight.”

Audrey smiled and leaned over. She kissed Chris and his eyes remained closed after she broke the kiss, “Have I told you that I love the way you kiss.” She leaned over and kissed him again; it lasted much longer. After a few moments, she broke the kiss and stood up. She took his hand and pulled him out of his chair, “Barbie, let us know if you need us.” She pulled Chris out of the cockpit toward their sleeping quarters. They didn’t return to the cockpit for a long time.

• • •

The Greatest Leader was frightened. The Leader of the Legends was screaming at him and he knew he was going to die. The Legend finally stopped yelling and the Greatest said, “Great One, I only did what you instructed.”

“WHAT!”

“Before we invaded I asked you if I should send more ships to defend the passage to the other galaxy; you told me I was stupid to even consider sending ships to defend it. They were needed elsewhere.”

The Legend was silent for a moment and said, “I didn’t tell you that!”

“One of you did, Great One. Ask the others. I insist on following your commands to the letter without question!”

The thoughts disappeared and the cowering Orange Leaders remained in their tubs trembling. The Eighth said, “It’s good they told you to do that.”

“They didn’t.”

“WHAT!? THEY’LL KILL US ALL FOR YOUR LIE!”

“First of all, they were going to kill us if I didn’t lie. Could you not see that in the Legend’s thoughts?”

“You’ve only delayed our deaths.”

“I’m not sure about that. First of all, one of them will have to confess to giving us that order and I’m not so certain anyone will own up to it.”

“But no one gave you the order.”

“Which will cause the Great Leader to question whether I’m lying or one of his subordinates is not telling the truth. Since we’ve always followed his orders, he may decide one of them is not telling the truth.”

The Orange leaders stayed in their tubs shaking for two days and nothing happened. Finally, the Second said, “We are very fortunate to have you leading us. Your quick thinking appears to have saved us.”

“It has for the moment. We must act contrite and do whatever we’re told to the letter without complaint.”

It was hard not to complain when the Legends contacted them. “You will send your ships to the other galaxy and take control of the situation there.”

“Yes, Greatest.”

The thoughts disappeared and the Greatest slammed an appendage on the edge of his tub. The Third said, “It’s going to be impossible to update our ships if they’re all in that galaxy.”

The greatest moved in acknowledgement of the statement and said, “And we have to send our slowest ships to avoid revealing our new technology. It will take six months for our ships to arrive and the crong’s nest awaiting them is not going to be good.”

“We have no choice about this.”

“I know, Eighth. We will continue to update the ships here but our timetable has been upset by this development.” The Greatest sighed and looked at the Fourth, “Get the orders out and start moving the fleets immediately. Send enough transports with provisions to support those going.”

“That will reduce the provisions we’ll have to use if we’re called on to invade the Spiral Galaxy again.”

“Just be thankful we’ll still be alive to work around those issues.”

• • •

Barbie listened to the thoughts of the gathering Orange Fleets and found it humorous that one simple thing could cause so much disruption. The Green Civilization was being ordered to send every warship in M-87 to invade the spiral galaxy. None were going to be left behind and the Green Civilization would be left defenseless. The Orange Beings were being forced to send millions of their warships to retake M-86 and they couldn’t be updated with their new technology. All in all, it was a good day. She contacted Piper and had him link her with Fleet Operations. She updated them on what was happening and Lukas said, “Put Chris on the channel. I want to congratulate him on his actions.”

“Uhhh, he and Audrey are resting and if you want, I’ll wake them.”

Lukas paused and smiled, “No, I’ll tell him later. He needs to be as rested as possible. Tell them I said excellent job.”

“I will.”

• • •

The Combined Fleet Leader was disgusted. The Orange Ships should have been ordered to replace the ships in the other galaxy that wouldn’t be able to participate in the invasion. All of the worlds would now be undefended and open to any outside aggression. The Legends wanted to have their cake and eat it too. Their arrogance was incredible and they were assuming his fleets could handle the other galaxy. This was crazy!

• • •

The small creature sat on his small ship and listened to what was happening. He was telepathic and felt joy at what was going on. He relayed a thought to his controller and felt her happiness at what he was seeing. The crime screamed for justice and it appeared the opportunity to make the criminals pay would soon be available. He moved slightly further out from the giant galaxy and continued smiling.

• • •

“Chris, you need to get up here!”

“Give me a minute!”

Chris arrived in the cockpit and was pulling on his armored jacket, “What’s going on?”

“I’ve detected the thoughts of a being who isn’t from either of the two civilizations here.”

“What was it saying?”

“It was too far away to understand. All I got was the pattern and I’ve not seen that pattern before.”

Audrey arrived as Barbie was speaking and she looked at Chris, who shrugged. “Could it have been one of the species in the Green side of M-87?”

“I don’t know. It’s just…”

“What, Barbie?”

“It felt like it was very happy at what is happening.”

“Could you determine where it’s located?”

“No. Like I said, it’s too far away.”

“Have you heard it before?”

“No, this is something entirely new.”

Audrey’s eyes narrowed, “It isn’t from this galaxy.” Chris looked at her and his eyes narrowed. “Chris, both sides are extremely unhappy about what’s just happened. If this being’s thoughts are happy, it has to be from a different civilization.”

“Could it be a ship from M-86 scouting here?”

There was a pause and Barbie said, “I guess it could be.”

“Who else could it be?”

“I have no idea. It’s just…I can’t describe what I sensed. However, would a scout from M-86 be happy at learning the Orange Ships were being sent there?”

Chris shook his head, “No, that doesn’t make sense, either.” He looked at Audrey, “Who could it be?” Audrey shook her head. “If you heard it, do you think the Leaders…”

“They’re called the Legends, Chris.”

“Ok, could the Legends have heard it?”

“I doubt it.”

“Why?”

“The Legends are telepathic but they don’t use their telepathy to keep track of the civilizations here. They only communicate to deliver instructions or orders. I suspect that is to prevent their location from being determined. Remember that it was Pat’s thoughts that led them to our galaxy. I think they instinctively avoid broadcasting their thoughts unless absolutely necessary.”

“This is not something we can ignore.”

“I don’t know if we have a choice?”

“Why not?”

“Because there was just the short burst of thoughts. Whoever communicated is apparently staying concealed and, like the Legends, doesn’t communicate unless absolutely necessary. If it is a scout, it is not going to do anything to reveal itself.”

Audrey sighed, “Chris, we have more than we can do. Barbie will listen for another communication and we need to focus on seeing what’s going on.”

Chris nodded and slowly shook his head, “I sense this being is important but…you’re right. Barbie, have things settled down enough for us to move closer to where the ships are gathering to invade?”

“I’ll go over the top of the galaxy and move in from there.”

• • •

“Hey Budge.”

“Yeah.”

“Congratulations on your promotion.”

“Same to you.”

“I’m a little concerned.”

“Get in line. I know, we don’t have much combat experience to be placed in command of an Attack Fleet.”

“I’m afraid of making a huge mistake and causing my pilots to get killed.”

“Nudge, the only reason I accepted this command was because Lukas and Amanda insist that I have the most extensive knowledge of what the new pods are capable of doing.”

“Same here and Jinks insists that our actions against the advanced Invader Warships proved that we can think quickly and do the right things. Have you thought about how we should use our ships in an attack?”

“I have. That’s why I insisted that the Attack Fleets have both models of the new pods. I intend to use the A-Pods to break up the Invader formations and the B-Pods will stand off and blast them as they attempt to escape.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to hit them with the B’s and send the A’s in to clean up?”

“What if they don’t break formation to attack the B’s?”

“They’ll be hit by thousands of DE beams. It will be hard for them to remain in formation to absorb that punishment. Would you?”

Budge hesitated and said, “You’re probably right about that. I think we should try it your way first.”

“Why thanks, Brother. I take that as a real compliment.”

“There’s another thing that I’ve thought about.”

“What is that?”

“If the invaders come in masses like they did before, we might be well served to use one fleet to break them up and a second fleet to hit them from the opposite side.”

Nudge smiled, “Are you thinking we should practice working together?”

“I suspect that’s why we were both promoted. We should at least look at it.”

“Let’s do this. Work on getting our fleets familiar with attacking and then start them working together.”

“That’s another good suggestion. Are you worried about dying?”

“Not really. This is going to be the most fun I’ve ever had. It’s worth the risk and if it happens, que cera cera.”

“We have a lot to do. I’ll get with you later.”

“I love you, Budge.”

“I know. And I love you as well. Let’s make our lives count for something.”

S
ix weeks passed and Chris decided that they had done all that needed doing. The Invader Fleet was larger than the first one sent by the Orange Civilization. He really thought that with so many ships stranded in M-86 that the second invasion would be smaller but the order to send all warships made the difference. Normally, several hundred warships would always be stationed at each planet to defend it against aggressors. This time, all ships were being sent and the total was staggering. The giant fleets of green warships continued to grow but the Fleet’s overall commander ordered the voyage started. The late arrivals could fall in at the rear of the huge formation. The Lead Talon watched the fleet start moving and looked at the huge monitor on the wall. “Where are the transports?”

“Talon, they are located in the center of our formation.” The Talon nodded. That was the safest place for them.

The Main Fliers watched the huge formation start moving and didn’t like the situation they were forced in to. Ten thousand warships were left behind to defend the planet where the Government was located, but that was the only planet defended. The Main Leaders had to argue to leave those ships behind and finally prevailed. The Legends insisted that no one in the galaxy would dare attack them. They won the argument by suggesting that ships from M-86 could make the journey and endanger them. The Legends relented and allowed the small fleet to stay around the main planet.