Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground (5 page)

“You have twelve hours.”

“I can’t move anyone in that time!”

“Your time has started. Be gone in twelve hours or we will return and destroy you.”

The remaining Silver Ships disappeared from the void and skipped away. Chad fell back in his chair and blew out a breath. Julie appeared on his panel, “We can’t get one Colony ship loaded in less than a day.”

“I know.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“What have we always done? We’ll fight to survive and hope Earth can find another suitable planet to send its people.” Chad looked at Audrey, “Send the recording of what just happened with a written report on what was said. Tell them to hold any Colony Ships headed this way.”

“Yes Sir.”

Chad looked at his panel, “Get your fleet ready for war, Julie.”

“Are we just going to wait on them to come? Shouldn’t we follow the skip traces they left and start the fight on their territory?”

“We’ve already discussed the problem with being an aggressor. And this is their territory. We’ve invaded it without permission. Get Summer on your ship and I want you to skip out if it appears we’re going to be overwhelmed.”

“I can’t do that, Chad.”

“WHY NOT?!”

“Because none of the families on the planet can escape. Using my position and ship to save my own is not ethical.”

“I don’t want to argue ethics, Julie.”

“Then don’t. I’ll bring her on board but I will not run.”

Chad stared at Julie and, after a moment, took a deep breath and nodded. He ended the contact and looked at Audrey, “Tell me what you learned about those ships.”

“Their beam could be handled by three reactors. If they’re all we have to worry about, we shouldn’t be.”

“I suspect they understand that as well as we do now. It’s the partners they mentioned that has me worried. Get a message out to Fleet that we have no option but to confront them when they return. Tell Lukas I’ll do all I can to avoid war.” Audrey nodded and began speaking into her combat helmet.

“Sir, how do you want to use the reactors?”

Chad looked at Jason and shrugged, “What do you think? You’re the weapon’s expert.”

“I would say to use half of them on the force field and the others on the weapons. I would move the pods away from the planet and have them skip in once the battles starts.”

Chad thought about the idea and nodded, “Tell them their DM cannons are released and can be used.”

Jason smiled, “That’s good strategy.”

Chad stared at Jason and saw himself in him. He was one hundred percent warrior. He would be promoted if he could learn to control his aggressive side. Chad said, “The order not to fire without direct orders still stands and make sure everyone knows it, Captain.”

Jason stared at Chad and nodded. He knew the Admiral was supposed to be the best but his reluctance to defend himself was weak. This was where force had to be used. He sighed and sent the orders. Chad heard Jason’s sigh behind him and shook his head, Jason wasn’t ready for high command…yet.

• • •

Lukas looked at the messages that were sent by Chad and turned to Jinks, who said, “Should we send two more fleets to him?”

“They wouldn’t arrive in time. Chad will have to handle the situation.”

Jinks sat down and shook his head as he stared at the recording of the faceoff between the Silver Ship and the Clearwater. After a moment he looked at Lukas, “Is it possible that Pat is controlling what’s happening there?”

“No, I’m sure he’s not. What happens there will be purely a matter of fate.”

“What about the Sentinels that went there?”

“That’s part of fate. It’s not something we can affect. We have more than we can do here and we must focus on the task at hand. I need you to get Loree to send some of her scouts out to other galaxies to find a habitable planet if this one fails.”

Jinks blew out a breath, “Why must it always be war!?!”

“War is the ultimate way to force your will on others. Once you succeed using it as a tool, all the other tools are removed from your toolbox.”

“Why is that, Lukas?”

“It’s the fastest way to cut to the chase. Most don’t have the patience to use other tools.”

Jinks lowered his eyes, “Are we like that?”

“Not yet.”

“But we could be, right?”

“We are quite capable of becoming conquerors and would probably excel at it. However, there is always someone else out there stronger than the conqueror du jour. Breaking that chain is worth the effort.”

“I’ll tell Chad you said that.”

“I suspect he already knows, Jinks. That’s why I sent him.”

“But he’s our greatest warrior.”

“It takes a warrior to understand it. You should have learned that lesson already.”

“You’re talking about the Mosul 25?”

“I am. Do you know what would have happened if you had been allowed to go in and attempt to rescue them?”

“I think I would have done exactly that.”

Lukas sat back and shook his head, “I had a long conversation with Gerome about Mosul. You know he was in the headquarters unit that was running the operation?” Jinks nodded. “The CIA operatives learned before you arrived that the women had been moved out of the Warlord’s camp to another part of the city. They sent you there knowing the entire area was set up to ambush your unit.”

Jinks’ eyes narrowed, “I never heard anything about this.”

“You were spotted moving in and the Warlord was warned. An inside informer told the CIA that it was a trap but they intended to allow your unit to go in anyway on the chance you might get lucky and kill the Warlord. The Warlord agreeing to talk with the CIA operative at the last moment is what led to your recall.” Jinks just stared at Lukas in silence. “The point is, you couldn’t have saved the women; they weren’t there and you would have possibly lost your entire unit. When the women were killed, it wasn’t in that camp. They were slaughtered at the other location and their bodies brought back to the camp to nail to the walls. There was nothing you could have done to prevent it.”

“Why didn’t Admiral Kitchens tell me about this?”

“For what purpose?”

“So I wouldn’t go on blaming myself for what happened.”

“He didn’t want you to hate your country any more than you do now. He told me that not everyone was like those that made those terrible decisions.”

Jinks lowered his head and Lukas slowly shook his head, “Jinks, there are times when you’re trapped in situations where there is no way anything good can happen. It’s how you come out of them that determines what kind of person you’ll become.” Jinks looked up at Lukas and saw him smile, “I’m proud of what you are, Jinks. It’s time to forgive yourself and look toward the future.”

Jinks started nodding slowly and then stood up, “I have an enemy to confront. Thank you for telling me this.” Lukas nodded and turned to leave. He stopped, turned around, and looked at Lukas, “I did take care of that Warlord.”

Lukas nodded, “That’s the kind of man you are.” Jinks nodded and left the room.

Lukas watched him leave and prayed he would survive to lead mankind into the future.

“S
ir, the probes are reporting an approaching stream of skip trails.”

Chad looked at his panel and shook his head; eleven hours, forty minutes. They were right on schedule. He looked at Audrey, “How many?”

Audrey stared at her panel and pressed multiple buttons and after a few moments looked up, “I don’t know. It appears that whoever is coming is destroying our probes.”

Chad stared at her and shrugged, “If this doesn’t turn out well, we won’t really need them.” He pressed the blue button on his panel and the battle stations warning began blaring on all ships in the fleets. He glanced at Jason, “Are the pods in position?”

“They are, Sir.”

Chad activated his helmet’s communicator, “Attention all ships. If the approaching ships come into normal space firing their weapons, every ship will be weapons-free. Hold your sectors above the planet and don’t get fooled into leaving. If they emerge and are not attacking, you will hold your fire until I authorize free weapons.” Chad looked at Audrey, “How long until they emerge?”

“About thirteen minutes.”

Chad tongued his channel selector and saw Julie appear, “Is your fleet ready?”

“We are.”

“Try to stay safe, my Love.”

“You do the same, Daddy.”

Chad smiled and changed the monitor inside his helmet to tactical. So far normal space was clear. He looked at the huge monitor on the wall and saw the void probes inside the gravity well showed a modest number of skip trails approaching. He wondered what was going on. He continued to stare at the huge monitor until ships began emerging into normal space. He looked up at the corner of his helmet display and saw that thirty-six ships had appeared four thousand miles in front of his lines. He muttered a question and his helmet answered, “All thirty-six ships are different from each other.” He looked out at the gathering and immediately noticed a giant blue ship that was flashing bright blue. It was furthest from his ships and behind the line formed by the other thirty-five ships. “Trio, tell me about that flashing blue ship.”

“It doesn’t appear to be solid matter. I can’t determine what it’s made of.”

“You haven’t left as I ordered.”

“I didn’t even try.”

“Why not?”

“If I ordered you to move down to the surface of the planet and push it out of orbit, what would you do?”

“That’s ridiculous. It can’t be done.”

“So you wouldn’t even try, would you?”

“No, I suppose I wouldn’t. However, my planet dwelling partners tell me that ordering you to leave in twelve hours or we would attack was not a fair option. They also agree that vacating a planet that fast is not possible. I’ve brought them back with me so there won’t be any misunderstandings concerning your vacating our territory. How long will you require to leave?”

“It’s taken us seven months to move everyone here. It will take that long to get everyone moved.”

“That is unacceptable.”

“You asked, that’s the true answer.”

Suddenly Chad heard a booming voice over his wall speaker, “Why have you come to our galaxy uninvited?”

“Is there a possibility of ever being invited?”

“No.”

“We came here to escape an invader that is coming to destroy my species.”

There was a long moment of silence and the voice said, “You should have stayed and fought them there.”

“Most of my civilization is doing exactly that. However, the possibility of defeating this invader is remote. We left our galaxy to go to a new world to try and develop the weapons needed to go and take back our home.”

“Where is this invader you refer to coming from?”

“Do you know the giant ball galaxy about fifty million light years away?”

“We do.”

“They’re coming from that galaxy and another one close by it.”

“Are you trying to tell us that you are being invaded by forces from two galaxies?”

“I’m telling you the truth and you out of all those present should want us here.”

“Just why would I want that?”

“Because once they finish with my galaxy, your galaxy is the next closest large galaxy. They will turn their attention here and if they see you, they will come to kill all of your species.”

“I do not believe what you’re saying and I certainly don’t fear any force that might come here.”

Chad shook his head, “You should. That invader is attacking my galaxy because they detected a species similar to yours. They rushed to invade and kill them. They’ll do the same with you.”

“I really don’t believe you’re being honest. You’re attempting to deceive us into allowing you to remain here. We will not fall for this ruse and we’re offended by your lies.”

“With your permission, I am going to send you some recordings of recent battles with the Invaders. You should know what you’re going to have to face in the future.”

“Keep your recordings!”

“I would like to see them.”

“Piper, you can’t believe this being is telling the truth.”

“What can it hurt to see? Send the recordings.”

Chad looked at Audrey and pointed his finger at her. She took a datacube and pushed it into her panel. She pressed a red button and the datablock illuminated. She looked at Chad and nodded. He sat back in his chair and waited.

• • •

After ninety six minutes passed, Chad heard, “How do we know these recordings are real?”

“It would be easy to verify.”

“How?”

“Go to the other side of my galaxy and look at the massive disruption that extends out into intergalactic space.”

The Silver Ship thought, “The numbers moving toward your galaxy are beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s why we came here. We don’t see any way to survive their intrusion. We were sent out to try and develop weapons that can stop them.”

Another of the ships said, “It appears you are destroying large numbers of them.”

“They out number us a hundred thousand or more to each of our warships. In the end, they will overrun my galaxy.”

“Why did you choose to come here?”

“This planet was discovered and is perfect for my species.”

The booming voice said, “We can protect ourselves from this invader. You are not wanted here.”

Chad sighed and his bridge crew saw him shake his head, “You must be the big stick in this galaxy.”

“I am.”

“What you fail to understand is that no matter how powerful you think you are, it’s a large universe and every species has a particular civilization out there somewhere that is perfect for exterminating you. No one is immune from danger.”

“I can destroy all your ships and you could do nothing to stop me.”

Chad looked up, “Sentinel, can he harm you?”

“Of course not. He’s still quite young in his development. His natural aggression is part of that youth.”

Silence ruled the channel. The Silver Ship thought, “Who was that?”

“He is a member of the species that the invaders detected in my galaxy. They are going there to eradicate his species.”

“What is he doing here?”