Read Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground Online

Authors: Saxon Andrew

Tags: #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Science Fiction, #Alien Invasion, #First Contact, #Galactic Empire, #Genetic Engineering, #High Tech, #Military, #Space Fleet, #Space Marine, #Space Opera, #Hard Science Fiction, #Teen & Young Adult

Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground (7 page)

BOOK: Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground
4.2Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Kitch shook his head, “Not really; we’ve fired them toward the void disruption made by the conduit we exploded. Amanda tells me that the disruption should break up the balls if they don’t hit anything.” Kitch looked at Kenny, “How long before they arrive?”

“Twelve hours, Sir.”

Kitch nodded and said, “Order the ships moved to the next firing point.” The thousands of surviving battleships activated their thrusters and moved ahead of the oncoming Invader Fleet. Everyone on every ship watched their monitors to see if the plan worked.

• • •

Eleven hours later, the first faint images of the Invader Fleet began appearing on the feed coming from the probes. Kitch and Gunny watched the faint image solidify over the next hour and at the twelve-hour mark, the oncoming wave of Orange Ships began blowing by the probes. The two Admirals sat down and in their command chairs and felt their disappointment just as the center of the giant Invader Fleet exploded into a massive disruption as more ships than could be counted in the brief moment blew up and disappeared from the void.

Gunny yelled, “Switch to the probe in normal space!” The view on the monitor immediately changed and Gunny and the rest of the crews on their battleships saw a massive debris field extending in all directions. The devastation was beyond imagination. The view was greeted by silence and then the crews began cheering. Gunny ordered the feed changed to the probes ahead of the advancing Invaders and saw the entire mass of ships had scattered in all directions. For the first time, he saw a difference in the size of the fleet; it was noticeably smaller. He sent a message to Kitch to move his ships to six hours out from the Invader’s advance.

“Why do we want to do that?”

“We’ll be long gone by the time the rounds hit them. However, I suspect they’re not going to continue to fly in such a tight formation. We need to fire the cannons on different trajectories next time.”

“You’re the boss. Issuing orders now.”

• • •

The Invader Fleet Supal screamed, “WHERE ARE THEY?!”

“They are not within our scanning range.”

The Supal shook in his tub and said, “Order the ships to spread out and avoid gathering in groups. They had to have fired from far ahead of our advance. As soon as the first ship explodes, the entire fleet will leave the void and move into normal space to allow time for their projectiles to pass.”

“I will issue your orders, Supal.”

The Supreme Supal swore at the Great Leaders who had sent him on this murderous voyage. They were four months behind schedule and his losses were monumental. At the rate he was losing ships, less than a third of his fleet would arrive at the target. This was not worth the losses being suffered.

• • •

Kitch shook his head; “We should have been doing this from the beginning.”

Gunny slowly shook his head, “The end result would be the same.”

“Why?”

“Because we’re going to run out of DM rounds after five more attacks. We would still have been forced to go in and attack them head on.”

Kitch leaned back in his chair, “Are we going back to those tactics after we run out of rounds?”

“Lukas has ordered us not to do it. He wants us to skip out into open space above the Milky Way and wait to see if the Invaders can find Earth. We’ll go in and make it a fight if they do.”

“There’s no way we can win?”

“No, but we should be able to hurt them enough to delay an attack on the Fellowship Civilizations.”

“Haven’t we already done that?”

Gunny shrugged, “Who knows. The point is that we’ve done a good job of cutting into their numbers. Now we have to see if delaying them as much as we have shortens the time they can search for Earth.”

“How are the blackouts going?”

“Far from perfect. How do you notify everyone on the planet to not use electricity when huge sections of the planet don’t have a means where they can be contacted? The oasis out in the Sahara has the food stations but no electronic communications. The same is true for the Outback in Australia. They’re working on it but every time they order a blackout, numerous places are detected by our ships. We’ll hope for the best but it doesn’t look good if an Invader Warship comes close to the planet.”

Kitch wiped the sweat off his brow and shook his head, “I didn’t know a black man could sweat this much.”

“Get in line, Kitch. All of us are sweating this.”

“Easy for you to say. You’ve fought in tight spots before.”

“Yeah, but nothing like this. We’re all novices at this and the worst is still ahead of us.”

“You could have gone all day and not told me that.”

“Ok, I take it back.”

“Too late! Are you ready for the next attack?”

“We’re waiting for the computers to link with the probes and give us the coordinates we should fire from. The invaders are on the move again so it shouldn’t be much longer.”

Chapter Five

J
ason left the bridge and went to the landing bay. He was depressed at his new assignment and wondered what he had done to tick off the Admiral. He arrived and saw his Attack Pod was being serviced. Lt. Maxwell saw him walk into the giant bay and yelled, “We’ll be done in twenty minutes.”

“Take your time!” Jason went over to the small cafeteria and ordered a meal. He didn’t know when he’d have another full meal. He only had the food pellets to eat on his Pod.

Samantha Young saw Jason eating alone so she took her tray over and looked at him, “Do you mind if I join you?”

“No, I’m not going to be good company, though.”

Samantha put her tray down and said, “Why not?”

“I’ve been relieved of my current duty and assigned to being the liaison with the Silver Ship sitting above the planet.”

“Really?”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“I would think you’d be the last one chosen for that duty.”

Jason leaned back in his chair and stared at her for a moment. He leaned forward and began eating is meal, “Why?”

“Because you’re always ready to pick a fight. I would think that would be the last thing we’d want to do at this moment.”

“We could have taken them.”

“Are you so sure about that?”

“The Sentinels would have ensured we’d win.”

“So, you’re saying the Sentinels could take them.”

“We probably could as well.”

“And what price would we have to pay if we used the Sentinels?”

“What makes you think there would be a price?”

“You need look no further than the Fellowship. However, I’m sure there was a reason you were chosen.”

“You’re making me feel soooo much better about this.”

Samantha laughed, “I’m taking your place on the bridge.”

“WHAT?”

“Yeah, I know. I’m not exactly the aggressive sort.”

“You wouldn’t think that by the way you just came at me.”

Samantha tilted her head and after a moment, smiled, “Maybe I am more aggressive than I thought.”

Jason saw the Lieutenant motion to him and he picked up his tray, “Good luck. You have a good team working with you. If you have any questions, Audrey is the one to go to.”

Samantha stared at him and shook her head, “Thanks. That was nice of you.”

Jason sighed and walked away. He said over his shoulder, “I’m really not that bad.” He emptied his tray and walked over to his Pod.

“She’s all tuned up and ready to go, Captain.”

“Thanks. I’ll check back in later.”

“Be safe.”

“You know I will.” Jason climbed into the cockpit and saw the systems were already activated. “It’s been a long time Astro.”

“Indeed it has. It’s good to see you again.”

“Let’s go out and introduce ourselves to our Silver Guest.”

“You don’t appear to like this.”

“How would you like to try rolling on the ground?”

“I don’t have wheels. That could prove to be problematic.”

“Just like me being an emissary. I’m not built for it.”

“You can change, I can’t grow wheels.”

“We’ll see. Let’s go.”

• • •

The Pod left the landing bay and accelerated toward the Silver Ship hanging in orbit. As he moved closer he thought, “Just how am I supposed to communicate with it?”

“Just focus your thoughts and think them clearly.”

“Whoa! Did you just read my mind?”

“No, I heard what you were thinking.”

“What’s the difference?”

“If I read your mind, I’d see the things in your mind that you aren’t thinking about.”

“Now I know this is a bad idea.”

“Do you say that because you don’t want to be here?”

“So you can see that?”

“Obviously.”

“I’m sorry but I’m just not cut out for politics,”

“Do you see your function here as political?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Actually, politics as you know it would fail miserably because I can see what you’re actually thinking and could ignore what you’re saying. Your task here is far from political.”

“Then what is my task?”

“I believe you were sent here so I can get an idea about what your species is all about.”

“Then I’m the worst choice. I’m a fighter; I’ve never been described as a peacemaker.”

“Perhaps that is something I should see.” The Silver Ship paused and said, “You should know that it was your thoughts that we initially saw that made us decide to make you leave.”

“WHAT?”

“We initially thought that you were the leader on your ship.”

“Why would you think that?”

“Because your chair was higher than your commander’s. We assumed you were in command. It was only after we began communicating that we learned who was in command.”

“What was it about my mind that you didn’t like?”

“You wanted a war.” Jason was silent and the Silver Ship said after a moment, “You did want one, didn’t you?”

Jason sighed, “Yes, I guess I did. I was in charge of the weapons on our battleship and I usually want to use them. I thought I was the perfect choice for my position.”

“You were.”

“Then why did the Admiral send me out here?”

“Because that is all you’d ever be good for. You would never rise to a higher station. I sense the Admiral sees more in you than you do.”

Jason took a breath and shook his head, “Well, if we’re going to be stuck with each other, what do I call you?”

“Piper.”

“Is that your real name?”

“My real name takes about two minutes to say; however, that part is something you can pronounce.”

“Well, it’s good to meet you, Piper. My name is…”

“Jason Goddard.”

“Yes, it is.” Jason paused and looked out of his viewport at the five hundred yard Silver Ship next to his Pod. “That was a real brave thing you did coming in and attacking one of our ships. I didn’t think it was a good idea to place one of you in that sort of danger.”

“Is that what you think happened?”

Jason stared at the ship and said, “Isn’t it?”

“Of course not. We’d never deliberately place one of us in danger.”

Jason thought and shook his head, “The ship was unmanned.”

“It was remote controlled.”

Jason stared out the viewport and after a moment he heard, “You’re wondering how many of us are on this vessel?”

“I am.”

“It’s just me.”

“WHAT?”

“I am part of this ship and the ship is part of me. We are basically a single organism.”

“I did hear you tell the Admiral that you don’t live on planets. Does that mean you spend your entire life in space?”

“We do.”

“Then why would you object to us living on a planet in your territory?”

“Where do you think all of the enemies we’ve faced over the centuries came from?”

Jason sighed, “From planets.”

“Yes. And with someone as aggressive as you are in command, there was no way we were going to allow you stay.”

“What changed your minds?”

“Your Admiral figured out we were telepathic and sent a thought telling us he didn’t want to have to fire on our ship. We were surprised when he communicated instead of you. When his officer fired and deliberately didn’t destroy the drone, that made us start reevaluating who you were.”

“I am the exception, not the rule among my fellow sailors.”

“Once we took a look, we saw that. However, we still wanted you gone. It was your Admiral stopping the Sentinel from assisting you and then demanding he not harm the Blue Ship that made us rethink our position. Once we saw the recordings he sent, we couldn’t in good conscience send you away.”

“How could you know the recordings were real?”

“One of us went and took a look. It was as your recordings depicted.”

“You went all the way across my galaxy and returned during your discussion?”

“I didn’t but one of the others did.”

“The Admiral was wrong and so was I.”

“About what?”

“That remote controlled ship you sent in was not as powerful as you are.”

Piper laughed, “How did you come to that conclusion?”

“I’m pretty certain that a civilization will have to arrive at a minimum level of technology before you’ll open communications. That ship was set up for that minimum standard. The Admiral said the Blue Ship was the big stick in this galaxy; he was wrong. You are.”

“You are much more than I thought, Jason Goddard. No one else has ever seen through our subterfuge.”

“I can’t help but wonder how your species reproduces. If all of you are part of the ship you live in, how does your species increase in population?”

“We don’t reproduce like your species.”

“No?” There was a moment of silence and Jason said, “I’m sorry if I offended you by asking about this.”

“No, it’s not that. Do you mind if I look in your mind for the right description?”

“No, you can see everything anyway.”

“Not really. I can only see what you’re thinking.”

“You can’t look beyond that?”

“I can but we don’t once communication has started. Give me a moment.” Jason sat on Astro and didn’t feel anything in his head. “Ah, I found it.”

“Found what?”

“The term to describe our reproduction. We are like what you call an amoeba.”

“You mean you split into two different identical beings?”

BOOK: Escape to Earth 3: Defending Holy Ground
4.2Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Jakarta Pandemic, The by Konkoly, Steven
Nona and Me by Clare Atkins
Early One Morning by Robert Ryan
BRUTAL BYTES by Roger Hastings
Going For Broke by Nina Howard
03-Savage Moon by Chris Simms
The Beginning of Always by Sophia Mae Todd
Suck It Up by Hillman, Emma