Escape to Earth-The Legacy of a Conqueror (30 page)

• • •

Finally, the meeting ended and Chris said, “The Pods and Battleships will leave immediately for M-87 and wait for the Progen to start forming up.”

“What are you going to do?”

Chris looked at the Welken Royal, “Some Silver Ships and I will be leaving for the Green Civilization.”

“Why?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t be getting involved in anything that happens there and I really hope nothing does.” Everyone looked at him and he said, “Hey, everyone, chill out. I’ve got the message.”

Vanger looked at Averel, “What does chill out mean?”

“It means shut up.” Everyone heard the exchange and the entire room burst out laughing. It took ten minutes to restore order. It could have been done quicker but Chris was laughing as much as everyone else.

Finally, the meeting ended and the massive forces going to M-87 began moving. The long awaited confrontation with the Legends had finally arrived.

• • •

Allison activated her armor and looked at Chris who already had his at full power. He looked at her and smiled, “The new visors are incredible. The tactical is just like seeing everything around our ship.” Allison nodded. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m frightened, Chris. What if after all we’ve done to get ready, it’s not enough.”

Chris went to her and knelt. He took her hands and smiled, “Then we start over. Winning this is a journey, not a destination. This is just the first step.” Allison smiled and nodded. “We’re not going into normal space or the void. You and I will remain in the barrier and direct traffic.”

“I know. It’s just…”

“We could lose a lot of friends in this fight.”

“So many have died before.”

“They gave everything so we could arrive at this moment. Now it’s up to us to make their sacrifice worth it.”

Allison nodded and turned to her console, “The Silver Ships have arrived.”

Chris turned off the thought blocker and thought, “Are you ready to go?”

“We are Commander.”

“Medley, long time no see.”

“It’s good to be back. How do you want to handle this?”

“I’ll let you know when to drop out of the barrier and take them.”

Allison looked up from her panel, “The scouts say the Legends have ordered their tools to form up.”

“That’s our cue, Medley.”

“Lead the way.”

Chris took the controls and pressed the right pedal. The Barrier Pod skipped away from Eden at a speed that was too fast to measure. The pod arrived above the Green Civilizations Capital and hung in the barrier with the hundred Silver Ships around it. He focused on the Leader and heard, “You have been ordered to move your ships to the edge of the Galaxy. The Progen are waiting on you to join their formations.”

• • •

The Leader of the Audons shook his head, looked at his Fleet Admiral and Councilors gathered in the room and said, “I am sorry but I must refuse.”

“YOU WHAT?!”

“I cannot comply with your orders.”

“YOU WILL COMPLY OR YOU WILL DIE!”

The Leader saw the fear of those gathered in the room and he took a deep breath, “I cannot attack the species that allowed my ships to escape.”

A moment later, fifty huge Black Ships appeared above the planet. “YOU WILL START YOUR FORCES MOVING NOW OR YOU AND EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET WILL DIE!”

The Leader knew the being said he should wait until the first planet was destroyed before he followed their orders. He never considered that the planet would be his. He looked at the others and saw they had gathered their nerve and nodded toward him. They were willing to die with him. The Leader said, “Die and rot in the underworld!”

Chris said, “Take them Medley.”

The hundred Silver Ships came out of the barrier directly above the Black Ships and opened fire with their Dark Energy Disruptors. Forty of them exploded and the ten survivors opened fire on their attackers. The Silver Ships dodged their beams at an incredible speed. Two of them were hit and one of them had its force field collapse. The hull absorbed the beam as the two ships moved out of the fire coming from the Black Ships. The other Silver Ships opened fire on the ten survivors and they exploded.

The Leader fell back in his chair. The monitor on the wall showed the destruction of the Black Ships in orbit above the planet and he was stunned at how fast they were destroyed. Chris thought to him, “I had to wait and see if you would stand by your choices.”

The Leader calmed his breathing, “Would it be too much to ask to not cut it so short next time?”

Chris smiled, “No, we’ll do what we can.”

“How can I help you?”

“Stay where you are and move enough of your ships around this planet. If they come back, this is where they’ll come. I would also suggest you and the other leaders leave, board ships and get off the planet.”

“I won’t run and leave my citizens.”

“You need to think this through. The building you’re in will be the first target. Leaving your citizens without leaders is something you should not allow to happen. Don’t let your pride get in the way of making good choices.”

The Leader nodded and said, “We will leave immediately. When will they come back?

“I’m hoping they are too busy to worry about you. We’ll see how it goes.”

“What’s happening?” The Leader waited but the being had gone. He looked at the Council and said, “Get on a shuttle and join the fleet in orbit!”

They rushed out of the room and the Fleet Leader said as they ran out, “What do I do?”

“Get enough ships here to put a barrier around the planet. If any more black ships show up, attack them and don’t stop.”

“Yes First.”

The Leader of the Audons ran aboard the shuttle and flew at high speed into orbit. He landed in the landing bay of the Fleet Admiral’s battleship and saw tens of thousands of battleships skipping in above the planet. In less than twenty minutes, a hundred thousand were forming up above the planet as thousands more continued to arrive. He shook his head at just how large an area a million ships could cover. He activated the general frequency and said, “If a Legend Battleship shows up, every ship above the planet will attack it.”

He heard the Scan Officer yell, “There’s fifty more of them!”

The Green Battleships fell on them and all opened fire. More than eighty thousand Green Battleships were blown apart but the Legends were destroyed. Four hundred thousand more Green Battleships arrived and more continued to come. The Audon Leader smiled. Now it was up to that stranger to make this count. He would hold them off.

Three larger squadrons of Legend Battleships arrived but, after massive losses, they were destroyed. Then…they no longer appeared. The Audon Leader wondered why.

• • •

Vanger looked at the massive formations of Orange Ships and smiled. He thought, “Fleet Leader, if you will move your ships behind their formations, I will attempt to keep their attention directed toward their front.”

“Skipping now.”

Vanger thought, “Keep the thoughts of their blaster operators in your minds and act accordingly.”

“Vanger, the Green Ships won’t be coming, start your attack.”

“Yes Father.” Vanger smiled and said, “Hit them hard!!”

Vanger and his body guard of four thousand Pods stayed far out in the void as the gigantic formation of Pods skipped in at an incredible speed, went into normal space and were on the Progen formations before they could react. Vanger moved his formation into normal space and watched his ships attack the Progen formations.

The explosions in the Progen formations were too numerous to count and they broke formations without concern about the ships around them. The thousands of collisions only added to the total frenzy and confusion around them.

• • •

Gelza flew into the giant formation of Orange Ships and listened to the thoughts of the Progen manning the blasters. She left the firing of the disruptors to the computer and she saw what the blaster operators were seeing. One of them was moving his disruptor toward her ship and her computer fired a DM round into it.

The Progen blaster crew was blown apart by the DM round, hitting the line feeding energy to the blaster. Gelza turned her ship sharply left and a blaster ripped by the bow of her ship. All three disruptors opened fire on the battleship below her and one of the DE beams hit the missile stores. The ship blew up so fast, it was firing beams one second and was a vapor cloud the next. Gelza turned toward another battleship and turned away. Six blaster crews were moving their barrels to fire at her. They missed the pod coming in below them. The battleship blew in half and then both halves disintegrated.

• • •

The Greatest Leader was screaming, “GET OUR FLEETS MOVING!!”

The other Leaders were punching their panels at their highest speed but they could not regain control of their fleets. It was a mass killing field and making sense of what was happening was impossible. It was at that moment that the giant battleships ripped into their fleets from the rear.

• • •

Gelza came over the top of a battleship and opened fire, it blew up in an instant and she immediately saw that ten disruptor operators on the battleship next to the one she killed had her in their sights. She screamed her rage, turned her pod and flew directly at them as her ship was vaporized. The ship that killed her was blasted into rubble by a DM cannon round that hit the ship’s reactors dead center. The rubble then blew up as the reactors reached critical mass and went up in a nuclear blast taking out four more orange ships around it.

• • •

The massive formation of Alliance Battleships flashed in on the rear of the Progen formations and turned in unison and unloaded a broadside of more than ten million disruptors. They then turned in unison and blew into the Progen ranks. It took some maneuvering to get around the massive debris field but their powerful force fields shrugged off most of the small debris and flew around the largest pieces. They split into two groups and went over the top and bottom of the disorganized Progen Battleships.

• • •

Kyel watched his ships and ordered them out to reform twice. It was sheer suicide to try to move in that maelstrom of wildly careening warships. The battleships moved together and created a devastating crossfire. Kyel wondered how the Goran could possibly survive in that impossible madness but they did.

• • •

Scraer dove under a Progen Battleship and blasted every disruptor above him. He stayed there firing at other Progen Battleships as they passed. The commander of the ship he was under was furious. He ordered the ship to roll to bring disruptors to bear on the small ship and his fury grew into rage as the small ship rolled with him keeping the destroyed section above it. There were too many Orange Ships around him to fire missiles at the ship. They would have blown out the missile launch tubes too fast to make a turn around his hull. He pounded the arm of his tub and his rage ended. The small ship blew away a section on another ship close by and moved toward it. It fired all of its disruptors at the ship that had been its shield and it blew up in a huge blast.

• • •

Vanger looked at his monitor and shook his head. He tried to think of a way to describe what his ships were doing and he had to use a metaphor from the humans. The battle looked like giant sharks with Remora following them. What a novel way to attack. The giant Orange Ships did all they could to shake the Pods but they were too nimble and heard the thoughts of the pilots and reacted as soon as they decided to make a move. Finally, the Orange Ships had more than they could stand and opened fire on the pods clinging to other ships. The Goran heard the thoughts of the blaster operators and moved before they could be hit. They moved to another ship and repeated the process.

• • •

The Progen Leaders watched the battle in silence. There was nothing they could do. All of their Senior Fleet Leaders were the first ones killed and anyone that tried to assume command died immediately. The Greatest tried unsuccessfully to contact the Legends. He knew something dramatic was happening. They never failed to respond in the past. The Greatest was numb from pounding his tub and all he could do was watch and see his beautiful fleets being destroyed on a scale that was impossible. He finally had enough, “Order the survivors to flee!” He knew that order was his death warrant. The Legends would kill him for it but he no longer cared.

• • •

Vanger watched the thousands of Orange Ships leave normal space and go into the void attempting to escape. He thought, “Pick a ship and destroy it. Kyel, move your ships into the void and join my pods.”

The battleships went into the void and the Progen ships were amazed at the speed of the ships pursuing them. There were millions of Progen Ships in formation when the attack started. Only slightly more than two hundred thousand managed to escape. Vanger looked at the space outside the edge of the giant galaxy and knew that the debris field would be a navigation hazard for centuries to come. He looked at his panel and said, “Admiral Jekins, we have completed our mission. I will be recalling my ships and sending them to join your forces.”

“Have them form up over the top of my formation. Notify Kyel to move his ships in the formations of battleships.”

“Yes Admiral. We will be there momentarily.”

Vanger looked at his command circuit and saw that a hundred thousand pods had perished in the fight along with fifty thousand battleships but it was a victory. Costly, but worth it. He sighed and entered the void. The day wasn’t over. There would be more fighting ahead.

C
hris watched the fighting above the Audon’s planet and determined they could take care of themselves in the short term. “Medley, have you notified Piper about the power of the black ships?”

“I have.”

“And?”

“I told him that the older ships they sent here were able to penetrate our force fields and we were fortunate we outnumbered them. He’s changing the attack plan as we speak.”

“How long before he’s ready?”

“About another five minutes.”

Chris nodded and pressed his panel, “Eve, are your warriors in place?”