Lens of Time: Book 05 - Star Rover-The Worst of Time (31 page)

The Juke Box Battle ships started a slow spin. The giant globe had all of them turned broadside and they fired continuous salvos of penetrators at the Master’s ships that were rushing in at them. The penetrators had a much longer range than the beams on the enemy battleships and very few of them were getting close enough to fire on the huge white globe of ships. It was at that point that a mass of Master Battleships appeared and the killing took on a level of intensity that made everything else seem tame. The new ships were spinning and the Rovers were forced to abandon their attacks. Now it was a fight to the death between the big boys.

The Masters were at a huge disadvantage. In order to attack the white ships in the sphere, they had to get close enough to fire at close range. The only way they could get close was to come head on until they could turn broadside to fire their entire inventory of beams. They could only fire six beams ahead of their ships and that wasn’t enough to break through the four new force fields being used. Thousands of them were able to get close enough to fire on a single Juke Box and thousands of white battleships exploded. But they closed ranks and continued salvoing penetrators. Dat nearly pressed the escape command eight times but forced himself not to do it. The opportunity to kill this many ships would not present itself again and he continued to fire at the incoming mass of battleships. And still the enemy battleships continued jumping in on them.

Dat watched the white flash and receding white line of penetrators igniting and disappearing instantly into the oncoming ships and lost track of time. Each Juke Box Battleship carried one thousand penetrators. That meant the three million ships had a total of three billion penetrators to fire. The fight would not be lost due to lack of ordinance but the fear was palatable on every Union Ship. They were barely keeping the enemy out of range and they all feared they would be overwhelmed. And still they continued to jump in.

Dat punched his communicator, “On my mark, fire all tubes and reload as quickly as possible; ready…Mark!”

The three million ships rotated and fired all forty tubes in one giant salvo. Dat knew it would take six seconds to reload the first ten tubes and hoped for the best but the mass was getting close enough to turn broadside to them. The hundred and twenty million penetrators left in a huge blinding white flash and the explosions around the giant sphere were massive; nothing was seen moving through the giant blast zone surrounding the huge globe of Union Ships. Dat thought the six seconds seemed to last a life time but the sphere began firing again and Dat saw the mass of incoming ships had been blown back fifty miles. The other tubes quickly reloaded and the fight continued.

Dat looked up at his command circuit and saw that he had lost more than four hundred thousand ships. He yelled, “Loree, how many are still out there!?!”

“Fifty million and growing.”

Dat couldn’t believe it. And still they kept coming but after another thirty minutes, no more were jumping in. A hour later, a million of the Master’s Battleships jumped away. Kune assigned eight Rovers to each of them and they were chased down and destroyed. The battle was finally over. Dat collapsed in his command chair, sighed, and said, “Casualty report, Loree.”

“We lost two million Rovers and six hundred thirty three thousand battleships.” Dat slowly shook his head as Gresha came over and hugged his neck. “How many enemy ships were killed?”

“I don’t have an accurate assessment. I can only estimate and it is purely an estimate.”

“How many?”

“More than two hundred million.”

Dat was shocked speechless. Gresha shook her head and said, “Are you sure about that!”

“I told you it was an estimate.”

“But is your estimate close to reality?”

“Gresha…come on. This is Loree you’re talking to here.”

Dat shook his head, “She always underestimates, Gresha.”

Gresha fell to her knees beside Dat’s chair. She looked at Dat with a shocked expression and said, “That is most of their ships! Why did they keep coming?”

Dat sighed, “They couldn’t stop themselves.”

“Why not!?”

“Gresha, they’re predators. They can’t stop when they’re after prey. It’s part of their genetic makeup and they aren’t able to stop the pursuit unless they are ordered to do it. They were so lost in the fight that they probably didn’t even tell their leaders what was happening. I never in my wildest dreams thought this was going to be the end game.”

Gibbs appeared on Dat’s display and said, “I’ve been given some unbelievable information by my scanning computer.”

“I have as well.”

Gibbs lowered his head and said, “Then we need to take advantage of this now.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are about forty thousand planets of those monsters still out there. They need to be removed before they can rebuild.”

Dat stared at Gibbs and the import of his statement sunk in. He hit his communicator, “Admiral Kune, have you eliminated the ones that escaped?”

“We’ll complete that task momentarily.”

“I want you to assign your Rovers to the Juke Boxes and I’ll issue a target planet for our fleets to go and destroy. We should have sixty Juke Box Battleships and two hundred Rovers for each planet. If any of our groups need assistance, stand by and call for help. You’ll be receiving your targets within the hour. Assign your Rovers during that time.”

“Yes Sir.”

Stein said, “What do you want to do with the one in question?”

“Do not assign that one.”

“I’ll start organizing the attack groups.”

“That would be good, Stein.”

• • •

Dat pushed his panel and saw Admiral Hull appear, “Sir, we’ve just conducted our first major battle.”

“Major battle?”

“I really didn’t plan for this to evolve into a major confrontation but it took on a life of its own.”

“And?”

Dat saw her fear and he said, “We are currently dividing our survivors to go and destroy their home worlds. We’ve killed an estimated two hundred million of their battleships and we believe we need to complete the job now.” Kat’s expression showed her shock. “I’ll be send you a recording of the battle later but there is one thing I want you to allow me to do.”

“What is that?” Dat told her and she started shaking her head. “I ask this as a lifetime favor, Sir.”

Kat stared at him and said, “You feel that strongly about this?”

“I do.”

I will require safeguards you won’t believe.”

“I understand.”

“You have my permission if you can make it happen.”

Dat tilted his head, “There is that.”

Gresha looked at him and he said, “I have to do this if it’s possible.”

Gresha went into his arms and cried.

• • •

Gibbs looked down on the planet below him and saw the massive shipyards on the surface. There were thousands of battleships in various stages of completion and knew that he had no choice in what he was about to do. The defending fleet had been destroyed at a price but now the fifty huge white battleships hung in orbit and Gibbs said, “Load the penetrators.”

“How many?”

“Four.”

Lydia looked at Gibbs and knew what this decision was costing him. She reached over and took his hand, “You were about to tell me something when we were interrupted.”

Gibbs smiled and said, “I love you, too. And that is why I’m doing this.”

“I know.”

“Fire and leave orbit.”

The four penetrators left at light speed and the White Ships skipped away. The planet was blown into massive pieces and exploded.

T
he Master commanding the defense fleet saw the millions of white ships surrounding his planet. He knew that all the other planets of his species had been destroyed and this was the last one remaining. It wouldn’t live much longer. He thought about having his ships flee but knew they would be chased down and destroyed by the enemy’s superior numbers. No, he would meet them here in orbit and die a warrior’s death. This was one of the newer worlds and only had about thirty million on the surface. His species had been decimated and soon it would be over.

“I have a message coming in?”

“From who?”

“One of the enemy.”

His head rolled to the side and he said, “Put it on the screen.”

He looked up and saw one of the species that he had consumed. The being said, “I’m surprised you’re allowing me to talk with you?”

“I’m more surprised that you’re communicating. You know I can’t do anything to stop you.”

The being shook its head and said, “When you chased me the last time, I thought you were the biggest Master I had ever seen. I still think you are.”

The Master’s head rolled down its body and back up to the top. If focused on the screen and said, “You’re dead.”

Dat shook his head, “I deceived you. I used my technology to make it appear I had died.”

The Master’s head drooped and it said, “You even take what little honor I have at the end.”

“You were not dishonorable; I was.”

“How can you say that?”

“I used my technology to outrun you. Without it you would have caught me easily. You acted honorably throughout our run. You have no reason to feel dishonored. I meant it when I told you that you were the most deadly creature in creation.”

“I think the current circumstances don’t support that position. Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m going to offer you and the ones on the planet an opportunity to live. If you will do as I instruct you, I will not kill you.”

“Why would you do this; you know I tried my best to kill you.”

“You saved my mate’s family from being consumed. I owe you.”

“I did it because of my misplaced honor.”

“The reason doesn’t matter; you did it and I owe you a debt. My leaders don’t want me to do this but I have prevailed and they are allowing me save you and the ones on the planet if you’ll agree to my conditions.”

The huge Master stared at Dat on the display screen and said, “I see that honor means something to you.”

“It does and the fact that it means as much to you is what allows me to do this. Will you abide by my conditions?”

“What are they?”

“We will move all of the population on the planet to another planet. There will be food provided for you there and you will be allowed to live in peace. However, you will never be allowed to have any technology.”

The Master looked at his crew and saw them struggling with the choice. His head rolled down his chest and he said, “Why should we do this? You are doing to us what we’ve done to those we conquered. Being subjugated will kill us.”

Dat smiled, “I haven’t told you about the planet you’re going to live on.”

“Go on.”

“Do you remember how much fun you had chasing me?” The Master tried not to do it but bobbed. Dat smiled, “I see that you do. Well we have been moving animals off my home world for decades. My home world was destroyed long ago in a galactic war and we were finally able to go back and live there again. We brought back many of the animals that lived there before its destruction but discovered that the predators that kept their numbers in check were gone. Their numbers got out of hand quickly so we’ve been moving them to other uninhabited planets. If you think I gave you a good run, you should see those animals. You’ll be hard pressed to catch them.”

The Master’s eyes were wide, “How fast are they?”

“Faster than I ran that night. One, called an impala, will give you all you can handle.”

One of the Masters on the bridge said, “I could take it.”

The huge Master turned around and said, “You want to do this?”

“What choice do I have? Sit here and die or die chasing an animal too fast to catch. If I have to die, that would be a good way to do it.”

The Master turned back to the screen and said, “Do you have any recordings of these animals?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. This is an ancient recording of my planet’s fastest predator called a cheetah chasing one.” Dat started the recording and said, “Notice that the cheetah had to sneak up very close to have a chance of catching it.” After thirty minutes every Master on the bridge was bobbing. Dat knew he had them. It took a week to convince the inhabitants on the planet but the crews finally left their ships in shuttles for the planet’s surface and the last Master’s Battleships were destroyed. The huge colony ships were brought in and the exodus began.

• • •

A month later, Dat and Gresha arrived at her home and found Rayz waiting on them. They both saw a giant hole in the ground next to the community. Dat looked at Rayz and said, “You’ve raised the ship.”

“I have. The crews are out conducting maneuvers with the other ten at the moment.”

“Why did you do it?”

“I finally learned what it takes to be free. You played a large role in getting me to see it.” He looked at Gresha, “You also made the difference.”

“What did I do other than insult you?”

“You shot me…three times. That showed me that we aren’t locked in our behaviors.”

Dat said, “What are you going to do with those ships?”

“Make sure this planet is never invaded again.” Dat stared at Rayz and he said, “No, I will not be letting you use them.” Dat’s brow furrowed and Rayz quickly said, “Not for the reason you think.”

“Oh?”

“You’ve become who you are by overcoming adversity. If I gave you the ship’s technology, you would become slaves to it. It’s the struggle that has made you what you are. Removing it would weaken you.” Dat put out his hand and Rayz shook it, “However, you should know that you are a friend of my people. We’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

“Thanks, Rayz.”

“It is I that should be thanking you.”

Dat heard Gresha give a scream and run toward her parents who were walking toward them. Kyley’s smile was beautiful.

“S
ir, one of the scientists stationed in the Embassy on the Monster’s planet has asked me to deliver a message to you.”

“What message?”

“One of the Monster’s Leaders has requested a meeting with you.”