Nemesis 1: Revenge Is Best Served Hot (29 page)

“So what do we do now?”

“Is it still your intent to prevent the discovery of the Animals?”

“It is?”

“Then here’s what we should do. We need to jump the Nemesis out to space between their current location and the Animals’ Planet. If I detect subspace activity moving toward them, you’ll have to devise a plan to distract them and cause them to abandon that area of space.”

Grant looked at Cinny, “Do you have any ideas?”

“Lovely would be a good place to start.”

Grant smiled, “Indeed it would. Earth knows we’ve been there numerous times.”

Grant paused. Cinny said, “What are you thinking?”

“I was wondering if we have to stay in subspace. The view outside the ship is depressing. I long to see stars again.”

“I can leave the subspace scanner in subspace. It’s located in the bottom deck and the upper decks would be in normal space.”

“Would they be able to detect us in normal space?”

“Not before I saw their jumps as they approached.”

Grant smiled, “Thanks, Ana. That would be great if you can do it safely.”

Suddenly, the viewports had lights shining in. Grant walked over holding Cinny’s hand and stared at the distant globular galaxy hanging in space millions of light years away. Cinny lifted Grant’s arm to her shoulder and sighed.

Grant smiled and after a moment looked at Cinny, “Why am I stopped from getting physically attracted to you?”

“I find you physically attractive.”

“I do you as well but when I really start to feel it…it goes away.”

Ana said, “A compulsion was placed in both of you before I took you to the Monastery. Earth insisted it be there. They did not want you having children.”

“Can it be removed?”

“I don’t possess the means of removing it.”

Grant sighed, “Of all we’ve faced, this is what hurts the most.”

Cinny sighed and nodded.

A
dmiral Blake was beginning to understand the frustration the Raiders endured chasing the Human Genetics. No trace of them had been found or detected. He looked at the data stored on the efforts done by the Raiders and nothing really stood out. Well, if simple deduction didn’t work, it would have to be done the old fashioned way.

“Admiral Harris.”

“Yes Sir.”

“I want you to coordinate with Admiral Swenson and start a sweep using all your ships.”

“Yes Sir. Where do you want us to start?”

Blake thought for a few minutes and then smiled, “Start the sweep at that planet named Lovely. Have your ships use that planet as the center and start moving out in a uniform distribution. I want at least sixty percent of your forces searching in subspace.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

Grant looked up, “Ana, what can you determine from their plan?”

“Grant, that Admiral is lucky beyond belief. If he had started the search in another galaxy, they would have been moving away from the animals. Starting it at Lovely will bring a high enough concentration of their ships close enough to the Animals to detect their shuttles.”

“Couldn’t we warn the animals to send their shuttles away?”

“Cinny, the shuttles don’t have a means of staying in subspace. They would be seen and tracked if that many jumped away now.”

“How long will it take them to arrive at our location?”

“At least two months.”

Cinny looked at Grant, “Do we want to wait for them to arrive or should we start the chase now?”

Grant shook his head, “The purpose of having them chase us is to give the Animals time to hatch enough Spiders to cover their shuttles. We need to draw this out as long as possible.”

• • •

Six weeks later, the search was moving closer and Cinny looked up, “Ana, will they be able to detect us at this location?”

“No, as soon as I detect their approach, I’ll use one of the Nemesis’ small thrusters to push us away from their line of approach. I’ll jump to the opposite side and then you have to come up with something to get their attention.”

“That shouldn’t be hard.”

“It might if all their warships are involved in the search.”

Cinny tilted her head, “I think that Admiral has his ship at Lovely questioning the locals about our trips there. He doesn’t show any haste at leaving there.”

Grant smiled, “We’ll just stop by and say hello if…”

“An Earth Warship has jumped just outside scanning range. I’m pushing us away.”

“Jump us to Lovely, Ana!”

• • •

Admiral Blake was on Lovely talking with the government’s leaders when his communicator blinked, “Sir, a cruiser size vessel just appeared in normal space and launched an attack on us.”

“What?”

“Yes Sir. It damaged our thrusters and moved away before we could open fire. It appears to be the ship the two Genetics have been operating.”

“RECALL THE FLEET HERE AND DESTROY THAT SHIP!”

Blake suddenly heard, “Why are you so determined to kill us?”

Blake looked at the communicator and then said, “If you’ll turn yourselves in, I’ll spare your lives.”

“You’ll forgive us for not believing you. We’ve been listening to your communications and it appears that your plans to conquer all the civilized planets in the universe is on hold until you kill us.”

The Lovely Leaders’ eyes narrowed as they heard the conversation and Blake changed the frequency, “Get me a ship here and destroy that ship!”

• • •

Ana said, “I’m jumping. More than ten thousand subspace scouts have jumped in.”

Grant saw the jump field activate and the Nemesis left normal space.”

“Sir, the ship has jumped.”

“DON’T LOSE THEM!”

The armored warriors with Blake escorted him out of the government building to his shuttle and it blasted off the planet. A huge crimson warship appeared above the planet and Blake’s shuttle entered the landing bay, “I want an update!”

The ship’s Executive Officer met him in the landing bay and said, “The scouts are pursuing them and we’ve jumped in the entire fleet into this sector. They have jumped multiple times but we’ve not lost the track yet.”

“You better not lose it! Contact my Admirals and get them on a channel by the time I arrive on the bridge.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

Grant buckles his harness and yelled, “What’s our status, Ana?”

“I’ve jumped away from every ship I’ve detected in subspace but too many are jumping in around us. It appears your plan has succeeded beyond your wildest dreams. Every Earth Warship had jumped here and are participating in the chase.”

Cinny was frightened, “Can they catch us?”

“I’m doing all I can to escape. The numbers are not on our side but we have an entire universe to use.”

The Nemesis jumped again far beyond any known galaxy but ten thousand scouts followed them.

• • •

Blake arrived on the bridge and Captain Hemzer said, “They have jumped an incredible distance away, Sir.”

“I DON’T CARE IF WE HAVE TO CHASE THEM TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE! DO NOT LOSE THEM!”

• • •

Grant and Cinny felt their fatigue. The chase was entering the third week and they slept when they could but sleep eluded them most of the time and their stress was growing. “Ana?”

“Cinny, too many scouts have gotten close enough to follow our jump track. They’re getting closer with each jump and it’s just a matter of time until they catch us.”

“What about their warships?”

“Grant, the warships are given our new coordinates after each jump and they’re arriving in normal space just before we jump.”

Grant looked at Cinny and took her hand. She squeezed it and looked at him, “I’m sorry.”

Grant’s eyes softened, “We had to do it.” Cinny nodded and Grant looked up, “Ana, take us into normal space and open fire at the first ship that appears.”

“I want both of you to know that I’m so sorry for what I’ve done.”

“You only did what you thought was right. You are blameless in our eyes.”

“Thank you.”

Suddenly, normal space appeared and a moment later, a giant Earth Battleship appeared. The Nemesis fired all its inventory of missiles as well as every blaster. The giant warship exploded as another crimson colored battleship appeared and opened fire on the Nemesis. The huge blaster ripped through the Nemesis’ bridge and the top half of the front of the ship vaporized.

Grant was looking at Cinny and said, “I love you,” just before everything went black.

• • •

“Sir, I’ve hit the ship and blasted the front third into rubble. It is hanging powerless in space.”

“I want that ship searched and verified that the two Genetics were on board. Do not destroy it until that is confirmed.”

• • •

The two small Spiders came out from behind a console on the Nemesis’ bridge and ran quickly across the burning floors. One of them looked around and found what it was looking for and picked it up in its two front legs. It then rushed over and picked up an item off the floor. It looked at its companion and thought, “HURRY UP!”

The second Spider spat a small blast and pulled on the item it was trying to dislodge, “I have it!” The Spider turned and followed the first spider as they exited the bridge at their fastest speed. They ran to the landing bay and the first Spider focused and spat a blast at the landing bay door. An eight foot wide hole burned through it and just before they ran through the hole they heard a computerized voice say, “The Orion exists; I saw it.”

They paused but heard nothing else. The first spider thought, “Get moving,” as it ran and crawled through the hole and the second exited the burning ship behind him. They ran down the dark hull of the Nemesis toward the rear of the ship at their fastest speed and arrived at the rear stabilizers. They didn’t hesitate as they ran across them and leaped into space. They were moving sixty miles an hour when they jumped and they flew away from the Nemesis at a mile a minute. Both of them immediately began weaving a web around the items they were carrying. They watched the huge ship above the Nemesis and saw the lower landing bay start opening. Hundreds of other Warships began appearing around the stricken vessel and they flew between two of them. The Lead Spider touched the bracelet on its leg and pressed a button on it for an instant and immediately turned it off.

• • •

“Captain Oughten!”

Maureen Oughten lifted her communicator, “Sir, I have one of my officers leaving now to visually confirm they are on board.”

“I want to know as soon as it’s confirmed.”

“Yes Sir.”

• • •

Ensign Chan activated his suit jets and flew to the Nemesis and he came to a halt directly above the hole blasted in the top of the smaller vessel. It took him several minutes to slowly push himself to the area directly above the bridge and another three minutes to enter the blasted ship. He kept his distance from the burning walls and turned up the view on his helmet visor. “Sir, I have two bodies on the bridge wearing armor. They are blown into several pieces and one of them is still burning from a blaster hit.”

“You are confirming that there are two Human bodies on the ship?”

“Yes Sir, they are human.”

Maureen looked over her shoulder at her Weapons Officer and nodded. Every blaster on the giant battleships was trained on the Nemesis. The other ships that had jumped in had moved in closer and also trained their blasters on the ship. The Weapons Officer pushed a button on his console and every blaster on the Earth Battleships opened fire simultaneously. The Nemesis exploded into vapor.

• • •

One of the blaster operators looked at his Commander, “It’s not right what was done to Chan.”

The Command sighed and said, “If you think about it, you’ll know it had to be done.”

The crewman stared at him and, after a moment, nodded.

• • •

Captain Oughten lifted her communicator, “I want every inch of space around that ship scanned down to the molecular level and any particle you see will be forwarded to the blaster crews. I want nothing to survive!”

The two Spiders were now ten miles away from Earth’s ships and the items were fully enclosed in a web. They watched as the blasters on the crimson ships began blasting space. One narrowly missed them but the heat actually made them feel good. It took two hours of constant blasting but by then, the spiders were more than a hundred miles from the scene. They were invisible to the warship’s scanners.

• • •

“Sir, there is no particle remaining from that ship’s destruction.”

“Are you certain about that, Captain?”

“I am, Sir.”

• • •

Suddenly Blake heard, “Sir, I have a small vessel that just appeared in space and destroyed six of our battleships.”

“WHERE!?!”

“It jumped away but the scouts are on its track.”

“Don’t lose that ship!”

“Yes Sir.”

Blake couldn’t believe his good fortune. That small vessel had to be flown by the Animals. Could he possibly remove them as well? He lifted his communicator, “DO NOT LOSE THEM!”

• • •

The Scouts chased the small ship through forty-seven jumps before it arrived above an uninhabited planet. The Scouts sent a feed back to Admiral Blake and he stared it. “How many shuttles did the Animals use against the Raiders?”

“They never reported more than two, Sir.”

Blake stared at the feed and saw two shuttles holding station above the planet. He lifted his communicator, “Do you see anything on the planet?”

“Our scanners do not report anything but we can visually see about a hundred and fifty life forms located in one small area on the surface. They are invisible to our scanners.”

Blake pressed a button and his two junior admirals appeared on his panel, “I want both of your fleets to jump in on that planet and destroy those two ships above it. Once they’re destroyed, I want the planet burned down to bedrock.”

They disappeared from his console and two hours later, all of Earth’s warships appeared above the planet and opened fire. Blake was stunned by what followed. The two shuttles covered by the creatures blasted more than six thousand of his ships before they were finally destroyed. He ignored the destruction of the planet as he viewed the blasted hulls of his ships. He shook his head at the destructive capacity of the animals and he order the planet blasted again. He fell back in his chair and knew that if those Animals had more ships… He took a deep breath and blew it slowly out. He pressed a button and Admiral Hall appeared on his console, “Sir, we’ve destroyed the two Genetics as well as the Animals.”