Pray for the Prey (33 page)

Forty minutes later trillions of beings in the Major civilizations watched as there were only two ships remaining; one Violet Ship and one Yellow Ship. The amount wagered on the battle was astronomical and everyone was on pins and needles wondering who was going to win. Suddenly the Yellow Ship turned and accelerated toward the Violet Ship.

• • •

The dark creature watched the Yellow Ship accelerate at the much larger Violet ship and started yelling, “Don’t do it, don’t do it. For brack’s sake, don’t you dare do it!”

All of the ones that had wagered huge bets felt their fear go up. This can’t be happening. They all watched as the Yellow Ship hit the Violet ship in the middle and both of them went up in a massive explosion. The Wage Takers were absolutely shocked. There had never been a tie before and now they were in position to win a sum that was too large to count.

Every planet in the Majors watched their displays hoping just one ship would show up. The majority of them hoped for a Violet Ship but billions hoped for a Yellow ship. The anxiety was high as they watched their displays and the countdown on their screens. The dark creature was going to lose double if a ship didn’t appear in the time remaining, “Come on, just one ship, come on!” As time ran out he felt his anger turn to rage.

• • •

The Fleet Controller said, “Jump in three hundred micro-measures. The two fleets will jump in facing each other with half the neutral zone between them.”

“Five minutes, Cyanna. Notify the fleets.”

• • •

The planets in the other sector were amazed at the scope of the battle and had enjoyed it immensely. They heard the ruling that if a ship did not show up within the countdown, all bets would be forfeited to the Wager Takers. Now that should prove interesting. No one turned off their screens. What was going to happen? Many of them started taking bets on whether a ship was going to appear or not.

• • •

“Whatever our friends are going to do will happen when that countdown ends.”

“There are going to be some angry bettors if they don’t show up before it ends.”

“What better way to distract them than to make them angry. Whatever they’re going to do, I don’t want to miss it.”

“Are you willing to bet they’re going to do something?”

“You still have your doubts?”

“How could they have persuaded those minors to assist them? This has nothing to do with them. I’ll bet a hundred on it.”

“Make it two hundred and you have a bet.”

“You’re on.”

“The countdown ended and the first bettor handed over two hundred.”

• • •

“Jump in five micro-measures, four, three, two, one, jump!”

The two huge fleets of White Ships jumped into the neutral zone facing each other. The two sectors had completely different reactions. The Majors watched the two huge fleets face off against each other and were shocked at the different ships that appeared. They wondered if this was a continuation of the first battle. They were all furious that they had lost their wagers. As they watched, the two huge fleets swung around and formed one fleet with three lines. The Majors saw the emblems of the Horde and Bugs on many of the ships and suddenly knew they had been had. The battle had been a sham and their lost wagers were the Minor’s way of mocking them. Those two had combined against conventions and were flaunting it at them.

The other sector saw the large White Ships appear and immediately recognized the ship that had destroyed thousands of ships at the White Civilization. That must be where they were coming from. They immediately forgot the White Civilization; they only had one of those ships. There were three million in that minor civilization. This was not something that could be tolerated. They immediately began making contact and waited to see what the Majors were going to do about the situation. Many hoped the Majors would be weakened before those white ships were dealt with.

• • •

The dark creature was venting his rage. The aide waited outside his dwelling as his roars could be heard through the armored door. He had been summoned but was not going to think about entering while the leader was this angry. He stood and waited for the leader to summon him inside.

Finally the door went up and he entered ready to run. The leader had turned purple and his nostrils were flared, “Order the Fleet and destroy every ship. Leave none alive. Then go to the other border and destroy every Yellow Ship.”

The aide thought about asking what to do about the ships the Yellow Ships were fighting on the other border but decided that the Fleet Director could do that for himself. He bowed and backed out as quickly as possible. The door slammed down and he ran as fast as he could to put some distance between himself and the enraged Leader.

• • •

The Fleet Controller appeared on the general frequency and said, “I suspect that the first ships to arrive will be the Purple Ships. Our territory falls under their supervision and I would think they are somewhat disturbed by our obvious disrespectful behavior. They are not one of the advanced Majors, but they are one of the most numerous. I’m hoping they will be overconfident and not send a matching number but be prepared for any eventuality. Our initial plan is to hold our lines intact and try to weather the first onslaught. After that we will play it by what happens. Please make sure you have designated the ships that will turn and defend our lines against any ships that attack from our rear, above, or below.”

Cyanna said, “Already done.”

RV nodded and said, “Send a message to Kate to hold her line next to us.”

“Done.”

The two fleets from the Milky Way were in the center of the three long lines. They were positioned slightly ahead of the upper and lower lines so their weapons could be targeted on any large force attacking the weaker ships. RV said over his fleet’s frequency, “We will use our ultrabeams at one third power in the first attack and slowly raise the power as different ships arrive or until we see we need a higher power to penetrate the attacker’s force fields. We will launch our small craft when the Commander releases us from the line.”

• • •

“Hey Eric.”

“What do you want, Gibbs. I’m busy at the moment.”

“The one that kills the most ships pays for the next meal.”

“You’re on.”

“You’re going down, clown.”

Eric laughed and knew Gibbs thought the aggressiveness of his ships would win the bet for him. Eric sent orders making sure his fleet understood the plan and the call word. Gibbs won’t know what happened until too late.

• • •

“They’re starting to bet, Sir.”

“Who?”

“Gibbs and Eric.”

“Who do you want?”

“I hate to bet against my own, but I have to take Gibbs.”

“Will you give me odds?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’ll take Eric anyway.” RV looked at his display and tried his best to hide his thoughts. Cyanna stared at him for a moment and shrugged as she went back to her panel. RV looked at the opposite wall from Cyanna and smiled. Then he made a serious expression and turned back around. He mentally patted himself on the back. He was getting better at hiding his thoughts. He had worked on it in front of a mirror for weeks and it appeared to be working.

Cyanna sighed; she was going to lose again. He accepted that bet too quickly. He knew something she didn’t and it was going to cost her.

• • •

The Fleet Director received calls from six other Majors before he launched. They all volunteered to send ships to punish the minors and he welcomed their participation. He only had to take two million ships instead of four. Seven million should be able to handle this quickly enough. He looked around his bridge and said, “Launch in a ninety micro-measures.”

He smiled and looked forward to teaching the rebellious civilizations a lesson. He had lost more than a thousand on his wager. He owed them.

• • •

The dark creature watched his display waiting for the fleet to attack. His communication panel sounded and he pushed the switch, “I’m busy at the moment.”

“I think there is something you should know.”

“What is that?”

“Those new ships being used by the Minors are very dangerous.”

“Really? Where did you learn that?”

“From a source in the adjacent sector.”

The Dark Being watched and thought about the two million ships being sent there. “Are there wagers being taken on this?”

“There are and the odds are two thousand to one and going up.”

“Thanks, I’ll take your warning under advisement.” He ended the call and placed a bet on the Minors ten seconds before the fleets fired their first shots. The wager takers were amazed that one of the Purple Clan would bet that much against his own ships. However, they gladly took the bet.

The dark creature knew it was too late to stop the attack. He had been contacted by the Highest and he let him know that an attack had been ordered. Now, if his source was right…”

Chapter Twenty-Four

R
V saw the millions of ships appear and accelerate toward their lines. The entire front on the charging ships were Purple followed by other types of ships chasing behind then. He nodded at Cyanna and she said, “Beams are free,”

The three lines of white ships fired a massive barrage at the incoming ships. The Bugs and Horde launched energy pulses and RV’s fleets fired their beams. He stared at the scanner display and calmly said, “Order beams increased twenty percent.”

The Purple Ships were being blasted. The energy pulses hit and blew through their force fields and blasted the ships. The Beams from RV’s fleets didn’t penetrate until they were twenty miles out. Suddenly the beams grew brighter with intensity and Purple Ships began exploding forty miles out. The space in front of the three lines was one giant explosion. More and more ships were jumping in and RV said, “Rotate the first section.”

Every third ship in the line turned and faced the ships that had jumped in behind the lines. The Bug and Horde also rotated one third of their forces and the space behind the lines looked like the front on a somewhat smaller scale. Soon ships were jumping in on all sides of the three lines and ships were dying faster than could be counted. Some of the Major Ships broke through the lines and killed ships in all three lines. RV winced every time one of his ships exploded but so far he had only lost a thousand. The upper and lower lines had lost ten times that number.

Other Major Civilizations called in and offered to send ships. There was huge anger at this uppidy Minor killing their master’s ships. The number jumping in swelled to twenty million. Many massed together to attack the line in a massive attack against a small section in an effort to penetrate the line and roll it up. RV watched the ships as they started to move forward and he heard, “Break ranks. Break ranks, pick a target and make it count.”

RV looked at Cyanna and said, “Launch all ships and strikers are now free.”

Kate received the command and yelled, “Allllriggghhhhtttt! All weapons free, all weapons free. Launch all ships and strikers are free.”

“The incoming mass of nine million ships thought the middle line in front of them had exploded. White seemed to puff out from the line and expand outward. Moments later they learned what those puffs were made of.

Wing Commander Jak turned and was followed by three hundred and forty Needles. He smiled at their flight discipline and knew no orders were needed. His pilots were well trained and prepared. They flew in single file to offer the smallest target possible to the oncoming ships. Eight miles, out they moved out into a line and bore in on the giant ships approaching them. They each targeted two ships and launched a main striker at each. They broke away as the strikers hit the front ships at ninety five percent of light speed. The front of the incoming ships exploded so fast that the ones following were forced to fly around them only to find more than a million lines of tiny ships moving toward them.

The neutral zone looked like a picture from hell. Millions of ships were fighting and dying. RV checked his display and saw that no more ships were jumping in. The strikers were making the difference and Kate’s fleet was racking up kills. Cyanna saw that her fleet was scattered throughout the war zone while Eric’s fleet all fought in one small area. The Bugs and Horde were also working together in groups and though they were losing large numbers of ships, they were giving more than they got.

• • •

Eric said calmly into his com, “Domino, domino, Domino.”

Cyanna watched Eric’s entire fleet jump to the edge of the combat zone and form a giant square with two hundred lines of two hundred ships. The formation looked like a game she played as a child. The giant square moved forward and she saw five thousand ships moving behind the formation to attack any ships that moved into its rear. The fleet moved into the combat zone and began killing any Major Ship in its path. The ships were spaced so any concentration of enemy ships would be caught in a cross fire by the ships closest to the area of danger.

The ships were equally spaced with twenty mile separation and the four thousand mile wide square moved through the giant battle killing everything in front of it. Kate saw the huge formation and started laughing. It looks like he’s teaching us something new. Gibbs saw the formation and checked his scanner. He fell back in his chair and slowly shook his head. Before that formation could make it across the war zone, every Major Ship disappeared.

“Return to formation, return to formation.”

The survivors jumped back to their lines and then moved the lines together. RV said, “How many?”

“Ten thousand battleships, seventy thousand plus small craft.”

“How many Majors?”

“Twelve million in our initial count.”

RV sighed but knew the price was worth it. Now he would have to wait and see what happened next.

• • •

Beth waited for Riebbe but he had not returned. After all ships were on board she waited and his slot was empty. “Oh Rieb!”

She went to his wing and pulled the second in command by the sleeve, “Where’s Reibe?”