Pray for the Prey (34 page)
The Captain lowered his head and said, “He crashed his ship into an oncoming major Battleship that was attempting to ram the Havana.”
Beth nearly broke down. Then she remembered, “Where did that happen?”
“I don’t know. This battle moved all over the neutral zone.”
“Pull up your record. Do it now!”
• • •
Riebbe floated in space and saw the three lines reform off in the distance. Looks like we won the first round. He kept his right arm still. He couldn’t move his fingers so he assumed he had broken it when he ejected from his ship just before it accelerated into the Major battleship. Thank the stars that the biggest part of the resulting explosion was contained by the ship’s force field before it died. He was still pushed away from the blast and was moving away from the fleet. He thought about Beth and hoped she was ok. He looked at the stars and found peace. He had a good life. He loved a good woman and she loved him in return. He sighed and closed his eyes and saw her face smiling at him. He moved his left arm and though it hurt like the blazes, he could still use it. He decided before he ran out of oxygen, he’d blow out his faceplate. That death would be much quicker. He closed his eyes and lost consciousness. He didn’t know his arm was bleeding from the compound fracture.
Beth flew the Attack Craft that had been modified into a medical craft and scanned the area suggested by the Havana’s computer. There was so much debris drifting and flying around that it was impossible to see anything as small as a person. She started to panic. Cyanna said, “Calm down and think about this. What can we use to locate him? Is there anything on his suit that we could track?”
Beth couldn’t think she was so scared. She forced herself to take deep breaths and she closed her eyes. She thought of her space suit and started at the floor and worked her way up in her mind. “The Blaster! We all carry a hand blaster.”
“Dolly!”
“Yes Cyanna.”
“Do you have the frequency that our hand blaster emits?”
“I do.”
“Send it to my board now!” The frequency appeared and Beth set the scanner. An alarm sounded and Cyanna said, “It’s behind us. Turn around.”
Beth flipped the medical craft and saw the blip. She rushed up to it and saw a space suit moving quickly away from the site of the battle. She opened the cargo door and eased the ship next to the body and prayed. One of the crew pulled the body in and closed the cargo door.
“Is it him!?”
Cyanna said, “Calm down, Beth.”
“That’s my life, Admiral!”
“Yes it is but he looks bad. He’s got a broken arm and has lost a lot of blood. We need to get him to the Havana.”
Beth punched in a coordinate and jumped the ship. Cyanna said, “Don’t…” But it was too late. The Havana appeared outside the ship and Beth quickly flew into the landing bay. Cyanna let out a deep breath and said, “That jump was entirely too short to be accurate. We could have ended up jumping into the ship.” Cyanna was talking to an empty chair. She sighed and decided that this was one action that Beth would not be disciplined for. She knew she would have done the same thing if it were RV.
• • •
Riebbe felt something and quickly determined that it was his arm. It hurt. I guess I passed out. He slowly opened his eyes and there was Beth leaning over staring into his face. He smiled and she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly. “You remembered.”
“I did.”
“I was trying to remember if I had ever told you about that maneuver but my mind wasn’t entirely clear.”
“I remember you saying ejecting out of a craft moving at those speeds was next to suicide.”
“It looks like I was wrong.” Beth leaned forward and kissed him again. Suddenly Riebbe broke the kiss, “Where is my uniform!?!”
“Relax, they had to cut it off you and I put it in the closet over there.”
“Look in the front right pocket. I left something in it.”
Beth went over and pulled the uniform out and saw the blood stains on the sleeve. She almost broke down but held herself together. She reached in the pocket and found a small silver box. She looked at Jeff and he said, “Will you marry me?”
She opened the box and the ring was beautiful. She ran over to the bed and saw him wince. She quickly slowed and slowly leaned down and kissed him again. “Is ten minutes from now too soon?”
Riebbe smiled, “It’s ten minutes too long.”
Beth went to the wall and said, “Admiral, will you come to the medical bay to perform a ceremony?”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Beth smiled and said, “You’ll just have to wait.” RV and Cyanna arrived along with the pilots from their two wings and found them kissing.
• • •
RV, Cyanna, Kate, Kenny, and Bob were in the conference room on the Havana. George and the rest of the Command Team looked at them on their wall monitor and George said, “You have done an excellent job. We’re proud of you.”
“It cost us.”
“I know but you have made them pay for those losses. What are you going to do now?”
“We are changing our tactics.”
George stared at the screen and said, “In what way?”
“We are not going to use the long lines in the future. We’re going to use Kim’s Domino in all future attacks.”
“You’re talking about Admiral Kim’s formation?”
“I am. It combines the strength of the linked force fields of the Bugs and allows us to put any attacker in crossfire. We will initially form the lines, but once the Majors arrive we will form our squares immediately. Our three Admirals here are working on it with their fleets at the moment.”
“How long do you think before they return?”
“It won’t be right away. There will be a number of civilizations that took part in the attack that will be attacked in turn due to their loss of ships. That will take a while to resolve.”
George thought a moment and his expression grew serious, “What if they all combine to attack you; how many ships will you have to face?”
“The two leaders here don’t know for sure but estimate more than four hundred million at the least.” RV saw George’s expression change and quickly said, “I don’t think that will happen and even if it does, it won’t last long.”
“Why not?”
“There’s that other sector that would jump on the Majors if they sent all their ships away from their planets. I think the Majors realize that and will be reluctant to use them all. However, they could put a formidable force together if they agreed to work together.”
“Well, at least we didn’t use our other ships in that battle. They don’t know about them.”
RV nodded, “Next time all of our ships will jump in at the first sign of trouble. The Majors will be coming loaded for bear.”
George smiled, Maybe we’ll be given some time. We’re building ships at a record pace. If they delay, we’ll only get stronger.”
“Time has always been the most important element in our success.”
George smiled, “Perhaps time is on our side.”
RV leaned back in his chair, “We can only hope. The next visit we have from the Majors will start the beginning of the end.”
“The end of whom?”
RV looked around the room and shrugged, “That has yet to be determined.”
The end
Excerpt from
Lens of Time Book Four
The End of Time
A
rvolo looked up at his display and saw the gathering ships. There were millions and more were arriving every second. He hit the general frequency, “It appears that both sectors of M-87 have now combined and are coming to destroy our fleets. There is now possible way for us to fight in formation so once the battle is joined, all ships will be on their own to fight and survive as best they can. It is our intent to kill as many of the enemy as possible and lessen the possibility of them finding our new home. Small ships will fight until they run out of munitions and will then jump away. You will not waste your ships by ramming the enemy. We will need you in future combat operations. On my command, weapons are free and pick a group of those warships and introduce yourselves. Make sure they remember you; God speed and good luck.”
RV stood and moved to the pilot’s chair, “Dolly, can you handle the weapons?”
“I can.”
“Cyanna, take over control of the fleet and order retreat if we’re going to be overwhelmed.”
Cyanna moved to the command chair and watched the giant mass of warships as it continued to grow. She looked at RV, “If you don’t mind, I’ve never been the patient sort.”
RV smiled and said, “Go ahead.”
“Attention all ships; we will not wait for their attack. Launch all small ships immediately and prepare to hit those ships in five seconds, four, three, two, one, and go!”
The millions of White Ships roared forward, hit the giant mass of warships in the center at one quarter light speed, and ships began dying.
Books by Saxon Andrew
The Annihilation Series:
Ashes of the Realm:
Lens of Time:
Pray for the Prey
The End of Time (November 2012)
About Saxon Andrew
S
axon Andrew is the author of the number one bestselling Annihilation Series. All seven books of the series have been a number one bestseller on Amazon’s kindle Science Fiction Series. Ashes of the Realm is the second series created by him and continues the history of the Stars Realm after its destruction. A third series, The Lens of Time, will be published in early 2012.
His books are written so that anyone can enjoy them and not worry about their children picking them up. He lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and looks forward to each day so he can write the stories that his fans enjoy.
Copyright © 2012 by Saxon Andrew. All rights reserved. Screen Writers Guild no. VQEA3E380432.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
First Electronic Edition: August 2012