Annihilation: Book 05 - Searcher (36 page)

“Sir we are much faster than that ship. I have set it up so that we come out of our teleport flying parallel to his line of flight at optimum firing distance. I have it sight targeted to the nose of the transport which should make it hit amidships taking in the drift factor.”

“Pass that information on to weapons for the follow up penetrators.”

“Their board is slaved to mine so you should be able to fire the follow up from your console, Sir.”

“I want them to fire on my order; they need the experience.”

“I’ve made the corrections, sir. They now control the firing control for the follow ups.”

“Matt, he’s being wasted commanding just one ship. He naturally knows the importance of trusting your subordinates. Most Captains would not give up that much control.”

“You’re right Melanie. Perhaps we’ve found the one to command the Megaships.’

Five minutes prior to teleporting, Leo punched the ship’s com and said, “Alright crew, take a deep breath and try to relax. You’ve trained for this and I know you’re ready. This is the first step toward taking our universe back and I know you’ll make the Realm proud today. You have already made me proud of you. Four minutes to port.”

Leo leaned back and whispered to Matt, “Your Grace, I am going to launch the follow up penetrators even if I see a blast. We should find out if the slower speeds will also penetrate.”

“I think that is a wise decision, Captain. You also want to see if your crew is ready for real combat.”

Leo smiled and said, “Yes I do, Your Grace.”

Melanie just shook her head and Fly girl thought to her, “This is one sharp officer, Melanie.”

“Yes he is.”

“Sen-Gen announced, “Teleport in 5,4,3,2,1, Port.”

The Transport Commander was watching his display when the Sensor Male yelled, “Object fired at us; impact in one zel.” The ship rocked with the impact and then a huge blast engulfed them. Almost immediately the transport shook two more times and two blasts hit them again. They were left floating inside the transport along with the millions of warriors. The interior of the ship was blown away and burned out of existence along with all the systems that operated the vessel. The commander thought to the Sensor Male, “What happened?”

“I don’t know, First Fang. That object came out of nowhere. Whatever fired it was not on our scans.”

“We just have to wait for the Ship’s male to come free us. Whatever it was, it can’t harm us in our armor.” They waited and discovered that they were right about the blast but were wrong about the protection of their armor. Three large red boxes floating inside the ship suddenly exploded and thousands of small round balls shot out in all directions. The Ship’s Commander wondered, “What are these?” as ten of them bounced off his outer shell. The tenth ball sent him tumbling with the speed at which it hit him. The eleventh ball penetrated his shell and bounced around inside ten times before it was moving fast enough to punch back through his shell and start the process again. The Ship’s Commander never saw the exit as the third bounce inside his armor hit his central nervous system and killed him. Inside the transport the millions of warriors were being struck by the small balls and each time the balls flew away faster. Five minutes after they were released the balls were killing every Eight Leg they hit. They had reached equilibrium and were traveling fast enough to penetrate the armor of the warriors but not fast enough to puncture the mile thick hull of the vessel. The warriors still alive tried to open the doors to escape to the outside but the controls that would move the huge doors were burned away. The inside of the ship looked like an amusement ride gone mad. Millions of warriors were spinning in all directions in zero gravity and had no way to control what was happening. Those that managed to cling to the walls were no better off. When the balls hit the hull their speed was maximized by the unmoving surface. They punched through the warrior’s armor and knocked them off the wall to float out into the carnage taking place throughout the interior of the huge ship. It took two hours for the last warrior to die. He had somehow avoided being hit but then ten of the small balls hit him and blew his armor apart. What was left inside the armor didn’t look like anything remotely resembling an Eight Leg. Three hours after the last warrior died the last iron tree ball embedded in a floating carcass of an Eight Leg. Ten of the balls had actually gained enough speed to penetrate the mile thick hull of the ship and fly off into space.

“Sir, the first penetrator has penetrated and has exited the ship.”

“Fire follow-up penetrators now,” Leo ordered.

“Sir, one of the follow-ups has penetrated the ship and exited.”

“Launch shuttles to retrieve those shards now,” Leo ordered. “Do not lose them.” Leo looked at his display and watched the holes in the transport with a magnified view. Matt moved forward but Leo held up his hand letting him know not to interrupt him. He waited and then he saw it. “Star Drive team, carry out your assignment now. Stand by for jump instructions.’

Leo turned to Matt and said, “Please forgive me, your Grace. I was looking for the iron tree packages to detonate inside the ship and their blast was barely visible. I didn’t want to miss them.”

“Do not apologize, Captain. You handled your ship marvelously. What are you planning now?”

“I am going to jump that ship out of this system on the off chance that another ship might be following up on the transport ahead of schedule. The attack has only taken eight minutes so far and I may be paranoid but I am going to minimize our risk of discovery. I’m jumping the ship to a system and place it behind a star that is located between the current invader’s position and the transport.” Leo looked at his board and said, “The shuttles have recovered the two shards and are teleporting out of the system with them.” He looked at his board again and punched his com, “Are you ready?”

“The Drive is in place, Captain.”

“Jump as soon as you have the screen up, Lieutenant.” On the display the huge transport disappeared. Leo took a deep breath and sat back in his chair, “I was probably being overly cautious but I thought about what I would do if I were in their place.”

“Captain, we have another transport entering normal space at the jump limit.”

Leo looked at Matt, “Perhaps I’m not so paranoid after all.”

Matt shook his head and said, “Drop a screened probe and teleport out of here. We’ll watch from a distance.”

Leo looked at Sen-Gen and nodded. The Rossville disappeared.

The second transport’s commander looked at his display and turned to his Sensor Male, “Where are they?”

“They are not answering my communications and they are not on my scan.”

“Is it possible for them to be in this system and you not to be able to see them?”

“No, First Fang, it is not.”

“Leave immediately.” The second transport jumped away.

“Admiral, I would suggest you teleport that probe away from this system. I suspect things are going to get busy here shortly,” Matt said.

Leo looked at Melanie and she said, “He was talking to you.”

Leo flinched and said, “You’re the only admiral on this ship, Sir.”

Melanie shrugged and said, “Not anymore, Admiral.”

Leo furrowed his brow as Matt moved toward his chair, “You have done an outstanding job of fighting your ship and planning for all possible contingencies. I am highly impressed with the skills you have displayed and I along with Admiral Grace agree that we need you in another position. You are hereby promoted to the Rank of Rear Admiral and will take command of the megaships that, after what I have seen today, will be playing a major role in the coming war with the invaders. This is a battlefield promotion and given that I have the authority to do as I please, you will be second in command to Admiral Grace. I congratulate you and your fine crew and can say without reservation that the Stars Realm is proud of the way you have carried out your duties today.”

The bridge crew stood and applauded their former captain. Word spread through the ship and soon all of the crew was yelling his name. Matt looked at Melanie and saw that they had made a good decision. Leo was overwhelmed. This was sudden but then he had a thought, “Your Grace, do I have the authority to determine the commanders that serve under me?”

“Admiral, I expect you to assume total responsibility of the Megaships and make them the outstanding force they once were.”

Leo smiled and turned to Sen-Gen, “Sen-Gen, you are hereby promoted to the rank of commodore and will make the Rossville your command ship. You may appoint the captain of your choice but I expect you to be responsible for half of the ships in my fleet.” Leo then turned to Matt and said, “It was her idea to get the ship out of this system quickly and she is the one that selected the officers for this vessel. If it is not presumptuous for me to say, she would make a fine commanding officer in the Realm’s Navy.”

Matt looked at Leo and said, “You have confirmed my choice of you, Admiral. Giving others credit does not diminish your achievement; in fact it makes you stronger. I see that you are not self serving but truly possess the command traits needed by the Realm. I now charge you and your new commodore to go find others like yourselves and build a fleet truly worthy of that name you carry.”

Leo smiled and bowed to Matt, “It will be my pleasure, Your Grace.”

Matt pushed his com and said, “Al, please send the recording of this action to Sprig and send a copy of the promotions to Anglo Gardner.”

“Done and done.”

Matt turned to Leo and said, “Let’s go win us a war.”

Leo nodded but his head was already filling up with all the things to be done.

The Ship’s Male listened to the second transport’s report and ordered, “Recall all ships immediately.” The Sensor Male looked at him and the Ship’s Male said with bared fangs, “I said immediately.”

The Sensor Male jerked around and began issuing the orders. He knew he had just come close to being killed. He kept at his duties and did not look at the Ship’s Male until the jump to the system was completed and the Ship’s Male addressed him.

“I want an organized sweep of this system. Do you know what I mean by organized?”

“Yes First Fang, I will begin immediately.”

The Ship’s Male stared at the Sensor Male and knew he would not kill him. He was disappointed that he had lost control but glad that now his orders were being carried out with the proper sense of urgency. The ships leaving the mother ship were evenly spaced and fanned out from the line of travel that the transport must have taken into the system. He moved to the communication frame and contacted the Supreme Male. The Supreme Male downloaded what had happened and felt his anger grow. The probe that was in the Ship’s Male’s abdomen suddenly penetrated to its full length and the Ship’s Male shriveled and died.

The Sensor Male saw the Ship’s Male’s death and then saw the Supreme Male on his console. “You are now the Ship’s Male. I will not tolerate such incompetence. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Supreme Male, I understand.”

“The Family will arrive shortly. Do not move your main ship inside the jump limit of any system until we arrive. You may send your ships to feed but stay away from those systems that you have been investigating until my arrival.”

“Yes, Supreme Male.” His communication screen went dark. The new Ship’s Male looked at the dark screen as the second Sensor Male entered the command chamber. “Recall all ships immediately.”

A transport moving in system detected a small object fly past his ship at amazing speed. He began to report it when the command to return was given. “What if we detect something,” he asked.

“Return to the ship now!” The transport’s commander raised two legs and turned around and headed back to the main ship.

“What are they doing, Al?”

“It looks like they are packing up and leaving.”

Matt sat and watched for three hours as the mother ship retrieve all of its ships. The Mother ship then jumped away. “Where did they go?”

“They have jumped to a system with a civilization and are launching their ships from the jump limit, Matt.”

Matt thought, “Melanie, it looks like they are not going to try and find any more hidden planets. I suspect that their home fleet has issued orders to stay safe until they arrive. I want you to go and help Admiral Kosiev get his fleet organized. Your ability to see things clearly can help him immensely and it will also cut through any resistance he might get from Fleet Command. After seeing his megaship in action I believe we will need them ready quickly.”

“I do not like leaving you because this is the center of action but you’re right. I’ll see you as soon as possible.”

“Be safe.”

“You, too.”

Matt reflected for a moment and then thought, “Cassandra, are you busy?”

“Not for you.”

“Do you mind if I come and see you; I have an interesting recording of our attack on one of their transports?”