Annihilation: A Rose Grows In Weeds (33 page)

Tag looked with him at the silver ship and said, “That is what started all of our meetings.” Dorg looked puzzled and Tag continued, “That is an Alfont Starship.”

Dorg was stunned. “A what!”

“I stumbled on it when I was on Earth’s moon trying to escape capture by Earth’s government. It was touching the dead body of his master that set off the tone that set the Alliance on a path to annihilate my planet.”

Dorg stared at the silver ship and felt the wonder of what powers that ship must possess. Then Tag said something that grabbed his attention. “The ship is actually intelligent and his name is Atlas.”

Dorg sat down in his command chair and said, “What do you mean intelligent?”

A voice came out of the speaker on the wall display, “What Tag is trying to tell you is that I actually have a mind of my own and make my own decisions. I am my own ruler and choose what path I follow. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Admiral. You’ve changed a lot since the Ross conflict.”

Dorg could only sit and stare at the ship holding station next to his shuttle. Then he said, “Why are you showing me this ship. This is information that could explode on the people of the stars Realm, especially with the history of planets being destroyed because of contact with their artifacts.”

Atlas said over the speaker, “Maybe he hasn’t changed as much as I thought. Is he always this serious?”

Tag laughed and said, “Atlas, it does take a few moments to come to terms with your existence.”

“Perhaps, but like your friend Eric once said, “If you don’t have a sense of humor, then go and buy one.”

Even Dorg smiled at that one.

“Admiral, Atlas will not take a side in any conflict that we are involved in; he believes that if we became dependant on him to win all of our conflicts that he would ultimately become our ruler and stunt our development; he does not desire to do that.”

“What Tag is saying is true, Admiral. I will attempt to prevent Tag’s death if I can do it without revealing my existence but I will not take part in the decisions that your races make regarding what you choose to do. I am not going to be responsible for possibly making a bad decision leading to your destruction. I have not completely reconciled myself to the role I’m to play in this universe.”

Dorg leaned forward and said, “You still haven’t told me why.

“Because I’m going to need you to help me explain how I escaped Retribution’s destruction without revealing Atlas’ existence,” Tag answered.

“Oh, that should be easy,” Dorg said.

Tag raised his eyebrows and Dorg said, “Everyone in the Stars Realm knows you possess high psychic ability. Just tell them that you and Ron-Dar jumped into an escape pod that had a jump drive in it and you masked it with you mind.”

Dorg leaned back and chuckled until Ron-Dar said, “That’s exactly what happened.”

“Ok, I can use that, but how do we explain how I managed to escape the system so close to the star and surrounded by thousands of ships?”

“Simple, you used a null drive from inside the screen of a plant ship which caused the ship to explode wiping away the trace of your null drive. You contacted me and I came and rescued you.”

“Would that actually happen if a null drive was used inside the screen of a ship?”

“McAllister told me that he thought it would when he was developing it; we will just order him not to experiment to find out either way. We’ll just tell him you confirmed it.”

“That’s the story we will use,” Tag said, “However, I need the two of you to swear secrecy about Atlas’ existence. No one can know and I need your solemn oaths to never reveal what you know to anyone; and I do mean anyone.”

Dorg remembered Tgon-Gee saying that he had better be happy that he was on Tag’s side of the Alliance conflict; otherwise he would have been destroyed. This was not an issue he was going to have between them. “Prince Gardner, I swear on my Clan and my family that I will never reveal its existence.”

“I also swear to keep the secret,” Ron-Dar said.

“Ok, Admiral, if it’s not too much trouble, could you jump me to Ross so I can calm my family down. Would you also contact Planet Leader Sten and have him prepare me a new ship. I am also ordering Ron-Dar promoted to Admiral to replace Chen. I will also need a new ship commander which I will leave to you. Plan to meet with me in two days at Castle Gardner to discuss our next plan.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, it will be done as you say.” Dorg then turned and flew the shuttle back out to the jump limit and engaged the Star Drive. The ship disappeared and on board the Dublin, Bridget O’Donald noticed that the Admiral never went to the surface of the moon. That’s odd; she wrote a report and sent it to Misty Nicole’s attention describing what happened.

Dorg came out into normal space at the jump limit in Ross’s system. He started the flight to Ross and had moved an hour in system when his com beeped with Earth’s Director Misty Nicole on his screen. Dorg pushed his com and said, “Madam Director, what a pleasure to see you.”

Misty looked at him and said, “One of our ships has notified me that you came to our system to visit Callisto but then never went down to the surface. I was wondering if there was a problem that I could help you with.”

Dorg was stumped on what to say but then Tag stepped in front of his com and said, “Good day, Director. I interrupted his trip to come and pick me up. It seems my ship was shot out from under me during the battle at the harvesting planet and my ship’s commander and I were barely able to escape in a pod. I had Admiral Dorg’s com frequency on the pods control board and he came to pick us up.”

Misty looked shocked at Tag and said, “What were the results of the battle? Are you ok?”

“Yes, Director, I’m fine but we lost more than 18,000 ships and Admiral Chen was killed when his ship was hit. According to Admiral Dorg, we destroyed more than two million Plant ships so we have to look at this as a victory, but they can afford to lose massive numbers and we can’t. The next battle will probably determine the final outcome of our war; I expect the Algeans to use the bulk of their fleets to attack the Dremels’ planet.”

“Please keep me updated on what you plan.”

“Director, I expect you and your staff to attend the next planning session.”

“I look forward to seeing you again Prince Gardner.” Tag could see her smiling as she broke the connection.

Dorg looked at Tag and said, “Thanks for stepping in on that conversation; I was at a loss on how to explain what happened.”

“Glad to do it Admiral.”

Dorg stood up and looked out the viewport and said, “I’m somewhat angry at the Ship’s Captain that jumped me when I jumped into the Human’s system. She also passed information along that she would have only had by keeping an eye on my actions. She must stay alert all the time. She also jumped in on me within three seconds of my breaking into normal space and that tells me that her crew must be well trained to respond so quickly.”

Tag looked at him and said, “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”

Dorg grinned and said, “Yes I am, if it meets with your approval.”

Tag shrugged and laughed, “You’re going to scare the living groad out of her, aren’t you?”

“Absolutely,” then Dorg keyed his com and said, “Earth Command Center, please respond.”

“Go ahead Admiral.”

“Please detach the Dublin from your system defense and have it report to Castle Gardner in forty eight hours.”

“How long will they be detached, Sir?”

“Indefinitely, have them report to me upon their arrival.”

“Yes Sir, I will notify the Dublin and Command immediately.”

Dorg looked at Tag and Ron-Dar and said, “Who says I don’t have a sense of humor?”

A voice came over the speaker that said, “You are making progress, Admiral.”

All three of them laughed out loud and continued their flight to Ross.

Tag walked into Castle Gardner from the roof to find Danielle and Rose waiting for him. They both ran up and wrapped their arms around him and held on tightly. “I was so worried, Tag,” Danielle said as tears started down her cheeks.

“Danielle, you know I’m protected.”

Rose chimed in with, “Yes you are, but what if the Plants found you floating in space and began nudging you toward the sun. If you were forced into that furnace, I believe we don’t have a ship that could rescue you.”

Tag thought, “Atlas, is there any truth in what she’s saying?”

“I’m afraid she’s right, Tag; oh excuse me, Your Majesty. I would not be able to go to the core of a star.”

“Forget the Your Majesty, we’re among friends here. Then if they had tried that, I would have determined just how effective your hand weapon is.” “If you used it they would pinpoint your location and then use their primary beams to push you toward the sun. Rose is right, we could have lost you.”

“But you didn’t; so let’s be thankful and try not to let it happen again.”

Danielle held on to Tag and continued to cry. Rose kissed her father’s cheek and left the room. “Danielle, I’m here and I’m ok. You know there are risks in what we are doing and you have to come to terms with them.”

She looked up into his eyes and then turned and took his hand and pulled them toward their private quarters. “I’ll show you some terms,” and then she closed the door behind them.

Rose commed Leila and said, “I believe Mom will be busy for a while. Will you hold her calls?”

“Already doing it, kiddo.”

Rose smiled and then she went to the map room to take a look at the Algeans.

Bridget O’Donald was sitting on her bridge preparing for departure to Ross. She sat there knowing that she was in big trouble and was hoping she kept her command. “I thought I was doing the right thing but now it looks like I messed up keeping an eye on my Commanding Officer. Oh, this is not going to be good,” she thought.

“Sir, the ship is ready for departure.”

She looked out of her viewport at Earth and then said, “Jump in five seconds.” She sat and waited nervously as the universe turned around her.

The Dublin broke into normal space just outside the orbit or Ross and settled into a geostationary orbit over the capital city. Bridget keyed her com and said, “Spaceport Authority, I am arriving at Admiral Dorg’s request and ask permission to make orbit.”

“Permission granted and he is expecting you. I have sent the directions to your display and he asks that you be there in thirty minutes.”

“Holy Mother,” Bridget thought. “It’s worse than I expected.” Then she turned to her sensor officer and said, “Locate the coordinates of these directions so I can get there quickly.”

Lt. Miller ran them thru the program he had set up for Ross and found them very confusing, however, the program was almost intelligent and when the answer came out, both of them were confused.

“Sir, I suggest you take a chance and go where this says you should be,” Lt. Miller said.

Bridget looked again at the coordinates, shrugged, and went and boarded a small one man shuttle. She exited the main bay and dropped through the atmosphere to the planet’s surface. She braked and hovered forty feet above a park in the middle of the city and waited while people under her ship moved so she could land. After a minute she lowered the shuttle to the ground and stepped out into the park. She immediately noticed a large group of statues in front of her. She walked up to the edge of the clearing and saw that they were statues of human colonists that were being killed by Cainth weapon platforms. She stared at them and then heard a voice from behind her.

“It looks like I owe Prince Gardner five credits.”

She turned around and saw Admiral Dorg. “I always come here whenever I come to this planet. I don’t want to ever forget the debt I owe for my stupidity and arrogance.”

Bridget looked at him and could tell that he was sincere. She had heard about all he had done for the survivors of the Ross invasion and she knew he had been forgiven by the colonists. “You can’t forgive yourself, can you, Sir.”

Dorg looked at her with an expression that showed his surprise. “Captain, I’m surprised. I never expected you to work out those directions in time to make this meeting in a timely fashion, but you did. Now you see me as few have. No, I will never be able to forgive myself for what happened here. I come here to remind me to never forget what conceit and arrogance can lead to.” Dorg then sat down on a bench and motioned Bridget to join him. “Quite frankly, I was going to work you over and then tell you why I brought you here, but now after seeing the statues, I don’t have the heart for it.”

“Why did you bring me here, Admiral?”

“I was somewhat angry about you keeping track of me back at that moon. When your Director called and asked about my actions, I knew you had kept me on your monitors and I didn’t like it.” Bridget looked very uncomfortable but remained silent. “I notice you’re not apologizing and that makes me more convinced that I’ve made a good decision here.”