Annihilation: A Rose Grows In Weeds (4 page)

The Rossville broke back into normal space just above the main planet and waited for the Dremel to contact them. Klas looked at Dorg and said, “From this point on, I will translate what I hear and what you say. I think you need to speak directly to them.

“Message coming in, on speaker.” the communications officer said.

“…are the Dremel. I believe my fleet leader was planning to escort you to our planet. He’s concerned that we can’t get a ship here from the jump limit within ten hours which places us at your mercy.”

Dorg spoke and Klas translated, “You have nothing to fear from us. We did not retaliate when your ships attacked us; we are here to open a dialogue to see if we can help you in the coming conflict with the Plants. It’s our opinion that wasting ten hours to get here was not a good decision.”

“I suspect you’re right.” The Dremel said. “We expect them to enter our system soon and we assumed your ships were the initial scouts they send out. I’m sorry we attacked you so quickly but we have to try and destroy the initial contact by the monsters before they can communicate our position.”

Dorg gave a sigh of relief, “I’m glad to hear you say that, we don’t share our technology with aggressive races. After Klas told us about your warning his people about the coming invasion, we felt we should come and help you if we could.”

“We are a peaceful people but we had to build the ships that attacked you. Though we are peaceful by nature, we will not submit to destruction without putting up a fight. I have turned on a beacon with a laser designator pointed at your ship. If you will follow it down to the planet we will meet and talk with you about why you came to our world.”

“I’ve got it sir,” Lt. Glensh said. “I’ll send the coordinates to your shuttle.”

“Thank you Lieutenant. Klas if you’ll join me let’s go meet our new friends.”

Admiral Dorg sat in a room surrounded by the twenty Elders of the Dremel. He began speaking while Klas translated, “I am sorry for our sudden intrusion into your system but we have come to see if there is a way that we can help you in the upcoming conflict with the plant creatures. We have saved some of the Pydres from their planets destruction and they told us of your warning them. I came to investigate to see if your race could be helped by my government.”

“Just how do you think you can help us? Nothing can stand up against the monsters. We’re working hard to build transports to try and save some of our population but we just don’t have enough time or capacity to build enough ships in the time we have remaining. Some of our population has already left for a planet further out on the arm of this galaxy”

Dorg looked at the old Dremel and said, “Perhaps we can buy you enough time. I want to discuss the possibility of using your world as a base to be the center of our fight against the plants. We will do all in our power to protect your world in return for using it to be the center of our fleet operations against them. I recognize that our efforts against them will bring huge numbers against you, but if we don’t help, you will be destroyed and consumed. Perhaps we can buy you enough time to save your people.”

“Do you think you have any chance against those horrors?” the old Dremel asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know but that’s why I’m here; to begin the fight against them and see if we can stop your destruction. If you agree, we will not leave you to stand alone; we will fight them with you.”

The twenty Elders began talking among themselves. Dorg thought the Dremel looked like very thin Humans. They were about 6 feet tall and were bipedal like humans. Their hands had five digits just like the Humans but had no thumbs though it appeared that their fingers could bend in multiple directions. Their face was similar but had no hair and the nose was flat on its face. The lips were thin and the chin very pointed. Their skin was gold in color. They moved very smoothly with an economy of motion that made them look slow but it was difficult to maintain their pace when following them. Finally the speaker said, “Klas says that he was saved by your people and he has seen goodness in you. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. We agree to start working together and we thank you for your help.”

Suddenly a Dremel in military uniform ran in and started talking quickly. The twenty Elders got up and began talking on their communication consoles. “What’s going on, Klas?”

“A plant scout ship had just jumped into the outer system on the other side of their sun. It can’t see their world yet, but it’s moving in system and will see the inhabited planet within ten hours. All of their ships are on this side of the sun. They were not prepared for the scout to enter the system from that direction.”

“And so it begins,” Dorg thought. “I hope we’re ready.

T
he Algean scout ship came out of star drive and the ship leader looked at his board, “Looks like nothing in this system.”

“Sensors indicate that there are other planets on the other side of the star,” the systems operator answered.

“Are there any in the habitation zone?”

The systems operator looked at his board again, “Gravity readings indicate that there is a planet inside the zone for life to develop.”

The ship leader looked at his readings and ordered, “Plot a course around the sun and take readings on the planets as we pass. There may be life we can harvest and we should make sure.”

The systems operator turned the ship toward the closest planet.

Admiral Dorg asked Klas to get the Dremels attention so he could make a suggestion. The Dremel were all talking on their communication consoles so he had to yell to get them to hear him. The leader stood up and said, “We are in the middle of a crisis. What do you want?”

Dorg said while Klas translated, “Why don’t you let us attempt to destroy the scout. We are much better armed than your ships and we can jump to where ever the scout is located. What I need from you is a distraction to take their attention for just a moment. Can you set off a nuclear explosion on one of the asteroids on the other side of the sun and give me the coordinates of the scout?”

The leader told the other Dremel to stop making plans and to listen. They turned from their consoles and listened as he told them of Dorg’s offer. One went back to his console and spoke for a few moments and then said something to the Leader. “We have a small ship armed with a nuclear missile on one of the asteroids on that side of the sun. He will fire it into another asteroid close by when ordered. Why do you want him to do that?”

“I need something to distract the scout for just a moment as we come out of our jump so that they won’t communicate. We’ll jump in directly behind the scout just as the explosion goes off and attempt to destroy it. I’m hoping that being inside the jump limit the emergence of a star drive near them will be discounted as a sensor error. We need to do this an hour after the scout has crossed the jump limit.”

The Leader looked at Dorg for a moment then said, “Are you sure your ship can destroy it? That scout is the same size as your ship and heavily armed.”

“From what I’ve seen of your ships, we have a much better chance than you do. None of them could get through our screens.”

The Leader stood and was struggling to make a decision but finally said, “Nekrn, give him the current coordinates of the scout and prepare to fire the missile.”

Dorg left his chair and went back to the shuttle to go back to the Rossville. He told Klas to stay with the Dremel and translate his communications.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Klas asked.

“No, you need to stay and make sure these leaders don’t do something that would cause the Plants to start communicating with their home world. Plus, we need to time this down to the second. Keep your com open, I’ll let you know when I’m back on board.”

Dorg ran into the shuttle and sent the coordinates to his jump and weapons officer. He ordered the primary beam charged and two needles loaded with 40 hornets each. As he entered the bridge he asked, “Do we have them on visual yet?”

Glensh said, “We’re getting a feed from the Dremel ship that is going to fire the missile and we’ve locked our jump system to come in twenty miles astern of them.”

“Klas, ask the Dremel how long after launch before the missile hits the asteroid.”

“They say 15 of your sems from launch.”

“Get Mikado and Ren-Bir on the com,” Dorg ordered. The two ship captains appeared on his display and Dorg said, “We have a Plant scout that just jumped into the system on the other side of the sun. I am sending you the coordinates of the ship and I am planning to jump in and surround that ship with our three vessels and fire immediately on emergence from null space. The Dremel are going to detonate a nuclear weapon and we will all jump one sem before it goes off. Have your jump officers synchronize their systems with Rossville and use your primary beam and two needles. We’ll begin the operation as soon as the plant ship is a drag inside the jump limit, any questions?”

“No sir,” they both said and broke connection to ready their ships.

Glensh looked up from his display and said, Sir, the scout has crossed the jump limit and is a drag inside it.

“Klas, tell the Dremel to launch the missiles on my mark, we will jump at 14 sems after launch. Ready, mark; please count down the launch for us.”

“Ten sems, nine, eight, seven….two, one, fire.”

“Mark 14 sems and jump; ready weapons,” Dorg ordered.

The time counted down and the Jump Officer said, “Jumping now.”

The three megaships jumped and broke back into normal space surrounding the Algean Scout just as the nuclear explosion detonated. “Fire now,” Dorg yelled!

The scout was hit by three 5,000 foot wide primary beams and six needles. The 6,400 foot long scout disappeared in an explosion that didn’t even leave rubble. Nothing remained of the huge ship bigger than dust motes and expanding gas. “Communications, did you detect any kind of broadcast from that ship?”

“There was the beginning of a frequency that I’ve not seen before, but only for one hundredth of a sem. Nothing could have been said in that amount of time.”

“Tune your sensors to that frequency and see if anything is being beamed at this system.”

They waited for a drag and nothing was detected. “Perhaps there are so many scouts out that they don’t maintain constant communication. We’ll have to plan as if they did and start moving quickly. Jump us back to the planet,” Dorg ordered. “Captain Mikado, take your ship to the sun side of this system and power down and watch for any Plant follow-up. Captain Ren-Bir, you do the same on this side of the sun.”

The Leaders of the Dremel stood as Dorg entered the room. The speaker said, “My name is Grijly. On behave of my race I thank you for your help I also pass along a message from our fleet commander thanking you for not firing on our ships when we attacked you. We are no match for your vessels.”

“We are truly happy to help. We only detected a small frequency broadcast just before we destroyed the scout. We think it was too short to have carried any information but we have to assume that the scout’s absence will be investigated. We need to start planning for the upcoming conflict.”

“We do appreciate your help but the Plants will bring thousands of ships when they attack us. Can you stop them all before they bombard our world?”

“I don’t know but we can possibly prevent them from bombarding you. I need your permission to bring some defenses in for your planet.”

“By all means bring them. After seeing your ship in action, nothing you do will surprise me.”

Dorg smiled and said, “Oh, I might have a few surprises for you.” He pressed his com and said, “Tresk, order the asteroids to jump into this system and send them close to the sun to fully charge them. After they’re fully charged, bring them to the planet and get them in place. I want trial coverage within ten drags.”

“We can probably do it in less than five, sir. They were charged before we left and I’m certain that they will lose very little of their power jumping here.”

“I still want them at full charge. The numbers they are going to have to handle are staggering and I intend to use every advantage I can get.”

Klas listened to the Cainth Admiral issue his instructions and wished that his people had known this race earlier; they might still be alive.

Planet Leader Sten was in his office when Tag contacted him. “Planet Leader, one of our ships has just destroyed a Plant Scout ship. It looks like time is growing short before full hostilities begin. Is there any way to speed up your production of Megaships?”

Sten looked at Tag on his display and said, “It’s good to see you. I was just discussing that with Admiral Kosiev. We are currently producing ten a month. We plan to launch five within seven rotations. These ships are huge at five thousand feet long and take time to complete. If you will send us enough engineers and techs to complete the other hundred facilities, which are only half done, and enough raw materials, we should reach our goal of a hundred and ten a month within three months after those facilities are complete; but it has to happen quickly to meet that goal.”