Annihilation: Love Conquers All (41 page)

“That didn’t take long,” Atlas said.

Danielle and Tag had watched the destruction, horrified at the loss of life on both sides. Tag said to Atlas with a heavy heart, “So many killed; such a waste of potential. There’s got to be a way to avoid all this slaughter.”

Atlas said nothing for a minute and then spoke in a soft thought. “It is called growing pains. Sometimes a civilization dies, but those that weather the storm come out better and stronger for it. You must endure until the task is completed.”

“Well, at least Admiral Kosiev was right,” Tag said. Danielle looked at Tag with raised eyebrows. “This marks the end of the beginning. Atlas, can you get the admiral on a communication channel without revealing yourself?” Instantly Admiral Kosiev appeared on their screen.

“Admiral, congratulations on your victory,” Tag said.

“Thank you, Mr. Gardner. It was costly. We lost more than 150 ships and some of the Alliance fleet escaped.”

“How long will it take before your ships could be ready to fight again, Admiral?”

“We just need to resupply our stores of missiles and provisions. Probably forty-eight hours. Why do you ask?”

“I think it’s time we paid our Cainth neighbors a visit and welcomed them to the neighborhood.”

“We’d be violating the twenty-light-year limit if we did,” Kosiev said.

“That limit disappeared with the Alliance order to occupy our system, Admiral. We’re going to take this war to our enemies and see if we can fight it on their ground, not ours. We at the very least are going to declaw the cat that has been threatening us for two hundred years.”

Kosiev smiled at Tag and said, “It would be nice if I could repay them for the Moscow. I owe them.”

“Have the engineers found the asteroids for the fortresses, Admiral?”

“The first four have already been boosted out of orbit, and the mining engineers are already blasting the surface to install the layer of power cells. They should be hollowed out and environment controls and weapons installed by the time they make Earth orbit in three weeks. The second four are having the black hole generators and drives installed as we speak. They will arrive two weeks later. Incidentally, I’ve never seen power cells as large as the ones being installed. If we can charge them, they should pack quite a punch.”

“My understanding is that each of their Coronado shields should cover 15 percent of the Earth’s surface and overlap each other when fully installed. Every day in direct sunshine will add 18 percent to the charging load. They should reach full charge and start storage within eight days of coming online. Most of our ship-making capability has been delayed to produce the power cells in time for installation. When the Melbourne moved that comet, it led to the idea of their creation. If we can protect the planet, we should have enough ships released to take the war to the Alliance.”

“Prepare your ships, Admiral. I’ll talk with the director and general staff, but I think they will go along with my plan. Once the platforms are in orbit and functional, the rest of the fleet would be at our disposal. Now that they know our capabilities, I don’t see any reason to hold the prisoners on Europa. They should add to the fun, especially after watching their ship self-destruct with their lifeboats. Let’s just say we’re returning some of their citizens and oh, by the way, let us help you remove all your weapons of war. This has been a long time coming, Admiral. The fun is just starting.”

“What about the Alliance?”

“We’ll deal with them when we have to. It’s going to take time for them to organize another attack. By the end of the next month our shipyards will have two hundred ships to replace the 150 you lost. I don’t think they can produce the two thousand they lost quite as quickly. Ultimately, time is our best friend. Let’s hope the Alliance gives us enough. Either way, the Cainth are going to see us again, and this time we will decide their future.”

Kosiev smiled, looked out of his viewport at the unblinking stars, and knew for the first time that he was going to go and visit some of those outside of the limit. Tag was right: the fun was just beginning.

“A
dmiral, how is the evacuation proceeding,” Terl asked as he boxed important documents to be shipped to the colonies? Some of these documents were important treaties agreed to by the Cainth Empire and other Alliance races. They would be important for the future, “If there is a future,” he thought.

“We’ve moved most of the Clan Leaders and their families aboard ships and they are just now leaving for the jump limit to go to our colonies. Some of the fleet has arrived from our closer colonies and our ship count is now 967 warships. We are getting some disturbing reports that some of our enemies in the Alliance are moving to occupy our colonies so we can’t pull all our ships.” Admiral Dorg looked at the types of ships he had for defense of the planet and knew it was not enough. “We can delay the humans but not for long. There is no hope of moving the general population and our troops have had to stay to maintain order so most of them will have to remain on the ground controlling the riots. The news got out that we were heavily defeated and that the home world is at risk of total destruction. I believe, Clan Leader, that the Alliance leadership leaked that news hoping for chaos and possible overthrow of our government.”

“You’re probably right, Admiral. Who would have thought we would be facing extinction from the humans. Let’s hope they give us enough time to save as many as we can.” Terl glanced at his display and saw thousands of Cainth civilians crowding the space port trying to get off the planet. The streets had numerous fires going and thousands of vehicles were lifting and flying to the side of the planet away from open space which was the direction where the humans would probably come.

Thirty drags later Terl was issuing orders to the military on how to handle the riots when Admiral Dorg came on his display, “It looks like our time has run out. Sensors have picked up approximately 200 star drives breaking into normal space in the outer system. Clan Leader, I’m sending a shuttle to pick you up.”

Terl decided that history didn’t matter if you had no future so he left the boxes of treaties and crowd control behind and ran to the lift to take him to the top of the building. He was fighting to control his fear and he wondered if this is what the humans felt when his fleet had gone to destroy their home planet 290 cycles ago.

Book One: Love Conquers All

Book Two: The Power of a Queen

Book Three: A Rose Grows in Weeds

S
axon Andrew has a BA and Masters Degree from Mercer University in Psychology and Education. He is a former social worker, high school teacher and coach, manager of several sales organizations, and business owner. He has loved science fiction since he first learned to read and his stories are the product of being exposed to the universes created by the great authors of the genre.

Saxon lives in Tampa, Florida with his wife and two dogs and he smiles at what the universe sends our way. The dogs smile when they get a treat or rubbed behind the ears. Dogs always get the best end of the deal.

Copyright © 2009 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: February 2011