Annihilation Series-Searching for a Hero (21 page)

He watched the thousands of Silver Ships moving in on the planet and he decided to jump away. He didn’t want to be tempted to interfere until he had found the being that he knew was here somewhere. He closed his eyes and jumped into the center of the Rageon Civilization. He began recording their major planets and the location of their major fleets. Three months later he hadn’t completed half the task. He turned his ship and moved toward their capital planet. He knew that his ship’s stealth capability was due to Sprigly’s use of the field he created around him. The other ships in the Realm would have to fight their way in to their targets and Ping was determined to find a way in that would cause the least number of deaths. He kept his senses out but did not feel anything from the one he knew he had to find. The Rageon were building warships at an impossible rate. He stopped above one of their construction facilities and heard them discussing the incursion into a disputed territory by the Black Ships. Ping saw that to wait would allow the aggressive civilizations an opportunity to rebuild all the ships they had lost…but he was nowhere close to finding the being. He decided to go home in another week. It would be good to see Nicole. He missed her a lot.

• • • • •

Nicole said goodbye to Sprigly and teleported to Ross’ system. She requested permission to enter and was told the teleportation suppression field would be lowered momentarily. She felt something and activated her main scanner. She made an active scan and everything appeared normal. There was an asteroid passing through the system at an oblique angle to Ross’ orbit. She stared at the asteroid and something about it just didn’t feel right. She turned her ship toward it to do an inspection, when suddenly, a giant vaporous Black Ship leaped off the asteroid’s surface and accelerated at high speed toward the defense satellite holding station above Castle Gardner. It fired twenty black beams into the giant structure causing massive explosions and knocking all of its weapons offline. The Black Ship then moved around the satellite and headed toward the Castle below.

Nicole saw the Black Ship knock out the Satellite and knew there wasn’t enough time to get another ship in to stop the Black Ship from firing on Castle Gardner, destroying it along with the planet’s largest city. She prayed she would get there in time and also prayed for Ping if she didn’t survive the effort. She was accelerating at full speed as she arrived a mile from the giant ship and fired a spread of eight green and blue energy pulses. As soon as the pulses left her blasters, her ship was hit by twelve massive black beams and was blown into a giant explosion that sent a shockwave into the Black Ship as it blew apart from the energy balls that hit it. Ross and the Royal Family had been saved…but two hours later, the King learned who had saved him and the Realm wept with him for the loss of a daughter and a Princess.

Sprigly learned of the tragedy and immediately worried about how Ping was going to take this loss. He had no way to contact him so he notified the Algean Elders of Nicole’s death and asked for advice on how to let Ping know about the death of his wife. All of them agreed that it was the King’s duty to tell him. Sprigly didn’t rest much from that moment on. He knew it was a very close thing when Ping had lost Mios and Jodie. This could take him over the edge. He watched his monitors closely for any message that Ping had come back.

• • • • •

Ping catalogued all the defenses around the Rageon’s capital, when he suddenly felt something. An emotion went through him that stressed him to a high level. What was this? Could it be the one he was looking for had finally been detected? He waited for another sense of the emotion and nothing appeared; but the high level of stress continued. He looked at the emotion carefully and couldn’t determine what was causing it. He decided to return to the Realm to discuss the massive ship building being done by the civilizations that had invaded the Realm. He teleported to the coordinates of his entry into the other place and went back through the portal. He opened his mind to find Nicole and he couldn’t find her.

He jumped up out of his command chair and sent a thought, “Nicole, where are you?!?” Suddenly his display activated and he saw Sprigly on it, “Ping, you need to contact the King.”

“Where’s Nicole?!”

“He’ll tell you, Ping. Please contact him now.” Sprigly watched Ping reach for his communicator and saw he was almost in a state of panic. This was not going to go well.

Ping hit his panel and the King’s receptionist saw him appear on her display, “Stand by for the King.” Ping didn’t even get to ask for Nicole. He saw the panic on the receptionist’s face and he began to feel a wave of fear move through his body. He searched wildly for Nicole all over the Realm’s Universe. Scott appeared on his display and Ping saw his expression as he said, “Where’s…” He didn’t finish the question. He fell into his chair and stared at Scott’s expression.

Scott’s tears started again as he said, “I wanted to tell you when you arrived here but I see you know she’s no longer present. She was killed defending the Royal Family from a Black Ship that had managed to escape detection. It came here with the intention of killing us. Nicole was the only one in position to stop it and she lost her life in the effort.” Scott watched Ping’s face closely and saw no emotion on it. He stared vacantly into space and Scott knew he was no longer hearing anything he said. He hit his panel and yelled, “Sprigly, do you know where he is?”

“I do, Your Majesty.”

“GO TO HIM NOW!!”

“On my way.” Sprigly teleported into his ship and teleported to the coordinates of Ping’s ship. He saw Ping’s ship just hanging in space and he teleported on board and found him sitting in his command chair staring vacantly into space. He listened to Ping’s thoughts and his heart broke for him; but he knew that he couldn’t interrupt him. It would do irreparable damage if he did. He sat down in the second control room chair and waited.

The King still had Ping on his monitor and he saw Sprigly arrive and, after a moment, sit down in the second chair. Scott knew that Sprigly could hear Ping’s thoughts and he observed that he was not interrupting them. He sat back and waited. Victoria came in an hour later and he lifted his hand letting her know to be quiet. She came over and sat in her father’s lap and waited with him.

“
D
ean, when I tell you to get out, just do it without argument.”

He shook his head, “How will you know for sure?”

“I’ll know; the time for constant fighting for positions is over. We need to depend on each other.”

Dean’s face was pulled tight by the stress of moving the vehicle over rough terrain and avoiding any path that would take them out into the open. He had managed to stay close to the edge of the city and the buildings on the edge had blocked the invaders from seeing their run for the forests. “Dahlia, we need to get as close as possible to the edge of the trees to make it to the hole.”

“The hole will do us no good if we’re killed getting there. We’re close to their advancing forces but we don’t have long until dark. I have the thermal suits in the back and we’ll make a run at night if we have to do it.”

“Does the scanner indicate any of them are close?”

“We can’t count on that, Dean. They’re in orbit and they can just drop on us without any warning.” She stared at the mini-scanner and checked their position. She closed her eyes and said, “It’s time. Stop the truck and let’s get moving on foot.”

They had heard the warning from the fleet that the Black Ships were moving in system and their ships were outnumbered by thousands. The Royal Palace had begun immediate evacuations and everyone scattered to try to make it to one of the holes located underground. Dean and Dahlia had stayed until the last minute getting everyone out and were nearly caught in the explosion of the Palace.

They had found a trash hauler and used it to move through the streets as explosions rocked the capital city. Tens of thousands were dying in the bombardment but now they could only focus on their own survival. They had narrowly avoided an invader attack craft that had flown overhead and launched explosive missiles at the buildings around them. The flight through the huge city had taken four hours and they were still an hour from the city’s edge.

Dean dreaded stopping this far from the forest but he knew Dahlia was more cautious and that is what was called for in this moment. Dean drove the truck through a store front and stopped it close to the back wall. The twins jumped out of the truck and pulled the thermal suits out of the back seat and put them on quickly. Dean dressed faster and he lifted the tail gate and pulled two shoulder blasters out of the bed of the truck. Dahlia put her hand on his shoulder, “Don’t activate them.”

“We may need them!”

“Dean, you have to survive. If we need them, we’re dead. They’ll only be effective in the forest. Out in the open or in the city, we’re dead if we’re seen. The invaders will detect the blaster’s energy cell if we activate them.”

Dean nodded and left the blaster off. He grabbed a back pack and saw Dahlia grab another. “Drop that if we have to make a run for it.” Dahlia nodded as she watched the mini-scanner closely, “They’re scanning the street in front of us.” She watched the scanner and said, “Now, go west and keep close to the buildings.” The two left the store and ran across an alley and darted along the row of blasted buildings lining the street at the edge of the huge city.

Dean estimated they had run about three miles when Dahlia abruptly pointed into the building next to them and they knocked out the glass window with the butt of their blasters and dove through it. They lay down below the window along the front wall and heard a rumbling moving toward them. Dean saw Dahlia shove her blaster under her and he followed her example. He was not paying attention. The blaster’s energy cell could be detected if it was out in the open. The thermal suits should prevent it from being seen.

The four foot wall they were pressed against was little protection from those moving in the street outside. Dean looked above the wall where the glass had been broken out and was stunned by what he saw. The creatures that were invading his planet were giants. They were at least fifteen feet tall, heavily muscled, with a face full of tusks and sharp teeth. The creature was so tall that it should have been able to just look down and see him and his sister. He guessed the only thing that saved them was the setting sun was so bright that they were in a deep shadow and the reflections from the mirrors on the back wall had to be blinding to anyone that looked into the store. Dean glanced at Dahlia and saw she had seen the creature as well. She put her finger to her lips and he nodded.

• • • • •

“I thought you said there was mechanical activity here.”

“Fleet reported there was a vehicle of some kind moving around this area.”

The Patrol Commander punched his collar unit, “Fleet, do another scan and see if anything is here.” The Commander waited a moment and glanced into the building next to him and was blinded by the reflections from the sun off the back wall. He covered his eyes and turned away from the building, “Are you sure?” The Commander listened for a moment and then turned off the communicator. He looked at his patrol members, “Whatever they saw here must have moved into the city. There is electrical activity four blocks to the east. Get the armor moving and let’s go check it out.”

• • • • •

Dahlia listened and heard the invader’s armored vehicle’s motor spool higher and the patrol disappeared as it turned the corner and moved into the city. Dahlia looked at Dean and he said, “We’ll make the run after dark.” Dahlia nodded and crawled to the back of the store and began gathering food stores that had fallen off the shelves. Dean kept watch outside and swapped back packs with her after she had filled hers. She filled the second back pack and crawled back over, “Do you think we’re going to need these. The hole has a big supply.”

Dahlia took a breath, “Dean, if the other worlds were able to come to our defense, they would have already made an appearance. It appears that all of the region’s planets have been attacked.”

Dean’s lips went up at one corner and he shook his head, “If that’s true…”

“We’ll have to wait until we get more information, Dean; we’ll worry about it then.” The brother and sister stared out the window waiting for night to arrive so they could make a run for the forest six miles away.

• • • • •

They waited until an hour before midnight to make their run. Dean waited for Dahlia to make the call on when to go and she stared at the mini-scanner for an hour before she touched him on the arm and pointed out the window. They lifted the blasters and back packs and moved out of the store. There were thousands of vehicles scattered in front of them. They had been blasted out of the sky when the Invaders first arrived from their transports. They ran from crashed vehicle to crashed vehicle as they moved across the blasted landscape. They kept a crashed vehicle at their backs as they moved toward the forest to hopefully prevent any Invaders in the city from seeing them. Dean was burning up from the thermal suit but knew it was sure death to take it off. At the end of an hour he touched Dahlia on the shoulder and ran his hand across his neck. She nodded and collapsed next to a crashed commercial hauler. She looked at the hauler’s huge bay that was blown open and hanging above the ground by five feet. She crawled over to it, threw her blaster inside, and pulled herself up. She indicated her back pack and Dean wondered what she was doing. He handed her the back pack and followed her into the truck.

“What are you doing?”

“This hauler was a refrigerated unit. We can take off our thermal suits and cool off before we make the final leg of our run.”

Dean looked up and saw the huge cooling coils on the wall and knew the cargo area was highly insulated. He took off the thermal suit and released a sigh, “Oh, that’s so good.”

“Eat something before we start again. You’re going to need the energy.”

They sat in the hauler’s cargo bay and listened to distant explosions boom out and shake the ground. Evidently, the fight wasn’t over. Dean listened to the blasts and looked at Dahlia, “We should start moving. Day break is only a few hours from now.”